May 19, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate voted Thursday to deliver more than $40 billion in new military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, sending the measure to President Biden after a week-long delay sparked by a lone senator's objection. The vote was 86 to 11, with all opposition to the package coming from Republicans."
Eugene Scott & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House GOP leaders were among the 192 Republicans who voted against providing $28 million in aid to the Food and Drug Administration to address the shortage of baby formula -- within days of criticizing President Biden for not doing enough on the issue. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Whip Steve Scalise (La.) and Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) voted late Wednesday against the measure to provide new FDA funding, which the House approved on a largely party-line vote of 231 to 192. Twelve Republicans broke ranks and joined with Democrats in backing the money. On a separate bill, the House voted Wednesday overwhelmingly to ease the burden on low-income parents by allowing the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program -- a major national purchaser of formula -- to source it from more foreign suppliers. The vote was 414 to 9 with all the opposition coming from Republicans. The Senate approved the legislation Thursday by voice vote. It now heads to Biden, who will sign it into law."
Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Congressional investigators have obtained a batch of official White House photographs, including images taken on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two sources familiar with the evidence. The previously unreported cache, which arrived via the National Archives, may provide the committee with real-time visual evidence of ... Donald Trump's actions and movements as a mob of his supporters battered their way into the Capitol and threatened the transfer of power to Joe Biden. At least some of the photos were taken by official White House photographer Shealah Craighead, the sources indicated.... Asked whether the panel had spoken to Craighead as a direct witness, [committee chair] Bennie Thompson said, 'Not yet.'" MB: Hope there's a time-stamped snap of Trump's short, fat fingers trying to make a call on a $10 burner phone.
Nicholas Wu & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee says it has reviewed evidence that reveals a Republican lawmaker, Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, gave a tour through the Capitol complex the day before a pro-Trump mob attacked. 'We believe you have information regarding a tour you led through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021,' Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wrote to Loudermilk.... The committee noted that Republicans on the House Administration Committee, who had previously reviewed security footage from that day, had publicly claimed that there were 'no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on.' The GOP comments called into question allegations made by three dozen Democrats in the days after Jan. 6 that they observed suspicious, 'unusually large' groups, perhaps led by Republican lawmakers or staffers, walking through the Capitol complex in the days preceding the attack.... The select committee noted that Loudermilk is a member of the House Administration Committee. And they said their review of the evidence 'directly contradicts that denial.'" The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ The committee's letter to Loudermilk, via the committee, is here.
Jesse McKinley & Lola Fadulu of the New York Times: "The accused gunman in Saturday's massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo appeared in court on Thursday morning.... The felony hearing, in Erie County court, was adjourned by a judge until June 9, largely a procedural step.... [The suspect] has pleaded not guilty, and appeared briefly in the courtroom, wearing an orange jumpsuit, amid heavy security. He faces life in prison if convicted, and continues to be held without bail, [Erie County D.A. John] Flynn said."
Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "An emergency services dispatcher in Buffalo could be fired after being accused by a supermarket employee of hanging up on a 911 call during a racist shooting rampage at the store last week. The dispatcher, who has not been publicly identified, was placed on administrative leave on Monday after an internal investigation and faces a disciplinary hearing on May 30, at which 'termination will be sought,' Peter Anderson, a spokesman for the Erie County executive, said on Wednesday.... [Latisha] told The Buffalo News that she had called 911 while hiding from the gunman, whispering on the phone in hopes of eluding his notice. The dispatcher, she said, had admonished her. 'She was yelling at me, saying, "Why are you whispering? You don't have to whisper,"' Ms. Rogers told The News, 'and I was telling her, "Ma'am, he's still in the store. He's shooting. I'm scared for my life. I don't want him to hear me. Can you please send help?" She got mad at me, hung up in my face.' Ms. Rogers, 33, told The News she then called her boyfriend and told him to call 911."
Oklahoma. Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "The Oklahoma Legislature gave final approval on Thursday to a bill that prohibits nearly all abortions starting at fertilization, which would make it the nation's strictest abortion law. The bill subjects abortion providers and anyone who 'aids or abets' an abortion to civil suits from private individuals. It would take effect immediately if signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who has pledged to make his state the most anti-abortion in the nation." An NPR report is here.
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** Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Republican voters in this week's primary races demonstrated a willingness to nominate candidates who parrot Donald J. Trump's election lies and who appear intent on exerting extraordinary political control over voting systems. The results make clear that the November midterms may well affect the fate of free and fair elections in the country.... The strong showings on Tuesday by election deniers, who have counterparts running competitively in primaries across the country over the coming months, were an early signal of the threat posed by the Trump-inspired movement." Emphasis added. Epstein cites some of the anti-democracy 2022 candidates who will do anything to gain or retain GOP control. MB: The overriding question for me is: will their Democratic opponents have the guts to hammer home what dangerous traitors these Republicans are? The jury is out.
An AP analysis of Tuesday's elections results, by Jill Colvin & Nicholas Riccardi, is here.
Blake Hounshell of the New York Times: Pennsylvania "Republican voters’ choice of Doug Mastriano in the governor's race is giving the G.O.P. fits. Conversations with Republican strategists, donors and lobbyists in and outside of Pennsylvania in recent days reveal a party seething with anxiety, dissension and score-settling over Mastriano's nomination. In the run-up to Tuesday night, Republicans openly used words and phrases like 'suicide mission,' 'disaster' and 'voyage of the Titanic' to convey just what a catastrophe they believed his candidacy will be for their party. An adviser to several Republican governors, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there was wide displeasure with the outcome, calling him unelectable." MB: Notice that all these mostly unnamed Republicans are in knots about is Mastriano's electability; they don't care a whit about the his extremist, anti-democratic, anti-woman beliefs.
~~~ Marie: He lost the primary by only two points.
Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday moved to baselessly discredit the too-close-to-call Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania, urging his endorsed candidate, Mehmet Oz, to 'declare victory' over opponent David McCormick before all the votes are counted in a contest with far-reaching implications. State election officials continued tallying ballots, including thousands submitted by mail, with Oz leading McCormick by just one-tenth of a percentage point -- well within the threshold for an automatic recount. There was no evidence of any wrongdoing in the process, which is a normal part of every election. Trump's comments ... echoed his conduct after the 2020 election, but this time he was lashing out in an intraparty competition. In 2020, he falsely claimed victory in Pennsylvania and sought to stop mail-in ballots from being recounted."
"Trumpism Has Metastasized." E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "What matters most about Tuesday's Republican primaries is not the scoresheet of how well candidates endorsed by ... Donald Trump did. What counts is how far to the right the GOP's electorate has veered.... [Doug] Mastriano is the fringe of the fringe. He is an ardent 2020 election denier -- 'insurrectionist,' my Post colleague Greg Sargent argues, is not too strong a word -- who attended Trump's rally that preceded the Jan. 6 riot, organized buses to take Pennsylvanians to it and wanted the state legislature to overturn the popular vote for electors committed to Joe Biden. He spoke at a QAnon event last month, at which conspiracy theorists presented him with a ceremonial weapon they called the 'sword of David.'... In a state where the governor appoints the secretary of state who oversees elections. Mastriano said he would 'reset' the state's voters rolls so everyone would 'have to re-register.'"
Peter Jamison of the Washington Post: "Among American politicians, [Alabama Governor George] Wallace would become, according to historian Dan T. Carter, 'the most influential loser' of the 20th century. His enduring relevance, Carter said, lies in his discovery of the 'underground stream' of modern American politics. Wallace tapped a current of grievance and barely muffled racism that would later propel the rise of another combative populist: Donald Trump.... Both Wallace and Trump lamented what they described as America's vilification of the police. Both complained to audiences incessantly about their news coverage. Both insisted that they were not bigots and boasted of large bases of Black support that didn't actually exist. Both threatened to make U.S. allies in Western Europe 'respect' and repay the United States for billions in defense spending. And both were famous for the violent energy of their political rallies, which were frequently marked by clashes between protesters and the candidates' supporters." MB: I'm not sure about Wallace, but I can say without hesitation that Trump is a completely fake "populist."
Aamer Madhani & Josh Boak of the AP: "President Joe Biden departs on a six-day trip to South Korea and Japan aiming to build rapport with the two nations' leaders while also sending an unmistakable message to China: Russia's faltering invasion of Ukraine should give Beijing pause about its own saber-rattling in the Pacific. Biden departs Thursday and is set to meet newly elected South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Their talks will touch on trade, increasing resilience in the global supply chain, growing concerns about North Korea's nuclear program and the explosive spread of COVID-19 in that country. While in Japan, Biden will also meet with fellow leaders of the Indo-Pacific strategic alliance known as the Quad, a group that includes Australia, India and Japan."
Annie Karni & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden took urgent action on Wednesday to address the nationwide baby formula shortage, invoking the Defense Production Act to increase production and creating 'Operation Fly Formula' to deploy Defense Department planes and speed formula shipments into the United States from overseas.... The White House announced its plan only hours before the House took action of its own, approving an emergency infusion of $28 million for the Food and Drug Administration and a bill to loosen restrictions on what kind of formula can be purchased through the federal food aid program for women and babies.... In recent days, lawmakers have announced plans to haul administration and industry officials to Capitol Hill for testimony, demanded answers from Mr. Biden's team on how the shortage was allowed to develop, and launched investigations into the crisis and Abbott Nutrition, the company that recalled several of its formula products after at least two infants died." The NBC News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Washington Post Editors: "This is a uniquely American crisis.... The United States relies primarily on three companies == Abbott, Gerber and Reckitt -- to supply the vast majority of baby formula for the nation..., and imports of baby formula are almost nonexistent.... The simple solution, from the outset, would have been to import more formula from abroad, from places such as the European Union, Britain, Canada, Australia and Japan. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that it was streamlining its review process so that foreign manufacturers could begin shipping more formula into the United States. That should have happened weeks ago.... The nation needs a full and rational accounting of this mess and the troubling questions about why it took so long for the FDA to look into the Abbott plant after a whistleblower came forward in October.... The trade deal the Trump administration struck with Canada and Mexico that made it even harder to import formula from Canada has had unintended consequences." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Isn't this also a problem because the U.S. is so comfortable with monopolies? If this were a baked bean monopoly, it wouldn't matter much except to people accustomed to eating a full English breakfast. But it's baby formula, for Pete's sake, the only food that nourishes millions of American babies. Parents cannot just switch infants to zwieback and applesauce. Or baked beans.
Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Justice Department employees pressed the Biden administration on Wednesday to grant federal employees time off if they or their family members need to travel out of state to obtain abortions.... The letter was sent to the White House's budget office and Gender Policy Council as well as the Office of Personnel Management.... As of now, about 150,000 federal employees in Texas and Mississippi have little access to abortion, and an additional 227,000 federal employees in 11 other states could immediately lose access to the procedure if the Supreme Court overturns Roe, the group said.... Granting leave could open the federal government up to lawsuits that claim the benefit violates the Hyde Amendment. Under the provision, federal funds cannot be used to pay for abortions, except in special circumstances...."
Someone who calls himself "The Critical Mind" responds in the Huffington Post to Sen. Tim Scott's (R-S.C.) explanation -- delivered in a Washington Post op-ed -- as to why abortion rights do not help Black women. MB: I had scanned Scott's opinion early yesterday and considered it such garbage I didn't even consider linking it as an example of right-wing garbage. The crux of Scott's philosophy of depriving American women of a Constitutional right is that abortion rights allow women to escape the grueling struggles his mother survived rearing two children on the income of a nurse's aid. When Scott gets through celebrating the limits of his mother's options, he goes on to denegrate Janet Yellen, a Jewish woman at the other end of the educational spectrum and one who has translated that education into spectacular accomplishments. Scott completely misinterprets and mischaracterizes Yellen's testimony before a Senate committee by pretending that all she cares about is money: the usual bigotry about Jews. "The Critical Mind" guy does quite a good job of tearing down Scott's stupid, cruel arguments, but not good enough to lessen my ire at Scott's arrogant mansplaining aimed at dismissing the value of a Black woman and a Jewish woman. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Disinformation Board Defeated by ... Right-wing Disinformation. Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post: "On ... April 27, the Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of the first Disinformation Governance Board with the stated goal to 'coordinate countering misinformation related to homeland security.' The Biden administration tapped Nina Jankowicz, a well-known figure in the field of fighting disinformation and extremism, as the board's executive director.... Jankowicz ... became a primary target on the right-wing Internet. She has been subject to an unrelenting barrage of harassment and abuse while unchecked misrepresentations of her work continue to go viral. Now, just three weeks after its announcement, the Disinformation Governance Board is being 'paused,' according to multiple employees at DHS.... On Wednesday morning, Jankowicz officially resigned from her role within the department.... ~~~
~~~ "Jankowicz';s experience is a prime example of how the right-wing Internet apparatus operates, where far-right influencers attempt to identify a target, present a narrative and then repeat mischaracterizations across social media and websites with the aim of discrediting and attacking anyone who seeks to challenge them. It also shows what happens when institutions, when confronted with these attacks, don't respond effectively." Read on. MB BTW: I have no doubt the attackers magnified their fake criticisms of Jankowicz because she is a woman, and an attractive young woman at that. Right-wing World is the province of incels & fat old farts who despise both women -- and men who have normal relationships with women.
Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House on Wednesday passed legislation that would create domestic terrorism offices across three federal agencies, spurred by alarm over the rise in incidents of homegrown violent extremism in recent years. Rep. Bradley Schneider (D-Ill.) pushed for a vote on the bill, known as the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, in the wake of Saturday's mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo.... The measure was approved on a 222-to-203 vote. One Republican, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), joined all Democrats present in voting 'yes.' The legislation's future remains uncertain in the Senate, where ... a unanimous vote on similar legislation was blocked by Republicans two years ago."
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A group formed in the hopes of disbarring lawyers who worked on cases in which ... Donald J. Trump tried to subvert the results of the 2020 election filed a complaint with the Texas bar association on Wednesday against Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, for his efforts to keep Mr. Trump in power. The complaint against Mr. Cruz, filed by a group called the 65 Project, focuses on baseless assertions by Mr. Cruz about widespread voting fraud in the weeks between Election Day in 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, as well as his participation in lawsuits protesting the results in Pennsylvania.... [The complainants assert] that Mr. Cruz moved beyond simply working within the confines of Congress. 'He chose to take on the role of lawyer and agreed to represent Mr. Trump and Pennsylvania Republicans in litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court,' the complaint said, citing his role in two cases, neither of which succeeded. 'In doing so, Mr. Cruz moved beyond his position as a United States senator and sought to use more than his Twitter account and media appearances to support Mr. Trump's anti-democratic mission.'"
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Army Col. Yevgeny Vindman, who along with his twin brother raised alarm about ... Donald Trump's actions toward Ukraine, precipitating the first of two impeachments, suffered a 'swift' reduction in responsibilities advising the White House and probably was punished for speaking out, according to the findings of an investigation released Wednesday. The Defense Department inspector general's office determined it is 'more likely than not' that Vindman, an Army officer who in 2019 was assigned to the National Security Council, 'was the subject of unfavorable personnel actions and that these were in reprisal for his protected communications' with superiors.... The inspector general's office recommended no action be taken in Vindman's case, noting that Army officials promoted him to his current rank last year and removed an unfavorable performance review that Trump administration officials had issued. Vindman and his brother, Alexander Vindman, were among those dismissed from their jobs by national security adviser Robert O'Brien in February 2020 shortly after Trump's first impeachment trial ended with a Senate acquittal." CNN's report is here.
Putin Didn't Think Trump Had "a Very Good Brain." Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "... Vladimir Putin grew frustrated with Donald Trump's inability to understand foreign policy issues, his former top National Security Council advisor on the country said.... Business Insider reports, 'One of the reasons Putin invaded Ukraine with President Joe Biden in the White House is because he expected the US to "sue for peace" and thought it would be better to deal with Biden than trying to negotiate with someone like Trump, who the Russian leader had "to explain everything to all the time,"' said [Fiona] Hill.... 'You could see that he got frustrated many times with President Trump because he had to keep explaining things, and Putin doesn't like to do that.'" The Insider story is firewalled.
Will Oremus of the Washington Post: "At a time when Elon Musk and others are decrying Big Tech censorship, the Buffalo shooting video reminds us why content moderation matters.... This past weekend, Twitter and other major platforms were once again scrambling to take down posts and videos that were legal under the First Amendment but violated their policies. In this case, the videos showed a gunman, allegedly an 18-year-old white supremacist, slaughtering 10 people in a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo. And the posts included the suspect's racist screed, for which he seems to have intended the massacre to serve as an advertisement.... Musk's past statements would seem to imply that, if he were in charge, Twitter would have let the videos and manifesto circulate, at least in the United States. After all, hate speech and depictions of graphic violence are not against the law here.... ~~~
~~~ [The Buffalo massacre] "was planned online, influenced by ideas that spread online, live-streamed online and motivated in part by the gunman's apparent belief that his words and deeds would ultimately be shared by millions online.... A growing number of conservatives ... see a liberal bias in both the rules that the tech companies have set out and in how they enforce them.... They're upset by those that seem to have a political dimension, such as policies against misinformation and hate speech." MB: That, obviously, is because the majority of misinformation and hate speech, especially of a type that promotes or provokes violence, comes from the right. I'm not suggesting there are no leftist revolutionaries; I'm saying there are fewer of them.
Andrew Das of the New York Times: "... landmark contracts with the U.S. Soccer Federation ... will guarantee, for the first time, that soccer players representing the United States men's and women's national teams will receive the same pay when competing in international matches and competitions. In addition..., the deals include a provision, believed to be the first of its kind, through which the teams will pool the unequal prize money payments U.S. Soccer receives from FIFA, world soccer's governing body, for their participation in the quadrennial World Cup. Starting with the 2022 men's tournament and the 2023 Women's World Cup, that money will be shared equally among the members of both teams." Read on.
Sarah Min & Jesse Pound of CNBC: "The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its biggest loss since 2020 on Wednesday after another major retailer warned of rising cost pressures, confirming investors' worst fears over rising inflation and rekindling the brutal 2022 sell-off. The Dow shed 1,164.52 points, or 3.57%, to 31,490.07, the average's biggest decline since June 2020. It was the lowest close for the Dow since March 2021. Markets returned to heavy selling after two back-to-back quarterly reports from Target and Walmart stoked investor fears of rising inflation taking a bite out of corporate profits and consumer demand."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here.
Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "Top Biden administration officials warned Wednesday that one-third of Americans live in communities experiencing rising levels of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations and urged them to resume taking personal protection measures, including wearing masks.... Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, strongly encouraged those living in [high-risk] communities ... to consider wearing masks in indoor public spaces and taking other steps to protect themselves.... Wednesday's warnings from Walensky and two other officials -- Ashish Jha, White House coronavirus coordinator, and Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser -- came on the same day the United States surpassed the grim milestone of 1 million covid-19 deaths, a toll that even the starkest predictions at the start of the pandemic in 2020 did not anticipate." The article is free to nonsubscribers.
Beyond the Beltway
Colorado. One Person, One Vote? Fageddaboudit. Kyle Clark of KUSA-TV Denver: Greg Lopez, the GOP candidate for governor, said he will propose "... doing away with the popular vote for statewide elected officials and doing an electoral college vote for statewide elected officials." Instead, he would introduce an intra-state electoral college system that, Clark reports, "would give far more voting power to Coloradans in rural, conservative counties and dilute the voting power of Coloradans in more populous urban and suburban areas. Even as turnout numbers vary over time, the sheer number of rural conservative counties would create a built-in advantage for Republicans." MB: Republicans are relentless in their schemes to dilute and disallow Democratic votes.
Georgia. Where White Supremacy Was an Economic Disaster. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: In 1912, the white people of Forsyth County, Georgia, violently expelled all the Black people from the county. "For much of the 20th century, they would guard Forsyth's borders as [the city of Atlanta] encroached, through violence, intimidation and a menacing understanding in Greater Atlanta that this county was to remain for whites only.... The county's whites-only century was one of stagnation and isolation. Only after the sprawl of Greater Atlanta eventually overwhelmed Forsyth's defenses in the late 1990s and 2000s did this county boom."
Kansas. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "The Kansas Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the state to adopt a new congressional map that a lower court had ruled unconstitutional, handing a victory to Republicans and very likely costing the state's Democrats their only seat in Congress. The map, enacted by the Republican-controlled State Legislature over a veto by the governor, splits metropolitan Kansas City along both racial and partisan lines, the lower court had ruled last month, in an effort to break Democrats' hold on the Third Congressional District.... The Supreme Court's two-page ruling overturning the lower court decision explained neither the reasoning behind the verdict nor how the seven justices had voted. It said a full opinion would be issued later, but the ruling means that the Republican map boundaries will be used in elections in November."
Minnesota. Brad Parks & Eric Levenson of CNN: "Former Minneapolis Police officer Thomas Lane pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter Wednesday related to his role in the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement.... Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng faced state charges of aiding and abetting murder and aiding and abetting manslaughter for their actions -- or lack thereof -- as their colleague Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into the neck and back of Floyd, who was handcuffed and lying on his stomach, for over nine minutes. During the arrest, Lane held down Floyd's legs, Kueng held down Floyd's torso, and Thao stood nearby and kept a crowd of upset bystanders back." (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As hundreds more Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol surrendered to Russia on Thursday, Moscow was also seeking to project control over southeastern Ukraine, where a high-ranking official declared that seized parts of the region would 'take a worthy place in our Russian family.' The visit this week by a deputy Russian prime minister, Marat Khusnullin, to the occupied city of Melitopol suggested that the Kremlin is trying to lay the groundwork for annexing the region -- even without having announced such plans outright. The Ukrainian military has warned that Russia is fortifying its defensive positions in southern Ukraine, even as its forces have retreated in the northeast and failed to gain ground in the eastern Donbas region, despite ferocious bombardment.... The Russian Defense Ministry said that more than 700 Ukrainian fighters from the Azov battalion had surrendered over the past 24 hours at the steel plant in Mariupol. A total of 1,730 fighters have surrendered so far, Moscow said.... Sweden's defense minister said the Pentagon had pledged several interim security measures to shore up the defenses of Sweden and Finland while NATO considers their requests to join the alliance." ~~~
~~~ Here's a New York Times summary of developments Wednesday: "Russia seized on the mass surrender of Ukrainian troops at a Mariupol steel plant as a propaganda gift on Wednesday, moving to falsely label them as terrorists and create a parallel narrative to Ukraine's portrayal of Russian soldiers as heinous war criminals.... Images of the surrendering Ukrainians were publicized by the Russians just as a Russian soldier pleaded guilty in a Ukrainian courtroom to fatally shooting an unarmed civilian, in a widely followed case.... Russian commentators celebrated the fall of the steel plant and, in particular, the capture of members of the Azov battalion, a Ukrainian regiment with roots as a far-right group, which Mr. Putin has exploited to fictitiously portray the invasion as a battle to rid Ukraine of Nazis. The Russian Supreme Court said it would hold a hearing next week on whether to declare the Azov group a 'terrorist organization,' which could give Moscow cover to deprive the prisoners of rights." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "President Biden is set to host the leaders of Finland and Sweden at the White House on Thursday to discuss their applications to join NATO, as well as Russia's war in Ukraine.... The International Committee of the Red Cross said it logged the details of hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war to 'track those who have been captured' after their negotiated surrender from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol this week. Moscow and Kyiv have given different accounts of how many fighters evacuated their last holdout.... Russian forces are making 'incremental progress' in the southern Kherson region toward the Black Sea, while in the northeast, Ukrainian troops have in some cases pushed them 'back to as close as three to four kilometers from the border,' a senior U.S. defense official said." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian has a summary of developments here.
Emily Rauhala, et al., of the Washington Post: "Turkey blocked the start of Finland's and Sweden's accession talks to NATO on Wednesday shortly after the Nordic nations submitted their applications, a signal of what could be a bumpy process to expand the alliance and reshape Europe's post-Cold War security architecture. Turkey's resistance deprived Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of the consensus he needed to move forward with the membership process.... At a meeting of NATO ambassadors, Turkey said it still needed to work through some issues related to Finland and Sweden joining the alliance, according to two officials familiar with the discussion.... Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has objected to Sweden's granting of asylum to members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and he has indicated that he will seek other concessions if he is to allow the expansion to go forward.... Russia's Foreign Ministry tweeted Wednesday that 'Russia will have to take retaliatory measures,' with 'their essence, including military and technical aspects,' to be determined...."
AP: "The Senate confirmed Bridget Brink late Wednesday as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, filling the post as officials plan to return American diplomats to Kyiv.... The veteran foreign service officer, who has spent most of her career in the shadow of the former Soviet Union, was nominated to the position last month by President Joe Biden. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate without a formal roll call vote. American diplomats evacuated Kyiv when the war began three months ago, but the U.S. reopened the embassy Wednesday.... The ambassador's post has been vacant since ... Donald Trump abruptly forced out Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in 2019."
China. Nectar Gan & CNN Beijing Bureau: "Black box data recovered from a China Eastern flight that crashed in March suggests someone in the cockpit intentionally downed the plane, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a preliminary assessment from United States officials. The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it nosedived from 29,000 feet mid air into the mountains, killing all 132 passengers and crew on board. It was China's deadliest air disaster in decades. Information extracted from the plane's damaged flight-data recorder shows human input orders to the controls sent the plane into its deadly dive, according to the Journal, citing people familiar with the probe." (Also linked yesterday.)
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