here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today.

this is "gps", the global public square. welcome to all of you around the world, i'm coming to you from davos, switzerland. >> as titans of industry gather here for the world economic forum, today on the program, my talk with the foreign ministers of two of the most powerful nations in the middle east. saudi arabia and iran. we'll discuss the war in gaza, threat of a broader war and the prospects for peace. then on to the other major war in ukraine. this one has been disrupting the region and the world for almost two years now. i'll talk to two of ukraine's brave soldiers about what it is like to be on the front lines pushing back against putin's

invaders. i also have the great pleasure of sitting down with that gift of humanity and animals, jane goodall. she's still going strong at almost 90 and you won't want to miss my conversation with her. but first, here is my take. the conversations swirling around the chilly mountain air of davos this week keep returning to one issue. former prime minister of sweden said to me, 2024 is the year of 50 or so elections around the world but there is only one we're all talking about. the one in america. when abroad americans could be attentive to their own politics, boring their foreperson counter parts with long discussions of party politics in the senate or the prospects of a new governor. but this time, i find it is the americans who are weary of this country's political drama while foreigners are panicking about

what might happen in november. the american election is taking place at a crucial moment. around the world, we're seeing several challenges to the rules-based international order that has served humanity well for decades. in europe, the bloodiest war the continent has seen threats. and in the middle east, hamas, hezbollah and the houthis and others are testing their ability to disrupt the balance of power in the region. and in asia, the rise of china remains the large long-term disruption. to which one must add, north korea's accelerating arms buildup and increasingly belligerent rhetoric. becoming a test of wills for the u.s. which is scrambling to mobilize allies in europe and asia and the middle east and to resolve crises. but many worry that in november

america could decide it has had enough, that this the many problems do not centrally threaten american security, and are therefore not worth confronting. much of the rhetoric of donald trump and some of his closest soul mates from tucker carlson to vivek ramaswamy, feeds into this fear. so if trump were to win the election and practice what he preaches, what happens to american allies that have stuck their necks out to partner with washington? sweden's told me, consider my country and finland. we have taken a huge step in joining nato. one that puts us in a confrontational pose against russia. we did this under the assumption that we had the backing of the armed forces of the united states. what happens if trump wins and decides to pull out of nato? we would be left exposed and have to think long and hard about our options.

finland, for its part, abandoned neutrality that served it well for 70 years and it could find itself deeply vulnerable to russian attacks along the 830-mile border with that country. its capital helsinki is less than 200 miles from st. petersburg. i detected similar concerns in australia. on the surface, officials and analysts were bullish about their newly strengthened alliance and they would have nuclear submarines, a technology that the u.s. has shared only with britain. but under the bravado, there is an unhe's. in recent years, australia has allied with self-with washington and in the the process enraged china. ize large economic partner. this is a balancing act that

makes some strategist nervous. sam is a scholar at the lowy institute, the australian leading think tank and he's written the book that best articulates this nervousness. that australia is making a major mistake by relying on the u.s. to be there for it over the next few decades. he believes the americans will over time conclude that it is just not worth the enormous and sustained cost to confront china and asia, that its security does not require it and it will scale back foreign commitments. that would leave australia in a terrible place. having angered and alienated the chinese but without the american security umbrella to show for it. he advocates for australia version of a porcupine, hard to attack and even harder to digest. ever since world war ii

washington on a bipartisan basis has adopted an expansion of its own security one that recognized it alone could help undergurd security in the key regions of the world. that global role has helped create what historians call the long peace and the open global economy. if trump wins in november, and rejects that broader view of america in the world, a retreat could create power vacuums, leave allies exposed, and tempt adversaries to accelerate attacks and heighten their ambitions and that is why this time around, it is foreigners nervously watching and obsessing about the iowa caucuses, and the new hampshire primary. go to cnn.com/fareed for a link to my washington post column this week. after the break. a rare interview with one of the most important players in the middle east. saudi arabia's foreign minister.

is the region spiraling out of control? what will it take for the king dom to establish relations with israel?

in the midst of the gaza war these days, saudi arabia, the leading arab state, finds itself in a quandary. on the one hand it is naturally suspicious of the rival iran. but it supports the palestinian cause and does not have relations with israel. i spoke with saudi arabia's foreign minister faisal bin farhan on the side lines of the world economic forum annual meeting in davos. >> pleasure to have you on. >> good to be here. >> let me begin with the crisis at hand, which is these houthi attacks on ships, the american

retaliation. how worried are you that it will spiral out of control. >> we are very worried. we're in a difficult and dangerous time in the region and that is why we are calling for de-escalation. we believe very much in the freedom of navigation and that needs to be protected but we need to protect the security of the region so we're very focused on de-escalation as much as possible. >> and the other area, where people are worried is lebanon and hezbollah. what are you seeing and what would be the key to de-escalation there? >> well, i mean, the key to de-escalation in general right now, i think, is ending the conflict in rauza. because that is feeding all of the instability in the region. we were already unstable before. but this continuing conflict and the con continuing carnage that we're seeing, we're at 30,000 civilian dead in gaza, we have to find a way to stop this

crisis. we have to stop the killing in rasa and that will lay the ground for stabilizing other situations in the neighborhood. >> now there are people who think that the saudi arabia government has no love for hamas, you have always regarded it as part of the muslim brotherhood kind of organization that is a kind of an opponent to regimes like saudi arabia. so you're not too unhappy that theize reallies are crushing hamas, but we're hoping they would do it quicker and faster. >> the israelis are crushing rasa, and this is completely unnecessary. it is completely unacceptable and has to stop. we have to find a way to stop the killing of civilians, we have to find a way to allow for humanitarian access. >> you have had indirect contacts with israel over the years. i wonder when you put this message out, which you have been

putting out very consistently, are you getting any signs from the israelis that things are going to change soon? >> i mean, what we see, certainly in the media, what we see on the ground, unfortunately is not indicative of a change. what is most disturbing is i don't see any real strategic direction or clear strategy. and this is very dangerous. the innocent civilians are paying the price. but it is not just the civilians of rasa, it is the stability of the region. we're seeing extraordinary levels of anger and upset because of the images of these civilians being called in rasa. so we need to find a way to stop the fighting. we need find a way to address the issues through dialog, through a political process. that is the priority. >> you what do you think is next plausible next step? would saudi arabia be willing to be part of a arab force that twos into to replace the israelis and stabilize gaza? >> i think what we need to focus

on is solution for the palestinian issue. not just for rasa. i think all of the arab states have indicated they are willing to talk about a resolution or a solution that includes how we manage the situation in rasa as long as it is part of a bigger picture and what we feel is necessary is some form of credible irreversible path to palestinian state. that will give legitimacy to any arab country and us as a collective group assessing the issue holistically including rasa. >> so you're not ruling out the possibility of saudi arabia troops? >> i think that is something that is hypothetical to address and arab troops, i don't think what type of force on the ground is the issue. because if we offer real hope to the palestinians, i think it will be very much within the capacity of the palestinian people and the palestinian authority to take that responsibility. >> same question with reconstruction. you know that is one of the areas are people are hoping that

saudi arabia will play a large role, because of your immense wealth. is saudi arabia willing to finance the reconstruction of gaza? >> there is no point in talking about the reconstruction of gaza if we're not going to talk about first ending the killing. again, as long as we're able to find a pathway towards a solution, a resolution, a pageway that means we're not going to be here in a year or two, then we could talk. but if we're re-setting to october 7th, in a way that sets us up for another round as we've seen in the past. we're not interested in that conversation. >> so let's talk about that political path. is what you're saying, that you would be willing to be part of the solution with regarding the palestinians, and i think you've said in past publicly that you would be willing to continue to move toward discussions with israel about normalization. if and only if there was, as you

put it, a irreversible path to palestinian statehood. in other words, not just conversations, talks, but a plan that to you seems irreversible. >> absolutely. and i think that is the consensus of all -- of everybody in the international community. when i talk to the europeans, and even when i hear from the americans, everybody agrees that the only way to get out of the cycle of violence is to be on this path to a palestinian state and that is absolutely necessary and that is what we're focused on. >> so you've seen the news reports that prime minister netanyahu told his coalition that the reason he was going to be able to stay in power is something to the effect, i'm the only person who will prevent the palestinian state. how could that be your interlocketer if you're trying to normalize relations with the people. >> it is up to israeli to decide who the prime minister is. i will not get into that discussion.

in order tor the region to see true peace and to see real integration, that delivers economic and social benefits for all of us, including israel, is through peace, through a credible irreversible process through a palestinian state. we are fully not just as saudi arabia but engage in that conversation and i hope the israelis would be as well. it is up to them to make that decision. >> are you saying that if there is not a credible and irreversible path to a palestinian state, there will be be normalization of relations between israel. >> that is the only way we'll benefit, so yes. we need stability. and it will come through resolving the palestinian issue. >> that is a very frank and -- and direct answer to a question for a diplomat. and so i will -- i will use that as the opportunity to thank you, foreign minister, for a very productive discussion. >> thank you very much. next on "gps", i will talk to the foreign minister of saudi

arabia's biggest rival in the region, iran. to duckduckgo on all your devie

duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today.

the conflict in the middle east is growing wider by the minute. this week saw a stunning and dangerous turn of events as lawn launched strikes against both pakistan and iraq saying it was targeting terror in both countries. then pakistan struck back against iran. and this of course was after more rounds of u.s. strikes on the iran-backed houthis in yemen. and israel and hezbollah, the rebel group operating out of lebanon, with the support of iran, have been trading cross border fire since israel's invasion of gaza. the foreign minister, hossein, amir abdollahian sat down with me when i pressed him on those

developments. >> my colleague interviewed on october 29th and you said do you want the war to spread and you said no. we do not want escalation. since then, hezbollah has launched attacks against israel, the houthis are attacking ships in the red sea, you have attacks iraq, you have attacked pakistan. it certainly seems like the actions of iran and its allies do not suggest that you are trying to keep this war from spreading. it seems as though you are encouraging an escalation. >> translator: i agree with you. the west of asia right now, we're witnessing the enlargement of the crisis in the tensions. but these tensions are not rooted in what happened on the 7th of october. hamas is a palestinian liberation group. that has been fighting against

occupation to liberate the occupied territories of palestine. they carried out an operation. of course, we never agree with or approve of the killing of women and children anywhere in the world. but i want to tell you that it is not rooted in what happened on the 7th of october. it is rooted in 75 years ago, when palestine was occupied by the israeli regime, from the very beginning of the israeli genocide war in gaza which followed the october operation, we gave warnings if the attacks, the war crimes and genocide against gaza and the west bank do not stop, the war will spread out. it will become larger. it doesn't mean that we want it to play a role in this

enlargement. >> do you feel iran had the right to respond to what you described as terror attacks and terrorist groups that were attacking iran by -- and you retaliated in iraq and in pakistan. why does israel not have the right to retaliate to the october 7th terrorist attack? >> translator: what we did against the asad base in kurdistan, and also against the terrorist group inside of pakistan, they have nothing to do with the situation in gaza. but the yemeni front -- >> but they're retaliating against a terror attack on them? >> translator: we don't consider hamas a terrorist group. hamas is a palestinian

liberation movement that has been formed against the israeli occupation. we cannot erase history. for 75 years, we have had the occupation of palestine. this is a reality. what about the rights of palestine? >> but it is also a reality that they did launch an attack on innocent women, elderly people, civilians, raped and used rape as an instrument of war and you condemn this because it is terrorist activity. doesn't israel have the right to respond? >> translator: what about palestinians are they not human beings? what about their rights. >> let me ask you about the red sea and these ships. is there a situation in when iran would get involved and start blocking ships in the straits of hormuz? >> translator: first off, we do care about maritime security and

shipping safety. our exports are, our oil exports are done by the sea so the security of the red sea and the persian gulf are very important to us. we benefit from it. other wise we couldn't be able to export our oil. >> you didn't answer. will iran start to involve itself in blocking any ships? i think your answer is no? >> translator: we have always been on the positive side of the developments in the region. you should not forget that in the past years, in order to fight against isis in iraq and syria, and in the region, some of our best military attachies were killed and martyrs. the security of the region is our own security. >> what about hezbollah? do you believe that hezbollah is going to get more involved in a more attacks and counter attacks in israel?

>> translator: in the last 100 days, i held talks twice with mr. hassan, the honorable secretary general of hezbollah. i asked him, mr. secretary general, if israel's attacks against gaza stop, will hezbollah's attack stop too? he said, yes because we got involved in this because we wanted to defend the people of palestine an if they stop, we will stop too. >> thanks to the iranian foreign minister for that interview. next on "gps", at a time when western support for ukraine appears to be waning to some, a very important message from two of ukraine's bravest. these soldiers will tell you why they fight and what is at stake. >> justice will soon fly f-16s. justice is a drone assembledly

ukrainians volunteers here at home. and justice is us and if you're helping ukraine, you're serving justice. so thank you for doing that and please don't ever stop. because we did not stop.

in a month, ukraine will mark two years since russia's invasion. and today ukraine officials are leading the fight on many fronts. including the battle against war footeag in the west. ukraine's leadership was in full force in davos reminding other nations of the importance of defeating russian aggression. i moderated a panel on ukraine with top officials from that country and from around the world. i want you to hear the words of three ukrainians. first the nation's foreign minister, dymetro kuleba and

then two ukrainian soldiers who will explain so eloquently why they fight. listen in. >> foreign minister, dymetro kuleba. my question is two parts. one, what is it specifically that ukraine needs most urgently? how ep understand what is the need right now? and secondly, you've now been at davos, had back-to-back meetings, are you coming out of this emboldened, or more reassured or are you worried and is there a lot more work to be done. >> we're encouraged and reauto sured by meetings here in davos and by the reception given to president zelenskyy. he addressed the issue that stems to the core of the

discussion which is the concept of don't escalate. we've been hearing since day one, don't escalate. we could not do that because we don't want to escalate there. none of the prophecies, prophecies of russian retaliation proved true. answering your first question, there are two elements which i would like to mention. the first one is obviously air defense. and air defense consists of planes, consists of missiles, consists of air defense platforms and interceptors. and electronic warfare. and if we protect our sky, if we throw russia from the sky, we will be in a much stronger position to define the time when this war ends, with the victory of ukraine. the one who controls sky

controls the end of the war. second, frozen assets. if we take frozen assets, russian assets frozen and only in three countries, britain, luxembourg and switzerland, we could repair all infrastructure damaged in ukraine. airports, bridges, roads, everything. if we take the last $180 billion worth of assets stored in the clear in belgium, we could have a lot of weapons. we could have a lot of recovery. we could repair hospitals and schools. russia must pay. and we don't buy the arguments about legal constraints, about financial regulations. guys, when you want to do something, when politicians say we need to do this, bankers and lawyers alike, they find solutions because this is what

they're being paid for. >> let me transition to something slightly different. [ applause ] which is i'd like to hear from two ukraines who have been in combat. maria nazarova is a combat medic for emergency medical technicians and atactical medical instructor. what would you like to say to this group? >> good morning, my name is maria and i'll be turning 28 and i joined the forces in 2014 when the war started when i was 18 and you may have some pity for that or some thoughts. it could be some wasted youth. but it is not. i had all of the normal things like any of you could relate. i had first love. learning how to drive. getting medical education and all with the army, in the army. and during the war. and it is not any wasted opportunity. because i have been doing what i do best as a combat medic and have been doing what is best for

my country. i've been doing justice for generations of my people that have been tortured, killed and whose assets have been taken from them. who were starved and sent to concentration camps by communists, by soviet union, justice will soon fly f-16s and justice is a drone assembled by ukrainians here at home and justice is us and if you're helping ukraine, you're serving justice. so thank you for doing that and please don't ever stop because we did not stop through our whole youth and we will never top until the evil is defeated. thank you all and slavo ukraine. [ applause ] >> thank you, maria. and let's now hear from

alexander batalov who is a medic in the armed forces in ukraine who is right here up front. [ applause ] >> translator: good morning, everyone. i'm alexander batalov. i'm a gunner medic. i used to be a civilian. i was a masseur and i worked in a salon and i loverd my work. but when my country needed me, in order to ensure that we could protect our country, i joined the armed forces of ukraine and i served honestly until i was wounded six months ago. i worked with my unit close to bakhmut and i stayed on the field because i couldn't be medivaced. you should understand how difficult it is when you're

lying under shelling for six and a half hours and nobody could help you. nobody could salvage you from there and the only thing that inspired me then was the thought of my wife and my family. our families are wise, our parents, our children, give us this strength to stand tall, to move forward, to fight for every meter of our territory, not only to fight for freedom, because freedom is not a word to us. it is being with our families in our cozy homes walking in the streets with our children and enjoying life. i lost my leg but i haven't lost my dignity. and my willingness to continue living. i will be hiking in the future. i am sure i will be enjoying the summer with my sisters and

brothers in arms and i will enjoy life. thank you very much. stand with ukraine. glory to ukraine. next on gps, my interview with conservational jane goodall, we talked about the lessons she learned when she did her pioneering work living among chimpanzees stretching back more than 60 years ago. she e inspired me greaeatly, i' ququite sure s she will ininspi.

this election is a choice between results or just rhetoric. californians deserve a senator who is going to deliver for them every day and not just talk a good game. adam schiff. he held a dangerous president accountable. he also helped lower drug costs, bring good jobs back home, and build affordable housing.

now he's running for the senate. our economy, our democracy, our planet. this is why we fight. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. when jane goodall was just 26 years old, she left her home in england and traveled to tanzania to live with and study chimpanzees in the wild. that was a radical idea at the time. more than 60 years ago, observing these little known creatures in such proximity. she fundamentally shifted the

way we understand animals and human beings and the relationship between the two. her time also inspired a personal mission. to protect the national world from the threats of human activity. at nearly 90-year-old, good yal travels 300 days a year raising awareness of the effects of climate change and training a new generation of conservationists and spreading a message of hope. i had the honor of speaking to her on stage at the world economic forum this week. >> jane goodall, it is a pleasure to be with you again. >> it is wonderful to be back with you. >> so you're 90 this year. >> yes, i'm 90. just imagine 90 years on planet earth. what changes i've seen. >> let me take you back to the past and ask you when you went to started to live with the chimpanzees, what do you -- what are the lessons you learned from that? if you were to summarize,

what -- that is such an unusual experience none of us have it had. give us a sense of what you learned? >> first of all, it was amazing because nobody had done it, i was the first one. and the first thing that emerged was gosh how like us they are. we didn't even know then that we share 98.7% of our dna. but watching them, you know, two chimpanzees greeting, they'll embrace and kiss and hold hands and pet one another. and a chimp who is frightened will go up to a dominant one and probably be embraced or gently pattered. the lovely relationship between mothers an their growing off spring that could last up to 60 years in the wild. they use and make tools, that was the big observation that changed everything. because it was thought humans and only humans used and made tools. so sadly, they could show

brutality. they could kill. they have a primitive war. but also like us, they could show love and compassion and trueality truism. and when i went, i hadn't been to colonellege. my mentor decided i need a degree. we can't mess with an undergraduate degree and i have your ph.d in the study of behavior. i didn't even know what it was. you could imagine how i felt when the professors told me i've done everything wrong, chimps should be numbered and not named and you can't talk about personality or mind or emotion, those are unique to us. in other words, there is a sharp line with us humans on one side and all of the rest of the animals are nearly pointed on the other side. and, so, fortunately, when i was a child, i had a wonderful teacher and he taught me in this respect, these professors are

wrong. and it was my dog. i mean, you can't have a dog or a cat or a horse or a bird, i didn't care and not know when not the only beings with personality and minds and emotions and now students could study those things an the chimps helped to break that barrier down. that was the most exciting. >> the accounts if the film are vivid on this. you also saw violence. describe the nature of that violence that you saw with chimpanzees? >> it is horrifying. it is really horrifying. if they see a stranger from a neighboring community, they will give chase. and if they catch that unfortunate victim, they will attack and leave the individual to die of wounds inflicted. they all die when they've been attacked like that. so, you know, we seem to have inherited not only the nice side

of chimp nature, but the nasty side too. >> what do you think chimp domination rituals tell us? >> well, when two males are competing for dominance, they will try and look as big and aggressive as they possibly can. they stand up right, and they stagger and they make shake their firsts and make a scowly face. you could think of male politicians behaving just like that. >> so in 2016 you said that donald trump's behavior reminded you of chimp domination rituals. >> it was during the election with him against hillary clinton. and i've seen shots where he literally, you know, it is just not donald trump, but there are many human male and female competing for dominance in various situations. and they behave like chimpanzees. >> when you think about the

problems you're trying to address, do you think that -- do they require very specific policy changes? or is it something that is even deeper than that and broader? a reconceptionalization of our agreement about nature? >> it is definitely also a new understanding of our economic world today. >> meaning? >> even though people want to acquire -- and sometimes that means acquire money and so think of the people that you met have so much more than they need and it was gandy who said the world to provide for human need but not human greed. and so it is this mindlessness, really, of having so much more than you need, so much more.

but you could be totally happy as long as you have enough to eat, as long as you can look after your family, and as long as you have a roof over your head, and a way of keeping warm, what more do we really need? >> and do you think as we become more urbanized, we are losing touch with the natural world? >> we absolutely are and it is terrifying. all of the years i spent in gandy with the chimpanzees, i was in the rain forest with myself and had this close spiritual connection with the natural world and it is proven now that we need that natural world physically and mentally. and in japan, and in canada, doctors can prescribe time and nature. so in our youth program, we try to get young people out into nature. and that is why it is so d desperately important that we

save the natural world. we're destroying it so fast. we're destroying the forest and the ocean. >> do you worry there is increasingly so much nationalism in the world that we aren't collaborating as much as we should. >> we are certainly are not collaborating as much as we should. and nature and it is the future of our children and grandchildren. it is future of life as we know it on planet earth and that should not be superceded by differences in religion or differences in you know cultures and so forth. the things that are dividing people now. and that is why because i understand that 40 countries are having elections this year. so, let's urge everybody to vote for those people who do care about the future. who do care about mitigating climate change, because that is the long-term we seem to forget the decisions we make today will

actually affect the future. we think only of here and now. >> all right. this is been really something quite special and really unique for me as well. we spend a lot of time with, as you said, people at davos with people who have a lot of power and a lot of money, but i suspect you are the happiest person i will meet this week. in the sense of being really doing your fulfilling what you're life's plan was. thank you, jane goodall. [ applause ] thanks to the world economic forum for hosting us this week. thanks to all of our terrific guests and thanks to all of you for being part of f our prprogr this weeeek. i will seeee you next t week ban new yoyork. to duckduckgo on all your devie

duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today.