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Putin Declares a Cease Fire, Zelensky Gets Putin’s Terms for Peace

. . .The Foreign Policy SmartSet® and Putin’s fellow travelers have been demanding negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. For negotiations to take place, there has to be something approaching good faith by both parties. That doesn’t exist. For instance, Turkish President Erdogan visualizes himself as a peacemaker in this war. The only high-level peace talks between Ukraine and Russia were held under Turkish sponsorship last Spring. . .

Vladimir Putin has ordered a 36-hour unilateral ceasefire in observance of Orthodox Christmas.

The Ukrainians aren’t big on the idea.

I doubt Ukraine will reciprocate because it doesn’t make sense to give the Russians a break. I’m sure I’ll see a lot of commentary like this pretending that Putin gives a rat’s butt about Christmas, peace, or Jesus Christ.

(Read more from “Putin Declares a Cease Fire, Zelensky Gets Putin’s Terms for Peace” HERE)

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Zelensky’s Groveling PR Offensive Hits the DC Uniparty’s Sweet Spot

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been repeatedly compared to Winston Churchill. The comedian-turned-politician is not the avatar of democracy that his legion of American admirers think he is, let alone this generation’s savior of Western civilization. But it’s doubtful that Churchill’s star addresses to joint sessions of Congress during the Second World War were received with any less adulation than Zelensky’s speech in the week before Christmas.

The question of whether it was appropriate for Zelensky to appear on the podium of the House in a variant of the GI Joe costume he’s been sporting on Zoom appearances throughout the year misses the point. He may have been the first foreign leader to behave this way since Palestinian Liberation Organization terrorist Yasser Arafat showed up in 1993 at the White House in a military uniform to sign a peace deal with Israel that he never intended to keep. But it was par for the course for a man who knows that his role is to play the hero at any and all times.

What was fascinating about the orgy of praise and support for the massive amount of U.S. aid heading to Kyiv is the way most of the Republican congressional leadership seemed just as eager to fawn at the Ukrainian leader as the Democrats.

Most Americans sympathize with opposing a blatantly illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the notion that “Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United States,” as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put it, is quite another thing. The same can be said for doubling the amount of money the United States was spending on Afghanistan in its last years for this war’s first year. (Read more from “Zelensky’s Groveling PR Offensive Hits the DC Uniparty’s Sweet Spot” HERE)

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The Mozart Group Mercenary Firm: Ukraine Is a “Corrupt, F***ed-Up Society”

By Max Blumenthal. After months in Ukraine training soldiers, Ret Col Andrew Milburn of @TheMozartGroup mercenary firm gets sauced on camera & spills the beans:

Ukraine is a “corrupt, f**ked-up society” run by “fucked-up people”

Ukrainian soldiers “kill dudes who surrendered,” commit “atrocities”

[Warning: video contains explicit content]

(Read more from “The Mozart Group Mercenary Firm: Ukraine Is a “Corrupt, F***ed-Up Society” HERE)

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Kremlin Says Any Ukraine Peace Plan Must Include Annexed Regions

By Reuters. The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan, saying that proposals to end the conflict in Ukraine must take into account what it calls “today’s realities” of four Ukrainian regions having joined Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “There can be no peace plan for Ukraine that does not take into account today’s realities regarding Russian territory, with the entry of four regions into Russia. Plans that do not take these realities into account cannot be peaceful.”

Russia declared Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as part of its territory in September after referendums condemned by Ukraine and Western countries. Russia does not fully control any of the four regions. (Read more from “Kremlin Says Any Ukraine Peace Plan Must Include Annexed Regions” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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‘Santa Putin’ Swaps Child’s Same-Sex Parents for a Mother and Father and Gives a Football, Toy Cars and a Drum Kit to Boy Being Raised as a Girl in Anti-West Video

By Daily Caller. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been portrayed as Santa in an anti-Western propaganda video released on the country’s social media.

The film – made by a production company called Signal – depicts ‘Santa Putin’ swapping a photograph of a child’s same-sex parents for one of a mother and father, and gifting the boy being raised as a girl a football, toy cars and a drum kit.

The video feeds into Russian prejudices about Europe and the United States which have been fuelled by pro-Kremlin propagandists during the war in Ukraine to frame the conflict as a clash of values between Russia and Ukraine’s western allies.

(Read more from “‘Santa Putin’ Swaps Child’s Same-Sex Parents for a Mother and Father and Gives a Football, Toy Cars and a Drum Kit to Boy Being Raised as a Girl in Anti-West Video” HERE)

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Photo credit: Flickr

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Kari Lake Could Be on Hook for Big Payday Benefiting Corrupt Dem Lawyer

A high-powered Democratic attorney who became a big name in the Trump-Russia controversy may get a hefty paycheck for battling Kari Lake in her recently tossed 2022 election lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of last month’s governor’s race.

Arizona Governor-elect Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County filed motions on Monday for sanctions against Lake and her attorneys, which may amount to nearly $700,000 in penalties to cover the attorneys’ fees and costs, according to an estimate from the AZ Law blog. Most of that money could go toward Marc Elias, who is well known as the lawyer who directed funding from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and Democratic National Committee that went toward British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s now-discredited anti-Trump dossier.

Hobbs filed motions in her capacity as Arizona’s secretary of state, the top elections position in the state, and candidate. In the latter, she declared $56,585 in “definite” fees and expenses for last week’s trial, of which $35,762.50 is for Elias’ firm, the Elias Law Group. Another $20,822.50 was listed for the Perkins Coie law firm, which happens to be Elias’ former employer during the 2016 election.

The filing also describes estimated fees “for additional legal services in connection with the election contest,” earmarking about $457,032.50 for the Elias Law Group and $93,177.50 for Perkins Coie.

Lake, a Republican endorsed by former President Donald Trump, sued Hobbs and Maricopa County after the results showed that she lost the November contest to Hobbs by roughly 17,000 votes. (Read more from “Kari Lake Could Be on Hook for Big Payday Benefiting Corrupt Dem Lawyer” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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America Last: US Aid to Ukraine Eclipses Most World Military Budgets

The $113 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine has eclipsed the annual military budget of every country in the world except the United States and China.

The passage of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill grants Ukraine $45 billion in military and economic aid, making the total to date $113 billion.

The Quincy Institute’s Ben Freeman and William Hartung cataloged some of the ways that aid to Ukraine has exceeded many other of our own government’s expenditures and even other countries’ entire military budgets. . .

American aid to Ukraine also nearly matches the combined baseline spending for the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security combined.

It is almost as much as the $118 billion “the United States will spend on medical care for all U.S. military veterans.” (Read more from “America Last: US Aid to Ukraine Eclipses Most World Military Budgets” HERE)

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Russia’s Warning to US: Deescalate or Face ‘Consequences’

The U.S. is risking a direct confrontation with Russia over the war in Ukraine, two top Russian officials have said.

Moscow’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, said in an interview with Tass published Friday that “the risk of a clash between the two great powers is high.”

Alexander Darchiyev, director of the Foreign Ministry’s North American Department, made similar remarks in an interview with the same Russian state news agency. . .

Darchiyev told Tass that he hoped, “Washington will heed the voice of reason” and not allow the situation “to escalate to the point of a direct confrontation between Russia and the United States.” (Read more from “Russia’s Warning to US: Deescalate or Face ‘Consequences'” HERE)

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‘Fatal Mistake’: Top Russian Official Warns Zelensky After Surprise US Trip

A Russian legislator issued a stark warning that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s faith in the United States was a “fatal mistake,” following his speech to Congress on Wednesday.

Dmitry Belik, a member of the Russian parliament, said all the allies of the U.S. eventually wind up abandoned to the “dustbin of history” and that Ukraine will be used as a bargaining chip to further U.S. interests overseas.

“All the allies of the United States ended up very badly, being on the sidelines or, rather, in the dustbin of history,” Belik told a Russian news agency, per Newsweek. “The Americans have only one ally — it is themselves, and all the rest are secondary figures that should ensure their prosperity and who, if something happens, can be betrayed.”

Zelensky gave a roughly half-hour address to a joint session of Congress in English on Wednesday night, voicing gratitude for the military aid given to his country while pleading for more. The address followed a meeting with President Joe Biden, whose administration unveiled a $1.85 billion assistance package earlier in the day featuring a Patriot missile system. (Read more from “‘Fatal Mistake’: Top Russian Official Warns Zelensky After Surprise US Trip” HERE)

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Biden Promises Zelensky US Backing for ‘as Long as It Takes’

America will back Ukraine with military and financial aid until Russia‘s invasion ends in failure, President Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their historic appearance together at the White House on Wednesday, with the leaders projecting unity and seeking to hold together an international coalition — and a fraying U.S. Congress — as the war nears the 10-month mark.

The White House meeting, which marked Mr. Zelenskyy‘s first trip outside of Ukraine since the war began on Feb. 24, offered the two men the chance for a rare face-to-face conversation. Mr. Biden said he looked deep into the Ukrainian president’s “soul” and saw that Mr. Zelenskyy “is who he says he is.”

“It’s clear who he is. He‘s willing to give his life for his country,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Zelenskyy during their joint press conference, which followed a roughly two-hour conversation in the Oval Office. (Read more from “Biden Promises Zelensky US Backing for ‘as Long as It Takes’” HERE)

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Ukraine’s Zelensky in DC; Biden Meet, Congress Address

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to speak to Congress and President Joe Biden on Wednesday and claim the $45 billion worth of aid designated for Ukraine in the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill is not enough support.

Congress is weighing whether to pass the massive $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that designates $45 billion in military and economic aid for Ukraine. The $45 billion is in addition to the $66 billion lawmakers have already approved of taxpayers’ money for Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Zelensky released a video revealing he will tell Biden and Congress $45 billion is still not enough support. . .

Zelensky’s claim that $45 billion is not enough aid – on top of the already approved $66 billion – comes as the omnibus bill is expected to approve a military budget of about $858 billion, $45 billion more than Biden had requested from taxpayers. (Read more from “Ukraine’s Zelensky in DC; Biden Meet, Congress Address” HERE)

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