Zelensky Confronts Security Council

April 6, 2022

Vol. 11, No. 81

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The War Room: Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky spoke to the United Nations Security Council yesterday, describing tortured, mutilated, and murdered civilians in the town of Bucha as well as women raped and killed in front of their children. He showed a video of the victims.

  “Now the world can see what Russia did in Bucha,” Zelensky said. “But the world has yet to see what they have done in other occupied cities and regions of our country.” The Ukrainians are still moving into formerly Russian-occupied territory and finding more horrors.

  In just one example, at least 200 people are missing and presumed dead in the little town of Borodyanka outside Kyiv.

  Zelensky demanded, “Where is the security that the Security Council needs to guarantee?” He said emphatically, “Do you think that the time of international law is gone? If your answer is no, then you need to act immediately.”

  But the Security Council’s hands are tied because Russia is a member and, like the others, has veto power over any resolution. The Russians deny committing the war crimes that are viewable by reports from the ground and even via satellite photos.

  Adding to the proof, newly released aerial video shows Russian armored vehicles in Bucha firing at and killing a man who had just gotten off his bicycle.

  Yesterday in a plea to eject Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield described meeting Ukrainian refugees and said, “Every day we see more and more how little Russia respects human rights.” She said, “Russian should not have a position on a body whose purpose, whose very purpose is to promote and respect human rights.”

  On the battlefield, Russian forces are now pushing to take the eastern city of Slovyansk, which has been described as the  “next pivotal battle of the war in Ukraine,” by the Institute for the Study of War. Slovyansk is considered critical to Russian efforts to capture the Donbas region.

  Today the Russian Defense Ministry said that its missiles destroyed five Ukrainian fuel depots, including in Mykolaiv and in Novomoskovsk, near Dnipro. Those have been used to resupply Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and the Donbas areas.

  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley yesterday before the Armed Services Committee was discouraging about how long the Ukraine war might last. “I do think this is a very protracted conflict and I think it’s at least measured in years. I don’t know about decades, but at least years for sure,” Milley said. “I think that NATO, the United States, Ukraine and all of the allies and partners that are supporting Ukraine are going to be involved in this for quite some time.”

Abortion Ban: Following a wave of anti-abortion laws approved by conservative state legislatures, Oklahoma  lawmakers have passed a near-total ban on abortion “except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.” Violation would be a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $100,000.

  Oklahoma has recently become a state of recourse for women from Texas seeking abortion after their legislature invoked a ban after just six weeks of pregnancy. The Oklahoma law would appear to violate the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal throughout the country. If Gov. Kevin Stitt signs the bill, it would take effect August 26th.

The Obit Page: Bobby Rydell, a Philadelphia singer who became a teenage idol and a jukebox favorite in the 1950s with the likes of Frankie Avalon and Fabian, has died at age 79.

  His hits included “Kissin’ Time,”  “We Got Love,” “Wild One,” and “Volare.” It didn’t hurt that he was from Philadelphia, then the home of Dick Clark’s television show, “American Bandstand.” 

  His one movie performance was opposite Ann-Margret in “Bye Bye Birdie,” the film version of the Broadway hit that poked fun at teenage rock idols.

  Rydell struggled with alcoholism and terrible health problems in his later years, but he had a long career life performing on the oldies circuit with other stars of his time.  

The Spin Rack: More than 45 million people in the Southeast are under a severe weather threat this morning in the path of a powerful storm that could deliver high winds , tornadoes and flooding. ---Golfing great Tiger Woods announced that he’s going to play in the Masters tournament, although he hedged a bit saying, “As of right now I feel like I am going to play.” Just 14 months ago Woods rolled his car and nearly lost his right leg. He says it’s still painful to walk a golf course. --- Police have arrested a second and third suspect in the Saturday night street shooting that killed six people and wounded a dozen in downtown Sacramento. Smiley Martin, 27, was arrested in the hospital with serious injuries and also charged with possessing a machine gun. Daviyonne Dawson, 31, was arrested on charges of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, which means he’s already a convicted felon.  ---  Ivanka Trump, who was a senior advisor to her father when he was president, spent eight hours yesterday testifying before the  January 6th investigating committee.

Survival of the Writtest: Twenty-two years after a pair of notebooks jotted with Charles Darwin’s early theories about evolution and his famous “tree of life” sketch went missing from the Cambridge University Library, they were returned with a note from the anonymous borrower telling the librarian “Happy Easter.”