Tucker Carlson leads rightwing charge to blame everyone but Putin

 https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/feb/25/tucker-carlson-fox-news-russia-putin

“Rather than blame the actual aggressor for attacking his weaker neighbor, right-wing media pinned the blame on Biden for supposedly projecting weakness and vulnerability to Putin,” Media Matters, a non-profit which monitors conservative media, wrote.

“In the right-wing media echo chamber [...] the fault for this invasion lies with a mind-boggling variety of scapegoats, including Joe Biden, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, American environmentalists, the LGBTQ community, and even the team here at Media Matters for America - anybody, that is, other than Putin.”

‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book

Donald Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset over 40 years and proved so willing to parrot anti-western propaganda that there were celebrations in Moscow, a former KGB spy has told the Guardian.

Yuri Shvets, posted to Washington by the Soviet Union in the 1980s, compares the former US president to “the Cambridge five”, the British spy ring that passed secrets to Moscow during the second world war and early cold war.

Now 67, Shvets is a key source for American Kompromat, a new book by journalist Craig Unger, whose previous works include House of Trump, House of Putin. The book also explores the former president’s relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Cheney Rips Trump, Pompeo for 'Praising' Russian President: 'Putin Is Evil'

 https://www.newsweek.com/cheney-rips-trump-pompeo-praising-russian-president-putin-evil-1682980

In a Friday evening Twitter post, Cheney shared screenshots from Russian media promoting remarks from Trump, Pompeo and Fox News host Tucker Carlson that appeared to be favorable to Putin. The GOP congresswoman knocked the right-wing politicians and commentator for their positive assessments of the Russian adversary.

White Nationalists Raid CPAC But Find Themselves Right at Home

 https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/cpac-afpac-nick-fuentes-marjorie-taylor-greene-1313210/

The Conservative Political Action Conference, the nation’s premier gathering of right-wing, pro-Donald Trump die-hards is here this year. The American First Political Action Conference, the nation’s premier gathering that includes right-wing, pro-Donald Trump die-hards who are also overt and public white nationalists, is here this year too. In theory, the two events are separate, hosted at different hotels, selling different tickets, and separated by 10 miles of Florida highway. In practice, and in ideology, the lines are a bit blurry, and it’s unclear whether anyone in CPAC leadership cares enough about the white nationalist presence to do anything significant about it.

It is clear, however, that some prominent CPAC speakers are, as the kids say, here for it.

That’s most obvious with Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, the House Republican from Georgia who proudly took the stage at AFPAC on Friday night, hours before her Saturday speaking appearance at CPAC. On Friday she was introduced by Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist whose own AFPAC address featured giggling praise of Adolph Hitler. Greene spoke at CPAC on Saturday morning, and pressed afterward about AFPAC and Fuentes, she said she was there to address his audience and claimed to have no knowledge of him nor any affiliation with — effectively pleading total ignorance and detachment from a conference she’d been a featured speaker at and a leader who’d introduced her.

Cheney Rips GOP Silence Over Greene, Gosar Joining 'White Supremacist' Event

 https://www.newsweek.com/cheney-rips-gop-silence-over-greene-gosar-joining-white-supremacist-event-1683002

Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, condemned GOP Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar for participating in a far-right "white supremacist" event, while also criticizing Republican leaders for failing to quickly "renounce" their actions.

Greene attended and spoke at the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) in Florida on Friday while Gosar appeared and spoke via video link. Nick Fuentes, who the anti-defamation league describes as a "white supremacist," founded AFPAC in 2020 and has even trolled other right-wing events, such as those organized by Turning Points USA and CPAC.

During Friday's event, Fuentes remarked: "Now they're going on about Russia and Vladimir Putin is Hitler—they say that's not a good thing." He and the audience then laughed loudly before he added, "I shouldn't have said that!"

Fuentes went on to lead the audience in chants in favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Can we give a round of applause for Russia?" he asked the attendees who cheered for Russia's leader.

Trump, in U-turn on Putin, Condemns Atrocities, Salutes Zelenskyy's Courage

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-u-turn-putin-condemns-atrocities-salutes-zelenskyys-courage-1683019

Former President Donald Trump headlined the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday night in his home state of Florida, and his conference focused on bashing Democrats as a war rages between Russian and Ukraine.

Trump trumpeted his own one-term presidency, saying Russia had attacked no other countries during his administration. Trump said he brought peace, and that powers like Russia stood down while he was at the helm during this century.

"Under Bush, Russia invaded Georgia; under Obama, Russia took Crimea; under Biden, Russia invaded Ukraine," Trump said. "I stand as the only president of the 21st century on whose watch Russia did not invade another country."

Claiming “De-Nazification,” Putin’s actions recall other Nazi crimes

 https://forward.com/culture/483010/putin-nazi-denazification-ukraine-jewish-president/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_3778361

As Russia invaded Ukraine, beginning at five in the morning, Vladimir Putin’s statement that his purpose was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine clearly disgusted Ukraine’s first-ever Jewish President.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy — whose three great-uncles were murdered in the Holocaust — responded on Twitter that Russia attacked Ukraine just “as Nazi Germany did.”

“As of today, our countries are on different sides of world history,” Zelenskyy said. “Russia has embarked on a path of evil.”

The framing of Zelenskyy as a Nazi has been going on for a while. In October, the former president of Russia and current deputy chairman of its Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, published “an expletive-laden article aimed at Ukraine and at President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, describing his country as a vassal state of the U.S. with whom it is impossible to negotiate,” according to Stephen Blank, an expert on Russia and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Medvedev compared Zelenskyy to the Sonderkommando.

TUCKER CARLSON HOPING WE CAN JUST FORGET ABOUT ALL THE TIMES HE INSISTED PUTIN WAS THE BEST

 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/02/tucker-carlson-vladimir-putin-praise#intcid=recommendations_right-rail-personalized-popularity-mab-experiment_c3408632-c3d4-4d43-a2b1-794634bba4aa_personalized-popularity-mab-strategy

If you happened to tune into Fox News on Thursday night, you might have seen something extremely strange: Tucker Carlson condemning Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine, and suggesting that what Russia is doing there—activities that have included shelling of a kindergarten—is actually big deal. “It’s a tragedy, because war always is a tragedy, and the closer you get to it, the more horrifying it seems,” he told viewers, adding, of the Russian president: “Vladimir Putin started this war, so whatever the context of the decision that he made, he did it. He fired the first shots. He is to blame for what we’re seeing tonight in Ukraine.” At this time, you might be asking yourself why it’s strange to denounce a country for waging an unprovoked war on its neighbor, or to place the blame squarely on the guy who made the decision to do so. And the answer is that it’s not strange, it’s what normal people who are not doing free P.R. for the Kremlin have been saying, but it is a tad odd given that, prior to Thursday, Carlson was this-close to inviting Putin on his show and asking him, “Any chance we can get you to run in 2024? I know it’s a long shot but…I’d love to see it.”

Conservatives Can’t Blame Biden for Putin’s Ukraine Attack

 https://news.yahoo.com/conservatives-t-blame-biden-putin-095718302.html

When it comes to their understanding of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there are generally two types of Republicans. The first type is basically siding with Russia. They may couch this by saying that Vladimir Putin has never done anything to me, that Putin is “smart” and “savvy,” or that Putin just feels cornered by an encroaching NATO.

The second type of Republican thinks it’s bad for Russia to invade Ukraine—and it’s all Joe Biden’s fault!

Putin’s miscalculation

 https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-war-russia-vladimir-putin-miscalculation/

So, Putin expected Afghanistan in 2021. But he got Afghanistan in 1979. Ukrainians aren’t rolling over or welcoming back an old friend. They, and their president, are digging in for war. Their army is fighting hard. Harsh Western sanctions are targeting Putin and all his oligarch buddies, who were content to keep him in power while it filled their coffers, but who now stand to lose billions.

The Kremlin isn’t orchestrating a relatively bloodless coup in Ukraine any more. It is instead attempting to become an occupying force. And that is a much more difficult proposition for a country, even a large and wealthy one — you don’t need to look much further than Afghanistan to see the problem with external forces (who will, eventually, have to go home), trying to impose ideologies or governments on a people who don’t want them. Add to that those crippling sanctions, and you’re staring down the barrel of a protracted battle that isn’t easily won.

Or, to put it another way: How do you control a country of 44 million Ukrainians who suddenly have something to believe in? And how do you keep your own people on board?

Russia frustrated by 'viable' Ukraine resistance, U.S. says

 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-forces-frustrated-by-viable-ukrainian-resistance-us-official-2022-02-26/

Russian forces are becoming increasingly frustrated by what the United States believes is a viable and very determined Ukrainian resistance, as Moscow commits more and more troops to its invasion, a senior U.S. defense official said on Saturday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said it appeared Russian commanders did not plan for enough fuel and basic logistics support, and were now trying to adjust.

The Russian military continued to pound Kyiv and other cities with artillery and cruise missiles on day three of a campaign that has sent hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing west toward the European Union, clogging major highways and railway lines.

In pictures: Protests across the world show support for Ukraine

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/26/world/gallery/ukraine-protests-global/index.html

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to shock the world, people all over the planet are watching in horror and disbelief.

Rallies, vigils and prayer meetings are being held across the globe in support of Ukraine. Many of those attending have personal or family ties to the country. And they're asking world leaders to stop Russia's attack.

Ukrainian army ‘successfully repelling’ Russian attacks: Zelenskyy

Hundreds arrested as shocked Russians protest Ukraine attack

 https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-europe-russia-moscow-9a3eab8c8cb047254c82f1839ef77b9f

Shocked Russians turned out by the thousands Thursday to decry their country’s invasion of Ukraine as emotional calls for protests grew on social media. Some 1,745 people in 54 Russian cities were detained, at least 957 of them in Moscow.

Hundreds of posts came pouring in condemning Moscow’s most aggressive actions since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Vladimir Putin called the attack a “special military operation” to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine from “genocide” — a false claim the U.S. had predicted would be a pretext for invasion, and which many Russians roundly rejected.

Tatyana Usmanova, an opposition activist in Moscow, wrote on Facebook that she thought she was dreaming when she awoke at 5:30 a.m. to the news, which she called “a disgrace that will be forever with us now.”

“I want to ask Ukrainians for forgiveness. We didn’t vote for those who unleashed the war,” she said.

As sirens blasted in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and large explosions were heard there and in other cities, Russians were signing open letters and online petitions demanding the Kremlin halt the assault, which the Ukrainian health minister said had killed at least 57 Ukrainians and wounded dozens more.