UKRAINE - Putin's War Updates

"Zelenskyy makes surprise visit to Kherson after city freed from Russian control" PBS NewsHour 11/14/2022

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SUMMARY:  Ukrainian President Zelenskyy made a surprise visit to Kherson after it was retaken from Russia.  Jubilation in the streets has been almost non-stop since the Russians fled late last week.  But after almost eight months of occupation, accounts of brutality mirror the experiences of many other Ukrainians freed from Russian control.  Special correspondent Jack Hewson and videographer Ed Ram report.

 

 

"Deadly explosion reported in Poland as Russia unleashed missile barrage on Ukraine" PBS NewsHour 11/14/2022

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SUMMARY:  The U.S. and western allies said they’re looking into reports of an explosion in NATO-member Poland.  It happened as Russia conducted missile strikes across Ukraine.  Local Polish media reported the explosion at a grain facility in an eastern village about four miles north of the Ukrainian border.  Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder joined Judy Woodruff to discuss the developments.

 

 

"Missile strike in Poland likely unintentional and tied to Ukrainian air defense, NATO says" PBS NewsHour 11/16/2022

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SUMMARY:  The missile that landed in Poland and killed two people sparked emergency meetings of NATO and the world’s leading democracies.  But initial findings suggest it was an errant Ukrainian air defense missile and not a Russian missile.  Top U.S. officials say they support that initial assessment, but Ukraine rejects it.  Nick Schifrin reports.

 

 

"Human traffickers exploit desperation of Ukrainian refugees and their children" PBS NewsHour 11/16/2022

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SUMMARY:  More than four million people who fled Russia’s war in Ukraine have sought refuge in the European Union.  Most Ukrainians receive a warm welcome and are offered access to temporary residence permits so they can work and receive social benefits.  But the trying circumstances also created opportunities for sexual and labor exploitation.  Special correspondent Rosie Birchard reports from Poland.

 

 

"Winter looms in Ukraine as Russian invasion enters 10th month" PBS NewsHour 11/19/2022

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SUMMARY:  As the war in Ukraine enters its 10th month and snow falls in the country's capital, Russia continues to target civilian infrastructure and the electrical grid.  Reporting from Kyiv, NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre joins Geoff Bennett for more on what the coming winter will look like.

NIGERIANS - Desperate Journey

"Human traffickers lead young Nigerians on a dangerous path" PBS NewsHour 7/30/2018

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SUMMARY:  Modern-day human trafficking begins in places like rural Nigeria, where young people dream of economic opportunity and a better life for their families, and are willing to give up everything to try and find it.  But as many Nigerians learn, the journey to Europe is often much harder and more dangerous than advertised, and most don’t make it.  William Brangham reports from Benin City.

AGENTS FOR CHANGE - Human Trafficking

"How human traffickers trap women into domestic servitude" PBS NewsHour 6/19/2017

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SUMMARY:  More than three million women are forced into servitude as domestic workers every year, often lured to other countries in the Persian Gulf or Middle East under false pretenses.  Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on ways some advocates are working to protect workers, as well as women in low-income countries who may be vulnerable to human traffickers.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING - Malaysia, Camps and Graves

"Human trafficking camps and mass graves discovered in Malaysia" PBS NewsHour 5/26/2015

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SUMMARY:  In Malaysia, migrants fleeing persecution and impoverishment have found a new nightmare when they land ashore.  Authorities admit they have found dozens of human trafficking camps in the country’s jungles, where desperate refugees have been starved, beaten, extorted and killed.  Jordan Sparks of Independent Television News reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  We travel now to Malaysia, where thousands of migrants, fleeing persecution and impoverishment, are spending weeks trapped at sea, find a different nightmare when they finally land ashore.

Jonathan Sparks of Independent Television News reports.

And a warning:  The story contains some graphic elements.

JOHN SPARKS, Independent Television News:  We were taken in army trucks to the bottom of the mountain, where the Malaysian authorities said they’d found a human traffickers’ camp.  This was a significant development.  Last week, they vehemently denied there were any.

We’re still going, are we?  We’re still going to the camp?

MAN:  Ya, ya, ya, ya.

JOHN SPARKS:  The order was given and we began to climb.  Yesterday, the Malaysians came clean, admitting there were at least 28 of these camps where traffickers held thousands of migrants, persecuted Burmese Muslims called Rohingya and impoverished Bangladeshis.

And we followed in their footsteps, men, women and children forced up and down this trail.  The track is rough, and it’s also very steep, but you can see that it’s well used.  There’s litter all over the place.  And it’s difficult to believe that local people and members of the authorities didn’t know that there were hundreds of people living out here.

The camp took shape from a distance.  Such was it size, it wasn’t easy to hide a bamboo jail that stretched across a mountain clearing, but further details were hard to come by.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 3/20/2015

"Shields and Brooks on Netanyahu’s election provocation, human trafficking holdup" PBS NewsHour 3/20/2015

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including provocative pre-election comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the House Republicans’ budget priorities, the congressional standoff over the human trafficking bill, plus personal predictions for March Madness.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Let me turn you both to this country, to Congress.

Right now, the budget, Republicans — we now see, David, what the Republicans want to do with the budget.  Many of them are arguing we need to cut $5.5 trillion over the next 10 years, cutting Medicaid, cutting food stamps.  Democrats are screaming, this is way too much.  Do you see balance here?  What do you see?

DAVID BROOKS, New York Times:  Yes, this is sort of happening on two levels.

One is the grand vision level, what do you want, and the budget — the Republican budget in the House does have a grand vision.  They’re right to say we need massive changes to get the balance in budget.  Over the next 10 years, the national debt is rising significantly up to about 78 percent of GDP.  It’s very high, getting way higher the 10 out years.

So they do need to do things.  I think the Republican budget priorities are messed up.  I salute for the way they’re attacking some of the entitlement programs, but they are taking huge cuts, by pretending they’re just block-granting it to the states, out of Medicaid, from the least fortunate.

Then they’re taking huge cuts out of domestic discretionary spending, which is already at his historic lows.  And so I agree with the idea of cutting, but it should all be coming out of entitlements for the affluent and not out of domestic discretionary, which is welfare, education, all the stuff the government does, parks, FBI, and it shouldn’t be coming out of Medicaid.

So, I like their approach.  I just don’t like the priorities they demonstrate in the broad brush.  Let me just quickly on — the narrow thing is over where to cut defense.  And the Republicans are just hugely divided.

MARK SHIELDS, Syndicated columnist:  I think they want to increase defense, Judy.  It’s part of the Republican creed.

And they — for the first time, understandably, they have a real advantage on national security.  And it’s measured in the polls.  We’re going into what they hope would be a national security election.  But it’s also part of what has been the consistent Republican position.

And they now are a more interventionist party than they have been at any time since George W. Bush left office.  But I — at the same time, you have got the deficit hawks who really are — it’s beyond — they have given a bad name to smoke and mirrors.  I mean, they are saying, we’re going to report — repeal the Affordable Care Act and we’re going to cut — we’re going to cut Medicare and Medicaid.

The Senate doesn’t do that, the Senate Republicans.  They voted for it when they were not in power, but they don’t include it as part of their agenda when they are in power.  So I think what we’re seeing is a lot of back and forth.  As long as Republicans won’t — won’t raise taxes and as long as Democrats won’t in any way make entitlements based on need, rather than just across the board, I really think that we’re doomed to this deadlock.
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JUDY WOODRUFF:  Well, the other story out of the Senate this week has to do with holding up the nomination, the confirmation vote on Loretta Lynch, the president’s choice to be attorney general.

In fact, the President, in an interview today with Huffington Post, said, don’t hold the attorney general nominee hostage for other reasons.  It’s the top law enforcement job.  He’s been arguing that they need to break the logjam.

But, Mark, the argument that Democrats are making is — or that Republicans are making is that we’re going to hold this up until you pass this human trafficking bill.  That’s now being held up by language over abortion.

Is there a real difference here, or is it just — is it pure politics?

MARK SHIELDS:  It’s the Senate at its worst.

The human trafficking bill was reported out unanimously.  The Hyde amendment, which has been in power — been in office for 40 years, Judy, prevents the use of public funds for abortion, except in the case of rape, incest, or the life of the mother.

And it was on page four, page five of the bill.  It’s there.  And, finally, somebody at one of the pro-choice groups, ever vigilant, gets this language.  And it becomes a matter of faith for the Democrats.  You have to understand that Republicans are on lockstep on one issue.  They will not raise taxes.  Democrats are in lockstep on another issue, pro-choice in all cases on abortion.

So they have turned this in — human trafficking is lost.  Human trafficking is a human tragedy.  It’s an outrage against any decent people.  It’s — the victims are terribly, terribly treated, whether in sex trade or whatever.  This is a chance to get them back, to help them, to help local law enforcement do it.

And the Democrats are standing on one side, and the Republicans are playing games on the other.  Both sides are playing games.  They ought to pass the human trafficking immediately and they ought to confirm Loretta Lynch.

DAVID BROOKS:  Yes.  If we had a government that worked, the Republicans would say, OK, the attorney general has nothing to do with human trafficking.  We will let her go through.  And the Democrats would say, the Hyde amendment, it’s always been in these sorts of laws.  It has loopholes wide enough to drive a truck through.  It doesn’t have that much practical effect.  We will let that go through.

And both good things would get through.  But we don’t live in that country.