Trial By Fire tribune.com.pk

Democracy is on trial around the world. Literally. President Donald Trump faces a bruising impeachment process in the US which may hurt his image but leave him in the office to run for another term next year. Israel has announced a third general election within a single year as sparring parties in a hung parliament failed to give a single candidate the required majority. Benjamin Netanyahu, the incumbent Prime Minister, despite perseverance so far, faces a long, career-ending, corruption trial. The United Kingdom, the mother of parliaments, after three years of a parliamentary nervous breakdown, pulled an early Christmas miracle, solidifying the majority of the ruling Tories. But not before producing a nerve-shattering impasse over the Brexit deal which led to the departure of a prime minister, the Crown’s approval of the suspension of the parliament, reversal of the suspension by the Supreme Court and eventually fresh elections. Even now that the governing Conservatives have won a comfortable majority, the fact that the Scottish National Party (the bane of all Brexiteers) managed to muster an incredible number of seats promises further turbulence. So, the journey ahead is not without perils.