Today’s Headlines and Commentary
Hundreds of thousands of people cast ballots in the referendum vote on regional sovereignty arranged by pro-Russian rebels on Sunday, reports Al Jazeera America, despite warnings from Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, that the vote would not be recognized. According to separatists, the results show that 90 percent of voters favor sovereignty;
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Hundreds of thousands of people cast ballots in the referendum vote on regional sovereignty arranged by pro-Russian rebels on Sunday, reports Al Jazeera America, despite warnings from Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, that the vote would not be recognized. According to separatists, the results show that 90 percent of voters favor sovereignty; here is the Associated Press with details. Predictably, the Kremlin is calling for "respect" for the outcome of the referendum and its "civilized implementation," notes the Wall Street Journal.
Al Jazeera America reported yesterday that the Iraqi army is dropping barrel bombs on Fallujah in an attempt to drive out anti-government fighters, and killing civilians in the process.
A suspected U.S. drone strike has killed six alleged al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen, reports the Associated Press. Al Jazeera America reports that on Sunday a suicide bomber in southeast Yemen slammed an explosives-filled car into a military police base, killing 11 people, and three fighters were killed during their attack on a security checkpoint; a civilian was also killed in the dawn crossfire.
On Friday, the New York Times reported that two weeks ago, a U.S. Special Operations commando and a CIA officer allegedly getting a haircut in an upscale district in Yemen's capital shot and killed two armed Yemeni civilians who tried to kidnap them. Turns out they were linked to an Al Qaeda cell.
Reuters reports that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is blasting the West for its "stupid, idiotic expectation" that Iran limit its nuclear missile development and called on Iran's Revolutionary Guards to mass produce weapons.
Abhijit Iyer-Mitra has an op-ed in the Times on the Bharatiya Janata Party's "unfortunate" decision to backtrack from its pledge earlier this month to “revise and update” India’s nuclear doctrine if elected. Iyer-Mitra writes: "Although the 'no first use' doctrine, known as N.F.U., may seem prudent in theory, India has diluted the concept to the point of absurdity, with dangerous consequences: a buildup of its conventional forces, which has caused Pakistan to harden its nuclear stance."
Suspected Muslim separatists have launched a wave of more than 30 attacks on civilians in southern Thailand, says Reuters.
The AP reports that for weeks, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declined international help in the search for more than 300 schoolgirls abducted by the Boko Haram, finally accepting help from the U.S., Britain, France and China almost a month after the girls went missing. The New York Times has a front-page story this morning on the increasing desperation of the parents, who have armed themselves with bows and arrows and entered the forests themselves in search of their abducted children. And the Guardian explains why the Boko Haram is a top Washington security priority.
Fighting broke out between the South Sudanese army and rebel forces in South Sudan yesterday, less than 48 hours after the declaration of a cease-fire negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Here is Al Jazeera America.
North Korea is accusing the U.S. and South Korea of fabricating a report that concludes Pyongyang sent surveillance drones to spy on South Korea, after South Korean and U.S. officials examined three drones recovered from three different locations near the Korean border. Here is Reuters in Seoul, by way of the Guardian.
On Saturday the Washington Post reported that Secret Service agents were diverted from their patrol of the White House for two months in 2011 to protect the assistant of then-agency director Mark Sullivan from harassment by a neighbor. Rep. Mike Rogers, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, stated the misconduct was evidence of a Secret Service "leadership failure" in an appearance yesterday on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Rosa Brooks has a piece in Foreign Policy on the U.S. army's "potentially transformative attempt to rethink the Army's role in the uncertain post-post-9/11 world."
On Sunday, 10 robotics teams conducted a series of drone flights at Kennedy Space Center's Exploration Park, to kick off the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International trade show. USA Today has more.
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Jane Chong is former deputy managing editor of Lawfare. She served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and is a graduate of Yale Law School and Duke University.
