Captured Asian American veteran released by Russia

Former POW Andy Huynh is back home in Alabama with his fiancee Joy Black.

The Asian American soldier captured by the Russians in Ukraine is back home in the United States.

Andy Huynh and Alexander Drueke, two US military veterans who were captured by Russian forces while fighting with Ukrainian forces last June, returned to Alabama last Saturday.

The pair's release was a part of a prisoner-of-war exchange between Russia and Ukraine reportedly negotiated by Saudi Arabia.

As volunteers and fighting in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion made up with foreign fighters, Drueke, 40, and Huynh, 27, had gone missing June 9 in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine near the Russian border. The Alabama residents were released as part of a prisoner exchange. The pair had traveled to Ukraine on their own and bonded as fellow Alabamans. a

“We ended up being captured together and that’s a bond you don’t break,” said Huynh.

“At the moment of capture of capture, I felt fear and I was scared,” Huynh explained.

Although, he won't be returning to Ukraine, Huynh wants to continue to ado something to help Ukrainians keep their independence.

“It’s still surreal to me and I’m slowly but surely readjusting — getting more comfortable and just enjoying life really,” said Huynh.

“Honestly, it’s still surreal. It’s going to take time to adjust,” Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” Monday evening.

“But overall, I’m very happy to be with Joy,” he said of his fiancée, Joy Black. “I missed her every day when I was in captivity. But nonetheless, I’m very happy.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Russian state media airs video showing Vietnamese American soldier missing in Ukraine

SCREEN CAPTURE OF RUSSIAN VIDEO

Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh

The two missing American veterans believed to have been captured by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine appeared in propaganda videos aired on a Russian TV network.

Videos of Alabama residents Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh and Alexander Drueke are apparently still alive but the videos confirmed that the two Americans had been captured during a botched mission as members of a unit made up primarily of foreign soldiers who volunteered to fight on behalf of Ukraine against the Russian invaders.

Lois Drueke, Drueke's mother, said the U.S. State Department had not officially confirmed the authenticity of the video of her son, but she said, "We think it's Alex -- it looks like him (and) it sounds like him.

“Just seeing him move, just hearing his voice, gives us great hope," she added. "I don’t want to get my hopes up too much, but it does seem to be him.”

Russian media described the two men as "mercenaries." In the videos, they denounced the "propaganda" and "exaggerated facts" from Western media that misled them to volunteer their services for Ukraine.

In the 37-second video, Huynh, a Vietnamese American former Marine, described their capture and was due to bad intelligence reports that said the Russians had left the area. In the video, he said in Russian, "I am against war."

Views from the Edge is not showing the videos because the blog does not want to sensationalize the situation of potential prisoners of war or to play into the hands of the captors.

Huynh's fiance's mother, Darla Joy Black, described Huynh as a man with a "big heart" who felt compelled to help Ukrainians after seeing the brutal war that ensued following Russia’s invasion in February.

"When he saw the news coverage of what was happening in Ukraine it tore him up," she said. "He couldn’t sleep or eat, he felt so burdened that these people needed help."

Although Russian state media broadcast the videos, the U.S. State Report still says the reports are "unconfirmed," but continue to monitor and reach out to Ukraine authorities to find out the fate of the missing Americans.

President Biden has been following the issue. He repeated his warning asking Americans to avoid traveling to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the search for a third American is continuing for retired Marine captain Grady Kurpasi, who served 12 years in the Marine Corps. .

All three Americans have been fighting in behalf of Ukraine only a few months before they were reported missing in combat. They represent a growing number of foreign ex-soldiers from several nations who have traveled to Ukraine to join the fight against the invading Russians.

Russian forces continue their assault on Ukraine's cities in in the country's eastern provinces. For the most part, Ukrainian forces have held the numerically superior forces but Western sources say that Ukraine's army is suffering hundreds of casualties every day, depleting the fighting forces.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Vietnamese American soldier may have been captured in Ukraine

Alexander Drueke, left, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh are reported missing in Ukraine.

A former U.S. Marine, Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, left his Alabama home is missing and feared captured by pro-Russian forces in Ukraine.

Huynh, along with fellow Alabama veterans Alexander Drueke, may be the first two American prisoners of war in Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

News services and the U.S. State Department have been unable to confirm the capture of the two Americans, but a Russian social media posting claiming two American fighters have been captured coincided with the reports the soldiers were missing.

The State Department released a statement on Wednesday saying it was “aware of unconfirmed reports” of the two U.S. citizens being captured in Ukraine. “We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with Ukrainian authorities,” the statement read. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”

The two Americans had volunteered to fight on behalf of Ukraine and were reportedly members of a unit made up of foreign fighters.

Huynh, 27, served in the U.S. Marines, and Alexander Drueke, 39, is a veteran of the war in Iraq.

The two soldiers were reported missing while engaging the Russians in a battle in Kharkiv last week, according to The Telegraph.

Before he went to join the fight, Huynh was making wedding plans with his fiancée, Joy Black, reports CBS.

"He just had such a burden on his heart to go and help these people in need," she told CBS. "I'm really hoping that we can get some answers and find out where Andy and Alex are and get them home, because that's all I want, is [him] to be back, back safely. I just want to know where he is."

Neither Black or Huynh's Vietnamese American family have heard from the Tuscaloosa resident in over a week.

Follow the Ukraine war from an AAPI perspective

National Public Radio has sent Tim Mak to Ukraine as part of its news team.

OPINION

It is hard to imagine anyone is feeling detached from the news coming out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but I imagine there are quite a few who still are wondering what it all means to the all-important "me."

On a macro-scale, the war being waged there could determine the future of democracy throughout the world. Free nations -- officially and unofficially -- sending supplies and weapons to the Ukrainians, uniting against Russia's aggression.

On the more human level individual stories are heartbreaking and inspirational at the same time: the anguish of family separations, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the fighting leaving behind homes and the invalid, a text message from a Russian soldier bewildered at being called a fascist, to his mother moments before he was killed, old men and teenagers after seeing to the safety of their family,  are heading back into the fray, being given assault rifles to fight off the invaders .

Following the war from afar is made more difficult because the disinformation campaign from both sides, clutter up the Internet. Seasoned journalists, forced to meet deadlines, are reporting the rumors with caveats to their veracity, making it difficult to find reliable news sources.

But if you want that AAPI angle, (because we are everywhere and we are as professional as anybody else), I've been following the Twitter account of journalist Tim Mak is a good start -- @timkmak. He's on the ground traveling throughout Ukraine, reporting online and filing stories.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: If you are aware of any other AAPI journos who are in Ukraine, let the Twitterverse know about them. #RepresentationMatters.)

Mak is an Investigative Correspondent for National Public Radio, where he has worked since 2018. In that role, he focuses on accountability journalism and enterprise reporting. He appears regularly on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

For 13 years, he has covered politics, national security, Congress and nonprofit organizations. During that time, he has worked for a variety of publications, including The Daily Beast and Politico. His foreign reporting has taken him to South Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Japan and Hong Kong.

Mak's feature writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and the L.A. Times, among other prominent outlets.

His first book, published November 2021, is titled 'Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA.'

Mak holds a B.A. from McGill University, where he graduated as valedictorian. He is also a former EMT who worked on the front lines of the COVID pandemic. Let's hope he doesn't have to put his EMT skills to use.

EDITOR'S NORE: For more commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

Journalists called to task for demonstrating bias as they compare Ukraine with other war-torn nations

SCREEN CAPTURE

CBS reporter Charlie D'Agata apologizes for his biased statements.

White journalists covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine need to keep their privilege and biases at home.

The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) calls on all news organizations to be mindful of implicit and explicit bias in their coverage of war in Ukraine.

Since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine, AMEJA has tracked several examples of racist news coverage that ascribes more importance to some victims of war over others.

On Feb. 26, during a CBS News segment, correspondent Charlie D’Agata commented:

“But this isn't a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European — I have to choose those words carefully, too — city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.”

Since he made his remarks and people around the world criticized the bias in his choice of words, D'Agata, who has been a CBS reporter for two decades, issued an apology.

“I spoke in a way I regret and for that I’m sorry,” he said. The reporter went on to say that what he was trying to communicate was that Ukraine had not experienced “this scale of war” in recent years, unlike other countries.

He added: “You should never compare conflicts anyway, each one is unique. I used a poor choice of words and I apologise for any offense I may have caused.”

D'Agata's comments sparked an uproar on social media, with people pointing out that Iraq was once the "cradle of civilization" because ancient Mesopotamia is where the world's first cities emerged. Additionally, Ukraine has seen war and conflict almost as much as any other nation, with the Russian annexation of Crimea taking place less than a decade ago.

D'Agata isn't the only reporter to demonstrate his implicit bias. The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) issued a call to all news organizations to be mindful of implicit and explicit bias in their coverage of war in Ukraine.

In only the last few days, the organization have tracked examples of racist news coverage besides D'Agata, that ascribes more importance to some victims of war over others.

Daniel Hannan, of The Telegraph wrote: “They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking. War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone.”

Al Jazeera English anchor Peter Dobbie said:

“What's compelling is, just looking at them, the way they are dressed, these are prosperous…I’m loath to use the expression… middle class people. These are not obviously refugees looking to get away from areas in the Middle East that are still in a big state of war. These are not people trying to get away from areas in North Africa. They look like any European family that you would live next door to.”

“We’re not talking here about Syrians fleeing the bombing of the Syrian regime backed by Putin, we’re talking about Europeans leaving in cars that look like ours to save their lives.” Philippe Corbé, BFM TV, reported.

AMEJA condemns and categorically rejects orientalist and racist implications that any population or country is “uncivilized” or bears economic factors that make it worthy of conflict, wrote the journalists' organization.

This type of commentary reflects the pervasive mentality in Western journalism of normalizing tragedy in parts of the world such as the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. It dehumanizes and renders their experience with war as somehow normal and expected, said the AMEJA statement.

Newsrooms must not make comparisons that weigh the significance or imply justification of one conflict over another — civilian casualties and displacement in other countries are equally as abhorrent as they are in Ukraine.

Not only can such coverage "decontextualize" conflicts, says AMEJA, but it contributes to the erasure of populations around the world who continue to experience violent occupation and aggression.

In order to prevent such explicit bias, AMEJA calls on newsrooms to train correspondents on the cultural and political nuances of regions they’re reporting on, and not rely on American- or Euro-centric biases. Inaccurate and disingenuous comparisons only serve to inflame stereotypes and mislead viewers, and they ultimately perpetuate prejudicial responses to political and humanitarian crises.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

The Impeachment Proceedings: The immigrants strike back

Marie Yovanovich, left, and Fiona Hill.

Three immigrants -- three patriots -- three public servants who chose to work for the good of their adopted country, gave powerful, compelling testimony this week in the impeachment hearings.

As an immigrant myself, Donald Trump's policies trying to limit immigration to the US is personal. So I was struck by the irony that these public servants, who have served both Democratic and Republican Presidents, gave testimony that blasted holes into the Republican defense of Trump's attempt to bribe Ukraine leaders with US military aid.

• Marie Yovanovich, The former Ambassador to the Ukraine, daughter of refugees from the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, that’s who. An immigrant, no less, who earned her citizenship.

• Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the White House's Russian expert, who as a young boy fled Russia with his family, to start over in a country that offered a better life. He earned a Purple Heart during his service in a war zone.

• Fiona Hill, the National Security Council expert and adviser on Russia who has written a book on Vladimir Putin. She was born a coal-miner's daughter from northern England and fulfilled her family's dream of becoming an American.

Despite pressure from the White House to block government employees from testifying in the House hearings to determine whether there are grounds for impeaching Donald Trump, these US citizens put Republicans on the defensive.

Yovanovich, the anti-corruption former Ambassador to the Ukraine and who was summarily recalled by the State Department, was attacked by Trump while she was testifying. She said she felt threatened and Trump's tweet/threat is being seen as witness tampering and possibly providing another reason for impeachment.

Even before Lt. Col. Vindman's gave his damning testimony, he was being smeared by the Trump synchophants, causing Rep. Krishnamoorthi to say, “I’m concerned” the smears are coming against you “because you’re an immigrant,” said Krishnamoorthi, referring to questions about him since he immigrated from USSR at a young age. “I assume you are as proud as being an American as I am,” Krishnamoorthi said, choking up
During her testimony in Thursday's impeachment inquiry hearings, Hill also called out GOP attacks against Yovanovich and Vindman. Her message, delivered in her clipped no-nonsense British accent had me cheering. "I think it's very unfortunate," she said. "This is a country of immigrants ... Everyone immigrated to the United States at some point in their family history. This is what, for me, really does make America great," she said. "I know for a fact that every single one of my colleagues — and there were many naturalized citizens in my office and across the National Security Council — felt exactly the same way. I think it's deeply unfair."

But Vindman didn't need anyone to stand up for him. He gave a moving opening statement, recalling his family's journey to the US.

“When my father was 47 years old, he left behind his entire life and the only home he had ever known to start over in the United States so that his three sons could have better, safer lives,” Vindman told the committee. “His courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brothers and myself and instilled in us a sense of duty and service. All three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. Our collective military service is a special part of our family’s story in America.”

In Russia, Vindman said, his “act of expressing my concerns to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe personal and professional repercussions and offering public testimony involving the president would surely cost me my life.”

SCREEN CAPTURE / MSNBC

LT. COL. ALEXANDER VINDMAN

“Dad, my sitting here today, in the US Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision forty years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family,” Vindman said in the closing moments of his statement.

“Do not worry. I will be fine for telling the truth.”

For Yovanovich, who has been in the foreign service for 33 years, "My service is an expression of gratitude for all that this country has given my family and me. My late parents did not have the good fortune to come of age in a free society. My father fled the Soviets before ultimately finding refuge in the United States. My mother’s family escaped the USSR after the Bolshevik revolution, and she grew up stateless in Nazi Germany, before eventually making her way to the United States. Their personal histories—my personal history—gave me both deep gratitude towards the United States and great empathy for others—like the Ukrainian people—who want to be free." 
Hill also set Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee back on their heels in her opening statement when she admonished them for playing right into the hands of Russian President Putin.

“Some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country, and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did,” Hill said. “This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves. The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our intelligence agencies confirmed in bipartisan congressional reports. It is beyond dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified."

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