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☆ Biden chose humanity over geopolitics with Griner release
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But President Joe Biden’s decision to exchange WNBA star Brittney Griner for Viktor Bout goes beyond the exchange’s bottom line. And it prompted top Republicans to charge that he had prioritized a basketball superstar over an ex-marine who benefited from a vocal political pressure campaign on Biden. This adds another layer of complication for Biden as he seeks to get Whelan free, since it involves another government and would require German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to potentially agree to supersede his country’s own legal system. While Biden is being castigated by some political opponents in Washington for doing a bad deal, administration officials insisted that he got the best one on offer. It was a choice between bringing home one particular American, Brittney Griner, or bringing home none,” a senior administration official told reporters on Thursday.

☆ Brittney Griner prisoner swap a rare diplomatic success between U.S. and Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Chantal Da Silva | Chantal Da Silva Is A Breaking News Editor For Nbc News Digital Based In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The exchange of WNBA star Brittney Griner and arms dealer Viktor Bout was a rare moment of successful diplomacy between Moscow and Washington as relations between the two countries deteriorate over the war in Ukraine. For many, the trade will evoke memories of Soviet-era spy swaps — a more positive reminder of that era than the nuclear standoff that President Joe Biden recently said left the world facing its most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Biden speaks with with Brittney Griner on the phone, accompanied by Cherelle Griner at the Oval Office on Thursday. One of the most well known Cold War swaps involved American pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose U-2 spy plane was shot down in 1960 over the Soviet Union. Powers was traded two years later for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, in an exchange on a fog-shrouded bridge between West Berlin and East Germany.

☆ Russia, mired in war, faces economic pain and attempts to isolate it
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The war has so far not gone well for Putin. [1/5] Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via a video link from the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia December 2, 2022. And Russia, one of the world's biggest energy and commodity producers, has been hit with the harshest Western sanctions in its modern history. For Russia, 2023 is likely to be a year when it tries to stave off more Western attempts to isolate it. As Putin pays up to keep the war in Ukraine grinding on, managing its fallout at home and abroad is likely to get harder.

☆ Putin to meet mothers of soldiers fighting in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin will on Friday meet the mothers of soldiers fighting in Ukraine, the Kremlin said, as the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two grinds into its 10th month. The Kremlin said Putin would meet with mothers of reservists called up to fight as well as professional soldiers of the armed forces. Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they cast as an imperial-style war of occupation. Russia last publicly disclosed its losses on September 21, when Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed. The United States' top general estimated on Nov. 9 that Russia and Ukraine had each seen more than 100,000 of their soldiers killed or wounded.

☆ Putin tells mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine: 'We share your pain'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Putin said he understood the anxiety and concern of soldiers' mothers - and the pain of those who had lost sons in Ukraine. Putin said he sometimes called Russian soldiers at the front, and that their words had made them heroes in his eyes. But some relatives of soldiers killed in the war said the Kremlin had ignored their pleas for a meeting. Russia last publicly disclosed its losses in the war on Sept. 21, when Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed. The United States' top general estimated on Nov. 9 that Russia and Ukraine had each seen more than 100,000 of their soldiers killed or wounded.

☆ North Korea's flurry of missile tests has South Korea talking about the nuclear option
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Robert Kelly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

North Korea has done dozens of missile tests this year, including an ICBM test last week. We should always keep talking to North Korea — it is too dangerous to ignore — but there is little realistic hope that North Korea will deal profoundly with its nukes or missiles at this point. South Koreans watch a news report on North Korean missile tests. The current South Korean president, Yoon Seok-yeol, suggested, as a candidate, that South Korea might preemptively air-strike North Korean missile sites in a crisis. The South Korean conservative party has suggested that South Korea should withdraw from the NPT if the North conducts a seventh nuclear test.

☆ Putin to meet mothers of soldiers called up to fight in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will in the coming days meet the mothers of reservists called up to fight in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have been sent to fight in Ukraine - including some of the more than 300,000 reservists who were called up as part of a mobilisation announced by Putin in September. The meeting with soldiers' mothers, first reported by the Vedomosti newspaper, was confirmed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The United States' top general estimated on Nov. 9 that Russia and Ukraine had each seen more than 100,000 of their soldiers killed or wounded. Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they cast as an imperial-style war of occupation.

☆ Evoking Castro, Putin and Cuban leader pledge to deepen ties
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend an unveiling ceremony of a monument to late Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Moscow, Russia November 22, 2022. MOSCOW, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel unveiled a monument in a north Moscow square on Tuesday to Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, pledging to deepen their friendship in the face of U.S. sanctions against both countries. It creates the image of a fighter," Putin said of the statue, which portrays Castro gazing into the distance with hands on hips. "The reasons for the current conflict in this zone must be sought in the aggressive policy of the United States and the expansion of NATO towards Russia's borders," he said. The resulting standoff, known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, brought the United States and the Soviet Union close to the brink of nuclear war.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Russia hopes it can make a prisoner swap with the United States that would include convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, known as the "Merchant of Death", a deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying on Friday. Amid the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two, Russia and the United States are exploring a prisoner swap that would see imprisoned Americans including basketball star Brittney Griner return to the United States in exchange for Bout. "The Americans are showing some external activity, we are working professionally through a special channel designed for this," Ryabkov said. "Viktor Bout is among those who are being discussed, and we certainly count on a positive result." The possible swap includes Griner, facing nine years behind bars in Russia after being convicted on drug charges, and Paul Whelan who is serving a 16-year sentence in Russia after being convicted of espionage charges that he denies.

☆ Russia keeps mum on CIA director's warning over nuclear weapons
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] CIA Director William Burns speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 15, 2021. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns warned Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, about the consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, a White House official said. It was the first known high-level, face-to-face U.S.-Russian contact since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Zelenskiy said the CIA director had spent time in a bomb shelter before the two men met amid Russian missile strikes. Putin has said Russia will defend its territory with all available means, including nuclear weapons, if attacked.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said later that, "it was most likely a Russian-made missile," but that the incident was still under investigation. Associated Press first reported that a senior U.S. intelligence official said Russian missiles crossed into Poland, killing two people. loadingBut later, AP published a different story saying that initial findings suggested that the missile that hit Poland was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile. "Russian missiles hit Poland, the territory of our friendly country. This is a Russian missile attack on collective security!

☆ Medvedev says Russia is fighting a sacred battle against Satan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday cast Russia's war in Ukraine as a sacred conflict with Satan, warning that Moscow could send all its enemies to the eternal fires of Gehenna. Ukraine and the West have repeatedly dismissed President Vladimir Putin's assertions that Ukraine is run by fascists who have persecuted Russian speakers. In a message marking Russia's Day of National Unity, Medvedev said the task of the fatherland was to "stop the supreme ruler of Hell, whatever name he uses - Satan, Lucifer or Iblis". Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said Russia had different weapons, including the ability to "send all our enemies to fiery Gehenna", using a Hebrew term often translated as Hell. Satan's weapons, Medvedev said, were "intricate lies.

☆ Don't expect Putin to fall anytime soon, says Western official
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

After changes to the constitution in 2020, some Russia-watchers expected Putin to rule until 2036. "He has been weakened by this really catastrophic error," said the Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. The official said the war had strengthened Ukrainian statehood and prompted the further enlargement of the NATO military alliance thus weakening Putin, who turned 70 on Oct. 7. Though there was unlikely to be a change of Kremlin leader soon, the official said that the middle of the 2020s was starting to look "more interesting". The official added that there was no sign, for now, that Russia was ready to seriously negotiate over Ukraine.

☆ U.S. says China resisting nuclear talks after Xi vow to boost deterrent
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Pentagon says China is undergoing a major expansion of its nuclear forces and is moving toward having 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030. But Beijing has long resisted arms control talks with Washington, arguing that the United States already has a much larger arsenal. But Xi signaled during a Communist Party Congress in October that China would strengthen its strategic deterrent, a term often used to describe nuclear weapons. We're saying, let's talk about putting some guardrails into the relationship so that we don't have unnecessary crises," he said. Reporting by Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom; editing by Richard PullinOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Lloyd Blankfein reminds investors that plenty could go right to send the stock market higher despite overwhelmingly negative sentiment
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

This year's stock market decline has flipped sentiment, turning most investors overly negative. But former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein reminded investors that any good news could send stocks higher. But according to Blankfein, sentiment has shifted overly negative as market participants digest the continuous flow of bad news. "Seems EVERYONE negative on the [market] with sticky inflation, more rate hikes, other bad stuff ahead," he tweeted over the weekend. GMO's Jeremy Grantham said the fundamentals are as bad as "we have ever seen," adding that the US stock market is in the early stages of deflating a "super bubble."

☆ Russia's Lavrov needles Biden over Cuban missile crisis and Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's foreign minister on Sunday needled Joe Biden over Ukraine, saying that he hoped the U.S. president had the wisdom to deal with a global confrontation similar to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cuban crisis when the Soviet Union and United States came close to nuclear war. In an interview for a Russian state television documentary on the missile crisis, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there were similarities to 1962, largely because Russia was now threatened by Western weapons in Ukraine. "I hope that in today's situation, President Joe Biden will have more opportunities to understand who gives orders and how," Lavrov said. Asked what Russia should do now in the current crisis, Lavrov said: "The readiness of Russia, including President Vladimir Putin, for negotiations remains unchanged."

☆ Russia says U.S. lowering 'nuclear threshold' with newer bombs in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Russia has about 2,000 working tactical nuclear weapons while the United States has around 200 such weapons, half of which are at bases in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands. "We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Russia will defend its territory with all available means, including nuclear weapons, if attacked. The U.S. B61 nuclear bomb was first tested in Nevada shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States, according to the U.S. 2022 Nuclear Posture Review published on Thursday, will bolster nuclear deterrence with the F-35, the B61-12 bombs and a nuclear-armed air-launched cruise missile.

☆ Russia says U.S. lowers 'nuclear threshold' by deploying new nuclear bombs in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Russia said on Saturday that the accelerated deployment of modernised U.S. B61 tactical nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe would lower the "nuclear threshold" and that Russia would take the move into account in its military planning. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has triggered the gravest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the two Cold War superpowers came closest to nuclear war. Russia has around 2,000 working tactical nuclear weapons while the United States has around 200 such weapons, half of which are at bases in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands. "We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. "The United States is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the power of the nuclear charge, that is, they turn these weapons into 'battlefield weapons', thereby reducing the nuclear threshold," Grushko said.

☆ The market is moving in-line with seasonal patterns almost perfectly — Post-midterms rally next?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

In a fully rational and efficient market, seasonal stock-performance factors should be of no use to an investor, and perhaps should not exist at all. This past September was brutal, the S & P 500 down 9.3%, with the downside skewed toward the second half of the month, just as the seasonal script dictated. Since 1950, the S & P 500 has never been down from November to April in a midterm year. Remember all the talk that stocks have tended to rally up to and through the first Fed rate hike? A 17% S & P rally from June-August on hopes of a dovish turn by the Fed and a firming in macro data.

☆ Cuba is in the middle of an escalating tug-of-war between Russia, U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

It also once again thrust the Caribbean island into the middle of an escalating tug-of-war between its seaside neighbor, the United States, and ally, Russia. The sales also potentially alleviated the weight of international sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviets sold Cuba oil well below market price. A double hit to its power gridPreexisting economic turmoil and blackouts came to a head this fall when Cuba’s power grid took a double hit. Increased sales to China, India and even Cuba have helped Russia ease the economic brunt of sanctions.

☆ Russia warns West: We can target your commercial satellites
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - A senior Russian foreign ministry official said that commercial satellites from the United States and its allies could become legitimate targets for Russia if they were involved in the war in Ukraine. Russia, which in 1957 launched Sputnik 1, the first manmade satellite, into space and in 1961 put the first man in outer space, has a significant offensive space capability - as do the United States and China. In 2021, Russia launched an anti-satellite missile to destroy one of its own satellites. Vorontsov, reading from notes, said the use of Western satellites to aid the Ukrainian war effort was "an extremely dangerous trend". "Quasi-civilian infrastructure may be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike," Vorontsov told the United Nations First Committee, adding that the West's use of such satellites to support Ukraine was "provocative".

☆ Putin says West is playing dangerous geopolitical game
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Putin: West is playing a dangerous gamePutin: West will have to talk to RussiaPutin: scolds West for arrogant colonialismRussia is not the West's enemyMOSCOW, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin scolded the West on Thursday for playing what he cast as a "dangerous, bloody and dirty" geopolitical game, but said the United States and its allies would ultimately have to talk to Russia. "Power over the world is what the so-called West has put on the line in its game - but the game is dangerous, bloody and I would say dirty," Putin told the Valdai Discussion Club. Quoting a 1978 Harvard lecture by Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Putin said the West was openly racist and looked down on other peoples of the world. "Confidence in their infallibility is a very dangerous state," Putin said, adding that Russia would never accept the West trying to tell Russia how to act. Still, speaking to experts from 44 different countries, Putin said that Russia did not consider itself an enemy of the West.

☆ Russia's Shoigu holds second call with U.S. defense secretary in three days
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via REUTERSOct 23 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday for the second time in three days and held a flurry of calls with three other counterparts from NATO countries. Its readouts on the other calls said Shoigu had said the situation in Ukraine was worsening. "They discussed the situation in Ukraine which is rapidly deteriorating," the Russian defence ministry said of Shoigu's call with French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterShoigu spoke separately to Turkey's defence minister Hulusi Akar and Britain's Ben Wallace. With Russia reeling from successive defeats in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has said it would resort to nuclear weapons if necessary to defend its "territorial integrity".

☆ U.S. sees no evidence Russia is interested in ending Ukraine aggression - Blinken
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - The United States will consider every means to advance diplomacy with Russia if it sees an opening, but at the moment Moscow shows no sign of willingness to engage in meaningful talks, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday. "Every indication is that far from being willing to engage in meaningful diplomacy, President Putin continues to push in the opposite direction," Blinken said at a press conference with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna. "We consider and will consider every means to advance diplomacy if we see an opening to advance it by whatever means, of course we'll always look at it," he said, but added that Moscow was instead "doubling and tripling down" on its aggression. Blinken and other U.S. officials have repeatedly said Moscow has not been interested in meaningful diplomacy. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Arshad Mohammed and Simon Lewis; Editing by Mark Porter and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 'What are they hiding?': Group sues Biden and National Archives over JFK assassination records
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The country's largest online source of JFK assassination records is suing President Joe Biden and the National Archives to force the federal government to release all remaining documents related to the most mysterious murder of a U.S. president nearly 60 years ago. “This is about our history and our right to know it,” said Morley, the author of the JFK Facts blog. The National Archives and Records Administration, the agency in charge of the JFK documents, also said it’s complying with the law and the procedures Biden outlined. JFK assassination historian David Talbot, a Trump critic, said he sees an irony in the two cases. Uscinski said he’s hesitant to draw a direct line between lack of trust in the government and the refusal to release the JFK records, but he argued the feds essentially have themselves to blame.

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