Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab has filed a lawsuit targeting the second of two federal bans on its wares. The latest suit goes after language in a defense law explicitly blocking the purchase of Kaspersky products. An earlier suit targets a Homeland Security directive doing the same.
The bigger picture: With the White House reluctant to institute additional sanctions on Russia, White House Cyber Czar Rob Joyce pointed to Kaspersky as an example of the Trump administration taking Russia seriously. While Kaspersky isn't alleged to be involved in the election hacks of 2016, it's hard not to see the actions against the firm in the context of deteriorated relations with Moscow, as part of a growing spat between the two countries.
Relations between Russia and Turkey took a hit last week after a Russian warplane was shot down over Idlib province by Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Syrian al-Qaeda offshoot allied with Turkey.
Why it matters: HTS used a “man-portable air-defense system” (MANPAD), a shoulder-fired missile system the U.S. has refused to provide to Kurdish militias, fearing it could fall into the hands of extremists. The terror group likely received the weapon from Turkey.
Putin has delayed his yearly address to the Federal Assembly (Russia's equivalent of the State of the Union) until later in February — ostensibly to boost intrigue surrounding the election. Reports suggest he will use the speech to lay out the agenda for his presumptive next term, one that will feature potentially painful reforms such as tax increases or a higher retirement age, alongside popular spending increases on education and healthcare.
Why it matters: Due to years of economic contraction and stagnation, Russians are increasingly demanding measures to improve their living standards. Over Putin's last term, Russia's foreign policy was trumpeted at home largely in place of a real domestic agenda, with "making Russia great again" sufficient to garner votes.
Israeli police submitted recommendations Tuesday to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two corruption cases, Axios contributor Barak Ravid reports.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, one case involves allegations that Netanyahu has been accepting "lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors" in exchange for promoting their interests. The second alleges Netanyahu negotiated a deal in which he'd get positive coverage in Israel's second-largest newspaper "in exchange for hurting its freebie rival, Israel Hayom."
What's next: Mandelblit will examine the evidence from the investigations and ultimately decide whether to indict Netanyahu, who has been prime minister since 2009. Netanyahu has denied the allegations, and during a live TV address Tuesday he said the police recommendations against him will "end with nothing."
The big takeaway: The intelligence officials all conceded that the Russians will continue to interfere with U.S. elections through the 2018 mid terms and likely beyond.
Who testified: DNI Dan Coats, FBI Director Chris Wray, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, DIA Director Robert Ashley, NSA Director Mike Rogers, NGA Director Robert Cardillo.
The leaders of America's intelligence community warned Tuesday that the threat of foreign offensives on social media had not abated:
“We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false flag personas, sympathetic spokesmen and other means … to try to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States."
— Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing
Why it matters: "There should be no doubt that Russia perceived that its past efforts [were] successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations," Coats said. "Frankly, the United States is under attack."
Sometimes the biggest global stories play out in the smallest places. Last week a political crisis in the Maldives, a tiny, idyllic island nation in the Indian Ocean, gave us a glimpse of broader geopolitical tensions between two giants: India and China.
Narrowly, the current turmoil in the Maldives has to do with a bitter rivalry between the head-cracking current president, Abdallah Yameen, and exiled former president, Mohamed Nasheed, who leads the opposition. But things took on a global dimension fast when Nasheed called on India to send in troops to restore order and roll back Chinese influence on the islands.
Russia's mass communications regulator, known as Roskomnadzor, has threatened to block its citizens from accessing YouTube and Instagram over the release of videos alleging a link between the Kremlin and a Russian oligarch affiliated with Paul Manafort, reports Mother Jones.
Why it matters: Russia's internet providers don't have the ability to block specific URLs, meaning that the entire country risks losing access to the platforms if the original publishers don't take the videos down by Feb. 14.
American forces in Syria killed at least 100 Russian mercenaries fighting for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad after they launched a failed — and perhaps rogue — attack on a base and oil refinery held by U.S.-led troops, Bloomberg reports, citing a U.S. official and three Russian sources. The U.S. military accepted Russia's claim that it had nothing to do with the attack.
Why it matters: It may have been "the deadliest clash between citizens of the former foes since the Cold War," per Bloomberg.
Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to use his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Kremlin today to ease the strained relations between the Palestinians and the Trump administration, which were frozen by the Palestinians after Trump's Jerusalem announcement two months ago.
Before the meeting Putin called Trump and spoke to him about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and about the crisis between the U.S. and the Palestinians. At the top of the meeting with Abbas, in front of the TV cameras, Putin revealed he had spoken to Trump and told Abbas the U.S. president "conveyed his best wishes".
The Trump administration was stunned today to hear Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's statements about discussions he claimed to have had with the White House on annexation of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The bottom line: Israeli and U.S. officials told me senior Trump administration officials were unhappy, fearing the claim could derail Secretary of State Tillerson's trip to the Middle East, and gave Netanyahu and his advisers a clear demand to backtrack. The U.S. and Israeli governments had moved in lockstep on the Palestinian issue since Trump took office, until now.
Israel is backtracking on Prime Minister Netanyahu's statement that he has been discussing the possibility of annexing the Jewish settlements in the West Bank with the Trump administration. After we reported on that claim, a U.S. official told me the U.S. hasn't received or agreed to any such proposals.
Between the lines: This is the first time since Trump went into the Oval Office that there is any daylight between his administration and the Netanyahu government on the Palestinian issue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers at a Likud faction meeting at the Knesset on Monday that he has been discussing with the Trump administration "for some time now" the possibility of annexing the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Why it matters: This statement by Netanyahu is nothing short of dramatic. This is the first time Netanyahu has sounded support for annexation of the settlements in more than 10 years as prime minister. Israel annexed occupied East Jerusalem in 1980 and then annexed the occupied Golan Heights in 1981. Israel has refrained from annexing parts of the occupied West Bank, fearing international reaction, mainly from the U.S.
