Beltway Insider: Biden/Ukraine, Trump/TikTok, Putin/Russian Economy, Ukraine/Peace Talks, Assad, South Korean Plane Crash

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 29 December 2024 07:54; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden reiterated his commitment that the people of the Ukraine deserve to live in peace and safety, and to defend themselves against all aggressors, and instructed the Department of Defense to increase weapons delivery to the Ukraine.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com for the period ending December 29, 2024, increased by 0.1% to 37.4% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.04% to 56.6% of those polled. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Biden Increases Ukraine Weapon Deliveries

President Biden announced his continued and unequivocal support for the Ukraine people to live in peace and has instructed the Department of Defense increase the weapon systems deliveries.

Biden said, "In recent months, the United States has provided Ukraine with hundreds of air defense missiles, and more are on the way. I have directed the Department of Defense to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, and the United States will continue to work tirelessly to strengthen Ukraine's position in its defense against Russian forces."

Trump Petitions SCOTUS For TikTok

President-elect Trump has already begun to overstep his authority, petitioning to a favorable Supreme Court to hold off on any decisions, modifying their calendar from the January 10 date set to hear oral arguments, regarding the Chinese owned and U.S. banned platform TikTok, until he is sworn-in as president and can make the decisions on how to save the app.

"TikTok had asked the high court to intervene before Jan. 19, the deadline Congress set for TikTok's China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform or be barred in the United States. The company wants the justices to put on hold a lower-court ruling that clears the way for the law, which was signed by President Joe Biden," reported The Washington Post.

The brief submitted by Trump's solicitor general asks the court to pause on the hearing and ruling on the divesture of the company until after his confirmation. The Supreme Court, which has essentially become a majority court of five conservative justices, will rule on his request. This decision is extremely interesting and will set the tone for the next Trump presidency.

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Russian President Holds Lengthy National Address

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a lengthy national address, focusing on the war in Ukraine, the recent assassination, in Moscow, of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the welcome of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, and the nation's economy.

The four-and-half hour address was carried live across the entire 11 time zones, and "He used the tightly choreographed event, [. . . ], to reinforce his authority and demonstrate a sweeping command of everything from consumer prices to military hardware," reported PBS.org.

The event was held live with a studio audience, and he estimated global audience of approximately 2million. After the presentation, Putin accepted questions from the journalists, and the public through SMS, texts, telephone and website.

Regarding the Ukraine

Throughout the address Putin presented several viewpoints on the Ukraine. In hindsight, the Russian dictator said, the war should have begun earlier, and he continues his effort to reintegrate the nation to its pre-1991 Soviet Union dominance, a nation that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Black and Baltic seas, totaling 8,649,500 miles and covered one-sixth of the world's land mass.

With Ukraine troops holding regions of Kursk, inside the Russian border, they are quickly losing ground as Putin has enlisted the aid of North Korean military. "The Russian troops Ukrainians faced in Kursk were a mixture of well-trained paratroopers from the 76th Brigade, but also less organised Chechens, and African mercenaries. But he has seen no sign of the 12,000 North Korean troops that, according to the Pentagon, have been sent to Kursk," CNN reported.

With both Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin determined to "win" this war, the choices remain continue to fight, as both nations appear to be prepared to do or initiate a cease-fire, which seems less likely.

Putin and Zelensky each have different views of what a cease-fire would entail and while Putin has described the process as a "negotiation," Zelensky is less likely to see relinquishing any portion of the Ukraine to Russia.

As the Crimea Peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014, which violated the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine, in a test of the global temperature as to the sanctions or other injunctions Putin would face if he continued his effort then. This move led to Russia's ouster from the former G8 league of nations, and separation from other global bodies. To further relinquish territorial boundaries would have the Ukraine land mass decreasing even further.

"Putin said he was open to possible talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to negotiate a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine. "If we meet with Mr. Trump, we will have things to discuss," he said, without elaborating. Putin said Russia is open for compromise in potential peace talks on Ukraine," PBS.org reported.

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The Assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov

Putin has described the assassination of Lt. General Igor Kirillov, who was assassinated outside his apartment building in Moscow by a bomb planted by the Ukraine, as a "major blunder" of Russian security agencies. He explained the agencies should learn from this error. Without addressing the fact that the war in Ukraine is inching closer to the capital and intensifying.

The State of The Economy

"Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian economy has repeatedly defied expectations. Predictions of a double-digit contraction never materialized. On the contrary, GDP grew by 3.6 percent in 2023 and an expected 4 percent in 2024: rates that both developed and developing nations might envy. Key indicators like GDP growth, household income, and low unemployment have become President Vladimir Putin's trump cards," reported Carnegie Endowment.

Even as on the surface, this sky view of the Russian economy appears to be thriving, beneath the surface, the cost of a continued war is taxing certain sectors of the economy. As war is generally good for an economy, Russia is confronting issues with tightening exports, extractive industries like natural resources are slowing, and agriculture is also slowing. Retail trade is holding steady, and consumer spending, which is reflective of the overall economy, is strong. Even as all looks good, the economy is slowing, and unless Putin decides to end this war, the economy will continue to falter.

No matter the moves Putin makes with incoming President Donald Trump, NATO, the EU, and the UK, will continue to build a stronger defense against what is seen as a determination by Putin to restore Russia to its former Soviet Union strength and global power.

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Assad Lands in Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has welcome ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, and his family, after a dramatic end to a lengthy civil war. The escape to Moscow wasn't an instant decision based on the ever-increasing HTS rebel forces breeching Damascus and closing in on the presidential palace.

Assad had been slowly paving the way for a transition to Moscow for nearly a decade through the purchase of luxury real estate and sending his son to an elite academy in Moscow, and spending holidays in Russian annexed Crimean, which borders the Black Sea.

His alliance with Putin was forged, long before his silent departure December 8, 2024, which was so surprising as the dictator has waged war against Arab Spring rebel forces since 2011, which many governments, including the United States, saw as an opportune time to dismantle Assad and his murderous totalitarian government.

When Assad needed troops to squash the Aleppo uprising, Putin sent in troops and issued a full military approach to destroying the rebels. As the war, which was by proxy the United States fighting the Putin-Assad regime, continued to rage on. Assad, who has admitted to the development and use of Chemical weapons, alarmed the world by releasing the chemical weapon sarin on his own people in the streets of Damascus.

Chemical Weapons Missing

As Damascus is essentially up for grabs, the interim government has appointed a prime minister, Mohammad al-Bashir. Already dissension is forming as the people are demanding elections. For the United States, Israel, and for different reasons, Russia and Iran, the most imperative steps now are finding the missing chemical weapons.

"The list of the missing is long. It includes, according to an audit by international weapons inspectors, more than 360 tons of mustard gas that Syria admitted making but has never been fully accounted for. Then there's the five tons of missing precursors for the nerve agent sarin — enough poison to fill a small swimming pool," reported The Washington Post.

Assad, and by association, Putin, may be the only two who know where the missing chemical weapons are stored as all reports show the weapons, vats of mustard gas, to be lost, just disappeared, accidentally destroyed, or any number of ludicrous but plausible deniability, excuses.

As for the world, Israel is not waiting for diplomacy and has already begun air raids over known development and holding sites. For the United States, the European Union, and other Middle East partners, the destruction of the chemical weapons are the number one priority, before Putin or Iran decide to utilize them in their own war campaigns.

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Coronavirus Total

The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually. The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants.

For the seven days ending December 29, 2024, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by The World Health Organization increased by 48,260 confirmed cases totaling 777,074,803. The total worldwide death toll increased by 661 to 7,079,142 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated December 15, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

Russia Downs Passenger Jet Killing 38

Russian military unintentionally downed an Azerbaijan aircraft, after the plane flew into southern Russian, where it was mistaken for a drone strike, killing 38.

"One of the Azerbaijani sources familiar with Azerbaijan's investigation into the crash told Reuters that preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system. Its communications were paralysed by electronic warfare systems on the approach into Grozny, the source said," Reuters reported.

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South Korean Plane Crash Kills 179

South Korean low-cost carrier Jeju Air, a Boeing owned 737-800, exploded on the runaway at Muan International Airport, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew, in the worst aviation disaster the country has experienced in years.

According to media sources, air traffic control had warned the pilot of a possible bird strike, minutes later a distress Mayday call was issued, and the plane was cleared to land on a runway opposite its intended landing zone. Video, moments before the crash, shows the aircraft landing, without the landing gear deployed, and skidding across the tarmac on its belly, and crashing into a wall, before exploding into flames.

Authorities have stated it could takes months, and the retrieval of the black boxes to determine the cause of the crash. "The crash is the first fatal accident for Jeju Air, though in August 2007, a Bombardier Q400 operated by the airline and carrying 74 passengers came off the runway due to strong winds at the southern Busan Gimhae airport, resulting in a dozen injuries," reported Aljazeera.com.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, the precursors the 737 Max, was approximately 15 years old, and is widely used. There have been no widespread issues reported with the craft, and mechanical failure is not being considered as the cause.

South Korea Acting President, Choi Sang-mok, who has been on the job two days, after his predecessor former President Han Duck-soo, was impeached less than two weeks after being sworn-in, announced a seven-day period of national mourning stating, in the New Straits Times "We extend our deepest condolences and sympathy to the bereaved families of those who lost their lives in this unexpected tragedy."

This is developing story.

For more information on President Joe Biden: Whitehouse.gov.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and the International Federation of Journalists.