Top american leaders often have problems with israel, which depends heavily on american support. Gunfire. But doesnt necessarily do what the us wants. Usually, though, american officials keep quiet about it. Not so the us deputy secretary of state, kurt campbell. He said publicly the other day israels leaders mostly talk about the idea of a sweeping victory on the battlefield, but the Biden Administration didnt believe such a thing was possible. Neither do many other observers. So why is israel pursuing the idea, and why is Benjamin Netanyahu so willing to ignore what the us wants . I put these questions to shaina oppenheimer, a journalist with bbc monitoring injerusalem. First and foremost, he has some very far right Coalition Partners who have been very hawkish and very clear with him that they want to see the government do certain things, for example, for it to press ahead with a full scale invasion of rafah. And they would also like to see what they would describe as a total Victory Image in gaza, a total defeat of hamas. It is very paramount to the existence of his very fragile government and coalition. So he has to kind of manoeuvre and balance the pressure of that and israels relationship with the us, which is certainly at what seems to be a historic low. But it is an incredibly risky strategy, isnt it . Perhaps it goes to show what netanyahu is willing to do for his own political survival. Not only does he want his government to stay in power, but its important to remember that hes also facing three different charges and trials of corruption. So it would be very crucial for him to stay in power in a bid to perhaps avoid being charged or avoid serving prison time. And, you know, turkey has already moved to Stop Trade Relations with israel. There are moves now we see from the International Community perhaps to recognise a palestinian state. So this is definitely kind of bringing israel towards a more isolationist stance. And in a certain way that almost works for netanyahu, depending on how you see it, in the sense that his base certainly thinks that only he is capable of ruling israel, only he would have the courage to say that israel will stand alone in this war if it has to. I find it difficult to know who the real mr netanyahu is. Are these things that he really wants to be doing, or is he forced to do it by the circumstances he finds himself in . I think hes certainly intelligent enough to know the direction hes pulling israel towards. Um, itsjust a question of, has he isolated himself so much and been so consumed by his own political survival that he cant see past that . Or he has just actively chosen not to care and put himself first . And a lot of people would say that he has chosen himself over the country. And of course, theres the whole issue of what he did, what he said, what he knew before the 7th Of October attacks by hamas and the investigation that will take place, and how he deals with that, how he, uh, escapes the blame for that. The head of the armys intelligence resigned in april, i believe, because of this. And even just this week, as israel marks memorial day, we saw the army chief come out, he took some responsibility for some of the Army Failures of october 7th. Netanyahu still hasnt done that. And i think its very much something that hes aware that the pressure to answer these questions will only increase, when and however the war ends. And thats perhaps another motivating factor to kind of prolong this war. How do you feel this is going to end . I mean, is it going to be kind of an untidy business where the israeli army pulls out of parts of gaza but keeps, stays in some, and theres no kind of clear cut solution . Its very clear that the israeli army and israel doesnt have some kind of Long Term Plan for gaza in terms of who could potentially rule it, who could potentially administer it. But if you look at whats happening on the ground already, the israeli army is going back into places like jabalia in northern gaza, where it had previously said that they had completed their operations there. So the second the army may pull out, hamas might regroup. Hamas, at the end of the day, its an idea. You cant fully destroy that. And then you have the other aspect, which is some of the International Diplomatic efforts to perhaps use this situation to say we need a long term solution. There must be some kind of future palestinian state. And then theres a lot of questions that arise of who would run that palestinian state. Israel and netanyahu will be looking for some kind of Victory Image. And what that image will be, perhaps could be at the end of some kind of rafah invasion, which could have a very serious cost for israel in terms of its international ties and standings and, critically, its relationship with the us. The Ruling Chinese Communist Party is habitually thin skinned about criticism, either from inside the country or from the chinese diaspora around the world, and there have been accusations from a variety of countries, from canada and the us to britain and australia, that Chinese Security is spying on or actively trying to control dissidents. The other day, three men appeared in court in london, charged with spying on dissidents from hong kong. So whats china up to . Gordon corera, the bbc security correspondent, has just started a podcast called shadow war china and the west. I think its remarkable at the moment that there are so many cases involving china spying, interference, whether its in the uk or in other countries. Weve seen them in the us, weve seen them in australia. Theres a Canadian Parliamentary inquiry. Theres something going on there, i think, in terms of an increased understanding of the kind of activity china undertakes, and it comes for a lot of reasons, one of which is its a more contested world that were living in right now, in which power is being contested, in which the different sides are, if you like, grappling and using spies, for all those kind of things that spies do, whether its espionage or interference, to try and secure advantage in the world. Are western countries doing exactly what the chinese are doing . Theres no doubt the west spies wholescale on china, and has done for many years. Theyve done that through intelligence gathering, through human spies, but also through whats called Signals Intelligence gchq, nsa collecting data and sucking up information, intercepting signals. That, if you like, is regular spying. I think whats interesting at the moment is the claim is that china is doing something slightly broader, rather thanjust, if you like, intelligence gathering. Things like going after dissidents, critics of china who are in the west. So whether those might be people related to hong kong or tibet, it might be chinese dissidents whod been involved in Tiananmen Square whove come to the west, and that these people, china is going after in a more aggressive way, often using its intelligence services. Also, political interference. There are claims of this in various elections, trying to shape political debate or push who might be able to stand for office. I came across one case which was actually in the us more than the uk, but of a guy called yan xiong whod been one of the Tiananmen Square student leaders. Hed escaped, um, this undercover operation called operation yellowbird, into the us, and had lived for 30 years in the us, but then had decided he wanted to run for congress and wanted to see if he could get selected. And that clearly was unacceptable to the chinese authorities, it seems. Thats the allegation, at least, because the fbi say they intercepted phone calls from someone in china, hiring or asking a private investigator in the us to go after him, to spy on him, to surveil him, even if necessary to smear him or stage an accident. All because they felt it was unacceptable to have someone who was associated with Tiananmen Square to be even possibly elected to congress. But i think a lot of it comes down to what the particular sensitivities are of the communist party of china, and their First Priority is domestic security and stability, and the hold of the communist party at home. Is it, do you think, um, because culture and language are so different between china and the west that we dont see nearly as much of the kind of things that the russians do in quite large amounts . Russia has tried to interfere in elections in the us, famously 2016. It tends to want to just kind of sow division, whereas i think china is a bit more trying to direct debate and influence debate about what is said and whats not said, rather than just sow division and cause difficulties. Does it really matter very much . If china is going after dissidents, trying to challenge free speech, that matters, i think, for issues of values, notjust, you know, within western countries. And i think that potentially poses a real challenge for, um, some of the ways we think our societies should operate. And for the first time, were starting to see some of that friction points. I think it poses challenges internationally, because i think theres a contest between china and the west over influence globally. And i think it matters because there are still risks of conflict. I mean, there are risks of conflict over taiwan, over accidental escalation in the south china seas. So how far the two sides understand each other really does matter. With a meeting between xijinping and Vladimir Putin, is there any question, do you think, that they might kind of co ordinate their efforts . Or is that a nightmare that we dont need to worry ourselves with . Theyve both found themselves at a moment of increased tension with the west together. And i think for that reason, tactically and opportunistically, they are more inclined to work together. I think if youre china, if the wests ability to support ukraine fails and russia wins, then i think it does damage to the western alliance structure, the confidence of the west, which may then encourage china to think it can do something in taiwan. Theres not huge Military Cooperation going from china to russia, but theres a bit of support. And i think, you know, the worry from the west is that that could increase and that tensions could grow and that you could be faced with something more like a kind of bloc, you know, in which youve got kind of china and russia working together, and perhaps even iran as well, as part of that mix. And i think theres the potential for that kind of access to become more kind of, more dominant and more dangerous, i think in western eyes, certainly. To the caucasus now. Georgia is a former soviet state which, with its christian tradition and its links with the outside world, has long had an ambition tojoin the european union. But its current government, run by a party called Georgian Dream, has links with russia. A law which aims to cut foreign influence in georgia was withdrawn last year after big demonstrations, but its returned now. The new demonstrations have been met with renewed force by the georgian authorities. The law would require organisations which receive more than a fifth of their funding from abroad to register as agents under foreign influence. Its very similar to a russian law which has been remarkably successful in silencing hostile journalists and human rights activists. I spoke to the bbc� s caucasus correspondent, rayhan demytrie, whos in tbilisi. Its about the funding that nongovernmental organisations get. The bill would require them to label themselves as an organisation that represents foreign power. The problem is that in georgia there are thousands of nongovernmental organisations and they are what the democracy in this country is built on. Were talking about notjust nongovernmental organisations, but also independent media. And what does Georgian Dream, the government party, whats its attitude towards the eu . Is it in favour ofjoining or is this a way of preventing georgia from joining . Well, john, eversince the Georgian Dream came to power and that is 2012 the party then was led by a billionaire, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in russia. And when he came to power, a lot of people were saying, oh, now the georgia will change its course towards russia, because he, perhaps as someone who made his wealth in russia, represents russian interests. And the Georgian Dream and Bidzina Ivanishvili himself, they were denying it. He made a speech not long time ago, when the government organised its own rally in support of the bill, and it was the first time that the public heard kind of a political speech from Bidzina Ivanishvili in many years. And the comments after this speech were that the masks are off and he hasjust shown his realface. The speech was full of kind of Conspiracy Theories and it was full of anti western messaging. He claimed that georgias 2003 Rose Revolution was planned by some western powers, that they were the ones behind wars in georgia in 2008 and war in ukraine right now. And whats his line about the eu specifically . For years, the Georgian Dream government has been saying that they are aligned with this big wish that this country has, which isjoining the european union. It is even written in the constitution of georgia. So, the government says that they are pro european. Theyre very, very friendly with viktor orban in hungary and that is perhaps the model that they have chosen. Conservative, Nationalistic Georgia that still wants to become a member of the european union, but under its own terms. And the demonstrations that weve been seeing, do you think theyll die down now or will things continue to bubble along and then perhaps rise up again . I dont think these demonstrations will die down. And weve been talking to so many people over these past weeks. Theyre mainly young generation. These are gen z of georgia, and they were brought up with the idea that their country would one day join the eu. So whats happening now, they see it as a pivot in the countrys Foreign Policy and they keep telling us that never, ever back to ussr. And thats how they see it. You know, it is quite black and white. You know, its either eu or russia. Do you think that the Georgian Dream is kind of fixed in power . Will it win another election . Partly what we have been witnessing in the past weeks here in georgia, it is about the upcoming general elections here in georgia in october 202a. Critics and commentators are saying that the reason why Georgian Dream is trying to push for this legislation, perhaps, yes, its not because they want to turn away from the eu. They want to eliminate this threat, as they see, that is coming from nongovernmental organisations orfrom independent and critical media. Therefore, they are pushing for this law, perhaps to ensure another victory for themselves. Cubas economy has depended heavily on the Sugar Industry for several hundred years. Its been an important part of cubas national life, and the people who work in the cane fields have a particular status. But now, the unthinkable is happening. The Sugar Industry is so uneconomic and badly run that cuba has had to import sugar to meet its demands. Its emblematic of the long decline of the quasi communist system introduced by fidel castro. Will grant, the bbc� s Central America correspondent, told me more. Sugar, to cuba, is a staple and has been to its economy for so, so long, you know, since Colonial Times and before. So to lose that industry or to see its demise to this point is, you know, is tragic for many cubans. The numbers speak for themselves, that we see an industry that only produced somewhere in the region of 350,000 tonnes of Raw Sugar Last year. Well, thats up against 1. 3 Million Tonnes in 2019, so the drop off has been dramatic. And, of course, the government is starting to cut down on the very, very heavy subsidies that are paid to keep things like Petrol Prices down. Of course, its just one more thing amid spiralling inflation, amid extreme scarcity of basic goods, amid the sort of rising Cost Of Living and the fact that salaries arent getting. Have really no Purchasing Power any more. Its just one more thing thats hurting cubans in their pockets, and it is extremely painful at the moment, because this is as hard as its been for cuba since the fall of the berlin wall. I remember that time, i was in cuba shortly After The Fall of the berlin wall. So, were talking 1990 that the props were pulled away from underneath the communist economy and its still going on, what is that, 35 years later . Exactly. And, of course, one of the things that was pulled away, one of those props was the sugar quotas to the soviet union, you know, so that was a very, very difficult period. Its known as the special period, euphemistically, about how hard things became, rolling blackouts, again scarcity, really difficult times. Well, i know cubans who went through that period and are going through this one and they say this one is worse, mainly because hugo chavez and Venezuelas Oil wealth came in at the end of the � 90s and sort of re propped up the cu ban revolution. As they look at the sor