Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
steve2470
steve2470's Journal
steve2470's Journal
March 1, 2014
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — In the afternoon, when the shift ends at the coal mine and the miners walk out into the cold and past the old concrete statue of Lenin, they often head to a tiny corner store a block away. There they'll stand in the parking lot for a while, drinking little bottles of the vodka called "Truthful."
They know what is happening in Kiev, the capital city that can seem so far away. They've seen pictures of the democracy protesters shot dead in Kiev's streets, and the TV reports on the mansions of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, the one-time thug and pro-Russia politician who grew up in this far-eastern city. They watched from afar this week as protesters, many from western Ukraine, helped form the country's new government.
They don't like it at all.
"I have always felt that we are so different," said a miner who gave his name only as Nikolai, a thickset 35-year-old who went from high school directly into the mines. People speak Russian across most of Ukraine's east, and worship in onion-domed Orthodox churches. They were shaped by 70 years of Soviet rule and its celebration of socialist industrialization, and by the Russian empire before that. To them, the government is now being run by outsiders who care little for this side of the country. "If they try to pressure us, our region will revolt."
At heart of Ukraine drama, a tale of two countries
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/heart-ukraine-drama-tale-two-countriesDONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — In the afternoon, when the shift ends at the coal mine and the miners walk out into the cold and past the old concrete statue of Lenin, they often head to a tiny corner store a block away. There they'll stand in the parking lot for a while, drinking little bottles of the vodka called "Truthful."
They know what is happening in Kiev, the capital city that can seem so far away. They've seen pictures of the democracy protesters shot dead in Kiev's streets, and the TV reports on the mansions of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, the one-time thug and pro-Russia politician who grew up in this far-eastern city. They watched from afar this week as protesters, many from western Ukraine, helped form the country's new government.
They don't like it at all.
"I have always felt that we are so different," said a miner who gave his name only as Nikolai, a thickset 35-year-old who went from high school directly into the mines. People speak Russian across most of Ukraine's east, and worship in onion-domed Orthodox churches. They were shaped by 70 years of Soviet rule and its celebration of socialist industrialization, and by the Russian empire before that. To them, the government is now being run by outsiders who care little for this side of the country. "If they try to pressure us, our region will revolt."
March 1, 2014
Crimean Leader claims control of military, police
Source: AP
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The pro-Russian prime minister of Ukraine's restive Crimea is claiming control of all military forces, police and other security services in the region.
In a statement reported by local and Russian news agencies on Saturday, Sergei Aksenov declares that the armed forces, the police, the national security service and border guards will answer only to his orders. He says that any commanders who don't agree should leave their posts.
Aksenov, the head of the main pro-Russia party on the peninsula, was appointed by the Crimean parliament on Thursday as tensions soared over Crimea's resistance to the new authorities in Kiev, who took power last week.
Armed men described as Russian troops on Friday took control of key airports in Crimea, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/crimean-leader-claims-control-military-police
March 1, 2014
Uganda is willing to give up all international aid to keep its new anti-homosexuality law and "save gays from damnation", its ethics minister said as the World Bank followed other donors and froze a $100m (about €72m) new loan.
In a newspaper interview minister Simon Lokodo said: "We want to rid this country of homosexuality and if that means these people, Obama, Hague, you name them, want to stop their aid then let them.
"We don't need (aid), we won't die poor, and we will at least be able to save these gays from damnation."
Condemnation of the new law by western nations, which together give Uganda more than €1.2bn a year in aid, drew quick criticism from Mr Lokodo.
*end*
Disgusting. They may end up with no aid soon, then.
Uganda willing to forego aid 'to save gays from damnation'
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/africa/uganda-willing-to-forego-aid-to-save-gays-from-damnation-30051960.htmlUganda is willing to give up all international aid to keep its new anti-homosexuality law and "save gays from damnation", its ethics minister said as the World Bank followed other donors and froze a $100m (about €72m) new loan.
In a newspaper interview minister Simon Lokodo said: "We want to rid this country of homosexuality and if that means these people, Obama, Hague, you name them, want to stop their aid then let them.
"We don't need (aid), we won't die poor, and we will at least be able to save these gays from damnation."
Condemnation of the new law by western nations, which together give Uganda more than €1.2bn a year in aid, drew quick criticism from Mr Lokodo.
*end*
Disgusting. They may end up with no aid soon, then.
March 1, 2014
RUTLAND, Vt. — Block by block, this city in central Vermont has been fighting a heroin epidemic so entrenched that it has confounded all efforts to combat it.
On Cottage Street, the foot traffic is heavy in and out of No. 24 ½, a red two-story cottage set back from the street, where visitors stay less than a minute.
“We know what they’re doing in there,” Victoria DeLong, a longtime neighbor, said of the house, which the police say is owned by an absentee landlord and is a haven for drug dealers. “It’s like shopping at the Grand Union,” Ms. DeLong said. “In and out, in and out.”
Long visible at the street level in towns and cities across the country, the extent of the opiate scourge in rural Vermont burst into the national consciousness last month, when Gov. Peter Shumlin devoted his entire State of the State message to what he said was a “full-blown heroin crisis.” Much of New England is now also reporting record overdoses and deaths.
A Call to Arms on a Vermont Heroin Epidemic
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/us/a-call-to-arms-on-a-vermont-heroin-epidemic.htmlRUTLAND, Vt. — Block by block, this city in central Vermont has been fighting a heroin epidemic so entrenched that it has confounded all efforts to combat it.
On Cottage Street, the foot traffic is heavy in and out of No. 24 ½, a red two-story cottage set back from the street, where visitors stay less than a minute.
“We know what they’re doing in there,” Victoria DeLong, a longtime neighbor, said of the house, which the police say is owned by an absentee landlord and is a haven for drug dealers. “It’s like shopping at the Grand Union,” Ms. DeLong said. “In and out, in and out.”
Long visible at the street level in towns and cities across the country, the extent of the opiate scourge in rural Vermont burst into the national consciousness last month, when Gov. Peter Shumlin devoted his entire State of the State message to what he said was a “full-blown heroin crisis.” Much of New England is now also reporting record overdoses and deaths.
March 1, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday that it would allow some people to receive federal subsidies for health insurance purchased in the private market outside of health insurance exchanges. The sudden shift was the latest in a series of policy changes, extensions and clarifications by federal officials trying to help beneficiaries and minimize political damage to Democrats in this election year.
Federal officials said they had agreed to provide such assistance retroactively because technical problems had prevented consumers from using online exchanges to obtain insurance and financial aid in some states.
Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon, a Democrat, had specifically asked the federal government to allow financial assistance, in the form of tax credits, for people buying insurance outside the state’s troubled exchange. Other states running their own exchanges, including Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and Minnesota, have also experienced technical difficulties, creating political problems for their governors.
The Obama administration’s decision came as a surprise because the Affordable Care Act is clear: Federal subsidies are available only to people who enroll in a “qualified health plan” through an exchange.
New Health Fix Offers Subsidies for Insurance Policies Bought Outside Exchanges
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/us/new-health-fix-offers-subsidies-for-insurance-policies-bought-outside-exchanges.html?_r=0WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday that it would allow some people to receive federal subsidies for health insurance purchased in the private market outside of health insurance exchanges. The sudden shift was the latest in a series of policy changes, extensions and clarifications by federal officials trying to help beneficiaries and minimize political damage to Democrats in this election year.
Federal officials said they had agreed to provide such assistance retroactively because technical problems had prevented consumers from using online exchanges to obtain insurance and financial aid in some states.
Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon, a Democrat, had specifically asked the federal government to allow financial assistance, in the form of tax credits, for people buying insurance outside the state’s troubled exchange. Other states running their own exchanges, including Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and Minnesota, have also experienced technical difficulties, creating political problems for their governors.
The Obama administration’s decision came as a surprise because the Affordable Care Act is clear: Federal subsidies are available only to people who enroll in a “qualified health plan” through an exchange.
March 1, 2014
On Thursday night, the best assessment from the U.S. intelligence community—and for that matter most experts observing events in Ukraine—was that Vladimir Putin’s military would not invade Ukraine. Less than 24 hours later, however, there are reports from the ground of Russian troops pushing into the Ukrainian province of Crimea. It’s hardly a full-blown invasion. But it’s not quite the picture U.S. analysts were painting just a day before.
There was good reason to think Putin wouldn’t do it. Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov told Secretary of State John Kerry that Russia respected the territorial integrity of the Ukraine. U.S. intelligence assessments concluded that the 150,000-man Russian military exercises announced by Putin on Wednesday were not preparations for an invasion of Ukraine because no medical units accompanied the troops. And Russian and U.S. diplomats were still working on Iran and Syrian diplomacy. All of this followed a successful Winter Olympic games for Putin’s Russia.
Yet private security contractors, working for the Russian military, seized control of two airports in Crimea on Friday. And Ukrainian border officials said that Russian cargo planes had landed inside the province, and that 10 military helicopters flew into Ukrainian airspace.
U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence on the fast moving situation in Ukraine tell The Daily Beast that analytic products from the intelligence community this week did not discount the prospect of Russian provocations and even light incursions in the Russian majority province of Crimea, the home of Russia’s fleet in the Black Sea.
U.S. Spies Said No Invasion—Putin Disagreed
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/28/u-s-spies-said-no-invasion-putin-disagreed.htmlOn Thursday night, the best assessment from the U.S. intelligence community—and for that matter most experts observing events in Ukraine—was that Vladimir Putin’s military would not invade Ukraine. Less than 24 hours later, however, there are reports from the ground of Russian troops pushing into the Ukrainian province of Crimea. It’s hardly a full-blown invasion. But it’s not quite the picture U.S. analysts were painting just a day before.
There was good reason to think Putin wouldn’t do it. Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov told Secretary of State John Kerry that Russia respected the territorial integrity of the Ukraine. U.S. intelligence assessments concluded that the 150,000-man Russian military exercises announced by Putin on Wednesday were not preparations for an invasion of Ukraine because no medical units accompanied the troops. And Russian and U.S. diplomats were still working on Iran and Syrian diplomacy. All of this followed a successful Winter Olympic games for Putin’s Russia.
Yet private security contractors, working for the Russian military, seized control of two airports in Crimea on Friday. And Ukrainian border officials said that Russian cargo planes had landed inside the province, and that 10 military helicopters flew into Ukrainian airspace.
U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence on the fast moving situation in Ukraine tell The Daily Beast that analytic products from the intelligence community this week did not discount the prospect of Russian provocations and even light incursions in the Russian majority province of Crimea, the home of Russia’s fleet in the Black Sea.
March 1, 2014
No surprise here.
State Department warns Americans on Ukraine travel
Source: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is warning U.S. citizens to put off all nonessential travel to Ukraine, and particularly Crimea.
The department cited "the potential for instability" following the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych as president and the establishment of a new government.
Groups have staged protests, set up roadblocks and occupied government buildings in several cities throughout Ukraine since November 2013. The State Department warned all U.S. citizens in Ukraine, and those considering travel there to be aware of the possibility of violence.
President Barack Obama spoke of "reports" of military movements inside Ukraine, and officials said the U.S does believe that Russia is intervening.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/state-department-warns-americans-ukraine-travel
No surprise here.
March 1, 2014
I don't know how to get this to display at DU.
President Obama at Democratic National Committee Meeting 2-28-2014
http://www.c-span.org/video/?318040-1/president-obama-addresses-dncI don't know how to get this to display at DU.
March 1, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) — Striking a decidedly partisan tone, President Barack Obama sought Friday to define this year's elections as a stark choice between Republicans pushing failed policies from a bygone era and Democrats advocating freedom and opportunity for all Americans.
Rallying the party faithful at a Democratic National Committee summit, Obama rattled off a list of issues where he said Republicans were stuck in the past: gay rights, women's equality, wages and health care, to name a few. Driving the midterm election campaigns across the country this year, he said, is a fundamental disagreement between the parties about the best way to secure America's future.
"What they are offering is not a new theory," Obama said, asserting that Republicans had advocated the same policies in the run-up to the Great Depression, the recent recession and the 2012 election. "And the American people said, "No, thanks.'"
In a boisterous speech, Obama seized the opportunity to mock Republicans — to the delight of the Democratic officials, donors and activists who packed a hotel ballroom near the White House. While acknowledging early setbacks in rolling out his health care law, Obama ridiculed his political foes for trying time and again to repeal the law.
Obama frames populist theme for Dems in 2014
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/speech-obama-seeks-unify-democrats-2014WASHINGTON (AP) — Striking a decidedly partisan tone, President Barack Obama sought Friday to define this year's elections as a stark choice between Republicans pushing failed policies from a bygone era and Democrats advocating freedom and opportunity for all Americans.
Rallying the party faithful at a Democratic National Committee summit, Obama rattled off a list of issues where he said Republicans were stuck in the past: gay rights, women's equality, wages and health care, to name a few. Driving the midterm election campaigns across the country this year, he said, is a fundamental disagreement between the parties about the best way to secure America's future.
"What they are offering is not a new theory," Obama said, asserting that Republicans had advocated the same policies in the run-up to the Great Depression, the recent recession and the 2012 election. "And the American people said, "No, thanks.'"
In a boisterous speech, Obama seized the opportunity to mock Republicans — to the delight of the Democratic officials, donors and activists who packed a hotel ballroom near the White House. While acknowledging early setbacks in rolling out his health care law, Obama ridiculed his political foes for trying time and again to repeal the law.
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayMember since: Sat Oct 16, 2004, 01:04 PM
Number of posts: 37,468