American Credibility Is on the Line in Ukraine
Plus: Fani Willis Should Have Known Better
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WILL SELBER: American Credibility Is on the Line in Ukraine.
MUHAMMAD TOOK ONE LAST PULL off his cigarette before putting it out next to the other three he’d smoked in our hour-long meeting. He was a middle-aged Sons of Iraq commander from Diyala, the governate between Baghdad and the Iranian border, and he was responsible for security in a few critical towns near Forward Operating Base Warhorse. By the time of our conversation in 2010, Iraq’s security had improved so much that I could walk in certain areas without my Kevlar. Muhammad’s group of former Sunni nationalist insurgents who flipped during the Anbar Awakening was largely to credit.
“What will happen to us when you leave?” Muhammad asked. He had good reason to worry. Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, a Shia, had the security apparatus under his thumb and was using them to target Sunni leaders like Muhammad.
“We’re not going anywhere, sir,” I responded.
BILL LUEDERS: Tim Sheehy’s Cry for Help.
TIM SHEEHY NEEDS MY HELP. He told me so himself. The email he sent me the other day cut to the chase: “I cannot tell you how valuable your input would be to me and my team as we work to flip Montana and defeat Jon Tester in November.”
My input? Fancy that.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, is seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat that’s up for election this cycle in Montana. I do not live in Montana, but apparently Sheehy still wants my advice. Also, it turns out, my money.
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KIM WEHLE: Fani Willis Should Have Known Better.
LAST WEEK, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY Fani Willis reluctantly took the witness stand to testify about her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, whom she hired in November 2021 to lead the Georgia 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump. In Wade’s acrimonious divorce proceedings, evidence emerged that he used roughly $65,000 from his work as a prosecutor to pay for vacations for the two of them. On January 8, a motion was filed by one of Trump’s co-defendants, Michael Roman, complaining about a potential conflict of interest arising from “self-dealing” between Willis and Wade, and seeking to get her thrown off the Trump case. In subsequent filings, Trump and another co-defendant, Robert Cheeley, signed on to the effort to throw the prosecution into chaos.
CATHY YOUNG: Navalny Lives On.
“I’M NOT SURE WHETHER THIS IS THE START of a new era, or the old one turning even darker and bleaker,” journalist Yulia Latynina, a prominent voice in Russian independent media in exile, remarked a few days after the death of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. There is a widespread sense among Russian dissidents that Navalny’s death in an Arctic Circle penal colony called “Polar Wolf” is a turning point. Its timing is rich with symbolism: Vladimir Putin prepares to be crowned for a new presidential term in a faux election next month, even as his reign approaches its twenty-five-year mark (in December) and as his war in Ukraine reaches the two-year mark this week. Where Russia goes from here, and how the West will respond, is a more urgent question than ever.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
4 Myths About Ukraine that Might Sound Right… But Are Actually Wrong by Eric Edelman and David J. Kramer (Politico).
Meanwhile, at CPAC…. “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely.”
…and how could we forget… The J6 CPAC parade.
Luckily for us, the adults who grew up in the conservative movement have the Principles First conference, which starts tomorrow. And we look forward to seeing you there!
There Is Much More at Stake in Trump’s Manhattan Case … Than Just Hush Money (NYT).
FOX on the Trump Sneakers… It’s as yikes as you can imagine.
Inside the G.O.P.’s… State Party Problem (NYT).
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