The Full Belmonte, 10/10/2022
Explosions rock multiple Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv
“Russia unleashed a lethal barrage of strikes against multiple Ukrainian cities Monday, smashing civilian targets including downtown Kyiv where at least eight people were killed. The intense, hours-long attack marked a sudden military escalation by Moscow. It came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin called a Saturday explosion on the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea a “terrorist act” masterminded by Ukrainian special services. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched dozens of missiles and Iranian-built drones against Ukraine. The General Staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces said 75 missiles were fired against Ukrainian targets, with 41 of them neutralized by air defenses.” Read more at USA Today
People receive medical treatment on the scene of Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. Two explosions rocked Kyiv early Monday following months of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital.Efrem Lukatsky, AP
“Vladimir Putin’s retaliation for the bombing of the bridge he built to Crimea came swiftly — a barrage of deadly missile strikes on cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv.
It was the first time the capital has been hit in months, and the first attack since the start of the war when the areas targeted were so central and without military value. Missiles today hit the city’s most popular park, a pedestrian bridge and the headquarters of Ukraine’s largest power company.
Key reading:
Russia Blitzes Ukraine After Putin Blames Kyiv for Bridge Blast
Putin to Meet Top Security Officials as Crimea Bridge Blast Hits Prestige
Eight Years of Fighting Hardened Ukraine’s Army Into a Winner
Follow our rolling coverage of the war in Ukraine here.
Putin is under pressure to escalate from nationalists at home given a series of humbling military setbacks in Ukraine. The strikes follow the appointment of a new commander of his invasion forces, who previously oversaw the destruction of Aleppo by Russia’s military in Syria.
There’s little sign of Putin backing down in the face of international condemnation, creating a particularly dangerous juncture in the war as Kyiv’s US and European allies weigh responses to the attacks.
Group of Seven leaders will discuss Russia’s missile attack in an emergency video conference tomorrow that will also be joined by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Ukraine hasn’t claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bombing of the Kerch Strait bridge that connects Russia to Crimea. It’s a critical road and rail route for moving troops and munitions to the Kremlin’s forces in southern Ukraine that face an intensifying counteroffensive from Ukrainian troops.
The bridge’s obvious military value made the operation a personal embarrassment for Putin, coming a day after his 70th birthday, even as Russian officials rushed to declare the link operational again. He accused Ukraine of a ‘terrorist ‘attack.
The Russian leader held a meeting of the country’s Security Council today and warned of further possible strikes on Ukraine.
Yet his options are limited. With his military on the back foot on the battlefield, Putin appears to be resorting to attacks on cities and civilian infrastructure in an attempt to break Ukraine’s resolve.
So far there’s little sign of that happening.” — Marc Champion Read more at Bloomberg
Rescue workers at the scene of a Russian attack in Kyiv on Monday. Photographer: Adam Schreck/APPhoto
Bernanke, two other Americans win Nobel Prize in economics
“Former Federal Reserve chair Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond of the University of Chicago and Philip H. Dybvig of Washington University in St. Louis were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday for their work on banks and financial crises.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm said research published by the three Americans in 1983 and 1984 provided a new understanding of the role banks play in making the economy work and causing it to plunge into crisis.
‘Their discoveries improved how society deals with financial crises,’ the committee said, crediting the academics for showing policymakers it is critical to prevent banks from failing.
Bernanke, who led the Fed during the 2008 financial crisis, was recognized for his pathbreaking 1983 analysis of the Great Depression. The committee said his research showed how bank runs had turned an ordinary recession in the 1930s into the worst global economic crisis in history.
Bernanke demonstrated that bank failures — rather than resulting from the downturn — were responsible for making it so deep and so long. When banks collapsed, valuable information about borrowers disappeared, making it difficult for new institutions to channel savings to productive investments, the committee said.
During the 2008 crisis, Bernanke piloted the Fed to an expansive use of central bank powers, dropping interest rates to near zero and accumulating assets worth a then-record $4 trillion in a bid to spur economic activity.
Diamond and Dybvig were honored for pioneering theoretical work, also in 1983, which explained banks’ role in linking savers and borrowers in a mutually beneficial relationship.
The two men showed how banks resolve an inherent conflict between those with excess funds at any one time and those who need more cash than they have. Savers want immediate access to their money in case of unexpected expenses, while borrowers want the assurance that they will not be forced to repay their loans prematurely, the committee said.
By acting as a middle man, banks pool savings from multiple individuals, allowing them to satisfy savers’ demands for easy access to their deposits while providing long-term loans to businesses and others.
Diamond and Dybvig also showed how banks’ essential function leaves them vulnerable to rumors of potential collapse. If savers grow worried that a bank is about to fail, withdrawals can snowball into a destabilizing and self-fulfilling “run” on the bank. That dire outcome can be avoided, as it is in the United States, by having the government offer deposit insurance that protects savers against such losses and by having the central bank operate as a lender of last resort.
Diamond also was recognized for his 1984 work showing that banks play a vital role by amassing valuable information about borrowers, assessing their creditworthiness and ensuring that loans are used for sound ventures.” Read more at Washington Post
Nuclear threats | “Kim Jong Un said he launched a new ballistic missile and simulated ‘tactical’ nuclear strikes during recent military drills, in a sign that North Korea is preparing for its first atomic test in five years. Kim described a series of exercises since Sept. 25, which included the first missile fired over Japan in five years, as a “severe warning” to the US and its allies, state-run media reported.” Read more at USA Today
Ian aftermath
“In the wake of Hurricane Ian, the lack of flood insurance in Central Florida has left many families struggling to rebuild amid the devastation. Homeowners' insurance policies typically don't cover flood damage and most people living in Ian's path across Florida didn't have a separate flood insurance policy. Inland areas that experienced historic rainfall and catastrophic floodwaters were especially unprepared, according to a CNN analysis of FEMA flood insurance data. While people without flood insurance will still be eligible for assistance payments from FEMA and potentially other aid approved by Congress, experts say many homeowners will likely only receive a tiny fraction of the cost of the damage they suffered.” Read more at CNN
Venezuela
“A landslide in Venezuela on Sunday killed at least 25 people and left more than 50 missing in the north central state of Aragua, officials said. The landslide came down in the Santos Michelena municipality after days of heavy rainfall caused the five streams of the Las Tejerías river to overflow, officials said. On Sunday, Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro tweeted that he ordered the ‘maximum deployment’ of the interior ministry and security agencies to respond to the emergency. Maduro also declared three days of national mourning ‘in solidarity with the families affected.’” Read more at CNN
Griner & Whelan
“Former Gov. Bill Richardson said Sunday he is ‘cautiously optimistic’ that Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan will be released and suggested they could be freed from Russia by the end of the year. Richardson recently traveled to Russia to discuss the possible release of the detained WNBA star and former US Marine with Kremlin officials. Richardson also said that he's working with the families of both Americans and coordinating with the White House for their release. ‘All I can say is that the Biden administration is working hard on it,’ Richardson told CNN, adding his meetings have been with "senior Russian officials, individuals close to President (Vladimir) Putin.” Read more at CNN
No letup | “Iran’s protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini entered a fourth week, with rights groups reporting security forces killed at least four people over the weekend. President Ebrahim Raisi addressed pro-government students at a prominent women-only university yesterday in an appearance quickly overshadowed by the emergence of videos showing some female students chanting ‘Raisi get lost’ and ‘death to the oppressor.’” Read more at Bloomberg
Anti-government protests in Tehran on Saturday. Source: AFP/Getty Images
“Iran’s hack attack. Hackers took control of an Iranian state television channel for 15 seconds on Saturday night to broadcast a video of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei engulfed in a fire and the messages ‘Join us and stand up!’ and ‘The blood of our youth is dripping from your claws’ over the ongoing protests. A hacker organization called Edaalat-e Ali seemed to be behind the attack.
The hack came as Iran’s unrest stretches into its fourth week and authorities reportedly arrested protesting students inside of schools.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Brazil’s two presidential candidates pushed back against a series of viral videos on social media that sought to cast doubt on their respective faiths by making false claims of Satanism, Freemasonry and even cannibalism. President Jair Bolsonaro responded by attending the country’s largest religious festival Saturday, while challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva posted a statement saying that he had not cut a deal with the devil, and later participated in an event with Franciscan friars.” Read more at Bloomberg
Pilgrims in a procession during the Cirio de Nazare in Belem, Brazil’s largest religious festival, which Bolsonaro attended on Saturday. Photographer: Alessandro Falco/Bloomberg
'A humanitarian crisis' in NYC
“New York City's mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday over the thousands of migrants being sent from southern border states since the spring, saying the demand being put on the city to provide housing and other assistance is ‘not sustainable.’ By the end of its fiscal year, Adams said the city expected to spend $1 billion helping the new arrivals, many of whom are heavily reliant on government aid because federal law prohibits them from working in the U.S. Adams, a Democrat, said the new arrivals are welcome in the city. But, he said, ‘though our compassion is limitless, our resources are not.’” Read more at USA Today
New York City officials including Mayor Eric Adams (at center pointing) said they are struggling to accommodate a surge in migrants as Texas begins busing them to the city.NYC Mayor Eric Adams
‘Trump is the man’: trial paints a White House plagued by foreign influence
The legal woes of investor Tom Barrack, accused of secretly lobbying for the Emirati regime, add to the image of a Trump circle beset by influence-peddling and corruption
Mon 10 Oct 2022 02.00 EDT
“‘Trump is the man, ‘Thomas ‘Tom ‘Barrack, a wealthy investor friend of Donald Trump’s, wrote to someone in a foreign government, in 2016, as Trump’s likelihood of being named the Republican nominee for president began to become a certainty. Barrack added, cryptically, that someone called ‘HH’ should be ready to travel.
The meaning of those words, and the intent behind them, are at the center of the latest court case to roil Trump’s circle. Prosecutors have said that the ‘HH’ in Barrack’s email referred to His Highness Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the current leader of the United Arab Emirates, and that Barrack was trying to secretly and illegally trade his access to Trump’s ear for the graces of the Emirati government and its vast pool of investment money.
The US government has charged Barrack, whose trial began last month in New York, with acting as an unregistered foreign agent – lobbying Trump on the Emirates’ behalf, over several years, and feeding confidential information back to the small but powerful Middle Eastern petro-state.
Barrack denies the charges against him, which his attorneys have called “nothing short of ridiculous”. They argue that he was trying to be useful as an intermediary, and was engaged in wholly legal wheeling and dealing. “He did things because he wanted to,” Michael Schachter, a defense lawyer for Barrack, said last month. “The idea that Tom Barrack was controlled by anybody is nonsense.”
Although there is no evidence that Trump was aware of Barrack’s alleged wrongdoing, the case adds to the mounting pile of legal woes afflicting the Trump camp. They now include Congress’s hearings on the US Capitol attack, a federal investigation into whether Trump illegally kept classified White House documents, a New York state lawsuit accusing him of fraudulent business practices, and a New York state prosecution of Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser, for allegedly defrauding people who donated to a campaign to build a wall on the Mexican border.
The prosecution of Barrack as an alleged semi-spy for the Emiratis is yet another scandal involving foreign influence on the Trump campaign and administration, which were dogged by impeachment proceedings and special investigations over alleged collusion with Russia and inappropriate pressure on Ukraine.
Barrack co-founded a pro-Trump fundraising group, Rebuilding America Now, with the lobbyist Paul Manafort, who later pleaded guilty to bank fraud, witness tampering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States in charges stemming from the Robert Mueller investigation. The US senate intelligence committee has said that Manafort’s interactions with Russian nationals constituted a ‘a grave counterintelligence threat’ and created openings for ‘Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and acquire confidential information on, the Trump campaign.’
Mike Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser during his campaign and his first White House national security adviser once in office, was forced to retroactively register as a foreign agent after admitting that he had done lobbying work for the government of Turkey. He resigned less than a month into his tenure, after serious questions were raised about his close relationship with the Russian ambassador.
Barrack has been a business associate and confidant of Trump’s for decades. They met through their mutual work in real estate, and in the 1980s and 1990s, Barrack, Trump, and the socialite and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein formed a trio of ‘nightlife musketeers’, the journalist Michael Wolff wrote in his book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. When Trump ran for president, Barrack, working with Manafort, raised millions of dollars for his campaign.
Barrack began colluding with the Emirati government before Trump had even taken office, according to prosecutors. In May 2016, Manafort gave Barrack a draft speech of Trump’s and, according to the New York Times, asked, ‘Are you running this by our friends?’
Barrack shared it with Saudi and Emirati officials. ‘They loved it so much! This is great,’ Barrack’s Emirati contact, Rashid al-Malik, told him. As the speech was revised, Barrack worked to make sure it remained favorable to the Emirates’ geopolitical interests.
Barrack, who is of Lebanese descent and speaks Arabic, liked to think of himself as someone who understood the Middle East better than most American officials and could act as a broker between the Gulf states and the US.
This became particularly salient when Trump, shortly after entering office, angered the Middle Eastern world by banning people from numerous Arab and Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. Saudi Arabia and the Emirates were also keen to influence Trump against their rival, Qatar.
Less than two weeks after Trump entered the White House, Barrack tried to persuade Steve Bannon to support a plan that would supply high-level American nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. Barrack argued that this would help ‘balance the current noise’ caused by Trump’s travel ban.
At the same time, according to the New York Times, Barrack was trying to get Saudi officials to pressure the US to appoint Barrack as a Middle East envoy. The nuclear plan never happened, and Barrack was not made an envoy.
From 2016 to 2019, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates disbursed about $1.5bn to Barrack’s real estate company, Colony Capital, which is now called the DigitalBridge Group. In 2017, for example, Emirati sovereign wealth funds put $374m into two deals arranged by Colony Capital.
In February 2019, while at a conference in Abu Dhabi, Barrack appeared to excuse Saudi Arabia’s murder of the Saudi-American journalist Jamal Khashoggi. ‘Whatever happened in Saudi Arabia, the atrocities in America are equal, or worse,’ he said, though he later apologized for the remark.
Barrack’s ties to the Gulf states were reported by the US House Committee on Oversight and Reform in 2019. ‘With regard to Saudi Arabia,’ the committee’s chair, Elijah Cummings, said, ‘the Trump administration has virtually obliterated the lines normally separating government policymaking from corporate and foreign interests’.
As foreign influence on Trump’s court became the subject of increasing scrutiny, Barrack came under investigation. Prosecutors have accused him of deceiving federal agents who interviewed him in 2019.
The messy case has sucked in other people. Barrack’s Emirati contact, al-Malik, was charged as an accomplice, but has avoided trial because he is not in the US. Barrack’s assistant at Colony Capital, Matthew Grimes, has been charged with a lesser crime related to lobbying.
Barrack ‘illegally provided a foreign nation with access and influence at the highest levels of the United States government,’ a prosecutor, Hiral Mehta, declared during the government’s opening statement last month. ‘The actions they took were not business; they were crimes.’
Witness testimony recently began, with Rex Tillerson, Trump’s former secretary of state, called to testify. Tillerson said that he did not know Barrack well, that he did not know of his connection to the Emiratis, and that his influence on the US state department was minimal.
Regardless of the outcome of Barrack’s corruption trial, it seems unlikely that it will do anything to improve the already murky legacy of the Trump White House.
‘I believe it unprecedented in any US administration for so many of the closest circle of persons around the president to have been shown to be conmen, grifters and base criminals,’ Patrick Cotter, a former federal mob prosecutor, told the Guardian in 2020.” Read more at The Guardian
After Racist Comments, Los Angeles City Council President Faces Calls to Resign
In a leaked recording of a meeting last year, she mocked Indigenous immigrants and the Black child of a fellow council member.
By Shawn Hubler and Jill Cowan
Published Oct. 9, 2022Updated Oct. 10, 2022, 2:17 a.m. ET
“LOS ANGELES — The president of the Los Angeles City Council faced widespread calls to resign on Sunday after a leaked audio recording revealed racist and disparaging remarks about the Black child of a white council member and also about Indigenous immigrants in the city’s Koreatown neighborhood.
The comments, made during a meeting last year with two other council members and a labor official, exposed longstanding racial tensions in the governance of one of the nation’s most multicultural cities as well as fault lines among the city’s Democrats.
In the profanity-laced recording, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times and which was first reported by The Los Angeles Times, the City Council president, Nury Martinez, who is Latina, compared the Black child of a white council member to a ‘changuito, ‘Spanish for little monkey. She also called Oaxacan immigrants living in Koreatown ‘short little dark people.’
It was unclear who leaked the recording of the October 2021 meeting, which included Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, council members representing parts of the city’s East Side, and Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Also unknown was who made the recording, which was initially uploaded to Reddit earlier this month by an unidentified, now-suspended user, and continued to circulate via email after the post was taken down. No one has disputed the recording’s authenticity, and Ms. Martinez and Mr. de León have issued apologies.” Read more at New York Times
'Fake heiress' known as Anna Delvey, who inspired Netflix series, released on house arrest
“NEW YORK — Phony socialite and convicted swindler Anna Sorokin, whose scheme inspired a Netflix series, has been released from U.S. immigration custody to house arrest, immigration officials and her spokesperson said.
Anna Sorokin is on home confinement in New York City, said her spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer.
‘Anna now has her opportunity to demonstrate her commitment to growing and giving back and being a positive impact on those she meets,’ Engelmayer said in a statement. ‘She has hurdles before her, and she will navigate them with strength and determination, using her experiences and lessons learned.’
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed her release. Sorokin, 31, is fighting deportation to Germany.
She was convicted in 2019 of conning $275,000 from banks, hotels and swank New Yorkers into financing her deluxe lifestyle.
Using the name Anna Delvey, she passed herself off as the daughter of a German diplomat, or an oil baron, and lied about having a $67 million bankroll overseas to create the impression that she could cover her debts, prosecutors said.
Her trial lawyer said she simply got in over her head as she tried to start a private arts club and had planned to pay up when she could.
The case became the basis for the Netflix series ‘Inventing Anna,’ released this year.” Read more at USA Today
Many Americans arrested for marijuana won't find relief under Biden's pardon plan
“President Joe Biden’s announcement last week that he would pardon federal convictions for simple possession of marijuana could help more than 6,500 people obtain employment or other opportunities, but it’ll do little for most people incarcerated for marijuana. Across the nation, about 500,000 people were arrested on cannabis-related offenses in 2019. Most of those charges were for state offenses, the FBI said.” Read more at USA Today
A demonstrator waves a flag with marijuana leaves depicted on it during a protest calling for the legalization of marijuana, outside of the White House on April 2, 2016, in Washington.Jose Luis Magana, AP
In states where abortion is now outlawed, students ramp up activism
“College students across the country are frantically advocating for changes in policy and laws to make abortion legal again, while also trying to help those who may need an abortion in the meantime. Working on both goals at the same time can be daunting. Colleges in states where abortion is now illegal have found themselves in a complicated situation, in part because many rely on state legislatures for funding.
One thing to know: Some colleges have deferred to state laws while others have taken political stances at a time when abortion is a hot-button issue for midterm voters.
•One New York college will offer abortion pills for students in wake of Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
•One month before the midterms: Restrictive abortion laws in Arizona and Ohio were put on hold as providers resume procedures.
•In Wisconsin, Senate candidates Ron Johnson and Mandela Barnes clashed in a debate on abortion.
•"... there was no place in the exam room for Congress ...'': North Carolina's Senate race is gaining national attention with marijuana and abortion in focus.” Read more at USA Today
Preparing to march across the University of South Dakota’s campus to protest the state’s abortion ban, students made signs to communicate their feelings.Olivia Sanchez/The Hechinger Report
Week 6 college football winners and losers
“Saturday was rock bottom for the Oklahoma Sooners. Texas demolished Oklahoma 49-0 to hand the Sooners a third loss in a row for the first time since 1998. This rapid fall from grace has already engulfed OU coach Brent Venables' first season and threatens to define his broader tenure. Winners from this weekend include UCLA with a 42-32 victory against No. 11 Utah that vaults the Bruins into prime position to reach the Pac-12 championship game. Notre Dame turned their season around after a sour start and beat No. 16 Brigham Young 28-20. And the Mississippi State Bulldogs are building a case for being seen as the second-best team in the SEC West after handling No. 25 Arkansas a 40-17 loss, the Razorbacks' third in a row.” Read more at USA Today
Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers looks to pass against the Arkansas Razorbacks.Matt Bush, USA TODAY Sports
“Padres eliminate Mets: The 101-win Mets are done after three playoff gamesin a Wild Card Series that saw everything backfire for them, including a foreign-substance check on the San Diego starter Joe Musgrove’s ear in yesterday’s loss.” Read more at New York Times
“A much-needed win: Justin Tucker hit a 43-yard field goal to give the Ravens a 19-17 win yesterday over Cincinnati and claim first place in the A.F.C. North. The win capped an intriguing weekend of football.” Read more at New York Times
“A suspension: The Tampa Bay Lightning suspended the defenseman Ian Cole after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was a minor. The team says Cole will be suspended until an investigation wraps up.” Read more at USA Today
“Lives Lived: Meredith Tax was a second-wave feminist whose scholarship on labor movements informed her own class-conscious activism. She died at 80.” Read more at New York Times