ah a year with china's plans that you asked for shooting down its weather balloon, which floated over us territory by its numerous warnings that the airship does not pose any threat to american security. also ahead with less than a teaspoon of dry anthrax, a little bit about this amount. this is just about the amount of a taste we have 1st and descriptions of biological weapons. factories on wheels and on rails lies that has claimed lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent iraqis, 20 years since the us push the invasion of iraq at the un. we continue our special

coverage of the legacy left behind by the devastating war chief un weapons inspector to iraq, unveiled the true bold of washington in the conflict. the united states government had no intention allowing the inspectors to do their job. the united states was going to go to war with iraq regard. regardless, it doesn't matter what the truth was. and the more successful we inspectors became disarming. iraq, the more threat we posed to the american policy. and any rocky journalist who threw his shoes, that then president george bush became a symbol of protest against you as invasion across the world. he told us this message to the man responsible for thousands of iraqis death. and i wish to say to former u. s. president bush, that i wish to see you in prison before you die. and if that does not happen, i wish before i die to see you face real condemnation.

ah, good morning for martine or national studios in moscow, and welcome to the weekly with the hour and weeks most presley news stories worldwide. i'm fiorella, isabel, which measuring has condemned the us attack on a chinese balloon, which had been floating over the u. s. territory for several days, despite its previous warning that the balloon is not capable of surveillance and does not pose any threat. china is strongly dissatisfied with the us attack on a chinese, on monday ship and voice is it's protest. we have repeatedly informed the u. s. site that the balloon is design purely for civilian use and accidentally cross the u. s. borders. in such circumstances. the u. s. use of force is an obese of reaction and a violation of international practice. let's press life now to our correspondence, steve sweeney. r. this has been the talk for the last few days. could you tell us more about this role between china and the u. s. and the chinese balloon? yes, so finally, after days of deliberation and doubt,

u. s. foreign to jets of short term, what they claim is a chinese spy bloom. beijing of course denies this. it says that it was a web whether observation, a balloon. although there is some confusion over whose recommendation it was to to shoot down the balloon. ma'am, that's listen to what you as president joe biden told jan this earlier. and i'm so successful, we took a dow and i want to compliment our aviators or didn't and want more to report on her so a little later because i wanted to say that i know on this, i know the same recommendation from your was fun and that's why i told them to sit down a wednesday. i was like a recommendation to me. let's wait to the safest place to do it. quite an intense reaction from the us president. now, how could this effect already tense relations between china and the us? well, some are already asking questions over the timing of the incident. it came just

ahead of a time visit by the us to stay on the blink and to churn. and now that was subsequently cancelled. it was, he says, indefinitely postponed, but beijing said now is the time for co heads and it continues to insist on diplomacy. some politicians and media in the us have hiked it up to attack in smith, china. the chinese side is firmly opposed to that one of the tasks of the diplomatic teams on both sides is to properly manage bilateral relations, particularly to manage some on expected situations in a cool headed and prudent manner. now contrast that reaction to the reaction from us politicians when i think just in another statement since by a blink and cancel his visit page in his head, china has never violated the territory and space of another sovereign country. but of course the u. s. and western media has wasted no time in ratcheting up the anti china rhetoric and the supposed threat posed by beijing in a twist. now,

the pentagon is now claiming that chinese spy balloons flew over us territory, or at least 3 keys and occasions under the trump administration. now, for me, us defense, etc. more casper said he was surprised by this statement from the pens again. and he said he was never informed of such incidents during his time in, in office. but we now have form a u. s. defense and military officials have described the latest incident as embarrassing, especially given that the u. s. is the world's leading military power and opposition? republican party members have now they've got on the offensive, and they've accused by dint of not acting decisively enough. and they say that he's failed to protect american national security. that's i would listen to what they've said. this is one of the most embarrassing things i've ever seen in american diplomacy, in american defense and my entire career in my life. why was this allowed to go clear across the country for so many days? if you look at this, national security is one of the biggest things at any country can do. it is

a core function of government. we see that the by the administration knew about this balloon days ago. and it seems that there was an opportunity when it was coming over islands in alaska that we could have taken it down now, cause china denies that the balloon was carrying out surveillance and the u. s. navy is currently searching for the wreckage of the balloon. we can expect to hear more from the over the coming coming hours, but the, the are the claims of the threat posed by china or something of double standards. let's not forget, it was just last summer that the us house of representatives speak. nancy pelosi and flame tensions with a provocative visit to taiwan, which beijing said was in breach of the one china policy, which of course is supported by washington, which is also flooded the island with billions of dollars in arms. i think reco spending levels and bite and himself has threatened military action to defend taiwan from china. and the u. s. has continue to say, oh,

battle ships down the south china sea and is accused itself of undermining regional stability with the signing of the all. because packed with security, packed with britain on australia when 2021, which is containing china's military power. but of course, this latest incident is a new blow to the already tense us china relations. yeah. hand flaming already tense relations are to correspondence. sweeney. thank you. earlier we spoke with nelson long by chairman of the shanghai center for rem pack and international studies. he says, china has no need to use such balloons as surveillance devices. this is apparently not a pleasant incident, but i don't believe it is. why is for anybody to make a big fuss of it because the chinese government has confirmed in the 1st place that this below all this ship or exactly what you call it,

is from china. and china feels regret for its intended entry into u. s. s. space china has enough satellites already in china wants to do any surveillance. why? surely use the pollutants which are so big and so obvious. now, i don't think this connection makes any sense. so let's see. i mean, we're all have to watch and see. but whatever the case, i think the wisdom of both countries, leaders and i've all depressed and now protest test. ah, it's been 20 years since the us invasion of iraq. and here at r t, we continue special coverage of the anniversary, examining the devastation and the stabilisation, the war cause throughout the middle east. at this hour,

american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq, to free its people. and to defend the world from great danger, who's with food and sleep with that today also marked 20 years since then u. s. secretary of state pushed military action in iraq at the un security council . an episode well known by his display of

a vial in an attempt to display allegations of the existence of weapons of mass destructions and iraq, that claim later proved to be false. one of the most worrisome things that emerges from the thick intelligence fire we have on racks. biological weapons is the existence of mobile production facilities used to make biological agents. we have 1st hand descriptions of biological weapons, factories on wheels and on rails. it felt like justifying an invasion of iraq to the world. mattered that much to the u. s. though, after all, then president george w bush already had plans to invade the sovereign middle eastern nation claims that baghdad was stock piling, illegal weapons and developing its nuclear program war plenty, and the catch fear, phrase, weapons of mass destruction had already been popularized. evidence, however, was either lacking or in powells case, fabricated like the vile of white powder he so confidently waved in the world's

face. as he accused saddam hussein of having amassed titanic reserves of chemical weapons when a rack finally admitted. having these weapons in 1995, the quantities were vast. less than a teaspoon of dry anthrax, a little bit about this amount. this is just about the amount of a teaspoon. less than a teaspoonful of dry anthrax in an envelope shut down the united states senate in the fall of 2001. this forced several 100 people to undergo emergency medical treatment and killed 2 postal workers. powell pointed the finger at faulty intelligence after it became clear that there was no merits to america's accusations. he said he was very disappointed. i'm very concerned when i made that presentation in february 2003. it was based on the best information that the central intelligence agency made available to me. but it turned out that the

sourcing was inaccurate in wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading. and for that i am disappointed and i regret it. oh, how quickly the u. s. is closest ally jumped into the blood bath at washington's command, but when all was said and done, former british prime minister tony blair said it was all in good faith since the west needed to bring down evil saddam after tried to deflect blame. though blair also said he was very sorry, i did not mislead this country. i made a decision in good faith on the information i had at the time. and i believe that it is better that we took that decision and a nation whose people we wanted to set free and secure from the evil of sedan, became instead victim to sectarian terrorism. for all of this, i express more sorrow, regret,

and apology, than you may have know or can believe other world leaders sensed something foul from the get go, which is why powell sought fit to give his speech. in the 1st place, france, germany and russia all decided they would vote against the u. s. as hawkish initiatives at the united nations. the village did. i'm for ivan on his creek. the wool disclosed to war. my question was in steel, ease my dot, the threat come and from the rocky dictator justify a war, a war which will kill thousands of children, women, and men. my answer is no. kalika. what is your whole stores no matter what? the circumstances will vote no because we consider at this time that there is no place for going to war to achieve the object of that. we all want at the moment, which is a disarmament of iraq violent approaches eureka misery. action against iraq is a huge political mistake. i already sat above the humanitarian side of the ship, viscouso on top of that, the u. n's, former chief weapons inspector to iraq. scott ritter said iraq's capability to have

weapons of mass destruction had been eliminated by december of 1998. it's no wonder writer saw paolo's, accusations against baghdad as relying only on circumstantial evidence. powell just keeps hitting you with circumstantial evidence and he confuses people. and he lied, he lied to people. he misled people. fabricating evidence, lying killing, hundreds of thousands of people. another stark reminder of the lengths washington is willing to go to the success of its foreign policy agenda is at stake. 20 years after the u. s. invasion of iraq, we asked scott ritter what was behind paul's claim at the un security council. the former chief un weapons inspector to re rocks as washington never had any intention to let the experts do their job as their racks. disarmament was the last thing. the u. s wanted, in reality, has brought in to help create an intelligence organization that would assist the

special commission and evaluating the accuracy of the iraqi declarations about what weapons of mass destruction they had. you see, i thought that the mission of the special commission was to disarm iraq. and we worked in a very assiduous manner to carry out that mission. but it turned out that the disarmament of iraq was the last thing the united states wanted. the united states was going to go to war with iraq, regardless. regardless, it doesn't matter what the truth was. so i dressed the iraqi parliament, they gave a speech that wasn't pre screened. and as a speech, a said, if you don't let weapons inspectors back in your country will be destroyed, you have to let them back in without any pre conditions. said, something's gonna let weapons inspectors back in. i one i succeeded. and so when i came out, this exact opposite feels like inspectors are going to be love back in. i said, yes, you can't talk about going to war with iraq unless you allow the inspectors to complete

their job. if i rec, kicks inspectors out again. if a rec doesn't cooperate, then you have justification to accuse a rack of bad stuff, but you must let the inspectors do their job. on the, maybe i was a little naive. maybe the iraqis were because the united states government had no intention allowing the inspectors to do their job. the bottom line is, america's policy wasn't disarmament. but regime change, and the more successful we inspectors became in disarming iraq. the more threat we posed to the american policy of regime change, and so when weapons inspection teams left iraq in 1998, the world was bly. which means that when colon pal gave his presentation to the united nations security council in february of 2003, it wasn't just misleading. it was deliberately misleading. he knew what he was saying was false. and as a result, we went to war 5 years after the beginning of the iraq occupation by us forces. then president george w bush, probably visited baghdad,

but grateful residence of the war torn country did not give him the welcome. he apparently counted on as george w bush had to dock from the infamous shoes thrown out his face. ah ah fun. if you looked at his face yellow and twitching, you could see the embarrassment. he was so scared. so i don't think his smile was normal as for the shoes. i demanded them when i was with the investigating judge. i told him you can do whatever you want with me, but i want my shoes. the next day he told me that the shoes had been destroyed in

case they contained explosives. but when i was transferred to court for my trial, ordered by an iraqi army division, the divisions commander sat beside me. he asked me, do you know why they destroyed the shoes? i told him i heard they did so because they feared they contained explosives. he said, no. i was there as a security guard for the president. and they said that they were destroyed so that they would not turn into a symbol every one who participated in the occupation of iraq and supported the occupation of iraq shared the fate of george bush. and this makes me happy. a group of beneficiaries of the american occupation said that the shoot throwing incident shows us as undeveloped people. but on the 2nd day there was a rally outside the white house with people carrying shoes and hitting pictures of the former president bush. later it was the prime minister of australia, john howard, then the prime minister of spain, who participated in the war, berlusconi, et cetera. and then it became a symbol of protests in the face of every tyrant. and anyone who wants to colonize

earth, ah, when ah margins, it is up. they separated the body from the soul, removing the skin from the flesh and the flesh from the bone. they have other methods, like electrocution, beating, flogging and breaking bones, thought. what i went through may be less than what others have been through in iraqi detention facilities after the invasion. the hardest memory was when i was with other detainees, because i saw the inequality, the innocent people, and victims of the secret informants and the american occupation. the imprisonment of those who resisted this is a painful and disturbing memory for anyone. with for

london, nicky, we woke up at dawn when the bombs began falling on baghdad. it was a shock and awe strategy. there was actually shock. what could we do initially? i thought about my family, my studies, and everything else. it remains a bad memory with more memories coming after the american soldier does not defend his land and fights in a land that has thousands of miles away from his country. therefore, they know for sure that they are wrong. we used to see it in their eyes when they interrogated and detained us. they were either very aggressive to justify their existence on your land, or very shy, trying not to look at you while saying they are wrong, many occupants, when we told them you are occupying our country, couldn't respond. they just shook their heads as if to say, what can we do? ah, woe once an american journalists asked me a question,

was in saddam hussein's dictatorship tough, but based on logic and common sense. one can say that vicious dictatorships worldwide do justify occupation. even if there is a dictator, the earth is full of dictatorships and oppressors. did america invade iraq for the benefit of iraq or to topple saddam hussein and to whom will america hand over power to the marines? are a group of corrupt people brought in by america itself. many iraqis did not welcome the americans, even though at the time to be honest, there was injustice fear and dictatorial authoritarian system that was trying to control everything. yet the situation doesn't give us the right to rejoice about the occupation. at least some had said that the occupation, as well as regime at the time, was adjusted minute with doing this, do you in security council?

the united nations are too weak to play, their real role, even the european union, which america views as a poor, old man on the verge of falling. who dares to hold america accountable? since 2009, i had the idea of establishing an organization in geneva to provide relief to the victims of the occupation and hold iraq's killers accountable, imagined even the tv channel where i worked a terminated my contract, and the owner said he was afraid they will freeze his money in europe for being supported by me or supporting i returned to iraq trying my best. it was my dream to collect the signatures of all iraqis who are affected by the invasion in order to file a lawsuit against the vice president in his team. i hope that the stream will one day be fulfilled. ah. my fellow americans, major combat operations and iraq have ended in the battle of iraq. the united

states and our allies have prevailed. oh i'm done with the hurtful fact is that bush ended up a victor like caesar. he walked past his soldiers to hide the signs of the invasion . he committed that the mission was accomplished, but at that moment the mission of destroying iraq began the mission. bringing your act back to the middle ages began. we know very well that he is a liar and continues to life because his mission iraq has not yet been completed. i wish to say to former u. s. president bush, that i wish to see you in prison before you die. and if that does not happen, i wish before i die to see you face real condemnation. and these are just some of the stories from the decades long conflict. we will be bringing your war throughout the next 2 months in our special coverage of the 20th anniversary of one of

america's longest wars. ah, nigeria foreign minister has praised the anti corruption policy of the current president of the country, which has helped to start repatriation of a large amount of loot that was stolen out of the country. that's as the president warned of the possible sponsorship of insecurity in nigeria by foreign countries. one can clearly see how these foreign countries took on the weak part of nigeria, like chat, where we have crude oil reserves, and calls serious ma'am there with consistent attacks to actualize their devilish motives. the country's president noted the exceptional work of the csm forest state governor interposing for an interference near the lake chad region saying that most local governments near the lake were in the hands of terrorists when he came to

power with most now free in stability remains a key issue for nigeria, northern provinces, or security forces, or fighting a 13 year war against your hardest and criminal militias. now nigeria is facing a new security challenge as it prepares for a presidential election at the end of february, already accompanied by militant attacks on pulling station africa's largest crude oil producer also faces a worsening shortage of petroleum products, as well goes to 4 hours for petrol, and the new national currency slop adding to that turbulence we spoke with a nigeria as 2023 presidential candidate. adama gar, by the 2nd. who thinks that cutting off all links with foreign interests will make the country more stable? do you think you would you turn into the web facility now, what did you dominant did you have to do it? is it you, would you in the french speaking with african countries? so i to very important for us to take been strong mitchells to protect our board.

of course, one of these tony's interest that we're come to disturb life are going to be on calls or people are we for the next election that is coming into the country. once nigeria house more in a link would fall into that domain. it's how the condo gaseous, then it moved that nigeria had become the most trouble, most appropriate for us, but it's going to let you know how sticking a prompted middle to drain, even to briggs completely wanted to assume from the gym. when you do, you have daughter for this, this is now we are in order was didn't want to lose, i'm interested in, of course it, no genetic will bring it over to them that it should be established. so as we have from forces that are coming from the foreign wat officially, the french that may be interested in just to plug in the drill. so out particularly strong, brought the middle to prevent when people are getting into the hands of old total is masking. you know, as, as fighting ideology. meanwhile, we know the devil more important interest. dozens of russian service men have

returned home after a prisoner swap deal with ukraine. their plain recently landed in the moscow region . our t, sophia nunez, had an opportunity to hear about their experience. first hand doesn't look like it feels amazing to back on home soil. i was hoping until the last moment that everything works out and we will be exchanged when we got on the bus and cross the border. i saw no more cages. i so my homeland it really worms my so i find hard to express all my feelings. i'm a medic, i want to become a surgeon and held the wounded. i've had some good experience doing this already. like in total i wasn't good due to for 4 and a half months educated that i feel great. i'm back home is pretty bad. being in our enemies territory, i was a prisoner for 5 months. i still can't believe this finally happened. my relatives were crying when they found out about my exchange. i want to send my greetings to my mother, my wife, my daughter, to oliver coots, lunch day. my aunts, uncles and all my brothers, and so my father,

as well as he is on the front line right now. rash and military personnel had been exchanged and returned home from ukrainian cosivity among the released are persons of so called sensitive category. although the ministry did not elaborate on who these people are, it did indicate that their release was mediated by that united arab emirates as part of standard procedure. the troops have been brought to moscow, where they will receive all necessary psychological and medical help, then they will finally be clear to return to their homes and their families. in its statement, the defense ministry specified that distinguished nations were difficult. earlier the commissioner for human rights in russia said that ukraine was violating agreements by deliberately dragging out the process of exchanging bill w's. indeed, the last prisoner swap between moscow and keith took place nearly a month ago, which is a pretty wide time gap given that in november and december such exchanges were conducted on a regular basis. that was the weekly with the hour and weeks, most vital news stories for more up to the minute use updates. head over to

r t dot com. thanks for tuning and we'll see you again at the top of the hour. ah, [000:00:00;00] a a with me. hello and welcome to one's apart. well,

most people of good will have long rejected war as a legitimate course of action that governments continue investing in new armaments and larger armies, therefore, affirming with the taxpayers money that more is still a continuation of politics or geo politics. by other means, can the fear and moral rejection of more obscure something heathen and yet perpetuating about its nature? well, to discuss that i am now joined by so yet a talk has named a retired lieutenant general of the indian army and a former commander of the indian army in kashmir. general, it's great pleasure, great honor for me to talk to you. thank you very much. for your time, thank you very much, my pleasure to be on your program. now i take it from your writing, the things even the most unexpected things rarely arise out of the blue the they usually have antecedents, even if those in to sentence may have been obscured. if we take the russia ukraine