If Russia is going to propagandize the United Nation's decisions, it better have a clean record.

Published time: March 18, 2014 01:54 
 
"We are bewildered (click here) and cannot conceive the biased, prejudiced and nonobjective assessment by Simonovic of the human rights situation in this country [Ukraine]," reads statement issued by the ministry on Monday.

Russian diplomats were indignant with the fact that the UN aide “only softly admonished a little group of politicians [in Kiev] for kindling hatred”, while at the same time expressed much graver concern with human rights situation in Crimea.

“The high-ranking UN official preferred not to notice killings, mass reprisals, torture, kidnappings, attacks on journalists and human rights advocates, arrests for political motives, blatant outbreaks of obviously racist - including anti-Russian and anti-Semitic - nature, which happen either on orders or with silent consent of the people who seized power in Kiev,” the Foreign Ministry said....

Now, Russia can feel equally treated of the Bush/Cheney administration when it was revealed they were committing torture. Welcome to the Torture Club, Russia and the ridicule that goes with it.

12 March 2014
Russia: Psychiatric incarceration verdict coming up for review (click here)
An appeal against a ruling to commit Mikhail Kosenko - potentially indefinitely - to forcible psychiatric treatment will be heard by a Moscow court tomorrow, following his arrest for participation in a protest action.
Amnesty International is monitoring his trial. The organization’s spokespeople are available for interviews.
“The decision the court takes tomorrow could endorse a Soviet-era practice of silencing dissent with the help of psychiatric medicine, incarcerating an innocent man, potentially indefinitely,”  said Sergei Nikitin, Director of Amnesty International’s Moscow Office....

Ya think?

Following decisions by the Russian Federation Supreme Court, four asylum-seekers are still at risk of extradition from Russia to Kyrgyzstan, where they are at a real risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

On 25 February the Russian Federation Supreme Court (click here) ruled to overturn the November 2013 decision of St Petersburg City Court to cancel Murodil Tadzhibayev’s extradition to Kyrgyzstan. Additionally, in an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court ordered his immediate extradition.

Murodil Tadzhibayev had been released from detention in November 2013 following the lower court’s decision to cancel his extradition to Kyrgyzstan. 

However, the Prosecutor General’s Office had appealed the decision at the Russian Federation Supreme Court. On 27 February his lawyers applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). On 28 February it issued an order for interim measures under Rule 39 requiring the Russian authorities not to extradite or otherwise involuntarily remove Murodil Tadzhibayev to Kyrgyzstan pending the Court’s full determination of his complaint. On 25 February the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the lower court in the case of Botir Turgunov to extradite him. On 20 February his lawyers applied to the ECtHR and it issued an order for interim measures under Rule 39. Botir Turgunov has been detained in a pre-trial detention centre in St Petersburg.... 

By Agence France-Presse
Monday, February 3, 2014 14:46 EDT

A Russian court (click here) on Monday detained for 15 days a leading environmental critic of the Sochi Olympic Games, ostensibly for “swearing” in a public place, his ecological group said.
Yevgeny Vitishko, a geologist and activist with the group Environmental Watch on the Northern Caucasus (EWNC), has been one of the most vehement critics of the damage to the environment caused by the Sochi Olympics....

Yevgeniy Vitishko (click here) will be imprisoned for three years if his appeal hearing fails. He did not receive a fair trial and his defence team believe the severity of the charges against him and the resulting sentence were politically motivated.

 Yevgeniy Vitishko was originally sentenced to three years imprisonment in June 2012, charged with damaging a fence in November 2011, but this sentence was reduced to a two year suspended sentence. The fence had been

erected in an area of protected forest in Krasnodar Region of Russia. Yevgeniy Vitishko and other local environmental activists asserted that the fencing and construction on the fenced territory were illegal, and their intentions were to document these violations. They bent down two sections of the fence to witness destruction of rare protected trees and the unlawful construction of a building behind it, and sprayed graffiti on it....

Published on January 27, 2014 
Charles Digges

...Uselessness of the case (click here)
The case is this: In 2012, as part of a campaign to illuminate illegal construction of enormous, gaudy summer homes in the Sochi area for Russia’s political elite, Vitishko and his friend and EWNC colleague Suren Gazaryan, held a 12-person demonstration near a construction fence in the protected territory of the Western Caucasus National Park....

14 March 2014

Disappeared activists in Crimea (click here)

Three activists disappeared on the night of 13 March in the Crimean capital, Simferopol. On 14 March, Amnesty International spoke with the father of AutoMaydan activist, Oleksiy Gritsenko, who disappeared together with fellow activists, Natalya Lukyanchenko and Sergiy Suprun. The three activists had been in the region since last week. 

Oleksiy Gritsenko’s father confirmed to Amnesty International that there has been no contact with any of them since 11pm on 13 March, following a call from Natalya Lukyanchenko to fellow activists to say that that their car was being chased by vehicles and shots had been fired at them. 

Two of the activists’ mobile phones have been traced to the vicinity of Simferopol’s military commissariat, which is being guarded by military officers in unmarked uniforms. The officers deny that they are holding them. The activists’ car is also missing. 

Amnesty International is calling on the Crimean authorities to immediately locate Oleksiy Gritsenko, Natalya Lukyanchenko and Sergiy Suprun and secure their immediate and unconditional release....

It is really unbecoming a country when they are two faced and pretend their 
faux reality is deserving of legitimacy. Human beings have a right to their lives free of fear of torture, capture or relocation because they disagree with
their government. Victimizing innocent people incapable of violence themselves isn't going to legitimize Russia's wrongful invasion into the Ukraine. 

Women? Defenseless women? 

On 9 March photographe

Oles Kromplyas, journalist (click here) Olena Maksymenko and their driver Eugene Oles = Kromplyas, journalist Olena Maksymenko and their driver Eugene Rakhno disappeared after being stopped at a checkpoint, reportedly

manned by riot police officers and armed, plain clothed masked men without

any identifiable insignia. The armed men, who claimed to be from Crimea’s 

“self-defence”forces, had guns and knives. Their colleague, journalist  Oleksiy 

Byk, was in a separate vehicle with his brother, aresident of Crimea.

Oleksiy Byk told Amnesty International that he also saw two women kneeling in front of their car with their hands tied. Surrounded by piles of clothing, papers and notebooks, the women were crying. Oleksiy Byk said he could 

hear the armed men threatening them. The women were later identified by

their car license plate as Oleksandra Ryazantseya and Kateryna Butko, 

both AutoMaydan activists from the Kyiv-based group that organized

automobile protest actions during the EuroMaydan demonstrations. Kateryna Butko is the group’s press secretary and Oleksiy Byk said he saw that she 

was wearing a press badge identifying her as a journalist. At 4pm Oleksiy

Byk and his brother were allowed to leave, due to the brother’s residency in Crimea. When they returned 30 minutes later their colleagues’ car and the armed men were gone. However Oleksiy Byk said he could still see the

two women kneeling, still with their hands tied, in front of a military tent in the distance. Oleksiy Byk and his brother left and immediately contacted Ukrainian media.... 

This is Russia's precious Crimea under the influence of a militia. Nice, real nice.

What was his crime, being alive and making a living? 

Missing driver who was taking three journalists to Crimea

By: Lesya Kokhanovska
Published 11.03.2014

...There were two girls (click here) – Automaidan activists – in one car. 
Oleksiy saw their stuff thrown out of the car; they were bringing letters to Ukrainian soldiers, some food, Ukrainian symbolics, flags, and other things to Crimea. Also, according to his testimony, from afar it looked as if the girls were beaten up and their arms were tied, they were crying. Later their car was pulled away from the road, and the girls were taken in the unknown direction. After this accident around 16:00 the connection with them was lost.
Ukrainska Pravda found out that Kateryna Butko and Oleksandra Ryazantseva are in Berkut camp. According to the information of Automaidan representatives, “Crimea self-defense” is ready to let them go, but Berkut doesn’t agree to it.
Later Oleksandra Ryazantseva’s father was informed that she and Butko are taken to Sevastopol to the headquarters of Black Sea Fleet of Russian Federation.
Also a couple of people disappeared from the other car: freelance photojournalist Oles’ (his last name is unknown) and one more journalist. The driver of the car Jeep Wrangler with license plate AE 9115 ЄВ, with the group of journalists, disappeared too....

Students at South Conway Elementary School practice taking cover in the hallways during the statewide tornado drill, Tuesday, March 4, 2014, in Conway, S.C. (AP Photo/The Sun News, Charles Slate)

Local print out (Myrtle Beach Herald out, horry indendent out, Carolina Forest Chronicle, Georgetown Times out.) 

Sunday, March 16, 2014 - 10:31pm 
By Lee Shearer

We’re nearing the peak time (click here) of year for tornadoes in Georgia, so we asked three tornado experts what we should know.
Here’s what University of Georgia faculty members Marshall Shepherd, John Knox and David Stooksbury said.
1. Tornadoes can happen at any time of the year. But there are some times when they’re more frequent than others in Georgia, particularly in March and April. There’s also a smaller uptick in tornado activity in November and December, and a third maximum between April and September, when tropical storms can spawn tornadoes in Georgia and the Southeast....

By Newsroom America Feeds 
16 Mar 10:05

WW 31 Tornado Al Fl Ga CW 161400z - 162200z (click here)

Urgent - Immediate broadcast requested Tornado Watch Number 31 NWS storm predictino center Norman Ok 900 AM CDT March 16 2014.

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a *Tornado Watch Number for portions of southeast Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, Southwest Georgia Coastal Waters * Effective this Sunday Morning and Afternoon from 900 AM until 5 PM CDT....

Six years ago a tornado caused widespread destruction in the Orangeburg County town of Branchville. (click here)

Daniel Bonds WLTX 5:27 p.m. EDT March 15, 2014

Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- Six years ago a tornado caused widespread destruction in the Orangeburg County town of Branchville.
The Ides of March tornado outbreak in 2008 is a storm residents of the town will never forget.

Last year in an interview with News 19, Branchville Mayor Glenn Miller said, "It was almost like a war zone."

Miller never expected the damage to be so bad in his town.

"I can clearly remember because it was my birthday. We were out in the yard and just walking around with friends. There was no warning," he said.
On March 15th of 2008, an EF-3 tornado ripped through the town causing $1.7 million in damage. Branchville's auditorium, town hall, and a couple of businesses were also leveled.

"It was just a mess here," said Miller....

It doesn't appear the tornado season is waiting in the south. The tornadoes are not dependent on any retreat of a polar vortex. They have been and are dependent on the mixing of warm and cold air in a violent matter that spawns vorticity.

March 14
The Wichita Eagle
 

The lingering “polar vortex” (click here) is getting tornado season off to a quiet start, but weather officials say they expect a surge of violent weather once the cold air finally retreats... 

Tornadoes in February: Yes, They Happen. Don't Underestimate the Threat (click here)

 

By Jon Erdman  

Published: Feb 19, 2014, 4:36 PM EST  

weather.com

 

...February Can Be Tornadic

 

As you can see in the bar graph at right, the average U.S. tornado count in February is the third lowest of any month, statistically a wash with both January and December. 

No rocket science here, right? Winter's cold tends to dominate the central and eastern U.S., squashing warm, humid air into the southern Gulf of Mexico or even the Caribbean Sea.

But the average monthly tornado counts aren't zero, either. 

In the winter months, when a vigorous jet-stream disturbance swings across the nation's South, Ohio Valley, or East, with cold air near the surface either in retreat or absent, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes can flare up....

Strike 3. Oil slick, floating debris and no communications from anyone.

March 18, 2014 - 11:23AM
Keith Bradsher 

Sepang, Malaysia: When hijackers took control (click here) of four planes on September 11, 2001, and sent them hurtling low across the countryside towards New York and Washington, frantic passengers and flight attendants turned on their mobile phones and began making calls to loved ones, airline managers and the authorities.

But when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 did a wide U-turn in the middle of the night over the Gulf of Thailand and then spent nearly half an hour swooping over two large Malaysian cities and various towns and villages, there was apparently silence. As far as investigators have been able to determine, there have been no phone calls, Twitter or Weibo postings, Instagram photos or any other communication from anyone aboard the aircraft since it was diverted.

There has been no evidence ''of any number they're trying to contact, but anyway they are still checking and there are millions of records for them to process'', Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, chief executive of Malaysia Airlines, said at a news conference on Monday....

I've been waiting for this one.

 

March 18, 2014 - 10:05AM
Kylie McLaughlin

There has been an unprecedented increase in turbulence (click here) involving aircraft in Australia.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said turbulence has doubled over the three-month period between October to December 2013, compared to the previous three months, significantly above the 5-year historical average.
Turbulence is the leading cause of in-flight injuries, and an increase directly affects the safety of cabin passengers.

But the ATSB cannot speculate as to why this is happening, according to Dr Stuart Godley, head of the ATSB’s Aviation Research Team.

“During the last five years there has been an increase in reporting, particularly from cabin crew, about an increase in turbulence, but we don’t know why this is occurring,” he said.

“Because they are weather-related, these events are cyclical.

“We’re used to seeing more of them in summer, but this increase is unprecedented.”

Turbulence is caused by the irregular movement of air, and often cannot be seen....

Has anyone hear about this new cloud formation being considered for classification?

When I traveled to Iceland there were vortexes in the North Atlantic spinning on a daily basis. The way Iceland Air overcame that reality to their airspace was to fly with their engines wide open.  They also have a young fleet, but, I thought Quantas was, too. I haven't flow in a few years so I can't really speak to it as accurately as others can.

This might help explain why USA jets are falling apart on the runway.

By Bob Jones

5:30 AM Tuesday Mar 18, 2014

...I was there with family and friends (click here) for our annual Aspen ski trip. We go there because it has the world's best skiing with virtually empty ski-fields. But, by God, we pay a price. This last trip was typical. My various family members all agreed to meet at the lodge on Saturday. Most made it while others, for reasons of airline incompetence, finally turned up on Sunday....

...There we sat for two hours after the departure time. At 10-minute intervals the desk clerk announced we would be boarding in five minutes. Eventually I confronted her and received the frequently experienced explanation, namely they couldn't find the flight crew, for a scheduled flight.

After two hours they did and off we went, I ensuring my children rejected the rubbish they were offered (this in first-class) which they alleged was food. As my eldest daughter later remarked, if they were stranded on a deserted island she would allow her children to eat the cardboard box but absolutely not its contents. We fly first-class solely to avoid the several hours waiting in queues, standard for US airports. Then a week later came departure and again the standard Aspen airport experience. Bear in mind this is the wealthiest city in America, its economy based on tourism with an airport about the size of Rotorua's, which is quite adequate assuming New Zealand efficiency.

On arrival several hundred people were cramming the building and spilling on to the street. Some had been there four hours. Why? They didn't have anyone to unload arriving flights, let alone load departing ones. As their loudspeaker system, like everything else, wasn't working, periodically a massively obese young woman would shove her way through the throngs, shrieking announcements about the delays.

After four hours we boarded and waited for an hour while they tried to find the flight crew. Eventually they did but another hour elapsed while we waited for the ambling oaf they'd mustered up to load the passengers' bags. I asked the despairingly apologetic air hostess how often she sat on the ground because they couldn't find the crew. Several times each week she assured me.
In Los Angeles we had our eighth passport check and finally reached the refuge of Air New Zealand's lounge. But it was staffed by American girls who took my issued boarding passes because they said, they'd "like to reissue them for their records". And so they did, with us all in the same seat. It's typical.

I spoke to an Auckland businessman who frequently travels throughout America selling a specialist computer service. Avoid United, he told me, this being America's largest airline. But, he added, what we suffer each year he experiences everywhere there on a different plane. He visits numerous factories and without exception, he said, they're light years behind in their technology....

It is amazing. There really is a delusional American presence in the world. Considering the USA politicians rely on their popular jargon to carry out war, this gets pretty scarey.

...I first went to the Soviet Union in the 1960s and thereafter was drawn back regularly through fascination at its horrors. But it was never as inept as modern America. My first US visit was more than 40 years ago. Then it was the height of efficiency. But over the past decade it has all gone wrong. I can only speculate why. As elsewhere, President Obama has been going on about the wealth gap. America is a great country but a tough place to be if on the bottom, with mediocre wages leading to widespread incompetence, which I suspect is the source of their problems.

Indeed.

I realize India would be nervous about the reality of a stolen 777, but, the USA would take that concern seriously.

10:36 AM Tuesday Mar 18, 2014 

...But today, (click here) the transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said: "The last ACARS transmission was 1.07am. It was supposed to transmit at 1.37am but that never happened." Therefore no conclusion can be drawn that the last voice transmission, at 1.19am, took place after the shutdown began....

The last ACARS transmission occurred at 1.07am.

The last voice transmission occurred at 1.19 am.

There was suppose to be an ACARS transmission at 1.37 am. 

That 1.37 am transmission did not occur. 

...Meanwhile, The Independent has learnt that Malaysian authorities are seeking diplomatic permission to investigate a theory that the plane was flown to one of a number of Taliban strongholds on the border of Afghanistan and North West Pakistan....

There should be no trouble in checking Afghanistan and Pakistan for a large 777 jet. I would find it very odd that a 777 could land anywhere near an airport or landing strip in Afghanistan or Pakistan without the USA military noticing it.

Sympathies to the families for their current suffering. Hope may still exist, but, I find it remote. 

The Chinese image was spot on in location of the jet.

How close to the same location of the missing plane are these images?

I don't believe the pilots had any motive and the idea that one was an opposition enthusiast is a sales job. I don't know why Malaysia is lying about the pilot's political preference, but, it is a mainstream political party.








 KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 (Reuters) - Malaysian police (click here) are investigating a flight engineer who was among the passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane as they focus on the pilots and anyone else on board who had technical flying knowledge, a senior police official said.

The aviation engineer is Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat, 29, a Malaysian who has said on social media he had worked for a private jet charter company.

"Yes, we are looking into Mohd Khairul as well as the other passengers and crew. The focus is on anyone else who might have had aviation skills on that plane," a senior police official with knowledge of the investigations told Reuters....

If the plane was hijacked and is heading to a region of the world in question to security problems, I doubt it went to Antarctica. 

The 777-300ER (click here) extends the 777 family's span of capabilities, bringing twin-engine efficiency and reliability to the long-range market. The airplane carries 365 passengers up to 7,930 nautical miles (14,685 km).

14,695 kilometers is equivalent to 9124.8 miles. That is a very long distance. Somalia is 3840.11 miles from Malaysia. Madagascar is 4,067 from Malaysia.

Given the fact there is very little information to implicate anyone piloting or riding in that Boeing 777 it appears more a wild goose chase quite frankly. 

This idea of terrorism and diverting the jet for purposes unknown fits into political dialogue in Malaysia and the USA. So, while the danger and question actually existed the possibility the jet is still some where and the passengers alive is remote. I hope I am wrong, but, I don't think so.

I think the oil slick and the floating pieces found by China seems too odd to believe they aren't related.

I am going out to enjoy St. Patrick's Day, but, something noteworthy is important.

It is my opinion and that of others that Russia actually tried to oppress the government of the United States of America.

March 14, 2014
By Matt Phillips

We’re looking at you, Russia.(click here)

Somebody just yanked $105 billion dollars worth of US government bonds out of the Federal Reserve, according to the latest data from the US central bank....

The fluctuations in the market after Russia got stupid about the Crimea and investors didn't know which end was up was brought on by Russia itself. The USA had nothing to do with that. But, this? This is a deliberate attempt to oppress the decision making in the White House regarding it's opposition to Russian occupation of the Crimean peninsula. 

It may mean nothing to the USA and just a blip on the radar screen, but, it is a hostile act.

It isn't a huge deal, but, the bonds were pulled from the custody of the Federal Reserve. It wasn't a rational decision based in financial stability, it was sent as a signal to the USA and the world.

By PETER BAKER

MARCH 17, 2014

...“We’re making it clear (click here) there are consequences for these actions,” Mr. Obama said in a televised statement in the White House briefing room on Monday morning. “The international community will continue to stand together to oppose any violations of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity.”...

I am proud of my President for all the right reasons. It isn't nationalism either. It is about being moral human beings that believe in the capacity of people to decide the path of their country. It is about being civilized and not bigoted. 

I can't tell you how much Russia has disappointed me in their actions regarding the Ukraine. It cannot even move outside it's own bias to see the corruption that existed with the Yanukovych administration. He made the Ukraine a dangerous place to live. That is a human rights violation. A person's country should not be booby trapped with militias to kill them in a moment's notice.

It is astounding to me in the year 2014, the old world communists are still fighting the Cold War which ended a long time ago. Russia has a lot of work to do on it's own people and their movement in to the real world of 2014 and beyond. I mean. There are private companies seeking to accomplish SPACE TOURISM. There is no room for missiles in the 21st century. The Crimea and The West are the least of Russia's problems.

Russians can't be this stupid about reality.

This is what Russians are proud of, nuclear annihilation? That's a shame. Obviously, what Boris doesn't really speak to is the IBM Treaty. I mean even FOX knows that exists.

Boris isn't stand up comedy for Russia, right?

11:00AM GMT 17 Mar 2014

Prominent Russian TV host Dmitry Kiselyov, (click here) has said in a broadcast that "Russia is the only country in the world able to turn the USA into radioactive ashes". His inflammatory words are a step-up from the flurry of diplomatic discussions regarding the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Standing in the studio, in front of an image of a large mushroom cloud and the words "Into radioactive ashes", Dmitry Kiselyov's news report sends a worrying message to the US. The report was broadcast as Crimea went to the polls to vote in the referendum, which has so far indicated that over 96 per cent of Crimeans want to re-join Russia. Kiselyov is well-known as the voicepiece of the Russian government and, as a loyalist to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is also no stranger to acid diatribes against the West... 

This is where Boris is getting his propaganda. The US has been holding military exercises in the area of North Korea. Of course, Russia is not that far away. "Dead Hand" is an old soviet term used during the Cold War for nuclear war.

I would not call the military exercises near North Korea minor either. North Korea has some submarines. I think it about six or so. They have been a source of concern of the region since the new leader took over.

The map? North Korea, China and Russia are in the same neighborhood. Just thought I'd mention that.

By Sam Kim Mar 2, 2014 9:52 PM ET

North Korea fired two short-rangeballistic missiles (click here) after it launched four into the sea off its eastern coast last week, escalating tensions as the U.S. and South Korea entered the second week of joint military drills.
The two missiles were fired shortly past 6 a.m. local time today and had a range of at least 500 kilometers (310 miles), South Korea’s Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min Seok said at a briefing. He called the launches “a provocative act of saber-rattling.”
The six launches since Feb. 27 coincide with annual U.S.- South Korean military drills that draw thousands of American troops from abroad. They also came ahead of March 9 elections in North Korea, the first parliamentary ballot since leader Kim Jong Un took power in 2011...

This is not a major news service, but, it was interesting enough considering Japan and the US don't find missile launches a minor act of aggression. There is a chance these subs defected, but, unless there is an accounting of them somewhere, they are most likely simply gone.
 
Submitted by Tyler Durden
04/03/2013 18:36 -0400

Chosun TV (click here) is reporting that South Korean military have lost contact with two North Korean submarines that left their naval base in Hwanghae Province a few days ago. There has obviously been a lot of changes between last week and now and South Korean military officials suggested that while maneuvers in February were nothing meaningful, now it is provocation. The two 'torpedo' subs are small 130-ton, 30-meter, 10-man machines that can stay submerged for three-to-four days.   Click image below for link   Embed may not be working... 

See, the White House has been busy, but, the media is more content (for political purposes) would rather call him weak. To think otherwise means you pay attention. The drones may be scratching the surface.

North Korea has been rumbling it's war engines for the last month or so.

North Korea fires 25 short-range and obsolete rockets: South Korea (click here) 
March 16, 2014
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired 10 short-range missiles into the sea off the east of the Korean peninsula on Sunday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified government officials in South Korea.
Yonhap said the missiles flew for 70 km (45 miles) before splashing into the sea.
North Korea is not banned from short-range missile launches under U.N. sanctions and frequently tests its arsenal....

The Washington Post has an interesting video.

By Associated Press 
Updated: Monday, March 17, 6:45 AM

PYONGYANG, North Korea — China’s top negotiator (click here) on North Korea’s nuclear programs has arrived in Pyongyang.
No details of the purpose of the trip, which began Monday, were immediately announced by North Korea or China....

...Wu Dawei is the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs and has previously chaired rounds of six-nation talks in Beijing which bring together North and South Korea, China, the U.S., Japan and Russia for negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions....

Kyodo News International 
March 17, 2014 9:18am

...Wu and his delegation (click here) arrived in Pyongyang also for the first time since the execution in December of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's once-powerful uncle, who had close ties with China....

The former North Korean regime was reviewed by the UN.

Published : 2014-03-17 22:03
Updated : 2014-03-17 22:03

The crimes of North Korea's regime (click here) are as chilling as those of the Nazis, South Africa's apartheid regime or Cambodia's Khmer Rouge and must be stopped, the head of a U.N. inquiry said Monday.

"Contending with the great scourges of Nazism, apartheid, the Khmer Rouge and other affronts required courage by great nations and ordinary human beings alike," Michael Kirby told the U.N. Human Rights Council.

"It is now your solemn duty to address the scourge of human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," he said.

His comments followed a searing 400-page report, released last month, that documented a range of gross human rights abuses in the country, including the extermination of people, enslavement and sexual violence....

...The report also estimated 200,000 people from other countries had been abducted -- mostly South Koreans left stranded after the 1950-1953 Korean War, but also hundreds from around the world since then....

These citizens have to be reclaimed by their homelands. It is the responsibility of every nation to seek to protect and secure their citizens in foreign lands. These are also POWs. When is that going to end for them?

A word of wisdom regarding some of the extremism found in the post soviet states.

If one recalls Oliver Stone put together a series of history programs. He did review the history of the extremism now found in the Ukraine. 

These groups have facilitated the change of government in these nations. They appear to be the bad guys because The West is accustomed to viewing them in that light. The question comes to mind, how extreme do movements need to become to push back against Russia. Russia is a major military nation. What chance do these nations have in stopping Russia?

It would be a mistake to ignore the fact it takes this type of right wing movement to take back their government from Russian influence and control. The way of bringing them into alignment with international standards of civility and government is to welcome them to their new status. Empowerment of their cause needs to be a focus and not their methods to achieve that status. They have proven their priorities in the 2004 Ukraine Constitution. These people are not to be feared. The sooner their iconic status is replaced with legitimate governing, the sooner Russia will no longer have ammunition for it's propaganda as occurred in the Crimea.

These people are ready to govern. They have sacrificed a great deal to achieve this status. Stigmatizing them would only lend to Russia's plans to end their autonomy.

The Ukraine has no reason to focus on oppressive social laws or stigmatizing any aspect of the diversity of its population. It needs to solve it's problems. That needs to be the focus of the people as well and not this Russia distraction with faux attempts to annex land. International observers have stated the referendum went forward with calm in the Crimea, but, the vote was under the gun and illegitimate regardless of what Moscow claims.

Conn Hallinan
04 March 2014
...The Ukraine is in deep economic trouble, (click here) and for the past year the government has been casting about for a way out. Bailout negotiations were opened with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU), but the loan would have required onerous austerity measures that, according to Citibank analyst Ivan Tchakarov, would “most probably mean a recession in 2014.”

It was at this juncture that Yanukovych abandoned talks with the EU and opened negotiations with the Russians. That turn around was the spark for last November’s demonstrations.

But as Ben Aris, editor of Business News Europe, says “Under the terms of the EU offer of last year—which virtually nobody in the Western media has seriously examined—the EU was offering $160 million per year for the next five years, while just the bond payments to the IMF were greater than that.”

Russia, however, “offered $15 billion in cash and immediately paid $3 billion…Had Yanukovych accepted the EU deal, the country would have collapsed,” says Aris....

March 17, 2014
1200 GMT
Departure from Normal Temperature from The Weather Channel

The southern states are struggling to cope with the cold.

2:35 PM CDT Mar 16, 2014

The National Weather Service (click here) has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for Benton and Washington counties.

The advisory is in effect until 10:00 p.m. tonight.

Precipitation has begun to transition to snow across portions of Northwest Arkansas.  Areas of snow will continue into the afternoon hours before ending by late afternoon.

1 to 2 inches of snow accumulation will be possible.

Roads in the advisory area may become slick and hazardous, especially on bridges and overpasses and non-treated surfaces. 

What is going on with commercial jets?

March 17, 2014

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Delta flight (click here) from Orlando, Fla., landed safely in Atlanta after declaring an emergency because a part of the plane’s wing was missing.

The Federal Aviation Administration says Flight 2412 landed about 7:10 p.m. Sunday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The airplane, a Boeing 757, stopped on the runway and was towed to the gate.

After the flight landed, Delta officials told the FAA that a four-foot by eight-foot panel from one of the airplane’s wings was missing.

The FAA is investigating. There was no word from Delta on how many passengers were on the plane. No injuries were reported.

Last week it was a Southwest Airlines Flight 345's nose gear and now this. Are the airlines trying to do with less mechanics these days? Or are the repairs so odd they rarely are noticed? Either way it is not acceptable to have these 'oops' events to occur. If these are accepted as routine then what won't be?

You've got to be joking. The men that wear skirts to celebrate their manhood aren't going to let gays march in their parade.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! 

The Boston Police Gaelic Column marches in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in the South Boston neighborhood of Boston, Sunday, March 16. Guinness has pulled out of NYC's parade. Photo: Associated Press/Michael Dwyer

....“Guinness (click here) has a strong history of supporting diversity and being an advocate for equality for all. We were hopeful that the policy of exclusion would be reversed for this year’s parade,” the brewer said in a written statement issued by a spokesman for its parent company, Diageo.

“As this has not come to pass, Guinness has withdrawn its participation. We will continue to work with community leaders to ensure that future parades have an inclusionary policy,” Guinness said....

They're jealous. They are scared someone is going to show them up. What do you have in your closet?

Guess what I plan to drink today in celebration of St. Patrick's Day?

And no one will ever tell me there is no gay man marching in that parade today. The odds are absolutely zero to the chance there is no gay man in that parade. 

“Guinness has a strong history of supporting diversity and being an advocate for equality for all. We were hopeful that the policy of exclusion would be reversed for this year’s parade,” the brewer said in a written statement issued by a spokesman for its parent company, Diageo.
“As this has not come to pass, Guinness has withdrawn its participation. We will continue to work with community leaders to ensure that future parades have an inclusionary policy,” Guinness said.
- See more at: http://wnax.com/news/030030-guinness-pulls-out-of-nyc-st-pats-parade/#sthash.vduMYCN5.dpuf

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! The Boston Police Gaelic Column marches in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in the South Boston neighborhood of Boston, Sunday, March 16. Guinness has pulled out of NYC's parade. Photo: Associated Press/Michael Dwyer - See more at: http://wnax.com/news/030030-guinness-pulls-out-of-nyc-st-pats-parade/#sthash.vduMYCN5.dpuf