WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s national security team discussed the Ukraine crisis in a session at the White House on Saturday after a last-ditch bid to find a diplomatic solution to the Cold War-style standoff with Russia floundered.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who just returned from talks with his Russian counterpart in London, was at the White House meeting along with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Obama did not attend the meeting but was being briefed about it and other developments involving Ukraine, said Laura Lucas Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.  (read more)

It appears we’re not exceptional enough to have primary responsibility for maintenance of the internet…

WASHINGTON DC – U.S. officials announced plans Friday to relinquish federal government control over the administration of the Internet, a move that pleased international critics but alarmed some business leaders and others who rely on the smooth functioning of the Web.
Pressure to let go of the final vestiges of U.S. authority over the system of Web addresses and domain names that organize the Internet has been building for more than a decade and was supercharged by the backlash last year to revelations about National Security Agency surveillance.
The change would end the long-running contract between the Commerce Department and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a California-based nonprofit group. That contract is set to expire next year but could be extended if the transition plan is not complete. (more…)

VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky travels to the Kherson region of mainland Ukraine to both the Ukrainian and Russian checkpoints. At the Ukrainian checkpoint, Simon goes inside one of their tanks, and speaks to the commander, who says that despite his Russian blood he will defend all invaders. But at the Russian checkpoint, the exchange isn’t quite as cordial. (link)

(Via Breitbart ) Oleg Atbashian, a Florida resident and conservative activist who now runs the political parody site “The People’s Cube”, worked as a propaganda agitprop artist for the former Soviet Union, when he was a young adult working in his native Ukraine.
Now that he’s watching the debate unfold about Russia invading his native land, he said he can see the Russian rumor influence operation is making its way into western media the way it did during the Cold War.
He has noticed, for example, the Russian narrative about the Ukranian opposition movement as “Nazis” and “Fascists” appears to be finding itself in Western outlets and American blogs.
“The Pro-Russian propaganda is still being spread. This time, it’s not leftists. It has nothing to do with Communism. It has nothing to do with anti-war sentiment. It has everything to do with Russian national interest and Russian nationalism and Russian dominance in the region. The same people the same town the same figures are being used to plant this information,” Atbashian, comparing it to the Tea Party being maligned as racists in the U.S.
(more…)

Der Spiegel cover:

"The Arsonist: Who Will Stop Putin?" pic.twitter.com/mqEJJJ7fUv via @adagamov

— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) March 9, 2014

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A 70-year-old Italian man was shocked when his hired date turned out to be his future  daughter-in-law.  (via New York Daily News)

The 70-year-old, from Treviso, couldn’t believe his eyes when his future  daughter-in-law knocked on his door.  The South American woman had told everyone, including the 40-year-old son,  that she was a waitress.

Red-faced, they decided not to seal the deal.

However, the father, deciding that honesty was the best policy, then told his son the  truth.   Things got ugly…   The relationship between father and son apparently destroyed, and the intended marriage cancelled.  Everyone miserable.

QUESTION:    Should he have told his son ?

United Kingdom – A 13-year-old public school boy from Preston, England has become the youngest person ever to successfully carry out atomic fusion.   Jamie Edwards built a nuclear reactor before successfully smashing two hydrogen atoms together, making helium through nuclear fusion.

Notice how he erected a chicken wire faraday cage around his classroom experiment to avoid external magnetic interference.    He built his nuclear reactor in his garage at home, then took it to school and successfully smashed two hydrogen atoms together (fused) to make helium.

GOOD NEWS !  On Tuesday, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) announced a drastic turnaround on the part of the federal government: The German Romeike family, which sought asylum in the United States to home-school their children, will now be allowed to stay in America.

“The Romeikes can stay!!!” the HSLDA announced on its Facebook page.

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From what can be determined this event took place in the city of Kharkov close to the border with Russia. The crowd was generally pro-Russia and the Red ribbons and armbands signify a pro-putin, pro-communist, pro-Russia sensibility.

The young men coming from the building were Ukrainian Nationalists, or of the same ideological sympathy as the revolutionary crowds.  The ethnic divisions seem to exacerbate the issues being faced.

The video, while brutal, reflects how stark the ideological differences are within the Ukrainian people. (more…)

The Weekly Standard has some excellent analysis of a VERY insightful interview given by President Obama to  Jeff Goldberg of Bloomberg Media. 

The Full Obama foreign policy interview is HERE.  (A must read for those who tackle understanding of what motivates the current administration at the core.)  

Weekly Standard – On the eve of the Netanyahu visit to Washington, President Obama gave a lengthy interview to Jeffrey Goldberg that shows a chief executive who has learned next to nothing about the world in his five years in office.

First, kudos to Goldberg: he pressed Obama repeatedly, challenging vague formulations and seeking clarity. Goldberg pushed Obama hard, especially on Iran and Syria.

Obama isn’t good off the cuff, especially when challenged; he is far better with a prepared speech. And what emerged is an awful portrait of the president and his conception of the world.

Take Syria. Here’s what Obama said: (more…)