US President Donald Trump in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin. AFP 
US President Donald Trump in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin. AFP 

Craven behaviour in Helsinki was unusual for brand-aware president



The Helsinki summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has produced something unusual in a deeply divided America – near-unanimity on the right and on the left about the US president's startlingly craven behaviour towards the Russian leader.

Those who habitually criticise Mr Trump and even some of those who do not are saying much the same things and using some of the same words. Terms such as "treasonous", "disgusting", "Russian asset" and "Putin's poodle" are flying around. Nerds are reminding everyone that treason is the only crime specifically defined in the US Constitution and that Article III, Section 3, says it is the act of going to war against the United States or giving "aid or comfort" to an enemy. Could Mr Trump, they ask, be said to have given "aid or comfort" in Helsinki to America's long-time geopolitical adversary?

He certainly behaved in an unusual way, not just for a US president abroad, dealing with a foreign adversary, but by his own standards. Always a brash and domineering personality and for the past 18 months, a disputatious president, Mr Trump was uncharacteristically meek, deferential and undemanding, not to say unduly credulous towards the Russian leader.

The bipartisan American anger is focused on three things. While standing alongside Mr Putin at the press conference, Mr Trump attacked US institutions and American officials and politicians, seemed more willing to believe Mr Putin than his own intelligence agencies and suggested there was a moral equivalence between the US and Russia.

Americans, a patriotic people accustomed to the notion of exceptionalism, recoiled in disgust, especially at the last bit. For the first time in nearly three years, as Mr Trump rambunctiously and defiantly strode the political stage and gleefully stomped on all its norms, Americans seemed to be saying "not in my name".

The opposition Democrats were unsurprisingly apoplectic but prominent members of Mr Trump’s Republican Party have also spoken out, albeit with varying degrees of sharpness. These include Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, House speaker Paul Ryan, senators Marco Rubio, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, Ben Sasse, John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Republican congressman Will Hurd from Texas, himself a former CIA officer, was scathing in his criticism. Newt Gingrich, a former Republican speaker and one of Mr Trump’s strongest allies, has garnered many headlines for describing the Helsinki press conference as “the most serious mistake of his presidency”.

But it’s best not to get carried away. Mr Gingrich is a political has-been and has his hands full right now as the husband of Mr Trump’s ambassador to the Vatican. And almost all of Mr Trump’s prominent Republican critics are on their way out. Those who aren’t, such as Mr McConnell, Mr Rubio, Mr Graham and Mr Sasse, have not been critical about the president so much as hostile about Russia.

More significant than weasel words from Republican politicians is action. Accordingly, it’s worth taking the resignation on Monday night of a county Republican Party chairman from southeast Ohio seriously. Chris Gagin, who served in Belmont County, which swung to the Republicans in 2016 for the first time ever, said the Trump-Putin meeting was “a matter of conscience” and he was resigning out of a “sense of duty”. Trump-friendly Fox News’ sceptical tone about Mr Trump’s behaviour in Helsinki is also significant, at least for the moment.

That Mr Trump is being criticised for a foreign rather than domestic policy matter is also noteworthy. It is a truism that American voters don’t care about foreign affairs. What Mr Trump seems to have stirred, however, by equating the US with the Russian Federation, is the indignation of the hitherto self-assured.

Helsinki is being described as the foreign policy equivalent of Charlottesville. Last summer Mr Trump likened aggressive white nationalist marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, with the peaceful activists who protested against their divisiveness. The moral equivalence was considered a low point of the US presidency and so it is with Helsinki.

But Charlottesville is also a reminder that Mr Trump has set massive storms a-rolling before and weathered them too.

What’s clear is the Helsinki summit has produced almost nothing tangible or of benefit either for the US or the world. After two hours of quiet time, behind closed doors, sans advisers and with only a couple of interpreters present, the two presidents had lunch with aides and delivered the pitiful results of their discussions to a waiting world. Neither said anything new or significant about arms control, Russia’s role in Syria, Crimea and Ukraine or British allegations that Russia poisoned people on its soil.

No one will ever know their discussions, if any, on these sensitive topics because there is no record of the golden 120 private minutes, nor what it was that prompted Mr Trump’s submission to Mr Putin.

But there is outrageous speculation of every kind and, in politics as much as finance, it can make or mar a brand. As a businessman, a reality TV star and a politician, Mr Trump, more than anyone, must know that well.

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Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Director: Chris Winterbauer

Stars: Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse 

Rating: 3/5

Which honey takes your fancy?

Al Ghaf Honey

The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year

Sidr Honey

The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest

Samar Honey

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About RuPay

A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank

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Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and are now on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. Three-day and travel packages are also available at 20 per cent discount.

The Sand Castle

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Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

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The Old Slave and the Mastiff

Patrick Chamoiseau

Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale

What is dialysis?

Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.

It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.

There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.

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Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
  1. Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
  2. Ovarian tissue surgically removed
  3. Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
  4. Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif

Based: Manama, Bahrain

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'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'

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Stars:Kristen Bell

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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick

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Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
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The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

Landfill in numbers

• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane

• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming

• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi

• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year

• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away

• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia