today on r t drone strikes in pakistan are becoming a common occurrence and the number of civilian deaths is adding up but despite the latest attack that left eighteen dead the u.s. refuses to slow its campaign so is america above international law. plus over a week after being granted asylum in ecuador julian assange under means in legal limbo we'll bring you the latest in this case in an exclusive interview with actor dorian president rafael correa you're only going to see on our team. and there's a hurricane brewing in tampa but i'm not talking about isaac the r. and c. is coming to town while the d.n.c. converge is in north carolina a week later and where there is politics there is protests we'll tell you why some protesters are being and our guests.

why take a look now at the rocky relations between pakistan and the u.s. and it's likely that what happened early today will further strain those ties a series of american drone strikes in pakistan killed at least eighteen people the strikes took place here and the shell bally of north waziristan it shows the u.s. is persistence and carrying out the controversial drone campaign here's a chart that details the number of u.s. drone strikes targeting pakistan thirty three strikes in pakistan this year and nine of those in north waziristan well the drone strikes remain a major hurdle in the two countries meddling mending excuse me their relations now today's developments come as one of the biggest advocates of the drone program finds himself in hot water here at home one of america's most prominent diplomats ryan crocker was recently to. charged with drunk driving in

a hit and run in his home state of washington cropper recently returned home after serving as u.s. ambassador to afghanistan. a crocker is one of the leading voices in continuing the drone campaign a campaign that pakistan says violates international law but as crocker faces charges and appears he's not above the law here in the u.s. to talk more about this retired lieutenant colonel anthony shaffer from the center for advantage defense studies anthony welcome thanks for coming here into the studio so pakistan already outraged with the way the drone campaign is going and over there today's developments can't be helping to mend these ties no not at all and let's be very clear here john brennan recently stated in a little rules and center public forum he said that we would carry on the style of holding laws and our values holding our values and i mean very be very clear why this is not first off this administration has become almost addicted to this form

of warfare it's hands off it's clean you don't see the results and frankly it's giving this false premises a false perception of progress we're not killing the right people and by the fact we can't get the right people by the fact you're shooting through a soda straw at a target hundreds of miles away you're creating the next generation of enemies because i tell you right now i don't know this for a fact but of those eighteen folks killed probably two thirds of more innocent civilians would happen to be in the wrong place the wrong time now this is the new obama doctrine which a lot of us just don't get those who advocated don't really seem to understand the secondary and tertiary effects so the most direct secondary fact as you pointed out the pakistanis aren't happy about it now i wrote a book talking about how we need to hold pakistan more accountable and operation dark heart with that said i think that got that memo and i think they understand now that there's ways we need to move forward together this area is one of those which i agree with the pakistanis we are not being a good partner with them on. ok you talk about how these strikes have fueled anti

american sentiment over the years and frankly a lot of anti pakistani government. vitriol against monk's their own government the reason this is been so damaging is because within the context of this conflict there were a handful of bad folks al qaeda most of them been eliminated in afghanistan or completely gone in pike pakistan or greatly reduced with that said we have ramped up we've now increased our special operations operations by five hundred percent over the past three years so if you have ramped it up you've got to do something with it so again what happens here is you have this massive force that we've brought to bear and yet the targets are fewer and fewer and so they continue to pretend that all of these mid-level managers these mid-level insurgents are somehow operatives think for yourself how many number two in al qaeda we killed over the past eighteen months this is insane so we've got to find a way to get things back focused. on not saying we should not do drone strikes i'm

saying what has happened here is that we've become totally reliant on drone strikes at the expense of everything else you've got to think or hope that there is some kind of benefit coming from this program because president obama continues to expand and use this drone program are you saying the usa is not making any gains there at the long term gains that we're seeking here is regional stability to bring regional stability you have to seek and obtain a political or diplomatic solution this is not encouraging those who we should be negotiating with the come to the negotiating table the second beyond that the very folks we're after are now going against our ally the pakistani government the taleban the pakistani taliban are now destabilizing the fagots in a government these drone strikes are helping encourage that so we are helping to stabilize the very ally we're looking to have help us again the secondary effects are very clear that that they would we are destabilizing the region that we're dealing with and the government is trying we're asking to help. there are more

constructive ways of moving forward this is one of those areas where i put forward the concept and i think the pakistanis may be willing to accept at some point a joint u.s. army pakistani army units working together to go after these the real insurgents because again i argue you cannot get these guys from a drone at twenty thousand feet and pakistan has said that this drone program violates international law what do you think about that is the u.s. . you know sucking on a thin line here absolutely i was in a meeting recently on capitol hill with new pakistani ambassador was for iraq and this this this issue came up it is very clear the pakistanis are very concerned about the fact that we say one thing in public about how we we sustain and support our allies the same time our ally here said enough is enough you're you're you're hurting our own internal government and governance and this is where we're not paying attention to what's important here and again it's a political year i think this is become a very easy to rule for the current white house to use to quote unquote show progress one of the fact you're going to achieve a fire

a victory by the fact that this will continue to do damage to our long term relationship with paxson not reduce any of the insurgents strength that we were hoping to do and we have a former ambassador ryan crocker yes he is now in hot water here in the u.s. got charged with the deal why parents believe double the legal amount and the breathalyzer over there accused of being involved in this hit and run and they couldn't make any connections here i mean. when you look at his recklessness and his personal life could we draw any connection to the decisions he makes in the political realm it's a good question and i think we need to look at his mistakes from the from the lens of the fact that he actually was fairly successful on his tour in iraq but he liked you know patrice made the mistake of thinking what worked in iraq would work in afghanistan so that's why are you saying that the train has crocket come combination show up and and fail miserably that the concepts and capabilities we focused in iraq are not the same that. we need for afghanistan so his mistake was

believing some of his own press and secondly trying to do the same things that work in iraq in afghanistan and afghanistan is completely different he never understood as far as i'm concerned any of the real root causes for problems in afghanistan so i mean in terms of his recent recent troubles should we could that affect how we see. you know his defense policy i think that these things have a tendency to raise their head after a period of time if he's having a problem drinking now the chances are pretty good he probably had a problem sometime in the past look i'm a recovering alcoholic governs over twenty years but i know that it took a long time to get to the point where i recognize that i had a problem so this may be his final showing of the fact that there's a pattern here i don't know but blowing three times the legal limit that's pretty bad sometimes you gotta hit rock bottom before you can bring about change. well hopefully he sorts that out but you know going back to the bigger picture here the

u.s. if if we continue this drone program program and afghanistan i mean how can we how do you predict the future us pakistan relation while there may not be a pakistan to deal with i mean that's part of the problem here we're actually taking an active hand in destabilizing the government of pakistan this is started and it's i'm not going to blame entirely the obama white house this started in the bush white house this whole idea that we needed to do things to go after the insurgents and was there was stand in the tribal areas with the more we do things unilaterally without the pakistanis the more chance that that we through our actions will destabilize the very government a government which has nuclear weapons to fall we can't afford to do that so we've got to find a different course of action again i'm not saying we should never do drone strikes i'm saying we become tied to them as a centrally like a junkie is tied to their fix of crack cocaine and again it's not being productive by the fact the very government that we're looking to help. we're going to we have

the potential of actually destabilizing a point vault and fail very interesting conversation want to keep or go on but we are fortunately out of time tony anthony pleasure to have you here that was retired lieutenant colonel anthony shaffer from the center for advanced defense studies we turned out for the latest on wiki leaks whistleblower julian a songe right now the organization of american states is discussing his case here and washington d.c. this is the u.k. an epidural remain in a diplomatic battle ecuadorian president rafael correa has granted us and asylum but the u.k. long allow him safe passage to the airport they even threatened to raid the embassy to get a hold of assad has been holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london since july nineteenth are take out a chance to speak to president correa here is a look at that exclusive interview we just wanted to address the request in a very thorough and responsible way will look to the motivations from this the sons of the son and it has looked into the charges brought against him in sweden

reviewed u.k. law as well as international laws and of course we've been to a room legislation then we made a responsible decision just as we promised originally after the olympics specifically because they were taking place in london and not because of fear of reprisals which we knew might fall is that we will always be guided by principles and values not fear. what consequences might ecuador face after granting asylum to julian assange which normally such a decision shouldn't have any consequences that is if all countries respect international law which clearly says that the state has the right to grant asylum how many times has sweden granted asylum a lot of people requested asylum in sweden and live there now in this country is known for its willingness to give asylum and what consequences could there be but unfortunately in this particular case we see that some countries are displaying their colonial and imperial ambitions their efforts interested it turns out that if

ecuador grants asylum to someone it certainly might have consequences what consequences are we talking about if we're exercising our sovereignty in line with international law are you afraid of any sanctions that might follow there is definitely no fear but let's face it there might be reprisals which would be terrible if the u.k. for example acted on these threats and invades our embassy to arrest the sound can you imagine how big of a precedent this would set when julian assange his mother came to ecuador did you have a chance to talk to her yes of course christine is a wonderful person isn't she we gave her a warm welcome and it was a pleasure to talk to her deter visit to ecuador influence your decision to grant julian assange asylum in any way. no we didn't all decision was made in accordance with international law and was based on x. but those traditions of humanism as well as the grounds that mr sanchez presented

to support his request for political asylum we met with christine she's a very nice woman but it in no way influenced our decision. this mr president it's hard to believe that julian assange had no contact with ecuadorian officials prior to requesting political asylum because he needed to be certain that there were dorrian embassy would ensure his safety did you discuss this option with him beforehand. no we didn't i didn't talk to mr sands personally but if i'm not mistaken at some point the situation became suit hands that he said he was thinking about seeking asylum in an embassy the haps even in ecuador's embassy was sure he would be allowed to stay when he entered the embassy so i think mr sanchez discussed it with the embassy staff since he i believe entered after hours so they must have been expecting him any person seeking asylum in ecuador as embassies will be safe we will see to their needs but after that we will consider granting them

asylum with all due fairness if the person in question is a criminal we will never grant asylum to him but why do you think julian assange strolls ecuador and not another country only mr sands can answer that and the fact he did is the best response to this smear campaign and to the people who maintain we have a new freedom of speech the man whose freedom of speech personally fight requested asylum in ecuador it's the best response to organize how long do you think will julian assange be staying in the embassy in theory indefinitely unless the u.k. goes ahead with its threats to raid our embassy to arrest him as you know the threat is in a written form and the u.k. hasn't revoked it do you think they drill a go as far as that i think it will be pure insanity on the part of the u.k. after doing so any of their embassies could be raided and what will they say then. what kind of repercussions would such development have we would immediately sever

our diplomatic ties of cause i think it would lead to a backlash in all the latin american countries but i maintain that the u.k. has more to lose after that how would you prevent the same from happening to the u.k. embassies around the world and i assure you the u.k. has more diplomatic missions than ecuador. if the u.k. doesn't give permission for julian assange just safe passage to aqua door how will he get there in a diplomatic they call no which would be impossible if he leaves the embassy he can be arrested by the you can't police i'm not an expert on this but i would think this even if you are in a car with diplomatic license plates you are still at the mercy of the driver and who knows what you will agree to in any case no one is trying to hide his son from the swedish prosecution which we need guarantees that he would not be extradited to a third country why do you think sweden refused ecuador's proposal to question a sound at the embassy even via skype as has been done before why this is widely

accepted legal in practice it has been done many times before and that's why the it would or an embassy proposed this to the swedish prosecution we invited them to come to the embassy and question mr sands in person isn't that what they've been trying to do all along they denied our offer so what are we supposed to think now. the so many countries and organizations have supported ecuador's decision to grant asylum to a songe including not so and most of the alba nations in what way did they express their backing the support we have enjoyed has been primarily due to britain's diplomatic clumsiness i hope you will excuse my language but i just cannot find another word to put it the british threatened us with storming our embassy to arrest mr sound this is what has united all the nations in south america and other continents in their desire to stand behind ecuador confronted as it was with such a barbaric prospect such threats around acceptable have they been carried out this would have constituted a violation of one of the fundamental principles of international law. just part of

our exclusive interview with president rafael correa and disable interview in its entirety. you know till we got home flash our america. also had our tape the sound their activity flexing their person and. rights to the d.h. yes they're anarchists and troublemakers i had a preview of the protests expected at the presidential pensions of the way these people are being painted by the media. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through it's already been made who can you trust no one who is in view with the noble machinery see where are we heading state controlled capitalism is called sessions when nobody dares to ask we do our tea question more.

the republican national convention in florida just days away now the city of tampa is bracing itself for a possible her akkad and a storm of protests occupy tampa protesters are descending upon the city they plan to charter and bus loads of people and it looks like the city is taking every possible precaution from clearing hundreds of jail beds to drones patrolling the skies it looks like protesters will remain on close watch to talk more about what occupiers have been store for the r. and c. and d.n.c. coming to stall a blogger for firedoglake joins us now kevin welcome so i want to get your reaction to this very heavy handed security we are seeing over there in tampa. right it's standard i think to see this now we have a national security state and the united states that wants to show itself anytime there is what we call a national special security event and it definitely puts

a lot of you know imposes on people who want to go out and exercise their free speech or engage in first amendment rights something that civil liberties organizations and lawyers from groups like the national lawyers guild and i hesitate to bring to the public's attention as they go there and watch how police and other security forces handle demonstrations now we also here at our team we cover a lot of drone and their expansion being use here within the last especially domestically now that they're use they're not as finding as much use abroad and we are we just found out that a drone will patrol the skies and monitor what's going on on the ground over there at the convention what do you think about that. it's definitely troubling but i guess in the proliferation of drones right now it is surprising and doesn't it lee is something that citizens of this country should consider i think countries all

over the world those people citizens should think about having flying robots in the sky policing dissent it's very troubling and i think that there are groups out there one group in particular. who have been raising the sort of concerns about how police forces in the united states might use this technology and part of how this is being justified as we're hearing a lot of fear is being ramped up surrounding the protest especially in the wake of an f.b.i. or excuse me this is from the department of homeland security i have a piece of that memo here states quote prior to the two thousand a aren't seen anarchistic stream is discussed blockading bridges and skywalks in minneapolis minnesota targeting local corporate headquarters taking over a radio station and identifying delegate lodging locations and the location of police stations and emergency routes f.b.i. and the h.s. assessed with high confidence anarchistic stream of well target similar

infrastructure in tampa and charlotte with potentially significant impacts on public safety and transportation and after that memo was released the mainstream media reacted here's here's how they covered this. tampa police and federal authorities are planning for the worst including from around the anarchist groups may try to disrupt the republican national convention the f.b.i. issued a bulletin today especially urging police across the country to watch out for indications that activist mary a might be planning to go to the convention to disrupt them and the bolton is titled quote potential for violence or criminal action by anarchist extremists during the two thousand and twelve national political convention the f.b.i. and department of homeland security warned state and local law enforcement that anarchists are targeting the democratic national convention in charlotte north carolina too and they could even try to use improvised explosive devices.

now what do you think about that kavin do you think protestors as a whole are being branded or stereotyped as an archivist by them to even more critical to say that what this bulletin is intended to do is give authority the cover to go in and preemptively arrest people head of their convention this is something that happened in two thousand and eight with a group called the. committees and i think what you're reading from two thousand and eight has to do with that group and that group is very important for people to understand they were charged with terrorism but they weren't charged because they themselves engaged in any activities during the convention they were being held responsible by authorities because other individuals had engaged in property damage is very very critical for people to know that when these sort of events are being put on by the political leaders you have individuals who are there as activists

that are being held and criminalized because they have talked about doing things such as civil as disobedience the emphasis on the blockading of bridges is very important to think about because you can see if you're a member of a group and you want to get attention for your cause the sort of again you might get from placing yourself on a bridge especially during a high profile event like the republican national convention when you see that groups are not allowed to get so close to where they're holding the convention you can understand why groups who want to go and shut down a bridge attract and attract media because they can't go where they would like to go and so i think it's important for people to think what this really doesn't give people the cover and in fact final point i'll make here is that the authorities do not consider anarchists to be legitimate protesters actually have said that publicly i wrote about this is that they want to separate the anarchists out from

the protesters so that's something that there's undercover teams out there right now doing it how do i make that distinction. it's pretty arbitrary i mean i have to do with the things that they're hearing people say and also have to do with what their informants are ample traders are feeding back to them and from what i've been able to tell in researching you know there are individuals that have been tracked from the looks like occupy wall street in new york city followed down to the tampa area and then i would not be surprised if tomorrow or sunday there was a raid ahead of the convention because if you look at the bulletin one of the ways to mitigate a threat is to arrest people before the convention so the very known tactic and there isn't much public opposition for the most part citizens in this country are ok with getting people off the streets and not giving them the right to protest in order to ensure that violence does not accord all right well we're seeing at the

already take action even before the convention kicks off kevin what are your predictions for how this is all going to play out in the coming days and the coming week. well i would look to prior events i would look to. start quickly with the r.m.c. in two thousand and eight there were mass arrests during the prior to the convention you have police that were going through and secretly photographing activists. doing really snooping on people and then recently with the nato summit in chicago what was being done there stopping and searching people on the basis of how they look going after wives streamers and detaining them and gunpoint and shore many people's homes i spoke to see a lot of security swarming around centers where there are activists that are gathering and i think especially with the with the tropical storm or hurricane that would be coming that's just going to make things all the more i think that actually

in effect will turn the security state there into a much more repressive city and not willing to take chances because the last thing you want is a disaster and a terrorist threat that's the psychology that we promote right when we have a correspondent that is making her way over there shortly to keep a close eye on how it does all play out kevin appreciate you coming on the show that was kevin just stole a blogger for firedoglake well as you know both the d.n.c. and r. and c. are right around the corner back in the day conventions were meant to decide the party candidate and announce a v.p. pick today many contend it's more about party pageantry than real politics so are the party conventions even necessary anymore larry her fitness of the resident dot net took this to the streets of the big apple to take america's political pulse. in the u.s. republicans and democrats are about to hold their convention to kick off the

presidential election season so what are these conventions even do this week let's talk about that you rolling your eyes i think convention not into the mire you into . the politics they're all crooks yeah but we have to choose right all crooks what do the conventions do do you think what do they do they were so out of money it's what they do good for media purposes because they can create a lot of hype around saying count it so yes i think they need to do so we really need more hype. in today's well yeah because kind of politics. but it has in the kind of it the purpose of the convention i would assume is to make people more interested in give them more information about their candidate so they can vote for them do you need more information i think people already make up their minds without too much information as it is and that's one of the problems do you spend a ton of money on it just by sheer do they are an avatar as we can prize on the news and then it stops at a certain time and then from then on it's business as usual we don't do this where

you go from state to state and i think that i think you just said the key word business i think there's a lot of money on the table and americans out there and that's a bit of a worry is that because that would then for the truth. if they put money into the numbers and i want something out of a donor i think the whole political process is crazy the amount of money they spend on ads and different things it's just ridiculous and it's not truthful the ads are generally false fake and just you know don't really serve any purpose it's a lot of waste of money for the taxpayers you know who do you think is going to get dirty or romney or obama. romney who do you think is going to win. why. because of mitt romney it doesn't appeal then like either you don't like either one or i think that to obama doesn't win from my point of view i think a bomber will get a second term and. you think he's going to end here with a new dog and he's done a good job for you goes republican side the republican issue and you're going to vote for romney. no choice. if that sounds or less than we have.

in whatever you choose to do whatever like president you have to choose it's going to make a huge. influence on the world is not just on the american people but it's actually on the world so we have more responsibility no matter what the conventions do or don't do the bottom line is the media is going to try to make them seem really really important so grab your popcorn the media circus it's just about to start. well that's going to do it for tonight but for more of the stories we cover check out our you tube channel that's you tube dot com slash r t america we post everything on our you tube channel you can also check out our website r t dot com slash usa then you can follow me on twitter at liz wall for now have a great night and a great week out.