I spotted something grim in the Ukrainian balloting by careful BBC-watching. The ballots being delivered to the few polling places that were open in Donetsk seem to have been pre-marked. They showed an X on the words  "tak" and  "da", yes in Ukrainian and Russian respectively. The idea was probably to show that even Ukrainian speakers support breaking away.

It is similar to the game Putin probably played in Crimea where ballots may also have been stuffed to achieve Soviet era-style unanimity (96.7%). And the one his minions may also be planning with a referendum in Transdniestria, west of Ukraine, a breakaway part of Moldova. Moldova seized boxes of ballots from a Russian jet in Chisinau, it is not clear from whom. There is no large airport in the breakaway area.

Have yoy been wondering why the North Atlantic Treaty Organization still exists 48 years after French President Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the integrated alliance's military command intended to block Russian expansionism? He argued that it was a tool for the US to dominate Europe.

Now you know why he was wrong and why we still need NATO. Five years ago, French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy took France back into NATO.

Happy Mother's Day to all in North America if not in the North Atlantic. When I lived in France when it was still outside NATO it was always difficult to remember to send my mother good wishes on the right day--because while mothers are honored in France and Britain too, the Mother's Day dates are different.

I got good wishes for the day from 2 offspring and 4 grandchildren. Claude is in Israel and not able to phone.

Our portfolios of alternative investment market positions in London are all racing up (although we are down from our purchase prices). I covered the reasons during the week, mostly based on brokerage and newsletter optimism rather than any change in the outlook for the companies, which were bargains when we bought them in the first place. RUS, NBU, and CAMK are still buys. I find the drumbeat of articles in the Investor's Chronicle blog about Naibu to be what the Brits call off-putting and remind you all that we got the stock tip from an independent Chinese-American writer, Vivian Ng, rather than from the tout-like Simon Thompson. Cam Kids came from a brokerage and it was picked mainly because NBU was soaring; it turns out that the Chronic Investor was the cause, which neither Vivian the editor or Vivian the writer realized at the time.

I am selling the Japanese variant of DeNA, 2432, despite it being a female-headed business in the Internet gaming space, mainly because it is high-risk. We are keeping DNACF which is the US version.

However, we are happy with another gaming stock, Irish bookmaker (bookie) Paddy Power plc, boosted by the euro's rise and a lighter regulatory crackdown on one-armed bandits than expected in its leading market, Britain. Again brokerage reports we wrote up during the week are our reason.

I also put a strong buy on Marine Harvest which is about to vote to raise its dividend to ~8%. And that's not smoked salmon. MHG will require a proxy vote to up the divvie on May 22 and I advise all of you to vote  ja. Or tak or da.