headlines this hour the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons has no information on the origin of the nerve agent used in the recent poisoning porting to the british representative to the international watchdog also to become the focus is also on the c.w. in syria on wednesday as it is due to start a probe on the alleged chemical attack in the city of duma however western officials say they didn't need quote a formal investigation in order to retaliate against damascus and. two men wearing jewish caps are attacked by an arabic speaking youth in berlin.

so the welcome is five pm here in moscow you're watching r.t. international now the u.k.'s representative to the o p c w the organization tasked with investigating the script poisoning says it cannot identify the country all of . the end of the nerve agent used in the incident the jury chewed up as the story the o.p.c. w. they've been conducting a closed door meeting at their headquarters in the hague but many delegates have been tweeting what's been going on behind closed doors so we've been getting a steady stream of information coming through and obviously there are extracts from what the u.k. representative to the p.c. has been saying at that meeting and with regards to russia a little snippet here where he said that it's been carrying out a brazen this information campaign and attacked the reputation and expertise of the o.p.c. very very strong words indeed now we are. to get

a copy of the statement they're made by the delegations at and from what we can decipher from the british side it appears that there is confirmation that there is no information about the source of the nerve agent used in the stalled attack. neither d.s.t. as analysis nor the b.c.w.s. report advance fires the control lab true of the origin of the agent used in this attack. the explanation for what happened in solsbury the russian state for sponsibility we believe that only brusha had the technical means operational experience and the motive to target the scribbles so to clarify as to date there is no definitive independent evidence that the nerve agent categorically came from russia or that indeed that an attack there in solve was ordered from the kremlin what we are hearing at the moment is that the british delegation there is repeating

the government's line that it was highly likely we've heard that so many times that moscow was behind the attack and that the reasoning behind that is that no one else has the means or the motive for doing that so despite the lack of evidence it seems that that evidence or lack of is being widely ignored deraa tutor there and also later on in the program we do hope to be joined by the former british intelligence officer and a mash on to discuss this development a bit further to. in the meantime the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons is in the spotlight too on wednesday as it is due to start a probe on the alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of duma the investigation will begin if there are no security concerns on the ground reports of the elections and emerge from april the seventh meanwhile more questions are being raised over this footage filmed by the white helmets rescue group at a local hospital where video just poor. to show the aftermath of the chemical

attack however our sister channel visited that very hospital in talking with doctors and residents there and they described what happened on the seventh of april claiming they saw no toxic agents use them. people from the white helmets told us about the use of chemical weapons but we saw no sign of that if chemical weapons were used against those people our medical staff would have also been affected. people poured water. thing that we had been attacked with chemical weapons on them and somebody from outside shouting about a chemical attack don't know who that was we heard an explosion and somebody said

it was a chemical weapon we run to where the noise came from and the started pouring the water over the people but they seemed to be ok then walked away without any help but little confused somebody started pouring water over people's heads saying there had been a chemical attack but i was at the spot with my wife and daughter but none of us experienced early symptoms of chemical poisoning meanwhile even some western media are now calling into question the allegations of a chemical attack there that after a british journalist robert fisk visits to duma and was unable to find any body you could confirm the use of chemical weapons however washington and its allies still have no doubts the us britain and france chose not to wait for the official probe before launching air raids against syria in the early hours of saturday that's despite much of the public publicly available information on the alleged attack.

from controversial activist groups such as the white helmets and also the syrian american medical society both groups are thought to be funded by the west including by western government organizations so far no group are meant to be conducting an investigation is actually visited the site of the alleged incident as noted the o.p.c. does plan to start its probe later on wednesday while the world health organization is not on the ground there so far but u.s. state department spokesperson and the new it has defended washington's decision not to wait for the results of an official investigation. there's a thing we have it's called intelligence gathering the united states has excellent intelligence gathering other countries do as well so i would ask you should the united states and her allies wait around for bashar al assad to use more chemical substances honest people should we wait around for that formal investigation that could take months and months this is you know actually scandalous that the u.s.

has launched a strike based on insurgent tides social media sources well this is exactly what defense secretary jim matt said at the briefing several days ago where he didn't have solid intelligence on any chemical attack and do know what he did have were social media reports people saying stuff on the internet and who were those people the same people that state department spokes person how they are now or it's referring to there the syrian white helmets which has been funded to the tune of at least twenty three million dollars by the state department well the lack of concrete proof that the attack did take place has been raised by some officials and academics but such questions are often dismissed have a look at this interview on the b.b.c. if he has used chemical weapons it's absolutely right to do rough across his knuckles but i just wonder you know we've had some bad experiences on intelligence given that we're in an information war with russia on so many from still

you think perhaps inadvisable to be stating this so publicly given your your position and your profile isn't there a danger that you're muddying the water but that was retired senior officer of the rule navy and west questioning whether there was enough intelligence to claim that assad was using chemical weapons but the b.b.c. presenter suggested that such comments shouldn't be made publicly because they fall into line with the official position of moscow will be requested to respond somewhat happened from the channel and it replied that all angles within. the debate the challenge to and explored but it's not just the b.b.c. the times newspapers published an article to labeling the question the evidence of the attack as a sad apologists. has been taking a closer look one of the people pointed out or singled out in the times article is all day the times said that he had written

a tweet calling into question the account of previous chemical attacks mr all day has since gone on twitter and shown that he never sent that tweet and has demanded an apology from the times another example is tim hayward he's another academic here in the u.k. and he's been seen as being guilty of association because he's written for. publication called twenty first century wire whose deputy editor has also come in for criticism by the times her name is billy so all of these kind of examples showing that to stray from the dominant narrative all of the war in syria will lead you to being accused of being an ass that apology apologise that's been the criticism of some here in the u.k. and there are those who say that this current environment again resembling somewhat of a witch hunt isn't conducive to free speech and to free investigation an inquiry

over the events of not just the weekend but the past seven years of the yukos policy towards syria and its support of the opposition groups there it's early but that report will international politics lecturer dr tara mccormick did reveal to us what it's like to be on the receiving end of the times attack. well i mean it's not ridiculous you know within the working group we have a range of different opinions on international relations and so clearly i have tweeted various things about alleged chemical attack tweeting to snopes signifie necessarily into it that's also a different thing from academic research it's a sort of bizarre oh i tell him to smear guilt by association q so should media. ridiculous attempt simply to shut down the working group that presumably may be asking questions that the times doesn't think should be on it all in all it's

right to british journalism and threat to academic freedom and free speech in the new kerry. ok when i go back to our top story this hour because the u.k.'s representative to the international chemical weapons watchdog says it cannot identify the country all of the region of the nerve agent used in these could have power attacks i was promised let's bring in a former british intelligence officer and she joins us now good afternoon to annie how do you think this revelation then they came out the softer noon might affect the u.k.'s argument that russia was behind this poisoning. i think it affects it profoundly although i have to say the argument that it's already made by the u.k. hasn't actually produced any evidence to say it indeed was russia i mean one of the first things they had to identify in this attack against the script holes was the substance used and porton down dug its heels in under pressure from the government we know this because of whistleblowers coming out of the f c o they dug their heels

in and said we're not going to say categorically it is not a child agent that came from russia all we can say is it appears to be the family of nova chalk agents or related agent which was originally developed in russia well actually the soviet union thirty forty years ago so that does not point the finger of blame to russia now we've also had many other esteemed media outlets particularly new scientist magazine saying that actually the formula for this agent the formula for the scent of a choke agent was published in a book by a russian defected to the usa in two thousand and eight so formally for any of these agents or related substances is out there in the world it could be and been developed by the new scientist magazine reckons up to about twenty different laboratories in many different countries around the planet so of course britain should not have mediately jump to the assumption that because it was developed under the soviet union it must therefore be used by russia now but according to u.k.

authorities and this is the only plausible explanation what are your thoughts on that stance that we keep hearing. you know they would say that wouldn't. and of course then the u.k. was very slow to bring in the o.p.c. w. to conduct an internationally verifiable investigation into this finally did that finally come out with their results and all they could say at the time was that they they backed up the assessment of porton down which is a very lukewarm endorsement now also very interesting as well and this has been all over the media internationally over the last few days is that one of the five permanently a license to recognised o.p.c. w. laboratories around the world they use speak celebratory in switzerland came out and said they found traces of a different type of agent could be said which is an incapacitating agent developed by the us and used by the u.s. and u.k. since the one nine hundred fifty s. now the symptoms caused by bt it would appear to correlate much more closely with the symptoms displayed by the scribbles of the time they were found and it can replicate almost in a way

a mild fentanyl poisoning which is. synthetic and i have to say the very first thought of the first responders was it wasn't a defensible type attack so how they moved from that to some exotic novacek agent to develop fifty years ago is perplexing particularly as they keep saying it's military grade it's highly pure it should have killed pretty much instantaneously. do you expect london then to provide anything other than this sort of statement it's highly likely in their opinion that russia was behind it i mean at what point do they have to back it up with firm evidence of everybody saying so far sorry we can't prove this nerve agent came from russia. well indeed he did they sort of backed and fell into a corner and i can't see how they can they can rescind what they've already said because particularly not only did they expel twenty three russian diplomats that actually immediately before the o.p.c. w. had even had a chance to examine this so-called evidence but they encouraged

a lot of their nato partners to do the same thing so they can afford diplomatically to row back from this position particularly a very vulnerable diplomatic time for britain looking for not quite sure what they can do apart from to keep scapegoating russia however i think you know with the celebratory evidence coming out and perhaps more evidence evolving over time and perhaps the involvement increasingly of russia within this ongoing investigation because britain has said that they want answers and they want to involve them to a certain extent we may find out more but i suspect rather sadly this is going to sort of languish in the conspiracy theory category for anyone who questions this very thread their official narrative that britain has pulled together sure and only before you go we should you say also an o.b. c.w. chief has come out and said that those b. samples b. said samples you talked about tested it in this group our case had nothing to do with souls bruce of our city official stance of the o p c w but we'll leave it there for now and imagine it's nice to talk to you thank you that was

a former m i five intelligence officer thank you. following the weekend bombing raids in syria a bipartisan group of u.s. senate voted new legislation aiming to limit the white house's power to continue its global war on terror. for too long congress has given presidents a blank check to wage war we've let the nine eleven and iraq war authorizations get stretched to justify wars against multiple terrorist groups in over a dozen countries from egypt to the philippines a proposal finally repeals those authorizations and makes congress do its job by weighing in on where when and with who we were at war well the proposed legislation would require the president to give congress forty eight hours notice ahead of any military action congress would then have sixty days to review that move it doesn't set a limit for any military action however it does include a congressional review every four years the proposed rules that expands the

president's authority to take action against al qaeda isis or the taliban but not a state the current more powers have been in place since nine eleven and have been used nearly forty times in fourteen different countries we discussed the proposed overhaul with the former u.s. congressman ron paul. it more or less is defining things slightly differently but in one slow up i think the effort to go to war i don't think it really repeals their war powers resolution but it does say congress gives the president authority to go to war against radical violent groups like al qaida and isis and maybe taliban but they say not i country. i really don't think it's going to pass. we'll see i only welcome the debate but i think they'll wake up and find out it's not doing anything and that when they pass these resolutions most of the time things hit worse this whole idea that you

can fight radicals any place in the world that's what they're doing already it just gives more authority to the type of policy that we've been following and getting us into trouble. he without international still had few this outing jews are whipped by an arab speaking man in berlin in the life to save a series of anti-semitic attacks there we'll have a look at that story and said this to you in a couple of minutes. i played for many clubs over the years so i know the guy and so i got. the ball isn't only about what happens on the pitch to the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the superman to just kill you narrowness and spending to get to twenty million fly a. book it's an experience like nothing else not to because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful guy great so well paul chance with.

the thinks it's going to. show the same wrong but all wrong just don't call. me cold but he's yet to shape out these days to come out ok and engagement equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart. just to look for common ground. welcome back to do you wish men wearing traditional kippa caps to been attacked with a belt by an arabic speaking youth on the streets of berlin one of the victims they

managed to film the incident. was so sore from it is socialism it is just so. i thought. she was. right she was but we have an incident whereby two jewish men who were wearing the traditional kipper are yarmulke on their heads were pursued down the street by a group of three people who attacked them with a belt they shouted the. arabic word for jew them as they pursued them a response we do hear one of the. of those that was attacked who was actually filming at the same time saying whether i'm jewish or not you've got to deal with this day it's a lot of focus on the police here in germany at the moment to get a result in this case the whole incident is caught on film we have

a clear view of the perpetrators for all the alleged perpetrators face. but also because this isn't the only incident this isn't a standalone moment if we look back just the last month there was a case where by a jewish primary school student or saying that she was jewish was told that well you should be beaten and killed for that there's also been incidents whereby a israeli born ballet dancer in the show in the city was well over his staff were harassed at a restaurant that he'd set up saying that they should be burned or gassed all of these things of course fitting into the the word. descriptions of anti semitism we have right now is a lot of focus on the authorities to find the perpetrators in this particular incident as he said we do have that video footage and what we also heard from high komatsu is the reasonably newly appointed foreign minister of germany while he was

visiting israel last month he did say that anti semitism was a shame that has become bearable on germany so you can imagine not only is there a lot of public pressure on the press on the police to find these perpetrators there's also going to be rather a lot of political pressure as well. now there are less than two months before the curtain is raised on the world cup in russia and the tournament's host cities are already preparing to welcome guests from all over the world a legendary danish goalkeeper and host about his coverage peter schmeichel as spent the winter visiting all of them this week is the turn of summer.

come to some arena it looks a bit like a u.f.o. from the outside so who's going to be flying high is it going to be harmless about the need to expose all the very hungry i used to lose to ours who returns to world cup action what else is going on. on peter schmeichel and i'm here to find out. to you walking on a frozen river walk and people are not really. knowing some people are having a little bit of. this is. into playgrounds and it's difficult to imagine that only in a few months this is going to be a place where people are sunbathing swimming watching football drinking beer and just having a good time in. america

big claim to fame is a role that it played in the space program it's where everything was produced including the rockets not this one but a similar one and went into space as the first man ever on but they also make a good piece here and i'll come back to that in a bit later. i could never be an astronaut i'm simply too big to fit into the seat this guy here he's half my size and i understand why half my size because to me seating which is this . i couldn't survive on that. i am not going into space just yet but i'm going to have

a. very difficult very hard. to believe that i feel that. this guy so good at it. my dad is a fabulous accordion player so i grew up with that and when i realized looking at the list for ambassadors at sac i wanted to go a world champion i said to myself going to beat this guy.

i want to be taught something teach me something. yeah. well.

as i told you before they make it could be a here in sanaa this brewery is cold does it really and you know that feeling when you say you've been dying to have a beer. and you find that empty but i'm an optimistic person i'm going to continue my search. and. go. through as if. nobody here. oh lucifer. i know this and i know where as you could be alone me comes and goes that way.

those. definite you smells like i'm getting close to my. most of my. i'm good. they're enjoying the sights of some are that's how the news is that i hear a nazi would have. to take when it's time.

alone welcome to cross talk we're all things considered i'm. american foreign policy possess a specific d.n.a. it would seem so it doesn't matter who the president is it doesn't matter which party controls the white house one can easily ask the following question is trumps time in office serving george w. bush's third term or barack obama's third term the neo cons are firmly in the saddle. ross talking american foreign policy i'm joined by my guest re leverage in washington she is currently c.e.o. of strategic a political risk consultancy and co-author of the book going to to run also in

washington we have michael flanagan he is president of flanagan consulting and a former congressman and in new york we cross to don de bar he is an anti-war activist and host of a daily radio program or a cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate hillary let me go to you. because my introduction i mean there seems like an enormous amount of continuity in american foreign policy particularly in this century i mean i mean if i didn't know better i would i could assume if i didn't know who the president was based on the campaign it would have would be hillary clinton in office right now is much is that terribly disappoints me because that was the only reason why i even took an interest in donald trump because he said something different and now i guess he's gotten in line go ahead hillary in washington. since the end of the cold war there has been bipartisan consensus for an incredibly interventionist you.