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This week, as Russia invades Ukraine, Jonathan speaks to the former US ambassador to Nato, Ivo Daalder. The pair discuss why sanctions imposed on Putin by the west are probably too late for Ukraine

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In a historic week for Ukraine, Europe and the world, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Ivo Daalder, the former US ambassador to Nato, about how Biden is responding, and why – for the Ukrainians – it’s too late

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Key events

Show

4.18pm EST

16:18

Obama condemns Russia’s ‘brutal onslaught’ against Ukraine

1.50pm EST

13:50

‘Putin chose this war,’ Biden says as he announces new sanctions against Russia

1.45pm EST

13:45

Biden delivers national address on Russian invasion of Ukraine

12.45pm EST

12:45

McConnell: withdrawal from Afghanistan was an invitation to autocrats to make a move

12.30pm EST

12:30

Today so far

12.05pm EST

12:05

House intelligence chairman calls for tougher sanctions against Russia

10.07am EST

10:07

Biden to address nation as Russia invades Ukraine

Live feed

Show

Show key events only

4.50pm EST

16:50

Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today to discuss the latest round of US sanctions against Russia in response to the invasion.
“Call with @SecBlinken on ways to stop Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine,” Kuleba said on Twitter.
“Secretary informed me on the new U.S. sanctions on Russia, as well as plans to deliver new defensive weapons to help Ukraine defend itself. Ukraine holds ground. We need the world to help us.”

Dmytro Kuleba
(@DmytroKuleba)
Call with @SecBlinken on ways to stop Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. Secretary informed me on the new U.S. sanctions on Russia, as well as plans to deliver new defensive weapons to help Ukraine defend itself. Ukraine holds ground. We need the world to help us.

February 24, 2022

4.33pm EST

16:33

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, sharply criticized Joe Biden for not issuing direct sanctions on Vladimir Putin in response to his invasion of Ukraine.
“We should not be seeking permission from allies to go after Putin and his cronies. We should move ahead forcefully against Putin, a war criminal, and demand our allies join us,” Graham said.
“When it comes to sanctions against Putin: If we are not doing everything possible, we are not doing enough. Time is not on our side.”
Biden said today that his administration is not eliminating the possibility of issuing direct sanctions against Putin, but he ignored questions about why he was not taking that step now.
Graham also reiterated that he would work with his congressional colleagues in both parties to quickly pass a bill providing emergency supplemental aid to Ukraine in response to the invasion.
“How we deal with Putin determines what happens in other regions like Asia and the Middle East,” Graham said. “We need to get this done in the Senate next week.”

4.18pm EST

16:18

Obama condemns Russia’s ‘brutal onslaught’ against Ukraine

Barack Obama has released a new statement condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing that Vladimir Putin’s military actions represent a threat to democracies around the world.
“Last night, Russia launched a brazen attack on the people of Ukraine, in violation of international law and basic principles of human decency,” the former president said.
“For exercising rights that should be available to all people and nations, Ukrainians now face a brutal onslaught that is killing innocents and displacing untold numbers of men, women and children.”

Barack Obama
(@BarackObama)
Last night, Russia launched a brazen attack on the people of Ukraine, in violation of international law and basic principles of human decency. Here’s my statement on what it means, and what should happen next. pic.twitter.com/Wa0C8XGwvK

February 24, 2022

Obama warned that the invasion of Ukraine “threatens the foundation of the international order and security,” underscoring how the “forces of division and authoritarianism” are mounting an assault on global democratic values.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows where these dangerous trends can lead — and why they cannot be left unchallenged,” Obama said. “People of conscience around the world need to loudly and clearly condemn Russia’s actions and offer support for the Ukrainian people.”
Obama called on “every American, regardless of party” to support Joe Biden’s latest sanctions against Russia, which target some of the country’s largest banks and more elite Russian families.
“There may be some economic consequences to such sanctions, given Russia’s significant role in world energy markets,” Obama acknowledged. “But that’s a price we should be willing to pay to take a stand on the side of freedom.”

3.56pm EST

15:56

House speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded Joe Biden’s latest round of sanctions against Russia in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, expressing support for the Ukrainian people.
“The leadership of President Biden and our allies to demonstrate overwhelming resolve is crucial in this moment of heartbreak and suffering for the Ukrainian people,” Pelosi said in a statement.
“We are united with unprecedented strength and coordination in our commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Pelosi noted that House members received a briefing from the Biden administration on the Ukraine crisis today and will receive a classified, in-person briefing next week.
“President Biden has made clear throughout Russia’s escalation that we will continue to impose costs on Russia that will leave it weakened in every way,” Pelosi said. “The United States Congress joins President Biden and all Americans in praying for the Ukrainian people.”

3.38pm EST

15:38

Adam Schiff, the House intelligence committee chairman, said the US sanctions against Russia need to go even further than those announced by Joe Biden today.
“I think the package of sanctions that the president announced is the most severe we’ve ever levied against Russia and many times more devastating than anything that was implemented after their last invasion in 2014,” Schiff told MSNBC.
“Nevertheless, I favor going further. I favor expelling them from Swift. I favor imposing sanctions directly on Vladimir Putin. This is an unprecedent situation, and even though we don’t generally sanction heads of state, on occasion we do, and I think it’s merited here.”
Biden said during his event this afternoon that direct sanctions on Putin were one possibility the US may explore, but he ignored a question about why he is not authorizing those sanctions now.

Updated
at 3.39pm EST

3.17pm EST

15:17

After his speech on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Joe Biden was asked by a reporter why the US and its allies are not moving to block Russia out of Swift (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication).
“The sanctions that we have proposed on all of their banks are of equal consequence, maybe more consequence, than Swift,” Biden said.
He added, “It is always an option, but right now that’s not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take.”
The West’s refusal to crack down on Russia’s use of Swift has outraged the Ukrainian government. The Guardian’s Daniel Boffey and Jessica Elgot report:

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, voiced his anger as EU heads of state and government appeared likely to decide against blocking Russia from an international payments system through which it receives foreign currency.
With casualties mounting, Kuleba warned that European and US politicians would have ‘blood on their hands’ if they failed to impose the heaviest toll on Moscow by cutting Russia from the so-called Swift payments system.
‘I will not be diplomatic on this,’ he tweeted. ‘Everyone who now doubts whether Russia should be banned from Swift has to understand that the blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children will be on their hands too. BAN RUSSIA FROM SWIFT.’

2.57pm EST

14:57

The US Treasury noted that the latest sanctions against Russia will impact nearly 80% of all banking assets in the country, fundamentally threatening the Russian economy and weakening the Kremlin’s geopolitical posture.
“Treasury is taking serious and unprecedented action to deliver swift and severe consequences to the Kremlin and significantly impair their ability to use the Russian economy and financial system to further their malign activity,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
“Our actions, taken in coordination with partners and allies, will degrade Russia’s ability to project power and threaten the peace and stability of Europe.”
Yellen said the US is also “prepared to impose further costs on Russia in response to its egregious actions” if Vladimir Putin pursues further aggression against Ukraine.
“We are united in our efforts to hold Russia accountable for its further invasion of Ukraine while mitigating impacts to Americans and our partners,” Yellen said.

2.43pm EST

14:43

The White House has released a fact sheet on the latest round of sanctions against Russia in response to Vladimir Putin launching a fuller-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions call for Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, to be severed from the US financial system, restricting the bank’s access to transactions made in the American dollar.
Meanwhile, full sanctions will be imposed on four other financial institutions, including Russia’s second-largest bank of VTB. That measure will freeze any of the banks’ assets touching the US financial system and prohibit Americans from dealing with them.

The White House
(@WhiteHouse)
In response to President Putin’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, the United States, along with Allies and partners, is imposing severe and immediate economic costs on Russia.Read more: https://t.co/L83Q2uFwKx pic.twitter.com/kpxfNmQvxM

February 24, 2022

2.29pm EST

14:29

Joe Biden was asked whether Vladimir Putin’s latest military actions in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions on Russia represent a complete rupture in US-Russian relations.
“There is a complete rupture right now in US-Russian relations if they continue on this path that they’re on,” Biden said.

CSPAN
(@cspan)
President Biden: “There is a complete rupture right now in U.S.-Russian relations…It’s going to be a cold day for Russia.” pic.twitter.com/GbVF9jW81f

February 24, 2022

Addressing the possibility of another Cold War starting, Biden said the vast majority of the world does not support Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“So it’s going to be a cold day for Russia,” Biden said. “You don’t see a whole lot of people coming to his defense.”
After taking several questions from reporters, Biden concluded the event and walked away from his podium in the East Room.

2.23pm EST

14:23

Another reporter pressed Joe Biden on the fact that Vladimir Putin has so far been undeterred by the threat of sanctions, asking what might be effective at stopping the Russian leader.
“No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening. This could take time, and we have to show resolve so he knows what’s coming, and so the people of Russia know what he’s brought on them. That’s what this is all about,” Biden said.
“He’s going to test the resolve of the West to see if we stay together, and we will. We will, and it will impose significant costs on him.”

2.15pm EST

14:15

Joe Biden warned that Vladimir Putin is likely looking far beyond Ukraine as Russia launches a full-scale invasion of its neighboring country.
“He has much larger ambitions than Ukraine. He wants to, in fact, re-establish the former Soviet Union. That’s what this is about,” Biden said.
“And I think that his ambitions are completely contrary to the place where the rest of the world has arrived.”

2.13pm EST

14:13

Joe Biden took several questions from reporters after finishing his prepared remarks on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which included an announcement of additional sanctions on Russia.
Asked whether he intends to speak to Vladimir Putin in the near future, Biden said, “I have no plans to talk with Putin.”

CSPAN
(@cspan)
President Biden: “I have no plans to talk with Putin.” pic.twitter.com/ZicZMrsRyS

February 24, 2022

Another reporter asked Biden whether the US is urging China, which has traditionally aligned itself with Russia, to help the West isolate Putin.
“I’m not prepared to comment on that at the moment,” Biden said.

2.08pm EST

14:08

Joe Biden pledged that Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine would cost Russia “dearly, economically and strategically,” as the US and its allies announce new sanctions against the country.
“Putin will be a pariah on the international stage,” Biden said, warning that any countries affiliating themselves with Russia would be “stained by association”.
“When the history of this era is written, Putin’s choice to make a totally unjustifiable war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger,” Biden said.

2.04pm EST

14:04

Joe Biden emphasized the importance of the US and its allies standing up to Russian aggression, arguing that Vladimir Putin’s military maneuvers in Ukraine threaten freedom everywhere.
“This aggression cannot go unanswered. If it did, the consequences for America would be much worse,” Biden said. “America stands up to bullies. We stand up for freedom. This is who we are.”

CSPAN
(@cspan)
President Biden: “This aggression cannot go unanswered. If it did, the consequences for America would be much worse. America stands up to bullies. We stand up for freedom. This is who we are.” pic.twitter.com/cXTN5Xltah

February 24, 2022 More

Biden imposes new sanctions on Russia: ‘America stands up to bullies’President takes aim at Russia’s largest banks and companies but is emphatic US troops will not engage in conflict in Ukraine Joe Biden on Thursday announced a fresh round of what he said would be crippling sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, declaring that Vladimir Putin “chose this war” and that he and his country will bear the consequences.The sanctions target Russia’s largest banks and companies, cutting them off from western financial markets, while imposing export controls and sanctioning Russian oligarchs and their families.Sanctions against Russia – at a glanceRead more“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war,” the US president said. “And now he and his country will bear the consequences.”Taken together, Biden said the measures taken by the US and allied nations around the world were meant to “maximize a long-term impact” on Russia, extracting severe costs on Moscow immediately and over time for what Biden called its “brutal assault” on a sovereign nation.Biden warned that Putin’s “quest for empire” extended beyond Ukraine, saying the Russian leader sought to re-create the former Soviet Union.But the president was emphatic in his vow that US troops would not engage Russia in Ukraine, but he again affirmed the US would defend “every inch of Nato territory”. The commitment was underscored by an announcement that Biden had authorized the deployment of additional US troops to Germany.As Biden addressed the nation from the East Room of the White House, the Ukrainian government reported mounting casualties as Russian troops unleashed a punishing offensive on the nation, advancing on the nation’s capital, Kyiv.01:21Biden’s remarks came hours after he held a virtual meeting with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Italy and Japan. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, European Council president Charles Michel, and Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg were also in attendance. Earlier on Thursday, he convened a meeting of the US national security council.The penalties come a day after the White House unveiled an initial “tranche” of sanctions in response to Putin’s recognition of two breakaway republics in east Ukraine. The sanctions announced on Thursday aim to further destabalize Russia’s financial system while starving the county of technology critical to its economy and military.The US Treasury said the latest round of sanctions against Russia would impact nearly 80% of all banking assets in the country, fundamentally threatening the Russian economy and weakening the Kremlin’s geopolitical posture.“Treasury is taking serious and unprecedented action to deliver swift and severe consequences to the Kremlin and significantly impair their ability to use the Russian economy and financial system to further their malign activity,” said Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary.Biden said the purpose of the sanctions was to limit “Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen to be part of the global economy”.But they are not as forceful as some elected officials in the US and Ukraine have called for, steps that would include removing Russia from the Swift international banking system and targeting Russia’s energy sector or leveling sanctions against Putin personally.“We demand the disconnection of Russia from Swift, the introduction of a no-fly zone over Ukraine and other effective steps to stop the aggressor,” the Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a tweet.What is Swift and what would shutting Russia out of it achieve?Read moreOn Thursday, congressman Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, called on the US to “dramatically escalate” its response to Moscow and endorsed calls to remove Russia from the international banking system and its ability to access western capital.Biden argued that time was needed to the current round of sanctions to take their desired effect, and said the US was “prepared” to impose more severe penalties on Russia.The president defended his administration’s response. For several weeks, the US has declassified and made public Putin’s secret plans, while moving quickly to blame Russia for a series of cyber-attacks against Ukrainian banks and agencies. The purpose of the approach was to expose the Kremlin’s justification for war as baseless, he said.“Now, it’s unfolding largely as we predicted,” the president said.Asked by reporters whether he was consulting China to isolate Russia, Biden would not comment. He also said he was working to persuade India to join the western-led push against Russia.Biden said he had no plans to talk to Putin.The US president also urged resolve among the American people, who he said would likely face economic consequences as a result of what Biden called Putin’s “naked aggression”. The US has also warned government agencies and operators of critical infrastructure to take pre-emptive actions to safeguard against a potential Russian cyber-attack.In a stark contrast to Donald Trump, who has repeatedly assailed Biden while badly mangling the facts surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Barack Obama called on “every American, regardless of party” to support the president’s efforts to punish the Kremlin.Echoing Biden, Obama acknowledged that there would likely be economic consequences for Americans, but that it was a “price we should be willing to pay to take a stand on the side of freedom.”As Biden has warned throughout his presidency, he said democracies around the world were being tested and threatened by Putin’s “sinister vision for the future of our world”. He said there was never a question that the US would respond to Russia’s assault on Ukraine.“This aggression cannot go unanswered,” Biden said. “America stands up to bullies. We stand up for freedom. This is who we are.”TopicsJoe BidenUS politicsVladimir PutinRussiaUkraineForeign policynewsReuse this content More

New evidence undermines case against Black US woman jailed for voting errorExclusive: Prosecutors argued Pamela Moses ‘tricked the probation department’ into giving her documents – but a new email adds to evidence undercutting that claim Hello Fight to vote Readers,I have an update in my reporting on the case of Pamela Moses, the 44-year-old Black Lives Matter Activist in Memphis who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote. The case has attracted significant national attention because many see Moses’ sentence as too severe and a clear example of disparities in the US criminal justice system.Get the latest updates on voting rights in the Guardian’s Fight to vote newsletterThe prosecution’s case is built around the argument that Moses knew she was ineligible to vote because she was on probation, and people on felony probation in Tennessee cannot vote. Indeed, a few months before she tried to register, a judge had issued an order telling Moses her probation was ongoing. But nevertheless, prosecutors argued, she convinced a probation officer into signing a form saying she was eligible to vote and then knowingly submitted the document knowing it was false. “You tricked the probation department into giving you documents saying you were off probation,” W Mark Ward, the judge who sentenced Moses, said in January.Moses, for her part, told me she did not know she was ineligible and her lawyers have said she went to the probation office genuinely seeking clarity about whether she could vote. A new email I obtained through a public records request adds to evidence undercutting the claim that Moses tricked the officer.In September 2019, just two days after a probation officer mistakenly signed a certificate telling Moses her probation was complete, officials at the Tennessee department of corrections investigated how exactly their employee made the error. Their investigation didn’t find that Moses had deceived a probation officer, but rather that the officer had made a good-faith mistake.The review found that the probation officer – referred to as Manager Billington – spent about an hour investigating whether Moses was still on probation. Billington came across a note in Moses’ file noting that in 2016, she had been placed on supervised probation for two years. Even though the system said that Moses remained on unsupervised probation, Billington thought this was a mistake. The person who handled the file, he believed, forgot to close out the case when the supervised probation ran out. That’s why he ultimately signed Moses’ voting certificate saying her probation had expired in 2018 and she was eligible to vote.“Manager Billington advised that he thought he did due diligence in making his decision,” Joe Williams, an administrator in the department of corrections, wrote to Lisa Helton, a top department official. “Manager Billington failed to adequately investigate the status of this case. He failed to review all of the official documents available through the Shelby county justice portal and negligently relied on a contact note from a court specialist in 2016.”Williams went on to note that if Billington had looked harder, he would have found additional documents, issued in 2019, that said Moses was on probation. Williams conceded that it was “tedious” to find some of that information. “The information that Manager Billington had at the time he signed the Voters Restoration was insufficient to reasonably affirm that an offender was off supervision.”Thanks to new congressional maps, most Americans’ votes won’t matterRead moreThe email says that Moses waited in the lobby of the probation office and seemed impatient while Billington investigated. It does not suggest that Moses bore responsibility for the mistake.“They acknowledged that the mistake was theirs in this letter,” said Blair Bowie, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center, who is providing information to Moses’ defense on voting rights restoration issues. “This really runs contrary to the prosecution’s characterization of the incident as Ms Moses tricking the probation officer.”Claiborne Ferguson, the attorney who represented Moses during her trial, said he had not seen the email before I showed it to him Wednesday morning. He said it was consistent with Billington’s testimony during Moses’ trial in which he accepted responsibility for the error.Amy Weirich, the district attorney prosecuting the case, declined an interview request. “I gave her a chance to plead to a misdemeanor with no prison time. She requested a jury trial instead. She set this unfortunate result in motion and a jury of her peers heard the evidence and convicted her,” she said in a statement.Any acknowledgment of an error from the probation department is potentially significant because it challenges the argument that Moses knowingly voted illegally, experts said. “Mistake of fact is never a defense. But one of the major exceptions is if you’re relying on someone who is officially responsible for telling you whether you’re breaking the law or not then you’re not guilty of a crime,” Bennett Capers, a former federal prosecutor who is now a law professor at Fordham University, told me.When he sentenced Moses, Ward dismissed the idea that an error by the probation department meant Moses wasn’t guilty of a crime. Such an argument, he said, is like saying “a person who obtains money from a bank by posing as another person is not criminally responsible because the bank should have discovered the fraud and not given the money to the thief.”Steven Mulroy, a law professor at the University of Memphis who specializes in criminal and election law, told me he didn’t think that analogy was appropriate.“She was honest about who she was, and she knew that probation would check her records,” said Mulroy, who is also running for district attorney. “A better analogy would be the central bank branch said she had insufficient funds for a check; she doubted it and thought it might be a mistake. She went to her actual bank branch, who checked their records, said she had sufficient funds, and issued her a money order which she then tried to cash.”After reviewing the email, I asked the department of corrections whether it believed Moses had deceived its employee. An agency spokesperson didn’t answer directly.“I can only say that the officer did not conduct a complete review and should not have signed the form, said Dorinda Carter, a department spokesperson. “Corrective action was taken against the officer who mistakenly completed the form.”Bowie said the case spoke to wider problems with the confusing process people with felonies have to go through to get their voting rights restored.“The cost of those mistakes is always paid by the person trying to restore their voting rights,” she said.Brandon Dill contributed reporting from MemphisAlso worth watching …
A North Carolina court approved new state legislative maps, as well as a new congressional map for 2022, after the state supreme court struck down GOP-authored plans because they were too gerrymandered.
The Pennsylvania supreme court also adopted a new congressional plan.
The Texas lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, caused delays in the processing of absentee ballot requests by telling supporters to send their requests to the state, not local election officials.
TopicsUS voting rightsFight to voteMemphisUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

Why Indigenous voters who helped elect Kyrsten Sinema feel betrayed The Arizona Democrat supports a filibuster that could kill legislation to counter assaults on voting rightsIndigenous leaders who mobilized Arizona voters to help elect Senator Kyrsten Sinema say the centrist Democratic lawmaker can no longer count on their support, as communities feel betrayed.Sinema was elected in 2018, halfway through Trump’s term, amid growing alarm at the rollback of voting rights and environmental protections that disproportionately affect tribal communities. Sinema entered the Senate after six years in Congress, having beaten her Republican opponent with 50% of the vote, thanks in part to the large turnout among Indigenous Americans in Arizona.Private equity’s dirty dozen: the 12 US firms funding dirty energy projectsRead moreTwo years later, another record turnout among the state’s 22 tribes was crucial in flipping Arizona from red to blue and securing Biden’s path to the White House.But Sinema’s record as a senator is under mounting scrutiny after she and West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin sided with Republicans to keep the Senate filibuster rule in place, effectively killing legislation designed to counter an onslaught of voting rights restrictions in states across the country.The sweeping voting rights reforms include the Native American Voting Rights Act (Navra) , which would allow tribes to determine the number and location of voter registration sites, polling places and ballot drop boxes on their reservations.Navra is widely supported by tribal nations, but if the filibuster remains intact Democrats need 10 Republicans to vote in favor of the bill.Sinema supports the voting rights legislation, but it has no chance of passing unless the filibuster – the Senate tradition designed to allow the minority party to prolong debate and delay or prevent a vote – is removed.Jonathan Nez, president of the Navajo nation, the largest tribe in the US, told the Guardian: “We’re disappointed in the senator. She’s on the national stage due to the Native American vote and large turnout among Navajo people. If she doesn’t deliver on what’s important to us, I’m sure there’s another candidate who will.”Nez added: “There is much frustration among voters, the Native American voting rights act is very important to us given the way the state of Arizona has been chipping away at our voting rights.”Nationally, there are 574 federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaska Native Villages, accounting for about 1.5% (4.5m) of the total population.This includes 22 tribes in Arizona, including the Tohono O’odham nation, the Hopi tribe, three Apache tribes and the Navajo nation, whose territory extends into Utah and New Mexico. Just over 27% of Arizona is governed by tribal sovereignty.The political culture varies from tribe to tribe – and some in Arizona have publicly voiced support for Sinema – but those in Indigenous communities are less likely to be registered to vote than other groups due to a number of historical barriers. Indigenous Americans did not have the right to vote until 1948. Longstanding structural obstacles, including poor roads, scarce public transit options and limited postal and translation services, have restricted their participation in elections.In recent years, Arizona and several other states have passed laws and regulations that make voting even harder for Indigenous Americans – and other underserved communities who tend to vote Democrat. This includes restrictions on early-voter locations, mail-in ballots and ballot collection drives, which legal experts say disproportionately affect ruralIndigenous voters.The US Senate has also thwarted two bills Republicans had previously blocked four times with a filibuster – the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.Navra, which does have some bipartisan support, would ban states from closing or merging polling sites on reservations without tribal consent, and would require states with voter identification laws to accept tribal ID.Sinema’s support of the filibuster has undermined a mammoth effort by grassroots activists to mobilize Indigenous voters, according to Tara Benally, field director of the Rural Utah Project, a nonprofit that mobilizes underrepresented voters in rural Arizona and Utah.Benally said: “Our community outreach workers spent hours upon hours registering and gaining the trust of voters in the run up to the 2018 and 2020 elections after decades of being pushed aside at the local, state and federal level.“Senator Sinema has completely undermined what we did and betrayed her voters. I highly doubt people will vote for her again unless by some miracle she changes her values and stops working against those who elected her.”About 10,000 new Indigenous voters were registeredin Arizona ahead of the last presidential election – which Biden won by just over 10,000 votes. In 2020, voter turnout on the reservations ranged from 41 to 71% compared to 29 to 57% in 2016.Torey Dolan, an Indigenous fellow at the Indian Law Clinic at Arizona State University, said: “Sinema got the lion’s share of the votes on the reservations; they played a significant role in getting her and Biden elected. Her opposition to removing the filibuster means a death knell for Navra, and that has left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths here.”She added: “[Going forward] it will be hard to encourage people to register when they don’t see their votes fulfilling the hopes and promises placed on them.”Sinema voted with Donald Trump 63% of the time as a member of the House (2016 to 2018) and 26% of the time as a senator (2019 to 2021), according to FiveThirtyEight. Voting for the filibuster was the first time she voted against her party since Biden took office.In addition to voting rights, Biden’s $1.75tn sweeping economic recovery and social welfare spending initiative is also in serious trouble.The Build Back Better (BBB) bill includes funding for affordable housing, healthcare, nutrition, education grants and child support – basic services which are disproportionately lacking in tribal communities due to the US government’s failure to comply with treaty obligations. Unlike towns and cities, tribes cannot raise money through property taxes as reservation lands are held in trust by the federal government.The BBB also includes $550bn to tackle greenhouse emissions, the country’s largest ever climate crisis investment. It builds on other major infrastructure investments, such as the American Rescue Plan, that have benefited tribal communities.Unlike Manchin, who outright opposes the bill, Sinema has signaled support for the White House’s BBB framework but has not committed to voting for it in its current form.Hannah Hurley, Sinema’s spokesperson, said: “Kyrsten remains laser-focused on delivering lasting solutions for tribal communities across Arizona, and thanks to strong partnerships with tribal leaders she’s delivered historic investments improving tribal roads and bridges, ensuring cleaner water, deploying broadband, helping tribes tackle climate change challenges, and strengthening health care resources. She will continue to work with tribal communities in Arizona expanding economic opportunities and ensuring the federal government honors its obligations.”But Eric Descheenie, former Arizona state house representative for the district which includes the Navajo nation, said Sinema faces a major trust issue.“The climate change agenda needs help from senators like Kyrsten Sinema, who represents some of the most influential tribes in the land, and needs to do a better job heeding the wisdom of our people … The problem is, no progressive can trust her,” Descheenie said.TopicsUS politicsIndigenous peoplesNative AmericansArizonaDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

Belief in QAnon has strengthened in US since Trump was voted out, study findsSurveys by the Public Religion Research Institute reveal QAnon believers increased to 17% in September from 14% in March The QAnon conspiracy myth movement continues to thrive in the US and has even strengthened more than a year after Donald Trump left the White House, according to the largest ever study of its followers.Some 22% of Americans believe that a “storm” is coming, 18% think violence might be necessary to save the country and 16% hold that the government, media and financial worlds are controlled by Satan-worshipping pedophiles, according to four surveys carried out last year by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) think tank.‘We have a project’: QAnon followers eye swing state election official racesRead moreEach of these baseless and bizarre views is a core tenet of QAnon, an antisemitic internet conspiracy theory which held that Trump was waging a secret battle against a cabal of pedophiles and its “deep state” collaborators – a “storm” that would sweep them out of power.Yet despite his election defeat by Joe Biden, major social media platforms banning QAnon activity and the disappearance of its leader, “Q”, the movement has not gone away. If anything, it has strengthened.“The share of QAnon believers has increased slightly through 2021,” the report by the PRRI states. “In March, 14% of Americans were QAnon believers, compared to 16% in July, 17% in September, and 17% in October.“The share of QAnon doubters has remained relatively steady (46% in March, 49% in July, 48% in September, and 49% in October), while the share of QAnon rejecters has decreased slightly from 40% in March to 35% in July, 35% in September, and 34% in October.”These findings are based on 19,399 respondents from four surveys designed and conducted by the PRRI during 2021, using random samples of adults in all 50 states.Natalie Jackson, research lead, said: “People who are susceptible to believing in these conspiracy theories are found in every demographic. It’s not just restricted to Republicans or the uneducated or those who are in a specific age group. It’s distributed throughout.“Of course, there are some groups that are more prevalent than others, like there are many more Republicans than Democrats, but we do find that people in every demographic find these wild conspiracies believable.”Among the discernible patterns, about one in five QAnon believers identify as white evangelical Protestants, and QAnon believers are significantly less likely than all Americans to have college degrees.Media consumption is the strongest independent predictor of being a QAnon believer. Americans who most trust rightwing news outlets such as the One America News Network and Newsmax are nearly five times more likely than those who most trust mainstream news to be QAnon believers. Those who most trust Fox News are about twice as likely as those who trust mainstream news to be QAnon believers.They generally have positive views of the Republican party and negative views of Democrats, with 68% agreeing in the October survey that “the Democratic Party has been taken over by socialists”.Some 26% of QAnon believers have a favorable view of Biden while 69% have unfavorable views of him. About 63% have a favorable opinion of Trump but 31% have an unfavorable view of the former president who once claimed that QAnon followers “love our country” and “like me very much”.Seven in 10 QAnon believers agree with the false statement that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, including just under half who completely agree. These individuals are also most likely to blame leftwing groups such as antifa for the US Capitol insurrection on 6 January 2021 (there is no organized antifa organization).What is antifa and why is Donald Trump targeting it?Read moreJackson said: “These are people who believe that their culture is under attack, their way of life is under attack, so a lot of them do align with the Trump philosophies. According to those theories, Trump was supposed to be their leader.“One of the things that’s somewhat impressive is even with Trump out of power, and the fact that January 6 was not ‘the storm’ that they thought it might be, these beliefs have persisted.”Around eight in 10 QAnon believers agree with the statement that America is in danger of losing its culture and identity. More than seven in 10 say the values of Islam are at odds with American values and way of life, or that the American way of life needs to be protected from foreign influence.And 32% of QAnon believers agree with the statement that “the idea of America where most people are not white bothers me”.In late 2021, about one in 10 Americans (9%) agreed it might be necessary to commit an act of violence to save the country. QAnon believers (17%) and QAnon doubters (11%) were more likely than QAnon rejecters (4%) to share this view.TopicsQAnonDonald TrumpRepublicansUS politicsThe far rightnewsReuse this content More