text: RUSSIAN OIL BAN THIS WEEK: France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune believes Hungary will stop blocking bans on Russian oil and gas imports. “I think that there will be an agreement this week. We are working non-stop. And there is no doubt that it is only a question of days,” he said. (AC: While the “ban” may come out this week, it is a multi-year process to phase out Russian energy imports. Without a substantial revitalization of U.S. production, our ability to “bridge the gap” and provide energy to Europe is limited at best. Liquified natural gas terminals in Germany are under “rapid approval” but will take several years to complete due to Germany’s burdensome regulatory environment. – D.M.)MACRON URGES ‘EUROPEAN COMMUNITY’: French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing for a “European Community” to include Russia and other disaffected nations. He believes the current European Union concept isn’t primed for expansion, and “we all know perfectly well that the process of allowing them [Ukraine] to join would take several years, in truth doubtless several decades… This new European organization would allow democratic European nations … to find a new space for political cooperation, security, cooperation in energy, transport, investment, infrastructure, [and] the movement of people.” (AC: Proposing an alternative to the EU, NATO, or other international organization provides malign actors new avenues to exploit. Future “diplomatic leagues” may not carry the same weight or uniting authority and are likely to be actively undermined by prospective members like Russia. For China’s part, a new Western league could pressure Beijing into rolling out its own diplomatic alternative. – D.M.)DOMESTIC INTSUMBUILD BACK BABY STEPS: Senate Democrats continue internal negotiations for renewed domestic spending. The latest $150-200 billion in the Senate childcare package includes $72 billion more for childcare grants, $18 billion for pre-K programs, and $12 billion for Head Start teacher pay. (AC: The bill is written to disperse these funds over six years, lowering the topline dollar amount, potentially bringing Senators Manchin and Sinema to a “yes” vote on more Build Back Better legislation. Democrats will use this bill to appeal to suburban women who trend toward supporting increased federal education funding in November’s midterms. – D.M.)CDC TRACKING OUTBREAK OF UNKNOWN HEPATITIS IN CHILDREN: The CDC has announced it is tracking more than 100 cases of acute hepatitis (liver Inflammation) that has killed five children in the United States and required hospitalization of 90% of those infected. This announcement comes on the heels of a CDC alert on 21 April regarding the first nine U.S. cases of the illness. The World Health Organization reports outbreaks in 20 countries, including more than 163 cases in the United Kingdom, with the CDC reporting cases in 24 states as well as Puerto Rico. U.S. and UK officials have stated there is no evidence of a link between COVID Vaccination and the Hepatic Syndrome, citing many of the affected were too young to have received the vaccine. The cause of the hepatitis outbreak remains unknown but current working theories suggest that a strain of Adenovirus may be related to the illness as it has been present in approximately half of the known cases. (AC: Adenoviruses are a family of common viruses that typically cause pink eye and mild cold- or flu-like illness but are not known to cause hepatitis in healthy children. The rapid growth of cases coupled with a high hospitalization rate and high incidence of resulting transplants in a pediatric population are clinically significant in a previously unknown acute hepatic illness. This is a cause for growing concern as no significant epidemiological link or common exposures have yet been found among those infected. – R.P.)LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT INTSUMAtlanta, GAActivity: Defend the Forest coordinates a Stop Cop City March to demand the cessation of construction of the police training facility in the Atlanta Forest.