in the stories that shaped the week a cold war frenzy grips of the mainstream media after president putin unveils russia's new strategic arsenal in his annual state of the nation address. the white house and the country learning of that new threat from russian president warning he said that first reason in the west in particular to mess with russia and he says he's not bluffing. italy has wrapped up voting and it's a general election with projected results showing gains for center right and anti-establishment parties but with no prior winner. and civilians continue to come under heavy shelling in eastern. syria one week after a humanitarian corridor was set up to allow noncombatants a chance to leave so far only two children have managed to escape.

i broadcast live direct from our studios in moscow recapping league's top stories with our weekly program this is our two international. now president putin outlined his vision of russia's future on thursday delivering the annual state of the nation address to parliament he also reveals details about the country's new nuclear arsenal which he said includes missiles that are too advanced to be intercepted by any existing air defense systems our senior correspondent. explains more about the hardware that is getting western news outlets so worked up. if you aren't russian the first hour of putin's speech would have been boring taxes and corruption science and industry that sort of thing after that though it got real hot real fast and i mean russia is

a major nuclear power basically nobody wanted to talk to us nobody listened to us listen to us now rockets lasers nukes in a rush hooted unveiled in us and all of new weapons bigger faster stronger and deadlier than any that came before the law. the some out super heavy i.c.b.m. two hundred ton missile capable of penetrating any existing defense in service at the end of the year next an enigmatic new development seemingly nuclear powered cruise missile it flies extremely low to avoid detection and can hit almost anywhere in the world says putin up next it's just fantastic an underwater

drone submarine also nuclear powered with nuclear payload it can reportedly underwater for months and months silent and undetectable next to the oven god the hypersonic missile extremely fost rockets that can actively dog and the vaid anti missile defenses. it is heading for the target like a meteorite to top all of that off laser weapons systems though putin didn't go into detail saying only that it still classified the russian president says one of these isn't to intimidate or scare anyone or invade anyone these a serious way. designed for one thing restore and guarantee russia's strategic power in an age where an ever expanding nato is trying to nullify it. we have no plans and have never had plans to use this potential to achieve

offensive or aggressive in russia's in hands military power is simply a guarantee for peace on our planet for it preserves restore parity in the world sure that there's no point in gay gene in a senseless arms race after all mutually assured destruction has kept the world safe for the best part of a sentry. president putin's speech caused alarm across much of the western media he addressed it himself with n.b.c. news after many outlets accused russia of risking another cold war the white house and the country learning of that new threat from russian president warning at first reason and in the west in particular not to mess with russia computer graphics of missiles flying over mountains and heading over oceans and he says he's not bluffing several analysts in the west have said this is the declaration of

a new cold war are we in a new arms race right now my point of view is the individuals who have said that a new cold war has started are not really analysts they do propaganda if you were to speak about arms race then an arms race began at exactly the time in moment when the u.s. opted out of the anti-ballistic missile treaty. but amir putin also said that the new weapons serve to counteract washington's deployment of missile defense systems in alaska and california nato is also expanding further into eastern europe with two sides set up in romania and poland new locations are soon to be established in japan and south korea as well we've spoken to several political commentators they told us president putin speech was really just about emphasizing that russia has an effective and up to date nuclear deterrent because. these are not designed for war fighting these are designed to send

a very clear message that president putin said quite clearly which is that these these systems are basically saying if you mess with us we will nuke you and we will not hold back now that is a strategic statement it's not a statement about escalating to deescalating which is what the russians are often accused of and were accused of officially by the american government. decades after the cold war the usa really ruled the world and that balance of power is now shifting with russia coming in with many other major players from what putin is saying and i hope he's absolutely right that this is a deterrent against the american led defense system and that's a very important effective tool to have. i don't see an intensification of hostile talk or scheming and planning has in the cards it's very reasonable to expect that in the short term they will be calling

upon moscow to reenter into overall full scape arms to go shushan talks that is certainly the greatest likelihood and certainly what for dinner putin. is looking for. the u.s. state department spokeswoman said she believes the visuals shown during the speech illustrating the missiles capabilities actually depicted a nuclear attack on the u.s. heather now weren't even snubbed a russian reporter who tried to challenge her on it and this is not the first time she's made caustic responses to journalists working for russian media. if you're small to take in the united states it. sends a different direction so i had to say that they are you know you remember shit yeah ok ok enough said then i'll move on to.

what is funny if it turns out they're not. a fish because if there was a government there same question about me oh really ok. did by the russian government the fact that you were here as a representative of the russian government so-called news organizations russian news if you were. misread of any great joke on. someone. you know what i don't know if you are working for today or what but i remember my mom with them everybody. got it we got to go because i i will talk to you after the know your body part that's. stable for the rocky for foreign sheep. their preliminary

results of the general elections in italy pointed to a possible hung parliament with voters favoring anti-establishment and a center right parties a center right coalition that includes silvio berlusconi's. talia and mateo salvini is a lego nord is expected to be to the antiestablishment five star movement and both the chamber of deputies and the senate it is projected to the coalition who will get about thirty seven percent support and the five star movement thirty percent i would make it the single largest party but without the numbers needed to govern alone which is on the situation the reports now from rome. well it's been quite an election here in italy from the very curious and untested new election laws that was used for the first time in the selection some of the curiosities about the candidates to of course media frenzy with journalists both italian and international trying to make sense of it all now we're at the headquarters of the five star movement this is

a movement that was founded back in two thousand and nine and from being an online political movement it really became a force to be reckoned with here in italy becoming the largest single party to make it quite far in this election we also of course have on the center right silvio berlusconi of course who cannot himself run for political office given his previous conviction convictions the four time previous prime minister eighty one year old was the face of the force a tahlia movement which is in coalition with a leg which is more right leaning group that is very so tough in terms of its anti immigration stance and we saw the democratic party of former prime minister matteo renzi trying to kind of pick up the political force here in italy yet again after he had staked his whole career on a referendum which he had failed but so far it hasn't worked quite well for the democratic party now taking all of these issues into account one of the bigger ones has been immigrations with passions flying high on all sides of the spectrum

including protests taking place. i was. just having talks about immigration also the economy has been a huge issue here of course with italy having a huge public debt of one hundred thirty five percent of its g.d.p. unemployment being super high especially for use a stagnant economy really some people some critics have been saying that this election should have been taken a little bit more seriously in terms of this untested election system that many have found to be quite confusing including italians we've spoken to. i'm a bit disillusioned the programs are always the same and after the first three

months in power the political parties never keep the promises they made to the hall to the it was pretty complicated it was a bit unclear and there will be consequences. while you are trying to gain the trust of a tis creating a mess like this amounts to a real shot while some of the media headlines we've seen have job this election chaotic unpredictable disappointing even a farce and certainly expecting it's to have been more organized i mean even throughout the night here we've seen some international journalists be quite so taken aback with some of the organization that has been taking place with no good internet connections inside press centers with journalists having to go outside for some live broadcasts to be able to do their work so this was something that's been quite symbolic in terms of how this whole election has been unraveling in terms of even touching journalists who have arrived here to be able to to try to be able to do their job and to be quite surprised with the way things have been panning out so we do expect final results to be announced sometime on monday afternoon and

certainly we'll be bringing you those as they come in. marco bussau the professor of political theory at the university of milan told us immigration fears have fueled the gains on the right. there's no clear majority there's one clear result that is the democratic party that was in power is gone like twenty twenty one percent will tell you but it's pretty much gone and the issue was so clearly that of immigration that bothered them a lot and clinton clearly created that that mess for them so there's no clear majority and anything can come up through there is not it's not like in germany we're when there's no clear majority you know what's going to happen the two major parties will go for the grocer qualities you want in italy there's your three three big parties in two or three more and actually the center by.

was fooled by the clearly by the immigration issue there is no doubt about that. russia's military says only two children have managed to escape the besieged syrian district of eastern ghouta five days after russia set up a humanitarian corridor to help civilians leave. here are images of the moment syrian soldiers saved the two children they were clearly in shock and were comforted and provided aid after reaching government positions the russian the ministry of defense has stressed that militants in the enclave are preventing others from the scaping by opening fire on them the ministry also says insurgents there are using people as human shields of a un security council earlier adopted a resolution demanding a thirty day cease fire across syria without delay now russia sees the opening of

its humanitarian corridor and its attempts to establish ceasefire windows as steps towards implementing that call damascus has also attempted to evacuate the wounded and tried sending forty six aid trucks to the area. but they were unable to get through as milton. opened fire along the man a turnaround of about eight workers stationed at a government checkpoint close to eastern good i told us about the plight of civilians there. i'm here with the syrian army and i'm ready to help leaving eastern ghouta we have ambulances here with the words of the list the best they hear around the clock to provide first aid to people from eastern guta a medical labs also work twenty four hours have provided vehicles to quit with all modern facilities medical workers also ready but. there were some people who wanted to leave eastern goods but all of a sudden we only saw a gunman opening fire using mortars to intimidate civilians. well eastern good is

located just outside of the syrian capital damascus and has been occupied by various rebel and islamist groups for years and under siege since two thousand and thirteen and in the north of good a is a refugee camp and that it is hoped fleeing civilians can be relocated to efforts to provide safe passage for those desperate to escape are being coordinated with the syrian red crescent buses and ambulances are on standby hoping the militants will cease fire or long enough for sowing to get out people inside the insurgent held on klav are being notified about the location of the corridor through leaflets texel loads and the loudspeakers first aid points have also been set up near the exit to the corridor the situation in the district meanwhile has provoked a heated debate at the un security council. the fighting has not stopped the opposition groups operating in eastern good to have made clear their commitment to the ceasefire on the very first day the

militants use the declared pools to stop an onslaught on the second day the same mortar shelling has continued including of the humanitarian corridor not a single person has left the danger zone. there were reports that the assad regime once again used chlorine gas as a weapon i'm tired of asking this but do you understand how pointless it would be for damascus to use chemical weapons both from a military and political standpoint whereas for the militants it would make perfect sense i think you understand this perfectly well but you persistently look for a pretext for an armed intervention. russia does not get you know laterally rewrite the terms of the resolution if russia is able to deliver a five pows let it deliver a twenty four hour one you would need to be put to reduce our western partners are

patrolling the situation as if the resolution applies only to damascus and to russia as if it all depends almost exclusively on the will of our country may i ask you what you have done to implement the resolution if any of you lifted a finger to use your influence on those who you consider the moderate opposition have you persuaded them to lay down their weapons and release hostages. always playing with fire the one who was playing it was fire is always providing weapons who is providing the center is who is financing them who is providing media coverage for them. and trying to show that that what is happening is. a big must go of innocent people what they care about is those whom they have supply arms who they have finances who they have been breathing in the last few years and now they have lost all but they don't have the same coach to admit that they lost the water always do they just keep on bargaining and making all those

claims. the white house meanwhile has realized a statement condemning the operation against militants in good and also blaming russia and iran for supporting the syrian government rick stirling investigative journalist and member of the syria solidarity movement says washington is waging an info war i think this statement coming out on a sunday it's a little bit unusual it's an escalation of the information war they make reference to chemical weapons in there and interestingly enough this statement also includes a reference to a letter which is actually a very good comparison because the very same claims were being made or months ago when the the armed opposition groups were finally expelled from aleppo it was learned that the civilians were really joyful at finally being liberated and aleppo today the civilians are returning to rebuilding you still left other people

walking east and west filled up well with fear it's a good comparison because the same claims were being made to vote he still let go. fourteen months ago that are now being used and it's basically a lot of false information accusations without evidence then and just let's call it what it is properly and. many media outlets have been quick to compare the situation in eastern good o. with what was seen in the previously besieged syrian city of aleppo but as artie's ego has done off comment they often overlook a number of inconvenient truths in their reports. president arafat and his russian are like the accused of unleashing all out war against the people of ghouta russia and the syrian government are launching an offensive actually examining those wires hundreds of missiles and mortars on civilian homes and hospitals hospitals are targets in syria and the regime has been bombing them ruthlessly among all things

eased goatees one of the last jihadi bastions just like aleppo it's been a long time den of the nusra front and the likes and since then nusra have only been getting cozy of their militias a nice to have a record of forcing civilians to sit tight amid the fighting and the worse it is for them the better the evidence indicates that non-state armed groups in eastern guta and in particular josh islam are also responsible for inflating the price of food and other basic necessities they're arbitrarily restricting the movement of civilians wishing to leave and abducting and arbitrarily detaining people. human shields is a tactic favored by all terrorists including those who were in aleppo. and just like any still up oh there are no western reporters in rubble i'll go to

reporters shoes are filled by young prodigies that. this is what happens is a shame that our country seat of damascus. for serving is a girl. assad regime. the white helmets a group marketing itself as a civil defense initiative there are volunteers work at bomb sites as diligently in scenes as they have at the scenes of jihad is the executive. wherever jihadi factions first they bring their white helmets in tow. like aleppo is no exception. number of districts in brussels have called on the belgian

government to reconsider plans to grant police a greater powers to target migrants a new bill currently being debated would make it easier to conduct raids on homes thought to shelter and documented persons spoke to one local who had that knock on her door. when the new tourist jungle camping cali was torn apart thousands of migrant scattered many came here to brussels it was meant to be a pitstop instead for many it's become more permanent as belgians have opened their arms and their homes to migrants though for some that's brought its own perils five o'clock in the morning i heard the door. was kind of a shocker with sleeping in so i wake up with a look and i mean flow in my body and i came down or say yes who is it it is ok but i have no idea where you really are the north while the over friendly and i

saw seven man and one woman coming in the door pushing me aside going to her but asking me are you along yes i am a lot it was a case where three they went into the lobby when the other side wanted to see if nobody was really had the impression i was a terrorist sixteen year old mohammed migrant from sudan is the reason the police came around six months ago he was sleeping rough at brussels maximillian park if police going to park my somalia here only come to people they sleep there used to be you. because the one they want you feel very but you know is sixteen and he was there at least already for two weeks north where to sleep alone in this park with some friends and nothing so i sent him home well for now mohammed has a roof over his head it looks like the government is making a new play in

a bid to evict migrants like him it's due to vote on plans to allow police to search private homes suspected of sheltering unauthorized migrants some terrorists have used fake i.d.'s some terrorists have posed as michael and seeking asylum what concerns do you have about letting people into your home i cannot tell you that i will be one hundred percent sure that they are not their host of course but the persons of nichiren that daoist is so little foot a nuke hosting mohammed has so far been a routing experience for mohammed it's changed his life how different is your life now compared to what it was just a few months ago. everything. i have family.

really family and really familial for me she do everything for me i have for i was all. i have for then despite his good fortune mohammed says his family back in sudan always in his heart everywhere had a hundred luck a lot of oil. that our mother glow value not that our other gave us in charlotte along with a shiver. see brussels. that does it for me my colleague you know neal will be here in about thirty four minutes with a full look at your news you are watching our international so glad to have you with us stay with us. during. her. her.

her. love and walks telling you on the idea of dropping bombs brings police to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battle is going. to stop to try to tell you that the beach gossip the tabloids by file for the most important news today. doesn't tell you if you are not cool enough to buy their product. these are the hawks that we along with all the walking.

done some is not so is not i can quit place is not a good country. because it is the minister to live bunch. of scum. because that's good at that as a disco this is. the stuff of the co-chair. of the cult of the sure the from the charge of christmas. pulling in just a little and bias from a fellow muslim of themselves to be timid and. mostly out of this fossil. play almost anything in the numbers for the base cannot affect our data john said on based on our must who does not mean can i do not ask how would mr wright is from god make matter how anomaly came. from michele cannot. confront him on the canal you saw him almost feel now we can fuck him on the. cool road students who are three months old enough i was going to show you who's to but only to go to the

cities in the micra voices in his or to do whatever the street the. cinema of our government allows is. this you who are supposed. to focus on ending the war and that's not intermingled fisherman a tearing concern which is the bombing of hospitals a bombing of civilians the shelling of the damascus by rebel groups that's a lot and also the bombing by the year as i was mentioning earlier there's a mix of that with the political objectives which some people may still have.

hello and welcome to crossfire where all things are considered i'm peter lavelle putin tells the u.s. to come back to earth challenging washington's polar ambitions also calls to end the illegal war against yemen and why arming the king of regime is a recipe for disaster as well as the return to trade wars. across talking some real news i'm joined by my guest mark sloboda he's an international affairs and security analyst and we have dmitri bobbitt she is a political analyst we spoke nick international rules in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it first of all we have to go to putin's speech on russia returning to nucular parity with the united states and we have to comment about the erosion of arms control regimes that are very important here mark and looking at the major cable stations in the broadsheets they don't give my.