Politics

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his Defence Minister Sergei Shogu to make an unannounced visit to Iran in order to deliver a very “special message” to President Hassan Rouhani.  The details of the message are confidential, but the ongoing Syrian conflict is likely to feature as part of their conversation. Ibtimes.co.uk reports: Shoigu landed in Tehran on 21 February and met his counterpart Hossein Dehghan separately. Only days ago the Iranian defence minister visited Russia, where the two countries agreed to step up their military cooperation.

What I find fascinating about the punditocracy’s constant commentary on the Trump Phenomenon is this: Nothing about that phenomenon is difficult to understand. In fact, it seems to me that thoughtful commenters have reached a remarkable level of consensus about Trumpery.

With nine days until the Massachusetts Primary on March 1st (Super Tuesday), the first polls show Donald Trump with an enormous lead over his rivals for the GOP nomination (with Ted Cruz suffering the biggest setback). So much for all those Jeb supporters 'swinging' away from Trump.

According to The Emerson College Polling Society...

New #Massachusetts Poll#GOP@realDonaldTrump- 50%@marcorubio- 16%@JohnKasich- 13%@tedcruz- 10%@RealBenCarson- 2%

Submitted by Justin Raimondo via AntiWar.com,

Last month, we documented the burgeoning spat between Brussels and Poland over the latter’s move to approve new laws that allow the conservative (and eurosceptic) Law and Justice (PiS) government to name the chiefs of public TV and radio, and select judges for Poland's constitutional court.

In response to a bloc-wide backlash, Polish minister Zbigniew Ziobro sent a letter to EU commissioner Gunther Oettinger in which Ziobro dismissed criticism of the new laws as “silly.”