Absolutely. This is v.o.a. News I'm David for President Donald Trump is spending the holiday weekend at his Mar-A Lago resort in Florida as a p.s. Solder Magon your reports from the White House the president is also filling out his legal team before arguments begin in his Senate impeachment trial next week they say the president's legal team figures the trial will last no more than 2 weeks which would be far shorter than Andrew Johnson struggling 868 and a Bill Clinton say $999.00 but there are still a question about whether the Senate will allow more witnesses which could extend the trial it takes a super majority to convict $67.00 senators both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted and President Trump figures he's next was nothing a person familiar says the president's boosting his legal team before opening arguments next week adding former Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz and x. Independent counsel Ken Starr among others solder Magni at the White House Secretary of State Mike Pompei o. Said the State Department will do everything necessary to determine whether former u.s. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Javon of it was under threat documents released this week indicated that Lev Parness a Ukrainian born u.s. Citizen helped President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani investigate presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter They also show that Parness was involved in monitoring your Vonnegut his movements before Trump removed her in May . Pompei 0 said that he had no knowledge of the allegations until earlier this week my obligation as secretary of state is to make sure that we evaluate to investigate any time there's someone who posits that there may have been a risk to one of our officers will obviously do that the allegations are central to the impeachment inquiry into Trump who faces a charge of abusing his power by asking Ukraine to investigate Biden this is v.o.a. News. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led Friday prayers in Tehran for the 1st time in 8 years as Reuters correspondent Joe Davies reports commonly said Iran would not give in to pressure from what he called the American clowns who imposed damaging sanctions on Iran how many describe the retoucher attacks in response for America's killing of Iran's top military commander as a day of gaunt and killing custom sum of money he told them the United States that showed its terrorist nature and how many warned that u.s. Sanctions imposed in Iraq over its nuclear program would not make a wrong yield of Daniel Petre cattle being the support shown here will short of been met with some relief to Iran's clerical leaders at home and abroad they've been under pressure after the military admitted to mistakenly shooting Dein a passenger airliner in Tehran earlier this month that's Joe Davies of Reuters Swedish climate activist gratitude Berg marched with thousands of protesters in the western city of Los on Friday as Reuters him or McCarthy reports the demonstration came ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos next week has a warning to politicians and big business at the World Economic Forum in Davos the global climate change movement isn't going any way to the world leaders and those in. Power would love to see. Things you haven't seen anything yet you have not seen. Can assure you that was demonstrating in the Swiss city of the sun on Friday a poll of late is attending the devil summit shows that for the 1st time climate change and environmental destruction top the risks perceived by the global allays at the Swiss ski resort that's him or McCarthy reporting the u.s. Supreme Court says it will hear arguments later this year on allowing employers to opt out of providing birth control coverage to workers. A.P.'s Jackie Quinn reports the Trump administration is trying to get an injunction lifted that blocks it's rules introduced in 2018 that allow more companies to cite religious or moral grounds for refusing to provide contraceptive coverage which was mandated in the Obama Health Care Act churches and other religious groups can opt out but this would allow more employers to deny coverage or limit what type of contraception would be paid for that's a piece Jackie Quinn Wall Street climb to record highs Friday after strong housing data and signs of resilience in the Chinese economy raised hopes the Dow closed at 29348.17 percent the s. And p. Gained point 39 percent to 3349 For more visit our website to be away News dot com I'm David Berg v.o.a. News. From Washington and v.o.a. Presents issues in the news. Welcome to issues in the news on the panel this week Kimberly Adams correspondent for Marketplace j.j. Greene and national security correspondent for w t o p 8 and test of Target USA and our moderator Michael Williams contributor to c.b.s. Radio in Washington. Welcome everyone here are the issues Democratic members of the u.s. House of Representatives delivered articles of impeachment to the Senate paving the way for the trial of Donald Trump the president of the United States meanwhile an associate of Trump's personal lawyer says the president was aware of a campaign to pressure the Ukrainian government to carry out investigations that would help Trump politically and a report was released by a nonpartisan government agency that concluded that the Trump administration broke the law by withholding aid to Ukraine the United States and China have signed face . As one of a trade deal that may help lower tensions between the world's 2 largest economies days of protests appeared to indicate public anger has been redirected away from America's targeted killing of a top Iranian general and has now focused on a rainy and leaders over the accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner and Democratic presidential candidates met for a critical debate Tuesday in Iowa less than 3 weeks before Iowa voters kick off the presidential nomination process on February 3rd we assess the debate and set the table for the upcoming Iowa caucuses panelists welcome Let's start of course with the impeachment Donald Trump which has gone from the theoretical to the real it's actually happening we've been talking about it a process that began almost amazingly with the whistleblower report about a phone call that seemed improper between the Ukrainian president and the u.s. President and now we've come to this the trial for removal of a u.s. President from office the landscape has changed dramatically I believe in the last 48 hours after the articles of impeachment being delivered with great ceremony great seriousness which I actually was quite happy to see you have associates some say henchmen of the president who is naming top names in the government as being absolutely complicit in the loop on every detail of the plot to discredit former vice president and current presidential candidate Joe Biden you also have this report from the Government Accountability Office a nonpartisan group within the government that has said that the president's administration broke the law the Office of Management and Budget and the administration broke the law but it held back 8 for political reasons and their quote was faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has an act that into law going to start with you j.j. The ceremony again is passed we're in it for real now this trial one of the actual trial start to happen when we start hearing arguments and that sort of thing there's still more process to go it's my understanding it's supposed to start on Tuesday when it. It's the flame is not going to be a low flying and he is not going to be a gradual build up is just going to be fireworks based on what they're facing and the people I've been speaking to is just going to start full bore from the very beginning in a part of the reason for that is what you just said was were these latest developments in this long back story about all this taken place then there are these new developments that have sort of been dropped into the fire and these are serious propellant including one of which is the Ukrainian internal affairs ministry saying Ok We're going to investigate what you the Congress told us in your documents that you released that Marie you Vonna vets the ambassador to Ukraine was actually illegally monitored in our country and one of the things that's come out of that is why isn't the us investigating this why isn't the State Department or secretary of state my Pompei of saying anything about this and again these associates are talking about this henchmen left harnessed supposedly And that's just a quote in quotations says all these people who are involved in this is he telling the truth who was involved and who wasn't and all of this I think is important to establish right off the bat and you can't do without witnesses so this is the thing that I think is going to have to be dealt with that's why I think the fireworks start immediately Kimberly you take you know I was just listening to you talking just now j.j. And it's like oh my gosh there's been so many names so many people like and so many this cast of characters just keeps expanding left Parness an associate of real Rudolph Giuliani the lawyer of the president and he's out here on cable news talking to newspapers saying you know as he's negotiating his deal and his own trial that President Trump knew what he and others so she it were doing that Mike Pence the vice president has pretty much been out of this for most of this debate that he knew that Attorney General Barr who heads up the legal division here in the u.s. Of the trumpet ministration that he knew I mean naming name. And providing receipts documents text messages napkins with scribbles on them and in this waterfall of events leading up to impeachment just when you think it can't get any more dramatic just another tranche of things comes through but at the same time you have Senate Republicans the Senate and the Republicans who control the Senate still kind of digging in their heels in the member Mitch McConnell said he was in lockstep with the trumpet ministration about having working with them on the process working with them on the process but you know yesterday they had to swear and write signed their names in an oath book before the chief justice of our Supreme Court hear that they were going to be impartial jurors and they have to sit there and you know for people who don't pay much attention to the u.s. Senate very rarely do you have all of the senators sitting in the chamber at one time a little closer shot shows elector and but all of the senators have to sit there inside in silence without their phones no electronics no electronics and be a jury I would say it's a sight that our government is still working somehow we can always say that the wheels may be a little bit loose and wonky and maybe there's a couple of rusty pipes but it seems of the process of government is working this is a place where people are held accountable and the well of the Senate in a situation like this and in a procedure like this straight to Kimberly was talking about the Republican senators and how they're digging in their heels if you have all this information coming forward even without this there were Republican senators certain Republican senators who are in quote unquote swing states where they have to consider both sides of the political aisle some that are not running for office again who are being thought of as possible votes for having witnesses if there are no witnesses can there be a fair trial is it possible to have something like that I don't see how you could have a trial without witnesses fair or not I mean and certainly you know I don't think it can be fair for either side if you don't have witnesses to git. And it should should there be witnesses on both sides should 100 Biden Joe Biden or others but that be fair game for when you know understand that there's been some discussion about just opening it up and saying hey let's do this let's have those people in there 100 Biden Joe Biden all these people in there along with the other people that the Democrats want to have but there is this reluctance to do this because of one I think it's the administration wants to do this quickly and I think there are senators who are complaining about how long it's going to take them away from their business outside of the halls of Congress is can really mention it's really hard to get them all there at one time but I don't think so actually the senators who are running for president Yeah and they're playing right on the campaign trail I don't think you can have a fair trial and so it's fair to who fair to the public that's a key consideration here that's why all of this is taking place because of the responsibility of that body to the public to the people in this country so it's no I don't think that can happen without witness security what's been the president's reaction so far is reaction to this whole thing is always fake news it's a witch hunt it's not a real it's a hoax these latest developments with the associate of Rudy Giuliani live Parness that he didn't really know the guy and you know left Parnassus putting out all these photos of him with Trump and trying to provide evidence that the president knew and the president is just say I didn't know him you know this very famous Me Mom the Internet of Mariah Carey kind of tossing her hair and saying I don't know her and this is the presidential version of that no matter how much evidence comes that the president knew what was happening or was directly engaged he's constantly responding and his advocates are saying as well and if you pay attention to Fox News this is what they'll say is Well this is just all a hoax it's all the Democrats trying to go after and and meanwhile the president is actually kind of not showing off some some accomplishments he's signing trade deals he's you know touting the good. Sodomy and the record stock market and going on campaign rallies people love him and his base areas and you know he's just moving on with his life because one thing that has been consistent through this whole thing in addition to his narrative that it's all fake is his poll numbers among his Republican among his base he has solid no he said this is a solid base it's a calcified base it's not coming off Ok this is something that's that's permanent for a certain select group and it's always been the question is that enough to win can he slip through that sort of electoral mail slot that he did in the last election cycle and could pull off a Electoral College when you have last word on this one j j the impartiality is a thing having witnesses is I think the timing of this is also I think because you had Nancy Pelosi delaying this up until this point for the Republicans certainly want to get through this as fast as possible or do you believe it's the case that the longer this lasts the worse it is for the president or does it really matter that's always in my experience when it comes to court and trial proceedings the longer it goes the worse it gets because there is there are more opportunities for more developments to take place as you've noted if this had been passed over from the house to the Senate weeks ago most of this probably would never have come up but you know whenever you're dealing with a situation like this there is the possibility for unexpected developments and the thing that I want to just quickly point out about this is that there's a high level of unpredictability about all of this people cut deals when they're in trouble promises trying to work on one there are other people that are connected to him and people that are connected to them and people that are connected to them and things that we don't know the longer this goes the more uncomfortable those people get and the more likelihood that we're we're going to see more surprises so I think we should buckle up for this what I said last word for you j.j. But I'm going to give you absolutely the last word well you know you're talking about people's shifting alliances and deals and we heard this week that Michael Flynn who is caught up in all of the molar. Geisha if we can even think so far back to that he retracted his guilt he's trying to retract his guilty plea in his own drama you know and who knows if that's going to yield something different but yes alliances and deals are being made and shifted and retracted and yeah buckle up everybody ready to take a quick break and then we'll come back with more issues in the news issues in the news is coming to you from the Voice of America in Washington if you would like to download the program it's free on i Tunes Just click on the i Tunes tab on our website at the o. a News dot com While you're there check out our other programs Press Conference USA and encounter also visit us on Facebook and to leave a comment or 2 then like us at current affairs with Carol Castiel Now back to our panel Kimberly Adams correspondent for Marketplace j.j. Green and national security correspondent for w t o p 8 and test of Target USA and moderator Michael Williams contributor to c.b.s. Radio and Washington. Welcome back President Trump and Chinese officials took a crucial step toward resolving the nearly 2 year trade war between the world's largest economies by signing a long sought preliminary trade deal no emphasize preliminary the so-called phase one trade deal covers almost every corner of the u.s. And Chinese complicated trading relationship agricultural imports dairy quality standards financial market access intellectual property some of the real touchstones of the whole trade dispute over the last period of time Trump administration has build this as a massive victory for the president and vindication for the trade war in the 1st place in the tariffs and the whole thing the Chinese are essentially doing the same can't believe this is in your wheel house is this in fact is a win win is a win for one side or is it kind of like an exhibition game where the results really don't matter we really stand and started the regular season yes. Yes. It is a deal it is it is something where both parties can say Ok we are at least going to stop escalating this we're going to hit pause we are going to have something that you can take home and say it's a win and I can take home and say it's a win and it could in the long term be a greater win so what did we get I mean many things that China is going to do not so much what the u.s. Is going to do the u.s. Is basically not going to implement more tariffs and they're rolling back some of them about 2 thirds of the existing tariffs that have been thrown at China in this trade war totaling about $370000000000.00 worth of Chinese imports are still going to be under tariffs and the president says he needs that as his negotiating card the other win for President Trump is that the Chinese are supposed to buy about $200000000000.00 worth of additional u.s. Products mainly in the agriculture sector which has been one of the areas even though it hasn't faced as much pain as the manufacturing sector it's been one of the more public ways that people have really seen the harm in Trump's areas of support to his his base that raised him and rural agriculture areas they've really felt the pinch of this now granted they've also received unprecedented cash bailouts to try to keep some of these farms afloat but the Chinese gave this caviar that it depends on sort of market needs Now if you look at these numbers on the agricultural purchases they're promising over the next 2 years they're unprecedented like China's never spent this much are agricultural products so it remains to be seen intellectual property you know you have some business groups saying you know what good we're taking some steps we're moving forward but again the devil's in the details there's this dispute resolution where if a company thinks that their intellectual property rights are being violated or China. Violating some part of this deal they basically have to go to the u.s. And say hey fight for us on this well do you really want to be the company that's in China trying to make money in China and going and telling on the Chinese officials that you have to work with every day it remains to be seen so there's only. Sees one and I guess my instinct is to ask phase one of how many is this phase one of 10 I'll come back to you with that question because I wanted to get a perspective from j.j. And your world view that is the world a safer place because the u.s. And China have entered into this into this deal well if you can keep the money flowing into your national security programs as this deal potentially does for both countries yes because when you start to have problems you know with your ships in your planes and things break and you can't fix them and you can't pay for him to be fixed then you have problems but on a larger scale the u.s. Is no safer than it was when all this started and honestly speaking I think we're at half time and you know you said there may be one to 10 phases of whatever so right now we're Ok but you know these other phases that have to take place are they going to happen are they real is the stuff that's in there that we've been seeing real and will it matter a good example of what I'm talking about is go to the grocery store at least 34 months ago you go to go to a grocery store in the southern part of the country and you wanted to go buy some fish from one of these large grocery chains and if you pulled it out of Fraser and looked at it the label said Made in China and the question that a lot of people Americans had is we have fish here we have people who are fisherman here so why is our national arena right and so it's because companies wanted that money but at the same time does that do anything for our u.s. National security giving away that part of our economy and do people actually see any benefit for it and at the end. The day aside from those people who are part of that calcified base I don't know that any other people really see this as a win win so maybe they'll ask questions about this one day maybe they're all trying to run out the clock and certainly the Chinese because they recognize this president may be a one term president you raise so many interesting points so you're talking about the national security thing China this week we found out had its slowest growth its slowest economic growth in 30 years so they had an incentive to stop the bleeding because their economy was starting to feel it and you were talking about getting fish you know that was said Made in China on it I was doing some research on this actually this week and to see how businesses have moved their supply chains as a result of the trade war and so you did have quite a few businesses there was something like trying to remember the number I want to say was almost a 30 percent drop in businesses routing their supply chains through China trying to avoid these tariffs but where did that business go it didn't come back to the United States it went to Vietnam and to India and to Chile and Argentina and Brazil or Mexico the Europeans trying to avoid us tariffs we started doing more of their manufacturing in the Middle East and North Africa what they call near shoring not in your own country because it's still too expensive but bringing it closer to home and so what this trade war has done is yes it shifted global supply chains it made a lot of manufacturers in particular recognize that they were far too dependent on China but it didn't bring work back here I think the operative word is she threw in there and you know that's been the standard thing is the World War because that's really what it is and when it comes to national security war is a dirty word but that's really what this is about it's destabilized the norms and things that we expect and have grown to expect when we think about a stable country and not just for here but for many other countries around the world and we don't know if we can get that back in the near term you know you know that's an accepted doctrine that you don't shoot your. Trade partners and it does stand the entire world in a safer place when we have these 2 great powers not using any sort of term that has the word war in it you phrase it let's move very quickly to the Iran protests an extraordinary turn of events the protests that were initially begun to protest the killing of really in general cause some sort of money have evolved into protests calling for democratic reforms and for Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down j.j. This to me a possible stunning victory in a way for the president do you think anybody saw this coming Is there anybody sort of taking credit for this and saying we meant to do this this is what was supposed to happen you know the thing about killing general cutscene sort of money is that there were opportunities to do that going back more than a decade the prudence and the reason to do it just did not outweigh the risk and the challenges for others who have this opportunity because they remember or either they've been told about what took place in 1989 and all the things that one led up to it and then the things that took place after it and then there are all the tentacles of Iran like Hezbollah Hamas all of the other organizations that I can't name right here for time purposes and explain but they recognized that this is not just an organization or a country or leadership or group of people that are just fundamentally different from the u.s. But these are people who actually have a plan in place any program of operation that does not include relating to the u.s. Because they disagree and do not like what the u.s. Has done and is doing in relationship to their country the u.s. To go into this saying this is what we intended to destabilize No that's not what happened what I think happened is Secretary of State Mike Pompei Oh did not like because same saloon money and this goes back for a long time and there seemed to be a personal aspect personal aspect to that and this is what triggered all this that's really what this was about what was interesting to me about these protests is how quickly they shifted people turned on the dial. Was there were preexisting protests in Iran before our recent military escalation it reminded people because it wasn't just that the Iranian government accidentally shot down this plane and killed those poor people but they lied about it and the fact that they lied about it for 3 days to their own people infuriated the Iranians who previously were all gung ho America's the worst you know we had we support you it reminded them why they had been out in the streets months prior and that was just another moment that shows that the nuance of the complications people have multiple interests they can sit in the same place and I think you both have pointed toward this thing that's sort of the stomach anything going on where we still don't know if we've seen the real Iranian response to the killing of general Monny I think not and then you have these protests and who knows where that's going to go so usually have these sort of confluence of issues in circumstances and it's worth noting that the u.s. Sanctions on Iran are decimating right the economy and apparently European Union countries have been getting pressure to even make it harder on Iran and that's why Iran is sort of steadily moving forward and sort of rolling back its commitments in the Iran deal because the nuclear deal because they're saying look not only is the u.s. Violating its terms but now it's pressuring European countries to violate their terms of the deal as well and this whole thing is just getting worse and we want to take you for the last few minutes to talk about the final debate in Iowa before the Iowa caucuses just very quickly you have a couple of minutes left I'll start with you can sort of winners and losers from that one the losers or the Democrats overall for sure because we're heading into the Iowa caucuses without a clear front runner you know you've got kind of this 4 way tie between Joe Biden Elizabeth Warren Bernie Sanders and. Amy clubbish are just trying her level best to to stay in there she got in some of the you know best hits of the night but she can't seem to really break those polling numbers Elizabeth Warren did well kind of fighting this electability thing that's been. Seeing her around she talked about how the women on the stage where the only ones who won every election they've been in versus the men losing was a very interesting time anybody but at the same time people like Joe Biden for example he didn't have to do anything he just needs to stay in his lead so by the fact that he wasn't targeted he I guess would be the winner and what was the main story that came out of that that was he said she said and then there was the audio of what he said to her and by that we're talking about all that was born in alleging that race and that was the main story so the loser in this thing was the us and of the American people the winner was Russia because that's precisely what they wanted us to be doing at this stage in the game and that is talking about ridiculous things like that as opposed to the substantive issues and putting ourselves in a situation where the country can coalesce and deal with them as a threat that they are so Russia's the winner and the u.s. Is the loser with that debate Yeah I thought that the loser also was the audience because of sort of the whole much an 80 of that group that was a very small and very particular type of group I have heard tonight think most voters missed the presence of people like Andrew Young and Cory Booker even come on the air as he's been out of the race for a little a little while now the field is shrinking not necessarily sure if it's improving that's all the time we have for this week thanks to Kimberly Adams correspondent for Marketplace and j.j. Greene national security correspondent for w t o p and host of Target USA This program is produced by v always Kim Lewis our engineer is Justin Thwaites And I'm Michael Williams thanks for listening. gratified Iran says it has arrested those responsible for shooting down Ukrainian passenger jets and vows to punish anyone involved in what it calls a painful and unforgettable mishap Now at 1st the reigning government denied any responsibility for down in the plane calling the accusations Western propaganda the cover up and now admission has put the runs government under intense pressure both at home and abroad via ways Henry Ridgwell reports it's not clear whether a growing unrest inside Iran could lead to bigger and anti-government demonstrations. Risking their lives to stand against the government dozens of protests erupted across Iran in recent days acts of defiance captured on mobile phones and posted on social media. This footage appears to show a female protester in Tehran Sunday with gunshot wounds the government denies using live ammunition. In another video a protester addresses the crowd they lied to us through all these years he says they treat us like don't. Another shows a protest tearing down a poster of a range general money seen by many as a national hero who was killed in a u.s. Drone strike earlier this month Iran responded to solar money spilling with missile strikes on 2 military bases used by American and Western forces in Iraq shortly after those missile strikes a Ukrainian Airlines jet was accidentally hit by a missile just after it had taken off from Tehran airport early Wednesday for for 3 days Iran denied it had shot down the plane mounting evidence from Crash investigators led the Iranian government to change its story and the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps admitted it had fired the missile for the food on the playing field that triggered widespread public anger. Vigils for the crash victims soon turned into anti-government protests demonstrations spread to other cities including. Rushed. U.s. President Donald Trump tweeted support for the demonstrations and war on terror on against what he called another massacre of peaceful protesters. Iran's government is to be lurching from one crisis to the next 1st the u.s. Killing of its top general and then growing global condemnation over its handling of the missile strike now Iran is for you see growing pressure from its own people and the ritual of the Ring years. Now that Iran has struck back with cruise missiles at u.s. Troops in Iraq what's next for American forces in the Middle East Iraqi lawmakers angry that the u.s. Killed an Iranian general on Iraqi soil are demanding that the u.s. Pull out all its troops from Iraq but u.s. Military officials are not likely to agree to doing that at least not anytime soon v.o.a. Pentagon correspondent Carla bad joins us with an update on the status of u.s. Forces in the Middle East and more I see pro reform rallies swept the country more than 10 years ago. On June 12th 2009 just hours after polls closed Iranian officials declare hardline candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's real like Did President of Iran supporters of rival candidates take to the streets at least 30 feet of killed in the massive protests that followed more than 1000 arrested in 2011 the government of Supreme Leader Ali call Monday turns the tables on anti-government protestors declaring a day of rage against opposition leaders leading to the arrest of protest and opposition leaders including Mir Hossein Mousavi former prime minister of Iran and popular leader of the green movement the government quells dissent by shutting down access to social media. In 27000 with food prices rising and Iran's economy in freefall from international sanctions popular protests are up in more than 70 towns and cities at least 10 people are killed hundreds more are arrested in violent protests. $21000.00 more on rest follows this time public outrage over a sharp increase in fuel prices reports suggest more than $100.00 people killed in security crackdowns and in January this year 2020 anger up to once more in Tehran after the u.s. Admitted to killing revered General Hossam sall Monny days later war outrage this time directed towards Iran's leadership after its delayed admission to firing the missile that took down the Ukrainian passenger jet killing all aboard the majority of them Iranians. Whether the latest anti-government protests lead United States it tends to make more hardline factions stronger it tends to make a regime more rigid So I think it's very unlikely that it's going to lead to regime change in the near future I found it fascinating but from obviously from a troubled point of view is that there is that right after the the killing assault Monny there was the death to America basically of the protestors anti United States then than almost instantly when that plane went to was shot down. And the Iranians who are said to have been lying about suddenly it flipped right away with it became anti regime death to the regime. You know it's possible for people to dislike both the trumpet ministration and their own government so I think what we saw in the undermining it. I think that is terrifying but how that shooting down of that the airlines certainly shifted the narrative you know how different I think that we've things we've been talking about but for that yes indeed and in an odd way it may Iran's top general well and want to say it is unlikely these demonstrations could spark a larger revolt recent events in Iran replied underline discontent over increased repression and economic declaimed Klein fueled by u.s. Sanctions always Brian Padden explains. Well protests showed hundreds of students denouncing Iran Lamas leaders analysts say it is too early to tell if this is the beginning of a popular uprising my expectation is that the demonstrations however large they may be are really not huge and are really not likely to metastasize a lot more the mostly student led protests following wrongs admission that it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner after takeoff into Ronn killing all on board this week Iran announced the arrest of several people in connection with the aircraft downing the accidental shooting took place on the same night the Iranian military launched a retaliatory missile strike against a u.s. Military base in Iraq for the targeted killing of Kasam so low money a top Iranian general video widely shared on social media show demonstrators tearing down Sula Mani's pictures and fleeing tear gas fired by police numerous protesters have been arrested the protests broke out after a massive funeral for Sula Monny where mourners called for the revenge against America the latest anti-government protests follow those in November after the government announced a 50 percent increase in gasoline prices in some security forces fired on an armed demonstrators the regime has a great history of cracking down hard whenever threatened and it is yet to be seen whether these protests in any way can recover. The u.s. Sanctions imposed to force Iran to curb its ballistic missile program have caused significant economic pain which is fueling unrest but analysts say the sanctions have also increased anti-American sentiment they run Ians feel that they're stuck between a very aggressive United States and a very repressive a sonic Republic that basically none of these governments relieved. Care about them a run for its part remains defiant announcing it will no longer inferior to the nuclear deal restricting enriched uranium development a move that could trigger renewed international sanctions. V.o.a. News Washington in any discussion about Iran there are many factors to consider from nuclear weapons to Israel to Saudi Arabia to Iranian proxy forces and war for a look at the big picture of how Benson Iran might impact the United States and the rest of world we're joined by Jon Alterman Mr Alterman is director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies He also served as a member of the policy playing staff at the u.s. State Department is next around global security issues and strategy welcome plugged in Syria Gretta can you tell me what's the sort of the big picture How's this going to this is what's recently happened in Iraq between Iran and the United States and of course some rocks in there too as his impact the entire region. Of the broader issue which the region was focused on before and now I think is more focused on now is what's the u.s. Role in the region going to be in 5 years 10 years time I think the president has in many ways followed the initiatives of the Obama administration to try to reduce the American role American allies in the region are hoping the u.s. Will stay put and the Iranians are focused as they were before the death of some sort of money on pushing the Americans it seems to me that the big picture struggle remains on the one hand how can they keep America in the region and on the other hand domestically how can governments improve their own performance their governance inside the region to make lives better for for Arabs the Iranians and so and others and to me it's. A combination of the extreme rule they want to us they are in many cases of the governments and the internal world how can we do a better. With an increasingly young and impoverished population what about Israel . I think it's really many ways. Peeled itself off from the region in terms of economic development it turns regress minute terms of the way its economy works in terms of security Israel has many Israelis call it an island. And it feels removed from a lot of the trends in the region. Besides Israel and there's always there's also the discussion of the uranium the Iranian deal that the United States has pulled out of and now Germany France and the u.k. Have triggered a settlement there and negotiation part of the deal to do about it remember Iran because Iran says it is going to continue to enrich uranium so where does that bring us and the whole nuclear weapons program discussion I think frankly puts it into a crisis for the next 10 months I don't think the Europeans really want to completely walk away from the Iran nuclear deal b.j. C.p.o. Way because there are deep conviction is that Iran is much better dealt with through a negotiated deal where they have responsibilities for the world can hold the Iranians their responsibilities rather than Iran totally untrained So I think they're looking for more tools to try to rally the world to get the Iranians to comply but I don't think they're going to want to reimpose sanctions after this river is over I think it's 35 days I think they're going to keep kicking the can down the road see what happens the next presidential election in the United States and see where to go now the Iranians see the nuclear deal see the possibility or political regime as another tool with which they can increase the pressure on the Europeans and the Iranian strategy has often been if you want us to behave. You have to engage with us if you want us to behave you have to give sanctions relief and if you're not going to do those things we will misbehave or they're trying to calibrate the misbehavior so we don't have an armed confrontation with the United States they've been trying to figure out just where the president's red lines are I think they're pretty comfortable they know where the red lines more and now I think over the next 10 months the Iranians are going to be trying to increase the pressure rather than be on good behavior one of the problems of the sanctions that also impacts a Germany and u.k. And France and many of their corporations their business is not just so isolated in the sanctions are real problems whether or not those stations are able to work something out where they run or not they've still got to worry about the United States and its position they do worry about the sanctions and they have been careful to comply with the sanctions I think there's a broader Iranian goal which is frankly shared by the Chinese and the Russians to change the international financial system in the longer term so the United States can no longer unilaterally bring the world to sanction a country I think you only for the next year to year 3 years you're going to see the Iranians are trying using the Russians moving to try to move that goal along as well. In this hall discussion. To the Iranians and you know how vicious was a look on the one hand he was affected to do what he was trying to do he built up these proxy forces he was in many ways a diplomat and a soldier and a spy all wrapped up into one the organizations that he created persist so by killing Sumanda you don't you don't limit if these organizations and the Iranians lot of levers they can poll throughout the region not so much to get things done but to remind people of their ability to punish to remind people of their ability to disrupt and persuade people that you're much better on. Gaging with the Iranians but not engaging with the Iranians he thought that it was necessary sometimes for not only combatants the die but 1st of all humans the guy and you could argue that there are lots of people. In many governments who have felt the war is hell and you're fighting a war there's no question in my mind that if the Iranians have felt they'd been fighting an existential war for 40 years and all of this is excused there are all kinds of good reasons for Americans and Israelis going to Rocky's and Saudis and others who say this guy was a murderer and we are 3 seconds left how does a rock really want the Us troops out of there. I d rock is of 2 minds about it there are a lot of people who feel they really want the Americans obese to balance against the Iranians but the politics may overtake them it's feels to me like the politics in Iraq are beginning to solidify behind the idea that all foreign troops should leave the real foreign troops are going to be American troops and allied troops the Iranians are in a much more subtle zone a great zone and I think I did my bet would be that in the next year to 18 months the Iranians will have much more influence in the United States those in the us will have much less Jon Alterman thank you director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington that's all the time we are for today stay plugged in by like you know some Facebook and Voice of America you can also like my Facebook page at facebook dot com What would slash and follow me on Twitter. Thank you for being plugged in. 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