U.S. Congress passed a revised bill that will sanction Russia, Iran, and North Korea for their aggression and blatant disregard of international law. The bill is a response to Iran's nuclear programs, Russia's Crimean annexation in 2014, alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, and North Korea's continued ballistic and nuclear programs.
What is the next step?
U.S. President Donald Trump will be under the political limelight as he decides whether to sign or veto the new bill. The legislation is primarily aimed to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea and its alleged meddling with U.S.
elections in 2016, which the Trump administration vehemently denied. According to some members of Congress, this will put Trump into a dilemma as he is known to oppose furthering sanctions against Russia.
The bill was previously passed in Congress, but it only targeted Russia and Iran. Democrat and Republican lawmakers decided to revise the bill and include North Korea, to hurt its capability to continue its nuclear and missile program. It also added a clause that will greatly limit President Trump from lifting it any time soon. The House and Senate voted almost unanimously on passing the bill and it will be delivered to the President's desk for signing.
The law making process states that after Congress passed a bill, it will submitted to the President where he can approve, make changes, or veto it completely.
After that, there will be a 30 day time frame for Congress to accept or deny any changes made. The bill hopes to clear the Trump administration from allegations of collusion with Russia and is hoped to put an end to the controversies between Trump and Putin.
What is the reaction of Russia?
Russian Executive Spokesperson, Dmitri S.
Peskov, said that the new sanctions was "highly negative." This is after Trump and Putin have met in numerous occasions to "reset" diplomatic relationships between the two countries. The sanctions, if imposed, will have a dramatic effect on diplomatic tensions in the Middle East, Europe and North Korea.
Russian intervention in Syria will be more aggressive against U.S.
presence, especially as the showdown between American-backed coalition and Assad's government forces is drawing near. Cold war tension between Russia and the United States is slowly returning and an all out war between the two superpowers might finally happen. The tension in North Korea, Syria, and Iran are all possible flash points for this ultimate showdown, which was delayed for more than seventy years already.
