Displaying items by tag: war

As I write this, BBC reports that U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is "urgently" investigating reports of a chemical weapons attack in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The U.S. Department of Defense finds the reports "deeply concerning."

RALEIGH — Farmers across the country, including North Carolina, are “taking it on the chin” when it comes to diesel and fertilizer prices, which have risen to unprecedented levels. The U.S. is dependent on and a major importer of foreign fertilizer. Factors driving costs up include Russia’s war with Ukraine, a limited supply of the relevant minerals and high energy costs, high global demand and agricultural commodity prices, reliance on fertilizer imports, and lack of competition in the fertilizer industry.

It seems certain that one of the contributing factors in the disastrous calculus that led Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to believe he could get away with his murderous and criminal invasion of Ukraine was his perception of weakness and division in the United States.

RALEIGH — N.C. State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, is requesting Congress to provide the tools for state pension funds to pursue economic damages through U.S. courts, which could lead to seizure of Russian assets and properties, and urging the General Assembly to pass a resolution strongly condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s murderous military invasion of Ukraine.

I’ve heard the calls encouraging former U.S. military members to join the “International Legion of Territorial Defense.” I believe the Ukrainian people need and deserve our nation’s help against Russia’s attempt to destroy and assimilate a sovereign nation by force. On the surface this sound like a noble undertaking on behalf of the Ukrainian people, but it is fraught with real problems.  

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on March 4, 80% of Americans support a U.S. government ban on the importation of Russian oil.

Battlefield wedding ceremonies; a Ukrainian farmer stealing a Russian tank with his tractor; Ukrainian mothers and children fleeing to find a line of donated strollers from Polish mothers. These images have bombarded our newsfeeds ever since Feb. 24, when Russian troops invaded neighboring Ukraine.

 GREENSBORO — Doctors, nurses, and other aid workers from North Carolina's Samaritan’s Purse are lifting off Friday morning from Greensboro headed to Poland to to deploy a field hospital. The humanitarian aid organization based in Boone has been helping  in situations like Ukraine for more than 50 years.

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on Russia, but almost 40 years ago, I took a bunch of Russian history classes in college. I was more interested in Russia in the 20th century, but I learned enough to see patterns emerge that go back centuries.

As part of the western  response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, several regimes acted on February 26 to exclude certain Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) network. As of March 1, Reuters reports, SWIFT says it's awaiting a list of the sanctioned banks so that it can cut them off.