[FP] U.S. officials have reportedly obtained intelligence that Russia is potentially planning to undertake an arrest and assassination campaign in Ukraine if it goes forth with an invasion, targeting well-known opposition members, anti-corruption activists, and Belarusian and Russian dissidents living in exile in Ukraine. Foreign Policy reports that according to four people familiar with U.S. intelligence, Russia has already begun making formalized lists of prominent Ukrainian figures to be targeted for arrest or assassination, including anyone who could pose a challenge to Russia’s agenda. An official who spoke to Foreign Policy on the condition of anonymity, referenced past Russian targeted operations including “targeted killings, kidnappings/forced disappearances, detentions, and the use of torture” against journalists, anti-corruption activists, and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ people. The Biden administration warned Thursday that that an invasion could take place within the next few days, as security risks remain “very high.”
BLUF:
[Breitbart] What we are witnessing right now is not something that’s changed in the last 24 hours. If you go back to notes that I’ve been sending out for the last two weeks, this is something we’ve been watching in terms of you—have commercial satellite imagery, you have the buildup of forces, the type of forces, the numbers of forces, things that we’ve been told in advance to look for in terms of some of the disinformation that is already starting to appear, the false flag operations in the Donbas region. All of that is ticking up."
She added, "I’ve heard comparisons to the Iraq war and WMD, and how do we know? We’re seeing it with our own eyes. If you can’t look at the kind of the Iskander missile battalions that are now in Belarus and 30,000 Russian troops there. Half of Putin’s air force has now been deployed toward Ukraine. I am told just moments ago from a senior defense official that 40% of his 190,000 troops who are on the border with Ukraine are now in attack positions. That is something we have been waiting for."
Griffin concluded, "Right now, every American should be watching this and knowing that this is deadly serious.
[AlAhram] An invasion is not the only way the crisis in Ukraine can play out, a diplomatic solution may yet provide an off-ramp for Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... , whose placement of tens of thousands of troops along Russia's border with its smaller neighbor kicked off the current crisis.
Indeed, the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have throughout the weeks-long crisis accused the U.S. and U.K. of stirring panic with talk of an imminent invasion.
Continued on Page 49
"A China-Russia-US strategic triangle will have to be Russia’s handiwork. Neither Washington nor Beijing has a profound reason for seeking one. Their sharpening bilateral competition will play itself out on a broader global stage, where Russia is only one among several other major powers. In Washington’s and Beijing’s eyes, the goal is to build productive partnerships with as many of those powers at possible.
"The competition is over the accumulation of major partners, not in gaining any one possible partner in particular, and the edge will go to the country that is the more attractive power across a range of political, economic, technological, cultural, and ideational matters.
"To convince Washington and Beijing to think otherwise, Russia will have to demonstrate that it matters in a unique way, that its power is of a different order than, for instance, Europe’s, India’s, and Japan’s.
"So far, Russia has failed to do that. And the drama for Russia in the 2020s will concern its effort to *** showcase its continuing worth as a top-tier geopolitical actor. ***
#3
^ Tom Graham nailed it. This crisis has f-all to do with Ukraine per se.
It's all about Russia demonstrating it is a major player that must not be fvcked with and that must be treated as a geopolitical power of the first order, if not a peer to the US and China.
[LI] If Justin Trudeau had merely removed trucks from blocking a bridge in protest of vaccine mandates, it would be no big deal. Protesters for various causes routinely get removed from blocking traffic.
But that’s not all Justin Trudeau did. He suspended civil liberties in Canada, targeting peaceful protesters and anyone who supports them. Not because those supporters committed a crime, but because they supported the political opposition to Trudeau’s government.
Trudeau ordered all financial institutions to freeze the assets of his political opposition without court order and with full immunity from liability, and no financial asset was spared.
[Babylon Bee] U.S.—The nation is preparing to celebrate what has become a beloved annual holiday: Two Weeks To Slow The Spread Day, to be held in March every year.
"This time of year we like to come together to remember the historic day two years ago when we put on masks and locked ourselves down, trusting that the lockdown would be over in just two weeks," said local man Paul Christof as he stared out his window longingly, his three masks securely in place. "This year, I'm going all out with a Zoom party with no more than five of my closest friends—I mean, closest, figuratively speaking, of course. We'll be literally far apart, because I want to stay home and stay safe, and I don't want grandma to die."
Traditional festivities for the newly christened American holiday include remote Amazon gift exchanges, ordering DoorDash feasts for just yourself, and the customary binging of the Netflix. Historians believe the holiday will become a hit, and people will continue to wear masks and stay home throughout the year as the festive day is celebrated for hundreds of years to come.
[Townhall] My son Cameron and I can hardly wait for President Biden’s upcoming State of the Union address.
"What do you think he’s going to say on March 1, Dad?" he asked me earlier this week during our phone call.
"That the State of the Union is .... very sad? Screwed? You finish the sentence."
"Seriously," Cameron said. "The State of the Union is supposed to be upbeat — positive — or at least hopeful, right?"
"Yeah," I said. "His speechwriters must be working overtime. The list of big things he’s messed up in a single year is long and getting longer."
"So what’s he going to brag about to the country?" Cameron asked.
"Well," I said, "he did a terrible job with Afghanistan, so he can’t bring that up."
"The economy is also a no-no.
"Inflation is running at 7 percent, interest rates are headed up and millions of workers have still not gone back to work, thanks to the government’s generous and never-ending pandemic help."
"He sure can’t mention crime," Cameron said.
"It’s spiking in every big city and his Justice Department is more interested in eliminating cash bail than catching criminals and putting them in jail."
#1
He cured COVID! See the Omicron posting on today's Page 3!
And just you wait! He'll have prevented WW III by March 1.
[not holding my breath]
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/19/2022 7:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
unfortunately you are right, and the usual idiots will believe it.
Posted by: Chris ||
02/19/2022 9:00 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Brandon's upcoming SOTU speech to the paper cutouts:
- "Mission Accomplished!" (sans turkey)
- "Standing Tall!" in Sofia Vergara, er, Bulgaria
- "Don't suspect your neighbor-- report him!"
- "Wait For Applause!"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[FP] U.S. officials have reportedly obtained intelligence that Russia is potentially planning to undertake an arrest and assassination campaign in Ukraine if it goes forth with an invasion, targeting well-known opposition members, anti-corruption activists, and Belarusian and Russian dissidents living in exile in Ukraine. Foreign Policy reports that according to four people familiar with U.S. intelligence, Russia has already begun making formalized lists of prominent Ukrainian figures to be targeted for arrest or assassination, including anyone who could pose a challenge to Russia’s agenda. An official who spoke to Foreign Policy on the condition of anonymity, referenced past Russian targeted operations including “targeted killings, kidnappings/forced disappearances, detentions, and the use of torture” against journalists, anti-corruption activists, and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ people. The Biden administration warned Thursday that that an invasion could take place within the next few days, as security risks remain “very high.”
[Babylon Bee] U.S.—The nation is preparing to celebrate what has become a beloved annual holiday: Two Weeks To Slow The Spread Day, to be held in March every year.
