Top Items:
John Harwood / CNN:
Former top Trump Russia adviser details the sharp contrast between the former President and Biden — Fiona Hill doesn't know whether President Joe Biden can lead Western allies to ward off Russia's threat to Ukraine. But unlike his predecessor, he's trying.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Ukraine Live Updates: Biden Warning on Russian Attack Was Prompted by New Intelligence — Here's what you need to know: — Intelligence that the Kremlin ordered an invasion prompted the latest Biden warning, officials say. — U.S. intelligence learned last week that the Kremlin had given …
Discussion:
CBS News, KyivPost, NBC10 Philadelphia, CNBC, One America News Network and Los Angeles Times
Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
U.S. has intel that Russian commanders have orders to proceed with Ukraine invasion — Washington — The U.S. has intelligence that Russian commanders have received orders to proceed with an invasion of Ukraine, with commanders on the ground making specific plans for how they would maneuver …
CNN:
New intel adds to US fears that Russia is readying for military action — Clarissa Ward on verifying info about Ukraine and Russia — (CNN)The US has intelligence indicating orders have been sent to Russian commanders to proceed with an attack on Ukraine, according to two US officials …
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Cruz: ‘Joe Biden becoming president is the best thing that ever happened, tragically, for Vladimir Putin’
Cruz: ‘Joe Biden becoming president is the best thing that ever happened, tragically, for Vladimir Putin’
Discussion:
Fox News and POLITICUSUSA
Fox News:
‘Fox News Sunday’ on February 20, 2022
‘Fox News Sunday’ on February 20, 2022
Discussion:
Insider, CNN, New York Post, Townhall and The Daily Caller
Washington Post:
Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russian forces stay in Belarus; Biden to convene NSC about invasion threat
Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russian forces stay in Belarus; Biden to convene NSC about invasion threat
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Ukraine's president criticizes Western “appeasement” of Putin's aggression
Ukraine's president criticizes Western “appeasement” of Putin's aggression
Discussion:
Morning Shots, RedState and New York Times
Washington Post:
Zelensky rips the West for inaction as shellings make Russia-Ukraine war seem increasingly imminent
Zelensky rips the West for inaction as shellings make Russia-Ukraine war seem increasingly imminent
Discussion:
New York Times, The National Interest, The Moderate Voice, HotAir, CNN, Politico and CNBC
Peter Aitken / Fox News:
Russia-Ukraine outcome presents little upside for Biden, but ‘downside’ possible: Strategists
Russia-Ukraine outcome presents little upside for Biden, but ‘downside’ possible: Strategists
Discussion:
Politico
New York Times:
Vast Leak Exposes How Credit Suisse Served Strongmen and Spies — Leaked data on more than 18,000 accounts shows that the Swiss bank missed or ignored red flags. — The client rosters of Swiss banks are among the world's most closely guarded secrets, protecting the identities …
Discussion:
OCCRP
RELATED:
OCCRP:
Historic Leak of Swiss Banking Records Reveals Unsavory Clients — Despite two decades of pledges by Credit Suisse to crack down on illegitimate funds, data leaked from the bank reveals that it catered to dozens of criminals, dictators, intelligence officials, sanctioned parties and political actors with outsized wealth.
The Guardian:
Revealed: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians — Massive leak reveals secret owners of £80bn held in Swiss bank — Whistleblower leaked bank's data to expose ‘immoral’ secrecy laws — Clients included human trafficker and billionaire who ordered girlfriend's murder
Discussion:
Associated Press
Invitation / The Economist:
Alexander Gabuev writes from Moscow on why Vladimir Putin and his entourage want war — Elites have hijacked Russia and conflated the country's interests with their own — ANYWHERE YOU turn in Moscow, it's easy to find members of the Russian elite who wonder why the West thinks that war …
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Washington Post:
Wielding the threat of war, a new, more aggressive Putin steps forward … He is the man with the very long table who seats world leaders and ministers at an almost comical distance. He is a lone figure in a dark coat laying a wreath at a St. Petersburg cemetery or sitting solo in his Olympic viewing booth in Beijing.
Discussion:
The Times of Israel, The Wrap and Agence France-Presse
Julia Davis / The Daily Beast:
Russian State TV Is So Ridiculous Right Now It Looks Like a Farce
Russian State TV Is So Ridiculous Right Now It Looks Like a Farce
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Raw Story and TASS
U.S. Mission Russia / U.S. Embassy & Consulates …:
Security Alert — Event: According to media sources, there have been threats of attacks against shopping centers, railway and metro stations, and other public gathering places in major urban areas, including Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as in areas of heightened tension along the Russian border with Ukraine.
Discussion:
Radio Free Europe/Radio … and TASS
Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:
The C.D.C. Isn't Publishing Large Portions of the Covid Data It Collects — The agency has withheld critical data on boosters, hospitalizations and, until recently, wastewater analyses. — For more than a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collected data on hospitalizations …
Discussion:
Mediaite
Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Right now, a U.S. toddler is starving because of Pat Toomey, Joe Manchin and 49 other Senate cowards — It was exactly two years ago this month that a working single mom turned antipoverty activist from Wheeling, W.V., named Amy Jo Hutchison sat before a U.S. House committee on Capitol Hill …
David Siders / Politico:
Republicans wince at Wisconsin GOP crack-up — MILWAUKEE — Timothy Ramthun's entry into Wisconsin's gubernatorial primary last weekend was the car wreck no one could look away from. — His campaign is built around the preposterous idea the 2020 election could still be overturned …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, Insider, Raw Story, Progress Pond, Associated Press, No More Mister Nice Blog and New York Times
Janon Fisher / Daily Mail:
Black female high school student is identified as vandal behind racist graffiti that saw Sacramento high school's water fountains scrawled with ‘white’ and ‘colored’ — The McClatchy High School student who scrawled the Jim Crow-era graffiti was not identified
Discussion:
Fox News and The Gateway Pundit
CBC News:
No bail decision yet for Tamara Lich, convoy protest organizer — Lich told court she has few assets and her bank accounts have been frozen — A second major organizer of the so-called Freedom Convoy will have to wait a few more days before an Ontario Court of Justice judge decides whether to grant her bail.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
PG INVESTIGATION | Shadowy money built steel empire — with bank's help — Months after Ukraine oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky and his partners abandoned an Ohio steel plant and left scores of workers without jobs, financial crime experts at Deutsche Bank shot up a troubling alert.