and those are our top stories coming up next crosstalk with peter lavelle. lowing welcome to cross talk and peter all about twenty years ago a world historic event happened the soviet union came to an end and with it the conclusion of the cold war what is the soviet union's lasting legacy was it inevitable the u.s.s.r. would collapse and is the world a better place today. to cross not the end of the soviet union i'm joined by geoffrey roberts here in the studio he is a historian and professor at the university college cork ireland his upcoming book is stalin's general the life of go to you cough in new york across the steven cohen he's a professor of russian studies and history at new york university he's also author of soviet fates and lost alternatives from stalin ism to the new cold war and in washington we have richard cricket he is professor emeritus at the university of mary washington he's also author of the afghanistan question and the reset in u.s. russian relations all right gentlemen this is cross talk that means you can jump in anytime you want bu

hello and welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle an old organization finding a new mission this is how the arab league is being described by some particularly when it comes to syria others are not so appreciative for them the arab league is very selective when it comes to sanctions and its own members and those hostile to the arab league call it a tool of western powers. to cross not the arab league i'm joined by monzer slain in washington he is director of the center for american arab studies and a national security affairs analyst also in washington we have hussein abdul hussein he is the washington bureau chief of the kuwaiti newspaper all right and in paris we cross to tell me he is the editor in chief and co-founder of arab thank dot com all right gentlemen this is crosstalk that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first let's look at the arab league and syria. for decades now the arab league has had a shaky reputation often being dismissed as ineffective and only to the interest of its autocratic regimes but with the onset of the arab spring it

hello and welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle averting hero dooms day germany and france agree in principle at least that fiscal union in the eurozone is the only way to avert the sovereign debt crisis and they are planning a new treaty to make it happen is this wishful thinking or a plan based on illusions. to cross-talk the year i'm joined by james mead way in london he is the senior economist at the new economics foundation also in london we have and peter for she is director of policy research in macroeconomics and in brussels we cross the jews than ourselves he is the president of the e s c steering committee for europe two thousand and twenty all right folks this is cross talk you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it and if i can go to you first the december nine summit is coming up and there is a ultimatum on the table the french. and the judge germans are saying to the entire twenty seven member members of the european union give up fiscal sovereignty or else is it going to happen and if it does what does it mean well it's going to happen but the point

below me welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle going from very bad to even worse this is the state of u.s. pakistan relations after a cross border attack that left up to twenty pakistanis dead and pakistani public opinion outraged and the stakes could not be higher for the obama administration counting on pakistan's support to wind down the last war in afghanistan. live to the center live. to cross talk u.s. pakistani relations i'm joined by akhmed my g.d.r. in washington he is the senior research associate at the american enterprise institute also in washington we have robert rainier he is chairman of the advisory board of e.r. gee partners and the cia's former top counterterrorism official all right gentlemen this is crosstalk i mean you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first let's go to our correspondent is it does it look like these two countries are at loggerheads or are they going to have a collision well we'll see if it goes this far but it does appear that all efforts to mend this troubled relationship are experiencing repeated reversal we've se

welcome peter lavelle to mind you were discussing the role of the arab league. and the. ok nuns are in washington like to go to you but first i'd like to ask you here we in the first part of the program we heard about arms coming into the in to syria from the outside and i mentioned turkey here i mean when you have a civil conflict in the country and arms are going in for one particular side isn't that just fueling a civil war even if you don't want to use the term civil war. well it may escalate to a civil war but from the beginning arms and fighters are infiltrating from lebanon from jordan from turkey and lots of weapons and every day or week they are collecting the authority in syria they're discovering a cache of arms and even there's some infiltration by thirty five. military person from turkey there are. you know area but i want to from the beginning the emphasis of lack of any kind of their log into the fusil of the opposition to enter into dialogue that fuel the situation sectarian situation and fueled also this you know the armed. struggle or to to bring violen

next peter lavelle's guest discuss the legacy of the last soviet leader mikhail gorbachev cross-talk coming up. witnesses. to history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand eleven. and you can. follow in well no cross-talk i'm peter lavelle as he turns eighty male got a bunch of salacious each season loved abroad in loath to home as glasnost and perestroika become distant memories we ask how will history judge the man who seemingly ended history. and. discuss the legacy of the last soviet leader i'm joined by stephen cohen here in the studio he's a professor of russian studies and history at new york university and his latest book is the victims return survivors of the gulag after stalin in london we go to geoffrey hosking he is an emeritus professor of russian history at university college london and his latest book is rulers and victims the russians in the soviet union and also in london we have lad sobel he's an analyst at the i would securities and another member of our crosstalk team on the hunt all right gentlemen this is crosstalk that means you can jum

away and welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle the credit rating agencies all powerful financial bullies for profit or necessary evils watching governments and companies having grossly stumble during the great global recession are they now trying to make up for past mistakes. and you can. start. to cross talk the rating agencies i'm joined by richard s. cowen washington he's a blogger and writer and a former wall street executive also in washington we have mark calabria he is director of financial regulation studies at the cattle institute and in philadelphia we cross to gary which he is assistant professor of finance and statistics at temple university and former moody's managing director are gentlemen this is cross talk that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first let's have a look at some of the controversy surrounding the rating agencies. last week u.s. rating agency standard and poor's said it was placing fifteen euro zone member states including germany and france on negative watch with the possibility of a downgrade it did so ahead of the euro

follow in welcome to crosstalk i'm peter lavelle the to mulch was here of two thousand and eleven the world changed in ways hardly anyone could have expected we witnessed the rise of people power on a global scale the passage of some of the greatest minds of our time and the death of ruthless dictators and as the year ends the health of the geopolitical order and economy are in doubt. and you can. start. to cross out the major events that took place in two thousand and eleven i'm joined by mark levine in nashville he's a senior fellow with the truman national security project and a talk radio host in milwaukee we have jeffrey summers he's an associate professor of political economy at the university of wisconsin milwaukee and in irvine we cross to mark divine he is professor of history at the university of california irvine all right gentlemen this is cross like you can jump in anytime you want but first let's have a look at some of the events that made this year's headlines. january fourteenth a spart of the unraveling of the arab spring the tunisian government falls after a month of

welcome back to cross talk i'm peter lavelle to mind you we're talking about the credit rating agencies. and you can. say. ok carrie and i to go back to you in philadelphia what one observation is going on here is because we've seen standard and poor's and other agencies in the been in the news in a big way but in the euro crisis but it's kind of interesting to point out is that governments particularly in the european union really don't have an idea how to get out of this mess here and the rating agencies are really stepping up to the plate in a big way and giving directions i mean what's wrong with the radiators he's saying you know we see systemic danger in the eurozone and there is some mean obviously and there's nothing wrong maybe somebody has to say to the european leaders you better do something because you keep kicking the can down the row. mood. i you know i've read a few of the press releases from moody's fitch and s. and p. in the last few days regarding european debt i don't i wouldn't characterize it as saying they're telling these governments what to do ok when you read i

his russian president and to discuss this with me i have in the studio our political commentator peter lavelle well peter we've just heard president viejo of talk about a lot of things here and yes and he in the first part of his speech he was very positive it started off in a very positive now outlining russia's achievements and achievements during his presidency and then he talked about what needs to be done and talked about what everybody wanted him to talk about ok and i think i'm going to quote him a little bit here. to be ready for dialogue on all issues treat with respect criticism criticism is legitimate russia needs to mocker see not chaos and the recent elections were a good a maturity sign of russia's democracy not a negative as so many people like to put it but it was very very adamant that civil society is active and it must be listened to i think he's obviously we are going to the reaction of some people to the election and some of the protests that we've seen since the election so he's seeing reality it's very very sobering reality that we've got well you know in fact of the sta

withdrawal just one of the questions raised in today's cross talk with peter lavelle first though the business news with katie. welcome to the business program. interest rate as information drops to the lowest level in decades the races in cut by a quarter of a percentage point eight percent the government hopes cheaper loans will help business grow amid instability in the global economy a. look at the markets european stocks on the days are coming from the. head of the christmas and on the russian markets closed lower. just to no. end to the point seven percent. of the some individual in the blue chips close mics today all major lou call those point four percent. has been in the red for much of the day i lost almost two percent on telecommunication provider. is among the top. seven on the whole percent of the companies state alexander wished him. luck so this week. we didn't see any signs of continuing christmas christmas rally while we can say that the first part of the week was probably the most trying to understand first of all these. last two days of the week but we see a slight

but those are the headlines and up next cross talk peter lavelle and his guests discuss the spoils of war in iraq and whether america's foreign policy is really about spreading freedom and democracy say with our. hello and welcome to cross talk i'm peter let's go with the american occupation of iraq officially coming to a close this week it's time to take stock was the war in occupation worth it are there any winners is a rock a better place and is war now the natural state of u.s. foreign policy. to cross-talk iraq's future i'm joined by sabri in london he's an exiled iraqi academic in tel aviv we have mayor javedanfar he's a middle east analyst and lecturer at the interdisciplinary center in herts leah i mean washington we cross the hillary mann leverett she is a professor of u.s. foreign policy at the american university and a former white house and state department official all right folks this is cross talk to me that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first marcia is this a major milestone in american foreign policy you know i think as far as

welcome back to rostock i'm peter lavelle to mind you were talking about the end of the u.s.s.r. . and if you. and i to go to you here in the studio i really i like a lot what do went to this stephen is saying here about alternatives because everyone says it was it was in ever have all but i mean if the soviet union were to have survived it would have been a communist soviet union it would have been something very different and once you have forces a nationalist forces unleashed you think the russians really wanted to have the rest of the baggage because to this day i mean the russians feel that you know the other the republics were were a burden to them i mean at least economically speaking and because of the lack of any kind of nationality policy in this country today and there's even kind of a you know get keep them out attitude so i mean it's evolved a lot in twenty years yeah i mean broadly agree with what stephen says that might be because i've spent the last couple days studying his his book there's one thing missing for me i feel and i think. that peter alluded to there and

next peter lavelle and his panel of economic experts look into a relatively new phenomenon for russia's economy the boom in consumerism on the money coming up. hello and welcome to on the money where the business of russia is business i'm people about to consume or not to consume that's the question. to discuss the consumer boom in russia i'm joined by alexei make an ocean here senior vice president of integration at pepsico and victor preval he's a he's a managing partner at new merchandising technologies we also have ben areas he is editor in chief of business new europe and tom moody he's chief strategist of a critter but first let's look at how russia consumes. inhumanly jam to its first breath in russia looking more and more people consumerism has entrapped buyers throughout the country with spending habits shooting up in the past two years unlike the west that is suffering under the burden of the financial crisis raising economic turbulence and dined european currency russia remains a major resource exporter with the sexual or oil and gas making up airlines share of the country's

well the rostock around peter lavelle almost immediately after the collapse of the soviet union twenty years ago the commonwealth of independent states was established its original intent seen by many as a vehicle to witness the amicable divorce of the u.s.s.r. two decades on it is an organisation in search of a mission. to cross-talk the commonwealth of independent states i'm joined by stephen cohen here in the studio he's a professor of russian studies and history at new york university and in providence we crossed in a quiet petro he's a professor of politics at the university of rhode island all right this is crosswalks gentleman so you can jump in anytime you want stephen you're in the studio with me here in moscow let's talk about the significance of establishing the commonwealth of independent states after the soviet union collapses because ever since twenty years on there's the accusation that russia wants to rebuild the soviet union minus the baltic republics bad sometimes give birth to bad lives the commonwealth of independent states c.i.s. was formed by yeltsin and craft cho

commonwealth of states created when the soviet union disintegrated and in today's edition of crossfire peter lavelle's guest discuss how the blogs are becoming a growing economic force here's a quick preview of what's ahead later today. to washington all for an immediate benefit subsidize the energy that's extremely important to using energy as a political weapon i think we got over that that's part of creating a common economic territory each we probably contribute former. and the other thing is because i disagree with you on this steve because i think one for what it is i know it is a little i know one of the things is that you know i think that you know when you look at russia's energy policy is very intensely based on geopolitical interests and i see no need for reasons i don't consider that a particularly. but i disagree with nicholas on one thing well i was very i mean i don't i don't think the main problem is going to be military what we're learning from the european human union is the main problem is going to be currency i think this is a very complicated multilayered jigsaw puzzle. and. it's

commonwealth of states created when the soviet union disintegrated and in today's edition of crosstalk peter lavelle's guest discuss how the block is becoming a growing economic force here's a quick preview of what's coming up at seven thirty g.m.t. . or she can offer an immediate benefit subsidize the energy that's extremely important to using energy as a political weapon i think we've got over the years that that's part of creating a common economic target or each we probably contribute former. and the other thing interesting because i disagree with you on this steve because i think one for what it is oh no it isn't it's going to be one of the things is that you know i think that you know when you look russia's energy policy is very intensely based on geopolitical interests so i see no need for reasons i don't consider that a picture. what we're learning from the european union is the main problem is going to be currency i think this is a very complicated multilayered jigsaw puzzle. and. international lenders and inspectors are in greece today to thrash out a new one hundred thirty billion euro bail

today is taking on the organizations whose decisions trigger a roller coaster rides on the markets peter lavelle and its guests are writing the rating agencies that's coming up next hour or an artsy. one of the issues one of the problems with trying to make the ratings better through issuing having fines or having a system of penalties is that people like richard just say well we should just get rid of ratings altogether because they're obviously conflicted and stupid let's get rid of them but you know what that just plays in that place you know the only way we radiate in a sense because we don't get stronger in many. cells because you have these voices saying let's get rid of richard go ahead well that's mischaracterizing my position a little because i didn't say let's get rid of ratings of course we need ratings i said let's get you know let's not tinker with this system that's so broken in terms of its incentives. before we get to korea with a business let's check out some other headlines from around the world for you this hour holding a second round of its first post post revolution parliame

commonwealth of states created when the soviet union disintegrated and in today's edition of crosstalk peter lavelle's guest discussed how the blog is becoming a growing economic force here's a quick preview of what's coming up next hour. can offer an immediate benefit subsidize the energy that's extremely important to using energy as a political weapon i thought we got over that more years out that's part of creating a common economic territory each we probably contributes i don't consider that a particularly. what we're learning from the european union is the main problem is going to be currency. if you want to. get a national lenders and inspectors are in greece today to fresh out a new one hundred thirty billion euro bailout for the government and there is an air of special urgency as shaking your kratz freshly humbled by diplomatic failure at their brussels summit grow desperate to avert a looming meltdown and as our work is going off reports it's all just feeding the flames under the your cattle. it's not easy running a business even a small one like this german company which produces isolation