once again in, in this region and saw that is one of the limit i've, what is it, is it possible with washington for shooting down what it called a chinese weather balloon. drifted over the u. s. bytes. you miss a show and says that it didn't pose a threat. also the tower. less than a teaspoon of dry hand to write 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. all thought that the plane, the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocence, the rocky 20 is cynthia, push the invasion of iraq. i'm the un, we kept on the legacy of the devastating wall form a chief,

un weapons inspector to iraq. questions washington is really 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 under the iraqi journalist, $23.00 issues that then president george w bush became a symbol of protest against us invasion across the world. he told us his message to the man responsible for thousands of iraqi. i mean, 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 with some day. and that means if the weekly hail nazi, i'm peter scott and on the top stories from last week. thanks for joining us. we

start off with beijing, which is content. the u. s. attack on a chinese balloon that's been drifting over the u. s. for several days. despite his previous claims of the balloon was not capable of surveillance and didn't pose a threat. china re stromey dissatisfied with the u. s. attack on the chinese on monday ship invoices it's protest. we have repeatedly informed the u. s. side that the balloons design purely for civilian use, an accidental across the u. s. borders. in such circumstances, the u. s. use of force is an obvious overreaction and a violation of international practice. finally, after days of deliberation and doubt, us find a jets of short time. what they claim is a chinese spy bloom by aging, of course denies this. it says that it was a web whether observation balloon, although there is some confusion over whose recommendation it was to, to shoot down the balloon and listen to what us president joe biden told jan this 30 a successfully took it down. and i want to compliment on our aviators or did it,

and we'll have more to report on a little later. thank you. by the, by now on the same a recommendation from your was funny and that's like a whole that this is down or wednesday. i was like a recommend day said to me, let's wait to look take this place to do it some already asking questions over the timing of the incident. it came just ahead of a time visit by the u. s. equity estate, the blink and to china. now that was subsequently cancelled or was he says, indefinitely postponed, but by using a said now is the time for co heads and it continues to insist on diplomacy. some politicians and media in the u. s. have hiked it up to attack in smith, china. the chinese side is firmly opposed to that. one of the tasks, of a 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. well, i think just in another statement since by

a blink and cancel his visit page in his head, china has never violated the territory, an air 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 occasion occasions under the trump administration. now, for me, us defense, etc. mall casper said he was surprised by this statement from the pentagon and he said he was never informed of such incidents during his time in, in office. but we now have former 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 biden of not acting decisively enough. and they say that he's failed to protect american national security. i would listen to what they've said.

i friend robert o'brien, former national security adviser. why aren't we taking action to deal with this? and why did we know about it? robert o'brien, larry, this is awesome. baron and things that i've ever seen in american diplomacy, we sped trillions and trillions of dollars on hardware, on soldiers, on airman, on sailors. and we can't do anything about it. why was allowed to go clear across the country for so many days? if you look at this, national security is one of the biggest things that any country can do. it is a 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 denied 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 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 has also flooded the island with millions 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 o. because packed with the security packed with britain, 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. earlier we spoke with nelson

wong, vice chairman of the shanghai center for impact on international studies, and he says, the china doesn't, the balloons respond america. they say is apparently not a pleasant incident, but i don't believe it is. why is for anybody to make a big fuss on 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 fails regret for its intended entry into u. s. s. space china has enough satellites already in china, wants to do any surveillance. why should they use the balloons, 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 put to test the former israeli prime minister natalie bennett has detailed his role in attempting to broker a peace deal in the 1st weeks of the ukrainian war last year. in the interview, which was published on saturday, he says he's efforts were coordinated with washington. and i was just a mediator. i turned to america for guidance. i didn't do as i please. anything i did was coordinated down to the last detail with the u. s. germany and francis, they blocked the west, wanted to keep the pressure on him rather than negotiating money. there were several rounds of negotiations between moscow unclear in the 1st weeks of the conflict. in late march, after some interest on both russia agreed to try and de escalate on pulled out some of its troops on northern ukraine or the key of its western backers are now calling for victory over russia on the battlefield. let's go live now to thomas roper,

all the under war correspondent. thanks john. this evening. thomas. now what do you make of this latest interview with the former israeli prime minister web? both russia and ukraine, where very for negotiations. what's your take on his role? first, the insurance broker piece deal, what his role, if you sent some and shell said it was not very interesting. he was some kind of a negotiate of some kind of a link between ukraine and russia and the western russia. so what is interesting is that this confirms what, by now was russian propaganda that there was already practically read agreement end of march and did then the west pushed key if to leave the negotiations and to search the result on the battlefield. this was question propaganda by now and now. well, he confirmed that this is an interesting point. well, what do you think is speaking out now thomas?

i don't know. it was his 1st interview since how for you as far as i understand, since he left last his post as prime minister you have tries came. it was 5 hours interview. so seems that he wanted to talk about many things, some decent press, one topic. i didn't see the whole interview yet, but 5 hours, if it's quite long, i don't know, maybe 2 locations who ordered 5 hours intervals. not true. i mean, you took on this before, but how? i mean, i guess he could have been independence if he was coordinated. he's moved with the u. s. and the west. do you think the thoughts would you fell from the start? yes, seems to be if you said he didn't know any, he, israel didn't have any interest. that's why he, if you said, acted on behalf of the us, he did what the us wanted. did you also said clearly yes. if it were not negotiations between russia and ukraine, but with, let's say the west in the next door. and the west didn't want to end this war

because the west was we can russia and therefore they need this fighting in ukraine . yeah. is way, well, it just clear that it technology and now we've covered earlier today that anglo merkel and france for a long they did say that one of the aims of the men's agreements was to buy time for ukraine to rearm and obviously now we have this latest revelation by bennett, the former israeli pm said that he was coordinating with the west and the u. s. was so chance. do you think that piece thoughts have of succeeding, given some of the, the information is now come to light about previous discussions, negotiations? well, at least in the past, since 2014, there were no real peace negotiations, not regarding ministry of normandy former not now when situation escalade nearly a year ago. we but by the way, also for boys johnson who sent that a who called

b uminski agreement, an imitation of diploma democracy give up the deer who diplomacy. so this seems to be common sense in the west and we have the new work of rent cooperation, which also already understood that a long war might to might be too expensive for the u. s. and that the u. s. coverage might soon start a key of pushing to some degree agency because of us are waiting for problems for trouble of china. but we will see that by now i didn't see any serious peace negotiations. any serious efforts to find a diplomatic implemented result. since 2000, no, it doesn't like anything's on the horizon. and thomas roper author and war course funded thanks very much for speaking with archie today. now it's been 20 years since the us invasion of iraq and here it's r. c. we

continue our special coverage of the anniversary. examining the d, the devastation and d stabilization. the war has caused 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 with food medicine and sleep with

no to day, also march 20 years since then u. s. secretary of states pushed the military action in iraq on the un security council. an episode well known for his display of a vial in an attempt to prove allegations of the existence of weapons of mass destruction in iraq. that claim, of course, later proved to be false. one of the most worrisome things that emerges from the thick intelligence file 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 east or nation claims that baghdad was stock piling, illegal weapons and developing its nuclear program. war a 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 a mast 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 t spoonful 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. so then became instead victim to sectarian terrorism. for all of this,

i express more sorrow, regret, and apology, that you may have no will complete. other world leaders sensed something foul from the get go, which is why powell thought fit to give his speech. in the 1st place, france, germany and russia all decided they would vote against the u. s. s hawkish initiatives that the united nation world as close to war. my question was in still us, is the threat coming from the iraqi dictator justify a war, a war which will kill thousands of children, women and men? my answer is no. tell us, what is your stars no matter what the circumstances will vote no, because we consider at this time that there is no place for going to work to achieve the object of the old one moment, which is a disarmament of iraq than the other did produce. iraq military action against iraq by mistake already satisfied the humanitarian side of the sheet. on top of that,

the un former chief weapons inspector to iraq, scott ritter said racks capability to have weapons of mass destruction had been eliminated by december of 998. it's no wonder writer, saw pals, accusations against baghdad, as relying only on circumstantial evidence. how just keep hitting you with circumstantial evidence and he confuses people and he lied. he lied the people, he misled people. fabricating evidence, lying, killing, hundreds of thousands of people. another stark reminder of the length washington is willing to go to the success of its foreign policy agenda. is that steak or 20 years old? we asked scott ritter what was behind paul's claims of the un security council. the former chief, un weapons inspector to iraq. please, the washington never had any intention to let the experts do the jobs there are disarmament was apparently the last thing the us wanted. i was 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 i. rec, and, 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 erect, regardless, regardless, it doesn't matter what the truth was. so i addressed the iraqi parliament. they gave a speech that wasn't pre screened. and as a speech to 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 going to let weapons inspectors back in. i one i succeeded. and so when i came out is the exact opposite, feels like inspectors are going to be law back. and 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 wreck doesn't cooperate, then you have justification to accuse iraq of bad stuff, but you must let the inspectors do their job. 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 $1098.00, the world was blind. which means that when colin powell 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 on 5 years after the beginning of the iraq occupation by us forces. then president george w bush, probably visits of baghdad. residents of the water country didn't give him the

welcome he'd hoped for. as the former president, how to dodge shoes on his direction. ah ah, just a fun. and if you looked at his face yellow and twitching, you could see the embarrassment. he was so scared from. 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 in 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, than the prime minister of spain, who participated in the war, berlusconi, et cetera. and then it became a symbol of protest in the face of every tiring. and anyone who wants to colonize, ah,

when ah, margins it is up and 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 the rocky 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

a key 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 seat 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, whoa. once an american journalist 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 minutes doing view and 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. imagine even the tv channel where i worked, the terminated my contract, and the owner said he was afraid they will freeze his money in europe for being supported by meat 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 u. s. president in his teen. 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 wished 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. well, those are just some of the stories from the decades long conflicts. and of course, we are bringing you more for the next 2 months in our special coverage of the 20th anniversary of one of america's largest wars. ah.

those are just some of the stories that shaped the we care on archie international . do check out our website for all the latest days. that's all for me. pizza, scott. but nicky are in will be here at the top of the hour with another look. this week's biggest stories. thanks so much for watching. what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have. it's crazy confrontation, let it be an arms race is on offensive, very dramatic development. the 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,

museums are important for preserving our history so that it is a lot to future generations. but our physical museum spaces themselves, a relic of the past. this is one of the best museums in the world. huh. in saint petersburg, how property is the director here? and i bet he has met with

a with brazil has been one of the countries hit the hardest by the coven pandemic, and recently gyre both scenarios, government has back measures to ease economic hardship for us citizens. this included a 50 percent increase and welfare payments for brazil's poorest, but these payments will only continue until the end of the year. a move that several have blasted as a cynical, an opportunistic electoral ploy. so what's the cost of having a right wing leader versus the left wing leader like mueller da silva for brazilians. and regardless of who is in power, what will this mean to the brazilian economy? will be diving into these topics and more. i'm christy i and you're watching the cost of everything.