Demosntrations in Moscow for and against Putin's Ukraine policies / Missing plane's communications systems disabled says Malaysian PM
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We're looking back at the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. With much of the region still in a state of ferment, what are the possibilities and dangers that lie ahead?
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'Hundreds' attack Nigerian city / Indian Ocean search for missing jet / Veteran Labour politician Tony Benn dies at 88.
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Meeting with Irish PM Enda Kenny, US President Barack Obama said Friday he continues to hope for a diplomatic solution on Crimea, but warned of "consequences...
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From: AFP news agency
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| Time: 00:58 | More in News & Politics |
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Around 500 Crimean Tatars took to the streets after prayers on Islam's holy day Friday to protest against an "illegal" referendum on closer ties with Russia ...
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From: AFP news agency
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| Time: 01:04 | More in News & Politics |
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Crimean Tatars Worry About Future Under Russian Ruleby webdesk@voanews.com (Daniel Schearf)
Tatar minorities from Crimea are worrying about their possible future under Russian rule, as the region prepares for a Moscow-backed referendum on breaking away from Ukraine. The mood is somber at the Crimea, a Tatar restaurant in Kyiv's Independence Square. Months of anti-government protests and recent violence have slowed business, and now the Tatar minority employees worry about their families and the future of Crimea. Tatar waitress Linara Smiliava said all her relatives are in...
Crimea's place in Russian history by CNNInternational
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CNN's Atika Shubert looks at lessons we can learn from the Crimean War of the 1850's.
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From: CNNInternational
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| Time: 03:00 | More in News & Politics |
Inside the Russian mind by CNNInternational
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To truly understand the complex relationship between Ukraine and Russia, CNN spoke to experts in Russian culture.
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From: CNNInternational
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| Time: 02:34 | More in News & Politics |
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Russian acceptance of a Crimean referendum to break off from Ukraine and possibly join Russia would be an illegal "backdoor annexation."Kerry met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for six hours in London Friday in another effort to defuse the tensions in Crimea.If Sunday's vote passes and the Russian parliament ratifies it, Kerry said that would violate international law. He said it would fly in the face of every legitimate...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government will ask Austria to extradite Ukrainian industrialist Dmytro Firtash to face charges filed in a Chicago federal court arising from an investigation into international corruption, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday.
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The United States and Russia failed on Friday to resolve a Cold-War-style crisis sparked by Moscow's military intervention in Crimea and the Ukrainian penins...
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From: AFP news agency
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| Time: 01:02 | More in News & Politics |
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How would Khrushchev handle Crimea? by CNNInternational
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CNN's Atika Shubert speaks to Nikita Khrushchev's granddaughter, Nina Kruscheva, about the current Crimean crisis.
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From: CNNInternational
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| Time: 04:21 | More in News & Politics |
Russia won’t exclude sanctions to counter US and EU – Ministry by The European Union Times
Russia is ready to retaliate with counter sanctions against the EU and US if they go ahead with economic measures against Russia over tension in Crimea, the Russian Economic Ministry has said.
“We hope that there will only be targeted political sanctions, and not a broad package affecting economic trade,” Deputy Economic Development Minister Aleksey Likhachev said.
“Our sanctions will be, of course, similar,” he added.
One way Russia plans on shielding itself from pending sanctions is by boosting trade in other currencies, not the US dollar.
“We need to increase trade volume conducted in national currencies. Why, in relation to China, India, Turkey and other countries, should we be negotiating in dollars? Why should we do that? We should sign deals in national currencies- this applies to energy, oil, gas, and everything else,” Alexey Ulyukaev, the Minister of Economic Development said in an interview with the Vesti 24 TV Channel.
The Duma, Russia’s parliament, is drafting legislation to allow Moscow to freeze assets of Western companies and individuals in the event sanctions are imposed following the Crimea referendum vote on March 16.
The bill would give “the president and government opportunities to defend our sovereignty from threats,” according to its author, Andrey Klishas, as quoted by RIA Novosti on March 5.
The US Congress has already denounced Russia’s actions in Ukraine. On Tuesday, lawmakers passed a resolution that urges the US to “to work with our European allies and other countries to impose visa, financial, trade and other sanctions on senior Russian Federation officials, majority state-owned banks and commercial organizations, and other state agencies, as appropriate.”
Earlier this week the European Union threatened to impose further sanctions on Russia starting on March 17, after the referendum in Crimea takes place on Sunday.
The decision on sanctions was made, “especially on the procedure of introducing sanctions,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. “The consequence of this will be the start of sanctions on Monday,” he added.
However, China’s ambassador to Germany Shi Mingde, warns of the global economic affect sanctions against Russia could hold. Mingde said the geo-political tiff between Russia and the West could “spiral” into chaos.
President Putin and the foreign ministry have both said sanctions against Russia could backfire, and spill over into the global economy.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denounced any Western-led sanctions as “hasty and ill-considered”, and President Putin said squeezing economically would cause “mutual damage”.
If extreme Iran-style sanctions are imposed on Russian exports, the EU would be much more exposed than the US.
Europe imports nearly one third of its gas from resource-rich Russia, and some countries are completely dependent on Russian gas.
While the US and Russia trade very little, Russia is Europe’s biggest customer, and the $13 trillion economy would suffer if trade with Russia was halted overnight.
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Russia “Puzzled” Over Malaysia Airlines “Capture” By US Navyby The European Union Times
A new report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (GRU) states that Aerospace Defence Forces (VKO) experts remain “puzzled” as to why the United States Navy “captured and then diverted” a Malaysia Airlines civilian aircraft from its intended flight-path to their vast and highly-secretive Indian Ocean base located on the Diego Garcia atoll.
According to this report, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (also marketed as China Southern Airlines flight 748 through a codeshare) was a scheduled passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China, when on 8 March this Boeing 777-200ER aircraft “disappeared” in flight with 227 passengers on board from 15 countries, most of whom were Chinese, and 12 crew members.
Interesting to note, this report says, was that Flight 370 was already under GRU “surveillance” after it received a “highly suspicious” cargo load that had been traced to the Indian Ocean nation Republic of Seychelles, and where it had previously been aboard the US-flagged container ship MV Maersk Alabama.
What first aroused GRU suspicions regarding the MV Maersk Alabama, this report continues, was that within 24-hours of off-loading this “highly suspicious” cargo load bound for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the two highly-trained US Navy Seals assigned to protect it, Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds, 44, were found dead under “suspicious circumstances.”
Both Kennedy and Reynolds, this report says, were employed by the Virginia Beach, Virginia-based maritime security firm The Trident Group which was founded by US Navy Special Operations Personnel (SEAL’s) and Senior US Naval Surface Warfare Officers and has long been known by the GRU to protect vital transfers of both atomic and biological materials throughout the world.
Upon GRU “assests” confirming that this “highly suspicious” cargo was aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 8 March, this report notes, Moscow notified China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) of their concerns and received “assurances” that “all measures” would be taken as to ascertain what was being kept so hidden when this aircraft entered into their airspace.
However, this report says, and as yet for still unknown reasons, the MSS was preparing to divert Flight 370 from its scheduled destination of Beijing to Haikou Meilan International Airport (HAK) located in Hainan Province (aka Hainan Island).
Prior to entering the People Liberation Army (PLA) protected zones of the South China Sea known as the Spratly Islands, this report continues, Flight 370 “significantly deviated” from its flight course and was tracked by VKO satellites and radar flying into the Indian Ocean region and completing its nearly 3,447 kilometer (2,142 miles) flight to Diego Garcia.
Critical to note about Flight 370’s flight deviation, GRU experts in this report say, was that it occurred during the same time period that all of the Spratly Island mobile phone communications operated by China Mobile were being jammed.
China Mobile, it should be noted, extended phone coverage in the Spratly Islands in 2011 so that PLA soldiers stationed on the islands, fishermen, and merchant vessels within the area would be able to use mobile services, and can also provide assistance during storms and sea rescues.
As to how the US Navy was able to divert Flight 370 to its Diego Garcia base, this report says, appears to have been accomplished remotely as this Boeing 777-200ER aircraft is equipped with a fly-by-wire (FBW) system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface allowing it to be controlled like any drone-type aircraft.
However, this report notes, though this aircraft can be controlled remotely, the same cannot be said of its communication systems which can only be shut down manually; and in the case of Flight 370, its data reporting system was shut down at 1:07 a.m., followed by its transponder (which transmits location and altitude) which was shut down at 1:21 a.m.
What remains “perplexing” about this incident, GRU analysts in this report say, are why the American mainstream media outlets have yet to demand from the Obama regime the radar plots and satellite images of the Indian Ocean and South China Sea regions as the US military covers this entire area from Diego Garcia like no other seas in the world due to its vital shipping and air lanes.
Most sadly, this report concludes, the US is actually able to conceal the reason(s) for the “disappearance” of Flight 370 as they have already done so after the events of 11 September 2011 when the then Bush regime “disappeared” American Airlines Flight 77 and its 64 passengers and crew after falsely claiming it hit the Pentagon, but which was confirmed by the CNN News Service [see video HERE] not to have happened.
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SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine – Crimea’s de facto prime minister predicted confidently Friday that voters in the peninsula region of 2 million people will turn out en masse and choose to rejoin Russia in Sunday’s referendum, asserting that “we have the right to decide” Crimea’s political status.
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Official Targets ‘Russophobia’ by By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Amid fears of conflict in Ukraine, a member of Parliament proposed a bill to penalize “Russophobic propaganda” in Russia, imposing penalties of 15 days in prison or a fine of about $1,370.
Dmytro Firtash detained by Austrian authorities earlier this week is considered a flight risk.
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Russian artillery deployed around Crimea by CNNInternational
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Russian artillery and armored vehicles are being strategically placed throughout Crimea. CNN's Diana Magnay reports.
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From: CNNInternational
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| Time: 02:55 | More in News & Politics |
Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine? by CNNInternational
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CNN's Fred Pleitgen examines Russia's military capabilities should it decide to invade Ukraine.
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From: CNNInternational
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| Time: 02:37 | More in News & Politics |
Ukraine Crisis Hampers EU's Central African Republic Missionby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
The Ukraine crisis is hampering the European Union's plans to send a peacekeeping force to Central African Republic because nervous eastern European countries want to keep their troops at home rather than send them to Africa, diplomats said on Friday. The EU has drawn up plans to send 800 to 1,000 soldiers to Central African Republic to join 6,000 African and 2,000 French troops, who have struggled to stop the fighting that started when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power a...
US, Russia Rift Affects Syria, Entire Middle East by webdesk@voanews.com (Meredith Buel)
Middle East analysts say the erosion of relations between the U.S. and Russia over the Ukraine crisis is likely to have an impact on the Middle East, especially the conflict in Syria, which is now entering its fourth year. It had all the trappings of a campaign rally. Hundreds of Syrians demonstrating in a Damascus suburb, all in support of President Bashar al-Assad. They cheered for the army and called for unity. Assad supporter Mohamad al-Ghazali said ,“We came to ensure that we back...
UN to Vote on Crimea Resolutionby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The U.N. Security Council will vote Saturday on a U.S.-drafted resolution urging countries not to recognize the results of an upcoming Crimean referendum. Sunday's referendum gives residents of Crimea only two choices: joining Russia or the significant strengthening of their autonomy within Ukraine. A vote in favor of joining Russia is widely seen as a forgone conclusion in the majority Russian-speaking region on the Black Sea, which has hosted czarist and Kremlin navies since the...
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More than 300,000 Russians are believed to be now living in London, but they came with credit cards and property brochures, not Kalashnikovs
It was on a train from Bristol on an October afternoon in 1978 that Dirk Bogarde told me about the Russians: how they would come, and what he would do when they came. That was a long time ago. Leonid Brezhnev and the Communist party ruled the Soviet Union in those days, and in Jim Callaghan's Britain, our idea of bread was a slice of something spongy and flavourless that came out of a wrapper. I remember the bread because of something Bogarde had said earlier in the day at a signing session in a Bristol bookshop – he'd just published the second volume of his autobiography. The bookshop's owner had provided a plate of Mother's Pride sandwiches. "Mmmm," said Bogarde, feigning appreciation as he bit into his limp cheese-and-tomato, "you know, you simply can't find this kind of bread in France."
