Beltway Insider: Biden, Ukraine Crisis, Freedom Convoy, COVID/Vaccine Totals, Crypto Hackers, Trump

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 13 February 2022 15:57; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden spoke in length to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in an effort to deescalate the intensifying belief that an aggressive tactile attack against neighboring Ukraine is eminent and stressed the allies would respond decisively.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending February 12, 2022 decreased by 0.3% to 41.4% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 0.3% to 52.5% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

Beltway Insider: Biden, Ukraine Crisis, ISIS, COVID Omicron/Vaccine Totals, Queen Elizabeth, Olympics

U.S. Issues Imperative Directive on Ukraine Crisis

As all intelligence reports point to an expectation of a preemptive strike by Russian President Vladimir Putin, in what can only be described as a redo of the initial violation of territorial sovereignty of Ukraine during the closing ceremonies of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, calls at all levels of government advised U.S. citizens to immediately leave the Ukraine.

"Biden, in an hour-long call with the Russian president, said the United States and its allies would "respond decisively" to any attack, the White House said in a statement. But the call produced no breakthrough, as the exchange of recriminations over Ukraine threatened to erupt into what could be the largest military conflict Europe has seen in decades," reported The Washington Post.

Even as Putin and members of his diplomatic entourage have downplayed the escalating military presence around the Ukraine and now, allegedly by invitation, in Belarus, western allies along with the United States have urged all citizens to leave the country. The United States have moved further and reduced the embassy staff in Kyiv to critical staff and ordered all military training officers stationed on the western Ukraine front to move to undisclosed locations.

Russia has also ordered its non-essential embassy staff to return to Moscow, for fear of Ukraine aggression, stating, as is often the case when the aggressor is cornered, that they are in actuality the victim and Ukraine is the aggressor.

Although the White House has not provided the backup on its most recent intelligence, with a level of certainty White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan advised members of the White House Press Corps Friday, all the pieces are in place for a full-scale invasion beginning with "aerial bombing and missile attacks "that would leave transportation vulnerable and no one could "count on air or rail or road departures."

"We are also ready to respond decisively, alongside those allies and partners, should Russia choose to take military action. Our response would include severe economic sanctions, with similar packages imposed by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries. It would also include changes to NATO and American force posture along the eastern flank of NATO. And it would include continued support to Ukraine," stated Jake Sullivan, White House National Security Advisor.

World News: French President Emmanuel Macron’s White Knight Moment

Russian Troops in Belarus

Russian President Vladimir Putin, under the pretext of military exercises, has moved more than 20,000 troops along with missiles, warplanes and air defense system in Belarus, this week, marking the largest infiltration of troops in eastern Europe since the beginning of World War II.

Even with a united allied front warning clear and decisive action, Putin is determined to show to the world that he can take back the Ukraine, should he choose.

"A senior Western military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive analysis, said a worst-case scenario could involve Russian forces encircling Kyiv from three sides and pinning down Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine, where they have been battling Russian-backed separatists since 2014. In such a pincer scenario, the official said, "at best they compel them to surrender; at worst they annihilate them," The Washington Post reported.

President Sends Additional Troops

President Biden has announced that he is sending 3000 additional members of the 82nd Airborne, along with the provisional 8,000 troops already on deployed to the region.

Russian and Belarus military troops have begun a ten-day military exercise, Allied Resolve-2022, a war games preview, in which the two nations will participate in military readiness campaigns. The drills are expected to end February 20, 2022.

"The purpose of the exercise is to work out the tasks of suppressing and repelling external aggression while conducting a defensive operation, countering terrorism and protecting the interests of the Union State," the statement said. Russia is also planning naval exercises that would block off large parts of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, raising protests from Ukraine that commercial shipping routes would be choked. The Kremlin has denied that shipping routes will be blocked," CNN reported.

Canadian Freedom Convoy Spawns French Sympathy

Quietly, over the past three weekends, Canadians protesting the nations strict coronavirus restrictions, have gathered in what has become known as The Freedom Convoy, in key locations blocking the critical U.S. trade routes.

With the potential of stopping mush needed automotive parts, which has already resulted in shift cancellations at U.S. Automobile manufacturing plants, Canadian's Premiere Doug Ford, declared a state of emergency and ordered protestors to be removed.

As the protests began to gain momentum, other locations leading across the Canadian border to the United States also began to see blockades building essentially stopping any access to the United States and effectively shutting down the critical supply chain that depends on goods from manufacturers in Canada.

"The global spread of a movement that began with a minority of Canadian truckers objecting to vaccination requirements had come into focus. From Europe to Australia, demonstrations replicating the tactics and slogans of the Canadian convoy mounted challenges to authorities. Politicians and police sought to contain protests with mixed results, as threats of punishment did little to deter demonstrators who vowed to return in the weeks to come," The Washington Post reported.

With a growing number of sympathizers, GoFundMe accounts were created to offset expenses incurred by the truckers and employees to cover lost wages. As of Saturday, those accounts, totally more than $10 million, which was to be donated to the truckers, had been frozen by the Canadian government.

A Canadian court granted the bank the ability to empty the accounts, "TD Bank told the court that they would return the money to individuals "who have requested refunds but whose entitlement to a refund cannot be determined by TD," or send the money to intended recipients," Foxnews.com reported.

Vaccine Totals

Bloomberg.com has built a vaccine tracker which can be seen here. "In the U.S., 547 million doses have been given so far. During the last week, shots were administered at an average rate of 300,650 doses a day," Bloomberg.com reported.

Coronavirus Totals

After a brief season of declining infection rates, the Omicron variant has shocked the world sending major urban and metropolitan areas into a tailspin with sharp spikes in confirmed infection rates. The importance of maintaining personal protective practices is imperative to controlling the spread.

Unless 85% of the global population is vaccinated and regularly receiving booster shots the global population will never fully control the pandemic it will always control the population.

For the one-week period ending February 13, 2022 coronavirus cases globally increased by 16,981,390 new confirmed cases, bringing the total of confirmed cases worldwide to 410,187,984 people with a total worldwide death toll of 5,809,664 deaths, and a 7-day death rate increase of 76,371. (Data from The New York Times).

COVID US Totals

Infections rates in the United States are also on the rise. For the seven-day period ending February 13, 2022, the total confirmed cases rose to 77,594,205 people with new confirmed cases increasing by 1,235,715 with a 7-day average of 176,530 cases per day. The coronavirus has claimed 917,902 total deaths, adding 16,893 more deaths over the 7-day period. (Data from The New York Times).

Pentagon's Diary Gets Personal

Protecting for gain of function knowledge only aides those who initiated the constitutional violations. It does nothing to combat the homegrown terrorism or the narcissist above the law belief. The best obtainable version of the truth.

U.S. House of Rep Passes Bill to Restore Rights to Survivors of Sex Crimes

Trumps Records Return to Washington

Records from former President Trump's Administration were secured this week from his Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida, by the National Archives and Records Administration, after six months of wrangling.

Under federal law every correspondence initiated by the office of the President must be secured and held. When it was discovered that 15 boxes were missing, some of which were marked "Top-Secret," the former president was notified of the need to have them returned. The former president's team was notified they would take additional measures, including reporting the missing boxes to the Justice Department, if they were not returned.

"This unfortunate attempt by the media to twist a story, along with the help of anonymous sources, is just another sensationalized distraction of an otherwise uneventful effort to persevere the legacy of President Trump and a good faith effort to ensure the fulfillment of the Presidential Records Act," Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said in a statement Saturday. "Sadly, the business of 'news' has become reliant on the next manufactured Trump 'investigation,' and so here we are. It's a disgrace," reported The Washington Post.

Feds Arrest Crypto Hackers

In what is being described as toon town clowns meet cyber-sophistication, IIya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife Heather Morgan, 31, were charged this week by Federal authorities with conspiracy to launder more than $71 million in bitcoin digital currency.

The arrests of the two shocked their friends, colleagues and co-workers. Ms. Morgan, a freelancer for FORBES who covered the digital currency beat, and her husband who according to LinkedIn, also addressed the crypto market.

With what can only be described as a shocking ingenuous online presence, complete with a level of inane and absurd videos, can only be considered manufactured to hide the truth behind the false front.

The pair have been described by the government as "highly sophisticated criminals." Prosecutors said they believed the couple had significant additional assets, including hundreds of millions of dollars in virtual currency stolen from the Bitfinex exchange that had not been recovered, as well as access to numerous fraudulent identities bought on the so-called darknet, a hidden portion of the internet used for illicit transactions, The New York Times reported.

It was also reported the couple had more than "more than 50 electronic devices, including a bag labeled "burner phone," and more than $40,000 in cash," at the time of their arrest.

The Bitfinex heist in 2016 more than $71 million dollars had been stolen through the complex digital world currency system, and since that time its value had grown to more than $4billion. The federal government had seem to have located the stolen currency and waited until they decided to move the money. When the pair, allegedly made the move, they were arrested.

Their lawyer, Anirudh Bansal, said, the government's case is based on "unsupported conclusionary leaps."

Justice Watch: And They Got Away With It (Part 4)

Senate Passes Bill Ending Forced Arbitration

The U.S. Senate, days after the House overwhelmingly passed a the bi-partisan legislations, joined with their legislators and again overwhelmingly passed, House Resolution 4445, the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act bill.

Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, testified along with others that the forced arbitration clause hidden in her contract initially stopped her from suing the CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. The MeToo# Movement has been strong proponents of forcing accountability. The days of hiding a company's dirty little secrets in an airtight forced arbitration clause have come to an end.

"This bill represents one of the most significant workplace reforms in American history," Gillibrand said Thursday. "It will help us fix a broken system that protects perpetrators and corporations and end the days of silencing survivors. … The arbitration process not only allows the corporations to hide sexual harassment and assault cases in this secretive and often biased process, but it shields those who committed serious misconduct from the public eye," reported The Washington Post.

For more information on President Joe Biden w ww.whitehouse.gov.