upon my erupted and scientists say, there is no indication that it will stop any time soon. in that time, more than 1800 buildings have been destroyed, mostly houses. about 7000 people have had to leave their homes. the agricultural sector is among the industries hardest hits. now bad hair days no longer exists in a small town in northern india. that's thanks to 2 brothers in the state of punjab who are turning heads with their barbershop. the pair can replicate the taj mahal or even michael jackson's face using their customers heads as canvasses. they're hoping to cut an opportunity to make their business international. ah ha, again, i'm fully battle with the headlines on al jazeera. at least 14 people have been killed in an explosion in serious capital. it's a worse attack in damascus in years 2 bombs went off in an army bus. and separately,

it's been reported. 5 people have been killed in a blast inside an ammunition depot in the homes, reaching russia is hosting the taliban at an international conference on afghanistan, a delegation is in moscow. and it's meeting representatives of regional powers, including china, india, and pakistan. they're discussing security threats from i saw and the humanitarian situation in afghanistan. the kremlin says the taliban must meet me to basic expectations on human rights before it can get international recognition. mikalyn exclusion also is still the social, economic, and humanitarian problems. the new government capital i've taken on show the current situation in afghanistan cannot be called stable. first of all, terrorist groups such as idle and al qaeda has to be stopped. they are again trying to raise their heads in all different parts of the country. and the drug trade remains pressing problem in afghanistan. more than 80 people have died during days

of floods affecting india is northern and southern states. schools in the state of o t r. a kind are working to save stranded people. and in careless states, rain has again started falling as shrikes, have hit the capital of ethiopia, nor then to gray region. for the 2nd time this week, the government says it was targeting facilities to make and repair weapons which are spokesman for the rival to grey. and forces has denied at least 3 people were killed in strikes on mckelly on monday. a u. s. congressional committee investigating january's assault on capitol hill has voted unanimously to prove a contempt charge against steve bannon. he was a long time aid to form a present. donald trump, the committee says it was shocking. banner refused to comply with subpoena seeking document and testimony. the space, the waiver, a full voice by the house of representatives later this week and could lead to a criminal case. and those are the headlines on al jazeera, as always more news on our website at al jazeera dot com up. next,

it is inside story, stay with us. with nato and russia have been at odds for several years. and allegations of buying have now pushed their relations to a new lo, moscow says is suspending its diplomatic mission to the security alliance. so are they on a collision course? this is inside story. ah hello, welcome to the program. i'm hashem, abala, nato,

and russia. have lol try to keep an open channel of communication. but building trust between the 2 rivals has always been complicated. they've disagreed on a number of issues from security to intelligence gathering. a recent dispute about spying has led washer to break off diplomatic ties. earlier this month, ne, to expelled 8 members of russia, diplomatic mission to the alliance, saying they were undeclared intelligence officers. moscow denied the allegations and has now suspended it's diplomatic mission altogether. russia has also recalled it's diplomat, acquitted her to the nato. the dispute is worsening relations that have been at their lowest point since the end of the cold war, russian foreign minister, sir, gala ross, says ne, 2 is not interested in co operation. nickel middle no problem. julian, if nato is not interested in equitable dialogue and joint works,

if that's the case, then we don't see the need to keep pretending that changes in the foreseeable future possible. because nato is already stated about the impossibility of such changes. germany is foreign minister, high coma says wash as move will pose further serious strain on relations with martha alice knoxville ago did doing his insurance for you that makes everything even tougher and things are already difficult. and recent years, germany has repeatedly pushed for dialogue with russia, where the nato, over the past years, we have often convened the nato russia council to show that we are ready for dialogue. this decision taken and moscow will further prolong the difficult situation. we are in this frosty period that's been going on for some time. and i think that especially with the nato or where they are military questions and where they are security questions. that is anything but helpful vessel. put a for the serious strain on the relations. several disputes, half frayed ties between day 2 and russia, and some have led to sanctions, moscow's annexation of crimea in 2014 marked

a major break with nato and the west in 2018. russia was blamed for the poisoning of former double agent, so gay's cripple and his daughter in the u. k. in response natal caught the size of rushes, observe a delegation from 30 to 20 us intelligence agencies have accused rush of interfering in the 20162020 presidential elections. and in the past year, the poisoning and imprisonment of crumbling critic alex sane of bonnie has further south relations. russia has accused nate of interfering in its internal affairs and expanding its influence to its borders. ah, less ring in our guests in moscow. dmitri barbie's political analyst at russia avoid near a news agency in brussels, theresa fallon, director of the center for russia, europe,

asia studies in so she glendale and professor of international relations of the university of southeastern norway. welcome to the program. dmitri, what kind of messages russia trying to send by suspending its diplomatic mission to nato? well, motional that you are connected to the expulsion or. ready the aid russian diplomats members or our mission that nato a few days ago. but i was going to another very important because my son nathan just has a lloyd austin. he's now touring georgia and you're great. you will also visit wayne. yeah. and he promised that during his to what you said, you will reassure the countries which are all the wrong line or russian rush. i don't was, this was taken very bad. the whole all of us while over maybe even

over 40. remember that really good. you were the soviet union, and d and d e r s for needle ration for my generation. a petersburg or local. so of was it was taken very badly. i think the law role and they weighed all the options. basically, natal only spelled a bit, but they also cost the number of people that we haven't process. now, the max, you just tell people it used to be 30 when nathan ross was more than 20 years ago. so russia decided that just how does that make sense? so we, we better express our discussion with that a sound of the message brought us instead of just even there, the people who could not walk properly asked mr. or mrs. teresa,

this is just about a tit for tat. all the russians being angry about, about the decisions made by natal recently, but according to demetria, this is more of a russian anxiety about what they perceive as u. s. expense in further towards the border of russia. well i think that this is part of a long trajectory downwards. this is probably the lowest point. now we saw this beginning in 2014 with what happened with it. so i would say that this has been spiraling down. we've seen expulsions of from republic all across the central eastern europe, even the u. k. so there's been a huge expulsion of russian diplomats. the russians had never even bothered to replace the ambassador. they had their to nato. so i think that this was just kind of part for the course. it's a pity, i think it's great if they can keep communication. that's a very key issue. and also this also means that the office in moscow,

which had 3 different attache there will also be closed. so this, you know, valuable and channel of communication is closed. but from what i understand, people aren't so concerned because moscow will continue to speak to washington d. c. and not go through nato, so they'll have more of a bilateral approach. glenn, there's never been a case of an easy ride. is a mutual relationship between the, between nato and russia. it has always been a long history box, but mark my ups and downs. but what is particular above this moment? well, it's been building over time though, and i would add that the suspension of this new mission was not really that important anymore. because nato has already diminished value of this mission over a long period of time because it used to have a purpose in terms of, you know, cooperation building trust. but over the year years, nato has reduced the axis all russia to the nato headquarters in brussels than it is longer notification before they come. limited access. once they're inside their

headquarters and these restrictions soon, the undermine the corporation to undermine tra, trust, building and subjected the roster delegation to simulations. so this time around nato, expelled several of from the russian delegation and thus reducing their stuff enough . and there's no indication of relations improving in the foreseeable future. so one asset question then, what's the point of keeping the mission is the mission itself undermines is on purpose. and if i can just quickly, i that would also, that, that nato, russia council was supposed to be an instrument for diplomacy. also during difficult times, that's when you need diplomacy the most. but then the 1st time there was a conflict with the georgia war in 2000 eights, natal, temporarily suspended corporation in the counsel until relation. we're back on track. so this kind of behavior from nato us continued over time and can reveal to remark that policy though in terms of the role of diplomacy. because it's not envisioned as a tool to facilitate a compromise. but rather, it's considered to be

a reward if for russia's compliance. so i, i see appointment, and they go to dmitri dmitri of, you've been talking about busing, concern about what they perceive as a genuine american, a threat. now, many would say of the same time, but that's russia's biggest problem, is that it's mind set has always been fixated around the idea of a, ne, to a, you a lodgement of the expense of the national security of russia. well, just until recently, a very different new point to fit on correctly described the car but until 2014 and 15 and then the official theory in russia was that were against nature. but we welcome the you are a b and you know,

6, let me remind you that russia was against nato dick 1999. and this is actually how nato russia council came about. when mr. young and visited various been made, no rush relation basically this idea or russian tells you what to say. she was a naval dates. they are going to the check republican congress member. so all your book in the john, russia, yes, in unit is for the bible, and unfortunately it broke to be not exchange. i will correct that it'll be my wife. now. unfortunately, it was not only the where the, the nato russia council $99.00. when the western countries of

russia suspended all the walk, all the one for a few months or a few months. okay. so unfortunately it's a very bad situation. when a neighbor rush there is instead will be the last last thing to do it. it's usually the and tell us whenever there is a tension between the 2 and russia, you just need to look a little bit further west to the united states of america and see which way the wind is blowing. again, this time under trump, i think there was a sense of ambiguity above under biden, and his message about strengthen ties with nature. do you think that this is something that has emboldened nature to take an aggressive stance against russia? no, i don't think it. nato is taking an aggressive stance towards russia at all. and i think that the u. s. attention has been very clear on the inter pacific, especially on china. and so we saw in

a recent interview with jen dalton berg. he wants to, for the new a strategy for nato, that they must look at both china and russia together, which there is a lot of ambivalence, ambivalence about that in european capitals because people in central eastern europe just want to focus on russia. others see china rising on the horizon. and so this kind of nato strategy will also include china and russia. and what's quite fascinating is in, over the last 3 days, we saw russia, china naval exercise in the sea of japan, almost to kind of press the message even further that the russia china cooperation is taking place. so i think that there is concern in europe that the u. s. is focusing on china, but so they will also have to strengthen their own defense spending. and this will be difficult in a post covered 19 half economy and it will take time. there has been 30 years of really lack of spending on defense across europe. so i think that there needs to be a real clear understanding that it's not just burden sharing any more. that there's burden shifting that the europeans have to be more active in their own defense,

especially in regard to russia and in issues in the mediterranean. glenn, we keep talking about the bow, which when russia and nato, and by the same time there's this idea that apparently the to fail to agree on an understanding about how to move forward. because now we're talking about georgia by the ukraine above the baltic region, about the high nordic sea regions. it. what is the problem? here are the lies, a blurb to the point where the rushes are each time looking at every single step by day to all the way to say this is a red flag. yeah, well, this is kind of the main source of all our conflicts in europe. that so, you know, after the cold war, well, what should a new europe look like? and we, beth, and, and idea of creating a europe with russia. so instead we have made an expansion to unified the whole continent, but that effectively makes them into remission as powers. now the subsequent conflicts are there for so very predictable. all those dividers aside is between

nato and russia, or george, i, ukraine bellows over all of them. must choose between east or west. however, the societies are very divided, so they're ripped apart and to become a proxy conflict between the natal states and russia so. so this is really what's driving a lot of this conflict. so it's often, you know, pointed out earlier that russia maybe has a cold war mentality. but it's because, you know, the west, we maintained the cold war institutions. and, you know, at least in the cold war, nato was out of scope power. but from $9.00 to $9.00, it became expansionist and revisionist, by giving itself a mandate to use military force to governments. so it's a, it's very, it is deemed the most that the greatest threaten bow to rational security. and that's the reality. and that's the assumption was to russians are working on, which is also why they need this partnership with china is so important not they can shield himself from the sanctions. they don't really need then made an 8th when the more there. and this biggest project to have now is, you know,

effectively giving on integrating with europe. and is that just going east in what they're calling greater duration? well, because that's one. china, because it's geo politics is all about assumptions and perceptions and committed for this particular reason. i would like to ask you this question about because from a russian perspective or was his concern about military expansion of nato. but others would tell you at the same time that russia's biggest problem is just not willing to see political reform further moving towards its board. because that would be the biggest challenge facing the russian establishment. well, i don't think so, because if you ask russians, do they feel jealous of radiance, you know, with their friends who i think transpire have money in the dora duration. know. right. and i know, you know, you're bringing the organs with all of the jail, you know,

be used or, well, we're going to j watson, georgia, or what needs to be our, i mean, show me the, so all example, the so old, you know, you be the warranty or any government also the julian told me a country that would be much, i don't know and talking about what you just mentioned in the conversation with progress. and let me remind you of the piece. research found out that rushes defense is just thank you or percent or what nato was. european allies stand on their defense. so europe is 4 times stronger and they're like they project is way at least well. rush. so i think is just the book of all russian aggression against the current is the army is 14 times stronger than ours. the same

with china. if you look at the us progress, it is the procedure. of course, it's much greater than chance. russia and china cooperated for a very simple reason because natal mentioned bore russia and china any not just the read read the recent years. old numbers which are ok though you message is contain russia and the stroll the shark terrace. that is not that useful. ok. teresa, if ne, to itself was established to contain what was perceived as a genuine threat by the soviet union. things have dramatically changed over the last few decades. so the point where people are saying, you know, what, perhaps the problem was, nature was, should rebrand itself. and understand that this is a new world order, and you don't need just to keep using the mantra of russia as being

a geopolitical threat. well, i think people really should examine what nato stands for. now. i mean, we have many partners that are in asia, some of the biggest contributors, japan, south korea, australia, they're all partners of nato. so we are living in a geopolitical era. and this idea that only problems in this region on the continent, i think with cyber warfare, hybrid warfare, dissemination of disinformation, the world, it's much smaller, and it's a geopolitical. we need more geopolitical thinking in europe. i looked at the se in address of the head of the european commission, which said that she would make it a european geopolitical commission. and it's not. i mean, she mentioned geo politics once and that was in regard to cove it. so i think there's a real lack of looking at the bigger picture and you geo politics. and the more that russia and china coordinate and work together, the more europeans really have to see that russia and china are in the same basket

. and i think that with the next nato strategy, we're going to really see that just oldenburg has been hinting very loudly that this is what's going to be in it. and after the, when president biden was in brussels and they had signed the news, nato communicate and became quite clear that china, which was only mentioned once before, appeared many, many times are documents link, which has given many people an indication that this could perhaps be dominating the agenda of the doctrine of nato, for the, for the years to come back, glen are the same time if nato some time was saying that terrorism is a biggest threat to global security, shift to that towards cybersecurity. and is this near ro, an indication that there is a reset in nato russia relation to the point where russia will still top the priority as the biggest geopolitical threat or challenge for nato?

well, well, it depends because nato consists of many states and i agree with my colleague then brussels referred earlier that he said that these countries have different interests. so, and the baltic states, poland, they will remain very anti russian. and they will want to make sure that the nato keeps this mission. and meanwhile, the united states would like to focus more on china and the so, so it, it really, it depends. but i also think that there might be some shift in thinking because yes, it said that you that's are yeah, that you, well sorry, the europeans are not becoming more aware that russia and china are kind of in the same basket. other corporate in closer and closer, not just military by the way, but you know, technology is trade core doors financial mechanisms. so i think, but at the same time, i think there's also many recognizing specially france and germany that it's made those own aggressive policies towards russia. which has, which is causing russia to align itself closer and closer with china as well. so i

guess, you know, sometimes you have to recognize there's a security dilemma and sometimes less it's more, i don't think the problem made or is that the being too soft on rush? i think there's never been an actual policy for how russia can fit into europe. just as a very quick note on how do you official the u. s. customer actually like a single doesn't want gusto, single partner in the whole world. i mean, if russia to close to germany is problem, if they're too close to turkey is a problem. they don't like them being too close to iran, central asia, china, japan. i mean, there's not really a single partner, russia in the world, which to us would not like to split up a little bit. so this is not the, for a stable world order limit. this before was a different it angle here. mitchell, what does it mean? full issues, like i've got a stamp for example, which is now becoming a big story and or syria. if you have the russians and nato not all the same page, this could have a huge revocation on those particular issues. well,

nothing will come from days. sure about this. unfortunately, there was no searching the may do about again. i mean, miss ogen recently gave any, you know, the spanish paper and he didn't say that was refreshed. read, read, this is just that would do that right. we defend the wall and force them to program would only do so. it could ration between russia and the west, and i know, you know, i have been working in the years. so i know the process, the just ration united states and nato, when they ended up with all the russian. how the united states was defeated by going to be and the, and the russian,

our northern alliance. ok. they're not the same. just rational said also the same thing with syria. i'm sure that the several by russia, jo iraq and the worth the regional have been playing a big political role in those regions now. theresa, when it comes to us threats, perceptions. now with china testing the hypersonic weapons is, is something which is going to lead to a new focus on china as perhaps the biggest challenge facing later in the us in the upcoming years. i think that's clear that they have been saying this for quite some time. the china is the biggest challenge. russia should be worried about china's weapon systems, because china is not part of any sort of non proliferation agreement whatsoever. and they share a huge border. so although russia and china cooperate, it's a marriage of convenience. there are also tensions in that relationship. i mean,

right now they're not talking about it, but china has felt that russia took advantage of them in the past and took over and siberian territory. so there are boundary issues with russia and china. there are many other issues that they have problems with, and what we're seeing now in bell roost is kind of a barometer of really what's going on, because china belton wrote initiative, the rel link would go to bell beller ruse. and that's about 85 percent of the rail trade that they've been pushing through to europe and because of russian actions. ruth, this is kind of causing problems for the chinese and they're supposed to have this, you know, frenemy relationship. but we're seeing that it will be more difficult for china to send rel cars through bell ruse because of kind of what is happening. thank you. between i wish i wish i have time was so that we can continue this interesting debate about russia ne, 2 and the ever changing political and you political landscape for the time being mitre babbage, theresa fallon. blendy isn't a really appreciate units. i thank you,

looking forward to talking to you in the near future, and thank you for watching. you can see the program again anytime by visiting our website a dot com for further discussion. go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha. inside story. you can also join the conversation, twitter. our 100 is at insights a jane side store on behalf of the entire team here in doha bye for now. ah. in the country with an abundance of resources, red warren watt,

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we understand the differences and similarities have cultures across the world. so no matter how you take it out there, we're bringing the news and current affairs that matter to you count as ero, ah. ready hello, i'm emily anglin, in dough. how these are the top stories on al jazeera, 2 bombs on the syrian army boss, have killed at least 14 people, the worst attack in the capital in years. several others were injured. santa honda has the laces a rare attack in the heart to the syrian capital. a military bus was the target. many were killed and injured when, according to.