Revealed: The forgotten treaty which could drag the US and UK into WAR with Russia' if Putin's troops intervene in Ukraine

The former British Ambassador to Moscow has warned that if Russia has invaded Ukraine then it would be difficult for Britain to avoid going to war.

Sir Tony Brenton, who served as British Ambassador from 2004 to 2008, said that war could be an option 'if we do conclude the [Budapest] Memorandum is legally binding.'

The Budapest Memorandum was signed in 1991 by Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma – the then-rulers of the USA, UK, Russia and Ukraine.

It promises to protect Ukraine's borders, in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons.

Today Kiev has demanded the agreement is activated after insisting their borders had been violated. 

In response Mr Brenton said in a BBC radio interview: 'If indeed this is a Russian invasion of Crimea and if we do conclude the [Budapest] Memorandum is legally binding then it's very difficult to avoid the conclusion that we're going to go to war with Russia'.

Ukraine accused Russia of a 'military invasion and occupation', saying Russian troops have taken up positions around a coast guard base and two airports on its strategic Crimea peninsula. 

Russia kept silent on the accusations, as the crisis deepened between two of Europe's largest countries. 

+10

The Budapest Memorandum was signed in 1991 by Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma - the then-rulers of the USA, UK, Russia and Ukraine. It promises to protect Ukraine's borders, in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons

Any Russian military incursion in Crimea would dramatically raise the stakes in Ukraine's conflict, which saw pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych flee last weekend after three months of anti-government protests. 

Crimea: No science fiction, no action movie. This is how a Russian airborne invasion looks like

Russian combat helicopters have crossed the border of Ukraine and executed some mission in the Crimea. We can count a dozen of Mi-24 in the video, which is a lot of firepower. Also, each Mi-24 can fit up to 8 soldiers, so in this case we could assume that each could carry at least 4 heavily armed soldiers and their gear, for a total of 48 combatants. But since there is no shortage of local manpower, maybe they were flying as fire support for another unit, probably those who seized the airports today.
Or maybe i am wrong and those helis are not Mi-24, but Mi-28 havocs far more dangerous than MI 24s. 

Police Shoot, Kill 80 Year Old Man In His Own Bed, Don't Find the Drugs They Were Looking For

In the early morning hours of June 27, 2013, a team of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies pulled up to the home of Eugene Mallory, an 80-year-old retired engineer living in the rural outskirts of Los Angeles county with his wife Tonya Pate and stepson Adrian Lamos.

The deputies crashed through the front gate and began executing a search warrant for methamphetamine on the property. Detective Patrick Hobbs, a self-described narcotics expert who claimed he "smelled the strong odor of chemicals" downwind from the house after being tipped off to illegal activity from an anonymous informant, spearheaded the investigation.

18 Members of Congress Formally Ask Obama to Reschedule Marijuana

Today, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) along with 17 other members of Congress, sent a bipartisan letter to President Obama asking him to direct Attorney General Eric Holder to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, as is permitted by 21 U.S.C. § 811.

“You said that you don’t believe marijuana is any more dangerous than alcohol: a fully legalized substance, and believe it to be less dangerous ‘in terms of its impact on the individual consumer,’” the letter reads. “This is true. Marijuana, however, remains listed in the federal Controlled Substances Act at Schedule I, the strictest classification, along with heroin and LSD. This is a higher listing than cocaine and methamphetamine, Schedule II substances that you gave as examples of harder drugs. This makes no sense.” 

Well-child and vaccine visits linked to more than 700,000 flu-like illnesses

New research shows that well-child doctor appointments for annual exams and vaccinations are associated with an increased risk of flu-like illnesses in children and family members within two weeks of the visit.

This risk translates to more than 700,000 potentially avoidable illnesses each year, costing more than $490 million annually. The study was published in the March issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. 

FEMA Says NO to West Virginia’s Grant Request for Water Emergency Aid

Last month, a chemical spill in West Virginia left more than half a million residents unable to use their tap water for drinking, cooking, bathing or cleaning. The incident also forced schools, bars and restaurants to close.
Earl Ray Tomblin, the state’s governor, declared a state of emergency in nine counties following the industrial leak.
FEMA has been providing bottled water and other assistance since the disaster, but state and local agencies have spent millions of dollars to deal with the crisis. Tomblin asked FEMA for grant assistance to provide the state with federal funding to reimburse it and the counties in the water emergency area part of the costs of the response.
FEMA has denied that request.
In a letter to Tomblin, Elizabeth A. Zimmerman, a FEMA administrator, said:

“Based on our review of all of the information available, it has  been determined that the event was not of such severity and                   magnitude as to warrant grant assistance under this emergency declaration.” 

Judge Who Jailed Ukraine Protesters Shot Dead

We previously highlighted just how serious the situation was in Ukraine - and Victoria Nuland's FUBAR comments and clear US manipulation did nothing to calm matters - but today's news (via Ria Novosti) suggests things are escalating rapidly. Alexander Lobodenko - a 34-year-old district court judge who recently sentenced several political protesters to house arrest has been shot dead.

Via Ria Novosti,

ALERT! Bitcoin Just Completely Crashed & Causing Massive Sell Off!

CBS: Washington Children Lose Access To Doctors Due To ObamaCare

Peter Schiff: Get Ready for Gold Moonshot!

 

Cops Ignore 911 Call from 9 Year Old. Later Found to be Murdered by his Mother

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —Albuquerque police said the dispatcher on the other end of a 911 call where Omaree Varela, 9, was being verbally abused is understandably upset that the officers chose not to listen even though she urged them to.

Target 7 broke the story of a 911 call where Omaree was being verbally abused by two adults and the police response, or lack of response, to that call. Six months later, Omaree was killed in his home and his mother was charged with the crime. 

Suspicious Death of JPMorgan Vice President, Gabriel Magee, Under Investigation in London

London Police have confirmed that an official investigation is underway into the death of a 39-year old JPMorgan Vice President whose body was found on the 9th floor rooftop of a JPMorgan building in Canary Wharf two weeks ago.

The news reports at the time of the incident of Gabriel (Gabe) Magee’s “non suspicious” death by “suicide” resulting from his reported leap from the 33rd level rooftop of JPMorgan’s European headquarters building in London have turned out to be every bit as reliable as CEO Jamie Dimon’s initial response to press reports on the London Whale trading scandal in 2012 as a “tempest in a teapot.” 

New studies: ‘Conspiracy theorists’ sane; government dupes crazy, hostile

Recent studies by psychologists and social scientists in the US and UK suggest that contrary to mainstream media stereotypes, those labeled “conspiracy theorists” appear to be saner than those who accept the official versions of contested events. 

Boston Mayor Plans Gun Buyback Program After Boy’s Shooting Death

BOSTON (CBS) – Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said Saturday he plans to hold a gun buyback program in the city to deal with the recent spike in violence.

The announcement came a day after a 9-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed at his home in Mattapan. 

5-minute video: US ‘leaders’ JOKE about OBVIOUS War Crimes, war lies, war murder

In this 5-minute video, Presidents Bush and Obama, Secretary of State and presidential-hopeful Ms. Clinton, presidential-hopeful has-been John McCain, and former Secretary of State and Bush family friend James Baker all joke about:

OBVIOUS unlawful US wars,
all began on lies known to be false as they were told,
their psychopathic lack of empathy about US-led wars that have killed ~30 million human beings since World War 2; more than killed by fascist Nazis.

These psychopaths mock our veterans by allowing their growing homelessness and suicides, despite obvious solutions available for everyone’s full-employment and health care.

Report: Iran sending warships close to U.S. borders

A senior Iranian naval commander says his country has sent several warships to the Atlantic Ocean, close to U.S. maritime borders for the first time.

The commander of Iran's Northern Navy Fleet, Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad, is quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying Saturday that the vessels have already begun the journey to the Atlantic Ocean via waters near South Africa. 

Twitter Says Government Info Requests on the Rise

Washington - Government requests for Twitter user information is on the rise, the messaging service said as it released figures while pressing for more transparency.

"Over the past 24 months, we've received a 66% increase in requests for account information coming from more than 45 different countries impacting over 6 400 accounts around the world," Twitter's global legal policy manager Jeremy Kessel said in a blog posting on Thursday.

"The majority of global government requests for account information still come from the US government (59% in the latest report)."  

Republican Official Says Gays Should Be Purged From GOP, Blames Homosexuality On Satan

A new candidate for a Michigan seat on the Republican National Committee wants gays "purged" from the GOP and claims homosexuality is a "perversion" created by Satan himself.

Mary Helen Sears of Houghton County in the state's Upper Peninsula, elected vice chair of the Michigan Republican Party's 1st District last year, posted a rant in Aprilon the Schoolcraft County GOP website -- preceded by a warning asking readers to "please use your discretion before taking any decisions based on the information in this blog."

In the post, Sears claimed that homosexuals prey on children, argued that "Satan uses homosexuality to attack the living space of the Holy Spirit" and advocated that Republicans "as a party should be purging this perversion and send them to a party with a much bigger tent." 

A Florida County Spent Over $5 Million Jailing Homeless People. It Could've Spent Less On Shelter

A Florida county has spent more than $5 million over the past nine years throwing chronically homeless people in jail, when it could have spent considerably less finding them shelter.

In its annual report on the state of homelessness in Osceola County, Fla., Impact Homelessness -- a local advocacy group -- found that the county continues to spend a pretty penny on imprisoning people who live on the streets, instead of helping to rehabilitate them.

The county has at least 300 homeless people sleeping on the streets every night. Most of those people have physical disabilities and/or mental illnesses. Many of them are veterans. 

297 Scientists and Experts Agree GMOs Not Proven Safe

*EU chief scientist Anne Glover’s backing for GM condemned as “irresponsible”

*Independent researchers work double shift to address “red flags” on GMO safety

Press release, European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility, 10 Dec 2013

The number of scientists and experts who have signed a joint statement[1] saying that GM foods have not been proven safe and that existing research raises concerns has climbed to 297 since the statement was released on 21 October.