actually i think the message was clear that americans will stay in syria there will be sort of a changing of the strategy and they wanted to work with alliance like the kurds and like. kurds and the ground turkey and the israelis and i think that the message is conveyed already about them bill i think the major important issue is how much this message is a credible and how much when bill was able to convince the parties of this message because the confusion created by the by trump decision actually is deep and serious i think this requires a lot of effort on the decision and particular. state to convince the parties i think this will be a tough job to do and your mind has that decision and those divisions done a huge amount of damage to u.s. credibility in the region is there a step still a level of trust of course there is there is a lot of

a question mark about the president there is more questions there's more listen credibility this believe of the you know the seriousness of the united states in the region there is more doubts about how much of that is that actually one took place in a supply role in the region to bring was stability and security what do you think is top of my comparison list as he made history of this one nation tour what does he want to go home saying i've achieved this in our i think it was obvious that everything is done now is about iran this administration even when trump run was running for the election iran was in the top of the list he would draw from the nuclear deal he wants now to isolate iran more politically and economically and the tools to do this is to bring more more unity within the region against iran how much he will succeed in those of course there is a conference in poland will be next month and iran will be the major issue on this conference i think how much you would be convincing the players. to attend and to

engage the israelis would be on the same on the same table that's a major obstacle before achieving any goal of this is that our markets wary from castro university thanks so much for your time and your analysis today we are waiting for a press conference with my compare and qatar's foreign minister will bring you that as soon as it happens the syrian army is preparing for an offensive by turkish forces on the kurdish rebel stronghold of men bitch syria's government has deployed soldiers artillery and tanks to the northwest suburbs of the city as u.s. forces prepare to leave and correct considers that kurdish y p g a terrorist group turkish troops have already carried out military exercises at the border with syria ahead of that expected attack sin and cos the early reports from northern syria. preparing for battle these men are members of the free syrian army is homs

a brigade their own laws of the turkish military are on a war footing and preparing for an offensive on the kurdish city of human bridge in northern syria these fighters say they will not be left behind. with or without the u.s. withdrawal and we will complete this military offensive we are really proud leaderships order. men bitch is controlled by the u.s. spec kurdish war p.g. turkey considers as the syrian branch of the kurdistan workers' party or p k k which it recognizes as a terrorist group. enduring so if this brigade are syrian kurds who see the white cannot be of the kurds legitimate representative in the war in syria. most of the kids fled to germany iraqi kurdistan because of the y.p. g.'s oppression they force you even girls for military service on the front lines the charge on affordable taxis. many people support the military offensive

surrounded by the p.k. cambridge reinforces the populations living in fear of more places and liberated in the why pigeon is gone because of a better business life this is a mountain it is one of two military bases which will coordinate the expected upcoming offensive on the eastern side of the euphrates river and the city of. turkey stays kurdish civilians will not be targeted but some people in members are not convinced not funny. since we learned the u.s. will withdraw many of our friends volunteered to join managed military council to defend our city we will protect ourselves. of course we have for years now we live in peace with really perform our religion but we're not. this is the press conference that we've been expecting that is mike compare the u.s. secretary of state flanked by the cattery foreign minister they have been meeting

today in doha it's the second stop fit might compare today after he left the u.a.e. this morning and there have already met and had a discussion and we do expect mike compare to travel later today to riyadh the capital of saudi arabia let's have a listen to what they have to say. very first visit to do that we hope this. visit will be repeated and repeated we appreciate his role in the second round of the u.s. qatari strike t.v. dialogue that expresses the historic relations between our both countries and the alliance that has been built during the last few decades and today we're here to build upon the outcome of the for strategic dialogue and discussions a day which means that seven sessions will be held in different sectors economic and trade and cultural grounded occasional and political security and

defense sectors partnership with the united states marines that it is solid based on our solid ground based on understanding the mutual interest between our both country as we have signed agreements in education. and understanding to support activities in the light of day that basis we look forward to seeing more results and outcomes and there is a sort of a jump in this sort diedrich relations between both gunter is. mutual meeting with the secretary of state. and we spoke about relations of mutual concern regional issues the g.c.c. . the middle east peace process. consultation in afghanistan and

other shooters like syria and fighting terrorism we also look forward to having outcomes that will be the basis for and you are. of relations between are both countries that really are stronger we hope to have more cooperation. called the nation political a bit too though both gov was thank you very much for you a visit like participation in what the object of dialogue in this variable to visit thank you thank you very much thanks for hosting the team here today. it was an honor to participate in a strategic dialogue i know our our teams did great work as well your country's been a great friend to united states in many ways and we're deeply appreciative of that . as president from noted when he hosted his highness the emir at the white house last year great things are happening in the relationship and that's certainly still true both of our governments have taken concrete steps to implement agreements

signed at last year's inaugural strategic dialogue in washington including in the fields of counterterrorism combating trafficking in persons cyber security nuclear safeguards in energy cooperation today we reached a few new agreements that will grow and make our relationship even more robust. we focus first and foremost on security defense partnership we signed a new m o u on the expansion of our president you deed. as the host to hundreds excuse me the host to thousands of u.s. military personnel and the cent com for headquarters to space is key to american security and our shared efforts to promote regional stability within qatar for its dedication to improving and modernizing it today in our conversations i stressed the importance of unity among the gulf cooperation council members president trump and i both believe the ongoing dispute in the region has dragged on too long and the dispute benefits adversaries and harms our mutual interests our nations do

important work and we have important work continue to do together and the united states hopes the parties involved will see once again the benefits of cooperation and taking actions necessary to rebuild unity in their ranks a united g.c.c. is essential to the south of the middle east region alliance which we hope will include the g.c.c. egypt and jordan. the united states has continued to advance discussions on this alliance since the initial meeting of the g.c.c. plus two at un general assembly back in the fall in september and i raised this topic again with his and i raised this topic again with mr elton and will do so with his highness as well but in addition to defense and security partnership we also discussed are still expanding trade and investment relationship we're proud to have more than one hundred twenty of our companies operating here creating opportunities for our people and yours i know there's more to follow your impressive aperture to improve labor regulation to promote transparency and to protect the dignity of over two million foreign workers here was also

a focus of our efforts today we had several other agreements that the dialogue evil yielded an education we've agreed to share best practices and expertise with each other this cooperation will help enrich strengthen and strengthen educational practices and we will conduct exchange programs to promote educational opportunity and development we also signed a statement of intent to promote our cultural ties you can expect to see new events you think gauge when exchanges for rising leaders in a variety of fields and relationships between cultural institutions that will allow americans and countries to learn more about each other are growing partnership with gutter continues america's long record of helping middle east nations live in peace and prosperity the united states looks forward to building on this momentum strengthening our ties and promoting our sustained cooperation thank you very much foreign minister for hosting me and my team here today.

and it sets isn't that that's. the big question so. there was a measure the bounce of the zinni is that the quizes of the gulf is not that top priority it to the u.s. and then what about the u.s. efforts in making families. gathering together again the union of families so two questions there the first question is the partner of. mysteries any in no way reflects any change in america's middle east efforts our strategy or ongoing commitment to the region. it was a time when it was time for change and he made this decision to move on but america's commitment remains unchanged we will continue to have robust set of dialogue around the very issues that he was handling on our on the united states behalf and with respect to humanitarian issues here and and elsewhere in the region

i think the united states stands second to none in the not only the amount of dollars that we have committed to avoiding humanitarian crises in the region but also our personal commitment the things that my team on the ground here in doha and throughout the region does to make sure that we're responding to humanitarian challenges wherever we find them. and say that this is the better question and the problem of just zero with you a question. for the council you thought in a minister we have noticed a diplomatic activity here in qatar starting from the doha forum the whole stood senior political figures on top of them the u.s. secretary general is qatar still interested in mediation and a question to. what was said to you as. is

about to put thought into national call flows to discuss the middle east problems in poland. do you expect the success of these summits within the framework of the crisis hit in the region. michel the device you're guarding of the cuts are a diplomatic and political activity is its own go and process throughout confluences all the cuts only diploma say that works in so many domains cuts i suppose that you consider. and for which is still there the cuts that mediation is too long growing on the guts just the concerned parties to follow the high agreement cuts also participate actively in the vehicle situation in afghanistan through hosting the political bureau of

taliban we were together with those of the night as this of america to bring peace to afghanistan also there are other topics and fires that are being discussed between us and one of the states allies and friends here and there regarding syria old peace process is that within the we. call the in old to have the qatari diplomacy all the diplomatic solutions to be all who is then ordered to put an end to the human sufferings all over the rage and this is a mutual thing between cuts and a lot of states of america as well which to me was about the ministerial that will be held in the middle of february in warsaw and one of our objectives there they're manifold one of the things i think the world will see as we come together is the enormous coalition that is prepared to assist in creating stability and peace here

in the middle east and so we will gather around a number of different topics certainly the coalition that continues to fight isis around the world will be part of that will have conversations about counterterrorism and how the whole globe i mean they'll be countries at this from from asia from africa from all across the world it won't be confined to. the united states and europe in the middle east will be a broad coalition of countries present and will work on many issues including how it is we can get the islamic republic of iran to behave more like a normal nation so they'll be many topics discussed by this broad coalition and we hope to have a set of the liberals that come out of it that are important as we move forward in two thousand and nineteen francesco funk that moggi from a s d. thank you mr secretary how does that dispute between qatar and saudi undermines the efforts to counter iran and old can you tell us what you expect us to react to mohamed than some money about the killing of jamal khashoggi and just

a very last week when can you confirm that the white house asked scene six ember to provide military options to strike iran thank you specter third question i don't have any comment with respect your second question. we will continue to have conversation with the crown prince and the saudis about ensuring that accountability is full and complete with respect to the unacceptable murder of jamal khashoggi so we'll we'll continue to talk about that make sure we have all the facts so that they are held accountable certainly by the saudis but by the united states as well where appropriate and as for the g.c.c. and my statement i made clear we're all more powerful when we're working together when disputes are limited and when we have common challenges in the region and around the world. disputes between countries that have a shared objective are never never helpful they never they never permit you to have

as robust a and powerful a response to common adversaries or common challenges as if as as you might. when countries have a dispute between them we say this all the time we have to have of lots of places where we're building our coalitions and there are challenges between different parts of the coalition is something we work through work around and we're hopeful that the unity of the g.c.c. will increase in the days and weeks and months ahead. that concludes our conference thank you. that the press conference from mike compare and the cattery foreign minister which took place in doha just after they had a bilateral meeting. is where e. is the director of the gulf studies center at castro university and he joins me live now in the studio to reflect on on some of the things that were said and in your minds there were obviously a lot of things that were discussed a lot of agreements that were signed what were the priorities for cash what did cus

i want to get out of this meeting and and did they get it first of all the confirming very strong ties between the hand wash on that i think that is was that was very clear statement from you that there is strong ties strong there is history of the relations and building on this relations not only politically or militarily security is also economically let's not forget that. started in two thousand and fifteen investing nearly thirty five billion dollar in the united states in the structure and this is between two thousand and fifteen two thousand and twenty so basically this is a strong economic ties so that's that was a very clear message i think from pompeo and also the that you know the united states now is more determined to end the dispute and they are putting a foot on that on the context that that was very very clear message but did we get any indication as to how far that's gone has any progress actually been made and in

ending this dispute between various gulf countries and qatar i think will be was very careful because he because he knows you know you know he met on a design and now he's going to riyadh and he knows the he needs to hear from both sides they mirage and the saudis so he's not sure yet about how much shows he's receiving and that he trying to to to confirm that the determination that it is going on and they're working on the project i do want to ask you also about. this relationship between saudi arabia and the us now might come payer did say that when he goes to riyadh later on today he is going to demand full accountability for the killing of jamal khashoggi do you feel like that was a sincere statement given that there had been mixed messages coming out of the white house i think who was was nearly consistent because you was trying to send the message that you know with the north with the with the so that it is important

and that is the deflection of the actually the message of the president and i think that that's how much the so do you would hope and that's the important question because they everything in washington realize how much this is helping calm much of the out of presenting information is how much they are working with the case is this. cooperating enough i don't think so the united states would be able to do anything on that because they would not do this they would be seen as a cross between both countries mr is very from qatar university thank you so much for your time this today well thank you for being with us there will be more news here off the inside story to stay with us there will be also much more analysis of the visit here in doha by u.s. secretary of state mike compare thanks for being with us.

but defiant. venezuela's president shunned by his neighbors and his country's economy. and will even further this is inside story. and i welcome to the program i'm nick clegg hyperinflation power cuts and shortages of food and medicine the economic crisis has driven millions of venezuelans out of

the country nicolas maduro his critics blame him for the does situation and yet he's sworn in for a second six year term as president the poll was marred by allegations of vote rigging his opponents a challenging his right to lead the country and calling for new elections has more now from caracas. i was. was sworn in for his second term in office and members of the opposition controlled national assembly took to the streets to denounce him as a super of the executive office of the scene and that his daughter is one of the millions that have left venice when in the past year she says families shouldn't be forced to live apart and so we don't have our folly trail five there is a polo guy in them because we don't have one made it safe for food to go out we don't have to create in the streets the demonstration was small compared to the massive ones that happened in two thousand and seventeen when thousands took to the

streets to protest against muddled us attempts to disregard the national assembly for most of the people here and this is a first step towards opposing what they call it the dictatorship of precedent we call out model but they're also calling on the armed forces to rebel against the government even though the military has played a crucial role in her childish socialist revolution i was the president of a national assembly is one why you though he was elected last week and now says he's ready to become the interim president and called for new elections he told al-jazeera he first needs the support of the armed forces and the venezuelan people to hand them the guy uniforms or the strength of the people is crucial in this process when as we have people that were forced to leave the country others detains murdered and even tortured i think nothing to stop us it has not been easy for us we are survivors and we are in resistance he was at the end of this with your position has called for a demonstration on january twenty third and promises the national assembly who is

considered to be in contempt by the administration will be in charge of defending democracy in this country international pressure may also help but analysts say it is not enough then the most assume politico coolant kosik. the need to force the government to negotiate the international community plays an important role but it's not enough there has to be a true leader that can connect to the masses to force majeure to negotiate you need a population ready to defend their rights. says this is another attempt orchestrated by the united states to generate chaos. this is a show to try to destabilize the country they are a group of kids who control the opposition and want to play to create chaos it's the same group that carried out the street protests and every day they will have a new show. but many of those opposing the government are desperately looking for someone that would show them

a way out of the crisis that has forced millions of venezuelans to emigrate in search of a better life. will back us. i'll tell you what there's plenty of potential venezuela was once one of latin america's wealthiest countries with the largest oil reserves in the world of three hundred billion barrels they account for more than ninety five percent of his export revenues some estimates put oil sales at about seven hundred fifty billion dollars between two thousand and four and two thousand and fifteen but this did drop dramatically after the collapse in oil prices and then a lack of investment in the state owned oil company has seen production plunged to below one point six nine million barrels a day and that is less than half the amount when hugo chavez took power in one thousand nine hundred nine. that peak in two thousand and nine that forty three billion dollars and now at less than nine billion.

all right let's bring in our guests i'm pleased to say from caracas by skype phil gunson who's a senior analyst covering the andes region at the international crisis group then we have in washington d.c. sonia shot specialist on latin american relations with a special focus on venezuela and then from merida also venezuela by skype is paul dobson a journalist from venezuela and alice this dot com thank you all for joining us on this important discussion pulled off and if i could start with you let's let's begin with the election itself those who believe that nicolas maduro was free and fairly elected are in the minority to say the least. is that what you think is that what you say. well i think it's important to remember that the international press doesn't necessarily represent the views of the governments of the world the peoples of the world and be elections here in venice weyler were received by independent electoral experts observe this election at present as he

nominates he declared that elections are free fair and transparent be this included members from the african union from the ceiling which is the council are literally experts or latin america. from a whole range of other countries and continents from across the globe and now these electoral says were witness to the inappropriate sanest the day itself the order for and often orange or other elements of the electoral process i don't quoting to them. we have my reasons doubt that the elections were a true reflection of the will of the venezuelan people of on may may twentieth ok let's bring in sonia as long as short free and transparent is that how you view it ok i would like to highlight songs. i would like to her like there off the opal see shown that despite all all its there is steve there that fight all the efforts off

the government their mother what a lot of them and they'll creepers the opposition to him pretty soon then he errs the cult all day they don't have any rule like protest ourselves and the out of the way out of fighting for to change the go back to their will cut out the. immensely ok but as far as the elections concerned don't you accept that they were conducted in a reasonable way and so therefore it was with. the rightful president. no no this is what i am trying to say that i have not transpired and free elections because the opposition never thought part of all of this election it was actually elections are more know are people who were supporting my the model so actually it was something that it was not free and as fighting see it less of but also as it was not free and transparency that's why or people in the international community

broadly not the whole international community but the western world they they consider that the mother has said the state of it's ill just to say that the opposition is really take their short field guns and it's fair to say that the opposition mostly did not take part in this but maybe that was a mistake. well there are some people who think it was but the problem is really that the government gave them very little time to get organized it brought the election forward by six or seven months it was supposed to be held in december and the opposition was divided over whether it was wise to take part in an election in which the conditions were clearly rigged against them a small part of the opposition did participate but eventually repudiated the results on the grounds that my daughter had violated electoral law now of course we're in a situation where domestic heavy opposition doesn't recognize my daughter internationally several dozen countries including some of the most important countries in the world

say my daughter's a de facto leader and the issue really is how do we move on from here are we and we bring. peace and stability and prosperity back to them as well not to mention democracy in the bulldogs and so that is the case that venezuela is enormously isolated now isn't it. well it is it is it the fact the united states and colombia and brazil and maybe great britain have not recognize a government that four or five countries and whole range of countries across the globe have recognized the new government i mean there was an organization so i mean there are nearly a hundred hundred governments represented when its regional blocs like the african union the arab league opec the world peace council they said lacked from the caribbean and a whole range of other organizations united nations was there as well and so i think it's very important we break down this euro centric or north american centric view of the world and it a factor that washington doesn't recognize the government doesn't mean that the world doesn't recognize it there's no surprise that they're not just because

they're not really need to recognize on countries like china that are not only not recognizing that it's also a case of they've explicitly today saturday call for a new government saying it's stood behind venezuela's opposition run congress and then you have candidates foreign minister saying having seized power through fraudulent and democratic elections the regime is now fully entrenched as a dictatorship but this isn't surprising this isn't right. the concrete fact is that we've only seen one government to us the world break diplomatic relations with venezuela and this is paranoid not even washington has broken relationship venezuela and are seen some major world powers back the current government china russia and lot of the countries in the middle east and asia and africa even european countries and so on and the hope nearly the entire caribbean i moved to south america and they may not like the fact that a majority won the elections a matter of the president but this is a different question this is a political issue but the fact that the government people are saying to isolate it

i think is completely wrong sonia. no i actually did a utopian union doesn't recognize their motherhood or a g.m. right now they consider this but i'm an illegitimate and on the other hand why when mother would why is this so the fickle do have to change it political change in venice way when we see that crisis and it's not the us to blame for all what's happened in venice when it is the motherlode are e.g. because he was responsible he is leaving his role in the call and so he is the person to blame for what this happening why so many people are why so many realists whelan's are leaving the cong to be looking for a new place to start a new life. so they let me let me find out who they are can you i put up a letter. it's true to say his name he has been reelected having presided over over

violence over hunger over off the scale inflation shelves lie but millions of people have left the country it's a shambles would you say that he's done a good job in his first ten years. i miss a lot of the problems is a lot of areas of you made your first ten year without a doubt just refer back to one thing with your previous speaker sonny mentioned if any change politically change has to come to venezuela which in fact makes venezuelans want it has to come to democratic means can be imposed from the international community has to come through elections and we have an action found twenty five elections the last twenty years out of five elections last year and a half that.