March 1 (Reuters) – As public schools around the United States lift COVID-19 mask mandates, parents are divided over the issue, with nearly 43% saying face covering requirements should remain in place to prevent virus transmission, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
Most parents who responded also expressed concern about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines for children under age 5, saying they do not have enough information, according to the KFF survey of 1,502 adults conducted between Feb. 9 and 21.
Support for masks in schools has been falling since September, when two thirds of people and over 60% of parents favored some level of mask requirements, KFF said.
The actions taken by television providers and technology companies against RT have dealt one of the largest blows to the outlet in its history, reducing the Kremlin’s ability to peddle its narrative at a pivotal time when its international standing has fallen as a result of its unprovoked war on Ukraine.
YouTube, TikTok, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook (FB) and Instagram, each separately announced on Monday and Tuesday some of the harshest measures taken thus far against RT. The social media companies said they had moved to block RT in Europe. The outlet’s accounts will no longer be accessible to users on that continent through those companies’ services, depriving RT of crucial venues to advance its messaging.
Meta and Google (GOOG), the parent company of YouTube, had previously announced that RT would no longer be eligible to monetize its content on the company’s platforms.
Roku, the company that sells hardware which allows users to stream content through the internet, said…
Medical Scientists Declare “COVID National Emergency Over” and Call on Congress to End the Recently Renewed Executive Order
The International Alliance of Doctors and Medical Scientists announced their support to end the national emergency concerning COVID-19 as it is no longer necessary to protect public health.
After two years of scientific research, clinical data and evidence from frontline medical professionals treating hundreds of thousands of patients, the international alliance of more than 17,000 physicians and medical scientists have concluded that the highly treatable COVID-19 illness, which is better addressed with natural immunity and proven medication, no longer requires national emergency status.
Vaccines have failed to reduce spread of COVID-19 and pose several health risks, while natural immunity for children and healthy adults has proven more effective. Moreover, treatment protocols that use well-studied, FDA approved medications are now proven to be effective in preventing severe illness and death from Covid-19.
With the success of treatments and broad natural immunity amidst waning strength of COVID-19 variants, there is no longer a credible need for a national emergency in the U.S.
On March 13th, 2020, Donald Trump used an Executive Order under the National Emergency Act to declare a national emergency concerning COVID-19. On February 24, 2021, the order was extended by President Biden. Since then, the constitutional rights of Americans have been trampled on by allowing governments aligned with pharmaceutical companies to exploit its citizens. Biden’s extension of the national emergency on February 18th, 2022 ignores the extensive medical and scientific data, confirming a non-medical agenda by the White House.
The over 17,000 independent physicians and medical scientists, who reject the corporate interests of pharmaceutical companies, are calling on Congress to reject President Biden’s extension of the national emergency that was declared by President Trump, to reinstate our constitutional democracy, restore doctor-patient relationships, medical privacy and personal medical choice, and end coercive tactics and mandates.
About the Global COVID Summit
Global Covid Summit is the product of an international alliance of doctors and scientists, committed to speaking truth to power about Covid pandemic research and treatment.
Thousands have died from Covid as a result of being denied life-saving early treatment. The Declaration is a battle cry from physicians who are daily fighting for the right to treat their patients, and the right of patients to receive those treatments – without fear of interference, retribution or censorship by government, pharmacies, pharmaceutical corporations, and big tech. We demand that these groups step aside and honor the sanctity and integrity of the patient-physician relationship, the fundamental maxim “First Do No Harm”, and the freedom of patients and physicians to make informed medical decisions. Lives depend on it. More information here: https://globalCovidSummit.org
With Silicon Valley and other big tech companies seeming to mostly be choosing Ukraine over Russia in their recently-started war, nation-states of the world are learning lessons that might not be the kind Silicon Valley would like them to learn.
Tech is making it known that neutrality in war is not something nation states can count on tech for sustaining. In the Ukraine War, Silicon Valley is finding itself choosing to block this agent but not that agent, is choosing to take this government on as a client but not this government.
All of the nation-states of the world are paying close attention to what tech can do, in general, to affect the outcome of war, but also, they are paying close attention to the type of power tech can have in impeding your nation-states war efforts should you find yourself outside the club.
These actions by tech, or Silicon Valley in large part, but hardly exclusively, are sending signals to nation states that will continue to accelerate the process of the nationalization of social media and the internet in general. The cost for relying on obs (one big system) solutions is a potential loss of sovereignty as a nation-state altogether should the enemy that is invading you is in with the Silicon Valley crowd.
WASHINGTON — Last Wednesday, a few hours before Russian tanks began rolling into Ukraine, alarms went off inside Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center, warning of a never-before-seen piece of “wiper” malware that appeared aimed at the country’s government ministries and financial institutions.
Within three hours, Microsoft threw itself into the middle of a ground war in Europe — from 5,500 miles away. The threat center, north of Seattle, had been on high alert, and it quickly picked apart the malware, named it “FoxBlade” and notified Ukraine’s top cyberdefense authority. Within three hours, Microsoft’s virus detection systems had been updated to block the code, which erases — “wipes” — data on computers in a network.
Then Tom Burt, the senior Microsoft executive who oversees the company’s effort to counter major cyberattacks, contacted Anne Neuberger, the White House’s deputy national security adviser for cyber- and emerging technologies. Ms….
The muscle wing of the DNC, the faction that brings the kids whose milkshakes bring all the fires to business owners in urban centers run by local politicians even more beholden to this muscle than the DNC is, has announced through its token ‘appease the muscle’ spokesmodel, Rashida Tlaib (AOC was doing a cooking with goldleaf sesh on the insta at the time), that the muscle is not happy with Biden’s limp-lefted plans.
Dude LITERALLY led a chant to “FUND THE POLICE” after all the muscle did to scare the universe into thinking white devils were LITERALLY about to kill everyone in their sleep that didn’t have a Confederate Flag tattooed to the insides of each eyelids.
“Thankfully”, a few black business owners lost their business to the fires, and one lost his life, to assure that the white devil would not burn their businesses down and kill…..wait a second!
The real read on this is simple. Rashida and AOC and the other muscle faction foils are there to feign horror that the establishment is engaging in gambling RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSES! But, to the muscle faction, if you ever read us (and we know you do, and we love it), let me just say, kids, you being played.
You should really read up on the Brown Shirts and how that ended for them. That’s you, that’s how the DNC views you, muscle to be disposed with after they want to go ‘legit.’ No more fires, no more you.
The RNC has its own muscle faction spokesmodels feigning shock that the establishment is gambling RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSES! I won’t name names but Marjorie Taylor Greene randomly and whatnots. Not the RNC nor the DNC will ever truly appease the muscle in their groups, and, perhaps, we are all better off for that. But, at least in the case of the DNC, what they DO WISH to accomplish still continues to be the ongoing existential threat to an American Constitutionally-Limited Republic with our Bill of Rights standards of Individual Liberty as the cornerstone of the legitimization of government power in these lands as they haven been since their inception.
Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) has challenged President Joe Biden in a progressive response to his State of the Union address.
While much of Tlaib’s Tuesday night speech on behalf of the Working Families Party took aim at Republicans, the “Squad” member also challenged Biden to take action on progressive campaign promises while highlighting divisions between progressives and centrists in the Democratic Party.
Are black families choosing homeschooling because schools are racist? That’s what a NY Times article suggests. The article pulls an anecdotal story of one family whose son learned at a white-dominated school that slaves were just receiving “on-the-job-training.”
I must say, if your school has any literature that words slavery in that manner, ALL parents should be at the next school board meeting demanding that racist agit prop be removed from school. If this story is indeed true (and I am operating under the assumption that it is), it doesn’t match what I learned about slavery in school, and I went to school back in the 1970s and 80s.
I grew up when the tv mini-series was on everyone’s mind. I watched the whole series with my family. I learned early on of the racist, genocidal history of America. I didn’t learn that I was responsible for it or that I should be treated like a sinner because of the actions others who had the same melatonin levels as me did evil things.
I may have learned about George Washington’s apple tree in elementary school. By high school, I learned he had slaves. I learned there was no apple tree. I didn’t learn that I was the creator of evil and that everyone that looked like me, looks like me, are the creators of evil too. I didn’t need to learn that lie to see the mixed results of the American experiment.
Hopefully, the article is merely anecdotal. I’d love to believe it was outright false. If it is not, let us hope people suffered consequences for allowing such evil to get into the minds of our children using taxpayer dollars to do so. It would be like telling children that their parents literally invented slavery and racism and now the new society is going to fix what these evil parents did to make everything so hateful and racist and bigoted. What kind of emotional trauma would that create in a forming mind?
I suspect there are many black families that are taking their kids out of school for far more reasons than the school is racist. I suspect a lot of kids in nearly-all-black schools are getting taken out of the system as well, as more and more Americans, of many races, come to see how damaged our current education truly is.
More than teaching children to hate each other, as our schools are currently doing, they are also teaching kids to pass standardized tests. They are cramming them with memory lists to pass tests that will create little lasting habits of action which these kids will find anywhere remotely useful in life.
They prepare them for a world by telling them everything that came before it is evil, so we will start with a clean slate, judging people based on their race, sexual preference, and gender alone (where race and gender become synonymous with ideology, so that ‘black’ is a politics plus black biology, while ‘white’ is a politics that overrides biology).
Perhaps many black families find such un-American actions as stigmatizing people based on their beliefs, gender, sexual preference, and race something they wish to protect their children from. Perhaps many families, of many races, are beginning to understand how important it is for all of us to be one American race, defined not by our DNA but by our commitment to live out the standards set out in the Bill of Rights with our neighbors.
We seek to live in a land where we don’t want, don’t need your approval, but demand your respect when we exchange value with one another. This is the land of the free, where tolerance still means never forcing anyone to approve of anyone or anything but treating everyone like their favorite cousin when they exchange value with them in shared American space, space not defined by free association fellowships but by public ones. I suspect that hope is shared by many, across many other divides.
It is a world that the authors of such stories wish to prevent us from having, a world where America keeps progressing towards her Bill of Rights potential, a potential that has already undone slavery and brought the women the vote, enabled gay and lesbian couples to have the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples and is still challenging our assumptions of what it means to live in a land whose ultimate authority is rested in the state’s record on respecting each individual’s bills of rights, to treat everyone with respect as if they matter as much as you, even if you ‘know’ they clearly don’t.
Let us hope the families that do encounter such actual racism in our schools finds a truth out there that leads them to a shared hope in an America with Bill of Rights protections for all, in all our public spaces. Continuing down this path of factional division will only help America’s enemies, who hate the black American as much as they hate the Asian American as much as they hate the White American, etc, etc, etc.
The Chinese State loves the subterfuge, the self-hate, the doubt, the devastation on American morale that the DNC Left is pressing on us through its schools, its media, its control of the means of social and cultural production. Don’t become a useful political football in the DNC charade, black America. Stay with the Bill of Rights people. Divided we fall. Together we stand.
Brian and Andrea Thomas help their two youngest children with their homeschooling lesson at their home in Richardson, Tx. on Feb. 23, 2022. Credit – Ilana Panich-Linsman for TIME
For Shari Rohan, it was a social-studies lesson that described enslaved people receiving “on-the-job training.” For Zanetta Lamar, it was the fact that her son was the only Black student in his grade. For Andrea Thomas, it was realizing just how little she had learned about Black history while attending both public and private schools.
“I did not want my children to have that same experience,” says Thomas, who, along with Rohan and Lamar, is now homeschooling her children, becoming part of a movement that once was seen as the domain of white, conservative families. “I wanted them to have a deeper understanding of history and the flaws within our history.”
Homeschooling increased nationwide after the pandemic…
For Shari Rohan, it was a social-studies lesson that described enslaved people receiving “on-the-job training.” For Zanetta Lamar, it was the fact that her son was the only Black student in his grade. For Andrea Thomas, it was realizing just how little she had learned about Black history while attending both public and private schools.
“I did not want my children to have that same experience,” says Thomas, who, along with Rohan and Lamar, is now homeschooling her children, becoming part of a movement that once was seen as the domain of white, conservative families. “I wanted them to have a deeper understanding of history and the flaws within our history.”
Homeschooling increased nationwide after the pandemic disrupted in-person learning; among households with school-age children, the percentage who reported homeschooling them rose from…
On March 1st, 2022, Pro-Ukraine activists rallied outside of the UN in NY to call for NATO to create a No-Fly Zone over Ukraine. The rally was called “The No-Fly Zone over Ukraine” rally. As CBS News reports “Dozens of people crowded the area…..”
The nature of such a sparsely populated rally is generally dubious from the start, though not necessarily. However, when a corporate media outlet is painting a rosy picture on dozens of people attending your rally to call on NATO to risk nuclear war to save Ukraine from Russian jets, one would be remiss not to reserve a measure of skepticism regarding the nature of the activists themselves. Not that I’m judging them if they are (insert mysterious government alphabet here). States gonna do what states gonna do, as the saying goes.
I just want to set the real context of the nature of the plea that was made by 20 some-ish people in New York that might bring about armed conflict between countries with nuclear weapons. I just want to bring that context to bear before we celebrate twenty some-ish people showing up on a reasonably decent day in New York City outside the UN headquarters building to attempt to influence NATO to send jets to confront Russian jets so we can protect Ukraine.
Whatever your feeling about Ukraine, be it for Russia, for Ukraine, or whoever, I can assure you that no-fly zones over Ukraine would most likely be a horrible outcome for all parties involved.
A story like this is a little feeder, a tester, to see what kind of response they get from the idea of a no-fly zone from the peoples, wrapped behind the safety of it not being ‘experts’ or journalists starting off with this idea of a no-fly zone, it is actually a grassroots movement, a peoples’ movement in support of sovereign nationhood and whatnots.
There are many ways to support Ukraine, but risking armed conflict with a nuclear power is not one of them. Perhaps Poland can assist by declaring war on Belarus, and see if Russia is then willing to risk conflict with a nuclear power by going after a member of NATO without nuclear weapons.
That is a whole lot of risks in and of itself, but it would STILL be less riskier than declaring a No-Fly Zone over Ukraine. If you support Ukraine, their next move, sadly, is to make it as brutal as they can while they stave off the inevitable, though the new exiles should already be forming up, being trained, many to go back and constitute the initial ongoing resistance to Russian presence.
It’s a grim future, though, and offers, perhaps, a decade or more of grinding down lives in a substandard, unstable world where no Ukrainian would long want to stay anyway. I suspect Russia will attempt to move Russians in where Ukrainians move out. We might then be witnessing the elimination of a whole people should their diaspora not hold together under common values and customs that can be lived out wherever they are.
The best we can hope for is Russia realizes, after eventually taking Kiev (and they soon most likely will), that the going is too costly, so they’ll accept a reduced Ukraine that still holds its autonomy even as it loses more territory. Outside of that, there is little chance any nuclear power will directly confront Russian troops. Poland is the strongest contender to being able to intervene militarily, but only against Belarus. Russia would then have to decide whether to escalate by attacking a NATO nation or not. Even if Poland is the best option, it’s not a very good one. All we can do is supply, arm, take care of the family members of the fighters, if we want to help Ukraine.
If we want to help Russia, well, we would simply stay out Russia’s well, but, geopolitically, America can ill afford to do so. Now that China is coming forward to offer to mitigate talks between Russia and Ukraine, America might do well to increase her supplying of Ukrainians to assure, if there is a deal, Ukraine remains on the table for the West.
Ukraine is the gateway between the Empires of the East and the Empires of the West. No hegemonic power can long hold sway in this part of the world if Ukraine is in the hands of their enemies. It is the launching pad in either direction due to where it lies, in the East European Plain.
Unfortunately, this makes the Ukrainians political footballs for eastern and western powers, from America to Russia, China to Germany, Ukraine is the spoils of other nations more than she is her own.
Let’s keep a watch on this whole no-fly zone rally and hope, for everyone’s sake, it doesn’t grow legs.
NEW YORK — As the conflict in Ukraine reaches its sixth day, many across the world are condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin, including a group of protesters who took to the streets Tuesday on Manhattan’s East Side.
The rally, called “The No-Fly Zone Over Ukraine,” kicked off at around 10 a.m. across the street from the United Nations. Dozens of people crowded the area, calling on NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine so Russia cannot perform airstrikes.
The group joined a growing number of rallies across the world condemning Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. Cars and trucks could be heard honking for blocks, showing support for the cause.
“It’s extremely difficult to support Ukraine, because of Russia’s threats. So I guess just trying to show as an international community that we support them and we’re hoping for their safety,” one demonstrator told CBS2’s Elijah Westbrook.
Many of the protesters Westbrook spoke with said they want the…
Ukraine War February 28th, 2022- Source liveuamap.com
We are approaching one week since Russia invaded Ukraine allegedly to free up a newly declared breakaway country in Ukraine and to free the world from a Nazi scourge within. Since that time, Russia has made progress, but perhaps not nearly as fast as Putin’s reputation would like. The initial hard slog has already been a black eye to the Putin shirtless wonder on a bear meme image, but victory followed by full consolidation of power in Ukraine could make the world soon forget his uncivil war’s uncivil beginning.
Or so Putin hopes. But Zelensky’s cockiness in the face of death has caused Europe to rally to his side in ways that Russia must have imagined were not possible. Germany is now arming up and sending arms to Ukraine. Finland is sending arms to Ukraine. Even the Swiss are siding with Ukraine on this one.
And now, Zelensky has served notice that Ukraine intends to seek membership in the EU. This comes after Ukraine just demanded that Russia leave all of Ukraine, including the Crimea. Perhaps Zelensky is trying to draw other nations into the conflict, which is not implausible.
The fatty enticement of a corrupt Ukraine beholden to Western corporate powers (as it has been since Obama) could be enough to consider throwing in even harder, like providing air support. NATO could attempt to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
This isn’t to suggest that this writer believes Europe will ever commit that much blood to the cost, but Zelensky has to throw whatever Hail Marys he has. What helps Russia short term, however, might hurt their chances of keeping other nations out of the fray.
The most likely next candidate to join in the fight would be Poland. After a long history of war between the two once great powers that goes back a few centuries, Poland and Ukraine, it seems, are one. That likelihood was significantly increased with Belarus now committing actual troops to aid the Russians in their invasion of Ukraine.
Leading up to this moment, Poland has been dealing with Belarus using ‘refugees’ (mostly healthy young men, fighting age and fighting fit kind of men) from the wars in the Middle East as weapons to attempt to break through Polish borders. So far, the Poles have stood. Now, the Poles must wonder if they should wait for Russia to build up power or move to stop Belarus from being a useful ally to Russia against Ukraine.
Of course, the nuclear missiles keep the Poles thinking, but, as the Poles are not a nation with nukes, and taking into consideration they would not be attacking Russian troops, let alone Russian soil, it would seem reasonable to presume Russia would not use nukes in response. Or so one would hope.
More likely, Western powers are activating dissenters from within Belarus, and there are plenty there, whether the West were involved or not, willing to throw in with anyone if they can get rid of their dictator, Lukashenko, who is now sending their boys to attempt to help Russia invade Ukraine.
Belarus is potentially an Austria of World War One for Germany, a weak ally that drags you down with the resources you will now need to keep that ally afloat. The question is, how much does Poland fear Russia won’t stop with Ukraine? How much does the rest of Europe, America, seek to risk with nuclear weapons at play?
It could be possible, however, that if Belarus were to destabilze, the Russians might quickly negotiate a deal that allows them to hold on to their southern gains but for Zelensky now moving to apply for EU membership. Now, the Russians have little reason to stop even if Belarus becomes a drain. This latest move by Zelensky puts an even bigger bounty on his head and puts a lot of super spies into deep action trying to unsettle regimes, specifically, those of Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus.
If a regime change cannot be affected in Belarus, one wonders if and when Poland might enter the war. If one hopes to avoid a nuclear war, one might hope for Poland to not join the war. At that point, nuclear-powered troops might have a hard time avoiding each other.
What is most startling is the amount of anti-Russianism seeming to sweep the world, with some notable exceptions like China (more on that to follow). From Israel to Africa, protests have been happening in support of Ukraine against Russia. Russia has somehow lost the global meme war.
As for China, their internet loves Russia, it would seem, but China’s lapdog, the International Olympic Committee, just threw Russian athletes under a fleet of buses, something that would not have happened without Chairman Xi’s approval.
China is all too happy to smile for Russia but see Russia weakened as well. China is also under a lot of boycott scrutiny as of late, so China coming out strong in support of Russia is something that would have to be done very diplomatically, let’s just say.
China will have to send conflicting messages to have plausible deniability depending on which audience they are speaking to.
Some key things to watch for are protests in both Russia and Belarus. Do they grow? Do the governments use violence to stop them? Is Zelensky still alive? That’s a pretty major one now all the more significant after the EU membership filing.
Does Kiev fall within the week? Does Russia avoid causing massive civilian casualties?
Here are the critical headlines I read to produce the analysis you’ve just read:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has officially signed an application for Ukraine’s membership in the European Union, according to a post from his verified Facebook page.
“[Zelenskyy] has just signed a historical document — Ukraine’s application for European Union membership,” tweeted Andrii Sybiha, the deputy head of the president’s office. Ukraine’s prime minister and head of parliament also signed a joint statement, he added.
At peace talks with Russia on the Belarusian border, a member of the Ukrainian delegation demanded the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukrainian territories, including Crimea and Donbass, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office Oleksii Arestovich said Monday.
Later, in comments to Ukrainian media outlets, Arestovich clarified that the demands were his personal opinion and not the official position of Ukraine.
Various sources reported that negotiations in Pripyat were going badly. Russia demanded the recognition of Crimea, self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) within the boundaries of the regions and the federalization of Ukraine.
Cease-fire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials began on the Belarusian border on Monday as Russia faced deepening economic isolation four days after invading Ukraine.
Russian forces seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear…
KYIV, Ukraine — Initial talks between Russia and Ukraine concluded without result on Monday evening, with both delegations returning from the site of the negotiations in Belarus to their capitals for consultations.
Kyiv is seeking a cease-fire in Ukraine and an end to hostilities, according to Mihailo Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian delegation.
“The parties identified a number of priority topics in which certain solutions were outlined,” he said after the discussions ended. “In order to get some opportunities for implementation and logistical solutions, the parties are returning to their capitals for consultations.”
The Kremlin wants its security demands taken into account “unconditionally,” President Vladimir V. Putin told the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as talks were underway. Those include the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, and “demilitarizing and denazifying the Ukrainian state and ensuring its neutral status,” meaning that it gives up…
The IOC Executive Board “recommends that International Sports Federations and sports event organizers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions,” the organization’s statement released on Monday read.
The Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games, World Championships and World Cups are among the international sporting events the IOC is recommending Russian and Belarusian athletes be removed from, according to the statement.
Regarding how long the ban would last, “The IOC EB, assisted by the IOC Task Force, continues to closely monitor the situation. It may adapt its recommendations and measures according to future developments.”
Shell has pledged to sever ties with the Kremlin by exiting its joint ventures with the Russian state-backed energy colossus Gazprom.
The oil giant said it will end its tie-up with Gazprom by selling its 27.5pc stake in the Sakhalin 2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and will stop working on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which Germany put on ice earlier this month.
Shell’s Russian assets were valued at $3bn at the end of last year.
The move came little more than 24 hours after BP announced that it would divest its near-20pc stake in Kremlin-controlled oil major Rosneft.
Shell’s announcement followed a crunch meeting between Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden and Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, earlier on Monday.
Shell has invested an estimated $1bn (£750m) in the 750-mile pipeline that was designed to double the amount of gas flowing from Russia to Germany.
Mr van Beurden said: “We are shocked by the loss of life in Ukraine, which we deplore, resulting…
Ukrainian officials have asked European citizens of all stripes to join their fight against Russia — and some nations are responding approvingly to the call.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his officials over the weekend announced a new volunteer force for foreign fighters, called the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, and urged volunteers to join through their local Ukrainian embassies. Zelensky said “anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals.”
Foreigners willing to defend Ukraine and world order as part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, I invite you to contact foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine in your respective countries. Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too.
HELSINKI: Finland will send weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Monday (Feb 28), in a shift of policy.
The shipment will include 2,500 assault rifles, 150,000 bullets, 1,500 anti-tank weapons and 70,000 food packages, Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen added.
“The anti-tank weapons can be used to fight armoured vehicles,” Kaikkonen told a news conference after a government meeting on Monday.
The decision means a shift in policy for Finland which has maintained an image of a non-aligned country since the Soviet Union in 1956 gave up a naval base it had leased in southern Finland after World War II.
Kaikkonen hinted at government scrapping Finland’s long-standing policy not to supply weapons to war zones on Sunday when he said the government was considering sending Ukraine material that could be used to kill.
The Nordic state on Sunday also decided it would supply Ukraine with helmets, bulletproof vests and first aid equipment and gave Estonia permission to donate Ukraine field guns previously owned by Finland.
Move comes as Belarus faces criticism for allowing Russian forces use its territory as a launchpad to attack Ukraine.
The European Union has warned that Belarus could start hosting Russian nuclear weapons after a “very dangerous” decision at a referendum to drop the country’s non-nuclear status.
“We know what does it mean for Belarus to be nuclear. It means that Russia will put nuclear weapons in Belarus and this is a very dangerous path,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.
The move by Belarus came as the country was being condemned internationally for being used as a launchpad by Russian forces to attack neighbouring Ukraine.
Borrell slammed the “fake referendum” on constitutional changes. The amendments allow the country to host nuclear weapons and Russian forces permanently. It also extended the rule of leader Alexander Lukashenko.
About 800 people were reportedly arrested after the vote sparked the biggest protests in months and thousands took to…
Russian billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich, who owns Premier League football club Chelsea, has accepted a Ukrainian request to help negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, his spokesperson said.
Word of Abramovich’s involvement in talks, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, first came from the Jewish News, which said Kyiv had reached out through Jewish contacts to seek his help.
“I can confirm Roman Abramovich was contacted by the Ukrainian side for support in achieving a peaceful resolution, and that he has been trying to help ever since,” an Abramovich spokesperson said.
“Considering what is at stake, we would ask for understanding as to why we have not commented on either the situation as such or his involvement.”
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine’s government.
A Ukrainian government official tells CNN that Ukrainian intelligence indicates Belarusian “readiness to maybe participate directly” in the invasion of Ukraine, “in addition to allowing Russians to use their territory as well as letting them cross the border.”
A second source close to the Ukrainian government told CNN that in addition to the Ukrainian intelligence, the Biden administration has also conveyed to the Ukrainian government that Belarus is preparing to join the Russian invasion.
The intelligence sparked fresh concern within the Biden administration. A senior administration official said the White House is watching actions taken by Belarus closely and is prepared to levy more sanctions on the country. In a sign of the escalating turmoil in the region, the US announced Monday that it was suspending operations at its embassy in Belarus.
A YOUNG girl has been shot by Russian troops alongside her parents as Putin’s forces have slaughtered 16 children amid the bloody invasion.
Polina, a 4th-grade pupil, believed to be around ten years old, was killed by a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group who opened fire on her family’s car in Kyiv.
According to the city’s mayor, Volodymyr Bondarenko the girl’s brother is at Okhmatdyt children’s hospital and her sister is in intensive care.
A devastating total of sixteen children have died so far in the brutal war, said Ukraine’s Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko.
MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Russian armed forces have blocked the cities of Kherson and Berdyansk, took control over Genichevsk and an airport near Kherson, Chief Spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing on Sunday.
“Over the past day, the cities of Kherson and Berdyansk were completely blocked by the Russian armed forces. The city of Genichevsk and the Kherson airport were also taken under control,” the spokesman noted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people “who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.” The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not…
Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said on Sunday that the number of dead could be as high as 4,300, but it still needed to be clarified. She also said on her Facebook page that Russian troops lost about 146 tanks, 27 aircraft and 26 helicopters.
A network of social media groups and pages spreading disinformation in Ukraine has been taken down, Facebook owner Meta announced on Sunday.
In the days immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Meta said it had uncovered a “relatively small” network of around 40 accounts, pages and groups posing as news outlets and using fake identities on Facebook and Instagram.
The network, run by people based in Russia and Ukraine, created profiles on YouTube, Telegram, Russian Facebook equivalent VKontakte and Meta’s own platforms in order to promote websites that published “claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state,” Meta said.
“It mainly posted links to long-form articles on its websites, without much luck making them engaging. It got very few reactions, and under 4,000 followers,” Meta’s threat intelligence lead Ben Nimmo said on Twitter.
The network also created fake Ukrainian user accounts using AI-generated profile pictures which posed as residents…
A network of social media groups and pages spreading disinformation in Ukraine has been taken down, Facebook owner Meta announced on Sunday.
In the days immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Meta said it had uncovered a “relatively small” network of around 40 accounts, pages and groups posing as news outlets and using fake identities on Facebook and Instagram.
The network, run by people based in Russia and Ukraine, created profiles on YouTube, Telegram, Russian Facebook equivalent VKontakte and Meta’s own platforms in order to promote websites that published “claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state,” Meta said.
“It mainly posted links to long-form articles on its websites, without much luck making them engaging. It got very few reactions, and under 4,000 followers,” Meta’s threat intelligence lead Ben Nimmo said on Twitter.
The network also created fake Ukrainian user accounts using AI-generated profile pictures which posed as residents…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it has established “total air superiority” over Ukraine on the fifth day of President Vladimir Putin’s deadly invasion of the neighboring country.
The latest briefing claiming Russia’s military gains came as Russian and Ukrainian delegates were due to negotiate a ceasefire on the Ukraine-Belarus border at noon Monday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said it has destroyed eight Buk M-1 air defense system vehicles, an S-300 missile system, three radars and five aircraft in the past 24 hours.
“Since the beginning of the operation, Russian forces have hit 1,114 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities, including 31 command posts and communications centers, destroyed 314 tanks and other armored vehicles, 57 multiple launch rocket systems, 121 field artillery pieces and mortars,” he said.
The US is set to send an additional $350m worth of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine to help it defend itself against the Russian invasion.
The move comes after US President Joe Biden authorised the military assistance.
According to the US Department of Defense (DoD) statement, the assistance will include anti-armour, body-armour, small arms, various munitions, and military equipment from DoD inventories.
The latest military aid marks the third time in recent months that President Biden used the Presidential Drawdown Authority to facilitate emergency security assistance for Ukraine.
The countries’ friendship has “no limits,” they declared.
Given that the leaders met just weeks before the invasion, it would be understandable to conclude that China should have had better knowledge of the Kremlin’s plans. But growing evidence suggests that the echo chamber of China’s foreign policy establishment might have misled not only the country’s internet users, but its own officials.
My colleague Edward Wong reported that over a period of three months, senior U.S. officials held meetings with their Chinese counterparts and shared intelligence that detailed Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine. The Americans asked the Chinese officials to intervene with the Russians and tell them not to invade.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, there have been countless examples of citizens going above and beyond to defend their country.
Whether they’re towing tanks away with tractors, moving land mines off roads with their bare hands or tragically blowing themselves up on bridges to slow the Russian advance – the actions of everyday Ukrainians have been heroic.
But for every day the Russian invasion is frustrated, the chance that Vladimir Putin will unleash a nightmarish arsenal of weapons on the region increases.
Former KGB agent Putin has a vast supply of unconventional weaponry at his disposal including robotic tanks and fearsome crack dog units, reports the Mirror.
Like many commentators I was surprised (and heartened) to see a video of a drone strike carried out by Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 drones against a Russian supply convoy. Unlike some such videos this one seems to be genuine according to Rob Lee, senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The Ukrainian Air Force has since confirmed it has carried out such attacks; another video can be seen here. This simply could not happen if Russia was conducting its military operations properly, and points to a series of failings in the Russian war machine.
To rewind slightly: the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 – ‘Tactical Block 2’ — is approximately equivalent to the old U.S. Predator drone. It has a wingspan of 39 feet and a 105-hp engine giving it a cruising speed of around 80 mph, so it could…
Five Chinese historians have published an open letter condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in a move that breaks ranks with the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s ban on criticism of the move by Putin.
“As a country that was once also ravaged by war … we sympathize with the suffering of the Ukrainian people,” the letter, signed by history professors at five top Chinese universities, said. “The ruins of buildings, the sound of artillery fire, and the wounds of refugees in Ukraine have injured us deeply.”
Calling the invasion a “war that began in the dark,” Nanjing University professor Sun Jiang, Peking University professor Wang Lixin, Hong Kong University professor Xu Guoqi, Tsinghua historian Zhong Weimin and Fudan University’s Chen Yan call for an immediate end to the fighting.
“We emphatically call on the Russian government and President Putin to stop the war and resolve any dispute through negotiations,” it said.
A bonfire of EU shibboleths on the economy, conflict, finance, energy supply, migration, and even the bloc’s future shape and size, has been lit by the conflict raging in Ukraine.
Battlefield images, the leadership of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has framed the war as being between European democracy and brute bullying power, and the challenge of coordinating with UK and US allies who are pushing for more while having less to lose, has created a new political necessity.
The standard rational actor analysis of economic interests has gone by the wayside. And while during normal times, the EU’s deep economic ties with Russia had been a liability, with countries fearful of upsetting the Kremlin, those ties now offer leverage unmatched anywhere else in the world.
South Korea’s capital has joined a number of cities around the world lighting monuments in blue and yellow in support of Ukraine, reflecting the colors of its national flag.
Four landmarks in Seoul — the City Hall, Namsan Seoul Tower, Sebitseom on the Han River and Seoullo Media Canvas — were lit up on Monday.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians and supporters protested against the Russian invasion outside Moscow’s embassy in Seoul on Sunday and Monday.
New York’s Empire State Building was also lit up blue and yellow last week, with crowds gathering in Times Square on Saturday to protest the Russian invasion.
One protester, Olga Ladygima, told CNN she hadn’t slept for the past three nights. She is from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, she said — and…
HELSINKI, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Airlines on Monday braced for a potentially lengthy dispute after the European Union (EU) banned Russian airlines from its airspace and Moscow responded in kind, barring carriers from 36 countriesincluding all 27 members of the European Union.
Dozens of flights were cancelled or sent on costly detours as the crisis hit airline shares.
The rerouting meant Kazakhstan’s airspace saw a tripling of flights to more than 450. read more
Russia’s ban came after the EU and Canada on Sunday banned flights by Russian airlines as fighting raged in Ukraine. read more
Without access to Russia’s airspace, carriers will have to divert flights south while also avoiding areas of tension in the Middle East. read more
Shares in European airlines and airport operators were down 3-6% in early trade, while Finnish national carrier Finnair cut its guidance with its shares down 21% in afternoon trade. [nL8N2V32H1]
In the dingy basement of Okhmadet Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, mothers and babies find what comfort they can on makeshift beds and blankets laid out on either side of the concrete aisle, Reuters reports.
Older children who are too sick to go home or flee the capital with their families following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are also adjusting to life under siege, staying away from windows and lying in corridors on intravenous drips.
Staff, patients and their families share Ukrainians’ sense of shock at being caught in a conflict few could have foreseen even a few days ago.
Russian troops may soon attempt to jam communications (mobile and internet network) in the near-front zone.
The relevant statement was made by the National Guard of Ukraine on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“According to the intelligence data, the Russian military may soon attempt to jam communications (mobile and internet network) in the near-front zone to conduct a further disinformation campaign regarding Ukraine’s fake ‘capitulation’ with calls to surrender and not to oppose. Please be aware and do not trust the enemy,” the report states.
According to the National Guard of Ukraine, Ukraine will fight and defend itself as long as necessary.
A reminder that, on February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, starting a war. Russian troops are shelling and destroying the key infrastructure facilities, launching missile strikes on residential houses in Ukraine.
This weekend, as the Japanese government dramatically ramped up sanctions on Russia in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, the Japanese people responded, too. With the help of Japanese social media influencers and celebrities spreading news about Ukraine and calls for action going viral on social media, Japanese residents have shown up for Ukrainians in droves.
Solidarity with Ukraine could be found in many Asian countries, with symbolic protests in several capitals and Singapore and South Korea joining the sanctions against Russia. People in Myanmar and Hong Kong also recognized the Ukrainians’ struggle as similar to their own fight against oppression.
In Tokyo, Japanese residents stood alongside Ukrainians and Russians in several protests for peace, including one that drew about 2,000 people in the popular district of Shibuya.
Japan will slap sanctions on Belarus over its “clear involvement” in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, zeroing in on President Alexander Lukashenko and other Belarusian individuals, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday just as talks between Kyiv and Moscow got under way.
Belarus, known for its close ties with Russia and serving as an entry point for Russian forces invading Ukraine, will also be subject to Japan’s export controls.
The scope of Japan’s sanctions regime in response to the military attack launched last week now expands beyond Russia and two pro-Moscow separatist regions in Ukraine. The move is in line with steps taken by the United States and other nations.
Along with the announcement on Belarus, Kishida said the government will limit transactions with the Russian central bank. It is the latest escalation of…
Feb 28 (Reuters) – Russia has employed hundreds of powerful and precise ballistic missiles in the first days of its Ukraine attack, but analysts and U.S. officials say many Ukrainian defences remain intact – effects that countries around the world are watching closely.
The use of short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) is likely being watched closely as a real-world case study by China, North Korea, and other countries that have been developing increasingly advanced arsenals of such weapons in recent years. And Western governments who see Russia as an adversary are eager to gather data on the missiles’ effects in combat.
Russia had fired more than 320 missiles as of Sunday morning, with the majority of them SRBMs, a U.S. official told reporters.
According to U.S. estimates, the initial hours of the Russian onslaught last week included more than 100 missiles launched from land and sea, mostly SRBMs but also cruise missiles and…
Those numbers seemed to reflect the mood of the conference-goers, many of whom said they felt bad about the situation in Ukraine, but they had other concerns that were of higher priority – issues like immigration, inflation, public schools and what they see as government overreach in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
BRUSSELS, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Energy ministers from European Union countries will on Monday discuss preparations for potential energy supply shocks and measures to shore up gas stocks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Europe’s top gas supplier, has sharpened concerns of disruption to energy supplies and increased scrutiny of European Union countries’ reliance on imported fossil fuels.
EU ministers will “take stock of possible additional actions in terms of safeguarding supply, the use of strategic oil stocks, the management of gas stocks” at the emergency meeting, according to a preparatory note by France, which currently chairs EU ministers’ meetings.
The Ukrainian military said on Monday that Russian troops had slowed down their offensive as Moscow’s assault against Ukraine went into its fifth day.
“The Russian occupiers have reduced the pace of the offensive, but are still trying to develop success in some areas,” the general staff of the armed forces said.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, sending shockwaves around the world.
Ukraine forces, backed by Western arms, have managed to slow the advance of the Russian army.
The Ukrainian military also accused Russia of launching a missile strike on residential buildings in the cities of Zhytomyr and Chernigiv, cities in the country’s northwest and north.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that the European Union would close its airspace to Russian aircraft in response to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, ABC News reported.
In a press conference, Von der Leyen said, “We are shutting down the EU airspace for Russians. We are proposing a prohibition on all Russian-owned, Russian-registered, or Russian-controlled aircraft. These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off, or overfly the territory of the EU.”
“So let me be very clear,” she continued, “Our airspace will be closed to every Russian plane, and that includes the private jets of oligarchs too.”
Von der Leyen also announced that the European Union would be prohibiting media backed by the Russian government.
Authorities in Kyiv have issued a call on social media for information about crypto wallets controlled by politicians in Russia and Belarus. On Saturday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on Twitter that the country’s crypto community will reward those who provide details leading to their identification.
Ukrainian crypto community is ready to provide a generous reward for any information about crypto-wallets of Russian and Belarusian politicians and their surroundings. War crimes must be pursued and punished! To share info please contact in Telegram: https://t.co/XHidwUQ8bE.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets members of the Ukrainian community at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, Mayfair, on February 27, 2022 in London, England. Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine has killed scores and prompted a wave of protests across Europe. | Jamie Lorriman/WPA Pool/Getty Images
As tensions remain high with Russia’s invading troops and tanks driving deeper into Ukraine, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday that Ukrainians fleeing the invasion will be welcomed into the country if they have family in Britain.
“The U.K. will not turn our backs in Ukraine’s hour of need,” Johnson said in a statement, announcing that visa restrictions are being eased for Ukrainians who have immediate family in Britain, Reuters reported.
Ukraine has demanded the withdrawal of all Russian troops, including from Crimea and Donbass, during the ongoing talks with Russian delegations in Belarus, according to Russian media Sputnik.
Russia’s foreign ministry demanded that Canada keep their diplomats safe
After hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Russian Embassy in Ottawa on Sunday to show their support for Ukraine, Russia’s foreign ministry demanded that Canada keep its diplomats safe — and threatened retaliation if they failed to do so.
The protesters, who then made their way to city hall, were called hostile in a statement by Russia’s foreign ministry. Russia called in Canada’s ambassador to Moscow to lodge a formal protest, Reuters reported.
Some 90 percent of Ukrainians support President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s defense the country against Russia, while most believe they will be able to repel Russia’s attack, a new poll has found.
The poll conduct by the Rating Sociological group, a Ukrainian non-governmental polling organization, found that 70 percent of respondents said they believed Ukraine would be able to…
Retired Major General James “Spider” Marks explains how Belarus, a Russian ally which shares a border with northern Ukraine, could help capture the capital Kyiv.
On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Israel’s prime minister, Naftali Bennett, did not mention Russia once. Mr. Bennett said he prayed for peace, called for dialogue and promised support for Ukrainian citizens. But he did not hint at Moscow’s involvement, much less condemn it — and it was left, as preplanned, to Mr. Bennett’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid, to criticize Moscow in a separate statement that day.
The pair’s cautious double act embodied the bind in which the war in Ukraine has placed Israel.
Israel is a key partner of the United States, and many Israelis appreciate longstanding cultural connections with Ukraine, which, for several months in 2019, was the only country other than their own with both a Jewish president — Volodymyr Zelensky — and a Jewish prime minister. But Russia is a critical actor in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, Israel’s northeastern neighbor and enemy, and the Israeli government believes it cannot risk losing…
Switzerland will adopt all the sanctions that the European Union has imposed on Russian people and companies and freeze their assets to punish the invasion of Ukraine, the government said in a sharp deviation from the country’s traditional neutrality.
“We are in an extraordinary situation where extraordinary measures could be decided,” President and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told a news conference in Bern on Monday, flanked by the finance, defence and justice ministers.
Busloads of Jewish orphans from the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr near the Belarus border have escaped to southwestern Ukraine, and hope to cross into Romania and from there fly to Israel.
On Sunday, missiles fired from Belarus hit an airport in Zhytomyr, according to Reuters.
Just under 100 children, ages four to 18, are in the care of Chabad’s Alumim orphanage based in Zhytomyr. In a country with serious problems of alcoholism and drug abuse, some have no parents while others are so-called “social orphans,” with one or two parents who, for a range of reasons, are unable to cope with child-rearing.
A number of the children had previously experienced war situations in Donetsk and Lugansk — areas declared independent by Russian-backed separatists in 2014 — and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine five days ago have been reliving the trauma, according to Alumim’s Israel-born director, Malka Bukiet.
It was the moment when a throwaway diplomatic mantra — “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” — actually made a giant difference.
A personal plea for help by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued directly to EU heads of state and government via video link as the leaders met at an emergency summit in Brussels last Thursday night is now being credited as the key intervention that led to a stunning acceleration of Western support, including weapons, officials and diplomats said.
Even after Zelenskyy’s speech, some EU leaders balked at imposing the most drastic economic sanctions, cutting Russia off from the SWIFT international payments system. They opted instead for a step-by-step approach.
But over the next 48 hours, with Ukrainian soldiers putting up fierce resistance to the Russian invasion, the EU shifted to the vanguard of action against Russia by imposing sanctions personally…
She says she was told by armed guards to wait as Ukrainians had to be let through first. She watched busloads of people, whom she described as white, being allowed through the border while only a handful of Africans were selected from the queue. After waiting for many hours, she was finally allowed to cross and made her way to Warsaw to fly back to Nigeria.
Until this week Daniel Mediakovskyi was a history student in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. Since Sunday, however, he has been sticking rubber bands and plastic tops on to homemade bombs. “It’s practical history. It’s time for this right now,” he explained, loading another molotov cocktail into a crate.
Around him, about a dozen students and young creative professionals stood around a makeshift table. All wore masks and washing-up gloves. Each had a role in a busy production line. The basement bomb factory smelled strongly of petrol and paint remover – two molotov ingredients, along with polystyrene and silver dust.
Mediakovskyi – who is 20 – said his mother had woken him early last Thursday to tell him Russia had invaded Ukraine. “I knew it was going to start. My hands started shaking,” he said. After spending a day doom-scrolling on social media, he decided he would try to help.
“My parents know I’m volunteering. I haven’t told my granny. She’s worried enough…
The U.S. Department of State Monday announced it has suspended operations at the U.S. embassy in Minsk, Belarus, and authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency employees and family members at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia’s capital, Moscow.
In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the State Department took the steps due to security and safety issues stemming from “the unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces in Ukraine.”
He said the department continually adjusts its posture at embassies and consulates throughout the world based on the local security environment, and the health situation.
Blinken said, “We ultimately have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens, and that includes our U.S. government personnel and their dependents serving around the world.”
The UN has put civilian casualties in Ukraine since Russia invaded at more than 100, including children, while 400,000 have fled the fighting as the commissioner for human rights said the world was at a “tipping point”.
“The military attack on Ukraine is putting at risk countless lives,” said Michelle Bachelet, high commissioner for human rights, at the 49th session of the council in Geneva.
The UN’s Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 102 killed in the conflict from Thursday morning to Sunday night, including seven children, with 304 injured.
“Most of these civilians were killed by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and air strikes,” Bachelet said on Monday. “The real figures are, I fear, considerably higher.
“Meanwhile, millions of civilians, including vulnerable and older people, are forced to huddle in different forms of bomb shelters, such as underground…
In politics, you are known by the quality of your enemies. Thus, we took it as a great sign when one of the hardest left of the mainstream magazines, Mother Jones, recently devoted its “The Big Feature” to protesting the official recognition of a Virginia well-regulated Militia.
The Board of Supervisors of the Bedford and Campbell County governments and first term Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) gave recognition to the Bedford Militia. This is big. It could represent an important, perhaps even transformational, first step in the restoration of our Constitutional right to well-regulated Militias. Per Mom:
“Virginia is the only state where local governments are legitimizing their regional militias. In Bedford County and its neighboring Campbell County the local governments are trying to rebrand their militias from extremist paramilitary groups operating on the fringe of society into an official arm of the state—one with a more family-friendly image of protecting neighbors rather than bombing government buildings. ‘It’s sad at this point that the militia is a scary term, because historically it’s not a scary term,’ Jonathan Falls, the commander of the Bedford Militia, told his troops at the muster. ‘Historically it’s a very honorable thing to do in your community, and so part of our mission is to change the definition of the militia back to what its original, historical meaning was.’”
Of course, Mom (who typically sympathizes exclusively with left-wing paramilitary groups such as Seattle’s riotous CHOP, where one of the rioters killed someone) clutches her pearls at the prospect of militias becoming what they Constitutionally were constituted to be (and long and happily were), “an official arm of the state.” And woe is me says she to well-regulated militias regaining their authentic “family-friendly image of protecting neighbors rather than bombing government buildings.”
In the immortal words of America’s greatest yogi, Yogi Berra, “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice but in practice there is.” Thus, we are delighted to help spread the word of the emergence, in practice, of what we recently proposed here in theory, something which the Sentinel’s editor proposed long before we did: a well regulated militia.
In a recent article in the issue of the Bill of RightsSentinel, “Demand Restoration of the Full Second Amendment,” we took a strong stand that gun rights advocates simply must demand our orphaned Constitutional right to a well-regulated militia together with the right to keep and bear arms. Of course, devotion to protecting the Second Amendment’s second clause in no way justifies Bill of Rights defenders’ caving on the first. We wrote:
“There’s no justification for how self-styled defenders of the Second Amendment defaulted facing abdication of the guarantee of the right to ‘a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…’ A proper defense of the Second Amendment must defend it in full. Not by halves. The first clause of the Second Amendment must be held as sacrosanct as, per the Heller case, the uninfringeable personal right to keep and bear arms, lest the entire bundle of rights to arms be weakened. We must not let leftists pull the rug out from under us by blithely ignoring the Second Amendment’s first clause, thereby setting an insidious precedent.”
We were unaware, when writing this, that much of our position had been anticipated by gun rights thought leader and long-time Sentinel editor-in-chief Alan Korwin in his 2015 Daily Caller column “A Well-Regulated Militia IS NEEDED For the Security of a Free State” wherein he wrote with characteristic trenchancy:
“Because this is a matter of national security, a pure constitutional function, Dept. of Homeland Security dollars can be legitimately allocated to encourage Americans to go to the range, become better marksmen, and be prepared.
“Television alone should have you supremely aware that authorities are excellent at closing the barn door after the horses are out. They show up in overwhelming numbers, beautifully attired for battle, after the battle is over. The ‘news’ crews record them all decked out, never dirty, then show the same few short clips of them standing around aimlessly, doing nothing on a street corner like idle teenagers.”
That said, however, we were not surprised by the anxiety of one good Sentinel reader who wrote to express his fear that our demand for respect for the full Second Amendment “has the potential to play into the hands of the antis.” We, as constitutional originalist lawyers, well understand that those opposed to our civil rights will attempt to reinterpret, in devious and preposterous ways, the plain language of the Bill of Rights to deprive us of such rights. It’s what they do.
Yet as the Heller case shows, their typically flimsy propagandistic arguments will fail when argued in front of a high integrity, constitutional originalist court. That said, anticipating the inevitable effort by the left to pervert the plain language of the Constitution is no justification for ignoring the plain language of the Constitution.
There can be no clearer statement of a right than the first clause of the Second Amendment, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State….” And we demand it be both honored and not allowed a distorted interpretation. As John Philpot Curran famously said, in 1790 Dublin: “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.”
As we said in our previous Sentinel article, yet bears repeating:
“The purpose of the Second Amendment was to create a balance of power — a bulwark against a tyrannical federal government. Even the denialist Washington Post, by publishing historian Noah Shusterman, was forced to admit that Alexander Hamilton, writing in the Federalist Papers, called a well-regulated militia ‘the most natural defense of a free country.’ His anti-Federalist critics agreed with the need for a citizens’ militia, writing that ‘a well regulated militia, composed of the Yeomanry of the country, have ever been considered as the bulwark of a free people.’ Conservatives and originalists like us don’t airbrush words out of the Constitution. Ignoring plain constitutional language is a reprehensible but familiar left-wing tactic. The Second Amendment, in its fullness, recognizes that a well-regulated Militia is indeed necessary to the security of a free State.”
And there you have it. The Second Amendment recognizes an unequivocal right to a well regulated Militia. And the Yeomanry of this country, now, starting in Virginia, are successfully gaining official recognition of our orphaned, yet still legitimate, right.
Could be big! Could become a movement.
We encourage the Sentinel’s readers across America to follow the Bedford Militia’s sterling example and seek official recognition from their own counties, states and Members of Congress.
Thank you, Commander Jonathan Falls, both for your visionary leadership and your eloquence in reasserting our right to a well regulated Militia.
Thank you for your potentially history-making leadership to the supervisors of Campbell and Bedford County.
And thank you, Rep. Bob Good, for honorably fulfilling your oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States by courageously making it a priority, as all Members of Congress should, to defend the Bill of Rights!
Reprinted by permission of the authors. Originally published in the December 2021 issue of the JPFO Bill of Rights Sentinel.
There’s no justification for how self-styled defenders of the Second Amendment defaulted facing abdication of the guarantee of the right to “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…”
A proper defense of the Second Amendment must defend it in full.Not by halves.
The first clause of the Second Amendment must be held as sacrosanct as, per the Heller case, the uninfringeable personal right to keep and bear arms, lest the entire bundle of rights to arms be weakened. We must not let leftists pull the rug out from under us by blithely ignoring the Second Amendment’s first clause, thereby setting an insidious precedent.
Joining or participating in a well-regulated militia, state-chartered or auxiliary to the National Guard, reporting exclusively to the elected state governor, without age limitation or other arbitrary restrictions, confers honorable status. It will provide a way to issue taxpayer-funded weapons and ammunition to its members, provide training, drilling, discipline, and the legitimate exclusion of violent criminals and those dangerously unstable. As well it should. School systems themselves can and should provide one of the vehicles for ensuring a populace well trained in the military arts and sciences a militia must know.
Restoring the right to a well-regulated militia protects the letter and spirit of the Second Amendment as a bulwark against tyranny. Doing so also will expose the hypocrisy of those who hypocritically claim they are not against gun ownership, merely against so-called “gun violence,” a concocted term designed to belittle the honorable place firearms hold in American history.
Switzerland had universal Army service and a gun culture as great as America’s. Having the equivalent of a well-regulated militia cut their crime rate by 90% compared to ours while it served in good order. The left’s resistance to well-regulated militias would hoist it on its own petard, its hypocrisy—their purpose being not reducing criminal misuse of arms, but eviscerating a major provision of the Bill of Rights—clearly revealed!
We fully support the right of the law-abiding to keep and bear arms for self, family, and home defense. We fully support the right of the law-abiding to keep and bear arms to hunt. That said, neither the ancillary purposes of personal defense nor hunting were why the Second Amendment was put into the U.S. Constitution.
“A well-regulated Militia
is indeed necessary to
the security of a free State.”
The purpose of the Second Amendment was to create a balance of power—a bulwark against a tyrannical federal government. Even the denialist Washington Post, publishing historian Noah Shusterman, is forced to admit that:
“Alexander Hamilton, writing in the Federalist Papers, called a well-regulated militia ‘the most natural defense of a free country.’ His anti-Federalist critics agreed with the need for a citizens’ militia, writing that ‘a well regulated militia, composed of the Yeomanry of the country, have ever been considered as the bulwark of a free people.’
Conservatives and originalists like us don’t airbrush words out of the Constitution. Ignoring plain constitutional language is a reprehensible but familiar left-wing tactic. The Second Amendment, in its fullness, recognizes that a well-regulated Militia is indeed necessary to the security of a free State. We have lost sight of this at our grave peril.
The very dangers that have assaulted us—from Dr. Fausti and his cohorts from the federalized health-care plague commissions—are all the proof one needs to see that, without countervailing force at the state level, federales have retracted our rights to assemble, worship, speak freely, travel and act as we would as free citizens. It is time for that to end, and well-regulated state-based Militias, as contemplated by the Founding Fathers in the critical first half of the Second Amendment, are the obvious solution.
A proper defense of the Second Amendment must defend it in full.Not by halves.
Demand and assemble the constitutional right to a well-regulated militia!
Reprinted with the permission of the authors Originally published in the June 2021 issue of the JPFO Bill of Rights Sentinel.
Ralph Benko is a member of the New York Bar, nationally published columnist and co-founder and chair of The Capitalist League. He was a deputy general counsel for the Reagan White House and worked with two other White Houses and the Congress.
Rachel Alexander is a lawyer, nationally published political commentator and is the editor and founder of Intellectual Conservative. She previously served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arizona and corporate attorney for GoDaddy.
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