slight telemundo, within the next 15 years, the night sky, a beautiful sight, while the around saw this thing is out, was a pleasure to have you with us here on off. see international. take a break now we'll be back in about 30 minutes. we hope you'll glass then the the hello and welcome to cross talk. we're all things are considered. i'm peter level. it was widely thought the year 2024 would be to multi to us and it was however, in ways few had predicted the world did change and this year though hardly for the

better. what are the highlights and low lights? the cross ocoee in 2024. i'm joined by my guest, george samuel, we in budapest. he's a pod cast through the goggle, which can be found on youtube and locals. and here in moscow we cross the marks level that is international relations and security analysts, or a gentleman cross stock roles. and in fact, that means you can jump any time you want. and i always appreciated more when you go to you 1st, sir. i mean, as i said in my introduction, a lot of, as i thought the, the, the year that's passing would be to multi as it was to multi was a lot of things happen. you can even chronicle it all in one program here, but in your mind what stands out most, what, what we remember 2024 for a. well, 1st of all, the continuation of the conflict in ukraine throughout the year. i know that there were people on both sides predicting that the conflict would have already ended

would end sometime during the year. and frankly, i don't know if it will end any time next year. but i think the, the biggest surprise event during the year happened at the tail end of the year at the end of november and the beginning of december. and that is the fall of the syrian government. the syrian government was overthrown by outside of uh, uh, with the support of the early one regime in turkey. most likely united states, u. k. france and israel having a hand in it as well. i don't know that anyone was predicting that would happen then. the christians of syria are looking forward to a christmas this year, where just in the last 24 hours, we've seen that at least one christmas tree burned down by the fighters and pro christian protests beginning in syria, as,

as i'll try to repair the. the woke out guide uh that the western main stream media is applauding demonstrates how it intends to treat syria's religious and ethnic minorities. the story will definitely be following into the new year. georgias. it's tough coming in. second asked me, what were the big news of the parents and mark covered the 2 of the major ones. what are your thoughts here? i mean, one of the things that i found really depressing and troubling is the lack of any kind of diplomacy in the application. of international law, now we have the i, c, c, we have the i, c, j. the got into action though i have none of us are holding our breath for either institution. the rule of law be the rules based order. so hopefully that will be something that will be forgotten in the new year because a dominated this year. go ahead, george. hi isaac. so it'd be the and what do you say about the rules based all the

being said all this year? i think that's quite likely because to me i think the uh, the most startling develop lender, but maybe it's not stopping. but i think the most notable developments of 2020 of what was the raton of donald trump, because when 20 to 24 started, he was by no means clear that he would succeed the norm, as well as, as a rate against him. he was facing for a criminal cases. he was facing a civil case in the state of new york, which was targeted toward some bankrupting him. um and you know, it wasn't though a lot of negatives to him. so even if he could survive these, all these hurdles that lovely, the democrats, the deep states, whatever, at least in his, in the as well. and remember also they've tried to throw him off the ballot even then it came to the general election. it was by no is all the is that given all the

negatives that he would prevail and the but he did prevail, he won quite comfortably. which i gain games. i surprised all of us everyone that it would be such a decisive when now what that means and we're going forward, that's a so obviously we're going to get to that later. um, but i think going back to your question about the that i think will but page at least with the next 4 years to talk about the rules based or the heat and whatever else i can say about that even he really doesn't look well on the walls as a matter of morales, he is a matter law. as a matter of good guys and bad guys. i think he sees it very much about. it's a dog eat dog world out there. it's, you know, everyone's out for himself. and given that he represents the united states, he's going to get as big of the size of the pie as possible, or reflect upon that mark. because, you know, we're the know a lot about donald trump. he was president before. um,

as we end the year looking towards, you know, he said he's good to solve ukraine. i don't see how that's going to be possible. considering these the people he has around him. i mean, it is a world historic event, but is it a good thing, mark? yeah, i, i'm not so sure that it is a good thing or a world historic event. i'm going to respectfully dissent from any idea that the rules based order is going to disappear, right? i would define the rules based order as the us per suit of us, wide western global hegemony at all costs in continued during the 1st trump administration. and i see absolutely no reason why uh, anything would be different during the 2nd administration, especially considering the guy goal of neo cons and warmongers that he has gathered around him. maybe have a different flavor. you've got a different yeah. and a right different atmosphere,

but it doesn't change that the u. s. is the global head german and will pursue, you know, all the interests of the united states as, as that is defined at all costs. so i, i don't think that that changes at all. it was the same before trump, it was the save during trump. it was the same after trump and it will be the same during drought, the, the, the, the best that we can hope for is that those, some of those interests will be slightly redefined or, or at least to reprioritize, which isn't necessarily a good thing either. i mean, it, trump isn't in even off as yet, and we've heard a trump demands that the panama can be returned to the united states that the u. s . should by of greenland the canada should become the 1st, the 1st state. oh. and he has also promised that he will not abandon you great and will continue funding for it. so i, i don't, i don't really see what all. yeah,

i mean i, george, i even think you can use the word mix bag because i largely agree with the sentiment of margaret. we'll have a different marketing strategy here. i mean for, for those that have criticize the bite ministration, which is a lot of it is warranted here and you have the juxtaposition but a real as class. well, donald trump is sounding very realistic to me. i mean, greenland, how much the cost. i mean, that is realism. it doesn't sound nice, it's not pleasant. but that is realism, george, the absolutely. and i don't disagree with marketing. what i said about the rules based order that i am and that that's the tool, chrome, the word goal, the liberal wing of the american political and military establishment. that's how they just they fight. um, american foreign policy of america advancing its interests, america, bullying, sanctioning bombing of the country that. okay, well it's all in the name of democracy. it's all in the name of human rights. and

as you know, that's, that's why they do a trauma. doesn't talk like that. trump for him. he's. he has low interest in morales the a lot. he's absolutely determined to get as much for the united states as possible . so it's not like he's a peacenik or is he's got this, i'm opus you a. uh huh. and nolan's, eventually his policy. i mean he clearly is going to do that. but what i think is interesting when he talks about panama and greenland. um, usually it's just a naked self interest, and that i think is what's in the little different from chrome and when it comes to trump and then bite. and then clinton and obama and all the democrats. what preceded him is that he is just shamelessly advocating on behalf of the united states. i remember when he talked to a yard or you said, well, i was against the arrival and once we were there, we should have just taken the oil. and it was a little puzzling, or how do you just take somebody else's oil? is it well, and that's it. we just, we just take some of the so, you know,

i think the, when he talks like this about panama, you says a, we're getting a ripped off by panama. we want that canal back. and you know, it's, it's, it's of, so make it the some praise and that it's kind of surprising and yet it's at the same time. it's also quite refreshing. well, i right likely that he actually is going to get is, i mean that's why also yeah, like 3 different kind of out of the back. it's been naked bars. there is different . i mean the opposite, i think so and well, i think look, if you, if you, if you minimize the democracy in the human rights on the got over the, the rules based old a tool i, i think that's a very help which tells you the political environment because then essentially everyone is, makes clear what it is that the off to rather than wrapping yourself up and somehow that your, your in the business of writing the world drones. and it's about the, you know, getting, getting the democracies together. i gave seal storage area and go ahead mark. well,

i and i want to point out that during the 1st trump administration for all of his many faults trumps 1st secretary of state rex pillars and refuse to use the bludgeon of human rights as a rhetorical and political weapon against us adversaries. and we know from a memo that was linked to the press, it was written about, i believe in foreign policy. at the time that there was an attempt to, to explain to the former oil men, rex told her, said that you don't understand or, you know, with human rights. so, you know, we, we, we give our allies a pass and we use it as a club against our, our address. and they said it right out like that. and that was an attempt to explain it. but you, we also see that rex told her since term as the secretary of state didn't last that long. and mike pub, pale was bright, brought in to set things to

a right. so i have doubts of the 1st of all, what trumps real intentions are in these regards. you know, whether, you know, he has any long held foreign policy. police built beyond who talked to him in the last 15 minutes. and i also questioned whether the us president actually has any power over for and military policy. and that if that's not the real per view of the blog. uh, you know, you want to call the deal still margaret, remember that bureaucracy mark before we go to the break. i think that there is really one foreign policy that donald trump is been interested in, even when he was a, an in new york. real estate is china, china, china, china. that's where the interest in. well richard, we'll revisit it after the break. gentlemen, i'm going to jump in here. we're going to go to a short break. and after that short break, we'll continue our discussion on 2024. stay with arch. it's

the take a fresh look around his life. kaleidoscopic isn't good. a shifted reality distortion by powell of tired vision with no real opinions. fixtures designed to simplify will confuse who really wants a better wills, and is it just sort of a chosen few. fractured images presented as 1st. can you see through their illusion going underground can the

items that i have a huge family bullshit textbook and start streaming. yeah, the vehicle we have for some of this it seems you have a big show. so i emailed a name 1st, the lady shut up the slow noise. but the upside for the margin of the forest, every air of weight in the field was, are watching. nobody yet, but you could to hook or get the mice, but this, you could upgrades to me yet, and then you're more towards dish symbol. i mean, your st. bob, assuming you have to show the river the sky, it's all mine. and dear to me, this is my homeland. i love everyone in the world. we

certainly thought it just the way the like the it was a me here at the judas. are you ready to book or do you need a pair that us here? awesome may assist you. that's on our side of the phone on the of the many places in the world where you can say, oh, on the divide between the 2 oceans. and what do you might not think kids? what does this, hey, and what is northern or found your vision? and the 2 knows that us national park. and today's, we know the stuff was taking a deep side, interesting feature because of the welcome to cross software. all things are considered i'm peter, is about to remind you. we're discussing the year 2020 for

the . okay. it's good of george george in budapest. you know, george, one of the things that, um trump i think is very proud of again, politically. and when it comes to his 1st german office, he didn't start any wars and you know that there's something to that. okay. he didn't want to start morris. and then was an opportunity when he had bolt in by his side to go to war with around potentially. but now he's coming back into the office, you know, and we think of this year where he's making as the year and he's making all these claims that he's going to ed morse. well, starting wars is one thing ending or is, is another thing. and one is harder than the other. george. very much so. and was drunk. that did indeed a has indeed posted put, that's a oh uh yeah, i didn't saw it and he was and trumps champions. was that why you didn't start?

and he was. he also facilitate to the starting of the subsequent was so for his, as he did um, in the liberally, the type who all the obama administration about not sending legal weapons to ukraine. in fact, he's the one and just the boast about a day. you know, i, you know, obama was always sending pillows in the nightcap, so, you know, i sent them the, the javelin missiles. so 50 both of us. and it also here you visit us as a late to the, i'm a general saw the money of the around then you can say of a batch was a preparation for the coming. i'll slow down the run. i mean, it's a way of eliminating those forces in iran who would with, with spend a western pressure, you know, for me, particularly from the, those, the god of the western eyes is among the around the lead. those who would actually probably try to push for iran,

acquiring nuclear weapons. so you can see the elimination of somebody like general saw the money could well be the preparation for what trump intends to do in his 2nd term, which is where you renew the maximum pressure campaign. so i think that the exact best little question about that with a trump, but there are differences in emphasis when it comes to trump and um, and by and obama and, and the democrats only thing. you mentioned china. i mean, that's a long standing issue with him. i mean, he clearly sees china as america's primary adversary. he doesn't have a great deal of interest when it comes to russia. he doesn't see any real need for a particularly adversarial relationship with russia. if that doesn't mean he's going to end the war in ukraine, absolutely doesn't mean that. but i think he is in principle, he doesn't hold the gun of the other most to was russia that the,

the democrats hold that that's a long standing sequence goes. it goes back up, you know, several decades. he really does say, you know, when he, when he says, oh, why don't we get along with russia or when he says that, you know, i had good relations were put in. i think you really feel, i mean there's no question. it's a very different emphasis. he doesn't condemn russia in the way that is a very good among america's foreign policy. lead 12, martha one issue, that term c is very attached to other as i mentioned, china as a, as a candidate to the stone. he was remarkably extremely pro is real and that we saw on leave. and we saw the same from the buying and administration. you could, you could argue about rhetoric and emphasis here, but i mean, candidate from now present electronic is very depth of very little, very little difference with the sitting president that is going out. and in, by the way, everyone, the, you know, at the end of the year is mark pointed out some, some,

all to has things happen. meanwhile, the genocide in palestine and gaza continues. it's not on the front page, but it is i on it's, it's accelerating. if anything, and that's something that is a legacy of this year, and it's going to go definitely into the next year. go ahead mark. okay, so i, i would beg to differ with the characterization of the assassination of the radi and general cost, sams solum body and a top iraqi general, which is uh, quite uh, often left out of, uh, the reporting on that um, the head of the popular mobilization units which had already been brought in to the iraqi military officially. that was an act of war. let's be perfectly clear about that if a war did not start at that moment. that was because of the strait of trump's

opponent. in this case, the ron right, that was an act of war against both the rob, any rock. right. um. we also shouldn't forget the bumbling regime change attempt by drums cronies against the venezuela here during his term of office, which was one of the most slapstick of times that regime change. i think that we've experienced over recent years, but i mean to say that trump didn't start any new wars, i mean, technically kept by didn't make the same claim. i mean, it wouldn't be a completely disingenuous to say that, but i think it's all this and also disingenuous for uh, trump fan boys through um, claimed that uh, trump didn't start a new wars during a well not market. could go back to your thesis, which again is hard to disagree with. is that just how much power does the president of the united states have and, and, and price would buying was a,

we're not really sure if he was the president that wasn't there history. well, for the wall street journal is telling us that he was largely absent during his entire administration, which all of us in our audience already knew george and another big thing that happened in 2024. and you, and i've talked a great deal about it, is the unraveling of this century as liberal parties in europe at um, uh, election after election after election and cold. and there is an election remaining . and they just know that because they didn't like the result is b, e o in democracy on speaking terms. right now i can't tell george really, you talks a lot about democracy, but there's an inverse correlation between the more you talk about it and the less you actually do anything to promote it. no, i think there's a real problem in your up, which is that the, the kind of nationalist, the populace forces of they are basically, you know, the ones are saying we should be primarily concerned about our own countries rather

than uh, you know, all these geo political issues, but they've been gaining ground. we've seen that in the, in eastern europe. we saw that in the, in germany, we've seen that in france. and we will then go as the response of the establishment in europe has been either to steal the election outright as they did in molto as they have attempted to do in georgia. all agree basically cancel the election outright in romania. now we're, we're looking to was elections in germany in, in february is quite likely the, the alternative for deutschland biology will do rather well. but a game in a way that sort of the, that the liberal political establishment of the you or if they don't steal a or a knowledge elections, the very good a just simply ignoring election outcomes so. so we're, you know,

we can predicts mike much as happened in from the web marine la bands national front on that national riley about they came inside so were just eliminated altogether from any government talks. web joining the colors that were even eliminated from the championships of any committees within the national assembly. so if the alternative for doing somebody gets 2020 to 23 percent though, they'll just have the big and all they will, they will take no bought in any of the coalition talks levels come off to the election. it's kind of interested in coming in 1st place doesn't really mean much anymore when he comes to european politics. i mean, to come in 1st that, sorry, you know, a color i have that mark is, i suppose not so much with france, but almost every other election in, in, in europe is russia, russia, russia. i mean that's something that lived on we who would have thought that this uh, it's almost like a virus. you just cant stamp it out. okay. it goes along a common cold and cove. it okay. it does. so stay with us forever mark. yeah. um i,

i think that, you know, since 2022 definitely, but really for, for decades beforehand we've, or, you know, heard from the western media, how there's going to be political turmoil in russia and that vladimir putin will be politically over drawer. and you will be unpopular, blah, blah, particularly that accelerated in the context of, you know, the conflict in ukraine and the, the west, existential economic war of sanctions and ad. and the weapon is ation of the financial architecture that they control the global financial architecture against russia. but what we saw instead, as a consequence of the conflict in ukraine and the blow back from the sanctions, is political turmoil across the west. right? uh, both, both the united states to a certain degree. although i,

i think domestic factors definitely weighed out, you know, more in that case, but, but certainly in europe, which had a more direct blow back effect from the sanctions. and we saw, you know, the, the rise of la pens, national rally party, but also of melanie johns far left alliance in france. both of which you could consider, i shall, we shall, we generously call them ukraine's skeptic. uh, parties. uh, we saw uh, you know, um the attempted assassination of robert fitz, so the prime minister of so we'll walk you over the ukraine issue of the year. we saw the uh, these uh, traffic light coalition of, uh oh, la schultz and the green party collapse. uh, at least on the face, over the issue of a to ukraine. we're still trying to negotiate and negotiate out,

you know, the results of elections and another when we had this a noble action in romania which was obviously also a protest vote over the economic consequences of the sanctions on russia to blow back from that. so the only one that really escape that fate, that this political turmoil, at least is the united kingdom. and that's simply because they have a much more structured and managed democracy where the center, right center, left, shuffle still rules, you know, they have a mars, but that we use it that way. so the election in which the of the opposition party won an astounding victory with the lowest vote a at the same time, i mean, talk about structure, george, finish it out the 20 seconds. go ahead. no, i mean, and i think if i did the example of the u. k, i think does tend to confirm what the mark was saying because of course, the big story that was the rise of, uh, nigel for raj is uh, you know,

popular spot. they get a british version of populace bothered, and clearly he is becoming man in the united kingdom and there was a lot of talk about that. he will be the next prime minister. i mean, probably off to the next lecture, maybe the election off of that. but clearly he's now expected to be eventually prime minister. yeah, i get, well y'all gets down to who counts the vote. i get stuff or i gentlemen, that's all the time we have. oh, and it's like my guess in budapest and here in moscow. and of course, i want to thank our viewers for watching us here, not the see you next time and remember process rules and happy new year, the the,

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the, [000:00:00;00] the, the washer. and how did you play and age really? so a 150 because of all the day driving you a allowed. so just to return home in fine for the new year's celebration. so back yeah, accuses the legacy of relying to the public at even attempting to drive the country in 5 minutes to get approval. so you claim to join native as well. i'm sorry to destroy your admin, like it has already done in gaza saying who's the 33 stop for the same miserable