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Hi guys, it's Monday which of course means it's the Monday Show!
And coming up for you today we have the latest on Ukraine and the Crimea, the latest on the
mysterious disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, aaaand of course, your comments.
But first to Ukraine where events are continuing to develop at an astonishing rate.
On Saturday Russian troops encroached even further on Ukrainian sovereignty, seizing
a gas pumping facility near to the village of Strilkove, on what is referred to as the
Ukrainian "mainland". And on the following day, Voice of Russia reported that the head
of the Ukrainian nationalist movement Dmitry Yarosh had threatened to explode the gas pipeline
through which Russian gas is supplied to Europe. But, of course, the situation in Ukraine have
nothing to do with natural resources whatsoever. At all. In fact you can watch a video we made
on this very subject by clicking on the link right here.
Also on Sunday Crimeans went to the polls in a referendum to determine whether the region
should form a union with Russia, or stay a part of Ukraine but with increased autonomy.
Unsurprisingly the result was overwhelmingly in favour of a union with Russia and the Russian
President Vladimir Putin is now expected to take steps to formalise the incorporation
of Crimea into his country. The European Union has condemned the referendum
as illegal however, and has now imposed EU-wide sanctions against 21 Russian and Ukrainian
officials with links to the unrest in Crimea. These mainly political figures will reportedly
face a freeze on assets as well as a travel ban and the number targeted could be expanded
later in the week. And just as we were making this video the
United States also announced sanctions, this time against 11 Russians and Ukrainians it
blames for the region's unrest. And then, as if all of this wasn't enough,
also this afternoon the Ukrainian parliament backed a plan to mobilise 40,000 Ukrainian
reservists to counter Russian military actions in Crimea within 45 days.
But amongst all this, the prize for the most nonsensical quote of the weekend has to go
to the US Senator John McCain who, after returning from a trip to Ukraine on Sunday reportedly
called for a fundamental re-assessment of the US' relationship with Putin, and described
Russia as "a gas station masquerading as a country".
And now for your comments. On Adam's video about the death of democracy,
MackMaster said this: Democracy does not work the way it is supposed
to for the moment in a lot on places but democracy in it self is not to blame! Lobbyism through
capitalism and corporativism destroys democracy and is thereby the real problem!
And on our Monday Show about North Korea's Kim Jong-Un being elected to the country's
highest legislative body with 100% of the vote, UPlayNetwork said this:
Kinda hard to lose an election when you are the only candidate.
And with 72 likes, UPlayNetwork showed you can never go wrong by stating the obvious.
And now to Malaysia where, as you'll all probably know by now, officials are desperately searching
for a Malaysia Airlines plane that has now been missing for nine days.
On the 8th March, flight number MH370 vanished without a trace after taking off from Kuala
Lumpar International Airport, and nothing has been heard from the 239 people on board,
including the pilot and co-pilot ever since. Following revelations over the weekend that
the Boeing 777 had flown on for hours after last making contact with civilian radar and
that the jet's communications systems had been disabled, 26 countries are now helping
with the search and Malaysian authorities are now working on the theory that the plane
was intentionally flown off course. Rightly or wrongly their investigations seem
to be focusing on the plane's captain Zaharie Ahmed Shah, who was discovered to have built
a sophisticated flight simulator at his home, and his co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid.
On Saturday the Daily Mail newspaper was suggesting that Shah may have been a political fanatic,
angry at the Malaysian government's treatment of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim who had
been jailed for homosexuality just hours before the plane disappeared, and then on Sunday
the Independent newspaper was reporting that the plane may have been deliberately flown
to Taliban-controlled bases on the border of Afghanistan.
However, Malaysian officials are urging the press not to jump to any conclusions and said
that the two pilots did not ask to work together that day, nor did they ask any additional
fuel for the aircraft. Unfortunately that's all we've got time for
this week but you can let us know your theories about what happened to flight MH370 in the
comments below, and we'll see you again next time.