brazil has reported more than 4200 deaths on thursday the highest yet health systems in states across the country are at breaking point with many already overwhelmed and another round of restrictions is come into effect in argentina's capital as it struggles to contain a record number of new infections on the side of us and its surrounding suburbs recorded more than 14000 cases on thursday new measures include a nighttime curfew and the closure of bars and restaurants from 11 pm the restrictions will be in place until the end of april people living near a volcano on the caribbean island of st vincent are being ordered from their homes as it shows signs of erupting roughly 16000 live live rather in the so-called red zone around los wolf where the volcano.

and let's take you through some of the headlines here now to syria now talks to revive the 2015 iran nuclear deal are set to resume in vienna president joe biden says he's ready to lift sanctions but 1st washington wants iran to return to the full limits imposed on its nuclear program as it has more from tehran on the priorities for the iranian side the negotiating team is being very careful with its language and that's partly due to the internal political situation inside iran there are many factions here you have presidential elections coming coming into play in june and this is president has under harneys final term he will be leaving office later this year and he doesn't want to be remembered as the president that resided over a failed nuclear deal and he was able to deliver on his promise of lifting the sanctions and also the nuclear deal will play a major role in terms of those t.v. debates when that presidential election takes place. voting is underway in djibouti

president. seeks f. 5th time in office main opposition parties of boycotted the vote djibouti is strategically located in one of the world's busiest trading routes is home to several foreign min 3 bases a critical care doctor says a lack of oxygen not drugs killed joy lord george floyd when he was pinned down by police martin tobin testified at the trial during the former officer accused of killing floyd may in mars miters intensifying its crackdown on protesters by imposing more internet restrictions and the near information blackout that means images of violence like these are slow to trickle out of the country more than 600 people including 48 children have been killed since the coup in february. headlines .

al-jazeera is news and the biggest stories of the week delivered to your inbox the last analysis and opinions. subscribe of the conversation. hi i'm steve clemons and i have a question what does the united states look like these days if you're on the outside looking in let's get to the bottom line. if you ever wondered how your country would look from a totally different perspective well that's what we're doing today with the united states gun violence inequality and race far right populism america's retreat from the world forever wars everything is on the table with our special guest today he is gerard road who served as a french diplomat for more than 3 decades he served as france's ambassador to the united states the united nations and israel and he was the french negotiator on the

iranian nuclear issue and that's a road welcome to the show thanks so much for joining us let me just start you took this tweet down but there was a tweet that you issued once that i found very compelling i said after bricks it after trump a world is collapsing and your response to that was the content was right maybe the framing was wrong but i look at that and say you know that that that was a world collapsing my question now is is that world coming back. you know actually i think i was right on the substance but i was certainly not right as a diplomat to say things it was not criticizing do not try to be too was simply that he lived your new under the age of nov 26th seed in that order to where stoneware or do you came and did you a s. and i was thinking of my own country was face he grew a war crisis a bill you know 5540 percent of our citizens against the system they consider going to sustain these repeated and there are $82.00

a day will and i don't think it does it does change in any way well part of the framing of donald trump he came in structurally was what he defined as america 1st when you look at joe biden and his administration has come in and now they've taken the helm of foreign policy and economic policy i guess the question is it it's america what in your in your sense. well actually any country any movement ease america for us all friends service you know foreign policy is defending the interest of your own country the problem was that when trump was sitting america 1st actually he meant america to them basically says don't matter we are simply defending our own into waste we don't taking care what john kerry and i sparred nerds about the story and so all so little we've joined i don't want to go expecting is it would be america 1st then it would be i never got plowed off

a community to be a 1st in a community of democratic nations and the all they're not judging organizations but also to us as a stakeholder off of the human kind if i may say. you and i had a conversation with a group of people once we were talking about american power chinese power european power in the world and and it came up that power is often like the value of a stock in a stock market it it's the value of future expectations and if you looked at the power of america and what people thought about its future it wasn't it didn't feel as robust as say china where you look at you know china's future returns what china is becoming how it's growing what it's going to be china was getting a premium on its power today how would you advise a government like the by the administration to turn that around. no 1st 1st i do

think it's very important on one side not on don't underestimate american power i really and i mean personally i do believe that to us keep we'll be main to the 1st power in the world photo coming to gates you know there are so many assets in this country so many cause so much creativity you know from the universities to the business community. and the 2nd advice would be not overestimate china you know when i do believe that right now people are all making china sort of a monster you know we shouldn't good meat and mistakes which we don't face any problem actually china has its own problems 1st a demographic disaster you know china is movie is going forward to move demographic transition in 20 years that we went for in one century there are social problems and hundreds of chinese are still living you know not just poverty you

have to adapt off their. distaste to go to state companies and so on and so all so look china is not a good thing to donate to or china is a country which is a powerful powerful country. will lead do us we remain the main by worrying to coming decades so if you look at what america would use that power for if you look at things like hong kong and china guiding you know the trappings of hong kong to democracy you look at the treatment of wiggers which the united states has called a genocidal policies against the wiggers and sin john and you look at these various aspects and we've just seen the secretary of state tony blinken meet with the chinese have it at the same time those foreign policy and human rights concerns are going on china is an enormous trading partner of the united states and or enormously. involved with you know global health climate change i just issue

because you've always been an interest driven commentator in foreign policy how is that what is how do you get the equilibrium right between hard core interests and then values you care about whether they're human rights whether they are you know how we work together on climate change how do you get that equilibrium right. well it 1st i think that the biden administration we have to deal with it a stable at auditions it with china it will be much more complicated and it was really the year u.s.s.r. because there will be a better game forming in asia somewhere because 1st you have the intensity of the economy correlations between the u.s. and china and there will be a a decrypting between the 2 economies decision by deals that most of the asian countries don't want to be obliged to have to choose between us and that and the

3rd element also is that china is not an ideological nadirs girlfriend to austerfield world there is no chinese communist party in your job there is no i don't watch it or challenge so it will be a complicated a complicated balance to find there will be containment there will be. those all sorts of engagement i sell to human rights it will be a problem it would be a problem and to us we have to find. out not to go too far why not why being fake food to eat to eat it to death but used you know i'm going to sound to beat friendship it's a new cold but i don't think that. i don't i miss racially we are not a human rights issue to undermine the nation she has financially economy could be strategically important or nation should leave china day the average inst know what

they're doing gratian no doubt china is not going to change its policy human rights policy it's not going to become a restaurant democracy in the in the coming decades so in that it will do us we'd have to have a nation ship within the domain. in a new toyota in china. would you would you frame that in a civil way can you know what i'm listening to you have sort of thinking of a relationship with saudi arabia and the jamal khashoggi issues which were a big campaign issue for joe biden he said he wouldn't deal with the crown prince mohammed bin solomon who's now dealing with it but saudi u.s. relations are largely on track they've gotten by that is that a similar case in your mind oh you're going to even goo beyond because china is i see it when she died some 100 times more important to us done something done so with eurabia you know really and you have

a democratic administration and you're going to squash and doing to malls all the 1st year usually it's very keen on defending you're going to watch and after a while you know really you remember but you know after a year. come to an end after all why you know what you have missed for sure he's alleged to take into account do could do a reality. of the world ambassador one of the issues you dealt with both at home in france but also when you were ambassador at the united nations in the united states was our allied efforts on terrorism many people think terrorism sort of hijacked and distracted the foreign policy establishment from a lot of other threats how would you frame those years that maybe are continuing in which terrorism both domestically inside france against the united states and against other of our allies you know with such a prominent feature of our foreign policy and national security policy. well i

should say it's a question of course what they are good for us of all the special policy as you may know we have to keep going to we are deploying soldiers of several 100000 soldiers not freak out to find cyclones but at the end of the day and i think it you in afghanistan the question made you raised also a father and she voted but you know if we got since we have been in my lead now for nearly 8 years is it possible to we knew war against terrorism will be. dissuaded it is there a military solution in a fight in our fight against against there are ism or we may be doomed to spend decades fighting killing people and seeing other people being taking their place so i think what we could have we think by going to restriction i need something that i do hope we'll be doing enough to promise. really i don't say

negotiation we've established but simply going back to do the hoots of their whole reason and work here we look over governments you know that local governments actually do distrust victims of terrorism. oh we were up with these governments instead of sending out word or worse i whistle years because i think we've got to draw ness and if i were all 'd means simply it doesn't work you know it's big we have brzezinski you know former national security adviser to president carter was around but a very prominent national security commentator he would critique america's forever war in afghanistan or maybe what the french were doing in african today as like relics of a neo colonial past that we have delusions of imperial grandeur that we're continuing

to deploy a force you know indefinitely driven more by inertia than strategic need how would you respond to brzezinski if he were sitting across from you. actually you know she came because. of course because he was quite an impressive and the least and in a sense i share his point of view i am not sure that you just go to your and go over. i think it was it does been a mistake to think that we can sort of we've got worse orders a lot of problems i think as being an excessive media coverage zation of the foreign policy firms will do us a little of course but also in a sense we friends you know to say you have a bigger hammer every problem she looks like a nail and i do think that it's something we could be really. which would be said american foreign policy and i want i or us to i'd also have different foreign

policy we need diplomats and maybe we dutch we need less soldiers let me switch tracks gerard for a moment you know since you've left washington as ambassador you've become a very sought after commentator you appear on t.v. networks people follow your tweets and they come with the kind of. insight and and raw honesty about america that i think we're not used to whether it's about race after the george foid murders when it's about inequality in this country and i just love to get a sense if you look at this nation from an offshore perspective and you look at these domestic issues of identity and tension and the divides in the nation now made so much worse during this pandemic i be interested in you know sort of your notions of of will of what's wobbly and what strong. first i

i live in the u.s. i decided to live in the u.s. so it means that i love this country and and for me what again i think i said it in the beginning of our of our interview to fact use that i'm struck out of the armor of young americans or the united states are facing the same problems in very comparable terms to you or to the open countries and especially to friends and not so do you choose of course who have national circumstances which are quite different the fact that the us is a country of immigrants much more gun than friends but again you have to have 1000000000 or some of our citizens against the systems and you have also communities which are i think i could be civil with shar really asking for 'd the end off or any discrimination and that's that's

a common fighting in western democracies and my dream and frankly my dream would be that the worst on democracy is in a sense work together really admits that they have common failures and and try to do so on his issue or to fight face decisions one common enemy and they see it everywhere also in terms soft or a.c.p. if i may say is i really do believe that we are looking at the and then of a cycle which means the end of the near already been or you know this and where you had on there 'd in america you had to reagan couldn't do it and obama understands and you hope you out you have thatcher or blair you know he said you know that tax us up bad the stage is bad the market is a growed i do fear and not to speak for the trade is is always positive i do for. our citizens not been getting us everywhere. in the streets of their east like

in in in in the us enough is enough we have in a sense to change our wares and what is striking for me is to see don't buy into it and stray should only told by the little you know he's shifting into these great shit and that's in a sense it's quite it's quite exciting and as usual do us all the 1st one to 2 short the way. you did tweet i found it cute that you know what's wrong with socialism when you're trying to say is that is that your comment on you know broad redistributive policies our health care policies you know this debate about socialism in america it where you're just saying hey that's what's worked for france well you know every country has its irrational no respects and into us to do world socialism you know it's peace you know i should know if years of the

society it depends what you are putting behind the world. again i love the u.s. and what i'm going to say is part of my love of for instance as a minority and i end up not as a frenchman there is something we don't try come to understand is that that you don't have. a socialized and scare system you know your and scare to be frank you know i have been if you do it for him. education of nurses and doctors in america and their talents it was awful the cost to your country complexity. and saw so that's an example or you up in countries like a specialized and fair system it cost the last much for the s. actually you are spending 70 percent of your g.d.p. you know the house we are spending 11 percent that's a good example where actually socialism quote unquote you know quote unquote

because even do you care which is not will your social this country as a socialist socialized and system so that will be a good example where socially whatever you call it it's not got bad. one of the other areas i could turn to is iran you dealt with iran so closely and i think you know again going back to henry kissinger's to brant scowcroft to this big me of brzezinski's they would often talk about states having defining challenges you know there are a lot of challenges out there but sometimes certain challenges are very large and defining for that era i sort of feel like china is one iran may be another i'd love to get your insights into that because right now we've gone through a whiplash where the obama administration to go negotiated along with the french along with the british along the p 5 plus one the way the joint plan on on iran's nuclear program donald trump took the united states out of that now are questions

are going back and what are your insights not only as an observer of the u.s. side of that but if iran game in this. to me and to me to be frank i'm quite worried i thought well you know again i didn't do a deal with iran was 'd a compromise and it was for boys only to handle the nuclear issue i think i think that one of the mistakes of the a woman in the obama 'd administration 2015 was not immediately after the steel to to address the other issue of course you want your issues a concern raised by the iranian behavior the horison the scientists. but the sick acuity and also the visual of. activities so trying to went out of your agreement and now the question yes i want to go back to it and it's not he because i'm your audience that the iranians feel aggrieved to the iranians and

rightly so in a way do you mean you know entering a presidential a presidential campaign and on the american side it's not possible or 'd simply to go back to the to the agreement goes do us country can or. willy do where is the concerns expressed by do going for nucky sent by israel are they going to also ignore the other issues or concerns or was the sharing too so it's a very complicated equation and i really am not sure that actually both sides will succeed to to go back to a negotiation to the negotiation table you know for for a lot of iranians now they may be able to say why are we going to make concessions to the u.s. if in 2024 trump is back and and really intrigued us new sanctions so it's it's it's one of distributer very very difficult issues where the

diplomats see he's the scheme and you may know that actually you would be a sock trying to be the. between between care on and washington. we are going to be frank we are too messy often incident there are articles on both sides and especially on union sides. to try to do a deal any idea all of often you deal because in your honor of course the us is the symbol in a sense of of devolution they got ism is the symbol of of the revolution. you know one of the questions i have about france germany a lot of our allies in the world is that they saw america sort of you know kick them in the teeth and the last few years and hug a lot of complicated people like dare to in the philippines kim jong un in north

korea what is the state of the relationship out you know out there we've seen president mccrone talk about the need for a european defense capacity that is that is driven by europeans and not the americans i'm interested in whether or not that those sets of relationships are now entering a new phase or whether you think they can snap back into the kind of the close coordination and you know the mutual trust that used to be you know unfortunately i think. most of europe and so you know do you know you're basically. simply as you said to snap back. because for your for your peers in a sense american leadership is quite comfortable. if you were to swear a photo we might call your new french president say. you work as much as. what does it mean in concrete terms so you o.p.'s so he still european countries will be like

. 6 states it would mean that there really would be worried about reducing young reconvene to tory government and you can understand soon from this country where they're try shiki story and we are should be a year that they can be i think the worry that they'd be sure to have the military government differential go arounds. a small countries like germany. we shall spend between one percent and 1.4 percent of. your parents why did you go to would meet money spending more money on defense so so i think i get a nice ration i think. you're too friendly friendly and he should watch you ok i think if you're going to fold to a ball 'd. buy for your parents to mike or french you know oh i guess you sure you are you ok let's go back to business as usual well gerard road

former ambassador of france united states we really appreciate your candor and fascinating perspectives on today's america thank you so much for joining us and just to. so what's the bottom line it's always fascinating to hear how the rest of the world looks at the united states the 4 years of the trumpet ministrations america 1st policies really did turn the world upside down today nations have serious doubts about american leadership many people around the world would like to go back to the good old days but what's done can't be undone china in iran will be skeptical about working with washington on long term stuff knowing that the next president could shred everything up again my guess was right it would be great if the united states and its allies could become cold eyed about their interests and priorities and set aside their delusions and distractions and help build a more stable world but let's face it delusions and distractions almost always be reality and that's the bottom line.

after more than 30 years in power charts president either his delivery is no seeking a 6th term voters will make their choice on april 11th but with much of the opposition barred all boycotting the election can the people expect change join us for special coverage jazz child focus on the jersey of. the athletes are larger than life but the world of sumo wrestling is shrouded in secrecy 101 niece gets rare access inside a sport where ancient tradition meets modern scandal on al-jazeera joggers in new delhi take advantage of the relatively clean air after weeks of toxic small stopped people from venturing outside institutions including harvard say air pollution is leading to more severe cases of the coronavirus and more deaths from it and nowhere

in india is the situation worse than and daddy the number of cases authored record and whether a desperate situation of the indian government set up a new commission to monitor sources of and pollution across 5 north and ian states health experts and bod mentioned this and been warning for months that the easing of the lockdown would lead to an increase in pollution and the impact that would have on those is the cause of 19. a football of from spain traded battling opponents on the pitch fighting fascism at home on the brule. footballing legend at accounts in the introduces sup the name on the bottle. of water you could have used his beloved game to help himself and others survive the horrors of the nazi concentration camp. on al-jazeera.

al-jazeera. every. day 2 of marathon talks to revive the 2015 iran nuclear deal set to resume in vienna the us downplays expectations of an immediate breakthrough. sami's day than this is al jazeera live from coming up one step closer to a near total information blackout me and.