just one of the morning here in moscow and in the headlines for you syrian government forces pushed deeper into dislodging al qaeda linked fighters from dozens of villages in the south of the rebel held bring it back. headlining the publishing polluters the french government introduces a new tax on s.u.v.s and trucks in its ongoing battle to try to reduce carbon emission. research shows u.k. weapons sales to the saudi led coalition of yemen have spiked dramatically in the last 5 years despite during the time being signed up to the trade treaty.

so good morning from. around the world right now money this is our international before we get on with the news great to have you company and of course all very best to you if you're celebrating christmas right now season's greetings from one of us so to the headlines in this early december the 26th the syrian military is making significant gains as it attempts to rest but control of the country's final opposition on clay over the course of a week long ground offensive in southern italy province government forces are reported to have displaced islamist fighters for around 40 villages but the campaign is causing concern in western capitals as a senior correspondent explains it's been a while since i made headline news it's been everyone but him america selling out its allies and pilfering syrian oil turks bullying kurds claims of bias that the u.p.c. w. but no last until now. thousands of syrians forced to abandon their homes and flee

for their lives as hundreds of ground and air strikes hit the region of it late overnight something as a part of a new ground offensive by syrian government forces. russian backed government forces up intensified the bombing campaign while of all out i will go to the camps near the turkish border to escape from and rockets the syrian military has been a bit of a role capturing a slew of villages and towns and media days of course whenever that happens the media and his opponents exploded out of rage same thing every time we want a peaceful resolution we want talks we want. we want we want we want with do with al qaida.

it live is ruled by a high at the sharm an offshoot of al qaida h.g.'s feeds on war and drinks violence it turned deadly into a cesspool of zealots and fanatics mercenaries and foreign jihad just on a world tour i mean the fact that it was where they found the founder of isis it's the safest place you could find kind of gives it away and h.t.s. refuses any negotiation with the syrian government are you seeing the issue here how do you get a peaceful resolution when one of the biliteral it's is a homicidal maniac that just wants to cut your head off in the name of god or interest lies in killing the terrorist in order to protect the civilians not leaving those civilians you know. under the supervision of the terrorist and being

killed by a bit of the issue here is refugees for now civilians have fled from the immediate war zone but they have to do somewhere and the safest place for now is north. look 50000 people are once again coming from egypt to our lands we already have 4000000 people and now another 50000 are coming and this main crease even further russian and turkish diplomats are in overdrive trying to manage what's happening and prepare for what's to come it is absolutely clear that the status quo is over america selling out its allies and camping out in oil fields turkey diluting kurdish territories with arab refugees and now the last islamist stronghold if it falls it will mean the end of the syrian civil war it will mean asaad wins. the military operation in neatly province is in line with the policy goals

set by bashar al assad the aim is to liberate the entire territory of the syrian arab republic that. it is their right to clear and to extend the. sovereign the fear of state. of fear territory is what they're doing at present sooner or later i believe that the syrian army will expose these people from from being flippant form of entire syrian territory and i don't think that it is this sort of will from mali it may be difficult it may take some time but sooner or later they are going to be expelled from from the syrian territory understandably those who spent billions fled in syria with weapons and ammo with fighters and propaganda they don't want that to happen so certainly logical for them to insist on impossible talks so long as he's wasting his time

waiting for the other side to pick up the phone the turks can continue colonizing northern syria the americans can continue pumping out its oil we're now at the last domino and it's. already fall in. with france's grown swell of popular anger of a controversial pension reform plan showing no sign of subsiding the new year only looks set to add to some people's economic woes because the government's now preparing to introduce a bruising tax hike on the most polluting vehicles in order to try and keep in step with tough new e.u. targets reporting from paris on how that's gone down in charlotte a bensky. as pricing saw being wrapped from under the christmas trees the french government has given its citizens a gift that they mate want to return it's passed a new law to increase taxes on s.u.v.s and trucks meaning that vehicles that pollute the most will pay you more than 2020 the new pollution tax will come with

a $20000.00 euro price tag that's up from the current $12.00 and a half 1000 you raise it's no doubt that s.u.v.s are heavy polluters but despite that they are still popular in france making up some 30 percent of sales in the 1st 11 months of 2019 so want to drive us in paris make of the tax hike even. it's true that those vehicles consume a lot but people have to get around people who work every day when they need those types of vehicles for warmth it's be true there is no other way to earn money. everything's increasing in price nowadays and we've seen the whole country on strike the government can tax the citizens but eventually they will have no choice but to protest. unfair in france you have to pay and pay and pay taxes are rising while salaries a stay in the same new tax comes on top of already tough new measures are to european level to lower car emissions many governments are pushing people in the direction of boy electric cars which is seen as being greener and better for the

environment but at the same time the french government is actually considering reducing cash incentives for new electric cause perhaps not great news for those who are thinking of buying one france also plans to ban fossil fuel cars within the next 20 years in paris they could be banned in the next 10 years to do people here feel that they are being pushed by higher taxes vehicles that use traditional fuel towards electric cars. it's a natural progression that was seen one which will. more and more electric cars. electric cars why not good we can use them in our country if the government helps us to buy electric cars why not but otherwise i prefer to drive my car even if it pollutes it's not that bad and there are other concerns was many people say they want to be green charging point spread like vehicles are still not widespread while

still in paris there are plenty of around the city elsewhere that's not always the case for your world we need to have enough places to recharge them in addition to service centers this is the same as with cycling's in germany we're a long way behind we have to develop cycle lanes and we have to develop charging stations on the. vehicles in front seem to be developed but that's not the case with one france even the president doesn't set a good example travels by car while we travel by food by bicycle by scooter so it seems there are still many mental barriers for people even thinking about buying electric cars but as the cost of taxes on fossil fuel vehicles are set to steeply rise they may feel that there is no other choice. r.t. paris story interests you would think this one coming out soon will cross the

channel in the u.k. that also look at the go green police in britain have spent over a 1000000 pounds of electric cars but critics say the read over it said they're not fit for purpose will tell you what the problem is and moving shortly. but not before we've done this must be the top of the democrats christmas wish list to see donald trump kicked out of the white house probably but the president nonetheless seems to be spending the holiday full of good cheer saying he's in a very good position to have a senate trial so with that in mind as it is the season to be jolly still just about taylor involved should know for a cheeky seasonale impeachment drinking game. disclaimer if you're not 18 change channels and those 18 plus is out drink responsibly 3 months ago 3 long months ago the impeachment inquiry against donald trump was announced and now the house of representatives a say in my go for a double whammy and impeach trump for a 2nd time if more evidence comes to light so since we're kitty in it for

a while yet and it's christmas off to roll we've come up with a little bit of a libation based game pick a drink. so let's lay down the rules if ok when trump takes a swipe at knott's pelosi all says that it's all a witch hunt bottoms up but slow and steady wins the race let's make it a half he does that a lot off the wall then if politicians uncharacteristically locate their moral compass and decide no one is above the law center in no one is above the law prison terms continued actions with the rule of law. in america no one is above the law we vote to defend the constitution and our democracy so that the president trump and every future president would know that they are not above the law now the stakes if a republican admits the troubles may be probably protect you just a little bit naughty drain that bottle just joking that's never going to happen but

for any republican who steps forward to defend his needa chill it is because if that has been one moment of clarity in this whole saga it's about 2 camps if you will blue you want about the merry impeachments hash tag if you'll read you'll probably be reporting the hash tag and seeing red ok so if a journalist got a bit tipsy at the christmas party and hoops betrayed the oath of objectivity sally looked and if said journalist is bitter and thinks that writing trump equals bad articles is a good cover for his bias so i'm take a and before i forget if anything to do with mother russia sneaks a mention. that might be the one to tip you over the. letter you know friend primary objectives within the united states is just so as to foment unrest for their nation there are 2 police propaganda machine here in the united states i think you've got the gist but in case you were in any doubt any mention of a quid pro quo it's a simple question yes or no i don't recall bribery business i did not have sexual

relations of moved on a speech meant but seriously i wasn't joking about the dems gunning for a 2nd impeachment if that is. they managed to wring out evidence suggesting that trunk somehow obstructed the investigation but we all know it's unlikely to need anywhere i mean even donald's barely broke a sweat i don't feel like i'm being impeached and why would he sure the democrat controlled house of representatives can pass as many impeachment articles as they want but the senate also needs to sign off on booting the president from the white house and the senate is currently controlled by the republicans making up a bit of a long shot maybe nancy pelosi and co need to finally recognize that shouting impeachment won't lose trump the election quite the opposite in fact it seems america actually quite like this particular underdog probably why they chose him in the 1st place goodness that was exhausting by her drink 1st detail are appalling they're right next there's been a sharp rise in the u.k.'s weapons sales to. and its coalition partners over the

last 5 years is despite britain having signed up to a treaty designed to prevent arms exports to rights abuses the increase has been calculated by oxfam which says it's deeply concerned over the way the weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict in yemen that we've talked about so much over last year or so according to the charity in the 5 years since the arms trade treaty came into force the u.k.'s license sales worth nearly 6 and a half 1000000000 per ounce to 8 members of the saudi coalition a contrast that then to the fact that in the 5 years before as you see on the stats there the agreement was adopted london sold 4400000000 pounds worth of weapons to those countries was gone the other way the arms trade treaty was adopted on christmas eve 201405 sovereign states ratified the accord of further $33.00 signed up to it regulates the arms trade in order to try to prevent human suffering and ensure weapons are not sold to those who violate human rights is the plan but then the british government was also keen to stress its importance. the a.t.t.

is the only legally binding treaty regulating and promoting legitimate and responsible trading conventional arms he remains a unique and valuable instrument ruth turner from oxfam told us direct that the increase in sales shows that britain isn't abiding by the very treaty itself and when the arms trade treaty came into effect and the u.k. with a real champion of that treaty unfortunately sales to countries that we in yemen know party to not war in yemen have actually increased and i think this is the signal. here yemen world's worst humanitarian crisis right now and the u.k. and far from kind of living up to treaty on and the word is that treaty has has continued to say how countries involvement conflict where we know international

and having no is has been disregarded. with the pressure mounting in the british government so to put arms sales to saudi arabia are on hold by king june the court of appeal said they were unlawful and made without assessing if the gulf state violated humanitarian law in yemen further it's expected the government will appeal the decision in the supreme court so the robbers intervention in yemen started in 2015 to fight who flee rebels who they see as terrorists but it's the level of civilian casualties in the conflict that are a major cause of concern. ruth

tyler again says there's clear evidence read has committed human rights violations and you know what i'm there for the u.k. must stop selling arms to the saudis the evidence is really i have a well meaning and that there's been consistent violations of international law and and as you say the case was really clear that. the government needed to you know if it was going to continue to license weapons had to be clear about what that there was a pattern of violation in that violation and it was clear that so i find that height that that system will be a pal and i think it's. you know very sad that the government have had to try and chosen to appeal this decision and wish to continue to sell weapons to be nice to

in a war that is causing so untold poverty and homme and destruction fed the people of yemen because to go around the world live from russia this is our 2 international ahead of the news that we cover into this story young eco activists in germany and other press and after apparently disrespecting their elders follett with pus was about when the back.

and stacey are continuing our american tour as you can see behind me we are in rio de janeiro so beautiful so much going on this is a country in transition. again warning u.k. police have been going green with a major spending drive an electric cars but it seems the eco ideas flow

a bit flat disease really explains the vehicles are not quite up to speed in a few departments. imagine being a criminal in london and you have c.c.t.v. numberplate detectors police patrols and more to keep the peace if you need to escape the police it might not be the easiest thing to do but one thing might be working in criminals favor increasingly police forces are adopting the use of electric cars and that means they may not be able to keep up with. vehicles that are less damaging to the environment are struggling to cope with the arduous needs of emergency service autonomous driving and safety systems are not conducive to pursuit or response driving and even if the electric police cars could keep up they might not last very long because the batteries they use would soon run out plug in electric cars do not have adequate range and they take too long to charge up which is

a significant challenge the motivation behind the deployment of these cars is desired by the police to be more eco friendly figures from 30 police forces across the country show that 448 green vehicles have been leased or bought by the police at a cost of around a $1000000.00 and a half pounds but now it's being reported that the vehicles are only being used for lot of agencies and for police officials to travel around before they were being used in certain patrol situations and the metropolitan police have set themselves and i'm bishop target to cut all of their vehicle emissions to 0 by 2050 a politician should be checking always. ensure the public has buddy for money because truly the money is very much needed are in place also has across the country to. share with all all sorts of crime she jumped in and always had to improve and. credential or start to be

a strange not suitable for heights. all prague reaction clearly. it's all over a sub electric cars have proved there in effect in this in other countries in september police in the u.s. were forced to give up a chase with suspected crooks when the battery in their tesla police vehicle went dead british police are making a noble effort in the war on climate change but the cost could be a price to pay in the war on crime sally r.t. . meantime we're talking green story next but a german a young people's environmental group affiliated with eco act of his greatest little girl s. of course outraged by insulting the older generation on social media which let me tell you they call friday's for future germany they posted a tweet saying why do our grandparents keep lecturing us every year when they'll be gone soon well whether that was supposed to be silly or maybe sinister german

politicians didn't see the funny side including the environment ministry were quick to fire back i do think you are doing yourself any favors with this tweet you can't get crazy every time you get any criticism and constantly demand more respect then throw a tantrum it undermines your legitimate concerns climate protection is everyone's concern and as a social g.t. for every generation tasteless and glad that the majority of young people in germany do not think this way we must be respectful to other generations and not only during christmas. the backlash the activists issued an apology saying indeed it was meant as a joke either which way julio rivera for reaction times opinion website thinks that in any case some of the claims in the climate debate are somewhat exaggerated in. this type of rhetoric in these types of tweets and you know it only really resonates with the fringe the far out reaches of the environmental movement within

there are many other climate you know induced mania they really truly believe that having too many humans on earth is going to lead to a catastrophic apocalypse which is absolutely ridiculous because the evidence just doesn't support that narrative i mean alarmism you know created a superstar out of gratitude and they're going to create more superstars in 2020 and it's only going to get worse but that's unfortunately the ignorance of youth if we believed all of these environment environmentalist and all of their crazy predictions over the past 3040 years i mean if there were true manhattan right now it would be underwater. well that's a whole other argument isn't it all or leave it there for now it's 12125 the morning here in moscow or r.t. they'll call more of social media for me kevin of the rest of the team thank you for watching stay with us for next programs and if you're still celebrating it big

season's greetings to you right now from everyone at international. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics. i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. in the united states presidential candidates debate the future of the u.s. and the world. max kaiser and stacy herbert dig into the burning questions of this election cycle. every week. student debt trade wars money universal basic. and. catch up with what's front running this sunday exclusively.

i am not one who will ever argue that there are worthy and i were the victims it's also important to also distinguish the fact that whenever we have a crime. of genocide and other cases of genocide that's that we're talking about the issues of confronting it acknowledging it and injustice and reparations for it are important it is important to confront the crimes wherever they happen but it shouldn't be means to dilute you know the experience of. it in this particular case of the i think. this is this is a stick from the water bottle found in the stomach of the fish the brand is part of the coca-cola company which sells millions of bottles of soda every day the idea was that let's tell consumers there are the bad ones there are the litter bugs are throwing this away industry should be blamed for all this waste the company has

long promised to reuse the plastic. in maine that seems. essential projects funded. on the. gulf and now the mountains of moist only grow higher. join me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all paying for considered i'm peter lavelle what explains the bipartisan commitment to an ending wars in foreign military interventions recent polls show the majority of veterans in this century's foreign wars say it wasn't worth it in 2016 trying to gain traction for doubting foreign

adventures today. doing the same why are the elite out of touch. cross talking and ending wars i'm joined by my guest daniel shaw in new york he is a professor of latin american and caribbean studies at city university of new york and but that is that we have peter cosmic he is a professor of history and director of the nuclear studies institute at american university as well as co-author with all of her stone of the untold history of the united states and in washington we cross to camp he is the host and head writer of the comedy new show redacted tonight on our t.v. america all right. crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i always appreciate let's go to bethesda peter i think that all of us would agree and our audience that it's unlikely that we would ever compared to donald trump ok they're very very different but they do have one commonality and it's an

attitude towards foreign adventures now donald trump has not been able to do much about his rhetoric of the campaign while he's been in office but tosi gobert keeps going both of them are slammed every time they go outside the the borders or the perimeters of the bipartisan commitment to these wars why is it why do they get slammed down so hard so fast even with people within their own party go ahead peter. well as you indicate there is a bipartisan consensus when it comes to american foreign policy and it's dominated by neo con no conservative or a view is based on this idea of american exceptionalism that the united states has the right duty the obligation to intervene around or at the united states is god's gift to humanity.