the u.k.'s defense secretary says he will counter russia and china militarily posts gregg's it as he delivers a plans a base the british military's global presence. with assets to rebuild the war torn city in iraq is that he of mosul under way the situation on the ground remains grim locals told is the city is

a ghost town there's no reconstruction here all the reconstruction efforts are just like the living dead we have a symmetry over there but here it's a cemetery for the living. but as well as president nicolas maduro initiated launch scale military drills in preparation for a possible u.s. military intervention. very welcome you're watching aussie international with me becky erin how the course is deciding secretary has been addressing national security ahead of britain's withdrawal from the european union among the things he advocates is the deployment of more british warships overseas our london correspondent polly boyko has the details. well this was a speech read gavin williamson on veiled his future plans and ambitions for the british military he said that president is

a historic moment and an opportunity for the u.k. and he listed all the new gadgets and the state of the art toys and equipment that he has on order he spoke about the british military needing to increase its mass and lethality which led to questions about how he's planning on funding increasing this mass and lethality take a lesson we've seen is the government has always been willing and ready to respond to the case. because we realize for pros and be important soldiers funding aside this speech sounded somewhat detached from reality in other aspects as well kevin williamson spoke about bragg's it being a great moment in the u.k.'s history which is sound somewhat optimistic given the chaotic situation that the braggs it process is in right now it is. to seize

the opportunities that brics it brings we will build new alliances rekindle old ones and most importantly make it clear that we are tree that will act when required we should be the nation that people turn to when the world needs leadership he also spoke of britain being ready to intervene to protect the international rules based order which seem to completely cross over the interventions that britain has taken part in that haven't quite gone to plan for example iraq afghanistan libya to name but a few we spoke to chris nineham from the stop the war coalition who says the u.k. is aligning its military ambitions with america as well the deputy leader of the u.k. independence party mike who couldn't believe the reasoning behind the plan doesn't quite add up. what williamston is doing is positioning our future foreign policy very much in close and tight alliance with washington's and if you read the you

know trance foreign policy. trumps cabinets foreign policy documents what they're really doing is they're trying to. assuage the u.s. military concern to trying to deal with china in particular which they see as their main competitor so i think it's britain's government kind of goes along with that train these kind of aggressive postures can only increase tension around the world they can only be seen as provocative in confrontational against great powers many of whom are armed powerfully than we are so this is a this is a this is a very old foreign policy posture and it's hopefully not one that will in fact be pursue why are we getting involved with any of this we shouldn't be getting involved with china or russia you know there are not a threat to us as far as i can see at the moment you know way should be looking at

building our own forces build our build in the air force up the navy defense force you know looking after our unconscious in the last few years we can see what's going on i'll chop have gone out there and done their optional but never more sure the phrase lions led by dunkers you know we go out there and do the bidding of politicians and it's politicians let down the country and let down our troops. as assets to rebuild the war torn iraq is this year's most will continue since this two thousand and seventeen liberation the situation on the ground remains grim experts claim that despite the flow of funds to rebuild the city much of the money is being pocketed by local authorities their thirty's deny the allegations the locals continue to complain about widespread corruption we talked to some of those who have returns to mosul lost to us liberation artie's more aghast the earth has the story. coming home should always be

a joy safety security but it isn't always so not when you're coming back to mosul there are no basic services in the city no jobs it's terrible we return to our homes here and a half after the liberation but there is no life here there are no decent streets we suffer from power and water shortage it feels so pathetic. we are here battling all the hardships we now regret that we ever came back. it was one of the biggest deadliest battles in the world in decades in the name of freedom they turned west mosul into this. a city of millions reduced to ash and rubble in an act they called

liberation i was there two years ago i saw tasted and smelled the city being freed that's an iraqi helicopter this is what the aftermath of a classic strike in mosul look like it doesn't matter way you go it looks virtually the same crumbled buildings stay bre airstrike craters two years and nothing's changed west mosul is still a wreck city of the dead it is the robot you can't even imagine how difficult it is one hospital no schools no teaches we are like the living dead we have a cemetery over there but here it's a cemetery for the living. this spirit children orphans a clearing rubble in the absence of builders and construction crews they are what you call rescue crews the first to stumble on and dive from booby traps unexploded

u.s. coalition bombs they are the first to reach the corpses under the rubble now estimated to be in the tens of thousands bodies left rotting for two years. holes are everywhere there are still corpses everywhere and if anyone brings humanitarian aid in the local officials to steal it corrupt. corruption has its tentacles everywhere millions of dollars intended for reconstruction apparently siphoned off stolen the u.s. led coalition which spent billions bombing mosul doesn't seem to have the cash or will to rebuild it the only thing that's being rebuilt the locals the bank accounts of crooked officials there's no reconstruction here all the reconstruction efforts are just in on paper potholes everywhere streets filled with rubble and rubbish it's misery here i swear to god there are no queen officials here. but as well as

embattled president nicholas madeira has launched a huge military drills in preparation for possible u.s. invasion made your insists washington is leading a coup against him by backing that as well as opposition leader proclaimed himself interim president in january venezuela military is sticking with madeira for now despite some fifty countries officially recognizing why don't want to or has warned washington against crossing the line. of us if we are a peaceful country but do not mess with us do not threaten us donald trump get out of bed as well or stop the threats and get out we must prepare to defend our sovereignty to rhetorical integrity and independence. venezuelan medical professionals are protesting at a bridge on the border with colombia which is being blocked by venezuelan military forces holding a large venezuelan flag the doctors called on the military to allow u.s.

provided humanitarian aid to cross the t.n. deterrence bridge opposition leader one inquired as also being in the army to disobeyed. the supplies they were. stranded ministration sharply criticized nicholas madeira for stopping the aid from crossing the bridge much as the media has been quick to has been quick to jump on the bandwagon giving the impression of it as well and government has shut down an otherwise functioning routes into the country. blocks aboard a bridge where he said to arrive ordering troops to block the bridge president maduro has blocked a bridge about three hundred meters or so from the blockade of the border between ben a call on the humanitarian aid on the venice well inside trucks and troops are blocking traffic in and out of the country the bridge in question which connects colombia and venezuela has in fact never been opened to traffic since its initial

construction in two hundred fifteen and is due to disputes between the two neighboring countries however last week both the united nations and the international red cross said humanitarian aid shouldn't be used in pursuit of political aims. related to that you money me that which must never be politicized that moment. you money. has been. politicized dividing the political debate which shouldn't be humanitarian action needs to be independent of political military or other objectives what is important is that humanitarian aid be depleted and the needs of the people should lead in terms of when and how humanitarian aid is used. when isis confiscation father now and cross live to see me and that's the real news and not explain the good to see you and how is it that the media can be demanding the bridge seems to reopen when

it's never been open in the first place. that thanks for having me in just a correction i'm the senior editor of the grey zone project gray zone project dot com and we're here in venezuela to break the media blockade and show what's actually happening one point i have i want to make is that you know i've been around caracas for several days going to all different neighborhoods there are no food shortages that i can see restaurants are full many of the supermarkets are full of food the problem is speculation and hyper inflation which makes it hard for some people at certain lower classes to buy food and that hyperinflation is being compounded by unprecedented u.s. sanctions now the reason that the u.s. and western media is focusing as to nod refers of the trump administration on the humanitarian aid is to frame to create an interventionist frame to create a pretext where the maduro government first of all seems cruel and stingy and will

not allow aid in which will actually have no effect on people's food insecurity and second of all to allow this intervention to take place we have to remember that when the u.n. authorized intervention against libya which turned into a full scale regime change war it was on the basis of humor. tarion aid and humanitarian intervention this is a repeat of that both the international red cross and the united nations have warned against using humanitarian aid for political or military objectives is that what the u.s. is doing hey you think. it's absolutely the case in the aid world and the u.n. in the red cross which provide food in a nonpolitical fashion and provide aid in a nonpolitical fashion operate in a dramatically different way than usa id usa idea which will bring in the aid operates under the state department and it actually has an office of transitional initiatives which has been funding to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars the right wing venezuelan opposition which has placed caracas and other cities

under siege with violent guardian buzz so the this organization has always had a political bent to it and what it seeks to do with this aid is to possibly create a pretext for intervention where if the venezuelan army blocks the aid will be a confrontation that could potentially escalate and that's something that a lot of venezuelans are deeply concerned about because however they feel about this government most venezuelans actually opposed a u.s. military invasion and was quite curious is that it's a one way direct miss twitter account on monday that the first delivery of humanitarian aid had been made including medicines of pregnant mothers and malnourished children how did they manage to do that. yeah i'm not sure about that i haven't heard about that many venezuelans haven't heard about that. but we also have seen reports of a plane that's flown in from miami under the auspices auspices of delivering aid

but contained boxes of automatic rifles we have to consider that trumps are who is in charge of his venezuelan policy right now is elliott abrams who pioneered the strategy of using humanitarian aid as a disguise for delivering weapons to u.s. proxy forces. first during the. wars and central america the proxy wars during which elliott abrams was overseeing several death squads and their genocidal humanitarian violations so this is it appears to be a political pretext i'm not sure what one is talking about but we have to remember that has not ruled out a us intervention. ok max if you could just stay with us a little bit longer with love to get your take on a few more points just first want to remind our viewers who is currently responsible for u.s. policy towards venezuela elliott abrams was recently appointed u.s. special envoy to venezuela and has previously held the position assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs it's alleged he was involved in

a coup attempt in venezuela in two thousand and ten two and he's also been accused of shipping weapons weapons to nicaraguan rebels under the guise of humanitarian aid back in the nine hundred eighty s. assistant secretary of state elliott abrams has defended his role in authorizing the shipment of weapons on a humanitarian aid flight to nicaraguan rebels saying the operation was strictly by the book. comeback so i guess now max blumenthal at max in license will that do you think madeira has a good excuse to block they say and to suspects that the u.s. could use the humanitarian crisis as a cover for military plans. well you know i was in. implausible leave already yesterday where tens of thousands of venezuelans were lining up to sign a declaration to the american people declaring their opposition to u.s. intervention and one point they kept coming back to was that the sovereignty and

independence of venezuela is important and they see this aid delivery especially in the in the light of abrams history of using aid as a cover for delivering arms to proxy forces as a violation of venezuelan sovereignty as an actual u.s. invasion of venezuela and so in many ways this is seen as a trojan horse for u.s. invasion given abrams history i think there's a good cause for that and we also have to remember that abrams also oversaw a coup attempt in the gaza strip against the elected government in two thousand and seven using the palestinian authority and the forces of mahmoud. as a proxy for so this is what elliott abrams does he gets up in the morning he eat cereal he drinks orange juice and then he runs dirty wars and he's in charge of trump's policy on venezuela and the u.s. ambassador to colombia has given an interview saying russia and china are produce to democracy in venezuela is that what the u.s.

is doing in the country supporting democracy. yeah i mean it's laughable when the u.s. talks about democracy when it's trying to install a figure who eighty one percent of venezuelans had not heard of prior to january twenty second when trump essentially declared him president it's absurd for the u.s. to talk about democracy when it's trying to install one at the point of a gun with the threat of a possible invasion over the colombian border. and it's also absurd when we when i when i spoke to people yesterday in plus a believer who said that our votes are being taken away from us because we're the majority who elected president nicolas maduro and this figure we've never heard of his now being declared our president let's remember that when my daughter was elected the three main opposition parties boycotted under u.s. pressure and henry falcone one of the few opposition candidates who ran did so under threats from the united states so the united states has wanted to

delegitimize the democratic institutions of venezuela for a long time in addition to funding of violent right wing opposition that seeks to come into power on the backs of essentially u.s. tanks speaking to us live from caracas not explain themselves to me and it's not off the gray zone project thank you feel time with that with more news on this very short break. and when else shows seem wrong why don't we all just don't call. anything. yet to shape out these days become educated and in gains from it equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look

for common ground. what politicians do. they put themselves on the line they get accepted or rejected . so if you want to be president. or some want to. get it right. it's like. three of the people. interested in the why. question. welcome back i'm dismissing graffiti say has been found scrawled on

a jewish bagel shop in the french capital some of the quick to point the finger at the yellow vests movement as solid depends. outrage yet another semitic attack in paris the latest was in the fourth decent of the city the german wood for jews was sprayed across this bagel shop neither old jewish quarter. anti semitism indignation and anger after yesterday's discovery of a vial and the semitic tag on the window of a bagel stein shop and x. that recalls the darkest hours of history the anti semitic graffiti was discovered at the weekend many have likened it to the anti semitic inscriptions that were talking jewish businesses in germany in the one nine hundred thirty s. and some have already decided who the culprit is. today in the streets of paris the work you did jews was printed on the window of

a beggar restaurant this act thirteen by the yellow vests has precedence attacks against institutions and thai semitic acts how far will it go. act thirteen youden in paris act twelve insults in front of a synagogue in strasbourg act nine the anti semite ricin in the yellow vest everywhere the same thing is happening and it's a tragedy it's not the first time that the yellow vests have been accused of anti semitism during the six week of protests known as act six a series of anti semitic incidents were reported including a group of protesters singing a song popularized by an anti semitic comedian another group was accused of insulting in auschwitz survivor on the metro so what have the yellow vests themselves got to say about it. the yellow vests are not racists they're peaceful they believe in the republic they're peaceful tolerant and want to live

better in their country it's possible that among the yellow vests there are some crazies and racists that's no different than the rest of french society the goal of the government is to tarnish the yellow vests first they try to identify yellow vests with hooligans but that didn't work because ninety nine percent of the yellow vests are peaceful and unarmed we took to the streets of the capital to find out who locals think are responsible when it's mostly likely honestly i don't know if there is any connection to the l. of the us it's easy to just blame everything on them there is just a lot of anti-semitism in friends and in other countries. i don't think is the yellow versatile it's not something they want to be connected to i think this is just racism. it's shocking for me and for a lot of people there's the media talking about it all the time but i don't understand how it could happen. it is disgusting and live in the moment and then i

thought we would in france. however the restaurant owners have dismissed the link same incident probably occurred several hours before the yellow press protest this does though come at a time when anti semitism in france has been reassuring its head last november the french prime minister said anti semitic acts in france has increased by sixty nine percent in the first nine months of two thousand and eighteen while the government has promised to crackdown on this anti semitic attacks it's clear that some have decided to wrongly jump on the bandwagon and blame the yellow vests at least when it comes to this latest incident do you can ski r.t. paris earlier we spoke with brussels based journalist who thinks the convenient scapegoat for the french authorities. the government i'm sure mccourt it's fighting

the senate is very much afraid of them so anything that goes wrong it's to yellow vests cannot miss you for all the. president the chairman of the of us simply in us or another national assembly the parliament is so fair horse house residence it's been burnt i mean somebody set fire to it immediately direction was it just yellow fests nothing to do with anti semitism nobody knows if it is yellow vests who did it there are some people why are not too clever say stupid things that are probably some anti semite something but the movement in the self is nothing to do with these extreme opinions sent stupid opinions i think. we're now to northern russia where a state of emergency has been declared after an invasion by polar bear several people have been attacked by the bears which is being which is entered residential buildings at least fifty two polar bears were spotted on c.c.t.v. footage in every in a settlement on russia's. island polar bears are classed as an endangered species

in russia so it's illegal to kill them however since all dorothy's of so far not managed to scare the bears off with sirens they say that more drastic measures may be necessary as long as the next month jose maria returns to r.t. for our coverage of the twenty nine thousand new a fed champions league from pretty much predictions to game post-mortems his new bi weekly show little. after the previous stage of my career was over everyone wondered what i was going to do next the multiple different clubs on one hand it is logical to sit in the home field where everything is familiar on the other i wanted a new challenge and a fresh perspective for me i'm used to suppressing and bustle why not if you think . i'm going to talk about football nazi or else you can think i was going to do.

by the way what is it that flying here. and there is all the headlines for this hour we'll be back at the top of the hour with nato. in twenty forty 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 just no lawyer i mean your list book video of clue in the. school and you go to the former ukrainian president recalls the events of twenty fourteen. those who took part in this today over five billion dollars to assist ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic.

goal make this manufacture come sentenced to public wealth. when the ruling classes some protect themselves. with the crime and merry go round be the one percent. we can all middle of the room six. million more.

hello and welcome to crossfire for all things are considered time peter lavelle house side forced regime change going in venezuela a few snags a few bumps in the road and can we believe some u.s. troops will leave the middle east and much much more on this edition of crossfire. ross talking some real news i'm joined by my guest here in moscow exactly and moreau he is the founder of the center for political strategic analysis poll we also have victrola bitch he is a political analyst as well as a leading expert at the center for actual politics and we have to choose a political analyst with international or a german crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate victor let me go to you first let's talk about venezuela we have the pretender president backed by the united states the united states mr cardew he's come out in public saying that he may because of his power whatever

that may be mean in venezuela asked for foreign intervention which of course would be the use of the middle american military in venezuela as we've seen many many times in the hemisphere is this going in a very bad place or is this telling us that as i said in my introduction a few bumps in the road a few snags with this force regime change of course there are keeping cool is keeping so it's still going it may not be going as fast or as quick as the new station or its lights in the venezuela elected to go but if such an intervention ever took place it would be a complete total violation of international law why door has no legitimacy in the international arena he has not been elected by the venezuelan people here is essentially been elected by washington d.c. and.