🇺🇸 Kyiv it Secret

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February 23, 2023

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🐘 Tuesday, February 21: 2024 Kansas Republican Presidential Primary: Trump 30, DeSantis 17, Pence 9, Haley 9, Pompeo 9, Scott 2 (Remington Research)

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📉 Monday, February 20, Direction of Country: Right Direction 33, Wrong Track 61 (Rasmussen Reports)

🐘 Friday, February 17th: General Election: DeSantis vs. Biden: DeSantis 42, Biden 41 (Harvard-Harris)

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Trump at the Toxic Train, Bogus Threats in Boulder, Hunter Set To Snub?

US: ‘You are not forgotten,’ Trump says during East Palestine visit (WKBN 27) + Pete Buttigieg oddly asks to take reporter's picture after dodging her questions about Ohio derailment (Fox News)

World: Biden: Putin's suspension of US arms treaty 'big mistake' (AP)

US: Boulder High School classes canceled, several schools across Colorado targeted in unfounded threats (CBS News)

US: Hunter Biden set to snub GOP-led House panel’s records request (NY Post)

US: Foreperson on Georgia grand jury investigating Trump and 2020 election: 'I don't think you will be shocked' by indictments (CNN)

World: 10 Palestinians killed, scores hurt in Israel West Bank raid (CNBC)

Weather: Over 1,400 flights canceled as major winter storm threatens to produce historic snowfall (NBC News)

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Kyiv it Secret

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, where he also announced an additional half a billion dollars in aid.

From the Flag: Biden followed up his trip to Ukraine by visiting Poland, and giving a speech in Warsaw where he said US support “will not waver.” Meanwhile, some have expressed concern over the amount being spent on the war, at a time when inflation is harming Americans’ finances. Here's more from both sides.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Biden’s Visit a Powerful Message of Resolve, and Courage

  • President Biden took a 10-hour train ride to Kyiv and walked the streets amid air raid sirens – but he, like Ukraine, did not flinch.

  • Just like the missiles, the tanks, and visits from other heads of state, Biden’s presence in Ukraine matters and sends a powerful message.

  • Biden strolling through Kyiv in an overcoat and shades one year after Russia’s invasion is photo evidence of Putin’s failure.

“Biden’s Kyiv visit shows Putin seriously misjudged his courage” Eugene Robinson, Washington Post Opinion: “As President Biden walked the streets of Kyiv… air raid sirens began to wail. A Russian fighter jet had reportedly taken off from Belarus, carrying the type of hypersonic missile that Ukraine’s defenders cannot shoot down. (He) did not flinch. Say what you want about Biden, he lacks neither courage nor resolve. His surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital might be the first time a sitting president has braved an active war zone — with no inviolable US military cordon around him — since 1864, when Abraham Lincoln went to see the fighting at Fort Stevens, near the northern tip of the District of Columbia… No one took a potshot or fired a missile at Biden. But to reach Kyiv he had to endure … a full day exposed to potential Russian fire.”

“Biden Just Destroyed Putin’s Last Hope” Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic: “The long-range missiles matter. So do the super-accurate artillery shells, the surface-to-air missiles, and the winter weather gear; the training in the English countryside… and the intelligence provided from the eyes in space and the ears on airplanes that circle outside the battle zone. President Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv matters just as much as any of these. Other heads of government preceded him, earning deserved credit. But it is an altogether different thing when the president of the United States—who is, indeed, the leader of the Free World—shows up. His words mattered. He pledged ‘our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.’ And even more important, that the United States will stand with Ukraine ‘as long as it takes.’ … Simply by taking the hazardous trip to Kyiv, Biden made a strategic move of cardinal importance.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Biden’s trip to Kyiv delivers the starkest rebuke possible to Putin Stephen Collinson, CNN

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Government Dollars Go Directly to Ukraine, Do Not Pass East Palestine

  • Biden’s visit has the media focused on US support for the war in Ukraine, but the President also has a complicated history there.

  • Amid his dedication to spending money on behalf of US taxpayers in Ukraine, Biden had abandoned his oath of office here at home.

  • The stark difference in Biden’s focus and care given to Ukraine – as opposed to East Palestine, Ohio, for example – is stunning.

“Did Biden and Zelensky Discuss Burisma?” Freddy Gray, The Spectator: “(The) choreographed walkabout with Volodymyr Zelensky has become the must-do photo-op for western global leaders. … That’s not to say it’s not important. It signals… America — the most powerful military and financial player on planet earth — is firmly behind Zelensky… The media will focus on these talking points. But it’s worth also reflecting on another, less high-profile visit Joe Biden paid to Ukraine… when he was vice president in 2014… Back then, he had a more modest aid package of $58 million to offer — as well as a stern warning to ‘fight the cancer of corruption.’ There was more than a whiff of hypocrisy in those words, since at the time Biden was attracting scrutiny over Hunter Biden… a drug addict, (who) was then being ludicrously well paid to work for Burisma, a mining company run by the Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, a ‘poster child for corruption,’ according to one senior State Department official.”

“Biden Fiddles in Ukraine as Border, Infrastructure Burn” Joy Pullmann, The Federalist: “Americans received a pristine view of Democrats’ disastrous America-Last policies… (when) Joe Biden paid a surprise visit to Ukraine while his own country literally burns with manmade disasters he continues to inflame. Biden’s Federal Emergency Management Agency denied any money to help clean up a burning chemical disaster zone in the Republican state of Ohio, but Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear that Biden will get a blank check to slosh around hundreds of billions from US taxpayers to prolong the carnage of war in Ukraine… It’s no surprise that American support for expanding the US proxy war with Russia is declining. … And where is Biden as his country is in flames? Hiding from his crimes against Americans, our laws, and our Constitution by urging continued atrocities while doing a dog and pony show in Ukraine.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: If Biden Can Visit Ukraine, Buttigieg Can Go to Ohio David Marcus, Daily Mail

FLAG THIS

Americans Evenly Divided on Sending Ukraine More Money

The percentage of Americans that say they’re in favor of providing weapons and funding to Ukraine has declined since the war’s opening months in 2022.

Less than three months in, 6 in 10 US adults said they were in favor of sending weapons – but that’s now down to 48% in favor, with 38% opposed.

There’s a near-even split as to how people feel about sending government funds directly to Ukraine: 38% are opposed, 37% are in favor, and 23% offered no opinion (AP-NORC).

What is your opinion of President Biden’s visit to Kyiv, Ukraine?

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