What does Putin see when the US threatens “consequences?” Have we publicly removed all of our lines in the sand?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ukraine-boils-congress-fails-reach-deal-article-1.1721176

Blood flows in Ukraine's streets while Congress does nothing

Blood flowed in Ukraine’s streets Thursday as the threat of a Russian invasion intensified — but after huffing and puffing for weeks, Congress pulled a signature move: It did nothing.

The House and Senate recessed for a 10-day vacation after failing to reach a deal on legislation helping Ukraine and punishing Russia.

Members are not scheduled to return until March 24.

(Related) I'll ask the question again. How large a DDoS attack does it take to become an act of war? (I guess one consideration is: do you want it to be an act of war?)

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Cyber-Conflict-Monitor/2014/0314/Major-cyber-assaults-on-Ukraine-then-Moscow-on-eve-of-Crimea-vote-video

Major cyber-assaults on Ukraine, then Moscow, on eve of Crimea vote (+video)

With a disputed vote in Crimea set for Sunday, a powerful eight-minute cyber-attack was launched against Ukraine Thursday in the form of a large denial-of-service attack, originating in Russia, that hammered a computer network, cyber-security experts said.

Thursday’s distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) against an unidentified computer network in Ukraine was notable for being 32 times larger than the largest known distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack during Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, according to Arbor Networks, a Burlington, Mass.-based cyber-security company.

It was followed on Friday by a powerful DDoS attack that temporarily knocked out websites belonging to the Kremlin, the Russian central bank, and Foreign Ministry. But it’s unclear if that was a Ukrainian response, and Russian authorities said the attack had nothing to do with the Ukraine crisis.

(Related) If this keeps up, Russia may declare Cleveland to be part of the Crimea.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/tensions-mount-as-crimea-prepares-for-referendum/2014/03/15/a384c36a-ac40-11e3-a06a-e3230a43d6cb_story.html

Ukraine denounces ‘invasion’ by Russian forces on eve of Crimea’s referendum

Russia’s military staged a provocative new act of aggression Saturday, occupying a natural gas distribution center and village on a strip of Ukrainian land near the Crimean Peninsula and prompting Kiev’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to denounce “a military invasion by Russia.”

The incident marked the first face-to-face standoff between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries outside the Crimean Peninsula, suggesting that Moscow is testing the will of Kiev amid fears of further Russian incursions in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Soon, we will be able to do this here in the US! Won't that be wonderful?

NHS sells a billion patient records

Jon Ungoed-Thomas reports:

A billion NHS records containing details of patients’ hospital admissions and operations have been sold to a marketing consultancy working for some of the world’s biggest drug companies, The Sunday Times can reveal.

Harvey Walsh, a healthcare intelligence company, has paid for a database that, although stripped of names and addresses, does include the age, postcode district, medical condition and place of treatment for every patient who has received hospital care in England.

Read more on The Sunday Times.

[From the article:

Harvey Walsh says it already has 10 years of data and can “track” the treatments that individual patients receive over their lifetime. [Names and addresses not required. Bob] It said yesterday the data helped pharmaceutical companies to drive improvements in patient care.