Author: J.P. Knowles

China may come out on top in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to a former FBI special agent.

“Ultimately, China is the big winner in the Russia-Ukraine War,” Steve Gray, a former FBI special agent who is running for Congress in New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District, said.

“They’ll be the primary beneficiary of the sanctions against Russia, the yen will benefit from the decline of the ruble, and they have been given a case study of what the world’s response would look like if they were to invade Taiwan.”

“It would not be surprising at all to learn that this is shaping up exactly as China planned,” he added

“From my experience as an FBI supervisory special agent working on China and North Korea, I know that the Chinese Communist Party is perpetually and patiently planning to take our place as global leaders,” he warned. “As Americans, we need to be cognizant of this threat.”

Gray said that Russia’s energy strategy in Europe should show Americans the way their foreign rivals “weaponize economic leverage strategically for geopolitical advantage.”

European countries have joined the U.S. in imposing hefty sanctions on Russia amid the Ukraine war, however, Russia’s energy industry has mostly been spared because a large majority of Europe depends on Russia for energy. Likewise, China has moved to dominate critical industries such as rare-earth metals, making attempts to isolate China economically more difficult. The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light just how much America’s medical supply chain depends on China.

“We must recognize that in the same way Russia is employing its oil production to keep Europe and, at least under Joe Biden, America beholden to them, China is able to likewise keep us beholden and limit our recourse to their global aggression so long as we give them opportunities to make us dependent upon them,” the former FBI agent added.

“Look at what Russia is able to do by establishing oil dependence in Europe, and consider the ramifications if we cede the entirety of our steel and pharmaceutical production to China.”

Several state-controlled or state-aligned Russian websites have displayed anti-Putin and anti-war messages after being attacked by the hacker group known as Anonymous.

The hack occurred early Monday and has since been confirmed by Anonymous.

“Dear citizens. we call on you to stop this madness,” the message began, “don’t send your sons and husbands to sure death. Putin is making us lie and putting us in danger. We have been isolated from the world, no one is buying our oil & gas. In a few years’ time, we’ll be living like in North Korea. Why do we need this? For Putin to make it to history books? This is not our war, let’s stop it!”

“This message will be deleted and some of us will be fired and maybe put to jail. But we can’t tolerate this anymore. Russian journalists who care. Anonymous,” the hackers added.

Individuals linked to Anonymous said they hacked into the Russian Ministry of Defense website Friday in order to leak government documents, including emails. Twitter users wasted no time posting the leaked emails to sites such as ChristianSingles, car warranty, and porn sites.

Half of the 50 U.S. states came together and penned a letter to the Biden administration, arguing against its decision to reverse a Trump-era rule allowing energy firms to transport natural gas by rail.

The 25-state coalition said that the proposed prohibition of natural gas rail transport would have “devastating effects” on the economy and national security, according to the letter led by Republican Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry. The Monday letter was addressed to Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Acting Administrator Tristan Brown.

“Biden’s war on energy is a war on America’s poor and working-class,” Landry said in a statement Monday evening. “It is high time the Biden Administration put America first. Biden’s environmental virtue-signaling is burdening American families and jeopardizing the safety and security of our homeland.”

Natural gas is the main source of electricity production in the U.S., accounting for nearly 40% of all generation according to the Energy Information Administration. The letter cited that greenhouse gas emissions have decreased 11.7% overall and 33.1% from electricity generation between 2005-2019.

The states said emissions have decreased as reliance on natural gas has increased over the past decade. Relying on domestic natural gas production for electricity generation also makes the U.S. less dependent on foreign producers.

“The growth in U.S. gas production is a geopolitical and economic asset, contributing to our national and global energy security,” the letter stated.

Last week, Russia invaded Ukraine leading to reports of missile attacks, shelling, deadly firefights in city streets, and an estimated 536 civilian casualties. Following the invasion, American fossil fuel industry groups called for the U.S. to boost domestic production in light of Russia’s grip on global oil and gas markets.

In November 2021, the PHMSA issued a notice that it would begin consideration of the rule opposed by Landry and his fellow attorneys general Monday. The Trump administration’s rule allowing firms to send natural gas on railways went into effect in August 2020.

Environmental groups which have opposed pipeline projects as well, argue that rail transport of natural gas is too dangerous.

“The Trump administration’s reckless LNG rule risks explosions and fires in populated areas. We’ll fight to protect our communities from this deadly threat,” Emily Jeffers, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement in July 2020. “The fossil fuel industry is desperate to cover its bad bet on fracking by trying to easily move more LNG. Our climate and communities will pay a terrible price if we let these explosive trains roll through our cities and towns.”

Meanwhile, top Biden administration energy regulators altered federal policy on approving natural gas pipelines on Feb. 17 adding more red tape to such projects.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to a meeting between a Ukrainian and Russian delegation for peace talks, according to a post on Zelensky’s Telegram Sunday.

After speaking with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Zelensky announced a meeting would take place “without preconditions” on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet with the Russian delegation without preconditions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram.

“Alexander Lukashenko has taken responsibility for ensuring that all planes, helicopters, and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, talks, and return,” he continued.

Oksana Markarova, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S., said Zelensky “was focused on the diplomatic solution” from the beginning.

“He always said, ‘We’re ready for peace talks, we’re not ready to surrender,’” Markarova continued. “We are ready for any peace talks that would stop the war and would get them out from our country.”

Later in the day, Zelensky expressed doubts that the negotiations would be fruitful but said he agreed to the talks so that “not a single citizen of Ukraine has any doubt that I, as president, tried to stop the war.”

“I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try. So that later not a single citizen of Ukraine has any doubt that I, as president, tried to stop the war, when there was even a small, but still a chance,” he said in a video address.

Zelensky had previously turned down the suggestion of holding peace talks in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin placed nuclear forces on “special regime of combat duty” Sunday.

President Joe Biden ignored questions from reporters about whether he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would use a nuclear weapon against Ukraine, and whether he was worried about nuclear war.

Biden arrived back at the White House Monday after spending the weekend at his home in Delaware. The president was met by reporters but did not stop to answer any questions nor did he respond to questions about escalating conflict in Eastern Europe as walked to the White House.

Putin announced Sunday that he was placing Russian nuclear forces on high alert in response to the economic sanctions from Western countries. Putin has mobilized large-scale nuclear exercises in the past, reminding the people of Russia that their country is “one of the most powerful nuclear nations.”

“This is really a pattern that we’ve seen from President Putin through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing threats that don’t exist in order to justify further aggression,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Sunday.

Leading U.S. politicians, experts, and world leaders are all concerned about the mental stability of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who served under President George W. Bush, said Putin had recently been “erratic.”

“I met with him many times, and this is a different Putin,” she said Sunday. “He was always calculating and cold, but this is different. He seems erratic. There is an ever-deepening, delusional rendering of history.”

Former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper voiced similar concerns about Putin, who has grown increasingly disturbed over his failure to quickly overtake Ukrainian forces.

“I personally think he’s unhinged,” Clapper said Sunday. “I worry about his acuity and balance.”

“The concerns about Putin’s shaky mental health are particularly relevant given that he has his finger on the nuclear trigger,” he added.

Senior intelligence officials said Putin has kept to himself at his presidential compound for months interacting only with a few select advisers and cronies.

A senior national security official under President Donald Trump said when Putin met with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month, the Russian president seemed “paranoid” and “unwilling to listen to reason.”

During the meeting in Moscow, the men sat across a very long marble table, as Macron urged Putin to stand down. After the meeting proved to be unsuccessful, Macron described Putin as “more rigid, more isolated and fundamentally lost in a sort of ideological and security drift,” according to a senior French official.

Longtime Putin ally, Czech President Milos Zeman, called Putin a “madman” after he launched the invasion.

But Rebekah Koffler, former DIA intelligence officer and author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America,” said that Putin is no mad man.

“Putin is absolutely not crazy. All this talk calling him crazy, it means we’re still not taking Putin seriously or understanding him,” said Koffler,

“He’s not delusional, there are no mental anomalies,” she added. “Putin is a cold-blooded, typical Russian autocratic leader and a very calculated risk-taker. He’s simply executing a plan that he has been hatching for 20 years.”

Koffler said that questioning Putin’s mental status is a cover-up for the United State’s failure to appreciate Putin’s ambitions or psychology.

Initially, President Joe Biden said the use of sanctions was meant to be a deterrent but following the invasion, he reversed course and said he didn’t actually think the economic penalties would prevent war.

“If anything, this conflict has exposed our lack of a viable counter-strategy to Putin’s well-thought-out plan,” Koffler said. “We’re grasping at straws right now.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) loosened its COVID-19 mask guidance on Friday to no longer recommend wearing masks in most indoor settings.

Some state and local governments have followed the CDC guidance when implementing mask mandates, and the change could lead to the end of the remaining mask mandates in many blue jurisdictions. The CDC has recommended wearing masks indoors regardless of vaccination status since last summer after briefly relaxing their recommendation in the spring of 2021.

The new CDC guidance divides communities into three categories; high, medium, and low-risk, based on COVID statistics such as hospitalizations. People in communities that are high risk are still advised to wear a mask indoors, but those determined to be in low or medium-risk areas are advised to get vaccinated and tested if they get sick.

In medium-risk communities, immuno-compromised individuals should follow their doctor’s advice on whether or not to wear a mask. Roughly 70% of American counties fall into the medium or low-risk groups, meaning those residents aren’t advised to mask.

Many states and cities still have vaccine or mask mandates in effect, but some Democrat-led governments began dropping their mandates in early February. At the federal level, the Biden administration has said that it will follow CDC guidelines.

Schools are one of the last and most difficult to enforce places that mask mandates remain in effect.

It is unclear when the Biden administration will drop federally determined mask mandates such as on airplanes or in federal buildings.

A Utah father was arrested Monday after telling his four-year-old son to shoot at police in a McDonald’s drive-thru, according to the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake.

Sadaat Johnson went to the McDonald’s drive-thru in Midvale and waived a gun at employees after he received an incorrect order. According to a police statement, employees called 911 while correcting Johnson’s order.

Officers responding to the incident asked Johnson to get out of his car, but he refused and they had to remove him. An officer noticed a gun pointing out of a rear window and realized a four-year-old was holding the gun. The first officer notified the other officers that the child had a gun while “swiping the gun to the side as a round was fired.”

Police said the four-year-old, who was in the backseat with his three-year-old sibling, said he was told by his father to shoot at the police.

Sheriff Rosie Rivera reacted to the incident, noting it was a “sad day for law enforcement.”

“To have an adult think it is okay to encourage a four-year-old to pull a firearm and shoot at police illustrates how out of hand the campaign against police has gotten,” she said.

The officer who swiped at the gun suffered minor injuries. The police investigation is ongoing.

Both of Johson’s children were taken into custody by Utah social workers.

President Joe Biden said the U.S. and its NATO allies will meet Friday to “map out” plans to counter Moscow after Russian troops invaded Ukraine early Thursday.

The president said the U.S., the 30-member alliance and other close partners will show their solidarity and will take steps to “further strengthen” their resolve in discouraging Russian aggression in Europe.

“Within hours of Russia’s unleashing its assault, NATO came together and authorized and activated an activation in response plans,” the president said in an address to the nation. “This will enable NATO’s high readiness forces to deploy when and where they’re needed.”

Biden has authorized the deployment of 7,000 troops to Germany. They will join the thousands of U.S. troops that were already deployed to NATO-member nations in Eastern Europe like Poland and Romania.

“This is a dangerous moment for all of Europe, for the freedom around the world,” Biden said.

Biden along with NATO allies have said they will not send forces into Ukraine to fight. The president reiterated that these forces serve as a deterrent to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his “naked aggression.”

“He has much larger ambitions in Ukraine. He wants to, in fact, reestablish the former Soviet Union,” Biden said.

In addition to the deployment of additional forces in Europe, Biden announced another tranche of sanctions that target Russian banks.

These sanctions followed the first round of penalties levied by the U.S. Wednesday, with roughly $80 billion in assets frozen when Washington targeted VEB bank and Promsvyazbank – both of which have ties to the Kremlin and Russia’s military.

Russian elites and their families have been added to the growing list of sanctioned individuals.

Biden did not answer questions about why Putin himself has not yet been targeted by sanctions.

“We will make sure that Putin will be a pariah on the international stage. Any nation accountable in Russia’s naked aggression against Ukraine will be stained by association,” Biden said.

Ukraine called on the U.S. and NATO Thursday to ban Russia from the SWIFT international banking system.

However, this measure was not included in the second round of sanctions announced by the president either.

The president argued that by targeting the banks Russia will feel an “equal consequence” to that of being removed from the international banking system.

“It is always an option but right now, that’s not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take,” he added, suggesting this could be included in a later round of sanctioning.

Biden said the sanctions are designed to impose severe costs on the Russian economy immediately and over time.

“We have purposely designed these sanctions to maximize a long-term impact on Russia,” Biden said. But added, “If we don’t move against him now with these two significant sanctions he will be emboldened.”

A Massachusetts man was arrested Monday after climbing into the tiger exhibit of the local zoo. Worcester resident Matthew Abraham, 24, was caught climbing over a gate in order to access the tiger exhibit.

Massachusetts state troopers responded to a call from Franklin Park Zoo around 9:00 a.m. about a man attempting to break into the tiger exhibit. Abraham was unsuccessful in his attempt to get into the tiger enclosure and was unharmed. Boston EMS evaluated Abraham and determined that he was mentally stable. State troopers arrested him and he was booked on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct.

“I was there as a spectator of the zoo. I didn’t mean to harm anybody. I wasn’t looking to harm the tiger. I wasn’t looking to harm myself neither,” Abraham said. “My plan was just to go see what is a tiger. How would a tiger react to a human being?”

Abraham claimed that although he had not paid admission, he thought the zoo was open when he walked inside. He said the only time that he had scaled any fences was when the security staff caught him. State police discovered during their investigation that Abraham had in fact scaled multiple fences and ignored several warning signs posted in the area as well.

Abraham was released on a $40 bail and will appear in Dorchester District Court for a Tuesday arraignment.