FRI 3/18/22
Lviv Hit – Russian missiles destroyed an aircraft maintenance facility four miles from the center of the western Ukrainian town of Lviv, just 45 miles from the Polish-NATO border, BBC and NPR report Friday.
Meanwhile: President Biden was set to hold his first phone call since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with China President Xi Jinping Friday morning. Biden wants Beijing to put more pressure on Russia, counter to fears China will offer military aid and equipment to Putin.
Numbers: Key to convincing Putin to agree to a ceasefire is allowing him to save face as Ukraine continues to fight back effectively. U.S. intelligence officials put the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war at more than 7,000, greater than the number of U.S. troops killed in various conflicts over the last 20 years, Newsweek reports. Other reports place the number of Russian dead at more than 10,000. Four of the 20 Russian generals in Ukraine have been killed since the war began February 24, though Putin has acknowledged just one killed, in a March 3 televised address.
Russia’s invasion is “basically frozen” on the ground, The Washington Post reports. The United Nations has confirmed more than 1,900 civilian deaths in Ukraine.
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While picking a side -- “The Ukrainian president's speech before Congress was a triumph, cementing his hero status and showing off the kind of courage Americans are left longing for in this administration. Now, as the war enters its fourth week, voters are even more disgusted by the White House's response to Russia -- agreeing (in greater numbers now) that he's mishandled this crisis too.” —Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, March 17.
Yesterday a bill passed the House that will suspend permanent normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus. It passed 424-8.
The eight are all Republicans:
- Andy Biggs (AZ)
- Dan Bishop (NC)
- Lauren (CO)
- Matt Gaetz (FL)
- Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA)
- Glenn Grothman (WI)
- Tom Massie (KY)
- Chip Roy (TX)
The Family Research Council sent out emails to Republican lawmakers as it is against the bill.
Punchbowl News writes:
“FRC complainedthe House bill modifies the Magnitsky Act. It would allow the Biden administration to ‘push a radical social agenda both here and abroad which is a problem for a host of reasons, not the least of which is emboldening other nations to target their citizens because they don’t believe the United States will oppose them,’ according to an email from the FRC.”
This pro-life organization needs to know that more than 100 living children have died in Ukraine.
Perhaps that sentence above should be modified: “Now, as the war enters its fourth week, voters are even more disgusted by the eight Congress members and the FRC’s response to Russia.”
They can’t have it both ways.
Tucker Carlson ‘Moscow Rose’: Fox News’ American propagandist for Vladimir Putin and Russia, Tucker Carlson, argues “if (he, Carlson, is) a propagandist, so is Zelenskyy,” according to The Recount, which we presume assigns the loser of a newsroom lottery to regularly watch Tucker Carlson Tonight.
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics
THU 3/17/22
Zelenskyy to Scholz: ‘Tear Down This Wall’…
Speaking to the German Bundestag via video a day after he addressed U.S. Congress, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday compared Russia’s bombing of his country to building of the Berlin Wall in 1962. He severely criticized German businesses and politicians who have until very recently maintained good relations with Russia, the BBC reports, and called on Chancellor Olaf Sholz to “tear down this wall.” (Photo from Zelenskyy's March 16 address to U.S. Congress, via C-Span.)
Zelenskyy’s metaphorical 21st Century Berlin “wall” is splitting Europe between NATO nations and Russia and countries in its political orbit, including Belarus and Chechnya, and of course Ukraine itself, as Vladimir Putin wages war to regain control.
Despite Zelenskyy’s harsh criticisms of Germany, members of the Bundestag gave him a standing ovation.
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A Known Known – Responding to a reporter’s question about Russian President Vladimir Putin shouted to President Biden after he delivered remarks Wednesday for reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the president said, “I think he is a war criminal.” (Per The Washington Post.)
Compare and contrast to “savvy” and “very genius.”
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Some Companies Won’t Leave Russia – Dozens of Western-based companies have withdrawn from or suspended operations in Russia to support sanctions meant to counter its invasion of Ukraine, but many remain. Now the Yale School of Management lays it all out for you, notes Washington Post opinion columnist Dana Millbank. The Ivy League school has a list of 1.) companies that have withdrawn; 2.) companies that have suspended, keeping options open (Apple and Google’s app stores have kept operating to offer open information to counter Russian propaganda); 3.) companies scaling back; and 4.) companies “digging in,” which include Authentic Brands, Reebok, Bacardi, Cargill, Halliburton, Koch Industries, LG Electronics, Pirelli and Subway. For complete lists in each category, go to: https://som.yale.edu/story/2022/over-400-companies-have-withdrawn-russia-some-remain.
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Interest Rate Hike to Counter Inflation – Acknowledging that the annual inflation rate for 2022 will be closer to 4% than the 2% predicted late last year, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced Wednesday a quarter-percentage increase in its rate for borrowing to between 0.25% and 0.5%. It’s the “most aggressive pace in more than 15 years,” and marks the first increase since 2018, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Fed signaled it will ramp up the rate six more times this year to end 2022 with a rate of at least 1.875%, on the way up to 2.75% by the end of 2023, then holding in ’24.
Known Unknown: That 2018 increase came just before then-President Trump “jawboned” the Fed to keep rates low and keep the economy chugging under his administration. Since then, of course, the global COVID-19 pandemic has turned economic theory on its head, with record low unemployment coming along with 40 year-high inflation in the U.S. It also should be noted the sub-2% inflation rate for much of the last decade was considered the sign of a lagging economy.
Unknown Unknowns: Bottom line is that between the still-ongoing pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen.
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Meanwhile, over at the service station -- No one like high gas prices. Including us. Even those who don’t drive are affected by higher prices because whether it is that Amazon Prime truck or semis taking food to the local grocery store or buses taking kids to school, diesel and gas price hikes push upward the price of other goods and services.
While Russian oil is off the proverbial table, there are other countries that could provide petroleum products to the U.S. — except that the U.S. doesn’t have good trade relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, all of which are run by leaders that have issues when it comes to the governance of their people. To put it mildly.
But with inflation that started well before Ukraine was invaded and the sanctions that have followed that invasion, there are pressures in Washington to perhaps consider being more friendly to the trio of countries with which we are, more or less, on the outs with.
It seems that American voters — 52% of them — think the U.S. should improve relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. So says a Morning Consult poll. The margin of error is +/-2% so that number is probably accurate.
What’s interesting is that 63% of Democrats and just 41% of Republicans think that diplomatic relations should be improved.
One might think that Dems would be against more carbon-emitting fuels and that the numbers would be switched[CD1] .
Note: But then, if we were could buy more oil from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela we might potentially lower fuel costs in the U.S. without the domestic drilling and fracking and use of pipelines like Keystone that progressive Democrats oppose.
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Obituary: Former Rep. Fazio – Former Rep. Victor Fazio (D-CA) has died. He served the Sacramento area from 1979 to 1999 and was known as a congressman who could “reach across the aisle” to Republicans (at a time when that was still seen as possible on Capitol Hill), according to the Associated Press. He was 79.
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Charles Dervarics
[CD1]The point you’re missing is that many GOPers want to drill more in the US (Alaska/fracking) and support pipelines (Keystone), thereby lessening the need to ask more from those 3 countries. You could argue Dems are more disingenuous on this issue (pleasing the progs by not getting US oil, but still getting it from somewhere else).