memeorandum: U.S. Officials Meet With Regime in Venezuela, to Discuss Oil Exports to Replace Russia's (Wall Street Journal)

11:15 PM ET, March 6, 2022

Top Items:

Russia Recruiting Syrians for Urban Combat in Ukraine, U.S. Officials Say — Moscow is looking for help from foreign fighters to take cities including Kyiv — WASHINGTON—Moscow is recruiting Syrians skilled in urban combat to fight in Ukraine as Russia's invasion is poised to expand deeper into cities, according to U.S. officials.

Discussion: Associated Press, One America News Network, Russell Blake, Denver Post and Washington Post

Thomas Grove / Wall Street Journal:

Russia's Military Chief Promised Quick Victory in Ukraine, but Now Faces a Potential Quagmire — The close Putin ally modernized Russia's forces, but those troops have run into ferocious Ukrainian resistance — When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country's nuclear forces …

Discussion: Bloomberg

New York Times:

Shelling Halts Mariupol Evacuation as Conditions Deteriorate — The police detain thousands at antiwar protests across Russia. Four people, including two children, are killed in an attack outside of Kyiv as concern grows that civilians are being targeted. An airport in western Ukraine also comes under attack.

Discussion: Associated Press, CBS News, The Daily Wire, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, UPI, The Hill, The Times of Israel and Common Dreams

New York Times:

Inside the U.S. Race to Arm Ukraine Against Russia — The United States has walked to the edge of direct conflict with Russia in an operation that is reminiscent of the Berlin airlift of 1948-49, but far more complex. — On a snowy tarmac at Amari Air Base in northern Estonia on Sunday morning …

Discussion: Financial Times, Associated Press, CBS News and Wall Street Journal

Shadi Hamid / The Atlantic:

There Are Many Things Worse Than American Power — If there was any doubt before, the answer is now clear. Vladimir Putin is showing that a world without American power—or, for that matter, Western power—is not a better world. — For the generation of Americans who came of age …

Discussion: Musings of a Social Worker, The National Interest, Wall Street Journal and CNN

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:

Police Arrest More Than 3,000 People As Protests Grow Across Russia — Despite the threat of yearslong prison terms, thousands of Russians joined antiwar rallies across the country on Sunday in a striking show of the pent-up anger in Russian society about President Vladimir V. Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Mercury News and UPI

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Dear Colleague on Support for Ukraine

Discussion: CNN

Rachael Bade / Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Zelenskyy gets (some) results

more at Mediagazer »

CNN:
US and Europe weigh plans for Ukrainian government in exile

Discussion: New York Post, CBS Miami, Washington Post, David Weir's Newsletter, Talking Points Memo and CBS News

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Officials Meet With Regime in Venezuela, to Discuss Oil Exports to Replace Russia's — In rare meeting, the two sides discuss lifting of U.S. sanctions that have barred Venezuelan oil exports to American refineries. — The Biden administration is seeking to ease oil sanctions …

Discussion: Washington Post, Ace of Spades HQ, Underground USA, One America News Network, Financial Times, The Daily Wire, National Review, Fox News, RedState, Reuters, The Guardian, The Hill, Washington Examiner, CBS News, National Review and USA Today

Hans Nichols / Axios:
Scoop: Biden advisers weigh Saudi Arabia trip for more oil

Discussion: Washington Post, Twitchy and Political Wire

New York Times:

Ukrainian Family's Dash for Safety Ends in Death — Russian forces hit a bridge being used by civilians evacuating the fighting in Ukraine. Four people were killed. — IRPIN, Ukraine — The bridge was just a shell of its old self, blown up days earlier by Ukrainian soldiers intent …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Guardian, The Guardian, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Slate, Mediaite, The Western Journal, UPI, New York Post, Mother Jones, UPI and WGN-TV

CNN: ‘They shoot at anyone who tries to leave.’ Ukrainians describe terror of living under Russian occupation

Charles Bethea / New Yorker:

Why Did Mark Meadows Register to Vote at an Address Where He Did Not Reside? — In September, 2020, Donald Trump's then chief of staff claimed to live in a mobile home in North Carolina. — Mark Meadows, who grew up in Florida, moved to North Carolina in the nineteen-eighties and opened Aunt D's, a sandwich shop in Highlands.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Slate, Occupy Democrats, Rolling Stone, Outside the Beltway, Raw Story, Balloon Juice and Political Wire

Valerie Hopkins / New York Times:

Ukrainians Find That Relatives in Russia Don't Believe It's a War — Many Ukrainians are encountering a confounding and frustrating backlash from family members in Russia who have bought into the official Kremlin messaging. — LVIV, Ukraine — Four days after Russia began dropping artillery shells …

Discussion: Boston.com, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Political Wire

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Russian Prisoners and Ukrainian Soldiers Describe Two Sides of the Conflict

Discussion: Associated Press, The Guardian and Los Angeles Times

Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:

Trump muses on war with Russia and praises Kim Jong Un … NEW ORLEANS — Former president Donald Trump mused Saturday to the GOP's top donors that the United States should label its F-22 planes with the Chinese flag and “bomb the s — t out of Russia.” — He also praised North Korean …

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Putin's full-scale information war got a key assist from Donald Trump and right-wing media

Discussion: Insider

Reuters:

U.S. gasoline prices soar to highest since 2008 on Russia conflict, AAA says — U.S. gasoline prices jumped 11% over the past week to the highest since 2008 as global sanctions cripple Russia's ability to export crude oil after its invasion of Ukraine, automobile club AAA said on Sunday.

Discussion: globalnews.ca, TheGrio, One America News Network and Associated Press

Wall Street Journal: How War in Ukraine Drives Up Inflation at U.S. Farms, Supermarkets, Retailers

CNN:

Rep. Paul Gosar's lengthy ties to White nationalists, pro-Nazi blogger and far-right fringe received little pushback for years — Last spring, Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and a small group of volunteers traveled to the southern border city of San Luis, Arizona, to clean up the city's trash.

Discussion: Raw Story

Graeme Wood / The Atlantic:

Of Course Journalists Should Interview Autocrats — Anyone who tells you otherwise does not understand the purpose of journalism. — About the author: Graeme Wood is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of The Way of the Strangers: Encounters With the Islamic State.

Ben Judah / UnHerd:

The Russia we have lost — There were a lot of us in Moscow, back then. Silly, millennial Euro-Brits, trying to be journalists, floating through a boozy world of “hackpack” drinks and Russian liberals. We were there on cooked visas — fixed in Kyiv — dreamers and weirdos who had OD'd …

Julia Davis / The Daily Beast:

Putin's Henchmen Rage About Getting Trolled With ‘Endless Photos’ of Dead Russian Troops — Moscow's top mouthpieces claim they're being tormented with a disturbing flood of text messages and phone calls about the neighboring war in Ukraine. — While Russian President Vladimir Putin …

Discussion: Raw Story

Scott Powers / Florida Politics:

Gov. DeSantis spokesperson labels sex ed bill's opponents ‘groomers’ — Daniella Levine Cava meets with students leaving Sunday for “Proud to Say Gay” rally at the Capitol … Scott Powers — Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist with 30+ years' experience …

Jack Petocz / MoveOn:
Stop Florida's “Don't Say Gay” Bill

Discussion: Florida Politics

Washington Post:

More than 4,500 anti-war protesters arrested in one day in Russia, group says — 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.

Discussion: Meduza.io

New York Times:

Most Women Denied Abortions by Texas Law Got Them Another Way — New data suggests overall abortions declined much less than previously known, because women traveled out of state or ordered pills online. — The impact of the Texas abortion law was partly offset by trips to out-of-state clinics, and by abortion pills

CBS News:

Transcript: Ambassador Kurt Volker on “Face the Nation,” March 6, 2022 — The following is a transcript of an interview with Kurt Volker, the former ambassador to NATO and special representative for Ukraine, that aired Sunday, March 6, 2022, on “Face the Nation.” — MARGARET BRENNAN: We're joined now by Kurt Volker.