Missing jet

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Malaysia Officials open criminal inquiry into missing jet

The search for Flight 370 turned into a criminal investigation on Saturday, after Malaysia declared that the plane had been deliberately diverted and then flown for as long as seven hours toward an unknown point that was far from the scheduled route (Kuala Lumpur to Beijing). Prime Minister of Malaysia said that he would seek the help of governments across a large expanse of Asia in search for the Beoing 777, which has been missing for a week and had 239 people on board. A satellite orbiting 22,250 miles over the middle of the Indian Ocean received the transmission that, based on the angle from which the plane sent it, came from somewhere along one of the two arcs. One arc runs from the southern border of Kazakhstan in Central Asia to northern Thailand, passing over some hot spots of global insurgency and highly militarized areas. The other arc runs from near Jakarta to the Indian Ocean, roughly 1,000 miles off the west coast of Australia. The plane changed it's course after it took off and the movements of the plane were deliberate actions taken by someone on the plane. The communications system on the plane was disabled as the plane flew over the northeast coast of Malaysia. Also, a transponder aboard the plane abruptly stopped broadcasting its location, altitude, speed and other information while the plane was flying across the Gulf of Thailand. Military radar data shows that the plane turned and flew west across northern Malaysia before arcing out over the wide northern end of the Strait of Malacca, headed at a cruising altitude for the Indian Ocean. The flight was scheduled to land at 6:30 a.m. in Beijing, so when the last signal was received at 8:11 a.m., the plane could have been nearly out of fuel. The search for the jet that took a mysterious course continues.

Crimea referendum

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Wide condemnation after region votes to split from Ukraine

Crimean voters on Sunday overwhelmingly backed a referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. This election was denounced by the United States, Europe, and the Ukrainian government as illegal and destabilizing. Fireworks went off and Russian flags waved over jubilant crowds after the vote, which election officials said stood at 95 percent with more than half of the ballots counted. The vote offered the voters on the strategic Black Sea peninsula the choice of seeking annexation by Russia or remaining in Ukraine with greater autonomy. Ukraine's new government in Kiev called the referendum a "circus" directed at gunpoint by Moscow (referring to the thousands of troops that are occupying the peninsula.). The referendum came two weeks after Russian-led forces seized control of Crimea. Locals say that they fear the new Ukrainian government that took over will oppress them. Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted the referendum was conducted in "full accordance with international law and the U.N. charter." At the United Nations on Saturday, Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution declaring the referendum illegal. President Obama spoke with Putin after the vote, and the White House said it would reject the results of the referendum held "under threats of violence and intimidation."

The natural gas boom in the US

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US Hopes Boom in Natural Gas can curb Putin

The Obama administration is trying to deploy the vast new supply of natural gas in the U.S. as a weapon to lower the influence of the Russian president (Vladimir Putin) over the Ukraine and Europe. The crisis in Crimea has escalated a State Department initiative to use a new boom in American natural gas supplies as a lever against Russia, which supplies 60 percent of Ukraine's natural gas and has a history of cutting off the supply during conflicts. Gazprom (Russia's state-run natural gas company) said it would no longer provide gas at a discount rate to Ukraine. The administration's strategy is to move aggressively to deploy the advantages of it's new resources to undercut Russian natural gas sales to Ukraine and Europe, weakening potential moves by Putin in future years. Although Russia is the world's biggest exporter of natural gas, the U.S, recently surpassed it to become the world's largest natural gas producer, largely because of breakthroughs in hydraulic fracturing technology know as fracking. The article points out that for Russia, energy supplies are an important factor for keeping a hold on Ukraine and other former countries of the Soviet Union. However, Russia is obligated by contract to provide natural gas to Western Europe, and Moscow remains highly dependent on Ukrainian pipelines to get there. The State Department's Bureau of Energy Resources has already helped weakened Putin by lowering Ukraine's dependence on Russia for natural gas supplies by finding other ways and places to get this resource from.

Russia takes over Crimea

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How should the US respond to Russia?

Russia has detached Crimea from the Ukrainian government's control. Vladimir Putin's use from Crimea is unknown; will he incorporate it into Russia, use it as leverage to negotiate a deal with Ukraine? Russia has violated a treaty that it signed with Ukraine which guaranteed that country's borders, in return for which Ukraine gave up it's nuclear weapons. The article suggests that President Obama should cancel his attendance at the G-8 Summit (to be held in Sochi in June) and that Russia's membership in the G-8 should be suspended. The G-8 was created to recognize that Russia was behaving as an honorable member of the international community. However, if Russia's behavior has changed, so should their status. Many people of Crimea will be deeply hostile towards the Russian takeover. What precedent will the U.S. set regarding their involvement in the issue and how should the U.S. respond to Russia?