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On This Day In The Navy:
1827: First Naval Hospital construction begun at Portsmouth, VA.

TOP STORIES:
1. Russia’s Actions Revive NATO’s Cold War Focus
NATO chief recommits to defending Eastern European, Baltic nations
(WASHINGTON POST 02 APR 14) ... Anne Gearan
BRUSSELS – A reinvigorated NATO flexed old Cold War muscles Tuesday as the Atlantic alliance’s chief recommitted to defending Eastern European and Baltic nations rattled by Russia’s military moves and its annexation of Crimea.

2. China's Line In The Sea
Beijing Has Never Properly Explained What Its 'Nine-Dash Line' Represents
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 02 APR 14) ... Andrew Browne
BEIJING – When the Manchus ruled China, it was given the name South Sea – a maritime domain dotted with islets, atolls and lagoons that provided storm shelter for fishermen.

3. Lowered Expectations As Malaysia Airlines Search Drags On
(REUTERS 02 APR 14) ... Matt Siegel
PERTH – The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumed on Wednesday, even as senior Australian officials warned that bad weather and a lack of reliable information were seriously impeding efforts to locate the plane's wreckage.

UKRAINE:
4. NATO Allies Pledge To Beef Up Eastern Defenses
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 01 APR 14) ... John-Thor Dahlburg and Vladimir Isachenkov
BRUSSELS – NATO foreign ministers moved Tuesday to beef up the defenses of front-line alliance members feeling menaced by a more assertive Russia, with Secretary of State John Kerry proclaiming the U.S. commitment to their security is "unwavering."

5. Top U.S. Commander In Europe: Putin Not Budging
(THE COMPLEX (FOREIGN POLICY) 01 APR 14) ... Gordon Lubold
The top U.S. commander in Europe said in an interview that he sees no sign that Russian forces are backing away from the border with Ukraine and called Moscow's conquest and annexation of Crimea a "paradigm shift" that requires a fundamental rethinking of where American forces are located and how they are trained.

6. House Clears Ukraine Aid, Sanctions Package
Lawmakers Say Move Gives President Leverage in Russia Talks
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 02 APR 14) ... Michael R. Crittenden
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday cleared a package of aid and sanctions to address the political crisis in Ukraine that lawmakers said would give the Obama administration greater leverage in diplomatic talks with Russia.

7. West Stumbles As Autocratic Force Trumps Economics
(REUTERS 01 APR 14) ... David Rohde
A quarter-century after the fall of the Soviet Union, authoritarian rulers such as Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad are showing they can and will defy international norms, suppress dissent and use military force. American policymakers are struggling with how to respond.

ASIA – PACIFIC:
8. Hagel To Meet With Malaysian Counterpart
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 01 APR 14) ... Lolita C. Baldor
ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will meet with Malaysia's defense minister this week, amid ongoing criticism about how well the search for missing Flight 370 has been conducted and coordinated with other nations.

9. Search For Missing Malaysian Plane Hampered By Lack Of Certainty
Hunt's New Leader Moves to Damp Expectations for Any Resolution in Coming Weeks
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 02 APR 14) ... David Winning and Rachel Pannett
SYDNEY – The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 moved closer to Australia's coastline, underscoring continuing uncertainty over where the plane may have gone down in the southern Indian Ocean.

10. Deep Water Search For Jet Could Turn On Robot Subs
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 02 APR 14) ... Adam Geller
Two miles down or more and darker than night, the ocean becomes a particularly challenging place for human searchers.

11. Suspected N. Korean Drones Prompt Seoul To Boost Surveillance
(YONHAP NEWS AGENCY (S.KOREA) 02 APR 14) ... Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL – South Korea is seeking to improve its surveillance capabilities to deal with military threats from North Korea following the discovery of two drones near the inter-Korean border, military officials said Wednesday.

12. Job Pool Expanding For U.S. Troops Interested In Heading Down Under
(STARS AND STRIPES 01 APR 14) ... Seth Robson
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – The Australian Defence Force, which expects to double its budget over the next decade, is looking for even more foreign military members willing to serve Down Under.

AMERICAS:
13. Huge Earthquake Off Chile Coast Sparks Tsunami
(REUTERS 02 APR 14) ... Anthony Esposito and Rosalba O'Brien
SANTIAGO –- A major earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck off the coast of northern Chile on Tuesday, causing five deaths and triggering a tsunami that pounded the shore with 2-meter-tall waves.

MIDEAST:
14. Dempsey Says Israel-U.S. Perceptions Of Iran Grow Closer
(BLOOMBERG NEWS 01 APR 14) ... Tony Capaccio
Israel’s view of how soon Iran will gain a nuclear-weapon capability has become much closer to that of officials in Washington, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today.

15. Army-Navy Tag Team Trains To Defend Persian Gulf
Aviators in Kuwait ready to fly from ships in a crisis
(WAR IS BORING 01 APR 14) ... Joe Trevithick
Army aviators in Kuwait spent much of 2013 training for an unusual mission – flying from Navy ships. This new mission is a major shift for the ground combat branch in the Middle East … and elsewhere.

AFGHANISTAN:
16. March Fatality-Free For U.S. Forces In Afghanistan
(STARS AND STRIPES 01 APR 14) ... Jon Harper
WASHINGTON – For the first time in more than seven years, the U.S. military just went a full calendar month without suffering any fatalities in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon.

ARCTIC:
17. Arctic Aviation Operations Remain Concern For U.S. Navy
(AVIATION WEEK INTELLIGENCE NETWORK 01 APR 14) ... Michael Fabey
WASHINGTON – As the U.S. Navy seeks to conduct more missions in the Arctic, it is becoming increasingly clear that aviation operations in the region will present a special set of challenges – especially when it comes to takeoffs, landings and maintenance.

LCS:
18. Austal, Lockheed Warships Did Well In U.S. War Game -Admiral
(REUTERS 02 APR 14) ... Andrea Shalal
Both the Lockheed Martin Corp and Austal versions of the U.S. Navy's new coastal warship performed well in a major war game last week and surprised some "enemies" with their capabilities, a top Navy admiral said on Tuesday.

19. LCS War Game Focuses On Blue Water, Anti-Sub, Anti-Ship Capabilities
(INSIDE DEFENSE 01 APR 14) ... Olga Belogolova
In a war game meant to probe the concept of operations for the Littoral Combat Ship last week, the Navy focused primarily on the anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capabilities of the ship class in the open ocean, according to a Navy official.

20. Littoral Combat Ship Mission Packages Safe From Budget Axe For Now
(U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE NEWS 01 APR 14) ... Sam LaGrone
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s mandate capping of the first variants of the Littoral Combat Ship at 32 hulls will do little to limit the acquisition of the mission packages for the Flight 0 LCS over the next five years, navy officials told USNI News last week.

UNMANNED SYSTEMS:
21. UCLASS Could Be Used As Tanker For Carrier Air Wing
(U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE NEWS 01 APR 14) ... Dave Majumdar
The U.S. Navy is considering using its forthcoming Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft as an aerial refueling tanker to free up its fleet of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for more strike missions, several sources told USNI News.

CYBER:
22. DoD Plans Cyber Staff Increases
(DEFENSE NEWS 01 APR 14) ... Amber Corrin
The Defense Department will increase the number of cyber professionals from roughly 1,800 today to more than 6,000 by 2016, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said last week.

CONGRESS / BUDGET:
23. Ryan Budget Calls For Return To Pre-Sequester Defense Spending
Budget chairman cuts overall spending below sequester totals, but he takes from nondefense to boost defense spending beyond Obama.
(NATIONAL JOURNAL 01 APR 14) ... Stacy Kaper
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan laid out a budget vision Tuesday that goes beyond President Obama's request by ramping up defense spending beyond the caps in 2016 and restoring them by 2017.

24. Republican Budget Asks Federal Employees To Contribute More To Pensions
(GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE 01 APR 14) ... Kellie Lunney
House Republicans again are calling for a smaller government workforce and less generous benefits for federal employees, as part of a plan to help reduce the overall budget deficit.

SOCOM:
25. Pybus On Deck As SOCOM’s Second In Command
(TAMPA TRIBUNE 01 APR 14) ... Howard Altman
The Tampa special operations community is lauding President Barack Obama’s choice to be the next deputy commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.

MARINE CORPS:
26. Marines About To Announce New Amphibious Combat Vehicle Plan: Our Sneak Preview
(BREAKING DEFENSE 02 APR 14) ... Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON – The Marines are about to move out sharply with their once-stalled Amphibious Combat Vehicle, the smallest service’s biggest program. After years of uncertainty and a last-minute change of course that came too late to make it into the administration’s budget request for 2015, the Marines will soon announce their new strategy for something they’re calling an ACV. But it will be much more modest than the revolutionary vehicle once envisioned.

PERSONNEL:
27. Op-Ed Gets USMC Commandant’s Attention, Sparks Change For Women
(SEAPOWER 01 APR 14) ... Otto Kreisher
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Marine Corps commandant has reacted swiftly to a female Marine officer’s complaint that women are unfairly precluded from trying a second time to pass the prestigious Marine Corps Infantry Officers Course, when men can have a second try.

28. More On Navy Cigarette Sales
Defense secretary, San Diego congressman on opposite sides of issue
(SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE 01 APR 14) ... Jeanette Steele
The debate continues – and is maybe heating up – over Navy sales of cigarettes on ships and naval installations.

29. Aircrewmen To Receive New Zealand Medal For '79 Recovery Operation
(NAVY TIMES 01 APR 14) ... Meghann Myers
Nearly 35 years ago, a group of Navy helicopter aircrewmen helped the New Zealand government recover the bodies of more than 250 passengers and crew after their commercial airliner crashed into Mount Erebus, Antarctica’s highest peak.

SEXUAL ASSAULT:
30. West Point Leader Vows To Address Sexual Assault
(WESTCHESTER COUNTY (NY) JOURNAL NEWS 01 APR 14) ... Khurram Saeed
WEST POINT – Top Army officials on Monday said they were committed to ending sexual assault and harassment following a series of scandals at the nation's oldest military academy.

ENVIRONMENTAL:
31. U.S. Navy Credited With Recovery Of Island Night Lizards
(LOS ANGELES TIMES 01 APR 14) ... Louis Sahagun
In what is being hailed as an environmental victory for the U.S. Navy, the island night lizard has been taken off the list of federally endangered species.

COMMENTARY:
32. Realizing The Asia-Pacific Rebalance
(DEFENSE ONE 01 APR 14) ... Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel
In a world where security challenges do not adhere to political boundaries and our economies are linked as never before, no nation can go it alone and hope to prosper. Achieving sustained security and prosperity in the 21st century requires nations to work together and to meet common challenges with uncommon unity and purpose.

33. Crimea: Too Small To Matter
(REUTERS 01 APR 14) ... Nicholas Wapshott
Crimea is permanently lost to Russia.

34. Crimea And South China Sea Diplomacy
Russia’s big move shows both the limits and importance of diplomacy in territorial disputes.
(THE DIPLOMAT 01 APR 14) ... Sophie Boisseau du Rocher & Bruno Hellendorff
On March 18, China and ASEAN gathered in Singapore to pursue consultations on a Code of Conduct (COC) for the South China Sea, alongside talks on the implementation of the Declaration of Conduct (DOC). The gathering came at a time of rising preoccupation over a perceived creeping assertiveness by China in pursuing its maritime claims. Just one week before, Manila and Beijing experienced another diplomatic row, after Chinese Coast Guard vessels barred the resupply of Philippine marines based in the Spratly Islands.

35. Split Persists Between Washington And Riyadh
Interviewee: F. Gregory Gause III, Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Brookings Doha Center
(CFR.ORG 01 APR 14) ... Bernard Gwertzman
Last week's meeting between President Obama and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was meant to quell speculation that relations between the two long-standing allies had collapsed, says Brookings fellow F. Gregory Gause. But despite the assurances proffered by the Obama administration, serious differences over policy regarding Iran, Syria, and Egypt remain between the two countries, says Gause.

36. Military Caregivers Are Hidden Heroes
Many are family members who don't get the recognition and help that they deserve.
(USA TODAY 01 APR 14) ... Elizabeth Dole and Michael Rich
Right now there are 5.5 million wives, husbands, siblings, parents, children and friends devoted to the care of those injured fighting America's wars. Theirs is an all-consuming, emotionally draining task, one that has been driven for too long by loyalty and love, but little support.

37. Violent Ex-Cons Should Never Be On Military Bases
(NORFOLK VIRGINIAN-PILOT 02 APR 14) ... Kerry Dougherty
First the good news: The Navy took only a couple of days to tighten security at all installations on the East Coast after last week's deadly shooting on the Norfolk Naval Station.


TOP STORIES:
1. Russia’s Actions Revive NATO’s Cold War Focus
NATO chief recommits to defending Eastern European, Baltic nations
(WASHINGTON POST 02 APR 14) ... Anne Gearan

BRUSSELS – A reinvigorated NATO flexed old Cold War muscles Tuesday as the Atlantic alliance’s chief recommitted to defending Eastern European and Baltic nations rattled by Russia’s military moves and its annexation of Crimea.
At the opening of a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance has seen no signs of Russian troop withdrawals along the Ukraine border, as Moscow has claimed. A senior U.S. State Department official had called Russia’s promised pullback a “gesture,” but a welcome one.
“We have all challenged the tactics of intimidation,” Secretary of State John F. Kerry said after meeting Tuesday with NATO members and Ukrainian envoys.
The alliance moved to suspend many military and civilian ties with Russia over its military incursion and annexation of Crimea, but it stopped short of ordering new troop deployments of its own, a move that could provoke a larger confrontation.
“NATO has consistently worked for closer cooperation and trust with Russia” for two decades, the alliance ministers said in a statement. “However, Russia has violated international law” and its agreements with NATO, they said. “It has gravely breached the trust upon which our cooperation must be based.”
Although NATO has largely refrained from posting troops in nations at Russia’s front door, Rasmussen did not rule out doing so in the future. NATO could establish permanent bases in front-line allied nations, alliance officials said this week.
Ukraine is not a member of the alliance but cooperates with it, to Russia’s frequent dismay. Ukraine’s foreign minister reiterated Tuesday that his nation is not seeking NATO membership but is exploring greater cooperation.
NATO foreign ministers agreed Tuesday to intensify the alliance’s partnership with Ukraine and provide additional assets to Eastern European partners.
“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine challenges our vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace,” Rasmussen said. “We are now considering all options to enhance our collective defense, including an update and further development of defense plans, enhanced exercises and also appropriate deployment.”
The United States has joined Black Sea naval exercises, and NATO members have increased air patrols over the Baltic states and employed AWACS surveillance planes over Poland and Romania.
Eastern European leaders have expressed unhappiness with the pace at which NATO has sought to bulk up its presence on the front lines with Russia. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the results have been “unsatisfactory.”
“We are gaining something step by step, but the pace of NATO increasing its military presence for sure could be faster,” he said.
In Washington, the House approved an aid package Tuesday for Ukraine, whose Western-oriented interim leaders have committed to economic and political reform and elections in May. The Senate voted on the measure last week.
The 28-member alliance’s regular spring meeting of foreign ministers was energized by Russia’s move to invade and then annex Crimea from Ukraine, and to deploy as many as 40,000 troops along the border with Ukraine.
NATO, formed as a U.S.-backed bulwark against the Soviet Union, has expanded in the past 15 years to include many former Soviet satellite states, often over Russian complaints. NATO sometimes invites Russia to attend sessions, but that was not the case this time.
“We will make clear that Russia’s actions are unacceptable. We will take decisions on which cooperation with Russia is still appropriate,” Rasmussen said. “Russia has undermined the principles on which our partnership is built and has breached its own international commitments. So we cannot go on doing business as usual.”
“Clearly we have a NATO that is now in the business, in the context of events in and around Ukraine, of rebalancing its mission,” a senior U.S. official said.
NATO has focused for two decades on joint missions, such as in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Without the organizing principle of collective defense against the Soviet Union, however, the alliance has sometimes seemed adrift. The United States has complained that it is funding a disproportionate share of NATO missions while European nations cut their defense budgets.
Those missions are still important, the U.S. official said, but after the Russian show of force, “the alliance is now very much focused once again on its core and founding mission, which is defense of allied territory.” The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe U.S. objectives ahead of the meetings.
Rasmussen said Tuesday that allied intelligence does not show that Russia is scaling back what he called a “massive military buildup.”
The Russian Defense Ministry announced Monday that a motorized infantry battalion would return to its home base after deployment along the border with eastern Ukraine. A battalion can range from a few hundred to about 1,500 soldiers.
Russia has maintained that it is conducting legal, routine military training and has no intention of extending its reach beyond Crimea. But Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials have said that massing troops is a form of intimidation against the government in Kiev and warned that an incursion could occur at any moment.
The United States and European allies consider Russia’s annexation of Crimea illegal and insist that it will never be recognized. Washington and the European Union have approved two rounds of relatively mild sanctions and are considering more far-reaching penalties on Russian oil and gas industries.
President Obama signed an executive order last month authorizing further sanctions if Russian forces enter Ukraine beyond Crimea.
On Tuesday, a 44 percent price increase on much of the natural gas sold to Ukraine’s Naftogaz by Russia’s Gazprom monopoly went into effect. That brought the price of natural gas sold to Ukraine in line with, or slightly above, the prevailing prices Gazprom charges other European customers.
“Ukraine will be unable to pay this higher rate without Western financing, which will heighten the prospect that Gazprom cuts some of Ukraine’s gas shipments,” said analysts at the Eurasia Group. Last month, Gazprom chief executive Alexey Miller said Naftogaz was already $1.5 billion in arrears on its payments. Although warm weather and ample gas in storage will moderate the immediate effect on Ukraine’s economy, the higher gas price will be an extra burden next winter.
Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych had negotiated a discount late last year; the new rate is in line with prices Ukraine had been charged earlier.
A separate discount had been negotiated in 2010 as part of an agreement signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, to extend Russia’s lease of the Crimean port of Sevastopol for its Black Sea Fleet. Although Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that discount was no longer necessary, it is not subject to a quarterly review like the other discount. Eurasia Group analyst Emily Stromquist said legislation that would cancel the Crimean port lease – and the Kharkiv agreement – is in Russia’s upper house for final approval, after which Moscow could revoke that discount, as well.
Steven Mufson in Washington contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/nato-sees-no-evidence-russia-pulling-back-troops-from-ukrainian-border/2014/04/01/eea9b6fe-b99f-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html

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2. China's Line In The Sea
Beijing Has Never Properly Explained What Its 'Nine-Dash Line' Represents
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 02 APR 14) ... Andrew Browne

BEIJING – When the Manchus ruled China, it was given the name South Sea – a maritime domain dotted with islets, atolls and lagoons that provided storm shelter for fishermen.
What today's atlases call the South China Sea received its English-language appellation, and its coordinates, under a 1953 document entitled Limits of Oceans and Seas published by the Monaco-based International Hydrographic Organization, whose patron is Prince Albert. And it's critical to the global economy.
It carries more than half of the world's seaborne trade; connects the fast growing economies of the Asian Pacific with markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and is reckoned to cover vast oil reserves.
Yet, in a push that's creating alarm among China's neighbors – and the U.S. – the inheritors of the Manchu empire who now run China are making increasingly assertive claims to almost all of it as part of an ancient imperium that they are proudly reviving.
The boundaries of their historical claim are marked by a "nine-dash line" – a line made up of nine dashes, or strokes, that protrudes from China's southern Hainan Island as far as the northern coast of Indonesia, looping down like a giant lolling tongue.
This line has always been something of a mystery. It was drawn up by cartographers of the former Kuomintang regime in 1946 in the chaotic final years of the Chinese civil war before the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan. And, in fact, the line started not with nine dashes but 11: Two were scrubbed out in 1953 after the victorious communists adopted the line. Scale and precision are prized by mapmakers, but the nine-dash line lacks any geographical coordinates. It looks as though it was added with a thick black marker pen.
What's more, Beijing has never properly explained what it represents. Does China's claim to "indisputable sovereignty" over the scattered territorial features inside the line derive from the line itself? Or is it the other way round, with the line deriving from those territorial features and the waters that surround them?
China's neighbors who dispute its territorial assertions – among them the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia – are left to guess.
For these reasons, the prevailing view among Western legal scholars has long been that the nine-dash line wouldn't stand much chance if it was ever challenged under international law.
We may be about to find out. On Sunday, the Philippines filed the first-ever legal challenge to the line as part of a 4,000-page submission to a U.N. arbitration tribunal in The Hague. It wants the line declared as without legal weight so that it can exploit the offshore energy and fishery resources within its U.N.-declared exclusive economic zone. China has so far abstained from the proceedings.
The landmark case risks a Chinese backlash. Already, Beijing has all but frozen political ties with Manila. In recent days, Chinese ships have been playing cat-and-mouse games with Philippine vessels trying to reprovision marines stuck on a lonely outpost called the Second Thomas Shoal.
But what's given the case even greater significance – and a potential for escalation to a strategic level – is that the U.S. has joined in attacks of the nine-dash line, dropping its previous diplomatic caution.
In congressional testimony in February, Daniel Russell, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said that while Washington doesn't take a position on sovereignty issues, the way that China pursues its territorial claims by reference to the nine-dash line creates "uncertainty, insecurity and instability." He added that the U.S. "would welcome China to clarify or adjust its nine-dash-line claim to bring it in accordance with the international law of the sea."
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman retorted that "China's rights and interests in the South China Sea are formed in history and protected by international law." He didn't elaborate.
What prompted the American shift in rhetoric, says Paul Haenle, a former director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolian Affairs on the U.S. National Security Council, was China's decision last November to declare an Air Defense Identification Zone over the East China Sea, including disputed islands administered by Japan.
Washington has since explicitly warned Beijing not to do the same over the South China Sea. It fears, says Mr. Haenle "that we'll wake up one morning and discover the whole region has changed."
But altering the nine-dash line, as the U.S. suggests, may be politically impossible for Beijing. China regards the Philippines' action as a gross insolence. It's a slap at President Xi Jinping's much trumpeted "China Dream," a notion that implies the restoration of the country's imperial splendor, including its control over a sea that it regards more or less as its internal lake.
Where is all this headed?
If Manila prevails at The Hague – and it's not clear that the U.N. tribunal will accept jurisdiction over the case – China could simply ignore the verdict and carry on as before. The simplest solution would be for all countries concerned to shelve their territorial disputes and focus on joint development of the area's natural resources.
But that's not the way the Chinese empire has traditionally worked things out. In past days, small countries like the Philippines knew their place – at the bottom of a regional hierarchy dominated by China. It is not likely to quietly allow Manila to upset that order.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303978304579474570220330370

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3. Lowered Expectations As Malaysia Airlines Search Drags On
(REUTERS 02 APR 14) ... Matt Siegel

PERTH – The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumed on Wednesday, even as senior Australian officials warned that bad weather and a lack of reliable information were seriously impeding efforts to locate the plane's wreckage.
Up to 10 planes and nine ships from a half dozen countries are scouring a stretch of the Indian Ocean roughly the size of Britain, where the plane is believed to have crashed more than three weeks ago.
The search and rescue teams are in a race against time to locate the plane's black box recorder, which has an expected battery life of around 30 days and without which it may never be possible to explain the plane's mysterious disappearance.
Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, said that a lack of reliable flight telemetry and punishing conditions at sea were making the operation even more challenging.
"In other words, we don't have a precise aircraft location for six hours before the aircraft went into the water somewhere," he said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday.
"The reality is it's the most complex and challenging search and rescue operation, or search and recovery operation now, that I've ever seen."
Malaysian authorities have still not ruled out mechanical problems as causing the disappearance, but say all the evidence suggests the plane was deliberately diverted from its scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
On Wednesday, Malaysia's police chief said the investigation was focusing on the cabin crew and pilots, after clearing all 227 passengers of possible involvement in hijacking, sabotage or having personal or psychological problems that could have been connected to the flight's disappearance.
"They have been cleared of the four," National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama.
No Trace
Broken clouds, sea fog and isolated thunderstorms were expected to further complicate operations on Wednesday, Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre said.
The search is now focused on an inhospitable 221,000 sq km (85,000 sq miles) swathe of the southern Indian Ocean some 1,500 km (932 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth. But despite the unprecedented effort, the international team has so far failed to spot any trace of the jetliner.
"Look, it's one of the great mysteries of our time," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in an interview with local Perth radio station Radio 6iX.
"We owe it to the world, we owe it to those families to do whatever we reasonably can do get to the bottom of this."
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to arrive in Perth late on Wednesday to inspect the search and rescue operations, which are being conducted out of RAAF Base Pearce north of the city. He was expected to meet Abbott on Thursday.
Najib will arrive with Malaysia coming under fresh fire for its handling of the incident after authorities there changed their account of the plane's critical last communication.
Malaysia on Tuesday released the full transcript of communications between the Boeing 777 and local air traffic control before it dropped from civilian radar in the early hours of March 8. (for full transcript, click: r.reuters.com/kam28v)
While indicating nothing abnormal, the transcript showed the final words from the cockpit were not the casual "All right, good night" that authorities first reported, but the more standard "Good night Malaysian three seven zero."
Minutes after the final radio transmission was received the plane's communications were cut off and it turned back across Peninsular Malaysia and headed towards the Indian Ocean, according to military radar and limited satellite data.
Malaysian authorities have faced heavy criticism, particularly from China, for mismanaging the search, now in its fourth fruitless week, and holding back information. Most of the 239 people on board the flight were Chinese.
It Won't Be Easy
Among the vessels due to join the search in the coming days is an Australian defense force ship, the Ocean Shield, that has been fitted with a sophisticated U.S. black box locator and an underwater drone.
Using faint, hourly satellite signals gathered by British firm Inmarsat PLC and radar data from early in its flight, investigators have only estimates of the speed the aircraft was travelling and no certainty of its altitude.
Still, Houston said the challenging search would continue based on the imperfect information with which they had to work.
"It's vitally important for the governments involved that we find this aeroplane," he said. "But I'm just pointing out that it won't be easy given the circumstances that surround this particular search and recovery operation."
Additional reporting By Stuart Grudgings and Niluksi Koswanage in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Alex Richardson.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/02/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140402

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UKRAINE:
4. NATO Allies Pledge To Beef Up Eastern Defenses
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 01 APR 14) ... John-Thor Dahlburg and Vladimir Isachenkov

BRUSSELS – NATO foreign ministers moved Tuesday to beef up the defenses of front-line alliance members feeling menaced by a more assertive Russia, with Secretary of State John Kerry proclaiming the U.S. commitment to their security is "unwavering."
The ministers from NATO's 28 member nations also ordered suspension of all "practical civilian and military cooperation" with Vladimir Putin's Russia, though they made sure a line of communication with the Kremlin remains open at the ambassadorial level.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, keystone of U.S. and European security since the end of World War II, is facing its most acute geopolitical crisis in years: the fallout from Moscow's unilateral annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which the Obama administration and its allies condemn as a brazen, illegal land grab.
On Tuesday, an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 Russian troops equipped with tanks, other armored vehicles and fixed and rotary wing aircraft remained positioned near the border with Ukraine, a NATO military official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.
The military official described the Russian buildup as "a complete combat force" that was highly threatening to Ukraine.
Those troops, and future aggressive moves that Putin's Kremlin may make, have become a troubling concern for NATO countries, especially the alliance's eastern-most members – the Baltic states, Poland, and Romania, all of which were once in Moscow's orbit.
To reassure those skittish allies, Kerry told a news conference, the U.S. has already sent six F-15 fighters to perform air patrols over the Baltic and deployed a dozen F-16s to Poland. He noted that the U.S. had previously dispatched the USS Truxtun, a guided-missile destroyer, to the Black Sea.
The Truxtun has already left the Black Sea after taking part in naval exercises with NATO allies Romania and Bulgaria that had been scheduled before the Ukraine crisis.
A senior U.S. defense official said the U.S. is likely to send another warship to the Black Sea, but there was no decision on which ship and when it would be sent. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, spoke on condition of anonymity.
"And more U.S. support is on the way," Kerry said.
At the Tuesday afternoon meeting Kerry attended with the NATO foreign ministers, the secretary said, "more allies pledged their own contributions to make sure every ally from the Baltic to the Black Sea feels secure." He did not provide details.
The defense official said the U.S. was also likely to send a small team of soldiers to Europe and was encouraging NATO allies to contribute more aircraft to the Baltic air patrol mission.
Despite annexing Crimea, Putin and other Kremlin officials have said that Russia has no intention of invading other areas of Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu insisted Tuesday the Kremlin wants a "political settlement that would take interests and rights of the entire Ukrainian people into account."
Meeting behind closed doors, Kerry and his Canadian and European colleagues agreed unanimously on steps NATO must take in response to Russian actions.
A civilian alliance official who attended the session and briefed reporters afterward on condition of anonymity said the measures include possible deployment and reinforcement of military assets in NATO member countries that feel Moscow's actions may pose a security threat, as well as an increase of readiness levels for NATO rapid response forces. Other steps include a review of NATO's crisis response plans, as well as military training and exercise schedules.
While NATO ordered the suspension of "all practical civilian and military cooperation" with Russia, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said later he thought some mutually beneficial cooperation programs with the Russians might continue, such as the project to train anti-narcotics personnel in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia.
The four-star U.S. Air Force general who is NATO's supreme military commander, Philip Breedlove, has been ordered to devise plans to provide visible reassurance to alliance countries in Central and Eastern Europe that other NATO nations are ready to help protect them "on land, air and at sea," Kerry said.
America's commitment to NATO's core principle – that an attack on one alliance member shall be considered an attack on all – is "unwavering," the secretary said.
NATO ministers also met Tuesday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytisa. Kerry said "they stood together in defense of Ukraine's right to choose its future and in defense of international law." Kerry blasted what he called Russia's "tactics of intimidation, especially deployment of unprecedented forces around Ukraine's borders."
On Monday, Russia's Defense Ministry said one battalion – about 500 troops – had been pulled back, but NATO's secretary general downplayed talk of a major withdrawal.
"This is not what we have seen," Rasmussen told reporters. "And this massive military buildup can in no way contribute to a de-escalation of the situation – a de-escalation that we all want to see. So I continue to urge Russia to pull back its troops, live up to its international obligation and engage in a constructive dialogue with Ukraine."
Deshchytisa, the Ukrainian foreign minister, told a separate news conference that NATO ministers had treated Ukraine's situation with "understanding and support and knowledge."
His country doesn't need weapons, the Ukrainian official said, but is hoping for "military technical equipment." He said a delegation of experts from NAT0 member countries was expected to visit Kiev next week for consultations.
In other developments, Russia sharply hiked the price for natural gas to Ukraine and threatened to reclaim billions in previous discounts, raising the heat on Ukraine's cash-strapped government.
Alexei Miller, the head of Russia's state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant, said the company has withdrawn December's discount that put the price of gas at $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters and set the price Tuesday at $385.50 per 1,000 cubic meters for the second quarter.
The move is expected to eventually hit Ukrainian consumers hard. Household gas prices in Ukraine are set to rise 50 percent beginning May 1.
The Russian discount was part of a financial lifeline that Putin offered Ukraine's now fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, after his decision to ditch a pact with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow. The move fueled three months of protests that sent Yanukovych fleeing to Russia in February.
Also Tuesday, the Russian parliament annulled its deal with Ukraine to rent its Black Sea Fleet's base in Crimea until 2042 for $98 million a year as well as discounts for Russian natural gas.
In Kiev, Ukrainian police moved to disarm members of a radical nationalist group after a shooting spree. Such groups played a key role in Yanukovych's ouster, but quickly fell out with the new government in Kiev. Many activists are still encamped on Kiev's Independence Square, known as the Maidan, and have signaled their intent to remain until the May 25 presidential election.
Last week, a leader of the most prominent radical group, the Right Sector, was shot dead while resisting police. Right Sector members then besieged parliament for hours, demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. They lifted the blockade after lawmakers set up a panel to investigate the killing.
Late Monday, a Right Sector member shot and wounded three people outside a restaurant adjacent to Independence Square, triggering a standoff that lasted overnight.
Police responded by surrounding the Dnipro Hotel, which Right Sector had commandeered as its headquarters, demanding that the radicals lay down their weapons and leave. Avakov said Right Sector members agreed Tuesday to do so.
Vladimir Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers Peter Leonard in Kiev, David Rising in Berlin and Geir Moulson in Weimar, Germany, contributed to this report.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE

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5. Top U.S. Commander In Europe: Putin Not Budging
(THE COMPLEX (FOREIGN POLICY) 01 APR 14) ... Gordon Lubold

The top U.S. commander in Europe said in an interview that he sees no sign that Russian forces are backing away from the border with Ukraine and called Moscow's conquest and annexation of Crimea a "paradigm shift" that requires a fundamental rethinking of where American forces are located and how they are trained.
Gen. Philip Breedlove, who serves as both the supreme allied commander of Europe and the head of the Pentagon's European Command, said Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces were still massed near eastern Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that Putin had ordered a partial withdrawal, but Breedlove offered a strikingly different, and more pessimistic, assessment of conditions on the ground there.
"There are reported moves away from the border, but I must tell you that we do not see that yet," Breedlove said in the interview. "We are looking for it, and we have not seen movements to the rear."
Moscow has long claimed its troops had been stationed along the border for military exercises, but Breedlove said the forces were so well equipped that they could cross the border into eastern Ukraine, begin to deploy inside the country within 12 hours, and have essentially taken it over within several more days. Beyond the soldiers, Breedlove said Moscow had deployed "the whole package" to the border, including helicopters and attack aircraft, as well as jamming systems and cyber-assets. The United States must see genuine movement away from the border and back to Russian garrisons before it will be convinced Moscow is trying to de-escalate the situation, he added.
"The bottom line is that there is a force there sized and outfitted and provisioned with everything that it needs to have an incursion into Ukraine," Breedlove said by phone from Brussels, where he was participating in a high-level NATO summit dominated by the crisis in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, European ministers meeting there ordered an end to civilian and military cooperation with Russia in the aftermath of Putin's annexation of Crimea in late March. Russian aggression "is the gravest threat to European security in a generation, and it challenges our vision of a Europe whole, free, and at peace," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the conference.
Breedlove thinks there are long-term implications for U.S. policy and its military footprint in Europe as a result of the crisis. Before March, Breedlove's primary concern was holding the line against cuts to U.S. military personnel in Europe, where there are now about 67,000 troops, down from about 100,000 in 1990. Although the Pentagon has announced no public proposals to draw down U.S. forces, European Command has been seen by some as low-hanging budgetary fruit since before February. During the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the perception of European Command's operational and strategic importance sharply diminished, leaving it vulnerable to bureaucratic indifference. At the same time, the command has felt the impacts of sequestration and other cuts, with both flying hours and training opportunities for ground forces reduced in recent years.
"For years, [European Command] has been the natural bill payer," said Mark Jacobson, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Washington, using Pentagon-speak for a command or program forced to accept cuts in favor of other defense programs.
But the crisis in Crimea is helping Breedlove make the case that no further cuts should be made. In fact, he said, the military footprint in Europe should be rethought altogether in light of what has unfolded in recent weeks. Breedlove declined to be specific about how he might want to beef up the U.S. military presence there, but he was adamant that the United States must endeavor to do a comprehensive examination of how the U.S. military is deployed throughout Europe.
"The question now is how is the force positioned and provisioned to prepare us for a new paradigm," he said.
The crisis in Crimea will undoubtedly have an impact on European Command and the U.S. role in Europe, but it has thrust Breedlove, a Harley-Davidson – riding Georgia Tech graduate, into the national security spotlight. The Air Force general took command in 2013 after Gen. John Allen, who had been nominated for the position following his tour in Afghanistan, opted not to take the job.
Breedlove has done multiple tours through Europe, so U.S. military officials say he has the background and credibility to forge close ties with other NATO allies. Still, the job he took over last year isn't the one he has today. As recently as January, Breedlove was focused on lobbying allies to increase their defense spending and on pushing back against Pentagon cuts. Now he finds himself managing a crisis that could potentially erupt into open conflict between NATO and Russian forces.
Retired Gen. Norton Schwartz, the former Air Force chief of staff and one of Breedlove's last bosses, said his former subordinate is just the man for the job. Breedlove, he said in an interview, is "a worldly person who is sneaky smart" and who possesses the temperament that is required for the job he now confronts. As Breedlove communicates with allies and seeks to reassure them that both the alliance and the United States will stand beside them, those qualities are particularly important, Schwartz said. And if Breedlove has to go toe-to-toe with his Russian counterparts, Breedlove can do that too.
"If the leadership in NATO needs steel, he certainly has that," Schwartz said.
Barack Obama's administration has said there are no military solutions to the Ukraine crisis and is focused on finding a diplomatic one, a position Breedlove shares. At the same time, the general has helped oversee a modest show of strength designed to send a signal to Moscow that NATO is prepared to defend member states. Since the crisis, the United States has deployed a dozen F-16s and about 200 U.S. military personnel to Poland, a NATO member, to augment training there that was part of a pre-scheduled deployment. NATO also deployed two surveillance planes to the skies above Poland and Romania, and a detachment of American C-130 transport planes arrived in Poland for a scheduled training event this week. In the meantime, the deployment of the USS Truxtun, an American warship, was extended in the Black Sea during the crisis, though it has since left the area.
"The most important thing is to assure our allies but not to accelerate the problem," said Breedlove, attempting to explain the balance the United States must walk in the region. "That's the tricky line we're walking here: show NATO resolve ... but not further incite the Russians while we're trying to negotiate a very tricky situation on the Ukrainian border."
While Breedlove has tried to hold the line on any further cuts to the size of the force in Europe, the amount of infrastructure there may be a different issue. In an interview with Foreign Policy in January, Breedlove acknowledged he has excess capacity in terms of housing, office buildings, and other base infrastructure across Europe. He has signaled a willingness to work to reduce the size of some bases and close other ones altogether. A Pentagon review of infrastructure, likely to be a political hot potato when it's complete by summer, will recommend a number of reductions across Europe. Defense officials have declined to say how the events of recent weeks may affect that review's findings.
In the meantime, as the West works to isolate Putin and the United States has itself cut off all routine ties to the Russian military, Breedlove insisted that not all communication lines should be cut off. He last spoke with his Russian counterpart around March 19, after a Ukrainian warrant officer was killed in Simferopol and there was a clear difference in opinion between what the United States was seeing and what the Russians were saying. Although "mil-to-mil" relations between the United States and Russia have been severed for now, Breedlove sees a value in staying in touch.
"I believe that we must maintain a positive contact," he said. "If we can find places where we agree on the truth, maybe we can effect positive change."
http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/04/01/top_us_commander_in_europe_putin_not_budging

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6. House Clears Ukraine Aid, Sanctions Package
Lawmakers Say Move Gives President Leverage in Russia Talks
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 02 APR 14) ... Michael R. Crittenden

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday cleared a package of aid and sanctions to address the political crisis in Ukraine that lawmakers said would give the Obama administration greater leverage in diplomatic talks with Russia.
House lawmakers voted 378-34 to pass a measure combining loan guarantees, expanded sanctions against those deemed to have undermined Ukraine's sovereignty, and aid for security assistance and other funds to Ukraine's new government. The House vote sends the measure to President Barack Obama for his signature.
Supporters said the legislation would demonstrate to Russian President Vladimir Putin that there would be consequences for escalating the crisis in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, particularly in the form of additional sanctions.
"Our targets must include those who exercise influence over Russian policy, including the so-called oligarchs and others who have amassed enormous wealth through government corruption," said Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The vote ends weeks of political squabbling that saw lawmakers unable to quickly respond to the growing diplomatic and political crisis in Ukraine. House lawmakers originally voted March 6 to provide loan guarantees to Ukraine, but subsequent fighting over the U.S. role at the International Monetary Fund and a scheduled congressional recess prevented a more timely response.
The White House and Treasury Department have already authorized a number of sanctions targeting Russian officials, a Russian bank and financiers connected to Mr. Putin. U.S. officials have said they would continue to expand efforts to put economic pressure on Moscow.
Rep. Hal Rogers (R., Ky.), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said the measure "sends a clear message that the United States will not tolerate the Russian incursion into Ukraine, human rights abuses or corruption by imposing sanctions, visa bans and asset freezes."
The legislation cleared Tuesday would fulfill a U.S. promise to provide Kiev with roughly a $1 billion in loan guarantees. Additionally, it would authorize additional sanctions – including asset freezes and visa bans – against those inside and outside of Russia deemed to have contributed to the political crisis there. U.S. lawmakers also authorized additional assistance to Ukraine's government, including $50 million to help strengthen Ukraine's political and civil organizations ahead of elections scheduled for later this spring, and $100 million for security assistance.
"This bill sends a strong message of support to the people of Ukraine at a critical moment," Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.) said Tuesday. "We are the greatest country in the world and we have interests all over the world and I think it's important we don't shirk from those interests."
Additionally, the House passed a measure championed by Mr. Royce and other House members aimed at combating Russian propaganda in Ukraine and surrounding areas. The legislation directs Radio Free Europe and Voice of America to counter Russian misinformation and propaganda with "investigative and analytical journalism," particularly in areas such as eastern Ukraine, Crimea, and Moldova.
The White House said that the legislation passed Tuesday would allow the U.S. to provide "crucial support" for Ukraine's government.
"Together with our international partners, the President will continue to build support for the Ukrainian people at this critical time," a statement from press secretary Jay Carney said.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304157204579476033468807424

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7. West Stumbles As Autocratic Force Trumps Economics
(REUTERS 01 APR 14) ... David Rohde

A quarter-century after the fall of the Soviet Union, authoritarian rulers such as Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad are showing they can and will defy international norms, suppress dissent and use military force. American policymakers are struggling with how to respond.
"It's a big philosophical question about how to deal with a strong state with anti-Western and autocratic proclivities," said Michael McFaul, the most recent American ambassador to Moscow. "I would say on that score we are kind of confused as a country."
Citing the sweeping unpopularity of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, American officials have embraced economic sanctions as their primary means of pressuring foreign governments. In an interconnected, 21st-century global economy, President Barack Obama argues, economic sanctions are more powerful than ever.
If Russia continues on its current course, Obama warned last week, "the isolation will deepen, sanctions will increase and there will be more consequences for the Russian economy."
He may be proven right. Over the course of 2014, the threat of economic sanctions may result in Putin backing down in Crimea and Ukraine. And historic sanctions against Iran – which slashed oil sales and cut the country off from the world banking system – could produce an accord that halts Iran's nuclear program.
If not, a 16th-century Machiavellian truism will re-assert its dominance: The party most willing to decisively use force will prevail over a noncommittal opponent.
"What we've seen with Assad and Putin is a willingness to smile at international norms and pursue power politics regardless of the cost," said Andrew Weiss, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Endowment and former official in the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. "And if the West is not united and America's interests are not immediately threatened, the response immediately becomes attenuated."
How to respond has already become an issue in the 2016 presidential race. In the weeks since Putin sent Russian troops into Crimea, Republican senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan all criticized Obama's response. But none of them called for an American intervention in Ukraine.
Economic Connections
Fiona Hill, a Russia expert at the Brookings Institution and a former National Intelligence Council official, said those who believed the collapse of the Soviet Union signified the triumph of Western democratic capitalism were deluding themselves. A large number of Russians remained deeply skeptical of Western norms.
"It was only a very small elite around Yeltsin who were buying this," she said. "Too many people (Westerners) saw what they wanted to see, rather than what was happening."
Then the global financial crisis strengthened a perception in parts of the world that Western democracy was failing – both politically and economically, Hill added.
Shadi Hamid, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center, said Obama's decision to not intervene in Syria after last September's chemical weapons attack created a perception of American weakness. Strongmen, such as Egypt's military ruler, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, had been emboldened.
"They think they can get away with more than ever," Hamid said. "And this is tied to a growing sense of weakness under the Obama administration, whether it's fair or unfair."
Obama administration officials deny that. They argue that another costly intervention in the Middle East would further weaken the American economy. And they contend that economic and technological strength – not brute force alone – will be the dominant source of power for decades to come.
Steven Pifer, a former American ambassador to Ukraine and now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, argued that economic inter-connectedness will have an impact on Putin. Pifer said the Russian leader knows he needs trade with the outside world.
"While the West may rule out the military option," Pifer wrote in an email, "it has other tools, including political isolation and financial sanctions that could inflict serious pain on the Russian economy."
Weiss, the Carnegie expert, argued that Russia and Syria represent vastly different situations. Russia is far more economically connected to the world than Syria, he said. And Putin is not accused of killing thousands of his people and displacing millions in a bid to hold onto power, like Assad.
But Weiss said he was unsure that economic sanctions alone would stop the Russian leader. "He's thinking about things in a very shrewd, pure-power way.
"What leverage do we have against Putin?" he asked. "That's why people are somewhat stumped about what to do."
In the case of Iran, years of false claims from officials regarding its nuclear program finally prompted Europe to agree sweeping economic sanctions that rebounded on Europe more than on the United States. Barring a Russian military incursion deeper into Ukraine, "the Europeans are not willing to go farther," he said. "They're happy to compartmentalize and go back to business as usual."
"They Want It More"
Hill compared the current world today with the 19th century, when trade was vast but nations still clashed.
"The world was incredibly connected," she said. "And it didn't produce any greater political outcomes. You remember a lot of gunboat diplomacy."
She said that economic interdependence flows both ways.
"There is mutual dependency here," she added. "There is mutual leverage. We can use it and they can use it."
Experts said that for Putin, Crimea's port at Sevastopol was vital. In Egypt, Sisi believes he is fighting an existential threat with the Muslim Brotherhood. In Washington, American officials disagree over whether core American interests are at stake, and the autocrats know it.
"There is a calculation there," Hamid said. "They know that they want it more than we do."
Edited by Sara Ledwith.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/us-analysis-west-idUSBREA300W220140401

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ASIA – PACIFIC:
8. Hagel To Meet With Malaysian Counterpart
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 01 APR 14) ... Lolita C. Baldor

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will meet with Malaysia's defense minister this week, amid ongoing criticism about how well the search for missing Flight 370 has been conducted and coordinated with other nations.
The defense leaders will come together at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations hosted by Hagel in Honolulu. And a key topic will be how all the countries can better work together during disasters like the missing Malaysian Airlines plane and Typhoon Haiyan that ravaged the Philippines late last year.
"There's always lessons to be learned," Hagel said when asked Tuesday about the search for the plane by reporters traveling with him en route to Hawaii. "We're going to go back, the Malaysians will go back, all the ASEAN nations will go back and walk through this. What could have been done, maybe what should have been done, what needs to be done better. But coordination is a key part of this."
The desperate search across the southern Indian Ocean for debris from the missing airliner, now in its fourth week, has shown how far nations need to go to better share information and cooperate more aggressively during disasters, said senior defense officials, who spoke to reporters about Hagel's trip on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the meeting publicly in advance.
Their observations, however, reflected ongoing concerns, particularly from some of the families of Chinese passengers who were on the plane, about poor communication and coordination as the disaster unfolded.
Hagel, who has spoken to the Malaysian defense minister twice in recent weeks, said the U.S. has complied with that government's requests. But he said that dealing with the harsh realities of the disappearance, including the massive search area, presents "certain big limitations to how much we can do."
The U.S. has provided warships, search planes and high-tech equipment designed to help find the plane and its "black box" recorder once a more precise search area is identified.
According to officials, the ASEAN meeting will include discussions on how the nations can conduct military exercises that better mirror real disasters. They will also talk about security issues in the region and the increasing effects of climate change and extreme weather events.
Hagel proposed the idea to have a meeting of the ASEAN ministers as part of the Pentagon's ongoing effort to increase the U.S. focus on Asia.
"I want them to feel even more clarity about the U.S. commitment to the area, our coordination, our communications, the areas where we can cooperate more," Hagel said. "This is not about crowding anybody out. But it is about assuring the freedom of the sea lanes and the openness of our skies and cyber. And we're going to help continue to do that."
America's heightened interest in the Asia Pacific region includes Pentagon moves to send a littoral combat ship to Singapore, rotational deployments of Marines to Australia and the development of a second military radar site in Japan that is supposed to be finished later this year.
This is Hagel's fourth visit to the region in less than a year. It's the first ASEAN defense ministers' gathering to take place in the United States.
The shift to the Pacific has been carried out against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the region over disputed islands in the East China Sea, and China's growing military buildup.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HAGEL

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9. Search For Missing Malaysian Plane Hampered By Lack Of Certainty
Hunt's New Leader Moves to Damp Expectations for Any Resolution in Coming Weeks
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 02 APR 14) ... David Winning and Rachel Pannett

SYDNEY – The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 moved closer to Australia's coastline, underscoring continuing uncertainty over where the plane may have gone down in the southern Indian Ocean.
Charts released by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority put Wednesday's planned search area around 1,490 kilometers (925 miles) west of the Western Australian state capital of Perth.
The move follows earlier unsuccessful efforts by a multinational group of military aircraft and ships to scour seas for possible plane debris closer to what authorities believe was Flight 370's final flight path.
On Tuesday, the Australian former military chief leading the hunt for Flight 370 aimed to damp expectations that search teams would find any wreckage in the coming days, saying it wasn't completely certain they were looking in the right place.
"We are working from a very uncertain starting point," Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said in the first briefing since his Joint Agency Coordination Centre took responsibility for providing regular updates on the search Tuesday.
Teams are scouring a poorly mapped area of the southern Indian Ocean the size of Ireland as the power in the beacon batteries of the plane's "black boxes" dwindles.
"We don't know what altitude the aircraft was traveling at. We don't really know what speed it was going at other than some information that gives us some idea of the speed. It is a very inexact science," the former chief of Australia's defense force said.
He added that aircraft burn very little fuel at high altitude, so if the plane were traveling at 40,000 feet it would have flown a lot further than at a much lower altitude.
Malaysian investigators believe Flight 370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean when it ran out of fuel, thousands of kilometers from the nearest airport, after disappearing from civilian radar on March 8. All of the 239 passengers and crew are assumed dead.
On Tuesday, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein reiterated investigators' belief that the way Flight 370 flew before it disappeared from radar was consistent with "deliberate action” by someone on the plane.
Still, radio transmissions from the last contact the plane had with air-traffic controllers show nothing unusual in the minutes before it disappeared from radar, according to a transcript.
Australian authorities abruptly shifted the search zone in the southern Indian Ocean some 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) to the northeast last week, to about 1,850 kilometers west of Perth, based on new calculations of the radar data.
An internatio