Hope for Ukraine Diplomacy

The Ukraine Mess: Russia’s Defense Ministry said today that they are pulling back some troops that have been deployed near the Ukrainian border, providing a signal that Russia might be backing off its threat of  invasion.

  Other troops are still engaged in training exercises and Russian warships are collected in the Black Sea. 

  A confusing mixture of events are clouding the picture. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskydramatically declared yesterday that he’s been informed that tomorrow is the day Russia will invade. He did not reveal the source of his information, and later backed off.

  The US is closing its embassy in Kyiv, yet at the same time Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovsaid diplomatic possibilities are “far from exhausted” on the “security guarantees” Russia demands from the United States and NATO. Russia doesn’t want Ukraine to be allowed to join NATO.

  Ukraine’s Zelensky indicated a softening at that subject, saying that perhaps joining NATO “is for us like a dream.” 

Oh Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared a national public emergency to stop protests against Covid mandates that have choked commerce and daily life for weeks.  It’s the first time a Canadian government has taken such action in 50 years.

  Trudeau, his government, and police agencies have all come under fire for not acting. The order allows police to formally ban demonstrations that “go beyond lawful protest” and to be able to seize trucks and other vehicles used in blockades. The order even allows for the arrest of tow truck drivers who refuse to cooperate. 

The Skating Scandal: Parts of the figure skating world are outraged at the decision not to eject Russian skater Kamila Valieva from the Olympic games in Beijing.

  “Athletes have the right to know they are competing on a level playing field,” said Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee. She said in a statement, “This appears to be another chapter in the systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia.”

  Russia is already serving a four-year suspension from competing as a country because they got caught doping. This morning, Valieva’s lawyers are claiming that somehow she was contaminated with a heart drug her grandfather was taking.

  The 15-year-old Valieva tested positive in December for a performance-enhancing heart drug. She’s being treated leniently because she’s a minor, so she is being allowed to compete in the individual event this week, but will not be allowed to receive a medal if she wins one until her case is fully resolved.

  Two-time bronze medalist Johnny Weir was blunt saying, “I have to condemn this decision with every ounce of my soul.” He said, “It doesn’t matter how old you are or the timing of when the test results have come in, you have to be responsible for what happens to your body to compete at the Olympics.”

 And Canada’s Olympic Committee member Dick Pound described the Russians as “absolutely unrepentant,” saying, “Take a time out for one or two, or three Olympic Games until you get this under control.”

Five Ring Roundup: The US women’s hockey team beat Finland to win a slot in the gold medal game Thursday against Canada. The Americans have already beaten Canada in a preliminary round. 

  American born Eileen Gu, who’s competing for China, won silver in freeski slopestyle, an event that’s like skateboarding on skis, grinding on pipes and doing flips and spins off ramps. Gu already won gold in the big air freestyle event.

  The athletes have been competing in temperatures in the low teens and the Olympics for the first time are dependent almost entirely on artificial snow.

Viral News: The world’s #1 tennis player Novak Djokovic has said he would rather skip future tournaments rather than be forced to get a Covid vaccine. “Yes, that is the price that I’m willing to pay,” he said.

  The 20-time Grand Slam winner  told the BBC that he’s not part of the anti-vax movement, but he’s defending an individual’s right to choose. Djokovic was deported from Australia last month after the government cancelled his visa because he’s not vaccinated.

  Here in the US new cases of Covid are down 66 percent over the past two weeks and deaths are down six percent.

The Spin Rack: Amid investigations into whether Donald Trump and his companies illegally inflated assets, his longtime accounting firm has cut ties with the former president, saying they can no longer stand by the annual financial statements they prepared for the Trump Organization. — Even as the jury deliberated, the judge in Sarah Palin’s libel lawsuit against The NY Times said she has not proven her case and he will dismiss it if the jury finds in her favor. The Times admits it made a mistake defaming Palin in an editorial and apologized, but under established case law, public figure figures must prove that a news organization acted with malice. — A Democratic mayoral candidate in Louisville was the target of an assassination attempt yesterday when a man walked into his campaign office and started shooting. Craig Greenberg said a bullet passed through his sweater. The suspect is a Black Lives Matter activist who has written columns for The Courier-Journal newspaper about race and social justice.

Drying Out: The American West is in deep drought. Reservoirs and aquifers are depleted and rivers are dry. According to research released yesterday, the Western US and northern Mexico are suffering their driest period in at least 1,200 years. A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change says the last drought this bad was in the 1500s when the population consisted of native tribes. Today the West is home to tens of millions of showering and clothes washing people and massive agricultural developments.

 The study’s lead author said, “We have a society that’s relying on there being the amount of water there was in the 1900s.”

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It's Been Said

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