hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i'm peter lavelle welcome to the crystal ball edition of crosstalk what can we expect in the new year we have a great lineup of guests telling us what they think. crossed talking the new year i'm joined by my guest here in moscow mark slow day he's an international affairs and security analyst and we also have to be he's a political analyst with sputnik international our gentlemen cross-talk roles in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate we have a number of other guests on the program here but i want to go to you first mark

here a lot is is in the brew right now a lot of stories bleeding from two thousand eight hundred into two thousand and nine what's the most important story you're going to even more from two thousand and seventeen into two thousand and eighteen we were concerned about four main stories going into the year the conflicts in syria and ukraine geo politically the political witch hunt inquisition against trump in the united states and the political crisis in the e.u. with bragg's it and you know all their political crises against you know the government in brussels across the board and going into two thousand and nineteen those are the four big issues again none of them are resolved and every one of them actually looks to be worse going into the new year and the other two things i would highlight the new coming trends. the threat of the new arms race the

emergence of you know what military people are calling hypersonic war whether we're talking hypersonic weapons the autumn ization of the battlefield with a that i thought of as killing vehicles and so on and the other big story i would think to keep track of is the fragmentation and nationalization or blockades ation of the internet the golden age of the internet is over and we're going to see a warring internet always always great to hear you're off to miss the mark. but mark just numerate the most important subject so i will concentrate on one that for me was pivotal you know how far can the so-called liberals go he could be saying to all be as breaches of human rights to all various cases of extreme nationalism and here i have a few examples of the first one is their unwavering support of the european union

for poroshenko the regime of this year despite the fact that. just everything that was against the principles of freedom he nearly shouted all of that traditional ukrainian also the church replacing it by a new one with the state involvement he is stuck that it can pain to uncover a state officials in ukraine who have relatives in russia this is the warst feature of starting is going to states how the democrats the new hall they all wanted to put. in jail and keep a small as possible scene pitiful posted photos on the internet with members of the national rifle association so how far can these presumably liberal you know you know in accepting an agreement in the left never knows when it's gone too far here to bring in john john laughlin in paris john is a good friend in the long standing guest on cross talk you. you've heard

a lot of optimistic words from idema and mark here and i think you're going to continue the trend john what's the what's the state of the e.u. going into two thousand and nineteen we still have the yellow vests in france and brags it isn't is looming. but i very much agree with what dmitri has just said how far can the liberals go because for years now i've been saying that the european union and its member states are on a drift towards totalitarianism and the permitted margin of debate is narrow in every day particular of course where anything to do with russia is concerned but you know when people ask me about the future of the european union i'm reminded peter as perhaps you are from your your student days as a political scientist at the debate that took place between the right wing and left wing americans on whether or not the soviet system could be reformed and the right wingers said that it couldn't and lead democrats and left when it said that latin american dictatorships who america supported by contrast could reform and that

analysis turned out to be correct the right wingers were right to say that the dictatorships could reform but that the soviet system could not and i think the same analysis applies to the european union you asked me in your question about the the yellow vests movement back home was the last great hope for reform in the european union and he's blown it this is one of the biggest social movements in france for many years and he has clearly shown himself not surprisingly to be incapable of reforming like the front of the european union and the reason why the european union can't be formed is exactly the same reason why the soviet union couldn't be reformed both the european union and the soviet union are trapped inside an ideological minus set which makes them intellectually incapable of reforming and that mindset is of course post nationalism globalism and so on and michael is the greatest example of this he thought that that with. most of his

personality and his good looks and whatever he could change things but since he never wanted to change the most important things namely the european policy the euro and so on his country and the rest of the european union just like the soviet union will remain mired in decline for as long as it takes to break up ok mark let me go to you how do you react to what john laughlin had to say yeah i don't see that mccrone was ever intended as a voice for reform i think he was more intended as a last desperate hope of the technocrats in brothels to vote trysts the status quo to prevent a radical reform is such as as the pen from gaining power with the collapse of the socialist party due to the unpopularity of a large. mccraw in the literal ross trial banks there was brought up as the last desperate hope and he has failed utterly and we will see the result of this the

national front and the far left in france only going we'll see we've seen mccrone fail john laughlin let me go back to you. does that mean on the other side of the equation that we will see some kind of success of the yellow vests. not necessarily i mean the problem with the yellow vests is of course that it's a disparate movement and it doesn't have a structured leadership and i'm strongly of the view that political movements only succeed when they have very tight and very professional organizational structures the yellow vests is just one of a large number of of cries of anger and of frustration all of which have had for ever have come about repeatedly in recent french history when i say recent i'm referring particularly to the last twenty years to the period in which the euro was introduced and one of the reasons why i think the yellow vests.

unfortunately might fizzle out is that the indoctrination about europe has been so strong that they haven't as far as i am aware managed to focus attention on the real cause of their decline in living standards which of course is the single currency the single currency has proved to be completely murderous for the economies. for the peripheral common economies of europe in other words for all the economies that are not part of germany austria or the netherlands you know for twenty years italy for example has had zero percent growth you can't country that way and so because they're not focusing on the essential i fear that they might fizzle out. but at the same time i agree with john larkin there but at the same time the establishment the status quo we've seen it's vulnerabilities here and dance right. or not organized. if they do get organized would be would be interested in what kind of ideology that they

would be pitching ok because this is exactly what the liberals want they want to some kind of artificial opposition and they're going to get it well i think it will be on weis for the yellow vests right now to come up with a certain ideology i think. it will it will need a lot of work to form some kind of at the alternative ideology i think. if he decides not to imitate the west but rather to lead the way may help you know develop these kind of ideology but since i don't want it to be all doom and gloom there was. a i would go in year you know president also there was invited to a segment meeting of the arab league by none other than the tunisian president and the tunisian president could not do it without approval from the european union and most likely also from the united states so for the first time and that damage that regime change crashed i can great you all congratulate you on this i think it's an

important event of the year ok i mean the finish up in this far block here with john laughlin john any other how is the how is it hard brags that affects the european union the. european union we had about one minute left go ahead. well like dimitri i'm optimistic i think that next year because of the excellent news it's very bad news for the european union if there's no deal it means there will be a gaping hole in the european union's budget immediately and even if there is a deal the uncertainty will continue until such time as britain stops paying its budget contributions and when it does then either the german taxpayer has to cough up more all the polish subsidy receiver has to receive yes receive less i think breaks it will go ahead whether it's hard or soft ultimately doesn't make a difference to the to the eventual outcome which i repeat is that the european union will follow the fate of the soviet union britain is bigger than the baltic

states but it's the same principle ok here i don't have john's optimist i'm about brakes ok but one thing john laughlin is writing if we have him play as usual if this is the subtext of this program the law of unintended consequences these fools in power do not understand what they're doing here all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion especially on some real news stayed with. todd to imagine the decades after the war a nazi doctor was still active. in the nineteen seventies crittle had as the chair of its board a man convicted of mass murder and slavery at ashlands the german company develops

in the denied a drug that was promoted as completely safe even during pregnancy it turned out to have terrible side effects what has happened to my baby is anything but. yeah she said he's just got chart arms minix a little mind victims have to this day to receive to no compensation there never is . for the suffering that. not only want the money i want the revenge. i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter the us is over twenty trillion dollars in debt more than ten white collar crime stamping each day. eighty five percent of global wealth you longs to 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 a two point one billion dollar

a i industrial park but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only number you need to remember is one one business shows you can afford to miss the one and only boom but. nobody could see coming that false confessions would be that prevalent in the small waist up wrongful conviction. had any interrogation out there what you'll see is threat promise threat promise threat lie a lie a lie the process of interrogation is designed to put people in just that frame of mind make the most culpable make them want to get out and don't take no for an answer don't accept their denials she said therefore which. sat on the statement that i would be home by that time the next day there's a culture on accountability and police officers know that they can engage in misconduct that has nothing to do with solving

a crime. welcome back across the uk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle to remind you we're discussing some real names. ok now i have the pleasure to bring in exam be a paris he's the founder of the center of political strategic analysis truck poll or at exam v.a. . it's talk about foreign policy in the new year we have trump deciding to pull out of syria as we speak lowering the troop troop numbers in afghanistan how is the european union looking at this because they have been followers since trump has been in power they have are obviously had a negative view of him is this the beginning of something here and what are the chances and what are the chances the e.u.

getting better relations with russia once britain the u.k. is out of the european union go ahead. i sing so or there is a who or which was believed from the french secret service recommending to the president who are trying to be a more realistic and who are going to fight against terrorism weezer iran and we syria and the reason with russia so maybe there is a chance but i'm a little bit concerned because. there is some people some fantasy x. and we want to continue to support the curious but what we can do. with all of the u.s. forces it's impossible to get we can do anything it's all over and you know i'm afraid because a lot of the always no minister for enough french for her he was a minister of defense during the french like russian against syria i'm afraid it's a. mix of best and our best one of her arms is on this question of do you want to

go to the end because of the socialist government can't accept. after all the money of the time or of the sword use or the dinner is the help during the last the last of years and it worked how does it change the equation here because. it. destabilizes things right that it's a good thing that the u.s. is is withdrawing its occupation forces but the vacuum that that creates there was never going to be a good outcome of that it was in order for it to resolve it's going to have to play through you've got across leaving at least a thousand french forces in east syria and the u.k. has an undisclosed number that is probably about the same and they are going to be trapped in the middle of such a complicated conflict kurds versus sunni tribes an insurgency against each other

remnants of vices turkish and there's jihadi proxies moving in to target the kurds the syrian army russia iran and hezbollah racing in to help syria retake back its country the u.s. probably doing stay behind operations with special forces an air strikes and these poor french and british troops are going to be like human trip wires trapped in the middle of this i think we can forget the israelis of course which just attacked syria again on christmas on christmas so they're going to be trapped in the middle of all of this they're going to start looking like swiss cheese and it's interesting because more reason to hate donald trump and even why i think that what savia just told us basically a show of. the old idea that there was a stage as bad as the us somehow on to bad the influence and that's why it's me to be caving this fear is completely and correct you know all

a near miss ideological than want to. determine table to see. what's going on trump and. at last you know something along the lines of he is in a coke in pain he's put in a little bit who are the first to be enraged. the europeans you know immediately the french minister said we are live in the you know this country poor country to its own devices the driven minister was enraged that these specific so you don't think the united states in the european union have given enough help to the syrian people i think they already know all these years they have given so much help that they will kept the poor dry stuff until their third millenium i think what they did to specially the french with their colonial history in ca they ever also are basically i want to go i want to go back to. i ask you my original question what are the prospects of better relations between the european union in russian this

year. you know i'm quite serious to you because if you look at what happens in germany because actually in your opinion germany is of course the bottom country. that america doesn't want to change is being she just accept threw into it because it's not choice for the german industry but if you look up to. you in germany she's worse than a. two point zero two point zero again yes and if you're getting friends which is a. who are in the european union i don't see any sign of wanting to do some seeing a more effective anyway the question is whether we. sanction politics which doesn't work actually it works for russia but it works against us ok and saud the point is when we would go out from these sanctions and i don't see any positive signs.

from germany and france that's. able to do to decide to go out and say ok thank you thank you very much for joining us and happy and have a very happy new year thank you are you going to what are the prospects here i mean need. you know is it going to be more of the same here because we know that the same sions in the united states it's a congressional decision here but the europeans it's on a rolling so you a new leadership in germany anything is going to change or is there going to be still the pressure from washington there is going to be pressure from washington it may not be coming from the president's office but we know that the president doesn't have complete control of the deep state foreign policy and so on he may be trying to regain control of some aspects of it but i think the you has their own ideologues exceptionalism at this point and they will continue the war against

russia in all spheres economic military and so on regardless of trump and. you know we have to expect that the political crisis in the u.s. with the number of. grand jury indictment this is exactly where we want to go here i want to bring in alexandra christopher he's a nap and he's the director and writer for the duran dot com alex marc was just talking about. the investigations going on that started in two thousand and seventeen eighteen now we're going in two thousand and nineteen the motor report what's it going to say what's your gut tell you. it's going to say nothing. nothing about police nothing about truck gross or collusion that's for sure it's not good and i think that pretty much been accepted and they're now trying to move the narrative towards a different direction so i think the moeller desiccation is going to be one giant

but i think the media peter i think you know by now that the media are still invested in this narrative that they'll find a way to connect trump somehow to wiki leaks wiki leaks to russia and somehow see that there was some kind of funny business going on and kind of legitimize. what they're trying to do this brings the war back in his board to you know you know the him it's really interesting is that he mentioned previously the crisis of journalism we know you know these lou carvings and we have this is german. right and still there's no self reflection by these people whatsoever you know they're always the exception but my sense is they're more the rule they just got caught why or why should they have so reflection if the new york times i guess has just walked puts a price for its russian meddling the investigation so what investigating something that was asked not exist and that's the children described by remote you know poor

children born by you know when their parents send and even into a gate seen on the american in their dreams according to his report so basically what we see with our commission is this situation when people are basically forced to testify against themselves that was the case with what you know that was thinking with fleeing basically that was the case with them on a fort and the technology is very simple kate we accuse you all could you know with the russia they had me bring you into this situation or when you will face fifteen years in prison you know usually accuse them of any of that no means no accusation allusion would testify against yourself. that you. are involved in corrupt dealings with the ukrainian government or that you inform the vice president of the united states talk to a russian investor that would flee so people are basically forced to testify

against themselves because they'll turn you know it's going to jail for fifty if you go back to alexander in in athens you know i think it's well accepted here that obviously democrats and liberals hate the president there are plenty of never trumpeters in the republican party in of course almost to the person in the media bar a few individuals on fox they all hate donald trump so why doesn't trump after the report comes out after these indictments come out that trump his turns around and pardons them all what does he have to loose. well i think whatever move trump makes whether the pardon said whether he does it they're just going to come down on him hard whether it's the republicans the right knows whether it's the democrats and most importantly that it's higher mainstream media establishment like you said peter barr bar one or two people on fox everyone is against any decision he makes they're going to come down hard the one thing that we learned peter in all of this

is that a deep state does indeed exist yet we're learning that the russians spent four thousand seven hundred dollars in google ads which supposedly overthrew the entire u.s. democracy while a tyrant of a crisis still i would correct out there russians not necessarily the already mentioned but as you said ok they wrecked russians russians a troll a troll farm a troll factory in st petersburg which nobody has and what are you talking about arkady we're not talking about the wanted alabama different price. for their right arm and all over the world and also what in macedonia that was that's doing some stuff i just we also learned that the f.b.i. had it in for trouble before he got elected and after he got elected and we also learned most importantly the biggest coverup of them all peter is that hillary clinton did rig the primaries against dirty sanders that's something no one today say i want to jump in here if any one of you guys ever run for president make sure

you have the macedonia ends on your side yes they can make the difference here that i have to go out for all the while we have you many thanks to my guests here in moscow in france and in greece and thanks to our viewers for watching us here archy see you next time remember. hello my name's peter and i've been living in russia now for about seven years and this is a film about just some of the crazy things i've gotten through in the time. when you get up.

let me go this is the list or do it if. i still did not see if it. could. be out there time for some major production following twelve months guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate.

just does. what i mean. to make it. well that's not my job. i. think it's something you can see that in the field where you feel. that you're in the stuff or leave you. a few more sleeve. notes and you will but people still remember. thinking before we start to feel.

that. person wrong to step up joint patrols in the english channel after a spike in the number of illegal immigrants trying to get to the u.k. over the past two weeks. thirty russian children held in

a rocky prison but that allegedly the wings parent from now back home we were there when they returned to russia. french newspaper apologizes off the people compare its latest front cover to images from the nazi era. a very good morning to you you're watching oxy international with me in the air.