the u.s. will provide military aid to syria so rebels are claiming it has evidence that the assad regime may use a chemical weapons muscle called washington's reasoning flawed. plans to develop a blog in istanbul that calls to weeks of protests across turkey have been frozen but there's no clear agreement on how to prevent and to government demos continuing . and as iranians elect a new leader we examine the controversial legacy left behind by the nation's outgoing president mahmoud ahmadinejad. who i will from the russian capital of this is already it's just gone posited ten

pm here in the capital let's take a look at the needs. washington will put the lethal weapons in the hands of syria's rebels it's concluded that bashar assad's regime has used chemical weapons. on a small scale and so will offer more help but to those fighting him. has the details this is quite a game changer being announced by the obama administration what we know is that the u.s. has decided that it will provide military support to syrian rebels but u.s. officials would not specify what that support will involve the national security council that the riser ben rhodes says that the new assistance to the syrian rebels will be different from the non-lethal communications type of quitman that the u.s. has given before and this of course leads many to believe that the united states will now be arming the syrian opposition now these decisions are being made after

the u.s. intelligence community has independently concluded that the syrian government has used chemical weapons including the nerve agent gas sarin on a small scale against the opposition however washington so far it's failed to disclose what specific evidence they have what has led them to make these conclusions and this announcement but this is counter to what a chief u.n. investigators said just two months ago during our investigation for crimes against humanity and war crimes. we collect. witness to money. the made to appear that some chemical weapons were used in particular. in what was. what appear. to our investigation that was used

by openings by the ribbons and we have no no indication tool the government. of the city government has used chemical weapons but i was to be the. first the first indication we got. to the use of never open in the united states decision now to provide more military support to the syrian opposition comes ahead of a peace conference that's supposed to take place at the end of this month or be they have one next month that conference was organized by the united states and russia and it was aiming to get both sides from syria to come together at the table and talk about how there could be a transitional government forms and ultimately end of the ongoing violence that's been taking place in syria according to the united nations ninety three thousand people have been killed since this civil war began more than two years ago we

should know that many experts have indicated that and believe it argued that adding more arms to such a heavily violent conflict that's ongoing in syria would actually fuel an arms race it would make the circumstance there the environment there so much more dangerous but as we see from the the announcements made by the obama administration that washington plans to aid syrian rebels militarily and they won't give specifics but it looks as though that the united states will be arming the syrian opposition. postcard place to look at syria's controversial chemical weapons supply so what exactly do we know about the use of chemical weapons in syria while the country is believed to have one of the largest stockpiles in the world with some estimates putting it at one thousand tons in september two thousand and twelve the country's then foreign ministry spokesman said government forces would never

use the weapons against the syrian people but the recent un report confirming chemical weapons have been used raises more questions than answers as to who's the guilty party and more finger pointing and allegations continue there's increasing evidence that the rebels do have access to a chemical arsenal only last month turkish media reported twelve members of syria's al qaeda linked al nusra front had been arrested in turkey with unknown chemicals found during the raids meanwhile the free syrian army leader recently confirmed that a number of army generals defecting to the opposition dropped because they were being asked on to stay on infiltrate the government forces to help secure the chemical weapons stockpile all of this of course comes hot on the heels of government advances the northern town of qusayr recently once again coming under government control that poses the question why president assad would choose now to antagonize the u.s. by crossing that so-called red line when conventional warfare appears to be swinging the war once again in his favor washington says it has said it is the evidence with

several allies including a rush him at the head of a stadium a foreign affairs committee says the findings are not convincing. we have no reliable confirmation the asset government used chemical weapons on you because the u.s. national security council that made this announcement cites intelligence reports the problem is that one time the bush administration also cited intelligence to prove to the entire world that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction as we all know this became the basis for aggression against iraq and for iraq's occupation but no weapons were found there neither nuclear material nor chemical weapons or civic a so how can we trust these empty phrases after iraq it's completely impossible but this is part of the us political line aimed at toppling the asset government or yes it was a in the new book the daily beast and russia's ambassador to the united nations in

geneva. in the explains why he believes negotiations are the only way out. we have a lot of evidence which testifies that. position extremist opposition forces second meeting terrible crimes horrible crimes exist. murders. taking hostages sensible and so forth and we're trying to make a public hearing to me. as far as russia is concerned could think that both sides know it and you'll see that in syria and they will commit crimes but. this vicious circle of. violence would be only broken by convening the international conference on syria. well the u.s. plan for a limited no fly zone over syria has also been drawn up it would be costly up to fifty million dollars a day advent is unlikely to affect the effect of things on the ground however the

white house believes that it is needed in order to reduce the risk off on me and the rebels the restricted area could stretch up to forty kilometers into syria just one hundred kilometers sort of the syrian capital damascus and even without a no fly zone washington could send on the same three jordan patriot a defense a bad reason at sixteen fighter jets already deployed full of benz's on official michael maloof says america should have learned from their previous military escapade. be very skeptical i was in the pentagon at the time that the intelligence assessments were made regarding iraq and its w m d programs weapons of mass destruction and we know what the results were a trillion dollars later forty five hundred lives and we can say we had nothing nothing to show for it and there were and there was no that i was in damascus recently spoke for an hour and a half with the syrian prime minister and he says why would we be gassing our own

people but i think that the timing of this is meant to to try. but the problem is how do you the opposition is so fractured how do you determine who will get the arms and so that it doesn't get into the hands of the foreign fighters the armless for the al qaeda types there's no guarantee about this and that's why i believe it's going to prolong a conflict. and the e.u. has reacted to washington's allegations with skepticism. here explain statement that came out today from the spokesman of catherine ashton is offices that the e.u. would like to have a u. when mission to have to have independent investigation whether or not the use of chemical weapons really did take place they want independent verification of the facts presented by the united states that is happening in syria now that they are

in constant contact with washington and also they said that while this u.n. mission has been authorized they are still waiting to be granted access on the ground they did point out it indicate the importance of getting an independent verification on the ground with facts on the ground for them to be able to make a decision now this is generally reflective of the opinion of most of the e.u. countries if we remember is made there was this issue that they made on whether or not to extend the arms embargo to syria twenty five out of twenty seven nations were against that idea including germany very reluctant to get involved militarily we know that the u.k. and france were the two countries that will really heavily push. of that arms embargo however what's interesting to see is that the statement coming out today from the u.k. and france it looks to be like a scaled back on their initial aggression on the issue we have a statement from downing street they're saying that the u.k.

government has not decided yet whether to arm the syrian rebels and they are asking that the assad government allow grad unrestricted access to the u.n. investigation team going back to that statement of the e.u. and france had also said in reply to with suggestions of a no fly zone to be established france had said that such a no fly zone in syria. the approval of the u.n. the security council but they said that any intervention had with the approval of the international community and they say that this is unlikely so for now there is no clear indication coming from the next step in terms of action they want to take all of them are saying they want to wait for more information and what's interesting again the u.k. and france's statements on these and foreign ministers will be meeting about a week's time to discuss this further. plans to develop a park in istanbul they cause weeks of protests across turkey has been put on hold and will be left to a court to decide whether they legal five people died in the often violent

demonstrations that decision came after the prime minister held a meeting with activists although there was no agreement on how to end discontent the european parliament a heavily criticized disproportionate to an excessive use of police force against the protesters a number of medics who set up attended to treat some of these who were in that i'm now being investigated by the government will i let illegal act is the protests that started because of a plan to cut down trees and build a better axe in gezi park they soon evolved into anti-government demonstrations with crawl's a rallying against the country's prime minister jason jones that it's a chief of the it's symbolic is that says are these angry at the government who will continue to demonstrate despite the decision about the park. there's a court injunction to stop the construction in gezi park and essentially what it came down to was the government saying that they would not step in to stop that process and they would let the courts handle it from here so we we have

a pause in the action but by no means is it over we see a lot of opposition party groups that have come together under this one particular cause but within that group of people you see a splintering of very very differing causes the engine capitalists muslims the socialists the. various representative groups from every fringe. out there they don't think that the conflict is going to just go away i would i would hope that they can find a peaceful way to get life back to normal and to get people at the table talking to one another however as i mentioned those marginal groups that are there these are professional protesters they protest all the time they're generally ready for a fight so i don't think that those people are going to just walk away. right we're close. the following developments across the turkey a visit our website aren't to dot com for the latest updates witness accounts and videos.

coming up in a couple of minutes they're here on our team in the u.s. the u.k. everybody else whistleblower edward snowden from traveling to the country they have cia men's revelations looks set to test the rich relations between the u.s. and china will bring you the details shortly. highway bill some the bones of its makers the winds through one of the wildest and most beautiful regions of russia a place that's home to less than a million people on the campus of the great frost's. join me james brown as i travel to the coldest inhabited place in the world. and meet some of the toughest

people i'm told this time is on the clinic's. just make sure that you keep your eyes on the road work for your heart. race to the poll of polls only zero no answer yet. free. free. free. free. free. free. free. video for your media propaganda radio down to our t.v. dot com. i. thank you good to have your company with us this is our cia whistleblower edward snowden has reportedly been stopped from flying to the u.k.

where their lines in order to keep him from boarding the man who lifted the lid on america's secret surveillance activities is being pursued by washington which wants to prosecute him for his latest revelations he told a hong kong newspaper that the u.s. repeatedly hacks into chinese computer networks he claims the u.s. has been hitting hundred salva targets in hong kong and in mainland china since two thousand and nine this is particularly sensitive because washington has constantly accused beijing of being behind a series of cyber attacks on this government department the future of the whistleblower remains unclear as washington post together charges against him some experts believe china will stand by snowden. he had months to sink it over he's already called tact with lawyers and human rights organizations in hong kong he studied whole called law yes there is an extradition treaty between homecoming and us before the ninety ninety seven those were but this is a very special case now china is that correct lee told me she is already supporting

stole that lexus think it took them a few days to make up their minds remember there was a three day holiday in china so the start it's a day friday the chinese are sensitive and they are watching a public opinion reaction in hong kong they are watching public opinion reaction inside in a way bolt the chinese blogs and the equivalent of twitter and they know what they see the groundswell of support to snowden they see the double standards of although it's trying to impose a wooden way cyberwarfare dialogue when this comes both ways and yes they're going to support snowden no doubt snowden is a fellow whistleblower we can be said to julian assange praise of the x. cia man for obtaining solid proof of what many have suspected for yez is a preview of his a place of interview to r.t. . where where most of the snowden revelations but in

a thousand pieces from one court case here from a whistleblower there really documents here the thousand different revelations looking closely at like budgets and so on putting all this together. and so for those people deeply involved some surprising. i've written about this but. what is surprising is to see such clear direct proof in simple documents. in court orders secret court orders by states for massive deception and the various different forms of mass interception from where they're from. high tech companies from fiber optic lines from the rise of another carriers united states visa rolled into marriage together now into. information into one system. is surprising and you can catch the full interview with julian assange later today

here on r.t. . iran has extended the opening times for polling stations a several times due to ohio very good turnout security is tight across the country as people choose a successor to president ahmadinejad he's coming to the end of the hose to his second and final term at us don't expect much change in the country's political cause mainly because all the candidate is a loyal to supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei artie's maria fanaa is in toronto watching the bout it. was iran's supreme leader is among the first photos today the country chooses its next president i hope you have a lot to see how tall a company has just cast his ballot and of course no one knows who he voted for you can see many journalists are here who've been foreign reporters many have come to iran to cover the event and most of them are reporting on the show that when the supreme leader has cost over the country's politics and today's events speculates

and that's why it's so offering a choice for days vote will unlikely to bring a new radical change to the country all together there are six candidates in today's race but of course no one can say a pig's point who's likely to wean opinion polls predict iran off but as it sat there were these leaflets we found distributed on the streets of tehran the future president of iran should believe in god be able to protect the country from its enemies have high moral standards and have a good plan to improve the country's economic situation here's our report on where after the jobs legacy leaves the public akbar has been in real estate business for years in iran when we ask him to summarize the legacy of president. he talks about the turn out if you compare is that right side increased by one hundred percent since last year we have no hope for the future of the economy's bad guy it's getting worse one of the president's promises after taking office in two thousand

and five was to make iran's vast oil revenues felt at the dining table of every single family was he leaves behind is a country hit by the worst financial crisis in the near east as much as the us some who say it's not what it is just who's to blame for the downturn under sanctions were tough recently and it's hard to keep afloat for the president you know people i'm sure that iran is able to resist international pressure the iranian economy has been hit hard by strain of ever tougher sanctions imposed successively by the. the u.n. and the u.s. over it is ations the countries trying to develop nuclear weapon something which was never approved as autonomic energy out has been able to stand up to the whole world over iran's nuclear program and the country is better off for it and other bats over departure in libya will be remembered for is his rhetoric about israel and iran six resident relations reached the point when even war seemed very

possible and while ahmadinejad has not exactly been friendly towards israel the way facts have been general devout him has done more damage to his reputation than his own words years ago a statement was mistakenly streamlet it to him which was inequity translated as israel must be wiped off the face of the map and actual words were that israel must vanish from the arena of time and didn't even belong to any way other than objective is to make up when the new judge in a village he stands for universal rights where every country would have an equal say that some powers want nothing but dominance and they focused on blocking the name of our president stick one of this year's presidential candidates doesn't agree say korea during the two thousand nine hundred eighty the size of his advisors and they were off to race sort of the best and most honest way to get the power and. the deadly protests that raged across the country after the elections

are also thought to have undermined our image the result many people were frightened of other let me not talk about my job at all. even those who don't totally support a when i say there is little he can actually do here according to our constitution the supreme leader has much more powers in this country almost every step the president takes should be supervised and blessed by the ayatollah so despite all the controversy surrounding president ahmadinejad it looks like iran will continue to be a force in the region and therefore will remain the for. the side of the u.s. and its allies mahmoud ahmadinejad's eight year presidency provokes mixed feelings a very controversial leader he was equally. in iran has been most going to be president of both poles different over any policy but today he's iraq is over but his legacy will cost a shadow over the next president some time. tehran iran.

remember you can find most of us stories over at our dot com by including questionable confessions young men tells of police in he was a hired assassin but only after being tortured into ending up according to human rights activists. and the true cause of the plane crash that killed you to go gary medel for his men in space is why they live revealed to the public to r.t. dot com to find out what actually happened. to. the news today violence flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. showing corporations rule the day.

activists in london's financial district to have staged a protest ahead of the upcoming g. eight summit in northern ireland they accuse corporations of creating poverty to make profit artie's plenty boyko has the details. and here are stars he campaign isn't environmentalist have gathered here in what they call the penthouse suite of global capitalism otherwise known as canary wharf london's business district home to a number of banks such as j.p. morgan and barclays now it's an event called they owe us and are they in the title is aimed squarely at g eight leaders who are set to meet for the start of the g eight summit hosted by britain in northern ireland on monday protesters gathered here come from a number of different organizations but they all say that they're concerned with one thing and that's the concentration of wealth and power that the g eight summit represents so next week at the g eight david cameron is going to be saying that he's saving the world he's come out with all these great policies that make things

better for you know that's just not true he's making decisions and all those leads in fact making decisions that are in the interests of the financial institutions of these large corporations and more in the interests of normal people we've told the banks out so. quoted to me we've got to max out i mean is there a debt to us you know we're going to say this simple stuff earlier this week anti capitalist protesters clashed with riot police in central london and around sixty arrests were made one word on the lips of many of the protesters are expected to today's inequality while this business district is home to a number of investment banks several of the guarded territory norm one of london's poorest areas where four out of ten children live in poverty so with further government spending cuts on the way protesters and pointing the finger of blame at the franks and the politicians reporting from canary wharf in london i'm poly boyko for r.t. . well international news in brief and now clashes have erupted in brazil's largest

city. that's people who to the streets on mars saying great idea of public transport price hike use use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds detaining a diesel forty demonstrators for themselves and activists also protested in the country's capital. two people have died after a ferry sank off of the philippines of four others and of the crew were pulled out from the water by rescuers reports say the very could have been on balance point two buses and a truck on board a coast guard this can be area for people long the passenger list but with mikey on the. wildfires in colorado have destroyed in nearly three hundred and eighty homes and killed two people the victims were apparently trying to escape or from a house that was on fire and firefighters are trying hard to control the level of destruction after the blaze doubled in size overnight up to a thousand households we evacuated. up next after

a short break it's artie's exclusive interview with the ultimate whistleblower julian assange. you know when i was in school they would tell us stories about that other goofy economic system in the eastern bloc and about why it was doomed to fail they tell us how terrified communist bureaucrats would work very hard to give the illusion of a fish and see when their bosses were in town essentially out of fear they would try to convince the state that everything was just fine they pronounce a fresh coat of paint on some stuff bump up their numbers in the books and get employees to put a smile on for the cameras so they wouldn't lose their jobs yeah this our teachers told us was a sign of true doomed economics rolling the clock forward twenty or thirty years the bosses of the current global economic system are in town and many locations

around the upcoming g eight summit in northern ireland are doing their best to hide their economic downturn from the media according to our t.v. news the government of northern ireland has spent two million pounds dealing with derelict buildings some of these buildings have simply been knocked down but some have been spruced up like butcher shops with images of meat stuck over the windows to hide their barren interiors or the now famous local office supply store which contains no office supplies at all but it sure does look nice and i guess that's what counts spending two million pounds to hide economic downturn from the g eight and other eyes whether than spending it actually you know improving the local economy seems like doomed economic practices to me but that's just my opinion. with us now a man who knows what it's like to blow the whistle in

a big time way and incur the wrath of washington at the same time julian assange he joins us from the ecuadorian embassy in london julian figure of a so much for taking the time to be one. this much appreciated thanks for the line there for a few minutes as well. first thing to you really i guess what does it feel like what do you feel like when you see this news that that's come out about mr snowden over the last couple of days yes you empathize yeah. i do empathize having been through a very similar situation myself but we're trying to actively support through this interview or in other ways. snowden's plight back in october last year i published a book called so i punks calling for exactly the sorts of actions in relation to the mass surveillance state that has developed in the united states and in the west more broadly exactly what mr snowden is doing so it's it's very pleasing to see

such concrete proof presented before the public will he end up though in a similar position do you think at the end of the day. on the run they feel like avoiding prosecution from the u.s. . well already we have seen that the department of justice united states has taken up the issue has been many calls for his prosecution he's family has been raided in holding a loot by police already so yes he will be subject to prosecution by united states for years i'm certain of that. you claim to be in contact with snowden lately could you tell us how recently that was and can you tell us anything more about what he had to say to you but we never discuss sourcing issues what we said is that we were in contact we use snowden's people in relation to the various support and advice we can give you we heard

a line trying to be to press call for president putin's press secretary that if mr snowden wanted it russia may can say that giving him shelter hey do you think you'd ask for it i think he would be well advised to consider that off you'd be advised to. try and find a similar offer in south america. these are countries that for south america it's quite clear where they are you logically aligned to put that extensive experience with the united states and dominate the united states and south america is one of the countries where there is both table and sips by the national security agency revealed in mr snowden's papers ninety nine percent of south america is communications with the world with europe with russia with asia we do everyone posses for united states and he said today by the national security agency so latin america has a real personal if you like interest in what's going on and of course russia

understands this came. and picked understands it's going for a long time now i'm told that. once on a was on the table and such and also that it would not would not be rescinded. hugh bradley manning now i do it snowden do you think between you will you've made some headway in the war of attrition if you like with the government sort of keeping things secret or does it still depression at night maybe it's an amazing time. just three years after the late bradley manning revelations with bradley manning in trial possibly. continue to go to go for another live in weeks and these snowden revelations come out. i and i many others had called for the exactly such revelations to expose the surveillance state so i think we're winning i think that's. part of a new international politic that is developing the internet has put many many

people in contact with each other and when people are in contact with each other when they communicating with or with each other they naturally fold in. a body politic and it's just finding its feet and the first sort of two principles to fall out of that is one freedom of speech and two no message hands communications this is a body politic funded site founded on communication so the values of protecting the rights to communicate and protecting the privacy of communication are the thirst to natural values to fall out of that interaction of. now over two billion people on the internet so it's an interesting time on the other hand. we see the emissions of the big u.s. tech companies like google facebook microsoft yahoo cetera now scott which is owned by mark self into this surveillance system over two point three billion to

sections a month for the month a month for the month of march revealed just for the united states alone. so worldwide perhaps ten twenty billion interceptions. by this is them that is a vost sprawling. transnational surveillance system the question is can this new collaboration of people in these new ideas new values and this technology which we're using today which needs people to get a good value and good principle. is that capable of battling the lockheed martin's and the googles and the national security agencies of the world but time will tell julie and you've seen a lot you don't appear to be shocked a boat but was any of what's come out over the last week by prism the n.s.a. as any bit shocked by the scale of it the total integration is something that i

wasn't aware of. people who have been deeply involved in this business and in studying it and researching it and publishing documents about it. where a way of most of the snowden revelations but in a thousand pieces from one court case here from the whistle blow there from the late document here it was thousand different revelations looking closely at like budgets and so on putting all this together. and so so those people deeply involved it's not surprising we. have written about this but. what is surprising is to see such clear direct proof in simple documents. in court orders secret court orders by states for mass interception and the various different forms of mass interception for when they're from. the high tech companies

from fiber optic lines from of arise on the other carriers in nine states these are rolled into mission together now into one system that integration into one system. is surprising and i guess the flip side to this considering how long it's reportedly been going on for since two thousand and six or so and considering how many people would have been involved are you surprised at all this hadn't come to light that there have been earlier whistleblowers coming out of the woodwork. yes i am the crackdown on whistleblowers has been very public and i think that escape people would be good i mean there's ways to do it without ending up like. props the way bradley manning is going to go or snowden i mean most sources reveal information perfectly fine i mean that we're told with thousands and yet we only know. of two of the head problems and it's alleged he says because they talk to

informants so that we don't see all the people who are if you like getting away with a successful activity because they're invisible because they remain anonymous what we see of the people who end up with difficulties they become very visible very visible because the u.s. government and others likes to hold them up as a symbol of what will happen to you if you act but at the same time they're also visible because the media and their supporters hold them up as a symbol of virtue and abusive treatment so unfortunately these people become very very prominent but they're in fact in them and i don't know how much more to do and how much danger could they be and we know your predicament your current plight we feel that i guess most reports say that the money is going to be made an example of if you like we heard mr snowden saying he was worried just

a couple of days ago about his nearest and dearest his girlfriend his family all the people whistleblowers that you know that are really skid right now many sources are quite scared i mean we've seen callie colleagues of mine have even stated publicly that their sources are reluctant to talk because of the crackdown against bradley manning and that's what that whole trial is trying to achieve it's trying to set the precedent for the communicating with the media is the same as communicating with him in. and that's a death penalty or face. an outrageous president he works like this they allege the credit manning communicated with the media organization which he makes even communicating with the public and with other media organizations and amongst the public there exists. because no other occasion that bradley manning was intending to communicate without without. did directly communicate with al qaeda or anything like that that is not an allegation against him in the court the

prosecution does not contain to be sure that we're so we have a what it alleges is that al qaeda like everyone else in the world raid which he reads. now we know that bin laden has also recommended bob woodward books and reads the new york times this is of no consequence whatsoever he probably had gone to zeus. in his compound so that sort of argument means that any. communications of the nation to the media can be prosecuted for aiding the enemy and as a result. sentence to this. and that's that really it's the end of the actual security journalism united states if the president is the bush just wanted to ask you about you still hold up in the ecuadorian embassy given the clampdown that might come down now what whistleblowers after what we've seen over the last couple of days what do you think you'll personally chances are not walking free any time

soon what keeps you going what keeps us going is the worldwide support that we have which is really quite extraordinary yes which leads to the banking blockade that's called at about ninety five percent of its finances but we have worldwide support so we've been five percent is. five percent is not nothing the u.k. government has admitted to spent five million dollars in the past ten months surveilling this embassy in relation to me completely awfully just. fortunate that's an offense to the u.k. taxpayer people can say you could to do your politics but things are starting to change political you know stray. political party now according to the government's own polling outfit has between twenty five and twenty eight percent of the folks in the elections in september during the songs thank you for your time and thank you for being on our to international.

when the president does it depends it's not illegal these are the words of richard nixon barack obama appears to be saying the same defending massive you would products of a bunch of citizens all over the world defenders of prism involved with some form and claim these programs protect lives but who is looking out to protecting our rights. a highway bill sown the bones of its maker its the wind through one of the wildest and most beautiful regions of russia a place that's home to less than a million people on the campus of the great frost's. join me james brown as i travel to the coldest inhabited place in the world. and meet some of the toughest people i'm told this time is on the planet so. just make sure that you keep your eyes on the road.

race to the poll of polls only on o.t. . if. you. feel you think. you. do. you.

feel. the.