Activists are calling for international observers for US primaries, claiming they're rigged. The thing is, observers aren't mandated to watch internal party processes. The real problem lies in multi-party competition, anyway.

With hashtags such as #RiggedDNC and #RiggedPrimary trending, there has been a flurry of calls for outside monitors on social media and by activists, who cite a series of voter-suppression acts and possibly rigged voting machines.
CODEPINK and the Grayzone Project staged a demonstration Tuesday outside of the Organization of American States (OAS) headquarters, calling on the intergovernmental body to dispatch "emergency international election observers" to the US Democratic presidential primary, noting that the contest has "been the scene of severe discrimination against minority, poor and elderly voters."

Just a week ago, the general consensus among Russian political experts was that Vladimir Putin would likely leave the Kremlin in four years. But a week is a long time in politics, as the old cliche goes.

Following last Tuesday's dramatic parliamentary intervention by Valentina Tereshkova, quite a lot has rapidly changed. The MP, previously better known as the first woman in space, proposed "that after the updated Constitution comes into force, the current president, like any other citizen, has the right to be elected to the post of head of state." In other words, nullifying his previous stints in power.

The proposal was adopted by the State Duma on March 11 and was supported by the legislative assemblies of all 85 Russian Federal Subjects (States and Republics) before the end of the week.

On Monday, Russia's Constitutional Court ruled that the recently adopted amendments to the constitution fully comply with Russia's basic law, and recognized the procedure for their adoption as legal. The approved changes could potentially allow Putin to remain president until 2036.

American 'news'-media present a very distorted view of America's international relations. For example, consider this:

Retired Marine's message about travel ban goes viral

2,306,988 views - Feb 10, 2017
Fox News, Hannity

Marine in Iraq [Steve Gern, Marine Staff Sergeant (Ret.)]:

"We discussed the executive order [banning Iraqis from coming to U.S.], and their displeasure in this executive order, why they feel like they've been betrayed by the United States, and ... I asked a simple question: As an American if I went out into the town right now, would I be welcomed? And they answered absolutely not, you would not be welcomed. And I said, what would happen? And they said, the locals would snatch me up and kill me within an hour. I'd be tortured first, and after they were done torturing me, I'd probably be beheaded, it would go on video, for everybody to see as an example. ... What I am trying to make is this, is the local populace, that would do this. This isn't al-Qaeda, this isn't the PMU, this isn't the militia from the Iranians, this is the local populace that would do this. So, my question then was pretty simple: If you would do this to me, in your country, why would I let you in my country? Because all this means to me is that if you have the opportunity, to take the life of an American, you would do it. If this is the way some of those cultures feel, this is the way that these countries feel about Americans, why would you be so naive to believe that if they came to the United States, they would do anything any different from what they would do right here in their own country?"

Actually, there is no comparison between those two situations (one of those Iraqis in America, versus that same person in U.S.-occupied Iraq), and here is why:

The opening of the Saraqeb-Latakia road, known as the M4, is scheduled for this Sunday the 15th of March as established during the memorandum protocol signed in Moscow between the two presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the battle of Saraqeb. The Turkish-Russian patrols are supposed to secure the M4 following a three-day meeting in Ankara between Russian and Turkish military to coordinate the joint patrols and to prevent any attacks from Jihadists. Many jihadists groups reject the Russian-Turkish deal and will likely shell the road or try to kidnap drivers. Everything depends on how decisive the Turkish army and its allies in the Idlib area will be in adhering to the ceasefire, and how convincing Russia's response will be if the ceasefire is violated.

The Aleppo-Damascus road, known as the M5, was liberated by military force (Russia, the Syrian army and its allies) and is now open for civilians. However, the Syrian army and its allies still use the safer Aleppo-Ithriya-Khanaser road. The battle of Saraqeb forced the Moscow deal and revived the 2018 Astana agreement that was ignored by Turkey for a year and a half.

Jihadists groups including Ansar al-Tawheed wal-Jihad, Ansar al-Islam, Ansar al-Deen, Kavkaz brigade and Hurras al-Deen (al-Qaeda in Bilad al-Sham) have decided to oppose the Russian-Turkish agreement and attack the joint patrol along the M4. These groups, along with Abu Imara, Tansiqiyat a-Jihad and Muhajereen brigade are sworn to oppose Turkey and Russia in rural Idlib. Northwestern Syria has been divided between two camps: one camp under Turkey's control, acknowledging the Moscow-Astana agreement, and another rejecting it.

This week, a Russian military delegation visited Ankara to discuss with Turkish army leadership procedures to control the M4. Armed drones and Russian Air Force will be ready to intervene, along with Special Forces, to hit any attempt to oppose joint Russian-Turkish control of the M4 and to deal with any presence of jihadists along the road.

U.S. Attorney John Durham is expected to wrap up his investigation into the origins of the Russia probe by the end of the summer, sources confirmed to Fox News.

One source suggested the investigation could end as soon as July, while another said it could be closer to September, based on Durham's progress, which could be hindered by the coronavirus pandemic rocking the nation and the globe.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, relayed the same timeline during a House Rules Committee meeting focused on reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act last week.

"His investigation is due to be completed sometime this summer," Jordan said. His comments were first reported by The Washington Examiner.

Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, was appointed last year by Attorney General Bill Barr to review the events leading up to the 2016 presidential election and through President Trump's January 20, 2017 inauguration. But, as Fox News first reported, Durham has since expanded his investigation to cover a post-election timeline spanning the spring of 2017 — when Robert Mueller was appointed as special counsel.

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down, the principal chemical warfare testing unit of the British Ministry of Defence, has acknowledged it was producing and testing the organophosphate nerve agent Novichok from 2014.

This is four years before Sergei Skripal, the retired double agent for the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), and his daughter Yulia, were incapacitated by a nerve agent in Salisbury on March 4, 2018. The British Government has called that nerve agent Novichok. According to the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, speaking to the House of Commons on March 12, 2018, "it is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. This is part of a group of nerve agents known as 'Novichok'...the Government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal."

The admission of British Government testing of Novichok since 2014 came from DSTL in a letter of last week, dated March 11, 2020. This was the laboratory's reply to a Freedom of Information Act (2000) request for details of testing of organophosphate chemicals on monkeys. The reply said the testing programme between 2014 and 2019 was a "Home Office project". Its purpose was "development of medical countermeasures for nerve agent exposure". Regarding the testing of Novichok on monkeys in this period, DSTL said "no other organophosphate compounds have been tested."

The admission appears to contradict the official narrative of the British Government that Novichok was produced in Russia and brought to the UK by Russian military intelligent agents on a mission to kill Sergei Skripal. The Defence Ministry, through DSTL, appears now to be admitting its own secret chemical warfare operation in breach of the international Chemical Weapons Convention. In consequence, this would have been of particular interest to Russian and many other military intelligence agencies.

A few weeks ago Radio Svoboda, the Ukrainian-language branch of the U.S. government-financed Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFERL) published a video and article claiming that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy had met secretly with Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of Russia's Security Council, headed by President Vladimir Putin under the Russian Constitution. This was a curious event. Zelenskiy, which the U.S. government officially backs, is an embattled political figure. His popularity has been nosediving, and he is under a flood of criticism and resistance from all sides: from moderates and democrats for failing to bring the peace he promised to Donbass or significantly tackle corruption and the country's powerful oligarchs and bureaucrats; from the same oligarchs and bureaucrats for promising to tackle corruption; from nationalists, ultranationalists, and neofascists for attempting to bring peace to Donbass and lifting Kiev's 20-year ban on the sale of land. This last measure is also opposed by some moderate democrats and the Ukrainian left. He has attempted to separate himself from oligarch Igor Kolomoiskii and former President Petro Poroshenko (themselves bitter oppoenents) under mounting pressure from the Donald Trump Administration to clamp down on Kolomoiskii and to investigate the Burisma scandal and the Bidens' and other democrats' involvement with and cover up.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in a phone call with Iraq's Prime Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi warned that Washington will take more actions to defend coalition troops in the Middle Eastern country, State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a readout on Monday.

"Secretary Pompeo reiterated that the Government of Iraq must defend Coalition personnel supporting the Iraqi government's efforts to defeat ISIS," Ortagus said, in reference to the Daesh terror group. "Secretary Pompeo noted that America will not tolerate attacks and threats to American lives and will take additional action as necessary in self-defence."

Ortagus noted that the phone call took place on Sunday.

The spokesperson added that Pompeo also stressed that those responsible for these attacks must be held accountable.

The piecemeal release of FBI files in the Russia collusion investigation has masked an essential fact: James Comey's G-men had substantially debunked the theory that Donald Trump's campaign conspired with Moscow by the time the 45th president was settling into the Oval Office, according to declassified memos, court filings and interviews.

And that means a nascent presidency and an entire nation were put through two more years of lacerating debate over an issue that was mostly resolved in January 2017 inside the bureau's own evidence files. The proof is now sitting in plain view.

In rapid fire sequence in January 2017, U.S. officials:

• received multiple warnings about the credibility of informant Christopher Steele and his dossier;
• affirmed key targets of the FBI counterintelligence investigation made exculpatory statements denying collusion to undercover sources;
• concluded retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, was not engaged in collusion with the Russians.

The latter revelation has mostly escaped much notice, contained in a single sentence in a once-sealed court motion filed by Flynn defense attorney Sidney Powell that requested what is known as Brady material, or evidence of innocence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trial has been postponed because of restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which has seen more than 200 infected across the country. The PM will now need to appear in court on 24 May.

The 70-year-old PM is facing charges of fraud and breach of trust in a series of graft probes that include buying positive press and receiving illegal gifts from a rich donor.

Managing the Unmanageable:

Regardless of when the trial takes place, Eyal Rosovsky, one of Israel's leading litigators who represented former PM Ehud Olmert in his own legal battles some five years ago, believes a prime minister cannot juggle between his job and a court case.

"Even if he doesn't have to sit in court all day long, the fact that he will be getting constant updates on governmental meetings during his hearings seems unreasonable to me. It is almost a full time job because he will also need to get prepared and sit down with his attorneys. So in practical terms, what one should do [in such a case] is to focus solely on the trial, not serve as the prime minister".