In place of a news story today, I co-authored an article on sanctions with Will Porter. 

Sanctions Set America on the Path to War, Claiming Lives with No Benefit  

Quick Links

US News

• Colorado Springs pays $2.9 million to the family of De’Von Baliey. Bailey was murdered by being shot in the back by Colorado Springs police in 2019. [Link]
• The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejects a qualified immunity request from Ohio police officers who arrested a man for wearing a “fuck the police” shirt. [Link]
• In a terror assessment the Department of Homeland Security claimed mis- and mal- information was playing a key role in threats to the US. “The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM) introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors.” [Link]
• Some Democrats in Congress are calling for the FBI and ICE to stop using Clearview AI’s facial recognition programs. [Link]
• Six Texas National Guard soldiers deployed to the southern border have died since they were deployed in October. Four soldiers committed suicide and two died in accidental shootings. [Link]
• The US donates 89,000 Pfizer covid vaccine doses to Haiti through Covax. [Link]

Russia

• Lithuania will ask the US for a permanent deployment of US troops. [Link]
• The US will give Slovakia $100 million to use two bases in the Eastern European state for the next decade. [Link]
• US officials say troops in Poland are preparing to receive Americans fleeing from a Russian invasion of Ukraine. [Link]
• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says NATO must draw “lines in the snow” and put 1,000 troops on alert for a possible humanitarian crisis resulting from a Russian invasion of Ukraine. [Link]

China

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to several Pacific nations in an effort to reaffirm America’s anti-China relationships. [Link]

Iran

• White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says that the Iran nuclear talks have reached an urgent phase and Iran must return to the deal within the next few weeks. [Link]
• Axios reports from an unnamed source that Israeli President Naftali Bennett told Joe Biden not to return to the nuclear deal because Iran is unlikely to escalate its nuclear program. [Linl]
• Israel claims Iran’s nuclear breakout time is four to six months. [Link]
• Iran says it has developed a new domestically produced missile with a range of 900 miles. [Link]

Middle East

• In a call with Saudi King Salman, Joe Biden pledged American support for the defense of the kingdom. [Link]
• Iraq finishes paying its Gulf War reparations. [Link]
• At least 139 civilians in Yemen were killed by Saudi airstrikes in January. The causality count is the highest total for a month since 2016. [Link]
• The White House held a meeting on designating the Houthi as a terror group. [Link]
• Libya’s prime minister survived an assassination attempt. [Link]