studies at the university of massachusetts and author of war and empire the american way of life and in beirut we cross the logic he is a philosopher novelist filmmaker and investigative journalist or a gentleman crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want but i always appreciate it ok weighing in washington let me go to you first here let me read a few quotes here says china could easily solve this problem meaning the north korean problem that unfortunate character the u.s. has at the united nations that nikki haley says time for talk is over before we get to how the u.s. and its allies look at north korea can you explain to us how the north koreans see their dilemma of be threatening western powers and their neighbor to the south. well peter let's not forget the north korean issue was largely issue resulted from the cold war i mean the cold war largely waged by president harry truman based on an i c sixty eight document largely about the perception of soviet fear rather than the factual assertions about soviet fear and then of course the invaded the north korea the

so i think you know it's really incumbent on the united states to react to that go ahead andrea in beirut. yes of course actually china. is acting extremely peaceful in its own region and in the asia pacific it is being constantly provoked on several fronts and that is that the. trying to reach peace agreements like the philippines are being contaminated. even at the overthrow their governments there are of course north korea is sitting. between i mean there is a border with china and for russia and just imagine what interests of the west are if there is a so-called reunification of korea hostile the unification if there is a war and let's say north korea is going to collapse then the rest of the regime is going to or west of the empire is going to expand to the border with both russia and especially with china so this took on the sort of big snow on the hitlist sort of being intimidated by the worst both china and russia the two allies and the north korea would actually be. the new. hostile power because it would become one of its kind of understood that if there is a unification of kore

you know that there are the chinese they have an angle in all of this the let me go to andriy in beirut i mean the chinese are not there to settle all scores in that part of the world because the united states has such a huge military footprint there the chinese have made it very clear that they want to go she asians they have a limited ability to push the north. marine regime and they've offered a number of things solution a diplomacy a freeze on freezer and there's a lot of the diplomatic talk coming out of beijing so i think you know it's really incumbent on the united states to react to that go ahead andre in beirut. yes of course actually china. is acting extremely peaceful in its own region and in the asia pacific it is being constantly provoked on several fronts and companies that are. trying to reach peace agreements like the philippines are being contaminated and even at the overthrow their governments there are of course north korea is sitting. between i mean there is a border with china and for russia and just imagine what interests of the west are if there is a so-called reu

cross talking the shifting sands in the middle east i'm joined by my guest so i mean nate are in beirut he's a middle east analyst and in erbil we have joe lauria he is an independent journalist all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i always appreciated let me go to you first joe my introduction was very very broad. from your standpoint and you're in iraq right now what what are the most important trends affecting the middle east because there's so much going on right now unfortunately particularly the united states it's overshadowed by what i call fake news i want to do real news on this program here joe your thoughts what how is the middle east changing go ahead it's very easy to get lost in all the details like this so friendly complex particularly in syria i think the overall if you're looking for a really big picture you have to look at u.s. iranian relations and in that in the subtext of that saudi iranian relations and below that the standoff between saudi arabia bahrain egypt against qatar which i think could be a prelude to a

so i think you know it's really incumbent on the united states to react to that go ahead andrea in beirut. yes of course actually china. is acting extremely peaceful in its own region and in the asia pacific it is being constantly provoke on several fronts and companies that are. trying to reach peace agreements like the philippines are being contaminated and even at the overthrow their governments there are of course north korea is sitting. between i mean there is a border with china and there for russia and just imagine what interests of the west are if there is a so-called reunification of korea hostile the unification if there is a war and let's say north korea is going to collapse then the western regime is going to or west of the empire is going to expand right to the border with both russia and especially with china so this took on the sort of big snow on the hitlist sort of being contaminated by the worst both china and russia the two allies and the north korea would actually be. a new. hostile power because it would become one of its kind of understood that if there is a unificat

you know that there are the chinese they have an angle in all of this the let me go to andriy in beirut i mean the chinese are not there to settle all scores in that part of the world because the united states has such a huge military footprint there the chinese have made it very clear that they want to go she should they have limited ability to push the north. marine regime and they've offered a number of things solution a diplomacy a freeze on freezer and there's a lot of the diplomatic talk coming out of beijing so i think you know it's really incumbent upon the united states to react to that go ahead andre in beirut. yes of course actually china. is acting extremely peaceful in its own region and in the asia pacific it is being constantly provoked on several fronts and that is that the. trying to reach peace agreements like the philippines are being contaminated. even at the overthrow their governments there are of course north korea is sitting. between i mean there is a border with china and for russia and just imagine what interests of the west are if there is a so-called reunific

sent him back to beirut and off to jerusalem. reporting in those years garnered two pulitzers for international coverage and led to his first book from beirut to jerusalem locating in washington he was assigned a rather quick succession to three of the top reporting jobs, the chief diplomatic correspondent, white house correspondent and international economics correspondent. by 1995, 21 years ago, he took over the paper's foreign affairs column and has been at it ever since. this is a commentary in 2002 and those that follow the column know they are not just about foreign affairs into the traditional sense of diplomacy and international conflict. they also deal with globalization, the, finance, technology and a number of other issues relevant to how the world works today. the previous books have exhibited a wide range of interest as well as the same engaging conversational style that is characterized in the columns. tom writes for the general reader and as we are about to hear he pitches the talk for the general lister, to ask a

international relations and history professor of beirut lebanese university hi there thanks for your time today can we start off by talking about this attack in the north of the country as i was saying just know twelve years it's thought to be carried out by a mix they think of isis and taliban fighters now immediately again you'd think why is that because these two groups are supposed to be enemies of each other yet we're hearing now they're attacking together as you go along with. well we need to admit the fact the taliban and isis. the same ideological grass roots which is what hubby islam and that's why it's easy for them for members of. the bomb to cross from one side to another at the same time it's easy for both groups to. come in close especially when it comes to fighting the united states and foreign powers and afghanistan so that's why i believe. the problem is. in the ideology of these two groups. we need to trace back the grassroots of their birth. of the brutal both. movements especially that it was sponsored at the time by the united states and by pakistani intelligence

. >> she was finally able to get an appointment at the german embassy in beirut.l 2016, her and her children cross the border. the embassy is one of the few places where syrians can hope to get a family reunification visa. it is difficult to collect the required documents in wartime. many refugees come with little or no paperwork. but she was told it would take just four weeks to process her application. but four weeks turned into four months of waiting. then mohammed's family finally arrived in berlin. >> when they came to the door, i saw my wife first of all. that i noticed my daughter looked at me like a stranger, like she was asking, why did you go away? white to the plus loan -- why did you leave us alone? i have to admit that made me very sad. >> mohammed is one of three syrian refugees in germany who stories were gathered by a filmmaker. after following them for two years he produced a documentary entitled mohammed, everyman. sarah: talks started today. javier: it is very controversial agreement. at lisa's donald trump decided to renegotiate it. now the thr

up its attacks we discussed the issue of jamal wakim now in international relations professor at beirut's lebanese university he say's a u.s. air strikes are not effective in countries in the root coals of the violence. i believe this is the primary victims of the war going on in afghanistan and as for the world isis. the taliban and other predators groups in afghanistan. will. go into the human lives. would be united states which claims that the respect human rights. rights to promote democracy is less about human lives especially when it comes to an un-american to human lives it's not easy to wipe i would these groups you need. would again on the grassroots of the problem fighting radical. of all this sign as you might expect to see in a window had posters seeing that killing animals is violent and unjust is probably not one of them but a shop in california has agreed to display just the message after vegan activists rallied at the premises for months carrying out gruesome stunts. like the only. individual crime nor the founding of this time off and that is not only putting. on the beat

taliban stepping up its attacks we discuss the she would came in international relations professor at beirut's lebanese university and he says that u.s. airstrikes are not effective in countering the root cause of the violence i believe that the syrians are the primary victims of the war going on in afghanistan and as for the world isis. and the taliban and other predators groups in afghanistan. consideration human lives. for the united states which claims that it respects human rights. rights to promote democracy you get less about human lives especially when it comes to an un-american and human lives it's not easy to wipe out these groups you need to work again on the grassroots of the problem on fighting radical. islam. now of all the signs you might expect to see in a butcher's window opposed to saying that killing animals is violent and unjust is probably not one of them but a shop in california has agreed to display just that message after feeding activists rallied outside for months carrying out some gruesome stuff it's. think. he remembered your why not some but after. that i thought i

ok well let's discuss this further now with the beirut based journalist martin j. and j. thank you for joining us on the program always good to see you so what do you expect his statement to say do you think we will see an escalation in the number of troops in afghanistan. i think it may well be about numbers certainly something along the region of what we've heard previously leaked or four thousand or five thousand more troops could be part of the speech was it could be more a public relations stunt i think against all the old surrogates history and i guess even what trump of seven self in his own presidential campaign he's he's doing a flip flop once again another u. turn and he will actually try to convince the american people that he has a master plan in afghanistan which is not called the graveyard of empires for nothing. so you think we'll see a radical new approach from the trumpet ministration. i'm not sure radicals the right word i mean the heel so in need a new approach you know the afghanistan of today's very different to few years ago of what obama had some on

israeli is in saudi like to say is the shia are christian or the land bridge linking to hold on to beirut because daters ruled it would be decisive in that land bridge so i think that the more and more likely the syrian army will achieve victory and they resort to more and more likely you might see israel and saudi arabia two of america's main allies in the region trying to obstruct or prevent such a scenario from being fulfilled that perhaps maybe maybe by pushing the trumpet illustration into more intervention through to prevent war to stop the syrian army from taking the resort except for so the importance of those or i think it is important syria wise but it's also very important regionally wise as well there we got about one minute left i think it's an icy quickly what about the civilians no doubt this would be a risky undertaking by the syrian army eisel really doesn't show any regard for civilian life how dangerous will it be for the civilians. it will be dangerous over for the people for the civilians of course but that might be one reason which would prevent the syrian army from

up its attacks we discussed the issue with jamal why came an international relations professor at beirut's lebanese university and he says that u.s. airstrikes are not effective in countering the root cause of the violence i believe that the syrians are the primary victims of the war going on in afghanistan and for the world isis. the taliban and other predators groups in afghanistan. concentration human lives. for the united states which claims that it respects human rights. rights to promote democracy you get less about human lives especially when it comes to an american and human lives it's not easy to wipe out these groups you need to work again on the grass roots of the problem on fighting radical. islam. now the area around with his office in the german city of hand has been graffiti with hate for them racists messages taken from the social media site as part of a protest against its policies the activists behind the stern two aims to highlight that offensive posts are rarely removed from the platform plastered racist and he semitic and also homophobic comments on the pavement outsid

stepping up its attacks we discussed the issue with jamal wakim an international relations professor at beirut's lebanese university he say's a u.s. air strikes are not effective in country in the root cause of the violence. i believe that this is the primary victims of the war going on in afghanistan and for the world isis. and the taliban and other political groups in afghanistan. will. go into the nation will human lives. for the united states which claims that the respect human rights. rights who promote democracy you get cared less about human lives especially when it comes to an un-american to human lives it's not easy to wipe i would these groups you need. would again on the grassroots of the problem on fighting radical woud be. the united nations how strongly condemn the latest the earth strike in yemen which killed at least a dozen people and injured ten others on sunday it's still being carried out by the saudi laid coalition the un's official in yemen sees all parties to the conflict continue to ignore the safety of civilians under failing to distinguish between them and the fighters

groundbeen involved with combat action since beirut in 1983. i have a few sittings to say about that. if all the accusations that fly back-and-forth these things don't happen in a vacuum. this did not happen because barack obama was elected president. this was the fifth generation of al qaeda. it was done in order to stoke the passion of americans to situation, bazaar, covert and the hard extremists -- the listeners who believe -- i know i lived in , i shot the gun in the air when it was time for the guys to get married. these are important things there. in perspective of the intelligence continue above everything that has happened since 9/11, which are a was a victim and rescue are, i know what these people are doing. i have been working with them since 1988 nonstop. now my job is to explain it to you. isis, a manifestation of the invasion of iraq in 2003 and nothing more come in manifested itself because the government of iraq -- we couldn't stay there when they force us out. they came about through their own sectarian passions. .bama didn't

severe blow to the is presence in iraq. 0ur correspondent rami ruhayem is following the story from beirutof this last wrong hold of islamic state ? this last wrong hold of islamic state? if mosul is anything to go by, they don't give up easily? usually not. some iraqi officials have suggested that now they have been losing so much territory and a rock and syria, they are demoralised at this stage. but, again, it is ha rd to at this stage. but, again, it is hard to tell at this stage, and they are not for giving up easily. 0n the contrary, they are for fighting to the bitter end. ideological driven, zealous fighters who usually do fight, even if they sense that the battle has very little scope for victory. they are surrounded, they have been under siege for at least three months. there appears to be nowhere left for them to go. but, at the same time, the iraqi army and several actions which are fighting alongside the army has not this time given any timetable for the end of the battle, perhaps because they realise that this kind of thing is going to be very unpredictable and it will depend

stepping up its attacks we discussed the issue with jamal wakim an international relations professor at beirut's lebanese university he say's u.s. airstrikes are not effective in country in the root cause of the violence i believe the disobedience of the primary victims of the war going on in afghanistan and that's what in the world isis. and the taliban and other predators groups in afghanistan. know. going to the human lives. for the united states which claims that it respects human rights. rights who promote democracy is less about human lives especially when it comes to an un-american and human lives it's not easy to wipe i would these groups you need to would again on the grassroots of the problem fighting radical. the latest major reshuffle among donald trump's top team has seen a series of sackings among his national security aides but even the man in charge of the dismissals is in the firing line over what might have driven is this isn't it more an all out here's kill blocking general mcmaster national security adviser to donald trump his loyalty to the president is supposed to be a defa

our correspondent in beirut rami ruhayem told me more about the hostages. years now that this has been going on, and this battle that the lebanese army launched about a week ago was long—awaited, and precisely because of this very sensitive issue of nine lebanese soldiers missing, presumed to be still somewhere in lebanon, but also we haven't really heard much detail about them during the past three years. now the lebanese army, the lebanese government says its priority is to find out what has happened to these soldiers, and this is why they stopped the battle, the ground offensive, perhaps, you know, just one day before it could have been concluded. the islamic state group of militants are now surrounded in a very small area on both sides of the border. they are surrounded by the lebanese army, the syrian army and the fighters from hezbollah. they have nowhere left to go, but the lebanese army decided to stop the battle to see whether they can find out what happened to these nine soldiers three years ago. the queensferry crossing which links the lothians a

studies at the university of massachusetts and author of war and empire the american way of life and in beirut we cross the logic he is a philosopher novelist filmmaker and investigative journalist or a gentleman crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want but i always appreciate it ok weighing in washington let me go to you first here let me read a few quotes here says china could easily solve this problem meaning the north korean problem that unfortunate character the u.s. has at the united nations that nikki haley says time for talk is over before we get to how the u.s. and its allies look at north korea can you explain to us how the north koreans see their dilemma of d. threatening western powers and their neighbor to the south. well peter let's not forget the north korean issue was largely issue resulted from the cold war i mean the cold war largely waged by president harry truman based on and c sixty eight document largely about the perception of soviet fear rather than the factual assertions about soviet fear and then of course the invaded the north korea the k

severe blow to the is presence in iraq. 0ur correspondent rami ruhayem is following the story from beirut fall of muscle in july. following the fall of muscle in july. yes, and tal afar was always critical even during the battle for morsel itself. tal afar operates a very strategic position between mosul and the border with syria so it was crucial for the iraqi army and the forces fighting alongside it to cut off the road from mosul into tal afar while they were trying to reta ke tal afar while they were trying to retake mosul. after mosul was taken, obviously the focus turns to tal afar. it is strategically many reasons. also it will probably help the iraqi army expands their control into the desert to the south as well as to the west into syria. a stark warning from the prime minister to the jihadists, warning from the prime minister to thejihadists, surrender warning from the prime minister to the jihadists, surrender or die. warning from the prime minister to thejihadists, surrender or die. not many options there. yes, that is what we have been hearing from the iraqi authorities befor

he was the last of the american hostages held by pro-iranian terrorists in beirut, lebanon. >> in thening of the '90s terrorism was thought to be done. people likely to use terrorism to achieve political objectives were dead, in jail or part of the peace process. >> a syrian delegate is in washington today ready to talk about middle east peace. >> we thought the '90s would be a time of peace. not only was the cold war over, we had won. >> we have before us the tu opportunity to forth a new world order. a world where the rule of law governs the conduct of nations. >> it was a time where they really viewed america as the place that embraced globally gags. but there were many people who didn't like that changing america.but there were many peo didn't like that changing america. >> in naples, idaho about 40 miles from the canadian border federal marshals are surrounding a cabin where a white supremist is holding up with his family. >> he was of interest to the bureau of alcohol and tobacco and firearms because he had link tuesday the arian nations. they tried to pressure him to inform on

our diplomats are not going around and meeting yemenis in cairo, beirut, oman, the emirates, and same with our libya embassy, which is in tunisia, not meeting with libyans on the ground. not meeting when we talk about this political resolution. we do not know the demands of the situation, and we do not know the actors, and we do not have leverage because we have chosen not to get leverage over the situation. to me, that is the first problem that needs to be solved by byble mats desk diplomats -- diplomats. moderator: any other questions? >> hi, i am from congressman pierce's office. you touched on the tribalism that influences so many of these groups. that in theckle largest geopolitical sense that many of these failed states should not have been states at was a process? you can start with the first world war or start with the 18th century, whichever, but they were creations of larger powers for various reasons. and should we be looking in some instances at trying to restart the clock on determining what should be a state and what should not be a state? you do not have to start with i

he was the last of the american hostages held by pro-iranian terrorist it is in beirut, lebanon. >> in beginning of the '90s terrorism was thought to be done. people likely to use terrorism to achieve political objectives were dead, in jail or part of the peace process. >> a syrian delegation is in washington today, ready to meet with israel to talk about middle east peace. >> we thought the '90s would be a time of peace. not only was the cold war over, we had won. >> we have before us the opportunity to forge a new world order, a world where the rule of law governs the conduct of nations. >> the world was changing, and it was an exciting time for those who really viewed america as the nation that would embrace globalization. but there were many people who didn't like that changing america. >> in maples, idaho about 40 miles from the canadian border federal marshals are surrounding a cabin, where a fugitive white supremacist named randy weaver is holed up with his family. >> randy weaver was a survivalist who lived out in the mountains with his family at ruby ridge, idaho. weaver was o

about what will we can whom and when -- i hearken back to a decade of sitting in it, committee in beirut when they were talking about who would wait longer it would be in a better position when the other guy was weaker. that was a decade ago. we've had this game plan for a decade. i was just in ramallah and i asked someone about the electricity issue and they weren't defending but they were saying it was basically a failed policy and we should've done it ten years ago. now, it's a failed policy. maybe. it would've been immoral ten years ago but at this point, we been down this road over and over and there's always a little bit different on the margin. [inaudible] will the everett turn this enough that the hamas speculations fundamentally change and suddenly one person gets to be in charge of we have a new point of entry? we can hope for it. as an analyst, i find it extremely improbable that outside some serious intervention from the other world said you will move this direction and there is a benefit to you if you do and there is a cost to you if you don't. same war, different day with a

about what's going to weaken whom, i hearken back to you a decade ago sitting in a conference in beirut were hamas was debating who was going to wait longer in who would be in a better position when the other guy was the leader. we have had this game playing for a decade. i was just in ramallah and i asked somebody about the electricity issue and they weren't defending it. they were saying it's basically a failed policy. if we were going to do this we should have done it 10 years ago. now it's a failed policy. at this point we have been down this road over and over. there's always a little bit difference but now it's it different factor. i've ammar it's going to turn this enough that the athlon hamas calculation fundamentally changes and one person gets to be in charge and we have a new point of entry? i guess we can hope or it. some analysts i find it extremely improbable that outside some serious intervention from the outside world saying you will move this direction. there's an edit that to you if you do. there's a cost to you if you don't, i think we will have the same war, differen

to do was to found universities, like the american university in cairo, the american university in beirut, also in iran turkey. they were going to convert the locals to christians. well, didn't work very well. what they did convert them to was constitutionalism. and many of the liberal movements that we have seen in the middle east come out of these plants in the late 19th 19th and early 20th century, that are related to the protestant schools that spread in so many part offed the world. well, let's get back if we can without me running over time, to what was going on in the united states. in the united states, the critical mistake that was made was to think that local cultures don't matter. now, it's true, we were a necessary condition to german democratization but we were far from a sufficient condition for germans democratization, that depend largely on the german peoples themselves. could not have happened without a strong german middle class, strong german protestant and in this case catholic movement, they were antifascist, without a high level development, without a perceived doctr

making about what is going to begin whom -- i hearken back to a decade ago sitting in a conference in beirut where hamas was debating who was going to wait longer and who would be in a better position when the other guy was weaker. that was a decade ago. we had this game plan for a decade. i asked someone about the electricity issue and they weren't defending it to someone on the inside but they said basically is a failed policy. if we were going to do this, we should have done it ten years ago. now it is a failed policy. maybe but at this point we been died this road over and over. there's always a little difference on the margin and now this is the different factor. will the emirates turn this enough that the hamas calculations fundamentally change and suddenly one person gets to be in charge we have a new point of entry? i guess we can hope for it. as an analyst, i find it extremely improbable that outside some serious intervention from the outside world saying you will move this direction and there is a benefit to you if you do and there's a cost to you if you don't. i think it's the sam

when i was doing research on this book in beirut i interviewed a woman who described herself as the fifth-generation presbyterian missionary to lebanon. it does go back a long way. we have an increasingly sophisticated literature on the 19th century history of these missions, that is true. the 20th century story is different partly because of sheer numbers. 1925, the student volunteer movement alone, the largest student -- largest campus movement in american history and probably the most significant, they had sent more than 10,000 american college students abroad by the early 1920's. this is a huge demographic change beginning in the 1990's. differentcs are also because so many of the people the 19 teens on in in 1920's and 1930's are so heavily informed by the higher criticism in the social gospel. you had some people who are service-oriented and highly literate in many languages in the early segments, but it was not quite such a big deal. in those days you had a firmer and more persistent commitment to the project of conversion, even while people were making dictionaries and translating things and

making about what is going to weaken who i harken back to a decade ago sitting in a conference in beirut where fatah and hamas was debating who was going to wait longer and who was going to be in a better position when the other guy was weaker. we have had this game playing for a decade. i was just in ram la and i asked somebody about the electricity issue and they weren't defending it, this is someone on the inside but they were saying it's basically a failed policy. if we were going to do it we should have done it ten years ago. now it's a failed policy. maybe. it still would have been immoral ten years ago, but at this point we've been down this road over and over there's always a little bit of difference on the margin. is dalan and the emirates going to turn this if you have that the fatah hamas calculations fundamentally change and suddenly one person gets to be in charge and we have a new point of entry? i guess we can hope for it. as an analyst i find it extremely improbable that outside some serious intervention from the outside world saying you will move this direction there is

the biz the international order of sovereign states that's what i'm talking about go ahead andre in beirut well first of all if you listen to north koreans listen to them a lot. of their governments are of that artist of their people when i was. three years ago a sponsor of the delegation of france a clark former u.s. attorney general so if you talk to the north koreans that actually they have very legitimate concerns the they suffered through the sleep during the korean war let's remember that the media coverage of western media western media coverage of the korean peninsula was always extremely biased or scandalous one of the greatest journalists of all time of the twenty s. . ensuring of. an australian journalist who actually went to the war and he who covered the conflict. think about the thousands of tens of thousands of north koreans being literally destroyed murdered in the tunnels brought to life in the tunnels he even lost australian citizenship for this coverage when he was declared an enemy awful strelley and stayed very good friends of his son and all of this with our lives so