is it the lack of the business. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle it's a new year but the same stories persist out front is the chaotic trump white house followed by the steel dossier and a possible breakthrough with north korea. in the new year i'm joined by my guest mark lobo that he's an international affairs and security analyst and we have to me he's a political analyst we spoke nick international ok gentlemen as always crosstalk rolls in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate

let's talk about michael wolff fire in fury i look at it is basically political gossip something that something's in there we've already suspected but one of the things i thought was interesting that i pulled from the exit i haven't read the book i haven't seen the whole thing but you know when we have these conversations with steve bannon the former strategist. and being thrown to the curb later by mr trump the collusion with israel again this story pops it doesn't get a whole lot of coverage because people want to hyperventilate about how crude or rude or simple minded or stupid the president is but there are little nuggets coming out here that the mainstream just isn't interested in the well first i was puzzled by the admission. that i'm going to quote him. certain segments of this. presidency in this book were false and that was reduced to make up their own minds well that's not

a term that's not journalism markedly riyadh. i don't want to waste a lot of time and gossip yeah well he specifically said that a lot of what he says in the book quotations and so on contradicts each other and that some of the people were flat out lying to him. and that in some areas he's going to let the readers decide what is true in other areas he's going to decide on a narrative that he believes and this guy is a charlatan he's a flim flam man he's he's he's selling scandal to an audience a resistance liberal media audience they want to believe it's like fox more i want to believe now this is a review of one of his earlier books in the new republic hardly you know a center left magazine much to the annoyance of wolf's critics the scenes of his columns aren't recreated so much as created springing from wolfson magination

rather throw from actual knowledge of events even wolf acknowledges that conventional reporting isn't his bag but rather his absorbs the atmosphere and gossip surrounding him a cocktail parties on the street and especially during those long lunches at michaels he's around town enough to have those insights to spot people to come across pieces of information he also has a talent for making the most of even the briefest encounters his great gift is the appearance of intimate access i think we got that we got the flavor of the reactions to the book and the excerpts that people are talking about i think as well also really interesting is that maybe what is different in this year we started last year where everyone is an expert on all things related to russia which virtually none of them are experts they hardly learned anything about russia through the course of two thousand and seventeen but two thousand and eighteen is

now the mainstream media they're all psychologists ok that they can. the judge the the mental health of the president of the united states again the russias scandal story is fizzling out we'll talk about that later in the program and now i know it's the president's mental health that's the new story i think there are of course questions some dramas behavior even though i think that the fact that he had d.p.p. and. this will be on the good side of his presidency as well as the fact that he wouldn't skeptics admit that he did more than a factor and drops back to the united states and the last five presidents we have to admit it but. you're talking about facts. this is the media doesn't talk about ok this is what the problem is it was here is it that this is what i'm getting at here is that they don't want to look at facts they want to look they want their narrative to be prevalent and they reinforce it twenty four seven

this is the time once again for the time honored tradition of american partisan political dysfunction where the side that lost the election starts accusing the side that won the election be that the president being that the people that elected him of being crazy is there's nothing you know you know it's every president since nixon nixon ford carter reagan bush clinton they have all had their questions their sanity their mental health questions in the mainstream media but to this degree it has never happened and here's the thing and i think what's really interesting here in a much broader sense is that this whole idea of the loyal opposition is disappearing it's disappearing in the new liberal world and that is a huge threat to the system because if i dislike you then you're you know you

lack morality so it's not that we disagree is that you're evil and this is you know having. a loyal opposition is the key the foundation to political stability in the west it has been for. well that's disappearance degree d.h. no institutions. i'm sorry it's a destruction of democracy because i would remember very well despite all of the differences between say bush sr and clinton when clinton won the election bush said no we will all stand behind the president and that was normal but there was and i know you know i can't even imagine a bomb of saying that and when he said something similar in the first three or four days after the election everyone understood he's going to say different thinks it will lead to. the election to inauguration the obama administration did everything in their power to trip up the incoming president let's change gears talk about north korea an interesting. set of events occurring here in the north in the south

are going to start some kind of engagement here it looks like the russian chinese plan for a freeze for free is the north koreans would hope their program if the united states and south korea would stop maneuvers in the snow so to trump when this winter is he being outwitted go ahead i think he's just being ignored maneuvered around the north korean government has what it wants it now has a nuclear deterrent which the u.s. has given every indication that despite all the rhetoric and bluster coming out of the white house the defense secretary and trump's tweets of course that it is not willing to sacrifice millions of south koreans to prevent north korea from having a nuclear deterrent so. now north korea and south korea are now actually starting to sit down and talk directly to each other rather than the hub and spoke type relationship or foreign policy u.s. would prefer that south korea only do what it says it with regards to north korea

when. interesting things are demands that you know you won't get this in mainstream media but the south koreans are reminding everyone that they are a sovereign state and they have the right to determine therefore i think they're reminding themselves absolutely who would you know if you look at western media coverage in the politicos in washington they're quite bewildered by this because it's the south koreans taking the initiative oh my goodness they have historical agency new that's true but how did the whole story begin south koreans just indicated that they had the letter they had a message from north koreans suggesting to reestablish connection you know fax connection at a twenty connection so basically the south koreans did what the north koreans asked them maybe you can still do they started talking and they at least checked the fax machine and that already made things so well i would bet that no north korean athletes north korean team may go to your own child for that into games

unfortunately the russian olympic team will not be allowed to do that it shows you how absurd the modern world has become but if you look at the history of the problem i think the south korean story is very important it's very important what you mentioned south korea was allowed to become rich in the seventy's and eighty's by the united states as a deterrent against north korea against china against the soviet union. no new country itself to south korea where a lot to become reach even when they became said the words of the nato to really ensure remember trading relations with the united states the timing that even as a chorus and. their members will not allow what is really interesting to me you know i mentioned that the russian chinese idea and then you have a south korean you have north korea if this is it's going back to what it should have been all along a regional problem resolved by the countries in the region not an outsider

determining what south korea's foreign policy and events have to be should be and it is. if you point out that both russia and show you know both have good relations with both of these countries more or less right and that all four of these countries stand to benefit primarily economically from improved relations between north and south korea russia would like to supply energy to south korea they want a transport corridor through north korea providing south korea access directly through russia to your beautiful your markets there is every potential here if they manage to push the u.s. with its big big button out of the way. that there could be a real breakthrough you know we have to start with baby steps of course in relations between north and south korea brokered by russia and china which both stand to benefit from reunification and eventually you will feel

a need to unlike when you look at the four players here what's being initiated and we've seen you know false starts before but everybody in the four countries they're basically going to get everything they want well and that's really quite remarkable because it's done through diplomacy well we've had a similar story with syria how to monthly who is now resolving the problem why is the fighting dying little by little iran russia. and two in essex eleven ok so the country is that close to syria that have an interest in syria been peaceful there of course much more capable of bringing peace to that region then the outside i think solely to ukraine as well to see that there's a little bit of thing going to which it seems that eventually we'll continue our discussion on stories in the new year stay with our team.

match geysers financial survival guide liquid assets are those that you can convert in success to keep in mind though as a tremendous place to watch guys record. the two thousand and eight economic crisis turn some countries into pigs these are the countries with weaker economies that needed austerity policies if you are in a situation of low bloat even the recession austerity is a very bad idea it doesn't work and it makes millions of people very unhappy those who are unemployed see their wages decline almost a decade how good are the results she saw all of these were providing people gathered in which to watch her all good people with your daughter julie. to be in full view she had to still plumbers i mean if

a legal. challenge lasted more than this she did not was always think they see something and not getting it while the same mission is still in place to one of the consequences to weaken blue bird flu disputable who will first be one of the suits the truth be considered is the consequences are actually quite acceptable to the decision maker. i had a great education a good job and a family that lope me. i never had to worry about how i would eat somewhere i would speak. i'm facing christmas alone out on the streets of london. going to look to europe because. i cut the glory like a fool you know just wanted to still give up food for the homeless. for.

which you don't really feel like you being in that. and then. the guy just came over to me saw me and gave me a change of his pocket. welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i'm peter lavelle to remind you we're discussing stories in the new year. ok gentlemen let's move on to the united nations and iran and we know that the at

the end of two thousand and seventeen in the beginning part of this year there were a number of protests in iran and we saw a flurry of particularly. congressional officials and course the media. excited about the possibility of giving freedom to the iranian people they didn't really understand the story and these were economic protests and when push came to shove there were a lot more pro-government protests going out and supporting of the government here then you had the humiliation of the united states again in the security council when most of the permanent members saying what are we doing here why are we here it's an internal problem for iran to resolve the united states again standing completely alone of course the iranians were claiming there's some kind of colored revolution that we're it was in the works we've seen this play book before but it's

very interesting the isolation of the united states when it came comes to around this this is a complete fail for washington and the trump administration particularly nikki haley she has no friends there are apparently and there is a political scientist in the united states michael brown that he basically rolled on this we leave from obsession to obsession from russia china iran north korea. to cross but iran is the obsession that has been going on for thirty years so when you are obsessed about something you get to judge. what's going on that iran is a complicated cunt. there are different groups basically and some of these groups are demanding things which are quite contrary to what the states want you know that there are conservatives in the run who want to go on to be more conservative than it is no and the figures twelve people killed during the protests there were days

but then let the states by its drone attacks killed more people i mean i guess it all really interesting thing here mark is that when they were vents going on in ferguson there wasn't no one in the with the russians the chinese or the french or the british they didn't call for the united nations security council to convene because there were riots inside the united states but the united states seems to think that each it has the moral responsibility to protect protesters in iran when they don't even predict their own people at home good that's exactly what the russian representative to the united nations and the united nations chastised nikki haley about should be should that investigate further should and should we invested by investigate occupy wall street or these matters for internet and what happened with that shooting in las vegas i'd like to know something about that maybe the u.n. can help us find out what happened. in ferguson i think would be a good idea. these protests are completely there's hasn't been a story since russia gate well i mean there are so many of them stories actually

that the press has gotten so wrong and the press was baiting the press the commentary at the foreign policy blog in the u.s. where babying as one regime change regime change freedom i mean really iranians of course is they want the sanctions to. force the uranium people to change the regime and now they're saying that they want to help the people of iran that they completely contradictory to the rebbe know what they said in the past i'm old enough to remember john mccain just a few years ago singing. bomb bomb iran so tell me again how much the u.s. figures in the in the u.s. government care about the people of iraq and their freedom but. these protests actually started. outside of tehran this wasn't the green protest again this is an urban middle class these are working class poor in small cities in iran that were angry about subsidies and benefits being removed by the popular moderate prime

minister just recently reelected in a landslide rouhani and. there is some indication that they actually have the support of conservatives within the government because this is seen as a neo liberal move as they please in this way and the conservatives are more economically left but some people say these protests tests were more than hijacked by violent armed rioters others say that there was actually some small parallel riots going on that were trying to do under the cover of the protests but the government actually reacted fairly moderately and rouhani said the people have a right to protest as long as they're peaceful i don't think this was the reaction that the u.s. wanted and i think they of course they had their color revolution figure in the game and any suggestion that they weren't involved at some level in these riots is absurd when it does say it is the iran is on the agenda it's on the menu for. the

deep state in their. colleagues in israel they think that they definitely want to see that they don't make a secret out that would and of course you would just imagine what would happen if you reacted to her son in the same way i think these reports in russia that is a breach of human rights or they should be investigated these reports would be looked up born under a microscope by this how did they try to influence the political process and that was actually part of the you know. anger that dared to cover occupy and we did a great job lives ferguson i'm very proud of all right let's change gears. here. the russia gate still kind of moves along though its parameters are or are thinning . here but one story that stays with us and i think we should have been at the very center of it is the fusion g.p.s. christopher dossier we have republican congressional officials coming out saying

they want an investigation of this parallel we have a new investigations into the clinton foundation three of them possibly four here so both are fine have a life of their own mark here but i'm really really think this fusion g.p.s. thing is the key to it this is the this is the glue that has the entire russia gate conspiracy theory how is it pulls it all together going you know there's a big broad legal pushback that's the story at the beginning of this year against russia gate. metaphor is suing the f.b.i. special investigator mueller for stepping outside the boundaries of anything to do with the election trump russia gate and going back in through his tax records from from more than a decade ago so he's calling for judicial review of the powers that mueller has we have the clinton foundation is now being investigated for corruption for taking

me to play songs of money from saudi arabia and other gulf countries while the u.s. was arming these countries to the hilt we have this investigations are being called for into both krista first steal this this former british spook for hire that was hired by the d.n.c. and later essential picked up by the f.b.i. if they were at least paying his expenses to create opposition research it initially interesting how the new york times gave. fusion g.p.s. a little bit. space to redeem themselves are in the article generates second tier of the republican speak investigation by glenn simpson and peter i think that's how you pronounce his name and here they say. in the years since the publication of the so-called steele dossier the collection of intelligence reports we commissioned

about donald trump's ties to russia this is a fabrication this is fake this is fake it wasn't a collection of intelligence reports that is this is opposition research completely different ok and they're trying to pass it off as being the same thing and you have the failing new york times carrying water profusion g.p.s. this is a complete scam on many different well the new terms have been so shameless in its campaign against trump for over a year but you know i think two years is just it's impossible to read them because out of nine. they get in my meal you know or. eight i think. trump is bad but i think there is an interesting point here i think it's comical when the same time tragic poor mind of what they would have made of what it wanted to make pro-american president or the ukraine he wants. to turn against drugs

when he comes to power and for their you know they decided they really rewarded to destroy actually now. that matter for all their so now he is suing he is going to war. i don't know usually the virtue in politics metaphor was making a lot of money and so through the protest of brothers and everybody else ok it's all about that it's all about influence in money so you know making him into a pro-american president will tell you how much you would get paid going i have to disagree with you about have no problem with the new york times taking out hit piece after hit be something i don't drop because there. a lot of domestic policies environmental concerns that he frankly deserves it on but what i do have a problem with is them pursuing against all reason all evidence this russia gates scandal as the because you weren't popular. within australia to implement

and spewed. garbage to make him look make himself look important a year later there is no evidence of collusion there isn't even any more evidence that russia actually did anything to hack or interfere with the election and still this witch hunt goes on they keep generating more smoke more smoke they're hoping to carry this whole partisan. mccarthyite of fear into right into the mid-term elections to give them both energy and then if they manage to take back both houses jump right into partisan political impeachment oh my goodness we've got what we've got eleven months to wait what are you just don't expect any actual evidence of collusion what i mean they have already had over a year. of spinning their wheels i mean it's quite amazing that this story continues to go on without any basis in fact go ahead you before we're going to grow well i think it's not just that story you just repeat

a certain assertion and then people finally will start believing it it was the same with this so-called mcclaren report that leads using drugs no proof whatsoever not a shred of evidence but since the russians did not refute it as the head of their international community know said it must be true in the same way no shred of evidence of russian collusion in the election but since the russians did not present evidence denying it it must be true so negative negative negative evidence proving a negative this is really saying here is that. really it's that is a really good good reflection on the media. you're ok they do what they have to do is you you're guilty and you have to prove your innocence so exactly ok gentlemen that's all we have time for many thanks to my guests here in moscow and thanks to our viewers for watching us here this is the end of our broadcast segment stay with us for the extended version on our you tube channel see you next time remember.

in two thousand and sixteen the panama papers show the world with a tax haven the secrets to trillion united states dollars passed through most. in the amount of time that we've been in the panama papers exposure that's what it shows a lot of money it really is. journalism it's an act of journalism looking at things that people want to keep secret and i'm asking why would they want to keep these things secret. millions of most like from documents where examine. all the people we basically have tried to get an advantage out of this sort of

newspaper. and probably other politician which were. other politicians the media would point to find their targets such as the kings of morocco and saudi arabia the president of argentina several prime ministers. and russian president vladimir putin of course. that's had so i have sued so many newspapers for defamation some things don't just happen by chance he was very striking there were no more americans to go specially. of people from the brics countries specially brazil russia and china that their special project reveals what was missed in the media coverage. the panama chronicles. in the heart of the swiss alps this is

a place probably more secretive than the pentagon more mysterious than the cia and better guarded than for knox ellis was customs are here permanently all the site is controlled by them and they impose the opening times so if. it was abducted from his office the procedures in place of the strictest in all europe masterpieces by artists like pecan so and modigliani are camped boards and sold inside this warehouse that's where the report comes in it covers up deals which are naturally discreet commercially discreet effect but also discreet because they concern fraud from some of those paintings are linked to dark secrets nobody knows how many of these secrets a kept inside the geneva freeport system position that he will never obtain an inventory of all the works in the freeport who knows how many there are three hundred three thousand three hundred thousand is it a matter of confidentiality only is it the world's black box of the art business.

i.