U.S. President Donald Trump continues his pressure on Russia and Turkey. On Friday, he approved the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bill includes controversial provisions calling for tightening the sanctions against Moscow and Ankara for their energy pipelines Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream.
The US leader has signed into law a controversial bill: NDAA aimed at increasing the US defence spending by about 20 billion dollars, or about 2.8 percent. As Xinhua reports, to celebrate the signing of multi-billion Act, Trump even came on Friday night at the Joint Base Andrews near Washington.
The 738-billion-US-dollar defence Act contains punitive provisions against Russia, Turkey to protect European energy security by imposing sanctions related to Russian and Turkish energy pipelines.
Donald Trump didn’t forget another Ankara’s move, the acquisition of Russia’s S-400 air defence system and promises to tighten the military cooperation with Moscow.
Despite facing potential sanctions, Moscow and Berlin reaffirmed their commitments to complete the Nord Stream 2 project and put it into operation.
According to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, “neither Nord Stream 2 nor TurkStream will stop” after Trump’s move.
The 2020 arms race will cost the US citizens 20 billion dollars more
The NDAA contains figures for defence spending in the next year. The Act authorizes follows:
- 635 billion dollars in base discretionary funds for the Pentagon,
- 71.5 billion dollars in overseas contingency operations funds, and
- 23.1 billion dollars for nuclear programs at the Energy Department.
The NDAA also includes a 3.1-percent pay raise, the largest in a decade. Other NATO allies also do the same, raising their defence spending. In fact, The Act has remained one of the few authorization bills that Congress passes year after year.
In a win for Trump and Republican lawmakers, the bill will establish the Space Force, a new US military branch which will be housed in the Department of the Air Force and led by the chief of space operations.
