russian military conducts a public test run of a new pipe a sonic strategic missile obtains unique footage of. the south british newspaper the times interviews a chechen fighting against anti-government forces in eastern ukraine he says there are members of his law mixtape in his ranks. on the stand off develops around northern syria government forces are massing there with fear of a turkish offensive against local. and three am here in moscow watching our teams in nashville live with me daniel

hawkins thanks for joining us this hour. a major new missile delivery system called one god will enter russian service next year artie's the first shuttle to show unique footage from the defense ministries first public test one of the weapon which is capable of firing nuclear missiles. it's picking off to the launch of russia's oven guard ludmer putin who oversaw live personally from defense ministries control and command center here in moscow explained the importance of wednesday a vent saying it was great success as it was excellent new year's eve to the entire nation adding

a twinkling sure russia's security for generations to come. you use the more. vulnerable to any current or prospective missile defense system of a potential enemy this is a big victory for a country. russia claims that is a unique equipment and it is better than anything that any country in the world at this moment has let's take a look at some of the best features of a bang guard. as russia's president puts it it's all about protecting the country and its population in the vanguard sounds indeed like a very powerful weapon if you words about what happened exactly today the weapon

was launched from the virus can military base in russia than. as kremlin reporters successfully heat the training target on the. six thousand kilometers away of course there were different concerns over the use and the launch of unguarded guard weapon in the west with critics say it does not comply with the global treaties especially the so-called treaty intermediate range nuclear treaty requiring the us and back then the u.s.s.r. the treaty was signed thirty years ago in ninety eighty seven all nuclear and conventional weapons with the ranges of up to fifty five hundred kilometer is but russia says it does not now violate the treaty in any way and putin

said today after the launch that vice a versa. it restores the global balance the global security balance just to remind you of unguarded was a money. nuclear weapons that presented during their march same address she had to develop its military industry in response to us is success in this fear and developing their missile and anti missile defenses so definitely putin sees. floor inch and developments of military industry in russia as a response to us says moves but definitely not everybody sees it the same way we discussed the situation with a friend silenced on who believes that the current political climate could spark a new arms race. but i think the u.s. is also working on these types of things in the first one to launch one doesn't

always get to win the contest as the as we saw in the age and also in the space race so but certainly. the u.s. existing u.s. is defenses can't deal with them but the existing u.s. defenses aren't that good against regular missiles so it is start this. doing away with the a.b.m. treaty is start a new arms race but i think you know we're just building more and more nuclear weapons when we should be trying to limit them and the new start treaty is coming which is the arms limitation for the longer range missiles is coming up in twenty twenty one so you know that would be a good time to cool you know cool off the arms race and you know lock in some limits on these types of weapons as well. britain's times newspaper has printed a honey controversial interview with

a chechen fighting against anti-government forces anything ukraine had of his battalion only admitted that his fighters had wage jihad in syria that the leader was even part of a terror group committing atrocities in russia in a prank or follows the story. so a big piece in the times on chechens on east ukraine front lines from a few dozens to more than one hundred there shoulder to shoulder with kiev's army but technically aren't part of it they're absolutely frank and open about their background saying we've been to syria and iraq we've been taught to kill by jihad it's there here's an extract from the times some of the potential ians gunman admit to having home the combat skills and islamic state training camps in iraq and syria this horrific background does get a mention what the times journalists don't mention is other elements of the commander's biography like being part of an underground movement behind past

terrorist attacks in russia which took hundreds of lives earlier another british newspaper reported that the very same commander was against murdering civilians however he said those bloodbaths were understandable and were the only way to make moscow hear something as to why he and his fighters are in donbass now here's what it says in the times report be it a church and had a simple explanation for fighting for ukraine against kremlin backed separatists putin is our enemy he said he brings a really evil we did hear about ethnic chechen groups fighting on both sides of the front line a long time ago so why would the times bring it up now the peace follows plenty of articles on ukraine versus russia that came out lately here are some of the headlines moscow's always been described as an aggressor think the current straight naval clashes first of all yet when it comes to this report on chechen militias

ukraine's deputy minister of information policy is thinking putin's propaganda on purpose or maybe not people who home the ukrainian media space and play along to put. propaganda recruitment agents some of just useful idiots what i asked russian diplomats about ice a linked fighters siding with kiev forces i was told after years of various external attempts to radicalize ukraine there isn't really much of a surprise that you could prolong military conflicts especially supported by arms and money from outside have always attracted people different views the same happened in syria we've people who support religious fundamentalism are coming from far away and who wows will they find in ukraine these jihadi fighters help ukraine realise its agenda of suppressing dissent all parts of quite a familiar story with a couple of new twists. we have asked the ukrainian government

a military to comment on times reports about them working with terror link just in fighters we'll let you know of any kind of response. our fears are growing of an armed confrontation in northern syria around the kurdish led held city of mann bridge the syrian government has reportedly sent troops there off the threats of a turkish offensive against the kurds would use correspondent paula slayer as more details this has been confirmed by r.t. sources that syrian troops have arrived in the province of man bridge which is in northern syria and it is an area that is controlled by the u.s. backed kurdish fighters they've arrived with some forty pickup trucks two tanks alawi's and armored personnel carriers it follows a request that was given last week by the kurds to the syrian soldiers to come and assist them and we are hearing. that they are planning an offensive so certainly the situation on the ground is intensifying not only between the troops but also

between those who support them in other words the united states versus turkey now this comes hot on the heels of the surprise announcement by the american president that the united states will be withdrawing american troops from syria. we do not support and we would oppose efforts to move south and engage in activities against the syrian democratic forces kurdish commanders have made commitments that they will turn over areas to local population as they have been so tremendously says successful in liberating those areas from gosh. we noticed more movement from the free. it is shield along the front line as turkey

before its military operation on a friend threatened that man beach would be the next target as i said before our relationship is at critical juncture either we must put it back on track or it will further deteriorate to the main issue is one that as i said is going to be given priority in our joint working over there for him this is one of his information a good one of the issues fresh to work together with. we are a part of syria and we don't support separatism but you want an agreement to be reached and soften ministration as part of a free syria at the same time tensions are also increasing between israel on the one hand and syria and lebanon on the other the lebanese are drafting and urgent complained to the united nations security council over what they say is israeli military jets infringement of lebanese airspace it follows his waiting strikes

overnight tuesday in which israel hit a number of targets in the damascus area this is what the livni is transport minister has to say humanitarian disaster which could have affected passengers of two civilian aircraft lebanon's air space during the israeli air cross invasion force strikes on the south of damascus was narrowly avoided now at the same time the russian defense ministry has issued a statement in which it says that when those israeli strikes were happening there were two civilian planes that were coming into land in beirut and in lebanon and that israeli operations endangered or could have potentially endangered civilian lives he is radio operations happened and act and saw the syrians having to activate their ground to air missile defense systems at the same time we syrian soldiers were injured and an arms depot was badly damaged joshua landis the rector of the center for middle east studies at oklahoma university told us the man with

jerry has become a focal point recently for several conflicting interests in the country. well membership is right at the corner where all these forces meet the u.s. forces and s.t.'s the kurdish forces as well as the arab militias that are supported by turkey and turkey has demanded the handover of this town men dish for months now the united states and they and turkey had in a sense divided up north syria the us was going to get everything to the east of the euphrates turkey to the west and now the u.s. is pulling out turkey is determined to take that town but the syrian government is equally determined to get in there and stop turkey from moving eastward right through where the american troops were so it could be a stand off. and i mean while turkey is warning france against

backing kurdish militias in syria to france pledge to keep troops in the country following that u.s. military withdrawal if france is thing to contribute to syria's future great but if you're doing this to protect the militia this will bring no benefit to anyone mccraw and doesn't want to leave right after trump left because if he leaves right after trump left he's going to look like he's going to look like he's playing follow the leader he's going to look like an american puppet he's going look like he's on the bad side of a ventriloquist act with president trump and he doesn't want to look like that he wants to look strong when we look at the french the french role in syria it's basically been nonexistent they've played second fiddle to the united states if they would think they can fill in the shoes of the united states and continue the coalition fight against isis without the u.s. france has neither the money to finance a finance this operation they don't have the boots on the ground to support the operation so it's basically a lose lose situation with france right now. the u.s.

president has made a surprise trip to iraq we'll have that story and others still to come after this break. i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter the u.s. has over one trillion dollars in debt more than ten white collar crimes happen each day. eighty five percent of global wealth you long for the ultra rich eight point six percent market saw a thirty percent rise last year some with four hundred to five hundred three per

second per second and bitcoin rose to twenty thousand dollars. china is building two point one billion dollars ai industrial park but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only number you need to remember is one one does not show you can afford to miss the one and only. welcome back to the program president trump and wife melania have made an unannounced christmas trip to iraq to meet u.s. forces it was the president's first trip to the country since taking office more than five thousand american troops are still there seven years off the iraq war officially ended his speech to the soldiers from say he's got no plans for

a pullout antiwar activist richard becker says the u.s. will use any pretext to defend its interests in the country. the. u.s. military very much disagree with. the troops in syria i think it would be oh i would love. opposition and also withdraw the troops from iraq. in any case the presence of the u.s. troops. in syria interact and they should be if a military force from another country is inside the borders of your country and that is activation i mean i don't know if any. one of its oil rich countries in the war ranks so well with national and. now there are. oil. interests there the us leadership is trying to make its your team.

in the middle east as a whole. trip comes amid critical changes in his middle east policy including pulling troops out of syria as well as talks of slashing the military presence in afghanistan the policy shifts come right off the u.s. defense secretary james mattis resigned just last week he also advised donald trump to keep troops in afghanistan opposing the idea of using private contractors in war and now it seems that spross the what could happen next as we're up guys the f. explains. imagine you're sitting there on your porch reading about guns and huntin and all things good and then you see this ad we are coming blackwater judging by the logo the infamous private security group who is trigger happy antics further disgrace the very name. but i

never heard that. they were dead bodies everywhere and this is the argument on opinion with few people and it's not among the dead bodies ministry and some which was in the middle of the seven years old. just last week a former blackwater contractor was charged with first degree murder for his part in

that slow thought it was then that things went iffy for the mercenary group which was then rebranded renamed and resold into obscurity but it's presumably back now nice states are spent dearly in blood and treasure in time in afghanistan every prince co-founder of the original blackwater now that everyone's fearful over trumps of ghana's stan withdrawal erik prince sees an opportunity the option i was pushing the options that were considered by some of. white house an irregular warfare option that would use cia capability special forces capability some contracted capability to strengthen to give a skeletal support structure to the afghan security forces prince is selling a new kind of war private war war waged not by governments but by corporations the plan is simple six thousand mercenaries backed up by the few

thousand u.s. special forces guys give them a small air force private their force and luna cost to about five billion dollars a year a year for reference the afghan war has cost on average five billion a month for seventeen years but the pentagon is reluctant you just can't trust national security priest these reputation to merck's to guys willing to kill for money when the american put put their mission credibility on the line privatizing it is probably not a why it's idea every prince has been absent for years he's been selling this plan since he found out that the president wanted to get out of afghanistan the president was right to campaign against endless wars that he resented her message to him he's going to own the maddest for this to happen if we leave decisions on

warfare soley to the pentagon we will be at war for well mr prince had been new year to you james mattis u.s. secretary of defense will leave his post on the first of january and john bolton trumps security advisor is much more pliable there are always a lot of discussions i find them helpful i'm always open to new ideas but the issue here is different it's more about principles about morals we know how blackwater behaved in iraq we know what they did why. they had immunity they ran wild they shot and killed with abandon would you trust the same people to run an entire war every prince's selling point may not be that he's cheaper it's that trump and the pentagon will become less accountable gotta start will no longer be

entirely their responsibility if blackwater whoever al smetters up at the beyond their heads and it'll all be written off to plausible deniability and corporate bureaucracy so what do you think worth a try letting mercenaries run an entire war. of christmas past the end of the year is for immuno across the stories that made twenty eighteen is a quirky media analyst loyal hears his personal look back this year. believe. that what i think. oh maybe you could read it all please stop it you know we're talking about.

mars as zucker berg his testimony regarding facebook social media and the loss of data his appearance before the face of before congress was a disaster nothing short of a disaster next mainstream media news in general took a hit from every conceivable angle and i believe that one of the readers might have been. the jim acosta moment next. marco and globalist in general good to disaster and it was a template and a learning lesson for i think most of the world. our own senator elizabeth warren also called lisl was our focus hondas a woman whose native american ancestry was completely unraveled and disproved be

a d.n.a. . it was anything short of miraculous considering the fact that everybody in the world of politics both democrat or republican everybody the media print otherwise everybody was against him his family his legacy name and how even survived is another story but he was no rock eula. there was a revolution going on in the world right now we guarding the new platforms the new baby's room for mation delivery and platforms such as this are proving that this is the best source of new again why the ability to not be limited by a commercial the ability to speak freely the ability to question more.

you saw president trump in control with chuck schumer dissolve being in the. sofa or the couch or the settee whatever you were just being lectured to with nancy pelosi saying i think we should maybe take this elsewhere and it was a chance for people to see what politicians sound like when they're really getting into it. the initial screech and clamor of revolution. we saw with the yellow vests we saw it elsewhere we saw different beginnings of what will be a cataclysm a change in the structure of the world in what

was intended to be this global even a polar type of concretization of the world that changes. the truth hurts for myself but it seemed for the south join us again and thought about this when i stopped i'd stick around now although. it's coming your way up next. banks guys are financial survival you know they say money to bail out for. kludged easy this is the central bank support diagram and i'm going to call them right now so you stop to. join me every thursday on the alex simon short and i'll be speaking to guests of the world

of politics sports business i'm sure. i'll see you then. this is both broadcasting around the world as you can see from washington d.c. where important policy and money decisions are made there on capitol hill i'm bart chilton and thanks for joining us for what is the first installment of our infrastructure deficit special we're glad you're on board what will focus on the u.s. this time we'll have a few comparisons with other places around the world there's so much to cover much of the things that you would expect like roads bridges airports and rail but we also take a more complete and comprehensive look at other important infrastructure critical to not only commerce but to national security will look at energy including

pipelines and the electrical grid and communications including broadbent and even specifically how trucking fits into our deeply textured transportation network there's so much that we couldn't do it all justice in one program and i'm pleased that will be doing so with a little help from our friends some of the arctic correspondents and others who are lending their expertise to it for most of all i'm really looking forward to it and i hope you are too. so we're going to jump right in and start with a bit of an infrastructure place setting and then look at rail for that we turn to our to correspondent manila chan. president truck campaign for months and months on repairing america's crumbling infrastructure from

the roadways to waterways railways to the airways and has recently unveiled a plan to bring america up to speed we're here today to discuss the critical need to rebuild america's crumbling infrastructure. and one understands and the people in this room really understand better than most probably hopefully better than anybody. that the problem that the states have and local leaders have with funding the infrastructure is horrendous and we will build we will maintain and the vast majority of americans want to see us take care of our infrastructure. infrastructure is the backbone of the u.s. economy and a necessary input to every economic output those are the opening lines in the most recent report from the american society of civil engineers their study aptly called the failure to act to report minces no words in their frustration with the budget shortfall of.