north and south korea are holding their first formal talks about two years after donald trump claimed his top. aide the meeting possible. israel's prime minister binyamin netanyahu faces mass protests over corruption allegations with thousands marching in the streets of tel aviv. and new coalition talks are in full swing in germany until a multiple attempts to end what sunday with the country's worst political crisis in years. the latest on the story. stay with us to cross talk debating the latest revelations from the white house in washington the u.k. or ireland but i think it's. a

low in welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter all about 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 he's an international affairs and security analyst and we have to he's a political analyst we spoke nick international ok gentlemen as always crosstalk rules and i think that means you can jump in anytime you want my always appreciate let's talk about michael wolf's 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 up 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 david well first i was puzzled by the admission. that actually i'm going to quote him. certain segments of this. presidency in this book were false and i was reduced to make up their own minds well that's not

a term that's not journalism marco's was your reaction to i don't want to waste a lot of time on 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 in 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 wants 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 wolf's imagination

rather it's from actual knowledge of events even wolf acknowledges that convention . you know reporting isn't his bag but rather to absorb the atmosphere and gossip surrounding it 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 excerpt that people are talking about i think is were 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 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 question of some 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. drops back to the united states than the last five presidents would have to admit it but. you're talking about facts. this is the media doesn't talk about 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 seventh's this is the time once again for the time honored tradition of

american partisan political. 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 for 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 here somewhere 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're 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. a millennium well that's disappearance degree deviation of institutions that i'm sorry it's in destruction of democracy because i 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 things 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. program if the united states and south korea would stop maneuvers in the slow so did trump win this one or is he being outwitted go ahead i think he's just being ignored did move around the north korean government has what it wants it now has a nuclear deterrent which the us 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

one of the interesting things here damon is 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 honestly 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 a message from north koreans suggesting to reestablish connection you know fax connection and joining 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 mate to challenge for that in big games

unfortunately the russian olympic team will not be allowed to do that they chose you how absurd the more than world has been. tom but if you look at the history of the program i think the south korean story is very important it's very important what you mention 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 to it so don't they don't because it would ensure remember trading relations with the united states you get the timing that it is a chorus and do it even if it costs them a bit as well but a lot of what is really interesting creatures and you know i mentioned in the russian chinese idea and then you have a south korean you have north korea if this is what 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 defense has to be should be if you

point out that both russia and china 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 you know 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 oh 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 the fighting and dying little by little iran russia. and to an f. sixteen level ok so the country is that close to syria that's kind of in the interest in syria been peaceful they're of course much more capable of bringing peace to that region then the outside i think solely to ukraine as well i see there's a little bit of thinking about it with that or that short break we'll continue our discussion on stories in the new year stay with our team.

seems wrong. well we just don't. let me. get to see palin just be active. and engaged because the trail. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. i had a great education a good job and a family that loved me. i never had to worry about how i would eat and where i would speak. i'm facing christmas alone out on the streets of london. well you look

to be honest because i thought the boy like you going to school you know the slogan though still give up food for the homeless. that you don't really feel like you have the big you know. and then. the guy just came over to me saw me and gave me a change of this book. here's what people have been saying about redacted and this is. the only show i go out of my way to. really pack them. yeah.

the same. apparently better than. i see you never heard of. jack to the next president of the world bank. sent us an email. welcome back across the uk where all things 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 we know that the at the end of two thousand and seventeen in the beginning part of this year when there were a number of protests in iran and we saw a flurry of particularly. congressional officials and course the media. get

all. 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 feel 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 whom i work

a lot of michael brown that he basically rolled on this we leave from obsession to obsession from russia china iran north korea even a swell who dares to cross uncle sam but iran is the only obsession that has been going on for thirty eight years so when you are obsessed about something you. judge. it what's going on that iran is a complicated country 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 and to be more conservative than it is now and the figures twelve people killed during the protests there were days but then they just these by its drone attacks killed more people. just thinking 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 protect their own people at home 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 invest to buy investigate occupy wall street or these matters for internet when i'm aware that shooting in las vegas i'd like to know something about that maybe the u.n. can help us find out what happened. and 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 well i mean really

iranians of course if they wanted sanctions to force the arabian people to change the regime and now they're saying that they want to help the people of iran that they completely contradictory their even know what they said in the past just 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 o'collins 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 together 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 were 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 and there. there are. colleagues in israel they definitely want to see if they don't make a secret out that would and of course you would just imagine what would happen to them in the same way i think these reports in russia that. breach of human rights

are they should be investigated these reports would be well looked up born under a microscope and. this how did they try to influence the political process and that was actually part of the. anger that dared to cover occupy and we did a great job ferguson i'm very proud of our team 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 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 through his tax records from that 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 . of money from saudi arabia and other gulf countries while the us 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. us a little bit of. space to redeem themselves in the article in january. the republicans fake 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 for a fusion 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 that because . they get that in my me all you know. nine eight i think. trump is bad but i think there is an interesting point here i think it's 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 wanted to. turn against dry show. when it comes to paula and for that you know they decided they really were awarded to just throwing actually now. that metaphor going mad over there so now he is suing

he is going to war against him is going to get ok i don't usually with virtue in politics metaphor it 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 i you know making him into a pro-american president ok maybe kind of how much you would get paid going i have to disagree with you but i have no problem with the new york times taking out hit piece after hit be something i don't drop because there's 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 were popular. within australia and spewed. garbage to make it. look and porton 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 affair 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 for them are you just don't expect any actual evidence of collusion but 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 do. pete certain assertion and then people finally will start believing that it was the same with the so called mcclaren report that misleads using drugs no proof whatsoever not a shred of evidence but since the russians did not treat you that the international

community now 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. really a that is a really good reflection on the media here ok they do what they do you have to do is you you are 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 in r.t. 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. unfortunately it appears that once people learn that you've reported

a sexual assault or may have been involved in an incident that they become scared of you instead of being scared of the perpetrator. like for many clubs over the years so i know the gang and so i got. the ball isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the super money. and spending to the twenty million. it's an experience like nothing else because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful guy greek so what more chance for. the thinks it's going to. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of

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to. have always been lucky had a great education a good job and enough money to live on. my nuts worry about where i would sleep i could eat but now i'm facing christmas alone. streets. to come to this. but maybe this is some of the hotel i bought some you know disappointed in the food still give up food for the most of. her life.