Terrorists have acquired advanced drone technologies and are now capable of launching attacks all over the world, the Russian Defense Ministry has warned, following an assault on Russian bases in Syria.

The threat of terrorists using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for attacks is not an unlikely scenario, as they attempted to use them to launch a strike in Syria against Russia's Khmeimim Airbase and a port site in Tartus, the head of the UAV department of the Russian General Staff, Major General Aleksandr Novikov, said.

He went on to say that the technical assessment of the combat drones used in the January 6 attack showed "emergence of a real threat of the UAV use for terrorist purposes anywhere in the world." The major general also called on the international community to "take relevant measures to combat" this danger.

A response to Joseph Biden, Jr. and Michael Carpenter's article in Foreign Affairs Magazine, Part I

The first week in December I received an e-mail from Foreign Affairs magazine with a featured article attached, "How to Stand Up to the Kremlin," by Joseph Biden, Jr., and Michael Carpenter. "The Team" at Foreign Affairs [FA] told me to enjoy it and please share it. I began reading it, but pretty soon it looked a lot like a typical anti-Russian propaganda piece, and I lost interest. Then when I checked my Facebook page I was greeted with a post from a FB friend on my "wall" with this same article attached asking me to please write a blog in response. Since the "friend" was my wife, I decided to at least post back a brief response to a few of the "misleading" points in the article and gave a vague promise to perhaps respond at some point with a blog. A couple of other "friends" joined in with comments assuring me I needed to give a full response. I don't really enjoy writing political blogs as much as I do the personal ones. For one thing it takes more work to dig up specific references. I often make notes on small cards to myself while reading such things, but I'm not very disciplined about where I keep these. So my "research" is actually searching every nook for where I put my notes. Second, as I have indicated before, my time in the academic world was not in contemporary politics or Russian history. It is my avocation, but my vocation as an academic was in another field. Then I received another e-mail from FA the next week, however, proclaiming how proud they were of this "breakout" piece. Furthermore, if I wanted to read more by their "brilliant writers" I could subscribe now at a reduced rate. I decided to respond to this breakout piece. (To read the article go here)

First, the article sets forth the transition from the Communism of the USSR in a very positive-even glowing-manner. I will give the full quote here:

After the Cold War, Western democracy became the model of choice for postcommunist countries in central and eastern Europe. Guided by the enlightened hands of NATO [5] and the EU, many of those countries boldly embarked on the transition from dictatorship to democracy. Remarkably, most succeeded. Post-Soviet Russia also had an opportunity to reinvent itself. Many in Europe and the United States hoped that by integrating Russia into international organizations (such as the Council of Europe, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund), they could help Russia become a responsible member of the rules-based international order and develop a domestic constituency for democratic reforms. Many Russians also dreamed of creating a democratic, stable, and prosperous Russia. But that dream is now more distant than at any time since the Cold War ended.

In newly revealed court documents, federal prosecutors say indicted democratic Sen. Nathaniel T. Oaks admitted to taking cash payments and trips to Vegas in exchange for official business.

The Baltimore Sun reported on Friday that the new revelations emerged in a recently filed court document in the ongoing criminal case against Sen. Oaks. A trial for Sen. Oaks is set for mid-April, where he faces charges of bribery and obstruction of justice. So far, Sen. Oaks has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Sen. Oaks, a Baltimore Democrat, has a long history of corruption in Maryland politics. He was a member of the House of Delegates from 1983 to 1989 when he forfeited his seat after being convicted of stealing from his campaign. In 1994, Sen. Oaks was reelected, as fraud and politicians in Baltimore are one of the same. Recently, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan appointed Sen. Oaks to the State Senate when Lisa Gladden fell ill.

A wide-ranging trade complaint has been filed by Canada against the US, accusing it of breaking international trade rules. The US, which has threatened to scrap trade deals between the two, has called the move "ill-advised."

Canada's complaint comes as its efforts continue to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The 32-page complaint challenges Washington's use of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Ottawa has cited around 200 examples of alleged US wrongdoing, almost all of them concerning other trading partners too, such as China, India, Brazil and the European Union.

South Korea's justice minister has announced legislation is in the works to ban cryptocurrency trading after police and tax authorities reportedly raided the country's biggest exchanges in a tax evasion probe.

"There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and the justice ministry is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges," Park Sang-ki told a press conference, according to the ministry's media office.

The minister refused to disclose any details about the planned shutdown, but promised to work "jointly" with the government task force.

Late last year the Chairman & CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon became the laughing stock of the crypto world when he came out railing against bitcoin and the blockchain. On Tuesday, however, he seems to have changed his mind and during an interview with Fox Business, he left viewers with an ominously cryptic message-punn intended-on how the government will control bitcoin.

In September of last year, Dimon not only came out swinging against bitcoin, but he threatened to fire all bank employees who dared to trade in bitcoin-for being "stupid."

If a JP Morgan trader began trading in bitcoin, he said, "I'd fire them in a second. For two reasons: It's against our rules, and they're stupid. And both are dangerous."

The cryptocurrency "won't end well," he told an investor conference in New York, as Bloomberg noted, predicting it will eventually blow up. "It's a fraud" and "worse than tulip bulbs."

In the interview on Tuesday, however, the megabank mogul expressed his change of heart. As FOX Business reported, Dimon regrets past comments in which he called Bitcoin a fraud at that September banking conference.

A new poll reveals 48 percent of American voters believe it's "very or somewhat likely" President Donald Trump will be cleared in the investigation into alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday also shows 37 percent believe "it's not too likely or not at all likely" Trump will have his name cleared in the investigation. The poll of 1,988 registered voters was conducted on January 4 and 5 and had a margin of error of two percentage points.

Kyle Dropp, chief research officer and co-founder of Morning Consult, commented further on specific information in the poll.

"Democrats and Republicans have drastically different views on whether Trump will be cleared of wrongdoing in the Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller," he said, according to Politico. "Three in four Republicans, 74 percent, say it's likely Trump will be cleared of wrongdoing in the Russia probe this year. But only 32 percent of Democrats say the same."

Should progressives support the efforts of Trump and Putin to bring about rapprochement between Russia and the U.S.? Or to use Trump's terminology, should progressives support the effort to "get along with Russia"?

This might seem like a no-brainer. After all Russia and the US are the world's major nuclear powers. A war or a mistake resulting in a nuclear exchange would reduce much of the planet to radioactive rubble, ending civilization as we know it, and perhaps even putting the continued existence of the human race at risk. And yet there are virtually no voices in the progressive community calling for support of Trump's call to "get along with Russia." Almost no voices speaking in favor of his contacts with Putin, for example after their meeting in Hamburg last July with its considerable achievements. What is going on? Have the progressives gone mad?

Let us be very clear. Support for the Trumpian rapprochement with Russia does not mean support for all Trump's policies or even one other policy of his. The election of 2016 is long behind us now. In that election as in all elections, it was necessary to weigh the policies of the opposing candidates and then to make a choice. One cannot vote for only one policy of a given candidate and against other policies. It is an all or nothing matter.

The Duran's Peter Lavelle was on The Jimmy Dore show discussing mainstream media's reporting on RT, Russia, Ukraine, Syria and much more.

There is a lot to unpack in the nearly 40 minute interview, with Peter and Jimmy connecting the dots between the false 'Russiagate' narrative and Paul Manafort's lobbying activities in Ukraine.

At one point during the discussion, Jimmy Dore is a bit taken aback, as he listens intently to Peter Lavelle run through the real story behind Yanukovych's presidency in Ukraine, and Paul Manafort's work within that administration, aimed at bringing Ukraine closer to Europe, and ultimately cleaning up some "dirty" oligarch money.

Fusion GPS lawyer Joshua Levy's claim that someone has been murdered because of the Trump Dossier is completely unsubstantiated and almost certainly untrue

Since the expected shock revelation from Glenn Simpson's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that a source from within the Trump campaign had supposedly confirmed to the FBI the claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has fallen flat with the revelation that the source in question was actually the already indicted George Papadopoulos, the media's attention has shifted to a claim made over the course of Simpson's testimony by his lawyer Joshua Levy that someone has supposedly already been murdered because of the publication of the Trump Dossier.

The claim appears on page 278 of the transcript of Simpson's testimony. The wording is as follows