❗️Biden reportedly authorized first-ever Ukrainian use of long-range ATACMS missiles on Russian territory

Unnamed sources told the New York Times that the decision has divided US President Joe Biden's advisers and comes just two months before president-elect Donald Trump takes office – having pledged to reduce further support for Ukraine.

Some Pentagon officers opposed sending the missiles to Ukraine as the US Army has limited supplies. Some White House staff have also expressed concerns that Russia might escalate the war in response.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously warned that the use of such weapons on Russian soil would mean the US and other NATO states were directly at war with Russia. He not that Ukrainian forces cannot independently operate long-range weapons without intelligence and targetting data from the West, along with direct support from NATO military personnel.

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Ukraine is preparing to carry out its first long-range attacks on Russia in the coming days, the Reuters news agency reported – quoting sources who withheld specific details for operational security reasons.

The White House did not comment on the report.

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Democrat prosecutors vow to continue trying to jail Trump allies as party floats ‘shadow cabinet’ idea

District attorneys pursuing Donald Trump in his federal criminal cases reportedly plan to ease off the pressure on the president-elect, but have vowed to continue fiercely pursuing his surrogates and allies, both at the federal and state levels.

“In all likelihood, the state criminal cases will be put on hold during Trump’s presidency. If they try to continue with the prosecutions, or even to impose a stayed sentence, I suspect the decisions will be reversed on appeal. It is even possible that the cases will be dismissed,” Syracuse University law professor Gregory Germain wrote in a post-election analysis of Trump’s legal status.

For Trump’s allies, however, among them former chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorney Rudy Giuliani, and other lawyers and aides, the situation is not as rosy, The Hill reported.

“In fact, with Trump effectively out of the picture, any limitations the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision would have put on the prosecution-barring certain evidence and causing further delays – are now gone,” the outlet said, paraphrasing Georgia State University law professor Michael Kreis.

Georgia Democrat DA Fani Willis, pursuing Trump in the Georgia election interference case, has vowed to continue her work. “If someone has an indictment in this office, no matter who they are, we continue to pursue those charges,” Willis said.

Legal pressure is one of the ways Democrats hope to keep the Trump team on its toes. Another idea – floated by Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel, is setting up a “shadow cabinet” – a British political tradition of appointing ‘shadow ministers’ (or in the US case ‘shadow cabinet heads’ for executive branch departments, like the Departments of Defense or Justice), to marshal the opposition and challenge government decisions.

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🔸 Russia’s massed strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure: key points

🔸 Trump not even in power yet, already wreaking havoc on European markets

🔸 Week-and-a-half after blowout defeat, Kamala Harris campaign still soliciting donors for more money

🔸 Democrat prosecutors vow to continue trying to jail Trump allies as party floats ‘shadow cabinet’ idea

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📹 THROWBACK: The use of Western long-range missiles on Russian territory will mean that NATO countries are fighting Russia — Putin

Back in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukrainian use of Western-made long-range missiles is only possible if using intelligence from NATO satellites, that is, direct NATO participation in the conflict.

"And if this is so, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us," President added.

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Boeing begins clipping its wings with massive layoffs

Boeing has delivered layoff notices to 438 employees in a first wave of planned cuts in coming months ultimately expected to leave about 17,000 workers out of a job.

The laid off professionals include scientists, engineers, analysts and planners, technicians and tradesmen.

Washington State Economic Security Department chief labor economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman expressed concern that the layoffs could have knock-on effects across the state, with much of the company’s manufacturing activities taking place across sprawling industrial facilities in Everett and Renton, outside Seattle.

The first pink slips began to be sent out almost immediately after the conclusion of a two-month strike by 33,000 of the company’s unionized machinists, which ended earlier this month after a new contract was agreed.

The two-month strike paralyzed the production of Boeing’s 737 Max, 767 and 777 series of aircraft, becoming the latest blow to the aerospace giant’s bottom line amid inquiries by regulators over production standards after an incident in January in which a door panel blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max midflight.

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British PM has no plans to call Vladimir Putin - reports

"There’s got to be full support [for Ukraine] as long as it takes", Keir Starmer told reporters ahead of the G20 summit.

"I think we need to double down on shoring up our support for Ukraine and that’s top of my agenda for the G20," he added.

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📹 THROWBACK: Ex-CIA analyst predicted Biden's decision to allow Ukraine ATACMS strikes on Russian territory

It is “incredibly dangerous and foolish” to believe that this step will somehow help Ukraine, retired CIA analyst and counterterrorism expert Larry Johnson told Sputnik.

"Ukraine is facing defeat. They will be defeated. But it gets more to the point that the West, instead of seeking a peaceful way out and talking to Russia, is preferring confrontation, he said.

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Ex-DoD analyst: Biden's decision is 'unnecessary escalation', if true

Ukraine's use of ATACMS does not change much militarily, because the Ukrainian military already has drones of the same range, Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the Pentagon, told Sputnik.

"But the ATACMS require NATO's assistance because of the information flow that is necessary to provide for the flight of the missile. So that necessarily brings in NATO's participation," he said.

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Donald Trump Jr.: They want to start WW3 before Trump comes! Imbeciles!

President-elect's son slams Biden's alleged decision to allow Ukrainian ATACMS strikes on Russian territory.

"The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War 3 going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives. Gotta lock in those $trillions," he wrote on X.

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Biden sets Trump up for failure - Michael Maloof

By allowing Ukraine to use ATACMS in strikes on Russian territory, Biden is setting up Trump for Ukrainian failure if the new administration doesn't stand by that decision.

"If that's the case, Biden is basically setting up Trump for failure. And that is insidious and it's wrong, when an outgoing administration does that to an incoming administration. And they should be condemned for it," the former senior security policy analyst told Sputnik.

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Ex-Pentagon analyst: Russia will continue on path to victory in Ukraine

Biden's decision, if true, would only lead to an intensification of Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and stockpiles to force Kiev to seek peace, former senior security policy analyst Michael Maloof told Sputnik.

"The war is essentially lost for the Ukrainians. They just haven't acknowledged it yet. And Russia actually have been restrained in really applying the hammer," he said.

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