Our first guest, Jim Jatras, retired former U.S. diplomat and GOP Senate foreign policy adviser, joins the show to talk about what is happening on the ground in Ukraine militarily and diplomatically. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to discuss a “neutral status” for his country. Russia said it was ready to send a delegation to Minsk, but of course, as these statements are being made, people are fighting and dying in Ukraine. They talked about the scale of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine and the burgeoning protests in the region.
Next, John Ross, author, economist, and senior fellow of the Chongyang Institute at Renmin University of China, joins the show to discuss the wave of sanctions the US has imposed. They talk about the immediate economic impact in Russia and elsewhere. Also, India is apparently trying to establish a rupee payment mechanism to trade with Russia - if other countries do this as well, does it eventually affect the value of the dollar overall?
Kimberly Dvorak, investigative journalist, talks about the possible outcomes from Russia’s military engagement in Ukraine. They talk about whether Ukraine will become a divided state: Ukraine on the West and parts of Eastern Ukraine join Russia. The Misfits also talk about the impact the war in Ukraine will affect domestic politics and the 2022 midterm elections.
For the last segment, Jacqueline Luqman, co-host of By Any Means Necessary which can be heard M-F 2:00p to 4:00p ET on Radio Sputnik, calls in to join the conversation to talk about what it means to fight for peace at a time of open conflict. There’s a lot of pressure right now in the West to take a side - and pressure to accept the idea that to be on the side of ordinary Ukrainians watching this horror play out is to be on the side of the US and NATO. Luqman points out that while Russia is striking Ukraine, Israel has been dropping bombs in Gaza for years with no sanctions from the West.
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