ah ah ah, a new era for russian chinese relations as it's confirmed being things 1st trip after reelection will be in moscow this month. i didn't see any issue with the additional the relationship close investments. saudi arabia confirms it could very quickly start investing in iran. following a break the wrapper, a chinese brokered agreement of restoring diplomatic relations between the states and we continue our special coverage of the brim, legacy left by the disastrous us led war in iraq. 20 years since that

u. s. president george w bush's ultimatum to saddam hussein to give up power or face for with good afternoon for mark, international studios in moscow, and welcome to the hour's top stories across the globe. i'm here, elizabeth it's officials aging thing is set to visit moscow next week to meet water mere putin. there will be plenty to discuss on major questions from the russian chinese strategic partnership to pressing global issues. the signalling of bilateral agreements has also been announced with more details to follow. later. to discuss the story further, we have article responded donald quarter. joining us in the studio. donald, this trip has been anticipated for quite some time. and now it's been confirmed. what exactly is this meeting between the important going to be about?

why is it so important? was we said earlier in the program, this high level upcoming meeting is going to be the 1st trip abroad. that choosing ping will makes sense. he was re elected president, and this is also connected to more than a few paul, a foreign policy spears for both russia and china. not only are both leaders going to be signing off on some very important bilateral agreements, but china's foreign ministry also said that this is going to be a meeting a piece because basing is ready to play a constructive role in regulating the ukraine conflict. and we also heard from that foreign ministry of china that there, that paging is also looking to basically grounds these talks and the principles of non confrontation with 3rd party. so that's all among other topics on the agenda, including question, international and regional importance as well as bringing the strategic cooperative partnership between these 2 countries. now it's also important to understand that

these talks are, have just been announced on the backdrop of the marine security belt joint naval exercises which are between china, russia and iran. and these have been taking place in the gulf of all mon since march 15th. so that represents another frontier of developing cooperation between these 2 countries in this situation, specifically naval and military cooperation. so with these naval exercises set to end on the day before shifting ping makes his visit to china, we're definitely set to see some interesting news headlines in the coming days. r t is donald quarter with the latest on the visit this month. the ria says it's ready to invest in the iranian economy, falling the chinese broken agreement to restore diplomatic relations between saudi arabia and her on how quickly in your mind do you think for going to see saudi arabia making significant investments and vice versa. oh, i would say very quickly,

iran is a neighbor and have been and would continue to be for hundreds of years. so i don't see any sh oh, that would prevent normalization of the little sure. across investments. successful, the turning point in the regions state of affairs was followed by a saudi statement on the oil market, stating the country won't trade with those who impose any sort of price caps or restrictions on commodities. if a price kept were to be imposed and saudi oil experts will not sell oil to any country that impose a surprise capron, our supply will reduce oil production and i would not be surprised if others do the same. to say may came as us legislators introduced a bill that would allow suing oil companies from the opec plus countries, according to the saudi kingdoms, energy minister, the practice would damage the market, creating and tolerable consequence with opec plus,

looking to counter the bill. earlier we discussed the perspectives of further cooperation between iran and saudi arabia. with journalist and editor, martin j. a rodney and political analyst and academic professor side mohammed mirandi and geopolitical analyst, a med, i'll e, blame the world is changing very fast. and the united states and the europeans do not have the cloud that they had before. and they've also shown that they're not reliable allies are reliable partners. they've shown that enough on new administration in iran. it's policy is to strengthen, ties with neighbors, and also pursue asian and your asian integration. those who do not want this to happen in the coming days and weeks will constantly try to use the western media to create tensions,

to create divisions. definitely time has changed for iran is a different iraq today, maybe and target are more willing to understand the dynamics feel free on what's happening in the past decades of negotiation. now remember, there is one of the agreement that we're going to have 2 months period or basically seeing how she says iran coming to the deal. so it's going to, it's going to have too much of observation of what that right. it's going to come and what they are going to do. so definitely, iran is a neva, it's an untapped market. we expect they have 2 trillion dollars worth of goods and investment and infrastructure and different things are going to be. it's going to have a stick and iran need some of the neighboring countries can treat to contribute them . but, and this is definitely aligned with vision 2030 as a lot of problem. ground manufacturer capabilities. they are very advanced and definitely they can contribute to the iran in rebuilding. let's put it this way.

and by looking iran, we are looking a lot of the neighboring countries and that's iraq, syria, lebanon, and yemen. and this is going to play a very big economic value within the region. there's a couple of months ahead of us where we will watch was was where kathy they have had in historically these, these, these, these periods of cooling off and then things worse. and again, but i think now the signal, the, the signal is there, the both sides really want to work for peace because peace actually pays awful lot more than war. i mean, the was the saudi got involved in which i've been stopped by the americans. we must say of cost them an absolute fortune, a certain point. the human war was costing a $1000000000.00 a week. the diplomatic feel, as we know, maybe i could buy a page and completely bypassing the us, which is always like to see them at least as its own kind of spirit when it comes fear when it comes to influence. so that's if they can listen to what the chinese foreign minister ministry had to say about this. some in the u. s. style their

country as the beacon of democracy. but how surely democratic is the u. s. it is redoubled its efforts to tout its democracy and interfered in other countries as internal affairs and even instigated wars in the name of promoting democracy. facts have repeatedly proven that the drama for democracy orchestrated by the u. s. is never a boon, but a bane for the world. so my question to you is just that, how worried do you think washington should be about such developments and rhetoric with the worried now really is the role that america plays. i completely agree with professor maroney, when he said the world has changed. he's too polite to spell it out in, in crude terms. but basically, america's none of calling the shots. you know, we, commentators, such as myself, are wondering how much longer we use the term u. s. a gemini, when we, when we come on talk, shows like, like yours. i'm, you know, really, this is the last nail in the coffin. now, of us leadership around the world, the fact that the chinese stepped up to the mark and broke this deal was pretty

amazing. so i think lots of playful, very exciting, completely unprecedented. i didn't ever think i'd be on a torture. talking about g iranian peace. after iran in saudi arabia agreed to restore diplomatic ties, last efforts to mediate a peace still in yemen, jane paid according to the wall street journal, toronto agreed to stop supplying weapons to the who, the movement in the war torn country. however, iran has denied all allegations that has sent weapons there. to get more details on the story and the latest updates on other headline to visit our website at archie dot com. the washington has announced $150000000.00 in aid to africa. the whole region to fight local militants as the us secretary of state. and since 4 day trip to ethiopia and niger are cheese africa correspondent corolla hotline examines whether the us fear of losing influence in

africa may actually be fueling its resurgence. u. s. secretary of state anthony blinkin is back again on the african continent, taking off his visit in africa's 2nd most populous nation. if you'll be wasting little time blinking hell talks with senior officials of the ethiopian federal government and the te gray regions lead us. but blinking his next stop proved a bit peculiar. he became the 1st u. s. secretary of state to visit j. a country in the for hell region, which has been played by muslim extremists and other tara groups. despite their best efforts, various western lead missions in the for hell have failed dismally to quell the sensations. i'm your any yoga. and then on to year to reaffirm a pledge, the present vibe made with your separate leader summit late last year. that means the analysis is committed to deep responses and genuine partnerships on the continent. because we believe we can help you solve,

share challenges and deliver on the fundamental aspirations where people, if we work together. but the us may be making its african return already on the back foot of his zeal, political adversaries, china and russia. the yanks were militarily present in this a hell. while the extremist and terror groups grew in confidence and even successes leading neeagin's neighbors, molly, end with unify. so to cancel all military cooperation with western countries in favor of co operation with russia. and while the united states was losing the battle on game terra elsewhere in the world, it was china that led investments 20 j as part of its belt and roads in africa initiative. china has made significant investments in the day. so does the american government one to be in the j already having failed the sa hell region and security

or investments? the mission is clear as mud. it even confuses senior american politicians in the senate. i didn't know there was a 1000 troops in the year. this is an endless war without boundaries and no limitation on time. on geography. we don't know exactly where we're route in the world militarily and what we're doing. but perhaps the american resurgence is not led by what's image here, but rather what's under it. like if the neighbors does a, how country is blessed with mineral resources, and it's too significant uranium mines provide nearly 5 percent of the world's output from africa's highest all of uranium. what we know for certain is that americans are led by fear of losing grounds to their adversaries. and that is fueling the resurgence and is rebranding one, no continent before the month of march ends. the by it in administration,

is that bring up the african agenda and if activities, there are 4 important toys in the month. and another military exercise vice president carmella harris will touch down on the continent before the month ends as well. and the big crescendo will be president, jo biden's visit to the continent later on this year. the question is, will it be before or after august when south africa hose, the brick summit in the port city of durban? way, china's and rush as president, cheesy, ping and vladimir put it will also be on african routes. gotta militia for oddity transfer. we discuss the current political influence of the u. s. russia and china in africa with our guests from ethiopia. now we are living and

as you know of us were to the plan. now we are transferring to the people in the world. it isn't so they didn't have time to change into this new american see took us to country. so they need to have some government or political gotten better when i met a couple of people left the fighting and told pushing pressure on the government side to achieve federal court. so i think it took me and i believe i will be out of element. should have policies which kind of benefits, no country, no citizen and beyond that african clinton and russia is also a plane the given take approach when we approach with when it comes to that relationship with africa,

got chinese or so you want the same for math because they want to give something and wanted something. so they are both focused on the women. in my opinion, when we approach they don't want to influence to intervene into politics or not after it, when it comes to russia and china. on the contrary, and you see to the wish, and i made it a try to influence your politics of the same time for you should be in a new relationship. and they want every african country to condemn and russia when it comes to the war between russia and ukraine. but some countries say, no, this is, we have our own stand in, we have our own ration and we can not blindly condemn and russia. yes, russia foreign ministry spokeswoman maria a horrible responded to copenhagen's refusal to allow most that you joined the

investigation into the nordstrom explosion describing it as a complete fraud and scam. but the, we cannot say though, the salad not such of you that are not even a con, but a 3 penny game, which in my opinion, no one has bought for you there are they're playing this for them. so if the story with nordstrom will not end the same way as many other stories read or for the simple reason you study that there is a lot of money. jack up to the red button press. the junior denmark, sweden and germany will have rule of law, and one can have confidence in our investigations. we have told the russians that we will investigate this thoroughly. and when we have done that, we will announce the results of that investigation. american investigative journalist seymour hersh earlier published an investigation, alleging an attack on the north stream pipeline by specially trained american navy divers,

natal ball tops drills were allegedly used as cover for planting the bomb under the pipeline. in agreement with the norwegian government biden's decision to blow up the pipelines came after more than 9 months of secret discussions about how to carry out the mission and who, who would be held responsible. however, hurst, his arguments were dismissed by the european and the europeans and washington, with the report branded a complete fiction. the leader of the french patriot parties said the north stream pipeline could have become a key hobb between europe and russia. therefore, became an inconvenience for the us even before the theory put forward by hirsch who is a very credible journalist. it was obvious that the americans were behind the explosion . after all, even before the war in ukraine, the u. s. had been fighting the north stream pipeline for years. it had become a permanent part of their policy. and in early february 2022 widen publicly stated

that the americans were capable of making the pipeline disappear. and so what happened after all, it was in the interests of the americans no way is russia's gas competitor. and many countries have replaced russian gas with norwegian gas. so they too had an interest and in reached themselves at the expense of it. we heard from german parliament, m p. martin sicker, who said that the investigation process is being delayed because the german government is not interested in finding those responsible. defended a separate ellis. but in my opinion, all states involved in the north string project should work together and try to conduct this investigation on the best possible way. no one should be excluded from the process. from what we as in peace have heard this process is dragon on the federal government doesn't seem to be very interested in it as well. so here from members of the government faction in the german boone to stock that they are very happy that nordstrom to doesn't work and that they now want even more wind and

solar energy. there's no way this energy can be a substitute for guess which we lack in germany. for ideological reasons, the government is not doing everything. it can to clarify the situation. of course the incident has to be investigated and if indeed the americans have come into this, sabotaged, we'll have to think about how to deal with them in the future. i think all of schoultz is afraid to ask this question. what was, what will happen if it really was the americans as some claim? what would be the consequences for the usa and germany's part? i think old shult is afraid of this question. so any discussion on the subject is rejected. ah, there's outraged in the streets of france once again as protesters clash with police. following the introduction of a widely unpopular pension reform, police use tear gas, water, cannons, and baton to push back protesters as furious crowds vented their anger at president mac, crohn's government. the french capital saw crowds of people gather in the central square to that anger at the raising of the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.

opposition m. p. slam the move as undemocratic and booed the prime minister as she made a speech implementing a constitutional article that allows the foresee through of reforms without the approval of m. p. 's. 7 discontent spread throughout the country as media reported that almost 500000 people went on strike on thursday alone. closures and fireworks were heard on the streets with fires also visible. the opposition is expected to put forward a vote of no confidence in the national assembly. french trade unions also opposed to reform, saying it is unfair, unnecessary. eastern south are coming together to create a new power shift. and russia has a role to play. that's according to moves that you brian,

former spokesman of the late libyan leader. move market off. we who sat down with the host of going underground option or times the to discuss the future of his country and the man who, according to him, can unite it. stay tuned to our program and watch the whole episode later on r t. every single libyan tribe, i mean it's even the tribes that where he's enemies in 2011 every single libyan city. all of them they have met. i'm still meeting with 7 is on a daily basis on daily basis. they have dialogue, they have negotiations, they are writing down projects and ideas, and they are in total agreement about the future of the, of the country. what does it mean for libya that, that the arab world and the islamic world is getting together? what is happening between salary, dan iran, under the supervision of china?

that is no small dean. this is a shift of international power. this is not the wishful thinking. i think the east and the south are gonna come together and build a new system. it will take time, it's not something easy. and this is something gradually. i think there's a shift of power. russia is playing a huge role in this positive. i believe china is also important. china is working slowly and gradually trying not to antagonize the west as much as possible. i think in the next few years, we're going to see brazil, south africa, and they g, possibly egypt, and many other countries joining in, in this shifting power structure. i'm hoping that this would allow the global south to free itself from the shackleton of global capitalism. held the develop itself and find the maneuvering space away from the west.

the disastrous war in iraq, which left a trail of destruction and a 1000000 people dead passes its 20th anniversary, are to continue special coverage of the conflict that through the oil rich country into chaos and de stabilize the region for years to come. ah, 20 years ago to the day george w bush made the decision to aston or rocky leader saddam hussein by force saying he had to give a power and leave the country or face attack by thousands of us and allied troops. saddam hussein and his sons must leave a rack within 48 hours. their refusal to do so will result in military conflict

commenced at a time of our choosing. should saddam hussein choose confrontation? the american people can know that every measure has been taken to avoid war and every measure will be taken to win it. despite george bush has promised to take every measure to avoid war, his ultimate decision to invade a rock through the country and the wider region into chaos. displacing millions and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. the u. s. invaded a rock under the pretext of stopping the danger from it's a legit weapons of mass destruction saying peaceful attempts to disarm baghdad. had failed that despite un inspectors reporting no evidence of weapons in iraq, george bush's ultimatum came hours after the u. s. u. k. and spain signed a joint raf resolution seeking military action. but 2 days later, the u. s. and its allies attacked iraq without un approval. the world is

better off without saddam and power. george bush's words were backed by former british prime minister, tony blair, driven by desire for regime change. the u. k. decided to join us forces and toppling the iraqi government and unleashing chaos in the country. are tease marina course. ariba picks up the story. once a years after the us led invasion of iraq and one question remains, could it have been prevented? well, the answer seems to be no because it was the plan all along after 911, it was payback time for america. and the hans for state sponsors of terrorism was on after afghanistan, iraq became the next target. and the british prime minister, tony blair, became george bush's accomplice. all that was missing was an excuse to invade. well, here in the declassified letter, we can see how blair tells bush that he's with him no matter what. as in he'll

support him in removing saddam hussein from power. i will be with you will. it's heather, getting rid of saddam is the right thing to do. he's a potential threat he could be contained in another secret memo were told that the pair were concocting a p r campaign on how to sell the iraq war. an entire year before the us invaded to pay him said we needed an accompanying payoff strategy that highlighted the risks of saddam's w m. d program. and his appalling human rights record, bush strongly agreed to pay him said this approach would be important in managing european public opinion. and in helping the president construct an international coalition, the p. m said no one could doubt the world would be a better place if there were a regime change in iraq. what's war? they had a strategy in case that saddam hussein actually gave you an weapons inspectors free range to check on everything. the piano lay to come and say to me privately that

had spoken again to bush about the issue of un inspectors. bush and acknowledged that there was just a possibility that saddam would allow them in and go about their own business. if that happened, we would have to adjust our approach accordingly. so they didn't even want full transparency. that is pretended to wanted, hoping iraq's leader would say no. and that would be enough to topple him. well, september 2002, tony blair's end for us claim. the intelligence picture they paint is one accumulated over the last 4 years. it is extensive detail and authority. it concludes that iraq has chemical and biological weapons that saddam has continued to produce them. that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes. 45 minutes really sounds fake.

well, it turned out to be, which was confirmed by british weapons expert dr. kelly to a b. b, c, journalist, it was transformed in the week before it was published to make it 6 here. the classic example was the claim that weapons of mass destruction were ready for use within 45 minutes. that information was not in the original draft. it was included in the dossier against our wishes because it wasn't reliable. most of the things in the dossier were double sauced, but that was single sauced and we believe that the source was wrong. this fiasco even made it to the parliamentary hearings, which is where doctor kelly's name was revealed as he was asked to give evidence on what he knew. 2 days later, the man who set the british government sec, stop iraq's w m d. dosier was found dead and 10 years after saddam hussein was hang,

they rock inquiry known as a chill cut report revealed that the so called the rocky dictator posed no imminent threats at the time of the invasion. and that the war was thought on the basis of flawed intelligence. the spotlight was now put on george bush and tony blair, with some calling for the pair to be prosecuted and even take in their case, took courts. saddam hussein had known posed an immediate threat to the interest of the u. k. the intelligence regarding the weapons of mass destructions was presented with unwarranted sentence. he, the invasion was not necessary and the invasion had been undertaken without the authority of the one security council bots. the attempts made to prosecute mister blair failed as the u. k. court ruled that there exists no crime under english law, which the former prime minister could be charged with. and the international criminal court said that the decision he made to go to war in 2003 is beyond their

remit of investigations. and that's it. i apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was, was wrong. the program in the form that we thought it was did not exist in the way that we thought over a 100000 civilian rockies killed. many more displaced, british and american soldiers dead for no apparent reason. and this is what they get. oops, sorry about that. and what was the plan for the country after saddam hussein? well, they didn't care, as was revealed in a secret memo, ands of war that they care about iraq's oil reserves. and they were discussing it before the war even began declassified documents states that the british governments was encouraged to start preliminary work to ensure you k companies are well placed to pick up contracts in the aftermath of the war by way of specific.