Harvard Law School scholar David Barron is an Obama administration nominee for a federal appeals court. He is also the author of government memos that make legal justifications for killing U.S. citizens overseas with drone strikes, which is why his selection to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals has been delayed. The White House has agreed to allow lawmakers to review at least one of the drone memos after U.S. senators and the the American Civil Liberties Union expressed concerns, technology website Ars Technica reported Wednesday.

Antiwar.com: Appeals Court Judge - Vote Split Along Party Lines

'Country X': WikiLeaks reveals NSA recording 'nearly all' phone calls in Afghanistan ● The NSA records all domestic and international phone calls in Afghanistan, similar to what it does in the Bahamas, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange said. Reports in the Washington Post and The Intercept had previously reported that domestic and international phone calls from two or more target states had been recorded and stored in mass as of 2013. Both publications censored the name of one victim country at the request of the US government, which the Intercept referred to as country "X". Assange says he cannot disclose how Wikileaks confirmed the identity of the victim state for the sake of source protection, though the claim can be "independently verified" via means of "forensic scrutiny of imperfectly applied censorship on related documents released to date and correlations with other NSA programs."

Wikileaks: WikiLeaks statement on the mass recording of Afghan telephone calls by the NSA || We know from previous reporting that the National Security Agency’s mass interception system is a key component in the United States’ drone targeting program. The US drone targeting program has killed thousands of people and hundreds of women and children in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia in violation of international law. The censorship of a victim state’s identity directly assists the killing of innocent people. Although, for reasons of source protection we cannot disclose how, WikiLeaks has confirmed that the identity of victim state is Afghanistan. This can also be independently verified through forensic scrutiny of imperfectly applied censorship on related documents released to date and correlations with other NSA programs (see http://freesnowden.is). We do not believe it is the place of media to "aid and abet" a state in escaping detection and prosecution for a serious crime against a population. Consequently WikiLeaks cannot be complicit in the censorship of victim state X. The country in question is Afghanistan.

President Vladimir Putin announced Friday that Russia will recognize the outcome of Ukraine's presidential vote this weekend but voiced hope that Ukraine would halt its military operation against separatists in the east. In Kiev, Ukraine's leader urged all voters to take part in the crucial ballot to "cement the foundation of our nation" but pro-Russia insurgents still battled government forces in eastern Ukraine. Speaking at an investment forum in St. Petersburg, Putin said Russia will "respect the choice of the Ukrainian people" and will work with its new leadership. He said Russia wants peace and order to be restored in Russia's neighbor. Yet earlier, Putin had blamed the West for both encouraging a "coup" in Ukraine when the nation's pro-Russian president was chased from power and for plunging the country into what he described as "chaos and a full-scale civil war."

Bill Van Auken: New York Times’ vision of Ukrainian “democracy”

The Saker ■ Something really weird has just happened in the Ukraine. Everybody agrees that an attack took place on a checkpoint of the Ukrainian national guard near the city of Volnovakha (see map). 35 soldiers were wounded, 15 died (other figures quote 8 confirmed dead and an unknown number of evacuated bodies of attackers who got killed; one source says "13-20 fatalities"). The surviving soldiers say that out of 53 men, only 7 survived. So far all the sources point to the same sequence of events. Here is what I pieced together:

A Ukrainian national guard unit (according to one source the 51st motorized brigade which had been hastily made up with middle-aged reservists) brought in from the city of Vinnitsa. For three days were were told to man a checkpoint, but today they were given the order to attack civilians in a nearby village. The unit refused and the commander announced that he would withdraw because "there were no terrorists here, only civilians". At around 5AM a black sedan, two jeeps and several vehicles (vans and armored) of the company Privat Bank (belongs to the Jewish oligarch Kolomoiski) carrying members of the "Donbass" and "Azov" death-squads drove to the checkpoint and opened fire with everything they had. The soldiers fired back as best they could. The attack lasted 15min after which the attackers put on some Saint George ribbons and beat up the surviving and wounded soldiers while telling them that they were from the Donbass Resistance forces. Not a single solider believed them. About one hour later two or three more helicopters were seen shooting at the destroyed vehicles of the attackers in an apparent attempt to conceal their origin (Privat Bank). Still, witnesses have categorically identified the vans used by Privat Bank. There is also video footage confirming this.

Moon of Alabama ■ Ukraine: Army Soldiers Killed In Friendly Fire Incident? || Something weird happened in east Ukraine today. Allegedly some insurgents from the "Gorlovka" group attacked a Ukrainian military checkpoint near the town Volnovakha in Donetsk oblast. Some 13 soldiers were killed, over 30 wounded and several armored personal carriers were destroyed (vid). There are no reports yet of wounded or killed insurgents. It does not sound plausible to me that a group of rag tag insurgents only recently formed and without much fighting experience attacks a platoon plus size military unit and destroys it completely.

RT.com: Donetsk bloodbath: Insider video shows Ukraine helicopters firing at own checkpoint
RT.com: 16 Ukraine soldiers killed in Donetsk Region checkpoint attack
Antiwar.com: 16 Ukraine Soldiers Killed in Checkpoint Attack

Andrew Korybko ■ Ukraine and Syria are both going to the polls in less than two weeks, but the election that is legitimate (Syria) is painted as a fraud by the West, and the actual fraudulent election (Ukraine) is promoted as legitimate. Comparing both of these cases back-to-back most strongly illustrates the hypocrisy behind the West’s position. By keeping in mind that it is the West that supports the Ukrainian junta and Russia and China (the leaders of ‘the Rest’) that support the legitimate Syrian government, the dichotomy over democratic practice becomes more acute, and not surprisingly, this illustrates the growing moral and normative authority that the Rest has over the West. There are three main categorical comparisons, and the juxtaposition of the Ukrainian and Syrian scenarios will demonstrate the lack of democracy in the former and the vibrance of it in the latter.

Tony Cartalucci ■ Ukraine Descends Into Chaos Ahead of Sham Elections || The regime in Ukraine is rushing forward with elections, supposedly to take place on May 25, even as much of the country descends into chaos. With Crimea now part of Russia, and two more provinces declared autonomous after recent referendums – with more provinces to follow – Kiev has responded with a campaign that resembles more of a foreign invasion and occupation than a national security operation. With its regular army in shambles, Kiev has turned to a patchwork of militias, ad hoc mercenaries, armed gangs, and has even tasked loyal corporate-financial oligarchs with raising and deploying private armies of their own. The results is predicable mayhem and can be seen playing out most acutely in the breakaway province of Donetsk in Ukraine’s east. Recently militants, militias, and even helicopter gunships clashed near the town of Volnovakha leaving up to 16 dead. Conflicting reports are emerging from the clash, but statements from both sides and video taken of helicopter gunships strafing what remained of an ambushed convoy of troops from Kiev depicts the regime engaged in a desperate and losing battle.

Jordan Shilton ■ The emergence of the modern-day financial aristocracy at the top of society has been directly connected to the impoverishment of ever broader layers of working people. Over the past 10 years, the wealth of the richest 1,000 people in Britain has doubled. During the same period, state finances were raided to provide a multi-billion bailout to these very same layers, whose ill-gotten gains were achieved through acts of financial speculation and outright criminality. For the working class, the bank bailout ushered in an era of unprecedented attacks on its living standards and social services on which millions depend. While the rich wallow in wealth, the use of food banks has reached unheard of levels, wages have been slashed and public services eliminated or privatised.

Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha formally seized power yesterday afternoon and announced himself as prime minister, two days after imposing martial law and taking control of Thailand. The army has now dissolved the elected Pheu Thai government, suspended the constitution, imposed a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., taken over all radio and TV stations and banned gatherings of more than five people. The army ordered the caretaker prime minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan and his cabinet to report to its newly-established National Peace and Order Maintaining Council. It has also summoned 23 other Pheu Thai members, including former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and members of her family.

SCG News: Thailand's Martial Law Now Officially a Coup as Military Seizes Power
RT.com: Military coup in Thailand: Constitution suspended, all TV & radio broadcasts halted

The Fact that a Senator Even Needs to SAY This Shows How Far We’ve Fallen - Senator Ron Wyden said yesterday: Every American has the RIGHT to know when their government believes it is allowed to KILL them!