Secretary of State John Kerry has issued an ultimatum to Russia today, insisting they have until Monday to “reverse course” and abandon Crimea. The Crimean peninsula is holding a referendum on Sunday, in which it is expected to vote to join the Russian Federation. ● Kerry said if Russia refuses to give in to US demands they could expect a “very serious series of steps” against them, including major economic sanctions, which US officials say could do serious harm to Russia’s economy. The Obama Administration has been trying to coax significant Russian trading partners, of which the US is not, into agreeing to impose major sanctions that would harm their trade. The US demands include Russia forcing Crimea to cancel the referendum and withdrawing all of its troops from the peninsula. Under treaty with the Ukraine, Russia is allowed to keep up to 25,000 troops in the Crimea.

Paul Craig Roberts: Washington is making war inevitable (The Failure Of German Leadership)
RT.com: ‘Useful, but no breakthrough’: Russia, US stalled after Ukraine crisis talks
VoR: Russia will respect the will of Crimean people in referendum - FM Lavrov
RIA Novosti: Russia Has No Plans of Invading Southeast Ukraine - Lavrov
VoR: Lavrov leaving for London for urgent meeting with Kerry over Ukraine

U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders will promise to remove all tariffs on bilateral trade at a summit on March 26, an ambitious step towards the world's largest free-trade deal, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. | The joint declaration, if delivered as laid out in the draft, seeks to overcome tensions following Washington's offer to cut its duties by less than the Europeans had hoped for and after Brussels pledged to remove almost all of its own tariffs. "The EU and the United States are firmly committed to concluding a comprehensive and ambitious Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership," the draft statement reads, referring to U.S.-EU free-trade talks by their official name. "Those goals include eliminating all duties on bilateral goods trade," says the statement, which will be delivered at the end of the day-long summit in Brussels. The statement is subject to further negotiations with the United States.

Paul Craig Roberts: Washington is making war inevitable (The Failure Of German Leadership)

Johannes Stern & Alex Lantier ■ Germany threatens “massive damage” to Russia ahead of Crimea referendum || With staggering hypocrisy, Merkel is standing reality on its head. It is Germany and the US that are acting as the aggressors, backing and organizing a putsch led by fascist groups in Ukraine, the descendants of political forces Nazi Germany relied upon to commit horrible crimes during World War II. It doing so, it is the Western powers that are reviving the criminal methods of 20th century imperialist politics to secure their geo-strategic aims in Europe. In its drive for war, the imperialist powers are relying on the most right-wing forces within Ukraine. Now Berlin and Washington want to force Moscow to back down on the question of Crimea, which has a Russian-speaking majority and is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Merkel warned that the EU would push ahead with economic sanctions unless Moscow agreed to negotiate “in the next few days.” She said: “None of us wishes that it should come to such actions. But we are all ready for them and will decide on them, if they are unavoidable.”

Stars and Stripes: The status of two annual U.S. Army Europe military exercises that were scheduled for July — one in Russia, one in western Ukraine — is being affected differently by the situation in Ukraine, which has been described as the worst crisis since the end of the Cold War. The fact that the U.S. and its allies chose to go ahead with an exercise in Ukraine while canceling the one in Russia demonstrates Western support for Kiev in its confrontation with Moscow.

By tomorrow, the 15th of March 2014, the United States, through its agents in Ukraine, will begin a series of false flag attacks on targets in Ukraine which have been designed to make it look as if they were carried out by the Special Forces of the Russian Federation. ● This information has been made available and was released through several forums used by Anonymous Ukraine. Members of Anonymous Ukraine, who are involved in what Anonymous has called Operation Independence, have independently verified that Anonymous is the source for the e-mails. Among the three key e-mail is one containing the initial instructions from the US Army Assistant Army Attaché Jason P. Gresh to a senior official of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army named Igor Protsuyuk. Again Anonymous has exposed treason by Ukrainian officials and the egregious illegal meddling of the United Sates into the affairs of a sovereign nation. Anonymous Ukraine is operating in what can only be described as a hot war zone where almost all communications and internet access are either completely controlled and intercepted or have been shut down. Contacts in Anonymous Ukraine have also stated that there is a campaign by the US Government and the current illegitimate regime which illegally seized power to demonize and discredit Anonymous. Anonymous Ukraine Statement: Greetings citizens of the world. We are Anonymous Ukraine Operation Independence Ukraine continues. Western hirelings and fascists are attempting to start a war with Russia in Ukraine. Much of Ukraine is now under the control of the Bandera nazis but all is not lost. We are winning. We continue to uncover and expose to the world the evil plans the United States, NATO, the European Union, the NSA, the CIA, the IMF and their corporate banker masters have for Ukraine. We will not let this stand. We will expose every detail of their plan. We will never forgive them for what they have done to Ukraine and they will pay the cost. Ukraine has no government. Those in the Verhovnaya Rada are self-appointed Nazi killers and do not represent the Ukrainian people. We repeat. Anonymous Ukraine continues to support peace and the right of the people of Ukraine and the Crimea to self determination. The Bandera Nazis and fascist thugs that are pretending to be the voice of the people will be stopped. The US/NATO invasion of Ukraine will be stopped. Their puppets will be exposed and brought to justice.

Russia realizes its responsibility for the lives of fellow citizens and nationals in Ukraine and reserves the right to protect them, the Russian Foreign Ministry said when commenting on the attack on protestors in Donetsk, which occurred on March 13. ● "Russia realizes its responsibility for the lives of fellow citizens and nationals in Ukraine and reserves the right to take people under our protection," the Russian Foreign Ministry posted a statement on its website on Friday."Tragic events occurred in Donetsk on March 13, 2014, and blood was shed," the document said. "Extreme rightist groups armed with weapons and bats, who started to arrive to the city from other regions of the country the day before, have attacked peaceful protestors, who came to the city streets in order to demonstrate their attitude towards the destructive stance of people calling themselves the Ukrainian authorities. Many people were injured and one person died as a result of the clashed," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the Maidan leaders who came to power in Kiev to disarm militants and ensure public safety.

RIA Novosti: Russia Has No Plans of Invading Southeast Ukraine - Lavrov
Bloomberg: Russia Is Preparing to Invade East Ukraine, Estonia Says
The Guardian Beta: Russia issues warning after fatal clashes in Ukraine city of Donetsk

Members of the Ukrainian far-right parties, including Maidan leaders Oleg Tyagnibok and Dmitry Yarosh, are to be added to the wanted list for participation in hostilities against Russian soldiers in Chechnya, Russia’s Investigative Committee says. Russia intends to prosecute members of the UNA-UNSO ultranationalist party for being part of the gang that fought alongside militant leaders Shamil Basayev and Arab mercenary Emir Khattab [Thamir Saleh Abdullah Suwailem] in the North Caucasus in 1994-95, said Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the Investigative Committee. “There has been enough evidence collected to take the decision and bring them in as defendants in absentia within the nearest time for preventive detention and put them on the wanted list,” he said.

Itar-Tass: Russian prosecutors initiate criminal proceedings against several members of UNA-UNSO
RT.com: 'No surprise Western govts prop up Ukrainian rebels, call them legitimate'

Former chief of Ukraine’s Security Service has confirmed allegations that snipers who killed dozens of people during the violent unrest in Kiev operated from a building controlled by the opposition on Maidan square. ● Shots that killed both civilians and police officers were fired from the Philharmonic Hall building in Ukraine’s capital, former head of the Security Service of Ukraine Aleksandr Yakimenko told Russia 1 channel. The building was under full control of the opposition and particularly the so-called Commandant of Maidan self-defense Andrey Parubiy who after the coup was appointed as the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Yakimenko added. Furthermore the former security chief believes that Parubiy has been in contact with US Special Forces that could have coordinated the assault.

Jay Carney confirms sensitive Bush-era material is being withheld from Senate investigation into CIA torture and rendition. ● The White House is refusing to hand over top-secret documents to a Senate investigation into CIA torture and rendition of terrorism suspects, claiming it needs to ensure that “executive branch confidentiality” is respected. In the latest development in the spiralling clash between Congress and the administration over oversight of the intelligence agencies, Barack Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney confirmed that certain material from the George W Bush presidency was being withheld for fear of weakening Oval Office privacy.

NPR: CIA Tampered With Senate Panel's Work, Feinstein Says
Marcy Wheeler: Obama's Been Covering Up Bush Torture for Years

The chief Israeli negotiator and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said this week that she has had sex with the chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority in the peace negotiations with Israel, Saeb Erekat [Unlink] and the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation(PLO) Yasser Abed Rabbo. Livni's sexual misdemeanours have been the fodder of the political Arab rumour mill for years, but until now, what the foxy Israeli politician got up to behind closed doors was all guess work. Lebanese newspaper Al Diyyar broke the story earlier this week that the Knesset Beauty had publicy stated that she and the chief Rabbi of Israel had decided that "It was ok for her to sleep and have sex with strangers, as long as it benefits Israel". According to Al Diyyar, Livni said :“The room where I had sex with Palestinian figures as Saeb Erekat and Yasser Abed Rabbo was equipped with cameras.” She also confirmed that the videos show Palestinian officials, nude, having sex with her. Livni is now threatening a number of Arab figures to post these shot videos on YouTube if they do not execute what she orders them.

ToI: Leading Egyptian daily falsely claims Livni admitted to having ‘sex with Arabs’ for political gain

Gilad Atzmon ■ Below is a six minute segment from a Q&A session at the Washington Report's AIPAC Conference of March 2014. It begins the moment the Holocaust narrative is challenged and the panic on the stage becomes palpable. In the clip, an anonymous but well-informed member of the audience asks the panel to address the question of the dominance of the Holocaust in American life. Rightly, she points out that the Holocaust is a state-imposed religious dogma and as such ‘violates constitutional rights’. However, it takes only a few minutes to see that as far as Justin Raimondo & Philip Weiss are concerned, all that really matters is the Jews and their suffering. Jewish Voice for Whatever icon, Philip Weiss doesn’t think that we should ‘problematize the education of the Holocaust'. "a wonderful book!", he says of the Diary of Anne Frank. Well, I’d like to hear from Weiss or anyone else something about the literary qualities of this diary - because I've found none. Meanwhile, ‘anti-war’ hero Justin Raimondo apparently doesn’t agree that the Holocaust, like other historical narrative, should allow a ‘range of opinion’. The meaning of all this is all too simple: For America to liberate itself, it may first have to emancipate itself from its current tribal icons of dissent. For America to be once again the land of the Free, it must leave Jerusalem behind and find the true Athens in its heart.