U.S. announces sanctions on Russia over poisoning and jailing of opposition leader Navalny

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post




The Biden administration on Tuesday announced punitive sanctions on senior Russian government figures over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and reiterated a demand that Navalny be released from detention.

The sanctions block access to financial or other assets in the United States for top figures around Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The sanctions are largely symbolic, but represent the first Biden administration action against Russia. U.S. officials who described the measures said they are a signal that the new administration will treat Russia differently than did the Trump administration.

Navalny recovered from the attack in Germany, but was jailed upon his return to Moscow earlier this year. He was sentenced to more than two years behind bars on what human rights advocates call manufactured charges.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/russia-biden-navalny-sanctions/2021/03/02/4367d342-7b5e-11eb-85cd-9b7fa90c8873_story.html

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Short article.

[Chalco]

1. So we're sanctioning Russia for trying to poison a journalist but

we're not punishing MSB for killing and dismembering one
of our journalists.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Honestly

I think the reason why Saudi gets a pass is because the world doesn't want a violent religious war to "suddenly, out of nowhere, gets triggered" while both Saudi and Iran stand by with the popcorn holding the hats of the "fighters" (since the major Islamic Holy Sites of Mecca and Medina are in Saudi and we know Saudi funds terrorists).

[Mike 03]

6. I think Biden should be very careful how he handles the MBS matters.

The more I learn about Saudi Arabia, the more I understand why this issue--seemingly simple--is actually so much more complicated than Russia, Myanmar or some other bad situations.

The key to peace in the Middle East rests on the shoulders of this arrogant, impulsive but not-yet-lost 35-year-old Crown Prince. It's really important Western Democracies don't drive him into the embrace of China, Russia or other dangerous influences.

He's like a delinquent kid that badly needs a mentor to save him from turning into a career-criminal.

MBS is a visionary, but a thin-skinned one with a penchant for idiotic and unnecessary self-destruction and, at least in a few instances, outright violence.

[BigOleDummy]

12. Indeed

We give the Saudi's much too much leeway and forbearance as it is. It's ON THEM why we have so much unrest in the middle east anyway. Yeah, you can thank the "House of Saud" for the Taliban and for the wave of fundamentalist Islam that's swept that part of the world. The middle east was an enlightened and peaceful place before the Sauds came to power with their Wahhabism. Yes, all the main terrorist groups got their start from this fundamentalist sect of Islam. I cannot believe that we allow them to build schools and Mosques here in the U.S. promoting that violent backwards looking offshoot of Islam.

The Saudis time is running short and their dominance of so much of the worlds energy supply will do nothing but dwindle from now on. Yes, all the Princes there are super rich and that money buys them into a lot of circles (Trump, the GQP etc). The time is now here when we should choose to put pressure on them to actually DO something about their support of and reliance on their terroristic support. MSB is a spoiled rich kid whos never heard the word "no" before and is unlikely to change much if at all imo. Don't forget that 15 of the 19 men responsible for the planes on 9-11 were Saudi nationals.

[twodogsbarking]

3. Will Putin be visiting

Mar A Lago soon?

[Mike 03]

4. Russia should also be sanctioned for the SolarWinds hack and

placing bounties on our soldiers.

I think a hack of that magnitude should be redefined as an act of war, and Putin put on notice that we won't play around like Trump did.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Regarding SolarWinds

I think they will have to do a "real" deep dive (not a 45-influenced/half-assed one) to determine how bad it really was before "assessing retribution".

[Mike 03]

7. That sounds like a good idea.

I do remember reading a cybersecurity expert say it would take time to assess the impact of the hacks, but at the time it seemed like a pretty big deal.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. The scary thing is

(and I am a retired fed) is that many agencies were using HP ServiceCenter/HP Service Manager for years for network management and monitoring because they had built up a number of HP/Compaq servers over the years. But then SolarWinds came along and did a good sales job. So it will be a matter of really finding out how much it was in use in not just the agencies that "made the news" (that may have completely gone over to that software) but others that are or may have been operating in a mixed environment using multiple hardware/network monitoring software packages, depending on what hardware they had, and how extensive their networks were.

[Mike 03]

10. Thanks for the background information

I sincerely hope we are told more about the scale of this hack and, also, more details about how it affects all of those concerned.

[Miguelito Loveless]

8. Serves Putin right

If he wanted to get away with murder and attempted murder, he should have been a "Crown Prince".

[Chalco]

13. Good one! nt

[ffr]

11. Making republicans look like enemy/adversary sympathizers.

I love it!

[Evolve Dammit]

14. Hit 'em hard and then hit MBS harder.