03 March 22
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Army officer who stood up to Trump: Disinformation from Fox News, GOP is "the reason Russia launched" invasion
That crime was part of a much larger pattern, in which Donald Trump and his regime consistently acted as vassals for Vladimir Putin's regime and Russia's strategic interests.
Writing at the Washington Post, Colbert King reminds us of further history in this regard:
Maybe now that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is well underway, the implications of President Vladimir Putin's actions against the United States in 2016 will finally sink in, especially for Republicans in Congress. The Vladimir Putin who planned, staged and launched a large-scale war on Ukraine is the same Vladimir Putin who ordered an aggressive, multifaceted, clandestine campaign to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Putin's Ukraine goal: pull that country from the West and back into Russia's sphere of influence. His U.S. goal in 2016: undermine the democratic process, disparage and undercut Hillary Clinton and her campaign for president, and help elect Donald Trump.
The outcome of his Ukraine campaign is yet to be decided. His U.S. effort found full success. … The simple truth is that Putin believed Russia would benefit from having Trump in the White House, and he pushed his intelligence services to help secure that outcome. Just as he perceives that a subjugated Ukraine benefits Russia and is now working to achieve that end.
How many people had privileged knowledge of the Trump administration's likely or certain criminal acts including and far beyond what took place with Ukraine? Was it dozens or hundreds? Yet, only a few have possessed the courage and personal integrity to speak up publicly as whistleblowers.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, now retired, was one such person. While serving on the White House's National Security Council, Vindman filed formal reports in 2019 disclosing that Trump and his representatives were engaged in the aforementioned acts of political extortion or blackmail against the Ukrainian government. Vindman, a U.S. citizen who was born in Ukraine, would later testify during Trump's impeachment inquiry.
Vindman was formerly director for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Russia on the National Security Council, and before that served as political-military affairs officer for Russia for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as an attaché at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. He is now a doctoral student and senior fellow for the Foreign Policy Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a Pritzker Military Fellow at the Lawfare Institute, an executive board member for the Renew Democracy Initiative and senior adviser to the PAC VoteVets. His recent memoir, "Here, Right Matters: An American Story," was a New York Times bestseller.
For his acts of courage and patriotism, Vindman would lose his military career and become a target of violent threats and other acts of retaliation. Those threats have continued to the present. I recently spoke with Lt. Col. Vindman about his decision to speak out and about the extent to which he perceived the existential threat that Trump and his movement would represent to American democracy, as seen in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and the Republicans' ongoing coup attempt.
In this conversation, Vindman argues that Trump's coup attempt and other assaults on American democracy and the rule of law gave Vladimir Putin encouragement to pursue his illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Vindman also shares his concerns that the Trump regime's crimes against democracy are only a blueprint for a future fascist leader who will be much more effective and dangerous. Vindman also offers his thoughts about the possibility of a second American Civil War, and about what it means to be a patriot in a time of rising fascism and a worsening crisis of democracy.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Given the state of the world and this country, how are you feeling?
It depends on the day. In general, I remain optimistic. As a historian, I look at the scope of the challenges the United States has had to overcome. On the day to day, we are in the heat of battle, and it is hard to maintain that optimism. It is really disturbing that the events of Jan. 6 were not sufficient to correct the direction this country is going in terms of political polarization.
Your tone of voice suggests that even in the face of all these challenges that you are hopeful about the country. How do you maintain that?
America has faced many challenges. At the time it was hard to see that light at the end of the tunnel when we were in the midst of seismic events such as the Vietnam War, for example, or the 1960s more generally. But we persevered and made incremental progress as a country. We are on one of those trajectories where we make a few steps forward and then take a step back. The country has not been properly prepared for the changes and challenges of the 21st century. Large swaths of the population have been left behind and that has left fertile grounds for radicalization.
Nativism and racism and ethnocentric nationalism were able to gain purchase there. We find ourselves in a really difficult moment right now. What I find so fascinating about the American people is their deep sense of patriotism, especially when they perceive a threat to the country. At present, the country is so divided that those different audiences and groups see a completely different set of threats. Nefarious political actors, both domestically and overseas, have been able to exploit those differences to drive a wedge between us.
How did you decide to blow the whistle and reveal the truth about Trump and his administration's corruption, in terms of the illegal pressure campaign on the Ukrainian government?
There is a huge element of uncertainty. I had a military career that was thriving and that was derailed. But when it really counted and I was faced with the personal challenges that would greatly impact my life, I met the test and did what I thought was right.
How many military officers could pinpoint exactly the moment where they made a difference? Yes, it is true that over the broad scope of a career, you have an impact on soldiers and their lives. But for me this was a moment when American democracy was in peril. The president was trying to steal an election, and I lived up to my obligation to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Why did you make the choice to speak out when so many of your peers and other colleagues did not?
In many ways, I believe that I am representative of the public servant class of the military. The weight of the decision was on my shoulders. I was the responsible officer in the White House and in a senior position of trust. If I didn't say anything, then nothing would have been said. I recognized that reality. There were many people that did something similar within their organizations to the best of their ability. The news media was not necessarily aware of those happenings.
Here is an example. The career public servants who testified alongside me during Trump's first impeachment are representative of the excellence of the people who serve in the American government. Every single one of them went up there and told the truth, regardless of personal consequences. There are plenty of such people who raised the alarm within their organizations and institutions.
One of the things I'm most adamant about is accountability. There has not been enough accountability for the corruption of the Trump administration and the insurrection on Jan. 6 and related events. The country needs a truth and reconciliation commission. We need to really understand the harm that was done to good governance in this country by the Trump administration. There is a perception that now, because Biden is president, the danger to the country has ended. That is incorrect. The danger is still there because of the erosion of institutions. There is a blueprint now about how to corrupt the country's governing institutions.
Donald Trump did an enormous amount of harm. But he is a fool, and he could only do so much harm. If there is a really sophisticated person like a Ted Cruz or Ron DeSantis, then America would be in a much more difficult situation in terms of the country's democracy.
For example, the Office of the Inspector General should at least conduct an audit where things went wrong in the most important departments and agencies within the intelligence community, within the State Department, within the Department of Homeland Security, within Department of Defense and so on to make sure we take the steps that are necessary to protect the country.
What is hard to legislate against is presidential corruption. Our system is not designed to have a corrupt president and that is where the existential dangers lie, as we saw with Donald Trump.
How did you make sense of Jan. 6, 2021? What were you thinking as it was happening?
As I watched the events unfold, I knew intellectually that such an outcome was possible. Several months prior, I had conversations with other national security experts where we explored worst-case scenarios. You could see that Donald Trump was prepared to do anything to stay in power. He was telegraphing it.
Watching that violence and the assault, and seeing the Capitol building being successfully breached, was something that was hard to fathom. You would think in a worst-case scenario that there might be some violence, but that the mob would have have been stopped from getting inside the Capitol building. That didn't happen.
Were you afraid that Trump would order the military to intervene on his side? That there would be a military coup?
I did not fear the military coming down on the side of Donald Trump. I trusted that the military was going to be principled and do the right thing, and not be immersed or dragged into domestic politics. But I did have some fears about the president successfully rallying a fringe, extremely right-wing radicalized portion of the public to cause real harm to the peaceful transition of power. And to a certain extent, that did happen. It lasted hours and failed. I have seen such things in other countries. These events leave me deeply worried about the health of our political system. Ultimately, I've tried to raise the alarm about the vulnerabilities in America's democracy and governing institutions without being an alarmist.
What about all this talk about a second American Civil War?
I am somewhere in the middle. I have looked at the polling and other data which suggests that there are perhaps tens of millions of right-wing Americans radicalized and prepared to take up arms. I've also read academic analyses about America and the possibility of a second civil war. But there is a difference between the academic analysis and theorizing and the reality of the situation, and I don't see the American public radicalized to that point — or at least not a significant portion of it.
Now, even if we're talking about a fraction of that larger number, say 2 million, then yes, they could do a huge amount of damage. But that's far from a civil war. It is disturbing. It could be a violent insurrection or something of that nature, but ultimately, I do not believe that the United States is on the brink of a civil war.
Why should the American people care about events in Ukraine?
There is a values argument and there is an interests argument. The values argument takes you only so far. This is a like-minded people fighting for their freedom, their homes and democracy.
But the interests side of the equation is oftentimes more compelling. The Ukrainians are fighting on freedom's frontier. They are warding off greater aggression by Russia in a region that is central to, if not the linchpin, for America's interests and democracy.
The other example is that Russia is more powerful with Ukraine than it is without it. America does not want to deal with a belligerent Russia, a country with a leader that has attempted to interfere with our elections, put bounties on American soldiers' heads and assassinated people on NATO territory. Do we want them to be even stronger?
There is that old saying from the Cold War that "politics stops at the water." What has happened with the Republican Party, the right-wing news media and other "conservatives"? How did things go so wrong?
That quote and advice has not been ironclad, but it's been generally consistent, especially so when critical United States interests or American lives are under threat. Donald Trump has taken the Republican Party in a disastrous direction. Again, everything Trump touches dies. He's his own worst enemy. He is a stubborn ass who latched onto this idea that he will not criticize Putin. It's a test of his manhood. Trump is now going to continue to press that issue. It looks like the Republican Party is going to follow him.
With Putin and the Ukraine invasion, it is almost like the Republicans stepped into a trap. You could see the trap from a mile away if you were paying attention. The Republicans were cheering on this vile tyrant as he attempts to destroy a peaceful country on his border, a democracy, and now they're going to own that decision.
In my opinion, this is going to be an important theme for the Democratic Party going into the 2022 and 2024 elections. The Tucker Carlsons, the Donald Trumps, the Mike Pompeos, they and other Republicans are going to have to own this issue because they are the reason that Russia launched this operation.
Putin could have done this at any time. The reason he acted now is not coincidental. Putin started building up his forces in the spring of 2021. This was weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Putin, like Trump, smells vulnerability and exploits it. Vladimir Putin perceived that the United States was distracted and vulnerable. He's been testing our resolve. He's been getting positive signals in that regard.
There is blood on the Republican Party's hands. They were partially responsible for what is happening in Ukraine. Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump were basically as popular on Russian TV as they are here in this country. They're constantly being played there. What is the impression given? The United States is divided, and there's an opportunity there. So these folks now own it.
Why is Trump so enamored with Vladimir Putin? What does he represent for Trump?
It is about power for Donald Trump. Trump yearns for the kind of power that Vladimir Putin wields. Putin is who Trump wishes he could be. Donald Trump just doesn't have the capability. He's not smart enough. He doesn't have the fortitude for that kind of behavior. He doesn't have the determination. Donald Trump just doesn't have a lot of those skills that Putin has, but that is who Trump wishes he could be. It is also why Trump is so fond of other authoritarian rulers, such as Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping. But Vladimir Putin is Trump's favorite.
What does it mean to be a patriot in this moment of democracy crisis?
It is important to reclaim the symbols of this nation. That is why I would wear my American flag lapel pin when I was out on my book tour. These symbols of our nation cannot be usurped by the far right. We also need to reclaim the term "patriot."
To me, a patriot is somebody who actually puts the interests of the nation above themselves. That is the exact opposite of what many in the Republican Party are today — the exact opposite of Tucker Carlson, the exact opposite of Donald Trump. These are people who put their own interests ahead of the nation's. Such people usurp the symbols of the country while undermining it.
Do you have a message for the Ukrainian people?
I have faith in the Ukrainian people. I have faith in their spirit and their resolve to live a life in which individuals have a say in their destiny. It's a struggle, but they're moving toward a system where the rule of law is sacrosanct. The Ukrainians aren't there yet, but they're moving in that direction. I've been impressed with how the Ukrainian people, under these very difficult circumstances, have held up.
Russia is aiming to erase Ukraine, its history and people, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video on March 2, the seventh day of Moscow's invasion. (photo: Reuters)
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said during a broadcast marathon airing on Ukrainian TV channels that officials were recently tipped off that a unit of Kadyrovites, elite Chechen special forces, was on its way to kill Zelensky. After Ukrainian officials were informed by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the Chechen special forces were killed Saturday on the outskirts of Kyiv, Danilov said.
“We are well aware of the special operation that was to take place directly by the Kadyrovites to eliminate our president. And I can say that we have received information from the FSB, who today do not want to take part in this bloody war,” Danilov said. “And thanks to this, the Kadyrov elite group was destroyed, which came here to eliminate our president.”
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed on his Telegram channel Monday that two servicemen had died and six others were injured, but neither the Chechens nor the Kremlin has publicly responded to Ukraine’s claim that Kadyrovites were sent to kill Zelensky and were eliminated.
Russian forces continue their deadly assault on key Ukrainian cities, prompting some local officials to warn Wednesday that their cities were near the breaking point. Kyiv endured more overnight attacks, while Russian forces faced stiff resistance from Ukrainian military and civilian defenders throughout the country.
Nearly 680,000 Ukrainians had fled the country as of Tuesday, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, in what might eventually be “Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century.”
Moscow steps up assault on residential areas, Biden closes U.S. airspace to Russian planes
In the United States, President Biden put the invasion at the center of his first State of the Union address Tuesday night, hailing a unified international backlash that has made Russia “now isolated from the world more than ever.” Zelensky and Biden spoke hours before the address about sanctions against Russia as well as U.S. defense assistance to Ukraine during the invasion. Biden declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “badly miscalculated” how Ukraine and the world would respond to the invasion.
“He thought he could roll into Ukraine — and the world would roll over. Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined,” Biden said. “He met the Ukrainian people.”
What’s happening in Ukraine? Our reporters answer your questions about the Russian invasion.
The Ukrainian president has posted videos from Kyiv, where he’s leading the country’s military response, and has been joined by government officials, military members and civilian defenders in protecting the capital. Zelensky has said that he has become the Kremlin’s “target No. 1,” with his family as “target No. 2.”
“They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state,” he said in an address last week.
Zelensky, who told CNN and Reuters on Tuesday that he hasn’t seen his family in recent days, noted that Ukraine is “iconic” and deserves to be defended against Russia and Putin.
“Ukraine is the heart of Europe, and now I think Europe sees Ukraine is something special for this world,” he said from a bunker. “That’s why [the] world can’t lose this something special.”
Biden wanted to use the State of the Union for his agenda. Then Russia started a land war.
According to the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda, Putin instructed Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, last month to carry out the assassination.
“The task of the Chechens was defined as the cleansing of Kyiv, the physical liquidation and preventive work with Ukrainian leaders,” the newspaper wrote.
Danilov said he was thankful for members of Russia’s Federal Security Service who alerted Ukrainian officials to the assassination plot. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed over the weekend that the Ukrainian military had defeated a special unit of the Chechen National Guard. Among those killed was Gen. Magomed Tushaev, the commander of the 141st motorized regiment of the Chechen National Guard, reported Ukrayinska Pravda.
Danilov clarified on Ukrainian TV that the Kadyrovites were divided into two groups, and the one that was “destroyed” was tracked down in Hostomel, near the airport.
“Another group is now, so to speak, under fire,” he said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been praised. (photo: Reuters)
Russian invading forces have been met with fierce resistance in Ukraine, whose strong line of defence has pushed the onslaught into its seventh day.
Zelenskyy heroism in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds has been widely praised after he remained in Kyiv to rally his people against the Russian incursion.
Former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said his sources in the region had told him Putin was not happy with the reaction his counterpart was receiving.
“The fact that Zelenskyy is not leaving Kyiv is driving Putin nuts," he told NBC’s Morning Joe.
“Because the whole world is talking about his heroism and the whole world is talking about how evil Vladimir Putin is.”
Zelenskyy has released a number of videos proving he was still on the ground in Kyiv after rumours he had fled.
“We are here. We are in Kyiv. We are defending Ukraine,” he said in a clip released last Friday.
He also later rejected an offer from the US to evacuate him, adding: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
The Times reported a bounty on his head, saying more than 400 Russian mercenaries were trying to assassinate him.
Speaking on Wednesday, the seventh day of the invasion, the president said Russia was aiming to erase Ukraine, its history and people.
Unshaven and wearing a khaki T-shirt, said the West's response was not enough, calling for more international support, including backing Ukraine's bid to join the European Union.
"This is no time to be neutral," he said.
McFaul, who served as the United States Ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, said that the Russian president had finally "overreached" after two decade in power that had previously seen him successful in multiple conflicts. Most notably, Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia in 2008.
"When dictators hold on too long, they get disconnected from reality, they don’t listen to their advisers. That’s exactly what’s going on here," McFaul said.
The former ambassador also claimed he had recently spoken to a contact in Russia, one who has known Putin and the Moscow elite for 30 years, saying those around the president were “appalled” at how disconnected Putin seemed from reality.
Putin, McFaul said, has in reality been isolated for many years, doesn't listen to anyone, rarely goes to work and often stays on his compound.
But the Ukraine war has changed the landscape in Moscow, with wealthy oligarchs and senior political figures now subjected to swingeing sanctions who McFaul says are "in shock" at the fallout from Putin's decision to invade a neighbouring country and spark the wrath of Nato and Europe.
But Putin's isolationism is also a cause of alarm among Western officials, with US intelligence agencies worried Putin is so frustrated by setbacks in Ukraine that he could significantly increase the violence.
The Russians have so-far targeted built-up areas in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv, but have been largely held by Ukrainian armed forces as well as citizens, many of whom have taken up arms.
In Kyiv, Tuesday evening's missile strike on a TV Tower killed five people while a 40 mile-long convoy of soldiers is on its way towards the capital, though US officials have claimed it has made little progress in the past 24 hours, frozen in place by logistical and supply problems.
However, UK defence secretary Ben Wallace warned Russia will now intensify its campaign, with indiscriminate carpet bombing tactics and a scale of brutality that "is going to get worse".
President Donald Trump arrives to speak to supporters from the Ellipse near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021. (photo: Brendan Smialowksi/Getty)
The House committee said in a court filing that members of the Trump campaign may have been involved, as well.
“The Select Committee ... has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the panel wrote in a legal brief filed Wednesday.
The filing focuses largely on John Eastman, a Trump-allied lawyer who wrote memos arguing that then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the election. The committee previously subpoenaed Eastman to turn over documents but said he claims they are protected by attorney-client privilege.
The brief argues for a court review of the disputed materials, and it says there is evidence to support a belief that a review “may reveal that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in common law fraud in connection with their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.”
“The facts we’ve gathered strongly suggest that Dr. Eastman’s emails may show that he helped Donald Trump advance a corrupt scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college ballots and a conspiracy to impede the transfer of power," the committee’s chair and vice chair, Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a statement Wednesday.
The legal brief signifies the most direct line the committee has tried to draw between Trump, his allies and potential criminal activity surrounding the 2020 election.
Wednesday’s civil filing lists conspiracy to defraud the United States; obstruction of an official proceeding; and common law fraud. It says Trump and Eastman sought to have Pence reject electors or delay Congress’ counting of electoral votes so the results could be manipulated. Pence did not do so.
Trump and Eastman have not been charged with any crime.
The House committee is investigating the riot led by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was counting the electoral votes affirming President Joe Biden's election victory. Thompson said last week that the panel had interviewed more than 550 witnesses.
The committee subpoenaed Eastman last year to turn over documents and appear for a deposition. When he appeared before the committee, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to turn over documents, according to Wednesday's court filing.
The panel said in its filing that the court should reject Eastman's claims of attorney-client privilege, citing an exception for when a client is involved in criminal activities.
Eastman’s attorneys said Wednesday night that Eastman has a responsibility to protect client confidences.
“The Select Committee has responded to Dr. Eastman’s efforts to discharge this responsibility by accusing him of criminal activity,” they said, adding they will respond in due course.
A spokesperson for Trump also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) smiles alongside U.S. Congressional candidates Jessica Cisneros, left, and Greg Casar after a rally at Paper Tiger on Saturday. (photo: Nick Wagner/San Antonio Rpeort)
Attorney general Ken Paxton heads to nomination runoff against Jeb Bush’s son while progressive Jessica Cisneros celebrates runoff
In the most closely watched congressional primary, Jessica Cisneros, a progressive Democrat, forced a runoff against Henry Cuellar, a nine-term congressman who is one of the most conservative Democrats in the US House. (Texas races go to a runoff if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.)
Forcing a runoff is a major win for Cisneros, who narrowly lost to Cuellar two years ago. Cuellar has been dogged by corruption allegations after an FBI raid of his home and office earlier this year. Cisneros has been endorsed by the progressive group Justice Democrats, plus Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Joshua Blank, the research director of the Texas Politics Project at Austin, said it was difficult to predict whether Cuellar would ultimately prevail.
“Handicapping his chances is difficult, because on the one hand, he likely has significant organization in the district, but on the other, an incumbent in a strong position shouldn’t find himself in so much trouble,” he said.
“The focus has been on Cisneros’ progressivism and whether she can win in the general, but Cuellar is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress and somewhat idiosyncratic within the party, so how this will turn out is anyone’s guess.”
Progressives also scored another victory in a new congressional district that stretches from Austin to San Antonio. Greg Casar, a progressive favorite who led efforts to reduce the police budget on the Austin city council, easily won his party’s nomination. He is expected to easily win in the general election in November.
In the Dallas area, Jasmine Crockett, described as one of the most liberal members of the Texas house of representatives, is headed to a runoff election against Jane Hope Hamilton.
Paxton, the attorney general, was forced into a runoff with George P Bush, the Texas land commissioner and the face of a new generation of one of America’s most prominent political dynasties (his uncle is George W Bush). Paxton, who was endorsed by the former president, is one of the most outspoken conservative attorneys general in the country, and has been at the forefront of attacks on voting, abortion access, immigration and transgender Americans. He also led an unsuccessful lawsuit asking the US supreme court to overturn the 2020 election.
But the fact that he is being forced into a runoff underscores how politically vulnerable he may be. He has been under indictment since 2015 for securities fraud and faces whistleblower allegations that he misused his office for personal gain.
“Paxton will likely have an easier time with Bush, whose name and legacy in Texas carry a mixed set of baggage,” said Blank.
Trump nonetheless tried to frame Tuesday’s results in Texas as a mark of his political strength. He noted that the dozens of Republican candidates he endorsed in the race either won or were headed to a runoff. But virtually all of the candidates Trump endorsed were running in non-competitive primaries and were expected to win.
Trump also notably did not endorse Van Taylor, a Republican seeking re-election to Congress in the Dallas suburbs. Taylor voted in favor of a bipartisan 6 January commission, which drew ire from Republicans and several challengers. Taylor will now face a runoff against Keith Self, a former Collin county judge, who told the Texas Tribune that the congressman’s vote for a commission was a “huge issue”.
Taylor’s district is one of several in Texas that was redrawn last year to become solidly more Republican. In 2020, his district was highly competitive – Trump narrowly carried it by 1 percentage point. Trump would have carried the district by 14 points under the new lines, according to Planscore. It’s a trend that illustrates how lawmakers are redrawing districts to make them less competitive, a move that benefits extreme candidates in the primary.
Restrictions
Looming over the primary were sweeping new voting restrictions in Texas, in effect for the first time after Republicans in the state legislature passed them last year.
Texas already limits mail-in voting to those aged 65 or older, or who have a qualifying excuse. For weeks, local election officials have been raising alarms that new identification requirements for mail-in ballots are causing them to reject tens of thousands of them. Lisa Wise, the election administrator in El Paso county, said earlier this week her office had flagged 27% of the 3,855 ballots it received so far for rejection. In Harris county, the most populous in the state, officials had flagged 10,876 ballots, 29% of those returned, for potential rejections.
Leah Shah, a county spokeswoman, said the office was working to contact voters and get them to come in person to the election office to correct issues on their ballots. Voters have until Monday to come to the election office and fix defects in person.
“The current numbers are unprecedented, far outpacing previous rejection rates. This outcome could have been avoidable if federal protections were in place,” said Mimi Marzani, the president of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
Ukrainian refugees walk along vehicles lining up to cross the border from Ukraine into Moldova, at Mayaky-Udobne crossing border point near Mayaky-Udobne, Ukraine, on February 26, 2022. (photo: Sergei Grits/AP)
Delegations from Kyiv and Moscow are meeting for a second time as Russian forces make inroads in Ukraine’s south.
The UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) chief added: “For many millions more, inside Ukraine, it’s time for guns to fall silent, so that life-saving humanitarian assistance can be provided.”
Farmed Salmon at Loch Duart, near Kylesku, Scotland. (photo:Murdo MacLeod/Guardian UK)
Wealthy nations accused of depriving poorer ones of nutrient-rich food and wasting mackerel, sardine and anchovy stocks
Its authors say farming salmon is an inefficient way to produce nutritious seafood, calculating that half to 99% of minerals, vitamins and fatty acids in the wild-caught fish are not retained when fed to farmed Atlantic salmon.
They say removing wild-caught fish from aquaculture feed production and diverting them to human consumption, and farming more carp and fewer salmon, could increase global seafood production by 6.1m tonnes, while leaving 3.7m tonnes of fish in the sea.
Lia ní Aodha, of Feedback Global, which worked on the report said: “Salmon farming is a good example of how deeply inefficient and inequitable the global food system is. Much of the nutrient-rich fish used to feed farmed salmon is sourced from regions in the global south, where food insecurity is endemic, while the salmon is mainly sold to consumers in high-income markets in Europe, North America and parts of Asia.”
Feedback, which campaigns for sustainable food supplies, worked with researchers from the universities of Cambridge, Lancaster and Liverpool to investigate feed sources – and the nutrients transferred from them – in the Scottish salmon industry, Britain’s largest food export. They calculated that in a single year, 179,000 tonnes of salmon produced in Scottish aquaculture farms consumed fish meal and fish oil produced from 460,000 tonnes of wild-caught fish, 76% of which was edible.
In their paper, published on the research forum Plos Sustainability and Transformation, they said: “Most edible wild-caught fish species in [fish meal and fish oil] have higher concentrations of key micronutrients than farmed salmon, and for some of these micronutrients, as little as 1% is retained in farmed salmon.
“For calcium, iron, selenium and zinc, 1-28% is retained in farmed salmon. Scottish salmon is often marketed as high in omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA), yet omega-3 concentrations are similar in anchovy, herring, sardine and sprat, and only 49% and 39% of DHA available from wild fish are retained in farmed salmon.”
In 2016, 15m tonnes of wild-caught fish were ground down into fish meal and fish oil, which was directed towards agriculture and aquaculture. According to figures cited in the paper, salmon fishing accounted for 60% of fish oil and 23% of fish meal directed to aquaculture, while producing only 4.5% of the sector’s global output.
Authors still saw a role for aquaculture, but favoured carp and mussel farming over salmon.
Dr James Robinson, of Lancaster university, who was involved in the study, said: “Aquaculture, including salmon farming, has an important role in meeting global food demand, but nutritious wild fish should be prioritised for local consumption rather than salmon feed, particularly if they are caught in food-insecure places.
“Support for alternative feeds can help this transition, but we still need more data on the volumes and species used for fishmeal and fish oil, as this can show where salmon farming places additional pressure on fish stocks.”
Hamish Macdonell, director of strategic engagement with Salmon Scotland, which represents salmon farmers, said: “Of the 5.5m tonnes of fish meal and fish oil produced annually, Scottish salmon farmers use less than 1%. The vast majority goes to other uses, including pet food.
“So it is fundamentally wrong to pretend that the fishmeal industry would cease if not included in aquaculture feeds. The supply would simply shift to another, less sustainable use. If campaigners like the ones behind this report really want to do something to save forage fish, they should take a look at what we all feed our pets.”
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