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Biden's Foreign Policy Vision: U.S. President Tells the World: "America is Back"; Russia Expels Diplomats From Germany, Sweden, and Poland for Joining Navalny Protests; Africa to Receive Nearly 90 Million COVID Vaccines; CNN Speaks to David Guetta; Australian Open Moves Ahead Despite Positive COVID Test. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired February 05, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:11]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The U.S. president lays out his vision of America in the world going forward.
Then --
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: Those that are vaccinated risk to face the return of a virus that is resistant to the vaccines that were
given.
ANDERSON: The real cost of vaccine inequality. I speak to the world's highest diplomat, the U.N.'s secretary-general, Antonio Guterres.
Plus --
DAVID GUETTA, DJ AND RECORD PRODUCER: I want to give motivation to people to stay home and be safe, but they still need entertainment.
ANDERSON: COVID concerts. David Guetta performs 200 meters above Dubai's skyline. I joined him on the helicopter pad for a one on one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
ANDERSON (on camera): Well, it's 10:00 in the morning in D.C. It's 7:00 in the evening here in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. It's 11:00 at night in Beijing.
I'm Becky Anderson. And you are more than welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
We begin with three words -- America is back. That's certainly the takeout the new American president wanted to deliver in what was his first speech
on foreign policy since taking office. What it actually means, less clear.
The president's speech billed as a big deal by the White House was delivered at the State Department, America's oldest cabinet agency. That, a
clear signal that Joe Biden intends diplomacy to be front and center of his foreign policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: America is back. Diplomacy is back.
So with your help, the United States will again lead, not just by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Not just by the example of our power, but by the power of our example, he said. That's another great sort of PR slogan, isn't it, up
there with just do it and got milk, but what does it exactly mean?
The next two hours, we'll be taking a deep dive into how Mr. Biden hopes to bend the world to his will, as it were, for better and for worse.
Let's start with America's friends.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Reforming the habits of cooperation and rebuilding the muscle of Democratic alliances that have atrophied over the past few years of
neglect, and I would argue abuse. American alliances are our greatest asset.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The need for that unity especially important now as the world sorts through the scope of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts.
As for friends and allies, others were, of course, listening carefully to find out which side of the line, as it were, they stand on. So let's take a
look right here in the Middle East, a place that often defies solutions for anyone in the oval office.
For Mr. Biden, that's Yemen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: This war has to end. And to underscore our commitment, we are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen,
including relevant arms sales.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Offensive operations. Relevant arms sales, those sales being to Saudi Arabia and here in the UAE.
And the president did in fact, commit to helping Saudi Arabia protect its sovereignty. That's not quite what you might have expected if you've been
listening to his words on the campaign trail, where he called the kingdom a pariah state.
But it's not just about what he did say. It's also about what he didn't say. He didn't talk about the Iran nuclear deal, for example. It didn't
come up.
Nor did the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. A slightly more intelligently nuanced path with China emerged. We'll get to that as an even more bullish
approach to Russia starts playing out, and from climate health, a lot more to look at.
A lot of news there. And a lot to get through. Let's get going right now.
I want to bring in our team of reporters connecting you to all of this, to look at what Mr. Biden did talk about.
Let's bring in our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. And for everything he perhaps didn't mention, Sam Kiley is with us as well.
And, Nic, investing in our diplomacy isn't something we do just because it's the right thing to do for the world, Biden said.
[10:05:03]
We do it in order to live in peace, security and prosperity. We do it because of its own naked self-interest. There was an awful lot of sort of
phraseology in this speech last night, as I say, billed as a big deal.
What did -- what did you get out of it?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, I think that line you just read was the takeaway line for Biden's sell to the U.S.
audience. No longer transactional. No longer American first on a transactional basis, but explaining quite simply to Americans -- diplomacy
is important because it leaves you with a better life. We're not doing it for everyone else. We're doing it for us.
I think my big takeaway here was, you know it was nuanced in some areas. Look at Saudi Arabia for example to saying that he was no longer going to
support the war in Yemen, that we didn't mention the fact that Saudi Arabia leads the coalition in that war in Yemen. He didn't. But he did go on to
say that he would work with the Saudis against their enemies in the region, the threats to them being proxies backed by Iran. And you mentioned Iran in
that case.
And I think that was a message there to Iran that, you know, without having to mention them explicitly, to Iran, that when he comes to them, he's going
to want more than just a nuclear deal. He's going to want to get controls on ballistic missiles, which they allegedly give to the Houthis and get
control over their regional destabilization, backing proxies like the Houthis which are a threat to Saudi Arabia, the United States ally. So, I
think that all came out on the table.
The Saudis responded quicker than anyone else because they have felt the heat of what Biden's been saying. They're concerned about the perceived
human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, activists who are locked up, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist in the Saudi consulate in
Istanbul. All of that.
But what we heard from the crown prince's brother who is the deputy defense minister, saying quite clearly here, we're happy to work with our allies.
This is what he said.
We welcome President Biden's statement to work with friends and allies and resolve conflicts and deal with attacks from Iran. So they wanted to get
that in. That's a plus for them.
But he also went on to say -- you know, over seven decades of working with the United States, we look forward to being able to work with them in the
future.
So I think from the Saudi perspective, a nuanced message, not as bad as they might have expected, and they were fast to reply. That shows you how
much scrutiny they thought they were under -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Sam, Yemen very much front and center in this speech last night. We sort of learned what was talked about. Perhaps as important for us to
discuss is what wasn't mentioned -- noticeably, no mention of the Iran nuclear deal. Why do you think?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's a fascinating issue that Nic has already alluded to there with the idea, as
Nic was saying, that I think the Biden administration is going to be looking for a return to the nuclear deal plus.
In other words, they are already talking with the European allies. They've had -- there's been an offer from the Iranians to essentially agree through
the Europeans with the United States to lift U.S. -- the U.S. bilateral sanctions on Iran in a return for a reduction in the production of nuclear
materials by Iran and getting back to the old deal, which is effectively coming to an end pretty much immediately.
So, ultimately, I think what the Americans and indeed the Europeans will be look for is a new negotiation, perhaps wrapped up in something that looks a
bit like the old deal, but with a few extras bolted on.
And the new national security adviser in the Biden administration wouldn't be drawn on this. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We are actively engaged with the European Union right now, particularly the three members of the P5 plus
one, Germany, the U.K. and France. We are talking to them at various levels of our government. Those consultations, I think, will produce a unified
front when it comes to our strategy towards Iran and towards dealing with diplomacy around the nuclear file, and I don't want to get ahead of where
that's going to end up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: Now, Becky, I think what he doesn't want to get ahead of is a hint to the Iranians that maybe he'll be talking to the Europeans about the
exact stuff that Nic was talking about, destabilization. There was -- is a very strong perception, even in the West, even among the European partners
that backed the deal, all the way through the Trump administration, that Iran has used the bonanza enjoyed, if you like, in the early stages, at
least of that deal, to spend heavily on destabilization operations in Syria, continue to fund Hezbollah, to fund to a certain extent the Houthis
and to act as a force of instability in the Middle East.
[10:10:32]
And I think definitely that will be something the Biden administration will be hoping perhaps to wrap into a JCPOA plus one. Gosh, that may be
something we have to get used to saying, Becky.
ANDERSON: Wrap your chops around that.
Nic, on Yemen, which as we've suggested was very much front and center, we heard a lot of noise about Yemen, of course, in the run up to this Biden
administration.
The UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, tweeting this, saying: The UAE ended its military involvement in Yemen in October of
last year, and went on to say, UAE is eager to see the war over.
We do know that the Biden administration named a new envoy for Yemen, somebody who has been touted in Washington and indeed in the kingdom as a
real professional who knows his stuff. This Yemen file has really been a big bone of contention between not just the Democrats, but Congress and the
Trump administration, hasn't it?
Look, how does a Biden administration genuinely believe it can end this conflict at this point?
ROBERTSON: Well, Biden was specific about this about not providing Saudi Arabia with certain missiles that are being used in Yemen by saying that he
is going to help restore peace in Yemen through diplomacy by identifying Tim Lenderking as the envoy there to support the U.N. envoy in Yemen.
I spoke with a very senior Saudi official, heavily engaged in Yemen last night. He told me that he congratulated Tim Lenderking, looked forward to
working with him, but he expressed a sentiment I've heard from other senior Saudi officials and that is if we remember in the dying days of the Trump
administration, he designated the Houthis as the -- as a terrorist organization. And the Saudis still believe that that's an important
designation to keep in place.
We know that Biden administration has been having a review of everything that the Trump administration had agreed with the Saudis, a level of
engagement in that war, everything about it. And that was one thing we were expecting the Biden administration to look at, this designation of the
Houthis.
Now, Biden didn't mention that yesterday. So what does that mean? Is it going to stay in place, be part of that leverage? But there's going to be
this clear focus on diplomacy.
And I think if is interesting just following up on what Sam was saying there that I think almost you can take away from Biden's speech, the fact
that he didn't mention Iran, is that some of that is already sort of in play behind the scenes. You don't want to go upsetting things that may be
beginning be pushed along a certain track knowing how sensitive they are.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson and Sam Kiley in the house for you.
America is back, diplomacy is back. Those were the words, that's certainly Biden's vision, and it will be up to Antony Blinken to lead the State
Department into actually getting this vision sort of executed on the ground.
And just as his boss was laying it all out, Blinken was blasting out tweets on his new portfolio touching on the Lebanon file, peace talks in
Afghanistan, crisis in Ethiopia, a call he made to Russia's foreign minister, Vietnam, and sort of goes on and on. It was quite the Twitter
spree to get it all done.
Blinken will need a team of diplomats. And I'll have more in depth conversation on Biden's policy vision next hour with Nick Burns, a former
U.S. ambassador who has served in both Republican and Democratic administrations and was Joe Biden's foreign policy adviser during the 2020
campaign. If Antony Blinken needs decent diplomats, Nick will be able to give us some sense of how he will go about organizing that and ensuring
that as Joe Biden suggests and insists, Diplomacy is back.
Well, it's there's so much more to get through. I want to get you to Moscow now, where Mr. Biden wants to turn the squeeze, as it were even more.
[10:15:05]
You'll remember that Donald Trump took a lot of flack from his opponents for being too close to Russia. He didn't do himself any favors by once
seeming to suggest that he trusted Russia's president more than his own intelligence agencies.
Well, gone of those days. Mr. Biden wants you to go that. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The politically motivated jailing of Alexei Navalny and the Russian efforts to suppress peaceful assembly are a matter of deep concern to us
and the international community. Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution. He's been targeted,
targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, you can sum up the reaction in Moscow as a distinct eye roll. Just hours after Mr. Biden's speech, Russia's main opposition leader
back in court. This time charged with defaming a World War II veteran. In just the last few moments, we're learning Russia expelling diplomats from
Germany, from Sweden and Poland for joining the protests that happened in support of Alexei Navalny.
Let's get you to Moscow and to discuss the gap between Russia and so-called West. It does seem to be growing, this gap.
Fred Pleitgen on the ground for us -- Fred.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Becky.
And I do have some actually breaking news for you right now. We just learned that this trial that's going on in the courthouse right behind me,
the trial of Alexei Navalny for that defamation, that has now been postponed until a week from now, until February 12th.
The trial was remarkable today. You obviously had that 94-year-old World War II veteran who was having to take part in that trial via video link.
And at some point needed an ambulance because it seemed things were going on for so long.
Navalny was asking, why the court was making this elderly man take part in this trial. It was really criticizing the court on many levels. It was a
very interesting hearing. It went on for an extremely long time and has now been postponed until February 12th.
But you're right. At the same time, we see the Russian government not giving an inch on any of this. It was also quite a remarkable visit by
Joseph Borrell, the foreign policy representative of the European Union here to Moscow, today, a press conference with Sergey Lavrov. Really we saw
Sergey Lavrov lecturing the European Union representative on international law, not giving an inch once again.
And at the same time, or shortly thereafter, the Russians announcing they were going to expel three European Union diplomats -- one from Poland, one
from Sweden and one from Germany. Of course, this happening as the head of the European foreign policy was here in Moscow. It's really more than a
slap in the face to the E.U.
It's almost a punch in the face to Joseph Borrell, where you do see, I think that you're absolutely right, Becky, that the gap right now between
Moscow and some of those Western countries, specifically, the United States, the European Union, some of the member countries there, a gap
certainly does seem to be widening -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow.
If you chuck a stone in D.C., you're almost certain to hit someone who thinks that China poses the single greatest existential threat to America,
far greater than any other nation state.
There were familiar echoes of older policies towards China from Mr. Biden, but there were sampling of a new, more nuanced and perhaps even more
intelligent approach. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We'll confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive, coercive action to push back on China's attack on human rights, intellect
property and global governance. But we're ready to work with Beijing when it's in America's interest to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that is the top line. We'll be taking a look beneath it as it were a little later on.
For Beijing's part, it said it will -- its position is, it will be great if the two countries can work together more.
Putting out statements and speeches is a piece of cake compared to actually working together. Case in point, while China blocked a condemnation of the
coup in Myanmar earlier this week, the White House sees things very differently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The Burmese military should relinquish power they have seized. Release the advocates and activists and officials they have detained. Lift
the restrictions on telecommunications and refrain from violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:20:00]
ANDERSON: Nothing about any of this is easy, and the hardest parts of Mr. Biden's term will likely emerge later down the road, as it were. We're
going to keep them honest. Speak truth to power and ensure that we pick apart what we hear out of Washington on this. It's so important wherever
you are watching around the world.
We spoke earlier to the United Nations secretary-general about a range of issues. We have just covered in the past 20 minutes or so, including
Myanmar. We'll hear from Antonio Guterres on that, as well as the pandemic and the issue of vaccine inequality. That is just ahead.
And also coming up this hour, in the race for the COVID-19 vaccine, one continent in particular may be getting left behind. But a new campaign aims
to change that. Ahead, a live report on what this means for Africa as it copes with a new surge in cases.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: The World Health Organization says when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations, Africa has been on the sidelines for too long. On Thursday,
the WHO announced the continent's largest ever mass vaccination campaign. Nearly 90 million initial doses, most of them from Oxford/AstraZeneca will
begin shipping this month. Now, the WHO says the rollout is a critical first step to ensuring that Africa gets equitable access to vaccines.
The continent is struggling not only with a second wave in cases but with a new variant that emerged there.
David McKenzie joining us from Blantyre, in Malawi -- David.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Becky. And you know that 90 million vaccine doses, they're not here. They're not in Malawi. They're
not in South Africa.
They are nowhere yet to be seen. Now, they say it's February, but professionals and doctors here say that is probably optimistic.
Now we went inside the main teaching hospital here in Blantyre, and we saw just how under strain they are. They converted four wards into COVID wards,
some 80 to 100 patients. They struggle to get oxygen to those patients, and Dr. Perry, the doctor who we spent the day with, said they might not get
vaccines until after young, healthy people get vaccines in the U.S. and Europe.
The head of African CDC calls that a moral catastrophe, and really, it's hard to see it any other way. There are eight specialists in the hospital
we went to today. Five of them are at home sick with COVID, just three of them working to save the lives of patients here in Malawi. The second wave
has been much deadlier, driven, they say, by the variant discovered in South Africa.
[10:25:00]
And you are seeing similar things in South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, all over southern Africa. That moral issue, that global public health issue is
on the mind of everyone here. The vaccines, they say, need to come quicker.
They say just a few 10,000, maybe 40,000 vaccines to get all the health workers they need to get vaccinated here in Malawi, but it's just not
happening -- Becky.
ANDERSON: David McKenzie is on the ground in Blantyre in Malawi for you.
Well, inequity isn't the name of the game everywhere, thankfully. Take Jordan, the first country to give refugees the same access to coronavirus
vaccines as its citizens. I want to learn more about that.
I caught up with Queen Rania as part of the Warwick Economic Summit earlier this week and asked her majesty about the case for making sure everyone
does have fair access to getting immunized. This is part of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEEN RANIA, JORDAN: It's an imperative to make sure that vaccine equity is a priority for us because, you know, we do have a cloud hanging over our
heads. All of us. Not just the poor nations. Whether you are wealthy or poor, whether you are high income or low income nation, we have a cloud of
unevenness over us.
And this unevenness is not just in terms of how people have been impacted, some much more severely than others, but also in our ability to recover.
You know, this pandemic has really revealed and reinforced cracks in our world order. You know, along lines of income inequality, gender inequity,
social injustice, and you can add health inequality on top of that, you know?
So it is absolutely imperative that we really address these issues. If we're not motivated from a moral or ethical responsibility, then at least
we should be motivated from a global health standpoint.
ANDERSON: I wonder whether you think that as the poor are getting poorer, especially in developing countries, even such as Jordan itself, whether you
believe we will see a further crisis for globalization and just how effective do you believe leadership is and can be going forward given that
so much is under assault.
QUEEN RANIA: For the first time in 20 years, extreme poverty is back on the rise. And so, really this pandemic has shown a light on pre-existing
cracks in our world order. It's really reinforced and exposed fissures along the lines of inequality. As I mentioned earlier, whether it's racial,
gender, social injustice, and all these issues that we fail to address in the past. And again, this is creating a very dangerous, destabilizing
situation for all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: You can watch that full interview at the Warwick Economic Summit tomorrow, Saturday, as they live stream it on their website. We'll have
further clips on CONNECT THE WORLD, of course, next week. A good, wide- ranging discussion with Queen Rania.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:30:51]
ANDERSON: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson.
What we're doing this hour is giving you a deep dive into what are the new pillars, it seems, of the U.S. president's foreign policy. Joe Biden
wasting no time laying out, let's call it, his vision, for the new White House and its global relationships. And I want to return specifically to
his plans on the Middle East.
Let's connect you to our Middle East expert Peter Salisbury. He's a senior Yemen analyst for the International Crisis Group and he joins me live.
And, Yemen, Peter, was front and center in his speech at the State Department last night. I sort of used vision in inverted commas because it
was interesting to see what was included in this speech last night and what wasn't. And perhaps we haven't seen the kind of full extent of the Biden
administration's vision when it comes to its foreign policy file yet. But certainly Yemen front and center.
Let's have a listen to what Joe Biden said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: This war has to end. And to underscore our commitment, we are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen,
including relevant arm sales.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: You tweeted in response, quote, ending U.S. support won't automatically mean an end to the war at all. There is a really fine balance
in finding a way to end the war that armed political factions, local groups and civil society, combine to not easy at all. Anybody who lives in this
region and reports on this region will agree with you. This is not easy at all.
What do you make of what we've heard from the Biden administration to date on Yemen, and what do you believe needs to be done?
PETER SALISBURY, SENIOR YEMEN ANALYST, CRISIS GROUP: Thank you for having me, Becky.
I think what we're seeing more than anything is really strong signaling from the Biden administration that they expect this conflict to be ended
through diplomacy. That they really, really want to signal there is no military solution to this conflict. And it kind of ends this one foot in,
one foot out approach the U.S. has had since the beginning of the conflict.
Since 2015 when the Saudis entered into what was already a civil war and the U.S. chose to halfheartedly support the military campaign while calling
for a political solution. A message fairly clearly now is that the U.S. will be an energetic and potentially aggressive player in using diplomacy
to end the war and signaling that it doesn't think that this is going to be ended militarily, which is, of course, always been the position up until
now. But it's been a bit muddy because of that logistical intelligence support they've lent the coalition. That's the good news.
But the harder part is that just ending support for the campaign, and we still don't know what this means in practice. A lot of the conflict takes
place on the Saudi/Yemeni border, so what's defense and what is offense in the context of this war?
And then the bigger issue, of course, this is a really civil conflict. Multiple factions don't like each other very much. Some of whom refuse the
idea that there can be a political settlement with others.
So, sure, cutting back, shifting towards a more diplomatic approach really welcome, clarifies a lot of things. But the hard work as the cliche goes,
probably begins now.
ANDERSON: Yeah. You could argue that it's a relatively easy sell this one for Joe Biden at home given that there has been sort of bipartisan
condemnation to a certain extent of what has been going on in Yemen.
So where other files may be a harder sell, I'm thinking about Iran, for example, because there's a real divide between Republicans and Democrats as
to how Iran should be handled going forward, Yemen is -- there does seem to be bipartisan support that this conflict needs ending and whatever the
state might do to help that would be a good thing. I wonder whether you believe or understand that the U.S. will also end support with
counterinsurgency operations, specifically those against ISIS, for example, in Yemen.
The reason I ask this is because one of the lines that we've been discussing tonight here on this show is from Biden when he says investing
in our diplomacy isn't something we do just because it's the right thing to do for the world. We do it in order to live in peace, security and
prosperity. We do it because it's in our own naked self-interest.
Counterinsurgency operations that the U.S. supports around the world, not least those against ISIS, you would expect Joe Biden to believe were in the
interest of American security, correct?
SALISBURY: That's right. And again, in the speech yesterday, he was very clear in saying that the U.S. will continue to support counterterrorism
operations inside Yemen and that really he -- the limitations they're going to place on support, cooperation, will be for the offensive aspect of a
Saudi-led campaign in Yemen.
And again, sort of parsing the language, we've actually just got the top line statements right now. And it will probably take days or weeks for real
detail of what this means in practice to emerge. But they've been very clear, I think, in saying they'll continue to cooperate on counterterrorism
in Yemen.
ANDERSON: The designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization in the sort of dying embers of the Trump administration is a decision that
will be reviewed by Antony Blinken, the new secretary of state -- again, sort of wide-ranging condemnation of that decision by the Trump
administration. Not least from the agencies who say they just won't be able to get their humanitarian work done if that designation continues.
Your sense, your thoughts?
SALISBURY: Sure. So my organization, the International Crisis Group, was very critical of the decision. Largely on the basis of the humanitarian
impact and particularly, in particular, the effect on commercial flows of goods into a country that requires imports for 90 percent of its wheat, of
its rice, of these really important staples and where the country is already sort of entering into this starvation crisis which has been one of
the really important themes and one of the things people have paid the most attention to in Yemen.
A really challenging decision for the administration to make is whether or not to continue with the effective suspension of implementation of the
legal aspects of this designation. So at the end of January, they issued a one-month license that basically says, look, we're not going to implement
this thing in terms of prosecuting people for working with the Houthis. Obviously, the clock is now ticking on a decision to continue that
suspension to revoke it.
And the problem is a political one in many ways. Some people are very much in favor of this on the basis that it creates leverage with the Houthis.
They argue that if you release it at the same time as ending support for Saudi operations, then that's a clear signal to the Houthis that they're
winning out of all of this.
And the other issue is a political one. Domestically, let's say you revoke the designation. On Tuesday, and there's an attack on Riyadh airport that
kills Americans the next day, that doesn't look too great.
ANDERSON: Yeah.
SALISBURY: But I think that purely from this humanitarian standpoint, there's an imperative here that -- to roll it back and then find other ways
to apply leverage.
ANDERSON: Understand. Peter, always a pleasure. Thank you for joining us.
SALISBURY: Thanks so much for having me back.
ANDERSON: We wanted to do a deep dive on Yemen as a singular pillar, it seems, out of the speech from Joe Biden last night.
[10:40:07]
Until enough people take that vaccine, things are going to continue to look a lot like they did at the Aussie Open which had to put a pause on things -
- well, the -- until just after one person tested positive. We'll see what happened when the players were back on the clay, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: With concerts all but halted around the world, the music industry has had to find new ways to entertain audiences and, of course,
stay afloat.
So, now, French DJ David Guetta has been performing a series of free online concerts from Miami to New York, and recently, on the helipad of Dubai's
iconic Burj Al Arab Hotel.
So, naturally, my team decided that was a good place to catch up with Mr. Guetta.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GUETTA, DJ AND RECORD PRODUCER: It's really a matter of imagination. At the beginning, it was a little bit difficult, but after all those
messages -- first, I was not expecting such a success. And then when I saw like the first show with 50 million views on socials, you know, I had all
those people saying thank you, we forgot about everything for a moment. We've been feeling so happy watching this show.
So I'm just happy. I do this because I want to share my love for music and give people a good time. So there's no other way right now. So I'm just
imagining people dancing at home with their kids, with their girlfriends, having a party and, this is how I do it. And also look at this. This is so
spectacular. It's amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that performance will live stream Saturday night. The proceeds will go to UNICEF and Dubai Cares which is an organization that
tracks the impact of COVID-19 on school kids. You can watch it free online on Mr. Guetta's YouTube channel Saturday evening.
We'll have more of that interview with David here on CONNECT THE WORLD next week.
While entertainers are finding new ways to reach their audiences, tennis players Down Under have a full crowd of spectators at the Australian Open.
At least they did until one positive COVID result put them on pause yesterday.
Don, what's the latest?
DON RIDDELL, WORLD SPORT: Well, they're back. They suspended play for Thursday. They're back on Friday. After all the uncertainty, it's quite
reassuring to see something like this.
Nick Kyrgios smashing his racket as if nothing has changed. He hasn't played tennis for about a year. But he's had a couple of run-ins with
authorities this week on the court already. We'll see how he plays in the open next week.
But the main thing, Becky, is, the Australian Open is on. It's starting on Monday.
ANDERSON: Good stuff. More "WORLD SPORT" after this.
(WORLD SPORT)
RIDDELL: Fantastic news, Becky. The tennis is on and really great to see those scenes in Australia with everybody going to the sport and having a
good time and being safe apparently.
ANDERSON: Absolutely. Thank you, Don.
CONNECT THE WORLD with me up next.
[11:00:00]
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