Update on John Eastman: A judge rejected another stall from the lawyer who helped Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) in his failed attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election on January 6 by falsifying the electoral college votes. A March 8 hearing will not be postponed, and the House investigatory committee will not be required to provide “exculpatory” evidence. The judge informed Eastman that the committee already told him it may invoke the “crime-fraud exception” requiring him to release the emails.
A Russian plane has landed at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. to pick up 13 expelled Russian spies. It had to follow this flight pattern because Russia cannot fly over EU airspace.
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Steve Daines (R-MT) jeopardized the life of Russian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday by sharing photos of him in real time during a Zoom meeting. According to Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), the Ukrainian Ambassador asked everyone not to share anything on social media to protect Zelensky’s security. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a former Army Ranger, tweeted, “If an embattled wartime leader asks you to keep quiet about a meeting, you better keep quiet about the meeting…. Lives are at stake.” Michael Steele, former RNC chair, wrote, “Why would you risk his safety for a tweet?” Thus far, Zelensky has escaped at least three Russian assassination plots after being warned by anti-invasion Russians from Federal Security Service or FSB.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s promise of a five-hour “humanitarian corridor” permitting Mariupol and Volnovakha civilians to evacuate disappeared, and Russians continue shelling the cities. Ukraine’s southeastern port city of Mariupol, population 447,000, is cut off with no food, water, electricity, and heat. Leveling cities is a typical strategy Russia uses to take over countries. Earlier Russia captured Kherson, an economic hub of 290,000 along the Black Sea and the Dnieper River after the mayor made a deal. Almost 3,000 protesters gathered, despite Russian ruling that no more than two people gather together outdoors.
Ukraine has taken back control of Bucha, a northwest city of 37,000 population. (Left: a Bucha street with destroyed Russian vehicles.) Russians also failed to take the nearby city of Irpin with 60,000. Late Friday, the 40-mile Russian convoy was stalled 15 miles from Kyiv. Ukraine delayed them by blowing up a key bridge and attacking vehicles in the convoy. In an extremely rare occurrence, a sniper killed Russian major general, Andrei Sukhovetsky, in Ukraine, called a “major demotivator” for Russia. He was the commanding general of the Russian 7th Airborne Division.
Putin’s new law makes “fake” news (actually facts) about the Russian invasion—officially called “special military operation,”—punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Those who publicly call for sanctions can be fined with sentences up to three years in prison or a 1.5 million ruble fine (about $12,000 at this time) for “disseminating “false information.” Using an “official position” to spread this “false information” increases prison time to five to ten years and up to 5 million rubles fine. Imprisonment will be 10 to 15 years “if fake information caused serious consequences.” Foreign media outlets including BBC, Voice of America, and Deutsche Welle are blocked in Russia as are Twitter and Facebook. Bloomberg and CNN no longer broadcast from Russia. Citing “free speech,” Elon Musk plans to continue broadcasting false Russian propaganda on his satellite network Starlink.
Ian Garner, authority in Russia culture, wrote that the target of Putin’s message is his own country, but it looks “more like World War I—a detached imperial tsar directing his troops in an abstract war against imperial opposition.” He continued that not “even the most war-hungry Russians are buying into Putin’s World War II cosplay dreams.” As in the 1990s, older Russians watch and believe Putin’s state TV, but younger ones know Putin is lying about being forced into war because of social media. Even Putin’s supporters outside Russia are calling the invasion a “mistake.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) brought an angry bipartisan response for calling Putin to be assassinated. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said, “We should not be calling for the assassination of heads of state.” For perhaps the first time, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) agreed that Graham’s statement was outrageous. Calling it “unhelpful,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) tweeted, “I really wish our members of Congress would cool it and regulate their remarks as the administration works to avoid WWlll.” About Graham, Ben Rhodes tweeted:
“This guy was the chief apologist and enabler for an autocrat who called Putin a genius on the eve of invasion and sided with Putin over US intelligence over his assault on American democracy.”
Sean Hannity not only agrees with Graham but also wants NATO countries to bomb the 40-mile convoy as Putin sits in Russia with nuclear weapons on “high alert” for any “aggressive statements” from NATO countries. Hannity said he didn’t want a nuclear war, but Putin could give the world—soon vaporized—no choice.
Putin claims that the invasion is to “denazify” Ukraine, but Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian parliament’s defense committee, told state TV that Russian troops were told to seize Ukraine’s nuclear plants so that Ukraine couldn’t build “a dirty bomb” to attack Russia, a false assumption. Earlier this week, Russians shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and started a fire. The fire is out, but Russian soldiers are now in charge, and employees are operating it at gunpoint. New danger comes from both human error because of the stress and workers’ inability to change shifts and power failure from lack of constant electricity after a sustained power grid failure. Russia already captured the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the highly radioactive exclusion area surrounding it and is now heading toward the Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant, 75 miles north of Mykolaiv near the Black Sea.
On the TV show, Kartapolov also asserted:
“De facto, we are at war with NATO, because all of Ukraine’s military formations are carrying out NATO’s tasks… NATO is also solving another problem, getting rid of Europe’s excess migrants by sending them to fight in Ukraine. God is not in power, but in truth.”
Kartapolov predicted a land grab of Ukraine, similar to that Russia made in Syria and Chechnya:
“Ukraine will recognize Crimea as the Russian Federation, as well as DPR/LPR [‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’] within their administrative borders. Ukraine will change its social and state system and become a neutral, demilitarized country. That’s it.”
U.S. and several other countries are flying weapons and other military supplies into Ukraine’s border countries for Ukrainian support. From Finland come 2,500 assault rifles and 1,500 anti-tank weapons while Sweden is sending 5,000 helmets, body armor, and 5,000 anti-tank weapons. Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Canada, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia are also shipping anti-armor and anti-aircraft rockets, body armor, helmets, fuel, and hundreds of thousands of packages of field rations. President Joe Biden asked Congress for another $10 billion to support Ukraine and bolster European allies. He already sent 15,000 military members to Eastern Europe. Details on U.S. military support for Ukraine beginning last December.
The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) suspended Russia and Belarus from the council’s activities. Russia was a co-founder of the 12-member CBSS—EU and eleven countries. Belarus was an observer state in the organization to promote regional cooperation.
According to Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, over 60,000 men have returned from abroad to fight the invasion, forming 12 more combat brigades. Ukraine is enlisting civilian drone pilots for surveillance, requesting they donate aircraft and volunteer as pilots, if experienced. To keep the Ukrainian flagship frigate under repair, the Hentman Sagaidachny, the country deliberately sank it to prevent Russian capture.
Ukraine is using every resource it can—even cats that can spot sniper’s laser dots. [visual – Ukraine cat] reason the International Cat Federation banned Russian cats from competition. The Fédération Internationale Féline blocked import and registration of any cat “bred in Russia” as well showing any cat “belonging to exhibitors living in Russia” until May 31 when the organization will reevaluate its restrictions.
Shell Oil, formerly declaring it was backing out of Russia, admitted it bought “a cargo of Russian crude oil” supposedly for its refineries and chemical plants and plans to continue the practice as needed. The company claims it will donate profits from Russian oil to “alleviate the terrible consequences that this war is having on the people of Ukraine.” Other companies, however, are leaving Russia:
- In China, known for being Putin’s friends, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is suspending business with Russia and Belarus. One of the founding members of the bank, Russia has a seat on the board Russia with a six percent vote in operations and is the third-largest stakeholder after China and India.
- S&P Dow Jones Indices are removing Russian stocks.
- Samsung’s suspension of shipments to Russia includes not only smartphones but also products from chips to consumer electronics.
- Ukrainian Airbnb hosts have received almost $2 million from 61,000 bookings for people who don’t plan to use the booking but want to donate to Ukrainians. Airbnb also offered free temporary housing to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and suspended all operations in Russia and Belarus.
- AMMO, Inc., based in Scottsdale (AZ), has offered to send Ukraine one million bullets if the U.S. government approves.
In the U.S., 83 percent of survey respondents support sanctions, and 69 percent are in favor even if energy prices rise. Even 58 percent of Republicans are willing to pay higher prices. Fifty-two percent approve of Biden’s management of the crisis, up from 34 percent last week. Biden’s approval also rose 8 points last week to 47 percent.
While Ukrainians fight for their democracy, forced to leave their homes and perhaps the country under threat of killing, pro-Putin truckers, stating that vaccinations take away their “freedom,” are each spending thousands of dollars to converge on D.C. to “block the Beltway.” They also demand that the mask requirements, now over, end. They allege the invasion is a cover for a DDT-backed military operation in Ukraine where he is working with Putin to stop bioweapons from being made by Dr. Anthony Fauci. According to their fantasies, the shelling targets these secret laboratories.
Nel's New Day 