i'm stephen ball. task hollywood guy suspects every proud american first of all i'm just george bush and r.v. to say this is my buddy max famous financial guru and well just a little bit different i'm not a. good one no no no no the with all the drama happening in our country i'm shooting the road have fun meet everyday americans. and hopefully start to bridge the gap this is the great american people which. at the moment we've had the period of fake the flame. engineer by all the central banks and the they don't have the control that they think that they have and that once you start to see this being picked up in markets like the gold market and others you know you've got to start to say feed on itself in

a big way. in some american cities the police and build themselves cling to reputation people who walk on the streets of the united states who are at risk from the very people who are supposed to protect that poor people are no more afraid of police than of a criminal as. you can see something happening in this is like i don't want to call the cops let that happen rather than call the cops in those young black men lose their lives chasing the with their fingers on the trigger you never know better safe than sorry i don't know that someone else is going to pull a gun so. unfortunately around around here we end up killing our guns off the death toll from such precautions to be like when we.

hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle from north korea to syria's president donald trump's foreign policy is literally all over the map north korea says it is open to direct talks with washington only to be met with preconditions in syria where the u.s. has no legal right to be in the first place peace is within view but this is not what the trumpet ministration want. cross-cutting missing diplomacy i'm joined by my guest musin in washington he's the executive vice president of the eurasia center in new york we have daniel azhar he

is an author and freelance journalist who writes frequently about the middle east eastern europe and the us constitution and in fort lauderdale we have ivan eland he's a senior fellow and director of the center of peace and liberty at the independent institute all right gentlemen cross talk rules and i think that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it daniel let me go to you first they were calling this program missing diplomacy and let's look at two areas where a lot of diplomacy is necessary north korea and syria in both cases there and there have been or still present some kind of diplomatic opening considering the very fierce rhetoric we've heard about a second phase when we look at it from the trauma administration for north korea and then the u.s. sensually obstructing a number of peace processes and designs in syria where is the diplomacy daniel go ahead. the so mostly is absent we have a very erratic individual at the top donald trump who has little idea what he's

doing but it's very important to emphasize that the u.s. empire is vastly overextended it's gotten self in deep trouble in number of parts the world including korea and syria and so there really is no easy way out so trumps confusion is a reflection of the larger confusion of the us system ok i've been one i'm good with that's a point you know we could put it on the person of donald trump and i would put it on the people he surrounded him in self with my impression and i'm very far away is that he's basically disinterested in these topics and he's delegated it to others and unfortunately a lot of them are neo cons go ahead i've been yeah well i think you're right i hear his campaign pledges were different than his than what he's doing now he is pledges was was let's stay out of a lot of stuff america first let's do what we need to do here at home et cetera and get in don't do nation building overseas etc but i do agree that the u.s.

has been overextended for a long period of time and he's exacerbating the problem and it's very it is very confusing to him because he no one ever and his advisers do not. given the option of saying well you know we we deterred a radical mouse a tongue when he got nuclear weapons in china so he can probably deter kim jong. un in north korea because dictators they just want to survive that's their main goal is surviving in power and so you know why threaten a paranoid guy right but you know that's not what they're doing in syria of course his main objective was to we said it was to get isis well isis is at least you know shrunk vastly shrunk in size. of territory now whether they'll come back elsewhere i don't know but certainly if you have done with the job get out but of

course the united states is not doing that because it wants or has forces on the ground it wants to keep control of territory or that it has a role in the syrian negotiations that's a much different mission than we started with you know that's exactly right and you could apply that you know syria staying there to determine political outcomes staying in south korea to do to determine political outcomes that is exactly it and it's a zero sum game that we get what we want to win or there's going to be trouble there could be potentially even war i mean that's not how you run a foreign policy all of that is foreign policy it's an extension of military policy and it precludes or excludes the possibility of peacemaking you can think whatever you want of the north korean regime but if the north korean regime and south korea are talking and both want to talk more and the south wants the u.s. to talk to north korea i don't think there's anything wrong with that because the alternative is far far worse go ahead. and i think peter you're. it's

unfortunate but i don't necessarily think people want to direct conflict however we're getting dangerously close to it one could accidentally happening specially when we've got a radically some place that want their survival or the looking for the political perspective and they back in their own selves in their corner and sometimes things happen that you don't expect but i think when we look at syria. you know the. the u.s. is concerned about the rising role of iran in russia in the middle east and i think i think there's pressure from both from the u.s. side from one of their close allies in the area as well as some of the gulf states and they do not want to see iran raising up so you see these accusations or violating the nuclear accord you see them try and even though they're they're welcome in syria trying to force them to get out of the region. it.

it's a dangerous situation there in the u.s. really right now appears they just want to stay present there and present in korea as well to really i don't know if that stuff sort of counter north korea more than just as much as perhaps to counter the rising influence of china under resourced well of course that's the whole point ok that's why they want to stay there they want to determine well first of all they want to make sure that if there's a unification of of the peninsula they determine what that unification is because that is going right up to china's border would be what the president white house would very much want intends in which the chinese don't want that happen no surprise daniel let me go to you you know earl is mentioning about u.s. presence in syria and iran well i mean it's the activities of the united states in the region since two thousand and three that is only advance the interests of iran and the i how many more do we have to go through how many more failed regimes we have to go through in that region did this show that the more you push for regime change you more you push to determine political outcomes the more you lose i mean

it's a losing streak ok for over a decade and a half but nobody realizes that go ahead and you're absolutely correct and the u.s. policy in the that part of the world has been just amazingly wrong headed the invasion of iraq provided a huge opening to a rare and america america is allegedly our number one enemy in the region you said before that you know the america wants things you know in korea and syria but it's not really clear that america even knows what it wants examined limiting russian iranian or chinese. influence but otherwise it has no idea it has no positive program you know and so therefore the u.s. is trying you know is acting at the behest of saudi arabia and israel saudi arabia is maybe forming a part very rapidly israel be facing regime change also. who struggles to

maintain. it's a grip so things are crumbling really fast the us has no idea how to stay on top of these things and of course as you say everything had seems to make things worse yes i mean you know it's pushing these pushing for political outcomes there's an impatience going on right here i mean the united states i'll just give my opinion is scared to death that peace could break out on the korean peninsula they're terrified of that they're terrified that peace could break out in syria because the very fact that they stay there were nobody wants them to be there it makes it a political outcome a peaceful outcome impossible i mean why they so afraid of peace go ahead. well i think you're absolutely correct they seem to want to maintain overseas president presence in south korea and japan that's where our major forces are right now and that gives a. you know anchor in east asia and i think they do feel that china is rising

and you know just like when saddam invaded kuwait that was a way to stay in saudi arabia for a long time and so i think these types of conflicts are useful in a certain sense for the has your mind to stay and whatever region they want to stay in you know earl if we if we look at the south korean peninsula look at that let's look at the region we've got japan we've got south korea we've got north korea we've got china we've got russia those countries can solve this tension on the peninsula all by themselves but the us will not let that happen the us will not allow south korea full sovereignty over its defense planning and this is the real problem and i think it could be solved with regional players go ahead. i would agree in fact i just made a made a comment blog recently they were talking about there was some type of conference in vancouver. canada was hosting of course the u.s.

was there and and other players but two players to discuss the resolution what direction to go forward on korea and of course the two players that probably should most importantly be there russia and china were not invited and so i think it's. it i agree that i think and i also think the new president south korea is open to dialogue with north korea i think you saw that during the olympics a potential you know mel maybe a slight melting of some ice there but. i do not think the u.s. sees it is in their interests to actually have a dialogue unless it's under their terms and unfortunate i think personally i agree the regional i think the regional powers here could come to a very good settlement could be dental for everyone. but the u.s. wants to the u.s. wants to play the role as far as determining what the conditions are and i don't

think that's very healthy for the future of korea and for the region and it very dangerous and in the current environment let me go to daniel before we go to the break here one of the things i find very problematic troubling is that diplomacy is equated with a peace mint these days that is that is terrifying go ahead daniel. yes it is it's the u.s. is in a very militant mood it's not interested in diplomacy or talking. look the america wants to prolong its you know you're a polar moment which broke out in one thousand eighty nine but now it's faced with challenges by china iran and russia trying to hold them off trying very hard i don't see how that strategy will be successful but that's what the u.s. is trying to game going to jump in here chance i got to jump in here we're going to go to a large break and after that hard break we'll continue our discussion on missing diplomacy stay with arkie.

seemed wrong. wrong just don't. let me. get to see. this day come out today. and in detroit because betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. a batch or sudden passing i've only just learnt you worry yourself and taking your last bang turn. up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry. so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got

off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each breath. but then my feelings started to change you talked about more like it was again still some more fun to feel those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never again like it said one does not leave a funeral the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with death this one quite different i speak ten out there are no other takers. claimed that mainstream media has met its maker. fifty years ago pregnant women to conjure gun as a sleeping pill and dusty sword on the images are two of those shared this thought the side effects were terrible but not on the road as shown in dodge one for boardwalk mortal here not the war. across europe

victims or starting legal battles demanding at least some compensation you saw in two ways first will the physical damage itself as well with the constant reminder that the people who actually perpetrated this crime has never been born the justice and those being the couple. welcome back across like we're all things are considered i'm peter beltre mind you we're discussing missing diplomacy. ok let's go back to new york with then you aren't any want to finish up your point the one that you were elaborating on before the break yeah yeah my point simply is the u.s. is trying to fend off a triple threat from iran russia and china. and there is complete

unanimity i've seen no dissent whatsoever among any of the mainstream commentators or political politicians liberal conservative or what have you they all agree that they must rebut the russia and china and the rainy and threat menace. and i can't see have that strategy can possibly prevail well you know i've been i'm i'm i don't agree that there are threats whatsoever i mean china is a regional power russia is certainly. not a global power its reach is actually quite small and if you look at russian foreign policy and defense policy it's very they're most concerned about their sovereignty more than anything else and the near abroad i know some people don't like that term but it's it's real ok i mean these these threats here in a rant iran it's surrounded by. nato or neutral related countries bases i mean this is all

a fiction here but it certainly is very good for the arms industry i mean donald trump has been such a sugar daddy to them this year and next year for sure go ahead. yes i think that's absolutely right and we can also add that our south korean japanese and european allies are all very wealthy country absolutely and this is not one nine hundred fifty anymore and they can start taking over the their own defenses what about a deal and korea that north korea denuclearize if the u.s. withdraws all forces from south korea and south korea defends itself you know we wouldn't have to be immediately over time that the process. bill and you have got to do something dramatic but that's of course that's not going to happen that's wishful thinking because there is a military industrial complex in many countries but the one here in the united states we tend to build up threats larger than they are and i think your assessment of the various threats was pretty accurate china may rise but of course all the

countries in asia could band together and they have fairly good internal security japan's an island that's very safe you just have to run a porcupine strategy is that are european allies have more combined economy g.d.p. than the united states so and have course in the middle east it's sort of it's sort of a canard that we need to defend or oil the market is much better of providing oil at the cheapest prices exactly you know one of the things that if you look at the client states in the in the alliances that the united states has created around the globe these client states do like the status quo for the most part south korea in this moment maybe a little bit different because they might see it some kind of diplomatic opening and want to take it and washington say no but like look at japan you know look at saudi arabia look at israel i mean they're all fat and happy i mean the american taxpayer pays for it. they don't even have to be particularly loyal allies they

think there's a wide avenue of maneuver for them in many cases and the united states if you look at like in the pacific here you know they could easily be pulled into a conflict that it was not of it's one thing but because of all of its alliances here i mean this these all these entangling alliances are very dangerous for the united states but for a country that voted for a man that wanted america first go ahead irl. it's interesting it's i mean we have what like seven hundred bases around the world. be sickly ringing around surrounding iran surrounding russia surrounding china. but yeah absolutely i think essentially we're we're we're providing the military side of the foreign policy for a lot of these countries that are quite well off. and the thing is is would piece really and would diplomacy really take hold if if we did draw back you know and diplomacy would not be an interest definitely or you would have to kick in it would

it would have to automatically kick in a little to saying well washington said well washington's no no you guys have to sit down and work this out here i mean earl isn't it remarkable how many borders around the world the united states protects and doesn't protect its own border go ahead earl finish up. yeah it's. interesting. we have more concern over other countries security than we do our own sometimes but . you know there's other political regions in that because there's both lobbying groups on the military side lobbying groups for for other countries that have a significant influence on what's going on and it's not necessarily for america first unfortunately i think would be better handled maybe facilitating regional discussions and actual talking to people would be much more beneficial i think for global peace but i don't necessarily think global peace is is the major objective i

think it's almost a disruption you know what is the objective well it's a gemini is the goal ok i mean that's that's the goal in washington you know dan you know if i could just go astray just a little bit here you know i'm sure you've been following the ups and downs in the smoky rooms and mirrors of brushy gate in the seventeen hackers in the st petersburg which took about a week of the news cycles. but there's no real concern in the mainstream to talk about the countries that actually really do influence american foreign policy in washington d.c. they call it lobbying in the united states but you know there is this kind of influence is that saudi arabia has israel has turkey has japan south korea we could go all we could make many many programs about that but that's almost kind of a taboo subject to talk about you can go after macedonia teenagers fine on twitter but you know a real serious discussion i'd like to know how many congressmen and senators meet

with foreign lobbyists they don't have to record it they don't have to tell anyone but if you accidentally bump into the russian ambassador well you get a five that warrant against you go ahead dan. you say it's like to have some serious discussion i'd like to have some serious discussion about just about anything in this group getting out. it is so debased so full and so far about about everything everything. and so so it's farcical really farcical but yes influencing american politics first or politics or international eyes for all the trees number one number two i mean countries like saudi arabia kuwait the u.a.e. is real maintain huge lobbies the united states that are extremely effective the gulf states for example the lavish money every virtually every major think tank in washington is funded by the gulf states and they use that money to essentially

shape or control debate so and so in washington one rarely gets he gets the opposing non saudi non israeli point of view it's completely outrageous and the people who are just served by this are the american people who you who you know there are very important issues that need to be thrashed out but what you're being you know barry you don't know you know swept under the rug it's just it says a symptomatic of a of a political system in deep crisis i mean that you know there's it long ago there was the it was a long time ago when there was public debate about foreign policy you never hear anything about that it just is daniel is saying as i tell people here in american media don't say much about israel don't say anything about saudi arabia ok those are just two examples go ahead i'm going. yeah i think the

other participants or are right on here. our whole policy is on autopilot and what we have is a military that set up the power project overseas so we should call the department of defense department of often through the department of defense of other countries because in the in the few times during our history that the military has been asked to defend the country it doesn't fit hasn't done a very good job in a war of eight hundred twelve we got the capital burned before they managed to fight the british to a drive to declaring war on the superpower at the time in world war two they didn't think the japanese were capable of attacking pro harbor so the military failed there and of course on nine eleven the fighter jets went out to sea so we need to increase our defenses and quit you know meddling in other countries business you know you know early that through the thing that i find again i think daniel really hit it here because i'm very disappointed to so i have my own program because i can

talk about things that i think are interesting because when i look at the literal of corporate media there's almost nothing of interest to me whatsoever it's tragic stories and sad stories that's why it's political posturing but there's no debate really about policy and foreign policy is never ever debated right now except for china's bad russia is bad in iran's bad ok that's it that's all you hear twenty four seven and you never hear the other side of the argument well why are they so bad you hardly ever hear it go ahead irl. now i mean daniels correctly absolutely correct i mean if you look where the funding goes to some of the think tanks that are very influential where they're coming from you really don't have a real dialogue on foreign policy and and shoot from the hip sometimes it's autopilot it's unfortunate i think and even look at our diplomats i really some of the verb jews didn't public in public forum so i'm i'm kind of appalled by

and it doesn't really set a fine example of where we should be as a country and should be leading into diplomatic efforts and i really we're kind of lagging in that area for the most part you know daniel you know well i know the person that is talking all this talk about nikki haley you know for she got her job at the u.n. the only foreign experience she had was going to be the internet international house of pancakes that's what we have in the united nations you get the last word daniel. well you know. the peter five days if i may correct you on one thing there is some serious debate in this country for example a very lively serious debate has broken out over jennifer lawrence's low cut dress . for her latest movie. and that was a very wide ranging debate very serious across a lot of important subjects i sat with my dad you know what side of the on what side of an argument you're you want to discuss daniel what side of the argument you

want on that one there are. no head no comment as much as much too fraught it's much too fraught for me i would never i don't have the courage a little bit could do you think that would be totally destroyed on facebook and twitter if you meant gave your opinion ok god help us god help us all are a german that's all the time we really thank them i guess in washington new york and in port lot of there and thanks to our viewers for watching us here darkie see you next time and remember. feeling the tail of the d.n.a. of a bottomless saudi china six or. an

estimated eight hundred thousand since underage refugees are now living in greece. you know still going to go. to your home when do you go food shopping. many sell their bodies just to make ends meet. you know in the second you know the sins of the. system and things could. also has turned to dealing drugs to make a living. this. in . a moment we've had the period of fake. engineer all the central banks of the day don't have the control that they think that they have and once you start to see this being picked up in markets like the gold market and others you know you've got

to start to see it feed on itself in a big way. ceasefire in syria's eastern. for a second. says terrorists shelling is preventing hundreds of civilians from leaving . facebook provides. with an update on evidence of russian meddling in the vote but they say they've still come up short. in south africa's parliament passes a motion that could see the entire population stripped of that without compensation . not here in moscow money.