The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Our Feeble-Minded Commander-in-Chief

Posted on | February 28, 2022 | Comments Off on Our Feeble-Minded Commander-in-Chief

We are so doomed:

ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos said Sunday on “This Week” that a new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows 54% of Americans do not believe President Joe Biden is mentally sharp during his interview with White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
Stephanopoulos said, “The president is approaching his State of the Union in a pretty difficult political position right now, 37% approval rating, Democrats trailing badly in the midterm polling. A majority in our recent poll out this morning even question the president’s mental capacity. How is he going to turn that around on Tuesday night? And how much has his State of the Union been changed by this war in Ukraine?”
Psaki said, “You know, George, from covering State of the Unions for some time, that it is about delivering a message to the public at a moment in time. And if you look back when President Obama gave his first State of the Union, it was during the worst financial crisis in a generation. When President Bush gave his first State of the Union, it was shortly after 9/11. Leaders lead during crises. That’s exactly what President Biden is doing. He’ll speak to that, but he’s also going to speak about his optimism about what’s ahead and what we all have to look forward to.”

If you’re also optimistic about “what we all have to look forward to,” then your brain must have turned completely to mush, too.




 

Category: ABC, Joe Biden

Listen to the Experts!

Posted on | February 27, 2022 | Comments Off on Listen to the Experts!

Far be it from me to say that Lyle Goldstein’s analysis is wrong.

Indeed, the possibility that Ukraine could become the site of an Iraq/Afghanistan-style “insurgency” does seem unlikely. But things that seem unlikely happen all the time, and we cannot rule anything out, just because the odds are daunting. Putin is rattling his nuclear saber now, and there is talk of negotiations, but the ground combat situation in Ukraine is still confused. Four days into the Russian invasion — it’s about 10 p.m. Sunday in Ukraine as I write this — Ukrainian resistance is still fierce and effective, and the Russians have failed to take Kyiv. On the other hand, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the city is now “encircled” by Russian forces — i.e., the invaders control all the routes into the city. Kyiv is now besieged, in other words, and such affairs do not usually end well for the defenders. Western talk of sending military aid to Ukraine is thus rather belated, if there is no feasible way to deliver these materials to the Ukrainians now holed up in their capital.

We know that the Biden administration had intelligence warning of a Russian invasion weeks or months in advance, and the question is, what did the administration do about that warning, besides beg China to intercede with Putin? The Biden administration has made America helpless to deter aggression; the Afghanistan debacle demonstrated that we can’t even protect our own interests. What help can we offer Ukraine?

“Thoughts and prayers” — it’s all we’ve got left.

PREVIOUSLY:




 

Category: Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine

The Blessings of St. Javelin

Posted on | February 27, 2022 | Comments Off on The Blessings of St. Javelin

This image of a saint wielding an FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile has become an iconic symbol of the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion. When you see video of destroyed Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, chances are it was a Javelin that did the damage.

The Javelin is quite a sophisticated weapon, so much so that a single missile costs more than $80,000. It is a “fire-and-forget” weapon; once the target is acquired through the sighting system, the missile locks onto the target and as soon as it is fired, the crew can run for cover or change their position. However, because of the missile’s “soft launch” technology, the location of the Javelin crew is not revealed to the enemy forces, who may not even know what hit them, much less where it came from. Besides which, when one of your tanks gets blown up by an armor-piercing missile, your first thought is probably, “Let’s get the hell out of here,” rather than attempting to mount a counterattack.

You’ve seen news about the Russians being “bogged down” because of “unexpectedly” strong Ukrainian opposition? St. Javelin, baby!

Coffee or Die spoke with Medal of Honor recipient Clint Romesha about javelins, and their use in conventional warfare. . . .
“Now if you could put one guy up on the side of a hill with six f–king Javelin missiles, you’re stopping an entire company of tanks with one guy,” Romesha said. “They don’t even know where that sh– is coming from.
He explained that Javelins have a soft launch, so there’s no smoke trail to show where they are being launched from, nor a dirt cloud kicked up by missile backblast. . . .
Romesha also pointed out a Javelin rarely misses. He said it’s one of the best “fire and forget” launchers that can be used against armor. Lockheed Martin, the producer of Javelin missiles, boasts a 94% hit rate on targets with a firing range anywhere from 65 – 4,000 meters.

Basically, if the crew gets a good “lock” on the target, this sucker will hit it at a range of two miles or more. When President Zelensky says he needs “ammunition” to defend his country, it’s more Javelins he needs the most urgently, and the Biden administration will have to answer for why it didn’t supply Ukraine more of these weapons in the weeks leading up to the Russian invasion. By the way, some of my conservative friends have noted that in Ukraine’s war against Russia, liberals have finally discovered a “nationalism” they can endorse. And given the role played by the Javelin in Ukraine’s resistance, perhaps some liberals will reconsider their habit of whining about the “military-industrial complex.” Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin, routinely portrayed as villains by “anti-war” liberals, turn out to be the source of Putin’s worst nightmares.




 

Category: Military, Russia, Ukraine

What a Real President Looks Like

Posted on | February 26, 2022 | Comments Off on What a Real President Looks Like

Either way it goes, he’ll be a historic figure:

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that he is still in the capital of Kyiv (Kiev) in a video purporting to show the leader from the streets of the embattled city in the early hours of Saturday morning after reportedly shutting down a plea from the Biden administration to flee.
Addressing apparent rumours of an evacuation from Kyiv amid a Russian assault, Zelensky posted a video on his official Twitter account to claim that this was fake news and that he is still on the ground of the Ukrainian capital.
“I’m here in the ground, we will not lay down our arms. We will defend our state because our weapon is our truth. Our truth is that this is our land, our country, and our children. And we will defend all this,” the president said according to a translation from state news agency Ukrinform.

Zelensky’s video came just hours after the Associated Press reported that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden had called on Zelensky to evacuate the city.
According to the news agency, citing a “senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation”, the Ukrainian president replied by saying “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.”

Specifically, he needs anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, but the essential point is that the Ukrainians are still fighting:

Ukraine’s outgunned forces held the capital of Kyiv for the third day on Saturday as battles continued in cities across the country, while a defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told citizens to defend the country. . . .
Russia’s invasion has not progressed as fast as Moscow would have expected, say Western intelligence officials.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Russia has yet to gain control of Ukrainian airspace “greatly reducing the effectiveness of the Russian Air Force.”
Russia has also faced “acute logistical difficulties and strong Ukrainian resistance,” slowing the speed of the Russian advance, the UK ministry said in a Saturday intelligence update shared on Twitter.
But it stressed that the bulk of Russian forces are now only 18.6 miles from the center of Kyiv, warning that casualties are “likely to be heavy and greater than anticipated or acknowledged by the Kremlin.”

Every day Kyiv hangs on, the worse Russia’s problems become.




 

Category: Russia, Ukraine

UKRAINE: Kyiv Survives Another Day

Posted on | February 26, 2022 | Comments Off on UKRAINE: Kyiv Survives Another Day

The good news is that the Ukrainian capital did not fall to the Russian invaders Friday night, but it is becoming a battle in earnest:

Street fighting has broken out in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as Russian forces advanced on the city and Ukrainian officials urged residents to take shelter.
As dawn broke in Kyiv on Saturday, it was not immediately clear how far the soldiers had advanced. Ukrainian officials reported success in fending off assaults, but fighting persisted near the capital. Skirmishes reported on the edge of the city of nearly three million people suggested that small Russian units were probing Ukrainian defences to clear a path for the main forces. . . .
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused an American offer for him to evacuate, insisting that he would stay in Kyiv. “The fight is here,” he said on Saturday. . . .
“We aren’t going to lay down weapons. We will protect the country,” he said. “Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of that.” . . .
“It was an extraordinarily awful night,” said Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from the capital. “Missiles just raining down on Kyiv, ballistic missiles shuddering the city and relentless bombardments by the air force of the Russian Federation.”
He said that there was fighting across the country, but in the capital “the force of the conflict has reached a seismic level”.
“The trauma, the pain is just so immeasurable, very hard to narrate what has been happening,” Simmons added.

Civilized nations do not do this to their neighbors, obviously. There has been talk of a negotiated ceasefire, but Putin appears to be offering unacceptable conditions, so that the offer to negotiate is just a pretext to shift blame to the Ukrainians. Putin is talking like a madman:

Looking dead-eyed into the camera on Friday, Vladimir Putin gave one of the most bizarre speeches of his 22 years as Russia’s leader, a directive that managed to sound alarming even in a week when he has ordered tanks into Ukraine and missile strikes on Kyiv.
“Once again I speak to the Ukrainian soldiers,” he said, addressing his enemy. “Do not allow neo-Nazis and Banderites to use your children, your wives and the elderly as a human shield. Take power into your own hands. It seems that it will be easier for us to come to an agreement than with this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”

The term “Banderites” is a historical reference to 20th-century extremists, so its use by Putin is rather like Democrats smearing Republicans as “Klansmen” or whatever. And to describe the democratically-elected government of Zelensky (who is Jewish) as a “gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis” is just bizarre.

Trying to find decent reporting about the actual combat in Ukraine is a difficult task. We get a lot of human-interest stuff about civilians hiding in shelters, and almost nothing about the location of military units. We are told that “explosions were heard” (duh) or that the sound of small-arms fire could be heard (duh again), but journalists on the ground in Ukraine don’t seem to be going out to where the fighting is actually happening and attempting to find out who is fighting and where.

Because of the low quality (and scare quantity) of combat reporting, we can only hazard a guess at the tactical situation. Is it fair to say the Russian offensive now seems to be “bogged down”? I’m not sure. On the one hand, the Ukrainians have demolished bridges to prevent (or at least impede) the advance of Russian armored and mechanized forces, but wasn’t this predictable? So perhaps the Russians have merely paused, and are consolidating their gains as they establish a chokehold around Kyiv, preparatory to a mass assault in the coming days.

One wishes for old-time war correspondents like Joe Galloway, who helicoptered into combat zones in the heat of battle. We don’t have that kind of eyewitness reporting of what’s happening in Ukraine, and it’s frustrating to those of us who don’t accept the blathering of TV talking heads as a substitute for real journalism.

PREVIOUSLY:




 

Category: Russia, Ukraine

UKRAINE: No, Thanks, Fox News, I Don’t Want to Hear Geraldo Rivera’s Opinion

Posted on | February 25, 2022 | Comments Off on UKRAINE: No, Thanks, Fox News, I Don’t Want to Hear Geraldo Rivera’s Opinion

This morning I got up at 6 a.m. to work on my job (that I never discuss) and turned on my home-office TV. Fox News was actually reporting news, but after a while, they brought on Geraldo Rivera and I wish I had video of his appearance, to explain why I switched my TV to CNN. As it is, you’ll have to take my word for it, how awful and inappropriate it was to have that Bozo blathering nonsensically on Fox & Friends. Like, why do we need to hear your take on this, Geraldo? When did you become an expert on Ukraine? What is your value-added in this discussion?

There is a war going on, and when I turn on a TV news channel, I’d like some news about the war. Is this too much to ask? Like, could I get some footage of military action? Some confirmed reports of where the troops are fighting, who’s winning, that kind of stuff? It’s a war, after all.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown makes a relevant point:

Now is not the time for petty culture war grievances and personal grifts. Yes, life—and news—in America goes on, but maybe the day Russia starts bombing Ukraine isn’t the time for your critical race theory rant or your masculinity-crisis paranoia, you know? And it certainly isn’t the time for you to try and tie whatever you would be on about anyway into the war news cycle.
I promise, the culture war and all its brave keyboard warriors will still be there next week. So will COVID-19, and climate change, and border battles. Just let it go for a minute.

Thank you for saying this. I don’t need to be told — because it is obvious enough — that this war highlights Biden’s incompetence. Just about everything that has happened since Jan. 20, 2021, has highlighted Biden’s incompetence, and so there is no need for anyone on Fox News (or anywhere else) to feel the need to repeat what everybody with two eyes and a brain already knows. Give it a rest.

Most of the day Thursday, I was trying to figure out what was going on at Gostomel (or Hostomel) airport in the Kyiv suburbs. Wednesday, it was reported that Russian paratroopers had taken the airport, but then the Ukrainians claimed to have retaken it in a counterattack. Could anyone confirm this? Well, you wouldn’t know a damned thing from most of what was on the so-called “news,” so I found myself searching Twitter for Ukrainian-language accounts about the fighting, by plugging in the name of the airport (in Cyrillic letters) and then running the text of various tweets through Google translation. This didn’t do much to clarify the situation, but it was at least better than being completely in the dark, which is what I’d have been if I’d relied on TV news.

What I eventually concluded was that Russians were still in control at Gostomel or, at least, that the Ukrainian counterattack had not “destroyed” the Russian paratrooper force (as had been claimed), and when I woke up Friday, it was clear that not only had the Russian paratroopers held on, but that they were being reinforced, as helicopters were seen flying in low over the area. The most definitive report I found was from the Wall Street Journal:

Russian forces pouring in from neighboring Belarus through the Chernobyl nuclear disaster exclusion zone reached the outskirts of Kyiv. They took over the Hostomel airfield following an airborne assault on Thursday, and by Friday morning Russian armored forces reached the area. Heavy combat continued through the day, and Ukrainian troops blew up several bridges leading into Kyiv from the northwest.

If this is correct, then a Russian armored column has now reached Gostomel, so it’s no longer just paratroopers holding the airfield, which means that soon the Russians will be flying in all kinds of equipment, and this is less than 20 miles from downtown Kyiv. Very grim, indeed.

So that’s the news, it seems, and having updated you on that, now we can turn to domestic politics. Ace of Spades went thermonuclear:

This is what neocons always do — they have no plans, they have no solutions, so they just smear opponents as Traitors.
What are they actually arguing for? They do not say. They obviously do not want war with Russia. (I… hope? I admit, a lot of them are positively deranged — I can’t say for certain. Maybe some do now want the Cleansing of the Unclean World With Nuclear Fire. We have sinned, Trumpishly; we must be made pure again.)
So what do they actually want? They claim that anyone who does not join them in Uncritically Supporting Brandon is Undermining the Unified US Front and stopping them from executing their great plan, whatever that is.
So what is that plan? When I’m not clapping hard enough for Brandon, what is the great plan I’m actually blocking from taking effect?
They never say. Because there is no great plan. And because there is no great plan, they have nothing to sell, except for smearing their opponents as Traitors and Foreign Spies.
You know, like people really committed to democracy and Civil Discourse always do.
If we gave you all the “support” you require for your great plans, and all the political power you so obviously crave, what exactly would you do?!?
You never say, because you don’t know! You have no ideas! You have nothing! You have literally no thoughts, no plans, no ideas, no solutions except the one Guiding Holy Writ:

ORANGE
MAN
BAD

That’s literally your only stock in trade. If you have anything more than that — prove me a liar right now by telling me what exactly you would do if you had carte blanche.
Crickets. Silence.

Yes, indeed. Having gotten us into this mess, they have no plan to get us out, and instead spend their time spewing rage at Trump, or Tucker Carlson, or anyone else who points out how disastrously wrong they’ve been about everything. It may be that Trump or Carlson deserve to be criticized for some of their statements, but what does that have to do with the actual war in Ukraine? About as much as the gibberish Geraldo was babbling this morning. The Ukrainians made the mistake of believing what they were told about Trump being a villainous Putin ally, and Biden being the hero who would protect them from Putin. So it looks as if Hunter Biden will have to find somewhere else to hustle for corrupt cash, and I hope nobody invested their savings in Burisma stock.




 

Category: Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine

UKRAINE: Fight for Gostomel Airfield Emerges as Crucial Early Battle

Posted on | February 24, 2022 | Comments Off on UKRAINE: Fight for Gostomel Airfield Emerges as Crucial Early Battle

It’s now about 3 a.m. in Ukraine, and the fight for control of an airfield in the northwest suburbs of Kyiv has become a focus of the war effort against the Russian invasion. Early Thursday, it was reported that elite Russian paratroopers (VDV) had seized control of the airfield at Gostomel. This force was estimated at about 150 troops, and the obvious goal was to use Gostomel as a base for landing more Russian forces. While reports of the battle are confused and preliminary, it appears that Ukrainian forces counterattacked, shot down some Russian helicopters, and have so far been able to prevent the Russians from landing reinforcements. Initial claims that the Russian force at the airfield had been “destroyed” were later clarified; it now seems that the battle at Gostomel is continuing. It’s easy to understand how crucial this battle is, simply by looking at a map. If the Russians could gain control of the Gostomel airfield, they could score a quick knock-out of the Ukrainian capital as part of what is being called their “decapitation” strategy.

U.S. officials are pessimistic about Ukraine’s chances:

Three U.S. officials have told Newsweek they expect Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to fall to incoming Russian forces within days, and the country’s resistance to be effectively neutralized soon thereafter.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Moscow’s focus, as revealed in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s references to a “special military operation” to “demilitarize” the neighboring country, would be to encircle Ukrainian forces and force them to surrender or be destroyed. They expect Kyiv to be taken within 96 hours, and then the leadership of Ukraine to follow in about a week’s time.
And Russia’s thunderous attacks on Ukrainian government and military institutions, paired with reports of ground personnel seeking to take strategic points, including the Chernobyl nuclear facility, appeared to only be the initial phase of what may be a more comprehensive ground campaign.
One former senior U.S. intelligence officer with extensive experience dealing with Russia expressed a similar sentiment.
“After the air and artillery end and the ground war really starts, I think Kyiv falls in just a few days,” the former senior U.S. intelligence officer told Newsweek on the condition of anonymity as well.
“The military may last slightly longer,” the former intelligence officer added, “but this isn’t going to last long.”
Afterward, the senior U.S. intelligence officer said the next stages may be determined by U.S. President Joe Biden’s capability and willingness to risk further provoking Moscow by supporting partisan efforts on behalf of a potential Ukrainian resistance.
“Then it either becomes a robust insurgency or it doesn’t, depending largely on Biden,” the former senior U.S. intelligence officer said.
A source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government, who also asked not to be named, agreed with the U.S. assessment that Kyiv could be surrounded within 96 hours. But the source did not believe Zelenskyy’s government would collapse.
Asked by Newsweek whether the government was confident it could break a possible Russian encirclement, the source said, “I think it’s too early to say…They say Ukraine is holding better than they expected.”

It is not necessary, from a strategic standpoint, for Ukrainian forces to resist all the Russian forces everywhere, so long as some Russians are stopped somewhere. That is to say, so long as Ukrainians keep fighting — inflicting casualties on the Russian invaders — the mere loss of territory means little. Being outnumbered and outgunned, Ukraine’s strategy is to drag the war out and make Russia pay a price for its aggression.

The United States can help the Ukraine resistance hang on:

Ukraine’s defense minister made a direct plea to the U.S. Congress on Thursday to send his besieged nation anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles through Poland to help it repel Russia’s military assault on Ukraine.
Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov, in a video dated Thursday and posted to YouTube by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., said Ukrainian forces are protecting Europe and would fight for their own country but need support.
“We need as much Stinger [anti-aircraft] and anti-tank weapons as possible,” Reznikov said, seated at a conference table with a Ukrainian flag behind him. “In order to provide for reliable procurement of equipment, you may deliver it to Poland. From there we will transport them across the land and quickly saturate our defense.”

This is a no-brainer. Just a few hundred of these weapons, in the hands of trained troops, could be enough to turn Russia’s Ukrainian adventure into a hopeless quagmire. How many attack helicopters does Russia have? And how many of them would have to get shot down over Ukraine before Putin’s generals decide the price is too high?

UPDATE 8:30 p.m. ET: Translated from a Ukrainian outlet:

In the evening of February 24 near the Gostomel airfield, the Russian occupiers were repeatedly attacked by the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. . . .
The enemy landed a Russian landing party from several dozen combat helicopters to capture a bridgehead near the capital.
“Su-24M bombers, Su-24MR scouts and Su-25 attack planes fired powerful rocket and bomb strikes at them several times ,” said press officer Yuriy Ignat.
As of the evening, the Armed Forces recaptured the airfield from the aggressor, but after midnight explosions were heard in that direction again.
“The Ukrainian Defense Forces, including aircraft, tanks and artillery, are not allowing the enemy to carry out their plan and are successfully destroying the occupiers,” he said.
In addition, in the air battle with the Ukrainian Su-27, the Russians lost two Su-30 CM fighters.

None of this is independently confirmed, but it is further indication that the fight at this crucial airfield is serious.

UPDATE 9:35 p.m. ET: My remark that “the mere loss of territory means little” to the Ukrainian defenders seems to have provoked misunderstanding. What I am saying is that the Ukrainians (and their Western allies) should not be dismayed by reports that Russian forces have advanced here or there, or control such-and-such strategic points. The key is to keep up the fight, regardless of how much “progress” the Russian invaders may make. Small partisan units — guerrillas, militia, call them what you will — can wreak havoc on an invading force, especially using hit-and-run tactics against supply convoys. The deeper the Russians advance into Ukraine, the longer their supply lines become, and every bridge and culvert along those supply routes becomes a target for attack by the Ukrainian resistance. All it takes is 15 or 20 Ukrainians, armed with nothing more than rifles, mortars and RPGs, lying in wait for the next Russian convoy to come along — BOOM! — hit ’em with all you got, wreck ’em and then run for the hills. You hide out in safe houses overnight, then move up the road for your next attack. If the entire countryside is full of militia units fighting with such tactics, logistics becomes a nightmare for the invading force.

By the way, there are reports of continued fighting at the Gostomel airfield, with loud explosions heard.




 

Category: Russia, Ukraine

UKRAINE: What Biden Said

Posted on | February 24, 2022 | Comments Off on UKRAINE: What Biden Said

Transcript of the Commander-in-Chief’s speech today:

The Russian military has begun a brutal assault on the people of Ukraine without provocation, without justification, without necessity.
This is a premeditated attack. Vladimir Putin has been planning this for months, as I’ve been — as we’ve been saying all along. He moved more than 175,000 troops, military equipment into positions along the Ukrainian border.
He moved blood supplies into position and built a field hospital, which tells you all you need to know about his intentions all along.
He rejected every good-faith effort the United States and our Allies and partners made to address our mutual security concerns through dialogue to avoid needless conflict and avert human suffering.
For weeks — for weeks, we have been warning that this would happen. And now it’s unfolding largely as we predicted.
In the past week, we’ve seen shelling increase in the Donbas, the region in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
Rus- — the Russian government has perpetrated cyberattacks against Ukraine.
We saw a staged political theater in Moscow — outlandish and baseless claims that Ukraine was — Ukraine was about to invade and launch a war against Russia, that Ukraine was prepared to use chemical weapons, that Ukraine committed a genocide — without any evidence.
We saw a flagrant violation of international law in attempting to unilaterally create two new so-called republics on sovereign Ukrainian territory.
And at the very moment that the United Nations Security Council was meeting to stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty to stave off invasion, Putin declared his war.
Within moments — moments, missile strikes began to fall on historic cities across Ukraine.
Then came in the air raids, followed by tanks and troops rolling in.
We’ve been transparent with the world. We’ve shared declassified evidence about Russia’s plans and cyberattacks and false pretexts so that there can be no confusion or cover-up about what Putin was doing.
Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences.
Today, I’m authorizing additional strong sanctions and new limitations on what can be exported to Russia.
This is going to impose severe costs on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.
We have purposefully designed these sanctions to maximize the long-term impact on Russia and to minimize the impact on the United States and our Allies.
And I want to be clear: The United States is not doing this alone. For months, we’ve been building a coalition of partners representing well more than half of the global economy.
Twenty-seven members of the European Union, including France, Germany, Italy — as well as the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and many others — to amplify the joint impact of our response.
I just spoke with the G7 leaders this morning, and we are in full and total agreement. We will limit Russia’s ability to do business in Dollars, Euros, Pounds, and Yen to be part of the global economy. We will limit their ability to do that. We are going to stunt the ability to finance and grow Rus- — the Russian military.
We’re going to impose major — and we’re going to impair their ability to compete in a high-tech 21st century economy.
We’ve already seen the impact of our actions on Russia’s currency, the Ruble, which early today hit its weakest level ever — ever in history. And the Russian stock market plunged today. The Russian government’s borrowing rate spiked by over 15 percent.
In today’s actions, we have now sanctioned Russian banks that together hold around $1 trillion in assets.
We’ve cut off Russia’s largest bank — a bank that holds more than one third of Russia’s banking assets by itself — cut it off from the U.S. financial system.
And today, we’re also blocking four more major banks. That means every asset they have in America will be frozen. This includes V.T.B., the second-largest bank in Russia, which has $250 billion in assets.
As promised, we’re also adding names to the list of Russian elites and their family members that are sanctioning — that we’re sanctioning as well.
As I said on Tuesday, these are people who personally gain from the Kremlin’s policies and they should share in the pain. We will keep up this drumbeat of those designations against corrupt billionaires in the days ahead.
On Tuesday, we stopped the Russian government from raising money from U.S. or European investors.
Now, we’re going to apply the same restrictions to Russia’s largest state-owned enterprises — companies with assets that exceed $1.4 trillion.
Some of the most powerful impacts of our actions will come over time as we squeeze Russia’s access to finance and technology for strategic sectors of its economy and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come.
Between our actions and those of our Allies and partners, we estimate that we’ll cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports.
It will strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize their military. It’ll degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program. It will hurt their ability to build ships, reducing their ability to compete economically. And it will be a major hit to Putin’s long-term strategic ambitions.
And we’re preparing to do more. In addition to the economic penalties we’re imposing, we’re also taking steps to defend our NATO Allies, particularly in the east.
Tomorrow, NATO will convene a summit — we’ll be there — to bring together the leaders of 30 Allied nations and close partners to affirm our solidarity and to map out the next steps we will take to further strengthen all aspects of our NATO Alliance.
Although we provided over $650 million in defensive assistance to Ukraine just this year — this last year, let me say it again: Our forces are not and will not be engaged in the conflict with Russia in Ukraine. Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine but to defend our NATO Allies and reassure those Allies in the east.
As I made crystal clear, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power. And the good news is: NATO is more united and more determined than ever.
There is no doubt — no doubt that the United States and every NATO Ally will meet our Article 5 commitments, which says that an attack on one is an attack on all.
Over the past few weeks, I ordered thousands of additional forces to Germany and Poland as part of our commitment to NATO.
On Tuesday, in response to Russia’s aggressive action, including its troop presence in Belarus and the Black Sea, I’ve authorized the deployment of ground and air forces already stationed in Europe to NATO’s eastern flank Allies: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania.
Our Allies have also been stepping up, adding — the other Allies, the rest of NATO — adding their own forces and capabilities to ensure our collective defense.
And today, within hours of Russia’s unleashing its assault, NATO came together and authorized and activated — an activation of response plans.
This will enable NATO’s high-readiness forces to deploy and — when and where they’re needed to protect our NATO Allies on the eastern boundaries of Europe.
And now I’m authorizing additional U.S. forces and capabilities to deploy to Germany as part of NATO’s response, including some of U.S.-based forces that the Department of Defense placed on standby weeks ago.
I’ve also spoken with Defense Secretary Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Milley, about preparations for additional moves should they become necessary to protect our NATO Allies and support the greatest military Alliance in the history of the world — NATO.
As we respond, my administration is using the tools — every tool at our disposal to protect American families and businesses from rising prices at the gas pump.
You know, we’re taking active steps to bring down the costs. And American oil and gas companies should not — should not exploit this moment to hike their prices to raise profits.
You know, in our sanctions package, we specifically designed to allow energy payments to continue.
We are closely monitoring energy supplies for any disruption. We have been coordinating with major oil producing and consuming countries toward our common interest to secure global energy supplies.
We are actively working with countries around the world to elevate [evaluate] a collective release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves of major energy-consuming countries. And the United States will release additional barrels of oil as conditions warrant.
I know this is hard and that Americans are already hurting. I will do everything in my power to limit the pain the American people are feeling at the gas pump. This is critical to me.
But this aggression cannot go unanswered. If it did, the consequences for America would be much worse. America stands up to bullies. We stand up for freedom. This is who we are.
Let me also repeat the warning I made last week: If Russia pursues cyberattacks against our companies, our critical infrastructure, we are prepared to respond.
For months, we have been working closely with our private — with the private sector to harden their cyber defenses, sharpen our ability to respond to Russian cyberattacks as well.
I spoke late last night to President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and I assured him that the United States, together with our Allies and partners in Europe, will support the Ukrainian people as they defend their country. We’ll provide humanitarian relief to ease their suffering.
And in the early days of this conflict, Russian propaganda outlets will keep trying to hide the truth and claim success for its military operation against a made-up threat.
But history has shown time and again how swift gains in territory eventually give way to grinding occupations, acts of mass civil — mass civil disobedience, and strategic dead-ends.
The next few weeks and months will be hard on the people of Ukraine. Putin has unleashed a great pain on them. But the Ukrainian people have known 30 years of independence, and they have repeatedly shown that they will not tolerate anyone who tries to take their country backwards.
This is a dangerous moment for all of Europe, for the freedom around the world. Putin has a — has committed an assault on the very principles that uphold global peace.
But now the entire world sees clearly what Putin and his Kremlin — and his Kremlin allies are really all about. This was never about genuine security concerns on their part. It was always about naked aggression, about Putin’s desire for empire by any means necessary — by bullying Russia’s neighbors through coercion and corruption, by changing borders by force, and, ultimately, by choosing a war without a cause.
Putin’s actions betray his sinister vision for the future of our world — one where nations take what they want by force.
But it is a vision that the United States and freedom-loving nations everywhere will oppose with every tool of our considerable power.
The United States and our Allies and partners will emerge from this stronger, more united, more determined, and more purposeful.
And Putin’s aggression against Ukraine will end up costing Russia dearly — economically and strategically. We will make sure of that. Putin will be a pariah on the international stage. Any nation that countenances Russia’s naked aggression against Ukraine will be stained by association.
When the history of this era is written, Putin’s choice to make a totally unjustifiable war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.
Liberty, democracy, human dignity — these are the forces far more powerful than fear and oppression. They cannot be extinguished by tyrants like Putin and his armies. They cannot be erased by people — from people’s hearts and hopes by any amount of violence and intimidation. They endure.
And in the contest between democracy and autocracy, between sovereignty and subjugation, make no mistake: Freedom will prevail.
God bless the people of a free and democratic Ukraine. And may God protect our troops.

So, because sanctions did not prevent Putin from invading Ukraine, we will now respond with . . . more sanctions. Perfect.




 

Category: Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine
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