ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

March 13, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• Biden OKs $200M in Ukraine Military Aid, Russia Warns It Can Hit Shipments (Newsweek)
• U.S. grants temporary protected status to tens of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants already in the United States (Washington Post)
• MLB lockout ends as MLBPA, owners reach agreement: Live updates, reaction to baseball's return (CBS)
• Monitoring the Arctic in Russian invasion of Ukraine (Indian Country Today)
• Former National Security Advisor John Bolton says 'Putin was waiting' for Trump to withdraw the United States from NATO in his second term (Business Insider)
• Pence says there’s no room in the GOP for ‘apologists for Putin’ in veiled swipe at Trump (Washington Post)

WORLD

• Russia strikes military base near Polish border as it steps up its offensive, Ukraine says (Reuters)
• Russia’s bombing of maternity and children’s hospital an ‘atrocity,’ Zelensky says (CNN)
• Ukraine Official Says Russia Won’t Collect Soldier Corpses, Burning The Ones It Has (Knewz)
• Ukraine: Russia has attacked schools and hospitals, says deputy PM (BBC)
• As Russia Pounds Ukraine, NATO Countries Rush In Javelins and Stingers ((New York Times)
• Ukraine accuses Moscow of breaking ceasefire in Mariupol (Reuters)
• Putin likens Western sanctions to war as Russian assault traps Ukrainian civilians (Reuters)
• Big brands and oil ban punish Russia as Moscow makes new pledge on Ukraine refugees (Reuters)
• Mastercard, Visa, suspend operations in Russia after invasion (10 News)
• Russia’s Military Chief Promised Quick Victory in Ukraine, but Now Faces a Potential Quagmire (Wall Street Journal)
• Russians Rush to Leave as Sanctions Bite, Dissent Is Suppressed (Wall Street Journal)
• More than 4,500 antiwar protesters arrested in one day in Russia, group says (Washington Post)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

U.S.

Biden OKs $200M in Ukraine Military Aid, Russia Warns It Can Hit Shipments (Newsweek)

Weapons "thoughtlessly supplied to Ukraine" will be "legitimate targets" and could be given to breakaway regions, Russian officials said…The U.S. and NATO allies have already sent thousands of weapons to Ukraine with more shipments underway. Ukraine had received 17,000 anti-tank missiles and 2,000 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, CNN reported on March 7, citing a senior official.

U.S. grants temporary protected status to tens of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants already in the United States (Washington Post)

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas granted temporary protection Thursday to tens of thousands of Ukrainian nationals already living in the United States, saying the “full-scale Russian military invasion” has caused a “humanitarian crisis” that has made it unsafe for them to return. The designation of “temporary protected status,” or TPS, will allow immigrants to live and work in this country for the next 18 months without fear of being deported, as long as they apply for and pass background checks. About 75,000 Ukrainian nationals are expected to be eligible to apply.

MLB lockout ends as MLBPA, owners reach agreement: Live updates, reaction to baseball's return (CBS)

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association reached a tentative agreement Thursday on a new collective bargaining agreement, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. The union voted to approve a new proposal by a 26-12 margin…MLB teams are set to play a full, 162-game season in 2022 and Opening Day is April 7, per Bowden.

Monitoring the Arctic in Russian invasion of Ukraine (Indian Country Today)

As Russia escalates conflict in Ukraine, some Arctic and Alaska Native communities wonder what the growing international tension will mean for their home region. Rising temperatures have started to change the Arctic’s landscape over the past decade. Melting ice has caused new waterways to open up, making the region more accessible and enabling easier navigation for ships. Nearby nations, like Russia, have started capitalizing on the shifting environment’s newfound strategic value.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton says 'Putin was waiting' for Trump to withdraw the United States from NATO in his second term (Business Insider)

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was waiting for former President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization if he had won a second term…Trump was impeached for the first time over his withholding of $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure Zelensky to launch an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter...Bolton said on Friday that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper were concerned by Trump's behavior at the time. "All of us felt that we needed to bolster Ukraine's security, and were appalled at what Trump was doing," he said.

Pence says there’s no room in the GOP for ‘apologists for Putin’ in veiled swipe at Trump (Washington Post)

Former vice president Mike Pence on Friday night said there is no room in the Republican Party for “apologists for Putin” in an apparent swipe at former president Donald Trump. In a speech to GOP donors in New Orleans, Pence referenced the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As the United States and international community have responded with wide-ranging, extensive sanctions against Russia, Pence said now was not the time for conservatives to voice their support of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Ask yourself, where would our friends in Eastern Europe be today if they were not in NATO? Where would Russian tanks be today if NATO had not expanded the borders of freedom?” he said. “There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin.”

WORLD

Russia strikes military base near Polish border as it steps up its offensive, Ukraine says (Reuters)

Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday, killing 35 people and wounding 134 a local official said, in an escalation of the war to the west of the country as intense fighting was reported elsewhere.

Russia’s bombing of maternity and children’s hospital an ‘atrocity,’ Zelensky says (CNN)

Russian forces bombed a maternity and children’s hospital in southern Ukraine, authorities there said Wednesday, an attack described by the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as an “atrocity.”  The attack came despite Russia agreeing to a 12-hour pause in hostilities to allow refugees to evacuate a number of towns and cities. Mariupol city council posted a video of the devastated hospital in the city and accused Russian forces of dropping several bombs on it from the air.

Ukraine Official Says Russia Won’t Collect Soldier Corpses, Burning The Ones It Has (Knewz)

…According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, some 9,000 enemy combatants – an average of 900 per day – have been killed in action…“We have asked (Russians) to take the dead bodies, and they have refused to do it,” Volodymyr Goy, Deputy Chief of the Cabinet of the Head of the Presidential Office, noted…Goy claimed that the Russians have started to bring in “mobile crematoriums” to dispose of the corpses that they do recover from areas of intense fighting. “They are most probably just going to say that those people have disappeared, that they don’t know where they are, to avoid paying their families,” he continued.

Ukraine: Russia has attacked schools and hospitals, says deputy PM (BBC)

Russia is striking civilian targets in Ukraine, including hospitals, nurseries, and schools, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister has said…The World Health Organization also said health facilities were being attacked, with its director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying they had caused "multiple deaths and injuries". The British government has accused Russia of targeting populated areas "in multiple locations", noting in an intelligence update. that it had "previously used similar tactics in Chechnya in 1999 and Syria in 2016".

As Russia Pounds Ukraine, NATO Countries Rush In Javelins and Stingers ((New York Times)

The American weapons are part of a $350 million package that President Biden authorized on Saturday. Some 14 wide-bodied aircraft transported a bristling array of Javelin antitank missiles, rocket launchers, guns and ammunition to an airfield near Ukraine’s border on Friday, as the United States and European allies ramped up their efforts to give the Ukrainian military a leg up in battling a foreign enemy that far outguns it. The top U.S. military adviser to President Biden inspected the weapons transfer operation in an unannounced trip, meeting with troops and personnel from 22 countries who were working around the clock to unload the armaments for transport by land to the Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine accuses Moscow of breaking ceasefire in Mariupol (Reuters)

Ukraine accused Russia on Wednesday of breaking a ceasefire to prevent the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the besieged port of Mariupol, where the Red Cross has described conditions as "apocalyptic". Russia said it would hold fire to let civilians flee besieged cities, but efforts to evacuate Mariupol appeared to have failed again, as have several previous attempts since Saturday.

Putin likens Western sanctions to war as Russian assault traps Ukrainian civilians (Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Western sanctions were akin to war on Saturday as his forces pressed on with their assault on Ukraine, where planned civilian evacuations from two besieged cities were called off. Russia and Ukraine traded blame over the failure to provide safe passage to civilians fleeing the two bombarded cities, on the 10th day of a war that has fueled Europe's biggest humanitarian disaster in decades.

Big brands and oil ban punish Russia as Moscow makes new pledge on Ukraine refugees (Reuters)

A U.S. ban on imports of Russia's oil ratcheted up punishment for the invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday as McDonald's and Starbucks closed outlets and Moscow promised safe passage for some people to flee. As the number of refugees created by the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two surpassed 2 million, several of the most internationally famous brands added to the Kremlin's global isolation on the 13th day of the incursion.

Mastercard, Visa, suspend operations in Russia after invasion (10 News)

Mastercard and Visa are suspending their operations in Russia. It's the latest blow to Russia's financial system after its invasion of Ukraine. Mastercard said Saturday its cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network and any Mastercard issued outside the country will not work at Russian stores or ATMs.

Russia’s Military Chief Promised Quick Victory in Ukraine, but Now Faces a Potential Quagmire (Wall Street Journal)

When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s nuclear forces to go on high alert last week, he looked down a long table at his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, who nodded in assent...Russian troops’ failure to quickly seize Ukraine, however, has shown Mr. Shoigu’s changes, while real, didn’t create the fearsome fighting force he touted. Poor logistics, flawed strategy and ill-prepared troops mean any victory will be immensely costly, and an occupation hard to sustain.

Russians Rush to Leave as Sanctions Bite, Dissent Is Suppressed (Wall Street Journal)

Harsh sanc­tions, grow­ing iso­la­tion and fear of Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin’s in­creas­ingly re­pres­sive rule are dri­ving thou­sands of Rus­sians out of their coun­try. While the num­bers pale com­pared with the two mil­lion who have fled Ukraine, they could be the front edge of a wave of peo­ple leav­ing due to shrink­ing po­lit­i­cal free­dom and eco­nomic hard­ship. Many of those leav­ing are pro­fes­sion­als and well-to-do Rus­sians, along with jour­nal­ists, ac­tivists and cul­tural fig­ures.

More than 4,500 antiwar protesters arrested in one day in Russia, group says (Washington Post)

More than 4,500 protesters were arrested Sunday at antiwar demonstrations across Russia, according to the independent human rights organization OVD-Info, as people risked jail time to denounce the nation’s war with Ukraine.