NATO officials escalated their military build-up against Russia yesterday, as the pro-Western puppet regime in Kiev reinstated conscription in order to boost its crackdown on spreading pro-Russian protests in eastern Ukraine. ● The news came as the position of the far-right regime in Kiev weakened, with more cities and government buildings in east Ukraine held by protesters and militias opposed to it. Protesters stormed the prosecutor’s office, disarming police, in the city of Donetsk, one of many cities in the region, including Luhansk, Slavyansk, and Kramatorsk, now outside of Kiev’s control.

Al Jazeera: Ukraine helicopters shot down in Slovyansk
PressTV: Russia slams Ukraine troops' offensive in Slavyansk
RT.com: Ukrainian troops begin special operation in Slavyansk - VIDEO
RT.com: NATO’s second-in-command says Russia is now an enemy, not a partner
Antiwar.com: Putin Urges Ukraine to Withdraw Troops From Protest Region

Washington's approach to the events in Ukraine is not fueled by concerns about the fate of the crisis-torn state, but rather by the desire to prove it is still running the show worldwide, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. ● The way the situation in Ukraine is reported in mainstream media indicates that “unfortunately, the information machine of our Western colleagues is working at full capacity,” Lavrov said following talks with his Chilean counterpart, Heraldo Munoz, in Santiago. The US is trying to shape public opinion in a specific manner “because they are not concerned by the fate of Ukraine in the first place, but have strong desire to prove that it’s them who decides how things should be – always and everywhere,” Lavrov stated. The foreign minister stressed that sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and its allies are the result of such a stance, and will have a costly outcome for Washington in the long run. However, Moscow currently has no plans to retaliate against the “meaningless” sanctions from the West, he said. [...] Lavrov has advised the US to “discipline those whom they brought to power in Ukraine” instead of sanctioning Moscow.

Mark Hackard: US policy in Eurasia: Full-Spectrum Subversion ■ As the curtain closed on Sochi, political unrest in Kiev climaxed with the overthrow of the undoubtedly corrupt but still legitimate President Viktor Yanukovych by pro-Western forces on February 22nd. The liberal-nationalist coalition that took power through mass protests and street fighting enjoyed extensive support – both public and clandestine – from the United States government. Timed for precisely the moment when Russia’s leadership was absorbed with showcasing its Olympics to the world, the coup’s main objective was to finally incorporate Ukraine as an EU/NATO satrapy. The Washington-Wall Street agenda envisions stripping the country of its agricultural and industrial wealth and the deployment of US missile defense architecture just a day’s drive from Red Square. What the events of early 2014 show is how quickly “soft power” can transition to the hard variant; subversion makes inroads for aggression. Washington spent two decades and $5 billion to make Ukraine safe for Chevron and Exxon-Mobil, but now it is reaping far more than it anticipated.

DEPUTY First Minister Martin McGuinness has said that "dark forces" within the PSNI are behind the timing of Gerry Adams' arrest. ● Speaking to reporters at the Assembly, the Sinn Féin MLA said Gerry Adams has been the single most important person in building peace in Ireland. “I view his arrest as a deliberate attempt to influence the outcome of the elections due to take place all over this island in three weeks," he said. The Mid-Ulster representative added that the allegations against Gerry Adams in relation to the death of Jean McConville have come from elements within society who are hostile to the Peace Process and wish to see it collapse. Martin McGuinness also added that he has every confidence that Gerry Adams will continue to lead Sinn Féin through the upcoming election campaign. (An Phoblacht)

THE TIMING of the arrest of Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD by the PSNI investigating the abduction and killing of Jean McConville in Belfast in 1972 is politically motivated and designed to damage Sinn Féin’s all-Ireland election campaign, Mary Lou McDonald says. ● Gerry Adams, the former MP for West Belfast, presented himself voluntarily to the PSNI in Antrim on Wednesday evening and he was subsequently arrested for questioning. Elections take place North and South in three weeks. Gerry Adams’s arrest comes days after opinion polls showed a huge surge of support for Sinn Féin across Ireland and Gerry Adams as the most popular party leader amongst the public. Speaking before travelling from the Dáil via his constituency office in Dundalk on Wednesday evening, Louth TD Gerry Adams said:

“Last month I said that I was available to meet the PSNI about the Jean McConville case. While I have concerns about the timing, I am voluntarily meeting with the PSNI this evening. “As a republican leader I have never shirked my responsibility to build the peace. This includes dealing with the difficult issue of victims and their families. “Insofar as it is possible, I have worked to bring closure to victims and their families who have contacted me. Even though they may not agree, this includes the family of Jean McConville. “I believe that the killing of Jean McConville and the secret burial of her body was wrong and a grievous injustice to her and her family. “Well-publicised, malicious allegations have been made against me. I reject these. “While I have never disassociated myself from the IRA and I never will, I am innocent of any part in the abduction, killing or burial of Mrs McConville. “Sinn Féin has signed up to the Haass proposals for dealing with the past. While I also respect the right of families if they wish to seek legal redress, there remains a huge onus on the two governments and the political parties to face up to all these issues and to agree a victim-centred process which does this.”

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald reiterated that Gerry Adams said last month that he was available to meet the PSNI about the Jean McConville case and he has always denied allegations by openly hostile critics of the Peace Process and Sinn Féin. (An Phoblacht)

Irish Times: Gerry Adams questioned over McConville murder

Sky News obtains a video posted on a UK man's Instagram account that shows jihadist rebels shooting dead a prisoner. - Video has emerged implicating British fighters in Syria in an apparent war crime. ● Footage uncovered by researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) shows jihadist rebels killing a prisoner, said to be a loyalist of President Bashar al Assad. The incident is thought to have happened in the last two weeks near Raqqa in northern Syria. The footage was posted on the Instagram account of a man believed to be from London. The caption accompanying the video describes the prisoner as one of "Bashar [al Assad's] dogs" and says the killing was retribution for the deaths of four fellow rebels and the rape of a woman. The ICSR monitors the social media accounts of hundreds of foreign fighters inside Syria. They believe the man that posted the video is part of a group of British fighters, known as Rayat al Tawheed, an affiliate of the Sunni jihadi movement ISIS, which controls large swathes of northern Syria. Shiraz Maher, a senior ICSR researcher based at King's College London, said the killing of prisoners is a war crime in international law.

Al-Alam: Video shows British terrorists executing prisoner in Syria 'war crime'

Brother Nathanael Kapner on AWIP

For More Than 30 Years, the Big Banks Have Been Key Players In the Drug Trade. ● It has become mainstream news that at least some of the big banks are laundering staggering sums of drug money. But you may not know the scope or history of the problem. Official statistics show that huge sums of drug money are laundered every year:

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducted a study to determine the magnitude of illicit funds generated by drug trafficking and organised crimes and to investigate to what extent these funds are laundered. The report estimates that in 2009, criminal proceeds amounted to 3.6% of global GDP, with 2.7% (or USD 1.6 trillion) being laundered.

Opium production has reached high levels, showing signs of US failure in battling the problem despite spending billions of dollars. ● With an increase of 36 percent, over 200 thousand hectares is currently used to grow opium in Afghanistan, according to a US report. The report, which was commissioned by SIGAR, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction makes grim reading, with opium poppy cultivation increasing by over a third, while the country now has about 1.3 million heroin users. This is a ten-fold increase compared to 2005, when around 130,000 people were using the drug. Afghanistan is responsible for about three-quarters of the world’s heroin production, with much of it being cultivated in the Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south of the country.