memeorandum: Russia's currency tanks, stock market closes as Western sanctions shake the economy (Washington Post)

9:50 AM ET, February 28, 2022

Top Items:

The war in Ukraine isn't working out the way Russia intended … The war in Ukraine isn't going Russia's way. — Videos posted on social media show whole columns of tanks and armored vehicles have been wiped out. Others have been stopped in their tracks by ordinary Ukrainians standing on the street to block their advance.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Examiner, WAVY-TV, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, IJR, Euractiv, Axios, Forbes, BBC, Daily Kos, The Signal and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Putin Finds Himself Isolated, Out of Touch as Invasion of Ukraine Sputters — Russia's leader is peddling an alternative narrative to suit his needs, and his behavior is making his inner circle appear uncomfortable — With much of the world moving against him, economic sanctions piling …

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Post and Foreign Policy

Alan Blinder / New York Times:

Ukraine and Russia Meet as Kyiv Remains in Cross Hairs — The Treasury Department announced a freeze on Russian Central Bank assets. Delegations from Kyiv and Moscow were meeting for talks in Belarus, even as Ukraine said dozens were killed in a Russian rocket attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city.

Washington Post:

Historic sanctions on Russia had roots in emotional appeal from Zelensky … As the leaders of the European Union gathered for an emergency summit on Thursday night, momentum was already moving toward imposing tough new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Illia Ponomarenko / The Kyiv Independent:

Sources: Belarus to join Russia's war on Ukraine within hours — As Russia fails to inflict quick defeat upon Ukraine after four days of fierce hostilities, Vladimir Putin is about to pull his Belarusian ally, dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko into his war of occupation.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Balloon Juice, Townhall, Washington Post, BizPac Review, Raw Story, UPI, Washington Post and Vanity Fair

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: A presidency transformed — DRIVING THE DAY — DAY FIVE — The latest on the ground in Ukraine, via the NYT's blog-style running updates: “With a three-mile-long convoy of Russian military vehicles pressing down on Kyiv, a Ukrainian delegation arrived at the border …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Washington Post:
Russia's currency tanks, stock market closes as Western sanctions shake the economy

Discussion: HotAir and The Hill

Wall Street Journal:
Ukraine Leads the World

Discussion: UnHerd, Making Sense …, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Current, Power Line, Comment is Freed and WAVY-TV

Associated Press:
Live updates: US official: Belarus may join Ukraine invasion

Max Boot / Washington Post:
Putin's war of aggression has mobilized the strongest international outrage since 9/11

Discussion: USA Today, Bloomberg, Fox News, Against the Grain and CBS News

U.S. Department of the Treasury:

Treasury Prohibits Transactions with Central Bank of Russia and Imposes Sanctions on Key Sources of Russia's Wealth — In Coordination with Allies and Partners, Treasury Actions Restrict Access to Billions in Central Bank Assets and Sovereign Wealth Fund — Treasury Sanctions Russian …

Discussion: OFAC, CBS News, The Daily Beast, Daily Kos, Forbes, Politico, TASS, REFORM.by, Associated Press and The White House

Caitlin Ostroff / Wall Street Journal:

Russia's Ruble, Financial Markets Are Hammered by Sanctions — Central bank doubles interest rates to protect the banking system as the ruble plunges — Powerful Western sanctions rocked Russia's financial system and triggered a spiral in the ruble, drawing the central bank into an emergency doubling of interest rates.

Discussion: CNN, Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo, Nsbb, UPI, Forbes, The Wolf of Water Street, New Statesman, Edward Slavsquat, Just The News and BBC

New York Times:

The West's Plan to Isolate Putin: Undermine the Ruble — Measures announced over the weekend aimed at restricting the Russian central bank's ability to support the ruble appear to be having an immediate impact. — By targeting Russia's central bank with sanctions, experts said …

Discussion: CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, BBC, The Guardian, The Times of Israel, Pandemic Capitalism, Al Jazeera, One America News Network, Behind the Iron Curtain, The Guardian, t zero, Nsbb, Euro Weekly News Spain, lewrockwell.com, The Kyiv Independent and Japan Times

Bloomberg:
U.S. Bans Transactions With Russian Central Bank, Wealth Fund

Discussion: The Moscow Times, Washington Post, CNBC, HotAir, Associated Press, CNBC, Voice of America, UPI, Metro.co.uk, New York Times and Instapundit

Stephanie Nebehay / Reuters:

Neutral Swiss poised to freeze Russian assets - president … Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said on Sunday that it was “very probable” that neutral Switzerland would follow the European Union (EU) on Monday in sanctioning Russia and freezing Russian assets in the Alpine country.

Discussion: Euractiv, Euro Weekly News Spain, Associated Press, Yahoo News and Daily Kos

Elizabeth Piper / Reuters: Britain widens Russian ‘dirty money’ crackdown with new law

Melissa Eddy / New York Times:
In Foreign Policy U-turn, Germany Ups Military Spending, Arms Ukraine

Discussion: Bloomberg, Financial Times, Politico, Reuters, Berlin Takes, UPI, Website of the Federal …, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Wall Street Journal and Euractiv

Barak Ravid / Axios:
U.S. protests Israel's refusal to back UN resolution condemning Russia

Discussion: Reuters, CBS News, Wall Street Journal, The Times of Israel and Fox News

New York Times:
War in Ukraine Forces Israel Into a Delicate Balancing Act

Discussion: Reuters, Breitbart, The Times of Israel and The Media Line

Gabriel Stargardter / Reuters:
Bolsonaro won't condemn Putin, says Brazil will remain neutral over invasion

Discussion: Bloomberg and Instapundit

John F. Harris / Politico:

Relax, Democrats, Biden's presidency isn't screwed — After Democrats got routed in the 2010 elections, a reporter asked President Barack Obama if the results were a sign that voters considered him “out of touch” with their concerns and whether he was willing to change his leadership style in response.

Discussion: New York Times

New York Times:

Climate Change's Effects Outpacing Ability to Adapt, I.P.C.C. Warns — Countries aren't doing nearly enough to protect against the disasters to come as the planet keeps heating up, a major new scientific report concludes. — The dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly …

Discussion: Grist, Politico, CBS News, Mother Jones, UPI, Los Angeles Times, CNBC, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams, Japan Times and Financial Times

Seth Borenstein / Associated Press:
UN climate report: ‘Atlas of human suffering’ worse, bigger

Discussion: Al Jazeera and Washington Post

Manveen Rana / The Times:

Volodymyr Zelensky: Russian mercenaries ordered to kill Ukraine's president … More than 400 Russian mercenaries are operating in Kyiv with orders from the Kremlin to assassinate President Zelensky and his government and prepare the ground for Moscow to take control, The Times has learnt.

Discussion: The Times of Israel, The Kyiv Independent and emptywheel

Gal Beckerman / The Atlantic:
How Zelensky Gave the World a Jewish Hero

Discussion: Associated Press and New York Times

NBC News:

Facebook, Twitter remove disinformation accounts targeting Ukrainians — Facebook and Twitter removed two anti-Ukrainian “covert influence operations” over the weekend, one tied to Russia and another with connections to Belarus, the companies said. — One of the operations …

Discussion: CBS News, TechCrunch, The Verge, The Guardian, UPI, NPR, Lukasz Olejnik on Cyber … and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

Two members of Congress spoke at a white nationalist convention. These corporations are supporting their reelection. — Over the weekend, two members of Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), addressed a white nationalist convention.

Discussion: CBS News, Newsweek and The Racket News

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:
Romney: Marjorie Taylor Greene a ‘moron’ for speaking at white nationalist event

Discussion: Washington Post, BizPac Review, Democracy Diary, CNN, HuffPost, Deseret News, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Insider, POLITICUSUSA, Rolling Stone, Washington Times, Breitbart and The Hill

Washington Post:

Barr calls prospect of Trump running for president again ‘dismaying,’ says GOP should ‘look forward’ to others — Former attorney general William P. Barr says in a new book that the prospect of Donald Trump running for president again is “dismaying” and urges the Republican Party to …