Elon Musk floats drastic measure against Ukraine that would ‘immediately’ end war with Russia – Daily Mail Source Link Excerpt:
Tech titan Elon Musk has suggested crippling sanctions on Ukraine’s oligarchs is the key to halting the nation’s bloody conflict with Russia
Musk, 53, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, called for sanctions targeting Ukraine’s wealthiest elite in a post on X Sunday morning.
The stunning intervention was a radical departure from the current strategy focused on punishing Russia for its unprovoked invasion of the country.
‘Place sanctions on the top 10 Ukrainian oligarchs, especially the ones with mansions in Monaco, and this will stop immediately. That is the key to the puzzle,’ Musk wrote bluntly.
The remark comes at the end of a week of intensive debate in Washington over whether continued US financial and military aid to Kyiv is sustainable as the war drags on with no clear end in sight.
Republican Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) recently argued that the US shouldn’t offer ‘another penny’ to Ukraine – a view echoed by growing segments of the American public weary of the seemingly endless bloodshed and multibillion-dollar aid packages.
US demanding Ukraine trade land for peace, as talks with Rubio open in Saudi Arabia– www.washingtonexaminer.com Source Link Excerpt:
RUBIO: ‘THERE IS NO MILITARY SOLUTION’: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Saudi Arabia for face-to-face talks with a delegation consisting of Ukraine’s foreign minister, defense minister, and national security adviser to determine what concessions Ukraine is willing to make to end the three-year war with Russia.
Rubio told reporters en route to Jeddah that Ukraine must utter no magic words, but he is looking for signs that Ukraine is ready to make painful concessions to achieve a lasting peace deal. “I mean, right now, we’re really in listening mode,” Rubio said. “We have to understand the Ukrainian position and just have a general idea of what concessions they’d be willing to make, because you’re not going to get a ceasefire and an end to this war unless both sides make concessions.”
“We’re not going to be sitting in a room drawing lines on a map, but just get a general sense of what concessions are in the realm of the possible for them and what they would need in return, and then find out what the Russian position is in that regard,” Rubio said. “At some point soon, obviously, we’ll have to go back and establish a process by which we can determine what the Russian positions are in this regard and see how far apart we are,” he said.
Zelensky Says ‘Sorry’ To Trump For Oval Office Showdown: Big Revelation Before U.S.-Ukraine Talks – The Times of India Source Link Excerpt:
U.S. President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has said that the Ukrainian President apologized to Trump in a letter after the unruly public argument during an Oval Office meeting. “Zelensky sent a letter to the president. He apologized for that whole incident that happened in the Oval Office,” Witkoff told Fox News, adding that that was an important step toward rapprochement between both sides. The revelation comes just hours before Zelensky is set to meet Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia for talks to end Russia’s war.
The oval office kerfuffle that led to Ukrainian PM Volodymyr Zelensky being kicked out of the White House continues to have multiple major consequences. One of those consequences was a ski trip ambush of the Vice President’s family by radical Ukraine supporters. This led to the family having to be moved to an undisclosed location.
Another potential fallout is news of potential collusion before the meeting between Zelensky and Democrat leaders that may have led to the conflict in the first place. All aid to Ukraine has been suspended, which includes any aid in the pipeline due to be delivered.
Since the meeting, Zelensky has been walking back some of his comments, claiming he is “read to work under Trump’s strong leadership.” The failure by the Europeans to deliver U.S. level guarantees under the Biden administration has led Zelensky to reconsider whether he should, in fact sign the rare earth mineral rights deal.
Evidence Emerges That Democrats Were Behind Zelensky’s Oval Office Disaster– slaynews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Evidence has emerged that shows Democrats were behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s surprise move to reject the peace deal that President Donald Trump had negotiated to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Democrat Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and other lawmakers reportedly urged Zelensky to reject the possibility of a peace deal without so-called “security guarantees.”
Zelensky had reportedly met with Democrats shortly before his now-infamous meeting with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office last week.
Zelensky’s visit to Washington was expected to focus on discussions regarding continued U.S. support for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.
News24 | ‘Ready to work under Trump’s strong leadership’: Zelensky appeals to Trump after US halts Ukraine aid– www.news24.com Source Link Excerpt:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said he wanted to “make things right” with Donald Trump and to work under the US President’s “strong leadership” to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine.
In his first public comments since Trump halted US military aid to Ukraine overnight, Zelensky called for a “truce” in the sea and sky as a first step to securing an end to the three-year-long war.
“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts,” Zelensky said in a post on X.
He said Ukraine was ready to agree to a “truce in the sky – ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure – and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same.”
That Was Quick: Polish PM Confirms US Military Aid to Ukraine Has Been Suspended – Including Supplies Already En Route | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com Source Link Excerpt:
Globalist Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
That was quick – Polish Prime Minister Tusk says US aid to Ukraine has already been shut down.
President Trump on Monday announced he was immediately canceling all US military aid to Ukraine.
Trump made this announcement after President Zelensky spoke out in London to a reporter insisting the end to the Ukraine War was still “very, very far away.”
President Trump, who has made it a personal goal to end the killing and war in Ukraine lashed out at the unpopular Ukrainian leader and announced that the US was pausing all military aid to Ukraine due to its leader who will not seek peace.
President Trump: This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer! It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. – Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking? apnews.com/article/russia-ukra
Zelenskyy, congressional allies seek new cards in high-stakes Ukraine fight – Roll Call Source Link Excerpt:
A White House official said Monday evening that the administration had frozen all deliveries of U.S. military and other aid to Ukraine following Friday’s dust-up between the two leaders.
“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” the White House official said. The official did not disclose how long that “review” might last, but it was clear the next move was Zelenskyy’s.
One longtime Senate ally, who has supported the billions in U.S. aid allocations to Ukraine, already appears to be playing a new hand.
“The Europeans are piling on in support of Zelenskyy. Here’s my message to the Europeans: Maybe it’s time for you to defend your continent. Maybe it’s time for you to stop hollowing out your military,” Sen. Lindsey Graham told SiriusXM on Saturday.
“And if you want to use tough rhetoric toward [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, how about back it up with some muscle? When a European leader speaks, no bad guy listens,” the South Carolina Republican said. “When Trump speaks, everybody’s on edge. I was never more proud of President Trump than I was [Friday]. He stood up for America. He refused to be lectured to.”
State Department Stops Funding to Rebuild Ukraine Power Grid– legalinsurrection.com Source Link Excerpt:
NBC News reported that the State Department stopped a USAID program that sent money to Ukraine to help rebuild its power grid earlier this week:
Power outages have been applied overnight in some regions of Ukraine due to the attacks on energy facilities. The country’s systems have sustained near-constant impact throughout the course of the three-year war.
“It significantly undercuts this administration’s abilities to negotiate on the ceasefire, and it’d signal to Russia that we don’t care about Ukraine or our past investments,” one USAID official involved in the Ukraine mission told NBC News.
The official continued: “Russia is fighting a two-pronged war in Ukraine: A military one but also an economic one. They’re trying to crush the economy, but USAID has played a central role in helping it be resilient, [including] shoring up the energy grid…We’ve provided vast amount of support to the Ukrainian government to avoid a macro economic crisis.”
Two recent polls show Donald Trump won the American audience in his battle with Ukrainian PM Volodymyr Zelensky in the oval office, which ended with Zelensky being kicked out.
Majority of Americans Back Trump Over Ukrainian Dictator Zelenskyy– lidblog.com Source Link Excerpt:
As far as who supports Trump and who supports Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, it appears that the Democrats, the Never Trumpers, and the Neocons are on the opposite side of the issue with the American people, a pair of new polls suggest.
Two polls have been released and both seem to show that Trump is coming out on top in this dust up between the president and the Ukrainian dictator.
A new YouGov poll, for instance, finds that Trump’s approval rating on the war in Ukraine is 24 points higher than Biden’s was.
A little bit of a reality check for some:
-Trump’s net approval on Russia/Ukraine (+2) is far more positive than Biden’s was by the end (-22).
-The share (31% to 50%) who want a compromise in the war is way up
-The share who say Russia is an enemy is way down (64% to 34%). pic.twitter.com/z6k0x6A1yn
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) March 3, 2025
Meanwhile, a slew of questions polled by 2Way as related by Mark Halperin also seems to show that Americans support Trump more.
In one finding, nearly 50 percent of those polled by 2Way said that Donald Trump and VP JD Vance had a stronger argument during that messy White House visit last week. Worse for Zelenskyy, 62 percent said they were offended by his actions in the White House meeting.
The results also show that Americans understand that Ukraine doesn’t want to give itself away, but few Americans support the idea that Ukraine can keep all the territory it lost to Russia in this war.
So far, at least, Americans are on the same page Trump is on for the most part.
The EU, apparently has given Russia more money for its energy than it gave to Ukraine to support them during the war.
In 2024, EU Spent More Money on Russian Energy than Ukraine Aid › American Greatness– amgreatness.com Source Link Excerpt:
A new report reveals that, despite constant anti-Russia and pro-Ukraine rhetoric, the nations of the European Union (EU) collectively spent more money on Russian oil and gas in 2024 than they did on military aid to Ukraine.
As reported by Fox News, the data was revealed in a study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CRECA). The center determined that in the third year of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the EU spent approximately $23 billion on Russian fossil fuels; by comparison, they spent only about $19.6 billion on military and financial aid to Ukraine.
Russia’s energy dominance also went beyond the continent of Europe. In 2024, China purchased at least $82 billion worth of Russian energy, while India spent $51 billion and Turkey spent $36 billion. All together, Russia made $254 billion on energy exports. In addition to direct sales to Western nations, Russia also profits from selling oil to third parties which then sell the Russian oil to Western states.
Overall, Russia’s oil exports have decreased by just 8% since the start of the war in 2022, despite overwhelming condemnation and sanctions from most Western nations. Since the war began in February of 2022, Russia has made nearly $1 trillion in oil exports alone.
One major reason for Russian exports remaining strong is that, even after numerous sanctions, the average price of Russian oil is still cheaper than other sources such as the Middle East.
Another reason why Europe has remained dependent on Russian energy is the anti-energy policies of the previous Biden Administration. After the start of the war, many European countries prepared to abandon Russian energy in favor of American exports. However, Biden’s White House soon banned liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports in the name of combatting so-called “global warming,” thus forcing Europe back to the Russian energy market. President Donald Trump rescinded the LNG export bans with an executive order on his first day back in office.
Was Volodymyr Zelensky’s bust-up with Donald Trump a brilliant calculated risk?– www.mirror.co.uk Source Link Excerpt:
The truth behind Volodymyr Zelensky’s Oval office bust-up – has the Ukrainian President played a brilliant but risky hand, taking the US to the brink, risking everything to save his country?
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of being trapped by a bubble of “misinformation.” Trump has responded that Zelensky is a dictator who should be more grateful to the American people than he is.
The jabs were followed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing frustration at Zelensky’s alleged duplicity in promising to introduce legislation to pay back some of the billions of dollars given to it by the U.S. only to later announce publicly Ukraine rejected the request.
Trump calls Zelenskyy a ‘dictator’ who should ‘move fast’ or lose country as row with Ukraine leader worsens – Europe live | Ukraine– www.theguardian.com Source Link Excerpt:
Summary of the day so far
It’s 8.30pm in Kyiv, 9.30pm in Moscow and 2.30pm in Washington. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
US president Donald Trump launched a fresh attack on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, calling him a “dictator” who had “done a terrible job”. Trump warned Zelenskyy that he “better move fast” or he “won’t have a country left”, and accused him – without evidence – of benefiting from continuing US financial and military support, suggesting he had an interest in prolonging the war rather than seeking its end. Trump’s latest comments cast serious doubt on future US aid to Ukraine and mark the most explicit threat yet to end the war on terms favourable to Moscow.
Trump’s latest Truth Social post came after Zelenskyy accused the US leader of being “trapped” in a Russian “disinformation bubble”. The Ukrainian president, in a combative press conference in Kyiv, said Trump was pushing “a lot of disinformation coming from Russia”. He accused Washington of bringing Russia out of global isolation through bilateral talks earlier this week in Riyadh, and rejected any suggestion of making broad concessions to Russia. Zelenskyy also disputed Trump’s comments that most of Ukraine’s support comes from the US.
The Guardian’s Full Timeline (ED.NOTE: The Guardian is a leftist-run content marketing media outlet)
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling on Europe to build a common army. This comes as President Trump has expressed no interest in talking to Zelinsky about terms for a peace treaty. Trump has also recently “offered” ways Ukraine can pay the U.S. back for the billions they’ve invested in the country.
Zelensky said “The armed forces of Europe must be created. Without Ukraine’s army, Europe’s army’s will not be enough to stop Russia. Only our army in Europe has real, modern battlefield experience but our army alone is not enough too. And we need what you can provide weapons, training, sanctions, financing, political pressure and unity.”
Zelenksy calls for ‘Army of Europe’ to take on Russia without US as Trump urges him to make a deal with Putin– www.thesun.co.uk Source Link Excerpt:
… Speaking in Germany today, Zelensky proposed a new plan to achieve safety for Ukraine going forwards.
He said: “Many leaders have talked about Europe and that needs its own military, an army of Europe and I believe the time has come.
“The armed forces of Europe must be created.
“Without Ukraine’s army, Europe’s army’s will not be enough to stop Russia.
“Only our army in Europe has real, modern battlefield experience but our army alone is not enough too.
“And we need what you can provide weapons, training, sanctions, financing, political pressure and unity.”
Trump & Putin’s Ukraine deal – ‘they’ll try to redraw the map of Europe’
The Ukrainian president said Europe should be looking to create such a military separate from Nato in case “America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it”.
He added that after three years of fighting, Ukraine has managed to build up the foundations of a European army and should now act on it.
“As we fight this war and lay the groundwork for peace and security we must build the armed forces of Europe so that Europe’s future depends only on Europeans and decisions about Europe are made in Europe,” he said.
“Europe has everything it takes but it needs to come together.
“We need confidence in our own friends so that others have no choice but to respect Europe’s power and without European army that is impossible.”
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk appeared to support Zelensky’s calls as he said Europe urgently needs a plan over security.
Trump likely expects concessions from both Ukraine and Russia to end war: Analysts– www.channelnewsasia.com Source Link Excerpt:
Larres, who is also a distinguished professor of history and international affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, added that this could mean Moscow having to give up some captured territory, although it is unclear to what extent.
Russia partially occupies Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions – around a fifth of Ukraine. Moscow has demanded Kyiv cede more territory and be rendered permanently neutral under any peace deal.
Ukraine has demanded Russia withdraw from captured territory – including Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Kyiv also wants NATO membership or equivalent security guarantees to prevent Moscow from attacking again.
Germany rushes to be war ready as it warns: ‘We are no longer living in peacetime’ | World | News– www.express.co.uk Source Link Excerpt:
While British Army numbers have been cut, Germany is going the other way with a large expansion of troops to defend the homeland in the event of a Russian invasion.
The so-called Heimatschutz will consist of six regiments, each containing around 6,000 to 8,000 personnel by 2026. Their training is robust, ranging from shooting and survival skills to a raft of scenarios involving conflict and natural disasters.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a pledge by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to transform Germany’s Bundeswehr, or armed forces, which had been reduced by 40% after the Cold War.
According to German Chief of Defence General Carsten Breuer, Germany has “five to eight years” to prepare for a situation where “an attack against Nato territory might be possible”.
According to current figures, Germany has just over 179,000 troops in uniform. This gives Germany the sixth-largest armed forces in NATO, after the US, Turkey, Poland, France and the UK. But Germany is the EU’s most populous nation, boasting a population of 84.5 million. German chiefs know they can do better and plan to expand this to 203,000 by 2031.
President Donald Trump is more than hinting that a deal with Ukraine over its rare earth minerals could go a long way towards the U.S. continuing to support them in their war against Russia.
He said, “We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earth and other things. I want to have security of rare earth. We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earth. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do it.” He added, “We made a lot of progress on Russia, Ukraine. We’ll see what happens. We’re going to stop that ridiculous war.”
‘Going to stop that ridiculous war’: Trump pushes Ukraine for rare earth deal in exchange for US aid– timesofindia.indiatimes.com Source Link Excerpt:
President Donald Trump signalled Monday that US support for Ukraine’s war effort could be tied to securing access to the country’s rare earth materials.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump expressed frustration over what he seeks as an imbalance in aid contributions between the US and Europe, stating, “We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earth and other things.”
Trump suggested that Ukrainian officials were open to such an agreement, pointing out the strategic importance of rare earth minerals to the high-tech economy.
After less than a month, the Swedish Prosecuting Authority has ruled that a subsea cable connecting to Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland was not cut deliberately as an act of sabotage. Rather, the investigators concluded the cutting of the cable was an accident due to a combination of weather conditions and “deficiencies in equipment and seamanship.”
Swedish prosecutors rule Baltic subsea cable cut an accident – Capacity Media Source Link Excerpt:
An investigation into the ship that supposedly severed a subsea cable connecting Latvia to the Swedish island of Gotland was cut accidentally, authorities confirmed.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority ruled that the cable cut, which occurred in late January, was not an act of sabotage and that a combination of weather conditions and “deficiencies in equipment and seamanship” contributed to the cable break.
Swedish authorities had seized the ship, analysing its equipment to determine if the cut was deliberate. The seizure order on the ship has now been lifted, though the investigation remains ongoing to “determine whether there are other crimes that can be suspected in connection with the cable break”.
Trump says he and Putin could do something ‘significant’ toward ending Russia’s war in Ukraine– www.bostonherald.com Source Link Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration has already had “very serious” discussions with Russia about its war in Ukraine and that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin could soon take “significant” action toward ending the grinding conflict.
“We will be speaking, and I think will perhaps do something that’ll be significant,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. “We want to end that war. That war would have not started if I was president.”
Trump did not say who from his administration has been in contact with the Russians but insisted the two sides were “already talking.”
Asked if he has already spoken directly with Putin, Trump was coy: “I don’t want to say that.”
Trump has said repeatedly he wouldn’t have allowed the conflict to start if he had been in office, even though he was president as fighting grew in eastern Ukraine between Kyiv’s forces and separatists backed by Moscow, ahead of Putin sending in tens of thousands of troops in 2022.
Trump’s envoy Kellogg pushes for Ukrainian elections in 2025 after potential ceasefire – Euromaidan Press Source Link Excerpt:
The United States wants Ukraine to conduct elections, possibly by year’s end, particularly if Kyiv reaches a truce with Russia in the coming months, according to President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Ukrainian law bans presidential and parliamentary elections during martial law, extending President Zelenskyy’s tenure beyond its planned 2024 end until parliament lifts the restrictions.As the war against Russia enters its third year, his potential main rival, ex-president Poroshenko, also warns against holding elections in wartime.
Kellogg’s call for elections in Ukraine echoes Russian President Putin’s claim that Zelenskyy’s presidency is illegitimate and he should be replaced.
Belarus’ election extends President Lukashenko’s rule, called a sham by opposition, EU– www.foxnews.com Source Link Excerpt:
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres drew condemnation for his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as his warm embrace with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko while attending the BRICS summit in Russia.
Belarus held an orchestrated election over the weekend that the opposition and the EU rejected as a farce, extending authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko’s more than three decades in power.
Belarus’ 2020 election, which was also called a sham by dissenters, triggered months of unprecedented protests in the country.
Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and has relied on subsidies and political support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also helped him survive the 2020 protests.
At the end of 2024, Sweden requested help investigating the Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-flagged bulk carrier suspected of being involved in the incident. The ship may have dragged its anchor over cables connecting Sweden to Lithuania and Finland to Germany.
Then, on Christmas Day 2024, the Estlink 2 undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia experienced an unexpected outage, reducing the cross-border power transmission capacity between the two countries substantially.
Finnish police investigated whether a Russian ship was involved, and NATO increased naval patrols in the Baltic.
Now an undersea fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and Sweden was damaged, likely due to “external factors”. The cable, owned by Latvia’s state radio and television center (LVRTC), links the Latvian town of Ventspils with Sweden’s Gotland island.
An undersea fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged on Sunday, likely as a result of external influence, Latvia said, triggering an investigation by local and NATO maritime forces in the Baltic Sea.
“We have determined that there is most likely external damage and that it is significant,” Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina told reporters following an extraordinary government meeting.
Latvia is coordinating with NATO and the countries of the Baltic Sea region to clarify the circumstances, she said separately in a post on X.
Latvia’s navy earlier on Sunday said it had dispatched a patrol boat to inspect a ship and that two other vessels were also subject to investigation.
Sweden seizes vessel suspected of ‘sabotage’ in undersea data cable rupture– abcnews.go.com Source Link Excerpt:
RIGA, Latvia — Swedish prosecutors announced Sunday night that they have opened a preliminary investigation into suspected aggravated “sabotage” and ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea suspected of damaging an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland earlier that day.
“Several authorities, including the National Police Operations Department, the Coast Guard and the Armed Forces, are involved in the investigation,” said Mats Ljungqvist, senior prosecutor at the National Security Unit, according to a press release.
The Swedish Coast Guard confirmed to the newspaper Expressen that they were on site near the vessel which the paper identified as the Malta-flagged Vezhen, at anchor near the port of Karlskrona.
“We are directly on site with the seized ship and are taking measures as decided by the prosecutor,” said Mattias Lindholm, spokesperson for the Coast Guard.
According to data from Vesselfinder, the vessel departed from the Russian port of Ust-Luga several days earlier and was navigating between Gotland and Latvia at the time the damage was suspected of having occurred.
Sen John Kennedy Warns Tulsi Gabbard Most at Risk of Being Rejected by Senate– slaynews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Republican Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) has warned that Director of National Intelligence (DNI) nominee Tulsi Gabbard is the most at risk of having her nomination rejected by the U.S. Senate.
Gabbard has criticized the U.S. government for handing over billions of dollars in taxpayer money to Ukraine to fuel its war with Russia.
The former Democrat congresswoman also accused the “power elite” of risking Americans’ safety for the benefit of Ukrainians.
The nominee has come under scrutiny from Democrats.
Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo Assists Mike Pence Effort to Torpedo RFK Jr.’s HHS Nomination › American Greatness– amgreatness.com Source Link Excerpt:
As Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s confirmation hearing approaches, more than 80 organizations have voiced opposition to his nomination to head Health and Human Services (HHS)— groups like the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, Indivisible, and Advocates for Trans Equality.
Standing out like a sore thumb among the dozens of left-of-center groups hoping to derail Kennedy’s confirmation is a conservative advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence’s group, Advancing American Freedom (AAF), was founded in April 2021, and advocates for “conservative values and policy proposals.” The group’s opposition to RFK Jr.’s nomination is reportedly driven by his vaccine views, his alleged “checkered past,” and his libertarian views on drug legalization and abortion.
The environmental lawyer and vaccine safety activist ran for president in 2023/2024, first as a Democrat, then as an Independent, but eventually suspended his campaign when his presidential bid failed to gain traction. On August 23, 2024, Kennedy announced he and his V.P. pick Nicole Shanahan would back the Trump Campaign, unifying on key issues like the Ukraine war, chronic disease epidemic, free speech, and removing corporate influence out of government.
Poland to hold presidential election on May 18, says parliament speaker who will run in it – Jacksonville Journal-Courier Source Link Excerpt:
The head of Poland’s parliament said Wednesday that the country’s presidential election will be held on May 18, with a runoff on June 1 if needed.
The election will decide whether the pro-European Union Cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk will gain an ally in the presidential palace at a challenging time for Poland and for Europe, with a full-scale war in neighbouring Ukraine.
The incumbent right-wing President Andrzej Duda is at odds with the government, blocking legislation and making strongly critical comments. In the latest spat, Duda chose skiing over attending a concert gala marking the launch of Poland’s rotating presidency in the EU.
Ukraine says ready to replace Hungary in EU and NATO – Al Jazeera English Source Link Excerpt:
Ukraine has declared that it is ready to replace Hungary in the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should Budapest prefer to join Russian-led blocs.
The statement was released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on Wednesday. While clearly tongue-in-cheek, it also reflects the serious tension that has built up between Ukraine and Hungary, with Budapest offering support for Moscow’s narratives over the war in Ukraine and obstructing the Western bodies’ efforts to bolster Kyiv.
Kyiv’s statement, which was also posted on X, was made in response to “[t]he latest manipulative statements from the leadership of Hungary regarding Ukraine’s decision not to extend the transit agreement with the aggressor state, Russia, from 2025 onwards”, it said.
Here’s How DEI-Crazed Officials Made The LA Fire More Deadly– thefederalist.com Source Link Excerpt:
As relentless fires burn in Los Angeles, thousands of residents who fled their homes are just learning how poorly public officials prepared for such an event. Emergency response leaders following bad public policy have been too focused on sending firefighting equipment to Ukraine, keeping the homeless safe, protecting fish, and adopting green policies to focus on things like making sure there is enough water to feed fire hydrants and guaranteeing that the strongest, best-trained, most-skilled firefighters are leading operations.
Officials seem to believe that when fire forces you to flee your home, there is just one thing on your mind: the skin color and cultural experience of the firefighters who will bring you to safety. Will they be diverse enough to rescue you? Never mind if they are the best for the job, are they anything but straight white men?
That has been a major priority of the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), which, in 2022, launched its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Bureau (DEI), purportedly “focused on ensuring a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace for all.”
In January 2022, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti checked multiple DEI boxes by appointing Kristin Crowley as fire chief, the first female, LGBT chief in Los Angeles. That year, according to LAFD data, “of the more than 6,500 applicants to LAFD, 70% were people of color and nearly 8% … were female,” which was “double the … percentage of female firefighters within the Department” at the time.
The LAFD Girls Camp is one avenue for recruitment for female firefighters, hosting girls between 14 and 18 to explore career opportunities in the department.
This story is all too familiar:
Adam Carolla applied to be an LA firefighter, and was told he had to wait 7 years because he wasn’t black, hispanic, or female.
News24 | Biden set to push new Russia sanctions before Trump era begins– www.news24.com Source Link Excerpt:
President Joe Biden is expected to unveil new sanctions targeting Russia’s economy this week, according to a US official, as part of measures to bolster Kyiv’s war effort against Moscow before Donald Trump takes office.
