memeorandum: Exclusive: Russian ‘Blackwater’ Takes Over Ukraine Airport (Josh Rogin/The Daily Beast)

12:15 PM ET, March 1, 2014

Top Items:

Kremlin Prepares for Military Intervention — SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — As Russian-backed armed forces effectively seized control of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula on Saturday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia requested —and received — authorization from the Russian Senate to use military force in Ukraine.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, RedState, The Week, The Hugh Hewitt Show, kyivpost.com, Althouse and Yahoo! News

Laura Smith-Spark / CNN:

Russian upper house approves use of force in Ukraine — Troops stand guard in Balaklava, Crimea, on Saturday, March 1. Ukraine suspects Russia of sending new troops into Crimea and provoking separatist tensions in the region. Crimea is an autonomous republic of Ukraine with an ethnic Russian majority.

Discussion: Daily Mail, Taylor Marsh, Gawker, Hot Air, The Monkey Cage, Mashable, Mediaite and National Review

Matthew Kaminski / Wall Street Journal:

Mikheil Saakashvili: Lessons From the Putin Wars — Georgia's former president, who has seen first-hand the sort of trouble the Kremlin is causing in Ukraine, on what to do about Moscow's threat. — Kiev — Between barricades of tires and impromptu memorials to the victims of Ukraine's revolution …

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Josh Rogin / The Daily Beast:

Exclusive: Russian ‘Blackwater’ Takes Over Ukraine Airport — The troops who have taken over two airports in Crimea are not Russian military, but they could be security contractors working for the Russian military, and they are there to stay. — Private security contractors working …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Gizmodo, Guardian, New Jersey Online, Hot Air, Ed Driscoll, Gawker and The Dish

Guardian:
Russian ‘invasion’ of Crimea fuels fear of Ukraine conflict

Discussion: BBC and kyivpost.com

Jay Newton-Small / TIME:
Senator John McCain: “We Are All Ukrainians”

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice and New York Times

Alec Torres / National Review:

Krauthammer's Take: Obama Tells the World We Aren't Going to Do Anything About Invasion of Ukraine — As reports are coming in that Russia has placed 2,000 troops in Crimea, within the borders of Ukraine, President Obama said that “the United States will stand with the international community …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, NewsBusters and Independent Journal Review

Tony Lee / BREITBART.COM:

PALIN MOCKED IN 2008 FOR WARNING PUTIN MAY INVADE UKRAINE IF OBAMA ELECTED — During the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin warned that if Senator Barack Obama were elected president, his “indecision” and “moral equivalence” may encourage Russia's Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.

Discussion: Vox Popoli

CNN:

Palin on Ukraine: I told you so — (CNN) - Sarah Palin may be having a bragging rights moment. — In 2008, when she was the GOP vice presidential nominee, Palin questioned in a speech whether then-Sen. Barack Obama would have the foreign policy credentials to handle a scenario …

Discussion: Associated Press, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Lonely Conservative, The Other McCain, Politico, Mediaite and Balloon Juice

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Russia Invades Ukraine, Obama Declares Happy Hour — Russian troops are on the move in Crimea. Ukraine's Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov said that Russia is trying to seize the territory: … According to one report, the invading Russian troops are from the crack 76th Chernihov (Pskov) Storm Troops Division.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Zero Hedge

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Close — President Barack Obama on Friday issued a blunt and direct warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin: stay out of Ukraine. — If not, he said, there will be consequences — though he didn't say what those might be. — “We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Daily Kos

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Heckler: Obama wants ‘nuclear war with Russia’

Discussion: Liberaland

Associated Press: OBAMA COULD PULL RUSSIA TRIP AMID UKRAINE TUMULT

Michael Martinez / CNN:
Political tension grows in Ukraine's Crimea region

Discussion: Independent Journal Review, Post Politics, kyivpost.com, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Mashable and National Review

Nikita Stewart / New York Times:

De Blasio Picks More Liberal Activists Than Managers for City Posts — In Bill de Blasio's City Hall, it seems more and more, there is only a left wing. — The mayor, who advanced in politics by grass-roots organizing, has built a team filled with former activists …

Discussion: Right Wing News

Oren Dorell / USA Today:

Iran advancing its nuclear program despite pact with West — Iran's economy has begun to recover, but experts disagree on whether that will help lead to a comprehensive deal or not. — Iran is moving ahead with a nuclear program that U.S. officials said would be frozen …

Discussion: Algemeiner.com, Independent Journal Review and The Gateway Pundit

Gail Collins / New York Times:

Arizona Sort of Helps Out — It's been quite a week in Arizona. First, the Legislature passed a bill that, in effect, gave businesses the right to discriminate against gay couples. The state's actual business community was horrified. Everybody from Mitt Romney to Newt Gingrich was ticked off.

Discussion: Althouse

David Nather / Politico:

How the Clinton White House bungled health care reform — Bill and Hillary Clinton understood individual members of Congress just fine. They just didn't get Congress. — That's the picture that emerges from the documents released by the Clinton presidential library Friday on their efforts to pass health care reform in the 1990s.