4 FINANCIAL TIMES Friday26 July 2019

N

ancy Pelosi, the Democratic House Speaker,

buried hopes of impeaching Donald Trump

months ago. On Wednesday, Robert Mueller,

the former special counsel, made sure the

corpse would not come back to life. In a singu-

larly parsimonious testimony, Mr Mueller repeatedly

declined to render in plain language the substance of his

448-page report. His most common phrases were, “That’s

outside my purview,” “I refer you to the report,” and

“Could you repeat the question?”

Mr Mueller’s refusal to play star witness was aided by a

disorganised flurry of questions from Democratic law-

makers. Had the party wanted to squeeze more juice from

the Mueller lemon, lawmakers would have ceded their

time to a single interrogator. Each preferred to retain their

five-minute moment on television. The result was squan-

dered hearings that enhanced the impression of Demo-

cratic disarray. Only a spectacular act of self-harm by Mr

Trump — never to be discounted — could resuscitate

impeachment now.

The question is why such a damning report could

have come to naught. Top of the list is Mr Mueller’s neo-

Trappist forbearance. His report listed 10 plain acts of

attempted obstruction of justice by Mr Trump, including

efforts to close down the inquiry. Yet Mr Muellerfollowed

Department of Justice guidance drawn up by officials

working for Richard Nixon and updated under Bill Clinton

— the last two presidents to face impeachment. It dictated

that a sitting president was immune to prosecution. Mr

Mueller could have ignored the contentious memos.

In his responses on

Wednesday, Mr Mueller

ducked, obfuscated and

deployed Latinate jargon

to avoid saying anything

that could be used as a

clip on the evening news.

He even showed defer-

ence to Republican asser-

tions that the FBI investi-

gation had been a plot concocted by biased public servants

and agents of Hillary Clinton. Mr Mueller could have

quashed such conspiracy theories, or breathed life into his

report. Instead he chose to suck out all the oxygenhe

could. It recalled a moment when Dwight Eisenhower, the

former president, told his press secretary: “Don’t worry,

Jim, if that question comes up, I’ll just confuse them,” after

having articulately held forth on the matter in private.

In fairness to Mr Mueller, he had already done what he

was hired to do. Having received volumes of evidence, it

was Capitol Hill’s choice whether to pick up the baton. Mrs

Pelosi has steadfastly refused to grab it. Her rationale has

chopped and changed. Initially she said Congress should

await the redacted report, which took a month to arrive.

Then she said it should await Mr Mueller’s testimony,

which added another two months. At other times she has

said Mr Trump would “self-impeach”. By this she meant

he would lose the presidency next year. All along,Ms Pelosi

has thought that starting impeachment would rebound to

Mr Trump’s advantage,as it did for Mr Clinton. She has

been walking a delicate line between appeasing an angry

liberal base, which wants to try Mr Trump, and an Ameri-

can public that lost interest in the inquiry a long time ago.

Ninety five Democrats voted to open a debate on

whether to impeach Mr Trumpthis month — almost 40

per cent of Ms Pelosi’s members. That is almost double

what it was a few months ago. But the US public has been

going in the opposite direction. Just 21 per cent of Ameri-

cans supported impeachment in a recent poll. It is hard to

believe many had read the Mueller report.

The final — and biggest — reason is Mr Trump himself.

He killed impeachment directly and indirectly. On the

first, Mr Trump consistently described the investigation as

a witch hunt run by “angry” Democratic prosecutors and

fuelled by the deep state. Almost all of this is fiction. But

the more often you repeat a lie, the larger the chances of

being believed. William Barr, Mr Trump’s attorney-gen-

eral, helped this narrative by misdescribing the Mueller

report as having exonerated the president.

The indirect reason is just as important. Mr Trump was

elected because US politics is badly dysfunctional. Amer-

ica’s political bodies are not working as they should. On

Wednesday, its first branch of government offered a case

study of institutional breakdown. Congress proved unable

to hold the executive to account. Like Mr Trump, lawmak-

ers were too busy trying to get their faces on television.

[email protected]

GLOBAL INSIGHT

WASHINGTON

Edward

Luce

Mueller ensures his

damning report will

not fuel impeachment

Just 21 per cent

of Americans

supported

impeachment

in a recent poll

INTERNATIONAL

HEBA SALEH— CAIRO

Beji Caid Sebsi, Tunisia’s first democrat-

ically elected president, has died at the

age of 92, having helped guide the north

Africa country through the aftermath of

the Arab uprising.

The death announced yesterday is set

to bring forward an election for his suc-

cessor that will test the country’s fragile

democracy. Sebsi, who had been due to

step down at the election, is credited

with helping save Tunisia’s democratic

experiment in the turbulent years that

followed its popular revolt in 2010-11,

but he leaves the nation nursing a sput-

tering economy.

Mohamed Ennaceur, Speaker of the

parliament, said he would temporarily

serve as president. Presidential elec-

tions had been due in November but

Sebsi’s death has raised questions about

whether they will be brought forward.

Tunisia is the only example of a suc-

cessful democratic transformation after

the Arab uprisings of 2011.

Youssef Cherif, a Tunisian political

analyst, said he did not expect Sebsi’s

death to cause any immediate instabil-

ity: “Mr Sebsi has been unwell for a few

weeks and hopefully negotiations in the

corridors of power have resulted in

agreement. We haven’t seen any signs to

suggest that matters are out of control.”

Rachid Ghannouchi, president of

Nahda, an Islamist partythat has the

largest number of seats in the Tunisian

parliament, said: “President Sebsi was a

true patriot and a pillar of Tunisia’s

democratic transition. He made history

as the first elected president of Tunisia’s

Second Republic. He would have

wanted all Tunisians to uphold the con-

stitution and rule of law and to maintain

our democratic path, no matter what

challenges we face.”

Sebsi spent most of his long political

career working for the country’s auto-

cratic leaders before the 2011 revolution

in various posts including foreign minis-

ter, interior minister and Speaker of the

House of Deputies.

Protesters toppled longtime dictator

Zein al-Abidine Ben Aliand Sebsi served

briefly as interim prime minister in the

aftermath of the revolution. In 2012 he

founded a party called Nidaa Tunis, a

secular grouping of old regime interests,

secularists and leftists united by their

opposition to the Islamists.

By 2013 Tunisia’s democratic experi-

ment was on the verge of crashing after

two assassinations of secular politicians

by radical Islamists.But as the leader of

Nidaa Tunis, Sebsi accepted mediation

talks with Mr Ghannouchi and the two

men reached a compromise that kept

the assembly together and left Tunisian

democracy on track.

The president in Tunisia has control

over the military and foreign relations

but enjoys far less power than his coun-

terparts in other Arab countries. The

prime minister runs day-to-day affairs,

manages economic policy and is held to

account by parliament.

Tunisia enters the post-Sebsi era with

unemployment at 15 per centand an

even higher rateamong young people.

Anger at austerity measureshas

sparked repeated protests and strikes in

recent years and despite Tunisia’s status

as the only Arab democracy, there is a

widespread sense of disillusionment

with politics among the young.

Although Sebsi was credited with

helping preserve the country’s young

democracy, he has opposed efforts to

hold accountable those who committed

torture under the previous regimes in

which he served.

North Africa

Tunisia leader’s death to test democracy

Ageing president helped

guide nation after popular

revolt nine years ago

‘He was a

true patriot

and a pillar

of Tunisia’s

democratic

transition’

JOHN REED— DARA SAKOR, CAMBODIA

Workers at an international airport

under construction in western Cambo-

dia this week were preparing the tarmac

for a runway more than 3km long — big

enough to land Boeing 747s or military

aircraft, and longer than the one in the

country’s capital, Phnom Penh.

The airport will sit inside Dara Sakor,

a special economic zone where a Chi-

nese company with ties to the military is

building a mega-resort with a casino, an

18-hole golf course and an area for

mooring jet skis and yachts.

Across the bay in the fishing village of

Chamlang Kou, residents told the

Financial Timesthey had been visited

on July 15 by Cambodian local and mili-

tary officials, who asked them to sell

their land to make way for the construc-

tion of what they believe will be military

facilities. “I’m not sure what they want

the land for, but people say they want to

build a Chinese military base,” said

Huot Hak, a 37-year-old villager. “The

people in the team told us that.”

Cambodians this week were startled,

though not entirely surprised, to learn

that their government had reachedan

agreementwith China on establishing a

military presence at Ream naval base,

down the coast from Dara Sakor,

near Sihanoukville, a seaside resort

already rife with Chinese-built casinos

that have transformed the town.

Cambodia’s embattled opposition

described the understanding, reached

in secret, as the latest gambit in what

they see as Prime Minister Hun Sen’s

mortgaging of their national assets and

interests to China.

“I’m afraid Cambodia is becoming a

de facto Chinese colony with the sky-

rocketing increase in the number of Chi-

nese, tourists, investors, traders and set-

tlers from all walks of life and the multi-

plication of all kinds of facilities exclu-

sively serving Chinese needs and

interests,” said Sam Rainsy, an exiled

opposition leader, via email.

The US has been watching the con-

struction in Dara Sakor and around Sih-

anoukville for months, wary of a further

Chinese projection of power in south-

east Asia, a region already unsettled by

Beijing’s military build-up in the South

China Sea.

As in the sea — where over time China

has been establishing bases, landing

strips and other military assets to

defend its disputed maritime claim —

western officials and analysts believe

Beijing is employing the same measured

approach to establishing a Cambodian

military foothold.

Hun Sen,well-known for his pro-Bei-

jing stance, denied the news of a mili-

tary understanding, originallyreported

by The Wall Street Journal and con-

firmed independently by the FT, as

“fake news”. Phay Siphan, the govern-

ment spokesman, said there had been

no agreement with China. “We would

not be so stupid as to do that.”

A Chinese presence in Cambodia

would violate the neutrality provisions

of the country’s constitution and the

1991 Paris Peace Agreements that ended

years of war and genocide under the

Khmer Rouge. US suspicions over the

two countries’ plans came to a head last

month when the Hun Sen government

withdrew, without explanation, a

request to Washington for help repair-

ing a US-funded Cambodian naval facil-

ity at Ream.

“This causes us to wonder if the Cam-

bodian leadership’s plans for Ream

naval base include the possible hosting

of foreign military assets and personnel

on Cambodian soil,” a US embassy offi-

cialsaid. “We are also monitoring media

reports about the potential military use

of Dara Sakor by China.”

The Dara Sakor economic zone,

which occupies a 45,000 hectare site

along a long swath of Cambodia’s coast-

line on the Gulf of Thailand, was leased

for 99 years in 2008 to China’sUnion

Development Group.

The Journal reported that the Cambo-

dian-Chinese deal would give China a

“dedicated naval staging facility” that

would fall short of a base.

Villagers in Chamlang Kou showed

the FT a letter that some had signed

with their thumbprints undertaking to

sell their land, which also bore the signa-

tures of Cambodian defence officials.

“I’m not resisting it, but I need to know

the compensation the company will give

me,” said Huot Hak.

The residents said the area hosted a

military facility during Japan’s occupa-

tion of French-ruled Cambodia in the

second world war. “They are building a

military port,” Mey La, 63, said when

asked why officials had asked them to

sell their land. “They told me that.”

UDG, the company bankrolling Dara

Sakor, has denied the project is a base,

and Cambodia’s government has repeat-

edly said the site will be devoted to eco-

tourism.

The news has reawakened sceptics’

concerns that Chinese port projects that

have been built or are under construc-

tion for civilian use as part of its Belt and

Road Initiative in Myanmar, Sri Lanka

and Pakistan could in future be put to

military use.

Additional reporting by Sun Narin

China investment.Coastal construction

Cambodia plans point to military foothold

Exiled opposition leader claims

the country has become a

de facto colony of Beijing

Going up:

construction

being carried

out this

month at

Sihanoukville, a

seaside resort

already rife with

Chinese-built

casinos

that have

transformed

the town

BrentLewin/Bloomberg

MAX SEDDON— MOSCOW

Russian police have arrested opposi-

tion leader Alexei Navalny and raided

the homes of several of his allies in a

signthe Kremlin is worried aboutris-

ing dissent ahead of local elections in

September.

Navalny was sentenced to 30 days in

prison by a Moscow courton Wednes-

day for calling “unauthorised protests”

for this weekend to demonstrate against

the exclusion of several opposition-

minded candidates.

Former MP Dmitry Gudkov, who was

barred from running for mayor of Mos-

cow last year, and four independent can-

didates for September’s elections for

Moscow city councilwere among those

whose homes were searched as part of a

criminal investigation into “hindering

the work of electoral commissions”.The

candidates, none of whom have been

formally charged, deny allegationsthey

threatened election officials with vio-

lence, charges that carry a maximum

sentence of five years in prison.

Anger overfalling living standards

has seenPresident Vladimir Putin’s

approval ratings slideto their lowest

level in more than a decade. The Krem-

lin has taken the unusual step of making

concessions to protesters in recent

months on issues ranging fromplanned

landfill sites inRussia’s rural northto

the prosecution of investigative journal-

ist Ivan Golunov.

The Moscow city council elections

had been seen as less of a concern for the

government.Opposition candidates

only have 6 per cent support, while

89 per cent of potential voters say they

have no interest in thevote, according to

Kremlin pollster Vtsiomthis month.

But the involvement in the weekend

protests of Navalny, Mr Putin’s most

prominent opponentwho was barred

from challenging the president in elec-

tions last year, appears to have con-

vinced the Kremlin to crack down.

“The political spin-doctors have com-

pletely screwed this up,” said Grigory

Yudin, a sociologist at Moscow’s Higher

School of Economics. “They’re going all

out to try to recapture the initiative. It’s

a gesture of weakness, not strength.”

The electoral commission required

election candidates to collect an oner-

ous 5,000 signatures each, then denied

them registration, saying many of them

had been forged.

Navalny, who used ananti-corruption

video to mobilise young peoplein the

largest nationalprotests in modern Rus-

sian history in 2017, led a rally on Satur-

dayattended bymore than 22,000.

Russia

Kremlin critic Navalny jailed over protests

CAMBODIA

VIETNAM

Gulf of Thailand

mapsnews.com/©OSMmapsnews.com/©OSM

Phnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom PenhPhnom Penh

Dara SakorDara SakorDara SakorDara Sakor

Ream

naval basenaval base

SihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukvilleSihanoukville

 km km km km km km km km km

EDWARD WHITE— SEOUL

AIME WILLIAMS— WASHINGTON

North Korea fired what officials in

Seoul said appeared to be two short-

range missiles into the Sea of Japanyes-

terday in the first military escalation

by Kim Jong Un since the North Korean

leader met with US president Donald

Trump last month.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said

two “projectiles” were fired from near

Wonsan, on North Korea’s east coast,

reaching a height of 50km.

One travelled about 430kmand the

second about 690km and appeared to

be “a new type of missile”, they said.

“Our military is closely monitoring

the situation in case of additional

launches while maintaining a readiness

posture,” the JCS said. It added that

while South Korean and US officials

werestill analysing the launches, the

projectiles appeared to be short-range

missiles.

Nuclear talks between Washington

and Pyongyang have been deadlocked

since the negotiations stalled at a presi-

dential summit in Hanoi in February.

The US is pushing Mr Kim to verifia-

bly end hisnuclear weapons pro-

gramme and give up existingweapons,

while North Korea has sought an easing

of the sanctionshurting its economy.

But after aprivate meetingwith Mr

Kim at the demilitarised zone dividing

the Korean peninsula on June 30, the US

president signalled the two sides had

agreed to restart talks within weeks.

That marked a potential break-

through and helped to ease tensions

after North Korea in Mayfiredshort-

range ballistic missiles for the first time

since 2017. However, there have been no

further announcements of new negotia-

tions and experts remain scepticalMr

Kim will agree to any deal thatreduce

his arsenal of nuclear weapons.

A senior US official said yesterday the

US was “aware of reports of a short-

range projectile launched from North

Korea”.

Jeffrey Lewis, a North Korea and arms

control expert at the Middlebury Insti-

tute of International Studies, in Califor-

nia, said the first,short-range missile

tested was “almost certainly a KN-23”,

capable of delivering a nuclear payload

to targets across much of South Korea.

Jenny Town, a North Korea analyst at

the Stimson Center, a Washington-

based think-tank,said thetests,aday

after US national security adviser John

Bolton met South Korean officialsin

Seoul, might complicate but not neces-

sarily stop efforts to restart talks.

Nuclear tensions

N Korea fires suspected short-range missiles

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