oh and while we're all things considered i'm peter labelle ukraine in the law of unintended consequences the west continued with the changing tent has left ukraine with the central government of dubious legitimacy the economy in freefall and fuel secessionist sentiment but she has made it clear will protect ethnic russians and russian speakers in ukraine washington warned moscow o

oh and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered on peter labelle spinning ukraine with acrimean said to vote on their status the west continues to threaten russia with sanctions how long will the standoff last and hasn't washington already blinked. cross-talk the ongoing crisis in ukraine i'm joined by my guest pepe escobar in bangkok he is the asia times roving correspondent in new york we have and lee she is a professor at new york university and author of the book what the u.s. can learn from china and in london we crossed to martin mccauley he is a specialist on international affairs at the university of london all right cross talk rules and the fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i would very much appreciate it pepe if i go to you first in bangkok i don't think i've come across more divergent narratives about an international crisis since august two thousand and eight when georgia attacks south of setia it took western media weeks in most cases to get the story correct because according won't rush invaded georgia which isn't wasn't the case and most

peter greste sent 70 days in prison. and spreading false news. al jazeera rejects the charges. >> saudi arabia joined egypt in banning the muslim brotherhood and labelling it a terrorist organization. members of the group included the deposed president mohamed morsi. along with other leaders of the muslim brotherhood are currently behind bars. saudi arabia says those that joined the group could be gaoled for 30 years. a former military chief in italy has been freed from prison. he was given a life sentence or plotting to overthrow the government. the decision to release him was after turkey adds highest court ruled his legal rights were not found. >> for those in prison, they'll be set free eventually. all we want is justice. for that i'll continue to fight for my struggle like i did when i was on duty and in gaol for two years until the last of the prisons will be set free. >> still to come - for columbians voting - blank ballots shows their disappoint. >> and an arrest warrant for this man. hello again. the top stories on al jazeera. a search and rescue operation is under way for a missing malaysia airlines plane reported to have crashed into the sea

label is becoming more prestigious american surprised if the higher courts. i hate school so happy that the country is to fix it once again all more in an in. peter years and for you in istanbul. this is on the seventeen ninety and are watching them. knew. i like it i'm quite sure. it's all been told it's not like it. unless something changes right now. you knew you will will will will eye. us secretary of state joe carried a pressing need is to sponsor a good approach. he talks of a crisis in ukraine the rounded adults to read during the ukrainian forces continue to hold outs and the deceased crimea. or does apply but if people tried to any breach in its border

to have your comments on whether the label of ideologicalnot lines should be employed in examining the new realities of china. i saw my friend waved his hand when peter delivered his perspective on why -- >> he was my teacher. >> then you are his poor student, i'm afraid. yes. managed to situation between the u.s. and china because we have never had two countries so dependent on one veryer yet have so different political systems. american policy has been basically come in many ways, trying to wait china out. the assumptions are that china will democratize eventually so we should have a short-term situation for the current regime, and looked toward the future when they will be just like us, and now we have hit the point where we realize they are very close to us in economic might, the coming very powerful, yet not just like us, so we will have to have a new way of dealing with that. from the chinese perspective, beijing is rather smart and clever, and they have noticed the u.s. has these assumptions that eventually they will go away and we will be dealing with someone new and that dynamic does not breed long-term trust or set a good stage for long-ter