it seems to be at a crossroads between the president and the people he will morgan al-jazeera or to. while staying in africa the group boko haram has attacked two military bases in northeastern nigeria the overnight term bush took place in the fishing town of barga fighters stormed the bases and engaged troops in intense fighting force in the soldiers to retreat baccarat has repeatedly struck military outposts in the region in recent months and it's battling for control of a strategic town on lake chad and the dress is live for us in calabar let's just begin with what you're hearing about this attack and its aftermath. well basically the fight itself surrounded by get around for a number of hours some are talking about more than twenty four hours and bustle is on gori in that area the army can only confirm that yes there has been some fighting but it has not lost control of this town of baghdad which is a fishing community but some residents who have fled the town are saying that

fighters were deep inside the town one particular. resident was saying that they even let morning prayers this morning in baghdad town but the military is not giving so much details only confirming that one person was killed and that they have on a search and rescue in such an area in indication that probably some of their soldiers have been dispersed. so right now it's still. not clear what exactly is happening in baghdad and we were told by a military source that operations in that area is on go in but by the way by god town is a scene of one of the worst book quite a massacre in nigeria for five days in general really two thousand and fifteen but won't fight us all but on that same military base multinational joint task force which is operated by soldiers from cameroon nigerian leisure and been a republic child as well who are fighting back and took over arms and ammunition

from that area and massacred more than one thousand civilians in terms of the why depiction of. what does this attack tell us about sort of their methodology in the last few months they have been pretty quiet and in fact earlier this year the government said that boko haram had been wiped out from the region. well basically it's a hell of a book while graham is now categorized into the shake off function of book one arm which was the most violent in terms of targeting of civilians but we've seen over the last few years or so another fraction breaking away from the worker shekau and forming it all you need style of leadership which of course doesn't get much out of civilians but military targets in particular and that faction is led by my neuro. was said to be a son of the founder of bach-y.

dom and that particular group is allied to the islamic state in west africa it's called i swapped the islamic state for west africa province and they have been the responsible for most of the attacks were seen in recent times over targeting military bases or their own in towns and things like that ambush in military patrols and all that so basically the book was fighters are still very much in play there are still support in force in northeastern nigeria shekel faction may have been quiet made been subdued to a large extent but they still carry out a targeted suicide bombings in northeast of nigeria but the main action now is being led by the mom on reflection which is located right on the fringes of the lake chad region well for them we'll leave it there for the moment and emmet interest thanks for the update. still ahead here on al-jazeera we'll tell you why doctors in zimbabwe are still on strike one month on. the desperate search for

miners trapped underground for nearly two weeks in northeastern india do stay with us here on just a. hello get a welcome back here to national weather forecast well things are improving finally for parts of turkey where we had this big major storm pushing through now we're still going to see a little bit more snow out here towards the eastern in the southeastern part of turkey but this is probably going to be the last day here on friday that we see anything happening there tempers are still quite cool across much of the area i'm only getting to about zero so that snow that fell across the region is still going to stay there as we go towards the next couple of days over here towards the west what we are seeing plenty of sunshine anywhere from parts of spain all the way up here across into germany we are going to see some clouds there rolling into parts of the u.k. over the next few days with london tempers going up for you but

a temperature there of about eleven degrees with clouds in your forecast as a break away down here across the mediterranean in the northern part of africa we are going to be seeing some approving conditions as well clouds are going to be lingering here across the coast but we did see some rain across parts of tunisia over here towards libya as well as egypt that rain has pushed off and we are left with better conditions there cairo it is going to be a cool day for you here on friday with a temperature of about seventeen on saturday thick fifty's get a little bit better with the temperature there of eighteen over here towards the west we have the season clouds over towards morocco robot seventeen degrees for you in algiers to fourteen. hoping for better living standards and more security the people of bangladesh will cast their vote in a general election with special coverage from across the country we'll assess what direction the nation could take. bangladesh elections on al-jazeera.

the marshall islands holds a toxic legacy from years of u.s. military nuclear testing. as the sea levels rise one on one east investigates the threat this followed posers on al-jazeera. welcome back you're watching officer i'm still running a reminder of our top stories the armed group boko rom of ambush two military bases in baghdad northeastern nigeria the overnight attacks for saunders to retreat after intense fighting back of iran has increased their attacks on military outposts in the region in recent months. and the main opposition in the democratic republic of

congo is appealing for calm so the presidential elections can go ahead on sunday just days before voting rest surged in belly button but to areas where polls was delayed until march protesters are angry over the exclusion and saudi arabia's king saul mark has removed from his post as foreign minister he was demoted as part of a major cabinet reshuffle ordered following the murder journalist to mark a shock she. said back to africa now a month long strike by doctors and public hospitals in zimbabwe shows no sign of ending the physicians are defying threats of being sucked in their campaign for higher pay and improve conditions and patients are struggling to get life saving drugs. a violet should be released hospital disappointed and in pain the sixty seven year old has cancer and the medication she needs has run out in public hospitals and doctors aren't strike she says she's been

told to go to a private clinic for tests and to buy drugs they're not use when they go to buy my pills if they came in they want me to pay in us dollars i don't have my children can't help me because they don't. only emergency cases are being seen at this public hospital junior doctors have not reported for duty in weeks they say they want to be paid in dollars not in local bond notes which constantly they also want their working conditions improved we're looking for basics absolute basic things to use sterile gloves sometimes even just ordinary gloves for us to be able to examine patients safely urine bags we don't want a case where patient comes in we put in a catheter if it's available and the next thing is you've got urine all over the floor it's got to attach things like plastic bags the doctors say they are struggling to survive is the second time this year doctors walked out on strike the governor signed about issuing suspensions to more than five hundred of them without

pay to add to the crisis necessary are overwhelmed and can't cope with politicians have told doctors this strike is illegal and they issued warnings of disciplinary hearings and potential sackings if they don't get back to work if they were for the people and their want to be doctors and want to care for the people they're seeing that it is what they are doing was wrong. but. we. we are we have taken all of that we've taken out the measures to make sure that . patrols will be administered adequately. some of those measures include a living some drugs and medical equipment but it's not enough for the whole country striking doctors seem defiant saying threats by the superiors to fire them won't scare them off they insist these wards will stay empty until they get paid more.

no the exclusion zone around the volcano that triggered a devastating tsunami in indonesia has been widened and the alert level raised experts fear another eruption could cause a second tsunami least four hundred thirty people died when a find meet a highway flooded coastal communities near the center straight on saturday while the bride reports now from some bozo village in indonesia's petting gland district . with this heightened alert big now in force aircraft are being told to steer around the volcano but as yet there's been no word of any flight disruptions meanwhile there's been a renewed warning for people to stay away from the shoreline by at least five hundred meters it has to be said that people with homes maybe two three hundred meters away for a large part they are staying ported their houses are intact but here on the shoreline itself many people have lost their houses in any case they will be down

here sorting through possessions but then come night time will be go going back to stay with friends staying in resettlement centers or in most. vulcanologists meanwhile have been using this break in the weather and the fact that we now have a rise and they can observe to actually see what the volcano is doing they are reporting continuing plumes of gasland ash flying up into the air some two hundred to six hundred meters with the wind conditions some of that ash is landing on this coastline of java not much but certainly people here are starting to wear masks as a precaution what concerns the scientists more of the flows of lover and rocks down the side of the volcano that they've been observing the concern is of course that a further shift in the outside structure of the volcano might lead to a further massive lift for rock down into the sea that might cause another wave.

in india rescuers are racing to find fifteen miners who've been trapped underground in a legal coal mine for over two weeks government leaders are being criticized for their slow response to the emergency in the northeastern state of meghalaya paul tudor jones has more. these rescue workers know the chance of finding the trapped miners alive is slim but they continue their search the teenage miners went into the illegal coal mine in the north east indian state of magali on december thirteenth but got trapped soon after when the mines tunnel was flooded by a nearby river they've been without food or drinking water ever since the war that it is not going. to be to put a lid on it inefficient to playing football but not fast enough prime minister narendra modi's government is being criticized for not sending in the right equipment on time he was at a nearby state on christmas day and didn't mention the incident or the trapped miners divers at the scene say they aren't equipped to go down more than thirty

meters and the miners are some ninety meters underground the best of what the living there will be even if you start a little bit to still be there doing all that and you have wind down the feet and visit the water level but that is going down and down. digging in abandoned mines has been banned for more than four years now but many break the law risking their lives by going down into so-called rat holes miners can earn up to twelve dollars a day which is a higher pay rate than most jobs in india a similar incident six years ago killed more than two dozen miners their bodies were never recovered and it is feared to similar fate awaits those trapped inside this call the area paul should urge on al-jazeera the partial shutdown of the u.s. government is likely to continue well into the new year after both houses of congress and without agreeing on a way forward of those holy impasses expected next week full time says the shutdown

will continue until democrats meet his demand for five billion dollars in next year's budget to build a wall on the border with mexico when opinion poll suggests more americans blame the president for the shutdown rather than the democrats. washington d.c. . there is of course a very strong political element to the government shutdown president trump promised during his election campaign in two thousand and sixteen that he'd build the wall on the border with mexico he said he'd make mexico pay for it he's not saying that anymore but he wants five billion dollars to pay for a section of the wall and he's saying that democrats are being intransigent and not coming to the table this despite the fact that the president said he would be proud to initiate the shutdown in a televised meeting with democratic leaders so the democrats' response is to try to paint president trump as being irresponsible and even him it sure using terms like

temper tantrums one of the democratic leaders dick durbin senator of illinois said there's no end in sight to the president's government shutdown he's taken our government hostage over is outrageous demand for a five billion dollar border wall and at the moment about eight hundred thousand federal workers are either furloughed or working without pay if and when the government gets its act together so to speak and passes a bill to restore funding funding many of those people will get back pay they'll be compensated for the money the paychecks that they did not receive but still this new year season is going to be fraught with a lot of anxiety for a lot of federal workers here in washington and all across the united states. was born without his left hand wants some might see as

a disability well as well for the sixteen year old bolivian he's embraced it as a challenge and now he's transforming the lives of of the youngest is a bit like consoles. went to santa cruz and east and bolivia to find out more. leonardo is something of a hero in these parts not quite spider-man but he's helping youngsters with similar problems to his own to feel closer to their super heroes. like him the seven year old girl was born missing a hand. it was all he wanted to christmas his parents through leonardo found him one but not just any hand he gets a spider-man prosthetic. no longer a mistake the algo is now the envy of his friends. you know there was a victim of amniotic band syndrome which affects babies still in the womb and supportive parents he's tried to never see it as a disability but as on of gambling of man people who have lost a hand often hard to cover it up they don't want to share it what i do is take off

the prosthetic and say look i'm not ashamed i'm proud of who i am it's sad not to have a hand but it's sad i'm not too excited you must accept her you are. he developed an interest in robotics at a young age two years ago aged just fourteen he made his own replacement hand using a three d. printer. he says made more than sixty fingers hands and arms charging less than one hundred dollars to cover materials such as this biodegradable plastic artificial limbs in bolivia one of the poorest countries in the region can cost between two to three thousand dollars. what i always say is what the three d. printer takes twenty four hours to finish can change the life of a person forever. we're. still only sixteen his reputation growing in bolivia and beyond the plans to study by a medicine to one day use by onyx to control his left hand directly from his brain

. he's going to use his new hand to play games he couldn't play before i was no one else will have one of these he'll be able to do so many things with it i'm extremely grateful so to a many across bolivia beneficiaries of laon are those dream he simply wanted a hand so he made one using his initiative on what was available. and the crews believe. and you can follow that story and all the recovering here are just there by logging on to our website at al-jazeera dot com. we want you all just arms the whole robin these are all top news stories the armed group aka rahm has ambushed two military bases in back in northeastern nigeria the overnight attacks four soldiers to retreat after intense fighting back iraq has

increased attacks on military outposts in the region in recent months the main opposition in the democratic republic of congo is appealing for calm so the presidential election can go ahead on sunday just days before voting unrest surged in beni and but tempers to areas where polls were delayed are being delayed sorry until march protesters are angry over their exclusion we have to. come to. france. and do the same. hours before. we should have. every way. we have this you. can't. do this is

please please we love. saudi arabia's king sylmar has to motive his foreign minister as part of a major government reshuffle. will now serve us minister of state it follows the murder of journalist a market which has brought a diplomatic backlash against the arab kingdom bahrain has followed the united arab emirates and reopened its embassy in syria relations were put on hold after syria's civil war began that more than seven years ago now this is coincided with the first direct flight from syria's capital to tunis even in two years the flight from damascus was carrying about one hundred fifty syrian tourists they were received by tunis ians waving syrian flags at the airport. and the partial shutdown of the u.s. government is likely to continue well into the new year after both houses of congress adjourned without agreeing on a way forward a vote on the impasse is expected next week donald trump wants democrats to meet his demands for five billion dollars in next year's budget to build

a wall on the border with mexico those were the headlines and back with more news in half an hour here on ars do stay with us. more women more diversity the new look of the u.s. congress what it means for the first time on january third we'll ask what it means for the democrat and for president donald trump joining us for coverage of this historic step in american politics the new the u.s. consul on elton's zero. in a surprise visit to u.s. troops in there president trump stands by his order to pull american soldiers out of syria while critics warn against a hasty withdrawal it's reported afghanistan could be next what is trump strategy and how will the region fare with his decisions this is inside stuart.

hello and welcome to the program i'm. donald trump made an unannounced visit to u.s. troops in there right off the day after christmas he'd been criticized for not going to a conflict zone in the two years since becoming president the trip only lasted three hours and he didn't meet any of the docs leadership but he used the opportunity to defend his decision to withdraw american soldiers from syria our presence in syria was not open ended and was never intended to be permanent. eight years ago. we went there for three months and we never left but what a job you have done what they have done i made it clear from the beginning that our mission in syria was to strip isis of its military strongholds we're

not nation building rebuilding syria will require a political solution. and it's a solution that should be paid for by its very rich neighboring countries not the united states let them pay for it and they will they will in fact saudi arabia yesterday you probably read stepped up to the plate and has already made a commitment of substantial funds for development. and president aragon of turkey has also agreed to take out any remnants of isis and we'll be working with them but trump's claim over saudi funding has been debunked by a saudi embassy official in washington and a spokesperson for the u.s. national security council the kingdom has not made any new financial pledge for syria since august but let's have a look at how many u.s. troops are in some of these countries american forces arrived in syria in two thousand and fifteen recently there were two thousand there and there are five

thousand who remain in iraq the initial deployment happened in two thousand and three and fourteen thousand are based in afghanistan and america's longest running war which began in two thousand and one. all right let's bring in our panel joining us from baghdad eileen ashmead professor of political history at city university from sanibel island in florida on skype peter galbraith former united states ambassador and former deputy united nations envoy to afghanistan and in london. assistant professor of international relations at the university of nottingham welcome to the program alia nash me i want to start with you there was supposed to be a meeting taking place between president trump and there at the prime minister that didn't happen the reports are that it was because the parameters of the meeting could not be agreed to what kind of

a message does that sinned to or at off the leadership. no the thing that the term he carry many message in his visits one of the messages to the iraqi government. this message mean he didn't respect he didn't have any respect for that government or that stuff and he. called the iraqi government when he reach to the base of an exit and after that they call him to the . maddie to come to that base to the military base to meet him in that place in order that. he will in that time he was out of baghdad he cannot leave and that time they give him just one hour of this i think it's ready insulting for the iraqi government and in order that. the iraqi prime minister up to now the heat if used to meet him because he can't be turned in that base because he called him to come

to baghdad just a few minutes see it a few can't. buy procedures at the not allowed to be to come and order that that meeting was finished and they didn't meet and that peter galbraith erakat fish was must have also been shocked by president trump's decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria and afghanistan was one of the objectives of this trip also to boost the iraqi government's confidence in the u.s. . it's hard to believe that that's the case given particularly the fact that managements were made with the iraqi government to have meetings and that incidentally is different from what president obama did when he went to iraq and two thousand and nine or the various trips that president bush made even when the us was the occupation authority he met with the. iraqi political leaders to his trip once and about iraq it wasn't about syria it was about one person donald trump

he's been accused of being a coward. for not having visited the troops in combat. not having respect at the service spend on the progress that a verse or e.b.m. perform for one side canceling a trip to bellow would the scene of a very major battle because it was raining and this also appeared although the trip must have been planted the deaths of the same day as the new york times story appeared page one story. making clear that the reason he got a draft deferments from vietnam was because they put out a tryst but the phones for was in fact attended sponsored a real estate developer and got a sweetheart deal so this lets us donald trump responding to criticism about being a coward it has very little to do with iraq or iraqi policy and of course with the characteristic lack of diplomatic skill that has characterized.

this trip comes at a time of increased tensions between president trump and top military leadership in the u.s. is this trip going to do anything to alleviate that. i'm not sure that this particular trip is going to change the relationship between president trump and his military leadership because the relationship has already been affected by his decision to withdraw troops from syria. general mattis he's secretary of defense has resigned on that basis this particular trip i think will probably enhanced if anything some of his support within the military there is a difference i detect having served under u.s. military command between the political if you like level of leadership in the

pentagon and the troops on the ground the troops on the ground. fight very bravely but recognize that what they do best provides very short term solutions they recognize the complexity of the situation and they realize i think that there is no long term effective strategy that i think. is something that mr trump. political rhetoric has chimed with greatly he has always said that we don't have an effective strategy in afghanistan and in iraq and that we should withdraw from these countries and i think the syrian decision plays into that and all of this i think chimes at the lower levels of military command who recognize that if you like some truth in what he's saying alya nash me mr trump told reporters that the u.s.

might base american commandos on the border in iraq to launch raids and other missions into syria going forward if that was needed now is this something that the u.s. would need to get permission from the iraqi government to do in and what do are up the officials think about this statement. no i think this is what he said yesterday he said we are still in iraq because you know there is many forces arises yesterday and last weeks when mr samba say. it's a decision to withdraw medical editor from syria and order that many many politicians in washington say this is a bad message for the extremists and he coming to iraq to prove against that he say we will stay in iraq and we stay in the middle east and we will make

a very wide the basically and i think that base it will be ready for any intervention in syria and other until controlling the middle east even he say about iran and that in order that i think that declaring that they thought a chattel and that in the history of the streets of iraq and the iraqi people and they're talking about how about that declaration because you know the fact signed between iraq and united states in two thousand and nine that term one term said we will not leave any bases in iraq in order that day i think we did some change in that back to what was signed but you had a government on amharic and government and not that i think as many votes many votes as i says now in the electorate occupied by man to collect and to me it's about change and about his declaration about who bout and when that american forces what draw from see their coming in iraq you say the thing that is now in iraq it's

more that seven thousand and that it can and that's based but the beginning when they fighting in eighteen and two thousand and fourteen say we will say in the only five handed soldiers officials but now it's more the seven thousand i things many things will have been next week about this declaration peter got. it was widely known of course that president trump had wanted to withdraw troops from afghanistan for some time now he eventually came around to the thinking that had been espoused by secretary of defense or outgoing secretary of defense jim mattis i want you to take a listen to something that president trump said in two thousand and seventeen a hasty withdraw would create a vacuum that terrorists including isis and al qaeda would instantly fill just as happened before september eleventh and as we know in two

thousand and eleven america hastily. and mistakenly withdrew from iraq as a result our hard won gains slipped back into the hands of terrorist enemies our soldiers watched as cities they had fought for and bled to liberate and one were occupied by a terrorist group called isis the vacuum we created by leaving too soon gave safe haven for isis to spread to grow recruit and launch attacks we cannot repeat in afghanistan the mistake our leaders made in iraq peter and how does one go about reconciling what president trump said then in two thousand and seventeen with his strategy now withdrawing troops from syria and afghanistan it's hard to reconcile and i think what one has to understand is

the speech he delivered in twenty seventeen was written for him but by his it by serious. but it really didn't reflect his sound sentiments what one has to know about syria is that a week before he announces the decision to withdraw his presidential envoy brett mcgurk brett mcgurk is announcing that we're going to be staying for a long time is envoy for syria embassador james jeffries the set that we would be there and as long as that rand was president and the longest assaut most of our so there was a just then an enormous confusion about the policy. and trumpet and this in the case of the withdrawal from afghanistan and syria was simply operating on his instincts rather than any strategy now he he has been a long time critic of us sending forces abroad and you know he says the

u.s. is being played for suckers and i think that that. this really reflects that. president trump said during his trip that he believes a lot of people are going to come around to his way of thinking on his decision with regard to syria is there is any evidence to indicate that more people are actually coming around to his way of thinking on that. well i think there is no objective evidence unless you want to do a very detailed analysis of twitter and so on and that's of course a very problematic issue there's a great deal of support for from his followers for for this the argument they put forward is very persuasive in that there has never really been a clear strategy in any of these conflicts and i think that. the failure of that strategy rests not just with mr trump but to his previous administrations and

the previous incumbents in the pentagon are all the strategies that have actually been packaged in strategies of tended to be operational activities designed to suppress. any. opposition militarily rather than actually deliver a win which can be recognized as a victory by all sides not just domestically but internationally and and in and certainly in by the the adversaries in the particular countries so mr trump for whatever reason does have i think a great deal of support both publicly but also factually there is no winning strategy in any of these countries sadly and he is absolutely right that when he reads out as ambassador now adult very things pointed out

he was reading out a statement that a rapid withdrawal could lead a power vacuum but even a slow withdrawal would result in exactly the same thing and i think what mr trump is done is run out of patience with those who have written these statements for him that they haven't produced a plan which is reasonably sure. short term which provides that gradual withdrawal so i think he's instincts are probably going to be borne out by history and i think he will possibly get a great deal of support from the american public as a result of this peter galbraith what do you think do you think that he will get president trump will get a great deal of support from the american public for doing this. no. partly because the american involvement in these places is very small and so this is not a big political issue but he certainly has been criticized for the

way for the withdrawal from syria including by his own party because what he's done is he supported an ally the centrally the syrian kurds. in a conflict where they were the ground troops and the americans provided advisors and the air force of a they went far beyond areas that had any kurdish population at the urging of the united states and then at the moment which victory was very close to you now says the pullout of the troops and makes this decision a call with turkish president air to wad. and have cared a lot says that he's going to go in and of course his target arab wants target is not the remnants of isis it is the syrian kurds and in fact the purpose of the call was to get her to want not to go in and it had just the opposite impact and the

message there is that the united states is not a reliable ally that at least under this administration you can't trust the united states and that's a message that will be taken aboard not just stuff by the syrian kurds but by the afghan government perhaps by the kurdistan well already by the kurdistan regional government there rack which was double crossed by the americans in twenty seventeen by the iraqi government and of course the iranians who are the big winners here are . both from trucks decisions in iraq last year and this year and syria there are very pleased because they see that you know is that they they don't need to do anything to undermine the united states because trump is doing it himself on a national there has been criticism. that has come from some members of parliament about president trump's visit so where is the overall relationship right now

between the u.s. and iraq and as far as ordinary off the citizens what is the sentiment there as far as having u.s. troops remain in iraq. no i think you know what's happened yesterday and the curation of the statement of mr trump i think the speech of an occupant will now and old a majority of the iraqi people now they refuse. to interfere and that and celtic for the iraqi government then all the iraqi people and they're looking for the future of what is the future and do what what will doing that when he went in and american forces withdraw from syria what doing in iraq and you know the supporting for the entire community just for all the dead jets on the satellite then why they'd include is increasing the vent so far pfizer's and the fighters or the soldiers in that space we don't need to even end and in the center of the.

fighting between the iraqi troops and ice owns. american and so it's more the former for just four thousand pairs soldiers now why they why they increase them this is the iraqi people now they talk about the future it's death changing for their medicare in the global policy strategy g. and in them and that is and is that against iran because he mentioned that when his speech he that's also ought to be monitoring iran and syria to interfere anyway because you know they have a government and the iraqi people refuse to make iraqi as a base to attacked any place is just i suppose in order that the iraqi people they they know they pushing goad they in the cli's that are pushing through to the iraqi government to say something about what's happening and to say to the iraqi where is the iraqi boy is all but what's happening yesterday and last weeks there was

nothing for it. that i think. in the future to just a few days in the future they had a history that's and you know the iranian side. i'd have many allies in the streets of iraq then they will move them there are allies of the city there and we say you may remember the protesters and the street against what's happening just a bit about the new policy of america in iraq abdullah survey want to turn from it to afghanistan you know america's greatest leverage there in negotiating with the taliban is the fact that they have troops there so there's a look now like president trump has met one of the primary demands of the taliban before you know negotiations progress well if he does pull out troops then yes he will have but the divans and then some negotiated settlement could probably take place but of course one of the problems with meeting the demand of withdrawal is that about fifteen years ago the taliban declared victory for them as being

the withdrawal of troops so by missing that demand he is actually knowledge and from the the from the point of the taliban that they have been victorious in this conflict and that has some very significant political and military repercussions beyond this particular conflict. but i think that word of the things that we should consider here is to separate the personality of mr trump of course has attracted a great deal of criticism sometimes legitimately in many cases legitimately from the american institutions be they defense foreign policy and so on for and being a bit of a maverick that may well be true but the fact is that the policies the strategic culture that the u.s.

has been involved in has not led to success the culture of regime change the culture of proxies and the. it's a myth that we stand by our proxies it's never actually been real the us is is a realist foreign policy it has use proxies in a funny stand and dump them when its purpose has been met it's done the same thing in syria and this is a message that i think needs to be understood because proxy warfare regime change all of these things are no longer possible they there has been virtually no success as a result of these policies the repercussions the long term repercussions of these interventions is huge it's huge in terms of terrorism. i says and the like but it's also huge in terms of politics in europe with huge

a number of displaced people seeking asylum and causing a very significant change in the political landscape in europe and possibly in the longer term also impact in north america so i think there are some very big issues here are not just isolated interventions in iraq in afghanistan and syria they're all need to be taken in the context of u.s. political and security culture and i think time is now come for the u.s. to reexamine it and change it to avoid the failures it's facing because failures only breed failures they do not lead to success and whether mr trump is making the right decisions or wrong decisions is not the point it is the strategy and the political culture that needs to change are i we have run out of time so we are going to have to leave it there thanks to our guests allie and nash

me peter galbraith and afzal ashraf and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website al-jazeera dot com and for further disk. go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story from am homage i'm joined in the whole team here by for now. january on. an in-depth exploration of global capitalism and our obsession with economic growth. as brazil gets ready to swear in its controversial president we'll have live coverage from brasilia an award winning series showcasing hard hitting stories from the world's most populous regions. as the united states

prepares for a new congress we'll examine what this will mean for the country and the world. with maybe a trend is constantly changing the listening post continues to analyze how the new space covered. january on al-jazeera. thanks love to make amends to some friends because behind the suffering a millions of taxpayers because those taxpayers never go away is a new one bone every single day and it is an urgent national necessity that it be officially request rationing of the support mechanism we created together because i happen to live in greece somehow i'm a sinner i'm a bad person the fix that's machine on al-jazeera.

the lights are on. and there's nowhere to hide is the easiest way to solve this to allow u.n. observers who you invited into the country earlier this year to finish their job i haven't said it's a right wing conspiracy or anybody's conspiracy straight talking debate do you think we're going to see some kind of sea change in the u.s. relationship with saudi arabia we have an obligation there is that journalistic integrity and then in this case it was betrayed totally up front on al jazeera. in the democratic republic of congo ahead of sunday's election president joseph kabila there was no attempt to favor the ruling party.

political rob when you watch the office there are a lot more headquarters here in doha also coming up fighters attacked military bases in nigeria with large quantities of weapons also a major government shakeup in saudi arabia as the kingdom faces pressure of. the war and yemen also brazil's military claims success in its yearlong operation to fight crime in rio de janeiro but people say nothing has changed. welcome to the program the main opposition in the democratic republic of congo is appealing for calm just days before presidential and parliamentary elections. two areas where voting has been delayed until march the cut. going to the polls on sunday. from the capital kinshasa. people in beni in eastern congo take to the streets to protest against the decision by the electoral commission to

postpone the elections until march next year this is part of a region where health work is a dealing with an ebola epidemic that has killed many that's a reason given for delaying the election as well as security. but participate as here. they say they must exercise their rights with the rest of the country so some burned sections of an ebola transit center where those suspected of having the disease are held for. me damn well we're tired of voters and brainy and what tempo gave this government the last election they've been killed by rebels and kept quiet they brought us a bowler and we did not say anything now we can't keep quiet any will. most of us but i was the government not concerned about the situation in beni we were told to go is here we accepted this but today they told us we could not vote because of

ebola even though they themselves said the sickness was the creasing benny and with campbell in the east in the western town of a strongholds of one of the country's main presidential candidates. and have about one point two million voters he's quite. in a country where the winner takes it all on the fast round every vote counts and he's calling for a nationwide general strike. friday. and . the same. three hours to go before. the nation. everywhere and. we have seen. the. country and i say please please believe. as all this was happening the government gave the european union's ambassador to deal forty eight hours to leave the country mainly because of

sanctions the e.u. recently renewed on fourteen individuals including a model choudhary the ruling party's presidential candidate and president joseph kabila choice for the top job of the interior minister between december twenty sixth in march twenty seventh and scores of people were killed mostly by security forces during street protests. appear. these sanctions violate international law undermine the fundamental rights of those concerned and have been condemned by regional authorities for the sake of our historical partnership i've pleaded with the e.u. to lift the sanctions at the very least suspend them until after the general election. something commission and the government are working together to reach the election in favor of diary that will not accept an outcome where he's declared winner it's hard to tell if this general strike will bring in change the country's

main opposition leaders seem divided with some saying they will go to the election regardless of the announcement by the electoral commission but it's clear that many people talk to believe that this election is already taking ted catherine al-jazeera. the president of the d.l.c. has rejected opposition claims that the electoral body is favoring the ruling party . spoke to jets of computer ahead of sunday's election. this issue or issues about the electoral commission being biased. to me is just nonsense the most important thing we treat should understand and retain is that it is an independent electoral commission these are congress elections and that's what everybody has to understand and the. issues that reason was in the way and we've been able to do them as

a nation we don't want anybody to judge us and that apart from the congolese people. the middle eastern or saudi arabia has a new foreign minister with the forward top diplomat stripped of his post of the major cabinet reshuffle ordered by king so long the shake up comes as the international backlash continues over the murder of the saudi journalist. by agents of the arab kingdom charlotte ballasts reports. a delonte of beer a former advisor to the late king of dollar a former ambassador to the united states and now former foreign minister it was only the second saadi to be appointed foreign minister outside the royal family u.b.s. has been demoted to minister of state for foreign affairs it comes after nearly three months of questions and denials about the killing of journalist. in the saudi consulate in istanbul saudi arabia has faced international backlash including from

the u.s. congress who said crown prince mohammed bin son man was responsible for murder during a regional summit earlier this month to be a deny the crown prince's involvement and see this with regards to issuing an arrest warrant we don't extradite our citizens i believe turkey's constitution prohibits the extradition of turkish citizens to be a was appointed foreign minister by king solomon and twenty fifteen a month after saudi arabia went to war in yemen is strikes were launched with the aim of quickly crippling hooty fighters backed by iran and stage the war has dragged on for almost four years killing at least sixty thousand yemenis he's also ever seen turmoil within the g.c.c. including assad he laid ear land and sea blockade of qatar for the past eighteen months or moves that have stalled controversy around the kingdom something his successor last if no one here it's by having brought him last of who was an

he's a veteran he served as a minister of finance for twenty years from one nine hundred ninety six and two thousand. sixteen so now he's having come as a foreign minister in order to give that that the message that now we are back to the pomposity alas if it is the former finance minister he was one of many wealthy and powerful saudis arrested and imprisoned and riyadh's ritz carlton hotel last year the crown prince championed to the arrests as a necessary crackdown on corruption. the yemen war and the g.c.c. blockades three of the main ongoing diplomatic crises facing the kingdom and its new foreign minister ybor head and massive challenge found us. rami khouri is journalist and professor at the american university of beirut and a senior fellow at harvard kennedy school he says the reshuffle is merely an image make over it's really hard to tell right now like so many things in the decision

making or so the radius like the soviet union of the one nine hundred sixty s. you really don't know what's going on until a few weeks or months down the road when a decision is made the saudis themselves various saudis close to the north really are saying that this is not really a demotion but just firing would have been a real demotion but this is a sharing of responsibility they needed a more experienced fellow at the top brought in to bring myself to serve for decades well in saudi arabia it that israel didn't do very well in talking about the should be murdered but nobody in saudi arabia did very well they were all saying things that turned out to be not true so it's not as if the spear carried the load he didn't he was just a loyal servant as he has been for the last thirty years or so and i think this is more a process of the changes being made to show the world that changes are being made

probably without any real change in policy but we'll have to wait and see. bahrain has followed the united arab emirates and reopened its embassy in syria relations were put on hold after syria's civil war began more than seven years ago now this is coincided with the first direct flight from syria's capital to too busy with the flight from damascus was carrying about one hundred fifty syrian tourists they were received by tunisians waving syrian flags at the airport bowker on visors have attacked two military bases in northeastern nigeria the overnight assault was in the fishing town of barga fighters stormed the bases and engaged troops in intense fighting forcing the soldiers to retreat has repeatedly struck military outposts in the region in recent months and it's battling for control of a strategic town on the shores of lake chad. iraqi politicians are

demanding u.s. forces leave the country following a present donald trump's unannounced visit accusing him of violating iraq's trump did not meet any of iraq's leadership on his three hour trip but telephoned the prime minister. and invited him to the white house and one car reports from baghdad . the u.s. president seems determined to keep u.s. troops in iraq. but his visit last in just three hours on wednesday night to al asad airbase one hundred thirty kilometers west of baghdad provoked a strong reaction from some iraqi politicians. i think it is shameful for the iraqi prime minister to accept the u.s. president's invitation to go to the u.s. after his mockery of iraqi politicians and the iraqi government he entered iraq surreptitiously without any coordination and no respect for iraq's sovereignty i spent three hours celebration with soldiers as if you to achieved a great victory in fact this visit is considered to fish rather than

a victory. there are five thousand two hundred u.s. troops currently in iraq a lot less than the invasion sent to remove saddam hussein in two thousand and three more recently reinforcements were sent to help iraqi government forces defeat eisel fighters who seized large areas of territory iraqi commanders declared victory over eisel a year ago but pockets of light still remain despite his long flight from washington trump didn't meet iraq's prime minister their schedule talks are canceled because of disagreements about the agenda by announcing u.s. troops will remain trump has gone against the iraqi constitution which requires parliamentary approval for foreign military bases some analysts say trump has weakened support here for the u.s. presence in iraq putting the prime minister innit.