darren: time for a quick check of the headline says u.s. president joe biden has set out his vision for american foreign policy. he's withdrawn support from saudi arabia's war in yemen and pledged to mend mobile alliances fractured during the trump years. during his address, he called on the coup leaders of myanmar to give up power and criticize russia's treatment of opposition leader's. pres. biden: america is back. america is back. diplomacy is back. it's the center of our foreign

policy. as i said in my inaugural address, we will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday's challenges come but today's and tomorrow's. darren: the u.s. house of representatives has taken disciplinary action against a republican congresswoman who supported wild conspiracy theories. marjorie taylor greene has been removed from the education committee and others which she had been assigned. she expressed support for qanon conspiracy theories unlike posts on social media that called for violence against democrats. former u.s. president donald trump rejected a request to testify during his second senate impeachment trial. democrats accused him of endangering the lives of members of congress by inciting supporters to storm capitol hill. his legal team says the senate lacks the authority to try him now that he is no longer president. the trial begins on tuesday.

the un security council has called on the myanmar military junta to release aung san suu kyi. held a second emergency meeting after failing to agree to a statement in there previous session. they worry it could worsen conditions for hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims in the state. a medical trial in the u.k. has been launched, giving people different coronavirus vaccines for their first and second those to see if it offered the same protection. it will mix the astrazeneca and pfizer biontech jabs. mixed doses have worked for ebola and hpv. the news continues here on al jazeera after "inside story."

>> he has been called on to steer italy out of the pandemic and severe economic recession. mario draghi is expected to form a government of experts, but will the president of the central bank gets the support he needs? this is "inside story." kim: welcome to the program. italy has been facing a plea to go crisis since its coalition government collapsed last week. they are struggling with an economic recession be made worse by the global pandemic. the president has stepped in to limit the damage by naming a new prime minister. he says he wants to avoid snap elections and has picked a former european central bank cheap for the top job.

mario draghi is expected to form a government of specialists to confront italy's challenges. he's been credited for saving that euro in 2012, but he has said he needs the backing of the majorities of parties in parliament to implement his plans. >> in light of this crisis, this situation needs to be made with hope and dedication, i except the call to beat the pandemic, vaccinate our population offer solutions to everyday problems of italians and relaunch the country. kim: on january 14, the former prime minister pulled his parties support for the coalition government. the plan was to spend $240 billion in funds and loans to help recover the economy. the move forced him to step down

before the end of the month. he was given a week to do it but failed. the toll now approaching 90,000. even before the pandemic struck, the economy was heading into recession with the gross to mystic product falling last year and nearly 450,000 jobs were lost. time to bring in our guests -- all joining us from rome today. the professor of political sociology and a put occult cult analyst and professor of communication at a business school and a put a cool scientist and senior fellow at the institute for international affairs. a warm welcome to you. i'd like to begin with you -- what are the challenges mario draghi faces attempting to form

a unity government? >> good question. it's italy and it's difficult to predict anything here as far as politics is concerned, but it is difficult to say no to such a figure who has many appreciations worldwide. i believe that for the time being, there's a will among various parties, but that doesn't mean he will have strong support. it means he will probably not object to the government. that makes things a little easier and things could change this evening, of course. kim: do you think you will have the numbers? >> i think you will find the numbers in the end because no

one of the parties now sitting in parliament want to go to elections at the moment. in the end, if he doesn't find the numbers, they will be forced to call for snap elections, but this is what everyone seems to be eager to avoid. there is a bumpy and choppy road ahead for mario draghi because he is an excellent banker and excellent politician and negotiator. do not underestimate his clinical clout and tremendous network of relationships all over the world. in any case, he is facing politicians in italy who sometimes behave like rascals. they wait for you for negotiations. it will be a war of nerves but i think you will succeed in the end. kim: you say nobody wants to go to elections or people don't

want to go to elections -- why is that? >> because the number of seats in parliament has been restricted by 40%, so many people now are sure they will never be reelected. this is why they try to protect as much as they can. sorry for being so cynical and skeptical, but sometimes their personal interest seems to prevail of the general interest. and people don't want to go to elections because of the covid crisis. it has put terrible constraints and going to elections now is risky under many respects. the medical supplies coming to italy, it will disrupt and continue that and it would be very dangerous in the eyes of many commentators. kim: talk me what you think the

reasons are they have chosen -- they have chosen mario draghi? is it is economic experience or having someone with a high profile or both of those things? >> i think it is both and on the one hand, mario draghi has the sort of leadership to bring italy out of this crisis. on the other hand, as a respected member of the european establishment, he enjoys the trust of government and institutions. he will likely face a paradox because we like to be confronted with the forces of the political platform. so they will have to find

compromises to have that support. kim: how have politicians responded to the idea of a technocratic government and why is it those more right-wing populist parties are not so interested in that idea? >> i'm not sure they are not so interested in that idea. what is happening is the movement that has large numbers in the parliament at the moment has said he will not become a technical government. they are trying to keep the former premier in his job. there position has started to change a little bit but we are not going to vote for him -- that was just yesterday.

today, they started opening up a little, started to say maybe we could in the end vote for him but it has to be a political government. i think he is playing an intelligent role. they see the situation has become difficult from the former coalition bay the five-star movement is not so sure about this new government, so they say we are not going to object to a new government, so we will not say no. of course mario draghi has such a high profile, we cannot say no, so let's see what he has two offer, what he proposes, and we might not vote against it. kim: what can he learn from past technocratic prime ministers? this is not the first time italy

has seen a technocrat for a leader. >> i think he has the psychological and technical tools not to repeat mistakes that have been done by so-called technical prime ministers. he is compassionate, so he will try to ensure social security and keep unemployment rates not growing too much because as you mentioned before, we have a traumatic surge in unemployment and jobs lost. he will be trying to give some subsidy to the unemployed and at the same time will be trying to negotiating with the political parties. he's an excellent negotiator. he's been negotiating with prime ministers, presidents of the central bank, so remember his epic clashes with the president of the german central bank. so he is quite good at negotiation will not repeat the

mistake of looking too cold, too technical, he will be trying to make his way, which is very difficult, but not impossible given the high profile personality he's got. kim: some are reading this as a triumph for the one able to bring down the coalition. do you agree? >> he's a very good at destroying coalitions. that is his success today we are witnessing. it depends on how it ends. if they manage to form a government not to inclined to follow former opposition positions, then i think we can call it a success.

if they have to find a great compromise with the right wing and populist parties, that i'm not so sure this would be counted as a success from former dem up -- former democratic party leaders. kim: i think everyone is in agreement that mario draghi has a good background, but he is an economist. how quick will he be to deal with the health crisis? at last count, more than 88,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic. as he equipped to do that? >> he can choose the infrastructure investments the medical community needs. it is important to understand we need more capability, more infrastructure, more beds for the people who are ill and he's able to be an excellent programmer of the economy. on the other hand, he will have

to pick very carefully health experts for the ministry of health. one hypothesis we heard is he could confirm some people at the staff of the ministry. he will be able to ensure economic and structural support which is badly needed in italy, so i'm not so pessimistic. i think he can do that with the proper support. kim: it seems italy has a long-term issue with political stability. i guess you can call it a hyper lyrical turnover. why is that? >> i think the problem has been the years of populist rhetoric. during electoral campaigns, the political leader will promise a

lot and then they are not able to deliver. that's why we have these high turn out in parliament. then there's a political gaming in the parliament. the european union has been using it for years as a scapegoat and this is the main reason behind the situation. i think what he will face is some political element to -- to govern the country out of this crisis, it is a social and economic crisis. kim: do you agree with her take on why there has been such

clinical instability in italy? the populist sentiments having an impact? >> this is a long tradition in italy. tradition in italy has been based on a different electoral system that has granted the idea that even a very small minority group needs to be represented in parliament and that has formed a fractured political culture that still lives on even if the loss of changed. i think we have suffered from that. of course populist leaders in recent years have had a big weight in the political life of this country. promoting the idea that if the

government is elected and if the polls say something different because the political sentiment has changed throughout the country, then we need to go to another election or look for a different government. this is the most recent trend but it comes from a different political culture based on a different system. kim: his technical predecessors lasted one year and four months. do you think mario draghi will do better? how do you see this playing out longer-term? >> i think his intention is not to last more than that because it will be enough to restore italy's path if they are able to do the right investments and

because in a very few months from now, less than two years, we will have the elections for the president where mario draghi seems to be the most credible candidate. the ideal thing for many observers is to have him for a couple of years in office as prime minister and then vote him as the guardian of the italian constitutional process as president of the republic which would ensure him seven more years in office and a good is issue in politics from a higher position. i think to be there for just two years is the ideal time lapse to ensure he is firmly in office and then we will see. kim: when he gave his speech, he said he hopes for unity from political forces but also society at large.

how do you everyday italians feel about all this political up people? >> of course italians are quite worried about it and they expect political crises quite suspiciously. no one was expecting this government to fall because the former prime minister was enjoying -- when you consider in march last year, he had 70% popular support. on the one hand, they are able to get italy out of a crises, but on the other, there is of the society asking for elections because they believe the

previous government was not elected, it was formed as a new coalition within the parliament. so there are citizens asking for a new government. kim: italy has a lot of debt and has had chronic low growth. why hasn't productivity been so sluggish for so long? >> because many politicians of the previous generation have chosen social consensus over social competition. most of all, because the state expenses have been concentrated on subsidies more than investment. if you invest in building roads, infrastructure, schools, harbors and what ever, you will have a

return in terms of employment, asperity, incomes. if it is just subsidies in subsidies and subsidies, you lose money, maybe you keep people calm because you just keep printing currency and cash, but in the end, what the covid crisis, we have something like 172% of public debt which is almost unbearable. this is why mario druggies sound investment could be the way to avert this trend and recover some prosperity for the future. kim: the last democrat helped to improve italy's ranking on the bond market but then there were austerity measures. do you think those may color italians perceptions toward another technocratic government or leader and has that been a

factor -- the rise of population? -- rise of populism? >> of course, they think mario draghi could be a technical manager that will cut funding, but on the other hand, we should not underestimate his political abilities and his empathy and compassion. he has very clearly the idea that he has to manage the social programs and political programs as well as the economic ones. that is something he made clear yesterday in his first speech to the nation. i think the newspapers are starting to depict him in that way, not only as a dry, technical manager but as a

person who has cleared the problems ahead of us. that risk is going to be reduced. kim: how did italy get to this point? politically speaking. >> i think as i said before, the rise of populism is not just related to last year. it is a tradition. try to use populist propaganda to achieve consensus.

especially in situations where a lot is at stake. there has been a lack of sense of responsibility by minority parties. the previous government was operating considering some issues, at this point, mario draghi would be the best option, considering having elections will be quite risky because of the pandemic and we have two -- we have to present a plan. kim: something we haven't touched on is how these develop and's are likely to be viewed by the european union. what do you think the european union is seeing now?

>> the european union now is worrying about the timing because time is running out. i think we should be ready for april, may to present a credible plan of investments. i think mario draghi's figure succeeds forming a government, it will be a guarantee for european union leaders that somebody is managing the process well. otherwise the turmoil could become a very dangerous matter and make the situation bad because the public debt and bad indicators would make it unsustainable. mario draghi's figure is one that they see as a guardian angel of our economy and they are looking at this experiment

with a lot of attention and consideration. kim: what do you think the leadership is going to end up looking like? political, technocrat or both? >> i think it will have to be somewhat political. it can't just be technical because this government needs the votes and they made it clear they want some political accountability. kim: it's all going to become clear in the coming days and weeks. thank you very much. thank you for watching. you can see the program any time by visiting our website, al jazeera.com. you can go to our facebook page for further discussion. you can join the conversations on twitter. for me and the entire team here,

goodbye for now.

[music] artbound was made possible in py the los angeles county arts com, the department of cultural affas boing, the california endowment, the national endowment for the and the library foundation of l.