our. russian military conducts a public trust run of a new strategic. also coming up british newspaper the times interviews are fighting against anti-government forces in eastern ukraine he says the remembers of islamic states. and the standoff develops around northern syria government troops are massing there amid fears of a turkish offensive against local. welcome

to r.t. international law from moscow one daniel who king's welcome on program the cell. major new missile delivery system called on god will enter russian service next year the first channel to show unique footage from the defense ministry is first public test run of the weapon which is capable of firing nuclear missiles. speaking after the launch of russia's ludmer putin who oversaw 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 ending

a twin sure russian 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 it 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 of on 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 key military base in russia than. as kremlin reporters successfully heat the training target on the. russia's east some six thousand kilometers away of course there were different concerns over the use and the launch of an gart guard weapon in the west with critics say it does not comply with the global treaties especially the so called after 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 versa. it restores the global balance the global security balance just to remind you of unguarded was among. nuclear weapons that putin presented during their march saying that russia had to develop its military industry in response to us is success in this fair and developing their missile the nineteen missile defenses so definitely putin sees vanguard floor inch and developments of military industry in russia as a response to u.s. is moves but definitely not everybody sees it the same way. we can now bring investigative journalist rick sterling from allness thanks for joining us good to have you on today now president putin has said this on god system cannot be stopped by any existing missile defense system don't know how true that is we'll leave that

to the experts to decide sums of overall message here in symbolism given the treaties that are currently being discussed between the u.s. and russia the withdrawals of these two countries from various agreements how she's going to affect the strategic balance of power and indeed change the relationship between the two states perhaps. well i think i think this does it's a reality check for the military in the united states the most significant treaty i believe that this refers to is the antiballistic missile treaty which prohibited ballistic missile weaponry and the u.s. unilaterally withdrew from that in two thousand and two so that that treaty was effective in in in preventing an arms race and in promoting a deescalation of the arms race because if neither side could develop a sophisticated defensive missile system then you know then you had both sides.

accepting the status quo when the united states would do. through and started developing a sophisticated and people listing missile systems which began in two thousand and two the most recent budget for that system is thirteen billion dollars for for for this year that's i think what russia has reacted to and they said well if you're going to develop sophisticated and a ballistic missile systems we have to develop something that can counter your your a.b.m. system so that's kind of where we're at i think this is what they. what they've done here today and apparently there have been five tests i understand one was unsuccessful four of been successful this is the u.s. has nothing that that can counter this missiles coming in from basically launched into above the atmosphere and then gliding and then coming in at up to twenty times

the speed of sound this is something that there's nothing that can depend against that right now and this has been about violence and counter-violence has as the leaders have suggested many times i mean some u.s. media have speculated this particular test launch could be some sort of attempt to send a message to bring washington to the negotiating table specifically regarding those treaties you're referring to do you think that could be a motive here or is this simply military testing. i think that is a motive i think it's in the interests of the russian people the american people in the whole world to not see an increase in a new arms race the danger here is that the u.s. military establishment is going to react to this by saying well we need to poorer ever more money into developing our own hypersonic missile systems and we have a new new escalated arms race of course right now the united states is spending

seven hundred billion dollars a year on its military which is more than the next nine countries combined so we know who's leading the way in the in the military arms race but i think russia i would assume they're hoping that this can be a reality check and bring and promote more negotiations and less military development i mean president personals have described this system as a response to u.s. anti-missile systems you know perhaps some the ones you all might sort of being very close to russia's borders and he said that this is that to bring that strategic counterbalance back the u.s. spent billions of dollars on those installations you mentioned it's one of the spend is the highest affect spender in the world what response do you think we can see from united states having seen this this test thing go on no. well the headline in one of the stories in the new york times coming out in the last hour says that is talks about putin crowing about this success so we can already

see how this is being being framed the the people the hawks in the u.s. are going to use this to call for ever more military spending so it's really incumbent on people who want peace want to deescalation of conflict around the world and want to want to stop a new arms race to use this occasion to say. let's let's let cooler heads prevail let's have sanity when the u.s. before the u.s. would drew from the a.b.m. treaty going back to two thousand and two the united nations general assembly passed a resolution calling for the continuation of the a.b.m. treaty and trying to stop the u.s. from withdrawing from that treaty now we've got just in the last month president trump has said that he has announced that the u.s. is going to withdraw from the i.n.f. treaty the intermediate nuclear weapons nuclear forces treaty so these are all bad

signs and i think hopefully cooler heads will prevail and there will be a instead of an escalation of the arms race there should be a deescalation of it absolute let's hope both sides can get to the negotiating table and come up with some sort of compromise here on that strategic balance which they talk about journalists that rick starting thanks for your take today on that story. your one. and worsens times newspaper has printed a highly controversial interview with a chechen fighting against anti-government forces in eastern ukraine head of his battalion admitted that his fighters wage jihad in syria that the leader was even part of a terror group committing atrocities in russia in a patrol has more. 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 the bichon 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. putin's propaganda recruit agents some are just useful idiots when i asked russian diplomats about i saw a linked fighters siding with kiev's 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 ows 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 and we have asked the ukrainian government and the military as well to comment on the times reports about them working alongside terror linked chechen fighters we'll let you know of any response we do get. the fears are growing of an armed confrontation in northern syria around the kurdish held city of mann binge the syrian government has reportedly sent troops there after threats of a turkish offensive against the kurds a middle east correspondent has the 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 exists successful in liberating those areas from dash. we noticed more movement from the euphrates shield along the front line as turkey before its military operation on a free and threatened that manned 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 move further deteriorate and it 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 vision for measuring 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 saw from the street 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 living is transport minister has to say humanitarian disaster which could have affected passengers of two civilian aircraft lebanon's airspace during the israeli air cross invasion force strikes on the south of damascus was narrowly avoided now at the same time be 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 in to 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 director of the center for middle east studies at oklahoma university told us the man with jerry has become a focal point for several conflicts of interest in syria. well membership is right at the corner where all these forces meet the u.s. forces and s t f the kurdish forces as well as the arab militias that are supported by turkey and turkey has demanded the handover of this town mended for months now the united states and they and turkey had in a sense divided up north syria the u.s.

was going to get everything to the east of the afraid east 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 standoff. i mean wild turkey is warning france against backing kurdish militias in syria that's off the country pledge to keep troops in the syria following the u.s. plan out. if france is staying to contribute to syria's future great but if you're doing this to protect the militia this will bring no benefit to anyone mcraney doesn't want to leave right after trump 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 french the french role in syria it's basically

been non-existent they've played second fiddle to the united states if they 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. president trump has made an unannounced christmas visit to iraq to meet u.s. forces gave a speech cheering saying there were no plans for a withdrawal from the country while maintaining the u.s. presence in iraq to prevent it isis resurgence and to protect u.s. interests and also to always watch very closely over any potential formation of isis and also to watch over iran more than five

thousand american troops are still in the country seven years after the iraq war officially ended it was the president's first trip to the country since taking office and donald trump also spent time with the soldiers taking pictures and giving autographs. thank you. we spoke to antiwar activist richard becker he says the u.s. will use any pretext to defend its interests in the country. if a military force from another country is inside the borders of your country. and

their exact location. so i think that we're trying to say. we want to know when you arrive. that wrecks you you. need for the us asian regions i mentioned well way back when. you said. it's going to take. so we don't do it. very. well because there are. troops 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. policy shifts come right after u.s. defense secretary james mattis resigned just a week ago he also advised donald trump to keep troops in afghanistan opposing the idea of using private contractors in more so now it does seem that's precisely what

could happen next as more and explains imagine you're sitting there on your porch reading about guns and huntin all things good and then you see this as we are coming blackwater judging by the logo the infamous private security group who is trigger happy and dick's further disgrace the very name mercenary. that. they were dead bodies everywhere there's. been. a monkey dead bodies lying on the street. seven years ago and.

just last week a former blackwater contractor was charged with first degree murder for his part in that slaughter it was then that things went 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 down withdrawal erik prince sees an opportunity the option i was

pushing the options that were considered by some of the white house and irregular warfare options 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 add force private their force and luna cost 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 really. that you just can't trust national security priests 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 resents her message to hand he's going after all 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 and 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 when they had immunity they ran wild 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 who have alex messes up at the below in their heads and it will be written off to plausible deniability and corporate bureaucracy so what do you think worth a try letting mercenaries run an entire war. christmas has passed and the end of the year is native pawson across the stories that my twenty eight team is a. lot of it is his post

a look back at. that what i think. oh maybe you could read it please stop it you know we're talking about. mark as sucker burge his testimony regarding facebook social media and the loss of data his appearance before face 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 did this sastre and it was a template and a learning lesson for i think most of the world. our own senator elizabeth warren also called liaquat 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 in the media print otherwise everybody was against him his family his legacy name and how he even survived is another story but he was no rocky unless.

there was a revolution going on in the world right now we guarding the new platforms the new bases rupert mation delivery and platforms such as this are proving that this is the best source of news again why the ability to not be limited by a commercial the ability to speak freely the ability to question more. you saw president drum 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 mask 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 up polar type of concretization of the world that changes. the truth hurts those that longs for the next that's going on the ground out for all u.k. views it's the cause a report will see you in often asta.