Month: February 2022

On Tuesday, President Biden announced that the United States will impose new sanctions on Moscow after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two Ukrainian territories on which the Kremlin has laid claim for years. Biden said in an address from the East Room of the White House: “This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belongs to his neighbors? This is a flagrant violation of international law.”

Biden’s remarks came a day after Putin ordered troops into Donetsk and Luhansk under the guise of “peacekeeping.” However on Tuesday, Biden stated that “there is no justification” for Putin’s aggression in the region saying: “He directly attacked Ukraine’s right to exist. Russia’s moved supplies of blood and medical equipment into position on the border. You don’t need blood unless you plan on starting a war.”

Biden said that the sanctions would target two major Russian banks, limiting their ability to finance sovereign debt, and added that the sanctions would extend to Russian elites and their family members. Biden said sanctions were coordinated with U.S. allies and would continue to escalate should Russia pursue war with Ukraine:  “As we respond, my administration is using every tool at our disposal to protect American business and consumers from rising prices at the pump. As I said last week, defending freedom will have costs for us as well and here at home. We need to be honest about that, but as we do this, I’m going to take robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at the Russian economy, not ours.”

The president concluded by saying he’d likely have more to say and that he was “hoping diplomacy was still available.”

Editorial credit: Ron Adar / Shutterstock.com

All three Georgia men who were convicted of murder in the death of Ahmaud Arbery were again found guilty Tuesday of federal hate crimes. The jury delivered guilty verdicts against father and son Greg McMichael and Travis McMichael, as well as their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, saying they violated Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him because of his race.  The verdict came one day before the second anniversary of Arbery’s death. On Feb. 23, 2020, the McMichaels and Bryan chased Arbery on a street in Brunswick, Ga., believing he was involved in some local break-ins.

In addition to the civil rights charges, all three men were also found guilty of attempted kidnapping. Additionally, the McMichaels were found guilty of using a firearm in commission of a federal crime. The men are already serving life prison sentences after they were convicted on state murder charges last year. The federal trial explored the motivations behind the killing.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a briefing with reporters that the jury’s decision represented a victory in the fight against hate crimes in the United States: “No one in this country should have to fear the threat of hate-filled violence. Throughout our history, and to this day, hate crimes have a singular impact because of the terror and fear they inflict on entire communities.”

Editorial credit: Michael Scott Milner / Shutterstock.com

On Monday, the United States announced financial sanctions against rebel territories recognized by Russia in eastern Ukraine, and warned that more sanctions would be imposed, if necessary. Referring to the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden issued an executive order to “prohibit new investment, trade, and financing by US persons to, from, or in the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine.”  Psaki added that the order will “provide authority to impose sanctions on any person determined to operate in those areas of Ukraine,” saying that the measures are separate to wider Western sanctions ready to go “should Russia further invade Ukraine.”

For weeks, the Kremlin has denied invasion plans, but has built up their troops and heavy weaponry on three sides of Ukraine. During Vladimir Putin’s speech on Monday, in which he declared recognition for independence of the two rebel areas, the chances of invasion seemed to increase.  Putin charged Ukraine with being a Western puppet, a threat to Russian security, and claimed that people in the Russian-controlled separatist enclaves needed protection.

What remains in question is whether Russian troops will cross borders to defend the two entities and, if so, whether they will stop at the current frontline in fighting between the separatists and Ukraine’s government, or push further into Ukrainian territory. The extent of a Russian offensive would determine the level of Western sanctions.

Editorial credit: BiksuTong / Shutterstock.com

Former President Donald Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ app debuted Monday on the Apple store. While the iOS app developed by Trump rolled out Monday, it’s already closed itself to registrations; the new app had automatically downloaded for people who preordered it.

The app hit No. 1 in the App Store’s top charts early Monday, but some people who downloaded the app have been seeing error messages. “Something went wrong,” an error message read. “Please try again.”  Another message people received when they were put on a waitlist read:“Due to massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist.”   According to a TechCrunch scan of the application programming interface, the app’s “proprietary account registration microservice” is named “Pepe,” which is also the name of a meme that has been associated with racist and anti-Semitic connotations, leading the Anti-Defamation League to call it a hate symbol.

The release of “Truth Social” comes after other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube banned the former president after the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which was fueled by his repeated false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

The app’s launch on Android phones has not yet been announced, but the Truth Social website says the app will be coming to Android’s Google Play store in the near future.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trumps-social-media-app-launches-year-twitter-ban-83027675

Editorial credit: Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com