to answer as many questions as with branded a trial of the century. elaine maxwell now faces up to 65 years in prison after being found guilty on 5 of 6 of the charges and effects of trafficking trial linked to the late convicted pedophile. jeffrey, deputy america's budget priorities put the pentagon before the pandemic as president biden signs off on a massive $700000000000.00 defense plan. while washington's global vaccination campaign keeps running out of money, german politicians want to ban popular messaging apps. telegram over hosting you hate speech and the coven conspiracy theory. however, moscow says that's double standards after the german media criticized russia for trying to do the exact same just a few years ago. those are your headlines this hour and about an hour's time. just

under the cali calling brain will be here with a full infrastructure, new se with us. this is our to international and a a with hello and welcome to cross stock. were all things are considered. i'm peter lavelle at the end of every year across soc answer some of your many questions. not surprisingly, many of your questions, concerns politics, the current international situation, and whether we should trust legacy media. we will do our best to answer as many questions as we can. i was talking q and a, i'm joined by my guess, glen deason in oslo. he is professor at the university of south eastern europe,

may as well as author of the book, great power politics in the 4th industrial revolution and in plymouth. we have patrick kennings and he's the editor and founder of 21st century wire dot com. all right, gentlemen, cross talk girls in effect, that means you can, joan, anytime you want. i got a lot of questions. let's see if we can get through as many as possible here. the 1st question is, let me go to glen 1st. what are the chances of an arm complet involving russia and nato in the new year? thoughts? well, i think it's unlikely, but it's becoming increasingly likely and i did. they are a good, couldn't use his other recognizing difficulties that we have in europe and them the main conflict as effectively what is the european secure, secure the architecture for the russians. they're demanding. it has to be based on all our underpin security agreements which suggest invisible security. so, you know, made to, for example, one side of expenditure at the expense of russia. well, the nate was arguing european situation based on the principal, the bagels,

freedom to expand. so, so this is the main main main main conflict of this, or having discussions about this, which is something didn't, didn't want to do in the past. but that being said, ma'am, and then also said that russia has pointed out that it will intervene in ukraine. if you claim that taxed on bus, or if there is any nato is expanding or even, you know, u. s. troops starting to move in to ukraine. however, that being said, if russia intervenes, the americans have been cleared enough to respond and interview them on the other side. so it seems that the war can be avoided. that being said, there's always this risk of a miscalculation so affecting the problem if someone wants to have a peace agreement, but they did this, that doesn't seem to be any room for compromise. and in the absence of disagreement, the parents who are my become the only alternative imp, patrick,

think the interesting time. right? i mean that the fact that they're talking ok, the russians have said that big nato has been talking like this for 20 years. ok. the russians want it in writing. i mean, this is something new. it is a bit of a departure from their usual procedures here. i think that's why it's important. the talk is talk, but we want it in writing. we want it to be public and transparent. go ahead, patrick. i think it rushes in a very on diplomatic position because it's made its intentioned well known. it's setting the pace, especially by its recent movie in december, i with issuing it sort of demands against nato. but the thing that worries me is you have a very weak president in the white house and mind you this, if there is anything up in terms of aggression from the nato side or anything they would like to provoke. it's always on the table, just a question of when it's most politically opportune to do so. and if this administration is desperate in washington,

they might push the button on something. i'm not sure what that something would be in order to resurrect it's flailing a poll numbers. this has happened many times throughout history, so it's not anything that we should be surprised about. so, but i don't think there's a lot that nato can do, other than provocations and skirmishes as we've seen in recent years, with the current straits and so forth. but what, what really worries me is there a potential for a, a misunderstanding or a false flag, or a nother m h 17 type of van. and in which case, the west would automatically blame a russia and then that would most certainly trigger a new round of sanctions. and the point of that is, is the bigger picture here is about what the global agenda is or what the agenda for europe is. and it's to not allow the, makes records to be realised, and that, and crates that sanctions oliver, that europe in the,

in the west will continue to hold over russia. so in this is part of a bigger agenda, which is to balkanized, di, global eyes and di carbon eyes europe. so i think that's the bigger picture in the background, in what we're seeing on the, on the military skirmish front or the provocation front is really just an excuse for the, with the west and the dominant interest in the west. to exact this, a new, a globalized urban, anti anti globalized, or globalist agenda, whichever way you wanna frame it. so, but it is a very dangerous a potentially dangerous situation, hopefully could avoid of full scale conflict. well, will certainly be keeping an eye on it as we have always have. let's go to our next question here, glen, i don't know if this is exactly up your alley, but it's an interesting question. what is worse? corporatism in oligarchy, or neal liberal woke ism, it's a breton task. the question, i think we could do a series of programs on it. go ahead. a good question. i'm not sure if they're

mutually exclusive. i mean, okay, a lot of this new liberal walk is a kind of go some, it's hand in hand with corporatism, i guess. i think that's one of the key problems in with, with the neo liberal economics and oligarchy that follow this. and now that the political system hasn't been able to function as it shoots, so again, the political left to redistribute wealth, political ryan conference, protect or redistribute and protected, a distinctive and communicate how can produce its own culture. all this alyssa, regular, and is issues which i will usually have been pursuing. now. i think that the, in the absence of any of the political parties either ref, left to right. being able to address the main economic problems and, and the main problems are economic. i think it's more appealing to, to go into

a culture war. so, yeah. why, why, why do i talk about the economic inequality becoming of the sustainable where they come talk about transgender toilets and, you know, men competing us women in sports, all this nonsense. i think j m. yeah, not necessarily michelle, mutually exclusive. but if i would pick, i guess, the neo liberal walking from the house it's it has a greater chance simply because it is. yeah. deconstruct some of the most basic information. so society so yeah. okay. patrick, the same question to you. i mean if the i, i tend to agree with glenn here. i mean the both are bad then that like to choosing one of the other. go ahead, you give it a shot. well, i would have answered it pretty much the same as glen did regarding that they're not mutually exclusive. but the thing to point out, which i think is really interesting, as is the west has used, woke ism or used the culture wars to break down. other countries and to soften them

up internally and to undermine traditional of values and the sort of traditional or conservative or cohesive elements of a society. certainly the, the western media and the activist, global activist community in the vase network and so forth. i have done this to russia with regards to l using l g b t issues. they've done this to syria as well. so if you look at the target nations, iran as well. so if you look at the target nations that are on the west regime change list, they've used this, but this is a bit of a jeannie that has been let out of the bottle and threatens to really destroy us. some of these countries or politically destabilize them from inside. certainly we're seeing this in the united states, and it threatens really to a vis a rate of the current form of the democratic party as well. they cannot handle the bit, it's gotten out of control. so maybe maybe we're seeing the,

the end of the arc of, of this and it might be turning in another direction. certainly it's next, a central crisis for the democratic party. yeah. went to allow this radical wing to take over. yeah. when these people are in a circular firing squad, just let him finish it off themselves. okay. it's rapidly go to the next question here. i can, this is probably, this was the most popular question sent to me i'm, i'm a little disappointed, but i'm going to give it to you guys anyway. i do think trump will run in 2024. and if you do, do you think it's a good idea, glenn? well, and he has suggested that he, my drum, i also hillary clinton has indicated she might run as well. so we might get a repeat of 2018th. i'm how ever i'm not quite sure if you will run. it's still a while into the future and i guess it would depend on the mood of the country. so like you are in 2016, he wouldn't run, you can think he could swim. and i think it depends on the support she has from the

political party and from the voter snob. i, i don't, i don't think necessarily that is should road simply because i think with united states needs the most now is a 2 year bridge. this huge polarization within the united states, which is saying you're getting out of control where the perceived the political position effectively to be an enemy. and this is something you have to trust. so you need perhaps a less polarizing figure and you know what you're like or hate donald trump or i guess we'll can objectively say, he says quite polarizing. and i think that's a bit of an interest to take for the united states. i think the thick of main challenge with united states is it needs to about to the new world order that is, in effect the lead been running past 30 years of that ideal of a liberal hedge money where the u. s. would rule the world under its own principles, and i think this has come to an end and it has to be some, oh,

way of transitioning away from this. now i think donald trump is not necessarily rejected usaa global head tamani. if you simply believe that, you know, for funding subsidizing allies went to costly and here other running with this on his own. however, he did reject the liberal hedge him on the part. so i think from that perspective a, he's, she's main value, i guess 2 years has been that is a transitional figure. so i think that a lot of new voice hasn't come up in the united states since he became president. are there yeah, contesting the whole idea of live? i giovanni's both on political rights and political, less a box. and for him, the person to, to run himself, i think, will be a, with my successor, made i one of the problems or go to united states simply because the seems have to

come to believe the plan by terrorist attack on the capital penal. he's on the agent to russia. i think it's very difficult for him to, to, to, to lead to such a divided country. yeah. in any case, if it was a rematch with a h r, c would be a whole lot of theater, but it wouldn't solve anything or a gentleman. i'm going to jump in here. we're going to go to a hard break. and after that hard break, we'll continue our discussion on this year's q and a stay with our tea. ah, ah, ah christmas. the traditional yuletide on a day of this year making this traditional with a special christmas guide me christmas tolerance diversity guide.

we all know that christmas is a family holiday that makes oral your parents are properly number. i follow the agenda and make us no woman instead of snowman or even better at this new person designed for themselves. ah, ah. busy now gifts no, don't so teddy, best prepare your children for the brave new world to remember . diversity is not a t i o is no longer an appropriate cost. you this is appropriation, zoological appropriation offensive to the day community. mm hm. and obviously sandra m

o has to be cancelled. i because he is a white, his gender male who amuses mrs. claus discriminates against children based on behavior. whereas red, which is a communist color, makes children sit on his lap, makes people destroy trees and exploit sales. so sorry, kid center is not coming to town anymore. i follow these instructions. stick to the spirit of christmas. you decide. oh and by i concur, some of those with

errors sinks. we dare to ask ah welcome back to cross stock where all things are considered on peter labelle. to remind you we're discussing this year's q and a. ah . okay, go add back to patrick here. patrick, you an answer. should trump come back in 2024. your thoughts go ahead and i think on some level it's, it's inevitable if you take the temperature of half the country right now in the u

. s. certainly all the signals are there. if you're watching a media and so forth. but, you know, you have to consider a couple of extenuating circumstances. the 1st being his age. i don't think it's a, a major problem and compared to joe biden, it would be a 2nd term. so he's going into a 2nd term rather than his 1st term. as opposed to bind, but the trump agenda is already kind of a baked in to the republican party. so in that sense, it wouldn't be, i don't think there would be any surprises with the trump presidency in the 2nd term. i'm. so i think it on that side, it's good, but then if you want to bring in new blood, it would most likely come via a vice president appointee on the ticket. so that right now looks like it would be . rhonda santas now would be an easy handover for the republican party after trump would finish a 2nd term. and mike pompei was going to run for president in in the republican primary. ted cruz. i'm sure marco rubio and ran. paul tom cotton will also be in

there as well. but there's such a polar, i swing right now. it swung so far into one direction in just the 1st year. the biden administration. and you'll see the midterms. bear bear outs, a result probably in favor of the republicans in the house and senate. so it is going to be a shift in politics. the question is, is that shift going to want to continue with donald trump or to bring in somebody younger and more dynamic? perhaps it has maybe a longer tail future in politics. we shall see, but it looks split to me, it looks like he is going to run, so will. but who knows what will happen between on i'm sure, on this program, we'll revisit that issue a number of times here. let's keep with political personalities. here are many viewers ask the question, who's more of a failure, joe biden, or boris johnson. question to you, glen? oh, well,

it's difficult to compare the 2 leaders. i guess there are the ruling. they're different, but they treat it. what they do have a lot in common, their failures, but that's, that's enough. going to think out. i mean, i'll finish. well, i mean time to say joe biden, simply because he has some more challenging task ahead. i mean, the like commission before the us really have to adopt from this unit color arrow to, to the multiple order which is already here, which is having immense difficulties in terms of doing. and furthermore, the u. s. appears have been a much greater challenges in terms of financial and economic crisis. the country is moving him to so the us needs a lot of the hassle of painful reforms. it needs to carry through to restore fiscal responsibility. however, it do with us less room for maneuver because it also has this global empire it's carrying on his shoulder. so it has less sir ability to maneuver who to, to restore a lot of this. so it takes a lot of this week. so i think

a failing subdomain has been a more yet they had better mental while the feelings and well, the feelings of a burst, johnson has less impact the guess. and furthermore, well could also point out what we just discussed, that you society so profoundly divided again by them. you can also see that he, i would, are he failed of this aspect. i mean the router are assuming unity. from the beginning it became obvious that unity would require the other side. so the republicans to repentance align themselves behind is devices, policies. so again, this is the problem with the political position is deemed to be an emmy, a sucker lane or roof are compromised. and so i think that these are all key problems. and also he didn't actually do any of his born subject as either he was gonna really go back to the nuclear deal with the wrong gas van battery was gonna

correlations with china as much follow the trunk also there as well. and then also i yeah, russia isn't, i've been able to improve men of the relationship with with that relationship either. so i think, yeah, yeah, across the board he sir, is, is his found it? oh patrick. same thing. i say now let's go brand in our budget, which ones were us go ahead. this is a really difficult question to answer, but it's actually quite a profound question because there is, there is a kind of an answer in there. these are both. these were both gimmick leaders, they both effectively ran on a gimmick. joe biden ran on. i'm any bun, but donald trump and managed to garner ah, quite a few of votes just on that basis. and arguably, that would have been his a margin, albeit slim considering the other, extenuating, our electoral challenges and so forth. but boys, johnson ran on the gimmick of brick set. and

a lot of people wouldn't realize that just months before the referendum in 2016 boris johnson was a committed euro file. he had been his whole career, and all the sudden people came. mister breck said it was a bit of a marketing sensation, politically. so at that, that's how he got his mandate. and right now the people, the remain are, is, are very disenchanted with or it's johnston. it really has to do with the kind of draconian policies around cov ed and around vax vaccine mandates and so forth. he's really just basically hemorrhaged a lot of the support he had and the miracle of getting the northern working class to vote for a tory a leader. and he had trounced in with this massive mandate. that's all but gone now . so in a way that they're both similar in that they both ran on a gimmick and in some ways a well, especially biden, he, it was already a failure before he was even sworn until office because of the circumstances in

which he was elected on many different levels and boys, johnson, again that it's basically he spent his political capital now. so, but over i would say, um, i would say on some level boards, johnson is, is a bigger of failure because of this sort of paper mandate that's now been shredded . yeah. yeah. i don't think either one of them have much of a future her is go to our next question here, viewers, and go to glen here is mc crown capable of leading the e. you with the departure of frau merkel go ahead. i would say no. i can definitely see why he believes he can take over leadership. because, you know, germany is running into some economic difficulties now and its own political problems with the parcher. my can also has certain ideas in terms of, you know, creating an e army, which would make france obvious leader with him to you by having more militarized

to use. or however, the problem is always that mcdonald's to be a leader. but nobody really wants to follow it. so i think that his policies are more focused on the french leadership within the u. s. a coaster, clear vision, how the u. s. whole can regain its relevance in the world. so for example, of not seeing any great ideas or at least a great and is able to push forward in terms of establishing greater technological sovereignty and competitiveness within the you are also the foreign policy. i mean, he's been making suggestions. perhaps the you should start to push things up with russia about it is never able to move anywhere. and again, i think this is the maimed. difficult it. i mean, probably mostly some able to give any clear benefits for, for the you only the last case. now with this more than a, with north stream to for example, it's a the allowing well,

do you assess sol as your pm's tooth to, to obstruct that is pipeline, simply convincing the russian stuff issue chief, the gas to asia. so as a consequence, your industry will not be competitive against stations at the future, so you don't, you don't have any, i don't see him being able to make the relevant. and by doing what's needed to be done. so i don't, i don't see handbook. and again, there's a lack of alternatives at this point. yeah, that's a they a you did. does that all the time? no alternative. and i think that's my design on. fortunately, patrick, your thoughts here because mac round is actually, and i've never been a big fan of the, the french president he has matured in office. he is, he's a lot more articulate and, and willing to take some chances here and place these up for reelection in the spring here. so, i mean, maybe it's not the right question. is france able to do it instead of micro? i don't know, what are your thoughts

a just looking at the internal domestic political situation in france up. that's going, it looks like a tall order for a lot of reasons. the french at movement in france is also very strong, arguably a strong or stronger than any other european country. so there is a lot of disenchantment with brussels. not only that, i would say his popularity. now you have not just disapproval you probably have or by any one's estimation upwards of 40 percent of the french public that strongly dislike a manual micron because of the recent policies. and again, it goes back to basic freedom, liberty, fraternity galaxy. there's a lot of french citizens that do not believe that micron holds those essential, repub, french republican values. that's how disconnected he is with a large part and important part segments of the french population. so if you don't have the support at home, one says how can you lead the european union worse,

angela merkel didn't have that level of disdain in germany for her during her tenure at the time. so i think that's a difficult one for manual macro, and he was elected as a technocrat. he is a goldman sachs type candidate. he's a mart, maria young mario druggie, or mario monte type. that's what the people who back to him they envisioned and he would play that role. so we'll see, i but i don't see him in terms of populism having the sort of appeal any more than he barely got elected on the 1st round. i think he's gonna run into problems. he might squeak by in the next election, but he doesn't have the mandate. i think that's required to say that he's really going to be a strong leader for your. well it's, it's finish up on macro at a gland. i mean, it's really interesting is that he's having to have to grapple with his re election is to appeal to the populace. i mean, it's really quite amazing that, damn, this is, that's going to make that, that's the tiebreaker in all of this here. the left is completely collapse and now

it's who is going to be able to appeal to the populace. right. and yeah, micron wasn't designed to do that kind of thing. that your thoughts right before we end the program, go ahead one. well, i agree, i think the french have lost some of their appetites for the use, so for him to position himself as to champion them. but you know, at the same time winning over the french population, it would require a lot of a paradoxical statuses. but a lot of dishonesty and i think the french, i'm not a small so i yeah i so i don't think i don't see it happening. i think you wouldn't even have a heart. i'm struggling to remain the leader of france, which putting later but you, i mean it's making it much more difficult. yeah. well, i mean, we have a whole lot more to talk about in the new year gentlemen. i wish you both a happy new year. that's all the time we have many thanks. so my guess and also in plymouth and thanks to our viewers were watching us here at

r t c. you next time. remember, cross federal ah, ah, was diagnosed with cancer in 2000. so when the doctors told me the cancer was incurable, i knew i had to make a change. so i decided to travel to one of the most toxic places in america. florida. one of florida is biggest industries and best kept secrets is phosphate in the biggest layer. it is $85000000000.00 industry. is mosaic. deny there are reports of millions of gallons of contaminated water now flowing into the florida aquifer may pro, there's a chronic opening. i called don't love to hear that word pausing, but that's what it is. i'm in 2013 my uncle, our family dog. my brother was 21 years old,

myself and my father. we're all a kidney, a 100. wow. yeah. i'm a good plan, right. yeah, maybe they'll actually learn day. martin is more important to join me every thursday on the alex salmon. sure. but obviously the guess of the world politics sport business. i'm sure business. i'll see you then with all this is.