From out of moscow studio where its currently just pass through the morning this is off the International Welcome to the program. Now in a rare visit to the u. S. The Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has helped talks with President Trump and secretary of state might compare donald trump describe the talks is very good and said he wants more dog loek with russia reports on the early a meeting with pump air. From the outset it became clear how much room for improvement there is in the relations between russia and the United States for instance one of the cases election meddling the secretary of state might bump a way has been very adamant that any interference in americas relations is unacceptable by a foreign power to which russias foreign minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that all such accusations still exist in the realm of speculation. It was for meddling or not is suggested to simply read the movie report we read it there is no proof of any collusion. Also has repeatedly said that russia is ready to release full transcripts as to what was said by the russians and by the members of the trump team via a special communication channel that had been established back in 2618 but according to the Russian Foreign minister those attempts to make those transcripts see the light of day have so far been stopped by the trumpet ministration. To do the ration of donald trump which suggested our colleagues to dispel all baseless suspicions let us publish that close journal correspondent starting from october 26th scene to november 27th seen so it would become all very clear to people unfortunately the Current Administration refused to do so. We all ready to publish that correspondence and already talked about that. And all suggestion is to publish i repeated for a 4th time to publish that data that would show how russia responded to the special channel which was designed for reviewing threats also ive been networks now the bone of contention between russia and the United States is the i. M. F. Or rather the absence of the deal now and both parties of both ministers have kind of clashed as to how they see the moving forward for instance the Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has again. Said that we could use that the countries could use the start treaty that had been signed back in 2010 but mike pump a 0 has voiced his concerns and has made it clear what the United States dont like about that deal it cant be the case that that can be the sole focus thats agreement that was entered into many years ago when powers were very different on a relative basis around the globe. It was at a time that the Weapons Systems the threats were very different than they are today to the risks to strategic instability today are different its no longer just missiles just bombers just submarines just warheads there are many other tools which can create strategic instability so we believe not only do the conversations need to be broadened to include the Chinese Communist party as you start this russian president spoke again about russias preparedness to run the agree on its extension to alleviate the tension for the Global Community the instruments of owns control between the u. S. And russia will not be destroyed the simply milton forced were prepared to do that even today on the other hand circular labral has reiterated that russia has been making unilateral steps of good faith for instance the russian president had previously said that russia wasnt going to deploy any weapons that had been banned under the i. N. F. Treaty in europe unless washington or its allies decide to do that fest but it wasnt all negative there are some points where russia and the United States do see eye to eye on where they do see each other as valuable partners syria afghanistan north korea all those aspects all those political crises see russia and the United States working together and both countries and seem did their best both ministers at least did their best to try and move that train forward as much as they could. Oh Virginia State senator Richard Black thinks the Russian Foreign ministers trip to washington concert a difficult time for President Trump keep in mind that. All of this is taking place with the backdrop of the impeachment hearings and it has been one of the strategies of the administration to appear to be as tough with russia as possible and its very unfortunate but thats just the the domestic policy ramifications of this theres only so long that you can continue talking about russian meddling and so far the only evidence that ive seen is that there were 100000. 00 in facebook ads that were placed some of them for Hillary Clinton some of them for trying to and they were placed out of russia well im going to tell you 100000. 00 did not buy you a drop in the ocean in terms of facebook ads so. The democrats will continue to insist that the russians meddled the republicans are and can bend i dont think i dont think its an issue thats particularly relevant to the American People. Stay with the theme of impeachment the u. S. House Judiciary Committee has unveiled 2 specific challenges against President Donald Trump paving the way for Impeachment Committee chief jerry not lament the announcement of the 1st article for abuse of power it is an Impeachable Offense president should be engaged in an unprecedented categorical and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry. This gives rise to the 2nd article of impeachment for obstruction of congress well the articles of impeachment have been drawn up 6 against donald trump accusing him of obstruction of justice as well as abuse of power these articles of impeachment are not expected to go very far with the senate under the control of republicans now it seems the democrats have moved full speed ahead on from their trumped russia collusion allegations which was the basis of a long investigation which seems to have disproved what was widely believed now theyve moved on to these allegations about ukraine that are the basis of the impeachment and articles of impeachment that were recently drawn up the investigations etc however as folks look back on the long tramp Russia Collusion Investigation we now have a very important report that was just released the horowitz report from the department of justice Inspector General looking into the investigation of donald trump for allegations that he colluded with russia now the report it has some contradictory information and findings it does not not seem to show that the department of justice acted inappropriately in investigating the Trump Campaign they said that all that was simply required in order to carry out an investigation was what they called articulable facts what is being overlooked is that there seem to have been agreed just errors by the f. B. I. When they investigated donald trump they apparently made quite a few mistakes this is the president of the United States responding to the report the report actually and especially when you look into it in the details of the report are far worse than anything i would have even imagine. What they were doing and what they would have. Invited make a certain a certain move that was a very important move because it would have been even worse if thats possible and they might have been able to succeed this was an overthrow of a government whose was an attempted overthrow now the report also reveals some information regarding john breaux. He was the cia director under obama and he was an outspoken critic of u. S. President donald trump remains an outspoken critic of him after leaving his role at the cia apparently he testified that that they did not rely on the steel report and the Obama Administrations Intelligence Community Assessment that accused russia of meddling in the election did not rely on the steel report however the newly released report from the department of justice the Inspector General report seems to indicate that that was not the case that what john brennan testified was not accurate this was what john brennan testified and you know if the bureau ever relied on a steel dossier is as part of any Court Filings cations petitions pleadings have no awareness to the cia rely on no one. Because we we didnt we it wasnt part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had it was not in any way uses a basis for the until screen assessment that was done. It was it was not now page 179. 00 of the newly released report seems to indicate pretty clearly that the intelligence agencies did rely on that steel dossier. Even though that steel dossier was compiled by fusion g. P. S. The firm and even they concluded it was not a finished document regardless the intel agencies did apparently rely on that report that is what the new doc document very clearly indicates so it appears that john brennan was giving false information when he was giving his testimony so as we have this new report it doesnt seem to fully confirm what many had expected but yet it does also show some impropriety on the part of john brennan and the f. B. I. At the same time weve got the proceeding impeachment hearings and inquiry against trump weve got these articles of impeachment not expected to really go anywhere. Place because the senate is solidly republican the drama on capitol hill continues. To allies some of these angles in a bit will death we can now hear live from former pentagon official Michael Maloof michael thanks for joining us this evening the democrats as we heard that theyre focusing on 2 charges against trump abuse of power and obstruction of congress in your opinion do either of those stand up to scrutiny. No i think the devil will be in the details right now they are just general charges theyre still they still need to go through and itemize it precisely what they meant but at the end of the proverbial day i dont think theyre going to stand up to anything. The notion of obstruction of congress. Trump has every right to appeal executive executive power frankly if if these were to go through it sets a very dangerous precedent when the republicans take take over the house some day and they call witnesses and and then ministration wants to assert executive privilege they may just immediately launch into this precedent of impeachment of that of that administration i mean this is a very dangerous precedent thats been set at the as you point out if it goes to the it will go to the senate they need 2 thirds of the entire senate about 67. 00 members to be able to convict theres no way theyre going to be able to get that well lets focus on that for a 2nd that the next steps because if the impulse goes in peace nepals what indeed does come next do you think there is a childs of conviction in the senate. No not at this stage not unless a tremendous number of republicans going to be changed in their in their direction in their view. And right now this minute it doesnt appear that way because it seems to be a united unified front of the republicans so far that isnt to say that a few of them could drift off but a few democrats may object to it as well i think its going to be i think at the when you look at the articles themselves and toward impeachment the question in my mind is are they actually going to go through and vote for impeachment war could they still use those as a basis maybe just for censure realizing that by going to the senate theyre going to tie up some president ial want to be who are who are in the senate and want to get out on the campaign trail. The timing of this is just so bizarre because youre not leaving it to the American People to decide in the upcoming election which would by then be less than a year away so and the democrats have very little if anything to show for their takeover of the house. 2 years and i think theyre getting a little nervous and i think were going to see some democrats. In the house even expressing some nervousness particularly those democrats that are in some of the more moderates in districts that actually carried when he ran for president in 2016 let michael its been a really big day for russia u. S. Relations with. There and you see as you had our correspondent mention the newly released report from Inspector GeneralMichael Horowitz on the origins of the trump russia probe donald trump claims it shows there was an attempt to overthrow the government is he right do you think. It depends it depends upon to what extent you want to look at obviously william barr the. Attorney general is not satisfied with the horowitz report but you also got to keep in mind that the horowitz would port all lee only had a purview of looking and interviewing people within the Justice Department and the f. B. I. That the Durham Report which is a separate investigator is going to go much more widely he can go international and in fact it looks like hes actually undertaken a criminal investigation and i think that this is what william barr was referring to that the horwitz report can only go so far based upon the people that interview that there may be other evidence coming in from internationally for example that could play a role in all of this particularly with the. With happened in england when some of the trumpet the trump. Campaign workers were in the england and what have you all of these things will come to bear horowitz didnt have that kind of a already or jurisdiction so thats why its actually limited but hes not condemning it but hes saying its basically in complete form a pentagon official my Committee Thanks as ever for your insights. Well a big unions in france a fighting back against Pension Reforms well have that story and more after this break. Join me every thursday on the alec simon show and ill be speaking to guests of the world of politics sports business im show business ill see you then. Welcome back in crowds have rallied in paris against president microns plans to overhaul the Pension System the more than a dozen arrests have been made and in recent days the country seen volatile protests in a number of cities with more from the french capital his in a patrol. Well as you can see we are in the thick of it the country is trying to deliver their message to the government just one day before it now says their final plans for the pension reform in france although we did hear from the countrys Prime Minister that for them for now there is no intention to change their plans if we dont make serious profound and progressive reforms to date someone else will make a much more brutal reform tomorrow i hope that we can convince a majority of french people that our reform is fair it is universal it makes the special Pension Plans gradually disappear and is financially balanced not just for a moment let me give you a clearer picture of who these people are for instance weve already been used to the yellow vests but as you can see these are orange and what it says on them is s. N. C. F. This is the French Railway company which is by the way one of the main driving forces of the protests you can imagine what happens if the entire system. Rewrote workers what if they go on strike only son like that has already happened they say that at one point you know almost 85 percent of the Railway Staff members white on rice and this really caused chaos in the countrys transport system. But its not only about iran and world war i can tell you that the professions range from air Traffic Controllers to actually Police Officers and warriors so this is just how vast it is. Like i said before even police Union Support the strike and actually in fact different opinion polls say that from 50 to 70. Percent of the french population are supporting whats going on in the street in the streets of france right now but i do have to mention though that last week protests in various cities of these countries did turn ugly and violent. I can tell you that most of the slogans that we are hearing in these protests are aimed directly against the president emanuel macron one you can see right here it says macro dont touch my retirement i can tell you that the pension reform is pretty much his brainchild and thats why so many people are angry at him specifically over but this comes soon may be. Over but it does not come here to prove money 1st but the reforms we impart everybodys the idea for the pension reform is to introduce a universal point system which will make the pension sums universal for different layers of the society but some of them in france do fear that they will lose their privileges they want to give us a town hall food system you have every hour who forms but all much. You know would bring you a point never knows where now this is. Its just a warning for the government but its not hard to predict whats going to come out but if emanuel makarov it has to decide to stick to the. Now in other news this hour russian athletes have expressed anger and frustration over the countrys exclusion from all major world torrents for the next 4 years the decision was made by the World Antidoping Agency wada. Wada took that step after moscow had tampered with a drug test database and while clean athletes will still be able to compete theyll be forced to do so under a neutral flag russian officials however prohibited from attending major events while the country wont be allowed to host any tournament either the list of doors now slammed in russias face is extensive it includes the olympic and Paralympic Games of tokyo in 2020 and footballs pfieffer world cup in qatar 2 years after that russia was the last host about a vent of coarseness players warm or have to go as neutrals if they qualify or russian swimmer a few mother is among those athletes who have to prove theyre clean she failed a drug test in 2013 and was suspended for 16 months before the rio olympics she received another suspension for melburnian new spots took the matter to sports highest court and won she was reinstated and went on to win 2 silver medals heres what she thinks about walters latest decision. Look at the decides struggle how could they punish the whole country all athletes no matter whether they deserve it or not they should just punish those who were guilty one of they often result are all athletes who were involved in something but punishing the whole country all our Young Athletes just because someone did something wrong athletes shouldnt be deprived of the opportunity to represent their own country i believe it shows that politics has come into sport because they do allow clean athletes to compete under the neutral flag but they dont want to see the russian flag there or anyone representing our country. So me now says it is evil in the book i have already hired a lawyer however funny thats my sound in ordinary life if you break a rule once it doesnt matter if its a drive in the fans were fired you will not respond is too wise for that i hope it will work now but i cant be sure about that but it could be worse than it was before rio i was reinstated for the olympics almost on the very day the games began and i was sick for half a year now im not reacting the same way even if im not allowed to compete im almost a grandma for the world of sport then thats my fate and what can i do i just want to advise other athletes not to worry and to hire lawyers dont expect anyone to help you help yourself. Russian forces have entered the syrian city of raka better known as islamic states form a capital the troops that have been food aid to locals and they also brought in medical personnel to help those still living there it comes to months after the sultan withdrawal of u. S. Armed forces from the area contributed to the album on its a new side of the risk believe a lack of strategy is one of the reasons which led to us but. I think that now the situation in the uk is going to improve because you do have players that are entering who have clearly. Clear strategies they have to you know they have a Clear Strategy put in place the a problem with the other states was that it never had a Clear Strategy you know if theres confusion between its it speaks about fighting our sources speaks about fighting iran and iran and i should say i mean so i would describe the u. S. Policy in syria and for that matter in the one of the region as being confused and when you have a confused policy that tends to make the situation not very stable on the ground russia on the other hand has a clear sort of goals a clear sighted policy and so thats why i think that will russia comes into the picture in places like cook and elsewhere the more that will contribute to stabilizing the situation. Day from now well be back here at the top of the hour with more news from around the world see that. Facebook and google started with a great idea and great ideals unfortunately it was also a very dark side. They are constructing a profile of you and that profile is real its detailed and it never goes away turns out they do. Well as manipulating your opinions from the very 1st character that you type into the search bar it will always be one dog food over another one comparative Shopping Service over another and one candidate over another they can suppress certain types of results based on what they think you should be see if they have this kind of power then democracy is an illusion the free and Fair Election doesnt exist the more rope we give them the sooner we are all hand. Each simulating civilization will be able to run using a tiny fraction of its resources. Hundreds of thousands millions of runs through all of Human History almost all. Beings with our kinds of experiences with them to simulate that once. Known simulated ones and conditional that arguably should think we are full of that one of the simulated ones. A little bit of let me. Ask i would then will. Pick i could. Not try. To show. You love blue even will not. Do like that or see that it dont want to. 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