After a week-long series of votes to override an intense campaign by Let’s Make Russia Great Again Russo-Republicans— primarily Rand Paul (KY), JD Vance (OH), Mike Lee (UT), Rick Scott (FL), Ron Johnson (WI), Josh Hawley (MO), Ted Cruz (TX) and, surprisingly Lindsey Graham (SC) and Marco Rubio (FL)— to prevent helping Ukraine defend itself from Putin, early this morning the Senate passed 70-29, with the most GOP votes in the series, a $95 billion package to deliver aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. (Note: Because the aid to Israel was unconditional, Bernie, Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch voted against the bill as well.)
In the end, the Russo-Republicans lost 5 senators who had been opposing them on the cloture votes: Mike Crapo (ID), James Risch (ID), John Hoeven (ND), Kevin Cramer (ND) and John Boozman (AR), a big blow to Trump’s ability to deliver for Putin. McConnell and 21 other Republicans snubbed Trump and Putin. It’s worth noting that Elon Musk— with his StarLink system, paid for by American taxpayers— is helping Putin attack Ukraine and joined JD Vance and Mike Lee loudly and aggressively opposing the bill on Twitter. Romney, speaking last night on teh Senate floor, addressed Vance, Lee and the other the Russo-Republicans: “I know that shock jocks and online instigators have riled up many in the far reaches of my party, but if your position is being cheered by Vladimir Putin, it’s time to reconsider your position.”
Over in the House, on the other had, MAGA Mike says nyet (HeT). He claims he’s “open” to aid to Ukraine but has put up impossible barriers to giving it a vote. “[T]he House GOP leadership believes it can’t bring this bill to the floor if the Louisiana Republican wants to remain speaker. It’s that simple… Indecisiveness is a mark of Johnson’s speakership. The leadership is exceedingly clunky these days. It’s slow to make decisions. And occasionally, when it makes decisions, it makes really bad decisions. Johnson is going to have to move quickly here. Because there will undoubtedly be Ukraine and Israel supporters in the House who will consider joining Democrats on a discharge petition. The way Johnson could head this off is to show that he has a plan.” Or maybe the discharge petition is his way out of this jam. H can let the package pass while showing Trump he opposed it.
If every House Democrat signs on— and that isn’t a guarantee because of the unconditional aid to Israel— a discharge petition will need 4 Republicans. Are there 4 Republicans who would stand up for America’s interests over Trump’s. Maybe Bacon. Maybe Fitzpatrick. Maybe Ken Buck. But the rest of them are all too scared of Trump to do the right thing. The swing district Republicans? Mike Lawler (NY)- coward; Tom Kean (NJ)- coward; Marc Molinaro (NY)- coward; David Schweikert (AZ), Nick LaLota (NY)- coward; Mike Turner (OH)- coward; John James (MI)- coward; David Valadao (CA)- coward; Michelle Steel (CA)- coward; Rob Wittman (VA)- coward; Bill Huizenga MI)- coward; John Duarte (CA)- coward; Mike Garcia (CA)- coward; Jen Kiggans (VA)- coward; Mariannette Miller (IA)-Meeks- coward; Maria Salazar (FL)- coward; Young Kim (CA)- coward; Brian Steil (WI)- coward; Anthony D’Esposito (NY)- coward; Lairel Lee (FL)- coward; Ken Calvert (CA)- coward; Andrew Garbarino (NY)- coward; Kevin Kiley (CA)- coward; Zach Nunn- coward; Brandon Williams- coward; Ashley Hinson (IA)- coward; Juan Ciscomani- coward…
Meanwhile, The Economist published a report about how Russia is ramping up their internet disinformation campaign. The report is about Russia's efforts in Europe but have no doubts that Putin will so all he can to get his sycophantic ally in the U.S. back into the White House.
According to French authorities, the Kremlin is at it again. On February 12th Viginum, the French foreign-disinformation watchdog, announced it had detected preparations for a large disinformation campaign in France, Germany, Poland and other European countries, tied in part to the second anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the elections to the European Parliament in June.
Viginum said it had uncovered a Russian network of 193 websites which it codenames “Portal Kombat.” Most of these sites, such as topnews.uz.ua, were created years ago and many were left dormant. Over 50 of them, such as news-odessa.ru and pravda-en.com, have been created since 2022. Current traffic to these sites, which exist in various languages including French, German, Polish and English, is low. But French authorities think they are ready to be activated aggressively as part of what one official calls a “massive” wave of Russian disinformation.
…For France, the detection of this latest Russian destabilisation effort comes after a series of campaigns that it has attributed to Moscow. Last November the French foreign ministry denounced a “Russian digital interference operation” that spread photos of Stars of David stencilled on walls in a neighbourhood of Paris, in order to stir intercommunal tension in France shortly after the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Viginum then detected a network of 1,095 bots on Twitter, which published 2,589 posts. It linked this to a Russian internet complex called Recent Reliable News, known for cloning the websites of Western media outlets in order to spread fake news; the eu has dubbed that complex “Doppelgänger.”
France held the same network responsible in June 2023 for the cloning of various French media websites, as well as that of the French foreign ministry. On the cloned ministry website, hackers posted a statement suggesting, falsely, that France was to introduce a 1.5% “security tax” to finance military aid to Ukraine.
As the campaign for the European Parliament elections draws near, France is thought to be a particular target for Moscow. According to an article in the Washington Post in December, Kremlin documents show that Russia has been intensifying its effort to undermine French backing for Ukraine. It also has a clear interest in promoting division in France, at a time when Marine Le Pen is riding high in the polls for the next presidential election in 2027. The hard-right leader, who financed previous campaigns with a Russian bank loan, stands to benefit the most from France’s polarised politics.
