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.
Countries offering golden visas
UK
Innovator Founder Visa is aimed at those who can demonstrate relevant experience in business and sufficient investment funds to set up and scale up a new business in the UK. It offers permanent residence after three years.
Germany
Investing or establishing a business in Germany offers you a residence permit, which eventually leads to citizenship. The investment must meet an economic need and you have to have lived in Germany for five years to become a citizen.
Italy
The scheme is designed for foreign investors committed to making a significant contribution to the economy. Requires a minimum investment of €250,000 which can rise to €2 million.
Switzerland
Residence Programme offers residence to applicants and their families through economic contributions. The applicant must agree to pay an annual lump sum in tax.
Canada
Start-Up Visa Programme allows foreign entrepreneurs the opportunity to create a business in Canada and apply for permanent residence.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
How Beautiful this world is!
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Paltan
Producer: JP Films, Zee Studios
Director: JP Dutta
Cast: Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood, Arjun Rampal, Siddhanth Kapoor, Luv Sinha and Harshvardhan Rane
Rating: 2/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Messi at the Copa America
2007 – lost 3-0 to Brazil in the final
2011 – lost to Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals
2015 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
2016 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
