the report my pleasure thank you right that's going to do it for this edition of the kaiser report with me max kaiser and stacy herbert i want to thank our guest glenn greenwald of salon dot com if you want to send me an e-mail please do so at kaiser reported r t t v are you until next time this is max guys are saying bio.

the u.k. court rules the boss of the whistle blowing web site we can lead should be sent to sweden to face sex crimes allegation. to fight the verdict and insists the case is politically motivated join me for more in just a few moments. prime minister putin tells a top level you meeting arab countries in the midst of political upheaval should be left to find their own democratic course free from foreign intervention. russia and the e.u. agree to coordinate their roots in the ongoing believed to be economic crises in north africa have more of a few moments. also eaten fears more than a million refugees fleeing the chaos and north africa could descend on its shores and cause another he used a gun to stand. on space shuttle

discovery blasts off from cape canaveral in the u.s. and its final mission after almost three decades of the battle travel. hello and welcome to the program this is archie it's two am here in the russian capital and eleven pm in london where a court has ruled in favor of julian assange extradition they weaken leaks founder is wanted for questioning in connection with sexual assault allegations during a trip made to sweden last summer his lords fear he won't receive a fair trial in sweden and risks being handed over to america in a span our charges the u.s. is currently investigating his website which released a swathe of secret diplomatic wires washington wants him held responsible for leaking classified information on she is

a lawyer and brings us the latest from the hearing in london. actually what we saw this morning was the judge knocking down these different out a. the water essentially one by one he said that our sons had not in fact made himself available for questioning whilst he was in sweden and that our soldiers' swedish lawyer had missed the court when he said that he had. was unco on contactable and avoided interrogation while he was in sweden he also said that the european arrest warrant had been issued for our sons' might be disproportionate but it was valid and it was definitely a shield with a view to prosecuting ourselves for these charges and he also said that certainly one of the charges that is being brought against these allegations that are being made against student ourselves for sexual assault certainly one of them would constitute rape in the u.k. and all four of them were extraditable offenses now so she has always maintained his innocence in this case and in fact he says and his defense team say that this

is politically motivated in connection with his work with wiki leaks wiki leaks of course we've seen releasing a series of cables relating to the u.s. diplomatic service some of which were deeply embarrassing for the u.s. government to us and has always maintained that this is in order to facilitate his extradition own words to the u.s. we have heard in the last couple of days from the justice department in the american justice department in london saying that there are no charges currently against assault in america but that there is an investigation underway into wiki leaks but the judge again said that there was no evidence that our son should be extradited on to america all of that he might be tortured all that he could be executed or that he could be sent to guantanamo bay if he indeed was sent to america well this is very unlikely to finish the defense team have already said that they're going to launch an appeal they have now have seven days in which to do that they will take the appeal first to the high court and then if that doesn't

succeed up to the supreme court here in the u.k. and then if they have to they say that they will go to the european court of human rights so this is. case will certainly continue into this but i wouldn't be surprised if you carried on for much longer than. flanders from the american activist group international action center says washington is making an example of a sound so that others do not follow in his footsteps. it is threat coming directly from the u.s. it's politically motivated it's an effort to shut down wiki leaks to intimidate others from taking action of revealing u.s. secrets which are enormous it's the way the government does business but particularly the threat or the possibility that julian assange could be brought to the u.s. when you consider the terrible conditions under which bradley manning is held of really locked down the isolation in solitary confinement it's

a form of torture intimidation and repression is always an effort to stop what already exists and will continue because people all over the world have a drive to know there is a technology technological ability today to reveal this and so the threat of imprisonment in the u.s. is so one specter that they raised just as around the world they raised secret rendition kidnappings and torture. such as has been news from the grave to. mayor ford of space to guantanamo. and more bloodshed as colonel gadhafi is clinging to the last vestige of a country which only a matter of days ago he presided over entirely the capital tripoli now reportedly the only part there under his control gadhafi has called a thousands of masteries to defend. if he's faced with more defections from the regime the overall death toll from the ten days of unrest have been difficult to

determine conflicting reports put the number between three hundred and two thousand men while the swiss government has ruled it freeze of any locally held athens belonging to the. but down from the balun base conflict and think tank crisis where currently witnessing in the arab world because of. policies in the west. what is happening at the moment in the arab world turns stick in everybody by surprise there is definitely an intelligence failure on the part of the worst big part of that is actually the outcome of years of policy failure from the west in not being able to understand correctly the mood of of the people in the street in the arab world and their continuous support of leaders in this part of the world why is the leaders were continuously losing their legitimacy there was this faulty assumption that the turn relied on leaders like mubarak and ben ali and even that

there are few recently in the last few years. by giving weapons and arming these leaders to the tease thinking that they will be able to control the population of course that proved to be a very faulty assumption indeed on behalf of many people in the worst. the continuing crisis in north africa have highlighted the need for russia and the to coordinate their efforts in terms of foreign policy and economy that's according to prime minister vladimir putin addressed the media following a meeting with the european commission president jose manuel barroso. has been following. obviously our question is dominating world affairs at the moment and this is no exception although vladimir putin has kept his power to dry on the issue up till now we have come out with a passion plea for foreign powers to stay out of the conflict in so much as to allow the democratic process and the people to elect their own leaders in the region themselves he gave several examples of how interference has brought the

reverse effect. today we say we're concerned about things. happening in libya please note the following the north african cell of al qaeda is also concerned about what's happening in libya do you think that's a coincidence i would like to go back in history a little the former leader of the iranian revolution where did he live he lived in paris and as a whole he was supported by the western community now the entire western community fights against the iranian nuclear program i remember just recently our partners were very active in supporting democratic elections in the palestinian autonomy and the mass one and immediately they declared how mass a terrorist organization and started fighting against it we need to give people a chance to determine their future themselves we need to give them an opportunity to take a natural way without any foreign interference to build their future he also said that the islam is a vacation all of north africa was on likely in his view if the democratic process

was allowed to take its natural course of course this is having an effect on the economy already we're seeing brant oil prices at one eighteen dollars a barrel set to double in the short period of time was very open about the fact during the conference that had the e.u. already allowed such gas project says north and south stream to pass through the european union the prices for energy would be lower he reminded the e.u. that it was in both sides interests to to allow maximum corporation between a u. and russia. italy in three years it will be brought to its rules as a new wave of immigrants is expected to flood the country doesn't that refugees have reached eight shores from the unsettled arab world the government has called on the european union to help with the predicted invasion and up to one million people cannot report locals are dealing with it here.

at eighty miles off the coast of north africa the tiny italian island of lampedusa has relied on fishing and tourism. for its main sources of income but for the first time in years the boats or in the nets are dry. but. they're always out here we haven't gone out to sea for twenty days now since the recent uprising in tunisia the island has been flooded with refugees or five and a half thousand arrived in just two weeks sometimes up to three hundred refugees what cram on just one tiny fishing boat to make the perilous journey to the mediterranean island dozens have already drowned many of those who meted have nothing to lose turning local life here on its head with no money and nor jobs they have already been cases of vandalism and theft. who started leaving the lights on at night they always wonder around none of the locals there used to lock their

doors now that these people are here we feel uncomfortable due to its location is familiar with refugees but never so many in such a short period of time and with many voicing strong beliefs official say identifying genuine cases is one of the biggest problems. that we are historically a free nation and we want freedom of islam we want to live like a prophet told us in holy books to live in an islamic state. most are heroes at this refugee center where they're provided with food water clothes and medical aid all financed from the state budget is designed to house only around eight hundred people so under tight security hundreds of refugees are flown to the mainland each day. we sent four planes yesterday but on average two planes with refugees leave every day to crew tony mari and pollute. italy and tunisia used

to have an agreement under which most were fiji's were intercept. before even reaching the island but now that the government has been overthrown the floodgates have opened i with violence continue to spread in both north africa and the middle east already warned other e.u. states up to three hundred thousand refugees could we. for decades learn to manage to remain a tiny isolated world it's all the locals with all the supplies and no one was afraid to leave their doors all the. time something she said the biggest wave of refugees may still be out there to leave this tiny island but the entire continent he was still on board you want to go back to italy. you can always go to

some more now top stories as well as videos blogs and analysis has a taste of what he can find. and i'm grateful that mosque on the ground as a fleet of high tech ad conditioned trailers get ready for some it. can't be that after the show yeah. that's cultural friends of across the country pay homage to the land of michelangelo you know. just an hour ago the world's journey spaceship discovery successfully blasted out from cape canaveral in florida on its final mission its mission to the international space station comes after almost three decades of emotional travel the launch mark the beginning of the end of the space shuttle program with the

remaining two craft also heading for the scrap heap later this year and as he's gay marriage to count the course it's a lot of americans are finding it hard to accept. by the end of this year nasa will no longer be able to send humans into space according to obama's plan responsibility will go to private companies which are expected to come up with cheaper ways to ferry astronauts to low earth orbit they know that they have a big step to take when they if they're thinking about putting humans into space and that's going to take a you know the next phase of their development so i have a oh gosh i. can't even estimate exactly no one can say for sure when the private american companies will come up with a new spaceship for years to come it will be the russians so use that's going to be the only means for people to reach the international space station which is perfectly fine with the leaders of russia and the u.s. but doesn't sit well with many americans how could this how. we could make it to

the moon bursting build this wonderful equipment and then. and now we're were reduced to being passengers on a russian ship and that's that's sort of it's a wounded pride thing wounded pride revealed itself in comments by some american lawmakers astronaut scientists and former nasa officials comedians in the u.s. did not miss out on poking fun at american sense of pride so we pony up the cash then after right on the hope of the backseat of the take the wheel. yes you know they're not going to let us touch the radio they want to eat snacks or stop to use the bathroom should have gone before we left. use but those the nasa who now actually work with the russians like astronaut sunny williams have different sentiments i couldn't imagine when i was growing up walking through red square or going to a russian company and working hand in hand with my russian colleagues or going to

their families homes and having dinner with them and likewise when they come to the u.s. . yes and so i think. maybe we're not competing but we're to working together think it's more of a time of joint cooperation and learning from one another that's just as healthy as the competition we had in the past it's not the first time americans have to rely on the russians to take their crew to space they depended on russian rockets during a two year grounding of u.s. space craft after the two thousand and three space shuttle columbia disaster columbia exploded during re-entry into the earth's atmosphere all seven crew members died shuttles track record includes another tragedy in one thousand nine hundred eighty six the space shuttle challenger broke apart seventy three seconds into its flight. the russians so use proved to be the safest way to deliver people to space and now with the shuttle retiring it will be the only way we're no longer

racing against an adversary we're no longer competing to achieve a singular goal like reaching the moon. in fact what was once a global competition has long since become a global collaboration the leaders of both russia and the u.s. are saying space is no longer a place for competition it's now a ground for cooperation but the question remains if there weren't here in the was ready to fully accept it i'm going to check out our to washington d.c. . and with the shuttle on its way to the international space station for a final time william understand an associate professor of economics at frostburg state university says the u.s. doesn't have the money to continue its space program. we're broke yeah i mean just exactly right i mean this is. the knowledge that it's been like animal house the last few years instead of admitting that we were broke we had one big toga party and now i mean the chickens are really coming home to roost as you know as they

might say so i absolutely agree with you there we don't need to keep pouring resources into the space shuttle in the same old thing here let's let people try something else i mean i think you want to definitely see some different things i mean nasa has turned basically into a just another bureaucracy full of careerists people who don't like to take risks in something that frankly is a very very dangerous thing and that space travel that will be good for the russians and i mean the soyuz craft it's reliable it's always been pretty reliable . more world news in brief for you this hour rescuers in new zealand say it is little hope for more than two hundred people still missing as the death toll from tuesday's earthquake reaches ninety eight and one side alone up to one hundred twenty people are unaccounted for crews are continuing to comb through the rubble in the country's second largest city meanwhile thousands have flocked to question which has recently reopened airport and attempt to escape the devastation. let's it

all sort of have paraded six suspects in front of the media rested for the fatal shooting of an american immigration and customs agents a week ago agents rather a week ago they were caught in a raid on a gang safe house it's believed three of them took part in that time which sparked outrage in the united states a second american agent was also wounded in the incident when they were ambushed they drove towards mexico city. there were and believe there have declared a state of emergency with massive flooding affected both nations in believe that three people were killed and almost seven thousand were left homeless after torrential rain battered the country for the past few weeks swollen rivers but as they're buying destroying crops and bridges and washing away roads and there were similar scenes in peru where some three and a half thousand people lost their homes. the controversial islamic cleric abu bakar bashir has denied terror charges as he returns to court in indonesia he's accused of setting up

a cell that was preparing its series of high profile attacks on western hotels and embassies but shit claims he's the victim of a us conspiracy and that all charges against him are fabricated in mom had tara convictions in two trials that attempted to link him to the two thousand and two bali bombings. and on the back with a recount board top stories in about ten minutes time and up next ot he talks to us national security adviser brant scowcroft about his views on the current revolts across north africa and the middle east as well as america's relationship with russia.

mr scowcroft thank you very much for joining altie you belong to the school of foreign policy realists that's what they say for this and your republican with a career stretching across five american x. administrations so i would like to discuss several foreign policy issues with you in your view what are the consequences for the u.s. middle east policy off to the toppling of mubarak in egypt and ben ali in tunisia you know one is always caught off guard by revolutions. because there are a surprise if there were a surprise to president ben ali and to president mubarak it's hardly unusual it would be a surprise to the united states the instabilities in the region are of course

obvious and have been for a long time the question is can they be handled can they be dealt with in a plot for a sensible way or does it have to involve unrest and violence and i think. we have to wait and see so far the egyptian crisis has been managed i think quite well to try armies i think very well neither repressing the demonstrations nor encouraging. its changes coming to the region but that was that was inevitable as the old leaders. past from the seed so i think we need to be careful but i'm optimistic fundamentally our policy should change in our policy is the development of open societies cooperativeness and progressive development for all the countries of the region and that's always been the balls do you think that the nato mission in afghanistan is doomed just like the

british failed in the nineteenth century in the soviet union just thirty years ago no i don't think so because i think we are the united states is there for a different reason which is not to control afghanistan but to make sure that al qaeda or other terrorist bad don't use afghanistan as a base from which to attack us you or anybody else so our goal is much more limited and i think therefore one can have more optimism than one did the previous occupants of afghanistan you yourself i think have been saying the term war on terror. was compromised it has indeed been compromised how does that marry with the you know with the terrorism threat that is not going anywhere

well terrorism threat is one thing a war is another and terrorism is a technique of combat it is not you can't make war on a technique so i think war on terrorism was designed to motivate people for a maximum effort terrorist something that we all have to deal with and i'm going to have to for a long period of time it's in part a product of the modern age like television like radio people are now politicized by issues that they didn't care about before because they didn't know about and so i think it's a long term struggle against extremists. who want to destroy a civilization that they can't cope with it seems that there is no progress in stopping the iranian nuclear program in your view what are the chances that the united states may resort to the military option i think there is still

the possibility to avoid a confrontation i think iran is a case that's related to the reason that i'm here and that is cooperation between the united states and russia on the whole nuclear fuel cycle iran has every right to have nuclear power it does not have the right to build nuclear weapons and i think the extent to which we can cooperate to induce iran to take the opportunities that are available that is nuclear fuel from russia return a nuclear fuel not insist on enriching its own uranium or doing things like that and i wouldn't rule out that. that we would be successful how much is you know is this the opinion shared in the united states i don't think i'm alone i am not sure but i don't think there's any eagerness. to deal with iran by

force and i think the extent the increase in degree of cooperation between the united states to russia on this issue will have a big impact on iran and what it decides to do what is your assessment on has the recent. announced by the obama administration two years ago brought any serious results it's not what could be the reasons i was a little disappointed for a year or so i am now encouraged. i think now that we're beginning on a much more positive course both sides have ratified the new start treaty and that is a major step forward in terms of renewal in a cooperative sense the nuclear cooperation agreement is now in force and i think the warmth between the two and the progress we've made together with respect to iran for example and i think even on afghanistan there is a sense of that we have

a common problem there common of the export of terrorism the export of peril so all those things are leading and i feel good about the reset button and now mr scowcroft thank you very much for this interview they are very welcome. wealthy british style sun it's time to. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger or a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports.