French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that France will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism, and that it will recognize anti-Zionism — or opposition to the existence of a Jewish state — as a "modern-day form of anti-Semitism," France 24 reports.
The big picture: "The question of whether anti-Semitism should be equated with the belief that Israel should not exist as a Jewish state has ignited debate across the Western world. In the U.K., 8 members of the Labour Party have resigned over leader Jeremy Corbyn's handling of anti-Semitism allegations, including his efforts to exempt criticism of Israel from the party's definition of anti-Semitism. In the U.S., Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was forced to apologize for her tweets on Israel that included stereotypes often perceived as anti-Semitic.
After two weeks of efforts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded in forming a united ultra right-wing party that will run in the April 9 elections, paving the way for Jewish supremacists from the "Jewish Power" party to make it into the next Knesset.
Why it matters: This is an unprecedented development in Israel's history and is equivalent to a U.S. president cutting a political deal with David Duke, the former KKK leader. The prime minister and the ruling Likud Party are legitimizing a racist, xenophobic and homophobic fringe party in hopes of bolstering a right-wing bloc after the elections.
A federal judge on Wednesday granted a request from President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen to push back the date that he must report to prison from March 6 to May 6.
Why it matters: Cohen made the request because he recently underwent a "serious surgical procedure" and said he needs time to recover. The delay will likely give Cohen time to prepare for congressional testimonies he had postponed as a result of the surgery — which his attorneys said are expected to take place next week.
Dan talks with Bill Browder, author of "Red Notice" and the driving force behind the global Magnitsky Act, about the surprising arrest of Mike Calvey, the American founder of a Russian private equity firm. What are the accusations, how involved is Vladimir Putin and is it similar to Browder's own travails a decade earlier?
During his annual national address Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country will be forced to target the U.S. with new weaponry should a deployment of land-based missiles among NATO allies in Europe take place, per the Washington Post.
The backdrop: Russia and the U.S. both said they planned to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty earlier this month, prompting Russia's announcement that it would begin designing new intermediate-range weapons. There is currently a 6-month negotiating period before the withdrawal is finalized, but increasingly hawkish rhetoric from both sides could make such a deal difficult.
Three members of the U.K. Parliament have resigned from the Conservative Party on Wednesday, joining 8 of their former Labour Party colleagues in the newly formed Independent Group of lawmakers, citing an opposition to Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit approach, per The Independent.
Why it matters: The Independent Group now has as many members in the House of Commons as the Liberal Democrats, which held power with the Conservatives in a coalition government from 2010 to 2015. And, while the defections do little to change the Brexit voting calculus in the Commons, they do add symbolic strength to the Independent Group's makeup.
In a blog post Tuesday night, Microsoft announced hackers tried to breach accounts belonging to European think tanks late last year. While investigations are underway, Microsoft is "confident" many of the attempts came from the espionage group Fancy Bear, which the United States government has attributed to Russia.
The big picture: Fancy Bear — or as Microsoft calls the group, Strontium — is best known in the United States for hacking the Democratic National Committee and other political targets during the 2016 election. Notably, the German Marshall Fund runs a Russian social media disinformation tracking site known as Hamilton 68.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a Democratic congressional delegation today in Ramallah that dialogue with the Trump administration, which has been frozen for more than a year, could possibly be re-opened.
Why it matters: The Palestinians have been boycotting the Trump administration since Trump's Dec. 2017 announcement that the U.S. Embassy would move to Jerusalem. This more friendly rhetoric from Abbas comes ahead of the release of the White House Middle East peace plan, which is expected in the spring.
The U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, which handles diplomatic contacts with the Palestinians, will cease to exist as of March 4, a U.S. official tells me.
Why it matters: The consulate was founded 175 years ago and has, for the past 25 years, served as the U.S. diplomatic post in charge of relations with the Palestinian Authority. The consulate will now merge with the U.S. Embassy, which was moved to Jerusalem in May. This will further downgrade U.S.-Palestinian diplomatic relations.
President Trump late last year called acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to ask whether a Trump-appointed attorney could "unrecuse" himself in order to lead the Southern District of New York's investigation into hush money payments during the 2016 election, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: There is no indication that Whitaker took any steps to appoint Trump ally Geoffrey Berman to lead the investigation, which had ensnared the president's longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen. But Whitaker, who has reportedly told colleagues that part of his job was to "jump on a grenade" for the president, testified to the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month that Trump had never pressured him to intervene in any investigation.
A landmark year of Department of Justice actions against China did not immediately diminish Chinese hacking, according to CrowdStrike vice president of intelligence Adam Meyers, who spoke to Codebook in advance of the firm's new global threats report.
Why it matters: In the past year, the DOJ charged several Chinese agents with stealing intellectual property both in person and through digital means.
Mike Calvey was an American success story in Moscow. The U.S. citizen and University of Oklahoma alum founded Baring Vostok Capital Partners in 1994, investing nearly $3 billion into local companies — including an early bet in Yandex at a valuation of just $15 million (current market cap on the Nasdaq is $10.3 billion).
Where they stand: Now Calvey is in a Russian jail, as are three of his BVCP partners, on fraud charges related to what Western eyes would view as a civil shareholder dispute. More specifically, Calvey is being quarantined in a solitary cell, reportedly without any money in his "jail account" to even buy basic toiletries.
