“The document for the first time provides official confirmation and codification of what many in the Moscow elite say has become a hybrid war against the West. Russia is seeking to subvert Western support for Ukraine and disrupt the domestic politics of the United States and European countries, through propaganda campaigns supporting isolationist and extremist policies, according to Kremlin documents previously reported on by The Post. It is also seeking to refashion geopolitics, drawing closer to China, Iran and North Korea in an attempt to shift the current balance of power.”
gift link wapo.st/3vMlQ39 “The academic, Vladimir Zharikhin, called for Russia to ‘continue to facilitate the coming to power of isolationist right-wing forces in America,’” …

🧵British Foreign Secretary Cameron, with Blinken: Perhaps nothing is more important than the supplemental that the Congress is looking at at the moment. & I come here with no intention to lecture anybody, or tell anybody what to do, or get in the way of the process of politics and other things in the United States. I just come here as a great friend and believer in this country, and a believer that it's profoundly in your interest and your security. ..And I'm looking forward to meetings I'm going to be having in Congress later today. And above all, we know it’s right for us. We know that it is right to stop Putin's aggression. We know it's right for our own militaries and our own production bases to ramp up production, not just for Ukraine, but for our own stocks. And as Tony said, so many of the jobs created will be jobs created here in the United States.

🧵Went back and reread Turkish section of WaPo Grenell piece a few times, because something puzzling me. It seems to suggest, without saying explicitly, that Grenell was being paid by someone to try to broker the Erdogan Trump meeting, which Trump ultimately declined. Implication is-by someone on the Turkey side? note the graf on his increasingly pro Erdogan statements. but he has not registered. washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/…

some insights in Haaretz from Israeli security sources on the Doha negotiations.
Israel PM said today sending Mossad director back to Doha in coming dayshaaretz.com/israel-news/20… “According to the IDF, a total of 134 hostages and bodies are being held in Gaza. 36 of the people were confirmed by the army as killed – some on Oct. 7, when their bodies were taken into the Strip. Of the 98 living hostages, 10 are foreigners (8 Thais, 1 Nepalese, 1 mex/French

🧵Schumer: Palestinian civilians do not deserve to suffer for the sins of Hamas, and Israel has a moral obligation to do better. The United States has an obligation to do better. I believe the United States must…pressure the Israelis to let more of it get through Schumer criticizes Israel for causing so much civilian suffering but continues: Israel is by no means the only one responsible for the immense civilian toll.

🧵Jake Sullivan: Today, on behalf of President Biden, I'm announcing an emergency package of security assistance of $300 million worth of weapons and equipment to address some of Ukraine's pressing needs. This is possible because of unanticipated cost savings in contracts that DOD negotiated to replace equipment we've already sent to Ukraine through previous drawdowns.

CIA chief Bill Burns says just came back from 10th trip to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 full invasion. Without supplemental assistance in 2024, you’re going to see more Adiivkas. And that, it seems to me, would be a massive and historic mistake for the United States. Burns: The truth is that the Ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity. They’re running out of ammunition. And we’re running out of time to help them.

🧵State spox on Gaza aid: We have seen some modest improvements in the humanitarian situation and the distribution of aid.
Over the past few days, we've seen trucks able to move around the southern part of Gaza with more freedom than they were able to do say a week or 10 days ago Miller: We've seen additional trucks move to the north of Gaza from the south.
We saw for the first time flour released from Ashdod and make its way into Gaza—something we've been supported for some time. And we saw the Government of Israel agreed to open additional crossings.

“No,” John Kirby says, to question if POTUS plans to meet with Benny Gantz. Kirby responded obliquely to subsequent question, why not:

Mr. Gantz asked to come to Washington and asked for a series of meetings with administration officials and he's getting those. He met with Jake Sullivan yesterday. He met with the Vice President yesterday.

🧵Blinken with Qatar PM: “We have an opportunity for an immediate ceasefire that can bring hostages home, that can dramatically increase the amount of humanitarian aid getting in to Palestinians who so desperately need it, & can set the conditions for an enduring resolution. “And it is on Hamas to make decisions about whether it is prepared to engage in that ceasefire. … It is also urgent, irrespective of a ceasefire, to dramatically increase the humanitarian assistance getting into people inside of Gaza. The situation for children, for women,

🧵US Senior Administration Officials held backgrounder on Gaza situation. One described a situation of increasing lawlessness in Gaza, and said the solution is to flood Gaza with aid, to deincentivize criminal gangs from looting it. SAO 2 said the problem has not been getting 250, 300 trucks physically into Gaza, but distributing it:

Lawlessness, which has always been a problem in the background, has now moved to a very different level.

🧵Masha Gessen to @WNYC: Putin obsessively talked about Poland in his interview with Carlson. He mentioned Poland more than 30 times. He blamed Poland for starting WWII, for…inciting Hitler’s aggression against Poland, using the exact same words as he uses when he talks about how Ukraine incited Russia’s war against Ukraine. So, yes, I think he is putting things in place propagandistically for an invasion of Poland. Poland which not coincidentally has just unseated an authoritarian government and is rebuilding its democracy. It is very much in the

🧵U.S. Senior Admin official, speaking after POTUS/Netanyahu call, on Rafah: As of right now, you have 1.3 million people in Rafah and they have nowhere to go. SAO: But I will say we have heard from Israeli leaders and security officials that there's a clear precondition for anything in Rafah that the population would have..to be moved safely and…again, how that's done, everything else that is a huge question.

🧵 “In a closed-door briefing last week, U.S. intelligence officials told lawmakers that while Israel had degraded Hamas’s military capabilities, it is not close to exterminating the group more than 100 days into its campaign, said officials familiar with the briefing… “U.S. leaders are skeptical of Netanyahu’s claim that he has destroyed two-thirds of Hamas’s fighting regiments, & they warn that the high levels of civilian casualties are ensuring that a radicalized population will live adjacent to Israel for decades to come.”

🧵German Chancellor Scholz, speaking to German press after meeting POTUS, via WH pooler: “The President is very clear, & we agree: if we fail to get a decision in the US Congress that releases funds for further support to Ukraine, then this is a threat to Ukraine's ability to do “so to defend country. That is why we are both firmly convinced that this must happen now, but also confident that the American Congress will ultimately make such a decision.”
 
“That is also the right message to the Russian president that his hope is in vain, that he simply has

🧵Sen. Chris Van Hollen praises new national security memorandum issued by the President, saying it models provisions in an amendment he offered with 18 colleagues. It does 3 things, he says: It said that we should make sure that US security assistance is aligned with our values and it specifically said that we are finding a way to ensure that recipients of US military assistance will comply with international humanitarian law and with international law as applicable.

Biden says Trump has been calling Republican members of the House and Senate the last 24 hours and threatening them and trying to intimidate them to vote against proposal. It looks like they’re caving. says bill would provide 1,500 border agents & officers to secure border, cutting edge machines to detect and stop fentanyl, +100 immigration judges to reduce asylum backlog, 4,000 more asylum officers to process claims in six months, and

NSC’s John Kirby on targets: 3 facilities in Iraq, 4 in Syria.
were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties and based onnclear irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on US personnel. Gen. Sims: strikes at 7 different facilities. within each facility, number of targets, all told, 85. 4 facilities were in Syria, 3 in Iraq. Used mutiple US aircraft, from Centcom as well as B-1s that flew from the United States.

🧵CIA chief Bill Burns: “The key to success lies in preserving Western aid for Ukraine. At less than 5% of the U.S. defense budget, it is a relatively modest investment with significant geopolitical returns for the United States and notable returns for American industry. “Keeping the arms flowing will put Ukraine in a stronger position if an opportunity for serious negotiations emerges. It offers a chance to ensure a long-term win for Ukraine and a strategic loss for Russia; Ukraine could safeguard its sovereignty and rebuild,

🧵Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, close to Biden, after meeting humanitarian officials: “I had a sobering and informative conversation today with leaders from Catholic Relief Services, Oxfam America, and Save the Children to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “All 3 just returned from travel to Gaza & the West Bank and recounted the bleak reality for Gazan civilians & the challenges their aid workers face in the region. We also discussed the troubling allegations against 12 UNRWA employees & how we can continue to maintain critical

ICJ Judge: Recent information indicates that 25,700 Palestinians have been killed. Over 63,000 injuries have been reported, over 360 (? thousand?) housing units have been destroyed or partially damaged, and approximately 1.7 million persons have been internally displaced. ICJ Judge Donoghue: “The court takes note in this regard, of the statement by the UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr. Martin Griffiths on five January 2024, I quote, ‘Gaza has become a place of death and despair.’”