I do try not to get angry when government actors confirm my belief that they are lowly human beings not worthy of respect. With age and experience, most people eventually come face to face with enough instances of injustice or straight-up barbarity in the world to understand that life is no bed of roses wherein the righteous triumph effortlessly over the wicked.
The last time US President Joe Biden enjoyed more than 50 percent of public support was at the beginning of his White House tenure. Since then, his numbers have plunged due to discontent over the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the border crisis, skyrocketing inflation and many other misfortunes.
When Joe Biden’s administration was asked for evidence to back up dramatic claims about national security developments this past week, it demurred with a simple rejoinder: You’ll have to trust us on that.
The war of words between Russia and the United States over Ukraine escalated further on Tuesday as Russian President Vladimir Putin responded for the first time to the US written reply to Russia’s demands for security guarantees that were expressed in the form of a pair of draft treaties submitted by Moscow to the US and NATO in December.
The S&P 500 just ended its worst month since March 2020 as investors fret about coming interest rate hikes and uncertainty over the situation in Ukraine.
On the menu today: Accounts of the phone call between President Biden and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky offer an unnerving portrait of a Ukrainian leader who is in denial about the risk of a full-scale Russian invasion, and an American leader who doesn’t want to send any more weapons, after equipping the Ukrainians to fight a ground war without any air cover.
