“Two top Spanish transport officials have resigned over a botched order for new commuter trains that cost nearly $275 million,” the BBC reports.
“The trains could not fit into non-standard tunnels in the northern regions of Asturias and Cantabria.”
Russia ‘Suspending’ Arms Control Treaty
Vladimir Putin said Russia is suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, CNN reports.
“Moscow is not withdrawing from the agreement, but is suspending its participation, Putin said in his state of the nation address.”
“Under the key nuclear arms control treaty, both the United States and Russia are permitted to conduct inspections of each other’s weapons sites, but inspections have been halted since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Russia Was Informed of Biden’s Trip
Eliot Cohen: “The Russians received word of the trip, we are informed—and presumably the threat, stated or implied, that they would get a violent and overwhelming response if they attempted to interfere with it.”
How Long Can Russia Keep Fighting in Ukraine?
Financial Times: “Russia’s battlefield losses are so huge that western officials doubt it has the capacity to mount an offensive on the same scale again. Sanctions, meanwhile, have hurt Russia’s economy and have cut it off from supply chains crucial to sustaining Putin’s war machine.”
“But despite the dire state of Russia’s forces and the years-long quagmire its economy faces, Putin has shown no indication he intends to scale back his goals or seek a way out of the war, insisting Russia’s victory is ‘inevitable’ and its ‘goals will be met in full.’”
Quote of the Day
“Let’s review some of the governing principles of America. Our country is governed by the Constitution. You swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Secession is unconstitutional. No member of Congress should advocate secession, Marjorie.”
— Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), responding to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) call for a “national divorce.”
Putin Defends Ukraine Invasion in Major Speech
“Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western countries Tuesday of igniting and sustaining the war in Ukraine, dismissing any blame for Moscow almost a year after the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor that has killed tens of thousands of people,” the AP reports.
“In his long-delayed state-of-the-nation address, Putin cast Russia — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and said Russia, not Ukraine, was the one fighting for its very existence.”
CNN: Biden set for latest symbolic clash with Putin after surprise Ukraine trip.
New Group Helping DeSantis Go National
“A newly launched nonprofit group is supporting Ron DeSantis’ national political activity — a major sign of the growing political apparatus around the Florida governor as he moves toward a 2024 presidential bid,” Politico reports.
“The nonprofit organization, called ‘And to the Republic,’ hosted three events DeSantis held Monday in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, where he spoke before law enforcement officers.”
Russia Apparently Plans to Take Over Belarus
“A leaked internal strategy document from Vladimir Putin’s executive office and obtained by Yahoo News lays out a detailed plan on how Russia plans to take full control over neighboring Belarus in the next decade under the pretext of a merger between the two countries.”
“The document outlines in granular detail a creeping annexation by political, economic and military means of an independent but illiberal European nation by Russia, which is an active state of war in its bid to conquer Ukraine through overwhelming force.”
Massachusetts Governor Won’t Release Call Logs
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) — who just two months ago vowed to not claim a blanket public records exemption as governor — is now refusing to release her call logs and e-mails, the Boston Globe reports.
America’s Struggle to Contain a Deadly Drug
Financial Times: “Tens of thousands of American parents are mourning the deaths of their children amid an unprecedented drugs crisis, which has claimed 107,000 lives in the year to August 2022. About two-thirds of those deaths were caused by fentanyl — a drug prescribed to treat severe cancer pain — which is increasingly being cut into illegal street drugs via a well-honed supply chain built by Chinese and Mexican crime syndicates.”
“The consequences are sobering. Illicit fentanyl has displaced legally prescribed painkillers as the main cause of overdoses in the US. The skyrocketing death rate — equivalent to one American overdosing every five minutes — and the $1.5 trillion annual cost to the economy is forcing a national debate about how to solve a public health emergency that, alongside Covid-19, has helped drive US life expectancy down to a 25-year low of 76.4 years.”
Be sure to read Chris Riback’s Deep Dive on the fentanyl crisis.
The U.S. Covid Death Toll Is Still Rising
Wall Street Journal: “The U.S., which recently topped 1.1 million Covid-19 deaths since the pandemic began, continues to record several hundred more each day, death-certificate data show. The people who are dying remain old, often with underlying health issues such as heart and lung ailments, the data indicate.”
Russia Downplays Biden’s Visit to Ukraine
“Russian officials and state media downplayed President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday, painting Kyiv as a U.S. puppet and maintaining Moscow’s forces will prevail despite Washington’s pledges to send more weapons to Ukraine,” the AP reports.
“The visit also came on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s scheduled state-of-the-nation address, which some in Russia expect to set the tone for the year ahead — including for Putin’s bogged-down campaign in Ukraine.”
DeSantis Visits New York City to Highlight Crime
“Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida traveled to New York City on Monday, kicking off a tour meant to highlight the issue of crime in Democratic-led cities in an apparent attempt to position himself as a law-and-order candidate in a presidential campaign he has not announced,” the New York Times reports.
Record Number of Guns Intercepted at Airports
The Associated Press reports 6,542 guns were intercepted last year at airport checkpoints across the country.
The number — roughly 18 per day — was an all-time high for guns intercepted at U.S. airports, and is sparking concern at a time when more Americans are armed.
Debt Ceiling Standoff Prompts Backup Plans
Wall Street Journal: “There is no clear escape hatch to avoid default if Congress doesn’t pass legislation raising the debt ceiling. Potential alternatives to addressing the borrowing limit—from simply ignoring it, to minting a trillion-dollar coin, to prioritizing certain payments—all face hurdles, underlining doubts about any fallback plan if Democrats and Republicans fail to reach a deal by this summer.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“It’s really not even worth my brain space to spend time responding to fools. These people know nothing about national security and foreign policy.”
— Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), in a NBC News interview, responding to the Republicans criticizing President Biden for making a surprise visit to Ukraine.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls for ‘National Divorce’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) “called for the U.S. to be separated by red and blue states and for a shrinking of the federal government in a tweet on President’s Day, the latest in a string of controversial statements from the two-term congresswoman,” NBC News reports.
Said Greene: “We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done.”
Ron DeSantis to Skip CPAC
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) appears to have decided not to speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, The Floridian reports.
