Last year, military conscription became an issue in both Russia and Ukraine. However, the extent has been completely different in the two countries. While in Russia the mobilization was partial, lasting barely more than a month and affecting around 300,000 people, according to official figures – a significant part of whom already had military experience – a completely different picture has developed in Ukraine.

Kiev instituted a general conscription drive which has been in force for more than a year. The exact number of those taken to the armed forces during this time is not known for certain and the process has been accompanied by numerous scandals. 

Cases where law enforcement officers have applied force when handing out conscription notices and illegally delivered men to enlistment offices have given rise to public discontent. However, the Ukrainian authorities clearly have no intention of pausing enlistment because the situation remains critical at some sections of the front.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are losing their grip on fortified areas around Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), and taking huge numbers of casualties, according to the Guardian and other media outlets. Meanwhile, Kiev continues to issue mobilization summonses and is sending people without proper training.

The fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is beginning to spread around the world.

Startup founders in California’s Bay Area are panicking about access to money and paying employees. Fears of contagion have reached Canada, India and China. In the UK, SVB’s unit is set to be declared insolvent, has already ceased trading and is no longer taking new customers. On Saturday, the leaders of roughly 180 tech companies sent a letter calling on UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to intervene.

“The loss of deposits has the potential to cripple the sector and set the ecosystem back 20 years,” they said in the letter seen by Bloomberg. “Many businesses will be sent into involuntary liquidation overnight.”

This is just the beginning. SVB had branches in China, Denmark, Germany, India, Israel and Sweden, too. Founders are warning that the bank’s failure could wipe out startups around the world without government intervention. SVB’s joint venture in China, SPD Silicon Valley Bank Co., was seeking to calm local clients overnight by reminding them that operations have been independent and stable.

It’s certainly no secret that the United States has been trying to foment yet another conflict in the immediate vicinity of its geopolitical adversaries. This is particularly true in regards to Russia and China, the only near-peer rivals capable of not only resisting, but also challenging Washington DC’s disastrous hegemony. It is precisely this that makes both superpowers prime targets for encirclement and destabilization, with the end goal being either their complete dismantlement or, at the very least, weakening to a point where they would be forced to accept US dominance without much (or any) opposition. To accomplish this, the belligerent thalassocracy has been using everything at its disposal, from false narratives disseminated by the massive mainstream propaganda machine to more “hard power” schemes such as weapons deliveries and (in)direct military involvement.

Most observers have always seen the connection between Russia and China or, more specifically, between their interests in Ukraine and Taiwan, respectively. These legitimate interests (primarily relating to, but not limited to security) have been targeted by the US and its numerous vassals. Both Moscow and Beijing are perfectly aware of this and are working towards building closer ties, especially on a strategic level, to counter escalating US aggression while maintaining their respective foreign policy frameworks, which aren’t always 100% convergent in every aspect. However, this does not impede their growing cooperation in any way, as can only be expected from truly sovereign nations. This is causing a tremendous amount of frustration in Washington DC, prompting it to mobilize its propaganda machine to try and tarnish the (Eur)Asian giants’ reputation.

Friday’s announcement that Iran and Saudi Arabia had restored bilateral ties for the first time in seven years marks a major geopolitical development in the Persian Gulf.

As the region’s two main powerhouses, Tehran and Riyadh had found themselves supporting opposing sides in conflicts in both Syria and Yemen over the past decade, resulting in tensions that would culminate in the ending of diplomatic relations in January 2016, following the execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia; seen as the dominant Sunni power in the Islamic world, with Iran regarded as the Shia equivalent.

Thus, the restoring of diplomatic relations between both nations should lead to increased stability in a region beset by conflict over the past two decades.

Reaching beyond west Asia, Friday’s announcement also signifies the establishment of a new multipolar world order, with China having brokered the deal between both countries. With Saudi Arabia being a key US-ally and trading partner in the region, this may also indicate that should Washington now feel that Riyadh is moving into Beijing’s sphere of influence, it may vie for regime-change in Saudi Arabia in a bid to maintain hegemony in west Asia.

Indeed such an occurrence has a historical precedent.

Ever so rarely, the human species can reach accord and agreement on some topic seemingly contentious and divergent.  Such occasions tend to be rarer than hen’s teeth, but the UN High Seas Treaty was one of them.  It took over two decades of agonising, stuttering negotiations to draft an agreement and went someway to suggest that the “common heritage of mankind”, a concept pioneered in the 1960s, has retained some force.

Debates about the sea have rarely lost their sting.  The Dutch legal scholar Hugo Grotius, in his 1609 work Mare Liberum (The Free Sea), laboured over such concepts as freedom of navigation and trade (commeandi commercandique libertas), terms that have come to mean as much assertions of power as affirmations of international legal relations.

The thrust of his argument was directed against the Portuguese claim of exclusive access to the East Indies, but along the way, statements abound about the nature of the sea itself, including its resources.  While land could be possessed and transformed by human labour and private use, the transient, ever-changing sea could not.  It is a view echoed in the work of John Locke, who called the ocean “that great and still remaining Common of Mankind”.

With empires and states tumbling over each other in those historical challenges posed by trade and navigation, thoughts turned to a relevant treaty that would govern the seas.  While there was a general acceptance by the end of the 18th century that states had sovereignty over their territorial sea to the limit of three miles, interest in codifying the laws on oceans was sufficient for the UN International Law Commission to begin work on the subject in 1949.

Another video confirming the war crimes of Ukrainian Nazis was shared by Ukrainian military sources with celebrating messages.

The video confirms that a group of Ukrainian servicemen executed surrendering Russian soldiers who were laying with their faces down and hands behind their heads. Ukrainian Nazis took their weapons and shoot the disarmed Russian men.

 The French Senate (upper house of parliament) on Saturday approved the government's proposed pension reform amid protests against it across the country since late January. The results of the vote were announced on the Twitter page of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

"After hundreds of hours of debates, the Senate has passed the text of pension reform. This is a decisive step towards a reform that will secure the future of our pensions. We are fully prepared for a final decision to be made in the coming days," the prime minister said.

According to the official, 195 senators voted in favor of the reform, while 112 lawmakers were against it.

After the Senate approves the text, a joint committee of seven deputies of the National Assembly (lower house) and seven senators will have to agree on the final version of the reform bill. The committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, March 15. If parliamentarians then agree on a final text, it will be put to a vote on March 16, first in the Senate and then in the National Assembly. If both chambers vote in favor of the document, it will be finally approved.

In the months before Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, the bank’s lobbying groups fought a proposal requiring financial institutions to increase payments into the Deposit Insurance Fund that protects depositors from bank failures, according to federal records reviewed by The Lever.

As lawmakers now face calls to expand deposit insurance to stave off a wider bank run, the battle shows why that insurance has remained limited — and why any new initiative to require banks to pay for more such insurance could face obstacles in Washington. Put simply: Powerful banking interests and their allies in Congress have made clear they oppose measures that would force banks to pay higher premiums in order to fund depositors’ insurance.

On Sunday, federal regulators announced an emergency action that “fully protects all depositors” at the bank, and they pledged that “any losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund to support uninsured depositors will be recovered by a special assessment on banks.”

If there is one person besides Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy whose career and public profile has seen the biggest upgrade over changes in U.S.-Ukraine policy since 2019, it would be Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. A U.S. Army officer and National Security Council official assigned to Europe under President Donald Trump, Vindman became one of the principal witnesses in the impeachment inquiry that led to the first impeachment of Trump for allegations of conditioning U.S. aid on assistance from Zelenskyy in investigating the activities of then former VP Joe Biden and his son Hunter to Ukraine. Now that he is out of uniform and not needed at committee hearings, Vindman is no longer content with defending the “interagency consensus” of aiding Ukraine but according to Human Events is attempting to benefit from military contracts with the Ukrainian government. The low-key effort by the former Army officer, who has written numerous op-eds urging the United States to invest more in the defense and rebuilding of Ukraine, shows how steep the ramp has become from being a figure ennobled by the media for safeguarding national security to using one’s connections to benefit financially from that experience.

At the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Donald Trump demonstrated, once again, why he remains leader of the Republican Party. He made it clear that he should not be displaced until long after his 2024 presidential primary victory.

Trump showed the rhetorical brilliance that vaulted him from political outsider to the heir to Ronald Reagan in an instant. At a time when too many Republican politicians stumble over each other for positions just to lurch back toward the middle and lose their mettle, Trump gave the base the red meat they needed to hear.

“And if you put me back in the White House, their reign is over. Their reign will be over, and they know it,” Trump said, referring to his globalist enemies.

“We’re not a free nation right now. We don’t have a free press. We don’t have a free anything. In 2016, I declared, ‘I am your voice.’ Today I add: I am your warrior, I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution!”.

“Mr. Washington, can you quickly tell me what kind of airspace requires an ADS-B transponder?” said Senator Ted Budd in a March 1 hearing with Phillip Washington, Joe Biden’s pick to head the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 

“Not sure I can answer that question right now,” said Washington. Budd said the answer was a “pretty important part” but quickly moved on. 

“What are the six types of special-use airspace that protect this national security that appear on FAA charts?”

“Sorry senator,” Washington said. “I cannot answer that question.” Budd duly advanced another. 

“What are the operational limitations of a pilot flying under basic med?”

“Senator I’m not a pilot so . . .”

“Obviously you’d oversee the Federal Aviation Administration,” countered Budd, “so any idea what any of those restrictions are under basic med?”

“Well, some of the restrictions, I think, would be high blood pressure.” 

As Senator Budd explained, the restrictions had to do with the number of passengers per airplane, weight, altitude, and speed. So “it doesn’t have anything to do with blood pressure.” 

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which courted Chinese start-ups, has caused widespread concern in China, where a string of founders and companies rushed to appease investors by saying their exposure was insignificant or nonexistent.

SVB, which worked with nearly half of all venture-backed tech and healthcare companies in the United States before it was taken over by the government, has a Chinese joint venture, which was set up in 2012 and targeted the country’s tech elite.

The SPD Silicon Valley Bank, which was owned 50-50 owned by SVB and local partner Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, said Saturday that its operations were “sound.”

Federal banking regulators took aggressive new actions aimed at preventing depositors in failed Silicon Valley Bank from losing money — and at trying to prevent its downfall from unleashing a nationwide run across the banking system.

Why it matters: The extraordinary actions, using tools last deployed in the early days of the pandemic and in the 2008 global financial crisis, are an attempt to avert a broad banking crisis triggered by a run on the bank.

• If unchecked, that would lead to cascading bank failures and potentially a broad financial crisis.

Driving the news: The Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve, citing "systemic risk" under which the agencies can take extraordinary actions, said that the FDIC's insurance funds will be used to prevent depositors from losing money.

• The action prevents a situation in which those who had more than the $250,000 per-saver cap on deposit insurance at SVB face potential losses.
• The Fed also announced a new "Bank Term Funding Program," invoking emergency authority, that enables other banks to obtain quick cash in exchange for collateral.

Webmaster addition: So much for Janet Yellen's comment yesterday that there would be no bailout! 

New York-based Signature Bank, a key bank to the cryptocurrency industry, was shut down by regulators on Sunday, according to a joint statement from U.S. regulators. The statement also detailed actions aimed at stemming broader fallout from the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.

State of play: All depositors at Signature, the third bank to shutter in a matter of days, will be made whole under the same systemic risk exception that allowed that outcome for Silicon Valley Bank customers.

• In a separate statement, the New York Department of Financial Services, one of Signature's regulators, said it remained in contact with the other entities it oversees, "in light of market events."

Between the lines: The collapse of Signature Bank, once known as one of the most crypto-friendly institutions on Wall Street, comes after the failure of crypto bank Silvergate last week.

• Late last year, Signature said it would pare back its exposure to the crypto industry and offload billions of dollars worth of deposits tied to the crypto sector.

The Biden administration is moving to protect some 16 million acres of land and water in Alaska from future oil and gas drilling, according to plans the Interior Department announced Sunday.

The big picture: President Biden's conservation drive comes as climate activists, environmentalists and other groups express concern that his administration will soon approve the ConocoPhillips Willow oil project, a large-scale facility to be located on the North Slope of a swath of land known as the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A).

• An announcement on this could come as soon as Monday.

Context: President Biden has pledged to move away from fossil fuels. But the Willow project that initially got the go-ahead during the Trump administration has the backing of officials including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), some Alaska Native leaders and unions.

Details: Biden is prohibiting future oil and gas leasing in the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean, per an Interior Department statement.

• The department is writing a new proposed rule to protect over 13 million acres in the NPR-A, which its statement noted was populated by grizzly and polar bears, caribou and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.

California, which never allowed slavery, is nonetheless considering giving hundreds of billions of dollars to Black residents in reparations as a way to make amends for slavery, raising practical questions about how a state already facing a massive budget deficit could swing such an expensive program.

The California Reparations Task Force, which was created by state legislation in 2020, is weighing a proposal to dole out just under $360,000 per person to approximately 1.8 million Black Californians who had an ancestor enslaved in the U.S., putting the total cost of the program at about $640 billion.

"If California can admit its sins and change the narrative, then there is a way forward for states and cities across the nation," California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who wrote the bill creating the task force when she served in the state assembly, said last week.

Facebook’s third-party fact-checkers, coordinated by the Soros-funded Poynter Institute through the International Fact-Checking Network, are able to suppress whatever content they want. 

Even when that content criticizes the fact-checkers themselves.

NewsBusters received a fact-check from USA Today over its piece debunking a fact-check from USA Today. The initial fact-check, written by college student and intern Devon Link, claimed that it is “inaccurate to say” that the Democratic Party is responsible for the Civil War and founded the KKK. A response, written by NewsBusters Associate Editor Scott Whitlock, cited prominent 19th century writer Robert G. Ingersoll, who said, “Every man that loved slavery better than liberty was a Democrat.”

Are you ready?

Despite cries from Summers, Yellen and other the DC illuminati (Biden is oddly silent), US banks are NOT fine. In fact, banks in general are suffering from Fed rates increases due to holding of long-term Treasuries and MBS.

In fact, The Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation is causing serious problems, as exemplified by AOC. No, not THAT AOC. but bank Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income.

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (AOCI) are special gains and losses that are listed as special items in the shareholder equity section of a company’s balance sheet. The AOCI account is the designated space for unrealized profits or losses on items that are placed in the other comprehensive income category.

On the regulatory call reports, AOCI is added to regulatory capital. Since SVB’s AOCI was negative (because of its unrealized losses on AFS securities) as of Dec. 31, it lowered the company’s total equity capital. So a fair way to gauge the negative AOCI to the bank’s total equity capital would be to divide the negative AOCI by total equity capital less AOCI — effectively adding the unrealized losses back to total equity capital for the calculation.

Jen Psaki, the truth-challenged former press secretary and future host at raging left-wing propaganda mill MSNBC, slammed Fox News in an appearance at South by Southwest (SXSW).

“The question I have for you then, as a former White House press secretary and now as a host on MSNBC, is should we be referring to FOX as a news network?” left-wing New York Times writer Wajahat Ali asked. “And if so, why do we give them legitimacy?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “Probably not. We shouldn’t call them a news network.”

“Probably not?” Ali asked.

“Well, we shouldn’t,” Psaki said. “But I don’t know if that’s the most important question. I think the challenge here is all of that is insane, horrific. And everybody should think it’s crazy.”

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is forecasting an “economic meltdown” within hours of the banks opening up on Monday morning following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Ackman is urging Joe Biden to step in and protect all of the bank’s depositors, warning that inaction could lead to a ripple effect across other smaller banks within the industry.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th largest bank in the United States, collapsed this week. This marks the worst financial institution failure since the Great Recession in 2008. With $209 billion in total assets at the end of 2022, the bank failed after a 60 percent drop in shares due to declining customer deposits, forcing SVB to sell off $1.75 billion in shares.

Ackman’s warning came hours after Greg Becker, the CEO of SVB Financial Group, sent a video message to employees of the bank acknowledging the “incredibly difficult” 48 hours leading up to its collapse on Friday. Becker said he is working with banking regulators to find a partner for the bank, but there is “no guarantee” a deal will be struck.