Lies are not unknown in diplomacy, but Donald Trump is blazing a new trail. He is exploring whether lying can be the central organising principle of a foreign policy.
Mr Trump's most recent lie was a doozy. On December 6, he announced that he was breaking with two decades of United States presidential policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US embassy there. He also said the move was "not intended, in any way, to reflect a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace agreement".
The move triggered outrage across the Middle East, turmoil and criticism that continue to this day. It has led the Palestinians to refuse to meet US vice president Mike Pence on his upcoming visit. It has provoked condemnation from America's allies and from the 14 other members of the UN Security Council besides the US.
Perhaps this unrest would be warranted if it were part of a greater strategy, if there were a clear plan. As Thomas Friedman of The New York Times noted, perhaps it would have been worthwhile if the US had gained something in exchange for the recognition.
But there is no strategy. There were no gains. There was only violence and a message to the Palestinians and the rest of the world that the US was incapable of playing the role of honest broker in advancing the long-sought goal of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But it is worse than that because none of what Mr Trump said was actually true. In other words, the setbacks that the region and US standing in the region have just incurred were for nothing. They were all just part of an empty political stunt.
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With the stability of the region at stake, Palestinians deserve a united front
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This became apparent very rapidly. Within hours of the announcement of Mr Trump’s decision, the president, like his recent predecessors, signed a waiver postponing the US move another six months. Then the state department announced that it would not acknowledge in official documents that those born in Jerusalem were actually born in Israel. Following that, beleaguered US secretary of state Rex Tillerson announced that the embassy move would not happen for a long time and certainly not in 2018.
With the US president's future in real doubt and the potential for the 2018 US congressional elections to tip the balance in one or both houses of Congress from the Republicans to the Democrats, saying something won't happen until after 2018 is like saying it might never happen. And indeed, there are plenty of reasons to believe that Trump, just like previous presidents, will continue to kick the can down the road for the remainder of his presidency (especially as the job security of his most active pro-Israel adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, increasingly seems in jeopardy).
So, the break with past presidents was a lie. The announcement of a move was a lie. And most disturbingly, of course, the assertion that there was a "strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace agreement" was also a lie. It had to be because there is no sign of such a commitment, no strategy, no progress and no rationale by which revealing a bias can be seen as evidence of such a commitment.
By lying about all these other things and inflaming the Arab world, Mr Trump will soon be revealed to the hard-right supporters of Israel in his political base (the audience for whom this charade was intended) and his counterpart in the Israeli government to have been all talk and no action.
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Some in the US see this as part of another disturbing pattern, one in which the president offers up high profile – and often extreme – policy pronouncements that cabinet agencies then either ignore or try to undo, such as his threats of war with North Korea. This reveals another essential lie of the Trump presidency, the one in which he asserts he is "the only one who matters". Actually, as the world is increasingly discovering, if the words of the US government (Trump's) and its actions are disconnected, the words become meaningless.
This is not true in every area. On trade deals, for example, Mr Trump's rhetoric has translated into damaging action by the US. But take the Paris climate accord. It is still unclear whether the US is out or whether it even can be. On Russia, the president talks one kind of relationship but the US Congress seeks another. Who will prevail here is also unclear.
In diplomacy, of course, words matter. Mr Trump’s lies and overstatements about issues of war and peace, alliances and the international system, his power and the US government’s plans all have major consequences, but beware. The words themselves do not mean what you might think. And sometimes, seemingly as a matter of policy, they mean the opposite of what they seem to be saying.
David Rothkopf is CEO of The Rothkopf Group, senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and most recently author of The Great Questions of Tomorrow
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
More on Quran memorisation:
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE%20ILT20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMarquee%20players%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMoeen%20Ali%2C%20Andre%20Russell%2C%20Dawid%20Malan%2C%20Wanindu%20Hasiranga%2C%20Sunil%20Narine%2C%20Evin%20Lewis%2C%20Colin%20Munro%2C%20Fabien%20Allen%2C%20Sam%20Billings%2C%20Tom%20Curran%2C%20Alex%20Hales%2C%20Dushmantha%20Chameera%2C%20Shimron%20Hetmyer%2C%20Akeal%20Hosein%2C%20Chris%20Jordan%2C%20Tom%20Banton%2C%20Sandeep%20Lamichhane%2C%20Chris%20Lynn%2C%20Rovman%20Powell%2C%20Bhanuka%20Rajapaksa%2C%20Mujeeb%20Ul%20Rahman%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInternational%20players%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3ELahiru%20Kumara%2C%20Seekugge%20Prassanna%2C%20Charith%20Asalanka%2C%20Colin%20Ingram%2C%20Paul%20Stirling%2C%20Kennar%20Lewis%2C%20Ali%20Khan%2C%20Brandon%20Glover%2C%20Ravi%20Rampaul%2C%20Raymon%20Reifer%2C%20Isuru%20Udana%2C%20Blessing%20Muzarabani%2C%20Niroshan%20Dickwella%2C%20Hazaratullah%20Zazai%2C%20Frederick%20Klassen%2C%20Sikandar%20Raja%2C%20George%20Munsey%2C%20Dan%20Lawrence%2C%20Dominic%20Drakes%2C%20Jamie%20Overton%2C%20Liam%20Dawson%2C%20David%20Wiese%2C%20Qais%20Ahmed%2C%20Richard%20Gleeson%2C%20James%20Vince%2C%20Noor%20Ahmed%2C%20Rahmanullah%20Gurbaz%2C%20Navin%20Ul%20Haq%2C%20Sherfane%20Rutherford%2C%20Saqib%20Mahmood%2C%20Ben%20Duckett%2C%20Benny%20Howell%2C%20Ruben%20Trumpelman%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Race%20card
%3Cp%3E6pm%3A%20Al%20Maktoum%20Challenge%20Round%201%20%E2%80%93%20Group%201%20(PA)%20%2450%2C000%20(Dirt)%201%2C600m%3Cbr%3E6.35pm%3A%20Dubai%20Racing%20Club%20Classic%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(TB)%20%24100%2C000%20(D)%202%2C410m%3Cbr%3E7.10pm%3A%20Dubawi%20Stakes%20%E2%80%93%20Group%203%20(TB)%20%24150%2C000%20(D)%201%2C200m%3Cbr%3E7.45pm%3A%20Jumeirah%20Classic%20Trial%20%E2%80%93%20Conditions%20(TB)%20%24150%2C000%20(Turf)%201%2C400m%3Cbr%3E8.20pm%3A%20Al%20Maktoum%20Challenge%20Round%201%20%E2%80%93%20Group%202%20(TB)%20%24250%2C000%20(D)%201%2C600m%3Cbr%3E8.55pm%3A%20Al%20Fahidi%20Fort%20%E2%80%93%20Group%202%20(TB)%20%24180%2C000%20(T)%201%2C400m%3Cbr%3E9.30pm%3A%20Ertijaal%20Dubai%20Dash%20%E2%80%93%20Listed%20(TB)%20%24100%2C000%20(T)%201%2C000m%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Brief scores:
Everton 0
Leicester City 1
Vardy 58'
