UKRAINE CRISIS - Putin's War

COMMENT:

I wish to apologize to Ukraine and our allies for the United States (again) failing to actually fight for democracy.  When any nation attacks another with tanks, aircraft, troops, and rockets a 'paper' response will NOT stop the attack.  Sanctions did NOT stop Putin and he knew it.

The ONLY response that hand any chance to stop Putin was full sanctions being applied BEFORE he attacked, with a statement that if he DID attack we would follow with a declaration of war.  Sorry, but a military attack requires a military response and we should have taken the risk.

"Putin orders Russian troops into Ukraine’s separatist regions as the West levies sanctions" PBS NewsHour 2/21/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent two separatist regions of Ukraine Monday, and hours later ordered Russian troops to conduct what the Kremlin called a "peacekeeping operation" in those regions.  After Putin's earlier moves, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union all announced targeted sanctions.  Nick Schifrin reports.

 

 

"Putin ‘raised the stakes’ on war in Ukraine.  Will sanctions deter him?" PBS NewsHour 2/21/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent two separatist regions of Ukraine Monday, and hours later ordered Russian troops to conduct what the Kremlin called a "peacekeeping operation" in those regions.  After Putin's earlier moves, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union all announced targeted sanctions.  Nick Schifrin reports.

 

 

"U.S., Europe ramp up sanctions on Russia as Ukraine prepares for a broader incursion" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Biden, the European Union, and the United Kingdom all lodged new and harsh sanctions against Russia Tuesday as the Russian parliament authorized Vladimir Putin to further invade Ukraine.  It was an active and urgent day, from Ukraine to Moscow and wider Europe, and to Washington.  Nick Schifrin reports.

 

 

NOTE:  The discussion on harm to Russian economy as a deterrent overlooks the question, does Putin care?  We now know the answer is NO.

"How U.S. sanctions could ‘constrain’ Russia’s economy" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  We take a closer look at the new sanctions the Biden administration announced Tuesday on Russia and how it could affect the Russian economy.  U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

 

 

"Will punitive measures against Russia deter a full-scale invasion of Ukraine?" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  For more on the impact of the new sanctions on Russia and the wider U.S. and European Union reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine we get two views.  Stephen Hadley, a former national security adviser during the George W. Bush administration, and Andrew Weiss, who served as director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian affairs on the National Security Council, join Nick Schifrin to discuss.

 

 

"Ukraine declares state of emergency as U.S. warns Russia is prepared for invasion" PBS NewsHour 2/23/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The Pentagon said Wednesday that Russia is 80-percent prepared for a full invasion of Ukraine.  That word came as Ukraine put in force a state of emergency, and Moscow said the separatists that Russia backs in eastern Ukraine had asked for Russian military help to fend off what they call "Ukrainian aggression."  Nick Schifrin reports.

 

 

"Russia uses disinformation on Ukraine military aggressions as a pretext for war" PBS NewsHour 2/23/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Russia this week claimed Ukraine’s military crossed into Russia and even released a video of an invading tank, while Russian media highlighted supposed attacks inside the self-declared separatist republics.  The U.S. and Ukraine accuse Russia of staging videos to justify an imminent invasion.  Nina Jankowicz, a Wilson Center fellow studying eastern Europe, joins Nick Schifrin to discuss.

 

 

"How U.S. lawmakers are reacting to the escalating Ukraine crisis" PBS NewsHour 2/23/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  As the United States on Wednesday warned Ukraine to be prepared for an imminent Russian invasion, we take a look at how U.S. lawmakers are reacting to the latest situation in Ukraine.  Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

 

 

"Russian airstrikes bombard Ukraine as ground forces advance" PBS NewsHour 2/24/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Russia has launched what U.S. officials describe as the most significant military action in Europe in 77 years.  Across Ukraine, Russia has attacked with airstrikes, missiles and troops.  Ukraine says at least 57 people were killed and dozens wounded as the Russian army heads toward the capital, Kyiv.  Nick Schifrin reports.

 

 

COMMENT:  Too little, too late.

"Biden imposes new sanctions on Russia amid military onslaught in Ukraine" PBS NewsHour 2/24/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Russia's invasion of Ukraine is testing the Biden administration and President Biden himself, with concerns growing that Russia's goal in Ukraine is to take over the country and evict the government.  Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff from the White House to discuss developments on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

 

"What Russia is hoping to achieve in Ukraine" PBS NewsHour 2/24/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  As Russia presses toward Kyiv and the death toll continues to rise across Ukraine, we explore what Moscow's next move may be along with Ukraine's response.  Michael Kofman, senior fellow for Russian studies at the Center for Naval Analyses, joins Nick Schifrin to discuss.

 

 

"As Russia charges across Ukraine, can the West stop a more expansive conflict?" PBS NewsHour 2/24/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  For more on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the U.S. and European reactions we get three views.  Doug Lute, a retired Army Lieutenant General and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO; Andrew Weiss, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Angela Stent, a Georgetown University professor, join Judy Woodruff to discuss.

 

 

"How the Biden administration is responding to the Russian incursion in Ukraine" PBS NewsHour 2/24/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Biden on Thursday imposed new sanctions on Russian banks, oligarchs and other strategic sectors after Russian troops entered Ukraine.  But will the U.S. consider even harsher sanctions moving forward and can Congress and U.S. allies in Europe maintain a united front?  State Department spokesperson Ned Price joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the Biden administration's response.

 

 

"Russia begins assault on Kyiv amid fierce fighting across Ukraine as U.S. sanctions Putin" PBS NewsHour 2/25/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The battle for Kyiv appears to be underway, with Russian missiles and airstrikes targeting Ukraine's capital and reports of pitched fighting on its outskirts.  Ukrainian President Zelensnky told the people of Kyiv to prepare for the storming of the city by Russian forces.  This comes as fighting continues in the central, southern, and eastern reaches of Ukraine.  Nick Schifrin reports.

 

 

"NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg on the war in Ukraine: ‘Russia has to pay a high price’" PBS NewsHour 2/25/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The war in Ukraine is bringing Russia more economic pain as the U.S. and some of its NATO allies move to sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin.  NATO members also pledged to bolster the alliance's eastern flank with the movement of additional allied troops.  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg joins Judy Woodruff from NATO headquarters in Brussels to discuss the escalating war.

 

 

"On the ground in Ukraine: mass exodus, armored helicopters, bomb shelters" PBS NewsHour 2/26/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Fighting intensified in Ukraine today as Russian forces closed in on the capital city of Kyiv and other regions.  Neighboring nation Moldova has declared a state of emergency as tens of thousands of refugees pour into the country; others have chosen to stay in Ukraine and fight.  For an on-the-ground perspective NPR Correspondent Frank Langfitt joins us from western Ukraine.

 

 

"Ukrainians resist attack as countries sanction Russia" PBS NewsHour 2/26/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Special Correspondent Simon Ostrovsky has been covering Ukraine for many years.  In 2019, he interviewed President Zelensky when he was running for office about his foreign policy and strategy on Russia.  Ostrovsky joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the ongoing invasion.

 

 

"Sanctions, protests: How Putin’s war is impacting ordinary Russians" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Hundreds of Russians have been arrested for demonstrating against Ukraine’s invasion across the country.  Meanwhile, sanctions aimed at crippling Russia’s economy are slowly having an impact: the ruble is fluctuating, people are queuing up outside ATMs and prices are rising.  Anton Troianovski, Moscow Bureau Chief of the New York Times, joins.

 

 

"Fighting continues in Ukraine as hundreds of thousands flee" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Fighting in Ukraine continues as thousands of young people join the resistance against Russian troops.  Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing to neighboring countries.  President Volodomyr Zelensky has agreed to hold peace talks with Moscow at the Ukraine-Belarus border.  Yaroslav Trofimov, Chief Foreign affairs Correspondent, Wall Street Journal joins from Kyiv.

ON THE BRINK - Ethiopian Civil War

"How conflict between Tigrayan, Ethiopian forces is destabilizing the region" PBS NewsHour 11/4/2021

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The U.S. State Department is now allowing non-essential workers and family members to leave Ethiopia as rebel forces from the Northern Tigray region approach the capital.  The two sides and their allies have been fighting for exactly one year, and as Nick Schifrin reports, the conflict is on the brink of an all-out civil war that threatens to tear apart the country.

TRUMP - Impeachment Week 11/4 to 11/10

COMMENT:  What you need to remember is our Constitution gives the Congress (in this context, the House) the right to decide if any President has committed a "High Crime and Misdemeanor" which means, unlike statuary law they define the crime.  A President does NOT have to violate a statuary law to be impeached.  In the case of Trump the House is deciding that he has committed a 'high crime or misdemeanor:'

• He attempted to coerce an investigation of a political rival for personal gain.
• That Trump did this by using a foreign nation to interfere in our politics.

"Key insights from transcripts of depositions with Amb. Yovanovitch, Michael McKinley" PBS NewsHour 11/4/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Monday marked a milestone in the House impeachment inquiry, as almost 500 pages’ worth of transcripts from two of the investigation’s closed-door witness depositions were publicly released.  Lisa Desjardins, Nick Schifrin and Yamiche Alcindor join Amna Nawaz to discuss new details revealed by the testimonies of former Amb. Marie Yovanovitch and former State Department official Michael McKinley.

"What Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker said about U.S. aid to Ukraine" PBS NewsHour 11/5/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Transcripts were released Tuesday of testimonies from two central figures in the impeachment inquiry: Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and former Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker.  Both men were on the July call between President Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelenskiy.  Meanwhile, more White House officials declined to appear for interviews.  Lisa Desjardins reports.

"Why William Taylor’s testimony is central to the impeachment inquiry" PBS NewsHour 11/6/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  House committees involved in the impeachment inquiry said Wednesday that the investigation will go public next week, with senior State Department officials scheduled for open hearings beginning November 13th.  Meanwhile, Amb. William Taylor's deposition transcript illuminates why U.S. military aid to Ukraine was withheld.  Nick Schifrin reports and talks to Yamiche Alcindor and Lisa Desjardins.

"What diplomat George Kent said about Rudy Giuliani — and Hunter Biden" PBS NewsHour 11/7/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In his impeachment inquiry testimony, career State Department official George Kent alleged that Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, sought to manipulate U.S. policy on Ukraine and oust former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.  Kent also said he had expressed concern over Hunter Biden's position on the board of a Ukrainian energy company in 2015.  Nick Schifrin talks to Judy Woodruff.

"How Mick Mulvaney plays into the Ukraine impeachment inquiry saga" PBS NewsHour 11/8/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  House committees involved in the impeachment inquiry have released nearly 2700 pages of closed-door deposition transcripts.  Many of the officials interviewed echoed the whistleblower’s concerns about President Trump's policy toward Ukraine.  Trump, meanwhile, renewed claims that the whistleblower was guilty of wrongdoing.  Lisa Desjardins reports and joins Nick Schifrin and Judy Woodruff to discuss.

"What to look for in this week’s impeachment inquiry" PBS NewsHour 11/10/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Three officials will testify this week as the impeachment inquiry enters a new phase with public hearings.  House Republicans on Saturday submitted their wishlist of witnesses which included Hunter Biden and the whistleblower — both names ruled out by the Democrats.  NewsHour’s Lisa Desjardin joins Megan Thompson to discuss the latest.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 3/16/2018

"Shields and Brooks on the White House’s revolving door, Conor Lamb’s upset" PBS NewsHour 3/16/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s firing amid a wave of rumors about a wider Cabinet shakeup, Pennsylvania’s stunning election upset and Sen. Jeff Flake’s comments about 2020.

Judy Woodruff (NewsHour):  The secretary of state is fired, a Democrat claims victory in a conservative stronghold, and that was just on Tuesday.

Thankfully, Shields and Brooks are here to help make sense of it all.  That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

And we are so glad to see both of you this Friday.

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  Yes.

Judy Woodruff:  Welcome.

Mark Shields:  Thank you.

Judy Woodruff:  As we just mentioned, David, there have been top people, the secretary of state, the chief economic adviser to the President.  We could name many others.  There is speculation that a number of Cabinet secretaries may go.  We’re showing a picture of just a few of the names out there.

McMaster, the President’s National Security Adviser may be fired by the President.

How do we process all this going on in this administration right now?

David Brooks, New York Times:  Well, Trump is getting Trumpier, and the administration is getting Trumpier.

He’s decided that he’s — in the beginning, he was sort of on the learning curve of the Presidency, but he’s got it mastered, and so he doesn’t need all these people who are telling him no all the time.

And it’s a process of him feeling comfortable with himself.  And it’s also a process of him being anti-system.  White Houses work through the system.  You have got this vast apparatus.  And normally it all works in some form, with deputy meetings, deputy-to-deputy meetings, and then principal meetings and all that.

Trump sort of resists all that.  All the process is sort of within here [makes stomach trouble jester], or maybe lower, I don’t know.  And…

(LAUGHTER)

Mark Shields:  This is a PBS station.

(LAUGHTER)

David Brooks:  Sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

David Brooks:  And so he’s decided, I’m happy here, and I’m going to get rid of the people who are making me feel uncomfortable.

Judy Woodruff:  Mark, should we be wringing our hands over this or just say, as the White House does, that he’s just having people around him who make him comfortable?

Mark Shields:  It’s a new standard for hiring people for jobs, does he or she make me comfortable, not whether they can contribute to the public wheel and make the country better or anything of the sort.

I want to salute David for coining Trumpy, what are the — Sleepy and the other seven dwarfs.

(LAUGHTER)

Mark Shields:  But, Judy, anytime you go through this sort of wholesale firing of — it’s an indication of weakness in a President.  It’s of political uncertainty.

I mean, the two most recent Presidents who did it, Gerald Ford in 1975 going through, getting rid of Jim Schlesinger, Secretary of Defense, and dropping Nelson Rockefeller from the ticket, was a sign of political weakness, and Jimmy Carter in 1979 when he got rid of five Cabinet members, including Schlesinger again and Joe Califano.

And it is really — and that’s what you are seeing with Donald Trump.  But I think, at a personal level, there are two things that have to be commented upon.

First of all is that there is about this administration just a fatiguing, draining aspect.  People really — Americans are not consumed with politics and policy and government.  They want somebody who’s going to run things and run them in an orderly way.

This has been disorderly from day one.  And it’s draining, it really is, of the nation’s, I think, well-being and peace of mind.  And Donald Trump promised he would bring the best people, that he knew the best people, they would all come.

Now we have reached the point, quite frankly, where people won’t even accept invitations to the White House to be interviewed or overtures.  And just — he’s running out of — I think of personnel, and I think he’s running out of time politically.

Judy Woodruff:  But, David, the President himself says he believes in being disruptive, he believes in sort of rearranging things, being — creating a little chaos, in so many words.

David Brooks:  Well, that’s true.  He’s accurate about that.

The problem is, the staff never knows what’s going to happen.  And it’s just hard to do your job, (A) if you don’t know what’s going to happen, (B) if you’re constantly being undermined by the President himself.

Everyone who has gone in there, whether it’s Tillerson, looks smaller coming out.  H.R. McMaster is being dangled and dangled and dangled.  H.R. McMaster had a really sterling reputation going in.  He was compelled to not be totally honest early in the administration about what the President told a bunch of Russian diplomats who came.  That hurt his reputation.

And then it’s a process of constantly having to suck up to the President.  Gary Cohn, the economic adviser, let some comments known that he was unhappy with the way the President responded to Charlottesville.  And so he fell out of favor, out of quite — comments that suggested some integrity on Mr. Cohn’s part.

And so you have always got to please the prince.  And you have always got to play in a princely manner.

And what worries me is, they never had really access to the Republican A-level staff, but they had the B-level.  And now we’re going down to C and D.  Larry Kudlow, a new economic appointee, very nice guy, I agree with him on a lot of things.

But Philip Tetlock, who is a scholar who studies decision-making, several years ago identified Kudlow as one of the worst decision-makers, because he’s always driven by ideology.  John Bolton is talked about coming in to the National Security Adviser.  That’s a job where you want somebody neutral to let the process work its way.

John Bolton, who is a FOX News analyst, is anything but ®MDNM-neutral on anything.  And so what you just see is worse personnel, more chaos.

(CROSSTALK)

Judy Woodruff:  Go ahead.

Mark Shields:  Well, I agree with David.  And I just want to underline one point he made.

And that is, the way it’s done, Judy, it’s public humiliation, the people who did leave.

Judy Woodruff:  Well, Tillerson, who was notified in a tweet.

Mark Shields:  Tillerson in particular.

But everybody is demeaned or denigrated in tweets afterwards.  And, you know, again, I come back to ordinary Americans.  Just this is not — this is bullying.  This is mean.  This is ugly.  This is not what you want in a President.

Finally, just a personal note, and that is, 50 years ago today, Robert Kennedy announced his candidacy for President.  I was lucky enough to work for him in the primaries in Nebraska and Oregon and California, and got totally unearned status and credit because I had worked for Robert Kennedy, one of the great men of the 20th century, in retrospect, and — but unearned benefits.

Now people of public service, of commitment have gone to work for Donald Trump.  They’re diminished, they’re demeaned, they’re smaller.  They’re in a cauldron of resentment and revenge in the White House.  And they have got legal bills.  And they don’t know from one day to the next whether their job is there and what their job is.

And I just — I feel badly for them, I mean, because every one of them is going to carry that with them the rest…

(CROSSTALK)

David Brooks:  I will say one other thing about just having been around a lot of Trump supporters in the last week.

They have tuned it out.  They support the administration.  They like the big things about it, the tax bill, the deregulation, that kind of thing.  And I always ask them, what about this, what about this, the things we frankly talk about a lot every week.

And it just sort of drifts by them unnoticed.  And so if you want to know why he’s still got 90 percent approval roughly among Republicans, I think that’s the answer.  A lot of things that would cause most people to shake their heads, they just — it just doesn’t rise to the level of consciousness and it just gets tuned out.

TRUMP AGENDA - Egypt

"Rebooting U.S.-Egypt relations, human rights concerns become a private matter" PBS NewsHour 4/3/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Trump did something on Monday that his predecessor never did; welcome Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to the White House.  Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports, while John Yang talks to Michele Dunne of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace about the Trump administration deemphasizing human rights concerns to reboot the Egypt relationship.

THE $400 MILLION - 'Leverage' ?

"Leverage:  The ability of a small investment to produce a large return." - Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary


"Payment to Iran was used as ‘leverage' for hostage release, admits State Department" PBS NewsHour 8/19/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In January, Iran released American hostages in a development coinciding with a U.S.  payout of $400 million -- money that had been owed for decades.  The Obama administration previously denied a connection between the two events, but on Friday, the State Department modified its response, saying the money was used as “leverage.” Judy Woodruff talks to department spokesman Adm. John Kirby for more.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The January release of American prisoners from Iran was accompanied by a $400 million payment, money the Islamic republic had been owed for decades from a weapons sale that was never completed between the United States and Iran because of the revolution there.  The Obama administration announced the payment at the time.

But, lately, critics have alleged that the payment's proximity to the release amounted to a ransom, a charge the administration denies.  But, yesterday, the State Department modified its response, saying the millions of dollars were used as — quote — “leverage” amid the negotiations over the prisoners.

Earlier today, I spoke with the State Department's top spokesman, Adm. John Kirby.

Adm.  John Kirby, welcome.

You have said that the cash payment that went to the Iranian government was intended as leverage to gain the release of these American prisoners.  How is that different from paying ransom?

JOHN KIRBY, State Department Spokesman:  Well, I didn't say that it was used — that it was a leverage payment.

Remember, this was Iranian money that they had coming to them through The Hague tribunal, and it was money that had been frozen way back in 1979.  So it was their money and they were going to get it anyway.

These parallel tracks were moving forward, and they began to converge.  In fact, we took advantage of the convergence in a short 24-hour period to kind of wrap it all up together.

Now, what I said is, though, while there is no connection between the $400 million and the return of our American citizens, we did, however, in those endgame hours, hold back that payment until we knew that our Americans were safe and sound and on their way out of Iran, because, in the very last few hours, Iran was playing a few games here on us.

And we weren't quite sure that the release was going to happen.  And we were worried about Iran reneging on that very lengthy negotiation process that we put in place to bring them home.