Law, Power, and Justice

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  • UKRAINE UPDATE: 2:00 pm est

    BLOG NOTES: 2:00

    CNN

    • Rusia is trying to keep Western countries from fleeing the country.  https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/investing/russia-economy-capital-controls/index.html
    • “Capital controls” are designed to stop the exodus, announced by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.  Companies would be prevented from selling Russian assets.
    • BP announced it was planning to exit its 20% stake in Russia’s biggest oil company, Rosneft.  Shell has followed suit.
    • A French company announced it would not provide new capital for Russian projects.
    • Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund will divest shares in 47 Russian companies as well as Russian government bonds.
    • Richard Haas joins the “Putin is a madman” narrative CREATED BY THE NEWS ANCHORS.  “He may not be rational” Haas says about Putin.  Based on what evidence?  Then, absurdly, Haas says:  “You have to be really careful about assumptions.” 
    • The ruble plunged by about 25% on Monday.  It has lost half its value since the invasion began.
    • Russians have raised interest rates to 20% and prevented the stock market from opening for a second day.
    • 1:15 PM (EST)
    • Commentator: “This is the battle of Berlin.”

    FOX

    • Ukrainian member of parliament thanks the west and asks for more equipment.  “We will resist with everything we have.”
    • (Note: Democrats won’t even prosecute Trump, et. al.)
    • Shelling in downtown Kharkiv.
    • 677,000 new estimates of refugees.

    Ukraine World News  www.ukraineworld.org

    • Ukrainian intelligence reporting that Russia is planning to organize a provocation to justify further Belarusian participation in the invasion.
    • Ukrainian government saying it may resort to a preventive strike on Belarus to keep it from participating in the invasion.
    • Note: Kyiv Indepenent is also carrying the same story from above.

    Twitter

    • NEXTA TV is reporting that Canada will ban Russian ships from entering its ports and territorial waters as of next week.

  • UKRAINE UPDATE: To the Anti-war Left – PLEASE.

    12 Noon: Ukraine

    FOX NEWS

    • “When tyrants say they are going to do something” you should listen.  This is Nikki Haley talking about Putin.  Biden is not doing enough, according to the Russian collaborators on Fox News.
    • Haley advocating harsher sanctions while the leader of her party, Trump, praises Putin.
    • Note: These Republicans know that their base is filled with morons who can’t even see the hypocrisy of Trump’s, the Republican party’s and the NRA’s collaboration with the Russians and their current statements.

    MSNBC

    • Note: I couldn’t care less about spending hours of coverage in the middle of a war on what Biden MIGHT say in the State of the Union address.  Frankly I dread having to listen to this speech.  I know it will make me furious.

    CNN

    • “What are you going to be watching for?”  CNN also is spending time, while Ukraine is under attack, speculating on what Biden may say tonight.  Waste of time.

    TWITTER

    • Russia is temporarily banning western companies from exiting Russian investments.  Note: I don’t know how this is possible?

    ANTI-WAR LEFT

    • “War is stupid” is a slogan not a proposal for action.  Ukrainians are begging for help and this is the answer? War is stupid? 
    • If you are a pacifist, I understand, but to just close your eyes to 200,000 troops amassed around a country, military attack on a country whose people by themselves forced a Russian-puppet to flee back to Russia, is not an answer.  It’s an abnegation
    • I have a historical update for those of you who think Russia is a “communist country.”  Russia is controlled by an oligarchy put in place by an authoritarian.  The economic system is a rabid, Wild West capitalist economy where there are no restraints on stealing and appropriating property that formerly belonged to the people.  This is the system that Republicans are trying to establish in this country.  If you fight Republicans you must fight the Russian government right now.
    • “You are supporting people who profit from war.”  Yes, people profit from war.  I don’t like that, but right now, that’s how it is.  Does that mean we throw up our hands and give up and allow the oligarchs to take over the country?  Do you expect Zelensky to throw up his hands and allow Putin to take over Ukraine because somebody might profit off the weapons he’s asking for?
    • Do you seriously think that Zelensky can negotiate his way out of this war?  When Zelensky first came to power, he thought he could reason with the Russians, negotiate a resolution to the Donbas.  He found out he was unable to do so. 
    • “You are listening to MSM.”  This was said by somebody who refuses to believe Trump was connected to Russia.  To him, the connection was all invented by the MSM.  People, just look at the evidence.  Simply because something is said on MSM doesn’t mean it is necessarily false.  You have to look at all kinds of sources and make the best judgements you can.  Just listening to people like Glen Greenwald is not looking at evidence.  It is a refusal to look at evidence.

  • UKRAINE UPDATE:

    Blog Notes: 10:30 AM

    AFP News Agency:

    • Serious strikes in Kharkiv (evidently pronounced Har-kiv) directly in front of a government building.  Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second largest city.  On the eastern side of Ukraine.
    • The strike killed an estimated 10 people. 
    • Russian troops have reportedly entered the southern city of Kherson (near Odesa on Black sea.
    • Belarusian troops entered the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine.
    • 70 Ukrainian soldiers reported killed in Okhtyrka on Sunday.
    • Lavrov, in front of the UN, maintains that Russian troops are focused on “saving people, demilitarization and denazification.”
    • Note: Chris Sampson (who was until recently in Ukraine) pointing out that Russia has a bigger Nazi problem than does Ukraine. 

    CNN

    • A few weeks ago, Kharkiv was a “bustling city.  Now it is a shell.”
    • Christiane Amanpour: “Everybody is scared.”  The war aim is to create terror of civilians.  Reminiscent of the siege of Sarajevo in 1993.  NATO is warning that not one square inch of NATO territory will be invaded without a response.  It took this attack to unite the world.  See “Putin’s War Against Ukraine.”  Free read on Kindle.

    MSNBC

    • Note: MSNBC is spending time speculating on what Biden MIGHT talk about tonight.  There’s a war going on and corporate media is already starting to move on. 

    FOX

    • Evidently, Fox News has realized that its support for Putin is unpopular, EVEN ON FOX.
    • There’s been a lot of psychoanalysis in the past few days about Putin.
    • Ben Sasse: “He’s an evil man.”  “He’s gotten away with it.”  (Note: like Putin.)
    • Republicans are talking on Fox as if Trump wasn’t in Putin’s pocket.
    • “This guy has not known consequences.”  Sasse is talking about Putin.  That’s true of Trump.
    • Nikki Haley joins the “Putin is a madman” narrative.
    •  

  • Update Ukraine: 5 PM in Kyiv

    When did it get to be March?

    Reporter on Twitter, following this Ukraine story like all of us, says he feels guilty when he goes to bed because he feels he is abandoning the courageous Ukrainians.  We feel much the same.

    Update Ukrains:

    • The Russians have announced that they are planning on attacking civilian areas in Kyiv.  
    • It’s 5 PM in Kyiv.
    • Air raid sirens are going off in Kyiv. 
    • There is, according to Clarissa Ward, CNN, in Kyiv fear that after the Russian announcement they are going to be more indiscriminate in firing on Kyiv.
    • There is a 40-mile-long military convoy approaching Kyiv.  It is feared that this convoy is intended to cut off the city just before air raids and the taking of the city.
    • It is now estimated that 660,000 people have fled Ukraine.
    • Shehyni, Ukraine on the Polish border, reporting by CNN, many nationalities mostly men, have been waiting for days trying to leave Ukraine.  The “Ukrainian line” is mostly women and children and that line is moving more quickly.  This distinction between getting out women and children and getting out male foreign workers is being used to argue that Ukraine is a racist country. 

    From Ukraine World @ukraine_world

    • TV tower in Kyiv hit, may be problems with internet and TV access.
    • Attacks close to nuclear power plants are violations of Geneva Conventions.
    • Civilians in Melitopol stop a Russian military convoy with their bodies.
    • Reports from the Ukrainian government that Russia plans to distribute false information that the Ukrainian government has surrendered. 
    • Two cruise missiles hit Freedom Square this morning.
    • UN diplomats walk out of a speech of Sergei Lavrov.
    • Belarusian troops are said to be advancing across the northern border of Ukraine and joining fighting.

  • Ukraine Update: 28 February 2022

    Ukraine Update: 2/28/22 8:30 PM

    CNN

    •          William Taylor, former Ambassador to Ukraine, is asked about Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons.  Taylor says that Putin’s threat is “performance,” that Putin is trying to bully. 

    •          Jake Tapper uses as evidence that Putin is “unstable” the meeting between Putin and his military officials when he announced the recognition of the Donbas.  Tapper notes that Putin berated one of the officials in front of the cameras.   Putin was filmed years ago berating Deripaska in a meeting with factory owners.  This is a standard ploy of Putin to create the impression that he is standing up for the regular people against the elite, the government officials.  (Note: Deripaska is now issuing statements against the war.  He is the one Manafort tweeted about when he asked “how can we use this to make whole.”  He was talking about his (Manafort’s) position with the Trump campaign.)

    •          Earlier in the night, CNN interviewed Josh Rogin, who said that  “There is no dissent” from the people around, men around, Putin.  He (Putin) has disabled all opposition.  Putin is just tying to see what the West will do in return.

    •          Rogin: “We failed to deter Putin from invading Ukraine, he’s still deterred from attacking us.”  “We would still win that war.  He’s evil but not suicidal.”  (Note: I find this an incredibly arrogant statement).

    MSNBC: Ari Melber

    •          Zelensky put out another video today.  “Don’t trust your propaganda.”  He said this in Russian to the Russian people.

    •          Kharkiv is suffering the most attacks right now.  Flattening 80 homes and killing civilians including children.

    •          Evelyn Farkas: Some of the Russian bodies are not being collected and sent home.  The Russians planned to encircle Kyiv so they could get Zelensky.  The plan has not unfolded as they wanted, but they have so much more air power and other power. 

    •          Putin scheduling an emergency meeting with financial advisors.

    •          Putin issued a statement today in which he called the West an “empire of lies.”

    •          Videos of people waiting in line to get money from a bank.

    •          Singh, a Biden administration officials notes that communication is still possible when countries have been removed from SWIFT.  But they have to use a phone call or a fax for every transmission, rather than clicking a key. 

    •          Today, the ruble lost 30% of its value, making it worth less than a penny.

    •          Russia is likely to experience double digit inflation, recession, isolation from global economy, isolation from technology, the military fortificuation of the eastern flank, and countries moving away from fossil fuels at a more rapid rate.

    •          Putin has been banned from traveling for personal reasons.  He can always claim that his travel is for government business.  The U.S. Congress does this all the time. 

    •          Interview with McCaffrey:  

    •          The Russians are “surprisingly incompetent.”  But the Russians are holding back attack on cities for fear of how it looks.  But, now they are going to seize the major cities.   McCaffrey then starts to criticize a  “genuing expert” who says that Putin’s threats are performance art, that Putin is not really unstable.  McCaffrey disagrees. 

    About Putin, McCaffrey says: “He’s going off the rails.”  He has “difficulties making logical decisions.” Putin is “implying a threat of nuclear weapons over a failed conventional operation.”  This is not a situation of an existential threat to the survival of the state.  Putin understands that there is no winner in nuclear exchange.  These decisions “don’t make any sense.”  Putin is only “piling more fuel on the argument that NATO better rearm….better get scared.”  Talking about Putin he says: “This guy is dangerous.”  McCaffrey then talks about the fact that Putin knows the catastrophic implications of urban fighting.  That sounds like logical reasoning. 

    •          Melber then asks McCaffray if Putin would have realized the seriousness of the threat previously but not now.     •          McCaffray responds: Putin has “personally suddenly found himself immersed in a disaster….he never thought through this adequately….conventional invasion…gone wrong on him in ways he would have never anticipated.

  • “Putin is a madman”narrative: CNN, Jake Tapper, Josh Rogin and William Taylor

    5:30 PM

    • James Clapper, earlier on CNN, joined the “Putin is a madman” drum beat of a narrative.  This has to raise the question of why the intelligence community is part of this “Putin is crazy” effort.
    • Jake Tapper, adding to this narrative which has taken root on corporate news repeated the charge that Putin was having “emotional outbursts” and that his “strategy” is being affected by the fact that he (Putin) has “lost his mind in some way.”  (Note: I have no earthly idea what it means to say that someone has “lost his mind in some way.”)
    • William Taylor, former Ambassador to Ukraine, noted yesterday when he refused to answer such a question, that he had never met Putin.  But, today, instead of refusing to answer the question, he has jumped in with both feet, agreeing that Putin is “not in full control of his emotions, of his thought patterns.”  Taylor notes Putin’s “fierce anger…against President Zelensky.”
    • “Over the years Vladimir Putin has become more erratic.”  This from Josh Rogin, CNN Political Analyst.  Again, there is no evidence presented that Putin has “become more erratic.”  Putin has decided to invade Ukraine, but this does not make him mentally ill.  Does it make him an autocrat, a authoritarian, an oppressor, yes, but does it necessarily make him “unstable” “mentally ill” having “lost his mind IN SOME WAY?”  I don’t think so.
    • But, these assertions that I have watched over five days spread from one commentator to another, reinforced by asking the question every day, are never challenged, or not often.  Rarely does somebody, like Taylor did yesterday, somebody even refuse to go along with the characterization.
    • And, like Taylor, people feel and respond to the pressure to join in and contribute to the “Putin is a madman” narrative.
    • CNN is at the moment running a headline at the bottom of the page: “Experts Question Putin’s Mental Stability as War Rages in Ukraine.”  I have no doubt that tomorrow this will become: “Experts Agree that Putin has Lost his Mind in Some Way as War Rages.”
    • If you are constructing propaganda it is perhaps useful to work up the population by portraying your opponent as a madman.  As I have noted previously, it also makes it easier to argue that nothing could have been done to prevent the situation, and nothing can be dong to prevent the probable disaster that is coming.  The rationale is: “What could we have done?  We’re dealing with a madman?  What could we do?  We are dealing with a madman.”  It’s extremely convenient argument especially for people like James Clapper and Michael McFaul (one of the main purveyors of this “Putin is a madman” line) who have been in positions where they could have done something about the growing threat Putin posed, but did nothing.
    • O.K.  Now, Tapper who has been part of inventing the “Putin is a madman” narrative now asks Rogin whether Putin is just pretending to be a madman to unsettle the West.  Rogan is nodding furiously in agreement.
    • Rogin (who has no expertise in mental health diagnosis that I know of) is now arguing that Putin is “not getting good information.”  Never, never are these people asked how they know this.  How does Josh Rogin know that Putin is “not getting good information.” 
    • Rogin: “There is no doubt that over the years Vladimir Putin is getting more erratic.”  Again, no doubt?  Again, based on what evidence?
    • Rogin: “It doesn’t make sense that he’s suicidal.”  Suicidal?  Where the f..k did that come from.  Who said Putin was suicidal?  (Note: I have played this interview back twice now).  Then, Rogin admits that Putin can be “evil without being irrational.” Finally, but he just said that there was “no doubt” that Putin was getting more irrational.
    • Rogin then follows up saying that Putin will escalate and escalate until he encounters opposition.  This is rational not irrational. 
    • Then, Rogin says that he’s wiling to take risks, and that’s not “crazy, that’s just bad.”
    • In short, these discussions about Putin being unstable, irrational, suicidal, are utter nonsense.  The biggest question is why corporate media is determined to pump this “Putin is a madman” theory.

  • Ukraine Update: 2:00 PM

    Monday 28 February 2022

    • There are a lot of pledges but how long will it take for the Ukrainians to actually receive this aid.
    • Jonathan Lemiire, MSNBC, making the point that it is difficult to get weapons into Ukraine now.  That is why Zelensky was arguing for doing this arming and sanctioning before the invasion.
    • Lemire is now repeating the “questions about Putin’s rationality.”
    • This “Putin is a madman” narrative has been created by corporate media.
    • There is repeated praise of Biden for “bringing NATO together.”  NATO “coming together” may well be a response to the knowledge that Americans can no longer be relied upon.  Trump is likely to be back in office in 2024 and they can’t afford to rely on the United States.  As usual, Joe Scarborough is touting a “Major success for Joe Biden and the administration.” 
    •  The corporate media is sanitizing the war in Ukraine by refusing to show dead and mutilated bodies.  The news media is supposed to be there to show the reality of war, not a fictionalized portrayal that makes it appear like a video game.
    • There is a narrative being pushed on the internet about Ukrainians not caring about black citizens, almost uniformly single men working in Ukraine.  The posts show a video of Ukrainians trying to get on trains to leave Ukraine, especially Kyiv.  They are young black men.  The twitter narrative is that Ukrainians are fascists who don’t care about immigrants and black people.  In fact, the Ukrainians were trying to get women and children and elderly people out of Kyiv.  The fact that they were refusing to allow young men to board trains was because of that.
    •  In addition, in the video I saw, these young men were pushing and shoving people out of the way attempting to get a place on the train.  Cultures differ greatly in the way they access public services.  Some cultures push and shove to get on trains, other cultures wait in line.
    • Richard Haas on MSNBC this moring was talking about the fact that many people have been disappointed by the Israeli response to condemning the Russian invasion.  But, Haas notes, the Israelis think their relationship with Russia is more important than their relationship with Ukraine, or in the end, the U.S.  The Russians and the Israelis have evidently come to some kind of agreement to keep Israel out of the Syrian conflict.
    • It strikes me as ironic that NATO refused to allow Ukraine to join and then uses the fact that Ukraine is not a NATO member to justify not helping them fight off an invasion.
    • The Biden administration made a decision early on not to commit US troops to the fight.  Not only did they make that decision, they announced it to the world, thus taking a bargaining chip off the table in a truly Obamian unilateral capitulation.

    Ukraine World is reporting

    • Canada has prevented financial entities from doing business with the Russian Central Bank, effectively immediately.
    • Ukrainian delegation members have demanded that Russia withdraw all its troops including those in Crimea and districts of the Donbas. 
    • The Russians have used a “vacuum bomb’ on an oil depot in Okhtyrka Sumy region, in northern Ukraine.  Its use has been prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.
    • We need an immediate embargo on oil and gas from Russia. 
    • Russia is targeting civilian areas of Kyiv.
    •  

    Other sources:

    • After the curfew was lifted, people in Kiev were out at stores trying to find food and supplies.
    • I heard one woman comment that a few days ago she was out having coffee at a café in the street. Now, she’s not sure she can find enough food to survive.

  • Ukraine Update: 9:30 PM

    Ukraine Update:

    9:30 PM 2/27/22

    From the Kyiv Independent:

    • As a result of a referendum, Belarus will renounce its non-nuclear status and allow Russia to place nuclear weapons on its territory. 
    • There are reports of Belarus paratroopers being used to attack Ukraine.
    • Lukashenko significantly extended his executive powers.
    • Viktor Medvedchuk has fled house arrest in Kyiv.  He is a Ukrainian MP and a long-time representative of Putin in Ukraine.  He has been charged with treason and financing terrorism. 
    • There are air raid alerts in Kyiv.
    • EU imposes sanctions on Belarus.
    • The EU has shut down Russian media companies RT and Sputnik.

  • Putin is a “madman”: Delusional Wishful Thinking

    Last night on MSNBC,  Amyn Mohyeldin joined the “Putin is a madman” narrative. 

    Mohyeldin admitted that he and Nina Khrushcheva (Khrushchev’s great grand daughter) were skeptical about Putin’s intention to invade.  I have no idea why.  Despite all the intelligence, they thought Putin was not going to invade. 

    Khrusheva now claims in a new article in the Globe and Mail that Putin “no longer seems capable of the calculations that are supposed to guide a leader’s decision-making.”  “Putin joins a long line of irrational tyrants.”

    Thus continues the invented narrative repeated again and again on CNN and MSNBC and now joined by Michael McFaul. 

    The “Putin is a madman” narrative serves a number of interests.

    1. If Putin is a madman, nothing we could have done in the years before (when McFaul was in the government) could have prevented this situation.  All the Obama administration officials and the Trump officials are absolved of responsibility because who could have imagined a manman would invade Ukraine.
    2. Severe sanctions will not deter a mad man, incapable of rational thinking or response.
    3. If a madman is running the war effort in Russia, more logical minds might intervene and overthrow Putin.  Therefore, the U.S. woldn’t have to do anything, just wait for the Russians to remove Putin. (Good luck).
    4. If we are dealing with a madman, no logical steps we can take will make a difference, therefore, why try.

    I think this “Putin is a madman” narrative (based on zero evidence that I have heard is dangerous wishful thinking. 

  • Ukraine Update: 8:00 PM

    Saturday 26 8:00 PM

    MSNBC

    •          CNN is showing Russian tanks and rocket launchers near the city of Belgorod, Russia, they are going toward Kharkiv, Ukraine.   

    •          There is an enormous explosion outside of Kyiv.  Earlier commentators speculated that a hit had been made on a fuel facility.

    •          There are suggestions that the Russian advance has stalled.  But, this may be wishful thinking and stalling on the ground may mean that a stronger attack may come tonight with air power.

    •          The Russian media is not reporting casualties or allowing media to refer to a “war” or an “invasion” or an “attack.”  Instead they have been instructed to call it a “special military operation.”

    •          There is a growing sense of alarm being reported about the economic sanctions.  The freezing of assets of the central bank and the partial SWIFT exclusion will affect working Russians.  The value of the ruble has already fallen and people are worried that their savings will be worthless by the time this invasion ends.  The point was made that sanctions are aimed at the political leadership, but it financially takes out middle class people.

    •          Some members of the Russian parliament are now saying that they did not vote for the recognition of the Donbas regions which gave Putin authority to go into Ukraine.  If this is true, the protests in Ukraine and the world reaction is having some kind of effect.

    •          The Russians have not blocked, but slowed down Twitter and Facebook.  There is a Russian equivalent of Facebook. That is slowed down as well.

    •          Russian media is linking  the Ukrainian government to Neo-Nazis or the CIA.

    •          Germany is going to send military supplies to Ukraine. 

    •          When asked if military supplies were enough to turn the tide, William Taylor said: “I don’t think so.”  Even though there has been another Blinken announcement of money going to Ukraine,        “They need a lot and they need it now.”  They need weapons that can take out planes and tanks.

  • SWIFT Sanctions.

    apple.news/Au6DdRVS3T0e1ZUw7OJFlbQ

  • Update Ukraine 7:30 PM 1:30 PM

    • While many people are concerned about the implications of a Russian take over of Chornobyl, a commentator on MSNBC points out that the danger is more likely to come from the operational nuclear plants in Ukraine.
    • Note: How long has this story been in the news and Katy Tur (MSNBC) doesn’t know where Chernobyl is. 
    • Note: Nothing reveals the utter stupidity of corporate media pundits like having to carry on an unscripted conversation about anything outside this country. 
    • Most of Europe has now agreed to remove Russia from the SWIFT banking system.  The U.S was (even up to this afternoon) using their objections to cover for its own unwillingness to upset the economic apple cart for the elite.  The corporate media has fallen in lock step with the narrative that removal of Russia from swift 1) isn’t as effective as it was cracked up to be and 2) could be done if it weren’t for the objections of the Europeans. 
    • There has been an announcement that certain Russian banks will be removed from SWIFT.
    • The Ukrainians would not be asking for a removal of Russia from SWIFT if it weren’t effective. 

  • Germany to send thousands of weapons to Ukraine in major reversal – Axios

    Germany had previously opposed arming Ukraine due to its “historical responsibilities.”
    — Read on www.axios.com/germany-weapons-ukraine-russia-156e24ad-b591-421e-9c22-105118adc377.html

  • We’re appalled by Putin now, but be clear: the west gave him the green light | Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian

    He has hardly kept his worldview secret – and now Ukraine is paying the price for western leaders who looked the other way, says Guardian. columnist Jonathan Freedland
    — Read on www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/25/putin-west-gave-him-green-light-russia-ukraine

  • Ukraine Update:

    Ukraine Update: 8:00 PM

    Marlene Dietrich was once asked if she missed the war.  “No,” she said “I miss what people are like when they are trying to be brave.”

    The bravery of the Ukrainian people is impressive and shaming when you think about the fact that half the U.S. population considers themselves oppressed over having to wear a mask to keep from killing other people.

    Earlier today Wesley Clark was on CNN and said that he was used to living in a country that defended the right of other people to be independent and free.  My partner pointed out that the US administration under Bush hauled their asses to Kuwait to defend their right to be free from invasion and they certainly were not part of NATO. 

    Last night, Lawrence Wilkerson, Chief of Staff for Colin Powell, pointed out that the U.S. itself violated every international law in sight when it invaded Iraq.

    There is enough blame to go around.  I have never, ever supported a U.S. military intervention in any country and I have written a book about the media complicity in the invasion of Panama (which the military still refers to as “Operation Just Cause.”)  But, I also cannot believe that we are going to sit here and wring our hands while Putin takes over an independent country militarily and subjugates its population while that population begs for our help.

    It is not a proud day. 

    •        CNN is showing a video report of a fight over a bridge in the city of Kherson, just north of Crimea.  It is thought that this is an offensive directed toward preparing for a move on Kyiv.

    •        There are reports of heavy fighting in Kyiv.

    •        The US has finally put sanctions on Putin and Lavrov, but not made any announcement abut removing Russia from the SWIFT banking communication system.  Biden (and people like Andrea Mitchell) were arguing that Germany was the bar to implementing SWIFT sanctions.  But today there were reports that Germany and others had approved exclusion of Russia from SWIFT.

    •        Adam Kinzinger is calling for establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

    •        Kropyvnytskyi, a city south of Kyiv, is filled with refugees.  Locals are trying to accommodate the refugees.  People are pouring out of Kyiv. 

    •        It always amazes me to hear the corporate media pundits repeat and repeat and repeat the same lines, complete with the same language.  Erin Burdett (CNN could have sent a lot of people to Ukraine, but they chose to sent Erin Burdett) is asking about Putin’s “end game.”  “What is his mission,” asks Burdett.

    • Evelyn Farkas responds with the obvious that “control of Ukraine” is his end game. 

    •        Burdett then starts the media narrative about Putin’s mental state, a total waste of time.  She is commenting on Putin’s “body language.”  Unfortunately there are a lot of commentators who are willing to play the “Putin is unstable” game.  Steve Hall, former CIA chief of Russia Desk starts talking about “data points.”  Macron, according to Hall says he saw a “different Putin.”  Then, Hall talks about a “rant he had a couple of days ago.”  He mentions Putin’s “isolation” due to COVID.  Then, Hall goes into a totally baseless consideration of what is “weighing on his (Putin’s) mind.”  Hall theorizes that Putin is thinking about Afghanistan and the previous president of Ukraine.   Putin is, according to Hall, worrying about his oligarchs.  Note: Putin made those oligarchs oligarchs. I don’t know what he has to worry about.

    •        The Kyiv Independent  (KI) is reporting attacks on a thermal power station in Troieshchyna, on Kyiv’s northers left-bank.

    •        (KI) is also reporting that Zelensky is saying that Russia will attack with full force tonight.

    •        Peskov’s daughter posted an anti-war post but it was quickly taken down.

    •        It’s roughly 3 AM in Ukraine.

    •        Ukrainians are saying they shot down a Russian plane carrying paratroopers.

    •        CNN reporting on the Cat Café.  20 cats are in that cat café. The café is open while everything else is closed.  “If we go, no one will feed our cats.”  They are “our life.”  I love these people.

    •        Wesley Clark said he was used to living in an America who helped people maintain their independence.

    •        Russia blocked a move to have the UN condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

    •        There is concern that Kyiv could fall tonight.

    •        “We are defending our country alone.” Said Zelensky  “The most powerful country in the world” is watching from a distance.

    •        Ukrainians are being asked to make Molotov cocktails in their houses.

    •          Ukrainians are giving out weapons to anyone who will take one.