Environmental damage caused by the farming industry has been on the rise in recent years. Animals are often mistreated. In germany a growing number of people want to see changes to Agricultural Policy but little has shifted put this speed because of lobbyists in the Agricultural Sector are lobbyists more powerful in this policy area than in others. Our Research Revealed a tightly intertwined web of interests in which corporations influential figures manning several lobbying positions and politicians are closely linked a lot is at stake. During the making of this film billions of euros in agricultural subsidies were being negotiated in brussels and germany was under a huge pressure to finally impose stricter limits on the amount of liquid manure used on its fields. Who is pulled. In the strings behind the scenes. In. Brussels farmers and conservation groups from across europe are protesting outside the headquarters of the European Commission to call for a change in Agricultural Policy they collected 100000 signatures for a petition demanding subsidies for farmers who produce food and in an environmentally friendly fashion the demonstration was organized to coincide with an e. U. Negotiation on farming subsidies totaling 55000000000 euros a year. Montu noice ling is a member of the European Parliament and an organic farmer the Green Party Politician has been campaigning for years for environmentally friendly farming to be awarded with subsidies. Fellows of the on the inside but on the other side there are powerful lobby interests its not as if money isnt being made from farming in europe and its a profitable business and the Food Industry is one of the main export earners so naturally there is here to ensure that the talks a lot of money on to the Agricultural Sector one overs in your in the gob of is gone martine hustling says taxpayers money is currently being used to interrupt the support of corporations but that it should Serve Society as a whole. The European Parliament has been negotiating the redistribution of farming subsidies for months a total of 55000000000. 00 euros per year the largest slice of the e use expenditure powerful lobby groups are clamoring to maximize their share. But whose interests will prevail. In the European Parliament martin hoisington is part of a team negotiating farming issues for the green party and hes preparing for him to basically scheduled for the next day going to be replaced by hunnish no ransom a Senior Adviser on agriculture and Rule Development joins well hes saying to go over the strategy. Well. I think we should try to push the point that the current agricultural challenges are going to get worse if things dont change soil and fertility will drop further. After working with that yeah sure but thats why we have to emphasize that even more so there are plenty of figures and supporting documents and the commission described the situation correctly thats appraisal so the question is why are we taking action yet ready. That should be enough for the 2 minutes this is just because its what we do and you. 2 minutes is what martino is doing will have to present his most important arguments to other members of the European Parliament. Shunning i do have a degree of anger in me its just ridiculous that they still havent understood it. We have so much evidence that this form of farming will be our ruin your country but there are still people sitting there saying now everythings ok if we can explain it in a different way theyll understand it and indeed us all. Its the evening before the 1st round of talks which sides interests will come out on top in the debate and why. The next morning german conservative m. E. P. Albert denis is likewise preparing for the debate. Desk is also chairman of byron lund one of the biggest producers of Dairy Products in germany he takes a skeptical view of investments in environmental protection. He describes who owned as i find arguments calling for the farming sector to become more environmentally misled even when its so if we said that from now on 20 percent of the land should be used environmentally before you do that would result in production being relocated to farming areas around the world through for the. Deaths says that if more german land is used in a way that benefits the environment major producers will inevitably go elsewhere he wants the status quo maintained under which funding is awarded on a per hectare basis disses offices around the corner from that of social democrat maria noise she takes exception to taxpayers money being allocated according to land area finish that is the big question is which pharmacy receive support and then the answer for me is that public funding should be facilities as in the Public Interest you should get money is not simply for owning land. But depending on what you do with it its activities that ought to be rewarded not ownership since. There are 2 clear camps here policies that favor the environment and the common good or those that mean the more land you own the more money you are paid and. The different parties made their way over to the Agriculture Committee. Will also be there and will face powerful opponents. In the old industry and if the Food Industry and its representatives here in parliament so powerful i believe things would be moving in a different direction neal but the Food Industry depends on direct payment subsidies to be able to compete in export markets of export market to getting caught. Martin why sling wants to see an eco friendly Agricultural Policy as do environmental and Consumer Protection groups the e. U. s farming policy is hammered out here by the Agricultural Committee or which side will end up getting its way Albert Dennis is the c. E. O. Of a major Dairy Producer martin hoisting is an organic farmer. And maria noise is a former teacher. But if im not. If phil kogan is the European Commissioner for agriculture and Role Development and an advocate of area based subsidies. In jordan to ensure full standard of living for the community in particular when trees in the areas of persons envision a. Time for martin hoisting to have his say. So hows things giving them good. Stuff posted a week proposal from the commission looks like things will get even worse except for those few fancy headlines. Will poisoning managed to convince his colleagues will be returning to the debate in brussels later. To. Call own back at our editorial offices we want to investigate who is pulling the strings behind closed doors our industry lobby groups determining Agricultural Policy and if so how. We come across a revealing document from 2015 by the Scientific Advisory board of the German Ministry of agriculture the paper concluded that policy was strongly influenced by Interest Groups because of the powerful and effective farming and agribusiness lobby. How does this impact farmers and what has changed in the past 4 years. We head out to do some research on the ground one environmental issue is ground Water Pollution its been known for years that the excessive use of liquid manure in fields leads to nitrate groundwater contamination in june 2800 germany was condemned for exceeding e. U. Fertiliser limits and currently faces fines of up to 850000. 00 euros per day until it reduces its use of liquid manure. Or in north rhinewestphalia where a lot of liquid manure is produced how are the farmers dealing with the problem. This farm belongs to martine rom shoulda who also rears pigs he has had this farm for 40 years and as we arrive hes preparing a delivery of pigs for slaughter. Currently each pig yields 20 euros in profit in some years this drops to just 6 euros. One take that i funny for thought you come out shorting about this is Pretty Simple right now its 20 euros per pig 0 if i sell 1000. 00 pigs a year all i earn is 20000. 00 euros how trying and thats our Family Income every month if you dont get far on that from me and i am come back home in a 500. 20000 euros for one year of hard work from children may be a part of a 1000000000 euro industry but his own profit margin is slim. And for now if we currently have 850. 00 picks from us if we wanted to live soley off fat pigs wed have to have 4000. 00 your calls and its insane it would mean even more liquid manure that needs distributing. The farmer says he already has too much manure he has fields full of crops but they arent enough to dispose of all the animal waste his manure tank as he shows us is full to the brim. Yom tov will already have far too much liquid manure for our fields we have to have 300 cubic meters picked up and taken away because we have too many pigs so for. The excess manure ends up several 100 kilometers away on other farmers fields liquid manure is a valuable fertilizer but there is simply too much of it what kind of system is this for a pig is now worth practically nothing small scale farmers live at subsistence level and the huge quantities of liquid manure are increasingly polluting germanys Drinking Water. Each pig that rumsfeld to drives off to the slaughterhouse has a socalled smaller weight of a around 100. 00 kilos the average price of pork in german supermarkets is 6. 00 euros 70 per kilo. Every year some 65000000. 00 pigs are slaughtered in the country its a 1000000000 euro market that is a huge earner for industry. Chemical Companies Make money from medication and pesticides the Farm Supplies sector from fodder mixtures and fertilizers the agro financial industry from loans for Agricultural Machinery and large scale animal sheds the Meat Industry from slaughtering and processing and finally the Retail Sector from the sale of food products. And production continues to rise germany is now the worlds furred biggest export or of food. In order to survive marking rumsfeld just says hed have to expand which would 1st mean going into debt there is a Farmers Union but he doesnt sense much support from them. Up on for bond thank you bob they have no interest in the Small Farmers only in the quantities of feet they can sell and in keeping the speed pellet plants running. The lot of people representing the union also sit on the boards of b. Companies including the collectors the lot and insurance for x. Factor of them or and for the one i cant make sense of it im going to go into we have managers in the union who are at the same time working for Major Companies also fumes its an orange in for band. In response to work weary the german Farmers Union insisted it also represents the interest of small scale farmers. The Agricultural Industry continues to increase turnover but at what price to the public our next stop is moer saxony where we meet a gun harms from the olden bore water board for years hes found the nitrate levels in water just below ground to be worryingly high for a 520. 00. Also were very concerned that the pollution were currently only seeing below the surface well at some point seep deeper and to the level we get our water from them. Based on his measurements hydrologist is able to calculate how the ground Water Quality will deteriorate in the future. What does he make of the governments approach. That im stuck on instead of recognizing the problem early on and working with us on solutions and they said there was no nitrate problem i knew a few of them still claim that one off yes the nod at the e. U. Was threatening to impose fines time is running short on action has to be taken. We accompany him to the lab where he will inspect his latest sample too much nitrate in Drinking Water is carcinogenic with Young Children particularly at risk expensive filter systems might soon become necessary but that would almost double the price of water in some regions according to the energy and Water ManagementIndustry Association todays results are hardly encouraging. 119. 00 just under 120. 00 milligrams per liter thats more than twice the permitted limit and. His colleagues elsewhere in germany are also finding critical levels water board officials are urgently calling for measures to be taken. Come from here when it comes to fighting for more stringent regulations for manure we continually find ourselves up against the agribusiness lobby. Theyve been managing to prevent stricter regulations for years im. Afraid and could tightening germanys fertilizer legislation keep the countrys Drinking Water safe its a debate with a lot at stake because less liquid manure would also mean fewer pigs which would in turn have consequences for the entire industry for years the German Government has failed to agree on a solution. Makes you wonder who is in bed with whom theres a lot of money involved who actually an influence is Foreign Policy thats the question and. Our Parliament Members subjected to so much lobbying influence that you have to ask whether theyre still acting with the publics interest in mind which. We began researching whose interests politicians in key positions are really representing and begin examining how fertiliser legislation was decided in the past. Germanys government has known for years that it has to act not least due to pressure. From the e. U. Over excessive nitrate levels in the ground water time and time again however amendments have been postponed in 2016 the German Parliaments Agriculture Committee began examining how much liquid manure should be allowed on crops attending the meeting was one of the most renowned scientists in his field he calculated how much nitrogen from liquid manure or artificial fertiliser crops need to grow. Thats literally warm welcome to you all of us i would like to introduce our experts speaker and professor played hometown from the christiane alberich to university and in the us a target so cute. Together with 30 other scientists Friedhelm Talbot calculated how much nitrogen plants such as maize need to grow. The researchers found this to be 150 kilograms per hectare and professor talbot recommended this figure at the hearing. But just before the negotiation ended the committee decided to recommend 200 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare significantly more fertiliser than the plants can actually absorb according to the experts the surplus seeps into the groundwater in the form of nitrates. The scientists were asked for their Expert Opinion at the Agriculture Committee hearing but their findings were not adopted this. Explained and its extremely problematic for a scientist to see how legislation is being based on deals here find on levels of fact that are far removed from scientific knowledge up for business have to know how is it. Were meeting professor talbot 2 years after the hearing he tells us the 27000 amendment regarding the nitrogen level has had enormous consequences. The majority of consequent farm. As can now use this additional amount of fertilizer this was not on the agenda before and it was slipped into those negotiations right at the end user find them with high horses and who was behind that. To answer this question we begin by identifying which german Parliament Members worked on the legislation the preparation of such bills takes place behind closed doors here in the Agriculture Committee this is where decisions are made on how animals are kept and how food is produced. Our analyses revealed that almost half the parliamentarians on the committee have direct links to agriculture. A large proportion of them also hold high level positions in the agriculture industry in the Farmers Association or in the agribusiness Financial Sector and that proportion is particularly high in the conservative c. D. U. C. S. U. Parliamentary group. What did these m. P. s say and do in the committee in 2017 trade wish austin doff from the green party remembers the negotiations vividly its a good move but all the christian democrats a christian social unite people did was stall and. They torpedoed the whole thing with you and it was an endless process of that we in the opposition got a pretty good picture of events because social democrat colleagues would come over to cry on our shoulders and they said you cant imagine how tough going the negotiations are how difficult it is to get any kind of agreement go. Vilhelm place meyer is from the Junior Coalition partner social democrats and was involved in the talks 1st hand he tells us he fought long and hard for stricter legislation on fertilisers. Should i feel like a bit of a failure because i could have done. And who made you fail. On my colleagues from the christian democrats. And also the Interest Groups behind the scenes who are also represented there. In these negotiations there was relatively tight solidarity between the Farmers Union and the c. D. U. Many colleagues are also members of the union. There are very important issues on the table and they exert their influence 1st. Does this mean some members of the Agriculture Committee are biased towards industry interests. Lost and or thinks at least 2 members are. Also parts and and your harness willing are high profile conservative m. P. s connected to farming they were definitely not among those pushing for progressive fertiliser legislation instead they stalled proceedings massively each time claiming they were protecting their farmers id call it protecting the business interests. Should exist. Hoatson comp was then chairman of the Christian Democrat Group on the committee. Sperling is his successor. In feb 27th team the German Parliament voted on the fertiliser legislation. Supports and company took to the floor im confident of victory. As well i. Mean weve done something good for the future i ask you all to vote in favor thank you wolf you and i the legislation was passed with the conservative social democrat majority but then brussels announced its response the outcome larned the e. U. Which. Said the amendments didnt sufficiently protect Drinking Water the threat of the fine for germany is still unresolved. Back in cologne in 29000. 00 we are researching which unspoken interests influence the vote in berlin how many politicians have ties to industry and which companies do they work for. We meet ketone nish gets a researcher from the university of blame on behalf of the Nature Conservation group in a. B. You nish bits took a closer look at leaders in the Agriculture Sector and to politicians and mapped out the various connections he found the following. The hype has not been a political influence at the government level at the minute at least in the Agricultural Sector is wielded by individuals who are what you would call wealthy functionaries who wear a multitude of hats and all feeds and they represent associations in the Agricultural Sector which of are rooted in agribusiness and ideally also hold positions on Supervisory Boards of manufacturers or Industry Groups benefit this enables me to exert my influence in directly and ensure my interests are realised also in the Agricultural Committees in europe and in berlin or in body. Form or been just talk member fun of hosts and comp is such a multi functionary the fertilizer amendment was the last item of legislation he helped introduce before moving completely into industry. Hes now president of the right 5 some confederation germanys biggest Umbrella Group representing farming collectives and also sits on the board of an association representing corporations alongside executives from buyer and other agra giants back when he was negotiating the new fertiliser legislation in the German Parliament both in camp was already on the Supervisory Board of a gravitas one of the biggest producers of Agricultural Products in. In germany we take a closer look at a gratis the commercial cooperative has a prominent stand at this trade fair in minster of gravest turns over 6000000000 euros a year and essentially Sells Everything the Agricultural Industry offers farmers and will feed seeds pesticides and mineral and nitrogen fertilizer. And its annual management report from 2016 the company warned that stricter fertilizer legislation would likely lead to a significant decline in revenue. In 2016 franciosa posts and comp was still an m. P. And on the Supervisory Board of a gravitas on the German Parliaments website which lists all his additional posts and pay grades we can see that 1. 00 holds in comp was negotiating the legislative amendment a gravis increased his salary from level 2 to level 3 he went from earning up to 7000 euros a month to earning up to 15000 euros a month a coincidence posts income said he did not have time to be interviewed but he did provide a written response to our questions he said the cited figures are unfounded and that secondary posts are permitted under legislation governing parliamentarians he did not respond to our question regarding a conflict of interest votes income pretty tired from politics in 2017 to concentrate fully on his work in the agribusiness sector. He was succeeded on the Agriculture Committee by johannes rootling like coats and comp also works for our graphics and was involved in negotiating the fertilizer amendment this multi functionary is reportedly one of the top earners in the bluntest tuck. Who is johana swerving the m. P. Obtained most of his industry posts only after he became his Party Spokesman on the Agriculture Committee. Murdering currently holds around 15 positions in various corporations lobby groups and the banking sector. To name just a few lurking is on the board of trustees of quality on city height a Company Responsible for checking quality and Safety Standards in the food sector. Hes also president of a Regional Branch of the Farmers Association. As well as on the Supervisory Board of d. C. Huet a leading provider of Real Estate Financial services in germany and hes on the Supervisory Board of the l. V. M. Insurance groups pension fund division. Yana scribbling also works for fertiliser supplier a gravitas where he sits on the Advisory Board. Going said he did not have time for an interview with us due to scheduling commitments our question about whether he had conflicts of interest went unanswered a gravity sent us a written response saying the company did not see a conflict of interest for refereeing or holds in comp and that both politicians act according to their conscience. Process the e. U. Is threatening germany with fines of up 2850000 euros a day for breaching e. U. Fertiliser limits it once the country to revise its legislation so that its fertiliser use complies with e. U. Directives protecting ground Water Quality. We asked germanys minister of agriculture yulia pluck now how she sees lobbyists in agriculture element alia mark all the secondary posts of a lot of parliamentarians on the Agriculture Committee especially from the conservative faction are mainly within industry the how do you ensure a ballot where you tick. This is my hadnt heard the mainly within industry if someone has their own farm and then. Im talking about executive appointments at major agricultural corporations and are going to spend on the as well i know they get economy in isnt on any Supervisory Board tomorrow nor is my lane immortal other people i think we should stay fair here and refrain from using these black and white categories there are interests everywhere and someone having interests isnt necessarily bad as the they need to firstly be transparent and secondly also not make political decisions according to one groups interests but considering the various groups interests and in mouth clash left. But how realistic is this when industry has such a Strong Influence on politicians bank accounts. We go to bond to hear what a constitutional law expert thinks about members of the Agriculture Committee simultaneously holding posts in industry. Spent 12 years as a judge on germanys federal constitutional court. In frog whether parliamentarians should be allowed to represent other interests is a question thats been around since the dawn of the parliamentary system because once one but in the case of obvious industry interests and personal ties we do have to ask critical questions in vietnam could the far. Listen these questions should 1st be asked in the parliamentary arena itself ones and without moralizing or demonizing but rather demanding for greater transparency. Trust. So just how transparent our german politicians regarding their various interests get on an issue its spent 12 months analyzing how parliamentarians and lobby groups work in 10. His research has laid bare the various connections. As most of humanity and that is that you need somebody to collect process and fact check this information something a regular citizen does not have the capacity for at least 5 type of eyes and also because in some cases there is insufficient public data on how many physicians an individual has and with which conflicts and collisions of interest and called is your land titles and that makes it pretty much impossible to see who is doing what they are and why it. Information is publicly available but the details are hard to decipher in berlin we visit the communal vodka or green week its one of the biggest events on the global agricultural trade fair calendar and to chance for agribusiness to do some grandstanding its also a meet and greet for farming ministers and industry stakeholders. And the most important lobbyist is your walking recreate president of the german and the european Farmers Unions his job centers on friendly relations with politicians hes considered one of the most influential individuals in the agribusiness sector. Farmers Union President rock veit has an array of links to the industry he holds over a dozen high ranking posts in a range of Different Companies and lobby groups from banks to fertiliser suppliers and zoot soaker the worlds biggest sugar producer. Recreates influence extends far beyond germanys borders still hogan is also at green weekend berlin as European Commissioner for agriculture and Rural Development hogan is the key figure in the allocation of agricultural subsidies. You walk in new creed is eager to rub shoulders with the commissioner. At. The new headquarters in brussels its now just a few weeks before the Agriculture Committees vote on agricultural subsidies the biggest item in the used budget and the allocation of funds has been hotly debated. Commissioner phil hogan has presented a proposal that would retain the system of area based payments. That the Committee Meeting we catch up with the 3 german members of the European Parliament conservative albert dest chairman of a major supplier of Dairy Products the green partys martine hoisting an organic farmer and social democrat and former teacher maria noyes the commissioner defends the old system ive also heard is that right where hospital is a direct this other area of our us to the victory really is the way it is if. This is the part of the provisions of article 33. 00 which said that the objectives of the n. E. P. Martine hoisting voices his criticism of the system. If you dont think you im a little disappointed mr hogan. If neither i agree with the court of auditors that the climate objectives cannot be achieved with the 1st pillar of payments. I have not found a concrete point perhaps mr hogan would care to pay attention. Its nice of mr hogan to listen to what members have to say. That this. Dont hold him up in the need for actually just continuing as before but under new headings great headlines but its highly doubtful that well be able to meet environmental and climate objectives thank you very much. It seems those with Environmental Concerns have a hard time being heard here. Conservative alberta defends the policy by downplaying the amount of subsidies involved. In autism. If you take all the Public Expenditure in europe from brussels agriculture accounts for less than one percent need to make that clear to the public but farming is not the huge beneficiary of subsidies that its always made out to be just that. Dennis says we need to increase the amount of food exports in order to be able to feed the world listen to the fact that we have to boost productivity by 2056 the world will need 60 percent more food on the increasing productivity does not mean that the environment will be harmed you cannot imperiously prove that the scones. Studies that establish a connection between Agro Chemicals and environmental damage are unreliable according to dest who is constantly going from one Committee Meeting to the next in the Pesticides Committee for example he advocates the use of glyphosate. Who is albert deaths over the last 50 years the bill. Varian has been involved in Agricultural Policy from local Town Councils to the german and European Parliament he became an m. E. P. In 2004 albert dest is another well connected official the qualified farm manager is honorary chairman of the bavarian Farmers Union for more than 20 years he has been chairman of one of germanys largest dairies buy or not which produces cheese for supermarket chains and for export and post annual sales in excess of 1000000000 euros plus the n. E. P. Is also on the Advisory Board of germanys largest agricultural conglomerate. Which also has a large food export business. But under desk sees no conflict of interest he sees no problem in reconciling his executive position at the Dairy Producer with his responsibilities as a member of the European Parliament. Other m. V. P. s however take a critical view of such proximity to industry one of them is social democrat maria noise. Does how they vote suggest theres someone else pulling the strings absolutely and i can give you an example but i dont think youll mind mr desk repeatedly uses the word we were of the opinion that and i often say mr davis or rather albert who is this we today your party the Farmers Union or the dairy collective youre chairman of the reform is what this is this week becomes blurred when he says we are of the opinion that that is when i notice how his position isnt clear and how important it is for a parliamentarian to remind themselves of their juicy to the public were not here to get the best deal on behalf of a dairy company. Not being mandated to ensure that farmers receive direct payments with a minimum of conditions to feel that what i am here for is to conduct Agricultural Policy for the entire population. Me back in our offices in cologne considering the industry interests present in the committees can the Parliament Still make balanced decisions. In the us if we place the 3 sheets on top of each other well get a picture of how the system works. Before picture shows the web of connections between the key corporations lobby groups and politicians. Their representatives sit on the same committees allowing them to coordinate their strategies these connections have evolved over several decades today they have become a sturdy system that can withstand reform efforts. Brussels in the spring of 2019 a few days before the vote. But its just. The tension is palpable in the offices of martin hoisting and were not the only t. V. Crew here will he get a majority for his cars. To do that also isnt going on for the committee is basically split 2 ways its hard meaning which direction things will go it comes down to a handful of people at this point were about to find out whether well get this majority or that majority its exciting because the outcome is still on written this is money charles can. Is also working on a motion for the Agriculture Committee which aims to expose conflicts of interest half of the m. V. P. s on the committee are themselves farmers they are therefore direct beneficiaries of the subsidies which automatically leads to a conflict of interest says notional. Because. I was a town council in rosenheim for over 10 years which is its own administrative district it was completely normal there to abstain from certain votes because of posh ality for example if their resigning plans for developing a location and you happen to have land there it would be dishonest to vote and also prohibited so in a Municipal Assembly having a conflict of interests is no big deal you just shipped your chair back to signal you have a vested interest i do match and thats how it would be in the European Parliament too but sadly its not in the us is that if. There is in fact a code of conduct in the European Parliament. It stipulates that any piece should disclose any conflict of interest in writing but ultimately this has no consequences for the vote on the e. U. s common Agricultural Policy. In april 29000 the Agriculture Committee decides to maintain the model of area based land subsidies around half of the members voting have ties to the industry we speak to constitutional law expert fabio again he calls for more transparency in the system in brussels and berlin promised was good for she had managed on lobbying comes from various directions and is part of the parliamentary system. But it has to be visible and not done in the shadows. Because if it happens covertly it was and is then suddenly exposed it damages Public Confidence through. A foolish song called. Be found b. O. Thinks selfregulation is a sensible approach a kind of standardized conscience check what we learn from our research is that we need better rules regarding transparency plus a code of conduct for cases where politicians stand to gain financially from a decision because while having secondary jobs in industry is permitted it seems to also compromise the credibility of europes democratic system. In essence they call him picking up the homeless. Kristos other countries. He provides jobs 1st treat people in his own cafes. To help them start their own newspaper. But best of all use it all to restore their sense of dignity was. Going. 90 minutes on t. W. Actually this meter just shows the 1st such red shows. Such law. The smart way to get where youre going. To go blow this mobility show every week w. D. To know that 77 percent of. Younger than 6 of fox. Cuts me and me and you. And you know what its time all voices. On the 77 percent to talk about the issues. This is where it comes to. The 77 percent this weekend on d w. The to. Play. This is news coming to you live from berlin after a missile strike she ran in the us back from direct military conflict around appears to be standing down which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world President Trump insists he wants peace but will his countrys ongoing clash with irans play out in the way its also coming up why did a ukrainian passenger plane crash just moments after takeoff from irans busiest air