with the economy in recession the gulf war boosted its his approval ratings. have therefore directed to reject the iraqi army from kuwait. which. is president i can report to the nation aggression is defeated the war is over. you don't have to look too far back in history to see world leaders employing distraction tactics so ask yourself this question what would dominate an international media narrative the possibility of a global war or the domestic troubles of a western country you want me to produce your war not a war it's a pageant we need a theme song so this will as we know it's a pageant well to ask of the media of trumps decision is to water affect fish truck lives and breathes by media ratings approval there is a long tradition of the president's domestic political trouble using international

crises to distract the public and certainly here in a moment you have to be the focus of the side of military action so in terms of the attack on the syria that we saw over the weekend it does seem it's a distraction that gives the president something to talk about other than stormy daniels and the other issues that he's contending with after the rifling of his personal lawyers offices the u.k. prime minister to resign may is set to address the house of commons later on monday to explain why she ordered the strikes without parliamentary approval let's discuss this further now with our correspondent in the city a check in westminster to m.p.'s have their chance now to grow may on her decision what's the general consensus that you think. well becky we are certainly expecting a day of heated debate here in westminster at the house of commons as in fact

m.p.'s will be gathering to debate to rescind may's decision to go ahead and strike against syria along with the us and france this weekend without getting parliamentary approval first despite there having been quite a handful of calls not just within the opposition but also inside the conservative party to allow parliament to be able to vote and weigh in on these potential strikes at the time first and of course that didn't happen and we did see to reese of may go ahead an act seeing it as justified and necessary talking again about evidence and using the word that seems to have the term that seems to have become quite popular over here in britain highly likely i cannot tell you everything but let me give an example of some of the evidence that leads us to this conclusion open source accounts allege that a barrel was used to deliver the chemicals. multiple open source reports claim that a regime helicopter was observed above the city of duma on the evening of the seventh

of april and reliable intelligence indicates that syrian military officials coordinated what appears to be the use of chlorine in duma on the seventh of april we judge it's highly likely both that the syrian regime has continued to use chemical weapons since then and will continue to do so. well we have heard from the leader of the scottish scottish national party she has tweeted saying that the u.k. foreign policy should not be shaped by should be shaped by parliament instead of the us president we have heard of her of course heard from the leader of the opposition labor party leader jeremy corbyn who believes that parliament should have been consulted on issues like this there's even been some talk inside the labor party of potentially reforming the laws when it comes to this this is what corbett had to say. she could have come to parliament on monday to discuss the whole situation instead it launches strikes she claims there is a legal basis for it i've asked her in

a letter i've just sent to this morning to publish in full the legal basis and justification for it. well let's keep in mind that back in twenty thirteen we saw then prime minister david cameron set up a vote in parliament on similar kinds of strikes in syria that was voted down this was of course because largely people were not convinced that it was a necessary step to take especially following all of the if you can put it that way surrounding the invasion. surrounding the iraq war that kick started in two thousand and three under false pretenses so it is widely understood here in westminster that that kind of repeat vote against these strikes could have taken place as well and possibly that's why a vote on this was avoided by the british prime minister and it has to be made clear that she's not under legal obligation to have to put this kind of vote against parliament however this has been common practice exactly following the iraq

war and this was understood to be sort of traditional after the years that followed however this did not happen this time around so we're certainly expecting lots of questions raised here in westminster later on today. to see a chicken to thank you for the updates but we spoke to a number of experts who say the u.k. prime minister didn't ask polman because she feared she would have lost the vote on taking military action. this passing strange that a parliamentary democracy wants to bypass parliament and go to war only twenty two percent of british people as a whole were in favor of getting involved in the war in syria and if you look at the data beneath i can see a very significant sector of conservative opinion was very unsure. it may be she wanted a substantial defections from her own side no war in history will have to do.

with so little support not even a quarter of the population supporting it before a shot is fired there's always been a vote in all of them. and their lives that means that there's a debate. evidence if there is any problems are. discussed in parliament openly and transparently not. looking we love why this is the reason is because there is no evidence treason by starting what she calls open source we know who these open sources are online. was always so they couldn't actually think about it and publish the evidence because it would have looked absolutely ridiculous. italian journalist pal i ban metal claims he's living in fear for his life over his work to expose an internet snuffy a clown now this week italian investigators say they obtained a stone conversation between members if they can get on it one of them allegedly

tells his son to murder a reporter. or we'll. give you the you know the. investigators believe there was an imminent plan to assassinate baron matty he's now under round the clock police protection the journalists himself say is not fair bosses have made numerous death threats against him as he runs an anti nuffield website he told us what it's like to live with a price on his head. first i received warnings then letters containing bullets and then anonymous phone calls then one day i was attacked i was assaulted by two hooded men since then i've had an injured shoulder so. i've now been living under the protection of a caribbean area for four years i have launched fourteen criminal cases against

almost thirty mafia bosses mathew bosses tried to kill me anyway i managed to save myself from an attack thanks to the skill of the carabineers. i know that at the moment there are five mafia clans the woman i live with five men five caribbean area follow me day and night i live far from my family from my loved ones these five carabineers first people i see in the morning and the last i see at night before i'm left alone with my conscience. polar bear mattie has been investigating details of the clans illegal activities on publishing them online he believes mafia influence is spreading across the globe. many journalists do not publish names or photos of mafia bosses many of my colleagues do not do investigative journalism i do i publish names and surnames i publish photos and above all i try to follow their business schemes their money this is a business worth billions not millions we're talking about billions of euros the

journalist has a fundamental role telling the truth talking to people and doing investigative journalism. i don't have all been saddled with all of the mafia was defeated we thought this because the bombings were over because arrests were made we did not understand the mafia was radically changing it infiltrated the state and public bodies something of the matter is just an italian problem but unfortunately that's not true the mafia has spread from italy to europe in the world got more the day's top stories coming up after this very short break stay with us.

thank you ok back well there's outrage in germany after two rappers known for using

anti semitic lyrics in their songs when a top music prize there the controversial lyrics include comparisons to auschwitz prisoners and hints at another holocaust but despite that it's rap has won the best hip hop album prize in germany's top music awards last week their latest release sold more than two hundred thousand copies often missionary defending their decision organizers of the award have now backing tracks germany's foreign minister has called the award repugnant while the group of holocaust survivors have also voiced to their outrage but as a commentator on the oren says lost his should not use freedom of expression as a free pass to say anything. of course freedom of expression is a blessing thing we shouldn't restrict the freedom of the artist or dick creator to break any. old because this is

how men kind of progress us but having said this there are a few sacrifices things we should be kept such and of course for israelis or for jews all over and for people of conscience regardless of their faith or national that the holocaust shouldn't be broached in such. a cheap manner. as swedish who has cold over five hundred lives spying dropping them into liquid nitrogen the reptiles had been rescued last month from animal smugglers but this is says it could only find homes for a few of them in other institutions and were legally prevented from giving them away to private collections of vets from the zoo defended the use of liquid nitrogen as practical while here to discuss this further is

a car from the animal rights group pet a i miss carr thank you for joining us on the program perhaps you can explain to us why there's been such an outcry over this story i mean like the vet said that i am if you appropriate homes could be found and is in no liquid nitrogen used to kill animals worldwide is not a normal kind of use. well i understand the outcry here it's an unfortunate situation where hundreds of beautiful animals were discarded like rubbish but the fault here lies with the exotic pet trade and those who captured these animals for profit as far as the way that the animals were killed. a report on animal ethics from the university of melbourne said that conscious reptiles should never be killed through immersion in liquid nitrogen and that liquid nitrogen should only be used after the animals are under deep anaesthesia so i'm not sure that this is this was going about in the correct manner but the fault lies

with those who were smuggling the animals in the first place what should have happened here what other choice did they have. well it's a tragic situation and it's caused by the trade in exotic pets i think all good options were off the table the moment these animals were captured for profit and the wider argument is coal animals all the time don't they is this not the price of preserving endangered species well zoos don't preserve endangered species most animals confined in zoos aren't endangered nor are they being prepared for release into the wild zoos aren't breeding animals to replenish threatened populations they're breeding them because babies bring visitors through the gates so this has nothing to do with endangered species and certainly for these particular lizards who are captured with the intention of being sold off as pets it's

a tragic outcome if people were banned altogether from keeping exotic pets like lizards do you think that would reduce animal suffering. oh absolutely it would and that's why peta people for the ethical treatment of animals we encourage people to turn their backs on the exotic pet trade and to resist the temptation to bring a lizard or a snake or a turtle into their homes we know that seventy percent of reptiles bred or captured for the pet trade die in transit or from inadequate care and housing this is before they're even sold and of those who do make it into someone's home most of them are dead within a year don't cost an animal rights group peta thank you for joining us on r.t. international we appreciate your thoughts. well we'll be back at the top of the hour with all the latest headlines to join his then if you can.

join me every thursday on the alex simon chill and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sport i'm showbusiness i'll see you. four men are sitting in a car when the fifth gets shot in the head. for a different version of what. one of them. there's no way you could have done it there's no possible way. around a corner. welcome

to sophie and co and sophie shevardnadze the long standing alliance between pakistan and the united states with washington accusing islam about of supporting terrorism. how serious is this bad and what will that mean for america afghan war while i ask on member of pakistan's national assembly and the leader of pakistan and for justice. the never ending war son with the. old. militants billions of american security aides are now frozen. forced to go to china and saudi arabia for help what effect will the car just on american quarrels have in the war against the taliban and. for pakistan's own internal struggles with. iran khan member of pakistan's national assembly and leader of pakistan movement for just as welcome to the show it's really great to

have you with us today. mr han pakistani prime minister abbas he has just paid a visit to kabul now that of afghans like former afghan intelligence chief. are saying that pakistan views of galveston as a weaker state and its relations with afghanistan are driven by shared great americans. how can you strike deals with couple if they view pakistan this way. this is very unfortunate the remarks of the of one intelligence chief. defined by just son's relationship with an oval honest on in these terms is actually very unfortunate because one is the needs bug is done and budgets done needs peace stability to afghanistan otherwise by this time gets affected especially along the border the what is called the tribal areas on the border of lot of stun so if you have problems and of blunders than instability

which sadly that has been for sixty vias pakistan gets affected so it's in pakistan's interest that there is peace and of honest on the as a problem the unfortunately that the american policy of using a one dimensional. military solution to problems in afghanistan. has led to not only the longest war but it does cause immense problems. because the drug the border with afghanistan. is very porous. it is free movement or there was free movement of people and so what happens in of honest on affects by just on so we are and i don't i find these very sad i hear you talking about american policy back in january donald trump ordered billions of dollars in security aid to pakistan to be frozen accusing it of

inaction in the war on terror former head of i.s.i. asaad iran a tell me pakistan's dependence on american aid and dave a long time ago so why then is your country's defense minister calling on the united states to reconsider the cut my point of view this american aid has been very costly for pakistan. for for getting whatever aid we we did get in these. fifteen years the damage done to progress done and participating in the u.s. war on terror has led to almost seventy thousand people dead it has devastated our tribal areas the border areas where half of the population we're talking about three to four million people who were internally displaced and the loss to the economy is over one hundred billion dollars so this small aid has been very costly and the lesson learned from pakistan point of view is never never fight someone

else's war. and people like us always opposed it. and donald trump does don't understand he does not understand the history of honest on one is done as a history with the do not accept foreigners they have always resisted foreign invasions. and if if he had even drawn any lessons from the soviet invasion of what is done before that the british in the nineteenth century there of invasion of understand he would know that this military solution which donald trump also has dried is going to fail the only solution the only way to bring peace and afghanistan is all the neighbors to sit together and then come up with a political solution there is no other solution apart from that so his government is saying that anywhere from fifty to seventy percent of the eight cents to

pakistan was misspent wasted on kickbacks. even stolen meanwhile the pakistani foreign minister says that the country is ready to account for every single penny in your opinion once again should there be more to this spat i mean should americans put forth proof of corruption should pakistan follow up and show actual accounting. given a proportion to the damage done in pakistan by participating in the u.s. war there is no comparison the war this is about twenty billion dollars maybe twenty five billion dollars by just on his last over one hundred billion dollars. economy suffered investment suffered. the damage done to terrorism meant that foreign investment in this does one come into pakistan are tourism collapsed in this country even today of foreign cricket teams do not come and play in pakistan

sports teams so this country took a heavy punishment by participating in the war and the money as i said the money coming from it is britain's compared to what it cost the people of pakistan so you have said that trump is briefed by and working for the agenda of pakistan's animates those that jan that would that be. awarded by. the things that donald trump has said he's actually applauded india's role in the war on terror and he's actually blamed pakistan for the u.s. toward winning in afghanistan no to blame and that he's blamed pakistan for terrorism this is exactly what india says about pakistan and so therefore it was extremely hurtful for people of this country that participated in a war that was not pakistan's war. there were no pakistanis and waldron nine eleven

there wasn't a lot of strong there were no militant taliban in pakistan how did we end up in a war where seventy thousand pakistanis have died we still have arisen in this country we're still having the effects of this war on terror mr haas are you saying blame the is do you think that american who has a friend in the ways here decision i don't know war. where he's come up with but it's quite clear that the things he has is saying is raising india where does india door give any second phases of the war and what what role does india play in this war it's pakistan that took the battery the suffering and so to raise india it's shocking for all of us what has india contributed to this war on terror and to give india to roland of honest on india does not have a border with of what is the. pakistan's foreign minister says that united states has turned islamabad into

a whipping boy to destruct from its failures in afghanistan do you agree is washington looking to single out pakistan to deter criticism. sooty i agree with that now just look at the facts at one point there were one hundred fifty thousand nato troops in afghanistan. and then the of one army is anything between two hundred fifty thousand to three hundred thousand so you're talking about almost a half a million forces and of artist on board the u.s. blimps pakistan is that three thousand insurgents coming from pakistan to afghanistan are the reason why afghanistan could not win the water nirvana's than can the drop in american aid be countered by deals with pakistan's newest friends like china or saudi arabia are you expecting their influence to rise now that the united states is on a collision course with pakistan. what would firstly what would the u.s.

do to be on a collision course with pakistan the maximum leverage the us has is to stop the aid . by to stanch to try everything to. keep the us happy but the problem is when the u.s. expects pakistan to win it's the message has made in afghanistan it expects pakistan to somehow win the war which they're they're badly lost and of honest and when i say look the last i mean they haven't won all the taliban have to do to win the war is not to lose so what the u.s. expects by just under do is what it has not been able to. succeed in afghanistan and clearly pakistan has limitations. and if pakistan what they want to do is to take action against these taliban groups. supposedly operating from pakistan

well then they should tell us where are these groups they're talking about the hakani network at the at its peak the haqqani network would have maximum two thousand two and a half thousand men in pakistan that surely cannot be the reason why they've lost they have not been able to win in sixty years what i feel is that the american policy of military actions gradual damage i don't know whether you have seen and can do the bonder madrassa killed one hundred children not that one hundred children killed by american bomb means that this will. raise hatred and of understand and hatred means more recruits and so it's an ongoing circle could actually damage hatred more recruits and an ongoing war so the answer is that the u.s. has to change its strategy and that's a going towards dialogue political solution said a lot. of u.s.

a may not be a catastrophe for your country but now americans are considering provisionally putting pakistan on the international terrorism sponsor list the so-called gray list you may saying it is not fair to pakistan but how damaging would that be for the country and dangerous i think it's very unfair on pakistan. you know a country that disappeared in the u.s. war and i repeat a country that had nothing to do with nine eleven and a country that lost move people than any other country i mean by just on the last more human beings almost seventy thousand dead last number of them handicapped because a bomb blasts. for helping the american for joining the american war board the heaviest cost and in the end for the americans to then blimp august and put

sanctions on it i think this is the greatest travesty of justice i think. you know it is something which is inconceivable that the u.s. is for its failure and of honesty on. but how damaging would it be though how damaging well it will be damaging i mean for pakistan unfortunately i cannot make situation as strong right now. the country is actually going through an economic crisis so american sanctions would be damaging but i mean is this justice is it fair is this. country. and when it thinks it doesn't need it anymore just go away i think it's very immoral right mr han we're going to take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to member of pakistan's national assembly and leader of pakistan movement for justice discussing

tensions where that can stand and how this affects to power balance in the region stay with us.