Victory over health bill is boost for Obama



WASHINGTON // The Democratic Party's victory on healthcare reform legislation this week has emboldened Barack Obama and boosted his standing around the world in a way that could have a noticeable impact on his foreign policy, some political analysts say. The achievement leaves Mr Obama in a stronger position politically here, potentially increasing the chances that he could win a second term, and affords him greater clout with world leaders eager to partner with the United States, some say. Others note that the victory could give Mr Obama the sense of being a historic figure and the confidence to take on tougher issues internationally.

Allan Lichtman, a political historian at American University in Washington, said he believed the healthcare bill's passage increases Mr Obama's political capital "in every realm of the presidency, including foreign affairs". "Foreign leaders will take him more seriously," he said. "The fact that Obama pulled this off certainly makes him a more consequential figure on the world stage." Analysts caution against drawing a straight line between success at home and success abroad. A domestic legislative victory, they say, does not necessarily translate to positive outcomes in the many foreign policy challenges Mr Obama faces, from mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the war in Afghanistan. In fact few analysts were able to point to a specific aspect of foreign affairs where Mr Obama's healthcare victory would have an immediate or dramatic affect.

But David Pollock, who served as senior adviser for the Broader Middle East at the State Department during George W Bush's presidency, said the gains for Mr Obama's presidency were real. "It's more of a psychological, and probably limited and temporary advantage," Mr Pollock, now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said. "But I do think for the next few months ... it's probably significant."

World leaders have followed the healthcare debate here with some interest and more than a dozen heads of state, including King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Felipe Calderon of Mexico, and Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, have congratulated the president since the measure cleared the US House of Representatives on Sunday, according to a White House spokesman. Still, some foreign policy analysts such as Christian Whiton, a former state department official who worked on North Korean human rights issues during the Bush presidency, doubt that passage of Mr Obama's signature domestic priority will change the way he is viewed by his counterparts. "If anything, they were probably surprised it took so long," Mr Whiton said, noting that the battle over healthcare reform is far from over and that Republicans have vowed to make it a losing issue for Democrats in the upcoming mid-term elections.

"I don't think it will change the perception abroad of whether he is powerful or not". The legislative victory did not appear to have any immediate game-changing affect on at least one foreign policy issue that has dominated headlines in recent days: the US dispute with Israel over settlement construction in East Jerusalem. Just hours after signing the legislation, Mr Obama met at the White House Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister. The closed-door meeting did not bring a major breakthrough on the settlement issue and, in fact, ended with Israel showing no signs of changing its settlement policy, as the United States has requested.

However, Israelis are known for closely watching US politics and the perception of Mr Obama as a strong political leader with staying power could ultimately change how he is perceived in Israel and how his policies are received by the Israeli government, some analysts say. There is little historical precedent to suggest that the domestic successes lead to stronger foreign policies. Mr Lichtman, the American University historian, noted that Franklin Delano Roosevelt's foreign policy, which many regarded as a success because of the US victory in the Second World War, was largely aided by his reputation as a strong and trusted domestic leader who had helped pull the country out of the Great Depression. Other historians, however, dispute that, arguing that the relationship between foreign and domestic affairs was more complex, with Roosevelt's foreign policies helping him secure legislative and electoral victories at home.

For Mr Obama, some analysts say, the healthcare victory could afford him immediate political cover on the war in Afghanistan. The most vocal critics of his war strategy have been liberal Democrats, many of whom may now be willing to cut the president some slack. Though some liberal Democrats criticised the healthcare legislation for not doing enough, the measure ultimately won the support of key liberal leaders such as Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio congressman.

Others say the best way to measure the impact of the healthcare victory may be to look at what might have happened had it failed. If there is scant evidence to show that domestic victories lead to foreign policy ones, there is plenty to suggest that a loss on health care would have weakened Mr Obama abroad, according to Robert Dallek, a presidential historian. "Defeats at home have a huge impact on a president's ability to lead in foreign affairs because when they are politically crippled, neither their opponents or supporters at home or abroad feels compelled to follow their lead," Mr Dallek, now a Stanford University professor based in Washington, said. "If Obama had lost this healthcare fight, it would have been a political disaster."

@Email:sstanek@thenational.ae

DUNE%3A%20PART%20TWO
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Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal 

Rating: 2/5

Where to buy and try:

Nutritional yeast

DesertCart

Organic Foods & Café

Bulletproof coffee

Wild & The Moon

Amasake

Comptoir 102

DesertCart

Organic Foods & Café

Charcoal drinks and dishes

Various juice bars, including Comptoir 102

Bridgewater Tavern

3 Fils

Jackfruit

Supermarkets across the UAE

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

TCL INFO

Teams:
Punjabi Legends 
Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan

Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals

WWE Evolution results
  • Trish Stratus and Lita beat Alicia Fox and Mickie James in a tag match
  • Nia Jax won a battle royal, eliminating Ember Moon last to win
  • Toni Storm beat Io Shirai to win the Mae Young Classic
  • Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley beat The Riott Squad in a six-woman tag match​​​​​​​
  • Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Kairi Sane
  • Becky Lynch retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match
  • Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women’s title by beating Nikki Bella
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES

SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

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Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Power: 268bhp / 536bhp
Torque: 343Nm / 686Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
On sale: Later this year
If you go

The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road. 

The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
 

The specs

Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now

The specs

Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)

Disclaimer

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

The biog

DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister

Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

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Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour Calendar 2018/19

July 29: OTA Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan

Sep 22-23: LA Convention Centre in Los Angeles, US

Nov 16-18: Carioca Arena Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Feb 7-9: Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Mar 9-10: Copper Box Arena in London, UK

Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cargoz%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Premlal%20Pullisserry%20and%20Lijo%20Antony%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2030%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How to register as a donor

1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention

2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants

3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register. 

4) The campaign uses the hashtag  #donate_hope

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 4/5
The specs: 2017 Dodge Viper SRT

Price, base / as tested Dh460,000

Engine 8.4L V10

Transmission Six-speed manual

Power 645hp @ 6,200rpm

Torque 813Nm @ 5,000rpm

Fuel economy, combined 16.8L / 100km

Porsche Macan T: The Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo 

Power: 265hp from 5,000-6,500rpm 

Torque: 400Nm from 1,800-4,500rpm 

Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto 

Speed: 0-100kph in 6.2sec 

Top speed: 232kph 

Fuel consumption: 10.7L/100km 

On sale: May or June 

Price: From Dh259,900  

Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Rating: 2/5
 
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The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
RESULTS
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