Russia

Last November, one week after Trump's election and just as the "Russian collusion" narrative in the US was getting warmed up, we reported a bizarre incident in the top echelons, one in which Russia's Economy Minister Alexey Ulyukayev was arrested on suspicion of taking a $2 million bribe in return for his ministry’s support of a positive assessment that would allow state oil company Rosneft to complete a deal to purchase the government's stake in another Russian oil major, Bashneft, after he was monitored and his cell phone was bugged by the FSB for more than a year.

Via Oriental Review,

On Monday, Vladimir Putin unexpectedly interrupted his journey to Egypt, stopping off at Russia’s Hmeymim airbase in Syria and announcing the windup of Russia’s most successful military campaign abroad.

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

China's Belt and Road Initiative heralds a new era with mega infrastructure projects dotting the landscape...

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley fired off a letter late Wednesday to the DOJ, asking Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to explain several disturbing revelations contained within anti-Trump text messages sent between FBI investigators Peter Strzok and his FBI-Attorney mistress Lisa Page - both of whom were central to the Clinton email investigation and the Trump-Russia probe, and both of whom were removed from Robert Mueller's Special counsel when their text messages came to light.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Kristine Svinicki responded to questions raised by Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) regarding a key aspect of the Uranium One deal, agreeing that the Obama Administration had not "fully depicted" the complexity of the transaction which ultimately gave the Kremlin control over 20% of US uranium. 

“I would note that, as your letter makes clear, the responses you have received have not fully depicted the complexity of this issue” -Kristine Svinicki, NRC Chair