 Hello and welcome to news click show mapping fault lines where we look at some of the key geopolitical issues around the world. Today, in fact, we're going to be talking about the United States where fault lines definitely have emerged, especially after the US election results. As of shooting this show, the results are not clear yet. Joe Biden has a lead, but Trump has been very aggressive in refusing to acknowledge it. His supporters have been mobilizing all across the country in some places, even demanding that the counting of the vote be stopped. And so we clearly have a situation where both sides are in conflict, protesters are also coming out on the streets to defend the vote. So we have Praveer Purkayasar to talk about this. Praveer, thank you so much for joining us. So the first question clearly is where do we stand right now because as I just mentioned, we have a situation of very unprecedented situation as far as the US is concerned. We have a president actively saying that basically indicating that he is not going to accept the results as in he's not going to, he's not accepting what's happening or what he's seeing right now. So where do you think we're headed for? Well, I think at the moment, Biden has a clear visible lead and the fact that the counting has to continue and conclude and then officially the results announced, it may take two or three days. But if the normal processes, which is what has always happened, does hold good or, you know, Trump doesn't throw a big spanner on the works, then it is quite on the cards that Biden has actually won the election. And it's all over about the shouting. And in fact, Trump's reaction is because he knows he has lost. Now the question was raised about the fault lines. The fault lines have not emerged because of the elections. As you know, the fault lines have been there. There have been mobilizations on the ground. There has been right wing mobilization and there is white supremacy for good prints on the ground has been there for quite some time in the United States. But the difference is that it was officially not accepted by any of the major political parties in the US is only two, that they officially can give blessings to such formations. The President, Trump has done that in his speeches in different points. And if we put all of that into sequence now, you will see that he's now saying that he believes that because he thinks he should continue to be the President, he can actually do so. He believes that he can bully the rest of the constitutional mechanism that exists in the US to finally give in to him and accept his continuation as President, even if he has lost the Electoral College. That seems to be the way he is going and the kind of questions he has raised. You know, I find that not so surprising at one level because this is what the US government has done in different countries. It rejected the elections in Venezuela. It actually using the OAS, it forced the government in Bolivia to act to what would be called a constitutional coup. But in reality was a physical coup forced Ivo Morales to leave and then we find of course after the next election again the same party has come to power with a renewed mandate. In Ukraine, the Maidan as you know, deposed a formally elected President. These are not the only examples. You have other examples which the US has always done this in different countries. Earlier it used to be coups. Lately it is constitutional coups backed by mobilization on the ground. This has been the way it has played. Trump believes that he's got a majority in the Supreme Court. He's got a six to three majorities backed also the lower courts. So he has got a section of the law on the side he believes and he therefore thinks if you can mobilize enough people on the ground that he has a chance of a constitutional coup in the US as well. So I think that's why we are doing this in fault lines that fault lines earlier meant between countries or fault lines which had opened in other countries with the United States or other countries played a role. Here you have a situation the tactic that the US has applied in different countries in the world. Now Trump says well why can't it be applied in the US itself and I think that is the crisis of legitimacy that the US institutions have to survive. We hope that they do because an unstable United States is perhaps the worst result of all because an unstable power which is nuclear weapons which has the certainly controls the financial systems of the world and is the strongest military power. It's not good for the world to have them in an unstable state or have people who are unstable heading such states but that's the scenario we are in. Right and the other interesting thing of course is that Trump is until January to stay in power unlike in many other countries where immediately after the elections the new government takes over. So he's at least two months where he is for all ends and purposes the president so there's a variety of options for him to sort of maneuver legally bring more people to the ground and cause even more chaos. Well till January I think 20th he has a levers of power in his hands because he is though might have lost the election he is the legal president and Biden will be president in waiting. So even if the elections are announced the election results are announced and he can then be seen to have lost the election according to the announcements and that itself is on the set of questions. If that happens then the issue will be that he still controls the levers of power and if he does control the levers of power can he use it against Biden. Legally of course he can't but the fact that the courts section of the courts may be with him he may have certain challenges and being the president if the official machinery listens to him does he have the ability to then subvert the burden that's the issue. You know this is not as black and white as it might appear. The Electoral College normally does not have an identity of its own it carries out that whichever side has won all the votes go to that particular person. But in theory the assemblies, the Electoral College all of them can also play a role. This is something that has not been explored. Is Trump willing to explore it? Probably yes. He might say I don't recognize the struggling elections however there is an Electoral College they should be independent tomorrow who knows. So all I'm saying is the US has used all of these mechanisms in other countries. Now we have a president who seems to be willing to use it in his own country and he is in power till January 20th or so. So only on January 20th as Biden assume power if the transfer of power takes place. So the question is what is the constitutional mechanisms in the US which can control a president and a president. Is are there various other loopholes in the US Constitution which nobody has explored till date. This is unexplored chapter but it is there. So all those possibilities open up with a president who is unwilling to lay down his or lay down office and he says even if he's lost the vote he still claims he hasn't lost that this is a fraudulent vote and there election has been stolen from him. So you know if I don't go into the pathology of Donald Trump's imagination if you leave all of that out. The reality is that he has the levers of control in his hands as of now. And the Constitution has certain gray areas which I said nobody has really explored. Nobody wants to go there. There is an electoral college which is it looks like in favor of Biden but the margins are very narrow. So is it possible for him to mobilize public opinion as it has been called his militant base and then create mayhem on the streets. So these are all unknown questions at the moment. If you look at the news anchors and if you look at the news media the reason that they have not declared any of the other states is they at the moment do not want to repeat anything to the feeling frenzy of the Trump aquiline. So therefore they are being very cautious saying let's wait. So another one or two days we have spent four days. Let's spend one or two days. But there's 100% sure of the result. They don't want any such questioning to be there. But nevertheless these questions are very much there. And as I said it is a playbook. It's a playbook which the US is used in other countries. So when it happens to them they are the US people and the US media is shocked. But it has never shocked them when this playbook is used in other countries. It's only when it's used in the United States they are really in the state of shock that how can anybody do it. Well how could anybody do it in Bolivia and Venezuela. How could they do it in various other countries. How many times has US had a coup in another country because the popular vote against it. And starting with Mosaddegh in Iran when he was overthrown by Shah. It was actually the US and British forces. And Shah of Iran was only 19. Let's face it. He was the complete spooja dance of the British and the Americans. So this is a very old playbook that the US has used. And as I said the only surprise for the American people and the American media is that such a playbook could be attempted even within the United States. And finally Prabir is sort of going back to the aspect you said about the fault lines already being there. I wanted to ask about how we got to a situation where a substantial chunk of the population is actually say it's doubting the democratic process in the US. I mean of course we have people like I said who went out onto the streets saying that stop the counting. And the US and its people are always proud to say that they are the strongest and greatest democracy in the world. So how did we reach such a situation. You know it's very clear that there is a complete fracturing of the US for polity and society in a way that we haven't seen before. Now that by itself would not have been a bad thing because there have been earlier polarizations which have been there. But on other issues and central issues like for instance race were a part of the bipartisan consensus over there. So therefore that this fracturing which is taking place now seems to be fracturing at multiple levels. So you have this traditional right versus left but you also have raised very much in the part of it. Now it's not no longer big capitalist versus the people which is one part of it. But you also have essentially the social shall we say the social democracy which looks at race as also an issue on which to mobilize. And that is what is fractured this time. It also explains why well all the pollsters have written off Trump saying with the COVID-19 what has happened the economy not doing well at the moment and various other things that Trump had done that is that there would be a loss of support for Trump. But we saw the Trump voters came out in much larger numbers than they came out in the last elections. It is the fact that the counter mobilization was also there. This has been the largest voter participation in the United States for the last huge number of elections. Given that it is that that that was the kind of support both sides got. And I will say in this case it's not really both sides. The vote was either pro Trump or anti Trump. That was really the division the United States. But Trump represents a certain particular opinion in the United States which obviously is very strong that he was uncouth he was this he was that all that was true. But in spite of that what he said struck a chord and it struck a chord amongst a section which I think we have to accept has deep racist beliefs that the US belongs to the white population and not to others. And therefore they're willing to mobilize behind Trump irrespective of whatever his other feelings might be that didn't matter to them even including the fact that abortion amongst a large number of women would be something they would not agree with what the for instance the US president US president of course doesn't speak the truth on this he was at one point of time pro abortion arms anti abortion living all of it out. But the Republican Party has moved hard right to on against abortion, but 75% of the American people actually do so think that that row versus we should not the judgment should stand. But in spite of that that is not what is informing their vote. What is informing their vote is clearly the racial preference and that fact that Trump speaks in favor of white dominance white supremacy if you will. That I think is what is really resonating with a certain section and that is the depth of the fracture that exists in the United States that the Trumpian politics trumps everything else. So I think that is the some some total of what we see. And it is something which as long Trump has captured the Republican Party maintains his hold on the Republican Party. This is going to go down to the Senate to the US House of Representatives. So that if there is no question the US, even if Biden does take power will not find it easy to govern because Senate is going to make his life miserable. And Trump has captured the Republican Party. There is nobody in the Republican Party who dares speak against Trump's tantrums that all the things he's been saying without providing us any any evidence. He has questioned the verdict of the elections. He has said, I have not lost I have won. And it has been stolen from me. This is an assertion no proof required. It's free belief. Now that's what he's gone to the people with. And if that is his inclination and the fact that bulk of the Republican Party is either silent or echoed him only few of them have criticized him. And that also varies soft language would seem to show that this not only the deadlock in the US Congress would continue. But I think you are going to see a much more militant Republican right and militia closed in Republican terms, take to the streets and make the country difficult to govern both at the level of people and at the level of the US Congress. So I think we are in for hard. We are in for hard times because the US being unstable is a country. It's a nuclear power means that nothing will be decided, including the nuclear treaties, which at the moment the last one is still there. As you know, the new start expires next year. And I think in February till that point, at least one nuclear treaty is there, but with a kind of disarray, which the US politics is likely to descend into. I doubt that any meaningful international agreements will can be reached. And we know we face at least three challenges. We have the nuclear weapons challenge. Armaments challenge, nuclear, you know, are being putting weapons in space being also one thing on the one of the agenda items for the United States. But apart from that, we have the COVID-19 challenge, which is very much there. Whether it is Delhi or it's United States, you can see the challenge of seriousness. And of course you have the climate change challenge. All these three challenges, which are should be rolling the world are there today. And with an unstable United States, we are now going to see a stability on any of those counts. And of course, then we have all the local instabilities the US has created, which I presume it will continue with in its policies. That's all we have time for today. Keep watching your screen.