United States

As disaffected Hillary supporters around the U.S. continue to live in 'complete terror' that Trump's Presidency may mark the beginning of the end of American democracy, here is a map highlighting where, according to a study from the Washington Post, coups may actually occur in 2017.

Among other things, the study estimates the probability of a coup based on type of government in place, personal freedoms, economic prosperity and access to the internet and other forms of communication.

Submitted by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,

President Putin has accused the CIA of infiltrating Russia’s intelligence agency and paying Russian spies to hand over top-secret intelligence to the U.S. government. Two senior cybersecurity specialists working for Russia’s spy agency, the FSB, have been arrested and detained by the Kremlin on charges of “breaking their oath” by disclosing State secrets to the CIA. Foreignpolicy.com reports: Sergei Mikhailov, allegedly detained at a board meeting last December, and his deputy, Dmitry Dokuchaev, were arrested by the Kremlin on Jan. 27 for treason and illegal hacking.

U.S. Army and NATO Generals have warned that the planet is teetering on the brink of World War 3 between the U.S. and Russia.  In a recent interview for Time magazine, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev echoed recent warnings by military chiefs, saying that the tensions between NATO and Russia indicate that a nuclear war is “imminent”. “More troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers are being brought to Europe. NATO and Russian forces and weapons that used to be deployed at a distance are now placed closer to each other, as if to shoot point-blank.

Iran is planning to ditch the use of the American currency after US President Donald Trump issued a travel ban on seven countries, including the Islamic Republic The Central Bank of Iran is seeking to replace the dollar with a new common foreign currency or use a basket of currencies in all official financial and foreign exchange reports. The move had already been in the offing but appears to have been expedited after Washington included Iran in a list of seven nations that are banned from entering the United States.