Why am I not surprised the Syrians are in Ukraine?

March 8, 2022
By Josh Rogin, columnist

To the right (click here) are the children of Mariupol underground for protection.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin (click here) expands his murderous attacks on civilians across Ukraine, regular citizens are becoming front-line troops. Syrians, who have been facing Russian military attacks for seven years, are ready to help Ukrainians organize their first responders. Ukrainians will need all the help they can get to save as many innocent lives as possible in what could be a long struggle.

Since 2015, when Putin dispatched his troops to Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad maintain his hold on power, the Russian military has been attacking civilians in opposition-held areas, reportedly committing war crimes on a regular basis by targeting hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure. Those tactics are now being used in several Ukrainian cities, complete with attacks on fleeing families and credible reports of illegal weapons such as cluster bombs. Last week, the International Criminal Court said it would “immediately proceed” with an investigation into alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The Syrian Civil Defense force, known as the White Helmets, has been working to rescue, evacuate and give emergency care to civilians under attack since 2014. The all-volunteer force says it has saved more than 100,000 civilian lives and that at least 252 of its members have been killed in the process. Now, the White Helmets are turning their attention to Putin’s latest victims...

It is a complicated battle field. Ukraine should allow asylum requests for those that oppose the brutality of the war Putin has begun. Ukraine states 11,000 Russian soldiers have died. That is about 6 percent of the 190,000 troops estimated to have been at Ukraine's borders before the invasion Putin ordered. There are burnt and blown up Russian tanks (see left).

There are yellow buses with a red cross on the side arriving in Mariupol, but, the convoy of buses are coming under fire (click here). This is Assad tactics. We know where it came from now.

Wladimir Klitschko wears many hats, a boxing star, mayor of Kyiv, soldier to the Ukraine military and now father to 82 babies born since the invasion started (click here).

March 7, 2022
By Greg Myre

The Pentagon (click here) said Monday it believes that Russia is now trying to recruit Syrian fighters to bolster the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the story Sunday, saying Russia is seeking Syrians who have taken part in urban combat and could help Russia take control of cities such as Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

"The accounts of the Russians seeking Syrian fighters, to augment their forces in Ukraine, we do believe there's truth to that," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "It's interesting that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would have to rely on foreign fighters."

Kirby said he had no information on the numbers or the caliber of the Syrian fighters that the Russians are trying to sign up.

Russia has not commented on the reports....

President Zelenskyy is a brave leader.

During his speech to the British Parliament President Zelensky said something interesting. He stated Russia should be considered a terrorist state. Perhaps, he is correct. I never thought Vladimir Putin was capable of such carnage. Obviously, he is.

Vladimir Putin had no honorable motives in executing this war. He also persists.

Ukraine should have the same right to exist as North Korea.

Besides the USA, the British and French Foreign Ministers should be attending the meetings for peace between Ukraine and Russia.

My deepest fear for Ukraine at this juncture is the fact Putin, when defeated will lay waste to Ukraine. I believe that is his goal. The only question is will he discharge a nuclear device over Ukraine with or without his own troops in battle? I also believe China's alliance in this matter needs to be measured as well.

March 6, 2022

Simultaneously with the work on the creation of a nuclear explosive device, (click here) Ukraine has actively engaged in potential means of delivery of nuclear weapons, a Russian official told RIA Novosti.

"In parallel, work was underway in the country to modernize existing and create new missile weapons that can be used as a means of delivering nuclear weapons," the representative said.

He stressed that at the same time, Kiev "covers" most of the developments with the implementation of joint projects with other countries, RT New reported...

From tornado deaths and now a school shooting.

Iowa is having a difficult week. My understanding is that the alert system for mobile phones was delayed in delivering messages to people facing a tornado warning. The sirens still work, but, the problem is people turn to their mobile phones more often than listening for alert sirens.

Iowa needs to run tornado siren drills to keep everyone listening. I have to wonder if the delay is a cyber attack.

March 5, 2022
By John Murphy

Officials said at least seven people (click here) were killed in Iowa over the weekend due to an outbreak of severe weather that unleashed more than two dozen tornadoes, including one EF3 twister. By Monday morning, the weather pattern had shifted to a wintry one and residents in several of the hard-hit areas were dealing with fresh snowfall....

Sincerest sympahies for all the people that face the loss of loved ones and friends in both these tragic episodes.

March 7, 2022

Authorities (click here) say one person has been killed and two others were critically wounded in a shooting outside an Iowa school....

...“It is a punch in the gut that we have three kids in the hospital," he said, “but we are hoping for the best for them.”

He said calls started pouring in around 2:50 p.m., shortly before classes were scheduled to dismiss for the day. The district said in a series of tweets that the school was initially locked down but later it announced that students were being allowed to go home.

Police said they do not believe there is a continued threat to the public.

“It is sad but we do train for this. We do have to be prepared for it and this is why."

The motive wasn't immediately released and he had no details on the potential suspects....

Oddly, Senator Grassley, proposed a bill to attempt to end school shootings. 

February 15, 2022

On the fourth anniversary of the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, (click here) Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley pushed for passage of his bipartisan bill called the EAGLES Act.

Grassley, a Republican, says the bill would expand the role of the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center to identify and manage threats from teenagers before they result in more tragedies.

Grassley says, “We would, by amending that assessment center, give it responsibility not only to do what the Secret Service already does there but to prevent school violence.”...

I appreciate the effort, but, it seems a little removed from local issues with gun violence. The Secret Service is supposed to understand that a teenager has access to weapons that kill and act on that information to prevent the tragedy ahead of it happening. 

It would be great if it worked, but, that seems like a tall order for the Secret Service. 

Senator Jodi Ernst has distanced herself from gun issues. She hasn't really discussed guns for nearly two years. She seems to have bowed to the gun lobby.

These are civilians slain in Ukraine.

...Kharkiv's schools and hospitals are destroyed in overnight blitz...(click here)

 

The United Nations' Security Council meets.

The leadership of the UN Humanitarian Mission states with all the problems in the world, the organizations that help through the UN didn't need this and there was no warning it was coming.

This "timing" has to be considered when deciding about crimes against humanity. Militaries often use adverse conditions to weigh in their favor. That along with the direct shelling of residential homes adds to the brevity of Russia's actions and crimes.

What is very clear is that the humanitarian efforts are starting from a standstill and will take time to set up supply chains. That means the people in Ukraine are compromised as the humanitarian efforts are crippled at this point to begin a sincere effort to supply food, clean water and medical care. That all has to be added to the understanding that Russia is committing human rights violations. 

There is a report children are being targeted by soldiers no matter how sheltered they appear. These are innocent people that are being killed and deprived of food, water and medical needs.

UN Security Council (click here)

7 March 2022
By Chris Pleasance

A captured Russian commander (click here) has begged for 'mercy' for Putin's forces attacking Ukraine, saying they were duped into invading in the false belief that the government had been overthrown by Nazis and needing liberating.

The man, who claimed he is a lieutenant-colonel in the Russian national guard's special rapid response unit, said his countrymen have been 'brainwashed' into supporting the war but - having seen the situation in Ukraine for himself - he now feels 'shame' in taking part in 'genocide' and says Ukrainians are 'right' to resist. 

Astakhov Dmitry Mikhailovich said his doubts solidified when he saw two of his favourite boxers - Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko - agreeing to fight for the resistance....

This is exactly the problem. The soldiers have feelings about an invasion wrongly carried out on the basis of lies. The Russian military should stop their assault and ask for asylum in Ukraine or return home to tell the Russian people the truth.

There is reason for hope.

Day One vs. Day Twelve (click here)

 

Prime MInister Johnson of the UK has opened two routes to refugees.

Every refugee coming to the UK will be background checked before being allowed to enter the country. The refugees with family or a sponsor will be allowed to enter the country. He states by removing the "cap" on these two routes of entery to the UK there could be tens of thousands coming for safety.

Sounds as though Russia is admitting it was a foolish venture into Ukraine. Dare I hope Russia has been stopped. Ukraine is ungovernable, unless it is the people themselves doing the governing. Putin has the wrong idea about Ukraine. It has already been accepted into the European Union. 

• Spokesman Dmitry Peskov (click here) today laid out Russia's demands to end Ukraine war 
• It was the most explicit Russian statement so far of the terms of its demands
• To end its brutal invasion, Russia is demanding Ukraine ceases its military action
• It is also demanding Ukraine enshrine neutrality in its constitution, acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory and Donetsk and Lugansk as independent territories
• Peskov's statement came as a third meeting is set to be held between the sides
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba are also due to meet at a forum in Turkey on Thursday, Ankara said 

Belarus and Russia have already committed human rights violations.

The evacation corridors must be into non-warring countries. The routes proposed by Russia are POW routes. All Russia and Belarus propose are untrustworthy.

Belarus and Russia are welcome to leave Ukraine through their own corridors as soon as possible.

March 7, 2022
By Yaron Steinbuch

Ukraine on Monday (click here) blasted Moscow’s announcement of “humanitarian corridors” to allow citizens to evacuate three cities as “completely immoral” – because their escape routes would lead into Russia or its ally Belarus.

Russia announced a limited ceasefire starting Monday morning to allow civilians to evacuate Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy.

But Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk later rejected the offer....

The Russian military needs to turn around and go home, unless they want asylum in Ukraine. They have  been decieved by Putin when war games turned into an invasion.

March 6, 2022

By Mark Nicol and Harriet Line

Vladimir Putin's 'decimated' forces (click here) could lose the war in Ukraine, the UK's top military commander has suggested.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said Russia's troops were 'in a mess' and the invasion was 'not going well'.

His comments yesterday represent the most optimistic assessment yet of how the conflict may end – but came on another bleak day, with Russian forces firing on families as they fled the fighting....

The Russian military should put down their weapons and walk away. It is looking like a stalemate. The Ukrainians may have received a shipment of new weapons.

Map of Invasion (click here). With all the effort by Russia the advance is minimal. Take Crimea and Eastern Ukraine off the map and the invasion is not going well. Certainly, it is not going as Putin invisioned it.

The West needs to address the refugee crisis in at least NATO countries such as Poland. 

7 March 2022
By Chris Pleasance

Russia's invasion of Ukraine (click here) appears to have ground to a halt with no significant territory captured despite a weekend of heavy fighting, with Kyiv's men claiming to have taken out dozens of helicopters and recaptured a city this morning - sparking hopes that the unlikeliest of victories may be on the cards.

Putin's men renewed their bombardments on Mariupol, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv this morning as his forces also tried to surround Kyiv in preparation for an assault, but have not significantly advanced their frontline since the city of Kherson and nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia were captured last week. 

Meanwhile the Ukrainian armed forces claimed to have destroyed up to 30 Russian helicopters that had been moved to Chornobaivka airport, near Kherson, overnight and to have retaken the city of Chuhuiv, near Kharkiv, killing two Russian commanders - Lt. Col. Dmitry Safronov, and Lt Col. Denis Glebov - in the process....

Padding election coffers come first with Republicans, especially from the fossil fuel industry.

Fighting inflation and the climate crisis is NOT on the Republican agenda today or anytime in the future.

Republicans want to run on inflation so they are stonewalling the hearings and votes to fill the vacancies. They know a full compliment of qualified people running the Federal Reserve will act on inflation. The Republicans don't want to end the struggle of the Middle Class in the USA so they will believe President Biden is ineffective. It isn't President Biden that is ineffective, it is the Republicans.

January 14, 2022
By Scott Horsley

President Joe Biden (click here) announced three additional nominees for the Federal Reserve Board on Friday, rounding out the central bank's governing body as it prepares to tackle the highest inflation in nearly four decades.

Biden is tapping former Fed governor Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as Vice Chair for Supervision — a key regulatory role. In addition, Biden nominated academic economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to fill the remaining vacancies on the Fed's seven-member governing board.

"This group will bring much needed expertise, judgement and leadership to the Federal Reserve while at the same time bringing a diversity of thought and perspective never seen before on the Board of Governors," the president said in a statement.

If confirmed, Cook and Jefferson would be two of only five African American Fed governors in the central bank's 108-year history, and the first since 2006....

The petroleum industry owns the Republicans and this is proof. Americans want to bring inflation under control and they want the climate crisis to stop and reverse. The American people are not happy when Republicans play dirty trick to cater to cronies while their lives spiral out of control. The Republicans won't even vote on the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. This has to stop. We need the Federal Reserve to function not flounder.

March 2, 2022

By Jane Mayer

As the American economy faces market turmoil (click here) fuelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the highest inflation rate in forty years, and continuing damage from the covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve System’s board of governors has become a ghost ship. There are multiple vacancies on the panel, and its chairman, Jerome Powell, is awaiting Senate confirmation to a second four-year term. Last month, instead of voting on the confirmation of President Biden’s slate of five nominees to run the world’s most powerful central bank, the Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee staged a boycott....

...The Republicans’ goal was to block a single nominee: Sarah Bloom Raskin, Biden’s pick for vice-chair for supervision. Had they met to vote as scheduled, her nomination would likely have survived a party-line tie, which under the Senate’s current rules would have advanced it to the Senate floor for the full body’s consideration. Instead, after the twelve Republicans on the committee failed to show up, the meeting adjourned, “We just want them to show up for work,” he said of his Republican colleagues. “In the midst of an attack, the Russians attacking Ukraine… they’re saying we’re not going to confirm the chair of the Federal Reserve, the vice-chair of supervision, the vice-chair of the Fed, and the other two governors.”...

...A boycott to stop a vote is extraordinary under any circumstances, but experts said they were stunned, given the magnitude of the country’s current economic challenges. “It’s an enormous dereliction of duty,” Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, told me. Stiglitz, a progressive professor at Columbia University who has advised Democratic presidents, stressed that “the Federal Reserve is the most important economic institution in the U.S., and the U.S. is the most important economy in the world. To leave this many vacancies is just mind boggling to the rest of the world. It is just amazingly irresponsible.”...

...So what, exactly, is the problem? In Stiglitz’s view, “It’s very simple: special interests.”...

...The fossil-fuel industry would have seemingly little say over who runs the Federal Reserve, but it has donated generously to the campaigns of all twelve Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee. According to OpenSecrets, the nonpartisan campaign-finance watchdog group, the industry has contributed more than eight million dollars to the collective campaigns of the dozen senators....

It is perfectly obvious the Republicans in the US Senate aren't interested in a government that works so much as one that appears to be ineffective. There is nothing wrong with the country and it's agencies, it is the Republicans that are ineffective, manipulative and hate the USA Constitution that requires participation in all government nominations.

This is corruption by the 12 Republican Senators and nothing short of it. It is quid pro quo and every one of the twelve should face an ethics investigation.

The story line by Putin is he is fighting White Supremacy in President Zelenskyy.

Very early on, Vladimir Putin stated Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is a White Supremacist. That is a lie and the free world knows it. The facts are clear, Vladimir Putin is backing White Supremacists in eastern Ukraine. That makes Putin as much a White Supremacist as any of those he supports.

This is where it gets tricky for Putin. Within Russia proper he is portraying himself as a liberator of African American people under seige in the United States of America. So, the Russian people view him as a necessary link in protecting African Americans anywhere in the world, including Russia.

Putin finds it convenient to 

History Ph.D. candidate (click here) Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon’s interest in all things Russian started with a childhood illness. It forced her to stay home from fifth grade for a few weeks at her family’s farm in the rural southwest Texas community of Dayton, population about 7,000. “To pass time I watched this eight-hour miniseries on the History Channel called ‘Russia, Land of the Czars’ and it blew my mind,” she says. “In sixth grade I was the only student in my little middle school to do a book report on someone who wasn’t American: I did mine on Joseph Stalin.” And so, a Russian historian was born. Her current research in the School of Arts & Sciences revolves around how the African American experience in the Soviet Union shaped Black identity and how the presence of people of color shaped ideas and understandings of race, ethnicity, and nationality policy in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet space....

Just because Dr. Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon is studying Russia and it's lack of racial strife doesn't mean she should stop, she absolutely should continue her focus and her work. I am quite confident Dr. St. Julian-Varnon has no idea she is playing into Putin's narrative.

That happens, yes? Where an American is carrying out research or writing for publications with a focus that a communist leader finds helpful. To oppress that which Putin finds helpful is counter to the American story. The American story is that we guarantee freedom of speech and consider scholars research and writing invaluable.

But, for those that pump propaganda into Russians this focus might flatter the idea of a raceless country where bigotry does not exist and all people are happy. That is the type of propaganda that 

The point is the Russian people, including it's military, are cut off from reality. We see it in the USA with the extremist right political wing which embraces White Supremacy to add to the voter count in any election. 

Vladimir Putin has a problem. He decided Crimea and eastern Ukraine were his to take simply because he expects to reconstitute the Soviet Union. He is an ideologe and not a leader that finds himself with an entire country's military to carry out his planned and expected atrocities. All that for a false idea that he can turn history back three decades or more. That is grossly ill conceived priorities. Nearly two generations of people have matured and been born during that time. The world is different and Putin is basically unwanted as a leader with a false sense of himself.

This, today, in the year 2022 is what the people of the world face with a man with his hand on the nuclear button. This is a dangerous time on Earth for many reasons and Putin is one of them.

Turkey and Russia have had a good relationship when it comes to the economics of tourism.

March 5, 2022
by Tuvan Gumrukcu

Ankara - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (click here)Ankara - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will tell his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday to stop the invasion of Ukraine, an Erdogan spokesman said, while adding that it was naive to expect talks between Moscow and Kyiv to yield results while fighting rages.

NATO member Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both countries. Ankara has opposed sanctions on Moscow, but also described its invasion of Ukraine as unacceptable, called for a ceasefire and offered to host peace talks.

President Erdogan had a fainting spell when he was attending an arts performance. He states he is okay. 

He might be able to reach Putin in a way that will matter to end the seige of Ukraine. Turkey is NATO and it doesn't hurt to have the President of Turkey advocating for the end of hostilities.

Israel is also seeking an end to the Russian war within Ukraine.

March 6, 2022
By Amy Spiro

Hours after returning from a surprise whirlwind trip to Moscow and Berlin, (click here) Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel had a moral obligation to work to broker peace talks between Russia and Ukraine — even if the likelihood for progress was slim.

“I returned from Moscow and Berlin a few hours ago,” Bennett said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. “I went there to assist the dialogue between all of the sides, of course with the blessing and encouragement of all players.”

Bennett said that he could not “go into greater detail” on the talks he held with Russian President Vladimir Putin or his phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky....

There is a diplomatic effort that is ongoing.

The two heads of state (click here) spoke several days ahead of a diplomatic forum which is due to take place in the southern Turkish city of Antalya from March 11 to 13 that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to attend.

Foreign Prime Minister Lavrov needs to come to these talks with an open mind and the ability to convey accurate information to Putin. He needs to be honest and not carry the Putin propaganda into these talks. The West is not interested in Putin propaganda. To achieve nothing is a bad idea. Vladimir Putin has violated the public trust of the people of Russia. Propaganda will only last for so long.

6 March 2022

By Stewart Carr

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (click here) is ready for direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure peace, according to his officials. 

The president's deputy chief of staff Andriy Sibiga made the announcement as other world leaders continue to mediate with Russia in a bid to halt its widely condemned invasion. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed for an urgent general ceasefire in Ukraine as he spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin by telephone today, his office said....

The Neo-Nazi that lead the civil war in Donetsk is dead.

March 6, 2022
By Elmira Tanatarova

A leader of a rebel military group (click here) in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), blamed for brutalwar crimesand shooting Ukrainian POWs since its formation in 2014, was shot dead in battle.  

Russian warlord Vladimir Zhoga, who headed the Neo-Nazi 'Sparta Battalion', was killed in Volnovakha, Ukraine, following the eleventh day of Russia's invasion as Putin's troops fail to make big wins.

Zhoga's kill was yesterday confirmed in a Telegram channel post from Denis Pushilin, head of the breakaway DPR....

17 November 2016
By Victoire Chevruel

What are (click here) some violent far-right groups in Eastern Ukraine?

In Donetsk, (click here) otherwise known as the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the self-proclaimed state in Ukraine, the Special Forces military unit, Sparta Battalion, holds its position at the Sergey Prokofiev airport to keep the city from Ukrainian troops. If you control the airport you control the city.

The Ukrainian war has largely been forgotten by the world. But more than 10,000 have died in a combat that began in March 2014. In Donbass, the fighting between Donetsk and Kiev mostly happens in the evening.

We found how these young soldiers are handling life in their position and how they occupy themselves during the day on the frontline. They managed to recreate some sort of cosy environment to feel almost “at home”, even if they are risking their lives every day to hold Donetsk in the new Republic....

Remember Huawei?

Huawei is assisting Russia (click here). It may be time to consider sanctions against China. The UK needs to consider it's own safety in Putin's ambitions. NATO cannot have Russian sympathizers assisting Russia in it's invasion. That is outrageous.

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei must be investigated over reports the firm has ‘rushed to Russia’s aid’ after attacks on its internet network.

Reports in China say the tech giant, which has several offices in the UK, has been helping Vladimir Putin’s efforts to stabilise Russia’s internet network after it came under attack from hacker groups across the globe.

Russian government and media websites have faced repeated disruption from suspected cyber attacks by groups targeting the state since the invasion of Ukraine....

September 24, 2021 

She was returned to China (click here).

Huawei CFO Wanzhou Meng (click here) Admits to Misleading Global Financial Institution

Meng Enters into Deferred Prosecution Agreement to Resolve Fraud Charges

The Chief Financial Officer of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Wanzhou Meng, 49, of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), appeared today in federal district court in Brooklyn, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) and was arraigned on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud.

“In entering into the deferred prosecution agreement, Meng has taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nicole Boeckmann for the Eastern District of New York. “Her admissions in the statement of facts confirm that, while acting as the Chief Financial Officer for Huawei, Meng made multiple material misrepresentations to a senior executive of a financial institution regarding Huawei’s business operations in Iran in an effort to preserve Huawei’s banking relationship with the financial institution. The truth about Huawei’s business in Iran, which Meng concealed, would have been important to the financial institution’s decision to continue its banking relationship with Huawei. Meng’s admissions confirm the crux of the government’s allegations in the prosecution of this financial fraud — that Meng and her fellow Huawei employees engaged in a concerted effort to deceive global financial institutions, the U.S. government and the public about Huawei’s activities in Iran.”

“This Deferred Prosecution Agreement will lead to the end of the ongoing extradition proceedings in Canada, which otherwise could have continued for many months, if not years,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark J. Lesko for the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “We are enormously grateful to Canada’s Department of Justice for its dedicated work on this extradition and for its steadfast adherence to the rule of law.”,,,

These are the deaths CAUSED by the unvaccinated.

The people that did the right thing by being vaccinated were undone with Delta and more so with Omicron. Masks are still vital for EVERYONE, including children.

Those that didn't wear masks, didn't social distance and didn't use hand hygiene, exposed Americans that carried out all the precautions including vaccinations.

These California deaths are a direct result of a mutated COVID-19 virus that spread through the USA like wildfire because of the high number of unvaccinated. This is what right wing politics have done to the people of this country.

The political right wing of the USA refuses to accept leadership and only believe in social anarchy. These deaths are their responsibility as the virus was given a great deal of opportunity to mutate and become more and more dangerous.

These statistics appeared in The Mercury News today, we still don't know what AB2 will do. It spreads easier than omicron. California is a state with 39 and a half million people. The reliability of the information California collects is extremely correct in any reflection on the viruses.

For Americans that want to stay alive without the effects of the disease continue to wear masks, but, in particular N-95 masks. With N-95 masks it doesn't matter if others in the room are wearing them or not. The N-95 mask will protect the wearer as well as others.

March 6, 2022 (click here)

By John Woolfolk

During a three-week stretch at the height of this winter’s devastating omicron case surge, Santa Cruz County health officials lost 10 patients to COVID-19. All but one were vaccinated, and five had received booster shots.

As the omicron wave recedes, California data reveal an unsettling trend. Compared to the delta variant case surge last summer, deaths among the vaccinated rose sharply with omicron, a variant said by many experts to cause milder illness.

A Bay Area News Group analysis of state COVID-19 deaths found that in the four deadliest weeks of the delta and omicron surges, the number of unvaccinated people who died were nearly identical, and far higher than the totals for the vaccinated. Even so, three times more vaccinated people died during the omicron peak than during delta’s heyday.

“We’ve seen some chinks in the armor of vaccines that we didn’t see before,” said Santa Cruz County Deputy Health Officer Dr. David Ghilarducci. “As good as the vaccines are, they’re not 100% protection.”...

Mariupol attacks are a sincere surprise.

Mariupol is Donetsk Oblast. Russian propaganda has always stated the people of Donetsk want to be Russian. If they are fleeing, that would seem an opportunity for them to leave behind Russian occupation which they never wanted.

I am skeptical as to whether any of the occupied lands actually want to be a Russian possession. Here again, communism proves to be an adverse presence in people's lives. I am beginning to believe more and more that Putin is the only force behind any occupation and even the people of Russia don't want him.

The elite are the only people within a communist society that like things the way they are.

It is time for the Russian military to rethink who they are killing and end their assault of Urkaine. I mean if the occupied areas are fleeing Russian occupation why is this happening at all? The military has the power to end the assault and should do so.

If all those aggreived by Putin were to stop obeying his domestic assault against the people Putin's rule of Russia would end. The elite are the Duma and while they make hostile laws to oppress the people, they are only a few head count compared to all the people of Russia. The police enforcing the oppression have to be made to see the evil in their orders to do so.

The Russian people and the Russian military can end this now, today. Their oppression is obvious to all that observe it. They have to know the deceit that belongs to Putin in running war games and then driving the Russian military into war with Ukriane is wrong. The majority of the Russian leadership never knew of these plans. The Russian military is obeying the orders of a dictator, not a leader. The ONLY way Putin can succeed militarily and domestically is if the enforcement units, THE PEOPLE IN THESE RANKS, continue to obey orders that only one man tricked them into following.

There is every indication the Russian military is committing human rights abuses. STOP. STOP NOW! Putin doesn't care about the lives of the Russian military so much as his own agenda and counting on The West to cower to his nuclear brinkmanship.

No one is invading Russia. There is no reason to fear anyone but Putin himself.

Leave Russia as soon as can be done.

Any Russian citizen or journalist still in the USA should seek asylum. Don't hesitate. Decent people do no longer belong in Russia or affiliated with it. 

March 5, 2022
By Bryan Pietsch

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, (click here) the network that broadcast uncensored news across the Iron Curtain in Cold War-era Europe, said Saturday it will shutter its operations in Russia, citing mounting fines over its refusal to be identified as a “foreign agent” and a new law stifling freedom of the press.

“This is not a decision that RFE/RL has taken of its own accord, but one that has been forced upon us by the Putin regime’s assault on the truth,” Jamie Fly, the network’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. “Following years of threats, intimidation and harassment of our journalists, the Kremlin, desperate to prevent Russian citizens from knowing the truth about its illegal war in Ukraine, is now branding honest journalists as traitors to the Russian state.

RFE said that on Friday, the tax authorities in Russia started bankruptcy proceedings against its operations there, stemming from more than $13.4 million in fines for 1,040 violations of Russia’s “unlawful demand” that RFE’s content be labeled as produced by a “foreign agent.”

RFE added that 18 of its journalists also had been designated “foreign agents.” Nine of its Russian-language websites were blocked in the past week, it said, over its refusal to delete information about the invasion of Ukraine.,,,

The United Nations Security Council

There could be a secure evacuation route, though. Since Russia is in violation of a ceasefire, the United Nations Security Council can rule to establish a secure route for people exiting the country.

That is not a miiltary issue. That is saving the lives of people willing to leave Ukraine because of the threat of death.

The United Nations should also recognize the billions of people around the globe demonstrating in support of Ukrainian people. A vast number of people in countries nearly on every continent recognize the atrocities Russia is conducting for the sake of Putin's politics.

The evacuation route would have to be defended if there was violence along the path to safety. There are videos of refugee camps. That happened fairly quickly.

The U.S. government (click here) is allowing a Moscow-chartered flight to land in D.C. Saturday afternoon to ensure Russian diplomats are removed from the country

The flight has been approved to fly out Russian diplomats who were expelled this week from their posts at the United Nations

According to tracking website FlightAware, a Rossiya Special Flight Squadron will land at Dulles International Airport shortly after 2pm

Russia has denied the allegations against its diplomats and says it will retaliate for their expulsion

Let's hope we don't have to scramble NORAD. That would be very bad if something stupid happened. We should have flown them to the Ukraine border and told them to hike to Moscow. Backpacks provided, of course.

PayPal, Zara and Samsung (click here) are leaving Russia. That is going to hurt the people. They won't have a method to purchase items online. But, since most online services won't exist within Russia, it will be just the next step to isolationism and domestically hand made babushkas. We are going to miss those Russian nesting dolls.

Normalizing relations?

Putin thinks Ukrainians are nothing more than petulant children?

Putin invades a country without his countrymen knowing and his military completely blind to the purpose in war games only to unleashes hell on a sovereign country. That is a victory? That is what Putin is saying. He is saying he has scored a victory in Ukraine. Who is keeping score because I don't see it that way at all.

Putin has murdered people, including children. He has displaced millions. He is threatening the lives of millions more. Invaded a protected nuclear facility at Chernobyl against any document that exists establishing that protection and control of the facility. He fires rockets into another nuclear facility without any conscience whatsoever at all and we are supposed to recognize that as a victory and time to normalize relations. 

I don't think so.

Very surprised at the lack of sophistication of Vladimir Putin.

Perhaps he is just a criminal and that clearly defines what is going on with Ukraine.

Human rights is not a bargaining chip. He is stating that sanctions placed on Russia and the leadership of Russia should be removed otherwise Ukraine will not achieve statehood within the redefined borders of Russia. He states all relations with other countries need to be normalized. 

Human rights are rights that every living person on Earth has with the simple act of being born. There is no bargaining chip in that. The reason the USA is engaged in humanitarian aid all over the world is because it recognizes the problems some countries have in suppling the most basic human needs to their people. It is why the United Nations has missions to engage in peacekeeping and humanitarian aid to those either oppressed or facing climate emergencies. 

Vladimir Putin is attempting to say that Ukraine will have statehood if relationships with Russia are normalized. That is of itself a human rights violation. An aggressor country cannot simply take land away from people and then hold the land hostage to sanctions. That is bizarre to say the least.

I sincerely believe Russia is a third world country that has nuclear weapon capacity no different than other impoverished countries where oppression of the people serves the purpose of the elite of the country. They put hostile weapons before the human needs of it's people. It is ridiculous to define borders of what was a free and productive people. Ukrainians are peace loving. They don't deserve this aggression. It did NOTHING to deserve a war within it's borders.

Vladimir Putin lost his right to demand anything at the first vicious deaths of innocent people. The Geneva Conventions clearly state civilians have a special status and should never be the target of military aggression. They can do nothing to protect from such acts, yet alone fight back.

No one should be surprised that a ceasefire was never honored. Minsk I or II were never honored. Why would that change now?

President Zelenskyy is correct, "No Fly Zones" do create SPACES for innocent people to establish a homeland of sorts. We saw that with north and south Iraq. This is different. Unfortuntely. The equivalent would be to establish a No Fly Zone over Russia. Russia is invading Ukraine and to state a No Fly Zone could be established means NATO would be entering the war. A No Fly Zone might escalate the war.

I think it would be difficult to establish as well. President Zelenskyy should take his case to the United Nations. If many nations agreed to it and there could be parameters set up to enforce it without triggering a greater war, then it may be possible. It would take the resolve of the world. 

I will say this, though. Establishing a No Fly Zone or two over Ukraine is sort of like giving permission for Russia to occupy land that does not belong to them, except, where the No Fly Zone exists. Setting up No Fly Zones could result in giving up more land to Russia in the long run. The entire country of Ukraine, without exception, to include Crimea and eastern Ukraine would have to be under a No Fly Zone to maintain it's sovereign integrity.

It was different with Iraq. I think the differences are obvious. 

Russia needs to leave Ukraine and end their displacment and killing spree of Ukrainian people. I know the argument is that Ukrainians are Russians in their speech. Speaking Russian does not define ethnicity or loyalty. It certainly doesn't define genetics.

An elderly woman is helped while crossing a destroyed bridge as she tries to leave the city of Irpin, in the Kyiv region

This woman and her escorts have a very long journey. She has to go west and move across half the size of Ukraine in order to find a safe haven. This is heart breaking. She, at her age, is facing destruction of the only homeland she knew.