which song how we go to the country second to get mom. sure illegal consoles into the matter simply to maintain its head of fans is the end as an election she's a piece of this campaign speech and when i get that it becomes just she's a star a couple of years later i see thousand stories she's the first deputy prime minister and then in two thousand they come in with a new russian president yes the chair so what was his town like. modernization pushing the reset button on relations to. military conflict five days south since it was triggered by georgia. but. i think finishing the presidency is better switch because. it will work with the to the t.m. limo's distance which ring russia's economic storm in the face of sanctions tumbling the oil prices raising the nation's salaries and benefits unless it's not

a good mind to be slimmed down the to live the king live the take it would you like to see it work but do you cut your mike you know i don't think you deliver such but it is not the overall number of children but i think that. some forty percent of russians said they trusted but i'm still sure that she would not be looking to go it's the right to say do you want to say leave the city if the police get the studio with that ship. and that's all you need to know about it your best bet in just a bit to make. hundreds of interpreters who worked with the british army in afghanistan are facing the threat of deportation from the u.k. that's despite a promise they would be allowed to stay we spoke to one of those potentially affected who says the only thing awaiting him in afghanistan would be to. if they deport me back. there is only one tries for me to be killed he doesn't know when

but the u.k. home office has informed abdul bari that he's going to be deported to kabul within the next three months abdul says he can't go back to afghanistan because he worked as a frontline interpreter for british forces from two thousand and eight to two thousand and ten my life is in danger my family and i have something to be threatening me but all the time we know that he joined the infidels. he used to talk about there was only one child for me and i must leave the country of course so can target but the mean time to pose for me so if they catch me they would definitely just leave the country the british defense secretary gavin williamson has made headlines in recent days by telling the home office that afghan interpreters should be allowed to stay in the u.k. but that reassurance only refers to around four hundred form

a interpreters who have been given five year you take these as they expire soon and all the authorities have done in reality is say that they'll waive the costly renewal fees so those celebrator you headlines don't apply to the six hundred or so former afghan interpreter is still in kabul who have had their asylum claims rejected nor do they applied to the handful of complicated cases relating to former interpreters who were forced to flee and entered the u.k. illegally like abbeville all of us are delighted that those who've criteria and their families are here and will stay here and that they'll be paid the money there are still people who are being looked at and we need to be careful that we don't mention the fall through the debts we have a debt of honor to these people and what we mustn't do is leave someone who actually worked for us looked after. also has helped us we mustn't leave someone

like that in a position where they and their families will be at risk and we've got to be very clear make sure we don't do that abdul says he didn't have time to apply for a visa through the official interpreter scheme while he was still in kabul that required months of waiting and his life was increasingly at risk now abdul's lawyer is appealing the home office's moves to deport him many interpreters got these fish directly from afghanistan through the ministry defense relocation visa was very strict criteria that required you to be. working in helmand province and to be made redundant on or after the nineteenth of december twenty twelve a lot of people i missed the. word working in two thousand and twelve because they were threatened and targeted by the taliban had to quit their jobs and flee it's not really fair to make this journey to the you care to escape these threats to be told actually go home they're saying it's it's there for him to relook at we had

evidence from former employees not just from the british army but they also he was well within the entire board he really cared to the originator. but evidence suggests he was threatened in trouble. and if he goes back to the same will happen again he will be targeted when it comes to its own citizens the u.k. government clearly warns against travel to almost all of afghanistan even districts in the heavily guarded capital kabul it adds that terrorists are very likely to carry out attacks and methods are evolving and increasing in sophistication but that's apparently safe enough for abdul barry to return as far as the u.k. government's concerned i don't play with a couple loose so you cos i think i'm always the most dangerous place in the world at the moment because every day bomb is exploding people are dying and i don't. the home office is saying because. i first met abbeville

a couple of months ago since then his already fragile mental state has worsened. thirty five. times. more allowed to. do nothing but. some have a very bad person so i bring to the many times some may do something that. doesn't work. i ask him about what he wants to do if and after all this he wants to work he dread economics at university and capital he wouldn't mind resurrecting his professional boxing career either but his talk is tentative working and living here sounds like a dream one that any day now could come crashing down with the arrival of a final deportation letter. the u.s.

has slapped in venezuela with a new round of sanctions and is demanding the country cancel its upcoming election law about story and more after a short break. here like. i believe facebook's market share is increasing despite all the concerning its surveillance technology that they sell better including foreign governments but yeah the multi-trillion dollar market cap of these companies is a testament to the nature of the plot for the platform is now superseded the nation state facebook's got two billion users that's bigger than china so it's the biggest kind of entity there is in the world or has ever been in the world and probably ever be in the. i've been saying the numbers mean something that they matter to us is over one

trillion dollars in debt more than ten white collar crime champions each day. eighty five percent of global wealth he longs to be all for rich eight point six percent market saw a thirty percent rise last year some with four hundred to five hundred trees per second per second and bitcoin rose to twenty thousand dollars. china's building two point one billion dollars a i industrials. but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only numbers you need to remember is one one just shows you can't afford to miss the one and only boom but. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest on the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then.

welcome back to the program the united states has sanctioned three venezuelans and twenty companies said to have ties to president nicolas maduro accusing them of narcotics trafficking activity u.s. vice president mike pence called for other nations to join in increasing pressure on that as well and he also slammed the country's upcoming election as a legitimate. the so-called elections in venezuela scheduled for may twenty. fourth. there will be no real election this way on may twentieth and the world knows it will be you think about we think. the us has been calling for venezuela to delay its presidential election since

february thing that there is no guarantee of a free fair and internationally validated result the new sanctions are the latest u.s. measure against the government of madeira who was blamed by the trumpet ministration for a deep recession and hyperinflation in the opec member state washington has also accused of causing food shortages and sparking a flood of migrants into neighboring countries now to discuss this issue further we're not joining a live by william robinson professor of sociology and global and latin american studies at the university of california santa barbara thank you for joining us and welcome to the program now apart from posing new sanctions on bet as well my pence is also called to suspend this upcoming election what do you think of this demand coming from the vice president. well first of all let me say that these new sanctions have absolutely nothing to do with drug trafficking and they have nothing to do with the lack of democracy or electoral fraud in venezuela the united states

has been launched has been since the year two thousand and intensified every year carrying out an all out destabilization campaign against that a soil and part of the destabilization campaign is to undermine the venice oil and economy and in that way generate mass discontent that the united states hopes it can then harvest into political opposition to the venezuelan revolution the biggest traffic point for drugs now in the united states is coming from mexico and we know that just to give you a parasite and the united states has almost nothing about this the venice of the mexican army the mexican police significant portion of the of the political establishment of mexico's involved in this drug trafficking so this really has nothing to do with eradicating job trafficking it specifically targeting out venezuela because of because it's trying to overthrow that government now with regard to elections this again is a complete farce first of all the previous elections ever since the venezuelan police very revolution took place has had a series of five elections and they have been declared by the object of the generic

service to be completely free and fair and in fact the carter administration which has observed most of these elections has said that it's technically technically impossible to have fraud given the electoral electoral set up in in venezuela and let's just look again by way of comparison about the fraudulent elections in u.s. allies in latin america we the hard earned government carried out blatant fraud in the november elections and mass mass repression and yet the united states instantly recognized the hundred government because it's a close ally of the united states in in in latin america now the u.s. strategy for these elections coming up in venice well it's very important to note this there is an opposition candidate running henry func home and in fact he's increasing in the polls who knows he might win these elections but the u.s. strategy and a majority of the right. far right wing opposition in venezuela which is aligned with the us policy of overthrowing the revolution is boycotting these elections this is a boycott strategy because it does not want the venezuelan government legitimate it

but another of another election that we had and i think that its strategy is to first push this boycott do you have to debate the elections internationally and in that way legitimate a strategy of intensified violence and street protest in venezuela and what kind of reaction do you think we'll see from. reaction to this demand from my friends well obviously that means the venezuelan government is going to ignore that demand it's absolutely absurd and outrageous demand so. you give me dual government has made very frequent beginning it's not going to succumb to this u.s. intervention but neither is he going to take such such interventionist demands seriously all right i mean. i'm talking about just that i was just going to add that the venezuelan government as you know has has not changed its policy of systematically rejecting u.s. intervention in the country and at the same time the venezuelan government has already been collaborating with international organizations and regional

eradication of drug trafficking. i mean so the vessel government is certainly not going to take seriously this this new you know fall tenses of nonsense in the organization of irgun states i'm afraid we have to leave it there william robinson professor of sociology and global and latin american studies at the university of california santa barbara thank you so much for your time my pleasure was a pleasure. there's been a furious response in france over donald trump's mimicry of victims shot in the two thousand and fifteen paris terror attacks the president's remarks came in a speech to the u.s. national rifle association. they took their time and got them down one by one. come over here. come over here. but if you want to employ. we're just one patient had a gun. the terrorist would have fled or been shot. yes that was president trump suggesting the terror attacks in paris in two thousand and

fifteen could have had fewer victims if god knows when so restrictive one hundred thirty people were killed in the attack and hundreds were injured it's below. his words where lapped up by members of the largest gun rights lobbying group in the us. the ok with france so they hit a very roll and there are many sounds trumps remarks is disrespectful and insensitive to the victims and their families while the foreign ministry and least perhaps the harshest criticism of trump since micron took the presidential reins i'm a common trump those two a tight. expresses its firm disapproval of prison trumps comments about the powers to tax on november the thirteenth two thousand and fifteen and demands that the memory of the victims be respected. trump could have abstained from his

comments about the events that shouted all french people he might take back his words and express regret for them. but prong isn't the only u.s. ally to be prodded by donald trump at the convention trump believes the u.k. if suffering from a problem of its own they don't have guns they have knives lives. trumps remarks of course upset before in britain but this time the u.k. officials appear to have developed think again and that flight however across the channel many feel trumps twisting the knife in a deeply open wind. and you'll ten k. running race through the french capital won't be held this year do that due to the high number of homeless people many of them migrant camped out along the route it's a problem many have hoped would have eased over the last year or two charlotte devinsky reports president mark owen had pledged that by the beginning of two thousand and eighteen no one would be sleeping rough on the streets of france let

alone her and yet not only did he fail to deliver on the promise but it's getting woods much worse it's believed that up to one thousand eight hundred migrants have set up camp along the canal he in paris and fears that that could explode to around two and a whole thousand in the next few weeks has caused the organizers of the great race to graham paris to cancel the annual event. the ten kilometer race between paris and song to me was to take place in just over a week's time but this is part of where the run is supposed to come through and as

you can see it would be virtually impossible for them to navigate this section of the racecourse these makeshift camps are growing day by day the route is impossible it is disturbing to have to run the race in the middle of a refugee camp at last year's race around six and a half thousand people took part it was also adopted as part of paris's bid to host the twenty twenty four olympics embodying a couple of the games key objectives solidarity and ecology this cancellation so close to race day has disappointed many you know it's kind of unfair or because of improvising for one time and then you just cancel the last minute i mean it sounds like they should have reworded it down that's what i think so it's two separate problems you just do your race if your do your race and the rider problem is something else i think they should fix that they help them more. you know when you walk in the street you can see them all the people that live on the sidewalks

despite pledges to help migrants off the streets the greater paris region currently only has room to shell to seven hundred and fifty individuals far fewer than the numbers already here a number said to be growing in the hundreds each week organizers say they didn't want the camps to be cleared just so that the race could go ahead reluctant to be seen as a toothless social exclusion but safety concerns meant that they couldn't we reach either. participants have been offered refunds or a place in next year's event assuming of course there is one. ski. paris. that's a wrap up of today's top stories for this hour but i'll be back with more in about thirty minutes.

the ng am the air. above. the bomb. the united states has instead of tools it's news and it's a tax on other countries. economic sanctions are are often just the beginning another thing you like to do is place some military pressure on the country music you're talking about.

and there just to be an effort to demonize that country and the leader of that country because. we are and is a responsibility for the whole. and we need to make rules for the rest. because without us there will be change.

hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered i'm peter lavelle chromes foreign policy could be described as double speak the president doesn't have a defined policy approach even goals are difficult to discern is this what the art of the deal means is trumps foreign policy making america great again and the world safer. talking terms foreign policy i'm joined by my guest michael la who is in washington he's a professor of strategy at the johns hopkins university also in washington we have and then you for achi he is the director of grassroots political consulting and in new york we cross to george samuel he's a fellow at the global policy institute in london and author of the book bombs for peace are gentlemen cross-like rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i always appreciated michael let me go to you first in washington you are after all

a professor of strategy so given what we've seen of this administration well so they'd say does this president have foreign policies strategy go ahead mr strategists. strategy can be the thing itself or it can be a representation of the formulas and nostrums that float among the the privilege the ruling elites and thus i think you see trump speaking to the people who most enthusiastically support him right his base so called and he is speaking for them in their voice and in that sense much of. the rhetoric and delivery of his foreign policy. is really shaped to fit his constituency and part of that is sloughing off this elaborate theater and highly choreographed ballet

that marked elitist foreign policy since one thousand nine hundred five and so a lot of that's for show and it's very effective now when it comes to the substance of his foreign policy it also reflects his constituents and they. they like the idea of america first and of course he uses that for us and so i call his world view foreign policy a kind of america for version of world leadership which may sound contradictory but i don't think it is why what it means essentially is detached i think it is it's attaching the had finish your thought go ahead finish i don't. no finish your thought no the point is there's a whole level of spin and representation that is not necessarily mord to the actual relationships he's pursuing so a lot of this is very self-conscious grandstanding for the domestic audience

and he's toning down the leadership and and saying we will be world leader if it's really helps the u.s. . i guess that's why it's so confusing under president george because if we if we just take what michael said there i mean if trump is you know representing his base then he's portraying everything he said he would do for the base ok looks like good nation building in syria. tearing up probably that one of the most important nonproliferation agreements with iran ok i'll say it i didn't like obama's foreign policy but i thought the iran deal was a good deal and it was shown to be a good deal why is he doing that is again grandstanding just because obama did it is that a strategy go ahead george. well i think the his antagonism towards obama trying to differentiate himself from obama plays

a part in it but i think that trump really has no strong views on anything i mean he's been on pretty much on every side of every issue so out his long life i mean he's been for abortion against abortion for immigration against immigration for gun control against gun control so what he ran on in two thousand and sixteen wasn't really his final view on anything but he found that that kind of america first. and a kind of quasi isolationists policy work for him and he swept into power probably rather surprising that it was as successful as it was once he got into office he quine of abandon all of that and occasionally he still comes out with his rhetoric about the all we've wasted seventeen trillion dollars in the middle east we could have spent all this money on building roads and bridges it were you know but he's still pursuing the same policy in the middle east he still comes out with the stuff

that he was doing in two thousand and six the end of a well wouldn't it be great if we got along with russia yeah but he hasn't done anything about it and you know he's had every opportunity since winning the election of seizing this issue and saying hey i ran on this platform and this is this is what's going to happen you know that we are going to abandon these ridiculous projects in the middle east we are going to try to improve relations with russia this is what i won the election but he hasn't done it and he has quite happily just gone along with the the washington swamp that he had so eloquently denounced in two thousand and sixteen yet again you know in this the same foreign policy swarm denounced him as candidate ok and what it will and i think it's pretty clear that you know because his appointees are slow in coming because congress will appoint. vote on them you still have these old deep state actors still there and then he on top of it. he's put surrounded him with people like john bolton and

pompei you know i mean they have nothing to do with the vision that he presented during the campaign you know i'll agree with you in georgia he's flip flopped all through his life go ahead daniel in washington few ways to simplify things his main foreign policy is wherever he is a personal financial interest and branding opportunity and that's really first and foremost where his heart and soul is and as george articulated this is a lifelong democrat who turned himself into a tea party evangelical conservative for that thirty six percent base to win the election which was a thirty year record low turnout and he did a brilliant job at it the irony the grand irony is now that he holds office he has given capitulated everything there is no white house policy toward the intelligence community the pentagon or state whatsoever they are autonomous to

create their own and the one thing he stayed true on throughout that whole thing is he's like a donald w. obama he is a hawkish neo con and we were going to get that whether you had hillary clinton or donald trump and if you really look as to what he spoke at on the campaign trail and throughout his life that's his ideology so that reflects very well as to why we are where we are in syria why a bolton is hired you know in case they go she don't go well in north korea the iran deal and i'm not a president obama apologist either but that is the one other kevvy peter that you pointed out the iran deal t p p paris climate accord in all the go she ation for him is he pledged on the campaign trail that he was and obama he has distain for him on behalf of his purse. loyalty with the clintons ironically over many years and that guides him going the opposite way of obama on

a lot of those key issues you know michael one of the issues that during the campaign and after he became president is there his critics would say that he would be injurious to american allies let's think in terms of the middle east and and nato ok but you know surrounded by people. supporting policies that in fact do do that when we look at the are randi we had mccrone in washington merkel is going to show up i mean they're advocating that they keep keep the treaty alive and you know in this this is really interest to the alliance i mean i would like to see nato completely dissolved and have a completely new security arrangement in europe i think that's what donald trump actually was thinking about during the campaign so i mean what the outside world must be look at i know they are looking at him in bewilderment because where is he going to go next i mean the.