i saw no, we'd just say low, their soft power america. the final goal of these thing revolutions is to ensure that there are no independent players in the world anymore. ah, making plans washington for shooting down what it's called the chinese weather balloon that drifted over the u. s. a spike. numerous assurances, but it did not pose a threat. israel's former prime minister reveals he was coordinated by the us in his efforts to mediate as keith phil for ukraine last year, which ultimately failed after washington. pulled the plug also ahead less than a teaspoon of dr. and for ice a little bit about this amount. this is just about the amount of a teaspoon. we have, 1st and description of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails 20 years

since the us lied to the world at the un about iraq. we recap the legacy of the devastating war. a former chief, un weapons inspector to iraq, questions washington's will aim. 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 in disarming direct. the more threat we posed to the american policy with a very welcome to you, you're watching the weekly on, on t international bringing you the latest news update along with a round up the stories that shapes the week. it's good to have you with us. now bay jane go, has condemned the us attack on a chinese believe that had been drifting over the us for several days. despite its previous claims that the aircraft was not capable of surveillance and did not 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. site that the balloons design purely for civilian use, an accidentally 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 2 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 a complimentary graders who 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 why her whole that mr. down all wednesday, i was like the recommend day said to me, let's wait to look, take this place to do it. some are already asking questions over the timing of the incident. it came just ahead of a time visit by the u. s. equity estate. i'm 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 blinking counselor his visit beijing, his head, china is never violate to 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 u. s. territory on at least 3 occasion occasions under the trump administration. now, our former u. s. defense sexy mark hesper said. he was surprised by the statement from the pentagon and he said he was never informed of such incidents during his time in, in office. but we now have a 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 fail to protect american national security. let's have a 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 didn't we know about it? robert o'brien, larry,

this is one of those embarrassing things i've ever seen. and in american diplomacy, we sped trillions and trillions of dollars on hardware and soldiers on airmen, on sailors. and we can't do anything about it. why was this allowed to go clear across the country? for so many days, if you look at this national security is one of these things that any country can do. it is a core function of government. we see that the biden administration knew about this sir balloon days ago. and it seems that there was an opportunity when i was coming over islands in alaska that we could have taken it down now, cause china denies of the balloon, was carrying out term surveillance. and the u. s. navy is currently searching for the wreckage of the balloon. we can expect to hear more from that over the coming coming hours. but the are the, the claims of the threat posed by china or something of double standards. let's not forget that it was just last summer that the us house of representatives speak. and nancy pelosi inflamed tensions with a provocative visit to taiwan witcher,

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 they had of china is the national weather service responsible for the balloon has now been fired. earlier we spoke with nelson wong vice chairman of the shanghai center for rim pot and international studies. he said paging doesn't need pollutants to spawn. 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 of it? because the chinese government has confirmed in the 1st place that they see below august ship or exactly what you call it is from china and china fails regret for its intended entry into us space. china has enough satellites already in china, wants to do any surveillance. why should they 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 what to test

for my is wally prime minister nastily bennett has detailed his role in attempting to broker at p. still in the 1st weeks of the ukraine, conflicts last year in an interview which moscow has yet to respond to bennett said his efforts were alternately shot down by washington and its allies. and he was soccer and i was just a mediator. i turned to america for guidance, i didn't do as i pleased anything i did was coordinated down to the last detail with the u. s. germany and france. they blocked the west, wanted to keep the pressure on putin rather than negotiating money. there were several rounds of negotiations between moscow and k, as in the 1st weeks of the conflict and late march, after a summit in istanbul, russia agreed to deescalate and pulled its trips out of northern ukraine. however, keith and its western bacchus have since refused to talk peace and a calling for victory over russia on the battlefield. natalie bennett says

president the lens k only agree to leave the safety of his key as bunker after the israel leader assured him that russia is not trying to kill him, which is something president putin allegedly promised to bennett. who your guard me did not. if he got sir, i knew that zalinski was under threat. he was in a secret bunker. i called him and said to you, i came out of a meeting with bruton and he is not going to kill you. he asked, are you sure? i responded 100 percent. he won't kill you zalinski 2 hours later zalinski went to his office and posted on twitter. i'm not afraid as it does as you shall love sugar . yes. good. now i will say one thing too. i'm staying here in keowee on bank via street montgomery. i'm not hiding, and i'm not afraid of any one you call and they will use author and war. correspondent thomas roper says the west. it isn't interested in pace talks, as it's focused on trying to week in russia. she said he didn't know any he, israel didn't have any own interests. that's why he is. he said,

i acted on behalf of us. he did what the us wanted this. you also said clearly and 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 rush and therefore they need this a fighting in ukraine. there were no serious intention from the west for any peace negotiations since the start of the warrant on less than 2014. we note from the risk agreement and that this was just in attempt to buy time for ukraine is melton unsafe and boss johnson, i called davinsky agreement, i invitation to boot diplomacy and we'll see the same now after this collision of the conflict nearly one year ago, when the rest by the words fell, it stopped ukraine from negotiate negotiation in russia.

now to the latest developments on the ukraine conflict, russian defense ministry has warned of an upcoming ukrainian false flag operation. involving applaud to bomb medical facilities and the don't yet claim public and point the finger at moscow. in the western media, the donations of the crematory to medical facilities are to be presented as another atrocity by russian troops. which calls for response from the international community. and an accelerated provision of long range missiles to cave, which would allow it to carry out strikes in russian territory. they alleged those flag wouldn't be the 1st of its kind as moscow has warned, of similar acts planned by keith before the defense ministry also noted as such, provocations are a result of the ukrainian army, suffering heavy losses leading to a desperate need for more western weaponry. meanwhile, ukraine is maintaining its steady selling of residential areas in don. yes, because unties women, cousin reports from the ground ukranian nationalists killed 4 and wounded another

for civilians in done esc republic. on saturday, 3 of them were buried under the rubble in an apartment building in donetta, and one was killed right here in this house. a woman 64 years old, was at home with her husband and her son. she was killed instantly by a ukrainian shell. her husband was severely wounded. he is currently at a hospital in gall of car, he is in a coma and daughters are saying that he might lose his arm. i spoke with his son who was also here during the shelling personals of yesterday at around 1 pm. there was a showing attack. i was at home with my parents when it began. my father told us to get in the basement, but i hate doing that because you could be buried alive there after the explosion i woke up, tried to provide 1st aid to my parents, but there was nothing i could do for my mother. my father is now in hospital,

he's probably going to lose his arm. i believe russia has the best doctors, so they will do everything they possibly can. meanwhile, in donetta, also on saturday, ukrainian nationalists used multiple launch a rocket systems against civilians in the next. as the result, 3 people were killed, and 11 apartment buildings were damaged. emergency workers continued to dig for the rubble of those destroyed apartment building for the 2nd they in a row. so for they have discovered 3 bodies of the people that were killed here by ukrainian artillery shelling. they're all from one family, 2 brothers, and a woman. that was a wife to one of the brothers. now they moved here, only 5 days ago, they moved away from another area here in the nest that's under constant shilling by ukrainian artillery. one family has a 2 daughters that have now been orphans. ron caceres parties done nest republic.

ukraine agreed to the minsk accords in parts or by time to re arm as the admission from ex ukrainian president petro portion go in to you to the bbc. do you know what the success of the miss grimace ish in the russia has not fulfilled any of their points? this document gave you quin 8 years to build an army and economy and the global pro you credit in on time booting coalition. the last of the agreements, minsk too, was signed in february 2015, following nearly a year of bloody conflict in the dumbass. the initial agreement involved more autonomy for the people of the dawn. yes. can look on square public sunday completes these fire. however, none of those conditions were determined to be implemented as both sides disagreed on the order of the actions of the agreement was reached. in february 2022 ukraine's foreign minister dimitra canada opened. he stated that the implementation of the agreements was impossible under the conditions not to be pertinent then said

they no longer exist. a number of lead is involved in mediating also admitted to intending to help your crane by time and both to its military. to 2014 minsk agreement was an attempt to give you a crane time ukraine. yes, this time to become stronger. as you can see today, the ukraine of 20142015 is not the ukraine of today. since 2014 ukraine has strengthened its military posture. it is the merit of the minsk agreements to have given the ukrainian army this opportunity. thus the time the prudent thought was an asset for him turned out to be in fact, an opportunity for the ukrainians. political commentator anthony web, i think that future piece talks may be undermined by these admissions regarding them in school agreements. it shows a city i makes one not have confidence in the future. agreements are not a good thing for the point of view of if you just have a bunch of the,

you crying conflicts, we have got a real problem or make all people are francoise holmes. i'm sure i sort of say very, very ok, she didn't have the best of intentions with the medicine agreements. and of course we know that song is the breaking the lease agreement, primarily by friday, which is poor. so by the time conflicts. so it really means that there's only one way forward for russia. i'm not is true to have also much victory because they, they don't go far. and the so called peace agreement because it appears to be i find it for r o rush as a is it still being denied access to the size of loss is node stream. pipeline

bombings, which must be blamed on the u. k. and london denies any involvement the west has been trying to accuse russia of orchestrating the attack. however, germany is prosecuted general now says there's nothing to implicate most good. at the moment, there is no evidence the investigation is ongoing. we're currently evaluating all of this forensically. what i can say is that the suspicion that this was a foreign sabotage action has not yet been substantiated. according some reports, berlin seems to be open to theory, so the western states could have carried out the node stream bombings with the aim of blaming it all on russia. the latest statement from the german prosecutor general is somewhat at odds with what some other european officials have said about the incident. sweden was quick to states that the underwater bombing was clearly a deliberate attack without going into any details. despite the fact that russia's dance prom is the main stakeholder off the pipelines, european states have refused to let russian representatives take part in the

investigation. some u. s. officials had previously threatened to take down the russian gas pipelines to germany. if russia evades ukraine one way or another nord stream to will not move forward, there will be no longer a north stream to we will bring it into these 5 points that is more streamlined and worse from to what we're not pumping gas into europe at this time we're through to never became operation that offers tremendous strategic opportunity for, for the years to come. german opposition, politician ralph ny my essays, berlin is allegedly suppressing some very sensitive facts of it's ongoing investigation. well, one has to actually what kind of investigation do they really want to find out the truth or not? we do know for sure that the swedish have started an investigation that led

some to some findings that they'd probably didn't share with the german government as well. but the german government couldn't have on information industry got they don't want to have the russians get knowledge about who exactly did it. but my take on it is part of the political logic and that it was probably shots or mr. hardback who rang up in washington and so we got a problem here. and as the intro said, mr. bite and clearly says at the beginning of the year to mr. short, or we have ways to stop and they seem to be less interested than they actually should. be, i mean, it is our lifeline or economic lifeline that got bond there. and as i said, it's the largest bombing of german infrastructure since 1945. we should be more interested in finding out the real cause or the government already knows, or is being told by the partners that they should not investigate, denies further questions. those would be frightening to think promise is

are free and fair elections in nigeria by the countries it's sitting presidents have been put to the test as violence or what's in southeastern region. we're a local election off is a police station were bombed, leaving a 16 year old boy dead and destroying scores of voting materials. and despite the attacks, the national electoral commission, spokes person has said they are coming, race will go ahead as planned materials, federal fires service also states as prepared to respond to any acts as often elections are scheduled to take place on february 25th. in the meantime, the people of nigeria have called for more for cure or say, in order to con feather from you believe if this should stop. i think that should be the best option for ala force than but into i ma cushions. so i think this will stop, you know, this election time on you see, so a minute this problem but issue to stop the election. they bought off on her kathy

says it's no good. so very wrong in this it is in a grew citizen, got more rise against his government. that is just is number one. then day let on. he's approaching on the bottom of my leg, my neck offices. you say wrong to body. i next should find a way of providing more security. russia is foreign minister is in the iraqi capital for talks for the 1st time since 20. 19. that visit is part of sir galen, for of the extensive tour of african and middle eastern countries was only after his arrival in bagdad laughter. i'm sat down for a brief discussion with a rocks ambassador to jordan. russia's talk diplomat is also due to meet iraqi officials, including the prime minister, are expected to talk bilateral ties as moscow seeks to boost the economic cooperation with iraq and other countries in the region. so again, our focus is also scheduled to visit molly martinez and sedan next week.

ah, 20 years a to the day after the u. s. deceived the whole world about iraq's weapons of mass destruction. we looked back at the legacy of the illegal war, built on a lie 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. a with with

russians, foreign ministry says the united states will have to get rid of the anything goes attitude so vividly manifested in the test tube scandal back in 2003. the statement was released on the 20th anniversary of collin powers, the infamous performance of the un security council. moscow added that power has since become a household name as the personification of hypocrisy, and the conviction of the ruling elite of the united states and its own impunity. during his notorious speech, the us state secretary displayed a mysterious vial of white powder and an attempt to drum up support for the war, which the un ultimately refused to sanction. and the weapons of mass destruction claim eventually proved to have been a complete fabrication. 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. 9 was stock piling, illegal weapons and developing its nuclear program war aplenty, 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 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 val, i jumped to the blood bass 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 trying 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 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

at the united nations. the world is close to war. my question was in still us, does the threat coming from the iraqi dictator justify war? a war which will kill thousands of children, women, and men. my answer is no, 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 that. we all want at the moment, which is a disarmament of iraq. military action against iraq is a huge political mistake. i already sat above the humanitarian side of the shield 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 on we all scans, we said what was really behind pounds claims. the former chief un weapons inspector to iraq believes washington never has any intention to let the experts do that job as it walks to san immense was apparently the last thing the us warranted 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 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 iraq regardless. regardless, it doesn't matter what the truth was. so i dressed the iraqi parliament. i 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 want, i succeeded and so when i came out is the exact opposite. feels like inspectors are going to be loud 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 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 was a 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. these, this is some of the stories on the decades long conflicts. we bringing more throughout the next 2 months. no special coverage of the 20th anniversary of one of america's longest was ah, for the very latest news updates. keep an eye on our website r t dot com. we'll be back here with more in 30 minutes.