but i want to be the last voice you have in the room before you make a decision and barack obama agreed to that and then just in the last days of barack obama's time in the oval office he awarded him the presidential medal of freedom and many people thought that would be the capstone on joe biden's political career but here we are he is no president joe biden the $46.00 president of the united states and he will soon be the resident in the oval office and making the decisions in the oval office and perhaps taking couple hardasses advice before he makes a final decision but he is aware of the we of the office he's talked about many times about barack obama he's aware of the decisions and he knows the importance of the calls that a president has to make more often than not there are simple clear cut calls but every so often every day once in a while they sometimes involve life or death and joe biden is aware that that is an awesome responsibility that has been cast the point among capitol hill and he will

no doubt try to carry out the job of president to the best of his ability there will be detractors you know is that but he's ready for it he feels he's ready for. 0 alan fischer reporting live from washington for the moment but he thanks david reactions and we're actually sions pouring in from around the world the prime minister of america's closest neighbor took to twitter congratulating the new u.s. administration canada's prime minister says that he looks forward to continuing this partnership. the u.s. ambassador to israel changed its description on twitter after biden's inauguration and now says the u.s. ambassador to israel the west bank and gaza. one of the most powerful couples in the world bill and melinda gates said they support biden in a tweet linda gates said that i look forward to working with the do administration to end the pandemic rebuild besa restore america's global leadership promote gender

equality dismantle systemic braces and and ensure americans with care giving responsibilities of new security and post pandemic economy i'm glad to say we have our senior political analyst moment bashara back with us allan was talking about a few minutes ago about the the executive orders that joe biden said that he's going to sign on day one later today but also how he's aware of that the ways of office that the responsibility it carries but as as those tweets we were showing just a few members ago go to show that there's a there's a lot of humdrum in running the country as well and that you've got to make time feel friends and allies around the world as well than do all of the essentially quite dull things that come with governing a country. yes indeed look. i know i'm sure a lot of americans a lot of europeans a lot of others are you know sighing the relief that there's a person

a president that they know that he's from french and oh he's mainstream he's multilateral he's liberal these open he's experienced he's institutional. he's a grandfather figure and as we've heard today he can settle on eyes about civility and hope and truth and some software so all of that is really good and and he has 48 years of experience and hence he really could govern you know without much trouble as his for example predecessor had trouble but at the same time adrian i think i'm a bit i think i'm a bit saturated with the words historic and the word you know incredible and the word amazed with amazement because you know unlike some of us in the media those with a bit of a historical memory know that there was world war 2 why and with the spanish flu

and world war 2 and there was the great depression before that there wasn't the war there was the cold war there was the end of the cold war there was my no love and and so on and so forth you know so america always goes to through historical you know it transitions and and the always on some kind of a scandal of some sort you know you don't miss something just as much with the endemic but you don't hear it you know with the same good shing as we do in the united states we've seen that in france but we don't hear the same divisions unwarranted and civil war that we have in the united states it's because the united states is like a you know a walking talking hollywood there's always a spectacle of some sort and we all like to follow it they are the soul of the party of world affairs as it were but now we have a 7080 year old president who looks tired i think he is tired he is said when i was saying like a grandfather and that's a good thing for america because it's about time for america. to just calm the heck

down and just try to deal with its deep wounds it's clear scars if you will from 40 years of divisions so about we and they and the rest of the world can just you know relax a little bit but it comes solely concentrate on internal villages divisions in canada but so many allies alienated over the past 44 years. biden has got to go about restoring his allies trust in the u.s. and foreign policy doesn't account just turn inwards and focus on internal division . absolutely because you know as we all know the internal and external are related you know for a country like the united states court empire in general but clearly for the united states that has for 70 years not been

a ward leader and it is domestic and foreign are always interconnected into wind and clearly the united states you know the great smith that of power in history perhaps has a role to play and they all understand out all too well that they cannot just close in although there is a bit of an isolationist tendencies among the public in the united states but the liberal elites are governing expression with this administration and i think they understand all too well that there's a lot of fixing to do and there's a lot of fixing to do because there was a lot of damage done over the past 40 years just like there were a lot of damage done after 911 and the invasion of iraq and saw support there was a lot of damage back then as well if you remember with france and. germany standing up to the united states all support but now in the a lot of the allies have almost moved on you know for example europeans and other south east south eastern pollard's have already signed trade deals with china which

would have been unthinkable you know treaty years back because there was a transpacific relationship and there was going to be. a transatlantic trade relationship as well at the same thing goes for security. the europeans are already thinking a kind of mislead in terms of security or do you think im going it alone that they cannot always depend on the united states so it is a bit better docs call on the one hand the one thing united states but they need to trust that this time around they cannot just be sweetened with with nice words from president biden they need deeds as much as words but at the same time they would like to be. treated what so called you know on the level of mutual respect and mutual interest and he no longer should the united states dictate the relationship to its allies around the world all right so so so the world perhaps still needs the

u.s. although less so that in the past how does the president go about demonstrating to americanise that they still need the world. look i mean you know one of the main challenges for the united states over the last century has been getting involved in 2 world wars in europe right with so many americans paying a heavy price because america understands it cannot lead in the world without getting involved in the world and it's understandable to want that that comes with a heavy price and now not that space is facing $2.00 or 3 important world powers notably china duelist agree russia but there's also of course as we all know emerging europe in addition to a whole bunch of you know issues and challenges around the world including the middle east and elsewhere for the united states to be able to deal with china russia to stand up if you will to try to russia to confront or just to compete. you

know rather well against china it needs alliances it needs to to build those alliances especially with the trump for some bizarre reason that you know a great deal maker was making an enemy an enemy out of china at the same time x. of course you know without any good relations with russia in any real terms that. a continue the base needs its allies in order to be able to lead with doesn't have to be a capital l. it needs its allies in order to. be there for the global issues that affect america as much as that or so the world such as global health systems climate change all these issues that affect them are going to fix most of the world need multilateral efforts and last multilateral efforts need hard work and that hard work needs to cultivate that's what the real issues would be allies and you cannot do that as we said earlier without america looking fits because america for the last few months

did not look fit did not look an example to follow it did not look like it was fit delete to lead around the world i was a serious sunni and political analyst my one bashar reporting live from doha. mona was good to talk to you many thanks indeed let's go back to washington then welcome all santa maria has been keeping a close eye on the day's events for us come on. yes well actually it's been a little bit odd adrian i have to say and then if it's my guess at this early at that we've unfortunately had our backs to it by stiff that spot by him so keeping something of an eye on it but it has been quite extraordinary to be up here in our rooftop position up above constitution avenue for this inauguration day which is ongoing ceremony has ended at this out of town but right now of course events have moved to the arlington national cemetery in virginia where joe biden along with the

other 3 former presidents i believe who did attend the ceremony that is president obama w. bush and clinton. they have traveled with him to lay a wreath at the same if they are not sold it and they all are there with their respective spouses. and we're going to have a listen in. fortunate i think we've got odio coming through from that. jennifer can bring you back in at this point i think there is a symbolism of this moment and we haven't actually talked about donald trump a lot today because we've been focused on his the on the people who are incoming but the fact that donald trump is and you have got 3 former presidents plus the new one. jimmy carter would have been there i'm sure if he was able and it's sort of

the case of well look he's not here i think i'm making a point of it. it does seem to be though that they're making a point of it and under previous you know over the past 4 years of this had if he had trump had been president this would be one of those moments where he might be trying to counterprogram or do some other outrageous acts to turn the attention back to him when the nation's eyes are turned on something else but he has lost many of the platforms that he had access to for doing that and this visit at the arlington national cemetery is really poignant you know usually at this point in time the new president of the former presidents and congressional leaders would be enjoying a luncheon inside the capitol building then they would move towards the inauguration parade route down pennsylvania avenue would be lined with revelers and none of that is happening of course because of covert and bolton recognition i mean primarily i think this is in recognition of code that going to arlington national cemetery is of course a place of mourning a sacred place of mourning where this tomb of the unknown soldier is which is you

know really about honoring those who've been lost in war and in this case i think they're also using it as sort of a way to keep the name of the nation in a sort of somber state i think we can have a listen to this. with the iraq. the. with wrong with iraq.

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a poignant moment sumach a historic day in an extraordinary time joe biden president of the united states says he is now alongside his vice presidents camila harris presidents clinton bush and obama in the background. their wives hillary laura and show. they're at the tomb of the unknown soldier at the national cemetery in virginia not far from where we are here and what. he was saying earlier perhaps a moment. jennifer that is in keeping. with these times that we're in you were saying that yeah so much had to change in this inauguration because of kind of 19

it has been a more somber occasion than this perhaps for the status quo. in a way it also bookends the day's events the celebration of the inauguration really began last night with the memorial service that biden and harris participated in at the lincoln memorial and in some ways now is concluding at arlington national cemetery which keeps the tone of all of the day's events squarely focused on mourning and loss and these were of course themes that they say they both spoke about. and we made the point earlier that all this is the. living presidents who aren't there well jimmy hoffa could be in washington today for these events but the most notable absentee is excuse me the 45th president of the united states donald trump and his wife melania who are by now. in florida after leaving washington a little bit earlier today just

a moment to reflect here at. the unknown american soldier so i mentioned donald trump there who we haven't talked that much about today but there was a part of joe biden's speech a little bit earlier today is inaugural address which i think definitely referenced if not from directly then very much the last 4 years the difference between truth and lies evidence. come all joe biden made reference to the false woods and misinformation that evacuated america's division and in recent years and called on leaders to stand up for the truth and recent weeks and want to have taught us

a painful lesson there is truth and there are lives. lives told for power and for profit and each of us has a duty and a responsibility as citizens as americans and especially as leaders leaders who have pledged to honor our constitution and protect our nation to defend the truth and defeat the lies. back here with jennifer make her our guests today from george mason university i just thought it was worth having a listen to that clip where talking about truths and misinformations and lies essentially because the fact that. american presidents have to stand up there and study that tells you i think everything you need to know about these last few years . in that sense it is it's remarkable that it needed to be said in that sense but it's also notable that he spoke of that whole phenomenon as truth alternatively

when donald trump and his spokespeople would say you know it wasn't all that long ago that we heard i think it was kellyanne conway talk about alternatives without us right and facts and truth are not really the same thing facts can be open to interpretation and different sorts of perception but truth is a more absolute truth is a something that exists whether we perceive it or know it or not and so the fact that he is referencing something that is indisputable rather than trying to push one party or one person's perceptions on everybody else or to encourage people to see it from different perceptions i think is a is a meaningful difference history is another thing which can be interpreted and you were saying to me before that it seems like a lot of the speakers today are trying to place this moment in history and of course they would story time that we've been living through but again it's tough to do that when people are going to interpret what is happening right now very

differently. absolutely and i to some extent i think there's probably 2 reasons why we heard so many of today's speakers try to put things in historical context one is that's the normal thing to do on a i don't know it's like today that's sort of a tradition but the reason it's a tradition and the reason that it it's done that way is that it presents a sense of continuity it presents a sense of even though our interpretations of history can change from different points of view and in america right now there are people who are see our our history and even the very present through entirely different lenses that the idea that we can be focused on understanding and updating our own context for where we are in history now and how we go forward can be a way of in a sense kind of uniting. and having a quick look at my notes here because there's so much that we can do about it so much that you would you were mentioning as well the issue of inequality a little bit in the event such that central to a lot of what's happened today yeah you know i mentioned earlier that one of the

things that wasn't brought up today was the idea of trust because i think some of the. this idea that we have all different types of facts and different perceptions is based on whether or not we trust the information that we are given or that comes to us and we also didn't hear much discussion of inequality as a term you know we talked about biden talked about racial injustice and we talked about getting the economy going and we talked about you know to some extent the health care and justice that's associated with the pandemic various sorts of injustices were discussed but not the broader concept of inequality which frankly is the underlying source that leads to the polarization that is you know much of what's happened here actually i thought it was interesting 2 days ago we were up here what you've heard of souls and we saw smoke rising from behind the capitol buildings over there and we all thought oh my goodness what was that it ended up being a fire at a homeless camp and at least a pos now from where we were looking from this and it really is perspective what

side you're on from here we thought my goodness what could be happening in. capitol in fact it was a perfect illustration of the inequality that exists in this in this very city absolutely absolutely well as we start to wrap up then jennifer let's reflect on the day we came here this morning it was quiet it was the kuli or it was media troops basically and we both commented earlier that it was a little bit like well sitting up here and looking back at it felt a little bit voyeuristic in a weird way because the ceremony is so much smaller it looks so much smaller than it usually does and we felt we were watching almost a party that we weren't invited to and then it changed in that there was something about the day maybe it was the sun coming out as well i don't know but it was something that it almost it rose to the occasion you know i have to say the the voyeuristic nature of this type of thing doesn't bother me all that much you know as a social scientist i try to practice observing politics from

a sort of neutral point of view to try to see things from different perspectives and understand what's going on and so i wasn't bothered by that it was at 1st unnerving to have all the troops and the lack of crowds and the lack of liberty of the public ness of this event that we didn't get this year but upon reflection it's really going to very serene day it's been very normal in in an odd way even though a lot about this wasn't normal well speaking of normal in an odd way i'm going to what i have to thank you 1st of all jennifer fictive from george mason it's been a real pleasure having you up here with us and in the normal way. thank you very much it's been my honor to be with you thank you so much and you know i would actually echo what janet that said that without a hint of irony it has been an honor to be here today and bring you this coverage and a real privilege to actually sit here up above constitution avenue overlooking that count at all and watching a u.s. presidential inauguration happen in real time i hope you've enjoyed the coverage

we've told you from here. and well it all starts all over again how the not another whole administration so what happens in the 1st 100 days happens the 1st year and up to the 4 years of this administration behalf of genet the big and the rest of the untasted for we've got here in washington d.c. thanks so much for joining us it's back now to a dream into you know this has been special coverage of the inauguration of the 46th president of the united states joe biden a comma harris has now been sworn in and have since been taking policy in the various ceremonious around washington d.c. the formalities within this last hour we've been watching them at a wreath laying ceremony at arlington national sort of any next on the agenda today is the formal parade where joe biden will get out of his motorcade and be a school to down pennsylvania avenue just like all of the presidents before him

this will be different though in that there will be no one there other than the armed services guarding washington it's definitely been a momentous day for the country which is seeing for the 1st time a female black asian american vice president she along with president biden are expected to overturn several of the executive orders that former president donald trump seems strange saying that hadn't acted president biden plans beginning to issue his executive orders before the day is over the rest of the world will wake up to a new american president al jazeera of course will continue to have all the reaction . and coverage as it comes in we'll be passing you to our colleague barbara sara in london in just a moment. you've been watching for alice extended coverage of the inauguration of the 46th president of the united states for all of us working on the program here in doha and in washington d.c. thanks for being with us by phone.

i care about how the u.s. engages with the rest of the world i cover foreign policy national security is very much a political impounds here's the pop like how do we illustrate it are we telling a good story will people get what we're trying to clean here in their living outside and make it town this is not the way any family wants to raise their children we're willing a kid in taking you into a place that you might not visit otherwise it's absolutely feel as if you were there on t fascist anti establishment and provocative. despite the recent official disbanding of its militarized wing a basque separatist movement is found alive and well on the terraces of the bilbao stadium. a place where political revolutionaries share

a platform an ideology with violent football hooligans. can read old deaths on al-jazeera. when all that seems to matter is the headline there is always 2 sides to a story when narratives and counter narratives obscure reality the main there on the one hand the enemy is over neither on the other hand the listening post strips away the spin what kind of reporting if you can see it on the ground misinformation is right lays bare the bias a lot of people believe things because they want to believe them done covers the uncomfortable truths do you think they did enough to scrutinize the case for war the listing posts on. north korea isolated and heavily sanctioned yet earning billions around the globe you're a $39.00 is involved in everything that makes money for north korea. to carry defy the cusswords take on tyson. the money this year and it goes straight into the

coffers just in the interest of a $2.00 part people in power investigation bureau $39.00 cash for came back one on a. this is al jazeera. hello i'm barbara sarah this is an al-jazeera news hour live from london thank you for joining us coming up. oh my god congratulations mr president. joe biden is sworn in as the 46 the president of the united states and begins with a call for unity. my whole soul is in this. bringing america together you know our need our people.