What A Day - Kyiv Your Friends Close And Your Enemies Closer

Episode Date: February 16, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the military has ordered some Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine to return to their bases, signaling the potential for a further de-escalation. However, President Joe Biden later said that “an invasion remains distinctly possible,” and that the U.S. had not yet verified if Russian troops are actually falling back. Matthew Chance, CNN’s Senior International Correspondent, joins us from Kyiv to discuss what things look like on the ground. And in headlines: Remington Arms has settled with families whose loved ones were killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, American scientists say they have cured a woman of H.I.V., and a federal report predicts that sea levels along our nation’s coasts could rise one foot in just three decades because of climate change.Show Notes:CNN’s Matthew Chance – https://twitter.com/mchancecnnFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whatadayFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Wednesday, February 16th. I'm Gideon Resnick. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And this is What A Day, reminding everyone that the movie Mad Max Fury Road began with a bunch of truckers protesting vaccine mandates. Right. Or at least that's one interpretation. It is pretty hard to make out what they're saying in a lot of that movie.

Look, the point is, we need to send Tom Hardy to Canada right now. On today's show, the gun company Remington has settled with the families of Sandy Hook victims. Plus, a new climate report says that ocean levels around our nation's coast could rise one foot in just three decades because of climate change. But first, we bring you more on the standoff around Ukraine. Yesterday featured a series of encouraging signs in the ongoing tensions. First, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the military has ordered some Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine to return to their bases, signaling the potential for a further de-escalation, possibly, maybe.

He also said, after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that, quote, we are also ready to continue on the negotiating track, even as his demands about Ukraine never joining NATO and a rollback of NATO presence in Eastern Europe remained firm. Yeah. However, later in an address from the White House, President Biden said that the U.S. had not yet verified if Russian troops are returning to their bases yet. Though he said that, quote, an invasion remains distinctly possible, he too sounded hopeful about reaching a diplomatic resolution. Here he is. We should give the diplomacy every chance to succeed. And I believe there are real ways to address our respective security concerns. The United States

has put on the table concrete ideas to establish a security environment in Europe. We're proposing new arms control measures, new transparency measures, new strategic stability measures. These measures would apply to all parties, NATO and Russia alike. We're willing to make practical result-oriented steps that can advance our common security. So that's a quick look at where things stand as we go to record at 9.30 Eastern. But for more on-the-ground insight, we spoke with Matthew Chance, CNN's senior international correspondent who is currently reporting out of Kiev. We talked yesterday around 10 p.m. Ukraine time. We started by asking if we can be hopeful that Russia's troop pullback is a turning point.

Yeah, I mean, you're right. Let's hope it is a turning point, because if there is a full scale, you know, that was a nervous laugh there. It is going to be a bloodbath, make no mistake. It's going to be terrible and it will be awful for the people of Ukraine. And Russian soldiers are going to get severely bloodied as well. But you're right. In the first time in weeks, actually, there was that little glimmer of hope. The Russians announced that troops were going to be moving away from the borders of Ukraine. And so that was a really hopeful sign. They didn't say how many were going to be returning to their permanent bases. And we know there are nearly 130,000, according to the best

estimates. And it's certainly not a big proportion of them as far as we can make out. And in addition to that, there were some other sort of quite hopeful messages coming out of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, basically saying that negotiations and diplomacy is the way forward at the moment. But at the same time, you know, they pressed ahead with these major military exercises elsewhere. There were live rocket firing exercises. You know, look, we're in a situation now that the threat to Ukraine is very much still

present. If this does turn into a broader de-escalation, how would we know? What are we going to be looking for next to determine that the threat is dissipating? It's a good question. And actually, we kind of have a blueprint for it, perhaps, because last year in April, there was a very similar escalation, you know, on the borders of Ukraine with thousands of troops gathered there. There were these big military drills and everyone thought back then, gosh, Russians are really serious about this, they're going to go in. There was a sort of meeting call between President Biden and President Putin, and that seemed to ease the tensions and everyone thought Russia is back at the negotiating table. That's probably what they wanted. And so the way that ended was Russia

started to do what it's doing now. It started to pull back thousands of its troops from those border regions. It kept a lot in place, but it started that process of just signaling that it wasn't going to be going in the direction of Ukraine. They still left a lot of forces there, but it was just the direction of travel was enough at that time to make Ukraine feel and make the US feel that things weren't going to go very badly. I think probably going to have to do a lot more this time because the tensions are so much higher that it's going to take quite a lot, I think, for the Russians to convince the Americans, the US and the Ukrainians and others in the West that they're not bent on staging a violent attack on Ukraine. Can you walk us through where diplomatic talks currently stand?

Yeah, I mean, this was the result of Russia's years of, you know, festering resentment at being sidelined in international diplomacy, and its allies being, in its view, toppled by the American back West and NATO expanding. And in some ways, this is Putin drawing a line in the sand saying, now the time has come for the world to stop ignoring what Russia says it wants. What Russia says it wants is an end to NATO expansion. What Russia says it wants is for specifically Ukraine, never, ever, and that's their words, never, ever to join the Western Military Alliance. It's very, very hard, if not impossible. And definitely that's good perspective in terms of thinking about where this is going. But have there been any kind of even small substantive

breakthroughs in the kind of direct conversations that people like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz or even President Biden have been having in speaking directly with Putin? I think there have been, but not on those core issues. You know, I think what's quite interesting about this whole process is that almost immediately when Putin sort of said, look, this is what I want. And if not, then, you know, I mean, he didn't say this, but then, you know, he put these troops on the border and sort of de facto threatened, you know, the sovereignty of Ukraine. He was offered a whole range of compromises. They did quite a lot, I think, around the edges of Ukraine, he was offered a whole range of compromises. They did quite a lot, I think, around the edges of the negotiations to say, look, we can't give you those core things that you want,

but we can give you a load of other stuff. And I personally thought that was going to be enough for Putin, and it still might be. But secretly I thought, well, not secretly, I said this on television, that one of the objectives of Russia may be to shake the diplomatic tree and see what compromises fell out and then pick them up and say, look, look what we've got. And, you know, I spent years talking about how one of Russia's under Putin, one of its main foreign policy objectives is to be taken seriously as a power, as a superpower they want to be seen as again, you know, to get a seat at the top table diplomatically. You know, so from that perspective, they've already achieved that. Putin's already won that one. He's got everybody, there's an endless line of foreign leaders and foreign ministers knocking at his door, eager to make nice with him and to talk to him. And that's important for him,

remember, because it comes after several years of him being quite isolated, you know, through sanctions because of various Russian malign activity around the world. And so I think he's probably enjoying the attention. Right. What awareness do people have on the ground of what Ukrainian and US leaders are saying? So do they actually believe it when US officials keep saying that an attack is imminent at this point? I mean, most people, I think, here take their cues from the country's leadership. And I think this message of be calm, don't panic. We've been facing this Russian threat for eight years, which is the message of the Ukrainian government. You know, I mean, people like that. And they like to think that they can cope with anything the Russians can throw at them. I'm not sure they're

entirely correct in that assessment, because I'm not sure if Russia does decide to pull the trigger on a full-scale military invasion of the country. I think it's going to look very different to the sort of military action that the Ukrainians have so far experienced, which has been Russia sort of fighting through a proxy rebel army. If the Russian military in its sort of fullness and greatness decides to invade Ukraine, that's going to be a very different dynamic, very bloody and painful and short, I expect, military intervention. I do understand why the Ukrainian government are persisting in this idea. And I think it's because on the one hand, they genuinely don't want people to panic. It's causing massive economic problems. And I think the third thing as well, which I sort of get from them privately, is that

if you keep saying the Russians are about to attack, the Russians are going to attack, the Russians are going to attack. I think there's a bit of concern that it might actually force the Russians into a corner and they might actually have to attack. Right. Right. Can you talk a little bit about what is actually happening on the ground where you are? Are there actual, any visual hallmarks of something potentially impending? What does sort of day-to-day life look like for you and other people in Kiev? In Kiev, no, not a lot has changed. And so you wouldn't see the kind of preparations or the kind of trenches or the kind of defenses that you'd see up there. I stayed back here in the capital

along with my colleague, Clarissa Ward, because there is talk, there's concern that Kiev may be one of the main targets of a Russian attack. And so, I mean, if that happens, obviously that would be incredibly significant and awful and devastating. But in terms of ordinary life for people, you know, a couple of days ago, it was Valentine's Day, of course. And everybody, apart from every journalist on this story was with their loved ones. But I was doing some live shots out of the hotel here in central Kiev, where we live in, and there was a massive Valentine's party. And there's all these young couples there with these big balloons. I mean, they go big on Valentine's Day here, I'd say.

And it was interesting that nobody was paying any attention to the possibility that there could be, you know, an imminent crisis about to crash down. I think probably if you scratch the surface on that, though, people aren't stupid, you know, people hopeful that nothing will happen, but are aware that if it does, it could be, you know, pretty disastrous. What has all of this been like for you? So what has surprised you the most about how the situation is progressing? And what has your experience been personally? That's a good question. I guess if I'm absolutely honest, I'm still in sort of semi-shock. I'm

astonished that we're in a situation where a country as big and as sort of European is sort of facing this threat from an equally modern and European civilized place like Russia. And I live in Moscow, right? And I've lived there for years. And I know that there's very little appetite in that country amongst people there for an aggressive bloody war with Ukraine. Yeah, there's a certain amount of animosity towards the pro-Western leadership here, but that doesn't translate to support for an appalling,

massive military intervention. The problem with predicting what Putin's going to do or what Russia's going to do is that, you know, it's all in the sort of at the whim of one man, you know, in the 59th minute

of the 11th hour. Putin can decide to pull the trigger or not pull the trigger. Right. Well, Matthew, we want to thank you so much again for taking all of your generous time, especially during this moment.

And, you know, stay safe throughout the course of your reporting there. Thank you. I will definitely try to do that. We'll keep you updated as things change in the days ahead. But that's the latest for now. It's Wednesday, Watt Squad, and for today's Temp Check, we are discussing the patron saint of destroying your life because of one dumb belief, Novak Djokovic. The tennis star and would-be competitor in last month's Australian Open,

if it weren't for your meddling vaccine requirements, gave an interview with the BBC yesterday where he stood by his decision to disqualify himself from past and future Grand Slam tournaments by not getting vaccinated against coronavirus. Here is a clip. And I understand that not being vaccinated today, I, you know, I'm unable to travel to most of the tournaments at the moment. And that's a price you're willing to pay. That is the price that I'm willing to pay. Ultimately, are you prepared to forego the chance to be the greatest player that ever picked up a racket, statistically, because you feel so strongly about this jab?

Yes. I do. I mean, at least he's man enough to say that. Just put the idiocy out there. Djokovic's absence from the Australian Open allowed Rafael Nadal to pass him in total Grand Slam titles, one with 21 titles. poses getting the vaccine because as a professional athlete, he carefully reviews anything that he ingests and his standards and methods are apparently more rigorous than those of the greater scientific community. So Josie, what do you make of this story?

I just can't get over it. There are 7 billion people in the world. He is quite possibly one of the best in the world at something. And he's giving it up for a belief that isn't even really a belief. This isn't a belief. No. I'm sorry. Yeah.

I had the same thought process of like, I don't want to be a high horse guy, but there are like lots of people who would kill to have one one hundredth of this man's athletic ability, the resources that he has, the chance at being etched in infamy. I mean, he's already etched in infamy, or I mean, he's already etched in infamy, in legacy as like one of the greatest athletes to ever do anything ever. Right. And this is your reason?

Yeah, like it's... Like, there are totally beliefs where I'm like, okay, you give it up for like gender equality or racial equality or class equality or world hunger. Like, there are totally beliefs. I'm like, this isn't the most important thing in the world, but it actually is more important than like not getting a vaccine that you'll be fine taking.

Cause look, everybody else took it and they're fine. The guy, by the way, who just won the last thing that your dumb ass didn't go to, had the fucking vaccine in him and he was playing pretty well. Right? Like he played pretty well. Totally. Like it feels like it would be different if it were like week two of the fucking vaccinated him and he was playing pretty well right like right he played pretty well totally like it feels like it would be different if it were like week two of the vaccine and he was like

my body's a temple and i don't know what it's gonna do yet or like if all like vaccinated tennis players were like losing in the first round or something or being like wow my legs are broken the second i'm stepping onto the court uh then I would be like, oh, Novak, interesting points are being made. Right. My guy, the guy who passed you had COVID and has been vaccinated before. Right. And he seems to be doing great. Right.

Anyway, I'm done. Just like that, we've checked our temps. They are now hot because this man drives me insane. And we'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. After an eight-year-long legal battle, gun manufacturing company Remington Arms has settled with nine families whose loved ones were killed

in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. That massacre left 28 people dead, including 20 young children. The company agreed to pay the families in the lawsuit $73 million. And these families argued that the way Remington markets its military-grade weapons to civilians, particularly the AR-15-style rifle that the Sandy Hook gunman used, led to the wrongful deaths of their relatives. Tuesday's settlement marks the first time a gun manufacturer has been held accountable for a mass shooting in the U.S., and legal experts say it could set a precedent for similar cases in the future. Joshua Koskoff, an attorney for the families, had this to say about the settlement. These families, they would pay everything. They'd give it all back just for one

minute. That would be true justice. That's devastating. My God. The disgraced Duke of York, Prince Andrew, announced that he has agreed to settle the lawsuit brought against him by Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of raping her. Giuffre filed the lawsuit last year, saying Andrew sexually abused her when she was trafficked to him by Jeffrey Epstein as a teenager. The accusations, paired with Andrew's ties to Epstein, have disgraced the royal family in recent months, resulting in him being stripped of all his military honors and titles. The amount Andrew will pay Giuffre was not made public, but a joint statement attached to the filing said that Andrew also, quote, intends to make a substantial donation to a charity that supports victims of sexual abuse.

This comes just one month after Andrew's failed attempt to get Giuffre's lawsuit dismissed and just weeks before Giuffre's lawyers were scheduled to question him. As we're recording this, Buckingham Palace has not formally commented on the settlement, but told the New York Times that the matter was between Andrew and his lawyers. There was a major breakthrough in the quest to treat the nearly 38 million people in the world living with HIV. Yesterday, American scientists announced that they were able to use blood from an umbilical cord donor and cure HIV in an unidentified New York woman who also had leukemia. That blood, along with blood from a close relative, allowed doctors to completely rebuild her immune system. Wow.

She was treated in 2017, and after she stopped her antiretroviral therapy just over a year ago, showed no signs of HIV in her blood. Only two other people have been cured of HIV, and they were both men treated using bone marrow transplants. But researchers pointed out several advantages to using umbilical cord blood instead. First, the New York woman only needed a partial blood match. She's mixed race, and most donors in registries are of Caucasian origin. Plus, she experienced fewer complications afterwards, as opposed to the others who suffered punishing side effects when the donor cells attacked their bodies. Crazy.

Very crazy. And great news. Oh, yeah. Some actually good news. While our leaders stay occupied with Russia, a more fearsome enemy is readying an attack on our shores. Her name is the Big Blue Ocean. Federal climate scientists released a report yesterday predicting that sea levels on our shores. Her name is the big blue ocean. Federal climate scientists released a report yesterday predicting that sea levels on our nation's coast will be about one foot higher by 2050, which would make the sea level rise over the next 30 years equal to the rise over the past 100

years. Lord. Crazy. According to the scientists who represent the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, this will happen whether or not we reduce our emissions. So Biden can rest easy knowing that his check for clean energy is in the mail policy towards the environment is not a major contributing factor. The impacts of this rise will be vast, though. According to NOAA, flooding will occur 10 times more often by 2050 than it does today, and floods will become more damaging. Looking ahead another 50 years to 2100, at which point many of us will have uploaded our consciousness to the cloud. Noah says that in a worst case scenario, sea levels at our coasts could rise by a total of seven feet. Seven feet. That is an unbelievable amount of feet.

Every single climate change update over the course of our lives has just been, it's happening faster and worse. There's never any like, oh, actually, we discovered we have a lot of time. 100%. Honestly, by the time we get to 2050, seven feet will be a joke. Yeah. We'll all be dead. Well, with that, go on with your mornings.

And those are the headlines. One more thing before we go this week on Take Line. Jason and Renee recap the Super Bowl with ESPN Daily host Pablo Torre and NFL reporter with The Athletic Arif Hassan and discuss the housing issues involved with hosting the game in L.A. You can listen to new episodes of Take Line every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. That is all for today.

If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, re-watch Mad Max Fury Road and remind us what it's about and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the terms

of use agreement for uploading oneself into the cloud, like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe.

I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Gideon Resnick. And it's okay to change your mind, Novak Djokovic. Yeah. I've changed my mind about so many things. Same.

Asparagus. Didn't used to like it. Now it's great. Yeah. That's an interesting turn. I respect that. You know? I had that path

with Brussels sprouts, personally. Yeah, Brussels sprouts. You grew up. They're kind of good. What we're saying, Novak, is your mind may change about vegetables, if not vaccines. Right.

What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance, Jazzy Marine, and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producers are Leo Duran and me, Gideon Resnick. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.