International News
Venezuela
- Tuesday was the deadline for candidates to register to run against Pres. Maduro in Venezuela’s presidential election in July. READ MORE
- The candidate the opposition elected in a primary, María Corina Machado, wasn’t able to defeat a ban on her candidacy, so the opposition nominated a university professor, Corina Yoris, to run in her place.
- Yoris is not (yet) banned from running, but when her Unitary Platform (PUD) party went to register her candidacy on the electoral council’s website, it was unable to access the site before the deadline. The PUD accused Maduro’s government of blocking it from the ballot.
- Maduro will instead run against 12 registered candidates from minor parties – none of whom pose a serious threat.
Russia
- Pres. Putin finally acknowledged that “radical Islamists” were responsible for Friday’s terrorist attack near Moscow – although he continued to suggest – without evidence – that Ukraine was involved: “This atrocity can be just an element in a series of attempts of those who have been at war with our country since 2014.” READ MORE
- The only known link between the attackers and Ukraine was that they were apprehended in a region of Russia that borders Ukraine – a fact that Putin keeps repeating, as if the link gets stronger the more he mentions it. He doesn’t mention that they first tried to flee to Belarus but were turned back at the border. READ MORE
- There’s been much media discussion about how Russian security services are flaunting obvious signs that they tortured the four Tajik suspects they apprehended: some of the officers captured on video torturing them were even awarded state medals for bravery. READ MORE
- Separately, a Russian court extended the detention period for WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich to at least June 30. Gershkovich was arrested a year ago this Friday on bogus charges, and the Kremlin appears to want to keep him as a pawn to trade in a future prisoner swap. READ MORE
Ukraine
- An article in Forbes (pasted below) described Russia’s new wave of glide-bomb attacks that Ukraine is struggling to defend against. F-16s will help, but won’t enter service in Ukraine for several more months. READ MORE
Gaza
- Hamas rejected Israel’s latest hostage swap proposal, leading Israel to walk away from talks in Qatar. PM Netanyahu’s office said Hamas was anchored on unrealistic demands. READ MORE
China
- The U.S. and UK slapped sanctions on China’s state-backed APT31 hacking group after accusing it of infecting U.S. infrastructure with malware and stealing UK voter rolls. New Zealand also raised concerns about APT3’s intrusions into its parliamentary computers. READ MORE
- Football is the next target for Pres. Xi’s anti-corruption drive: the former head of China’s football association was sentenced to life in prison for admitting that he accepted 81 million yuan ($11.2 million) in bribes. READ MORE
Other News
- A cargo ship lost power and crashed into a column supporting Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge early this morning local time, causing large sections of the 1.6 mile (2.5 km) long causeway to collapse and six people to go missing in frigid waters. The ship issued a “mayday” signal before its collision, which allowed transit police to stop traffic and prevent a larger loss of life. READ MORE
Russia’s Glide-Bombs Are ‘Miracle Weapons.’ And Ukraine Is Still Months Away From Fighting Back With F-16s. (Forbes)
The Russian air force is lobbing a hundred glide-bombs a day on Ukrainian positions along the 600-mile front line of Russia’s 25-month wider war on Ukraine.
The KAB glide-bombs are a “miracle weapon” for the Russians, Ukrainian Deep State noted. And the Ukrainians have “practically no countermeasures.”
To put into perspective how dangerous the situation is for Ukrainian brigades right now, consider that it took just 125 KABs a day for several days finally to make the defense of Avdiivka, a former Ukrainian stronghold in eastern Ukraine, untenable for the Ukrainian army’s 110th Mechanized Brigade.
The brigade had other problems, of course—specifically, a desperate shortage of artillery ammunition that became inevitable once Russia-friendly Republicans in the U.S. Congress cut off aid to Ukraine in October.
But the KABs were the final straw. “All buildings and structures simply turn into a pit after the arrival of just one KAB,” wrote Egor Sugar, a trooper with the Ukrainian 3rd Assault Brigade, which covered the Avdiivka garrison’s retreat in mid-February. READ MORE
The World Daily Brief is composed daily by former CIA and Intelligence officers.
Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun. This column is part of a weekly series written from “The Owner’s Box.”
