2 Oct, 2022 13:54

US promises to help Ukraine retake territory

Antony Blinken named weapons shipments as Washington’s primary tool to achieve this goal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba that Washington would help Ukraine “regain control of its territory” by force if necessary. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly stated that his goal is to seize all lands claimed by Russia, including Crimea.

“The United States will always honor Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and…will continue to support Ukraine’s efforts to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically,” Blinken told Kuleba on Saturday, according to a readout of the call provided by State Department spokesman Ned Price.

US President Joe Biden issued the same statement verbatim on Friday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed accession agreements to start the process of bringing the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson, into the Russian Federation.

However, neither Biden nor Blinken has announced any major change in US policy to help Ukraine retake these lands. The latter stated that US arms deliveries – including a $1.1 billion package announced earlier this week – would continue to flow as they have since February.

Zelensky responded to Putin’s move on Friday by declaring that he would never negotiate a peace settlement as long as the Russian president remains in power, and also by signing an application demanding “accelerated” admission to the NATO alliance. Zelensky’s application was rebuffed by NATO and US leaders, however, with the White House declaring that Ukraine’s potential membership in the alliance “should be taken up at a different time.”

Zelensky has repeatedly declared that his forces would retake all Russian-held lands, including Crimea, which voted to join Russia in 2014, by “any means that we consider correct.” Still, according to Vladimir Putin, once the Donbass republics and Zaporozhye and Kherson are formally incorporated into Russia, they would be defended with “all means available.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/563911-blinken-ukraine-retake-territory/

Why does Ukraine want to retake regions that declared their independence in 2014, and once decided to become part of Russia? The US knows that Ukraine has killed 14,000+ citizens since the start. Is there plan to kill all of them? Ukraine has not been officially deemed a country, international belief does not make it legally so.

2 Oct, 2022 14:15

Nord Stream pipelines can be restored – Moscow

The process would be time-consuming and costly, according to Russia’s deputy PM

Russia may be able to fix the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which were damaged earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak said on Sunday.

“There are technical possibilities to restore the infrastructure, it requires time and appropriate funds. I am sure that appropriate opportunities will be found,” Novak told Russia 1 TV.

According to the official, however, the first step should be to determine who is behind the incident.

“As of today, we proceed from the fact that it is necessary, first of all, to figure out who did it, and we are sure that certain countries, which had expressed their positions before, were interested in it. Both the US and Ukraine, as well as Poland at one time said that this infrastructure is not going to work, that they will do everything to make sure of it, so, of course, it is necessary to seriously look into it,” Novak stated.

Citing German security services, Der Tagesspiegel newspaper earlier reported that the damaged routes could be permanently out of use if they are not repaired quickly, as salt water could cause corrosion.

The Danish authorities reported leaks on both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines on Monday after a local pipeline operator noted a loss of pressure following a series of undersea explosions in the area. The Danish Energy Agency reported earlier on Sunday that the pressure on the Nord Stream 1 is stable and the gas leakage is over, while on Saturday, it said the Nord Stream 2 also stopped leaking gas.

The incident is widely considered to be the result of sabotage. Russia has called it a terrorist attack. While those behind it have not yet been identified, Moscow has blamed the US.

https://www.rt.com/business/563912-nord-stream-pipes-restored/

Hillary: Putin was waiting for a reelected Trump to 'pull us out of NATO,' abandon Ukraine

(Russia, Russia, Russia continued)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Trump's opponent in the 2016 election, said on Thursday that she thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin was waiting for Trump to pull the U.S. out of NATO if reelected, leaving Ukraine defenseless against a Russian invasion.

"He got his dreams fulfilled when Trump was elected," Clinton said at a symposium at Georgetown University honoring the diplomatic legacy of the late Madeleine Albright. "And I believe that if Trump had been reelected, Putin would have waited for Trump to do what he said he was intending to do, which was to pull us out of NATO.

"And that would have created such a vacuum that invading Ukraine, which he thought was going to be easy anyway, would be a fait accompli."

Clinton said Putin didn't want to face Clinton as president so he meddled in the 2016 presidential election.

"He, you know, decided that he didn't want to face me as president," she said. "So he did all the things we now know he did that are well cataloged."

Looking back, former President Bill Clinton said he has no regrets about supporting the expansion of NATO during his time in office, despite the move angering Russia.

"I thought it was amazing when later some people said, 'Well, this just shows you what a mistake it was because it hurt Russia's feelings,'" he said. "And I thought, 'Well, would you rather instead of Ukraine, that Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic were worried about Russian expansionism?'"

Putin ultimately invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, more than a year after President Biden took office.

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/hillary-ukraine-putin-was-waiting-trump-pull-us-out-nato-if-re-elected

Shes still butthurt

Democrat congressman: 'It just looks like we're pickpocketing the public' without a stock ban

Missouri Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver says he fully supports the House Democratic leadership's stock ban bill, which covers spouses and dependent children, and said the issue isn't going away despite the House not voting on the bill before leaving town.

The Democrat-led House left for recess on Friday after passing a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded through Dec. 16.

The stock ban bill, the Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act, won't see a vote before the Nov. 8 election takes place. Pelosi had said she would bring it to the floor this month.

Cleaver was asked for his opinion of the legislation.

"I support it, 100%," he replied. "I think with the approval rating of Congress almost in single digits, we ought to do everything we can to erase the negative, as much negativity as we can. And it just looks like we're pickpocketing the public when we end up in Congress and then pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments."

In addition to members of Congress, the ban in the bill would cover senior officials in all three branches of government and extend the individual stock trading ban to spouses and dependent children. The legislation also covers cryptocurrencies.

The release of the full text of the legislation comes after some of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul's most recent trades have made headlines. For example, he purchased between $1 million and $5 million of stock in a semiconductor company ahead of an expected vote on legislation that contained $52 billion for chipmakers.

Pelosi's office said she had "no prior knowledge" of her husband's stock purchase.

Arizona Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva said he would have liked to see the House vote on a stock ban bill before leaving for recess.

"I wish we would have," he said.

Grijalva explained that he originally supported Virginia Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger's "more definitive and more direct" stock ban legislation.

"We don't have a lot of bipartisanship here, but there seems to be some bipartisan desire not to move forward," he said.

Spanberger called for new House leadership after Pelosi did not bring a stock ban bill to the floor for a vote before the recess.

"This moment marks a failure of House leadership," she said, "and it's yet another example of why I believe that the Democratic Party needs new leaders in the halls of Capitol Hill, as I have long made known.

Pelosi responded to Spanberger's statement at a news conference on Friday.

"First of all, her bill is contained in this bill," Pelosi said. "Other Members had ideas too, to improve upon the bill. … I don't know what her statement is, but it is contrary to what the House Administration Committee — I said to them, 'Whatever you — whatever the Members want to do, I fully support.' And they took her bill, added others that made the bill stronger, as a matter a fact. So this is an interesting press release, but it's more important to write a bill."

Pelosi was asked if she has the votes to pass the stock ban bill.

"We'll see," she said. "We'll work to have the votes."

The lack of stock trading laws applicable to members of Congress was thrust into the public eye after the 2011 publication of the book "Throw Them All Out" by Peter Schweizer.

After its release, Congress passed the STOCK Act, which was designed to prevent insider trading in Congress, and former President Obama signed the bill into law. The bill requires members of Congress to file financial disclosure reports showing purchases they or their spouses made.

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/democrat-congressman-it-just-looks-were-pickpocketing-public-without-stock-ban

'Going to dig into this': Sen. Ron Johnson vows probe into federal effort to outsource censorship

Sen. Ron Johnson, the top Republican on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, is vowing to investigate revelation that federal agencies used a private entity to outsource online censorship during the last election.

Johnson reacted Friday night to a report by Just the News that four private groups worked with the departments of Homeland Security and State to censor massive numbers of social media posts they considered misinformation during the 2020 election.

"It looks like what the federal government is trying to do is skirt the law and try to figure out in some way, shape or form that it can impact and censor Americans, abridge their free speech," Johnson told the "Just the News, Not Noise" TV show. "I do not want the federal government to be the arbiters of truth."

ohnson said that the federal government working with private groups to censor people should trouble every American, and Republicans are going to continued to look into the issue.

"We're continuing to look into this," Johnson stated. "I'm glad that you opened up our eyes to this possibility. But we're going to dig into this because this is troubling."

Johnson referred to President Joe Biden as the "divider in chief" and that half of America is not made up of domestic terrorists.

"They should not be big brother." Johnson referred to the DHS. "They should be protecting our homeland against threats that are coming that are actually real, as opposed to these political threats that the Divider in Chief is always talking about."

"Half of Americans are not potential domestic terrorists," Johnson continued. "Half of Americans not are not semi- fascists. But that is exactly what the left is pushing on America. And unfortunately, they have the power within the administration to utilize those agencies."

Johnson said United States citizens shouldn't have to worry about these government agencies going after them for political views.

"We see the politicization of the FBI," said Johnson. This is a huge concern. This should be a huge concern to Americans because the awesome power of government is being used against its very own citizens."

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/satwere-going-dig-sen-johnson-feds-using-private-entity-outsource