Hard hitting global and local news
Flash Forward March 2, 2014 : States Make End Run Around Food Stamp Cuts . Connecticut and New York have found a way around federal budget cuts that played a central role in the massive farm bill passed this month: bump up home heating assistance a few million bucks in return for preserving more than a half-billion dollars in food stamp benefits. The moves by Connecticut Gov
More: Tighter Capital Controls in Ukraine, Transaction Limit About $100; New Head of Ukraine’s Navy Defects After 1 Day
The New York Times reports Ukraine Forces Are Ill Equipped to Take Crimea Back From Russia Crimea has always been a vital base for the Soviet and then Russian Navy, serving as the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, which has controlled the waters off southern Russia since 1783. After a period of tension following Ukraine’s independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia got to keep its base in Crimea on a lease, extended until at least 2042 by the now-ousted president, Viktor F. Yanukovych
More: Russian Troops Seize Crimea; UN Security Council Meets; Russian Flag Raised in Kharkiv
Kevin O’rourke on the Irish Economy blog comments Class divides and European Integration, Yet Again.
Tweet The news from Crimea is unsettling , partly because it’s not entirely clear to me whether it’s bad to have Crimea reattached to Russia in some form. From a utilitarian perspective, removing the most eastern-oriented portion of Ukraine from its electoral politics would pretty much guarantee a western-oriented political outcome.
Error Over Quota This application is temporarily over its serving quota. Please try again later.
In TIME’s " Bangkok Shutdown: Yingluck Supporters Prepare to Fight for Democracy ," it’s reported that: As Thailand’s anti-government protests enter their fourth day, observers say prospects for violent confrontation are increasing, with reports of government supporters stockpiling weapons in case of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s ouster. According to the Bangkok Post, radical members of the Red Shirts — diehard champions of Yingluck and her notorious brother Thaksin Shinawatra — are readying a cache of arms  in case the 46-year-old premier is forced from office by either military or judicial intervention. The paper quoted a Red Shirt source as saying “There are strong anti-coup and anti-court sentiments among the red-shirt mavericks who are familiar and experienced with weapon use.†What’s Next? For protest leaders, the next step is to simply wait for the regime to continue unraveling.