Beltway Insider: Biden/Russian Sanctions, Kyiv Under Siege, COVID/Vaccine Totals, SCOTUS, SOTU Speech

  • Print

President Biden moved this week to deepen the commitment to a free Ukraine by assembling a package of sanctions that are geared toward crippling the Russian leader's ability to maintain his economy and fund his war of choice.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending February 27, 2022 decreased by 1.0% to 40.4% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 0.8% to 53.3% 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, Freedom Convoy, COVID/Vaccine Totals, Crypto Hackers, Trump


Ukraine Crisis Escalates to War

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his expected attack on the neighboring Ukraine, once again violating the territorial sovereignty of the nation and putting the European Continent on high alert as Putin continues to show determined sign to rebuild the former Soviet Union.

With air attacks hamming Ukraine's major cities, Russian ground troops have advanced and meet with opposition. Four days into the Ukrainian war and Kyiv has yet to fall and does not appear to be the easy roll over Putin anticipated.

Fighting has advanced to Ukraine's second major city, Kharkiv, which in conflicting reports by major western media sources, the city has resisted and remains under Ukrainian control, and according to The Washington Post, "In a video message posted on the Kupyansk City Council's Facebook page, pro-Russia Mayor Gennady Matsegora said he chose to surrender and that the city is now under Russian control."

Cease Fire Talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyhas agreed to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov but according to media courses had rejected the idea of meeting in Russian controlled territory. A new neutral location has not been announced.

The constant monitoring of Russian builds up along the Ukraine border assisted the Ukraine population to flee prior to the launch and could possibly attributed to the relatively low death toll.

Ukrainian Health Minister Vikto Liashko said, according to Al Jazeera.com, "that 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed during the Russian invasion. A further 1,115 people have been wounded, including 33 children, he wrote on his Facebook page."

Casualties, the result of any war, have been felt on both sides, "Unfortunately, some of our comrades have been killed or injured," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a news briefing, according to Interfax, an independent news agency in Russia. Konashenkov had said late last week that no Russian troops were killed in the attack, the Associated Press reported, contradicting statements from authorities in Ukraine," reported The Washington Post.

Sanctions Squeeze Kremlin

A senior White House official announced additional sanction today, which bring the total financial sanctions against Russia to a total of ten. President Biden has been joined by leaders from the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom to further isolate Russian from access to the global banking and financial system.

The Senior White House Official stated, "In total this week, as you reflect upon the financial sanctions we've implemented, we've now targeted all 10 of Russia's largest financial institutions, holding nearly 80 percent of the Russian banking sector's total assets.  We've cut off Russia's largest bank from the U.S. financial system, a very significant blow to its ability to function and process global trade."

Global businesses are backing the Ukraine and joining the EU nations, and the United States in sending a decisive message to Putin as he continues his war of choice and violations of the Ukraine territorial sovereignty.


World News: Putin and Failure in Moscow


The global leaders agreed today to utilize the Iranian model of sanctions, disconnect Russia from the SWIFT, which stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, it was founded in 1973 to replace the telex, and with that undermine Russian ability to defund the ruble and launch a joint task force to hunt down and seize the assets of Russian Oligarchs including homes, yachts, jets and luxury automobiles.

Disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT networks essentially stops the nation from using computer assisted transactions including receiving or sending any financial transactions to or from any bank, even those in Asia. The nation's Central Bank Reserves, which are located outside of the country, are no longer available, to support the nation's financial needs.

The most recent being British Petroleum who announced today they are exiting the deal with Russian, resulting in a write down of nearly $25billion after divesting 19.75% of its assets. "BP is abandoning its stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft in an abrupt and costly end to three decades of operating in the energy-rich country, marking the most significant move yet by a Western company in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine," reported Reuters.com.

S&P Downgrades Russia

The S&P credit rating agency has downgraded Russia to junk status. Russia is facing a united, deliberate and determined global front of leadership who have attempted diplomacy, exhausted and tolerated the bizarre, duplicitous, and underhanded tactics of President Putin, who remains committed to staging false flag operations to engage in aggressive war of choice to prove his dominance in the region, of which no one is contesting. He now, brings financial hardship on each of his citizens in a useless effort to reestablish the old guard Soviet Union boundaries, a point that plunges his nation into financial ruin, is mute, as outside of possibly Belarus, he cannot conquer and worse destabilizing and deadly.

Fedex, UPS and other delivery services have already suspended their service to Russia. Contingency plans have been added to return shipments in rout to the sender. There is no information is these are federally mandated sanctions.

Additionally, for some the most crippling news is the FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, announced Russia will not be able to fly their flag or play their anthem but refused to ban the beleaguered nation from participating the World Cup.

However, "The Czech Republic joined Poland and Sweden earlier Sunday in announcing that it would refuse to play Russia in World Cup qualifying matches because of the invasion of Ukraine," The Washington Post reported.

Kyiv Under Siege

Belarus has joined with Russian troops to march on the Ukraine and assist Russian forces in taking the capital city of Kyiv, which has proven to be more costly than Putin had anticipated. The move creates a clear eastern European War Zone with two nations along the Russian border engaged in the Russian expansion.

A White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Washington Post "It's very clear Minsk is now an extension of the Kremlin."

Protests Rock the Globe

Protests to Putin's invasion have been loud, strong and active in Moscow, London, Germany and through the use of social media. "More than 100,000 turned out in Berlin on Sunday, a sea of people waving Ukrainian flags and denouncing Putin. Elsewhere in Europe, 80,000 protesters crowded into Prague's central square, waving signs that read "Hands off Ukraine," a poignant display in a country whose buildings still bear bullet holes from a Soviet invasion in 1968," reported The Washington Post.

Putin has announced his nuclear arsenals have been placed on high alert stating the West has reacted to his invasion in a hostile and aggressive manner which calls for the escalation of readiness.

EU Cautious as Russia Rolls into Ukraine; Launches Sanctions

As Putin has become the first world leader to initiate a war on European soil since Adolf Hitler in 1939, with the invasion of Poland, and has caused many on the European continent to be increasing concerned over his determined efforts to reannex the independent Ukraine.

European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has moved quickly to stop the disinformation campaign propagated by Putin, by blocking Russian messaging including news outlets, Russia Today and Sputnik, from the airwaves in the 27 nations who comprise the EU.

Von der Leyen also announced the EU will be sending weapons to Ukraine to assist in the defense of their nation. Additional sanctions by the EU include banning Russian plans, including the private planes of Russian Oligarchs, from flying through the airspace of any EU nation and Canada or landing.

For their assistance to Putin, von der Leyen has also sanctioned Belarus. Any export of goods from Belarus will be banned as well to avoid any circumventing of the EU ban. She also stated the Ukrainian refugees are welcome to any EU nations and will be fully supported.

The United Nations Reacts to Russian Invasion

The United Nations has passed a resolution to call a rare meeting on the General Assembly, including all 193 member nations to bring condemnation against Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.

"Two days ago, Russia "single-handedly blocked the adoption" of a Security Council resolution that would have demanded that Moscow end its attacks on Ukraine, said Nicolas de Rivière, permanent representative of France to the United Nations, before the Sunday meeting. China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained from Sunday's vote," reported The Washington Post.

Vaccine Totals

Bloomberg.com has built a vaccine tracker which can be seen here. "In the U.S., 552 million doses have been given so far. During the last week, shots were administered at an average rate of 191,123 doses a day," Bloomberg.com reported.

Coronavirus Totals

After a brief season of declining infection rates, the Omicron variant shocked the world sending major urban and metropolitan areas into a tailspin with sharp spikes in confirmed infection rates, those spikes are subsiding as are hospitalizations. 

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 two-week period ending February 27, 2022, coronavirus cases globally increased by 23,985,878 new confirmed cases, bringing the total of confirmed cases worldwide to 434,173,862 people with a total worldwide death toll of 5,942,872 deaths, and a 14-day death rate increase of 133,208. (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 27, 2022, the total confirmed cases rose to 78,825,844 people with new confirmed cases increasing by 1,231,639 with a 14-day average of 87,974 cases per day. The coronavirus has claimed 946,686 total deaths, adding 28,784 more deaths over the 14-day period. (Data from The New York Times.)

CDC Loosens Mask Mandates

The Center for Disease Control has announced that it is recommending that masks for all vaccinate people and boosted people, are no longer needed indoors, primarily due to new metrics which include hospitalizations and other determining factors.

"Until now, COVID-19 case counts have been the primary metric used to determine whether mask-wearing was recommended in a community. That meant that roughly 95% of U.S. counties fell into the "mask up" category," U.S. News and World Report reported.

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


Biden Announces SCOTUS Nominee

President Biden announced this week his nominee for the Supreme Court seat vacated by exiting Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. Throughout the campaign he said he would fill the seat with an African American female.

"It's my honor to introduce to the country a daughter of former public-school teachers, a proven consensus builder, an accomplished lawyer, a distinguished jurist — one of the nation's most — on one of the nation's most prestigious courts.  My nominee for the United States Supreme Court is Judge Ketanji Jackson," President Biden said during his introduction of Judge Jackson.

Biden To Deliver State of the Union

President Biden will deliver his annual State of Union address this Tuesday, where he is expected to speak on the United States commitment to a free Ukraine and the need to guard our allies and ensure that Putin is not able to escalate his assault on the European Continent. He will also speak on the Coronavirus, the state of the pandemic and the State of the Union, America, will its progress, challenges, hopes. The State of The Union message will be broadcast Tuesday, March 1, 2022, at 8:00pm EST.


Op/Ed: Even Seattle Recognizes the Value of Police Now


For more information on President Joe Biden www.whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.