WORLD WAR III: 96.77% Of Crimeans Overwhelmingly Votes To Join Russia - Putin Says That Crimeans Expressed Their Free Will In Full Accordance With International Law And UN Charter; Obama And European Allies Reject Vote, Setting The World On A Path To War!

March 16, 2014 - CRIMEA, UKRAINE - Nearly 97 percent of voters in the Crimean referendum have answered ‘yes’ to the autonomous republic joining Russia and less than 5 percent of the vote participants want the region to remain part of Ukraine, according to preliminary results.

People celebrate as they wait for the announcement of preliminary results of today's referendum on
Lenin Square in the Crimean capital of Simferopol March 16, 2014 (Reuters / Thomas Peter)

With over 75 percent of the votes already counted, preliminary result show that 96.77 percent of voters said 'yes' to the reunion of the republic with Russia as a constituent unit of the Russian Federation.

The preliminary results of the popular vote were announced during a meeting in the center of Sevastopol, the city that hosts Russia's Black Sea fleet.

The overall voter turnout in the referendum on the status of Crimea is 81,37%, according to the head of the Crimean parliament’s commission on the referendum, Mikhail Malyshev.


 WATCH: 93% of voters want Crimea to join Russia - Exit polls.

Over a half of the Tatars living in the port city took part in the referendum, with the majority of them voting in favor of joining Russia, reports Itar-Tass citing a representative of the Tatar community Lenur Usmanov.

About 40% of Crimean Tatars went to polling stations on Sunday, the republic’s prime minister Sergey Aksyonov said.

In Simferopol, the capital of the republic, at least 15,000 have gathered to celebrate the referendum in central Lenin square and people reportedly keep arriving. Demonstrators, waving Russian and Crimean flags, were watching a live concert while waiting for the announcement of preliminary results of the voting.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (AFP Photo / Alexey Druzhinin)

The referendum in Crimea was fully consistent with international law and UN Charter, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Barack Obama, after the overwhelming majority of Crimeans expressed their willingness to join Russia.

The citizens of the peninsula have been given an opportunity to freely express their will and exercise their right to self-determination, the Russian president said in a phone conversation with his US counterpart, according to Kremlin’s press service.

With a record-breaking turnout of over 80 percent, according to preliminary results, nearly 97 percent of the Crimean population said 'yes' to the reunion of the republic with Russia. International observers have not reported any violations or anything resembling any kind of pressure during the vote.

However, the Unites States and the “international community” will not recognise the results of the referendum “administered under threats of violence and intimidation,” the White House spokesman said as cited by Reuters.

Despite the existing differences in the assessment of the situation in Ukraine, the leaders of Russia and US have agreed that they must jointly seek to help stabilize the situation in the country, the Kremlin said.

“Putin drew attention to the inability and unwillingness of the current Kiev authorities to curb rampant ultra-nationalist and radical groups, destabilizing and terrorizing civilians, including Russian-speaking population, and our fellow citizens,” Kremlin statement reads.

In this context, the possibility of sending an OSCE monitoring mission to Ukraine was discussed, the press office reported. The Russian President believes such a mission should be extended to all Ukrainian regions.

Officials count votes of today's referendum in the Crimean capital of Simferopol March 16, 2014
(Reuters / Vasily Fedosenko)

International observers are planning to present their final declaration on the Crimean referendum on March 17, the head of the monitors’ commission, Polish MP Mateush Piskorski told journalists. He added that the voting was held in line with international norms and standards.

Next week, Crimea will officially introduce the ruble as a second official currency along with Ukrainian hryvna, Aksyonov told Interfax. In his words, the dual currency will be in place for about six months.

Overall, the republic’s integration into Russia will take up to a year, the Prime Minister said, adding that it could be done faster. However, they want to maintain relations with “economic entities, including Ukraine,” rather than burn bridges.

Moscow is closely monitoring the vote count in Crimea, said Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Karasin.

“The results of the referendum will be considered once they are drawn up,” he told Itar-Tass.

The decision to hold a referendum was made after the bloody uprising in Kiev which ousted President Vladimir Yanukovich from power. Crimea - which is home to an ethnic Russian majority population - refused to recognize the coup-appointed government as legitimate. Crimeans feared that the new leadership would not represent their interests and respect rights. Crimeans were particularly unhappy over parliament's decision to revoke the law allowing using minority languages – including Russian – as official along with the Ukrainian tongue. Crimeans staged mass anti-Maidan protests and asked Russia to protect them. - RT.


 WATCH:  'We're coming home!' Crimea celebrates after voting to join Russia.

 


 WATCH: Crimea votes to join Russia.

 

Washington Has Set The World On A Path To War

Why is Washington so opposed to Crimean self-determination? The answer is that one of the main purposes of Washington’s coup in Kiev was to have the new puppet government evict Russia from its Black Sea naval base in Crimea. Washington cannot use the government Washington has installed in Ukraine for that purpose if Crimea is no longer part of Ukraine.

What Washington has made completely obvious is that “self-determination” is a weapon used by Washington in behalf of its agenda. If self-determination advances Washington’s agenda, Washington is for it. If self-determination does not advance Washington’s agenda, Washington is against it.

The Washington-initiated UN Security Council resolution, vetoed by Russia, falsely declares that the referendum in Crimea, a referendum demanded by the people, “can have no validity, and cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of Crimea; and calls upon all States, international organizations and specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration of the status of Crimea on the basis of this referendum and to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered status.”

Washington could not make it any clearer that Washington totally opposes self-determination by Crimeans.

Washington claims, falsely, that the referendum cannot be valid unless the entire population of Ukraine votes and agrees with the decision by Crimeans. Note that when Washington stole Kosovo from Serbia, Washington did not let Serbians vote.

But overlook Washington’s rank hypocrisy and self-serving double-standards. Let’s apply Washington’s argument that in order to be valid any change in Crimea’s status requires a vote on the part of the population of the country that it departs. If this is the case, then Crimea has never been a part of Ukraine.

Under Washington’ s interpretation of international law, Ukraine is still a part of Russia. When Khrushchev transferred Crimea (but not Sevastopol, the Black Sea base) to Ukraine, Russians did not get to vote. Therefore, according to Washington’s own logic it is invalid to recognize Crimea as part of Ukraine. That also goes for other parts of Russia that Lenin transferred to Ukraine. Under the logic of Washington’s UN resolution, large parts of Ukraine are not legitimately part of Ukraine. They have remained parts of Russia, because Russians were not allowed to vote on their transfer to Ukraine. Thus, there is no issue about “Russia annexing Crimea,” because, according to Washington’s logic, Crimea is still a part of Russia.

Do you need any more proof that the Ukrainian crisis is made up out of thin air by schemers in Washington who created the entire crisis for one purpose–to weaken Russia militarily?

No one was surprised that the New York Times published on March 14 the warmongering rant, written by neoconservatives for John McCain, which described Washington’s aggression in Ukraine as Russia’s aggression. The US government overthrows an elected democratic Ukrainian government and then accuses Russia of “invading and annexing Crimea” in order to divert attention from Washington’s overthrow of Ukrainian democracy. There is no elected government in Kiev. The stooges acting as a government in Kiev were put in office by Washington. Who else choose them?

What surprised some was Rand Paul joining the hysteria. Rand Paul wrote his propagandistic rant against Russia for Time. Rand Paul claims, falsely, that Putin has invaded Crimea and that it is an affront to “the international community.” First of all, the decision of Crimea to leave Ukraine is a decision of the Crimean population and the elected government, not a decision by Russia. But, for the sake of argument, let’s take Rand Paul’s lie as the truth: Is “Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine a gross violation of that nation’s sovereignty and an affront to the international community” like Washington’s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and Washington-sponsored invasions of Libya and Syria, and Washington’s ongoing slaughter of Pakistanis and Yemenis with drones, and Washington’s violation of Iran’s sovereignty with illegal sanctions, and Washington’s violation of Ukrainian sovereignty by overthrowing the elected government and imposing Washington’s stooges?

If Putin is behaving as Rand Paul ignorantly asserts, Putin is just following the precedents established by Clinton in Serbia, by Bush in Afghanistan and Iraq, and by Obama in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine. Washington’s argument is reduced to: “We, the exceptional and indispensable nation can behave this way, but no other country can.”

As some Americans have misplaced hopes in Rand Paul, it is just as well that he revealed in Time that he is just another fool prostituting himself for the neoconservative warmongers and the military/security complex. If Rand Paul is the hope for America, then clearly there is no hope.

As I have been pointing out, the propaganda and lies issuing from Washington, its European puppets, New York Times, Time, and the entirety of the Western media are repeating the path to war that led to World War 1. It is happening right before our eyes. - Paul Craig Roberts.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Powerful 7.0 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Off Chile's Northern Coast - Preventative Evacuation Ordered; No Tsunami Warning Issued, However Chile's Navy Is On Alert For Minor Tsunami Event! [MAPS+ESTIMATES]

March 16, 2014 - CHILE - A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the Pacific coast of Chile at 2:16 pm local time, at a depth of about 30 kilometres, the U.S. Geological Survey said, on Sunday.

USGS earthquake location map.

USGS earthquake shakemap intensity map.

The quake was centred at 70 kilometres northwest of Iquique, in northern Chile, the USGS said. It was ninety-five miles south of Arica and one hundred twenty-eight miles south of Tacna, Peru.

The quake was shallow. It erupted only twenty-two miles below sea level. As a result the quake could be felt across the South American region.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, assessment is still pending.

USGS earthquake uncertainty ratio map.

USGS earthquake population exposure map.

Quakes of this magnitude are not rare for Chile. The USGS indicates that since 1900, numerous magnitude 7 or larger earthquakes have occurred in this region. The Nazca Plate Region lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean.

Mega-quakes in this zone are usually followed by devastating tsunamis, including the magnitude 9.5 in 1960 that struck southern Chile, the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in the world. Other notable shallow tsunami-generating earthquakes include the 1906 magnitude 8.5 earthquake near Esmeraldas.


 WATCH:Iquique put on tsunami alert.

 


Additionally most of the large earthquakes in South America are constrained to shallow depths of 0 to 70 kilometres, resulting from both crustal and interplate deformation. Crustal earthquakes result from deformation and mountain building in the overriding South America plate and generate earthquakes as deep as approximately 50 km.

Chile is located in this area of geological instability and is prone to not only powerful earthquakes, but deadly ones. A major 8.8 magnitude quake hit the country back in 2010, devastating the center of the country and claiming over 500 lives.

USGS earthquake estimates and losses.

USGS earthquake estimates and losses.

However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center indicates that no current warning, watch or advisory is in effect.

But Reuters is reporting that, Chile's navy said there was a possibility of what it called "a minor tsunami," so authorities ordered a preventive evacuation of part of the coastline after the quake.

Local media showed footage of people in Iquique calmly evacuating on foot to nearby hills.

A press officer at the ONEMI said sea levels in Iquique had risen a negligible 18 centimeters.

The officer said it was unclear how many people had evacuated, and that it depended on each local authority when they would return to their homes.

Seismotectonics of South America (Nazca Plate Region).

The South American arc extends over 7,000 km, from the Chilean margin triple junction offshore of southern Chile to its intersection with the Panama fracture zone, offshore of the southern coast of Panama in Central America. It marks the plate boundary between the subducting Nazca plate and the South America plate, where the oceanic crust and lithosphere of the Nazca plate begin their descent into the mantle beneath South America. The convergence associated with this subduction process is responsible for the uplift of the Andes Mountains, and for the active volcanic chain present along much of this deformation front. Relative to a fixed South America plate, the Nazca plate moves slightly north of eastwards at a rate varying from approximately 80 mm/yr in the south to approximately 65 mm/yr in the north. Although the rate of subduction varies little along the entire arc, there are complex changes in the geologic processes along the subduction zone that dramatically influence volcanic activity, crustal deformation, earthquake generation and occurrence all along the western edge of South America.

Most of the large earthquakes in South America are constrained to shallow depths of 0 to 70 km resulting from both crustal and interplate deformation. Crustal earthquakes result from deformation and mountain building in the overriding South America plate and generate earthquakes as deep as approximately 50 km. Interplate earthquakes occur due to slip along the dipping interface between the Nazca and the South American plates. Interplate earthquakes in this region are frequent and often large, and occur between the depths of approximately 10 and 60 km. Since 1900, numerous magnitude 8 or larger earthquakes have occurred on this subduction zone interface that were followed by devastating tsunamis, including the 1960 M9.5 earthquake in southern Chile, the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in the world. Other notable shallow tsunami-generating earthquakes include the 1906 M8.5 earthquake near Esmeraldas, Ecuador, the 1922 M8.5 earthquake near Coquimbo, Chile, the 2001 M8.4 Arequipa, Peru earthquake, the 2007 M8.0 earthquake near Pisco, Peru, and the 2010 M8.8 Maule, Chile earthquake located just north of the 1960 event.

USGS plate tectonics for the region.

Large intermediate-depth earthquakes (those occurring between depths of approximately 70 and 300 km) are relatively limited in size and spatial extent in South America, and occur within the Nazca plate as a result of internal deformation within the subducting plate. These earthquakes generally cluster beneath northern Chile and southwestern Bolivia, and to a lesser extent beneath northern Peru and southern Ecuador, with depths between 110 and 130 km. Most of these earthquakes occur adjacent to the bend in the coastline between Peru and Chile. The most recent large intermediate-depth earthquake in this region was the 2005 M7.8 Tarapaca, Chile earthquake.

Earthquakes can also be generated to depths greater than 600 km as a result of continued internal deformation of the subducting Nazca plate. Deep-focus earthquakes in South America are not observed from a depth range of approximately 300 to 500 km. Instead, deep earthquakes in this region occur at depths of 500 to 650 km and are concentrated into two zones: one that runs beneath the Peru-Brazil border and another that extends from central Bolivia to central Argentina. These earthquakes generally do not exhibit large magnitudes. An exception to this was the 1994 Bolivian earthquake in northwestern Bolivia. This M8.2 earthquake occurred at a depth of 631 km, making it the largest deep-focus earthquake instrumentally recorded, and was felt widely throughout South and North America.

Subduction of the Nazca plate is geometrically complex and impacts the geology and seismicity of the western edge of South America. The intermediate-depth regions of the subducting Nazca plate can be segmented into five sections based on their angle of subduction beneath the South America plate. Three segments are characterized by steeply dipping subduction; the other two by near-horizontal subduction. The Nazca plate beneath northern Ecuador, southern Peru to northern Chile, and southern Chile descend into the mantle at angles of 25° to 30°. In contrast, the slab beneath southern Ecuador to central Peru, and under central Chile, is subducting at a shallow angle of approximately 10° or less. In these regions of “flat-slab” subduction, the Nazca plate moves horizontally for several hundred kilometers before continuing its descent into the mantle, and is shadowed by an extended zone of crustal seismicity in the overlying South America plate. Although the South America plate exhibits a chain of active volcanism resulting from the subduction and partial melting of the Nazca oceanic lithosphere along most of the arc, these regions of inferred shallow subduction correlate with an absence of volcanic activity. - USGS.

FUK-U-SHIMA: Scientist Expect Traces Of Fukushima Radiation On American West Coast Soon - The Fairbanks City Council Unanimously Passes Fukushima Monitoring Resolution Indicating That Alaska And North American West Coast Are In GRAVE DANGER AND RISK As There Is "NO SAFE LEVELS OF RADIATION;" Up To 70 Endangered "Whales" Wash Up On California Coast, A Once-In-Several Decades Event; And Suicides Rising In Disaster-Struck Fukushima!

March 16, 2014 - WEST COAST, UNITED STATES - Scientists have crowdsourced a network of volunteers taking water samples at beaches along the West Coast in hopes of capturing a detailed look at low levels of radiation drifting across the ocean since the 2011 tsunami that devastated a nuclear power plant in Japan.

Scientist Expect Traces Of Fukushima Radiation On American West Coast Soon

Graphic illustration: David Dees.

With the risk to public health extremely low, the effort is more about perfecting computer models that will better predict chemical and radiation spills in the future than bracing for a threat, researchers say.

Federal agencies are not sampling at the beach. Washington also doesn't test ocean water for radiation, said Washington Department of Health spokesman Donn Moyer. The state of Oregon is sampling, but looking for higher radiation levels closer to federal health standards, said state health physicist Daryl Leon.

The March 2011 tsunami off Japan flooded the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, causing radiation-contaminated water to spill into the Pacific. Airborne radiation was detected in milk and rainwater in the U.S. soon afterward. But things move much more slowly in the ocean.

"We know there's contaminated water coming out of there, even today," Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, said in a video appealing for volunteers and contributions.

In fact, it is the biggest pulse of radioactive liquid dropped in the ocean ever, he said.

"What we don't really know is how fast and how much is being transported across the Pacific," he added. "Yes, the models tell us it will be safe. Yes, the levels we expect off the coast of the U.S. and Canada are expected to be low. But we need measurements, especially now as the plume begins to arrive along the West Coast."

In an email from Japan, Buesseler said he hopes the sampling will go on every two or three months for the next two to three years.

Two different models have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals predicting the spread of radioactive isotopes of cesium and iodine from Fukushima. One, known as Rossi et al, shows the leading edge of the plume hitting the West Coast from southeast Alaska to Southern California by April. The other, known as Behrens et all, shows the plume hitting Southeast Alaska, British Columbia and Washington by March 2016.

The isotopes have been detected at very low levels at a Canadian sampling point far out to sea earlier than the models predicted, but not yet reported at the beach, said Kathryn A. Higley, head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics at Oregon State University. The Rossi model predicts levels a little higher than the fallout from nuclear weapons testing in the 1960s. The Behrens model predicts lower levels like those seen in the ocean in the 1990s, after the radiation had decayed and dissipated.

The models predict levels of Cesium 137 between 30 and 2 Becquerels per cubic meter of seawater by the time the plume reaches the West Coast, Higley said.

The federal drinking water health standard is 7,400 Becquerels per cubic meter, Leon said.

The crowdsourcing raised $29,945 from 225 people, enough to establish about 30 sampling sites in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and California, according to Woods Hole. The website so far has not reported any radiation.

Sara Gamble of Renton, Washington, the mother of a young child, raised $500 because she thinks it is important to know what is really going on. Woods Hole sent her a bucket, a funnel, a clipboard, a UPS shipping label, instructions and a big red plastic container for her sample. She went to Ocean Shores, Washington, a couple of weeks ago, collected her sample and shipped it off. No results have come back yet. To do another sample, she will have to raise another $500.

"I got lots of strange looks at the beach and the UPS Store, because it's labeled 'Center for Marine and Environmental Radioactivity,' and it's a big red bin," she said. "But it's funny; nobody would ask me anything out on the beach. I was like, 'Aren't you curious? Don't you want to ask?'"

Taking the sample has allayed her initial fears, but she still thinks it is important to know "because it affects our ecosystems, kids love to play in the water at the beach, and I want to know what's there." - FOX News.

Fairbanks City Council Unanimously Passes Fukushima Monitoring Resolution Indicating That Alaska And North American West Coast Are In GRAVE DANGER AND RISK As There Is "NO SAFE LEVELS OF RADIATION"

Aug. 20, 2013: This photo shows the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant at
Okuma in Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan. (AP)

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Mar. 10, 2014 (h/t Anonymous tip): Council to ask for more radiation testing [...] [Fairbanks city] council will consider a resolution tonight that calls on the federal government and United Nations to do more radiation testing in Alaska waters. It asserts that health risks related to nuclear meltdown have been vastly understated [...]

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Mar. 12, 2014: [...] By a unanimous vote Monday, the Fairbanks City Council passed a resolution urging the state and federal government, as well as the United Nations, to do more radiation testing in Alaska waters. The resolution was introduced by Fairbanks City Mayor John Eberhart and had the support of the council and several people who came to testify. [...] Larry Hartig, the state commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation [said] People ingest more radiation from eating a banana than from eating a tuna [...] Concern about Fukuskima radiation also was raised at the Tanana Chiefs Conference convention Tuesday in Fairbanks. P.J. Simon, a delegate from Allakaket, said possible radiation in migrating salmon posed a risk to subsistence activities. [...] “We need to be vigilant on this,” [Senator Lisa] Murkowski said.

RESOLUTION NO. 4617, A RESOLUTION REQUESTING FURTHER INVESTIGATION AND INFORMATION REGARDING THE DISASTER AT FUKUSHIMA (pdf), Mar. 10, 2014:

• WHEREAS, the March 2011 meltdowns of three nuclear power plants on the northeast coast of Japan constitute a danger to Japan, the North Pacific basin, Alaska and the west coast of North America; and [...]
• WHEREAS, available information from scientific sources, the government of Japan, and the corporate operator of the facility, reveal unprecedented large and ongoing releases of extremely dangerous radioisotopes to the atmosphere and the ocean; and
• WHEREAS, there are no safe levels of radiation emitted from manmade isotopes, and human and animal ingestion and/or contact with them constitutes grave risk for many forms of cancer and multiple dysfunctions in biological systems [...]
• NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Fairbanks, Alaska, urges the federal government, State of Alaska, and the United Nations to begin a thorough and ongoing monitoring program of Alaska’s coastal water resources, its major fresh water streams and lakes, particularly surface waters that supply potable water to citizens. The monitoring program should be adequately funded to accomplish scientific analysis at the University of Alaska, wherein it will identify and quantify levels of radioisotopes in commercial seafood and subsistence foods. Data should be published on a web site dedicated to that purpose.
• Section 2. PASSED and APPROVED this 10th day of March 2014.

KUAC broadcast available here

- ENE News.

Suicides Rising In Disaster-Struck Fukushima 

Photo: EPA

It is three years to the day since Japan was hit by that huge earthquake then the Tsunami which caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster that clean up crews are still working on. Troubling tales of depression and suicide started to trickle in. The numbers show an alarming number of nuclear evacuees are dying because of suicide and illnesses related to anxiety and depression.

In fact the number who have died since the disaster now exceeds the number of Fukushima residents killed in the initial earthquake and Tsunami, according to a media report. The government's figures show that in the last three years more than 1,600 Fukushima evacuees have died from causes that are "related to the disaster," such as severe depression leading to a sense of hopelessness and then suicide.

Thirty-seven suicides — linked either to the power plant’s meltdown or the Tsunami that proceeded it — occurred last year in areas near the plant. That figure represents a dramatic increase from last year when there were only 13 disaster-related suicides, according to the Japan Times.

Suicide is a deeply-ingrained aspect of Japanese culture, and according to academic research, the influx in Fukushima-related suicides reflect broader societal currents.

One woman, 56-year-old Hideko Takeda said her father was a farmer and, "At 80 still robust. Each day he still milked the cows and tended his fields. "

But then the disaster hit and he was forced to flee, leaving his cows to starve to death in their shed. It broke him, Mrs Takeda says; his health collapsed and within two years he was dead.

Officials linked the deaths to Fukushima through suicide notes and interviews with neighbors. Deteriorating health contributed to 22 suicides, money problems to nine more, and family issues drove five people to take their own life.

Roughly 30,000 suicides have occurred inside Japan in each of the last three years, and government research shows that suicides generally surge around this time of year, as winter gives way to spring. - VOR.

Up To 70 Endangered "Whales" Wash Up On California Coast,  Once-In-Several Decades Event

Corona Del Mar Today, Mar. 13, 2014: False killer whales are members of the dolphin family and are listed as endangered [...] “According to the news, these are so rare that they haven’t been seen in Southern California for well over a decade,” [Sgt. John Hollenbeck] said. “They were traveling in a pod of perhaps 50 or so, spread out over about a quarter of a mile. They were very noisy. I could hear them whistling and singing to each other through the hull of my boat as they passed around me. I’ve heard that many times before before with common dolphins, but these were much louder. Initially, I didn’t even realize it was their song – I thought there was something wrong with the engine on my boat.”

Pete Thomas Outdoors, Mar. 13, 2014: [There were] between 50 and 70. [...] [Capt. Dave Anderson] managed not only to capture close-ups of the false killer whales, but vocalizations [...] including one that seemed to be speaking to the camera. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Anderson said. “I was sitting there for about five minutes and the whales came over and surrounded me. Their whistles were so loud I could hear them above the surface.”

KPCC, Mar. 12, 2014: Ultra-rare ‘false killer whales’ sighted off California – [NOAA's Jay Barlow] says he last saw this species in Southern California in the early 1980s [...] Normally they live in tropical waters, and Barlow says even there they are rarely seen. One reason false killer whales are seen so rarely is that they typically live in the open ocean [...]

CBS, Mar. 12, 2014: “I have been cruising in this area for many years, and I have never seen this species of cetacean off of our coast.” -Capt. Mike Bursk, Ocean Institute’s RV Sea Explorer

GrindTV, Mar. 13, 2014: On Monday morning, a pod of similar size was spotted off Ensenada, Mexico [...] during each sighting, one animal stood out because of the peculiar shape of its spine. [Bursk] said the false killer whales came to him and were riding in his wake. When he stopped, some of the mammals rubbed their heads against the vessel. [...] [Capt. Larry Hartmann] spent about 45 minutes alone with a small pod, and said they were breaching, as if “performing for me.”

South China Morning Post, Mar. 13, 2014: Hong Kong’s unusually chilly waters didn’t put off one unusual group of visitors. A pod of about 100 false killer whales has been in local waters [...] the first mass sighting of the marine mammal in Hong Kong. [...] researchers found the sight of the pod deeply impressive. “If you looked around, they were everywhere. It was spectacular view” [Dr Samuel Hung Ka-yiu said] “I can’t really think why (they were here).” - ENE News.

FIRE IN THE SKY: "An Ominous Sign" - Second Large Fireball Seen Above Catalonia, Spain In Just 2 Weeks?!

March 16, 2014 - SPAIN - A large fireball crossed the Catalan sky this last Friday, namely, a meteor apparently entered the atmosphere above Catalonia.

The fireball was seen across the Catalan sky this last Friday.

Perhaps it was a harbinger of beatitudes or an ominous sign? We'll see. Let us not forget that today is the Ides of March, and that today, 2070 years ago, Julius Caesar was assassinated.

The sighting was made around 19:30 pm on Friday, especially in the lands of the Osona. Numerous observers have given their testimony, especially in social media, stating that it was a green fireball (though with a touch of red) and that it had a very intense light, crossing the sky from south to west.

This sighting is the second one of its kind recorded in Catalonia in just three weeks. On Saturday February 22, another fireball crossed the Catalan sky, as witnessed by different people who watched the meteor from different points of Gerona, Barcelona and Tarragona. - Diálogo Libre. [Translated]

WAR DRUMS: Escalating Tensions On The Korean Peninsula - North Korea Test-Fires 18 Short-Range Rockets, South Korean Officials Say!

March 16, 2014 - NORTH KOREA - North Korea fired 18 short-range rockets into the sea off its east coast Sunday, South Korean officials said, in an apparent continuation of protests against ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills.

March 3, 2014: South Korean Army's 130mm multiple rocket launchers fire live rounds during an exercise
against possible attacks from North Korea in Goseong, South Korea. (AP/YONHAP)

Such short-range rocket tests are usually considered routine, as opposed to North Korean long-range rocket or nuclear tests, which are internationally condemned as provocations. North Korea has conducted a string of similar short-range launches in recent weeks that have coincided with the annual military drills by allies Washington and Seoul.

North Korea says the drills are preparation for an invasion. The allies say the exercises, which last year prompted North Korean threats of nuclear war against the South and the United States, are routine and defensive in nature.

An unidentified North Korean missile is displayed during a military parade past Kim Il-Sung square marking
the 60th anniversary of the Korean war armistice in Pyongyang on July 27, 2013.

Outside analysts say the North is taking a softer stance toward the U.S.-South Korean military drills this year because it wants better ties with the outside world to revive its struggling economy. North Korea's weeks-long tirade of war rhetoric against Washington and Seoul last spring followed international condemnation of its third nuclear test, in February 2013.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said the type of rockets North Korea launched Sunday wasn't yet clear.

Earlier this month, Seoul said a North Korean artillery launch happened minutes before a Chinese commercial plane reportedly carrying 202 people flew in the same area.

Pyongyang has said that its recent rocket drills are part of regular training and are mindful of international navigation.

The Korean Peninsula remains officially at war because the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. - FOX News.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC MELTDOWN: Precursors To A Global Financial Collapse - Fire-Sale Of US Treasuries Is A Warning Of Acute Stress Across The World!

March 16, 2014 - GLOBAL ECONOMY - Somebody is a selling a fistful of US Treasuries. It could be Russia, or China, Turkey, South Africa, or Indonesia, or all frantically selling bonds at the same time for different reasons.

We don’t yet know. All we know is that the US Federal Reserve’s custody holdings on behalf of foreign central banks plunged by $106bn in the week ending March 12, the biggest one-week drop on record.

Russia’s central bank is undoubtedly liquidating reserves at a breakneck pace to prevent a collapse of the rouble, as foreign companies scramble to get all their spare cash out of Russian accounts before the G7 guillotine comes down on the Putin clan next week. It is certainly trying to remove its assets beyond the jurisdiction of the US authorities – though that will not be easy. The SEC takes no prisoners. In the end, the world is more frightened of US regulators than it is of Putin's tanks or his polonium. Soft power can trump hard power.

One investor told me that clients in Russia are literally loading up cars with computers, machinery, and anything that will fit, and rushing them out of the country for fear that assets will nationalised. Whatever happens, nobody will forget this in a hurry.

Yet the latest financial ructions go beyond Russia, they reek of stress in the international system. “Countries are intervening all over the place to defend their currencies, (which means they are tightening). Their central banks built up huge war chests of reserves for a rainy day, and now it is raining,” said David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC.

Indeed it is. The international order is unravelling. Russia is of course smashing the post-Cold War order by seizing Ukraine, and blowing up the global architecture of nuclear non-proliferation. Let us not forget that Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons – the world’s third biggest arsenal at the time – in exchange for a guarantee by the great powers in 1994 that its territorial integrity would be upheld. Russia was one of the signatories.

China is laying claim to large parts of the East China and South China Seas, and has established an air identification control zone over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands.

China and Japan are one blow – or misjudgement – away from outright military conflict. The battle on the Pacific Rim is ultimately even more dangerous than the West’s clash with Russia over Ukraine.

Whether or not the wheels really are falling off the Chinese economy remains to be seen, but the discussion has crept into the market. You can smell the beginnings of fear.

“The global situation is extremely serious,” Lars Christensen from Danske Bank. “Russia is committing economic suicide, there is a massive corruption scandal in Turkey, and capital outflows from China threaten to have huge ramifications.”

“If the US dollar were to strengthen drastically at this point, we would go straight into a global recession.”

That is indeed the risk. Let us hope the Fed can pull its head out of its closed-economy macro model for once and take a look at the world before it tightens again next week. Tread very carefully Madame Chairman. - Telegraph.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Magmatic Intrusion - New Earthquake Swarm At The El Hierro Volcano In The Canary Islands; Almost 200 Micro-Quakes!

March 16, 2014 - CANARY ISLANDS - A new swarm of earthquakes started yesterday at El Hierro.

Location of earthquakes under El Hierro since yesterday

So far, almost 200 tiny quakes (none above magnitude 3 so far) have occurred in a broad N-S oriented area beneath the northeast part of the island at around 18 km depth.

A possible explanation includes a new magmatic intrusion at depth (magma accumulating at the lower crust-mantle boundary). - Volcano Discovery.

WORLD WAR III: A Prelude To War - Crimea Holds "Historic" Vote To Join Russia As Turmoil Sweeps Ukraine; Could Have Monumentally Catastrophic Implications For The Planet!

March 16, 2014 - CRIMEA, UKRAINE - Crimeans voted Sunday in a unique referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia that has precipitated a Cold War-style security crisis on Europe's eastern frontier.

People cast their vote at a polling station in Simferopol, on March 16, 2014 (AFP Photo/Viktor Drachev)

Cossacks and pro-Moscow militias were seen patrolling at some polling stations and Russian flags were being flown everywhere from city buses to convoys of bikers roaming the streets.

Ukraine's new government and most of the international community except Russia have said they will not recognise a result expected to be overwhelmingly in favour of immediate secession.


WATCH: Bracing for Impact of Crimea Referendum.

 

"This is a historic moment, everyone will live happily," Sergiy Aksyonov, the local pro-Moscow prime minister, told reporters after casting his ballot in the regional capital Simferopol.

"We will celebrate this evening," Aksyonov said, after a man waving a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag and demanding it be put up inside the polling station was pushed away by security guards.

The Black Sea peninsula is inhabited mostly by ethnic Russians and has been seized by Russian forces over the past month after the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Kremlin leader in February, plunging US-Russia ties to their lowest point since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

A woman holds a Russian flag and a ballot in one of the polling stations in Sevastopol, on March 16, 2014
(AFP Photo/Vasiliy Batanov)

Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov, who last month replaced the ousted Viktor Yanukovych, called for a boycott of the ballot, accusing Moscow of preparing an invasion.

"The result has been pre-planned by the Kremlin as a formal justification to send in its troops and start a war that will destroy people's lives and the economic prospects for Crimea," he said.

Some Crimeans who requested anonymity said they were planning to spoil their ballots in protest and there was a call on social media for people to stay at home and cook vareniki -- Ukrainian dumplings -- instead of going out to vote.

Accredited journalists including AFP were prevented from entering some polling stations in the port city of Sevastopol and the regional capital Simferopol, and several people were seen voting in Sevastopol even before the polls opened.

Factfile on Crimea with map, with elements explaining why it is coveted by both Moscozw and Kiev (AFP Photo/)

Foreign observers were present but the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) declined an invitation to monitor saying it was not official because it did not come from Ukraine's national government.

"We have waited years for this moment," said 71-year-old Ivan Konstantinovich, who raised his hands in victory after voting in Bakhchysaray.

"Everyone will vote for Russia," he said.

The town is the main centre of Crimea's native Muslim Tatar community, which is urging a boycott of the referendum, and mostly ethnic Russians were seen turning out to vote there.

Voters can choose to become part of Russia or retain more autonomy but stay in Ukraine -- a vote for the status quo is not an option.

Preliminary results were expected to be announced soon after polls close at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT).

The referendum committee said turnout was at 44 percent a third of the way through voting.

Pro-Russian activists hold giant Russian flags during their rally in the eastern Ukrainian city
of Donetsk, on March 16, 2014 (AFP Photo/Alexander Khudoteply)

Rehearsals for planned celebrations have included the slogan "We are in Russia!" beamed on to the government building in Simferopol, leaving no doubt about the expected outcome.

In Sevastopol, home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet since the 18th century, the mood was celebratory and patriotic Russian military songs blared.

Preparations to become part of Russia -- a process that could take months -- are to begin this week if the referendum result is pro-Moscow.

Pro-Russia authorities and Moscow say the referendum is an example of self-determination like Kosovo's decision to leave Serbia but Washington says it cannot be democratic because it is taking place "under the barrel of a gun".


WATCH: Ukraine's Right Sector leader threatens to blow up pipeline from Russia to EU.

 

Tensions have escalated in mostly Russian-speaking parts of eastern Ukraine ahead of the vote.

Three activists have been killed in the eastern cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv in the run-up, while pro-Moscow supporters have called for similar separatist polls in other Ukrainian regions.

Around 1,000 pro-Moscow activists rallied in Donetsk on Sunday to support Crimea's referendum and 2,000 turned out in Kharkiv with a large Russian flag and a sign reading "Our Homeland is the USSR".

Russian troops and pro-Kremlin militias took control of the strategic peninsula soon after Yanukovych fled Ukraine for Russia in the wake of three months of deadly protests in Kiev.

- 'Extremely worrying' -

Russian senators have also given the go-ahead for President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine when he wants, citing the need to defend ethnic Russians against ultra-nationalist radicals.

Russian forces drive on a highway near the Ukrainian town of Dzhankoy, on March 15, 2014
(AFP Photo/Vasily Maximov)

Ukrainian military bases in the region are surrounded by militias and the post-referendum fate of the personnel who live in Crimea with their families is unclear.

There have been several attacks on journalists and pro-unity activists condemned by Amnesty International as "extremely worrying".

The diplomatic wrangling and brinksmanship over Crimea have been startling, including a confrontation at the United Nations Security Council in which interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk asked: "Do the Russians want war?"

Successive rounds of negotiations between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have failed and Kerry appeared to break diplomatic protocol by not showing up for planned talks in Moscow.

- 'Crimean Spring' -

While the West has been powerless to stop Crimea's annexation, Russia faces a painful round of sanctions against top officials that Washington and EU nations are set to unveil on Monday and it could be ostracised or even ejected from the Group of Eight (G8) leading world powers.

Local authorities are calling this a "Crimean Spring" but many Crimeans are concerned about a possible legal vacuum and economic turmoil.

One immediate worry is about the availability of cash and there have been long queues outside banks with Crimeans rushing to withdraw their money.

Crimea would not automatically join Russia after the vote and Ukraine's government has said it cannot survive since it depends on electricity, energy and water supplies from the mainland.

In Bakhchysaray, Anna Ivanovna, 70, said she had voted to join Moscow, but was apprehensive.

"Yes, we will be Russians. It's good but at the same time, at my age, it's hard to change countries," she said. - Yahoo.