Donald Trump came to Helsinki to clear his name of collusion. Instead the US president soiled it and with it, dragged the world further down a path towards previously unthinkable instability.
It has been 70 years since the future of the western democratic alliance was so precariously poised between chaos and certainty. Standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, following their secretive two-hour meeting, it seemed both men wanted nothing more than to deny they ever knew each other before Mr Trump's election.
Yet in a rare fumble, Mr Putin admitted he wanted Mr Trump to win the tarnished 2016 US election that his intelligence agents are indicted with interfering in. "Yes I did," he told a stunned audience.
This perhaps was not so much a concession; rather, it was from over-exuberance born not out of his KGB training, which teaches always to remain in control of emotions, but of a job well done – undermining his biggest global adversary and setting in motion fractures that will further cleave America from its traditional allies.
As Mr Putin left Helsinki, his foreign minister captured the Russian mood, calling the day "magnificent" and "better than super".
Only days earlier, Mr Trump had sat in Winston Churchill's chair in the house where the great British wartime leader was born. He struck a pose that suggested he was reliving those moments when Churchill's resolve was all that stood between chaos and calamity.
It feels appropriate to paraphrase Britain's best-loved leader to understand Mr Trump's utter failure to deliver on US national security interests and that of its allies in Helsinki: never before in the field of presidential summits has one leader given so much for so little, at the cost of so many.
Mr Trump's capitulation to Mr Putin's lies on live television, watched by millions across the world, is sending diplomatic shockwaves way beyond Washington.
In the hours following the summit, the silence from Mr Trump's European allies was deafening. Had he stood up to Mr Putin and warned him not to attack the US by interfering in its elections again, there might well have been more applause from Berlin and London.
Russia stands accused of interfering in elections in these countries too. A message for one, a message for all.
Leaving Washington earlier this month, Mr Trump said his meeting with Mr Putin would be the easiest of his trip to Europe – easier than his meetings at Nato or in the UK. No one could have imagined that his seven days in Europe – ripping through his allies, lambasting German chancellor Angela Merkel and undermining British Prime Minister Theresa May – would end with him being given a football by Mr Putin that he'll pass on to his son.
Not only has Mr Trump betrayed US intelligence services by putting himself ahead of his country but he is also betraying his allies. If he doesn't believe his own intelligence services, the logic follows, how can he be trusted to believe his allies' intelligence services and what those leaders tell him? How can they harness their national strategic security interests to the US if its president doesn't look out for his own and they have no idea where he is going? This is not the America they signed up to partner with.
Mr Trump's recent confrontations over trade tariffs, his offhand comments this weekend that the European Union "is a foe" of the US, now coupled with the collapse of his diplomatic integrity at Mr Putin's feet, will look to many like the start of a new world order. As bi-partisan opprobrium rains down on Mr Trump in the US, his European allies are beginning to crystallise their thinking.
At Nato's headquarters, Mr Trump indicated he was more inclined to side with Mr Putin over his illegal 2014 annexation of Crimea than his allies. When asked last Thursday if he would recognise Crimea as part of Russia he responded: "That’s an interesting question, because long before I got here President Obama let that happen."
His allies had heard that line before. But what came next was the shocker: the idea that because Mr Putin had spent money in Crimea, it might somehow give him legitimacy. "They just opened a big bridge that was started years ago. They built, I think, a submarine port adding billions of dollars," Trump told the crowded room.
A minute later he was asked: "Will you consider stopping military exercises in the Baltic states?"
When Mr Trump met North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in Singapore last month, he surprised his South Korean allies by unilaterally giving Mr Kim the concession of stopping joint military exercises. The equivalent for Nato would be backing down on joint military exercises in the Baltic states.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are on the frontline with Russia and fear their own Crimea moment may be around the corner. Nato has a tripwire force in each of the Baltic states: about 1,000 or so troops to send a figurative flare should there be a Russian incursion, as happened in Ukraine. At which point, tens of thousands more Nato forces currently on 48-hour standby in Europe would be rushed in. It is significant, but insufficient to contain a serious Russian assault.
Mr Trump hinted that this deployment and the bigger Nato military exercises they support could be cut down. "Well, perhaps we'll talk about that," he said in answer to the question. A response guaranteed to send shockwaves through the already jittery Baltic states, who only escaped the brutal ugliness of Soviet repression a quarter-century ago. The following day, when standing next to British Prime Minister Theresa May, Mr Trump was again asked about the US military commitment to Europe.
His response: "There is a psychological and a military benefit. There is also a benefit not to do it." It was hardly the ringing endorsement America's European allies would hope for and more reason for worry as he headed to Helsinki.
If US troop deployments, military exercises or Crimea came up during Mr Putin and Mr Trump's meeting, neither of them mentioned it during their subsequent press conference. Absent an independent read-out of what was actually discussed in that room, Mr Trump's allies cannot feel reassured that their interests are being considered. Since Mr Trump's election in 2016, many of his European allies have shown increasing concern over his destabilising impact on the world.
At the EU's first emergency summit to discuss concerns about Mr Trump – held days after his inauguration – both the German chancellor and the then French president agreed that Europe could no longer rely on US leadership.
European rumblings of dissatisfaction have only grown since then. On climate, trade and now security, dangerous chasms are opening up after 70 years of relative calm. During those decades, America has been a stabilising force for good over historic European divisions.
If the Helsinki summit does become a crystallising moment and Mr Trump's follies force old allies apart, it could also be judged as the moment a new, more unstable world order was created.
That's not the achievement for which this great city of Helsinki, revered for advancing human rights and stabilising global relations, was previously known.
Nic Robertson is CNN's international diplomatic editor
A%20QUIET%20PLACE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Results
United States beat UAE by three wickets
United States beat Scotland by 35 runs
UAE v Scotland – no result
United States beat UAE by 98 runs
Scotland beat United States by four wickets
Fixtures
Sunday, 10am, ICC Academy, Dubai - UAE v Scotland
Admission is free
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
RESULTS
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (Turf) 2,200m
Winner: M'A Yaromoon, Jesus Rosales (jockey), Khalifa Al Neydai (trainer)
5.30pm: Khor Al Baghal – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: No Riesgo Al Maury, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6pm: Khor Faridah – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: JAP Almahfuz, Royston Ffrench, Irfan Ellahi
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Mahmouda, Pat Cosgrave, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AS Jezan, George Buckell, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
7.30pm: Khor Laffam – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Dolman, Antonio Fresu, Bhupath Seemar
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hoopla%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Jacqueline%20Perrottet%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2010%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20required%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Results
2pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m, Winner: AF Thayer, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: AF Sahwa, Nathan Crosse, Mohamed Ramadan.
3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,000m, Winner: AF Thobor, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: AF Mezmar, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
4pm: Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup presented by Longines (TB) Dh 200,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Galvanize, Nathan Cross, Doug Watson.
4.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Ajaj, Bernardo Pinheiro, Mohamed Daggash.
Stamp%20duty%20timeline
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDecember%202014%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%20Former%20UK%20chancellor%20of%20the%20Exchequer%20George%20Osborne%20reforms%20stamp%20duty%20land%20tax%20(SDLT)%2C%20replacing%20the%20slab%20system%20with%20a%20blended%20rate%20scheme%2C%20with%20the%20top%20rate%20increasing%20to%2012%20per%20cent%20from%2010%20per%20cent%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EUp%20to%20%C2%A3125%2C000%20%E2%80%93%200%25%3B%20%C2%A3125%2C000%20to%20%C2%A3250%2C000%20%E2%80%93%202%25%3B%20%C2%A3250%2C000%20to%20%C2%A3925%2C000%20%E2%80%93%205%25%3B%20%C2%A3925%2C000%20to%20%C2%A31.5m%3A%2010%25%3B%20More%20than%20%C2%A31.5m%20%E2%80%93%2012%25%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EApril%202016%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20New%203%25%20surcharge%20applied%20to%20any%20buy-to-let%20properties%20or%20additional%20homes%20purchased.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EJuly%202020%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Chancellor%20Rishi%20Sunak%20unveils%20SDLT%20holiday%2C%20with%20no%20tax%20to%20pay%20on%20the%20first%20%C2%A3500%2C000%2C%20with%20buyers%20saving%20up%20to%20%C2%A315%2C000.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMarch%202021%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mr%20Sunak%20extends%20the%20SDLT%20holiday%20at%20his%20March%203%20budget%20until%20the%20end%20of%20June.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EApril%202021%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%25%20SDLT%20surcharge%20added%20to%20property%20transactions%20made%20by%20overseas%20buyers.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EJune%202021%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20SDLT%20holiday%20on%20transactions%20up%20to%20%C2%A3500%2C000%20expires%20on%20June%2030.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EJuly%202021%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tax%20break%20on%20transactions%20between%20%C2%A3125%2C000%20to%20%C2%A3250%2C000%20starts%20on%20July%201%20and%20runs%20until%20September%2030.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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
88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
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Medicus AI
Started: 2016
Founder(s): Dr Baher Al Hakim, Dr Nadine Nehme and Makram Saleh
Based: Vienna, Austria; started in Dubai
Sector: Health Tech
Staff: 119
Funding: €7.7 million (Dh31m)
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Spec%20sheet
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
FIXTURES
Nov 04-05: v Western Australia XI, Perth
Nov 08-11: v Cricket Australia XI, Adelaide
Nov 15-18 v Cricket Australia XI, Townsville (d/n)
Nov 23-27: 1ST TEST v AUSTRALIA, Brisbane
Dec 02-06: 2ND TEST v AUSTRALIA, Adelaide (d/n)
Dec 09-10: v Cricket Australia XI, Perth
Dec 14-18: 3RD TEST v AUSTRALIA, Perth
Dec 26-30 4TH TEST v AUSTRALIA, Melbourne
Jan 04-08: 5TH TEST v AUSTRALIA, Sydney
Note: d/n = day/night
