On April 7th, Russia's Foreign Ministry issued several statements on the tense situation in eastern Ukraine. The latest ones warn against specific actions by the coup-installed Kiev regime, including the use of mercenary security forces provided by the U.S.-based firm Greystone Limited. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State John Kerry also spoke by phone.

In Donetsk and Kharkov, local militias supported by large crowds in the streets had occupied Ukraine Security Service (SBU) offices over the weekend, as well as the Donetsk regional government building. Acting President Alexander Turchynov charged that these were Russian-backed separatist "saboteurs," language that was echoed by U.S. State Department spokesman Jen Psaki.

In an afternoon statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was closely monitoring the situation in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkov, while continuing to believe that stabilization of Ukraine will only be achieved through constitutional reform that includes "federalization" - extensive autonomy for different regions of the country. It accused Kiev of irresponsibility and failure to give cogent answers to "legitimate demands" from the population. Saying that "it is time to quit blaming Russia," the Foreign Ministry called for international efforts, especially on the part of Germany, France and Poland, which had witnessed the government-opposition agreement of Feb. 21 - just before the coup - to "promote a genuine national dialogue of all political and regional forces in Ukraine."

After a decade of failed nation-building in the Middle East, the U.S. military sets its sights on a new continent

What the military will say to a reporter and what is said behind closed doors are two very different things - especially when it comes to the U.S. military in Africa. For years, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has maintained a veil of secrecy about much of the command's activities and mission locations, consistently downplaying the size, scale, and scope of its efforts. At a recent Pentagon press conference, AFRICOM Commander General David Rodriguez adhered to the typical mantra, assuring the assembled reporters that the United States "has little forward presence" on that continent. Just days earlier, however, the men building the Pentagon's presence there were telling a very different story - but they weren't speaking with the media. They were speaking to representatives of some of the biggest military engineering firms on the planet. They were planning for the future and the talk was of war.

I recently experienced this phenomenon myself during a media roundtable with Lieutenant General Thomas Bostick, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. When I asked the general to tell me just what his people were building for U.S. forces in Africa, he paused and said in a low voice to the man next to him, "Can you help me out with that?" Lloyd Caldwell, the Corps's director of military programs, whispered back, "Some of that would be close hold" - in other words, information too sensitive to reveal.

The only thing Bostick seemed eager to tell me about were vague plans to someday test a prototype "structural insulated panel-hut," a new energy-efficient type of barracks being developed by cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He also assured me that his people would get back to me with answers. What I got instead was an "interview" with a spokesman for the Corps who offered little of substance when it came to construction on the African continent. Not much information was available, he said, the projects were tiny, only small amounts of money had been spent so far this year, much of it funneled into humanitarian projects. In short, it seemed as if Africa was a construction backwater, a sleepy place, a vast landmass on which little of interest was happening.

How does Washington get away with the claim that the country it rules is a democracy and has freedom? This absurd claim ranks as one of the most unsubstantiated claims in history.

There is no democracy whatsoever. Voting is a mask for rule by a few powerful interest groups. In two 21st century rulings (Citizens United and McCutcheon), the US Supreme Court has ruled that the purchase of the US government by private interest groups is merely the exercise of free speech. These rulings allow powerful corporate and financial interests to use their money-power to elect a government that serves their interests at the expense of the general welfare.

The control private interests exercise over the government is so complete that private interests have immunity to prosecution for crimes. At his retirement party on March 27, Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutor James Kidney stated that his prosecutions of Goldman Sachs and other "banks too big to fail" were blocked by superiors who "were focused on getting high-paying jobs after their government service." The SEC's top brass, Kidney said, did not "believe in afflicting the comfortable and powerful." In his report on Kidney's retirement speech, Eric Zuesse points out that the Obama regime released false statistics in order to claim prosecutions that did not take place in order to convince a gullible public that Wall Street crooks were being punished.

Former US President Jimmy Carter took a swipe at recent US foreign policy in an interview with Time.

Carter had some chiding words for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US President Barack Obama for not taking a more proactive role in trying to bring peace in the Middle East.

"I know from experience that the best way to have the United States be a mediator is for the President himself to be deeply involved. In this occasion, when Secretary Clinton was Secretary of State, she took very little action to bring about peace. It was only John Kerry's coming into office that re-initiated all these very important and crucial issues."

This is not the first time Carter has been outspoken against Obama's foreign policy. He has slammed the president in previous remarks about the increased use of drones in the Middle East and NSA surveillance of foreign leaders.

Israel has gone ahead and destroyed several EU-funded humanitarian projects in a settlement zone in the West Bank, despite diplomatic threats and repeated calls to desist, it has been revealed by EurActiv.

There are concerns not only that this is against international law, but that disrupting the area's territorial coherence could seriously undermine any prospect of peace with the Palestinians.

The E1 corridor, as it's called, contains an area known as Ras-a-Baba (or Jabal-al-Baba), overlooking Jerusalem. It has been a target of the Netanyahu government ever since 2012. The three projects destroyed will be joining whole scores of other EU-funded structures that Israel has destroyed, without regard for international law, as Europe believes, calling the area "a red line", a report by EurActiv, an EU policy news and discussion portal, has revealed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is believed to have ordered the destruction of these projects hours after the Palestinians expressed a wish to join 15 UN treaties, and after he halted all ongoing talks with the Palestinian authorities.

At least 80 people - both police and protesters - have been injured as street battles broke out in Rome, with rocks being flung and police deploying pepper spray. Thousands took to the street to march against austerity measures.

Blasts and sirens could be heard as a splinter group of masked protesters launched firecrackers, eggs and rocks at police, who defended themselves with shields. One protester had his hand blown off by a firecracker he was yet to throw. At least six people were arrested, police said.

The march started at roughly 14:00 from Porta Pia, with the crowd stating they were protesting in favor of affordable housing and plans for new labor regulations which would make firing and hiring easier.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is in the process of making mass economic reforms. Youth unemployment has risen to well over 40 percent.

Ukrainian deposed President Viktor Yanukovych says the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is provoking bloodshed in the country by sanctioning the use of weapons against pro-Russia protesters.

Speaking on a Russian television station late on Sunday, the ousted president said the United States authorized the new government in Kiev to use force to crack down on protesters in the country's east.

Yanukovych also warned that Ukraine's interim officials have taken the country to the brink of a civil war.

Western countries and Kiev authorities are applying double standards to activists in eastern Ukraine protesting against the coup-appointed government, forgetting similar protests in the capital's Independence Square, says Russian FM Sergey Lavrov.

The self-imposed government ignored adopted laws which they passed themselves, for example, an amnesty for all participants in the riots, according to the agreement from February, 21 on crisis regulation, Sergey Lavrov told popular TV host Vladimir Soloviev at Russia's Channel One show on Friday.

New authorities "amnestied those who were against the [President Viktor] Yanukovich government," said Lavrov, "So those who 'were kinking' in Maidan are no longer guilty."

Now the Kiev government says this very amnesty law will be applied to only to those in the south-east who did not take part in mass riots or did not instigate them.

French far-right leader Marine le Pen has spoken out in support of Russia and expressed her dismay at Paris's refusal to allow MPs to meet State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin, simply because of his inclusion in the US sanctions list.

Speaking at a meeting with Naryshkin in Moscow, the leader of the National Front party, a member of the European parliament, also believes that Russia is being unfairly "demonized" and that the campaign against the Russian political administration has been cooked up at the highest levels of the EU leadership, with the implicit support of the United States.

"I am surprised a Cold War on Russia has been declared in the European Union," she told colleagues at the meeting. "It's not in line with traditional, friendly relations or with the economic interests of our country or EU countries and harms future relations," she was cited by Interfax as saying.

"Even the threat of sanctions is a counterproductive measure. Decisions can always be reached at the negotiating table - and not by blocking talks."

The body of a special forces officer, kneeling in a pool of blood beside a shot-up car, serves as a forewarning of Ukraine's future as cities and towns across an entire region slip out of the control of the government and into the hands of masked gunmen.


The killing outside the eastern town of Slovyansk and injuries to half a dozen others came in the first armed clash between troops and separatists as the administration in Kiev desperately tried to cling on to the eastern half of the country, after the bitter blow of losing Crimea to the Kremlin.

In response, Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchinov gave rebels occupying state buildings until 7am today, UK time, to lay down their weapons. "The National Security and Defence Council has decided to launch a full-scale anti-terrorist operation involving the armed forces of Ukraine," Mr Turchinov said in an address to the nation. "We will not allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in the eastern regions of Ukraine."