Headline News 20/12/2017

Headlines

• Trumps National Security Strategy

• Egyptian Court Jails Colonel

• Yemen’s Rebel Fire Missile at Riyadh

Details

Trumps National Security Strategy

On Monday 18th December, the White House released the new National Security Strategy (NSS), and despite officials having said in the lead-up to the release it would be a major break with the past, the changes appear largely to be within the rhetoric, not the specifics. The new NSS relies heavily and repeatedly on the phrase “putting America first,” that still envisions soaring military spending and protracted overseas engagements as a means to American safety and prosperity. On specific foreign policy, Trump vowed to see North Korea “handled,” and claimed progress was being made in the US war in Afghanistan, while condemning Pakistan and insisting they have to “do something.” Trump portrayed the open-ended warfare as “competition,” suggesting that rogue nations were trying to pose a challenge to American prosperity through military engagement, and that America has to “earn” its prosperity through enhancing its power. Despite so much emphasis being placed on “America first” within the document, the strategy itself appears extremely intervention-centric, resting on the assumption that American prosperity is inexorably linked to military superiority, and not just superiority by numbers, but the kind that the US has to prove constantly through warfare.

This was the strategy of Bush and Obama, the wars that they started and continues, that Trump is not having to deal with.

Egyptian Court Jails Colonel

A Cairo military court has sentenced an army colonel to six years in prison for violating military regulations after he announced his intention to run against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in next year's election. Ahmed Konsowa, who was present at Tuesday's sentencing, was convicted political activism while serving as an officer on active duty, according to his lawyer Asaad Heikal. The 42-year-old was arrested after announcing in a 20-mintue video his bid against Sisi on 2 December. Konsowa wore a military uniform while doing so. In the announcement, Konsowa said that he had resigned from the Egyptian army in March 2014 but his resignation was never processed despite appealing to court several times. Egypt's presidential election is due in 2018. With Sisi having run the economy into the ground, it would appear he is clearing the path of any competition.

Yemen’s Rebel Fire Missile at Riyadh

Saudi Arabia has said it has intercepted a missile over Riyadh. The Houthis' Al Masirah TV reported that a Burkan H2 ballistic missile had targeted a meeting at the al-Yamama Palace in the Saudi capital. Witnesses said they heard an explosion and posted pictures online showing a cloud of smoke in the air. There were no reports of any damage or casualties. The coalition accused Iran of supplying the Houthis with the missile. Iran has denied arming the rebels, who have been fighting a war against Yemen's government and the Saudi-led coalition since March 2015. Throughout the war in Yemen, forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the onetime ruling General People's Congress party have launched ballistic missiles at targets within Yemen and in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis also uses them to strike back at the Saudi-led coalition, Houthi sources claimed to have launched several Zelzal-2 missiles at Saudi military bases near Yemen. The Houthis continue to use ballistic missiles and, they claim, are even improving the capabilities of the missiles.