when you're in your country you have to be more pious and them taking away their choices those are the women we never ever talk about one a people choose the majority of the people choose to be governed by islam a call one of them is to wear the her job and the job does not demean women it actually makes them become a human beings and i'm going to hang on unavailable in a second marriage is human and women who are veiled i'm not saying that this is another issue but inside iran there is a role and there's a lot i'm good at as a result a less you change the whole system. i will be back with updates for you get off i'm out of time see them.

join me every thursday on the alex i will be sure and i'll be speaking to us of the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you there. oh.

hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i'm peter lavelle a comedian has won the first round of ukraine's presidential election although it doesn't have strong policy positions maybe that was his greatest appeal though he made it clear corruption is ukraine's biggest challenge fixing ukraine's very serious problems is no laughing matter. crosstalk in ukraine i'm joined by my guest. in london he is a political consultant and foreign affairs analyst also in london we have alexander make your us he is the director and writer for the duran dot com and in sonoma california we crossed to john jordan he is a political strategist right gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect that means you

can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it well one of my rules of my program is a week i go to the person that got up early is for this program and that goes to john good morning i hope you had your coffee my first question is what kind of game changer is this election in ukraine it's far from. but we have a comedian that won the largest number of votes and we'll talk about the people that weren't allowed to vote in this election as well go ahead john in sonoma. it is there are two primary factors of this campaign as you pointed out is the anti corruption message which is clearly resident the other piece of this which hasn't been talked about so much is language there are two pieces to ukraine while there's a strong national identity there's a portion of the ukraine which speaks which is russian speaking and recently mr mr poroshenko there's been language bills making ukrainian the primary language blocking russian language websites and so forth this is it is a russian speaker although he is a ukrainian patriot and he may actually his ace in the hole here may be the fact

that he does very very well with the russian speakers and then splits the ukrainian speakers with us to push and go ok alan tenner make me put a shank oh so in this is on the military hating russia and basically creating a schismatic orthodox church i guess that didn't go too down too well with the electorate because at the end of the day if you look at the disenfranchised three million russians living in ukrainians living in russia that weren't allowed the franchise he got in you take into account the turnout he got about nine percent of the vote go ahead alexander well i think that poroshenko his whole approach has flew full and very flat because he has set himself up as the strong national leader crane in this conflict with russia and it's quite clear looking at how ukrainians voted that they don't want more war they don't like the economic

crisis that ukraine is still enough in that country still facing an industrial recession wages still fully they don't like the corruption and those all the issues that really. concern them not these national issues that poroshenko for the election on and it seems to me that you're perfectly right to say that selenski doesn't have any very clear policy positions so the way to understand this election is not so much as of the four selenski yes as a vote against poroshenko and all the things that poroshenko stands for which is when the line ukraine has been following since the events in mind done in february two thousand and fourteen so it is an affair a repudiation of that policy and you're perfectly correct if those millions of

ukrainians who are now in russia had been able to vote they would have probably voted even more for selenski and poroshenko share of the vote would have been even less in radio is going to you in london it was quite remarkable image still could happen but it was remarkable that you didn't have to toria nuland visiting during this election here i mean where there was no overt western support of puerto shank oh though he was their candidate when he ran the first time go ahead in london. well that's very true i do agree with you but i think the last month scandal with the defense procurement scared out of americans from being involved in supporting the support of junko and so we have the. previous guest rightly that we have a two dimensional windfall and misters it in to keep first of all is the. corruption is kind of the root related to the end of the fence procurements related

to the son of the close of business partner mr poroshenko and the other one is the fact that mr zelinsky is a well known actor and he claimed a president and he and then he seriously called seven of the people and so and and the main character who the historian had a lecture. became a predator because of the fact that he was against the corruption so i think that those. serious originating with the moods and the spirit within the ukrainian society which doesn't want to see any longer professional politicians who are more opposite and they want to see an ordinary man because mr that is either ordinary man and he's campaigning was conducted through the social media and it certainly resonated with the young generation so i think that if this can be the

same. president same as with regard to bernie sanders abraxas or mr donald trump the people are shifting throned or professional politicians to the people who are easily accessible all resonate with the general mood of the nation and misses and indeed is resonating with the general mood of the nation you know john let's go back to california i mean we hear that's a very good point that we just heard here because the you had yulia timoshenko obviously. i mean these people have been in ukrainian politics and governments for the last decade and a half i mean they've certainly known quantities here and this is a rejection of the dominant political class because well they tried it with the orange revolution they tried it with them i don but they're still not. serving up the goods as it were to the population because of the trade policies that ukraine has against russia against its own national interest here i think that there are

other people there are many people are saying the status quo cannot stand somebody has to stand in do it now and if he can create a power base and support and attract institutional support those are all huge questions go ahead in california. absolutely this is an election which is more against something than for him things it was and c. is essentially an empty vessel in a lot of ways with poorly articulated if at all policy positions but he plays it he is the character he plays on television which is remarkable but this is about this is about being against the status quo this is english for to actually call it a screw it election this is trump all over again now can he survive will there be well with mr list i think mr zalewski wins this election but how he how he fares is an open question because the entrenched bureaucracy in all of our key is going to be very very hard to remove now if the ukrainian economy were very strong it would

be harder for him to win and easier for mr pershing co but i just don't see how mr bush the goings on alexander macare is going to you in london with the fat lady has been sung i'm so i guess i'm going to get in a lot of trouble i suppose it's politically incorrect to say but i said it we still have around to here and push and go has enormous enormous administrative resources and particularly in the media here. it's not beyond the realm of possibility that some event some provocation could still come into play here. absolutely i mean it is not over there is still is known a second round mr poroshenko knows ukrainian politics very well he's got all the leavers that he can press paul president of ukraine he has massive resources behind him and of course he's also now maneuvering selenski into a t.v. debate where he will probably as the more experienced candidate hope to win points

against selenski nonetheless the fact remains that selenski has polled almost twice as many votes as boris shanker he's riding the rejectionist the anti-establishment vote in ukraine and on li which you sought that the people who voted for the surge and fourth candidates mrs touma shane co and mr boyd call are more likely to support him in the second round so i think it would be an upset a major upset if zelinsky doesn't win but the problem is it's all very well to say you know that he's this populist candidate who's winning because he is against things i think the problem is given the problems of ukraine war you mean he is not someone who is just you know a vote because he's a negative you need

a servant he who has a sort of more transcendental mobility to take ukraine's problems moving forward has the political weight in north or ity to actually start to address them at this moment in time aren't far from sure that's pretty mildly there's a lenski is that person i'll get in our wait and see but you know our i have no great that he is going to be able to make much of an impression even if he wins yeah or ukrainian some of their hopes have been dashed time and again ever since their. and there and really it's talk about the nine hundred pound gorilla in the corner and that's eager to be all of. the. well there are sources people report make claims that there is a very close to and we know what that means that the oligarchy will continue to shift and mold the politics of ukraine the very origins of ukraine's problems are

these people and the way they run the economy for themselves by the way go ahead in london. well. i would be very skeptical with. you know the saying. the lewinsky is a part of the and it's the same i don't say puppet i didn't say puppet go no i'm just i'm just relating to. you know to the newspapers here in london and in the united states calling him a puppet so with all due respect i just want to make clear that the fact of the channel one plus one all by mr hall noise here where the servant of the people t.v. series were. playing in the main character is the one thing also this program the voice of strong support with regards to its t.v. star but doesn't mean that he will be in the pocket of mr cuomo ski whoa dismiss the new because as we probably know in the united states and western europe all

after the i got to jump in here i'll let you finish in return we'll go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on ukraine state with our king. breaks it can turn on our. young elephants have come to us after. especially brutal pledging incidents because sadly the baby elephants often to see their mothers be killed but also be cut up and tortured. i do believe they laugh and smile i see it in the system once they are home facial expression changes. the.

with gold make this manufactured sensitive to the public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. with the famous merry go round there's only the one percent. we can all middle of the room sing. welcome back to cross talk we're all things considered i'm peter remind you we're discussing ukraine.

ok let's go back to in london you're right before we do the break we were talking about the influence of all that couldn't be on this candidate here i would like to posit something for our. members of the panel here i think a lot of business interests are really sick and tired of how his beard the economy and it also has a great deal to do with official care of as i call it. post my down here and there there are attitude towards russia well it is really wrecked havoc on the economy in theory you know you can redirect the economy a country's economy in a different direction but the european union certainly is not interested in much of what ukraine makes and and the official kiev has been denied the russian market it seems to me that and i'm not singing the praises but i'm sure people like him are

saying look this this is a dead end we're not going to be embraced by the european union any time soon with considering all of its problems there has to be some kind of weird pro schmaltz with russia and i know that's very hard in ukraine right now but there seems to be in opening at least in london go ahead. the that was a very good point i've made in a my report presented for the. book through think tank over the report titled will tighten the sanctions on russia you are saying that in order to resolve the ukrainian problems ukrainian people need both europe and russia because this is a country which is leaning both over the way which is european union and this is a desirable young joc younger generation of young people there and also. with eastern potus aligning towards the towards the russia and i think up to the unifier

mr zinni give a list of all of them is a is an entity is a perfect state for doing this i mean we have to understand that no one is capable to resolve this so deeply rooted economic problems and core and mentality problems within the engine society within one day or even one term so it is ridiculous to say that old mr poroshenko almost does it if you will result sounding no it is if there is a base not only a political base or business base but it is the desire within the society dan the real change can happen and this is what is going to be and i would just point out to my other colleagues in the panel that little abundant there the so far the political conclusions or kind of collations which were. done before breakfast and and coming to power for president on no trump because they fail and i

think that is the same template will be. applied to ministers an inky so it is unfair to use the the old rules of the new game the new generation my generation is fed up with the professional politicians and people who. well we wanted to who. can speak the language because most of the people who are interested in it to be. and this is what just like every well everywhere else in the world here john you know it would be very difficult because of the political discourse in ukraine now in the ukrainian ization that petition co is pushed so hard with his. very dubious allies these militia groups and far right is but it didn't serve him well in the first round of the election and maybe this is what ximenes he and others are going

to say is that this track is not working we have to try something else go ahead in california. you know there in the late mr zilinskas path to victory over this to ukraine's or the russian speaking part and there's the ukrainian speaking part which is in this case is a russian speaker but he's also come out what allow the russian speaking people to be marginalized but he also speaks ukrainian as and is acceptable to the ukrainian speakers so he will carry it did do overwhelmingly well in the south east ukraine where it is predominately russian speaking and then he split the other part of ukraine with mr poroshenko now the big question here the nine hundred pound gorilla in the room is what does this mean for russia and also for my country the united states the fact the matter is that western europe and the european common market has sold out the ukraine i mean they're building the north stream pipeline they want russian gas there bypass the ukraine the ukraine is only being kind of used by the west as a foil to putin but they've really it's really been disappointing how europe has

treated ukraine well ah well i you know your past look at its own national interests and and i would point out to our audience is that north stream and south stream in these other pipelines were only built because ukraine showed itself to be an unreliable energy partner and it would they had no choice but to do it. ok well no i mean ukraine destroyed the pipelines they siphon that they stole gas they didn't want to pay for it i mean for god's sake i remember twice the day to you know two years in a row on new years at midnight wondering if there's going to be a gas war that problem is resolved because ukraine ended up being not a reliable partner and russia continues to ask them to be an energy partner and they say no so what happened it wasn't the europeans that led the the ukrainians holding the bag it was the ukrainians themselves that did it and they have to be able to work with russia and and the european union because you know what it's in

between it's always been between and you can't take it from one side to the other i've been saying this for ever since the orange revolution alexander me curious way in. yes i mean i think what mr zelinsky needs to do is he needs to end this conflict in eastern ukraine and sort things out with the russians he needs to reestablish normal commercial links with russia so as to revive the ukrainian economy he has to end the conflict to bring the right wing militias all these various armed men that there are in ukraine or this very heavy national atmosphere nationalist atmosphere that in exists in ukraine to bring that under control only if he does those things will he realistically be able to deal with these issues of corruption and of these overpowerful all the guards as they're called that have such power in ukraine and bring ukraine to

become a normal country as so many people in ukraine want now p's made some interesting science he's talked about the need for direct talks with russia which is a move forward he's talked about having referendums about nato an e.u. membership which is also a step forward and it poroshenko tried to embed all these commitments in the ukrainian constitution here he spoke at he's spoken to people in ukraine in russian the russian speakers there. it he's made the right signals the big question is given the volatile political history in ukraine the extent to which so many people so many powerful power brokers have been heavily invested in this anti russian policy that has been followed in ukraine since two thousand and

fourteen given the large number of armed men the rot in ukraine and given the fact that previous governments. that is trying to tilt the country towards a more equal relationship between you and russia given that those governments who fall will he be able to pursue these policies now on the one hand i sense that there is an exhaustion. and there is a sense of disillusionment with the policies that have been followed on the other i come back to the point i made before does he have the political weight and strength and experience and ability to bring people together that he needs in order to be able to shift the ground in that way i am prepared unprepared to give him you know i hope he does but you know i have to be skeptical wait

and see ariel let me go back to london you know i mean i have to agree with alexander mackerras some in you know i know i know ukraine but well i've been there many many times. i have been banned since two thousand and fourteen for obvious reasons i suppose but i mean it is it's really a country of cliques and connections there is a great russian word creature which means roof where you basically have protection i mean that's how the economy is run here i mean i think it's wonderful that this outsider could make an entry onto the stage of national politics but other than his like humor and he's a very affable person. the tools that he needs to push through whatever he wants to because we're not really sure what he wants to do is going to be very very difficult the the admin the administrative workings and parliament itself will have to have good will toward him did have that even happened go ahead in london. well i

think that we have to be slightly more optimistic with this regard because i like having won you know that's why i like having you. think the list of those who from also is not a professional politician he's a businessman so i think we need to abandon this political logic of having a people who are supported by someone and something we know the people who are the professional politicians in the ukraine i totally agree with you peter have the stigma of being crude. and there's no doubt about it but the hope is that this person came away then just going back to the previous commentator i think does mr president give the perfect person a destiny of jewish people to attend the other five functions movements within the ukraine because to me as a person also of jewish heritage would be. insane to not being

a president of jewish decedent and not trying to paint a anticipating an fascist movement. with their nationalism against russia which is insane so i put my hope in that this in here other ukrainian young people from my generation and the time will tell whether he will deliver something all whether he will be just a puppet or. a person could earn the seat over over the. leader in charge of ukraine but i put my hope in mr zelinsky and i hope that he will make such a great president. and when i'm doing what i think we should do is that the first round is over when we have a second round i'd like to have all of you come back and we will discuss the final round of ukraine's presidential election that's all the time we have gentlemen many thanks and i guess in london and in california and thanks to our viewers for why. shing us here at r.t.c.

you next time and remember rules. desperate for a single purpose. they have a suit the minute. they start training very young. they months of intensive schooling. their rats. and they save lives.

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nater sixty generally cheered in the u.s. congress as he talks of countering threats including from russia. thanks struggles for the number of migrants arriving by sea smuggling gangs are cashing in on the refugee crisis and investing journalist shares with us a rare interview with one of the human traffickers involved. two thousand two thousand factories or four thousand. the totality fifty person on. the phone. industry a port town in the south of france is suffering from severe pollution with locals registering above average rates of cancer and other illness.