Ben Norton: So-called Russia 'invasion' exuse needed to justify US sanctions

A new barrage of anti-Russian sanctions from US, EU and UK came on Tuesday to punish Moscow for recognition of the sovereignty of breakaway republics in the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine. This comes amid continuing ceasefire violations by both the Ukrainian military and fighters for the breakaway republics. Meanwhile German Chancellor Olaf Sholz has ordered a halt to further certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in response to Moscow's "incomprehensible and unjustified" act of recognizing the sovereignty of the rebel-held parts of disputed Eastern Ukraine. RT's Murad Gazdiev and Paula Slier report. Then David Tawil of Prochain Capital, independent journalist Ben Norton and author and professor Dr. Oliver Boyd-Barrett join Faran Fronczak to discuss the new sanctions.

Plus, RT America's Paxton Boyd updates us from downtown Ottawa in the aftermath of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's weekend crackdown on the "Freedom Convoy" protest that took over the area for three weeks and inspired sympathetic demonstrations abroad.

And with 65 percent of Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and numbers continuing to decline as the pandemic recedes, a slow lifting of mask mandates across the country is welcomed by a public fed up with onerous public health regulations. But now reports have emerged that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) withheld part of its findings regarding COVID-19 transmission and the importance of booster shots, reportedly arguing that the need for “actionable” information outweighed full transparency when it came to data which was “not yet ready for primetime.” RT America’s John Huddy has the details.