Everything one needs to know about mediocre political elites allegedly representing the "values" of Western civilization has been laid bare by their reaction to the referendums in Donetsk and Lugansk.

The referendums may have been a last-minute affair; organized in a rush; in the middle of a de facto civil war; and on top of it at gunpoint - supplied by the Kiev NATO neo-liberal neo-fascist junta, which even managed to kill some voters in Mariupol. An imperfect process? Yes. But absolutely perfect in terms of graphically depicting a mass movement in favor of self-rule and political independence from Kiev.

This was direct democracy in action; no wonder the US State Department hated it with a vengeance. [1]

Turnout was huge. The landslide victory for independence was out of the question. Same for transparency; a public vote, in glass ballot boxes, with monitoring provided by Western journalists - mostly from major German media but also from the Kyodo News Agency or the Washington Post.

What should come after the Donetsk People's Republic proclaimed itself a sovereign state, and asked Moscow to consider its accession into Russia, is not secession, nor outright civil war, but a negotiation.

As Barack Obama enters the twilight of his tenure, the ­debate over his legacy is ­beginning, but one conclusion already seems certain. It can best be described as "Honey, I shrunk the presidency."

Not since Jimmy Carter was held hostage by Iran has the Oval Office seemed so inconsequential against the forces of international darkness. The mismatch is particularly striking because smallness has been Obama's choice.

Although he is guilty of executive overreach at home, that bully behavior only sharpens the contrast with a foreign policy that is feeble when it is not comatose. The president's estrangement from the demands of global leadership is giving a green light to tyrants and malevolent opportunists everywhere.

His preference for navel gazing over action was on full display last week. As Russia and China menaced their neighbors and Islamist terrorists set off bombs in a half-dozen countries, Obama accepted an award from Hollywood pal Steven Spielberg for fighting genocide. Passing up a chance to give a full-throated defense of freedom and Western civilization, the president lapsed into what The New York Times called a "meditation" on the limits of his power.

That's far too kind. It was a white flag of surrender and more proof that Obama lacks the capacity to shoulder the responsibilities that have belonged to the Oval Office for 100 years.

The Czech defense minister says his country does not want to host foreign NATO troops on its soil, as part of plans to beef up the alliance's eastern wing in light of the Ukraine crisis in contrast to some other eastern European countries like Poland.

Martin Stropinsky, the Czech defense minister, has said his country is not in favor of any foreign troops being based in his country, even though they would only come at Prague's invitation, Reuters reports.

"We know well how any permanent stationing (of troops) is still a problem. I belong to a generation that experienced the 80,000 Soviet troops based here during the period of (post 1968) 'normalization' and it is still a bit of a psychological problem," Stropinsky told Reuters in an interview.

However, he said that expanded cooperation on training and other measures would not be problem.

"Raising the alliance's presence on our territory in various modifications, yes. But when it comes to actual units, I am rather skeptical," he said.

Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has blamed European Union policy for the current situation in Ukraine and urged the West to stop focusing on new sanctions against Russia.

In Schroeder's opinion, the EU's fundamental mistake - that subsequently led to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine - was its association policy, he said in an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag published Sunday.

Brussels "ignored" Ukraine's deep cultural division between traditionally pro-European western regions and Russia-leaning regions in the east, the former chancellor said.

Kiev, however, had to pick either an association with the EU or a Customs Union with Russia, Schroeder said. He suggested that it could have been more reasonable if the former Soviet republic was offered an alternative when it could do both.

Asked whether it was the corrupt system and government in Ukraine that led to the unrest, Schroeder agreed that that was also true, but, at the same time, Yanukovich came to office through a free election.

[Tony Farrell was arrested on May 9, 2014, as this article was being proof-read. An explanation of the events leading up to the arrest are contained within.]

We first were introduced to Tony Farrell as the principled principal intelligence analyst for the South Yorkshire Police Headquarters, in Sheffield, UK, who'd been sacked for his views on the London, July 7, 2005, Bombings, after watching Muad'Dib's 7/7 Ripple Effect documentary film. He'd eventually learn more and help disclose "it was an inside job". Determined that truth BE known, Farrell made the alternative news circuit as a whistleblower, hurling him into the Truth Movement. From there, he went on to make Kollerstrom And Farrell Are Dead, a short documentary on the 7/7 Bombings with Terror on the Tube author Dr. Nick Kollerstrom. It was produced by Kevin West and released prior to the seventh anniversary of the tragic day. Many may think Farrell stopped there, but he was just getting started, because the Truth Movement hurled him into the Justice Movement.

Once he started on the quest of "Truth AND Justice for All", his presence on the alternative news scene diminished, yet he remained a constant beacon, maybe a thorn. And while truthers may not have heard much of him lately, Chief Constables, coppers and others hear from him on a regular basis. Despite losing his job, home, and possessions, he continues his march. Perhaps, his first step was doing what was right for himself, where co-workers would not dare to tread. And despite the odds, everything kept falling into place, such as connecting with individuals who had their own struggles with Lady-Injustice.

As principal intelligence analyst, he was asked to go along with an assessment of a terror threat; and he couldn't, because he knew it would be a false report. He was told to not rock the boat. In a moment of choice, Farrell said it was about integrity; and he could not bear false witness. He knew this decision would end his police career; and it did. The department cited incompatible beliefs. He was also told that he'd never get "them" to tell the truth - maybe this is because TERROR didn't start nor end with 7/7.

China on Sunday signed a deal to build a $3.8 billion rail link between Kenya's Indian Ocean port of Mombasa and Nairobi, the first stage of a line that will eventually link Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

Under the terms of the agreement, Exim Bank of China will provide 90 percent of the cost to replace the crumbling British colonial-era line with a 609.3 kilometre (379 mile) standard-gauge link and Kenya the remaining 10 percent.

Construction is due to start in October and take three-and-a-half years to complete, with China Communications Construction Co. as the main contractor.

Once the Mombasa-Nairobi line is completed, construction would begin to link east Africa's largest economy with Kampala, Kigali, Bujumbura and Juba.

"Here's what's more disconcerting. Their [Republicans'] willingness to say no to everything - the fact that since 2007, they have filibustered about 500 pieces of legislation that would help the middle class just gives you a sense of how opposed they are to any progress - has actually led to an increase in cynicism and discouragement among the people who were counting on us to fight for them."

- President Obama, remarks at a DCCC dinner, May 7, 2014

In addressing a dinner of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Los Angeles, President Obama made a rather striking claim - that Senate Republicans have filibustered "500 pieces of legislation that would help the middle class."

Regular readers knows that The Fact Checker has objected to the way that Senate Democrats tally these figures, but the president's claim makes little sense no matter how you do the numbers.

The green-cross storefronts of medical marijuana dispensaries are common in much of Washington, and the state is plowing ahead with licensing people to grow and sell recreational pot to adults.

But a federal trial scheduled to begin in the coming weeks for five people in Spokane suggests not all is OK with weed in the state.

Larry Harvey, a 70-year-old medical marijuana patient with no criminal history, three of his relatives and a family friend each face mandatory minimum sentences of at least 10 years in prison after they were caught growing about 70 pot plants on their rural, mountainous property.

The Harveys did have guns at their home, which is part of the reason for the lengthy possible prison time. They say the weapons were for hunting and protection, but prosecutors say two of the guns were loaded and in the same room as a blue plastic tub of pot.

Medical marijuana advocates have cried foul, arguing the prosecution violates Department of Justice policies announced by Attorney General Eric Holder last year that nonviolent, small-time drug offenders shouldn't face lengthy prison sentences.

"We watch our own people more closely than we watch any other population in the world."

Edward Snowden told a crowd of fans Wednesday that the U.S. government's surveillance programs collect more data on Americans than it does on any other country.

"Do you think it's right that the NSA is collecting more information about Americans in America than it is about Russians in Russia?" Snowden said. "Because that''s what our systems do. We watch our own people more closely than we watch any other population in the world."

Snowden also took several shots at the National Security Agency and its top officials, and criticized the agency for wearing two contradictory hats of protecting U.S. data and exploiting security flaws to gather intelligence on foreign threats.

White collar crime expert Professor William Black thinks the nation's top bankers continue to get away with massive financial crime. The most recent $10 million fine of former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis for fraud illustrates the ongoing problem. Professor Black says, "He's not paying $10 million. Bank of America is paying the $10 million. So, he could care less, and he didn't have to admit anything. And, unlike the typical Securities and Exchange settlement, he didn't have to agree not to disparage the settlement. So, immediately he disparaged the settlement as a bunch of junk that wasn't true. . . . In this case, the fact came out that Lewis testified, the subject of this complaint was allegedly securities fraud at hiding the losses at Merrill Lynch which was acquired by B of A and said hey, it's not me, it's Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson . . . who ordered me to cover this up. Professor Black goes on to say,

"So the web is very tight and very protective of all these people, and they will trade off any amount of money in settlement that will be paid by the bank to insure the officers, even the ex-officers never have to pay and never are prosecuted. Even today, we are well into 2014, and the Department of Justice record is intact. There have been zero prosecutions of the elite officers who led the epic epidemic of fraud. It was the most destructive in world history, zero of them even unsuccessfully prosecuted, much less prosecuted."