Today’s Headlines and Commentary
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is still missing. Investigators are ruling nothing out, and Interpol's secretary general has expressed concern that two passengers were able to board the flight with stolen passports listed in Interpol's databases.
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Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is still missing. Investigators are ruling nothing out, and Interpol's secretary general has expressed concern that two passengers were able to board the flight with stolen passports listed in Interpol's databases. The New York Times reports.
Tens of thousands of people in Ukraine have been participating in pro-unity and pro-Russian rallies, with violence breaking out in Sevastopol, Crimea, reports the BBC. Crimea is scheduled to vote on secession next week. Critics, including the German government, are calling the referendum a violation of the Ukrainian constitution and international law, says Reuters. Chinese president Xi Jinping is urging President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to "remain calm and exercise restraint to avoid an escalation in tensions," notes the Guardian.
The White House is scheduled to host a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Wednesday for discussions on "how to find a peaceful resolution to Russia's ongoing military intervention in Crimea that would respect Ukrainian sovreignty and territorial integrity." See more at NPR. On Saturday Russian news agencies cited an unidentified Defense Ministry official as saying that Russia is considering suspending U.S. military inspections in Russia in response to Washington's decision to halt military cooperations with the country. Politico has details.
Yesterday former Defense Secretary Bob Gates told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that he thinks Crimea will remain in Russian hands. Here's the full transcript. Deputy national security advisor Tony Blinken, on the other hand, insisted Russia's seizure of Crimea is not a done deal on "Meet the Press."
Padriac Kenney has an op-ed in the Times explaining the historical ties that bind Poland and Ukraine; meanwhile Amelia Glaser offers the backstory on Putin's attempts to use the history of Ukrainian anti-Semitism.
When Mr. Putin or his supporters compare the protesters in Kiev to followers of Bandera, they are implicitly raising a question of comparative genocide. So far, thankfully, the people of Ukraine haven’t taken the bait.
Todd Purdum of Politico reminds those leaning too hard on historical analogues to the current crisis in Crimea that Russian President Putin's bluster just can't compare to the days of the Cold War.
More than 250 Ukrainians are missing after the government's crackdown last month in Kiev, writes the Times.
Marshal Mohammed Fahim, Afghanistan's first vice president, died on Sunday of an undisclosed illness. Fahim played a critical role in ousting the Taliban and was expected to play a large role in maintaining security following the withdrawal of American troops at the end of this year, according to the Washington Post.
The Afghan Taliban is threatening to use "full force" against anyone taking part in next month's presidential election, which they claim is being manipulated by the United States. Reuters reports.
A suicide bomber killed at least 45 people and wounded 157 in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla, writes Reuters.
On Friday Saudi Arabia declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization despite the Brotherhood's longstanding denunciation of violence. The New York Times writes:
The inclusion of the Brotherhood appeared to signal the beginning of a Saudi effort to eradicate the group, demonstrating the deepening polarization that is spreading across the region after the Egyptian military’s ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader, last summer.
Libya's prime minister has threatened to bomb a tanker flying the North Korean flag---which analysts says is unlikely to be owned or controlled by Pyongyang---after it docked at rebel-controlled Sidra port on Saturday. The BBC reports.
Yesterday the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, tamped down on enthusiasm over the prospect of a permanent deal with Iran, noting that "there is no guarantee that we will succeed" at a joint news conference with Iran's foreign minister. The Times has details.
Amnesty International has issued a new report that says the Syrian government is using starvation tactics against civilians as a weapon of war. Here is the BBC coverage.
Save the Children issued a separate report yesterday documenting the devastating effects of the Syrian civil war on the health of the country's children. More than 10,000 have died in the violence, but several thousands more are the victims of a "shattered health system," asserts the report, resulting in reduced access to basic medical care and treatment for diseases. Here is the New York Times summary. The report includes horrific examples of what the obliteration of basic health care has meant for children, including:
- children having limbs amputated because the clinics they present to don’t have necessary equipment to treat them;
- newborn babies dying in their incubators due to power cuts
- in some cases, patients opting to be knocked out with metal bars for lack of anaesthesia;
- parents arriving at hospital to find no medical staff and hooking up children themselves to intravenous drips.
What to make of evidence that the CIA has been investigating Congress's digital logs? In December investigators for the Senate Intelligence Committee obtained an internal agency document summarizing thousands of other documents on the CIA's interrogation program. Agency officials then began searching the digital logs of Senate staff members to learn how they got the report. Last week Shane Harris wrote for Foreign Policy that John Brennan is on the hot seat. Now the Times writes:
Their search not only raised constitutional questions about the propriety of an intelligence agency investigating its congressional overseers, but has also resulted in two parallel inquiries by the Justice Department — one into the C.I.A. and one into the committee.
Should Newsweek have "doxxed" alleged Bitcoin inventer Satoshi Nakamoto? Al Jazeera America parses the ethics of revealing the identity of someone who wishes to remain anonymous.
Last but certainly not least: at this hour, at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, Edward Snowden is speaking by remote video link on, among other things, technology, surveillance and privacy. Joining him live and are ACLU attorney Ben Wizner and ACLU technologist Christopher Soghoian.
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Jane Chong is former deputy managing editor of Lawfare. She served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and is a graduate of Yale Law School and Duke University.
