Tuesday, February 28, 2023

WHEN IN DOUBT, JUST TUNE OUT: (Memo, a media monitoring platform + NewsWhip)

Americans are no longer gripped by the storylines that shocked them at the war's outset last February.

Americans grow numb as war in Ukraine drags on past 1-year mark

Data: NewsWhip; Table: Tory Lysik/Axios Visuals

"One year in, attention to stories around the war in Ukraine has mostly flatlined in the U.S., suggesting Americans are no longer gripped by the storylines that shocked them at the war's outset last February.

Why it matters: The interest from Americans mirrors the progress on the ground in Ukraine, where Russian forces continue to bombard the eastern part of the country, but to no clear end.

Details: Interest in the war spiked last March when it became clear that Russia's offensive would have a major impact on geopolitics and the global economy.

At the beginning of April, the horrors of the war began to be truly exposed, most notably in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where mass graves and the bodies of civilians strewn in the streets were found after Russian forces retreated.

State of play: Since then, major shifts in the war caused minor surges in U.S. traffic to news stories, according to data from Memo, a media monitoring platform.

In May, the evacuation of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol drove incremental spikes in interest in stories about the war.
In September, the start of Russian mobilization efforts and the announcement that Russia would annex four regions in eastern Ukraine also drove a spike in attention to the war.

Be smart: Similar news consumption patterns can be observed on other channels.

Social media interactions with stories about the war plummeted after September and have remained relatively low, with the exception of a small spike in the past week around one-year anniversary stories about the war, per social media analysis company NewsWhip.
On television, networks have remained committed to covering the war, but they've run into viewer fatigue.

What to watch: Military analysts are bracing for a potential spring offensive by Russian forces, which could prompt more attention to the war again."

Bleeping Computer

Technology, Software

ChatGPT is down worldwide - OpenAI working on issues

ChatGPT is down, according to OpenAI and users reports. Users are currently experiencing issues worldwide, with many unable to access the AI.

Mayank Parmar
February 27, 2023
11:07 AM
2

Security

PureCrypter malware hits govt orgs with ransomware, info-stealers

A threat actor has been targeting government entities with PureCrypter malware downloader that has been seen delivering multiple information stealers and ransomware strains.

Bill Toulas
February 25, 2023
10:16 AM
0

Security

Dish Network goes offline after likely cyberattack, employees cut off

American TV giant and satellite broadcast provider, Dish Network has mysteriously gone offline with its websites and apps ceasing to function over the past 24 hours.

Ax Sharma
February 25, 2023
12:43 AM
11

Security

News Corp says state hackers were on its network for two years

Mass media and publishing giant News Corporation (News Corp) says that attackers behind a breach disclosed in 2022 first gained access to its systems two years before, in February 2020.

Sergiu Gatlan
February 24, 2023
01:44 PM
4

Security

Stanford University discloses data breach affecting PhD applicants

Stanford University disclosed a data breach after files containing Economics Ph.D. program admission information were downloaded from its website between December 2022 and January 2023.

Sergiu Gatlan
February 24, 2023
11:27 AM
0

Propping-Up Zelensky's War in The Ukraine ...No matter what it takes

The western mainstream media propaganda goes like this...

✓ NOTE: For Ms. Yellen, Monday’s unannounced trip to Kyiv highlighted how intertwined national security and economic security have become...Arriving on an overnight train from Poland as air raid sirens blared — just as Mr. Biden did only days ago — Ms. Yellen crisscrossed Kyiv, meeting with the country’s top officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky; honoring those who had been killed in the conflict; and publicly making the case that the billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money were being well spent.

www.nytimes.com

Biden Dispatches Yellen and Blinken to Bolster Support for Ukraine

Marc Santora, Alan Rappeport

Biden Deploys High-Powered Aides, Plus More Aid, to Bolster Ukraine

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to Kyiv the day before Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to visit Central Asia in a show of American solidarity with Ukraine in its battle with Russia.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Bridget Brink, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, placed flowers at the memorial wall of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday.Credit...Thibault Camus/Associated Press

Marc Santora and Alan Rappeport

Marc Santora reported from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Alan Rappeport reported while traveling with Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen on an eight-day trip to India and Poland, from where she entered Ukraine.

"A week after President Biden traveled to Ukraine to pledge American support in the fight to repel Russia, he has dispatched two senior cabinet members to redouble efforts to prop up the Ukrainian economy and to try to curb the Kremlin’s ability to skirt Western sanctions.

The visits, by Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen to the capital, Kyiv, and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken into the heart of what Moscow considers its sphere of influence in Central Asia, underscore the Biden administration’s commitment to blocking Moscow’s ambitions in Ukraine as the war enters its second year.

The diplomatic moves by the Biden administration come as President Vladimir V. Putin has spent the past year seeking to reinforce Russia’s influence in Central Asia and to deepen ties with China, which the United States has said is preparing to provide more overt assistance to Moscow.

✓Mr. Blinken was to arrive on Tuesday in Kazakhstan to urge senior Central Asian officials from the former Soviet republics convening there to maintain their independence from Russia and China and not to be complicit in Moscow’s attempts to evade sanctions.

✓ China is exerting its own diplomatic influence, as it prepares to welcome President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus, a staunch ally of Russia, for a three-day visit starting on Tuesday, during which he is expected to meet the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping.

U.S. officials say they are cleareyed about their goals in Central Asia. They do not believe that many of the nations that have remained neutral in the war will make bold statements soon against Russia, since they have decades-long ties, including military relations, to Moscow.

And none of the Central Asian nations voted yes on the United Nations resolution last week calling for Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and agree to a lasting peace recognizing Ukraine’s full sovereignty.

“Our main goal is to show that the United States is a reliable partner, and we see the difficulties that these economies are facing — high food prices, high fuel prices, high unemployment, difficulty in exporting their goods, slow post-Covid recovery and a large influx of migrants from Russia,” Donald Lu, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asia and Central Asia, said at a news briefing on Friday."

. . . “We welcome President Zelensky’s ardent commitment to handling these funds in the ‘most responsible way,’” Ms. Yellen said, quoting the Ukrainian leader’s words to Congress in December. “Transparency and accountability will become even more important as Ukraine rebuilds its infrastructure and recovers from the impacts of the war.”

Ms. Yellen announced the transfer of $1.25 billion in economic aid to Ukraine — money to help finance schools, firefighters and doctors. It is the first installment of about $10 billion that the United States is providing to Kyiv this year as part of a $45 billion aid package approved by Congress in December.

She vowed that “America will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” making the case that buttressing the Ukrainian economy is equally as important as fortifying the nation’s military. . .

The International Monetary Fund estimates that the country is facing a monthly budget shortfall of about $5 billion per month. The United States has been urging its European allies to provide more aid and is encouraging the I.M.F. to approve a full loan package for Ukraine.

Although the Biden administration’s commitment to Ukraine appears to be unwavering, there is growing political resistance from Republicans, who are increasingly arguing that the amounts of aid going to Ukraine are risking becoming unaffordable.

Ms. Yellen’s visit was intended to counter that sentiment a month after Mr. Zelensky vowed to take action against corruption in the wake of an official’s dismissal for embezzlement.

Even as Ms. Yellen arrived to Ukraine, the Biden administration was extending its effort to head off Moscow’s own attempts to seek economic aid and other support abroad. American officials have noted the skeptical remarks some top Central Asian officials, including those in Kazakhstan, have made about Mr. Putin and Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, another former Soviet republic.

The Biden administration aims to exploit that, starting with Mr. Blinken’s trip to Central Asia, his first since Russia’s invasion. Both Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi visited in September. . .

Concerns are deepening in the Biden administration that China will provide lethal aid to the Kremlin’s war effort. And Ms. Yellen told reporters who have been traveling with her this week that China must abide by the American sanctions against Russia.

“We have certainly communicated to China that we expect them to adhere to the sanctions and that any evidence that the government or private firms or financial institutions in China are providing material support that would evade our sanctions is something that would bring really severe consequences and is something that we wouldn’t tolerate,” Ms. Yellen said.

Such threats are not sitting well with China. On Monday, Beijing accused the United States of being “hypocritical” by warning against giving Russia weapons to use in Ukraine.

“While the United States has intensified its efforts to send weapons to one of the conflicting parties, resulting in endless wars and no end in sight for peace, it has frequently spread false information about China’s supply of weapons to Russia,” Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said at a news briefing.

As American officials have made frequent visits to Ukraine in recent months, the threat of violence, even far from the front, remains constant.

✓ Ms. Yellen traveled in a police-escorted motorcade, weaving through checkpoints, past concrete blast walls and iron hedgehogs erected to stop Russian tanks. The trenches on the sides of the roads in some places were a reminder of the danger that remained.

Overnight Sunday, Russia launched swarms of drones at Kyiv and other targets across the country, seeking to exhaust Ukrainian air defenses by staggering the attacks, Ukrainian officials said. Ukrainian forces shot down at least nine of the drones over the capital during the attack, which started just before midnight and lasted until just before dawn, the authorities in Kyiv said.

Image

Searchlights trying to spot drones over Kyiv Monday morning.Credit...Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Russian shelling also damaged power infrastructure and caused blackouts in the southern Odesa region on Monday, according to the authorities, the latest setback for an energy system that has weathered months of Russian bombardment.

During Ms. Yellen’s visit, she spoke at Obolon School No. 168, which was severely damaged during Russia’s initial onslaught last year. The school, where the salaries of teachers, administrators and support staff were directly reimbursed by U.S. budget support, has been rebuilt in the past year.

Ms. Yellen also stopped at the square in front of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery to lay a wreath in memory of those who died and to observe a display of destroyed Russian tanks and armored vehicles.

The Treasury secretary made clear that American aid to Ukraine would keep flowing and that the United States would redouble its efforts against the Russian economy.

“We will continue to work with our international coalition to provide military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine,” Ms. Yellen said. “And we will continue to impose severe costs on the Kremlin for its illegal war.”

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Janet Yellen makes surprise Ukraine visit

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(2)

Janet Yellen visits Ukraine and pledges even more U.S. economic aid

Janet Yellen visits Ukraine and pledges even more U.S. economic aid - NPR

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