challenge to american supremacy came not from the outside not from russia not from china but from the inside of society and that came as big shock to us establishment they think what we see now or around russia and this hyper will ization over russian activities is psychological or understandable to find somebody outside the united states who is responsible for their while the real problem is in. the open quote george h. w. bush has said that america won the cold war by the grace of god which definitely solidified the u.s. perception as a sort of god's chosen nation where the mission and i think. and you also said a number of occasions that he see the current tensions as either the withering or perhaps the painful death of that very mission which actually began. before trumpet it started under obama but what trump is offering you know they say america first slogan it could be used as a legitimate policy but this is not the south narrative it does not answer the question of who we are as a nation what could possibly come to replace that sounds of mission of you know sort of pushing their fore

from the former u.s. ambassador to russia and nato, a russian journalist, and russia's first foreign minister. ais is about an hour and half. john: good morning. my name is john herbst. i run the eurasian center here at the atlantic council. thank you all for coming. we have a wonderful program for you this morning. and i should mention that this is part of our series on internal developments in russia. we began with a session in october on demography in russia. and this of course is on politics. next month, we are doing a session on the russian economy, followed by a session a session probably in april on energy sector in russia. we have a real treat for you this morning. we have a wonderful line of speakers. i will not describe them except to say yevgenia albats, a top-notch journalist from moscow, who has written a very provocative and a fascinating paper on russia politically. foreign minister kozyrev will comment on that, as will eugene rumer from carnegie. and ambassador and former deputy secretary nato, sandy vershbow will bat cleanup for us this morning. and with that i will

unusual take for a western or former western diplomat. when it comes to russia because. i think there's a lot of understanding there's also a lot of compassion in your book and i really appreciate that but i will want to ask you whether you ever felt that you are giving this country an easy pass i don't think i think that the majority of the content of my book deals with the sometimes very disagreeable parts of russia's history i've got a chapter on the leg museum i've got a chapter on the jewish museum of tolerance and i talk very frankly in those two chapters of some of the black spot in russia's history. and i think what i felt as a former professional diplomat for thirty years and i was an ambassador to poland but they were mothers postings. i felt i had a certain responsibility to my own society to say look we are being fed. bad fantasies about russia the real russia is not what we're being told about. i want to go and i want to see what it's like and my process of disenchantment from the western propaganda machine against russia it really began pretty much in interest thousand and

russia, we begin with demographyoctober on in russia. >> we have a topnotch journalist from moscow, he's presented a and fascinating on russia politically. comment on that. former deputy secretary general will bat cleanup for us this morning and turn it over to the doctor. >> thank you very much. extend our to the re gratitude to ambassador, who invited me and to write a paper to center.cil and the thank you very much for coming for this event. persistence, of the he main topic paper that i wrote, and then we haveer, i argue that been witnessing the of the regime in ussia, which is now in istory -- italy, mussolini, and portugal. o be sure, there is no -- no conspiracy in the story that i'm outlining. that when guing has becomeimir putin the president of the russian confederation in 2000 he broke the whole range of people from his old job, the the years, in a first of eight years, eight years, they staffed all russian government to the apparatus of the government, the administration. result, by 2008, almost 67% of all positions in the top russian the nomenclature, occupied by the k

disagreeable parts of russia's history i've got a chapter on the leg museum i've got a chapter on the jewish museum of tolerance and i and i talk very frankly in those two chapters of some of the black spots in russia's history and i think what i felt as a former professional diplomat for thirty years and i was an ambassador to poland and to get by idea that was my last postings. i felt i had a certain responsibility to my own society to say look we are being fed. bad fantasies about russia the real russia is not what we're being told about. i want to go and i want to see what it's like and my process of disenchantment from the western propaganda machine against russia it really began pretty much in interest thousand and fourteen with the events new crime and the way in which they were being reported now i hope we will go into the ukrainian events a little bit later on into the program but. you mentioned the this negative image of russia and russia is definitely not an easy country it's a very complex society it's sometimes a very contorted country and i think we the russians are the first t

gets you through the long russian winter but i suspect when you say russia in their struggle and contacts. the associations are probably not so positive are they. they can be quite negative unfortunately we have been fed a diet of cliches about russia. russia is still very much seen through a post soviet lens as the success the state to the soviet union and somehow or other images of go leg and stuff in the countries of extreme cold discomfort of rudeness and these are the kinds of things that unfortunately still linger on and you wrote the whole book to address some of those negative stereotypes and i think you have a very unusual take for a western or former western diplomat. when it comes to russia because. i think there's a lot of understanding there's also a lot of compassion in your book and i really appreciate that but i will want to ask you whether you ever felt that you are giving this country an easy pass i don't think i think that the majority of the content of my book deals with the sometimes very disagreeable parts of russia's history i've got a chapter on the leg mu

when russia decided to hold a mirror to their west own imperfections including by setting up this child it turned out western tolerance to criticism is even more why is it so difficult to communicate pointing out what's wrong with one another well to discuss that i'm now joined by tony cabin a former diplomat and the author of a book called return to moscow well mr cavanaugh it's great to have you in the studio thank you very much for your time and happiness charlie a day thank you very much. now when you say australia in the russian context it conjures up an image of a beautiful faraway land with a bright sun blue sky beautiful beaches with friendly people who spent most of that time surfing and i know it's a typical but i think it's a nice mental picture to get you through the long russian winter but i suspect when you say russia and there's trial and contacts. the associations are probably not so positive are they. they can be quite negative unfortunately we've been fed a diet of cliches about russia. russia is still very much seen through a post soviet lens. of success the state to

and have been a jewish by descent i've expected a degree of that to semitism in russia. i didn't encounter it and i was enormously impressed with the jewish museum. i found the presentation of the jewish contribution to russian history and culture right through the years since russia conquered parts of poland in the jewish population of poland and below russia became russian citizens that whole story was fascinating i left that museum with the spirit of uplift because i folk this means that russia and its row getting on the path of decent mutually respectful relationship. issues a respectful relationship between russia and israel is not a problem i think they are now a little bit concerned that the personal relationship between putin and benjamin netanyahu is endangering the middle east peace process because everybody's so accommodating towards israel but rather than going into international affairs i want to ask you know specifically about the logic and putin has been in power of on and off for eighteen years and you've just recently speaking at one of the conferences here in ru

represents russia's redemption as a global superpower and an alternative to the liberal democracy espoused by the west. russia's foreign policy, next on great decisions. (theme music) - [narrator 2] great decisions is produced by the foreign policy association, in association with thomson reuters. funding for great decisions is provided by price waterhouse coopers llp. (mournful russian music) (applause) the world changed in 1991 when the soviet flag was lowered for the last time over the kremlin. in its place was raised the flag of russia and what many hoped would symbolize a new era of freedom and western-style democracy. - by the fall of 1991, russia was moving towards independence in agreement with other soviet republics. the soviet union was about to be dismantled. - [polyakova] people including myself who lived in the soviet union at the time didn't see it coming. people were ready for a change. they wanted western values. they wanted democracy. (epic russian music) - [yelchenko] there was a lot of hope that the new russia which also became an independent state, like every o

mentioned these negative image of russia and russia is definitely not an easy country it's a very complex society it's sometimes a very contorted country and i think we the russians are the first to you know and experience that and i think that actually goes to the very notion of russian patriotism it's loving russia is it's a bit like caring for the disabled loved one you know the disability you hate them but you love the person all the more because of that and that is actually i think the most moving part of your book for me that you accept those disabilities rather than the typical western scolding that russia is not good enough but what i thought find even more troubling is that that's cold thing that irritated russians a lot if you years back now seems acceptable because it essentially dick rest into the open bigotry why do you think this lack of compassion not even the lack of basic decency towards this country has become so does your mental conditioning and mutual propagandizing to the point where people come to believe each other if they keep telling each other that's good you kno

russian nationals on charges of conspiracy has further entrenched both sides of the russia gate narrative those who believe that kremlin tried to have democracy deep in their conviction as did those who insist that the whole story wasn't of sore losers whatever it was or was and russia's role in the two thousand and sixteen u.s. presidential campaign perception is reality how should moscow navigated well to discuss that i'm now joined by further one of russia's top geopolitical analyst and editor in chief of russian global affairs magazine mr look and if it's good to talk to you thank you for coming over now first let me ask you about the so-called same petersburg troll factory in western media it's presented as this huge ominous operation but if you look at the sheer number of people involved and the size of the budget it's not even a factor it's a tiny little swatch of three employ more people at the archies cafeteria actually indicted why do you think it's gotten these larger than life notoriety. and maybe you should promote you. more well i think. a cafeteria no english pretty much as

russia is much weaker than the united states but it can be compensated by by some. what i'm asking you about is the propensity of the of russia to produce these ad hoc actions what you're saying is that yes the russian state sometimes outsourcing is that but i think also what many foreigners don't understand is this call which the russian system allows for personal and sometimes even eleven and malevolent initiative yeah absolutely that's what i wanted to say and sometimes it is the case that. the state is using it but in many other cases this is a strange mixture of private initiative commercial initiative sometimes there are people with some political use. they they do it the maybe believe. russian state but it's not. developmental competency that the russian state the kremlin may cheer upon without actually the kremlin for asking the kremlin first absolutely and to believe that mr putin. controls. with what is happening in russia or. our society is much much much worse organized and i think. putting it on competency when it comes to social media is rather questionable it is well kno

elections and president vladimir putin. former ambassador to russia and nato, former russian foreign minister and journalist sat down for the discussion at the council last month. >> good morning. thank you all for coming. we have a wonderful program for you this morning. i should mention, this is part of our series on internal developments in russia. we began with a session on dem og graph ee, this is on politics. next month, we are doing a session on the russian economy, followed by session in april on energy segment in russia. we have a treat here. wonderful alliance of speakers. i will not describe them expect to say she's a top notch journalist from moscow, has written a provocative, fascinating paper on russia politically. and i'll turn it over. >> i want to extend gratitude for inviting me and asked me to write a paper. and thank you for coming for this event. weave witnessing what's now in history, mussolini and franco spain and portugal. there's not conspiracy in the story i am outlining. when vladimir putin has become the president, he brought with him a whole range of peop

the other way around. >>> happening now, breaking news, russia plea. a lawyer formally admits to lying to the special counsel's team as robert mueller turns up the heat on former trump campaign officials now under indictment. does mueller have a new cooperating witness to help him make his case? >>> distorting reality. the white house declaring again tonight that the russia probe is a hoax and claims mr. trump has been tougher on moscow than president obama. this hour, the false claims versus the facts. >>> downward spiral. after a stunning holiday weekend rant on twitter, the president is add it again, taking on the russia probe, his predecessor and a woman who accused him of sexual misconduct. what's driving his latest outbursts online? >>> and rallying cry, students who survived the florida school shooting are confronting lawmakers, demanding action to prevent another massacre. the president just signalled his support for one potential gun control measure, but will he follow through? >>> we want to welcome our viewers in united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, yo

because he tweeted it after the indictment was made public. russia started their anti-u.s. campaign in 2014, long before i announced that i would run for president. so now he believes the witch hunt. russia started the anti-u.s. campaign in 2014. now that he believes the witch hunt, maybe he'll start calling it the russia investigation instead of the witch hunt. now that 13 russians, who are not witches, have actually been indicted. we know that's not going to happen. we know that donald trump has an increasingly limited vocabulary and he'll never get the witch hunt thing you on of his head and he'll never stop lying about what robert mueller's investigation is actually about and what it is accomplishing. in a 37-page indictment filed in district court, robert mueller said that 13 russians have conspired since 2014 to violate laws that prohibit foreigners from spending money to influence elections in the united states, including the presidential election in 2016, in which their constant mission was to hurt hillary clinton's candidacy and help donald trump's candidacy, as well as anyone

wouldn't it and it has to do with economic cooperation between russia and austria. because you would also in your opinion what are the prospects for that kind of cooperation taking into account the well known difficulties in the relation between brussels and moscow so what are the prospects for implementing such projects as the north streams. the. wide goal which railway from question such a vienna thank you. if i get an extra minute to thank you for your question if. you like to highlight the back of that. their opinion i have a very positive positively through first to see the relations between us and david being developing in the gulf and this with the kurdish leaders. and we'll talk that at heart today during the lunch. we'll be here in langley also i can single out two points first the strategic interest we have by the russian and. the only interest. to. the wide goal which railroad coming as far as australia as far as we hear in. the last week we saw the meeting of the ministers for transportation we have a very. high level of appreciation when it comes to this project. and ben

access to mainly opposition held areas russia turkey and iran who signed the deal act as guarantors at the exact borders of those zones remain unclear but they come apart and the tukey a province western areas of aleppo and northern areas of hama the second zone he's eastern guta in the northern countryside of damascus where over four hundred. hundred thousand people have been besieged by government forces for the past four years the third deescalation zone is in parts of northern homs and finally the last one is further down to the south along the border with jordan so let's bring in our guests for today's inside story joining us in moscow dimitri for lawsky political analysts who researches russian affairs in the middle east in beirut he shams a banner a retired lebanese army general and joining us also from our raised in italy joshua landis director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma gentlemen thank you for being on inside story welcome to the show dimitri in moscow if i can start with you russia was the main guarantor of these yes collation zones

pbs. from reality star to presidential contender, taking on russia's vladimir put tin in ne next month's election. >>> oscar winning star, jeremy irons on his toughest role yet, eugene o'neill's acclaimed drama, long day's journey into night. in london's west end. >> announcer: "amanpour" on pbs was made possible by the jo generous support of rosalynn palter. >>> good evening, everyone. imagine a russian presidential candidate campaigning for warm relations with the united states and the west, for lgbt rights at home, an end to corruption, and bringing stolen billions back to the country. no, it's not vladimir putin who is a shoo in, and not alex say novalny. it is my next guest. ksenia, nationwide fame. she knows she won't win this time. but she says she wants to change the dialogue. she's been derided by critics as a kremlin stooj who will only divide and conquer can opposition, there is something new and different about her style, as i found out when she joined me today from washington. ksenia sobcak, welcome to the program. >> thank you for inviting me. >> given the heats atm

a very provocative and russia,ing paper on politically. with that, i will turn it over to -- >> i would like to extend my to -- whoatitude invited me and asked me to write the paper there -- who invited me -- who invited me and asked me to write the paper. the main topic of the paper i council the democratic and in this paper, i argued that we have been witnessing the transformation of the regime in russia. history in italy with mussolini. to be sure there is no conspiracy and the story i am outlining, i am just arguing has win vladimir putin president in 2000, and over the years, over eight all layers staffed of the russian government, the upper levels of the government and the presidential administration and as a result, almost 60% or 70% of all positions in the top layer of the russian government were kgb and somehe people from the military intelligence group. 2015, it became clear in the public sphere that the country is run by the people who grew up -- or by their sons and daughters. we have witnessed the formation of a clan of people who are united by the common background,

russia over election meddling could target the banks that are funding a huge buildup of alms they key to the country's weapons exports that are worth billions of euros and of crucial for the economy the kremlin is trying to find ways to protect the state owned lenders from any risk. weapons have traditionally been a booming business in russia. last year russia export a twelve billion euros worth of arms to fifty three nations private banks usually play a key role managing arms exports but many of them are now subject to u.s. sanctions potentially throwing a wrench into russia's well oiled arms industry until moscow repurposed the problem spawn that is the bank manages russian arms transactions and keeps them hidden. though social so that the courts. establishing a network of companies is all you need to transfer money. from the outside it's not at all transparent still it's not the king it was a shell who. until recently. was a private lender catering to the middle class but at the end of last year the bank found itself at the brink of collapse in january moscow responded by nationali

russian president boris yeltsin, and how they influence the new russia after the dissolution of the ussr. the university of virginia's cv looked at the complicated histor -- miller center look to the complicated history of the u.s. and russia. it included discussions of franklin, richard nixon, and ronald reagan as well as the russian counterpart. this is about one hour. >> as with the end of the cold and justthtaking speed when you think you are beginning by 1992, what happened wait there is a new administration in office and we are going to have that explain to us. >> let me start with a couple of ironies. reporter,ber as a when the bush administration came in, it was a little reagany with the administration going out. , therecall a pause secretary of state wanted to make sure he was not captured by the building and that kind of thing. years later the clinton administration came in, all i can say is bill clinton picked up exactly where bush 41 was. it was an extraordinary transition. inauguration, a number of people including those you have heard from, and are going to hear from d

russian president boris yeltsin, and how they influence the new russia after the dissolution of the ussr. the university of virginia's center convened scholars at the conference looking at the complicated history between the u.s. and russian leaders in the 20th century. the discussion included assessments of presidents like ronald reagan, and john kennedy are and their russian counterparts. riyad. about one hour to >> as with the end of the cold war, breathtaking speed and just when you think you are beginning to digest what happened by 1992, wait there is a new administration in office and we are going to have that explain to us. >> let me start with a couple of ironies. i do remember as a reporter, when the bush administration came in, it was a little scratchy with the reagan administration going out. i do recall a pause, the secretary of state wanted to make sure he was not captured by the building and that kind of thing. when four years later the clinton administration came in, all i can say is bill clinton picked up exactly where bush 41 was. it was an extraordinary transition.

. is a brave person. he was the lead architect of russia's state-run doping program. working with the fsb, the successor to the soviet kgb to cheat the international checks put in place to prevent doping by olympic athletes. that all changed in 2016 when the doctor blew the missile on the program he had once helped facilitate. resultings in suspension of russia from the 2018 winter olympics. his revelations generated a revitalized debate on the need to combat corruption in international competition more generally. the doctor now lives a precarious life in the united states, relying on whistleblower protection and fearful that russian agents may one day come knocking. he seldom gives interviews or makes statements due to this very real threat on his life. but we are lucky enough today to have jim with us, who will read an original statement from the doctor as well as speak to the man's story, his hopes and fears, and the centrality of whistleblowers in the fight against globalized corruption. to conclude, i would like to remark that the word "corruption" is mentioned 14 times in the na

being established by russia but they came under heavy shelling from militants preventing civilians from leaving the besieged district the situation in the enclave was discussed at a un security council meeting. the assad regime and their supporters have been pummeling eastern ghouta where four hundred thousand people live under siege and constant bombardment needs to be understood and still legitimate targets of minute operations they are asking civilians to leave eastern good to on the false premise that they can then attack anyone left in the area as much as they would like. pre-set someone's the civilians. because we've been through this before we know what russia will say today you know you done they will say that there are terrorists in eastern guta so the assad regime can bomb as ferociously and discriminately as it wants and once what do you do to implement the resolution did you influence those who consider a moderate opposition did you persuade them to stop shelling and say can people hostage it was a heated meeting in the halls of the u.n. security council we heard from differ

defensive about russia so that he can. not do the rational language use to reduce the tensions with russia to draw back from the russian border stop running ma armors and ships right up to the are up to the borders russian territorial waters territorial airspace stop doing not stop its might as long as donald trump is on the didn't bounce of about the elections now and it pressures him into going along with the deep state and people who want change and with russia because it allows them to sell weapons and it allows them to increase the size of the military. so i but if i were the president i would say show me facts don't you're making clues from intelligence agencies because i don't trust those over watch carefully any facts the do emerge behind these charges will bring straight to. appreciate as always the frankness of your assessment of the situation place to speak to virginia state senator richard black thank you and talking to you thank you. also the news now the state secretary of state is in turkey this is in an effort to mend ties with and corrects to the sin has met with pr

no sign that russia in defeat in the u.k. is present vote despite our new efforts to dig up proof. and south africa's parliament passes a measure that could see the entire white population stripped of their lungs without compensation. this is r.t. international coming to you live from moscow i'm kate partridge thank you for joining us. a humanitarian pause in the syrian enclave of eastern has apparently been broken by terrorists first second day safety corridors established by russia came under heavy shelling from militants preventing civilians from leaving the besieged district the situation was discussed at a u.n. security council meeting as artie's caleb maupin reports. the assad regime and their supporters have been pummeling eastern ghouta where four hundred thousand people live under siege and constant bombardment needs to be understood and still legitimate targets of military operations they are asking civilians to leave eastern good to on the false premise that they can then attack anyone left in the area as much as they would like to set up temporary settlements most civi

newsnight. the government calls out russia, blaming the kremlin for a reckless and destructive cyber attack on ukraine which was designed to spread across europe. are we already engaged in a cyber war with russia, and how dangerous could it get? it's deniable, it's semipublic, it includes the publicity. the fact i'm speaking about this right now is probably in the interest of the attacker because it scares people, so if undermining deterrence and it's very difficult to respond to. we'll be debating whether the russian threat is real or imagined. the fbi was warned that nikolas cruz, charged with 17 counts i'll be joined by two people, each of whom has a personal close connection with a massacre, one at virginia tech, the other columbine. good evening. russia for a cyber attack, publicly blaming the russian government for spreading a virus which swept across europe lastjune. the so—called notpetya attack hit companies, including british ones, after initially targeting ukraine. this unprecedented public accusation against the kremlin by the government also includes the threat of "imposing c

the downing of a russian warplane of it live province on saturday russia's defense ministry says the pilot ejected from the jet but was killed in a ground fight in the town of sarcasm human rights watch says bahrain has deported eight people to water on iraq after a vocal message isn't chip and making them stateless the eight deportivo are among thirty one activists and human rights lawyers who citizenship was revoked in two thousand and twelve on the grounds of damaging national security. the palestine liberation organization has moved to cut ties with israel p.l.o. leaders met in the occupied west bank on saturday ordering the palestinian government to draft a plan to cut off political economic and security contacts i have the news hour twenty five minutes. seven turkish soldiers are killed in the northern syrian district of a screen turkey it says the operation is crucial to defeat what it calls terrorists and establish a buffer zone but how much of a challenge is that and could this lead to a quagmire for this is inside story. and i welcome to the program i'm jane doc in the

cause of the current u.s. russia confrontation now nato officials insist a ring was and is the number one and russia all of us least sees it as a threat it's always been very open and honest about seeing it at the threat was nato getting closer to russia's borders do you think there could be a direct conflict is it on the cards i think it's very unlikely i think both of our countries recognize that could lead to very serious problems and so i think we will see restraint on both the united states and russia so that we don't need a new conflict the danger is not the door leaders will plan a conflict but the fact that our troops are so close together it might be an accident we went blunder into some kind of contact so that's the danger of the situation not the intent on the other side but sometimes events get out of control . of the leaders. do you think there's a limit to nato expansion. why in your opinion does need to need members like macedonia or montenegro does the alliance operate by the principle of the more the better no i don't think so factor you can argue that you dilute the

monday there. russia's president has ordered a five hour cease fire beginning it oh seven hundred hours g.m.t. will be a humanitarian corridor or in order for people to leave. following the order of the russian president with the aim of eliminating casualties among the civilian population of eastern a daily humanitarian pause is being introduced starting february twenty seventh from nine am to two pm and a humanitarian corridor will be created for the exit of civilians its cordon its have been prepared and will be announced soon al-jazeera as a solid been javert reports it is not yet clear what the details of this proposed russian cease fire between nine am to two in the afternoon are going to be so far what we've seen is that this humanitarian ceasefire will mean that a car door will be opened and people will be allowed to exit people inside eastern huta do not want to exit from their homes they have been seeing what has been happening to me and they have been seeing what has been happening to people in the riot and they do not want to exit their own homes to places where they don't kn

outside noise from russia not from china from the inside all sides are missing what you see now all around rushed. and there is. no rush. to find somebody outside. while the real problem was. welcome back to our interview with alastair cook we're talking about the middle east before we went to the break we were talking about the a cultural shift and maybe a strategic shift in israeli thinking because of what's going on in syria but it's always about iraq it's always about human well and i know that you know you're an expert in the region. there's a lot of bluster in the rhetoric that comes out and you know you have to kind of decipher it but we know that prime minister netanyahu is in trouble politically domestically because of corruption charges and allegations. and then we when we had this shoot down of this israeli plane the israeli media and the military talked about you know these. iranian death posen supplies in syria as if syria really isn't even a sovereign country here how much is with this shift that you were talking about and we have the hawks in the pentagon in the white

second day russia is free conciliation center says terrorist shelling is preventing hundreds of civilians from leaving the enclave in the belgian government faces a backlash over plans to make it easier for police to raid homes housing migrants we speak to one woman whose home was raided after she took in a sudanese teenager. and i saw seven men and one woman coming to the door pushing me aside and drawing her up asking me are you a lot i will remove the question of towns that. have. good evening watching r.t. international where is just turned six o'clock here in the russian capital in our top story this hour the russian olympic committee has now confirmed that the international olympic committee has reinstated russia as a full member. got to. read the statement was tied to the doping check of russian athletes who participated in the winter olympics the letter we received today says the i.o.c. is able to confirm all remaining results of the olympic athletes from russia are negative it is huge news for russia and certainly a step in the right direction as we all know russia has

trump dossier which describe the alleged links between the doubleton campaign team and russia they relate to the author of the document former m i five agent christopher steele and where he got his information from well for the deal to let's cross live to a similar account in washington d.c. hi there samir steele is back in the headlines of course following the release of that republican party memo last week isn't he what's this latest claim surrounding the british spy then. well according to a newly released senate document clinton associates associates were feeding information to christopher christopher steele while he was compiling the dos here on trump's alleged connections to russia and what is this document exactly well it's a heavily redacted version of the criminal referral against steele that was filed by a republican senators chuck grassley and lindsey graham and interesting the early enough it exposes korda nation between the clinton campaign and the obama administration with the intention of damaging trump well in the report it says it appears that steele lied or the cl

those trips to russia. but first, when democrats cared about civil liberties. that's the focus of tonight's angle. since the friday release of the g.o.p. house intel memo, democrats and their lackeys in the lamestream media have been in overdrive, attacking on the forefront. first, they downplay the memo -- it's a big nothing. >> as the new republic put it, "it would be easy to compare nunes' memo to geraldo rivera opening al capone's vault." >> the point is to be misleadin misleading. >> i don't think there's much to the memo. >> laura: for mmo that is supposedly a big dud, liberals are sure spending a lot of time. second. they showed us that the memo's author, devin nunes, is a really bad actor. did you know he's colluding with the white house? >> i think the president was crystal clear. i think that especially chairman nunes is doing his bidding. >> i believe this white house worked with chairman nunes to concoct this idea. >> i think it's very possible that he coordinated the whole effort with the white house. >> laura: that is a nice dodge. i love how they are trying to sugge

kilometers on road and on rail it crosses western china kazakhstan russia and will run all the way to europe it's a huge construction site. but what are china's true intentions behind this mega project. the many by the way in my opinion this project will change the development of the economy and society but it will definitely have long term geopolitical implications to judea. the new silk road crosses central asia the russian sphere of influence. the near putin and the xi jinping regularly affirm their geo strategic alliance but this new chinese project could have a massive impact on the relationship between the two countries and in the long term it could do the same to the power balance in the whole of eurasia. group in the past the silk road was called the axis of the world if you control that road you control the world. china has. chosen the city of chong shing as the starting point for its new silk road. with a population of around thirty five million almost as many as beijing and shanghai combined chung xing is china's largest urban area. few people in the west have actually hear

they influenced the new russia after dissolution of the ussr. the miller center convened scholars for a conference looking at the complicated history in the last century. this is just over an hour. >> as with the end of the cold war, events are rushing forward with breathtaking speed and just when you think you're beginning to digest what happened by 1992, wait, there's a new administration in office and strobe talbott is going to explain it to us. strobe? >> well, let me start with a couple of ironies. i do remember as a reporter when the bush 41 administration came in. it was a little scratchy with the reagan administration going out, and i recall talk of pause, secretary of state jim baker, wanting to make sure he wasn't captured by the building and that kind of thing. when four years later the clinton administration came in, all i can say is that bill clinton picked up exactly where bush 41 was. it was an extraordinary transition. well before inauguration, a number of people, including a couple of people you heard from and are going to hear from during the rest of the conference w

why one year ago russia you know was tampering with the utility company in new england is the president the united states post the press a button then and then you find out of the fabricated fake story i mean i find this a trigger and this in this is what the nightmare of the nuclear age was all about is that who's got their their thumb on the button here i mean so somebody taxes impress structure and you use nuclear weapons is that rational go ahead. russian. my opinion if there's a precedent there's a person and for the very first star in the americas explicitly in. trying to block my ass and saying that it will use a nuclear response to. attacks it is a precedent so when you look at the language how you know it is created the structure i mean in the sense of. you know what sort of threats america has obviously it is exaggerating the nuclear power cup abilities of of china are obviously this whole report is aimed at russia you shouldn't be. other way it is aimed at russia is from the very beginning and we should know that even though that many proppants of donald trump were.

ban on russia move comes after the remaining tests of the country's athletes said the show in china winter olympics turned up negative so does this draw a line under moscow's massive state run doping scandal. also coming up on the program russian hackers or let's to attack germany's defense and foreign ministry is installing the packers are said to belong to the same group that attacked the democratic national committee ahead of the two thousand and sixteen u.s. election. and fears grow in germany over the welfare of the tens of thousands of homeless people forced to live outside as temperatures plunge to record low voice. hello i'm terry marchant good to have you with its the international olympic committee has confirmed to d.w. that russia's olympic ben has been lifted with quote immediate effect the news comes just two days after russian athletes returned from competing as neutrals at the john shank winter olympics in south korea two russian athletes failed drug tests at the games but the ban was automatically deducted after no further positive tests russia was banned after revel

either because as i said it's an integrated system with russia it has a russian flag on it they're not going to take out russia's surface defense system because it would be unacceptable they know that so they took out a control tower or something like that but you know what do they do next does a except there's do they say well look the air defenses of syria in lebanon are only going to get better in the long term we must try and take an early preemptive action to destroy them before they become even better what are they going to do or are they going to say well we have to just come to terms with the reality much as we dislike it that we have a lot of our military how we got in there. except thing it did doesn't seem part of their d.n.a. i think culturally almost impossible to accept i think they would try and find some means to avoid exceptions i think one of the let me jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on the middle east stay with our team. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking t

i don't share that view i don't believe that is a fact coming from russia today i believe we have to be vigilant about what might happen in the future in russia or china but i don't see a threat today and then there's the head of the british army cern nicholas carter and he says that cyber war with russia is a bigger threat to britain their security to british security than terrorism the terror attacks happened on monthly bases and britain last year i mean what is it all ok under control now no terrorist threat information cyber attack is more dangerous cyber attack is a real problem for all of our countries for russia have united states and for britain but the cyber attacks can come from terrorism rows from other countries. one of the unique aspects of the cyber threat is that they can come from an individual it can come from a small group and they can come from a nation is not limited like nuclear weapons to a large country that has the industrial capacity to build a nuclear weapons but i think what makes people nervous is a lot of. talk about war war war and conflict is so much

us forces them to black and white. in countries like russia china church people are told and if you're a journalist there and you try to get beyond it you are facing scare tactics intimidation. and i wonder is that where we're headed as well. my responsibility as a journalist is to get beyond the smoke and mirrors it's not just about being fair and balanced or being neutral it's about being truthful. finding his point golf and i work with you know. this is a story of one man's wounded pride and his revenge a man who experienced russia's loss of superpower status and who wants to restore his homeland to its former glory. in twenty twelve bloody mere putin was elected russian president for another six years. the former k.g.b. agent had now already ruled the country for twelve years during which he restored order to a country facing disintegration silence the opposition and brought the media into line but the pomp of the inauguration ceremony was deceptive the election had less . putin weaker than ever before. the largest demonstrations since the collapse of the soviet union spread

returns to a washington simmering over guns and russia. with leland vittert covering the latest on all those fronts, leland. >> we will start with guns. it appears the lockstep between the nra and congressional republicans is getting softer tonight and president trump may also be persuadable when it comes to legislation once unthinkable. "the washington post" reports the president spent this weekend pulling friends down in palm beach on what they think about gun control. while discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background checks system. if republican lawmakers are trying to blunt the criticism of survivors from last week school shooting. president trump reportedly told friends he was watching as students attacked him and other republicans. >> we are giving all of our politicians a clean slate and in the next election we are saying if you are accepting money from the mra, there is a badge of shame on you because you are enabling things like this to happen. >> sound bites like those have been on the ai

who experienced russia's loss of superpower status and who wants to restore his homeland to its former glory. in twenty twelve bloody mere putin was elected russian president for another six years. the former k.g.b. agent had now already ruled the country for twelve years during which he restored order to a country facing disintegration silence the opposition and brought the media into line but the pomp of the inauguration ceremony was deceptive the election had left putin weaker than ever before. the largest demonstrate. since the collapse of the soviet union spread across the country the protesters condemned alleged election fraud and called for putin's resignation falling oil prices were causing widespread economic hardship and corruption was rife putin himself was accused of becoming one of the richest men in the world through graft. the ruler in the kremlin was very worried and hid himself in his palace. and he started to fight back using a tried and tested method accusing the west america and the cia of conspiring against him. and we do have serious concerns about the conduct of

i'm asking you about is the propensity of the russia to produce these ad hoc actions what you're saying is that as the russians they sometimes outsource but i think also what many foreigners don't understand is this cold which the russian system allows for personal and sometimes even eleven and malevolent initiative absolutely. sometimes. the state is using it but there are many other. strange mixture of private. commercial and sometimes there are people with some political use. the maybe believe the russians the. russian state the kremlin. without actually the kremlin for asking the kremlin first absolutely to believe the. controls. with what is happening in russia or they have also come to. see that our society is much much much worse organized and i think the importance on competency when it comes to social media is rather questionable it is well known that he's not using smartphones so he's knowledge of. tool of communication. maybe he's in charge so maybe he's his divine chris should be indicted after all now if you look at some of the output of the troll sweatshop it uses m

reconciliation center. after safety corridors established by russia came into heavy shelling from militants preventing civilians from leaving the besieged district correspondent marty arabic is on the scene. now how much any economics the second day of the troops we haven't seen any civilians walking through the corridor it is known that there are many civilians who want to leave their own place to leave it for the one and only corner open for civilians from glitter however militants prevent civilian from exiting and don't allow them to leave due to an evacuation route to which the road to damascus the militant positions are just three or four hundred meters from the current or near the campus are offered in the syrian government has distributed leaflets amounts of aliens are not controlled and placed this detailed information and a map on how to get into the area under government control you can see that everything is ready here to receive civilians and to deal with any difficulty many tarion situation. the damascus suburb which is under the control of rubble and terrorist groups