Everywhere weve gone here, as is often the case with climate disasters in pakistan, the devastation is vast and the immediate need are very basic people, weve spoken to say that what they need right away is some form of shelter. Anything to put over their heads. They need food and they need medicine. Weve met children who have already begun to experience skin disease, the symptoms of dehydration, and most importantly right now the median challenge is to do something about the hunger people here are hungry and there is not enough food to go around. There really arent any aid organizations at the moment. Any of the places that weve visited, what we have seen is most of the help, whether theres a little help is being arranged, hes being arranged at the local level. There are no international, n g o z. And it is taking time for the government to mobilize any sort of National Rescue and relief response. And there is now mounting anger over those circumstances. What were seeing is there are roads that have been washed away, so communities are cut off and simply assessing the damage, assessing what people need. Thats a challenge in and of itself. So people are being asked by local officials by local government, as well as the federal government to be patient. They say that health is on the way, but the rains are on the way as well. And what were hearing in neighboring baluchistan province is protests have already started to happen and quite over the lack of relief and the lack of help. And the slow pace of that help in neighboring afghanistan floods are affecting several regions North Eastern pan share is a latest province to be swamped by heavy rainfall. So waters have inundated around 3000. 00 homes and destroyed fields of crops. The taliban says 182 people have died. Fridays air strike in northern ethiopia killed at least 4 people, including 2 children. Unicef says a kindergarten was hitting the kelly, the regional capital of the to grind government forces, and the rebels accused each other of breaking of fragile ceasefire and a conflict that killed thousands of people. At least 3 people had been killed in fighting between rival armed groups in the libyan capital. The violence broke out early on such day and a heavily populated part of tripoli is the latest threat to 2 years of relative peace after ceasefire between allies of rival governments. Ukraine says its exported a 1000000 tons of Agricultural Products so far. Under a deal, bro could buy the u. N. And turkey. Last month. Grain and food stuffs had been trapped in ukraine since the russian invasion in february. Keith says it aims to ship 3000000. 00 tons of products in the next month. Not madam. Oh, shes pretty nice. One additional. The 1st 1000000 tons of Agricultural Products were exported since to february 24th. Does the victory . By the way, 44 ships be green and Agricultural Products have already been sent to 15 countries. We have 72 more applications for the arrival of ships for loading. The goal is to reach a volume of 3000000 tons of export by sea. Every month when russia has blocked the adoption of a joint declaration on the you ends Nuclear Disarmament treaty or from month Long International conference. Moscow objected to parts of the draw statement which included concerns about russias seizure of europes Largest Nuclear power plant in ukraine. U. S. Justice department has released a sensitive version of the document that helped secure permission to search Donald Trumps home this month. It says classified documents when not safeguarded at the former president s state. The latest round of us talks on finalizing a treaty to protect marine life in international waters. As ended without an agreement. Members have been negotiating for years. Sticking points include the process for creating protected areas. Thats all the headlines needs, continues herron algebra, thats after the bottom line. Ah hi, im Steve Clements and i have a question. This President Joe Biden have a strategy for the middle east. And if so, what is it . Lets get to the bottom line. The joe biden made his 1st trip to the middle east visiting israel, saudi arabia, and the occupied palestinian territories for decades. The regions really been under Firm American control, but more recently, china and russia had become more present and present throughout the region in many middle eastern in north african countries, as americas own engagement seems to slowly fade. So what are the results of his 40 visit to the region and what can we expect on issues ranging from a deal with iran, nuclear weapons, to the prospects of a palestinian israeli piece deal today were talking with steven cook, senior fellow at the council on Foreign Relations and author of boss, don, protest, democracy and violence in the new middle east. Stephen, its great to be with you and i want to play for you a short sound by President Biden on this trip. Lets listen to the president. We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by china. Russia were ran, will seek to build this moment with active principle, ver collision. And then at the, at the end of this, the president says, and the United States is not going anywhere. Now typically when somebody is making a big declaration that theyre not going anywhere, theyre usually means that theres fears that they are leaving. What, whats, whats going on with the u. S. In the, in the region before. So thanks for having me. And i think that the, the Biden Administration really hasnt decided what its pastor is in the middle east after now, 18 months in office. Youll recall that when bitin 1st took the oath of office, there was lots of discussion including from senior members of his administration about de emphasizing the middle east secretary state tony blake, and talked about spending more time on other regions in the world. And that the middle east had taken up a lot of resources of the United States of the previous 20 years. What they didnt anticipate, whereas that there were going to be geopolitical and domestic political shocks that were going to drive President Biden back to the middle east. And his visit to saudi arabia, in particular, had everything to do with russias invasion of ukraine and spike in oil prices. And thus the spike in gasoline prices for American Consumers at the pump. First, the administration came in saying that the me that the middle east isnt so important. Now its saying it is important and were going to stay. I think what the actors in the region, the cut there is the saudis, the muradi is the israelis egyptians. They want more than just words. They want proof. They want actions that the United States actually is going to stay in is going to be an anchor of stability and security in the region right now as a result of the president s visit. They dont seem convinced. Okay, i think you and i have been at this now for decades. Ive been reading reading, steven cooks books and counts on Foreign Relations papers. Thank you. Randall and, and i think that this, the sense i have is that when america wanted to do something in the middle east that, that the big anchor nations in that region largely fell and the lime to day it feels as if you know, that that whole kind of quid pro quo, even the transactions are up for grabs, that saudi arabia is looking as much to china and russia to hedge its bad against the United States. Are the big stakeholder countries youve written about like egypt, like saudi arabia, the other, you know, the main weather vanes in the middle east looking at the u. S. As the great power in the way they did 2 decades ago. Definitely not. Um lets keep in mind that between the defeat of saddam husseins forces, after the invasion of kuwait in 191991. And then 6 months later, the fall of the soviet union up until very recently the United States was the only major external power in the middle east. It could drive events in the region, the saudis, the egyptians, even israelis didnt really have another option. Suddenly, over the course of the last 5 years, you have a return of the russians to the region and you have increasing investment on the part of the chinese and increasing chinese presence in the region. Way back in the 1900 ninetys, the chinese were barely even present. Now they are major, major actors in the region and the saudis, egyptians israelis in a morattis look at the chinese and say, hey, theres a lot of opportunity here. Were not entirely convinced that the United States is going to play that role, that it once did. And we want to have the russians and the chinese at the table, so that as a result of the president s visit, the saudis didnt say ok, were gonna open the spigot and let the oil flow. They said, look, we have an agreement with the russians through opec plus and Market Conditions will demand, how much oil we put on the market. Thats very different from the kinds of things that we seen from the saudis in the past. So its a remarkable thing to think about russians in the region to think about Russian Troops and libya, russian advisors in egypt. And i knew that were always russian activities in syria. But there were sort of big limits to where they could go. Whats rushes grand strategy in the middle . Well, russia is not necessarily interested in the middle east because of the middle east, per say. What russian president Vladimir Putin is after is to weaken the United States in the west, and the middle east is adjacent to europe. And the United States has been the major actor in the region. So by intervening in syria and rescuing bashar assad, he made an impression on other leaders in the region. In contrast to the way in which they viewed president obamas actions when there was an uprising in egypt, in which after just a few days, the president , i say, started talking about americas 30 year ally in egypt about a transition from power for a hosni mubarak. That difference where the days supported asada not made an impression on the leaders and the major powers in the region that the russians were competent, non ideological, and making a play for leadership in the region that undoubtedly, undoubtedly those actions made the russians seem a more attractive option than the United States, and suddenly the russians are selling more weaponry to the egyptians than they have since the early 19 seventies. This, saudis have struck a much better relationship with the russians ever since. Ah, russia is there to stay and it is using its position not only to kind of elbow out or out maneuver the United States, although the russians hardly have the same kind of powers United States, but also by its presence in north african civically in libya. It poses a threat to europe. Its able to sow distrust and concern and a division between European Countries as well as between the United States and its european allies. You were one of the most, um i think pression, but also just Just Brilliant writers about the arab spring and egypt. What came out of on that movement . Im just interested in what is the state of americas democracy efforts in the region . My sense is that a lot of people who stood up for their rights, their values to sort of change their course of their governments felt abandoned by the United States that we were good at, offering promises and, and ra ra, support about democracy. But at the end of the day, were missing in action. Tell me where im wrong. Well, no, were not missing in action. I think that im a, the, the changes that had happened in the arab world were truly inspiring. But when the United States stepped up to help, there was only really so much that the United States could do. Changing these societies, changing the political parameters in these countries, is really up to the people within these countries. As an i point out my book faust on those people who rose up ford, demanding rights and democracy. They were up against very, very powerful forces who were determined not to allow them to succeed. Was very little that the United States could do in order to prevent that from happening. All that being said, and ever since President Trump came to office, the United States has evinced very, very little official interest in supporting those voices around the region that want to live in were democratic and open countries. President biden spoke very forcefully about American Values during his campaign in the early stages of his administration. But its been mostly rhetorical. The administration has been precious little on the question, even just basic human rights. If you look at the repression that people are forced to endure around the region and how basically silent this administration has been, i think the calculation has been theres really no. This is why so many people were frustrated with the saudi trip because it was very clear that President Biden did not want to do a president. Trump did, and make saudi arabia the, his 1st visit outside the country and to go and not address human rights issues. And so he ended up going with a lot of photoshop pictures of, you know, President Biden sitting there with a gas can in hand. But, but when he brought up jamal car shoji and his murder as we know by agents of the saudi government and, and according to our ca, at the direct instruction of mohammad been some on been some on and others basically said, hey, are you, you know, this this is, this is ridiculous, look at abu ghraib, look at your record in human rights in the region. And so where is that . Is that visual which i mean, we used to talk about the importance of abu ghraib and how it was going to be a terrorism recruiter. What undermine the american brand and credibility on these issues . Is that still something in the minds of many in the arab world . That it doesnt give a standing to talk about human rights. We dont have a lot of standing to talk about him or its not only because of our rib, but because of the questions we have here in the states. But the status of our own democracy in theres a sense that we need to get her to like january sick, january 6, toxicity in this country, practicing the polarization. The questions about the integrity of our elections are things that observers from other parts of world and in particular in the middle east, are watching and find it. Hey, disturbing that the night since would lecture them about human rights and democracy in change when the United States hasnt got its own house in order that is really hampering our ability even if the administration was interested in this issue. But i will tell you that from the very beginning, President Biden painted himself into a corner that was very hard for him to get out of because there was always going to be a time where he was going to need saudi arabia. And it was important for him to speak out about the murder of jamal showcase. But by saying i wont deal with my mom had been saw man by saying we are not going to sell weapons to the saudis, no matter what, by basically closing off avenues of dialogue with the saudis, we pushed the saudis away. And then at a moment of need, the saudis were able to make the prisoner, id say, to look quite weak. And that he did look quite weak when he showed up in rod for those meetings with the crown prince and other saudi officials who didnt in the end do what the president had wanted to do, take accountability for the rent rights record, pumped more oil. Ah, a and slowly move away from the russians and the chinese, none of those things have happened. I mean, its remarkable in the strip that President Bidens goal of lining up allies against the russian invasion of a sovereign nation. Its her twin ukraine. He basically came back with nothing, i kept thinking, well, maybe its going to come out and maybe in one or 2 weeks. So it doesnt look as reactive to president pox, right. But virtually nothing has happened in terms of winding that up. Has this got to be one of the most ineffective trips by a u. S. President to region trying to get, you know, allies to support us . Well, it does seem to be that it is all been one way that the United States has essentially compromised its principles. Ah, the United States is selling Patriot Missile batteries to the saudis, with the saudis are not upholding their end of whatever deal that was struck in riyadh when it came time on august 3rd, where the opec plus meetings, the saudis said, were going to release 100000. 00 more barrels, oil minuscule, minuscule. And now well see what happens in the, in the fall. But it does not seem that the saudis are willing to consider the president s position, but said diplomatically, well, look, this is a little bit of an unfair question, because youve already said there is no coherent biden strategy towards the middle east. But if there were a coherent bite and strategy towards middle east, how important is the israel palestine to that . Because israel palestine is a feature of the reasons like iraq of feet for the region. There are these issues the region. I cant tell. I mean that the senator biden, i knew the vice President Biden, i knew, would never think of not talking about occupied territories and settlements, but you didnt hear much of that when he went to israel. And so are we bypassing that or just putting on on hold to basically where would it fit if there was a steven cook coherent strategy in the movies . Where would israel palestine be . Well, whats, lets just start with the fact that the president goals in the middle east have been quite limited. Get back into the joint comprehensive plan of action, the j. C. Per i the, the iran, there we go, which, which may happen, and to get the saudis out of yemen. Full stop. I think when it came to palestine in israel, the president did go to bethlehem. He did meet with my food, a boss. Of course, the timing was terrible since after the murder of awe of sharina black lay, your colleagues in the United States sort of weasely got out of saying, well, she was murdered by israeli fire, but it was unintentional. And that really satisfied, satisfied no one. I think when the president was the Vice President , he oversaw negotiations between israelis and palestinians and came to the conclusion, despite his long history of supporting in 2 states was although hes a long been a staunch supporter of israel. I think he came to the conclusion that these negotiations werent going anywhere that he didnt want to invest his efforts in a 2 state solution given the, the myriad problems that he has on his plate. But of course, you know, there has been a lot of progress in israel and its neighbors over the course of the last 2 years. Only want to ask you about that. The abraham quite didnt allow it. I was, i mean, and you never hear the Administration Talk about the brand, right . Except for the fact that you still have this central problem that is going to continue to be a source of instability. And so, so source of importantly, societal opposition to these agreements between governments to normalize relations with israel. In the end, it may not matter, but at the same time, it doesnt help the region that this conflict remains unresolved. And in fact may be an resolvable at this point. So you can have a coherent, middle east strategy and sort of contain the israel palestine dimension of it is what im hearing you say. Well, thats what i think the Trump Administration believed. And i think by default, thats what the Biden Administration please. I think that i think that the 2nd theres some exclusion of violence. And i dont mean a 4 day war between cynita slamming jihad and the ide. Yep. I mean, you know, societal unrest in the west bank in the gaza strip. People will start speaking differently about it. But until then i think people have convinced themselves that there can be a lot of progress in the region without really addressing the palestinian problem. Dont touch me a minute about the abraham courts because i think for most people who arent following this region every day, the Abraham Accords sound like this construct. They do the, you know, its something it was planted. They dont know if theres any fruit from it. Hows it going . Whos in it . Is it going to expand . Have relations genuinely changed between say the u. E and israel are the saudis gonna line up . Tell, tell us a little bit about that world. Let me just start by by way of anecdote. Um, in march i was in dubai and nobody and i could hear the sing song of hebrew everywhere i turned weather is in the Hotel Elevator in a mall or wherever i was going. I ran into his rallies in, in rome. I got on a plane, i got on an ale. All these really airline in dubai flew over saudi territory and landed in tell it it in my entire retirement decades. We both been dealing with these as and i, i never thought that that would ever happen. It was rather, it was rather extraordinary, so there has been progress on. Theres a lot of tours em, its mostly in one direction. Theres been a lot of link ups of business concerns, a lot of security cooperation, which was already happening before the Abraham Accords. The Indian Government now once in on the abraham court, so there has been progress on the question is, will it go beyond the current signatories will go beyond the u. E. Bahrain and rock. I dont even put sudan really in that category, given the, the, the rain stability in sudan and not really knowing whats going on there. And the big issue is, what are the saudis going to do now they took a modest step when the president was, was in reality, they are going to allow israeli airliners traveling east to india to asia. Aah to traverse saudi aerospace. But it strikes me that with all of the kind of speculation about the saudis being next, its a much different context for the saudis to normalize relations with the israelis without a file resolution to the palestinian problem than it is for, for example, of power bahrain use or the m rod, i hate to be sectarian because its not in my nature, but is this becoming a sunni league of interest with israel versus shia . Standouts is, is this another proxy for the iran saudi conflict, which is also an iran western conflict and would just love to know from you as we sit what i think is on the precipice of a possible return to the j. C. P. O. At least thats the way things are looking right now. How does that either stir things up more or actually begin to a different track for stabilizing . What i do, i do think its, you know, you, you do hate to be sectarian because you dont want to reduce signings to, you know, put all the nellums is there that theres definitely an element there. Look what initially drove saudi immorality, bahrain e, israeli relations that have been under the table on the security front, you know, in some dark room in a basement in a man was the thread of iran that they all proceed. And importantly, going back to what we were previously talking about, the sense that the United States was not committed to their security instability, particularly with regard to iran, that the United States was off on this idea that you could have a nuclear deal with the iranians and this would begin a process of the iranians coming into the region and sharing the region. And so as of they were responding really to lot of that kind of thinking. But of course, there are a lot of other air seats or sunni majority. I would say to you are opposed to the Abraham Accords because of the palestinian issue. Whos going to win out here in or the benefits of normalization without settling palestinian conflicts. Are they going to outweigh the opposition to it or the other way around. So for the saudis are making it clear that those benefits will not outweigh the importance of the palestine issue, at least for saudi arabia. I know many people consult with you where, what is the state of the j. C. P. O, a. And i guess the obvious question is, you know, one of the iranian concerns which they publicly expressed is how do we have any, you know, understanding of solvency of this. If you bring in one president who wants it, the next president comes in and says dismantle it. Because i mean, the truth be told the parties that did not live up to the agreement where the United States, not the irony, thats right. We all know that we violated the deal that we did with them, not the iranians. And its only so in that, in that case, how do you put that back together in any way that will survive 2024 and whoever comes out the other . Well, thats right. And, you know, the iranians are not alone in this. If you talk to the saudis, you talk to him, radi starts israel. He starts regions. Theyre very, very concerned about these 180 degree swings in American Foreign policy. Is it the j. C. P. O, a. Is it not the juicy pa are we important . Are we not important is Oil Important is all not important. I think when it comes though, specifically to the jcp, 1st of all, let me just put out on the table. I am getting very tired of trying to spitball this, you know, those you know, really arent talking. Right. I think what we know is that the state department has said were close, but there are a lot of hang ups that continue. And one of them is what you point out is that the iranians need some assurance that weve repeatedly called what ive been in and briefly deal. Once again, let me ask you finally about china and chinas grand strategy in the region. China seems to be in every region the world it seems to with belt and road initiative. But, you know, debt relations, you know, debt deals, it, it has around the world. China seems to be present in the way the United States used to be present around the world in the 1950s. So as youve kind of dealt with these various countries, this is china a as big a factor as i sort of feel it is. Well, its certainly the single largest investor in the region, but that doesnt the middle east unique. Its the single largest investor in almost every other region of the world, with perhaps the exception of north america. But it even could be, ah, its significant in north america as well. I think, you know, were talking ourselves into a sort of cold war 2 point oh, youre here in washington. Im here in washington. A lot of discourse about the chinese threat. I dont actually see it so much in the middle east. Yes, the chinese are investing. They want relations, but they dont want to get wrapped around the axle in the way that the United States has in the politics and. 3 security of the region, they want to benefit from the security that the United States provides, and they can have relations with all the important countries of the region to serve their interests. So yes, china is a rising power with a lot of ambition, but in the middle east, as of yet, theyre not seeking to challenge us position. Theyre seeking to extract from the region what they can to pursue their economic goals, which is the continued rise of china throughout this century. Steven cook, senior fellow for the middle east in north africa, counts on Foreign Relations. Thanks so much for being with us today. Its a great pleasure to be with you soon. So whats the bottom line . The middle east is full of both promise and of danger. The legacy of colonialism, superpower, proxy wars, and rivalries between leaders make the region one that struggles with its place in the world. For things to change, we need to see things like the palestine, israel stand off being resolve or relations with iran, normalizing with the rest of the world. But neither of those things have happened for decades. How would we actually know if theres progress when social and political visionaries in the middle east rise and rebuff . Russia, china, and the u. S. At their efforts in control and show that theres a better way forward for their citizens. Then wed know thats not to say that the great powers wont be around. They will be in both the u. S. And china both have a lot to offer. But as long as these power see the region only through a military sales lens, or is a Security Threat or the gas station, and not for their people, their talent and the consequence of the region beyond oil and weapons, theyre going to get it wrong. And there are strategies for the middle east like that of the United States, the day are gonna fail. And thats the bottom line ah debating the issues of the day frog use as always, then criminalized around the boundaries of rights. These are just numbered. There people are families and our friends and our Community Member on our on line i, jewel, voice fisma to iep. Dont believe in dialogue. Dont political crisis must be off with a political solution as Climate Change progress is there some people who are in places that theyre just going to have to made . There is no recognition about what were ready facing the street. Oh now j 0 as the count down to the fee for will cut 2022 approaches. Every continental turning its eyes to cattle. We have a feeling that great to school to the vents in the world wont be the only thing capturing everyones attention beyond football. Immerse yourself in internationally renowned entertainment, auto culture. Capital has everything youd want to the destination. In fact, its the obvious choice for the 5th a will come 2022. So why go anywhere else . Lou . Im carry johnston in doha with the headlines here on al jazeera, unprecedented. That monsoon rainfall has submerged large parts of pakistan, killing it more than 900. 00 people. The government has declared a National Emergency and is calling for international help. At least half a 1000000 homes have been damaged at rhodes washed away, and nearly 150 bridges destroyed. Or Cindy Robbins is one of the worst affected areas. Same bizarre avi is there