Tuesday, March 25, 2014

NYT Reporter: Obama Administration Is ‘Greatest Enemy of Press Freedom’

NYT Reporter: Obama Administration Is ‘Greatest Enemy of Press Freedom’

Photo: Pete Souza
Photo: Pete Souza
New York Times reporter James Risen, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, claims the Obama administration is “the greatest enemy of press freedom that we have encountered in at least a generation.”
Risen won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 and 2006 for his reporting on national security and terrorism. He has clashed with the Obama administration over his refusal to reveal a confidential source in a matter that reached the Supreme Court in January.
Speaking last week at a New York conference called Sources and Secrets, Risen voiced his concern about the Obama administration’s interaction with journalists, according to a report from Poynter’s Andrew Beaujon:
New York Times reporter James Risen, who is fighting an order that he testify in the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer accused of leaking information to him, opened the conference earlier by saying the Obama administration is “the greatest enemy of press freedom that we have encountered in at least a generation.” The administration wants to “narrow the field of national security reporting,” Risen said, to “create a path for accepted reporting.” Anyone journalist who exceeds those parameters, Risen said, “will be punished.”
The administration’s aggressive prosecutions have created “a de facto Official Secrets Act,” Risen said, and the media has been “too timid” in responding.
The conference also featured remarks from Jeffrey Toobin, a staff writer for The New Yorker and senior legal analyst for CNN, and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.). They were among the speakers who debated a federal shield law for the press.
>>> Check Out: Liberal Professor Slams Obama’s Use of Executive Orders
Risen’s critique of the Obama administration comes just weeks after Sharyl Attkisson left her job at CBS News following investigative reports on the Obama administration’s handling of the Fast and Furious gunrunning operation and Benghazi terrorist attack.
In an interview with talk-radio host Chris Stigall, Attkisson shared her concerns about coordination between journalists and government officials, particularly the White House’s pre-screening of questions from reporters:
I wouldn’t surprised if sometimes there is that level of cooperation with some questions. If I need something answered from the White House and they won’t tell me, I’ll call our White House correspondent. They’re friendlier with the White House Correspondents in general. So the White House correspondent may ask Jay Carney or one of his folks about an issue and they will be told “ask that at the briefing and we’ll answer it.” They want to answer it in front of everybody. They do know it’s coming and they’ll call on you. There’s that kind of coordination sometimes.
I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s sometimes more coordination. I don’t think it’s everybody on every briefing, every day. I’m pretty sure it’s not. But I think people would be surprised at the level of cooperation reporters have in general with politicians.
>>> Read More: Sharyl Attkisson Leaves CBS News, Liberal Bias Cited
This story was produced by The Foundry’s news team. Nothing here should be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation.
Posted in Front Page [slideshow_deploy]

Warning Signs Ignored

Warning Signs Ignored

Former U.S. ambassador to NATO warned Putin had his eye on Ukraine in 2008
Russian soldiers guard the entrance to the Ukrainian military base in Perevalne, Crimea / AP
Russian soldiers guard the entrance to the Ukrainian military base in Perevalne, Crimea / AP
BY:

The U.S. ambassador to NATO warned after Russia’s invasion of Georgia six years ago that President Vladimir Putin could encroach on Ukrainian territory next, according to a 2008 cable published by Wikileaks.
Putin publicly challenged Ukraine’s claim to Crimea in a speech at the Russia-NATO summit in April 2008, according to an Aug. 14, 2008 telegram signed by then-U.S. NATO ambassador Kurt Volker.
The Russian leader’s threats took on greater significance after Russia’s invasion of Georgia in early August 2008, according to the Volker memo.
“President Putin challenged Ukraine’s territorial integrity rhetorically at the Bucharest Summit,” the telegram said. “Those words are now cause for greater concern as we look at Russia’s actions in Georgia.”
At the summit, Putin suggested that Ukraine “was an artificial creation sewn together from territory of Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and especially Russia,” according to the memo.
“Crimea was simply given to Ukraine by a decision of the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee,” Putin reportedly said. “There haven’t even been any state procedures regarding transfer of the territory, since we take a very calm and responsible approach to the problem.”
Putin also issued a veiled threat against Ukraine, which was vying for NATO membership, suggesting that there would be retribution if it joined NATO.
“If we add in the NATO question and other problems, the very existence of the state could find itself under threat,” Putin said, according to the memo.
The Volker telegram warned that Russian belligerence could increase if the invasion of Georgia was not met with significant consequences.
“If the Kremlin achieves all of its objectives in Georgia with few consequences and its international reputation intact—as  Germany and others would have it—this may only embolden Russia to increase its bullying behavior towards Ukraine and others in the neighborhood.”
Reached for comment on Russia’s invasion of Crimea last month, Volker said it was no surprise.
“We saw six years ago where Russia was headed,” Volker told the Washington Free Beacon.
He said Russia was likely emboldened by the lack of long-term consequences after its invasion of Georgia.
“The ‘reset’ policy was an effort to give relations a fresh start, and [Russia] took advantage of that,” he said.
Volker added that Russian expansionism might not stop at Crimea.
“People should not think that because they’ve annexed Crimea it’s now over. We need to be doing a lot now to deter further steps from Russia,” he said.
Volker suggested taking steps through NATO, including moving additional air defense assets to the Baltic states, selling more advanced military equipment to Ukraine and imposing an arms embargo on Russia.

Shock: Harry Reid has an FEC Problem

Shock: Harry Reid has an FEC Problem

Is this the face of a man who would knowingly skirt campaign finance laws to enrich family members? (via Instagram)
Is this the face of a man who would knowingly skirt campaign finance laws to enrich family members? (via Instagram)
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has some questions for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) concerning his campaign’s purchase of more than $16,000 in “holiday gifts” for donors. It turns out that the gifts were purchased from a jewelry vendor in Berkeley, Calif., who just happens to be Reid’s granddaughter, Ryan Elisabeth Reid, although her full name was not listed on Reid’s campaign filing with the FEC. Jon Ralston reports:
The gifts, I have learned, were purchased from his granddaughter, Ryan Elisabeth Reid, who is a jewelry vendor in Berkeley, CA. The gifts were later passed on to donors and supporters, a Reid spokeswoman told me.
Reid has previously been asked to explain holiday gifts to his Ritz Carlton doorman by the FEC. But in the letter from the FEC sent last week, the agency wants to know what payments of  $11,370 and $5,416 (UPDATED) were. “Itemized disbursements must include a brief statement or description of why each disbursement was made,” the letter said.
Reid’s granddaughter is listed only as “Ryan Elisabeth” on the FEC report, which is attached here (see page 166). But her full name is Ryan Elisabeth Reid. …
The FEC wants an answer by April 25. But even if that agency does its usual dithering and wrist-slapping, many will wonder why Reid needs to use campaign funds for holiday gifts to give to supporters and donors and why he enriched his granddaughter in so doing.
In other news, Reid is even less popular than Charles and David Koch, the libertarian philanthropists Reid has described as “un-American.”
UPDATE: In a statement, Reid said he will reimburse his campaign for price of the gifts: “I thought it would be nice to give supporters and staff thank-you gifts that had a personal connection and a Searchlight connection, but I have decided to reimburse the campaign for the amount of the expenditure.”

Experts: U.S. Adversaries Gaining Foothold in Latin America

Experts: U.S. Adversaries Gaining Foothold in Latin America

Obama policies to blame
Sandinista supporters hold Nicaraguan flags in ceremony honoring Hugo Chavez in Managua, Nicaragua / AP
Sandinista supporters hold Nicaraguan flags in ceremony honoring Hugo Chavez in Managua, Nicaragua / AP
BY:

The Obama administration’s tacit policy of disengagement in Latin America has emboldened U.S. adversaries to gain a foothold in the region, experts said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
Rep. Matt Salmon (R., Ariz.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, said in an opening statement at the hearing that the administration lacks a “strategic vision” for the region.
“When I mentioned my concerns to Secretary [of State John] Kerry [at a recent hearing], he pontificated about the environment in the Pacific Islands and a typhoon in the Philippines—further making my point about the administration’s lack of strategy for the Western Hemisphere,” he said.
Salmon added that U.S. officials should push for better environmental policies in the region, but not to the neglect of commercial and security interests.
“That’s prudent and smart, but to the scale of priorities—when we’re looking at people being killed on the streets in Venezuela and arms smuggled by Cuba into North Korea—on the relative scale of what are our priorities, are we really focusing our attention on what really matters?” he said.
U.S. funding for initiatives in Latin America has declined in recent years, particularly for joint security cooperation such as counternarcotics.
Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, said the “vacuum” in the region is quietly being filled by Russia, Iran, and China.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu last month announced the Kremlin’s plans to establish new military bases in eight foreign countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. The sites could be used to refuel Russian long-range aircraft.
“There is a Russian adage that says that sacred space will not remain empty for long,” Berman said. “This is very much a throwback to what the Russians, what the Soviets at the time, used Latin America for.”
Iran’s Islamic government has cultivated both its commercial and ideological interests in Latin America, signing agreements to mine for uranium in Bolivia and Ecuador and erecting intelligence bases in multiple countries. The Iranian regime partially financed the construction of a “regional defense school” for the Venezuelan-led ALBA alliance in eastern Bolivia, which reportedly instructs left-wing paramilitaries similar to the basij militias in Iran and “colectivos” accused of killing Venezuelan protesters.
China’s outreach has been more economic but also includes arms sales to ALBA countries and joint military exercises and trainings. A Chinese businessman with close ties to the country’s communist party has received approval to build a massive $60 billion canal in Nicaragua that could rival the Panama Canal.
Berman criticized Kerry’s declaration last fall to the Organization of American States (OAS) that the “era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.” The doctrine, initially crafted as a warning against European intervention in newly independent Latin American countries, guided more than 200 years of U.S. policy toward the region.
“By doing that [Kerry] effectively served notice to regional regimes that they are allowed to curry favor with external actors, and served notice to external actors that America will no longer compete with those external actors,” he said.
Other experts at the hearing called on the administration to support sanctions including U.S. visa bans, asset freezes, and prohibitions on financial transactions against Venezuelan officials involved in human rights abuses.
More than 30 people have died in the protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s regime. Opposition leaders such as Maria Corina Machado have either already been jailed or face the threat of imprisonment.
Otto Reich, former special envoy for Western Hemisphere Initiatives during the George W. Bush administration, said U.S. sanctions should also extend to wealthy elites with ties to Venezuela’s government.
“There are a lot of private sector people in Venezuela and other countries in the region that have become billionaires as a result of these corrupt left wing populists who are in office,” he said.
“They have huge assets in the United States,” he added. “They come and spend the weekends here. I don’t know why we allow that.”

Silent Running

Silent Running

Russian attack submarine sailed in Gulf of Mexico undetected for weeks, U.S. officials say
Russian Akula Submarine / AP
Russian Akula Submarine / AP
BY:

A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it left the region, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
It is only the second time since 2009 that a Russian attack submarine has patrolled so close to U.S. shores.
The stealth underwater incursion in the Gulf took place at the same time Russian strategic bombers made incursions into restricted U.S. airspace near Alaska and California in June and July, and highlights a growing military assertiveness by Moscow.
The submarine patrol also exposed what U.S. officials said were deficiencies in U.S. anti-submarine warfare capabilities—forces that are facing cuts under the Obama administration’s plan to reduce defense spending by $487 billion over the next 10 years.
The Navy is in charge of detecting submarines, especially those that sail near U.S. nuclear missile submarines, and uses undersea sensors and satellites to locate and track them.
The fact that the Akula was not detected in the Gulf is cause for concern, U.S. officials said.
The officials who are familiar with reports of the submarine patrol in the Gulf of Mexico said the vessel was a nuclear-powered Akula-class attack submarine, one of Russia’s quietest submarines.
A Navy spokeswoman declined to comment.
One official said the Akula operated without being detected for a month.
“The Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: To kill U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews,” said a second U.S. official.
“It’s a very stealthy boat so it can sneak around and avoid detection and hope to get past any protective screen a boomer might have in place,” the official said, referring to the Navy nickname for strategic missile submarines.
The U.S. Navy operates a strategic nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay, Georgia. The base is homeport to eight missile-firing submarines, six of them equipped with nuclear-tipped missiles, and two armed with conventional warhead missiles.
“Sending a nuclear-propelled submarine into the Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean region is another manifestation of President Putin demonstrating that Russia is still a player on the world’s political-military stage,” said naval analyst and submarine warfare specialist Norman Polmar.
“Like the recent deployment of a task force led by a nuclear cruiser into the Caribbean, the Russian Navy provides him with a means of ‘showing the flag’ that is not possible with Russian air and ground forces,” Polmar said in an email.
The last time an Akula submarine was known to be close to U.S. shores was 2009, when two Akulas were spotted patrolling off the east coast of the United States.
Those submarine patrols raised concerns at the time about a new Russian military assertiveness toward the United States, according to the New York Times, which first reported the 2009 Akula submarine activity.
The latest submarine incursion in the Gulf further highlights the failure of the Obama administration’s “reset” policy of conciliatory actions designed to develop closer ties with Moscow.
Instead of closer ties, Russia under President Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB intelligence officer who has said he wants to restore elements of Russia’s Soviet communist past, has adopted growing hardline policies against the United States.
Of the submarine activity, Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “It’s a confounding situation arising from a lack of leadership in our dealings with Moscow. While the president is touting our supposed ‘reset’ in relations with Russia, Vladimir Putin is actively working against American interests, whether it’s in Syria or here in our own backyard.”
The Navy is facing sharp cuts in forces needed to detect and counter such submarine activity.
The Obama administration’s defense budget proposal in February cut $1.3 billion from Navy shipbuilding projects, which will result in scrapping plans to build 16 new warships through 2017.
The budget also called for cutting plans to buy 10 advanced P-8 anti-submarine warfare jets needed for submarine detection.
In June, Russian strategic nuclear bombers and support aircraft conducted a large-scale nuclear bomber exercise in the arctic. The exercise included simulated strikes on “enemy” strategic sites that defense officials say likely included notional attacks on U.S. missile defenses in Alaska.
Under the terms of the 2010 New START arms accord, such exercises require 14-day advanced notice of strategic bomber drills, and notification after the drills end. No such notification was given.
A second, alarming air incursion took place July 4 on the West Coast when a Bear H strategic bomber flew into U.S. airspace near California and was met by U.S. interceptor jets.
That incursion was said to have been a bomber incursion that has not been seen since before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
It could not be learned whether the submarine in the Gulf of Mexico was an Akula 1 type submarine or a more advanced Akula 2.
It is also not known why the submarine conducted the operation. Theories among U.S. analysts include the notion that submarine incursion was designed to further signal Russian displeasure at U.S. and NATO plans to deploy missile defenses in Europe.
Russia’s chief of the general staff, Gen. Nikolai Makarov, said in May that Russian forces would consider preemptive attacks on U.S. and allied missile defenses in Europe, and claimed the defenses are destabilizing in a crisis.
Makarov met with Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in July. Dempsey questioned him about the Russian strategic bomber flights near U.S. territory.
The voyage of the submarine also could be part of Russian efforts to export the Akula.
Russia delivered one of its Akula-2 submarines to India in 2009. The submarine is distinctive for its large tail fin.
Brazil’s O Estado de Sao Paoli reported Aug. 2 that Russia plans to sell Venezuela up to 11 new submarines, including one Akula.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow’s military is working to set up naval replenishment facilities in Vietnam and Cuba, but denied there were plans to base naval forces in those states.
Asked if Russia planned a naval base in Cuba, Lavrov said July 28: “We are not speaking of any bases. The Russian navy ships serve exercise cruises and training in the same regions. To harbor, resupply, and enable the crew to rest are absolutely natural needs. We have spoken of such opportunities with our Cuban friends.” The comment was posted in the Russian Foreign Ministry website.
Russian warships and support vessels were sent to Venezuela in 2008 to take part in naval exercises in a show of Russian support for the leftist regime of Hugo Chavez. The ships also stopped in Cuba.
Russian Deputy Premier Dmitri Rogozin announced in February that Russia was working on a plan to build 10 new attack submarines and 10 new missile submarines through 2030, along with new aircraft carriers.
Submarine warfare specialists say the Akula remains the core of the Russian attack submarine force.
The submarines can fire both cruise missiles and torpedoes, and are equipped with the SSN-21 and SSN-27 submarine-launched cruise missiles, as well as SSN-15 anti-submarine-warfare missiles. The submarines also can lay mines.
The SSN-21 has a range of up to 1,860 miles.

House Oversight Hearing Clearly Exposes Obama As A Dictator

U.S. Army general gets fine, no jail in sex case

U.S. Army general gets fine, no jail in sex case

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:34pm EDT
U.S. Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair address the media outside of the courthouse after sentencing in his court-martial case at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina March 20, 2014. REUTERS-Chris Keane
U.S. Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair leaves the courthouse after sentencing in his court-martial case at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina March 20, 2014. REUTERS-Chris Keane
U.S. Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair shares a hug with his friend, retired command sergeant major Ian Toney after leaving the courthouse following sentencing in his court-martial case at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina March 20, 2014. REUTERS-Chris Keane
1 of 4. U.S. Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair address the media outside of the courthouse after sentencing in his court-martial case at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina March 20, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Chris Keane

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(Reuters) - A U.S. Army general who admitted to an adulterous sexual affair and other improper relationships with junior female officers was spared jail and dismissal from the service on Thursday, a sentence critics decried as a failure of military justice.
The case that derailed the 27-year Army career of Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair ended with a reprimand and $20,000 in forfeited pay as punishment after a plea deal in the rare court-martial of a top officer absolved him of sexual assault charges.
The one-star general's defense team said they were grateful for the sentence ordered by the trial judge, Colonel James Pohl. They argued that Sinclair was unfairly portrayed as a sex offender when he was guilty of far lesser wrongdoing.
"The system has worked," a relieved Sinclair, a married father of two sons, said after court in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. "All I want to do now is hug my kids and be with my wife."
Advocates of military justice reform said the case proved the armed forces still tolerate sexual misconduct in their ranks despite political pressure from Congress and the president to curb it. They said the lenient sentence for Sinclair would have a chilling effect on other victims of abuse.
"He made out like a bandit," said Eugene Fidell, a professor of military justice at Yale Law School. "This is a baffling denouement to a disturbing case."
The sentencing coincided with another high-profile military trial. A judge found a Naval Academy football player not guilty on Thursday in the sexual assault of a female midshipman at an alcohol-fueled off-campus party in April 2012.
Sinclair, 51, was a rising star in the Army and a veteran of five combat tours before criminal charges two years ago saw the former deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne Division stripped of his duties in southern Afghanistan.
A female captain 17 years his junior said she and the general had a three-year illicit affair, during which she alleged he had sex with her in a parking lot in Germany and on a hotel balcony in Arizona, threatened to kill her if she exposed the relationship, and forced her to perform oral sex when she tried to break it off.
Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Defense Department spokesman, declined direct comment on the specifics of the case, but noted the Pentagon is "always concerned about victim confidence."
"This is a serious issue," Kirby told a news briefing. "No one's taken their eye off of it. So we always have those concerns and we're always trying to get better at it."
CASE UNRAVELS
Sinclair admitted to adultery and mistreating the captain but maintained that the affair was consensual. The case began to unravel over questions about the woman's credibility, and the defense vowed to further undermine her at trial, but then the proceedings were halted earlier this month.
After a finding by Pohl that politics appeared to have improperly influenced the Army's decision to reject an earlier plea offer by Sinclair, the general this week pleaded guilty to numerous offenses in exchange for charges of coercive sex acts and indecent conduct being dismissed.
The plea bargain removed the threat of possible life in prison.
Instead, Sinclair faced a maximum of 18 months in jail for inappropriate relationships with junior female officers, possessing pornography on his laptop while deployed in Afghanistan, misusing his government credit card to visit his mistress, using derogatory language to refer to female officers, and obstructing the military investigation into his conduct.
The judge handed down the non-jail sentence with no explanation. Prosecutors, who had asked for Sinclair to be dismissed by the Army and had said he abused his power and used it to exploit women, had no comment.
Sinclair's lawyers said the general planned to submit his retirement paperwork and could still be demoted by the Army as part of that process. He also will reimburse the government for about $4,000 in improper credit card expenses.
Critics said the fact that the general would be allowed to retire on his own accord rather than getting pushed out showed that an overhaul of the military justice system was needed.
They said charging decisions in sexual assault cases should be made by independent military prosecutors rather than top commanders, a proposal voted down by the U.S. Senate earlier this month.
The Senate passed a measure, still subject to House approval, that would strengthen prosecutors' role in advising commanders on whether to go to court-martial and eliminate the "good soldier" defense, which allowed courts to reduce the sentence of offenders with strong military records.
"Today's sentencing is beyond disappointing, it is a travesty and a serious misstep for the Army," said retired Navy Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett, a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Venable LLP who represented Sinclair's main accuser.
"The slap on the wrist and 'pat on the back' for being a so-called 'good soldier' points to the importance of Congressional action," Barnett said.
Sinclair's lead attorney, civilian lawyer Richard Scheff, rebuffed the criticism.
"Critics of this ruling weren't in court every day, haven't examined the evidence and have no idea what they're talking about," he said.
(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington, D.C.; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Scott Malone, James Dalgleish, Tom Brown and Gunna Dickson)

Microsoft Admits Snooping Through Blogger's Hotmail Account

Microsoft Admits Snooping Through Blogger's Hotmail Account

Tyler Durden's picture





 
Earlier in the week the hypocrisy of the big tech firms was exposed when the NSA's senior lawyers "busted" their lies by explaining they knew full-well that they were engaged in the surveillance-state. Today comes yet more 'elite' hypocrisy as AP reports, Microsoft, which has skewered rival Google for going through customer emails to deliver ads, acknowledged Thursday it had searched emails in a blogger's Hotmail account to track down who was leaking company secrets. Scroogled, indeed.

We do spy and search your data - but only if we really need it... (via AP)
the software company "took extraordinary actions in this case."

In the future, he said, Microsoft would consult an outside attorney who is a former judge to determine if a court order would have allowed such a search.

The case involves former employee Alex Kibkalo, a Russian native who worked for Microsoft as a software architect in Lebanon.

...

Besides the email search, Microsoft also combed through instant messages the two exchanged that September. Microsoft also examined files in Kibkalo's cloud storage account, which until last month was called SkyDrive. Kibkalo is accused of using SkyDrive to share files with the blogger.

...

"Courts do not issue orders authorizing someone to search themselves," he said. "Even when we have probable cause, it's not feasible to ask a court to order us to search ourselves."

...
Microsoft also has a long-running negative ad campaign called "Scroogled," in which it slams Google for scanning "every word in every email" to sell ads, saying that "Google crosses the line."
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Putin Threatened With More Sanctions as Russia Out of G-8

Putin Threatened With More Sanctions as Russia Out of G-8

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James G. Neuger, Julianna Goldman and Daria Marchak
Bloomberg
March 25, 2014
The world’s top industrial powers threatened further sanctions to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from taking over other parts of Ukraine and suspended Russia from participating in the Group of Eight.
Meeting for the first time since last week’s annexation of Crimea by Russia, Group of Seven leaders said last night they won’t attend a planned G-8 meeting which was to have been held in Sochi, site of the Winter Olympics, and will instead hold their own summit in June in Brussels.
“While a Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine can by no means be excluded, Putin must surely calculate that it would be a poor and risky option,” Roderic Lyne, deputy chairman of Chatham House in London and a former U.K. ambassador in Moscow, said in a comment on the research group’s website. “He also knows that it would trigger much deeper Western sanctions, which would hit his Achilles heel –- Russia’s declining, unreformed economy.”
Both sides in Ukraine’s crisis spent the day calculating what to do next, with Russia consolidating its control over Crimea and maintaining forces along the border with Ukraine in the most serious confrontation between Moscow and the U.S. and its allies since the demise of the Soviet Union. The International Monetary Fund is set to make an announcement tomorrow following talks about a bailout loan for Ukraine, Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said.
Full article here

Malaysian police search homes of missing flight’s pilots as focus turns to foul play

Malaysian police search homes of missing flight’s pilots as focus turns to foul play


KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Police on Saturday searched the homes of the pilots who were in control of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 shortly before it disappeared more than a week ago as investigators sharpened their focus on the possibility that the plane fell victim to foul play.
The plane captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, has been a Malaysia Airlines pilot for more than three decades, logging 18,000 hours in the air. There was no indication Saturday that he or co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, had been targeted by investigators.
Graphic
<caption> New data have provided an arc of possible locations for Malaysian Flight 370. </caption>
Click Here to View Full Graphic Story
New data have provided an arc of possible locations for Malaysian Flight 370.
Video
<caption> Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the movements of the missing plane were consistent with a deliberate act by someone who turned the jet back across Malaysia and onwards to the west. </caption>
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the movements of the missing plane were consistent with a deliberate act by someone who turned the jet back across Malaysia and onwards to the west.

The search came the same day that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the plane’s disappearance was “deliberate” and evidence emerged that it appeared to have flown for seven hours after its radar transponder and satellite uplink went dead, apparently turned off by someone in the cockpit.
“Clearly, the search for MH370 has entered a new phase,” Najib said.
But there was no explanation of who — crew members, hijackers or terrorists — might have commandeered the Boeing 777. And while the investigation tilted toward what one U.S. official called “a criminal event,” there were cautions that until the plane is found, all possibilities remain on the table.
In the most comprehensive account to date of the plane’s fate, Najib said the investigation had “refocused” to look at the crew and passengers. He said satellite data showed that the plane could have last made contact anywhere along one of two corridors: one stretching from northern Thailand toward the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan border, the other, more southern corridor stretching from Indonesia to the remote Indian Ocean.
Najib said Saturday that the flight was still being contacted by satellites until 8:11 a.m. — 7½ hours after takeoff, and more than 90 minutes after it was due in Beijing. If the plane was still in the air, it would have been nearing its fuel limit.
“Due to the type of satellite data,” Najib said, “we are unable to confirm the precise location of the plane when it last made contact with the satellite.”
A U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation said that even after the flow of data from the plane ended — about the same time the plane’s radar transponder went dead — the satellite kept trying to contact the plane and could determine that it still was in flight. Though that contact effort provided no specific information on position or direction, it did tell about how far the plane was from the last location when its digital datalink system was actually sending data up to the satellite.
The new leads about the plane’s endpoint, although ambiguous, have drastically changed a search operation involving more than a dozen nations.
On Sunday, India put its search for the plane on hold at the request of the government in Kuala Lumpur. India had been searching around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in the Bay of Bengal. Defense officials said both the searches have been suspended but may resume.
“There is a very high level coordination meeting take place taking place in Malaysia, so it is too premature to say that everything has been stopped. There is a temporary pause in operation waiting the joint coordination meeting in Malaysia. Beyond this I have no inputs,” said Capt. D.K. Sharma, Navy spokesman.
Malaysia said Saturday that efforts would be terminated in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, where the plane first disappeared from civilian radar.
The plane, based on one potential endpoint, could have spent nearly all its flight time over the Indian Ocean as it headed toward an area west of Australia. But if the plane traveled in the direction of Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan, it would present a more perplexing scenario in which the aircraft would have evaded detection for hours while flying through a volatile region where airspace is heavily monitored: Burma, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and western China are all in the neighborhood of that path, as is the United States’ Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
Malaysia has confirmed that a previously unknown radar trail picked up by its military was indeed MH370. That blip suggests the plane had cut west, across the Malaysian Peninsula, after severing contact with the ground. Malaysia received help in analyzing that radar data from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch.
U.S. officials have said that the plane, shortly after being diverted, reached an altitude of 45,000 feet and “jumped around a lot.” But the airplane otherwise appeared to operate normally. Significantly, the transponder and a satellite-based communication system did not stop at the same time, as they would if the plane had exploded, disintegrated or crashed into the ocean.
Najib said the plane’s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, or ACARS, was disabled just as MH370 reached the eastern coast of Malaysia. The transponder was then switched off, Najib said, as the aircraft neared the border between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace.



Halsey reported from Washington, and Gowen reported from New Delhi. Liu Liu in Beijing; Tim Craig in Islamabad, Pakistan; Rama Lakshmi in New Delhi; and Joel Achenbach, Adam Goldman and Sari Horwitz in Washington contributed to this report.

CEO of Missing Malaysian Airlines finally admits to Dangerous Cargo four days after DENYING it


CEO of Missing Malaysian Airlines finally admits to Dangerous Cargo four days after DENYING it

Malaysian-Airlines
Malaysian Airlines today confirmed that flight MH370 had been carrying highly flammable lithium-ion batteries in its cargo hold, re-igniting speculation that a fire may have caused its disappearance.
The admission by CEO Ahmad Jauhari comes four days after he denied the aircraft was carrying any dangerous items and nearly two weeks after the plane went missing. He said the authorities were investigating the cargo, but did not regard the batteries as hazardous – despite the law dictating they are classed as such – because they were packaged according to safety regulations.
The revelation has thrown the spotlight back on the theory that the Boeing 777 may have been overcome by a fire, rendering the crew and passengers unconscious after inhaling toxic fumes. Lithium-ion batteries – which are used in mobile phones and laptops – have been responsible for a number of fires on planes and have even brought aircraft down in recent years.
According to US-based Federal Aviation Administration, lithium-ion batteries carried in the cargo or baggage have been responsible for more than 140 incidents between March 1991 and February 17 this year, it was reported by Malaysiakini. In rare cases, aircraft have been destroyed as a result of fires started from the devices, although they have been cargo planes in both incidents.
In one case, UPS Airlines Flight 6 crashed while attempting an emergency landing in September 2010 en route from Dubai to Cologne in Germany. Flight MH370 disappeared from radar screens two weeks ago on March 8 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing. Continue Reading

Sheila Jackson Lee demands something be done when planes go off ‘discerned or destinated…destiny and destination’

 King James Bible
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

seems like the whole of the usa is

 

 Sheila Jackson Lee demands something be done when planes go off ‘discerned or destinated…destiny and destination’

sjl4On Tuesday, Rush Limbaugh played a clip of Sheila Jackson Lee, the Texas Democrat once dubbed the “Congressional boss from Hell,” rambling about Malaysia Airlines flight 370.
It’s obvious Lee has no clue what she’s talking about.
Here’s the transcript, courtesy of Rush Limbaugh:

“I call upon the aviation industry to stop hiding behind costs and how much it costs and start ensuring that our pilots and our customers, our flying public, are safe.  Why do we have the capacity, uh, to dismantle the transponders?  Why wasn’t the emergency call already in place that it automatically signals when a[n] aircraft goes off its, uh, discerned or destinated — uh, destiny and destination –”
She continued:
“– uh, as relates to, uh, its flight pattern.”
“Why does it have to be done manually?” she asked.
“Oh, my God, folks, are we in so much trouble,” Limbaugh said.  “This is a congressional leader.  This whole thing is a satire, is a parody.  ‘I call upon the ‘avenation’ industry, to stop hiding behind cost and how much things cost and start ensuring that our beloved pilots and our precious customers, our precious flying public are safe!  Why can somebody turn off the transponder?’”
The “discerned destinated destiny,” Limbaugh observed, was Beijing.
This, by the way, is the same woman who recently said the Constitution is 400 years old.  No wonder we’re in the shape we’re in…
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