let's speak some more about this now to joshua landis who is the director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma and president of the syria studies association his via skype from norman in oklahoma joshua landis as always good to have you with us on al-jazeera how much progress do you think they have maids in this meeting really towards securing a lasting truce in syria do you think anything will change in the next few days and weeks. you know there's not a lot of progress but it is the 3 have to get together and constantly manage the situation which is quite explosive because there is an offensive led by the syrian government in italy province which could drive hundreds of thousands not millions of refugees into turkey turkey is also at daggers drawn with the united states over the question of kurds in in eastern europe radius region and so all of those different interests have to be managed and each side wants to use this conference as a way to underline its interests its needs to tell america in a sense that they need to leave the area so different intere

stalled peace process aimed at ending the year conflict let's get more on this and talk to joshua landis who's the director of the sensor for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma he joins us now on skype from norway and in houma thank you very much for your patience very busy day in new york of course but this statement from the u.n. secretary general is certainly of significance do you see this as a breakthrough of sorts when it comes to the conflict in syria. well it's certainly much anticipated and they've been haggling about this for over a year the the shape of the committee is that $150.00 delegates at this constitutional committee which is very large 50 of them are appointed by the syrian government 50 from the opposition and 50 which are called civil society leaders appointed by the un they've been haggling over the nature of these people and who should be on and off. you know it's hard to hold up much hope for this although the united states does the syrian government has put its foot down and said only syrians are going to decide the future of syria it's already ca

landis cleared of the vegetation the land gradually degrades and becomes less and less productive less and less can be grown on a profit can be made from that and people become more desperate so there is a very strong link between hans blix and land degradation and also between migration and. tells rinaldo that she now has to get her charcoal from 160 kilometers away because sources closer to bamako have dried up it's a similar situation in and around many of africa's big cities the disappearance of forests and degradation of the land is a huge problem. how do we fortunately through famine manage that regeneration through the regeneration of trees and landscapes is a very low cost rapid and scalable method to reverse that degradation in the 1980 s. we're now discovered that in many places there are intact underground networks of routes struggling to grow and that pruning shoots can help trees and bushes flourish well vision is now promoting the f.m. in our technique in 24 countries around the world. in northern ghana sunny well done tom was among the 1st farmers to adopt it a decade ag

but in a low-carbon future, it is the ground beneath, acres of peat landy that a vital and overlooked resource. these squishy layers under my sofeet that aruperefficient at storing carbon is precisely becaus this bog stays as it dies does not try outtatin and decompose. all the curren carbon is locked away in the ground. but astonishingly it is 20 times as much carbon in all the uk's forest is held in peat lands. 80% of the u.k.'s peat lands are not in a healthy state. victoria: these disasters peatland fires in sutherland in may of this year earned and leed carbon--burned and released carbon that had beenri stored for cen. can remove their ability to lock carbon away. >>xi we want to ze their capacity to store more carbon. if there is not conflicting pressure that is more important, you want to return these sites to is good quality as possib. victoria: that is why conservation organiz are restoring peat bogs not only on their own rerves, but, adjacent farmla. >> the watercourse was previously draining and erod ing the peat on the bog. the water is spread out to this previously dry ar

northwestern part of syria there are these hard core groups resisting conducting a last stand joshua landisis director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma he says the u.s. is confused about its spawn a c. in syria i think it's up to mines on the one hand it continually asked syria not to move ahead and reconquer the syria which would cause all the al qaeda affiliated jihad as groups to be destroyed at the same time as it's picking off these groups it's worried about the humanitarian. consequences of syria's recapture of this region it doesn't want an outflow of refugees its allies saudi arabia turkey israel do not want syria to be strengthened. and the united states wants to roll back iran so it wants to weaken our side as much as it can but at the same time it wants to destroy these jihad ists but it doesn't want assad to destroy them so it's a it's a bit of a confusing policy i'm a saying of course this is own where the turks want a buffer is the american zone it's the 30 percent of syria that the united states controls with its allies the syrian defense fo

their share prices decline deutsche bank is down like 95 percent since the financial crisis even the landis bank and which are the foundation of the middle. middle corporations as the heart of german exports to me that those banks are starting to suffer as well. all the big banks will be on by amazon and we answer that because you know go buying and when you make a purchase on amazon you either get a big shock or a little shock depending on your credit rating or you get shocked and the population declines anyway we're going to take a break and when we come back much more coming away don't go away. and the big pain years in the process started 10 years and i think it's time to shake things up maybe change the branding maybe the format here is what i've been thinking about next season related episodes filmed on an island 10 experts cited out for a trophy what do you think ok a more affordable option $25.00 text birds. and one red rose another suggestion. jeopardy parody no political cookout where we will literally wrote the elite. late night show it's a rare form of these days and it's cheap

their share prices decline deutsche bank is down like 95 percent since the financial crisis even the landis bank and which are the foundation of the middle. middle corporations as the heart of german exports. economy that those banks are starting to suffer as well right now that play all the big banks will be on by amazon and we enter the era of the casino go flying and when you make a purchase on amazon you either get a big shock or a little shock depending on your credit rating or you get shocked into the population decline anyway we're going to take a break and when we come back much more coming away don't go away. in 2040 you know bloody revolution to to correct the demonstrations going from being relatively peaceful political protests to be creasing the violent revolution is always spontaneous or is it still or here i mean you are liz put me in the new bill is that i'm new school in the middle of the former ukrainian president recalls the events of 2014. those who to vote had invested over 5000000000 dollars to assist ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosp

their share prices decline deutsche bank is down like 95 percent since the financial crisis even the landis bank and which are the foundation of the middle east middle corporation says the heart of german exports to me that those banks are starting to suffer as well right now by the way all the big banks. and we answer that because. when you make a purchase on amazon you either get a big shock or a little shock depending on your credit rating or you get shocked and population declines anyway we're going to take a break and when we come back much more coming away don't go away. not at me. but if she warned you i do. wish that the. those jeans nudist beach and you see me. in the news i mean that is where that information ball. a lot of you will see sawing your info as if parts about to kids out the bulls are the most cool. doesn't need a list of. these. people . 5 days doing a sit. in english medium people who simply. include in. welcome back to the kaiser report imax keyser time now to turn to nic but to yeah oh open note and tantra labs welcome thank you max this is fantastic because we've

their share prices decline deutsche bank is down like 95 percent since the financial crisis even the landis bank and which are the foundation of the middle. middle corporations as the heart of german exports to me that those banks are starting to suffer as well. all the big banks will be on by amazon and we answer that because you know go like and when you make a purchase on amazon you either get a big shock or a little shock depending on your credit rating or you get shot to death up in life in the line anyway we're going to take a break and when we come back much more coming away don't go away. round up with a little out of. the set of one of my what i would. find i trim 88 to high is not the high i might. get this month when the sun shone. for the sum total of almost mimic the lock of the. theater someone who did the board. welcome back to the kaiser report i'm max keyser time now to turn to nick but to yeah open note and tantra labs welcome thank you max this is fantastic because we've been talking for a long time number of years and we're going to get into some really interesting topic

this is in fact the 50th anniversary of the first landi landing, and i've argued for some years we should have a human achievement today. i'm curious why the united states patent visited, for 50 years let me finish real quick we should have a human achievement today july 20 would be a good day for that because of some of its one of the greatest achievements in history, going to the moon. i would love to see every student trying to understand everything that went into going in the moon. those of you that are interest interested, the best is charles murray and catherine cox apollo the race to the moon and if any of you are interested in the individuals who put us there, it would be great to have a human achievement day where we celebrate how do we do that. for those of you watching on tv perhaps, we are in las vegas right now. it's 110 degrees outside. i'm comfortable here because of the air conditioning. where did that come from? there was this guy over 100 years ago. how did he invent it and why. there is a whole fascinating story about that. how did it go from being some use for a partic

the kurdish forces out of there good to speak to you as always joshua landis there in norman oklahoma thanks for being with us but are now the head of the united nations nuclear watchdog has met the iranian officials a day off to add further scaled down its commitments to the 2050 nuclear deal iran announced on saturday it could now increase un human wichman levels beyond the 20 percent but it doesn't have plans to do that yet iranian foreign minister the iranian forms that told the i.a.e.a. its actions are allowed under the deal francis' iran not to downgrade its commitments saying the channels for dialogue are still open dosage of body has more from to iran. this was a prescheduled meeting between the acting head of the international atomic energy agency and iranian officials as part of their ongoing cooperation officials from the nuclear watchdog come to teheran on a regular basis but this visit comes at a time when the future of the 2015 nuclear deal is very uncertain iran continues to reduce its commitments as it announced on saturday how they will move forward with advancing the

the people in northern syria so if this is you know this is a work that's not finished yet joshua landis always interesting talking to you thanks for your time. there is plenty more ahead few on this news hour zimbabwe's founding leader is laid to rest problem the gobby buried in his home village after his family's wishes prevailed. 5 years after hong kong's umbrella movement and the resistance carries on. and in sport with far action from the stunning upset rugby world cup. but yemen's hooty rebels say thousands of enemy troops have surrounded have surrendered i'm sorry during a month long military campaign who things have been targeting the southern region of. a spokesman says they've captured several saudi army officers along with weapons and military vehicles but coalition in yemen has been fighting for more than 4 years well go all out. thousands of the enemy forces have been captured as prisoners others were killed from among the prisoners is a large number of high ranking officers and soldiers of saudi citizenship more than 72 hours from the launch of the operation they destroyed

northwestern part of syria there are these hard core groups resisting conducting a last stand joshua landis is director at the center for middle east studies at university of oklahoma he says the u.s. is confused about its policy in syria. i think it's up to mines on the one hand it continually asked syria not to move ahead and conquer this area which would cause all the al-qaeda affiliated and jihad as groups to be destroyed at the same time as it's picking off these groups it's worried about the humanitarian. consequences of syria's recapture of this region it doesn't want an outflow of refugees its allies saudi arabia turkey israel do not want syria to be strengthened. and the united states wants to roll back iran so it wants to weaken our side as much as it can but at the same time it wants to destroy these jihad ists but it doesn't want assad to destroy them so it's a it's a bit of a confusing policy i'm assuming of course this is own where the turks want a buffer is the american zone it's the 30 percent of syria that the united states controls with its allies the syrian defense forces

a direct hits on the usa but millions of americans are worries and making last minute preparations landy gallagher is live for us in miami andy hi there the eye of the nation of the bahamas i think very few people know it i was side of you know the pictures on postcards but it's very much on prepared for a storm a hurricane of this strength which looks like it's refusing to budge. yeah that's the big story at the moment from forecasters if you look at those satellite images you see it is perfect i came dorian harboring of a grand bahama hovering over nasa where people have taken to shelters it made landfall in a back a while and sunday and we're already hearing reports and i've seen some pretty disturbing videos on social media of people stuck on roofs as these huge. just come in and these winds obviously were up to 350 kilometers per hour 13000 homes destroyed as you heard the prime minister talking about and hurricane during could hold for over those are winds for the next 36 hours it's barely moving at the moment it has been downgraded to a category 4 but still a very dangerous very p

be reached considering how much blood has been spilt in this war well earlier we spoke to joshua landis he is the director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma and he says it's unlikely that syrian president bashar assad will bring about any meaningful political change to end the war. there is not a lot of progress but in the 3 have to get together and constantly manage the situation which is quite explosive because there is an offensive led by the syrian government in invalid province which could drive hundreds of thousands if not millions of refugees into turkey turkey is also at daggers drawn with the united states over the question of currencies in in eastern your freddy's region and so all of those different interests have to be managed and each side wants to use this conference as a way to underline its interests its needs and to tell america in a sense that they need to leave the area it's quite clear that that bashar al assad is not having much of this he's not going to change the constitution in any substantial way he believes he's won the war rus

constitutional committee ok thank you for that james bays diplomatic editor in new york and now joshua landis the director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma he's on skype from norman oklahoma what's your assessment of this constitutional committee then as james has pointed out. it's been i mean 150 members that's a lot of people and it's divided equally but trying to find consensus. very difficult you know the united states puts great store by this process and we've seen a special envoy to syria james jeffrey has said that the debt he expects to war is not over and he expects that to settle be turned out by these elections and after this committee process is terminated and you know it's hard to believe that that can actually happen but obviously there are many people who believe it will it and keep on saying reiterating that it will happen the assad regime though has won a war in the last.