Developing. We are publishing this article as it is being written. Please check back for updates.
To see a list of previous articles, enter “Ukraine” in the Search Box on the upper right, on The Trenchant Observer web site, and you will see a list in chronological order.
Dispatches
1) Timothy Bella, “Russia bans 963 Americans, including Biden and Harris — but not Trump,” Washington apost, May 21, 2022 (11:25 a.m. EDT, Updated at 3:47 p.m. EDT);
Commentary
On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry published an updated list of 963 Americans “who are permanently banned from entering the Russian Federation.” Bella reports that those barred include “a wide-ranging collection of Biden administration members, Republicans, tech executives, journalists, lawmakers who have died, regular U.S. citizens and even actor Morgan Freeman.”
…
Russia also named former senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) as among the current or ex-lawmakers barred from entering the country, even though they are all dead. McCain died in 2018 at 81. Reid died in December at age 82, while Hatch died last month at 88.
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Significantly, the list of Americans banned from travel to Russia did not include Donald Trump or any prominent Trump administration officials except
former secretary of state Mike Pompeo. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is not on the list. Also not listed is Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), “who delayed a Senate vote on aid for Ukraine last week when he was the only senator to object.”
According to anonymous sources, who were unable to discuss the matter publicly because of the sensitive nature of the intelligence involved, the families of former senators John McCain (R-Ariz.), Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), and Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) are in secret consultations with the CIA regarding how the travel ban might be circumvented. A “ghost operation” is apparently under consideration.
The Trenchant Observer
For more satire, see also,
1) “Ukraine War, April 27, 2022 (II): SATIRE–Putin says, “If you try to interfere with this rape I’m carrying out, I’ll burn your house down”; Russia decries violation of its territorial integrity by Ukraine,” The Trenchant Observer, April 27, 2022;
2) “Ukraine War, March 10, 2022 (II): SATIRE–Ukrainian tank drivers unable to take delivery of donated Polish tanks because they don’t have Polish driver’s licenses,” The Trenchant Observer, March 10, 2022;
3) “Ukraine War, April 1, 2022 (I): Donald Trump launches sharp attack against Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine; Ex-president calls for “harshest possible” economic sanctions, possible use of force ; Trump launches impassioned plea for international community to take decisive action to uphold U.N. Charter and international law,” The Trenchant Observer, April 1, 2022;
4) “TRUMP RESIGNS! Accounts differ as to reasons,” April 1, 2019.
5) “Opinion: Leaked transcript of private two-hour conversation between Putin and Trump in Helsinki,” July 16, 2018.
