florida high school as we mentioned police on their twitter page asked students and teachers earlier to remain barricaded inside the building were looking. more law enforcement coming from their vehicles to join their colleagues at that school i can confirm those earlier pictures whether or not they where students who are leaving school whether or not because that would be leaving time around three thirty in the afternoon school would be coming to a close that there would be still a lot of students within the school because we're thinking this occurred for the first time maybe around an hour ago or so so that would be just before school was ending for the day just to update some information that we have all this according to the broward sheriff's office the shooter remains large that was a tweet around ten minutes ago donald trump has been informed that there is an

active situation that school we heard of confirmation of at least twenty people are injured that's from the margate fire department a local fire department in the area on the shooter is still at large wearing a burgundy shirt or sweater and is described as a white male. ok so these are the latest pictures we're seeing from there police say one of the exits or entrances in the area at that news helicopter about media culture just keeping a close and what's coming in there at the moment ok we will be keeping a very close eye on this story in the coming hours as well any and all updates keep it locked here at r.t. we shall bring it to. you. ok so that is the situation there the moment next is peace on the korean peninsula

edging closer or is the thawing of relations during the ongoing winter olympics a temporary rest by delves into the movement. i i. i. i. i.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things considered i'm peter lavelle the games have begun the younger sister of north korea's kim jong un has captured the attention of the media while u.s. vice president mike pence was mocked as a dud even undiplomatic the two careers are engaging each other this makes the washington foreign policy few.

cross the koreas i'm joined by my guest brian becker in washington he's the director of the answer coalition as well as host of loud and clear a daily new show on radio sputnik and in columbus we have gregory illich he is a korea policy institute associate or a german cross-like rules and i think that means you can jump in anytime you want i always appreciated brian let me get me go to you here i'm sure you saw some of the mainstream corporate is coverage of the opening of the games and the what appears to be is some kind of reproach moment between the two koreas but i thought a lot of that coverage has really missed the point in the what's really important here is not if the two koreas can actually engage each other because well they are but how much is the united states willing to go along with this and gauge meant here because the united states has an awful lot at stake with its presence in south

korea and its own not only about north korea's nuclear program go ahead brian well peter i believe that we're at a pivotal moment because the attempt by the south korean government the moon giant government that came about as a consequence of very popular uprising that overthrew the old committee and led to the impeachment of the last conservative government and he. wants to have a rapprochement lessening of tensions and possibly the beginning of real reconciliation on the korean peninsula between north and south korea this happened as happened in the past that happened certainly in the year two thousand madeleine albright was dispatched by bill clinton to pyongyang kinde junk went and met with kim jong il who was kim jong un's father then head of north korea but when there was taking place at that time it was with washington's blessing and as a consequence we see right now and this is why i consider this to be

a pivotal moment it's a test of whether or not the south korean government which is clearly looking over its shoulder to see how. much resistance it's getting from washington will be able to finally take a step to emerge as a truly sovereign entity and able to carry out with in korean politics and on the korean peninsula its own policy. it's a shame you certainly don't see north korea looking over its shoulder to see whether russia or china approves of its moves but here you have south korea with tens of thousands of american troops still in south korea and they they arrived in september one thousand nine hundred five they're still there. north korea doesn't have foreign troops on its soil so that is the big test will south korea be able to resist the pressure from washington it's the republicans it's the democrats it's the military industrial complex it's the cia none of that none of those institutional power centers in washington want there to be a real raw approach mind taking place in korea by koreans without the supervision

of the americans gregory would weigh in on that because you know what what leeway does south korea have to make any kind of reproach with the north if there is a mutual engagement in any engagement that is real ok i mean i think western viewers tend to forget is that these are the two countries that could suffer the most if there is a complex here they have a real vested interest to start sitting down and deescalating what would has been happening over the last few months here so what is the leeway the south koreans have gregory in columbus police you know of course we don't know what kind of discussions are going on behind the scenes between trump and and i imagine there's an enormous amount of pressure being applied on wednesday and however you know if you look back through former president normal here on the south korean president during the time of george w. bush he also with faith in north pressure from the united states you know he went ahead went to pyongyang about kim jong you know and he find

a theory of economic agreement when you're here with a much more forthright. warming relations with north korea have been windsor you and ruth seems rather to cost of to me so i don't know if the nature of who the third threats that are going on behind the things one can only speculate but it is in the interests of the korean people both north and south that means that you act now and take the lead improving relations between the two koreas and and accepting the open hand from the north koreans regardless washington's it's the korean people who would pay the price if trump reaches a war with north korea and people who are currently paying the price of economic. structure and caused by truly to coney and sanctions i think it's time for thought create a committee you know brian you hear in the in western media is that. north korea is

trying to be a wedge between two breakaway the united states and in south korea but it's actually the united states is the wedge between north korea and south korea go ahead it's just amazing i mean korea has been a unitary entity with a with a common culture for so long for thousands of years in fact and here because north south koreans want to talk to north koreans and vice versa that's a wedge for america which is thousands of miles away it shows the arrogance and hubris and i would say the racism the architectural racism of the of the whole paradigm whereby south korea does not have the right to carry out its own independent negotiations you are right peter the wedge in korea is the united states korea was divided at the thirty eighth parallel because a couple of americans who didn't know anything about korea drew a line and they showed it to their soviet counterparts and the two sides agreed that there would be two zones of control in the korean peninsula and then five

years later when soviet troops and american troops had temporarily for the soviets permanently left the korean peninsula there was a war and the war began in. june one nine hundred fifty it was the unsettled issue of the post-war configuration north korea had considered itself to be an independent anti japanese colonial fighting force and the south korean government was created by the americans and it was just the lackeys of the south of the japanese who were put into place in a world by virtue of a military dictatorship now we have a situation where the united states does not want to give up its control over south korea because south korea one is an important military base for the united states and creates part of a network of bases along with the eleven american bases in japan it's part of the ongoing asia pivot so-called that obama announced but really has been going on for a lot longer since before then so the united states is a fearful that south korea could become independent that's the real issue what does

north korea want north korea wants the security guarantee they want to and the u.s. south korean military exercises that simulate the destruction of their country that take place twice a year there's a possibility for a negotiated outcome here if there's one obstacle the real obstacle to a negotiated outcome of the korean peninsula crisis is in washington d.c. it's not p.r. or and so greg you know part of the security architecture of south korea is that if there is some kind of conflict a major conflict the entire control of the korean military is under an american four star general i mean as an expert on korea i mean how does that sit with the korean population when they know that you know it's going to be the united states ultimately it's going to control that determine their security future and then you have. reaching out its hand we don't know if it's real we don't know if it's genuine we don't know if this is just a ploy i mean it's a small step optics or something but i mean how does south korea feel about that i

mean maybe at one time they needed that kind of security guarantee but it's well it's a very. powerful rich country. how does that play into their thinking about dealing with north korea go ahead gregory of course as you mentioned there is the agreement that in war time the u.s. military would take command of south korean forces and actually about was supposed to have been changed multiple times in the past and so that south korea would have control over its own forces in a war time but each time the deadline came the u.s. or conservative korean president postponed it so there's this keeps getting pushed farther and farther into the future and unfortunate we're still stuck in the situation i think right now is probably making south korean people quite nervous when you have very direct with trumpeting ministration who seems to be rather a blip to the harm caused by launching strikes the north korea so i think that

makes people in south korea quite nervous but i think the u.s. military is not in the habit of respecting the wishes of the south korean people or even the thought korean military look at how the u.s. imposed the fat battery on south korea without. prior approval or even his initial knowledge it came as a surprise to him that the u.s. was imposing a battery or a look at how the u.s. refuses to pay the unit costs cleaning up the environment destruct destruction on the military base and since close. i don't think the south korean people are happy about being vulnerable to whatever the u.s. military commands you know what i mean let me go back to brian i mean these tad this thought into missile defense i mean it just makes south korea target you know the u.s. says it's which they are to protect their interests but actually it's not the who witnessed it is targeting the actually this missile system is targeted against china and again korea is right smack in the middle of all this go ahead brian

indeed i mean that stands for the terminal high altitude area defend. mean it provides an anti missile defense so-called for for missiles that are at high altitude if there was a war between north and south korea north korea wouldn't be sending up high altitude missiles. so which is thirty miles from the d.m.z. i mean on its face it's absurd and ridiculous clearly if that is against is designed to threaten china and to threaten russia to achieve what the americans hope to be a first strike capability exercising military supremacy in the future by ringing china and russia with these kind of missile defense programs that make a first strike. first rate assault possible here's another thing and i think greg is right and it's very important that the pentagon rushed to deploy a fad before during the transition between pocky and he and because they thought it

would be a liberal and because the liberals in the opposition inside of south korea didn't want it so they just ran down the throat of the people of south korea i mean clearly ok american guy and i think this is an important hang on hang hold on to that point bryan we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion the korean stay with us. then you don't see what the. what. they collected and. what these votes through only takes place. they. left in the they. said. no to the message that.

if you speak french. just. in america a college degree requires a great deal. that. requires . going through mediation to enter society. sometimes quite literally. want other true colors of universities in the

u.s. . welcome back to crossfire all things considered you were discussing the koreas. ok and now i'd like to bring in our another guest in cambridge he's an assistant professor at breaux college city university of new york as well as a specialist on korea and the asia and asian affairs i welcome professor to the program sorry was a little bit late and i'd like to ask you a very kind of general question here we have after this public ceremony that we had with the north korean delegation meeting with the south the opening up the game so it was very optically rich we can put it that way but after we had that optically rich experience we have very conflicting messages coming out of washington from the

secretary of state taylor saying. we have. vice president pence saying you know he was very brusque i'm sure he was that was. a message that was sent intentionally and then we have what he said maybe we could talk some kind under certain conditions we all know what those conditions are and then we have secretary of state tillerson basically saying no i mean what what is washington saying what kind of message is it sending to the careers if any right now go ahead now right now i think it's a really confusing mess and as you know well you know. state department and all those key decision makers repeatedly highlighted that everything is on the table but everything on the table it seems to have been or they want to emphasize a military option or even regime change on the one hand but at the same time they repeatedly highlighted that united state is ready to talk still u.s.

government position in dealing with north korean crisis is pretty much you know confusing and mixed masses in terms of dealing with kim's i'm going kind of you know so-called you know madman present from to try to deal with you know madman in terms of more mad men kind of you know you know creating uncertainty. but one of the critical problem of the u.s. government is moral lives and international relations of course current regime is a very horrible and condition there is really horrible and disastrous but if we moralize you know russia relations and like you know absolutely right and absolutely wrong so it's kind of approach not good in terms of dealing with a crisis situation. if i go back to gregory in columbus i mean the trumpet ministration is said that it will apply maximum pressure on north korea but also.

i mean i don't see any of the engagement when someone doesn't gauge the south koreans they get snubbed for it. actually did you just think washed. it was caught off food on all of this i mean because we again we have these conflicting reactions coming out of washington go ahead greg i actually don't think there are conflicting reactions coming out of washington so if you read very carefully the washington post article in which with quoted down there in return flight from federal what do you actually think of that being nuclearization have to be and this sort of work because they taken this whole step to the nuclear they think the u.s. is open to talks preliminary talks during which of course the u.s. where the layout of and the actual negotiations greg greg know going to be the reach agreement at one moment but go ahead go ahead go ahead just one more just one more the precondition for negotiations is for north korea to suspend fully do nuclear rights other words give the united states what it wants privately. and you

can begin ok well that's just great brian i mean the north koreans saw what happened to libya they saw what happened in iraq and why in the in a lot of people have speculated that's why they have gone down the nucular road ok i mean why in the world would the north koreans give up this program and expose themselves when they're being threatened with a bloody nose you know seven ways to sunday it's absurd what's coming out of washington now that if they haven't thought it through as usual go ahead brian your question answers itself in fact and north korea won't give up its nuclear program and the united states knows the u.s. won't korea won't give up its nuclear program. and maximum pressure just for our audience to understand what this these these euphemistic terms mean the united states is trying to create famine in north korea when you deprive people of trade in deprive them of food and deprive them of medicine you're trying to create famine

to weaken the government and that's what the u.s. did to iraq before invading iraq sanctions were in place for thirteen years according to the us. as own statistics a million iraqis died because of that and then the us invaded so sanctions and war go hand in hand sanctions an open war we have a situation where north korea not only learned the lesson of iraq it gave up its weapons of mass destruction or libya and then the countries were invaded in the leaders were executed it also is fully aware of what happened to east germany it does not want to be swallowed up by a more internationally connected second half of the country so the north korean government is acutely aware of the imperative need for its own security and that's all it really seeks here is a security guarantee you i wanted to mention one thing peter real quick. lindsey graham represents a certain sector of american public political thinking where he said you know let's

get that war over with yeah you know plays golf with donald trump oh yeah let's get the war over with because all the undying will be over there that it goes back to your earlier question there's kind of a gratuitous you know in moral and ethical position of american policy makers let's have a war because only koreans or japanese or people from the from the asia pacific will die that's a minority sentiment right now but i think it's a sentiment that's playing well trying to convince the trusted ministration to reverse course here when they go down that road and that's why they want to have a parade afterwards ok let me go back to the professor in cambridge doesn't it doesn't the u.s. put itself in a very. difficult situation because it's just really not about south korea and its position there it's all of the other alliances in the pacific and you know the japanese are going to be watching the people in taiwan are going to be watching the philippines etc etc and the because i've always argued against these alliances

because they're too complicated and your alliance partners can pull you into a conflict that you really don't want and but all of these partners going to be looking at the u.s. if the korean some somehow can come to some kind of agreement the united states is going to look weak no matter what the u.s. does it's going to it's going to backfire on itself ok and that's why they continue with this very hard line because of the perceptual b. if you give up on one you will give up on all the others because certainly japan doesn't want to see a united korea go ahead professor right. pointed out a great point and what i wanted to highlight those you know international dimension or regional dimension is quite close related to domestic political dimension as well for instance we need to keep in mind the points in the south korean politics for the past seventy years after the liberation. conservative group dominated korean politics more than sixty years right so the thing is that those conservative

groups in a basic reading point is the anti communism or anti north korea and then those conservative domestic groups quite close are a link to where the american hardliners and hard line position so that kind of link is between the master political dimension in a conservative you know politics and them alliance relationship makes a very complicated so expect a government who will try to slow down and coordinate this no international and domestic political situation all together so it's a very difficult job but i think. the matching the sequence and pacing of into career. alliance called nation would be a critical you know gregory what is look could be next here because i mean i certainly don't know only thing i know about korean culture is its food and its great ok but what will it say are kind of a cultural you know

a cultural dynamic that can take on a life of its own here i mean taking one step in another step what would be the next one because as we said in the first part of the program the south koreans don't have a whole lot of leeway but there are other things they might be able to do what could they be go ahead. to the third an extent of speculation but as far as what the korean press says. in response to. kim your job. invitation for wednesday and to come to pyongyang and meet to kim jong un at their earliest convenience and improve relations he said well let's create the necessary conditions and there has to be dialogue between north korea and the united states in order for south korea and north korean relations to him for to make predicated on unproven u.s. relations with the u.s. . unfortunately did not send a return letter in response to kim jong un's personal letter but what the south

korean government is talking about is that and as an initial step is to set a send a private. low level envoy not connected the government that would discuss domestic issues with. reuniting divided families and so forth as a starting point and from there try to slowly expand the types of contacts but to be very low key and i think i think moves and is still tied into the view that he's the bring a lot of the united states yeah can make it maybe kicking in that way happen kicking in dragging them to p.c.'s kicking at me one kicking and screaming absolutely brian i'll give you the last word here what do you think is going to happen next year because i don't see the u.s. backing down they want that bloody no it's i mean that would be the end of the peninsula as we know it go ahead brian. yeah the american government fears that peace could break out in the korean peninsula because that would of course upset and overturn american preeminence and dominance over the korean peninsula over over

south korea the korean people do want peace i hope goes faster rather than slower because the only way that america's obstinance he can be overcome is through momenta ok. down and tries to kill us it won't work on that positive note here many thanks to my guests in washington columbus and in cambridge and thanks to our viewers for watching us here at r.t. see you next time and remember cross-talk rules. apply to many clubs over the years so i know the guy even saw you guys. always and 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 to kill you know the owners and spend the children twenty million on one player. it's an experience like nothing else

going to be true so i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful. great so what chance for. peace is going to. international recognition with the help of israel at least in the world of zoos and dismiss it like. this isn't my cup of tea is going to study hall meeting. with. the only palestinians who gets the most hopeful is jerusalem counterparts i don't think some of those who are under the vision know only could do this. and that is a lot. i don't know if you can. do more. but there's also.

breaking news coming from the us where reports say one person is dead and more than twenty people wounded in a shooting at a high school inside florida. they know they are shooting incidents of u.s. national security agency headquarters in maryland leave several people injured the suspected shooter else being detained also ahead on the program. enough of your sweet nothings of this uncertain approach to fix it and get a few remaining says come from her in government except that this morning i'm not going to. persuade everybody britain's foreign secretary say those opposing briggs's are portraying the country. and defends the.