is to look for common ground with a new era for russian chinese relations as it's confirmed eating pigs. first trip after reelection will be to moscow this month. i didn't see any issue with normalization. the resolution across investments. saudi arabia confirm that could very quickly start investing in a rod following a breakthrough after a tiny broker to agreement of restoring diplomatic relations with we continue or special coverage of the grid legacy left by the disastrous view of

what war in iraq 20 years since that u. s. president george w bush has ultimatums to saddam said to give up power or face for ah, good afternoon for mark international studios in moscow, and welcome to the hour's top stories across the globe. i bureau lies about it's officials aging thing is that 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 signing of bilateral agreements has also been announced with more details to follow. later archie corresponded donald quarter. has the story was we said earlier in the program, this high level upcoming meeting is going to be the 1st trip abroad. that teaching 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. that's because beijing is ready to play a constructive role in regulating the ukraine conflict. and we also heard from that foreign ministry of china that they're basing is also looking to basically ground these talks in the principles of non confrontation with 3rd parties. so that's all among other topics on the agenda, including questions of international and regional importance, as well as strengthening 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 moms since march 15th. so it represents another frontier of developing cooperation between

these 2 countries. in this situation, specifically naval and military cooperation react says it's ready to invest in iranian economy, falling the chinese broken agreement to restore diplomatic relations between saudi arabia and to ron, how quickly in your mind, do you think we're going to see saudi arabia making significant investments and vice versa. so 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 resolution across investment. successful, not turning point in the region, 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 cap on our supply, nor will reduce oil production. and i would not be surprised if others do the same . the statement came as us legislators introduced a bill that would allow suing oil companies from opec was 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 our rod and saudi arabia, with journalists and editor, martin j. iranian political analysts and academic professor said, mohammed mirandi and geopolitical analyst, a med, i'll e, brian. the world is changing very fast, and the united states and the europeans do not have the cloud that they have before . and they've also shown that they're not reliable allies are reliable partners.

they've shown that an honest on new administration and 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 division. definitely time has changed a bit. iran is different around today, maybe and target are more willing to understand the dynamics feel free on or what's happened in the past decade or negotiation. remember, there is one of the agreement that we're going to have 2 months period or basically seeing how serious is iran coming to the deal. so it's going to, it's going to have too much of observation or what that right. it's going to come

and what they are going to definitely be there around the neighborhood. 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 contribute to contribute them back. and this is definitely aligned with vision 2030 as a lot of ground manufacturer capabilities. and 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 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 that saudi got involved in which had been stopped by the americans. we must say, of customer absolute fortune a certain point. the war was costing a $1000000000.00 a week. the diplomatic fail, as we know, was mediated by a completely bypassing the u. s. which is always like to see them at least as his own kind of spirit when it comes fear when it comes to influence. so let's just take a 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 in 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 for you is just 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 moroni, when he said the world has changed, he's too polite to spell it out in crude terms, but basically, america's normal calling. the shots, you know, we commentators, such as myself, are wondering how much longer we use the term usaa gemini, when we, when we come on talk, shows like, like yours. i mean, i 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 and complete the unprecedented. i didn't ever think i'd be on a talk show, talking about saudi arabian piece after iran and saudi arabia agreed to do a story diplomatic ties suite efforts to mediate if he's still in yemen. game pays . according to the wall street journal toronto agree to stop supplying weapons to the who, the movement in the war, foreign country. however,

iran has denied all allegations that it has that weapons there. to get more details on the story and the latest updates on other headlines visit our website at r t dot com. washington has announced $150000000.00 in aid to africa, the hell region to fight local militants as the u. s. secretary of state ends is 4 day trip to ethiopia, niger ortiz africa correspond to cromwell itala examines whether the u. s. 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, 2nd most populous nation. if you appeal 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 the 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 hell have failed dismally to quell the sensations. i'm here any yoga. and then on to year, to reaffirm a pledge to present vibe made with your separate leader summit late last year. but me soon as this is committed to deep responses and genuine partnerships on the continent. because we believe we cannot be solved sure. challenges and deliver on the fundamental aspirations of our people if we work together, but the us maybe making it's african return already on the back foot of his geopolitical 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 j. 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 and geography. we don't know exactly where we're around in the world militarily and what we're doing. but the american resurgence is not led by what's in the year, but rather what's under it. like if the neighbors does

a hell country is blessed with mineral resources and is too significant uranium mines providing nearly 5 percent of the world's output from africa's highest. busy all of uranium, what we know for the surgeon is that americans, i led by fear of losing grounds to the adversaries. and that is fueling the resurgence and is rebranding one continent before the month of march ends. the buy in administration is that being of the african agenda and integrity, there are 4 important toys in the month. and another military exercise vice president common harris will touch down on the continent before the month end as well. and the big crescendo will be president joe biden visit to the continent later on this year. the question is,

will it be before or after august when south africa host the brick summit in the port city of derby way, china and russia. presidents seizing ping and letting me put it will also be on african ground. got a lot of the chinese food we discussed the current political influence of the us, russia and china and africa with our guests, from ethiopia. now we are living and as you know of us, we're into the plan. now, we are transferring to the multi point i wanted evansville dated and it's time to change that into this new american see took strategy country those they need to have some government policy got into that sort of gotten better when i'm a couple of people left in the fighting and the article pushing pressure on the

control and government and try to achieve that goal. so i think it took me and i believe i will be out of apartment, should have policy, which kind of benefits. no country, no citizen and beyond that africa and russia is on playing the given take approach when doing approach with when it comes to that relationship with africa got chinese also. they want the same from us because they want to give something and want something. so they are both focused on a we know, in my opinion, when we approach they don't wanting to intervene into politics or not when it comes to russia and china. on the contrary, and you see to the wisdom to them, because they try to influence your politics as the same time they've tailors to which country you should be involved in

a new relationship. and they want every africa 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 over there vision, and we can not blindly condemn and russia russian foreign ministry spokeswoman maria hiero responded to copenhagen's refusal to allow me off that you joined the investigation in the north stream explosions, describing it as a complete fraud and scam. but the, we cannot set those up so not this is such a total you. they're not even a call on but a 3 penny game, which in my opinion, no one has bought for you. they're ready to see what they're playing this for themselves. the story with nordstrom will not end the same way as many other stories read or the simple reason you study that there's

a lot of money jack up to the red curve. but the rest of 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 to american navy divers. natal ball . top drills were allegedly used as cover for planting the bomb under the pipeline in agreement with the norwegian government by does decision to blow up the pipelines came after more than 9 months of secret discussions about how to carry out the mission and who would be held responsible, however, hurst, his arguments were dismissed by europe at washington. with the report branded a complete fiction. the leader of the french patriots party said the north stream pipeline could have become a key hob 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 not stream pipeline for years. it had become a permanent part of their policy, and it only february 2022 widened 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 discuss this with political scientists and professor at the university of south eastern norway, glen decent, who says there has been a flu of deception evolving around the north stream, sabotaged. i can only speculate on their intentions,

but they will be either be because of the current tensions over the conflict in ukraine, or it's because they, they might have something to hide and not happy about what the possible findings would be. again, i, i can't know the reasons why they don't want to share this, but it's, it's very suspicious i would say. and it, it will be, it runs contrary to the process of developing trust. certainly, if the situation was reversed to us, russia who was investigating and refusing any access to, to danish investigators. and certainly this will be criticized the argument. so, you know, they have a rule of law. and so for this reason they want to trust them. and there's some weakness by this because this whole process has been very dubious from day one. keep in mind when the pipeline was attacked all this year,

p and american. and america argued that all evidence pointed to russia, but no one wanted to release what this evidence was that was pointing to russia and were told that the intelligence agencies knew that he was actually, you ukrainian, the pro ukrainian group who had done it. but they didn't say anything because to have to protect the ukrainians. so obviously there's all already been plenty of lying and efforts of framing, russia i, i don't know what the opposing arguments would be. how can you, on one hand, say from day one, it must have been russia and then say, i know we were actually hiding it because want to protect the crane? is it, it doesn't make any sense. so. so given that this whole investigation been there, murphy from day one, i think trust building certainly would require giving russia access to this investigation. if not direct participation. there's really prime minister has

rejected an offer of compromise from the countries president who warned of the dangers israel faces and offered his plan for an agreement between the conflicting sides on judicial reform. find the refusal of compromise from the prime minister. proud to once again took to the streets to protest against the judicial reforms limiting the power of the supreme court. demonstrators warned the country's democracy as under threat, a group of renown writers and nobel prize winner signed a petition sent to the german in british ambassadors to cancel netanyahu's visits to berlin and london. we spoke with oscar nominated director, uri barba who also signed the petition and ward israel will become a dark state if the prime ministers reforms the head full of emotion. these demonstrations are motivated by the fatal feeling that we're facing and crush

fission of fall into the abyss. in other words, at the end of this month of the 2nd and 3rd readings of the laws or some of the laws would be benita. nea has regime pass. israel will become dark state, will become a racist messianic state govern in a certain sense bar religious laws controlled in a certain way by a group of people whose love of power and greed wrongs their lives. there are 2 parties in the current coalition that my opinion of the most dangerous fault. these are alicia zionism, led by small traits and outs. my who did lead by 8 am, are been we're the world view of these 2 part is, is anti democratic, extremely nationalist. in other words, they're going to change the existential situation of israel and turn it from a jewish and democratic state. interested, it does need a jewish, nor a democratic, and the fault is entirely beaver's. he cannot leave with the legal system that bows him on trial, and maybe it will judge against him. and in the sense their power to days far beyond their electoral power. and this is our great danger,

and this dread distress. this anxiety takes us out into distress. we have no other choice. who must fight for this place, must fight for the society we want to be. were never perfect. i have no illusions about that. the situation and the territories is getting worse. restock of her 3rd into father. i don't know if it of all to break out or not. there is no. does it philos dillion society is facing a defining moment of the history. because with this government, i don't know what they have left to do the disastrous war in iraq, which left a trail of destruction and a 1000000 people dead passes its 20th anniversary r t continues special coverage of the conflict that through the oil rich country into chaos and destabilize the region for years to come. ah, 20 years ago to the day george w bush made the decision to oust then

a rocky leader. saddam hussein by forests say he had to give a power and leave the country or faith attacked 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 us invaded a roth under the pretext of stopping the danger from it's a legit weapons of mass destruction say people attempts to dis, are baghdad,

have failed. that's us by you and inspectors. reporting no evidence of weapons in iraq. george, which is ultimate. m came hours after the u. s. u. k, and spain signed a joint prost resolution seeking military action. but 2 days later, the us 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 in toppling the iraqi government. and only sion. chaos in the country are teas. marina, across the river, picks up the story. 20 years after the us led invasion of iraq and one question remains could have been prevented. while the answer seems to be no, because it was the plan all along after $911.00, it was payback time for america. and the hunt for state sponsors of terrorism was

on, after i've gone the stone, 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 constructs an international coalition, the p. m said no one could doubt the world would be a better place if there were regime change in iraq. what's war? they had a strategy in case that saddam hussein actually gave you an weapons inspectors free reign to check on everything. the piano lay to come and said to me privately that had spoken again to bush about the issue of un inspectors. bush and acknowledged that there was just the 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 infamous 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 dorsey 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 dr. kelly's name was revealed as he was asked to give evidence on what he knew. 2 days later, the man who said 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 eminent threats at the time of the invasion. and that the war was fought on the basis of fraud 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 to court. saddam hussein had no posed an immediate threat to the interest of the u. k . the intelligence regarding the weapons of mass destructions was presented with an warrenton 70. the invasion was not necessary and the invasion had been undertaken

without the authority of the one security council. what's 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 emits 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 contract actor 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 government 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 follow up, we should convene meeting with b, p shell and other appropriate u. k. companies, whether together or separately to explore ideas and tap into the expertise, we would need to handle this carefully and assure it was confidential to avoid charges of oil motivations. so preliminary work to ensure you k companies will place to pick up contracts in the aftermath. this is all in the public domain, it's been swenson years and so no one has been held accountable. a country was destroyed, a president's was basically assassinated and those who did it aren't behind bars. no, but lecturing others on war and.