MOSCOW — Senior representatives of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are
meeting Wednesday in Paris in a bid to revive the stalled Ukraine peace
process, as analysts warn that Russia’s military escalation near Ukraine’s
borders is moving into a more advanced stage.

Adding to the growing tension, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
warned Wednesday that Moscow “would not sit idly by” as the West supplies
Kyiv with lethal weapons, after Ukraine took delivery Tuesday of 79 tons
of arms, including U.S. antitank missiles, intended for self-defense.

Speaking to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, Lavrov
said: “It would suffice to mention the increasingly provocative exercises
held near our borders, the drawing of the Kyiv regime into the NATO orbit,
its supply with lethal weapons, and the push for its direct provocations
against the Russian Federation,” according to an official transcript of
his remarks.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/26/ukraine-russia-sanctions-biden-putin/

In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing for a diplomatic
solution in four-way talks involving France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine..

Here’s what you need to know about Russia’s military buildup on the border
with Ukraine

Macron will also put forward his own proposal to de-escalate the crisis to
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call Friday.

Moscow has massed more than 100,000 troops and military equipment near
Ukraine and is running simultaneous military exercises, as two weeks of
high-level shuttle diplomacy have failed to resolve the crisis over
Moscow’s key demand that Ukraine and other countries be blocked from NATO
membership.

Moscow officials’ rhetoric has grown increasingly belligerent as Russia
has increased its military buildup near Ukraine, steadily intensifying the
pressure on Washington and NATO to accept its demands.

Putin accused Kyiv last month of “genocide” in the eastern separatist
Donbas region of Ukraine, while other officials have warned that the
confrontation could evolve into a scenario akin to the 1962 Cuban missile
crisis, when the world edged toward nuclear war after the Soviet Union
deployed nuclear weapons in Cuba.

Lavrov said Washington was doing everything possible to undermine the
ruble and deplete Russia’s foreign currency reserves. He warned that
Moscow would respond if the West continued its “aggression” against Russia.

Russian markets have plunged in recent days, and the ruble has plummeted
in response to fears of a major war on Europe’s border.

In meeting that Italian government tried to stop amid Ukraine crisis,
Putin speaks to Italian CEOs via video

Macron is pushing a more proactive European role in resolving the security
crisis, as the United States seeks to maintain transatlantic unity on
tough sanctions to deter a new Russian attack on Ukraine.

But with NATO firmly ruling out Russia’s key demands — including an end to
NATO expansion and removal of NATO forces and equipment from Eastern
Europe — doubts remain about whether French efforts to revive the Ukraine
peace process can help de-escalate the crisis.

Bruno Tertrais, deputy director of France’s Foundation for Strategic
Research, said Macron has sought to resolve global crises in the past.

“You have to place it in a broader context of a president who tries — and
often fails — to solve crises,” said Tertrais.

The United States warned Tuesday that it could impose some of its toughest
sanctions ever on Russia if it attacks Ukraine, as Washington moves to
prepare European allies for a potential Kremlin-initiated fuel crisis.

The Biden administration is “prepared to implement sanctions with massive
consequences that were not considered in 2014,” when Russia annexed Crimea
from Ukraine, a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday. The
“top of the escalation ladder” could involve using an export control that
would cripple parts of Russian technology and aerospace industries, while
depriving Russians of some technology consumer goods, said the official,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity under terms set by the White
House. Such a measure has been used only once, against the Chinese tech
company Huawei.

President Biden also warned of personal sanctions against Putin, in what
would be an unprecedented move against the leader of a major power.
Britain and the United States have discussed blocking Russia from the
SWIFT international payments system, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
said Tuesday. He said such a move would “be a very potent weapon,” noting
that U.S. collaboration would be necessary to carry out such an action.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said U.S. sanctions threats were
“destructive.”

These countries are withdrawing embassy staffers from Ukraine amid growing
fears of an invasion by Russia

Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday supported a diplomatic
solution to the crisis but insisted that Western powers are united over
strong sanctions on Russia should it invade, speaking at a joint news
conference after meeting in Berlin.

Paris is pushing to reinvigorate the Normandy Format talks, a
long-standing but stalled peace effort involving France, Germany, Ukraine
and Russia to implement the 2015 Minsk peace agreement and resolve an
eight-year conflict in eastern Ukraine. Political advisers from the four
countries are meeting Wednesday in Paris.

Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of breaching the Minsk deal, which
has failed to end the war over two separatist Russian-backed areas in the
Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. The conflict has raged since 2014,
shortly after Russia annexed Crimea, claiming more than 13,000 lives.

Tara Varma, head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign
Relations, said the fact that talks took place marks “a step forward.”

But the entrenched differences between Russia and Ukraine make a swift
breakthrough unlikely, a position complicated by Russia’s insistence that
the war is an internal Ukrainian conflict, to which Moscow is not a party.

Moscow officials insist the crisis between Russia and NATO is not limited
to Ukraine’s aim to join NATO, but also Russia’s demand to remove all NATO
forces and equipment from Eastern Europe. .

As Russia mounts simultaneous military exercises across the country
involving the deployment of tactical missiles, Moscow officials deny any
plans for an attack on Ukraine and insist on its right to deploy its
military wherever it likes in Russia..

Russia has also threatened to cut off the supply of natural gas it sends
to Europe if sanctions are imposed. The move would be a significant blow
against U.S. allies on the continent — which relies on Russia for about 40
percent of its natural gas needs — and could set off a global energy
crisis.

As Ukraine invasion looms, Europe fears Kremlin will cut off its gas supply

Some European leaders, particularly those with closer ties to Russia, have
expressed a reluctance to confront the Kremlin too directly.

The Kremlin managed to leverage the divisions in Europe when Putin
conferred with a group of leading Italian business executives in a video
conference Wednesday to discuss trade and economic ties, after Washington
and the European Union warned of sanctions if Russia launches an attack.
Italian government officials failed to persuade the group to call off the
meeting.

Putin told the meeting that Russia and Italy have maintained high levels
of economic cooperation despite global volatility and the pandemic,
boasting that Russia’s “macroeconomic stability” makes it attractive to
investors.

The event showcased Russia’s economic leverage — and the two-sided pain
that would result in the event of sanctions. Moscow is a key gas supplier
to Europe, and the companies that participated in the meeting, including
banks and energy firms, have deep ties to Russia or investments there.

Despite cracks in the Western response, including diverging energy
interests between Germany and other European Union member states, Varma
said Europe has adopted a far more united position than Russia probably
expected, and that Washington’s moves to consult European leaders played a
significant part.

“The level of consultation has never been so strong,” she said.

“I don’t think Russia takes Europe seriously when it comes to military
issues, and they thought that it would be very easy to destabilize the
continent,” she said.

U.S. officials noted that limiting gas exports would also harm Russia, but
that the Biden administration was nevertheless preparing for the scenario.

Another U.S. official said the administration is “working with countries
and companies around the world to ensure the security of supply and to
mitigate against price shocks affecting both the American people and the
global economy.” Biden plans to host Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani of
Qatar, one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas, at
the White House on Monday. The pair are set to discuss “ensuring the
stability of global energy supplies” and channeling Qatari gas to Europe,
the administration said.

sometimes you need a tech support
say is that god fellow back from vacation yet?
it's amazing we have lived this long. lucky us.

On Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at 3:24:32 PM UTC-6, chris rodgers wrote:
> sometimes you need a tech support
> say is that god fellow back from vacation yet?
> it's amazing we have lived this long. lucky us.

hey probably got God's account info for purposes of phishing emails.
But…. He’s dead.

mk5000

Palagi kong dala hanggang sa ating pagtanda
Wag kang mag-alala hindi ako mawawala
Wag kang mag-alala palagi mo akong kasama
Natatandaan mo pa ba nung una tayong nagkakilala--Wag Kang Mag-alala, Parokya ni Edgar