PAKISTANTV — broadcast
20261011 120000 UTC
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[00:00:00] law
[00:00:03] of of minister as well as in information, they they you
[00:00:07] explained that the total mission of
[00:00:10] emergency
[00:00:12] of infa
[00:00:13] in and as well as governor rule is has
[00:00:16] of decision has been taken
[00:00:19] purely
[00:00:21] of by exercising a constitutional option
[00:00:24] available under the 1973 constitution and
[00:00:28] further as
[00:00:32] of the
[00:00:32] the the move has been taken under
[00:00:36] two
[00:00:37] of article two 32 and 234
[00:00:41] of of the constitution, they explained that this move has come in the wake
[00:00:45] of deteriorating law and
[00:00:47] of order situation in province and they also
[00:00:51] quoted various incidents in which law and forcement
[00:00:54] agencies, pakistan army armed forces they have
[00:00:58] sacrificed their lives in fight against terror in the province
[00:01:01] and they emphasize that the proventional government
[00:01:05] of fabric of Kunka they were
[00:01:09] of either of complacent or they were reluctant to
[00:01:12] take mers against
[00:01:15] these terrorist
[00:01:18] activities in which people were losing
[00:01:21] of of their lives and they also stated that federal government has
[00:01:25] been negotiating with
[00:01:26] in the provincial government and was ready to provide all available.
[00:01:30] resources to
[00:01:32] of avoid this situation and work with the proventional
[00:01:35] of government to eradicate this manas of terrorism as we know
[00:01:40] of that of sabtunsa
[00:01:40] of province is strategically located and shares a long border with
[00:01:44] restive afghanistan where we know from where
[00:01:47] a cross border
[00:01:50] of terrorism has been happening in in Pakistan and there
[00:01:53] are clear evidence that even the government
[00:01:57] of table they are also reluctant. to take
[00:02:00] action contrary to their commitments to
[00:02:03] the
[00:02:04] of international community, so here main
[00:02:10] of of point on which this press conference focus was khibar law and order and
[00:02:14] growing terrorism. of course security was the main reason
[00:02:18] on which this these
[00:02:20] of mayor were taken and proclamation of
[00:02:23] emergency took
[00:02:25] of place. also they said that the governance
[00:02:28] in was also in shambles especially
[00:02:32] of if you talk about the the points which were raised
[00:02:36] by information
[00:02:38] minister he said that
[00:02:42] government inf they
[00:02:45] a were beast bothered about the common
[00:02:47] of people and he also said that
[00:02:49] the people was suffering not only
[00:02:53] due
[00:02:54] in to terrorism but due to bad governance
[00:02:57] in all so law minister
[00:03:01] shad light on
[00:03:06] of of constitutional provisions and how constitution provides the federal government to take such
[00:03:10] of meers which has been taken in and we said
[00:03:14] that emergency has been declared
[00:03:16] in also he
[00:03:20] clarified
[00:03:21] to a question by
[00:03:22] a reporter that there will not be
[00:03:25] any you
[00:03:28] of know of in sab of Khah
[00:03:32] of he said that the additional chief secretary has been appointed for
[00:03:37] of in 12 most affected districts
[00:03:39] of where there were large number of
[00:03:42] terrorism incidents in the past and he said
[00:03:46] of that to make governance better and bring
[00:03:50] restore law and order in those 12 very
[00:03:54] effective affected districts
[00:03:56] therefore additional chief. has been
[00:04:00] appointed, likewise law minister
[00:04:04] interior minister mokwi stated that he has been
[00:04:08] in constant contact with the
[00:04:11] of opposition leader till last
[00:04:13] of night and he has been pressing for reaching a
[00:04:17] consensus and avoid today's boob, but he
[00:04:21] said that the government
[00:04:23] leadership opposition leader the they were
[00:04:27] adamant and they they did not reach the consensus and even they did
[00:04:31] of not of respond of
[00:04:33] of positively and he said that in these circumstances the federal
[00:04:37] government had take this decision and for
[00:04:41] which constitutional clearly
[00:04:43] a provides the ground and he also mentioned that
[00:04:47] article 232 and article 234
[00:04:49] of the
[00:04:50] of constitution they provide the
[00:04:53] space to the federal government
[00:04:55] to take action under the
[00:04:57] a law to save uh their lives and their
[00:05:01] property, especially he said that the government
[00:05:04] even offered government that they will
[00:05:08] provide all available resources and he said that particularly
[00:05:12] about 12 most affected district government
[00:05:16] had offered that pakistan army and armed forces
[00:05:20] will pull out from stage wise
[00:05:24] from these districts and after providing
[00:05:27] training and resources to the local
[00:05:30] police, but government did not
[00:05:34] reach a consensus and they did
[00:05:37] not took heat and
[00:05:41] this is how the situation. and further version and also
[00:05:44] he quoted that many recent incidents we have seen
[00:05:48] there is a spike about 200% spike in
[00:05:52] terrorism related incidents intha
[00:05:56] province where people have lost their lives also
[00:06:00] various personnel of security forces they
[00:06:04] have been mad and injured
[00:06:07] in these incidents right thank you
[00:06:11] so much musharf who is senior correspondent Pakistan TV for the details
[00:06:15] and comments that you have given us about the situation,
[00:06:18] there was a press briefing that was held by the senior federal ministers as they
[00:06:22] said that the prime minister, the president of Pakistan
[00:06:26] along with the prime minister they have imposed emergency in the khiib pakhtunkhah
[00:06:30] province
[00:06:35] now we are telling you that the president Asidari on advice of prime minister Shihbar
[00:06:39] sharif has impeled emergency in pathtunkwa under articles
[00:06:42] 232 and 234 the constitution of Pakistan,
[00:06:46] given the gravity the situation, the president signed the summary sent to him
[00:06:50] by Prime Minister Shahban Sharif on the recommendation the cabinet for
[00:06:54] exercising his constitutional authority and imporsing emergency
[00:06:58] in Paktonkha under articles 232 and
[00:07:01] 234 the constitution of Pakistan. Earlier the
[00:07:05] federal cabinet was briefed on the law and order situation on the provincial government's
[00:07:09] deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism. and the
[00:07:13] deteriorating state of affairs regarding terrorism in
[00:07:16] khaibhtunkha province. the cabinet conducted detailed review
[00:07:20] the situation, taking into account the vsening law and order conditions in
[00:07:24] paktunkha.
[00:07:30] interior minister men says month long efforts and talks with PTI
[00:07:33] field to resolve outstanding issues as law in order deteriorated in
[00:07:37] 12 districts ofwa province. he made these remarks
[00:07:41] while addressing a joint press briefing alongside law minister az
[00:07:45] and information minister Atar that we were sharing
[00:07:49] live visuals
[00:07:50] shortly.
[00:07:56] governorkha fasulem kundi has said that people the province
[00:08:00] welcome the presidential proclamation and desire peace, stability,
[00:08:04] progress and prosperity in the province. a message, the governor
[00:08:08] said the people oftunkwa welcome the presidential
[00:08:11] proclamation, and desire peace, stability, progress and
[00:08:14] prosperity in the province. He said the people of KPK will
[00:08:18] stand by their security agencies and fight against terrorists
[00:08:22] till the end and want brotherly relations and mutual cooperation
[00:08:26] with other provinces. Fasal Karim kundi said that people of
[00:08:29] KP aim to foster development and prosperity in the province through
[00:08:33] shared experiences and joint efforts and the public wishes to
[00:08:37] see the promotion of democratic values and the fruits of
[00:08:41] development reaching. the common citizen, he said the people oftunkwa
[00:08:45] are peace loving and do not support terrorism or violent acts
[00:08:49] any way. the governor oftunkha said strict legal action
[00:08:53] will be taken against those who disrupt law in order or take the law into
[00:08:57] their own
[00:08:57] hands.
[00:09:02] the federal cabinet expressed deep concern over the security situation
[00:09:06] in kp and last efforts were made through
[00:09:10] Maulana Fazl Rahman before any final decision. regarding situation in the
[00:09:13] province. addressing the cabinet meeting, prime ministerif says
[00:09:17] the government should stand united with the federal government to
[00:09:21] root out terrorism in the province for improving the security situation
[00:09:25] there. the prime minister said the federal cabinet will decide today regarding any
[00:09:28] final decision how on how to improve the security situation in the
[00:09:32] province as it is now or never
[00:09:35] situation. he said 800 billion rupees has been
[00:09:39] provided to strengthen its counter terrorism department.
[00:09:43] He said, countering terrorism is a shared responsibility the federal
[00:09:47] and provincial
[00:09:48] governments.
[00:10:22] Assalamualaikum and welcome to perspective. Regional. tensions are
[00:10:25] escalating, putting critical infrastructure, maritime security
[00:10:29] and regional stability at risk. howthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have raised
[00:10:33] fresh security concerns, while the strategic mandab straight
[00:10:37] and the strate of hurmus remain central to wider regional tensions with the
[00:10:41] US mid-term elections approaching, president Donald
[00:10:44] Trump is also facing growing political pressure as the Iran
[00:10:48] conflict disrupts global energy markets and raises
[00:10:52] questions about the costs and consec. of his
[00:10:55] policies, how could the evolving security situation
[00:10:59] affect his party's electoral prospects and shape
[00:11:03] Washington's next moves. Pakistan has strongly condemned
[00:11:06] the attacks in Saudi Arabia and reaffirmed its commitment to Saudi
[00:11:10] sovereinity and security under the Makka joint defense
[00:11:14] agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey. As
[00:11:17] Islamabad continues to call for peace and
[00:11:20] deescalation, what is the shifting security
[00:11:24] landscape? mean for the region. In our second
[00:11:27] segment, we examine Trump's administ the Donald Trump
[00:11:31] administration's expanding immigration crackdown, including the
[00:11:35] suspension of green card processing for major technological companies
[00:11:39] and investigations into leading US
[00:11:42] universities. As Washington tightens scrutiny the
[00:11:46] skilled foreign workers and international research
[00:11:49] questions are mounting over the future of global
[00:11:53] talent, mobility and America's
[00:11:55] competitive competitiveness
[00:11:59] in the technology sector. All
[00:12:33] when we look at Babel Mandap, for example, the fact that it's become
[00:12:37] a critical point in this regional, what
[00:12:41] strategic objectives are the howt is sort of
[00:12:45] pursuing by threatening maritime traffic
[00:12:48] and of course what it means for this vital
[00:12:52] international shipping route, corridor and and what are the
[00:12:56] implications in your opinion for regional
[00:12:58] security and also what it means as far as
[00:13:02] global security at this
[00:13:04] time
[00:13:11] is want to exert pressure on the red sea one a maritime
[00:13:15] trade to get this economic and political
[00:13:18] leverage, they understand very well that the world will only pay attention
[00:13:22] to them if they make noise outside the border of... Yemen has been dubbed for
[00:13:26] the longest time for the past 12 years the conflict as the forgotten
[00:13:29] war and to get some attention to get some recognition
[00:13:33] and to get that stick
[00:13:37] of they needed to attack all these ships in the red sea making that economic
[00:13:41] impact on global trade but also threatening regional
[00:13:44] countries as well because they ship lot of oil through that
[00:13:47] straight so it's critical for their countries for the
[00:13:51] stability their countries and this is one the reasons why they also... in the
[00:13:55] same way are threatening Saudi Arabia the past few
[00:13:59] weeks by attacking infrastructure within Riyadh within
[00:14:03] other parts of Saudi Arabia attacking aramco attacking I remember the
[00:14:07] electricity grid as well and they'll continue to do that because that's
[00:14:10] how they raised the cost the conflict they learned that from the Iranians
[00:14:14] and that's how they kind of
[00:14:18] create this calculus where they can extract concessions not just from
[00:14:22] Saudi but also from regional and international state.
[00:14:33] before we go to him, in terms of in terms the huti's
[00:14:36] actions, Hisham, when we look at
[00:14:40] you know Yemen's internal conflict and and the political
[00:14:43] landscape so to speak, how have years of
[00:14:47] political you know fragmentation, struggle for
[00:14:50] power, failure to reach a durable settlement enabled the house.
[00:14:55] is to consolidate their authority and expand their
[00:14:58] regional ambition, because we know that
[00:15:02] internally also the situation and the fact that they've been able
[00:15:06] to do this, how how do you look at that in terms of what's happening
[00:15:09] now and the internal situation? that's actually an
[00:15:13] excellent question, this is
[00:15:14] what i've been saying for the for the past 10 years is that the
[00:15:18] houties owe their rise to the
[00:15:21] Iranian support, but also to the fragmentation and the division.
[00:15:37] the failure the state since since 2010, since
[00:15:41] the uprisings that accompanied the Arab Spring,
[00:15:45] and they managed to hijack the state, and by doing so
[00:15:49] they entrenched themselves a position of power, and
[00:15:53] throughout the past 10 years the conflict since 2015, they
[00:15:57] managed to expand across Yemen, moving all
[00:16:01] the
[00:16:01] way to the west coast, and that's what you're hearing a lot of fighting now,
[00:16:04] for instance in Babel Mandab, in the Red Sea, because they want additional.
[00:16:08] but they owe that as well because the internal
[00:16:11] fragmentation and I've always said if you want to
[00:16:15] defeat the hutis, you need to unify the yemini factions led
[00:16:19] by the yemini government because only them can dislodge the
[00:16:23] hutis from places like the mar, the central part of
[00:16:27] Yemen, but also the capital sana, there needs to be a concerted effort
[00:16:30] backed by the regional international community, and luckily for the time being you have the
[00:16:34] saudis back in the Yemini government supporting them. but ultimately
[00:16:38] this is a Yemeni Yemeni fight, this is not, and I remember
[00:16:42] lot of people trying to pitch it as a Saudi versus Hothies fight, it's
[00:16:46] not, it never was, it was the Yemenis that wanted to take
[00:16:50] back the country from the Hhootis, but they also needed support from regional partners
[00:16:54] and our closest neighbor traditionally for the past 100 years have been Saudi Arabia and
[00:16:58] that's one the reasons why it was the Saudis that let the
[00:17:01] coalition that helped attempting to
[00:17:04] restore the state in 2015. but but
[00:17:08] where does the house actually derive
[00:17:12] authority within Yemen today when you look at
[00:17:15] you know the fact that the main sources their political,
[00:17:18] financial, military power and and of course
[00:17:22] how how do they use that to control territory in
[00:17:26] terms of trying to understand and also the fact that they
[00:17:30] they are able to somehow sustain their position
[00:17:32] right? yep, well one one the important things that
[00:17:36] lot of people need to understand that the hutis did not spring into the scene just in the past
[00:17:40] 15 years, the hutis were there for the past thousand years, we
[00:17:44] had the imat a monarchy in Yemen for the better part
[00:17:48] the past 100 years, which was toppled in the
[00:17:51] 1960s. these are remonants of that
[00:17:54] regime that stayed in yemen in the northern part the
[00:17:58] country, and they managed to build their power over
[00:18:02] the past 25 years, beginning into the 2000s and in
[00:18:06] 2004, they launched an offensive in the north part the
[00:18:10] country which led to six consecutive wars between 2004 and
[00:18:13] 2009, so the hutis actually existed there for hundreds of
[00:18:17] years, but they managed capitalizing on the
[00:18:21] instability in 2010, 2011 to expand
[00:18:24] their influence and exploiting the in fighting between the
[00:18:28] various factions, tribal and government and military between the
[00:18:32] period of 2011 and 2015, to jump on the scene, hijack the
[00:18:36] state, take over the capital, take over other parts of Vietman,
[00:18:40] one, two, they also owe their rise because the
[00:18:43] support that they've gotten extensive support that they've gotten from Iran, they
[00:18:47] they got in financial support, they've gotten ballistic missiles, they've gotten cruise
[00:18:51] missiles, they've gotten drones, they've gotten lot of training, not just from
[00:18:55] Iran, they've got a lot of training from Hizbullah as well, and there's a lot, the
[00:18:59] actually IRGC officers on the ground, on the
[00:19:03] battlefield as commanders directing the
[00:19:06] war and... multiple frontlines in Yemen and that includes
[00:19:10] Hisbollah and IRGC, so they're getting lot of
[00:19:13] support, and in terms
[00:19:16] of question, you know, of course they've managed to have that
[00:19:20] kind of support that then allows them to exert this kind
[00:19:24] of external influence or external, far
[00:19:28] beyond the territory, how dangerous is it when
[00:19:32] when this kind of a grouping can happen and and
[00:19:36] then and then put it. initially have consequences
[00:19:40] outside a country's territory when we look at you in the light of
[00:19:44] this particular instance when we see the
[00:19:46] hautis extremely extremely concerning you have
[00:19:50] to remember the past couple years sank or attacked
[00:19:54] close to 100 ships and see you're not talking about the conflict that
[00:19:58] is not contained within the borders of yemen you're talking about the conflict had spill over
[00:20:02] effect remember during the gaza crisis is wanted to
[00:20:06] jump into the fray try to pitch themselves as the vanguard the muslim the
[00:20:10] arab nation by attacking also Israel
[00:20:13] and beyond that they started attacking ships tried to extract
[00:20:17] tols from ships passing through the red sea, they wanted to be seen as
[00:20:20] regional player that would have a say an international politics, so if
[00:20:24] anything does not go their way - respective if it
[00:20:28] is concerning Yemen or not, they want to exert that
[00:20:31] political pressure to get this not recognition
[00:20:35] as regional player and this is one of... reasons why they attacked multiple
[00:20:39] ships from different countries, not just saudis now lately, but in the past they've attacked British
[00:20:43] ships, they've attacked Dutch ships, they've attacked American ships
[00:20:46] and all sorts of ships because they want that recognition. "and
[00:20:50] it's extremely difficult and extremely dangerous because at the end the day you're
[00:20:54] dealing with a militia, so if you tolerate
[00:20:58] that, you're only postponing yet another bout of conflict
[00:21:02] where the militia is going to blackmail international community seeking additional
[00:21:06] concessions, and this is why I've always been talking to international partners and regional partners is
[00:21:09] that you need to address the root the conflict,
[00:21:12] you need to decisively deal with the hoothies, you cannot keep passing the
[00:21:15] buck and postponing the issue through temporary ceasefires."
[00:21:20] or non-sustainable agreements that will allow the hoothies to stay
[00:21:24] in control, especially when they have control over the means the states and
[00:21:28] taxation and oil revenues. so in terms the
[00:21:31] consequences of of this kind of
[00:21:35] you know a group, if one can call it that,
[00:21:39] and and you know of course the kind of
[00:21:41] exercising, of course influence
[00:21:44] outside the territory, what kind of reaction do you overall
[00:21:48] you know expect after what we've? also and for Yemen also
[00:21:52] in particular, what do you expect in the future?
[00:21:56] unfortunately based on the track record the past
[00:22:00] three years, there has been some reactions, you've seen the Americans attack
[00:22:03] the hutis, you've seen the Europeans create that speed's
[00:22:07] naval force to protect the ships in the red sea, but there they
[00:22:11] have always been half hearted measures, they never
[00:22:15] actually delt a blow to the hoothies, it was always a
[00:22:18] protective force.
[00:22:20] and
[00:22:21] was always, it's just a bare minimum, they did not
[00:22:25] deal with dislodging
[00:22:26] the the hoothies hoothies, they only tried to protect some the ships in the red
[00:22:30] sea while leaving the infrastructure in place, while
[00:22:33] leaving thereat in place, which only
[00:22:36] means that they're postponing the
[00:22:39] problem, and come few months
[00:22:43] the will come back, raise the bar, demand additional
[00:22:46] concessions, and this is devastating, and this is what happened with.
[00:22:49] situation,
[00:22:57] hoping that there is going to be calmer heads that will
[00:23:00] prevail amongst the huti movement, but we warn back at the time is
[00:23:04] that the hutis are only binding their time to regroup,
[00:23:08] restock, they will come back and they will ask for additional
[00:23:11] concessions and that's basically what they did right
[00:23:13] now,
[00:23:17] when we look at in terms of you know ' regional states in
[00:23:21] their response to the houthi attacks, the threats also
[00:23:25] against babal mandap, maritime commerce, what combination of
[00:23:28] maritime security, deterrance, regional
[00:23:31] cooperation, political engagement you think could make
[00:23:35] difference at this point, you're also looking at the Saudi Arabia
[00:23:39] situation to to sort of deescalate
[00:23:42] for things to at least, sort
[00:23:46] of, what can one say, go back to a state of...
[00:23:50] normalcy, let's say,
[00:23:52] well, okay, you need to
[00:23:56] begin with the cutting or choking the air
[00:24:00] out the huti means you need to economically kind of basically
[00:24:04] isolate them, one, two, you cannot just protect the red
[00:24:07] sea without dislogging the hoothies from multiple areas,
[00:24:11] three, this is the award that cannot be one just by aerial campaign,
[00:24:15] we've been there done that since 2015 and it did not dislodge the huties, what you
[00:24:19] need is ground. forces to take over the houti controlled
[00:24:23] areas, you need to limit the power. I've heard lot of arguments
[00:24:27] the past two days, people saying like, if the America government forces managed to secure the
[00:24:31] west coast, then it's the end to the threat. That is a
[00:24:34] completely false. managed to attack the
[00:24:38] ships over the past two years when they did not control
[00:24:42] them. well beyond that within from the internal
[00:24:46] parts of yemen they attack the ships. so you don't need just to secure babelman.
[00:24:50] them you need to dis from the hotland and from places like the
[00:24:53] capital for as long as people continue to
[00:24:57] treat the hoothis as a viable political party we're not getting anywhere hootis
[00:25:01] are a militia they think in mentality of a militia they're
[00:25:05] maximalist they also always come back and raise the bar
[00:25:09] if you don't limit their military power if you don't
[00:25:13] have that breaking point or you isolate them we're not going to get
[00:25:16] anywhere how do you in
[00:25:20] terms the the nexus when we look at Israel in particular, how
[00:25:24] does it factor in and and how you know the consequences
[00:25:28] of that nexis itself, do you think that it's been
[00:25:31] exposed enough, do you expect it to sort of have the the
[00:25:35] ramifications of that for the world, how do you look at that?
[00:25:39] well let's refocus that a little bit on yemen, what
[00:25:43] have had happened over the past three years, especially with
[00:25:46] the the gaza crisis, the is managed to exploit that to their advantage.
[00:25:51] they've seen how the world failed to act in
[00:25:55] defending the Palestinians and they use that
[00:25:58] to recruit fighters on the ground and
[00:26:01] lot other factions. did the same thing as well, but the hutis exploited it a very good way bause
[00:26:05] they have a really good PR machine and they recruited tens of
[00:26:09] thousands of fighters and and trying to
[00:26:13] position themselves as the strongest member the axis of resistance that is
[00:26:17] led by Iran, and in doing so they managed to also get
[00:26:20] recruits from across the red sea and build relationships with the
[00:26:24] shabab in Somalia, and they did so by
[00:26:28] also recruiting people from Syria, from Lebanon and in Iraq as
[00:26:31] well,
[00:26:32] and the... also on the opened offices even there, so they built this
[00:26:35] regional network a premise of dealing with
[00:26:39] Israel, but while having at heart
[00:26:43] their own objectives, their own max maximalist objectives and
[00:26:47] expanding their influence not just at the southern tip the peninsula, but regional
[00:26:50] influence, and they built this huge network
[00:26:53] of and also arsenal if i may that
[00:26:57] they could use any given moment, whether it's in regards to Israel
[00:27:01] or others. That's what they did over the past month when they started attacking Saudi
[00:27:05] Arabia, they didn't attack Israel,
[00:27:07] they attack Saudi Arabia, but what about you, the
[00:27:11] reports of the delegation, when you look at the US delegation meeting
[00:27:14] how these and and the effects of that, do you think how
[00:27:18] credible, and and you think that there is a possibility that
[00:27:22] something will emerge from there also, how do
[00:27:25] you look at that? well, the UN led peace
[00:27:28] process is still ongoing, yes there's been a lot of multiple impediments.
[00:27:33] and it's a steep hill to
[00:27:36] climb, especially during escalation, so
[00:27:38] they always try to deescalate where cooler heads would prevail and
[00:27:42] they will manage to bring people to the table, unfortunately every
[00:27:46] time they get to to that point something or the other happens and
[00:27:50] we're back into fighting mode between the various factions and always it's
[00:27:54] triggered by the his and this is where we at now for instance the un
[00:27:57] envoy delivered his remarks yesterday and he basically
[00:28:00] said we're continue on the path
[00:28:04] of trying to get a peace process
[00:28:08] started ultimately
[00:28:11] reconciliation, but right
[00:28:13] now emotions are high, right now the fighting
[00:28:17] is still ongoing, right now the dust has not settled, right now all the
[00:28:20] groups are trying to get as much territory as possible
[00:28:24] before they eventually move into negotiations, and this is one the questions that
[00:28:28] lot of people have asked me and they said, do you think
[00:28:32] government is going to completely abliterate thes or the is going to be able to completely abliterate
[00:28:36] the government and i said like that's gna be difficult because you're talking about a complete
[00:28:40] massacer if you want to wipe up the hoothis I don't think that's
[00:28:43] feasible and vice versa the hoothis
[00:28:47] cannot wipe out half the country eventually
[00:28:51] inevitably you reach an agreement but the question is
[00:28:54] when we get to the table who's going to have the upper hand and right now
[00:28:58] his have leverage and they need to dilute that leverage.
[00:29:09] we have with us Paul Frit who's a senior fellow institute Switzerland, executive and
[00:29:13] residence, Geneva Center for Security Policy joining us, it's always a pleasure having
[00:29:17] you, Paul. When we look at the mid-term elections,
[00:29:20] Iran, Hurmas and of course, the political
[00:29:24] cost of this war, how do you look at this, as far as the midterm
[00:29:28] elections are concerned,
[00:29:29] you know, of course the strategic constraint. if
[00:29:33] one can call it that as far as Donald Trump administration is
[00:29:36] concerned, once
[00:29:38] the the pre-election situation versus the post election situation, how
[00:29:42] would how do you look at it and and you think it will be a change
[00:29:46] scenario considering what we know about the position
[00:29:49] of of you know at this time as far as the Donald Trump
[00:29:53] administration is concerned? yes,
[00:29:57] well I think the strategic constraint on
[00:30:01] the president is... uh not so much the mid-terms
[00:30:05] themselves, the the strategic constraint is public
[00:30:08] opinion uh that is by and large opposed to
[00:30:12] this war, and we see the mid-term
[00:30:16] election campaigns as an expression of that, and
[00:30:20] we had series of senate debates this
[00:30:23] week, and republican candidates have
[00:30:26] struggled to explain their formal support for the
[00:30:30] war in terms their - votes against
[00:30:33] congressional resolutions that have sought to reign in president Trump's
[00:30:37] authority, and yes, I think that the
[00:30:41] midterms, if the polls are to be believed, are
[00:30:45] probably going to send major
[00:30:49] signal of a public rebuke the
[00:30:52] administration's