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Omicron Four Times More Transmissible Than Delta In New Study

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Omicron variant of Covid-19 is 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage, a study said.
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The omicron variant of Covid-19 is 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage than delta, according to a study by a Japanese scientist who advises the country's health ministry, a finding likely to confirm fears about the new strain's contagiousness.
Hiroshi Nishiura, a professor of health and environmental sciences at Kyoto University who specializes in mathematical modeling of infectious diseases, analyzed genome data available through November 26 in South Africans in Gauteng province.
"The omicron variant transmits more, and escapes immunity built naturally and through vaccines more," Nishiura said in his findings, which were presented at a meeting of the health ministry's advisory panel on Wednesday.
Concerns are swirling globally that omicron could deal the world a bigger blow than even delta, and the World Health Organization has cautioned that it could fuel surges with "severe consequences." But a jump in cases in South Africa in the wake of the variant's emergence hasn't yet overwhelmed hospitals, leading to some optimism that it may only cause mostly mild illness. Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE also said this week that a booster dose of their vaccine could fortify protection against the strain.
Nishiura's study hasn't been peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal. The new analysis was conducted using the same method he used in a July study published by the Eurosurveillance medical journal on delta's predicted dominance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
Hundreds of researchers globally are racing to understand the new variant, which is the most differentiated strain yet among the five variants of concern identified by the WHO since the pandemic began.
Cases in South Africa have rapidly increased to as many as nearly 20,000 a day since the country first reported omicron's discovery two weeks ago. The number of Covid cases in the nation had remained low in the preceding weeks, despite only 26% of the population being fully vaccinated, according to Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker.
Pfizer Will Know Shot's Efficacy Against Omicron by Year-End
"The vaccination rate was less than 30% and many people were probably naturally infected," Nishiura said. "We need to pay close attention to future trends to see if the same thing will happen in countries where mRNA vaccines are used at a high rate."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-four-times-more-transmissible-than-delta-in-new-study-2643639">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-four-times-more-transmissible-than-delta-in-new-study-2643639</a>

news world Omicron Four Times More Transmissible Than Delta In New Study

Omicron variant of Covid-19 is 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage, a study said. The omicron variant of Covid-19 is 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage than delta, according to a study by a Japanese scientist who advises the…

Facebook still won’t give up Instagram for Kids

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Following damaging internal leaks that showed <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739">Instagram can negatively impact teens’ mental health</a>, Instagram said it would halt its plan to build a version of its app for kids. But on Wednesday, the company revealed it hasn’t ruled out making an “Instagram for Kids” one day.
At a Senate hearing on Instagram’s impact on children and teens on Wednesday, when Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) asked Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri if he would commit to permanently stopping development of Instagram for Kids, Mosseri responded:
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What I can commit to you today is that no child between the ages of 10 to 12 — should we ever manage to build Instagram for 10- to 12-year-olds — will have access to that without explicit parental consent.
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In other words, Mosseri was saying that Instagram may still build a product for kids, despite facing months of heavy public outrage and political pressure to abandon those plans.
The exchange reveals a deeper takeaway from the hearing: Instagram — and its parent company Meta (formerly Facebook) — do not seem to believe their product is harmful enough to children and teens that it needs radical change.
That’s in spite of internal company research leaked by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, which showed that one in three teenage girls who felt bad about their bodies said Instagram made them feel worse. The research also <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739">showed that 13 percent of British teenage users and 6 percent of American teenage users</a> who had suicidal thoughts traced the desire to kill themselves to Instagram.
While Mosseri struck a thoughtful and serious tone at the hearing when discussing topics like teen suicide, he minimized his company’s own research that showed Instagram can contribute to teenage depression and denied that Instagram is addictive.
His answers seemed to do little to reassure the remarkably bipartisan group of US lawmakers at the hearing, who say they believe Instagram is damaging teenagers’ mental health. These lawmakers say they are committed to passing legislation that could force Facebook and other tech companies to change their businesses to better protect children.
Instagram’s impact on teenage mental health has become a lightning rod in larger conversations about regulating social media, at a time when a growing proportion of the US public is increasingly distrustful of major tech companies.
But Facebook and Instagram continue to downplay this harm.
When Blumenthal asked Mosseri if he supports legislation to outlaw social media apps <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/23/social-media-addiction-gambling">that are designed to be addictive for certain users</a>, Mosseri replied, “Senator, respectfully, I don’t believe the research suggests that our products are addictive. Research actually shows that on 11 of 12 difficult issues that teens face, teens who are struggling said that Instagram helps more than harms.”
“We can debate the meaning of the word ‘addicted,’ but the fact is that teens who go to the platform find it difficult and maybe sometimes impossible to stop,” said Blumenthal.
Another illustrative moment in the two-and-a-half-hour hearing was a back-and-forth between Mosseri and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). While Cruz has used past hearings about social media to promote partisan concerns about alleged conservative censorship, this time the legislator stayed focused on the issue of children’s mental health.
When Cruz pressed Mosseri about the internal research about Instagram’s harm to teenagers with body image issues and suicidal thoughts, Mosseri again argued that on the whole, Instagram made life better for teens.
“If we’re going to have a conversation about the research, I think we need to be clear about what it actually says. It actually showed that one out of three girls who suffer from body image issues find that Instagram makes things worse, and that came from a slide with 23 other statistics where more teens found that Instagram makes things better,” said Mosseri.
In a later exchange, Mosseri said that social media platforms like Instagram have “helped important movements like body positivity to flourish. … It has helped diversify the definitions of beauty, and that’s something that we think is incredibly important.”
These defenses didn’t seem to soften lawmakers’ stances.
“I’m a mom; I’m a grandma. ... I have a 12- and 13-year-old grandson. I’m talking to parents all the time,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) at a press conference after the hearing. “And we know that [in] the vast number of stories that we are hearing, so many of the parents mentioned the adverse impact” of social media.
Blackburn called Mosseri’s assertion that Instagram does more good than harm to teen users “astounding,” and said that “really sounded removed from the situation.”
This all makes it clear that Facebook has lost significant trust with lawmakers. Whatever goodwill the company might have had on Capitol Hill a decade ago, when Facebook was still in its infancy and thought of by many as a universal social good, has been drastically diminished after years of controversy over the company’s struggles with privacy, hate speech, and other harmful content on its platforms.
“Big Tech loves to use grand, eloquent phrases about bringing people together, but the simple reality and why so many Americans distrust Big Tech is: You make money,” said Cruz.
It’s still too soon to say if Congress will actually pass legislation to force Facebook and other social media companies to fundamentally change their businesses to better protect teens and other users. Right now, there are several bills out to create stronger privacy laws, to establish penalties for Facebook if it allows damaging content to surface, and to mandate that Facebook must share more data with outside researchers to assess the harms of its products. So far, none of these bills have passed or are even close to passing.
But this hearing reaffirmed how Democrats and Republicans are in increasing lockstep that something must be done on the topic of how social media can harm teens.
Jim Steyer, the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Common Sense Media, which promotes safe technology and media for children and families, has long advocated for Congress to pass legislation that would better protect children on the platform by safeguarding their privacy and other measures. He said that even though Congress hasn’t moved quickly enough, he thinks Wednesday’s hearing is a sign that momentum is building for real legislation.
“We’ve seen this movie way too many times before when it comes to Facebook and Instagram — and it’s time for action by Congress on a bipartisan basis period, full stop,” he said. “But I do think it’s going to happen now.”
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/12/8/22825246/instagram-for-kids-adam-mosseri-congress-senate-facebook-meta-zuckerberg">https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/12/8/22825246/instagram-for-kids-adam-mosseri-congress-senate-facebook-meta-zuckerberg</a>

vox Facebook still won’t give up Instagram for Kids

Following damaging internal leaks that showed Instagram can negatively impact teens’ mental health, Instagram said it would halt its plan to build a version of its app for kids. But on Wednesday, the company revealed it hasn’t ruled out making an “I…

On Omicron vs Vaccines, New Grounds For Cautious Optimism

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A number of studies have shown optimistic results on vaccine efficacy.
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The earliest studies on omicron are in and the glimpse they're providing is cautiously optimistic: while vaccines like the one made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE may be less powerful against the new variant, protection can be fortified with boosters.
Research from South Africa, Sweden and Germany, as well as from the companies themselves, shows that omicron does cause a loss of immune protection -- but potentially not a complete one.
Pfizer and BioNTech said initial lab studies show a 25-fold reduction in neutralizing antibody levels versus the variant, compared with the original strain of the virus, in people who got just two shots. However, boosting with an additional dose of the vaccine raised antibodies, giving a similar level of the protective proteins as observed against earlier versions after the standard two shots, the vaccine partners said Wednesday.
Publication of their data followed results from a South African study of blood plasma from people given two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. These showed a 41-fold drop in levels of virus-blocking antibodies compared with the strain circulating at the start of the pandemic.
German researchers backed up South African results, finding as much as a 37-fold drop in antibodies against omicron versus the delta variant, virologist Sandra Ciesek said in study results posted early Wednesday on Twitter. A separate study from Stockholm's Karolinska Institute was more optimistic, finding the decline in antibodies against omicron was only slightly worse than for delta, the strain currently causing most Covid-19 cases worldwide.
The results offer early, as yet incomplete insight into how potentially damaging the spread of omicron could be. Antibody levels are only one piece of the immune system's response against the virus. So-called "killer" T cells also play an important role in protection against severe disease, and Pfizer and BioNTech said they continue to expect a robust response.
Researchers saw reason for hope, even before the companies weighed in. The loss of immune protection is "robust, but not complete," said Alex Sigal, head of research at the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, who presented the findings of the first study late Tuesday. "A good booster probably would decrease your chance of infection, especially infection leading to more severe disease," he said.
The German study by Ciesek's team at the Institute of Medical Virology at the University Clinic Frankfurt found no neutralizing antibodies for the omicron variant in some samples taken six months after double vaccination. The results have not undergone peer review. However, the data show that boosters will be needed, Christian Drosten, director of virology at Charite, a university hospital in Berlin, said on Twitter.
The World Health Organization has warned omicron could fuel surges with "severe consequences" amid signs that it makes the coronavirus more transmissible. Still, the jump in cases in South Africa following omicron's emergence hasn't overwhelmed hospitals so far, prompting some cautious optimism that the new strain may cause mostly mild illness.
Governments and financial markets are trying to gauge whether the new variant will have a significant impact on the world's attempt to move past the pandemic. Omicron's rapid spread has raised concern the strain would be sufficiently immune-evasive to require new vaccines, and hundreds of researchers have been working around the clock to answer the question.
"These Karolinska data are reason for optimism," said Shane Crotty, a professor in the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research at San Diego's La Jolla Institute for Immunology. "That is pretty close to the best-case scenario I was considering."
Levels of neutralizing antibodies are a key marker of immune protection. Although they naturally decline in the months after an infection or vaccination, the body's ability to spring into action to make more effective antibodies if needed has been shown to improve over time.
"There will be more breakthrough" of vaccine-induced immunity, Sigal said, adding that fully vaccinated people should get booster shots and those who've been previously infected should get vaccinated.
Preliminary Results
The results are preliminary and exact levels of immune escape may change, said Sigal, whose lab was the first to isolate the beta variant identified in South Africa in late 2020. He noted that omicron escapes antibody neutralization more readily than beta, which had been considered the most immune evasive of the variants of concern detected previously.
A key question researchers are trying to address is whether existing Covid vaccines need to be altered to protect against omicron. Pfizer and BioNTech said an omicron-targeted shot would be ready by March.
Any vaccine changes would require careful consideration, especially since delta is currently the main driver behind the Covid epidemics and existing shots provide a sufficient shield against it, Ana-Maria Henao-Restrepo, who co-leads the WHO's research and development blueprint for vaccines and innovations during outbreaks and pandemics, said last week.
More Data
The magnitude of the drop in neutralizing antibodies against omicron could indicate a need for omicron-matched vaccines, though other considerations may play a role, said Stephen Goldstein, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Larger studies looking at neutralizing antibodies from people immunized with other vaccines are also needed, he said.
"More importantly though will be epidemiological studies looking at the frequency of reinfections and breakthrough infections, as well as disease severity in those patients," Goldstein said. "I am still optimistic that vaccination or prior infection will provide some measure of protection against severe disease."
The work in Sigal's lab involved testing 14 blood plasma samples collected from a dozen people who had been given a second Pfizer-BioNTech shot about a month earlier to gauge the concentration of antibodies needed to neutralize, or block, the live omicrion virus. Levels of neutralizing antibodies against the variant were significantly higher in a subset of participants who had a bout of Covid about a year earlier, Sigal said.
Hybrid Immunity
That indicates so-called hybrid immunity generated by natural infection followed by immunization may provide reasonable protection against omicron. In those who have never had Covid, this could be emulated by administering three doses of vaccine, the La Jolla Institute's Crotty said.
"What many of us want to see is head-to-head comparisons against other variants, because of the broader experience with them," he said. Scientists also want to better understand the significance of the reduction in levels of neutralizing antibodies against omicron, and to study the antibody responses against omicron in blood sera from people who have received three doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, Crotty said.
In the weeks ahead, more clarity will also emerge from studies assessing the T cell response to omicron, like one being run by the La Jolla Institute's Alessandro Sette.
It's possible omicron will have a less extreme impact on T cells, the white blood cell the immune system uses to kill virus-infected cells, said Dan Barouch, the William Bosworth Castle professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and head of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess' Center for Virology and Vaccine Research.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-early-studies-are-in-and-there-is-cautious-optimism-2643419">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-early-studies-are-in-and-there-is-cautious-optimism-2643419</a>

news world On Omicron vs Vaccines, New Grounds For Cautious Optimism

A number of studies have shown optimistic results on vaccine efficacy. The earliest studies on omicron are in and the glimpse they're providing is cautiously optimistic: while vaccines like the one made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE may be less pow…

Wait, is Russia going to invade Ukraine?

A troubling buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border has Kyiv, Washington, and pretty much everyone else asking if Russia is about to invade Ukraine — again.
The US and its allies, including Ukraine, are trying to forestall that scenario, most recently in a <a href="https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1468268999851089921?s=20">two-hour video call Tuesday</a> between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the call, Biden told Putin the “US and our allies would respond with strong economic and other measures” if Russia pursued military escalation, according to the White House, and called for a return to diplomacy. To be clear, a military option is not among the “other measures,” as Biden said Wednesday sending US troops unilaterally was “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/08/sending-us-combat-troops-to-ukraine-not-in-the-cards-right-now-biden-says-523938">not in the cards right now</a>.”
The Kremlin’s readout largely <a href="https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1468309358249488388?s=20">blamed Ukraine for the crisis</a>, and NATO, for cooperating with Kyiv. It wanted guarantees against NATO’s eastward expansion, something the US, and NATO, will never give.
The call is far from a resolution, but the hope is that it will at least delay any dramatic action. Ahead of the meeting between the two leaders, US intelligence officials <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/russia-ukraine-invasion/2021/12/03/98a3760e-546b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html">warned</a> that Russia was planning a major military offensive into Ukraine, launching as many as 175,000 troops into the country as soon as early next year. Russia had already been amassing troops and equipment along parts of Ukraine’s border, placing about 70,000 troops there, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/russia-ukraine-invasion/2021/12/03/98a3760e-546b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html">according to a recent US estimate</a>. Ukrainian officials put the number higher, at <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-warns-putin-strong-response-if-russia-invades-ukraine-n1285523">more than 90,000</a>. These troop <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-images-show-russian-troop-buildup-sparking-invasion-fears-2021-12">buildups</a> had intensified fears that Russia would invade Ukraine, throwing the region into conflict and the European continent into deep crisis.
In 2014, Russia <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/03/17/crimea-six-years-after-illegal-annexation/">seized the Crimean Peninsula</a> from Ukraine and aided a rebellion in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, where pro-Russia separatists now control breakaway parts of Donetsk and Luhansk. A peace process in 2014 and 2015, <a href="https://www.gmfus.org/download/article/14875">known as the Minsk agreement</a>, was never fully implemented, and hostilities turned into this simmering conflict that still has, in seven years, killed more than 14,000 people.
This tenuous status quo has prevailed for years, and though a terrible result, especially for those in and near the fighting, it maybe wasn’t the worst outcome possible. Russia could keep Ukraine on edge because of constant unrest in eastern Ukraine, and Ukraine could get aid and attention from Western countries because of Russia’s aggression.
“That was, to a large extent, the conventional wisdom,” said Olga Oliker, the program director for Europe and Central Asia with the International Crisis Group. “When Russia poured troops into the neighborhood, it led to this realization of, ‘Oh, maybe they’re not so happy with the situation as it is.’”
Troops are definitely in the neighborhood, though Putin has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-denies-ukraine-invasion-plans-amid-concerns-over-troop-buildup-2021-11">denied</a> any intention of launching an attack. Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/russian-envoy-says-moscow-wont-invade-ukraine-unless-provoked-01636682769">said</a> last month that Moscow “never planned, never did, and is never going to do it unless we’re provoked by Ukraine, or by somebody else.”
That may also depend on what Russia interprets as a provocation. Putin sees Ukraine’s closer cooperation with the West, specifically NATO, as leading toward an unacceptable outcome for Moscow: Ukraine’s potential membership in the alliance. Preventing Ukraine’s incorporation into Western organizations like NATO, but also the European Union, was part of the motivation for Russia’s incursions into Ukraine in 2014, said Sarah Pagung, an associate fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. “But what we’ve actually seen over the last years is Ukraine, as a consequence of the Crimean annexation, more intensively pursued the path of Western integration,” she said.
None of these dynamics are entirely new, though experts said there are a few factors that might explain why Ukraine-Russia tensions are spiraling right now, including Russia’s dissatisfaction with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s continued orientation toward NATO, and a sense that the West is preoccupied.
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<figcaption>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits troops in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine on December 6.</figcaption>
<cite>Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP</cite></figure>
War isn’t inevitable, and it would come with significant costs to Russia, too. But there are also tactics short of a full-on war that could still cause havoc for Ukraine. But what happens next, and the possible outcomes, remain uncertain.
“The problem is we don’t know what Putin wants, and this is really the bottom line,” said Alexander Motyl, an expert in Soviet and post-Soviet politics at Rutgers University Newark. “Is he testing? Is he invading? Is he teaching the Ukrainians a lesson? We don’t know. And so it’s hard to do anything, because we don’t know what [Putin] wants, and we don’t know how far he’s willing to go.”
The current Ukraine-Russia crisis is a continuation of 2014, which itself was linked to a deep-rooted historical narrative in Russia held by Putin and many Russian elites.
“Their No. 1 objective is to reestablish as much of the old empire as it could — Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia,” said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis. “I think this is part of the legacy that President Putin sees for [himself].”
Ukraine is central to this vision. Culturally and economically, Putin sees Ukraine as tied to Russia. Putin used his hot vax summer to publish an article about how Ukrainians and Russians “<a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">were one people — a single whole</a>,” according to an English translation posted on the Kremlin’s website. For him, the ex-Soviet Republic is not really a sovereign state but belongs to Russia, or at least would if not for the meddling from outside forces (read: the West) that have created a “<a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">wall</a>” between the two.
“Step by step, Ukraine was dragged into a dangerous geopolitical game aimed at turning Ukraine into a barrier between Europe and Russia, a springboard against Russia,” <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">Putin wrote</a>.
This issue of Ukraine being a “springboard” for military action against Russia is also unacceptable to Putin. He wants to recreate a “sphere of influence” for Moscow, and Ukraine is the buffer between it and NATO. As Ukraine moves closer to the West, that buffer crumbles.
“The reason there’s a war in Ukraine has a lot to do with Russia’s perception of the post-Cold War order in Europe, this notion that Western states have been moving closer and closer to Russia’s borders, and indeed, gobbling up its natural sphere of influence,” Oliker said. “Ukraine’s the front line on that.”
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<figcaption>Ukrainian soldiers walk at the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on December 7.</figcaption>
<cite>Andriy Dubchak/AP</cite></figure>
But recent political developments within Ukraine, the United States, Europe, and Russia help explain why tensions are flaring at this moment.
Among those developments are the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48007487">2019 election of Ukrainian president Zelensky</a>. In addition to the other thing you <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/9/24/20882359/trump-impeachment-ukraine-president-zelensky">might remember Zelensky for</a>, he promised during his campaign he would <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/06/ukraine-peace-talks-russia-war-donbass/">seek a solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine</a>. He said that would include <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/ukraine-president-volodymyr-zelenskiy-gives-putin-one-year-strike-deal-end-war">dealing with Putin directly</a> to resolve the conflict. Russia, too, likely thought it could get something out of this: a potentially malleable Zelensky who might be more open to Russia’s point of view. That includes Russia’s desire to have Ukraine reincorporate separatist regions back into the country and hold elections, as outlined in the Minsk agreement. That sounds like something Ukraine would want until you recognize Russia has since effectively <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/08/27/in-the-donbass-russias-newest-citizens-prepare-to-vote-a74912">taken over those breakaway regions</a>, and so it would really be, as one expert said, a “Trojan horse” for Moscow to wield influence and control Ukraine.
Such a concession would be politically untenable for Zelensky based on the current situation on the ground, which forced Zelensky to take a tougher line on Russia and turn to the West for help. Beyond partnerships with NATO, Zelensky has <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/ukraine-president-says-nation-is-ready-to-join-nato">even talked openly about joining NATO</a>. For Putin, pining for his estranged brothers, this confirmed his worst fears.
“In getting to the point [where] Zelensky was calling for outright membership in NATO and crossing what Russia has long viewed as one of their red lines — I think that does help to explain why Russians felt an impetus to threaten far greater and new use of direct military force,” said Zachary Witlin, a senior analyst with the Eurasia Group.
Just because Zelensky is asking when Kyiv gets itself into NATO does not actually mean Ukrainian membership is a realistic possibility. NATO and member states within NATO like the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/01/joint-statement-on-the-u-s-ukraine-strategic-partnership/">US</a> and <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/uk-signs-deal-to-help-boost-ukraines-navy-in-the-face-of-increased-threat-from-russia-12470490">Great Britain</a> are cooperating with Ukraine on security, they’re helping in training and reforms, and providing (<a href="https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/delivery-of-turkish-drones-to-ukraine-continue-as-planned-official-169867">or sellin</a>g) military equipment. But a close partnership is not the same as membership, as it doesn’t come with the obligation of mutual defense, and the NATO countries don’t exactly want to sign themselves up for a potential war with Russia.
Of course, NATO will never say Ukrainian membership is off the table because this is what Putin wants. Putin asked President Biden for legal guarantees that NATO wouldn’t expand eastward or put weapons systems in Ukraine during their call Tuesday; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/07/world/biden-putin#here-are-five-takeaways-from-the-biden-putin-call">US officials said they would never make such assurances</a>.
Still, Ukraine’s closer cooperation with NATO is undeniable, said Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Ukrainian Politics Institute. “Putin and Kremlin understand that Ukraine will not be a part of NATO,” Bortnik said. “But Ukraine became an informal member of NATO without a formal decision.”
That may have left Russia feeling as though it had exhausted all of its political and diplomatic tools to bring Ukraine back into the fold. “Moscow security elites feel that they have to act now because if they don’t, military cooperation between NATO and Ukraine will become even more intense and even more sophisticated,” Pagung, of the German Council on Foreign Relations, said.
This is also not the first time Putin has signaled that he is prepared to ramp up pressure on Ukraine. In the spring of 2021, Russia began <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/russian-and-ukrainian-spring-2021-war-scare">gathering forces and equipment near parts of the Ukrainian border</a> under the guise of “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/world/europe/russia-ukraine-troops.html">readiness exercises</a>.”
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<figcaption>People adjust a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin attached to a balloon during an anniversary celebration of the 2014 Crimean annexation in Sevastopol, Crimea, on March 18.</figcaption>
<cite>AP</cite></figure>
Experts said this current buildup is a continuation of that, though Putin’s troop buildup also looked very much like a signal to the new administration in Washington, with a specific message to the White House that it should not underestimate, or forget about, Moscow’s ability to cause mayhem.
Putin more or less got his wish, in the form of a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22535041/biden-putin-summit-geneva-navalny-nuclear">summit in Geneva with the new US president</a>. Not long after plans for the get-together were announced, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22535041/biden-putin-summit-geneva-navalny-nuclear">Putin began drawing down some of the troops on the Ukrainian border</a>. But Putin’s own perspective on the US has also shifted, experts said, with things like the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal (which Moscow would know something about) and the US’s domestic turmoil revealing signs of fragility. “Instead of being fear-driven by the fear that America is strong and will come after them, now they’re opportunity-driven: they think that America is weak, and maybe in the spring we have just missed the chance,” said Gustav Gressel, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
All of this may make Russia feel a bit opportunistic. The United States is distracted by its domestic agenda and wants to focus on China. Europe is dealing with its own internal crises, like a <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/01/poland-crisis-european-union-immigration-democracy-law/">rebellious Poland</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polish-belarus-border-migrant-crossings-decrease-tension-remains-2021-12-06/">tensions with Belarus</a>, a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/13/business/uk-eu-northern-ireland-protocol-article-16-intl-gbr-cmd/index.html">hangover from Brexit</a>, and a <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/regions/europe/">surging coronavirus wave</a>. Germany <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/8/22810520/germany-government-olaf-scholz-chancellor-greens-fdp">has a new chancellor</a>; France <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/how-france-pivoted-to-the-right/">has elections soon</a>.
Those distractions, combined with Ukraine’s resistance and affinity for NATO, may embolden Putin. Some experts noted Putin has his own domestic pressures to deal with, including the coronavirus and a struggling economy, and he may think such an adventure will boost his standing at home, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/8/29/6082769/one-chart-why-putin-invading-ukraine">just like it did in 2014</a>. “There may be a sense of now or never,” Motyl said. “We recapture this place, which shouldn’t have been independent in the first place. Perhaps they made a mistake, and we need to rectify that.”
Biden and Putin didn’t come to a real resolution over Ukraine during their Tuesday meeting. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/08/russia-talks-of-rapid-ukraine-discussions-after-biden-putin-summit">said Wednesday</a> that the two leaders did agree to talks to discuss this “complex, confrontational situation.” The White House readout said that the two sides would follow up, and the US “would do so in close cooperation with its allies.” Biden spoke to US allies after the Putin call, and is speaking Thursday to Zelensky.
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<figcaption>Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with President Joe Biden via videoconference in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in Sochi, Russia, on December 7.</figcaption>
<cite>Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP</cite></figure>
US and NATO officials have <a href="https://twitter.com/idreesali114/status/1466058435934527490?s=20">repeatedly indicated</a> they’re not interested in a head-to-head military conflict with Russia over Ukraine, which means the US and its allies are most likely looking at some sort of economic pressure on Russia. Some reporting suggests that any Russian provocation would <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-has-understanding-with-germany-shut-nord-stream-2-pipeline-if-russia-invades-2021-12-07/">effectively kill Nord Stream 2</a>, the gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany that’s not yet up and running. Biden <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57180674">had waived sanctions against Nord Stream 2 in the spring</a>, a concession, in part, to its ally Germany but something Russia also saw as a win. Experts said there are other sanction options that could put pressure on Russia, such as cutting Russia off from SWIFT, the international payments system.
“I will look you in the eye and tell you, as President Biden looked Putin in the eye and told him today, that things we did not do in 2014 we are prepared to do now,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/07/politics/biden-putin-call-ukraine/index.html">National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Tuesday</a>.
But tens of thousands of Russian troops are still at Ukraine’s borders, an undeniable threat. “The problem with these concentrations of troops is that this can come also as an embarrassment for Putin if he does not get anything of the sort out of it,” said Andreas Umland, a Kyiv-based analyst for the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies.
And that something is not necessarily all-out war. Russia has already invaded Ukraine and is supporting separatists in Donbas (though it denies it). The heightened tensions mean Ukraine is also on high alert, and its military may be stretched as it tries to fend off a possible attack. Russia could take advantage and try to expand the conflict in eastern Ukraine. “The fact is, Putin can try to destabilize the Ukrainians by inflicting more casualties and trying to escalate. And from there, I can see, ‘Okay, can I go further? Or will the West react?’” Gressel said.
This may even be the more likely scenario, and experts in the US, Europe, and Ukraine that I spoke to do not think war is inevitable, though it is undeniably a very dangerous situation. Putin’s ultimate goal is to get Ukraine to do what he wants, and what he wants is for Ukraine to come back under its influence and control. But even a large-scale evasion might not achieve that, and it would come with extreme costs for Russia. Russia could ultimately outmatch Ukraine’s military, but it would not be a bloodless fight. Russian soldiers would die — despite <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/02/russia-ukraine-liberated/">Putin’s propaganda that suggests Ukraine would welcome Russia as its liberator</a>. A war with Ukraine could lead to an occupation, an insurgency, and the destruction of the country. No rational leader would attempt that, Motyl said. “And the answer to that is: But is Putin rational?”
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/8/22824015/russia-ukraine-troops-tensons-putin-biden-nato">https://www.vox.com/2021/12/8/22824015/russia-ukraine-troops-tensons-putin-biden-nato</a>

vox Wait, is Russia going to invade Ukraine?

A troubling buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border has Kyiv, Washington, and pretty much everyone else asking if Russia is about to invade Ukraine — again. The US and its allies, including Ukraine, are trying to forestall that scenario, mo…

Boris Imposes New Rules to Stop Deadly Variant That Has Killed Zero People

The British government has claimed that it intends to send private security contractors to knock on the doors of anyone returning from holidays to make sure they are quarantining upon their return, as required by law.
Home Secretary Priti Patel <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9597685/Priti-Patel-reveals-plans-10-000-quarantine-checks-day.html">announced Wednesday</a> that those returning from destinations that have not been added to the government’s ‘green list’ should expect to be checked on at their homes.
The warning comes after the government lifted international travel restrictions on Monday, allowing people to go on holiday, but with extensive caveats.
Patel claimed that 10,000 checks will be conducted every day by private contractors hired <a href="https://www.mitie.com/all-services/security-fire/?filter-service=security-and-fire&filter-search=">via the firm Mitie</a>, and if people are found to be flouting quarantine or acting noncompliant, police will be called to deal with them, with the authorisation to issue fines of up to £10,000.
The government has decreed that a negative PCR test and ten day quarantine is required for anyone returning from countries it has not deemed to be completely safe to visit, including the popular destinations of The U.S., France, Spain and Greece.
Those returning will then have to take a further two PCR tests (at their own expense) and test negative to be allowed out of their houses after the ten day period.
“People will not go unchecked,” Patel threatened. adding “Significant resources have been put in place – millions of pounds – in terms of the follow-up checking of people around their testing and making sure they stay at home. It has been stepped up.”
Discouraging travel to so called ‘amber list’ countries, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-travel-expect-knock-on-the-door-when-you-return-from-amber-countries-priti-patel-warns-12311649">told Sky News</a> Thursday that “You’ve got to quarantine. People will come to your house to check your quarantine. It’s expensive. We’re not at the stage of saying to people, go to those places on holiday. Please don’t.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock also claimed that the door to door checks are already underway, with 30,000 being conducted last week.
Boris Johnson told MPs yesterday that visits to medium-risk destinations are only acceptable in ‘extreme circumstances’. 
The announcement came after millions of people had already booked trips to the destinations, and in many cases have already arrived there, prompting fury from travellers, airlines and booking agents.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, of Advantage Travel Partnership described the government’s actions as “typical nanny state tactics.”
She added “Surely the British public can make up their own mind if they wish to quarantine in order to visit an amber country. As long as protocols are followed, testing is in place and rules in the destination are adhered to we see no reason why we cannot be allowed to travel safely to amber destinations for leisure. Otherwise, make those amber countries red.”
In related news, it has been revealed that UK ‘Covid passports’ officially rolled out for use during international travel <a href="https://summit.news/2021/05/20/privacy-watchdog-uk-covid-passport-small-print-says-it-will-be-used-domestically/">will eventually be used domestically</a> to restrict the movement of the population, according to the small print on the NHS website.
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/08/boris-imposes-new-rules-to-stop-deadly-variant-that-has-killed-zero-people/">https://summit.news/2021/12/08/boris-imposes-new-rules-to-stop-deadly-variant-that-has-killed-zero-people/</a>

revolution summit Boris Imposes New Rules to Stop Deadly Variant That Has Killed Zero People

The British government has claimed that it intends to send private security contractors to knock on the doors of anyone returning from holidays to make sure they are quarantining upon their return, as required by law. Home Secretary Priti Patel annou…

Vast Majority of Brits Want Government That Made a Mockery of Lockdown to Impose More Lockdown Rules on Them

Reports have indicated that the UK government is planning to introduce a raft of new COVID restrictions, including vaccine passports, as soon as Thursday, citing the spread of the Omicron variant, despite it being weaker and <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/07/norwegian-covid-experts-says-omicron-could-provide-best-scenario-of-natural-immunity/">only causing mild symptoms</a> by <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/12/07/europes-biggest-omicron-outbreak-appears-mild-say-norway-covid">all accounts</a>.
The Financial Times <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/bd0a637e-3e2b-4637-9548-d9eac1e20838">reports</a> that Three senior Whitehall officials have confirmed that so called ‘Plan B’ restrictions are to be introduced, which include ordering people to work from home into the new year, and mandating vaccine passports for venues with ‘large crowds’.
One of the sources suggested that after a meeting on Wednesday, the restrictions could be introduced tonight.
Another of the sources described the move as a “dead cat” to distract from revelations that government ministers held a party at Downing Street during the height of lockdown measures being introduced last Christmas.
Worse still, aides were <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ofkm48nv_k" target="_blank">caught on video</a> laughing about the incident.
<figure>[embedded content]</figure>
The Telegraph <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/12/07/christmas-work-home-order-drawn-government/">reports</a> that the idea of introducing vaccine passports has split the cabinet, with some in favour and others against the move.
The government’s own research on vaccine passports, <a href="https://summit.news/2021/10/26/leaked-government-report-finds-vaccine-passports-could-actually-increase-spread-of-covid/">which was recently leaked</a>, revealed that far from helping to slow the spread of the virus, it could actually make things worse.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="10.386759581882">
They're about to impose vaccine passports, which haven't worked anywhere in the world, and which their own study said don't work, to fight a variant which has killed precisely nobody in the world.
Wake me up when this nightmare ends.
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1468555553337184258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
Similar studies in other countries have <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/03/spanish-investigation-finds-vaccine-passports-have-no-impact-on-infection-rates/">come to the same conclusion</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/21/uk-vaccine-passports-scientists-urge-caution">scientists have warned</a> that such a move would not lead to a reduction in cases, but would definitely trigger a greater backlash against vaccination campaigns.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="10.451713395639">
The UK government is actually still considering vaccine passports after their own leaked report said they could actually increase the spread of COVID.
Similar studies in Wales, N. Ireland and Spain have also found them to be useless.
Just implement them anyway!
Insane.
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1468351999309721606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="8.8070739549839">
Meanwhile, we are drawing up plans to stop the spread of authoritarianism…
If the UK government imposes divisive, discriminatory and pointless vaccine passports in England, we’ll take legal action ⚖️ <a href="https://t.co/OUaNy3jVWV">https://t.co/OUaNy3jVWV</a> <a href="https://t.co/c5zx9ZvN4h">https://t.co/c5zx9ZvN4h</a>
— Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/BigBrotherWatch/status/1468506421385908231?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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As we <a href="https://summit.news/2021/09/13/uk-government-says-vaccine-passports-integral-to-covid-winter-plan-day-after-they-were-supposedly-scrapped/">previously reported</a>, in September the UK government insisted that vaccine passports would remain an integral tool in fighting the spread of COVID just a day after health secretary Sajid Javid asserted that they had been completely scrapped.
In addition, the government has been <a href="https://summit.news/2021/09/28/british-government-trying-to-bypass-parliament-to-implement-vaccine-passports/">accused of trying to bypass Parliament</a> in an effort to implement the vaccine passports via the backdoor, knowing that the scheme would face stiff resistance from backbenchers.
At the end of last year, the British public were <a href="https://summit.news/2020/12/01/gove-claims-government-not-considering-vaccine-passports-to-enter-venues/">assured</a> that vax passes would never come into force, even as the government was paying millions of pounds to private contractors to set up the system.
The government has consistently lied to the public about its intentions regarding vaccine passports, initially claiming they weren’t being considered while funding their creation, then announcing they’d be introduced at the end of September, then backtracking, and now they’re back on the agenda again.
As we previously <a href="https://summit.news/2021/09/06/ticket-sales-flatlining-as-rebellion-against-vaccine-passports-grows/">highlighted</a>, vaccine passports will put nightclubs out of business because they operate at a net profit margin of 15 per cent, while one third of under 40’s in the UK haven’t had a single dose of the vaccine.
The utter stupidity of the scheme is proven by the fact that it will eliminate the option to provide a negative test to enter any of the venues.
<figure>[embedded content]</figure>
In other words, proving that you don’t have the virus won’t be good enough to gain entry, but proving you’ve complied and taken a vaccine with dodgy efficacy that means you could still be carrying the virus anyway will be good enough to gain entry.
As we have repeatedly highlighted, vaccine passports represent a digital ID, which represents the implementation of an onerous social credit score system in the west.
<figure>[embedded content]</figure>
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/08/vast-majority-of-brits-want-government-that-made-a-mockery-of-lockdown-to-impose-more-lockdown-rules-on-them/">https://summit.news/2021/12/08/vast-majority-of-brits-want-government-that-made-a-mockery-of-lockdown-to-impose-more-lockdown-rules-on-them/</a>

revolution summit Vast Majority of Brits Want Government That Made a Mockery of Lockdown to Impose More Lockdown Rules on Them

Reports have indicated that the UK government is planning to introduce a raft of new COVID restrictions, including vaccine passports, as soon as Thursday, citing the spread of the Omicron variant, despite it being weaker and only causing mild symptom…