supporters in a place like california this is your president he's willing to put you to subject you to the possibility of prison rape because you unfortunately got caught smoking the same drug that he did but not only this is your president doing it mean this is the rest of america really sitting by and watching and being ok with that you know and i thought that something was interesting in terms of your writing here is that you look back to dr martin luther king jr you look back to get the roe and you know saying that this is this idea of people peacefully of course opposing laws and then the guys with the guns come after them but then that might actually wake people up get this kind of counter resistance to it when you realize that your democratic government is acting in a militarized manner towards its own people do you think there's a chance that i do and i mean if you look at the population united states you know most people who've been born after world war two have tried to stuff a majority of people in this country know that this is ridiculous to treat marijuana as if it's heroin as if it's a dangerous drug that's going to kill you cause overdoses is nonsense people

realize this and know this in their hearts and so now what we're seeing first with medical marijuana dispensary is that oh look the republican failed when we have these things out there if this if the proposition fails which it might it's kind of a coin toss up quick or two we got to go have a quick yes or no is going to fail or pass i'm good i'm from california you're from california we're optimistic it's going to pass all right i mean i can't i'm not supporting anything that says thank you so much thank you coming up after the break we'll look at a sixty billion dollar arms deal that the u.s. made with saudi arabia this year one of the most conservative muslim countries in the world and that was right after they sanctioned individuals in iran for human rights violations so does this country pick and choose who to point fingers at depending on its political interests we're going to show you that discussion with jane cleaver of the young turks and will see evidence of a dark side of america's war on terror reports that want to detainees were given psychoactive drugs on

a regular basis. broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is our t word seven thirty on your tuesday morning i'm sean thomas and we're certainly glad to have you with us from moscow court finds that jailed a former tycoon the highland called skilled guilty of stealing billions of dollars worth of oil sentencing is expected in the next few days his defense team says it will take his case to the european court of human rights formerly russia's richest man he is already serving an eight year prison term. russian president dmitri medvedev calls for a firm stand against a violent nationalism at a meeting with the country's governors the kremlin has pledged to tackle ethnic

tension after riots in moscow and seen petersburg. thousands of travelers remain stranded in moscow's airports after a blackout and bad weather caused widespread disruption and cancellations frustrated passengers have reportedly attempted to break through passport control officials say it could take days to bring the situation back to normal. and my colleague marina joshie will be in about thirty minutes with a full look of euro news but right now it's back to our special year end review of the alyona show. america claims to be the champion of human rights around the world this country prides itself on its freedoms and denounces others but don't grab their citizens and their populations the same but do we apply our critique equally or only when it suits our political interests it's a question of for some reason everybody else seems too scared to ask and here is a perfect example with a little help from jane quaker from the young turks u.s.

secretary of state hillary clinton announced yesterday the for the first time ever the us is imposing sanctions against iran based on human rights abuses apparently president obama signed the order on september twenty eight that sanctions aid iranian officials who have been involved in quote serious and sustained human rights violations since june two thousand and nine to spewed presidential election now under these officials watch iranians have been arbitrarily arrested beaten tortured raped blackmailed and killed that's what hillary clinton said now the reason that they could impose such punishment on individuals is thanks to the comprehensive iran sanctions accountability and divestment act of two thousand and ten the punishment is that these eight individuals will now be subject to financial sanctions and a denial of u.s. visas but of all the bad guys in the world why is that just these eight are being targeted directly why don't we just make a sixty billion dollar arms deal with saudi arabia one of the most conservative and

oppressive muslim countries and yet eight people in iran are deemed worse than the rest once again brings the question to the table as to whether the us likes to pick and choose who to criticize for human rights violations according to our political interest more earlier i caught up with jake leader of the young turks and i asked him just that absolutely i don't think there's a rational person who can make it can all human to it there's a lot of people with political or business interest that would make it hard but really look at it we're supposedly great allies with saudi arabia. i know we're great hours with them because we're about to sell them i think about sixty billion dollars worth of weapons and saudi arabia has her will human rights record. and he hopes a lot of this almost identical problems that iran has in well actually iran treats women generally speaking much better than saudi arabia does and then you have the same issues with executions lashings extreme sharia law etc but there

is no area people about what happens in saudi arabia because we have business dealings with them and we make money from them and they want to sell us oil and they're willing to give our contracts to our business interests i mean keep it real that's one more thing about that between iran and saudi arabia at the height of the iraq war there was a new story about how. some people perhaps even involved in the government but certainly people who were getting rich off the government of saudi arabia were pulling in millions of dollars to the iraqi insurgency and getting our american troops killed but you never heard a story about that all you heard was our iran iraq is attacking our troops there as attacking your troops look it's propaganda doesn't mean iran isn't it doesn't mean iran doesn't have about human rights record it's just what do we choose to emphasize what yeah it's exactly what do we choose to emphasize and you know what do we choose to turn a blind eye to and then why do we choose to emphasize i mean who is centrist is it

really and to put these human rights sanctions on people in iran you know i'm kind of confused as to how you know punishing eight people really is going to change anything within the country itself. look i don't want to give too into plots that are too you know conspiratorial or nefarious but for whatever reason let's put it that way there are some people in this country who have decided that it is to their advantage. to have a war with iran and they are pushing out in every conceivable way and they are powerful people so they will get you know whether they're senators or people new ministration or people in the media they have connections and big push out story and so a senator leaks a story about how iran is terribly dangerous in doing this or he pushes legislation to do that and so the focus is constantly iran iran iran and our media in america they have a blindfold on they you know like the horses with the things on the side where they

can see their side the just whatever the government or speeds them that's all they see so nobody ever actually goes up those who wait a minute there is in saudi arabia the same exact violations as iran and how come we never talk about that to see the government didn't force feed in the information on saudi arabia so look there are some people in this country that come hell or highwater want to attack iran and they're going to do their damnedest to make sure that our happens and that's why you're seeing the story you are today that's right and i think you know name a few names i can say that john bolton's the joe lieberman's of the world that have been calling constantly almost every day you know for an imminent bomb attack on iran we know the sad thing as you said our media here doesn't seem to pay attention to these stories they don't seem to get it same thing i think with a lot of american people but you know the rest of the world it's not the same because the rest of the world doesn't understand the different dynamics and they do actually look at the way certain countries function and the way the u.s.

approaches that mean oh so what do you think that this well you know how does it make us look abroad. it makes us look incredibly hypocritical we lose credibility and i think. you know there's a certain unfortunate because the media is not doing its job there's a certain a bit taming the american people and everyone's who are they like oh my god the rest of the world sees us that well you know of course if you do it because they see the park or see you don't see so you know whether it's on the issue of being a neutral arbiter between the israelis and the palestinians which is very funny. or it's how we treat iran versus saudi arabia or naming you know how we treat pakistan if there were a government we like a bit of a government we don't like and the list goes on and on but we do it countless number of revolutions that we have for sort of latin america depending on our interests it's just the american people unfortunately it's not their fault they just they have been told there are enormously ignorant about what or real foreign

policy it yeah well you know the other thing is i help americans could at least realize what's going on within the country for going to talk about hypocrisy this is something that i have a feeling you might agree with me on you know recently that new rolling stone article with president obama came out where he said that it was irresponsible of those democrats that right now are you know less than enthused about going out and voting it's so irresponsible of them to sit on their hands if they really want to continue having civil rights and civil liberties in this country i mean this is this is the guy that now has put u.s. citizens on an assassination list that is trying to wiretap the entire internet does he have anything to brag about when it comes to the civil liberties record. on m s n b c i once did a segment that just drove them crazy and i'm comparing bush and obama civil liberties record and asking the question who's worse i think it's all really legitimate question because obama is definitely better in some ways he is for the moment being stopped torture for example that's

a huge win and i should not be understood having said that he's worse in some ways the order to assess the nation of our walkie and yemen it hasn't happened yet he's just give a signed order that if the find him that they can execute him summarily does something bush never did it's beyond bush when it comes to state secrets or warrantless wiretapping his policy is identical to bush so where is the change that we were promised so in what i'd never understand about them is like there is a talk show host and a commentator as a blogger do they want me to lie to my audience do they want me to say obama is not doing what was wiretapping because he is and as you said he just proposed that. there should be made bigger and that we should be able to wiretap our blackberries our i phones get into our facebook accounts etc so when they say don't worry trust us we'll get a court order no i don't trust you you're not getting a court order no yeah yellow liquid tank you said they were upset when you did that

segment on us and that's n.b.c. who is upset the white house. you know my understanding is that white house robert gibbs is cetera you know that they they don't like their kind of talk to find out reaches that they would be compared to bush i got a suggestion for them stop acting like bush and we won't compare you to bush i'm totally with you on that let us down professional lefties thanks so much for joining us. thank you. it's nice fireside with your. earlier this week we look back at experiments that the cia performed on soldiers and civilians during the one nine hundred fifty s. and sixty's everything from giving them l.s.d. trying to cure homosexuality or even placing devices in their brains well those are horrible revelations but at least that was all the past right well not so much we've already learned that during the bush administration this country tortured

individuals to get mo who knows where else today we have a new piece of information an investigation done by the seton hall university school of law shows that the u.s. military routinely administered high doses of a malaria drug which poses severe psychological side effects to detainees at guantanamo bay there's a drug that even in standard doses can cause severe side effects like hallucinations convulsions psychotic behavior memory impairment a drug that in massive doses could make those side effects last for weeks even months and this clearly wasn't for the benefit of the detainees there's no malaria in cuba for starters u.s. personnel a good amount they are prescribing the anti-malarial medication and the researchers found no medical justification for the drug they said there could only be three possible reasons for drugging these men gross malpractise human experimentation or enhanced interrogation they called the psychological equivalent of waterboarding

and guess who the legal mind was that approved it all john you struck again saying that us law does not preclude any and all use of drugs as long as those drugs don't inflict permanent or profound psychological damage i wonder what profound is in john hughes world and george bush and dick cheney's world these are the guys that didn't believe that waterboarding even. all of my distorter there when they had to fess up but they did it they said it only was used on like three or four guys no big deal i just wonder how many people were given this truck will probably never know the truth tell the cia video day they deny that they ever did it to begin with they say it will simply detainees they merely misinterpreted routine medical treatment sorry guys but with your track record i don't believe that for a second this unfortunately is just one example of many brutal and inhumane things of this country is done all the name fight terror.

we've got just one more break tonight but the next interview is one that you do not want to miss we'll speak with radley balko of reason as we look at a graphic video swat teams entering a home shooting down dogs now i go hear my fireside what i believe to be the birth of a police state. what's really happening to the global economy. headlines kaiser report.

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i am looked. at the close up team has been to the region where industries are rapidly developing . now wattie goes to the homeland of those with strength of mind and body. to the land developed by cossacks in ancient times and which became a premier destination for nineteenth century political exiles. this is the on

screen if russia plays out on r.t. . lines. would be soon which brightened if you knew about someone from finest impressionists. means for instance on t.v. dot com. are police here to serve and protect you or could they be here to scare attack beat kill maim whatever other bad word you can think of to you this year we saw numerous examples many of them on video of law enforcement officials going too far treating people in this country like the enemy with overzealous force making us question if

this really is becoming a police state now sticking to the subject the war on drugs really has become a war and the sense that people in america have become the enemy or at least that's what the actions of swat teams and paramilitary units would lead you to believe all the time we hear new horror stories of night raids gone back where women and children get hurt and dogs get shot and the best example being a raid in columbia missouri just a few weeks ago and earlier i caught up with radley balko senior editor for reason magazine and we started by taking a look at that graphic video from that raid. ok . oh ok. ok. so here they busted in and the first thing they do is they instantly shoot the dog

you know there's been a lot of outcry about this everyone's talking about it in the media but these things happen all the time don't they yeah i mean really the only unusual thing about this raid was that it was caught on video and that video was subsequently released to the media and and then to the internet but everything about else about it was was pretty routine i mean this is how this happens about one hundred to one hundred fifty times a day in america and everything from the use of you know the battering ram to shooting the dog unfortunately to the coarse language and just sort of the general violence of the raid this is this is pretty standard for drug raids in america and of all the scary part is that often these are nonviolent. drag racing i'm sorry i don't understand why you need to bring in a swat team dressed in their combat gear and why they need to use that kind of a force if this is a nonviolent rape that it will the rate itself is pretty violent the offense that they're waiting for that's right and you know i mean there is an appropriate use for swat teams when you haven't already violent situation if you think bank

robberies or terrorist attacks or mass shootings hostage takings those are perfectly appropriate uses for a swat team because the swat team is defusing an already violent situation but we need like you said when you have a nonviolent offender or someone suspected of a nonviolent offenses keep in mind these people haven't been convicted yet and you bring this kind of violence you're actually creating a violent situation where there wasn't one before and that's really i think at the heart of what's wrong with these raids and how do we get to this point because i read you know and some of your work where you were saying really during the reagan administration where they meant they were the war on drugs that's when it really started to become militarized and that's when they gave police departments across the nation so much money for this crazy equipment that you would think should be used you know in a war and not against their own populace yeah i mean that's i mean the war on drugs became very literal in the reagan administration in fact reagan gave a speech in one thousand nine hundred six where he declared illicit drugs

a threat to u.s. national security and actually compared the war on drugs to a world war one battle were thousands and thousands of lives were lost but yet subsequently they started making a lot of this actually military equipment stuff that's already been built that was built to be used on war in battlefields the pentagon started making surplus military equipment available to local police departments in the last twenty years or so literally millions of pieces of equipment from you know machine guns to tanks armored personnel carriers sort of more mundane things like office equipment but also you know helicopters gernade launchers have been going to these local police departments for use on american streets against american citizens and i think that's a really sort of troubling image and. why i think that also proves the strength of this size of these military defense contracts that they have so much surplus equipment lying around and that's one of the things to do that i think helps fuel this war on drugs and i'm probably helps fuel the way that they act as they're telling them here take this equipment we're making it for you and so it makes the

police officers act that way but i mean rhetoric matters right and words have consequences and i think when you start talking about drug prohibition in terms of war and politicians start using this war imagery the people on the front lines the police officers i think internalize that and they start to see themselves as soldiers and they start to see you know the suspected drug offenders not as american citizens who have rights but as enemy combatants you know who are who they're fighting against in this war and of course that you know gets exacerbated when you then outfit them in military equipment training military tactics you know in send them in on these sort of paramilitaries style raids but how many of these police officers these swat team members are soldiers how many of them have just been coming back from iraq and from afghanistan where this really you could say was a part of their daily lives they were in the military that's a good question and i have not really i haven't studied it enough to give you a good answer on that i will say though ever i actually got an e-mail a couple e-mails now from people who were in the military who have seen this video

and surprisingly to some they say that this is not even acceptable in the military that these sorts of tactics even in afghanistan and iraq when the military goes on raids it has to be signed off signed off on by very high ranking people don't have to be lots of intelligence about what what possibly inside the place that they're reading so they were even sort of shocked by this and actually somewhat offended at the use of the word military because they said even the military isn't isn't quite this militarized i actually it's interesting i read some of those responses where they said that really the term militarization reflects poorly on the military but it's interesting i haven't been to iraq or afghanistan either and i've heard stories where that's the first thing they. you know there is they they bust down the door and they shoot the dog that's just the protocol but i think that you know still being in that military mindset where those people really are the enemy here we're talking about people in your own country and something that i thought was interesting was when you broke down the goal between the police and the military the goal of the police is to protect and serve and the goal of the military is to

seek out overpower and destroy the enemy so when those two get so blurred together the lines well there's been a for about two hundred years we've had a law in the u.s. called the posse comitatus act and it recognizes this important distinction between the military and the police and it's been a very firmly defined line a few exceptions in emergency situations but we for a long time in the u.s. we have understood that it's dangerous to complete these two missions in still today i mean we generally don't have the u.s. military patrolling the streets the streets in america but what is happening is sort of the reverse our police are becoming more and more militarized and i think that can be just as much of a threat to the us with the principle behind posse comitatus as the other way around but it's only getting worse and worse than if anything now you feel like you're living in this big brother society where they can monitor everything you do at all times they can passing new legislation that i think post nine eleven to a lot of americans aren't necessarily as opposed to it as they would report because

now there's this constant threat of terrorism looming over us so they allow they allowed i think the the swat team the police to overstep all of these boundaries it will gotten worse since september eleventh but what we've seen is instead of this this military equipment being transferred although that's still going on but in addition to that now we have these department of homeland security grants so you have little towns like claire wisconsin for example will apply for a department of homeland security grant to get an armored personnel carrier. auclair wisconsin is probably not high on the list of possible terrorist targets so now they have this fancy new piece of equipment they want to use it in the how do they use it while they end up. you know in drug raids because drug raids are for one it's an accepted use for this type of equipment in these types of tactics but also there are federal grants tied to drug policing so you know if you if you take if you take this new a.p.c. out to apprehend a suspected murderer suspected rapist you know going to federal dollars for that if

you send it out on several marijuana raids you know there's federal funding attached to that there's also asset forfeiture or all sorts of built in incentives that are really encouraging these types of tactics in the use of this equipment against people suspected of consensual nonviolent drug crimes well it really is you know unfortunately the population starts being terrorized by their own police force that's supposed to be out there serving and protecting them like we said because they've declared a war on anyone that now might be an enemy combatant because they suspect them of having some kind of drugs thank you so much for joining us. to tonight's fireside with your host. this try to add like to highlight a very scary development in our society a new rule that applies in california and other western states one which says the government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night place a g.p.s. device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go without

a permit that's right according to the judges if your driveway is accessible to strangers like delivery people or neighborhood children who might just wander across an uninvited but it's no longer considered your private property and the conservative judge from the ninth circuit court of appeals decided that once that g.p.s. devices attached to your car which apparently is not legal for them to do because their cars no longer on your private driveway they then can track you virtually anytime they want without even having to step in. to get permission i'm sorry but does anyone else out there find. this is disturbing as i do you do we live in a police state thankfully there's a lot of debate over this ruling specially the g.p.s. part and it looks like it likely will end up in the supreme court but then again if you've looked at the rulings made by our supreme court lately that shouldn't give you too much hope that they'll make the right decision this is out right in saying

this sounds like a george orwell novel more than a dozen real life but unfortunately it is real and it's one. that's it for tonight's show thanks for tuning in to make sure to come back tomorrow we'll continue our look back at the year and we'll look at america at war if you think the only fighting in iraq and afghanistan we've got news for you this war spans the globe it also affects your civil liberties right here at home in the meantime don't forget to become a fan of the alona 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 you tube dot com slash the low show where we post the interviews as well as the show in its entirety coming up next is the news with the latest headlines from the u.s. and around the world.