to fool. people to fold up he comes in for just twelve euros fifty per month. international. trade. relations with washington. nuclear deal sanctions against iran a decision that does not sit well with washington's european allies all the while.

businesses in the islamic republic. british. middle east of london's continued. that a war even exists. kurdish forces in syria their operation against islamic state claiming they've come on the. ground in its latest offensive. with the week's top stories on their main headlines off today welcome to our sunday program the week. the president of china has instructed the country's military to be war ready raising the specter of a potential conflict over trade territory but how much of this is just possible

posturing. takes a closer look so here's the thing the chinese government almost never says anything you wouldn't expect thing. they're incredibly careful reserved at least with their tongues so when the chinese president orders his military to prepare for war serious indeed. the military to concentrate on that in these four war the chinese are preparing for war out loud. how over how did we get to this well trump for one aside from land blasting the chinese at every opportunity is tariffs his sanctions his trade war he's also being very heavy handed congress has just approved a second arms deal with taiwan in eighteen months. kind of untruthful the sales of weapons by the united states to taiwan damages china's sovereignty and security

interests. beijing sees china and taiwan as two parts of a whole two chinese entities same culture at this it's the same languages with two separate governments communist capitalist the end goal is to reunite into one state there are differences of course currency preventing that and about one hundred kilometers of c. that separate the two and trump always a fan of sticking it to the chinese he's been saluting his warships right between the two china's. we have expressed our concerns to the u.s. side the taiwan issue concerns china's sovereignty and territorial integrity and is the most important and sensitive issue in china u.s. relations. for starters how about you express your concerns about these important and sensitive issues to someone who cares

a little more because that in trump we worry about. i don't worry about things. let's be great never worrying about anything unfortunately others are there are those in china who believe that america wants taiwan to declare independence and the chinese are preparing for that eventuality militarily. as your own you know we are resolute to defeat any scheme or act of taiwan independence in any form. thing is the taiwanese don't really see a point to defending themselves taiwan which recently switched from conscription to a volunteer army is having huge trouble recruiting even reserve troops dodging the

juicy after all that's the point the devil when. the government needs to think whether it's necessary to bring conscription back to the theme national security matters but taiwan is a minor player in these confrontation if war does break out it likely be the people's republic of china slugging it out with the united states rather than taiwan and that is a war that trump really really ought to be worried about the world is really at a cross rolled the united states has been pushing china round he merely china and imposing unilateral tariffs on the chinese exports china does not want to have a trade war with the united states china does not want to have a conflict with the united states but if the united states really wants to impose these things onto china i think the chinese people will be fully mobilized behind

the chinese government and the chinese military. new research says the devastating war in yemen has claimed fifty six thousand lives over the past two years some five times higher than previously thought and some british m.p.'s are losing patience with the u.k.'s role in arming the saudi coalition leading being coersion and a parliamentary committee this week grilled britain's top middle east diplomat over relations with riyadh. do you have a problem with condemning murder and international violations of into international law or incomplete mistakes i made the only thing that we don't do is actually press the button to drop the bomb i'm surprised there for those who need to defend themselves the amount of raids targeting civilians is going up north if these are aware of this. and i do not agree that if the united kingdom was simply to.

deny its support for the party which is under threat and so engaged in support of illegitimate government i mean if we do that. the way to go. meantime a british charity has found that almost half of all people in the u.k. are unaware there's an ongoing war in yemen even though the country is the second biggest supplier of weapons to the saudi military. more of those findings in a moment but first a quick look at just how much of a toll three years of war taken on the yemeni people. i. i. i.

i do you know what's happening in yemen. but. i'm afraid i suppose. no no sorry what's happening in yemen. it is a wall. saudi arabia. or some middle east politics i have no idea do you know what's happening in yemen sorry do you know what's happening in yemen no god it's taken the lives of thousands of civilians and caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and yet according to a new poll almost half of the people in the u.k. have no i did there is a war taking place in yemen a war in which

a saudi led coalition is conducting a deadly campaign of air strikes in an attempt to drive out who the rebels are you clearly don't know about most stuff i mean you know. i can imagine shows terrible why do you think that is enough has been said about it depends what the media seem to sourcing at a particular point in time which you fruits is public knowledge and opinion so you think it's under-reported the war in yemen isn't just another humanitarian crisis in a far flung part of the world the saudi led campaign is being waged partly thanks to a hefty supply of british made weapons the u.k. government happens to be the second biggest supplier of arms to the saudi kingdom after the us according to the latest figures u.k. military sales to riyadh increased by two thirds in twenty seventeen from the previous year the murder of jamal khashoggi has brought the u. case closed to strategic partnership with the riyadh into the spotlight now an

increasing number of politicians here in the u.k. are calling on the government to explain its unceasing support for the saudi led war in yemen perhaps if more of the public knew about it the government would be under more pressure to. on friday the trouble ministration announce that washington is really imposing sanctions against iran that were lifted as part of a twenty fifteen nuclear deal i don't know trying took to to twitter. to run with the news in a post that resembled the tagline for game of thrones now sanctions which are slated to come into effect on monday follow america's unilateral withdrawal from the iran nuclear agreement in may this year the new sanctions come on top of the ones already imposed by washington and focus heavily on iran's oil sector penalizing states that refuse to hold imports of crude oil from iran and though

u.s. secretary of state my pompei it says the main target is the iranian government the locals in tehran told us it's ordinary people who will end up bearing the brunt. time about manson's a hard to come by because of sanctions no doubt if you are caring for a patient your life is affected by these sanctions were saying to sanctions decrease the quality of life as people cannot know unattained seeing that they used to take easily the form of a shot but i thought it was a i'm a merchant and i century cannot trade with businesses inside of iran anymore but it would take its toll and we have yet to see to what extent she said you know people not just right here madam i mean actually my every year or every two to three years they say new sanctions will be imposed if some people have gotten used to say that and then it doesn't mean we accept them and it doesn't hurt that it means we've had them so long they don't affect us anymore they harm them they have always been there for the past four decades and they've been harming the you raney a nation all along their inquisition that's why many of their war states that are

under sanctions like russia like any of theirs they are all against this move especially because this new round of sanctions by washington it doesn't have the u.n. support it doesn't have the support of even the united states close allies like the europeans that have stated their opposition in defiance china turkey or russia and many others have defied the u.s. sanctions against iran and many are worried in washington that this could make these sharp tool or weapon blunts and make you know take it off the menu even for future u.s. administrations if it goes ineffective despite the pressure coming from the u.s. the european union has confirmed the blocks commitment to the iran nuclear deal a process also vowed to protect european companies doing business with iran however

despite all the tough talk of washington actually maybe slightly more flexible than it's letting on. we ask all nations to isolate iran's regime. as long as its aggression continues but we do not intend to allow our sanctions to be invaded by europe or any body else. you know we will work to maintain the framework of the twenty fifteen deal in spite of the american decision by ensuring that our companies can stay in iran looking at the latest decision so for them to try. a little to see the same. with friends like that who needs that he's. going to want to be muscles that would have been blind that's what american south would you want us europeans to say the economic interests of one time economic relations with iran.

we never threaten anyone but we do not tolerate threats from anyone. we want to we want to achieve maximum pressure but we don't want to harm friends and allies in five americans want a mean for zero. you're on they are now giving two countries exemptions for you. that indicates that they have maximum pressure on the wrong. and now they are changing that maximum pressure enough pressure. that's also on the question because they cannot. be needed they think against iran because

now there is a difference in american cabin. ministration on the connecting iran. system this enables the. messaging that can be a. toss. in the mix lead but that's the area inside the united states. is officials indicate. the u.s. backed syrian democratic forces which are mostly made up of kodesh troops have announced a temporary halt to operations against islamic state comes out several kodesh villages were attacked by turkey near its border with syria or the us has been supporting kodesh forces in the region and considering them to be affective fighters against isis. meanwhile on the opposite side of syria i sold the terrorists have gained ground close to the border with iraq killing over forty u.s.

backed fighters during an offensive the pentagon had previously claimed that i saw was close to a total annihilation and total defeat is our correspondent you could have dano. from all the boasting you may have gotten the idea that islamic state in syria is so two thousand and sixteen the coalition to defeat isis has liberated very close to one hundred percent of the territory we've done a good job with those as we have just absolutely decimated isis but the latest carnage is a clear signal that the terrorists are not ready to buckle just yet they've squeezed every drop of profit from the victory they've been craving for so long from obvious territorial gains to a massive p.r. push they filmed their operation and spoils of war from all thinkable angles it seems even with reinforcements america's proxy ground force the kurds couldn't hold off the surprise onslaught hard choice in casualties down both sides but we will

continue to go after them in the weeks ahead i thought the latest propaganda video even includes the not so subtle threat a skyline view of the government controlled town but hold on just how much of a surprise was this latest isola tag really sure they've moved in under the cover of a sandstorm but it's not like the kurds which are in charge of eastern syria didn't know i still was on their porch they have been fighting terrorists in the area for a whole year but despite their best efforts to little success and that could be due to the fact that their effort has been dwindling gradually apart from i saw the kurdish fighters have been focusing on skirmishes with the syrian army and repelling the turkish operation against them in the north this plays into the yard as sounds perfectly since assad's forces are not going anywhere and neither is turkey as president erdogan tease the next phase of what he calls an anti terror

operation in syria but don't use them as you know we have started active intervention operations against the terror organization in the last couple of days we will. soon come down hard on the terror organization with more extensive and effective operations the united states also has been convincing the world it's hell bent on cleansing syria of terrorists yet years on it's their area of responsibility where i saw strikes well with its bloodiest attack in months and i wonder could it be because american troops are in fact miles away from all the action. we don't have a contrarian mission here we have a defeat isis mission there are many players in the syrian conflict and all of them . are political bounty in syria and writing off early means risking another wave of terrorist resurgence. we talked with caroline cox

a member of the house of lords who has been heavily criticized of a stance on syria she thinks the western media is turning a blind eye to many things happening in the war ravaged country i've had very vicious articles about me in. newspapers like the london times there is a big media but he's very deed and it really does not give an equal representation of the horrific atrocities perpetrated by the jihadists but it's not going to stop me trying to be a voice for the people of syria. many people out there who do support and i do find when i do speak in different contexts people just say thank you so much for putting . all the truth in the b.b.c. we knew there was more to it than that in thank you for telling us the other side of the story so there's a lot of appreciation and there's a lot of latent support waiting to be mobilized and i'm sorry to say that u.k. and saudi arabia big time have been supporting the jihad is that just prolongs the

suffering the people of syria i think it's unacceptable and my bottom line position is that the people who decide to stop intervening proxy wars and i've managed to find out questions in parliament that the british government has used at least two hundred million pounds of taxpayers' money to support just related groups i think this is unacceptable i think a lot of british people would be very worried by that and the truth must come out to have a democratic and open discussion and i've stayed in the houses of parliament in the house of lords that i think rough. has been doing the right thing. that must be. the only about half way through the weekly right here on r.t. international it does return in just a moment with the top stories of the week on the main headlines of today.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy to let it be an arms race in. this very dramatic development only personally. i don't see how it will be successful very critical. to sit down. in terms of me i mean me has never actually been used to nobody has been prosecuted but you are right it was only renewed ten years ago by a previous government and it really shows how out of step the political establishment has been there's been a huge movement of women and young people on days been pushing the political establishment you know relentlessly on the issue of abortion rights because ten

women a day leave the country and five others were taking pills online illegally. it is good to have you with us today with midterm elections looming in the u.s. a poll suggests that the majority of voters view the true party system dated and many are now apparently seeking a third option to throw their support behind a correspondent and found out. in the united states we have a first past the post electoral system where essentially voting for a third party is throwing your vote into the garbage or at least that's the montra coming from the media really people who say oh yeah you know i don't know about hillary and so i voted for jill stein i think you wasted a vote in north carolina for jill's my guess the hardest thing for an independent

is to convince the voters that you're for real and that it's a viable choice and they're not wasting their vote the only thing that is kind of holding them back when you talk to them is they would say oh i don't want to waste my vote like the one of their vote to count i grabbed vote republican because i want i'm not going to waste my will is an independent now in ohio earlier this year there was a special election in which a democrat was narrowly defeated by a republican twitter lit up with outrage not of the democrats for perhaps running a less than effective campaign but rather at the green party for daring to participate in the political process and win a few votes. de green party can you please wait to make you a symbolic votes and a time when our government isn't being overrun by white supremacists. you know what so i immediately think the green party tonight on russian mentally. green party voters don't tell me you kiribati environment if you know your vote to

make the difference between a damn winning over rap and used to choose to vote for a candidate who has no chance of winning now the u.s. state of maine tried to correct this with a new voting system essentially voters get to rank the candidates from best to worst and if no solid majority can be established by their first pick then the second votes are calculated in order to pick a winner the idea is that one can still vote against one of the major parties and have their voice heard in the final results but in maine the state legislature overturned this new voting system and it was a big legal battle to get it going now there's other states eyeing something similar but there's a lot of pushback what i hear is that people do want to have it depended and other parties come to the raiders so they're so tired and sick of the political dysfunction because the democrats are the publicans and i think americans are really looking for a choice i think the united states skews it like that so there are only two parties and they don't want to let anybody else come into existence because. i think they

both secretly know that other parties are not sort of corporatist parties but actually there are parties out there and independents out there that actually do want to advocate for the people but of course they don't want us to get in there because then we would win and they would most americans view the two party political system as outdated but the mainstream media continues to play the you're either with us or against us card so the voices of the majority of americans remain silenced in the political process caleb mop and r.t. new york. and israeli clothing brands spoke up roll over and become pain featuring model bar refaeli who tells off a niqab under the freedom is basic they had also pointedly refer to one of israel's biggest foes of the video has been viewed thousands of times across social media and on the models on page but it has a triggered an angry riyadh. which has led to the ad being removed.

freedom is basic first of all you dumb if you think this is considered freedom this is just disrespectful in so many levels this campaign is supposedly designed to call out racism and bigotry and support freedom funny because this is the exact opposite of supporting freedom come to be bothered by the cheap islama for the cab like this by who days let them have their freedom and we'll have all was when i saw that ad i was angry would that be ok and today's world it wasn't just me who was angry pretty much everyone that saw it got angry as well but women's rights advocate we spoke to says that the advertisement is out of sync with the values of those who saw it. my concern is that the advertisement is not only not in touch with the consumer that it's advertising to you it doesn't seem to have

a enough respect or regard for their way of life people are allowed to choose how they want to live the new tunes are associations of people who have the same belief system in which they want to live within this belief system and unfortunately when you do something like take off the burka or you know his job and you say that you know freedom is basic and that this type of covering does not represent freedom it is considered to be in my opinion to be you know out of touch with the view of that religion but that's not the only star in controversy in israel right now a local election candidate in the city of ramle released this campaign last month it depicts a woman wearing an islamic veil along with a caption suggesting it could be anyone's daughter if they married a muslim partner the post has drawn condemnation from the city's arab population into religious marriages are largely discouraged in israel. well emery's everson

says that the clothing choices of women are best left to women. this type of covering does not represent freedom who are you to decide whether these women are free or not if they're comparable in this way of life in this religion then that's a decision that they're allowed to make if you participate in you say i personally no longer want to wear his job that's your personal choice but to say that it's it's not freedom for those women. i think it can very much seem to come across as not understanding and not respectful of that particular religion and culture and what we've got to do is provide the resources so that if women decide that they want to live in a different country live a different lifestyle that those resources are there are dropping out the weekly for this hour on how to international but what

a busy week it has been for your top worldwide headlines we're back in half an hour with another weekly for you to see that. join me every thursday on the alex i'm unsure when i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. in twenty four you know bloody revolution to. the demonstrations going from being relatively peaceful political protests to be creasing the violent revolution is always spontaneous or is it you know here i mean you know i live with video in the new bill is that i'm you spilling you know to the former ukrainian president recalls the events of twenty four g. and. those who took. it invested over five billion dollars to assist ukraine in

these another goal that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic. united states under many threats as a long walling have of breakin its treaty and other promises not the united states says it's going to leave the treaty again. previously on the great american pilgrimage. i kept believe we've been to know the word of the book. actually were and buzzards bay. the everybody i'm stephen both gosh i would contest hollywood gun usual suspects but david.