you know as u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and was also secretary of energy in the clinton administration he's currently chairman of avco worldwide global political strategies group and he joins me from washington bill i think for over thirty years you and i have been talking about the middle east and now we have another a tremendous tremendous controversy going on israel now agrees to a humanitarian pause in the airstrikes and after those four children terrible tragedy were killed in gaza over two hundred palestinians have been killed one israeli hamas declines a gym where what do you what's your assessment of all of this. well the good news larry in this turmoil in this tragedy is that egypt is stepping up and playing the role of a mediator as it did before trying to be moderate trying to be helpful to a potential cease fire peace process that's one good point the second good point is

that actually the military operations of israel i think have brought hamas to some kind of bargaining table position i think the initial offer that hamas put out was really an acceptable their conditions for a cease fire but you know larry the whole region is and turmoil we've got the situation in syria what we know why it is this turmoil to accelerate for this israeli hamas to spew to become regional to bring lebanon to bring syria and to bring iran in i think this is a test also of iran wanting to make sure we should want to make sure that iran doesn't mess around and keeps helping the hamas as of the world but it's a very tense situation but i think if anything israel and egypt have been the good . actors in this situation which is very tragic but after those three israeli legs

were killed did israel overreact turning this killing of three into a wholesale almost war. well you know i think larry israel has to defend itself i'm not justifying what they did obviously but you know this is a country that is in a state of siege the hamas is a terrorist organization that wants to see israel destroyed. they've been launching these deadly missiles hamas has and israel i think had to respond now obviously what is needed more than anything is a cease fire before any peace negotiations proceed we need a ceasefire and i think israel is ready to take those steps they did when egypt

made their first proposal now they're saying they're ready for a humanitarian ceasefire i think hamas has to follow suit your ambassador the u.n. words have been at the u.n. right now they did propose that israeli humanitarian relief stop and that israel agreed to that what's going on at the u.n. what's their role here. well there role really in the past larry the united states and other major powers involved in peacemaking in the middle east have kept the u.n. out of the situation because as you know in the general assembly. so many countries are biased against israel their votes i remember being a u.n. ambassador one eighty five to three against israel what the u.n. can do is in the u.n. security council russia china the us france and england can can moderate some kind of peace but if china and russia that have sided decidedly with

the palestinians they would probably be told anything constructive from the u.n. so it's really here the two main players are the united states we have influence from both sides and egypt and that's the good news that egypt is stepping up as a mediator in pushing for this cease fire there are major player what does obama do and is he doing enough. well yes i think what the president has done and what secretary kerry have done is basically said look we're backing via gyptian mediation we're ready to go back i think secretary kerry was going to go back and try to bring both sides together what we can do with larry is get the moderate palestinians the palestinians that live on the west bank be a boss of the world that have been saying the right thing on the ceasefire in other

words enact a ceasefire hamas and lean on hamas but most importantly i think this is another role that iran can play we should say to iran britain france and the other countries look you want to deal on enriching uranium with the west you want sanctions lifted help us with hamas find a way to bring a cease fire stop this killing you know you and i go bad on how many years ago when you were the ambassador to the u.n. it was c.n.n. i was in new york and you were on the iranian ambassador was on the two of you couldn't be in the same room together you had to go out through one door he came in through another door. when is this ever going to end why is the middle east the middle east. because larry there are so many ethnic and tribal and all kinds of divisions there not just country by country of there

there are ethnic there you know the shias the shiites the sunni's the the the kurds hamas there's so much hatred there i think there's got to be a way for the arab spring through social media. to lift all boats to be the agent of democracy and to stop these killings now. i think that the pope can play an important role in the middle east again i think that we need new players that bring some kind of mediating and conflict resolution but when there ron you know i wouldn't throw up our hands there may be an opportunity for an enriched uranium deal i'm skeptical but it's not over yet. how do you see how's our country doing in all of this say compared to when george w. bush left office and we better are we safer now how do you assess security well i

would say larry that security is better although i think president bush george w. bush did a good job on security he did a good job after nine eleven but i think what's different now is we around the world are not looked upon anymore as as bullies as going it alone we've built some alliances but this is a very challenging time with ukraine with north korea with the middle east with iraq erupting you know the president president obama has been dealt some very difficult cards and i would say he's handled them well i think on syria when he said that he was proceeding with that red line i would have moved forward with with some of those strategic the bombings but it didn't happen but at the same time i

think our relationship with our allies a stronger and he's doing the best he can but in a way that brings other countries in to help us but it's a very difficult period the most difficult in international politics that i've ever seen and i'm sure that you've seen the most you totally support of the removal of all troops from iraq still say that was the right moves. i do because i think this was an american public that was tired of iraq and afghanistan i think president obama was elected on bringing our troops home taking care of our veterans investing domestically in education and i do think that invasion in the first place was a mistake that doesn't mean that you wash your hands and not take responsibility you know we invested. over thirty five hundred of our young men and women

one trillion dollars so that doesn't mean we leave troops behind i don't think we should but i think we should help with reconstruction we should find a way to bring the kurds the shias the sunni's closer together i really think the prime minister of iraq larry moloch he has really botched the situation by not being inclusive with the other ethnic groups in iraq i think it would be in our interests if he leave office of a more moderate inclusive prime minister come in so i think we have a responsibility to try to bring some kind of these terrorists that are that are out there only want to do with everybody harm and they're in syria they're in iraq but we have a peacemaking and diplomatic responsibility but that's where we need iran that's where we need russia we need china and that's where i think we need the united

nations more active what's the future of iraq do you think. i think it's going to happen interesting lee what vice president biden once said eight years ago and i remember being in the presidential campaign we said this is never going to happen but he said there's probably going to be three iraqi states a kurdish state a sunni and the shia the one. i think that's a very very possible outcome but it's all the why the migration and the crisis along the u.s. southern border what governor richardson meant said that these are not in the ready for hillary camp when we come back live.

live our lives. by marinate join me. for in-depth impartial and financial reporting commentary cancer news and much much. only on the best and only on our. eye and that. side. and big corporation kind of can. do and the banks and all that all about money and i'm a family that a politician write the laws and regulations that. public health. care

is just too much. of a diet. that. i. know ridge is an old friend and a great public servant he served two terms as democratic governor new mexico served as u.s. ambassador to the u.n. during the clinton administration was also secretary of energy what do you make of this huge influx of fifteen thousand from a hundred or a squat amal el salvador children coming into the united states how are we doing with that. well it. not well and the reason we're not doing well is the congress and the executive branch can agree on how to handle it the atmosphere larry is really gotten partisan and we need you to come back and try to bring both parties together because everybody likes you but the problem is that there is total

gridlock in the congress what needs to happen is several things one i think the president should be given more authority to deal with some of the deportations clear lines of authority not necessarily maybe changing the law but some executive authority but in return the president needs to get what he's asked for which is more immigration judges more detention centers more hospital and medical treatment for these people but also larry tell our friends in central america el salvador guatemala honduras to stop doing this or we're going to cut their aid off you know we're giving them assistance to stop this but this is a humanitarian crisis i was a border governor and this you know happened in new mexico not from central america but there's a lot of traffickers and bad people smugglers that bring these women and children

in they bring drugs in we've got to find a solution but it looks like there may be a deal with the congress the white house makes i think they need to make one fairly soon because we're talking about fifty thousand kids we're talking about services in the various war border states really having an enormous problem the republicans say the obama. technically caused this you agree with that. no no that's not true the problem is that the tea party side of the republican party instead of trying to find a way to work with moderates in the republican party like mccain like even president george w. bush like speaker boehner they said we don't want any immigration reform period and what is needed is one more funding for border security and technology we need

to do that secondly a legal path for the eleven million legal path to citizenship let them stay after they pay back taxes learn english a number of conditions and then stronger renae unification procedures that involve larry something that a lot of people don't talk about we need to have more h one b. visas a skilled immigrants be allowed in you know this reduces the deficit creates jobs there are a lot of skilled immigrants ph d.'s that want to stay here that contribute to science technology a lot of jobs but they can't stay here and there's a provision in the house bill drafted by a republican that. makes the cap a lot easier for these skilled immigrants to stay in the united states would you characterize the southern border as secure as congressman gutierrez is that is the

say it's broken. the immigration system is broken. the border is more secure than it has been because this administration and the congress have put more border guards they've put more technology more drones more law enforcement at the border but it's still a problem interesting lee mexico has cooperated with us in this central america and humanitarian crisis so it takes more diplomacy also for this to happen now there are a lot of congressmen that are saying you know this is bringing abol of diseases viruses that are the current central american crisis that's just flat wrong but what it has come across as more bad people more traffickers and smugglers i would concentrate more on stopping those that actually what they've done larry is

they've taken advantage of a blue loophole passed in the bush administration which was the right thing to do to help young kids not be victims of sexual trafficking at the border but they took advantage of this loophole that allowed these kids to stay in detention centers and be processed over a certain period of time in general as you wrote a piece for c.n.n. dot com you said the stars maybe. for a comprehensive immigration overhaul were wrong. yeah i thought it would happen i thought the republican party would the moderates would win but i was wrong i just think it's too late now though maybe they'll give it a shot next year maybe after the elections the republicans have to be very careful they don't want to lose the millions of new of spanish voters that are going to be

determining presidential elections and congressional seats and right now i mean you take the city where you are los angeles california this is a state that pretty soon will be a majority hispanic state and that's a trend around the country so i think republicans have to be very careful about appearing to be against comprehensive immigration reform in the long run what do you make of speaker john boehner his push to sue obama over overstepping the limits of executive authority. oh it's politics it's it's the wrong thing to do you know i know speaker boehner rice served in the congress with him he's a good guy and i think he's generally tries to do the right thing but this is his tea party majority that is pushing him to do these very nonsensical acts

that have no foundation there's no basis for impeachment you don't impeach a president because you disagree with them and that's what's happening it's not going to go anywhere i think it's internal house politics that's all where do you think the election's going to go midterm can republicans take the senate back. no but i think we will lose one or two senate seats but i think the democrats will win and will keep control of the senate the house may be will change a little bit either way larry i don't think it's over i think right now i see all these polls that i republicans may have an advantage but you know it's the selection is five months away a lot can happen in those five months but right now i do think we will retain the democrats controlled the senate your assessment of obama's presidency.

he's been a good president internationally he's been domestically he's been stymied by partisanship but i give him high marks for his affordable care act i give him high marks for getting us out of the economic mess at the start of his administration i give him high marks for his leadership on social issues like same sex marriage i think he's been a good president i used been dealt a very tough blow by partisanship but he's still got two years to go i don't think the pinal chapters of his legacy are completed yet. in the campaign six years ago you endorse the president obama you recently told the washington post of the differences because that adores would have not healed and you're not in the suck up camp for hillary yet how bad is that cleavage.

well it's not good i mean i had a very high regard for both clintons and you know when i endorsed president obama they weren't happy and i understand that and i tried to explain this to them i try to meet with them they wouldn't they weren't interested i still have a lot of respect for both but i was simply stating larry that i'm not one of these that feel that i have to suck up to anybody i want to see who the candidates are i think there should be open competition i knows hillary clinton is a formidable candidate i'm not it's not that i won't ever be there but right now i'm not one of those hundreds of democrats flocking and saying the race is over you know i think we still have a couple of years to go and instead of worrying about the presidential race we should worry about this year keeping the house keeping the senate and protecting our flanks in the house instead of worrying about twenty sixteen in the presidency

if she is the candidate though you would support her right. yes i would yeah if she's the nominee i would support her and you know maybe maybe if when she unveils her platform or her vision for the country i might also supporter i'm not going to let this this. breach that we had stand in that way but i'm also not going to like go after her and say hey i want to be on your team no i like many other voters i'd like to. you know be be convinced about her plans and vision for the country does bill clinton does he not forgive. well he's still mad at. you know he's sad differences with some some of his former staffers but what's so far yes and forgive it be i'll be honest i still have

a lot of affection for him you know i served under him he was good to me i was good to him i served them well you know in politics larry you you know you sometimes have these breaches and it takes time to heal this one has been unusually long but if he wishes to keep it separate and in a breach so be it i'm not uncomfortable i'm not. fine i'm happy your state has supported same sex marriage the seventeen state to do so do you support it. yes actually you know when i was governor larry we made it a lot easier for the state in dealing with transgender gay gave a lot of benefits in the area of this civil rights housing insurance etc we're quite not yet. same sex marriage a lot of counties have done it individually but my hope is that the state moves in

that direction with a comprehensive effort in the new mexico legislature or by some other means that was a cinema and. now i you know i as governor i brought in medical marijuana i think for medicinal for health purposes properly regulated makes sense but the legalization of marijuana i want to see how colorado handles it washington state i think they're moving in the right direction but you know i want to be able to see that legalization is not marijuana i would only possibly consider decriminalizing it but you know cocaine other drugs i'm not ready for that i i want law enforcement to be comfortable with a solution and you know they don't want to change the law leaves office or those on the front lines but i think clearly the country is moving and i accept that and i

want to see what happens what medical information there is on the potential health risks and i'll be very open on it but a way to look great how much weight of you last. well i had back surgery and i was carrying too much weight i've lost about forty pounds but thank you for the compliment i'm trying to look skinny and handsome like you you would. only get together again and break bread. thank you larry it's always great to be on your show my pleasure governor bill richardson thanks for your time today and also my thanks to you for joining me on politicking remember i want to hear from you you can join the conversation on my facebook page share your thoughts on twitter like. it's all listening.

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