reports back. we. are. seven thirty am in the russian capital thanks for staying with us here on r t easier headlines a thai appeals court rules to extradite alleged arms dealer victor boot to the united states following intense pressure from washington russia's foreign ministry has condemned the decision calling it political and says it's committed to doing everything possible to bring him back to russia the russian businessman has been

detained in a bangkok prison since march of two thousand and eight after a u.s. led sting operation. russian engineers preparing to start up our wrongs first nuclear power plant saturday director will be loaded with fuel under the strict control of the un's nuclear watchdog the russian bill plant is expected to be fully operational in about a month. and the electricity is back on in st petersburg after a citywide power. outage caused rush hour traffic chaos and commuters had to be evacuated from the metro system intercity train services were also affected. and as oil giant b.p. comes under more criticism for the way it releases information about the gulf of mexico oil spill alone and takes a look at whether the company's been covering up more all along that's coming your way in part two of the alona show next on r.t. .

tonight's tool time winner involves a man in hawaii he's a gamer craig small but he's filed a lawsuit against the maker of the lineage too because he says the game is so addicting sorry we don't have a picture of craig we really searched the entire web looking for one but had no luck but now to the details in a federal lawsuit his attorney says that craig played lineage two for more than twenty thousand hours between two thousand and four and two thousand and nine so what's so addicting about lineage too well here's a little clip of the game. right so it looks like any other game to me so what is it that's so addictive about it is he lineage two was released in two thousand and three and it was

a national phenomenon in south korea it was made by n.c. soft to south korea a company with a history of making video games that they gave really really love but not just being good at what you do now ask for a craig smallwood he really loved the game so he averaged playing eleven hours a day and his attorney said that the addiction was so intense that he was unable to function independently in usual daily activities things like getting up getting dressed bathing or communicating with family and friends i'm sorry craig but i am not buying that there's a reason we got problems getting dressed each day or taking a bath or communicating with your family and friends sounds to me like you're lazy so stop blaming a video game for all of your problems and just grow up maybe go out get a girlfriend stop playing with a joystick for eleven hours a day don't blame a company for making a game that got you hooked and that's why craig smallwood of what you are tonight's to. now the merchants of death victor boot he's allegedly one of

the most influential and a taurus arms dealers in the world in two thousand and eight he was imprisoned in thailand on extensive arms trafficking charges and now much to his chagrin he's being extradited to the united states our chief correspondent catherine azhar of a brings us more on this story. hollywood's lord of war there are over five hundred fifty million firearms in the world wide circulation that's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. the only question is. how do we arm the other eleven and his alleged real life prototype russian businessman big to boot nicknamed the merchant of death denied all accuse the sions of arms selling and laughed off parallel. yes. very sorry for nicholas cage to play this out a lot for this very silly and i feel pity for it's been over his statement never changed

even when he came from behind bars in the infamous bangkok hilton he was arrested in thailand in march two thousand and eight in a joint sting operation by local and u.s. authorities he was apprehended in the final stages of arranging the sale of millions of dollars of high powered weapons to people he believed to represent a known terrorist organization the far not many people were willing to give that type of credit given to him by american prosecutors he's possibly a merchant of some death but he certainly isn't the man the u.s. media would call them merchant of death i mean back to around quite a large airline operation in maine you know and i would think that ninety five percent of his flights were ordinary commercial goods i know he flew television history from washing powder all sorts of things so we're only talking about five percent of the cargoes possibly being. run even flying is not itself illegal in

a long and drawn out extradition hearing that took over two years the united states changed added and modify their charges against mr boot to include violating international trade law as well as arms trafficking his family believes at some point it became a process for the process instead of a process for justice. friday's coote ruling so it's the thai justice is entirely under u.s. pressure there's no justice such work done for previous hearings over a year and a half clearly showed there is not enough evidence of my brother's guilt but for some reason it turns out to be enough for the appeals court the u.s. kept pressing that's why court the prosecutor general and then the senate to sign the letter to thailand's ambassador warning of the consequences if my. it is released this again shows that vick to boots case is political and not criminal. boots trial and tribulations have been ask los lee followed by the media as

hollywood's version of the life of the merchant of death unlike a scripted movie there are no punchy closing lines thoughtful soundtracks or a list of all those involved in production or less that many believe is even more interesting than the laden than himself. castros r t moscow. do you guys remember that oil spill in the gulf you know the greatest environmental catastrophe in u.s. history well in the past few weeks a government report from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration gave everybody the impression that the damage wasn't really as bad as we thought the most the gulf oil in the gulf had disappeared and in fact if you listen to obama's energy and climate adviser she said that more than three quarters of it was gone and it turns out that that's not entirely true far from the truth in fact as we found out in a hearing on capitol hill yesterday where a no

a scientist admitted that the report was released four had gone through the full scientific review process and as a number of other independent studies showered us with more bad news so why sloppiness from the government why the lies from the administration could this become the next big coverup joining me to discuss it is kate sheppard mother jones an environmental reporter covering energy and environmental politics ok thanks so much for being here thanks having me so can you give us a little detail of how exactly this all happened because the report came out they said that the peer review process was made not in the hearing they said that it wasn't in fact there i mean where the details line up well it's it's a little hard to tell what we know is that on august fourth well actually the evening of august third the headline appeared the new york times that you know most of the oil is gone from the gulf and what was left there wasn't really that much of a problem the next day the federal government you know under the lead of noah put out this report that said you know here's where we think all the oil in the gulf is

and said you know about a quarter of it has been dissolved about a quarter of it's been about a quarter it's dispersed and you know the other the other twenty six percent i think they said was you know out there was a joy of the surface or just below the surface so that this was touted widely by the ministration in the news media saying that you know most of the oil is gone and then. you know people really screwed up the math there they said half of it they said three quarters of it's gone i mean but reality when you look at the numbers three quarters of the oil is still somewhere in the water i mean that was what was validated yesterday at this hearing in the no scientist there is to say who'd mid that three quarters of the oil was still in the environment so if they're in the water somewhere we don't really actually know where all of it is or that it was you know had washable beaches or ahead of aberrated you know that a lot of this water was the oil is still out there in the water well part of the big problem here she was that they had a minute that well ok this were report wasn't entirely finished so we didn't have all the information all the figures all the facts but i don't understand why would they release something to the public if it wasn't done yet the impression they're

giving now i mean that they really sure seem to us like it's supposed to be a scientific report that was conclusive and substantiated now they're saying one of this wasn't really a scientific report this was just you know guidance for the emergency response we're just trying to let the incident commander know where we thought the oil was but i mean it was certainly tallit by the administration and in the news media as being you know actual science here and now it's come out that you know it wasn't peer reviewed it wasn't really done we probably will actually have the final report for a few more months and that will be what is actually peer reviewed and i mean the big matters worse they said that well you know it wasn't officially peer reviewed but we did have independent scientists look at that and then you know this evening i was on the phone with these independent scientists who said you know i never saw the final report i contributed to you know these estimates but i never validated that final number and said yes you're absolutely right this is how much oil is out there so how is that supposed to make people feel me do you think of this erodes all confidence in the government as this body that you know in such a situation where there's an environmental disaster that they're actually going to take care of you and you know the people's interests in mind i think this is really

unnerving especially for people who are in the gulf who want to make sure that there were sponsors adequate and that they are remembered not just this week or you know not just a few months but over the years because this is going to be a long term problem i think there's really. justifiable concern about you know what kind of impression people have thanks to the huge early push on these numbers which it was entirely justified well that's the thing is you know the administration came out touting this report the media was all over it and you know like i said it kind of gives everybody a bit of an excuse to not have to feel guilty about not worrying about the gulf anymore because they're assuming that most of the oil is really gone it's no big deal so you know now after the fact it's having a backtrack how do you get people to carry again how do you remind them that there is more information coming out that this is going to be a battle that takes years and years and years and these people are going to continue to suffer it's not going to be solved like that i think is that problem i

mean obviously understand i mean from what i understand i think you know obviously the experts they ever get this estimate i'm sure that you know if someone at the higher level here said look there's some good news in the support let's shove this out the door and let's get a big headline here everybody is looking for good news i mean the oil disaster is really about good for anyone i could see that desire to have good news but you're right the long term consequence is that people aren't really paying attention i mean attention to this issue is already starting to die off you know. months into the spill at that point so people were their interest was waning already so i think this basically ensure that people were not going to pay. more and it's only going to get worse as more time goes on you know and everyone is guilty of it i'm guilty of it to you know eventually your attention does the going to fade even though we don't even know the majority of the damage which is makes you want to talk about some of these independent reports that also have been coming out i mean aside from the one that says that there's a twenty two mile long one mile wide oil plume just isn't dissolved what else is

out there well there are a couple different things there is the support of the giant underwater. report also said that they don't think the oil is degrading nearly as fast as people had additional he hoped. you know. we've had other research came out this week that said you know maybe that this is creating the is a potential in you know over the next few months to create bigger dead zones in the gulf as oxygen is depleted so there are a lot of these longer term consequences and you know the reality of where the oil is that isn't really well understood and you know even if we look at the exxon valdez catastrophe to those are these are always the situations where you know twenty years down the line ten twenty years you'll see them that there are people there are serious mental medical effects that also take place that no one ever gets the money that they really deserve so it's definitely something that's going to be our last in a while so we have to make sure that people continue to pay attention and shame on the government for trying to you know get off easy on this and. even just the

damage assessment process which the government's going through right now to assess how much you know our natural resources water and land was destroyed in this process that's not usually takes years so this is going to be quite a long time before we actually really have a real picture of how bad it is now ok thanks so much for being here thanks very much all right still to come tonight we have our friday fireside chats and the solecki brothers are here to take on the week's bizarre and strange headlines apparently the entire country of north korea is gay and it looks like you need to be a great drinker to make it on wall street that in a moment. every month we give you the future we hope you understand how we'll get there and what tomorrow brings the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world. join us.

for the we've got. the biggest issues good human voice ceased to face with the news makers. because i thought that it was my duty to be in the right. to help my country. it is necessary for america. an officer. to go out of. the.

war with. a. sign. losses are quite significant. is it possible to win the war against sexual assault in the us armed forces. in the army. as. a monster mine. the last effort to keep the eastern front and. lead citadel of friendship. and able. to. show me. my mom had a great sacrifice of laws. and are still with the.

manager the military part of. the most heavily reinforced. bottle of coors. in lasted forty nine. one of them might be used. in the turning point. morning. to tonight's fireside fridays be your host. this friday i dislike to wrap up on a subject that we touched upon on yesterday's show we spoke about the media's premature announcement that the exit of the last combat brigade from iraq was a sign of the war zone the pentagon the obama administration they haven't called

the war over and rightly so there are still fifty six thousand american troops left in that country there are countless thousands of contractors that are not only left but have yet to arrive there are still people losing their lives and if you ask me that is not a sign that the war's over and yet thanks for the mainstream media is rare but overwhelming coverage of that last combat brigade are rolling out people now think that it was in fact if you look at wikipedia and you read the iraq war and it states that the war ended on august nineteenth two thousand and ten now sure it's just wikipedia not an official encyclopedia but that's how it starts that's where unfortunately a lot of internet users get their basic knowledge from people subjects on historic events so can we please remember can we please be responsible and not spread bad information this war seven and a half years later is not over and it won't be until very last american troop is

out. when the world cup craze was dominating the headlines we first introduced you to paul the octopus he was eight for eight in the world cup when he predict. spain winning out the entire tournament but paul then went into retirement or at least that's what we thought until tonight and now it turns out the polish coming out of retirement we're turning to his job as a football or and relocating to england so apparently england wants to use the psychic octopus as their official ambassador to win the country's bid to host the world com in twenty team so i don't know does this make paul a traitor to germany well according to ac life center manager the octopus is actually a native of england hatched in a british aquarium so i get it now he's not a traitor he's just going to go over there and be england's bitch forget the fact

of biz octopus is officially retired and packed up his crystal ball let's just thrown back in the prediction tank and parade around so that we can win the bid for our two thousand eight hundred mint that is disgraceful england even though paul's mollusk his feelings too you know and for that i say shame on you england go get yourself some other clairvoyant animal to be your golden ticket. it's friday and this week we have the lecky rose in for a mash up of the week's funniest weirdest and most ridiculous stories this time we have everything from north korea joining the social networking world the mystery of beer goggles finally being solved oh and apparently drinking is a very very important part of the job for all those who want to work on wall street

so joining me to discuss all of these fantastic issues are matt and peter slutsky founders of double speak media gentlemen thank you for being here who are you know while. let's start i guess with north korea always a fun topic so now they're on facebook and they're on twitter do you think that the rest of the world is now going to think that they're you know up to date in the future they're going to want to be their friend i hear that mahmoud ahmadinejad it keeps poking kim jong il over and over again and that's the problem yeah i do i do think i mean they are reaching out and they want people to be their friends i am going to fall it's too bad it's too bad that when you have a network it's only like one person from north korea because no one else can access computers or yeah that's a problem i think you might be right there well it's a funny thing is you know on twitter apparently they have thousands of followers you know like that just took off from facebook they only have like sixty five friends and some are saying that that might be because their facebook profile

actually says that they're interested in men declaring officially the entire country as gay yeah well i mean i'm not going to speak for an entire country and i'm not calling north korea gay but you have seen that i mean walk the way they walk and lines you know i mean that's questionable but i think that they certainly need to hire someone to work on their social media strategy and. you know i think they just went down the drop down menu and. maybe in their mind it is every you know they need more military might so they're trying to recruit people by saying that they're interested in men or maybe all their favorite t.v. shows are desperate housewives only garden television i mean there are some other indicators there i think kim jong il maybe get i mean and this is coming out is that breaking news we're going to hear. my sources are telling me this. statement states and sources tell us well the last thing the funny thing is that north korea has become so popular on twitter that south korea has actually banned anybody from following that money you know they get like the disease where they get jealous and

they have to start censoring people's rights as well when i'm sure they're going to have their own twitter page in the north koreans this is a factory where age hacking but this is the problem of war three this is how it started you have so many twitter followers and you don't want to get a shot across the aisle a little tipsy in martha's vineyard on vacation he tweets at kim jong il suddenly there's a war on hash tag and the next thing you know there are some serious problem where there is danger and you're right you're right the internet is a very dangerous thing i think john mellencamp said that it was the worst invention since the a bomb or something today but he's crazy anyway let's see more drunk let's rewind speaking of being drunk to beer goggles i mean this is something everyone always talks about talk about it as a joke but the mystery has been solved beer goggles are real because apparently you know the reason that you're attracted to people is because their faces are symmetrical and now scientists are saying that what happens is when you're intoxicated you just can't really tell. you know you can't see it tell the symmetry

anymore. yeah that is an interesting story i mean i've never looked at someone's face for symmetry but you are you going to have it well maybe i have but i mean beer goggles beer throws everything off so you never know what's going to happen a lot of bad decisions are made intoxicated most of my brothers girlfriends have. pirro. you know i look really good in dark rooms generally poor lighting is my is my for the next morning the next morning but you know what about like whiskey goggles and is it only about beer. moving moving. speaking of drinking to article that came out this cussing how important drinking is to wall street culture you know we heard this sap story from this guy said he used to work late nights in the office all by himself and all the other guys would go out drinking with the boss go for happy hour and then when the recession hit he was the first one to get laid off because the other guys all bonded but i mean do

you think that this is something that only applies to whilst. any think if you've watched the stock market the last couple of months i would say drinking is heavier on wall street these days but i think it might be this culture you know like mad everyone everyone watching read what they say even writing dreyer i say if i'm not drunk by doing something wrong and they're productive and they seem to be having a great time there is a social aspect to it though i mean you do bond to people over drinks peter has made some of his best friends while drunk a lot of work. and then maybe your boss will like you because he has his beer goggles and i don't know how logically. yeah i think that people are becoming more come to what culture but it was you know it's big in the sixty's so maybe we're coming full circle there was that big recently a big drop in the stock market number that tanked in one hour went down oh yeah because it's a little technical on the way i do watch i think we now know some of their worst fears and right yeah i think i'm right on the river and that was that this is something that i find personally hilarious there's

a politician the philippines that put up a campaign poster that says i'll do my best but i can't promise anything. this is already on my mind during i mean do you wish every politician was this honest there are some firms here in d.c. that could learn from this yeah i mean that's the bottom line is no politician can deliver on our promises so come out and say it out front and then you go back and say see i told you i was going to do anything maybe throw a shirt and tie on going thinking yeah i knew you would know you only get a little casual to me but i mean it's like you know i don't know what are politicians going to say ok first of all this is something that very much disturbed me this week and i want to know if you were as disturbed as i was that one in five americans think that obama is a muslim and that he's not is that. what i mean one in five americans think they're going to be there you know after you have that same oh are you serious so be careful what you poll for right was our lesson of the day yesterday the bottom

line is the media is trying to do everything they can to make this a story line so of course when they call and they talk to a voter who says that they hate obama and they're going to vote for sarah palin or whatever they say that the opposition of course are going to say that they think he's a muslim because they think that's a bad thing of course we know people that know he's a christian know that he's that big about you lot of a lot of muslims in the way. that i always. did when he wouldn't put them on. but never went really well you know was disturbing to me is that they said where did you find out this information and sixty percent of people said you lie. want to share a little media they told us right now below to show not spread lot let's be brothers they're always spreading rumors it's you guys you guys are the ones calling kim jong il gay by the way that was a rumor to i have to confirm it because i rewind the tape to run the tape that was shows us you know how credible america listen i love america i love this country i love the people of america but about twenty percent of people in this country are crazy on any issues times and this is them right maybe it's better not to know that

all of them think you got out if you're going to go. are before we go tonight instead of a tweet that's a comment on the overwhelmingly negative response to yesterday's little skit that we did about the tea party apparently many of our youtube viewer suffer from a serious lack of sense of humor you know from being able to comprehend what is serious and what is a joke which in my book is a greater offense than loving so i gotta say is watch out because that mean ass kicking alone or that you saw last night is coming for you next right that's it for tonight's show thanks for tuning in to make sure you come back on monday when we take a look at a new documentary about america's education system it's called the lottery and in the meantime don't forget to become a fan of the a lot of show on facebook and follow us on twitter and if you missed any of tonight's show or any other nights you can always catch it all at youtube dot com slash the loaner show where we post the interviews as well as the entire show coming up next is the news with the latest headlines from the u.s. and around the world.

to the kaluga me where the car industry is rapidly developing. large egos for the area where the russian fleet was born. where the indigenous people were the first target she's navigate. where russia's glorious history is still visible. well. on our cheap. wealthy british style holds that's not on. the. markets why not scandals. find out what's really happening to the global economy in these kinds of reports.