hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered on peter lavelle not surprisingly the geneva negotiations to end the civil war in syria have floundered all sides talk to each other to date there hasn't been much listening particularly since the u.s. keeps demanding a transitional government be installed to replace assad can peace be brought to syria if washington's only real goal is regime change. to cross-talk developments in syria i'm joined by my guest daniel serwer in washington he is a professor at the school of advanced international studies and a scholar at the middle east institute also in washington we have richard rubenstein he is an author and a university professor of conflict resolution and public affairs at george mason university and in berkeley and we crossed to christophe horsetail he is a government consultant and publicist or magellan crosstalk roles in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it richard if i go to you first in washington you know coming out of the geneva conference there looks like it was a planned

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle a century ago this year the first world war started it fundamentally changed the global political order later in even weakened international system set the stage for the second world war since the end of the cold war the global order has been in limbo under american domination in the twenty first century just how stable our world politics. to cross not parallels to nine hundred fourteen i'm joined by my guest george samuel in new york he is a fellow of the global policy institute of london metropolitan university and author of the new book bombs for peace nato's humanitarian war on yugoslavia in washington we have brian becker he is the national coordinator for the answer coalition and in london we cross to david stevenson he is an author of several books about the first world war as well as a professor of international history at the london school of economics or a gentleman cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it george if i go to you first i

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered on peter lavelle the european union likes to think of itself as one of the brighter and fairer parts of the world the european commission report on corruption the first of its kind betrays a very different picture in every single member country there is corruption in some cases on a massive scale and businesses complain but to do business government connections are often necessary so what can the e.u. teach the world about corruption. cross-talk corruption in the e.u. i'm joined by my guest broken are in berlin he is a political analyst and a professor for european studies in london we have david coburn he is a u.k. independence party regional chairman and here in moscow we cross to john hello vague he is a managing partner at the group all right gentlemen cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it david if i go to you first in london let me just read some of the high points eight out of ten believe they close links between business and politics lead to corruption almos

hello and welcome to crossfire for all things considered on peter lavelle nato a deadly alliance without a clear mission decades after the end of the cold war this washington led alliance continues to exist and expand after an ambiguous adventure in afghanistan and behind regime change in libya nato now look somehow in some way to absorb ukraine what is nato's gambit. to cross not nato i'm joined by my guest martin mccauley in london he's a specialist on international affairs at the university of london also in london we have jonathan steele he is an international affairs commentator for the guardian and in washington we cross to ricardo all caro he is a visiting fellow at the center for the u.s. and europe at the brookings institution all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect and you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage you jonathan if i go to you first the cold war has been over for over two decades we still have this alliance in existence and there are many people that are very critical that will continue to expand and some will even go as far to say this is mayb

up next the resurgence of the far right near a party's peter lavelle and cross-talk s. take a look. judy cox a utah mother out of spite but an entire line of t. shirts at a popular chain store at her local mall the reason that she bought them was because she feels that the images of nearly naked women on them violate her local towns decency code she wants to make it clear though that she feels the store has the right to sell this type of shirt just not displayed in an exterior window ultimately her plan is to return the shirts on day fifty nine of the store's sixty limit let's hope for her sake they don't have a no return policy i bring this up because this is a great example of a nonviolent form of protest that actually works because the scandal and more importantly it will make the company lose a few dollars technically the girls on the shirts are even fully exposed believe me i checked thoroughly and i would even call them r. rated by local communities have the right to be more conservative than the rest of the nation if they want to be and it's good that judy cox actually did so

hello and welcome to cross talk or all things were considered i'm peter lavelle revolutionary care of with the illegal overthrow of the democratically elected government in ukraine the country stands at the abyss politically economically and even care a horribly strongly supported by the e.u. and washington the new rulers of my dawn are seen as ideological zealots can they reach out to all ukrainians or will we divide the country even more. to cross talk of bents in ukraine i'm joined by my guest amanda paul in brussels she is a policy analyst at the european policy center we also have alexander me curious in london he is a legal writer and analyst and in moscow we cross to dimitri he's a political analyst with the voice of russia radio station all across talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it alexander if i can go to you first in london where the government was supposed to be formed today and they're postponing it is this. a indication of what's going to come where we don't have unity even in kiev we have never had unity amongst

hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered on peter lavelle the olympic games is very namemeans athletic excellence and extravagant showmanship this has been traditionally the case however the games in sochi have been treated differently western media has attempted to politicize the games at the expense of sports and the host country on this edition of crossfire we explore the true spirit of sochi. cross-talk media coverage of sochi i'm joined by my guest martin andrews he is our correspondent in sochi right now in london we have john good body he is a journalist for the sunday times who has been covering the olympics since one thousand nine hundred eighty eight and in watching we crossed a week camp he is a comedian and an author i gently and cry. rules in effect and you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it martin you're in sochi right now you've been there since the start here i would ask you a very simple question what's it like and i know you were aware of what was being said about the games weeks and months before they opened up so please compared

that are coming up here in r t a clash of opinions and cross talk with peter lavelle. tanna group wants to erect a statue to the lord of darkness in oklahoma city which is the logical name capital of the home of the saints want to build the monument of a goat headed devil in or despite a monument to the ten commandments that was put up in two thousand and twelve yet they maybe shouldn't have put up of honor into the ten commandments on public property but does that mean that satanists not cease to honor whackos have the right to put up their own twisted monuments well that answer depends on how you look at things technically it was good liberalism everyone's beliefs by law are equal even if ninety nine people are christian and they cannot impose on that one poor satanist which sounds nice but in reality that means that those ninety nine christians have to tolerate a monument to the infernal master and defiler of the innocent on their way to work every morning part of having a culture means having a group of people of common beliefs and values if you just include anythi

hello and welcome to crossfire where all things considered i'm peter lavelle going to extremes all across europe right wing and to e.u. parties and groups are gaining strength and in some cases respectability what accounts for this hard economic times or the growing alienation and frustration with the euro project could it be said the new right is really the old right but wearing a nice suit. to cross talk the rise of the right i'm joined by my guest sony one dell in london he is a journalist and writer for the guardian and al-jazeera in berlin we have harold whelan bach he is a researcher and member of the european radicalization awareness network and in harrisburg we cross to paul godfried he is an author and professor emeritus at elizabethtown college right gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect and you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it sunny if i go to you first say i think my introduction should be a little familiar to you because i stole it ok from an article that you wrote recently and i want to quote one of the sentences i'm talking about the right wing right

welcome to on the money where the business of russia is business on peter lavelle today two thousand and fourteen has been a slow year for the economy and consensus growth projections remain modest while far from a gloomy picture the government has its work cut out for it to return the economy to dynamic expansion will it succeed. discuss this and more i'm joined by timothy crouse he is the head of the russia bank opportunity funded i see asset management company we also have simon phantom fletcher he is the portfolio manager at renaissance asset managers and we have. he is the chief economist at deutsche bank russia. start out with you they had hoped january would have been a better month what kind of picture do you see unfolding for the first quarter. well i think certainly january was quite weak and the main culprit was fixed investment so the investment side continues to be the weakest link in russia's growth performance but there was hope. we might have some recovery especially on the consumption front because we have the. picks and according to various estimates the contributio

hello and welcome to crossfire for all things considered i'm peter lavelle chaos on the streets of kievafter a short truce rioters are again wrecking havoc the so-called opposition appears to have no interest in the legally elected government force is being met with force where ukraine goes from here is anyone's guess. to cross talk developments in ukraine i'm joined by my guest marcus papadopoulos in london he's the editor of politics first magazine also in london we have robert oulds he is the director of the bruges group and in washington we cross to ariel cohen he is a senior fellow in russian and eurasian studies and international energy security at the heritage foundation or a gentleman cross-talk roles in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it marcus if i go to you first in london i've been watching the pictures coming out of care for the last day and a half this it's like a armed insurrection this looks like an organized coup against the government in kiev and we have we have to point out here that the government of mr unocal which has reac

coming up a clash of opinions on cross talk with peter lavelle you're watching are to international. i'm aaron is joining me on. impartial and financial commentary for news and much much. only on the bus and on. i think. we're going to know that you know the price is the only industry specifically mention in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy correct allmers. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our proximity we've been hijacked why handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers one. i'm tom are and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on on the world we go beyond identifying the problem try rational debate real discussion critical issues facing up to find her job ready to join the movement then walk to. the meeting with. a low in welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle nato a deadly alliance without a clear mission decades after the end of the cold war this

follow and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle is there a new cold war brewing pitting the west against russia what is being called a reset relations at the start of the obama presidency today is in tatters western media and politicians are determined to betray russia in the worst possible light even to the point of undermining the sochi games what are these new cold warriors hoping to achieve. to cross whether there is a new cold war i'm joined by my guest stephen cohen in new york he is a professor emeritus of russian studies at new york university and author of soviet fates in last alternatives that currently is out in paperback from columbia university press also in new york we have eric draitser he is a geo political analyst and founder of stop imperialism dot org and in london we cross to mark and he is a modern history lecturer at the university of oxford right gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want stephen cohen if i go to you first in new york when you hear the term new cold war because it's part of

hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle at the tender age of ten facebook has by any estimation truly changed the world it has made it a little smaller and closer facebook also has demonstrated it can be used as a weapon for political change and this social network has shown itself to be a smart investment on the downside there are transparency issues and whether it can survive another decade. to cross-talk facebook's anniversary i'm joined by my guest clive thompson in new york he is a technology journalist for wired and the new york times magazine and author of smarter than you think how technology is changing our minds for the better also in new york we have he is an associate editor at reason twenty four seven and in washington we cross to austin peterson he is the c.e.o. of stone gate in editor of the libertarian republican dot com hi gentlemen crosstalk rules and if that means you can jump in anytime you want clive you know i think over the last few days celebrating and remembering the startup of facebook we all know a lot about its accomplis

well coming up next it's a cross talk with host peter lavelle and his guests to this is our international stay with us. i don't see how european countries who are member of the european union can solve the problem without leaving the european union so it's all fields that countries like great britain or france you named francis specially with increasing poverty in my opinion they have a difficult they have a difficult time to solve these problems but i think how the least they should rearrange the principle rules all free movement of persons and improve the system. salary. child. rights. to the. paying of the young girls cam all for the future harder. between two and three hundred million guns united states so you can act like they're not here and keep kids away from them. the causes that if they won you know i mean this teaches them a lot of for a responsibility and support them to pay through the eyes of children if we can do it for our children for our future what is the country will fall. into. place. as a. hello and welcome to crossfire where all things considered i'm peter lavelle g

a clash of opinions next in peter lavelle's graustark that's after a short break. i've. there's a saying you know when you're in the arctic you have the entire world at your feet . she looks like a fairly simple shit but really she's not simple little handful of people ever have access to the nuclear icebreakers the real king here is that the polar bear and ice breakers come second not a single complex expedition to the arctic can be conducted without the russian nuclear powered fleet of ice breakers we've undertaken a unique operation in. the northern sea route russia's optic icebreakers. see any sort of counter-revolution preserving maybe even a charcoal. the islamic religion this is one very powerful force awards maintaining traditional marriages and values just as they become more western liberalism. becomes powerful and we have to sort of. civilisations a. collision course. we speak your language. or music programs and documentaries and spanish what matters to you breaking news a little turn to angles stories. you hear. the spanish find out more visit. a lowing welc

welcome back to cross talk we're all things were considered on peter lavelle true mind you were discussing the recent developments in ukraine. ok times i'd like to you in new york you brought up the word bribery bribes earlier in the program i mean isn't this what the e.u. is doing right now they're saying you know we'll have a package for you but you have to do x. y. and z. and pull in the i.m.f. again which dropped in two thousand and ten because it was very unpopular right here i mean this is about deal making at least the european union seems to be a little bit more transparent in what it's doing miss nuland seems to be very opaque and in listening to that telephone conversation she sounds like a mafia boss ordering a hit. well first of all going back to the question of democracy. the two previous calls in london and washington failed to understand there is no democracy in ukraine black thursday sixteenth of january in the space of twenty one minutes the party regent common is destroyed ukraine's democracy so what are we talking about a government which supposed to moccasin let's let's

welcome back to cross talk were all things considered i'm peter lavelle to mind you were discussing the rise of right wing movements. ok gentlemen let's continue our spirited debate there sonny you were listening to what paul i just before we went to the break you want to reply to him go right ahead. yeah i mean i want to take issue with some of the points that paul made i mean for firstly for example a lot of i've spent some time hanging out with people from the english defense league and one of the things that always struck me was actually that how comfortable they were in criticizing not the left but actually but actually conservative muslims and so their point wasn't about immigration and actually what's interesting is that the english defense league don't take a strong position on immigration their issue and that's a b. and p. which is taken issue with immigration the english defense league issues always be. imposition of sharia law that's been their biggest problem or the or the so they claim anyway and actually the imposition of culturally conservative values as opposed to you kn

welcome back to cross talk we're all things considered i'm peter lavelle to remind you we're discussing the recent developments in ukraine. ok madam let's go back to you in brussels there's an old saying if you you break it you own it and since the e.u. has been so. been involved in the recent events even i would call a coup illegal coup in care isn't it now responsible for what happens in care of right now being you know people talking about giving it loans and all of the i mean it's really quite interesting isn't it that you know the people of greece and cyprus probably find this really quite odd that the european union is so interested in involving itself in the affairs of ukraine well i don't find it odd whatsoever i mean ukraine has been for a long time a key part of the e.u. it's a very important state a transit state between russia. and the e.u. so i don't find it strange at all and of course what we've seen out in the streets of ukraine for the past three months has made it very clear that people on your own maidan have been looking to europe looking at the west for support and

welcome to cross talk were all things considered i'm peter lavelle remind you we're discussing the media coverage of the sochi games. ok i'd like to go back to martin and sochi martin is a is a. you're a gay man you're open about it there are other members of the r t team in sochi that are also again can you tell me the reception you've gotten from the city because you've been there before the olympics opened you saw the venue you went to the city you met the people were any horror stories any anything you want to share with our viewers here because for some people that's the only thing this is about go ahead well first of all it's not about that this winter olympics is about sporting events that i said it's also what i'm going to talk to discuss with you i did not defend any of the russian government and also i do not agree with this law that is being brought in that says people abroad especially and in america and on the u.k. they don't understand how laws work or do not work here in russia if i was not happy living in russia. i wouldn't live here it's as simple as that and actually i

welcome back to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle to remind you we're discussing corruption in the european union. ok john i'd like to go back to you you know the redistribution of wealth here it's really quite interesting is that after all these years of the european economic community all the way to the e.u. today there's been a redistribution of wealth and the people that got most of the money are still the most corrupt i mean is this working or not working. well of course it's not working the problem is that. e.u. really is. a socialist concept and it's not really an exaggeration to say that it's moving closer and soviet union model where day they have this is told he's drawing to a. model you know let me let me just let me just very latest vanishing point first finish your point there they have destroyed to. market economy and competition and what they distribute in the so-called solidarity they ruin and we call one curious euro ok only in berlin you want to react to that go ahead yes the region bankrupt so this is really do it's totally nonsense because it i

welcome back to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle remind you we're discussing nato expansion. ok i'd like to go to jonathan in london martin brought up on the issue of iran which i think is very interesting is because this tells us how honest and legitimate the west particularly the united states is in dealing with iran because if they can get a deal then why do they need to expand ok anti-missile defense in all of this here but at the same time we hear that nato needs to have should be in. have a presence in ukraine i mean they're certainly contradictory there is certainly a two track here but i would i would disagree with martin is that if we have a nato ships controlling the black sea this is not in russia's geopolitical interest when we look at the middle east and beyond go ahead jonathan. no it's certainly not i mean that's why this alliance of certain interests you know when the united nations was set up at the end of the second world war the idea was to have a military strategic committee which would do you know run international peacekeeping operations

welcome back to cross talk where all things are considered on peter lavelle true mind you were discussing parallels to nine hundred fourteen. ok george michael back to you in new york i think we would all agree that the in two thousand and fourteen we don't have to worry about a major conflict between the great powers today that's probably not in the cards right now we'll talk a little bit more about china in a minute but let's go back to alliances here the united states has a lot of treaty obligations. with countries like saudi arabia with israel and it wants to have some kind of diplomatic opening hopefully knock on wood with iran and because of its untangled in relationships and treaty obligations it makes it very very difficult and actually you can have the junior partners pushing forward a relationship that may not be in the interest of washington. yes that's certainly . possible however i do think that. to go back to the parallel with nine hundred fourteen that it wasn't so much the junior partner if we if one thinks of austria-hungary as germany's junior partner. push germany into

block brussels estimated the losses caused by shady deals amount to billions of euros later today peter lavelle of his gas but the issue in the spotlight. the european union itself is a corrupt institution from beginning to end but they haven't added to their books for some. years about every failed politician in any european country when he's finished making a mess of his own country then she was who often get a job with the european union the fact that we now have a number as part of the sales strategy of the european commission to motivate people like us to sit in studios and to reflect how we can deal with an urgent problem of corruption that certainly exist but it's not out of the nature of the european union it has been existed for centuries the report is done by the year commission but the figure one hundred twenty is what they're going to try just the president of countries did know that it used to corruption in do you countries while they suppress that's not the direction that you notice the corruption in europe itself that's misdirection like anybody any good magician you don't watch