Cabinet will be formally sworn in on saturday. Her brothers of italy, party, which has fascist routes, got the most votes in last month general election when the political block is also raising concerns among some western allies. After an audiotape emerged of one of her allies, boasting of his friendship with russias president , catching up his whole diane reports. She will begin her term as italys Prime Minister in challenging types. Georgia maloney has promised to form a new government quickly as pressure amounts, both at home and abroad. A woman thought was he. But if youve already that australia at such a critical time in our nation, we reiterate that we are ready for 1. 00 fee. We want to move forward as quickly as possible. The new government, she says, will bring stability to the country as its hackles, inflation and soaring energy prices. Maloneys conservative block one, the parliamentary majority, and last month selections. But her leadership is already been questioned, yet the payment of money it leaked. Audio messages suggests former Prime Minister and ally, silvio berlusconi. Brag about his friendship with vladimir, put it, appearing to justify russias invasion of ukraine, who shes with russian ministers said on more than one occasion that we are already at war them. Why . Because we provide weapons and financial helps ukraine. I personally cant express my opinion because if someone shares it with the media, it may cause a disaster. But im very, very, very worried. I reconnected with president putin little what a lot. He sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a really sweet letter from my birthday. I responded with 20 bottles of lad brisket and a similarly sweet letter. Ive been declared by him the 1st of his 5 true friends. The revelations have let attentions within maloneys coalition, fueling fears of radical far right policies within her block. She is try to calm skepticism, especially among european allies, but doubts linger. So, question for europe will be italy going to go wobbly, will actually remain a staunch nato ally. Will italy continue the dragoon policy of supporting ukraine against the russian and base . Bologna says yes or deputies are wildly her party. The brothers of italy has neo fascist roots. Is tough on immigration and has openly criticize the european union. Supporters say maloneys coalition can help italy struggling economy, but critics fear it shifting europes geo politics further to the right. Now millions of people across italy, am europe cautiously a wait to see how the nations 1st while right coalition, since the 2nd world war will govern. One i said, are they born level . Katya low priscilla yan al jazeera. Well, here the formerly that Boris Johnson is setting the stage for political comeback as the Ruling Conservative Party prepared to elect a replacement for Prime Minister less trust a former defense secretary. Penny morden has been the only one to formally announce i candidacy form of finance. Chief richey soon act is also for, its been running. Whoever wins will be the case at 3rd Prime Minister, in less than 2 months. You quite in russia accusing each other of planning to blow up and dam is forces from both sides for path. Whats hanging out to be one of the most crucial battles of the war. Ukrainian president says that the Russian Forces are planted explosives in the nova. Halls cut down in harrison and warning that its destruction would be catastrophic, but a russian installed official and harrison is also accused ukraine of striking down with miss styles. The Congressional Committee investigating last years attack on the u. S. Capital, as formerly issued a subpoena to donald trump and is demanded, he testified by november 14th the january 6 panels. As the former us president was the central cause of efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Well the bottom line is coming up next, hiking him in depth look at politics in washington, specifically a state of the relationship between saudi arabia and the United States. Thats with Steve Clements. Oh hi, im Steve Clements and i have a question. Why is President Biden threatening to rethink relations with saudi arabia . Lets get to the bottom line. Ah, opec set off a firestorm in washington when it decided to slash Global Oil Production by 2000000 barrels a day earlier this month. The white house took it as an act of aggression by saudi arabia. President joe biden said there would be quote, consequences for what theyve done with russia. And the National Security council said its reviewing the entire future of relations between saudi and the us. Democrats in congress, reacted with even more fury with some leading senators, demanding that the us immediately fries all aspects of cooperation with saudi arabia. Meanwhile, saudi arabia denied collaborating with russia to raise the price of oil right before americans head to the poles in their mid term elections. And saudi officials have been fighting back saying that politics had nothing to do with the decision. So is washington overreacting, is re ot overreaching or is saudi arabia like many other countries around the world. Recalibrating who its friends and allies in the world are slowly drifting away from the u. S. And warming up to russia and china. Today were talking with allie, she hobby of saudi commentator and former head of the arabian foundation, washington d. C. Hes the author of the saudi kingdom between the g hottie hammer and the iranian anvil. And daniel pluck a senior fellow at the American Enterprise institute, where she focuses on u. S. Foreign policy towards the middle east. Thank you both for joining me alley. Let me to start out with you right now. Its rare that weve seen a Foreign Policy tizzy of the sort that weve seen after the decision by opec to cut 2000000. 00 barrels of a barrels of oil a day and a lot of anger at the saudis. Because there was this notion that there had been a deal after President Biden strip. Tell us, from your perspective, what just went down. Well, its a horrible misunderstanding, really, because yes, there was a deal. There was an understanding that saudi arabia would do its best to stop or you going to 200. 00. And in effect, they did that by incrementally increasing production over the summer. So the saudi understanding was that our job is to make sure, and its also in saudi interest to make sure that the price of oil does not get into the re, a ridiculous level that has multiple negative impacts on everybody, concerned producers and consumers. But that did not mean that saudi arabia cannot protect the price of its primary commodity, which it lives on and allow it to fall. And i think thats where the misunderstanding came in, because when you know, im co and the saudi, all authorities and opec started to see demand destruction. And the recession coming up and the need to reduce production to keep the price where it was really or that is what they did. And markets have proven them to be right. I mean, the price did not shoot up. In fact, its dropped a little bit, but it stayed there on the 90. 00. But so, you know, if youre a believer markets and i think america. 2 taught us all to believe in markets are markets spoke really and, and the confirm the wisdom of the saudi decision. Well, i want to jump to to, to danny minute, but been on, on the issue the price value of other factors in place. You have, you know, that game of thrones line winter is coming, is out there. You also have a russian weapon, ization of energy cutting off supplies of gas and, and fuel to, to many european nations. So you have other factors that have driven that price of fuel in energy up, you have protests around the country. So at what point do the saudis think us a price is sustainable for them versus say, Eastern Europe . No look, the saudi and opec approach is to try and keep the price in the 9200 dollar range that serves everybodys interests, including the u. S. Channel industry, which needs that price to invest. Now, if things, again, this is a dynamic process, so nothing is carved in steel. If in the next couple of months, you know, the market turns demand increases, china stops, its long, its corporate policies, then the opec will react. And and sundry has said that it is not going to allow prices to shoot up, but at the same time, its not going to allow prices to collapse. And i mean, the kingdom lives on the price of oil. Its so much more important for it than it is for anybody else, let alone america, which is a, you know, and net exporter itself. So thats where people are. So surprised by the reaction reaku is daniel plaque. And i basically was taught essentially, that saudi arabia was americas ally in the closet. We didnt talk about it a lot. It was sort of there. We kind of turned a blind eye to human rights issues now. And then because at the end of the day to back stop american Foreign Policy around the world, saudi arabia would help with pakistan, would help here help there. And so there was a structural bit of the relationship that was deep beneath what we could see above. And im just wondering whether, as you look at whats begun to unfold, is that coming undone and is it good that its coming undone . Well, i think that the idea behind what youre talking about is coming undone. This notion that there is a compact between the United States and saudi arabia. We underwrite your security, you underwrite our Energy Security and then you know, we just all pretend to be best friends and look away when, when you misbehave on, on the human rights front or on the religious front or on the support for terrorism from which was a very long and problematic period. But the realities of the relationship havent changed at all. You know, is it, its merely the mythology that surrounds the relationship that has changed the realities. Are we by energy, saudi arabias cells, energy. And thats not going to change for a long time. The other factor here is, you know, we look at the neighborhood right here, are we choosing among exactly here . You know that we prefer the iranians. The saudis have have been the most important country in the gulf region for a very long time. Theyve been important to us. Iran is not going to supplant them. Notwithstanding the hopes of people from the Obama Administration or re treads of the Obama Administration in the bud, an administration. And so, you know, we can talk about how they let us down, are they lied to us. We can talk about how we wish that they behave better and didnt murder dissidence in their counselors. But thats not going to alter the fundamental realities of the relationship. You just mentioned iran, danny, and one of the things that i was able to break a very minor story that became big on twitter was that the United States was canceling a u. S. G c. C meeting was an integrated working group on integrated air and Missile Defense focus on iran was scheduled for october 17th, and us officials were not going to show up to that. I found the word that had been cancelled the white house later said, oh, its not been cancel, were just eventually going to postpone it. But part of this is the dynamic of how iran is seeing this tension in the gcc and tension, particularly between Saudi Arabian, the United States. From your perspective is this, you know, frustration that joe biden is now expressing a lot of particularly Democratic Senators and members of congress. Is iran just enjoying the show . Well, you know, again hey, we have the problem in washington, dc of pretending to ourselves that everything is a bilateral conversation, you know, saudi arabia, youve disappointed us for the last time. And therefore were not going to come to this, this important defense conference. It run, youre busy murdering men, women and children wantonly in the streets and, and, and, but go, what else are you do you . What does that is area or maybe what does matt about the oil and gas we, joe, are mad at you. We run about to really go Nuclear Program and, and youre terrorism and, and your failure to come to come back to the j. C p. O. A with us. This is, this is Foreign Policy as if its high school. Unfortunately, and Foreign Policy isnt high school. We it would be wonderful if we were surrounded by only the best people who did only the nicest things that is not the reality of the world. And the button administrations willingness to sort of a to, to try to constantly course correct, based on who was nice to me yesterday is an extraordinarily dangerous thing to do because as you say to you correctly, the iranians read this. But its not just the iranians, the russians read this fell, these rallies, read this, and all of them make decisions based on how they believe the most important country in the world. The most important leader in the world is going to act on any given day alley. Lets listen to President Biden for a moment. We have a short clip. It is a disappointment, and it says that there are problems. So weve had a president ial statement alley, she hobby, that there are problems is not like saying this is, you know, that this has to be dealt with. And weve had a folks around muhammad been so long, the crown prince of south salary. But we, you know, all referred to him as m b s. And you know, these folks, they to have said, hey, if america is saying theyre problems, there can be problems. How do you know, how do we gone from the fist bump from m b. S, and joe biden meeting in saudi arabia recently to where were at now, and what are your observations of the equities that are in danger . Well look, i think there was a mistake in the thinking behind the visit of President Biden projector i it was an important visit. It was good, it happened. But i think he took so much political flack from his left that he felt that he had to come to jetta and make statements. So, you know, from the 1st bombed to his press conference right after the meeting, he threw a bit of cold water on what could have been a complete reset. Now, that did create a bit of bad blood, but still not enough to make soggy. Ravia consciously want to play in domestic american politics, which is what the democrats think is happening now. I mean, the democrats think that this decision had something to do with upcoming elections. And as you know, the saudi government came up and said that, you know, there was a request to delay the opec meeting till after the election. Now, you know, sadly radio doesnt want to get involved in american domestic politics. And frankly, the republicans have also been warmer to saudi arabia than the democrats over the years. So why on earth with saudi arabia, you know, do get, get into a trap like that. But still, so they didnt, you know, delay an important meeting or to accommodate u. S. Domestic political requirements. Now the mike ministration got very upset about that, but i think it was unwise of them to expect that and, and that has created, you know, unfortunate about blood. And what that does is it just confirms to saudi leaders, the wisdom of the policy that theyve been pursuing, and the last few years to diversify their strategic partnerships. Because you have to remember in 2020 saga got into an oil war with russia and the increased production. And the price of oil was brought down to below 0. And american politicians from congress to governors to the president went ballistic. And they threatened to withdraw the so called, you know, protection and on deliveries. And they encourage saudi arabia to go back and cooperate with the russians. And in effect, thats what happened. And a price of all brought back up. So on one side, you have the american ministration, asking you to cooperate with russia. On the other side, theyre asking you to break off with russia because an invasion of ukraine. Now, you know, this is the strategic relationship for saudi arabia. Its not in this because they like russia or dislike russia. Its in it because russia is the 2nd largest producer of oil on earth and to manage the market. They need to coordinate with the russians. Its as simple as that. And whether mr. Walton is in power or not, that will continue when we now know, or were told any way that the u. S. Government asked saudi arabia did to delay this decision by a month and that was not done. Do i mean that to me i get, get you back into what, what danny just said is maybe we need to take the fig leaf off this relationship and just real realized, its going to be far more transactional than it had been in the past. Maybe was transactional in the past, but there was a predictability in that, that made when we dont have any more history to this. All. So theres over a decade now of american politicians saying we are exiting the region. Were losing interest in the region. We are. 1 pivoting to asia, so you know, if, if your best friend keeps on telling you that, you know, he doesnt want to be your best friend anymore. Its going to impact the way you look at it. So yes, a has been building relations with china with russia, but also with the u. K. In with france and with brazil and with south africa, the South African president is in the kingdom at the and theyre talking military. 2 procurement from south africa, so theyre opening up strategic relationships with multi part because a monogamous relationship with america, given the american political system is not something that any country can rely on re, danny, what would you be advising the Joe Biden Team to do right now that its not doing a very generous of you and thank you for the compliment. They look into the Joe Biden Team, isnt necessarily going to take advice from me. But i think there are plenty of people who are saying the same thing. You know, you cannot, you cannot tried to play these games in the middle east. I think the one point where i truly agree with with ali and i agree with a lot of what he said. But where i truly agree with ali is this the, this notion that the United States can for a decade plus talk about the pivot to asia. I always say to people, you know, what pivoting does, right . You know, you are facing something and you turn away and you give your back to somebody, follow that with. Busy you know, a precipitous and disastrous withdrawal from iraq and 2011, and then our, our humiliating and disgraceful withdrawal from afghanistan under the biden administration. And any country that has relied on us has to ask those questions. What i would tell the button administration is, you know, look, you dont need to worry as much about saudi arabia when push comes to shove, the notion that the british or the french, or, excuse me for, you know, not laughing out loud here. The chinese or the russians are going to come to your aid in extremis is, is, is completely laughable at the notion that they could buy weaponry from them. That thats fine. You can diversify your military supply. And i know that our defense contractors will be very depressed by that. But the idea that somehow that you as can be supplanted by one of these, our other powers is incorrect. Only we can supplant ourselves. We need to decide and that we want to maintain this relationship that we do not want to ignore when saudi arabia does things that we disapprove of. But that we have an important relationship with that is in some ways transactional, in some ways historical. But nonetheless, that important relationship and not pretend to ourselves that somehow a pivot is going to happen. Thats going to enable us to run away from whether its ma havent been said, man or is i have a name or is israel . Thats just not going to happen. Thank you for the alley on your please. I had there. Yes. I mean, you know, its not the apples with apples. Absolutely. Nobody can supplant america. But nobody assumes that the america will come to the aid the way, the 990. 00 under any circumstance. So countries have to come up with a bag of other tools. China has influence with iran. Russia has influence with her on the europeans that the french and the europeans have a capacity to project a certain amount of power. So nobody can duplicate what america can do. But you have to improvise, and that is what saudi arabia is. Going to do is go to improvise because nobody expects america to have the political appetite to transport 40 400000 troops besides radia. If that ever required, again, thats not going to happen except in a miracle. So you will have to work to improvise and find another way around that. And that is the way that youre going to diversify your strategic relationship. In despite the economic rationale, isnt the act still a gift to republicans and a slap on the wrist or at least a wake up call for democrats. While democrats should listen to the president of ukraine, he came out on twitter and thank saudi arabia for its support. Now got involved its involvement in the Prisoner Exchange financial aid, but also voting in the u. N. So if the president of ukraine does not think the saudi arabia 5 or mister putin, with all due respect to Republican Democratic politicians, who are they to a que side, your age of siding with mr. Saudi arabia was looking after its own interest. It has no choice but to cooperate with, with the russians. Now, look, its a collateral issue. Sandra yes. Has an upper institutional memory, which many in the see dont have in the political sphere to remember that you cannot play politics in america. It is certainly not, has not done this damage of democrats or to help the republicans. Its wants to stay out of this. Now, its the administration maybe that saw a political value in it, but the price of more and we as a move. So i mean, if the price of or that shut off 250. 00, we could be talking about that. But the price of oil is actually dropped a couple of dollars since that the decision we can put the graphic up actually that shows, in fact what the spike up and then you know how its become, come to down where the market is bringing us. So thank you for raising that. Go ahead. All so i dont know really and i dont know where you get the 76. 00 figure about because the price has been around 90. 00 before the opec meeting and went up a couple of dollars and then came down. So again, markets speak, you know, and markets determine whats happening. And the, and this is why i think, you know, its really baffling people in reality, how they met, how the democrats are taking this personally. And i think right, the problem was that, that they, that mr. By the end, the democrats thought that the visit to rehab warts. And oh, despite what you know, the chris bump and the press conference bestowed such a favor on saudi arabia that saudi arabia was going to do whatever they wanted. Even if its not in their interest. Right under the account of what to do about right danny, i just want to ask you kind of that as we wrap this conversation up a forward looking question. If you want to measure the, the basically contraction of American Power in the world. Dont just look at your foes, look at your allies, that the allies behavior changes in the region as much as your their foes do. And im just interested in, in basically, as you look forward, is there any prospect at this autumn, you know, gets better or are we looking essentially at the disintegration of americas assets and relationships in the world in an ongoing kind of mess like were seeing right now or do you see any hope on the horizon that we might be able to begin to get some of these, these things right from an american perspective. If youre asking a great question, i think and, and one thats very hard to answer. Look the way. First of all, i want to see something just to address a little bit about what your previous question to alley is the worst dis service were that in the litany of des, services that were done to, to our International Relations by the trumpet, ministration. One of the worst to services was the injection of partisanship into it. The notion that somehow the democrats belong to iran and Saudi Arabian israel belong to the republicans. This is unsustainable and completely antithetical to americas interests. Not the g o p, or the democrats. And you know, the sooner we can offload that stupidity, that the better it will be as you, you know, your question, look, one of the things that is depressing but true about the reality of the middle east is that it is not the United States or are good friends and allies who decide what the course of the future course of our actions is going to be. It is our adversarys 8. It is the rons. It is the elk kind as it is the isis is. It is the odds. It is the hamas is on the hook bowlers. They are the ones that decide where we are going to be. And if we forget who we need to work with, what our interests are and how to best support our principles and values and our alliance as in partnerships, we give the advantage to them. They will decide where we go in the future. Thats really not what we want, but it is the appropriate long term view. What alleys she hobby saudi commentator and author, daniel, pluck a senior fellow at the American Enterprise institute. I really appreciate you both being with us today. Thank you. Thanks. So whats the bottom line . Were living in a time when the worlds tectonic plates are shifting and just like those plates under our feet. The ones that move and cause earthquakes in tsunamis and volcanoes above ground, global power is moving and shifting right before our eyes. The same forces that kind of sorta kept the world together in the last century are just slipping away. U. S. Power in the world is receding on a relative basis in both americas adversaries and its allies. Feel the change. Im not seeing that america is weak. Im just seeing that its just not all powerful. Saudi arabia pushed to cut Oil Production for several reasons. Heres the name, a few one, the de facto ruler of saudi arabia, m b, s, and joe biden dont particularly like each other. Number 2, trump showered saudi arabia with attention for better or worse, and teen biden barely gives it any attention. Number 3, the Global Economic slowdown is a real thing, and opec does have a solid argument regarding making cuts and number 4. And this one hits home the most, theres an election happening in america and a couple of weeks. And saudi arabia wants to show that it can make an impact here if it wants for the democrats. Thats the one thats things the most. And thats the bottom line. Ah, the weight of the world as the main event gets closer. Oh, just hear us every step. The way im going to go with one month to go. We focus on teams can expect some strong support here in castlewood got caught up with the pressures of hosting with australia make the most of squeezing you through the player or will it be south korea, japan, saudi arabia or iran progress for the world cup count out on jessie, you know, growing up in England Country with a rich football history. The welcome is always meant a great deal to me because so many memories of watching the tournaments that have gone from being a child. Watching games on my side, actually presenting at a woke up. It really is a dream come true. This is going to be really unique. Woke up. We havent seen anything like this before, so i cant even imagine what is going to be like being immersed in it as a fun out. As a journalist, the drama thousands of fans packing out the stadium, gonna be really, really exciting. Ah hello, im marianna mazin london just a quick look at our main stories. This salad in italy 1st female Prime Minister is put together government