Ukraine Falling: Russian rockets have hit the capital city of Kyiv and there appears to be fighting in the streets as Vladimir Putin presses his takeover of Ukraine in the most major warfare in Europe since World war II.

  Ukraine officials warned residents to stay indoors and “prepare Molotov cocktails” to defend against advancing Russian troops. President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered a general mobilization of the entire military and ordered all men 18-60 to remain in the country. The government has been handing out guns.

  By last count, 137 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have been killed in the Russian advance.

  What the world witnessed in the past 24 hours is the takeover of one country by another through the use of what is known as “combined arms.” The Russians have used everything from jets and missiles to artillery, helicopters, tanks, and paratroopers. They used the Navy … just about everything they have except nuclear weapons. It is an exercise of fully-modern lightning warfare.

  And much of it has been performed in full view of television news cameras. The Russians appeared to make no effort to block the world from seeing what they are doing.

  Russia confirms that its paratroopers have taken over the highly radioactive grounds of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the notorious meltdown near Ukraine’s northern border.

  The Russians rejected talks with Zelensky as they seek to topple the country’s democratically elected government. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Ukraine is run by “neo-Nazis” and the West. Maintaining Putin’s wildly fictitious reasons for the invasion, Lavrov said during a news conference in Moscow, “We do not see the possibility of recognizing as democratic a government that persecutes and uses methods of genocide against its own people.” 

  Putin himself threatened western countries that interfere saying they would face “consequences greater than any you have faced in history.”

  In Russia, nearly 2,000 antiwar protesters have been arrested. 

  Reacting to the invasion, President Joe Biden yesterday announced a regime of international economic and trade sanctions that will make it painful for Putin to hold on to what he’s taken. He said, “Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences.”

  Biden said, “We will limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, Euros, Pounds and yen.” He said Russian banks with a $1 trillion in assets have been sanctioned and every asset they have in America will be frozen.

  “We’re going to stunt the ability to finance and grow the Russian military,” Biden said, and  “we’re going to impair their ability to compete in high-tech, 21st century economy.”

  Following the invasion and sanctions, the Russian  Ruble hit its weakest level in history against the dollar and the Russian market stock market plunged 33 percent.

 Biden said the sanctions will go after Russian wealthy elites and their family members. “These are people that personally benefit from the Kremlin’s policies and they should share in the pain,” he said.

  Significantly though, Russia is not being blocked right now from the SWIFT international money transfer system.

  The sanctions are not capable of chasing the Russians out of Ukraine overnight. It will take time if it works at all.

Far Right:  Reactions from the American right wing are among the extremes of war breaking out in the East. Fox News opinionator Tucker Carlson ranted that, “Democrats in Washington have told you it’s your patriotic duty to hate Vladimir Putin.” He said,  “Hating Putin has become the central purpose of America’s foreign policy. It’s the main thing that we talk about. Entire cable channels are now devoted to it.” 

  This comes on the heels of former President Donald Trump describing Putin as a “genius.”

  Carlson represents the political party that once focused on toppling Communist Russia, but he doesn’t object as Vladimir Putin seeks to reconstruct the Soviet Union.

  Carlson asked essentially, “Why hate a man who’s done nothing to me?”  He inquired, “Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? Has he shipped every middle-class job in my town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked my business and kept me indoors for two years? Is he teaching my children to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Is he trying to snuff out Christianity? Does he eat dogs?”

The Obit Page: Actress Sally Kellerman, who famously played the combat nurse Hot Lips Houlihan in the 1970 Robert Altman dark comedy MASH, has died at age 84. She made famous the bunk house line, “Oh Frank, my lips are hot!”

  Kellerman won a Golden Globe for her role in the movie about a group of hotshot surgeons in the Korean War.

The Spin Rack: Three former Minneapolis police officers who were with Officer Derek Chauvin as he pressed his knee into George Floyd’s neck were convicted yesterday of violating Floyd’s civil rights. — President Biden has told his advisers he has made his decision on who to nominate to the Supreme Court. He has promised to nominate a black woman.  — Major League Baseball has set a Monday deadline to teach an agreement  with the players’ union, in order for there to have a full 162-game season, CNN reports.

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