1/ Putin’s decision to invade is an evil, panicked move of weakness and will be his defining mistake. The Ukrainian people will fight for as long as it takes to secure their nation from this foreign tyrant, and the United States will stand with them in this fight.
2/ Tonight, the entire Post World War international order sits on a knife edge. If Putin does not pay a devastating price for this transgression, then our own security will soon be at risk.
3/ We must be unceasingly in our assistance to the Ukrainian people. We must levy crippling sanctions on Russia. And we must cut off Putin and his cronies from the global economy. A strong, swift response is vital.
4/ And we must remember that Putin has plans for us too. He and his agents will use this crisis to try to divide Americans from each other and to separate America from our allies. In this, we must remain vigilant and united. This is not a moment for politics to trump security.
5/ My thoughts tonight are with the brave Ukrainians who are fighting for their lives right now. As a frequent visitor, I have seen firsthand the love of country that defines Ukraine today, and I will do all I can to make sure America stands by them in this fight.
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1/ It's maddening watching Putin hold these cards. It feels like he's in charge, holding us all hostage.
But not really - he is operating from a position of severe weakness. Having failed to coax Ukraine back into his orbit, a potentially disastrous invasion is his last resort.
2/ Remember how we got here. Ukraine used to be a Soviet republic, and then for most of its post-Soviet independence, its leaders operated in close association with Kremlin.
Then, in 2013 something happened.
3/ The Ukrainian people realized that a political and economic dependence on Russia was a road to nowhere. So they rose up, and demanded to become part of the EU.
Putin and his stooges in Ukraine panicked, and they gunned down the protestors.
1/ This morning Senator Blumenthal and I went to view conditions at Danbury Federal Prison, where there has been a massive COVID outbreak.
We were denied access to the women’s facility and had to fight to get into a men’s unit.
This is unacceptable.
2/ My impression is the decision to limit our access came from well above the warden. She is managing the best she can.
DOJ and the Bureau of Prisons needs to fix this and assure that policymakers can view conditions, especially during crisis moments like this.
3/ From what we gathered, around 40% of inmates are in either isolation or quarantine. Plus, the facility is badly understaffed. This poses a major risk to both inmates and staff and it must be addressed.
1/ This week, the Senate will vote on @SenTedCruz's Nordstream pipeline bill, which would divide the U.S. from Europe right in the middle of the Ukraine/Russia crisis.
It's consistent with the GOP approach to foreign policy under Biden. They root for failure to hurt Biden.
2/ The new German government has taken a new position on the pipeline. They have stopped it indefinitely, so why on earth would we pass a stale bill that applies sanctions on Germany for a policy they no longer hold? Makes no sense.
3/ The impact of the Cruz bill would be to divide the U.S. from Germany right at the moment we need Germany to be leading the readying of U.S./Europe sanctions on Russia that will deter them from invading Ukraine.
1/ Like he did in Belarus, Putin is once again trying to ride to the rescue of a faltering kleptocrat, this time in Kazakhstan. Putin is extending himself unsustainably thin, and it's a matter of time before he pays a price. nytimes.com/2022/01/06/wor…
2/ Foreign militaries should leave the country immediately, and Kazakh authorities must end these unconscionable attacks on protesters. Kazakh citizens deserve a responsive government that doesn't murder and steal from its own people.
3/ Putin's attempts to rebuild the Soviet empire through troop deployments to Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan will backfire. Just as the Soviet Union eventually collapsed of its own weight and corruption, so will Putin's ambitions. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
I feel so lucky to have served under Harry Reid, and so sad he's gone.
You'll hear a ton of great Harry Reid stories in the next few days, but here's my favorite - my phone call with him in June 2016 to tell him I was about to launch a filibuster on guns. washingtonpost.com/local/obituari…
2/ First, you've got to understand that Harry and the NRA started out as allies. His NRA endorsement was an important calling card for him for a long time.
But as the NRA got more extreme, Harry simply couldn't stomach it. He couldn't stay silent.
3/ Harry was old school. His convictions mattered more than his politics. If something was right, he was ready to risk everything.
So after Sandy Hook - he took a big risk. He broke w the NRA and backed a background checks bill the NRA hated. He put it on the floor for a vote.
2/ This Tuesday marks 26 years since the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia signed the Dayton Accords, ending years of ethnic warfare after the collapse of Yugoslavia.
3/ The fighting killed a quarter million people. Another 2M had to flee their homes. Thousands were massacred and raped in episodes of ethnic cleansing.
This all happened just a short 30 years ago. Many of the perpetrators and victims are still alive. bbc.com/news/world-eur…