well actually there's less tyranny in saudi arabia than other countries look i'm not saying to saudi arabia some free and open place their treatment of women obviously is terrible there but compared to syria where hundreds of thousands of being massacred by iran and hezbollah and the syrian government and al qaeda moving in and iraq in libya in tunisia yes saudi arabia is that beacon of stability compared to all the other in stable places they're ok brian if i go back to you but i mean. syria is unstable because of saudi arabia and it's exporting its jihad oh yes other oil that is so well documented none of the money go to brian but it's so well documented right now and it's one of the reasons why i'm doing this program is because the u.s. is supporting people that are against its own national interest brian first and we'll go to a mark go ahead ron. you know mark's comments are are somewhat laughable i would say remember when jimmy carter stood next to the shah of iran in one nine hundred seventy seven and said shah you are an island of stability in a sea of turmoil and the us premi

many saudi isn't me. mark at the end of the day people have the individual self determination whether she or sunni and a majority shia country like bahrain should be shia a majority sunni country like syria should well sunni and maybe glee if it weren't the political game going on there should arabia ok brother run for a minute let me go to praise him for the primary go ahead go ahead before the break go ahead i'm marked on mark's promise that america should be a christian nation and a white nation because it's the majority nation i mean that's completely american. short of a basic tenet of democracy or freedom all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here this is going to go to charlotte bring out again and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on saudi arabia state with our. leave. the piece of legislation was terrible to say now i'm very sorry to take out a letter to get along here is a plot that you never had sex with that hurt their lives let's call it was. just so. let's listen to the

the saudi it's an e. mark at the end of the day i expect people to have the individual self determination whether she or sunni and a majority shia country like bahrain should be shia a majority sunni country like syria should well sunni and maybe glee if it weren't the political game going on there should arabia ok brother in florida let me go to praise him for the primary go ahead go ahead before the break go ahead i'm marked on mark's promise that america should be a christian nation and a white nation because it's the majority nation i mean that's completely america owes the land he or she has sort of a basic tenet of democracy or freedom all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here this is going to shirley out again and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on saudi arabia staying with our. unexplored antarctica what is it in this icy expanse that attracts the people who come here. which is why now i only go to the dock. and enter into. a new generation of polar explorers is coming. we

many saudi isn't me. mark at the end of the day i expect people to have individual self determination whether she or sunni and a majority shia country like bahrain should be shia a majority sunni country like syria should well sunni and maybe glee if it weren't the political game going on there should arabia ok brian russell i'm going to let me know this probably isn't going to play very go ahead but i had before the break go ahead i marked on mark's a promise that america should be a christian nation and a white nation because it's the majority nation i mean that's completely america owes the land he or she has sort of a basic tenet of democracy or freedom all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here this is going to start playing out again and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on saudi arabia staying with our. new. legal. dramas that can be ignored to get stories calder's the few stupid. things to change the world has a right. to be true go to taste you go. on to form or groups to pl

saudi arabia bought it out and nationalized it in the 1980s, and today, saudi aramco is the custodians only source of wealth and power. >> saudi aramco is a massive complex along the persian gulf, hundreds of miles east of the mega projects. over 16,000 people work here at the company's compound, which is like a little country with its own security force, schools, hospitals, even its own airline. abdallah jum'ah is president and ceo of saudi aramco. so this is your headquarters. >> this is our headquarters. >> and how big is aramco? >> saudi aramco is the world's largest oil-producing company. >> and in 2008, it was the richest company in the world, worth some $781 billion. >> this is the heart of our operation. this is the nerve center. >> it keeps going. look at this. this is gigantic. he gave us a tour of the company's command center where engineers scrutinize and analyze every aspect of the company's operations on a 220-foot digital screen. >> every facility in the kingdom, every drop of oil that comes from the ground is monitored in real time... >> in this room? >> in this room.

arabia so didn't you say the same about saudi arabia. so. no known definitely not saudi arabia and iran are not in the same part of my opinion i think that they are trying to do something really trying to assist some rebel groups position groups within syria to make things right to reach the. go ahead jump in europe so i had jump in joe yeah that's absurd and not it did not interested in doing of i just said they were interested in their interests just go ahead joe saudi arabia is interested in their interest syrians are interested in their interests the americans are just in there and i was interested in their interests and are now is really just doing the right thing the right thing would be to end this war right away that's not happening but don't tell me that the saudis are on the good side of this and the iranians on the bad it's silly it's a sectarian conflict now of the saudis who are allied with the us and more of israel than the iranians are clearly but you can't use that bias of your position or. to talk about a war in which a

it's it's interesting during the cold war saudi arabia. was able to put aside its differences with the united states over the israel palestine issue now the saudi arabia has such an and strong concern about the power of iran that it's again willing to set aside its. israel palestine issue and relegated to a second level of priority and even to. act in such a way is to invite cards is that it has an alliance with is it's really quite remarkable ambassador freeman but i don't think our saudis concerns our ambitions and with just rivaling iran i don't know if you've been very complimentary of the about the saudi king abdullah your called him a bell of the grave for his efforts to reform the country and. you know trying to limit the influence of religious extremists extremists but it's no longer secret that his house leaves much to be desired and much of the foreign policy decision making is now concentrated in the hands of friends bhandari the key of all for our security services and his masses of operation a somewhat different at least when

israel and iran and saudi arabia in actual fact the fact is that despite saudi arabia and israel's obvious opposition to the recently signed geneva accord. the interim agreement iran's nuclear. program the united states went ahead and signed that accord even though it was very apparent that saudi arabia and israel were not happy about that so i think the fact that the united states has conducted under the obama administration diplomacy with iran in fact has done so secretly for the last. for over a year and has now signed an interim nuclear agreement and. intent or hopeful to sign a comprehensive agreement despite the concerns of saudi arabia and israel i think indicates that in fact the united states has pursued its own interests in the middle east and continues to do so i would point to another example where the united states pursued certain interests in the region with regard to egypt the united states you know albeit somewhat reluctantly but did ultimately support the overthrow of hosni mubarak in egypt despite the fact that again israel and saudi arabia were opposed to that so i don't

the question that the israelis and the saudis. in effect goes back to some of the earlier failures they don't trust the wisdom of the united states of the obama administration they don't trust our constancy they don't see this as reliable and therefore they fear what sort of deal we might make with the with the iranians i think there's a deal to be made. and i expect that there will be a strong effort to make one. if there is a deal maybe it will be a sound one. there for him and that leads me to my next question as you just pointed out israel is not alone and its efforts to avert any deal with the iranian saudi arabia is also extremely anxious or wary about any efforts in that direction and since you served as ambassador years and master to saudi arabia let me ask you this question i know that this alliance unlikely alliance between israel and saudi arabia didn't emerge yesterday existed for quite some time probably quietly and it was glued by the united states but nowadays both of these countries at least the current leadership

somebody to go to saudi arabia a number of you to meet with saudi counterpart highness prince oh the face of any place. and discuss our bilateral relations because we believe that iran and saudi arabia are two important countries in this region who should have cooperation we do not agree with a number of policies or saudi arabia is following or certain elements in saudi arabia are following particularly in syria we do not believe that extremism is in the interest of anybody. we believe that extremism. is a threat to saudi arabia and i believe many in saudi arabia agree with me of on this issue that this is a common challenge this is the common threat and we need to deal with this common threat together jointly and iran extends the hand of cooperation to the government and we are prepared to work with them. made an arrangement to visit the countries in the persian gulf region and those discussions were very positive i was prepared to go to saudi arabia then and i'm prepared to say here is that waiting for them to invite you. in forty arrangements to be made and whatever derangements a

support and saudis support a great allies saudi arabia and the next story in iraq is this the so called al-qaeda has made a comeback and is now you know threatening on bar province so it is a good question what what is al-qaeda is that al-qaeda in in somalia where you have small regional conflicts you know groups with no with no desire for a global jihad it seems to be a pretty convenient term that doesn't mean it doesn't exist but it certainly seems to be overused yoram in tel aviv would you like to reply to that i mean it is a term used very very often you almost want to get to the point where it's just a kind of a franchise. since a typical qaeda since its inception in one nine hundred eighty eight i think that we don't have to look for new new the phoenicians is one of the crowd sometimes referred. to this and this is a group within its own memory and the person who spoke really now located the pakistan area and there are other groups that are closely cooperating with al qaeda and basically go to the french as formal carcassonne these are for groups al qaeda in iraq in the islamic m

what did they do to side with the saudis instead of the families. well for instance there's i said kristen brought wiser asked obama to release those twenty eight redacted pages he said he would look into it and get and never got back to her and alina kagan on behalf of the obama administration. brief with the supreme court i believe if i remember correctly asking them to protect the saudis to make sure that they could not be sued that's just one of the things that they've done. and of course you know flying out the family and they they claim that bin ladin was the black sheep of course we know that that isn't true also what's your response to people who say that the cover up was just a cover up of the incompetence of the. ministration for not acting on the warnings john. the bush administration was anything but incompetent they wanted war they got it they wanted to make billions for their corporate friends they did they wanted to expand executive power the did that is well they committed crime after crime after crime during their time in office and

i just don't know what elections look like in saudi arabia but i suspect in a free election in saudiarabia relies on the moderate government. mike and speak more authoritatively than i can because i don't know the complexities of saudi public opinion but i'm reasonably certain that the experience, the experiment is the islamic republic launched in 1979 would be a -- c. i just want to say, and i'm careful. i notice he didn't ask me but i'm always careful in answering that question. when we hear this talk going around washington a lot washington a lot but somehow the iranians are naturally better allies than the saudi's and they think once that regime falls down that the iranians are naturally better allies which doesn't make sense to me. we would say that about any other people in the world that their opinions are more naturally moderate than the southeast are more naturally extremists. we are talking about different political issues in different cultural issues. that's one thing but to make the comparisons i think that is a touchy comparison that we need to rethink before we answer t

the saudi position will be you tried, it didn't work, now use force. and we will be happy to hold your coat. \[laughter] >> would they be happy to go buy a bomb from the pakistanis? >> one of the great unknowns is whether they have already got a deal with the pakistanis for a bomb. that's one of the mysteries of the contemporary middle east and south a asia. -- south asia. why does pakistan have the fastest growing arsenal in the world and producing more bombs by double or triple? is there some external partner who they have a commitment to. on this issue, there is a lot of smoke, very little fire, but if you ask my bottom line, i think there have been discussions between the saudis and the pakistanis and the saudis have the commitment to provide a bomb and you can take it to the bank and cash it for probably nothing. [laughter] >> ok. let me turn now to steve. steve, we don't have a lot of leverage in egypt. we don't have a lot with the saudis. surely with president putin, we are awash in it. so you have written a couple of different essays in here, b

the saudi position will be you tried, it didn't work, now use force. and we will be happy to hold your coat. \[laughter] >> would they be happy to go buy a bomb from the pakistanis? >> one of the great unknowns is whether they have already got a deal with the pakistanis for a bomb. that's one of the mysteries of the contemporary middle east and south asia. why does pakistan have the fastest growing arsenal in the world and producing more bombs than the indians by double or triple? is there some external partner who they have a commitment to. on this issue, there is a lot of smoke, very little fire, but if you ask my bottom line, i think there have been discussions between the saudis and the pakistanis and the saudis have the commitment to provide a bomb and you can take it to the bank and cash it for probably nothing. [laughter] >> ok. let me turn now to steve. steve, we don't have a lot of leverage in egypt. we don't have a lot with the saudis. surely with president putin, we are awash in it. so you have written a couple of different essays in here, b

there's do such thing and saudi arabia to the [indiscernible] there is no arm of the saudi state that does the things power, ash as much much focus and the state. it is interesting. it is not just the iranian press . one of the funny things that has dealned since the nuclear or since election of rouhani is betweenalent not just saudi arabia and a ramp between our political system and the but the difference between our political system and the iranian. tois a very difficult thing calibrate somebody else's politics through a foreign policy. the other thing is middle easterners manipulate us all the time. every middle eastern state has what i call are very and hammers -- handlers -- or berrien handlers. -- barbarian handlers. and orow as backwards words. they are very good at presenting their non-democratic processes as a mirror image of hours. we are suckers for it like you would not believe. >> if you could just hold on with the microphone. >> i am sorry. >> webster university. the doctor was raven up to somehow predict that there will not be a final agreement and the gpa would be rene

royal entourage he he later broke with them to some degree but the saudi the saudis have through their intelligence services have continued to help some of these very radical elements especially in syria they've been and they've been behind a lot of what's happening there in terms of the most extreme elements seizing parts of syria and carrying on this war against the assad regime as the most effective elements of the rebellion so the saudis are playing a very dangerous game and until they are convinced that this is not in the interests of the region or themselves it's hard to see how this gets back under control and there are other players who are with the saudis as well are there not right with some of the kurds. and the israelis have been supporting this they both . in terms of both politics and into it in terms of their shared strategic vision the former of the former u.s. ambassador former ambassador to the united states oren made a statement to the true islam post saying that it's in israel's interest to see the bad guys who are not a lie with iran take over syria even if that me

saudi arabia and hezbollah are fighting on opposite sides in the supreme council. saudi arabia's it to the lebanese army is seen as an attempt to counter iran's impact in lebanon which employs as the law were in syria and its spillover into lebanon has created a regional proxy war. as far as he was involved in this year the war has resulted in the deaths of some three hundred organizations operate it. we'll announce our forces are under equipped to face multiple security challenges challenges that have been underlined by the blast that killed two top former finance minister and close aide to an ex premier who was the key saudi al i understood angry mourners shouted anti hezbollah still in school his coffin was being brought into the box. use it's what made the long tradition of getting it bites and the band have turned their talents into a career primarily by stalin's for jewish immigrants to more contemporary names like ann landers and washington may get miss manners herself judith martin. she's been waiting for the key column since nineteen seventy dispensing pit

two dealing in peace with each other do you think that's possible would you go visit saudi arabia and of course i would. make an arrangement to visit the countries in the persian gulf region and those discussions were very positive i was prepared to go to saudi arabia then and i'm prepared to say here to say waiting for them to invite you be rating for the arrangements to be made and whatever the arrangements are made so it's a question of when not if. obviously we've been iran and saudi arabia about historic relations we have no relations of them bastards or you level there is no no impediment basically you don't think saudis are afraid of iranian expansions and for example. does not have a history of expansionism iran is a country that's not use force against any other country in two hundred fifty years and it is in our national security interest to have a stable. and. peaceful area both in the persian gulf region as well as beyond the persian gulf region so we're interested i don't think there is any strategic impediment to iran and saudi arabia working together one minute before t

saudi arabia has an iran problem. iran does meddle, especially in the eastern province, but saudi arabia's biggest problems are internal and they have to do with issues the saudis have to solve. so i accept the caveat. the sunni world is convinced that iran has its hands at their throats. i mean, if you travel -- i spent a week in abu dhabi and dubai before going to tehran waiting for my visa and had a chance to talk to a lot of gulf arabs and the degree of anxiety about iran as they look at this changing process that's beginning is important. i think it's important whenever you're in a period of change to reach out to people who are your traditional friends and tell them what you're doing. communicate more. if i would fault one aspect of u.s. policy, it it is in this very turbulent period we have not been communicating enough to the various players, especially our traditional allies. >> thank you, david. right here? question? >> thank you, bill. i'm will emery. to come to a deal, there's got to be a quid pro quo and

it is and the turks to their senses mainly the saudis the saudis now are even and expand during their vision they don't only want to prolong a and the conflict in syria until for example a new american administration that is a little bit more hawkish that would come to the white house but they're actually now pushing things into russia itself we know that back in the summer when prince bandar met president ready would put in there was a sort of a threat as one russian official told me that you know the saudis are going to do something about the games in sochi probably someone in saudi arabia feels that we've been been there before in afghanistan we fought with the russians and we actually defeated them so probably now someone is thinking you know we could do the same and force them to leave syria and i would argue as well that probably this is you know with the backing and blessing of the americans because i do not really buy and i don't think many people do that by the rift or the current rift or the apparent rift between the saudis and the americans on syria so this is threatening t

but the saudis have become very disillusioned. they have demonstrated that disillusionment this year in a number of ways. they refused to take their seats at the u.n. security council. they argued that was somehow a spike to the united states. i'm not sure most americans feel that way, but that was the saudi argument. they promised to give the government of lebanon $3 billion worth of arms, and to buy them from the french. that is also somewhat supposed to be a spike to the united states that we won't get the arms from the united states. and the media is filled with saudi anger and disappointment for the united states. but at the end of the day the united states-saudi relationship is not broken. this is our oldest alliance in the middle east that dates back to 1945. they continued to function in many ways despite public irritation. the reason it does and the reason we don't have that much leverage is we need each other. saudi arabia not only is important global energy supplies, it may not provide very many americans with their oil

basically you don't think saudis are afraid of iranian expansions and for example. does not have a history of expansionism iran is a country that is not use force against any other country in two hundred fifty years and it is in our national security interest to have a stable. peaceful area both in the persian gulf region as well as beyond the persian gulf region so with interest. i don't think there is any strategic impediment to iran and saudi arabia working one minute before the end of the show really quick question dallas' conference coming up in a few days president rouhani is going to be there so will be a prime minister netanyahu is there any way the two could meet face to. all right thank you very much for this interview iraq's foreign minister mohammad jalloud sorry i tell you with us good to be with you. previously peacekeepers for our concerned with monitoring peace deals post conflict environment nowadays there are increasingly asked to operate in the. violence to meaning. most what these people have caused over almost twenty years four million people ki

obviously we've been iran and saudi arabia about historic relations we have no relations and bassett or you level there is no no impediment basically if you don't think saudis are afraid of iranian expansions and for example. bell iran does not have a history of expansionism iran is a country there's not use force against any other country in two hundred fifty years and it is in our national security interest to have a stable. peaceful area both in the persian gulf region as well as beyond the persian gulf region so. i don't think there is any strategic impediment to iran and saudi arabia working together one minute before the end of the show really quick question dallas' conference coming up in a few days president rouhani is going to be there so we'll be israel's prime minister netanyahu is there any way the two could meet face to. all right thank you very much for this interview for mr muhammad. ali with us good to be. on june sixteenth one thousand forty one we had a graduation party at school and the war broke out. shops were always full of goods. in september leningrad was bloc

that was the saudi argument.they promised to give the government of lebanon $3 billion worth of arms to buy them from the french combat is also some of those to be a spy to the united states that we will get the arms from the united states, and the media is filled with saudi anger and disappointment to the united states. but at the end of the day the united states saudi relationship is not broken. this is our oldest alliance in the middle east that dates back to 1945. they continue to function in many ways despite public irritation. the reason it does and the reef we don't have that much leverage is we need each other. saudi arabia not only is important global energy supply, it may not provide very many americans with oil anymore that it's critical to the functioning of the global economy. and without saudi oil being distributed at a reasonable price, there would be severe financial energy disruptions. secondly, there soft power in the islamic world remains very important. they are the home of the two holiest mos

. >>> women in saudi arabia have made some important gains in recent years. driving cars is still out and head-to-toe clothing is still mandatory. but 30 women have taken seats in the national assembly. public campaigns promote giving women the right to drive. in the country's film scene boasts one more first, a female director. her name is hyphae l. ma sewer. nhk's is a tory ar yam ma talked with her about rights in her groundbreaking movie during her recent visit to japan. >> reporter: the main character in the film is wajda, an ordinary saudi ar rake gan girl. it pursues a simple freedom, one elsewhere taken for granted. it starts while she is teased by a local boy. wajta wants to ride a bicycle and prove she can go faster than the boy. in saudi arabia it is unacceptable for women to ride bicycles, but wajta is a competitive girl and she doesn't care about the rules of society. >> i think girls in saudi they understand it's a very different world and there's so much that they cannot do and that situation makes them, they want to challenge it a little bit m

. >>> and in an exclusive interview, saudi family member prince criticizes the u.s. in its dealings with syria. >> the president is engaged in so many internal issues in america. but i think on syria, definitely. he made mistake. >> you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. >>> we kick off the program with the latest labor market statistics out of germany. germany sees trouble with the ilo. the employment number has risen in november. the number in work, 41,871. that is november 2013. the change versus the previous month, up 26,000. unadjusted fully 2,229. that's the latest bit of data. just helps the euro firm up against the dollar on the session. if you've got any sort of comments, e-mail us, worldwide@cnbc.com. >>> the u.s. has had some significant issues with doing the right thing in syria, at least in an exclusive interview with the saudi arabia former head of intelligence. that's coming up at 10:30 cet. >>> a third of greeks still fear they may lose their homes after the country's bank successfully negotiated an ext