Monday, March 31, 2014

Monday, March 24, 2014

Malaysian Prime Minister: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Crashed in Indian Ocean

From CNN:
(CNN) -- [Breaking news update at 10:03 a.m.]

British investigators have concluded that missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370's last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean west of Perth, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said.

[Previous story, published at 9:33 a.m. Monday]

(CNN) -- Malaysia's Prime Minister will make a live statement on missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 at 10 p.m. (10 a.m. ET), he said Monday on Twitter.

Prime Minister Najib Razak did not give any details of the statement.

Also, two relatives of passengers aboard the missing airliner tell CNN they have been asked to attend a meeting at a Beijing hotel where Malaysian authorities have been briefing families.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Jimmy Fallon Slams Obama Foreign Policy in Late Night Skit

Surprisingly funny:

Watch Obama Statement on Ukraine March 20, 2014

Updated with video of Obama's statement on Ukraine.

Ukraine Official: Don't Think that Putin Will Stop with Crimea

Ukraine's ambassador to the UN Yurii Klymenko is making it clear that he does not believe that Russia will stop now that it has annexed Crimea. According to an article on al Jazeera, he was blunt.
"There are indications that Russia is on its way to unleash a full blown military intervention in Ukraine's east and south," Klymenko said on Thursday.

His statement was widely supported by other ambassadors, but challenged by a Russian diplomat, who read a prepared statement justifying Russia's actions so far.

 

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Australia: Possible Debris from Malaysian Plane Flight MH370 Found in Indian Ocean

From Reuters:
Search aircraft are investigating two objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing for 12 days with 239 people on board, officials said on Thursday.

Australian officials said the objects were spotted by satellite in one of the remotest parts of the globe, around 2,500 km (1,500 miles) southwest of Perth in the vast oceans between Australia, southern Africa and Antarctica.

The larger of the objects measured up to 24 meters (78 ft), and appeared to be awash over water several thousand meters deep, they said.

"It's credible enough to divert the research to this area on the basis it provides a promising lead to what might be wreckage from the debris field," Royal Australian Air Force Air Commodore John McGarry told a news conference in Canberra.

Young, general manager of the emergency response division of AMSA, walsk past diagram showing the search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 during a briefing in Canberra

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Chelsea Handler to Piers Morgan: You're "Terrible," "This is Why Your Job is Coming to an End"

Chelsea Handler, interviewing on Piers Morgan's soon-ending "Piers Morgan Live," slammed the host, calling him a "terrible interviewer" and guessing that his incompetency is the reason why his show is coming to an end.

Handler began by saying that she had to "tolerate" the "nonsense" of Morgan completely ignoring her during commercial breaks. "You can't even pay attention for sixty seconds," she scoffed. "You're a terrible interviewer."

"Well," Morgan shrugged, "You just weren't keeping my attention."

"But that's not my problem," Handler retorted. "This is your show. You need to pay attention to the guests you invited on your show."

Morgan then mumbled quietly about Handler being uninteresting, to which she responded, "Listen, it doesn't matter how interesting I am. You signed up for this job."

Handler Morgan

Morgan then interrupted, saying, "Of course it does," to Handler's assertion that guests don't need to be interesting, because Morgan is the one who invited them on.

In response, Handler quickly snapped back, "Well, maybe that's why your job is coming to an end."

You can watch the entire exchange below:

Large Explosion Collapses Apartment Building in Manhattan

From Global News:
Emergency officials are on site of what is believed to be an explosion and building collapse in Manhattan, according to media reports.

Residents reportedly heard a large explosion in an apartment building at 116th Street and Park Avenue in East Harlem, a neighbourhood in Upper Manhattan Wednesday morning reports ABC.


Saturday, March 08, 2014

Video: John McCain's 2008 Warning About Ukraine

Just six years ahead of schedule.

Oops: Obama Congratulated Yanukovych in 2010 Victory

When Victor Yanukovych, who was behind a series of attacks that killed 100 Ukrainian protesters and was overthrown after scrapping plans to join the European Union, is out of the picture in Kiev. However, the former President that stole $7 billion from the country had one early fan, Barack Obama. Obama congratulated him in his 2010 victory, despite the fact that the former Prime Minister in 2004 attempted to rig that year's election and ordered the army to attack protesters in that year-- but the military did not comply.
The White House released a statement saying that Mr. Obama had called Mr. Yanukovich, the Ukrainian opposition leader, and wished him “success in carrying out his mandate.”

Ouch.

Thursday, March 06, 2014

Russian Gov't News Agency Now Reporting that Crimea is Part of Russia

RT, the Russian news agency funded by government money, is now reporting that Crimea is part of the Russian Federation.

In a news report that aired on television, RT put a map comparing Russia and Ukraine. Shockingly, Crimea was shown as now being part of Russia:
Russian Crimea
Here is an additional map, with specific borders and Ukraine's sovereignty still intact, to help if you can't quite see where the change was made:
Ukraine
And finally a side-by-side comparison:
Ukraine Comparison

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Flashback: When Russia Invaded Georgia in 2008, Candidate Obama Asked GEORGIA to "Show Restraint"

History is repeating itself with Russia's aggressive action to occupy Crimea in Ukraine. More than just Russia invading another nation, Barack Obama's conspicuously weak response is happening again.

Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have been crystal clear in their response to Russia: they would "prefer" if Russia would please stop invading another country and "de-escalate" the situation.

Putin, naturally, is not only ignoring what the White House is saying, but is also likely reminded of Barack Obama's initial, extremely weak-kneed response to Russia's incursion into Georgian territory in 2008.

Then-candidate Obama, who had been slammed by conservatives for his poor understanding of foreign policy and international relations, offered a mere piece of fluff when he initially responded to Russia's aggression.

Instead of rightfully calling Russia out for its actions, Obama stated, "I think it is important at this point for all sides to show restraint and to stop this armed conflict."
Obama Frowning
That's right. Georgia, as well as Russia, should "show restraint" for... Russia invading Georgia. How exactly was Georgia supposed to show restraint? By allowing themselves to be conquered?

After a couple of days of being mocked for his extremely ignorant statement, Obama released another, stronger one that there was "no possible justification" for Russia's actions. And naturally, left-wing media sites like the Huffington Post, ate it up.

But it was clear then, as it is clear today, that President Obama has no idea what he is doing on the global stage, and his understanding of how the world works is extremely amateurish at best.

Clinton: Obama Administration Has Willingly Negotiated with Equivalent of Nazi Germany

Yesterday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton compared the actions of Russia in Ukraine, particularly Russia’s decision to issue passports in the Crimean region, to the actions of Nazi Germany.

Yet as those words escaped her mouth, I doubt that the irony of her own actions were on her mind.

Just five years ago, Hillary Clinton stood in Geneva with a poorly-translated big red button. The button, which was supposed to read "reset," actually came out to read "overcharge" and is emblematic of the Obama Administration's dense, failing, and feckless foreign policy.

Remember, if you will, why did Clinton bring the "reset" button to Russia? Part of it was because the Obama Administration wanted to mock President Bush. Another main reason, however, was that relations between the United States and Russia had become frayed (that is, more than normal) after Russia had invaded Georgia in 2008.
Clinton Button
President Bush at the time made it clear that the move was unacceptable and that the world community should not, under any circumstances, allow it. At the time, candidate Obama's first statement was that Russia AND Georgia should "show restraint:"
"I think it is important at this point for all sides to show restraint and to stop this armed conflict."

Seven months later, Clinton and Sergey Lavrov pushed that button.

Russia's aggression was stark in 2008, as was in 2009, as it was yesterday. And yesterday, Clinton compared Russia's actions to those of Nazi Germany.

If that is the case, then Clinton herself is clearly analogous to Neville Chamberlain. After clear-cut, unwarranted aggression on their neighbors, Chamberlain happily negotiated with Hitler's Germany to avoid further conflict. After Russia invaded Georgia, Clinton gave them a big red button.

I wonder if she was made the connection.

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Flashback: Obama Told Russia to "Respect" Ukrainian Borders in 2009, Compared Russian Gov't to US

President Obama's foreign policy is crumbling around him, with distance growing between the US and Israel, the Middle East in complete disarray, and Russia invading the Crimea-region of Ukraine with no consequences.

Just five years ago, however, the new President asked Russia politely to respect the international borders of Ukraine. It is just another statement by Mr. Obama that has turned out to be meaningless.

"State sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order," Mr. Obama warned Russia at the time. "Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy. That is why this principle must apply to all nations - including Georgia and Ukraine."

This request, Mr. Obama said apologetically, was not made by an "antagonistic" US, and that the United States wanted to be friends with Russia. "Let me be clear: America wants a strong, peaceful and prosperous Russia," the President added.

At the time, President Obama also encouraged Russia to be a democracy "like" the United States by saying that the US was not perfect and once had "corruption at all levels of business and government."
Putin-Obama
"By no means is America perfect," the President explained. "Independent media have exposed corruption at all levels of business and government. Competitive elections allow us to change course ... If our democracy did not advance those rights, I as a person of African ancestry wouldn't be able to address you as an American citizen, much less a president."

All this happy, flowery talk, however, has turned out to be worthless, as Russia has decided that territorial expansion with impunity is more preferable than being friends with Barack Obama.

Monday, March 03, 2014

Russia Gives Ukraine Until 5am; 9pm EST to Surrender

Troubling news as Russia wants a Ukrainian ship to surrender and all troops in Crimea to give up within ten hours.

 

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Multiple Reports: Russian Military Amassing Armored Vehicles on Ukrainian Border

According to multiple reports, the Russian military is building a large contingency of armored vehicles on the Ukrainian border. This represents a possible escalation in the situation between Russia and Ukraine, which has already reached crisis levels.

Reuters, as well as other sources, is reporting the build-up is happening on the border of the Crimea region of Ukraine.

Pictures purporting to be from the Ukrainian-Russian border seem to confirm the reports:
Russian Armored Vehicles
Elsewhere, Russian troops are reportedly surrounding army bases in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea.

This photo purports to show this grouping of soldiers:
Russian Troops
Experts on geopolitics are calling the conflict between Russia ad Ukraine, as well as the conflict it produces with the West and its possible consequences, have stated that the global tensions of this crisis are "worst than 9/11."

Pic: "Thousands" of Ukrainians Protest in Favor of Russia

Russia reported "thousands." I don't believe that was accurate:
Russian Protest

Large Explosions in Simferopol, Capital of Crimea; Russians Suspected of Blowing Up Ammo Stocks

According to the BBC, at least two large explosions have been heard in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea.

A local reports says the blasts came from Russian troops destroying Ukrainian ammunition depots. However, this report is unofficial and only coming from a French News source:
Crimea

Update:
The BBC is now offering these details on the explosions:
A loud bang was heard about 23:10 local time (21:10 GMT), following by a smaller blast, BBC reporters in Simferopol say.

A city resident blogged about hearing an explosion come from the direction of Elevatornaya Street, where an electronic combat military unit is based.


Update, 5:41pm EST:
A writer for Buzzfeed states that he has reports that the explosions were grenades:

Saturday, March 01, 2014

Live Video of UN Security Council on Ukraine

Scheduled to start at 4:15 EST. The meeting has been delayed for over two hours as there was a large disagreement about how to actually run the meeting. Russia demanded that the meeting be behind closed doors. Both Russia and Ukraine is expected to speak. Also watch Ukrainian news live here.

Watch Ukrainian TV News Coverage Live Streaming

With the situation in the Ukraine and Crimea heating up, you can keep up live with all of the events. With the Russian Senate just approving troops for Crimea and large pro-Russian demonstrations in Eastern Ukraine, the situation is very fluid. The news channel Espreso out of Ukraine runs 24 hours a day.

A top Ukrainian politician is calling for the army to mobilize and it is estimated that 6,000 Russian troops are already in the Crimea.

Tweet of the Day, Treason Style

130601_obama_snowden_comp_ap_328

From the blogosphere's very own Moe Lane. Very fitting.

 

Russian Senate Approves Crimea Intervention, Pro-Russian Demonstrations in Eastern Ukraine

As of about 25 minutes ago, both the Federation Council, or Senate, of Russia, has approved Putin's request to send in troops unanimously. It is estimated that about 6,000 Russian troops are already in Crimea.