what made a lot of progress, the cause of that regulation seating what allowing right to quit. so we made the biggest decrease we had in history in watching, right? the last year alone. so we think the freak out is within reach a european population, as is seek to make it as i reach that goal, as we need to take bold action to make sure all parts of the community get there. and because we're not prepared to pass the community behind, ah, what you do with me. so run the reminder of all the help stories. he was president joe biden will shortly hold a phone call with ukraine's president of lot of his lensky about the build up of russian troops of the border button. how talks with russia, vladimir putin on tuesday, who said that he has no plans to invade ukraine? charles profit explains, was likely to be discussed is incredible pressure on ukraine. certainly

analysts are saying that they will see president biden is having no option but to try and get some sort of concessions out of the ukrainians because of the amount of pressure put on ukraine. and indeed, nato by president poochie in those tens of thousands of russian troops across the border. some analyst saying that they expect president biden to possibly ask zalinski to at least start some sort of dialogue with the separatists in the don't by region. by miss also. hey thing, a virtual summit on democracy and he's warning it's on the decline. more than $100.00 countries are taking part, but russia and china would not invited. both countries denounced the meeting, accusing washington of cold woman tallahassee, and stoking division australia plans to make over 900 vaccinations. mandatory from february for people 14 and over. those who don't adhere to the rules may face fines

of up to $4000.00 every 3 months. south africa has approved the use of the fines of vaccine boost shot to people 18 years and over the world. health organization says the country has seen a 255 percent increase in cases in the past week. one person has died after a fire broke out of the headquarters of tennessee, his largest political party, at least 18 more have been injured. please tried to escape. people tried to escape the unhappy parties building through windows, the group holes, the most seats in parliament. around top negotiators as drawn and serious about reaching a new agreement with well pounds talks of resumed in vienna, aimed at reviving the 2015 deal. it's limited iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. those are the headlines inside story with nick clock is next . i'll see you can in half now. ah,

why is the u. s. president, hosting a global summit on democracy? joe biden says he won't de defend human rights and fights authoritarianism. or countries such as china and russia hadn't been invited to watch. will the media chief? this is inside story. ah, i don't welcome to the program i'm nick clock. the united states betrays itself is one of the world's greatest democracies, its leaders, travel the globe to spread values such as freedom of speech and human rights. but president joe biden says democracy is under siege from authoritarian regimes. so

he's holding a 2 day virtual summit to try and give democracy a boost. it was criticized even before it began. the white house invited around a 110 countries, but russia, china, iran, and hungry were not on the list. biden courted at china's roth by inviting taiwan, which beijing regards as a breakaway province. poland is also participating despite the european union accusing its government of undermining the root of law and stripping of basic rights from minority. joe biden, urge participants to reverse what he called an ongoing recession of democracy around the world. in the face of sustain alarming challenges to democracy, universal human rights and all around the world, democracy needs champions. and i wanted to host this summit because here is the here in the united states. we know, as well as anyone that renewing our democracy and strengthening in our democratic

institution requires constant effort. while the nelnet prophets watch dog freedom house says democracy deteriorated at least 73 countries in 2020. that is the worst in 15 years, rights activists and sudan min, mahler and hong kong in other places to have been prosecuted, jailed and forced into exile. china who said its own democracy for him this week. china leaders in beijing say that one party government is more of a democracy than the united states. and critics of the u. s. a. it's in no position to lead on democracy while continuing to support autocratic rule as abroad and restricting voting rights at home. the so let's bring in our guests in birmingham, in england, scott lucas emeritus professor at the university of birmingham from brussels in belgium. we have peter newman, senior fellow at the institute, and joining us from taiwan capital of ty,

pay is asia political risk. unless ross find gold, well warm welcome to each of you. so, if i could solve the scotland, said the world, similarly in the throes of a democratic back track, a rise of population rise of all thorough terrorism. democracy is perhaps on the way and this is a good compensation to have, isn't it? i'm a big fan of democracy. i am a big critic of countries that restrict political rights that put people in prison that provide the basics for some people, but not for all. but this is not the way in my opinion, to promote democracy. the way you promote democracy is by building up institutions . it's by insuring the states for political participation, for all in the country. and it's by discussing with people in other countries, how you can work with them, civil society groups, journalists, activists, students. in other words,

it's in the spirit of cooperation. democracy cannot just simply be shouted from the rooftops. it has to basically be developed on the ground. so my problem with some other democracies, but i'm all in favor with what the, by the ministration has done in trying to repair the united states. after the catastrophe of the trump years, to show an example to others that american pact can be democratic. great, i'm all in favor of calling out countries and actually trying to organize to build up the possibility for people to be able to get space to protest within countries to claim their rights. but the case of democracy is not something you can oppose it from the outside. you have got to walk the walk in terms of constructive action. for example, the anti corruption strategy put out or the white house this week. you walk the walk in, don't just simply talk the talk with a 2 day event, which is quickly going to be exposed, i think, to criticism, and perhaps even richer will come on to the corruption issue. but before it even

starts being human, one can say that some itself is not democratic. the guest list is selective. it excludes many yes, it does. but i think that's in the nature of things and that's one of the problems . but this particular initiative, it's worth pointing out that there was a similar initiative by america 20 years ago. madeline albright started a thing called the community of democracies and they had exactly the same problems that joe biden has now named be deciding on who is a democracy and who is not. there are lots of countries in the world that america wants to work with and that i think america should work with that are not perfect democracies. a lot of countries in the middle east, jordan morocco that are now feeling excluded because they don't fit into that particular category. on the other hand, there are countries that we shouldn't necessarily include in the current rose to democracies like poland who are included. so it creates

a division that is not necessarily helpful. and that will create a lot of difficulties as we're trying to construct a pragmatic alliance. to countered the rising influence of china and peter, what happened to madeline albright community of monkeys of interest. while they had a couple of conferences, they will well intended every once book while of democracy and human rights. but it became very clear very quickly that despite being democracies, all of these countries had very different interest. and then guess what, 3 years later the iraq war happened in america's credibility as a beacon of democracy, basically was finished and no further events took place. interesting, jo biden's, vash, and russ feingold. no turkey, no russia, ne, china, only iraq in israel as far as the middle east is concerned. does this not create just division, bolstering this cold war mentality is, as china would have it,

china not being invited is not a surprise. and the criticism that china, where other countries are making a be event. it's also not a surprise. yeah, the us and the other western democracies obviously are bit selective in who they consider their friends and who they consider worthy of criticism. and sometimes those definitions are a little bit unclear. are they got stuck? frankly, i'm in agreement with my colleagues as far as the advocacy of this event, i expect, within a few weeks or a few months, people forgot about this simply because it's coming at the end of the year. there's already been a busy few months of multilateral or bilateral meetings that are attracted to global attention. and there are other forums, whether it's bilateral, multilateral or the work that n g n g o is due, or unilateral programs of the u. s. department in various countries that already covered this issue. pretty much the only thing i could buy he talked about doing

this and i some level, it's good to see our leaders actually carry out the commitments that they make. but other than that, it's really hard to see any tangible or a long term results. come out of this meeting, right? we're trying to just seem to be very cross about it. old. certainly hit a nerve, it's held his own summit and claimed its own model of democracy issuing this paper title, china that democracy that works bought that socket to get by. 3 reception in the united states corps who are probably in the other western democracies. there's 2 reasons for china's reaction. one is just the fact that taiwan was given in vacation and it sounded minister without portfolio. and it's the fact of bachelor in the united states to participate. and then the other is the perception that this is really a me, the whole event is aimed at china. we're trying to influence in our growing

influence around the world. so of course, china is going to react this way. you know, the amount of media coverage or statements by government officials in china and recent days is frankly been enormous, but almost similar to just holding the event. the advocacy of traders reaction is probably close to now. well, right, right. and especially when you consider the unit a 3 hong kong, probably democracy because it, it just being convicted of act to them effectively. and chinese clustering towards taiwan, where you are i have no amount of summits or sanctions, which is a tool that united states has been using against chinese officials with regard to a number of human rights issues. not as hong kong, but she and john into that as well. obviously this does not change the policy decisions on the chinese leadership. so same thing with the summit. you and the

other countries attending to criticize china directly or indirectly. but again, it doesn't change the policy decisions of the chinese government. one thing i thought was interesting at the chinese ministry of foreign affairs, said that a single yardstick should not be used to measure diverse political systems in the world that democracy is not the only system that works. what do you make of that? scott? look at the end of the day. well let me just say something specific about china, the whole a dish to buy china this week, which does show their rattle. the idea that china is a democracy. you can take that apart very quickly. i mean it the document collapses by saying, oh yes, it is a one party system. oh, but we have multi party participation in china. no, you don't. you have the communist party. they say all, well we have democracy, development will know the same document then says, but development is the priority. so we can pick apart the p r of the chinese very, very quickly. but i think there's something important to make as a response. just saw this doesn't become the u. s. versus china,

which is not reductive. and that is i think we can all agree that no matter whether person was in beijing, whether person lives in london, whether they live in washington, whether they're in brazil, whether they're in south africa, whether they're in syria, they deserve the right to security. they deserve the right to be able to participate in their political system. they deserve responsible governments. they deserve not to be abused or detained. i think we can agree with that. so for the idea of china to simply say, oh, well, there's not just one way for democracy. fair enough, but that's not what we're talking about here. we're talking about a basic regard for your own people. basic rights, whether it be through a constitution or through legal practices that are defended in china, should not be allowed to get away from that right. issue focus to the united states now and peter newman that they is it 1 may well wonder how it is that the u. s. takes it upon itself to, to promote something that it is as struggling to defend at home,

given that the rise of populism there and trumpets ascendancy refusal to a democratic election and so on. yes, and i think there are 2 mistakes that america and americans, the american political class always makes the 1st mistake is that day confused. their own perception of their own country with the perception that every one else in the world has americans proudly see themselves as beacons of democracy and liberty in the world. unfortunately, large parts of the rest of the world disagree with that, rightly or wrongly, they don't have the same view of america that americans have of themselves. and the 2nd mistake is that american governments, in american presidents always believe that they are starting with a blank seat. joe biden believes he can go around the world and lecture about democracy because he's not donald trump. but for most people outside of the united

states, tromp biden obama. this is all america. there is a continuum where the american president believe they are starting with a blank canvas. that's not the case for most people around the world. what happened in january this year? the storming of the capital is still part of what america represents, even if joe biden subsequently became president and represent a different vision in his view. for many people outside of america, it's still the same america. if they were all been very critical of by that, but he has said himself and said back in favor, i think it was that democracy doesn't happen by accident. we have to defend it. we have to fight for it. we have to strengthen it and we have to renew it is not just what he's doing now trying to do anyway. i yes, i think he's trying to be more humble. and i think a lot of what he says is quite good. does it resonate? does it arrive? do people even listen to him? i don't necessarily think so. and i think the,

the way that democracy promotion typically works the way all the activities that are typically called democracy promotion. where, you know, america is promoting an abstract concept. i don't think a particularly successful, as scott said before, you have to break down democracy into different things, into the rule of law, into transparency, into anti corruption into parts of development that are accountable to people. if you promote these things, you are moving towards democracy. but you're not necessarily promoting an abstract concept whenever you're promoting an abstract concept. i don't think it's particularly successful and that's the problem with this initiative and scholarly because it daniel freight, the former us ambassador, the opponent, he said, we've seen this movie before and it doesn't. and well, in the 1930 s, it's the 91st. he's all over again, he said, and there's no more urgent task than for democracies to renew themselves. well, again, let's get away from talking,

talk and walk in the walk. it is to be credited that if you talk about what has happened within the united states, within a year, despite a great deal of opposition, say from the republicans metropolis, that you have an infrastructure proposal. one of the most ambitious in decades it is to be credited that there is a budget which make it pass for 2 trillion dollars for social programs, for anti poverty programs, for environmental programs, it is to be credited by demonstration is taking action on climate change. it has to be credited that issues like voting rights are being raised. so the idea that america's perfect, of course, not the credit where you can have an initiative with in the countries it has to be credited. however, in other countries, what they're doing to try to build up security, this isn't just simply an american owned process. so again, with respect to this idea, democracies are under threat. this isn't in 1900, thurs. this is the 21st century. we have specific challenges which are raised by

powers like russia and china. be it should jang, be at hong kong, be russia threat to go into ukraine, which we face even right now. we have specific challenges with dick tutorial leaders, authoritarian leaders. some of them will be of this sort of one could talk, for example, about the trend. short return isn't from brazil to the philippines. but you deal with that with a very practical action which is not just simply about national issues. but now transnational. because if we don't have action, which goes beyond the mouthpiece of democracy, to talk about dealing with climate change, dealing with global plan dynamics and yes, dealing with the global threat to political activism. or then again, you can talk about the 1900 thirty's, those days are gone. folks deal with the here and now the right russ feingold. the fact is that democracy has a p r problems, isn't it? because that around the world, in many countries it's associated with western hedge money

validate the interesting thing there is speaking from asia, what the reaction is to certain recent events or even to this summit from countries in this part of the ra, a good example is the military. busy q that occurred in the m, r at the outset of this year. and on the, on people look on the on to take leadership. but does their, their history is not to criticize who are involved in the domestic politics or the domestic political systems of the member countries. so add to this point, the very limited response was not to invite the military government to attend the annual meeting. for ozzy, that was a big gesture. when it comes to the diplomatic boycott of the olympics, we see a mixed reaction from countries in asia. some of them, especially the courses us allies my participate at some level, but at least in recent hours or days in the reaction, for example,

from south korea has not been so enthusiastic to join the boy when it comes to the democracy of it. again, we don't see leaders in asia outside of china of course, but there are reaction but in the more democratic countries. 1 in this part of the world, the ones that are lot are the ones that we could safely say or not. so a lot there actually use. yeah. to go about the summit or, or really can do there a part right here in asia to help spread the ideas that the body administration will be talking about during this on it. right? scala because it is a question you need half an hour for, but i can give you 60 seconds. what is the nature now? do you think of 21st century democracy and why is it under threat? what's happened? the nature 21st century democracy is still the nature of 20th century democracy or 19th century democracy, or even 18th century democracy as it developed. and that is, that me, my children,

other people, their children, generations to come, are able to participate in their society politically economically, socially that they have the security to do so that they are protected from abuses by those in power. why are democracies under threat? well, both from inside democracies and outside democracies, there are men. and occasionally women who want power. they want power, not for everybody. they want power for themselves. and to get that power, they will deny rights to people within their countries. they will put them in prison. they will deny the vote or it will be a meaningless vote and they will threaten other countries to try to extend their power. and the idea is that we are always vigilant about this. because democracy shouldn't just be a word. democracy should represent something which is precious in our day to day lives, which is the ability to express our opinions about things we do not like to hold the things that we do like and to do so on a community with others where we're free to do so without looking over our

shoulders, if someone who would try to deny services to peter human that this, this fear of populace, and that seems to be around what actually is wrong with populism? does it not bring with it a democratic renewal? well, it can, and there's a scholarly debate about the term populism because 19th century, in the united states, for example, a lot of populist movements were in fact left wing movements that sought to empower people or people working on the land, people working in agriculture, etc. but the meaning has of course shifted, and what it stands for today is typically far right movements that are seeking to bypass democracy that are basically saying that they are representing the views of the people regardless of whether they actually do and that especially the protection of minorities, which is so important,

an element of democracy is less important than the supposed will of the people. so the i creating a situation where they're essentially pitting groups of people against each other, claiming to represent the majority. that's very dangerous because democracy is about the will of the people for sure. but as scott, lucas said, it's also about security and it's about protecting minorities. it's about the fact that if i have an outside point of view that the court of law is protecting my minority point of view as much as it is protecting the views of the majority. and populists are trying to deny that and trying to make that less important. russ feingold, a year of action in theory, follows this says, when it does, it follows the summit for democracy. can it mobilize sufficient or any political will for change? do you think very, very unlikely. you know, we talked about some examples of countries during this program where the

international community, or at least the western democracies, have concerns about the trajectory of the rule of law, democracy of the security of the person. and yet, sanctions are criticisms multilateral joint open waters and things like that rarely have in fact, you know, we have an effect when you can make impact on the the leaders themselves might, might be very direct book cases like that, frankly are quite rare in the united states to, you know, we have to be realistic, it's going into the mid term election cycle. how much time as president biden going to have for this initiative? how much time would vice president harris for? and then frankly, our secretary of state as well. he's very busy, we've talked about ukraine, china issues the day to day issues of diplomacy that are going to consume the u. s . department. and then you say ok, well which other countries are going to help us take leadership in the coming minds

to get it? it's very hard to be optimistic of any subs give results. scott, last one to you. do you think democracies have a capacity for self correction? yes. if i didn't believe that i would go and hide in the bunker and just wait out what is to come? the fact the matter is, is that when you talk about democracy is you are talking about people. you're talking about people at the grassroots who are concerned about health concerned about education. concerned about their jobs. concerned about a roof over their heads. and to get that they need an effective political system. there have been democracies who have not self corrected. the one thing i would say about the 900 thirty's, which is relevant today as we saw democracies that were in decline that. but the fact is, is that for all those abusive leaders we've talked about in this program for some of the hypocrisy, we talk about this program in countries around the world, from america to iran, to syria, to algeria,

to brazil. we have seen people call for rights and continue to march. they've marched in russia even when they were threatened with persecution. they have martian me an morrow when they have been threatened with persecution. that will, that will to be empowered into how some type of control over one's life. so once community that is never extinguished and with that is never extinguished. there is always a hope for democracy. and gentlemen, it's been a great conversation to appreciate it. thanks very much indeed for participating at . thank you to. well, i guess that's peyton, human and russ feingold and, and scott lucas, the in vamping. and thank you to for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website, delta dental. com. and for further discussion, go to our facebook page, that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha, inside story. you can also join the conversation on twitter. i'll handle is at a j inside story. for me to clog the whole team here into my for now

me cities have always been in motion. they have to be to evolve and adapt of all the sad cities, all the greatest work of art, shooting time that's in a huge city. you kind of get this sense of how the world around you behave in a way you cannot see with the naked eye. you can feel the hairs on the back of your neck standing when you reach the top of that building and get a great view. metropolis analysis sierra for the

1st time since the lead up to the 2nd world war, the nobel peace prize is being awarded to gen, maria reza, and to beat shimoda topher, receiving the 2021 prize. that courageous contribution to freedom of expression in the philippines. and in russia, in an exclusive interview live here in oslo will be speaking to this year's lawyers about the challenges and dangers they face doing their job. and if significance in protecting democracy, the nobel entity only on al jazeera is done with a with

ah, ah, this is al jazeera ah, hello, hello raman, watching the al jazeera news, our live from our headquarters here in doha, coming up in the next 60 minutes for you as president, is talking to ukraine's leader this out about the build up of russian military at the border. also get job to all pay the price austria plans to impose large fines on people who ignore its cobit $19.00 vaccine mandate. the call for more urgency as well power.