Russia

US intelligence officials say they have found ties between Calexit leader Louis Marinelli and a far-right nationalist group in Russia.  According to authorities, Louis Marinelli, who is leading the initiative to make California into its own country, may be secretly working for the Russians who love the idea of a California seceding. Abc7news.com reports: Marinelli is an American who lives in Russia, but his movement is getting a lot of attention stateside. A recent Reuters poll found one in three Californians support the idea of withdrawing from the United States.

As The White House tries to put the Flynn disappointment behind them, The New York Times appears to be resurrecting an old story with a new angle to keep the 'blame the Russians' narrative alive. Following FISA court approval (to spy on Trump's campaign), intercepted calls reportedly show "repeated contact" between Trump advisor Paul Manafort and senior Russian intelligence officials... but reveal no collusion.

First, a Russian spy ship spotted off the US East Coast. Then Russia being accused of deploying a banned ground-launched ballistic missile.

Now, in the latest escalation in military tensions between the two nations which were supposed to be mending frayed diplomatic relations, Reuters reports that multiple Russian military aircraft came close to U.S. Navy destroyer USS Porter (located in close proximity to Russia in the Black Sea) on Feb. 10, incidents considered "unsafe and unprofessional," a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The FBI had no problem letting Hillary Clinton off the hook despite numerous attempts to hide the truth; Mike Flynn may not be so lucky.

Earlier today, media reports hit that FBI agents interviewed Michael Flynn when he was national security adviser in the first days of the Trump administration about his conversations with the Russian ambassador.

With every passing day, it appears that many of the anticipated foreign policy changes under the new administration may end up being nothing but smoke and mirrors. First, it was the middle east, where despite campaign promises of pulling back US troops, Trump is instead considering adding to US deployments to reinforce what he plans to be Syrian "safe zones."