European Allies Declare Russian Attack on Ukraine Threat to NATO Territory Under Article 4

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By Washington Examiner. A group of European countries are invoking the provision of NATO’s founding treaty that requires allies to hold consultations whenever “the security of any of the Parties is threatened,” in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Poland and the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — are invoking that provision, the Washington Examiner has learned, in order to spur additional fortifications for the NATO member states nearest to the war zone. The invocation of that treaty provision reflects their anxiety about whether the Russian assault could spill beyond the territory of Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO, into one of the countries within the trans-Atlantic alliance.

“Who can be sure what’s happening in his head?” a European official, speaking to the Washington Examiner on condition of anonymity, said in reference to Putin. “He started a war in the middle of Europe to demilitarize a neighboring country. Are we sure that that’s it? It’s always better to invest in deterrence [rather] than, when the conflict has started, to invest in fighting the conflict.”

The embattled country of Ukraine shares a border with four NATO member states. The Baltic states do not border Ukraine, but Lithuania and Latvia share a border with Belarus, which is hosting Russian forces, and Latvia and Estonia border Russia. Lithuania and Poland also share a border with Kaliningrad, a district of Russian sovereign territory on the Baltic Sea that does not connect by land to the rest of Russia. (Read more from “European Allies Declare Russian Attack on Ukraine Threat to NATO Territory Under Article 4” HERE)

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Ukrainian Military Says Five Russian Aircraft and Helicopter Shot Down

By Washington Examiner. Russia’s military forces began an attack on Ukraine early Thursday morning local time, just moments after Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared on video to announce a “special military operation” stretching across the embattled eastern region of Donbas and beyond.

Explosions could be heard across parts of Ukraine, including the capital of Kyiv, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said hours earlier he had reached out to Putin seeking peace only to be met with “silence.” The volleys included cruise and ballistic missiles, according to Ukrainian officials, who also told reporters that Russian troops landed in the port city of Odessa, which is across the Black Sea from Crimea, and crossed the border into Kharkiv in the northeast, NBC News reported.

Hours into the assault, Ukraine’s military claimed that five Russian aircraft and a helicopter were shot down early Thursday, according to CNN, while Russia’s state-run news agency TASS denied the claims. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, a senior Ukrainian Interior Ministry official said, “You can be certain that hundreds of Ukrainian service members have already died from the Russian strikes.”

Meanwhile, in the financial sector, stocks took a dive, while oil prices jumped.

President Joe Biden, who warned Russia of more punishing sanctions if it conducted a full-on invasion of Ukraine, is receiving regular updates on the situation in Ukraine and issued a statement vowing that the “world will hold Russia accountable.” With the attack stretching from the predawn hours into daylight and air raid sirens blaring in Kyiv, Zelensky announced that he had just spoken with Biden and declared martial law while urging the Ukrainian people to remain calm. (Read more from “Ukrainian Military Says Five Russian Aircraft and Helicopter Shot Down” HERE)

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Ukraine Declares Martial Law, Shut Downs Air Space Amid Russia Attack

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Ukraine imposed martial law Wednesday night as Russian forces launched offenses across the country, according to Dutch outlet BNO.

A nationwide state of emergency had been in effect, giving officials extra powers to impose restrictions. Under martial law, military leaders are the absolute authorities of Ukraine’s civilians.

Ukraine’s air space was closed after Russia struck multiple cities with explosives, National Defense and Security Council Chief Oleksiy Danilov said, according to The Kyiv Independent.

“In particular, there is a risk of both intentional targeting and misidentification of civil aircraft,” the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said, adding it was monitoring developments and would adjust its recommendations.

“As a precautionary measure, operators should exercise extreme caution and avoid using the airspace within 100NM of the Bielorussian and Russia-Ukraine border.” (Read more from “Ukraine Declares Martial Law, Shut Downs Air Space Amid Russia Attack” HERE)

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Canada’s Trudeau Revoking ‘Use’ of Emergencies Act

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday that the Emergencies Act, invoked in response to truckers protesting COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates, would no longer be in use.

“The situation is no longer an emergency, therefore the federal government will be ending the use of the Emergencies Act,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference. “We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are sufficient.”

The decision follows the violent clearing of the Freedom Convoy and other protesters from the Canadian capital city of Ottawa by local and federal police that injured several civilians.

Trudeau first invoked the Emergencies Act on Monday of last week, citing economic disruptions caused by the presence of the truckers as well as the alleged threat to “public safety” posed by the protesters. The act vastly expanded the powers of Canadian authorities to crack down on protesters, allowing them to direct banks to freeze accounts, impose fines and prison sentences, and cordon off certain areas of the city. (Read more from “Canada’s Trudeau Revoking ‘Use’ of Emergencies Act” HERE)

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Trump on Ukraine Invasion: ‘This Is Something That Should Have Never Happened’

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Wednesday, on the heels of reports that Russia had launched a “full-scale invasion” of Ukraine, former President Donald Trump proclaimed Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have acted in this way under his leadership. . .

“This is something that should have never happened,” he said. “This would not have happened during my administration. In fact, some people were saying, why didn’t this take place over the past four years during my administration? And it didn’t for a very good reason. I’ll explain that to you someday. But it wouldn’t have taken place, and it wouldn’t have taken place right now. It’s a very sad thing for the world, the country, and it is certainly sad for a lot of people that are going to be needlessly killed.” (Read more from “Trump on Ukraine Invasion: ‘This Is Something That Should Have Never Happened’” HERE)

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Report: Government Officials Secretly Believe Lab-Leak Caused COVID Pandemic

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A British chemical weapons expert is alleging that behind closed doors government officials in London believe a lab-leak led to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army officer who commanded the United Kingdom’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, told the Telegraph that he believes the official view within the British government is that a lab-leak theory was most likely the cause of the global pandemic. However, he said there’s significant concern about coming out and saying so publicly.

“I think the official view [within Government] is that it is as likely as anything else to have caused the pandemic. A lot of people like myself think it is more likely. I think attitudes have changed a little bit. The zoonotic transfer theory just didn’t make sense,” he told the Telegraph. “There is a huge amount of concern about coming out publicly, but behind closed doors most people think it’s a lab leak. And they are coming round to the fact that even if they don’t agree with that, they must accept it’s likely, and they must make sure the policies are in place to stop it.”

De Bretton-Gordon submitted evidence to the government for its new biosecurity strategy to handle “accidental release and dual-use research of concern, where life science research is capable of being misapplied to do harm.” One type of dual-use research is the kind of gain-of-function research that was happening at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) prior to the coronavirus pandemic, where dangerous pathogens were being genetically altered to make them more dangerous to humans. (Read more from “Report: Government Officials Secretly Believe Lab-Leak Caused COVID Pandemic” HERE)

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Romania Prepared to Accept 500,000 Ukrainian Refugees: Report

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Romania is prepared to accept 500,000 Ukrainian refugees, the country’s Defense Minister Vasile Dincu told reporters Tuesday.

According to a report from Reuters, Dincu said “there are several estimates, but we could receive over 500,000 refugees, that is…the number for which we have prepared alongside the interior ministry and other institutions.”

Dincu added that “there is a plan prepared for all large cities, there are areas for this near the borders.”

Romania shares approximately 380 miles of border with Ukraine. Reuters noted that the country saw “relatively few” Ukrainian refugees when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in February and March 2014.

“We are also not expecting a major influx coming here now, but one never knows,” Dincu told reporters. (Read more from “Romania Prepared to Accept 500,000 Ukrainian Refugees: Report” HERE)

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Is Canada Becoming North America’s Cuba?

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Canada is leaving the Western world.

In terms of all-encompassing government, suppression of dissent, and the denial of fundamental human rights to many of its citizens, Canada is now more similar to Cuba than to any free country. Canada may eventually return to Western civilization, but as of this writing, the majority of Canadians appear to have no interest in it doing so.

According to Maru Public Opinion, “two-thirds (66%) of Canadians support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau bringing in the Emergencies Act … A majority (56%) of Canadians do not support the truckers who are protesting in any way, shape, or form … This is a majority view held in every province/region across the country.”

I suspect that most Americans—and certainly most people outside of America or Canada—do not know precisely what Canada’s Marxist prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is doing to his country. . .

Last week, for only the second time in Canadian history other than wartime—the first time was under Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, the other Marxist to govern Canada—Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act. This statute enables a Canadian prime minister to suspend fundamental human rights and rule as a dictator. (For more the author of “Is Canada Becoming North America’s Cuba?” HERE)

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Russian Lawmakers Give Putin Go-Ahead to Use Force in Ukraine’s Breakaway Regions

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Russian lawmakers on Tuesday gave Russian President Vladimir Putin the go-ahead to deploy troops to the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in eastern Ukraine, heightening fears of a full-scale attack after the Biden administration finally admitted that an invasion by Moscow was underway in the rebel-held areas.

Members of Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, voted unanimously to allow Putin to send troops outside of the country, rubber-stamping the dispatch of troops and the construction of military bases in the disputed regions, where ongoing fighting since 2014 has killed more than 14,000 people.

Putin ordered so-called “peacekeeping” forces into the region of eastern Ukraine known as Donbas on Monday after recognzing the separatist areas as independent — and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov clarified Tuesday that recognition extends to the entire area, raising the likelihood that Russian troops will attempt to gobble up more territory.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that he believed Russia was still planning a large-scale assault on Ukraine, even as he held out hope for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. (Read more from “Russian Lawmakers Give Putin Go-Ahead to Use Force in Ukraine’s Breakaway Regions” HERE)

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The Invasion Has Begun: Putin Orders Troops Into Eastern Ukraine

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The invasion has begun. There were videos on social media showing Russian troops and heavy equipment moving into the Donbas region. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would recognize these would-be breakaway republics as independent states. President Joe Biden reportedly saw this coming and issued sanctions, which should scare away the Russians. Nope. President Oatmeal for Brains’ declaration did nothing. The Russians took another step towards all-out war. They’ve essentially invaded eastern Ukraine under the pretext of a peacekeeping mission. This is Obama and the red lines in Syria. The other side keeps crossing them, and we do nothing. The invasion of Ukraine has begun, and Biden is nowhere to be seen. Where’s Blinken? Where’s anybody in this sorry excuse for an administration (via NBC News):

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine on Monday, just hours after he formally recognized the independence of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions in the eastern part of the country.

The order will likely be seen as another escalation of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, on a day when tensions rose as Putin moved forward with the formal recognition of two breakaway regions and delivered a lengthy speech about the relationship between the two nations.

(Read more from “The Invasion Has Begun: Putin Orders Troops Into Eastern Ukraine” HERE)

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FBI Admits It Bought Israel’s Pegasus Cellphone Spyware . . . But Claims It Never Used It

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The FBI has confirmed that it obtained NSO Group’s powerful Pegasus spyware, suggesting that it bought access to the Israeli surveillance tool to “stay abreast of emerging technologies and tradecraft”.

In a statement released to the Guardian, the bureau said it had procured a “limited licence” to access Pegasus for “product testing and evaluation only”, and suggested that its evaluation of the tool partly related to security concerns if the spyware fell into the “wrong hands”.

The bureau also claimed it had never used Pegasus in support of any FBI investigation. “There was no operational use in support of any investigation, the FBI procured a limited licence for product testing and evaluation only,” it said.

The statement marks a direct acknowledgment by the FBI that it acquired Pegasus, one of the world’s most sophisticated hacking tools.

The FBI’s procurement of Pegasus, which occurred in 2019 under the Trump administration, was first reported by the New York Times. (Read more from “FBI Admits It Bought Israel’s Pegasus Cellphone Spyware . . . But Claims It Never Used It” HERE)

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