thanks for. the. u.s. sends an additional $1000.00 troops to the middle east as tensions with iran continue to rise it comes after washington accused iran of the recent attacks on. the controversial psychologist jordan. and the canadian province people in the public sector are not allowed to wear religious symbols anymore but. the new law violates religious.

broadcasting law. international thomas glad to have you with us. the united states has ordered an additional 1000 troops to the middle east as relations continue to worsen with iran the secretary of state says the deployment is being made for defensive purposes and that his president is not looking for a new conflict. we are there to deter aggression president does not want war and we will continue to communicate that message while doing the things that are necessary to protect american interests in the region the responsibility for diplomacy achieving this rich outcomes the president trying to send forth falls on all of us but the state department as has the 1st or the water on that but we can't do that without making sure that we have the capability to respond if iran makes a bad decision earlier my colleagues you know neal and have discussed the

significance of the deployment. the step itself isn't entirely significant but there have been so many steps leading up to this less than a month ago a $1500.00 more troops was sent to the middle east they had strategic bombers stationed in the middle east additional strategic bombers they had ph it and then system station in the middle east carrier battle group last time they justified it by saying that there was an imminent credible threat from groups that would go in to attack u.s. personnel in the middle east of course never saw any evidence classified this time they've offered videos and photographs apparently showing that the united states is correct and that iran was behind recent attacks on oil tankers in the gulf of oman iran of course denies all of this and says that we've seen these reports before the united states blaming other countries things that are very questionable they're

saying that the united states is trying to sink diplomacy and at the end of the day they say if they wanted to shut down the persian gulf and all the oil flowing through it they just do it regarding the new incidents in the persian gulf republic of iran decides to block a exports of wolf through the strait of hormuz it is militarily strong enough to do that for publicly give us a sense of the international reaction to this how's it playing out what the. what are people saying when it comes down or are they siding with just one side or is it more nuanced than that well iran's traditional rivals enemies if you want saudi arabia and israel. of course backed the united states over these claims over these allegations they're willing to stand by the united states in case of an escalation but almost every dowd's russia china the european union have taken this. with a deuce of skepticism. sober assessment and wait for some evidence to be presented

which it is ridiculous to cite secrets in this case already in the last days we've called for the maximum restraint the world cannot afford another crisis especially in an area like that. we call it all parties to remain rational and restrained not to take any actions to provoke the escalation of tension in the region and not to open a pandora's box there might be the odd trump supporter voted for him and 2016 on the back of him saying you know our adventures in the middle east were going to come to a close it's costing too much money too many lives but yet the trouble are seemingly doing the same thing present donald trump came to power by criticizing his predecessors by saying that enough is enough we should pull out of the middle east out of afghanistan that we're sinking manpower resources human lives into conflicts we don't need to be in i happen to think it was the worst decision made in the history of our country going into the middle it's like quicksand it was

a terrible decision terrible nevertheless all this evidence that donald trump is being shown with regards to iran for example all of it classified maybe nuff to sway him but it isn't enough to sway other countries including more to do in syria want to bring our troops back home to place one crazy they want to keep then you have people. well here's why she wanted they never want to leave some day people will explain what this is an evil to have you do have a coupe and they call it the military just a couple suv. remains to be seen where the situation goes from here but so far it's just been an escalation of the escalation. and also discuss the situation with a member of the hamilton coalition to stop the war and stone who believes washington is still set on changing the government in tehran the us has never

forgiven iran for overthrowing the shah it's puppet shop 40 years ago and it slowly and intends to achieve regime change in iran and to put back another shop on the throne in tehran iran is not a compliant state from the point of view of the us rulers of the us empire such as trump and pompei oh they don't look at us as a distance on a map they look at the map as their own map as their their own playground and they don't intend to broke any disobedient regimes and that's what this belligerent statements and actions in the gulf are all about there is a difference between the 2 spokespeople for the us here on pale on the one hand trump on the other i don't know how anybody could believe anything that the us says at this present moment there are also concerns about america's military activities

on the climate front a new report by a leading us university has claimed that the pentagon is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions its output in some cases surpasses that of whole countries breaking down the findings of commentary is the mccourt. forget single use straws and plastic bags there's a much bigger problem wreaking havoc on mother nature its war the pentagon's wars to be exact i 59000000 metric tons of greenhouse gases that's how much the u.s. defense department spewed into the atmosphere in 2017 alone brown university says the d.o.d. is both the largest oil consumer and institutional polluter in the world there are entire countries that don't emit as many fumes portugal finland and sweden to name a few how is that possible well the u.s.

military does have a presence in over $150.00 countries it's $560000.00 buildings worldwide make up 40 percent of its greenhouse emissions the rest is from military operations which in 2016 used up 86000000 barrels of fuel that's in afghanistan pakistan syria you get the picture and it's not like americans are electing people who understand wars environmental impact the department of defense must do move than simply acknowledge take piecemeal action to address climate change while it's increasingly threatens in homs oh militaries the infrastructure and operations even the pentagon itself says it's worried about climate change the facts of the changing climate are a national security issue with potential impacts to department of defense missions operational plans and installations the top brass might say they're concerned but their words certainly are not matching their actions in fact the u.s.

military budget may see its 5th consecutive year of growth in 2020 despite spending more than the next strongest militaries combined the d.o.d. is not cutting back it's actually preparing for more military ventures and considering u.s. iranian tensions are escalating in the persian gulf there are few signs of any turning back. the last 4. major national security threats that both have all of them identified. as being one of those huge threats and soon activities are leading to exacerbate that there is this serious threat to global ready security i didn't buy the pension which is common and yet rather than doing anything serious to. problem miter expenditures do seem to be oriented towards creating global. climate

change and in many other ways. u.s. president has officially kicked off his 2020 reelection campaign at a rally in orlando florida trump was joined by some of his closest political allies and family members as well as vice president mike pence earlier i discussed this with a lawyer and political analyst at jennifer braden who believes that trump's choice for florida for the event is not so random. we're going to start to see a shift because he wants to ensure that we keep that that he keeps that trajectory going that the campaign that his supporters see that there are there is a change it's not the same old thing and that maybe people that were on the sidelines are going to start to be more interested so we won't do that but absolutely there's going to be a more aggressive approach specifically with the 20 plus democratic nominees of the 20 press that across that are running for president going to start to see a lot of that labeling and really labeling of the democratic party yes i would say than orlando there's a there's a higher population that would be against i think it was a little bit premature for the paper to say anybody but trump but of course we do

see that trending on social media platforms which are out supporters anyways and basically anybody else that says anything that might be affiliated with being pro-choice so we've got a lot of these different things going on and i think of florida was a very careful choice. just definitely a major swing state has 29 electoral college votes so it's so having the having the official announcement be there was definitely a ploy by him and so i think he's trying to continue that getting in florida and keeping florida in his playing field. provocative canadian professor and author jordan peterson has announced he is launching a new platform called think spot and it is based on a single idea no censorship he says will only move content ordered to do so by authorities despite not being fully up and running it is already causing quite a stir. if they won't let you in the club just to set up your own that's the

philosophy behind a brand new anti censorship social media platform that's hitting the web this think spot will be an intellectual playground for censorship free discourse that's according to its founder controversial academic and bestselling author jordan peterson the canadian professor is a divisive figure hated by the left and dariya fide by the right earlier this year he was snubbed by the most intellectual of british institutions cambridge university he was supposed to have a visiting fellow ship this sort of him but that offer was rescinded after a backlash from star students this was jordan peterson's response to the decision at the time what do you think it says about free speech in britain the cambridge university made an announcement this week saying they were going to invite you to

speak or you think it says more about nature of the universities in general than about free speech in general i mean i don't see all the my invitation has compromised more in free speech ability because i have so many platforms on which i can discuss my ideas according to peterson's latest video think sport will be a subscription service where controversial creators will be able to monetize their free speech once you're on our platform we will take you down and list were ordered to by a us court of law that's the idea so we're trying to make an anti censorship platform one of the testers of the site will be anti feminist you tube call benjamin his you tube channel sagal and of a cat was recently downgraded after he made offensive comments about raping. british politician he was also banned from crowdfunding site patriot last year olds

right poster boy milo yet not police suffered the same fate for jordan peterson and his community patriotic as actions to block these prominent commentators was the final straw doesn't look like moving to an alternative provider an alternative commercial provider that's out of or bailiwick out of our control is going to be viable critics argue that an anti censorship platform could in practice turn into a safe place for extremists and the person who most publicly to test the platform is somebody who's not only joked about raping somebody but then doubled down on it saying well if i was junk enough maybe i would you know this man is very dangerous because i mean he's interested much overlap with mine and my government should student of you and many others that you and pizza is interested in because he has the learning and speaks some sense this is a good american but very to support the creation of peterson's think spot say that

western society need somewhere to exchange ideas without fair of reprisals and clampdowns the major point that we have to defend and cultivate prioritize what i think gauging and the robust discussion in public life is that no situation anywhere as an adult is free of risk in that we enter into these things to try and get something out of it it's hard to argue with the numbers alternative thinkers like jordan peterson and the rest of his self-styled intellectual dark web have attracted millions of subscribers that suggests that audience is all gagging for their free speech barrows not to be gagged. the canadian province of quebec has passed a controversial new law banning public. servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols at work while makers say the legislation aims to ensure

the separation of state and religion and allow for the provision of secular public services the change affects government employees including judges teachers and police officers and applies to symbols such as he jobs turbans skull caps and crosses inspectors will also be tasked with ensuring they are not being warned although the legislation reportedly enjoys broad support in the province critics have blasted it as a violation of their basic rights the prime minister has once again suggested that quebec's values are incompatible with fundamental rights the 16th of june 21000 is a very said date that has just entered the history books of quebec a date that will forever mark a vision of quebec that divides rather than brings together that excludes rather than includes that stigmatizes rather than reconciles will there be police officers going off to people to check if they have religious signs we don't know it's not

clear we didn't even have time to analyze his modification clearly they did it in a very undemocratic way. my colleague in india or tutor heard from our guest panel on the possible implications of change. i got to say i mean sikhs should be able to wear their turbans and carry their daggers and the idea of banning in yemen is absurd but even in any environment whatsoever including policing but i kind of agree with them on the burka i mean if you can't see the person that you're speaking to it that's just not compatible with western culture we had occasion new york city where there was a fellow who was working on subway he was a sikh and he wanted to wear his turban under osha and safety rules he said you have to wear a hard hat he thought they were being unfair in that particular case you could make a point but if somebody says you cannot wear a yarmulke koofi because it might be antagonistic that i think we don't look and

see where there is fish possible to allow people to enjoy the free exercise of their religion and to be serving the public at the same time to make sure that this is not some attempt just to thora to religion using it's a bit of a pretextual reason there are 2 sides to this debate on their on 10 years as you clearly say what are your thoughts on this in my experience especially windsor where you have a significant amount of people who exhibit exterior signs of religious belief i counted discover to my surprise that sometimes even at symbols of religiosity whether they are or and or we are pressing can naturally not reflect only just belief but more on and to the statement this came up in many conversations i have with my students and i wonder. if this mind around their various opening up some sort of box that is then what can be construed

as a religious symbol and 10 years come up with quite a few interesting points there and having been to windsor myself you see full diver . city and when the denny and healthier seem to rub along quite nicely there and that doesn't seem to probably average how can this little. be passed in a country that has braced immigrants i think we have to differentiate between quebec and canada i lived there for 10 years and it's not canadian in fact in co back they they call canada kak canada because there's so much animosity they had a referendum where they almost voted to separate and and then come back they talk about poulain pure wall chemical and it's not an open province you can to emigrate if you don't speak french your children have to go to french schools if you have a sign that says joe's shoes bigger than show still do joe they have actual

language police they come by with polaroid cameras and you get a fine now they've managed to maintain a culture where their accent is 100 years old and they're nothing like the rest the country they're nothing like france french people can't understand them so they've managed to maintain this bubble eventually you're going to come across as a fascist you can't have it both ways so yeah i think you just drop it at the facial veils i have to be able to see your face but you're right if you if you start banning sikhs turbans then you ban the cross around the neck then you start banning that little fish bumper sticker that christians have it's a slippery slope what if it's a nun a catholic nun mother teresa that said different story that survey i'll look we can talk some man takes all day long you know now and i know what this is all about come back is a little bit of an island it's a little bit different to a certain cases and i do believe there is

a mixture of. this. attempt at preserving the uniqueness of back problems with. very candidly a cold. sure we all know about and it's probably about controlling or trying to how can i say dress a certain immigration situation i doubt this without akbar even if printed story. makes sense. poland is preparing for the arrival of $1000.00 additional u.s. troops who are expected to be relocated from germany in a move that has concerned washington's partners and rivals alike artie's more if notion explains. to meetin across the pond suddenly became news for germany when the american president pledged to send his polish counterpart more u.s. troops from their neighbor we have 52000 troops in germany. and

germany is not living up to what they're supposed to be doing with respect to later and poland is after you graduate you thank you very much strategically 1000 soldiers less than germany and a 1000 more in poland makes no big difference so what was the motive i think there are several aims to what trump is doing one of them i think has to do with putting pressure on germany so he wants to play the polish card against the germans tramp is trying to put more pressure on germany that germany's pay more for the military budget back in 2014 all nato member states promised to meet the guideline of spending 2 percent of their g.d.p. on defense within a decade half way to that deadline it's clear berlin will likely fail and that's driving washington nuts it's not yet clear when or how the american troops stationed here in germany will relocate to poland but trump's mere hint about them

crossing the border was enough to put their lead on high alert and that was the purpose and it worked we heard from part is usually on opposing sides of the political spectrum for germany's own sake we need to finally in a significant and permanent way that reflects our global commitments increase defense spending. making sure the military is ready for the future is a question of solidarity with our e.u. and nato partners it's hard to say where they don't go further than words the recent poll suggests that the german public is deeply divided over a defense spending increase but it seems donald trump sprats backed by steps like they want to really kate u.s. troops from here to poland leave little choice some welcome this pressure after older lean made these commitments before trump became president this has nothing to do with the american presidents but with our responsibilities to our soldiers and

to europe and credible burden sharing but others disagree they see or germany will see its biggest military budgets rise since the cold war by more than 5000000000 euros that's according to angola merkel but even that falls short of what nato and trump want somehow he's changed that for make america great again to make nato great again that we're going to make the europeans pay more for their defense what they never what they never point out of course is defense against whom they say nato is not directed against russia although everybody knows that nato is directed against russia even though i don't think anybody honestly believes there is a russian territorial threat to any of these countries every new member states is a part of the whole war machine need to represents and we have to overcome these warmer sea because these war machine all these dinos out is other history what we

need is to reduce the troops at the border to russia to bring the troops home the old slogan of the peace movement is actually never but defense spending is not the only bone of contention between washington and the lean one just one of many aspects that separate poland from germany. result of blows and contracts for one terrorist and sanctions for the other and soldiers shifted from germany to poland is the most recent of these punitive measures but unlikely the last. a spate of suicides in the ranks

of the n.y.p.d. has been described as a mental health crisis by new york city's police chief. from depression is real people need to understand that this is that ok i don't feel i don't feel myself i feel down i'll bring myself out of it sometimes it's a downward spiral that unless there is intervention from the outside it's not going to stop and something bad is going to happen you need to talk to someone. in the latest case a respected 29 year old detective committed suicide outside his precinct after 6 years on the job 3 officers have now killed themselves in the space of 2 weeks in new york city's police have urged those suffering from mental health issues to seek help from friends and colleagues stressing it is not a sign of weakness one nonprofit organization which collects data on such a suicide says the number of officers who kill themselves nationwide is higher than those who die in the line of duty also says the worrying trend has been on the rise since 2016 we spoke to the co-founder of blue help an organization that aims to

help officers access mental health services he told us what he thinks needs to be done to reduce police suicides. agencies need to work on establishing social support networks for officers and they need to start establish seeing professional networks psychological support that is available and credible to all officers one of the things about officers is we don't go see a psychologist because they're not one of us they don't understand our culture and so you need to bring these psychological experts into the field and get them to understand please call alter so officers are willing to trust them and so starting with the police academy when you 1st hire them and then start training them we need to be educating officers as to what they need to be doing to better prepare themselves for for solid mental health throughout their careers with that we also need to be addressing the fact that. they need continual training on this for.

the united states has announced it will provide ukraine with $250000000.00 military aid package the move has been welcomed by kiev which since 2014 has been battling an insurgency in the east of the country the current security assistance package includes the provision of both normally thought and lethal defensive weapons to a state with a separate focus on supporting the naval forces of the armed forces of ukraine. sniper rifles and rocket propelled grenade launchers are among the items that lethal and nonlethal to be provided to ukraine by the pentagon u.s. has said the move it reaffirms the country's long standing defense relationship you know has been comes after a reported spike in fighting along the front line in the done by region in recent days the conflict has left around $13000.00 people dead since it erupted more than 5 years ago security analyst charles shubert thinks the aid has the potential to

aggravate the conflict. but what we've got here is again as well as previously released on one occasion previously we've got a lethal weapon being provided as well and of course thought was. and his administration him fearing i think that this would exacerbate the situation rather than actually improve it and that these weapons defensive of course almost all defensive weapons can be used offensively but in terms of the politics of this i think it's quite. significant because of course you've got a new recently elected president and of course it was part of the election campaign that he would like to see a reduction of tensions with russia and ultimately of course an end to the catastrophic war that has taken place in the east of his country but on the other hand he's also made it clear in recent weeks that he's going to still stand very much with the west and allied to the u.s. and of course in a way those statements are now being rewarded perhaps with the continuation of this

program. by the does for me i'll be back with headlines at the top of their stay with us this hour to international. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. maybe it will. never. get to that step.