The Ukrainian parliament is witnessing a second day of picketing, as hundreds of Right Sector activists pressure MPs to sack the interior minister. Earlier other protesters tried to force their way into Kiev’s Rada to stop a vote on austerity measures. [...]

“I'll make up a cause of war by ordering a missile attack on Turkey.” This leaked conversation is coming back to haunt the highest echelons of the Turkish government as it plans a provocation in Syria, while scrambling to contain social media internally. [...]

The West has not yet reached a stage where it will be ready to impose economic sanctions on Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, stressing that she hopes for a political solution to the stalemate over Ukraine crisis. The chancellor said she is “not interested in escalation” of tensions with Russia, speaking after Wednesday meeting with the South Korean president in Berlin. [...]

US President Barack Obama addressed the ministers of the EU-US Summit in Brussels with high-sounding, candy-coated phrases in an apparent effort to mask deep strains in the transatlantic partnership. Very little of what Obama said in Brussels on Wednesday was any different from anything he’d already said before in Prague [...]

Barack Obama'€™s speech on Ukrainian crisis seems to have left the public confused as he claimed that Kosovo broke away from Serbia "€œafter a referendum"€. But attentive listeners quickly pointed Obama'€™s gaps in history -€“ there was no referendum in Kosovo. [...]

President Obama's key speech in Brussels on Ukraine and attempts to isolate Russia appears to be an exercise of omission, mutually-exclusive statements and unveiled double standards. Here's a quick look at what Obama told an audience of some 2,000 people in his damning 30-minute speech. [...]

In Crimea, some may be surprised by the US'€™s blatant rejection of a clear democratic mandate for independence, as leaders in Washington constantly boast of being "€œdefenders of democracy." €Back in 2003, George W. Bush justified his invasion of Iraq by saying he was “bringing freedom” to Iraq and “removing a dictator.” [...]

Only about a ninth of Ukrainian military personnel currently doing service in Crimea have made a decision to leave the peninsular, Russia'€™s Defense Ministry announced on Saturday. “As of March 21, less than 2,000 out of 18,000 soldiers of Ukrainian military forces, who are currently stationed in the Republic of Crimea, have wished to leave for Ukraine,” says the Ministry’s statement. [...]

Russia is not clinging to the G8 format, as all major world problems can be discussed at other international venues such as G20, Russia'€™s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. “The G8 is an informal club, no one gives out membership cards and no one can expel members,” Lavrov told a media conference at the Hague. [...]

The new Ukraine of "€œYats,"€ Tyahnybok and Yarosh, in a rush, signed the political points of an association agreement with the EU in a Brussels summit last Friday. No less than 30 (unelected) EU bureaucrats also signed it, including European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso. [...]

A new opinion poll has revealed that the majority of Germans recognize the accession of Crimea to Russia. At the same time, most of them also view the West'€™s response as appropriate. The public opinion poll was conducted by TNS Research at the request of Der Spiegel. [...]

Exactly 15 years ago, on March 24, NATO began its 78-day bombing of Yugoslavia. The alliance bypassed the UN under a “humanitarian” pretext, launching aggression that claimed hundreds of civilian lives and caused a much larger catastrophe than it averted. [...]

Rallies have swept eastern Ukraine, with residents protesting against Kiev’s coup-imposed government and demanding a referendum to decide on the future of the region. Thousands took to the streets in Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk, and Odessa on Sunday. [...]

Russia is observing all international agreements on troop limits in regions bordering Ukraine, the Russian Deputy Defense Minister said, adding that foreign missions'€™ inspections can confirm that. The statement was made in response to reports by several foreign media outlets over concentrations of "thousands" of Russian servicemen on the Russian-Ukrainian border. [...]

The ultra-nationalist Right Sector movement has decided to become a political party, while slamming current authorities in Kiev and demanding early parliamentary elections. The group has nominated its leader, Dmitry Yarosh, as a presidential candidate. [...]

Thousands of people have trekked across Spain to protest austerity they claim is destroying their country. Under the banner of "no more cuts!" the protesters are calling for an end to the Spanish government'€™s "empty promises." Six “columns” of trains, cars and buses, as well as bands of pedestrians have travelled from Extremadura, Andalusia, Valencia, Murcia, Asturias, Galicia and Aragon, [...]

The US has been selective in supporting the self-determination of nations. It continues to dismiss Crimea's choice to reunite with Russia, while at the same time backs the coup in Kiev. And the idea is hardly new for Washington. The current situation in Ukraine has something in common with the one in Colombia, James Petras, a political analyst and Professor (Emeritus) at Binghamton University, New [...]

India'€™s unambiguous support to Russia on the Ukraine issue has not happened overnight. It has taken years for India to muster the courage to take on the West and support its tried, tested and trusted friend, Russia. Another point needs to be mentioned upfront in this context. The Western sanctions on Russia are not going to work for two reasons. [...]

Western sanctions might push Russia to deepen cooperation with BRICS states, in particular, to strengthen its ties with China, which will possibly turn out to be a big catastrophe for the US and the EU some time later. On March 18, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, claimed in a BBC interview that Russia would switch to new partners in case of economic sanctions being imposed by the [...]

Claiming that Crimea is part of Ukraine is the same as Serbia arguing that Kosovo is not really separated from it, Gregory Copley, editor of Defense & Foreign Affairs, told RT. [...]

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has published a reciprocal sanctions list of US citizens, consisting of 10 names, including: House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, Senator J. McCain; and advisers to President Obama D. Pfeiffer and C. Atkinson. [...]

A State Department spokeswoman claimed that Russia "€˜shot first"€™ in an incident in Crimea, which left two people killed near a military facility. But when asked to back the allegations with facts or at least explain herself, she just said to move on. [...]