saudi arabia, next on great decisions. (enthusiastic music) - [announcer] great decisions is produced by the foreign policy association in association with thomson reuters. funding for great decisions is provided by pricewaterhousecoopers, llp. (soft arabian music) - [narrator] saudi arabia and the us are at odds culturally and ideologically yet for decades, they have been said to enjoy a special relationship based on shared interests. - on 1945, when the late king abdulaziz, the founder of modern saudi arabia met with the late president franklin roosevelt on an american destroyer called the quincy, there was a very strong strategic relationship that developed between the two countries. - there's lots of areas that we have to work together. we had times, have different views and different priorities and we have different values, we understand that but we share a common commitment to a more peaceful region and i think we can work with saudi arabia in order to accomplish that. - the special relationship about the united stat

tween saudi arabia. and a warm welcome also goes to show the rosanna's from t w two why she's both a producer and an analyst shani can bring us the israeli perspective on things and she says in its ongoing struggle against iran it's not saudi arabia that israel is looking to. russia. for ok i'd like to begin with you if i might and of course the tensions between iran and saudi arabia go back a very very long way but why is this cold war now heating up why now and there is. a kind of explanation for that i should also say it's not any kind of accord valar what we are seeing at the moment because cold war i think is of wards it's more than that is it really valar is approximately between both of them because you can also see in different parts of the rich in that country on think themselves against each other via you know i think there is two or three. issues help out understanding this for example we have done our trump in america. plays a major role in this confrontation in this live it because last year

so it is good for saudi arabia to do that. >> do think the kingdom of saudi arabia has exaggerated or given too much credit to the hoses. the part of the around saudi competition or is that threat genuine? >> the disease have swept out of their strongholds taken -- by september 2014. by the time he came to power the president was imprisoned temporarily in the government fell the same night that he came to power. clearly the newsies had the line of convenience with the former president who had >> it's gigantic. returned to get involved against the ran into syria he needs to get the consensus and understanding from congress to do such a thing. so, he should know whatever kushner trump promise, they cannot deliver. we need to spend some time about this. how is that the stabilizing, we should speak in one voice so that we will send the wrong message to a leader like, listening to trump and tillerson and assuming there is a difference between them. basically they can look at the measure in saudi arabia because they're the only ones who have a leverage in saudi arabia today. >> i think the

not just in saudi arabia. his career -- in and our friendship goes back more than 25 years -- he served as core -- foreign correspondent in different countries in the region, including algeria, sudan,, kuwait and the and reported on all these developments during that period in the region and became a expert, particularly in islam is an in the region. islamism. , particularly when the prince was the ambassador during that period. he has always been also a allentator on the media in of these languages and many networks aside from the saudi workedt he directed and at, that includes channels like bbc, nbc, dubai tv and many others. our next speaker, also a good isend, kristian ulrichsen the middle east fellow at the baker institute for public policy at rice university and we are also delighted that he chose to make the trip from houston last night to be with us today. kristian is working at the baker institute across disciplines of political science, international relations, international political economy. -- if

is complicit in saudi war crimes in yemen today i believe that we are aiding saudi arabia in saudi arabia is committing war crimes i mean anybody that was a case under president obama as well i imagine that he was still committing war crimes but i don't think it was at the scale that it is today and i think the president i think of president obama were in office today and he saw a million people who had suffering from cholera and the saudis closing the ports closing the airport not allowing chlorine tablets to get into civilians that he would be outraged and he would put pressure on the saudis the saudis would say over the decades they have been a loyal friend to the u.s. they've helped provide stability in the region make sure the oil keeps flowing provide intel on terrorist groups invest in the u.s. economy and so the u.s. critics people like yourself are ungrateful unappreciative of that relationship well first of all fifteen of the terrorists who attacked us come from saudi arabia is one of the largest export hers of violence and non pluralism to the world there are ties between saudi

there's rarely a connection with saudi arabia of course i think it's really more hurtful to saudi arabia than it thinks because in public in the public opinion in the region people recognize israel as an apartheid state that has kept palestinians basically in concentration camps in gaza and the which is treating them as subhuman and any the closer the relationship gets the more unpopular the saudi regime becomes but i'd like to also point out a couple of other things about what's going on in saudi arabia and why i think that . this is very dangerous for the stability of the regime itself the be erratic behavior is not only with regards to its sudden arrests of all these influential people and it's not just the war where they're slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people due to disease and starvation although the western media for two years has been saying ten thousand people have been killed they don't want to tell the real numbers but then we see what he did in the tatar and outrageous behavior that the saudis showed towards that heavy people and they still they tried to strangle them

the chief is in saudi arabia and the chief of yemeni is in saudi arabia. [inaudible] so that is the best way to end the war, is for saudi arabia to reach out to all yemenis, not favor one side against the other. just like how king faisal did. that's exactly what king faisal did in 1965. >> the next question, explain the dynamics of the royal family. with its cohesion be threatened when king salman passes away? >> well, i think there's only one person who probably knows the answer to that question, that's the king himself. i mean, we have a lot of speculation clearly, and every time there are said to be an imminent abdication, it hasn't come to pass. one can read whatever they want is a more domestic pushback than back been anticipated? i guess we don't know. in terms of family dynamics, my concern perhaps is solman has for a long time in the past perform the goal of almost like chief whip of the family. he sort of kept, he was instrumental in maintaining family discipline, and he was not just feared but also respected for that. it looks as if the lease to

under some of the head of limbus think saudi arabia on an afternoon basis blaming saudi arabia for everything under the sun and let's remind our viewers that there are five hundred thousand lebanese who are working in the gulf war benefiting and repair creating eight billion dollars per year good to see economy that will be destroyed without that kind of stuff and just not just as you said he may think i know i know scuse me jumping in here but we are running out of time i know that the prince has got a lot of support in the country as well for doing what he's doing you know particularly amongst the youth but he's taken quite a gamble hasn't he because it's either he wins or he loses and if he loses he loses big and the briefing from all three of you i mean this is absolutely right there is no plan b. mohamed been so man must succeed its vision twenty thirty project is for for saving the kingdom for the future and i think that he is determined to go ahead and do this but again i repeat the onus is on him to prove that he has the mettle he has the mantle to actually rule as a just prince and n

saudi arabia and when the enemy israel. wanted to stop the war in the last day the saudi officials called them to continue. with the war. this is the worst. however israel's israel has their own calculations how would they act i would tell you later. it is not the war simply pick it has other calculations. and i'm not. it is clear that saudi arabia and the saudi officials have declared war against lebanon and hezbollah however let me tell you this is a war against. the entire lebanon not hezbollah and i want to know and here i would like to address the lebanese the lebanese with absolute veracity and openness and passion. propose also stress. points. i made. the happenings around us. and the state of the car we have been enjoying shears until the said saturday last. month a state and institutions presidency prime ministership stability security financial economic instability. all these benefits of pressures today many of the regions peoples are biting they fold that grave and dire situations they are living we must realize

talking saudi arabia i'm joined by my guest martin j. in beirut he is a freelance broadcast journalist also in beirut we have. he is a political analyst and in washington we have joe he is a policy analyst at the arab center washington d.c. all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i always appreciate martin let me go to you first in beirut there are so many elements of. what's going on with this story domestically in saudi arabia and of course across the region particularly in lebanon which of course always includes iran. if you could for our audience because it's not getting a lot of air time because of domestic politics in the u.s. and the u.k. how would you sum up what's actually going on in saudi arabia and in the region go ahead martin. well the both there's a link between both of them i mean saudi arabia is basically getting ready for a new king to take the throne and now this been some of the new crown prince who has been installed in the position by israel and america is very insec

in saudi arabia. but rather are the voices, and they are not being heard. they are being told to be silent. they have signed things saying they will stay silent. the list of saudis banned from travel is growing every day. are you notjust feeling a little personally sour because you have run into problems with the regime because some of the things you have said on twitter in the past few months have irritated. and also yourformer boss, one few months have irritated. and also your former boss, one of the richest men in saudi arabia, prince walid,, he is also in detention as well, and you are seeing bad things with that. it is insulting to be told to be silent. i am it is insulting to be told to be silent. iam more it is insulting to be told to be silent. i am more worried than sour. iam silent. i am more worried than sour. i am worried for my country. i cannot retire in america happily in just the right unimportant issues and go on with my life. —— and just write. what is worrying me the most is one

arabia is surrounded the only solution for saudi arabia here is very hard very decisive decisions and that's why all of a sudden mohamed bin sentiment is coming to power he's implementing very decisive foreign policy decisions i'm not suggesting that i agree with any of them but what i'm saying is we should not look at these are surprises even if we focus on the economy or focus on the politics very radical change is needed and one knows it king solomon knows it mr bin abdullah knows it well he's been following knows it and the reason i mention these last two is because these two also competing to become king because they genuinely believe that the cautious approach that's been taken by saudi arabia over the years just simply doesn't work anymore and the interesting thing is and i'll finish just on that on this point before i go over the interesting point is this for years american officials have lamented saudi arabia's cautious policy in the middle east now they have a prince or they have a de facto leader who's willing to bring saudi arabia and allow it to become engaged in the wars

in saudi arabia. number one, it is a styled darwin approach. that will not work for a country as big as saudi arabia. it would work for a small country, a city—state like dubai, doha or abu dhabi but not saudi arabia. also, it is not based onjobs. saudi arabians are addicted to foreign labour. we need to resolve the culture ofjobs and saudis will go back to work. there are 4 million saudis who are not in jobs today, not 2 million as the government suggests. the actual number is 4 million. every year, 250,000 young saudis go to the job market. that is his biggest task and he should spend more time on this problem rather than building a new city in saudi arabia. but you said the young people appear to be overwhelmingly with him and one reason is notjust because he talks about this new economic proposition but he also talks the language of fundamental social change, not least for women in saudi arabia. he has decreed that all women will be able to drive legally come the summer of 2018. he is giving the

it is a huge deal in saudi arabia. peter c.: what does, jamsheed, what do the iranians make of all this? the problem is the to --nce of saudi arabia which is a really big problem for iran. not only for iran, the whole region. balance.e, there is a why we don'teason have such a war between iran and saudi arabia until now. peter c.: explain again, what exactly is it that is breaking that balance. jamsheed: the ministry support of united states. because now they have a more active role in this game, and if salman hashammed bin said time is on our side. if we think about what that empty it is not only an trade in the direction towards iran. it is something inherent because they are going to show now the cards -- peter c.: reshuffled. jamsheed: yes. and we can also play another game. there is a new game. in this game, we are going to play a major role in this confrontation with iran. peter c.: shani, do the israelis view the crown prince in saudi arabia as somebody who is standing for renewal of his society? is he a moderni

is there in saudi arabia and the chief of the emknee group is in saudi arabia. i don't know about others. so that is best way to end the war is for saudi arabia to reach out to all emens. not one side against the other. that is exactly what happened in 1965. >> the next question is from les junka. explain dynamic of the royal family. willits cohesion be threatened when king salman passes away? >> i think there is only one person who probably in-laws the answer to that question. that's the king himself. we have the speculation clearly and every time there is said to be an imminent abdication it hasn't come to pass. one can read whatever one wants into that. a more dramatic push back than anticipated. i guess we don't know in terms of family dynamic. my consent perhaps is that salman has for a long time in the past performed the role of almost like the chief whip of the family. he sort of kept -- he was the instrument in maintaining family discipline. he was not only feared but also respected for that. it looks as if at least to some extent mohammed bin salman is

hezbollah is accusing saudi arabia of singing them. i hear sources out of saudi arabia that say he can walk out freely. we have battles in the news. it's quite odd for him to leave and then stay after he scheduled several meetings. on the other day, we don't really know what happening at the moment. i find it hard to imagine that the saudi's would attain him against his will unless there's something else involved. >> he has saudi and lebanese citizenship. >> business interests in saudi arabia, a big company which went sour this year. he needs to be build out, maybe he's expecting for the saudi stability not. he needs to give something in exchange. >> a sequence of events unfolding in saudi and the region. help us understand why he made a series of shock moves precisely at this time. was he trying to fend off something or somebody? >> i think he's preparing to take the throne, or the crown, i think he wants to become the next king very soon. he needs to go against rivals, but he's probably the first truly populist ruler of saudi arabia.

arabia i'm not see in saudi with i would cite the people of saudi arabia they support. some monday support the monarchy does somewhat the system this is a reality there are difficulties which are economic meanly some difficulties are foreign but the country is stable ruled the country for ok maybe five six years with what with much more challenges but he house to fix the unemployment problem let me just let a serious risk let me let me go to mohammed he had that he could get that if we're rapidly running out of time mohamed let me go to you i would i would i would put forward the following is that all of the problems that saudi arabia is experiencing internally and its foreign policy are all self-inflicted wounds every single one go ahead. well look we're out of the saudi regime basically is. is is is not is putting the lives of people like joe mama threat just man who's defending saudi arabia right now cannot go back to his own country this is the state of affairs in saudi arabia and the so did the united states when they occupied iraq they were infinitely more powerfu

arabia exactly that's exactly that the only way to describe the connection between saudi arabia and israel it's not great love that there's there i mean both sides are aware of the dangers the danger they might you know there isn't something dangerous and then to state it like israel being friends with any arab country definitely of saudi arabia but then at the same time the rivalry the hatred toward iran is just too big and let's not forget trump here again i mean trump's administration is holding very strong it has very strong connections both would saudi arabia and and israel. sure that for example questioners trip to the middle east where he makes sure he visited riyadh but also jerusalem encouraging help that i'm sure you're nodding no. opinion. for example that was there for the terror time in the last months that he was there in this i would be i would be a dark playing. cards and i think that is there reason by no. and not the level of. tension in the stage and. i agree i think the trump and miss fashion didn't play a helpful role it's seemed that the visit from terror to to

arabia and in saudi policy within and without. and in that in the sense of drama certainly this is not just a new chapter in saudi arabia it is a whole new book a whole new alphabet in the way the saudis rule their kingdom in the way and you and you can get a new crown prince leads in the way they deal with the rest of the family and the centers of power and the way they deal with the economy with oil privatization and so on so forth there's a whole new policy on politics taken on taken place and they condemn on the other hand and i think this is very important to pay attention to is whether this is the committee under corruption committee whether it is floating around in some new stock exchange whether it is getting rid of this prince or that prince or whether it is launching new wars all of that is happening in secrecy we don't know how they are i've at any one decision that whether it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars or whether it will it would put princes and former ministers in jail there's a lot of secrecy taken pla

in saudi arabia. he won the throne, really. even within the family. there is no serious competition or threat to him, even within the family. i wish i could go home but the environment is not welcoming to me or any other saudi writers, economists who are independent. all the people around him are yes—men and he wants that. he thinks he can do it alone. he thinks he is that, he thinks he's the leader the country has been waiting for so i willjust settle for my role to be here in washington and hopefully provide a loyal opposition. jamal khashoggi, we thank you for being on hardtalk. thank you very much. hello there. well, for most of us, sunday was a pretty glorious day. plenty of sunshine, but it was cold. windy as well, particularly down the east coast. plenty of showers here too. some of these will continue through the course of the night, again some of them on the heavy side, but become more confined to the north sea coast of england and elsewhere, turning much drier, and a much colder night to c

arabia going to do now yes he was summoned to saudi arabia saudi arabia is his patron of course he's going to go there but nobody knew that he's not going to return a week after he has resigned thank you very much for that zena harder live for us in beirut bear. aljaz if you want to connect with her and find out more about the situation in lebanon i mean are bringing graham banham into the news grade his a former staffer for middle east and south asia on the u.s. senate foreign relations committee is live from washington d.c. very good to have you on the show we've heard the leaders say today that saberi be had declared war on lebanon and hezbollah he said that saad hariri is being detained in saudi the u.s. state department has so far refused to comment on the status of lebanon's prime minister or former prime minister depending on the way you look at it how worried do you think washington is about the current situation in this region. i think the united states is deeply concerned about the situation in the middle east for several reasons first of all we are at a conundrum here beca

just on your crew in the government of saudi arabia there has been a coup and saudi arabia tried to use the resignation of saad hariri to hide that tennille movements and thought the saudi government but the first headline is the resignation of saad hariri not incidents happening inside the government of saudi arabia so we believe that this is coordinated now he also said that iran's government has information to suggest that hardline political groups are taking over saudi affairs but he took the opportunity to reach out to the saudi government . we believe if there is cooperation between saudi arabia and iran it is beneficial for the rage and it could bring calm to the region but they rely on america they rely on israel they think that with american weapons they can be a power in the region this is a wrong theory the government before the revolution in iran the shah's regime with totally saving america but americans abandoned him during the islamic revolution so instead of relying on american powers and foreign powers pay attention to the countries of the bridge and finally hussein he

dominance ok so we see this going on in saudi arabia. as a player in what's going on in yemen and now in lebanon how dangerous is this likely to be is this likely to sort of escalate beyond a regional conflict oh i think it can escalate very easily for a number of reasons i mean one is it's not just those two come two countries it's also syria there are there's talk about attempts by the saudis to destabilize iran using factions in pakistan notably in baluchistan so there's a lot going on far beyond the more narrow region and i think each of these various areas has of course their very own internal dynamics levanon is quite different from yemen etc so each of these internal dynamics can also spiral into beyond control of either of the big players in the latest news from from the prime minister has resigned and made this this statement from saudi arabia there is talk of the problem structure being held hostage while it wouldn't be the first time the yemeni president has also denied return to yemen at the moment so this is one of the vario

authorities the critics of saudi arabia are saying well saudi arabia in effect is cash strapped now so one of the dynamics that's driving this is they want. money also what is mr hariri prepared to accept zena clearly making the point there that hezbollah has tentacles into the very fabric of lebanon on lebanese society lebanese politics how it operates how it functions day to day will mr hariri in effect be told you have got to either find a way of extracting those tentacles from the lebanese political scene or walk away completely or option number three i guess returned to riyadh carry on living here with your wife and your children interesting times across the region will keep you posted on all those developments to check out the website we're also updating that in real time al jazeera dot com. another breaking story for you coming to us out of cambodia that country's supreme court has dissolved in the last half hour or so the main opposition party now the government says the cambodia national rescue party is plotting a coup right mcbride joins of that developing story non-parent

saudi arabia is accused of forcibly detaining lebanese leaders. unify different political groups but is becoming an open battleground for regional proxy . this is inside story. with. hello and welcome to the program i'm laura. it's been a week since lebanon's prime minister saad hariri suddenly resigned during a visit to saudi arabia his actions have set off a chain of events that continue to play out across the region the iranian backed hezbollah movement part of hero is governing coalition says saudi arabia is holding him against his will hezbollah believes by forcing her very to resign saudi arabia has declared war on lebanon the u.s. has joined the u.n. in calling for stability and lebanon warning regional powers against using the country for proxy conflicts we have a lot to get to with our guests but first this report from in beirut. citizens of saudi arabia and its gulf allies visiting or living in lebanon are leaving it's not the first time gulf countries tell their citizens it is not safe to stay lebanon has long been entangled in the saud

saudi arabia says the lebanese government and hezbollah will be dealt with as one declaring war against riyadh. and saudis anticorruption purge widens with the apparent backing of the us president. later watching on his their arms a home run in doha these are our top stories coming up in the next half hour. we have a lot of mental health problems in our country as do other countries donald trump says the shooting of twenty six people in texas is a health issue not a gun control issue plus. i'm just feeling i'm saving nine lives right now so. yes i think anybody that loves sunny must think about it. it's a dog escort service passengers are asked to take stray dogs from new mexico to homes four thousand kilometers away. welcome to the program saudi arabia says lebanon will be dealt with as a government that's declared war against it is a major development amid escalating tension in the region between saudi arabia and iran in comments to state media the saudi minister for golf fans return to the role of iran with lebanon to mia the lebanon based iran backed group hezbollah has committed ac

arabia saying that this is a decision made by saudi arabia that mr hariri was just simply following their orders i already a very fragile situation in lebanon how much concern is there about the impact this will have on the country. indeed there's a lot of concern here that this could lead to violence and again we just need to pay a bit more attention to this statement made by saad hariri this statement in which he said that the climate's or the atmosphere in lebanon was similar to that of the climate before his father. was killed in two thousand and five in that devastated car bombing and what we of course remember is after that car bombing there was a series of assassinations in lebanon so many are fearing that this could be the start of major instability here in lebanon whether that is in the form of this as the nation's or any other escalation of violence remains to be seen but as we've been saying there are lots of simmering tensions here in lebanon of course the war in syria is a huge issue lebanon has worked very hard to prevent any major spillovers but those simmering tensio

arabia but also for saudi arabia in the region taking major steps in yemen that was key of course the gulf crisis is another one with carter on sold so forth and today as we've seen earlier in lebanon and in the way saddam had really made a speech that really spoke both for his own fears and his life but also spoke the words of the kingdoms of saudi arabia in terms of its proxy conflicts with iran so really major changes in the kingdom. terms of its posture in the region in terms of its politics with them telling us that the consequence is moving forward is basically a known to all of us because this is nothing like a soldier that we've seen before all right for now thank you very much marwan and let's look at what all this means domestically with jane cannon want a senior research fellow and the deputy head of the middle east north africa program at chatham house based here in london thanks very much for speaking to us and so we knows certainly from developments over the past few months that the new saudi crown prince is very keen to project an image of confidence in medina t. . but

across talking saudi arabia i'm joined by my guest martin j. in beirut he is a freelance broadcast journalist also in beirut we have. he is a political analyst and in washington we have joe he is a policy analyst at the arab center washington d.c. all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i always appreciate martin let me go to you first in beirut there are so many elements of what's going on with the story domestically in saudi arabia and of course across the region particularly in lebanon which of course always includes iran. if you could for our audience because it's not getting a lot of air time because of domestic politics in the u.s. in the u.k. how would you sum up what's actually going on in saudi arabia and in the region go ahead martin. well suppose there's a link between both of them i mean saudi arabia is based.

arabia and the prime minister hariri i would have to refer you to the government of saudi arabia and also to mr hariri office for some of the convictions of him being told the truth is you detention well. i'm not going to put that word but high and i'm not going to associate that word with that but where he is right now where you see as you have a nice room i was right it was i don't know personally where he is or if you have heard different reports that you were here but we're hearing right now where did the show meet he met him. i don't i don't think i'm committed to say that but i will double check on that in this martin j. thinks that the current crisis in lebanon has been created artificially by saudi arabia. it's a gender to try and destabilize iran and to and to create some sort of tension in the region and these are the first steps ordering studies which is a somewhat of a futile gesture given that are hardly any saudis in eleven of the movements but there are a few kuwaitis or quite a few who are to tourists what's the link you might be ask yourself to lebanon will start har

arabia's princes has been killed in a helicopter crash near the border with yemen a number of saudi officials also died prince mansoul been in al saod was the son of the former crown prince madrid and believed to be a close ally of the current one hundred and salma these videos posted on his twitter page just hours before his death should have inspecting defense and environment projects iran and its ally the lebanon based group hizbollah have accused saudi arabia the u.s. and israel of trying to fuel tension in the middle east by pushing lebanon's prime minister to resign saad hariri announced that he was leaving his position on saturday while on a visit to saudi arabia there's the headlines more news for you on al-jazeera right after inside story next. germany is hosting this year's climate talks president from the united states out of the paris agreement what now for the global effort to tackle climate change in the finale some live reports from the climate conference in bonn and from the front lines of global warming climate so what does iraq. on the brink of turmoil lebanon's pr

a low i maryam namazie and london you're watching al-jazeera was so coming up saudi arabia blames iran for a missile da getting riyadh saying it could be considered an act of war. donald trump wraps up his trip to japan and heads to south korea the nuclear threat from north korea likely to take center stage. and germany the host of the u.n. climate change conference comes under fire over its own environmental promises. peace in the u.s. state of texas a sunday's shooting at a church was the result of a domestic dispute the gunman devon patrick kelly had sent threatening text messages to his mother in law in recent days at least twenty six people including children were killed in the attack a man who confronted and chased the gunman told reporters he was driving near the church in southern springs when he saw the shooter i did what i thought i needed to do which is. that there's a shooting. and i just did the right thing. well a vigil has been held for those killed in sunday's shooting dozens of people held candles at a gathering across the street from the first baptist church in southe

arabia or are those who support saudi arabia may have anticipated but in terms of security resilience this starts it does make it does make lebanon vulnerable and it would be silly to think otherwise and i think that's why again we see the reaction from certain european capitals and from the united states because in terms of the international interest and prosecution of all of wider security of strategic campaigns in the middle east as they pertain to syria and iraq and the war against isis that that this starts this does have an impact in this is what i call the contagion effect of that has been unleashed knowingly or unknowingly if we if we accept perhaps that there's a degree of inexperience and ignorance in him immaturity in the some foreign policy making circles in re aren't nor is this a situation that lebanon can sort out on its own and should sort out on its own. i think anything in lebanon's history has ever been sorted out by lebanon on its own and i think that we would be incredibly naive and optimistic to assume that we can sort it out by ourselves as well but i think that