Notes for February 20, 2022

I totally forgot to attach the notes for tonight’s letter!

Sorry about that. Here they are:

Notes:

Ivo Daalder @IvoHDaalder

Four-hour long NSC meeting. President cancels travel to Wilmington tonight. Intelligence have high confidence Kremlin ordered attack on Ukraine. It all points to military action in the next few hours or days. https://t.co/3TyFQYvwJ1

Jake Sherman @JakeSherman

Biden will no longer travel to Wilmington. White House: "The President had a family-related issue that was going to take him to Wilmington, DE tonight but he will no longer be going and will remain in Washington, DC tonight."

https://www.politico.eu/article/zelenskiy-ukraine-defiant-munich-security-conference-speech-russia-threat/

DJ Judd @DJJudd

Looks like CIA Director William Burns, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, SecDef Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, NSA Jake Sullivan, DNI Avril Haines, & Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen joined today's NSC meeting

DJ Judd @DJJudd

White House "readout" of today's National Security Council meeting, such as it is: https://t.co/brRbZmsaLt

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-20/belarus-says-extending-drills-with-russia-near-ukraine-border

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/08/belarus-russia-troop-buildup-could-be-permanent-ukraine-crisis/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-20/u-s-warns-that-russia-may-target-multiple-cities-in-ukraine

https://kyivindependent.com/national/zelenskys-full-speech-at-munich-security-conference/

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/belarus-forces-vilnius-bound-ryanair-plane-land-detain-blogger-2021-05-23/

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla

“If Ukraine is invaded, the shock will echo around the world” If Boris Johnson thinks Russian aggression is a “shock”, it’s because he suppressed Intelligence & Security Committee’s report on Russian interference & refused to act on its recommendations

https://inews.co.uk/news/ukraine-russia-conflict-boris-johnson-munich-money-london-sanctions-1471424/amp

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/20/ukraine-russia-invasion-sanctions-blinken/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-u-s-letter-to-the-u-n-alleging-russia-is-planning-human-rights-abuses-in-ukraine/93a8d6a1-5b44-4ae8-89e5-cd5d328dd150/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/20/ukraine-russia-human-rights/

Tom Malinowski @Malinowski

I'm just returning from the Munich Security Conference, where national security leaders from the US & Europe gathered to confront the Ukraine crisis. Some good news: I've honestly never seen more unity among our allies, or our two parties in Congress, on any global issue. 1/

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/12/uks-kleptocracy-problem

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/15/gerhard-schroder-gazprom-russia-tony-blair/