It won't be the State of the Union that President Joe Biden might have envisioned -- and quite suddenly, COVID restrictions are almost the least of it. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made this a moment that showcases foreign policy and broad questions of national security. And the divisions inside the Republican Party -- even those driven by former President Donald Trump -- aren't enough to shield Biden from pressures to act more boldly on multiple fronts. That's in part because the pressure isn't solely political. Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, said on ABC's "This Week" that her country is "grateful" for the support it's gotten but that government and business entities can and should provide much more. "We need more defensive weapons," she said. "It's time to take sides, and it's time to take Ukrainians' side." Republicans like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., have been pressing Biden to get more weapons to Ukraine and to impose more severe sanctions against financial entities than those already laid out. Democratic lawmakers have also been agitating for bigger steps to be taken on a faster timeline than has been favored by the White House. Biden comes to the current crisis and Tuesday's speech with career-low approval ratings across a broad range of issues. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll finds just 43% trust in Biden's ability to handle a crisis and growing concerns about the impact world events might have on energy prices and overall security. The White House has signaled an openness to taking further steps to protect Ukraine and rebuff Russia. Biden's challenge from here will be less about connecting the crisis to Americans' lives than in convincing voters that his steps are helping minimize what could be a far-reaching catastrophe. The clock is ticking and Democrats want to move quickly after Biden's historic announcement of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his pick to replace the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wants to see Jackson confirmed before the start of the Senate's Easter recess on April 8. That amount of time would still be longer than Amy Coney Barrett's 30 days between announcement and confirmation. Jackson is expected to begin meeting with senators before the start of confirmation hearings. Jackson is no stranger to the process. She has been confirmed by the Senate three times. She was last confirmed by the Senate in June to her post as United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit. Then, Jackson got three Republican votes, but that's not guaranteed this time around. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, signaled openness to voting in favor of Jackson's confirmation Sunday. "Look, her nomination and her confirmation would or will be historic and like anyone nominated by the president of the United States, she deserves a very careful look, a very deep dive," Romney told CNN. "And I will provide fresh eyes to that evaluation, and hope that I will be able to support her in the final analysis." The reality is that Democrats don't need Republican buy-in. They only need a simple majority to confirm Jackson and if Democrats are unified since Vice President Kamala Harris could serve as the tie-breaking vote. This week, voters will head to the polls for the first midterm election day of the year, as Texans cast their ballots in the March 1 primary election. Apart from serving as a symbolic marker of the official start of the 2022 midterm cycle, the outcome of Tuesday's election will also give a better assessment of the impact of the state's new election law. So far, the most visible aspect of the law includes the tightened voter identification requirement for those who are eligible to vote by mail. In order to successfully cast their mail ballots, voters must include either their driver's license number or the last four digits of their social security number on their ballots. The number they include must then match the number they originally used to register to vote. Voters ABC News spoke with over the last month who had their ballot applications rejected were either unaware of the change or did not recall which information they first used on their voter registration -- leading to mismatched data. Although primary election voter turnout is already perpetually low in midterm election cycles, this kind of confusion from voters could compound that.
The exact number of voters who cast mail ballots and were affected by this provision continues to fluctuate, but election officials in the state's largest metro area of Harris County tell ABC just over 30% of mail ballots they received were flagged for correction specifically because of the new identification requirements. It now remains to be seen how many of those ballots get corrected by the time polls close Tuesday. That's the percentage of Americans who disapprove of the way President Joe Biden has handled the crisis in Ukraine so far, according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll. And as FiveThirtyEight's Nathaniel Rakich wrote on Friday, that is broadly in line with how Americans view Biden's handling of foreign policy more broadly, which is likely a hangover from this summer when his numbers on the issue first fell during the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. But as Nathaniel writes, Americans largely approve of the sanctions Biden has imposed on Russia, so it's possible Americans might end up giving Biden higher marks for how he manages the Russian invasion of Ukraine. - ABC News
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Vladimir Putin is facing stiffer opposition than expected -- both inside and outside Ukraine2/28/2022 Five days into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it seems things haven't gone exactly to plan for Vladimir Putin so far. Western intelligence officials briefed repeatedly over the weekend that Russian forces have encountered "stiffer than expected" resistance from an outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian military. Russia has thus far failed to take key cities across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv. On Sunday, Ukrainian forces successfully repelled a Russian advance on a strategic airfield near Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, which has been under near-constant attack.In addition to a fierce fightback from Ukrainian forces and civilians, the Russian invasion has suffered logistical challenges, with soldiers on the front line running short of fuel, ammunition and food. "They are having problems," a NATO official said of the Russian forces, pointing to the alliance's latest intelligence. "They lack diesel, they are proceeding way too slow and morale is obviously an issue."But a senior US defense official told reporters on Sunday that Russia has only used two-thirds of the total combat power applied to the mission, leaving a significant amount of forces available to press the offensive.
Putin, it seems, hasn't just misjudged Ukraine's ability to defend itself, but also just how hard a line the international community would take against Russia in the event of an invasion. For years, the Russian president has faced very little pushback from the West over his illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, his brutal support for the Syrian regime and acts of aggression in other countries. For all their strong words of condemnation for Putin and his regime, Western countries still bought gas from Russia, offered a safe haven to Russian oligarchs and retained relatively normal diplomatic relations with Moscow. But this time around -- despite a few early rocky patches which saw Western nations accused of not hitting Russia hard enough -- Putin has faced an unusually united Western alliance.
Those same citizens might soon wonder just why Putin is risking so much for a war that didn't need to happen.
Of course, things are very fluid on the ground and could change very quickly.There's little hope that Monday's talks will yield a deescalation, and no one expects this war to end in the immediate future -- either by force or by agreement. But it's likely that Putin, having come this far, will throw more at Ukraine in the coming days. However, as the invasion enters its second week, it's impossible to ignore the fact that Putin's best-laid plans have been met with firmer resistance than he -- and many of his opponents -- ever imagined. - CNN MOSCOW/PARIS, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Russia's military said on Monday Ukrainian military saboteurs had tried to enter Russian territory in armed vehicles, an accusation dismissed as "fake news" by Kyiv amid Western accusations that Moscow could fabricate a pretext to invade. The Russian military said five people had been killed when the Ukrainian saboteurs were thwarted. Ukraine and its Western allies have been saying for days that Moscow could manufacture a pretext to invade Ukraine with a huge force it has massed on the border. Western countries accuse Russia of planning to invade a neighbour that it had controlled until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Moscow denies planning any attack but has demanded sweeping security guarantees, including a promise that Ukraine will never join NATO. Hours earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden had agreed in principle on a meeting. An adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron told Reuters that Macron had put the proposal to Putin at Biden's request. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said a call or meeting between Putin and Biden could be set up at any time, but there were no concrete plans yet for a summit. Tensions were growing, he said, but a foreign ministers' meeting was possible this week. Macron's office and the White House said the substance of the plan would be worked out by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting planned for Thursday. European financial markets were tumbling on Monday at signs of increased confrontation, after having briefly edged higher on the glimmer of hope that a summit might offer a path out of Europe's biggest military crisis in decades. After the report of the alleged incursion, major European bourses were down between 0.5% and 1.8%. Russian stocks plunged.
Russia's military said troops and border guards had prevented a "diversionary reconnaissance" group from breaching Russia's border from Ukrainian territory near Rostov and that five people had been killed, Russian news agencies reported. Interfax cited the Russian military as saying that Ukrainian armed vehicles had been destroyed. Ukraine rejected the report, calling it fake news, and said no Ukrainian forces were present in the Rostov region where the incident was alleged to have taken place. Satellite imagery released at the weekend appeared to show Russian deployments closer to Ukraine's border than before. Nerves frayed further when Moscow's close ally Belarus announced on Sunday that Russia would extend military exercises there. Russia has tens of thousands of soldiers in Belarus - part of what Washington says is a force now numbering 169,000-190,000 troops in the region, including pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. After talks in Brussels with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, British foreign minister Liz Truss said Western countries were preparing for a "worst-case scenario". The airlines Lufthansa, KLM and Air France all cancelled flights to Kyiv. After the report of the alleged incursion, major European bourses were down between 0.5% and 1.8%. Russian stocks plunged. Russia's military said troops and border guards had prevented a "diversionary reconnaissance" group from breaching Russia's border from Ukrainian territory near Rostov and that five people had been killed, Russian news agencies reported. Interfax cited the Russian military as saying that Ukrainian armed vehicles had been destroyed. Ukraine rejected the report, calling it fake news, and said no Ukrainian forces were present in the Rostov region where the incident was alleged to have taken place. Satellite imagery released at the weekend appeared to show Russian deployments closer to Ukraine's border than before. Nerves frayed further when Moscow's close ally Belarus announced on Sunday that Russia would extend military exercises there. Russia has tens of thousands of soldiers in Belarus - part of what Washington says is a force now numbering 169,000-190,000 troops in the region, including pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. After talks in Brussels with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, British foreign minister Liz Truss said Western countries were preparing for a "worst-case scenario". The airlines Lufthansa, KLM and Air France all cancelled flights to Kyiv. read more But the European Union rebuffed a call from Kyiv to impose some sanctions now to try to avert war before it started. read more. - Reuters As the first in-person voters of the 2022 election cycle head to the polls on Monday, not only is this year's early voting period expected to set the political tone for candidates ahead of the March 1 primary election, it will also put a renewed spotlight on Senate Bill 1, the state's recently revised election law. The law officially went into effect in December following nearly a year of debates in the Texas legislature over its possible impact on voting rights. Some of the most contentious floor debates were rooted in state Democrats' claims that the law would limit voters' ballot access through complicated voter identification requirements. Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates also took aim at the expanded access poll watchers would have within polling places under the new law. New regulations surrounding voter identification appeared to create immediate ripple effects in election administration as early as January. In some of the state's biggest counties, like Harris and Tarrant counties, hundreds of Texans eligible to vote by mail initially saw their mail ballot applications rejected due to the heightened proof of identity requirements. Some counties had trouble matching original voter registration records to the information provided by voters on their mail ballot applications and, in some cases, voters appeared to have their applications rejected because they failed to include all of the newly required information. In the middle of January, Harris County -- which includes Houston -- reported up to 30% of its mail-in ballots being rejected or flagged for rejection. The county is obligated to tell voters if their ballot was rejected, giving them a chance to fix it, which is bringing the numbers down. Now, Harris County is reporting to ABC News it is seeing a 13.45% rejection rate due to the new law. MORE: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs GOP-backed voting restrictions into lawOther counties are also reporting rejected ballots. Travis County -- which includes Austin -- told ABC News it is seeing a 7% rejection rate. Tarrant County -- which includes Fort Worth -- is reporting to ABC News an 8% rejection rate of its mail-in ballots. "Every time there's changes in the law, whether it's ID requirements, new requirements for mail-in ballots, it takes some time for voters to get used to," Texas' Assistant Secretary of State for Communications Sam Taylor told ABC News in January. Critics of the new law are also bracing for another potential change with the start of early, in-person voting -- the possible effects poll watchers could have on voters, especially voters of color. According to the Texas Poll Watcher's Guide, which is issued by the secretary of state's office, a poll watcher is a person appointed to observe the conduct of an election on behalf of a candidate, a political party, or the proponents or opponents of a measure. Poll watchers must first successfully complete a training course administered by the state and are limited in where they can serve. Although there are some limitations to who can serve as a poll watcher, partisans associated with campaigns or political parties are not exempt. Under SB 1, poll watchers are given broad access to observe activities within polling places, as well as any instances of curbside voting, and situations in which a voter could be getting help with casting their ballot. According to the Texas election code, watchers are also "entitled to sit or stand near enough to a member of a counting team who is announcing the votes to verify that the ballots are read correctly." SB 1 stipulates that watchers are supposed to observe the happenings inside a polling place "without obstructing the conduct of an election," and an election administrator can call for a law enforcement official to remove a poll watcher if that watcher "commits a breach of the peace or a violation of law." But the presence of people within polling places whose roles do not involve assisting voters could cause confusion, or even dissuade first-time voters from casting their ballots, according to Cesar Espinoza, executive director of the immigrant-led civil rights organization Fiel Houston. "One thing is what you say on paper, but the other thing is what your actions portray or what your demeanor is -- who really is going to be out there monitoring these people?" he said. "Even if everything is done, right…we feel this is a waste of resources. This is a waste of people power. We should be all working to make more people want to go vote instead of trying to police those people who are already showing up to vote," Espinoza added.
MORE: Texas House advances restrictive voting bill after late-night voteJim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said empowering poll watchers through the new law could lead to a heightened partisan environment, putting voters of color on alert about interactions with poll watchers when voting in person. "The push on empowering poll watchers, while increasing regulations around voting, have raised questions about voter intimidation, particularly from people of color, and in Texas – [voters] historically have an experience of voter intimidation during the period of Jim Crow – and… beyond that, during the period in which voting rights were not uniformly extended, particularly to African Americans, to Black voters and to Mexican American voters," Henson said. Although election administrators like Travis County Administrator Rebecca Guerreo tell ABC News they welcome trained poll watchers to be a part of the election process, despite concerns that some individuals "may be overzealous and overstep their authority," voters could feel differently. "Historical context is pretty clear, and I think historically, context is pretty hard to ignore for a lot of voters, and again, particularly voters that are people of color," Henson said. - ABC News MOSCOW, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday suggested to President Vladimir Putin that Moscow continue along the diplomatic path in its efforts to extract security guarantees from the West, as tensions soar over Ukraine.
Lavrov told Putin the United States had put forward concrete proposals on reducing military risks, but said responses from the European Union and NATO military alliance had not been satisfactory. In a televised exchange, Putin was shown asking Lavrov whether there was a chance of reaching an agreement to address Russia's security concerns, or whether it was just being dragged into tortuous negotiations. Lavrov replied: "We have already warned more than once that we will not allow endless negotiations on questions that demand a solution today." But as foreign minister, he said, "I must say there are always chances." He added: "It seems to me that our possibilities are far from exhausted... At this stage, I would suggest continuing and building them up." The comments appeared to signal a reduced likelihood of imminent Russian military action after repeated warnings from the United States that Russia could attack Ukraine at any time. Moscow, which has massed more than 100,000 troops near Russia's border with Ukraine, has repeatedly denied any plans to invade, and has accused the United States and its allies of hysteria. Lavrov said he had received "unsatisfactory" responses to a letter he sent to dozens of European Union and NATO members on the issue of "indivisible security" - a reference to Russia's complaint that Ukraine and Western countries are strengthening their security at Russia's expense and that this is in breach of international agreements. "I received unsatisfactory answers, none of my fellow ministers responded to my direct message," he said. "Therefore we will continue to seek a concrete reaction from each country." - Reuters In a dramatic shift, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy will announce Monday a timeline to end the state's school mask mandate, with a new policy to take effect in the second week of March, his office told CNN.
Murphy first spoke to the New York Times about his planned announcement. The governor and officials are scheduled to hold a 1 p.m. coronavirus briefing Monday.The policy will allow students and school officials to be unmasked as of March, two years after the pandemic gripped the country and the region. In November last year Murphy became the first Democratic governor in more than four decades to win reelection in New Jersey.Murphy's narrow victory was seen by some as a verdict on his and other Democratic leaders' commitments to mask and vaccine mandates, which the governor championed. - CNN |
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July 2022
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