others home to a little more than 2000000 people, but only those with permits are allowed to travel beyond its borders. inside there are limited options for cultural experiences. so families try to enjoy stones at home. but the cinema bus offers a welcome change. in my head, the cinema is really nice. i wish we had a big cinema like this one. so we could always go to it because we don't have access to things like this. it's the 1st time i've watched a movie and cinema like this, a movie about love and caring about yourself, a message designed to reach everyone along the gaza strip julian wolf. i'll de 0. ah, this is al jazeera and these are the top stories you as president joe biden is expected to decide in the next 24 hours on whether to extend the deadline to withdraw us and allied forces from afghanistan. taliban says they will be quote,

consequences if the august 31 deadline is pushed back. the pentagon says it's determined to finalize its evacuation mission before the end of the month. but it didn't rule out extending the deadline if necessary. we are well aware of of, of the state a desire to buy the taliban to have this mission completed by the 31st of august. i would tell you that we 2 are still planning on completing it by the 31st of august . that is the mission that women signed by the commander in chief assigned to us, and that's what we're trying to execute it. cobbles, airport remains chaotic. there are reportedly 14000 people waiting there with at least 10000 more outside, hoping to get in. security is also and concerns. and taliban fighters have reached the outskirts of pansy valley. the last and army raging chemist on not under the

groups control opposition leaders inform a government troops have created a resistant growth in raising wakes. but on monday, the taliban ray took 3 districts that had been seized by opposition. forces the u. s. medicines, a regulator has fully approved to 5 the coven 19 vaccines. the people aged 16 and over. it's been in emergency years since december. following the approval, the pentagon has made jobs compulsory for all one point. 3000000 members of the u. s. military. powerful earthquake that hit hazy earlier this month is further hampering the country's coven 19 vaccine. rollouts only around $20000.00 jobs have been administered. heidi's outbreak has been relatively small, but there are fees, hospitals already overwhelmed with quank victims could spread the virus. those are the headlines. stay tuned for inside story. i'll be back at the top of the hour. bye for now. news.

news. news. news. the german chancellor has warned russia not to use a new pipeline as a potential weapon. no stream to is near completion. it will bring more gas from russia to germany. will this give moscow too much power over europe and its future? this is incisive. ah, ah hello and welcome to the program. i'm has him seek the politics of energy all back under the spotlight in europe. a new natural gas pipeline that would double the

supply. russia sends to germany is nearly complete. but the nor stream to pipeline avoids ukraine, which is where a large portion of rustling, natural gas passes through before making its way to europe. this means the ukrainian government could lose a huge portion of the income and earns through transit fees. united states and some u. member states are also concerned. they say further reliance on russia for europe's energy needs could be risky. but germany's are going chancello, anglo merkel says there will be rules in place to protect ukraine security. he's a follow them on. we have made it clear that we will seek further sanctions within the european framework if the suspicion that the pipeline is being used as a weapon is confirmed. and we have made it clear that we as well as graph walter, see who will be our special envoy are starting negotiations about the possibility of extending the contract from 2024th. so ukraine can have security on this level as well. and i still believe that this is

a witness to believe that it's possible to ignore the threat to not only for ukraine, but also for europe. i don't think it's possible to ignore that. it's a weapon. ukraine will not talk about nordstrom to from the economic point of view . you can see control gas prices in europe now and how they arise. it must be, well, here's the way that we are willing to continue transiting gas through ukraine even after 2024. but we must understand and what timeframe and what quantities. for this we must receive an answer from our european partners. how long are they willing to continue buying from us? this is an obvious thing. we can't sign a transit contract if we don't have a contract for delivery to our customers in europe. taking in mind the green agenda that is already being realized in europe. we are asking ourselves, will our gas even be bought? all brain, i guess in a moment, the 1st let's take a closer look at this project. the nord stream to pipeline runs onto the baltic sea

alongside and already existing pipeline completed in 2011. both pipelines allow russia to avoid ukraine when supplying gas to europe. you pipeline is expected to transport nearly 55000000000 cubic meters of natural gas every year. doubling rushes current supply to germany. european union already imports about 40 percent of all its natural gas from russia. that's why they are growing fears that the new pipeline could increase the ease dependence on russia. the. so let's bring in our guess now in moscow we have a puzzle fell going. how are he is a russian foreign policy analyst and columnist at nevada is yet up in sydney, british columbia. we have michael berserk, you author and global affairs analyst. he's also the former spokesman for the organization, for security and cooperation in europe, and in berlin, 20 k godaddy, a senior fellow at the international institute for strategic studies. good to have

you with a gentleman, toner k. if i could start with you ukraine, fears for its security on the basis that this gas pipeline will tighten moscow's grip over over the regions energy supply and strengthen its, its influence. all those fee is well founded. yes, i think the stairs are well found it because moscow has a long tradition of using energy and especially gas supplies. as a political tool. we have seen the same previous d case concerning ukraine, but not only you create most of for central european or eastern european countries have faced russian policies regarding the energy supply. so this is a matter of you or politics, most of european countries, and including the european union,

which is also important. brussels also considered that the new pipeline northeastern, too, is a political tool in the hands of russia and basically all the germany, germany. so we shall position is that these political pressures can be avoided. but most of the countries, including those who are in the neighborhood, i'm in poland. all states can be countries and the european union, as i said, and even trends we usually france is not very aggressively russian. but regarding this project particular project there, most of the countries are against it and consider that it will increase rushes, a geopolitical role in the european continent. and i'm not talking about the u. s. maybe we'll come later to discuss the american position on this issue. sure,

we will, we will get to that at some point, michael, but sir q is europe risking, becoming too dependent on russian gas? oh, absolutely. and you know, the outlines of the so called agreement is very vague. what does actually constant to constitute an energy weapon and when are sanctioned triggered? so for example, if russia does abruptly raise gas prices to europe or constrict supply, does that constitute using the pipeline as an energy weapon? i think there's ukraine has very, is very, very right right now to feel very kind of threatened and vulnerable because there is no real consensus on how russia, how he's, how these sections executed can be triggered. and i think it's really incumbent upon people like cancer merkel before she leaves office to tighten this agreement up. we've, as the previous guest indicated that russia has a long record in terms of you know, aggression in terms of probing weaknesses in terms of finding out how it can

leverage its geopolitical advantage. energy to, to harm others and to gain its own object. and so it doesn't look good on all sides . i think come quickly, i think that ukraine feels very again, very vulnerable and very alone right now, because it feels it doesn't have strong backing from europe any longer. let's get to puzzle. so can house take on a lot of c as being expressed here, about this perceived over dependence on, on, on russian energy and russia using that as a weapon. what do you say to that? well, your opinion be very much dependent is increasingly dependent on russia. natural gas. right now we are kind of rush of the present before, even without the nor stream to going operation hours affecting your muscles. say russia right now is cut of the supply of physical supply of gas to

a europe and to cover its contract obligations is extract and gas from underground reservoirs in europe. and so that means that the former right and formal terms rushing, complying with the contrast swamp down contract got dramas. but in terms that means that so when summers in the winter is coming, and the european gas reserve on that there use as a buffer during the cold winter are right now very much the week. it's in times where you can physically won't be impossible, won't be possible to fill them up before winter comes. and so those are miss out the spot price of gas in europe as skyrocketed almost to the levels of east asia. and europe is not getting enough liquefied gas on

tankers, because most of it is going to the stage where there's the so called the asian premium one price. so russia is flexing your muscles and showing that they can regulate the price of gas, the price of the supply of gas than europe. those have just over a 3rd of the supply is ration still anyway. so then with the new platform rush, you will have more flexibility in doing that. tony cable, where does what's at stake here for, for the united states and their position on all of this the united states were very critical about this project from them, from the very beginning. even if the position of the previous american president, donald trump was not always consistent, he, he was criticizing the project,

but at the same time he tried it. he tried to veto the congress resolution to augment pressure on the, on the project. the americans were against the nurse into also because at least for the president trump, it was a logical to for, for germany and for you to claim at the same time that the russia was threatening them militarily, politically. and at the same time providing money for gospel, which as we know is the, is, is a main resource provider for the ration russian budget. and may be the case, a specific case of the president trump. it was also to, to help american companies that are exporting liquified guess to they, they are experts asians to the, to europe. but the things have changed. we saw the last summer,

the meetings between the, the president biden and the chancellor miracle, and later meeting by then, joseph biden, with the coach in, in geneva. and the americans decided to wave the most of sanctions and punitive measures that united states of adopted against the companies were involved in the construction of nor stream to. and the americans justify the change by the fact that the united a wants wants a better relations with the, with europeans and the major player in europe is germany. and at the same time, they tried to manage and to explain this decision thing that

together germany and the united states will will increase, i sure will establish sanctions if russia uses north stream as a job political tool. as my colleague from kind of the said, this is something very difficult to assess because of course, russia is the champion of hybrid measures and who will determine when the political aspect intervenes in this. and this issue. who, unless russia invites directly with their tanks or military forces, who great in order for me to be in countries there, there could be always be at the base about, is it political? is it your political or not? so this is something that doesn't really give the credit to the both had. so for government and states, when they claim that russia will pay the price. all right? if they use it, you know, let's get, let's get pebbles, reaction to,

to some of that. and what, what does it stay here? essentially, for russia beyond the, the, the economic benefits, what should be understood? the more stream 2 is only one pipeline in the network, a pipeline the by russian. it's, there's the nor stream one, the 1st pipeline which is fully operational for a long time. and then there's the pipeline bill to turkey and from turkey into the balkans. the south kind of route now it's called the turkish red. so this is the entire network rush invested a lot of money. i mean, not only the pipelines themselves under water, but also the infrastructure to bring the gas from the area to the back seat to the baltic sea and then send it to europe at the north and through the south. and this is a mattress. and last month,

most likely was hope that there would be foreign finances involved. but because of sanctions, they were not. so russia paid a gas from paid out of his own pocket to build it and they will be investment and placed on paper will never be returned because they're going to be got from bikes with gas, from gas, and assigned them. so they're kind of paying the transit fee themselves, and as a result, they're paying very well fees to say that this is much more rig economy. but the thing is that the answer says she's, they'll never return the investment. so this is of course, the combination of political and commercial interest selected often happens in today's russia. russia has both wants to be in some control of the european market are pricing there and others and supplies. but of course, also gas from its time to the european market,

the gas from does not really produce on song much at all liquefied. yeah, that means you can send it to other places, pipelines and to europe. europe is tied to russia, russia by europe, basically before moscow. that's also not that bad because there's this so bad idea that russia should build bridges with europe. try and push the americans out. do something from monday to do and establish time with germany and primarily, but with all the other european countries. that's kind of very close partnership. that's not very working out, but then the commercial part of it. and then of course, the problem of ukraine, which right now finds itself in a position where moscow at will if it wishes to just continue to supplied gas to europe. so far we've contract that brigade, sions, but it's not sending much or at all through ukraine. and that's for

sure, let's, let's talk a little bit more about ukraine's options here. michael garcia, if ukraine continues to feel that europe in the united states are not looking out for them on this issue. does that risk join them closer to china's or bit as has been suggested by some? yeah, absolutely. i think the feeling in ukraine is i've recently returned from there is that it's been thrown under the bus, the bought it and ministration, which by the way, has very few foreign policy wins, has chosen to improve relations with germany. it has chosen to do some kind of research with relations with russia and in return. and as i said earlier, creighton feels very vulnerable. it doesn't have many options. but yes, one of them is actually improving relations with china. in fact, president lansky recently had 1st a conversation what she's paying over the telephone. and they, there was a very good call from both sides. and the landscape said that it pretty much to the

fact that ukraine has no better friend than china right now, at least an economic partner. and i think this was done in part to kind of put pressure on washington to look again at relations with ukraine and to help it more . but the other thing i have to say is that with the debacle in couple and with the united states now the scene is not a credible partner to guarantee security. whether you're taiwan or ukraine, or whoever is that, you know, a lot of these countries are real valued, a re evaluating those security guarantees and looking for other partnerships. and, you know, ukraine might even look, be looking, for example, even more to the gulf countries to see what kind of new ties can be formed there. if i could say one other thing here, and this goes more to the kind of technicalities of the pipelines that the other problem ukraine has. and it's not talked about very much at the moment, is with this realignment of gas transit i gas pressure in ukraine has the potential

to fall very, very much. so what that means, practically, during the winter time outlying or bloss through outlying villages may not get the required gas that it needs because it's really upset. it has the potential to upset the whole infrastructure. there is so a lot of different vulnerabilities that ukraine feels right now. so we shouldn't be surprised that looking elsewhere for better partnerships. tony. okay, what's your view on that? and then there's this idea that america's credibility is taking a real hit in recent days, you know, because, you know, michael mentioned afghanistan and their position with, with, with this now, would that, would that force your p in partners to, to kind of look elsewhere to shore up their own alliances. yes, unfortunately, the u. s. role and even credibility is suffering already for several years. it has started earlier than just

a few weeks or few days ago. we also remember the 1st attempt of research between the american aah and ministration. obama, administration and, and put in russia just after the war in georgia. and they were numerous attempts of normalization of relations between the us and russia always coming from from the american. we also remember the disastrous experience in syria, where the americans abandoned their own red lines and their lot russia to intervene on the sides of, of the president bashar last and all the tragic consequences that, that happen there. so many eastern europeans, especially are very vulnerable because of their geographical proximity with russia

are extremely worried. and to come back to the options that ukraine has. why would that also one another option that is now improving and getting closer relations with turkey, which is, and the cooperation between the ukraine and turkey, around the black sea, including corporation and military and military industry. between these 2 countries . don't forget that turkey was quite critical about the crime is annexation by russia. because grey me are primarily local populate, i'll talk to population is turkey speaking population. so there are these, these douglas are looking for options. somehow, a crane try to negotiate a better options about natal memberships in terms of you know, with,

with germany, again, germany and france where the main countries, a blocking ukraine, enjoyed succession to nature from 2008. so that ukrainian tried to, to, to negotiate these, not 3 to an issue with the repertoire possible rec, respond with nature, but i don't see any serious changes in this in this issue. so yeah, of course this country, increasingly they got the stand that they have to rely on their own resources and to be more multi vector row and to see partners everywhere and also to improve relations between them. between this is the new in countries with paul, with baltic states, etc, etc. pebble, falcon, how i want to ask you about the another announcement that was made in these meetings, and that was anglo merkel, promising to provide more than

a $1000000000.00 to help expand ukraine's renewable energy sector. how much might that soften the blow for ukraine if it was to lose those transit fees from russia and in 3 years time? well, to some extent, most likely, yes. but then there's also other problems, not just simply money. there's not just the fees, there's the gas that goes through ukraine, basically also your brain buys part of that gas bank, legally speaking by from out in poland or like yeah, but physically the gas is just simply taken from the fact that as it goes through your grade, and this is not functioning, the gas is not coming out where we agree and get to gas with this right now. buying in the west. if there's the technicalities there that could do have very disastrous effect,

said already that the oppression the gas entire system of ukraine may begin to fall, and that would be catastrophic getting gas from the west. they have to reverse this . i mean there's, there's so many problems there. just bowers doing through green energy won't good, but it won't solve those problems. i'm afraid. ok, i just want to put the what's probably going to be the final question in a minute or so that we've got left to to, to michael. how do you see this playing out? if i mean merkel has said that they could, they could apply more sanctions on russia if it doesn't play ball, but russia's already been sanctioned, almost to their limit already. so i mean, how much, how much more sort of 5, how do they have really exactly, how much more pain can you inflict on russia which is already sanctioned to the health. as you already pointed out, i think the only thing the west really has the only leverage is the nuclear ox from

which i call it. and that is to at least temporarily remove russia from the international financial system. the payment system would really get them where it hurts. i can tell you that again, just coming from the region, put 10 is making very threatening signals. he did a long term depth space recently claiming that ukrainians and russians are all the same people. to me, this is code for we have more ambitions for ukraine, get ready for it, get more for, get ready for more aggression and quickly don't forget that they did leave a lot of military hardware, a lot of manpower close by when they did the recent military exercises so again, plenty, plenty and plenty of reason for your brain to feel very vulnerable right now. all right, we're going to leave it there. thank you. to all 3 of you pebble fell going, how michael, marcia q and tony k go dad. say thanks so much for being on inside story and thank you. as always for watching, remember, you can see this program again any time by visiting our website. i just need to talk. com. and for further discussion,

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jazeera when i hello, i'm emily, angling joe. these, the top stories on al jazeera us president joe biden is expected to decide in the next 24 hours whether to extend a deadline to withdraw us and allied forces from afghanistan. and taliban says they will be quote, consequences if the august 31 deadline is pushed back. the pentagon says it's determined to finalize its evacuation mission before the end of the month. john henderson has moved from washington dc. joe biden is.