SUNDAY 27 MARCH 2022

It’s day 32.

CNN

• Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard: Is advocating for a humanitarian no-fly zone over western Ukraine.  Ideally it would be done by the UN, but if not, by NATO and the US, carving out western Ukraine down to Odesa. There would have to be troops with a peace enforcement mission, and prepared for combat.  “If we are really serious about taking care of refugees…” this is what we have to do. “If we’re really serious…”
• Susan Glasser: Why hasn’t Putin done some of the things he has the capability to do with the internet and taking control of the sky?
• It’s day 32. 

MSNBC

• Zelensky is again asking for arms and weapons.
• Evidently, we now know that the comment about Putin staying in power was an ad lib.  (Note: This statement has been widely used by the anti-war “left” as evidence of all sorts of nefarious things – that the US wanted this war, that they refused to negotiate and scuttled negotiations to prevent the war from happening, that Ukraine was purposefully used as proxy war, on and on…). 
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister interview: It is a war against every core principle.  The way we shape the future now will determine what kind of new era we will enter. 

UKRAINE WORLD (@ukraine_world)

• This is one of the very best sources of information about Ukraine in English.  They have a podcast and also a website.
• More than 10,000 hectares of forest are burning in the area of the Chornobyl plant. 
• Melitopol, recently occupied by Russians, has been disconnected from Ukrainian mobile communications. 

THE KYIV INDEPENDENT

• Turkey says the world cannot “burn bridges” with Russia.
• Macron warns against calling Putin a “butcher.”
• Military intelligence reports are that Russia wants to split Ukraine in two.
• UK defense ministry says the Russian forces are trying to encircle Ukraine’s troops in Donbas.
• Ukraine Armed Forces figures say: 16,600 Russian troops killed.
• Zelensky: “Who is leading the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it still Moscow through intimidation?”
•  

OTHER STORIES

THOMAS: Jane Meyer, the New Yorker

• Thomas was pushing the Trump White House to overthrow the election and stop Biden from accepting the presidency. 
• There was a lot of secrecy surrounding Thomas’ stay in the hospital.
• He will sit on key cases that involve the protection of our democracy and his wife is actively working to overthrow democracy. 
• Oliver Darcy, CNN: Either Thomas believes these lies or Thomas can’t get through to his wife to tell her that these are lies. 
• SE Cupp: Bringing up the Hunter Biden laptop story and saying that the story was ignored.  Tons of people are contacting her “believing that there is some tie between Ginni and Clarence.”  (Note: THEY ARE MARRIED, SOME TIE?)
• Meyer: There has been such sensitivity about investigating the wife of a Supreme Court judge.
• (Note: Why does CNN employ SE Cupp?)
• (Note: It’s been a month now, we don’t need reporters repeatedly asking interviewees what it feels like to be where they are.  Enough.  It surprises even me how little the corporate media actually says about Ukraine in a 24-hours of coverage.  Mostly they all repeat one of several paragraphs.  There is so much to be learned about this situation and how we got here, but the media just, for example, repeats the words of Biden’s speech a billion times.  Point: It’s all superficial drivel designed to create the impression that they are “covering” the story.)

ACCOUNTABILITY If wrongdoers are not held accountable, there is a general erosion to the moral fabric of the society.  If those wrongdoers are the powerful and rich, I creates a cynicism about the central tenets of the legal system, such as equality before the law.  That situation has existed in this country for a long time, but before, people felt that the lack of accountability was sporadic,