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Ukraine strikes PR gold. Ukrainian drones set an oil terminal in St. Petersburg ablaze on June 3, sending billowing smoke over the city just as “Putin’s Davos” extravaganza prepared to welcome guests. Talk about being a party-pooper.
Some of the 20K delegates to the three-day event arrived at the opening ceremony feeling their way through a thick pall of smoke. Others were unable to reach the city because the airport was closed.
The festival is designed to highlight Russia’s economic strength despite the massive costs of the five-year “special military operation” in Ukraine, and to court investment. The drones shot that down.
Shamefully, Donald Trump dispatched a delegation to Vladimir Putin’s big event. Rodney Mims Cook, head of the Washington ballroom boondoggle, leads the group. Putin fanboy actor Steven Segal is on the attendee list.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky may have let Putin stage his parade on Victory Day in Moscow but Russia’s boss wasn’t so lucky in his hometown.
The targeted attack on a St Petersburg oil depot stands in sharp contrast to Russia’s indiscriminate bombing of apartment buildings in Kyiv and other cities.
Those war crimes signal how desperate Putin is to end the conflict that he originally thought would last a few weeks.
Trump told Zelensky at their White House meeting that he didn’t hold any cards, but it’s his guy Putin who now has a bum hand. When is he going to fold `em?
Crafty Pete… It’s not true that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth booted journalists from the Pentagon’s press office. That’s just spin from the fake news media, according to Jose Valdez, acting Pentagon press secretary.
Hegseth just gave the space a new name. It’s now the “sensitive compartmented information facility."
The old press office is where Dept. of Defense wordsmiths prepare speeches for Hegseth.
Since those speechwriters have access to classified materials, Hegseth doesn’t want pesky reporters peering over their shoulders.
They might get tipped off on news events such as Hegseth blocking women and Black male officers from promotion lists as part of his anti-woke mission.
Battering Israel’s image... The last thing that the sagging image of Israel needed was a bunch of right-wing government officials marching down New York’s Fifth Ave. during the May 31 “Israel Day Parade.”
Right-wing extremist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and other Benjamin Netanyahu cabinet members participated in the parade.
Smotrich wants to annex the occupied West Bank and argues in support of Jewish settlements in Gaza. He also has criticized Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish denomination in the US.
Once news of the Israeli politicos became public, fellow marchers such as New York governor Kathy Hochul and Senator Chuck Schumer were forced to issue statements condemning the right-wingers.
Who’s to blame for the PR fiasco?
Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council, organizer of New York’s Israel Day Parade, told the New York Times that he wasn’t unaware that Smotrich marched until the event was over.
He said Israel’s Consulate General in New York, arranges for government officials to participate in the parade. Treyger had asked the Consulate beforehand what officials were coming to the parade, but he got no response.
Israel’s image rating in the US has been dropping like a rock. Sixty percent of US adults have an unfavorable view of that country, according to a Pew Research poll conducted March 23-29. That up seven points since last year, and a whopping 20 points since 2022.
Israel’s reputation is probably worse in heavily Democratic New York. Pew found that eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leading independents have an unfavorable image of Israel. That up from 69 percent last year and 53 percent in 2022.
Smotrich’s appearance in the world’s media capital was a PR blunder, especially in light of Netanyahu’s goal of finishing the job in Iran, which runs counter to US public opinion.
The Consulate should have known better.
Trump tops himself…The president’s selection of Bill Pulte, Federal Housing Agency director and aggressive Trump attack dog, as acting director of national intelligence, puts the nation’s national security at risk.
It’s also an insult to the men and women who serve in the 18 intelligence agencies that fall under Pulte’s purview.
Pulte earned Trump’s nod because he was eager to carry out the president’s retribution campaign against New York attorney general Letitia James and Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook over unproven allegations of mortgage fraud.
He has zero intelligence experience as noted by the exiting North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis. He told CNBC that Pulte has “no experience in intelligence . . . no geopolitical experience, no international connections” and did not “have a prayer” of being confirmed to the post on a permanent basis.”
Virginia Senator Mark Warner said, “Rather than picking a respected national security professional capable of delivering independent judgments, the president has chose an official who has demonstrated not just willingness but eagerness to use the authorities of government to pursue political retribution.”
Compounding Trump’s reckless recruitment of Pulte: he’s going to continue oversight of Fannie/Mac and Fannie/Mae.
The US will have a part-time director of national intelligence, which certainly brings a smile to our adversaries in China, Russia and North Korea.
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