6 months of Russia’s war in Ukraine, by the numbers – NPR
6 months of Russia’s war in Ukraine, by the numbers – NPR

A funeral procession in Lviv, Ukraine, in March ends at grave sites where soldiers Viktor Dudar, 44, and Ivan Koverznev, 24, will be buried, as priests say their blessings and mourners look on.

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A funeral procession in Lviv, Ukraine, in March ends at grave sites where soldiers Viktor Dudar, 44, and Ivan Koverznev, 24, will be buried, as priests say their blessings and mourners look on.

Claire Harbage/NPR

KYIV, Ukraine — Six months ago, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The half-year mark comes on the same day — Aug. 24 — as a national holiday celebrating Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union, an event in 1991 noted for its lack of bloodshed. Today the holiday takes on new meaning for many Ukrainians, as the country continues to fight in what it calls a new “war for independence.”

Over the course of six months, the war has captured the world’s attention, disrupted the global distribution of food and fuel and left the country reeling. To understand some of the war’s impact on Ukraine, here are six key numbers:

1. Over 13 million Ukrainians have been displaced

A woman and her daughter take a train out of Lviv toward Poland in March, leaving her husband behind on the platform.

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A woman and her daughter take a train out of Lviv toward Poland in March, leaving her husband behind on the platform.

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II. Since February, more than 13 million people have been forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. Nearly 6.7 million refugees have dispersed across Europe, with Poland taking in the largest share. Another 6.6 million people are internally displaced within Ukraine.

Most Ukrainians who have fled the country are women and children, as the government has barred men ages 18 to 60 from leaving. The European Union’s migration department says almost 500,000 Ukrainian children have been integrated into schools in EU countries.

Ukrainians displaced by war pour out of the Lviv train station in March.

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Ukrainians displaced by war pour out of the Lviv train station in March.

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Meanwhile, as the war has stretched on and shifted course, many Ukrainians are going back home. According to a survey by the International Organization for Migration, 5.5 million previously displaced people have returned home.

2. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians may have lost their lives in the war

The mother (center) of Ukrainian journalist-turned-soldier Viktor Dudar grieves at his grave as he’s laid to rest in Lviv in March, as some of the first dead soldiers’ bodies are returned home.

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The mother (center) of Ukrainian journalist-turned-soldier Viktor Dudar grieves at his grave as he’s laid to rest in Lviv in March, as some of the first dead soldiers’ bodies are returned home.

Claire Harbage/NPR

Both sides have reported losing military personnel since the invasion began in February. Exact figures are hard to come by, since each country is reluctant to admit losses and often inflates the number of enemy fighters they’ve killed.

Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed forces, said this week at a public forum that Ukraine has lost 9,000 military personnel. The Ukrainian military has also claimed to have killed or wounded 45,200 Russian military personnel, with the largest losses in the eastern Donetsk and southern Mykolaiv regions.

Meanwhile, the U.N. human rights office has documented nearly 5,600 civilians killed in Ukraine during the conflict but believes the actual toll is much higher.

A soldier’s funeral in Lviv in March, as some of the first dead soldiers’ bodies are returned home.

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A soldier’s funeral in Lviv in March, as some of the first dead soldiers’ bodies are returned home.

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Russia has been releasing scant information on military casualties. Officials there said 1,351 of their own soldiers died in the first weeks of the war, in March, but have not released updated data since. Independent Russian news outlet iStories says it counted (through open-source information) more than 5,000 Russian service members killed, but that the true number could be higher.

In March, Russian military officials estimated Ukrainian losses at around 14,000 killed and 16,000 out of action.

3. Russia occupies 20% of Ukrainian land

A man herds sheep in Kherson region, near Crimea, in February. The area is now occupied by Russia.

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A man herds sheep in Kherson region, near Crimea, in February. The area is now occupied by Russia.

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In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. Soon Russian-backed militants declared their intent to separate from Ukraine in the country’s far east, launching a conflict that’s been locked in a stalemate for nearly eight years.

In February, Russians controlled around 17,000 square miles of Ukrainian land, according to Ukraine’s mission to the U.N. — Crimea being the size of Maryland and the self-proclaimed independent “republics” in Ukraine’s east amounting to a territory about the size of New Jersey.

Six months into the full-scale invasion, Russia has expanded its territory in Ukraine almost threefold. In June, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia has occupied 20% of the country, or about 47,000 square miles. That’s a territory about the size of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware and much of Maryland combined.

The line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian forces extends 570 miles, as of Monday.

4. Dozens of countries have pledged billions of dollars in military aid since the war began

Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire at Russian positions from a U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, July 14. Weapons supplied by Western countries have significantly boosted the Ukrainian military’s capability.

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Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire at Russian positions from a U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, July 14. Weapons supplied by Western countries have significantly boosted the Ukrainian military’s capability.

Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

Dozens of countries have supplied Ukraine with military assistance, including weapons systems and training. The bulk of the aid has come from the U.S. With President Biden’s announcement Wednesday of another $3 billion, Washington has now committed $10.6 billion in security aid since Russia’s February invasion. Billions more will be coming from an aid package passed in May.

On Ukrainian battlefields, Australia has become synonymous with the 88 armored vehicles it’s provided, Turkey is known for its roughly 80 combat drones, Britain for the 22,000 soldiers it trained. Other countries have offered logistical support, like the 3.2 million gallons of diesel and jet fuel Slovakia provided.

When it comes to economic warfare, EU member states plus another 18 countries have levied individual sanctions against Russia in the past six months. But experts warn the sanctions could have a limited effect on Russia’s export potential, as two-thirds of the world’s population is concentrated in the countries that have either stayed neutral or supported Russia, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

5. Ukraine’s economy could shrink by as much as 45% because of the invasion

A damaged home in Moshchun, which is tucked into a forest just northwest of Ukraine’s capital, in April. Before the Russian invasion, it was a slice of pastoral suburbia, where urbanites had their country cottages and retirees built their dream homes for their golden years.

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A damaged home in Moshchun, which is tucked into a forest just northwest of Ukraine’s capital, in April. Before the Russian invasion, it was a slice of pastoral suburbia, where urbanites had their country cottages and retirees built their dream homes for their golden years.

Claire Harbage/NPR

The invasion has devastated Ukraine’s economy across the board. The World Bank estimated in April that the Ukrainian economy could shrink by 45% this year. Last week, Ukraine’s economy minister said the country’s gross domestic product of $200.9 billion in 2021 is likely to contract between 35% and 40% by the end of the year.

The conflict has cost Ukraine over $113.5 billion in damage, the Kyiv School of Economics says, with housing and transportation infrastructure hit particularly hard. KSE says the country will need upwards of $200 billion to recover.

The Lebanese-flagged bulk carrier Brave Commander is loaded with wheat at the port of Pivdennyi, near the Ukrainian city of Odesa, on Aug. 14. The wheat is destined for Ethiopia, thanks to a deal allowing food shipments to depart Ukraine’s ports.

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The Lebanese-flagged bulk carrier Brave Commander is loaded with wheat at the port of Pivdennyi, near the Ukrainian city of Odesa, on Aug. 14. The wheat is destined for Ethiopia, thanks to a deal allowing food shipments to depart Ukraine’s ports.

Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry says grain exports are down 46% from last year due to a five-month blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports. And despite a U.N.-brokered deal reached in July to allow food shipments to depart Ukraine, the agriculture sector is still expected to take a huge hit. The country’s steel industry has also taken a beating.

Ukraine has lots of friends throughout the world who are trying to help keep its economy afloat. The U.S. alone has already pledged $8.5 billion in financial assistance to Kyiv this year to keep government offices open and staffed and utilities working. Meanwhile, the European Union has given billions of euros to Ukraine since February, and has recently fashioned a package to give 8 billion euros more in financial aid over the next six months.

6. Bake sales, spare change and “St. Javelin” have raised over $500 million in private money to help Ukraine

A mural known as St. Javelin — showing a meme of the Virgin Mary cradling a U.S.-made anti-tank Javelin launcher — on the wall of an apartment building in Kyiv on May 24.

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A mural known as St. Javelin — showing a meme of the Virgin Mary cradling a U.S.-made anti-tank Javelin launcher — on the wall of an apartment building in Kyiv on May 24.

Oleksii Chumachenko/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

In February, a Canadian-Ukrainian writer, Christian Borys, and California artist Chris Shaw created a meme of a woman appearing like the Virgin Mary holding a rocket launcher. Borys called it “St. Javelin,” after the U.S.-supplied anti-tank missiles. Since then, he’s formed the meme into a brand that has sold more than $3 million worth of stickers and other merchandise to help Ukraine.

Borys’ initiative is one of hundreds like it.

In June, Ukrainian TV personality Serhiy Prytula asked his fans to buy him a Turkish-made drone priced at $5 million. He ended up raising $55 million. Baykar, the company that makes the drone, refused to take the money. Instead, the company donated three drones. In August, Prytula used the funds he raised to purchase a reconnaissance satellite for Ukrainian intelligence.

As of July, Ukraine’s National Bank reports to have collected $530 million in donations for the Ukrainian military — mostly from people rounding up at shop cash registers and fundraisers in the country. On Tuesday, residents of the small western Ukrainian town of Dubno raised $866.55 at a bake sale and flea market for the military.

New graves and freshly dug holes for Ukrainian soldiers line the edge of a cemetery in Kyiv on Aug. 24.

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New graves and freshly dug holes for Ukrainian soldiers line the edge of a cemetery in Kyiv on Aug. 24.

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Julian Hayda reported from Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ashley Westerman from Lviv and Elissa Nadworny from Kyiv. Polina Lytvynova contributed to this report.

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Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2022/08/24/1119202240/ukraine-russia-war-by-numbers

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Turnout surge powered Democrats’ N.Y. special election win — and their renewed hopes for November – POLITICO
Turnout surge powered Democrats’ N.Y. special election win — and their renewed hopes for November – POLITICO

“There are 222 seats in the House that are better in terms of the Biden vote than New York 19,” said Sean Patrick Maloney, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.“That is the canary in the coal mine for what’s coming. And it’s not the first time, right, we saw it happen,” pointing to special elections in Minnesota and Nebraska and a referendum on abortion rights in Kansas.

Indeed, Ryan’s win is part of a string of four special elections across three states showing growing suburban enthusiasm for Democrats since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which undid the national protection of abortion rights previously granted under Roe v. Wade.

“When we really clearly stand up and fight and say what our principles are and don’t pull our punches, we inspire people, we get people motivated and energized, and we win,” Ryan said in an interview Tuesday with POLITICO.

Here’s what happened in those four districts — and what they tell us about the shifting political environment.

New York

In the closely watched 19th Congressional District, a rare special election in a true swing district, Ryan took home about 51.1 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results as of midday Wednesday. New York continues accepting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day for seven days after.

Ryan’s performance was about 1.5 percentage points ahead of Biden’s 2020 performance in the district, though several points behind former Rep. Antonio Delgado’s margin that year. That jump was driven by high Democratic turnout from voters who also showed up for primary elections for full terms in the newly redrawn 18th and 19th Districts (parts of both are included in the old 19th where the special took place.) In six of the seven counties fully inside the district boundaries, the share of Democratic voters who cast a primary ballot was higher than the share of overall registered voters who voted in the special election — suggesting Democrats turned out at higher rates than Republicans or independents.

Republicans insist they are not worried about the loss, blaming it largely on low interest among voters not aligned with a political party, who are likely to turn out at much higher rates in November. These independents — who will determine dozens of swing seats in the fall — had less incentive to participate in a special election held on the same day as New York’s closed party primaries, in which they cannot vote.

“Any Democrat celebrating holding a seat they won last cycle by double digits is in for a rough November,” said Michael McAdams, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, referencing Delgado’s 2020 margin. “We will continue to remind voters Democrats are responsible for historic price increases, surging violent crime, and a southern border that has been completely overrun by drug cartels and human smugglers.”

The unofficial results show that defeated Republican Marc Molinaro actually received a higher share of the vote than most recent Republican candidates in practically every corner of the district. But the difference was that turnout in its Democratic-friendly portions was far higher.

“People are seeing every election matters,” said state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, a Democrat from Ulster. “The decisions over the last few months have really reengaged people and worked them up to what is at stake right now. And it’s not business as usual.”

Democrats actually made greater gains compared to 2020 in Western New York’s 23rd District, where Max Della Pia brought in 46.4 percent of the special election vote, according to unofficial results. That’s more than 3 percentage points better than Biden’s performance there two years ago, but not enough to beat out Republican Joseph Sempolinski, who will fill the seat vacated by former GOP Rep. Tom Reed.

The biggest gain for Democrats by vote share was in Tompkins County, home of Ithaca, where Della Pia took home 85 percent of the vote compared to 73 percent for Joe Biden two years prior.

Minnesota

Ryan’s victory in the special election was the first actual Democratic special election victory this summer, after candidates in Nebraska and Minnesota overperformed Biden’s numbers — but came up short of wins in districts that had been held by Republicans. In southern Minnesota, Democrat Jeff Ettinger ran about 3 percentage points ahead of Biden’s 2020 margin, though that still was not enough to top Brad Finstad, a Republican who filled the seat left open by the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn.

While the self-funding Ettinger outspent Finstad, the race attracted only sparse outside spending, all in support of the Republican. That frustrated some Minnesota Democrats who thought they had a chance to flip a rare open seat in the aftermath of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, said Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

“The moment that decision came out, you started hearing from people at the doors,” Martin said.

Nebraska

In a special election in late June just days after the Dobbs ruling, Democrat Patty Pansing Brooks, a Nebraska state senator, improved nearly five points on Biden’s margin in the state’s deep-red 1st Congressional District, which Trump had won by 11 percentage points. She still came up short against now-Rep. Mike Flood.

Pansing Brooks’ biggest gains came in the populous Lancaster County, which contains the state capital of Lincoln. She won 56.6 percent of the vote there in the special election, compared to 52.7 percent for Biden two years prior.

In the closing days of the race, Pansing Brooks released a TV ad where she vowed to push back against a “Supreme Court assault on women’s rights” — despite the cautions of some her advisers. She attributes her close margin to the shocking ruling and said she wished she had more time for the news to sink in with the electorate before the special election.

“I did better than any Democrat since ‘64 in my congressional district,” she said. “I beat Biden by 5 points. I beat the predecessor who ran that was a Democrat by 13. We really felt like the momentum was there.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/24/turnout-surge-powered-democrats-n-y-special-election-win-00053651

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Is Biden’s student debt forgiveness fair? – BBC
Is Biden’s student debt forgiveness fair? – BBC

The median student loan debt is just over $17,000, according to the Federal Reserve. About 17% owe less than $10,000 in federal student loans, while on the other extreme, 7% owe more than $100,000.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62669071

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Uvalde school board votes unanimously to fire police chief Pete Arredondo – CNN
Uvalde school board votes unanimously to fire police chief Pete Arredondo – CNN

(CNN)The Uvalde school board voted unanimously Wednesday evening to immediately terminate the contract of district police chief Pete Arredondo, three months after a teenaged gunman took the lives of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/us/uvalde-school-police-pete-arredondo/index.html

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Biden announces student loan relief for borrowers making less than $125,000 – CNN
Biden announces student loan relief for borrowers making less than $125,000 – CNN

(CNN)President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced historic new steps to address student loan debt, which includes forgiving up to $20,000 for millions of borrowers and extending the payment freeze one final time until the end of the year.

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    CNN’s Kevin Liptak and MJ Lee contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/politics/student-loans-joe-biden-white-house/index.html

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    Uvalde Fires School Police Chief, Pete Arredondo, Over Shooting – The New York Times
    Uvalde Fires School Police Chief, Pete Arredondo, Over Shooting – The New York Times

    School police chiefs in Texas do not have the same kinds of contracts and due process protections from firing that educators do, according to the Texas School District Police Chiefs’ Association.

    The Texas House committee investigating the shooting found that the police response suffered from a combination of chaos and miscommunication along with “egregiously poor decision making.” Scores of officers arrived at the shooting that day, many of them standing in a hallway outside the classrooms as the gunman continued to shoot sporadically.

    Instead of immediately trying to force their way in through a door or window, Mr. Arredondo and other responding officers searched for shields, backup and keys for a classroom door that investigators later found was probably not locked, according to the report.

    Under the school district’s mass shooting protocols, the report said, the district police chief was supposed to lead the response.

    But the statement released by Mr. Arredondo’s lawyer said the former chief was being unfairly blamed for an incident that had begun well before the gunman arrived at the school, noting that he had first shot his grandmother at her home, crashed a truck into a ditch near the school, and then fired shots near a funeral home near the school. All of these incidents, the statement said, should have prompted the county sheriff or city Police Department to assume incident command.

    As the shooting unfolded, the statement said, Mr. Arredondo stood by his fellow officers on the front line, rather than retreating to an incident command post. He evacuated other students to safety but held off on breaching the classroom, it said, until his officers had the necessary breaching tools and shields to mount an operation safely.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/us/uvalde-arredondo-fired.html

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    22 reported killed in Independence Day attack in Ukraine – The Associated Press
    22 reported killed in Independence Day attack in Ukraine – The Associated Press

    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces Wednesday launched a rocket attack on a Ukrainian train station on the embattled country’s Independence Day, killing at least 15 people and wounding about 50, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after warning for days that Moscow might attempt “something particularly cruel” this week.

    The lethal attack took place in Chaplyne, a town of about 3,500 people in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian news agencies quoted Zelenskyy as telling the U.N. Security Council via video. The president’s office also reported that an 11-year-old child was killed by rocket fire in another part of the region.

    Ukraine had been bracing for especially heavy attacks around the national holiday that commemorates Ukraine’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Wednesday also marked the six-month point in the war.

    Days ahead of Independence Day, Kyiv authorities banned large gatherings in the capital through Thursday for fear of missile strikes.

    Residents of Kyiv, which has been largely spared in recent months, woke up Wednesday to air raid sirens, but no immediate strikes followed. As the day wore on, Russian bombardments were reported in the country’s east, west and center, with the most serious attack apparently at the train station.

    Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson marked the holiday with a visit to Kyiv — his third since the war broke out — and other European leaders used the occasion to pledge unwavering support for Ukraine, locked in a battle that was widely expected to be a lightning conquest by Moscow but has turned into a grinding war of attrition. U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new military aid package of nearly $3 billion to help Ukrainian forces fight for years to come.

    Over the weekend, Zelenskyy cautioned that Russia “may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel” this week. He repeated the warnings ahead of the train station attack, saying, “Russian provocations and brutal strikes are a possibility.”

    Nevertheless, a festive atmosphere prevailed during the day at Kyiv’s Maidan square as thousands of residents posed for pictures next to burned-out Russian tanks put on display. Folk singers set up, and many revelers — ignoring the sirens — were out and about in traditionally embroidered dresses and shirts.

    Others were fearful.

    “I can’t sleep at night because of what I see and hear about what is being done in Ukraine,” said a retiree who gave only her first name, Tetyana, her voice shaking with emotion. “This is not a war. It is the destruction of the Ukrainian people.”

    In a holiday message to the country, Zelenskyy exulted over Ukraine’s success in fending off Moscow’s forces since the invasion, saying: “On Feb. 24, we were told: You have no chance. On Aug. 24, we say: Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!”

    Britain’s Johnson urged Western allies to stand by Ukraine through the winter.

    “This is not the time to put forward flimsy negotiating proposals,” he said. “You can’t negotiate with a bear when it’s eating your leg or with a street robber when he has you pinned to the floor.”

    A car bombing outside Moscow that killed the 29-year-old daughter of right-wing Russian political theorist Alexander Dugin on Saturday also heightened fears that Russia might intensify attacks on Ukraine this week. Russian officials have blamed Ukraine for the death of Darya Dugina, a pro-Kremlin TV commentator. Ukraine has denied any involvement.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces have encountered unexpectedly stiff Ukrainian resistance in their invasion and abandoned their effort to storm the capital in the spring. The fighting has turned into a slog that has reduced neighborhoods to rubble and sent shock waves through the world economy.

    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, speaking Wednesday at a meeting of his counterparts from a security organization dominated by Russia and China, claimed the slow pace of Moscow’s military action was due to what he said was an effort to spare civilians.

    Russian forces have repeatedly targeted civilian areas in cities, including hospitals and a Mariupol theater where hundreds of people were taking shelter.

    But Shoigu said Russia is carrying out strikes with precision weapons against Ukrainian military targets, and “everything is done to avoid civilian casualties.”

    “Undoubtedly, it slows down the pace of the offensive, but we do it deliberately,” he said.

    On the battlefield, Russian forces struck several towns and villages in Donetsk province in the east over 24 hours, killing one person, authorities said. A building materials superstore in the city of Donetsk was hit by a shell and erupted in flames, the mayor said. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

    In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russians again shelled the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, damaging several buildings and wounding people, authorities said. Russian troops also shelled the city of Zaporizhzhia, but no casualties were reported.

    In addition, Russian rockets struck unspecified targets in the Khmelnytskyi region, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) west of Kyiv, the regional governor said. Attacks there have been infrequent.

    ___

    Varenytsia reported from Pokrovsk, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv and Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow all of AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    Source Article from https://apnews.com/3507728aeaf8ebfc68a1cdbd3aa8c30e

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    Archives asked for records in 2021 after Trump lawyer agreed they should be returned, email says – The Washington Post
    Archives asked for records in 2021 after Trump lawyer agreed they should be returned, email says – The Washington Post

    The Jan. 6 insurrection

    The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has held a series of high-profile hearings throughout the summer: Find Day 8′s highlights and analysis.

    Congressional hearings: The House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol has conducted a series of hearings to share its findings with the U.S. public. The eighth hearing focused on Trump’s inaction on Jan. 6. Here’s a guide to the biggest moments so far.

    Will there be charges? The committee could make criminal referrals of former president Donald Trump over his role in the attack, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in an interview.

    What we know about what Trump did on Jan. 6: New details emerged when Hutchinson testified before the committee and shared what she saw and heard on Jan. 6.

    The riot: On Jan. 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Five people died on that day or in the immediate aftermath, and 140 police officers were assaulted.

    Inside the siege: During the rampage, rioters came perilously close to penetrating the inner sanctums of the building while lawmakers were still there, including former vice president Mike Pence. The Washington Post examined text messages, photos and videos to create a video timeline of what happened on Jan. 6.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/24/trump-records-archives-2021/

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    Maxwell Frost, Florida Democratic primary winner, could become first Gen Z member of Congress – NBC News
    Maxwell Frost, Florida Democratic primary winner, could become first Gen Z member of Congress – NBC News
    6 views no comments
    Four family members found dead in apparent murder-suicide across three sites in Boston suburb – The Independent
    Four family members found dead in apparent murder-suicide across three sites in Boston suburb – The Independent

    Four members of a Massachusetts family died in an apparent murder-suicide across three different locations.

    Police in Lynn, 13 miles north of Boston, responded to reports of shots fired at 98 Rockaway Street shortly before 3pm on Tuesday.

    Two male victims, 34 and 66, were found dead from gunshot wounds inside the home. A third male victim was found inside a vehicle at another location nearby, local news station WCBV reported.

    The suspect, a 31-year-old woman, was found dead inside her car at a Stop & Shop parking lot. Shortly after, police confirmed all the deceased were related. Their identities have not yet been released.

    Authorities have said that a preliminary investigation indicates the suspect fatally shot her family members before turning the gun on herself.

    A neighbour told WBCV that she had heard when the shots were fired.

    “After three minutes, over 20 shots — one after another one,” the neighbour told the station. “This is when I went, literally, on the floor because it was shots.”

    The female suspect was found in the parking lot of the store at 35 Washington Street roughly two hours after the first two bodies were discovered by police, authorities told WCBV.

    The body of a third man was found inside a car parked outside 44 Laighton Street, less than a mile from the residence.

    Police have said there is no threat to the public. The identities of the victims have not been released to the public pending family notification, police said.

    It is not clear how the victims were related to each other. The Independent has reached out to Lynn Police for comment.

    If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

    If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.

    Source Article from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/massachusetts-family-murder-suicide-dead-b2151861.html

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    Biden announces new head of Secret Service – POLITICO
    Biden announces new head of Secret Service – POLITICO

    DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari seemed to push back against the increased scrutiny. POLITICO reported at the beginning of August that Cuffari wrote in a work email that “because of the U.S. Attorney General guidelines and quality standards, we cannot always publicly respond to untruths and false information about our work.” He continued: “I am so proud of the resilience I have witnessed in the face of this onslaught of meritless criticism.”

    Shortly after, the chair of Jan. 6 committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and Oversight chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) sent a letter saying they had documents that “raise troubling new concerns that your office not only failed to notify Congress for more than a year that critical evidence in this investigation was missing, but your senior staff deliberately chose not to pursue that evidence and then appear to have taken steps to cover up these failures.”

    Tackling these problems will be part of the next phase of Cheatle’s 25-year-plus career with the Secret Service. She has served numerous leadership roles within the agency, including becoming the first woman to serve in the role of assistant director of protective operations, in October 2019.

    Biden “came to trust her judgment and counsel” when she was on his security detail as vice president, he said in his statement. In 2021, Biden awarded her a Presidential Rank Award, “recognizing her among a select group of career members of the Senior Executive Service for exceptional performance over an extended period of time.”

    Cheatle is currently a senior director at PepsiCo North America, where she oversees facilities, personnel and business continuity.

    Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/24/biden-secret-service-kimberly-cheatle-00053638

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    FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Student Loan Relief for Borrowers Who Need It Most – The White House
    FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Student Loan Relief for Borrowers Who Need It Most – The White House

    A three-part plan delivers on President Biden’s promise to cancel $10,000 of student debt for low- to middle-income borrowers

    President Biden believes that a post-high school education should be a ticket to a middle-class life, but for too many, the cost of borrowing for college is a lifelong burden that deprives them of that opportunity. During the campaign, he promised to provide student debt relief. Today, the Biden Administration is following through on that promise and providing families breathing room as they prepare to start re-paying loans after the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic.

    Since 1980, the total cost of both four-year public and four-year private college has nearly tripled, even after accounting for inflation. Federal support has not kept up: Pell Grants once covered nearly 80 percent of the cost of a four-year public college degree for students from working families, but now only cover a third. That has left many students from low- and middle-income families with no choice but to borrow if they want to get a degree. According to a Department of Education analysis, the typical undergraduate student with loans now graduates with nearly $25,000 in debt. 

    The skyrocketing cumulative federal student loan debt—$1.6 trillion and rising for more than 45 million borrowers—is a significant burden on America’s middle class. Middle-class borrowers struggle with high monthly payments and ballooning balances that make it harder for them to build wealth, like buying homes, putting away money for retirement, and starting small businesses.

    For the most vulnerable borrowers, the effects of debt are even more crushing. Nearly one-third of borrowers have debt but no degree, according to an analysis by the Department of Education of a recent cohort of undergraduates. Many of these students could not complete their degree because the cost of attendance was too high. About 16% of borrowers are in default – including nearly a third of senior citizens with student debt – which can result in the government garnishing a borrower’s wages or lowering a borrower’s credit score. The student debt burden also falls disproportionately on Black borrowers. Twenty years after first enrolling in school, the typical Black borrower who started college in the 1995-96 school year still owed 95% of their original student debt.

    Today, President Biden is announcing a three-part plan to provide more breathing room to America’s working families as they continue to recover from the strains associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This plan offers targeted debt relief as part of a comprehensive effort to address the burden of growing college costs and make the student loan system more manageable for working families. The President is announcing that the Department of Education will:   

    • Provide targeted debt relief to address the financial harms of the pandemic, fulfilling the President’s campaign commitment. The Department of Education will provide up to $20,000 in debt cancellation to Pell Grant recipients with loans held by the Department of Education, and up to $10,000 in debt cancellation to non-Pell Grant recipients. Borrowers are eligible for this relief if their individual income is less than $125,000 ($250,000 for married couples). No high-income individual or high-income household – in the top 5% of incomes – will benefit from this action. To ensure a smooth transition to repayment and prevent unnecessary defaults, the pause on federal student loan repayment will be extended one final time through December 31, 2022. Borrowers should expect to resume payment in January 2023.
    • Make the student loan system more manageable for current and future borrowers by:
      • Cutting monthly payments in half for undergraduate loans. The Department of Education is proposing a new income-driven repayment plan that protects more low-income borrowers from making any payments and caps monthly payments for undergraduate loans at 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income—half of the rate that borrowers must pay now under most existing plans. This means that the average annual student loan payment will be lowered by more than $1,000 for both current and future borrowers. 
      • Fixing the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program by proposing a rule that borrowers who have worked at a nonprofit, in the military, or in federal, state, tribal, or local government, receive appropriate credit toward loan forgiveness. These improvements will build on temporary changes the Department of Education has already made to PSLF, under which more than 175,000 public servants have already had more than $10 billion in loan forgiveness approved.
    • Protect future students and taxpayers by reducing the cost of college and holding schools accountable when they hike up prices. The President championed the largest increase to Pell Grants in over a decade and one of the largest one-time influxes to colleges and universities. To further reduce the cost of college, the President will continue to fight to double the maximum Pell Grant and make community college free. Meanwhile, colleges have an obligation to keep prices reasonable and ensure borrowers get value for their investments, not debt they cannot afford. This Administration has already taken key steps to strengthen accountability, including in areas where the previous Administration weakened rules. The Department of Education is announcing new efforts to ensure student borrowers get value for their college costs.

    Provide Targeted Debt Relief, Fulfilling the President’s Campaign Commitment

    To address the financial harms of the pandemic for low- and middle-income borrowers and avoid defaults as loan repayment restarts next year, the Department of Education will provide up to $20,000 in loan relief to borrowers with loans held by the Department of Education whose individual income is less than $125,000 ($250,000 for married couples) and who received a Pell Grant. Nearly every Pell Grant recipient came from a family that made less than $60,000 a year, and Pell Grant recipients typically experience more challenges repaying their debt than other borrowers. Borrowers who meet those income standards but did not receive a Pell Grant in college can receive up to $10,000 in loan relief.

    The Pell Grant program is one of America’s most effective financial aid programs—but its value has been eroded over time. Pell Grant recipients are more than 60% of the borrower population. The Department of Education estimates that roughly 27 million borrowers will be eligible to receive up to $20,000 in relief, helping these borrowers meet their economic potential and avoid economic harm from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Current students with loans are eligible for this debt relief. Borrowers who are dependent students will be eligible for relief based on parental income, rather than their own income.

    If all borrowers claim the relief they are entitled to, these actions will:

    • Provide relief to up to 43 million borrowers, including cancelling the full remaining balance for roughly 20 million borrowers.
    • Target relief dollars to low- and middle-income borrowers. The Department of Education estimates that, among borrowers who are no longer in school, nearly 90% of relief dollars will go to those earning less than $75,000 a year. No individual making more than $125,000 or household making more than $250,000 – the top 5% of incomes in the United States – will receive relief.
    • Help borrowers of all ages. The Department of Education estimates that, among borrowers who are eligible for relief, 21% are 25 years and under and 44% are ages 26-39. More than a third are borrowers age 40 and up, including 5% of borrowers who are senior citizens.
    • Advance racial equity. By targeting relief to borrowers with the highest economic need, the Administration’s actions are likely to help narrow the racial wealth gap. Black students are more likely to have to borrow for school and more likely to take out larger loans. Black borrowers are twice as likely to have received Pell Grants compared to their white peers. Other borrowers of color are also more likely than their peers to receive Pell Grants. That is why an Urban Institute study found that debt forgiveness programs targeting those who received Pell Grants while in college will advance racial equity.

    The Department of Education will work quickly and efficiently to set up a simple application process for borrowers to claim relief. The application will be available no later than when the pause on federal student loan repayments terminates at the end of the year. Nearly 8 million borrowers may be eligible to receive relief automatically because their relevant income data is already available to the Department.  

    Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, this debt relief will not be treated as taxable income for the federal income tax purposes.

    To help ensure a smooth transition back to repayment, the Department of Education is extending the student loan pause a final time through December 31, 2022. No one with federally-held loans has had to pay a single dollar in loan payments since President Biden took office.

    Make the Student Loan System More Manageable for Current and Future Borrowers

    Fixing Existing Loan Repayment to Lower Monthly Payments

    The Administration is reforming student loan repayment plans so both current and future low- and middle-income borrowers will have smaller and more manageable monthly payments.

    The Department of Education has the authority to create income-driven repayment plans, which cap what borrowers pay each month based on a percentage of their discretionary income. Most of these plans cancel a borrower’s remaining debt once they make 20 years of monthly payments. But the existing versions of these plans are too complex and too limited. As a result, millions of borrowers who might benefit from them do not sign up, and the millions who do sign up are still often left with unmanageable monthly payments.

    To address these concerns and follow through on Congress’ original vision for income-driven repayment, the Department of Education is proposing a rule to do the following:

    • For undergraduate loans, cut in half the amount that borrowers have to pay each month from 10% to 5% of discretionary income.
    • Raise the amount of income that is considered non-discretionary income and therefore is protected from repayment, guaranteeing that no borrower earning under 225% of the federal poverty level—about the annual equivalent of a $15 minimum wage for a single borrower—will have to make a monthly payment.
    • Forgive loan balances after 10 years of payments, instead of 20 years, for borrowers with original loan balances of $12,000 or less. The Department of Education estimates that this reform will allow nearly all community college borrowers to be debt-free within 10 years.
    • Cover the borrower’s unpaid monthly interest, so that unlike other existing income-driven repayment plans, no borrower’s loan balance will grow as long as they make their monthly payments—even when that monthly payment is $0 because their income is low.

    These reforms would simplify loan repayment and deliver significant savings to low- and middle-income borrowers. For example:

    • A typical single construction worker (making $38,000 a year) with a construction management credential would pay only $31 a month, compared to the $147 they pay now under the most recent income-driven repayment plan, for annual savings of nearly $1,400.
    • A typical single public school teacher with an undergraduate degree (making $44,000 a year) would pay only $56 a month on their loans, compared to the $197 they pay now under the most recent income-driven repayment plan, for annual savings of nearly $1,700.
    • A typical nurse (making $77,000 a year) who is married with two kids would pay only $61 a month on their undergraduate loans, compared to the $295 they pay now under the most recent income-driven repayment plan, for annual savings of more than $2,800.

    For each of these borrowers, their balances would not grow as long as they are making their monthly payments, and their remaining debt would be forgiven after they make the required number of qualifying payments.

    Further, the Department of Education will make it easier for borrowers who enroll in this new plan to stay enrolled. Starting in the summer of 2023, borrowers will be able to allow the Department of Education to automatically pull their income information year after year, avoiding the hassle of needing to recertify their income annually.

    Ensuring Public Servants Receive Credit Toward Loan Forgiveness

    Borrowers working in public service are entitled to earn credit toward debt relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. But because of complex eligibility restrictions, historic implementation failures, and poor counseling given to borrowers, many borrowers have not received the credit they deserve for their public service.

    The Department of Education has announced time-limited changes to PSLF that provide an easier path to forgiveness of all outstanding debt for eligible federal student loan borrowers who have served at a non-profit, in the military, or in federal, state, Tribal, or local government for at least 10 years, including non-consecutively. Those who have served less than 10 years may now more easily get credit for their service to date toward eventual forgiveness. These changes allow eligible borrowers to gain additional credit toward forgiveness, even if they had been told previously that they had the wrong loan type.

    The Department of Education also has proposed regulatory changes to ensure more effective implementation of the PSLF program moving forward. Specifically, the Department of Education has proposed allowing more payments to qualify for PSLF including partial, lump sum, and late payments, and allowing certain kinds of deferments and forbearances, such as those for Peace Corps and AmeriCorps service, National Guard duty, and military service, to count toward PSLF. The Department of Education also proposed to ensure the rules work better for non-tenured instructors whose colleges need to calculate their full-time employment.

    To ensure borrowers are aware of the temporary changes, the White House has launched four PSLF Days of Action dedicated to borrowers in specific sectors: government employees, educators, healthcare workers and first responders, and non-profit employees. You can find out other information about the temporary changes on PSLF.gov. You must apply to PSLF before the temporary changes end on October 31, 2022.

    Protecting Borrowers and Taxpayers from Steep Increases in College Costs

    While providing this relief to low- and middle-income borrowers, the President is focused on keeping college costs under control. Under this Administration, students have had more money in their pockets to pay for college. The President signed the largest increase to the maximum Pell Grant in over a decade and provided nearly $40 billion to colleges and universities through the American Rescue Plan, much of which was used for emergency student financial aid, allowing students to breathe a little easier.

    Additionally, the Department of Education has already taken significant steps to strengthen accountability, so that students are not left with mountains of debt with little payoff. The agency has re-established the enforcement unit in the Office of Federal Student Aid and it is holding accreditors’ feet to the fire. In fact, the Department just withdrew authorization for the accreditor that oversaw schools responsible for some of the worst for-profit scandals. The agency will also propose a rule to hold career programs accountable for leaving their graduates with mountains of debt they cannot repay, a rule the previous Administration repealed.

    Building off of these efforts, the Department of Education is announcing new actions to hold accountable colleges that have contributed to the student debt crisis. These include publishing an annual watch list of the programs with the worst debt levels in the country, so that students registering for the next academic year can steer clear of programs with poor outcomes. They also include requesting institutional improvement plans from the worst actors that outline how the colleges with the most concerning debt outcomes intend to bring down debt levels.
     

    *** 

    More information on claiming relief will be available to borrowers in the coming weeks.

    Borrowers can sign up to be notified when this information is available at StudentAid.gov/debtrelief.

    ###

    Source Article from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/24/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-student-loan-relief-for-borrowers-who-need-it-most/

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    Democrats hold onto key House seat in N.Y. special election as Pat Ryan wins – Axios
    Democrats hold onto key House seat in N.Y. special election as Pat Ryan wins – Axios

    Democrat Pat Ryan on Tuesday won the special election for the U.S. House seat in New York’s 19th district after it was vacated by Democrat Antonio Delgado, according to the AP.

    Why it matters: The result is an upset for Republicans, who were seen as slight favorites to flip the seat. It’s also validation of Democrats’ strategy of hammering the issue of abortion in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned.

    • The race was seen as a key test for the two parties’ messaging strategies, with Ryan focused on abortion and Republican Marc Molinaro hammering on inflation and crime, as Axios previously reported.

    The context: The Hudson Valley-based 19th district has been a critical building block in Democrats’ recent majorities. Delgado, who stepped down in May to serve as New York lieutenant governor, won it by 11 points in 2020, while Biden won it by 2 points.

    • Both national parties invested in the race, hoping a win there would provide a burst of enthusiasm heading into November.
    • Ryan cast the race as a referendum on abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe vs. Wade, while Molinaro stuck to GOP talking points on inflation and crime.
    • Ryan and Molinaro, both electorally proven county executives with cross-party appeal, were roughly evenly matched in terms of fundraising.

    The context: Ryan, an Iraq veteran and former business owner, previously ran for the seat in 2018, narrowly losing to Delgado in the primary.

    • The following year he won election as executive of Ulster County – the district’s population center – in a landslide.

    What we’re watching: Ryan shied away from the progressive label in an interview with Axios last month, noting he “increased funding to … law enforcement” as county executive.

    • “I characterize myself as someone who’s trying to level some of the foundational inequities we’ve allowed to be built in our country,” he said. “Whatever label we want to apply to that, I think it’s more about actually delivering on those results.”
    • Still, he also positioned himself as a staunch advocate for major judicial and political reforms, indicating openness to expanding the Supreme Court and nuking the filibuster.
    • In addition to abortion, he made gun control and voting rights key issues of his campaign.

    What they’re saying: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) said Ryan’s win “sends a clear message that voters are fighting back against Republicans’ extreme attacks on abortion rights and their fundamental freedoms.”

    The other side: Michael McAdams, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Axios: “Majorities are won in November not August. We look forward to prosecuting the case against Democrats’ failed one party rule that’s left American families worse off.”

    • Molinaro did not concede the election in a speech Tuesday night, telling supporters, “spend the night with us as we wait for every vote to come in […] we’re going to make sure every voice is heard and every vote is counted.”
    • “We are not going anywhere,” he said. “Whether it’s tonight or it’s Nov. 8, we are going to win the 19th congressional district.”

    What’s next: Molinaro’s run in November will not be against Ryan, who is the nominee in a neighboring district being vacated by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.).

    • Ryan is set to face Republican state Assemblyman Colin Schmitt, while Molinaro will go up against Democratic attorney Josh Riley.

    Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comment from the NRCC.

    Source Article from https://www.axios.com/2022/08/24/pat-ryan-new-york-special-election

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    Ukrainians celebrate Independence Day with a wary eye on Russia – CNN
    Ukrainians celebrate Independence Day with a wary eye on Russia – CNN

    By Tara John and Yulia Kesaieva, CNN

    Updated 4:45 PM ET, Wed August 24, 2022

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/europe/ukraine-independence-day-kyiv-display-intl/index.html

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    Who is Maxwell Frost, the Gen Z Democratic nominee in Florida? – The Washington Post
    Who is Maxwell Frost, the Gen Z Democratic nominee in Florida? – The Washington Post

    Understanding the 2022 Midterm Elections

    November’s midterm elections are likely to shift the political landscape and impact what President Biden can accomplish during the remainder of his first term. Here’s what to know.

    When are the midterm elections? The general election is Nov. 8, but the primary season is nearing completion, with voters selecting candidates in the New York and Florida primaries Tuesday. Here’s a complete calendar of all the primaries in 2022.

    Why are the midterms important? The midterm elections determine control of Congress: The party that has the House or Senate majority gets to organize the chamber and decide what legislation Congress considers. Thirty six governors and thousands of state legislators are also on the ballot. Here’s a complete guide to the midterms.

    Which seats are up for election? Every seat in the House and a third of the seats in the 100-member Senate are up for election. Dozens of House members have already announced they will be retiring from Congress instead of seeking reelection.

    What is redistricting? Redistricting is the process of drawing congressional and state legislative maps to ensure everyone’s vote counts equally. As of April 25, 46 of the 50 states had settled on the boundaries for 395 of 435 U.S. House districts.

    Which primaries are the most competitive? Here are the most interesting Democratic primaries and Republican primaries to watch as Republicans and Democrats try to nominate their most electable candidates.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/24/florida-elections-genz-maxwell-frost/

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    Justice Department releases Mueller-era memo on Trump prosecution – POLITICO
    Justice Department releases Mueller-era memo on Trump prosecution – POLITICO

    The Justice Department fought release of the memo for years, arguing that it was part of a deliberative process advising Barr on what to do in response to Mueller’s report. However, judges concluded that at the time the memo was written, Barr had already decided not to charge Trump, so the issues hashed out in the memo were theoretical and not linked to any pending decision.

    Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group, filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act three years ago in an effort to make the memo public.

    The Justice Department lost the first round in the access case in front of a District Court judge, who ruled that the agency’s claims that the memo was part of some kind of charging decision was “disingenuous” because that decision had already been made.

    On appeal, department lawyers changed course and argued that the memo helped shape the public statements Barr would give to explain why he concluded the evidence was insufficient to support a criminal charge — even if Trump were not president.

    However, a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled last week that argument about the memo being part of deliberations around a communications effort was surfaced too belatedly to be considered.

    The Justice Department had the option to ask the full bench of the D.C. Circuit to rehear the case or to seek review at the Supreme Court, but officials indicated Wednesday that they’d decided to pass up those options.

    In the memo that triggered the disclosure fight, Engel and O’Callaghan concluded that Trump’s conduct primarily reflected a frustration with the Mueller probe and what he perceived to be the politics behind it, as well as news reports they said Trump genuinely believed were flawed. They also suggested that Trump’s exhortations to some of his top allies against “flipping” were meant to prevent them from delivering false testimony — not to conceal the truth.

    The officials repeatedly underscored that Mueller had not found sufficient evidence to charge any underlying crime, which they said weighed against the possibility that Trump had violated the obstruction statutes.

    “In the absence of an underlying offense, the most compelling inference in evaluating the President’s conduct is that he reasonably believed that the Special Counsel’s investigation was interfering with his governing agenda,” Engel and O’Callaghan wrote.

    Engel would later become a key point of resistance to Trump’s effort to use the Justice Department to help subvert the 2020 election. Engel was one of three Trump-era Justice Department witnesses to testify at a public hearing of the Jan. 6 select committee and discussed his threat to resign, along with other top department officials, if Trump had gone through with a plan to replace the department’s leadership with figures who would support his attempts to stay in power.

    An Office of Legal Counsel opinion issued in 1973 — and reaffirmed in 2000 — concluded that federal criminal charges were impermissible while a president is in office.

    However, some legal advocates have urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to revisit Barr’s decision not to charge Trump. They note that the Justice Department has generally taken the view that former presidents could be subject to prosecution for acts committed while in office, although it has never happened.

    Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/24/justice-department-mueller-memo-trump-prosecution-00053612

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    Daria Dugina’s assassination could spell trouble for Putin’s allies in Russia – NPR
    Daria Dugina’s assassination could spell trouble for Putin’s allies in Russia – NPR

    Alexander Dugin attends a farewell ceremony of his daughter Daria Dugina, who was killed in a car bomb explosion in Moscow on August 23.

    Dmitry Serebryakov/AP


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    Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

    Alexander Dugin attends a farewell ceremony of his daughter Daria Dugina, who was killed in a car bomb explosion in Moscow on August 23.

    Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

    Earlier this week in Russia, there was a televised funeral for Daria Dugina, just days after she was killed in a car bombing in Moscow.

    Dugina was a Russian propagandist who supported her country’s invasion of Ukraine, both on TV and online. Her death made global headlines, both for its violence and because of the political prominence of her father, Alexander Dugin.

    It also signaled that Moscow’s elite may not be safe in their own city, said Marlene Laruelle, the director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University.

    “The war is progressively coming to them in the Russian territory,” she said.

    “The message the killing is sending, even if we cannot interpret exactly who did that and who the actual target was, is that if you can have a terrorist act in Moscow, in the middle of the war, it means elites are suddenly not feeling secure anymore.”

    Laruelle joined All Things Considered to discuss Alexander Dugin’s rise and waning influence, how he spread his ideology across the world, and what Daria Dugina’s death may mean politically.

    This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

    Interview Highlights

    On Alexander Dugin’s origins

    He was pretty famous in the ’90s because he was one of the first ones in Russia to formulate a kind of political language of Russia’s great power and empire. But in the 2000s, he really lost some of his prominence, and there are many other ideologies who appeared who are much more influential on the regime’s kind of strategy. He has been pretty marginalized inside Russia. He’s more famous abroad than in Russia itself.

    Alexander Dugin rose to prominence in the 1990s.

    Francesca Ebel/AP


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    Francesca Ebel/AP

    Alexander Dugin rose to prominence in the 1990s.

    Francesca Ebel/AP

    On his beliefs towards Ukraine

    He has had very anti-Ukrainian ideology since the beginning, which is some of his most famous work in the mid-90s. He was saying that Ukraine doesn’t exist as a state, as a nation, that it’s a construction of the West as a kind of anti-Russian strategy.

    And that’s something that was not so common at that time. But after that, he really has been working on many other countries, creating a big geopolitical vision for Russia as an empire, and he has always been very anti-Ukrainian, to the point that Ukraine has forbidden him from entering Ukrainian territory already for about 15 years. In the mid-2000s he was already persona non grata in Ukraine.

    On whether there is any knowledge of Dugin’s influence on Vladmir Putin

    No, we’re not even sure they have met. Putin has never quoted Dugin, Dugin is not part of any official institution, like several other ideologies. He’s only on the small internet channel, the far right, orthodox channel. So he’s not among the classic propagandists that are actually invited on talk shows.

    His daughter was, and that’s what is interesting. His daughter was more mainstream in a sense, and she was able to be invited to all of these provocative talk shows. He has been pretty marginal, because his thinking is not an easy one to follow. It’s super philosophical, and religious, so it’s not something you can air on television very easily and get a big audience for.

    Investigators work on the site of explosion of a car driven by Daria Dugina outside Moscow.

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    Investigators work on the site of explosion of a car driven by Daria Dugina outside Moscow.

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    On Dugin’s popularity among international far-right communities

    He’s really a big name in contemporary far-right thinking. First, because he has been speaking a lot of foreign languages, so he was able to read all of the European far-right productions, to translate in Russia, and also to translate his own work in English, French, German, Italian, Arabic, and Iranian.

    So he has really been able to develop networks of international, transnational, far-right people, up to Latin America. He was able to articulate a narrative of this new empire of conservative values against the so-called decadent West and liberal culture and so on. It’s really a narrative that has resonated with a lot of European interests among the far right groups.

    On what Daria Dugin’s death may mean politically

    I think her death will be used by the conservative reactionary groups to kind of create a martyr out of her. She was a young, good looking woman, so that will help to create the myth of her martyrdom. I think her death will be used globally, not only by the conservative circles but also by the regime, for some kind of domestic repression. The regime will have to showcase that it can answer to a terrorist act, and that will probably mean higher repression.

    This story was adapted for the web by Manuela Lopez Restrepo.

    Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2022/08/24/1119039271/russia-ukraine-putin-daria-dugina-alexander-dugin-car-bombing

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    Nancy Pelosi’s husband pleads guilty to DUI charge, sentenced to 5 days in jail – NBC News
    Nancy Pelosi’s husband pleads guilty to DUI charge, sentenced to 5 days in jail – NBC News
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    Biden to Cancel $10,000 in Student Loan Debt for Borrowers Earning Less Than $125,000 – The New York Times
    Biden to Cancel $10,000 in Student Loan Debt for Borrowers Earning Less Than $125,000 – The New York Times

    Mr. Biden’s economic advisers, however, made the case that by resuming loan payments and pairing the loan forgiveness with income caps, the cancellation would have a negligible effect on rising consumer prices. The president’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, also advised him that providing relief could galvanize young voters who are increasingly frustrated with him.

    Senate Democrats continued to make direct appeals to the White House in the days leading up the decision. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the majority leader, as well as Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, met with Mr. Klain and Brian Deese, one of Mr. Biden’s top economic advisers, to lobby the White House on student loan forgiveness.

    Mr. Schumer spoke with Mr. Biden on Tuesday night to ask him to cancel as much debt as possible, according to a Democrat familiar with the conversation.

    Legal challenges are expected, although who would have the standing to press their case in court is unclear. A recent Virginia Law Review article argued that the answer might be no one: States, for example, have little say in the operation of a federal loan system.

    Mary-Pat Hector, a graduate student at Georgia State University and an activist who has pushed for loan forgiveness, said Mr. Biden’s move was an important first step to support those disappointed by the administration’s failure to accomplish other policy goals, such as providing two free years of community college.

    “They were told: Vote because your life depends on it,” said Ms. Hector, 23, who has $50,000 in loans from Spelman College. “And then we’re here on the ground, months away from midterm elections, and people in these communities are wondering, ‘Well, does my vote really matter?’”

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/us/politics/student-loan-forgiveness-biden.html

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    Primary in N.Y. House district covering lower Manhattan and Brooklyn too close to call – NBC News
    Primary in N.Y. House district covering lower Manhattan and Brooklyn too close to call – NBC News
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    Ukraine says Russian ‘shackles’ worse than missiles 6 months after invasion – Reuters
    Ukraine says Russian ‘shackles’ worse than missiles 6 months after invasion – Reuters

    KYIV, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Ukraine was “reborn” when Russia invaded six months ago, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday, marking 31 years of Ukrainian independence from the Moscow-dominated Soviet Union with a vow to drive Russian forces out completely.

    After days of warnings that Moscow could use the anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence Day to launch more missile attacks on major urban centres, the second-biggest city Kharkiv was under curfew, following months of frequent bombardment.

    The anniversary fell exactly six months after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. Wednesday’s celebrations were cancelled but many people marked the day by wearing embroidered shirts that are part of the national dress.

    In an emotional speech to his compatriots, Zelenskiy said Russia’s attack had revived the nation’s spirit.

    “A new nation appeared in the world on Feb. 24 at 4 in the morning. It was not born, but reborn. A nation that did not cry, scream or take fright. One that did not flee. Did not give up. And did not forget,” he said.

    The 44-year-old leader, speaking in front of Kyiv’s central monument to independence in his trademark combat fatigues, vowed to recapture Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine as well as the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

    “We will not sit down at the negotiating table out of fear, with a gun pointed at our heads. For us, the most terrible iron is not missiles, aircraft and tanks, but shackles. Not trenches, but fetters,” he said.

    He and his wife later joined religious leaders for a service in Kyiv’s St. Sophia cathedral and laid flowers at a memorial to fallen soldiers.

    In its evening update, Ukraine’s army high command said Russian air and missile strikes on military and civilian targets alike continued through Wednesday. “Today was rich with air raid sirens,” the General Staff said in a note.

    Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian drone in the Vinnytsia region while multiple Russian missiles landed in the Khmelnytskyi area, regional authorities said – both west of Kyiv and hundreds of kilometres from front lines.

    No further details were provided and Reuters could not verify the reports.

    On Tuesday evening, Zelenskiy warned of the possibility of “repugnant Russian provocations” and on Wednesday, Ukraine’s military urged people to take air raid warnings seriously.

    Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of defence ministers in Uzbekistan that Moscow had deliberately slowed down what it refers to as its “special military operation” in Ukraine to avoid civilian casualties. read more

    INCREASING WESTERN SUPPORT

    U.S. President Joe Biden announced nearly $3 billion for weapons and equipment for Ukraine in Washington’s “biggest tranche of security assistance to date”.

    On a surprise visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also promised a further $63.5 million worth of military support, including 2,000 drones and loitering munitions to enable the Ukrainian military to better track and target invading Russian forces. read more

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    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his wife Olena lay flowers at the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, during marking the Independence Day in Kyiv, Ukraine August 24, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

    NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told Ukrainians they were an inspiration to the world. “You can count on NATO’s support. For as long as it takes,” he said in a video message.

    Russia has made few advances in Ukraine in recent months after its troops were pushed back from Kyiv in the early weeks of the war.

    Ukraine’s top military intelligence official, Kyrylo Budanov, said Russia’s offensive was slowing because of moral and physical fatigue in its ranks and Moscow’s “exhausted” resource base. read more

    On the eastern front lines of Ukrainian resistance and in shattered cities, some with deserted streets under curfew, combatants and civilians marked Ukraine’s independence day with steadfast words and the promise of victory. read more

    “Our nation has become more conscious and, thus, stronger, to finally give a devastating response and forever punish the (Russian) criminals,” said Mkyta Nadtochii, commander of the Azov Regiment, which in May lost the port city of Mariupol only after months of fending off a devastating Russian siege.

    NEW ATTACKS

    Russian forces have seized areas of the south including on the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts and large tracts of the eastern Donbas region comprising the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.

    U.S. officials have warned of likely new Russian attacks on civilian and government infrastructure in coming days.

    The war has killed thousands of civilians, forced more than a third of Ukraine’s 41 million people from their homes, left cities in ruins, and shaken the global economy, creating shortages of essential food grains and pushing up energy prices.

    Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991, and its population voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum that December.

    In southern Ukraine, both sides have accused the other of firing missiles and artillery at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

    The U.N. nuclear watchdog said it hoped to gain access soon. while Russia said it had arrested two Ukrainian employees of the plant for passing information to Ukrainian authorities. read more

    Advanced U.S. missile systems appear to have helped Ukraine strike deep behind the front lines in recent months, taking out ammunition dumps and command posts.

    In the latest mysterious fire at a Russian military facility, Russian officials said ammunition stored in the south near the border with Ukraine spontaneously combusted on Tuesday.

    Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod region, blamed hot weather for the fire, drawing ridicule from Ukraine’s defence ministry on Twitter.

    “The five main causes of sudden explosions in Russia are: winter, spring, summer, autumn and smoking,” it said.

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-girds-more-violence-independence-day-wars-six-month-mark-2022-08-23/

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