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Putin is consolidating power in the two Ukrainian states to which he ‘granted independence’ as he moves his forces deeper into Ukraine.
The one option that would actually disempower Putin’s attempts at rebuilding the Soviet Empire is one to which Biden is fundamentally opposed. Unleash the power of America’s enormous energy supply, drive down the cost of gas and cripple the Ruble.
Given a choice between letting his green policy drop so he can fight a tyrant or letting a tyrant run free rather than drop his green policy, he has decided to let Putin run free.
And what does that look like, aside from seeing Blinken failing spectacularly yet again? Blinken has called off diplomatic talks with Russia, having gotten nowhere with them.
Ukraine’s security council has declared a nationwide state of emergency, a top security official has said, as Vladimir Putin boasted of the battle-readiness of Russia’s armed forces and Joe Biden warned of an impending full-scale invasion of the country.
Council secretary Oleksiy Danilov said that Ukraine would introduce a 30-day period of emergency in a ramping up of precautions as Russian troops and blood supplies headed to frontlines in what US officials said were ‘plans for war’.
…The Russian leader insisted that diplomacy with the West is still possible but gave no hint that he is willing to back down over any of his security demands – including that Ukraine disarm and drop its bid to join NATO. These have been dismissed by the US, Kiev and NATO as non-starters.
…Earlier today, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense council approved plans to declare a state of national emergency, with measures requiring stepped-up document and vehicle checks across the country. The declaration needs to be formally approved by parliament.
They would apply to all parts of Ukraine except for its two Russian-backed eastern separatist regions, where a deadly insurgency that has claimed more than 14,000 lives broke out in 2014.
Danilov said each of Ukraine’s regions would be able to select which particular measures to apply, ‘depending on how necessary they might be’. — DailyMail
The President of Ukraine, interestingly, is still taking a moderate approach to his alert levels.
‘Today there is no need for a full mobilization. We need to quickly add additional staff to the Ukrainian army and other military formations,’ he said. The head of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksii Danilov, said earlier this year that Ukraine can call up up to 2.5 million people. —DailyMail
The Ukrainian military has said another soldier was killed and six wounded in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine in the past 24 hours.
The military said it had recorded 96 incidents of shelling by separatists over the past 24 hours, 81 of which were with the use of heavy weapons, compared with 84 a day earlier, according to Ukraine’s joint forces operation situation recently published report.
It said separatist forces used heavy artillery, mortars and Grad rocket systems. —MSM
For people who are so quick to unleash coercive methods on their own citizens, you’d think they would have a better understanding of how deterrence works.
