[Music]
I
[Music]
welcome to Sputnik orbiting the world
with me George Galloway and me Joseph
hayatt standing in for gatri there have
only been two mayors of London and half
of them are in the studio with me both
served in Parliament with me one has
decided to go back into Parliament and I
wish the other one had too the current
mayor Boris Johnson in true British
politician style has decided to break
his pre-election promise that he would
never be a part-time mayor and has
decided to be one after all taking he
hopes a safe outer London Tory seat in
Parliament whilst continuing to serve as
mayor for the duration of the term it
really ought to be a big Scandal but
oddly it isn't at least not for yet
London saved the best for first in my
opinion and so I'm glad to welcome the
twice elected mayor Ken Livingston but
before we talk to him we sent Joseph
minus the red gloves out onto the
Streets of London to find out what the
public think it's clearly not desirable
situation to try and combine two
important jobs like that uh someone
recently pointed out that of course a
cabinet minister is also trying to do
the job of an MP at the same time and
expected to achieve that and in many
cases does So In fairness to him I would
say that there is a case to be argued
for that but um certainly uh it more
importantly he's broken a promise and I
think that reflects badly upon him I
can't be a pack time man got to be do
all or nothing and keep him on his bike
cuz he look good on his bike he would be
part-time but he'd do a brilliant job I
know that he's very committed to the
role in um city hall and as for with
regards to um doing a role within
government I think they need a shakeup
and he's the right guy to do that as
well I find it very difficult to rate
him as a as a mayor uh I think he talks
a lot I'm not sure about what he's
delivered I think he's great for London
I really like him is there any
particular reason what would you say is
his legacy in his ter in
office um I think the funny brings
politics seems to be more old people
that are moan about him I've been very
impressed with him over the years so I'm
a big fan of his and um just uh hope he
can continue obviously he's going on to
become an MP I hope he can do justice to
both roles who's that he's the mayor of
London Oh you mean the guy that does
all some would say with a funky hair big
white one yeah yes uh don't much about
him well the voice of the public a mixed
uh voice of course Ken am I am I barking
up the wrong tree here is it a big issue
that he's broken This Promise well
clearly not because I mean the first
place he hasn't really done the job of
Mayor I mean the only two things he's
initiated in the last six years are a
that orbit restaurant overlooks the
Olympics um and the cable car to Nowhere
the one that he got stuck the he got
stuck on so the real problem is that he
hasn't initiated the things cuz all
projects take a long time that the next
mayor will open the mayor's elect in
2016 will find they got to move pretty
fast or London will be seizing up tell
me what you think his biggest failures
have been what had you planned to do
that he hasn't done and what have we
paid uh in terms of price for that well
when I when he he got in he cancelled
all the projects that I had underway
except the bike scheme so the extend of
the so these bikes that everyone calls
Boris bikes are actually Ken's bikes we
I commissioned it about oh 10 months
before we lost the election but we were
going to extend the Cen tram into
Bromley we were going to build a cross
river tram to ease the pressure on the
Northern line we were going to take over
and the labor government agreed this
Suburban Rail lines the mayor would
control the franchise you could upgrade
all that but the big thing I persuaded
the labor government to give the mayor
Powers over housing and I mean he
inherited 5 billion from gon Brown's
government to start building 50,000
affordable homes hasn't done it at all I
I I remember saying to him at one point
You' got to start building homes for
rent and he said homes for rent and
there was shock in his voice I I'd asked
if I could sleep with his wife or
something and you realize this layer of
Tory Elite they never have a housing
problem their parents give them one or
they inherit one or whatever they have
no idea what it's like to struggle day
by day in such an expensive city as
London no
as I said in the introduction uh I I've
always been a great admirer of yours I
was a great admirer of your meril it is
astounding isn't it perhaps not after
the Vox pops we've just watched that a
bulington club upper class semi
Aristocrat buffoon and Joker a man who's
made a career out of appearing a kind of
berty wer character could get the
million plus votes were required to beat
you how did that happen it's even worse
at the moment over half of Labor voters
think he's doing a reasonable job and I
largely this is because he is very
clever behind all the buffoonery
everything he's done has been about
promoting himself so all people see on
telly is is this nice man at a charity
event opening this making him laugh um
and he's courted relentlessly and you if
you look at his expenses um statements
and so on he the the the editors and the
owners of the evening standard have paid
for him to have holies in Italy they've
paid for the car to pick him up the
airport and bring him home he takes the
owners of the telegraph out the the
Barkley Brothers he C he took Murdoch to
the Olympic Games at the height of the
investigation into the criminality of
the Murdoch Empire he has focused on
keeping the five billionaires who
control 70% of our papers online so
there's never the investigation now I'm
everything I did was under a microscope
by these people it's unremitting
pressure and I'm not saying that
shouldn't happen I just regret the fact
they're not doing it to to Johnson he is
an enormously uh Charming character it's
clear and what is clear from the Vox
pops including the ones we didn't have
time to show is that he has a big
support amongst women in a way this is
depressing because it seems to teach the
lesson that people are interested in the
fro rather than the substance the you
heard one woman there say he brings fun
into politics is one of our problems
that were a bit too serious well they
see I I didn't come into politics
because I wanted to be loved I came into
politics to do things and that's that's
what our generation did um and one thing
that surprised me I assumed Boris was
this Hardline right-wing idealog behind
all the charm and he would set a new
right-wing agenda at City Hall and
really broadly just pattered along
leaving things pretty much as I left
them but the fairs up and all that um
hasn't done anything very much and I
think those right-wing toes who are
going to vote for him to be their next
leader will be bitterly disappointed if
he does become Prime Minister because
he's not like thata he hasn't got a a
world a world view about how things
should be it's just about promoting
himself if you Boris served out his term
he could then get into parliament in a
byelection quite easily some M to stand
down but he's expecting the Tor are
going to lose there's going to be a
leadership election and I think he's
right I do think the Tores will lose the
next election and I think it's going to
be very interesting because as leader of
the opposition you won't be you can't
manage the media in the way I you you do
in this maril job half an hour every
week prime minister's questions he's got
to have detail he's got to have some
serious policies I think you might find
a lot of people realize they made a
mistake once he's exposed to that sort
of attention I mean obviously if I may
say so have two great examples of two
individuals who came into politics with
good heart good ethics and hard graft
but essentially I mean we we saw from
The Young viewer she wasn't very much
aware of Boris Johnson that the feedback
from from the younger viewers there was
that um they're not really in tune with
with his politics um you know as a
viewer watching this would it be
possible to I mean do you really think
there's a future for young people to to
have hard graph and good Hearts getting
into politics I mean the my advice to
the people is do something before you
get into politics you know I me I spent
eight years as a technician at cancer
research un I had something else in life
before I got completely caught up in all
of this and I one of our weaknesses is
that very few people now come into
parliament in their 40s or 50s having
achieved something outside it people
come in straight from University they
have no life outside of that and that
undoubtedly weakens um our political
system but I think what's significant
about Boris is you see all these people
say very nice things about him but none
of them know him if you look at the
people who worked closely with him
they're scath
uh Max Hastings who gave him the job uh
for the telegraph covering the European
Union and his Deputy Sonia panel who was
there for years working with him are
absolutely vitriolic about him and so
behind you know all this charm which is
very well crafted is absolutely a
completely ruthless and I think quite
cold person well we we are about to
perhaps and Boris Johnson see a new
leader of the opposition uh what do you
think think the uh of the job that the
current leader of the opposition is
doing you're a a giant figure of
leftwing politics in Britain you are you
content that Miland is headed for a
victory and if so what would be achieved
by a victory well I most had Miland is
the last chance in my lifetime of a
labor government that might actually do
something all the labor governments I
mean I was only about a couple of months
old when the labor government was came
in after the war that created our
welfare state and full employment I want
a labor government like that I do think
there a chance said Mand will make real
change whenever I've been with him and I
spent a lot of time with him in the two
years I was running and he was leader of
the party I he's focused on what you
could do he's learning what Germany got
right in building a more balanced
economy jobs workingclass people in
manufacturing um My worry is that he
underestimates I think the scale of
opposition there comes from vested
interests International corporations the
old landed gentry f really threaten to
make change because we've got just about
the most unfair tax system in the west
apart from America if you start saying
to the giant corporations we're going to
stop Google and Starbucks not paying any
tax then you got the money to actually
do the things we want they're going to
be difficult Ken most people watching
this will be thinking you left office
too early well I really regret now I
gave up my seat in Parliament because I
would have stood against Gordon Brown we
might have had a very different
government and you could still stand get
back into the house if if millerand
won't put you in the upper house stand
for the commons I the idea being sent to
that open prison of the House of Lords
there's no appeal you know well the
House of Commons misses you thanks very
much indeed the best mayor of London Ken
Livingston coming up after the break
Iraq's long Fall to Pieces accelerates
and those who broke it have the goal to
imagine that they are just the right
people to fix it again we'll be right
[Music]
back welcome back to Sputnik around the
sand pits in the newsight studio all the
old experts are being remobilized
presenters analysts and experts who told
us with such certainty 11 years ago
there have only hundred hundreds of
thousands of British and American
soldiers would invade and occupy Iraq
everything in the Oasis would be Rosy
well they've now got their military
boots on again clapat warhorse experts
are drafted back from what should have
been Oblivion to give us the benefit of
all the advice that turned out so wrong
last time yes we are on the March and
headed back to war in Iraq how's that
going to work out well let's ask Sabah
jaad of Iraqi Democrats against
occupation he was a victim of Sadam but
nevertheless an opponent of the Bush and
Blair War let's hear his take on this
one
Sabah are we on the March back to war
with Iraq and will it do any good yeah
there there seems to be that American
actually and the British for that matter
are going back to Iraq and uh uh they
always say that the criminals always
returned to the crime scenes and now
we've seen them uh in the in the
mountain of Kurdistan and they talking
about humanitarian missions and actually
they just discover that the ye yazid is
no longer stranded on the the mountains
and therefore there is no there is no
need for a huge rescue missions that all
turned out to shoot their fox really
they were they were going to use the
plight of a people they had never
mentioned to us before the
yazidis uh as their Co cause uh for the
war their uh kazos belly uh but that's
now gone because the yazidis are
actually already gone and the local
people rescued them Kurdish people in
fact they're now safe in Syria yeah
absolutely isn't this a case in point
that the it's not that we're against uh
intervention in catastrophes it's that
the people in the area the region
American Sinister a Sinister plan
actually for Iraq they never came to
term with the with the with them leaving
Iraq in 2011 they always want to
maintain some military presence in Iraq
uh the Iraqi people refus that and even
forced alari government not to give them
immunity and and so on you remember
the S negotiations and so on and they
never actually were happy with that
decision they utilize what's happening
in musul and the ISIS attack and
occupation of musul and the aftermath of
the event uh to go back to to Iraq and
uh with their first of all they
threatened with the bombardment Air
Force attacks against Isis and and musul
and now they're talking about ground
troops and this specialist forces and
rescue forces and so on drone attacks as
well and uh in the end they will end up
establishing military bases in Kurdistan
the most likely a place for such a
military bases in the future don't
forget that the Kurdish leadership
actually offered uh the Americans uh
permanent military bases in Kurdistan
when Maliki was negotiating the sofa
agreement in
2011 is one of the game plans then to
formally break up Iraq so that Kurdistan
becomes an independent state if the
American wanted the breakup of Iraq they
would have done it earlier but actually
the Kurdish leadership are more use
useful to the American and the
Israeli policy if they remain in Iraq
and keep Iraq weak and and a fragmented
State without uh the Declaration of
Independence de facto Independence
already absolutely and this is what
they've been working at at this is what
uh you know the selling of illegal
selling of Iraqi oil the occupation of
uh parts of Iraq which does not belong
to the to the Kish regions like most
like kuk like kuk as well they they hold
that now what's going to happen to that
well they said def
Factor annexation of the the part of
Iraq and they say we are not going to
return to the status includes one of
Iraq's two oil fields yeah one a huge
oil field as well and don't forget that
I mean this the with the conniving of
turkey and the American oil companies
they've been extracting oil and selling
it um and all the protestations by the
American actually they don't like that
and they should be this this issue
should be cleared with the central
government and Iraq is a lie because the
American oil companies who are buying uh
these uh shipment of oil uh from Iraq
illegally let's talk about Isis we've
talked about them many times here before
let's assume it's a given between us the
Isis is guilty of the most Savage
barbarism both in Syria and in Iraq that
they are Beyond any kind of pale uh that
would be recognized by any Muslim other
than the small takiri sect that they
represent let's assume that to be a
given how come they have done so
spectacularly well how come the tribes
in the West of Iraq are content to
appear at least to be represented by
them how come saddam's former men in the
Army and the bath party and militia and
so on are content to be led by them I
think they are help and there's a lot of
people asking this question why kind of
a desperate group of um Savages
basically who come from all over the
world fromia uh from Britain and and so
on they go there they've been to Syria
they've been to Lebanon they've been all
across the middle east in Yemen as well
they commit atrocities all over the
place in fact a lot of people in the
Middle East called these Isis and dases
and Al they call them American and
Israeli milia and the Arab world because
they going about in Syria Iraq Yemen uh
Libya and Lebanon the occupation of Aral
for example uh in Lebanon as well um
it's all part and parcel of uh uh a plan
Israeli and American plan to fragment
the Middle East and to weaken the states
whether it's Syrian Iraqis and so on and
Iraq is added Advantage because the
American created a political system
so-called political process which is
based on sectarianism and division so
Iraq actually have no way of developing
into an independent Sovereign uh
powerful state or strong State because
it's been strangled by the political
process where you have a situation where
actually even the smallest oppositions
are part of the system part of the
government and so this does not
manufacture strength in Iraq continuity
and and sovereignty therefore they
created this system to to maintain Iraq
as a weak State and this is incourage uh
Isis to expand and to achieve this uh
tremendous victory in musul and don't
forget the Iraqi Army did not fight a
single shot in um in mul and that's
because of the infiltrations by the
Americans they appointed these people
and uh bribery of the Senor Iraqi off
officers because when the Paul bremmer
disbanded the Iraqi army they created
another Army which is very corrupt and
uh bias um in favor of the American and
some Regional Powers as well you know
like Saudi Arabia Qatar and uh other
turkey and so on so the Iraqi Army did
not fight in mul uh the the
Isis got hold of the their weapons their
weapons and in fact you find these
weapons in Syria so Syria suffering as a
result of uh Isis victory in musul as
well and can they go on to still greater
victories I mean are these people going
to take over the country it will be very
difficult in Bagdad and the south of
Iraq as you know because of the of the
concentrations of uh you know
Shiite and so on but I they will they
try to maintain Iraq in a very weak
state where this is basically bleeding
and with the help of the Kurdish
leadership you know of leading Iraq dry
in terms of oil and resources and you
have to watch your back all the time uh
we have now basically a k against the
political system which is the American
themselves created um uh in Iraq They
toppled al Maliki because they didn't
like some aspects of Maliki policies
even so that he's at the end of the day
he obeys their order but he did not obey
their orders in in terms of buying arms
from the Russians H he concluded few
deals a huge deals to buy arms from the
from Russia because the United States
refused to sell him arms despite the
security agreement with him um because
they are worried that Israel actually it
might be a use used to attack Israel you
know any armed shipment to the Middle
East it has to be approved by the
Israelis and the Zionist Lobby in
Congress and so on and they refused to
supply Iraq with the Phantom F6 despite
the fact actually that Iraq paid for
these ship they paid for them but not
receed receed them and as a result you
see Maliki went to Russia and signed a
four billion agreement with them that
agreement actually was shelved somehow
because of the corruption scandals
surrounding it but at the same time he
just uh reached an agreement with the
Russians uh once again to to buy more
than a billion uh dollars worth of arms
the American didn't like that and also
Al Maliki was talking about majority
political majority government in Iraq
which actually go in contradiction to
what they plan for Iraq because the
Americans don't like Iraqis to behave as
Iraqis they want Iraqis to behave as a
tribal at each other throat
at Sunni and Sh Kur and Arabi and and so
on you know they don't look at third
world countries as a uh you know entity
which is a national entities and so on I
remember in the past few weeks I saw a
program on BBC I think it was the news
night where the guest was uh uh the High
Commissioner from uh Rwanda and uh the
interviewer actually insisted that he
he'll tell him uh where he whether he's
tosti or hu and that guy the High
Commissioner refused to say he said we
have to put these kind of things behind
us because it brought us tragedies to to
um Rwanda but they insisted actually on
classifying or defining Nations at
tribal uh killing each other or religion
or sect SE sectors fighting each other
and so on and this is the the story in
Iraq this is the story in Lebanon the
French went to Lebanon and created
aarian system based on religions and
confession yeah it's an old story also
divide and Ru and Rule yeah and that's
exactly uh what they're trying any hope
for
Iraq the Iraqi people are very Resolute
the Iraqi people will not uh lie down
and let this continue for uh
indefinitely so in the end and at the
end of the day we'll be victorious we
will establish a democratic prosperous
independent
Iraq where not even one soldier
resemblance of American and British
soldiers who remain in Iraq Sabah jaad
thank you for that powerful
message and now it's your turn to tell
us what you think through the portals of
social media what's rattling Joseph so
on the subject of Boris Johnson
obviously his legacy in office uh Mark
Atkinson says he spent his time greasing
palms and helping out the chaps to
facilit take his bid for leader quite a
few on the water cannons that he's of
course commissioned uh 12:00 and alls
well says mobile shower units hash water
cannons well of course he has no power
he has no legal authority to use these
water cannons the Home Secretary has not
agreed that they should be used uh onto
the terrible state of Iraq um Aaron marp
says arming factions in Middle East
cause this don't see how spending more
arms in will help and finally anfield
says aim is to create USA Garrison in
Kurdish region I have no doubt that the
Americans are going to base themselves
there because they currently don't have
permission to do so in Iraq or rather
they did have the right to base
themselves in Iraq but they would be
given no immunity when they broke Iraqi
law and that was the uh breaking point
and that's all we've got time for for
today no you got married yesterday so
congratulations and the best of luck
with all that and now all the viewers
know why you're looking so happy don't
forget to follow us on Twitter it's rtor
Sputnik and of course we're on Facebook
it's Sputnik on Russia today but for one
final time it's goodbye from me Joseph
hayatt and from me George Galloway it's
been marvelous
[Music]