BeyondGeography
BeyondGeography's JournalZelensky spoke with Mike Johnson today
I congratulate him on his remarkable self control.
https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1773385494941839632?s=46&t=UDtLaS-w7g67AF4Q2Xb1mg
I briefed Speaker Johnson on the battlefield situation, specifically the dramatic increase in Russia's air terror. Last week alone, 190 missiles, 140 "Shahed" drones, and 700 guided aerial bombs were launched at Ukrainian cities and communities. Ukraine's largest hydroelectric power plant has gone offline.
In this situation, quick passage of US aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital. We recognize that there are differing views in the House of Representatives on how to proceed, but the key is to keep the issue of aid to Ukraine as a unifying factor.
We also discussed the importance of cutting off Russia's sources of funding for its war as soon as possible and using frozen Russian assets for Ukraines benefit. We also rely on the leadership of Congress in this regard.
Ukrainians get a chance to celebrate...it's not just a football game by the look and sound of it
?si=QhInpXHA1CpOciALDoris Kearns Goodwin on "An Unfinished Love Story"
?si=iLJ4ysrD6UQ6vu5oIts about her husband Richard, Quiz Show lawyer and speechwriter and advisor to JFK, LBJ and RFK. His book Remembering America: A Voice From The Sixties, is one of the best political histories Ive ever read.
Hours before ISIS attacked, Putin added the "LGBT movement" to an official list of "terrorists and extremists"
A deadly attack shatters Putins promise of security to the Russian peopleThe fact that Mr. Putin apparently ignored a warning from the United States about a potential terrorist attack is likely to deepen the skepticism. Instead of acting on the warnings and tightening security, he dismissed them as provocative statements All this resembles outright blackmail and an intention to intimidate and destabilize our society, Mr. Putin said on Tuesday in a speech to the F.S.B., Russias domestic intelligence agency, referring to the Western warnings. After the attack on Friday, some of his exiled critics have cited his response as evidence of the presidents detachment from Russias true security concerns.
Rather than keeping society safe from actual, violent terrorists, those critics say, Mr. Putin has directed his sprawling security services to pursue dissidents, journalists and anyone deemed a threat to the Kremlins definition of traditional values. A case in point: Just hours before the attack, state media reported that the Russian authorities had added the L.G.B.T. movement to an official list of terrorists and extremists; Russia had already outlawed the gay rights movement last year. Terrorism was also among the many charges prosecutors leveled against Aleksei A. Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader who died last month.
In a country in which counterterrorism special forces chase after online commenters, Ruslan Leviev, an exiled Russian military analyst, wrote in a social media post on Saturday, terrorists will always feel free. Even as the Islamic State repeatedly claimed responsibility for the attack and Ukraine denied any involvement, the Kremlins messengers pushed into overdrive to try to persuade the Russian public that this was merely a ruse
More at https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/24/world/moscow-russia-attack-news?unlocked_article_code=1.fE0.wigu.p47rLjoT9ud9&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Islamic State's deadly Moscow attack highlights its fixation with Russia
The group, which is a branch of IS mainly based in Afghanistan, has increasingly focused its attention on Russia since the United States left Afghanistan in 2021. The group was formed in 2015 by members of militant groups, including those from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, and is active in central Asia and Russia. It carried out twin bombings in January in Iran that killed nearly 100 people.
CNN reporters said they had been told that since November there has been fairly specific intelligence that Isis-K wanted to carry out attacks in Russia US intelligence warned Russia about it. Putin changed the course of the Syrian civil war by intervening in 2015, supporting President Bashar al-Assad against the opposition and Islamic State. Isis-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticising Putin in its propaganda, said Colin Clarke of the Soufan Center, according to Reuters. The claim by the group will largely divert attention by Russian officials that the attack may have originated in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials had insisted that they had no link to the attack. Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall (Moscow Region, Russia). It makes no sense whatsoever, said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential administration. Ukraine has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods, he said. It is always pointless.
More at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/23/theres-little-reason-to-doubt-attack-on-moscow-venue-was-by-islamic-state?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Julia Ioffe on Chris Hayes: Russian security forces are only very good at breaking the legs of hipsters
at peaceful protests.
U.S. says ISIS was responsible for the deadly attack in Moscow.
The United States collected intelligence in March that Islamic State-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, the branch of the group based in Afghanistan, had been planning an attack on Moscow, according to officials. ISIS members have been active in Russia, one U.S. official said. After a period of relative quiet, the Islamic State has been trying to increase its external attacks, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials. Most of those plots in Europe have been thwarted, prompting assessments that the group had diminished capabilities.
ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticizing President Vladimir V. Putin in its propaganda, said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a security consulting firm based in New York. ISIS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood in its hands, referencing Moscows interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.
The attack on Friday in Moscow, like a January assault in Iran claimed by the group, could prompt a reassessment of its ability to strike outside its home territory. In addition to publicly warning on March 7 about a possible attack, U.S. officials said they had privately told Russian officials about the intelligence pointing to an impending attack. It is not clear how much information the United States gave Russian officials beyond what was in the public warning. American intelligence agencies have a duty to warn potential targets of dangers when they learn of them.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/22/world/moscow-shooting/isis-moscow-attack-concert-hall?unlocked_article_code=1.ek0.ldGb.-CK7qXoI6Ec-&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
At least 40 killed and more than 100 wounded in Moscow concert hall attack
Source: The Guardian
At least 40 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded according to unofficial reports in the worst terror attack in Russia in years, as gunmen in combat fatigues opened fire and detonated explosives in a big concert hall in the outskirts of Moscow.
Photos showed the Crocus City Hall engulfed in flames as videos emerged from the concert hall attack, showing at least four gunmen opening fire from automatic weapons as panicked Russians fled for their lives.
In one video, three men in fatigues carrying rifles fired at pointblank range into bodies strewn about the lobby of the concert hall. The attackers also apparently detonated explosives, as the sounds of blasts could be heard in other videos from the attack. At least two blasts took place at the concert hall on Friday evening, news agencies reported.
Video published online showed horrific scenes of some people begging for help from the roof of the concert hall as it burnt behind them. Other video showed images of victims with gunshot wounds being treated in the street outside of the building.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/22/moscow-concert-hall-shooting-blast?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Today's NYT addresses the question of whether the pace of Garland's investigation of Trump was too slow
The answer is not surprisingly yes.
Two things stand out in the article IMO:
a) Garland wasnt opposed to investigating Trump from the start, but his approach was fundamentally misguided:
At the time, some in the Justice Department were pushing for the chance to look at ties between pro-Trump rioters who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, his allies who had camped out at the Willard Hotel, and possibly Mr. Trump himself. Mr. Garland said he would place no restrictions on their work, even if the evidence leads to Trump, according to people with knowledge of several conversations held over his first months in office.
Follow the connective tissue upward, said Mr. Garland, adding a directive that would eventually lead to a dead end: Follow the money. With that, he set the course of a determined and methodical, if at times dysfunctional and maddeningly slow, investigation that would yield the indictment of Mr. Trump on four counts of election interference in August 2023.
Garland apparently thought J6 couldnt have happened without significant funding to mobilize the troops. But Trump is a cult figure and his followers are willing to spend their own dime to heed the call. They didnt need mileage reimbursement or hotel rooms. They slept in their cars or in tents.
This basic misreading ties into the second point.
b) Garland didnt feel particularly time-constrained because he underestimated Trump as a political force and as someone who knows how to gum up the legal system with delaying tactics.
He wasnt alone in this. In Franklin Foers Biden book The Last Politician, at the start of 2022 Biden was surprised to see that Trump had maintained his hold on the Republican Party, and it wasnt until late summer of 2022 that he started to use the term extreme MAGA Republicans.
Likewise, Garland was convinced the country had Trump in the rear-view mirror:
So Garland had lots of company.
This second point is what has bothered me the most. Im not posting this to start another Garland bash-fest; hes just the symptom of a larger problem. For some reason, the CW at key moments and at the highest levels of our party has been consistently steps behind the reality of Trump.
I think weve finally learned our lesson and Im hopeful its not too late. But without this kind of reflection, well never learn.
Heres a gift link of the article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/us/politics/trump-jan-6-merrick-garland.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ek0.tH3q.sl-f0UJzer7I&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Could Trump be forced into bankruptcy? Hear why former investment banker thinks so
Banker doesnt see how Trump avoids bankruptcy would be a better title.
The interview runs from 2:12-7:12.
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