we. know well. i remember when i was in high school is i loved earth science i love the mountains all of anything he was rocks and my earth science teacher back then said there's going to be eight hundred years of coal and when he said that that's when things were good you know where everybody was working like the guys that worked in the mines they always had the nice cars like the camero i remember thinking when i was younger that if anything ever happened to the coal mines here and that it would become a ghost town but i never thought in the million years i would see that and it's happened it's happened. the way. and down.

a bit is what. man and it's time to chair. a load of thinking. thing. i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter us has over one trillion dollars in debt more than ten leichhardt current stamping each dish. eighty five percent of global wealth he longs to be culled from the rich eight point six percent market saw a thirty percent raise last year some with one hundred to five hundred three per circuit push out. and decline rose to twenty thousand dollars. china's building two

point one billion dollars ai industrial park but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only numbers you need to remember is that once one business shows in afford to miss the one in only food but. fracking gave americans a lot of new job opportunities i needed to come up here to make some money i could make twenty five thousand dollars as a teacher or i could make fifty thousand dollars a year truck so i chose to drive truck people rushed to a small town in north dakota was an unemployment rate of zero percent like gold rush is very very similar to a gold rush but this beautiful story ended with pollution and devastation a lot of people have left here i don't know too many people here and just slow down for much they lost their jobs got laid off the american dream is changing that's

not what it used to be. and it's a tough reality until. i went to the code is looking for the past from. the class struggle still going on or maybe knowing the terms of the unions but for instance right now in terms of the empire. that you came phatic really. nobody's ever found me in one. and you're wasting your tan they are the very evil people you know they do thanks to the families and they do thanks to the young and the.

being in season in the n.f.l. is the big. thing. all kentucky county is hardly and produce the most code at a time in which most of what power do united states came from kentucky. today the thirty three active minds in harlan employ less than two thousand. some of deals mines have even been converted into museums. laid off left with nothing since the ninety's manny leave off was for they don't see any other options third in the she'll have nelson time on employed and are the usual customers swill her uncanny was founded on coal and

there's a reason harris county was billed as the reason. babies are in canada's live if basically as well orange county as it did in co and they got coal there's nothing else here we don't have the luxury of the cities we don't have factories we don't in the reason and as the president says in the mountains we don't have the road boys and it's hard to say mantra it's going to end in a day and that. i go flip hamburgers at the local mcdonald's or i go down here peace joy and make pay to. work that's now don't pay my bills over horrors boom boom voices. you can walk straight fanny's honeymooners if you did more to get run over people goes both ways your so be. told many stories very strong and numerous give more for their bodies everywhere you home will. continue these days

i'll give you believe the man is the. person sooner and get it when he goes to creature and i'll. call my uncles that were good examples he was working to save these he now stepped in years and years. and they tell me to give to god will not be running out of me what i'm doing. is i don't because i'm in here and you know other than four years ago i'm going to go think. they were going to live here but really rich or poor people grow change and be all that exists so we're now in the home. as i was eighteen years old it was around at. work in a coma for five years and every two years service from. the waiter here to. take. my two

hours and thirty cents an hour bus to it and since then how my town anymore. is our very do. not as much money in the time. when my doing here i just got out of jail my. possession of stolen property. i'm not here. jails jail. as. a feature three times a day. for t.v. . l.a. stuff. i don't need all those things you. need you. here with me. it's no.

good. way. to go uptown. where i was teenager smith and jones who screamed this is through the roof these places really oh and the story carried a pistol in us. enough carried we'll never see us in the steel. wool i've learned by now oh i. just tell him that way and meet. well.

i'm the go to guy here the pawn shop here for the past five years we take everything from you know d.v.d.'s to. boat motors or whatever you want to madge and we have some motorcycles smoking the mining equipment like us say we would take a lot of that stuff you would sell a four hundred dollar mining helmet maybe once a week the lights daily but the fact of the mining mines are shut down makes it difficult to sell that stuff because it is worse these were being sold to personal miners for their own use they're not in mining anymore course they're not buying that. line. here. where all of them are very accounting. ever. in the states is tough today it's hard to see any traces of the turbulent past there once made hard in the tories. the county is still mostly dry

and worse one for years people used to make moonshine knowledge drugs are on the rice a trust painkillers prescribed by doctors to treat dangerous and six miners now i'll ask a prime d'antin yes. there's a lot of people here this is a big fish and or a. nurse said yes and. in three minutes any of them makes me feel better and are they going to make them feel better. we have a lot of problems with items that are coming in that are stolen. maybe not just from drug use and. that is a problem and i say again it's desperation to try to get some money to maintain a habit you know and i think since all this you know all the mining and depression of the mining everything it's caused. a rising pills. it's the pills or the new alcohol. you're talking about the forty inch in the. forty's and fifty's

yeah. so in the fifty's well we made it so. you're in december a week because of worries but the race will be able to hope for as we carry in brazil yourself for valor again. the blackberries will go to order again but we get a lift you know. money from their. clothes and some food for them where they're. mostly what with troy in the food was corn meal lowered. so we would go a bit they'll be with also. flat. in the beginning i would only have to take a few back and they wanted them last and it towards the end of my credit in our

state. family and. maybe before they switched to the ones in jail that. i went from my feet you know and they hand it to sales now or it may have with the jobs or ground. shed on them while the coal mines are said. live to come mars is alive in nature and that man the people. in power. itself or. i want the same road scientists found their push tiny walked three decades ago and works from the opening pair. after his book come to my mind. it was nineteen eighty eight my fifth visit to harlan county i was on the winding road from harlan to our birds driving a borrowed pickup truck when i began to notice the road kill it was

a dangerous road with more than its share of adventurous drivers and it was getting dark. i began to think of the many ways in which that was a presence in this land that any most there road accidents and of course the corn mines beyond and block long. returning to new york leaving behind harlan in an endless rain. i tried to put together the pieces sober remotes were to i only got a glimpse off. my own with wonder where all that energy came from. the energy that lights up the luxury. there was a levy his whole bar is worth when hurt is little girl's grave. oh oh daddy dear daddy please don't go away where you

could live with. it don't go to the. madre would. come true. oh oh daddy dear daddy plays away. with. lid down south down the way they. claim to know all. he was done for.

now. he. didn't steal or still be. the only.

leveled warhawks selling you on the idea that dropping bombs brings police to the chickenhawk forcing you to fight the battles they don't. use talk to try to tell you that let me gossip and publish my files listed for a day. off the maverick eyes and tell me you are not cool enough to buy their product. all the hawks and all the boys were walking. because the slowness of the blood of them so much. good news over the cork was before. much of those who heard the figure was few other movies to see him with the north we go we're going to. move. move.

move show you this new video of the liberal elites and look good. no muslim also knows they'll see a good few films good girls. don't go to school so look i do the same you belong to show the story to actually go. to startups to. get to meet until it was done that is the most they'd say look it is it's. just testing understand statistics it's the mashed up truck stop the president and please control this morning to. those who have petitions to post this for to snap them up and you will because that is the cousin with you swear your supporters to your machine station shouldn't for

you should cook door for the one who's deal does the. fracking gave americans a lot of new job opportunities i needed to come up here to make some money i could make twenty five thousand dollars as a teacher or i could make fifty thousand dollars a year drove a truck so i chose to drive truck people rush to a small town in north dakota was an unemployment rate of zero percent like gold rush is very very similar to a gold rush but this beautiful. the story ended with pollution and devastation a lot of people have left here i don't know too many people here and slowdowns for much the lost of jobs that laid off the american dream is changing that's not what it used to be. it's a tough reality to deal. with

this is of the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of duma say in video released by russia's defense ministry those brought to hospital were not showing symptoms consistent with exposure to a chemical agent. of the developments russia calls a security council meeting on the situation in syria with moscow and washington exchanging fiery remarks. in other news when protesters killed and hundreds are injured in gaza as israeli troops use live firing tear gas to disperse anti occupation demonstrations along the border. war welcome in russia before the teams much with c.s.

come moscow despite the concerns about russian hooligans. i really get the feeling that with the world cup see the goods when you come if you stop and you see that it's no problem the russians are lovely i mean to say what happens between governments a lot happens between people told me different. and i want to be watching out international longer. first the syria crisis again the main story dominating and in a development from the russian side late last night russia's defense ministry recent video in which witnesses of the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in syria's duma say there was no indication that those rushed to hospital had been exposed to a chemical agent. my name is. i am a medical student i work in the e.r. department of dumas central hospital on april eighth

a building in the city was bombed the upper floors were destroyed and the bottom floors caught fire and all the injured from that building were brought to our hospital. that the residents from the upper floors were suffering from smoke inhalation and that is what we treated them for based on the symptoms they exhibited but this is a bit of a dominating headlines over the past few days that incident in duma whatever took place is attracted very different versions of events from the russian side the syrian side and the u.s. u.k. and france something did happen in do while the seventh of april with the western nations on the white helmets group on the ground in syria claiming it was a chemical attack by the damascus government on civilians killing and injuring dozens the russian side the mask is saying this was a setup now today we've got that evidence allegedly from the russian modi saying they have identified an individual in the video you can see just being played bad that video was used as part of the evidence by helmets and western nations to prove

that there was a chemical attack in duma as those rebels and civilians were being evacuated you can see the man highlighted the witness there on the video just for our viewers they claim they've identified him subsequently asked exactly what happened in that incident on the seventh of april in dubai let's take a listen to what exactly had to say about what took place in the hospital after. that during treatment some person came in i don't know who that was and said that it was a chemical attack. when the. people got scared a fight broke out the. relatives of the victims started pouring water on one another. then others began to give inhalers for asthma the children. even though these people were not medical professionals we did not see any patients exhibiting symptoms of chemical poisoning. this video amongst others of course quite shocking

disturbing images of civilian casualties was circulated all the while social media and cited by the information and organizations countries as evidence of that chemical attack and evidence of course is the key word here is the real crux of the issue of what o.p.c. w team heading over to do more on the way that they should be there over the next twenty four forty eight hours or so believe they have arrived in syria their findings will be key to establishing what really happened in duma whether there was some sort of chemical incident by the damascus government by as that was the nations are saying or as we heard from the russian. the russian military has gathered evidence that indicates the direct involvement of great britain organizing the provocation in eastern ukraine we know for a fact that london pressured the so-called white helmets to carry out their plans provocation as soon as possible they were told that from the third to the sixth of april rebels would carry out a series of heavy shelling is that damascus and that this would lead to a reaction from the government forces which the white helmets should use for their

provocation and to allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specific before for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. team with the u.n. and that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to. prove what exactly happened and to give gravitas and credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course in the next twenty four to forty eight hours. the u.k.'s ambassador to the un meantime has reacted to the accusations from the russian military by calling them grotesque in a blatant lie over the video we were telling you about featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously and shown by

a number of media outlets further questions are also hanging over the west's narrative because of the dubious reputations of the groups that initially made the allegations as more reports next. reports of a chemical attack first appeared strange enough it's almost the precise moment the battle had ended when the syrian government and rebels were negotiating on how to evacuate the latter reports first appeared on social media twitter facebook and spread like wildfire while my colleague kendall anian and i have learned today that the u.s. now has blood and a year in samples from some of the victims of this attack in syria last weekend and that those samples according to u.s. officials tested positive for chemicals sources the usuals wide helmets who service rescuers islamists and syrian rebels also the somewhat less known

syrian american medical society sounds together with the white helmets they were cited by the washington post the new york times c.n.n. virtually every western media outlets reporting on this chemical attack saturday april seventh amidst continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of duma more than five hundred cases the majority of whom are women and children were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent sams itself is funded by u.s. aid six million in two thousand and fifteen usaid is widely believed to be an arm of the state department and is banned in multiple countries accused of interfering in domestic policies and promoting regime change it even has an office of transition initiatives the management at sam's also believe it or not former usaid stuff was was saddam's who reportedly provided the u.p.c. w.

with samples of the alleged sarin gas that was used in hunchy whom the site of a chemical attack last year after which. donald trump sent fifty seven cruise missiles at the syrian airbase o.p.c. w. was on its way to duma to investigate we've contacted various groups including the world health organization they've cited but have refused to go into any details become not rule out the possibility that someone from within region wants to see the syrian state weakened or even toppled might stage something and what we know as well is that haitian islam the army of islam the militant group that was just ousted from duma they have possession of chlorine gas they used it and they acknowledged its usage two years ago in aleppo against kurdish militia they issued a statement saying you know we've done it what comes next no one can say whether

the u.s. will go ahead with a preemptive strike or whether cooler heads will prevail it appears the lack of evidence on the alleged chemical attack is a concern for a number of journalists five i spoke to one of them his name was bast spelt he's from belgium he's traveled to syria itself to judge it for themselves. around two years ago i started to discover that i wasn't really told the truth about the war in syria and i started to learn more and more. and i have this lead me to decided i want to go see for myself you know it's people should. journalists should so i did if you travel to syria it's such a different picture and then what has been binned in the media unfortunately yes we have a long way to go but i think the rise of internet you know it's the reason i like. the control is slipping away from from the dinosaur mass media. syrian rebels

meantime are ready to assist potential u.s. strikes against the country that some warning from the russian side of the u.n. security council earlier on where moscow and washington once again confronted each other over the situation in syria. we understand very well that the heads of syrian armed groups have received instructions to begin an offensive following potential active force we saw recent examples in iraq in libya they show is that the u.s. needs the u.n. security council for pragmatic reasons they used in the case of iraq with the vial they used it to cover up the initiative of the libyan no fly zone and that's what's being done now you're showing i was an imaginary vial it's empty chemical weapons didn't produce the most casualties in world war one but they were the most feared in world war two chemical weapons were employed on an industrial scale against civilians resulting in the worst genocide in human history which we recall just

yesterday on holocaust remembrance day i think it's becoming increasingly difficult as the cold war of words is heating up to a very hot potential military action and i really do wish that he would dial down the. anger in which he's trying to accuse russia and the stakes i think of becoming frighteningly high i mean i was very interested in and very active in speaking out against the iraq war i was very interested i have been for a couple of decades and speak out against the libyan intervention which was illegal as well but i didn't feel the same sort of existential fear that i am currently feeling around what might escalate if america and the u.k. and france start to invade illegally another sovereign country which is syria in london antiwar activist urged to protest in front of the prime minister's residence they demanded treason may not involve the u.k. in any potential military operation in syria.

and not in our name the anger was directed not only towards troops and maybe also towards the u.s. president himself thems voters also called impala to. to halt their war rhetoric and think about the suffering of the people ian said. protests against military escalation also took place in greece as well on friday. hundreds of people gathered in front of u.s. embassy in athens they held empty nato banners and the u.s. flag the demonstrators said they didn't want syria to become a repetition of the two thousand and three invasion of iraq let's get a view from over in the united states might come loose with this for a pentagon official hey michael always welcome guest on this show nice to see you so the u.s. state department of your own said during the briefing that we've got a very high confidence level that syria was behind the attack before i get a comment on that let's listen to the know its words will come straight but. we know that this was a chemical weapon that was used in syria if you will would you say today though

that the u.s. has proven that this was the syrian regime yes we believe we know that chemical weapon was used the o.p.c. w. will still formulate its facts and its findings but that still does not determine the o.p.c. have you just still not determined that their responsibility they just determine the substance you know what level of confidence are you that. syria was responsible at very high level of confidence will talk about how they can get that high level of confidence confidence what the sources could be in a moment but first of all if she's so in the proof is there if the confidence level is so high given everything that is at stake on all sides here why is that proof not being made public. well that's a very good question and i do recall back in two thousand and three when george tenet briefed president bush saying that the evidence of double m.d.m. iraq was

a slam dunk guess what no w m d i don't believe the intelligence community for one minute and the fact that they're not providing any proof i think is indicative of the of the problem that even general matters are secretary defense matters is one because she had a test to waive or even did doesn't really wash out is that because you see now before what could she know he basing her proof on her high level of proof what sources are on the ground there the o.p.c. doubly they don't start work until later today saturday so what is she using it to get this high level from. well there probably talking to people on the ground with . josh al islam people that the u.s. is backing financially and and other sunni's and just taking their word for it the white helmets as you pointed out earlier this is not proof they need to do much better than this and i think what you need to do is look at motive and it's not

with the syrian government because they had they were negotiating with the josh al islam to leave that area so there was no apparent reason for the syrian government to do this certainly wasn't russia but look to look to other countries in the neighborhood if you will and i think that their motives are much much higher to instigate something like this knowing what donald trump's reaction would be to the gassing of people for that matter we don't even know for a fact that that was a chemical weapon per se and that's why the zero zero piece. is going in to. verify that they can even determine that and to go to war over that is is outrageous when they start their work which reportedly is later today so russia and syria were first to welcome them in syria says will give them safe passage but where are we going to be even at the end of the day if they do turn around the say would have a chemical was or was not used here they still are able partly at the end of the day that the point a finger at who actually may have deployed we're going to be any further forward in

sorting this out or no. well i i think what we have here is the west determined as in iraq in two thousand and three to launch a military attack of some kind. even though we tried to stop that in back in two thousand and three they were ready to launch and there was no way to convince them to oust saddam hussein so i'm seeing a similar picture here it with with syria you have bolton who loves regime change and he along with the israelis and the saudis want assad out they want to unite the sunni's as as and as does the united states for keeping its troops there in syria but but you know two weeks ago when before this attack trump was telling netanyahu he wanted out netanyahu didn't like that answer and then what happens is that you have this gas attack following that within within twenty four hours you have the attack the israeli attack on t four in syria the base and. and

josh al islam having that capability the circumstantial evidence is much much higher i might add that the saudis also have an interest in this with their alliance with the israelis yeah get the price of oil is well below one hundred hundred dollars a barrel and of course in the case often are going to go right out of will yet there's so many forces really go well we got to leave it for the things he is saying listen a nice smile is from usa nice to see you michael maloof former pentagon official now thank you. there's been another day of violence on the israeli border. with clashes between israeli troops and palestinian protesters leaving it more hundreds injured small after the break. we're competing like the auto insurance industry why for about seven dollars

a year can i be protected against all these medical emergencies that take place in my car therefore we know that the price of having medical insurance or be a thousand dollars a year about thirty thousand dollars a year they're overcharging thousand dollars we're going is going to oligarchs american oligarchs. something happens in this case it was the chemical attack on civilians in syria and then the public in the media are waiting for the response i think it's very clear now that if president trump said that there is going to be a response then it will be i just think that our expectations in a way that this american response will be so severe that it will be a game changer i think this is not the case it will again be misadjusted very careful calculation by the americans not to deteriorate into a clash direct confrontation with russia.

on the israeli border in gaza where i.d.f. soldiers have been using live firing tear gas to disperse protesters gaza's health ministry says one person's been killed hundreds injured including paramedics over the past two weeks thousands of palestinians have been company against was widely seen as israel's occupation of gaza and demanding the right of return to israel for palestinian refugees and then to send. you know. this is one of the weapons the israelis have been using and this is tear gas canisters from the drone that the israelis have been using since the morning to

throw to god the tear gas canisters on the protesters it's running very high tensions are running high as you see the ambulances are still here medics are in the fia trying to get through to all the palestinians that are getting injured here's another injury we're just right now from the fence and you can see the injuries and the leg will. be sure that medics are trying to to to treat the other injuries the in the field so they will be able to do and it's going to be easier on the palace in wanted it and it's great to have minister because that as you saw spittle and all the other hospitals are crowded with patients and injuries from the past two fridays. it's another to get. out of. the.

hospital. what's happening now is the israeli army are using add that you've got canisters drawn to the desire to just got histories on days really on the palestinian protesters it's still dangerous now for everyone for every palestinian you decide. for every palestinian who are coming here to protest i did the right of return. so there's no journalist but this is just enough to get mr. laser at least my purse directly shot yes it might does and here's another journalist that is being injured just right now. it's very obvious that this palestinian journalists wearing

a dress jacket. policy is attending the rallies including children have been taking precautions to protect themselves against some arrived as you see with homemade mobs filled with perf you caught me even fruit and vegetables meantime on the other side of the border just about an israeli soldier who shot a palestinian on the gaza border during a protest in december has been cleared of wrongdoing by military inquiry video emerged of him firing shots alongside of the snipers who cheered and loft of the injuries that inflicted but there's no clue to have them or to. even. then should resort to. just the one in at the words of one of the thought that the student did.

what. i did the. more they could because. i did nothing i was just a demonstration i went to my friends to help them and before i reached the place they shot me the soldier knew that i was going to help them and that's why i was shot put a couple hours from the palestine solidarity campaign about it he says israeli soldiers he thinks are reacting in a disproportionate and inhumane way. and absolute act of target practice effectively because the cheering from. the soldiers fellow soldiers basically was just completely inhumane and outrageous in the west i challenge them to produce evidence anywhere that this would happen. and in any case this shows you that the difference on the one side you have heavily armored. soldiers

and on the other side or you have are protesters who might have a story to throw from a long long way away it's not exactly going to damage the defense or the soldier. relations to the u.k. russia might be ignore time low right now but that doesn't stop british football fire and say from the travelling to moscow for the u.a.e. for europa league head of the serious car moscow arsenal game on thursday media outlets ran threatening articles about blood and death for english supporters it didn't come to pass thankfully i met up with one arsenal fan to see if the future headlines were true or not. this on my way to consider you a very prominent hostile fan going to be all seeing him when he travels from moscow does he have any fear is regarding the political tension between the u.k. and russia is he worried about things like hooliganism. follow him throughout

history how do you feel in this context you know what. i know no doubt there's been a lot going on between the governments watching that's between the governments and i'm a person this is football we're going for football you know if you listen to people around you in the u.k. a lot some people are coming up to me and say robbie don't go there you'd be mad in an oil some of you've been to russia and i say well no i haven't come out i can i get advice for someone who has been there have also been concerns with regard to safety so for example hooliganism and also racism you know you've seen fings about russia and things of happened in russia that's not going to be a problem up in qana encouraged because of a lot received e-mails from groups over there in russia. immediately some release not nearly as bad as what it's made out to be.

on the plane about to head out to russia. and really looking forward to it. as a place of never before. two thousand also supports is come over to watch the game many of them have been advised by the foreign and commonwealth office as well saying they could be an uptake of anti british sentiment amongst some russians due to the heightened tension between the two countries at the moment well i mean look you must go already. and we're very worried about coming here to speak with the injured back to me so it's all right there's no taking certain bits where you can also. explain it to the politicians get on with it. you know we

don't want to look around most ceremonies will be noisy these game will be known as the seas are really good if you do that would you woke up so we could see we love the russia we love the russian people. friendship with that we create. the relations and yes i'm really good at the politics the politicians i like it still going to life i was a bit skeptical but i. was appalled at what was going on and what not but when you commit yourself when you see it that has no purpose and haven't seen any. sentiment of russia's been at moscow's been incredible it's just incredible city and everyone is friendly enough the russians are lovely i mean to say what happens between governments a lot happens between people are totally different indeed all but i would also go by kevin the infinite saying thanks for watching this update from moscow wolf in the newsroom in thirty minutes i'll be back again tomorrow and keep on top of all the breaking stories if i hadn't come in through from

a separate central twenty four seven on our side. four men are sitting in a car when the fifth gets shot in the head. all four different versions of what happened one of them is on the death row there's no way he could have done it there's no possible way because the list. not sure ran a corner. so take you had to take matters into its own hands to provide his own security and securing the border and now this is a very vivid image of the goals i would who are the french to be there. has to

be there who are the british to be. for a world cup twenty a team coverage we've signed one of the greatest goalkeepers of all suck but there was one more question and by the way who's going to be our coach. guys i know you on the us he's a huge star and the huge amount of pressure you have to the center of the problem here with you and do so with all the great britain if you are the rock at the back nobody gets past you we need you to get the ball going left go. alone i was just i want to know and i'm really happy to join the team for the two thousand and three in the world cup in russia meet the special one come on don't appreciate me just to say the review beyond the team's latest edition to make up the figure i need to look.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things we considered i'm peter lavelle the drive towards war against syria is unmistakable the pretext is still another alleged chemical attack as usual no evidence is presented as usual conclusions are drawn before in india. investigation but this time there is a difference syria can defend itself and has powerful allies we live in very dangerous times. my stocking syria i'm joined by my guest joe lauria in washington he's the editor

in chief of consortium news dot com and author of how i lost by hillary clinton with a forward by joining us also in washington we have michael maloof he is a former senior security policy analyst in the office of secretary of defense and in new york we have richard murphy he is a former u.s. career embassador to syria and currently an adjunct scholar at the middle east institute or across the rules in effect that means he can jump in anytime you want i always appreciate let me go to joe first in washington it seems to me that you know we have we have as president somebody very different than rand as president as little as a week ago donald trump made a very public announcement that we'd be withdrawing from syria fast forward up to the last few days or so it looks like he's being forced to stay there even if he doesn't want to stay there we have an entire chorus of the media driving for war the deep state is on board of course john bolton is in place and i have to make one

exception at least tucker carlson over at fox at least decided to express his dissent here where are we joe where does of saul stand go ahead well the fact that he wanted to redress from syria makes it even less likely that the syrian government was behind this attack we are seeing what we've seen for a long long time a pattern of deception by the u.s. government the pentagon who the enemy of the day is if you want to go to war against spain they blew up the main. north vietnamese attacked the ship in the gulf of tonkin saddam had w m d russia invaded ukraine shot down a malaysian airline stolen election tried to kill former. agent in britain and now is somehow implicated in this chemical attack this is what governments do but there's a there are also two other parties beside government there's the press some people so governments lie all governments laws some worse than others but the press is job supposed to filter that and then the public against government lies that we see in our press that's completely obsessed with its own fame with its career ism with

vicarious living through vicarious power of government and they are letting the public down so that these investigations these conclusions before investigations begin as you pointed out at the beginning are being are let it be let to stand and this is as you said also said very very dangerous right now richard is on the table now a full regime change by use of military force is you think that's in the cards right now go ahead richard in new york i see no evidence that the administration has gone back to a position that you could say was really obama that it was time for assad to step aside i think it's reckoned this administration is reckons for that so the president is likely to stay for a while ok michael but the thing that doesn't really square with what we've heard over the last few days here we have you know nikki haley going off the rail i mean you know i thought samantha power was off that you know had wandered off the road

reservation but you know nikki we hate haley takes the cake there and then we also image and i glad joe mentioned we really have the drums of war in the media it seems to me that they really want to box trump in even if he does nothing that he's bluster if he does something it's against international law and he may get into maybe the law of unintended consequences by getting involved in this war you never know because if you look over the last eighteen years you know these military adventures never end the way they expect go ahead michael no i think you're you're right i think that even though president trump wanted to get out. i think that the people who are surrounding him are much more determined that that that he stay and actually. the fact that he that he's you that. john bolton is now the national security adviser who was the fellow who who really really wanted us to

go into iraq on the premise that there was the i think that the administration is slowly turning toward regime change again i think that that's what they're going to go after and the whole idea i think as far as a strategic policy if there is one for the united states ultimately is to divide syria yeah well then that's been you know that's the if you can throw in the turkish angle which of course is a completely different program but you know it looks like is partition is really what they're going to settle on here you know joe the interesting thing is is that you know i've never believed that anybody in the u.s. government or politicians think tankers and all that they don't give a hoot about the syrian people they never have and what i see now is this is a geo political gambit here we've noticed that russia is being held responsible for this alleged chemical attack which when there is no evidence pretty presented to the to the public which i guess the public is just getting used to it a evidence free foreign policy to go to war go ahead joe. you know i don't think

they care very much about the american public either let alone the syrians i mean this is another attempt to drag russia into this and russia we don't know if we have no idea why even if there was a chemical attack that hasn't even begun the investigation we hear nikki haley saying we need an investigation but on one side of her mouth and the other side of the mouth syria did it and russia was behind it this is really really not a not a safe situation as you pointed out i do think that they noticed that russia russian backed syrian government was winning this war was practically over that the suburbs of damascus kuta had been. so i thought on the side of the syrian government since the very beginning of this conflict five years ago it was really a last stronghold after aleppo and it led so i think that that is really zation in the capitals of riyadh and certainly in washington that this was the last and by

the rebels themselves this was the last chance if they were going to try to reverse this tide so the rebels needed to bring the u.s. into it which is why it seems like they may very well have been behind and russia by the way behind this attack on russia warned by the way three weeks ago that this could very this could happen that there was a false flag chemical attack in the works i don't know if that's what happened but i certainly don't know that the syrian government did it but that doesn't seem to matter to people at nikki haley's syria did it and now we're going to see an attempt maybe by the united states to get deeply involved in this to reverse the tide and this is the last chance before the syrian government wins this war which they are on the verge of doing richard what national interest does syria hold because i mean you know when trump came in almost exactly a year ago there was an alleged chemical incident and then he ordered a ton tomahawk strike against syria no evidence we know now secretary mabus. came

out and said well we don't have any evidence that ever was a chemical attack perpetrated by the syrian government i mean what is wrong with these people i mean year ago we and the cac was made illegally against the country soften to here and now and this is like running this bad film i mean why syria has never attacked the united states it is not a threat to american national interest and now we're on the verge of going to war congress doesn't even get involved it abrogates its responsibility to war making i mean what why is syria so important for the united states to get involved militarily please richard in new york and start with your graphic position it is in a key area and the policies it has followed. over the last few years of opening the doors to. increasing militia and let's return isn't that present isn't that the sovereign to write it or

isn't that the sovereign right of a state if it can syria have friends there of its own choosing why does the united states the chairman what countries can have friends with whom why. go ahead richard well come on it's not just a matter of smiling at each other and having friends. the government of iran in creating a corridor across iraq syria to hizbollah there in lebanon with the aim of moncton pressure on the israelis. to catch him out in the tent ok-i that's really interesting let me go to michael here because. well you know some some sovereignty is more important than others ok i mean syria should have the legal sovereign right to make whatever friends it wants ok the united states that is that all the time ok and then when he says anything about it and let me go to michael you know you know israel is right on the border there one of the largest military set in the world most powerful it is never lifted one finger to fight terrorism in syria actually

just the opposite it's aided and abetted groups ok so i mean worried about israel's concerns that israel is part of the problem here and i think it and saudi arabia is part of the problem here two key allies of the united states go ahead michael. you hit up you hit right on at the end there this this is as a result flowing out of a deal that between the saudis and the israelis and again the saudis actually are pouring millions of dollars into the sunni controlled areas as well as into lebanon because they see it but they see a potential for. iran absolutely capturing them as it is as far as their influence is concerned and the saudis are absolutely against that and you have the israelis who are trying to help that and they see the they see the forward movement of the iranians and as a direct threat to them and and as a consequence i wouldn't doubt that the israelis could and this shape an attack on

lebanon almost any time share and i know people in lebanon that i talked to are very concerned about that. joe weigh in on that there because it is you know is this policy being driven by tell of even riyadh. well certainly riyadh and other gulf states from the very beginning and turkey wanted the overthrow of saud and that brings me to the point that whether you agree or like the assad government or not it's a fact that they were been on the defensive this is an uprising this was an attempt to overthrow a government so you're on the defensive so to invite iran n. and russia to help them defend themselves is a natural act of a government trying to survive this was not iran or russia invading syria the iranians would have come in if there were no attempt to overthrow the government so they they have every right as you pointed out to invite whoever they are any friends they had to help them survive this is natural and any government would do that now the israelis i mean hezbollah by the way i think is defending lebanon even

lebanese christians and they don't know who would agree with much as they hate they may hate that well they may not like them but they realize that the libyan army is more gentle to me so let me jump in here just let me jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on syria stay with us. i've been saying the numbers mean something the matter the u.s. is over one trillion dollars in debt more than ten dollars during stampede each day . eighty five percent of global will be loans to be culled from the bridge each week six percent market saw thirty percent these last few years some with one hundred to five hundred three persnickety first chicken and because he rose to

twenty thousand dollars. china is building two point one billion dollars a on the industrial part but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only numbers you need remembering what one business showed you know forty two minutes the one. only seen by. the swarms of the blue of them someone. who feels good your school board local was before. much of those who heard the preview there was a few other movies to see him with the north we will forgo. the good move. move but it. will show you that look beautiful little immediately is going to look for a good. movie the muslim also has the also a good few films for good pool. to go to shows

a look but look you're the same you want me to show it's good to me you should go. the stoats to. get to me to fill it with a little mist they'd say look it is it's. just us them understand statistics not it's the mashed old truck stop the president from please introduce washington students. the three of producers to toast news for two snippets almost when you have because those are the girls with you swear your supporters to your machine station shouldn't for you should cook dorothy one who's devoted to the ripples through. what politicians do something that. they put themselves on the line and they get

accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president or injury. or somehow want to be rich. that you'd like to be for us it's like the flash battery in the morning can't be good that i've interested always in the waters and how this. question. welcome back to crossfire where all things considered i'm peter lavelle we're discussing the situation in syria. ok let me go back to richard in new york richard i know you're a career diplomat and diplomacy is sorely lacking these days around the world but

richard me what a military strike against the regime. the assad government and what is that's what kind of. what outcome would washington be looking for in striking syria you've said that they've backed away from regime change i think the that doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense i think they would want to go all the way i mean what kind of behavior is that you go trying to enact here i mean this is the problem with military policy because it doesn't really have to work with political outcomes it has certain goals of destruction and threatening and doesn't really talk about the political part of it go ahead richard in new york well we certainly do need a clearer room overall policy towards syria the strategy has been wanting to put it mildly now the question though what are we trying to accomplish by staying in and why we're two thousand yeah very small number there in

northeastern syria. we don't think first of all we don't think that the isis. effort is totally ended and we also know there are other groups ready to come in in its wake if given the least opportunity so what's needed is a strategy which develops the country as a whole as quickly as possible involves the people with their own government as quickly as possible after these years of warfare massive killings and dislocations it's not going to come easily it's not going to come well but one thing we can contribute up the moment is the continued small military presence in the country with isis very much at the top of our concerns well richard did just the opposite is probably the truth i mean the u.s. maintaining its forces in syria probably gives isis a reason to exist to fight

a foreign occupier number two richard the u.s. government has already warned it will sanction third parties and countries that help syria with its reconstruction so getting all the people together and helping developing the country that's already off the table you'll be sanctioned ok michael i can see you wanted to jump in there go ahead. yeah i guess once again it gets back to the whole point as as to why u.s. forces are remaining in the sunni controlled area of eastern eastern syria looking for bases actually that the turks have complained about in the kurdish controlled area the whole idea is i think by the united states if it's trying to resurrect this teaching policy of any kind is that unite the sunni's and of east syria with west western iraq and to maintain that presence there and control that area and basically partition syria ultimately even though you have a little pocket of of isis but but the united states is supporting entities and

groups militant groups though such as josh al islam which was in east ghouta and and has the capability by the way of launching chlorine gas and other and other weapons of mass destruction they have actually admitted that in the past up in aleppo earlier this year so the data states is going to continue to support these sunni control groups and i think ultimately it is to divide syria and with the help of the saudis the saudis are paying for this or they've they've offered money and and i think taken that may be the only reason why he has decided not to pull out because well got a good deal you know michael it has been it has really paid for isn't it really wonderful that the u.s. government pimps out the american military for a foreign power what it does scrapes wouldn't real discrete you know where we're

coming in of out of the main women there and we're going to go to the earth and there are the people that work in the military to be pimped out by their own president to have you know a someone hobby crazy regime in saudi arabia pay you you know you wrap your head around that ok that's pretty that's amazing ok let me go to joe here i think happening it's happening let me go to joe you know what's what is happy. thing to me is that there is such a poor in the united states because of russia russia russia and this disease has transported itself across the atlantic and to britain right now over another chemical weapons incident which we see no evidence whatsoever disposed to believe it but joe that they want to give russia a bloody nose they want to give russia a bloody nose in syria the russians have already made it very clear that they will not take those threats lightly ok that's why i'm very very concerned go ahead joe. yes i totally agree with you know we have to understand it's a fiction that the united states was fighting isis in syria i believe they were

fighting them in iraq i think there were two separate wars we know from this intel defense intelligence agency document from twenty twelve that the u.s. and its partners in the region and europe wanted to establish yourself as principality which later became isis it was warned about that then we know from a john kerry leaked audio that he was watching he says he was we were watching isis advance on damascus to try to get assad to leave exactly what that document said that the put pressure on us so there was no there is no effort to defeat ice russia has to feed it with syria and iran and other militants in humans who have defeated isis in syria they're not there for that reason and we have to remember also at from the campaign of donald trump he wanted to cooperate with russia in syria and syllis worry about the former government later on whether assad stays or not the real problem was isis why the king had i don't know who told him that weather was bannon or whatever or he just got a brilliant idea one morning but that was the right policy that even obama tried to implement if you recall he had kerry try to work out

a cooperation they would ask russia that putin has for national lottery destroy you know it's you know spoiled the priority you know that the right i gave let me you know the other night you know be even when there is a illegitimate her quasi legitimate diplomatic attempt it is it's destroyed by these hawks in the military. and now peta yeah now peter you want to do a drawer to troops if you read a piece in the new yorker by robin wright the generals who are the ones who are supposed to be running the show not the president the we have a civilian form of government here not the generals so again trumps instincts are to say the right thing but he's pulled back by those behind him and this attack coming very for two to slee would it was about to withdraw the troops looks like the ops it's going to happen you know richard why why does the why is the united states threatening the demand. because government when damascus has been doing the heavy lifting to fight isis and what the united states there's every times it goes

in there militarily has its forces on the ground it just dull ones that attempt to fight terrorism if you know the u.s. policy is an impediment to fighting isis i don't understand the logic here go ahead richard in new york you have flatly disagree with your assumption at least the consistency of syrian policy to phone what is it is what is the u.s. done in syria for what is what is what name one thing the united states has done right when it comes to syria one thing. well we tried for many many years to get syria interested in opening up talks with the israelis they were very very reluctant to come anywhere near the wine half of the last president is last year's ok i don't claim to have no idea what you actually mean to after seven years of civil war a proxy international war it's because assad didn't want to talk to the israelis really. no no don't don't misinterpret i'm just saying that. we have tried to do

something positive in syria we did work on it to extensively year after year you didn't get anywhere ok so that's passed but it didn't leave a very good impression of syria in washington i can tell you. well i think to say thank you to know that the syrian ambassador you all love the u.n. after the billions of dollars the training the funding the salary of these jihad is from outside the country that's what the u.s. policy has been and now they are illegally present they're under illegally under international law the damascus government wants them out and they won't leave i mean who is breaking the law here who's being an animal here ok this is this war could have ended a long time ago if it hadn't been backed by the united states saudi arabia the other gulf countries and israel would have been over a long time ago go ahead michael do you want to jump in it could have been over

a long time you have. been beaten up those kids down and ok and on the first and richard on their first stand yes there were violence and they were it was from outsiders it's very well documented you know don't tell me you know this is all peaceniks war you know wandering around you know giving flowers to people goes out to buy one started on day one ok michael you want to jump in. the you know our relationship with the cia are with i'm sorry with with syria actually degraded in two thousand and three when we invaded iraq the syrians saw that this was going to happen they had they had the back channel what the cia had and when they when that was a they may yet be of help to a point they did and then that's when they turned to the pentagon just on the eve of the invasion to say don't don't invade we'll well try to work this out william

stayed some five thousand troops to go into iraq for you to to look for w m d they saw what what the outcome will be so and everything went to pieces from then that's when assad really turned to iran right after that and that cannot be disputed that is a that is a fact and i think that that's when iran and syria really began to become closer you've got to keep in mind assad is a shiite elo white so that was normal and this is what upset israel to a great extent our foreign policy in the united states has been to carry out to help implement israel's foreign policy for years and the pentagon was the instrument for that for doing that ok joe a lot forty seconds here and a program go ahead joe. yeah well john bolton began this week his new job and i ask her to advise me as a real thing for iran the iranian presence in syria might be what he would

ultimately be going after even more than trying to overthrow assad yeah it looks to me that always it's the rand always that is at the very very center it has been since the revolution in one nine hundred seventy nine and trump and he has surrounded him with a group of people that feel exactly the same way people that lament the the defeat in vietnam that's all the time we have gentlemen many thanks to my guests in washington and in new york and thanks to our viewers for watching us here see you next time and remember ross hospitals. for men are sitting in a car when the fifth gets shot in the head. all four different versions of what happened one of them is on the death row

there's no way he could have done it there's no possible way because the list did not shoot around a corner. something happens in this case it was the chemical attack on civilians in syria and then the public in the media are waiting for the response i think it's very clear now that if president trump said that there is going to be a response then it will be i just think that our expectations in a way that this american response will be so severe that it will be a game changer i think this is not the case it will again be misadjusted very careful calculation by the americans not to deteriorate into a clash a direct confrontation with russia. you know. you never know what's around the

corner you never know what's in the pub you can walk into a nice excitement it's not knowing that's where the adrenalin much comes from. and you can use a nice blend to finish him and the extremes will support. the violence he's a pug and it's almost a schizophrenia. where you can do all these things and behave badly. they're going to be full of horse colorful all. those muscle that's going to last. and this may be an unfair. rule. that he thought. i would grow older well enough i figure out i really did a poll down now when i get. the meaning in these images that at least if you don't involve these constantly evolving the.

witnesses to the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of jew must say in the video released by russians defense ministry that those hospitalized were not showing symptoms consistent with exposure to a chemical agent. also russia calls a security council meeting on of the situation in syria with moscow and washington exchanging fiery remarks. one protester is killed and hundreds are injured in gaza as israeli troops that use a live fire and the tear gas to disperse anti aka. demonstrations along the border . and arsenal football fans receive a warm welcome in russia before their teams match with moscow despite their

concerns about the russian looking i really get the feeling that with the world cup so we could say when you come if you stop and you see that there's no problem the russians are lovely i mean to say what happens between governments a lot happens between people told me different. broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is our team international thomas certainly glad to have you with us now russia's defense ministry has released a video in which a witness says it to the aftermath of an alleged chemical attack in syria say there was no indication that those rushed to the hospital had been exposed to a chemical agent and it is thought to my name is. a medical student i work in the e.r. department of duma central hospital on april eighth our building in the city was

bombed the upper floors were destroyed and the bottom floors caught fire and all the injured from that building were brought to our hospital ready. the residents from the upper floors were suffering from smoke inhalation. and that is what we treated them for based on the symptoms they exhibited by this is a bit of a dominating headlines over the past few days that incident in duma whatever took place is attracted very different versions of events from the russian side the syrian side and the u.s. u.k. and france something did happen in do on the seventh of april with the western nations on the white helmets group on the ground in syria claiming it was a chemical attack by the damascus government on civilians killing and injuring dozens the russian side the mask is saying this was a setup now today we've got that evidence allegedly from the russian mody saying they have identified an individual in the video you can see just being played bad that video was used as part of the evidence by the white helmets and western

nations to prove that there was a chemical attack in duma as those rebels and civilians were being evacuated you can see the man highlighted the witness there on the video just for our viewers they claim they've identified him subsequently asked exactly what happened in that incident on the seventh of april in dubai let's take a listen to what exactly had to say about what took place in the hospital after that time. during treatment some person came in i don't know who that was and said that it was a chemical attack. when the. people got scared a fight broke out. relatives of the victims started pouring water on one another. then others began to give inhalers for asthma the children. even though these people were not medical professionals we did not see any patients exhibiting symptoms of chemical poisoning. so this video amongst others of course quite shocking disturbing images of civilian casualties was circulated online all social

media and cited by the information and organizations countries as evidence of that chemical attack and evidence of course is the key word here is the real crux of the issue of o.p.c. w team heading over to do more on the way that they should be there over the next twenty four forty eight hours or so believe they have arrived in syria their findings will be key to establishing what really happened in duma whether there was some sort of chemical incident by the damascus government by as that was the nations are saying or as we heard from the russian. the russian military has gathered evidence that indicates the direct involvement of great britain organizing the provocation in eastern ukraine we know for a fact that london pressured the so-called white helmets to carry out their plans provocation as soon as possible they were told that from the third to the sixth of april rebels would carry out a series of heavy showings of damascus and that this would lead to a reaction from the government forces which the white helmets should use for their

provocation and to allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specific before for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. team with the u.n. and that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to do. groove. to give some credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course in the next twenty four to forty eight hours . kerry's embassador to the un has reacted to the accusations from the russian military by calling them grotesque and a blatant lie however the video featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously and shown by a number of media outlets further questions are also hanging over the west's narrative due to the dubious reputations of the groups that initially maybe

allegations or comments. reports of a chemical attack first appeared strange enough it's almost the precise moment the battle had ended when the syrian government and rebels were negotiating on how to evacuate the latter reports first appeared on social media twitter facebook and spread like wildfire while my colleague kendall anian and i have learned today that the u.s. now has blood and a year in samples from some of the victims of this attack in syria last weekend and that those samples according to u.s. officials tested positive for chemicals sources the usuals why the helmets who service rescuers islamists and syrian rebels also the somewhat less known syrian american medical society sounds together with the white helmets they were cited by the washington post the new york times c.n.n.

virtually every western media outlets reporting on this chemical attack saturday april seventh amidst continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of duma more than five hundred cases the majority of whom are women and children were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent sams itself is funded by u.s. aid six million in two thousand and fifteen usaid is widely believed to be an arm of the state department and is banned in multiple countries accused of interfering in domestic policies and promoting regime change it even has an office of transition initiatives the management at sams also believe it or not former u.s. aid stuff was was saddam's who reportedly provided the u.p.c. w. with samples of the alleged sarin gas that was used them hunchy whom the site of

a chemical attack last year after which. donald trump sent fifty seven cruise missiles at the syrian airbase o.p.c. w. is on its way to duma to investigate we've contacted various groups including the world health organization they've cited saddam's but have refused to go into any details become not rule out the possibility that someone from within the region wants to see the syrian state weakened or even toppled might stage something and what we know as well is that j. should islam the army of islam the militant group that was just ousted from duma they have a position of chlorine gas they used it and they acknowledged its usage two years ago in aleppo against kurdish militia they issued a statement saying you know we've done it what comes next no one can say whether the u.s. will go ahead with a preemptive strike or whether cooler heads will prevail. i did appears the lack of

evidence on the alleged chemical attacks is a concern for a number of journalists one of those. people it from belgium who traveled to syria to judge it all for himself around two years ago i started to discover that i wasn't really told the truth about the war in syria and i started to learn more and more. and i have this led me to decided i want to go see for myself you know it's people should. journalists should so i do it if you travel to syria it's such a different picture and then what is being beamed in the media unfortunately yes we have a long way to go but i think we were with the rise of internet you know it's the reason i like. the control is slipping away from from the dinosaur mass media. syrian rebels who are ready to assist potential u.s. strikes against the country that warning comes from the russian side at the u.n.

security council where moscow and washington once again confronted each other over the situation in syria. number two we understand very well that the heads of syrian armed groups have received instructions to begin an offensive following potential active force we saw recent examples in iraq in libya they show is that the u.s. needs the u.n. security council for pragmatic reasons they used in the case of iraq with the vial they used it to cover up the initiative of the libyan no fly zone and that's what's being done now you're showing i was an imaginary vial it's empty chemical weapons didn't produce the most casualties in world war one but they were the most feared in world war two chemical weapons were employed on an industrial scale against civilians resulting in the worst genocide in human history which we were called just yesterday on holocaust remembrance day i think it's becoming increasingly

difficult as the cold war of words is heating up to a very hot potential military action and i really do wish that he would dial down the. anger in which he's trying to accuse russia and the stakes i think of becoming frighteningly high i mean i was very interested in and very active in speaking out against the iraq war i was very interested have been for a couple of decades and speak out against the libyan intervention which was illegal as well but i didn't feel the same sort of existential fear that i am currently feeling around what might escalate if america and the u.k. and france start to invade illegally another sovereign country which is syria in london anti-war activists staged a protest in front of the prime minister's residence they demanded theresa may not involve the u.k. in any potential military operation in syria.

as we don't bomb syria. it was directed not only towards three so maybe. also for us president trump as well demonstrators also carried on politicians of called on politicians rather to halt their war rhetoric and think about the suffering and the people in syria and protests against military escalation also occurred in greece on friday hundreds of people gathered in front of the u.s. embassy in athens they held and nato banners and burned the u.s. flag with demonstrators said that they did not want syria to become a repetition of the two thousand and three invasion of iraq. and desire to international. competing like the. industry why four thousand dollars a year be protected against all these medical emergencies that take place in my car therefore we know that the price of having medical insurance would be

a thousand dollars a year not thirty thousand dollars a year. thousand dollars. oligarch's american all of our. fight for many years so i know the. football isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the families of the super money. to spend spend be sure the twenty million. it's an experience like. this with.

our welcome back this is our to international live from moscow the violence has again erupted along the israeli border in gaza where i.d.f. soldiers have been using live fire and tear gas to disperse protesters gaza's health ministry says one person has been killed and hundreds injured including paramedics over the past two weeks thousands of palestinians have been campaigning against what's widely seen as israel's occupation of gaza and a demanding the right of return to israel for palestinian refugees and of their descendants. was this is one of the weapons the israelis have been using and this is to use gas canisters from the drone that the israelis have been using since the morning to throw to god the tear gas canisters on the protesters it's raining very high

tensions are running high as you see the ambulances are still here medics are in the field trying to get you to all of the palestinian stuff are getting injured there's another injury we're just right now from the fans and you can see the injuries and the leg. that medics are trying to to to treat the other injuries in the field so they would be able to do it's going to be easier on the palestinian head and it's great to have minister because that as you saw spittle on the other hospitals are crowded with patients in injuries so in the past two fridays. another to get.

but jumping now these days really i mean are you using that you got got mr strong desire to you just got mr burns on days right on the palestinian protesters it's still dangerous now for everyone for every palestinian need the funds for every palestinian who are coming here to protest i did the right of return. so this is just a list that this is just enough to get you guys got mr. let's take the israeli snipers directly shot yes it does and yes another journalist that is being injured just right now. it's very obvious that this body is the journalists waiting i trust jackets. attending the rallies including children

have been taking precautions to protect themselves against the tear gas some arrived with homemade gas masks filled with perfume and cotton others were more inventive using fruits and vegetables meanwhile an israeli soldier who shot a palestinian on the gaza border during a protest in december has been cleared of wrongdoing by a military inquiry video emerged of him firing shots alongside other snipers who cheered and laughed at the injuries that they inflict but there are so. then you should. read. that there was a flat out that though that the student did.

this. because. i did nothing i was just a demonstration i went to my friends to help them and before i reached the place they shot me the soldier knew that i was going to help them and that's why i was shot. meanwhile in the candidate of the organization for canadian journalists for free expression has sparked controversy after it deleted a statement critical of israel from its website statement called on ottawa to condemn israel for killings of palestinian journalists during the gaza border protests at the end of march as a reminder here are some images from those events. well

following the statements removal employee kevin metcalf we posted it expressing concern that the media group was restricting freedom of speech afterward metcalf says he was told to expect terminations of his employment he also says half a dozen people have already resigned from the organization's executive committee. for more information the full cost live now to kevin madcap from the canadian journalist for free expression thanks for being with us here on r t international thanks so much so can you tell us why you originally issued to this statement criticizing israel and then what happened so over the course of that weekend was the easter long weekend here in canada we witnessed pretty egregious abuses against press freedom against freedom of expression with respect to treatment of protestors

. and after a brief conversation on monday that was april april second in our office we came to the conclusion that this was something that we could speak out so we drafted a quick statement in line with many many statements that the organization had issued in past and put it up on a website and sent it to our press list roundly condemning the woundings at that time of journalists in the killings of protesters. yesterday that had not been killed at that time and was killed after the statements actions now the canadian journalist for free expression later released a statement saying that the previous one was an overreach and from now on all public statements will require approval from a panel of board members is this restricting free expression or is it reasonable precaution. well i don't know if you the opportunity to see the statement the organization issued in lieu of the reiterate economy of the state of israel stop

short of calling the hating him for any specific policy actions in my opinion that that new statement represents a politically correct with attitude toward the state of israel toward the repression of palestinian journalists and quite frankly requiring or mandating the submission is of future articles to the board of directors takes a lot of the power and autonomy out of the hands of the staff who were hired to work in into running their organization. now do you think the same thing would have happened if this war about a country other than israel. so i started at the organization that my very first task was to spend a month designing and running a campaign targeting the government of china asking the canadian government to specifically use the language of human rights in free trade negotiations with china so there was both a specific policy approach and a call to action from the governments and nobody raised concerns nobody within the organization or outside of the organization call into question our ethics are objective the in doing so so i can say definitively in past similar statements have

have not been criticised a statement respecting israel and its human rights record was criticized quite heavily now some ploy use of canada's main broadcaster the c.b.c. chose to resign after they disapproved of this statement do you agree with their decision. so the folks for the state broadcaster here who were involved in these ongoing work were there in a finding capacity they were sitting in the organizations annual gala committee helping to raise funds helping to secure funds from said state broadcaster for our nonprofit advocacy work their decision to step back and set a clear precedent in terms of how we could move forward with the issue we risked alienating funders and losing funding if we if we didn't respect their wishes so i mean it definitely was a pressure move all right it's really an interesting situation government gaffe

from canadian journalist for free expression thanks for helping us sort through this situation. thanks for. the ride relations between of u.k. and russia might be at an all time low but that has not stopped british football fans from traveling to moscow for the u. a for europa league ahead of the moscow arsenal game on thursday media outlets ran threatening articles about blood and death for english supporters parties i saleem met up with one arsenal fan to see if the headlines were true. the just so my way to consider you a very prominent hostile fan going to be asking him when he travels from moscow does he have any fear is regarding the political tension between the u.k. and russia is he worried about things like hooliganism. follow him throughout his trip how do you feel in this context you know what. i know no doubt there's been a lot going on between the governments that's between the governments and i'm

a person this is football we're going for football you know if you listen to people around you in the u.k. a lot some people are coming up to me and say robbie don't go there you'd be mad in an oil some of you been to russia and i say well no i'm not all that i can i get advice for someone who has been there have also been concerns with regard to safety so for example hooliganism and also racism you know you've seen things about russia and things of happened in russia that's not going to be a problem but i'll be in qana encouraged because of a lot received e-mails from groups over there in russia. immediately some release not nearly as bad as what it's made out to be. on the plane about to head out to russia. looking forward to it.

it's a place on the road. to a thousand also supports is come over to watch the game many of them have been advised by the foreign and commonwealth office as well saying they could be an uptake of anti british sentiment amongst some russians due to the heightened tension between the two countries at the moment well i mean you must go already. so we're very worried about coming here because of political tensions but actually so it's all right there's no tension between us. sponsors the pulitzer. you know we don't want to look around moscow say our modern issues will be noisy

use this game how will organize these cities are really good if you do that would you woke up to the goods we love the russia we love the russian people the friendship with that we create. the relations and yes i'm good at the politics up on the positions i like it still going to life and i was a bit skeptical when i first called because of all that what was going on and what not but when you commit yourself and you see that is no purpose and haven't seen any. sentiment of russia's been at moscow's been incredible it's just incredible city and everyone is friendly enough the russians are lovely i mean to say what happens between governments and what happens between people are totally different all right that's a little bit of a preview of what might come for the world cup coming up this summer that does it for me this hour i will be back in just a little over thirty three minutes with a full of which news you watch our two international had with us.

about your sudden passing i've only just learnt you worry yourself in taking your last bank term. drought to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry. so i write these last rites in hopes to put to rest the same. that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each breath. but then my feeling started to change you talked about more like it was again still some marshawn to view those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never be like him it said one does not leave a funeral in the same as one enters my mind it's consumed with this one time

difference i speak to you now because there are no other takers. to claim that mainstream media has met its maker. so to take you had to take matters into its own ads to provide his own security and securing the border it is now this is a very rigid indigents of a coach how it would who are the bridge to be there who are the americans to be that who are the british to be. cut. this is boom bust broadcasting around the world from washington d.c. i'm bart chilton and coming up we talk up stood up up brazil the economy and the

imprisonment of a former close that we'll have that coming up real soon plus m.b.'s saudi arabia's crown prince mohamed bin solvent nearly three week trip to the united states is over what did he do it who did he do it with r.t. correspondent trinity chavez will tell us plus says the u.k. and you consider their trading relationship to author and commentator steve dean joins us from london with the latest dan is the acting director of the consumer financial protection. europe was on capitol hill twice this week he said he had not burn the place down we get reaction from partly nailer of public citizen all that ahead but first let's hop to some headlines yesterday during our interview with danielle de martino both the news was breaking that president trump had task is economic adviser larry kudlow and the u.s. trade representative robert light hisor with considering the possibility of reentering the transpacific partnership i asked danielle about it we both agreed

that it would be a good thing to do well that initial reporting was accurate and the u.s. is looking at rejoining the eleven nation accord president trump tweeted last evening that the u.s. would only join t p p if the deal were substantially better than the deal offered to president obama although a technical point here the trump administration withdrew from t.p. before the negotiations were actually concluded we'll follow this important story as it goes forward. and russia is retaliating against recently announced u.s. economic sanctions with sanctions of their own the biggest head turner amongst the measures on the table is a ban on titanium sales a key input for a u.s. based aircraft manufacturer boeing and purchases of rare earth metals the russian countermeasures reportedly could also include limits on imports of u.s. alcohol tobacco pharmaceutical and agricultural products restrictions on u.s.

bases and jobs for americans plus bans on governmental use of u.s. software and technology the full list as in a proposal be considered by the russian duma and would require the presidential order to require a presidential order to take effect legislative act is expected to be swift and in the u.s. labor news leaders of the oklahoma education association or a have called an official end to their nine day strike and declare victory even though the legislature deny their main demand of ten thousand dollars and pay increases financed by an increase in capital gains taxes the unions decision to pocket a six thousand dollars raise was criticized by some teachers including the group the oklahoma teachers united and arizona gov doug to see went from refusing to actually meet with any teachers on tuesday to offering a package on thursday that he says meets their demand for a twenty percent raise teachers say they were checking his math good for teachers

and want to see more details put into legislation before they decide whether or not to walk out and in kentucky thousands of teachers parents and students rallied today at the state capitol to press their demands for greater investment in education and defend teacher pensions and climate news the united states department of agriculture is drought monitor data shows that drought conditions in much of the southwest portion of the country have worsened the southern high plains and. home is the worst welp twenty percent of the state is experiencing sectional drought that's the driest drought classification and in related news we oftentimes learn that drought conditions in california mean the water supply is in jeopardy but recently repeated storms have brought lots of persist for to patients to the state and furthermore there are melt from the sierra snows which actually tripled this month state why water reservoirs it's their storage is up one hundred six percent above the normal cyclical fly cols all that means california should have enough

water supply for all of this year. and the eight summit of the americas begins today at lima peru the summit will bring together at least twenty heads of state from the western hemisphere fighting corruption is a theme but the leaders will be hosted by the new peruvian peruvian president martin this caro who took office after the recent impeachment of his predecessor as reported earlier this week president donald trump will not attend the summit the first time a history that a u.s. president has not attended the event vice president mike pence will represent the united states in ten instead venezuelan president nicolas maduro who was disinvited from the host nation called the summit a waste of time of course he would the summit comes at a time of turmoil in the region with regional power brazil and tumble over the country's most popular politician former president lula da silva having been effectively barred from this year's presidential election by

a conviction and jailing subsequent jailing during the appeal that may have been called politically motivated it is called politically motivated by many and zooming in on brazil is a regional powerhouse economy but elephants will be sitting in the room with michael to mir at the summit of the americas that is supposed to focus on corruption and good government here discussed the current situation in brazil with us is the greater depth is a leap thank you so much for the counsel of heaven. affaires right got that right right yes well thank you so much for being here with us so we talked about brazil just from this hundred thousand foot level lot of times so first of all tell us about he is in jail now right he is and he turned himself in on saturdays and has being in jail since them so he's very popular still right he is if the elections were to they hear would win and the scenario that with any other

candidate so far. he's very popular his remains very popular and i think that despite. the attempts from the media from the opposition and the country his jailing has only increased that to his popularity it is now. you know a common perception that he's being just a leap persecuted and jailed a couple i want to get to the economics here but i don't want to leave quite yet so two things that i've read that i find interesting is one the judicial system in brazil which in the article i read it says that it's really more like an inquisition where the actual people that investigate you can also then put on a judge's robe or wig and then try you which in the us we say no that needs to be separated is that's what it's like yes we have additional system in brazil that is very out today that we say it's like

a moderator power that we have there you know the imperio power of portugal and it's a very complicated and what we're seeing now is that the same people who investigate are also prosecutor and also judge the case so we have for example judge assertion modo who has spent years of his life investigating the law now also sending him to jail what is the objective there how can he be objective and a key. is that he you know he basically his whole career in trying to frame lula and now how it is europe huge pressure yes there is to know in brazil we have a forty years of appealing court. case when just when should the second one but what is most revealing is that or less to week we had the justice of the country and they were ruling his obvious corpus his rights to remain out of jail as

brazilian constitution site to remain out of jail until the you know all the appeal process is completed and treaty of those just set i believe this constitution does is unconstitutional but. because it really is but because it's look i've got a rule against it it is it is very notable ok we love talking about that stuff but we our business of planet show i want to know about the economy in brazil it has not been great in recent years what show you but at all we have since rousseff was ousted you know the workers' party government i think it was the only one since the room democratization shorey it was the only one who really implemented economic policies that try get to close the gap the social gap in the country lifted out you know thirty eight million people from

extremely poor very popular yeah of course and since first half was ousted two years ago almost fifty million people are now back into extreme poverty and you know little most jailing it's going to have a part of the impact in economics was and i have you know there's a lot of. aspects to the economic crisis in brazil but almost jailings one highlights how this institutional crisis that has started with. rousseff all stiff going to know is deepening right now and second being certainty about the upcoming elections i mean. who is going to invest in a country that doesn't have you know it's i when are the elections in october and can. actually run from prison yes i mean it's

a it's separate it's separate product that it might even you think might even help him write a law like his popularity is starting on the rise certainly on the rise alaina with the council for hemispheric affairs thank you so much for being here what a delight to have you have hope you'll come back sometime thank you thank you. saudi arabia's mohamed bin solomon known like a rapper as m.b.'s has conducted the concluded reveries nearly three week trip to united states what did he do and who did he do it with r t correspondent trinity chavez tells us. it was a jam packed three weeks for thirty two year old crown prince mohammed bin someone who is saudi arabia's deputy prime minister head of the economic development team and also the country's defense minister his press corps was meant to change the country's image he met with top executives from corporate america as well as heads

of tech companies in silicon valley all part of his plan to show that saudi arabia is open for business going to. his first stop washington d.c. where he brokered arms deals with president trump there was a very followed by trips to harvard and mit where he shared his big plans for technology investments then new york city where he sat down with wall street fight and see errors american c.e.o.'s and attended dozens of events one where he even signed a two hundred billion dollars solar agreement with softbank also while in new york the prince met with u.n. secretary general antonio you ted is and other senior u.n. officials the meeting focused on the tense situation in several arab countries and saudi arabia's role in establishing stability in the region then i was off to the west coast where you had dinners with hollywood moguls like rupert murdoch bob iger and even oprah not to mention some of the biggest players in the tech industry

including tim cook jeff bezos and bill gates to name a few he even got an extremely rare look inside of the five billion dollar apple park campus while in silicon valley the prince also visited google where he met with founders larry page and sergey brin as well as the c.e.o. of the company. he was briefed about google's electronic cloud technology and automatic learning as well as ways to incorporate cyber security and according to reports the meetings are all part of the bigger plan to transform his kingdom into a tech and logistics hub in the middle east during the trip the saudis signed a cloud computing contract with google however the financial terms were not disclosed reporting in new york trinity chavez r.t. . we're going to squeeze in a quick break here. but stay with us because when we return mick mulvaney has not burned down the consumer financial protection bureau but he's done a heck of a lot of damage partly nailer pulses and gives us his reaction he was there at the hearings this week mr testicle testified twice before the house and the senate plus

the author and commentator steve kean joys us from london with the latest on the u.k. and e.u. trading relationship as we go to break through the numbers at the closing bell split screen actions today on the numbers board with the red arrows for the dow nasdaq and s. and p. while point in told all in the green we'll be right back. cranking gave americans a lot of new job opportunities i needed to come up here to make some money i could make twenty five thousand dollars as a teacher or i could meet fifty thousand dollars a year trucks or chose to drive trucks people who rush to a small town in north dakota was among the. zero percent is like gold rush is very very similar to. this beautiful story ended with pollution and devastation

a lot of people have left here i don't know too many people here and just slow down so much they lost a job got laid off the american dream is changing that's not what it used to be. and that's a tough reality to deal with. competing like the auto insurance industry why four thousand dollars a year can i be protected against all these medical emergencies that take place in my car therefore we know that the price of having medical insurance or be a thousand dollars a year about thirty thousand dollars a year they're overcharging by twenty thousand dollars we're going is going to oligarchs american oligarchs. welcome back the wall street journal reports that in twenty seventeen asian venture

capital start up money has risen dramatically accounting for forty percent of the one hundred fifty four billion dollars spent on global venture capital funding u.s. investors long and still the leader invested forty four percent of that hundred fifty four billion and continue to do to do more deals than investors from any single nation the move comes as key technological innovations and artificial tell intelligence autonomous vehicles and other cutting edge technologies are emerging as highly sought after initial investment and a task force has been established as a result of the directive by president trump got to have a task force to examine and make recommendations for reform of the u.s. postal system the news comes after presidential tweets related to amazon getting too good a deal on shipping from the post office according to the president who said the postal services and on an unsustainable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer funded bailout. and over the right hailing company whose autonomous self

driving vehicle struck and killed an arizona woman in march says they are absolutely committed to continuing their self driving car program testing had been halted and says that technical modifications are needed you think but ultimately self driving cars will be safer than those driven by humans and in related news the national transportation safety board n.t.s.b. is in dispute with tesla over another fatal crash related to a self driving test a model exports utility vehicle the feud involves n.t.s.b. excluding tesla from continuing parts of the investigation after it was determined that tesla improperly released data details about the crash. before n.t.s.b. investigators had bedded the data. the acting director of the consumer financial protection bureau mick mulvaney whose

all through the hole in the director office of management budget director appeared before the house and senate committees this week two days in a row saying that he had not burn the place down and that he was at work almost every day he has previously sought in congress to kill the agency that he leads was criticized by many who supports the mission to protect consumers but not all members agree with that sentiment and here discusses bartlett naylor financial policy advocate at public citizen you're up there on capitol hill for both days house and senate side yes ok so i mean when he said this thing about you know have burned the place down and i know he said it a couple times but and that he shows up there almost every day i mean were there any gas or were there too many people on the other side it is so breathtaking the extent to which he is deconstructing dismantling the consumer financial protection bureau is that we gasp at the first one and we can't catch our breath like with another politician we know yes he's filed zero in force meant actions since he took

office the last enforcement action you can look on the c.f.p. piece web page is of emma twenty first of two thousand and seventeen he takes office november twenty fourth it's now april there have been zero in fact the score should be negative for because under him they've dropped four cases including to one for him who was a contributor when motivating was a south carolina congressman who was a firm that was a contributor to his political campaign and that was one of the matters that he dropped and that's one of the matters that was dropped under his under his oversight that's right ok this person also had the temerity to send him an e-mail applying for the job because he won't be the director indefinitely at least we hope not but she thinks she's. the director that it had been the person who was with the company the message was dropped from the c.e.o. of the company also wants to be the director of the sea of p.b.s. send a letter to middle name and we use the acronym but you can't just up your cat the

word is protection consumer financial protection bureau and here is a person who was who is allegedly had it's nicer corporate financial institution protect its consumers and that's why we those of us who were actually worked to try and get that thing in place ok now what that means that they haven't filed any of foresman actions essentially that they are not acknowledging because i know from being a regulator you know from watching guys like me and others that they always have in the pipeline various investigations going on so there's been a this is not a coincidence there's been a proactive determination not to go forward with anybody right that's what the data shows so until november twenty first there were two to four enforcement actions a month for the last five or so years that return twelve billion dollars to twenty eight million american victims and sense than twelve billion dollars to twenty eight million americans that's right over the last five or six years through to and that money that they're returning or what bartlett credit card scams to sept of

lending. over charge is all all sorts of i'll not just putting bad guys in the fining them and then in some cases referring those cases to the f.b.i. the department of justice for criminal prosecution but actually returning money to consumers that's right getting money back that was scammed and putting it back in the pocket of the consumers from whom it was taken you know you and i talk we had you on the program before when this was all go going on the whole the change of the guard there that's pretty much over is an additional cases the case as well with leander english in fact the court heard the case this week it's on appeal where an amicus public citizen as an amicus a former public citizen a turn. his leander anguishes attorney and i would say the judges ask critical questions this director has to be independent that means he or she can't take orders from the president as the o.m.b. director essentially everything that can be vetted can be overturned by the

president because he can just draw him back and the judges were critical of that situation. knowledge that they weren't necessarily sympathetic to english as casey that's the person that cordray had had put in place but nor were they sympathetic to this is a truly independent situation there are lots of things in government don't work and it is a swamp in many regards i'll give the president that having independent financial folks like i was once or confirmed by the senate you can do and say what you want you can't be fired and i know because it does give you the freedom to say what you want even if people don't want to hear it that's also the case with great consumer organizations and it's the case with you my friend thank you. for your work. on the trade deficit for the united kingdom has grown to six point four billion pounds it's about nine point one billion dollars as

a result of decreasing sales to nine european union exports are growing u.k. trade gap was partially offset by increased exports to the e.u. from the u.k. here to join us is steve keen steve we thank you so much for being with us particular when it's late over there in london the u.k. deficit trade deficit is smaller than previously thought what are we to make of it . well not a lot it's not a measure of fluctuation and then there are elements of revaluation of including profits on financial transactions which went recorded previously which are produced to try deficit for a substantial margin going back quite a few years since they've backtracked in the data so it's not a major change it's i think we spend far too much time worrying about mana fluctuations around long term trends and the long term trend i think is still for the u.k. to have a much bigger try deficit than it should actually have and it's largely in that situation i think because of the impact on the euro making german manufacturing

exports and the like a lot cheaper than they would be if they had a genuine currency in europe rather than the euro i'm curious that's a great explanation but i'm curious steve if there is be we think about this whole the whole brecht's circumstance and the ongoing sort of tussle listen to whether or not they'll be individual trade accords and that the regulators in the in the e.u. say no you have to have a agreement with all e.u. members but it is correct is that those individual countries many of them still want to trade with london and with the u.k. right. oh yeah i'm in the trade again they're trying to go as i think is something we spend far too much time discussing because conventional economics sees guys coming from specialized and therefore expanding try to is always a good thing and politicians enjoy going across and being in some exotic location except for donald trump and signing these agreements so they go to

a very positive spin on the whole thing in fact what gives you growth is investment and and that's where the u.k. is actually extremely wake and sense of the proportion of the economy it's devoted to investment it's down towards the order of ten percent of jay pay where is germany's on the order of twenty percent more of today pay what they need here is more investment rather than focusing upon this obsession about tried when well let's talk about that just a little bit more we talk about growth this year in the in the u.k. how are they going to be not necessarily asking you for the exact g.d.p. numbers that we expect but i mean are they better off than they have been in the last couple of years what do we see the economy in the u.k. given that we see brics it coming forward next year do we see it making progress or that still in the doldrums. still pretty much in the daltons but of course the impact of bricks that was massively overestimated by all the people who are against bricks that if you're a member go back to the bricks that discussions are talking about the next day the

economy fall off a cliff they're predicting something on the scale of the two thousand and eight financial crisis which of course the people making those predictions did not see the funded financial process coming bricks was going to cause its acquittal and well the day when it couldn't win and nothing much happened the sigma mention of the economy continued on what we got for a while out of bricks it was a fairly dramatic devaluation of the pound that now seems to be reversing that should have been a chance to get britain's manufacturing sector back on back into existence again it really hasn't been particularly taken advantage of but overall the impact of the negative impact of brick said and says a financial corporations talking about leaving and all the panic that is still going on here this obsession with bricks and was largely counteracted by the the current the that the currency gun in the opposite direction and giving a bit of a fillip to the economy so it hasn't been as dramatic as thought but still the u.k.

is mine problem is it doesn't invest enough it's still not investing enough. and that is what's really dragging it backwards rather than the absence of try to grant's steve let me ask you one quick question before we go with all of this trade tantrum the tariffs the talk and what do they think it over there i mean you speak with people not just in the u.k. but what do they think about this this pretty what seems like a pretty much of a mess at least in the media. well this this is a mrs this is one of the few times that i think what donald trump is doing is actually worthwhile because it's been this conventional belief that we more we deregulate the most global laws the bit of the world is of course we've seen massive protests about people suffering from globalization and they're quite right it goes beyond the complaints that george the statements made some time ago that the benefits of focus on the wealthy the guys on the poor it's also just simply wrong about the way the economy functions you do want to have them is investing

that's that's where the growth really comes from and to some extent by disrupting this may actually fall some of the manufacturing investment to occur that he's being selling himself to his supporters on so i see it as chaos but really what happened for him was a conventional wisdom which was which was fantastical so this is one time i done lot of it of karl's been caused by donald trump steve king author of can we avoid another financial crisis he's told us the answer to that before thanks for your time steve. and it's getting warmer here in washington d.c. in the united states unlike most of the world many americans like to cool off with a cold beer however like most things in life sometimes beer can be too much of a good thing after studying the drinking habits of more than six hundred thousand drinkers doctors conducting a study noted that heavy drinkers above the age of forty lost an average of fifteen minutes off their life expectancy it doesn't seem like much but just be careful not

to drink too much coming ahead or you could also be a hero by rescuing a beer from a bottle that's all for now be sure to catch boom bust on you tube youtube dot com slash boom bust artie we'll see you again. zero says hon kentucky. we hold this group the boys says you can go three families or you moon in. a coma and he said he was almost no coal mines left. the jobs are gone all the coal mines of said. that it was love to see these people the survivors of disappearing before their eyes. i remember thinking when i was younger that if anything ever

happened to the coal mines here that it would become a ghost town but i never thought in a million years i would see that and it's how it's happened. join me every thursday on the elec simon chill and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see if. four men are sitting in a car when the fifth gets shot in the head. all four have different versions of what happened one of them is on the death row there's no way he could have done it there's no possible way because the owners do not share around a corner. of the plate for many flips over the years so i know the game inside dives. football

isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the superman each a billionaire owners and spending student twenty million album fly a. book it's an experience like nothing else on to it because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful guy a great so will transfer. and thinks it's going to. that's. right.

witnesses to the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of duma say in a video released by russia's defense ministry that those hospitalized were not showing symptoms consistent with exposure to a chemical agents also russia calls a security council meeting on the situation in syria with moscow and washington exchanging fiery remarks. one protesters killed and hundreds are injured in gaza as israeli troops use live fire and tear gas to disperse an anti occupation demonstrators along the border. and arsenal football fans receive a warm welcome in russia before their teams of match with moscow despite their concerns about russian looking i really get the feeling that what you will come see

me when you come in for yourself and you see that is no public relations are lovely i mean to say what happens you drink governments a lot happens between people are totally different. are broadcasting live from moscow this is our international incheon thomas got to have you with us now russia's defense ministry has released a video in which witnesses to the aftermath of an alleged chemical attack in syria duma say that there was no indication that those rushed to the hospital had been exposed to a chemical agent. my name is clear i am a medical student i work in the e.r. department of dumas central hospital on april eighth a building in the city was bombed the upper floors were destroyed and the bottom

floors caught fire all the injured from that building were brought to our hospital . that the residents from the upper floors were suffering from smoke inhalation and that is what we treated them for based on the symptoms they exhibited but this is a bit of a dominating headlines over the past few days that incident in duma whatever took place is attracted very different versions of events from the russian side the syrian side and the u.s. u.k. and france something did happen in do on the seventh of april with the western nations on the white helmets group on the ground in syria claiming it was a chemical attack by the damascus government on civilians killing and injuring dozens the russian side the mask is saying this was a setup now today we've got that evidence allegedly from the russian modi saying they have identified an individual in the video you can see just being played bad that video was used as part of the evidence by helmets and western nations to prove that there was a chemical attack in duma as those rebels and civilians were being evacuated you

can see the man highlighted the witness there on the video just for our viewers they claim they've identified him subsequently asked exactly what happened in that incident on the seventh of april in dubai let's take a listen to what exactly had to say about what took place in the hospital after. that during treatment some person came in i don't know who that was and said that it was a chemical attack. when the. people got scared a fight broke out. relatives of the victims started pouring water on one another. then others began to give inhalers for asthma the children. even though these people were not medical professionals we did not see any patients exhibiting symptoms of chemical poisoning. so this video amongst others of course quite shocking disturbing images of civilian casualties was circulated online all social media and cited by the information and organizations countries as evidence of that

chemical attack and evidence of course is the key word here is the real crux of the issue of what o.p.c. w team heading over to do more on the way that they should be there over the next twenty four forty eight hours or so believe they have arrived in syria their findings will be key to establishing what really happened in duma whether there was some sort of chemical incident by the damascus government by as the western nations are saying or as we heard from the russian. the russian military has gathered evidence that indicates the direct involvement of great britain organizing the provocation in eastern ukraine we know for a fact that london pressured the so-called white helmets to carry out their plans provocation as soon as possible they were told that from the third to the sixth of april rebels would carry out a series of heavy showings of damascus and that this would lead to a reaction from the government forces which the white helmets should use for their provocation and to allege the use of chemical weapons but these are obviously quite

strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in duma something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specifically for for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. the team with the u.n. and that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those air solved was examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to prove what exactly happened and to give some credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course in the next twenty four to forty eight hours. ukase embassador to the un has reacted to the accusations from the russian military by calling them grotesque and a blatant lie however the video featuring the medic who dismissed of the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously and shown by a number of media outlets for the questions are also hanging over the west's narrative due to the dubious reputations of the groups that initially made those

allegations artie's what i have comments. reports of a chemical attack first appeared strange enough it's almost the precise moment the battle had ended when the syrian government that rebels were negotiating on how to evacuate the latter reports first appeared on social media twitter facebook and spread like wildfire while my colleague kendall anian and i have learned today that the u.s. now has blood and urine samples from some of the victims of this attack in syria last weekend and that those samples according to u.s. officials tested positive for chemicals sources the usuals why the helmets who service rescuers islamists and syrian rebels also the somewhat less known syrian american medical society sounds together with the white helmets they were cited by the washington post the new york times c.n.n.

virtually every western media outlets reporting on this chemical attack saturday april seventh amidst continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of duma more than five hundred cases the majority of whom are women and children were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent sams that self is funded by u.s. aid six million in two thousand and fifteen usaid is widely believed to be an arm of the state department and is banned in multiple countries accused of interfering in domestic policies and promoting regime change it even has an office of transition initiatives the management at sams also believe it or not former usaid stuff was was saddam's who reportedly provided the u.p.c. w. with samples of the alleged sarin gas that was used in hunchy houla site of

a chemical attack last year after which. donald trump sent fifty seven cruise missiles at the syrian airbase o.p.c. w. is on its way to duma to investigate we've contacted various groups including the world health organization they've cited saddam's but have refused to go into any details become not rule out the possibility that someone from within the region wants to see the syrian state weakened or even toppled might stage something and what we know as well is that j. should islam the army of islam the militant group that was just ousted from duma they have a position of chlorine gas they used it and they acknowledged its usage two years ago in aleppo against kurdish militia they issued a statement saying you know we've done it what comes next no one can say whether the u.s. will go ahead with a preemptive strike or whether cooler heads will prevail. well appears that the

lack of evidence on the alleged chemical attack is a concern for a number of journalists one of them is boss speed of the spear from belgium who travels to syria to judge it all for himself. around two years ago i started to discover that i wasn't really told the truth about the war in syria and i started to learn more and more. and i have this led me to decided i want to go see for myself you know it's people should. journalists should so i do it if you travel to syria it's such a different picture and then what is being beamed in the media unfortunately yes but we have a long way to go but i think we were with the rise of internet you know it's the reason i like. the control is slipping away from from the dinosaur mass media. syrian rebels are ready to assess to potential u.s. strikes against of the country that warning comes from the russian side at the u.n.

security council where moscow and washington once again confronted each other over the situation in syria. number two we understand very well that the heads of syrian armed groups have received instructions to begin an offensive following potential active force we saw recent examples in iraq in libya they show is that the u.s. needs the u.n. security council for pragmatic reasons they used in the case of iraq with the vial they used it to cover up the initiative of the libyan no fly zone and that's what's being done now you are showing us an imaginary vial it's empty chemical weapons didn't produce the most casualties in world war one but they were the most feared in world war two chemical weapons were employed on an industrial scale against civilians resulting in the worst genocide in human history which we were called just yesterday on holocaust remembrance day i think it's becoming increasingly

difficult as the cold war of words is heating up to a very hot potential military action and i really do wish that he would dial down the. anger in what he's trying to accuse russia and the stakes i think of becoming frighteningly high i mean i was very interested in a very active in speaking asked ceroc or i was very interested i have been for a couple of decades and speak out against the libyan intervention which was illegal as well but i didn't feel the same sort of existential fear that i am currently feeling around what might escalate if america and the u.k. and france start to invade illegally another sovereign country which is syria in london anti-war activists staged a protest in front of the prime minister's residence they demanded theresa may not involve the u.k. in any potential military operation in syria.

protesters were carrying banners reading don't bomb syria not in our mean younger was directed not only to. true some may but also towards u.s. president donald trump as well demonstrators also called on politicians to halt their war rhetoric and to think about the suffering of the people of syria and protests against military escalation also occurred in greece on friday hundreds of people gathered in front of the u.s. embassy in athens they held anti nato banners and burned to the u.s. flag demonstrators said that they did not want syria to become a repetition of the two thousand and three invasion of iraq. but for more on the role played by of the syrian american medical society foundation in this crisis i'm joined now by max blumenthal who is an author and journalist max thanks for being with us here on r.t. international great to be on so if you help me wrap my mind around this whole situation if you will back in two thousand and seventeen this group helped shape

the public image of the chemical attack in the syrian city of qom shakoor on and served as the source of samples for the o.p.c. w which was a violation of vera rules so now we see them as a source for the alleged attack as well. interesting coincidence what does this say to you. well what's remarkable is that this group the syrian american medical society is cited by a who's who of western media organizations as a credible source when it's anything but this organization which is funded to the tune of some close to six million dollars or more by usa id a wing of the state department which actually emerged out of the cia to encourage regime change and what the u.s. considers enemy states this organization is directed by operatives name sahar so who is actually a lobbyist who's been lobbying the u.s. government since the obama administration for a war of regime change and this organization operates hospitals exclusively in

territory controlled by al qaeda syrian affiliate and its allies so this is a you know to me to see it should be a national scandal that u.s. taxpayers are basically paying for the civil society wing of al qaeda and its soil if you just jihadi allies. like jaish al islam which is just evacuated eastern goods and we're simply talking in us media about this organization as if they're just a bunch of syrian field doctors this is an international law being an influence organization dedicated to stimulating regime change and so we absolutely have to be skeptical when they make these allegations of a chemical attack because that advances their agenda and they have every motive to deceive the west about it well as you just touched on there sam's claims to be nonpolitical and a nonprofit yet it is funded by u.s. aid which is part of the u.s. government. in some levels that seems like it would be a conflict of interest. well you know it should seem like that if they're running

an influence operation inside washington in the united states and they boast in their print their promotional materials that when sam's is on capitol hill congress listens they testified on capitol hill and made allegations of hundreds of chemical attacks i've seldom seen them provide any evidence and they've met their they had one a capitol hill briefing i'm sorry a u.n. security council testimony by this organization which was planned by samantha power the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. so again i mean we're really really have to see this organization as an arm of the u.s. soft power beyond that i spoke to a former member of the syrian matter merican medical society this group was not founded in two thousand and eleven when the syrian conflict began it was founded in one nine hundred ninety eight but there was a takeover of its board according to this member by operatives who

embrace a strong sympathy for the muslim brotherhood she referred to it as a mash unit in syria and said there was a mass exodus of secular and christian members when this takeover occurred and since the takeover occurred we've seen this organizations budget increase from almost nothing to something like six million dollars a year specifically to stimulate regime change and as you mentioned earlier sean one year ago in hunch a coon it was the syrian american medical society that handled the blood samples the ground samples and provided them to the o.p.c. w o p c w explicitly violated its protocol on chain of custody and allowed the secretary and u.s. funded program change organization to carry the samples so again we can't trust any finding or conclusion that involves the syrian american medical society certainly is interesting to see how this is all going to play out because it's a lot of he said she said right now with

a lot of people claiming evidence but not really being able to put anything forward maxim women fall thanks for being with us and help us get a bigger picture on this one thanks. all right now hundreds are injured following another day of clashes on the israel gaza border more on that after a short break to watch actually to national stay with us. competing like the. industry why four thousand dollars a year protected against all these medical emergencies that take place in my car therefore we know that the price of having medical insurance would be a thousand dollars a year not thirty thousand dollars. thousand dollars. oligarchs american oligarchs. something happens in this case it was the chemical attack on syria the public in

the media are waiting for the response and i think it's very clear now that if president trump said that there is going to be a response then it will be i just think that our expectations and this american response will be so severe that it will be a game changer i think this is not the case it will begin very careful calculation by the americans not to deteriorate into a clash direct confrontation with russia. welcome back this is our t. international now violence has again erupted along the israeli border in gaza where i.d.f. soldiers have been using live fire and tear gas to disperse protesters health ministry says one person has been killed and hundreds injured including paramedics over the past two weeks thousands of palestinians have been campaigning against what's

widely seen as israel's occupation of gaza and demanding the right of return to israel for palestinian refugees and their. you know. this is one of the weapons the israelis have been using and this is tear gas canisters from the drone that the israelis have been using since the morning to throw to god the tear gas canisters on the protesters it's running very high tensions are running high as you see the ambulances are still here medics are in the fia trying to get through to all the palestinians that are getting injured there's another injury we're just right now from the fence and you can see the injuries and leg call. that medics are trying to to

to treat the other injuries in the field so they would be able to do and it's going to be easier on the palestinians had it had that spirit has minister because that as you saw spittle and all the other hospitals are crowded with patients and injuries from the past two fridays. here is another to get. the. hospital. what's happening now is the israeli army are using add that you guys got mr strong

desire to just got his start on days really on the to sit in protesters it's so dangerous now for everyone for every palestinian yet at the. for every palestinian who are just coming here to prove does i did the right of return. so this is journalist this is just nothing to do you just got mr. last week the israeli snipers directly shot yes it much does and yet another journalist that is being injured just right now. it's very obvious that just by listening journalists we're hearing a press junket. the palestinians attending the rallies including children have been taking precautions to protect themselves against of the tear gas some arrive with homemade masks filled with perfume and cotton others were more inventive using fruits and vegetables and meanwhile an israeli soldier who shot a palestinian on the gaza border during a protest in december has been cleared of any wrongdoing by military inquiry video

emerged of him firing shots alongside other snipers who cheered and laughed at the injuries they inflict. so. why. then should the border. just go on in that the woods will find out that the biggest of them did. what. they did that. was i did nothing i was just a demonstration i went to my friends to help them and before i reached the place they shot me the soldier knew that i was going to help them and that's why i was

shocked. relations between the u.k. and russia might be at an all time low but that does not stop british football fans from travelling to moscow for the e.u. a four year old by you league head of the moscow arsenal game on thursday media outlets ran threatening articles about blood and death for english supporters artie's i saw he met up with one arsenal fan to see if the headlines were true. just so my way to consider you a very prominent hostile fan going to be all seeing him when he travels to moscow does he have any fear is regarding the political tension between the u.k. and russia is he worried about things like hooliganism. follow him throughout his trip how do you feel charged in there in this context you know. in the noda there's been a lot going on between the governments waffling between the governments and i'm a person this is football we're going for football you know if you listen to people

around you in the u.k. a lot some people are coming up to me and say robbie don't go there you'd be mad in an oil some of you've been to russia and i say well no i haven't gone at all but i can i get advice of someone who has been there have also been concerns with regard to safety so for example hooliganism and also racism you know you've seen fings about russia and things of happened in russia that's not going to be a problem up in qana encouraged because of a lot received e-mails from groups over there in russia saying to me that lisa ruby snot nearly as bad as what it's made out to be. those on the plane about to head out to russia. were looking forward to it. it's a place i never before. to a thousand also supports is come over to watch the game many of them have been

advised by the foreign and commonwealth office as well saying they could be an uptake of anti british sentiment amongst some russians due to the heightened tension between the two countries at the moment well i mean you must go already. so we're very worried about coming here and that was injured back to me so it's all right there's no taking certain bits where you can also. sponsors for example the traditions go. you know we don't want to look around most go see our motor news show will be noisy he's game how we're going to do so he's already got a feeling that would you woke up to the goods we love the russia we love the

russian people the friendship that we create. the relations and yes i'm really good at the politics up on the titians i like it still going to life and i was a bit skeptical when i first called because of all that what was going on and what not but when you commit yourself and you see that has no purpose and haven't seen any. sentiment of russia's been at most it's been incredible it's just incredible set against everyone is friendly enough the russians are lovely i mean to say what happens between governments a lot happens between people are totally different and that does it for me i will be back to top the hour with the full of each news stay with us.

the swarms of them so. the good news was before. those who heard something of you lou. nirmal north we go we're going to. move. move. move show you the snook beautiful warble i mean it's going to look. more muslim also these girls will give you a good girl. the british also look but look the same you know you can sure it's toward the door you should go. to starts to do.

it with the little girl must needs to look it is it's. just best not to test this new it's the mashed old. destructive president on please control this project until. the your petitions to god knows where to snip to come up on your because that is the girls with you for your supporters to your she walks through she shouldn't for you should cook door for one was your business. when lawmakers manufactured to santa instead of public wealth. when the ruling classes project themselves. on the financial merry go round of lives only the one percent. of the time

doing or middle of the room signals. mean real news for the world. for a world cup twenty eight team coverage we've signed one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time but there was one more quick. and by the way it's going to be our coach . guys i know you are nervous he's a huge star and a huge amount of pressure come out you'll have to blow me eight percent of the beach to tell me and do it solo the great game the great game you are the rock at the back nobody gets past you we need you to get the ball going let's go. a low as i want to you know and i'm really happy to join us today and for the two thousand and ten world cup in russia. the special one i was also

a patient needs to just say to review the aussie team's latest edition to make up the big seventy but to just say look. they sweep the sun calling will show has come to the city of lights on beautiful paris we're going to be chatting to frank went out with the french national team in ninety nine but this week's episode much more serious fatless the more general secretary of faith talking about the upcoming woke up in russia rice and any issues for faith to deal with paul paul what was it like for a young man get into

a semifinal with england in ninety nine say how the chinese law is going to be talking to him about rice about coaching and. the world cup this year join us on calling most young. thank you very much for joining. the first woman the first black woman the first. well as you rightly mentioned it has been a very busy for me i've been appointed defense secretary general after the.

mexico. and the mere fact of having a woman president. governing body after more than one hundred. and how the would. so now my job is to make sure. that. implementing a diverse. hundred eleven member association i have reason to think that. only have. not only.

the world of you. important. represents. across the. to me investing in. definitely the best way for. you know to develop the game and to make it accessible to. journalistic colleagues . around the world. we have been implementing. and it's resulted in having more women to presentation it resulted in having more transparency in the way. let's say invest.

the money flow in and now it has been really. where the money we are receiving from our. money that. eleven member station we have really a way to track everything. and she will bring a fresh when. somebody from outside. because we have to be when we say. we have more. people involved in football fever has just completed. think found well really we invite. to give an insight on.

some serious question. well. you know we should give these people an opportunity to get things right so you must be happy with. important from a different part. of business life. professional and x. professional football is involved in the i have given. what i think if we have one thing. today after one year after eighteen months. is definitely that we are giving back to. active players by having them. we have bob i. player from

my deputy in charge of football he's also the one behind for example referee program we have. everybody. being also. because he's having technical division. goal. twenty three in the world it's the highest ranking for quite some. we interviewed in london famously said twenty thirty years ago it will be when. i guess really. perfect. general at the top of the. game for an african nation might be. to do really well in this world cup and it would be important for the continent of africa while

i think we have a fire team being the president did. african continent. as you remember. you know one. two went up to the quarter finals i think that they can only do better. were at liverpool in liverpool i mean that generation of players in two thousand. in his love of the game so i guess again from an african perspective it's important for all of those nations to inspire the next generation of african football is within. europe and best in many african players so. no matter when they come back home to play for their country that they did what they had the same level of commitment and. with a country so i have no doubt. and i really hope that that will be the case that african teams that will be really going very far in this competition how important

is it for russian sport for the host nation to have a good tournament while i think what we experienced during this. twenty seventeen. configuration. very strong on what. by russia could be i really was fascinated by the level of. readiness and more importantly by the woman well what pleased you the most from the russian welcoming in the some of the confederations cup because i was here and one of my roles i believe. to speak honestly about. six or seven times now i'm not a fantastic people don't look at me differently on the street people don't treat me differently. which is again some of the stereotypes that we are presented with.

so tell us what what pleasantly surprised you about the confederations cup. what you just described when i came for the first time in russia it was in july. one month after. definitely like. i was just feeling to be treated differently and i was ready to. think differently about africa and africans but. i haven't any. wherever i go to explain what. i have received a warm welcome. during the confederation the people from even different. to be muslim receive

a very. where we have. and they were sending me a message. telling me five. please know that. what you think about russia reality and to live the reality.

they have to. experience. very seriously. implemented. in the host cities you would be discovering a country that has. diversity you can experience a many different or so. often most interesting things in cars and in particular as you might well say and you have two of the best in the world coming here and the wood will be stopping for one month towards the one cup so don't miss the opportunity to discover a new lifestyle and also a country that is really warm welcoming and fans around the woods secretary-general has been absolute pleasure. and a goal we can be friends afterwards you know. very much for joining. thank you so

much. jake had to take matters into its own hands to provide its own security and securing the border now this is a very vivid image of a cause i live with who are the french to be there who are the americans to be there who are the british to be. cranking gave americans a lot of new job opportunities and i needed to come up here to make some money i could make twenty five thousand dollars as a teacher or i could make fifty thousand dollars a year for trucks so i chose to drive trucks people rush to

a small town in north dakota was an unemployment rate of zero percent it was like gold rush is very very similar to gold. but this beautiful story ended with pollution and of a station a lot of people have left here i don't know too many people here anymore slow down too much they lost their jobs that laid off the american dream is changing that's not what it used to be. and it's a tough reality to deal with. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race move his arms off and spearing dramatic development only closely i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical of god i'm timed to sit down and talk. for a man or sitting in

a car when the fifth gets shot in the head. all four different versions of what happened one of them is on the death row there's no way you could have done it there's no possible way because the us did not shoot around a corner. delighted to be joined by the premier league international as well back year in.

year. italian. an iconic football tournament your relative rookie. england scoring only four or five caps before being called. the ropes and at first we had been on a was the future ply pick your country. and it was the biggest thing ever for me because i grew up wanting to play for a bigger tame as possible and that was a little bit of the spurs fan and then played an f.a. cup final to play for england and if i was to go to now it's always now with kids is to plan a champions league when you say it's one of their playing for england and want to play champions league but maybe the same thing year time span is about playing as high as you can mourn anythings to represent the country and that's what i wanted to do not fortunate enough to do it. for english players will put

a club and champions league before their country i think the managers are telling them the most important thing for them is their place and when it's a plan of champions lake and. the majority manages our foreign they don't really care about a national same song and the plaza got that in their heads in this a believe the champions league is what's put him out there so they are there for him to for now to plan a chance leg not to play for their country because they really are not they limit the criticism they're getting to represent their country and to be honest represent your country is a challenge and when you actually have a challenge you're willing to take a. good and i had the goods but you have to take the bad as well i'm very very fortunate because of what happened to may who represent my country and then i was just a poor power play for queens park rangers and no one of a sudden i come back. who played well cup semifinal playing for queens park rangers yes that lifted my status immensely that morning if it was q.p.r.

fans haven't forgotten it from a it has lifted me to a level which i never knew before in my life growing up in the itas there's a lot of racial abuse remember vomitous in the first black player. got death threats lexus boy just being the first black player it's where in england shirts so when you get into england squad you money at four or five caps with. but drop of racism still in the gang still in the stands was it more of a challenge for a black man to represent england than it was tough from him again when was in when was in italy we have training session and training session and there was quite a few who have come in and watched the groups and i mean i think probably also know we made a massive mistake having an open session because major on bones and. got a very very legend very very badly a look at the point of. me and gas that's gone ply not in the fridge and england

big i'm in iceland and it must have been about monist twenty five it was absolutely freeze and i remember telling to ray go hypothermia. couldn't play he was too cold we played a game and i would go abuse playing in the big time and it was like a gang of these neo nazis who turned up just to abuse me did you feel you have to prove yourself going into the world. majlis belief in that was the outcome there and always a little bit content to be you know to be there for when gary stevens going because bobby robson was so loyal to those players during that periods but when you mention a bad challenger spent the whole of my pedometer the start of mockery and times in it that she believed in because almost black novel was being brought up and that when it was said to me. many years ago no no it wasn't me that was in for inside the mob we want to be cousins. you know black and white if you do you could never

be in a coup to a white man you have to be better than him to stand a chance of sebastian and if you recall there was going to go for a white man and that's the way it was that was my mentality i was that's to be better and do a job to give myself the opportunity to play germany a world cup semifinal the first welcome summary farnell since nineteen sixty six we relaxed because the germans were overwhelming favorite snow. before nothing trying to tow the bit i think we're really suddenly cold. things that. you know for. years prior i was playing in the third division with. the world cup semifinal with england was in that sound of war and i was just looking at all these germans doesn't matter how tall they were or how small they were they were absolutely immaculate there was some there was like there was eleven mannequins there was just everything there was muscles in the right place. there was stomachs and not around

it all around there are sleeping. secrets wardo on the sea in all different body shapes of us english there was you know there was there's me i think if i was standing on the bench in my colombia you see all the british or the bellies in store for this is the germans it was really great and be honest i could have been the worst and i could've been the worst team in the world if we judged certainly judging appearances the front cover and they were absolutely immaculate oh i think i wanted to be one of a moment just to look small and but then you get on the pitch and the way we started going was it was incredible to show what you're all wrong because you're involved in two goals is to quit the second one. free kick germany have to say are you sure that go somewhere leave me because he saw me as the quickest to get them close down. one job. change the united direction a boy or think challenge to different course it went the same lock it flatlines.

was off is low and we can question should be a goalie but in the die like chinese the movement of the ball that went in the first three or four bat was. as maybe nine to cost england the world cup that happened you just know that on the pitch. and then the positive happens in the run so i don't mean forward as you always do. long right all right so left to the senses there's the ice in your books which is essential structure is perfect because this chaos at that point you just want somebody to say the past you saw the past gary lineker capitalizes on some panic. did you feel redemption oh yeah and it was just it was just a minute i want to say for you i couldn't do anything because i'm home boy. so from a. i'm sane again is that's not an area the park was generally always in always open prata i was always in the middle i was never no can impose an area you know

what i am and i quote a percentage past has an opportunity to try and put a bow in behind and that's what i've done and it is it was the percentage once i think the first set off didn't deal with it very well and gary being gary's in there on his own and he picked up the pieces and that's what gary was great and that was gary lineker that was his strength drew at the end of the game and it go. to penalties did you feel nervous excited because you were on one side step away from getting to the world cup final but you're also one kick a woman so why for a glorious failure we fail in the penalty box panel so i was just co-op and i was like i was like a fan just looking at that why not but not even thinking i was going to take when i was watching and i'm well where i am and that's how i was but did i think the pace was going to miss a penalty not in a million years because he was another one you'd almost put your house in him scoring goals he scored so many for forest penalties you never believe that stuart

pearce was evidence of this a penalty you mentioned about chris waddle how good were you when he missed his penalty when everyone was chris chris was loved by everybody and he's not one you'd believe he was going to score but everyone was disappointed i think it was and he was obviously more in the manner in which he missed it stuart pearce was very very upset but no one was trying to help comfort. left him in his own space to get in. chris was a little bit down chelsea was telling himself he went away every single time and chris chris someone who reminded him that maybe shouldn't die five minutes live anymore i got there how did you feel finally when you landed at luton airport and there were. three full five hundred thousand people white for the team did that shock you did it surprise you did it make you think crikey what if would have won this it did but i did wonder if some kind of ban was on the plane beyond or something like that because you thought it was a big an attendant maybe debate was it got back together somehow because it was

absolutely crazy manic trying to drive home to an e m one and it was scary stand driving around because people were going past the car coming from heads out toilets pictures i think some people followed me all the way back i was living in woken him then and i think some people from i'm not i'm from i lived anywhere near there so they follow me almost to drive around a little bit just to lose them as i didn't know where i lived and then went on when i arrive home. live in a place state called woods hill and welcome and as i driving silly cul de sac there's a big banner up welcoming home another big straight part for me i think after about an hour i have to go i think the occasion got to me at two or three drinks i went into the house and a question i've been living around and then for over a year not really even stopped in the street. if people said to me do i know you all said. yeah but no one knew me for us and after that it was just something.

too strange really. really appreciate you joining us great to see you and thank you very much you're welcome thank you very much that. this is says holland kentucky. the oldest moved the employees to go green street.

a co money city with almost no coal mines left. the jobs are gone all the coal was said. that it was a laugh to see these people the survivors of disappearing before their eyes. i remember thinking when i was younger that if anything ever happened to the coal mines here that it would become a ghost town but i never thought in the million years i would see that and it's happened it's happened. for competing like the auto insurance industry why four thousand dollars a year can i be protected against all these medical emergencies that take place in my car therefore we know that the price of having medical insurance or be a thousand dollars a year about thirty thousand dollars a year they're overcharging about forty five thousand dollars. we're going is going to oligarchs american oligarchs.

and. you never know what's around the corner you never know what's in the pub you can walk into excitement it's that not knowing that's where the adrenaline in much comes from. and your needs are moved by definition and the extremes who will supply. the violence is a pug and it's almost a schizophrenia gang culture where you can do all these things and behave badly. they're going to be full of horse colorful it all for thirty plus plus more so for the last. one this man infirmed their role on policy in the start. i would roll the way enough i figure out i really did a poll down down went up a little bit. of meaning in these images that at least if you don't win the

involves it's constantly evolving in the. global war hawks sell you on the idea that dropping bombs brings peace to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battles to stop. the new socks credit so you can separate gossip the public by itself will support the. other off the bad guys and tell me you are not full enough and let's fight. these are the hawks that we and all that are worth watching. something happens in this case it was the chemical attack on civilians in syria and then the public in the media are waiting for the response and i think it's very clear now that if president trump said that there is going to be a response then it will be i just think that our expectations in

a way that this american response will be so severe that it will be a game changer i think this is not the case it will again be misadjusted very careful calculation by the americans not to deteriorate into a clash a direct confrontation with russia. but if you look. at. the. side. effects the next.

witness is it to the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of duma say in video released by russia's defense ministry that those hospitalized were not showing symptoms consistent with exposure to a chemical agents. also russia calls it a security council meeting on the situation in syria with moscow and washington exchanging fiery remarks. one protester was killed and hundreds are injured in gaza. as israeli troops use live fire and tear gas to disperse anti occupation demonstrations along the border . and arsenal football fans receive a warm welcome in russia before their teams match with moscow despite their concerns about russian who could. really get the feeling that would be world cup so

we could see when you come if you so often you see that it's no problem the russians are lovely i mean to say what happens between governments a lot happens between people a totally different. five broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our team international incheon thomas certainly glad to have you with us now russia's defense ministry has released a video in which witnesses to the aftermath of an alleged chemical attack in syria's duma say that there was no indication that those rushed to the hospital had been exposed to a chemical agent it is thought to my name is. a medical student i work in the e.r. department of dumas central hospital on april eighth a building in the city was bombed the upper floors were destroyed and the bottom

floors caught fire all the injured from that building were brought to our hospital . then the residents from the upper floors were suffering from smoke inhalation all right we're going to break in right now so that we can hear from president trump who speaking right now let's take a listen chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al assad. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway we thank them both tonight i want to speak with you about why we have taken this section one year ago. assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people the united states responded with fifty eight missile strikes that destroyed twenty percent of the syrian air force last saturday the assad regime again

deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians this time in the town of dorma near the syrian capital of damascus this massacre and was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime the evil and the despicable attacked left mothers and fathers infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air these are not the actions of a man they are crimes of a monster instead following the horrors of world war want to century ago civilized nations join together to ban chemical warfare chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering but

because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation. the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production spread and use of chemical weapons establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the united states that combined american british and french response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power military economic and diplomatic we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents i also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting equipping

and financing the criminal assad regime to iran and to russia i ask what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men women and children the nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep no nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states brutal tyrants and murderous dictators in two thousand and thirteen president putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of syria's chemical weapons assad's recent attack. and today's response are the direct result of russia's failure to keep that promise russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with

civilized nations as a force for stability and peace hopefully some day we'll get along with russia and maybe even iran but maybe not i will say this the united states has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world in syria the united states with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of isis is doing what is necessary to protect the american people over the last year nearly one hundred percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called isis caliphate in syria and iraq has been liberated and eliminated the united states has also rebuilt our friendships across the middle east we have asked our partners to

take greater responsibility for securing their home region including contributing large amounts of money for the resources a quip and and all of the isis effort. increased engagement from our friends including saudi arabia the united arab emirates qatar egypt and others can ensure that iran does not profit from the eradication of isis america does not seek an indefinite presence in syria under no circumstances as other nations step up their contributions we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home and great warriors they are looking around a very troubled world americans have no illusions we cannot purge the world of evil

or act everywhere there is tyranny no amount of american blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the middle east it's a troubled place we will try to make it better but it is a troubled place the united states will be a partner in a friend but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people in the last century we look straight into the darkest places of the human soul we saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold by the end of world war one more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons we never want to see that ghastly

specter returned so today the nations of britain france and the united states of america have martial their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. tonight i ask all americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and their allies as they carry out their missions we pray that god will bring comfort to those suffering in syria we pray that god will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace and we pray that god will continue to watch over and bless the united states of america thank you and good night thank you. donald pup president of the united states addressing the nation there and in there he announced that the united states the u.k. and france are engaged in military strikes against syria and the assad regime

he was using as his. reasoning one year ago alleged chemical attacks and again alleged chemical attacks recently in the city of duma there in syria assad allegedly using chemical weapons against his own people he says that the u.s. u.k. and france will use all of their power military economical and diplomatic to resolve the situation there in syria he also spoke to iran and russia directly saying why would these two countries want to be associated with a murderous regime russia must decide if it wants to join the civilized nations he also said that someday hopefully that russia in the united states would get along he also added maybe not and he then concluded by saying that the u.k. france and the u.s. are using all of their power marshalled their righteous power in fact against barbarism as they announce military strikes in syria of course our news team is

going to be following this story and we're going to be bringing you all of the latest updates as we get them in obviously very important information coming in here to international. all right now earlier in london an anti-war activist staged a protest in front of the prime minister's residence they demanded to theresa may not involve the u.k. in any potential military operation in syria obviously that has not changed. there are. protesters were carrying banners reading don't bomb syria and not in our name directed not only towards a truce in may but towards president trump as well demonstrators also called on politicians to halt their war rhetoric and think about the suffering of the people in syria and protest against military escalation also occurred in greece on friday hundreds of people gathered in front of the u.s. embassy in athens they held and nato banners and burned the u.s. flag demonstrators said that they did not want syria to become a repetition of the two thousand and three invasion in iraq. and bastards of the un

has reacted to the accusations from the russian military by calling them grotesque and a blatant lie however the video featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously in shown by a number of media outlets for the questions are also hanging over the west's narrative due to the dubious reputations of the groups that initially made those allegations are of house commentary. reports of a chemical attack first appeared strange enough for it's almost the precise moment the battle had ended when the syrian government and rebels were negotiating on how to evacuate the latter reports first appeared on social media twitter facebook and spread like wildfire while my colleague kendall anian and i have learned today that the u.s. now has blood and here in samples from some of the victims of this attack in syria last weekend and that those samples according to u.s.

officials tested positive for chemicals sources the usuals why the helmets who service rescuers islamists and syrian rebels also the somewhat less known syrian american medical society saddam's together with the white helmets they were cited by the washington post the new york times c.n.n. virtually every western media outlets reporting on this chemical attack saturday april seventh amidst continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of duma more than five hundred cases the majority of whom are women and children were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent sams itself is funded by u.s. aid six million in two thousand and fifteen usaid is widely believed to be an arm of the state department and is banned in multiple countries accused of interfering

in domestic policies and promoting regime change it even has an office of transition initiatives the management at sams also believe it or not former usaid stuff was was saddam's who reportedly provided the u.p.c. w. with samples of the alleged sarin gas that was used in hunchy houla site of a chemical attack last year after which. donald trump sent fifty seven cruise missiles at the syrian airbase o.p.c. w. is on its way to duma to investigate we've contacted various groups including the world health organization they've cited saddam's but have refused to go into any details become not rule out the possibility that someone from within the region wants to see the syrian state weakened or even toppled might stage something and what we know as well is that j. should islam the army of islam the militant group that was just ousted from duma

they have a position of chlorine gas they used it and they acknowledged its usage two years ago in aleppo against kurdish militia they issued a statement saying you know we've done it what comes next no one can say whether the u.s. will go ahead with a preemptive strike or whether cooler heads will prevail. earlier we spoke to lord allen west a retired admiral of the royal navy who said finding evidence of a chemical attack by assad is needed prior to any military response but i think what's very important is that we get unequivocal evidence that there was a chemical attack by assad's forces and and if we're not sure of that then i think it would be rather foolhardy to make a response if we find unequivocally that he has used chemical weapons against his own people that is a clear breach of the chemical weapons convention and i does that mean he deserves

the slack but at the moment i have not i personally have not seen definitive evidence probably i wouldn't see it but i'm not at all sure or that that definitive evidence is there so speaking as a military man i find it extraordinary that assad's military are stupid enough to use chemical weapons in an area that they're just about to take charge of anyway i'm very nervous at the moment and would like to be sure absolutely that assad has done this before any action is taken. by whether or not evidence exists or not action has been taken and it appears though that that lack of evidence of the alleged chemical attacks is a concern for a number of journalists as well one of those is boss split from belgium who traveled to syria to judge it all for himself around two years ago i started to discover that i wasn't really told the truth about the war in syria and i started

to learn more and more. and i've led me to decided to go see for myself you know it's people should. journalists should if you travel to syria it's such a different picture and then what is being beamed in the media unfortunately yes but we have a long way to go but i think with the rise of internet you know it's the reason i like what. the control is slipping away from from the dinosaur mass media. our violence has again erupted along the israeli border in gaza where i.d.f. soldiers have been using live firing tear gas to disperse protesters gaza's health ministry says one person has been killed and hundreds injured including paramedics over the past two weeks thousands of palestinians have been campaigning against what's widely seen as israel's occupation of gaza and demanding the right of return to israel for palestinian refugees and their descendants.

you know. this is one of the weapons the israelis have been using and this is tear gas canisters from the drone that the israelis have been using since the morning to throw to god the tear gas canisters on the protesters it's running very high tensions are running high as you see the ambulances are still here medics are in the fia trying to get through to all the palestinians that are getting injured here's another injury we're just right now from the fence and you can see the injuries and the leg call. that medics are trying to to to treat the other injuries that in the field so they would be able to do and it's going to be easier on the palestinians had it and it's great to have minister

because that as he fought battle and all the other hospitals are crowded with patients and injuries from the past two fridays. it's another to get. what's happening now is the israeli army are using add the two guys canisters drawn to a desire to just got mr burns on and they started on the pa to sit in protesters it's so dangerous now for everyone for every palestinian you decide. for every

palestinian who are coming here to protest i did the right of return. so this is journalist this is just enough to get you guys got mr. last week the israeli snipers directly shot yes it might does and yes another journalist that is being injured just right now. it's very obvious that just palestinian journalists wearing a press jackets. are palestinians attending the rallies including children have been taking precautions to protect themselves against the tear gas some arrived with homemade masks filled with perfume and cotton others were were invented using fruits and vegetables as well meanwhile an israeli soldier who shot a palestinian on the gaza border during a protest in december has been cleared of any wrongdoing by military inquiry video emerged of him firing shots alongside other snipers who cheered and laughed at the injuries that they inflicted. but that. group of them are addicts and.

then sort of. right you just go on in that that was one of the biggest of them did. well. on. what. i did. was i did nothing i was just a demonstration i went to my friends to help them and before i reached the place they shot me the soldier knew that i was going to help them and that's why i was shocked. but let's go back to our breaking news story this hour president trump has announced that the u.s. france and the u.k. are launching strikes against syria short time ago i ordered the united states

armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al assad. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway by the us defense secretary said on thursday that any perceived threat to american military personnel in syria would justify a preemptive strike on the assad government james madison minute however that washington has no real evidence that a chemical weapons attack were actually used in duma last weekend. i believe there was a chemical attack and we're looking for the actual evidence the the o.p.c. w this jorgen ization for the chemical weapons convention we're trying to get those inspectors in if we get them and we will not know who did it they can only say that

they found evidence or did not inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog are due to start work in duma on saturday but as you got a ton of explains regardless of their findings concerns are growing and washington appears to be scrambling for a pretext for intervention. we're looking very very seriously very closely that whole situation and. we'll see what happens folks will see what happens with the drum of war is beginning to bang in washington and the beat is for syria the u.s. is again accusing president assad over using chemical weapons on his own people but the basis for this conviction appears to be lacking one crucial aspect we're not engaged on in the ground on the ground there so i cannot tell you that we had evidence well something is better than nothing but right now it's just a feeling behind a possible military attack is it enough to risk ask elating into

a war with syria's allies and even a nuclear standoff apparently yes protection of our forces i don't think we have to wait until they are under chemical attack when the weapons are used in the same theater we're operating in the rocky invasion played out along suspiciously similar lines we must take the battle to the enemy we will take every step necessary to make sure our country is secure and we will prevail the iraqi regime has in fact been very busy in answering its capabilities in the field of chemical and biological agents one difference that jumps out is that with the rug the u.s. had that infamous bottle of anthrax as reason to call on its forces in hindsight it was a completely false pretext and with syria they don't even have that the o.p.c. w the u.n. chemical watchdog the height of judgment when it comes to such cases already

vouched two years ago that syria's stockpiles were no more wrong to twenty seeing and their words seems to matter a little for washington there is another similarity with the iraq invasion and one must keep in mind the history of u.n. inspection teams in iraq. even as they were conducting the most. system of arms control industry inspectors missed a great deal in my last attempt to enlarge the membership of all of the organisation was convincing iraq and libya for example to join in and that when i am no system member states it was a shock to the americans i believe. because the plans are ready to take some action military action against iraq the bottom line is the pentagon is hardly keeping its lack of evidence on whether the attack even happened a big secret never mind the perpetrator behind it all that matters is sticking to the tried and trusted path the problem is that the united states believes and i

thought it would be as it is. any any law they believe that they have their own rules and it is not the case the threat to use force in our union other action the goals against the united nations charter and also we are concerned about the possibility of this coalition that this could go out of control and we might end up with why there a conflict that done the one that's already been suffer in syria it will not be an attack against syria but also an attack against the whole united nations system. now we're joined live by former u.s. diplomat jim jarvis jim. here we go again it seems what do you think about donald trump's decision was it unexpected. you know one this this

whole of it let's be honest false flag this whole drama hoax first came up i expected and almost immediate response the way president trump did last year he held off for a few days there were some indication that heads were cooling maybe we would wait for the o.p.c. w. inspectors to get to do. some people who have been following this very critically even seem to think we're out of the woods and i keep thinking we weren't you know what i think it was clear he was going to do something and i think it's unfortunately a either a function of just how misled he is by all the really bad people he's put around him which by the way he has to take the blame for because he avoided them or how scared he is how boxed in he is by all of the various scandals that they've been have been aimed at him by the very same deep state whose agenda he is now implementing with this strike let's be honest if you're al qaeda and there are

various offshoots in syria you've got to be very happy tonight. jim while we are speaking we've got a split screen with you and then we also have some images live from cyprus where where seeing airplanes taking off from the cyprus air base to syria. which is i guess we can say as part of this ongoing attack ongoing strikes. but if we go back to the situation in duma there is still no evidence of a chemical attack in duma that we've seen or compelling evidence that would necessitate a strike on this scale why do you think he decided to take military action at this time. oh i think preventing a real investigation duma was one of the reasons for it look let's be clear even if the accusation of what happened in duma and was the work of the syrian government were absolutely true this action still got be justified in my opinion it's certainly would not be legal and it certainly would not be time urgent so what

exactly is the big hurry here the big hurry in my opinion is that you've got the inspectors on the ground in damascus now ready to go to the scene and confirm what i am morally convince is the case is that there was no attack and even if there by some chance the word i don't think there was it certainly was not the work of the syrian government just as we saw with last year i think this timing was directly involved to directly. timed to make sure that inspection could not take place especially after the russians pointed the thing here and i think truthfully at the british and because we know that m i six supports the white helmets m i six was behind the steel desk m i six was b. i was implicated in the scriptural poisoning and solsbury there are a lot of very dirty british freak of prince here and i wouldn't be at all surprised of theresa may was very very keen on pushing donald trump to move ahead on this is

fast as possible now in his remarks he donald trump deviated from his prepared remarks we have a transcript of what he was supposed to have said but he deviated from that a little bit directing his comments directly to iran and russia asking why they wanted to be associated with a murderous regime also saying that hopefully someday the united states and russia would get along but then maybe not he also said that these three countries the u.s. the u.k. and france have marshaled of their righteous power against barbarism where do you think this decision could lead do you think that it could possibly spire world towards a military conflict directly with russia. yes of course it could and that's what we would need to see in the next day or so how long this attack lasts what exactly gets here are russians killed according to the reports i've seen you know this is not just a nice way to hit on an airbase somewhere this is in damascus who does in what are there parts of the country who else is going to be the target of these strikes i

don't know what the russians will do in response it's not up to me to say what they should do in response to this is far as what he said about russia he had indicated something like this in a tweet the other day that we could do so much to help russia where their economy somehow suggesting to them that if they walk away from this evil evil. bashar also we are going to help them with their economic development and there's so many things wrong with that to start with or are we going to walk away from our dictatorial saudi friends are destroying yemen i don't see anybody threatening anybody over that and i think you also have to put that into context of the expulsion of russian diplomats on the on the script a hoax the sanctions that were recently thrown at russia by united states britain and several other countries that that. number of people are interpreted as aimed at regime change or an open invitation for all the guards to

get together and stage a coup in russia i don't think anybody in russia and their right mind would take what mr trump said as anything really put a threat you do what we say or we will destroy your economy well if you do we say maybe we will help you then i don't think anybody should believe that now jim we're getting reports from reuters that there are already explosions heard in damascus also reuters saying that the bars a district in damascus has been hit by u.s. attacks specifically scientific research facilities located in that area donald trump has said that he is targeting. damascus his ability to create chemical weapons how extensive do you think that the bombings will be there in damascus and in syria. i don't know because let's be clear about it i don't think the i don't think syria has chemical weapons i think that the russian effort to get them out of there after what happened in goods in two thousand and thirteen

was genuine it was certified as genuine by the o p c w this notion that these strikes are actually hitting chemical weapons facilities i think is a conscious transparent lie and that beast targets are being trucked chosen for other reasons now what those other reasons are i don't know are they be capitation strikes are they trying to murder bashar al assad are they trying to decimate the syrian government i don't know but what we can say is once again we find ourselves acting as the air force of all these jihad is terrorist al qaeda isis jaish al islam are all shot it it's it is or it is really morally reprehensible now we're also getting word that the united states is allegedly using. tomahawk missiles to target several targets in syria one thing that i'm interested in and definitely interested in your take and i can kind of gauge where we might go with this but saturday the o.p.c. w.

experts were supposed to start their work in syria now why do you think they decided to strike just one day before their work was supposed to begin i mean if the investigation is supposed to start on saturday don't you think that they should give that investigation some time to get going before they decide to do this military intervention well of course they should if they were interested in the truth at all you think they would be demanding that they would want those inspectors to go and in fact it would say we would like any independent teams or any countries to come in and inspect this and to get as much information as possible you notice that you heard vicky haley saying the americans the french the british of all independently come to the same conclusion first of all i don't believe a word of that and secondly if they had such information why won't they make it public a way they can because the source is a. that's of course this is the same transparent lie we got about weapons of mass destruction in iraq it's the same lie about khadafi being ready to massacre is own people in tripoli it's the same lies we got about the marketplace bombings in

sarajevo or about the rock massacre in kosovo the trouble with false flags is they work especially when you have a compliant media that just relays like a bulletin board everything that gets churned out by the deep state and you noticed that at the same time we have this this tightening of the screws on any independent sources of information r t was just taken off the cable system here in washington about two weeks ago we had they did twitter and google and facebook and other social media taking off things that are considered propaganda which means they don't match the official narrative the damage that's being done here is not just the threat of a u.s. russia war in syria which is obviously a terribly deadly consequences for everybody but in terms of the strangling of freedom here at home to facilitate this kind of

a gresham i think should be terrifying to all americans. i should also point out jim right now we're getting word from syrian state t.v. that they're aired a fist air defense systems are in fact working to counter u.s. strikes of course this is where you know they say the first casualty of any sort of a conflict when it comes to war is the truth so we have to be filtering all of this through this lens if you will. but you know in the past when we talk about you know the cold war and we talk about things that have happened in the past with vietnam and with korea these were all thought of as proxy wars whereas you had the capitalist side versus the communist side never directly was there u.s. versus soviet confrontation right now. there are boots on the ground with russians very in syria. if the united states is striking against russia i mean it seems like this is a lot bigger than things that we've seen in the past or have the potential to be

that's right or let's let's be clear the political war being waged against russia in the last few years i would say this goes back at least ten years ever since we lost control of russia after after yeltsin left office is that it is much more vicious than anything that was ever directed against the soviet union what what soviet leader was ever demonized in the western media the way vladimir putin has been not even stalin was ever demonized in the western media and that was largely in my opinion because a lot of western liberals of self-styled progressives actually sympathize with communism is an ideology they thought it was a good ideology well of course being russians they make a bad job of it but the ideology and its intentions are rather good but since russia has recovered itself as russia is a relatively conservative country and certainly no european context christianity is a very strong moral pillar of russian society and of even of the russian state and i think these people really really do not like that in their kind of anti

traditional post-modern approach to i would say almost like an anti civilization that they are promoting i almost have the sense sometimes that we and the soviet union ideologically have sort of switched roles where the of the godless revolutionary howard russia's a conservative national power and i think that's one reason there is such a hatred for russia and especially for president putin among the leading classes in the united states and western europe and i think they they are there's a certain recklessness attached to it that back during the cold war we were careful that you know my father's a retired fighter pilot he can tell you how careful we were during the cold war to make sure there was no direct confrontation between the u.s. and soviet forces. here there's almost a kind of a glee that we might confront the russians regular kill a bunch of russians as you'll hear on american television all the time regarding that incident a few weeks ago back in the euphrates where evidently we killed an unknown number

of russian contractors and i think there are people here who are eager to kill russians. jim if you don't mind i'm going to ask you to go down the rabbit hole with me a little bit. simple question who benefits from all of this. nobody been in libya let me back up obviously regionally israel and saudi arabia think they're going to benefit from this but if this turns into a major regional conflagration their calculations may turn out very badly so i think there are among the attended beneficiaries whether they will benefit from it or not certainly the deep state and all the be of the liberal interventionist and the neo conservatives in the republican party a lot of never trumpeters by the way who have been from day one trying to subvert the result of the election the last election they they have won because they now own him he dances to their tune he's jumping up and down like a monkey on a string they own him so they have been victorious in this and of course behind

them is the deep state and again that term is going to be much overused from having been virtually unknown a couple of years ago but when we talk about the resistance which is center in the in the cia and the n.s.a. and the f.b.i. and department of justice and let's not forget on the other side of the pond m i six in d.c. age q they're all extremely happy i think it was john kirby the former state department spokesman said the other day regarding the explosion of the diplomats this is very reassuring because it tells our friends in europe that donald trump is doc all in the shots with the professionals with whom they're in contact every day are making the decisions and unfortunately i think that's true all right former u.s. diplomat jim josh of course when situations like this happen you're one of the people that we want to talk to you're someone who i want to talk to when i heard that donald trump was going to be speaking even before i heard him speak i'm sure that this won't be the last time we discuss the situation here on our take actual i hope

all right now in the past taking military action abroad has often increased support for u.s. presidents at home take a look. but he ran the flag effect and increased popular support of the president during war accompanied by reduced criticism of governmental policies and. any nuclear missile launched from cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere as an attack by the soviet union on the united states. progress is now being made towards the restoration of peace in the caribbean. the use of terrorism and its holding hostages. who seek to continue along with other nations and with the. resolution of the crisis. i have therefore directed to reject the iraqi army from kuwait.

its president i can report to the nation aggression is defeated the war is over. american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. to the united states and around. have prevailed. but i ordered a targeted military strike for airfields. i think. became president of the united states i think this was actually a big moment. all right so again our top story the united

states u.k. france have intervened militarily in syria strikes right now happening currently underway president trying to address the. the united states nation just a bit ago for more on this we can cross live to dan kovalchuk who is a human rights and labor rights lawyer dan thanks for being with us here on r.t. international we were discussing it during the sound check the tragedy the situation but what do you think about donald trump's decision was it unexpected or is there more to it than we know. i mean i think it was expected he certainly signaled it over twitter so i'm not surprised in obviously the it seemed to me most of the western press wanted him to do something and again i asked myself by teaching rights at law school it's for and i asked myself over and over when was it that. it was decided that we're going to promote human rights through bombing people in it just. to me makes no sense but and so i'm not surprised but.

i'm very sad what's happening dan we the united states specifically and the u.k. going back to the magna carta and everything has per they've prided themselves on due process of law you're a lawyer you appreciate the the need for due process it seems like there hasn't been any sort of due process in duma specifically no evidence of a chemical attack that has been convincing on a large scale or at least enough to justify this why do you think that these three countries decided to work together to take military action. well look i think there's a bigger agenda happening in syria that has nothing to do with chemical weapons first of all it's you know cut to the chase we don't know whether there is an attack if there was we don't know who did it but it also come on i mean do you know what it states has used chemical weapons multiple times including in the

a rocky theater recently. including famously in vietnam and korea the idea that somehow you know this is a red line it's been crossed when the united states has crossed it so many times. i just think people are out to lunch. on that and again this has everything to do geopolitics and nothing to do with human rights nothing to do with concern about humanitarian or chemical weapons use so you know we have troops on the ground in syria syria the syrian russia i mean has troops on the ground in syria they've been invited by the syrian government to be there. on some levels with the united states attacking a government where russia has been invited to be involved very almost attacking russia directly do you think that this could lead to a further military conflict flipped between the u.k.

france and the united states with russia on the other side. of course of course that's the great risk and that's why this is so dangerous you know we're looking at possible world war three and everyone knows that it's being discussed openly sadly there's some seems to be some people that want it. and you know but for most the vast majority of the people in the world we have to resist it i mean we have been pushed into these types of wars over and over based on lines. in misrepresentations and i think this is another case where that's happening. but yes the risk of world war three. is there and i think that as we recognize. according to reuters we're hearing explosions already heard in damascus we've also heard from mortars that specific areas where. research facilities are

located are being targeted. how extensive do you think these strikes will be we've heard already from donald trump that they are prepared to. extend these strikes as long as they're needed so how long will that be. well we don't know but you know every every indication that i've heard including on n.p.r. this evening was that the view was that the strikes would be extensive certainly more extensive than last year went from. shot fifty nine tomahawk missiles against syria it's. you know look last week trump's said he told the military to prepare to leave syria and then run into this alleged chemical attack air. you know it's very clear to me that the point is to keep the military of the united states there this is all part of their plan and i'm afraid we're going

to get deeper deeper in ball militarily syria. also we should point out right now the breaking news from reuters shadow missiles used against military facility fifteen miles west of homes believed to be the site of a chemical weapon precursors we also have heard the tomahawk missiles are being used just keeping our viewers up to date of what's happening we're speaking with dan kovalchuk who is helping us wrap our heads around this situation right now. earlier we talked about due process i can go back to that idea second on saturday the o.p.c. w which is the chemical weapons watchdog those experts were ready to start their work in syria why do you think they chose to strike one day before that words actually i mean it's already saturday in syria right now why would they choose to strike before any investigation could take place. well again i think

because the facts probably are out there i mean let's face it a number of these alleged chemical taxes syria turned out to be bogus and. you know i think this is a war in search of a reason and they've found the reason here and they don't want to just prove it by anyone and so that's why they attacked first they shoot first and ask questions later that appears to be. frankly the modus operandi of the of the west in these cases now where do you think this could lead from here on out i mean we have a possible world war three we discussed that possibility are you know i don't want to say that that's what we're saying here on r t but this is something that is being openly discussed. is it too late for diplomacy at this point i mean is it possible for all sides to get together and have some sort of conversation that can end this it's never too late for diplomacy. i

believe russia wants to see i believe iran wants to bomb see. the thing that worries me is are not sure the united states wants diplomacy or that it's even equipped to engage in diplomacy you know the fact that trump just nominated. my cousin payroll who is the head of the cia to the to be secretary of state. is very revealing you know you put someone in the highest diplomatic position in the united states who has no diplomatic experience the u.s. to me seems like it's given up on diplomacy a long time ago it's a power with nothing else but military might and you know when you're a hammer everything looks like a nail and right now there are other things series of big man and that's what upsets upsets me but i think you know if you look at the objective really of course

there's time for diplomacy and of course that's what we need right now we need diplomacy we need discussions between nations and we need to find a peaceful solution or this problem all right interesting to her thoughts thanks for being with us here in our international. under trying conditions of course dan vala cumin right and labor rights lawyer with us mike on art international thank you thank you very much. all right at a white house press conference president trump announced that the u.s. france and u.k. are launching strikes against syria trump says that the attacks will continue until the syrian government stops using chemical weapons he also called on russia to take responsibility for not preventing the chemical attack in syria according to several media reports there were explosions in damascus heard right after the u.s. president's speech u.k. prime minister theresa may said that there were no alternatives to striking syria

since all diplomatic means had been exhausted and these are the latest pictures from cyprus fighter jets were seen taking off from an r.a.f. british base there their destination was not stated officially but it is believed that they are flying to take part in strikes on syria and the jets took off from a teary military base ahead of u.s. president donald trump's announcement that the u.s. france and britain together launch military strikes on syria and some of america's key partners have already expressed a lack of willingness to participate in strikes against syria germany italy the netherlands and canada have all said that there needs to be a thorough investigation first are cheaper all over has more. well if there is going to be any coalition it does seem that a lot of leaders in europe as well as further afield are going to need some more convincing we've heard of angola merkel here in berlin saying that although a clear message needs to be sent that using chemical weapons will not be tolerated she isn't prepared to commit the blunders fair to strikes in syria just yet the

german military won't be involved as it stands similar message coming out of rome is well worth. italy will. existing deals when it comes to logistics but they won't be sending any combat troops all aircraft will listen to those two leaders right now. begin with the we must say as we tell you and so always half that if we need a long term solution to the syrian crisis we have to lead to respond to crimes but first of all work towards peace and drum and it will not lie to. you i want to make it clear again there are no decisions but we see this everything is being done to send a signal that this use of chemical weapons is not acceptable to say. one of the loudest voices in support of donald trump has been a money with the french president however there are voices within his own government that are saying although mr marquand claims that there is proof of

a chemical attack they're going to need to see that proof before they commit to any type of military action similar words coming out of the hague the netherlands saying they want to see while they want to see concrete evidence before they commit troops to any strikes in from canada across the atlantic there we're hearing the words coming out of that they're not looking to be present in syria counted or in the past have taken part in bombing campaigns against isis in iraq but they were all stopped back in twenty fifteen when justin trudeau took over as the leader of the country there now perhaps the most go to our ally that the u.s. has is the united kingdom and we've heard on for. a day after a cabinet meeting in london that the british cabinet says there is a need for action after the alleged chemical attack in syria however when speaking to people on the streets in the united kingdom there certainly isn't an appetite amongst the british public to join in with donald trump who thinks military strikes

in syria will help so anything no i don't miss the moment when i was very anxious about any kind of essentially what would she achieved i really disagree with military action against anything having to miss syria there's already enough fighting going on that. there's a real danger of war escalating way beyond what we expect. and the way to target it to send any more the signal you. push up to. mention that outset i think we have five back to you where these countries have these problems have these civil wars and we try to go to fix it but we are all when the americans had their civil war nobody went and bought us we got this side we have now they need to go through this on their. well that we has we hear there from the united kingdom there is a lot coming out from all european countries that if they going to be a part of

a coalition they're going to need confirmation that this chemical attack did take place and at the moment there are a lot of people quite skeptical as to what the right response is at the moment and marcus frohnmayer from a german is alternative for germany party you told us why he thinks his country is not eager for military action against assad's government. i guess to people against conflicts or to continue to conflict in syria because you cannot explain the truman mother why you are for example truman soldier who is dying for american interests in syria we have no interest to continue this confrontation in syria i guess. they will continue to conflict in syria that would mean that a lot of cheese would continue to come to term in the. you know to the people in sherman just suffer because of the situation it's not easy for us to handle it

we're close to have social conflicts because of that. right you're watching international and again just in case you're joining us united states u.k. and france are intervening militarily in syria we'll have more on this developing a breaking story come back in just a bit watching our international stay with us. if

something happens in this case it was the chemical attack on civilians in syria and then the public in the media are waiting for the response and i think it's very clear now that if president trump said that there is going to be a response then it will be i just think that our expectations in

a way that this american response will be so severe that it will be a game changer i think this is not the case it will again be messages and very careful calculation by the americans not to deteriorate into a clash a direct confrontation with russia. a fight for many flips over the years so i know the game inside out it's. football isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the superman each kill the narrowness and spending shouldn't twenty million album fly a. book it's an experience like nothing else on it because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful guy my great so we'll all chance for. peace this minute.

all right live from moscow this is r t international i'm sean thomas let's go right back to our breaking news story this hour president trump has announced that the u.s. france and u.k. have begun launching military strikes against syria we are expecting briefing from the pentagon we will bring you details from that if we get that in across our desk we're going to go to that right now. good evening ladies and gentlemen as the world knows the syrian people have suffered terribly under the prolonging brutality of the assad regime on april seventh the regime decided to again defy the norms of civilized people showing callous disregard for international law by using chemical weapons to murder women

children and other innocent we and our allies find these atrocities inexcusable as our commander in chief the president has the authority under article two of the constitution to use military force overseas to defend important united states' national interests the united states had a vital national interest in averting a worsening catastrophe in syria and specifically deterring the use proliferation of chemical weapons last year in response to a chemical weapons attack against civilians and to signal the regime to cease chemical weapons use we targeted the military base from which the weapons were delivered earlier today president trump directed the u.s. military to conduct operations and continents with our allies to destroy the syrian regime chemical weapons research development and production capability. tonight

france the united kingdom and the united states took decisive action to strike the syrian chemical weapons infrastructure clearly the assad regime did not get the message last year this time our allies and we have struck harder together we have sent a clear message to assad and his murderous lieutenants that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable the seventy nations in the defeat isis coalition remain committed to defeating isis in syria the strike tonight separately demonstrates international resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used on anyone under any circumstance in contravention of international law i want to emphasize that these strikes are directed at the syrian regime and conducting these strikes we have gone to great lengths to avoid

civilian and foreign casualties but it is a time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending this sid syrian civil war by supporting the united nations back to an even peace process in accordance with the chemical weapons convention prohibiting the use of such weapons we urge responsible nations to condemn the assad regime and to join us in our firm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again general dunford will provide a military update. we do you know i'm joined by our friend to brigadier general montague in our british. voice marshall given part for secretary mabus is just on the policy and legal framework for tonight's strike in syria i will address the strike from them all right that was the pentagon briefing a with the secretary of defense to james madison saying that the united states was

using their powers under article two of the constitution to protect national interests and he also said that there are vital national interests of the united states in syria he said that they have targeted the chemical weapons infrastructure there and they have demonstrated international resolve to prevent proliferation of chemical weapons in the future so now from a new york joins us live with details caleb tell us more about the situation that's unveiling right now what we heard earlier from u.s. president donald trump and he used the word strong deterrent to describe the intentions behind these strikes against syria being conducted in coordination with the u.k. and france now furthermore we did hear other rhetoric from donald trump saying that this was a response to the use of chemical weapons and this is trump explaining what took place short time ago i ordered the united

states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway. now we understand at this point explosions have been heard in the densely populated area near damascus now damascus is where a number of people in syria who have fled people that are fleeing to government controlled territories are living and it's very very densely populated and at this point we understand that explosions have been heard in damascus in eastern parts of damascus and other parts of damascus now we haven't heard any specifics about casualties or what not now we also understand that this point british aircraft that

are involved in the strikes taking place against the syrian arab republic right now that they are taking off from cyprus that is the location the base that's being used for british aircraft that have been participating in the strikes now the language we just heard seems to indicate that the strikes have already taken place and are finished and are not ongoing but that's not exactly clear where we're waiting for information now we did hear statements made to the effect of the areas that were being targeted were areas that they were associated with with production of chemical weapons with the ability to stockpile or maintain chemical weapons it's not exactly clear if that exactly aligns with what the o.p.c. w. has said about syria and government controlled territories they seem to have inspected any areas in government controlled territories and where there would be chemical weapons or where they could be stored so it's not exactly clear where the information about about these chemical weapons and and how they are striking

chemical facilities is adding up we're still waiting for information but we do know that there have been at this point explosions heard in the densely populated area of damascus where many many severe syrian civilians have fled to be remaining under government controlled territory you know much of syria is in the hands of terrorists and extremists that want to bring down the syrian government but damascus the area that seems to be struck is where a lot of civilians have fled in order to find protection. all right our tease came up and they're following the situation from new york we know that as the story develops you're going to be staying on top of it from the u.s. side of things thanks for being with us now we're joined live by jennifer braden who is an international criminal law attorney jennifer. wait we have another briefing from the pentagon we're going to go to that right now are going to that were assigned to united states central command those operations are complete. and total comfort and also secretary that is could you talk

a little bit more about your concerns that you've expressed earlier in the week up now russian escalation down for were you able to talk to your russian counterpart general karasu what are your concerns about escalation and permitted to ask your british counterpart a question i would like to know you this sense of your government about whether you the situation with the disco balls and the russian involvement in that how that russian involvement played a role in your decision to enter this coalition the safety board let me let me address the last point first to shay's was kind enough to join us this evening they're not going to get out in front of their president and prime minister respectively so that it will be the national messages will be provided from the capital city very soon but with regard to the russian concerns we specifically. identify these targets to mitigate the risk of russian forces being involved and we used our normal the conflicts in channels those are active this week to work

through the airspace issues and so forth we did not do any coordination with the russians on the strikes nor did we print pretty notify them. separately which is a couple of days ago that you said you are still assessing the intelligence on the chemical weapons attack suspected attack so it does point you know what the chemical was used in that attack was it sarin was there chlorine and also what is your evidence that was actually delivered by the syrian regime. say the last part again talk your evidence that was delivered by the syrian regime are you quite clear what i am confident the syrian regime conducted a chemical attack on innocent people. in this last last week yes absolutely confident of it. and we have the intelligence level of competence that we needed to conduct the attack it's restores the actual chemical used you know what it was was a nerve agent it was a chlorine give us a sense of what it was. we are very much aware one of the agents there may be have

been more than one agent used we are not clear on that yet we know at least one chemical agent was used. i just sort of clarify on the decomposition of my you notify the russians head of time before the operation began what you were going to do and what targets you were going to go to be clear the only the only communications that took place pacifically associated with this operation before the targets were struck was a normal d confliction of the airspace the procedures that are in place for all of our operations in syria. no wonder you mentioned the russian or the syrian air defenses had engaged the syrian state t.v. saying they shot down thirteen tomahawk missiles can you refute that jennifer i can't tell you the results we literally as you know the time on target was about an hour ago and we came straight up here to give you the best information we have

right now to morrow morning the secretary talk about a minute we'll give you that more detail the operational update and some of the details but those details are available to us right now but they're strikes is over this wave of air strikes is over that's why we're out here speaking to you know. a second time i just want to follow up on what you said about the legal basis for the strike could you talk a little bit more about that because in your testimony the other day it sounded like you were saying that this is a potential strike with somehow be linked to self-defense i mean that the presence of american forces in syria can you say a little bit more about that and also what are you whether or not there will be future action additional strikes. you said it would depend upon whether or not the outside government conducts future. attacks by. explaining a little bit more about what would be the threshold for that because there were repeated chemical attacks between april twenty twenty seventeen attack and today

and would you consider a small scale chlorine attack sufficient to lodge additional strikes right now i would just tell you are in close consultation with our allies we review all the evidence all the time it is difficult as you know to get evidence out of syria but right now we have no additional attacks planned but as far as the legal authority under the article two of the constitution we believe the president has every reason to defend vital american interests and that is what he did here tonight under about authority. a couple questions for general time for what were some of the targeting considerations or difficulties involved of going after chemical facilities how long did the operation take to plan. and. the last two strikes you described as proportional moderate. how would you describe the. contras if only we we chose these particular targets to mitigate the risk of civilian

casualties number one we chose these targets because they were specifically associated with the chemical program the syrian chemical program and obviously when we take a look at target planning and so forth we look at the location relative to other proper weight in areas collateral damage proportionality so these targets were carefully selected with proportionality discrimination and being specifically associated with the chemical program and of weapons or any of the manned aircraft we're going to we're going to we're going to there were there were manned aircraft involved i won't give you any of the details operation until tomorrow morning but we will do that at that time and still think your single biggest. get a question to secretary matt it's so up until yesterday and i'm going to quote you here you said i cannot tell you that we. you have evidence so when did you become confident that the chemical attack happened and the second one yesterday yesterday you have two you said that yes the second you talk about getting chemical

weapons infrastructure for that said if there were actually any chemical weapons or agents in those facilities that you targeted i assume they would create a health hazard in the region or not. we don't but we did very close analysis as the chairman pointed out we did everything we could in our intelligence assessment in our planning to minimize to the maximum degree possible any chance of civilian casualties we were very much aware this is difficult to do in a situation like this especially when the. poison gas that assad assured the world he had gotten rid of obviously still exists so it is a challenge enough problem set and we had the right military officers dealing with it firm there's going to be no leak into the air force and we'll do our best.

in fact when the surface to air defenses engaged do they become a target and this airpower or other assets take out those targets i'm not aware of any response that we took right now again will gather overnight as you can imagine we tried to leave united states central command alone here tonight they were quite busy will through the night gather the operational details we'll be back to morrow morning to provide that to you. yesterday about a search term a number that had last time last year you changed the force protection levels for the syrian troops there were u.s. troops there in syria there are two thousand u.s. troops in syria have you changed border protection levels based on potential responses from russia as you can imagine the commander always takes prudent measures specially in an environment that the. and tonight so they did make adjustments just to be clear on the confliction line you told them that you're going to be operating in airspace but you didn't tell them the russians what the what the targets were it isn't it is absolutely correct we used a normal d.

confliction channels to two d. conflict the airspace that we were using we did not coordinate targets or or any planning with the russians or the response or we pat but that information was passed at the operational link from the combined air operations center in qatar so it wasn't on the line but we that that kind of information just to put it in perspective is pass routinely every day and every night so they may they may not have found anything unusual about that particular airspace deconstruction. thanks so much that team and some of the financial times can you talk a little bit about any iran targets that you initially involved says he told us that you initially considered and why you may have not gone to them under control colleagues explain exactly the sort of contribution that you've made to tonight's operation. and our allied officers are here out of respect for the fact that they were part of the mission from planning all the way through to the political decision taken and once their heads of state speak tomorrow and that'll be the

initial statement from most capitals but as far as any other targets we looked at target specifically designed to address the chemical weapons threat that we have seen manifested the whole world is watched in horror these weapons being used those are the only targets that we were examining for prosecution. the secretary and general dunford he didn't mention three target areas that were struck how can you be sure that from now on these are all of the target areas or all of the involved production facilities for chemical weapons that the syrians have are using and you believe that there are additional locations where. where they are producing such materials and this is a great question we had a number of targets to select from and again we did not select those that had a high risk of collateral damage and specifically a high risk of civilian casualties and so the weapon airing you know back to the

earlier question the weapon hearing was the modeling was done to make sure that we mitigated the risk of any chemicals that were in those facilities and mitigate the risk of civilian casualties so were there other targets that we looked at their war we selected these specific targets both based on the significance to the chemical weapons weapons program as well as the location and the layout. i think. it seems like this strike tonight was pretty limited not too dissimilar from last year and i was to be the targets this time instead of one but it seems a little bit more targeted more specific than what i think a lot of people were expecting can you walk us through your decision. to be concerned about escalation with russia thank your decision to keep this more targeted and moving from there how much assurance can you give us that this is going to do with the strike last year didn't do which is basically to stop

president assad from using chemical weapons but nothing is certain in these kinds of matters however we used a little over double the number of weapons this year and we used last year. it was done on targets that we believed were selective. to hurt the chemical weapons program we can find it through the chemical weapon type targets we were not out to expand this we were very precise and proportionate but at the same time it was a heavy strike. mr secretary prior to the attack porton was it to get the support from the allies not only from an intelligence point of view but also just. from the from the countries themselves. it's always important that we act internationally in a unified way over something especially that is that is such an atrocity as this.

that we've observed going on in syria but i would also tell you that these allies the americans the french the british we have operated together through thick and thin through good times and bad and this is a very very well integrated teen wherever we operate we do show with complete trust in each other the professionalism but more than that the belief that one another all be there when the chips are down so it's important and it's it's a statement about the level of trust between our nations. to let us know whether the syrians were able to hide a lot of these number of weapons the last several days since there's been so much talk about a possible strike that gives the syrians time to try to move some of these weapons off limits off limits and then secretary and that is just taken for earlier when you were saying you had information about one of the chemicals but we're also seeing that these people are worried that you had information confirming chlorine

but not necessarily sarah and you just clarify that you feel the first question i'm not aware of any specific actions that the syrians took to move chemical weapons in the last couple of days. we are very confident that that chlorine was used we are not ruling out there and right now you. sound like off a little question about targets that you first began and then. down the street tonight it sounds like you want to still be and not the actual weapons that you cater earlier to minimize accidental risk the civilians in the targets that remain if you characterize perhaps the ability to proceed to ramp up again and again have chemical weapons. i think it's too early to make that assessment it's too early to make that assessment. right general dunford did any russian defenses engage u.s. british or french ships or missiles and six train matus were any of the strikes

tonight intended to go bust are all assad the only the only reaction that i'm aware of at this time was syrian surface to air missiles going to be not a national command military command center and was aware of that activity i'm not aware of any russian activity i'm not aware of the full scope of the syrian regime response at this time again those would be details we'll pull together for you in the morning. the targets tonight again were specifically designed to degrade the syrian war machines ability to create chemical weapons and do that back right now there were no attempts to broaden or expand that target set and made german thank you for coming in this evening based on recent experience we fully expect a significant dissent from asian campaign over the coming days by those who have aligned themselves with the assad regime and in an effort to maintain cranch

barents sea and accuracy my assistant for public affairs minister in a white and lieutenant general mackenzie the director of the joint staff here in washington will provide a brief of known details tomorrow morning and we anticipate about nine o'clock in this same same location but thank you again for coming in this evening ladies and gentlemen. are you watching r t international and we've just been watching a pentagon briefing with secretary of defense james mattis and general dunford in that they said that the united states has authorization to attack syria under article two of the constitution to protect national interests saying that there are vital national interests in syria also saying that they had targeted the chemical weapons infrastructure and that it also demonstrates international resolve to prevent the proliferation of chemical weapons they also said general james jones said that the strikes sought to minimize the risk of russian and civilian

casualties and the targets were carefully selected they said that this was a one time shot against the syrian president but they were prepared to have further attacks if more chemical weapons were to be used right now i'm joined by jacqueline who is going to be joining us on our continuing coverage of this here on our international right now let's go to jennifer breeden who is an international law attorney jennifer thanks for being with us and thanks for being patient as we went through that and we started to go to you there a little bit before and then all of a sudden we went to this pentagon briefing briefing thanks for being with us and staying with us through this so. we just heard mattis say that there are no additional tanks planned and it's difficult to get evidence out of syria what do you expect now. i mean because i mean we were expecting an investigation to take place starting today in syria with the o.p.c. w. what happens now. well what happens now is i guess we're going to we're going to

wait to see what the response is obviously from from russia some from some of the others that have been in syria from the surprise the shock of this happening you know at nighttime over and over night and just to see how we go forward whether we can go forward without further escalation of any violence or conflict and whether any more chemical weapons will supposedly be used i think also there's going to be more questions that will come out as to what the evidence was that led the united states u.k. and france to engage in these strikes i mean they said that there was evidence that was found they haven't given any details on that they know that chlorine was used but they said general mattis just now as we saw said that they're sure that corey was using that it was the assad government that it was the assad regime so it we are going to see more and more days people wanting to know either what that evidence was whether they're going to be more strikes and whether more of this will be used and so that's kind of what we're going to expect whether this escalates it

is going to be up to the countries specifically between russia and the united states but it was typically russia who's had a much stronger presence in syria than the united states has specially over the last five years jennifer this is jacqueline also here in the studio i want to ask you we had mattis there saying that these strikes were targeting to hurt assad's alleged chemical weapons program and he was was asked if there was a health hazard in striking these chemical weapons facilities now general dunford said that they were trying to minimize civilian casualties how realistic is that though in the situation. it's really not and they were very careful in their words and so you know it's going to depend on how the weapons are being built but i think one of the things that they stated that was it was pretty telling to me was the fact that they didn't target the chemical weapons themselves they targeted research facilities research facilities is basically a word for wherever these things are made wherever the chemicals are broad and are

made and that's usually what that what they call them i mean all countries that might have some sort of chemicals of this sort so they'll make them or they'll draft them miller figured out and that's where the materials are to create them if you're going to bake a cake it's where the eggs the flour and all that is kept rather than destroying the cake or the bombs themselves the bombs themselves being destroyed would admit a lot of very dangerous and poisonous gases the civilian populations the ingredients and cells before they're set up would not so i think that's what they were trying to imply the strikes were targeted at the amount of sleuthing that this is a one time strike for now they're prepared to carry out further starts in the future if need be how likely do you see that as a possibility. i think it's very possible i think that's one thing the president has been trying to trying to portray especially on the global stage and specifically following in the footsteps of obama who said a lot of red lines he didn't keep them it is going to be a dangerous or a very interesting game to play you know we want to see we would do want to seek

ordination with with with russia specifically because they've been in syria much longer with a much higher presence so we do want there to be coordination we do want to see diplomatic efforts i think the united states was very careful tonight to state many times especially as we just saw in general mattis of the the entourage and defense department staining that you know these were targeted attacks they were not targeted very specific to say that russia was not a target in this and that they did not want to hurt any sort of russian military military or combatants or russia combatants or russian civilians for foreign civilians things like that so you know we're going to see we're probably not going to see a lot more a lot more action on this part we're going to want to see what the response is from the russian counterpart in syria and and whether this doesn't have to escalate how we can really get to the bottom of any investigation but hopefully where general mattis was right on the money that this is going to be a one time target strike he did say that any more strikes will be because of the use of chemical weapons against civilians so hopefully we hope not to see that

specifically as we've seen videos coming out of how that is but again we are still going to be waiting to see what the evidence was that led to the attacks. jennifer we have stronger who is actually on the ground there who can give us some insight into the situation do you mind hanging around for just a bit we know that you've been around for a while but we'd like to come back to you after we get some insight on the ground there and sure sure absolutely you know we can cross a lot of to of course. who is a local journalist from damascus could you please tell us more about the situation in syria's capital. this is a shawn thomas in moscow with jacqueline vogel can you hear us. yet yes i can hear you ok could you get to the question please yes definitely this is shawn thomas and jacqueline vulgate moscow we were wondering if you could tell us about the situation on the ground there in syria. well just

a minute ago. we had i think the launching of a myside or it could be. a jet flying very close to the ground we can tell actually because we've been hearing for the past hour and a half a lot of noises. it's i live in but is that which is very close to the center of research that has been bombarded the syrian news agency just said that this was a target we don't know how much. that part of it was destroyed because. i think a bit touchy to move around but we've seen the smoke and we've heard that around four am that is like an hour and a half ago. the sound which was very loud and probably it was the first part of it said at least in the mosque it because it was the first sound. as you already know

the operation the aggression has stopped and for so it's been it's now been more quiet or. we don't know how how the syrian army reacted to that that shot a lot of. silent anti aircraft. missiles as well but they said that they managed to hit. that has been launched from probably from doing that anyone. around damascus and also around the city of hummus in the center of the country. can you hear there on the ground can you give us an idea of what the feeling is like we know that the tensions must be running high that the people must be worried especially as the run up to this we've been hearing there might be a strike now that strike has actually been confirmed and is taking place what's the situation what do people feel like what are they saying. but we're expecting

everyone was expecting this aggression we didn't know if it was going to happen sooner or later what we know is that it was going to happen especially with that and also president like president trump something that you would imagine he would he would carry on but the of course it is always a surprise to you we were sleeping it was four am and people just some people ran to the streets some people went to the basements of buildings and some people just turned on the t.v.'s and you know watched it's been seven years now and already. in terms of watching you know. fear with what you would really used to it so it's not so it's not something that hasn't happened before where we haven't felt before. people began and most of the people i know began chatting on what's up groups and telling each other what they've heard and what they've seen and what they're expecting and some people are joking about something like that has been you know in

the air for a week or so and people were expecting it so in a way. we're glad it has passed but we don't know if there were casualties syrian soldiers or maybe from other nationalities. that are fighting with the syrian army we still it is still not clear right now. ziad this is jack and also in the studio here where sean you said that you could hear some of these strikes happening was there any indication coming from the sound where in the city they were happening. you know we know that it's coming from a size our i mean this did that the the the strong sound is comes from the air and then once it hits the ground and the explosion happens we know that one hour and a half ago the biggest one or the largest one was very close to where i live it is in the center of research in the area of birthday i think this probably was the first started to be hit at four am and after it there was

a lot of anti-aircraft and to my side sounds as well as we i think we've heard some jets flying close by but i'm not sure if it's launching of rockets or jets flying by because it's truly difficult to to. distinguish between the two but it's been a bit it's been a bit. that i've been many noises going on so syria difficult to know what exactly is that you know even with the experience that we have right now but now it's quite it's very quiet and. and the light it's already late in the day has started so we'll see how destructive this strike was. all right ziad thank you for being with us here on our to international and giving us an idea of what is happening on the ground there in syria. you know all right now just to

recap our breaking news speaking from the white house president donald trump has announced that the u.s. france and the u.k. are launching strikes against syria trump says if you tax will continue until the syrian government stops using chemical weapons he also called on russia to take responsibility for not preventing the chemical attack in syria according to several media reports there were explosions damascus heard right after the u.s. president's speech arabic media said that six powerful explosions occurred in the syrian capital barzee district where scientific centers are located and london u.k. prime minister theresa may said that there were no alternatives to striking syria since all diplomatic means had been exhausted sources report that the targets include a research center the airport and special units barracks so far the syrian army claims it has intercepted more than twenty missiles speaking at the pentagon u.s. secretary of defense jim mattis and general joseph dunford said no additional attacks are planned at this time he also said it is difficult to get evidence of

chemical weapons attacks out of syria no inspectors from the international chemical weapons wash dog are due to start work in duma on saturday the announcement on this appeared on thursday just days after the suspected chemical attack organizations on the ground such as the white house helmets and sams have reported the deaths of more than forty people and hundreds injured with multiple narratives circulating around the alleged gas attack the main focus is now on the investigation of what actually happened in duma o.p.c. w inspectors are gathered are expected to gather samples from people who could have been affected and from the surrounding area the inspectors reportedly will also interview doctors patients and other witnesses now we've got the latest pictures from our video agency ruptly here these are live pictures i'm getting we can see. the situation on the ground in damascus. earlier several media reported that there were explosions in damascus heard right after the u.s.

president's speech arabic media said six powerful explosions occurred in the syrian capital. and that the targets include a research center the airport and special units bear. we are now joined live by medea benjamin code pink activists. for joining us this is jacqueline and shawn here in the studio matta said that there are no additional attacks planned and it's of course difficult to get evidence out of syria but what do you expect to happen next at this point. i think president trance wants to keep attacking syria and mattis is probably the moderating factor knowing that he doesn't want to escalate this to become a direct conflict with the russia or e run so i think there's divisions within the u.s. government right now as to how to proceed it really doesn't make any sense from what president trump is saying that he wants to stop the use of chemical weapons

well how would you know with one attack how would you ever know and as general mattis has been reported to have said earlier he didn't understand what the president trance strategy was and all of this if indeed the strategy is to get rid of assad certainly that's going to be a much much wider war so it's unclear what this is all about probably just. the pentagon having to respond to trounce desire to show that he is tough this does not help the syrian people this does not deescalate the conflict which is what is needed this only creates a more dangerous path to widening the tragic word that has killed way too many people and i also want to say that we should not only be concerned about the horrific deaths due to chemicals but the hundreds of thousands of people are being killed in seven years of fighting and i want my government to stop bombing and to

start putting all of its energies into finding a solution to this crisis now the o.p.c. w with only scheduled to get to hear it today of course it's unclear if that's going to happen or not at this point but why do you think that action was taken before that investigation even had a chance to get off the ground. well this is very similar to what we saw in the case of iraq the u.s. doesn't want the concrete evidence and certainly general mattis has the evidence he wasn't willing to share it with the american public and he just said a day ago that he didn't have that evidence so why wouldn't they wait until the inspectors were in and why does it matter to wait a couple of days certainly the syrian government was not about to use chemical weapons again with all the global attention on it so i think this they obviously wanted to do it before the inspectors were there and they wanted to do it with it with out the international law on their side and certainly it doesn't have the u.s.

law on its side either and i'm glad that there are a number of members of congress who have been speaking out and saying that the president does not have the right to go in without consulting congress or media sean thomas here. i want to read you a statement real quick from the ambassador of russia to the usa anatolian off he said the worst apprehensions have come true are warnings have been left on heard. in the past we've seen proxy wars between the soviet union and the united states and this is back in the cold war days of course vietnam comes to mind the korean war comes to mind but. there are actually troops on the ground that have been invited by the syrian government in. to russia into syria. can we expect further conflict between russia and the united states actual direct war possibly. well certainly we hope not but this is in it very impetuous present that

we have who is attacked on all sides for all kind of scandals that he is involved in and this helps to take the attention away from those scandals i think people in the pentagon have much a clear understanding about how this could escalate out of control and trying to dampen the impulses but let's remember that we now have john bolton who is the national security advisor who has the ear of the president and he would like a wider war he would like to escalate this to have a direct confrontation i think with the iranian forces that are on the ground in potentially with russian as well he came into this in ministration as somebody who's known for having been involved in the decision to invade iraq a decision he has never stepped back around and he is somebody who is in a very dangerous position right now who i think from the inside is pushing the

pentagon to do what they don't want to do which is not to make this a one off set of strikes but to continue this in a way that could very well career out of out of control. medea benjamin who is a code pink activist thanks for being with us here on r.t.e. international thank you we can now show you the latest pictures from our video agency ruptly here you can see what appears to be projectiles in the sky over damascus earlier several media reported that there were explosions in damascus heard right after the u.s. presence speech or at arabic media said six powerful blast occurred in the syrian capital targeted by the blast or probably include a research center at the airport and especially in a spare. or once again if you're joining us live speaking from the white house president obama trump announced that the u.s. france and the u.k. are launching strikes against syria our correspondent for the mop and joins us live now from new york with details. been an interesting one to follow could you please

give us the latest. yes now we heard from u.s. president donald trump and he talked about attacking the syrian arab republic taking action against them in coordination with the united kingdom and france and that he used the language of calling it a strong deterrence to the syrian government in response to this allegation that they have used chemical weapons and hope that this action he argued would would deter them from doing things such things in the future now in his remarks tonight he specifically criticized iran and russia for being aligned with the syrian government using language saying what kind of nation let's take a listen to some of what donald trump said when announcing that military action was being taken against the syrian government short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the

chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway. now furthermore it's important to note that following donald trump's remarks we then heard a pentagon briefing an update from the u.s. military on the actions it included u.s. secretary of defense james mattis as well as general dunford from the pentagon now when james mattis spoke he said that this was a one time action and furthermore he said that double the number of weapons were used in this current strike taking place against the syrian government or that took place earlier double the number of weapons than were used previously when there was another bombing carried out by u.s.

drone tromp against the air airbase last year in response to other allegations of chemical weapons so double the number of weapons now furthermore it's important to know that on thursday the pentagon did say that it had received proof that these chemical allegations against the syrian government were true thursday we had the pentagon coming out and saying they have proof that it was done now there's been quite a bit of contention at the u.n. security council russia has sent its inspectors to the site of the alleged chemical attack in duma they have not found any traces of chemicals they have not found any victims they have not found any even eyewitnesses to the attack and they simply cannot confirm that the attack happened however nikki haley the representative of the united states to the u.n. security council seemed adamant despite very little and almost no investigation taking place seemed very adamant in the words she gave to the u.n. security council that the attack had been carried out by the government that it had taken place this is some of the rhetoric we heard from nikki haley in the lead up

to donald trump strike on the syrian arab republic. did a chemical weapons attack happen yes the u.s. has analyzed yes it has happened the u.k. has analyzed it jest it has happened france has vandalized yes it has happened three separate analysis all coming back with the same thing there is proof that this happened. now it's also important to note that the u.n. security council meetings over the course of this week have gotten rather intense we had russian representatives calling in putting forward a resolution that would have mandated that the o.p.c. w. inspectors actually visit the site where the alleged chemical attack happened in order to make their determination and then we saw the united states veto that resolution and block it essential saying they they did not want to mandate that the inspectors actually go to the site we heard other countries speaking up china took

to the floor of the u.n. security council and urged the international community to respect to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the syrian arab republic now we know that in the aftermath of trump announcing that these strikes were taking place in that he was striking the syrian government we know that explosions were heard in damascus now damascus is a very densely populated area of syria it's one of the areas under the control of the syrian government and syrians from all across the country who have seen their or their homes taken over by terrorists and extremists that want to overthrow the syrian government have fled to damascus and that protecting damascus where so many civilians have been concentrated has been one of the main military efforts of the syrian government in recent months so as of yet we haven't had any confirmation or heard exactly what is going on in damascus we have heard that there have been explosions that there have been attacks we're waiting for more information but the pentagon is saying at this point that it is

a one time strike and that they're hoping it is a strong deterrent that will prevent the syrian government from carrying out future chemical attacks even though the evidence that they actually carried out a chemical attack even though that evidence has not been gathered in the o.p.c. w. and the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons and people on the ground have not confirmed that the alleged chemical attack even took place and are . there for us in new york saying across the story we know that as the situation develops you'll be getting more information for us thanks for being with us. meanwhile russia's defense ministry has released a video in which witnesses to the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in syria's duma say there was no indication that those rushed to the hospital had been exposed to a chemical agent. my name is. i am a medical student i work in the e.r. department of dumas central hospital on april eighth a building in the city was bombed the upper floors were destroyed and the bottom

floors caught fire all the injured from that building were brought to our hospital . the residents from the upper floors were suffering from smoke inhalation and that is what we treated them for based on the symptoms they exhibited but this is a bit of a dominating headlines over the past few days that incident in duma whatever took place is attracted very different versions of events from the russian side the syrian side and the u.s. u.k. and france something did happen in do on the seventh of april with the western nations on the white helmets group on the ground in syria claiming it was a chemical attack by the damascus government on civilians killing and injuring dozens the russian side the mask is saying this was a setup now today we've got that evidence allegedly from the russian mody saying they have identified an individual in the video you can see just being played bad that video was used as part of the evidence by helmets and western nations to prove

that there was a chemical attack in duma as those rebels and civilians were being evacuated you can see the man highlighted the witness there on the video just for our viewers they claim they've identified him subsequently asked exactly what happened in that incident on the seventh of april in dubai let's take a listen to what exactly had to say about what took place in the hospital. during treatment some person came in i don't know who that was and said that it was a chemical attack. when the. people got scared a fight broke out the. relatives of the victims started pouring water on one another. then others began to give inhalers for asthma the children. even though these people were not medical professionals we did not see any patients exhibiting symptoms of chemical poisoning. this video amongst others of course quite shocking disturbing images of civilian casualties was circulated online all social media and

cited by the information and organizations countries as evidence of that chemical attack and evidence of course is the key word here is the real crux of the issue of what o.p.c. w team heading over to do more on the way that they should be there over the next twenty four forty eight hours or so believe they have arrived in syria their findings will be key to establishing what really happened in duma whether there was some sort of chemical incident by the damascus government by as the western nations are saying or as we heard from the russian. the russian military has gathered evidence that indicates the direct involvement of great britain organizing the provocation in eastern ukraine we know for a fact that london pressured the so-called white helmets to carry out their plans provocation as soon as possible they were told that from the third to the sixth of april rebels would carry out a series of heavy showings of damascus and that this would lead to a reaction from the government forces which the white helmets should use for their provocation and to allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite

strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specifically for for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. team with the u.n. and that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to prove what exactly happened and to give gravitas and credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course in the next twenty four to forty eight hours. and the u.k.'s ambassador to the un has reacted to the accusations from the russian military by calling them grotesque and a blatant lie however the video featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously and shown by a number of media outlets are the questions are also hanging over the west's

narrative due to the dubious reputations of the groups that initially made the allegation tease gazi of comments. reports of a chemical attack first period strangely enough for almost the precise moment the battle had ended when the syrian government that rebels were negotiating on how to evacuate the latter reports first appeared on social media twitter facebook and spread like wildfire while my colleague kendall anian and i have learned today that the u.s. now has blood and a year in samples from some of the victims of this attack in syria last weekend and that those samples according to u.s. officials tested positive for chemicals sources the usuals why the helmets who service rescue is islamists and syrian rebels also the somewhat less known syrian american medical society savin's together with the white helmets they were

cited by the washington post the new york times and then virtually every western media outlets reporting on this chemical attack saturday april seventh amidst continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of duma more than five hundred cases the majority of whom are women and children were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent sams that self is funded by u.s. aid six million in two thousand and fifteen usaid is widely believed to be an arm of the state department is banned in multiple countries accused of interfering in the. policies and promoting regime change even has an office of transition initiatives the management at sams also believe it or not former usaid starforce was saddam's who reportedly provided the u.p.c. w. with samples of the alleged sarin gas that was used in hunchy houla site of

a chemical attack last year after which donald trump sent fifty seven cruise missiles at the syrian airbase o.p.c. w is on its way to duma to investigate we've contacted various groups including the world health organization they've cited sam's but have refused to go into any details what comes next no one can say whether the u.s. will go ahead with a preemptive strike or where the cooler heads will prevail. author and journalist max blumenthal believe people should be skeptical about the role of one group in particular in syria. well what's remarkable is that this group the syrian american medical society is cited by a who's who of western media organizations as a credible source when it's anything but this organization which is funded to the tune of some close to six million dollars or more by usa id

a wing of the state department which actually emerged out of the cia to encourage regime change and what the u.s. considers enemy states this organization is directed by operatives name sahar so little is actually a lobbyist who's been lobbying the u.s. government since the obama administration for a war of regime change and this organization operates hospitals exclusively in territory controlled by al qaeda syrian affiliates and its allies so this is a you know to me to see it should be a national scandal that u.s. taxpayers are basically paying for the civil society wing of al qaeda and its jihadi allies and we're simply talking in the us media about this organization as if they're just a bunch of syrian feel doctors this is an international law being an influence organization dedicated to stimulating regime change and so we absolutely have to be skeptical when they make these allegations of a chemical attack because that advances their agenda and they have every motive to

deceive the west about it watching continuing coverage of our breaking news story of the united states u.k. and france intervening militarily in syria in response to an alleged chemical attack in duma my name is john thomas i'm here with a jacket vote that will be back with more in just about three minutes stay with us . about your sudden passing i've only just learned you worry yourself in taking your last bong turn. your act got up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry for me i could 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 feeling started to change you talked about war like it was

again still some are fond of you those that didn't like to question our ark and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave a funeral the same as one enters my mind it's consumed with death this one quite different i speak to you now because there were no other takers. claimed that mainstream media has met its maker. exists is harlan kentucky. to old to move the boys to the wilderness very funny zillion in. a coma any city with almost no coal mines left. the jobs are gone all the pay rises showed that there was a lot of to see these people as survivors of

a while disappearing before their eyes. i remember thinking when i was younger that if anything ever happened to the coal mines here that it would become a ghost town but i never thought in the million years i would see the and it's how it's happened. fracking gave america a lot. opportunities i needed to come up here to make some money make me twenty five thousand dollars as a teacher or i could make fifty thousand dollars a truck so i chose to truck people rushed to a small town in north dakota was an unemployment rate of zero percent like gold rush is very very similar to a gold rush but this beautiful story ended with pollution and of a station a lot of people have left here i don't know too many people here in the slowdown it's mostly lost jobs that laid off the american dream is changing that's not what

it used to be. it's a tough reality to deal with. are broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is our t.v. international i'm sean thomas and this is jacqueline and once again if you're just joining us we are doing continuing coverage of the united states u.k. and france striking syria speaking from the white house president all trump announced that those three countries are launching strikes against syria our correspondent and he joins us live now from ok will tell us more give us the latest what we heard from u.s. president donald trump he announced that the united states in coordination with the u.k. and france was going to be attacking the syrian government in response to allegations about chemical weapons attacks in duma now the words donald trump used to talk

about this being a strong deterrence furthermore in his remarks he not only attacked the syrian government but in his remarks he was harshly critical of iran and russia saying what kind of nation wants to be associated with mass murder this is just a selection from donald trump's remarks announcing the attack. short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway now from there we heard a pentagon briefing that took place in which general dunford and u.s. secretary of defense james mattis updated the world about what exactly had taken

place at that point they were speaking of the attacks in the past tense saying that they had gone on describing what was done saying that it was double the number of weapons that were used in the strike on the syrian arab republic last year i am going on to say it was a one time thing this is james mattis but right now this was a one time shot and i believe that it sent a very strong message to dissuade him to deter him from doing this again. now it's important to note that on thursday the pentagon said that it had proof that this chemical attack in duma had actually taken place they said that they had proof however in the last week we've seen a lot of disagreement in the international community when it comes to the facts of what actually went on in duma now the u.n. security council has been meeting and in the meetings we've heard russia repeatedly

call for the chemical inspectors to actually visit the site of the chemical attack they put forward a resolution calling for the open seat of you to go and be required to actually visit the site of the alleged chemical attack russia on the floor of the security council pointed out that their experts had been to the site in duma they had not found any traces of chemicals they had not found any dead bodies or anyone needing treatment they hadn't even found any eyewitnesses of the alleged attack however nikki haley representing the united states was simply adamant that the attack had taken place despite not really having any evidence to confirm it nikki haley repeatedly made statements about chemical weapons and this is what she said. did a chemical weapons attack happened yet the u.s. has nationalized yes it has happened the u.k. has analyzed it gets it it happened in france has been analyzed yes it happened three separate analysis all coming back with the same thing there is proof that

this happened. now from there there were resolutions put forward on the floor of the un security council that were vetoed one of those resolutions was from russia and it would have required that the chemical inspectors from the o.p.c. to actually visit the site the usa vetoed that resolution so at this point there's a lot of questions now we understand that in the aftermath of donald trump speech there were explosions heard in damascus now damascus is a central part of government controlled territory in syria and it's where a number of civilians from across the country have fled to all across syria you have these extremists and terrorist groups that are trying to topple the syrian government and they've been taking over territory and often civilians will flee to damascus for protection it's very densely populated a lot of the operations of the syrian government militarily have been protecting damascus from shelling by the terrorists and such and we are now island of cyprus

but at this time there is clear clear disagreement about the nature of the facts about what actually went on in duma meanwhile we are hearing that this densely populated area under the control of the syrian government has been struck by u.s. u.k. and france military operations right artie's killam up in there in new york as more information becomes available we trust you'll be staying on top of the u.s. reaction there thanks for being with us allies france and the u.k. have also ordered military action in syria and official statements representatives of both countries say the aim of their action is to prevent the use of chemical weapons in syria. we have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this but our efforts have been repeatedly ported so there is no practical alternative city use of force this is not about intervening in a civil war it is not about regime change it's about limited in charge it strike that there's not further ask lee tensions it will also send

a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity our operation will be limited to assets of the syrian government that can be involved in the creation and use of chemical weapons. or we can now cross live to correspondent khiladi who is a local journalist in damascus live demo thanks for being with us here on our t. international sean thomas here and it jacqueline. so tell us more about the situation in syria's capital right now. in the morning at least six loud explosion from damascus with smoke rising here. there's a truck scientific research center and that is it. they also. a military a military u.s. house maybe next to or near the benefits of homes. we can see and i like

a situation as. you say now that said it was really behind me that the situation. go ahead is gone now we are there is nothing but. yes i can't hear you ok so it seems that we do have a little bit of a delay so for viewers at home please bear with us a little bit but you mentioned that the situation behind you is called there's few cars on the streets what is the situation like there i mean you live there you. can give us a sense of the feeling on the ground what are people saying are they tense are they worried about more strikes how do people feel right now. you know some people just and they're planning to go to there or do you know some people now is sharing this information i think. to some people is no word from one others to have to go

to happened in the next few hours and no one really is certain about what's happening now is who but most of them and is. going to do new life i just came here and i was walking down the street one of the people who is preparing to go to their jobs. they miss a lot of worry from other strikes and the next few hours. this is jacqueline also in the studio thanks for joining us as you're mentioning that people are going about their daily business but we did hear from the pentagon saying that it's possible that more strikes could be coming in the future is there any preparation being taken place in case that does happen. we don't know until now for sure and if that predation is happening now but a lot of people. officials so the. defense is prepared for any another strike. now in terms of where you

are in the city can you give us a sense of where these strikes took place or are they to the east to the north to the west and could you hear it happening as it went as it all went down. yeah actually we had a very loud explosion in the morning and it is and both of which is in the country of damascus now where both are very important players because there is a military. research center and damascus which is very famous and which is very important to the shooting at me. all right correspondent kilani who is in damascus for us thanks for being with us and helping us get a sense of the situation there on the ground in damascus. russia's ambassador to the united states says the u.s. has no moral right to charge other countries with possessing chemical weapons our

worst apprehensions have come true our warnings have been left unheard a predesigned scenario is being implemented again we are being threatened we warned that such actions will not be left without consequences all responsibility for them rests with washington london and paris insulting the president of russia is unacceptable and inadmissible the u.s. the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons has no moral right to blame other countries. now we're joined live by ken stone from hamilton coalition to stop the war ken thanks for being with us here on r.t. international i'm in the studio here with jacqueline vogel will both be going some questions for you. so russia's foreign ministry says that the strikes came at the exact moment when there was a chance of peace in damascus. why do you think that is. i think the

united states britain and france do not have the slimmest shred of evidence of any chemical attack that might have taken place in dumas last week. there are reckless act of war or illegal acts bombing the sovereign state of syria. shows that they are attempting to preempt any investigation by the o p c w investigators who are scheduled to arrive in damascus i think yesterday or today by by undertaking these military acts of war the us britain and france are showing that really they have no evidence whatsoever. jaclyn here in the studio where will this decision lead do you think the strikes is there a possibility that this could spiral towards military conflict directly with russia

. i'm glad you asked that question that's on everyone's mind tonight. the. bees want to an actual war by britain france the united states show that they have no. they have no respect for the warnings that were issued as the men as the ambassador just said by russia publicly at least three times in the past month that there would be great consequences and they would destroy the platforms from which any attacks have been made this could easily lead to a wider regional war or even having forbid i world war and i'm really glad that at this particular moment in the united states there are demonstrations planned by the antiwar movement right across the country from coast to coast to stop the war coalition in the u.k. had a demonstration on downing street today and in canada there are several demonstrations

planned for this weekend as well the people of the world need to stand up now and let their politicians know that we do not want war we want to see a political solution in syria in which the syrian people have make a determination of their own future without foreign interference. at this point the pentagon has said that these strikes are a one time shot that they're prepared to carry out more in order to deter assad how likely do you think it is that we will see more strikes. i think it's quite likely these are the these acts by these rogue states united states britain and france show that more than anything else they are losing the war against syria and they are becoming more reckless and desperate and are likely to do more reckless and desperate acts of war what's really what really has been shown over the past seven

years is that the united states government does not speak with one voice and anything they say cannot be trusted because they were not going any promise that they made to the to russia and to any other partners in negotiations so if maddest says tonight it's a one off i don't think we should believe and i don't think we should believe anything that is said by the united states government. it's interesting sean here again and it's interesting you said that this is said that it's a one off that we shouldn't believe it we've had conflicting information from trump in fact he said that the combined response between the u.s. u.k. france will be military economical and diplomatic and that they are willing to continue that pressure until the assad regime gives up its use of chemical weapons also went after iran and russia directly in his statement. so what do you think if we kind of go down the rabbit hole here does he mean by

a move already seen military what does he mean by economical and diplomatic what else can they do to syria. well. the united states and its coalition without help of the. former harper government of canada a stylish a with a very tight regime of illegal economic sanctions against syria which in fact turn turn millions of syrians into refugees because they just couldn't put food on the table so they will continue their economic sanctions and ask for their political actions they they will continue to try and isolate syria and to continue to propagate that method somehow syria is using chemical weapons when in fact the syrian government of twenty four team divest itself of all its chemical weapons and fact those chemical weapons were destroyed on a u.s.

military naval ship in the mediterranean and the syrian government joined the convention against chemical weapons the people who are creating the chemical weapons are the terrorists who are in the pay of the britain france u.s. and the saudis of saudi and they are monarchs they use in the last week the syrian arab army covered ace i weapons lab which was well appointed and well supplied with forty tons of supplies according to the russian government and it's in my in my opinion all of the chemical weapons incidents that have taken place in syria are were done by the by the terrorists themselves with the intention to employ and take the syrian government in other words false flag operations so i think that the united states is not is not showing any change in course in fact in eastern in eastern syria on the in the park east of the euphrates they are

now. massing a force of some sixty thousand soldiers regulars. irregulars. attempt to state for the first seeable future. on a city on some serious petrochemical industry some of its best land and of course along the euphrates river which is the main source of this water and in my opinion this is this is the plan b. that was not seated by the former secretary of state under obama to partition syria so if anything i think the united states has longer term plans to drag out this war instead of ending it. creating more incidents through their proxy armies rather than looking for a political solution and they intend to make life miserable for the syrian people contrary to all their feigned concern about the welfare of syrians civilians

ken it is currently six eighteen on saturday morning in damascus in syria right now o.p.c. w experts would have been starting their work today there on the ground in syria we're not sure at this moment in time if they will be conducting any investigation . big considering that strikes have taken place but. what do you think of the decision to strike just one day before the o.p.c. was supposed to do their investigation. as i said i think that that was a purposeful act by of the united states britain and france these rogue countries to preempt to prevent if you like the investigation by the o.p.c. w. investigators if britain france and the u.s. had any credible information about a chemical attack in ghouta in the town of duma last weight they would have

welcomed the presence and the investigation of the o.p.c. w. investigators but by taking this action now they are showing that they don't want this investigation to go on and the only reasonable conclusion one can draw is that they have no and they have no information they made it all up they got it from the white house the white how much they're a propaganda arm of al qaida on this right in syria as these people are funded by the u.k. the u.s. the dutch government and the other governments and their job is is to promote i'll the fabricated incidents of chemical weapons so as to create a pretext for war western military intervention in syria and this is going on for a long time now the way home it's been discredited by many people and such as the

next ability and even bartlet independent journalists and in many many independent many independent sites and on r.t. as well of you you had max blumenthal and he has exposed them as a complete fraud and the complete construct of madison avenue and the foreign policy arms of the u.s. u.k. and french governments so. we have to we have to say that. the action that was taken place tonight has taken place tonight this film. act of war by britain france and the us shows in practice that they have no evidence whatsoever of any chemical attack and they are going ahead with warlike activities just as they did in iraq just as they did in libya and. the it's time for the people of the world to stand up be counted let their

politicians know that they've had enough of this i know from a poll that was taken of britain something like only twenty two percent of britons want a war with syria for my own experience in canada people here don't want to war with syria they're much more important things to them going on right here in canada that have to be taken care of but we have to make them part we have to put the politicians feet to the fire we have to make them understand that the people of the world are not in favor of this that people who want peace and they want the people of syria to be able to have self-determination determine their own future and let them out foreign interference and you mentioned canada canada as one of the countries that is standing against at least at this point in time getting involved in syria can stone from the hamilton coalition to stop the war thanks for being with us here on our to international. russia's defense ministry has released a video in which witnesses to the aftermath of an alleged chemical attack in

syria's duma say there was no indication that those rushed to the hospital had been exposed to a chemical agent and that is is thought to my name is. a medical student i work in the e.r. department of duma central hospital on april eighth a building in the city was bombed the upper floors were destroyed and the bottom floors caught fire at the top all the injured from that building were brought to our hospital. the residents from the upper floors were suffering from smoke inhalation and that is what we treated them for based on the symptoms they exhibited this is a bit of a dominating headlines over the past few days that incident in duma whatever took place is attracted very different versions of events from the russian side the syrian side and the u.s. u.k. and france something did happen in do all the seventh of april with the western nations on the white helmets group on the ground in syria claiming it was a chemical attack by the damascus government on civilians killing and injuring

dozens the russian side the mask is saying this was a setup now today we've got that evidence allegedly from the russian modi saying they have identified an individual in the video you can see just being played bad that video was used as part of the evidence by helmets and western nations to prove that there was a chemical attack in duma as those rebels and civilians were being evacuated you can see the highlighted the witness there on the video just for our viewers they claim they've identified him subsequently asked of exactly what happened in that incident on the seventh of april in dubai let's take a listen to what exactly had to say about what took place in the hospital after. that during treatment some person came in i don't know who that was and said that it was a chemical attack. in the village and people got scared a fight broke out. relatives of the victims started pouring water on one another.

than others began to give inhalers for asthma the children. even though these people were not medical professionals we did not see any patients exhibiting symptoms of chemical poisoning. this video amongst others of course quite shocking disturbing images of civilian casualties was circulated online all social media and cited by their formation and organizations countries as evidence of that chemical attack and evidence of course is the key word here is the real crux. the issue of good o.p.c. w. team heading over to do more on the way that they should be there over the next twenty four forty eight hours or so believe they have arrived in syria their findings will be key to establishing what really happened in duma whether there was some sort of chemical incident boy the damascus government as it was the nations are saying or we heard from the russian m o d that the russian military has gathered evidence that indicates the direct involvement of great britain organizing the provocation in eastern. we know for

a fact that london pressured the so-called white helmets to carry out your planned provocation as soon as possible they were told that from the third to the sixth of april rebels would carry out a series of heavy showings of damascus and that this would lead to a reaction from the government forces which the white helmets should use for their provocation and to allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident. something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specifically for for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the team with the u.n. the u.n. instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to prove what exactly happened and to give some credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course in the next twenty four to forty eight hours

we can now cross live to our correspondent in the region policy clear paula what is the reaction in the middle east towards the u.s. led strikes in syria at this point. well at this stage it's still it's still too early to say we haven't yet had any official reaction but of course that is going to start coming through as people start waking up to the latest news here in israel we are unlikely to get an official statement from the israeli prime minister's beer and till after the sabbath so that will be some time. saturday evening but no doubt when that statement comes it will be one welcoming the american and european strikes of course we've heard from netanyahu repeatedly how he is against the assad regime and how he sees iran which is aligned with it as the major three it facing this country earlier this week we did hear from the israeli officials who rejected the russian foreign ministry claims on thursday that israel had worsened the situation with its alleged attack on syria earlier we also know

that israel's particularly concerned about the rainy and what it says military prisons across its border now just yesterday friday the israeli army revealed that it had investigated anyway me and drone that had entered israeli air space back in february and it found that it had explosives on it so the concern here in israel of course is that what is happening in syria and these latest developments will directly impact how iran responds which will directly impact how israel responds we haven't yet had any official reaction from iran we know that yesterday they threatened to turn tel aviv to dust we know that even though we couldn't really an official saying that they were going to quote expel the american occupiers so now in dark there will be very strong criticism coming out of to run when official statement is made we do expect that a lot of the reaction from the region will be ordinance to how the government views the situation happening inside syria there's a lot of support for the russians and no doubt there be a lot of criticism against trump's latest moves which people believe on this

history and where he just escalate the situation in syria and by extension in the region even further. are to with paul flair thank you for staying across the international reaction for us i'm sure we'll be hearing again from you shortly. right some of america's key partners have already expressed a lack of willingness to participate in strikes against syria germany italy the netherlands and canada have all said that there needs to be a thorough investigation first marcus from milan from germany's alternative for germany party told us why he thinks is countries not eager for military action against assad's government by goes to church people against conflict or to continue to conflict in syria because you cannot explain the truman mother was for example truman soldier dying for american interests in syria we have no interest to continue this confrontation in syria i guess. they will continue to

conflict in syria that would mean that a lot of cheese would continue to come through germany and. you know the people in sherman just suffer because of the situation it's not easy for us to handle it we are close to have social conflicts because of. the u.k. has joined in america's military strikes on syria but a recent poll shows just how little appetite the british public house for more war the survey suggests forty three percent would oppose military action thirty four percent are undecided and only twenty two percent would back striking syria we asked people in london for their opinions. i think military strikes in syria will help solve anything no i think to be honest i think the usa and the u.k. of a secret agenda basically. the game's up the whole world knows that it's like the agenda is designed this agenda to go into syria because it fits into their motive to get rid of you or break yourself. looking for excuses i don't know

somehow mess and i might as well have been very anxious about considering any kind of next week essentially what would you choose cheney i really disagree with military action against anything happening in this syria there's already enough fighting going on there as it is and there's a real danger of war escalating way beyond what we expect the scenario and the way to target it to send any for the singer if we. push up you know the basic military intervention that al said and i think we have that and five attitude where these countries have these problems have these civil wars and we try and go in and fix it but we had our civil war when the americans had their civil war nobody why.