Beltway Insider: Biden, World Leaders Denounce Putin, Alexei Navalny, Disinformation Campaign, Trump Fined, SC Polls

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 18 February 2024 11:54; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minster Rishi Sunak have denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin over the murder of Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending February 18, 2024 increased by 0.09% to 39.4% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.02% to 55.9% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin Silences Chief Opposition Leader

Alexei Navalny, 47, the most vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin has died, media sources have confirmed. The opposition leader, who has survived an assassination attempt in 2020, exposed Putin as the source who ordered the hit, and continued to use social media to rally the Russian people died in an Artic prison, where the harsh conditions are implemented to force submission or death.

"The news reverberated across the globe, with many world leaders blaming the death on Putin and his government. In an exchange with reporters shortly after leaving a Saturday church service, President Joe Biden reiterated his stance that Putin was ultimately to blame for Navalny's death. "The fact of the matter is, Putin is responsible. Whether he ordered it, he's responsible for the circumstance," Biden said. "It's a reflection of who he is. It cannot be tolerated,"' reported APnews.com.

Navalny, who reportedly fell ill and died quickly, may have been silenced by Putin's insatiable desire to stop any dissenting voices, especially those who expose his corruption, as he is poised to launch his 2024 Presidential bid, which would keep him in office until 2030, but his message has galvanized the world, which is not expected to end after one news cycle.

Media reports that Navalny's body showed signs of bruising; what is unusual about this is the fact that the body was released or photographed. As Navalny's family has reported in the past, Russian administrative organizations are notoriously unorganized and intentionally stop, slow, and stall access. It would not surprise the world if Putin had Navalny cremated in an administrative error.

Putin's Plan to Recapture the Past by Resurrecting the Soviet Union

Putin's dream to reunify the original pre-1990's Soviet Union, began long before his march on the Ukraine, and will that be enough for a man driven by the demons of ambition. Putin suffered losses in his battle for the Ukraine, globally he become ridiculed for a military that lacked the ability to march on Kyiv in days and take the capital, as it is his nation is involved in another Afghanistan, and possibly after six more years of fighting in the Ukraine, the loss of economic stability, millions of dead son's, Putin, if he is still in office, will understand, the world as he sees it through the eyes of the old guard, is gone. It does not exist.

Vladimir Putin, who began his political career while working for the KGB, Russia's clandestine spy agency, and after his resignation in 1991, at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, he began his political career incorporating his methodology of destroying detractors through strong arm or termination tactics.

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Putin's Dream of a Reunified Soviet Union

After the fall of Communism through Eastern Europe further energized Putin to return Russia to its Soviet Union "supremacy," a time when Communism was central to Eastern Europe, and those who opposed the leadership were murdered or "disappeared," a tactic used by communist allied regimes across South America even in the late 1970s.

In 2014, at the close of the Sochi Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putin, under the guise of providing military support for the world's athletes, amassed a small army and violated the territorial sovereignty of neighboring Crimea, a small island connected to Sochi, Russia, by a peninsula, without firing a shot. At the time, Crimea, which was part of Ukraine, was essentially removed from the broader political issues of the provisional instability of the newly formed Ukraine government.

Russia's move was costly. Russia was removed from every international governing body and suspended from the G8, the group of eight leading global economies that meet to find solutions to bilateral issues, economic sanctions. Since 2014, which many see as the beginning of Putin's effort to reunify Russia, the Russian people have suffered under global sanctions.

Silence the Detractors

In the past five years, Putin's favorite tactic the use of the Cold War nerve agent, Novichok, has been used in at least three known occasions, one on Alexei Navalny in 2020, which he was able to extract from a source, who has mysteriously disappeared, that Putin had ordered the poisoning, and a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018, both of whom survived but others, who came in contact with the nerve agent died.

"What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin's brutality. No one should be fooled — not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world. Putin does not only target the citizens of other countries, as we've seen what's going on in Ukraine right now, he also inflicts terrible crimes on his own people," said President Biden in a released statement.

Putin legacy is only a monument to himself, a legacy is supported by the people and the people of Russia may live under his dictatorial reign, but do not support him, and will, like in the film, The Wizard of Oz, cry the wicked witch is dead upon his demise. His current age, 71, and rumored health issues, remain a real factor in any long lasting or furthered legacy building strategy.

Putin Reactivates the Disinformation Machine

The 2016 Disinformation campaign capitalized upon by the Trump campaign to discredit then democratic presidential challenger Hillary R. Clinton, was created by the Russians to smear Clinton's record and to undermine her ability to serve as the nation's president.

Putin is at it again, firing up the disinformation campaign machine, this time to undermine the strength of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government and undermine his recent decision to termination the services of his top military advisor and strategist, General Valery Zaluzhny.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration ordered a group of Russian political strategists to use social media and fake news articles to push the theme that Zelensky "is hysterical and weak. … He fears that he will be pushed aside, therefore he is getting rid of the dangerous ones,"' reported The Washington Post.

This, as the world understands, is the tactic to control the narrative, to redirect support, to cause questions, which gives rise to fertile ground to plant seeds of doubt, dissension, and discord.

Until Ukraine becomes a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, which has been projected to be forthcoming, they are under autonomous rule, and with Putin at the border, daily, attempting to annex the nation, NATO allies need to remain steadfast in the support of Ukraine as the entirety of the European continent becomes threatened if Putin is not stopped.

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Coronavirus Totals

According to the World Health Organization the increase in cases resulting from the variant JN.1 have migrated in a similar pattern as the original Covid-19 virus. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens, should receive at least one shot of an updated covid vaccine. Vaccines and boosters are still considered the most effective agents against contracting the Coronavirus.

For the 7-day period ending February 18, 2024, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide reached 774,593,066 confirmed cases, an increase over the past 7 days of 123,127 cases worldwide. The total worldwide death toll increased by 2,416 to 7,028,881 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated February 4, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

COVID U.S. Totals

As hospitalizations and infection rates continue to rise in the United States, some jurisdictions are suggesting new mask mandates. For the 7-day period ending February 18, 2024, new Covid hospitalizations in the U.S. increased by 22,627 to 6,816,249. The coronavirus has claimed 1,178,527 total U.S. deaths, adding 1,888 deaths, over the past 7 days. (Data updated February 10, 2024, posted February 16, 2024, from the CDC).

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Road to the White House 2024 - Trump Legal Troubles Mount

Former president Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, was fined $355 million, in a financial fraud civil lawsuit initiated by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who claimed the leader of the Trump Organization inflated his wealth to secure loans.

"New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Friday ordered former president Donald Trump to pay more than $350 million in penalties, handing down a hefty penalty following a months-long civil trial in which Trump and others were accused of financial fraud by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Engoron also said Trump could not serve as an officer or a director for any New York company for three years," reported The Washington Post.

Trump vows to appeal the decision.

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Trump lawyers also appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn two lower court decisions which grant him immunity. While not a shadow docket, which is the term used for emergency appeals and intervention, the court has yet to announce if they will take the case, and it is quite possible they will, as the Supreme Court is made up of five conversative leaning justices, three of which were appointed by the former president. If they do decide to take the case, it could become a pivotal point in Supreme Court history when the party loyalty and not the law leads the court.

"A federal trial charging Mr. Trump with conspiring to overthrow the results of the 2020 election had been scheduled to start March 4, one day before Super Tuesday, the largest single day of the primary season. It has since been postponed indefinitely," reported The New York Times.

March 5, 2024, Super Tuesday, in a little more than two weeks, will more than likely seal the Republican Party candidate, unless the American people are able to see beyond the spite of politics and look to the needs of the nation, as 15 states will hold their primaries.

The upcoming South Carolina primary, scheduled for Saturday, February 24, in a winner take all battle, is not looking good for Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina Governor, as former president Donald Trump, has increased his lead to 63.6% to her 31.5%. With 50 delegates at stake, Haley is in a must win heading into Super Tuesday, if she has any chance.

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