THE HAWK IN TRUMP SPREADS ITS WINGS

Issues on national security on which the US President-elect departed from his predecessors

TWEET ON NUKES

With A single tweet, Donald Trump signalled the start of a possible new nuclear arms race

The US, the president-elect said, “must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability” until the world “comes to its senses regarding nukes”

Some conjectured this was a riposte to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talk of boosting his country’s nuclear capability as a key objective for 2017 n but putin said on Friday that “if anyone is unleashing an arms race, it's not us”

THE ARMS RACE

The US has 7,100 nuclear weapons while Russia has 7,300, according to the Arms Control Association

The two countries account for more than 90% of all nuclear weapons.

Trump’s position Could signal the end of strategic arms reduction talks, the process that reduced 80% of Cold War-era arsenals, started By George H W Bush

GLOBAL POLICING

In the past, Trump has said he would be “the last to use nuclear weapons” but that he would “never, ever rule…out” the use of such weapons. he has also said Japan And South Korea might need to obtain their own nuclear arsenal to protect themselves from North Korea and China

ANNOYING ALLIES

Leaders of NATO states too are concerned by Trump’s apparent lack of commitment to the military alliance

Throughout his campaign, Trump called NATO “obsolete” and said other members should contribute more financially

His stance comes at a time when only five NATO members, the US, UK, Greece, Poland and Estonia, meet a Commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence