tv [untitled] August 16, 2012 2:00pm-2:30pm EDT
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breaking news this hour julian assange is granted asylum by the country's foreign minister said it was a blow is fears of political prosecution knowledge it amid was slamming britain's dread to storm and produce embassy in london to rest of the headset. and near the ecuadorian embassy crowds are cheering the decision despite london police earlier detaining several supporters of julian assange. and to embrace another so-called enemy of the state and one of us songes a recent interview reason to be rejected has been jailed for three years for taking part in antigovernment gatherings.
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here watching our t.v. strange show our breaking news story julian assange has been granted political asylum by ecuador the country's foreign minister made the announcement as stressing the whistleblowers fears of being politically persecuted are justified laura smith has been following the developments outside the ecuadorian embassy in london. the reaction from our soldiers supporters here was unequivocal when his asylum was finally granted by ecuador that which is that what chance there was a big contingent from the ecuadorian community actually saying hands off door that's still behind me still chanting but not everyone was as pretty and a statement from the foreign and commonwealth office they said that they were disappointed and the foreign secretary william hague later made a statement in which he said the ecuador knew the full legal context which affected
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their pointing agreement to extradite frost to sweden and that the decision to grant him asylum on behalf of ecuador was regrettable and does not change the fundamentals of the case we will not allow. safe passage out of the united kingdom nor any legal basis for us to do so he also denied that there had ever been any implication that british police would storm the ecuadorian embassy behind me in order to arrest julian i songs that's not what the ecuadorian understood in a letter that was delivered to quito in fact in response to that letter which they say was a threat to violate their embassy in london ecuador have issued a very strong statement of that own. no national war could be used in this way in any intrusive way in any diplomatic facilities any place in the world it shouldn't be used to threaten or blackmail the sovereignty of any other country and they called a summit to try to deal with this threat so that this fact does not go unpunished
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to the situation here it really remains as it was before the asylum request was granted in the june assault is still in the building behind me he still doesn't know how he's going to get from here to the airport and from that job because the moment he said to us outside this building he is loveable to arrest by the british police and it does look like that would happen and what is developing here is in no uncertain terms an ugly diplomatic. back with neither the u.k. or ecuador looking like they're about to back down. well here more from a correspondent to laura smith a throughout the day plus a check the latest updates by our london bureau twitter feed you can see pictures of how crowds gathered outside reacted to the news of a thunderous asylum being granted plus all the best videos from the at our website at r.t. duck com. david swanson and activists and blogger believes the u.k.'s threat to take julian the sons by force us says
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a dangerous president and the global community should take notice the idea that you can declare an embassy unarmed embassy and wait a week and then raid it is outrage this is this is the scandal here i would hope that the world would react with outrage that the nonviolent movement that we saw in the streets of london in february two thousand and three would be doubled i think the people of the united kingdom and europe as well as the world understand the threat to international law and human rights at stake here is a horrible horrible precedent for the entire world should an act of journalism exposing abuses of power result in enough seizure by force and end to rendition this is this is something the whole world has a stake in. u.k. m.p. jared betson says that the possible assault on the ecuador embassy in london
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violates the century's old principles of do not diplomacy making british embassy territories a potential target as well. this has been the case for centuries you respect people's ambassadors and their. territory because otherwise you like yourself open to attacks in other countries and we all know that we don't go like that when it does happen when it has happened in places like china and iran in the past and i think this whole thing has got blown out of all proportion we shouldn't be where we are and i do think a lot of people are very suspicious about why sweden wants him back. on these charges which actually wouldn't amount right charges in the u.k. in fact same legal opinion which said they wouldn't even be an offense under english law and put him in a big trunk and diplomatic bag i'm not quite sure whether that would work but otherwise we might see him hold up there for the next couple of years who knows until solution to this impasse. let's discuss the legal implications of
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acquittals decision to grant julian assange just cylon with american lawyer eric montoya but he joins us now live from the u.s. misc thank you so much for joining us here on r.t. how convincing is the statement from the u.k. foreign secretary who said that britain is not bound to observe the asylum riots and will not let julian assange out of the country. well you know the interesting intersection here is which laws are we going to follow and i think that you have. the extradition law as opposed to the international diplomatic status that is well recognized by all countries and i think that as you just heard once you cross the line and start violating the sovereign territory of another country you know you're opening up a whole another can of worms that should not be opened you know this should not be
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handled in the way that it's being handled i think that angle in the u.k. is making a mistake in pursuing it in this way and it does raise a lot of questions as to you know why this particular individual why these particular charges and why such a visceral and aggressive statement that puts u.k. at risk in the world and you know it really is a challenge to well established principles so given all that's happening today what's actually changed for us and he may have been granted the asylum but he still trapped in the embassy. yeah it's interesting i think that at the end of the day you know ecuador has sort of inserted themselves and in a very controversial situation they have given allowed him to have refuge they've given him asylum that allows him to move to ecuador the problem is he has to get
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out of the u.k. in order to make that happen i just don't understand if that is going to be accomplished based on the u.k.'s current position i think that's going to soften and i expect that there is a possibility that a songe may make its way to ecuador you know based on the current circumstances you know actually that was going to be my next question on how you saw how he was going to get this safe passage to get out of the do embassy in london what more do you envision in terms of him getting out how will they get him out is he going to step out of the embassy into a cough how do you see this play out. well you know just as you heard earlier about rendition and all of these other things i mean if there is a way always a way to to accomplish a mission and i think that you know there's probably some creative way for them to get him out of the country you know but they do so at some risk and if they get
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caught you know that's going to be another scandal so i just i do not envision him you know getting into a car driving down the street and waving to reporters i don't see that happening it's probably going to happen and the middle of the night through you know very discreet you know methods that month you know what if hypothetically the u.k. carries out its threat and tries to arrest us on tom i'd aquittal respond to that. well i mean that could be perceived to be an act of war at some level and i don't want to overstate that and terms but i mean really you know that is something that i don't believe the u.k. has any interest in doing because once it sets the precedent that you know on any given day that they no longer have the refuge and the sovereignty of their own embassy and it could be removed so quickly and easily and without it i guess.
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what many may perceive to be a legitimate basis you know it really is going to open up the question as to whether you know embassies on foreign soil or have any protection or you know are are safe or walled off so i think that that's a really big issue i think that they really need to consider that in the long view and and it's going to affect. you know all of the u.k. embassies almost immediately thank you u.s. attorney ackman tall they're sharing your point of view on this ongoing story of janice on just being granted asylum. right beside the sweden that the u.k. and aquittal the country watching the developments in iran decides closely is of course the united states marine i put my i reports from new york. thus far u.s. officials have not made any public statements but we can presume that
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a lot of discussion is taking place now behind closed doors while julia saunders mother is calling this a victory for her son many see this as a small defeat for the u.s. and that is because many believe the u.s. was hoping that julian assange would be extradited to sweden so that sweden would subsequently be able to extradite julian assange to the united states we have heard in recent years it's no secret former and current u.s. government officials quavering julian assange too are terrorists and that was in the aftermath of releasing cables and memos that were classified that belonged to the u.s. government as a result the integrity of the u.s. government was compromised a lot of secrets were revealed and it painted the u.s. foreign policy in a dark light it's no secret that the administration of u.s. president barack obama has been earning a reputation for waging a war on whistleblowers fiercer reputation than any of his predecessors many
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journalists scholars and activists in the u.s. have signed a letter of support for julian a songe one is including naomi wolf she's a journalist and author first of all this is a white house now to wait houses obama's and bush's which is systematically overclassifying everything especially wrong doing it specially anything related to what whistleblowers want to release specially you know torture that they even gauged in methods of torture like mafia tactics it's come to this the government same to journalists everywhere in america. we're going to treat you and we're going to threaten you and we're we're threatening you with with serious legal penalties like prison time if you do your job when i was speaking with me wolf what she wanted to clarify for me and her position is that she sees julio sanji many do as the publisher similar to the new york times julian assange is the publisher the one that made the information available he is not the leaker she noted why isn't the
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u.s. government going after the new york times for publishing leaks published instead the u.s. government it is presumed is all to me hoping to go after julian about sanji either way she said that this is this would be a dark day for all journalists in the u.s. if he would be in the custody of america prosecuted held indefinitely or possibly even face capital punishment. from a cia officer ray mcgovern a says everything points towards the u.s. calling the shots in how the u.k. and sweden i had been the son. the shape of the world is now empire versus the rest of you what i say here is that caesar has spoken caesar is the law caesar is the united states and the satraps oversees the u.k. in the first instance and now sweet and the other do the bidding of the empire it's doesn't require
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a conspiratorial attitude to see that the only way they could get actually in a size was by trumped up charges of sexual indiscretions and a country that is hyper sensitive to that and they haven't even persuaded a judge in sweden to make those charges they have had ample opportunity to go to the ecuadorian embassy in london and question to the signage they said nothing doing we're not going to do that now why is that the reason for that is that there is no case against you at the end of signage in my opinion it's all very transparent they want to make sure that it is to sweden and then to the united states to suffer the same indignities the same torture that. bradley manning the person who allegedly gave those documents to julian a songe has faced. ecuadorian president rafael correa didn't back down to perceive pressures from western states and instead gave a so called a public enemy refuge from on how this decision could have labor implications we're
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joined by author and political analyst and nicholas khosla thank you mr khosla for joining us what type of impact will present korea's decision have for ecuador diplomatically. well i think that this is going to seriously exacerbate diplomatic tensions between ecuador and the u.s. let's not forget even without this songe matter on the table relations have been a bit tense since the rise of rafael correia who is a kind of a leftist populist. and so there have been a number of issues outstanding for example no sooner had he been elected korea booted out the u.s. from its military base a strategic military base located on the ecuadoran coast in the town of monta and that really complicated things considerably for the u.s.
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in terms of its war on drugs in neighboring colombia because it couldn't stage overflights and so you know washington hatch a fine alternative sites for its military bases there have been other. tensions for example korea has fought with us oil companies over there environmental to school the ation in the amazon region companies like texaco he's been a leading. advocate on climate change a thorn in the side in the in the you of the u.s. in our climate change negotiations and and also he belongs to this leftist ping time in south america within the alba group led by charges and so i think that this recent development with the songe is only going to exacerbate things and my kids. and personally is that the republican right in the u.s. congress could make some trouble for ecuador and rescind trade privileges now that
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the us just got i'll see the next question sorry to interrupt you there but how will rightwing figures in the u.s. react. you know off to these what we've heard today and could this decision play a role in the upcoming presidential elections i think. i think i think that's definitely a possibility let's not forget the equator is this very small country very impoverished and so i think probably korea didn't make this decision lightly there are number of export industries that could be negatively affected by the songe. diplomatic broglio and so the republicans who might even get elected and continue to control the house of representatives in the two thousand and twelve election could have already said that they want to rescind duty free trade privileges granted to ecuador and meanwhile figures like otto reich a former state department official in the bush administration publishing columns
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basically saying that we should we should treat this very seriously activist when cozying up to you ron in china and so this is songe matter could give the us right more ammunition their last question just very briefly if the u.k. authorities are still in the embassy and take assigned by force how much of they will impact with that have. well i really wonder whether that's a bluff or if britain would really dare to invade the ecuadorian embassy let's not forget that ecuador as i stated before as part of this leftist being tied in south america he's career can count on his allies within the you know cuba venezuela bolivia. i think a more crucial question though is what will brazil do would brazil close ranks with with ecuador if britain just decided to invade the premises of the ecuadorian
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embassy and i think probably brazil would although according to my own analysis of that we kill its cables brazil is very much concerned about its own public image its in the square involved in this quixotic quest for world power status and it doesn't want to offend the u.s. too much if it can avoid that thank you very much mr nicholas. and political analyst i thank you for talking to r.t. to see me all right thank you very much reisa just to remind june if you're just tuned in our breaking news story this hour judy innocence has been granted political asylum by aquittal two months after taking refuge at the country's embassy in london as foreign minister made the announcement saying the whistleblowers fears of being politically pesach seem to flourish in secret u.s. files are justified he added that neither the u.k. provided any going to look at us on just human rights respected if it was extradited to stockholm and that for the prosecution in the us remained
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a genuine danger that's what britain the foreign secretary william hague said ecuador's the decision did not change anything when in that all the geishas to extradite assigns to sweden will still be carried out he also reiterated a son to one be granted safe passage from the country in turn sweden have summoned ambassador paul in the asylum decision on acceptable. and thursday has also been decision day for another period who actually appeared as a guest on julian assange just show bahrain's most prominent human rights activist now bill ridgetop has been sentenced to three years in prison for organizing and taking part in illegal gatherings artie's tom watson reports. there has been a rather different decision in the case of the enemy of the state now below rajab in bahrain he coincidentally met julian asuncion for an interview shown on this channel on r.t.
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air in may he has however been given a three year prison sentence by a court in bahrain for being involved in and for calling for illegal and to government protests when the sentence was given though he was already in prison serving a three month term for posting anti-government comments on twitter there has been many comments of support from his family and friends but there have also been criticisms delivered via social networks criticisms of u.s. policy in relation to bahrain and overall in the arab spring those criticisms include allegations that if it weren't for if the u.s. had supported a little more he wouldn't have been locked up as he was he wouldn't have been treated like this hypocrisy is a word used quite regularly in saying that the you the u.s. have supported protesters in other countries like egypt and libya in the arab
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spring they have remained silent over bahrain the u.s. fifth fleet is based in bahrain. this also raises questions over bahrain's sunni government's commitment to human rights and reform for eighteen months now protesters have been trying to get a larger say in the politics of the country most of those protesters come from the country's seventy percent shia majority so far though despite warm words that they want dialogue the government has given up nothing. we will of course be following both of these developing stories a plus of the timeline of these high profile cases as well as expert opinion and analysis on the issues are always available on our website and if you've missed julian as long as the interview with bill rejects as well as all the other educations of his own program that aired here on our t.v. go to our website at r.t. dot com. the u.n. security council has decided not to extend the u.n.
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observer mission in syria after its mended expires on sunday the mission has been seen as key in helping establish peace in the conflict torn country artie's anastasio should brings us the details from new york. regardless of russia's insistence on prolonging the observer mission in syria the united nations security council decided not to go ahead with this we have to remember of course that the conditions for these were very important first of all the u.n. security council wanted to see an end to the violence on the ground and the stopping of the use of heavy weapons and of course we have to keep in mind that just recently there was an explosion close to the u.n. mission headquarters and of course this impact of the decision what's important is the security council plans to set up really another form of you on presence on the ground in form of a more civil mission a civil office russia however regrets that the mission comes to an end of the observers take a listen to what the russian ambassador to the u.n. had to say well we're story of the monday is coming to an end we believe that those
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members of the council will insist that the continue not to show commitment to ending course still it is. working towards a political settlement in syria however we're looking forward to the formatting the u.n. presence in damascus. doing the job it is supposed to do in the light of the need to stop well and. to stop political process in syria russia continues to insist that a political settlement in the crisis is key russia keeps talking about the fact that it's important for the support and militarization of the armed groups on the ground and this remains here at a time when we are hearing the armed groups on the ground say that if they stop getting and don't get enough support from the west they might join forces with al qaeda of course this is seen as an ultimatum in general we do know that in the recent months there have been major concerns about the increasing influx of
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islamist groups on the ground and the bigger concern of the international community of course is that if these groups end up joining forces and continue joining forces with the armed opposition groups the crisis could become even more complicated to solve because these groups might want to her. hijack and profit from the difficulties of the situation on the ground and then of course it will become a lot harder for the international community to try to solve this crisis. dimitris next two with the business and tech sez i in the spotlight some big losers and winners there he's making the headlines today dimitri well it's a cisco systems and it's a facebook were first being the big winner it's up almost eight percent this hour. facebook apparently its employees could be ditching stock if they had it before the i.p.o. because facebook's investors now have two hundred seventy one million more things to worry about that's the number of shares which were locked until today when the
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largest social media would never work went public in may now early facebook investors such as d.s.t. go boldly investment founded by the russian billionaire yuri milner also got a green light today to start selling part of their holdings and apparently that's what they're doing facebook is now down five percent. but otherwise on the market everything is looking pretty positive without jones up point six percent there's also talk of china's c n c looking for a huge investment deal to buy next and canadian oil for a full fifteen billion dollars now that something to also watch out for now in europe bangalore merkel has come back from a holiday apparently saying that she is ready to do what it takes to support the euro and that's caused the dax to go up point seven percent also a similar statement from china saying there's still room for an easing of monterrey policy and in the oil price we're seeing light sweet now again more than one dollar
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per barrel that's still on the back of shrinking u.s. food infantry's and when it comes to currencies that statement from anglo merkel cause the euro to gain a seventy six points versus the dollar and that's why the russian ruble lost so much more than half a percent against the common herd's. in russia the day was pretty bleak for out most of the session but then ended on a light the positive note of a quarter of a percent when my six driven mostly by gazprom shares are up one hundred. investors globally are ditching financial shares george soros is not an exception he has come out of j.p. morgan and goldman sachs to favor wal-mart and facebook surprisingly well david kuo from investing advisors the motley fool explains. why would i want to invest in
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the bank when i can invest in something that is easier to understand on the wal-mart as i think another one that source is interested in is general electric g.e. i mean these are easy companies to understand so why would you want to make life difficult we are so well at investing in a lot sausage machine and what you have is a sausage machine you put in sausage meat at one end and hopefully sausages come out the other similarly with i would you put money in our money and then hopefully you can convert that into either more profit money or you can go to do that but what they're finding out now is they've got money and nothing comes out the other side people are very disgruntled. and that's your business well dimitri thank you so much for that closing bell dade will see you in a little while now a recap of our top stories here on r.t. in just a few moments stay with us. by
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