The News Brief

Good Morning,

NATO and Russia

Updated at 11:30am London time.

The Polish President now says missile fired was Ukrainian air defence missile.

An “unfortunate accident”.

U.S. President Biden said at the beginning of this war in Ukraine, that every inch of NATO territory would be defended if the war spilled over. A stark warning to Russia not to threaten the alliance.

Well Russia seemed to do just that when a missile, slammed into a grain facility in Poland killing 2 people. It was part of a huge missile attack on Ukraine Tuesday, that saw more than 80 missiles fired at Ukrainian Cities.

The Poles say it was a Russian made missile but they are investigating to determine it’s launch point and targeting.

“Totally unconscionable” said President Biden at the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia noting leading countries were urging Russia to deescalate the war and this was Russia’s answer.

Biden said however it was unlikely the missile was fired from Russia given the missiles trajectory.

So what do we know? It was a Russian missile but who fired it? Was it an errant missile that was intercepted by Ukraine and went off course? There are no clear answers. And it even could has been a Russia made, S-300 ground to air missile fired by Ukraine to intercept Russia incoming missiles in Ukraine.

Poland which scrambled jet fighters in response and called emergency Government meetings, said it will investigate as did the U.S. because unlike Ukraine, Poland is a member of NATO and an attack on Poland is an attack on all of NATO.

But right now until the origins and intent of the missile attack can be determined this is not an Article 5 NATO situation in which all members defend Poland, but rather this likely becomes an Article 4.

Article 4 is generally considered the starting point for major NATO operations, and intended for either emergencies or situations of urgency. It officially calls for consultation over military matters when "the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened."

NATO will hold its own emergency meeting today to further discuss the missile strike. There will be statements of concern and outrage, and warnings to Moscow.

***But, heres the situation - the longer this war continues the chance of a real spillover drawing in NATO becomes. Russia is playing with fire and taking Europe to the brink of a larger conflict. President Putin needs to withdraw his forces from Ukraine and stop this war.***

Instead Putin and his inner circle are escalating the conflict and destroying Ukraines infrastructure from the air as it loses the ground war. We are entering another dangerous chapter in this conflict.

U.S. Politics

Well, we all knew it was coming, and now that day has arrived in America, Donald Trump is threatening a political come back.

Trump has announced he will indeed run for President in 2024, just as the U.S. got past the midterms elections with a relatively normal election and an intact working democracy, barring of course a few calls of election fraud from a few fringe losers.

Trump of course used his announcement to insult the millions of left liberal leaning Americans calling them “lunatics”. Division is Trumps calling card.

Trump doesn’t have wide spread support from his own party after many of his candidates lost the midterms, and the Republicans lost the Senate. Trumps brand of extremism seems to have expired and American is tired of his politics.

Even Trumps daughter Ivanka, who was a key advisor in his White House was not there for his launch, saying she does not plan to be involved in politics.

Time to turn the page?

In a stinging rebuke delivered just hours before the former president made his campaign announcement, Mike Pence said that the Republican party has "better choices" than Donald Trump for 2024 and has refused to rule out his own White House run.

“I think we’ll have better choices in the future,”

And one of those choices includes his Florida neighbour and political rival Governor Ron DeSantis.

"Let’s be clear: Donald Trump is not just "unfit to serve" as President," Dem Rep Barbara Lee wrote on twitter "He incited a violent attempted coup against our democracy."

"He needs to be barred from holding ANY public office again and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Trump incites paranoid conspiracy theorists to support his cause by using bizarre claims of danger and monstrous plots to stop him.

"We will be resisted by the combined forces of the establishment, the media, the special interest, the globalists, the Marxist radicals, the woke corporations, the weaponized power of the federal government the colossal political machines, the tidal wave of dark money, and the most dangerous domestic censorship system ever created by man or woman," Trump said.

According to a report in the Guardian Newspaper, media mogul Rupert Murdoch has told Trump he will not support Trump’s 2024 candidacy.

And at an annual meeting of Republican Governors, former Republican Governor Chris Christie got huge applause when he blamed Trump for 3 cycles of Republican election losses saying voters “rejected crazy”.

Other News…

-5…4…3…2…1… boosters ignite and lift off. All eyes were on Florida’s Kennedy Space Center as thousands gathered to see the launch today of Artemis 1 bound for the moon. Artemis 1 is a trial run before Artemis 2 will circle the moon and Artemis 3 will touch down on the moons surface. The rocket had been plagued with delays. But this morning it kicked and lifted off. It’s unmanned.

-Data published on Tuesday by the European gas storage association GIE showed that natural gas storage facilities in Germany have now reached 100% capacity. Europe's largest economy has been building reserves after Russia cut deliveries.

-Three Israelis were killed and four others injured in a terror rampage in the West Bank city of Ariel on Tuesday. According to the military, two civilians were killed at the “Ten” gas station in Ariel and another man was killed after he suffered multi-system injuries after being rammed in an intentional car crash near the West Bank city. The 18 yr old Palestinian was shot by an off duty IDF soldier.

Have a good morning all!

Dana Lewis