U.S. Trips to Russia Fall Amid Conflict

Ups...

As spring blooms across Eastern Europe, the specter of a widening conflict between the Kremlin and Ukraine is causing some Western travelers to cancel their trips to Russia and spoiling high expectations among hotels and tour operators for the summer travel season...

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East Ukraine Votes For Independence: Turnout Reported "Off The Charts"

The most significant geopolitical event of the day is the east Ukraine independence referendum taking place in various cities across the region, less than two months after the Crimean case study which saw the region split away from Ukraine and join Russia, despite the fervent warnings by Kiev and the west that the result of the "rigged election" would not be accepted by anyone. As it turned out then, it only needed to be accepted by Russia which promptly took over the Black Sea territory.

Today's vote is a carbon copy of what happened in Crimea, with the locals almost certain to vote in Independence from Kiev (even over Putin's "objections" who has managed to distance himself from the vote if quite willingly will accept its outcome), followed by another vote that annexes east Ukraine (and subsequently Transnistria) to Russia which may be held as soon as May 18, promptly followed by the adoption of the Ruble as the regional currency.

All while the west once again... continue reading

"Sorry, America, the New World Order is Dead"

Informative reading on the "world order" and its dynamics: here

"What Obama Can Do to Save Ukraine"

The fate of Ukraine – whether it descends into civil war or finds a path back from the brink – may rest with President Obama and whether he can work with Russian President Putin while recognizing the legitimate concerns of both eastern and western Ukrainians, writes Robert Parry.

"Kiev and Right Sector Kristallnacht Odessa"

Another reading on current Ukraine's situation. Read here.

Behind the Masks in Ukraine, Many Faces of Rebellion

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — The rebel leader spread a topographic map in front of a closed grocery store here as a Ukrainian military helicopter flew past a nearby hill. Ukrainian troops had just seized positions along a river, about a mile and a half away. The commander thought they might advance.

He issued orders with the authority of a man who had seen many battles. “Go down to the bridge and set up the snipers,” the leader, who gave only a first name, Yuri, said to a former Ukrainian paratrooper, who jogged away.

Yuri commands the 12th Company, part of the self-proclaimed People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic, a previously unknown and often masked rebel force that since early April has seized government buildings in eastern Ukraine and, until Saturday, held prisoner a team of European military observers it accused of being NATO spies.

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14 Facts about Russia you didn't know

Here

Cool animation! And the facts are also worth seeing, even though the fact #6 is not correct - it is illegal to propagandize homosexuality to kids, but you can make them aware of gay people existence and it won't be illegal.