The Atlantic Council's Julia Davis has accused RT of promoting conspiracy theories about Democrat frontrunner Joe Biden. If only she could mention at least one...

Davis, a "Russian media monitor" for the Atlantic Council, has been giving Daily Beast readers weekly updates about what Russians think about the American election. (In short, Russians like Trump, and like Bernie because Bernie can't beat Trump, and hate Biden because Trump can't possibly beat Biden.)

Her pieces are mostly about what Russian TV tells Russians, but the latest installment had a few words reserved for RT, which, "actively promotes conspiracy theories targeting Biden," in Davis' opinion. But apparently there was a shortage of print space on the website, because none were actually mentioned.

Bribes; early release from prison; threats to kill; covert operations inside Russia, including rendition; and intimidation of relatives.

These have been five of the methods planned for obtaining witness testimony for the trial of the criminal destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17, 2014. The trial opens on Monday, March 9, in The Netherlands. The Dutch prosecution alleges that three Russians and one Ukrainian intended to murder the 298 passengers and crew on board the aircraft by firing a BUK missile.

Details of the witness tampering plan have been released to reporters in The Hague by Bonanza Media this weekend. In their secret conference police officers and prosecutors from The Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and the Ukraine acknowledged they knew what they were planning was a violation of the law of the states they represented. This was acceptable to the Australian police representative so long, he said, as it was a "covert operation". The Ukrainian prosecutor said he "sees no problem if this is done by The Netherlands. It's like a regular intelligence operation."

The group meeting was a regular part of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) created after the downing of MH17. Malaysia, the fifth state member of the JIT, was not invited or included at the session. The Malaysian Government is the only JIT member refusing to endorse the allegations of Russian culpability in the shoot-down.
Attending the two-day session at a Dutch criminal police office at Driebergen on January 25 and 26, 2018, were eight officials, plus an interpreter for the Ukrainian and a Dutch minute recorder. The names of those discussing the witness tampering scheme are listed at the top of the official minute.

Last week in this column, as you might recall, I noted that the coronavirus panic had already produced "the worst week in the markets since the financial crisis, including the worst two-day point drop in Dow Jones history." And I also warned that "the economic effects of this event are going to be very real and very profound."

Well, here we are all of one week later. And what a week it has been. Let's review the week in market headlines, shall we?

March 2 - Dow surge is the biggest-ever point gain

March 3 - Dow drops nearly 800 points after the Fed's surprising news about the economy

March 4 - The Biden Bounce: Dow Futures Up 666 As Traders Forget About Panicking Fed

March 5 - Global Markets Follow U.S. Stocks Higher

Uh oh! I've got egg on my face, haven't I? Here I was thinking a massive disruption of the global just-in-time supply chain was going to expose the Everything Is Awesome! phony baloney fiat economy for the Ponzi scheme that it so obviously is. But, as MarketWatch tells us, "[a]fter the worst week since 2008, the Dow is now on pace for its best week since 2011." I guess Trump was right after all: Everything is under control and this is a great buying opportunity!

So, are you feeling optimistic about the global economy now? Yeah, neither am I. Here's why: Record-breaking point drops followed by record-breaking point gains followed by yet more dramatic downswings are not the sign of a healthy and happy market. This is not conjecture; this is age-old accepted market wisdom.

Market volatility is of such interest to market watchers that it has its own index, the CBOE Volatility Index (better known as the VIX). In fact, market volatility is such a key early warning sign of market panic that the VIX has a nickname: the fear index. As any trader worth his salt will tell you, big up and down swings in stocks are a clear sign that the market is about to take a major turn. Now, true, that "major turn" could be a turn to the upside or a major turn to the downside, but I think we can all agree that if stocks are going any direction as a result of this massive global economic disruption, it will be to the downside.

So take a look at the VIX right now. If you extend the chart to its "MAX" setting, you'll note that in the past week the VIX has reached levels (54.18, to be precise) that have only been seen once before in the entire 30-year history of the index. Want to guess when that was? That's right, in October of 2008, when the VIX topped out at 59.89.

Translation: The fear index has never been more certain that we're about to have a major market disruption since the Lehman collapse threatened to wipe out the global economy.

At least two US soldiers were killed in Iraq during an operation against Daesh*, Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) said in a statement on Monday.

"Two US service members were killed by enemy forces while advising and accompanying Iraqi Security Forces during a mission to eliminate an ISIS terrorist stronghold in a mountainous area of north-central Iraq, March 8," the coalition said. The coalition did not provide further details about the incident or the enemy forces involved.

Mike Bloomberg and the JP Morgan CEO who played a key role in 2008's financial crash are in line for posts in Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden's cabinet, according to a high-profile "leak" that has angered many.

The centrist candidate's alleged cabinet picks were floated on Axios on Monday, citing "top sources" including Biden advisers. Aside from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who dropped out of the race last week but has yet to endorse another candidate, the roster included polarizing plutocrats like Bloomberg (tapped to lead the World Bank) and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, whose role in the 2008 housing crisis few have forgotten, for the Treasury Department.

While Biden has notoriously said in the past that "nothing would fundamentally change" under his presidency, many were infuriated at the candidate's naked subservience to Wall Street - and insulted that his advisers might try to paper over such truckling to the oligarchy with the appointment of a progressive favorite like Warren to some token position.

A third general election in Israel in 11 months again resulted in neither of the two main blocs winning a majority in the parliament, which comes with the ability to form a governing coalition. Any new ally could tip the balance in this stalemate, and Avigdor Lieberman may well become one.

In a dramatic turn of events for Israel's political limbo, Benny Gantz has accepted a list of secularist demands in a bid to cobble together a coalition government.

Gantz, the leader of the Blue and White alliance, tweeted on Sunday that he agrees to Avigdor Lieberman's ultimatum. "We must move forward," he wrote alongside a screenshot of the five demands.

Those include a monthly benefit of at least 70 percent of the minimum wage for all seniors living on guaranteed income allowance and transition of control over public transport and commercial activity on Shabbat from the government to local authorities. Lieberman also wants to increase ultra-Orthodox participation in military service, legalise civil marriage, and allow municipal rabbis (who are often less stringent than the chief rabbinate) to oversee conversions.

Lieberman, who served as defence minister in Netanyahu's cabinet, resigned in November 2018 over his opposition to a ceasefire deal with Gaza's Hamas militants.

He has since become a vocal critic of Netanyahu, in particular of his alliance with ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, and refused to align with the Likud-led bloc after two previous elections in April and September last year.

Those engaged in heated arguments over whether Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders is best placed to defeat Trump need to look at the stats, which indicate that the incumbent will be very hard to beat, whoever is up against him.

Unlike most political commenters I didn't bother staying up late for Super Tuesday. It's not just that I need my beauty sleep. The results really were a matter of indifference. Why? Trends, dear boy, trends. Any decent racing tipster will tell you that the best way to predict the result of big races is to take a close look at past runnings of the race. No seven-year-old has won a Grand National (Britain's most famous steeplechase), since 1940. Now every time we get a seven-year-old lining up, we get some people backing it saying 'this time it will be different', but it isn't. There's a reason why seven year-olds don't do well in the Grand National - they're usually too inexperienced.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) earlier said a minimum of 20 percent of the delegates is required to participate in the coming Democratic debate in Phoenix, Arizona, which keeps Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) off the stage.

Rep. Tusi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) has turned to Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to help her get her on the debate stage in Phoenix, Arizona, after a new standard was introduced by the DNC.

In a Twitter post on Saturday, Gabbard insists the rules had been changed intentionally with the aim of not letting her participate in the debates.

There's a moment in the new Hillary Clinton hagio-documentary on Hulu when the former presidential candidate complains that it took her an hour every day to have her hair and makeup done during the 2016 campaign.

"It's a burden, believe me," she says in Episode 2 of 'Hillary.'"

"I calculated it, and I spent 25 days doing hair and makeup, and I knew that the men I was running against don't have to do any of that. Get up, take a shower, shake their head, they were ready to go."

The Trump campaign's libel lawsuits against The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN mark a dramatic escalation in the president's long fight with the media.

Legal experts have said the suits are dead on arrival, failing to meet the high bar to prove defamation of a public figure, but they fear an environment in which powerful elected officials try to use the courts to intimidate the press.

"The concern here is not that one of these suits would win on the merits — it's the chilling effect that it has on public discussion of political affairs," Jonathan Peters, the Columbia Journalism Review's press freedom correspondent and a University of Georgia media law professor, told The Hill.