a whole string of bases for the british, and the nerve center of their military position in the middle eastnd east africa. those troops were surrounded by egyptians who were carrying out a low-level guerrilla war against them. the minutens, eisenhower came to power, they escalated that war in order to force the americans to make a decision between egypt and the british. at the same time, there is a conflict going on simmering between israel and all of the surrounding area of states led by egypt. issuesflict of those two , the israel question and the british question, increased that feeling that eisenhower had of being caught in the middle between rising nationalism. he's not nationalism was going to be the wave of the future. to his traditional allies, the british and the israelis. brian: what led you to write this book? michael: that is an interesting question. i started thinking about it when i was working in the white house. i worked in the george w. bush white house. at thehe senior director national security council, responsible for the middle east. i noticed certain ideas were welling

that statement you made following the meeting, the security council meeting on the middle east.u surprised what you saw about the attitudes and discussions on the middle east at the u.n.? and what could be done to change it? >> you know, i was confused. it was totally bizarre, because in my first month, talking about the middle east, there's a lot to talk about. and whether you're talking about hezbollah or isis, all of the issues in syria, which is, you know, a problem, that's what i expected us to talk about. i didn't expect an israel bashing session. and literally listening to each member say the same thing over and over again, i knew they said it was bad, but until you hear it and you see it, you just can't comprehend how ridiculous it is. [ applause ] you >> so a lot of people here are just getting to know you for the first time. the theme of our conference this year is many voices, one mission, celebrating the diversity of the pro israel cause. can you talk about how you started to learn about israel, your affinity for israel? >> well, i am the daughter of indian parents,

jerusalem is an example to the middle east and the world of what can be, what the middle east can be.usalem, my wish, should be recognized not just by the united states but by all of humanity as a light unto nations. >> beautiful. [ applause ] nir, very, very briefly. your hope for the city's future? >> jerusalem has a role in the worldment it's an inclusive role. it'sen abling all people from all tribes, mind you that jerusalem was divided into tribes, jews and non jews alike to come and enjoy the holy city of jerusalem. connect our future to our past and excel. it can be done. it is being done. i just want to fuel and work faster to fulfill that role year after year even better than we did before. >> beautiful. yossi, very briefly and finally. >> my prayer for jerusalem, my city, our city, is that the international community will recognize the jewish people as the legitimate custodian of jerusalem. [ applause ] and that -- and that we -- and that we will see ourselves as the custodians of jerusalem for humanity. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, what a wonderful, energizing, inv

later, a hearing on security challenges in the middle east.g question time this past week, british prime minister theresa may to questions on a formal preparations for the uk's exit from the european union. she was also asked about increased funding for police in light of the recent terrorist attack outside of parliament. this is 35 minutes to read -- 35 minutes.

we have a current map of the middle east area and you can see it on the screen.ow much has changed? see there some very well known countries this day. suez canal wide open now? an t's wide open and incredibly important artery for the transmission of oil. the sinai? >> the egyptians own the sinai. in israelis took it again 1956. and i didn't tell you that part of the story. isenhower rolled the israelis out of sinai. ben gorria, the prime minister hopes of holding onto certain parts of it, maybe it. f but eisenhower ruled him out ust like he ruled the british out. the israelis took it in 1967 and as part of the peace deal with carter, they relinquished it. responsible for a lot of it in the beginning. ben gorria, this is from 1956 bbc. he nasser said to me as far as he was concerned, the onditions for peace would be based on the resolutions. how did you react to that? 1947?e u.n. resolutions of >> yes. >> well, those resolutions were a pulse, but all of that space were violated and the armies, in the day it established. and as we can bring back all of sons and dau

and how do you unravel a proxy war between the sunni and shiite wars in the middle east where the saudis and the gulf states are supporting rebel forces on one side and iran and russia are supporting the assad regime and the united states trying to navigate what is the exact role the united states plays in a country that is completely, completely destroyed, where isis still has a capital that needs to be liberated, where there are kurdish forces supporting the united states, but whereas the russians are now confronting the united states because assad has used chemical weapons. host: this is the father that buried 19 members because of the chemical attack. the human toll it's causing. the question is how does the country survive economically? guest: it is an incredible question. most of the money pouring in to support the regime is coming .rom really three sources it's coming from oil the regime is still able to sell. host: to whom? guest: russia and it still has pipelines going to the mediterranean or to other countries. that oil is going to other countries, not necessarily russia. numbe

military presence and activity in the middle east.ething that has been noticed overseas, i think the issue with russia is quite interesting. they start i think to be skeptical of president trump's ability to really meet his campaign rhetoric of trying to extra indicate from the middle east. they have acted accordingly. the visit with president xi is fascinating to me. it's not just that the united states has taken the gamble in the middle east. we have taken a huge gamble with can china saying china is not an important power. it is not even worth discussing this with the chinese leader until after dinner. so i think we're in for quite a ride in the middle east and around the world. china, russia and everywhere else. >> or over dinner itself. as we know, the attack happened while they were just finishing their meal this thursday, friday. stephen, on this, hillary brought up a point. the idea that this administration is more interventionist. but we also have to add in the word military. the budget we're looking at where this president w

for every five christians in the middle east, four are in egypt.e relief, but i can't imagine we will have that amount of haemorrhaging we have had in other places, because what used to happen was that there would be persecution in one place, a person would go to a neighbouring middle eastern country. with a series of failed states, the only way out is europe or north america and that is becoming more difficult. let me ask you about a very sensitive and important word in this debate. the former archbishop of canterbury used it the other day. that word is genocide. he says that we have to acknowledge and report what is happening to christians in the middle east as a genocide, and that there are clear moral and legal imperatives, therefore, to intervene on the part of western nations and international nations, notjust western nations. is that word relevant? is it, in your view, the right word for what is happening to christians? absolutely. we have seen it happen in iraq, libya, syria, and of course in a smaller scale, but it is happening now in egyp

the middle east as an example of what can be done. not what can't be done. you know, whether i'm conducting diplomacy in the prime minister's office or representing the party, i'm always reminded of the fact that i'm basically a two-hour drive from isis. i'm a four or five-hour drive from the civil war in iraq, three-hour drive from the civil war in sinai, and an hour drive from the war in hamas, in gaza, and here we are, jews ofknesset stripes and observe advance, christians, muslims, jews debating, dee baiting the hardest issues, we debate them loudly and we decide democratically without anybody raising a 50 much less firing a gun. jerusalem is an example to the middle east and the world of what it can be. jerusalem should be recognized not just by the united states but by all of humanity as a light unto nations. >> beautiful. very, very briefly, your hope for the city's future. >> jerusalem has a role in the world'. it's an enexclusive role. it's enabling our 3e78 from all tribes, mind you jerusalem was never divided into tribes, b

yousef: i want to put middle east aside for a minute.you could run me through the priorities when it comes to outside of the middle east investment spectrum. what are you looking at? when you look at what is happening in continental europe and in turkey. jassim: as you know, the u.k. and london specifically is a very important focus for us. brexit has caused the sterling to be much cheaper compared to the dollar. it has become extremely interesting for investors from dollar pegged countries like the gcc. we are focused on real estate developments in london. this is something we will continue. it is something we really like and it is really working for us. you will see a lot of our focus in the u.k. yousef: does that mean additional acquisitions there are on the table or just more expansion? jassim: absolutely, we have been looking at opportunities for the u.k., specifically london. real estate companies and real estate developments, we are actively in discussion and seeking to consolidate and expand in the u.k. yousef: do you have -- in

we are in the center of the middle east.blems will come in from every side, and you will not be able to stop it. we are still going by assad's playbook. you're not near the end at all. andrew: in terms of what that means for the proxies -- we have turkey, saudi arabia -- everybody from the region, including egypt. and we are nott near the end of this, what does that mean for all of the proxies involved in regional tension? >> what that means is at the moment, you have the russians, iranians, and syrians having the upper hand. the situation is such that if assad because, you are going to have nonstop problems because of a vacuum. what this means is that the way forward is for all sides to deescalate. acknowledgment that assault will remain and that everyone will have to do their calculations along those lines. i think that will happen. ,racy: professor engseng ho thank you so much for joining us. thank you so much to bloomberg's andrew barton. oil prices gaining another week after the events in syria. we will get the outlook

middle i want to put east for a side. -- put middle east aside for a minute.could run me through the outside of the middle east investment spectrum. what are you looking at? when you look at what is happening in continental europe and in turkey. know, the u.k. and london specifically is a very important focus for us. brexit has caused the sterling to be much cheaper compared to the dollar. it has become extremely interesting for investors from country like a d.c. -- from countries like the gcc. we are focused on real estate developments in london. this is something we will continue. it is something we really like and it is really working for us. you will see a lot of our focus in the u.k. yousef: does that mean additional acquisitions there are on the table or just more expansion? have beensolutely, we looking at opportunities for the u.k., specifically london. and realte companies estate developments, we are actively in discussion and seeking to consolidate and expand in the u.k. -- in termsou have of how much you can go out and save those expansion plans. ?

he also wants to do that in the middle east. he wants an arab ally, he wants a border on the mediterranean, he gets both from syria. from putin it is more business and personal. if he gets what he wants, i don't think he needs assad. that said, then dan henninger is right, if assad was to run a small portion that might be good enough. given my, putin has been plana we can't very well. he does not want to see trumpet play trump cards, pardon the expression. >> paul: i have seen no evidence so far in russian behavior or statements that they are at all backing away from the side. they have vetoed the resolution at the united nations this week to assail assad. is there any sign at all that they are deed linking? et. what he did at the un was to totally negate international laws most basic is the most terrible thing. we have nothing at. there is a feeling state. it is humpty dumpty. i don't see how get put back together again. one of the things i mentioned the trump administration is considering, is something called safe havens, i ca

yousef: welcome to the best of "bloomberg markets: middle east ." the major stories driving headlines. the proposed merger between the national bank of abu dhabi, looking like it will cost twice as much as expected. south africa warned further downgrades could be on the way. moody's said it is reviewing the situation. driven by the potential expansion of opec curbs. the secretary-general says he is cautiouslylly -- optimistic the market is rebalancing. met the kingister on wednesday. we got this take. devaluation issue is the most important in my mind. saudi want an ipo, 5% of the company, is to create the reality of the reserves. when we found this valuation if those valuations cannot be improved, that will delay the ipo in my mind. it will not be hitting one of the main objectives of why the saudi government is doing that. the other thing is, how the interest has rising -- been rising in the saudi market, that is a benefit not felt in terms of market people putting money. now we see international investors, big investment banks. this is -- yousef:

elsewhere in the middle east, in syria and iraq, the middle east, in syria and iraq, the plight of christians is even worse. my guest today is the general bishop of the cup that church in the uk, bishop angaelos. do christians have any future at all in the middle east? —— one. bishop angaelos, welcome to hardtalk do you think there is something substantively different about the nature of the threat faced by coptic christians in egypt to date? because they have faced threats for many yea rs. they have faced threats for many years. yes. we have faced threats for centuries, particularly over the past decades, but to have suicide bombers in churches is a shift, and it looks like the mirroring of attacks in other parts of the world. and think that is why it has shocked the egyptian community so much generally, christians and muslims. we have not seen this level of aggression and violence. we have had attacks, which have been equally painful, but this does mark a very new chapter. and does that mean, since we saw the suicide bomber tax onto churches, a cathedral in alexandra, and the church in the

in that time, the middle east has faced many periods of crisis and unrest. perhaps never like it is today, however. through them all, america has looked to jordan as a valued partner and advocate for the values of civilization and a source of stability and hope. i am deeply committed to preserving our strong relationship, which i will, and to strengthening america's long-standing support for jordan. and you do have tremendous support within our country, i can tell you that. as we know, the middle east and the entire world is faced with one of its gravest threats in many, many years. since the earliest days of the campaign against isis, jordan has been a staunch ally and partner, and we thank you for that. jordanian service members have made tremendous sacrifices in this battle against the enemies of civilization, and i want to thank all of them for their really just incredible courage. so many have been lost, and we pay homage. so many. in king abdullah, america is blessed with a thoughtful and determined partner. he's a man who has spent years commanding hi

so, as you know, i would love to have never been in the middle east. would love to have never seen that whole, big situation start. but once it started, we got out the wrong y. and isis formed in the vacuum and lots of bad things happened. i will tell you what happened yesterday is unacceptable to me. reporter: could i follow up, sir? last year you seemed to be reluctant to get involved or to intervene in syria directly. is that one thing that's changed after yesterday? pres. trump: well, one of the things i think you have noticed about me is militarily i don't like to say where i'm going and what i'm doing. and i watched past administrations say we will attack at such and such a day at such and such an hour. and you being a warrior you would say, why are they saying that? i'm sure you sat back in jordan and said, why are they saying that? i watched mosul where the past administration was saying we will be attacking in four months. and i said, why are they doing that? then a month goes by and they say, we will be attacking in three months. and then two

but if we all create peace in the middle east, why don't you help the only democracy in the middle eastbelieves in freedom, gives people their rights? that's the place we need to be. what's more importantly and look at our budget why don't we fund our friends first. that's why israel will always win and always be the first investment of where we go? thank you. thank you. >> congressman mccarty and congressman hoyer. i know that kevin and i want to thank about all of you because what you do every day, week, month and year is to make sure your neighbors and friends and country and mechanimbers of the congress know exactly what the issues are, how critically important they are and give us good advice and counsel to make sure how we can ensure that the united states and israel will remain strong, free and successful. thank you very much. >> thank you very [ applause ] ♪ ♪ >>> live tuesday the head of u.s. strategic command testifies before the armed senate services community. discussing russian and china vents. live 9:30 eastern on c-span 3. on c-span 2 the nomination of supreme court justi

busy day in washington, d.c., and new middle east peace proposal to the middle east council and a shakeupnt trump's senior staff. all the latest from the white house ahead. ♪ >> jon: president trump has said he does not like the idea of intervening in the affairs of other country, but he also said that the gas at tack in syria which is believed to be the product of the assad administration crossed a lot of lines for him. he was critical of the obama administration for not enforcing that red line that they insisted would be enforced if a gas attack game. it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming days. >> jenna: absolutely. he actually did mention, when asked by one of the reporters, how he would do it differently? he has changed his mind. monday they said they don't want to get involved. doesen necessarily make it a priority to get assad and that regime, government, out of power, but now he says, i'm flexible. flexibility will allow me to change my mind. what does he mean by that? we'll have to stay tuned to find out. >> jon: all right. thank you very much for joining us. "a

we cared about oil because it looked -- 100% of european oil came from the middle east.wanted to make sure we had friendly arab regimes, if not align with the united states, keep the soviet union out. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q and a. >> senate judiciary committee meets tomorrow to vote on the nomination of neil gorsuch to be an associate justice on the supreme court. live coverage on c-span2 at eastern. the full senate will then take it up. majority leader mcconnell announced he points to hold the final confirmation vote on friday, april 7. watch the senate live on c-span two. case you missed it on c-span, for research institute and the senate intelligence hearing. of 2015,the end started 2016, the russian system began pushing messages seeking to influence the outcome of the u.s. presidential election. russia's covert trolls soft sideline opponents on both sides of the spectrum with adversarial views towards the kremlin. they were in full swing during the republican and democratic primary season and may have helped sink the hopes of candidates more hostile

good morning and welcome to the middle east institute. this grand ballroom that you're sitting in now is part of our swing space. we've moved here temporarily for the next two years while we rebuild our headquarters, which i know most of you are familiar with, and so in two years' time when we move back to it, we will be welcoming all of you again in a totally renovated middle east institute, which i think you'll find extremely lovely. so, welcome anyway to our temporary headquarters. i'm wendy chamberlain, president of the middle east institute, and it's a great pleasure to welcome you to what we find is an extremely -- conference on extremely important issues, and that's the humanitarian situation and political situation in yemen today. cnn is covering live, and middle east institute is videotaping it, so you will be able to watch the whole conference again on cnn, but also on our website, so i mention this so that if you could just please silence your telephones. do that, but we still encourage you to use your telephones to tweet #meiy

the middle east, most of these rescreams were notably not happy with the last administration. some of them were very happy to see this new administration, and they're happy to see this show of strength. but i think in terms of trying to apply this to all the places we're engaged in the region, these are all very, very different. you know, the iraq fight against isis is going very well. we can fairly be said to be winning there. afghanistan is going much more poorly, and yemen we're largely just supporting the saudis. these are all individual fights we have to take one at a time >> sreenivasan: kimberly marten, does this change russia's thinking about the fact that the united states is willing to use force in specific instances, especially when they're thinking about expanding geographically or other decisions that they've already made? >> i think it might be sending a message there are limits. there doesn't seem to be evidence that this is going to become a new u.s. military presence that has any kind of a permanent basis. and so i don't think we're necessarily going to see th

the lamarcus middle east. ♪ >> this is your first world news.resident president erdogan has followed his win in a referendum that if it is a premises of israel by taking in a political opponents at home and abroad. at his victory speech last night supporters chanted that he should bring back the death penalty a move that would finish their day to join the european union. he also warned punishment about challenging the legitimacy of his wing. -- his win. >> i hope today's constitutional changes will be good for the country. our nation voted with free will changes

debacle they wanted to step back consciously say that under obama we don't want to get stuck in the middle east. temporarily, they abandon that logic when they got involved in libya. that turned sour and reinforce the idea that getting involved in middle eastern countries is a bad idea for so to problems in syria which is number one a country they don't care about. and secondly, at a time when they want to step back from the region. >> enter donald trump so we talk about this earlier, we still do not know what donald trump's approach to the middle east was areas. despite this strike that he is done, he is restrained by the same restraint that brock obama was is that syria is not important to the united states strategically. it seems to be even more remiss than it was in 2011 because the civil war has been going on lonw time. donald trump, even more than brock obama wants to step back from the middle east. on the campaign trai trail he se didn't want to get involved. while he might firebomb here there, there less precision than the obama administration did. i don't see him making a major shift d

this is bloomberg. ♪ tracy: welcome back to "best of bloomberg markets: middle east." enirst time quarters, shula capital has returned to capital and are embarking on a path of acquisitions. the chairman told us about the company's plans. >> the main issue in the past has been the portfolio. we focused on streamlining the has beenrtfolio that improved tremendously. it has been the largest contribution or stick q1. -- contributors to q1. we made the company more efficient. all of this is a positive. q1 is just the start, hopefully. >> up more than 100% over 12 months. it is difficult to aggregate that a better financial performance from some of the acquisition rumors around the company. can you tell us if you are thinking about doing something with gfh? if not gfh, what do you have in mind? >> part of the global strategy is to grow through m&a. that has been announced as part of the new strategy. we considered a merger with gfh. we always look at opportunities for acquisitions that will be beneficial to shareholders. this is something we look at. i expect in the next wee

♪ >> welcome to the best of "bloomberg markets: middle east ."he major stories driving headlines this week -- geopolitical tensions dominated markets as president trump sends what he calls an armada to the coast of the north korean peninsula. russia warns that relations are dangerously low. opec cuts continue to swing with a force that the saudis may back an extension of the curb. a slowdown -- a lowdown of abu andi cash ahead of merger, testing the waters. its vision 2030 to the world, we spoke to the men with a seat at the table of change. when we look at the shift is happening in policy, it is huge. it is solely different from what we had gone through with what we used to call the five-year plan. today we have the structure sent out last year. we can see it is fully operational. are is clear when we reporting to the different government bodies. is called the performance center, that is responsible for gathering the data of all of the programs, initiatives, and progress of the ongoing project. as we have all seen, there was the initial report o

tracy: and an outlook for business and middle east. is 7:00 a.m. here in triad. i am in dubai where it has turned 8:00. look with a u.s. markets. the s&p, relatively unchanged despite corporate warnings. -- earnings. the s&p had a good week, the best since february. and the nasdaq down 0.1%. we have a lot of investors treading water, and ahead of geopolitical risks taking place in the form of the french elections. wti crude below $50 a barrel. a painful week for oil investors. gold up. the u.s. dollar index, treading water. take a look at the euro stock volatility index. it's spiked 4.2%. a little bit of nervousness in the markets. looking back in terms of trends and patterns, a tough week for oil prices. it is going to mean a tough week for gulf stocks. impactsreally see some on what has been happening. individual numbers and how they performed. stocks, 2.6%. the property developer making a little bit of gain. weakness in stocks like kingdom holdings. all down, over 4%. the volumes are below the average. the saudi index has been the worst performer. the worst we

consciously saying, under obama we don't want to get stuck in middle east mark. emporarily, they abandon that logic when they got involved in libya. very quickly turned sour and it reinforced this idea that getting involved in middle eastern countries is a bad idea. they have these two problems in syria. number one, they have a country they don't know much about or care about. second time, they want to get out of the region back. >> get enter donald trump. >> despite the strike that he has done he was restrained by the same restraint that barack obama was. that syria is not important to the united states to see lee. it seems to be even more of a mess and it was in 2011 because 11 because the civil war has been going on a long time. donald trump, even more than barack obama, wants to step back and on his campaign trail, at least, he took a took a isolationist and doesn't want to get involved in it. while he might fire a bomb here or there, perhaps there's less precision than the obama administration. i don't see him making a major shift despite. >> what's striking

but he is not a game changer in the middle east. this coddling of this dictator is not going to push the agenda. it's not going help any of america's interests in the middle east. it's hard to see why -- the only thing, as michael points out, the only thing that might have brought sisi to trump's attention is that he is a tyrant, and trump seems to like that kind of thing. >> ashley, meantime, this coming weekend at mar-a-lago in florida dinner guests can expect to see the leader of china, a two-day kind of floridian summit. i was surprised to read tonight the head of planning for that event, getting the president in the game and prepped, is jared kushner. the 36-year-old son-in-law who today was in baghdad. you have written about him tonight. kushner has a singular and almost untouchable role in trump's white house. what do we need to know about jared kushner? >> well a couple of things. first of all, jared kushner's portfolio is sort of constantly, you know, expanding and ballooning at almost comical speeds. and he has taken on al

the middle east just in excess.e only time we ever really took any action other than -- was sending troops to beirut. they were cleaning out and he requited to stop the israeli. [inaudible question] >> i think there's always something that has to do in private the start of it. but he also, president of the united states. he has to say something that looks reassuring to the world. and so, but you this is geopolitical because it undermines the soviet union. he sold to the sounds and they didn't show gratitude. and the president marking consumer dropped. but also undermine the soviet oil in the world market. they were getting western dollars for their oil and they were able to keep their "war machine" going. that was the real reason that this started. it was a so they can improve the defensive perimeter. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much for coming tonight. and writing this book. /donald trump Ãinstincts, he needs to be a little bit more like reagan. my question is about nancy reagan. and comparing nancy r

there we go. ♪ >> this is bloomberg markets middle east.ishaad salamat in hong kong. >> and i'm yousef gamal el-din in dubai. let's put our attention towards europe where there is only one story. anna edwards joins us from bloomberg europe. what a genetic night. -- dramatic nice. >> politics is the story. in parise live throughout our programming today to bring you the latest reaction to the election results. manual macron goes up against -- emmanuel macron goes up against marine le pen. we will all be focusing on that. emmanuel macron now a political independent against the national front marine le pen. and manual macron is said to be winning -- emmanuel macron is said to be winning in polling. this is very significant is what marine le pen stands for. no republicans and socialists making through to the second half of the first time in contemporary french history. >> what have we got here as well? and one day is this election in the u.k. >> it seems as if the conservative party increasing the gap against their rivals. it looks as if the vo

chamberlin president of the middle east institute. it is a great pleasure to welcome you to what we find is an extremely, at conference on extremely important issues. the humanitarian situation in yemen today. cnn is covering live and the middle east institute is videotaping this. you will be able to watch the whole conference again on cnn but also on our website. i mention this so that you can please silence your telephones. do that, but we still encourage you to use your telephones to treat. # meiyen. visitors to our website will also know we are planning to other interesting events coming up in the next couple of weeks. on april 5, we are holding a panel discussion here on the other civil wars in the middle east. on the 11th, we will have an expert competition on turkey and the upcoming elections.we are particularly honored to host someone who we have had great deal of admiration and respect for what he is been doing. and that is ismail ould cheikh ahmed, u.n. special envoy for yemen. he has had a number of very interesting and imp

15% of the population, but about 80% of the christian population of the middle east at the moment.urther afield? in egypt, there needs to be more of what is happening at the moment — more accountability and a robust system of law and order that hold people to account and gets conviction. when that doesn't happen, we see impunity and an escalation of the violence and terror, as we have now. with the world community, as i have said recently, we have a short attention span, and when things happen in so many places around the world, it is easy to take our eyes off certain places. of course, we suffered in london a few weeks ago, in stockholm this week, across the middle east daily, but we have to pay attention that some communities remain vulnerable. they are still resilient, strong and in place, but they are still vulnerable, and they need our constant attention. what might you talk about vulnerability — the immediate impact of a blast like this is obviously death and destruction, but just this is obviously death and destruction, butjust tell us a bit about how the coptic christian co

enough american policy in the middle east.i don't see any exit in lebanon with the middle east -- [inaudible] i would also like to ask who are some of reagan's political heroes? >> franklin roosevelt. he voted for franklin roosevelt. i might go back to this other thing. i've never met anybody yet who can confidently predict the future. no president has a special talent. i don't know anybody who does. they did the best they can under the circumstances. certain dynamics that would have been, but when it comes to the middle east, with so many competing factions and so much hatred, it's almost a full scare and to try to get in there and saw what his many people save as a problem. another president to skilled yet not. and into the future was franklin roosevelt because he was harming soviets to defeat the evil of germany. but nobody can fault roosevelt for contributing to the buildup of the soviet empire because he tried to feed what he perceived as the greater evil which was adolf hitler and of course the empire of japan. president

kevin, there has been no shortage of news out of the middle east. the advisor tod the president, what have we learned from the white house of the substance traveled with the joint chiefs of staff? >> president trump will face many things in this press conference on what has happened in syria within the last 24 hours. of course, this press conference comes following steve bannon's removal from the national security council and on the eve of the two-day summit where president trump heads to florida to meet with resident of china where they're going to talk about national security and trade policy. he will be accompanying -- few people as a they begin that two-day summit to talk about issues like taiwan , as well as north korea. a ballisticsted missile earlier this week on the eve of these two-day summit. then of course, trade policy. all of that, in recent days as was the oil menstruation masterson, they have tried to lay out the framework to the summits. -- ould get david: what are the expectations out of beijing? kevin: there are some jitters in bei

guest: we are definitely destabilizing the middle east. ever since the iraq invasion of 2003, the middle east has been more or less rapidly falling apart. we went in and just started knocking things over, knocking down longstanding governments in afghanistan and iraq. they thought now is the time, spring rises up but the forces of dictatership come and clamp down. the american people are tired of 14, 15 years of war there. they don't want us to go back. but the region is really in chaos because of what we did in 2003. a lot of the columns you see even today robert kagen blamed it all on obama. obama came in and tried to fix this mess, couldn't do it. couldn't fix it fast enough. i think we're in for a couple of decades of tumlt and chaos in the middle east. this idea that the chemical weapons came from isis, this is what the russians say. this is what syria says. we don't have chemicals weapons. this is the definition of fake news. it is not a news broadcast that you di ace gree with. it's something that is made thi chemical weapons came f

it's refugees from all over the middle east. embassy international lists jordan as the number one taker of refugees, 2.7 million people they've absorbed. how different is that notion? obviously they're it's in region so it's a different dynamic, how different is that than the rhetoric we've heard from the president? >> jordan has taken in hundreds of thousands from syria. also iraq as well. many of those iraqi refugees are still there. sara murray is at the white house. you werely there at the white house conference. you're still in the rose garden. sara, the president clearly has been moved by the images we've seen over the past 24 hours of those little kids who were gassed in the chemical weapons attack in syria? >> i think you're right, wolf. the president brought this up repeatedly, he may have had one view of assad when he came into the blouse but now that view is changing. now what that will actually mean remains to be seen. the president making it clear he now deems this as his responsibility. he understands that this hor

in fact, few if any of his predecessors, have had such a deep working knowledge of the middle east and particularly from the business perspective. he is a man who has demonstrated all of his skills and recent days and weeks, taking over the state department and trying to take on the nations challenges around the world while building a staff and becoming acquainted with the government side of this town. we, all all of us in this organization, look closely, we look forward to working with him and the administration to advance the issues we've been discussing, the critical bilateral relationships between saudi arabia and the united states and the effect that will bring us in the middle east and around the world. mr. secretary, welcome back. thank you for sharing your time and energy in your talents with us and with our country. you're very very welcome. [applause] well thanks so much, tom. good afternoon to all of you. tom and i are old friends, many years back and he has done extraordinary things with the chamber under his leadership in terms of representing america business interest thr

kushner's more inclined toward intervention in the middle east, while mr. bannon would prefer the united states remain as uncommitted as possible. those are starkly different points of view. "the new york times" or actually the new york magazine is reporting that steve bannon argued againsttriking syria because it did not advance the trump doctrine of america first. for more i'm joined by jery peters, reporter from "the new york times" and an msnbc contributor and the great eli stokols, now the great white house reporter. you are moving up there, aren't you, eli? you're moving up. let's talk about it. you first. let's talk about this. bannon is very clear. you can call him alt-right. he's basically a nationalist. he's america first. it's us. we're not getting involved in the middle east. no entanglements, no troops on the ground. we're staying out. the president of the united states talked just like that in the campaign. now the president goes in the same way i think hillary would have gone in. he was right. hillary's a bit of a hawk, and he was a bit of a

where once it was dependent on the middle east for much of its energy, the us is now producing more of its own, allowing it to potentially forge a new foreign policy. a geopolitics of oil. next, on great decisions. (trumpeting music) - [narrator] great decisions is produced by the foreign policy association in association with thomson reuters. funding for great decisions is provided by pricewaterhouse coopers, llp. - [narrator] nations have always been in competition with each other. often, it's in the search for natural resources like oil and gas. a steady supply of energy is needed to fuel the country's economy and military. - [sachs] typically, american foreign policy like british imperial foreign policy before it, paid a tremendous amount of attention to securing oil for the economy. that includes who we have befriended, but it has also included us launching wars; stationing military bases; engaging in coups and orienting a massive amount of our foreign policy around oil. - [mcnally] by world war one, oil was transitioning to becoming the lifeblood of modern civilization. if electr

i was ream in the middle east about a month ago in dubai and you had people from all over the middle east come for an event there. and everyone was scratching their heads, exchanging notes, trying to figure out, do you know something about this administration that makes sense? can you put together a pattern that the rest of us can then identify and follow? the unpredictability of this, i think trump -- and maybe trump's supporters like that, they think that that's -- that that puts them at an advantage. but in the field of international diplomacy it leaves people guessing, it forces people to make decisions with uncomplete facts. never a good thing. >> ashley, as is often michael's role in that third box he brought up another good point in that last conversation. and that was how this is playing where actual americans live. for us in the business, and along the places where amtrak stops in the asella corridor this is taking on a tumble weed quality of an impossible to miss subplot about russian ties. 74 days into a young administration. it is on outside, when it's not your job to foll

let me tell you why it is so important in the middle east. referred to the fight against radical islam as world war iii, a fight within islam itself. king abdullah, the king of jordan, he and his father were direct desend ants of the prophet prophet muhammed. very respected in the muslim world. neil: one of the thing that encourages israelis about king abdullah, not only he honors and respects israel's right to exist and working on behalf of other middle east nations to similarly recognize israel, part of that sort of agreement if you will, that, he has been a critic of some settlements expanded beyond israel proper. something has to be done about a palestinian state. he is not quite as vociferious as some other critics in the middle east. where does israel stand in that regard? how crucial it is that this president deal effectively with abdullah? >> well i think it is very nice that he is in favor of israel's right to exist. but, i think it is important to point out that about 70% of israelis are against israel withdrawing from eastern jerus

so as you know, i would love to have never been in the middle east. i would love to have never seen that whole big situation start. but once it started, we got out the wrong way. and isis formed in the vacuum, and lots of bad things happened. i will tell you, what happened yesterday is unacceptable to me. >> can i follow up? last year, you seem to be reluctant to get involved or to intervene in syria directly. is that one thing that's changed after yesterday? >> one of the things i think you've noticed about me is militarily, i don't like to say where i'm going and what i'm doing. i watched past administrations say we will attack at such and such a day and such and such an hour. and you willing a warrior, you would say why are they saying that? i'm sure you sat back in jordan and said why are they saying that? i watched mosul where the past administration was saying we will be attacking in four months. and i said, why are they doing that? then a month goes by and they say we will be attacking in three months, and then two months, and then we will be a

many people argue that one of the great problems the middle east has and why we see so problems the middlewe see so much violence is that the reign of these dictators from the 19505 reign of these dictators from the 1950s onwards destroyed any chance of civil society and political action and the growth of parties and different countries, so when there was pressure for a change, it was expressed violently. thanks for those dots. there has been confirmation of the attack. the white house press secretary sean spicer has been speaking about the attack. this chemical attack in syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilised world. this heinous actions by the bashar al—assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution — period. so, what should, and more importantly what will, the world do now? former deputy secretary of state pj crowley is with us. he is the author of red line, a critique of us foreign policy in the middle east. president obama, he worked for, when you at the state department

by the way it's a very big problem in all of the countries in the middle east. we saw exactly what happened including libya and iraq when there was no follow through, no way to stabilize the country and so on. it's not entirely clear what would happen if there were no regime, no assad regime as it stands now. but whatever it's going to be, the country itself would fragment and be difficult for american national security interest. the united states needs to work with the russians and frankly, with iran and with saudi arabia to make sure there's a concerted effort to keep stability in the region. particularly in syria. >> especially you have a lawmaker say the strikes will hamper relations when it comes to the united states and russia of it we'll continue to follow that and watch. as always, thank you. >>> i want to get perspective on bashar al assad. i want to go to cal perry who met and interviewed the leader. good morning, cal. take us inside assad's mind-set right now. will these air strikes deter him? >> certainly that's the hope. keep in mind bashar al assad