http://en.ria.ru/world/20140227/187950307/Ukraines-New-Language-Bill-Will-Be-Balanced--Acting-Leader.html
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_28/Simferopol-international-airport-staff-deny-reports-about-its-capture-0600/
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_28/Gunmen-take-over-airport-in-Crimea-capital-Simferopol-6442/
http://rt.com/news/crimea-airport-terminal-capture-095/
http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/david-marples/ukraine-view-from-west

"The history of the new Russian state shows that the new Russian lead has no desire to re-establish the Soviet Union or invade other countries. What they want is normal busines with the EU and the US, making Russia a part of the western world. Territorial expansion is certainly not on their list of priorities."

this is correct, but it comes with a caveat - once the breaking point is reached, there's not much chance of closing the box. but, you have to understand that the pnac is pushing this. they want russia to react with force, so they can piss away the wealth they're building up. it's a part of the destabilization process.

http://voiceofrussia.com/uk/news/2014_02_28/Ukraine-Territorial-expansion-is-not-on-Russias-list-of-priorities-8804/

this is interesting.

again: you have to understand that the dynamics of the world in 2014 are not what they were in 1952. the russians are obsessed with international agreements and the rule of law. nato operates on a master morality that has no interest in the concept of law at all. so, the russians need referendums and parliamentary resolutions, whereas nato is ok with launching revolutions by pitchfork.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140228/187971656/Russia-Lawmakers-Push-to-Simplify-Annexing-New-Territories.html

"a just russia", fwiw, is the third party in russia - behind putin's centrist liberal-conservative coalition and the communist party, which is still the official opposition. it's a social democratic party, roughly similar to something like canada's ndp.

the last rap news (22) was especially awesome

the copernicus section is something else.

second heliocentric revolution, indeed.

too many fools, though.

the same thing they did to ghadaffi...

...and what sovereignty do they claim over the finances of a citizen of a foreign country? the idea is entirely outlandish.

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_28/Switzerland-Lichtenstein-Austria-lead-moves-to-block-Ukrainian-politicians-assets-0753/

regards of the geopolitics, and my preference for russia as a lesser evil than america, i find it hard to deny the idea of local self-governance.

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_28/Crimea-cannot-be-denied-right-to-hold-self-determination-referendum-Pushkov-9214/

"All of the social research indicates that folks that come from stable families tend to do better in terms of their economic prospects," Kenney said.

technically, that could very well be true. the causality is likely a bit more complex than implied. i'm more concerned about the logic, here. in kenney's style of social darwinist thinking, that means they should be rewarded through various policy initiatives, like targeted tax breaks.

further, the data that indicates that people from other types of families are less economically prosperous means they should be punished by less preferential tax breaks.

if i was a free market economist, i'd say something about picking winners and losers. i'm not. i'm more concerned about the fascism inherent within it. it's a style of thinking that openly favours creating greater disadvantages and systemic inequality, based on a cut throat and entirely wrong concept of natural selection.

they seem to openly view government as a tool to stamp out the weak. but, i don't think most of their supporters would adhere to that kind of thinking.

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/jason-kenney-says-income-splitting-is-for-stable-family-units

one of the core ideals of "liberal democracy" is that those who are struggling ought to have some resources reallocated to them to give them better opportunities, not that those that have greater opportunities ought to be rewarded for taking advantage of them.

there's a long history of evangelical, right-wing and pseudo-fascist eugenics movements in the western provinces, going back through social credit and united farmers. this has it's own history in the western united states.

crazy

glue

not

working.

i'm going to have to trudge through the blizzard tundra tomorrow to get some epoxy.

i was thinking to myself it would be great to build a ten thousand foot high wall across the northwest territories to dampen the air moving south.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/professor-wants-1000-ft-tornado-wall-built-in--us-midwest/22335/

yanukovuch' press conference.

the russians are claiming they're not behind the crimean parliament and aren't going to interfere with internal ukrainian events. well, the americans say that, too. but it largely rules out open manipulation.

and i should add that putin has no history of this kind of thing.

yuck.

they're intercepting sex cam images for image recognition.

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/28/peeping_webcam_with_nsa_help_british