Will China help Russia evade sanctions?, March Madness: 5 Things podcast

On at the moment’s episode of the 5 Issues podcast: What’s China’s plan within the wake of Russia’s invasion?

Reporter Maureen Groppe considers. Plus, there’s some optimism after the most recent negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Russians are more and more searching for asylum within the U.S., training reporter Alia Wong seems at what academics are doing amid anti-Asian hate and March Insanity is right here.

Podcasts:True crime, in-depth interviews and extra USA TODAY podcasts proper right here.

Hit play on the participant above to listen to the podcast and comply with together with the transcript under. This transcript was routinely generated, after which edited for readability in its present kind. There could also be some variations between the audio and the textual content.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I am Taylor Wilson and that is 5 Stuff you must know Tuesday, the fifteenth of March, 2022. Immediately China’s relations with Russia within the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine. Plus the most recent from Kyiv and extra.

Listed below are among the prime headlines: 

1. Filmmaker Brent Renaud has been shot and killed in Ukraine. The documentarian introduced tales of affected by battle areas all around the world all through his profession. He was 50 years outdated.
2. COVID 19 instances in China have greater than doubled from a day in the past because the nation faces its worst COVID surge because the early days of the pandemic. The quick spreading stealth omicron variant has slammed each the Chinese language mainland and Hong Kong.
3. And Idaho has turn into the primary state to cross abortion laws modeled after the Texas six-week ban. The Idaho Home handed the invoice with no Democrat help.

♦

Western officers, together with within the US, are retaining an in depth eye on what China does subsequent with regards to Russia. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters a 3rd week, a lot of the West has labored to isolate Russia with among the harshest sanctions in trendy historical past. However as White Home correspondent Maureen Groppe tells us, China is attempting to stability relations with each Russia and the West. Will they assist Russia keep away from sanctions or push President Vladimir Putin to finish the struggle?

Maureen Groppe:

Nicely, China up to now has been attempting to remain on the sidelines. This struggle will not be good for them. It has financial repercussions that aren’t useful, however in addition they do not wish to do something that hurts Russia. Russia is a robust ally with them towards the West. So they’re on this robust spot proper now the place Russia is trying to them for assist. And the US is warning that they need to not assist. And there is additionally been some calls that China ought to attempt to step in and see if they’ll discover some approach to resolve this, resolve the struggle and provides Putin an off ramp.

The struggle has made the connection between China and Russia tougher. Proper earlier than the struggle, the 2, after they met earlier than the beginning of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, they launched this beautiful outstanding assertion about their sturdy, their no limits friendship. However this struggle is actually testing that. And proper after the administration introduced that there could be talks between the US and Chinese language officers. In addition they put out the phrase that they know that Russia has requested China for navy assist, for financial assist. They usually’re warning China not to try this.

The US has not been particular in what that might imply. They have been specific that China shouldn’t do that, however they have not spelled out precisely what that might imply. However sure, one risk is that they might lengthen sanctions to China the best way they have been sanctioning Russia. What Jake Sullivan, the nationwide safety advisor mentioned Sunday, was we’re speaking straight privately to Beijing, that there’ll completely be penalties for giant scale sanctions evasion efforts or help to Russia to backfill them.

Taylor Wilson:

Try Maureen’s full story in at the moment’s episode description.

♦

Russia and Ukraine held their fourth spherical of talks yesterday and their first in per week. They ended and not using a breakthrough after hours of dialogue, however either side have expressed optimism over the previous few days. And an support to Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted that negotiators would talk about peace, stop hearth, rapid withdrawal of troops and safety ensures. Earlier discussions introduced no finish to preventing nor did they even efficiently clear humanitarian corridors on the time.

In the meantime, almost all Russian navy offenses stalled over the weekend with little progress, in response to a senior US protection official spoke anonymously to the Related Press. The official mentioned that Russian troops remained about 9 miles from town middle of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. However issues progressed earlier this morning. Proper earlier than daybreak, shelling hit a 15 story residence constructing in Kyiv killing at the least one particular person whereas others are nonetheless trapped inside. Russia has had essentially the most success within the air, launching greater than 900 missiles since invading final month.

Whereas Russia has struggled in and round Kyiv, forces struck an airplane manufacturing facility there this week, killing two folks. It is one of many largest cargo airplane producers on this planet. And Russian artillery hearth hit a 9 story residence constructing in a northern district of Kyiv killing one other two folks.

There was welcome information although, within the Southeastern port of Mariupol, town has seen among the struggle’s worst violence and humanitarian situations as it has been lower off from assets. However a convoy of greater than 150 civilian vehicles reportedly left Mariupol alongside a chosen humanitarian route yesterday.

Russia mentioned 20 civilians within the separatist managed metropolis of Donetsk in Japanese Ukraine have been killed by a Ukrainian ballistic missile, although that has not but been confirmed.

General loss of life figures from the battle are laborious to confirm, however the newest UN estimate is 596 civilian deaths, a quantity it acknowledges could also be a lot bigger. Greater than 2.8 million refugees have fled Ukraine in what the UN calls Europe’s largest refugee disaster since World Conflict II. The overwhelming majority round 1.7 million are in Poland. Whereas greater than 200,000 refugees are in every of Hungary and Slovakia, and greater than 130,000 have gone to Russia. The leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are touring to Kyiv at the moment on a European Union journey to indicate help for the nation.

♦

Whereas Ukrainian refugees are desperately fleeing their nation. Many individuals are additionally fleeing Russia. There are worries of financial collapse and new crackdowns on free speech whereas international luxuries are on their method overseas. These with the means to journey have gone to Turkey and different neighboring nations in Japanese Europe and Central Asia, however some are additionally attempting their hand at asylum in the US. Even earlier than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to worldwide sanctions, the US was already seeing a rise in Russian asylum seekers. Greater than 8,600 did so on the US-Mexico border between August and January. That is 35 instances extra of than the 249 who did so throughout the identical interval a yr earlier than, although the pandemic could have performed a job in these numbers.

Russians don’t want visas to enter Mexico, not like the US. So many fly there earlier than renting vehicles to drive to the border. And as soon as they attain the border zone, they’ll declare asylum on US soil. Maksim Derzhko and his daughter sought asylum on the San Diego border crossing final yr.

Taylor Wilson translating for Maksim Derzhko:

“We pretended we have been occurring trip to Mexico, after which we flew to Tijuana. Feelings, it is laborious to place into phrases. It is concern of the unknown. It is actually laborious. We had no alternative. There was no freedom of speech or democracy in Russia. America has at all times been an instance for me.”

Russians are virtually assured a shot at asylum in the event that they contact US soil, although President Joe Biden has stored Trump period asylum searching for restrictions in place. Border brokers can technically deny asylum on grounds that it dangers COVID 19 unfold. However price, logistics, and even diplomatic relations usually make it extra of a headache to ship folks again to their dwelling nations.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Anti-Asian American violence continues to be raging, however Training reporter Alia Wong says that Asian American and Pacific Islander academics are attempting to cease it by introducing extra Asian historical past into their lecture rooms.

Alia Wong:

I do not assume it could come as a shock to anybody who’s a product of the US training system, that college students on this nation typically be taught little or no, if something, about Asian-American historical past. Asians have performed main roles within the formation and evolution of American society. You recognize, quite a few landmark Supreme Court docket instances, coping with civil rights and discrimination have been spearheaded by Asian-People. Asian-American historical past is American historical past. But that historical past is all however invisible at school curricula. So Yung Ann is a social research training professor at Kennesaw College in Georgia. And he or she did a qualitative research, it was not too long ago printed, of all 50 states historical past curriculum requirements to guage how properly these requirements represented Asian-People. Their experiences, their contributions. And at most the requirements delve into Japanese incarceration and anti-Asian immigration legal guidelines just like the Chinese language Exclusion Act. However apart from that, she discovered that they are diminished to an oppressed international, area of interest group with little function within the shaping of the nation.

And while you take a look at trainer coaching applications, schools of training, there too, partially, as a result of folks within the college system do not be taught any of this historical past, it isn’t being adequately lined in these trainer coaching applications, it is usually relegated to the again burner. So then that creates this vicious cycle.

I spoke with greater than a dozen Asian-American educators throughout the nation. And one frequent thread was that every one of them needed to search out that data about their historical past as younger adults. They did not study Asian-American historical past as college students within the Ok-12 system. It wasn’t till school after they had the power to carve out their very own tutorial paths that they found all that historical past. And in an analogous vein, all of them spoke of how instructing that historical past now, as educators within the Ok-12 system, it includes an analogous course of of getting to be proactive, to hunt out instructing assets, to hunt out allies, to hunt out mentors.

Simply 2% of academics determine as Asian-American, and only a small proportion of these educators train social research or language arts, topic areas the place this historical past could be integrated. However these academics, though they are a small quantity, they’re coming collectively, particularly amid the wave of anti-Asian violence. This ongoing wave. With or with out laws, the academics I spoke with are doing every part they’ll to weave Asian-American historical past into their curriculum. Even when, as is usually the case, the requirements say nothing about that historical past. They’re utilizing Asian-American literature and music as examples of bigger ideas, or as a approach to complicate scholar’s understanding of historic occasions, resembling World Conflict II. They’re usually weaving in their very own private tales to show a lesson.

There’s rising curiosity amongst academics as a complete to be taught extra about Asian-American historical past and affect that data on their college students, and quite a few organizations are providing profess improvement and instructing assets. So we’re seeing mounting efforts to actually change the established order.

Taylor Wilson:

Yow will discover extra from Alia on Twitter @aliaemily.

♦

March Insanity is right here. The boys’s school basketball match play-in video games start at the moment. Sixteen seeds Texas A&M, Corpus Christi and Texas Southern will tip issues off at 6:40 Japanese time. Corpus Christi received the Southland Convention whereas Texas Southern received the Southwestern Athletic Convention. The winner will play primary seed, Kansas. Then the evening cap sees a battle of 12 seeds, Indiana and Wyoming at 9:10 Japanese. Neither group received their convention match, however are in as at-large bids. Awaiting this sport’s winner is No. 5 seed St Mary’s. And one other pair of play-in video games is about for tomorrow. You’ll be able to watch all 4 video games on truTV and streaming on NCAA.com.

And you will discover new episodes of 5 Issues, seven mornings per week proper right here, wherever you are listening proper now. Due to PJ Elliot for his nice work on the present. and I am again tomorrow with extra of 5 Issues from USA TODAY.