War never changes.
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Ten Favorite Books
Keith Knight, host of the Don’t Tread on Anyone podcast, interviewed me about ten of my favorite books. Watch it here.
US Troops Will Not Fight in Ukraine ‘in any scenario,’ White House says
President Joe Biden has no plans to send American soldiers to fight on Ukrainian soil, the White House said, though continued to warn of stiffer sanctions on Russia should it “further invade” its neighbor.
“The president has no intention of sending the US military or US troops to fight in Ukraine,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a Wednesday press briefing. “That is not a decision the president is going to make. We are not going to be in a war with Russia or putting military troops on the ground fighting Russia.”
The comments follow Moscow’s decision to recognize two break-away republics in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region and deploy soldiers for a “peacekeeping mission” following years of civil conflict between separatist forces and the US-backed Ukrainian state.
Psaki insisted that the administration is standing up for “bedrock democratic values against the aggression of a dictator threatening to further invade a sovereign country,” vowing to impose “serious costs” on the Russian economy through sanctions should President Vladimir Putin take additional action.
Western leaders have for months predicted an “imminent” incursion into Ukraine, and though the White House initially refrained from describing Russia’s latest actions as an “invasion,” it has since reversed course and stated that one is underway.
While the press secretary repeatedly said that Russian forces are “in an attack position” and “capable of operationalizing at any point in time,” when pressed by a reporter on whether Washington would send soldiers in the event of a full-scale invasion by Moscow, Psaki nearly lost her patience.
“I don’t know how many more times I can say it. There is no scenario – the president is not sending US troops to fight in Ukraine against Russia,” she said.
Biden has deployed some 6,000 soldiers throughout Europe amid the latest bout of tension, and has since repositioned some nearer to Russia’s borders, in Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. On Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said they include an 800-troop infantry task force, up to eight F-35 fighter jets and more than 30 attack helicopters.
“The additional personnel are being repositioned to reassure our NATO allies, deter any potential aggression against NATO member states and train with host nation forces,” Kirby said, stressing that the movements are “temporary” and merely part of the “more than 90,000 US troops” already in Europe.
The administration earlier imposed a series of penalties on some 50 Russian financial firms, subsidiaries and individuals, and issued an executive order barring all US business activity in the separatist-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Moscow has vowed to retaliate with its own “calculated” actions, though offered few details on what that would entail.
Tel Aviv Bombs Damascus, Violating Syria’s Sovereignty with Silent US Consent
With the world’s eyes on Ukraine, Israel has carried out strikes on Syria for two consecutive nights. Thursday’s early morning attack is the third in the past week and, according to Syrian state media, the strikes killed three soldiers stationed somewhere near the national capital of Damascus.
The night prior, Israel targeted the southern city of Quneitra and inflicted material damage, with missiles reportedly fired from the occupied Golan Heights.
The recent strikes are part of hundreds of Israeli air raids on Syria launched over the past decade. Each attack erodes the Syrian army’s ability to fight the many jihadist groups still active in the country – some of which previously enjoyed American support.
Tensions over Ukraine have stoked anxiety in Tel Aviv, as Israel maintains good ties with the US, Russia and Ukraine. Israel fears that US sanctions on Russia could curb its ability to carry out strikes in Syria, possibly explaining why it has bombed the country twice since Russia recognized the independence of two separatist republics in the Donbas and launched a military intervention on their behalf.
While the US has cited Russia’s breach of Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity” as justification for the deluge of recent sanctions, it has never once condemned Israel for its repeated violation of Syria’s, let alone impose penalties over it.
Russia Seizes Chernobyl, Putin Offers Surrender Terms
After launching a military incursion into Ukraine early Thursday morning, Russian forces have reportedly bombed targets across the country and are even believed to have captured the infamous Chernobyl nuclear site.
Though conflicting reports continue to abound amid a chaotic situation on the ground, the Pentagon claims Ukraine was hit with a barrage of more than 160 missiles and that Russian infantry have pushed further west toward the capital city of Kiev.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 137 people had been killed and 316 wounded so far in the attack – including both civilians and combatants – though those figures have yet to be independently verified. A number of media outlets continue to simply report casualties in the “dozens.”
The Ukrainian military claims to have had some successes, saying it destroyed four Russian tanks, killed 50 troops and downed six warplanes. Moscow rejects those claims, though has acknowledged one Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet crashed due to “pilot error,” as well as another “hardware malfunction” that downed a military cargo plane, killing its entire crew.
While Kiev has described Russia’s intervention as a “full-scale invasion,” it remains unclear how far the military has pushed into Ukraine. A CNN reporter said he was standing near Russian soldiers just 15 miles from Kiev, while in northern Ukraine, Russian forces are believed to have captured the Chernobyl nuclear site, as well as parts of the Kherson region far in the south.
On Thursday (Friday Russia time), Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov offered terms of surrender to Ukraine’s leaders, saying they must accept “neutral status” in regards to NATO membership and refuse to “deploy weapons.”
In a national address later in the day, President Zelenskyy said he is “not afraid to talk with Russia… about everything,” including “security guarantees,” but added: “We are not in NATO now – what security guarantees will we have? Which countries will give them?”
Though the president castigated Ukraine’s western allies for refusing to come to its defense, accusing them of being “afraid,” he ultimately called for negotiations and a “ceasefire” that might bring an “end of this invasion.”
Meanwhile, not all Russians are happy with their government’s decision to invade their neighbor to the west, and protests have broken out in cities across Russia, including the capital of Moscow. Authorities have responded with crackdowns, arresting at least 600 protesters – in some cases invoking powers derived from local Covid restrictions. Thousands reportedly took part in the anti-war demonstrations.
Biden Levies New Sanctions on Yemen, Stops Short of Catastrophic ‘Terrorism’ Designation
The US Treasury Department has announced new sanctions targeting a “key” financial network for Yemen’s Houthis, claiming it has supported the group in its years-long war against the US-backed Saudi coalition.
The department said Sa’id al-Jamal, allegedly an “Iran-based Houthi financial supporter,” had helped to transfer “tens of millions of dollars to Yemen via a complex international network of intermediaries in support of the Houthis’ attacks.” A number of affiliated businesses and individuals in places ranging from the UAE to Sweden were also penalized.
The sanctions “fall short of the tougher measures that the Saudis and Emiratis, key strategic partners of the US, had sought from the Biden administration,” US state media outlet Voice of America reported, referring to recent talks in the White House on whether to reinstate the Houthis to the Foreign Terror Organization list.
Though the Houthis – officially known as Ansarallah – were previously placed on the FTO under the Donald Trump administration, Joe Biden reversed the decision last year in “recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.” Major Houthi leaders remain sanctioned, however.
Humanitarian groups and the UN have repeatedly warned that an FTO designation for Ansarallah would effectively criminalize international aid to Yemen, whose civilian population has already been devastated by Saudi Arabia’s brutal seven-year bombing campaign.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have lobbied hard for the designation, and have reportedly found a partner in the White House, with top Middle East foreign policy adviser Brett McGurk leading an effort to place the group on the terror blacklist. Other advocates of the move have cited a recent Houthi attack that killed three migrant workers in Dubai.
Though the Houthis have launched attacks beyond Yemen’s borders, often targeting Saudi energy assets, the US-Saudi-UAE coalition has inflicted a far greater toll throughout its lengthy air war. Coalition warplanes have pounded Yemeni cities for years, frequently striking civilian structures, farms, bridges, roadways, hospitals and schools (and school buses full of children). More recent atrocities include the slaughter of 91 people at a migrant detention facility last month, while a strike on a telecoms hub one week earlier reportedly killed three children playing soccer nearby.
The Biden administration recently condemned a Houthi operation that injured 12 in Saudi Arabia as a “terrorist attack,” but was silent as Saudi airstrikes killed 139 civilians in January alone, the most in a single month since 2016. A minimum of 400,000 people have been killed throughout the conflict to date.
At least for now, Biden’s decision to keep the Houthis off the FTO will delay the worst-case scenarios predicted by international bodies. However, the president has failed to come through on his repeated vows to bring an end to the conflict. Short of withdrawing the crucial American support for the Saudi war effort, the slow death of Yemen will continue.
Texas Prosecutor Worked for Judges in ‘Fundamental Conflict of Interest’
Weldon Ralph Petty Jr. spent decades working in the Midland County District Attorney’s Office in Texas as a prosecutor before returning in 2018. Just a year later, a scandal was unearthed, showing Petty had spent much of his career working as a clerk for judges on cases in which he was also a prosecutor.
Petty is documented to have worked on both sides of the bench in at least 355 cases, writing decisions and jury instructions. He also gained access to information that aided his cases against defendants. The same corrupt arrangement even occurred in the death-sentence conviction of Clinton Young, a USA Today investigation revealed:
“Petty was part of the legal team that convicted Young in a high-profile capital murder trial two years later. Petty’s roles in the case included amending Young’s indictment, examining witnesses at a pretrial hearing and writing the instructions that jurors took with them to deliberate…
Even after the conviction, Petty continued to work both sides of the bench in Young’s case. As a prosecutor, Petty was responsible for opposing Young’s appeals and writs. At the same time, though, he billed the county for work he did consulting with the judge who recommended that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals deny Young’s appeals. Court filings show that Hyde submitted a document using language identical to what Petty had proposed in Young’s case.”
After spending nearly 20 years behind bars, Young was finally released from custody last month, after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted him a new trial in September 2021 following the revelations about Petty’s misconduct.
Petty not only gained leverage over the justice system in his side gig, but also enriched himself in the process. Records from 2001-2018 show that he made more than $250,000 in clerking for justices, in addition to his yearly prosecutor’s salary of more than $150,000.
Practicing defense attorney Patrick MacFarlane told the Libertarian Institute that Petty’s double-dealing role would create “incredibly difficult” obstacles for any defendant, as “the person making substantive rulings on the case either is the opposing party, or is being unduly influenced by the opposing party.” He added that the clerk-prosecutor was engaged in a “fundamental conflict of interest.”
Damn!
Vladimir Putin’s invasion and bombing of Ukraine deserve the condemnation of all decent people. Regardless of what has been going on over there, Putin did not have to do it. He had a moral obligation to deal with the issues properly. His actions cannot be excused.
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