a national day of mourning has seen crowds across russia one of the victims of last sunday's. which killed sixty four people including forty one children while the first funerals have also been held. but if you look at the range that we would go with me to do to you you could you. don't need to the. you could be doing if we could. the u.k. releases a new national security strategy placing moscow alongside islamic terror on its list of threats. and wiki leaks founder julian assange has his internet access and visiting rights suspended by the ecuadorian embassy in london because

threatened further measures. at the top of the next hour rory so she will be here with a full rundown of today's top stories but up next cross talk examines whether the trump administration's iraq policy could lead to war. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle there is an issue probably the only issue that unites many of the most powerful individuals surrounding donald trump and the issue is hostility directed at iran there is every reason to believe these same people will translate their hostility into action even military action the war cabinet is mobilizing.

cross-checking trumps war cabinet i'm joined by my guest russian mohammad ali in london he is a journalist and documentary maker with press t.v. also in london we have some humvee he is editor in chief of the international interest as well as a geo political risk consultant and in los angeles we cross to john rainwater he is executive director of peace action. in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate russia let me go to you first in london we have mr bolton coming in as a national security advisor to donald trump pale leaving the cia going into the state department and there are others in the around trumpet have an intense intense hostility towards iran we also know that it is a little bit a year ago we had bolton addressing would be. possessors of power after there is forced regime change and by the end of two thousand and

nineteen it's very public and we can talk about those people who are what is your are you concerned that there is a concerted planning effort for a significant action against iran including military go ahead rochelle in london it's difficult to say because trump is very very difficult to read in fact i've stopped trying to read him he seems to make policy on the hoof it depends what side of the bed he wakes up on he seems to agree with the last person he spoke to so you can argue this both ways always see john bolton is a fruitcake a complete fruitcake somebody who literally wants to burn the middle east he believes and read regime change in iran whether through an internal uprising or through military strikes he is against the iran deal he's also allied to this crazy organization called the. quite frankly a bunch of terrorists iranian terrorists. u.s.

has recognized them as terrorists and they haven't got a hope of throwing the iranian government so on the one side you have these crazy people in a war cabinet as you describe on the other hand iran is not iraq in two thousand and three it's not libya in two thousand and eleven it is a strong country internally cohesive with a popular government which is backed by its people and a strong military the west likes to pick on the weak not the strong and iran is strong iran can set off lots of fires and if america dares make a move you're going to find israel. waiting down on israel you're going to five missiles raining down on u.s. bases in the persian gulf and perhaps in saudi arabia is going to get it from the iran has a regional alliance called the resistance axis it also has international allies like russia and china so this won't be any picnic we're going to go to john in los angeles here i mean shortly i think we should all expected trump will walk away

from the the j c p u a nucular deal is this setting up a a cascade of events here because this is going to send a very strong signal to iran also to american allies that probably won't going to be very happy about it for sure here you know bolton is a man that does not respect international law he's made it very clear he said that he was representing the united united states the in the u.n. so very very much believes in unilateral action here and we don't know how powerful he will be around trumpet that what remains to be seen but we know his views and the president of the united states should know his views as well go ahead john in los angeles well you have to be. very concerned about how close to the president the national security adviser is and that dynamic of not knowing which way he's going to go to pay. thing on what side of the bed he gets up on bolton can

take advantage of that and you're absolutely right bolton unilateralist and if the u.s. pulls out of the iran deal we're going to alienate pretty much every country in the world not only the people involved in the deal but those allies of the united states that engaged in sanctions leading up to the deal so this would be really isolating the united states we have to be worried about that cascade that you're talking about which could include the iranians starting to enrich uranium again and ultimately bolton has been pushing for ron for a war with iran i agree this is not the run up to the iraq war not only is iran different than iraq but we're different as a country in the united states we're not in that post nine eleven freakout that the country was engaged and so hopefully the the hope here is that the

u.s. populace will let its voice be heard and oppose these wars because there's not a team change war that john bolton hasn't or that you know johnny one of the one thing that is different from two thousand and three is that the progressive left has abandoned the anti-war movement i lament that very much and it's a subject for another program let me go to sammy in london i tend to think you probably disagree with much of what you've heard so far in this program go ahead sammy. i think we have to remember we have to look at u.s. foreign policy in a wider context i know it's very easy to point to trump and say that trump has changed in the foreign policy and whatnot but i think if you really really look at transform policy i think you'll see that it's far more calculated than people give him credit for i'm not saying that he's the one who is guiding it but bringing in the military officials into power once more and guiding us foreign policy based on the guidance he's restoring to us to what it was pretty obama we have to remember why obama decided to negotiate with iran the reason why he did so is because he saw

that ten years of being antagonistic to iran didn't help in iraq iran managed to bring iraq under its complete control it managed to unite the shiite blocs it managed to bring its militias into the interior ministry it managed to cement itself into in the army and it managed to cement itself in every single iraqi institution in other words the us found themselves liking behind even in two thousand and six when the u.s. set up the so how its movement the awakening movement in order to fight al-qaeda iran quickly mobilized medic in the other militias to utterly crushed the somehow as well in order to prevent their religion but samuel said i'm sailing in a big tsunami i think you need to negotiate i think you need to give the iraqis a little bit more agency don't you think ok let me go to russia i mean they are you know the blunder of the iraq war allowed me to let me finish. this with in iraq to invite the influence of iran so you know you make it sound like iran it did

this unilaterally no that is a result of a failed an illegal invasion go ahead sam you want to finish up i'm sorry interrupted go ahead no no that's not a problem no i was saying you know what you're saying is perfectly true i'll give you the analysis i'll give you my opinion afterwards the invasion is illegal everybody knows that but what we're saying is the reason i'm saying it is because obama's push to pursue pursuit of negotiation with iran came about as a result of the u.s. finally gets paralyzed so when we're talking about the prospect of war with iran we have to look at the situation what has. changed iran still has over fifty militias in iraq the us is still lagging in iraq said the regime syrian regime is surviving because if the iranians i don't know what is that i don't really think is that a reason to go to our way is that a reason to go to war with iran is this and i'm serious ok really with iran ok living this right let me go to let me go to russia it's not in the u.s. interest to go well it's never in its interest to go away and by the legal wars that is not in america's interest ultimately go ahead because one of the elements

here we go back to mr bolton here i mean he could be the ambassador you could be israel's ambassador to the united states and in the way the trumpet ministration i think slavish lee and shamelessly is kissing up to the saudis here this is a very bad toxic mixture go ahead rush on in london. there's a new axis of evil saudi arabia israel and the united states that is the true axis of evil and obviously saudi arabia would be willing to fight iran to the last american or israeli soldier but that's not going to happen because israel knows that the risk the price of confronting iran is way too high still probably just bomb gaza instead that's a low cost solution for them but obviously iran and saudi arabia and israel are adding on trump to attack iran to take off the head of the snake and a former saudi king said but as i say i don't think it's going to happen but what

we do have here is israel feeling that it's going through an existential crisis it's facing a demographic time bomb it's only existential threat is the resistance axis it knows that saudi arabia on the other hand has failing or lowering oil prices they're all going to run a fifty year seventy years time so it itself is facing this existential crisis and that's why they're panicking that's why they want to take out their major enemy with the help of the u.s. because i feel that we're talking about a different region than the middle east here i mean i'm a bit baffled here i mean iran has over fifty militias in iraq it has hezbollah in lebanon it has who thing in yemen it's backing the syrian regime the syrian regime and as said if your side your ego any of these are arab countries and you're watching iran's influence spread across your northern border yeah that's one of them will yeah because you know it's not you know the so-called peace that's so look at this so far as your reading of iranian influence you what is the result of failed and blunder is western policies in the middle east and they should get out

of the middle east and let regional players work out their problems here let me go to john ones i've said he really had to have spare time for everyone we have to have picked let me go to john john respond to what's been said here go ahead one minute before we go to the break. just like to point out that the united states is working with saudi arabia right now as everybody. no in yemen and there was a recent vote in senate and this is a tragic situation in yemen where the united states is helping the saudis bomb that country and it's causing immense human suffering the worst human to monetary and crisis in the world so it's not just about bad things that might happen in the in the future there's a really horrible situation going on because of this leaning toward saudi arabia and yemen right now and we ought to do something to stop that war as soon as possible ok gentlemen i'm going to go to a short break here and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on

trump's war cabinet stay with r.t. . that he will go back to what. bush will call you out of the. mouth and say what about and i didn't deal with the good is so. deep that are done with he come up with a good. move and i'm having that game of the month because i'm. not bad as it were but

they have. like about it. and it is about. twenty eighteen cover it. we've signed one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time but there was one more question and by the way who's going to be our coach. guys i know you are nervous is a huge tournaments and the huge amount of pressure to come after you have to go i mean eighty percent of the power with you and you will show the great game the grit to get you out of the rock at the back nobody gets past you we need you to get down knowing let's go. to a low. and i'm really happy to join that to follow the thousand in the in the world cup in russia meet the third special one come on top of. me just just at the reno

b.r.t. team's latest edition to make up a bigger than anybody jersey but. how does it feel to be a share of the greatest job in the world it's as close to being a king as any job there is one business model helps to run a prison now we just do or don't like is there nobody obeys the cage and i don't no one comes anymore we don't have to serve them anymore is cost effective that's what they want to do that acknowledge they don't give a damn if you believe the charge or not they're actually paying enough to put it back into the louisiana incarceration rate is twice as high as the u.s.n. breach what she could is behind such success. about your sudden passing i've only just learnt you worry yourself in taking your

last bang turn. you're at right up to us 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 feel. starting to change you talked about war and i keep my sick still some of my fun to you those that didn't like to question. the promised. like it's one does not leave the funeral the same as one enters the mind gets consumed with this. you know it. seems that mainstream media has met its maker. welcome across like we're all things considered i'm peter lavelle you were

discussing trump's war cabinet. ok let me go back to russia and then in london i like to the point you made in the very beginning of the program that this is in two thousand and three with iraq i think you're absolutely right and the problem is a lot of the people who were involved in the planning of that disastrous invasion of iraq illegally under international law are still around and still making or have influence on policy the fact that bolton is back and ministration is truly horrific considering his failed resume and this is what bothers me is that nothing was learned from that disaster in two thousand and three that we all live with particularly the iraqi people to this day go ahead. you know look i mean the americans the british especially they open the gates of hell in iraq and you know everything that's happened subsequently even the sectarian civil war which took

place subsequently what in the past and without that invasion taking place in the first place john bolton and tony blair i mean these guys george bush they should be in a war crimes tribunal instead they're walking around free pairing on fox news b.b.c. like the respected statesman or something like that but the lessons but i would like to respond quickly to sammy look. the fact is that iran has reacted they've reacted to that invasion in two thousand and three where they have basically hundreds of thousands of american soldiers on one border in iraq and hundreds of thousands of american soldiers on the other border with afghanistan they are reacting to the fact of the west with the help of saddam hussein and all the arab world virtually try to basically destroy islam in iran at birth in nine hundred seventy nine and throughout the eighty's one million people died in that war iran's military doctrine now is never to fight a war on its own soil that's why it seeks bus buffers in iraq in lebanon and elsewhere because it's never going to war its own soil but what i would say is that

everyone should listen to the reef mohammad javad zarif the iranian foreign minister who's been repeatedly ignored of the last two years he's constantly called for a regional conference between saudi arabia between turkey between iran where everybody recognized each other spheres of influence they sign a non-aggression pact and they take the heat of the situation in the middle east so the ordinary arabs don't have to suffer the consequences sami would you repeal to react to that because i think that if the united states extremely unlikely and russia would be blessed such an idea it could go forward i mean the thing is is that we keep hearing about hostile hostile words and potential hostile actions towards iran why don't we just sit down and talk you may not like the nucular agreement but at least it is an agreement it could be something that could have been built upon but no it's going to go in reverse i don't understand why we can't apply diplomacy all we keep hearing is the drums of war sammy go ahead in london.

i think if you talk to any of the saudis you talk to any of the arabs i mean remember king abdullah invited me and invited the officials to make an order to discuss potential peace but the what i'm saying is this it put yourself in the saudi shoes as difficult as that is but do it for a second look at your northern eastern and southern border look at an internationally recognized government in yemen that is agreed upon by all parties and then the iranians get involved with the who things and encourage them to overthrow that government and almost take over all of yemen i agree there's a humanitarian crisis but peter between an internationally recognized government or a military coup if we're democratic we are all right you know you're right you know sami you know if we're talking about yemen if you want to talk about yemen or see a question the influence stayed around may or may not have been yemen is the result of a saw as are you saudi arabia with western allies ok so get you're getting a sense of causality wrong right please continue. ok so with regard to resample the

war that happened in the eighty's the war didn't just emerge all of a sudden to attack iran iran the revolution that took place in iran started spreading towards the arab states when the arabs asked the iranians to back off the iranians said look we're not going to be held responsible for this wave and khomeini said we need to spread it i'm not justifying the war but i'm saying that politics does not occur in a vacuum russian mention that iran is reacting the arabs also reacted this is the reality of what's going on we can have diplomacy but tell me of peter how do you have to promise me with a country that dominates the iraqi government via militias that commit sectarian killings that goes on a war with terrorism goes into the sunni areas and i'll tell you why it's them out that protects a tyrannical regime in syria that kills its people left right and center and then goes we're going to her holding her. like this is called john bolton harking points that don't make any sense to whatsoever really i mean what did you just do have. right if you. really want to but the brigade head

that i am any outsider you can't say if you memory or one of them they openly acknowledge that iran is backing their head the army has a famous statement he said but ours is a home project. ok i'm saying no you have no you haven't and you are like every bed with valentine's day in syria don't give me don't lecture me about this this is you how do you it's ok because you don't wipe out the syrian revolution because you want to measure the breaking syria and that's why you're talking so much about iraq the cases that are you talking about a sham. iran russia and said ok fight in your head only are you going to have to cut your mike ok i know saying i know how to cut your line i think almost like he did go to another guest here thank you sami john would you like to jump in a lot was said. well i think here in the united states what we have to be concerned about is the fact that what you're pointing out which is that john bolton

i mean all of these countries john bolton wants regime change in iraq he wanted regime change or iran syria libya. and now we're talking he's talking about regime change in north korea we need to create a movement in this united states to put a check on that you know as we were talking about before going to war with iran or north korea for that matter would be make the iraq war as tragic as it was look like a picnic those countries have much stronger militaries in the case of north korea you know south korea is right there on the border of the d.m.z. these would be tragedies of immense proportion and both my pompei o and john bolton were talking a lot about bold them but bomb peo has the same anti islamic lama phobic tendencies

he also has been interested in regime change in iran and in north korea there has to be a check on this or we're in big trouble in this country and so people need not only to be angry at the television right now they need to get out in the streets they need to contact their members of congress the only way we have a check on this war cabinet is through public power we can hope that mr well you notice. once again i'm lying on that i agree with you john but there's a small problem the least i can speak for the american public they're not even told about these things it is not common currency to hear about these things they talk about porn stars ok i mean the last news cycle in the united states is really. to the country here but let me go to. thanks to john here he mentioned all of the

countries where we've had regime change recently it never works out it's always the law of unintended consequences so why do these morons think they can do it again because the outcome will be the same just far worse as you pointed out in the beginning of this program iran is not a weak country it can fight back and it can push back and only in it's a nightmare scenario if that actually starts to unwind go ahead with. the people of bolton and trump and these neo cons they're just crazy ideologues i mean i call them the american way. to the religious extremists in in saudi arabia is their way or the highway everything that they say is right everything i want also is wrong and they just can't change their minds they believe in american exceptionalism they truly believe that america is on this kind of cowboy crusade to democratize the whole world to dominate the whole world that's their mindset and it's not going to

change but what i would say is it's in america's interest in israel's interest to have muslims especially persians and arabs fighting each other i don't want that to happen you get other guests in london can come up with his arguments and argue for the arabs i can argue for iran we can counter each other's arguments until the cows come home but the fact is we go look for solutions now let's not have these t.v. debates where we just fight each other let's look for solutions everyone has their interests everyone has a severe of influence and we just got to take the heat out of the situation because the ordinary arab and persian and kurd in the region is suffering because of israel suffering because america and suffering because of the the interplay between these world and regional powers so let's sit down and talk and take the heat of a situation i don't i don't want iran intrusive or russian troops to be in syria. or iraq or other places i would like them to withdraw but they're not going to withdraw unless saudi arabia would draws on this turkey with draws unless qatar or

the west withdraws so ultimately people need to sit down and talk and come to a plan and come to a peace plan as a result of those tours kate let me go to sami here what would you propose to lessen tensions what does what kind of iran to what can the u.s. do israel saudi arabia if there is honest discourse and looking for resolutions what would you suggest go right ahead. i think to be honest the biggest issue for example in iran in particular is that it's combating the u.s. i think that's the biggest issue you take the u.s. out of the equation and things become much more easier i confess that i would draw all of the u.s. will mean that iraq essentially falls on the iranian hedging money and to be honest if i was allowed to finish early i was going to say that i don't blame the iranians for their foreign policy in the region i understand that this generation of rulers in iran of a generation that fought in that terrible iraq iran war in the one nine hundred

eighty s. so i understand when you were there he says that they want to protect themselves by establishing buffer zones the problem is the iraqis are paying the price of this feud going on between iran and the u.s. so in other words i can empathize with the iranians but it doesn't mean i agree with what they're doing in the region with regard to a solution that to take place the problem is that the u.s. is trying to establish itself as the main hedge of money superpower since the fall of the soviet union the one nine hundred ninety s. it's had free reign to do as it wishes and i think the rise of russia the rise of china is restudy is establishing a new iran no longer needs the u.s. iran can go to china can go to the russians and actually stand head to head the problem for the saudis however is this we talked about saudi involvement in syria how does an s.s. number shuttle as it were never pro saudi they despise the saudis because they abandon said ok st sami saudis you know you have i have to jump here is that i have to jump in here we do you really are you going to hear a problem here many thanks to my guests in london and in los angeles and thanks to our viewers for watching us here at r.t. see you next time and remember cross talk rules.

what politicians do. they put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president i'm sure. more some want to. have to go on to be for us it's like before three in the morning can't be good. i'm interested always in the waters of the house. question. the most expensive fish in

a will each one is selling for tens of thousands of euros it continues to grow its entire life if it was thirty years old you might have a two ton fish out there and yet they don't get that big today because we're way too good at catching. it's only women themself a much larger mission was once there and that was much more widely distributed we have politicians that are in office for a few years they have to get reelected everything is very very short term our system is not suited and is not geared for long term survival and that's why we have a catastrophe is a. real plot three hundred kilometers from new orleans far away from tourists jazz and muddy gras the small town is the gateway to state prisons in a city of seven thousand seven hundred arrests in two us.