Beltway Insider: Biden/NATO, Israeli Peace Brokers, COVID/Vaccine Totals, Hospitals Bombed, China, Refugees

President Biden reiterated his support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization sovereignty defining his position to "defend NATO even if it means WWIII" should Russian President Vladimir Putin escalate his assault and attack Poland.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending March 13, 2022 increased by .1% to 42.7% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 3.1% to 51.3% 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/SOTU, Jobs, COVID/Vaccine Totals, Ukraine War, EU Crisis, Refugees


Allies Demand Biden Do More

European allied nations are watching with growing concern over the brutalities of Vladimir Putin as he continues to pummel civilian targets in his quest to force the Ukraine into a surrender to reunify the former Soviet Union.

President Biden, speaking on Friday, said, "We're going to continue to stand together with our Allies in Europe and send an unmistakable message: We will defend every single inch of NATO territory with the full might of a united and galvanized NATO. We will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine.  Direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War Three."

With global commitments from President Biden and a coalition of nations, like those who united to fight the tyranny of the Islamic State, to introduce further economic sanctions some leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated the United States should do more to assist the Ukraine defend against the unprovoked and barbarous attacks from Russia.

Throughout the week, President Biden, along with allied nations and the G7, announced additional sanctions against the Russian government and began seizing properties supporters of Putin's inner circle bringing the total loss in sanctions to over

In a veiled threat of retaliation against allied support to the Ukrainians, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated, "Moscow will treat Western arms shipments to Ukraine as legitimate military targets," Al Jazerra.com reported.

President Biden announced he would be moving "over 12,000 American forces along the borders with Russia — Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, et cetera" and explained the total aid packages sent to the Ukraine over the past year and congress just passed a bipartisan bill allocating an additional $13.6 billion in new assistance.

VP Harris Meets with Polish, Romanian Presidents

Vice President Kamala Harris met this week with President Andrzej Duda of Poland and Romania President Iohannis enforcing President Biden's position on uniting with NATO to fight against the invasion of any allied nation.

"NATO will act without hesitation to defend each and every Allied state, including obviously Romania.  In this moment of Russian aggression and Putin's war, we take seriously our commitment to defend, if necessary, every inch of NATO territory.  So that is why I'm here, to reinforce and reaffirm that commitment," said Vice-President Harris.

Russian Sanctions Continue to Grow

President Biden increased global sanctions again the Russian Federation, stating the United States and allied nations would ban "imports of goods from several signature sectors of the Russian economy, including seafoods, vodka, and diamonds. And we're going to continue to squeeze Putin.  The G7 will seek to deny Russia the ability to borrow from leading multinational institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank."

Mastercard announced they had decided to "suspend our network services in Russia," and Visa announced, "Within days, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside of the country and any Visa cards issued outside of Russia will no longer work within the country, the company said," Reuters reported.

Israelis Offer Jerusalem for Peace Talks

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, after speaking with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zalenskyy on March 5, 2022, has offered Jerusalem as a possible location to negotiate a peace treaty.

Zalenskyy said "He [Naftali Bennet] was the first western leader to meet the Russian president since the invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February. Mr Bennett has since spoken to both the Russian and Ukrainian presidents several times on the phone," The Jewish Chronicle reported.

With Russian, Belarus and the Ukraine unacceptable locations for any peace negotiations, Israel has stepped lightly stepped into the situation to offer to hold a peace summit.

Zalenskyy has repeated said a cease fire would be necessary before any peace talks could begin.


World News: EU Geopolitics Poised Between Cynicism and Hypocrisy


Monthly Gas Prices Jump $1.00

Americans have begun to see substantial increases in gasoline prices with some states experiencing an astronomical increase of $1.00 at the gas pumps since the beginning of the Russian invasion nearly three weeks ago.

With cash pries at the pump somewhat lower, card users, in Beverly Hills, California, can pay up to $7.95 a gallon for Super. Around the nation over the past month beginning February 12, 2013, prices have climbed exponentially along the Western Wall of the United States increasing more than $1.00 in Nevada, California, and Utah and .79 cents in Washington and Oregon, and by upwards of .90 cents in Georgia, Arizona, Alabama, Alaska, Louisiana. Around the nation both Ohio and North Carolina saw increases of .84cent per gallon and New York and New Jersey, jumped by 78 and 76 cents respectively.

Rideshare service Uber has announced outside of New York City customer would pay a gasoline surcharge, "of either 45 cents or 55 cents on each Uber trip and 35 cents or 45 cents on each Uber Eats order, depending on their location. The money charged will go directly to the workers, Uber said," The New York Post reported.

According to AAA, The national average for one gallon of gasoline is $4.32.

DeSantis Looks to 2024 With Exclusion Laws

Floridagovernor Ron DeSantis has made news this week with the defense of his states recent passage of the "Do Not Say Gay" ban.  The largely symbolic ban carries no real value, no jailtime or other type legal enforcement, and is primarily a reactionary position to garner 2024 presidential positioning. 

Reuters reported in 2007, "New York City symbolically banned use of the word nigger on Wednesday, the latest step in a campaign that hopes to expunge the most vile of racial slurs from hip hop music and television,"

NYC City Council, in 2007 banned the "N" word, this action did nothing to stop the use in artistic expression, in literature, in informal greetings. No pieces of American Literature were removed from the public libraries or publicly banned and burned.

While each of these "symbolical bans" represent a challenge to First Amendment Freedom of Speech protection's, the lower everyday debate is without merit. It is bait to gain reaction from the gay community to use as showpieces to other parts of the country in the upcoming presidential election. 

Vaccine Totals

Bloomberg.com has built a vaccine tracker which can be seen here. "In the U.S., 557 million doses have been given so far. During the last week, shots were administered at an average rate of 102,474 doses a day," Bloomberg.com reported.

Coronavirus Totals

The recent escalation that the United States has endured from the latest COVID-19 variant, Omicron, seems to have passed and as quickly as it blazed a trail across the nation, it has dissipated. Mask mandates have been altered or lifted in most urban areas with limited exceptions, and the population is encouraged to maintain personal protective practices. Masks are optional and tolerated. Vaccines and boosters are still considered the most effective agents against contracting the Coronavirus.

For the one-week period ending March 12, 2022, coronavirus cases globally increased by 11,683,095 new confirmed cases, bringing the total of confirmed cases worldwide to 446,738,687 people with a total worldwide death toll of 6,039,335 deaths, and a 7-day death rate increase of 45,272. (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 March 13, 2022, the total confirmed cases rose to 79,411,749 people with new confirmed cases increasing by 245,288 with a 7-day average of 35,032 cases per day. The coronavirus has claimed 966,218 total deaths, adding 9,003 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.


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


Putin Pummels Ukraine

Nearing the three-week mark of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the critical points that have escaped to the west are the brutality in which he launched his offensive, the inability of Russian forces to take their objects swiftly, the determination of the Ukrainian people, and the global front united against Putin maniacal advance.

Russian Federation forces, seen in satellite images as a regiment more than 40 miles long, rambled toward Kyiv with troops, tanks, and armored vehicles, to attempt to secure, after nearly three weeks the capital city.

The inability of Russian forces, which were at one point noted by global war strategists, including Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, as having the ability to capture Kyiv in 72 hours, has failed to reach its objectives. Many attribute this to the youth of the military, and the determination of the Ukraine people.

Bombing Raids Reveal Brutality

As the bombing raids escalated this week, Putin's military leaders have intensified the focus on highly populated areas around the major cities of Kyiv, Mariupol, and Chernobyl. Heavy shelling in the port-city of Mariupol, making evacuations of refugees and wounded impossible.

The shelling of a maternity hospital in Mariupol destroyed much of the building. News agencies have described the chaotic scene as heavily pregnant women were carried out of the hospital on stretchers, and newborns and mothers. The Russian forces also bombed a children's hospital in the nearby city of Zhytomyr, west of the capital Kyiv.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zalenskyy said, "A children's hospital. A maternity hospital. How did they threaten the Russian Federation?" Zelenskyy asked in his nightly video address, switching to Russian to express his horror at the airstrike. "What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals, afraid of maternity hospitals, and destroys them?," the AP reported.

China Chilled by Putin Violence

Chinese President Xi-Jinping who was last seen during the Winter Olympics sharing a stage with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is also shocked over the brutalities in which he has attacked the Ukraine and its people.

Even with the vicious assaults, the Chinese President has not joined in with other nations to impose sanctions, which is translated to the G7 and other nations, as an alignment with the atrocities.

Xi-Jinping has now become a central figure in Russia's attempt to circumvent the global sanctions which has left his nation penniless, banks unable to support its people, and more unable to fund the needs for the nation to replenish its troops and support.

China has become the lone player on the global stage that can offer Putin the assistance he needs to maintain a cash flow to his cash strapped nation. It wouldn't be the first time China has circumvented sanctions imposed by the United States.

"In effect, it's a bartering system," Zenel Garcia, an expert on Sino-Russia relations who teaches at the US Army War College. State-backed Chinese companies, he added, had already done similar swaps with Iran. He said that "if push comes to shove" with Russia, he believed "they would do it again," The Insider reported.

How far Xi-Jinping will go is strategic as his nation stands to lose billions in trade should Chinese exports be banned or subject to higher tariffs. Current tariff rates from Chinese exports into the United States, including the massive electronics market and steel, metals, rare earth elements, and other goods, is at 19.3 percent, an alliance barter or otherwise, could increase tariffs exponentially further ostracizing both Putin and his no limits friendship with Chinese president Xi-Jinping.


World News: Putin, A Cornered Beast


Zelenskyy Requests Air Support

Ukraine President Zelenskyy has been outspoken from his bunker, that the Ukraine military lacks an air force and has repeated his requests to the United States to provide fighter jets to assist in stopping the Russian Federation's advancing forces.

"In an interview, Mr. Zelensky told ABC News via a government interpreter that his country lacks air supremacy, noting the bombardment of civilian infrastructure with Russian missiles," reported The Wall Street Journal.

The Whitehouse responded indicting it is reviewing avenues to provide Ukraine's request for fighter jet and to replace any fighter jets NATO nation Poland might provide Ukraine. The need for additional air support was reinforced Sunday when Russian Federation forces bombed a location near the NATO border of Ukraine and Poland, killing 35 and wounding more than 134.

New York Times Reporter Killed in Ukraine

Brent Renaud, a New York Times reporter, on assignment in Ukraine was killed by advancing Russian Federation forces. He was one of more than 10,000 civilian causalities who have died during the 18 days of war.

"Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said in a statement that Mr. Renaud "paid with his life for attempting to expose the insidiousness, cruelty and ruthlessness of the aggressor," The New York Times reported.

The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights sated more than 2.5million Ukrainians have fled their homes to neighboring nations as Vladimir Putin's assaults continue.

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

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