to reduce it gradually that changed in two thousand and sixteen when the number of people suffering from an empty stomach started to rise again and in several countries hunger morphed into famine how can they be reversed outranked while to discuss that i'm now joined by david beasley executive director of the world food program mr beazley it's great to talk to thank you for your time was good to be with you thank you now when the news of your appointment came foreign policy magazine and road that the yuan put chums appointee they had of the world food program to quote help stave off u.s. cuts if that was their rationale has it worked out well it has a bit it came kicking and screaming into the system because i was not necessarily a un person but when i heard the facts of how bad the situation was around the world with all the conflict war and hunger coupled with the fact that the united states very will make i decided i would take the the role and so i hit the ground running facing for famines facing the worst humanitarian crisis since the beginning

of the united nations which by the way seventy years of history here and in russia and so we were facing a catastrophic situation along with the fact that the number one donor into the u.n. system the united states was talking about cutting all the money so who would want that job well frankly if they persuaded you to take on that you certainly had some successes already here for example of securing presence chunk of g twenty pledged shelf six hundred fifty nine million dollars to relief famine in four african countries was that pledged on earth in full and how far did it go in addressing the problem well the united states is historically been a tremendous support of the world food program as has russia but the united states was giving about one point nine billion what i assume this role in everyone thought that it would go the other way zero out. which would be catastrophic and in fact

the united states went from one point nine billion to two point five billion in other countries as well have been stepping up in a very significant way because as i till a million my friends if you want to spend another half a trillion dollars on destabilization military operations cut the world food program we're now into a second year of the trumpet ministration and there is still a lot of speculations about how this white house operates they set a formal and informal libraries that set in motion i know that you make no secret of the fact that you try to enlist the support of a banker trump who serves officially as an advisor to her father how helpful was her benevolence in securing that latch well when you have a two point five billion dollar bill you're looking for every have and you can have a new you can to make certain that the president of the united states and the true decision makers on money comes out of the sit in the house and so i feel confident

that if the members and the leaders in the united states had the facts before them they would not back off their multilateral commitment in the united nations as for the world food program the u.n. may need reform and no question about that but the world food program is a different operation it's about feed people keeping people alive operating emergencies and sustainable development and so the united states has not backed down invite we're seeing that the world food program is actually a program this bringing nations together with all the division around the world the world food program we consider ourselves an opportunity to bridge relations so to interesting you say that because i think your agency is far more fortunate than some of the other agencies do you think perhaps they have a secret of. your success has has been your own personality or putting an american in charge i mean seriously it's a serious matter for many in the u.n. how crucial it is to have somebody who has an ear of the president or at least.

he's got it well you've got to have the year of the leadership but you also have the right message in bringing bringing together different factions within the government around hungry starving children who could be against that well but there are lots of starving children in the palestine and yet that budget is being how well you know we're looking forward to working through those issues as well but in the world today you can take any country of islam into say to the united states to come to the of us you know very well the democrats or republicans have been five hundred on everything and so we brought the leaders of the democrats and the republicans together around hungry children and they laid aside their differences in made peace and brought forward majors successes for the world food program but we want to take the same concept using food as a weapon of peace a weapon of unification as we do that with different tribes children from different ethnic groups trying to bring different factions together terrorist groups like

isis is now tied a book raman al shabaab they want to use food as a weapon of starvation a weapon of war or weapon of vision we see food as a weapon of opportunity of development sustainable bill success from not just bringing in the music together but bringing nations together and so now correct me if i'm wrong but i think even after securing that on the part of the united states the problem now for famines remains very very accurate we're still talking about millions of people on the bring of not just starvation but on the brink a thousand and i heard you say that the only two solutions are number one getting enough funding to feed the people and number two stopping the wars which one of these you find more realistic more achievable at this point of time the only answer is through starvation and hunger the going up now for the first time in the years because in the wars. is a heck of a problem. the international community in the world has dropped the hunger rate

over the past hundreds of years the particularly in the last twenty five years even though the population of the world went from five point three billion to seven point five billion the hunger rated dropped from a billion to seven hundred seventy seven million but no hunger rates going up to eight hundred fifteen million that's hungry people me very hungry people on the brink of they don't know where their next meal is now one hundred and nine million in this all the escalation is all because of manmade conflict absolutely that's why i'm asking you mr beazley since you seem to believe that it is possible to those wars. peace is an auspicious for all of us but i'm sure in your daily line of work you deal with the green reality rather than aspirations what makes you believe given that what you just said the the turnaround in the statistics very dispiriting turn around in the statistics what makes you believe that the international community all of a sudden they will be able to you know change its mind and when they are told that

complex well there's still a dream in my heart that the hopes of people every person i meet i tend to think there is a desire in their heart to have peace and i think sometimes. in diplomacy circles we tend to talk about the little things that distract us versus the bigger things that can attract us and i think the united nations in my opinion has not done the job that it should have done in the past twenty thirty years but i think you have new leadership in the united nations i think you have new leadership around the world this really looking to find paths of opportunity but until we have those conflicts resolved we have to have money in the world food program and then we have to have access so yes we were able to avert famines the four famines that we faced faced in the past couple of years and face right now we were able to avert the famine but the number of hungry people went up and we're still facing famine in

several of these countries where yemen is a very desperate situation somalia with the drought and the complexities there and then you get of course a south sudan is nothing but warfare and then northeast nigeria which is ethnic tribal conflict based upon ices and al-qaeda. and then you bring in the drought in the lake chad basin it's a terrible situation and what exactly can be international community can do about that because from what i know they're trying to ministration is also intending to cut its funding of the peacekeeping operation so i assume that's not going to be easy to realize your own vision well i think you'll see realignment as the peacekeeping but that will have to work through itself within the international community but i do think the international players have got to step up in a way they have not done before for example each country will come into a country as a donor and have their program siloed. i have been saying to the international

community these very fragile communities like in the greater sahara larry we need to come in with a strategic comprehensive holistic approach revive sustainability sustainable development resilience for example in the united nations world food program we believe that every single person this enabled body to know who's receiving food they ought to be in a community development improvement program before that you have to solve the number one issue which is meet conflict he mentioned the word the way to yemen and i want to seize that base of potential chalk specifically about this country because i think it's stands out as as a confluence of disasters i heard you say that you've been trying to raise the issue of the saudi contact with the trumpet ministration did you find it responsive yes it's been interesting to watch in see that the international community has has come together to help bring about a change in the saudi in the sort of coalition by that you mean then the pledge

that they made just recently of additional aid and easing out of there well you know two or three things number one the saudi led coalition in the blockade was creating catastrophic situation and so lack of money lack of access was a huge issue but we really are see the sea change in the saudi led coalition in terms of the blockade and they exist now we've got to get access on the ground with these and so we're working with the who these and all parties involved to make certain that we have the money we need and then the access we need on the ground so we've got to get the food in from the air in the sea and then on the ground and so we're making tremendous headway but the blockade set us back quite a bit so we're looking at seven point four million people literally literally on the brink of starvation that's was about eight point four million people of the total population of twenty nine million in the in the are on the brink of starvation. if we don't get the excess and the food we need with the fuel that we

need to be able to move the supplies the food the medicines you're going to have a catastrophic event there now there are lots of international organizations national governments that can downplay saudia way of waging a war on yemen but it doesn't seem to change. to have changed their behavior much now i notice something about your own personal thout i think you like to practice a lot of positive reinforcement do you think that me get a better traction with the saudis we are in my opinion we're seeing a positive turn in the right direction with the saudis in the saudi led coalition i have been traveling to the middle east lately had very positive meetings and trying to appeal to the heart that you know these innocent victims of this conflict the children they don't deserve this this is a nation that is now in ruins and we need to step up as i've told the saudis and

others if you're not willing to stop the war then you have a moral obligation to make certain that the humanitarian fallout the consequences are met and no child should be left behind in this country and so mr meeson i'm sorry for interrupting but you certainly know the first person to tell them died and yet. they seem to have been very very little change in the way more was scared out of the last i can't explain or justify that because i haven't been in this position but they tend to believe that they would actually listen to you as opposed to not listening to anyone else because we're already seeing results we're seeing a major shift in some of the campaigns with regards to air campaigns and other campaigns and hospitals and other facilities and the poor we're seeing them choose to step up now monetarily we're seeing that step up in terms of providing access within the country that they have control we're seeing them open up the port in

terms of the barricade or you know it's so we're seeing some very significant positive movement right now and we're actually seeing some positive movement with huet these now so we're hopeful that food may be the weapon the school brings some peace in this country but let's see well let's keep our fingers crossed for sure we have to take a very short break now but he. we'll be back in just a few moments eight hundred. americans an economy that's been created by financialization of everything and outsourcing manufacturing to countries like china totally at the ignore asian that just made that word up means to ignore something that your asian your local infrastructure belt now trumps saying we want to do infrastructure we've got to go borrow a trillion or two trillion dollars from whom our biggest creditor that would be china again china is owning all the cars now in the twenty second century in

america can't even get from point a to point b. . applied for many flips over the years so i know the game inside guides. football isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the families it's the age of the superman each of billionaire owners and spending two hundred twenty million and one player. it's an experience like nothing else not to because i want to share what i think of what i know about the beautiful guy migrates a woman runs for. the base it's more nudes.

welcome back to worlds apart with david beasley executive director of the world food program mr beasley earlier this month the trumpet ministration an ounce its vision of the u.s. budget for the fiscal year of two thousand and nineteen which features a substantial increase in military spending cuts and social spending as well as some restructuring of the u.s. contributions to the united nations have you done any preliminary asked cement so how this proposed pattern of spending may affect the world food program yeah the president's budget very well dramatically impacted us but if you know anything about the u.s. process of budgeting just the house and senate makes the final decision we feel very confident before that the process is that works its way through the president and the leadership in the senate in the house will come together with a budget that will be that i think will be good for the world food programme so we can continue to address around the world and then when you think about the united states' commitment to the world food program last year two thousand and seventeen

was two point five billion dollars this year you know we're hopeful that we come out with at least two billion but i'm confident that the leadership in the united states will stay strong on international humanitarian aid that in many of your public appearances you're stressed that feeding the world's most vulnerable is a viable alternative to military spending you think it's a way of combating extremism and apparently the president perhaps has a different view on that what is your strategy now to try to dissuade the president ought to try to work with the congress and hopefully defeat his budgeting proposals there well as i've told my friends in the u.s. senate and the u.s. house the republicans and the democrats as well as the president and his administration if you want to spend another half a trillion dollars on military cut the world food program. because we are the first line of us if him tearing about exactly when nothing that he's been very supportive i mean don't miscalculate the budgetary process i've been

a united states governor so i know how the system works but i believe divorce all said and the president who has said publicly very clearly that one thing the united nations does good is feeds people and so he's been very supportive of our programs and i think he will continue to do so now you are known for having praise mr truong for shaking up the system and as being already discussed i think part of your appointment was motivated by a desire to shield the world from program from the aftershocks of about shake up i wonder how do you see yourself as the executive director of based organizations are you a disruptor or are you a protector well as i said one time when i was a late the state's governor and one of the lead bureaucrats who if you do that mr governor you know really create chaos in us will have come to create chaos jokingly but the point is you have to evaluate every system what's working it was working

patted on the back keep going this is not working how do we restructure it so in the united nations there needs to be restructured in the world food programme war they are amazing operate machine what they do in the world food program is not just about emergency conditions like the tsunami and earthquake or volcano or hurricane is more than that it's also about sustainable development is to and protected what we're wars eighty two percent of our spending now is in war zones but how do we sustain a community so every able bodied person all this to receive food or to be in the community improvement program every child in the village the nation being a school meals program so how do we push that forward change the approach could you can go into some of these countries with the united nations has been for twenty thirty years spent hundreds of millions and billions of dollars. have nothing to show for so you need to step back and say what are we not doing right and so i think i bring that to the table this revaluate with understood fresh eyes in the

see what works and what does it worry and let's don't worry about ego let's don't worry about who gets the credit let's worry about those innocent children out there who we won't dreams to be fulfilled now i personally if find you very sincere when you talk about the plight of hungry people around the world but i think foot insecurity is increasingly an issue for the united states and specifically in those very same communities that both that donald trump into the oval office do you think you're on massachusetts with the americans who themselves some thomas have to skip meals in order to feed their own. you know i do a lot of t.v. shows in the united states and i come from the more conservative side in the states and when i sit down with those who otherwise would have concerns about humanitarian or international aid they stated them very clearly there are international

humanitarian programs that may very well be a waste of money but the world food program is to the essence of who we are as a people in the world and we're about helping people but do it in such a way that doesn't create dependency but hopefully create so sufficiency resilience and so when i explained what we're doing and where we're doing it how we're doing it it's amazing the response i get from the left and the right and that's why and what i've seen in the united states republicans and democrats may fight on everything else but when it comes to helping hungry children around the world fulfill their dreams they come together but mr and mr president this is not exactly what i'm asking about i'm sure if you ask any person no matter where why their children have to be fat everybody will fail yes but i think. sometimes presidential mandate involves making it difficult decision to spend helping starving children in africa or helping will norrish children in the united states i'm not suggesting you make that decision for the present but how would you guys hear through that

thinking process there's enough wealth. to do both there's clearly enough wealth there is now three hundred trillion dollars of global wealth in the world today we're just talking about a few billion dollars when i look at how much money we spend in the world military we just talk about a few more billion dollars to save the lives of people around the world in doing it such a way that doesn't create dependency and without much wealth in the united states that much wealth in the rest of the world is inexcusable for any person in the world today to go to bed hungry now as the united states is reevaluating its brawl its share in the international organizations have you noticed any. qualitative change in the policies of other countries perhaps other big donors have seen a couple different shifts number one i've seen the un make some adjustments the

united nations and my opinion the last thirty forty years has shown the private sector. you know in i am seeing or see change there now i see the un understanding clearly we can't solve many of these problems in these developing countries without the private sector being significantly and truly engaged and involved as to other countries around the world you know i've been beating the drums then going to nations saying you must step up more you must do more because if you know if you know do it for the right in reason the do it because it's in your national security interest so i'm seeing many countries step up and that's one of the reasons why i'm here in russia to talk with the leadership here in the response i'm getting from the leadership of russia is very positive we're seeing the russian government begin to step up more so than it ever has in the united nations world food program well from what i know i'm correct me if i'm wrong i think russia so far cannot boast about very large contributions to your agency but

i think it's trying to be helpful in some other ways perhaps logistics petition etc you are now in moscow have you secured anything concrete from the kremlin well we will be announcing the russia is known for forgiving trucks to the world food program and so we are announcing the ninety seven. trucks that will be about eleven million dollars of value contribution as well as debt swap that we've done in mozambique as well as is dozens of millions of dollars strategically aligned in the countries of interest including syria and other places around the world and so i'm here to make the case and talk with the leadership that the do you indeed russia to be in really involved in that we want to be a force for peace between nations in every opportunity we kin to bring they says that are working to give us the will to maybe start working together a little bit well i think the russians more than eager to work together

particularly them arrogant i'm not sure they they find the same reception on the american side bad maybe your connections in the car. aggressed especially with some south carolina representative script out in that franco i think the russian people in the american people want peace around the world and i think they have a very different view on how to achieve it though i don't know i really find most people around the world say i think sometimes we need to get the leaders together sit down little more break bread together but i think the same marks there and i think if we focus on the differences we will make any headway with the focus on the common opportunities will make a tremendous headway the world needs for russia and the united states to find a pathway as i've said many times to some of my diplomatic friends in washington and in moscow you know maybe the united states or russia doesn't need to get married right now but they do need to do

a little bit piece is dependent upon these two nations find a pathway to get past the problems that seem to be dominating every newscast in the world today and while that's half the rome is burning or for world's fall apart mr basely i think you have to be careful about what you say if you don't want to be accused of being a kremlin. but we have a few minutes left and i want to ask you specifically about something that you mentioned this doubt swat team that russia struck with the most and i think it them involves the largest doubt swap in the history of your agency and with also on luck if i'm not mistaken around forty a million years dollars that would be used to provide school meals for one hundred fifty thousand children is that something that is essentially a one off deal or something that can be applied on the broader slower hope of some model to go forward because when you when you when you have a program this about six to seven billion dollars then you need to do three more

billion to address the world hunger of the most of your hungry people in the world you're looking for every opportunity you can. so this debt swap model very well could save a lot of millions of law over the next few years and finally finally in a one of your articles you describe visiting an attrition clinic in somalia where children receive food like that looks and tastes like peanut butter but work like medicine so nutritious that it can recover help a child recover from all nutrition in a matter of months and what strikes me about it is the contrast between the progress in attritional size the fact that we can make a base marvelous foods and the absolute social regret that puts millions of people on the brain golf daf how do you wrap your had around it how do you explain it to yourself is tough you know i was asked by. a reporter

one time misses after we've done a tremendous interview. he said you know you've got to raise jobs in the world he can people live saving children i said you know i do really do have the greatest of the world said that i don't go to bed every night thinking about the children that i say i go to bed every night i think about the children we couldn't say because of lack of money or the lack of access so when those days are before us we have to choose which children eat in which children don't eat which children live which children die how would you like that job first time i've whipped. and years when i won't out of the hospital data when i saw not just one two three four children dying before my very own us but literally hundreds of children starving to death because of a manmade conflict and i could see all that special nutritional products the keeps

them alive but the mere fact that they're gotten into that condition and then you don't make it because it's too late it's heartbreaking and i had to walk out of the hospital room just run around the corner and just just cry and i'm sort of what you think i'm sort of a tough guy you know boy it was just overwhelming the see so many children unnecessarily dima for your very own because because a man made conflict is unacceptable in its usable and i'm going to continue to fight against it as hard as loud as i can well mr b.'s the best of luck with that i really appreciate your time with us today and terrorist please keep the conversation going on our social media pages so me hope to see you again same place same time here and while the part.

algy's headline news from exotic to toxic decades of environmental damage on a portuguese auditor blamed on a u.s. air base as locals reporting creases in cancer and other illnesses. german tabloid newspapers left red faced after it gets into running a bogus story about russian meddling in german politics one of the pranksters tells r.t. how they did it we knew how to feel like an editor and what we did was we came up with the story of the techie like in the spy it was. also this our claims of child sex abuse at an orphanage in central russia shocked the nation and sparked a major investigation.