Biden mulls sending 5,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe to deter Russia – National & International News – MON 24Jan2022

Biden mulls sending 5,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe to deter Russia. Federal trial for 3 other officers in Floyd killing begins. Cruise ship diverts to Bahamas to avoid U.S. arrest warrant.

NATIONAL NEWS

Cruise ship with 700 aboard diverts to Bahamas to avoid U.S. arrest warrant

Over the weekend, the 300 passengers and 400 crew members of the Crystal Symphony learned that their trip was being cut short. Rather than docking in Miami and sailing on from there, their journey would end in Miami and passengers and crew would have to disembark from there. The next day, after bewildered passengers and crew had already booked new flights and accommodations, they learned the ship wouldn’t be docking in Miami after all. Instead, the Crystal Symphony would dock in Bimini in the Bahamas. From there, passengers and crew would board a “courtesy ferry” which would take them to Ft. Lauderdale.

If possible, passengers were even more dumbfounded by the extraordinary reason for this change of plans. Genting Hong Kong, the parent company of Crystal Cruises, was going into liquidation. An arrest warrant for the ship had been issued over a matter of an unpaid fuel bill amounting to some $4 million. Had the ship docked in Miami, a U.S. Marshall would have been waiting to take possession of it.

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Federal trial for 3 other officers in Floyd killing begins

Minneapolis, MN, is about to host the latest in a series of sensational and contentious police brutality trials. Former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao will stand trial for violating the civil rights of George Floyd. Prosecutors argue that Kueng, Lane and Thao had a duty to intervene when fellow officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes. Chauvin was convicted of 2nd degree murder in Floyd’s killing last year and admitted violating his civil rights in a separate federal proceeding. 

Kueng, Lane and Thao have all pleaded not guilty to both the state criminal charges and the federal civil rights charges. Their state criminal case has not yet come to trial. Today the court will hear opening arguments in the federal civil rights case.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Biden mulls sending 5,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe to deter Russia

President Biden met with his national security advisors this weekend at Camp David. Since then, sources say that Biden has warmed to the idea of dispatching addition U.S. forces to strategic areas in Eastern Europe as a deterrent to Russia. For weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been holding security and diplomatic talks across Europe in hopes of preventing a Russian incursion into Ukraine. Russia has amassed some 100,000 troops on its border with the Ukraine. Many in Ukraine and across the continent fear that an invasion may be imminent.

Up to now, Biden has shied away from committing any U.S. troops to the area. It still appears he is unwilling to put any boots on the ground in Ukraine itself. It’s not clear yet where he might send troops, but possibilities include Poland and Romania.

Both the U.S. and Britain have announced that they will be withdrawing some of their diplomats from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. 

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