april at 10, the mass prayer just where they are. there is no particular gathering place. and then listen to simon's or mike about the teachings are proffered. mama down the holly cursor, holly koran, i'm sorry. and this is essentially what they want to learn about from the scholars coming from different parts of the world. this is a yearly event that started in 1967 by public in jama, which is essentially a slimy missionary group that started in 1926. that mobilized the gathering. and it's since then, the momentum has been growing and the number of people who have been increasing a hong kong man believes to be the world's longest working t j has died at the age of 98. re cordero interviewed music acts including the beatles during a 6 decades long career, has show all the way with raven broadcast on hong kong public radio for 51 years until his retirement. again, his book of records recognized cordero as the world's longest working

d. j. ah, check up the headlines on al jazeera turn, his authorization as leading rallies in the capital, demanding the president step down over a worsening economic crisis. rallies are taking place on the 12th anniversary of the jasmine revolution. demonstrators push through police barriers to reach the cities main boulevard. lisa volkswagen has this update from students that much bigger than the purchase that we've seen over the past 18 months. and what's interesting is that there's different political blocks who had previously alienated each other. they may not exactly be a coalition, but that co existing and protesting together. what we've also seen is a massive red box around the city. there's a lot of very heavy security health authorities in china have reported almost 60000

corona virus. ling deaths since early december hospitals say the fatalities were recorded between december the 8th and january. the 12th. is the 1st data on cobra, 1900 spacing has released since loosened restrictions in early december. ukraine jazz russia has struck important infrastructure in the capital keys. the governor of nikolai us as missiles have been seen flying, but air defenses are working. ukraine has refuted russia claims that its forces have captured the eastern town of solids. our president villagers, lansky says his troops are still fighting. moscow wants to take the small salt mining town to help it's offensive on nearby back loot. the u. k. has called the execution of british iranian national into her on callous and cowardly on the river . sorry, was convicted of spying for the u. k. charges he denied us by re previously said that he forced to admit his guilt under torture. the execution came despite last

minute appeals for clemency from britain and the united states to palestinians have been killed by israeli forces in the occupied west bank. they were accused of firing at israeli troops near janine, the islamic jihad group says the 2 were fighters from its arms wing the brigades. those are the headlines on al jazeera coming up next. it's upfront, thanks for watching. bye bye. for now. the world i can make for returns to dabble in january to assess the global economy was shaped by the panoramic and the war, and ukraine can leaders from government and business prevent a promised decade of actions becoming a decade of uncertainty. extensive coverage on al jazeera in 1971, a military analyst by the name of daniel ellsberg leaked to the press, a 7000 page top secret pentagon study. uncovering years of official lies about us military involvement in the vietnam war. delete the document known as the pentagon

papers were instrumental in exposing the scope and strategy behind the u. s. war in the region. and many of the time believed that they could change how the world viewed war decade later as conference, rage on and ukraine. you have been in the opiate just the name of the decision making process behind wars remains as murky. is that what we do know is that $1000000000.00 is spent on weapons and defense contract every year, making conflict incredibly profitable benefits from war. and who are the biggest players behind the war machine and up front special daniel ellsberg, the u. ellsberg. thank you so much for joining me on upfront. thank you for having me. a large part of your life's work has been committed to not only raising awareness about the dangers of nuclear weapons, but also the money behind them. in 2020 is the panoramic raged the 9 nuclear weapon states. collectively,

britain estimated $72000000000.00 on nuclear weapons. and we're now living in a time when the danger of nuclear war, of course, have spike. where does this leave the movement for nuclear disarmament given how much money is that playing all of this? what was kept us from having any real effect on reducing the danger of nuclear war all these years. and no one was quite effective in helping stop a above ground testing. and even the underground testing was actually. but in other respects, it really hasn't been very effective, and i don't think the movement was as conscious as it should be of the money behind, as in the effect that had on congress, they really acted as so it was just a question what people want, which was tool void nuclear war or rob? i just political of strategic aspects of it is not needed. it's dangerous and so forth. that it came very little attention to the role of companies like allowing

lockheed raytheon, general dynamics and job. he is a, as if far they really want to factor. it's like talking about climate without talking about the exxon corporation or shell or chevron. and actually that is the way climate is talked about pretty much. we just don't face fact and we're facing a large flows of money directed at keeping the status quo, which is the status quo of extreme nuclear danger, especially in times of crisis like this and of climate movement toward an abyss. basically, the end of our current civilization, or creech, we shuffling with people around the world in talk about the threat of nuclear war in this abyss that we're headed toward that certainly a piece of another piece of it is war in armed conflict that's taking place right now is plaguing multiple countries. you could get ukraine, you got yemen, you got some malia, you got the ethiopian list,

goes on. but behind wars like that are a weapons industry that you just alluded to. that was worth $531000000000.00 worldwide in 2020 and as of this recording, while the basin of ukraine intensifies the stock prices general dynamics lockheed martin. as you mentioned, northrop grumman raytheon. they recently hit their 5 year hive. so as we talk about war, we also have several who benefits from war. can you help me unpack that a little bit? who's really benefited it? the old earth latins silken coolly. bono, who benefits are going all the way back. when you can nameless go. we were last century world war one, the loans by j. p. morgan to the british for arms, for the british, it had to deal or even had lost the war to some extent. j. p. morgan would have gone bankrupt and wilson, our president then,

could not allow that to happen. it would have been a financial disaster. and that goes on from there on, in particular, whoa, whoa, who benefited from vietnam going on as long as it did, or afghanistan. right now, the war that were supporting in yemen through arms to saudi arabia and the u. e. is keeping it truly genocidal. war going on are enormous massacre. and i think with very little benefit except to the arms manufacturers. people asked, why do we learn from our failures in vietnam and afghanistan and elsewhere? and the answer is, who has a lesson to learn those for us, we're very profitable for the people you name for lucky raytheon, northrop grumman and the others are they have anything to learn. i'm afraid that right now, there's 2 major purposes that will keep the war that can keep the war and ukraine

going. as long as the war in afghanistan, not in the way that is being waged now. but by a kind of guerrilla we're, we're supporting that. we support, as we did against the soviets in afghanistan for 10 years. and he asked the ukranian people would be ground to bits in the course of that as the afghans were. and yet, it's very comfortable for the people who are supplying those weapons and keep going . there is one other major motives that effects these things in particular in europe. and that is it r u. s. role in europe who are not after all, a european nation, and we have no particular rule in a european union. but in nato, that's as the mafia says. cosa nostra our thing. we control natal pretty much, and nato gives us an excuse to reason to sell enormous amounts of arms to now to the formerly warsaw pact, nations which had only 2nd raid or obviously soviet weapons altogether from the

moment that the berlin wall came down, lockheed representatives were in warsaw showing them on a need for f 20 tunes and for other weapons right there, against who as the russians are reasonably asked. actually, russia is an indispensable enemy in your nothing else can rancho. it's the same noble enemy that, that, that's, that fascinating language. break that down for me, the, an indispensable. and what does that mean? it means that you can't really justify new trident submarines or i, she be m's that northrop grumman is making a whole new life. she be up against ian, or isis, or i, al kato, ah, nature's don't cottage as rationale for multi 1000000000 now dollar arms budget. only russia has the targets, any sophisticated arms to fight against. you don't need advance 5th generation

fighters against people who don't have any aircraft or fighters of their own, or sophisticated ones. but russia and now china and for the future in particular, to offer noxious arrival or a competitor, but shown who could be painted as an enemy against whom you have to defend. and of course, put now in the last shoe once has just been a bonanza for the armed people. because last you've made a russia look an offensive i enemy of some kind who has to be defended against, with the latest weapons, with new weapons. and of course, russia has its military industrial complex to maintenance fast. they remind me of the black arts poet, gills got herons that everybody loves peace. the problem is you can't make no money off of it. you know, in the past few months, more than 5600000000 dollars has been poured into ukraine in the form of military

aid from the u. s. from the u. k. and from the e. u. we seen similar situations in the past when u. s. arms were used by libyan in syrian opposition groups, but what happens when those conflicts are over or seemingly over? oh, where does the weapons go? iraq church, it's a long time before these contracts are over. as you know, in afghanistan, i went on for 20 years, and i could good much longer. in libya, what we did was supply a lot of weapons to people who in turn. so some 2 other insurgencies of the m terrors groups and others throughout africa and elsewhere. and of course, our efforts in afghanistan armed in effect against the soviets isis, or i'll should say al cater and then later isis. so he things have low back effects . ah, heaping in mine, he didn't have these amps industry, so it would be wrong to say they didn't invade ukraine. cooking did that. however,

they, in their people, they were influencing and the government were willing to risk a war like this coming from their policies which were attract provocative in terms of making it likely that the russians, any russian leader would eventually react against it. however illegally. just as we reacted when khrushchev put missiles in cuba, jewish retires, and those missiles did not, in fact, threaten our security. and i say that as someone who was looking at precisely a problem in the pentagon, at that time working for his mcnamara said, hey, it's not a security problem, missiles into what? it's a political problem. critical because when i want to nick, this is somewhat at this stage, foreseeable, right? i mean after thing, what happens in syria with thing? what happens in libby or we as you've done, we could go back decade prior. the weapons end up in the hands of folk who as

physically we wouldn't want to have them. and yet we continue either to fund them directly or by proxy. so i guess the question for me is, why do we allow it to happen in ultimately? what happens to these weapons? what kind of considerations given to what happens to these weapon? well, it comes down to who the we is that we're talking about. i, it's not just, it's not a century, the taxpayers or the citizens who are, by the way, regrettably willing to, she had deaths of others who don't look like us. ukraine is getting much concern about the casualties in the war crimes because it is not on brown muslims that are being victimized share by the russians in this case. but it's white christians and that they're like us and to see them in such anguish and terror that creates a public pressure that i wasn't here before. but in all of these other cases. and

so should, oh, what's the problem? we hear that matters. the ones that provide the large campaign contributions and it provides the personnel at high levels and these ranks benefit fine from them. there's no problem. i may not be very successful, but he failing war is just as profitable as a winning one. in fact, in someplace better cause it goes on forever. as you say, the winning is over tree with when you say the libby is, it is the prime example. i where and you could say to some extent, afghanistan, where the weapons fanned out to other people had provided opponents to an adversaries. but is that bad? multiple adversaries are also good for the military industrial complex, not only in our country and in europe as well. it's not only americans who sold these weapons, though it is mainly ollie's, oversee the french, the others,

and the russians have big arms markets in the world. according to the institute for policy studies last year, the average american taxpayer gave about $2000.00 to the military with over $900.00 going to corporate military contractors. in contrast, the average taxpayer contributed about $27.00 to the centers for disease control and prevention and barely $5.00 to renewable energy. how do you advocate for peace when so much taxpayer money is going to will call it the 5th republicans in particular, are very resistant to spending on social welfare or of any kind for people or anything that in any way seems to compete with private industry. the one thing you can get republicans to budget money for is allegedly

national security, even though almost none of these weapons actually add or even relevant to our national security. but they are relevant to making threats against russian. you need russia later, china will be good enough militarily to serve that purpose of the necessary, the indispensable enemy. but now it was hard to keep the cold. we're going fully at full speed with russia as an enemy in the ninety's, in the early part of the century. so now it's back and was back before the attack on russia. but now kootenai has fit into that in a way that i think was not unwelcome to our military industry. if they didn't actually wanted. i'm sure they could even count on russia actually invading another country, but to have russia objecting and complaining and posing and threatening to invade,

as he did a whole year ago with, with, with troops on the edge of ukraine and embarrass all that was good for business and it doesn't, by the way, it doesn't justify putin's aggression at all. he's did to have reason to feel in the longer run, threatened russian security in terms of weapons so close to their borders, like the weapons in cuba that we objected to. kennedy had no rigid immigration for threatening to adventure on that, and russia has had no legitimate recently for grading craig, but time. nevertheless, we've pursued a policy that was warmed against going back to the mid ninety's by george kennon. another c founder was a cold war. entrenched leash who should issue an indescribable error

blunder mistake or to make an enemy of russia by moving especially into ukraine. of some of the u. s. as top spies and military generals with ties of defense contractors end up as intelligence analysts on various news channels. when they retire, for example, former c, i a director john brennan became embassies senior national security and intelligence analysts se, se, connecticut with what you're going to say. and former c i a director michael hayden became a national security analyst for c and n a. how much does this compromise what the public is told about war? what else? what that stake? well, it depends which you think the purpose of function that really is in times of war, in our military society. their function pretty much is to sell the public on the need for more weapons and the need to intervene in this country are media is ultimately controlled by major corporations like general electric ah, for a long time. and joe,

many other conglomerates basically themselves recognize it consists of big business. and as i say, laurie's good business for the media and joe, for the administration, even when it's failing. so hoof sure. i'm answering your question. it's natural for them to hire these people. if their message is to get propaganda out, who better to do it, then the military or the she a people, if you want, endless war, which in effect, the wish has wanted for her that's something what happens right? what happens when citizens are only told the truth about war after the wars are over, after the information is leaked after information is the classified. it seems like we only get this under extreme and unforeseeable circumstances and i think we're trying to conceal it. so what does that mean for us? well, the kind of information that we needed to blood vietnam was represented by such as

the pentagon papers, which was a study of vietnam decision making from 45 to 6768. i put that out 1st starting in 69 and then through the newspapers and 71. so that was somewhat belated, but not too long. but i put on trial for a possible 115 years in prison at so down quite a few people. i didn't see any other big leech like that. a for 39 years until chelsea manning put out hundreds of thousands of files on his canister and in iraq . and she spent 7 and a half years in prison. ed snowden, for his revelations, essential revelations of criminality. why the national security agency, the universal surveillance, not only in our country but around the world, but where it wasn't so illegal, but definitely in some constitution in america. and so essentially

a lifetime exile. so these people and daniel hale reveal the drone program or they did what they should have done just as i think i did what i should have done, but everyone has paid a penalty. very heavy penalty nodded my case. nixon actually committed so many crimes which happened amazingly, almost miraculously to become revealed towards the end of my trial that kept me from having to go to prison as he had intended with the others and say either exile or prison. and that just purchase. you mentioned chelsea, man, and he of course leaked information through with you leaks and now it looks like we can found drilling a size is being expedited to the united states and weekly published of course classified information including document exposing us war crimes in iraq and afghanistan. and publishers were integral to the information that you liked about

the vietnam war. so i'm curious from your perspective, what happens if that president that you spoke to is said that allows governments to dictate what can and can't be published? well, you from a clue this way. it threatens to create a new as chris is not distinguishable from russia today with julian massage ah, extradited if he hasn't yet been expedited, but it was expedited and prosecuted. convicted here. we will have had the 1st instance of an actual journalist. i hadn't been in prison for putting out the truth . i was the 1st source, former official, ah, to give information like that to join wish and i was put on trial for it. but no journalist has ever been put on trout, thanks to our 1st amendment, freedom of the press and treatment speech, which most countries don't have as the law or

a. it will be essentially rescinded if julian sanchez, successfully prosecuted. and we will then approach the state control of information such as we're seeing in russia today. all of these cases of course, demonstrate the importance of exposing the truth about what's happening when it comes to war in other matters. and of course, your leaking of the pentagon papers is a prime example of that. but to day we have an expansion arise even of this information and it's hard to decipher what's true, what's not, what's fact, what's fiction? how important is it to have actual transparency? when it comes to government actions and government decisions about war, i'm afraid that transparency and war are 2 words. don't really go to each other. they don't exist together. in war time,

the secrecy that the government carries on all the time about his own crimes and lies in misleading statements in bad predictions. reckless actions that secrecy is certainly legitimize in war because you have to keep it from an enemy. that's one of the senses in which i said at least, are indispensable, especially as a long term, once in a cold war, we have to keep things from russians altogether. so you don't, you don't pick transparency. and when people do come out, there's 2 native it, they do get prosecutor, when it's coming out of the sick. part of it, which is very dismaying, is nothing much happens. it may affect public opinion to some extent good public. the thing doesn't try policy or whether a war can be ended or not. i hoped it would. in fact, in my case, nixon was so concerned that i might put out his secrets, which i did have,

but i didn't have documents to prove it. but he thought i had documents in to shut me up. he did domestic crimes against an american me, which actually figured far more politically in the millions of other people we were killing in vietnam. but a crime against an american counted more. unfortunately, when these things have come out, i have to say not much has changed. so there's a problem with the audience, with the citizenry. you could say with our species. and i actually, i do say that our willingness to support unquestioningly a leader, especially when he or occasionally she can point to when he's threatening their security. and she us to set down public information about it in order to people go along with it pretty well. and when they find out that not too many of

our own soldiers are getting killed as in kansas, then they let it go on indefinitely. as chance them was 20 years. ukraine. i think if it, if it devolved down, if the russians came in, war didn't get out, which i don't expect them to, to wish and others will be supporting a guerrilla war, which could be his cost, true to the ukrainians. as the guerrilla war, that the movie dean put up that we supplied against the soviets in afghanistan, that costs a 1000000 and a half afghan lives. and i would hate to see that imposed on the ukrainian people when under any circumstances. i've been through a war like that in vietnam. and i saw what we did to insurgents in the way of bomb cushion several 1000000 lives that has not yet been the price in afghanistan, no matter what, what we're hearing about or crimes which it will could be so and negotiated outcome

in which concessions are made on both sides, however, unsatisfactory might look to many people on both sides, could save hundreds of thousands to millions of lives. and i would like to see that happen. i don't think it will, though, i don't think it will. wow. and on that sobering note, i want to thank you for your time, daniel ellsberg. thank you for joining us on a thank you. all right, everybody, that is our show up front. we'll be back with discarded clothes from rich nations, are funneled to charities and sold to impoverished nations. on an unprecedented scale, a massive industry sift through the unwanted garments to re so to some of the world's poorest inhabitants. but much of what arrives is unfit for purpose and is fueling

and environmental catastrophe. people in power travelers to gonna to uncover the 30 secret behind the world's fashion addiction. that white man's clothes on are just either. this is a popular iraqi dish. cold can as good fish grieved on an open wood fire for decades, fish markets to thrive, to across the country. but these days the industry is floundering. farmers say they need more government subsidized to vaccines weighing just 20 grams. this finger a link needs to be in queue, waited for about 6 months before it's big enough for our fleet. this size, we ask the agricultural ministry, what authority is we're doing to protect the industry? the water crisis is hitting many regions across the world. not only iraq to increase productivity, scientists suggest introducing more robust strains to build up the fish's

resistance to disease. until then, the survival of this beloved tradition of dish remains in doubt. on counting the cost of china's strength cobra policy is over. will about health jobs dot the economy. europe, the energy crisis east for the continents might not be out of the woods yet, plus weeks for why young educated, baldwin, a turning to farm county the cost on al jazeera. we understand the differences and similarities of culture across the world. so no matter when you call home will but you can use in current affairs that matter to years. ah, this is al jazeera.