Russia begins assault on Kyiv amid fierce fighting across Ukraine as U.S. sanctions Putin
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John Kelly: ‘I Don’t Get’ Praising Putin, ‘He Is a Murderer’
Former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly said Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead” that he does not understand the praise on the right for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “We’ve heard a lot of prominent Republicans, both in politics and in conservative media, praising Vladimir Putin, even calling him a genius. What’s your response when you hear that?”
Kelly said, “Disbelief. He’s a tyrant. He is a murderer. He has attacked an innocent country whose only crime is that they want to be free and democratic, and they’re working in that direction and have been working in that direction. They have been a cooperative country. They gave up, on our word, they gave up the nuclear weapons that the old Soviet Union left behind. They participated with other U.S./NATO allies. They participated in operations — peacekeeping operations in Africa and Afghanistan, places like that. They were part of the partnership for peace, although not members of NATO, they worked alongside NATO in these various good operations.”
Kelly added, “You know, is Putin smart? Yes. Tyrants are smart. They know what they’re doing. But that’s — I can’t imagine why someone would look at what’s happening there and see it anything other than a criminal act. I don’t get it, Jake.”
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Kyiv Bombarded by Rockets Overnight, Reports of Fighting In City’s Suburbs
The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv (Kiev) was hit by rocket strikes overnight, with reports of fighting in its suburbs claimed on Friday morning.
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba described the rocket strikes on the capital as “horrific”, saying the city had not suffered such an ordeal since 1941 “when it was attacked by Nazi Germany.”
“Ukraine defeated that evil and it will defeat this one. Stop Putin. Isolate Russia. [Sever] all ties. Kick Russia out of everything,” he implored.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky made similar remarks when he addressed the nation early on Friday morning, saying Russia was operating military aircraft “treacherously over residential areas” and had bombed Kyiv.
He told Ukrainians in his address: “Terrible explosions in the morning sky over Kyiv, bombing, hitting a house, fire — all this reminds of the first such attack on our capital, which took place in 1941.”
Despite the dramatic and tragic progress of Russia’s invasion, an intelligence assessment of their actual military achievements so far by the British government claimed their successes have been limited.
Britain’s Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, said Friday morning in comments to a British television network that “Our assessment, as of this morning, is that Russia has not taken any of its major objectives.”
Noting that it was the belief of Britain’s Ministry of Defence that “the Russians intend to invade the whole of Ukraine, the nonsense they were spouting about Donbas… were not honest claims”, Wallace suggested that Russia is “behind its hoped-for timetable; they’ve lost over 450 personnel… one of the significant airports they were trying to capture with their elite Spetznaz has failed to be taken.”
While details of the fighting in Ukraine are often confused and unclear, Western foreign correspondents’ reports and footage aired by news outlets appear to show clear evidence of bombardment.
President Zelensky has said he remains in the capital, and that “the enemy has marked me as target number one”.
“They want to damage Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state,” he said.
On Thursday, CNN broadcast footage of Russian airborne forces at an airport close by to Kyiv, which they had apparently seized in order to establish a bridgehead for further troops, engaged in a firefight with Ukrainian counter-attackers.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence claimed later the same day that the airport had been recaptured and the “Russian airborne force eliminated” — likely the same engagement Wallace referred to above — but the capital was evidently still under pressure as of Friday morning, with multiple reports indicating explosions and gunfire in its suburbs as of the time of publication.
Patrick Reevell, a reporter on the ground in Kyiv for ABC, has described hearing the “sound of fighting, loud gunfire and explosions… Just a few miles north of Maidan [Square]” in the city centre, sharing video footage to corroborate his claims.
Reevell had earlier described “seeing Ukrainian troops in very heart of Kyiv hurriedly moving with ammunition to set up defensive positions”; an account matching that of CNN’s Tim Lister, who is said to have witnessed “Ukrainian security forces leave[ing] the city police headquarters with weapons & ammunition — apparently heading towards the northern district of Obolon, where fighting has been reported.”
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence, according to The New York Times, has taken to its official Facebook page to confirm fighting is underway “in a district of northern Kyiv”, and told residents to “stay home and prepare Molotov cocktails.”
Content warning – graphic images:
Bodies of Russian servicemen wearing Ukrainian service uniforms lie inside and beside a vehicle after their raiding party was shot during a skirmish in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on February 25th, 2022. (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
Putin Sizes Up Biden, Invades Ukraine
Weakness invites aggression.
44 comments
Russian troops are advancing briskly into Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has brushed off Old Joe Biden’s sanctions and made it abundantly clear that he is not afraid of Biden, as Democrat operatives and their propaganda arm, the establishment media, have long insisted.
This is what happens when America has a feeble president, an obvious figurehead, and our military is compromised by Leftist ideologues. Clearly Putin is taking advantage of Biden’s obvious weakness and the decimation of our Armed Forces by wokeness and Covid hysteria. He knows that there is little likelihood that Biden will touch off World War III by committing American troops to the defense of Ukraine. Putin also likely considers that even if the American military does end up confronting Russian forces, that the U.S. military’s concentration on pushing Critical Race Theory and other Leftist agendas on the troops, as well as the culling that took place due to vaccine mandates, have left our military in such a weakened, distracted, and confused state that it will not pose any significant threat anyway.
Meanwhile, Putin emphasized in his remarks announcing the beginning of the operation against Ukraine that “in December 2021 we once again made an attempt to agree with the United States and its allies on the principles of ensuring security in Europe and on the non-expansion of NATO. Everything was in vain. The US position did not change. They did not consider it necessary to negotiate with Russia on this important issue for us, continuing to pursue their own goals and disregarding our interests.”
If this is an accurate summation of what happened, and there is no reason to believe that it isn’t, then the fecklessness of the Biden administration’s foreign policy is as much to blame for this conflict as Putin is. The questions must be asked: was it really necessary to begin maneuvering to incorporate Ukraine into NATO, and to ignore all Russian entreaties that may have led to the formulation of an agreement that was mutually acceptable to both parties? Were State Department officials too preoccupied with implementing the woke agenda to bother to negotiate with Putin over NATO?
The establishment media is portraying Putin as the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler and doing its level best to stir up war hysteria, but even if he is the new Hitler, which is by no means obvious, his conflict with Ukraine is not our fight. The only American interest in the region is our need for Russian oil, which Joe Biden himself has created by closing the Keystone Pipeline and ending the energy independence we had achieved under President Trump. There is no chance that Biden will reopen the Keystone Pipeline, so it is unlikely that he will risk a confrontation with Putin that could jeopardize our energy supplies. And Putin knows that, too.
Donald Trump has left us the example of an America-First president; keeping the best interests of Americans at the fore, Trump challenged our putative NATO allies to contribute their fair share for their own defense, and he did not threaten Ukraine’s security or unnecessarily provoke Russia by insisting on Ukraine’s inclusion in NATO.
The current situation can be ascribed to Biden’s rejection of the America-First principle and determination to ensure benefits for the military-industrial complex. A new Cold War with Russia will almost certainly secure profits for that sector for some time to come, but Biden and his Leftist handlers and allies are playing an extremely dangerous game. They’re playing chicken with a man who doesn’t appear to be easily cowed or intimidated. They’re trading on the historical memory of American power at a time when Leftism has corroded that power to the extent that it is not at all certain that America would prevail in a confrontation with its old Cold War adversary.
Meanwhile, Putin issued his own threat: “Now a few important, very important words for those who may be tempted to intervene in the ongoing events. Whoever tries to hinder us, or threaten our country or our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to consequences that you have never faced in your history. We are ready for any turn of events. All necessary decisions in this regard have been made. I hope that I will be heard.” Will he be? Doubtful, in the White House today.
It could be that after Ukraine, Putin will call the security bluff and challenge our Leftist-run, wrongheaded military. The consequences could be catastrophic.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 23 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest book is The Critical Qur’an. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.
Watch: Biden in 2001 Praises Putin for Embracing the West, Compares Him to Peter the Great
A video unearthed from 2001 by the Republican National Committee’s research team revealed then-Senator Biden praising Russian President Vladimir Putin for embracing the West, heralding his actions as comparable to Peter the Great.
“I’m close to amazed by how far Putin seems to have come in making – throwing – his lot in with the West,” Biden said as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He seems to have – out of all the briefings I’ve gotten – actually stiff-armed his military and stiff-armed some of the browns and reds in his government and out of government.”
“And made a very – I don’t think anybody since Peter the Great has made such a significant – at least an initial move to the West,” Biden claimed:
In 2001, Biden said he was “amazed by how far Putin” has moved toward the West, then compares him to Peter the Great. pic.twitter.com/GANWitMWrs
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 22, 2022
Peter the Great was the first Emperor of Russia. Through multiple wars, he expanded the nation into a major European power. He also moved to transpose medieval political systems with the western enlightenment.
Biden’s comparison of Putin with Peter the Great is unfounded. Putin is seeking to restore the lost twentieth-century boundary of the old Soviet Union and denied the “real statehood” of Ukraine in a televised address to the nation on Monday. Putin further stated Ukraine was part of Russia’s “own history, culture, spiritual space.”
Biden has a history of questionable foreign policy judgment and analysis. Robert Gates, George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s secretary of defense, wrote in 2014 that Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
Biden’s foreign policy judgment before he became president are as follows:
- Suggested sending $200 million to Iran, “no strings attached.”
- Voted against the successful Persian Gulf War that forced Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.
- Insisted “the Taliban per se is not our enemy.”
- Opposed the troop surges that brought some stability to both Iraq and Afghanistan
- Claimed he was responsible for ending the genocide in Bosnia
- Voted against trade agreements with Singapore, Chile, Oman, and the Dominican Republic
- Opposed the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, telling Obama “don’t go.”
- Opposed killing Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump asserted that Russia’s “taking over” of Ukraine is due to Biden’s weakness. “I know Vladimir Putin very well, and he would have never done during the Trump Administration what he is doing now, no way!”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told CBS News Biden’s decisions as president could increase the price for a barrel of oil past $100 and perhaps to $115.
“I don’t believe the sanctions will stop them from doing what their plan is but I do think that if you don’t pay a price for doing this, he’s going to do more of it,” Rubio said. “I think Ukrainians are gonna fight back but this is gonna have an impact on Americans even though it seems to be really far away.”
Gas prices are already at their highest level since 2014.
Poll: Biden’s Approval Rating Underwater on Russia/Ukraine Conflict
President Joe Biden’s approval rating on the Russia/Ukraine conflict is underwater, a Wednesday Politico/MorningConsult poll revealed.
Just 40 percent of voters approved of Biden’s management of the conflict, while 45 disapproved, including 35 percent who said they strongly disapproved.
Overall, the poll handed Biden a negative approval rating (44 – 53 percent).
A majority (58 – 28 percent) of respondents also indicated they would find Biden responsible if the Russian/Ukrainian conflict increases American gas prices.
Biden told the nation on Tuesday Americans will bear a financial cost for the conflict. “Defending freedom will have costs, for us as well, and here at home,” he said upon announcing sanctions on Russia. “We need to be honest about that.”
Moscow’s ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov seemed to agree with Biden, suggesting that the sanctions will hurt American consumers more than Russians.
“There is no doubt that the sanctions imposed against us will hurt the global financial and energy markets,” Antonov said. “The United States will not be left out, where ordinary citizens will feel the full consequences of rising prices.”
“With regard to Moscow, new US sanctions will not solve anything, Russia has learned to work and develop under restrictions,” he added.
With gas prices expected to increase, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told CBS News on Tuesday the price for a barrel could surpass $100 and perhaps reach $115. Gas prices are already at their highest level since 2014.
“I don’t believe the sanctions will stop them from doing what their plan is but I do think that if you don’t pay a price for doing this, he’s going to do more of it,” Rubio said. “I think Ukrainians are gonna fight back but this is gonna have an impact on Americans even though it seems to be really far away.”
The national average price of gas per gallon is $3.535, up nearly a dollar from last year’s price of $2.645.
W.H. Deputy NSA on Ukraine’s Call for More Sanctions: ‘There’s Almost a Bloodlust’ for Sanctions, But I’m Not Saying Ukraine Has It
On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh responded to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba’s call for harsher sanctions against Russia by stating that he wonders “if there’s almost a bloodlust out there for sanctions as an end in themselves.” But denied he was saying Kuleba has this bloodlust and said the sanctions announced on Tuesday were “a demonstration effect, and that demonstration effect will go higher and higher.”
Co-host John Berman read from Kuleba’s tweet and then asked, “How do you explain to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister why you are not hitting harder now?”
Singh responded, “Well, John, sometimes I wonder if there’s almost a bloodlust out there for sanctions as an end in themselves. But let me just be really clear, we did hit hard yesterday, and it was only a demonstration effect. … But the point the Ukrainians are making is right. These costs are going to escalate from here.”
Berman then asked who Singh thinks has a bloodlust for sanctions. Singh answered, “I hear it from many in the media, why didn’t you impose all of your sanctions on day one? And so, what I’m saying to you is, we saw the beginning of an invasion yesterday –.”
Berman then cut in to point out he was quoting Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, and ask, “So, does the Ukrainian Foreign Minister have a bloodlust for sanctions?”
Singh answered, “No. No. I’m not saying that. I’m saying I hear from questions out there and commentary, people wondering why didn’t we implement the full package of sanctions yesterday. And what I’m saying to you is, yesterday was a demonstration effect, and that demonstration effect will go higher and higher.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
