'The trigger can appear any minute'
| History is being made  Washington is on double alert.
A couple of weeks ago, the Biden administration stopped using the word "imminent" to describe the time frame of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. After all, such a descriptor has an obvious sell-by date. But ominously both "i" words — "invasion" and "imminent" — are back in US official messaging. The US warned the Ukrainians that a full-scale Russian assault, reaching far beyond the two separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent, could happen at any time, CNN reported Wednesday.
The gravity of this moment in history is encapsulated by experts who are calling such a scenario the largest mass military mobilization in Europe since World War II. There are already reports that Russian troops are moving into eastern Ukraine and others are going to their highest state of alert. This is also increasingly a crisis with no diplomatic off-ramp — the long-shot idea of a summit between President Joe Biden and Putin died almost as soon as it stirred earlier this week. Any diplomacy that is taking place is among US allies, coordinating ways to punish Russia. With all this in mind, Washington is in a state of suspended animation, as the notion of a Russian invasion seems to be moving from possible to probable.
Presidents don't get to concentrate on one big thing at a time. Former President Barack Obama used to say that the only problems that reached his desk were the ones everyone else had tried or failed to solve. And as he handles a showdown with Russia that will change the world for years to come, Biden is wrestling with a domestic choice that will influence US society for at least as long. The US capital expects that any day now, Biden will complete a piece of his legacy by naming his first nominee to the US Supreme Court. The pick won't do anything to water down the conservative majority on the top bench, which is poised to deliver a generation of right-wing jurisprudence threatening abortion rights, gun control laws and regulatory barriers for big business. But, as CNN's Kate Sullivan reports below, Biden is certain to make some long-overdue history.
Given the magnitude of these stories, you might think that no one else would be able to force themself into the news. But cometh the hour, cometh Donald Trump. With the world aghast at Putin's slicing off of two more chunks of independent, sovereign Ukraine, the former President chose this moment to praise the Russian leader — to whom he endlessly genuflected while in office — as a "genius." Trump also blustered that Putin would never have dared act in such a way if he were still commander in chief.
Trump's praise for Putin not only undermined a sitting President locked in a confrontation with an American enemy, but it also showed Trump's acolytes in Congress and his conservative media propagandists whose side they must be on in a potentially impending war.
The late former President Ronald Reagan — who stood in front of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate and cried, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" — would be horrified at the way his party has turned on democracy.  Paris' city hall displays the colors of the Ukrainian flag on Wednesday to show solidarity with the country. The world and America
The US sanctions the company building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline
Paris and Berlin light landmarks in the colors of the Ukrainian flag
The government in Kyiv declares a state of emergency
Canada is ending the emergency powers used to deal with protesters
Meanwhile in America ... Ivanka Trump is in talks to meet the January 6 committee
A top Republican senator wants the poorest people to pay income tax
Guns have overtaken car crashes as the leading cause of trauma deaths
 Paid Partner Content Every 24 hours, 27,000 trees …are cut down for toilet paper. This 3-ply bamboo toilet tissue is changing that. It feels like regular high end TP, but doesn't harm trees. Use H25 for 25% off for 24hrs. 'The trigger can appear any minute' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered what may turn out to be a poignant eulogy for a democracy on his official Facebook account in the early hours of Thursday local time, with his nation braced for invasion.
"The whole world is saying this can happen any day now. The trigger can appear any minute," Zelensky said, in an address directed at Russians in their own language. "You are being told this fire will free the Ukrainian people. But Ukrainian people are free."
"Ukraine in your news and Ukraine in reality are two different countries. Their main difference between them is that ours is real."
"We want to determine our history by ourselves. In peace, calm and honesty," Zelensky said. Who will she be? We don't yet know whom Biden is going to nominate to the Supreme Court, but we do know she will make history.
The President has vowed to fulfill a campaign promise and nominate a Black woman, which would be a first. We are expecting this announcement by the end of the month, which is Monday.
The President has met three women reportedly on his short list to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer: Ketanji Brown Jackson, Leondra Kruger and J. Michelle Childs. Jackson, who clerked for Breyer, has long been considered the front-runner.
Jackson sits on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Kruger sits on the California Supreme Court and Childs sits on the US District Court for the District of South Carolina. CNN's Ariane de Vogue, Joan Biskupic and Tierney Sneed have profiled Jackson, Kruger and Childs.
This decision will help shape Biden's presidential legacy for decades to come. The confirmation would not alter the Supreme Court's ideological balance — the court has six conservative justices appointed by Republican presidents and three liberals appointed by Democrats. But a young, liberal justice would serve on the court for decades.
Breyer was under intense pressure from the left to retire while Democrats still hold the Senate majority. Republicans winning control of the chamber in November's midterm elections would give the GOP the power to block any Biden nominees.
A reminder: Trump was able to get three justices confirmed to the nation's highest court: Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
Biden's pledge to nominate a Black woman has been met with praise by many Democrats and criticism from some Republicans, who have argued that choosing someone on the basis of race is a problem — even though Biden is hardly the first president to limit his search to a specific demographic. Republican presidents have also established early on in their tenures the kinds of justices they would nominate — or even campaigned for office on such specific commitments. But Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, for example, called Biden's pledge "offensive," while Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said Biden's nominee will be a "beneficiary" of affirmative action and Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said Biden announcing he would select a Black woman would hurt the eventual nominee's "credibility."
Still, given the Democratic Senate majority — albeit narrow — and the fact that the ideological composition of the court isn't changing, the GOP opposition to the pick is more likely to be theatrical than decisive. Thanks for reading. On Thursday, President Joe Biden attends a meeting with other G-7 leaders to discuss the situation with Russia and Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends an online forum hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. Israeli President Isaac Herzog visits Greece. The Conservative Political Action Conference kicks off in Orlando, Florida. View in browser | All CNN Newsletters
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