Ray McGovern

The President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, and Assistant
Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria
Nuland/Nudelman - smiling before stabbing him in the back.

Consortiumnews Exclusive: Russia’s parliament has approved President Putin’s request for the use of force inside neighboring Ukraine, as the latest neocon-approved “regime change” spins out of control and threatens to inflict grave damage on international relations, ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern explains.

Is “regime change” in Ukraine the bridge too far for the neoconservative “regime changers” of Official Washington and their sophomoric “responsibility-to-protect” (R2P) allies in the Obama administration? Have they dangerously over-reached by pushing the putsch that removed duly-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given an unmistakable “yes” to those questions – in deeds, not words. His message is clear: “Back off our near-frontier!”

Moscow announced on Saturday that Russia’s parliament has approved Putin’s request for permission to use Russia’s armed forces “on the territory of the Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country.”

Putin described this move as necessary to protect ethnic Russians and military personnel stationed in Crimea in southern Ukraine, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet and other key military installations are located. But there is no indication that the Russian parliament has restricted the use of Russian armed forces to the Crimea.

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Gilad Atzmon

Gilad Atzmon interviews Trevor Labonte: Until two years ago, Trevor LaBonte was one of the most successful Jazz artists in Texas. He had been performing every night and in the most prestigious venues. He was the first-call guitar player for many of Austin’s prominent musicians. But then it all changed.

Gilad Atzmon: Trevor you were a local Jazz hero, what happened?

Trevor LaBonte: An activist named Craig Berlin, owner of Pro-Tape Staff in Austin, organized a campaign to destroy my career by terrorizing the entire Austin music community. He creates Facebook posts in which he tags 50 or 60 important people in town, and reports to them that I am a ‘Nazi,’ an ‘Anti-Semite,’ and a ‘holocaust denier.’ Berlin demands that everyone must do everything in their power to make sure I never play another note in public. At first, most people ignored him, but then others took up his cause, including the radio DJ Andy Langer from KGSR, helping to make sure I have become a hate figure and completely ostracized.

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Stephen Lendman

The Damn Fool in the White House

Geopolitical conditions today are incendiary. Obama's war on Syria rages. No end in sight looms. Washington manipulated peace talks to fail. Odds favor full scale US intervention. Doing so risks regional war. In late February, Israel bombed Hezbollah targets. It did so along Lebanon's border with Syria. Hezbollah vowed to respond "at the appropriate time." It justifiably denounced "blatant" Israeli "aggression." Washington and Israel partner in regional adventurism. Do Obama and Netanyahu want war on Lebanon? Are they planning regional conflict? Will Iran be targeted? Will US-orchestrated violence in Venezuela continue? Will other nations be targeted for regime change? The damn fool in the White House risks global war. Ukraine is a major flashpoint. Conditions today are the most dangerous since the 1962 missiles of October crisis.

Jack Kennedy was a real president. Early in his administration he changed from cold warrior to peacemaker. He wanted all nuclear weapons abolished. He favored "general and complete disarmament." He wanted all US forces out of Vietnam by December 1965. He wanted to "splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds." After resolving the 1962 crisis, he said he "never had the slightest intention" of confronting Cuba or Soviet Russia aggressively. - The damn fool in the White House is no Jack Kennedy. Neocons infest his administration. Rogue elements make policy.

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