terrorist former u.s. soldiers charged with fighting alongside al qaida linked syrian rebels after posing with known militants in a video. on top of the hunger strikers going today fifty five facing a growing risk of serious health problems and even death is one of the. conditions to make them stop. and one small step towards inhabiting the moon in less than two decades russian scientists. at an observatory on the earth's closest neighbor.

much more twenty four hours a day. and u.s. army veteran has been charged with conspiracy for fighting alongside a syrian rebel group linked to al qaida. known to syrians as the american has appeared in numerous videos with members of the al nusra front designated by the u.s. as a terrorist organization his father claims his son was working for the cia and would never join a militant group. when the u.s. draws the line between terrorists and so-called freedom fighters. a u.s. army veteran eric karun posted the speed on line while fighting with the rebels in syria he shot a. former son in the south eric karun has joined the al qaeda linked group gentleness were the only rebel group in syria that the u.s. has designated as terrorists while in syria erik actively posted photos and videos

of himself holding various weapons bragging about the rebels latest attacks and calling himself a freedom fighter for sure oh sod your days are numbered you're going to die no matter what where you go we will find you and kill you upon arrival in the u.s. he was arrested and charged with illegally using a rocket propelled grenade on behalf of the al qaeda affiliated group according to court documents eric told the f.b.i. that quote he hated al qaeda he did not know any al qaeda members and would fight any regime if it impose sharia law in syria end of quote but in an interview with a journalist before he was arrested eric responded to a question about fighting alongside terrorists is syria by saying quote the us plays both sides to end of quote very karun had never served overseas during his brief time with the u.s. military before heading for syria he had a quiet job with a mortgage company in phoenix arizona worlds away from the walls of the middle east

i spoke with and specker a leading expert on terror psychology on why westerners end up in the ranks of terrorists some people over here and in canada i was just up in canada talking to them are going over to syria to be to join freedom fighters son they really believe that they're fighting for freedom but they get there and it's a chaotic situation. may be looking affective and once you're in a chaotic war torn environment your emotions are on a heightened scared and you may just affiliate with a group that you might not otherwise. affiliated with the official message that these are freedom fighters and they need to be helped in some way it just confuses them even more about some really good point because you know we are calling this a fight for freedom we are speaking about it on the media that it's freedom fighting so when someone feels strongly about it and wants to go on how. are we to

blame. but then when they get over their faith joy in a group that's been designated as a terrorist group it's confusion probably and we need to get straight on that we need to decide exactly what we're going to do about syria i think that we have a very confused response ourselves and the government right now since the start of the arab spring the us media has already freedom fund featuring stories with the likes of mass event an american who first talked with libyan rebels and then switched to syria when i fall in the war in libya in two thousand and eleven and i saw the effects of what we accomplished and i want syrians to our freedoms well. in recent months the obama administration has tried to publicly distance itself from radical islamists fighting among the syrian rebels by saying washington supports the more moderate forces among the opposition. but on the ground in syria in the middle of a bloody civil war that line is blurred many of those in the syrian opposition who

washington supports welcomed the efforts of radical groups like on the street. while politicians argue about who is the terrorist then who is afraid of or who is a terrorist that can be useful now and dealt with later young westerners like eric are made by themselves confused about what they're fighting for in a place like syria in washington i'm going to check out. the hunger strike by going ton of the bay detainees shows no signs of ending as it nears the eight week lawyers representing some of the inmates say they console are ready to die. demands on met the prisoners want an end to indefinite detention and intrusive searches now is not to say that the vast majority of the one hundred sixty six detainees at the facility are taking part u.s. military initially did not report to the protest and the house says that only thirty seven prisoners are involved most of the inmates there have been cleared for

release but the government is still keeping them behind bars white house and stated it's committed to shutting down the prison the pentagon says it's also set for fifty million dollars renovation. newco annoyer for one of the hunger strikers told artie's for knowing what she saw. i met with him from tuesday through thursday every day and when i first met with him on tuesday i was extremely shocked to see that he had lost about forty pounds from the last time that i saw him and he was in a terribly weak state he was bending over from stomach pain and he also said that he had not eaten since february sixth so he was one of the initial hunger strikers and he was in a terribly bad state when i saw you so you can confirm one of you is a hearing i was told where there's a media when we're talking about some of these guys being close to death this is what you've actually seen with your. i've seen it with my own eyes and i heard him

tell me he's supposed to have another meeting with his military council in the following week and he told me to let them know that he may not be in a state to meet with them he may be by the time they come to see him he may be in isolation or he may be under medical watch or he may be being force fed by that time and really not be able to meet with them and he wanted me to take that message to them is this brinkmanship how long is it going to tell you how long do you estimate it's going to take before maybe someone dies who's going to blink first or the hunger strike is maybe going to back off is the government going to do anything what's going to happen next. well you know the from you know my meetings with mike with my client last week and his conversations with other straight you know other detainees and prisoners who are also on strike they are prepared to stand up for the principles of not having their religious practices disrespected not having the qur'an desecrated and now it's become an even bigger message that they want to

deliver which is that they have been now detained since you know two thousand too many of them mike i and for eleven years now since two thousand and two some of them are cleared for release have been declared in a sense by the united states however the u.s. refuses to transfer them and the congress refuses to provide funds for that the obama administration has closed the office that it had set up in the state department to study the closure of guantanamo and carry that out and it hasn't happened and so this is gone beyond the desecration of the qur'an the disrespect of their religion and they are now also protesting the worsening conditions as these prison officials are essentially retaliating against them and trying to end the strike by making conditions harsher and the detainees have been enduring all of this and plan to continue to do so. the hunger strike caused hundreds to stage a sit in in front of the u.s.

embassy in kuwait protesters expressed outrage at the lack of oxygen by kuwait's government to condemn the treatment of two pits nationals who've been stuck in the tora prison for more than a decade. one of the inmates has been charged with war crimes but his attorneys say the verdict was mostly based on meanwhile another kuwaiti prisoners being held without charge. at the. pushing for talks with the town about kabul looks to negotiate the taliban insurgents to end the terror in afghanistan and militants too few to talk to president karzai or not shortly. but also ahead get this a take your seat in a space observatory on the surface of the moon tell you more about russia's plans for this neighbor.

the group of the international airport in the very heart of moscow. welcome back more world news for you now as cyprus comes to terms with e.u. bailout cash controls millions of euros are alleged to have been spirited out of the country just days before the you agree proposed the punishing levy on bank deposits well that's what a local newspaper is reporting pointing the finger at a company related to person anastasio that is the firm combing the supreme leader's son in the reportedly transferred twenty one million euros to banks in the u.k. over the company criticize the article as a malicious attempt to politicize the economic activities while the president says the claims should be investigated the report comes as separate struggle to get their money out of the banks under unprecedented restrictions and those restrictions include daily cash withdrawals limited to just three hundred euros per

person per bank no checks can be cashed by anyone payments and transfers outside cyprus are limited to five thousand euros a month per person and those traveling abroad can't take more than one thousand euros with them. going sure saw a former chancellor of austria he says you can see as troubles were looming large but nothing was done to avert them. any countries here a point of point two percent of the g.d.p. of the eurozone but the problem was cyprus his eight times more turnover. balances of pain compared to be cheated eight times wards of up to be unsustainable if ever but if you would within the european union people where were the the mass media newspapers where all the time complaining that something must be done so nobody should be surprised government

not one but the previous government led by a former communist who should have done much earlier the reduction of the size of the financial sector i mean this is you cannot have such a huge financial sectors are due banks. or you can watch the full interview with wolfgang sure selected today at eighteen forty five g.m.t. . of a chaotic situation surrounding this cyprus a bear that has once again on vale the floors in europe's financial system but it's not the first hole the e.u. is trying to patch struggling to find their way out of the cash crisis we're in today people are valid there's a panel of guests abate how western finances have managed to fall into an abyss. this capitalism there's been around for a while i mean these the bailouts of two thousand and eight follow on from the earlier bailout in one thousand nine hundred five of the goldman sachs. that was of

those who the huge crisis goldman sachs needed to bail out over its loans to mexico that was the bailout of the s n l's that was the bailout of the the banks in the one nine hundred eighty s. each time there was this bailout we have the same situation which is that the bankers go to government and say well we've taken all these risky loans and if you don't bail us out the entire economy of the world will come tumbling down and the politicians are don't know whether this is true or not and immediately whip out their checkbooks and write it out this is what capitalism is and therefore what is precisely that the richest are bailed out they continue to earn the massive bonuses while everybody else has to pay for the risky loans and the risky you know nonsensical decisions where's the personal responsibility in all of this i mean if there is nobody willing to take on loans that they couldn't afford to pay that back or take on mortgages that they couldn't afford to pay. there wouldn't be

a crisis i mean if if banks where they're saying to people look i want to force this loan a piny when people said look i really can't pay that i really shouldn't be taking that because it's out of my knee and that i should be very interesting are nearly right on the way around what is the other way around of the another way around why isn't it the other way around when these banks these people could not pay. me what the people of the larger debate show in full here on r.t. in about ten minutes time. the afghan government says it will push for peace talks with the taliban before foreign troops withdraw at the end of twenty fourteen comes despite the taliban fusing to speak directly to president karzai don't. government describing them as american puppets by the taliban recently announced it's ready to enter politics and has opened an office in doha to facilitate peace talks in the us use of stall negotiations followed america's offensive in the country and combating

terrorism earlier the afghan leader said the greatest threat to his country is not the taliban but interference by foreign states or security and this impact the path he believes wrangling between american and afghan governments is getting in the way of a solution. informal contacts have been taking place in doha for the last couple of years but then those informal talks did break down for two reasons accuse the americans are being shaky and vague. they wanted an exchange of prisoners president obama didn't want to have anything to do with any exchange of prisoners because of mainly congressional pressure but also outside the congress from his opponents secularly president karzai himself suspect that he was being sidelined because the americans were in direct touch via any cities

with. under president of the americans have openly accused president karzai of being incompetent and corrupt so there's no love lost between president karzai and the americans and president karzai doesn't want to be undermined by external forces. well just ahead few reports from germany on the growing displeasure that coughing up cash to support others plus i room with a view russian scientists promise a moon base observatory will very well feature as they do this. dangerous experiments on prisoners they want to make money and they have to use healthy guinea pigs in the regular society they're not able to use prisoners anymore they wish they could. drug tests on human guinea pigs. paid to pop deadly pills he didn't pass away he was killed.

he didn't pass away they let him die. is pharmacy really about helping people. wealthy british scientists on. mass but on the president's prime time. markets why not scandals find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's conjure for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on r g.

with europe's financial troubles dragging on the germany is seen as the economic giant that's keeping eurozone afloat this was having to pay to help struggling countries it's also still carrying the burden of the solidarity tax introduced after reification of the country's east well this is r.t.s. because all of a found out is making many germans feel far from one off. over the past twenty

years they have germany have received billions in taxpayer money to help with development after unification but now both paying the taxes here in the western part of germany say they think of paying too much for too long you know it's time to finish this up we need this money more than them now. as it should know that this is good enough is enough i know many of these that are doing very well have at it and it's time this test was scrapped this has been twenty years too long now working people live in worse conditions so we don't we can't continue to pay for the east we gave them a future now this must stop which formally the region was home to germany's now pretty much defunct coal mining industry now the main cities in the us area face mounting debts as they struggle to live up to their commitments as part of the solidarity pact which sends money to the east in a statement given to r.t.

the lord mayor of dortmund says the practice of taking loans to pay their way could have dire consequences those cities that have high debts will soon be unable to borrow in order to remain part of the solidarity pact either that or conditions imposed will be so severe as to propel them faster towards bankruptcy the solidarity pact will remain in force until twenty nineteen by which time the west will have contributed hundreds of billions of euros with the major cities in the region sinking further into the red those in the west of germany are suggesting that it's time for the east to help them out. right now we should be at the front of the line when it comes to financial help from the state in our little flock this money needs to be spent in the best interest of the german people today there are cities that paid. off and my generation can't be expected to pay for decisions made by the previous generation. voters look now in the east it looks much better and i

just go and have a look at how bad it is around here it's like a pigsty as the east has gone like a plane you don't have to go far to see the effect city debt is having on daily life here in the west local councils can't even afford to keep public swimming pools open while the continued use of taxpayer cash in the east is testing just how solid the germans feel the solidarity pact really is peter all over r.t. the region germany. well you'll find all the latest news and updates at r.t. dot com including the world's top a currency may soon have a rival on the block long the federal reserve currency that you don't know maybe only grace from the digital beat coin goes up in value that story online plus. some states in america consider grabbing benefits from those on welfare if they test positive for illegal drugs or head to r.t.

dot com. or some other news making headlines around the world this hour at least five people are reported to have been killed an iraqi town of tikrit when a truck laden of explosives was detonated by a suicide bomber fifteen others were injured during the attack that's believed to have targeted a local police headquarters a group has claimed responsibility for the bombing to create is the hometown of former dictator saddam hussein and it's been the focus of militant attacks it's the beginning of the u.s. invasion in two thousand and three. u.s. this twenty two stealth fighter jets to a military base and some real joint on going military drills between the two countries which north korea blames for escalating hostility in the region the same time south korean authorities warn that they will not shy away from a preemptive strike if they believe in both korean attack is imminent during announced a state of war between the two countries on saturday just weeks after carrying out

underground nuclear tests. political satirist bassem youssef was met by mobs of supporters after being granted bail on sunday three cases have been lodged against him for broadcasting biting criticism or. is on t.v. . he's recently instigated a campaign to crackdown on dissent in the country once had been issued for five prominent members of the opposition of the protests in front of the muslim brotherhood headquarters in march. the rebels who overran the central african republic capital of bangui last name that had taken a government leader told him will head the new administration while nine members of the opposition remain in place for the elections and twenty sixteen fighting escalated in january after the collapse of a power sharing deal between us the president was easing and the rebel group.

well we may soon be able to take a not so grounded look at what's going on in space russian scientists are planning to build a space observatory right on the moon's surface beginning with rupert research lab in the near future. reports now from somewhere the outer limits. a century since neil armstrong's giant step ended the race between the u.s. and u.s.s.r. to put a man on the moon earth's only natural satellite is once again in the spotlight while america has directed its attention to mars russia's central research institute for machinery announced the launch or rather a relaunch of the lunar program according to the ambitious plan a russian space ship will fly to and circle the moon by twenty thirty but this promises to be only the beginning and here is where it gets very interesting the next step as they search it claims will be the construction of an observatory on the moon experts believe earth's space rock is simply the perfect spot from which

to research space so if this idea proves to be a success expect a laboratory there to observatory and the lab may soon be followed by a helium mining shafts and if the moon really holds ice as scientists believe this could produce both the water and oxygen which would make the earth's satellite inhabitable by humans hotels with rooftop swimming pools grocery stores and a hospital all this could be possible this would not be easy of course expect some competition from the u.s. and china but in five six decades flying to the moon and back would not be just a line from the song but a real human quality option. out of this world in the next people a bell discusses the future of western capitalism uncrossed. you

know when the history of any culture there are some dark chapters throughout human history there's been war on every continent and religious strife and oppression every culture has some skeletons in their closet and in recent u.s. history the scandalous prison at guantanamo bay. as making patriotic americans scurrying around a decade or so rather than slamming the door shut and get mall i hate that term condemning it as one of the greatest mistakes in american history and gloriously declaring on t.v. channels and newspapers the country wide that it shall never be repeated again the pentagon instead wants to blow another forty nine million dollars expanding it even if you are one of the types of things that american gulags are super cool and awesome do you realize it takes over one million dollars per year per prisoner to keep the place open are you sure you don't want that money to go towards something else like your children's education the thing that burns me up about this the most is that obama promised if elected to close guantanamo bay and as commander in chief

of the armed forces he could do this whenever he wanted no amount of filibustering by the republicans could stop him obama you promised hundreds of millions of people to do something very simple start the paper work tomorrow buddy make the nation look better that's your job but that's just my opinion. as a. glowing welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle is the complet system in crisis after five years of financial economic chaos multiple bailouts from wall street to cyprus to global capitalist system is on trial high

unemployment and mountains of debt plague the western world all the while politicians go from one blunder to another so what has capitalism done lately. to cross something crisis of capitalism i'm joined by. mars' been in paris she is the tribune company syndicated columnist and founder of rachel martin associates in new york we have george said newly he is a fellow of the global policy institute of london metropolitan university and in washington we crossed to fred smith he is founder and chairman of competitive enterprise institute cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want george says capitalism state today well i think capitalism is indeed in crisis it's been five years since the crash of two thousand and eight and the multiple bailouts and the unemployed.