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On This Day In The Navy:
1948: First use of jets assigned to operational squadron (VF-5A) on board a carrier (Boxer).

TOP STORIES:
1. Obama To Meet Leader Of Ukraine
(WASHINGTON POST 10 MAR 14) ... Anthony Faiola and Carol Morello
KIEV, Ukraine – The head of Ukraine’s new pro-Western government will meet with President Obama this week, the White House announced Sunday, as a defiant Russia took further steps to consolidate its hold on the Crimean Peninsula.

2. Japan, U.S. Differ On China In Talks On 'Grey Zone' Military Threats
(REUTERS 10 MAR 14) ... Nobuhiro Kubo, Linda Sieg and Phil Stewart
TOKYO/WASHINGTON – As Japan and the United States start talks on how to respond to armed incidents that fall short of a full-scale attack on Japan, officials in Tokyo worry that their ally is reluctant to send China a strong message of deterrence.

3. Search For Jet Compounds The Mystery
(NEW YORK TIMES 10 MAR 14) ... Thomas Fuller
SEPANG, Malaysia – More than 48 hours after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished, the mysteries over its fate have only multiplied.

VCNO:
4. VCNO Announces Further Flag Officer Adjustments
(SEAPOWER 07 MAR 14)
WASHINGTON – Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) ADM Mark E. Ferguson III announced in a March 7 release the next phase of flag officer billet adjustments, projected to bring the Navy into compliance with guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

5. VCNO Announces Further Flag Officer Adjustments
(NAVY LIVE BLOG 07 MAR 14) ... Admiral Mark Ferguson
Shipmates, I want to take a few moments to provide context on my recent announcement to adjust Navy flag officer billets to align with statutory and Office of the Secretary of Defense policy.

UKRAINE:
6. A Defiant Putin Endorses Crimean Bid To Secede
Kremlin-Backed Official Says Region Could Become Part of Russia Later This Month
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 10 MAR 14) ... Lukas I. Alpert
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin threw his support Sunday behind Crimea's move to secede from Ukraine, defying Western threats of sanctions, as a Kremlin-backed official said the region could join Russia as soon as this month.

7. House Republicans Balk At Wording In Obama Emergency Aid Package For Ukraine
(NEW YORK TIMES 10 MAR 14) ... Jonathan Weisman
WASHINGTON – An emergency aid package for the beleaguered Ukrainian government has become entangled in a partisan dispute over the International Monetary Fund, with House Republicans resisting President Obama’s personal pleas to extend the reach of a Ukraine rescue plan by including long-sought changes to the fund’s structure.

8. Russian's Comments Rile Latvia
Comments Seen As Russia's Attempt to Keep Latvians Within its Sphere
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 10 MAR 14) ... Juris Kaža
RIGA, Latvia – Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Veshnyakov created a new wave of concern in Latvia with recent remarks saying it may soon become easier for ethnic Russians in Latvia to obtain Russian citizenship.

9. Blocked By Sunken Russian Ships, Ukraine's Navy Stays Defiant
(AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 09 MAR 14) ... Katherine Haddon
MYRNY – Russia has deliberately sunk three of its own ships to block Ukrainian navy vessels entering a lake off the Black Sea, officers say, highlighting Moscow's determination to wear down the morale of Kiev's forces in Crimea.

CONGRESS / BUDGET:
10. U.S. Navy Budget Plan: Major Questions Abound
(DEFENSE NEWS 09 MAR 14) ... Christopher P. Cavas
WASHINGTON – The carrier is out. The carrier is in. The carrier is in, but only if money goes up.

11. Interview With Robert Hale, Pentagon Comptroller
(DEFENSE NEWS 10 MAR 14)
Outgoing Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale last week unveiled his final Pentagon budget plan, and soon will retire. He leaves behind what he calls “uncertainty” with further across-the-board cuts pending via sequestration. Hale oversaw a 2015 budget process that has left many in Washington and the defense sector confused. For instance, the future years defense plan (FYDP) is incomplete, with senior officials sending conflicting messages last week about just how the $115 billion it calls for above spending caps etched into law would be spent.

ASIA – PACIFIC:
12. Searchers Find Debris That Could Be From Missing Jet
(USA TODAY 10 MAR 14) ... Calum MacLeod, Thomas Maresca and John Bacon
Six planes and seven ships from Vietnam have been unable to find an object spotted by a low-flying plane on Sunday afternoon that could be a piece of the Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared early Saturday, authorities said.

13. Four U.S. Navy Aegis Ships Arrive In S. Korea For Foal Eagle Exercise
(YONHAP NEWS AGENCY (S.KOREA) 10 MAR 14) ... Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL – Four U.S. Navy Aegis ships arrived in three ports of South Korea on Saturday to participate in the Foal Eagle combat field training to enhance their joint military readiness, according to the U.S. Navy's website.

14. Philippines 'Won't Rush Defense Accord' For Obama Visit
(AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 09 MAR 14)
MANILA – The Philippines said Saturday it would not rush to complete a defense accord with the United States just so it can be sealed by the time President Barack Obama visits next month.

MIDEAST:
15. Iranian Foreign Minister Questions Western Commitment To Nuclear Deal
Javad Zarif Says Target Date Still Reachable
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 10 MAR 14) ... Laurence Norman
TEHRAN, Iran – The Iranian foreign minister raised doubts about the West's commitment to resolving the nuclear standoff in a pointed message to visiting European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

16. Israel Says Long-Range Rockets Aboard 'Iran Arms Ship'
(AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 09 MAR 14) ... Jack Guez
EILAT – Israel said Sunday it had found 40 long-range rockets aboard a ship it intercepted in the Red Sea, charging that it carried weapons sent by Iran to Gaza Strip militants.

17. Beirut Suburbs Pay The Price For Link To Syria War
(WASHINGTON POST 10 MAR 14) ... Loveday Morris
BEIRUT – At a small, family-operated firm selling building materials in Beirut’s southern suburbs, sales are picking up. But it’s not new construction that’s fueling business. It’s a run on sandbags for protection from car bombings.

AFGHANISTAN:
18. Afghan Vice President's Death Shakes Up Political Field
Death of Key Power Broker Comes Less Than a Month Before Elections
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 10 MAR 14) ... Yaroslav Trofimov and Ehsanullah Amiri
KABUL – One of Afghanistan's most influential power brokers, First Vice President Mohammed Qasim Fahim, died Sunday, altering the country's political landscape ahead of presidential elections next month.

AFRICA:
19. Battle Of The High Seas: On Patrol With NATO's Pirate-Catchers Off The Horn Of Africa
(THE INDEPENDENT (UK) 09 MAR 14) ... Leo Cendrowicz
The Somali pirate drama is over in seconds: a helicopter swoops into view and hovers over the hijacked vessel, four hooded marines slide down ropes, the hostiles are overpowered, and the ship’s hostages released. Or at least, that is what NATO is rehearsing as it polices the world's busiest shipping lane and its most dangerous waters, the sea around the Horn of Africa.

AVIATION:
20. Air Boss’ Talks Progress On F-35C, P-8
(NAVY TIMES 17 MAR 14) ... Mark D. Faram
SAN DIEGO – Naval aviation is zooming into its second century by harnessing technological revolutions – from unmanned carrier planes to the electromagnetic catapults that will one day fling them from the decks of Ford-class supercarriers.

SHIPBUILDING:
21. Lawmaker Strives To Keep Focus On Shipbuilding
(DEFENSE NEWS 10 MAR 14) ... Christopher P. Cavas and John T. Bennett
WASHINGTON – Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., could be called the U.S. House’s dean of Navy shipbuilding, and he is attempting to become its top Asia-Pacific strategist. What’s more, most insiders put him on the shortlist for possible successors to retiring House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif. Forbes is chairman of the committee’s seapower subcommittee.

22. Newport News Shipbuilding: Carrier Funding Prompts Head Scratching
(NEWPORT NEWS DAILY PRESS 08 MAR 14) ... Hugh Lessig
This week's rollout of the Defense Department budget prompted as many questions as answers about the U.S. aircraft carrier fleet and the status of future big-ticket jobs at Newport News Shipbuilding.

23. How The New Military Budget Affects Navy Warships
(NORFOLK VIRGINIAN-PILOT 10 MAR 14) ... Kate Wiltrout
President Barack Obama's proposed budget, rolled out on Tuesday, could have major long-term effects on the warships that call Norfolk home – and the shipyards that build and maintain them. The Navy today has 283 warships, about 60 of them homeported here.

INFRASTRUCTURE / INSTALLATIONS:
24. Officials: $414M Impact, 'Bright' Future At Shipyard
(PORTSMOUTH (NH) HERALD 08 MAR 14) ... Deborah McDermott
PORTSMOUTH – In 2013, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard contributed $414.3 million in local civilian payroll into the Seacoast economy and hired 161 new employees. In addition, more than $250 million in construction projects have taken place at the yard in the last two years alone.

25. Navy Still Working On Finding The Cause Of Red Hill Fuel Leak
(HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER 08 MAR 14) ... William Cole
The Navy hasn't yet gotten to the bottom of a leak at the Red Hill fuel farm that is believed to have dumped up to 27,000 gallons of JP-8 aviation fuel into concrete containment surrounding the leaky steel liner.

SEXUAL ASSAULT:
26. Troops In Key Posts May Be Rechecked For Sex Offenses
(USA TODAY 08 MAR 14) ... Tom Vanden Brook
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has discussed with Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy leaders an Army review that disqualified 588 soldiers from posts as sexual assault counselors and whether those services should follow the Army's lead.

27. USS Germantown Captain Relieved Of Duty
(STARS AND STRIPES 10 MAR 14) ... Matthew M. Burke
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan – The captain of the USS Germantown has been relieved of command for failure to use good judgment and uphold standards in relation to a sexual assault investigation involving one of the ship’s top sailors, Navy officials said Monday.

28. Emails Show Shared Concern Of False Testimony In Army Sexual Assault Case
(NEW YORK TIMES 10 MAR 14) ... Richard A. Oppel Jr.
Lawyers defending Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair on sexual assault charges are renewing claims that the case against him has been tainted by the influence of senior officials in the Pentagon, citing emails that military prosecutors turned over during the weekend.

PERSONNEL:
29. New Rules Would Make Sailors Pay 25% Of Off-Duty Tuition Costs
(NAVY TIMES 17 MAR 14) ... Mark D. Faram
You’re likely to start footing more of the bill for your off-duty college classes starting this fall.

30. CNP’s Worldwide All-Hands Call
5 things every sailor should know about
(NAVY TIMES 17 MAR 14)
A day after the new budget for the next fiscal year was unveiled, the Navy’s manpower boss spoke about upcoming programs, perks that sailors can take advantage of and the Navy’s manning outlook.

31. These Are The Pentagon’s Ideas For Reforming Retirement Benefits
(GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE 09 MAR 14) ... Eric Katz
The Defense Department has outlined several possibilities for overhauling retirement benefits for military personnel, which could provide more cash up front to service members but limit overall compensation.

32. Submarine Connecticut XO Relieved
(NAVY TIMES 09 MAR 14) ... Mark D. Faram
The executive officer of the Bremerton, Wash.- based fast attack submarine Connecticut was relieved March 8 due to a loss of confidence.

SECURITY CLEARANCES:
33. U.S. Network To Scan Workers With Secret Clearances
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 10 MAR 14) ... Stephen Braun
WASHINGTON – U.S. intelligence officials are planning a sweeping system of electronic monitoring that would tap into government, financial and other databases to scan the behavior of many of the 5 million federal employees with secret clearances, current and former officials told The Associated Press.

COMMENTARY:
34. Defunding Defense
(WASHINGTON POST 10 MAR 14) ... Robert J. Samuelson
The crisis in Ukraine reminds us that the future is unpredictable, that wars routinely involve miscalculation and that brute force – boots on the ground, bombs in the air – counts. None of these obvious lessons seems to have made much impression in Washington, where the Obama administration and Congress continue their policy of defunding defense and reducing the United States’ military power.

35. A Defense Budget Based On Hope
(WASHINGTON POST 09 MAR 14) ... Editorial
If, as the Obama administration is convinced, the United States will no longer conduct “long and large stability operations” in foreign countries, then the defense budget it has proposed for next year makes some logical choices. Troop strength, particularly in the Army, is being cut – to the lowest level since before World War II – so that money can be spent on new technology, cyber operations and special operations forces, which will be expanded.

36. China’s Disturbing Defense Budget
(NEW YORK TIMES 10 MAR 14) ... Editorial
China is causing new anxieties in Asia with a defense budget for 2014 that totals $132 billion, up 12.2 percent over the previous year. These numbers should not be used as an excuse to ratchet up America’s military spending. But they do raise legitimate concerns about China’s motives that Beijing should seek to dispel, especially at a time when regional tensions are rising.

37. America's Non-Pivot To Asia
U.S. friends and foes know that entitlement spending inevitably draws from defense.
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 09 MAR 14) ... Editorial
Anyone worried about how the Obama Administration's budget priorities thwart American strategy abroad got another sleepless night last week. First a senior Pentagon official let slip that because of budget constraints America's high-profile pivot to Asia "is being looked at again, because candidly it can't happen." Then China announced another double-digit increase in annual defense spending, this time of 12.2%.

38. How To Put Military Pressure On Russia
NATO now has reason to station nuclear forces in front-line member states.
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 10 MAR 14) ... Jim Thomas
Russia's seizure of Crimea should be a wake-up call for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The absence of serious thinking about NATO's territorial defense mission – its raison d'être – and the weakness its 28 member nations have shown since the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia have proven catnip for Vladimir Putin.

39. Why Poland Cares So Much About Ukraine
(NEW YORK TIMES 10 MAR 14) ... Padraic Kenney
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – An old train route south from the eastern Polish city of Przemysl passes through Ukrainian territory, then back into Poland. The tracks are a relic of the prewar past, when this was all Polish territory, before the Soviet Union “liberated” western Ukraine in 1939 from Poland and incorporated it into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

40. Military Sexual-Assault Legislation Divides Women Senators
Sen. McCaskill’s military sexual-assault bill is meatier than advertised
... WASHINGTON POST 09 MAR 14 Melinda Henneberger
Sen. Claire McCaskill’s bill to overhaul – yes, overhaul – the way sexualassault cases are handled in the military has routinely been described as more modest, conservative, watered-down and incremental than her Senate colleague Kirsten Gillibrand’s measure.


TOP STORIES:
1. Obama To Meet Leader Of Ukraine
(WASHINGTON POST 10 MAR 14) ... Anthony Faiola and Carol Morello

KIEV, Ukraine – The head of Ukraine’s new pro-Western government will meet with President Obama this week, the White House announced Sunday, as a defiant Russia took further steps to consolidate its hold on the Crimean Peninsula.
The announcement of Wednesday’s meeting in Washington with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk came as pro-Russian forces extended their reach in Crimea, surrounding a border post in the far west and blocking Ukrainian TV broadcasts to the heavily Russian-speaking region, which lies more than 400 miles southeast of the Ukrainian capital. There were reports of more troop movements into Crimea, with officials in Kiev estimating that 18,000 pro-Russian forces had fanned out across the region, which is about the size of Massachusetts.
A whirlwind of diplomacy continued Sunday – with Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron – but there was no sign that Putin was willing to budge.
The Yatsenyuk visit was announced Sunday by Tony Blinken, Obama’s deputy national security adviser. “What we’ve seen is the president mobilizing the international community in support of Ukraine to isolate Russia for its actions in Ukraine, and to reassure our allies and partners,” Blinken said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Raising concerns of unrest beyond Crimea, local news media and Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that hundreds of activists brandishing Russian flags had broken into a government building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk. They reportedly forced the mayor to write a resignation letter and raised the Russian flag over the building. The incursion occurred two days after a similar protest in the eastern city of Donetsk was put down by authorities loyal to the new government in Kiev.
But Crimea remained the core of concern. According to a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian coast guard, most Ukrainian broadcasts in the region were jammed beginning mid-afternoon Sunday. The only Ukrainian TV programming that could be seen by a reporter in Sevastopol was on two channels, one showing movies and the other soccer.
On Sunday, Sevastopol – home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet – was awash in Russian flags as the rest of Ukraine was celebrating the 200th birthday of national hero and poet Taras Shevchenko. Matrons walking down the street in woolen coats and sensible shoes had Russian flag ribbons tied to the straps of their purses. Children skated through squares wearing armbands with the tricolor stripes of the Russian flag.
Some of those who tried to show their Ukrainian pride paid a price. Several people at a pro-Ukrainian rally were beaten up by pro-Russian activists, said Dima Belotserkovets, a pro-Ukrainian activist. He said he and others were kicked and punched until police eventually came to their rescue. Ten pro-Ukrainian activists were detained but later released, he said. At least one other was still in the hospital, Belotserkovets said, and one was unaccounted for.
Putin Defends Referendum
Russia held out a financial carrot to Crimea, offering 40 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) in support if the peninsula voted in favor of joining Russia in a March 16 referendum. That vote was called by pro-Russian lawmakers who seized control of Crimea’s parliament on Feb. 27.
In a phone call with Putin, Merkel called the planned referendum “illegal” and urged Putin to de-escalate the situation, according to a German government spokesman. Blinken said Sunday that if the vote favors annexing Crimea to Russia, “we won’t recognize it, and most of the world won’t either.”
Putin also spoke with Cameron, who continued a push for the Russian leader to support a contact group that could arrange direct talks between him and the new government in Kiev, according to a spokeswoman at the British prime minister’s office.
But the Kremlin’s news service said Putin stressed that “the steps being taken by the legitimate Crimean authorities are based on international law and aim to protect the legitimate interests of the population of the Crimea.”
There were no reports of shots fired when Russian forces encircled the Chernomorskoye border post in western Crimea, but about 30 Ukrainian personnel were trapped inside, according to reports from the Reuters news agency and Ukrainian television. It was the 11th Ukrainian base to be surrounded by Russian forces since they moved into the region Feb. 28.
Tension At Military Bases
On Sunday, Ukrainian military bases around Sevastopol were tense but largely quiet, with commanders saying that they were trying to avoid responding to provocations.
At one isolated base a half-hour outside Sevastopol, a sign taped to the gate read “Thank you for staying faithful to your oath.” Outside the gate, a half-dozen men in uniforms – part of the pro-Russian “self-defense forces” – milled around.
“They say they are here to defend us from ‘terrorist attacks,’” said Col. Andrei Ivanchenko, the Ukrainian base commander, using his fingers to draw air quotes around the words. “They don’t talk to us. But they are peaceful.”
Ivanchenko said the self-defense units report to a commander in the Russian military, a colonel who had come to the base four days earlier and told the Ukrainians to disarm. Ivanchenko said Russian troops stayed outside the facility, with snipers posted on nearby rooftops.
He said the base had been receiving food and calls of support from civilians. Pointing to a Ukrainian flag flying on a pole at the base entrance, he said morale among those inside was “as high as that banner.”
No Russian or self-defense troops were visible at a nearby Ukrainian air force base that was stormed Friday night by Russian troops. But Lt. Col. Andrei ­Aladashvili, the base commander, said the installation was under the constant observation of Russians stationed on nearby rooftops and in apartment buildings.
About 50 people were inside the base, he said, half of them women. All the weapons in the facility had been removed and sent to an arsenal, he said, to avoid any incident.
“Our main task is not to use our weapons, not to have any victims,” he said. “We must not react to any provocation. That is the most important thing.”
Aladashvili described a harrowing attack on the base Friday night, when a Russian military truck tried to ram through the front gate about 7:30 p.m. and Russian soldiers scrambled over the low walls surrounding the facility. The Ukrain­ian troops on the base lined up just inside the gate, he said, forming a human shield to defend their facility. The Russian soldiers threatened to shoot them in the backs if they did not move, Aladashvili said.
The standoff continued for five hours while Russian and Ukrainian commanders negotiated over the phone, and, eventually, the Russians left at 12:30 a.m. Saturday, Aladashvili said.
Morello reported from Sevastopol. Isabel Gorst in Moscow and Philip Rucker in Washington contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russian-forces-tighten-grip-in-crimea/2014/03/09/3132d41c-f829-4999-93cb-2b503c8d6072_story.html

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2. Japan, U.S. Differ On China In Talks On 'Grey Zone' Military Threats
(REUTERS 10 MAR 14) ... Nobuhiro Kubo, Linda Sieg and Phil Stewart

TOKYO/WASHINGTON – As Japan and the United States start talks on how to respond to armed incidents that fall short of a full-scale attack on Japan, officials in Tokyo worry that their ally is reluctant to send China a strong message of deterrence.
Military officials meet this week in Hawaii to review bilateral defense guidelines for the first time in 17 years. Tokyo hopes to zero in on specific perceived threats, notably China's claims to Japanese-held islands in the East China Sea, while Washington is emphasizing broader discussions, officials on both sides say.
Washington takes no position on the sovereignty of the islands, called the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China, but recognizes that Japan administers them and says they fall under the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which obligates America to come to Japan's defense.
But even as Asia-Pacific security tensions mount, U.S. officials have made clear they do not want to get pulled into a conflict between the world's second- and third-biggest economies.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is alarmed at China's rapid military buildup. Beijing in turn accuses Tokyo of being a regional threat, citing Abe's more nationalist stance, his reversal of years of falling military spending and his visit to a shrine that Asian countries see as glorifying Japan's wartime past.
"Japan wants to prioritize discussions on China and clarify the respective U.S. and Japanese roles in the event of a 'grey zone' incident," said a Japanese government official, referring to less than full-scale, systematic military attacks backed by a state but still representing a threat to Japan's security.
Tokyo wants Washington to join in drafting scenarios for how the two allies would respond in specific cases, he said.
But Washington is worried about provoking China by being too specific, say Japanese officials and experts.
"The United States is certainly ambivalent about this because they think it would drag them into a confrontation and possibly a conflict with China," said Narushige Michishita, who was a national security adviser to the government of Junichiro Koizumi from 2004-2006.
A U.S. defense official rejected the idea that Washington worries about antagonizing China but stressed that the guideline review is a broad exercise, including the Korean peninsula and global contingencies.
"There is a tendency to distil all this back to the Senkaku islands," the official said. "It's not about any particular contingency. It's about making the U.S.-Japan alliance more flexible and responsive to a security environment that's not as black and white as we were thinking about in 1997."
Singling out China, the official said, is "too simplistic a narrative.”
Grey Zone
Underlying Tokyo's concerns are worries that Washington might one day be unable or unwilling to defend Japan, despite President Barack Obama's strategic "pivot" toward the Asia-Pacific region. This fear is adding momentum to Abe's drive to beef up Japan's forces while loosening constitutional limits on military actions overseas.
If Washington does not get involved in specifically addressing the China threat, "it would undermine the credibility of the alliance and might end up encouraging China to be bolder," said Michishita, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.
"U.S. policy makers will have to walk a thin line and try to strike a balance between maintaining credibility and deterrence, and preventing excessive involvement in the situation."
High on the agenda in Hawaii will be "grey zone" incidents. Japanese government officials offer such hypothetical examples as a landing of Chinese special forces disguised as fishermen on the disputed islands.
When the guidelines were last updated in 1997, North Korea's missile and nuclear programs were seen as the biggest threat. Japan was less nervous then about China's military expansion, and issues such as cyber-warfare barely existed.
The old guidelines "are too binary," said the U.S. official. "We're either in peacetime or we're on full contingency." This is "far too inflexible and rigid a framework" for today's threats, the official said.
Tokyo's strategic planners have become increasingly concerned about grey-zone incidents since Sino-Japanese tensions over the tiny uninhabited islands increased in 2012. Japanese and Chinese vessels and aircraft regularly play cat-and-mouse in the disputed areas, with Tokyo often scrambling fighter jets against what it says are incursions of its air and sea territory.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday there was "no room for compromise" with Japan on questions of history and disputed territory, "each inch" of which it would defend from its Asian neighbor.
Dysfunctional Deterrence
The guidelines to update the U.S.-Japanese defense alliance, agreed to in October, coincides with Abe's push to bolster Japan's military and ease the constraints of the post-war, pacifist constitution on the country's armed forces. That includes his plan to lift a self-imposed ban on giving military aid to an ally under attack.
The update, which the two sides aim to wrap up by the end of the year, also follows years of Washington urging Japan to take on a bigger role in the alliance, the core of Tokyo's post-war security policy.
But American voters are weary of foreign wars after Iraq and Afghanistan and wary of being entangled in any new conflicts, experts say.
"U.S. public opinion is more negative toward involvement in foreign wars than even during the Vietnam War," said former senior Japanese diplomat Yoshiji Nogami, now president of the Japan Institute of International Affairs. "If the alliance is firm, then the chance of (America) being drawn in will be less, but this point is not fully understood by ordinary Americans."
Japan has its own headaches over grey-zone incidents. Government officials and many security experts say the authorities must close loopholes between situations where only Japan's Coast Guard and police can act and those where the military can be mobilized.
Examples, Abe recently told parliament, could include a foreign submarine lurking in Japanese waters despite repeated warnings to surface and identify itself or leave, and aggression against remote islands to which police or the Coast Guard could not promptly respond.
"A legal gap like that at a time when the security environment surrounding our country is getting tougher would render deterrence ... dysfunctional and put the people in grave danger," Abe said. A panel of Japanese security experts is expected to recommend revising laws to close that gap.
Washington wants to know how far Japan's military "can expand its roles, missions and capability," said another Japanese official.
U.S. involvement in grey-zone incidents could include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the U.S. official said. The guideline review will likely focus in part on strengthening cooperation in those areas, as well as "maritime domain awareness ... early on, possibly in a grey-zone kind of situation," he said.
That would be a more likely outcome than more direct military action by U.S. forces, said ex-diplomat Nogami.
Where grey-zone tensions are rising, joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance are vital, he said. "The reason that is needed is to prevent the grey zone from becoming black."
Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by William Mallard and Jeremy Laurence.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/10/us-japan-china-defence-idUSBREA280RD20140310

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3. Search For Jet Compounds The Mystery
(NEW YORK TIMES 10 MAR 14) ... Thomas Fuller

SEPANG, Malaysia – More than 48 hours after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished, the mysteries over its fate have only multiplied.
The Beijing-bound plane made no distress call, officials said, and the Malaysian authorities suggested it might have even begun to turn back to Kuala Lumpur midflight before it disappeared. Despite an intensive international search in the waters along its scheduled route, there were no confirmed sightings of the plane’s wreckage. And electronic booking records showed that the two passengers who were traveling on stolen passports bought their tickets from the same Thai travel agency.
The seeming security lapse, which Interpol publicly criticized, might have had nothing to do with what happened to the jet and its 239 passengers and crew. Investigators said they were ruling nothing out, including a catastrophic mechanical failure, pilot error, or both.
But by late Sunday, the lack of answers – or even many clues – to the plane’s disappearance added to the misery of family members left behind.
With Malaysian officials refusing to release many details of their investigation and sometimes presenting conflicting information, the families and friends of victims became increasingly frustrated.
One woman in Beijing collapsed in tears Sunday night in the hotel ballroom where passengers’ relatives were waiting for news. “Why won’t anyone tell us anything?” she wailed.
The many unknowns also frustrated international security experts attempting to determine whether security breaches might have led to tragedy.
Ronald K. Noble, the secretary general of the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, said, “It is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpol’s databases.”
“This is a situation we had hoped never to see,” he said, adding that too few countries systematically screen travelers with Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database set up after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “For years, Interpol has asked, ‘Why should countries wait for a tragedy to put prudent security measures in place at borders and boarding gates?’“
A senior American law enforcement official, who has received classified briefings on the global investigation, said that the authorities had not ruled out terrorism in the plane’s disappearance, but that there had been no public claims of responsibility or electronic intercepts of extremists discussing details of any bombing or attack.
“We’re not seeing or hearing anyone claiming anything about this,” the official said.
By early Monday, the search effort had yet to confirm where the plane might have gone down, even as military aircraft and a flotilla of ships from a half-dozen nations, including China, Malaysia, Vietnam and the United States, searched the waters south of Vietnam.
On Sunday, Vietnamese media reported that rescuers had found a yellow object they thought might be part of the aircraft. But the news media later said it turned out to be a coral reef.
Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the Malaysian civil aviation chief, said samples from an oil slick discovered in the waters had been collected and were being tested to determine if they had come from the plane.
The flight left the international airport in Sepang, outside Kuala Lumpur, at 12:41 a.m. on Saturday and vanished less than an hour later as it appeared to be cruising at 35,000 feet in calm weather. More details emerged Sunday about the two passengers listed on the manifest using names from an Austrian and an Italian passport reported stolen in Thailand, one in 2012 and the other in 2013. According to electronic booking records, each man bought a one-way ticket on Thursday from a travel agency in a shopping mall in the Thai beach resort of Pattaya. A woman who answered the phone at the agency said she was too busy to talk.
Both men were scheduled to pass through Beijing and continue to Amsterdam before traveling to different cities, Frankfurt and Copenhagen, according to the records.
The senior American law enforcement official confirmed Sunday that Thai officials were investigating a “passport ring” operating on the resort island of Phuket, where both passports were stolen.
Although the official said identifying the two passengers is a top priority for investigators, he noted that false documents were also routinely used in the region by drug smugglers.
Security experts in Asia differed on the significance of the two stolen passports.
Xu Ke, a lecturer at the Zhejiang Police College in eastern China who studies aviation safety and hijackings, said the two men might have been illegal migrants. “There are many cases of falsified and counterfeit passports and visas for illegal migration that our public security comes across, even several cases every day,” he said.
But Steve Vickers, the chief executive of a Hong Kong-based security consulting company that specializes in risk mitigation and corporate intelligence in Asia, said the presence of at least two travelers with stolen passports aboard a single jet was rare.
“It is fairly unusual to have more than one person flying on a flight with a stolen passport,” said Mr. Vickers, who publicly warned a month ago that stolen airport passes and other identity documents in Asia merited a crackdown. “The future of this investigation lies in who really checked in.”
Mr. Azharuddin said investigators were reviewing video footage of the passengers in question. Malaysian officials also said five ticketed passengers failed to board the flight but said that their luggage was removed from the plane before it took off.
Vahid Motevalli, an aviation expert at Tennessee Tech University, in Cookeville, said that since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, verifying the identity of passengers had become fundamental.
The Interpol database of stolen passports is considered crucial because it would otherwise be difficult for airline agents to spot well-altered passports.
As they tried to deflect questions about seemingly lax security, Malaysian officials emphasized that their priority was locating the aircraft. They said they had reviewed military radar records and raised the possibility that the aircraft had tried to turn back just before contact with ground controllers was lost.
Gen. Rodzali Daud, the commander of the Royal Malaysian Air Force, said that the authorities were “baffled” by the lack of any distress signals from the aircraft and that a closer look at military radar might have indicated a deviation from the flight path.
But Mikael Robertsson, the co-chairman of Flightradar24, a Stockholm-based service that tracks the majority of the world’s passenger jets, said data gathered by separate civilian receivers in the region did not appear to show the jet turning around.
For now, such conflicting reports seemed to increase tensions.
Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia was quoted saying in the newspaper The Star, that Malaysia would “review all security protocols and, if needed, we will enhance them.”
But Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, appeared to flash impatience Sunday in a phone call reported on the ministry’s website.
“The Malaysia Airlines flight has been missing for close to 40 hours,” he was quoted as telling his Malaysian counterpart. “The Chinese government is treating this very seriously.” He asked that Malaysia “constantly” provide updates on the situation.
As of Monday morning, Malaysia Airlines had not eliminated MH370 from its list of regularly scheduled flight numbers. The airline is still selling tickets on its website for a flight with the same number to Beijing on Wednesday morning, departure 12:35 a.m., scheduled arrival 6:30 a.m.
Reporting was contributed by Chris Buckley and Keith Bradsher from Hong Kong; Edward Wong and Andrew Jacobs from Beijing; Poypiti Amatatham from Bangkok; and Eric Schmitt and Matthew L. Wald from Washington. Bree Feng, Mia Li and Amy Qin contributed research from Beijing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html

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VCNO:
4. VCNO Announces Further Flag Officer Adjustments
(SEAPOWER 07 MAR 14)

WASHINGTON – Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) ADM Mark E. Ferguson III announced in a March 7 release the next phase of flag officer billet adjustments, projected to bring the Navy into compliance with guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
The adjustments are in addition to the reduction of 35 Navy flag officer positions announced in August 2013.
The phased reduction, elimination or consolidation of flag officer billets is scheduled to be complete by March 2016 and will occur as the officers effect permanent change of station moves or retire. This plan will allow for 151 flag officers to fill Navy-specific billets and 64 Navy flag officers to fill existing requirements for joint billets.
“The overall flag billet plan balances these adjustments across officer communities, including Line, Restricted Line and Staff Corps. It also enables the Navy to provide more stability and predictability in the flag officer promotion process while meeting statutory requirements,” Ferguson said.
Specific billets affected by this plan include:
Eliminations
• Deputy Chief of the Navy Reserve. The current billet is filled by an active-duty Rear Admiral (lower half).
• Director of Intelligence Operations (N2/N6I). The current billet is filled by an active-duty Rear Admiral (lower half).
• Director, Maritime Headquarters, U.S. Fleet Forces Command. The current billet is filled by an active-duty Rear Admiral (lower half).
Shift from Active Duty to Reserves
• Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet, will transition from an active-duty Rear Admiral (upper half) to a recalled Reservist of the same rank.
• Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command for Global Logistics Support, will transition from an active-duty Rear Admiral (lower half) to a recalled Reservist of the same rank.
Increase in Seniority
• Commander, Navy Cyber Command, will increase in seniority from a Rear Admiral (lower half) to a Rear Admiral (upper half). The command also will become Information Dominance Forces Command, the Echelon II type commander for the Information Dominance Corps.
• Program Executive Officer for Air Anti-Submarine Warfare, Assault and Special Mission Programs, will increase in seniority from a Rear Admiral (lower half) to a Rear Admiral (upper half). This increase in seniority is commensurate with the scope of responsibility for the billet and helps balance the acquisition corps billet structure.
Billet shift
• Commander, Navy Air and Missile Defense Command, a Rear Admiral (lower half), will shift to a new command, the Navy Surface Warfare Development Command and remain at the same rank.
Merger and Elimination
• Oceanographer of the Navy; Navigator of the Navy; and Director, Space and Maritime Domain Awareness (OPNAV N2/N6E), previously commanded by a Rear Admiral (upper half), will merge with Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. The new billet will be filled by a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral (lower half). The billet will be located at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
“Our goal remains to operate more efficiently and effectively while strengthening our warfighting capabilities,” Ferguson said. “Shifting two billets to the Reserve force recognizes their significant contribution to combat operations, their operational expertise and their integrated service with the active-duty component. As warfare requirements evolve, we will continue to assess our flag officer billet structure while seeking opportunities to further integrate our Reserve and active-duty components.”
http://www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/20140307-flags.html

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5. VCNO Announces Further Flag Officer Adjustments
(NAVY LIVE BLOG 07 MAR 14) ... Admiral Mark Ferguson

Shipmates, I want to take a few moments to provide context on my recent announcement to adjust Navy flag officer billets to align with statutory and Office of the Secretary of Defense policy.
Earlier this year, I announced the initial 35 flag officer billets scheduled for elimination. The latest round of changes reduces, eliminates, or consolidates additional flag officer billets. All of these changes will be phased as incumbent officers transfer or retire. But this doesn’t mean the office or command will be entirely eliminated. The billet will either be merged with another flag officer, downgraded to an O6 position, shifted to a civilian position, or filled by a recalled reservist.
What does this do for the Navy in the long run? It reduces the number of active duty flag officers while maintaining flag leadership in our most critical positions. It also reverses growth in the flag community that occurred over the last 13 years. Our goal remains to operate more efficiently and effectively while strengthening our warfighting capabilities.
These changes are scheduled to be implemented by March 2016. When complete, the Navy will be allocated 151 flag officers for Navy-specific billets and 64 Navy flag officers for joint billets.
The overall Flag billet plan balances these adjustments across all officer communities, including Line, Restricted Line and Staff Corps. It also enables the Navy to provide more stability and predictability in the flag officer promotion process while meeting statutory requirements.
While some flag officer billets are being disestablished, phased out, or downgraded to O6 billets, other flag officer billets are being established or upgraded to meet new requirements. This plan establishes a new Navy Surface Warfare Development Command and upgrades Commander, Navy Cyber Command to a two-star billet. The latter will lead a newly established Information Dominance Forces Command, the Echelon II type commander for the Information Dominance Corps. It also upgrades PEO Air Anti-Submarine Warfare, Assault and Special Mission Programs (PEO-A) to a two-star position that is more in line with the scope of responsibility for the billet and helps balance the acquisition corps billet structure.
We are also shifting two billets to be filled by recalled Reservists. Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet will transition from an active duty Rear Adm. (upper half) to a recalled reservist of the same rank; and Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command for Global Logistics Support will transition from an active duty Rear Adm. (lower half) to a recalled reservist of the same rank.
Shifting these two flag billets to the Reserve Force is a reflection of their significant contribution to combat operations, their operational expertise, and their integrated service with the active duty component.
As warfare requirements evolve, we will continue to assess our flag officer billet structure while seeking opportunities to further integrate our Reserve and Active Duty components.
Admiral Mark Ferguson is Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
http://navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/03/07/vcno-announces-further-flag-officer-adjustments/

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UKRAINE:
6. A Defiant Putin Endorses Crimean Bid To Secede
Kremlin-Backed Official Says Region Could Become Part of Russia Later This Month
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 10 MAR 14) ... Lukas I. Alpert

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin threw his support Sunday behind Crimea's move to secede from Ukraine, defying Western threats of sanctions, as a Kremlin-backed official said the region could join Russia as soon as this month.
The White House, meanwhile, said President Barack Obama would meet the newly appointed Ukrainian prime minister in Washington on Wednesday and warned that further steps toward Russian annexing Crimea would lead to more economic and diplomatic pressure on Moscow.
But in calls with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday, Mr. Putin showed no sign of giving ground. While the West has said Russia's occupation of Crimea and the region's secession referendum, which is scheduled for Sunday, violate international law, Mr. Putin called the planned vote legitimate.
"The steps taken by the legitimate leadership of Crimea are based on the norms of international law and aim to ensure the legal interests of the population of the peninsula," Mr. Putin said Sunday in the calls, according to a statement from the Kremlin.
Mr. Putin didn't say whether Russia intended to annex Crimea if the referendum to leave Ukraine and join Russia passes. But a Kremlin-backed leader in Crimea said the region could become part of Russia by the end of March if the vote succeeds.
Russia's Parliament has been fast-tracking a bill to speed up the process for Russia to absorb a foreign territory and issue Russian passports. A member of Russia's Parliament said Sunday it stood ready to provide the region with 40 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) for infrastructure development if it becomes part of the country, as Crimea relies largely on Ukraine for its water and electricity.
Tony Blinken, Mr. Obama's deputy national security adviser, said an annexation of Crimea violated international law and would never be recognized.
"If there is an annexation of Crimea, a referendum that moves Crimea from Ukraine to Russia, we won't recognize it, nor will most of the world," he told CNN. "The pressure that we've already exerted in coordination with our partners and allies will go up."
He pointed to steep declines in the Russian ruble and Russia's stock markets last week as a result of international pressure and as proof that Russia was already paying a cost. The ruble has recovered some from the steep losses in recent days, however, and the stock-market losses have had little broader economic impact.
In an address to thousands gathered in central Kiev to celebrate the 200th birthday of Ukrainian nationalist writer Taras Shevchenko, the country's new prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, vowed to protect Ukraine's interests in Crimea but said it would achieve its goals diplomatically.
"This is our land," he told the crowd. "Our fathers and grandfathers have spilled their blood for this land. And we won't budge a single centimeter from Ukrainian land. Let Russia and its president know this."
Russia has increasingly pushed back at the threat of sanctions. On Saturday, Russia state news agencies reported the country's defense ministry may stop fulfilling arms-treaty commitments and block U.S. military inspections of its nuclear weapons in response to a move in Washington to suspend military cooperation with Moscow.
In an article in the state newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta, Kirill Barsky, Russia's special envoy to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization suggested that Russia was prepared to face down any sanctions, noting that similar measures taken against China following the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 proved ineffective and that China's economy surged soon after.
The situation on the ground in Crimea grew more tense over the weekend. Russian troops and locals continued to besiege Ukrainian military bases in Crimea, halting delivery of food and supplies to some of them. On Sunday in Sevastopol, violence flared when a small crowd of Ukrainians gathered to celebrate Mr. Shevchenko's birthday. They were met by pro-Russian demonstrators who attacked men providing security for the event, punching and kicking them and beating one man with a whip.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said warning shots were fired as its military observer team attempted to enter the region Saturday and were stopped at an armed checkpoint. On Friday, the group issued a statement condemning reports of harassment and violence against reporters in region.Poland decided to evacuate its consulate in Crimea "because of continuing disturbances by Russian forces," the country's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, said Saturday.
On Sunday, there were signs of unrest in some eastern Ukrainian cities where Russian speakers are in the majority. In Luhansk, local media reported that a mob of several hundred protesters bearing Russian flags stormed the local government building and forced the new governor appointed by Kiev to sign a letter of resignation.
In the eastern industrial of Donetsk, boxer-turned-politician Vitali Klitschko who plans to run for president in Ukrainian elections on May 25, was forced to cancel a rally after a group of about 5,000 pro-Russian protesters gathered in the city's main square and had minor skirmishes with a pro-Kiev group.
Meanwhile, Sergei Aksyonov, the new Russian-backed leader in Crimea, issued a televised appeal to residents in other regions in Ukraine's south and east, calling on them to defy the new government in Kiev and hold their own votes on secession. He offered the support of the new Crimean government, as well as its "self-defense forces," referring to what Western officials say are Russian troops deployed in Crimea.
Alan Cullison, Alexander Kolyandr and Carol E. Lee contributed to this article.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304020104579428981865357124

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7. House Republicans Balk At Wording In Obama Emergency Aid Package For Ukraine
(NEW YORK TIMES 10 MAR 14) ... Jonathan Weisman

WASHINGTON – An emergency aid package for the beleaguered Ukrainian government has become entangled in a partisan dispute over the International Monetary Fund, with House Republicans resisting President Obama’s personal pleas to extend the reach of a Ukraine rescue plan by including long-sought changes to the fund’s structure.
The administration already has pledged $1 billion in United States loan guarantees to the government in Kiev, and the House responded quickly, approving an aid package on Thursday with overwhelming support from both parties. But House Republicans rebuffed the president on a request to include language that would extend a separate billion-dollar package of loans from the fund to $1.6 billion by expanding loan limits for countries like Ukraine.
A draft aid plan pending before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee does include the language. If it remains, House, Senate and White House negotiators will square off this week, as the government in Kiev teeters on the brink of a default. Adding to that tension, Congress intends to be on recess the following week.
“There’s been a lot of talk in Congress about these issues,” Mr. Obama said on Thursday. “Once again, I’m calling on Congress to follow up on these words with action, specifically to support the IMF’s capacity to lend resources to Ukraine and to provide American assistance for the Ukrainian government so that they can weather this storm.”
The IMF issue dates back to 2010, when Mr. Obama helped negotiate a “rebalancing” of influence at the fund, granting emerging powers like China, India and Brazil more power and expanding the borrowing quotas of countries like Ukraine. Since then, every nation that needed to approve the changes has done so but one, the United States, and without Washington’s approval, the changes are stuck.
Under the changes, the United States would shift $63 billion from the IMF’s tightly controlled crisis fund to its general accounts, where a newly rebalanced board of directors would have more control and where countries participating in the fund would get more generous loan limits. Under a complicated system of formulas, Ukraine’s limits would rise about 60 percent, said Edwin M. Truman, a former Obama Treasury official now with the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
In recent months, Democratic and Republican finance heavyweights have joined the administration’s pressure campaign, including Robert B. Zoellick, a former World Bank president and deputy secretary of state in President George W. Bush’s administration; two Bush Treasury secretaries, Henry M. Paulson Jr. and John W. Snow; and Nicholas F. Brady, a Treasury secretary in the administration of the first President Bush.
But House Republicans have balked, fearing a loss of American influence and more taxpayer exposure as loan limits rise. Influential Republicans such as Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, have expressed strong philosophical opposition to American support for international lending institutions that they say are using American taxpayers’ money to bail out irresponsible countries.
“Regardless of the wisdom, many Americans now rightfully question our ability to continue supporting multilateral financial institutions like the IMF,” Mr. Hensarling told Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew in December during the administration’s last push for the new IMF language.
Michael Steel, a spokesman for Speaker John A. Boehner, said the fund “already has the authority and resources” it needed to act in Ukraine. “The White House is trying to use this crisis to press for a separate and unrelated policy they have long pursued,” Mr. Steel said.
Last month, Russia tried to use this intransigence in Congress as a wedge in the international community. At a gathering of finance ministers in Australia, the Russian finance minister, Anton Siluanov, suggested that the IMF move forward with the changes without the United States, and end Washington’s veto authority at the fund.
At the same gathering, Mr. Lew found himself at once cajoling allies to go to Ukraine’s aid and trying to explain why the United States had failed to approve the fund changes it had negotiated, said Mr. Truman, the former Treasury official.
“On the one hand we want the fund to be there,” Mr. Truman said. “We leverage money from other countries to make sure it is strong and available. At the same time we see no merit in passing the legislation that we promised.”
To administration officials, the Ukraine crisis has made the need for the fund changes tangible. In January, Mr. Lew pressed hard to include the IMF language in a $1 trillion spending bill for the current fiscal year. Republicans countered with demands that the administration would not accept, including a delay or suspension of proposed new regulations governing the political activities of tax-exempt organizations.
In the past days, administration officials and their allies have ramped up again. Senior White House officials reached out to Mr. Boehner last week, pressing the case that with the changes, Ukraine’s $1 billion loan package would expand to $1.6 billion. American credibility at the fund, battered by the delay, could also be restored.
“At a time when the U.S. is at the forefront of international calls in urging the fund to play a central and active first responder role in Ukraine, it is imperative that we secure passage of IMF legislation now,” Mr. Lew told the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/world/europe/house-republicans-balk-at-wording-in-obama-emergency-aid-package.html

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8. Russian's Comments Rile Latvia
Comments Seen As Russia's Attempt to Keep Latvians Within its Sphere
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 10 MAR 14) ... Juris Kaža

RIGA, Latvia – Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Veshnyakov created a new wave of concern in Latvia with recent remarks saying it may soon become easier for ethnic Russians in Latvia to obtain Russian citizenship.
Mr. Veshnyakov told Latvian Radio 4, a Russian-language public broadcasting channel, that proposed legislation in Russia would allow granting Russian citizenship to ethnic Russians in Latvia to "save the Latvian noncitizens out of poverty by giving them citizenship and a pension without having to stay in Russia." Russians constitute 27.6% of Latvia's population of 2 million, the largest ethnic group among the minorities living in Latvia.
The comments come as many in the three Baltic nations – part of the former Soviet Union – have expressed fears about being the target of possible Russian expansionism. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – all members of NATO and the European Union – have been working to forge economic ties with Europe by joining the euro zone while also scrambling to lessen dependence on Russian energy.
Russia has justified its moves in Ukraine as a defense of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers. Moscow has complained about Latvia's alleged mistreatment of ethnic Russians there.
The government in Moscow has approved legal changes that would radically ease the process of obtaining Russian passports for Russian speakers in other former Soviet republics.
President Barack Obama discussed the situation in Ukraine with Baltic leaders in recent days following comments made by Baltic leaders severely critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. has committed fighter jets in Lithuania to reassure allies.
Latvia's former Minister of Defense, Artis Pabriks, who referred to Mr. Veshnyakov's remarks in a tweet on his Twitter account, told The Wall Street Journal Sunday that Mr. Veshnyakov's offer of social security and pensions was unnecessary, as Russia and Latvia had signed treaties that ensured that each other's citizens would receive their pensions in either country. Mr. Pabriks suggested the Russian diplomat was apparently trying to lure or keep some Latvian residents under Russia's political influence and in the Russian "information sphere."
According to the English-language website of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the average old-age pension in February was 11,400 rubles, or $312.88 a month. In Latvia, the average old-age pension is EUR277, or $384.
Mr. Pabriks said that Mr. Veshnakov's remarks could also be seen as a slap at EU social security and living standards before an audience of poorly informed Russian speakers.
A member of Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma's Unity Party, Mr. Pabriks also said he was worried by Russia's vague promises of aid and support for "compatriots" abroad.
"What do they mean? By language, ethnicity, ancestry?" Mr. Pabriks asked, noting that this concept was being used to justify Russia's intervention in Crimea.
The Russian Ambassador spoke on Latvian radio last Friday, a few days after he said on a Latvian television Russian-language program that Russia wouldn't respond to calls by Russians in Latvia for military intervention if the situation were similar to Ukraine. "Don't fantasize. This wouldn't happen," Mr. Veshnyakov is quoted as saying.
Separately, The Russian Union of Latvia, formerly the For Human Rights in a United Latvia (PCTVL) party, which lost its place in the Latvian parliament in the 2010 elections, has called for a march in support of Crimea as part of Russia Monday in downtown Riga, which is Latvia's capitol.
In a Facebook post, the party, seen as pro-Russian, calls for an afternoon local march from the French Embassy to the German Embassy and culminating at a building housing European Union (EU) offices, called the "EU House."
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304020104579429332129542004

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9. Blocked By Sunken Russian Ships, Ukraine's Navy Stays Defiant
(AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 09 MAR 14) ... Katherine Haddon

MYRNY – Russia has deliberately sunk three of its own ships to block Ukrainian navy vessels entering a lake off the Black Sea, officers say, highlighting Moscow's determination to wear down the morale of Kiev's forces in Crimea.
The Ochakov -- a Soviet-era warship decommissioned in 2011 and set to be sold for scrap -- was towed to the entrance to Lake Donuzlav on Crimea's western coast from the Russian base at Sevastopol on Thursday and blown up.
It capsized and, along with two smaller Russian vessels, is now blocking the narrow gap between two spits of land, its hull beaten by rough Black Sea waves.
Ukraine's navy has limited resources and suffered a major blow last week when its chief Denis Berezovsky switched allegiance to the pro-Russian Crimean authorities and a new chief was appointed.
But officers at a base near where the Russians sank the ship have no doubt what the Russians were trying to do and insist they will not be shaken by the tactics.
"It is blocked so we cannot get out," said Captain Viktor Shmyganovsky, second-in-command at the base in Novoozerne, one of the four biggest in Crimea.
"If it wasn't blocked, we could have taken our ships to Odessa and it would stop them being seized by Russian forces. We would be more powerful in alliance with ships in Odessa."
Ukraine's navy headquarters is in Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet was founded under Imperial Russia 230 years ago, but is currently barricaded by pro-Russian militants.
Odessa, further round the coast into Ukraine and the country's largest port, offers a safer option amid the current military situation in Crimea, a semi-autonomous region of Ukraine where pro-Russian forces have seized control.
'Loyal To Ukraine'
The Novoozerne base -- built by the Soviets in 1976 and dotted with decorative Cold War missiles and communications equipment -- flies the Ukrainian flag prominently and is protected by a handful of troops armed with Kalashnikovs.
While Ukrainian officers would not disclose exactly how many men are based there, it is thought to be in the dozens.
After the ships were blown up, the commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet, Admiral Alexander Vitko, came to the base trying to get them to switch sides, said Shmyganovsky.
"He wanted us to swear for the Russian people. Members of the navy gave an honourable answer to the admiral -- Ukraine's soldiers will remain faithful to Ukraine's people," the small, neatly-dressed officer added.
"A few military helicopters and planes were sent here (after the ships were sunk) and they were trying to break down our morale."
Officers at the base declined to confirm how many Ukrainian ships were currently in Lake Donuzlav, while hinting at submarine capability.
But Ukraine's navy is around a tenth of the size of Russia's and suffers from "inadequate finances,” according to London-based military affairs think-tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Ukraine only has one, Soviet-built submarine which it is currently trying to restore to "service condition after over a decade of inactivity," it adds.
Despite the odds stacking up against them, the Ukrainian navy is determined to stand its ground to the end in this storied naval territory, said Shmyganovsky.
"From history, we know that those who cannot use political means resort to weapons instead. An admiral once said Sevastopol never gives up and we can say the same about other Ukrainian navy units," he added.