Dotty about the Potty

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Pentagon under fire for blocking journalist embeds around Ukraine | TheHill

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby was grilled multiple times this week by reporters in the Pentagon’s briefing room and on television over the decision, which he claimed was to make room for diplomacy between Western and Russian officials, an effort that has so far faltered.  

“There’s a lot of factors that go into deciding how we handle media access. Some of these decisions are very difficult to make. We take it very seriously and right now we’re trying to balance a lot of factors in terms of the time and space for diplomacy,” Kirby told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” late Wednesday. 

But with more than 100,000 Kremlin troops already placed at Ukraine’s border, including roughly 2,000 more added in the past 24 hours, a full-scale invasion could come in a matter of weeks, according to U.S. officials. 

With such an impending threat, journalists argue, it’s imperative to have reporters placed alongside the 3,000 U.S. troops being sent to Eastern Europe to ensure full transparency. 

“U.S. journalists, Pentagon reporters have been embedded with military troops…during all these recent conflicts in recent years. I don’t understand why you don’t want some transparency,” Blitzer told Kirby. 

Blitzer is not the only journalist to press the issue. 

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Parody of composer, songwriter Mike Batt’s “If You Were a Sailboat” (Original sung by Katie Melua) Executive Producers for Parody Project: Don Caron and Jerry Pender

the guardian

A reporter asked Jake Sullivan whether the Biden administration feels obligated to provide underlying intelligence to justify officials’ claims about the imminent threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The reporter nodded to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when faulty US intelligence about weapons of mass destruction was used to justify a massive military operation.

Sullivan argued that there was a “fundamental distinction” between the invasion of Iraq and the crisis in Ukraine, saying the US was now attempting to prevent a bloody war.

“In the situation in Iraq, intelligence was used and deployed from this very podium to start a war,” Sullivan said. “We are trying to stop a war, to prevent a war, to avert a war.”

Sullivan also noted that Americans can see for themselves that Russia is building up its troop presence along Ukraine’s borders, unlike when the US falsely claimed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

“You can believe your own eyes that the Russians have put in place the capabilities to conduct a massive military operation against Ukraine should they choose to do so,” Sullivan said.

at same guardian link above a few minutes ago:

Joe Biden has just left the White House and boarded Marine One to start the trip to Camp David, where he will spend the weekend.

As the president walked out to the helicopter, reporters shouted questions about the imminent threat of a Russian attack on Ukraine, as the White House warns an invasion could occur during the Beijing Olympics.

But the US president did not answer any questions.

putie’s about to push the button

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