Tag: Russia

Congress Considers Bill to Expose Russian, Chinese Funding of American Groups

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Newly introduced legislation would require think tanks and nonprofits to reveal whether they have significant funding from governments and political groups in Russia and China.

U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, introduced the “Think Tank and Nonprofit Foreign Influence Disclosure Act” Thursday, which would require nonprofits and think tanks to disclose foreign donations over $50,000. The bill would require the U.S. Treasury Department to create a “publicly available in a searchable database information relating to such gifts and contributions received from foreign governments and political parties…”

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Commentary: Biden’s Handlers Are Preparing to Eject Him and Kamala

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I sense a disturbance in the force. In fact, I’ve been feeling the tremors for a while. Back in January, I wrote a column for American Greatness called “The Coming Dethronement of Joe Biden.” In it, I noted that Biden’s appalling performance as president would sooner or later—and probably sooner, given the ostentatious nature of his multifaceted failure—lead to his removal as president. 

I should have added that it wasn’t Biden’s performance per se that would lead to his downfall. The problem, rather, was the way his performance was undermining his—and therefore his minders’ and puppetmasters’—political power. As Saul Alinsky, community organizer to the stars, noted, the “issue is never the issue.” Accordingly, the people who put Joe Biden in power—I cannot name them, but I know they are the same people who keep him in power—do not care about inflation, rising gas and food prices, COVID lockdowns or mask mandates, the porousness of our Southern border, the threat of war with Russia, or the myriad other issues that worry ordinary voters. I am quite certain, in fact, that the word “voters” brings a vaguely contemptuous smile to their faces.

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Commentary: New Afghanistan Report Warns of China’s Emerging Role

RealClearWire
man in green jacket standing through sun roof in a moving vehicle

At a time of tectonic shifts in foreign policy alliances, with Russia and China forming a new pact and aggressively asserting themselves on the international stage, Washington’s national security community is splintered across the ideological spectrum on how best to counter the dual threats.

Yet, even before Russia invaded Ukraine, a group of national security practitioners, military veterans, and scholars began trying to move beyond their policy differences to help repair the damage inflicted by the last U.S. foreign policy failure – the chaotic U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan nearly seven months ago.

When the Vandenberg Coalition, a group of primarily Republican experts representing diverse foreign policy views and approaches, began their Afghanistan assessment, its members couldn’t have known that international alarm over Russia’s bloody land grab would soon eclipse the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan. Some national security experts believe that the two U.S. foreign policy nightmares are inextricably linked – that America’s ignominious retreat in Afghanistan emboldened Vladimir Putin to move on Ukraine.

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Commentary: All of Joe Biden’s Multitude of Failures Were Foreseeable in 2020

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Every single one of senile president Joe Biden’s struggles was easily foreseeable.

It’s a bold statement, since many if not most of the issues that confront a new president can’t always be seen from a distance. If it can be said that elections are always about the future, it’s just as true to claim that the future would almost certainly be shaped by yet unseen events and circumstances that no politician could forthrightly discuss in the lead-up to his victory.

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Rep. Cohen Says U.S. Must ‘Punish’ Russia ‘With All We Have’ in Bizarre Rants

Peter D'Abrosca

A member of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee called for the United States to punish Russia in a bizarre Thursday rant on the House floor. 

“What Russia has done in Ukraine is immoral, it is illegal, it is and against the word, the acts, the intensions of every godly character ever,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) said. “God would not have approved. WWJD? What Russia has done deserves the entire condemnation of the world and everything we can do to condemn them and put them out of organized, civilized society is appropriate.”

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Commentary: 10 Realities of Ukraine

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skyline of Kyiv, Ukraine

One. Reassuring an enemy what one will not do ensures that the enemy will do just that and more. Unpredictability and occasional enigmatic silence bolster deterrence. But Joe Biden’s predictable reassurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will show restraint means Putin likely will not. 

Two. No-fly zones don’t work in a big-power, symmetrical standoff. In a cost-benefit analysis, they are not worth the risk of shooting down the planes of a nuclear power. They usually do little to stop planes outside of such zones shooting missiles into them. Sending long-range, high-altitude anti-aircraft batteries to Ukraine to deny Russian air superiority is a far better way of regaining air parity.

Three. Europe, NATO members, and Germany in particular have de facto admitted that their past decades of shutting down nuclear plants, coal mines, and oil and gas fields have left Europe at the mercy of Russia. They are promising to rearm and meet their promised military contributions. By their actions, they are admitting that their critics, the United States in particular, were right, and they were dangerously wrong in empowering Putin.

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Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Welcome U.K. Prime Minister for Oil Talks after Reportedly Shunning Biden

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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to the Middle East to discuss increased oil production with leaders after they reportedly snubbed President Joe Biden’s requests.

Johnson met with United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nayhan on Wednesday and is traveling to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman later in the day, according to The Wall Street Journal. Johnson is reportedly set to deliver a message on behalf of the West, urging the two oil-rich nations to boost production.

“The Prime Minister set out his deep concerns about the chaos unleashed by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and stressed the importance of working together to improve stability in the global energy market,” the British government said in a readout of Johnson’s meeting with the UAE leader earlier Wednesday.

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Commentary: Biden and Obama Must Answer for Russiagate

RealClearWire

What did Barack Obama and Joe Biden know about the Russiagate collusion hoax their fellow Democrats ginned up to kneecap Donald Trump – and when did they know it? How much did their chicanery contribute to Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade the Ukraine?

Those questions are coming into sharp relief following a definitive report by my RealClearInvestigations colleague Paul Sperry last week that places the worst political scandal in our nation’s history and Putin’s brutal war directly inside the White House.

Drawing on a wide range of documents, many never previously reported, Sperry details how the Obama administration worked closely with the Clinton campaign and a foreign government – Ukraine – in a “sweeping and systematic effort” to interfere in the 2016 election. It turns out Democrats were guilty of every false charge they lodged against Trump.

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Shrinking Food Supplies, Soaring Prices Could Trigger Global Unrest, Key GOP Lawmaker Warns

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Rep. Austin Scott

With U.S. and world food prices set to soar due to inflation and supply shortages stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a key GOP lawmaker is asking the Pentagon to study the potential for conflict if the global food supply shrinks by 5%.

U.S. farmers will pay $300-$400 more per acre to grow crops this year due to inflation and costs associated with the war in Europe, Georgia Republican Rep. Austin Scott warned Monday on the Just the News TV show.

Shipping is another issue, as trade is throttled by war-related disruptions and tough economic sanctions against Russia.

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Commentary: High-Octane Solutions to the New Energy Crisis

RealClearWire

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring energy prices are a bracing wake up call to the West to abandon our anemic energy policies, which have pretended to be green but in reality have only shifted the dirtiest parts of our energy supply chains to bad actors like Russia and China. Western energy dependence on hostile powers limits our ability to preserve peace, to reduce our supply vulnerability, and to find the most cost-effective climate change solutions.

President Biden has acknowledged some of these problems, conceding that gasoline prices are too high and promising to do “everything in my power to limit the pain the American people are feeling at the gas pump.” But gas prices continue to rise, up by 10% in the last week.

One option President Biden has not yet explored is working with Congress to fix our incoherent domestic fuel policy to improve fuel efficiency across the board and reduce the amount Americans pay for gasoline. Currently, the EPA regulates fuels and automobiles separately, instead of as a single system. Automakers have the technological know-how to make much more efficient car engines, but regulatory barriers prevent them from doing so because they do not permit the use of cleaner fuels that would reduce carbon emissions and enhance performance.

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Russia Reverses Gas Flow via Key Pipeline Serving Europe

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Part of a key pipeline transporting natural gas from Russia to Europe suddenly reversed its flow direction Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Flows in the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which sends natural gas to Germany via Poland, were recorded going eastward away from Europe on Tuesday morning, data from the European firm Gascade showed, Reuters reported, citing data from German network operator Gascade. Flows leaving Germany were moving at a whopping 4.3 million kilowatt-hours per hour at one section of the pipeline.

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Senator Hagerty: ‘Biden Administration Finds Itself on Both Sides’ of Ukraine Issue

Aaron Gulbransen

Senator Hagerty says that the “Biden administration finds itself on both sides” of the Ukraine issue.

At a Tennessee welcome-home ceremony Monday for Greg Kelly, a Tennessean who has been held in the Japanese judicial system for several years, The Tennessee Star asked Senator Hagerty why he didn’t sign a letter signed by 42 of his Republican U.S. Senate colleagues and demanding action in support of the Ukraine. The letter, co-drafted by Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), urged the Biden administration to give the Ukraine tools like fighter jets and other support capabilities from the United States, NATO allies, and other European partners in order to enable them to set up their own No-Fly-Zone.

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Commentary: Democrats’ Green Dream Will Fuel GOP Red Wave

RealClearWire

President Biden and other White House officials dramatically changed their tune this week in defending their green agenda in the face of skyrocketing gas prices and Russia’s energy supply stranglehold over Europe.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden for months blamed increasing gas prices on supply-chain issues and pent-up post-pandemic demand for travel, deflecting questions on whether his push to move the country off fossil fuels was a factor.

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Minnesota Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Terminate State’s Connections to Russia

Cooper Moran

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers in Minnesota introduced legislation to terminate the state’s connections to Russia amid the country’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

According to a release from State Senator Karin Housley (R–Stillwater), the legislation would “divest Minnesota’s state pension fund from Russia and codify Governor Walz’s Executive Order barring Minnesota from contracting with Russian companies into law,” if fully enacted.

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Farmers Hit Hard by Price Increases as Food Price Spike Looms

The Center Square
Man in white shirt and jeans planting seeds in the ground of a garden

Goods and services around the country are becoming increasingly more expensive, but farmers may be among the hardest hit as inflation, supply chain issues, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are expected to send food prices soaring even higher.

That impact is being felt by farmers around the country.

“The cost of fertilizer is up as much as 500% in some areas,” said Indiana Farm Bureau President Randy Kron. “It would be unbelievable if I hadn’t seen it for myself as I priced fertilizer for our farm in southern Indiana. Fertilizer is a global commodity and can be influenced by multiple market factors, including the situation in Ukraine, and all of these are helping to drive up costs.”

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Hagerty Does Not Sign Ernst-Romney Letter Demanding Biden Help Ukrainians Secure Their Airspace, Effect Polish MiG-29 Swap to Ukraine

Neil W. McCabe

The Tennessee Republican senator, who served as President Donald J. Trump’s ambassador to Japan, stands out as one of six GOP senators who did not sign the March 10 letter drafted by Iowa’s Sen. Joni K. Ernst and Utah’s Sen. W. Mitt Romney demanded President Joseph R. Biden Jr. give the Ukrainians the equipment they need to secure their own airspace in support of that country, invaded on Feb. 24 by Russia.

The Star News Network reached out to Sen. William F. Hagerty IV, but his staff did not respond to inquiries before deadline.

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Governor Ron DeSantis Blasts Biden over Conversations with Venezuelan Leaders

Cooper Moran

Governor Ron DeSantis blasted the Biden administration for conversations with leaders of Venezuela, as reports detail Biden is considering purchasing oil from the South American country.

The U.S. is looking to ease the impact of the decision to ban the purchase of Russian oil and has turned to countries like Venezuela and Iran—instead of producing energy in America. 

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Russia Moves to Declare Facebook Parent Company an ‘Extremist Organization,’ Ban Instagram

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Russian prosecutors asked a court to classify Facebook parent company Meta as “extremist” Friday, escalating tensions between Russia and the tech giant after Facebook was blocked in the country.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office asked a court to declare the tech giant an “extremist organization,” saying the company engaged in spreading “propaganda” and incited violence against the Russian people, Interfax reported. The move would effectively criminalize all of Meta’s operations in Russia, according to Reuters.

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Congressman Tim Burchett Introduces Bill to Redirect Russian Assets to Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine

Cooper Moran

Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) on Thursday introduced new legislation that would direct Russian assets that were seized to humanitarian aid projects supporting Ukraine.

Specifically, the bill, known as the Confiscating Corrupt Criminal Proceeds (CCCP) Act, takes civil asset forfeiture from the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russian and Belarusian elites and sends support to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

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GOP Senator: Biden Is Allowing Iranians and Russians to Negotiate Iran Deal with No Americans in the Room

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Sen. Jim Risch (R-Id.) charged during a press conference on Wednesday that not only is the Biden regime allowing Russia to work with Iran on a nuclear deal, it is allowing our two adversaries to negotiate together behind closed doors with no American negotiators present.

“It is absolutely stunning that this deal is being negotiated by two of our worst enemies on the planet,” Risch said. “You’ve got the Iranians and the Russians. They won’t even let the Americans in the room!”

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Commentary: Ukraine Worked with Democrats Against Trump in 2016 to Stop Putin and the Bet Backfired Badly

RealClearWire
Joe Biden and Petro Poroshenko

Six years ago, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country, the Ukrainians bet that a Hillary Clinton presidency would offer better protection from Russian President Vladimir Putin, even though he had invaded Crimea during the Obama-Biden administration, whose Russian policies Clinton vowed to continue.

Working with both the Obama administration and the Clinton campaign, Ukrainian government officials intervened in the 2016 race to help Clinton and hurt Trump in a sweeping and systematic foreign influence operation that’s been largely ignored by the press. The improper, if not illegal, operation was run chiefly out of the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, where officials worked hand-in-glove with a Ukrainian-American activist and Clinton campaign operative to attack the Trump campaign. The Obama White House was also deeply involved in an effort to groom their own favored leader in Ukraine and then work with his government to dig up dirt on – and even investigate — their political rival.

Ukrainian and Democratic operatives also huddled with American journalists to spread damaging information on Trump and his advisers – including allegations of illicit Russian-tied payments that, though later proved false, forced the resignation of his campaign manager Paul Manafort. The embassy actually weighed a plan to get Congress to investigate Manafort and Trump and stage hearings in the run-up to the election.

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Commentary: Sanctions Are an Act of War

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The United States is at war with Russia. Without a vote in Congress, a specific announcement by the president, or even meaningful awareness on the part of the bulk of the populace, the United States has stumbled into conflict with another nuclear power. 

True enough, American “boots on the ground” are not yet (openly) engaged in combat in Ukraine. But the devastating sanctions put in place unilaterally by Joe Biden on Russian property constitute an act of war nonetheless. On Tuesday morning, Biden announced he was unilaterally banning the importation of Russian fuel and oil products into the United States. This decision is a direct attack on the Russian economy. It is designed to dictate a certain political outcome to the Russian government. 

Such a dramatic act, therefore, constitutes participation in armed conflict against the Russian regime. It is an act of war. 

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Bill Would Lift Gov. Wolf’s Moratorium on New Leases for Drilling in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Republicans in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week introduced several measures to boost fossil-fuel production in the Keystone State, including a resumption of new state-land drilling leases.

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) imposed a moratorium on new leases for oil and gas development on state-owned areas in January 2015. A bill authored by State Rep. Clint Owlett (R-Wellsboro) would rescind that order and stipulate that all energy exploration performed under any resulting leases be subsurface. That means that the well site must be built off of commonwealth property and that underground channels would reach horizontally into the public lands, allowing for better environmental preservation than older drilling methods.

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Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan Blames Putin for Rising Gas Prices

Peter D'Abrosca
Tim Ryan

An Ohio U.S. congressman and U.S. Senate candidate has joined many of his Democrat counterparts in blaming Russia and its President Vladimir Putin for skyrocketing gas prices. 

“Today I’ll vote to ban U.S. dollars from funding Putin’s war machine. Now we must do everything in our power to shield working people from Putin’s price hike at the pump by fully restoring America’s energy independence and passing a working-class tax cut,” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) said Wednesday on Twitter.

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Commentary: We Have to Be Strategic About Strategic Material Production

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The most important duty of government is to provide for the security of its citizens. Providing that security is a complex enterprise. Its most obvious feature is military power: providing the surface naval, air, and space forces necessary to protect national interests. Of course, military power depends on economic power. In today’s security environment, that means maintaining the capability to provide for both the prosperity of American citizens as well the high tech weaponry necessary for modern warfare.

While the world’s attention is focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we need to keep in mind that the People’s Republic of China is America’s foremost adversary. While the United States dominated the “third industrial revolution” based on computation and communications, China seeks to lead the “fourth industrial revolution” based on metadata and artificial intelligence. China’s grand strategy is focused on achieving that goal. For example, Beijing has employed its Belt and Road Initiative in combination with digital technology in order to integrate billions of people into China’s economic sphere.

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One Year After Refusing to Negotiate with ‘Dictator’ Maduro, Biden Changes Course over Oil

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Just one year after refusing to negotiate with Venezuelan “dictator” Nicolas Maduro, President Biden appears to have changed course.

Democrats and Republicans have put pressure on Biden to cut off Russian oil imports over Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s escalating invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Venezuela are partners in several areas including oil. Putin and Maduro recently discussed increasing a “strategic partnership,” according to Reuters.

Reports of the negotiations preceded an expected announcement Tuesday morning by President Biden that the U.S. will ban oil imports from Russia.

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Analysis: White House Keeps Misleading Public on Oil, Gas Leasing

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Oil rig at sunset/sunrise

The White House has repeatedly suggested the private sector can boost oil supply amid surging gas prices, but industry groups have countered that the administration has placed hurdles for new drilling.

“There are 9,000 unused, approved drilling permits,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday. “So I would suggest you ask the oil companies why they’re not using those if there’s a desire to drill more.”

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Biden Expected to Sign First Executive Order Regulating Cryptocurrency

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Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order that will begin the process of regulating the trading of cryptocurrency, as crypto becomes a viable alternative for Russians seeking to avoid the impact of economic sanctions.

According to ABC News, at least two anonymous Biden Administration officials said that the order will be issued this week, and has allegedly been in the planning stage since before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February. The order will outline the various steps that government agencies, including the Treasury Department, are to take to begin the process of imposing regulations on the buying and selling of digital currencies.

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Congressman Mark Green Introduces Bill to Ban Purchase of Oil from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela

Cooper Moran
Mark Green signs legislation

U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) on Monday introduced legislation to ban the U.S. from purchasing oil from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed support for banning the purchase of Russian oil amid the country’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. However, the Biden administration has remained hesitant to make the decision.

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Stock Market Sinks, Oil Tops $130 as West Considers Russian Energy Sanctions

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oil fields

The stock market dropped during early trading Monday after the U.S. benchmark oil index briefly touched its highest level since the Great Recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index measuring 30 major U.S. corporations, dropped 0.94% as of early Monday. The S&P index, which measures 500 of the largest publicly-traded companies, fell more than 0.93% while the NASDAQ, an index largely comprised of technology firms, declined 0.98%.

Late Sunday, the benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures hit more than $130 per barrel for the first time since July 2008. The index remained high on Monday, hovering above $118 per barrel, up more than 3%.

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NATO Countries Given ‘Green Light’ to Send Fighter Jets to Ukraine, Blinken Says

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that NATO member countries have a “green light” to send fighter jets as military aid to Ukraine.

The United States is reportedly in talks with Poland to send U.S. planes to replace any Soviet-era fighter jets that Warsaw sends to Ukraine, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Sending planes to Ukraine “gets a green light,” Blinken told CBS News on Sunday.

“In fact, we’re talking with our Polish friends right now about what we might be able to do to backfill their needs, if, in fact, they choose to provide these fighter jets to the Ukrainians,” he said. “What can we do? How can we help to make sure that they get something to backfill the planes that they’re handing over to the Ukrainians? We’re in very active discussions with them about that.”

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Captured Russian Soldier Says He Realized Moscow Lied When His Favorite Boxers Joined the Resistance

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Ukrainian Protests Continue into the weekend for now it's 5th day, with actions happening at Trafalgar and the Russian Embassy.

A Russian prisoner of war claimed Moscow lied to soldiers before sending them to invade Ukraine.

Lieutenant Colonel Astakhov Dmitry Mikhailovich said soldiers were told Ukraine was “dominated by a fascist regime” and that “nationalists and Nazis had seized power,” according to a translation by the New York Post. He made the accusations during a media conference Thursday alongside two other captured Russian soldiers.

He explained that when he entered Ukraine and saw his favorite boxers, Ukrainians Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko, join the resistance, his doubts about the reasons for the invasion were amplified, the NYP reported.

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Analysis: China Will Learn from Russia’s Invasion That ‘Decisive, Overwhelming Force’ Is the Surest Path to Victory

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In light of the West’s united front against Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine, China will likely be forced to reexamine its plans for making Taiwan a part of the communist country, experts on the region told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“I think that the military planners in Beijing, as well as politicians in Beijing, have to be very concerned at a deeper level about their assumptions and plans regarding Taiwan,” David Sacks, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the DCNF. “The democratic world has really come together behind this and … the narrative would be very similar with a Chinese attack.”

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