2 am here in moscow headlining this hour the path is clearing for us democratic hopefuls as 2 candidates. drop out of the race and for the 2020 presidential election. the taliban says it will resume operations against afghanistan security forces that is after the country's president refused to commit to a peace deal between the u.s. and the islamic elsewhere. greece warns of a threat to its national security of turkey allows thousands of desperate asylum seekers along the country's shared border is accusing of exploiting refugees in pursuit of its political goals. and israel

sees its highest election turnout in 2 decades 1000 voters seek to break the country's almost year long political deadlock and delivery government. broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is r.t. international lunch on thomas certainly glad to have you with us at the democratic race to take on donald trump in the 2020 presidential election is picking up pace but ahead of so-called super tuesday it's been far from that for 2 candidates clinton candidate has suspended her nomination and this comes soon after pete booted judge also bowed out. well march 3rd super tuesday is the day in which 14 u.s. states and one u.s. territory of american samoa votes in their presidential primary and just ahead of

that vote we have 2 major contenders suspending their campaigns dropping out of the race and at this point amy clothes shar and pete are no longer in the running they are not running for president now already we've had amy clovers shar endorse joe biden pete buddha she's expected to do that as well let's review these dramatic developments right before the big day i lot of people predicted i wouldn't make it through that speech and then they thought i would make it through the summer and then i wouldn't make it to the debates but here i am headed into super tuesday i come here and asking for your vote humbled by the knowledge that for so many that vote was won through strong through blood through sweat through tears and for some within living memory. now this is interpreted by many as showing the weight of the democratic party throwing itself behind joe biden in an effort to stop bernie

sanders the democratic socialist from vermont who seems to be quite popular and doing well now donald trump the u.s. president was certainly not afraid to give his analysis on social media as he always does this is what trump tweeted in response to the dramatic move. is out will be super tuesday votes will go to sleep the job i didn't great timing this is the real beginning of the dems taking bunning out of play no nomination again. so $415.00 delegates are at stake when voters go to the polls in 14 different us states for super tuesday to gas their vote in the democratic primary about who they would like to be the nominee of the democratic party to run against donald trump in november and at this point remaining in the race we have michael bloomberg we have u.s. u.s. senator former vice president joe biden and we have senator bernie sanders so 3 big

major contenders in the race remaining people are looking ahead to march 3rd super tuesday as people all across the united states 14 different states will be voting on the nominees so quite an exciting turn of events people didn't see this coming people wonder what will indeed happen when people go to the polls across the country. a few years now the escalating u.s. china media war has been seen washington move to restrict chinese journalists working in america this comes after 3 wall street journal employees were expelled from china last month earlier my colleague kevin owen spoke to correspondent you go to john f. for details. it was triggered this move by the trumpet ministration the well essentially what they have done they have designated to 5 chinese outlets and they've taken them and designated as foreign missions this is the way the put them and essentially what it means is that 5 of them are foreign missions like foreign agents 4 of them are getting

a cap on the number of foreign employees that they are allowed to have working for that working for them essentially the number has gone from 160 of people 160 of employees to just 100 for instance one radio station is now being allowed only 24 and at all times and here's how washington is justifying this move have a listen the u.s. government is today instituting a personnel cap on certain people's republic of china controlled state media entities in the united states because it limits the number of chinese citizens permitted to work for these organizations in the united states at any given time it is our hope that this action will spur beijing to adopt a more fat reciprocal approach to u.s. and other foreign press in china so again the way you've said that this is a direct response to something that china has done on its own soil so essentially what the united states are doing they're just giving china

a taste of their own medicine and the irony here though of course is that is also saying on the same breath as well as doing this that america's pushing for greater media freedom in china the same terms clamping down the amount of media freedom it's going to give journeys in america absolutely so the chinese have restrictions on the number of foreign personnel working for media outlets there now the united states has well it's also always had but now it applies to the chinese media and so indeed it could be very perplexing but according to my pump a 0 there's nothing surprising there and america remains a beacon of democracy and freedom of press. that's the greatness of our nation reporters like yourself get to ask me any question or questions we take hundreds and hundreds of questions we talk openly we express our view yes there are questions that's how we proceed in america so this is this was obviously a response to a journalist there and it's not only that particular journalist who's being

surprised who's raising questions about this approach activists do that as well they disagree with the such a well characteristic that might bump a always giving to the state of media freedom in the united states we are uncomfortable with governments deciding what constitutes journalism or propaganda so we get to see now a kind of tit for tat thing has been reciprocal on both sides what's china is reaction going to be if you heard the figure well again the united states are saying china has started now the chinese obviously they are unhappy the released a statement on twitter saying that they are very disappointed with such approach don't take my word for it take there is indeed between china and the united states we have some differences but we do not think it's appropriate for the united states to take steps interfering with the work of journalists coming from china so does the local like this is going to go on for a while because china is known to well if you show if you meet them with force they

will meet you they will double that force and will respond likewise but there the united states they have been facing some criticism for not having some clear cut guidelines as to how foreign media operates or is supposed to operate under its laws for instance which media outlets are supposed to designate them themselves as as foreign agents as i've said all along but i'd say the per hour to america yes r.t. america has got the same at the same had the same pill to swallow but for instance if it applies say it would be. logical assumption to make to say it applies to foreign media that are funded by foreign governments but for instance al-jazeera a qatari funded outlet media outlet there a feeling fine they are not getting this label of shame that other media outlets the chinese and r.t. america have been given in the past so a lot of people not a lot of people but some experts and they have been seeing they have been saying

that it is a finlay veiled attempt at applying geopolitical pressure on certain entities and certain government. for more on this let's cross live now to be executive director of the international center for advanced political studies just of mahoney thanks for being with us here on r.t. international. so what does washington hope to achieve by really reducing the number of chinese journalists working in the united states. well let's let's be clear this this all started because the wall street journal ran an opinion an op ed. from a conservative scholar and a scholar didn't write the title is usually the case that the editorial board did and the title was china is the real sick man of asia now many people interpreted this as being

a throwback to some very problematic racist oriental this language that was being used turn of the last century in the in the early 1900 late late 1900 and so this offended a lot of people in china and as a result wall street journal was perhaps targeted by by restrictions by the by the chinese government so you know trump now responding to this. to be frank i think what he's really trying to do is score points with the american media and in particular the wall street journal it so it's a very important. editorial board it. as your previous segment noted we're in an election year so i think he's trying to curry favor with conservative media but also the wall street journal particular as well as american people it's it's it's fun to beat on china right now in the united states. more

than this so i think what we're seeing week after week is kind of a drum roll of you know anti china actions by the trump administration and to be to be fair i think this is just another thing that's on their calendar of events so. america is all about freedom of expression and freedom of the press as well what to say about that if the administration is seemingly clamping down. well i think i think the 1st thing we have to acknowledge of course is that united states likes to hold itself or like. to claim that it holds itself to a higher standard when it comes to the freedom of freedom of press but you know what we have seen during the trump of ministration consistently is the targeting of domestic media in the us the washington post the new york times has been singled out for a number of attacks and exclusions more than several dozen press in working the white house have had their press passes revoked he's banned reporters from c.n.n.

and others who ask questions that he or his press secretary don't like they have held. briefings for 4 members of news outlets that that only really support their line and you know there's been a lot of. analysis to show that. president trump as well as other key figures and his administration have been a major purveyors of fake news while wild decrying the same another from others so i'm not sure that we really have. a moral high ground to stand on here certainly there is more freedom of press and openness in the united states go to china but i'm not sure that that's that that's really staying true i feel that we're kind of eroding ourself and taking a shot at china doesn't really help matters all right very interesting to hear his thoughts hopefully if this tit for tat plays out you can come back and help us sort through this joseph mahoney executive director of the international center for

advanced political studies thanks for being with us here in our country. and afghan police say that at least 3 people have been killed and 11 others wounded in an explosion near a football ground in the eastern province of cost no one has claimed responsibility for that attack as of yet but earlier on monday the taliban said it would relaunch operations against the kabul government after president refused to commit to the terms of a peace deal between the u.s. and the islamist group. the reduction in violence has ended now and operations will continue as normal as part of the us taliban agreement or mujahideen will not attack foreign forces but the operations will continue against the kabul administration forces of the pact stipulated that kabul would release 5000 taliban members from prison in turn the group pledged to free 1000 government detainees that was supposed to pave the way for direct talks between the 2 sides but

president carney has said of the swap cannot be a precondition for interim afghan peace talks casting doubt on the viability of the plan now for its part the us has promised to withdraw its troops from the country over the next 14 months subject to the taliban's compliance with the deal and despite monday's setbacks that still seems to be donald trump's intention. we're getting out we want to get out we had good meetings with the taliban and. we're going to be leaving and we're going to be bringing our soldiers back home we've been there for almost 20 years it's a long time we've done a great job in terms of getting rid of terrorists now it's up to other countries to get rid of those terrorists i would caution everybody to think that there's going to be an absolute sation of violence in afghanistan that is probably not going to have it's for not going to go to 0 or to tailor looks now at whether hopes of securing a lasting peace in afghanistan war in a place. 18 here is $1.00 trillion dollars over

$150000.00 dead for rough gonna start in the u.s. the road to peace has been long bloody costly but a new dawn is on the horizon and it's being hailed as a victory this is for peace on the ground. the deal signed by washington and the taliban has promised to bring to a close what seemed and on ending a war times many thought it wouldn't happen the deal has come after 18 months of pulling and tugging of head shakes and walking away but in doha the paper was finally signed and it seemed to be one of those rarest situations where in parties involved were happy well almost all because apparently someone forgot to ask the afghan government what its take was spoiler a lot it's got a few concerns that in could barely dry it on the deal when the afghan president

vetoed a key clause the release of 5000 taliban militants as part of a prisoner swap. there is no commitment to release $5000.00 prisoners i have shared this with dr colleagues this is the right and the decision of the people of afghanistan they have requested it it could be included in the agenda of the interim afghan talks but it cannot be a prerequisite for talks. now this is not a side note to the deal it is in fact to the condition on which intra afghan peace talks will start a veto the full threatens to bring this entire thing grinding to a hoped president gone his reaction there shows how washington has missed the point here that signing that piece of paper is ironically the easiest part and the promising prisoners which on yours is as unhelpful as dropping demands that the taliban officially recognize gone his government are going to govern. and was not

even invited to the negotiations and when they participated not only participated. not as a government representatives because ordinary afghans and that in itself is a very significant indication of how the situation was developed president gunner said this we have been fighting. for about 80 to 90 percent of the battles have been waged by afghan troops or basically. means that will follow bonn or anybody else up to deal with the afghan government so this is maybe one of the hurdles many murders down the road but let's not forget the u.s. is an old hound pretending to be the peacemakers even when it's cause the mess in the fast place and with an election just around the coup want to trump probably wouldn't be against adding to his eye make great things happen rhetoric sure has

middle east deal of the central school bus them boom and kim jong un isn't quite ready to step away from his making a rockets but trump got his photos and it seems he's already eyeing up his next money shots be meeting personally with taliban leaders in the not too distant future. and we'll be. very much hoping that they will be doing what they say they're going to be doing they will be killing terrorists when in doubt sign a deal pose for a photo then crown jewel south victor eve others to figure out the logistics tried and tested. political analysts to most talk to him believes afghanistan is facing enormous challenges. i think talking to some of you officials here to look nationally and internationally and even see how thin it is in a speech or babbitt state of confusion no no no one is in a position to really figure out how things really pan out in the east to come

because their sylvania challenges at that street. the past one as good talking about by britain to stop that is one major issue of that is already 1 lip glosses off the track 2nd issue of whether the ballot i have been damning that won't be talking to be a man. ronnie ike ministration that's going to challenge a little process that's not the major he sure that's going to challenge a good process yet i definitely challenges i head up fast and build strategists all c.d.'s which given it to jupiter died so what good did the success of the grossest . this is art international still have the program huge turnout in israel for its general election but is it 3rd time lucky for pm benjamin netanyahu we've got the exit polls and opinion after this break stay with us.

the world is driven by a dream shaped by. saying . we. ask. why do we go to war because we view the key to economic growth as oil and energy we go to war is vice president cheney said for the oil that's why they invaded iraq for the oil that's why trump says the one thing we want syria we really don't want to go to war with russia we want to just control the oil. and the

gas lines and the pipelines through afghanistan so the military is really an extension of controlling of world energy and oil. backed arts international let's go back to our top story this hour and a number of twists ahead of super tuesday in the u.s. presidential election race within 24 hours that democrat candidates amy club ashar and pete put it just have both bowed out for reaction let's go to our tease washington headquarters and my colleague scott hughes someone who knows their stuff we're talking during the sound check and it's going to be interesting. let's start with people to judge he drops out he leaves democrat voters with 3 real frontrunners the youngest of them being joe biden at 77 years old how will that sit with voters and does it mean the advantage goes to trump. well

in any other circumstances i would say that would have a huge problem with the democratic party except job i when you look at age of the democratic party they've never had a problem with bernie sanders and it's been interesting to watch in fact the majority of his rallies the majority of the people that are supporting him are the young views so for it it's not that they're looking at him as a grain of salt they actually see them as equivalent and the same age so in this case because it's 2020 and or in the very interesting parallel universe that i think in past political experiences have been it doesn't really matter the age expression on the democrat side and for the republicans donald trump is in a young young chicken himself so age in this case has been kind of thrown out because the people that are most engaged are the youth but they're engaged with the oldest candidates on the ticket not to mention bernie has has a history he's had

a heart attack even during this this run some are already saying that amy chua bashar and people to judge dropping out has cleared the road for biden and they are both putting their support behind him do you agree for. well what's interesting today on twitter just following i don't always follow things on twitter except you can kind of get a gauge and there was actually a really big charge by those saying listen i was a video judge supporter but now i'm actually going to bernie sanders that's very surprising but i think you have to look at the timing of this we need to point you know we need a question because coming out of saturday yes joe biden did great but we cannot necessarily say that those numbers were pure joe biden's a very red state donald trump just the night before it urged people to cross over he was fine vote for joe biden it is to the republicans advantage to see a brokered convention a chaotic democratic race here on out so you have to wonder then saturday night and booty judge looking at interviews internals was there actually a conversation and said listen you're young you've got

a lot more forward for you and his history and politics maybe if you help us out here make sure that our party stays our party a long established that lines you might have a place in 20 years and we won't forget you have to just give this time how all of this is happening going into tomorrow with the biggest complaint right now about joe biden is he does not have as many delegates as bernie sanders does or has the popular vote behind him tomorrow is very key to getting joe biden's numbers through or at least keeping that equal race between the 2 it is going to be interesting to watch out you mentioned the delegates game it's all about math at this point especially when we get to that convention you and i will both at least have bowls of popcorn in front of us if not working furiously up until that point scottie nell hughes my colleague at r.t. america thanks for being with us. polls have closed in israel in what's been the highest election turnout in over 2 decades voting took place for an unprecedented 3rd time in under a year and it's early still but benyamin netanyahu the likud party looks like it

will come up short of a majority not the 1st time publicly or looks deeper into the preliminary results. the initial exit polls do put the country's prime minister benjamin netanyahu with some 5 parliamentary seats a head of his main rival the former army chief benny guns now this is certainly good news for the likud camp but it does mean that they still one seat short of a parliamentary majority so of course we're going to see a lot of bickering in coalition making happening in the coming days there was a lot of concern that the voter turnout would be low this was a surprise it was the highest it's been in the past 21 years and this is despite the fact that there are at least 5 and a half 1000 people who are quarantined here in israel with a coronavirus there were concerns that people will turn out to vote because of that those people voted at 16 special stations set aside especially for them and then the concern around voter fatigue that these are the 3rd elections in the space of

11 months and when i was speaking to people throughout the course of the day many did say that they felt disillusioned many of them said they felt disgusted and this was a word that was echoed by the country's president when he addressed the nation. it was always a day we consider to be a celebration of israeli democracy and i must say that today i feel most sense of celebration only a sense of hard shame for you the citizens of israel we don't deserve another horrible election campaign that deteriorates into such filth like the one that ends today. the political stalemate has been won between the country's ruling elite could party and the blue and white party of guns to now these 2 parties have been a can make over the past 2 elections and the only thing that's really changed since these elections today monday and the last elections that were held in september is that in november you had the israeli prime minister indicted and in january you had

the american president announce his peace deal of the same tree but neither of those developments seems to have eaten away at the sense of fatigue most israelis here. feels. hurts me a lot to see that we've got into this situation because it cost so much money this is a country that's trying to keep its head above the water in the current global economic environment. i think the situation is a disgrace i think have an elections for the 3rd time since a lot of our politicians we are in the situation where no one is willing to compromise we are forced to go to the polls again and again i believe we are headed for force an election so. on the one hand the situation is not the best but on the other we're trying to remain optimistic i would personally like to see a unity government i want to see cooperation between the parties because at the moment according to the polls there are no other options. there were protests against netanyahu ahead of these elections at the same time as i'm clear that should he win how will he actually govern the country while facing criminal charges

in court now he has been playing hard to hard or at the same time he's announced that he will and makes the jewish settlements in the west bank and a sizable piece of land known as the jordan valley in the occupied west bank naturally this has dismayed our voters and we've also heard from palestinians who say that if these exit polls prove to be correct then israelis have voted for next ation as i say we still need to hear the final results we're expecting those to come out sometime on monday but certainly the early signs are that the country's prime minister benjamin netanyahu is going to be a very happy man earlier we got reaction to the exit polls from harrod's newspaper columnist gideon levy and mostafa barghouti who heads up the palestinian initiative . the question is not the campaign the question is what will be the next coming years and it seems according to the exit polls that. benjamin attorney out he's

going to be the next prime minister he's going to continue to be the prime minister of israel even though he carries with criminal heavy criminal charges and even though there was some kind of saw this time he looked make it he made it and he made it much more successfully than the last 2 complaints not only or did everything he could. to mobilize the supporters to come and vote for him on the other hand there was a very important factor which is that the arab community the palestinians who live in israel have also voted in high in the largest possible amount since since a very long time all the palestinians inside israel are unified in one list which guaranteed them from 14 to 15 seats which is the highest for the gut. all right that does it for me about more news in about 30 minutes you watch much international whatever.

it was you know good all for it do 50 more time for music with not doing a pretty one when you know kids are the physical people in the film and all the focus for you. see. that of all of us in the body only 6 is up off. the street sounds and i guess it's a copy of the thing out of the box. as it was just said i took a look for your evil in the last day and that was going to go up till finally i just bought here's a. little just for nigel. and so there's.