February, 2022

• 26 February

  China and Russia are proposing a new authoritarian playbook. MENA leaders are watching closely.

  

  When President Donald Trump lost the 2020 US presidential election to democratic candidate Joe Biden, many leaders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) saw an ominous warning that democracy may again take center stage in US foreign policy, with autocrats trying to consolidate power in their hands. However, …

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• 26 February

  Ukrainian President Zelensky: ‘Russia Treacherously And Self-Destructively Attacked Our State… Just Like Nazi Germany Did During WWII’

  

  On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded the Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “treacherously” and “self-destructively” attacking the Ukraine, comparing the maneuvers to those of “Nazi Germany” during WWII. In his address to the nation, Putin stated that the goal of the invasion was to take preemptive action …

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• 26 February

  War in Europe: Responding to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

  

  In a chilling act of aggression, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military assault on Ukraine in the early hours of 24 February. That Western leaders had warned of this possibility for weeks did little to cushion the shock. President Putin announced what he characterised as a “special military operation” …

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• 26 February

  Chinese fighter jets sortie into Taiwan’s air zone on heels of Ukraine invasion

  

  Taiwan scrambled fighter jets Thursday in response to nine Chinese aircraft entering its air defense identification zone, the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense said on its website. Chinese aircraft have encroached on Taiwan’s air defense zone with increasing frequency during the past year, but Thursday’s sorties come at a particularly …

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• 26 February

  Russia aims to decapitate Ukrainian government as it unleashes full-scale invasion, defense official says

  

  U.S. intelligence suggests Russia aims to overthrow the pro-Western Ukrainian government as its military launches a full-scale invasion including more than 100 missile launches into the country, a senior defense official said Thursday. “It is our assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to go in big and threaten …

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• 26 February

  Biden approves additional 7,000 US troops deploy to Europe in wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine

  

  The United States will send an additional 7,000 troops to Europe to bolster NATO defenses, President Joe Biden announced Thursday in the hours after Russia launched an unprovoked “brutal assault” on Ukraine. Biden announced the latest ordered deployment of American forces from the U.S into Europe in an address from …

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• 26 February

  Russian Diplomat Andrey Baklanov: Germany’s Defense Minister Should Not Lecture Russia, We Were Victims Of Nazi Germany; ‘Fascist’ Ukrainian Regime Is A Threat To Russia, Seeks To Obtain Nuclear Weapons

  Russian Diplomat Ambassador Andrey Baklanov said that Germany and its Minister of Defense do not have the moral ground to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine, because Russia was the victim of Nazi Germany and its policies in an interview that aired on Alghad TV (Egypt/UAE) on February 24, 2022.

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• 26 February

  Russia Contemplates The Price Of Its Ukraine Policy

  Having decided first to recognize the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and then mount a special operation to reverse the pro-Western Maidan revolution of 2014, Russia’s leadership realized that there would be consequences to these actions. As the West made it clear from the outset that its response would …

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• 26 February

  Biden Sends 7,000 Additional Troops To Europe, Announces New Sanctions

  Following NATO’s announcement that it had no plans to send troops to Ukraine to fight alongside the Ukrainian Armed Forces in repelling a Russian invasion, US President Joe Biden has announced that he will be deploying 7,000 additional US troops to Germany on Thursday. This brings the total US soldiers …

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• 26 February

  Prior to Outbreak of Ukraine Fighting, Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on BBC Arabic: The Ukraine Crisis Could Distract the World from the Climate Crisis While Having Massive Emissions Consequences

  In an interview recorded on February 21 and aired on February 23, 2022 on BBC Arabic (U.K.), former Secretary of State John Kerry, who currently serves as U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, said that he is concerned about the Ukraine crisis because the war would have “massive emissions consequences” …

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