A triple threat middle east tensions soar as israel carries out their strikes against iranian troops in syria just days after a suspected israeli drone attacks in lebanon in iraq. Check out our t. V. Dot com for more on the latest headlines up next though crosstalk examines the growing alignment of russia and china on the world stage. Hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered im Peter Lavelle the bear and the dragon over the last few years the russia china relationship has grown in depth and in magnitude it is not hard to understand why with russia constantly demonize. Sanction and china targeted its a serious western Security Threat theres no wonder moscow and beijing gravitate towards each other this is much more than a marriage of convenience. Cross talking russia and china im joined by my guest joel and paris he is the president of the bridge tank in washington we have earl he is the executive Vice President of the Eurasia Center and in singapore we cross to jim rogers hes an International Investor and author of street smarts adventures on the road and in the markets all right crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate jim let me go to you in singapore as i said in my introduction this is no longer a marriage of convenience if it ever was the reason why were doing this program is im reflecting upon a bed in the New York Times and they were basically reacting is like wow the everybody notice this happening which all of us have and remarkably said that trump was right to improve relations with russia as i actually to do and reverse nixon when it came to china what are these people talking about where have they been it seems like theyve just crawled out under from a rock go ahead jim and singapore. Well i would tell you peter if you go to moscow airport now its full of chinese 5 years ago there were nobody there if you go to red square theyre all speaking chinese mr trump and theyre americans are pushing the chinese and the russians closer and closer together breaks my heart im an american but this isnt saying its insane if you could get out a map or study demography or geography you would know you dont want to be against those 2 countries combined ok well very good point joe let me go to you in paris i mean this is being going on slowly but surely in for a variety of reasons here of course russia is against nato expansion it sees it as a existential threat to its security which it is and any military alliance moving towards your borders is by definition and the chinese well we see that the United States again raising the issue of tariffs and possible sanctions chinese interaction with a country like iran i mean china and russia are natural allies in light in reacting to the policies coming out of washington and it doesnt really matter whos in the white house by the way go ahead and paris. Yeah you know i think of being friends either you have the same enemies who shared a seaman and hes but im not sure its what models the most you know of course the fuel the friendship but i think that its sick and where we choose to come on issues is more important i would suggest the centrally. Growing lead to middle east ease shared issues between the nations it couldnt be called the energy in terms of security so i think its a friendship which is going to last there are all of the same question to you this is much more than a marriage convenience because thats what you constantly hear that is to refrain when it comes to western observers watching russia and china i mean i think its gone way beyond that i mean its gone way beyond dating there in a relationship they will probably never get married ok because neither country under its own laws can be a part of a Strategic Alliance with another country but they certainly do parlay very well go ahead. Peter i mean its been happening for a while and just to be surprised recently its kind of. You know where you been but absolutely its more than just a marriage of convenience going much deeper also which couples that that makes it Even Stronger is the personal relationship between president. President putin which basically theyre they call each other their best friends and that spills over into government and weve got natural which weve kind of talked about a little bit the central asia i think peace is very critical expression to support the Road Initiative and weve got. Russias got a bunch of the resources china Needs Resources but its much more than just economic and weve got 2600 mile border the relationship to go on much to geo political interests personal interests economic and now potential military security interests as well you know one of the things thats very interesting is that. Detractors of the russia china relationship always say that russia is choosing poorly it should choose the west over china but i always counter is that under that scenario russia must surrender a great deal of its sovereignty and that it is unwilling to do that its relationship with china both countries preserve their their sovereignty and their very adamant about it i mean if you look at their relationship when one is not subservient to the other they have mutual strong interests and thats where they start from go ahead jim they have huge enters together they have the russians have bass Natural Resources the chinese that best amounts of labor the russians need labor and the chinese need Natural Resources siberia used to be part of china you know its only in the past 150 years or so that siberia became part of russia as the russians but you know the history im sure so no this is makes perfectly natural sense its going to be good for both countries again im an american i dont particularly like it. I dont like saying whats happened but no its fabulous for everybody russians get what they need the chinese get what they need and if you look at a map nobody wants to find those countries its going to have. To have people their borders i mean you have to be crazy to build it in those 2 people. Theres been a lot of craziness in washington think of a rock ok think of libya think of syria i mean dont put it past these people here ok seriously joe its not just peter youre exactly right politicians all over the world throughout history have done some unbelievably foolish things americas doing that now but dont think others wont do them too. Joe joe i mean what is the possibility of a reverse nixon ok because this is what you know this the New York Times recently has talked about encouraging donald trump doing better relations with russia or what the media and the his political opposition the democrats have done for the last 3 years and how the liberal old lady gray lady comes out and says mr trump you shouldnt group improve relations i mean i dont even think russia would even shake a hand extended at this point and i think that thats one of the primary reason they say we have to look east i mean its common sense jolie go ahead and paris. One of you know nixon time came with his own terms and they were understandable then agreeable i think he goes much beyond did that trump in America Today wouldnt have their own terms i really appreciated what earl said from washington when he mentioned the bolton ruled initiative what the 2 countries what china and russia could get back to them quickly this share in common hes not chose quantum interest in resources and labor their interest in securing some land in developing some land and developing the hinterland of centrally and and. And the middle east as i said which are areas which have been blind spots for the us under many governments they have been the highlights of course for security reasons but not for economy so i think today whether they want us would want on not to shake hands to extend a hand to russia all be back to extend a hand to china and few years from now its no longer chance to budge quantums above trade about quantities about finance its about hyenas share jule strategy vision and development which is not. Very much present in washington d. C. These days i think so. Maybe do you with the means of their policies whichever is the policy do you mean what it is you want to do you want to go to jam jenkin you out why she suddenly become friends with them with the russians the previous republican candidate for president said many times russia is our deepest bright most powerful and most dangerous enemy this is you know a guy who was running for president before trump many people in congress sit there and say like lunatics weve got to fight the russians there are terrible terrible enemy russians and how do you know me of the United States we should be doing everything we can with them and we should be with the Chinese People in washington have no clue about that world ok i see earl youre nodding your head in agreement why go ahead. Absolutely i think china and russia are not enemies of the us whatever maybe they are there are challenges on the economic side with china but its cartesian. Gemini thats a competition really its competition and i think china china and russia are both open to a partnership with the u. S. Theyre not anti the u. S. But they want their own there their own vision and they have a shared i think youre. Or geo Political EconomicDevelopment Vision for the world not just for central asia but and i think theyre working that closely together and i think other countries realize that they respect them as well so i think theres a dangerous path for the u. S. To go and i think we need some policy shakeup to realize that. Both these leaders are pragmatic they realize the u. S. Very influential and i think they want to work with the u. S. Ok well joe i mean i think the problem is not one versus the other well it doesnt thats what it gets down to in washington and i mean again in washington wants a gemini ok i see that russia and china visa be the United States want at the very least peaceful coexistence but going back to you know what would jim is saying you know i mean its either one way or the other that is not going to work now because china and russia did collectively together are way too powerful and as i always like to stress to people they have resources and they can they have options ok its something that they dont have to automatically accept promotion go ahead joel in paris. No you know the u. S. Have been great in history of having one enemy but im not sure they would be double as great as having 2 enemies you know and i agree completely with what earl was saying that they cant afford to do is there a sure vision i dont know as an economist i would put it 2 ways 1st of all on resources there would be a competition there would be a growing competition so its about the perception seen from d. C. On how much the u. S. Can adjust to the share of sorcery to do increase the rising competition for resources for Global Resources but the 2nd views would be in the future i think the us is still a very dynamic very Inventive Technology driven society and it will be for the genius of the American People and the american nation to express confidence in their own future german here i have to jump in here gentlemen we have to the only motivation we have to go to a hard break here the American People have the ingenuity they just have bad leaders after a short break well continue our discussion on russia and stay with us. You know worlds big partners. And conspiracy its time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that Mainstream Media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the shouting past each other its time for Critical Thinking its time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now were watching closely watching the hawks. Thats my life that i started on wall street 40 years ago and ive been living in the luxury areas life of ever cheaper money ever since literally not having to work a day in my life because they yes i spotted 4 years ago gone straight up. Welcome back to cross talk where all things are considered im peter to remind you were discussing russia and china. Ok lets go back to earl and washington youve mentioned central asia already twice on this program i think its really important and instructive for our viewers to understand is that when the soviet union came to an end Boris Yeltsin probably the only good Foreign Policy decision he ever made was to work with china to make sure that there would be stability in central asia where there would not be overt strategic competition and that was a genius move because that started the process of this bilateral relationship to develop where they decided were going to Work Together were not going to compete over central asia the reason why i bring this up is that again you know the quote unquote axis of beijing and moscow if they are poor into western values what i have. Find very interesting is i dont see russia or china under any circumstances exporting their economic or political model the west does that by default and what russia and china do not do that they dont say youre going to be sanctioned because of your evaluating our sense of truth erb or some kind of western value they decide thats what you do we do Something Different thats the signets a very big difference that western audiences and think tanks dont want to recognize go ahead. And its the absolutely true peter. You dont see russia and china kind of imposing their own political structure upon people and and expression with central asia and i just it was in their last year speaking the there are huge opportunities with the Road Initiative and and russias historical relationship with them the plays a Critical Role as well and theyre looking for Economic Development and theyre not looking for military theyre not looking for someone to tell them what kind of government they have but theyre looking for Economic Development and this is where i think you see this partnership between russia and china coming into play that you really put in the role of the Eurasia Economic Union plays a role in this as well youve got a whole pathway that built and wrote an issue of is yes is or is or objective for china for it yes but but in general its going to provide huge Economic Development opportunities raising millions of people out of poverty. And providing new opportunities across that whole region and thats a very good as well as providing stability so i think important thing is they want stability and they want to encourage a natural growth for these countries in that area jim just 10 years from now america is going to wake up and say oh my gosh look whats happened the chinese and the russians have one by one road they have pipelines they have laid. Or agreements the russians are not big debtors like the us is the chinese are huge creditors americas the largest debtor nation in the history of the world what is this they were pushing those 2 together whether the people in washing just have no clue about china and they have no clue about russia and all of us are going to suffer well i think theres an answer to that jim let me go to joel in paris the military Industrial Complex i mean read what the pentagon has been saying since the beginning of this year with their position papers i mean thats just the gravy train its the gravy train weve got another enemy now in there together oh my goodness the sky is falling we need more money more military more expenditures because as weve all pointed out on this program when china and russia will be building the hugest Infrastructure Projects probably in the history of humanity all across the eurasian landmass the United States is its its infrastructure will continue to crumble and it will waste money on the military threat that they hope they will never have to honor and that means going to war with 2 of the most important countries on the planet that explains everything its stupid at its core but it explains it go ahead joel. Yeah maybe here i would take the liberty to answer as the french because in france we do all of the military industry now its true that over the last 15 to 20 years the military complex in the us has increasing the. Looking for. A military complex can also serve as a driver for innovation and i think that at least for china the military complex is there to help chinese run its sauls chinese developing new Technology ChineseCompanies Developing new technologies by being able to have a divided front here that whats needed to really want to do all technology and whats what i know less. About the russians but i think its a bad and i think a very true its about the. American military is the military complex to be maybe kind of 3 shuffled around. By the police stations in d. C. In the congress and or the white house and i think thats very important for the sustainability of International Relations i would just want to one thing and central asia few countries are very very strategic like kazakhstan i think kazakstan is very restrictive of how do you know countries china and russia Work Together. You know on the least have explored whether the 2 countries would disagree on the trains going true and its a 2 and if agreed and for the shared interest and for the interest of kazakhstan and development maybe the next one look maybe the next problem would be would be ukraine where here of course the russian position is slightly different ok and i mean. You know one can make the argument ive heard this many many times is that the reason to overthrow the government in ukraine in 2014 was to obstruct this the whole eurasian land Mass Development they want to pull ukraine out of it in pull it into the western orbit Hillary Clinton the worst secretary of state in history said this actually in congress but i want to slightly change gears here earl one of the other things thats happening here as russia and china gravitate towards each other we also have these technological competition that joel has been mentioning is that what we could will get is a dual internet will have dual technologies we have to be on one platform or another and i think that theres a lot of people in washington are terrified that people will choose the eastern platform and i mean everything you can imagine telephones Community Computers tell communicate everything ok its like the difference between android a n n o s ok will be different and they dont want to see russia and china leading that because that will be a major technological challenge to the supremacy of the west do you think irl. Well i think there are always going to be bridges across and i think its important to keep bridges those gateways across but but there is. Obviously theres a concern and you can see this bearing out with the hallway. You know aggression thats going on towards them always leading technology in 5 g. 5 g. s the next area for Communications Infrastructure and enable so much more expansion new development for corporations and startups and capabilities and now youve seen down. Youve got russia Russian Companies now you can be developing software for huawei its mobile because you get cut off from android russia is now cooperating with them on a 5 g. Infrastructure projects so youve got thats going to be an enabler for a new Communication Type speed infrastructure and and yeah youve got. There theres overlap the in around operate but i think they want to be independent in case they get cut off in case something happens you can be independent you can till still continue to operate and that and that throws that through is that theres a ill tell you where the Security Threat is for a while we its not them tapping into anything its our ability not to tap into some of their networks thats where the concern is i think as well as a trade in competition what 11 power spying is better than another thats really credible thats that salute its called exceptionalism gone berserk but anyway jim you want to tell you dont go ahead peter you need to see not Just Technology but then says well you know the russians in the chinese and others the indians are coming up with a new competition to the american president ial system there will be a new world bank there will be a new i. M. F. Because the americas if they dont like you they cut you off from the u. S. Dollar with the chinese or the russians and the brazilians and then you say wait a minute this is a. System so now americas forcing a new world bank a new i am they have a new everything and then the u. S. Dollar will have its supremacy because we have abused ourselves its going to build up a whole new competitive Financial System not Just Technology ok joel lets say school i want to have a parent article here what would it take for you because this is what you constantly hear and think think tanks you know what would it take to entice russia to turn westward again what would it have what would have to happen ok what sanction relief all these kinds of things here im just trying to imagine a scenario where you can reverse the trends that have been going on for a couple of decades about what could stop this trend of russia and china getting closer and closer together go ahead in paris. Well you know i think the answer to your question lies in the fact that theres nothing like the west either in finance in currencies in trade or in technology theres nothing by deal with this do you with say. Some countries in europe as the e. U. You know some Eastern European countries not part of the u. Theres not a west and the question is whether we see a west in which we antagonize russia if we see a great addition of western countries in which is russia can have its its space and please you know no this is too generic and then but you forget the specifics for instance technology for instance energies i think in technology we are going to be cool thinking for talking from europe and the europeans are not quite there in the 5 g. Thats all key we are there in batteries we have their new electric vehicles i think russia could have the same person you all trying to have different alliances Different Technology called an economy partnerships with Different Countries so i think it. All natural for china and russia to get closer for russia to go to us china as a close neighbor sharing some interest as i said but on all the fronts Technology Finance i think the euro zone some parts of the e. U. Can be Natural Partners as well so its not so much i would say its science fiction. Senile you know i think its about the world getting really really motor lotro like deeply truly multilateral not multilateral the u. S. Will get well thats a very good point because it is there is a vision for a multilateral world but it has a hedge im on the alternative is there is not a hedge im on and it is based on competition and i think thats what the russian and chinese are are going for it so im sorry im sorry were running out of time gentlemen for the last run out of time here and there are many thanks and i guess there is washington and in singapore and thanks to our viewers for watching us here at r. T. See you next time and remember stumbles. Things. 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This is boom bust broadcasting around the globe uncovering the world of business and finance and the impact on us all im going over in washington christiane is on assignment theres a lot to whats on deck today a major breakthrough in the open crisis has been reached in johnson and johnson the new us pharmaceutical giant has been found guilty in an open home of corporal what effect if any will this album the epidemic of opioid plague in the United States barrows contributor to americas lawyer was on hand to break down the ruling and what the