Russia

Over the past two months, China, North Korea’s economic benefactor and formally the source of 90% of its foreign trade, has been withdrawing financial support, ostensibly under the auspices of US sanctions, as Communist Party leaders try to rein in the North’s nuclear program to appease the US and prevent a potentially destabilizing conflict on its border – a development that would be particularly unwelcome during the Communist Party’s upcoming national congress.

Global markets came off record highs, trading subdued, with US index futures unchanged as traders are unwilling to make major moves ahead of today's ECB minutes and tomorrow’s NFP release, and before speeches by central bankers including SF Fed President John Williams and the potential next Fed chair Jerome Powell, as well as ECB executive board members Peter Praet and Benoit Coeure. 

Authored by Peter Korzun via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

"We stand for constructive, predictable and mutually beneficial cooperation," said Russian President Vladimir Putin at a ceremony in the Kremlin when Jon Huntsman, the new US ambassador to Russia, presented his diplomatic credentials. "The current level of the ties cannot satisfy us," he added.

Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

The answer to the question in the title of this article is that Russiagate was created by CIA director John Brennan.

The CIA started what is called Russiagate in order to prevent Trump from being able to normalize relations with Russia.

The CIA and the military/security complex need an enemy in order to justify their huge budgets and unaccountable power. Russia has been assigned that role.

Now that the FBI and investigators from the Senate Intelligence Committee have given up on trying to verify the contents, Reuters is reporting that the infamous "Trump Dossier" hot potato has passed to Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team.