United States

Just days after we reported that the US had begun deploying some 2,800 tanks, trucks and other military equipment to Germany, from where they would be transported by rail and road to Eastern Europe as part of a buildup of NATO reinforcements against "Russian expansion", the next US deployment has made its way to Europe over the weekend, when some 4,000 US troops arrived in the German port of Bremerheven, on their way to Wroclaw, Poland under a planned NATO operation to "reassure the alliance’s Eastern European allies" in the face of what NATO has dubbed mounting Russian aggression.

Having already broken the records on commutations, AFP reports that President Obama is fielding pressure from all sides to grant unlikely pardons of sentences to people whose supporters say have been unjustly sentenced or sought out by the justice system, before he leaves office in two weeks.  Among them is Bowe Bergdahl, Leonard Peltier, and Edward Snowden.

The US Constitution allows a president to pardon "offenses against the United States" and commute -- either shorten or end -- federal sentences.

While China has been banging the nationalist drums in its government-owned tabloids, warning daily of the adverse consequences to the US from either a trade war, or from Trump's violating the "One China" policy, a more tangible concern for deteriorating relations between China and the US is that Trump could, and most likely will, brand China a currency manipulator shortly after taking over the the Oval Office.

Poland will have the capability to attack deep inside Russia’s territory this year with the acquisition of 70 AGM-158B JASSM-ER (extended range) missiles from the US. The State Department approved the transaction of the air-launched ground attack cruise missiles in late November. Poland will inevitably become a potential first strike target for Russia in case of a conflict with NATO. The JASSM-ER has a range of approximately 1,000 km and can strike key stationary infrastructure sites located deep inside Russian territory. Poland is the first country outside the U.S.

Russia is getting “tired” of  Washington’s “baseless allegations” which accuse Moscow of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. US officials, including outgoing President Barack Obama, have accused the Kremlin of carrying out cyberattacks against US political organizations in order to help Donald Trump win the White House. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the groundless accusations amounted to a “witch-hunt” Obama has also warned his successor Donald Trump that Vladimir Putin is an “adversary” who should never be trusted over the US intelligence community.