24 Feb, 2023 05:56

Ukraine poised to invade neighbor – Russian MOD

Kiev is amassing troops near the border with Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region, according to the military

Ukraine is gearing up to invade Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Thursday evening.

The MOD reported a “significant buildup of Ukrainian military personnel and equipment near the Ukrainian-Transnistrian border,” as well as thesetting up of artillery positions and an “unprecedented” increase of drone flightsover the region.

“The Russian Armed Forces will respond appropriately to the impending provocation by the Ukrainian side,” the ministry said.

The territory on the left bank of the Dniester River broke away from Moldova and declared itself an independent republic in the early 1990s. Its predominantly Russian-speaking population did not want to remain a minority in the country, which itself became independent during the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Around 1,100 Russian soldiers are stationed in Transnistria as peacekeepers, monitoring the 1992 ceasefire between Moldovan and local forces. It is estimated that half of Transnistria’s 500,000 residents now have Russian citizenship.

In a statement on Thursday, the Russian MOD said the potential attack from Ukraine “would be conducted in response to a supposed Russian offensive from the territory Transnistria.”

Valeriu Mija, Moldova’s secretary of state for defense, dismissed Russia’s claim as “an element of a psychological operation.” He added that the authorities are monitoring the situation on the ground.

The news comes amid tensions between Moscow and Chisinau. Moldovan President Maia Sandu accused Russia earlier this month of plotting to topple the government in her country. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said that Russian peacekeepers should leave Transnistria.

Moscow denied the allegations of plotting a coup in Moldova and said it is not attempting to meddle in the country’s domestic affairs.

https://www.rt.com/russia/572005-russian-claims-ukraine-moldova/

24 Feb, 2023 06:21

Whistleblower exposes new FBI scandal

Internal reports show a disturbing pattern of misconduct going unpunished, former special agent Steve Friend claims

FBI agents caught committing a broad array of felonies have not only escaped going to prison for their crimes, but in many cases kept their jobs, according to internal reports from the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility obtained by former special agent Steve Friend and published by Just the News on Thursday.

The disciplinary reports, dating from 2017 to the present, depict an increase in alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct, reflecting the“sense of entitlement that has seeped into the agency,” Friend, who resigned after blowing the whistle on civil liberties abuses in the FBI’s investigation of the January 6 Capitol riot, told the outlet. He believes today’s agents are coasting on the reputation of their predecessors.

According to his data, for failing to declare a romantic relationship with an incarcerated felon, an agent was suspended for just 15 days. Another agent arrested for stealing his girlfriend’s possessions after an acrimonious breakup got just 14 days. Numerous prohibited relationships between supervisors and underlings are mentioned, netting as little as one day of suspension as a penalty.

Of 23 drunk-driving cases, just five resulted in the agent being fired. One agent who hit a car while driving with a blood alcohol content twice the legal limit and multiple open bottles inside his vehicle was merely suspended for 50 days. Another got away with a 60-day suspension for drunk-driving his vehicle into a police car.

Anotherthree dozen agents lost their guns, had them stolen, or otherwise handled them irresponsibly. One who shot a hole in the floor of his hotel room was suspended for 14 days.

An agent who hit his child, leaving bruises that were reported by the child’s teacher, was merely suspended for 40 days – despite the child apparently having “been coached to minimize what had happened.”

The FBI has its limits, however. Examples of agents whose conduct merited a “summary dismissal” listed in a 2017 report include an agent whoadmitted to sexually abusing his daughter and granddaughter for years, another who repeatedly stole drug evidence to feed their own addiction, and another who deliberately shot and killed two dogs belonging to neighbors.

The agencystopped disseminating the reports for seven months between 2021 and 2022, out of concern that “employees harmed by misconduct” would feel shamed, but ultimately resumed publication. In a statement to Just the News, it said the reports are actually proof that its disciplinary system works.

(WTF? Thats the purpose of the exposure to shame them not to do it again)

(Kash said if you fuck up at the FBI you don’t get fired, but if you fuck up really good you get a promotion!)

https://www.rt.com/news/572006-fbi-misconduct-going-unpunished/

24 Feb, 2023 04:40

Officials reveal cost of shooting down ‘UFOs’ – WSJ

The military has called off its search for the remains of the three objects, which are now thought to have been harmless balloons

ThePentagon blew more than $1.5 million to shoot down three mysterious objectsspotted in US and Canadian airspace earlier this month, multiple defense officials told the Wall Street Journal, though they suggested the true cost is likely higher.

The $1.5 million figure provided to the Journal on Wednesday only covers the cost of the four AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles used to shoot down the ‘UFOs’ over Alaska, Lake Huron, and the Yukon region in Canada, excluding funds spent by the Coast Guard, Navy, and National Guard in searching for the debris.

“The flights used to spot the balloons and eventually shoot them down are not part of the cost estimates, because the US military considers the flights part of its pilots’ training and has already budgeted those flight hours,”the outlet added, citing the defense officials.

One of the missiles failed to hit its target, requiring another $400,000 Sidewinder to send the unidentified object plummeting into one of Michigan’s Great Lakes.

The string of shootdowns came after a Chinese high-altitude balloon entered US airspace in late January, which was also downed by a US fighter jet. While Washington insisted the craft was used for espionage, Beijing rejected the charge, arguing the balloon was used to collect meteorological data and had drifted off course by accident. US officials reached by the Washington Post later acknowledged that China’s version of events could be accurate, noting the balloon may have been pushed into US territory after encountering “strong winds.”

The Chinese balloon appeared to trigger anxiety in the White House, with President Joe Biden ordering the three other objects to be shot down in quick succession soon after the initial incident. However, in an address last week, Biden revealed that intelligence agencies had assessed the objects were “most likely” weather balloons, admitting the military had used sophisticated air-to-air missiles – fired from multi-million-dollar aircraft – to neutralize harmless scientific instruments.

As of last Friday, the military halted its search for the wreckage of the three objects, after officials said poor weather conditions would make them difficult to locate.

Further underscoring the blunder, an Illinois-based hobby group has offered evidence that the device downed over Canada’s Yukon territory was likely one of its ‘pico balloons’ – tiny devices sent high into the atmosphere and tracked by amateur enthusiasts, which usuallycost between $12 and $200 to construct. While it remains unclear how the military could have missed the balloon, which had been in the air for 123 days and circled the Earth six times, officials have said the three objects were picked up not long after radar adjustments were made by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

(I bet E. Palestine could use 1.5 million. They are not being honest, I don’t think they are adding the cost to use the jets which could cost $250,000 to $500,000 for one flight alone)

https://www.rt.com/news/572002-cost-shoot-down-ufos/

24 Feb, 2023 11:58

Russia warns US, NATO, and Ukraine over Transnistria

Moscow says it will respond to any “provocation” by Kiev against Russian peacekeepers in the Moldovan breakaway region

Any action by Ukraine or the West that poses a threat to Russian peacekeepers or nationals in the Moldovan breakaway region of Transnistria will be seen as an attack on Russia, the country’s Foreign Ministry has stated. It warned Kiev and its Western backers against carrying out “provocations” there.

In a statement released on Friday, Russian diplomats cited data from the country’s Defense Ministry, according to which Ukraine has amassed considerable numbers of military personnel, as well as hardware and artillery on its border with Transnistria. In light of this, Moscow warned the “US, NATO member states and their Ukrainian underlings against any further adventurous steps.”

While Russia favors “political-diplomatic” ways of resolving issues, “no one should have any doubt that the Russian armed forces will react appropriately to any provocation by the Kiev regime,” the statement reads.

Moscow stressed that it is determined to protect its citizens, peacekeepers, and military personnel stationed in Moldova’s breakaway region.

Any actions posing a threat to their security will be viewed, according to international law, as an attack against the Russian Federation.

The report of a Ukrainian military buildup along the country’s border with Transnistria was issued by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday.

The territory on the left bank of the Dniester River proclaimed independence from Moldova in the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Around 1,100 Russian soldiers are stationed in Transnistria as peacekeepers in order to monitor a 1992 ceasefire between Moldovan and local forces.

(Remember Sundance said the other day if their is a WW Moldova would be involved:__Twitchy Business – Joe Biden Meets With Moldovan President Maia Sandu__February 21, 2023 |

All of the geopolitical deep weeds followers generally agree,if/when the U.S. triggers the first direct military strikes against Russian interests, what one might call the modern Archduke Ferdinand moment, it will likely take place in Moldova.

It’s almost a guarantee at this point the CIA and U.S. State Dept. have ongoing strategic operations in control of Moldova. As a consequence, a very strategically weak and easily influenced Moldovan President, currently Maia Sandu, will be the manipulated leader who next puts her country in harm’s way.

Moldova has a significant population of pro-Russia citizens in the east, which makes the internal domestic dynamic a little strenuous to manage. It is very similar to Ukraine in that regard. Coincidentally, or not, there is also a large population of ex-pat Moldovans in/around Jackson Hole Wyoming in the USA.

https://www.rt.com/russia/572014-us-nato-kiev-transnistria-provocation/

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/21/twitchy-business-joe-biden-meets-with-moldovan-president-maia-sandu/

Not just ivermectin: New FDA authority to ban off-label uses alarms doctors. 1/2

February 23, 2023

Doctors are speaking out against a new law that arguably paves the way for the FDA to prohibit treatments for purposes it hasn't expressly authorized, going far beyond highly politicized subjects such as treating COVID-19 with ivermectin.

Theauthority to ban off-label uses was buried on page 3,542 of the 4,155-page omnibus appropriations billsigned into law at year's end, though it's specifically applied to "banned devices."

The FDA requested this "very unprecedented" update after a string of court losses, Endpoints News senior editor Zachary Brennan told WBUR earlier this month, while cautioning that it's not clear whether the agency could broadly interpret "devices" to cover drug treatments.

Law firm Morrison Foerster specifically credited the revision to a 2021 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that prohibited the FDA from banning "individual intended usages of an otherwise legally marketed device," in that case "electrical stimulation devices used to treat aggressive or self-injurious behavior."

Some physicians aren't trusting the FDA to restrain itself. "FDA lobbyists got congress [sic] to grant the agency (not practicing doctors) the power to ban some uses of medications," Johns Hopkins medical professor and National Academy of Medicine member Marty Makary tweeted Tuesday.

"That's truly arrogant to think that the federal government is the one and only one who knows better than the physicians at the state boards of medicine about what good medicine is or what it isn't," medical device and drug regulatory lawyer Brad Thompson told WBUR.

"It may be that the clause is specifically directed to forbidding use of e.g. ivermectin in COVID," for which "data are mixed," David Livermore, retired professor of medical microbiology at the University of East Anglia, told Just the News in an email.

He called it "a disgrace and a dereliction of duty" that the National Institutes of Health has yet to "properly study ivermectin either as a treatment or a prophylactic for COVID," giving the FDA cover to potentially ban such use. (The feds relied on "fake studies" to demonize low-cost COVID treatments, Yale epidemiologist Harvey Risch has argued.)

The new FDA authority could complicate a lawsuit by doctors that claims the agency effectively banned them from prescribing ivermectinto treat COVID by repeatedly telling the public the award-winning antiviral was dangerous for humans and providing false grounds for medical license investigations.

The agency claimed at a court hearing last fallthat its guidance was "not mandatory." The litigants, including cancellation target Mary Talley Bowden, told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month that the FDA "cannot use unlawful means to accomplish exactly what it intended, then seek to wash its hands of the consequences."

Under 5th Circuit precedent, which recognizes off-label use as the "standard of care" in many medical contexts, federalism constraints prevent the agency from even "advis[ing] whether or for what purpose a doctor should prescribe" an approved drug, they said. The doctors' lawyers didn't respond to Just the News queries on how the revision could affect their litigation.

The omnibus language is not easily understood by the layman. It adds new clauses about "intended uses" to Section 516(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/not-just-ivermectin-new-fda-authority-ban-label-uses-alarms-doctors

>>18402729

FDA Dictators Now

2/2

Applied to existing law, the revisions grant the secretary of health and human services authority to initiate a regulatory proceeding for an already approved "device intended for human use" to ban intended uses that present "substantial deception or an unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury."

Just the News confirmed this legislative construction with Joel Zinberg, associate clinical professor of surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine and former Columbia law lecturer, who was apparently the first to widely publicize the omnibus provision in a Wall Street Journal op-ed accusing the FDA of "unwarranted intrusion into the physician-patient relationship."

"Since the new provision lets the FDA skirt the ban on interfering with the practice of medicine by banning devices for particular uses, the agency will likely claim this as a precedent allowing it to ban off-label uses of drugs as well," Zinberg wrote in the op-ed.

Zinberg directs the Paragon Health Institute's Public Health and American Well-Being Initiative. The free-market group was founded in 2021 by Trump administration alumni, including Zinberg, who served as general counsel to the Council of Economic Advisers.

"In some fields off-label use is the rule, not the exception," including oncology and pediatrics, "where scientific, ethical and logistical concerns preclude conducting large trials for approval in children," Zinberg said. The antibiotic erythromycin, for example, "is widely used off label to increase stomach motility and tolerance of oral feeding," he noted.

Livermore and other doctors discussed the ramifications of the new authority on the listserv for the Brownstone Institute, which publishes research that undermines COVID mandates, and gave Just the News permission to cite them.

"Damn — 3/4 of the stuff we use Is off label," University of Kentucky medical professor Lisbeth Selby wrote. "This is a ploy to get more money for drug companies."

"Potentially catastrophic for use of antibiotics," said Livermore, former director of antibiotic resistance monitoring at Public Health England. Restricting their use to "indication only" would "deny useful treatments to patients with highly resistant bacteria simply because these drugs never had an appropriate trial in the setting," such as tigecycline for hospital pneumonia, he told Just the News.

Selby provided Just the News an exhaustive list of the off-label treatments she uses regularly in her gastroenterology practice at the Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, with asterisks on "those used daily."

selby-VAMC-off-label-treatments.pdf

"Older medications have more off label usages for a variety of reasons including time to accumulate experience using it off label," and there's "no financial reason to go back and get FDA approval for a generic medication," Selby wrote in an email, citing epinephrine specifically as a "key medication in Advanced Cardiac Life Support protocols."

Asked to respond to criticism from doctors and explain how it interprets the breadth of the new authority, FDA spokesperson Chanapa Tantibanchachai told Just the News: "We’ll let you know if we have anything to add."

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/not-just-ivermectin-new-fda-authority-ban-label-uses-alarms-doctors

Judge approves depositions for Trump, FBI Director Wray in suit from former officials

A federal judge on Thursday approved depositions for former President Donald Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray as part of lawsuits from former FBI officials who investigated Trump.

Former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Pagebecame the subject of a public scandal following the release of text messages between the two, who were having an affair. The messages showed the pair discussing the investigation and making critical comments about the former president.

Strzok was fired from his post and is challenging that decision, while Page resigned and instead alleges that the administration targeted her for political reasons.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jacksongranted two-hour depositions for both Trump and Wray, The Hill reported. (Why is she always involved when its anti Trump?)

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/judge-approves-depositions-trump-fbi-director-wray-suit-former-officials

Read five years of FBI disciplinary reports identifying crimes, misconduct by bureau employeesDig In Anons

The FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility each calendar quarter emails the entire FBI workforce a list of major misconduct cases by bureau employees and what punishment was meted out.

Just the News obtained 13 such reports covering most of the five years between 2017 and 2022. The reports were provided by Steve Friend, an FBI special agent who recently left the bureau after blowing the whistle on alleged civil liberty violations during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigation.

You can read each of them here.

OPR Quarterly Email January 2017.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email April 2017.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email July 2017.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email January 2018.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email April 2018.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email July 2018.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email October 2018.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email January 2019.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email April 2019.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email July 2019.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email October 2019.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email January 2020.pdf

OPR Quarterly Email April 2022.pdf

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/read-five-years-fbi-disciplinary-reports-identifying-crimes

Some examples

• One report from April 2017 listed general examples of past FBI misconduct, including one agentdismissedfor admitting to having sexually molested his daughter and granddaughter for years.

• • Another acted "as an agent of a foreign government." One stole drug evidence to feed a heroin addiction, while another employee pulled a gun on a private citizen during an incident of road rage. The female bystander in question was thrown up "against a concrete lane divider, causing temporary loss of consciousness and large contusion."

• Other reports detail an employee who shot and killed his neighbor's dog and another who was driving drunk — with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit — and killed an 18-year-old in the process. Yet not all of these subjects were said to have served prison time,and some even kept their jobs.

• One employee failed to safeguard their weapon by leaving it in their car, where it was later stolen. In addition to violating various rules about how the firearm should have been secured. The punishment: a3-day suspension and loss of the weapon.

• A supervisory employee "hit his minor child" and was caught only after the child's school "noticed bruises and contacted Child Protective Services." the employee received only a40-day suspensionfor "Assault and Battery."

• One employee "seized two thumb drives and notebook from a fugitive during an arrest." That employee then imaged the thumb drives "without a warrant" and removed a page from the notebook that contained information about another government agent. This resulted in a5-day suspension.

• After sending "a threatening and vile email to his girlfriend's ex-husband," one agent faced a temporary protective order. When a process server attempted to serve the subpoena, the employee threatened to shoot him, then failed to report the incident to his supervisor. Punishment:25-day suspension.

• The following year, the punishments seemed to get lighter as two agents who had separately engaged in an "improper relationship with [a] source," were hitwith 2 and 3-day suspensionsrespectively.

• An employee "admitted engaging in a romantic relationship with an incarcerated felon and sending him money," according to the report. The employee "failed to report contact with the felon," yet only received asuspension of 15 days.

• A similar situation from the fallout of a failed "romantic relationship" caused an employee to remove "certain jointly-owned property from the apartment of Employee's former significant other and damaged other property," the email reported. "Although no criminal charges were filed, Employee was arrested for vandalism and theft." Final verdict:14-day suspension.

•Fourteen dayswas also the price another agent paid for misfiring their gun "in the middle of the night while in a hotel room" before going to sleep and taking no further action.

• In the smallest, yet possibly most surprising, disciplinary decision handed down, an agent was suspended foronly one dayafter sitting for a virtual test about evidence handling that the agent's colleague was supposed to take.

• A40-day suspensionwas handed down to an employee who used the Bureau's official databases to look up information on relatives and friends.

• Another60-day suspensionwas handed down after an employee used their credentials "to intimidate" workers at "a child's day care center and, in a separate matter, to obtain law enforcement information from the local police regarding a friend's suicide."

45 paragraph article;

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/48hrs-fbi-employees-engaged-drunk-driving-mishandling-secrets-and

>>18402877

Meanwhile the FBI & DOJ are putting J6ers in jail from 6 months to 12 years

24 Feb, 2023 12:58

US defense official reveals timeline for tank deliveries to Ukraine

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters that the M1 Abrams may not arrive by the end of this year

(Bannon’s daughter said the army already transported 400 tanks to Baltic countries in 2013-2014 before the Coup in Ukraine. And they ate still there, she’s in logistics still in the army. So they are lying.)

Doubts linger regarding whether Ukraine will receive US-made M1 Abrams tanks in 2023, US Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told the media. She noted that the Pentagon is presently entertaining several scenarios, including building the needed hardware from scratch or sourcing it from some of the current operators.

Speaking during a Defense Writers Group event on Thursday, Wormuth assured journalists that Washington is looking at “what’s the fastest way we can get the tanks to the Ukrainians.”

The army secretary acknowledged that the handover will not be completed in a matter of weeks or months, but with “longer timelines involved.”

“I think there are options that are less than two years, less than a year and a half. But again we have to look at the pros and cons of each of them,” she said, adding: “it’s still to be determined as to whether tanks could get there by the end of the year.”

She explained that the lengthy wait time is due to the fact that the US will not only have to supply the tanks themselves, but also provide the necessary recovery vehicles, ammunition, and training for Ukrainian troops.

While building the hardware “from scratch” is not off the table, the Pentagon could also opt for modernizing existing tanks from its own inventory, Wormuth said. She added that Washington is looking at other options that would involve “countries that we’ve sold tanks to previously.” These nations may be better placed to “get tanks to the Ukrainians more quickly,” she explained, noting, however, that this “might disrupt relations with important allies.”

Speaking to Sky News in late January, days after US President Joe Biden pledged to provide Ukraine with 31 Abrams tanks, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky stressed that if they arrive as late as August, it will be “too late.” He also made it clear that a handful of tanks “won’t make a difference on the battlefield.”

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said the planned deliveries of tanks were viewed in Moscow as “direct involvement” by NATO in the conflict. He added that Western armor will not change the outcome of the fighting, and that the tanks will “burn” if they arrive on the battlefield.

(I read another article that “Abrams tanks might be poor fit for Ukraine – FT

Maintenance and logistics needs reportedly make the US armor a dubious asset for Kiev” The M1 Abrams tanks that Washington recently promised to Ukraine might end up being a liability rather than a boost to Kiev’s war effort, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Such a view is explained by the armor’s overcomplicated logistics and maintenance needs.)

https://www.rt.com/news/572012-us-army-secretary-abrams-tanks-ukraine/

24 Feb, 2023 13:45

Biden team has ‘deeply rooted hatred for Russia’ – US congressman

Senior State Department officials Victoria Nuland and Antony Blinken are “dangerous fools” who are trying to drag the US into a world war, Paul Gosar declared

Senior officials at the US State Department are attempting to get the country “involved in another world war” with Russia, Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar tweeted on Friday. Gosar, Twitter CEO Elon Musk, and former president Donald Trump, have all named Victoria Nuland as the most dangerous among this group in recent days.

Responding to an RT article on Musk accusing Nuland of “pushing this war” in Ukraine, Gosar declared that the billionaire “is correct.”

“Both Nuland and Blinken have a deeply rooted irrational hatred of Russia, and they seek to get the US involved in another world war,” he continued. “These are dangerous fools who can get us all killed.”

Elon is correct. Both Nuland and Blinken have a deeply rooted irrational hatred of Russia, and they seek to get the US involved in another world war. These are dangerous fools who can get us all killed. Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS

In a follow-up tweet, Gosar wrote that “as a non-soldier, Nuland is quite willing to endorse violence and war.” The Republican lawmaker then quoted the article, which stated that Nuland had “endorsed regime change in Russia, celebrated the US’ destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, and called for the indefinite flow of arms into Ukraine.”

As assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs in 2014,Nuland was largely responsible for orchestrating the pro-Western coupthat unseated democratically elected president Viktor Yanukovich. Nuland traveled to Kiev and promised military aid to the rioters, and was recorded plotting to install a successor to Yanukovich.

As Biden’s secretary of state, Blinken has promised to keep weapons flowing into Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” and advised Kiev in December not to seek the kind of negotiated settlement that would liken to a “phony peace.”

Gosar has been a persistent critic of the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy since Russia’s military operation began a year ago on Friday. However, although the Republican Party now controls the House of Representatives, there is little the Arizona congressman can do to change the administration’s course. A significant bipartisan majority supports continued military aid to Ukraine, with only 11 Republicans, Gosar included, sponsoring legislation that would cut funding for Kiev.

These Republicans are all allies of former president Donald Trump. In a campaign video released on Tuesday, Trump blamed the situation in Ukraine on Nuland and “others like her” in the Biden administration. Nuland, he said, was “obsessed with pushing Ukraine towards NATO,” adding that the conflict would have “never happened if I was your president.”

https://www.rt.com/news/572017-blinken-nuland-hate-russia/

24 Feb, 2023 14:17

White House details new sanctions against Russia

US to hike tariffs on Russian metals and over a hundred more products

Washington is taking a new action against Moscow's mining sector byraising import levies on over 100 Russian metals, minerals and chemical products, the White House said in a statement published on Friday. The move comes on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

According to the statement, the measures are “designed to target key Russian commodities generating revenue for the Kremlin while reducing US reliance on Russia.”

“Today’s action will result in increased tariffs on more than 100 Russian metals, minerals, and chemical products worth approximately $2.8 billion to Russia. It will also significantly increase costs for aluminum that was smelted or cast in Russia to enter the US market in order to counter harm to the domestic aluminum industry, which is being squeezed by energy costs as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the statement read, without specifying further details. Earlier this month reports emerged that Washington planned to slapRussian aluminum with a 200% import tariff.

In addition, the US willimpose export restrictions on 90 companies from Russia, and other third countries including China, for allegedly “engaging in sanction evasion and backfill activities in support of Russia’s defense sector.” The move will ban the targeted companies from buying goods made either in the US, or elsewhere with the use of US technology or software.

According to the statement, US President Joe Biden is to sign the new restrictions later on Friday.

The US, along with other Western countries, imposed unprecedented sanctions against Russia over the past year in response to Moscow’s military operation in neighboring Ukraine. The measures affected trade, energy exports, investment, finance, and tourism, among other spheres of the Russian economy, saw hundreds of Russian individuals blacklisted, and roughly half of Russian foreign currency reserves frozen.

Russian metals and their producers have not been directly targeted by Western restrictions before, but many buyers have shunned imports from the country over the past months amid sanctions pressure. In December, Russian Trade Minister Denis Manturov said Moscow would beredirecting its metal exports from Western countries to alternative markets, with China, Türkiye, member states of the Eurasian Economic Union and CIS countries as priorities.

(What is Russia just stops importing the metals and chemicals altogether, doesn’t that hurt us like it did with the chemicals for fertilizer? I doubt they’ll pay a 200% tariff. Or they’ll sell it to another country and they’ll import it here making it more expensive. Bidan is still trying to destroy our country.)

https://www.rt.com/business/572016-white-house-details-new-sanctions/

Tucker Carlson Outlines the Biden Plan to Support Ukraine for “As Long as It Takes”

February 24, 2023 | Sundance | 95 Comments

The Biden administration and UniParty congress continues announcing additional tranches in tens-of-billions in U.S. taxpayer funds to support Ukraine. The total spent or committed now exceeds $100 billion in just one year alone, with no end in sight. We are funding almost all military operations and the government expenses of Ukraine to include pensions, pay and benefits for Ukrainian officials.

During his opening monologue Thursday, Tucker Carlson outlines the Joe Biden “as long as it takes” policy. WATCH:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/24/tucker-carlson-outlines-the-biden-plan-to-support-ukraine-for-as-long-as-it-takes/

https://youtu.be/EoVMi2_AoiU

>>18403123

I couldn’t watch this to the end where McCaul says we should be sending F16s, long ranch missiles and much more armaments to Ukraine. They are fucking insane all of them

>>18402986

All the oligarchs and EU have their stolen billions laundered through ukraine, no other reasons. They will go to WWIII to keep their stolen money. To hell with the world

>>18402623

Wow I didnt know that

>>18403182

Sick, so Musk gets billions where CA gets more taxes

>>18403118

He’s lying they took in 100s of 1000s of adults and children from Doneskt and Lugansk because they were being bombed to death. These people are fucking liars, nut they dont care how many children are taken by non profits that sell them it take their organs

NTSB Releases Results of Preliminary Investigation of East Palestine, Ohio, Train Derailment – No Human Error – Video

February 23, 2023 | Sundance | 224 Comments

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released the preliminary findings from its investigation of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment. (video below)

There were three locomotives and 149 rail cars. Before the train derailed Feb. 3, the crew received a warning telling them to immediately slow and stop the train to conduct an inspection. It was during the deceleration that a railcar carrying plastic pellets had a wheel bearing failure, according to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. [Bullet Point Video, WATCH]

Thirty-eight cars derailed and fire damaged an additional 12 cars. Five tanker cars carry 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride were part of the group that derailed. Vinyl Chloride is a flammable and toxic gas used to make PVC pipe. The initial fire was the result of the hot axle and the plastic pellets in the railcar. According to Mrs. Homendy, there was no evidence the three-person train crew did anything wrong. She said the NTSB, so far, hasn’t identified any operational issues with the defect detectors or railroad tracks.

Full Press Conference Video Below:

Guaranteed they are already lying

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/23/ntsb-releases-results-of-preliminary-investigation-of-east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-no-human-error-video/

https://youtu.be/hSLSWlRqqqc

Biden Pokes Xi – As China and Russia Align Closer, Joe Biden Sends Additional U.S. Troops to Taiwan

February 23, 2023 | Sundance | 108 Comments

This sounds exactly like something out of the State Dept playbook from an era when the U.S. military had the actual strength to back it up. However, against the current state of affairs, specifically the U.S. control over the western NATO alliance, sending additional troops to Taiwan just because the U.S. is upset about China and Russia’s relationship, is simply poking the Beijing dragon.

There are approximately 30 U.S. troops in Taiwan on a regular rotating basis. Nothing large or significant. However, immediately after China and Russia announce there is no distance or limit in their relationship, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration is sending an additional 200 U.S. military troops into Taiwan.

(Via Wall Street Journal) – […] The number of American troops, which has included special-operations forces and U.S. Marines, has fluctuated by a handful during the past few years, according to Defense Department data. The planned increase would be the largest deployment of forces in decades by the U.S. on Taiwan, as the two draw closer to counter China’s growing military power.

[…] The expanded training, both in the U.S. and in Taiwan, is part of a gathering U.S. push to help a close partner prepare to thwart a possible invasion by China. The U.S. officials said the expansion was planned for months, well before U.S.-China relations plummeted anew this month after a suspected Chinese spy balloon traversed North America for more than a week before being shot down by the Air Force.

With a decades-old military buildup gaining momentum, China’s People’s Liberation Army is increasingly engaging in aggressive maneuvers, sending planes and ships near Taiwan. Following Russia’s full-on invasion of Ukraine last year, the Pentagon has redoubled efforts to get Taiwan to adopt what some military specialists call a “porcupine” strategy, focusing on tactics and weapons systems that would make the island harder to assault.

The additional troops will be tasked with training Taiwan forces not only on U.S. weapons systems but on military maneuvers to protect against a potential Chinese offensive, the U.S. officials said. The officials declined to provide other details about the deployment, which hasn’t been previously reported. (read more)

This is not going to change the dynamic of Russia and China in alignment against western NATO policy, but it will likely make Beijing even more determined against U.S. interests.

Yesterday: “Earlier Wednesday, Wang held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “Our ties have continued to develop dynamically, and despite high turbulence in the global arena, we have shown the readiness to speak in defense of each other’s interests,” Lavrov said. Wang responded in kind, underlining Beijing’s focus on deepening ties with Russia — a relationship it has said has “no limits.” (read more)

Why is it whenever there are Democrats in the White House there is always conflict in the world?

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/23/biden-pokes-xi-as-china-and-russia-align-closer-joe-biden-sends-additional-u-s-troops-to-taiwan/

>>18402703

You mean the baboons won right?

>>18403318

Good one anon

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