with that. much about the people to know. washington orders u.s. officials in iraq to evacuate the country as soon as possible after frantically raising the alarm on the international stage or suppose an increased threat coming from neighboring iran. the u.s. attorney general investigate the legality of evidence used in the russia trump collusion probe but doesn't question the finding of the report and russian interference. and soft drink giant coca-cola the latest campaign in norway to coincide with ramadan features

a crescent moon as part of its logo sparking anger in some quarters. a very warm welcome to the program from all of us here at our to h.q. in moscow thanks for joining us this hour leave iraq now as fast as possible about the dramatic warning that's been issued by washington to u.s. employees in the country it comes amid a heightened sense of urgency from the american side or what it calls the increased threat coming from iraq's neighbor iran i'm now joined in the studio by daniel hawkins who's got more on this for us dan the u.s. seems to have gone into panic mode almost over this threat and now it's a vacuum eating its people from next door you have us right i mean the u.s. of all relations do have a history to say the least appears to be a new level in those tensions the u.s. has issued a security alert to all its. non emergency personnel in iraq citing what it

describes as a substantial risk related to arraign activity to its workers now of course u.s. forces in the region the u.s. workers in the region in both iraq and syria do face a constant background threat that's just due to the volatile nature of the area the conflicts the presence of lots of armed groups on all sides of the religious and political divide this though does call for an immediate evacuation of all u.s. non-emergency workers from the u.s. embassy in baghdad and also the u.s. consulate in erbil so certainly the situation is very heated. their neighbors are spread instability or terror everywhere we go in the middle east it's a rare and iran iran major destabilizing in influence in the middle east spread death destruction and. the leaders of iran are racketeers so as. death. and destruction behind every problem is

a rare and what we've been trying to do is to get iran to be him like a normal nation and now the united states has pushed the military build up in the region they have the ploy entire aircraft carrier strike group featuring ships and bombers to the gulf that's been labeled by iran a psychological warfare now to ron has made it very clear they don't want war they don't want confrontation but they do reserve the right to retaliate to any acts they deem as u.s. aggression that's been a position coders well by the united states the recent trouble though does have its roots in the trumpeter ministrations put out from the iran nuclear deal that was a move criticized by the other signatories to that agreement it's been amplified by constant verbal spots by threats of sanctions by the label of each other's militaries as terrorist organizations so certainly a verbal of the situation has also been escalating. we'll see what happens 9 with

iran if they do anything it will be a very bad mistake if they do anything i'm hearing little stories about iran if they do anything they will suffer greatly we'll see what happens with the run a little stories there of course the relations marred by incidents in the region as well just recently on tuesday we saw drone attacks against saudi arabian oil facilities just west of riyadh just a few days before there were attacks on oil tankers off the coast of the united i remember it's that was dubbed as sabotage by amorality officials now no suspects have been named. as the night any involvement and called for an investigation but it's clear that incidents such as these certainly won't help to alleviate tensions now. situation is also of grave international concern and russia has said they received no reassurances from white about the iran questions about those tensions and moscow does fear an escalation and they are not the only ones germany and outfits going to stop its military training operations in iraq again due to the risk of potential attacks from iranian proxies as they said spain another country

with concerns they've withdrawn a frigate from the u.s. strike group in the region because of a change in the mission and concerns over a confrontation so really things are very much heating up politically there as that strike group makes its way to the gulf and we are seeing an escalation in these sorts of incidents artie's daniel has been staying across the latest for us thank you. now amid the alarm over iran a senior general in the u.s. led coalition in syria and iraq appears to have refuted the idea of a heightened threat level kate partridge joins us now live with more on that we're getting some mixed messages from the allied coalition here here that aren't way. hi there jacki yes the recently are there seems to be a difference of opinion a break in communication between the u.s. military central command and the coalition 2nd in command over the threat posed by iran. you know there's been no increased threat from

iranian backed forces in iraq and syria where aware of their presence clearly. and we monitor them along with a whole range of others because that's the environment we're in. we're british major general christy co the coalition's deputy commander for strategy and information seems to refute the trump administration's claims iran is mobilizing groups in iraq and syria to attack american forces his comments also seem to contradict the claim terran is an escalating stress where u.s. national security advisor john bolton has long promoted action against iran but the british general says there's little to fear. there are a range of threats to american and coalition forces in iraq or syria we most of them. really about forces is clearly one of them. i'm going to go into the detail of it but there are a substantial number of militia groups in iraq and syria and we don't see any

increased threat from many of them at the station well pressed to explain the discrepancy gekas seem to limit his earlier remarks to a group of militia in iraq called the popular mobilization forces while some are backed by iran but the coalition considers them compliance yet later a u.s. military central command made a clarifying statement stressing iran is a threat they said recent comments from o.r.'s deputy commander running counter to the identified credible threats available to intelligence from the u.s. and its allies regarding iranian backed forces in the region was so said navy captain bill urban he also said u.s. central command in coordination with operation inherent resolve has increased the force posture level for all service members assigned to in iraq and syria well as a result is now at a high level of alert as we continue to closely monitor to credible and possibly

imminent threats to u.s. forces in iraq well if both a senior british commander and america's central command share the same intelligence have a similar information on terrorist locations airstrikes and danger zones how can i give such different statements to help clarify this r.t. has sent requests to operation inherent resolve and the u.k. submitted to ministry of defense so far there's been no response. reporting live from london then you very much. the u.s. attorney general william barr has launched a probe into possible misconduct relating to the report specifically he will see if the law was broken when trying to establish whether donald trump colluded with russia however bars decided not to subject that part of the investigation which concluded there was meddling by moscow to the same scrutiny kilmartin picks up the story. since 2016 the democrats have been pushing an investigation of donald trump for allegedly colluding with russia in order to win the $2016.00 elections well now

the report is out and the verdict is no collusion and at this point it looks like cable news will not stop the noise about trump and russia despite the report being released well now we've got a new investigation to cover it seems the republicans are now pushing to investigate the investigators u.s. attorney john durham he is not a rookie by far he investigated the cia and revealed that they had destroyed tapes and evidence of their torture program he also investigated the f.b.i.'s relationship with mafia boss whitey bulger so when it was announced that he would look into whether or not federal officials broke the wall when investigating donald trump the democrats got antsy so did former f.b.i. director james calming and feared personally i feared as a citizen right the investigation what investigate that investigations were conducted what would be the crime you'd be investigating so it's a terrible cycle to start perhaps the f.b.i.

does have a reason to be concerned after all they did send an informer who posed as an assistant in order to meet with trump's aide now this informer stephon helper has a long history in fact he was involved in cia spying during the 1980 elections trump says that his campaign was spied on however those who oversaw the operation strongly object to that wording. the dictionary definition of spying surveillance or spying a term i don't particularly like it's not a term of war used by intelligence people that has a negative connotation of a rogue operation out of control not in compliance with the war and that's not the case at all now let's not forget that the feds clung to the now discredited steeled cia in order to apply for a warrant to surveil donald trump now a full 10 days before they applied for the warrant they were already questioning christopher steele's credibility and here's some language from a memo that surfaced. there is

a technical him an operation run out of moscow targeting the election payments to those recruited and made out of the russian consulate in miami it is important to know that there is no russian consulate in miami but the intel community presented christopher steele as being credible when they applied for a warrant to spy on trump now at durham will no doubt be looking into whether or not that is legal now let's also not forget that chuck schumer waived his fist on behalf of american spying agencies take on the intelligence community they have 6 ways from sunday of getting back after everything related to the trial for russia investigation seems to be a widely contested the words presented by one side are presented as false and by the other side and amid all these allegations of dishonesty bias partisanship we're expected to believe by both wings of the establishment that what they are saying about russia and their allegations that it meddled in the 2016 elections is absolutely true. well i guess the american people will have to decide what they

want to believe caleb lupton r.t. new york political analyst lou rockwell says there is little to no appetite among the u.s. public to question the russian meddling narrative. they all know there's no evidence republicans democrats moller. bar i know that there are a lot of americans who have same view i do want to know where the evidence is. but i think the you know the is the establishment the media both political parties. they're all saying one thing and i don't know that the american people will ever see it will they demand it like to think that they would but i'm i'm afraid i don't believe that i'm afraid this is just going to go on and on and on and pump a 0 bolton. and the administration the democrats the republicans in congress the media they're all being the same drum and they're all

lawyering and we just have to hope that. president trump will pull back. we just have to see. a number of activists remain in venezuela former embassy in washington d.c. the spike in the vixen notice from police they're trying to prevent venezuelan opposition figures from taking up residence in the compound who has the backing of the us which recognizes their leader one wideout as president of the country meanwhile venezuelan embassies in other countries are often becoming the subject of controversy as peter oliver explains. just a few moments ago the big players on the world stage were tripping over themselves to come out and recognize one as the legitimate president of venezuela we are ready to recognize one by doing as interim president we will recognize him as

constitutional interim president institution when his we stand ready to recognize one by dell as the interim president of venezuela. even send representatives to different nations around the world despite them not receiving diplomatic credentials in some countries like here in germany where we have a situation that the ambassador who sits in the embassy just behind me represents a government deemed illegitimate while the representative of the government deemed legitimate holds no diplomatic rank here in germany though that hasn't stopped quite those man from at least calling himself ambassador a little puzzled by what i think of the could be more the in venezuela we are living under a dictatorship there needs to be international pressure to end the a separation of power when we can have a real transitional government so we can hold elections then we can have our consulates and embassies full steam ahead for regime change as politicians and news

networks cheated each official that defected from the madieu road government but then there was the failed coup attempt and the ball of aryan republic and the standoff outside of the venezuelan embassy in washington. and she. she still. cares and that's what we're trying to say and engines and international law. now with the german parliament tree inquiry finding that germany's recognition of quite though is president was shaky at best on the international law the foreign ministry here is less than committed when it comes to talking about furthering relations in talks with the representatives of the man who would be leader of that is whaling it's

a similar story in all the e.u. nations in spain for example they also welcomed the representative of one without conveying any diplomatic rank basically it means that mistake why doe's representatives could meet and talk with foreign ministry officials but very little else despite european leaders joining in the cheese for a change early on in venezuela the reality today is they have taking a position it's much more on the fence but one of these days they're going to have to come down on one side or the other as they find out it can be quite easy to make big political statements but if you don't think through how they're going to be put into action can just cause more problems down the line. under hunger and m.p. for germany's last party things e.u. states and germany in particular have good reasons not to recognise why does passers. foreign policy always

recognized states but no individual person and now we see all the. the costs coming out of the situation because of why there was no real power tool has the real power administer a law. and for pragmatic reasons. in the still record denies ing the doable embassy here and is dealing with with them and consulate tory issues on the other hand the representative of wide or mr gates is recognized as a political representative of quiet all but not as an m i best of the or. issue of. foreign minister is cooperating with the embassies of cross which else because you cannot deal with real issues with a president who has no power in the country coming up controversy in norway after coca-cola launches a special edition of its logo to mark the muslim holiday of ramadan that story more

after the break. join me every thursday on the alex simon shore and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. what is it called in the coin is magic internet money the new type of digital currency decentralized digital scarcity chancellor. of 2nd for bankers call the genesis blog for reason to coin a civil disobedience a source of optimism because i can control my own financial destiny it's just a new way of coming to consensus it's

a game changer in the human history and this is columbus discovering the new world this paradigm shifting technology that transforms economics and finance in a heartbeat the apollo 11 landing on to the max and stacey. welcome back coca-cola has launched a ramadan version of its logo in norway it features the crescent moon to sauber at the muslim holy month but not everybody has welcomed the idea. shame on you for promoting women oppressing homosexuals terrorizing. do you also make adverts with a cross in saudi arabia this is getting too stupid if your company's using the

crescent of islam in norway as a marketing tool during ramadan i will have no choice but to boycott your products according to the pew research center at the number of muslims in norway is on the rise in 2016 they represented almost 6 percent of the population coca-cola norway has defended the ramadan logo saying it's part of the brand's commitment to diversity and inclusion coca-cola has tried appealing to muslims in previous problem campaigns and other countries as well. as you can see here the example last year it's dutch we are in a facebook ad in which a muslim woman gets scornful looks but ends up making friends with a stranger. now discuss this issue with political and social commentator mo and star welcome to the program now critics say coca-cola is trying to cash in on this religion is that overly cynical. i think

that is overly cynical i think at the end of the day most modern progressive multinational companies around the world would have policies to reach out to diverse communities colin particular you know the history you know they've had a history of about 30 odd years of being boycotted in the arab league nations. the u.s. would seem to been supporting israel since then they've tried very very hard to try and reach out to diverse communities and i think those people who are complaining about the faith of islam or their misunderstanding of the faith of islam really haven't got a leg to stand on is there any way a brand can show its support for diversity as you say without facing this kind of criticism. marketing is very difficult when you look at it from a diversity perspective you can have more diverse individuals better representation some companies will go a bit too far in trying to be woke. and showing that they are you know outward thinking progressive however you know we used to seeing

a red suited to santa clause which of course is a coca-cola marketing campaign we're used to seeing christmas coca-cola and the christmas lorries going around the idea of having a crescent on some counts and remember that norway is you know 5 or 6000000 people we're talking about 5 or 6 percent to 300000 people muslims really this is a relatively minor thing there are lots of marketing campaigns of coca-cola whether it's to do with the olympics whether it's to do with different times of the year so i think i have had a fair crack they want to be seen as somebody engaging with muslim communities where traditionally they've got a very low penetration and very low traction now some people as we heard were upset by this campaign not because it tried to cash in on muslim culture but because it promoted it in fact how do you react to that. so you will have the same people on the far right islamophobia multiculturalists the new the new far right the new fascist saying you know you can eat food because it makes you

but mostly me i think that's ridiculous i think the idea that somebody on the outside of a can will have a crescent moon that makes any difference the product inside or how it's going to change your body what your mind or or god forbid your spiritual journey i think these ideas palpably absurd coca-cola and other companies should try and reach out to different communities private organizations the private sector as well as governments the public sector should have a proactive public sector equality duty to reach out to these organizations it's not just about saying to muslims and minorities that are struggling with the issue of integration we need to have this big civilizational dialogue and sometimes the conversation start clumsily sometimes they can be awkward but at least we are trying to have that conversation so good on coke for trying and good on them for standing by their guns and withstand the backlash is important to reach out is there a way to find a balance between targeted marketing and promoting diversity as you say when it

comes to large brands like this. there is a massive overlap if you remember the controversy that was around calling company when he decided to take a knee and protest on the night campaign to so you could say not cashed in on it or you can say they decided to support somebody people within nyc people within the other companies there are plenty of other ethical discussions and debates we can have around whether coca-cola are a good brand and about whether they run a good operating model however there is going to always going to be a big overlap in terms of representation and they will always be accused of trying to exploit if i have a hungry black african child on the front of a water magazine or water my exploiting the child am i supporting him we need to get more comfortable with issues of multiculturalism and diversity and integration the population the demographic balance in europe and the rest of the world is going to change over the coming decade by 2100 we will see populations in the far east

the middle east in africa asia south america potentially double now if in europe especially in northern north america as well in the scandinavian countries we're not hearing replacement right rates of white indigenous population so we're going to see more blended communities and we're going to see more different types of communities coming in and we want to be more inclusive. political and social commentator thank you so much for your time and joining us on the program. thank you very much. major british telecom's fern vodafone has confirmed it's going to use equipment provided by china's one way as it looks to roll out its 5 g. network across the u.k. by july and the u.k.'s foreign secretary jeremy hunt has refused to rule out allowing the chinese telecoms giant to operate in britain adding that london does not want any confrontation with china. we as a government are going through the process of making an assessment to what extent if at all we are able to use whoa wait kit we couldn't stop the growth of china if

we wanted to so we need to find a way of living alongside this big new power in the world. that comes despite continued warnings regarding any cooperation with weiwei made by u.s. top officials washington is trying hard to persuade its allies to shun equipment produced by the chinese telecoms giant accusing it of espionage on behalf of beijing who are always one company we've been concerned about there are others as well as the negotiations proceed i think we're going to see a lot about what chinese companies have done to steal intellectual property to hack into the computer systems not just of the u.s. government but into private companies as well while way has raised serious concerns among u.s. officials for a potential role in cyber espionage given their reported links to china's state security services the united states has also been very clear with our security partners on the threat posed by war way and other chinese telecom companies as chinese law requires them to provide beijing's vast security apparatus with access

to any data that touches their network for quitman. we must protect our critical telecom infrastructure meanwhile always chairman has expressed the company's willingness to sign no spy agreements with european governments including that of the u.k. economist jeffrey albert tucker told us the u.s. risks alienating its allies with its trade war against china. u.s. is completely alone in the world today on this this economic warfare that is actually getting more and more intense and it's becoming ever more destructive of the world economy and it's going to result only in iceland in the u.s. other countries such as the u.k. i'm just not going to go along every big data company and this goes for google and apple and everybody else is typically harassed to some extent by the central state under which it serves as a jurisdictional partner and this is this is the way the world i wish it weren't

that way and that's probably to some extent true between china and well way also but let's keep in mind that most of these companies resent this kind of pressure they don't like being muscled by governments that goes who traded for chinese companies also they have to they have to play well with that with others have to play nicely with others just to get the permission to survive and i don't see any kind of security threat here at all or if there is a security threat there is yet to be any evidence to that effect i don't think that long term the u.s. can do anything to affect the relationships between the u.k. and china i think it's just actually completely crazy the people of the world are going to continue to try to get prosperous by cooperating with each other and if the u.s. doesn't want to play along it's only they u.s. economy that's going to going to suffer. that's a news wrap up for now but i'll be back at the top of the hour with the latest thanks for tuning in.

and $24.00 to you know bloody revolution to prevent the demonstrations going from being relatively peaceful political protests to be creasing the violent revolution is always spontaneous or is it you know lawyer here i mean you know i lived with video with me in the news that i knew spilling into the fall of the ukrainian president recalls the events of 24 g. and. those who took. invested over $5000000000.00 to assist ukraine in these and other girls that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic. this

is boom bust broadcasting around the world and covering all the booms and busts a business and finance and the impact upon us all. in washington we're glad you're on board coming up the ones on the rise in the middle east as yet another saudi oil facility comes under fire shaking oil markets david make any of the calvin financial joins us to drill into the details plus the trade war rages on but what is the impact across the pacific surat of the institute for china american studies one the one hand to analyze chinese markets and later players under fire as yet another court ruling comes in against the chemical giant arching correspondents are among those following the case and bring us the latest on bayer stock reaction to

all of that in the.