peter oliver on picks all out for us now. mare all elections in the german state of bavaria raising questions about islamophobia in the regional wing of angela merkel's ruling coalition then it sat here and had been a candidate for the christian social union but the prospect of a muslim heir sore protest from some party members so he is decided to drop out of the running when some party member said they don't want to muslim as a man i was initially disappointed they're not ready i have to accept that they should have clarified that in advance there is no tolerance i'm very sorry indeed to disappointed. this is hugely embarrassing for the c.s.u. and mr psion feeling he couldn't stand as a candidate based on his faith has drawn sharp criticism from party grandees i think it is fundamentally wrong to exclude a candidate because of his beliefs if he is committed to our values especially at a time when dialogue between the world's religions is so urgently needed something

about must not happen the news that mr sarin would be pulling out of the race prompted polling across the state of bavaria which showed that almost every other person would have an issue to some degree with the mayor of their city or community being of the islamic faith with over a quarter saying they would definitely have an issue when the polling data was broken down to voter preference on surprisingly supporters of the anti immigration a.f.d. overwhelmingly were against the muslim air but just a touch and a half of c.s.u. voters held the same view the party faithful putting out a very different message to that on the bavarian interior ministry's website a ministry run by the christian social union we want a culture of togetherness so that people with foreign roots have the desire and the opportunity to get involved both at work and in the local community then assad says

he will continue to support the c.s.u. while senior party figures have gone out of their way to show him support the attitude of the grass roots in the christian social union shows that in the conservative state of bavaria at least some germans aren't ready or not willing to accept people from the islamic faith representing them in politics that is sure to leave more than a few of the upper echelons in the party red faced at the attitudes of their supporters while germany bills itself as open to multiculturalism peter all over r.t. early. always spoke to christian democratic union member must stuff maher who has been nominated himself for the bundestag elections he stressed the constitution in germany does not hold back muslim politicians in the country we need to say that to sit today or look to talk together sit in one table with a different crowned there is nothing saying in our constitution that there is no

one allowed to have a position in the politics or government if he is that was somewhat wrong was that nothing could have been like this in order to know what constitution we are bad to very bad is studio and we don't want to put it be this history we are knowledgeable about your country and we need to live war together and there is such a site so that by and want to but we are going to need to think about it on the it only need to open a discussion not to involve all the people in it and not to make just the selfie of all just that but we are 11 country but one is a part of our country and want to see where is this year if not if someone has a politics with the muslim religion we have a lot of people who are that we have a lot of gentlemen muslims there in the security service who have been locked up in the borders we are going to want to read events so what is the problem would be the politics we having also local people with a different package on for what you only do in this country on the r. and d.

spend on the up and get a great faith for this country we should be we need to know with whom we are dealing. i want to bring you on the program to the indian capital new delhi where hundreds of small scale traders are protesting against amazon's founder jeff bezos he plans to visit the country next week and is expected to meet prime minister narendra modi. i don't think. the protests are part of a nationwide movement led by members of the confederation of indian creators small business owners accuse e-commerce giant of predatory pricing. you know it's a steep business and if you can work sustain your business be afraid you want to seize then they're going to know that you have no place in india and you can manage to find out even not a lot of facts i not been something i had read or heard. well mr bezos has not responded to the allegations earlier though he said the company will invest

$1000000000.00 to bring small and medium sized businesses online in india and expects to export $10000000000.00 worth of indian made goods by 2025. more news on views about today's big stories can always be found in r.t.e. dot com i'll see you soon. after accounting we're going underground as donald trump but i'm just more arguably illegal economic sanctions on iran threatening the lives of 80000000 in the islamic

republic coming up on the show as nuclear armed china and pakistan conduct military drills after donald trump ratcheted up the u.s. war in iran pakistan's high commissioner to love the what now for regional security and what now for the ongoing kashmir crisis as india continues its information blockade of the region and in the wake of a landmark nor the december talks between u.k. prime minister boris johnson and his irish counterpart. one of his former cabinet colleagues if the teashop can be trusted as he faces reelection in february all this more coming up in today's going on the ground 1st after u.s. president told trump ordered the assassination of top iranian general council sulaimani thousands of nuclear armed pakistan demonstrators across the country in solidarity with iran my son's prime minister imran khan and each of the senate foreign ministers help deescalate tensions in the region even while facing the continuing kashmir crisis at home because of the india joining. now is the pakistani high commissioner ahmed nephi's a caria commissioner thanks so much for coming on the show again so what is the

pakistani reaction to the trump assassination which has to be said is backed by the british government morning well i think if you look at there from our perspective the looking at there from the region perspective the development that is taking place and coming up artist on this pretty concerned about it but the recent development because you have you know that the region has you know been in turmoil for a very very long time to lure the attention so that the situation in the region remains calm the pakistan was opposed to the assassination presumably i think if you follow a lot of statements of we have been issuing the statements that the guard to the situation the development in the region which is is a cause of concern for a park a sign park sunny's because everything that that could cause in the region

as a matter of concern that diplomatic speak for you condemn this as a nation by don't trouble i think you have to look at it from the or a perspective of the 2 you are easily i guess one condemns it a lot think we have been very clear in this regard i mean as we said the former. close ties with saudi arabia and iran of course really money was supposed to be carrying documents about a reproach war between the saudi arabian raney and governments what did your foreign minister mean by saying that pakistan has deep historic religious and cultural brotherhood with iran the share a very long border with iran we had the same region vietnam and we have all of this taken disposition that. would like the unity among the muslim countries we would like to reduce the tension between the any differences that exist between the muslim countries and that's what our stance has been how do we talk about having

the assassination as we said what's pakistan's position when donald trump tweeted that he wanted to destroy cultural sites in iran but i think. the world statement and our leaders have reacted to that and the we have this is this is how we look at it that any action that could destabilize the region that could escalate detention in the region is a matter of concern to us that's the same as the british government's position because although boris johnson did send 2 warships immediately to iran through as it was one shows they defended to the shores i mean would pakistan join in any u.k. intervention against iran i think our position is very clear if you look at the statements coming out of park a sign that we would not like to be part of any. adventure and we would not like to be part of anything that causes. of the region

or peace in the region in feathers in the foreign office here they are saying they also want the escalation let's move on then to kashmir because there's not that much about kashmir here in the major nation media what is the situation as you understand it there are reports that the internet again is down and that journalists. haven't been able to cover what's going on what is going on in kashmir well i think what you have seen there a fleet as the development post 5 august unilaterally illegal decision which has been taken all measures that have been taken by the indian government to change the start as of kashmir. ever since there has there is a humanitarian crisis people are looking looking at that humanitarian crisis from the you know closing the shutting down of the internet services or any of the community must communication and the valley has been actually out of contact with

the rest of the word is under siege for the last more than 5 months now it is 162 days by now and. i have been in touch with the a lot of media houses here and elsewhere and none of them to have any access to the indian are quite dismayed once the people allow to good there and get to know what what has happened and how the people. in oxford kashmir have suffered i think that this would be the type of and people would come to the world would come to know what has happened you has written as unnamed an mmog mosque. thousands of them people have worried about those who were disappeared and finally they found out in 2009 as a result of the west occasion which was carried out by a international people stray women which later on file a report of 100 page about how many mosque if they discovered how many

bodies were found on those gifts and the indian and how india has been actually lying about it and there. would be people who infiltrated the sea or the border international border and they were shot down by in the encounters but that was not the kiss butt. i wish i'd known in the fake encounter will the if you government as you know denies all accusations of atrocities indeed denies that it is occupied by the government they believe it is theirs what is you just saying wait until the press is allowed back in to be honest i actually do not know the c.v.s. doing everything in our capacity actually we have reached out to almost every member country of denied now in our nations we constantly you know create teddy of innocent development of were there are people what is going to do we have been inviting attention of the international community that it just time it is high time

that international community should intervene to save the situation in india not quite kashmir where the people are suffering for the last more than 7 decades now calling for you know united nations security council emergency meeting or what because nothing seems to be actually happening in the past 5 months and that's that's very sad that's very sad that the international community has not taken enough interest or not taken that keen interest to call india to account i believe that 1st of all i would like to really the opportunity that the parliamentarians over head and you kid they have really taken a very strong stance against what's going on in india correct kashmir in terms of human rights wallish ns good britain as well no member of the un security council guesses a permanent member at all on them to raise this at the un security council levy have been actually asking all d p 5 members to look at the situation there if you look at the has

demanded that independent inquiry commission to visit indian occupied kashmir to see the situation on the ground not only that the un high commissioner office has also. many times over for sending. you know independent commission again nothing rejected general good tears it has to be said and india says pakistan is supporting. the financial action task force established by the g 20 saying that the august is involved in corruption. do you think that is holding more sway with the international community than the voices coming out of there but i think india has been found you know raising this thing again alleging that. connection between parkes on and these non-state actors. if you if you go back to february statement by the prime minister after the plane once. promised many times asked

india to provide any evidence they have never provided any evidence let me tell you one thing that india has looked for the opportunities to raise detention in the region and it has always been the by virtue of the responsible attitude has endangered the peace of the region india has mastered the art of actually carrying out false flag operations. in india also in india acquired kashmir and blame it on pakistan but all the non-state actor denies all of that is you know just turning to cooperation with china because pakistan is a close alliance with china it wasn't too long ago china russia and iran were having joint drills in the persian gulf and ascendant china and pakistan of a joint military drills in the persian gulf and of course the kashmir crisis affects beijing as well any joint cooperation between pakistan and china

to resolve the kashmir crisis as you consider it let me 1st of war one point to what you said in the end that india has been denying all these things what all india can deny india has prepared the crimes against humanity in india about kashmir and has been doing it with impunity. as for the you have mentioned you know there to parks on china a relationship is pretty deep and we are you know. more of a relationship is not just restricted to the immunity exercises but you know that we have jointly developed fighter aircraft just 17000 of the have also in the economic side that you must have heard aboard the chatterbox on economic order which is the flagship project of. initiative china but the countries have been

trying to ensure that the potential of this region which is which is which is huge should be exploited to the advantage to provided one to the people over there because you know there is a highest concentration of the people in abject poverty in that part of the work he will just finally very briefly as i could restrain landed you know boris johnson was reelected or elected prime minister just very brief the imminent trade deal between pakistan and britain breaks it. well i think very well because there have been exerted on one hand if it was a challenge for the british people i think we have seen it as an opportunity and we are looking into all the opportunity as to how best nothing concrete there yes or no actually yes it is we already have a very tradition of the strong relationship between pakistan and u.k. we have a very strong business relationship between the 2 countries we are negotiating we are in contact with the u.k.'s side the british side is also in contact with us and

. the you know that the out into that phase of transition which is going to start at least i believe that side by side they would be undertaking. activities very bad they would conclude the anyones business and in much of the countries like pakistan i can mention thank you thank you very much after the break from a united ireland to war in the middle east we are former irish defense and justice minister helen chancer if lack of trust in our media and politicians is just minister helen chance or if lack of trust in our media and politicians is fueling global instability all the more coming up in part 2 of going underground.

welcome back britain's breck's at mandarins were no doubt watching closely u.k. prime minister boris johnson's meeting in the past 48 hours with irish prime minister lee of erotica but kamerad could be trusted as johnson drives to extricate the u.k. from the european union revelations from one of his former cabinet colleagues alan shatter in his new book frenzy and betrayal the academy of a political assassination arguably suggests a lot of justice and defense minister. joins me now from naples in florida alan before we go to more pressing issues arguably about ireland and its place in the european union tell me about the book frenzy and betrayal the anatomy of a political assassination and why it may interest any politician or person in public life concerned with the truth well the book really has 2 different levels to it the main story is extraordinary and bizarre events that took place in ireland in

our politics in the 2014 period i was central to those events i was minister for defense and minister for justice at the time and politics were really taken over by a variety of allegations all of which were false which are cast doubts both on my honesty and my capacity to do the job i was doing. there was a media frenzy around these events great number of untruths told at the time and i did what i thought was the right thing which is get on with my job and tell the truth and it's taken 5 years of controversy and difficulty and independent investigations and court cases to establish that all of the issues that i addressed i dealt with competently and i always told the truth but it's a broader story than doubted that i started writing the book in 2015 after i seized

to be a member of government and it was about the importance of truth the truth matters the manner in which what i described was fabricated truth has taken over and that's become part of today's contemporary international political debate what i mean by fabricated truth is that people decide for strategic or selfish reasons to tell lies the lies are repeated and they gain so much public credibility that anyone who. tries to challenge untruths themselves end up being targeted and vilified never more relevant than today arguably with all the accusations flying around about boris johnson and of course donald trump president the country where you are right now but when you talk about the media and the media frenzy what does it say about the idea of balance in the media given that some may find it

disturbing that your vindication in multiple inquiries only came much later when you were in the middle of it you seemed utterly powerless ro the difficulty was journalists became so excited and attached to scandal stories that they lost the interest in the archie investigation the truth they became personally invested in simply promoting the narrative that they thought was the most interesting one the most the one that attracted public attention the one that created headlines and that's the real difficulty in a real problem in today's world my argument is though that there's in the context of the need to produce instant stories the pressure of news media now online the pressure of 247 t.v. that there are too many journalists easily seduced by simple stories who aren't invested in checking credibility or fact checking and it's extraordinarily

dangerous because there aren't or any other parliamentary democracy to find ourselves in a space where truth has ceased to matter where the rule of law seizes to matter and where simply the only thing that appears to be important is to take on and promote a narrative generates news headlines sells newspapers and attracts online media attention i'm afraid of anyone watching wants to know the specifics of what brought down an irish just isn't. events minister they're going to probably have to buy the book but just i did wonder that the scandal seems to begin by these a bizarre ideas of surveillance of the irish police force the garda did it not occur to you that edward snowden had already said everyone is bugged anyway by g.c. h.q. in britain anyway the whole story was a pointless read the beginning of the sunday times newspaper murdoch paper produced

a sensational story that the police have their supervisory body under surveillance and there was no if spots or maybe about the story it was asserted it was taken up by opposition politicians it was taken up by media. i was the minister for justice at the time i knew nothing of the alleged surveillance within 24 hours i'd stablished that the story was false when i try to publicly set out the detail of what occurred i was accused of cover up and of lying as minister for justice my credibility was very viciously attacked and without going into the detail of the story by the time the truth was a savage had been forced to resign from government but it really is i suppose a story of universal relevance about the importance when allegations are made against any individual be they a politician or someone. otherwise in public life or in private life of the

importance of them being investigated of them not being simply validated to generate headlines but of the true facts being established and journalist approaching these issues with an objective investigative mind yes but the if people don't know your name as well as they might they certainly know leo varadkar is a champion of neoliberalism of identity politics and yet he doesn't go of very well in your. in your book tall probably about one point your religion at least with regard to commission of martin clunes one of the individuals involved in the events that occur it is the current prime minister in ireland the override occur an individual with whom i was a colleague in cabinet who for reasons best known to him saw fit to. raise these issues knowing i was out of the country and to run

a narrative that ultimately proved in the context of my engagements with these issues to be an entirely false narrative. i'm still awaiting the day for him to apologize for the manner in which he conducted himself because if he had genuine concerns around the issues that he publicly raised we were cabinet colleagues were not simply in offices down the corridor from each other and i found myself in the rather odd position where he i was under attack by him as was the former garda commissioner at a time when i was on a an official visit to mexico of all places for st patrick's day events we always invite to the irish geezer going on to this program to try and refute some of your allegations but certainly in the book it's clear that you're alleging use of anonymous sources and in this country or the general election that elected boris johnson the b.b.c. political or that laura kearns were got to retract anonymous or stories that seem

to defame labor party activists do you think that highlights the danger of anonymous sourcing obviously it can be very useful. i think really it comes down to one issue i think in public life as in private life being truthful is important if you have genuine concerns about an issue and you're working with colleagues who you can it can engage with you engage directly with them i don't think you need to talk to them through a public microphone or through the use of anonymous sources briefing newspapers but when that sort of approach is taken it's unfortunate that some journalists are willing simply to go with what the anonymous source is telling them because it's going to generate political excitement and create headlines i think yes i agree anonymous sources play a role and indeed anonymous sources can be extremely important to ensuring truth is

actually talked to power and issues that are being dealt with scandalously are properly addressed and brought out into the open but i think there's an obligation on journalists when briefed by anonymous sources to check the validity of what the story is they're being told as best they can but unfortunately in today's world. belief seems to trump knowledge and. i think when it comes to facts facts have ceased to matter to far too many people who make judgments and pass judgments and express opinion indeed we now live in a world where opinion i think is given greater importance than knowledge or very briefly before we get on to current events do you think live or add to wouldn't be the shock if we hadn't destroyed your career i have no doubt that the manner in which he engaged with the issues that i write about substantially contributed

beneficially to his reputation because of the perception that was created in the mind of viral. people at the time because of the manner in which he was promoted by the media for the media it's of course manna from heaven when one member of cabinet has perceived either publicly or behind the scenes to be having a go at another member of cabinet and i have no doubt that that contributed beneficially to his reputation well one reason why veronica may go down in history is that boris johnson of course is a bar in london and want it seems as part of the breaks of negotiations a border down the irish sea do you think that reunification of the island of ireland is now inevitable i think there's a lot of dangerous talk at the moment about reunification of the island divide and we've been through very troubled times i was a member of the irish parliament for

a good part of the what we refer to as the troubles which was effectively 30 years in which terrorist organizations such as the ira were murdering and maiming people and unity on the island divide and can be very dangerous talk because of the divisions that exist in ireland and after so many years of engagement and reconciliation i don't think we should be rushing into territorial unity discussions i think the bracks or venture adventure has had a very negative impact in ireland i think it's a great shame that the u.k. are now quite clearly leaving the european union i think the european union contributed very positively to conflict resolution on the island of ireland and to people engaging and i think talk of territorial unity is unnecessary and dangerous talk and i think on occasions during the. discussions unwise things were said

on all sides i think the unwise things said at a very early stage by the irish. i'm minister and deputy prime minister i think they've now rightly toned down what they're saying and change tack and i think they're right in doing that there's been a lot of. talk about the crisis as regards trump's assassination of survey money in iraq drum said he wanted nature's help. even though ireland isn't a member of nato you were justice minister defense minister shortly after shin feigns allegations of shannon airport being used by the united states for illegal kidnapping came under scrutiny of amnesty international and what rule you think island is going to play in any future conflict that the united states might want to have in the middle east where you have to remember that our land is a small country with very small defense not numbers in our defense force as indeed

i did a great deal a minister of defense to if sustain the numbers and to try and constructively reform the defense forces is a great sadness to me that since i've ceased to be minister of defense the attention our defense forces need is not being given to them the main role our defense forces play apart from dealing with issues of potential domestic terrorism is to engage in united nations peacekeeping operations and i hope ireland will continue to constructively engage in those operations were not formally a member of nato. the. irish defense forces will have no role in any conflict may take place and i'm hoping of course there's no conflict i think it will be a very good idea as a former irish minister for defense who would have chair and european ministers defense meetings when art and had the presidency of the european union has if

america cooperated and constructively engaged with other members of nato nato has a very important role to play in particularly in europe and in the context of the baltic states and ensuring that that russia doesn't. detrimental impact on its neighboring countries we already know there are difficulties major difficulties with 3 ukraine and unfortunate donald trump has since he became president being do. cold with nato sometimes he seems to seek help other times. publicly criticizing nato countries and i think frankly there's a need for less public rhetoric that's megaphone rhetoric which i think is designed for american political purposes it is harmful and certainly doesn't contribute positively to relations between the united states and those european and other countries who are members of nato thank you and that's it for the show will be.

at the forefront of the previous nato intervention spokesperson during the libyan civil war. as the democrats gear up to officially start their 2020 presidential primary to assess donald trump's performance in office a report card of sorts where is he kept his promises and where has he come up short will any of this really matter. headline stories russia's prime minister and his entire cabinet resign to allow the president to make a series of amendments to the constitution. nominated

a new head of government to a place to meet to meet. the proposed changes parliament the power to appoint ministers which is currently the responsibility of the president. according to the constitution of the russian federation the president needs only the state duma's consent to make official appointments the president appoints the cabinet his deputies the minister.