The Pentagon has AGAIN stated the denial of the Climate Crisis is causing danger to the USA.

“Climate change (click here) poses another significant challenge for the United States and the world at large. As greenhouse gas emissions increase, sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are increasing, and severe weather patterns are accelerating.”For sake of context, some members of the U.S. Congress still deny the existence of climate change, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. But the Pentagon’s assessment is that global warming is not only real, but also a civilizational threat, as stated in sobering language in the past three QDRs.

Climate change is not a benign activity of Earth. Climate change is accompanied by severe weather resulting in food, water and housing crisis. Those same crisis are not limited to the USA, but, nations unable to recover from it. When a country is no longer able to care for it's citizens, the sovereignty of the nation falls into question.

Bio (click here)
Christian Parenti has a PhD in sociology (co-supervised in geography) from the London School of Economics and is a Professor in Sustainable Development at The School for International Training Graduate Institute. His latest book, Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence (2011), explores how climate change is already causing violence as it interacts with the legacies of economic neoliberalism and cold-war militarism. The book involved several years of travel and research in conflict zones of the Global South.

It is time to establish a safe confirmation process for minority nominees. The rightwing media is desperate for wedge issues that will turn voters out. We already know they are desperate enough for power to go to any extent. 

The Senate needs to establish rules for minority nominees when they are the subject of hate in the media. It is easy to spot and the nominee can report it as well. But, when it is discovered there is a movement in the media to discredit a minority nominee or a any nominee based in hate and/or lies the Senate should vote in closed session with a sealed ballot to be released in 20 years.

How is the USA ever going to move forward and find equity in government if such sessions are not conducted. It's ridiculous the way the rightwing media preys on these people. These nominees are the best in the country and our national security depends on it.

The House should also consider conducting blind balloting to end the strangle hold Wall Street organizations such as the NRA has on the safety of the people of the country and the economy we build. 

The vote doesn't have to be public in order for lobbyists to do their job and the public to write and advocate their point of view, but, there should not be retribution once the vote is cast, nor should there be power leveraged over the conscience of any member of the House or Senate beyond the beginning of the role call.

There is no law prohibiting closed session voting or withholding the roll call for the benefit of the country. Citizens need to vote for their best interest, not oppressive media hate.

America's history has many distinguished lawyers that weren't afraid to come to the side of those victimized by the law.

It is an absolutely ridiculous idea that lawyers can only be found in offices and courtrooms. That is a caricature and political dogma. Lawyers have passions no different than any other American. The portrayal otherwise is propaganda and not real.

The NAACP needs to file suit against any media outlet that used Debo Adegbile as a wedge issue.

I think it was Rep. Elijah Cummings or the Congressional Black Caucus that pointed out there were African Americans waiting nomination to the judiciary and the Senate hadn't acted on it. I do believe the nominees were targeted politically to defeat their appointments.


 
John Roberts is not a minority.

...However, by excusing Roberts (click here) while admonishing Adegbile, Baier and Krauthammer are conflating the actions of Adegbile's colleague with his own. It was Adegbile's then-colleague at the LDF, Christina Swarns, who was outspoken in her advocacy for Abu-Jamal. The issue of rallies for Mumia Abu-Jamal was raised by GOP senators who questioned Adegbile about them -- however, these senators recognized that it was Swarns, not Adegbile, who attended a rally for Abu-Jamal, where she made comments they found concerning. Adegbile responded that he was "not aware of the context" of remarks Swarns made that day:...

Former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous has been tapped by Kapor Capital in Oakland. Photo: Pat Sullivan, Associated Press 

Joe Garofoli
Updated 6:51 am, Tuesday, March 4, 2014 

Silicon Valley's (click here) newest venture capitalist has social media experience - and a social justice background.
Benjamin Jealous, the former NAACP president responsible for turning around the flagging civil rights institution, will join an Oakland venture capital firm dedicated to socially conscious investing.
His assignment as a venture partner with Kapor Capital and the Kapor Center for Social Impact: create a freeway to the tech world from poor communities of color where now there is little more than a trail. Only 6 percent of U.S. tech workers are African American and 7 percent are Latino; 15 percent are Asian American and 71 percent are non-Hispanic white, according to 2011 census data....

Oh, big deal, Texas secedes every four years. We don't deny them the pleasure.

(Reuters) - Crimea's parliament voted (click here) to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum in 10 days' time in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian region that drew a sharp riposte from U.S. President Barack Obama....

Former Warsaw Pact member, Estonia, is a NATO member as of March 29, 2004.

There needs to be official international forensics to determine who exactly killed the demonstrators in the Maidan. We need the truth regarding the murders. No one is accusing the new leaders, but, the snipers have to be determined to bring about sincere justice to the victims and their families.

Estonia should not be intimidated and cover up any of the information that might exist. The validity of Estonia's statements is important.

The current government has standing by a large majority vote of the existing Rada. The investigation to the killings is not grounds to dissolve a legitimately placed interim government. There are upcoming elections in May.

At this point there is so much evidence to the corruption by Yanukovych and his desire to dissolve the sovereignty of the Ukraine his removal is more than justified by the Rada.

By John Hall
PUBLISHED: 13:14 EST, 5 March 2014 | UPDATED: 04:28 EST, 6 March 2014

Estonia (click here) has confirmed the authenticity of a leaked telephone call between its foreign minister and an EU chief which suggested the sniper killings in Ukraine last month were ordered by the new coalition.
The 11-minute call between the EU's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and her Estonian counterpart Urmas Paet was made on February 25 in the aftermath of the massacre.

During the call, Paet claims a doctor told him both protesters and police were shot by snipers during clashes in Kiev allegedly on the orders of the opposition.

But while the Baltic state acknowledged the audio was genuine, it denied that it had blamed opponents of Ukraine's deposed president for sniper killings during last month's unrest....

Aflame: Protesters were set on fire as they ran through burning barricades to avoid the sniper fire

It is a very stark reality as to what occurred with the demonstrators. It was a very violent attack. There also existed snipers in Kiev for over 24 hours after these attacks. When the sniping in Kiev stopped, the appearance of militias started to appear in the Crimea and then
Donetsk province where Yanukovych was once Governor. These militias are not any part of the national military. Russia calls them defense forces, but, they should not be legitimizing their presence in the country. Quite the contrary, Russia should be asking for their disarmament. To state these are defense forces assails the sovereignty of the Ukraine.

25.02.2014 13:18

Press office of President

Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada №764-VІІ of 23.02.2014 (click here)

On conferring powers of the President of Ukraine on the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada according to article 112 of the Constitution of Ukraine»

Given that President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych withdrew from performing the constitutional powers

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine hereby resolves:

1. To confer the powers of the President of Ukraine on Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Turchynov Oleksandr Valentynovych according to article 112 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

2. The given Resolution shall enter into force upon its adoption.
Chairman of the Verkhovna 

Rada                                                                      О.TURCHYNOV

Biker visit (click here)

Mikhail Klimentyev

The Associated Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks with the leader of Nochniye Volki (the Night Wolves) biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov, also known as Khirurg (the Surgeon), right, as he visits the group's club en route from Sevastopol to Yalta, in the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine, Thursday, July 12, 2012.

Strange bedfellows. Putin actually delayed his arrival for an official state visit with Yanukovych by four hours to meet with this biker club. I think that is odd.
 

Feb 28, 2014 2:42pm

...They were the Russian biker gang, the “Night Wolves.” (click here) They’ve modeled themselves on the Hell’s Angels, and President Putin has been known to don a leather jacket and ride with them.

Its president, Hirurg, had just landed from Moscow and the local Simferopol chapter was there to pick him up (alas, in a car, not on Harleys). Burly and broad-shouldered, Hirurg sported a goatee, sideburns and a friendly — if intimidating — demeanour. “Hirurg” means surgeon in Russian and he said he was an actual surgeon (having watched every season of “Sons of Anarchy,” I was disappointed the name wasn’t for something more dramatic).  

“What’s happening right now in Ukraine is very big for me,” Hirurg said, calling it “humiliation of the Russia population.”

“I want to understand what people here really need to protect them from the fascists,” he added, suggesting it might be even medicine or other humanitarian aid....

Fascists? I think Putin and his buddy likes victimizing Ukrainians. Fascists is hate speech. There are people connected with the Kremlin directly acting to invoke fear and hate. I don't doubt Estonia received information stating the protestors in the Maidan died at the hand of the opposition to Yanukovych, but where did the information come from, a surgeon?

FRIDAY MARCH 14 8P ET / 5P PT

#LIVEFROMSPACE (click here)

National Geographic Channel (click here) is taking viewers around the world—literally—in this spectacular two-hour television event broadcasting LIVE from the International Space Station (ISS) and Mission Control in Houston, Texas. Made in collaboration with NASA, we'll go into orbit with astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata as they fly at 17,500 mph nearly 250 miles above the earth's surface on the International Space Station, while astronaut Mike Massimino joins host Soledad O'Brien on the ground at Mission Control in Houston. From space, Mastracchio and Wakata will give viewers a fully guided tour, showing us how they live for months in microgravity. They’ll conduct never-before-broadcast experiments that demonstrate the real-world value of the science conducted on the floating laboratory. Plus get ready for stunning shots of Earth, from sunset and sunrise, to city lights and green aurora, to lightning storms and shooting stars. You've never seen our planet like this before.

The politics of Russia and the USA are as much a problem as the militias themselves.

Wednesday 5 March 2014  

...If you watched or listened to most Western coverage, (click here) including that of the BBC, you would understand that Viktor Yanukovych defied prevailing Ukrainian sentiment when he accepted a Russian bailout back in November, rather than the association agreement on offer from the EU.

You would also understand that the protesters on the streets of Kiev were representative of Ukraine’s population, exercising their legitimate rights. You would also believe that Mr Yanukovkych was justly toppled....

...If you obtained your information from the Russian media you would believe that the vast majority of those on the streets harboured far-right, Ukrainian ultra-nationalist sympathies. You would accept that many of these protesters were hurling Molotov cocktails and some of them armed. You would know that many of those killed were policemen.

You would believe, further, that Yanukovych was ousted illegally. And you would note that one of the first acts of the post-Yanukovych parliament was to rescind equal recognition for the Russian language in Russian-speaking parts of the country; you would be fearful about what this government would portend....

Words can interpret to actions. Irresponsible words by powerful people can easily lead to global problems. The escalation of the North Korean nuclear program and that of Iran was after the "Axis of Evil" speech. I remember an American reporter, I hesitate to call her a journalist, reported the speech was similar to that of Reagan and the Berlin Wall Speech, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." NOT!

No one bothered to step forward and say, "That was just about the most stupid speech Bush could have given." But, it was and today we are still paying the price for it.

Those responsible for INFORMATION to the public in the USA, Europe and Russia need to stick to the facts and in the Ukraine there are treaties that govern international involvement. The Ukraine should never be used for personal agendas. Escalation of tensions really aren't necessary. Lives hang in the balance. I do believe the World Courts have taken journalists into custody that could not discern their proper place as opposed to promoting hatred and death.

About 64 crackpots, akin to USA Neocons, want to pass a law to eliminate the nation/state requirement from annexing sovereign regions.

Evidently, the crackpots in the Russia Duma that seek political antics over that of governing refuses to realize there are TREATIES that govern all their aggressions. Jerks. Any actions by the Russian Dumbos will result in illegal acts against international law. The Ukrainians need to relax.

Then the rightwing USA politicians state the UN isn't important. Right. Let's just settle everything with bombs. 

Fair Russia (click here) has prepared and submitted to the State Duma an amendment to the 2001 law on formation of new subjects in the Russian Federation.
According to deputy head of the Fair Russia caucus in the State Duma, Mikhail Yemelyanov, the existing law reads that Russian authorities can start such a procedure after reaching an agreement with the state that the newly joining territory was part of. The local authorities from the region must then formally address the Russian President with the request to join. The President consults with both chambers of parliament and in case of agreement submits a federal bill detailing the name and status of the new federal subject as well as other legal formalities. 

Sergey Mironov who leads the "Fair Russia Caucus" states he wants to simply the law and simply allow the wars to begin over sovereign areas of the world.

These jerks give absolutely no forethought to DUMA legislation. He is at least as stupid as most populists in the USA. He simply sees the fact there are militias in the Crimea and all of a sudden it is a good idea to annex the damn land.

I mean, this legislation could cause a global war if instituted. Never once has he given a thought to foreign invasion or any terrorists. Just, simply, "Bring 'em on."

This is the kind of moronic bullshit the USA has to deal with in the world. Is he related to McCain my any chance?

Maybe McCain is planning on defecting and a run for the presidency there.
 
19.09.2013

When Pravda.ru editor, Dmitry Sudakov, (click here) offered to publish my commentary, he referred to me as "an active anti-Russian politician for many years." I'm sure that isn't the first time Russians have heard me characterized as their antagonist. Since my purpose here is to dispel falsehoods used by Russia's rulers to perpetuate their power and excuse their corruption, let me begin with that untruth. I am not anti-Russian. I am pro-Russian, more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today....

See. Pro-Russia. Then ya have to wonder about this whole gun thing with the GOP.

"From my (c)old dead hands."

The Conservative (click here) Political Action Conference is an annual, insular gathering for Republicans to talk amongst themselves about the evils of big government and their ideas for fixing it. It's a multi-day festival of dogmatic red meat — "Abolish the IRS!" — in which GOP lawmakers and luminaries rile up the party base and tout their conservative cred.

Here, a representative picture from this year's gathering:...

It is not even an original NRA slogan. They plagiarized it from  a 1976 report from the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency: "I Will Give Up My Gun When They Peel My Cold Dead Fingers From Around It."

Google Books:

Handgun crime control, 1975-1976: (click here) hearings before the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-fourth Congress, first session, pursuant to S. Res. 72, section 12 ... oversight of 1968 Gun control act ...

For me the slogan brings all kinds of imagery, like police tape and militias in the Ukraine.

I realize US Rep. Elijah Cummings tries to maintain a civilized demeanor in all the hearings he is involved, but, there comes a time when he needs to examine ethics violations.

The problem goes beyond the meeting yesterday.

Issa is removing public information. It is a cover-up to implicate the President. Issa's actions are highly unethical and goes beyond politics.

Jun 18, 2013

FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT (click here)

Manager Denies Republican Claims of White House Involvement or Political Motivation

Washington, DC (June 18, 2013)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, as the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released to Members of Congress and the American public the full transcript of an interview with an IRS Screening Group Manager in Cincinnati who provided a detailed account of how Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status were first identified by the IRS.  The Manager, a self-identified “conservative Republican” and 21-year veteran of the IRS, denies that he or anyone on his team was directed by the White House to take these actions or that they were politically motivated.
You may read the transcript on the Committee website by clicking here.

The address is:  http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5936:first-hand-account-cummings-releases-full-transcript-of-conservative-republican-irs-manager-explaining-genesis-of-tea-party-screening-&catid=3:press-releases&Itemid=49

And this is what is posted now.

I would hope so. Who needs terrorists in the USA?

Oh, they aren't suicide bombers. So, that means they aren't terrorists? These are not the Ukraine national military. What would any reasonable person call them?

WASHINGTON March 6, 2014 (AP)

By JULIE PACE and LARA JAKES 

Associated Press 

The Obama administration (click here) slapped new visa restrictions Thursday against pro-Russian opponents to the new Ukraine government in Kiev, and cleared the way for upcoming financial sanctions, as the West began punishing Moscow for refusing to withdraw its troops from Ukraine's Crimea region.

The new restrictions targeted an unspecified and unidentified number of people and entities that the Obama administration accused of threatening Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial borders. They were announced in Washington as Secretary of State John Kerry headed into a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Rome on the sidelines of a diplomatic forum about Libya....

The most infamous military coup was the beginning of the impetus to WWII.

February 27, 2012, 4:03 am

On Feb. 27, 1933, (click here) the Reichstag building in Berlin, home to German parliament, was set ablaze. In the Feb. 28 New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Frederick T. Birchall reported: “The great glass-ceilinged chamber in which parliamentary sessions are held was completely burned out, the cupola surmounting the building directly above the glass ceiling of the chamber was burned through and rendered so insecure that it appeared early this morning that it might fall at any moment.”...

...It is believed that Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, who had been elected chancellor one month earlier, used the fire to create a climate of fear and consolidate power....

We finally get the truth. What about the unspoken truth?

The first words out of Jim DeMint's mouth regarding charter schools was, "The big teacher unions...blah, blah, blah."

DeMint claims he was one of the persons that sponsored a bill called, "A PLUS Act" 

H.R. 2514 (112^th): A PLUS Act (click here)

This legislation allows the dissolution of any educational structure at the state level to eliminate public education all together. 

The American Federation of Teachers (click here) strongly supports charter schools that embody the core values of public education and a democratic society: equal access for all students, especially students with special needs and English language learners; high academic standards; accountability to parents and the public; a commitment to helping all public schools improve; and a commitment to the employees' right to freely choose union representation.... 

Charter schools remove the democratic principle that all children are entitled to educations that lead to the ability of upward movement. Charter schools do not give every student the same chance and are anti-democratic no matter how open their processes are. Charter schools ELIMINATE students that can attend, they do not have open enrollments.

Published Online: March 4, 2014

Published in Print: March 5, 2014

U.S. Outlines Data-Privacy Guidelines

'Summit' tackles challenges (click here)

 

By Benjamin Herold

Washington 

Seeking to help schools protect students' privacy without inhibiting the use of digital technologies in the classroom, the U.S. Department of Education released new guidance last week on the proper use, storage, and security of the massive amounts of data being generated by new, online educational resources.
"This can't be a choice between privacy and progress," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told a gathering of privacy advocates and ed-tech leaders who gathered for a "summit" on the hot-button issue....

The intense political rhetoric of the rightwing is effecting the education environment of the student. Those most qualified to speak to our educational system are often ignored and/or oppressed from recognition of their credentials and expertise.

When Education Is But a Test Score (click here)

By Michael V. McGill 

Published Online: March 4, 2014 

Published in Print: March 5, 2014

...But reality is more complicated than the stereotype. People are people, and Scarsdale residents display an encouraging range of views on almost every subject you can imagine. One thing they do agree on is the importance of education. The school district was a model of progressive practice in the early 1900s, and it's always cut somewhat against the grain....

...Because colleagues in other districts tell me that there, as here, too many teachers are worrying about their new state-imposed, essentially meaningless, evaluation scores. Everywhere, there's more talk about prepping for tests. (One Scarsdale teacher just spent $200 of her own money on test-prep materials. And that's where the school board says, "Give children a deep, rich education, and let the numbers take care of themselves.") This distorted emphasis is diverting time and energy from the good work we're all supposed to be doing....

..."It's hard to argue with your results," they say, "so you can be vocal. If we speak up, our state education departments and the newspapers will say we're just making excuses, and they'll crucify us."
 
Meanwhile, the reforms grind relentlessly onward.

How did we get here? It's been nearly 31 years since "A Nation at Risk" (click here) ushered in the modern school reform movement. Apocalyptic language notwithstanding, the report was a relatively moderate call for change along largely traditional lines: higher standards, better curricula, more time in school, and stronger teaching.

We are still plagued with the Bush Years of corporate takeover of public education. While New York State recently passed legislation that charter schools must be non-profit, that hasn't eliminated the basic business model being imposed on our public educations and ultimate our students. The children should all be computers, ya know? It would be better for business in the long run if they can simply perform to standards that work for Wall Street.

Business leaders and government officials have chosen to pursue a more radical agenda instead. Inaccurately characterizing public education as a mass failure, they've embarked on a sweeping crusade to transform the system by applying business-management methods to schools. The three pillars of what's been called "corporate reform"—accountability, the use of "metrics," and competition—have produced charter schools, high-stakes testing, teacher rankings, and an obsession with numbers....

...While that's the theory, the model all too often produces absurd results—state tests longer than the bar exam, for instance—and unsettling human stories, such as special-needs children being forced to take tests they'll never pass....

In 1976 there were 3.6 million students with disabilities, today there is double that. Those students will never have a chance to prove they are as capable in achieving as other students. I have a son that not only finished high school on schedule, but, with a good GPA. He achieved that on his own in school with proper supportive structure I had to advocate for all his young life. He now owns his own business and is raising a family. He is happy and productive and very much has political opinions as well.

If I never advocated for my son and demanded his support within his 'main stream' education, he would have dropped out of school at the first opportunity. 

He was successful because the professional teaching infrastructure was successful. His achievement was their achievement and they never let him down. The support for my young son spanned more than one school district and more than one state as my work occasionally moved. Never once did I find any one professional more qualified or more dedicated than any other any time they longed for his success. Their qualifications and dedication was incredibly standard and committed. That reality is an amazing testament to the educational infrastructure of this country. He graduated from high school not quite two decades ago. 

Oh, one other thing. His growing pains were normal as his friends were that of main stream classes. He was not isolated into a 'special classroom.'  

...Recently, there's been pushback. In Texas last spring, more than 800 school boards signed a petition to cut back on testing that was taking 45 of the 180 days in the school year. In Connecticut, New Mexico, New York state, Washington state, and elsewhere, growing numbers of parents have had their children opt out of state exams. New York City's new mayor and schools chancellor plan to reduce the emphasis on high-stakes standardized tests....

The truth is testing is a corporate practice for profit.

 November 29, 2012
 By: Matthew M. Chingos

...This new report by Matthew Chingos (click here) fills this void by providing the most current, comprehensive evidence on state-level costs of assessment systems, based on new data from state contracts with testing vendors assembled by the Brown Center on Education Policy.  These data cover a combined $669 million in annual spending on assessments in 45 states....

For all the crying and carrying on by the Republicans in the 2012 debates, the Republican congress under Bush increased the spending for the DOE and incorporated their corporate friends in 'the take.'

When Congress increased this year's budget for the Department of Education by$11 billion, (click here) it set aside $400 million to help states develop and administer the tests that the No Child Left Behind Act mandated for children in grades 3 through 8. Among the likely benefactors of the extra funds were the four companies that dominate the testing market -- three test publishers and one scoring firm.

Those four companies are Harcourt Educational Measurement, CTB McGraw-Hill, Riverside Publishing (a Houghton Mifflin company), and NCS Pearson. According to an October 2001 report in the industry newsletter Educational Marketer, Harcourt, CTB McGraw-Hill, and Riverside Publishing write 96 percent of the exams administered at the state level. NCS Pearson, meanwhile, is the leading scorer of standardized tests.

Even if the entire country demands charter schools to be non-profit that will never impact the testing industry. Teacher Unions are simply scapegoats to divert attention from robbing the American taxpayer once again. While testing may have been receiving some attention, it would never have achieved it's profits it enjoys today if "No Child Left Behind" was never passed.

May 04, 2007
Pearson, (click here) the international education and information company, today announces that it has agreed to acquire Harcourt Assessment and Harcourt Education International from Reed Elsevier for $950m in cash.
The acquisition extends Pearson's position as the world's leading education company by adding international reach, complementary products and new capabilities. The transaction does not include Harcourt's US School basal and supplementary publishing businesses.
In testing, Harcourt Assessment has an extensive catalogue of high quality research-based education and clinical assessment products for children and adults....

Russia conveniently forgets the former administration resigned their offices.

I do believe the corruption is obvious and any suspicions are now validated. The national military can't even defend the country at this point. The militias speak eons to the level of hatred these men had of the people of the Ukraine. They wanted their own universe of wealth and cared little about any democracy. The militias are proof they had no commitment to a democracy. The Oligarch militias were to oppress any democratic processes.

Ukraine's prim minister Mykola Azarov submitted his resignation this morning amid continuing political protests in the capital Kiev

 

28 January 2014  

Last updated at 12:54 ET 

 

...Mr Azarov (click here) was deeply unpopular with the opposition, who accused him of mismanaging the economy and failing to tackle corruption.

Their antipathy towards him grew after the protests started in November, when he described demonstrators as extremists and was also seen as being responsible for the use of force by police.
Parliament - holding an emergency debate on the crisis - voted by 361 to two to repeal the protest legislation, which among other measures banned the wearing of helmets by protesters and the blockading of public buildings....

That is a very good idea. It will limit their ability to escalate violence.

What is the chance Yanukovich returned to the Crimea? That was my first thought when I realized the UN representative was threatened and left the country. Yanukovich is afraid of the UN. He would hide from anyone connected with the UN. 

If the militia in the Crimea were able to extricate any global personnel capable of reporting events to a larger community Yanukovich might return to the Crimea. I think that is where he left from. It might be that Russia is getting up to speed about the entanglements of Yanukovich and rather not have him within Moscow for political reasons alone. Russia's economy has leveled out after the scare at Wall Street, President Putin and the Foreign Minister would do anything to prevent another round of that.

A woman looks at flowers left at a memorial for protesters killed in clashes with police at Kiev's Independence Square in Ukraine. (Emilio Morenatti, AP / March 6, 2014)

By Henry Chu

March 6, 2014, 2:02 a.m.

LONDON – The European Union has frozen the assets of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, two of his sons and more than a dozen advisors who it says are responsible for stealing state funds.

Announcement of the blacklist Thursday came as leaders of the EU’s 28 member countries gathered for an emergency summit in Brussels to try to forge a tough common response to Russia’s incursion into the Crimea.

Most of the 18 individuals affected by the asset freeze are members of Yanukovich’s inner circle who were involved in the bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters in Kiev. The blacklist includes the former head of the security service, prosecutor general, justice minister and officials with the department of internal affairs....