Nazis Training Ukranian Grandmas (Not a Joke), "Russia Plans Biggest War in Europe Since 1945" -UK, Ukraine/Russia=$7/Gallon Gas? Another Epstein-Related "Suicide" (The Five for 02/22/22)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
At the last minute, I made to delay this issue by one day to better reflect the changes in Ukraine.
So, apologies this is one is a day late…in a world that prioritizes being fast and fixing the mistakes later…this publication will always prioritize being factual.
Let’s get into the news.
[one]
UPDATE: A few minutes before this issue was scheduled to publish, Putin received OK from the Russian Congress to “use force outside of Russia.” According to several sources, the U.S. believes Russia will begin a full scale invasion of Ukraine by Friday.
Currently, only 26% of Americans believe the U.S. should play a major role in the conflict.
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Britain, predicted a hot war in Ukraine would kick off “the biggest war in Europe since 1945.
The latest estimates by the US government suggests that between 169,000 and 190,000 Russian troops are stationed along Ukraine's border, both in Russia and neighbouring Belarus - but this figure also includes rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Mr Johnson warned that any conflict could be "bloody and protracted", saying Russian President Vladimir Putin was possibly "thinking illogically about this" and did not "see the disaster ahead".
"I think it's vital for us all now to get over what a catastrophe it would be for Russia," he added.
He indicated that the UK and US would bring further sanctions against Russia than have been suggested before, including stopping its companies "trading in pounds and dollars" - a move that he said would "hit very, very hard".
Mr Johnson added: "The lesson of [the Russian seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in] 2014 is that you can't just let Vladimir Putin get away with it."
An invasion of Ukraine would strengthen, rather than weaken, Nato, he predicted, saying Western countries could not allow opposition forces to come to "the false conclusion that might is right".
"If [Mr Putin] thinks he's going to get less Nato as a result of this, he's totally wrong," Mr Johnson said. "He's going to get more Nato."
The position of the U.S. here is unclear, as President Biden has offered pretty contradictory statements very close together.
But after going 0-2 in wars this century, the question isn’t whether or not the U.S. could smash Russian forces in Ukraine…the question is, then what?
Journalist Matt Taibbi weighs in:
No one will say it out loud, but the greatest argument against U.S. support for military action of any kind in Ukraine is the inerrant incompetence of our missions and the consistent record of destabilizing areas of strategic interest through our involvement, including in these two specific countries. At the moment the Berlin Wall fell the United States had almost limitless political capital with these soon-to-be ex-Soviet territories. We blew it all within a few years. Now that we’re really in trouble in Ukraine, why would we keep to the same playbook that got us here?
Our plan with every foreign country that falls into our orbit is the same. We ride in as saviors, throwing loans in all directions to settle debts (often to us), then let it be known the country’s affairs will henceforth be run through our embassy. Since we’re ignorant of history and have long viewed diplomats too in sync with local customs as liabilities, we tend to fill our embassies with people who have limited sense of the individual character of host countries, their languages, or the attitudes of people outside the capital.
Going on the last 20 years of history, Taibbi is dead on here. We’re great at defeating opposing militaries, not so good at knowing what to do next.
If you think this story is complicated, just wait until you read the next one…
[two]
Valentyna Konstantynovska, a 79-year-old Ukranian grandmother, captured the heart of the world this week, when she was profiled by NBC News, Newsweek and several other major outlets for training with an AK-47
From Newsweek:
As tensions reach a boiling point between western countries and Russia regarding an invasion of Ukraine, she said that the training will help her protect what's most important to her.
"I'm ready to shoot. If something happens, I will defend my home, my city, my children," she told ITV News. "I will do this because I think I'm ready for it. I don't want to lose my country, my city."
Konstantynovska was not the only civilian to attend the training. Some even came with their children, including Yelena Piddubna.
"Why have we come with my son? We want to be aware of everything, and I want him to know how to do everything," she told ITV News.
There’s only one problem with the story…the group training Konstantynovska are…Neo Nazis.
Eight years ago, a Russian-backed separatist movement began in eastern Ukraine and fighting has continued there ever since. As the fighting spread, paramilitary groups like the Azov Battalion—which uses neo-Nazi symbols on its uniform—formed to fight on behalf of Ukraine. Rather than fight another conflict against these militias, Kyiv legitimized them by folding them into the National Guard.
It’s worth nothing here that Ukraine’s current president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is Jewish. The conflict in Ukraine is complicated and exists at a crossroads of a dozen different ideologies and geopolitical interests. The image of Konstantynovska leaning over an AK-47 is a powerful one that reflects Ukraine’s desire to remain an independent country. But so are the Azov Battalion trainers bent over her, showing her how to shoot, while the Wolfsangel looms on their shoulder.
I had to read that a couple of times.
A country with a Jewish President allowed a Neo Nazi group to join it’s national guard.
I get the whole “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” thing, but this aint good. If Russia doesn’t invade, you still have members of the Ukrainian military who’s ideology demands they kill the Ukrainian President.
It’s also incredibly irresponsible reporting for NBC, Newsweek, Sky News and a host of other British and American outlets covering this story while leaving out the Neo Nazi element.
[three]
One energy expert predicts you could see a $100 fill-up on in the average SUV by summer if war does break out in Ukraine.
Drivers best start bracing for another surge in gas prices amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and years of under-investment by the oil industry, warns one veteran energy strategist.
"My guess is that you are going to see $5 a gallon at any triple-digit [oil prices] ... as soon as you get to $100. And you might get to $6.50 or $7. Forget about $150 a gallon, I don't know where we will be by then," Energy Word founder Dan Dicker
Dicker said oil prices could shoot higher to $150 a barrel, or in line to the "super spike" highs from 2007.
Oil prices have been red-hot lately as geopolitical tensions rise between Russia and the rest of the world.
WTI crude oil has climbed 13% in the past month to $94 a barrel. Russia produces 10 million barrels of oil a day, the equivalent of 10% of global demand. Any loss of that oil due to geopolitical issues could cause a tightly supplied market to become tighter, pushing prices for the hydrocarbon up.
[four]
A quick recap of a very complicated story, before we dive into the updates. Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who’s friends included a who’s-who of the rich and powerful, including Presidents Trump and Clinton, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Saudi Crown PRince Mohammed bin Salman, Tesla founder Elon Musk, MIT director Joi Ito, Barclays CEO Jes Staley, U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. John P. de Jongh and more.
Epstein was under investigation for 3 years before finally being convicted of prostituting a minor in 2008, which resulted in a prison sentence. Instead, Epstein’s power and influence wriggled him down to house arrest, which only lasted three months before he was allowed to leave for 12 hours a day on a “work permit.”
So, for raping a minor Epstein got…an adult curfew.
For the next decade, Epstein eluded dozens charges on trafficking, prostituting and raping underage girls as rumors about his “pedophile island” continued to swirl.
In 2019, Epstein was finally arrested and charged, but wound up dead in prison of an alleged suicide. A forensic pathologist found the evidence to point to suicide by hanging as an impossibility, and instead the evidence showed Epstein was strangled while the cameras on his cell somehow malfunctioned” and the guards were “asleep.”
For the most part, which famous friends visited Epstein’s “pedophile island” in the U.S. Virgin Islands has been kept off the books. Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and business associate Ghislane Maxwell wasn’t forced to name any of the rapists in her trial.
Now, another Epstein associate has been, uhhh, suicided.
But there’s finally been one bit of evidence made public. Britain’s Prince Andrew settled in New York court with a woman who claims Andrew raped her as a teenager as one of Epstein’s forced prostitutes.
Andrew has effectively been kicked out of the Royal Family, and is getting further heat from the fact that another Epstein associate is dead.
Prince Andrew marked the quietest royal birthday in modern history on Saturday as he looks to lay low after settling his sex abuse case with Virginia Roberts.
The muted celebration of his 62nd birthday came just hours after the death of Jeffrey Epstein's 'pimp', who was accused of trafficking hundreds of girls to the paedophile financier.
French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, 76, who allegedly procured more than a thousand women and girls for Epstein to sleep with, was found hanged in his prison cell in an alleged suicide on Saturday morning.
As with Epstein’s death, the cameras that would have recorded Brunel’s end…somehow “malfunctioned.”
Despite the fact that dozens of women have come forward and there are flight logs of some of the most powerful men in the world flying to Epstein’s “Pedophile Island,” this story…just isn’t covered much in the mainstream media, with outlets like Business Insider actually complaining about the number of people who think Epstein was murdered.
This is not conspiracy.
The most reasonable conclusion is that one or more of these powerful billionaires had Epstein murdered and are picking off anyone who might be able to name them in a court of law, one by one. I doubt that all of
The Epstein story WAS a conspiracy theory…until an overwhelming amount of evidence and court convictions proved otherwise.
Now, the Epstein “suicides” are the elephant in the room major media outlets cannot…or will not…report on.
[five]
A new poll revealed a large gap between the American public’s views on the Canadian government’s crackdown of the trucker protest…and that of likely Democrat voters.
A new poll from Trafalgar Group and Convention of States Action and provided exclusively to The Daily Wire shows that 55% of likely general election voters disapprove of Trudeau’s handling of the protesters. Thirty-five percent approve of Trudeau’s heavy-handed tactics and 10% said they were unaware of what was happening north of the U.S. border.
Trafalgar Group surveyed 1080 likely general election voters from February 18-20 after Trudeau brought federal, provincial, and local law enforcement into Ottawa to forcibly clear out hundreds of protesters and dozens of vehicles from Parliament Hill and surrounding areas. The poll’s margin of error is 3%.
Democrats overwhelmingly favored Trudeau’s response with 65% approval to 17% disapproval. Republican responses were weighted even more heavily against Trudeau, however, with 87% of likely GOP voters disapproving to just 8% approving. Respondents who said they did not belong to either one of the two main parties cut against Trudeau’s crackdown with 74% disapproving versus 21% approving.
Initially, the Canadian government froze the bank accounts of some protestors, a move that was met with outcry from the political left and right alike…including ardent socialist influencer Vaush:
Public support against the Canadian response dwindled further in the wake of a Canadian grandmother being trampled by a horse ridden by a police officer, and the alleged texts from Canadian police mocking the incident.
One of the text messages in the exchange appears to show officers applauding the incident involving the woman.
'Just watched the horse video - that is awesome,' the chat member allegedly wrote.
'We should practice that manoeuvre.'
Meanwhile, one group participant wrote: 'Time for the protesters to hear our jackboots on the ground,' while another said: 'Don't kick all of them out until next weeks group gets our turn.'
Another joked the officers could not act harshly because they were a 'kinder, gentler RCMP,' to which someone replied: 'Okay, we can give out free hugs and unicorn stickers.'
Moments before the unidentified woman was trampled, she told another Freedom Convoy participant - who was recording the protests - that she was rallying to ensure a better future for her grandchildren.
‘Our grandchildren. This is what we’re doing it for. So they all can have peace and love and happiness,' she is heard saying on video, before chanting: ‘Peace, love, happiness. Peace, love, happiness.’
Until the next one,
-sth