The U.S. and Global Security Review - Blog by Michael Novakhov

The Terms of Ukraine's Cease-Fire Thursday February 12 th , 2015  at  3:55 PM 1 Share Following marathon talks in Minsk that lasted more than 17 hours, the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement that appears to align with the Kremlin's demands. The document calls for a cease-fire to begin Feb. 15, the withdrawal of weapons and the enactment of constitutional reforms in Ukraine. Though Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has denied that the agreement includes provisions for the creation of autonomous regions or the federalization of Ukraine, the document on the whole does fulfill several of the Kremlin's long-standing demands with regards to the status of Donbas. The new cease-fire agreement is based largely on the original one that went into effect Sept. 5. It focuses on the withdrawal of heavy artillery systems, which have been prominent throughout the conflict, within 14 days of the cease-fire's impl

FBI Dir.: US at 'Crossroads' on Race Relations - AP Published on Feb 12, 2015 FBI Director James Comey says the country is at a crossroads on matters of race relations and law enforcement. (Feb. 11) James Comey - YouTube Search FBI director Comey: 'law enforcement is not the root cause' of police and race problems – as it happened - The Guardian James Comey speech is first time sitting director has broached race relations and community policing Remarks invoke deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and NYPD officers Defends police while calling for reform ‘A host of problems will not be solved by body cameras’ We’re going to wrap coverage of FBI director James Comey’s speech on race and policing with a summary of its key points below. Comey defended police, saying “law enforcement is not the root cause,” of the problems of racism and inequality that pervade the US. He argued that all Americans – including police, minority communities and especi

Veteran CBS “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon , for more than four decades one of America’s most respected journalists, was killed in a crash Wednesday night after his limo driver lost control of the vehicle on the West Side Highway. The Lincoln Town Car in which Simon, 73, was riding collided with a Mercedes-Benz, then veered across the roadway and plowed into a pedestrian expansion near West 30th Street at about 7 p.m., according to law enforcement sources. The driver of the Mercedes – identified as 23-year-old Zachery Miller – said the black car was veering erratically before the crash. “He swerved into me,” said the 23-year-old Mercedes driver, a resident of New Rochelle. “He hit me and he looked like he lost control of the car.” Simon was taken to Roosevelt Hospital in Midtown, where he died. The Town Car was so badly mangled, rescuers had to pry open the roof to extract him from the rear of the car. Simon, a Bronx native, was found unresponsive with head and sto