Trump vs. US intelligence community

These are some of the headlines we are tracking for you in this episode of On the News Line:

Trump vs. US intelligence community

As the date is drawing closer for the US president-elect, battles between Donald Trump and various segments of the American establishment continue on various levels. The fighting has now entered a new stage with Trump pitted against the US intelligence community, whom the president elect has threatened to reorganize and downsize. In their latest meeting with Trump, US intelligence officials informed Trump that Russia has what they called compromising information on him. Buzzfeed, an American news website, has quoted some officials as saying that the alleged information, which is in a 35-page dossier, has been leaked by an agent of Britain's spy apparatus MI6 and that, among others, it mentions the existence of images showing Trump engaged in lewd sexual acts.

Rise in European military spending

Serious signs of growing tensions between NATO and Russia are emerging in Europe. The US – the alliance’s superpower - has just deployed some 3,500 troops to Poland. This has been described as the largest deployment of American forces to Europe since the fall of the Soviet Union. The US troops will be joined by their comrades from other NATO member states before they fan out across seven countries from Estonia to Bulgaria over the next months. NATO says the deployment is purely defensive. But Russia believes such military buildup near its borders poses a threat to its sovereignty. The US military deployment to Europe comes just days before Donald Trump assumes office as the new president of the United States. Trump has talked of better relations with Russia. But his appointee for the top military job indicated that he is much tougher than his boss toward Russia.

Unjustified war against Yemen

A devastating war in the world’s poorest Arab nation. Yemen has been the target of a military intervention by its oil-rich northern neighbor Saudi Arabia. More than 600 days of relentless airstrikes by a Saudi-led military coalition has turned the country into ruins. And here are the consequences of the US-backed war: Over 11,000 dead, millions displaced and malnourished. With the international community silent on Saudi crimes, Riyadh is carrying out deadly airstrikes almost on a daily basis. The United States and Britain have supplied Saudi Arabia with billions of dollars worth of arms to the oil-rich monarchy.

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