Russia claims Ukraine destroying evidence of US-funded bioweapons program –Russia’s Defense Ministry says Kiev ordered scientists to destroy samples of plague, anthrax, and other lethal pathogens | 6 March 2022 | As Russian troops entered Ukraine, the government in Kiev ordered the “emergency destruction” of pathogens including plague and anthrax at US-funded laboratories near the Russian border, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow claimed on Sunday. Earlier rumors that the Russian military was targeting US-run biolabs were written off as conspiracy theories, but the ministry has promised to back up its claims with documents. “We have received documentation from employees of Ukrainian biolaboratories on the emergency destruction on February 24 of especially dangerous pathogens of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases,” read a statement from the ministry. The statement accused the “Kiev regime” of conducting an “emergency cleansing” to hide evidence of the supposed biological weapons program, which the ministry claimed was funded by the US, and involved the production of “biological weapons components” at at least two laboratories in the cities of Poltava and Kharkov, both of which have seen intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in recent days.

Russia: Countries Allowing Ukraine to Use Their Airfields ‘May Be Regarded’ as Entering Conflict | 6 March 2022 | Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday warned that any country that offers the use of its airfields to Ukraine’s military for attacks on Russian assets could be considered as having entered the conflict. “The use of the airfield networks of these countries to base Ukrainian military aircraft and their subsequent use against the Russian armed forces may be regarded as the involvement of these states in an armed conflict,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told the Interfax news agency on Sunday evening local time. Konashenkov said Russian officials are aware of “Ukrainian combat plans which earlier flew to Romania and other neighboring countries,” without elaborating. Since the conflict started on Feb. 24, the United States, its NATO allies, and other European nations have flooded Ukraine with missiles, anti-tank missiles, ammunition, weapons, and other supplies. There have also been reports claiming that European and NATO countries are working to send fighter jets to Ukraine.

US gives Poland the ‘green light’ to give Ukraine MiG fighter jets as Russia warns it is at WAR with ANY country hosting Kyiv’s aircraft and points finger at Romania as top American general inspects troops in Europe –Russia’s Defense Ministry has warned neighboring countries against hosting Ukraine with warplanes –Ministry spokesman said it ‘could be considered as those countries’ engagement in the military conflict’ –United States is working with Poland to supply MiG-29 fighter jets that can be used by Ukrainian Air Force | 6 March 2022 | Plans for Poland to send fighter jets to Ukraine have been given the ‘green light’ by the US amid warnings from Russia that countries hosting Kyiv’s military aircraft could end up being involved in an armed conflict. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today that the country was in talks with Poland in order to orchestrate a deal that would allow Polish fighter jets to be flown by pilots from the Ukrainian Air Force in order to combat Russia’s air superiority. The deal would see Ukraine take Poland’s 28 Russian-made MiG-29 warplanes, which would in turn be replaced by a fresh set of F-16’s by the United States.

Pentagon opens hotline with Russia | 3 March 2022 | The US and Russia have set up a “deconfliction” hotline to avoid any misunderstandings that could trigger escalation, the Pentagon said. The US and Russian militaries have established a “deconfliction” line to prevent misunderstandings or accidents from escalating into a war between Moscow and NATO, the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday. “The United States retains a number of channels to discuss critical security issues with the Russians during a contingency or emergency,” a senior Defense Department official told reporters in a background briefing on Thursday. “The Department of the Defense recently established a deconfliction line with the Russian Ministry of Defense on March 1 for the purposes of preventing miscalculation, military incidents, and escalation.”

Russian Banks to Switch to Chinese Card System after Visa, Mastercard Suspend Operations in Russia | 6 March 2022 | Multiple Russian banks on Sunday announced plans to begin issuing cards using a Chinese card operator’s system with Russia’s Mir network after Visa and MasterCard pulled out of Russia. Sberbank, Alfa Bank and Tinkoff all said they would begin using the Chinese UnionPay system, according to Reuters. The announcement comes one day after Mastercard announced cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network, while any Mastercard issued outside the country will not work at Russian stores or ATMs. Visa similarly announced it is working to suspend all transactions in the coming days, over a week after the Russian invasion of Ukraine first began.

Kiev accuses Ukrainian MP of state treason –The prosecutor general is seeking to put the opposition politician and long-time Zelensky critic on an international wanted list | 6 March 2022 | Ukrainian law enforcement has accused opposition MP Ilya Kiva of state treason. The nation’s prosecutor general, Irina Venediktova, informed the lawmaker about her agency’s decision in a fiery Facebook post on Sunday, accusing him of “doing everything” to invite the “Russian aggressors” to Ukraine. Kiva’s actions have dealt “colossal damage” to Ukraine, Venediktova said, warning that he will face “no other destiny” than arrest, extradition, and trial. She did not list any specific actions that earned the MP a place on Ukraine’s “list of suspects…” Kiva, a former member of the “Opposition Platform – For Life” party, has long been a fierce critic of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Kiev’s pro-NATO policies. In a recent interview, the MP slammed the US and NATO for using Ukraine as “bait” to provoke Russia into a conflict. Washington and its allies tricked Zelensky and then just threw Ukraine away, he said.

Oil hits 13-year high as Blinken signals openness to a ban on Russian oil imports –Blinken said US is ‘in very active discussions’ with European allies about a ban on Russian oil | 6 March 2022 | Oil prices surged to a 13-year high on Sunday as U.S. officials signaled an openness to a ban on Russian oil imports amid Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude, the U.S. benchmark, rose 9.5% to 126.64 a barrel as of 7:00 PM on Sunday evening. Brent Crude, the international benchmark, shot up 12% to 130.98 a barrel… A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to ban Russian oil on Thursday.

Fire extinguished at key Ukrainian nuclear plant –A massive blaze hit Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant’s training facility on Thursday | 4 March 2022 | Firefighters successfully extinguished a massive fire at the six-reactor Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant in Energodar, southwestern Ukraine, local emergency services announced early on Friday. “At 6:20 [local time], the fire in the training facility of Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant in Energodar was extinguished. There are no victims and casualties,” reported the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on their official Facebook page. It was earlier reported that the massive fire had been localized in an area of 2,000 square meters. The fire at Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant broke out Thursday night at the training facility situated next to the station.  

DC area bracing for trucker convoy protests as nearly 1,000 vehicles hit Maryland town | 5 March 2022 | Long lines of 18-wheelers and other trucks crowded the roads of Hagerstown, Maryland, early Saturday as the Washington, DC-area prepared for protests over COVID-19 mandates. While other similar US trucker convoys have fizzled, this one started gaining steam Friday evening. Roughly 1,000 vehicles arriving from all directions converged on Hagerstown Speedway, clogging traffic, the Washington Post reported. As of 8 p.m., a two-mile-long line of cars and trucks could be seen stuck in traffic on Route 40 trying to get into the location, WUSA-9 TV reported. Some truckers participating in the “People’s Convoy” said they planned to head to the DC Beltway area Saturday, but others said they were awaiting instructions.

US Surgeon General asks Big Tech platforms to hand over Covid ‘misinformation’ data | 4 March 2022 | Joe Biden’s Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy formally requested Big Tech companies submit data on the prevalence of COVID-19 “misinformation” on social media, instant messengers, search engines, e-commerce platforms, and crowdsourcing platforms. The request for information is part of the Covid National Preparedness Plan that Biden announced during the State of The Union address on Tuesday. The surgeon general’s office wants platforms to submit data on the prevalence of alleged Covid misinformation, beginning with the common examples of such misinformation outlined by the CDC. Dr. Murthy’s request asked about the major sources of Covid misinformation, including those that have been providing “unproven” treatments. The request for information asked platforms to provide data on “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of Covid-19 misinformation,” and the demographics that have allegedly been disproportionately exposed and affected by Covid misinformation.

Pfizer Vaccine Only 12% Effective in Kids 5 to 11, Study Says –According to The New York Times, federal health officials knew about the findings since early February. | 1 March 2022 | The effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine against Omicron “declined rapidly for children, particularly those 5-11 years,” according to a study released February 28. The authors of the study still recommended the vaccine for that age group, stating it was protective against severe disease. They also proposed the recommended dose for 5- to 11-year-olds was too small, suggesting a higher dose might solve the problem. According to The New York Times, the study’s lead author, Dr. Eli Rosenberg, briefed Dr. Rochelle Walensky and other officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the New York data in early February. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials learned of the data around the same time. Some scientists at those agencies then pushed for the data to be made public before an FDA meeting, scheduled for Feb. 15, to review Pfizer’s application for Emergency Use Authorization of a three-dose regimen of its vaccine for infants and children 6 months to 5 years old. But the study’s findings were only made public on Monday.

Wisconsin Special Counsel Alleges Massive Misconduct in 2020 Election | 6 March 2022 | Special Counsel Michael Gableman says in a 136-page interim report that he has uncovered numerous instances of alleged lawbreaking in Wisconsin in the 2020 election. The former justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court was hired last summer by the Republican Speaker of the State Assembly, Robin Vos, to investigate suspected election fraud during the 2020 presidential election. In the report released March 1, Gableman wrote that his investigation uncovered instances of numerous mentally incompetent nursing home residents, non-citizens, and ineligible felons casting votes. He cited the use by municipal and county clerks of unstaffed absentee ballot drop-boxes, in violation of state law. Laws were also allegedly violated when the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) allegedly exceeded its authority by ordering local election officials to disregard state statutes that regulate absentee voting.

Durham Tells Court Not to Dismiss Charge Against Lawyer Who Hid Ties to Clinton Campaign | 5 March 2022 | Special Counsel John Durham on March 4 told a federal judge not to dismiss a charge against a lawyer who lied to the FBI about representing Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Michael Sussman was representing the Clinton campaign when in 2016 he passed along information to an FBI counsel. His lawyers say the documents “raised national security concerns” while prosecutors describe them as purportedly detailing a covert channel between a Russian bank and the business of Donald Trump, Clinton’s rival at the time. Sussman was charged with lying to the FBI because he falsely told the council he was not providing the allegations to the FBI on behalf of any client despite presenting the information on behalf of the Clinton campaign, prosecutors say. In a filing in February, Sussman’s lawyers moved to dismiss the charge, claiming their client “did not make any false statement to the FBI” but even if he had, “the false statement alleged in the indictment is immaterial as a matter of law.”  

Judge blocks effort to keep Cawthorn off NC ballots | 4 March 2022 | A federal judge Friday blocked an effort to keep U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn off North Carolina ballot this year, saying the state’s election board can’t proceed with an inquiry that would have delved his role leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Chief District Court Judge Richard Myers said he couldn’t allow the challenge, filed by attorneys looking to label the first-term Republican as an insurrectionist who should be legally barred from the ballot, to move forward. The courts, Myers said, must protect the soapbox, the ballot box and the jury box. “When those fail, that’s when people proceed to the ammunition box,” said Myers, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump.

Supreme Court reimposes Boston Marathon bomber’s death sentence | 4 March 2022 | The Supreme Court has reinstated the death sentence for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The justices, by a 6-3 vote Friday, agreed with the Biden administration’s arguments that a federal appeals court was wrong to throw out the sentence of death a jury imposed on Tsarnaev for his role in the bombing that killed three people near the finish line of the marathon in 2013.