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--:-- Host (John Bickley): Three weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Russia appears stalled. Where do things stand on the ground in Ukraine? And what's behind the surprising resilience of Ukraine's army?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, March 18th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Idaho is following in the footsteps of Texas, using a legal workaround to curb abortion in the state. What's in the new bill and why are some legal experts calling the law a temporary stopgap?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And Russia has retaliated against the U.S. by sanctioning key political figures. Which high-profile Americans did Russia target? And what are the politics behind the dueling sanctions?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): This show is sponsored by Tessa Mays. Looking for a great way to bring amazing flavor to your meals? Tessamaze is the number one organic salad dressing company in the country because they put quality and flavor above all else. Founded by three brothers with their mom's recipe, Tessamaze has changed the standard for great tasting healthy dressings.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): Three weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have surprised the world with the effectiveness of their resistance against the Russian military.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Here to talk more about why Russia's forces may be stalled is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yeah, well, a lot of our coverage has focused on the Ukrainian side of the Russian invasion. So the impact on civilians, the cities under attack and what Western countries are doing or not doing to help. But one factor that's interesting to dig into a little bit is the fact that the Russian military has really struggled to make the kind of progress they certainly would have expected when they launched this invasion back on February 24th.
--:-- Ian Howarth: According to British military intelligence, Russia's invasion is now largely stalled on all fronts, suffering heavy losses and making really minimal gains. And this is on land, sea or in the air. The British Ministry of Defense said, quote, Ukrainian resistance remains staunch and well-coordinated, adding that, quote, the vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remains in Ukrainian hands.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And this has been echoed by the Pentagon, saying that Russian troops are still around 10 miles away from the center of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and that even though Russian forces have launched almost 1,000 missiles since the start of the invasion, Ukraine's airspace is still being contested.
--:-- Ian Howarth: It really is remarkable how Ukrainian forces have been able to hold off the Russians so effectively. What's behind their success, do you think?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, the first factor has to be the fact that they were far more prepared. The last time Putin invaded Ukraine was in 2014 under the Obama administration when Russian forces annexed Crimea with effectively no resistance. But eight years later, the Ukrainian military is a completely different animal.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Ukraine spent 3.4% of its GDP on defense in 2019, which is up from 2.2% in 2014 when they were invaded. It had over a quarter of a million active military personnel, with almost a million in reserve, and many troops now had military experience after years of low-level war.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Then there's the widespread civilian effort we've all seen, with people volunteering to defend their homeland, and it's hard to quantify the kind of impact people fighting for their family's freedom can have.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Right, the motivation here is a massive factor. It is, but then we also need to look at the Russian military. There a pretty long list of reasons their invasion has been sputtering to a halt in the last week or so even though they vastly outmatched Ukraine in terms of pure military capability
--:-- Ian Howarth: Some are arguing that ineptitude is at the center of their failure portraying the Russian military as a paper tiger. Others are saying that their entire strategy relied on the assumption of a blitzkrieg-style attack in which they took the capital city, Kiev, in 48 hours. And every day that didn't happen was another day for Ukrainian resistance forces to dig in and disrupt.
--:-- Ian Howarth: There are also indications that Putin misread the general morale in Ukraine, with reports coming in that Russian forces are often surprised that they are met with violence rather than being welcomed as liberators from fascism, let alone the fact that many Russian troops appear to have been misled about the mission itself.
--:-- Ian Howarth: We all remember the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Nations reading a text message thread between a Russian soldier and his mother moments before he was killed. Mama, I'm in Ukraine. There is a real war raging here. I'm afraid. We are bombing all of the cities together, even targeting civilians. We were told that they would welcome us. And they are falling under our armored vehicles, throwing themselves under the wheels and not allowing us to pass.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Just a remarkable statement there from that soldier.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Absolutely. But we also need to remember that Russia does have a vastly more powerful military and have historically been perfectly happy to spill vast amounts of its own forces' blood to achieve victory.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So in other words, we are far from the end of this invasion. And the more stalled this invasion appears, the more frustrated Putin is likely to get, which could only mean an escalation in violence. This appears far from over.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Thanks for the insight, Ian.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Of course. Thanks, John.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): Coming up Idaho passes its own pro-life heartbeat legislation. This show is sponsored by the Claremont Review of Books. America's premier journal on political thought and statesmanship each issue released quarterly presents a series of thoughtful essays and book reviews expressing the common sense and uncommon wisdom of the American mind.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Morning Wire listeners will receive a bonus issue with a new subscription that's five issues for the price of four beginning with the latest winter 2022 issue featuring essays on race and the American dream. Visit www.claremontreviewofbooks.com slash morningwire to claim this special offer.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): On Monday, the Idaho House of Representatives passed a pro-life law similar to the Texas legislation that bans abortion after cardiac activity at about six weeks of pregnancy.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): We're seeing more states take similar action after the Texas Supreme Court made a decision against abortion providers last week. Here to discuss the details is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So Charlotte, first tell us about this new Idaho bill. The bill is SB 1309, and the Idaho House passed it 51 to 14 on Monday. It had already been approved in the Idaho Senate, so it now goes to Republican Governor Brad Little's desk to be signed into law.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Much like the Texas bill, the Idaho version prohibits abortion once a fetal heartbeat has been detected. So how is this bill different from the Texas bill?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: While the Idaho bill is pretty strict, it does make exceptions for abortions in the case of a medical emergency, rape, or incest, whereas the Texas law does not make exceptions for rape or incest.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Another important distinction, the Texas law allows any private citizen to sue anyone who performs an abortion or anyone who aids or abets an abortion in violation of the law. But the Idaho law limits the people allowed to sue to family members only.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So the mother, father, grandparent, sibling, or even aunt or of the unborn child can sue for a minimum of... it also only allows the medical professionals who knowingly or recklessly attempted performed, or induced the abortion in violation of the law to be sued.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: But we should point out it doesn't let a father sue if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Now, one of the main criticisms of the rape and incest stipulations is that they aren't always easy to prove. How is that handled?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Right. So the woman doesn't have to prove rape or incest, but she does have to report it. To access a legal abortion, the pregnant woman has to report the crime to law enforcement, and she has to provide a copy of the police report to the abortion doctor.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Now, when will this law go into effect? It's looking like 30 days after it's signed.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Shifting back to Texas, where do we stand on the Texas pro-life law?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Well, it's faced some legal challenges. There's still some debate whether it will stand long term, but for now, it's the law of the land in Texas.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: The Texas Supreme Court just issued a decision that effectively makes it so that the abortion provider's lawsuit cannot continue, which means the law will likely continue to stand.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So this new legal pathway of using civil lawsuits to curb abortion seems to be gaining ground.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Yes, and other states are taking notice. Tennessee just introduced a similar pro-life law this week, so we'll be watching to see what happens in each of these cases.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: But this legal loophole of civil lawsuits might end up being unnecessary in the long run. We're waiting to see what the U.S. Supreme Court decides on a law out of Mississippi that bans abortion after 15 weeks.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: If the court sides with Mississippi, then that could strike down Roe v. Wade. If Roe falls, then states will once again be able to write their own laws on abortion, and they won't need these loopholes.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Charlotte, thanks for keeping us informed.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Thanks for having me on.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That's Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): In response to the U.S. imposing sanctions on Russian oligarchs, Russia has imposed its own sanctions on some key political figures in the U.S. This move means these figures can't enter Russia and any assets they have in the country are frozen.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Joining us to discuss the politics of these dueling sanctions and how it plays into concerns over Russian disinformation is the New York Post's Miranda Devine.
--:-- Miranda Devine: Miranda, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Miranda Devine: Great pleasure. Thank you.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): As we noted, the U.S. has imposed a series of sanctions on Russia and key Russian individuals. And now we have Russia retaliating. They've listed 13 Americans, mostly Biden administration officials, like the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense.
--:-- Miranda Devine: First, who are the biggest names Russia has targeted?
--:-- Miranda Devine: Well, Russia's targeted Joe Biden, of course, and Hillary Clinton, and interestingly, also Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, who got a lot of money from Russian oligarchs, many of whom have been sanctioned by the US over the Ukraine war and even before.
--:-- Miranda Devine: It's an absolute tit for tat and it can't simply be laughed off by the White House as Jen Psaki tried to do the other day. This is a personal message from Vladimir Putin to Joe Biden.
--:-- Miranda Devine: Basically, Joe Biden's family's influence peddling scheme is now caught up with national security concerns around Ukraine and Russia.
--:-- Miranda Devine: Now, you mentioned Hunter Biden. Some of the accusations against him trace back to emails from his laptop, first reported by the paper you work for, The New York Post.
--:-- Miranda Devine: The New York Times has recently confirmed the authenticity of those emails. What can you tell us about that?
--:-- Miranda Devine: What were the major takeaways here as it relates to Russia?
--:-- Miranda Devine: So on that laptop are voluminous communications between Hunter Biden and various of his paymasters and benefactors in countries like Russia and Ukraine and Kazakhstan and Romania and China.
--:-- Miranda Devine: And so the New York Times, as you quite rightly say, two years after we published the story in 2020 on the eve of the three weeks before the election, they are now coming to the party and saying, well, yes, the Hunter Biden laptop is real and there were emails on that that we have verified now with other recipients of the emails or in some other way.
--:-- Miranda Devine: And, you know, they're now admitting that the story that the Post ran, that they ignored, that they traduced as unsubstantiated, and that big tech, Facebook and Twitter, censored actively.
--:-- Miranda Devine: And in fact, even Twitter locked the New York Post's account until a few days before the election.
--:-- Miranda Devine: Now, the accusation against the Post that led to censorship against it was that it was promoting Russian disinformation. That turned out to be false, as you noted.
--:-- Miranda Devine: Now, Russian disinformation is once again front and center in the context of war. How is the war impacting political discussion around Russian disinformation?
--:-- Miranda Devine: Well, look, we know that the Democrats have used the allegation of Russian disinformation or accusing their political opponents of being assets of the Kremlin. They did it famously with Donald Trump.
--:-- Miranda Devine: They crippled his first three years of his presidency with the Russia collusion hoax. And so, unfortunately, by crying wolf, as they have for so long about Russian disinformation, when they now in the fog of war, when we know obviously Russia is a master of disinformation, it's very difficult to have any, you know, find any credibility in the administration and Democrat and intelligence community's claims about Russian disinformation.
--:-- Miranda Devine: They've abused the term for so long for political purposes. Unfortunately, it's lost its sting.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Well, Miranda, thank you so much for joining us and providing your insights.
--:-- Miranda Devine: Oh, it's a pleasure. Glad to do it.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That was The New York Post's Miranda Devine.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): Other stories we're tracking this week. The Justice Department announced that it's agreed to pay a settlement of $127.5 million, resolving 40 civil cases that came from the 2018 Parkland school shooting.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): The department stated the settlement does not amount to an admission of fault by the United States.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And scandal-plagued former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has released a new political ad strongly indicating a plan to relaunch his political career.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Cuomo resigned in August of 2021 in the wake of multiple sexual harassment charges and allegations that his administration covered up the deaths of thousands of elderly New Yorkers.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): I haven't been perfect. I've made mistakes. But I also made a difference. I've never stopped fighting for New Yorkers, and I never will.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): If you love our show and you stand with our mission, please consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): If you like this podcast, get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe.
