Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted early Saturday that the accounts of journalists that were suspended late Thursday will be reinstated.

Many of the accounts, including that of VOA’s Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman, were reactivated shortly after Musk’s tweet, however not all have been restored.

Musk said he suspended the accounts because the journalists were revealing information about the location of his private jet, which he said lead to a stalker harassing one of his children.

However, none of the journalists, although they had covered Musk and his shutdown of the account @elonjet, had tweeted location information for his plane, which in any event is publicly available at other online sites.

The account suspensions drew an outpouring of concern from other journalists, rights groups and international organizations.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday, “The move sets a dangerous precedent at a time when journalists all over the world are facing censorship, physical threats, and even worse.” He added the U.N. was “very disturbed by the arbitrary” suspensions.

The European Union, too, was concerned about the suspensions. From her own Twitter account, EU Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová wrote the suspensions were worrying and noted: the “EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our Media Freedom Act.”

She said Musk should be aware of that. “There are red lines,” she said, “and sanctions too.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists also expressed its concern, saying if the journalists were suspended as retaliation for their work, “this would be a serious violation of journalist’s right to report the news without fear or reprisal.”

Frederike Kaltheunet, director for technology and human rights for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Friday that the removal of the accounts is difficult to defend based on concerns about privacy or security alone.” She said, “Flight data is publicly available elsewhere and Musk is a public figure whose businesses and government connections are in the public interest. If flight trackers reveal his location, it is information that has always been publicly accessible and any risk to his safety is not coming from people’s tweets.”

From her official Twitter account, Society of Professional Journalists National President Claire Regan expressed concern about the suspensions, saying they go “against Musk’s promise to uphold free speech on the platform. We will continue to monitor the situation and advocate for journalism and free speech on all platforms.”

VOA responded to the suspension of Herman’s account, saying, “Mr. Herman is a seasoned reporter who upholds the highest journalistic standards and uses the social media platform as a news gathering and networking tool. Mr. Herman has received no information from Twitter as to why his account was suspended. As Chief National Correspondent, Mr. Herman covers international and national news stories and this suspension impedes his ability to perform his duties as a journalist.”

Musk conducted Twitter polls to determine if and when the journalists accounts should be restored. Nearly 59% of the respondents wanted the accounts to be reactivated immediately. Musk tweeted the results, saying “the people have spoken.”

Musk also tweeted early Saturday that Twitter Spaces was once again running. Spaces, a group audio chat function, shut down shortly after Musk exited a conversation with journalists who were discussing his suspension of their colleagues’ accounts.
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VOA Russian White House correspondent Mykhailo Komadovsky spoke with John Kirby, National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications, on Dec. 16, 2022, about the latest on U.S. support for Ukraine, White House opposition to ending support for Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen, and Russia-Iran ties.

The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: John Kirby, thank you very much for your time. So, let’s start with Ukraine, if I may. So recently we’ve heard multiple reports of explosions and presumable drone attacks in the Russian Federation. In one of your interviews, you said the following, let me quote you. ‘We’re not encouraging or enabling Ukrainian operations inside Russia. We’re trying to make sure that they can defend their territory and win back their ground in Ukraine.” From your point of view, is it possible to win the war without targeting military infrastructure within Russia that is actively used to attack Ukrainian civilians?

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby: Well I think we’d let the Ukrainians, President Zelenskyy as Commander in Chief in particular, define what his intentions are, what his specific objectives are. What we’re focused on is making sure that they can defend their territory, they can win back lost ground that the Russians have illegally taken from them.

The war has evolved over time. You know, the first few weeks it was all about Kyiv. The Battle of Kyiv which the Ukrainians won, and back then we were talking about anti-tank missiles. Then it moved into artillery, as the fighting really concentrated on the Donbas, which is a lot like Kansas, very open farmland. And now given these, well, I think the only word to say is, unprecedented air assaults by Russia, both from cruise missiles and from Iranian drones, the likes of which we’ve just seen again over the last 12 to 18 hours, air defense capabilities are becoming a chief requirement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

VOA: Russia warned Thursday that if the U.S. delivers some sophisticated air defense missiles, like the Patriots, it’s going to be a red line for them and it’s going to prompt a reaction from the Kremlin. And is this the reason why you’re not announcing the delivery of the Patriots to Ukraine as planned? As we’ve heard from President Biden, we have heard him literally an hour ago, when he said, way off the mic, the following – ‘You’ll hear in a few minutes.’ Still no statement, so are you concerned?

Kirby: We have provided more than 25 presidential drawdown packages to Ukraine, not to mention other security assistance initiative funds for contracts, for security assistance for Ukraine over the last nine months, and there will be more. There will be another announcement of a security assistance package for Ukraine, I’m sure, in coming days. When we have a package to announce, we’ll speak to that, we’ll speak to the contents, we’ll speak to the amount of money that’s being spent on it, and we’ll talk about the timing in terms of getting it into the hands of Ukrainian soldiers as fast as possible.

VOA: Are you concerned about the warnings coming from Moscow to Washington? Because they’ve been pretty clear. If you provide Ukraine with that type of munition, we’re going to respond. But they’re not specifying the weight of that response.

Kirby: Russia is not going to dictate to the United States or to any other country what security assistance we provide Ukraine. We’re doing that in lockstep with the Ukrainians, talking to them almost every day about what their needs are, and making sure that we are best meeting those needs. And if we can’t, then the United States has proven able and willing to talk to allies and partners about how they might meet those capabilities.

VOA: After the swap of Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout, you said that the administration will hold Viktor Bout accountable should he commit any wrongdoing again, or should he become a threat to the United States again. What are the national security concerns related to Bout? And what are you going do to mitigate those concerns?

Kirby: Well, let’s not get ahead of where we are. We did a national security assessment before that prisoner exchange, that is common practice, we do that routinely. And as a result of that assessment, we came out of it believing that whatever risk there might be to our national security by Mr. Bout, plying his old trade was a manageable risk. We will always be vigilant about our national security, and if Mr. Bout decides with his newfound freedom that he wants to go back and do his old line of work, then he will be held accountable by the United States.

VOA: Have you heard from Brittney Griner since she came back to the United States? How is she doing, because we haven’t seen her publicly so far since the day of the swap.

Kirby: I would let Ms. Griner speak for herself. We’re focused on making sure that she’s getting the care she needs as she prepares to reassimilate back into society, go back to her team, and go back to her friends and family, and that’s what we all want.

VOA: Let’s move to Yemen. So, in opposing the War Powers resolution on the war in Yemen, the White House has argued that withdrawing U.S. troops for the Saudi-led war would complicate ongoing diplomacy here. Can you explain that? How does ending support for a war prevent peace?

Kirby: Well, we all want to see the war in Yemen end. We’ve been working to that for years. Unfortunately, for way too long we’ve been supporting the U.N.-led process there and we’ll continue to do that. Too many innocent Yemenis have fallen victim and prey to this ghastly war. Now, what we are proud of is our role in helping foster what is now the longest truce in the history of this Yemeni war, going on 10 months here of a cease-fire, which literally has helped save thousands of Yemeni lives. We want to see that cease-fire, we want to see that peace enduring, and we want to see it sustainable.

VOA: Can you give us the latest on the U.S. intelligence on the joint weapons production between Russia and Iran?

Kirby: We do believe, as we have said, that Iran and Russia are trying to deepen their defense partnership. Part and parcel of that could be the development of a joint production facility in Russia for Iranian drones. And we continue to believe that that’s the case. But again, I think you got to step back here. It’s not just about production of drones, which of course the Russians will use to propagate more violence on the Ukrainian people and civilian infrastructure. It’s about this deepening relationship, which is not only not good for the people of Ukraine, it’s not good for the people of the Middle East. An Iran that benefits from enhanced military assistance capabilities from Russia is an Iran that becomes an even bigger threat in the region.

VOA: What about the deepening relationship between North Korea and Russia?

Kirby: We still haven’t seen much in terms of the consummation of some sort of transaction here from a military perspective between North Korea and Russia. That said, noteworthy that Russia would reach out to a nation like North Korea. They’re running out of friends. They’re running out of sympathetic ears, and that they would go to a nation like North Korea to procure what we think would be artillery shells … It shows you the degree to which Mr. Putin is under pressure in Ukraine, that his own defense industrial base is having trouble keeping up with the needs, the rate of expenditure of weapons systems and ammunition inside Ukraine, and that he has to reach outward, outside Russia. You know, this was a military that was put forth by Mr. Putin as one of the most powerful on the planet and the most — one of the most advanced, and here he is, after nine months of war in Ukraine, having to reach out to countries like Iran and North Korea.

VOA: Since we’re approaching the end of the year. Let’s wrap it up. And I’m going to ask you about the biggest challenges that you and your team faced during 2022.

Kirby: It’s been the war in Ukraine and Russia’s aggression and the way in which it has literally transformed the security environment in Europe. That security environment is different now as you and I sit here than it was 9, 10 months ago. It has changed; not is changing, not will change. It has changed and the United States has changed with it. We now have 20,000 more troops on the European continent than we did before the war. And those 20, extra 20,000 will stay in a rotational basis. But our relationship with our NATO allies is certainly as vibrant and as strong as ever and getting stronger by the day. And soon, NATO will be joined by two more very modern militaries.

China also has continued to change the security environment around the world. Now, as you’ve heard us say, we, we look at China as a strategic competitor. We don’t want to see conflict with China. And yet, we have to be ready for the security challenges that China has posed in the information environment in 2022, including their efforts to achieve a new normal with respect to Taiwan in the wake of recent activity there in Taiwan.

And then, while we’re in the Indo Pacific, let’s talk about North Korea. The Kim regime, which has now increased the number, the frequency, of missile tests, rocket exercises…

VOA: A muscle-flexing game.

Kirby: …and they are definitely continuing to pursue their nuclear ambitions. We have said time and time again, over the course of this year, that we’re willing to sit down without preconditions to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful diplomatic way. They have rebuffed those offers and instead only increased instability, only made things worse. And so one of the things that we have done over the course of this year is really try to deepen and strengthen our vast network of alliances and partnerships in the region.

The president has made a focus, particularly working with South Korea and Japan, bilaterally, they’re of course treaty allies, and trilaterally between all three countries. We have conducted more exercises, we are much more engaged than we were in the past. And we have also unilaterally, the United States, has increased our intelligence capabilities there off the peninsula.

I might also add counterterrorism. A couple of very, very noteworthy counterterrorism operations in 2022, including taking out al-Zawahiri, de facto leader of al Qaeda, as well as ISIS terrorists.

VOA: It’s been quite a bumpy ride here. But if you were to pick one or two of your biggest achievements in 2022, what would it be?

Kirby: Well, I believe one of the biggest achievements is the manner in which President Biden and this administration has really revitalized this network of alliances and partnerships. When you just take a look at where U.S. leadership on the world stage sits now as to where it was when President Biden came into office, it’s night and day. NATO is a much more, not that it wasn’t before, but it’s just, it’s a much more vibrant alliance. It’s more relevant than ever before. And people will say, ‘Well, that’s because Putin and his war.’ It’s because of the leadership the United States has shown in the wake of those kinds of threats, really unifying the world stage. You just have to see in 2022, how much more important and relevant U.S. leadership is on the world stage, and how President Biden has really worked to solidify that, and I have every expectation that going into 2023 you’re going to see the same thing.
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In a one-on-one interview with VOA’s Russian White House correspondent Mykhailo Komadovsky, NSC spokesperson discusses U.S. support for Ukraine and Saudi Arabia, ties between Russia and Iran
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The White House on Friday defended its decision to block a war powers resolution in the Senate that would have ended U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, saying it would have impeded delicate diplomatic talks.

“We want to see that peace enduring and we want to see it sustainable. And so that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about the importance of making sure our diplomacy can succeed,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an interview with VOA.

U.S. support for a U.N.-brokered truce and peace talks has “achieved a measure of success,” Kirby said. “We want to make sure we can lock that in and keep that going forward.”

Earlier this week, the administration clashed with Bernie Sanders over the resolution put forward by the Vermont independent senator that would have banned U.S. support for Saudi-led offensive operations in its war in Yemen. Facing intense opposition, including a veto threat from President Joe Biden and a lack of support from his Senate colleagues, Sanders withdrew the resolution and agreed to negotiate further with the White House.

“I look forward to working with the administration who is opposed to this resolution and see if we can come up with something that is strong and effective,” Sanders said. “If we do not, I will be back.”

Administration officials have declined to elaborate on what they seek in negotiations with Sanders.

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when Houthi insurgents – Shiite rebels backed by Iran – took over the capital, Sanaa. Beginning in March 2015, with logistical and intelligence support from the Obama administration, a coalition of Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia launched a campaign of economic isolation and airstrikes against the Houthis, in effect turning the conflict into a Sunni-Shia proxy war between regional powers.

According to U.N. data, more than 370,000 people have died in the conflict, with 60 percent of the deaths resulting from indirect causes such as lack of food, water and health services.

Cease-fire expired, peace largely held

Violence paused in April 2022 under the U.N.-negotiated cease-fire, which has largely held even though it expired in October – a factor in the administration’s opposition to the resolution, said Gerald Feierstein, who was U.S. ambassador to Yemen during the Obama administration.

“There has not been a Saudi military campaign in Yemen for eight months now. Why are we talking about a war powers resolution?” said Feierstein, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

Sanders and others have argued that there is no diplomatic progress on the ground and violence could erupt at any moment. Biden’s own special envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, has warned that a failure to reach a new peace agreement would precipitate a “return to war.”

Still, James F. Jeffrey, a former U.S. special envoy to the global coalition to defeat ISIS and now chair of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, opposes the resolution, saying it would “play into the hands of the Houthis, who after all are aiding Iran, trying to overthrow the internationally recognized government.”

Some are unconvinced.

“The Houthis know quite well that an unprovoked attack on Saudi Arabia would undermine their argument internally in Yemen that they are fighting a foreign invader,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “Moreover, it would very likely change the calculations in Washington and restart U.S. support for the Saudis in what would be seen as a defensive war.”

Parsi added that even if taken at face value, the administration’s argument about Houthi calculations “does not justify allowing Saudi Arabia to have a bigger say than Congress on whether the U.S. should or should not support Riyadh’s war.”

In 2019, then-President Donald Trump vetoed a Yemen war powers resolution, a decision decried by officials who are now key players in the Biden administration.

US-Saudi relations

Biden’s shift away from his February 2021 pledge to end “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen” is emblematic of his evolving view on relations with the Saudi kingdom.

In November, the administration determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be granted immunity in a lawsuit over his role in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, even though during his presidential campaign Biden vowed to make the kingdom a “pariah” for the slaying.

In October, when the Saudis pushed OPEC members to slash oil production, ignoring Washington’s request to increase output to offset price increases triggered by the war in Ukraine, the administration said it would review whether the relationship with Saudi Arabia still served U.S. interests – a review that has not materialized.

“We will judge the way forward based on their actions, as well as our ongoing consultations with partners and allies, and also the new Congress that is going to be before us very soon, and the Saudis as well,” Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, told VOA during a recent press briefing.

Jean-Pierre declined to say whether growing ties between Saudi Arabia and China have played a factor in the administration’s stance on Riyadh. But with oil availability a more pressing issue since Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Saudis are in a strong position “to be able to play everybody off against everybody else,” Feierstein said.

Biden has prioritized strengthening the bond between the United States and its allies at a time when talks to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons program have collapsed and Israel, historically a core U.S. ally, has elected a right-wing government whose interests may not align with those of Washington.

Under such circumstances, the U.S. in many cases is “likely going to be more deferential to certain partners – and more forgiving of their misdeeds,” Parsi said.

“China’s success in courting Saudi Arabia may have increased the sense of crisis in Washington when it comes to Saudi Arabia,” said William Figueroa, a research associate focusing on China in the Middle East at the University of Cambridge Centre for Geopolitics. “But the odds were low that the U.S. was ever going to seriously alter its relationship with the kingdom.”

Figueroa added, “This anxiety is more a reflection of the U.S. environment and fears that the United States is no longer the world-spanning superpower it once was. In fact, it very much is, but any retreat of American power abroad, however minor, is often portrayed in catastrophic terms.”

Mykhailo Komadovsky contributed to this report.
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The mayor of Reynosa, Mexico, near the US border, is warning migrants to stay away because his city has been overwhelmed by the thousands of migrants already there and can’t help any more who are making their way to the United States. Victor Hugo Castilllo reports. Camera: Victor Hugo Castilllo.
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In Washington, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium — known as RFK stadium – which hosted many of the capital’s beloved sports teams – is decades old and now defunct. It holds many memories for fans but is now being deconstructed in phases through 2023 to make way for something new. As part of a farewell campaign, fans are being invited to buy some of the old stadium seats. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. Camera: Artyom Kokhan
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A new Pentagon office set up to track reports of unidentified flying objects has received “several hundred” new reports, but no evidence so far of alien life, the agency’s leadership told reporters Friday.

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) was set up in July and is responsible for not only tracking unidentified objects in the sky, but also underwater or in space — or potentially an object that has the ability to move from one domain to the next.

The office was established following more than a year of attention on unidentified flying objects that military pilots have observed but have sometimes been reluctant to report due to fear of stigma.

In June 2021 the Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported that between 2004 and 2021, there were 144 such encounters, 80 of which were captured on multiple sensors.

Since then, “we’ve had lots more reporting,” said anomaly office director Sean Kirkpatrick.

The office was set up not only to examine the question of whether there’s extraterrestrial life, but also because of the security risk posed by so many encounters with unknown flying objects by military installations or military aircraft.

This May, Congress held its first hearing in more than half a century on the topic, with multiple members expressing concern that whether or not the objects are alien or potentially new, unknown technology being flown by China, Russia or another potential adversary, the unknown creates a security risk.

So far, “we have not seen anything, and we’re still very early on, that would lead us to believe that any of the objects that we have seen are of alien origin,” said Ronald Moultrie, undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security.

Beyond unidentifiable objects, there’s a lot of new technology — such as future stealth bombers and stealth fighters, drones and hypersonic missiles being fielded by both the U.S. and China — that could be mistaken for a UFO. Kirkpatrick said the new office has been coordinating with the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community to get the signatures of U.S. technology in order to rule out those aircraft or drones.

“We are setting up very clear mechanisms with our blue programs, both our DOD and IC programs, to deconflict any observations that come in with blue activities and ensure that we weed those out and identify those fairly early on,” Kirkpatrick said, referring to the “blue” U.S. aircraft programs in operation by the Pentagon or intelligence agencies.
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A top Pentagon official with oversight of Ukraine policy told VOA Thursday there is a “heightened urgency” for advanced training of Ukrainian forces, as the Pentagon announced that the U.S. will expand the number of Ukrainian troops it trains each month.   

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Laura Cooper told VOA that “it’s a completely different ballgame” in terms of the skills of Ukrainian forces today compared to when the U.S. first began training Ukrainian forces after Russia invaded Crimea in 2014.   

Pentagon press secretary, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, told reporters earlier Thursday that starting in January, the U.S. would increase its military combat training to larger, battalion-size Ukrainian units in Germany each month on “advanced battlefield tactics” including live-fire exercises.    

“The winter is going to be a very dynamic time. I think some people think about the winter as a time to rest and refit, but we don’t see any sign that the Ukrainians are going to hold up, and we certainly would expect that the Russians may try to also advance,” Cooper said, speaking exclusively to VOA.   

The U.S. has provided Ukraine with billions of dollars of military support, including air defense weapons ranging from Stingers, which are portable on foot, to the larger National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), which can provide air defense against short- to medium-range targets.   

Cooper would not confirm VOA’s reporting from U.S. officials this week that the United States is preparing to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine to help shoot down incoming Russian missiles.   

“But I can affirm air defense is our top priority, and we are looking at a number of ways in which we can support Ukraine and its air defense needs. NASAMS was one piece of that,” she said, adding that U.S. assistance has evolved to meet new battlefield needs.   

Cooper also confirmed that the U.S. had sent Ukraine parts from an S-300 system to maintain their air defense abilities before NASAMS were in place.    

“Last spring, we were sending the Ukrainians spare parts to keep their S-300 systems up and running. But with the NASAM systems, this is a really premier Western capability that the Ukrainians right off the bat have been able to operate incredibly effectively against Russian missile threats, and also Russian UAS threats,” she said, using an abbreviation for “unmanned aircraft systems,” referring to drones.   

The U.S. helped convince Slovakia to provide a complete S-330 system to Ukrainian forces in April, and in turn provided Slovakia with a Patriot missile system. 

The U.S. currently is not planning to provide Ukraine with long-range precision munitions such as Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) guided missiles for their artillery rocket launchers. To date, the U.S has sent Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) munitions to use in these launchers. ATACMS have a range of about 300 kilometers, while GMLRS have a range of about 90 kilometers.  

“At this point, we see the GMLRS as being highly effective at reaching the vast, vast array of targets that Ukraine needs to hit. So we’re sticking with the GMLRS at this point,” she told VOA.   

On Russian tactics in Ukraine, Cooper said Moscow was essentially throwing their forces “into the meat grinder without regard for the very high casualties that they’re facing.”

A full transcript of the interview is below:

VOA: I want to start by chatting about the recent announcement about the additional training facility going on in Germany of the Ukrainian forces. So, it sounds to me, as somebody who has covered the training at Yavoriv training grounds in Ukraine, it sounds like it’s the same type of training that the U.S. was doing before the war broke out, is that what’s going to be happening here essentially?   

Cooper: Well, I think it is important to see this training as part of this continuum of training, and it’s great that you got to witness what we were doing at Yavoriv, along with some of our allies after 2014. But at the same time, obviously, the context is so very different today. I mean, since February 24, we have done so much intense training of Ukrainians on specialized weapon systems. This is the United States but also allies across multiple countries in Europe. We now have a really robust training program that the British are leading in the U.K. That’s individual training, and so what they are doing is enabling these new recruits and new soldiers to be able to have the proficiency they need to operate, and then that is combining with not just what the U.S. will be doing with this battalion-level combined arms training, but also what the EU and other allies are doing. So, you see the EU has its collective training program that is launching, along with several EU countries, including Germany and Poland. What’s important about all of these different efforts is to know that they are all linked together and coordinated. And that’s a role that commander of EUCOM [European Command] is playing in ensuring that we’re all latched up in support of Ukraine.   

VOA: Got it. So similar training, heightened urgency is kind of what I hear from you?   

Cooper: Heightened urgency, and also, you know, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are in a different place. Their proficiency on the battlefield is amazing. When we think about where we started with them in 2014, and where they are today in their capability, in their ability to push back on these Russian invaders. It’s a completely different ballgame.   

VOA: Let’s talk about some of the $19 billion-plus in military assistance that has been given to Ukraine since the start of this war. What do you find has been the most effective weapon that the Pentagon has provided to Ukraine?   

Cooper: I think it’s very hard to name one particular weapon because as the battlefield has evolved, we have been evolving our assistance to provide what the Ukrainians need when they need it. So, in those very early days after February 24, when you saw the Russians attacking on multiple axes, I would say that the Javelin and the Stinger were both capabilities that were absolutely critical in enabling the Ukrainians to repel that initial advance and kind of freeze Russian forces in their tracks, but later as the battlefield evolved to be more of an artillery fight in the east, it really was the HIMARS system and before that, our M777 howitzers that played a really decisive role.

VOA: Let’s talk about the HIMARS since you mentioned them—for our audience, the High Mobility Artillery Rocket systems. The U.S. has provided GMLRS rockets with a range of about 90 kilometers, 55 miles, so far. But there have been Ukrainians that want something longer-range, like the ATACMS. Is the Pentagon taking a serious look at providing that, and do you foresee that being something that is added in the Ukrainian packages of military aid in the future?   

Cooper: So, we think it’s important to note that we are always looking at Ukrainian battlefield needs, and we are always evaluating what are the best capabilities to provide them so that they can meet their operational requirements. At this point, we see the GMLRS as being highly effective at reaching the vast, vast array of targets that Ukraine needs to hit. So, we’re sticking with the GMLRS at this point.   

VOA: But some would argue, and I was speaking with Lieutenant General Ben Hodges [Retired], who was the former commander of U.S. Army, and he was pointing out that the ATACMS, with a 300-kilometer range, could allow the Ukrainians to hit major areas in Crimea on that peninsula that they cannot hit with the GMLRS. So, what’s your response to that? Is that not a capability that is considered the priority at this point, what’s the real reason for not providing that?    

Cooper: So, you can’t just look at the one capability. There are other capabilities that the Ukrainians have available to them to reach other targets, and I think you’ve seen actually, strikes in Crimea, you’ve seen strikes in the Black Sea for that matter, with a range of capabilities. So, again, I would say, we believe that the capabilities we have provided to Ukraine enable them to reach the vast majority of targets that they need to, that they need to hit to meet their operational goals.   

VOA: As I’ve been speaking with people about the long-range precision capability, you hear two different arguments. There is one, there’s a concern that Russia will see that as a further escalation, and that Russia will respond to this further escalation. And then there’s the other side that feels like the long-range precision munitions are needed because Russia has so far had a sanctuary on its territory and that the Ukrainians, with the exception of what we’ve seen over the last few days, have not targeted any of their military or civilian capabilities. Where do you fall in the spectrum personally or where do you see that argument?   

Cooper: Well, I think it’s important to not be in the theoretical on the theoretical targets and the theoretical responses and focus really on what the Ukrainians need on the battlefield. And what you’re seeing is their focus quite recently, it was Kherson, where they had a very effective advance and pushed the Russians back. We saw them up in Kharkiv, and now we see them in eastern Ukraine, fighting fiercely against Russian advances in Bakhmut. And we look at what capabilities do they need for these particular operational situations, and what capabilities are they using? And again, I would say that the HIMARS have been incredibly effective with the GMLRS at taking out key Russian command and control points, key Russian logistics nodes, and enabling the Ukrainians to not just hold their ground, but actually to advance.   

VOA: The British defense minister, I think, just recently said that he was open-minded to providing more longer-range weapon systems. How does the secretary feel about this? How do you feel about this or are you keeping an open mind about this moving forward as you talk with Ukrainians about what they need?

Cooper: Looking across all capabilities, we’re always looking at what the Ukrainians need, and we always have an open mind about what that might be.   

VOA: So, yes, you are also like-minded.   

Cooper: We are always open minded about capability needs for the gradients.   

VOA: So, I want to talk to you about something that Ukraine’s foreign minister said this month. He said that Russia’s ability to launch a major offensive might be restored in late January or February, in that timeline. Is the U.S. concerned about this possibility also, and what is the Pentagon trying to do to prevent that?   

Cooper: So, we’re always vigilant and looking at where Russia might next seek to push forward where what you know, operations they might be contemplating. The winter is going to be a very dynamic time. I think some people think about the winter as a time to rest and refit. But we don’t see any sign that the Ukrainians are going to hold up and we certainly would expect that the Russians may try to also advance. The thing about the Russian situation right now, though, to keep in mind, is the very poor state of their forces. You’re dealing with many forces that were hastily mobilized, received very little training, are very poorly equipped, and their morale is incredibly low. So even though we’ll be very vigilant, and we’ll be looking to support the Ukrainians with all of their capability needs, we also are cognizant that the Russians are struggling.  

VOA: Let’s talk about that a little more. They have had setback after setback on the battlefield. So, you foresee that the Russians, as long as the Ukrainians keep bringing the fight to them, that they will not be able to regroup and relaunch – is that what I’m hearing? Explain kind of where you see the Russians in the future as this goes, because we know now that they’re, they’re in a dire situation with low morale, or do you see this projecting to January?   

Cooper: Well, I think you have to look at two pieces of this. One is their brutal and devastating attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Clearly, the Russians have resorted to this tactic out of desperation, and out of complete apathy, for human rights for civilian rights and for global opinion. Yet they seem to keep up with this tactic. And so, I think we can foresee that Russia will continue to try to intimidate the Ukrainian civilian population and the Ukrainian government into you know, some sort of submission. That’s not going to happen. I think the Ukrainians will stand firm, they will improve their resilience with all of the deliveries of both electrical equipment, but also of air defense equipment from the United States and allies. At the same time, the other prong of what Russia’s strategy has been is to kind of push forward with their forces in attempting to eke out additional territorial games. I would certainly see them trying to continue to do this, but this is where their weaknesses in, you know, the strength of their forces, the morale of their forces, the capabilities that they have, will really be a hindrance, but the way Russia fights is different from how any of our allied militaries or the Ukrainians fight, they really are throwing their forces, throwing their individuals into the meat grinder without regard for the very high casualties that they’re facing.   

VOA: Let’s talk about the ability of the Ukrainian forces to defend the Ukrainian population. Right now, the U.S. just helped provide two NASAMS to Ukraine. These are the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems. And can you tell us a little bit about the success of those? What have they been doing? I heard from one analyst that it’s like 35 attempts, 35 successful hits. Just talk about what you’re hearing from the battlefield.   

Cooper: Sure. And again, I want to put the NASAMS in a larger context of air defense because we’re looking across the board at how we can enable Ukrainian air defense, and so, even way back last spring, we were sending the Ukrainians spare parts to keep their S-300 systems up and running. But with the NASAM systems, this is a really premier Western capability that the Ukrainians right off the bat have been able to operate incredibly effectively against Russian missile threats, and also Russian UAS threats. So, we’ve seen them be very successful in the last several waves of attacks, where again, Russia is trying to target Ukraine’s energy grid, but they’re failing.   

VOA: And Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has recently raised the concern that they’re still not fully capable of protecting themselves against the ballistic missiles, that is Skander ballistic missiles. And that is where we have heard and two U.S. officials have told VOA that the Pentagon is preparing to send Patriot missiles or Patriot missile batteries, to Ukraine to help with that, can you confirm that that is something that the Pentagon is preparing to do?   

Cooper: I don’t have any announcements for you on new air defense capabilities right now, but I can affirm air defense is our top priority and we are looking at a number of ways in which we can support Ukraine and its air defense needs. NASAMS was one piece of that. We’re also talking with allies, and we’ve had tremendous support from allies in bringing capability to Ukraine. Whether you’re talking about Germany’s IRIS-T system or the fact that a host of allies have been providing the AMRAAM missiles that the NASAMS units are firing.

VOA: C-RAMs also could be another option. Is that something that the Pentagon is considering?   

Cooper: I don’t have anything, anything to offer on that.   

VOA: Okay, and so, let me tell our audience, it’s not kind of in the weeds about weapon systems. Can you just explain, should a Patriot missile battery come to Ukraine? Can you talk about what that would provide? Explain to our audience the difference that this capability could provide over some of the other ones that have already been given.   

Cooper: Well, I’m not a technical expert to be able to get into details of different systems, but I think I can tell your listeners that air defense is not about one system in one point. Air defense is about having layers of systems that can target the range of threats, whether it’s these Iranian UAVs that Russia has purchased that are menacing Ukraine cities, or it’s these you know, cruise missiles coming from land from air or from sea, you have to have this layered approach with multiple systems, protecting at multiple points around the country.   

VOA: Since you mentioned Iran, what can you tell us about what Iran is continuing to provide Russia. They have so far denied that they have provided Russia weapons, but we can see in the debris that there are Iranian drones being used. So, what’s the latest update on how much they’ve provided and what they’ve provided?   

Cooper: So, every one of those Iranian UAS that menaces Ukraine skies is another capability that Russia would not have had if Iran had not come to Russia’s assistance. Iran can’t deny this. We’ve seen in fact in terms of the damage due to UAS and the Ukrainians have plenty of eyewitness accounts, where we see them bravely shooting these out of the sky, even with machine guns that we’ve provided them, so Iran does continue to source the Russian military with these UAVs. And we know that the relationship between Iran and Russia has grown significantly through the duration of the war in Ukraine.   

VOA: Have you seen Russia at all be able to replenish some of the things that it has lost? Or are they really severely depleted at this point?   

Cooper: I think we’ve seen Russian defense industry is on its back heels. U.S. and allied export controls have helped starve the materials that Russian defense industry relies upon. At the same time, I know Russia is, they’re trying to find additional sources they’re trying to find ways to produce or acquire. But right now, we know they’re in trouble because their two friends that they’re turning to appear to be Iran and North Korea, and they lack other suppliers.

VOA: And still no support from China at this point that you’ve seen?

Cooper: I don’t have any information on support from China.   

VOA: Okay. And then I wanted to ask you just more about the weapons that the U.S. has been providing. One of the things we haven’t seen yet are fighter jets. Is that under consideration and if not, why not?   

Cooper: Again, the full range of capabilities are under consideration, and we’re open to, but our focus has really been on what can Ukrainians use now? And we know that they need air defense now. So, we’re very focused on that. We know they need fires, long-range fires, artillery, including HIMARS and ammunition to support them. We know they need armored vehicles to move around. So, these are the kinds of capabilities that we’ve been very, very focused on. And for the air domain, we’ve been focused on UAS that they can field very quickly and effectively to inflict damage on Russian positions. With aircraft, that certainly is something that the Ukrainians have shown a proficiency to operate, their MiGs have been in the fight and so we’ve decided to further enable their MiGs, and that’s where these HARM missiles that we’ve provided them, which anti-radiation missiles that we’ve provided Ukraine have come into play. We’ve also provided a lot of spare parts to help keep those MiGs flying. And that’s all about enabling the capability that can be used immediately, as opposed to capabilities that would take a lot of training and have a lot of work on maintenance and sustainment.   

VOA: And that is something that critics have said a Patriot would take. As I understand it, it would take at least six months to train somebody to use the Patriot. It took several months for the NASAMS, correct? It took at least a couple months.   

Cooper: Honestly, I don’t recall exactly how long it took. But I mean for most of the Western air defense systems, there is a real significant training challenge. But you know, we’re looking at this for all the systems we provide to Ukraine. We make sure that we have the capability. We have the training to go with it. And we have the maintenance and sustainment capability to go with it so that you know when we make this commitment, they know it’s a commitment to a full system.   

VOA: You mentioned armored vehicles, and the U.S. has provided the Russian armored vehicles. But to date, I haven’t seen any M1A1 Abrams being provided to Ukraine, which some people would say could significantly give them an advantage on the battlefield. Is that something that the United States would send? And that’s another question – why hasn’t the United States sent an American-made M1A1 Abrams to this fight yet?   

Cooper: So again, we’re looking at what they need right now and what they can use right now. And so, we have provided a number of armored vehicles of a variety, everything from armored Humvees to 113s, and these are APCs that have enabled the Ukrainians in their counteroffensive operations to maneuver in a protected way. So that is something that we have prioritized, and they have successfully used. For tanks, we’ve prioritized helping refurbish or incentivize donations of Soviet-type tanks because we’ve seen the Ukrainians use these very, very effectively. We know they can be deployed immediately and the maintenance and sustainment of them is relatively straightforward. And Ukrainians are very capable of doing it. Something like a Western-style tank would take a much longer time period, not just to train on but a much more complex and challenging maintenance and sustainment system, not something that could happen in the immediate future.   

VOA: And then I finally want to talk about the potential threats coming out of Russia. Ukraine is in many ways, for the West, a battle for democracy, a battle for sovereignty, not allowing somebody to come in and bully another sovereign nation. But the looming threat is the nuclear threat. However, we’re 10 months in now, and there has been talk, irresponsible talk the Pentagon has said, but no action, where do you see Russia standing on the nuclear threat? Do you think that that is still a very real threat? Or are you on the side where a lot of analysts are, that say they have no tactical advantage on the battlefield? And so, at this point, they do not think Russia would use nuclear weapons.   

Cooper: So, I will tell you, this is something we watch every day, literally every single day. We are paying attention to the Russian nuclear enterprise. And looking to see if there are any signs that they are mobilizing or moving forward with any kind of heightened state of readiness or ultimately strike. We see no signs that Russia is doing anything unusual with their nuclear enterprise. But we keep monitoring that. In terms of Russian intentions. It’s hard. It’s hard to see inside [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s mind, certainly, but what we have seen out of Moscow on nuclear issues is really a lot of irresponsible saber-rattling designed to intimidate but not linked to any specific actions.   

VOA: There will be a new Congress. Do you foresee the aid that the U.S. is providing Ukraine to change at all? And should the Ukrainians be expecting a new aid package soon?   

Cooper: So, I have had the pleasure of being on the receiving end of incredible congressional bipartisan support for Ukraine. And it really has been a partnership with the U.S. Congress. I foresee continued very strong support from the U.S. Congress. Of course, it’s a dialogue. It’s a process where we hold ourselves accountable to the U.S. Congress for the assistance that they are appropriating, but I foresee strong support. And everything that I hear from members of Congress is that they want the Ukrainians to have the capabilities they need when they need it. So, we’re unified in that.   

VOA: So, can you tell Ukrainians watching VOA, that this administration will remain committed to them for as long as it takes and for as long as they need to remain in this war?   

Cooper: I have heard it from every U.S. leader, whether it’s [Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin or President [Joe] Biden himself. We will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. 
…

The U.S Senate on Thursday passed military spending authorization legislation that included a newly amended version of the BURMA Act – the Burma Unified Through Rigorous Military Accountability Act of 2021 – aimed at helping pro-democracy forces battling the junta that has ruled Myanmar since last year’s coup.

The Myanmar language in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act broadens the U.S. government’s authority to impose sanctions against the post-coup regime and aid Myanmar opposition and resistance groups. The authorized aid does not include arms.

The House of Representatives passed the defense bill December 8. The BURMA Act’s sponsor, Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory Meeks, lauded passage in a statement that day.

“The inclusion of my bill, the BURMA Act, is a major victory for the people of Burma who are fighting for democracy and is a critical step in holding the murderous Burmese military accountable,” he said.

Michael Haack, campaign manager at the Campaign for a New Myanmar, told VOA, “This is the most significant action that the U.S. Congress has taken for Burma since the early 2000s.” The group has been working for the Burma democracy movement and lobbying on Burma issues in Congress.

Haack also said the most important parts of the BURMA Act are the codification and extension of targeted sanctions on members of the ruling junta; possible sanctions on the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, a state-owned company that serves as one of the junta’s main sources of income; and a pledge of support for anti-junta forces.

According to U.S. Myanmar advocacy groups, it is significant that the bill mentions by name the anti-junta shadow National Unity Government and affiliates such as the National Unity Consultative Council and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a group of lawmakers ousted during last year’s coup, as groups that the U.S. supports.

The House passed similar language in April of last year, but the Senate never passed it.

Haack pointed to difficulties in reaching agreement to get bills out of committee in the Senate.

“We were never able to get Republicans to agree to many aspects of the bill, such as the larger dollar amount allocation for humanitarian and democracy aid and mandatory MOGE sanctions and indeed, those were what was taken out of the version that made it into the NDAA,” he told VOA.

Ye Myo Hein, a public policy fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, told VOA that “the bill will definitely set a new course for the U.S. policy on Burma. It will encourage the Biden administration to take stronger action against the Myanmar junta and to openly support and engage the resistance movement.”

The BURMA Act will become law when President Joe Biden signs the defense authorization legislation, expected in coming days.
…

U.S. President Joe Biden capped a summit of 50 African leaders by saying he may come visit, after he repeatedly stressed his administration’s deep commitment to Africa – and urged the continent’s leaders to respect the will of their people.

The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit concluded Thursday with bonhomie, $55 billion in U.S. commitments, and this from Biden:

“As I told some of you — you invited me to your countries,” he said. “I said, “Be careful what you wish for because I may show up. The poor relatives always show up. The wealthy ones never show up. The poor come and they eat your food and stay longer than they should. Well, I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in your home countries.”

He did not give details of the possible trip.

It’s a striking joke from the leader of the world’s wealthiest nation, who spent much of Wednesday touting U.S. plans to deliver $55 billion in assistance to a continent struggling with food insecurity, inequality and a painful legacy of colonialism.

But jokes aside, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations told VOA that a presidential trip would have a big impact.

“This will be an opportunity for the people of Africa — whatever countries, if the president decides to make such a visit — that they will actually see our commitment to them,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who spoke to VOA on the sidelines of the summit.

Many kinds of diplomacy

These grand gestures and big promises contrast with the quieter diplomacy happening at this summit, which included pull-asides between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the leaders of Ethiopia and Congo — both countries with active conflicts. In talks with Ethiopia’s prime minister, the U.S. “urged accelerated implementation” of a recent peace agreement and “access to the conflict areas by international human rights monitors,” the State Department said.

Blinken also met with stable West African ally Senegal, whose president is the chairperson of the African Union, and with the president of Southern Africa energy giant Angola.

Analysts say the U.S. is trying to work with a range of African partners — regardless of their track records — on issues where they can find common ground.

“I think what Washington is trying to do is diversify its relationships on the continent and not make them dependent on any one leader or any one group of countries because what we have seen is these countries remain fragile and a strategic partner today could be engulfed in civil war tomorrow,” said Cameron Hudson, an analyst on African peace, security, and governance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He spoke to VOA via Zoom.

‘Critical time for democracy globally’

Biden also invited the leaders of Congo, Gabon, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria and Sierra Leone to a private meeting on Wednesday, where they discussed their upcoming elections during what the White House says is a “critical time for democracy globally.”

Publicly, Biden affirmed support for more African representation at the G-20 and the U.N. Security Council — while also not ignoring leaders’ shortfalls.

“As leaders, our people inspire us,” he said. “They awaken us to possibilities that are within our grasp. There are so many possibilities if we work together. They tell us hard truths that we need to hear. And sometimes we have trouble listening. They challenge us to live up to the values enshrined in so many of our founding documents and to be worthy of the responsibility given to us by that sacred trust.”

That particular message falls on some old ears. Cameroon’s Paul Biya is 89. Republic of Congo’s Denis Sassou Nguesso is 79, as is Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari. Many of these men — and all but one African head of state is male — were born well before their countries gained independence, on a continent where the median age is just 18.

What will they take back to their homelands, other than full pockets and warm memories?
…

The U.S. Africa Leaders Summit concluded with bonhomie and billion-dollar goals, plus a hint of a presidential visit to the continent. President Joe Biden stressed his administration’s commitment to Africa – and urged its leaders to respect the will of their people. VOA’s Anita Powell reports.
…

Stocks tumbled on Wall Street and across European markets Thursday as investors grew increasingly concerned that the Federal Reserve and other central banks are willing to risk a recession to bring inflation under control.

The S&P 500 fell 2.5%, with more than 90% of stocks in the benchmark index closing in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.2%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 3.2%. The broad slide erased all the weekly gains for the major indexes.

European stocks fell sharply, with Germany’s DAX dropping 3.3%.

The wave of selling came as central banks in Europe raised interest rates a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked its key rate again, emphasizing that interest rates will need to go higher than previously expected in order to tame inflation.

“It’s this coordinated central bank tightening — stocks tend to not do well in that environment,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at All Star Charts.

In the U.S., the market’s losses were widespread, though technology stocks were the biggest weight on the S&P 500. The benchmark index fell 99.57 points to 3,895.75.

The Dow slid 764.13 points to 33,202.22, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 360.36 points to 10,810.53.

Small company stocks also fell. The Russell 2000 index slid 45.85 points, or 2.5%, to close at 1,774.61.

The Fed raised its short-term interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday, its seventh increase this year. Central banks in Europe followed along Thursday, with the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss National Bank each raising their main lending rate by a half-point Thursday.

Although the Fed is slowing the pace of its rate increases, the central bank signaled it expects rates to be higher over the coming few years than it had previously anticipated. That disappointed investors, who hoped recent signs that inflation is easing somewhat would persuade the Fed to take some pressure off the brakes it’s applying to the U.S. economy.

The federal funds rate stands at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, the highest level in 15 years. Fed policymakers forecast that the central bank’s rate will reach a range of 5% to 5.25% by the end of 2023.

Their forecast doesn’t call for a rate cut before 2024.

The yield on the two-year Treasury, which closely tracks expectations for Fed moves, rose to 4.24% from 4.21% late Wednesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, slipped to 3.45% from 3.48%.

The three-month Treasury yield slipped to 4.31% but remains above that of the 10-year Treasury. That’s known as an inversion and considered a strong warning that the economy could be headed for a recession.

“The [stock] market’s reaction is now factoring in a recession and rejecting the possibility of the ‘soft/softish’ landing” that Fed Chair Jerome Powell raised in a speech last month, said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial.

The prospect of more Fed rate hikes have heightened Wall Street’s worries about how company earnings could fare in a recession, Delwiche said.

“[Inflation] has peaked. It will peak. It did peak — whatever. That’s not the story,” he said. “The story now is how does the economy hold up? How do earnings hold up?”

The central bank has been fighting to lower inflation at the same time that pockets of the economy, including employment and consumer spending, remain strong. That has made it more difficult to rein in high prices on everything from food to clothing.

On Thursday, the government reported that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week, a sign that the labor market remains strong. Meanwhile, another report showed that retail sales fell in November. That pullback followed a sharp rise in spending in October.

Like the Fed, central bank officials in Europe said inflation is not yet corralled and that more rate hikes are coming.

“We are in for a long game,” European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said at a news conference.
…

Thousands of migrants are in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez — just south of El Paso, Texas — awaiting the December 21 end of Title 42, a Trump-era policy allowing the swift expulsion of migrants at the U.S. border. Cesar Contreras reports from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
…

The United States imposed new economic sanctions on Russian financial interests Thursday, targeting one of the country’s richest businessmen, Vladimir Potanin, and his family, in the latest effort to pressure Moscow over its war against Ukraine.

Potanin was once Russia’s deputy prime minister, and the U.S. said he has direct ties to President Vladimir Putin. Potanin, 61, controls Interros, an investment holding company the U.S. said has sweeping interests across the Russian economy, including 36% ownership of Nornickel, the world’s largest palladium and refined nickel producer.

The U.S. also blocked Potanin from use of Nirvana, the yacht worth hundreds of millions of dollars that he partially owns. Britain and Canada had previously imposed sanctions against him.

In addition, the U.S. Department of State blacklisted Rosbank, a Russia-based commercial bank it said Potanin acquired earlier this year, along with 17 subsidiaries of Russian VTB, the country’s second largest bank.

Brian Nelson, the Department of the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement, “By sanctioning additional major Russian banks, we continue to deepen Russia’s isolation from global markets.”

He said the U.S. sanctions, “together with actions taken by our international partners, will further inhibit the Putin regime’s ability to fund its horrific war against Ukraine.”

The State Department also imposed sanctions on members of the board of directors of the state-owned Russian Railways, members of the government, including the governor of the Moscow region and their family members.

The sanctions freeze whatever U.S. assets those blacklisted might hold, and generally bar Americans from any financial deals with them.

The newest sanctions follow a lengthy list of sanctions the U.S. and its allies have imposed on Russian oligarchs and other key business leaders since Putin invaded Ukraine last February. But there has been no indication the financial pressures that the individuals might be facing have influenced Putin to curtail Russia’s war effort.

Whatever the sanctions’ effect in Russia may or may not be, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the United States would continue “to impose costs on Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine.”

“Our actions today are a clear message that the United States will not hesitate to continue to use the tools at our disposal to promote an end to, and accountability for, President Putin’s unconscionable war,” Blinken said.
…

Three men convicted of playing supporting roles in a foiled plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan in 2020 were sentenced to multiple years in prison on Thursday, as two of the conspiracy’s ringleaders await sentencing before the end of the month.

The three men – Joseph Morrison, 28, his father-in-law Pete Musico, 44, and Paul Bellar, 23 – were sentenced in Jackson County Circuit Court, where they were convicted by a jury in October on charges of gang membership, firearm violations and providing material support for terrorism.

The convictions were a victory for state prosecutors who argued that the defendants assisted two other men who in August were found guilty in federal court of orchestrating the kidnapping conspiracy.

Defense attorneys argued their clients did not know of a plan to kidnap the governor and that their actions were protected by the First and Second Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The three men were among more than a dozen men arrested in October 2020 and charged with state or federal crimes by prosecutors who say they participated in a conspiracy plan to abduct Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The plot was born in part from their frustrations over restrictions the Democratic governor imposed on residents and businesses during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group planned to break into Whitmer’s vacation home, kidnap her and take her at gunpoint to stand “trial” on treason charges, prosecutors said.

The conspirators hoped that an abduction would lead to a violent uprising and instigate a civil war, prosecutors said.

Seven of the accused, including Morrison, Musico and Bellar, have now been convicted by a jury or pleaded guilty to playing roles in the conspiracy. Two others were acquitted of federal charges at a trial in April.

In August, two alleged militia men accused of conspiring to trigger a “second American revolution” in the kidnapping plot were found guilty of kidnapping conspiracy charges. Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted at a retrial after the first trial in the spring ended with a hung jury. Two other defendants were acquitted during those proceedings.

Fox and Croft are scheduled to be sentenced later this month. They face the possibility of life in prison.

Morrison and Musico were accused of hosting tactical training sessions on their property in a remote part of Michigan. Bellar was accused of providing plans for tactical maneuvers, coded language for covert communication and ammunition.

All three were members of a militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen, prosecutors said.
…

President Joe Biden enumerated billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. investments in Africa in remarks to African leaders and the continent’s business community at a three-day summit. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington.
…

Puerto Ricans could move a step closer to a referendum on whether the island should become a U.S. state, an independent country, or have another type of government when the U.S. House of Representatives votes Thursday on a bill outlining the process.

A House committee approved the Puerto Rico Status Act on Wednesday, paving the way for the full House vote.

The legislation lays out terms of a plebiscite as well as three potential self-governing statuses: independence, full U.S. statehood, or sovereignty with free association with the United States. The latter is in place in Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands.

Puerto Rico, which has about 3.3 million people and high rates of poverty, became a U.S. territory in 1898. Activists have campaigned for greater self-determination, including statehood, for decades.

There have been six referendums on the topic since the 1960s, but they were nonbinding. Only Congress can grant statehood.

“After 124 years of colonialism Puerto Ricans deserve a fair, transparent and democratic process to finally solve the status question,” Representative Nydia Velazquez, a Democratic co-sponsor of the bill, said on Twitter.

The Caribbean island’s citizens are Americans but do not have voting representation in Congress, cannot vote in presidential elections, do not pay federal income tax on income earned on the island and do not have the same eligibility for some federal programs as other U.S. citizens.

If the bill passes the House, it will need 60 votes in the closely divided Senate and Democratic President Joe Biden’s signature to become law.

The legislation has the support of lawmakers of both parties and Puerto Rican officials.

But time is running out as lawmakers have a full agenda before a vacation at the end of next week. A new Congress with a Republican-controlled House will be sworn in on January 3, at which point any legislative process would have to start over.
…

A hacker who reportedly posed as the chief executive of a financial institution claims to have obtained access to the more than 80,000-member database of InfraGard, an FBI-run outreach program that shares sensitive information on national security and cybersecurity threats with public officials and private sector individuals who run U.S. critical infrastructure.

The hacker posted samples purportedly from the database to an online forum popular with cybercriminals last weekend and said the asking price for the entire database was $50,000. 

The hacker made the disclosures to independent cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, who broke the story. The hacker called the vetting process surprisingly lax. 

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Krebs reported that the agency told him it was aware of a potential false account and was looking into the matter. 

InfraGard’s members include business leaders, information technology professionals, and officials of the military, state and local law enforcement, and the government who are involved in overseeing the safety of such things as the electrical grid, transportation, health care, pipelines, nuclear reactors, the defense industry, dams, water plants and financial services. Founded in 1996, it is the FBI’s largest public-private partnership, with local alliances affiliated with all its field offices. It regularly shares threat advisories from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and serves as a behind-closed-doors social media site for select insiders. 

The database has the names, affiliations and contact information of tens of thousands of InfraGard users. Krebs first reported its theft on Tuesday. 

The hacker, going by the username USDoD on the BreachForums site, said on the site that records of only 47,000 of the forum’s members — slightly more than half — include unique emails. The hacker also posted that the data contained neither Social Security numbers nor dates of birth. Although fields existed in the database for that information, InfraGard’s security-conscious users had left them blank. 

However, the hacker, according to Krebs, claimed to have been messaging InfraGard members, posing as the financial institution’s CEO, to try to obtain more personal data that could be criminally weaponized. 

The AP reached the hacker on the BreachForums site via private message. The person would not say whether a buyer for the records had been found or answer other questions, but did say that Krebs’ article “was 100% accurate.” 

The FBI did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on how the hacker was able to trick it into approving the InfraGard membership. Krebs reported that the hacker had included a contact email address under the person’s control, as well as the CEO’s real mobile phone number, when applying for InfraGard membership in November. 

Krebs quoted the hacker as saying InfraGard approved the application in early December and the email account was used to receive a one-time authentication code. 

Once inside, the hacker said, the database information was easy to obtain with simple software script.
…

A volatile storm ripping across the U.S. spawned tornadoes that killed a young boy and his mother in Louisiana, smashed mobile homes and chicken houses in Mississippi, and threatened neighboring Southern states with more punishing weather Wednesday. 

To the north, the huge storm system delivered blizzard-like conditions to the Great Plains and was expected to push more snow and ice into Appalachia and New England. The wintery blast dumped more than 61 centimeters (2 feet) of snow in parts of South Dakota. 

In northern Louisiana, it took hours for authorities to find the bodies of a mother and child reported missing after a tornado struck Keithville, a rural community near Shreveport, on Tuesday afternoon. 

The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office said the body of Nikolus Little, 8, was found about 11 p.m. Tuesday in a wooded area. His mother, Yoshiko A. Smith, 30, was found dead under storm debris about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. 

Sheriff Steve Prator said their home was destroyed and the boy ended up 804 meters away, while his mother’s body was discovered one street over from where their mobile home stood. When deputies arrived at their address, they found nothing but a concrete slab, said sheriff’s Sergeant Casey Jones. 

“You go to search a house and the house isn’t even there, so where do you search?” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards told reporters, noting the challenge faced by emergency responders as he toured a mile-long path of destruction in Keithville. 

The forecast Wednesday called for more severe storms with additional tornadoes expected across an area of the Gulf Coast region populated by nearly 3 million people from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama. More damaging weather was possible in the Florida panhandle. 

A steady stream of tornado warnings was issued Wednesday across portions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. 

In Union Parish, on Louisiana’s northern border with Arkansas, Farmerville Mayor John Crow said a Tuesday night tornado badly damaged an apartment complex where 50 families lived and wiped out a neighboring trailer park with about 10 homes. “It happened quick,” Crow said Wednesday, adding that about 30 homes were damaged along nearby Lake D’Arbonne. 

Shannon Futch, Union Parish’s emergency director, said there were reports of numerous people treated for cuts and bruises and at least two people hospitalized after a twister cut a swath of damage about 8 kilometers long, toppling trees onto about a dozen houses. 

“Some people even stayed the night in their houses that had big pine trees on them,” Futch said. “They didn’t have anywhere to go.” 

A suspected tornado reported in New Iberia in southwest Louisiana damaged several buildings on the campus of New Iberia Medical Center, hospital officials said, and left five people with minor injuries. 

In neighboring Mississippi, a suspected tornado destroyed four large chicken houses — one of which held 5,000 roosters — in Rankin County, Sheriff Bryan Bailey said. Mobile homes at a park in Sharkey County were reduced to piles of shredded debris. Resident Leslie Jackson told WLBT-TV her home was one of only a couple left standing. 

A line of thunderstorms sweeping through Texas spawned tornadoes Tuesday and damaged dozens of homes and businesses. At least five people were injured in the Dallas suburb of Grapevine, police spokesperson Amanda McNew said. A possible tornado blew the roof off the city’s municipal service center, leaving debris hanging from power lines. 

Icy weather from the huge storm was expected to affect the U.S. from coast to coast. It began by dumping heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada and was predicted to bring ice and snow to the eastern U.S. in the coming days. 

“This system is notable for the fact that it’s going impact areas all the way from California to eventually the Northeast,” said Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. 

In the Black Hills of western South Dakota, snow piled up to nearly 61 centimeters in some mountainous communities. 

“They shovel for hours on end,” said Vicki Weekly, who manages a historic hotel in the tourist and gambling city of Deadwood, where a few visitors were still venturing out to hit the casinos. 

Interstate 90, spanning the western half of South Dakota, remained closed Wednesday and the state Department of Transportation warned drivers to stay off most highways. In North Dakota, accumulated snow caused authorities Tuesday evening to shut down Interstate 94 between Bismarck and Fargo, the Bismarck Tribune reported. 

Wet, heavy snow left tree limbs sagging and made driving treacherous Wednesday in northern Minnesota. Weather Service meteorologist Ketzel Levens in Duluth said snow had reached 15 to 20 centimeters in some parts of the region. 

Forecasters expect the storm system to hobble the upper Midwest with ice, rain and snow for days, as well as move into the Northeast and the central Appalachians. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch from Wednesday night through Friday afternoon, depending on the timing of the storm. Residents from West Virginia to Vermont were told to watch for a possible significant mix of snow, ice and sleet.
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The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday and projected at least an additional 75 basis points of increases in borrowing costs by the end of 2023 as well as a rise in unemployment and a near stalling of economic growth. 

The U.S. central bank’s projection of the target federal funds rate rising to 5.1% in 2023 is slightly higher than investors expected heading into this week’s two-day policy meeting and appeared biased if anything to move higher. 

Only two of 19 Fed officials saw the benchmark overnight interest rate staying below 5% next year, a signal they still feel the need to lean into their battle against inflation that has been running at 40-year highs. 

“The (Federal Open Market) Committee is highly attentive to inflation risks … Ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2% over time,” the Fed said in a statement nearly identical to the one it issued at its November meeting. 

The new statement, approved unanimously, was released after a meeting at which officials scaled back from the three-quarters-of-a-percentage-point rate increases that were delivered at the last four gatherings. The Fed’s policy rate, which began the year at the near-zero level, is now in a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%, the highest since late 2007. 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT) to provide further details on the policy meeting, which was the last of 2022. 

The new rate outlook, a rough estimate of where officials feel they can pause their current rate-hike cycle, was issued along with economic projections showing an extended battle with inflation still to come, and with near recessionary conditions developing over the year. 

Inflation, based on the Fed’s preferred measure, is seen remaining above the central bank’s 2% target at least until the end of 2025, and will still be above 3% by the end of next year. 

The median projected unemployment rate is seen rising to 4.6% over the next year from the current 3.7%, an increase that exceeds the level historically associated with a recession. 

Gross domestic product is seen growing by just 0.5% next year, the same as estimated for 2022, before rising to 1.6% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2025, a level considered to be the economy’s long-run potential. 

 
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Tolerance for Native American-themed sports mascots is wearing thin across the United States. New York is the latest state to ban them from public schools. Activists say conversations about the mascots — and respect and equality are long overdue. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports. Cecily Hilleary and Lynn Davis contributed to this report.
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A massive storm blowing across the country spawned tornadoes that wrecked homes and injured a handful of people in parts of Oklahoma and Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions.

An area stretching from Montana into western Nebraska and Colorado was under blizzard warnings, and the National Weather Service said as much as 61 centimeters of snow was possible in some areas of western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska. Ice and sleet were expected in the eastern Great Plains.

Forecasters expect the storm system to hobble the upper Midwest with ice, rain and snow for days, as well as move into the Northeast and central Appalachians. Residents from West Virginia to Vermont were told to watch out for a possible significant mix of snow, ice and sleet, and the National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch from Wednesday night through Friday afternoon, depending on the timing of the storm.

The severe weather threat also continues into Wednesday for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

In the South, a line of thunderstorms brought tornadoes, damaging winds, hail and heavy rain across North Texas and Oklahoma in the early morning hours, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Bradshaw. Authorities on Tuesday reported dozens of damaged homes and businesses and several people injured in the suburbs and counties stretching north of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The weather service examined about a dozen different areas across North Texas to determine if Tuesday’s damage was caused by high winds or tornadoes.

A tornado warning prompted the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to issue a “shelter in place” order Tuesday morning, asking passengers to move away from windows, the airport announced via Twitter.

More than 1,000 flights into and out of area airports were delayed, and upwards of 100 were canceled, according to the tracking service FlightAware.

In the Fort Worth suburbs, about 20 local homes and businesses were damaged, according to the North Richland Hills police department.

In nearby Grapevine, police spokesperson Amanda McNew reported five confirmed injuries.

“The main thing is that we’ve got everyone in a safe place,” McNew said just after noon. “We’re starting the process of going through the city looking at damage to property, to businesses, homes and then roads.”

A possible tornado blew the roof off the city’s service center — a municipal facility — and left pieces of the roof hanging from powerlines, said Trent Kelley, deputy director of Grapevine Parks and Recreation. Tuesday was also trash day, so the storm picked up and scattered garbage all over, he said.

Photos sent by the city showed downed power lines on rain-soaked streets, as well as toppled trees, damaged buildings and a semitrailer that appeared to have been tossed around a parking lot.

Meanwhile, a tornado damaged the Oklahoma town of Wayne shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday. There was widespread damage but no deaths or injuries, McClain County Sheriff’s Capt. Bryan Murrell said.

“We’ve got multiple family structures with significant damage … barns, power lines down,” Murrell said. The town is about 72 kilometers south of Oklahoma City.

National Weather Service meteorologist Doug Speheger said wind speeds reached 111-135 mph (179-211 kph) and the tornado was rated EF-2. It was likely on the ground for about two to four minutes, according to the weather service.

In parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, the National Weather Service warned that up to about 2.5 centimeters of ice could form and winds could gust up to 72 kph. Power outages, tree damage, falling branches and hazardous travel conditions threatened the region.

All of western Nebraska was under a blizzard warning from Tuesday through Thursday, and the National Weather Service said up to 51 centimeters of snow was expected in the northwest. Winds of more than 80 kph at times will make it impossible to see outdoors, officials said.

The Nebraska Department of Transportation closed stretches of Interstate 80 and Interstate 76 as heavy snow and high winds made travel dangerous. The Nebraska State Patrol, which was called to deal with several crashes and jackknifed semitrailers overnight, urged people to stay off the roads.

“There’s essentially no one traveling right now,” said Justin McCallum, a manager at the Flying J truck stop at Ogallala, Nebraska.

In Colorado, all roads were closed in the northeast quadrant of the state. The severe weather in the ranching region could also threaten livestock. Extreme winds can push livestock through fences as they follow the gale’s direction, said Jim Santomaso, a northeast representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association.

“If this keeps up,” said Santomaso, “cattle could drift miles.”

In western South Dakota, a 418-kilometer stretch of Interstate 90 was closed Tuesday morning due to “freezing rain, heavy snow, and high winds,” the state’s Department of Transportation said. Interstate 29 was also expected to close and secondary highways will likely become “impassable,” the department said.

Xcel Energy, one of the region’s largest electric providers, had boosted staff in anticipation of power outages.

A blizzard warning has been issued on Minnesota’s north shore, as some areas are expecting up to 61 centimeters of snow and wind gusts up to 65 kph. And in the south of the state, winds gusting up to 80 kph had reduced visibility.

National Weather Service meteorologist Melissa Dye in the Twin Cities said this is a “long duration event” with snow, ice and rain through Friday night. Minnesota was expecting a lull Wednesday, followed by a second round of snow.

Wet roadways are just as dangerous when temperatures hover around freezing, Dye said.

The same weather system dumped heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada and western U.S. in recent days.
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A stopgap spending bill to avoid a partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government began moving through the House of Representatives on Tuesday, as Congress scampered to meet a midnight Friday deadline when existing funds expire.

The one-week, government-wide funding bill is designed to give lawmakers additional time to finish negotiations on a year-long “omnibus” spending bill that would expire on September 30, 2023, the end of the current fiscal year.

A first, procedural vote on the legislation was set for Wednesday.

The larger of the two bills is expected to appropriate more than $1.5 trillion for the U.S. military and a range of non-military programs. The measure is also expected to contain new emergency funds to aid Ukraine in its battle against Russian forces.

Ukraine could get billions more, after Biden asked Congress last month for $37 billion.

The House was expected to pass the one-week “continuing resolution” on Wednesday or Thursday, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat, told reporters.

“We have no intention of shutting down the government of the United States, which is costly and harmful in almost every respect,” he said.

Once passed by the House, it would be sent quickly to the Senate for passage no later than Friday, in time for President Joe Biden to sign it into law.

Then, all attention would shift to the omnibus bill next week. Besides containing the aid to Ukraine, it also is expected to fold in an unrelated bill reforming the way Congress certifies U.S. presidential elections.

The latter is aimed at avoiding a repeat of the deadly turmoil of January 6, 2021, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump tried to stop the certification of Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

Negotiations continued on other parts of the large spending bill, including increases to non-military spending that Democrats, who narrowly control Congress, want in the face of Republican opposition.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned his Republicans want work on the omnibus bill wrapped up by December 22. “We intend to be on the road going home on the 23rd,” he told reporters.

Failure to reach agreement by then, he added, would mean that another temporary funding bill, going into early next year, would be necessary.

That is a result Democrats — and some Republicans — want to avoid as the negotiations on the funding bill would get more complicated next year, when Republicans take majority control of the House.

Conservative Republicans have been clamoring for deep domestic spending cuts Democrats want to avoid.

“There’s a lot of work left to do,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat said. “But we’re optimistic that if we preserve the good faith we’ve seen so far, we will get there.”
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U.S. prosecutors announced criminal charges on Tuesday against five Russians and two Americans, disrupting what they described as a network used to obtain military technology and ammunition for Russia’s military.

The group is accused of conspiring to obtain military grade and dual-use technologies from American companies for Russia’s defense industry, and to smuggle ammunition for sniper rifles, in violation of new U.S. sanctions, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The accused were allegedly affiliated with two Moscow-based companies linked to Russian intelligence that were sanctioned following Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, according to the 16-count indictment.

The investigation into the scheme was coordinated by Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement initiative launched in March in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We will continue the steady pace of seizures, indictments and arrests, while the Kremlin is shopping for spare parts in North Korea,” Andrew Adams, director of Task Force KleptoCapture, said in a statement.

The five Russian defendants were identified as Yevgeniy Grinin, 44, Aleksey Ippolitov, 57, and Boris Livshits, 52, Svetlana Skvortsova, 41, and Vadim Konoshchenok, 48.

The two American defendants are Alexey Brayman, 35, of New Hampshire and Vadim Yermolenko, 41, of New Jersey.

Yermolenko was arrested in New Jersey, and Brayman surrendered to the FBI earlier on Tuesday.

Konoshchenok was detained by Estonian authorities last week at the request of the United States and is awaiting extradition, the Justice Department said.

The other defendants remain at large.

According to the indictment, the defendants were affiliated with Serniya Engineering and Sertal LLC, both of which operate under the direction of Russian intelligence services to obtain advanced technologies for the country’s military sector.

Serniya, Sertal and several companies suspected in the conspiracy were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Department following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The Department of Justice and our international partners will not tolerate criminal schemes to bolster the Russian military’s war efforts,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. “With three of the defendants now in custody, we have disrupted the procurement network allegedly used by the defendants and Russian intelligence services to smuggle sniper rifle ammunition and sensitive electronic components into Russia.”

The defendants face charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States related to the enforcement of export controls and economic sanctions; conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA); smuggling; and failure to comply with the Automated Export System relating to the transportation of electronics.

If convicted of bank fraud or bank fraud conspiracy, the defendants face a maximum of 30 years in prison.
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