The Ukraine Threat: US intelligence officials have been telling news agencies that they have intel that the Kremlin has already given the order to units in the field to proceed with the invasion of Ukraine.

    “Everything leading up to the actual invasion appears to be taking place,’’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday on CNN. “All of these false-flag operations, all these provocations to create justifications — all that is already in train.”

  Sporadic fighting has already begun. Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have already engaged in artillery shelling that killed two Ukrainian soldiers and injured five, 

  French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone twice in the past 24 hours. Putin has called an unscheduled meeting of his national security council and President Joe Biden said he would agree to a summit with Putin if there’s no invasion.

  As many as  30,000 Russian troops will remain in Belarus after the completion of joint military exercises, adding to the suspicion that Russia has decided to invade Ukraine and it’s only a question of when. Belarus shares 665 miles of vulnerable border with Ukraine.

  An estimated 190,000 Russian troops are now poised on three sides of Ukraine, about half of them already in position to attack. CNN reports that it’s been told by a US official with knowledge of the intelligence that 75 percent of Russia’s forces are arrayed against Ukraine. 

 Despite all signs to the contrary, Russia still denies that it plans to overrun its neighbor.

Five Ring Roundup: Norway topped medal race at the Olympics with 16 golds and 37 medals overall. The Russian Olympic Committee finished second for medals at 32.

  The US was fifth with 25 medals, eight  of them gold.

  Yesterday, American Jessie Diggins, who already became the first American woman to win a medal in cross-country skiing, won silver in the women’s 30-kilometer freestyle. Two weeks ago she won bronze in the women’s sprint.

   She’s tough. She revealed that she had a case of food poisoning 30 hours before this last race and “My legs were cramping the whole last 17K.” 

  America’s alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin, who has three previous Olympic medals and is a three-time World Cup, finished the games entirely out of the medals. 

  The US skating team lost a last-minute appeal to be awarded their silver medal won in the team competition early in the games. The medals are being withheld because the Russian skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance before the games opened.

  On the rink, Finland beat Russia 2-1 to win their first gold in men’s hockey. 

Gene Pool: Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas from the University of Pennsylvania set records and won three events at the Ivy League Championships over the weekend. She won the 100, 200, and 500-yard freestyle races while setting records for the Harvard pool and the Ivy League.

  Thomas swam for three seasons on the Penn men’s team.

  She was almost prohibited from competing, but USA Swimming relaxed enforcement of a policy requiring a transgender swimmer to receive hormone replacement therapy for 36 months, and Thomas has been doing it for just 33. 

Viral News: Britain’s 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth has tested positive for Covid-19. They say she’s experiencing mild symptoms, keeping calm, and carrying on. 

  Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, have also had the bug.

  In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his state will be the first in the nation to treat the coronavirus as a manageable, endemic risk, something like the flu.  He said, “We are moving past the crisis phase into a phase where we will work to live with this virus.”

  Australia, in the meantime, has lifted what have been some of the most draconian Covid travel restrictions in the world, once again welcoming international tourists and business travelers.

The Spin Rack: Police in Ottawa, Canada have mostly taken back control of the central city after arresting 190 “freedom” protesters and towing nearly 80 vehicles. The protesters were fighting Covid restrictions and mandates. — The Family Dollar discount chain closed 400 stores after the discovery of an infestation of both live and dead rodents at a distribution center in Arkansas. They have recalled food, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and other products. –– The French modelling agent who acted as a procurer of underage girls for the pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has hanged himself in a Paris prison cell. The 76-year-old Jean-Luc Brunel had been accused of lining up  as many as 1,000 young women for Epstein.

Kick the Tires: Car dealers never do anything to make you like  them. A new report from Edmunds, the company that tracks car rankings and prices, says that because of pandemic parts and production shortages, 80 percent of car buyers in January paid over the sticker price for their new cars, an average of $728 over what’s called MSRP. Floor mats not included.

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