Despite talks between Iran and West, senior officers tell MKs 10b shekels ($2.9b) allocated to IDF to prepare for possible attack. ● Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon have ordered the army to continue preparing for a possible military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities at a cost of at least 10 billion shekels ($2.89 billion) this year, despite the talks between Iran and the West, according to recent statements by senior military officers. Three Knesset members who were present at Knesset joint committee hearings on Israel Defense Forces plans that were held in January and February say they learned during the hearings that 10 billion shekels to 12 billion shekels of the defense budget would be allocated this year for preparations for a strike on Iran, approximately the same amount that was allocated in 2013. The IDF representatives said the army had received a clear directive from government officials from the political echelon – meaning Netanyahu and Ya’alon – to continue readying for a possible independent strike by Israel on the Iranian nuclear sites, regardless of the talks now happening between Iran and the West, the three MKs said.

RT.com: Israel budgets $3 bn for strike on Iran - report
PressTV: Israel must go solo to strike Iran: Yaalon
Michel Chossudovsky: Israel Prepares to Launch “The First Strike”
Washington Post: Russia warns West it may change its stance on Iran

■ For her public act of protest against Russia Today’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory and supposedly advancing the agenda of Vladimir Putin in Washington, D.C., previously unknown news anchor Liz Wahl has suddenly become one of the most famous unemployed people in America. ■ Behind the coverage of Wahl’s dramatic protest, a cadre of neoconservatives was celebrating a public relations coup. Desperate to revive the Cold War, head off further cuts to the defense budget and restore the legitimacy they lost in the ruins of Iraq, the tightknit group of neoconservative writers and stewards had opened up a new PR front through Wahl’s resignation. And they succeeded with no shortage of help from an ossified media establishment struggling to maintain credibility in an increasingly anarchic online news environment. With isolated skeptics branded as useful idiots for Putin, the scene has been kept clean of neoconservative fingerprints, obscuring their interest in Wahl’s resignation and the broader push to deepen tensions with Russia. ■ It is the story, according to former colleagues, of an apolitical, deeply disgruntled employee seeking an exit strategy from a job where, sources say, she was disciplined for unprofessional behavior and had been demoted. Wahl did not return several voice and text messages sent to her cellphone. At the center of the intrigue is James Kirchick, a young neoconservative writer and activist who helped craft Wahl’s strategy and exploit her resignation to propel the agenda of a powerful pro-war lobby in Washington. ■ [Liz Wahl’s handler was neo-con James Kirchick, the guy that called for whistleblower Chelsea (Bradley) Manning to be executed.]

American anchor on Russian TV resigns on-air over government’s actions in Ukraine [03/06/14]

● The US will not get involved in a “military excursion” in Ukraine, President Barack Obama said, stressing that Washington will pursue diplomatic means in the standoff with Russia over Crimea. "We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine," Obama told San Diego’s KNSD TV. "There is a better path, but I think even the Ukrainians would acknowledge that for us to engage Russia militarily would not be appropriate and would not be good for Ukraine either.” ● At the same time, Churkin told US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power to stop insulting Russia if Washington wants to see Russia’s future cooperation in the UN Security Council. During her speech, Power accused Russia of illegally annexing Crimea. “A thief can steal property, but that does not confer the right of ownership on the thief,” she said. Power "dropped to the level of the tabloid press...it is simply unacceptable to listen to these insults addressed to our country,” Churkin said.

NBC San Diego: President Obama: No U.S. Military Action in Ukraine

Johannes Stern & Alex Lantier ■ The portrayal of NATO as a peaceful opponent of Russian aggression is a political fraud. The majority-Russian Crimean population voted overwhelmingly to join Russia principally due to fear of the anti-Semitic, anti-Russian forces the West unleashed in Ukraine when it backed the February 22 fascist-led putsch in Kiev. This regime now rules Kiev with appeals to anti-Russian chauvinism and by relying on violence to intimidate its opponents. [...] US Vice President Joe Biden outlined a policy of militarily isolating and threatening Russia in his remarks delivered to officials of the Baltic states in Vilnius: “We stand resolutely with our Baltic allies in support of the Ukrainian people and against Russian aggression. As long as Russia continues on this dark path, they will face increasing political and economic isolation.” He added, “The reason I traveled to the Baltics was to reaffirm our mutual commitment to collective defense. President Obama wanted me to come personally to make it clear what you already know, that under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, we will respond. We will respond to any aggression against a NATO ally.”

On Tuesday night, members of the Svoboda party led by Svoboda MPs stormed the offices of Ukraine’s state television, NTU, after NTU broadcast the Russian parliament signing a treaty with Crimea. They broke into the office of NTU President Aleksandr Panteleymonov and forced him to sign a resignation letter.

“Write your resignation! Sit down! I told you, sit down!” they shout. When Panteleymonov refuses, they drag him through the room, punch him in the face and threaten: “Here is a paper, pen, write the resignation now quickly, you animal… You Russian piece of shit. Write your resignation now. You bloody Muscovite, do it.” When Panteleymonov replies, “I am not a Muscovite, I am a Ukrainian,” they hit him again and yell: “You are Ukrainian? You are a piece of shit, not a Ukrainian. You fucking dirtbag. You are a traitor.” At that point, the video ends.

The attack was led by Igor Miroshnichenko, a Svoboda MP and deputy head of the Ukraine government’s committee on freedom of speech [!!!]. Miroshnichenko is infamous for his raging anti-Semitism. In 2012, he insulted Hollywood actress Mila Kunis, whose Jewish family were victims of the Holocaust in Ukraine, calling her a “zhydovka” (dirty Yid). This is the scum with whom the governments in Berlin and Washington are working and cynically presenting as fighters for democracy in Ukraine. The openly anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi party Svoboda played a leading role in the coup and now has a prominent position in the unelected Western-backed government, controlling no less than six ministries.

The top lawyer for the National Security Agency told a civil liberties oversight board on Wednesday that companies such as Google, Yahoo, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook knew all about the NSA surveillance program PRISM, the Guardian reported. That effort extracted user data such as photos, emails and documents stored in the cloud by big Internet services, allowing NSA analysts to track users communications.

Iranian intelligence officials may be behind the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 earlier this month, former El Al Airlines security chief Isaac Yeffet says. [Yet another Israeli psychopath and his shabbos goy lying between their teeth:] "We have bad experiences with the Iranians, unfortunately.... I would not be surprised... if one of the intelligence bodies, group of Iranians, were involved," Yeffet told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. "They will land [the aircraft] in place that nobody will know. It will take years, if not more, to find what's happened with this aircraft." Yeffet, who is also a former member of the Israeli Secret Service, believes the two passengers traveling with stolen passports may be a key part of the mystery, despite authorities discounting their culpability. [Indeed, we're all at risk until...Israel is stopped.]

A man drinking canned iced tea in a parking lot was accosted by a plainclothes beverage cop who demanded to inspect his drink. He was placed in handcuffs and arrested. ● Even though the man was innocent and was only drinking tea, prosecutors are still trying to set him up with probation and community service. The incident took place on the evening of April 27th, 2013. Two men were standing by their vehicle waiting for friends to arrive in the parking lot of a state-owned ABC Liquor Store. ● One man, Christopher Lamont Beatty, was holding a canned beverage, while his friend, Tino Brown, was recording video using his cell phone. That’s when the two were interrupted by a man who was interested in the man’s choice of refreshments. Beatty, who also goes by the name “Xstravagant” or “Xstrav” as his rapping persona, began receiving harassment about the can he was holding. A man in plainclothes, claiming to be “the police”, insisted that he turn over his beverage for an inspection. Beatty refused the stranger’s requests, but pointed out that it was only an AriZona-brand drink, “Half-and-Half” iced tea and pink lemonade — not alcohol.