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Capitol: One Year After Attack, US Democracy “Retreats” – Current Events

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On January 6, 2021, Washington, D.C., held a validation session in the presidential election won by Democrat Biden, when unrest provoked in Congress by anti-Trump protesters escalated into violent clashes, first outside the building and then outside. building, interior, forcing congressmen to barricade themselves inside the room – which shocked the world, accustomed to seeing an example of American democracy.

It was not until dawn on January 7, when curfews were imposed in the US capital, that Congress ratified Joe Biden’s victory in the November presidential election, the final step before he was sworn in on January 20 with strict security measures without fear of attacks.

Because of his actions during the Capitol invasion, Trump stood trial in his second congressional impeachment case, but a Republican majority allowed him to be acquitted of charges of “inciting rebellion.” The Republican leadership has also refused to participate in a bipartisan investigation into serious events on Capitol Hill and, in particular, Trump’s inflammatory role.

The United States is a retreating democracy, according to the latest European IDEA Global Democracy Survey, based on data collected between 2015 and the end of 2020. The report analyzes the attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, but that was not a reason for the assessment.

“The failure is mainly due to the weakening of the ability of the US Congress to effectively verify and investigate the actions of the executive branch in power (…). A year later, the trend in Congress and its ability to investigate and hold people to account is still lacking, ”Democratic evaluator Alexander Hudson told Lusa.

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The expert believes that the parties are much more divided and do not want to work together, and that procedural rules in Congress lead to the paralysis of the institution.

“This is one of the reasons why Congress has been less effective in recent years (…). We still see a situation where Congress does not investigate and hold people accountable. There are people like Steve Bannon [ex-conselheiro de Trump] refuse to cooperate with the investigation, ”says Hudson.

In what Hudson calls the “big lie,” the theory that the presidential election was rigged, several polls published over the past year show that the claim is firmly entrenched among conservative voters.

In a recent poll on public radio, NPR, 68% of Republicans said they believed illegal or fraudulent activity changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. They believe the 2024 elections will be credible if a Democrat wins.

“We have a strong and solid majority of GOP supporters who believe the election was rigged, which is clearly not true,” said Alexander Hudson.

“It is remarkable and alarming that this continues and will have implications for the future,” he added.

Trump’s popularity rating among Republicans has recovered to more than 85% after falling shortly after the attack on the Capitol, according to a recent YouGov poll.

Trump once planned to make statements on the anniversary of the attack on Capitol Hill, where Joe Biden will speak, but on Tuesday he dropped that intention, saying that he would speak at a rally on January 15.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Biden “will talk about the work that remains to be done to secure and strengthen democracy and institutions, to reject the hatred and lies that we witnessed on January 6, and to unite the country.”

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The Republican was the first to announce a press conference from his Florida mansion, and Congress has scheduled a moment for reflection in Washington.

Referring to presidential election day, which the former president accuses of fraud without providing reliable evidence, Trump previously mentioned that “the uprising took place on November 3, 2020.”

Karl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said this week that “Trump’s behavior is undeniably unprecedented in American history.”

“No former president has tried so hard to discredit his successor and the democratic process,” he said.

According to Alexander Hudson, a Supreme Court decision on whether Trump can refuse to provide documents to a Congressional investigation will be significant.

“These institutional problems in the US Congress seem to persist, and this ‘big lie’ seems to have a reason to continue,” the expert emphasized. “A year later, more than two-thirds of Republicans believe the election was stolen.”

“It is worrying that the people who committed illegal acts and attacks on Capitol Hill saw themselves as defenders of democracy,” he said. “This is what Americans have to deal with.”

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Vladimir Putin has delayed the invasion of Ukraine at least three times.

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Putin has repeatedly consulted with Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu about the invasion, Europa Press told Ukraine’s chief intelligence director Vadim Skibitsky.

According to Skibitsky, it was the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which is responsible for counterintelligence and espionage work, that put pressure on Gerasimov and other military agencies to agree to launch an offensive. .

However, according to the Ukrainian intelligence services, the FSB considered that by the end of February sufficient preparations had already been made to guarantee the success of the Russian Armed Forces in a lightning invasion.

However, according to Kyiv, the Russian General Staff provided the Russian troops with supplies and ammunition for only three days, hoping that the offensive would be swift and immediately successful.

The head of Ukrainian intelligence also emphasized the cooperation of local residents, who always provided the Ukrainian authorities with up-to-date information about the Russian army, such as the number of soldiers or the exact location of troops.

The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine caused at least 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million refugees to European countries, which is why the UN classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). gg.). ).

At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.

The UN has presented as confirmed 6,755 civilian deaths and 10,607 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.

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Life sentence for former Swedish official for spying for Russia

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A Stockholm court on Monday sentenced a former Swedish intelligence officer to life in prison for spying for Russia, and his brother to at least 12 years in prison. In what is considered one of the most serious cases in Swedish counterintelligence history, much of the trial took place behind closed doors in the name of national security.

According to the prosecution, it was Russian military intelligence, the GRU, who took advantage of the information provided by the two brothers between 2011 and their arrest at the end of 2021.

Peyman Kia, 42, has held many senior positions in the Swedish security apparatus, including the army and his country’s intelligence services (Säpo). His younger brother, Payam, 35, is accused of “participating in the planning” of the plot and of “managing contacts with Russia and the GRU, including passing on information and receiving financial rewards.”

Both men deny the charges, and their lawyers have demanded an acquittal on charges of “aggravated espionage,” according to the Swedish news agency TT.

The trial coincides with another case of alleged Russian espionage, with the arrest of the Russian-born couple in late November in a suburb of Stockholm by a police team arriving at dawn in a Blackhawk helicopter.

Research website Bellingcat identified them as Sergei Skvortsov and Elena Kulkova. The couple allegedly acted as sleeper agents for Moscow, having moved to Sweden in the late 1990s.

According to Swedish press reports, the couple ran companies specializing in the import and export of electronic components and industrial technology.

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The man was again detained at the end of November for “illegal intelligence activities.” His partner, suspected of being an accomplice, has been released but remains under investigation.

According to Swedish authorities, the arrests are not related to the trial of the Kia brothers.

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Ukraine admitted that Russia may announce a general mobilization

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“They can strengthen their positions. We understand that this can happen. At the same time, we do not rule out that they will announce a general mobilization,” Danilov said in an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda online publication.

Danilov believed that this mobilization would also be convened “to exterminate as many as possible” of Russian citizens, so that “they would no longer have any problems on their territory.”

In this sense, Danilov also reminded that Russia has not given up on securing control over Kyiv or the idea of ​​the complete “destruction” of Ukraine. “We have to be ready for anything,” he said.

“I want everyone to understand that [os russos] they have not given up on the idea of ​​destroying our nation. If they don’t have Kyiv in their hands, they won’t have anything in their hands, we must understand this,” continued Danilov, who also did not rule out that a new Russian offensive would come from “Belarus and other territories.” .

As such, Danilov praised the decision of many of its residents who chose to stay in the Ukrainian capital when the war broke out in order to defend the city.

“They expected that there would be panic, that people would run, that there would be nothing to protect Kyiv,” he added, referring to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine caused at least 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million refugees to European countries, which is why the UN classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). gg.). ).

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At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.

The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.

The UN has presented as confirmed 6,755 civilian deaths and 10,607 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.

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