i'm joined by jonathan steele former chief correspondent of the guardian newspaper and now a commentator on international affairs jonathan thanks for speaking to r.t. europe now the u.k. recently been approached by the king of jordan to spearhead a diplomatic offensive against assad william hague the foreign secretary is now met with opposition leaders is this the preamble to another libyan start intervention. it could be i mean we can't be sure and i think it's dangerous it might be i mean they're trying to be hague's message to the opposition is to get your act together unite on a common platform in other words to turn yourself much more like the libyan opposition who the government also talked to and then eventually recognized as the official government of libya so i think it is the first stage to trying to recognize the opposition. there are hints more from france than from britain at the moment that there would be some kind of foreign intervention i mean the french foreign minister and i should perry has just called for humanitarian corridors to be opened into syria with or without

spoke with author and journalist jonathan steele the full version is coming up in the next hour but here's a quick preview for you. there are hints more from france than from britain at the moment that there would be some kind of foreign intervention i mean the french foreign minister perry has just called for humanitarian corridors to be opened into syria with or without syrian government's permission and damascus when he was asked does that mean who would protect these corridors would there be military protection he said of course so in other words they are thinking of having a limited number of foreign military people moving into syria perhaps against the will of the government of damascus. dozens of the british m.p.'s across the political divide have united in london calling for a review of what they see as a one sided extradition policy with the u.s. drawn up in the chaotic aftermath of nine eleven the decrease that washington can demand anyone's extradition without proof and britain is obliged to a bay but artie's other bennett reports patience is wearing thin. all take and no give t

and we welcome jonathan steele. welcome all of you. in particular job is still. and i was in afghanistan in august. and i was stunned by the deterioration of security. anybody have one. , the british consul to, a six hour firefight, sitting in our bunker in our hotel , a colleague who had just been narrowly missed being hit by stray bullets. i want to talk to these guys, writing about the security advances in afghanistan and trouble. it is a had been more less out of the fight. ahead in reading your book. it is phenomenally good. by far the best book ever read in afghanistan. we welcome you here and look forward to getting a questions. >> but i want to do is give a little bit of a flavor of what was like. one of the main themes of the book is the comparison and contrast between the soviet occupation and the u.s. british nato occupation today. i want to end with the kind of seven. plan for peace. >> sending. >> i was in the middle of an interview with the afghan foreign minister when a detonation interrupted us. what was that explosion, ast? explosion, what explos

political analyst jonathan alter and with us from washington, msnbc analyst and chairman michael steele. i want to play for you both the sound from the president's speech early today and get your reaction. he laid out what could be his central reelection strategy at the top. take a listen. >> there has been a raging debate over the best way to restore growth and prosperity and balance and restore fairness. throughout the country it sparked protests and political movements from the tea party to the people who have been occupying the streets of new york and other cities. this is not just another political debate. this is the defining issue of our time. this is a make or break moment for the middle class and all of those who are fighting to get into the middle class. >> jonathan, is it the defining issue of our time? >> no question. i think the president did a good job of laying out the stakes, what it election is about. it's what we owe each other as a people. are we going to continue to be a country with a basic sense of fairness or go back to the cowboy capitalism that got us into the m