Move suggests Putin could extend crisis for weeks as Johnson and Biden agree ‘crucial window for diplomacy’ still exists

SitindaonNews.Com | Russia is sending thousands more troops to its border with Ukraine in a sign that Vladimir Putin could extend the crisis for weeks, as Boris Johnson warned the situation had become “very, very dangerous”.

British officials estimate that a further 14 Russian battalions are heading towards Ukraine, each numbering about 800 troops, on top of the 100 battalions massed on the borders – a force already believed capable of launching an invasion.

Ministers are of the view that the Russian president has not yet decided to attack Ukraine and may never do so. But the continued buildup of forces in excess of 150,000 prompted Johnson to cut short a trip to Cumbria to chair a Cobra emergency meeting on Tuesday

On Monday night, the prime minister spoke with Joe Biden and concluded, according to Downing Street, that there “remained a crucial window for diplomacy and for Russia to step back from its threats towards Ukraine”. Britain said the two emphasised the importance of unity and, while neither the UK nor the US will send troops to defend Ukraine, they insisted that any further Russian incursion “would result in a protracted crisis for Russia”.

Earlier, Johnson said: “This is a very, very dangerous, difficult situation. We are on the edge of a precipice, but there is still time for President Putin to step back.”

He said it was important for western allies to remain united in the face of Russian pressure. Ukraine’s future membership of Nato could not be “bargained away” as part of western leaders’ efforts, he added.

Britain believes Russia has committed about 60% of its ground forces to the buildup and doubled its available air power in the region, but thinks Putin could extend the crisis for weeks or even longer.

Although Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has said “there could be a Russian invasion almost immediately”, on Monday she told MPs in a private conference call that Putin could keep up the military pressure on Ukraine for months, according to some of those who listened in.

Parliament could be recalled if Russia invades Ukraine this week, No 10 indicated. Asked whether this was a possibility, Johnson’s official spokesperson said: “In that situation, you would expect that the prime minister would want parliament to be updated and for it to have its say.”

Russia has always denied that it intends to invade. Its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told Putin in a carefully staged public meeting on Monday that while negotiations between Russia and the west could not “go on indefinitely … I would suggest to continue and expand them at this stage”.

Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, is due to visit Moscow on Tuesday, although no breakthrough is expected given Russia’s demands: that Ukraine never be allowed to join Nato and that the west withdraw troops from eastern Europe.

Last week the US told allies that an invasion could come as soon as Wednesday, but the continued Russian buildup suggests the Kremlin did not believe it had assembled all the forces it could to threaten its smaller neighbour.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said his country would not be intimidated by Russia and that Wednesday should be “a day of unity”. “We want peace and we want to resolve all issues exclusively through negotiations,” he said, but added that the Ukrainian army was “many times stronger than eight years ago” and that Ukraine wanted freedom and was ready to fight for it should Russia invade.

Nevertheless, the warnings prompted the UK to advise all British citizens in Ukraine to leave now, while commercial means were still available. It is estimated there are about 1,300 Britons in Ukraine, although 200 have said they do not want to leave.

On Monday, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the last few US diplomats in the Kyiv embassy would move west to Lviv “due to the dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces”.

On Saturday, a senior state department official had told reporters that a handful of US diplomats would stay in the capital “to be able to continue working closely with the Ukrainian government, and to be able to ensure we’ve got the best possible information for our senior leaders and the president about what’s happening broadly in society”. The change of mind two days later suggests US security assessments have darkened still further.

The UK ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, had said she would remain in Kyiv with a core team of diplomats. Downing Street said British nationals should not expect a “military airlift” from Ukraine, and that they should leave via commercial means and there were still flights available.

Defence sources said the plan for any Russian invasion would involve “a sudden thrust” aimed at encircling Kyiv, but that it would be accompanied by “multiple axes of attack” aimed at cutting off Ukrainian forces in the east of the country. Russia would seek to install a puppet government, they added

But Britain believes Putin is at risk of underestimating the level of Ukrainian popular resistance to any invasion and attempt at regime change. The UK view is that there is likely to be “a reasonably well-organised insurgency” and that Russia could become bogged down in a conflict that could claim tens of thousands of lives.

The US, UK and EU have been working jointly on a package of economic sanctions that would target Russia in the event of an attack, and Truss indicated to MPs in the briefing that they would probably be implemented in waves.

Oligarchs close to Putin would be the first to be targeted, she said, telling MPs the UK was “ready to press send” with list of names if an invasion began. But an economic crime bill planned for the next session of parliament, called for by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, would not be brought forward in an emergency.

Layla Moran, the Lib Dems’ foreign affairs spokesperson, said: “The concern with the policy on sanctions is that it is too little, too late. We have known about Russian hostile activities and interference in our democracy for some time.”

Sources: theguardian

Protesters in Ottawa on Monday.Credit...Blair Gable/Reuters

By Mike McIntire and Michael H. Keller

New details about the source of millions of dollars supporting the Canadian trucker convoy suggest many of the larger donors are wealthy Canadians, though one of the biggest contributions was made in the name of an American tech entrepreneur.

Leaked data said to be from the GiveSendGo crowdfunding platform, posted last night to a now-defunct web page by anonymous hackers, lists records of more than 92,000 donations totaling more than $8 million. A review of the data shows that some $4.3 million came from Canada, while another $3.6 million originated in the United States, though the United States accounted for the most individual donations. Small donations from dozens of other countries made up a fraction of the total amount raised.

One of the largest donations, for $90,000, is attributed to Thomas M. Siebel, a billionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor. He did not respond to a request for comment sent to the email address listed in the records and to his company.

Others who made donations ranging from $10,000 to $75,000 appear to be mostly Canadian business owners, with a few Americans in the mix.

Brad Howland, president of a New Brunswick-based company that makes pressure washers, appears in the leaked data as having donated $75,000, leaving the comment: “Hold the line!” In an email, Mr. Howland confirmed he was a donor, saying the protests “will go down in the history books.”

“Our company and my family are proud to stand with these men and women as they uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of our great nation,” he said.

A donation for $17,760, attributed in the data to Travis Moore of Idaho, was accompanied by the comment: “Let freedom ring, brothers of the north. Cryptocurrency is the future.” A request for comment sent to Mr. Moore, using the email address listed in donation records, was answered with a reply containing a meme objecting to Covid restrictions.

Most of the comments left by donors expressed peaceful solidarity with the cause of opposing vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions. Mixed in with the positive messages, however, were some with a more menacing tone, like one left by an American who donated $50: “I’d rather pay to support this movement now than pay for bullets later.”

The presence of cryptocurrency evangelists among supporters of the convoy is apparent in a separate set of data reviewed by The New York Times. It shows donations were made in Bitcoin through a web page that went up after the initial fund-raising vehicle, GoFundMe, pulled the plug on the campaign. The new site, called “Bitcoin for Truckers,” is hosted by a cryptocurrency crowdfunding service, and had raised $946,000 as of Monday morning.

The Bitcoin campaign, which has received more than 5,000 mostly small-dollar donations, has been supported by a handful of large infusions from cryptocurrency boosters. The two biggest, with a combined value of more than $300,000 at the time they were made, were donated anonymously

A series of others valued at about $42,000 each appear to be associated with an online challenge by a former software engineer who goes by the pseudonym LaserHodl and asked other Bitcoin fans to join him in supporting the trucker convoy. Jesse Powell, founder of the crypto exchange Kraken, tweeted his agreement, and a donation attributed to him appears in the data.

Benjamin Dichter, one of the convoy organizers, said at a news conference last week that after the cryptocurrency crowdfunding campaign began, he received offers of help from “major players” in the crypto markets.

“I was shocked how quickly I started getting messages from some of the most prominent Bitcoiners in the world,” he said

The GiveSendGo data leak was announced Sunday evening on a webpage titled “GiveSendGo IS NOW FROZEN,” with a five-minute video in which a manifesto by the anonymous hackers scrolled across the screen. In it, the hackers complained that the trucker protest had “held a city hostage” and warned it “could be cover for a type of Trojan horse attack where extremists and militia groups may arrive in large numbers with weapons.”

The data contains a record for each donation that includes the donor’s name, ZIP code and the email address they used. It is not possible to independently verify every donation, but some of them line up with donations that had publicly appeared on the GiveSendGo website before it went offline.

For example, Mr. Siebel was cited last week by a Canadian news network, which noted that his name appeared with the $90,000 donation, at the time it was made, on the web page for the convoy campaign. About half the donations were not accompanied by a person’s name when they publicly appeared on the page.

GiveSendGo, which had earlier been the target of another data hacking that revealed personal information, such as driver’s licenses and passports, for some site users, was offline Monday morning. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Organizers started a GiveSendGo campaign earlier this month after GoFundMe shut down an online fund-raiser that had raised nearly $7.8 million. The funds were to be used to “provide humanitarian aid and legal support for the peaceful truckers and their families,” Alex Shipley, a spokeswoman for GiveSendGo, told The Times in an email last week.

Sources: nytimes.com

Police stand guard in front of protestors rallying against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination mandates despite the rain, near the parliament building in Wellington, New Zealand February 13, 2022 in this picture obtained from social media. Courtesy Charlie Coppinger/via REUTERS

SitindaonNews.Com, || WELLINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday she felt demonstrations against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate now entering their second week were an "imported" phenomenon, and nothing like anything she had seen before in the country.

Hundreds of protesters continue to occupy lawns in front of the distinctive 'Beehive' parliament for a seventh day, ignoring repeated calls by the police to leave and unflawed by drenching rain over the weekend.

Claiming inspiration from truckers' anti-vaccine mandate demonstrations in Canada, the protesters have also blocked several streets around parliament with their trucks, vans and motorcycles.

"It feels like an imported protest to me," Ardern told state broadcaster TVNZ in an interview.

"I've seen Trump flags on the forecourt, I've seen Canadian flags on the forecourt," she said, referring to images of former U.S. President Donald Trump carried by some demonstrators as well as the situation in Canada.

Ardern said it appeared the protesters were not interested in a dialogue.

"When you see signs calling for the execution of politicians that's not really a group that wants to engage in political dialogue," Ardern said.

The protests started as a stand against vaccine mandates but now have been joined by groups calling for an end to COVID-19 restrictions, rejecting vaccinations, as well as calling attention to other social issues like censorship and rights of the ethnic Maori community. At the protests' peak, thousands of demonstrators were estimated to be involved.

Many have brought along children to the protests, which Ardern said was worrying.

Police said officers will continue to be highly visible in and around parliament grounds to provide reassurance for all.

A country of five million people, New Zealand has some of the lowest COVID-19 numbers in the world, largely due tough coronavirus border curbs and social restrictions.

Daily Omicron variant cases have been rising, however, nearly touching 1,000 on Monday, as some domestic restrictions were eased this month.

The country's borders, however, are still closed with tens of thousands of expatriate New Zealanders cut off from families.

The High Court on Monday started hearing a case against the government filed by a group representing expatriate New Zealanders which has accused the state of unlawfully denying citizens the right to enter the country

Sources: reuters.com

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivers a speech during a campaign rally at Northern Community College in Annandale, Washington, on July 14, 2016. (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Former Clinton allies recently speculated 'a perfect storm in the Democratic Party' could open the door for a comeback

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is slated to speak at the New York State Democratic Convention next week, according to sources who spoke to CNBC.

"She’s beloved by the mainstream members of the Democratic Party and her popularity is likely higher than that of President Biden," a person familiar with the arrangement told the outlet. "It’s good for her because it keeps her relevant, and her appearance is likely meant to galvanize the party and the audience."

Chris Melnyczuk, who is chief of staff to New York State Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs, said the party "reached out to a number of people to speak and, you know, we’re waiting back on confirmation from a number of people. So there are a few things in the works."

"We’ve reached out to a number of folks, we’re not going to say who we’ve reached out to," he added regarding whether Clinton had been invited.

Clinton's rumored appearance comes amid speculation that the former New York senator could try for a political comeback amid plummeting poll numbers for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris

TUCKER CARLSON: HILLARY CLINTON ISN'T OLD NEWS, SHE MAY BE THE FUTURE FOR THE DEMOCRATS

Clinton has said she will not run for political office again, though two of her former allies recently published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal describing "a perfect storm in the Democratic Party" that could prepare the way for Clinton to take another stab at the presidency.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS RELUCTANT TO GIVE BIDEN A SECOND TERM

According to the results of a Fox News survey released in January, more voters say they would back someone else over Biden in 2024 than ever said the same about former Presidents Obama and Trump. 

While 36% would re-elect Biden, 60% would not. The highest "someone else" number for Obama was 54% (September 2010) and 56% for Trump (January 2018)

 Sources: https://www.foxnews.com/

A satellite image shows deployment of a troop housing area and milvitary vehicles in Rechitsa, Belarus, this week.Credit...Maxar Technologies., via Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration warned on Friday that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could mount a major assault on Ukraine at any time, having built up formidable land, sea and air forces on three sides of its smaller neighbor.

U.S. intelligence officials had initially thought Mr. Putin was prepared to wait until the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing before possibly ordering an offensive, to avoid antagonizing President Xi Jinping of China, a critical ally. In recent days, they say, the timeline began moving up, an acceleration that Biden administration officials began publicly acknowledging on Friday.

“We continue to see signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border,” Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, told reporters on Friday, adding that an invasion could begin “during the Olympics,” which are scheduled to end on Feb. 20, and warned that all Americans should leave Ukraine in the next 24 to 48 hours.

U.S. officials still do not know whether Mr. Putin has decided to invade, Mr. Sullivan insisted. “We are ready either way,” he said. “Whatever happens next, the West is more united than it has been in years.”

The United States has picked up intelligence that Russia is discussing next Wednesday as the target date for the start of military action, officials said, acknowledging the possibility that mentioning a particular date could be part of a Russian disinformation effort. The combination of the Russian troop movements and the new information about a possible date helped to trigger the flurry of diplomatic activity and public warnings by the NATO allies on Friday.

Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, told reporters at a news conference in Melbourne that an “invasion could begin at any time. And, to be clear, that includes during the Olympics.” Mr. Blinken added that U.S. officials “continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border.”

The United States and many other countries — including, recently, Britain, Japan, Norway, Latvia and Denmark — have issued a series of increasingly urgent calls for their citizens to leave Ukraine. The U.S. has ruled out sending troops to defend Ukraine, but has increased deployments to NATO member countries in Eastern Europe, and on Friday the Pentagon ordered 3,000 more soldiers to Poland.

American officials have warned of a grim toll if Mr. Putin proceeds with a military invasion of Ukraine, including the potential deaths of 25,000 to 50,000 civilians, 5,000 to 25,000 members of the Ukrainian military and 3,000 to 10,000 members of the Russian military. On Friday, Mr. Sullivan said that officials believed that an attack would likely start with missile and aerial attacks, and continue with a ground invasion.

“Russia could choose in very short order to commence a major military action against Ukraine,” Mr. Sullivan said, but added that officials could not be sure exactly when, or if, Mr. Putin may decide to invade. As Mr. Sullivan spoke, the president was preparing to depart for Camp David for the weekend — the whir of Marine One’s blades could be heard in the White House briefing room.

“The risk is now high enough and the threat is now immediate enough that this is what prudence demands,” Mr. Sullivan said. “We believe he very well may give the final go order,” he added, “but we are not standing here before you today saying the order has been given.”

On Thursday evening, President Biden told Lester Holt of NBC News that Americans should leave Ukraine immediately, following a State Department advisory that “military action may commence at any time and without warning,” its starkest language yet. And the president said that in the event of all-out war, the United States would not send troops to rescue Americans and risk a clash with Russia.

“We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world,” Mr. Biden said. “This is a very different situation, and things could go crazy quickly.”

Mr. Sullivan said on Friday that he expected the president to soon meet with Mr. Putin by phone.

Earlier Friday, Mr. Biden met by phone with other trans-Atlantic leaders in a call that included Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany; Prime Ministers Boris Johnson of Britain, Mario Draghi of Italy and Justin Trudeau of Canada; and Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France, Andrzej Duda of Poland, Klaus Iohannis of Romania, Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission and Charles Michel of the European Council; and the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.

The leaders met for about 80 minutes, in a call that was initially supposed to be centered around “diplomacy and deterrence,” the White House said.

The call came as Russia builds up its forces around Ukraine — in Belarus, western Russia and Crimea, the territory Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 — in what U.S. and NATO leaders have said appears to be preparation for an invasion.

Ukraine said on Friday that Russian-backed separatists were holding military exercises in the slice of eastern Ukraine they control, at the same time that Russia holds exercises near Ukraine.

— Katie Rogers

Sources: nytimes.com