• Putin authorized military operation
• Putin seeks demilitarization and 'de-Nazification' of Ukraine
• Blasts heard in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, Mariupol and other cities
• Explosions heard near Kyiv airport
• Oil price hits $100, gold price surges

• Establishing air superiority via targeted surgical strikes
• A pincer movement to trap Ukrainian forces in the east & cut them off from Kyiv 
• Finally attempt to decapitate Ukrainian govt by targeting govt buildings,leaders & command & control systems

Biden should beware of Russia and Qatar
Haggling with dictators to secure the free world’s energy supply is bad policy.

JNS.org – Russia and Qatar are at opposite ends of the European natural-gas supply crisis, sparked by fears of a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia is seen by the West as a provocateur; Qatar is framed as an erstwhile savior, expected to make up for potential Russian losses.

Counter to this perception, the two countries share indistinguishable policy positions towards Europe and the United States, and their leaders are acting in a similar fashion. Indeed, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is as much of a threat to the West as Russian President Vladimir Putin, and should be treated as such by US President Joe Biden.

On Monday, Biden is hosting Tamim at the White House; turning to one autocrat to address a problem caused by another tyrant: Putin.

Haggling with dictators to secure the free world’s energy supply is bad policy. It upends the West’s moral authority, and threatens US national security and energy independence. In nearly every transaction between the two nations, America’s loss ends up being Qatar’s gain.

American energy dominance, with a special focus on increasing liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, was a key policy goal of the previous US administration. Former President Donald Trump deregulated government interference, so that American LNG would be “available to the world” — weakening the power of gas-exporting giants such as Russia and Qatar.

As part of his vision, democracies would need to depend less on illiberal authoritarian states for a secure and stable energy supply. Within days of his inauguration, Biden went full throttle and inhibited the planned increase of American natural-gas supplies to global markets through a series of executive orders, undoing Trump’s action.

As Berlin faces a Moscow energy boycott and Kiev a potential Russian invasion, the Biden administration energy reversal has handicapped America’s ability to get ahead of the natural-gas dilemma in Europe. Biden’s policies are restricting his nation’s own domestic-energy development through higher taxes, hampering of movement by suspending the transport of LNG on American railways, canceling the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, and choking the future supply of gas by dropping public investment in new projects. He is thus jeopardizing the creation of new LNG export terminals at home, and in Eastern Europe and in the Caribbean abroad.

Full article here.

About Gregg Roman
Director, Middle East Forum

Commentator & former Political Advisor to the deputy foreign minister of Israel, also worked for the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

• Director of the Middle East Forum
• Worked in Israel’s Defense and Foreign Ministries as well as at the Interdisciplinary Center (in Herzliya, Israel) 
• Former Research Director on Information Warfare and Cyber-Terrorism
• Served as director of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
• In 2014 named one of the ten most inspiring global Jewish leaders by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
• Served as the political advisor to the deputy foreign minister of Israel and worked for the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
• Frequent speaker at venues around the world, often appears on television, and has written for the Hill, the Forward, the Albany Times-Union, and other publications.
• Attended American University in Washington, D.C., and the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, where he studied national security studies and political communications.