With the smoke finally clearing from one of the most dangerous and divisive chapters in US political history, Americans are starting to survey the wreckage and assess the damage.
The sad saga of the 2020 election is effectively over. Outgoing President Donald Trump has no plausible path to block the certification and formalisation of President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
At non on January 20, 2021 Mr Biden will be inaugurated and the Trump administration will be a thing of the past.
The story of the past four years and especially the past four weeks has been an extraordinary stress-test for the institutional infrastructure of the American system. It seems to have held together but its profound vulnerabilities have been exposed as never before.
So the question now is, was the outcome reassuring or alarming? Is the constitutional glass half-full or half-empty?
Any answer can only be tentative because dynamics are still unfolding and there is so much compelling evidence on both sides of the argument.
A positive case would concede that for the first time a remarkably unsuited individual, who had no regard for the fundamental logic of the democratic system ascended to the presidency.
And while the other guardrails put in place by the framers of the Constitution – particularly the Senate's refusal to hold a meaningful impeachment trial or seriously examine the evidence presented by the House of Representatives – generally proved ineffective, the ultimate check, the will of the voters in a national election, prevailed and blocked a dramatic slide towards authoritarianism.
This case would add that it is perhaps unrealistic to expect a political procedure such as an impeachment trial not to be determined by the partisan interests of duly elected officials and that is part of the anticipated process.
It would note that some of Mr Trump's worst excesses were blocked by courts, the Congress or even his own officials, and that many of his more controversial actions will be reversible by Mr Biden, in some cases fairly easily.
Had Mr Trump found a way to invalidate the results, he would have done so
The positive argument would dwell on the November 3 election. None of the nightmare scenarios anticipated beforehand played out. State and local officials throughout the country, Republicans and Democrats alike, worked diligently, honestly and often together to ensure a free and fair vote with the highest participation rate in over a century.
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and given the large number of other significant obstacles, the US held one of its best elections in modern history. The election security agency of Mr Trump's own administration called it "the most secure in American history," with “no evidence” of any votes being tampered with or “in any way compromised.”
State officials, including diehard Republicans, have refused to intervene to help Mr Trump remain president even though he lost. Courts, too, including those dominated by Republicans and even his own appointees, have dismissed his efforts to invalidate huge numbers of votes based on spurious technicalities.
Mr Trump may have been a potentially dangerous president, it would conclude, but the real test was whether he could avoid being voted out of office. The answer is a resounding no. And indeed, all his efforts to change or ignore the outcome and stay in power failed completely.
US democracy has triumphed, this positive narrative concludes, because it proved far stronger than was widely feared.
There is another, negative interpretation of the same set of facts that highlights the inadequacies that have been exposed.
If the only effective guardrail against a president who disregards the norms that undergird democracy is a quadrennial election, then that system is so vulnerable as to be fundamentally broken. Mr Trump proved that existing checks on executive power are insufficient.
No matter how badly the president is behaving, Congress apparently will only act in a partisan and not an institutional manner. Courts, too, have limited their own authority.
And this administration argued the president is literally above the law and, while in office, cannot be investigated, let alone indicted, for any unlawful act.
Even the election is not really a good-news story, according to this narrative. It would note that a couple of hundred thousand, or even less, flipped votes in key areas would have given Mr Trump another electoral college victory, despite a massive popular vote defeat and what a second term might have meant.
It would highlight Mr Trump's considerable support, his refusal to concede, his conspiracy theories and verbal attacks on the election and the American democratic system itself, endorsed by most leading Republicans – except the officials who oversaw the election process.
Before November 3, Mr Trump was more against the election than his opponent, and now most of the Republican Party has joined him in an ongoing campaign against the election and implicitly, the entire system.
Plainly if Mr Trump had found a way to invalidate the results, he would have done so. All evidence suggests that most leading national Republicans would have supported that.
Plausible nightmare scenarios illustrated how many gaps and ambiguities would have plagued the system in the event of a closer outcome.
So, the glass half-empty narrative would emphasize how close the US democratic system came to collapse and how easily it might in the future, especially with growing Republican indifference or even antipathy to its basic structures.
On balance, the alarmist argument is far more persuasive.
If proponents of the ongoing strength of the US democratic system can point at best to a half-full glass, the institutional structures are at grave risk.
The last remaining guardrail, the national election, held. But since that is probably because the result was not closer, within "cheating distance,” and only a few small changes could have brought that guardrail crashing down as well, anyone who is not deeply alarmed is not paying close enough attention.
Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute and a US affairs columnist for The National
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%3Cp%3EThe%20UAE%20flag%20was%20first%20unveiled%20on%20December%202%2C%201971%2C%20the%20day%20the%20UAE%20was%20formed.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIt%20was%20designed%20by%20Abdullah%20Mohammed%20Al%20Maainah%2C%2019%2C%20an%20Emirati%20from%20Abu%20Dhabi.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EMr%20Al%20Maainah%20said%20in%20an%20interview%20with%20%3Cem%3EThe%20National%3C%2Fem%3E%20in%202011%20he%20chose%20the%20colours%20for%20local%20reasons.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20black%20represents%20the%20oil%20riches%20that%20transformed%20the%20UAE%2C%20green%20stands%20for%20fertility%20and%20the%20red%20and%20white%20colours%20were%20drawn%20from%20those%20found%20in%20existing%20emirate%20flags.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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The specs: 2019 Audi A8
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Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 345hp @ 5,000rpm
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Fuel economy, combined 7.5L / 100km
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Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
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LA LIGA FIXTURES
Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)
Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
CONCRETE COWBOY
Directed by: Ricky Staub
Starring: Idris Elba, Caleb McLaughlin, Jharrel Jerome
3.5/5 stars
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- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
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Age: 59
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Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense
Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
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Results
Stage 4
1. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Jumbo-Visma 04:16:13
2. Gaviria (COL) UAE Team Emirates
3. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Bora-Hansgrohe
4. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal
General Classification:
1. Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 16:46:15
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:07
3. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 0:01:35
4. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:40
5. Rafal Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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DIVINE%20INTERVENTOIN
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The biog
Name: Capt Shadia Khasif
Position: Head of the Criminal Registration Department at Hatta police
Family: Five sons and three daughters
The first female investigator in Hatta.
Role Model: Father
She believes that there is a solution to every problem
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)
ARGENTINA SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Franco Armani, Agustin Marchesin, Esteban Andrada
Defenders: Juan Foyth, Nicolas Otamendi, German Pezzella, Nicolas Tagliafico, Ramiro Funes Mori, Renzo Saravia, Marcos Acuna, Milton Casco
Midfielders: Leandro Paredes, Guido Rodriguez, Giovani Lo Celso, Exequiel Palacios, Roberto Pereyra, Rodrigo De Paul, Angel Di Maria
Forwards: Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Lautaro Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Matias Suarez
Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
