and there saw the o.p.c. w.'s got set procedures in place that need to be followed through with and those are not being followed. those procedures investigation and formal steps are not being followed and and i think most of the world realizes that. it. this is a very political situation and and it really really so far that we're not going through there needs to be rigorous an investigation to find out what's going on just like the investor from russia stated and and i think people realize that this is not the case currently it's being. led by the u.k. it's it's i don't know what the basis behind it but it definitely is very questionable as far as the situation over there and i think most people realize you bring up a good point with the ambassador of russia saying that the presumption of innocence is replaced by the presumption of guilt in this case but let's look at the substance itself used in the attack it's part of the noble family of nerve agents

in theory it could be produced by anyone the recipe is out there for anyone to have why do you think the fact that it was the soviet union that made this substance it's being presented as such strong evidence that it was russian culpability. i think it fits the narrative right now russia is the bad guy for. and first different political reasons and it really goes beyond us i mean if you could look at. the disruption. in the middle east the plans for kind of shifted as far as syria. the ukraine should have should have completely fell and that it did not take place so russia's kind of stepped in and kind of blocked a few things and i think this kind of plays into the whole picture i think this is not just a stand alone thing there's other elements that that are playing into this so if

it's a russian are soviet actually soviet chemical overdeveloped you know and uniquely to them so it's easy to kind of frame it that way even though we all know that fact one of the leading scientists who know the formula quite well defected to the u.s. and. and it's it's been out there since the early ninety's and the production stopped in the ninety's so and you know as it was mentioned earlier. russia basically did you know did away with all their chemical weapons last year and several of his abilities were closed over the last several years and so it's. it i think it's just it fits into a larger narrative even though it there's nothing there now earlier you brought up you know that this could be all political if we kind of go down that road a little bit who could benefit from these sort of accusations towards russia is there anything to gain politically in the states or in the u.k.

even. i think. so it's interesting if we look at from. i mean one there's several countries that have the skill sets. to manufacture this to make it to make it happen not just russia. and it's a binary agent so we know that the items had to be come in and and be put together relatively in the near term before the actual attack as far as who benefits obviously one country that does not benefit is russia. because of all of. the attention that they're getting and really unjust. criticism that they're getting from many countries. they definitely do not benefit we've got a presidential election coming up as well if we look at who can benefit. you know colonel. screwball of from my understanding he there's indications he

interface quite a lot with mr steele. during his days as a double agent. man from mine what i've heard recently is potentially still was in connection with him so there may be something in that area and so who's going to benefit from the situation obviously i think the u.k.'s primarily the one that made me see a benefit. of trying to frame russia from this and kind of you know corner them a little bit more i think the u.k. could benefit the maybe the u.s. maybe there's other countries as well that would have if they can shift the blame and actually put it put it you know make russia the bad guys every as they're trying to do with almost everything so it certainly was interesting to see how people were quick to point the finger in this case rasmussen executive vice president of the eurasia center certainly interesting to hear your thoughts glad to have you with us here on r.t.

international. thank you sean. all right earlier u.k. prime minister theresa may announce britain would expel twenty three russian diplomats and suspend all scheduled bilateral meetings with russia on associate you're going to has the latest details from london. well the british prime minister has said that russia is culpable of attempted murder and among the measures that the u.k. is now taking is the expulsion of twenty three russian diplomats they are suspending high level contacts between the two countries the russian foreign minister's visit to the u.k. has been cancelled and no british officials including members of the world family will be present at the world cup in russia taking place this summer may has said that russia's response to the deadline that was given by midnight last night was a distain given the gravity of that unravelled mr speaker it was right to offer

russia the opportunity to provide an explanation but their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events. they have provided no credible explanation that they could suggest they don't control within her agent no explanation as to how this agent came to be used in the united kingdom no explanation as to why russia has an undeclared chemical weapons program in contravention of international law. the leader of the opposition jeremy corbyn had to ask the british prime minister whether or not any official requests were sent to russia whether any evidence was provided to russia or any of the boxes and that the response was a bit unsubstantial was the prime minister taking the necessary steps under the chemical weapons convention to make a formal request for evidence from the russian government how has she responded to the russian government's request for

a sample of the agent used in the souls return to run its own terms as my resolution trace analysis been run on a sample of the nerve agent and has that revealed any evidence as to the location or which production. all the identity of its perpetrators we case the russian government the opportunity of the through the day march that maharaj on the front from the secretary delivered to the russian ambassador here in london earlier this week to do just that they have not done so if there is a consensus across the but benches of this house. i am only sorry that the consensus does not go as far as the right honorable gentleman. could have taken the opportunity as the u.k. government has done to condemn the culprit in the senior. russian embassy here in london has said that the steps taken by the british

government are unjustified unacceptable and shortsighted also saying that they did deterioration of ties between russia and the u.k. lies on the british government and that ultimatums don't work with russia everything but if. you accept the way we perceive it to provoke each. we believe that the you know i do keep the full big international none of them under this obligations to him. to keep giving the weapons they have to present their request to the organization and we're happy to consider this we didn't do the deed this is the international law and of course we're not ready to. to talk you know we will be ultimately the actions taken by the british government became really

a crescendo of over a week of the spy saga in raveling where we saw what could have been a potential local incident unravel into a huge international diplomatic standoff. the white house has reacted to britain's a punitive measures saying it supports the decision to expel the russian diplomat moscow says it regards the move as unjustified and aimed to add to the stabilizing relations stead of completing its investigation using established international formats and instruments including those in the framework of the a.p.c. w. which we were expecting the british government chose confrontation with russia is so fierce that by opting for unilateral and nontransparent methods of investigating this incident the british authorities have once again tried to unleash an indiscriminate anti russian campaign well in the wake of donald trump's a shake up of two top posts in his administration there is backlash over his suggested replacements details that they were.

leveled was selling you on the idea that dropping bombs brings police to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battle. for new socks credit tell you that every gossip and tabloids are. off the bat for telling the whole enough to buy their product. all the hawks that we all thought were walking. manufacture consent to public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. in the final.

we can all middle of the room sick. of the magazine international now the u.s. president has opted for a major shake up on capitol hill the new face of american diplomacy will be the incumbent cia director mike pompei if he is confirmed that is who donald trump says he has good chemistry we have very good relationship for whatever. whatever. it was. he's now set to take the reins of the state department with pompei as position at the cia to be filled by jeanne i asked bill she is a veteran intelligence agent who's controversially played

a role in the organization's torture program he goes down off now takes a look. hawks nesting in washington my ponytail the new diplomat in chief of the iron fist to lead america's state department has had the president under his spell for a while already the to see eye to eye on normal most everything the issue that sunk to listen diplomatic career trump and pompei all share common spite towards iran and north korea both of them like to call torture enhanced interrogation and they are fans of the n.s.a.'s warrantless bulk data collection where they stand on whistleblowers is one of the few things that trump and bone peo don't quite agree on well they have to differ on something. it's time to call out wiki leaks for what it really is a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like russia . i can't think of a thing that has put america in a better position as

a result of this deal we're a year out from the agreement and every single action the iranians have taken has been bolder and starker than the one they took before the agreement. a very real danger. hardly ever escaped a day at the white house without the president asking me about north korea and how it is that the united states is responding to that threat it's very much at the top of his mind they are ever closer to having the capacity to hold america risk with a nuclear weapon this is the man elevated to america's top diplomat and descending with him is his former deputy gina hospital will be the first woman to lead the cia with her bosses impending departure she worked undercover and in secret for years she clearly likes being out of the spotlight and it could be for a good reason she was one of the torchy chieftains at the cia in two thousand to

ask bell ran the operations of an agency black site in thailand where. two terrorist suspects were tortured one of them was nearly killed during the so-called interrogation agents slammed his head against the wall water boarded him deprived of sleep and kept him in a coffin like box and it was a hospital reportedly who later gave the order to destroy the tapes which recorded the torment along with other evidence given trump's pledge to keep guantanamo bay hope aeration and he's advocating of waterboarding everything falls into place it seems now the state department and the cia will have plenty in common you know in hansing not just interrogation techniques bud a diplomatic routine to my compare will take over the from the current secretary of state rex tillerson at the end of the month reports that donald trump had been considering sagging his top diplomat had been circulating for months to do to their numerous disagreements over government policy forces removal was announced on

twitter by the president and the abrupt move has got others on the social networks sharing similar stories of rejection love them to come up with a new word.