He spoke to the author of the research. I was accused of being. Biased toward the assad regime well im not biased toward the assad regime i just think we ought to understand what happened. From a mosque and use its q thanks for joining us on our to international and Daniel Hawkins welcome to the program. Intends to meddle in next years us president ial election that was the light hearted response from Vladimir Putin in answer to a question about moscows plans. Hes russia as well but. Attempting to influence the 2020 lections states secret codes that you secretly yes we will indeed do that so we could chew you up properly but dont tell anybody ok well thats quite a statement coming from the russian president but you have to take it with a pinch of salt because he was obviously joking but on a more serious note he was addressing probably what might become russia did it his area of volume 2 now after all the numerous investigations that weve seen into russias alleged meddling in the us president ial elections back in 2016 all the media hype that weve seen in the past 2 years pretty much every single quarter someone screamed that it was russia that meddled in the us president ial elections russian meddling in the us elections in russia did meddle in the 2016 election for United States to still vulnerable to russian and political interference russias blatant interference in the United States 2016 president ial elections this is actually the crime of the century. If you think about it it is really dont russian. Is driven by. No doubt about. The same no doubt. No doubt. And almost 4 years since donald trump has been elected there was a number of different investigations conducted by the american intelligence agencies the moola reported that made they had planes and many other articles that were written to prove the existence of the hounds of the kremlin behind the american elections but moscow has always said that it never meddled and putting all joking aside lattimer important has once again stressed that. You know we have plenty of for. Of our own we put our efforts into resolving them and aim to do that above Everything Else miller didnt prove that we colluded with President Trump in 2016 but expressed fears that it might happen in the future this is ridiculous or rather it would be if it wasnt so sad because all that we see in us internal politics is about destroying ties between our countries and im certain that holmes the us itself. People in a french city of rwanda are demanding the truth after a major fire at a nearby chemical factory they fear a cover up and dispute claims by the authorities that the air was safe to breathe charlotte doing ski has more. Almost a week ago the Chemical Plant just across the water that was a blaze of thick plume of black smoke billowed into the sky as firefighters battled almost 24 hours against the flames. And its good it would im not saying that the smell isnt pleasant im just telling you what the results of the tests are namely that the air is not harmful and since then there has been growing anger over what some say is a lack of information over what was put into not fire and the impact that could have on peoples health. You can talk to any firemen but when you have any type of contact with the smoke its dangerous it can be lethal because of the Carbon Monoxide and in this case when the smoke went into the sky we didnt know what was in it we dont know exactly what is in the year and we worry a lot that in the future it might bring cancer or something else. I have 4 kids and they were impacted by the smell and my grades i thought about having tests done but for was with absolutely no information about what we should be looking for i could take blood samples but what are you going to tell them to look for i know they could be cancer thyroid problems but the problem is that we hear lots of rumors nothing concrete. I think there is a risk for health and i can feel it because i have a need to throw it and im continuously coffee we worried about the how tomorrow children in the future will they have cancer or something we just dont know around rule some people are also taking that precautions some locals have also experienced nor share. Vomiting whilst others have complained that the tap water its black and then there is the stench you can smell that the air is foul its a bit like rotting eggs but with a chemical tinge and despite the initial denials that there was no health risk the French Health minister has admitted that the rule is clearly polluted. It is a factory that produces hydrocarbons even if not in large volumes it is never good for the population to come across these kinds of products i cannot say that there is no danger the city is clearly polluted several schools were closed off to the fire and though some have attempted to reopen many teachers are refusing to return to work. Colleagues from schools near lubrizol who have refused to work until they receive information about what was burnt and the risk because they are just a few 100 metres away from the site they did so to protect their health and that of the children who are under their responsibility and thats why there has been a demand that the original school 30 acknowledged their right not to have children attend school under this condition. While Health Concerns are immediate whats perhaps most telling about the danger people here are facing is the fact that food sales from 100 districts around ruin have been banned any produce that may have been exposed to contamination has to be destroyed that even includes milk. Hybrid carrots and work closely with milk produces dioxins are measured in memory grams and there are a problem for us because they become highly concentrated in milk and talk sick so they render it unfit for consumption it is vital for us to know as soon as possible whether there are any dioxins in those burning materials whats going on he would tell us what to do with our produce so much on the fly advise even reached as far as belgium and the netherlands raising concerns that the impact could be even the ija reaching flags have also been raised for the health of the police and the firefighters who were on duty during the fire protests like this have now formed to pressure the authorities to outline any risks they make face they demanding answers but are afraid that even if they recede. Even though the danger is as a result of that place may not image for months or even years from now so much even ski. Scientific journal that specializes in arms control has withdrawn a study that cost doubts on claims the Syrian Government was behind a chemical attack in 2017 in the town of construct you author of the report of a tied mit professor told really video Agency Claims of inaccuracy is in the study groundless. This article that my colleagues and i are publishing has come under attack in the very interesting thing about this attack is that nobody who has any Technical Expertise has provided any criticisms at all the criticisms are all from people who have no Technical Expertise and the criticisms have to do with strange arguments for example i was accused of being. Biased toward the assad regime well im not biased toward the assad regime i just think that we ought to understand what happened here the only thing that matters is is this article technically correct this is a science based journal and if theres any technical errors in it then they need to point them out because theyve actually in several conversations said they are not aware of any technical errors so the problem seems to be that there are accusations being made from the outside which have no scientific merit that it appears has caused them to take pause professor postals article pointed out inconsistency is in the official version of events but has come under intense criticism against the if explains. Where the sun revolves around us or us around it where the earth is flat who is god is greater or more recently whether we should question why every chemical attack in syria were to magically gets blamed on the government the Syrian Government committed chemical weapons acts against their own people it is highly likely that the regime was responsible for a siren attack on concha khun assad rita rita the violations of the cease fire and the violence through treated by heeds armed forces on civilians now usually science is the answer it is resolved some of our biggest arguments but this question seems to have a strumpet science and Global Security respected journal based out of Princeton University decided not to publish a study that questioned the official version of events that assads government was behind the harm she hoon attack in 2017 it all went Something Like this a former pentagon employee mit professor ted postol together with respected scientists conducted a study u. S. President ial candidate gathered mentions it on her Campaign Web Site 13th september belling cat noted anti asaad website blasts the study science and global says it will publish it anyway and will judge it on narrative soon after the journal now says its canceling the publication is why officially. These questions included concerns about the technical merits of the analysis in this article as well as the value of publishing the article given the sensitive in contested issue of the use of chemical weapons in syria yet it is take these masses very seriously this review identified a number of issues with the peer review and revision process strange isnt it that no questions about the veracity of the study were asked when it was submitted or when it was given the green light for publishing concerns only appeared when belling cat and its followers attacked the study and the people behind it weve asked the journal for comment but no clear answer yet then again as statement may have said it all sensitive and contested issue that caused your mind back to 2017 within 2 days of the alleged chemical attack america declared it knew everything there was to know on tuesday syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians even beautiful. Babies recruiter murdered in this very barbaric. Attack and so trump ordered a barrel of cruise missiles to be launched that syria now any doubt about as adds to mattie guilt would make the missile strike a war crime or an International War crime which could be why the scientists behind the study of facing such intense pressure abuse even and surprisingly are the loudest voices of condemnation is coming from Elliot Higgins founder of belling cat and opponent of everything as sad is website which he likes to call an investigative outlet that has received funding from u. S. Government run operations mr higgins is a rabid supporter of the official pentagon line he is debating the issue with dr post or well the opi float your dogs he doesnt agree with you well that are they lying before i think there is ied to address the technical point in my instead of citing nonsense because i showed that none of the forensic evidence fits the findings you need to show that what im saying is technically inaccurate i took your research in hex i mean i gave it was someone he said 40 years of experience as a chemistry expert im not interested in other people you claim are experts i want to know why this is not its not in place the full debate is up on dr postals Youtube Channel but his study will be appearing on science and Global Security anytime soon it seems twisted criticism has won the day to day where science is told to shut up because its inconvenient its former us secretary of defense famously explained there are some things you just dont know you dont know. There are reports that there is no evidence of a direct link between baghdad and some of these terrorist organizations there are known knowns serious things we know we know and we also know there are unknown unknown that is to say we know there are some things we do not know but there are also unknown unknowns the ones we dont know we dont know excuse me but is this is a no no. Im not several unknowns and im just what im noticing the no one can say which is the surgery you know even here if you can really hear the irony is sometimes those unknown a new preferable its better for america in this case for bending cats if no one knows what happened and they what ive been thinking of jennas through extending says that the withdrawal of the author co has nothing to do with science and everything to do with politics the article was authored by 7 scientists who are experts in the field they ruled out the fact that. That it was definitely something that could only have been caused by a bomb drop from the from the air it was respected to analyzing the hole in the ground and modeling whether it 122 millimeter. Project could have caused that and they determined that it could have caused the criticisms mostly have come from nonscientific people what say is that a journal thats supposed to be dedicated to scientific inquiry and that is supposed to be dedicated to disarmament and arms control is apparently being bullied or allowing itself to be bullied into political censorship and bias. Middle east conflict taking center stage at a policy forum in russia thats more after the break. 70 years ago this week china started down the path of communist rule over the past few decades china has emerged or rather really emerged as a leading world power rivaling the us the communist party can rightly claim a string of stunning successes but challenges remain whats next for chinas extraordinary revolution. And i think that impedes the elections will be the most. Recent American History because the stakes. For both sides. Trump this stake is just implementation of the. Present for the democrats. If we bring even deeper a crisis of the party. Of the traditional. Problem. Russias approach to the middle east is among other Foreign Policy issues up for debate at a major forum being held in the black sea resort of sochi the countrys foreign minister is there on with other top officials but if a national has been following developments. Wednesdays gathering of Valdai Discussion Club based International Think tank is held him base absolutely stunning place in the mountains outside russias black sea resort of sochi and discussions here today are just as hard as the weather the east has been announced this year is a major topic asia and the middle east the latter is in the spotlight today high ranking politicians x. Birds influencers are discussing current challenges and respects 10 ways to bring peace maintain peace has well as boost stability and developments in these regions syria was mentioned to many times russias foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has taken part in the conversation that last of the wrong 2 hours he has talked about iraq afghanistan libya as brothers set examples of global peace efforts blaming usas approach that he has described as interfering to influence stressing this should be avoided in the future. Of the middle east is a cradle of many civilizations and World Religions of course today when its been transformed into a laboratory for reckless experiments that have led to tragic consequences this topic is very urgent if you look at american interventions aimed at forcing relevant parties to do what washington requires washington usually considers it useful to maintain a certain degree of turbulence in the region because the us has military bases that they can only support one side if its beneficial or the other depending on where the oil flows where the gas is where to sell their weapons. Minister lavrov has said that instead of this toxic and dangerous interfering to influence strategy every International Effort should be aimed at stopping the violence and bringing peace and stability and as an example he has talked about 2 regions in syria where 2 different approaches have led to absolutely different consequences proving which one is more. Effective. In syrias aleppo we were able to return the city to normal in the shortest time possible we d. Mind it in record time as well we provided the entire population with essential skill and people started coming back nothing even close has happened and record with the u. S. Led operation for terrorism with carpet bombing 2 years on and not even all the corpses had been buried not to mention the mining operations. Foreign minister lavrov has also expressed his concerns about american and european approach towards iran iran that love has stressed never violated any article of the joint comprehensive plan of actions adding he hates any unnecessary and unexplainable pressure on to here and will soon stop and just remind you of all the Discussion Club will continue its work on thursday like many putting russias president is expected to join well cover it for you of course europe is working to preserve the Iran Nuclear Deal several e. U. Countries have joined the Payment Scheme known as up to bypass u. S. Sanctions against iran instincts were set up in january by france germany and the u. K. It allows firms to avoid using the Swift Payment system which is heavily reliant on the u. S. Dollar washington withdrew from the iran deal this year and really imposed sanctions the former foreign minister of austria told us european powers are determined to maintain their trade ties with iran. The whole instrumentalists developed in order to create a sort of puttering trade between a European UnionMember States and iran in order to make. A work which means open the market for european businesses we will face for a short term perspective still some sort of limbo stalemate lots of uncertainti