breaking news this hour here on r t multiple bomb blasts and heavy gunfire in central kabul as taliban fighters launch a sustained as told assault on the afghanistan's presidential palace. this is. what you. want edward snowden goes underground and under the radar after sending moscow's international press corps on a one way trip to cuba. and washington is breathing fire at china and russia for the failure of both countries to serve the whistleblowers head on a silver platter.

good morning from moscow where it's now eight am on tuesday. and it's get straight to our breaking news for you this hour the presidential palace in kabul has come under attack from militants all reporters were waiting for a press conference with president hamid karzai intense gunfire and a number of loud blasts have been heard and smoke was also pouring from the west side of the building very close to a cia office it's not known if president karzai was in the building at the time the attackers were fighting both the bodyguards of the president as well as american troops the taliban though have claimed responsibility for the assault so far it comes off because i said he wasn't willing to take part in peace talks with the taliban backed by the u.s. do stay with us for more on this breaking news here on a bit later in the program very soon we hope to speak. to

a local journalist that of course anybody who is standing by in kabul. why that's a delve deeper into the story here let's talk more about the security situation in afghanistan a stevenson is professor of international studies at the university of san francisco thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. today do you think a g g g think the attack would have taken place if nato forces were in charge of security in afghanistan perhaps rather than the locals i think the main problem with security and calm the child and of a force that they can make it and will train and take out a large and he's an attack on the presidential palace leaders of course just the past few minutes and make a big battle is over all the attackers have been killed and the result i think in any space think many ways this is more every function of the leo ongoing political problem and simply one security but how how would you assess that the ability of

afghan forces to ensure security across the region it seems perhaps they've got a bit too much on their plate. this. they haven't they're sure but problem is that even if they're good. even if they have the very best equipment the strength of the afghan government relative to the taliban and other forms of resistance doesn't have credibility with the afghan people and while the vast majority do not subscribe to a child and extremist ideology many are very frustrated with the corruption and an arbitrariness of the government including ongoing acts repression of all of the foreign presence to prop up this government and is this kind of environment to the rise of the extremists so it's not just security question won't so it's not your security issues alone we're monitoring this massive attack on the presidential palace in kabul the gunfight as far as we understand hasn't come to a total and yet it wasn't recent days that the american president barack obama

announced plans to pursue a renewed peace plan with the taliban to tell us how do you do it do you line them up do you line their pockets you give me a million bucks and say thanks for having us we're done here now how do you get a real peace process with the taliban. very difficult i think the only real way to bring people together is recognize that neither side can win militarily i think this morning's episode is just. a very good example that. the power of an apparently is not able to penetrate and take over president bill calls or any section of the. other same time there is no security even in the heart of the most sensitive areas of the country and so it. but we're both sides just killing killing each other and that means almost exclusively afghan or casualties neither side being able to win and with no end in sight that may be the only reason people

need to have to actually sit down and try to work out a negotiated so we'll continue to monitor this a breaking news coming to us out of the afghan capital the presidential palace under attack gunfire as far as about a continuing stephen soonest just one more question before i let you go here g.g. think nato troops should have continued their afghan for a to put an end to violence and terrorism in the country perhaps they just they're just trying to say all the wrong but. problem of course in a place like afghanistan which has for generations resisted foreign invaders the soviets of course in the one nine hundred eighty s. the irish in the one thousand nine hundred to many of them have any kind of foreigner on their land is enough to fight them regardless of the ideology of the government so you have to balance the oh no it was on the one hand we're better fighters you got more more training and probably better on a military level than the afghan government those are very present end up creating

more extremists and more taliban and more on resistance and we can kill all right stephenson is a professor of international studies at the university of san francisco thank you for sharing a time with us here and today. we'll continue to monitor that breaking news story here on the program what the world's leading intelligence agencies have found themselves chasing their own tails off to edward snowden once again slipped through the global surveillance web that he exposed the n.s.a. whistleblower is now reported to be in hiding after sending off a plane packed with journalists to cuba and the same flight he was to be on. a study by the airport where snowden was last thought to be seen up paul good morning to you oh dear oh dear i must say you know it's been rather entertaining watching the media frenzy around the world the plane. flying to cuba but oh dear oh dear. yes it's only right isn't it rory that his story such as they say

about espionage should be shrouded in such mystery the only thing that we know for certain is that edward snowden's exact location. the white house suggested that they still believe that edward snowden is. in transit still in the airport terminal building behind me at the ecuadorian embassy of the country that he is seeking political asylum or at another location we simply do not know now all reports point to the fact that he did in fact arrive here. on sunday at around five o'clock in the afternoon aeroflot flight. from hong kong was where he was in hiding for a fortnight after blowing the whistle on the n.s.a. surveillance operation he has been spotted since russia's security service the f.s.b. say they do not know where he is. websites and

social networks to question whether he even set foot in russia in the first place or another thing that we do know is that ecuador is the country where he. he's seeking political asylum it was widely that that was going to be his target destination his final intended destination but with wiki leaks pulling the strings and organizing the whole thing. whether it has all been. so elaborate. as you say the world's press of the plane to cuba or not containing edward snowden. is ahead of the game he's keeping not just the world's press but also the american authorities guessing as to his exact whereabouts but you get the feeling with the world watching that snowden's next move in this game of cat and mouse could be crucial. indeed. thank you.

well it's good to have you with us here and. he was also on the flight that edward snowden was due to take. a. while to confusion on board when the press suddenly realized the whistle blower had given the slip. i just got off the swing we just landed in with the one and coming from moscow so you know how long can i see back and see me through up to the very last point everyone was still expecting edward snowden to show up to board that wing even when we were sitting there the whole plane was packed even when the a walk to the doors and it was taxiing the way to take off still everyone was waiting for him. at least to find him on the plane and when we were allowed to get up from our seats went to these seats. where they were supposed to be sitting and saw that they were empty some journalists were actually looking for them inside the airplane checking bathrooms checking places where mr snowden could have been hiding

since the very beginning it seemed almost one hundred percent that he was going to take this flight increased security in the airport grounds journalist were additional factors. these expectations. well although the dozens of journalists after the scoop of the year were left disappointed others did make the most out of it and one of those is seat seventeen a that was booked for snowden that made the very most of his fifteen minutes of fame on twitter in the first tweet the seat without a passenger seemed upset writing i feel. it was also a little annoyed that i couldn't make conversation with the seat next to it because a b.b.c. reporter was sitting on it seventeen i was also a little apprehensive of all the angry journalists and frankly irritated by no sign of the drinks trolley well we did manage to speak to daniel ellsberg another prominent american will suppose he did expose pentagon papers back in seventy one

and that was detailing washington's controversial decision making process during the vietnam war he believes very few people at the end of the day can measure up to snowden's sacrifice. i think he would be in much the same cell as bradley manning if not in the same cell that comical any could be under the national defense authorization act he could be in military detention but even if not he would be in a jail cell somewhere as incommunicado as bradley manning is for the last three years so i think he was very wise to make it disposers outside of this country and i think that we should be listening to what he has to say because what so far i've heard him say is very likely put in shows much better judgment than those of his colleagues who went along it's clearly unconstitutional but they were all purchased and i would say the charm carries calling him a traitor it's just. he's no more

a traitor than i am and i am not all that words used to me by a president and a vice president both of whom by the way to lost their office for criminality nixon and new i think he is in the tradition of me can hail the first american to be convicted of tried in fact for giving secrets to americans he said i regret that i have but one life to give for my country because his country was america and he was hanged by the british it was a spy for george washington i think that edward snowden has shown a willingness to give his life for this country and there's no american idol or deserves to be honored at this moment. in the meantime washington has showered threats and ironic robots towards the countries which snowden has used as stepping stones on his quest to freedom it's warned china of the consequences of allowing the thirty year old to flee to russia while a venomously hinting that both moscow and beijing

a far from being bastions of free speech. guy nature can has more. the white house says hong kong officials had received washington's request to arrest no ten and still made quote a deliberate choice to let him go so washington clearly takes it as a snub from china here's the president's press secretary we are just not buying that this was a technical decision by a hong kong immigration official this was a deliberate choice by the government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant and that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the u.s. china relationship we were never there in response to the u.s. request to arrest noted in the government of hong kong issued a statement saying that the documents the u.s. provided did not fully comply with the legal requirements on the hong kong law but also in that same statement the government of hong kong said they wanted more information from the u.s. government about the hacking of computer systems in hong kong by u.s. government agencies and that was one of edward snowden's revelations snowden gave

china a great political counterargument to u.s. constant accusations against china now the u.s. can't accuse china of cyber attacks without being accused of hypocrisy so there is an interesting dynamic behind all this the u.s. one and china where the semi-autonomous government of hong kong to give them the man who had leaked u.s. secrets but one of those secrets is about activities of the u.s. government against china so it's possible that china's dilemma was to either think edward snowden or to arrest him hong kong says they've done everything in accordance with their own laws now as far as russia edward snowden has been in transit in russia and russian authorities say they have no legal authority to arrest him but u.s. politicians and pundits on television use what seems like a cold war rhetoric to present washington as the enemies that snowden is helping and the imagination of some german is running. wild as they joke about how edward snowden is being briefed by the russian president in one form of social also on one

of the news channels that russia and china are going to use this to embarrass the u.s. one should argue it's known as revelation. that embarrass the u.s. not russia or china but that's exactly what's happening now u.s. policymakers are doing everything possible to divert attention away from snowden's revelations and certainly one of the one way of doing this is to present it as a cold war style cat and mouse chase that way you have us media now almost cheering for edward snowden's capture although just a little while ago some of the same journalists were grateful for great for a greater public awareness of the fact that the u.s. government is spying on millions of people who have done nothing wrong but of course has no illusions as to what lengths the u.s. government will go to catch him edward snowden also said it's not the government persecution that he fears most he said the greatest fear that i have about the outcome of these disclosures is that nothing will change from how it's developing it doesn't look like things will change for americans anytime soon but for the

world be occasions of his revelations could be significant for example the fact that the u.s. now can't accuse china of cyber attacks without being accused of hypocrisy which a correspondent guy named charlie mcgrath one of the founders of an unseen mainstream news while wide awake news he believes the us should try and give a lecture in the rest of the world. we saw carney played out today press secretary carney talking about we demand this and we don't accept that you know we're not talking to children although it seems that this government in its quest for all the power wants to talk down its nose to the world as if they are children but the fact of the matter is these are sovereign nations of china wants to not send him back united states because they don't want him to endure a political prosecution then they apparently have every right not to have the government's upset the power brokers in washington d.c. are very upset the security industrial complex is very upset this is obvious by their actions but everything that they're doing is trying to smoke and mirror shift

the blame shift the focus from the information has been revealed until the perp on to the person who revealed the information it really is like i said i hope he makes it to where he's going standing upright and breathing but the true story here is the decimation of personal freedom inside of this country the united states and ecuador has reportedly given snowden a refugee papers while it considers his asylum request but his foreign minister has declined to reveal where the whistleblower is. trek to ecuador is being organized by wiki leaks according to his chief julian assange and more on this now to answer his plea boycott. julian the sirens are saying that they are in contact with edward snowden and the wiki leaks legal representative traveling with him they said that they are both healthy and in good spirits and in a secret location that they can't disclose now they've spoken a lot about the very bullying and what they called the threatening behavior of the

u.s. administration in relation to a number of nations through which edward snowden has been reported to be traveling the fact that they've been demanding for his extradition now wiki leaks have said that edward snowden is north to trey's as the u.s. secretary of state was calling him a yes but he's a hero as we know that wiki leaks has been assisting edward snowden both with his asylum request to ecuador as well as with legal representation so we're going to be following this story as it develops for you from london. and online for you this hour. when the pastor catches up with you decades germany with an investigation into a nazi s.s. command squad found he's been living in america for more than sixty years after reportedly sneaking into the country by claiming he never fought in the second world war those details on the web site for this hour. and a unlucky number seven for silvio berlusconi receives that amount of years behind

bars for being convicted of paying for sex with an underage prostitute those details also on the website right. speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's we'll hear. reporting from the world talks about six of the ip interviews intriguing story for you. arabic to find out more. visit our big. dog called. they were ready to do anything for their country to leave to try out it is to love the country more than yourself if you join the military for any other reason that you're probably not going to have a good day they were tools in the hands of the state now they live remembering the

past which is impossible to get rid of. the war. but it however good people get hurt. and i have heard good people empty silent. but would prefer not to be sometimes i feel like. i should have died over there. because. i saw some people who had to hide. there is cheaper than therapy. he.

says. thank you for joining us here on our teachers to buy wood on the world update phenolic though a lack of water could literally be a reason why it's been so hard to dampen fiery relations between israel and palestine tops in the homes of arab villages in the west bank run dry most of the time they complain israel doesn't satisfy even their minimum water needs. the story . the taps in hamad mohammed's home are there more as a sign of hope there's been no water through them for five long months but in the the municipality does not give us water as these should water it comes through our pipes twice

a year in him and give him an hour's drive north and or did he start another day in the office the mayor of the fact settlement has lots on his mind but not a lack of water we have one big water tank with supplies water also to both the arab villages which are on the other side of the security fence where basically they get their water supply from the water tank off the front more than three hundred thousand palestinians across the west bank are not connected to a water network according to palestinian human rights groups israeli officials say the number is less than half that since the one nine hundred sixty seven occupation all water resources are exclusively in his radio hands but a joint group established back in one thousand nine hundred three to ensure supplies has left the palestinians short changed israel has repeatedly made as a condition for its approval of palestinian projects that the palestinian authority

approve new wells and pipelines for israeli settlements the palestinian authority merely because it's desperate for water for its population has approved virtually every one of the israeli settlement projects the palestinians weren't left behind. their opinion community wanted to invest their money that the palestinian authority will have such systems like we have in a fraud or like we have in the whole of israel unfortunately what happened their money was taken or misused and basically found itself in private bank accounts by the leaders of the palestinian authority despite repeated requests these radio water authority declined to talk to r.t. its website says israel has not only fulfilled its obligations to provide water to palestinians but exceeded them it accuses palestinians of breaching the agreement by drilling and authorized wells failing to operate a sewerage and of not developing any new water resources. the fact of the matter

is that a shortage of water is not a problem for israelis whereas it's a daily struggle for tens of thousands of palestinians something that's a little difficult to swallow. especially for the hundred thousand people living here in the west bank's third biggest palestinian city who rely on this man it's his job to direct what little water there is to a different neighborhood each day we receive baby two thousand cubic metres of beer a day. it means that we we near seven thousand to give be able to reach seventy to eighty a little better given them and twice a year people like coming and his wife have the water pipes to the home opened the rest of the time they use a well bringing up what little water they can. and i'm clean to wash drink and survive policy r.t. in the west bank. and a world update time here on r t let's go straight to it now in baghdad where at

least forty two people have been killed in a series of bomb blasts they've ripped through marketplaces in the iraqi capital so far no one claiming responsibility for any of the attacks there the deadliest explosion was a double car bombing on a busy road in the west of the city that killed eight a serve more than two thousand people have been killed in just the last three months alone sunni muslim anger at the ruling shia government has grown. the lebanese army has seized a complex in the southern part of the country controlled by hardline sunni militants around sixteen soldiers have been killed in two days of clashes with the followers of the maverick cleric who supports and he asked saad rebels in syria the militants attacked an army checkpoint first which could indicate a growing frustration over hezbollah led shiite ascendancy to power in the country . or at about to our breaking news here on r t the presidential palace in the

afghan capital kabul has come under massive militant attacks reporters waiting for a press conference there with the afghan president we managed to get in touch with a local reporter courtney body and she gave us a few details. be attractive indeed in the. three to four. i can see giant holes in the glass wall new black balled why and the out of print. green. the child in clinton tried to hit the presidential power and here we are in which. the partners will talent. and other interesting thing is that if you track it back in time the president will tell it's called journal or. conference to discuss the taliban people stop trying. to get track during your term when you're talking peace should a lot about. the situation here not going to benefit our thank you for

showing us some of your time with us here on our streets today just after the break a look at the financial news headlines with prime interest live from moscow this is a hot.

wealthy british style. that's what i. think little cartoon out of. high that. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to conjure reports on our.

good afternoon and welcome to prime interest i'm perry and washington d c and here's the prime headlines that we're tracking today. family pressure how the left the bank of israel king might be heading to the federal reserve but guess who will be taking his place at the b.o.i. a j.p. it war again exaggerated that would be take up frankel's second time at the helm of the shackle after spending three with a too big to fail over involving door to trilateral commission member and holder of the rockefeller rockefeller and out it there at the university of chicago has some big shoes to fill.