Biden issues first sanctions after Putin orders 'peacekeeping forces' into two pro-Russian regions in Ukraine: President bans US firms doing business in the area and profiting from a 'blatant violation of international law'

Biden imposed sanctions Monday against two breakaway regions of Eastern Ukraine as Putin made his move

The Russian president declared the two areas 'independent republics' and ordered in 'peacekeeping' troops

It triggered an evening of frantic diplomacy as the US and its allies tried to head off a full-blown invasion

The US, UK and France called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday evening

Earlier Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to 'discuss the events of the last hours'

A senior administration official later said more sanctions were expected to follow on Tuesday

He also said Putin was preparing his country for war, following a clear playbook of false pretexts

Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two breakaway regions of Ukraine on Monday to 'maintain peace' soon after he recognized the area's independence, triggering a huge escalation in tensions and the imposition of US sanctions.

His aggressive move immediately raised fears that invasion was imminent - or that it had already begun.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order banning US investment or trade with the two regions while the State Department reportedly ordered its remaining staff to leave Ukraine for the safety of Poland.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sanctions were designed to prevent Russia 'profiting off of this blatant violation of international law.'

The US, UK and France called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday evening.

The flurry of diplomatic activity came after Putin signed decrees declaring the so-called DPR and LPR as sovereign states.

He justified his decision in a history-laden, grievance-ridden, pre-recorded speech that blamed NATO for the current crisis and railed against the way the West had triggered collapse of the Soviet Union.

'I consider it necessary to take a long-overdue decision: To immediately recognize the independence and sovereignty of Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic,' he said.

He said America was 'pumping' in weapons to Ukraine and said accused Kiev of creating 'weapons of mass destruction'.

A senior Biden administration official said the speech was not just about Russia's security. It was a speech that laid out a greater plan.

'He made clear that he views Ukraine historically as part of Russia,' he told reporters.

'And he made a number of false claims about Ukraine's intention that seems designed to excuse possible military action. This was a speech to the Russian people to justify war.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10536311/Biden-phones-Zelensky-gathers-National-Security-team-Putin-speech.html

Zelenskyy: Ukraine's Int'l Border Will Remain Intact Regardless of Russia's LPR, DPR Recognition

On Monday, the Russian Security Council and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a news conference in which they recognized the independence of the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Putin called on Kiev to cease hostilities in the new states, warning that blame for continued regional conflict will be on "the regime ruling Ukraine."

In an early Tuesday address to the public, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that Ukraine's internationally recognized borders will remain unchanged, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognize the independence of the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Zelenskyy argued that Russia's move translates to its withdrawal from the Minsk agreements and legalizes Russian troops in the area, which have been in Donbass since 2014.

Since the announcement, Ukraine has called for an emergency Normandy Format talk, according to Zelenskyy, who claimed that previous peaceful efforts and existing negotiations have been nullified.

While the Ukrainian president called for peace, he also noted that his country is prepared for anything that comes.

The Ukrainian government is reportedly awaiting responses from allies before proceeding with further steps.

Zelenskyy's address comes hours before an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting on the Russia-Ukraine situation. The meeting was called by French President Emmanuel Macron.

In recent months, Moscow has consistently denied US allegations that Russia is staging an invasion of Ukraine under the guise of a false-flag attack that could act as a pretext for the move. Since his announcement, the Russian president has ordered a peacekeeping mission into the DPR and LPR.

https://sputniknews.com/20220222/zelenskyy-ukraines-intl-border-will-remain-the-same-regardless-of-russias-lpr-dpr-recognition-1093252030.html

‘Red-Handed’: China Used Trudeau Dad’s ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ Knockoff to Promote Justin’s Career

A Chinese regime-linked company published a re-issue of a communist propaganda travelogue by Pierre Trudeau shortly before his son, current Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, launched his career in politics, Peter Schweizer details in his new book Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win.

Pierre Trudeau, himself prime minister decades before his son, was a longtime supporter of communism and met with mass murderer Mao Zedong personally during the visit that would lead to him penning his book, Two Innocents in Red China, alongside colleague Jacques Hebert following travel in 1960.

The tenures of both Trudeaus at the helm of the Canadian government, Schweizer meticulously documents, are marred with extensive business dealings with companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party. The incumbent Trudeau has faced several scandals involving allegations of illicit lobbying insufficient action in the face of a litany of Chinese human rights abuses, including against Canadian citizens.

“Obviously, my family has historical ties with China,” Justin Trudeau affirmed in 2012, Red-Handed details, as he promoted further linking his country’s economy to China.

Long before Justin Trudeau became prime minister, however, he joined a Liberal Party youth task force in 2006. Shortly before that, the Chinese government – through the “Shanghai People’s Publishing House” – published a Chinese written language edition of Two Innocents in Red China. The book intends to tell the story of two young men using travel and adventure to discovery the glories of communism, in the style of communist killer Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries. The film version of the Motorcycle Diaries became a Hollywood hit about two years before China republished Two Innocents in Red China.

“This travelogue of his visit to China is filled with naivete and revolutionary sloganeering,” Schweizer writes in Red-Handed. “Trudeau and Hebert posed for pictures with the members of Young Pioneers, the Communist Party Youth Group rich in indoctrination, and proclaimed, “’it is these red-scarfed kids who in twenty years will be the New Men of a country which at that time will have a billion inhabitants.'”

The book effusively praises Mao Zedong, responsible for at least 50 million deaths.

“Indeed, the experience of that superb strategist, Mao Tse-tung, might lead us to conclude that in a vast and heterogeneous country, the possibility of establishing socialist strongholds in certain regions is the very best thing,” Trudeau and Hébert hoped.

Schweizer notes that the book was written amid the Great Leap Forward, a communist campaign believed to be responsible for the vast majority of Mao’s body count.

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2022/02/21/red-handed-china-used-trudeau-dads-motorcycle-diaries-knockoff-to-promote-justins-career/

Biden’s Ambassador to Germany Returns to US after Just Days on Job; Kamala Refused to Let Her Fly on Air Force Two

Democrat President Joe Biden’s U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Amy Gutmann, has returned to the United States just days after first reporting for duty during the Munich Security Conference, taking a commercial flight back to the States after Vice President Kamala Harris refused to let her fly home on Air Force Two.

Gutmann, who presented her credentials just days ago — Thursday of last week — to begin work as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, attended meetings at the Munich Security Conference with world leaders and fellow top U.S. officials, including Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Instead of staying in Germany to work at this critical time in foreign policy in Europe, an embassy spokesman confirmed that Gutmann is now back stateside just days after first reporting for duty. Germany is one of the key geographic centerpieces of the unfolding Russia-Ukraine conflict, given Biden’s decision to allow Nordstream 2, the Russian natural gas pipeline into Germany, to proceed after his predecessor former President Donald Trump held up the pipeline during his administration. The Kremlin has been increasingly emboldened since Biden opened up the pipeline and now threats of a potential invasion in Ukraine perhaps represent the possibility of the biggest war in Europe since World War II.

“The White House lobbied the Senate to confirm Gutmann this month because they said she was urgently needed in Germany due to an impending war from Russia,” a former State Department official told Breitbart News.

Gutmann’s nomination had been held up in the Senate for some time after she was nominated, but the Democrat-controlled chamber finally confirmed her earlier this month. That begs the question why there was such a rush to confirm her when she has already left Germany after being there for just a few days after she formally reported for duty.

The U.S. embassy team in Berlin insists that Gutmann is actually working while she is back in the United States, and not taking a vacation. Joseph Giordono-Scholz, the spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, told Breitbart News when asked about this that Ambassador Gutmann is engaged in “cross-government consultations” on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and is completing “in-processing” at the State Department—and will return to Berlin soon.

“Every effort was made for Ambassador Gutmann to be sworn in and credentialed as quickly as possible, precisely so that she could start her tenure quickly and join the key engagements with allies and partners at the Munich Security Conference,” Giordono-Scholz said in an email. “Ambassador Gutmann has temporarily returned to the United States to undertake cross-government consultations on the situation and to complete necessary State Department in-processing, and will return to Berlin as soon as possible. Ambassador Gutmann is fully engaged in the critical diplomacy being undertaken at this crucial moment. Any suggestion otherwise is completely false.”

It is unclear if taxpayers paid for Gutmann’s flight home to the United States after Harris and her team denied the ambassador a seat on Air Force Two—and if they did how much it cost. Giordono-Scholz would not answer specifics about the Vice President’s team’s operation, but did not deny that the ambassador sought a seat on her jet back to America, or that the Vice President and her team denied that request.

The White House and the Vice President’s press office did not immediately return a request for comment.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/02/21/exclusive-bidens-ambassador-germany-returns-us-after-just-days-job-kamala-refused-let-her-fly-air-force-two/

Kyle Rittenhouse Announces Intention to Sue Leftwing Media Personalities and Outlets Who Repeatedly Lied About Him– Whoopi Goldberg, Cenk Uygur, and Others Make the List

Kyle Rittenhouse joined Tucker Carlson on Monday night to announce the launch of the Media Accountability Project to hold the media accountable for the lies they said and deal with them in court.

Last November after he was found not guilty in the shooting deaths of two Black Lives Matter protesters at the Kenosha riots, Kyle Rittenhouse hinted that he may take action against the many leftwing politicians and operatives who smeared him as a murderer. The list included Joe Biden who called him a white supremacist in a campaign ad.

The ad is still posted on Joe Biden’s Twitter page.

Of course, Twitter has not flagged the ad for its obvious lies and slander.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/02/breaking-kyle-rittenhouse-announces-intention-sue-leftwing-media-personalities-outlets-repeatedly-lied-whoopi-goldberg-cenk-uygur-others-make-list/