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Democrats win seat, Republicans win impeachment, two presidents clash over NATO

Democrats win seat, Republicans win impeachment, two presidents clash over NATO

If the second attempt to impeach the Homeland Security chief had taken place a short time later, the Republicans would have failed again. Instead, they managed to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas–the first sitting Cabinet secretary to draw that sanction–by a single vote. But after a victory in George Santos’ old district, the Democrats would have had the extra vote to stop the impeachment. TRUMP’S NATO COMMENTS TRIGGER FIERCE MEDIA AND EUROPEAN OPPOSITION: HOW SERIOUS IS HE? Tom Suozzi beat Republican Mazi Pilip in Tuesday’s special election on Long Island, unleashing a tidal wave of punditry about his winning formula–openly tackling such issues as illegal migration and crime rather than avoiding them. I always caution against drawing sweeping conclusions in one-off local races, and this election in a snowstorm is no exception.  The underlying factor was Santos, the outlandish, lying, fabricating lawmaker who won the seat with a made-up resume, was expelled by the House and is under indictment. Voters felt hosed by the Republican publicity hound, and maybe the Dems were more motivated to vote. Sure, Suozzi deserves credit for seizing on illegal migration and crime rather than avoiding such explosive issues – and doggedly distancing himself from President Biden. But he also has to run again in the fall. NATO CHIEF SAYS TRUMP CRITICISM ‘DOES UNDERMINE THE SECURITY OF ALL OF US’ Trump, for his part, blamed Pilip, “running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence,’ when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America…I STAYED OUT OF THE RACE, ‘I WANT TO BE LOVED!’”  A subtle Valentine’s Day message? The move against Mayorkas, the first against a Cabinet officer in 150 years, is about the politics of symbolism. Republicans know full well the Democratic-controlled Senate is not going to convict him. This was about keeping the spotlight on one of the GOP’s best issues. But if the press saddled Johnson with a humiliating defeat last week, it has to credit him with a big win now. Both episodes shed light on the fractious politics of the Hill. Just when it looked like the Senate might pass a bipartisan border security bill–which included military aid to Ukraine and Israel–Donald Trump ripped it and the package was dead. YOU DON’T NEED COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM TO SECURE THE BORDER: MARC THIESSEN Now the Senate appears ready to pass a stand-alone military aid bill by a filibuster-proof majority. But Johnson says he won’t bring it up for a House floor vote. That would bury it, unless a handful of Republicans join with Democrats to force a vote through a discharge petition. Think about it: the United States, unable to help two major allies because of election-year politics, especially Ukraine, which remains under siege by Vladimir Putin. And that’s why Biden took the rare step of delivering a televised speech on Tuesday. His predecessor gave him an opening by saying he wouldn’t protect any NATO member who didn’t pay its fair share in military costs. And if that were the case, Putin and Russia could “do whatever the hell they want.” Biden, in his speech, accused Trump of siding with the Russian dictator, calling the comments “dumb,” “shameful,” “dangerous” and “un-American.” Put aside whether Biden is right or Trump is trying to pressure delinquent allies. Joe Biden passed up a softball Super Bowl interview. So why is he getting in front of the cameras now? One, he’s trying to get push Congress to pass the military aid bill. Two, he’s trying to change the subject from his own questionable memory in that wake of that stinging special counsel’s report. Three, he is finally heeding the advice of those who say he needs to do more television to prove his competence and dim the focus on every gaffe or misstatement. What’s fascinating is the spin of each party when it comes to backing their candidate. Democrats are hitting the airwaves saying Biden is sharp and laser-focused in private, and counsel Robert Hur has no business airing his personal criticism of the president’s mental acuity. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Republicans are saying Trump would not actually abandon NATO and that he doesn’t mean what he’s saying. And everyone is getting sustained exposure to a system that generally favors political maneuvering over actual results.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un oversees test of new surface-to-sea missiles

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un oversees test of new surface-to-sea missiles

Kim also ordered the North Korean military to boost its readiness near the western maritime border with South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen the test of new surface-to-sea missiles, according to state media, while ordering his military to strengthen its readiness in disputed waters north of the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong. The report on the launches by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday came a day after South Korea’s military said North Korea had fired multiple cruise missiles in waters off its eastern port of Wonsan. The test was Pyongyang’s sixth missile launch event of the year. The KCNA report said Kim supervised the “evaluation test-fire of new-type surface-to-sea missile Padasuri-6 to be equipped by the navy”, and expressed “great satisfaction over the results of the test-fire”. The missiles hit their intended targets after flying over the East Sea for 1,400 seconds, it said. The East Sea is known as the Sea of Japan internationally. Kim also accused South Korea of frequently violating his country’s sovereignty by insisting on a “Northern Limit Line” (NLL), the maritime demarcation line between the two Koreas, and conducting maritime patrols and inter-diction of third-party ships, according to the KCNA. The North Korean leader also gave orders to his military to strengthen its readiness in the waters north of Yeonpyeong Island and to the west of the Korean peninsula, in the region of the NLL. Waters near the NLL, which was drawn up by the United States-led United Nations Command at the end of the Korean War in 1953, have been the site of previous clashes between the two Koreas. In 2010, North Korea torpedoed a South Korean warship in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 Sailors, and fired a barrage of artillery shells at Yeonpyeong Island, killing four others. According to the KCNA, Kim referred to the de facto border as a “ghost one without any ground in the light of international law”. “It doesn’t matter how many lines exist in [North Korea’s] western sea, and what’s clear is that if the enemy violates what we consider as our maritime border lines, we will take that as a violation of our sovereignty and an armed provocation,” he was quoted as saying. Kim also pledged that Pyongyang would “thoroughly defend our maritime sovereignty by force of arms and actions, not by any rhetoric”. The Padasuri-6 missile being fired towards the Sea of Japan [KCNA via KNS and AFP] Earlier this year, the North Korean leader told his country’s rubber-stamp parliament that he would no longer recognise the NLL, and declared that Pyongyang was abandoning its longstanding goal of reconciliation with Seoul. He also said that if South Korea “violates even 0.001 millimetre of our territorial land, air and waters, it will be considered a war provocation”. In a separate report, KCNA said Kim also inspected a “major” munitions factory and learned in detail about the modernisation of production. During the visit, he stressed the factory’s role in bolstering North Korea’s armed forces and laid out tasks to improve the quality of munitions and increase production as “required by the prevailing situation and the developing revolution”, KCNA said. Kim’s visit to the munitions factory comes as the US and its allies have accused North Korea of trading arms with Russia. The White House said last month that Russia had recently used short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) sourced from North Korea to conduct strikes against Ukraine, citing newly declassified intelligence. Adblock test (Why?)

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 723

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 723

As the war enters its 723rd day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Thursday, February 15, 2024. Fighting Ukraine said it critically damaged the Caesar Kunikov, a Russian landing warship, off occupied Crimea, in a drone attack, the latest blow to the Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine said the ship, one of Russia’s newest vessels, had a crew of 87 and had taken part in wars in Georgia and Syria as well as Ukraine. There was no official comment from Russia on the attack. Newly-appointed Ukrainian armed forces chief Oleksandr Syrskyii visited troops fighting around the key flashpoint of Avdiivka on the eastern front line, and described the situation as “extremely complex and stressful”. Syrskyii, who was accompanied by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, said Russian forces had “a numerical advantage in personnel”. At least three people, including a child, were killed and a dozen injured in a wave of Russian missile attacks on the town of Selydove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Officials said a hospital and several apartments were damaged. At least two people were killed and four injured after a Russian S-300 missile hit an apartment block in a village in the northeastern Kharkiv region, police said. One woman was injured after a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod and Voronezh regions and over the Black Sea. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said air defence systems destroyed nine drones, six of them over the Black Sea. Politics and diplomacy US President Joe Biden and top officials urged Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson for a vote on a bill that would provide $61bn in crucial assistance to Ukraine but is opposed by Donald Trump, the likely Republican candidate in November’s election in the United States. The Senate backed the bill, which also includes assistance for Israel and Taiwan, earlier this week. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also urged US lawmakers to pass the bill. “This is not charity. This is an investment in our own security,” Stoltenberg said. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyii, second from left, and Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, left, on a visit to front-line positions in eastern Ukraine [Armed Forces of Ukraine/Handout via AFP] British Foreign Secretary David Cameron also urged members of the US Congress to “do the right thing” and approve a Ukraine aid package. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing authorities to confiscate the assets of people convicted of spreading “deliberately false information” about the military. A Russian military court sentenced Zhumagul Kurbanova, a woman in her 60s, to 10 years in a penal colony after finding her guilty of setting fire to a military recruitment centre in St Petersburg in August 2023. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania issued diplomatic protests to Moscow after Russian police put leading Baltic politicians, including Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, on a wanted list over the destruction of Soviet-era monuments. The three Baltic states were once part of the Soviet Union but are now members of the European Union and NATO. Weapons Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren told the Reuters news agency the Netherlands was joining a military coalition with allies including the United Kingdom to supply Ukraine with advanced drone technology and bolster its offensive capabilities. Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said Canada would donate $44m to Ukraine to help in its war with Russia. Adblock test (Why?)