Transcripts For RT Going Underground 20180131 : comparemela.

Really think theres going to be a lot of opposition to that at least not publicly because right now the democrats are more concerned about you know whats going on the fact that a lot of their constituents and im talking about democrats in congress now in d. C. A lot more concerned about the fact that their own constituents are getting more money because of these tax reforms might even be liking donald trump and they have to make sure that their voices are heard but at the same time not one each of us policies to reign free so get most going to be long below on their list i think especially now that we have reports that a lot of the people that were released from gitmo not just baghdad who of course was in iraq and released the iraqi authorities before before being released but a lot of the other get mo releases from obama did in fact join either al qaeda are isis on the battlefield and we have some of that confirmation and so i dont think theyll be much opposition to that i do think there will be lots of opposition to immigration well moving on as well one of the other points that he really emphasized physically at the end of the speech it was all the dramatic stuff that we saw you talk about north korea i mean and how dangerous it was how cool it was to citizens why do you think he emphasized what he did and also the way that he did it. Well i mean he did it in a very powerful way he brought a north Korean Defector there who of course had his own crutches it was a very powerful thing i dont think anybody in the world would argue that that wasnt a very powerful thing even bringing up the story this is a young man that went to china for a short time came back to north korea and the first thing they asked bringing up the story did you meet any christians there because as we know you know many Global Reports have come out that north korea is the number one persecutor of christians and so we dont know what happened whether this young man this a defector converted to christianity but i mean that religious intolerance there by the north korean regime you brought that out to kind of bring out some sentiment there we heard some reports stating that he was going to lay out sort of a solid plan for north korea but he didnt really do that it really just was meant to spark the emotions and within people i think within anybody watching we have to do something about this regime to free the people he started out with the iranian people supporting the protesters in iran and and so he ended that with north korea supporting of course the people of north korea and wanted to free them from oppressive dictatorships and things like that in those regimes so i think that that was trying to ignite something that would hopefully unify any attempt to to go against the north korean regime or the dictatorship but he of course didnt lay anything out i think that was more of just an attempt to get our emotions our heartstrings pulled so that maybe he can get World Leaders behind him and figure out some sort of plan to either bring an end to kim jong uns reign or figure out some way to bring peace to the people of north korea so lets just return to something that you did touch on. Russia was only mentioned briefly one seen as we looked at it is really listening to what he was saying he mentioned the rival power of mean what you say you didnt speak more about russia. And so that was very interesting to me because i think that you know all we hear all you hear from Mainstream Media outlets throughout the u. S. Constantly is russia russia russia this dossier trump alluding things like that i dont think he wanted to give it any credence because it has been rather ridiculous there has been no evidence of any sort of colluding between trump himself and the russians or anything within the within the campaign so i think he wanted to really minimize that he wanted to focus on actual threats and other things like that he was very careful in his word choice in this speech where is he talked about rogue nations things like that he was very careful to mention russia as a rival not as an aggressor not as an enemy not as anything else like that not to somebody is subverted things like that and so thats what he wanted to do was make it so that its were going to touch on it and they were going to let it go this is a rival its a powerful country we need to play in the ball game if were going to do this and drop obama has not played in that ball game so were going to up that ante and so he quickly moved on and i think that was an attempt to even soften some of the things that even if cutouts recently from general madison cell stating that russia is our number one threat he did not use the word threat in this state of the Union Address trump did not but more rivals so i think that that was almost more of a lets touch on this but lets move on lets just show that were going to continue it was more of a deterrence talk were not going to build our military attack were going to build it to show that we can play in this ballgame now with these other powerful leaders i mean you said yourself i mean that there was very subtle use of the wording that rivalry as you said not a stretch of challenges americas interests and values we wish i think he was referring to. Well i think with what the rivals the challenges americas interest you know i think that that really comes to Foreign Policy now you know weve seen that russia has had a very Important Role to play especially in syria with whats going on there fighting isis in syria russias been very successful in doing that but also gaining up allies within the middle east because thats one thing that the u. S. Has always done and so now russia has lots of allies not only in the middle east but throughout much of the world have built a very Strong Economy and in some of those interests i think hes talking about are are some of the alliances there for example some of the russian alliances have been with the Syrian Regime and the u. S. Categorically under the truck administration as well has not been for the assad regime so things like that i think its just really talking about u. S. Interests in a region where the u. S. Either has an interest in the region allies in the region or thing like that so its not so much our values our way of life but more u. S. Interests in other nations where russia or china might have a stake or an alliance or some kind of policy agenda and that in that other nation that doesnt quite align with the United States and i think thats what he was referring to in terms of you know we were thats the National Interest that we would be coming up against a tiny jennifer i mean what reaction do you sense from the republicans and democrats do you think that be able to find some Common Ground on some of these proposals but donald trump. I hope that they would i really do because i think that this was an important speech i think it was i think it was a well done speech it was a well thought out speech there are some things that he made that were good you know there are people making more more money more wages higher wages but hopefully there are going to be some Common Ground areas that they can come to i dont think one ton of a bay is going to be a huge backlash id be very surprised if it was there are other things that are cries need to focus on right now for their party but i really do think that republicans and democrats hopefully will try to come together but if it does happen its going to be secretive youre not going to see it in Mainstream Media outlets all youre going to see is them across coming out of the next hour swinging and kicking and screaming about all the things that they dont like because thats what weve seen is really this tension and this is disharmonious environment within the United States congress right now within washington d. C. Between democrats and against President Trump so hopefully republicans can work more with democrats to try to find Common Ground hopefully we can get that things look public and not look like were constantly at each others throats just because our Political Parties i dont not positive note well leave it Jennifer Braden attorney specializes in Foreign Policy International Law and religious terrorism thank you very much indeed thank you thank you. Groups from all sides of the conflict in the syrian war have been involved in a heated day of talks during the peace summit in the russian resort of sochi and it seems they have produced a tangible result what i guess day of reports. First of all theyve agreed on Twelve Points Twelve Points along which a future syrian state will be built its its a guideline the document itself made the rounds at geneva multiple times but ultimately it got nowhere it was finally side here in sochi and its a road map that governs everything from syrian from Syrian Government itself to syrian sovereignty to how the military will be overhauled the other big thing that was agreed on is a Constitutional Reform Committee to amend or rewrite the syrian constitution the interesting thing here is that seats on it will be saved for those that were unwilling and able to attend these talks this will be passed on to the u. N. So of the u. N. Will oversee this new committee and the u. N. Special envoy to syria will personally guide this initiative there was also of course drama nobody saw it coming this morning there was no into bit but from late arrivals to cancel participation even arguments and shouting matches theres even heckling i want to express my sincere gratitude to our colleagues. Friends again i would like your attention if its long live russia then let me speak please. There was sides as i mentioned the. Unwilling to come to these talks were talking here about the hardcore position of the High Negotiations Committee that is based in saudi arabia and compromises many rebel groups theyve sent a delegation and the turkish pressure reportedly that came to sochi but they refused to leave the airport they stayed for about ten hours at the airport of sochi and they took offense at the various banners that were hung up in the city for these talks the turks tried to get them to come but to no avail nevertheless there were many other parties many denominations at this citys christian hes leading muslim susan she is certainly a lot of debates internationally Turkey Russia iran three big players the guarantees of the astronaut Peace Process they were all here in the western part of this for example United States they really sense junior representatives and from what weve been told by Sergey Lavrov they havent displayed much optimism much enthusiasm for this sochi peace peace conference as the true new year to go towards yes its way more difficult to negotiate when its not like minded people who sit around the table like in paris and washington but opposing sides but agreements by opposing sides are way more stable moen lasting and sustainable the news achieved in an industry of like minded states taking decisions for the Syrian People and the syrians can decide the fate of their country give the thing that organizes and the Russian Foreign minister wanted to make very clear is that sochi is no will turn it in and it is not competitor to the geneva process the geneva process will continue under the auspices of the un controlled by the un and overseen by the un and the u. N. Security council the u. N. Special envoy to syria he was here as an observer seeing what was happening seeing that. Discussions. There were intense discussions in the room today and you are proving it. Is normal in a democratic environment so we dont really normally we now have the text we have the theory we have the documents that have been signed by everyone what when means to be seen is whether theyll be put into practice you know whether theyll be enforced and what will come of this the u. N. Special envoy to syria staff and mysterious says the such a meeting offers a unique possibility for political rivals to join in crafting a new constitution but we never had the government and opposition actually getting involved in to the discussion of a new situation because they were not given a green on the possibility of creating a Constitutional Commission which to end it would be left to the u. N. To set the agenda that i think we have reached that point. Im staying with syria where one person has died and two have been injured following a bomb attack on a Turkish Military convoy in italy thats according to the turkish army two of the victims were civilians including the person who died the attack was carried out by kurdish militants the convoy was on its way to it live to assist in the creation of the deescalation. Meanwhile an Iraqi Kurdish Television Channel has film some of the damage in the kurdish enclave of afrin in syria afrin has been under attack by Turkish Forces for over a week the video shows the aftermath of shelling as well as civilian casualties. Here as Inspector General for afghanistan says the pentagon told the office to keep quiet about how much of the country is controlled by the government and how much by the taliban and other insurgent groups however the spokesman for the Resolute Support mission in afghanistan says the data isnt constant find and there was no intention to conceal it he says human error is to blame for the misunderstanding heres what the Inspector Generals office said in its report. This development is troubling for a number of reasons not least of which is that this is the first time sigur has been specifically instructed not to release information marked unclassified to the american taxpayer the instructions are coming from the pentagon and they are given to the special inspector for general afghan reconstruction and from what we understand theyve instructed him not to give out certain pertinent information especially about casualties among Afghan Forces but one of the key things that theyve told him to leave out of his reports is the balance of power on the ground hes essentially not being permitted to reveal what territory is controlled by the taliban and what territory is controlled by the Afghan Government what territories controlled by the i still forces and thats Key Information if you want to understand what progress is being made and how the war is really going now at this point the usa has been to afghanistan. And for almost two decades its had its forces on the ground there have been air strikes and such and we actually have a kind of an admission from secretary of Defense James Mattis that not a lot has been achieved during that time this is what he said sir i understand the urgency for you to understand its my responsibility were not winning in afghanistan right now and we will correct fish now at this point there has been a little bit of a change in strategy in afghanistan the usa is escalating its airstrikes and bombing of afghanistan at this point of four thousand three hundred bombs were actually dropped in the year of twenty seventeen thats more bombs that were dropped in two thousand and fifteen and twenty sixteen combined however it hasnt really had the effect of changing things on the ground in fact the i still forces and the Taliban Forces have actually increased the number of attacks that theyve carried out lets take a look. Now at this point the usa is sending mixed messages about the possibility of negotiations with the taliban we heard in october Rex Tillerson the u. S. Secretary of state say that the usa was not willing to negotiate with the taliban entirely but that it was willing to negotiate with what he called moderate voices among the taliban now. Weve heard from donald trump that there will be no negotiations with the taliban no talking to the taliban whatsoever theres no talking to the taliban we dont want to talk to the taliban and were going to finish what we have to finish what nobody else has been able to finish were going to be able to do it now weve heard a response from the taliban essentially mocking the United States and saying that if the usa wants to find them it knows where their office is located in the city of doha at this point we are not hearing moves from either side the taliban or the United States about resuming negotiations so at the moment it appears that the violence and chaos in afghanistan is going to continue. Middle east expert alley risk believes the latest move by the pentagon is tantamount to an admission of failure in afghanistan seeming so horrific attacks launched by the time of taliban and by isis which have now begun to target kabul the afghani capital previously we saw that they know there were attacks by these extremist groups but they wont focus so much on kabul kabul was considered to be relatively secure what weve seen now is that even the capital is no longer secure so a lot of these failures in this who you were swore i think that the pentagon burned basically or the american mistreated as a whole had no choice but to take this step to try in the heart of the reality which is goin