if we think this way of cities you know leading the way we will essentially leave all the major issues of life you know war and peace of life and death to the politicians. do you have that sense and i wonder if you believe that politicians. care enough about the things that you supposedly care i think there's an awful lot of politicians talking. about ideas that are clearly not only not evidence based but based against evidence and that communities i don't fully understand but i do observe it a lot and it's quite distressing. i don't know how to explain it but it is a it's a real danger and i think measures to. policies that are shown to not be effective is but create political value in some way.

is quite peculiar i don't want to make this into a political and strictly about the state is where obviously recording it at a time when there is that major fear over confrontation between our countries but then the united states russia over syria and you know it just strikes me that. so much attention is paid to delivering a strike on a country where it's as you say we have millions possibly even billions of people living in squalor conditions and nobody ever would even discuss that on on television how often do you get that chance to talk about things that warry you so i think there's. an active discussion it's just there's not much action that's going to depressing and there's a lot of action. as as i said things that are clearly not only not evidence based but against the evidence. they're used there's

a famous old conservative economist milton friedman who said that economists roller to provide the information and people like the right choice what we see today is something quite different and that information is provided and actions are taken that have very little to do or in fact are the opposite of what mr buckley we have to take over. short break but they have been back in just a few moments stay tuned. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then.

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

back to well the part that's relevant buckley's senior fellow in international affairs at the new school in the arts. mr brooklyn just to finish. the issue all five. where politicians. attention to. syria is a lot. on my mind a lot and i think there is also something. you know that country also requires and arjen how specialist like yourself because it has lots of formally urban communities where the infrastructure was damaged a great deal some of those communities and now trying to go back to normal but obviously the resources lacking or a very short i wonder if we understand as a global community at this point how do you try to rebuild those cities not only syria but perhaps also in iraq in a way that would encourage reconciliation between various ethnic groups rather than

strengthen the divisions that provoked those conflicts in the first place. the famous english economist lord keynes who said. should be to be like dentists and to say we can repair this tooth and in so terms of working in cities you have to have a context that the environment the broader political environment is reasonable and that people can reach the politicians will be responding to the people when you have a state of war. there's nothing i can do with my motor skills to build the works. and suggesting to go to syria and try to rebuild it from from from their own so i'm just asking whether it is no commitment rosabelle to carry out something on that scale that has already i mean to rebuild something on the scale that they have in syria. i think we've had if you go through history it's been

cruel and destructive over and over and so our cities have come back and many are quite beautiful and wonderful places. if you look in the middle east and places like syria i agree with you it's totally depressing. and i wish the political issues involved with it could be resolved i don't begin to understand it or how to do that but i think until that is done there's very little hope that those cities will be able to turn the tide i think it has to come from the broader political context rather than from the city context kirkley from wrong i understand that they are specialized in sort of matching. or correlating the city's layout its morphology to the economic activity and. we have an interesting example here in russia of the capital grozny which was destroyed two decades ago which has now been built with federal subsidies but i think there is

a mismatch between how the city looks and how it operates in terms of the organic self-sustaining growth i mean if you have the money you can get it and the city will exist but the question is how you make it self-sustaining. how do you figure out how to do the latter part of what doesn't require so we just did some work what we referred to as trying to avoid what they called the. syndrome and it's this man who thought he was the king of kings and had a statue built themselves that said well you look at me despair because i have such a beautiful place that i've designed and it's in fact in the middle of a desert building a city is a very organic spatial structure that responds to economic incentives and it's impossible for one player to know how to allocate and make the investments for the entire city i think as you mentioned earlier in new york in barcelona the plans

there and what they did was quite basic in terms of set up a structure so that people can respond to the incentives and build and paris and places like that they're just there as paris is the city of. it's still it's still quite beautiful and building a city that organically responds to the incentives and structures long live structures that can take advantage of where people want to live how they want to live and so forth is unquestionably the most important thing to do so a public policy maker to assume that he or she could do that is you brits of the highest degree and almost certain to fail now i know that you've also started the morphology off largest thirteen largest cities in russia and you suggest that it's my thought is well less than optimal in terms of encouraging economic growth what do you see as the major impediments so let me qualify that in a couple of ways first of all i haven't been to russia in eighteen years i worked

here during the transition and now i've come back and it's delightful to be back and meet many old friends and as russian people are so friendly to me and. so my investigation was with the co-author who in fact is my son and he's a geographer who worked through satellite images of russian cities and what we did was compare those images to would cities look like around the world and what we find is that the types of structures of the cities the density of the population is such that it's unusual it's very unusual and so. papers written during the transition suggest that was quite costly to the russian economy and it was one of the reasons that the government was seeking to reform the way cities function. what we've found is that those patterns seem to not only persist but in some places to intensify so twenty five years after the reform you still have cities where instead of having most of the people living in the center of the city you often have most

of them living on the outskirts of the city and so the idea of the city is that people get together and they congregate and they. exchange ideas with a western city but i guess for us the russians. that kind of martha. you know something deeper about our culture we are very centralized people with some authoritarian tendencies so i wonder if that layout is ultimately going to reflection of not only our city planning but also of broader things in our culture you know you could as we say in the paper you know number one we're not sure it matters that it's different and if it does matter we're not sure that it's as costly as it could be but if you look at the studies in america these kinds of distortions they matter they matter a lot and they have. limits are the reduced economic growth in the united states by

fifty percent and so did see ability to move to cities that have the highest productivity if you can't move and you can't move to the places within those cities that afford you the opportunity to exploit your skills it stands to reason that you would be less productive whether that matters on a broader scale or whether it's something cultural we don't know we're just reporting that it is different here. russians to say do they agree to take think what the causes are that we think what can be done about it and what can be done about it is quite difficult question. also attributed to a. problem which you described as too many people having too many rights to control the property see which makes consensus very difficult and i think part of the reason is also that. the russian people after a long history of collective existence have also become very automatized they have void collective solutions collective action even their fifth objectively

that to their benefit is that something permanent or do you think that may change over time to have we seen in other cities how this collective muscle collective from the positive way how does it form so that was yesterday i gave the presentation and for russian experts responded and people from the audience responded that was it almost a continual theme. it's not only the difficulty of negotiating it's the lack of desire to do so and that well the buildings the units were privatized many people don't feel that the building has anything to do they have anything to do with and that they should that should be provided to them and so one commenter said they're not real owners they're view themselves as residents and there is this very collected feeling and so that's something that i think is profoundly difficult to change and it will take time i also think that in terms of the transition that some

people take for example a person living on the outskirts of for example. in a quite a distance or or job who has. transport heavily subsidized utilities heavily subsidized and not many job opportunities there are not as many as there were in the old days . what does a person do if you think of this the house with been given if you put the real cost to the utilities there are opportunities and there transport in fact they weren't given an asset they were given something that detracts from their their wealth and so that person is in a tough spot and so a lot of russians i think are in that spot and it makes it a very profoundly difficult political question it's an interesting observation especially given that there are authorities like to comply. and about the lack of social mobility on the part of the population but you can also i guess think about the policy is that and courage that social mobility by for example restructuring

some of those subsidies or how think people to make. rational decisions about their property but i think they are making rational decisions and it's difficult for the government to move away from subsidising the transport of utilities simply because those people are in such a costly spot and they can't afford it particularly pensioners what do you do about that and that's just a transition from one type of system to another it's a very costly system change this effect is one that i don't think is from the discussion yesterday people were saying this is something we need to look at more closely now you mentioned that there haven't been in quite some time and i'm sure you've noticed that there must have put a lot of thought a lot of resources and various beautification. projects they have really trying now to make this vironment a little bit more hospitable but i think an interesting phenomenon here is that. many of the residents are not actually excited about the kind of innovation and

what it also reveals as they call for skill of community cation on the part of the authorities or perhaps on the part of the population is that. a particular russian phenomenon there is is this something that you see in other cities as well. i'm not sure i guess i should say the city. center here but it's quite lovely and it's really what it was when i was here in the transition was going it's no it it's a european city it feels a little if you use incredibly russian but it just it's delightful. so to me as an external observer in the person who goes to lots of cities. it's great to come back and the people are very warm and it's very. it's just the delightful experience that he has speaking on that first of all and i guess my question is more professional and. more off your profit professional expertise

i think they have they the idea that the mosque authorities have is that if you crave the right kind of environment that will how to bring. more people into the city not only tourist but also more business as it will also how keep the most agitated within the city do you think that kind of rationale is going to work especially given the. kind of times that male even so what i think. this is a fascinating historical moment and it reminds me of. new york when there was a man named robert moses who they say that he's the only man in the twentieth century who you can see from the moon see his creations on earth and he really carved up new york city and he built a lot of it he built lincoln center he did a lot with the central park but he also destroyed a lot and he destroyed and he cut through neighborhoods particularly poor

neighborhoods and avoided the rich neighborhoods and so his movement restructuring a city. you know for better or worse must goes in a point where it needs to restructure and so how do you do those things when you have all the millions and millions of people who have different ideas you have to listen to them and i think the. robert moses was a woman named jane jacobson very much getting community participation but that slows things down a lot and you can understand when there's a need for change what people don't want to engage the community but nevertheless if you don't it doesn't work and so i think it's a very difficult i don't begin to second guess the things that have been. but i wish them well. mr buckley thank you very much farai this conversation has been delightful and. tire and i also encourage our viewers to keep it going on our social media pages as for me to hear again same place same time here and also part of.

barbaric. and out of that how can are better than our good luck to the us but not out of the mouth of the money the day of the night actually. this was a good time to. try to move.

was that ultimately not long enough for north america and our stop or chanting of the all the people we believe up against. all of my kids i don't want the bible so john a whole lot of other moment i want to tell them about how little accusers are there a little i'm a little work you might be older looking at the think i don't want to put all your love to my work party without all the other blow that it.

journalism finds itself in the media's spotlight in the u.s. after c.n.n. refuses to retract a trump collusion story even after the networks source backtracked on is the most serious claim. more cracks emerge in europe over the migration issue as the french president says he is now the main opponent to the hardline and migrant leaders of italy and hungary. with a decisive battle looming over the last rebel stronghold in syria the russian foreign minister warns that the us seemingly prefers regime change to removing terrorists. have a full newscast coming your way in about an hour's time with my colleague colum bray but first cross talk debates whether the media is fueling america's culture

war stay with us. hello and welcome to crossfire for all things considered i'm peter lavelle to the corporate mainstream media fuel america's cultural wars do they magnify political differences it would seem so how else could it be if the all. topic that is discussed and argued over is donald trump or journalist infected with trump arrangement syndrome. cross talking trumped arrangement syndrome i'm joined by my guest rob taub in new york he's a political pundit and journalist contributing to the huffington post also in new

york we have lionel he's a legal analyst and a news decoder at lionel media dot com and in plymouth we cross to patrick endings and he is a journalist and writer and founder of the news website twenty first century wire dot com all right gentlemen crosstalk rolls in effect means you can jump in anytime you want lionel let me go to you you're also referred to on this program as fella my first question is here does the do the corporate mainstream you remember that program did that do they do the corporate mainstream media. do they contribute to the cultural wars it is are we so is divided and is everything is contentious as it really is or are they just magnifying for their own political purposes go ahead lionel yes no yes no and sometimes that corporate first of all correction my dear friend it is not the mainstream media used to be that mainstream media used to be mainstream they're not this is the mainstream media social media different

platforms that's mainstream they are an existential fight for their life so within the particular parameters of their working environment yes they mix it up and people are scraping does the rest of the country mainstream heartland mainstream america care no no there you go so ok but ok but rob i mean i get we all can't lionel's point but they still think of themselves as the mainstream and representing. the population what they really do is represent power particularly on the left i would say but i want to stay with this man. cation here because if you look if you watch c n n n m s n b c and then you watch fox on the same evening you'd think you'd be in parallel universes i mean you really would have a sense that both are in some kind of never never land and having nothing to do with the world outside go ahead rob i was one of the token liberals on fox and at

one point i think i made over two hundred. ten appearances on there over the course of a couple of years. there they were pursuing back then i think more of a fair and balanced attitude but now well i was always like the washington generals the team that never beaten the harlem globetrotters you know i was going in the know the five other people were going to beat up on me but i was allowed to voice my opinion i don't really get that sense anymore i sense that the people that they pick to to give a liberal perspective are speaking about outrageous claims and comments and policies and they're taking an extreme so they can say hey look at this kooky liberal he is just like bernie sanders but but we also have a divisive president who has written acrimony throughout the country and we have politicians on both sides that are taking more extreme points of view and you're

going to have news shows and stations that are going to be representative of those those policies and beliefs and then those that those bases are going to go and watch those particular stations and channels ok lionel doesn't agree but i'm going to go to patrick first here i mean rob brings up a really good point i mean donald trump by any any measure is a very contentious president i mean i i watch all of his town and his stadium appearances i mean he goes out there ok and his base likes it ok but he does give the mainstream the liberal mainstream media. this c.n.n. and some d.c. the people like that he gives them a lot of cannon fodder to walk to work with patrick you know i think earlier your point it's essential crisis that the mainstream media is going through it's not just an existential crisis it's a financial crisis so what you have now is they've been forced to basically run

click bait if you're talking about broadcast television it's one crisis after another or one sort of trump derangement crisis after another with the print with the washington post i get the daily alerts every day and michael cohen said this michael cohen said that steve bannon's gardner heard him you know whatever singing russian in the shower so this is the daily sort of fodder because they can't they have to attract the audiences they have to get the clicks the very thing they accuse of the independent media the very thing they decry on social media they themselves are the worst offenders now so they need a crisis this is the sort of recurring theme with the mainstream media ok it's actually always been like that for many years when you crisis if it's not political to be aware but patrick going to go to lionel but i get what you're saying what about a real crisis because i. sensibility that stormy daniels isn't a crisis for me i could care less ok a creepy porn lawyer i could care less it's in one ear out the other and i don't

those are minutes of my life that i will never get back that's why i don't watch those stations here lionel you were disagreeing at some point go ahead jump in to my dear friend the intellectually sapient mr cobb i disagree in one respect what roger ailes die fox news as we knew it di absolutely die next with a d.c. fox merger disney rather to me fox merger even though they swear that the news of the union is different you are seeing a watered down and the dying saccharin version of what was once fox at its and you can argue about this. best and the like with all due respect also my dear friend peter what you like has nothing to do with what these people are interested in this is a twenty four seven runaway train that you want to be run away you have to keep feeding the boiler and you are pouring everything into it you have a newsroom with twenty something i'm sorry to say per d.m.

folks who i have no journalistic ability know no experience of any kind of t.v. or whatever they are just there to click and just feed the line is it but there's no room for correction but if i did then but the point is here is this dividing the country i mean i understand how it's made and why it's made and i understand the bottom line here but it is dividing the country i mean jim acosta i mean what it describes journalism ok i mean and they probably think he's doing a great job rob if you were nodding your head go ahead he's not he's not defied ok ok go ahead go ahead rob jim acosta is not dividing that ok i'm sorry i'm sorry. go ahead rob lionel consider this ok i'm going to start at the top with our esteemed president donald j. trump when you have a white house press pool they usually normally interact with the white house communications director who for quite

a while was hopes his hope picks the way it used to run and i was not a huge fan of president obama only voted for him once jen psaki who was a communications director disseminate that information to her columns team the columns team then interacted with various people in the press pool and disseminate information to them so they could write about it i don't think that's ever been done under trump so you have pressed people that sit around twiddling their thumbs sitting and fuming going what am i going to do what am i going to write about i think i will say that trump is a jerk and that he's disorganized and he doesn't do anything that he needed because the evidence going on that he needed comes to mean. has twitter ok that's why it's abit dear let me go to patrick because you know we've got a job that i think has got going on line here you know we've gone back and forth on this program with all of us all of us here about twitter and and it's got those pluses and minuses here but again the traditional mainstream media lionel ok this

is where that creates an opening for them is well ok so you know these different strategies they have their pluses and minuses patrick go ahead and claim it. yeah i think you're kind of talking about two different things here but let's talk about social media for a minute because these are some of the same corporations that are now overlapping with broadcast media and with mainstream print and they're also working hand in hand with the first draft coalition all these sort of concepts to police fake news and so forth their their ideological you know in the united states and you know their ideological dependence is really on the state you know and i think this is the mainstream media's problem as well they need access to the state they need access to power they also need access to corporate ties and money and hence they become a tool of government where they become a tool of corporate propaganda the same goes for the silicon valley facebook might be.