Greg Palast has investigated Paul "The Vulture" Singer for BBC TV and The Guardian for the last 9 years

Paul Singer, known as The Vulture, won a $4.65 billion payment from Argentina* — nearly ONE HUNDRED TIMES his "investment" of $50 million in old Argentina bonds. It was, in finance speak, the most successful "vulture attack" ever. Singer's actions are outlawed in most of the civilized world. Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, attempted to stop Singer's predatory act, but Singer did a brilliant end-run: he used his cash to help elect a new President in Argentina that would jump to his tune and pay him billions.

Now, he's attempting to do the same to the USA: pick a president for us who will feather his vulture's nest. He's the number one donor sugar daddy for Marco Rubio's candidacy [See, "Who Hatched Rubio"]. Singer is also the big bankroller of Karl Rove, to make sure that, even if he can't sell Rubio to the GOP base, at least The Vulture can use "Turdblossom" Rove to ensure that Hillary won't become President and put him out the of vulture business.

Rubio, in fact, skirted some ethical lines in his attempts to pressure the State Department to side with his corpse-chewing donor against Argentina.

France is in the throes of a «secret war» in Libya - in audacious violation of international law. But to report on this criminality is an offense! Welcome to the Orwellian world of double-think that the French state has entered.

A report in French newspaper Le Monde this week lifted the lid on France's clandestine operations in the North African country. It said that French special forces were conducting covert missions to set up air strikes against the Islamic State terror group.

The mission has been authorized by French President Francois Hollande, according to Le Monde. The special forces are being deployed for «discreet action» to prepare strikes on Islamist targets.

Immediately, France's Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian came down on the publication like a ton of bricks, alleging that the newspaper may have «compromised» national state security.

As I've predicted after leaving Ukraine's post-Maidan governing coalition the former leader of the Orange Revolution 'Gas Princess' Yulia Tymoshenko has now called for early elections. What's more she's doing so against the wishes of the Americans:

In a national poll conducted in the week to February 17 by the Kyiv-based Gorshenin Institute, 15.8% of respondents said they would back the former prime minister and 'gas princess' in a hypothetical presidential election against Poroshenko, who narrowly holds the lead with 17.2%.

It's a strong position for someone who only scraped past the 5% barrier to get seats in parliament during the October 2014 elections, and it has clearly emboldened Tymoshenko to call for what almost everyone else, Ukraine's Western backers included, is intent on avoiding: costly new elections in a country depleted morally and financially by war and political chaos.

Americans were instrumental in preserving the ridiculously unpopular Yatsenyuk as the Prime Minister in Kiev. A negotiated change of Prime Minister was seen as a bad enough outcome for the State Department - a new election would be seen as a downright disaster.

Just the other day, Ukrainian blogger Yurasumy analyzing the catastrophic state of the post-Maidan Ukraine wrote:

"Has the population begun to live better? Maybe some people have but this absolute minority of the Ukrainian population are the ones who made a business out of the blood of their citizens. Most people are worse off, and most have fallen into poverty."

This video shows some facts about these 'select people':

• Poroshenko's Presidential administration spends more money on a fleet of official cars than Yanukovich ever did.
• The salaries of Duma deputies are ballooning in real terms.
• A 'New Amsterdam' luxury residential and recreational real estate project is being developed on a former industrial site, where Poroshenko just happens to be a major property owner.

General information on the application of measures for the reconciliation of opposing sides

In the course of the last day, the Russian party has signed cease-fire agreements with four commanders of moderate opposition units, which controlled Dumeir (Damascus province). Total number of reconciliation agreements has reached 38.

Peacemaking negotiations with leaders of five armed formations located in the Damascus, Daraa and Homs province are continued.

By the mediation of the Russian Federation, leadership of the Daraa province had meetings with civilians from Etbaa, al-Samein, Mesmia, Nava, Saida and Nahtah. More than 1,000 people participated in the meeting.

In accordance to the meeting results, 842 members of Jaysh al-Islam, Free Syrian Army and al-Yarmuk Brigade signed consents to stop warfare and back to the peaceful life.

The meeting took place despite efforts of radical groups taken in order to foil the event. Several civilians were beaten by militants on their way to the meeting.

Moreover, militants have captured retired Colonel of the Syrian army Zaidan al-Nasirat, who is one of the meeting initiators.

More than 50 Russian warships and support vessels are preparing to begin naval exercises in the Caspian Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry's Southern Military District's press center said Monday.

International Military Review: Syria (Mar. 1)

Don Trump Jr. said he would happily pay for some of his father's black critics to leave the United States.

The Republican presidential candidate's son appeared Monday morning with his brother, Eric Trump, on "Fox and Friends" to discuss the "Super Tuesday" primary elections and the concerted attacks on their father by his GOP rivals.

"You know, it's sad to see," Eric Trump said of the attacks. "We love our father. He's an amazing guy — he would do such an unbelievable job for this country. He's an amazing businessman, he's an amazing negotiator. He's funding himself, right?"

Trump Jr. predicted his father's candidacy would draw "historic turnout for the GOP" because the real estate tycoon and reality TV star has attracted Americans who don't typically vote.

Host Ainsley Earhardt pointed out that some celebrities "don't think he's going to make America great" — as Trump's campaign slogan and baseball caps promise.

Fox News showed video clips of Whoopi Goldberg, Al Sharpton and Raven-Symoné — all of whom are black — vowing to move to another country if Trump or another Republican won.

"I'll buy them their airfare," Trump Jr. said, laughing. "I'm more than happy to chip in."

Eric Trump said their criticism might actually "be the greatest endorsement ever," and his brother agreed that criticism from political enemy only strengthened support for their father.

"Those are endorsements for Trump," Trump Jr. said. "That's the thing — when you have the establishment people in the debates, and they stack the debates with a thousand people that are all booing, those are votes for us. Because the people in the audience watching at home are like, 'Wait a minute — he's saying what I'm thinking.' I love that. That's as good an endorsement as we could possibly get."

Watch the entire interview posted online by Fox News:

Chemical terrorism is now a reality, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov believes, as extremists from Islamic State and other terrorist groups now possess the technical capabilities to produce 'proper chemical war agents.' The threat of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of non-government groups is widely recognized, the Russian Foreign Minister said.

The issue emerged in light of evidence that militants from Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist groups not only repeatedly used "toxic industrial chemicals," but also "proper chemical warfare agents," Lavrov said. He added there is a growing threat of similar crimes being committed in Libya and Yemen.

There is intelligence about terrorist groups acquiring access to scientific and technical documentation for the production of chemical weapons, and seizing equipment needed for such production, according to Lavrov. This involves foreign specialists in order to master the synthesis of chemical warfare agents.

Lavrov mentioned incidents in the town of Marea, 25 kilometers north of Aleppo in northern Syria in August-September 2015.

In October, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released a report saying that mustard gas had been used during fighting between IS and other militant groups in Marea. The gas is known to cause severe delayed burns to the eyes, skin and lungs. "It leaves no room for doubt that chemical terrorism is now turning from an abstract threat to a harsh reality, which can and should be stopped by intensifying serious work at an international level."

The presidential election campaign is really just a badly acted, billion-dollar TV show - and Donald Trump is making a mockery of it.

The first thing you notice at Donald Trump's rallies is the confidence. Amateur psychologists have wishfully diagnosed him from afar as insecure, but in person the notion seems absurd.

Donald Trump, insecure? We should all have such problems.

At the Verizon Giganto-Center in Manchester the night before the New Hampshire primary, Trump bounds onstage to raucous applause and the booming riffs of the Lennon-McCartney anthem Revolution. The song is, hilariously, a cautionary tale about the perils of false prophets peddling mindless revolts, but Trump floats in on its grooves like it means the opposite. When you win as much as he does, who the hell cares what anything means?

He steps to the lectern and does his Mussolini routine, which he's perfected over the past months. It's a nodding wave, a grin, a half-sneer, and a little U.S. Open-style applause back in the direction of the audience, his face the whole time a mask of pure self-satisfaction.

"This is unbelievable, unbelievable!" he says, staring out at a crowd of about 4,000 whooping New Englanders with snow hats, fleece and beer guts. There's a snowstorm outside and cars are flying off the road, but it's a packed house.