For months, American politicians and pundits have been busily debating whether or not Russia hacked (or somehow influenced) last year's presidential election in an effort to support Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.

The pressing issue for many has been how the US should respond to this (unproven) meddling by a foreign power. It's a real tough one, but luckily, long-time Clinton family adviser Paul Begala has an idea — and it's so obvious that it's hard to believe no one thought of it before.

Trump should just bomb Russia.

Begala made the casual suggestion during an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, declaring the US was "under attack by a hostile foreign power" and Trump should be "retaliating massively" to any interference in the country's political system.

Instead of just debating more sanctions on Russia, there should also be a debate about "whether we should blow up the KGB, GSU, or GRU [Russia's foreign military intelligence agency]."

In the first of a series, we report on stunning new evidence that the U.S. Department of Defense is waking up to the collapse of American primacy, and the rapid unraveling of the international order created by U.S. power after the Second World War.

But the Pentagon's emerging vision of what comes next hardly inspires confidence. We breakdown both the insights and cognitive flaws in this vision. In future pieces we will ask the questions: What is really driving the end of the American empire? And based on that more accurate diagnosis of the problem, what is the real solution?

An extraordinary new Pentagon study has concluded that the U.S.-backed international order established after World War 2 is "fraying" and may even be "collapsing", leading the United States to lose its position of "primacy" in world affairs.

The solution proposed to protect U.S. power in this new "post-primacy" environment is, however, more of the same: more surveillance, more propaganda ("strategic manipulation of perceptions") and more military expansionism.

The document concludes that the world has entered a fundamentally new phase of transformation in which U.S. power is in decline, international order is unravelling, and the authority of governments everywhere is crumbling.

A senior commander for Iran's Revolutionary Guards has warned the US against designating the group as a terrorist organization or applying new sanctions on Tehran, stating that such moves could prove disastrous for American forces in the region.

"Counting the Revolutionary Guards the same as terrorist groups and applying similar sanctions to the Revolutionary Guards is a big risk for America and its bases and forces deployed in the region," Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Baqeri said on Monday, according to Sepah News, an official news site of the Guards.

Baqeri did not elaborate on any potential consequences that could be faced by the US or its military.

Those who wish to understand how things work in Chicago need read a single article that ties everything together: Teamsters boss indicted on charges of extorting $100,000 from a local business.

A politically connected Teamsters union boss was indicted Wednesday on federal charges alleging he extorted $100,000 in cash from a local business.

John Coli Sr., considered one the union's most powerful figures nationally, was charged with threatening work stoppages and other labor unrest unless he was given cash payoffs of $25,000 every three months by the undisclosed business.

The alleged extortion occurred when Coli was president of Teamsters Joint Council 25, a labor organization that represents more than 100,000 workers in the Chicago area and northwest Indiana.

Coli, 57, an early backer of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, was charged with one count of attempted extortion and five counts of demanding and accepting prohibited payment as a union official.

Coli could not be reached for comment, but a statement posted Wednesday on the Teamsters Local 727 website announced he planned to retire at the end of the month after 46 years in the union.

Citing a spike in violent crime, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called for more proactive policing and a crackdown on gangs, guns, drugs and illegal immigration. He also endorsed the practice of asset forfeiture, slammed by critics as policing for profit.

Sessions outlined the Trump administration's crime-fighting strategy in a speech to the National District Attorneys Association Monday. The event, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, largely flew under the media radar until the attorney general's prepared remarks were published.

"We have a multi-front battle in front of us right now: an increase in violent crime, a rise in vicious gangs, an opioid epidemic, threats from terrorism, and human traffickers, combined with a culture in which family and discipline seems to be eroding further," Sessions said.

The Washington Post report accusing the United Arab Emirates of being behind the alleged hacking of Qatar's state media agency (QNA) is infallible proof of its responsibility for the attack, Qatari officials has said.

"The information published in the Washington Post revealed the involvement of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and senior Emirati officials in the hacking of Qatar News Agency," the Gulf monarchy's government communication office said in a statement, as cited by Reuters.

The statement went on to say that the Washington Post report "unequivocally proves that this hacking crime took place."

Earlier Monday, the Washington Post reported that US intelligence had evidence proving that the United Arab Emirates orchestrated the hacking of the QNA, citing unnamed intelligence sources.

The report particularly said senior UAE officials discussed hacking the QNA on-air text-ticker as well as social media.

The Russian media outlet Fotanka.ru published a long interview by Irina Tumakova on events Russian lawmakers should anticipate in 2017 with one of the most influential and highly quoted intellectuals, Professor Valery Solovei.[1] In the interview, Solovei stated that Russia will witness "the start" of a "very serious political crisis in 2017," which will last for about three years. He further explained that the political crisis will be characterized by the "growing incapacity of the state power to make decisions", and implement them. "And at the same time it's the increase of mass discontent; the society refuses to trust this power. And the refusal gathers strength. I think this process will take two or three years. But it will start in 2017. And the presidential election of 2018 will be an important, maybe even critical, stage of this crisis," Solovei stated.

According to the Russian intellectual, Russian President Vladimir Putin may for run for the presidency in 2018. However, a constitutional reform would allow Putin to retire from the presidency but retain control. In a previous interview with Russia's daily newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, Solovei reported about a large-scale constitutional reform in the works that will reduce the Russian presidency to implementing primarily ritualistic and representative functions, but will confide real power to the hands of the head of the State Council. "A post that Putin, naturally, will assume," Solovei added. At the moment, the State Council is a consultative and extra-constitutional organ, this is the reason why a constitutional reform would be needed.[2]

A couple of weeks ago, after attending a showing of the Russian TV talk show Vremia pokazhet, British journalist Angus Roxburgh complained that what he saw shocked even as hardened and cynical a Russia-watcher as him. 'Xenophobia, fear, and intimidation' were what he witnessed, he said.

I confess to be an occasional Vremia pokazhet watcher. It's hard to understand what people are saying half the time, as the show tends to descend into a shouting match. But that's kind of the point. There's always a vigorous debate. It's not just somebody spouting the official line, although it has to be said that the official line tends to win out when the dust settles. But let's engage in a little bit of whataboutism. Would Mr Roxburgh be equally shocked if he spent some time watching American TV? Would he come across 'xenophobia, fear, and intimidation' there?

Let's take a look.

President Donald Trump's legal team insists that the campaign meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer was not illegal, did not involve the candidate himself, and contrasts favorably with links between the Clinton campaign and Ukraine.

Jay Sekulow, a senior member of Trump's legal team, toured all five of the major networks' political talk shows Sunday, defending the administration over the June 2016 New York encounter involving lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin on one side, and Trump Jr., the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort on the other.

"Nothing in that meeting that would have taken place, even if it was about the topic of an opposition research paper from a Russian lawyer, is illegal or a violation of the law," Sekulow told Fox News, fending off accusations that the team may have been "colluding" with Russia.

Amidst an ongoing battle against Islamic State-linked militants in the south of the country, and accusations of human rights abuses, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has experienced a boost in popularity, according to a new survey.

The survey by research company Pulse Asia indicates that Duterte's overall approval rating has risen from 78 percent in March to 82 percent.

Pulse Asia, a polling company run by academic Ronald Holmes, interviewed 1,200 adults in June as part of their 'Ulat ng Bayan' survey.

"Trust is the majority sentiment toward President Duterte (81%)," Pulse Asia state in the report.