Who would have thought a unitary superpower on Earth would accelerate a return to regionalism in place of globalization? For all those who deem ‘Financial Innovation’ to be an oxymoron, that brilliant invention the credit card springs to mind. [...]

Most of the Ukrainian military personnel serving in Crimea have chosen to stay on the peninsula and already applied for Russian citizenship, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a top-level military meeting. Most of these people showed an intention to continue their service in the Russian military forces and were granted that opportunity, the minister said at the Friday military collegium. [...]

At least 1,000 protesters have gathered in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the industrial capital of the region, demanding that authorities respect their right for self-determination by allowing them to stage a Crimea-style referendum. [...]

US and European sanctions against Russia are designed to "€œpunish'€ its actions in Crimea. However, instead of forcing Russia into economic and political submission, the sanctions will spur the country to greater political and economic independence. [...]

NATO has announced that it is suspending all military and civilian cooperation with Russia over the Ukrainian crisis, the bloc said in a joint statement. "We have decided to suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia. [...]

Following Congress'€™ decision to approve a $1 billion aid package to Ukraine last week, former libertarian Congressman Ron Paul has published an op-ed strongly criticizing it as a bad deal for both American taxpayers and Ukrainian citizens. In the column, published by Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, the iconic libertarian said the bill effectively puts the International Monetary Fu [...]

Russia has denied any troop build-up on the Ukraine border, a claim voiced by President Barack Obama and Kiev officials. Moscow slammed the West for ignoring the results of recent fact-finding missions for the sake of political expediency. [...]

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. [...]

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 will use visit to brand Russian leader as a menace to international system built up by Europe and US. Barack Obama has charged Vladimir Putin with being a menace to an international system built up over decades following the Russian leader's sudden appropriation of part of Ukraine. [...]

Moscow'€™s actions in the Crimea are comprehensible, former German chancellor, Helmut Schmidt said, criticizing the Western reaction to the peninsula'€™s reunification with Russia. President Vladimir Putin’s approach to the Crimean issue is “completely understandable,” Schmidt wrote in Die Zeit newspaper where he’s employed as an editor. [...]

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. [...]

Ukrainians must take up arms against Russians so that not even scorched earth will be left where Russia stands; an example of former Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko'€™s vitriol in phone call leaked online. ymoshenko confirmed the authenticity of the conversation on Twitter, while pointing out that a section where she is heard to call for the nuclear slaughter of the eight million Russians who rema [...]

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. [...]

Luke Harding: Lenin's statue still stands in Donetsk where loyalty to the old regime and Russian propaganda have inspired protests against the Kiev 'fascists'. But is this really the next Crimea? In Donetsk's main square, Ukraine's communist leader, Petro Symonenko, was giving an impromptu address to the party faithful. [...]

Recent events are both a knee-jerk reaction by Putin and a culmination of his years of grievances with the international order. When Vladimir Putin summoned the entirety of Russia's political elite to the St George's Hall of the Kremlin to announce that Russia would "welcome back" the territory of Crimea last week, the atmosphere was almost as if they were celebrating a military victory. [...]