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Glaring propaganda: NATO warns that Russia is risking Europe's peace and security

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© Unknown
NATO General Secretary: Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Ukraine has mobilised for war amid warnings from Nato that Russia's annexation of Crimea "threatens peace and security in Europe".

With tension nearing boiling point, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato Secretary General, vowed the organisation would stand by Ukraine, a nation of 46 million which occupies a vital strategic position between Europe and Russia.

Speaking before he chaired an emergency meeting of ambassadors from the 28 Nato member states, he said: "Russia must stop its military activities and its threats."

The United States dramatically instensifed pressure on Moscow, threatening to remove Russia from the G8 club of developed economies.

John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, condemned Russia for what he called an "incredible act of aggression" and threatened "very serious repercussions", including Russia's possible expulsion from the G8.

"You don't just, in the 21st century, behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext," he said.

Comment: What sanctions? UK prepares to rule out sanctions against Russia amid threat to global economy
In case of sanctions: Putin adviser urges dumping U.S. bonds
The true cost of Russian sanctions to London and UK investors


Vader

How and why the U.S. government aided a coup led by neo-nazis in Ukraine

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The people of the United States are being deliberately misled and misinformed about the leading role played by the U.S. State Department, intelligence agencies and neoconservative leaders in bringing neo-Nazis to power in Ukraine.

The same neoconservative politicians and strategists that drove the country to war against Iraq in 2003, against Libya in 2011 and nearly against Syria in 2013 have been neck-deep in a protracted regime change effort in Ukraine as part of a larger geo-strategic struggle against Russia. The fact that they have worked hand in glove with armed neo-Nazis in Ukraine - with Sen. John McCain and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland literally joining the protests - speaks volumes about the political nature of the events.

Briefcase

Ukraine crisis: Moscow catches the world off guard

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© Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images
After the shock, the response. For two days Western governments clung to the illusion that Vladimir Putin would not ignore their concerns, despite the hour-by-hour escalation of events in Crimea. The Russian parliament's vote to send in the tanks snapped them out of that illusion.

The European Union, which at lunchtime yesterday was vaguely saying that foreign ministers would meet "early next week", announced this would now happen tomorrow. The UN Security Council went into emergency session last night.

"We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine," President Obama said. John McCain, the former presidential candidate who in recent days has insisted threat be met by threat, went further. He wrote on Twitter: "Russian Senate backs Putin request to send troops to #Ukraine - straight out of Soviet playbook. Don't want Cold War back, but Putin seems to."

Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, said last night: "This is an unwarranted escalation of tensions. I therefore call upon the Russian Federation not to dispatch such troops, but to promote its views through peaceful means."

Yet, as the howls of protest grow, what can actually be done? The international community has looked impotent, condemning the actions but remaining a considerable way away from putting boots on the ground.

Pirates

Neo-Nazi takeover: Ultra-nationalists take center stage amid political chaos in Ukraine

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"Fascists of the world, unite!" Yes, they're clearly interested in democracy.
The threat of neo-nazi ideology is causing alarm in Ukraine. The country, home to over 13 ethnicities, is now rocked on a daily basis by shocking videos - uploaded to Youtube by some of those who came to power following the ousting of President Yanukovich. Maria Finoshina reports.


Bullseye

Getting closer to the truth: Estonian Foreign Ministry confirms authenticity of leaked call on Kiev snipers

Estonian foreign ministry has confirmed the recording of his conversation with EU foreign policy chief is authentic. Urmas Paet said that snipers who shot at protesters and police in Kiev were hired by Maidan leaders.

Paet told RIA-Novosti news agency that he talked to Catherine Ashton last week right after retiring from Kiev, but refrained from further comments, saying that he has to "listen to the tape first."
Urmas Paet
© AFP Photo / Vasily Maximov
Urmas Paet
"It's very disappointing that such surveillance took place altogether. It's not a coincidence that this conversation was uploaded [to the web] today," he stressed.

"My conversation with Ashton took place last week right after I returned from Kiev. At that time I was already in Estonia," Paet added.

Paet also gave a press conference about the leaked tape on Wednesday, saying that the dramatic events in Kiev, which resulted in people being killed, must become the subject of an independent investigation.

The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement on its website, saying that the recording of the leaked telephone conversation between Paet and Ashton is "authentic."


Comment: So all Ms. Ashton could muster up was a "Well, yeah...that's, that's terrible," comment and do diddly squat about it. Instead she and the European Commission have chastised Putin and Russia, while giving high fives to the new regime of thugs along with 15 billion euros of taxpayers money.

It is well pointing out that the EU had no money to give 3 months ago, when they wanted the elected president Yanukovych to sign on the dotted line for an agreement with the EU. They were playing hard ball, knowing that the lack of an agreement would arouse the tensions between the pro-EU and the pro-Russian people of Ukraine. It served the purpose, being helped along with some well-nurtured neo-fascist groups and some snipers.

The EU and the US got their prize: A bunch of servile neo-nazi idiots with Nuland's chosen man Yatsenyuk as leader. Now comes the time for austerity measures in Ukraine along with the opening Ukraine up even more for vulture capitalism.

The new regime in Kiev and it's foreign backers have a lot to answer for.

See also: BREAKING! Kiev snipers hired by new coalition, not Yanukovych - Estonian FM to EU chief Ashton
Ukrainian MP calls for investigation into why same snipers were shooting both protesters and Ukrainian police


Pistol

Ukrainian MP calls for investigation into why same snipers were shooting both protesters and Ukrainian police

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According to Estonia's Foreign Minister, most in Kiev believe these snipers disguised as police were hired by the new government to shoot at both protesters and real police.
Watch as senior Ukrainian Member of Parliament Inna Bohoslovska pleads with fellow deputies in Kiev last week for an investigation into who the mystery snipers were. She claims in the following video that she saw the snipers murder both protesters and the Berkut security forces. Note that she made this plea before the leaked tapes of a phone conversation between the EU's Cathy Ashton and Estonia's Foreign Minister on 5 March 2014, suggesting that it's being widely discussed in Kiev.

The new putsch government has said it will not investigate who was behind the shootings. Does it have something to hide?


Translation:
"100 people were shot dead in cold blood by snipers. I saw Berkut members (Ukrainian security force) who clearly weren't from Berkut with automatic kalashnikovs shooting at people in the crowd, one after the other, at Maidan Square, and then they turned back and started shooting at Berkuts... we must investigate this."

~ Inna Bohoslovska

Newspaper

U.S. pushing Israel to stop assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists

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© Alalam.ir
As Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flies to Washington - due to arrive on Sunday (March 2), to prepare for talks with President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday - it's clear that there are several points of friction between Israel and the United States.

The two countries are allies, but their leaders often differ on the details of key issues: Israel's peace talks with the Palestinians, America's nuclear talks with Iran, how to approach political turmoil in Egypt, what might be done to limit Syria's horrible civil war, and a broader issue of whether the Middle East sees President Obama as a powerful, influential leader.

Recently, as I sought to update a book I co-wrote about the history of Israel's intelligence agencies, sources close to them revealed that they felt pressure from the Obama Administration - more than a hint - to stop carrying out assassinations inside Iran.

Control Panel

Jawdropping double standards from Western Pundits: "Putin's Crimea aim is to make the West look weak"

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© Baz Ratner/Reuters
Men are seen near a military truck on the runway of Belbek Airport in the Crimea region.
The real purpose of Russian troops in Ukraine is to undermine the credibility of Nato

If you want to invade a country, it's important to call it a liberation. Over the coming weeks and months, that's what we're going to see in Ukraine. In fact it has started already. Just look at the Crimea.


Comment: Notice the absolutely gobsmacking first paragraph! That's exactly what the US, UK and others did to Iran, Libya, tried to do to Syria, Yugoslavia, Central America, and the list goes on.


Troops in unmarked uniforms have started guarding the region's main airport. They're being assisted by some local people. After all, they're just there to help.

Ukraine's President Yanukovych, who was ousted only a week ago, is defining himself as a leader deposed in a coup, and the regional government of Crimea, home of a majority ethnic Russian population, is rejecting the new government in Kiev as illegitimate.

At the same time, Russian troops are flying in to help resist what Moscow is calling the 'Nazis' who have taken over the government of Ukraine.

This is tragic for Ukraine, for the near-abroad and for Nato not because it is taking us by surprise but because we have expected it for so long and seen it before and yet remain incapable of acting. This is the salami-tactics that Yes, Prime Minister joked about decades ago. Slice by slice, Russia is invading Ukraine and weakening the alliance that has kept the peace in Europe for almost 70 years.

Stormtrooper

BREAKING! Kiev snipers hired by new coalition, not Yanukovych - Estonian FM to EU chief Ashton

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© RIA

The snipers who shot at protesters and police in Kiev were allegedly hired by Maidan leaders, according to a leaked phone conversation between the EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Estonian foreign affairs minister, which has emerged online.

"There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new coalition," Paet said during the conversation.

"I think we do want to investigate. I mean, I didn't pick that up, that's interesting. Gosh," Ashton answered.


Blackbox

Baiting the bear: Russia mulls seizing foreign assets over sanctions threat

Federation council
© RIA Novosti/Vladimir Fedorenko
The Federation Council session
The upper house of Russia's parliament is mulling measures allowing property and assets of European and US companies to be confiscated in the event of sanctions being adopted against Russia over its threatened military intervention in Ukraine.

The bill's author, Federation Council constitutional legislation committee head Andrei Klishas, said Wednesday that lawyers are currently studying whether the proposed confiscations would be constitutional.

"But we have no doubts that it clearly corresponds to European standards," Klishas told RIA Novosti. "The recent events in Cyprus spring to mind, where the confiscation of assets was the main demand made by the European Union in return for economic aid."

An adviser to President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that authorities would issue general advice to dump US government bonds if Russian companies and individuals were targeted by sanctions over events in Ukraine.

Comment: The more the EU and the US support the usurpation of power in Ukraine and international law, the worse it will be for them. The one who sets a trap for another is likely to fall in it himself.