The Key Question About Biden's Bold Trip to Kyiv
Demons and Delusions: What do we make of Putin's speech?
So while Joe Biden was verbally chastising Moscow for taking Crimea, his son, Hunter Biden, was working for a Moscow-based firm that benefited from the taking of Crimea.
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Joe Lindsley reporting from KHARKIV, UKRAINE, with a team from throughout the country …
The Key Question: Does Washington Want a Decisive Victory for Ukraine?
Now after 365 days of Ukrainians proving themselves, something has changed: The U.S. president has entered a war-zone country under constant threat of Russian missile strikes. This was something bold: Recall during the long war in Afghanistan when presidents used to visit on Thanksgiving, say: We never knew about such visits until after they were over.
It’s still hard to know just how much Washington wants Ukraine to win; I hear many concerns and doubts behind the scenes. Maybe there has been a change of heart, because Ukrainians proved something to the world.
But the proof will be in the actions: Will the USA send Ukraine the offensive weapons with which it can push back decisively against Moscow? Or will the U.S. president be making an annual wartime visit to Ukraine like his predecessors serving Turkey secretly in Kabul for two decades?
You can listen to my WGN Radio report here:
From THE SPECTATOR magazine:
Clearing up the little but important matter of Burisma, Hunter Biden, Russia, and Ukraine:
"In 2014, Russia, seeking to stop this spread of freedom, tried to take Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnipro and other cities from Ukraine, but the regular citizens, football hooligans, and a ragtag army kept them at bay. In the end, Moscow snatched parts of the Donbas and all of Crimea.
"The West, including the Obama-Biden administration, did nothing.
"Instead, two months later, Joe Biden’s son took a high-paying job working for a member of the Kyiv regime ousted by the people in the Revolution of Dignity. That oligarch, Mykola Zlochevsky, was CEO of the energy firm Burisma, with significant gas fields in the Crimean peninsula. So while Joe Biden was verbally chastising Moscow for taking Crimea, his son, Hunter Biden, was working for a Moscow-based firm that benefited from the taking of Crimea.
"It was the same story a year ago. In the lead-up to Russia’s February 24 invasion, nearly every Western leader seemed to think Ukraine would fall in just a few days. They condemned Russia but stood by and watched. The US embassy even fled the country, quicker than they left Saigon or Kabul."
Read the full story here (enter your email address to access).
War Day 363: Putin's Delusions, Dostoevsky's Demons, and Ukrainian Freedom
In his hours long speech in Moscow today, Putin played that most dangerous of cards, the victim, a common trope of the aggressor and the abuser. While many nations exist on a continuum of freedom, Ukraine and Russia perhaps present the starkest contrast between tyranny and freedom, victim and victor.
As a Ukrainian friend, a scientist, told me, “In Russia, the country is the power, here the people are.”
Should free people enjoy Russian art, or maybe at least just not now?
Michelin needs a fourth star: restaurants to visit even during missile attacks
Just before midnight last, the Russians sent five missiles to Kharkiv city: thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. And yet the next day, the city keeps going--as I describe while reporting from the café Trepichna, or Three Ovens. It began as a volunteer hub in the first hours of the war. Soon the team of young cooks realised they had something special. Now, they use the money they making from cooking to support their military friends, most recently by purchasing a pickup truck.
Imagine: Israeli falafel made from banosh, which is Ukrianian grits or polenta with salty mountain cheese, and tahina sauce from sunflower seeds, humus from local beans. Fermented mushrooms and vegetables, the likes of which i have had at the best restaurants in Scandinavia.
The food is real nourishment but so is the spirit of the people working there: which is necessary to keep going in a dark time, so close to the edge.
At the end, 9:00, Chef Mikita takes you on a tour of a Ukrainian mezza.
War Verifies: Which Side Are You On?
An American, a Pole, and a Ukrainian Talk About the Fight for Freedom
Stories, Sounds, and Facts of War: Every weekday, Ukrainian Freedom News’s Joe Lindsley, an American in Ukraine since the pandemic started, gives a live war report on Chicago’s WGN Radio. You can listen and watch below. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch all our stories.
ABOUT US: Ukrainian Freedom News: The wild story—so far—of free people standing for democracy, faith, dignity
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American journalist Joe Lindsley, in Ukraine since 2020, leads the Ukrainian Freedom News team of Ukrainians and foreigners on a mission to share real talk and real life in war-time with the world. Every weekday since late February 2022, he has reported live from Ukraine on Chicago’s WGN Radio with host Bob Sirott. You can listen to all episodes at UkrainianFreedomNews.com or via our YouTube channel.
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