Important Takeaways:
- NATO Must ‘Wake Up’ to Putin’s Trap, Russia’s Neighbor Warns
- Gathered at the Munich Security Conference in southern Germany this weekend, the mood among Western leaders was notably subdued. The elation of Ukraine’s survival and subsequent battlefield victories of 2022 are now distant in the rearview mirror. Ahead lies an open-ended bloody conflict, in which a Ukrainian victory—as set out by Kyiv—appears increasingly ambitious.
- Lativa, like its fellow Baltic neighbors, has been in the vanguard of pushing for greater aid for Ukraine and harsher measures on Russia. Latvia has donated more than 1 percent of its GDP to assist Ukraine’s defense, and Riga is also among the top NATO military spending in GDP terms.
- Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Silina said “Such a regime as Putin’s regime, he is using our own values against us, our own tools against us, our own international treaties against us,” she said. “They know it’s our weakness.”
- “We have to remember that we are policy makers, we can change our rules, but still remain true to the same values. It is very important to remember that.”
- “We are the front runners, we are at the front line,” Silina said. Other NATO allies are warning that the alliance faces a resurgent Russian military threat within less than a decade, despite Moscow’s mauling in Ukraine.
- “I cannot say there is a three- or five-year timeline for the threat, but we understand,” Silina said to those warnings. “We see Ukraine winning. But yes, after this, Russia will again gain capabilities to attack someone else. And it could be five years, it could be three years, it depends which tools they will decide to use.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Nuclear Threat: Russia Will Drop ‘Entire Arsenal’ on London, Washington if it Doesn’t Win Ukraine War
- Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, who was also formerly the Prime Minister and President of Russia in service to Vladimir Putin, has threatened Western capitals with the “entire strategic arsenal” of Russian nuclear weapons. Medvedev, for whom absolutely no slight is too small to necessitate a nuclear response, was speaking of Ukraine’s hope to retake its U.N.-recognized national territory which in some cases have been occupied by Russia for very close to ten years.
- Russia has amended its constitution and now considers those areas — Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia — to be full parts of the Russian Republic. Attempting to push the borders back to where they were before will invite a massive retaliation, Medvedev said in his latest threat on Sunday, making clear he sees the Western states aiding Ukraine with arms as legitimate targets.
- He said: “Attempts to return Russia to the borders of 1991 will lead to only one thing. To a global war with Western countries using the entire strategic arsenal of our state. In Kiev, Berlin, London, Washington.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Have You Seen Tucker’s Interview With Vladimir Putin? The Reason Why The Elite Are Freaking Out Is Because They Don’t Want Peace
- This week, the biggest news story in the entire world is Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin. Honestly, it was kind of a bizarre interview, and you can watch it for yourself below. But I give Tucker Carlson a ton of credit for going to Russia and sitting down with Putin. I think that the real reason he did this is because he wanted to see for himself if there is any hope of avoiding a cataclysmic conflict between our two nations. Every day we get even closer to the unthinkable, and so it would make sense for both sides to pursue a peaceful way out of this mess. But at this point the western elite are not interested in peace, and they don’t want any talk of peace in the media. So they are going to great lengths to discredit Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin, because they don’t want their carefully crafted narratives to be disrupted.
- Prior to the invasion, the Russians were primarily concerned about three main things. They didn’t want Ukraine to join NATO, they didn’t want western missiles in Ukraine, and they didn’t want Ukraine to invade the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. At the time of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainians had massed 70,000 troops on the borders of the DPR and the LPR, and they were shelling the living daylights out of the major population centers. So the Russians sent troops into the DPR and the LPR, but the Ukrainians continued to shell the major population centers. Shortly thereafter, the invasion of Ukraine began.
- But even after the invasion happened, there was still a chance for peace
- Tucker: So I just want to make sure I’m not misunderstanding what you’re saying. I don’t think that I am. I think you’re saying you want a negotiated settlement to what’s happening in Ukraine.
- Vladimir Putin: Right. And we made it. We prepared the huge document in Istanbul that was initialed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation. He had fixed his signature to some of the provisions, not to all of it. He put his signature and then he himself said, we were ready to sign it, and the war would have been over long ago. 18 months ago. However, Prime Minister Johnson came, talk to us out of it and we missed that chance. Well, you missed it. You made a mistake. Let them get back to that. That is all. Why do we have to bother ourselves and correct somebody else’s mistakes? I know one can say it is our mistake. It was us who intensified the situation and decided to put an end to the war that started in 2014, in Donbas. As I have already said by means of weapons. Let me get back to furthering history. I already told you this. We were just discussing it. Let us go back to 1991, when we were promised that NATO would not expand to 2008, when the doors to NATO opened to the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, declaring Ukraine a neutral state. Let us go back to the fact that NATO and U.S. military bases started to appear on the territory, Ukraine creating threats to us. Let us go back to coup d’etat in Ukraine in 2014. It is pointless, though, isn’t it? We may go back and forth endlessly, but they stopped negotiations. Is it a mistake? Yes. Correct it. We are ready. What else is needed?
- [Michael Snyder] Let’s find a way out before we reach a point of no return.
- Because if we ultimately get to a point where one side decides to start using nuclear weapons, billions of people could die.
- This is why Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin is so incredibly important.
- Unfortunately, the elite in the western world are completely uninterested in using this moment as an opportunity to begin peace talks.
- For example, even before the interview aired Hillary Clinton was referring to Tucker as a “useful idiot”…
- Hillary Clinton, speaking on MSNBC Wednesday, joked that she ‘would not be surprised if he emerges with a contract with a Russian outlet, because he is a useful idiot’ in response to the news.
- And just before the interview was released, John Kirby was telling everyone not to believe “anything” that they heard…
- Today, before the interview dropped, White House Communications Coordinator John Kirby told Americans not to believe ‘anything’ in the interview.
- ‘Anybody that watches that interview you need to make sure to remember that you are listening to Vladimir Putin,’ he said.
- ‘You shouldn’t take at face value anything he has to say.’
- On the other side of the Atlantic, some politicians actually want to punish Tucker Carlson.
- In fact, one lawmaker actually wants to impose a travel ban on him…
- Carlson’s work in Russia could see the former Fox News host in hot water with the EU, Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and current member of the European Parliament, told Newsweek.
- The lawmaker—who has called for the EU to explore imposing a “travel ban” on Carlson—described Carlson as “a mouthpiece” of former President Donald Trump and Putin, adding: “As Putin is a war criminal and the EU sanctions all who assist him in that effort, it seems logical that the External Action Service examine his case as well.”
- They want this war in Ukraine, and so for now there will be no peace talks.
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine set to receive new game-changing US-made ‘glide bombs’ with 100-mile range as soon as today in new frontline blow to Putin
- Ukraine is set to receive a first batch of new long-range missiles that will be able to strike deep into Russian-held territory.
- The new 100-mile ‘glide missiles’ could prove to be a game changer in Kyiv’s military capabilities, and in its fight against Vladimir Putin’s invading forces.
- Built by Boeing and Saab, the new precision-guided missiles will also supplement Ukraine’s existing ATACM rockets, which are provided by the US.
- Their arrival follows months of testing by the United States military, but even the US doesn’t have these weapons in its arsenal, sources cited by Politico said.
- Ukraine is set to receive the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bombs as early as today, according to the US officials familiar with the matter, a relief for officials in Kyiv after the EU said it would provide only half the shells it promised by March.
- A precision-guided weapon of this type could allow Ukraine to again strike high-value targets more consistently and conserve its ever-dwindling supply of shells that it vitally needs to keep Russian advances at bay in the coming months and year.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia’s Medvedev Says Any UK Troop Deployment to Ukraine Would Be a Declaration of War
- Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comments in response to a visit by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to Kyiv to announce an increase in military funding to help Ukraine purchase new military drones.
- “I hope that our eternal enemies – the arrogant British – understand that deploying an official military contingent to Ukraine would be a declaration of war against our country,” Medvedev wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
- Medvedev cast himself as a liberal modernizer when he was president from 2008-2012, but now presents himself as one of the fiercest anti-Western Kremlin hawks.
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Important Takeaways:
- Putin unleashes hypersonic missiles in deadly new wave of airstrikes on Ukraine – as UK intelligence claims Russia is on course to lose 500,000 troops on frontlines by end of 2024
- Vladimir Putin unleashed hypersonic missiles in Russia’s latest deadly wave of airstrikes across Ukraine, regional officials said Monday.
- At least four civilians were reported killed and at least 30 injured in the strikes that hit near the front lines of fighting in the east as well as in central and western parts of the country, which has been under invasion by Russia since February 2022.
- Ukraine said it had destroyed 18 out of the 51 missiles of different types launched
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces used precision sea-launched and air-launched long-range missiles, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, to strike what it called ‘facilities of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.’
- Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense reported that Russia is on course to have lost a total of 500,000 soldiers by the end of this year
- Western officials and analysts had previously warned that Russia was stockpiling its cruise missiles in preparation for a strategy of winter bombardment, as bad weather keeps the 930-mile front line largely static after 22 months of war.
- Unlike last winter, when the Kremlin’s forces targeted Ukraine’s power grid, Russia is now aiming at Kyiv’s defense industry, they say. But the almost daily barrages have repeatedly hit civilian areas. Monday’s attacks struck a string of urban areas, including housing and a shopping mall, across Ukraine
- The strikes come less than a week after Kyiv warned it only had enough ammunition to withstand a few more powerful attacks, amid intense Russian bombardment.
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Important Takeaways:
- A move by Japan to provide Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine will have “grave consequences” for Russia-Japan ties, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
- Relations between Moscow and Tokyo, already difficult, have deteriorated sharply since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Japan has joined its Western allies in imposing sweeping economic sanctions on Russia.
- Last week, Japan said it would prepare to ship Patriot air defense missiles to the United States after revising its arms export guidelines, in Tokyo’s first major overhaul of such export curbs in nine years.
- Although Japan’s new export controls still prevent it from shipping weapons to countries that are at war, it may indirectly benefit Ukraine in its war with Russia as it gives the United States extra capacity to provide military aid to Kyiv.
- “The Japanese side loses control over the weapons with which Washington can now do whatever it wants,” Zakharova told a weekly briefing. “It cannot be ruled out that under an already tested scheme Patriot missiles will end up in Ukraine.”
- Such a scenario would be “interpreted as unambiguously hostile actions against Russia and will lead to grave consequences for Japan in the context of bilateral relations”, she said.
- Earlier this month, Japan and South Korea both scrambled jets to monitor joint flights by Chinese and Russian bombers and fighters near their territories.
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will make his case for more U.S. aid for the war against Russia during meetings in Washington this week, as lawmakers struggle for a deal that would link funding for Kyiv with domestic immigration controls.
- His arrival in Washington comes as Congress is under a tight – if not impossible – deadline for acting, as it is scheduled to go into recess for the year by Friday.
- President Joe Biden has urged Congress to act by year’s end and Democrats in Congress were trying to win approval of about $50 billion in new security assistance for Ukraine.
- Also included in Senate Democrats’ measure is humanitarian and economic aid for the government in Kyiv, as well as $14 billion for Israel as it wages war against Hamas in Gaza.
- Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pushed for some type of pro-immigrant provision, such as expedited work permits for migrants or better access to legal representation, the source also said.
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Important Takeaways:
- Poland issues shocking warning of upcoming Russian attack on NATO countries
- Poland has warned of a shocking impending Russian attack on the West that could come within the next three years.
- In an interview with Nasz Dziennik, the head of Poland’s national security agency, Jacek Siewiera, said that Russia could attack NATO countries within 36 months.
- Siewiera argued Russia could attack Poland, Estonia, Romania, and Lithuania as they are on NATO’s eastern flank.
- He said: “If we want to avoid war, NATO countries on the eastern flank should adopt a shorter, three-year time horizon to prepare for confrontation. This is the time when a potential must be created on the eastern flank that would be a clear signal deterring aggression. Therefore, it is necessary to further increase the number of Polish troops.”
- This comes after German think tank German Council on Foreign Relations issued a warning that Europe needs to be on high alert to Russian escalation that could result in a direct attack. But their time frame was a little more optimistic.
- They said in a statement: “With its imperial ambitions, Russia represents the greatest and most urgent threat to Nato countries.
- “Once intensive fighting will have ended in Ukraine, the regime in Moscow may need as little as six to ten years to reconstitute its armed forces.
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Important Takeaways:
- White House warns it is ‘out of money and nearly out of time’ to aid Ukraine
- The warning, issued on Monday in a letter to congressional leaders, laid out how the government had already gone through about $111bn appropriated for Ukraine military aid.
- “I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from US military stocks,” Shalanda Young, director of the office of management and budget, wrote in the letter, parts of which were published by the Hill.
- The latest plea for money comes after the White House asked Congress to act on a $100bn supplemental funding request in October, arguing that it “advances our national security and supports our allies and partners”.
- The request identified border security, allies in the Indo-Pacific, Israel and Ukraine. About $61bn covered money for Ukraine, which included $30bn to restock defense department equipment sent to support the country after Russia invaded in February 2022.
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