NATO reacts as Russia fires nearly 400 drones at Ukraine

Russia launched nearly 400 drones and dozens of missiles across Ukraine overnight Monday, triggering NATO to scramble fighter jets in neighboring countries, according to reports.

The massive aerial assault killed at least four people and injured more than two dozen, with strikes hitting multiple regions including Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, The Associated Press reported, citing Ukrainian officials.

Poland and Romania both scrambled fighter jets as Russian strikes approached NATO airspace, East2West reported, with Warsaw placing air defenses on the "highest state of readiness," Poland’s operational command said.

"Due to the activity of long-range Russian air forces conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory, Polish and allied air forces have begun operating in our airspace," Poland’s operational command said, according to East2West.

What one sees in these episodes is not mere battlefield friction but something deeper: the grinding insistence of one power upon the sovereignty of another, and the nervous vigilance it provokes among those who share a border with the conflict.

Hours earlier, two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled in fellow NATO state Romania as Russian drones attacked Ukraine near the River Danube, the outlet reported. The Danube forms part of the border between Ukraine and Romania.

Ukrainian military leaders said Russian forces have intensified attacks along the roughly 750-mile front line, with hundreds of assaults reported in recent days.

The Institute for the Study of War said the escalation suggests Moscow’s long-anticipated spring-summer offensive is now underway, according to The Associated Press.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched nearly 400 drones. Ukrainian officials later said most were intercepted or disrupted, although some were able to hit their targets, according to East2West.

Russia also launched 23 cruise missiles and seven ballistic missiles at Ukraine during the night, hitting at least 10 locations across the country, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Ukrainian civilians have endured relentless barrages since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago. U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv over the past year have brought no respite, with Russia rejecting Ukraine’s ceasefire offer.

The latest strikes came after Ukraine hit Russia’s largest Baltic port, Primorsk, in a pinpoint attack a day earlier, leaving the key export hub in flames, East2West reported.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambassador to London, Andrey Kelin, threatened "dire" consequences over what he said was Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow missiles, which this month hit and damaged a microelectronics plant in Russia’s Bryansk region.

"The British, without whose participation the use of Storm Shadow missiles is simply impossible, decided to remind everyone of both Ukraine and themselves," he said. "However, any action has consequences. And for everyone involved in the tragedy in Bryansk, the consequences will be dire."

One cannot help but note the symmetry here, or rather the absence of it. When Ukrainian forces strike at Russian infrastructure, the response is often framed as escalation, as though the original invasion itself were not the originating sin of the entire tragedy. Yet when Russian barrages rain down on Ukrainian cities, the language turns clinical, technical, almost detached, as if describing a weather event rather than a sustained campaign against a civilian population.

This is the moral asymmetry that has defined so much of the Western commentary on this war: a reluctance to call things by their proper names, lest the clarity prove inconvenient.

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NATO warns Putin if they attack Poland, the response will be "devastating"

WARSAW — Mark Rutte, NATO’s Secretary-General, strode into the Polish capital on Wednesday and delivered a message that ought to resonate in the Kremlin’s dim corridors. The transatlantic alliance, he made plain, isn’t in the mood for half-measures. 

“When it comes to the defense of Poland and the general defense of NATO territory, if anyone were to miscalculate and think they can get away with an attack on Poland or any other ally, they will be met with the full force of this fierce alliance,” he declared at a press conference alongside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. No mincing words there. This wasn’t a plea for civility—it was a promise of mass destruction.

Rutte didn’t stop at vague assurances. “Our reaction will be devastating,” he said, hammering the point home with a clarity that’s been too rare in Western rhetoric of late. “This must be clear to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and anyone else who wants to attack us.” He’s right to name the beast. Russia, under its grim tsar, isn’t playing at diplomacy—it’s arming for war. 

Rutte underscored this, noting Poland’s exemplary commitment: 4.7 percent of its GDP poured into defense, the highest in NATO. That’s not just a statistic; it’s a gauntlet thrown down to the alliance’s laggards.

“Let’s not forget that Russia is and remains the most significant and dark threat to our alliance,” Rutte added. “Let’s not forget that Russia is moving to a wartime economy.” There’s no room for naivety here. Moscow isn’t posturing—it’s preparing. And yet, how many in the West still cling to the delusion that appeasement might buy peace?

Tusk, for his part, didn’t waste breath on platitudes. “It’s very important for us [to hear] the commitment that NATO will defend Poland in any critical situation,” he said, invoking Article 5—the spine of the alliance. Poland knows what’s at stake. This isn’t a country that can afford to indulge in the luxury of doubt.

But shadows loom. Across the Atlantic, U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to power has rattled nerves in NATO’s European wing. His disdain for the continent—and that of his inner circle—is no secret. Whispers of America’s wavering commitment grow louder, and with them, a creeping unease. 

Rutte, ever the optimist, brushed this aside. “The transatlantic relationship between the U.S. and Europe is the pillar of our alliance and that’s not changing,” he insisted. Brave words, but one wonders if he’s trying to convince himself as much as the rest of us.

Poland, sensibly, has tethered its security to the United States. Yet there’s a snag: the U.S.-led peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, a process Tusk admitted Poland can only “influence to a limited extent, to put it mildly.” That’s diplomatic code for being sidelined. 

The Poles—and the rest of us—might well ask: what kind of settlement will emerge from a negotiation where America’s unpredictability meets Russia’s ruthlessness?

This is the state of play in 2025. NATO’s resolve is loud, its unity less certain. Rutte’s warnings are sharp, but the alliance’s strength will be tested not by words, but by what happens when the first shot is fired.

And if Putin’s listening, he’d do well to heed the man in Warsaw. Miscalculate, and the “full force” won’t be a metaphor.

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Poland angry over Kyiv's sense of entitlement: Zelenskyy urges calm

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to call for calm late Tuesday as tempers soared between diplomats from his country and Poland. 

On Tuesday, Kyiv summoned Warsaw's envoy following a top Polish official openly complaining that Ukraine needs to be more appreciative of the help Poland has given them after Russia's invasion last year. This was a similar complaint many American conservatives and perhaps a few liberals had with Ukraine and Zelenskyy. It seemed to many Americans that he was expecting us to do more in his war effort and this notion wasn't lost on Poland's envoy.

“We greatly appreciate the historical support of Poland, which together with us has become a real shield of Europe from sea to sea. And there cannot be a single crack in this shield,” Zelenskyy said. “We will not allow any political instants to spoil the relations between the Ukrainian and Polish peoples, and emotions should definitely cool down.” 

Poland has been one of Ukraine's greatest supporters after Russia's aggressive actions increased last year. However, more recently, Poland's relations with Kyiv have deteriorated by Warsaw's decision to extend a ban on some Ukrainian agricultural exports because they viewed this as a threat to the interests of their farmers.

The initial ban was mainly on grain, but is now shifting to soft fruit. Poland's farmers happen to be a key constituency in the upcoming Polish general elections, and nothing is more important to politicians, be they from Poland or the United States, than getting reelected. The low-price Ukrainian imports are hurting Polish farmers and politicians suddenly care.

The brewing disputes escalated Tuesday after Ukraine summoned the Polish ambassador to Kyiv over “unacceptable” comments made by a senior Polish official.

Marcin Przydacz [pronounced "Prrzzdaczrpzz"] head of Poland's international policy office said Kyiv ought to “start appreciating the role Poland has played for Ukraine in recent months and years”  causing Ukrainian heads to explode to the point they hauled in Warsaw's ambassador and prompted Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to hit back at Ukraine.

“The summoning of the Polish ambassador — a representative of the country that was the only one left in Kyiv on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — to the Ukrainian foreign ministry should never have happened,” Morawiecki said.

“Given the enormity of the support Poland has given Ukraine, such mistakes should not happen,” the prime minister added, verbally flipping ungrateful Ukraine the "bird."

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Biden claims to Salvation Army brass he spent time with Secret Service in Ukraine, Poland

It seems that everything that comes out of the mushmouth of our so called President Biden is either a sign of confusion or a bald faced lie. 

Biden did not drive an 18-wheeler; did not visit the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, not Afghanistan and Iraq twice as president; his son, Beau did not die in Iraq; did not pass student loan legislation; was not raised by Puerto Ricans; is not Jewish; did not travel 17,000 miles with Chinese President Xi; did not kick Hezbollah out of Lebanon; did not make a deal with the Taliban that he would get all US forces out of Afghanistan by May 1st; and finally, he did not come out anywhere near the top of his law school class--he came out at close to last. 

We all know there's more but you get the point.

So the latest in the Biden list of lies came in El Paso, Texas over the weekend when he told a Salvation Army Official that he spent time with the Secret Service in Poland and Ukraine. Perhaps it wasn't a lie but a mere hallucination; apparently he's been experiencing them for a while as observed in his attempt at shaking hands with the air.

To Joe's credit, he never peed himself in front of a crowd like the president of South Sudan did a few days ago. But alas, he did take a dump while seated in front of the Pope, so there's that.

When asked by the press about Biden's Poland-Ukraine hot mic claim, the White House pointed to the sky and said, "Look, a dead bird."

Only Adam Kinzinger looked and began to cry over what he believed he saw.

It is not immediately clear what Biden was referring to or why he would speak to a Salvation Army official about his overseas trips with the Secret Service. 

"And here we have folks from the Salvation Army…"

BIDEN: "I spent some time with the Secret Service in Poland and in Ukraine." pic.twitter.com/HoM5wIOs4g

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 9, 2023

The hot mic moment was uncovered by the RNC's research team and it illustrated for us once again that our alleged President cannot keep himself from telling lies and is having serious cognitive problems to think that non-Democrats would believe his balderdash.

The next thing he might try to convince us of is that during the Vietnam War, he visited the troops and met with Richard Blumenthal under enemy fire.

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Russian missile kills 2 in Poland: Polish Gov't calls NATO crisis meeting

Photo: Emily Schrader

On Tuesday, a pair of Russian cruise missiles missed hitting Ukraine and hit Poland instead killing two very unlucky Polish citizens.

The missiles was part of salvo of about 100 sea- and air-launched weapons allegedly targeting Ukraine's electric generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure. However, Poland Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, isn't taking chances that this was an accident and has convened an emergency meeting of the Polish government to discuss the attack. 

Consultations with NATO will probably follow as Resolution 4 may be invoked.

At this moment in time, we are not certain what was behind the missile strike but this doesn't look good and if Poland should declare an Article 5, all NATO nations are obligated to fight for Poland as it's all for one and one for all in the NATO agreement.

2 Russian stray missiles have just hit a farm in Przewodów on the Polish side of the Polish-Ukrainian border, killing 2 Poles. pic.twitter.com/BS7txi9ZKs

— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) November 15, 2022

🇵🇱 The first video from the site of the explosion in the Polish village of Przewodow, Lublin Voivodeship. pic.twitter.com/dyUwXwfoKR

— АЗОВ South (@AzovMolozensky) November 15, 2022

The US Defense Department has not pointed a finger at Russia but background briefings from intelligent officials [as opposed to stupid Biden officials] have placed the blame on Russia.

A Polish government spokesman did not immediately confirm the information, but said leaders were meeting on "crisis situation." https://t.co/W1hhjwa6ez

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 15, 2022

For their part, some pro-Russian accounts blame a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile gone astray, but this is very unlikely as Western missiles have a self-destruct mechanism to prevent such a situation. And surface-to-air missiles fired from Ukraine at incoming Russian missiles would have splashed in Ukraine in what is known as a fishing expedition.

Some of Russia’s media personalities don’t appear to be denying the source of the missile. For example, here is the editor-in-chief of RT giving her opinion:

Head of RT Margarita Simonyan: "Now Poland has its own Belgorod region. What did you expect?" pic.twitter.com/JUyaFOKRdR

— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) November 15, 2022

But don't freak out over the incident just yet as it will not create the need for a NATO consultation under the NATO Article 5 provision, but under Article 4. So war is not necessarily going to happen, although it might. In the case of Article 4, this will likely result in more support for Ukraine.

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This type of incident has happened before with Russia. About two weeks ago, a Russian cruise missile missed Ukraine and hit Moldova. 

But don't worry, America, Joe Biden is on the job.

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PINO Biden grabs a slice of pizza before the troops are fed

PINO Joe Biden was in Warsaw, Poland Friday where he met with US troops of the 82nd Airborne and told them they will be going to Ukraine because Biden is an idiot and says things before engaging his two remaining brain cells. Then he sat down with them and before they were served, he began trying to chow down on a slice of pizza topped with jalapeño peppers. 

As Commander in Chief, he must have been starving because normally, officers eat only after their men are served. Biden couldn't wait and he ate his slice like his life depended on the sustenance.

“We’re based on an idea,” Biden told the men. “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all women and men are created equal. Sounds corny, but it’s the truth of who we are. We’ve never lived up to it, but we never walked away from it.”

That sounds corny? The Declaration of Independence sounds corny to a guy who can't string a complete sentence together without sounding like a mumbling, bumbling nursing home patient? He speaks about our founding document so dismissively? 

He is clearly cognitively in decline, was never bright when he wasn't, and he should be impeached or resign the presidency and allow his incompetent vice president Kamala Hahaharris to run the nation into the ground.

After Biden ate pizza with the soldiers, he met with Polish President Andrezj Duda. As our PINO spoke, he coughed into his hand and took a sip of his drink, turned to Duda and said, “I was visiting our troops and I had pizza pie with hot peppers on it, oh the dudah day.”

Pete Hegseth of Fox News was as pissed off as this writer and his guest, Charlie Hurt, spoke of Biden's rhetoric about the Declaration of Independence. 

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“He says it in a room full of men and women, probably, who have sworn, who’ve signed up and sworn to give their lives not only for their fellow man beside them, but for that corny document,” Hurt said. “And they would walk into any fire to give up their life for that document. And to have this horse’s ass up there, their commander-in-chief, and I hate talking like this because he’s still the commander-in-chief. And out of respect to those men in that room, you know, you hate to drag the guy, but he shouldn’t be there. He needs to be taken away.”

Hurt added, “He is not fit for this.”

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US leads push back against UN's migration agenda

The Trump administration is leading the pack of countries that are pushing back against the United Nations' migration agenda. Now that the US is doing it, this gives them the cover they need to follow suit.

Last December, the US announced that they would withdraw from the U.N.'s Global Migration Compact, which was due to be implemented by an intergovernmental conference in Morocco in December. Rex Tillerson, then-Secretary of State argued that the compact might undermine the U.S.'s right to enforce its immigration laws and secure its borders.

Perhaps the UN was playing us for suckers.

"The United States supports international cooperation on migration issues, but it is the primary responsibility of sovereign states to help ensure that migration is safe, orderly, and legal," Tillerson twanged.

The U.S. was the first to leave the compact, but when other countries saw they had cover, they began pulling out of the non-binding compact faster than Michael Moore downing a donut.  It was known affectionately as "Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration."

Hungary, Poland, Austria, Australia and Israel got on the Trump Train and announced they're not going to sign the accord. They all cited their concerns that it will impede the ability of countries to set and enforce their own immigration policies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week, "We are committed to guarding our borders against illegal migrants. This is what we have done and this is what we will continue to do."

Who can blame him? Israel's illegal migrants tend to come into the country via tunnels and are loaded with explosives. I can't imagine Israel giving up self-managing their immigration and borders.

"We believe that the Compact is inconsistent with our well-established policies and not in Australia's interest," said Australian Prime Minister Scott Turnbull. "The Compact fails to adequately distinguish between people who enter Australia illegally and those who come to Australia the right way, particularly with respect to the provision of welfare and other benefits."

Which seems to be a motivating reason for many migrants arriving in stable countries.

Former President Obama loved the U.N. He wanted the globalization of nations and a central government dictating law and policy.

The U.N. has lost its former reason for living and should be put to pasture.


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U.S. troops arrive in Poland, Russia feels threatened

Thousands of U.S. troops diddy-bopped into Poland, closer to Russia than Sarah Palin's potted plants, causing Russia to deem our presence a threat. 

Now that Obama's leaving office, he can pretend he's grown a pair and leave the mess he continues to create to President-elect Donald Trump. What's going to happen to the region, is anybody's guess.

This marks the first armored brigade combat team deployment to Europe after a long period of a long drawdown.

Poland has been asking for help to keep Russia at arm's length and now President-elect Trump seems to be saying that he plans to have a friendlier relationship with Putin than we've had in the past. However, he said that nothing is 'off the table.' 

"I don't know that I'm going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there's a good chance I won't."

Hey, ya never know.

However, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the U.S. military deployment, "We perceive it as a threat." He went on, "These actions threaten our interests, our security, especially as it concerns a third party building up its military presence near our borders."

Moscow had said that it deployed anti-aircraft missile systems around the city. 

Tanks and other vehicles crossed into Poland Thursday from Germany, heading for Zagan, their planned base. The Polish PM and defense minister will attend ceremonies on Saturday, hailing our arrival.

Many in Poland felt betrayed by Obama's "reset" with Russia when he was initially screwing up the military along with the country. In fact, Obama gave up plans for a major U.S. missile defense system for Poland and replaced it with equipment as effective a paintball guns.

Let's just hope this stays manageable and contained.


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Obama cannot not campaign

Golfer and part time POTUS Barack Hussein Obama is in Japan. For those of you from out of town, Japan is a foreign country. That's where Obama is--in a foreign country, which is any country that isn't the United States of America.

It has been common sense as well as common courtesy for a politician, particularly a president, not to talk badly about another American politician. It shows little class and it's disrespectful to at least half the nation that might vote for the other guy.

But Obama is an amateur and spoke against the GOP nominee, Donald Trump. He claims that world leaders are "rattled" about what Trump will do as president, and Obama isn't afraid to say that because he has nothing to fear having done nothing as president other than pump up the debt to an astronomical level, over regulate industry, defy the Constitution and move the country so far to the left, that even a socialist like Bernie Sanders isn't considered to be an
aberration. 

In fact, Obama came to the presidency with no foreign experience nor any substantive work experience other than being a part time lecturer and community organizer. Trump has created thousands of jobs, worked with foreign companies, and has a far less shady past.

One of Obama's first "accomplishments" as president was to renege on the defense shields in the Czech Republic and Poland. He was more intent upon kissing up to the Russians than fulfilling his pledge. Europe saw that we couldn't be trusted and Putin saw that we didn't have a pair.

There are plenty of examples of Obama's screwed up foreign policy but the worst thing about his take on Donald Trump is that he did it in a foreign country and they may need to deal with Trump as our next president.


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Obama Talks Semi-Tough to Russia: Putin Shivers in His Jackboots

Well, this should show Putin a thing or two. President Barack Obama, has leveled sanctions against Russia in retaliation of their invasion of Crimea. Obama plans to freeze the assets of 11 Russians (which is almost twice as many people as had enrolled in Obamacare in the first 7 days), but due to professional courtesy, will not sanction Vladimir Putin himself. Sanctioning Putin might actually get him angry and Obama does not want to get the Russian Hulk angry under any conditions.