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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized members of the Republican Party she claimed were sympathetic toward Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, in a Friday interview.

Speaking with the hosts of MSNBCs Morning Joe about the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the former Democratic presidential candidate said, We have to also make sure that within our own country we are calling out those people who are giving aid and comfort to Vladimir Putin.

She described those giving aid and comfort as those saying Putin is a genius and his actions toward Ukraine a smart move.

Their words were being broadcast by Russian media, not only inside Russia but in Europe, to demonstrate the division within our own country, Clinton said.

Her comments appeared to be a swipe at her opponent in the 2016 election, former President Donald Trump.

In a Tuesday interview with The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said, I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, This is genius. Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, thats wonderful.

So, Putin is now saying, Its independent, a large section of Ukraine. I said, How smart is that? And hes gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. Thats the strongest peace force We could use that on our southern border.

Thats the strongest peace force Ive ever seen. There were more army tanks than Ive ever seen. Theyre gonna keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Heres a guy whos very savvy I know him very well. Very, very well.

Do you think Republicans are sympathetic toward Putin?

Yes: 3% (25 Votes)

No: 97% (842 Votes)

Trump was referring to Putins recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk, two territories in Ukraine held by pro-Kremlin rebels, as independent nations on Tuesday, pledging Russian military support to defend them against Ukraine.

Two days later, Putin invaded Ukraine in an ongoing conflict comprising of missile attacks, amphibious assaults, airstrikes and infantry and armored attacks on civilians and the Ukrainian military.

The day after his appearance on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, Trump made similar comments during a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, according to HuffPost.

His remarks received widespread news media and social media criticism, being portrayed as an endorsement of Putin.

However, the rest of the transcript from Tuesdays interview suggests that Trump was discussing how Putin got away with carrying out such an act under the watch of the Biden administration rather than the act itself. In other words, it was a criticism of President Joe Biden more than it was praise of Putin.

By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable. This would never have happened, Trump said.

But heres a guy that says, you know, Im gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent, he used the word independent, and were gonna go out and were gonna go in and were gonna help keep peace. You gotta say thats pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didnt have one for that. No, its very sad. Very sad.

The same is true of his speech on Wednesday. In fact, he prefaced his comments by mocking the establishment medias coverage of him after he had previously said Putin was sharp and smart.

Oh, Trump said Putins smart!' Trump said. I mean, hes taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions. Id say thats pretty smart.

In a few hours, the war in Ukraine would enter day three as Russian forces sought to take control of the country and demilitarize it.

Ukrainian civilians have been procuring arms from the government to defend the city should the army fall.

The government and TV and radio stations released information on how citizens can make Molotov cocktails to attack Russian troops, Business Insider reported.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key members of his Cabinet chose to remain in the city along with its defenders ready to meet the Russian invaders.

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Andrew Jose is a journalist covering security, politics, and foreign policy, among other beats. Follow Andrew on Twitter: @realAndrewJose

Andrew Jose is a journalist covering security, politics, and foreign policy, among other beats. Speak to Andrew securely via ajoseofficial@protonmail.com. Follow Andrew on Twitter: @realAndrewJose

Education

Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service

Languages Spoken

English, Spanish

Topics of Expertise

Foreign Policy, Economics, Aviation, Business And Finance

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Hillary Clinton Repeatedly Blames Trump and Republicans ...

For a few days now, we have been living in a different world. No one, neither veteran politician Henry Kissinger nor public intellectual Yuval Noah Harari, can predict what this world will be like when the dust settles and we can see what dawns.

The tragedy unfolding in Ukraine will surely affect us here in Greece as well. I constantly hear people around me worried about whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will try something similar in Greece. It is certainly very difficult to get into Erdogans mind, much like Vladimir Putins mind.

The truth is that the scenario of an incident caused by Turkey worried me a lot, especially in view of the impasses at which the Turkish leader finds himself. The crisis in Ukraine will act as a deterrent. First of all, because the revisionism and changing borders with the use of force can no longer be accepted. The hypocrisy and flexibility that some of our partners showed until recently with regard to Turkey, and the possibility of turning a blind eye to such an incident in the future are minimal. Double standards cannot exist not in this environment. Borders do not change with the use of violence in Europe.

But something else has changed as well: the role of European public opinion and social media. Until recently, social media created instability within the West itself, as we saw with former US president Donald Trump and Brexit. Now, they have pushed European leaders to make decisions that one could not have imagined a while ago. In a special way, they strengthen the underdog and target the attacker.

Erdogan would have to face all this if he tried something in the Aegean. No cynical or hypocritical European leadership could stop the backlash. Greece also has a huge stock of soft power, it has friends, it has its diaspora, it has people who love it for different reasons.

Of course, soft power is good, but it is not enough. We need alliances and defense shields, which we have and work for as a country, so we can sleep peacefully at night. But we may have gained some time and peace with our neighbors, at least for a while. At least thats what a reasonable mind would think.

An over-optimistic mind might even think that in such turmoil, opportunities are created for an agreed period of calm. But who can tell us what is in Erdogans mind?

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In the mind of Erdogan - Kathimerini English Edition

Russian President Vladimir Putin shaking hands with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Credit: Kremlin/Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0

President Vladimir Putin is now showing the world signs of Russian revisionism by violating international law and disregarding international treaties. In Putins logic, justifying his invasion of a neighboring country, if Ukraine was once part of the Soviet Union, why shouldnt it be part of Russia now?

Some of the excuses the Russian leader used were that Ukraine is governed by a strawman and it harbors many neo-Nazis who are a threat to the lives of Russians living in the country. Never mind that its President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Prime Minister, Denis Schmyhal, are both Jewish.

Last year, the Russian president stated that Russians and Ukrainians are one people, while in the past he had called the 1991 Ukrainian referendum for independence a mistake.

Putins rhetoric and justification of the invasion to another country reminds Greeks of the openly revisionist stance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ankara claims that Greek islands close to its shores should belong to Turkey, or that the 1923 population exchange Turks living in Western Thrace are Turkish citizens; therefore Thrace also belongs to Turkey.

The close ties and exchanges between Putin and Erdogan make the two leaders appear to be architects of revisionism in sensitive geopolitical terrain including Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Putins double talk promising the West that he will not attack Ukraine and yet invading the country two days later shows complete and utter disrespect for western powers and the EU.

At the same time, Russia threatens Sweden and Finland that if they dare join NATO, they will have to face the consequences. The Russian hegemon seems to view Europe as a soft military power that does not pose a threat to his might.

Similarly, the Turkish president exhibits his own revisionism by speaking of his vision to revive the Ottoman Empire of old, while at the same time negotiating with Europe for Turkeys accession to the EU.

On his part, as regards the military, Erdogan tries to keep one foot in NATO and the other in Russia. He buys the S-400 missile system from Russia and at the same time pledges allegiance to the Alliance.

For Putin it is Ukraine. For Erdogan its is Greece and Cyprus, two countries that he and his staff openly bully and threaten, while repeatedly violating their territorial rights.

Greek and Cypriot analysts see that Erdogan is likely to follow Putins Ukraine strategy in Greece and Cyprus. Not now that the Turkish economy is at an alarming low, perhaps but later on in the future, depending on the outcome and repercussions of Russias aggression.

Analysts believe that the occupied part of Cyprus is the easiest target for satisfying Erdogans taste for an empire of his own.

A large Turkish military presence in north Cyprus and the establishment of a pseudo-state is something that of course has been going on since the 1974 invasion.

Then there are always the repeated violations of Cyprus exclusive economic zone and claims that the islands natural resources belong to the Turkish Cypriots as well.

As for Greece itself, it appears to be much less likely to become ground for Ankaras revisionism than Cyprus.

The two neighbors are NATO allies, while at the same time Greeces military strength and preparedness do not pass unnoticed by Turkeys general staff.

Turkeys pretexts that Greece refuses to demilitarize its islands and the alleged oppression of Muslim minorities in Thrace are weak excuses for a possible attack against the country.

There are opposing views albeit only few to this argument, saying that Erdogan is unpredictable and may make a final move to attack Greece in the hope that the rest of the world is focusing in Ukraine at the moment.

Such a move, though, would be the final blow to the staggering Turkish economy. Adding to that the sanctions imposed by the international community on such an aggressive act, it would be the last nail in the coffin of Turkeys economy.

For Erdogan, it is difficult to keep his balance between Moscow and Brussels, between NATO and Putin. Any choice will cost him. And after the invasion of Ukraine, Erdogans tango between Moscow and Washington is becoming even more dangerous.

International treaties and agreements, which reflected the positions of the powerful and secured the safety of the less powerful are shaken, if not annulled, today.

Ukraine is the blackboard on which Putin tries to rewrite history based on nationalistic mythology, on a delusion of grandeur of a Russian Empire of the past.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world, he chose to rewrite it in blood.

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Putin and Erdogan: Architects of Revisionism - Greek Reporter

An international anti-war zoom meeting on February 26 attended by thousands and organized by CODEPINK, Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the No To NATO network agreed to an international day of anti-war action on Sunday, March 6. We call on everyone who opposes this war to take to the streets on March 6 in a massive display of global opposition to the war and the warmongers.

The war in Ukraine is a disaster for the people of Ukraine and a terrible threat to us all, including increasing the danger of nuclear war. We oppose the Russian invasion and call for the immediate withdrawal of all Russian troops. We recognize that the expansion of NATO and the aggressive approach of Western states have helped cause the crisis and we demand an end to NATO expansion. We also oppose sanctions that will harm ordinary Russians and call on all countries to welcome refugees fleeing the war.

There have already been many anti-war demonstrations in Russia and many other countries. What we need now is a massive, unified response by peace-loving people around the world to say No to War in Ukraine; Yes to Negotiations and Peace.

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About - Peace in Ukraine

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Ukraines economic freedom score is 54.1, making its economy the 130th freest in the 2022 Index. Ukraine is ranked 44th among 45 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score is below the regional and world averages.

Five years ago, the Ukrainian economy was gaining strength, but growth slowed in 2019, and the economy contracted in 2020. Growth resumed in 2021. During that half-decade, economic freedom has generally trended upward. Aided by score increases in labor freedom and monetary freedom, Ukraine has recorded an impressive 6.0-point overall gain of economic freedom since 2017 but is still in the middle ranks of the Mostly Unfree countries. Fiscal health is somewhat positive, but investment freedom, financial freedom, and rule of law exhibit weaknesses.

IMPACT OF COVID-19: As of December 1, 2021, 91,860 deaths had been attributed to the pandemic in Ukraine, and the governments response to the crisis ranked 40th among the countries included in this Index in terms of its stringency. The economy contracted by 4.2 percent in 2020.

Long known as the Breadbasket of Europe because of its fertile black soil, Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe north of the Black Sea. In the eight years since the Maidan revolution, Ukraines political landscape has been transformed. Rival businesspolitical networks continue to exercise significant influence, but a generational change is in progress. Actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a political newcomer, won the April 2019 presidential election, and his party won an absolute majority in July 2019 parliamentary elections. Russias illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and destabilization of the eastern Donbas region continue to damage the Ukrainian economy, which relies heavily on the production of wheat and exports of industrial and energy products.

Property rights and secured interests are protected by law, and the recording system is generally reliable, but enforcement is undermined by corrupt courts. In 2021, in an effort to unleash productivity and investment, the government ended a 20-year moratorium on the sale of farmland. The judiciarys susceptibility to political pressure, corruption, and bribery weakens public confidence. Government integrity remains severely compromised.

The top individual income tax rate is 20 percent, and the top corporate tax rate is 18 percent. Other taxes include value-added and property taxes. The overall tax burden equals 19.2 percent of total domestic income. Government spending has amounted to 43.0 percent of total output (GDP) over the past three years, and budget deficits have averaged 3.5 percent of GDP. Public debt is equivalent to 60.7 percent of GDP.

Regulatory decisions are characterized by a high degree of arbitrariness and favoritism. A change has been made to speed up the review and issuance of patents. There is a skilled computer software workforce. Most state-owned enterprises rely on government subsidies to function and cannot compete directly with private firms. Subsidies for natural gas were reimplemented in 2021.

Ukraine has 20 preferential trade agreements in force. The trade-weighted average tariff rate is 3.2 percent, and 150 nontariff measures are in effect. Despite progress, lingering bureaucracy deters much-needed growth in private investment. Nonperforming loans continue to be a drag on the banking system. The capital markets lack of development limits financing options.

Excerpt from:
Ukraine Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business ...