headline stories this hour claims of a chemical attack in the syrian city of duma earlier this month are called into question with a number of journalists who visited this site struggling to find any evidence to the report. the people there are telling us very persuasive this whole story from a group of people. the syria conflict seems to afford the new friendship between the presidents of france and america the two over a mutual dislike of the conflict stricken countries with. coming up on the program a local cameraman claims it's really soldiers shot dead an all armed palestinian teenager on the border last week stating he has video evidence to prove when i filmed him he wasn't carrying or sling. he was acting like everyone else and

mocking me. live from moscow to the world this is r t international my names you know neil welcome to the program a top story continuing to grow over claims of a chemical weapons attack in the syrian city of duma earlier this month a number of western journalists who travel to the city say they are struggling to find eyewitnesses to confirm the reports let's get into this day of joins me live in good morning to you. what did the journalists actually discover tell us once the arrived. well that's what what's so newsworthy that they found nothing if you were expecting any concrete evidence of culpability or even and he said suggestion well you were in for

a disappointment. i don't know just coming back from in town about five kilometers from here and it has approximately twenty thousand people who have fled from eastern guta and above all do the people very telling us very persuasively this whole story from april seventh was still. there are many people i talked to amid the ruins of the town who said that they never believed in gas stories which they usually put a boat they claim by the army is the most groups there's been a number of journalists that have travelled to the alleged side of this chemical attack they've spoken to various people to locals to witnesses the people who'd been in the hospital to doctors who had a british journalist from the independent who had a reporter from the german there d.f. others from international media and they've all heard the same opinions that

nobody's seen anything nobody's heard of anything nobody knows any of the victims nobody knows anyone who was injured or affected by by this attack it's all you know somebody was shouting there's been a chemical attack that's the narrative has been shifting there was a british former general in fact i'm on sky news i believe and when he went against the flow when he went to the end went against the what the media has been trumpeting for the past several weeks while he was rudely cut off possible motive might trigger syria launched a chemical attack this time and place. the syrians winning and then suddenly you go ok i'm done so i'm very sorry if in the very place of waiting for us that we don't need to give it their very sorry thank you very much indeed. more than that all these people who are visiting the place or you know who have an

alternative opinion as to what happened the one that goes against the mainstream narrative they face a backlash but there's a more and more voices among them nevertheless the united states backed by britain and france they had enough proof in the few videos that we saw and chose to strike in syria hours before the c.w. investigators were due to arrive. or it was the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons there are experts at the receiving why have they not been on the site will there no indian or. c.w. specialists arrived at the site of the alleged attack on saturday they collected samples but the jugular how they work their procedures their will vary how charges though there isn't a lot of information ok. what about the claims of the attack just bring us back to the first week of april where they originate from the initial claims and reports

were made by the white helmets group but the actors rescue is the syrian rebels and the islamist they're funded largely by western governments. tens and hundreds of millions of dollars there's also reports from. the syrian american medical society which claimed that it treated five hundred people. with symptoms. similar to those that one would suffer in the chemical attack but it's these two sources that was cited by almost the entirety of the media and government. was their reports and their videos that went out nevertheless with growing opinion growing views witnesses' testimony that nothing's such happened you know you've got to question where they got this from world war where this is. summation and why this information appeared in the first place nevertheless the russian position is

that we shouldn't jump to conclusions we should wait until there is a hard facts with which we can you know come to a judgment senior correspondent the of bring us right up to date with the story thank you and one of the aspects was speaking about there were the white helmets the self-styled emergency response group behind and the reports of the chemical attack who have long been embroiled in controversy just an example they have been frequently accused of links to jihadi groups in syria including terrorists affiliated with al qaeda not the activists enjoy wide support from western governments disclosing that they had received twelve million dollars in overseas donations this year the u.s. which is thought to be the white helmets largest contributor is reviewing its funding for rebuilding war ravaged syria but the state department assured the group won't be affected by any cutbacks. as the funding and the funding that the u.s. was providing to to this group and because of this. as far as i'm aware all of

the work still continues people's bills are still being paid if there's anything that's a change that also unlike you know less contributions are still as far as i know that was all still is all still in play and there's no rational it was supporting these groups so why tell me to work in any government territory and they have a very political agenda one might argue that the white helmet to doing some humanitarian work as well but because of all the political linkages one can easily say that they are compromised because as a humanitarian we shouldn't be taking part in the gravel groups and calling that defeats the objective that's why there are so many questions against the white house a lot of people who say we should stop supporting these groups that are questioning their motives of western involvement in syria because over the last seven years it's now evident that all these groups had linked with terrorism or syria is

expected to be the main focus of an upcoming visit at the french president to the u.s. and money will mccrone says he wants washington on par a sound there allies to play a key role in creating a new syria the french and american leaders appear to have bonded over syria with mccrone saying there are bilateral relations are as strong as ever. you explain your special relationship with the president and some of called you the trump whisperer i think we have a very personal relation basin's different meetings we had and it's official these visits that you present where president trump is expected to double his french counterpart with a private dinner vernon the virginia munchen was the home of america's first president george washington and is considered to be the cradle of american french relations the presidents are also expected to exchange memorable gifts and the society looks out why the money will mark rowlands visit to the u.s. promises to be so special donald trump is the first u.s.

president in nearly a century to end his famous chair without holding a state dinner but he's wasting little time and his second his first in a date at the white house french president emanuel but the tyranny this initial encounters have been slightly shaky. micron even went as far as trolling trump on his favorite platform off to washington pulled out of the parrot's climate deal but paris this child seems to have done the trick i remounted dinner atop the eiffel tower with first ladies last july may have been enough to figure if i'm forget the bilateral tensions since that we've seen the best of the new with political bromance i've. the friendship between our two nations. and ourselves and there is only great but.

nothing will ever separate us. deep rooted in that blossoming relationship that lies the military foundation president micron was the first to back donald trump in his decision to strike syria even boasting that he convinced trump said to be a notoriously bad listener. not to withdraw troops the usual ten days ago president trump was saying the united states of america had a juicy to disengage from syria and i assure you we have convinced them that it is necessary to stay for the long term the relationship between the two leaders has drawn comparisons with former playschool best george w. bush and tony blair once dubbed the odd couple their friendship was not it will be full invasion of iraq and the british government inquiry called the bad bush relationship its attending factor in shaping it their relationship went from clean and healthy on toothpaste to a mutual hatred of saddam hussein some familiar syrian dictator bashar assad the

best shot at us said bashar al assad is in a war against his own people micron and trumps common grounds can be found in good old fashioned ego a self proclaimed stable genius and the strong as the roman gods jupiter all good leaders make another's weakness their strength and the money thief this chance for france's own special relationship with the us at a time when the u.k.'s was beginning to flounder not to mention ties with other european leaders as well but it can always be smiles and handshakes take the iran nuclear deal currently trying a wedge between their new found friendship and the worst deals i've ever seen disasters deal one of the dumbest deals one of the worst deals ever was the around deal i'm all for agreements but that was a bad one we cannot and will not make this certification. a solid robust verifiable agreement that guarantees that iran will not acquire

nuclear weapons to denounce it without proposing anything else would be a serious mistake not respecting it would be irresponsible as the deadline approaches to fix or nic the iran agreement is thought to my car might be the only your opinion to try to talk trump out of breaking the deal but with the white house back on the diplomatic dating scene for the first time in two years that's plenty of things for the media and world leaders to. nuclear deal one nation mentioned there was struck back in twenty fifteen in a blind to run to stop its nuclear program if the u.s. drops sanctions against iran or president trump has cast diet's on the agreement and set a may the twelfth deadline for participants to improve its terms otherwise washington will withdraw from the accord iran's foreign minister warned that his country would resume nuclear enrichment if the us walks away from the deal a professor of politics in to run told us that tearing up the iran nuclear

agreement will only hurt the u.s. the united states is in a weaker position today than they were six seven years ago the iranians are the iranians are used to sanctions i don't think that the united states will be able to put this sort of pressure on iran that it was able to do so before so personally i think that if the americans go down the road. tearing up the dream and they would. face more harm then the iranians the americans would be isolated and they will be seen as violating the agreement and unreliable whereas the iranians will be seen as the victim. he claims to have this sort of influence so he could use this influence in a constructive way that is possible so but with there will still have to see trump is from looking at him from tehran is very unpredictable. the shooting of

a palestinian teenager during ongoing clashes on the gaza border has been caught on camera the boy was allegedly shot by israeli defense forces and warning you may find the following video disturbing. mohammad was shot in the head and died instantly he was fifteen years panic spread following the shooting r.t. spoke to the person filming this who sings muhammad wasn't threatening the soldiers and was on. the loose participating in the march like everyone else lots of people were participating and he was among them that he was not a threat israeli army and he was not acting in a manager could have been mistreated he was a fifteen year old child no matter what he was doing he couldn't have been posing a threat to the soldiers given the distance between him and the friend as well as

the fact that the soldiers who stood one hundred to two hundred meters back from the fence on the other side when i filmed him he wasn't carrying a stone or a sling shot or a knife he was acting like everyone else in the march. of the conflict fed up with the start of the so-called great march of return almost a month ago palestinians have been demonstrating at the girls in israel border demanding the return of territory bay believe israel has occupied our team also managed to speak to the family of the boy who was killed they say he was at a peaceful protest and was standing far from the border fence let me hear there's a new sure you. know i said mohammed was three hundred meters away from the fence and even if he was right next to it he was a peaceful demonstration he was just a child was he carrying a missile launcher was he shooting at the soldier who killed him why did they kill him i'll tell you what mohammed did wrong mohammed's fault was that he was demanding his rights. just that he asked to go to the demonstration and i said i

didn't want him to because these railways threaten and target people each friday threats from the israelis increased then he asked to go and play outside but he's. then ran off to the demonstration as soon as he got there they targeted and killed him it happened in less than an hour mohammed knew that his uncle was going to the demonstration and said i want to go with you he said no as he was afraid that something might happen to the boy i thought i'd convinced my hamad to stay at home but he left asking his aunt to tell me and my wife he was just going to the fence for an hour he was returned to us as a martyr. the israeli defense forces has reacted to the incident posting a picture on twitter showing palestinians close to the border fence claiming that hamas is using youngsters for terror attacks israel's defense minister also started by the idea of a search and calling for people not to approach the border. the only culprits in

the death of the fifteen year old boy in gaza are the leaders of hamas those cowards hide behind women and children and use them as human shields so that they can continue to dig attack tunnels and carry out terrorist actions against the state of israel i say to the residents of gaza for a long life do not approach the fence. it is outrageous to shoot at children how does the killing of a child in gaza today help peace this tragic incident must be investigated a full investigation is needed the e.u. calls on the israel defense forces to refrain from using lethal force against unarmed protesters israel has launched an investigation into the case following worldwide criticism of the shooting the demonstration has left dozens of palestinians dead and many more injured in the past three weeks.

it's eight minutes past ten am here in moscow we're going to a short break but after that the latest from london on the poisoning of a former double agent. on. a plate for many clubs over the years so i know the game and so i got. the ball 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 to kill you narrowness and spending to get to the twenty million. it's an experience like nothing else because i want to show what i think what i know about the beautiful guy great

chance for. most definitely wasn't a victim of any kind of. person because it will destroy the person could be pretty as far as. they. need because they certainly have to get their people if they get into trouble. they're back with are to international the u.k. is expected on monday to field questions from russia on the case of a former spy poisoned last month that's according to the british envoy to the international chemical watchdog the o.p.c. w surrogate and his daughter yulia were poisoned in seoul march the fourth the

u.k. immediately stated that moscow was highly likely to have been behind the incident but the o.p.c. w. under u.k. military law were unable to determine the origin of the poison used in the stalled spree. when r.t. sophie shevardnadze spoke to a former eastern bloc spy who successfully penetrated. the cold war he gave his perspective on the case. i. skip are most definitely wasn't a victim of any kind of operation or at that from the russian side because that would totally destroy the russian credibility as far as exchanges are concerned and they they are dependent on it because they certainly have to get their people back if they get into trouble the union i. there is certainly some kind of scenario of. russian operations

and. they just became a good opportunity. to i. i believe that if you really want to get out. you know how to do it till you move to a different continent you change identity if you really are very mean had access to very sensitive information that's what i would advise. such an agent to do but otherwise i don't think it's really all that. the dangerous or if you want to leave you leave him in most cases they will if you go you know why because it doesn't make sense to force somebody to do something that he doesn't want to do. but our intelligence agency is thankful.

yes the cia was certainly vengeful they did try to compromise me and they certainly spread false rumors they tried to. thread the ugly stories about me to miss their eventual cia was certainly very once one early f.b.i. i would say more the f.b.i. than than the cia. switching gears now when the going gets tough the tough get going so say's the saying defense industry has unleashed some brand new hardware to do just that the following all terrain vehicles focus on getting troops and emergency services to remote in accessible areas let's not take a closer look.

e.u. officials are reportedly working behind the scenes to persuade washington to ease sanctions on russia imposed after the poisoning of former double spy service cripple his daughter yulia it comes amid concerns of a blowback to european businesses hitting in particular the blocks biggest economies from dramani some of the sanctions target the metal trade europe's allah

many a market is already seeing disruptions concerns of a supply gap have also prompted the renewed diplomatic push well under the latest sanctions european companies are effectively barred from doing business with their targeted russian counterparts which means that automobile earth space on tele communications powerhouses are not facing i shortage in crucial resources metal industry executives have warned of layoffs production disruptions germany is seeking to ease concerned. the german government and all working levels would point out where the interests of german companies have been affected and make it clear where the raw concerns and where we see undesirable consequences previous sanctions have also taken a toll some estimates point to a nearly eighteen billion euro loss for european markets around four hundred thousand workers are also thought to have lost their jobs as

a result of the punitive measures. the russian sanctions are also likely to be high in the agenda at the annual meeting of the world's most developed countries in june at the head of the summit there have been calls for russia to have a seat at the negotiating table a german opposition lawmaker has urged the g. seven bloc to enter into constructive dialogue with moscow former british diplomats william melanson scenes europe should be more pragmatic in its dealings with the u.s. and russia. the actual businesses the companies themselves in france and germany in particular must be putting enormous pressure on the currently allegedly m t m t russian governments with such a key. product as i let me and all its byproducts we have a very large economic multiplier effect going into a lot of other industries not just act craft and motor cars but fridges so the nature and let's not forget other countries let's remember the austrian particularly is very much against any sanctions freeze of the russia keeping europe

separate from russia and germany especially away from russia is the traditional anglo american plan anyway better if europe learn to to to ignore ignore all the more excessive all the american instructions and get closer to russia i mean business is business soft a rule. life or a hates queue in moscow every hour of the day this is r t international join me again in just over half an hour's time for more global more great programs though right ahead. max geysers financial survival guide. housing bubble. oh you mean there's a downside to artificially low mortgage rates don't get carried away that's cause report. we all willingly accepted the risk of

being shot wounded taken prisoner but not signed up to be friggin poisoned by our own people saying stuff that was leaked or biological and chemical products the said do not truck tires all types of styrofoam polystyrene batteries trucks there was a complete denial i think at all levels of government that there was any connection between berm pits. and what these brave soldiers were suffering from to compensate every soldier marine airman and sailor that was on the ground that are complaining about illnesses from their exposure from the burn pits would really literally send a v.a. broke and they don't want to pay it so the waiting in decades a lot of those soldiers will die in time and they will have to pay to. get the middle finger to the v.a. xen model is. delayed and i hope you don't.

tell us stein is getting international recognition with the help of israel at least in the world of zoos him in bill fails to commission to do it like you know. this isn't my cup of tea is going up the study hall maybe you know john i just hope. the only palestinians who gets the most help from his to roost on counterparts i don't think is and of those ruined on the vision that know only because it is. and that's his office not his job to this lady in the most of the jihad i know if you continue in the doesn't seem to do more among us also some piss off.

hello and welcome to crossfire for all things to consider and i'm peter lavelle are the mainstream media playing our roles found in the great russian novel the possessed. voicing dissent against media orthodoxies has never been more dangerous and is peace breaking out on the korean peninsula. across talking media madness i'm joined by my guest mark sloboda he's an international affairs and security analyst and we have dmitri bobbitt she is a political analyst with spook nick international origin across the groups in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciated i'm calling this program the possessed because the mainstream media corporate

mainstream media are possessed because all of their narratives or virtually all of their narratives of the main stories that we've been covering on this program are in tatters falling apart i've never seen this kind of environment mark and we have an example here with moon of alabama which will discuss it i think at length because i think it's a marvelous piece of investigative thoughtful intellectual journalism mark yeah. i think or really a phase that i like to call shooting the messenger because the narratives of the western governments in both the the so-called scriptural incident at solihull very in the u.k. and the incident in duma in syria which led to illegal us strikes u.s. u.k. and french strikes on syria both involve alleged use of chemical weapons.