when they use military force, they can achieve their goals, will the alliance a secretary general speech? there was in japan where he found the country for its support for kiev. i'm expressed a desire to further deepen their partnership. japan is set to open a day to office, in fact, with tokyo to start attending the organizations meetings as well. the japanese prime minister in turn express concerns were chinese on patients in the region on tension surrounding taiwan. figures show, in fact though it's the lead nato country itself, the u. s, which the poise most military force in the world according to a report last year by an agent human rights society. c, washington was involved in 80 percent of all military conflicts from the end of the 2nd world war to its declaration of the war on terror in 2001. beyond that then the u. s. has gone on to invade of ghana. stan,

pakistan based troops in the philippines on the haiti attempted coo and equitorial, guinea, engage and other conflicts. as you can see in the mob, the interventions were conducted under auspices ranging from peace enforcement liberation, fighting against terror, supplying humanitarian aid, preventing the spread of w. m. d. 's. much of that led to regime change, human rights abuses, and many civilian debts. will us conservative political commentator steve gill believes the west is making a bogeyman art of russia while at the same time, profiting from the situation in ukraine and don't pass is truly bank calling the capital black. but it's really the pot calling the kettle black because of the green and the profits that are being made from shipping. those weapons, you have a lot of the united states military industrial complex that's looking to profit from the continued weapon ization of ukraine. after afghanistan, the, the,

the military industrial complex needs to sell new weapons, new tanks, new players. and they're doing that with hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on weaponry and ukraine. i think military, my has always been used by those who have the most to, to use that military might to gain either either monetary game, regional gain or just additional political power. some of it has always been used again to counter whatever opposition there is in the world, which is what the cold war was all about. so that's why the u. s. got involved in conflicts all over the world. but the cold war is over, and i think unfortunately, some of the decision makers in washington, d. c. still see russia as some sort of a global boogeyman. and they're using that to try and inspire fear and action by western european countries and by the us to take on. because they may put into the boogeyman that look quite frank, that think is false. just finally,

this news are the chinese foreign minister has called for ties between his nation and middle east countries to be strengthened. he sees the creation of a free trade zone with the 6 states of the gulf cooperation council should be done quote, as soon as possible in a call with his saudi counterpart, ching guys alliance. the plans while underlining the necessity to further develop ties and the infrastructure investment of the high tech spheres. while the study finance minister earlier stated reality is open to trade and other currencies besides the us dollar. there are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it is in the us dollar, whether it is the euro, whether it is the saudi, re all. we heard interesting remarks from global, the 1st academic on this new route, cha, noise, who believes the petro dollar puts countries in the debt of washington. it can change the balance of the globe, or geo political economy. this is the material basis of the multi point was

moving oil in trade to trade to the u on as soon as the economist said of a few weeks or a few months ago, could dig almost 600 $1000000000.00 out of the dollars zone and bring china to the center of the world economy. so this is like huge step. and many countries want to shift to buying oil and major commodities with their own local currency, including india. that would save us $4000000000.00 of foreign exchange among a lot of countries would like to do this because so far because of the spectrum dollars, every country has had to buy oil in dollars and make it bought the strategic reserve. this country in countries into debt and the us uses it to finance it. whatever wars always fresh content lively discussion is to

join in with r t dot com. leave a comment on her story or 2 there. why don't you, i'll catch you again at the top, bye for know. ah ah, the news ah, since the 1st for them was held in 1640 in the massachusetts fakeholing reverend them have been the best tool to address the constitutional route, territorial,

and other issues directly by the people. i'm guy now use it on today. the $360.00 view we're going to look at referendums around the globe. and if referendums continues to be the most effective way for society to reminded leaders who actually has the power. ah, a referendum is defined as a direct vote on a law proposal or political issue. going to sound simple in theory, but everything else in politics can be made to be extremely complicated. if a political class wishes it to be, europe counts for 2 thirds of all national referendum held in the world. this is mainly due to switzerland who alone counts for more than a 3rd of all national referendums, and 2 thirds of referendums held in a democratic society. now we saw in 2016, a record number of popular direct democracy votes or national referendums around the world. $26.00 countries held a national referendums, which was far more than the last record year of $991.00 in 1992 or most of those

votes were held as a response to the political developments following the cold war. now the class, the communism and the soviet union, which spurred the use of referendums all around the world. you know, the 1st vote on the case you membership and the columbia piece agreement were 2 of the most significant. and as we saw with u. k. brexton the vote, one referendum was not enough. another had to take place with the outcome was not what they really wanted. referendums are not just for large issues which impact the entire country. they also could apply to individual territories, districts or states. now these referendum or type of rebellion and in the present, most about social issues which go against the national policy already in place. this is where interest groups can influence government by the threatening to call a referendum. if proposed legislation is not satisfactory or call referendum and hope the people will choose their side. now in the past, this is a tool mainly used by conservatives against more liberal policies,

which extended government reach. harvard, today's referendums to find themselves mainly about environmental movements and immigration policies. so we're more on this. here's our international report. a referendum is supposed to be a vote given by work to the people over the government. we have seen this many times in history. most recently, nearly 4000000 cubans voted in favor of a referendum to legalize same sex unions and adoption of seal driven by homosexuals . that preliminary resorts, so 66.87 percent of votes in favor with 33.13 percent against many criticisms as social conservatives of post the amendment. while the islands government ones criminalized at homosexuality, this referendum was accepted. the niece of the late leader, capital, my dear la,

has taken the lead in advocating for l g b t. right. president miguel de ask a name who has promoted the law, celebrated the passing referendum. tweeting out love is now the law. while referendum is supposed to be people power over their government. this past year, the you in stepping to stop the referendum from region to seem to separate from ukraine. the un general assembly is accusing moscow of attempts that illegal annexation and calling a member states to ignore the results of referendums in 4 former east ukrainian regions. on joining russia, the $143.00 to $5.00 boat followed the general assemblies refusal to secret ballads . this was a request by russia due to the intense pressure from the u. s. and its allies to condemn ma school for trying to acquire the regions. brush us, you and i'm boss

a lower, but celia newman, zia, are you for many countries, may be very difficult to express their views publicly due to the existence of other countries despite immense pressure for nations doing bratia in voting against the un resolution. this where bela rose, syria, me cut out what and north korea. it is important to note just how many countries chose to abstain from the bolt. there were $35.00, including china, india, south africa, pakistan, thailand, cuba, vietnam, armenia, and algeria before launching its special military operation ukraine. russia recognize the sovereignty of the nist. a new guns people's republics argued give, fails to represent and protect people, leaving their residents up to other regions,

voted by wide margins in public referendum to declare independence and joint russia . precedents loving me to put the team sign only vacation treaties with the for new russian regions. however, the un general assembly can then put these actions as illegal saying the 4 regions are temporarily occupied because of russia's aggression in violation of a crane stay, rhetorical integrity and sovereignty. the u. m. press are all nations to refuse to recognize that region as part of russia. moscow argue referendums are the only way for the people to exercise their rights and make their own decision on what country they want to be part of and protect themselves from their former government. referendums have been use throughout history to make changes by a government system in 1991. for example, banker base ask waters to decide whether or not to reintroduce

a parliamentary government. this led to the president becoming the constitutional head of state and allowed parliament to elect the president. these also moved the position of prime minister to become the executive head of the country and completely got read of the rule of the vice president says the stern critics have said parliament has failed to become the center point, the banker base political and legislative activities. this is because parliament has been this functional, i'm ruling parties will completely bypass it when making los ambrose tennis atlanta for 360 view back to you, scottie they came will be back after the break with more on global reference with the the

l look forward to talking to you all, that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given by human beings, except where such order that conflict with the 1st law show your identification. we should be very careful about artificial intelligence at the point obviously is too great. trust rather than fear a job with artificial intelligence, real, somebody with a robot most protective own existence with what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have. it's crazy. even foundation, let it be an arms race is on,

often very dramatic development. only personally and getting to resist. i don't see how that strategy will be successful, very difficult time time to sit down and talk ah ah, welcome back. joining us now it's dr. richard albert frederick government at the

university of texas. he is at work focuses on the role of reference worldwide. he's also the author of a recent edited volume entitled, the limits and the legitimacy of referendums. welcome professor frederick, tell us that your research and what you have found in your work regarding referendums, aright, and research about constitutional change. so how constitutions all around the world change? they change by amendment, it changed by revision, change by interpretation. they change by revolution. a change by replacement, i write about that from a comparative perspective, from a doctrinal perspective, historical and also theoretical. so the books that i've written, the books, i've edited the articles that i've written all deal with these kind of subjects. with specific regard to referendums, i found some fascinating results and my research about referendums all around the

world. let me give you 3 of the results that i've found that to me are quite interesting. one, when you put a referendum question to the people, they're likely to vote yes if it's a constitutional referendum. so about 94 percent of all constitutional referendums in the history of the world have been approved by the people. this is a finding that appears in a book that i recently quoted, it called the limits and legitimacy of referendums to chapter written by zach elkins and alex hudson. a fascinating finding. second thing that's very interesting is that some constitutions around the world actually make it mandatory for referendums to be held in relation to constitutional amendments. very,

very interesting. 3rd and final interesting point that i'll mention there are dozens that i can mention 3rd and final that i'll mention just now. even when constitutions do not make it mandatory, or even mention a referendum in their constitutions, when it comes to how to amend the constitution, sometimes political actors all use a discretionary optional referendum when they seek to amend the constitution. so these are 3 fascinating elements. i think about the use of referendums all around the world. do we see any geographical distribution of referendums throughout the world? did they tend to take place in certain regions or even under certain types of governments? we see referendums all around the world. so whether or not the country is a common law country or a civil law country, whether it's american or european,

whether it's a presidential system or parliamentary system. referendums really haven't all around the world. now for example, in the united states, there has never been a national referendum, or there are hundreds of state wide referendums to happen all the time. in canada, where i'm from, we've had 3 national referendums, but in many provincial referendums, recently there was a referendum in cuba. there was one if she lay there been some in ukraine, russia, they're always referendums in switzerland. so they happen all over the world to reverend ends. and their results tend to surprise or do we find that polling can usually accurately predict the outcome. the most recent example i can share with you comes from chile. so chilly just held a nationwide referendum on whether or not to ratify the proposed constitution.

leading up to the day of the referendum, it was very close. people weren't sure whether the people would vote yes or no on adopting the new constitution. but i think most analysts believe that the answer would be no but not by much. and then the referendum was held on september 4th, if i'm not mistaken. and the result came back. surprising and shocking to everyone, because just how poorly the advanced polls fared in predicting how the people would vote. and so i, i'm not surprised that polls don't get it right just as i'm not surprised that polls don't get election predictions correctly. we know what happened in 2016 here in the united states, for example, that happens often around the world. so whenever a friend is actually considered legitimate,

and when are they considered illegitimate? referendums are a powerful tool for authoritarians. they're powerful because authoritarians can abuse them. and they can send a message to the world that the people are standing firmly with them. and that's a problem, it's a problem because when you can abuse referendums in this way, you distort the true views, the true feelings, the true hopes and aspirations of the people and you're doing so for 2 purposes, as an authoritarian leader, you're doing so for a domestic purpose and you're doing so for an external purpose domestically your rigging, the rules of the vote and breaking the outcome of the vote to signal to your people that they stand with you as the leader. you're also doing so for the world, this is like

a public relations campaign to show the world that the people are standing with you . and so even if you're departing from the norms of international law, from the norms of democratic governance, when you hold a referendum and you rigged the rules so that it suggests that the people are standing with you as the leader. the world sees that and you as the authoritarian leader, wants the world to believe that you have the support of your people. now we know better. we know better when authoritarian leaders misuse and abuse referendums. we know what they're doing, but that doesn't obviate the reality that the people in the country may not know. and that's a problem. okay, professor test between us, are you actually ever surprised by the result of a referendum? i'm, i'm never surprised about the results of referendums because i don't purport to know where the people believe. that's why we're all referendums. you asked earlier about

what makes a referendum legitimate? i think a couple of things need to go into the design of a referendum in order for us to be confident about the outcome. so there are inputs that you put into the design of the referendum and then the output is the result. so some things that you must input into the design in order to be confident of the legitimacy of the outcome. one, the people have to go in to the valid box to vote, fully informed and aware of the consequences and implications of their vote. that was not the case and breaks it, for example, right. that's why you had a lot of people suggesting that there should be a 2nd confirmatory vote after the 1st of all, because a lot of people were shocked after they voted yes. rex it in the likely this means we're leaving with you. this means that i have maybe to get a new job. and so the design of the referendum has to be such that the people are

fully aware of the consequences and implications of a vote either. yes or no, in order to help them do that, those for holding the referendum have to be willing to fund informational campaigns . that's best done by having an independent 3rd party institution that's responsible for managing, administering, and running referendums in some countries. this is a electoral branch that operates independently of the political actors who are elected. that's the best way to do it. but you see this. busy electoral branch of electoral body, this independent body would go around and hold these roving informational sessions for people in different parts of the country to learn about the referendum stakes about everything that it entails and to ask questions. another thing that i think is useful to design

a referendum is to fund opposite sides. so you have money, public monies that are available to a yes campaign with its own spokespersons and representatives, and a no campaign with its own spoke to persons in representatives. so that's also very important. one more thing for design of the actual question itself must be such that it's seen as fair referendum in psychology. very, very closely connected because you can phrase a question in a way that leads you to a particular kind of answer. and so it's very important that in the phrasing of the referendum question, the question be posed and with it's neutral, impartial, and crystal clear. so these are just 3 things that i think are important as inputs in the design of a referendum that can then lead you to be confident in the outcome of the

referendum in terms of its legitimacy. there are many other things that we can talk about when it comes to the design, but those are 3 very important things. so what is the future of referendums globally moving forward into the 21st century, where we see more or less of them and how will they be used? i predict 2 things about the future of our foreign homes in all the world. one is that when you constitutions are written, you're going to see more and more constitutions require. the use of referendums, in connection with amending the constitution, revising the constitution and replacing the constitution to you're going to see increasing recourse to referendums all around the world. whether or not existing constitutions make referendums a requirement. and this is because there is an irresistible siren song

that referendums, i think i issue to leaders. it's an irresistible call to go to the people to ask them for their input to get that input and then close yourself. as the leader in a veneer of sociological legitimacy, the kind of sociological legitimacy that comes only from the will of the people as expressed in a direct vote, which is what a referendum is. so those are my 2 predictions about the future of referendums in the world. if you don't like them to bet, because we're going to see a lot more of them everywhere in the world. well, thank you, professor richard albert, to professor government at the university of texas. many countries like to say their use of our friend solidifies their country is a democracy. and in many cases it is a good benchmark. while many referendums do occur underneath democratic regimes throughout history,

authoritarian regimes have also had their share of referendums from napoleon to nazi germany, to romania and so forth. just like with elections. those and power can limit opposing views, controlled choice for strict voters and produce false results or even dismiss if those results are not to their liking. while telling the outside they to our democracy because they let the people have the power of choice. however, usually in those cases, it is obvious going into the referendum as well as with the results. there is little credibility, but the accusation of a false referendum can be just as insulting to the voters as well. and back to those in power upset with the results of a referendum, especially if it's overwhelmingly against their position. discrediting the process is the only tool left to try and justify their position in africa. only 9 of the $92.00 referendums, which had been held have failed to produce a 90 percent. yes. vote. one of the biggest changes in india history was

a referendum to abolish the monarchy, which was held in 1975 and overwhelmingly support of 97.5 percent of voters resulted in 6 them becoming an indian state. what has actually wonder though when results a referendum where the people voted are so overwhelmingly to one side. what did you say about those who are against? who side are they exactly are. i'm sorry i he is, and this has been your 360 view. other news which matters to you until next. huh. ah, ah, i think ukraine who does exist should exist. and it is precisely the best option i suspect for its future is to

find that amalgam of the cultures that are within it and turn it into something unique and flourishing. that that would define it in distinction but not conflict, but simply the difference between itself and its neighbor. ah, ah, well, oh oh oh, oh, a

ah with ah, russia's top diploma surrogate love for all things. he's received a message from the u. s. secretary of state, delivered by his egyptian counterpart in moscow del into also south africa. mose declaring national state all the disaster amid a crippling energy crisis, that red building is black guides across the country. us exports of natural gas rates record highs out of washington. profit from medical friend met and just opportunity up september to attack on russia north stream pipelines to europe.