Russian state media is using Tucker Carlson, Mike Pompeo to bolster Putin’s moves in Ukraine
Catherine Garcia, Night editor – February 23, 2022
Mike Pompeo and Vladimir Putin. Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images
Russian state media personalities are lauding Russian President Vladimir Putin and his order to send troops to two separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, and using commentary from Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to further support his actions.
On Monday, Putin signed a decree recognizing two breakaway regions, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic, as independent, and said he would send troops there on a “peacekeeping” mission. The regions are in an area known as the Donbas, and Moscow claims the troops will protect people being oppressed by the Ukrainian government. Russia has supported rebels in the Donbas since 2014, and it’s estimated that about 14,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
The Associated Pressreports that on Russian state television and radio, Putin’s move on Monday was, unsurprisingly, immediately met with lavish praise by anchors and pundits. On Russia 1, political talk show host Olga Skabeyeva delivered a message on Tuesday to residents of the separatist regions, saying, “You paid with your blood for these eight years of torment and anticipation. Russia will now be defending Donbas.”
Vladimir Solovyev, host of a morning show on the state-funded radio station Vesti.FM, declared that “we will ensure their safety. It is now dangerous to fight with them … because one will now have to fight with the Russian army.” On Channel One, a correspondent in Donetsk said local residents shared that they finally have “confidence in the future and that the years-long war will finally come to an end.”
To further bolster Putin, Russian state media is sharing supportive commentary from his fans on the American right. Julia Davis, a columnist at The Daily Beast and a Russian media analyst, tweeted several clips on Tuesday and Wednesday of Carlson and Pompeo now making the rounds on Russia state media — RT published Carlson’s latest defense of Putin with Russian subtitles, as well as an article titled, “Tucker Carlson wonders why U.S. elites hate Putin,” while Channel One aired an interview with Pompeo where he praised Putin as “very shrewd” and “very capable,” adding, “I have enormous respect for him.”
There is some pushback coming from independent Russian news outlets, like the website Holod. Its reporters started the hashtag “I’m not staying silent,” and asked people to “express their opinion about the war aloud — and also to remember that each of us has something connecting us to Ukraine.” There were several dozen responses, AP reports, with Russians panning Putin’s decision to send troops to eastern Ukraine.
New NOAA report finds sea level is rising fast. NC is especially at risk.
Ned Barnett – February 23, 2022
Charlotte Observer/JOHN D. SIMMONS
In North Carolina, the worries about climate change often focus on more frequent storms with heavier rainfall, but a new federal report points to an equally potent danger – the seeping effect of sea level rise.
The report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) as part of a multi-agency project shows that sea levels along U.S. coastlines will rise, on average, by as much as a foot over the next 30 years – equal to the rise measured over the last century.
Rick Luettich, a UNC marine science professor who heads the Center for Natural Hazards Resilience, said the projection for 2050 “isn’t radically different than it was 10 years ago,” but “there is a lot of clarity to these numbers now.”
That means sea level change isn’t a case of scientists speculating on what might happen given various scenarios. The change is here and accelerating.
“This new report says this is real now and it’s going to be significant much earlier than 2100,” said Luettich.
The most noticeable effect will be more coastal flooding, even without storms. NOAA said in a summary of the report’s findings: “Sea level rise will create a profound shift in coastal flooding over the next 30 years by causing tide and storm surge heights to increase and reach further inland. By 2050, ‘moderate’ (typically damaging) flooding is expected to occur, on average, more than 10 times as often as it does today, and can be intensified by local factors.”
Flooding related to sea level rise will be more extensive in North Carolina because of its low coastal plain. As seawater seeps further inland, it will render land unusable for agriculture, impair fresh water sources and disrupt the effectiveness of septic systems.
“Salt water intrusion is a major concern for the viability of coastal areas for agriculture and septic function is much less viable if the water table rises,” Luettich said. “That’s the hidden consequence.”
“If this report is accurate, the current challenges we have with ongoing sea level rise along the coast will grow exponentially more difficult to handle,” Miller said. “This is not simply an issue of where the sea meets the land. A foot rise in sea level in 30 years means parts of our barrier islands will be severely eroded or disappear, Pamlico Sound and other barrier island protected sounds and estuaries will be transformed into unprotected bays, and estuarine shorelines and salt marshes along our mainland areas will erode dramatically and move inland.”
Sea level rise is a global problem with a global cause: rising emissions of greenhouse gases. While little can be done about the next few decades, a drop in emissions could lessen the long-term swamping of the coasts. The NOAA report projects that under current conditions, sea level could rise by 2 feet by the end of this century. But if emissions are not checked, the increase could be as much as 7 feet.
Orrin Pilkey, a Duke expert on coastal geology and director emeritus of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, has approached the threat of rising sea levels by calling for development to retreat from the beach and barrier islands. But that’s unlikely in North Carolina, given the large role of beach tourism and coastal real estate in the state’s economy. An alternative to retreating is stronger control over coastal development and more investment in infrastructure to limit flooding and protect freshwater supplies and wastewater systems.
Luettich said sea level change can be mitigated by lowering greenhouse gas emissions, but bringing that about involves an unknown that’s harder to predict. He said, “We understand the natural systems better than what people are going to do.“
Halting Nord Stream 2 leaves Russia with ‘a long-term vulnerability,’ Biden advisor says
February 23, 2022
Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics under the Biden Administration Daleep Singh joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the Biden administration’s first tranche of sanctions against Russia, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and the financial impacts stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Video Transcript
– Welcome back. You’re watching “Yahoo Finance Live.” And we continue to follow the potential economic fallout from Ukraine-Russia tensions. So let’s get more context on how the sanctions are working and what’s next.
I’m joined by Daleep Singh, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics under the Biden administration. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Now, we know the administration plans to impose sanctions on the company constructing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany following a similar move by Germany. What message does that send to Russia? And how damaging will that potentially be to Russia’s economy?
DALEEP SINGH: Good to be with you, Michele. Well, it means that we are serious about atrophying Russia’s power if he continues his aggression in Ukraine. You know, this was Putin’s prized natural gas pipeline that runs to Germany. He put $11 billion into this investment. It would have generated billions and billions of cash for Russia’s financial coffers.
And we’ve now, with the help of Germany, shut it down. And that means Europe is going to accelerate its diversification away from Russian energy. It also means that Russia is going to have a long-term vulnerability because it depends on oil and gas revenues to motor its growth. It’s 2/3 of Russia’s export revenues. It’s almost half of its budget revenues. So this is a serious blow to Putin. It’s just the beginning.
– And this certainly comes on top of the first tranche of sanctions that were already announced by the president targeting Russian banks and sovereign debt among others, still leaving room, though, to ramp up sanctions if needed. Now, how are you determining the effectiveness of the sanctions so far?
DALEEP SINGH: Yeah, well, first of all, we don’t judge the effect by one day. But if you look at the last three months when we started to signal exactly what kinds of costs we would impose, the effects are extremely serious. The Russian stock market is down almost 30% over that time period. The Russian currency has lost almost 15% of its value. And government borrowing rates in Russia have spiked well above 10%.
Now, over time– and looking back to 2014, this is not just an abstract expectation– what we’ll create is a negative feedback loop, a vicious feedback loop between capital outflows, a weaker currency, imported inflation, higher imported inflation, a hit to Russia’s purchasing power, lower investment, and lower growth. And the velocity of that negative feedback loop, it will be determined by Putin’s own choices, his escalation, not prescribed in advance by DC policymakers.
– So then as we look at this toolkit that the Biden administration has at its disposal, I want to talk about its use of the export administration regulations that do allow for the banning of foreign and domestic companies from exporting products to Russia. How do you see the administration potentially using this?
DALEEP SINGH: Yeah, this is an important tool in our toolkit. Much like financial sanctions, export controls deny something to Russia that it needs and that it can’t replace from anywhere else. In the case of export controls, we’re talking about critical technology inputs. In the case of financial sanctions, we’re talking about foreign capital. So when I say critical technology inputs, I’m talking about the foundational technologies of our time– artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, robotics, hypersonic flight.
In almost each of those cases, these technologies are designed, they’re produced, by the US or one of our allies and partners. And it’s not surprising. The West and open societies tend to be where innovation, entrepreneurship, and risk-taking flourish.
If we shut down those critical technology inputs, then President Putin has very little ability to diversify his economy outside of oil and gas. He has very limited ability to modernize his economy. He said himself he has strategic ambition to develop an aerospace sector, a modern defense sector, a high-tech sector. He can’t do that without these technologies.
– And so how does that work in concert with some of the efforts also then and the initiatives coming from allies and partners in Europe?
DALEEP SINGH: Yeah, it can only work in tandem with our allies and partners in Europe, but also in Asia. So take semiconductors. We know almost all of the leading-edge semiconductor chips are produced in Taiwan and Korea. And what this rule allows us to do is to move in lockstep with our European partners as well as our Asian partners.
And so that’s what shuts out– that’s what shuts out Russia from the critical technologies that it needs. China has been mentioned as a substitute. But if you look at each of those technologies, and you consider how much could China actually substitute, not just for what the US supplies, but also Europe and Asia, it’s a very small percentage of the total.
– So then how much of this ramping up could we expect in the next tranche of sanctions?
DALEEP SINGH: That’s up to President Putin. You know, this was the beginning of an invasion. And this was the beginning of our response. What I can tell you is that the cost could ratchet much higher. Yesterday, the financial sanctions we imposed on banks, on Russian banks, they had about $80 billion dollars in assets. If we were to take these measures on the two largest banks in Russia, you’re looking at $750 billion in assets. It’s almost 10 times higher.
We’ve yet to unveil any of these export controls that I just described. The sanctions that we placed on Russian elites, we had a list of five of them that we imposed sanctions on yesterday. There’s a much longer list of people in Russia who benefited from kleptocracy and gained from corruption at the expense of the Russian people. And now, they’re going to have to share in the pain of these sanctions.
– Now, as is always the case with sanctions, obviously the possibility of blowback. And we did see President Biden acknowledging that sanctions and possible retaliatory sanctions from Russia could impact American consumers, who are already dealing with record-high inflation. Now, we have seen that the US is eyeing a release from oil reserves as prices rise on Ukraine issues. What can Americans expect in terms of energy prices in the short to long term? And how are the supply chains being managed to try and lessen the blow?
DALEEP SINGH: Yeah, well, if you look at the linkages between the Russian economy and the US economy, the direct trade linkages are fairly modest. Russia’s our 26th largest goods trading partner. The financial linkages as well, they’re more significant, but they’re also contained. And investors have had years and years to reduce their exposures to Russia. It’s really in the energy markets where Russia has systemic importance– second-largest producer of natural gas in the world, third-largest producer of crude oil.
Let me make a few points here, though. Number one, none of our measures are designed to reduce Russia’s ability to supply crude oil to global markets. Number two, there’s been no supply disruption thus far from Russia as it relates to oil. Number three, it would be a terrible mistake for Russia to weaponize its oil supply. As I mentioned before, it depends on oil and gas revenues for its exports and for the Russian government’s budget revenues.
And number four– and this is really important– think of the counterfactual if we mounted no response to unchecked Russian aggression in the heart of Europe. This could be the largest land invasion in Europe in the post-Cold War era.
Think of the uncertainties it would cause if that occurred without any response from the West, the chilling effect it would cause, the questions that will be asked about which country is next and which autocrat, which bully was going to exert– was going to try to exert a sphere of influence somewhere else. Those costs would be much higher. And those are not costs we’re willing to tolerate.
– And it certainly is a balancing act between having these sanctions to try and calm things down versus perhaps pushing too far and seeing retaliation get further and further. But we did see that when it came to the annexation of Crimea, there were also tough sanctions put in place. But the annex– and the annexation did still happen. How do you respond to concerns that either the sanctions don’t go far enough or that they won’t be enough to stop President Putin from claiming these regions of Donetsk and Luhansk?
DALEEP SINGH: Well, people need to understand is that we follow a set of guiding principles when we think about sanctions. We’re not cowboys applying arbitrary and capricious sanctions to the rest of the world. They have to be– they have to be powerful enough to demonstrate our resolve. That’s important. But number two, they have to be responsible to avoid unwanted spillovers to the global economy.
Number three, they have to be– we believe they have to be coordinated. So we design them to maximize the chance of moving in lockstep with our partners. Number four, they have to be sustainable. Sanctions work over the long term. And lastly, they have to be flexible. They have to preserve our option to escalate or de-escalate depending on Putin’s choices.
– Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Daleep Singh, the Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics under the Biden administration, thank you for your update.
Arnold Schwarzenegger says he’s been 80% vegan the past 5 years and his ‘bad’ cholesterol is now so low his doctor thought he ‘might be a different person’
Gabby Landsverk – February 22, 2022
Arnold Schwarzenegger said he’d been mostly vegan for the past five years.
The bodybuilding champ said he ate about 80% plant-based food and it kept his cholesterol low.
He also said he had an occasional treat like a steak, which experts say can keep a diet sustainable.
The bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger said he’d been eating a mostly plant-based diet for the past five years and it significantly lowered his cholesterol.
Schwarzenegger said in a recent edition of his email newsletter that about 80% of what he ate was vegan. He said he made an occasional exception for steak or Austrian wiener schnitzel — leaving room for treats in your diet can help avoid restriction and help you stick to a diet long term, experts previously told Insider.
“My bad cholesterol number is so low that my doctor thought I might be a different person,” Schwarzenegger said in the newsletter.
Certain animal-based foods like fatty cuts of meat, processed meats like bacon and hot dogs, and dairy products like cheese are linked to higher cholesterol levels.
The U.S. Finally Cuts the Crap and Calls It a Russian Invasion
Emil Filtenborg, Stefan Weichert – February 22, 2022
LEONID SHCHEGLOV
ZOLOTE, Ukraine—Every building in the neighborhood of Zolote-3 near the front line in Eastern Ukraine is marked by war. Many have broken windows and bullet holes in the walls; others have been completely destroyed by eight years of Russian artillery fire.
The school—which has just seven students left—has attached wooden boards to the lower parts of the windows to protect the children from fragments of war.
“We are afraid—when we are home, if we have to go to work and if we are going shopping. We are afraid all the time. They can hit us at any time,” says schoolteacher Sveta, 46. “But I cannot leave, I don’t know where to go. I just want this war to end.”
But the conflict isn’t going to end anytime soon. It’s just getting started. And finally, White House officials who have dawdled over using the “I-word” are catching up to their European counterparts and calling the latest round of Russian aggression what it, in fact, is: the start of an invasion.
“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine… an invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway.” John Finer, deputy national security adviser to the Biden administration, said in a CNN appearance on Tuesday.
And with good reason, as Russian troops and military vehicles have been pouring into Ukraine since Monday night, after President Vladimir Putin gave a rambling ahistorical speech about Moscow’s right to control Ukraine, a nation he sees as part of a larger Russian empire.
Putin’s military now stretches into the regions of Eastern Ukraine that were already under the control of pro-Kremlin rebels who seized power in parts of Donbas at the height of the last incursion, which began in 2014.
The grandiose speech Putin gave from the Kremlin on Monday raises fears that his ambitions do not end there.
His main spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to confirm on Tuesday that Russia would “recognize” the broader regions claimed by the rebel areas even though they are currently controlled by Ukraine, although he refused to clarify.
If the Russian military was ordered to enter those areas, that would almost certainly mean a direct military confrontation with the Ukrainian armed forces. And now, Putin has officially won approval from the Federation Council to use Russia’s Armed Forces abroad.
Valentina Matviyenko, the head of the upper house of parliament, announced on Tuesday that Putin had requested permission from lawmakers to deploy troops abroad. She said the decision was based on the fact that “these will be peacekeeping troops aimed at bringing peace to the Donbas.” She went on to claim the troops would “create normal living conditions for people and ensure security.”
The Defense Ministry also spoke out in favor of sending troops abroad, saying: “Russia will take all available measures to eliminate threats to peace in the Donbas, the situation is intensifying, we must take residents of Donbas under our protection.”
“The Kremlin has taken another step towards the revival of the Soviet Union,” said Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who appeared to spend much of the past weeks tamping down Western expectations of an imminent invasion, responded to the arrival of Russian troops on his country’s soil by calling for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. He spoke with President Joe Biden over the phone and, even before the latest Russian escalation, he told leaders including Vice President Kamala Harris that they needed to take concrete action before a full invasion, demanding a shift away “from a policy of appeasement” in a speech at the Munich security conference on Saturday.
The United States, the European Union and Britain were set to announce new sanctions on Russia on Tuesday in response to Putin’s decision to formally recognize the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which are under the control of pro-Kremlin stooges but on sovereign Ukrainian land.
There was a debate raging over whether to unleash a full package of sanctions now or wait to see if a full invasion of Ukraine follows. By then, some argue, it may be too late.
On the ground in Eastern Ukraine, the population continues to wait as the movement of these great tectonic plates is broadcast on their televisions.
“Of course, I heard about Putin’s speech but I don’t know what to think. Ukrainian experts say that he will attack, Americans say something and Russians say something. I don’t know what to think. I really don’t. It is a war of politics, not a war between people here,” Andriy, 38, who works in a mine in Toretsk near the front line, told The Daily Beast.
“I will not evacuate if Russia invades. I didn’t do that back in 2014. I was scared back then, as I am now, but I will not evacuate. I will continue to work, scared, of course, but continue to work.”
The fear has been ratcheting up since late last week, when the local population described the shelling as becoming more and more intense.
It has become familiar over seven years of sporadic shelling and ceasefire violations that include machine-gun fire and mortar attacks, but you can never truly become accustomed to the onslaught. The sound bounces off buildings and the landscape, making it hard to locate. It reflects. Every shell comes as a surprise and your body shakes a little and you feel the pressure or shock wave from the blast—even from far away. As it comes closer, your brain starts to panic somehow, to wonder where it happens next.
In Zolote-3, the population used to stand at more than a thousand, but the relentless pressure of an enormous, hostile neighbor has seen it dwindle to just a few hundred, mainly pensioners. At the entrance to the school, a drawing warns children not to pick up anything suspicious and to keep away from dangerous places.
“Call 101,” says a drawing outside the school, teaching kids to call the authorities if they see something like an undetonated bomb.Emil Filtenborg/The Daily Beast
The OSCE reported 1,500 ceasefire violations on Saturday alone, leaving the teachers increasingly concerned. “The situation now is terrible. There have been so many shootings in the last three days,” said Sveta, over the weekend. “I cannot even go to work. Children just sit at home. We cannot let them go out.”
The Daily Beast was stopped in the city by 60-year-old Larysa, who stands at her balcony in an apartment block, which she says is almost abandoned.
“We have shootings every hour. Shootings and shootings. I can hear it all the time,” she says, “We don’t need that here. We want peace. We want things to be normal.”
Her neighbors have left, mainly to the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, Larysa explains. Her children and grandchildren have also left, and she feels abandoned.
“We want peace, we want peace, we want peace,” she says.
Larysa has faith in the Ukrainian President to provide peace, but she fears all-out war will break out.Emil Filtenborg/The Daily Beast
The neighborhood of Zolote-3 is part of a larger area named Zolote, which is divided into five parts. Zolote-5 is under the control of the Russian-backed separatists, and Zolote-4 is split in two right on the front line. In Zolote-1 and Zolote-2, a few miles from the front line, the locals also complain about the increased number of ceasefire violations.
They can hear mortar attacks frequently and feel the waves from the explosions. Like Zolote-3, they have also suffered from war and economic decay. People in these parts of Zolote are dependent on the local coal mine for jobs.
Pavel, 52, who doesn’t want to provide his last name, recently retired from working in the mines. He fears that it will soon close and leave everyone without work.
“Before the war, we lived peacefully and calmly,” says Pavel, who served in the Soviet Army in his younger years and says he doesn’t have a negative view of Russia. “Back then, we were one country, one people, and now we are divided and we are only ruins.”
He says that what he experiences now is “brothers going against brothers” and that there isn’t anything worse than that. Such a war is “scary,” he says.
Russian troops are now stationed just a few miles from his home. A British Cabinet minister warned Tuesday: “The invasion of Ukraine has begun.”
Zelensky said Kyiv would not accept Russia’s de facto land grab in Donbas. “We are on our land, we are not afraid of anything and anyone, we don’t owe anything to anyone, and we will not give away anything to anyone,” he said in a televised address Tuesday morning.
The president added that Ukraine’s international borders will “remain as such” regardless of Russia’s “declarations and threats.”
Nina Vasilievna, 72, said the latest mortar attack on Zolote was so close to her that her balcony was trembling. She, however, said that she wasn’t afraid.
“There was no panic for me. My hope is in the Lord. He provides calm. People without God are, of course, in a panic. In fear. But my hope is in the Lord. If it were not for God, I would also be in a panic,” she told The Daily Beast.
“Children in Russia are also panicking. My daughter and my granddaughter say, ‘Come on Mom, come on. We’re going away’, but I’ve already been here for eight years. Even while Russia took the city [in 2014]. I will stay here,” she says.
A neutral Ukraine could shatter Putin’s claims on the former Soviet republic | Opinion
AJ Morris – February 22, 2022
In the early years of his ongoing 24-year run as the leader of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin once mused that, “Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever does has no head.”
Whether this quip is an intentional play on a similar line by French statesman Francois Guizot in 1830 is unclear, but it serves to provide us with an irony-soaked window into Putin’s geopolitical worldview.
As Putin places his armed forces yet again on the borders of Ukraine and into the middle of the first crisis of 2022, things certainly feel like Cold War 2.0. One wonders, “Where is Putin’s head?”
Why Putin wants Ukraine in his fold
A glance around Russia’s periphery might help us understand.
Dave Granlund cartoon Putin Ukraine
The Eurasian Economic Union is not exactly a nightly topic on Western cable news. But since its formation in 2015, it has grown into the 10th largest economy in the world. The member states are all former members of the Soviet Union, anchored by three key players: Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
It may not have the heart of the Soviet Union, but Putin’s new bloc has all the same resources. What’s missing in this “RUBK” cube, as author Austin Bay calls it, is the “U.” Ukraine’s addition to the EEU would transform the EEU into a major world economic power. Ukraine has industry and agriculture the other pieces of the cube lack.
Unfortunately for Putin, the Ukrainian people remember the days of the Soviet Union very well. They remember the famine of 1932 and the millions of deaths that followed. They have made it clear since 2014 that they prefer not to invite the spiritual successor of the hammer and sickle back.
Putin needs Ukraine to complete his economic powerhouse. He seems prepared to take it by force and, as his predecessor Boris Yeltsin once put it, “sit on a throne of bayonets.” Ukraine seems to have few options.
Here’s what Ukraine can do
A NATO membership is one option. Joining the alliance comes with serious commitments for Ukraine, however, and would create a major point of direct geostrategic friction between Russia and the alliance.
Diplomacy is an art of give and take, of being heard but also hearing. Russia claims its military buildup is over concerns about Ukraine being included in NATO and about NATO aggression. Ukraine says it is concerned about (further) Russian invasion and violation of its sovereignty. Perhaps a neutral Ukraine is the answer.
Ukraine has traditionally been a bridge between East and West. Let it continue to be. If Switzerland and Austria can be neutral countries on the European stage, why not Ukraine?
A treaty that establishes a neutral Ukraine takes it out of contention for all parties and allows Ukraine to remain sovereign. It would also allow Putin to save face for his troop buildup while simultaneously removing the pretext he needs for military action. A neutral Ukraine doesn’t fit into Putin’s “RUBK” cube.
If Putin will not accept a treaty of neutrality and decides to take Ukraine or a part of it by force, make it abundantly clear that this means the absolute end of Russian economic ties to the continent. In addition to sanctions, perhaps full-on embargoes of Russian gas and oil should be considered as a deterrence measure. Give soft power the teeth it needs to work so that kinetic power doesn’t have to.
The punchline of Yeltsin’s quote about a throne of bayonets is that “you can’t sit on it for long.” There is still time to keep from finding out.
AJ Morris, a Jackson, Tennessee native. is a captain in the United States Army. His opinions are strictly his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Department of Defense.
Russia ‘will be more isolated than ever’ from the world, strategist says
Brian Sozzi, Anchor, Editor-at-Large – February 22, 2022
Russia’s actions against Ukraine may lead it to being even more isolated from the rest of the world, which could have damaging effects on its economy, warns one veteran policy strategist.
“They will be more isolated than ever. Countries will not want to do deals with them. I think the pariah label will stick for quite a while,” said Greg Valliere, AGF chief U.S. policy strategist, on Yahoo Finance Live.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of Russian troops to two breakaway regions of Ukraine. The move — seen by the West as a provocation — came after Putin recognized their independence.
Countries wasted no time implementing fresh sanctions on Russia, providing a taste of what could happen economically should Putin invade Ukraine.
Pro-Ukraine demonstrators hold flags and placards during a demonstration in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin on February 22, 2022, following Russia’s recognition of eastern Ukrainian separatists. – Russia faced a furious global diplomatic and economic backlash after President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces into Ukraine to secure two breakaway regions. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP) (Photo by JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)
“I think that much of Europe would continue to view Putin with great anxiety,” added Valliere.
U.S. President Joe Biden will impose new sanctions on trade and financing in the two territories recognized by Putin, CNN reported.
Biden is expected to address the situation in public remarks today at 2:00 p.m. ET.
All three major stock indexes fell as traders assessed how the situation will impact energy markets and Fed policy. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite fell the most by afternoon trading, off by about 1%.
“The global economic fallout could be contained if subsequent sanctions on traded goods and services from Russia stay limited. Russia is a major exporter of energy and industrial metals like platinum, palladium, titanium, nickel, and aluminum, as well as grains. However, any sanctions on these commodities and products would likely lead to upward inflationary pressure in markets, where inflation is already at multi-decade highs,” explained Truist co-chief investment officer Keith Lerner.
Fiona Hill says that Trump emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine by treating the country like a ‘playground’
Tom Porter – February 21, 2022
Fiona Hill, former top Russia advisor to the White House, gives testimony in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump in November 2019.Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Fiona Hill criticized Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy, especially regarding Russia.
Hill said Trump’s policies sent the message to Putin that Ukraine is a “playground.”
Her comments come as the US warns that Russia is about to invade Ukraine.
The former White House Russia advisor, Fiona Hill, said that President Donald Trump’s foreign policy emboldened Russia to the point where it feels it can invade Ukraine.
In an interview with CNN, Hill, an expert on Russia who advised Trump, addressed the contrasts between Trump’s approach to foreign policy and President Joe Biden’s.
She said Trump’s foreign policy had not been driven by concern about the US national interest, but by personal interests and impulses.
“There’s no Team America for Trump,” Hill said. “Not once did I see him do anything to put America first. Not once. Not for a single second.”
Hill recalled Trump’s praise for Russia’s authoritarian leader, Vladimir Putin, as well as his disdain for NATO. She also mentioned his campaign to pressure Ukraine for manufactured dirt about Biden in the run-up to the 2020 election. The Ukraine pressure campaign saw Trump threaten to withhold military aid from the nation, which led to his first impeachment.
“All this did was say to Russia that Ukraine was a playground,” Hill said, drawing a direct line to events today, as Russia has amassed a huge military force around Ukraine, prompting fears in the US and European countries that a military strike is imminent.
Hill said in the CNN interview that Biden had managed to pull NATO allies together for a display of resolve in the face of Russian aggression, but warned that the crisis would likely drag on for some time, as Russia seeks to slowly exert pressure on Ukraine.
“The real challenge is keeping everyone together for a considerable period,” Hill concluded. “It’s going to go on a long time.”
Trump Dubs Putin’s Ukraine Strategy A Work Of ‘Genius’
Sara Boboltz – February 22, 2022
Former President Donald Trump gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a bizarre rave review on Tuesday after Russian military forces began moving into Ukraine and threatening its civilians ― while simultaneously claiming nothing like that would have ever happened under his administration.
Trump appeared in awe of Putin during an interview on a right-wing talk radio program broadcast from Tennessee. He described watching the Monday evening news after Putin declared two sections of Ukraine to be independent and ordered Russian troops to storm the regions for alleged “peacekeeping” purposes.
“I said, ‘This is genius,’” Trump recalled. “Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine ― Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”
“So, Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent.’ A large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force,” Trump said.
“We could use that on our southern border,” he added, before continuing with his praise. “That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy.”
“I know him very well. Very, very well,” Trump said. The fondness that Trump displayed for the Russian strongman over the course of his presidency and beyond has continued to baffle even some in his own party.
The White House explicitly called Putin’s move an “invasion” on Tuesday after weeks of tension between Russia and Ukraine and its Western allies. Russia began chipping away at Ukraine’s borders in 2014, and more than 14,000 people have died ― including about 3,300 civilians ― since Russian-backed separatists began clashing with Ukrainian forces.
“Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territories that belong to his neighbors?” Biden said from the White House.
Trump, after heaping praise on the Russian leader, claimed that he would have somehow been able to prevent the buildup of military forces from escalating into action.
“By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office ― not even thinkable. This would never have happened,” he said, having already repeated his false assertion that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged.”
Putin has said that pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine should control a much larger part of the country than they already do, offering a hint at his intentions in the region.
The White House’s new sanctions target two major Russian banks and powerful Russian individuals, with Biden leaving the door open to more measures if needed.
Here are key things to understand about the pipeline:
WHAT IS NORD STREAM 2?
It’s a 1,230-kilometer-long (764-mile-long) natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, running from Russia to Germany’s Baltic coast.
It runs parallel to an earlier Nord Stream pipeline and would double its capacity, to 110 billion cubic meters of gas a year. It means Gazprom can send gas to Europe’s pipeline system without using existing pipelines running through Ukraine and Poland.
The pipeline has been filled with gas but had been awaiting approval by Germany and the European Commission.
HOW IS SCHOLZ BLOCKING THE PIPELINE?
Germany’s utility regulator was reviewing the pipeline for compliance with European regulations on fair competition. It’s that approval process that Scholz said Tuesday that he was suspending.
Germany was required to submit a report on how the pipeline would affect energy security, and Scholz said that report was being withdrawn.
WHY IS SCHOLZ TAKING ACTION NOW?
Scholz, who took power in December, backed the project as finance minister for his predecessor, Angela Merkel, and his Social Democratic Party supported it. As Russia massed troops near Ukraine’s border, Scholz avoided referring to Nord Stream 2 specifically even as U.S. officials said it would not move forward if Russia invaded.
But Scholz warned that Russia would face “severe consequences” and that sanctions must be ready ahead of time. Germany had agreed with the U.S. to act against Nord Stream 2 if Russia used gas as a weapon or attacked Ukraine.
The chancellor said Tuesday that Russia recognizing the independence of rebel-held areas in Ukraine marked a “serious break of international law” and that it was necessary to “send a clear signal to Moscow that such actions won’t remain without consequences.”
Nord Stream 2 would offer an alternative to Ukraine’s aging system that Gazprom says needs refurbishment, lower costs by saving transit fees paid to Ukraine, and avoid episodes like brief 2006 and 2009 gas cutoffs over price and payment disputes between Russia and Ukraine.
Europe is a key market for Gazprom, whose sales support the Russian government budget. Europe needs gas because it’s replacing decommissioned coal and nuclear plants before renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are sufficiently built up.
WHY IS THE U.S. AGAINST NORD STREAM 2?
The White House was in “close consultations with Germany” and welcomed their announcement, press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted Tuesday.
The U.S., European NATO allies such as Poland, and Ukraine have opposed the project going back before the Biden administration, saying it increases Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and gives Russia the possibility of using gas as a geopolitical weapon. Europe imports most of its gas and gets roughly 40% of its supply from Russia.
The pipeline, which went forward under Merkel, has been an irritant in U.S.-German relations. Biden waived sanctions against the pipeline’s operator when it was almost complete in return for an agreement from Germany to take action against Russia if it used gas as a weapon or attacks Ukraine.
In Congress, Republicans and Democrats — in a rare bit of agreement — have long objected to Nord Stream 2.
WILL SUSPENDING NORD STREAM 2 MAKE EUROPEANS FREEZE THIS WINTER?
No. Even before Scholz’s move, regulators made clear the approval process could not be completed in the first half of the year. That means the pipeline was not going to help meet heating and electricity needs this winter as the continent faces a gas shortage.
The winter shortage has continued to feed concerns about relying on Russian gas. Russia held back from short-term gas sales — even though it fulfilled long-term contracts with European customers — and failed to fill its underground storage in Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the shortage underlines the need to quickly approve Nord Stream 2, increasing concerns about Russia using gas to gain leverage over Europe.
COULD RUSSIA CUT OFF GAS TO EUROPE IN RETALIATION?
While Europe needs Russian gas, Gazprom also needs the European market. That interdependence is why many think Russia won’t cut off supplies to Europe, and Russian officials have underlined they have no intention to do that.
Meanwhile, the Ukraine crisis, on top of the winter shortage, is has already given European governments more reason to find their gas somewhere else, such as through liquefied natural gas, or LNG, brought by ship from the U.S., Algeria and other places.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, tweeted his displeasure after Germany suspended Nord Stream 2: “Welcome to the brave new world where Europeans are very soon going to pay 2,000 euros for 1.000 cubic meters of natural gas!”
The spot market gas price in Europe was 829 euros ($940) per thousand cubic meters Tuesday. It was 1,743 euros (nearly $2,000) in late December amid jitters over the Ukraine crisis, and prices have since fallen as Europe has secured more LNG.
Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Geir Moulson and Frank Jordans in Berlin, and Lisa Mascaro and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed.
