previously i mean or actually maybe you know there are basically. i would say choice of tubes way is from ca to university regular contributor with us here at al-jazeera thank you for your time and your thoughts there it is half past the hour on al-jazeera 1430 g.m.t. 5 30 pm in kuwait the breaking news this hour is the death of the emir of kuwait. who has died at the age of 91 an announcement made a very brief announcement on state television just a short time ago do we have that or are we let's have a look at that announcement. i mean it was great said this in heavy hearts the world court and the kuwaiti people and to the arab and muslim peoples the passing away of the late. praying to god. in his mercy and accept him

into his paradise may god help us and to god we shall all return. here's how we're covering this story at this hour with 4 correspondents around the world alan fischer is at the white house in washington d.c. . in teheran jamal shales with us here in doha will be with all of you gentlemen shortly starting with our diplomatic editor james bays in new york i don't know james if there's been any reaction from there yes. well as you know the u.n. general assembly is still taking place so leaders' speeches are still being played out by video in the general assembly hall so a lot of ambassadors are around the u.n. today the secretary general is also doing an address in about an hour's time now he hasn't yet put out a statement the secretary general puts out a statement when any world leader or anyone of significance dies and always starts

out and secretary general is i've actually though spoken to someone who has spoken to the secretary general since the news of the amir's death and i was told he really is very very sad indeed this is someone he knew well because of course and tony you could tell us the secretary general before this was head of the u.n. refugee agency he's been on the world stage before that as the prime minister of portugal he knew the amir well and he's very very saddened by his death and also paying tribute to his contribution to regional peace efforts for example you were talking about the blockade of qatar but not just that in recent years until last year kuwait had a 2 year term as a member of the u.n. security council and during that term kuwait became one of the security council members involved in the humanitarian far in syria and i'm told by this person who's close the secretary general that they believe kuwait played a very important role in getting humanitarian deliveries to people in syria in

trying to breach the problems that exist on the security council in syria because often obviously when you try and push things through the security council there's always the threat of a russian and chinese veto and they believe the weight played a very important role there also played a very important role in yemen because it was able to speak to key regional players notably saudi arabia and the u.a.e. and was one of the key players i think in trying to get the stockholm agreement on a date and now that's not a done deal and certainly it's not the final deal. for the country lots more work needs to be done but they do believe it was an important breakthrough and it is worth reminding you as we look at those very recent achievements from kuwait his diplomatic player and certainly the kuwaiti prime minister was the foreign minister one was kuwait was on the security council and their ambassador was seen as very very shrewd diplomats following i think in the tradition of the emir who for

a very long time was his country's foreign minister and you have to go back to the early days of the un if i take you back to 963 then shakes about was the foreign minister the 1st year that he was the foreign minister and that's the year that that kuwait joined the united nations in fact we will looking at the footage a short time ago and we'll get it to you shortly that we found in the u.n. archives of him there watching as the flag is raised for kuwait for the 1st time at the united nations one of the recollection to report to you we're hearing from people like the secretary general and people around the world but just a personal record recollection from one of my colleagues here at al-jazeera one of our camera team here without his era in new york a few years back the kuwait the emir of kuwait was here and i'm told had a property in new jersey and invited camera crews for some meeting or other and our cameraman turned up and was beckoned into the room and then the amir stood there at

the front of the room and said come up cameraman and photographers join us join us have the meal with us and there you had a world leader inviting the camera crews to come and eat with him pretty unusual now it's lovely isn't it thank you james bays is our diplomatic editor i'm going to stay in the united states just head to the white house with alan fischer now as you were saying earlier alan no official reaction and maybe you can give us the background here late in the air had been treated in the united states for his illnesses. and if their stories about the emir of kuwait one interesting one is that when he was here just a couple of years ago in. he 17 he held a news conference with donald trump after a meeting in the white house and i'm told again by al-jazeera arabic colleagues that that was the 1st time that the emir of kuwait had ever held a news conference because it's not something that happens routinely in kuwait it was here in the united states they decided to do it and the kit emir of kuwait took questions from journalists from both sides on that occasion he was here receiving

treatment he flew into the united states to minnesota on a u.s. military hospital plane back in july if he goes to minnesota you would expect that he would probably go to the me or clinic which is regarded as one of the best hospitals in the world there was no update on his condition while he was there but we know that he underwent surgery the day after he arrived this fall and surgery that he received in kuwait city there is no response as yet from either the state department or from the white house but the white house is well aware of who the emir is in fact is just about 10 days ago that he was given the legion of met it in his absence this is one of the highest honors that can be restored at the discretion of the president what is interesting there is that we got an insight into the complicated nature of kuwait and the united states were interacting these days we had donald trump saying that he expected kuwait to be the next nation to sign up to his plan to normalize relations with israel very soon after that if

you wait you said that that would not be the case the emir are very aware of not only the feeling in the national assembly which is very much against that idea but also very much the feeling on the ground in kuwait there was also concern to in the the white house that their mere had built bridges with the arabians was not a tall outspoken when it came to the question of sanctions and did not support the united states when it pulled out of the iran nuclear deal and also had. links to with china know there are some in the white house who saw this is slightly disloyal given that back in 1901 it was the americans under the 1st george bush who brought together a global coalition to expel the iraqi forces who'd invaded kuwait in august 1990 and of course moved on them very quickly and got them out within 3 days when the

1st gulf war started in 1991 so there was a complicated relationship certainly kuwait seemed very much as an ally for the united states got to remember there are still somewhere in the region of 13 to 20000 depending on which figures you believe u.s. troops based in kuwait and that scene is a very strategic. point very strategic base for the united states in the middle east so there was a lot of course over a lot of cooperation but also i fear a moment of tension as well. excellent perspective in context from the united states there with alan fischer and james bays before him thank you jamal shale now here in doha jamal let's bring it back to the events of today it's about an hour now since we got the official word from kuwait state media that the emir had passed away what happens now. well the country officially enters a state of mourning one that would last at least 3 days officially where things are

closed government institutions and so forth but can last a lot longer in terms of other kind of ceremonial activities and so forth obviously they will go into preparation to prepare a funeral obviously what makes this unique. isn't just the unique nature of the late amir and the reverence that he was held in by so many people but obviously the timing happening drink over it and so forth so how that will be done in terms of state funerals and other things will be something closely monitored from a succession perspective the way in which the equation states and constitution is run is that these the elders will need to discuss and truth from them who will succeed. there is already an heir apparent albeit one who is over 80 years old however officially he is the one who is next in line.

there is still a lot he has within a year true true is true his his heir apparent would be if the parliament approved him as the next mayor but obviously that would be something that would be announced a lot sooner it is not necessarily a given that the our parents will be the next ruler there has been raising voices with regard to the son of the late nasser. the son of the one who just passed now who has been positioning himself more as in an alternative figure to the old guard that has been ruling quite for a long time i say as an alternative to old guard he even though himself is 70 years old but as we heard there from marwan and others it is old generation. it has been ruling for a long time partially that is the reason for the stability that is ensued in that

country in that it hasn't been as adventurous bitter quote unquote as we've seen in other countries in the region but there is a lot of. focus will be put on to see how smooth this transition is kuwait is extremely unique in its nature because it has a functioning parliament it does have a level of democracy it does have political parties it does have poor lism when it comes to ideologies when it comes to political persuasions and therefore that is something that will be very closely monitored as opposed to other countries in the region that have none of that. gets up to date with what will happen now in kuwait the emir of kuwait as a final correspondent right now assad based in teheran assad we have heard a lot about kuwait's relationships with the united states with its gulf neighbors they were complicated and it seems the relationship with iran similarly.

yes definitely one of those will constantly used is complicated as for iran it was friendly complicated and at times there were tensions back in 2014. visited iran he he met with president hasn't rouhani and even the supreme leader ayatollah khomeini and at that time he had described the relationship as excellent and signed several agreements from security trade and tourism with iran but even if we go back to the iran iraq war kuwait had supported saddam hussein in fact allowing saddam hussein's military to use 3 create tea islands to transfer forces just stage attacks against iran and at the time iran had threatened retaliation to kuwait if they continued to support saddam hussein's forces another point of tension was back in 2011 kuwait accused the revolutionary guards could force that

deals with operations outside of the country for crying out subversive activities on quick soil and some diplomats were expelled and again in 201723 kuwaitis were accused of spying for iran and his by law and iran iranian diplomats were accused of aiding some of those and uranian ambassador was expelled but there is considerable trade in relationship between the 2 countries foreign ministers routinely meet and talk they have talked about facilitating dialogue and creators very much try to play a mediating role as the previous correspondents have said kuwait didn't support the united states pulling out of the way that 2015 nuclear deal so iran will be watching closely to see who takes over and how this relationship will develop because also this 30 percent of the creator population is shia who have historically iranian origin so there is

a historical relationship between the 2 countries and kuwait has called upon iran. previously to make concrete efforts to dialogue but also to take care of the country's sovereignty and not to infringe on other countries' issues and sovereignty so that relationship again is complicated friendly and sometimes tense ok thank you for that in teheran rounding out our team of correspondents on the news that the emir of kuwait. has died at the age of $91.00 the announcement made on state television around about an hour ago. the late had been in the united states for treatment medical treatment. so his health had been an issue for some time and the crown prince. had assumed some of his powers temporarily he is officially the next in line to the throne in kuwait

gregory gause with us now professor of international affairs at texas a and m. university thank you for your time and your patience as well i know you've been there a long time but obviously we've got a lot of correspondence to speak to right around the world your reaction 1st of all the fact that obviously he was in ill health and we knew. he was getting medical treatment but still this is a major generational passing in the gulf and in kuwait well. it certainly depends on what important historical personage going kuwaiti got logics whether to generational change is something. christian who was also rather elderly or 80 years old or he's pretending we know most of it we're going to get a generation change. because. well because the. the new myriad have some amount of discretion as to who is from

prince who will have the late rivera's factions within the ruling family and it's a relatively fractious ruling family the answer bar some of their conflicts are not only on one like many of the other or monarchies certainly shifts of asshole elevation to the emir ship back in 20061 was very dramatic and the crown prince of well i'm sure saddam's up of the lot was so incapacitated that he really couldn't take the oath of office in front of the arm in the parliament voting to post it just about an hour of who were the parliament received his application and that's also. became a year so. the succession in kuwait is is. it's a sure it's not an issue of some kind of overthrow the regime or anything but within the ruling family itself there can be some factional fighting i don't think

shit you know off will be in a position like. doherty can't take the oath well he clearly has not been someone who's had not a very active wall in governance over the last decade or 2 right and so we very interesting and see the team that he puts together sorry. rather brief and vague with my last question but the reason is that taking over my mind was the idea of just thinking about the wider gulf the fact that you do have younger leaders in place around the gulf at the moment here and cut the shift i mean you think about the influence of mohammed bin solomon in saudi arabia even the new sultan this year a relatively younger man as well it could be seen as. a wider change to a younger generation and a chance for kuwait. well i think that kuwaitis are constrained by the fact that they're the only state in the only monarchy and they got that has

a real heart and that really parliament is very very jealous what are rights that the kuwaitis have the economic will and the cons of be going to change is that not in some scientists trying to do in saudi arabia what kind of the economic model that was build in legal aid which is based much more on one with less of a little money and more trade and tourism well i think it would be very difficult to do and there are plans for this is the way but we don't have the range of 300 choice that other rulers in the gulf outlet got to do their part of the gregory thank you so much for your time you do appreciate and say appreciate you staying around for us as well while we speak to our various correspondents and guests around the world we can now go to kuwait city and talk to daddy who is a professor on contemporary gulf history at kuwait university at

a 1st of all condolences to you. how will this be greeted in kuwait obviously a period of mourning but how much do people start thinking about the future. well thank you 1st of all. i think people are being waiting for this moment because the last 2 months the news used to come from the united states they were in there were not positive until the early morning when we heard some rumors about the health the severe condition of the. ship. and i think what's going on now it's something has been expected for cordy's. they received this. news. some better news was some. mixed feelings of

losing a great leader especially when it comes to the regional. cherilyn is that what's going on now in the g.c.c. and even the middle east so. you mean he was the protector i mean they how i mean this is how look at home that he was one of the great leaders who put who was successful in protect not only equating interest but also the gulf interests i mean the gulf crisis the. crisis i mean he played a crucial role i mean trying to fix. i mean the relationship between the saudi and playing from one side and a lot of that on the other side alley you are

a younger man yourself tell me about how the younger generation in kuwait views well but also views the idea of a monarchy and the fact that the next in line to the throne is also from the older generation. well it's true lately constitution mean a local some other states in the region. i mean there is a sequence a protocol that. every and here. and crown prince will proceed through so for example the article number 4 in quite a constitution it's very clear that when with the absence of the emir the crown prince automatically becomes the emir and then he has to choose a name within one year to be a crown prince and then he has to present it to the parliament and they will vote

if he did not get a majority of votes in the parliament he has to come back and nominate 3 names for the parliament and then they will choose one of them so i mean it's there is there is a clear process and i mean what i mean you know when it comes to the politics of the ruling family. it's not a very secret. i mean dynamic i mean people they understand the dynamics of the ruling family at the same time they respect it i mean i mean it's the ruling family they have their own process they have their own. culture of rulership so they respect it and they wait for it i mean i mean when we talk about the younger generation how they look at the all the generation as a rulers i think i mean i mean now they look at it with

a more respect i would say and appreciation. they don't tick a very aggressive steps they don't take a very. productive. actions. internally and externally are new talk within the state and even within the region so i mean looking at the currents that have been in the last 5 or 10 years i think they look at more appreciation to the older generation of the ruling family i mean it's not it's not the perfect situation but for the current i mean i mean look at the current issues i mean if they feel it's more safe i mean to have this generation to be in power nice for the coming period of time early what do you think about transition

a lot of our analysts and correspondents i've spoken to already keep using the word stability to describe kuwait partially because it has a monarchy and it has a parliament as well do you expect there to be whilst obviously there will be a lot of mourning in the next few days that there will be that general stability in the country after 6 of us passing. i think it's going to go smooth as this time better than 2006 i mean the problem of 2006 that we had the both the positions the emir and the crown prince mean it was vacant and so i mean we went into consideration of. crisis and took. about 2 weeks to to solve it now i mean there's no crisis and if there is no such crisis the 2 number one number 2 positions in this state is vacancy only 1.

1 seat is vacant seat which is the emir and now the current pres will proceed to be emir automatically as i explained in the article for the quote the constitution and he will choose his compass and he kind of he can delay it for more than one year and i think i think i mean they have already chosen the name. we will see i mean in the coming probably few days i mean i don't think it's going to take too long to choose a crown prince and even to vote in the parliament. i don't think it will take a long time. ari has a professor in contemporary gulf history at kuwait university and i really appreciate being able to talk to you on this day and again condolences to you and your countrymen the news on al-jazeera this past hour is the passing of the emir of kuwait schick. he was 91 years old he

had been in poor health for some time in fact it was in july that he traveled to the united states to seek further medical care after undergoing surgery as alan fischer our correspondent at the white house was telling us earlier he actually went there on a u.s. military transport plane to minnesota i believe it was and while there was nothing official released at the time no official news release for the time about exactly what health problems the emea had we did know he was going there for treatment and it was at that time that some of his powers and duties were temporarily moved to the 83 year old crown prince shaikh now off. who now is in line. as per the succession plan in kuwait to become the emir of kuwait as they say he himself 83 years old as well so not

a generational change but as some of our guests were saying earlier definitely the passing of a major historical figure in kuwait someone who was the emir since 2006 but prior to that had shaped kuwait's foreign policy as the foreign minister someone who has had a lot of influence over kuwait. the other. one of the other ways that the emir of a later mia was viewed as a statesman in the gulf he was the mediator for the gulf crisis. the cost of blockades the blockade of gaza which has been in place for 3 years now kuwait and we're in the position of trying to mediate that the blockade not lifted but very much seen as the man leading that efforts kuwait state television made the announcement a short time ago this is what kuwait state television is broadcasting now or at least was then i'm sorry the announcement was made only a matter of 30 seconds or so to make that announcement on state television and his

state television right now with a picture of. kuwait now in a period of official mourning thanks for staying with us with you in a few moments time with more. corruption it is the invisible wall of silence. this. is not something to be told that there. is a. country. destroy this wall. in 2020 the free space over which encourages the heroes who are fighting against corruption this helps our communities to save the resources that we need in order to address the burning problems that affect us all. shine a light on your anticorruption here i. nominate now.

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on a 0 we need to stand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world so no matter what you see we are in the news in kind of forms that my. own welcome i'm peter w. watching the news hour live from our headquarters here and coming up in the next 60 minutes the emir of kuwait she. has died in the united states at the age of $91.00 . we'll look at his legacy as a diplomatic mediator in the middle east. fighting intensifies

between as a big john and armenia while the international community race is to find a diplomatic solution.