An explosion at the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid, Spain, early Wednesday reportedly injured one person.
Embassy spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said an explosive device was &#8220;hidden&#8221; in an envelope that detonated inside.
&#8220;FM @DmytroKuleba instructed to strengthen the security of all Ukrainian embassies,&#8221; Nikolenko tweeted. &#8220;He also called on the Spanish authorities to urgently investigate this attack.&#8221;
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An explosive device hidden in an envelop detonated inside the embassy of Ukraine in Madrid. One staff member injured. FM <a href="https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DmytroKuleba</a> instructed to strengthen the security of all Ukrainian embassies. He also called on the Spanish authorities to urgently investigate this attack.
&mdash; Oleg Nikolenko (@OlegNikolenko_) <a href="https://twitter.com/OlegNikolenko_/status/1597952252148592640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The envelope reportedly arrived by regular mail and was not scanned. The explosive device caused &#8220;a very small wound on the ring finger of the right hand&#8221; of the injured staffer, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spanish-police-say-blast-ukrainian-embassy-injured-one-employee-2022-11-30/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
The unidentified man reportedly visited a local hospital for treatment.
The envelope is believed to have been addressed to Serhii Pohoreltsev, the ambassador, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/letter-bomb-madrid-ukraine-embassy-c9hvndp9t" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> reporting by The Times.
Reuters added that the residential area around the embassy in Madrid had been cordoned off. A bomb disposal unit was deployed to the scene.
Local authorities are investigating the incident. No person or group has claimed responsibility.
The explosion occurred just one day after Ukraine Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba met with Spain&#8217;s Minister of Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares.
&#8220;Grateful for providing air defense systems and generators,&#8221; Kuleba tweeted following the meeting. &#8220;He affirmed more supplies will be delivered. We also discussed the implementation of Ukraine’s peace formula announced by @ZelenskyyUa at G20 summit.&#8221;
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I met with my Spanish counterpart, Ukraine’s true friend <a href="https://twitter.com/jmalbares?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JMAlbares</a>. Grateful for providing air defense systems and generators. He affirmed more supplies will be delivered. We also discussed the implementation of Ukraine’s peace formula announced by <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ZelenskyyUa</a> at G20 summit. <a href="https://t.co/5Y1Y7hv5Xf">pic.twitter.com/5Y1Y7hv5Xf</a>
&mdash; Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) <a href="https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba/status/1597619487301578752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The report also follows strong words by Secretary of State Antony Blinken against Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine. He made the remarks during a press conference in Bucharest, Romania.
“Heat, water, electricity, for children, for the elderly, for the sick — these are President Putin&#8217;s new targets. He&#8217;s hitting them hard,” Blinken <a href="https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-11-30-22/h_3b4bd4e985925e8b375eff751693d09b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “This brutalization of Ukraine&#8217;s people is barbaric.”
Blinken&#8217;s visit came as the U.S. announced $53 million more in aid to help Ukrainians following attacks on civilian infrastructure.
The embassy explosion comes more than nine months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Western nations have condemned the Kremlin&#8217;s actions and have supported Ukraine in its resistance efforts.
Members of the United Nations General Assembly on November 14 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/united-nations-call-on-russia-to-pay-ukraine-war-reparations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> upon Russia to pay Ukraine war reparations due to violations of international law.
The resolution passed with 94 countries in favor and 14 opposed, with Russia, China, and Iran among the disapproving parties. Seventy-three countries abstained.

Ukraine Embassy Spain

Explosion At Ukrainian Embassy In Spain Injures One Person

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Global Politics

Spain

Ukraine

World

Top Republicans in Congress promised to put an end to bloated funding bills for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ukraine</a>.
Appearing on ABC&#8217;s &#8220;This Week&#8221; on Sunday, Ohio Congressman Mike Turner and Texas Congressman Michael McCaul blasted Democrats for continuing to pass large spending bills to support Ukraine, saying that only a small fraction of the funding actually goes to helping the country. While Republicans will continue to fund Ukraine&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ukraine-russia-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defense efforts</a>, Turner promised that future bills will be smaller and have much more transparency and accountability.
&#8220;I went to Ukraine in a bipartisan group for the sole purposes of telling President Zelenskyy that he does have continued support and he will have bipartisan support,&#8221; said Turner. &#8220;The issue, obviously, is this, we don’t need to pass $40 billion large Democrat bills that have been passed to send $8 billion to Ukraine. What we’re going to do — and it’s been very frustrating, obviously, even to the Ukrainians where they hear these large numbers in the United States as a result of the, you know, burgeoned Democrat bills and the little amount of aid that they receive. We’re going to make certain they get what they need.&#8221;
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Rep. Mike Turner tells <a href="https://twitter.com/MarthaRaddatz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarthaRaddatz</a> it&#39;s &quot;frustrating&quot; for Ukrainians to hear figures of &quot;burgeoned Democrat bills and the little amount of aid that they receive.&quot;
“We don’t need to pass $40 billion large Democrat bills&#8230;to send $8 billion to Ukraine.” <a href="https://t.co/FfTzgfEHIQ">https://t.co/FfTzgfEHIQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/QfK1waf73i">pic.twitter.com/QfK1waf73i</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1596875242416197632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I think the majorities on both sides of the aisle support this effort,&#8221; McCaul added. &#8220;I think, you know, everybody has a voice in Congress. You know, and the fact is, we are going to provide more oversight, transparency and accountability. We’re not going to write a blank check. You know, the last $40 billion package that passed, it was given to us the day of the vote. And members only had a matter of hours to go through all these pages of $40 billion supplemental.”
“And to be honest, a lot of this went to backfill our stockpiles. However, the Republicans are not going to rule like that. We have a voice now and we’re going to do this in an accountable way, with transparency to the American people,” he continued. “These are American taxpayer dollars going in. Does that diminish our will to help the Ukraine people fight? No. But we’re going to do it in a responsible way.&#8221;
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Rep. Michael McCaul tells <a href="https://twitter.com/MarthaRaddatz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarthaRaddatz</a> that Republicans will provide “more oversight, transparency and accountability&quot; to Ukraine spending with new House majority. 
“We’re not going to write a blank check&#8230;We’re going to do it in a responsible way.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/uMIPFMhYoM">https://t.co/uMIPFMhYoM</a> <a href="https://t.co/KOD5H75nuL">pic.twitter.com/KOD5H75nuL</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1596878157751066625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
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According to a report from the <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/aid-ukraine-explained-six-charts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Center for Strategic and International Studies</a>, the U.S. has already passed $68 billion in aid to Ukraine, and the Biden administration requested another $37.7 billion earlier this month, which would push the total to $105.5 billion.
Just $17 billion has gone to short-term military aid, such as transferring weapons; another $10.4 billion has gone to long-term military support, much of which will likely go to rebuilding the Ukranian military post-war; $9.6 billion has gone to U.S. operations in the region, and $1.2 billion has gone to the Department of Defense.
The remaining $30 billion has been spent on other things like humanitarian aid, economic aid to the Ukranian government, and U.S. government operations and domestic costs.

Mike Turner

Top Republicans Blast Democrats’ Bloated Ukraine Bills, Promise ‘Oversight, Transparency, And Accountability’

Top Republicans Blast Democrats' Bloated Ukraine Bills, Promise 'Oversight, Transparency, And Accountability' In New Funding

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spending

This Week

Ukraine-Russia War

A top <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/europe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">European</a> official reportedly blasted President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> and his response to the Russia-Ukraine War, saying that the U.S. has “profited the most” from the war. 
According to a <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-war-europe-ukraine-gas-inflation-reduction-act-ira-joe-biden-rift-west-eu-accuses-us-of-profiting-from-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico report</a>, top European officials believe that while Europe has struggled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, America has made money off of gas and weapons. 
“The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the U.S. because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons,” a senior official, who was not named, reportedly told Politico. 
The official added that the U.S. needed to realize that public opinion throughout Europe was changing, especially as the continent has faced skyrocketing energy prices, which are only expected to get worse as winter sets in. He said that many Europeans were becoming increasingly skeptical of the U.S. and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ukraine-russia-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the war</a>, which has dragged on since March. 
“We are really at a historic juncture,” the official said. “America needs to realize that public opinion is shifting in many EU countries.”
The U.S. has already provided billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine with the Biden administration has signaled that it will keep on sending more, <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/congress/budget/2022/11/15/white-house-requests-38-billion-more-in-ukraine-aid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asking for</a> another $38 billion in the last week, including defense aid. 
When asked about claims the U.S. was responsible for high gas prices in Europe, a spokesperson for the National Security Council pinned the blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
“The rise in gas prices in Europe is caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin&#8217;s energy war against Europe, period,&#8221; the spokesperson said, before adding that exports of liquified natural gas allowed Europe to become less reliant on Russia for energy. 
The comments <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-winter-will-be-bad-for-energy-prices-now-the-real-concern-is-next-winter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">come after</a> European nations were forced to scramble for new power supplies after Russia severed natural gas shipments and the Nord Stream pipeline system sustained <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nord-stream-pipelines-see-unprecedented-damage-after-cia-warned-german-government-of-sabotage">unprecedented damage</a> from an unknown actor. 
Russia accounted for 40% of the European natural gas supply last year, a rate that had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/european-union-social-market-economy-might-redistribute-fossil-fuel-profits">dropped</a> to 9% as of three months ago. Germany, the continent’s largest economy, has seen dependence on Russian natural gas decrease from 55% to 35%.
“I think it has been addressed for this winter,” BP CEO Bernard Looney said about storage levels, even though some spend up to half of their disposable income on energy. “It’s the next winter I think many of us worry, in Europe, could be even more challenging.”
Ben Zeisloft contributed to this report.

President Biden Pardons The National Thanksgiving Turkey

Top European Official Blasts Biden, U.S. For ‘Profiting’ Off Of Russia-Ukraine War

Top European Official Blasts Biden, U.S. For 'Profiting' Off Of Russia-Ukraine War

Conflicts

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This article is a companion piece to today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update. To listen to the podcast version, click <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/friday-afternoon-update-11-25-22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
Airline Travel Returns To Pre-Pandemic Levels, Still Below Record
If you’ve been traveling for Thanksgiving this week, you know that airline travel is back to pre-pandemic levels — but hasn’t quite hit 2019’s record of 2.9 million travelers on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
The TSA is expecting to screen 2.5 million passengers a day across U.S. airports on the busiest days this week. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg celebrated the numbers.
&#8220;We are delighted that demand is returning like nobody thought possible with more and more passengers having the desire and the income to return to the skies,&#8221; Buttigieg <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE58XuzIBfc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Mask Mandates Imminent? 
The Department of Health and Human Services is again <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-report-suggests-going-back-to-masks-social-distancing-because-of-long-covid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> that the American public should partake in masking and social distancing to reduce the spread of COVID and guard against “Long COVID.”
The new report, sponsored by HHS and conducted by research agency Coforma, suggested that these policies should be either strongly encouraged or even mandated while calling for expanded government programs that offer financial support and benefits for COVID victims.
Home Purchases Decreasing
Rising interest rates and high home prices <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/investor-home-purchases-6831856" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have led</a> to a 30% drop in home purchases by investors in the third quarter.
The reduction means fewer homes being built or restored for future buyers. Home purchases by investors fell from 94,000 in the same quarter last year to 66,000 this year. Also driving the trend is the slowing of rent growth from 13% to just 10%.
EU Sends More Money To Ukraine
As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault rages on, the European Union <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-receives-25-billion-euros-assistance-eu-2022-11-22/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sent Ukraine another $2.5 billion in assistance</a> on Tuesday. The EU is expected to approve another $18 billion in 2023. So far, the EU has sent $6.7 billion total to Ukraine for a variety of necessities and supplies.
Bye-Bye, Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci’s final White House press conference went sideways this week after a reporter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-surprise-faucis-final-message-is-a-lecture-on-masks-getting-the-latest-booster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> a question about what Fauci has done to investigate the origins of COVID. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shut down the question.
&#8220;We have a process here,&#8221; Jean-Pierre <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/karine-jean-pierre-loses-control-of-briefing-room-and-herself-as-journalists-balk-at-her-skipping-conservative-reporter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scolded</a>. &#8220;I&#8217;m not calling out on people who yell. And you&#8217;re being … disrespectful to your colleagues, and you&#8217;re being disrespectful to our guest. I will not call on you if you yell, and also you&#8217;re taking time off the clock because Dr. Fauci has to leave in a couple of minutes.”
“Avatar” Sequel Coming Soon
The much-anticipated sequel to the 2009 box office hit “Avatar” is due to <a href="https://www.dexerto.com/tv-movies/avatar-2-may-be-the-most-expensive-movie-of-all-time-1993407/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a> December 16 and is projected to be one of, if not the most, expensive film ever produced. Director James Cameron has declined to state just how expensive the film’s budget was, but reports suggest that the production budget alone was $250 million.
Big College Football Weekend
And, in some sports news, the final weekend of the college football regular season promises some big rivalry matchups, including the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michigan-vs-ohio-state-coach-schembechlers-final-speech-still-rings-true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes versus the third-ranked Michigan Wolverines</a>, and the seventh-ranked USC Trojans versus the 18th-ranked Fighting Irish. And, of course, my underrated Florida State Seminoles are facing off against the Florida Gators Friday evening.
To listen to the audio version of this podcast, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/morning-wire/id1576594336" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.

Friday

Friday Afternoon Update: Feds Suggest Mask Mandates, Home Purchases Drop, Fauci Dodges The Press

Friday Afternoon Update: Mask Mandates Coming?, Home Purchases Drop, Fauci Dodges The Press

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Anthony Fauci

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A damning report from a government watchdog finds the U.S. squandered $145 billion in Afghanistan over 20 years in a futile effort to impose Western democracy and values on a population it didn&#8217;t understand.
The <a href="https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/evaluations/SIGAR-23-05-IP.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">69-page autopsy</a> from Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko cites missed opportunities, dependence on unreliable players, and a recurring inability to understand critical cultural and political nuances. The ill-fated, two-decade affair ended in debacle, with 13 U.S. service members killed and hundreds of Americans left behind when the U.S. abruptly pulled out in August, 2021 and allowed the Taliban to return to power.
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&#8220;If there is one overarching lesson to be learned from the totality of this tragedy, it is that any future U.S. reconstruction mission similar in scale and ambition to that in Afghanistan is likely to be difficult, costly, and defined by the real possibility of an unfavorable governance outcome,&#8221; the report&#8217;s conclusion states.
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A repeating theme in the report is the U.S. government&#8217;s misreading of the players in a civil war. The U.S. assumed the conflict was a struggle was between the Taliban and supporters of democracy, but some who opposed the Taliban were simply alleged war criminals and child molesters from competing factions, the report states. When the U.S. imposed some semblance of order, it propped up a former World Bank official who, as president, was arrogant and naïve, according to the analysis.
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In the end, the U.S. lost the trust of the people it sought to help when it turned out that services such as speedy justice and border security were more efficient under the Taliban than a Western-influenced bureaucracy.
Elections, the hallmark of Western democracies, were never embraced by Afghans, the report said.
“The United States also failed to legitimize the Afghan government through democratic elections, which were consistently marred by fraud,” the report said.
Only about a tenth of the people the U.S. believed were starved for self-governance cast ballots, with most assuming the voting was rigged. The lack of taking election security seriously meant that the U.S.-backed government had little moral high ground to Afghans.
“As soon as we would say ‘election,’ [the Taliban would respond] ‘Hahaha, that election that you’re talking about, that corrupt election? That every person was for sale?’” an Afghan government official said.
Money spent on humanitarian programs was often wasted, as people were willing to take free services but didn’t feel any loyalty to the new U.S.-backed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-allowing-former-taliban-employees-to-migrate-to-u-s-under-refugee-program-billed-as-for-interpreters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Afghanistan</a> government because of it, the report found. Some U.S. contracts wound up funding the Taliban because contractors would pay them protection money.
The report described how virtue-signaling by idealists sometimes led to a detachment from reality. Some U.S. officials opposed leaving Afghanistan because of “an idealized vision of advancing the rights of Afghan women. [But] this group interacted with a small number of women’s rights advocates who were not representative of the overall population,” the report said.
In one case, American-allied forces thought they were fighting the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-and-russia-now-working-with-taliban-controlled-afghanistan-one-year-after-u-s-withdrawal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taliban</a>, but they had actually radicalized a formerly-peaceful group of villagers by imposing unnecessary rules in the name of “unsubstantiated environmental concerns.” The villagers were loggers, and the new government was blocking their way of life.
Many of the people the U.S. worked with shared opposition to the Taliban, but were also just as hostile to U.S. values. They had a record of being corrupt and abusing their own people, and when Afghans saw the U.S. working with them, people preferred the Taliban, the report found.
&#8220;The continued employment of government officials who reportedly committed acts of child sexual abuse and exploited their positions to extract resources from the population contributed to a perception of the Afghan government as abusive and predatory,&#8221; the report said. &#8220;Putting human rights violators in charge of governance at local and national levels turned people against the state and gave rise to the Taliban again.&#8221;
Many of the Afghans the U.S.-allied government empowered to reform Afghanistan were also corrupt. For example, General Abdul Raziq, who President Hamid Karzai installed as Kandahar&#8217;s chief of police, was &#8220;was deeply involved in the narcotics trade and took a significant cut of customs revenue at the border crossing. Systemic torture, forced disappearances, and summary executions of civilian detainees were well documented, and as Raziq gained more power, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/military-report-says-china-is-stealing-federally-funded-technology-research-according-to-u-s-senator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. military</a> stopped transferring detainees to his custody.&#8221;
The Kabul Bank &#8220;lent to fictitious companies in transactions that benefitted politically connected Afghan shareholders who never paid back those loans. U.S. government funds for Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police salaries regularly moved through the bank &#8230; Two of the principal beneficiaries of the fraudulent loans were Mahmoud Karzai and Haseen Fahim—the brothers of President Karzai and Vice President Marshall Mohammed Fahim, respectively. Ultimately, the extent of the theft was estimated to be roughly $982 million.&#8221;
Government money went to legions of &#8220;ghost soldiers,&#8221; fake names designed to look like legitimate payroll so that officials could steal it. Kandahar City had 14,000 police officers on its payroll, but only 700 actual police.
Then there was the issue of capturing the hearts and minds of the average Afghan. Large portions of Afghanis simply believed that the U.S. are &#8220;infidels,&#8221; and the Taliban had a stronger message —one of jihad — compared to a vague nation-building message for the U.S.-allied state. One expert mentioned how men took it upon themselves to set a woman on fire after she was falsely accused of burning the Koran, but “I am hard-pressed to find incidents when the menfolk of Kabul spontaneously beat a suspected Taliban to death.”
&#8220;Afghan remains profoundly conservative,&#8221; an expert said. Another questioned the concept of “progress” in Afghanistan, saying “people progress towards what they value, and many <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/military-base-housing-afghan-refugees-became-covered-in-feces-and-displaced-u-s-soldiers-employee-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Afghans</a> valued different things than Americans.”
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Some 2,456 U.S. troops were killed and another 20,666 wounded in the long war. At least 66,000 Afghan troops and more than 48,000 Afghan civilians were killed.
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The final days of the U.S. in Afghanistan were like Nero fiddling as Rome burned because Afghanistan&#8217;s president in later years, Ashraf Ghani — a former World Bank official supported by Western elites — did not believe that President Joe Biden would keep his predecessor&#8217;s February 2020 pledge to withdraw troops — in part because some officials were undermining him by resisting, and others were telling him it was just a &#8220;bluff.&#8221;
“Three months we wasted because they [Ghani and his inner circle] were 100 percent sure that Mr. Biden will come and will say what Mr. Trump did was a disaster,” one expert said.
Ghani surrounded himself with yes-men who told him everything was great, and he demanded to control so much of the country personally that it wasn’t possible for him to have the information necessary to make decisions. The entire government was run by six people, one expert said. Ghani sometimes deliberately got rid of competent people, fearing they might intrude on his power, the report said.
“Ghani’s personality and leadership style were significant contributing factors to the government’s August 2021 collapse,” it said.
But it was not only Afghan officials who were sticking their heads in the sand. U.S. military officials, unwilling to admit to failure, hid the reality of the conflict from Congress by classifying information — not because of national security, but because it was embarrassing, Sopko testified.
On August 15, 2021, Ghani boarded a helicopter and fled the country. “With that, the two-decade long U.S. effort to transform Afghanistan came to a close,” the report said.

AFGHANISTAN-TALIBAN-ONEYEAR-ANNIVERSARY

Watchdog’s Damning Report On War In Afghanistan Details Two-Decade Debacle

Watchdog's Damning Report On War In Afghanistan Details Two-Decade Debacle 

Afghanistan

Department of Defense

Inspector general

On Thursday, a Dutch court convicted three individuals of murder for their participation in downing a Malaysia Airlines flight eight years ago, killing 298 people.
The Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down by a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/russia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russian</a> missile while it was in air space over a portion of eastern Ukraine controlled by separatists in 2014. The plane was operating 1,000 feet above the restricted zone, but it was still shot down.
Flight MH17 <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/11/17/malaysian-airlines-mh17-plane-crash-dutch-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was</a> on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 17, 2014, and the majority of the passengers onboard were from the Netherlands. They included 15 crew members and 80 children.
The men convicted were Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy, as well as Ukrainian separatist Leonid Kharchenko. They were not at the trial, and have not been apprehended, so it is not likely that they will have to serve out their life sentences. An additional Russian suspect who was at the trial was <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/dutch-court-sentences-3-to-life-finds-russian-missile-downed-2014-malaysia-airlines-flight-killing-298-aboard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquitted</a> because there wasn’t enough evidence.
The convictions place the fault on Russian President Vladimir Putin&#8217;s government, although the Kremlin has consistently said it played no role in the incident, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-kuala-lumpur-malaysia-netherlands-099084a82b49b77b116878e24fc63a18" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, they are fully responsible, up until the Kremlin,” Peter Langstraat, an attorney for one of the families, said. “You cannot move this heavy military material without the consent of somebody high up in the military hierarchy. What does it mean? Close to or in the Kremlin.”
Although the three man were attempting to bring down a military jet, rather than a passenger plane, the judges still found that the act was intentional to shoot down a plane, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63637625" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a>.
The trial went on for over two years, and Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said the proof brought by prosecutors showed that the plane was downed by a missile from pro-Russian Ukrainian soldiers in 2014.
“This is part of justice for us. It is not the whole thing yet, but it is a good start,” Seline Frederiksz-Hoogzand said, whose son Bryce and girlfriend Daisy were killed on the flight. “Even though nobody will go to prison, justice has been done.”
&#8220;Putin has never been stopped, and still has not been stopped. And he will not stop until he is stopped,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63637625" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>. “I hope the world wakes up now, because we knew it already eight years ago.&#8221;
Eliot Higgins founded investigative research group Bellingcat, which looked into the proof and gave their discoveries to prosecutors. Higgins thinks what happened in 2014 and this year are connected.
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&#8220;People were just turning a blind eye to it, policymakers just weren&#8217;t comfortable with calling out Russia in a way they really should have done. And they didn&#8217;t react in the way that could have prevented the invasion in 2022,&#8221; Higgins told the BBC. &#8220;I think there should have been more military support for Ukraine, there should have been more sanctions, there should have been a stronger response than we saw at the time. There could have been preventative measures that would have saved a lot of lives.&#8221;
</div>
</div>
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the decision was “a solid step towards justice,” but more still has to be done to hold the guilty accountable.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted, “It is an important decision in the court. &#8230; (But) it is necessary that those who ordered it also find themselves in the dock, because impunity leads to new crimes.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, said the court was giving in to pressure from Dutch political figures, prosecutors, and the press. “There is no need to talk about objectivity and impartiality in such conditions,” it reportedly said in a statement.

989ACC26-412F-4A1F-85D9-325A94943723_1_201_a

Three Convicted In Downing Of 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight

Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy, Leonid Kharchenko Convicted In Downing Of 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 17

Air and Space

Malaysia Flight MH17

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/volodymyr-zelensky" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Volodymyr Zelensky</a> sounded the alarm and called upon <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nato" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NATO</a> allies to finally, directly, enter the war after an alleged <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/russia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russian</a> missile hit a Polish town, killing two people and causing destruction.
It turns out that Zelensky — who has bilked billions of dollars from the West, especially the U.S. — was wrong in his assessment. Authorities now <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/16/1137085278/polands-president-says-the-missile-strike-appears-to-be-from-ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">say</a> that it looks likely that it wasn&#8217;t a Russian weapon at all, but a Ukrainian one fired in self-defense that accidentally landed over the border. Regardless, Zelensky was quick to jump the gun and conclude that it was indeed Russia.
The question, then, is why do we trust this nutcase banging the war drums anymore?
&#8220;Terror is not limited to our national borders. Russian missiles hit Poland — NATO territory,&#8221; the former comedian said confidently on Wednesday. &#8220;This is a Russian missile attack on collective security — a very significant escalation. We must act.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Zelenskyy yesterday: “Terror is not limited to our national borders. Russian missiles hit Poland … NATO territory. This is a Russian missile attack on collective security &#8212; a very significant escalation. We must act” <a href="https://t.co/zylfGdbwzw">pic.twitter.com/zylfGdbwzw</a>
&mdash; Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1592851112654032898?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Luckily, cooler heads prevailed.
Since Poland is a NATO country, measures could be triggered that would have forced all NATO allies to defend Poland against Russia — thus starting World War III.
Luckily. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the media that Polish authorities as well as NATO will hold off on initiating any protocol until the full investigation is completed.
&#8220;I spoke with [President Andrzej Duda] last night, we agreed on the importance of awaiting the outcome of the investigation,&#8221; Stoltenberg said Wednesday. &#8220;We don&#8217;t have the final outcome on that, we have no indication that this was a deliberate attack.&#8221;
Zelensky&#8217;s own defense ministry expressed more caution than he did after the incident.
On Wednesday, a Ukrainian defense minister adviser named Yuriy Sak <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/16/ukraine-reacts-as-initial-findings-suggest-it-fired-the-missile-that-hit-poland.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CNBC that the situation was &#8220;very sensitive&#8221; while advocating for a thorough investigation.
&#8220;It is too early to give any definitive answers and it’s very dangerous to jump to any conclusions,&#8221; Sak told the outlet Wednesday morning.
Of course, one would question why Sak is telling the rest of the world that. He should be making sure that his boss, Zelensky, understands that.
For the sake of everybody, Zelensky should be looking for an off-ramp in this war. Thousands have been killed, whole towns destroyed, and lives upended.
Instead, he is being loaned Hollywood star Sean Penn&#8217;s Oscar for &#8220;Best Actor&#8221; and the Biden administration is <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3736724-white-house-asks-congress-for-37-7b-in-new-ukraine-aid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calling</a> for $37.7 billion more in U.S. taxpayer support for the Ukrainians. It is obvious he wants this to go on as long as possible.
This isn&#8217;t the first time the Ukrainian president has acted wildly. Zelensky has also called upon the U.S. and other nations to establish a &#8220;no-fly zone&#8221; over Ukraine — which would have required Western nations to shoot down Russian aircraft, thus escalating the conflict even more.
Adding to the problems is that the establishment of both parties is intent on supporting Zelensky in perpetuity. In fact, some Republican leaders have <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/09/29/republicans-push-biden-to-use-21-billion-ukraine-aid-set-to-expire/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the problem with Biden&#8217;s endless aid to Ukraine isn&#8217;t that we seem to care more about other nation&#8217;s borders than our own, it&#8217;s that we aren&#8217;t doing enough.
But after the reckless comments made by Zelensky on Tuesday, shouldn&#8217;t all of D.C. finally reconsider their support for this war? Or, will we allow it to continue and risk another bumbling, fumbling &#8220;mistake&#8221; that could thrust the entire globe into nuclear armageddon?
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Volodmyr Zelensky

Zelensky Almost Plunged Us All Into World War III — Again. Enough Already.

Volodymyr Zelensky

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that a missile that landed inside Poland was &#8220;unlikely&#8221; to have been fired by Russia.
The missile <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-russian-missiles-fired-into-nato-member-poland-killing-two-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">struck</a> a farm 15 miles inside Poland, killed two people, and instantly sparked discussions about convening NATO members to determine whether a military response was warranted under the organization&#8217;s Article 5.
The Associated Press first reported the missile strike Tuesday morning after a senior U.S. official told the publication that Russia fired the missiles.
“There is preliminary information that contests that,” Biden later told reporters while overseas when asked if the missile had been fired from Russia. “It is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we’ll see.”
Now it appears as though the missile, which Poland said was &#8220;Russian-made&#8221;, was actually fired by Ukrainian forces at a Russian missile, missed, and continued traveling through the air until it detonated at the farm, preliminary assessments suggested <a href="https://apnews.com/article/g-20-summit-nato-biden-andrzej-duda-25e615909ba0d871d5092f5b3aec21c8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the AP.
The Russian government immediately pushed back on claims that they had fired the missile as soon as the AP&#8217;s report was published.
“No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian means of destruction,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said. The ministry called the reports “deliberate provocation(s) aimed at escalating the situation.”
The Department of Defense said at a press conference on Tuesday that they could not confirm the AP&#8217;s original report that claimed that Russia fired the missiles.
“We are aware of the press reports alleging that two Russian missiles have struck a location inside Poland near the Ukraine border,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said. “I can tell you that we don’t have any information at this time to corroborate those reports and are looking into this further.”
Ryder added, “When it comes to our security commitments and Article 5, we’ve been crystal clear that we will defend every inch of NATO territory.”
NATO was created with the primary mission of countering attempts by the then-Soviet Union to expand into Eastern Europe and other areas by uniting member nations in a collective defense against attacks through NATO’s <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Article 5</a>.
Article 5, which was first invoked after Islamic terrorists attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001, ensures that “an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-russian-missiles-fired-into-nato-member-poland-killing-two-report-says">Russian Missiles Fired Into NATO Member Poland, Killing Two, Report Says</a>

POLAND-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-WAR-CONFLICT

Missile That Struck Farm In Poland ‘Unlikely’ To Have Been Fired By Russia: Report

Missile That Struck Farm In Poland 'Unlikely' To Have Been Fired By Russia: Report

Poland

Editor&#8217;s note: The Associated Press has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/associated-press-reporter-fired-over-inaccurate-russian-missile-attack-story">retracted the story</a> on which this report was based. The reporter, Associated Press national security correspondent James LaPorta, was also fired. The Daily Wire&#8217;s original story appears below: 
Russia reportedly fired missiles Tuesday into Poland, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), killing two people and sparking fears of what kind of response the incident could elicit from NATO.
The Associated Press&#8217; <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-kherson-9202c032cf3a5c22761ee71b52ff9d52">report</a>, which came from information it received from a senior U.S. official, said that the missile strikes came as Russia was targeting Ukrainian energy facilities across the country with &#8220;its biggest barrage of missiles yet.&#8221; The strike <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/europe/poland-missile-rocket-nato-przewodow-ukraine-intl/index.html">reportedly</a> happened 15 miles inside of Poland&#8217;s border at a farm.
The report said that the Polish government did not immediately confirm the report.
The Department of Defense said at a press conference that they could not confirm the report.
&#8220;We are aware of the press reports alleging that two Russian missiles have struck a location inside Poland near the Ukraine border,&#8221; Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said. &#8220;I can tell you that we don&#8217;t have any information at this time to corroborate those reports and are looking into this further.&#8221;
Ryder added, &#8220;When it comes to our security commitments and Article 5, we&#8217;ve been crystal clear that we will defend every inch of NATO territory.&#8221;
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the news on Twitter, saying that the development was &#8220;concerning&#8221; and they would defend Poland if it was attacked by Russia.
&#8220;Latest news from Poland is most concerning,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;We are consulting closely with Poland and other Allies. Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory. We’re in full solidarity with our close ally Poland.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Latest news from Poland is most concerning. We are consulting closely with Poland and other Allies. Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory. We’re in full solidarity with our close ally Poland 🇵🇱
&mdash; Estonian MFA 🇪🇪 | 🌻 #StandWithUkraine (@MFAestonia) <a href="https://twitter.com/MFAestonia/status/1592591979963371521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
NATO was created with the primary mission of countering attempts by the then-Soviet Union to expand into Eastern Europe and other areas by uniting member nations in a collective defense against attacks through NATO&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm">Article 5</a>.
Article 5, which was first invoked after Islamic terrorists attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001, ensures that &#8220;an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies.&#8221;

‘Peace Mission 2021’ Joint Counterterrorism Military Exercise In Orenburg

Russian Missiles Fired Into NATO Member Poland, Killing Two, Report Says

Members of the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/united-nations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Nations</a> General Assembly on Monday called upon <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/russia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russia</a> to pay <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ukraine</a> war reparations due to violations of international law.
The <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N22/679/12/PDF/N2267912.pdf?OpenElement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resolution</a> passed with 94 countries in <a href="https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1592230157498351616" target="_blank" rel="noopener">favor</a> and 14 opposed, with Russia, China, and Iran among the disapproving parties, while 73 countries abstained. Stronger than other stances taken against Russia by the international body, the resolution also calls for the creation of an “international mechanism” for the reparations.
The General Assembly reaffirmed its commitment to the “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine” in the resolution and demanded that Russia “immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine” by “completely and unconditionally” withdrawing all military assets from the country.
Among the nations approving the measure were the United States, France, Norway, Germany, and the United Kingdom. A far more robust margin of nations affirmed a <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129492" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resolution</a> last month exhorting member states to refrain from recognizing four regions of Ukraine claimed by Russia, as well as demanding that Moscow reverse the “attempted illegal annexation.” China voted against the former resolution and abstained from the latter, while India abstained from both.
Member states of NATO sent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nato-takes-unprecedented-action-to-respond-to-russia-putins-objectives-not-limited-to-ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thousands of troops</a> to neighboring eastern European countries in February after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of his country’s neighbor. The United States has sent more than $9.8 billion in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-sending-5-5-billion-more-in-aid-to-ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">humanitarian and military assistance</a> to Ukraine over the past several months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-ukraine-applies-for-nato-membership" target="_blank" rel="noopener">submitted</a> an expedited application to become a member of NATO while asserting that his Russian counterpart must step down before peace talks could begin. “Ukraine was and remains a leader in negotiation efforts. It was our state that always offered Russia to reach an agreement on coexistence on equal, honest, decent and fair terms,” he said in a video message. “It is obvious that this is impossible with this Russian president. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but already with another president of Russia.”
The invasion of Ukraine has applied pressure to the global economy, which had already been battling high inflation and backlogged supply chains following the lockdown-induced recession. Developing nations, as well as several leading European economies, have been especially pinched by Russia severely limiting natural gas exports. The Nord Stream pipeline system, which delivers fuel under the Baltic Sea, recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nord-stream-pipelines-see-unprecedented-damage-after-cia-warned-german-government-of-sabotage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">witnessed</a> “unprecedented” damage from an unknown actor.
Ministers in the European Union have introduced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/european-union-social-market-economy-might-redistribute-fossil-fuel-profits" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposals</a> to redistribute fossil fuel profits in order to pay for residents’ power bills. United States Secretary-General António Guterres <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/world-leaders-gather-to-condemn-fossil-fuel-addiction-as-planet-faces-energy-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> on attendees at climate conference COP27 to tax the “windfall profits of fossil fuel companies” which have benefited from rising energy prices, noting that the funds could be redirected toward “people struggling with rising food and energy prices and to countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis.”
Citing the purported danger of climate change, Guterres asked member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to phase out the use of coal by 2030, to be followed by all other nations by 2040, and asserted that the United States and China “have a particular responsibility” to adopt such goals. China recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-burns-more-coal-as-drought-cripples-hydropower-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transitioned</a> toward burning more coal as droughts disrupted hydropower capacity, while Germany, the largest economy in Europe, has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/germany-reverts-to-burning-coal-will-keep-two-nuclear-plants-open-ahead-of-winter-months" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reverted</a> to consuming the fuel as natural gas supplies remain tight.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

United Nations Call On Russia To Pay Ukraine War Reparations

United Nations Tell Russia To Pay Reparations To Ukraine

United Nations

When <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency</a> exchange platform FTX suddenly imploded last week, immediately erasing the fortune of 30-year-old founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the public soon noticed multiple strings between the company and the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/democratic-party" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Democratic Party</a> that curiously run through <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ukraine</a>.
FTX, which is headquartered in the Bahamas, was launched in 2019 and had accrued more than one million users by 2022. However, users suddenly demanded $6 billion in withdrawals after an <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/02/divisions-in-sam-bankman-frieds-crypto-empire-blur-on-his-trading-titan-alamedas-balance-sheet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> published by CoinDesk revealed that the two arms of Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency empire, FTX and Alamada Research, had a significant overlap on their balance sheets in the form of the cryptocurrency FTT, which FTX invented. Rival firm Binance, which had been planning to purchase FTX, announced that it would discharge all holdings in the coin and eventually reversed course on the acquisition, rendering the overnight success <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/30-year-old-billionaire-loses-entire-fortune-overnight-as-his-bahamas-based-cryptocurrency-empire-implodes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bankrupt</a>.
Bankman-Fried went from maintaining a $15.6 billion net worth to having “no material wealth” equally as fast, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-11/bankman-fried-s-effective-altruism-implodes-with-his-fortunes#:~:text=The%20Bloomberg%20Billionaires%20Index%2C%20which,to%20have%20no%20material%20wealth." target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The entrepreneur resigned on Friday as his company filed for bankruptcy.
The young mogul, however, comes from an extraordinarily well-connected family. His father, Joseph Bankman, is a tax scholar who <a href="https://law.stanford.edu/directory/joseph-bankman/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">teaches</a> at Stanford Law, while his mother, Barbara Fried, is a <a href="https://law.stanford.edu/directory/barbara-fried/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fellow</a> Stanford Law professor who also leads Mind the Gap. This left-wing political action committee <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/political-party/mind-the-gap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raises</a> funds for the Democratic Party from Silicon Valley donors.
Linda Fried, the aunt of Bankman-Fried, is the dean of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and a <a href="https://www.weforum.org/people/linda-p-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">co-chair</a> of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Human Enhancement. The controversial organization once <a href="https://archive.ph/RM0zj#selection-291.45-291.304" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promoted</a> FTX, although the webpage linking to the company was <a href="https://www.weforum.org/organizations/ftx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrubbed</a> after its bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried himself emerged as a major donor to President Joe Biden’s campaign during the 2020 election cycle. The self-proclaimed “effective altruist” more recently donated nearly $39 million to support Democrats in the midterms, which occurred days before his company imploded, according to <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/top_donors/2022?disp=D&amp;type=V&amp;superonly=N" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from Open Secrets. He had been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/billionaire-ftx-founder-who-lost-entire-fortune-gave-massive-sum-to-democrats-before-empire-collapsed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">preparing</a> to spend as much as $1 billion during the 2024 election cycle to keep Democrats in the White House.
Earlier this year, Bankman-Fried launched an initiative alongside Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation to fundraise for the embattled nation, which has received billions in humanitarian and military <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-sending-5-5-billion-more-in-aid-to-ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aid</a> from the Biden administration, marking “the first instance of a cryptocurrency exchange providing a conduit for crypto donations to a public financial institution,” according to a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ukraines-ministry-of-digital-transformation-ftx-and-everstake-launch-crypto-fundraising-site-aid-for-ukraine-301501959.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> from a Ukrainian-based crypto firm. FTX converted the donations into fiat currencies and transmitted the funds to the National Bank of Ukraine.
“At the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, FTX felt the need to provide assistance in any way it could,” Bankman-Fried said in a statement at the time. “By working with the Ministry of Digital Transformation to set up payment rails and facilitate the conversion of crypto donations into fiat currency, we have given the National Bank of Ukraine the ability to deliver aid and resources to the people who need it most.”
Hours after the company filed for bankruptcy, FTX General Counsel Ryne Miller <a href="https://twitter.com/_Ryne_Miller/status/1591281729125613570" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that executives were “investigating abnormalities with wallet movements.” The company <a href="https://twitter.com/_Ryne_Miller/status/1591326796305530880" target="_blank" rel="noopener">initiated</a> “precautionary steps to move all digital assets to cold storage” as risk management firm Elliptic <a href="https://hub.elliptic.co/analysis/477-million-moved-out-of-ftx-in-suspected-theft/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that as much as $477 million was missing from FTX in a suspected hack.
The implosion of FTX has garnered the attention of federal lawmakers and regulators. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2022/11/10/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-november-10-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarked</a> last week that the Biden administration believes cryptocurrencies risk “harming everyday Americans” without “proper oversight.”

Collage Maker-14-Nov-2022-11.39-AM

Biden, Ukraine, And A 30-Year-Old Crypto Billionaire: How The Implosion Of FTX Connects To The Global Elite

How The Implosion Of FTX Links Back To The Global Elite

Cryptocurrency

Democratic Party

Economy

U.S. Defense officials told Pentagon reporters Monday that military forces in Ukraine have restarted onsite inspecting Ukrainian troops to corroborate the $17 billion in weapons American officials have provided are used to defend its territory against Russia.
According to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-europe-government-and-politics-weapons-inspections-4adab5d918690a569e396ce385c34348">The Associated Press</a>, the official who spoke did not say where U.S. troops are conducting such inspections and if it&#8217;s close to the battlefield but would go where &#8220;security conditions permit.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;ll continue to work with our colleagues across the U.S. government and with our international partners to ensure accountability of security assistance now and in the future,&#8221; the official told reporters, according to <a href="https://gazette.com/news/us-world/u-s-resumes-on-site-inspections-to-keep-track-of-weapons-in-ukraine/article_6a3c9345-65ea-5533-9dd2-1099704adf35.html">The Gazette</a>.
A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Ukrainian government had committed to safeguarding and accounting for the weapons and there was no credible evidence they were being diverted.
Pentagon officials addressed the press after publishing a detailed series of steps the <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-plan-to-counter-illicit-diversion-of-certain-advanced-conventional-weapons-in-eastern-europe/">State Department</a> would take over the next two years to ensure the weapons provided to Ukraine were used on the battlefield by the Ukrainian military and security forces rather than sold on the black market.
A senior U.S. defense official said that Ukrainian officials committed to safeguarding and accounting for the weapons despite no credible evidence of weapons being diverted, The Gazette <a href="https://gazette.com/news/us-world/u-s-resumes-on-site-inspections-to-keep-track-of-weapons-in-ukraine/article_6a3c9345-65ea-5533-9dd2-1099704adf35.html">reports.</a>
According to the report — which includes short-, medium- and longer-term initiatives to bolster U.S. and Ukrainian accountability, strengthen border security, and build capacity with neighbor states — Ukraine must properly document and account for the weapons and monitor and investigate suspected weapons traffickers.
&#8220;Wars can provide opportunities for weapons to fall into private hands via theft or illicit sales, sometimes creating black markets for arms that endure for decades,&#8221; according to the report.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/us/politics/weapons-aid-ukraine-russia.html">reports</a> U.S. officials have remained confident that the weapons donated to Ukraine have made it to the front lines of battle, but lawmakers demand accountability.
&#8220;American taxpayers deserve to know that their money is helping Ukraine beat back Russia effectively,&#8221; Republican Senator John Kennedy (LA) said earlier this year, according to The Times.
Ohio Senate Republican candidate J.D. Vance said the United States would have to &#8220;stop the money spigot to Ukraine eventually,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/31/republican-split-on-ukraine-aid/">The Washington Post</a>.
Idaho Republican Sen. James E. Risch told The Washington Post that he supported the war effort and would not pull aid and weapons packages if he became chair of the Foreign Relations Committee if the GOP takes over after the midterms.
&#8220;Ukrainians alone must decide the future of Ukraine. I support their fight for freedom, which they are winning on the battlefield,&#8221; Risch said in a statement to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/31/republican-split-on-ukraine-aid/">The Washington Post</a>. &#8220;Any efforts to appease Putin are dangerous, irresponsible, and will only encourage Russia&#8217;s aggression.&#8221;
The Associated Press reports President Joe Biden has ruled out the possibility that U.S. military forces would engage in combat inside Ukraine.

Mass Blackouts In Kyiv, Ukraine

U.S. Military Restart Onsite Weapons Inspections In Ukraine

Military

Vladimir Putin

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