The US Navy has confirmed that a guided missile destroyer, the USS Truxtun, is heading to the Black Sea, for what the US military said is a “routine” deployment, decided long before the crisis in Ukraine, which has divided world powers. ● The US Navy said in a statement that the USS Truxtun left Greece on Thursday on the way to the Black Sea and was going to conduct training with the Romanian and Bulgarian navy. “While in the Black Sea, the ship will conduct a port visit and routine, previously planned exercises with allies and partners in the region,” The US Navy said in statement. “Truxtun’s operations in the Black Sea were scheduled well in advance of her departure from the United States,” the statement added. The ship has a crew of about 300 and is part of an aircraft carrier strike group that left the US in mid-February. The announcement comes after Turkish authorities confirmed on Wednesday they had given permission to a US navy warship to pass through the Bosphorus Straights, which is the only entrance to the Black Sea, it was reported in the Hürriyet Daily News.

RT.com: Navy destroyer USS Truxtun crosses Dardanelles en route to Black Sea -VIDEO
Francis Boyle: Obama is escalating Ukrainian crisis
RT.com: Turkey grants US warship permission to enter Black Sea
The Hill: Pentagon: U.S. sending six F-15s to Poland

This was the flag of slave holding states in the United States that seceded in 1861, causing Civil War. Today the symbol is used by the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi groups, and other organizations who are hostile to African-Americans. For the last several decades, protests have continued, demanding that this flag not be displayed in public places. Many people were greatly disturbed to see that the Confederate Flag is now being displayed, not in the United States, but in Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. Larry Holmes, a civil rights activist in New York City, explained why the flag is so offensive. After Kiev was seized by US backed anti-Russia protesters, the confederate flag was displayed in city hall. Holmes says that this causes him to be very concerned about the new regime. Holmes is very concerned about the nature of the new, US backed government in Ukraine, which includes leaders who openly admire former German dictator Adolf Hitler. In the region of Crimea, much of the population has rejected the new government. Sections of the army have defected to form "Self-Defense Units." It is unclear what will happen next, as violence and instability continues in Ukraine. Caleb Maupin, PressTV, New York.

Xymphora ■ An issue first raised by Engdahl, I think, was the identity of the snipers who attacked on February 22, after the constitutional deal had been concluded (the sniper attacks led to the right-wing attacks on the political structure of the country which ended the possibility of a peaceful deal, and ended in the coup): "After hard talks, all major parties including the majority of protesters, agreed to new presidential elections in December, return to the 2004 Constitution and release of Julia Tymoshenko from prison. The compromise appeared to end the months long chaos and give a way out for all major players. The diplomatic compromise lasted less than twelve hours. Then all hell broke loose. Snipers began shooting into the crowd on February 22 in Maidan or Independence Square. Panic ensued and riot police retreated in panic according to eyewitnesses. The opposition leader Vitali Klitschko withdrew from the deal, no reason given. Yanukovich fled Kiev. The question unanswered until now is who deployed the snipers? According to veteran US intelligence sources, the snipers came from an ultra-right-wing military organization known as Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self-Defense (UNA-UNSO)." Now we have more details described by Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Paet to EU foreign affairs chief Catherine 'Tits on a Bull' Ashton (from another secretly recorded phone call from February 25). [AWIP]

Francis Boyle ■ Ukraine was a Playbook CIA Coup d’état

Jim W. Dean ■ Western mercenaries behind killing demonstrators in Ukraine

Tony Cartalucci ■ BBC Now Admits: Armed Nazis Led “Revolution” in Kiev, Ukraine

F. William Engdahl ■ Secretive Neo-Nazi Military Organization Involved in Euromaidan Sniper Shootings

Ukraine signed a $10 billion shale gas production-sharing agreement with U.S. Chevron on Tuesday, another step in a drive for more energy independence from Russia. ● The deal to develop its western Olesska field followed a similar shale gas agreement with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) in January and boosts Ukraine's leadership at a time of fraught relations with Moscow over gas supplies. "The agreements with Shell and Chevron ... will enable us to have full sufficiency in gas by 2020 and, under an optimistic scenario, even enable us to export energy," President Viktor Yanukovich told investors shortly before the signing.

[He had to go. -But wasn't Yanukovych a duly elected president? Yes, he was. Rothschild & Friends selected him themselves for his election in 2010...so they already knew that. But it still wasn't enough. They wanted more.]

Paul Craig Roberts ■ The Looting Of Ukraine Has Begun

President Barack Obama said Thursday that there is a "path to de-escalation" for the crisis in Ukraine but that the United States and the international community believes that borders cannot "be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders." "The proposed referendum on the future of Crimea would violate the Ukrainian constitution and violate international law," he said in remarks in the White House. "Any discussion about the future of Ukraine must include the legitimate government of Ukraine. In 2014 we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders." Obama said that the United States is working closely with European allies to address the conflict.

Michael Collins: Emperor Obama Issuing Edicts on the Ukraine ■ President Barack Obama appears to be at some distance from reality. He's issuing statements about the Ukrainian situation as though he were the maximum leader of a vast empire that includes just about everywhere except Russia and China. The scope of the president's edicts is remarkable considering the lack of public support, even interest, in using the influence of the United States in this conflict. In addition, the Obama threats and actions are riddled with inconsistencies. When the elected president of the Ukraine was ousted by violent demonstrations, the administration endorsed the street coup by recognizing the new government. It didn't matter that the change came through violence. It didn't matter that the core leadership of the street protests consisted of neo Nazi organizations. The new leaders favored a closer relationship with the European Union and the United States. Anticipating a response from Russia, Obama issued his first edict, a warning to President Vladimir Putin: "Any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing. It would represent a profound interference in matters that must be determined by the Ukrainian people." President Barack Obama, February 28

Paul Craig Roberts: The Looting Of Ukraine Has Begun ■ At this time of writing it looks like Crimea has seceded from Ukraine. Washington and its NATO puppets can do nothing but bluster and threaten sanctions. The White House Fool has demonstrated the impotence of the “US sole superpower” by issuing sanctions against unknown persons, whoever they are, responsible for returning Crimea to Russia, where it existed for about 200 years. Washington’s stooges in Kiev can do nothing about Crimea except bluster. [...] Washington and its EU puppets, who proclaim their support for self-determination, are only for self-determination when it can be orchestrated in their favor. Therefore, Washington [now] is busy at work suppressing self-determination in eastern Ukraine.

Jason Ditz: Obama: Crimea’s Secession Referendum a Violation of International Law ■ President Obama continues to express outrage at the idea of the Crimea seceding from the Ukraine, and today insisted that an impending referendum on whether Crimeans want to secede itself “violates international law.” Obama went on to insist that “in 2014 we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders,” leaving open the question of how Ukraine’s interim government, installed in the wake of violent protests just over a week ago, amount to “democratic leaders.”

The CEC resolution orders a suspension of access to the State Register voter database for the register's branches in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. ● The Ukrainian Central Election Commission (CEC) has ordered that access to the voter database in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which is expected to hold a referendum on its status on March 16, be blocked. The CEC press service has reported that the commission unanimously adopted this decision on Thursday, "bearing in mind the current situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, in light of an attempt to prepare for holding an unlawful local referendum and with the aim of protecting the voter database of the State Register from any illegal use of personal data from this register."

Ukraine's coup-imposed Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk is telling the world that Russian tanks are on the ground in his country. Meanwhile, mainstream media is turning a blind eye to this blatant falsehood. ● Eric Draitser: “The claim that Yatsenyuk is making is very important for the narrative that he is trying to spin and for the narrative of the Western propaganda machine. It is entirely possible they are covering up his own stupidity, his own ignorance.” Another reason for their actions could be trying to bolster their own story. “The narrative has already been established: the Russians have invaded...they are occupying the east and the south of Ukraine. Now what they are trying to do is come up with some kind of substantiating facts in order to make it seem that this narrative is based on facts. But it is not; it is based on hearsay. It is based on rumors, falsified images, or images that are distorted or only partially true. How do you give a government that is constituted of Neo-liberal puppets and right-wing Nazis any kid of legitimacy,” Draitser added.

The top US military officer says it will take two years of study and billions of dollars to overcome the loss of security to military operations and tactics that were revealed in the massive stash of documents taken by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey tells the House Armed Services Committee the Pentagon set up a task force to determine how the documents could be used and how to mitigate the problem. He says the task force will take two years due to the "magnitude of this challenge."

Al-Manar News: Dempsey: Snowden’s Leaks to Cost Pentagon Billions