President Vladimir Putin will hold a special meeting on Tuesday with Russian Paralympians who earned medals at the 2018 PyeongChang Games in South Korea.

"On March 20, President Putin will meet the winners and medalists of the XII PyeongChang Paralympic games in the Kremlin to present them with state honors," the Kremlin press office said on its website on Monday.

As well as the Olympic team, which Putin welcomed at the end of the PyeongChang Games, he also traditionally greets members of the Paralympic squad and presents state honors to those who were among the podium finishers at the Winter Games.

Russian Paralympians were forced to compete in PyeongChang under a neutral flag, but won a total of 24 medals, putting them second in the overall standings.

Boris Johnson has attempted to renew the faltering case for blaming Russia ahead of the investigation into the Skripal attack, by issuing a fundamentally new story that completely changes - and very radically strengthens - the government line on what it knows. You can see the long Foreign and Commonwealth Office Statement here.

This is the sensational new claim which all the propaganda sheets are running with:

The Foreign Secretary revealed this morning that we have information indicating that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents likely for assassination. And part of this programme has involved producing and stockpiling quantities of novichok. This is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

This is an astonishing claim and requires close investigation. If this information comes from MI5 or MI6, there is a process of inter-departmental clearance that has to be gone through before it can be put in the public domain - even by a Minister - which is known as "Action-on". I have been through the process personally many times when working as head of the FCO Section of the Embargo Surveillance Centre, monitoring Iraqi arms acquisitions. It is not, unless actually at war, a Saturday night process - it would have had to have been done on Friday.

From Soviet comparisons to accusations of authoritarianism, mainstream coverage of Russia's presidential election has barely changed since 2004, though mentions of the UK spy poisoning scandal did add a fresh layer of insinuation.

As Putin was thanking his supporters for a landslide victory from the stage in Red Square, Western outlets rolled out long, pre-written news stories, liberally mixing reporting and opinion.

"The vote was tainted by widespread reports of ballot-box stuffing and forced voting, but the complaints will likely do little to undermine Putin," wrote AP's lead report. "The Russian leader's popularity remains high despite his suppression of dissent and reproach from the West over Russia's increasingly aggressive stance in world affairs and alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed allegations that Russia was behind the early March poisoning of former double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

It is "nonsense and absurd to claim that Russia would do anything like that before the elections and the World Cup," Putin said, touching on the subject for the fist time since the incident. He was responding to a reporter's question in his campaign headquarters, as early results of Sunday's presidential election indicated his landslide victory.

"Concerning this tragedy that you've mentioned, I learned about it from the media," Putin told reporters.

President Donald Trump will soon lay out a plan that seeks the death penalty for drug traffickers, a White House official has announced. Earlier, an official hinted that petty dealers would receive less severe sentences.

"The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty against drug traffickers when it's appropriate under current law," Domestic Policy Council director Andrew Bremberg told reporters at a briefing on Sunday.

Trump is expected to announce the measures on Monday at an event in New Hampshire, a state that has been hit especially hard by the opioid epidemic. Trump previously touted the idea at a congressional by-election rally in Pennsylvania the weekend before.

Documents obtained through Wikileaks reveal that the current Chairman of the Libertarian Party has a relationship with the disgraced Stratfor intelligence group.

In late 2011, hackers managed to crack into the databases of the global intelligence firm Stratfor and found a large volume of information that connected the firm with military contractors, government agencies, and confidential informants.

In the first months of 2012, these documents were made public by Wikileaks and included millions of emails, which showed Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, and other vital information about their covert operations.

Stratfor has picked up the nickname "Shadow CIA" and had relationships with Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Goldman Sachs and various government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines, and the US Defense Intelligence Agency.

North Korea is now capable of targeting countries in central Europe with its nuclear arsenal, according to reports in the German media.

German newspaper Bild reported Sunday that the vice-chairman of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), Ole Diehl, briefed government officials during a closed-door meeting that North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missiles can now be fitted with nuclear warheads. He also reportedly said he was "certain" that the rogue state's ICBMs are now capable of reaching Germany.

Bild cited a source who was at the briefing. Diehl reportedly told officials that he saw talks between North and South Korea as a positive step toward lowering tensions. RT has contacted the BND for comment.

It was seven years ago this week that the conflict in Syria began. How might it have developed without the negative role played by Western powers and their regional allies?

Beware the Ides of March, the old saying goes. The 15th of March down the ages has seen not only the assassination of Julius Caesar and the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia; it was also the day, in 2011, that the conflict in Syria began.

According to the standard narrative, it was the intransigence and brutality of the Assad government (always referred to as a 'regime') that plunged Syria into chaos. But while it's true that there was genuine discontent with the government for a number of valid reasons seven years ago, the divisions within Syria could have been overcome without much bloodshed, had certain countries not worked to sabotage any peaceful solutions to the crisis.

Faced with a direct threat to its rule, the Assad government showed it was willing to make compromises. As early as March 26, 2011, the BBC was reporting that the government had released more than 200 political prisoners. There were also amnesties announced in May and June.

A group of US lawmakers led by Senator Bob Menendez told the State Department in a letter that any sale of Russian S-400 air defense system should lead to new punitive measures as stipulated in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

"We are writing today to specifically inquire about reported negotiations between Russia and certain countries over sales of the Russian government's S-400 air defense system and whether these reported deals could trigger mandatory CAATSA sanctions," the letter said on Friday. "Under any circumstance, a S-400 sale would be considered a 'significant transaction' and we expect that any sale would result in designations."

The lawmakers also requested that the State Department provide detailed analysis on the current status of Russian S-400 talks with China, Turkey, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and any other country.

The senators based their letter on a report produced by the Congressional Research Service, which showed that Russia has been working on potential defense deals with different countries.

What has become increasingly visible is the largest political scandal in the history of U.S. government. A political conspiracy at the highest levels of the prior administration and across multiple agencies within the U.S. intelligence apparatus. The scale of corruption being exposed is astounding.

The investigative effort to unravel and bring justice is almost overwhelming. It is also very likely the issues surrounding Andrew McCabe are only just beginning.

Within the response letter from Michael Bromwich, the attorney representing fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, you might note the following (emphasis mine):

[...] The investigation described in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report was cleaved off from the larger investigation of which it was a part, its completion expedited, and the disciplinary process completed in a little over a week. Mr. McCabe and his counsel were given limited access to a draft of the OIG report late last month, did not see the final report and the evidence on which it is based until a week ago, and were receiving relevant exculpatory evidence as recently as two days ago. (pdf link)

Within the Office of Professional Responsibility guidelines for Attorney Representation you might also note the following (again, emphasis mine):

The majority of OPR investigations are administrative in nature, and employees are not entitled to counsel as a matter of law. However, counsel may be permitted if counsel does not interfere with or delay the interview. Counsel must be actually retained by the employee as his legal representative, not as an observer. Counsel are not permitted access to certain confidential criminal investigative information and may not be permitted access to grand jury information.. (link)

Put both of those statements together, along with the underlying issues that Inspector General Michael Horowitz was investigating, and there's even more likely evidence of the "outside Washington DC" prosecutor noted in the following statement from Attorney General Jeff Sessions:

... I have appointed a person outside of Washington, many years in the Department of Justice to look at all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us; and we're conducting that investigation. (read more)

I would strongly encourage readers to review the OPR standards -SEE HERE- and also review the information -HERE- to understand the process used by the Office of Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility, as well as the conclusions reached. It is an exhausting process and it is NOT easy to be fired. Not by a long shot.

A few more important points:

♦First, the question: If Jeff Sessions has appointed a prosecutor to work with Inspector General Horowitz, why do congressional reps keep asking for a second special counsel?

The answer is a lot simpler than we might think: They don't know.

The legislative branch of the government doesn't know what the criminal investigations are of the executive branch of government; AND AG Jeff Sessions has repeatedly said his intention is to restore the proper, appropriate and professional standards of the U.S. Department of Justice. (ie. no talking about criminal investigations)

Within this specific investigation there is a triple role. ¹A DOJ Inspector General conducting an internal investigation; ² Appropriate congressional oversight; and ³ the collection of evidence that might also be used in criminal indictments.

Within the IG collection of evidence there are two competing issues: #1) Evidence of misconduct and political bias (shared openly with congress and oversight); and #2) evidence of illegal activity (retained from congress to preserve integrity of evidence for later used in criminal proceedings); this is where the "outside DC prosecutor" comes in.

Which brings us to point #2
♦Accusations of DOJ hiding evidence from congress.

Several congressional representatives have stated the information about Judge Rudolph Contreras was not readily know because his association with Peter Strzok was redacted within text messages sent from DOJ to congress. Therefore the DOJ is trying to hide damaging information. That claim is not the correct framework/context.

Congress as a whole (reps, staff and investigators) can go to the DOJ and look at ALL unredacted text messages. However, if congressional staff wish to take copies with them the copies must be redacted. Why? Because, just like the Contreras issue within the Strzok and Page text messages, there's a possibility specific texts are evidence of a crime.

Go back to December 2nd, 2017, when the first reports of the IG investigative findings were hitting the news media and you'll note IG Horowitz said he has no issues with congressional oversight getting his investigative evidence with the approval FROM the DOJ. In this example the "prosecutor", working with Horowitz, has to make a determination if a potential criminal case would be compromised by allowing the release of specific information/evidence gathered by the Inspector General.

♦Lastly, where all this appears to be going. It is not likely there will be a 'second special counsel' per se'. With a prosecutor already working with Inspector General Horowitz that person already has a thorough knowledge of all the evidence. As soon as the IG publishes his report, the prosecutor can begin subpoenaing witnesses. It's more than likely there's already a Grand Jury seated somewhere hearing the criminal evidence he/she has carved out from the overwhelming IG evidence as collected.

You and I might be frustrated with the pace of the activity for a myriad of righteous reasons. However, we must also remind ourselves of the scale and scope of the corruption here that is inherent within the BIG PICTURE. All of this was done on purpose. None of this was accidental.

The prosecutor could, likely would, be having to outline the biggest political conspiracy in the history of politics. It is entirely possible officials within the CIA, NSA, DOJ, FBI, State Department, ODNI, and national security apparatus along with the Obama White House, Clinton campaign officials, politicians, career bureaucrats and possibly judges are all entwined and involved.

Add into this likelihood the complicit ideological media who will go absolutely bananas about any single member of their team being indicted; and a better than average chance the media will follow instructions from their leadership and send tens-of-thousands of low-info sycophants into the streets in protest, and well... you see the picture.

The left only know one narrative: "Jeff Sessions is doing Trump's evil bidding." That's it. That's the drumbeat. 24/7/365 That's the narrative pushed over and over.

Look at their reaction to Andrew McCabe's simple firing, which Trump had nothing to do with, and think about what their response would be to indictments?...