North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Russia has tested a new high speed stealth nuke train that is designed to be a ‘nightmare’ for NATO. The trains carry powerful nuclear weapons and a launcher in the belly of one of their standard looking carriages and are constantly hurtling around Russia mingling with regular trains running on standard rail gauge.  Daily Star reports: The trains can be stopped at a moments notice and deploy massive nuclear missile launchers as seen in this chilling test footage.

Since Drahi's infamous "whatever it takes" warning in the summer of 2012, European bond yields have been a one way street lower, and until the recent Trumpflation rally, had tumbled to all time lows, in many cases well below 0%.  There are two catalysts, however, that may be ending Europe's QE-driven free ride, and according to a recent report by Barclays, their names are Donald Trump and Mario Draghi.

First, when looking at the impact of Trump, Barclays notes that his election as US president may have created an additional burden on European budgets: defence spending.

A Kremlin spokesman said that Russia has every right to and will protect itself against NATO’s eastward expansion. Commenting on Russia’s deployment of ballistic missiles in the Kaliningrad Region, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Russia is doing all that is necessary to protect itself against the backdrop of NATO’s expansion toward its borders.

While the detente between Russia and US president-elect Donald Trump could not have come at a more tense time, the Kremlin appears to be accelerating its head-on collision course with NATO, and as a highly placed defense official said on Monday, Moscow will deploy S-400 surface-to-air missiles and nuclear-capable Iskander systems in the exclave of Kaliningrad in retaliation for NATO deployments, confirming previous media reports of Russian intentions to once again blanket central Europe with potential nuclear ICBM coverage.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that he will declare war with NATO if it continues to provoke Russia.  During a live question and answer sessions, Putin promised to “choke” NATO if troops continue to interfere in Russia’s presence in Ukraine and Georgia. Although the diplomatic relations with the U.S. are set to improve following the election of Donald Trump, Putin has made his disdain for NATO abundantly clear.