learn the use of nigeria for nato nation militarism in west africa joining me now is a nigerian politician who is culture minister and aviation minister he was an advisor in president obasanjo's p.d.p. government and he supports over sunders former vice president who have a backer over incumbent president in today's elections very funny cody is in the capital budget thanks so much for me for coming on we had the former a nigerian central bank official kingsley magali was on the show he supported by the nobel the laureate will he see into he said that nigeria needed a different kind of politics why are you supporting the p.d.p. and if he could have a backer of us well i think that the suggestion that anybody other than barca can defeat the incumbent is unrealistic i mean the reality is that the only person that has the opportunity of the chance of defeating is barca and quite apart from that i think he's is an excellent candidate a good choice somebody that has immense experience and somebody that is more than

likely will be able to bring the country back together again obviously. u.s. senate report accuses him of transferring forty billion dollars of suspect funds to . the u.s. using is american wife's account well the issue for me is very simple he hasn't been indicted he hasn't been convicted these are allegations that have been made and and so on so he's indicted. i really don't take them seriously in any case he was in america recently it was something that was that serious why on earth wasn't he arrested he is our leader in our party he's running for election we are supporting him we're supporting the party we have a major crisis in our country we have to pull our country back from the brink we are on the edge of what i would call disaster civil disorder and possibly a civil war somewhere down the line if we're not careful we need somebody that can bring us back together again and that for me is the overriding. situation and

that's why i'm supporting rocca well in london obviously we had pictures here to resume with the book signing security deals arms training deals of the obama famously pictured with. do you think the west has any chosen candidate it's a very very complicated question. simple on the surface book complicated below if you go back twenty fifteen i was very much involved in the presidential campaign then i was spokesman for then presidential candidate president goodluck jonathan who was present at the time and it was very clear to us that britain the united states and france particularly most of the western nations were supporting brewery and they want said jonathan out of power obama spearheaded that and obama ensured that indeed and indeed told some of our government officials on that side that they would get jonathan out at all costs france was also i believe was holanda

it was the president of the time and of course david cameron in in the united kingdom they all supported ari they all wanted. jonathan out of power but the problem is they really didn't know what they were getting into and we won't them that this man is divisive he's he's a he's a he's a muslim fundamentalist he seeks to impose islam on the rest of the country he's a believe in he has an ethic agenda full and isolation of the country he is an immensely. unfits both mentally mentally physically and spiritually to lead a country like this because he sees everything from a prism of religion and everything from prism of tripe and we told them that they didn't listen to us they supported him he became president of the country and he is you know all we said over the last three and at that time has been proved over the last three years or six months now we are where. we are city and i would i would

put it to you that i believe that the west has learned their lesson about what they've seen the carlie's they see in the genocide they've seen the ethnic cleansing they've seen the persecution of political opponents they've seen the wholesale destruction of our economy the reduction of our people support which is stricken pauperize people we are now than it were now the world's poverty capital i mean every single aspect of our economy and ideation has been destroyed over that period and they have recognised the facts something we told them years ago that a man like this will only encourage terrorism he has supported booker by paying huge ransoms book or i was on the rampage they are more powerful today than they were four years ago the fully herdsman terrorist organization of though he has never ever condemned them even this lots of more people than probably over the last enough years we also have isis in niger and now as a consequence of his espousal of fundamentalist islamic doctrines and we also have

another group called the million felonies who are coming in to the north western part of the country slaughtering our people in the north that is the legacy of where you and i think they've seen all that is the western leader of seattle that probably change their minds and realize that we were right to have said they should keep this man out of power and now they're probably looking at it from a different perspective and it's very clear because what they're saying now is they want a free and fair election and they're saying this in the knowledge that will stay in power or course it will bihari obviously and his cabinet and his politicians know that tonight a lot of those accusations and allegations you just made if i may just make a quick comparison here because the challenges of nature are problems are not limited to just having another election and another president it's a far more fundamental problem than that and look at what happened in syria look at what's happening in most of the arab world look at what's happening in libya if we're not careful we'll have something similar happening. in this country simply

because you have a massive christian population here a massive muslim population who are badly divided and so it's a reality that thousands of people have been slaughtered over the last three and a half years nobody can deny that it was funny you mention syria because of course as you say many different communities but as for your candidate he says unless we dismantle mafia organizations we cannot progress let's privatise them is your chosen candidate abu bakar basically. you know in a way a bit like. before the war in syria was to privatise everything was to bring in western oil companies do as his detractors would put it. just remove all the money from nigerians and abroad. i think that's an oversimplification of what he's attempting to do and again i must emphasize not his spokesperson i do not speak for him not in his campaign organization but i am a party member and i'm a nigerian and i think that the road of privatization is

a pretty good one the record speaks for itself the whole world is privatizing now if not for the fact that you know russia privatized and of course they went through a number of challenges after the soviet union fell but they privatized and now they are what they are today relatively powerful country that's on the rise throughout the world that is the road that is the way forward so i think so that extent it's a pretty good policy i also believe this that you know a country where government is so powerful and government is controlling enterprise like the n.n.p.c. sword and so forth about have chinese because that's where corruption comes in and that's why everybody is so interested in taking power at the center because that's where all the money is that's where all the all the assets are controlled by government we should move away from that smaller government more efficient system and a booming economy that's what we're trying to achieve and that's what he wants to do you mentioned russia you know about the accusations that your chosen candidate have about the. is connected to the russians he's hired the donald trump lobbyist

brian ballard nonsense there's allegations well you know i don't know who he's close to or who is not close to but what i will tell you is this if you say it's close the russians is equally close the americans is even close close the british he's equally close to the european union and everybody else and i don't think it's a crime or there's a crime in being close to the russians i admire the russians i like the russians i like the role they played in syria i like the fact that they supported and defended secularists governments and christian communities and even shia minorities in sunni muslim countries where salafist so why have this well funded by saudi arabia and to a certain extent the obama regime to slaughter these people like flies so i don't think there's anything wrong with being close to the russians i don't know how whether he is close to the russians and i wouldn't for one minute suggest that he's in the pocket of the russians as complete different difference between the two but i don't think being close to the russians is such

a bad thing i think it's good to be close to everybody to talk to everybody and i also believe that russia should play a much bigger role in the affairs of nature and indeed africa well that will raise a few eyebrows in nato headquarters let alone the good of us you've presumably heard about the governor of could duma saying foreign intervention by the u.k. to us in the election means that people from those places will be returning in body bags well today if that happens i'm going to just ask because you didn't suggest the bihari will rig the election eve officials are of course there on the ground today listen it's very important that you understand the mindset of the people that we're dealing with and i would suggest to our put it to you that that mindset is very close very very close to the mindset of the sort of people that were leading. al qaeda leading eisel and they were leading various other terrorist organizations in the arab world. old when somebody like nice to overfly somebody that i was very

close to in cabinet together for a number of years the governor of kut and i say talks about body bags for interfering what he means by it's a fearing his calling you know to question the partiality of the impartiality of i next and the government in the conducting of this election in other he don't want anybody to question anything when he says that you need to take him very very seriously because that's their mindset this is this gentleman in his state in twenty sixty eight hundred in a christians were killed there is a peace so if he shows this when he talks about body bags taken very seriously and we hope and pray that they don't go that far in their quest to stay in power we sincerely hope that it doesn't come to that but they're prepared to do anything fight anybody kill anybody stop anybody criminalise anybody demonize anybody including the west in order to ensure that they stay in power and by god's grace

they will fail in that quest for me from the gaiety thank you after the break as china rejects nato nation mainstream media reports of talks with u.s. backed venezuelan rebels we speak to a former u.s. national intelligence advisor about why they do nation media seeks to discredit asia and will britain really just beating swiss cheese and pharaoh island fish after breakfast day on march twenty ninth all this about coming up about to have going underground. simply being the lead concert that philip had ten miles from the to the independent that's when the tears and i fainted in. the council as a percent that i went up at a sauna when you mean they. they let him get me

or now we're. now at the five day because hell i got money for that never. see let him make me forget me for the on the metro have gave up they got me as. much as gone into a nihilistic fever. and get out the traveling across america to find what makes america. the genius of this place especially american hero this is a point. we always. were

starting last with. will begin to head east into the swamp we're going into the belly of the i think i want to leave now doesn't anymore. it may be completely different but in this. the united states does that all the time it always tries to influence elections when people who are running who are friendly to the united states are running against people who are unfriendly we certainly did that all through central america and south america for many many years we know that these efforts are made repeatedly there not criminal every intelligence agency in the world she's a smart of its function to make sure that elections turn out favorably to the country.

ah. ah. welcome back u.k. three media this week ask questions about jeremy corbin's baked beans and relied on bar room brussels conversations for hints of teresa mayes breaks a time table but is the real question whether there will be tomatoes in british shops in april let alone meds and because under the media radar trade deals are already being done the government's program for providing continuity and stability

for businesses consumers and investors in our international agreements is of utmost importance we are committed to ensuring these benefits from untamed providing for a smooth transition as we leave the e.u. so nearly three years on from the referendum who has the u.k. signed deals with we have already signed a number of agreements including with switzerland the largest in terms of our trade flows representing over twenty percent in terms of value of all our roll over agreements yes swiss clocks and fondue are safe who also we signed off with we've also signed agreements with chile and a fear whilst the pharaoh islands are apparently a significant post rex a trade partner this is what's on their you tube channel. with a history deeply influenced by ancient play chains and the struggle for survival styles have a rich past. and a rich future is the faroe islands sell britain advance technology and pharmaceuticals presumably back to reality is. the problem the tourism is

government is useless at negotiation labor claims the tories approach trade deals by saying at the outset they want to turn britain into a duty free port not the best strategy in rolling over import export taxes recently the secular state suggested the unilateral liberalization of terrorists in the event of a new deal bricks it i asked the secretary of state to explain to the house now how he thinks negotiations would go with the remaining rollover countries once he'd given up our key negotiating leverage by reducing all tariffs to zero most members might think that by doing so we were the ones being rolled over far from it says the u.k. government in any case the u.k. will surely be able to sell weapons on the heels of a u.k. defense secretary threatening china and russia this week is the pm paying tribute to a warplane alleged by amnesty international to be involved in child killing by saudi arabia that alone it's arguably illegal use in iraq and syria from the gulf war through to operations against irish in syria and iraq the tornado has been an

integral part and a vital part of our astral creations and i think it's my right arm from the defense secretary said last week it's with a heavy heart that enormous pride that we bade farewell driza may celebrating the bombing of asia there we're joined now by former u.s. national intelligence advisor parent conor his new book is the future is asian commerce conflict and culture in the twenty first century welcome back to going underground so you know we hear about in major nation media arguably is here to these economies in the going downhill let alone china we have here back a little easier. who knows capital controls the and you're seeing the future is asian double down on the argument actually i could have called this book the present is asian that's just less catchy title but it happens to be true forty percent of the world economy is asian fifty percent of the world population is in asia trades more within itself the. it does with the rest of the world it's even

decoupling in so many ways some of the world's largest economies are of course in asia china is in purchasing power parity terms which is the measurement that matters the largest economy india is now growing faster than china azi on the countries of southeast asia have half the population of india and china they have a larger g.d.p. even than india and get more foreign investment than china so not only is asia the present and the future it has multiple pillars of growth a lot of people look at asia and they see just china and whatever china wants and china writ large in fact there are significant major multi-trillion dollar economies in asia that are very nicely exploring their complementarities with each other economically and strategically so i think that there is a lot of. bumps on the road to an asian century but there's no question that we already live in it what do you make of britain's role that at the moment just recently the chinese government warned to britain of provocative actions

him as well being in the south china sea tourism a minority government leader here openly saying we don't support the belgian road initiative britain doings we usual things here in this future is asia or will you put there are two things going on in terms of britain in the post brics it landscaped the u.k. really does need to strengthen its economic ties to asia germans french italian swiss everyone is actually trying to get in on belts and road projects the u.k. to use another example has also the prosperity fund the purpose of the prosperity fund is also to get british business a leg up in fast growing economies like india like pakistan so whatever theresa may says about belt and road is more or less irrelevant what matters a lot more is what are europeans doing britain included to try and shape their local environments through their businesses and through their diplomacy and that britain should do a lot more its presence of its warships is not nearly as significant ultimately in

influence because it really isn't very influential from military standpoint what it can do commercially will have i think it is a problem for the royal navy on that one but it has to be said that we've heard on this program it's been quoted widely around the world that the united states is in circling china with military bases is that the way london and other countries are going to be the list of the communist party of ji u.s. military presence in the region long predates china's rise right it's a legacy obviously of world war two when the victory over japan and so forth and since that time during the cold war the us alliance system the end agreements countries like of course japan and south korea also australia new zealand others were formally. part of a u.s. treaty based alliance system and a lot of that remains intact today there's shifting you know positions and degree of acceptance of a strong military presence in places like japan and korea because of course they've modernized the become very successful they have their own self defense capability

to some degree they still want the u.s. there to a certain extent though they also feel it's politically unpalatable and that's what's being negotiated right now but all of them obviously are concerned with china's rise china's massive investments and its military china's you know posture and movements in the south china sea island reclamation and fortification of violence and placing military facilities there so there is a tit for tat escalation of maneuvering that's going on i hope that it can be managed in a way where if we resolve the underlying territorial disputes over the islands and if we agree that the waters have to remain open but after we've settled the status of the islands there isn't a need for this endless escalation that's what we should all want to see the world is now looking on and at the u.n. security council it was that it's a little the international community it's minority governments that are trying to overthrow the government of venezuela what do you make of the chinese saying this

is what union the chinese foreign ministry saying china will continue just will the government's efforts say good venezuela's national sovereignty over. there's been masses of twenty eight cooperation agreements between the and the majority government masses of energy deals and obviously chinese weapons going to the rhetorical you that language isn't that different from what china uses with respect to other countries where it has made significant investments purchased a lot of energy sold a lot of weapons issued lines of credit and so forth so china's done that in any number of countries and about as well as one of them so that rhetorical statement is not at all surprising but remember you're talking about a country of more than fifty million people no foreign power can prop up a failing government you know that has messed up policy and. you know screwed up their most significant national sounds or is like. magnum only does it about fidel castro in cuba no what i'm saying is that again that israel has been failing on its own volition right it's made a lot of mistakes i don't know what you believe your version was it was the u.s.

sanctions use anxious exulting again i've been going to venezuela for actually you know fifteen years since my first book and written about it and i you know many many many other people who are actually latin america specialist would have said the seeds of its own decay were soda by the chavez regime and the way he handled the economy in the way he handled the energy assets so my point is that whether you're china russia or whichever other power you really can't keep that state from failing with the current government that it has obviously china sentiment again which is consistent in what they say another context too is that they don't want to see an arbitrary overthrow of the government you know without some kind of negotiated process you know for for for changing it really i think china is a little russia which will get older they could be part of a bruises to get rid of the balloon revolution who put in i wouldn't really call it a successful no and it wouldn't be in a way to be what i'm saying is that they would want to see a negotiation not a lawless overthrow right because if it is inevitable and you know in the case of

syria we've had a similar situation where of course you know there was a there was a sense years ago at this point if we look back at how much longer assad has lasted than than people had originally thought that he must go but he's already plumage lethal do you mean the sources you will use no i'm referring the same people that you do and you talk about you know the western press that tends to just assume that the bad guys will fall and fail you know and they tend to have a greater longevity but again i'm saying that whatever oil purchase agreements china you know has with venezuela it's not enough at this point to keep fifty million people or to restore them to the dignity that they once had right something else has to change in the country. politics and policy that's the point i'm making and in fact despite those statements from china over the last couple of years it's sort of if you will decelerated its support for the country it sees that it's kind of a losing the last twenty eight new cooperation agreements tripling of oil exports really

the first six months. where they had fallen to let's remember right but i mean there is a chinese communist party involvement in energy where this invents project i mean what i'm trying to get i suppose is the developing nations in the world that loom the asian nations. you don't think they see venezuela or a bit like russia soviet union which is in the cuban missile goes no i don't think so because in a way and you know it was a testament you were saying earlier to castro's longevity this government in venezuela does not have the luxury of video right its predecessor didn't either and it seems to know that it's not you know people used to actually admire the castro regime in cuba for you know the sense of equality and the universal health care and these kinds of things you know very well with the humanitarian conditions are in venezuela it's nothing to to admire want to make a broader point china in the case of venezuela or others actually makes very rational calculations of cost benefit analysis as to whether or not countries are

useful to it right if you look across africa again the same nameless blog if you will of western presell we have about talks about you know china colonizing africa and so forth just to be clear china is diminishing its commitments to some african countries from which it's no longer you know purchasing as much commodities as it used to places like angola where you still buy a lot of oil doesn't buy as much anymore so you don't have as much chinese presence the lesson there is that geopolitics is quite non-linear you can't just paint a straight line picture from china has invested in these five countries therefore china will colonize africa nothing of the sort is what is happening right chinese investments are concentrated in about five countries in africa not fifty three right and it will vary and shift based upon its own interests and that's something that is you know much more predict predictable in many ways and much more analytically something you can analyze rather than just some ideological notion that china must be all over africa so venezuela needs to be seen in that context as

well how useful is it going to be. thank you for the show will leave. the u.s. congress this is to build a surprise visit. just by social media. tough and i mean i'm on the entire system account when you're both excessive because alec

itself movie theater i. was in this way got to dog it so hard not to think of the mother decide this moment the look of a power and i know from the start then if. this is the only thing that we do is music because everybody fights in his own way. to. the floor you can feel the fee is worthless woody allen called the ability of the day. but i think is this is the found that is a constant. through . country's gone into a nihilistic fever that's why i think we've got to hit the road and get out the

traveling across america to find what makes america the charlatans the genius says this is the quintessential american hero this is it we've come to a point around which element is gone so we always are on the current system what this whole culture is doing for you. oh. we're starting last with is going to head east into the swamp we're going into the belly of the bees i think i want to leave now doesn't get any more gonzo than it may be completely different but then there's just. the job of journalists photojournalists any type of videographers writing journalists is their job it's much more dangerous every year because so many people now see what we do is threats you know threats to whatever their narrative is whatever the propaganda is and you know the like anything. in our

culture and in the iraq and afghanistan wars had to be sold to the american people and. the. clashes and tear gas at the fourteenth weekend of yellow vests protests as hundreds gather in paris against president micron we bring you our report from the streets of the french capital. u.s. vice president mike pence calls on european allies to send resources and personnel to syria as washington gets ready to pull out while russia's foreign minister says the idea will only exacerbate the crisis.