De-Confliction Line Established Between US and Russia for Ukraine; No-Fly Zone Ruled Out
It has been reported that a de-confliction line has been established between the US and Russia with respect to Ukraine in order to avoid unnecessary escalation or misunderstanding. According to The Hill:
The U.S. military has set up a channel to communicate directly with the Russian military to prevent “miscalculations” or “escalation” over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, a defense spokesperson confirmed to The Hill Thursday.
“The Department of the Defense recently established a de-confliction line with the Russian Ministry of Defense on March 1 for the purposes of preventing miscalculation, military incidents, and escalation,” the spokesperson said.
They noted that the U.S. “retains a number of channels to discuss critical security issues with the Russians during a contingency or emergency.”
Meanwhile, despite repeated requests by the Kiev government, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ruled out a no-fly zone in Ukraine. Austin told NBC News yesterday:
“President Biden’s been clear that US troops won’t fight Russia in Ukraine, and if you establish a no-fly zone, certainly in order to enforce that no-fly zone, you’ll have to engage Russian aircraft. And again, that would put us at war with Russia,” Austin said.
Results of Round 2 of Talks
French president Emmanuel Macron had a 90-minute “not-so-friendly” phone conversation with Putin this morning in which Putin reportedly told Macron the Russian military operation in Ukraine was “going according to plan.”
The negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Belarus resulted in an agreement for humanitarian corridors and the delivery of aid with a temporary ceasefire to facilitate them. However, there were cryptic statements from a member of the Russian delegation, head of State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky, about terms from today’s talks needing to be approved by parliaments:
“Clearly, it will require a third, no less important round of talks, which is due in coming days, to implement these agreements, which I won’t voice today,” he said.
“It will require parliamentary efforts, as some agreements will have to be endorsed and then undergo national ratification procedures,” Slutsky said.
He also said all agreements reached would be fast-tracked on the Russian side. Ivan Katchanovksi, the Ukrainian academic who undertook an in-depth forensic investigation into the violence of the protests on the Maidan in 2014, has speculated that there could be other terms reached that have not been publicized, such as Ukrainian neutrality. We’ll see. More talks are scheduled for early next week.
Meanwhile, one million refugees are now reported to have fled Ukraine to countries on its western border, according to the UN. 2000 civilians have died according to Ukraine’s emergency services department.
Beginning of Counter-Sanctions
Russia has announced it will halt shipment of rocket engines to the US. According to a Reuters report, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin said:
“In a situation like this we can’t supply the US with our world’s best rocket engines. Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don’t know what.”
A preview of additional actions to counter the west’s sanctions can be found in proposed parliamentary legislation. Interfax News has reported the following on a bill proposed in the Duma:
The bill cancels inspections at small, medium and IT companies until the end of this year, liberalizes public procurement terms and procedure, and restricts drug exports. The bill allows the government to additionally raise non-contributory pensions, pension points, and the fixed payment pension during 2022.
The bill clarifies the application of business legislation, including the rules for calculation of net assets’ value in 2022 and legislation on loans and borrowings, gives the government the right to derogate from a number of rules on licensing and accreditation and certain provisions of laws in the field of shared construction and intellectual property. There will be a special procedure for the establishment of the subsistence minimum and the minimal wage.
The sentence clause I have bolded could relate to what Pepe Escobar recently suggested about Russia no longer recognizing intellectual property and patents from the west.
Censorship
RT America has shut down operations, which had offices in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles and Miami. All of the staff have been permanently laid off. It’s my understanding that some staff had received threats of violence. The EU has begun banning RT and Sputnik as I already mentioned earlier this week. Attempts to access RT on both Google and DuckDuckGo browsers have been difficult. YouTube and various apps have been kicking the Russian state broadcasters off. RT will now be available through Rumble and Odysee. One can also download the apps for RT and Sputnik at the Huawei AppGallery store. These will purportedly work on an Android phone.
I’ve noted that the OSCE Media Freedom representative has been silent on these actions from the west but has voiced condemnation of Russia’s suppression of non-establishment media outlets.
A 65 year-old substitute teacher in Arlington, Virginia has been suspended from his job for reportedly providing a balanced perspective on the war – which included the Russian perspective – and admonishing his students to seek out different perspectives before making up their minds about important issues. Here is a Fox5 report on the story:
I will reiterate here what I posted on Twitter about this:
If you disagree with what someone is saying, you provide a counter-argument, you don’t censor. Only people who are very insecure in their positions demand censorship. Those who cheer for censoring their perceived political opponents will see the boomerang come back to them.
I wonder if Russia, in retaliation, will ban RFE/RL and VOA from their country. My understanding is that American sponsored media in Russia is significantly more influential than RT/Sputnik is in the west. Something about a nose and a face comes to mind.
One thought on “No-Fly Zone Ruled Out by US Def Secretary; Round 2 of Negotiations; Russia’s Response to Sanctions; Censorship Getting Ugly”
Comments are closed.