edward snowden remains in. transit zone after. all u.s. threats. extradited. to shoot the messenger. ignoring the fallout from the revelation of its surveillance program. make sure. that those. who are really bearing the burden. top stories this hour.

into the. studio center here in moscow this is r t with the twenty four hours a day russia won't hand over america's most wanted man n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden he remains holed up in transit at a moscow airport for a fourth day and president putin said that means snowden's never actually crossed into russia and so is beyond the government's reach to buy much say has the latest from. in moscow. ever since edward snowden touched on on sunday here in moscow he's been a locked up in that transit the area and of course our theories are running high as she will what is his next move some tears even suggest that they're both halves of he's already left the country although he's been detained by the russian authorities to be extradited to the u.s. opposes the russian president question any of those series in fact going as far as

a comparing snowden to whether one whistle blower julian a son she was but so much snowden's case is similar to that of julian assange both called themselves defenders of human rights and fight for the freedom of information you have to ask yourself do such people need to be hunted down and put in prison i personally would like to avoid cases like these is like sharing a pig knots or shrieking but little for. the russian government has been pretty clear as to why they wouldn't be extraditing snowden add to the u.s. because he did not step onto russian soil there's a back and forth the rhetoric up from haase rhetoric from the u.s. politicians are stating that moscow is not cooperating the chinese government failed to cooperate has been looked at as a building tension between all the countries now of course that the chinese government said that they failed to extradite snowden and to the authorities or because the paperwork go from the u.s. government was not

a clear enough allegations of the two countries working with snowden's immediate he said to be absurd by the foreign minister sergey lavrov as well as the president. any accusations against russia and nothing but rubbish simply ravings a special services never interacted with snowden and the not steering so you today . does the government released a statement saying that the application for snowden for asylum could take up to two months just like that of g.m.'s songes holed up in the london embassy now of course it will still be staking out here looking out for more details and as soon as we get anything we'll bring you right back to you. trying to remain between the u.s. and the whistleblower on the run washington is angry that neither is helping catch and is going to church can explain some believe america is just using scapegoats to distract attention from the real issue its global surveillance program. u.s. secretary of state john kerry hinted at possible consequences that russia may face

for its response on snowden saying at times russians have criminals in the u.s. they're looking for and he said the u.s. has cooperated on handing over seven of them in the past two years although if it were a russian whistleblower who stood up for civil liberties in russia it's kind of hard to imagine the u.s. handing them over very quickly especially if the u.s. were not legally obliged to do so and in the case of snowden we heard the russian president say russia had no legal authority to stop him from traveling formally he hasn't crossed the russian border is a transit passenger didn't need a russian and he hasn't committed any crimes in russia moscow says russia doesn't want to have anything to do with mr stone but it's amazing how this story which had absolutely nothing to do with russia is all about russia much of the media here has turned the whole snowden story into a story about putin they invite lawmakers and experts who focus on russia and putin here's for example senator mccain weighing in on the story. we got to start dealing

with that amir putin in a realistic fashion for what he is he's an old k.g.b. colonel apparatchik that dreams of the days of the russian empire and he continues to stick his thumb in iraq for a broad variety of ways this kind of narrative in the media that's focused on russia certainly helps build up negative public opinion on snowden and eventually discredit his revelations the focus is not just on russia but also on china and you hear u.s. officials blast hong kong for letting small one fly but what about one of these revelations the fact that the u.s. spied on chinese research centers and universities here's the explanation that we heard from secretary kerry our surveillance activities on them it's our surveillance activities anonymously on thousands of chinese and the chinese university anonymously in order to be able to track terrorism if there is an act of terrorism or some linkage. that is appropriate some indicate i know whatever

it is could be anywhere in the world whatever it is then you have to go to court and you have to have court approval in order to do anything that is actually name specific person specific so secretary kerry said the u.s. was spying on chinese research centers and universities to find terrorists a lot of people would find that response quite confusing china would probably not buy it so you see u.s. officials being quite of a sieve on what they're actually doing preferring to focus on the messenger instead on edward snowden and here's my colleague going to see a trick in a on how the media here goes along with that narrative some journalists believe the shocking us government spying scandal is the biggest story of our lifetime i sit in my desk certainly have the authorities to to wiretap anyone from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president if i had a personal e-mail but big brother shamelessly watching millions of people in secret

seems to be turning into little more than a cat and mouse chase by the american mainstream media snowden snowed snow in my mind the only thing that's very really important. is it's really how the government is cracking down on. your mole over the place but that's far from most of the media's focus instead snowden is the source not the substance of the n.s.a. scandal is all the rage there's an old technique called change the subject when you don't like what the subject is about you change you personalize it well you try to see what the problems are with the people who are delivering the message and ovoid actually explaining the message itself in this case a massive spy scandal has been turned into a possible case of treason as an alice in wonderland first comes the verdict then the trial with pundits eager to shoot the messenger from questioning whether the reporter who broke the scandal with. his source should be punished along with the

whistleblower why shouldn't you mr meanwhile be charged with a crime to news reports focused on snowden's girlfriend what's curious she also packed everything up and left for the mainland to pointing fingers at any other government but their own whether china or russia has been able to sort of suck out that knowledge from those computers while he's been in the countries of voiding the issue at hand seems to be a priority it doesn't surprise me that it should be this focused on the. snowden private. correspondence with private affairs or his whereabouts and travel instead on the credibly important revelations that he has given us the answer to the question why is simple because they failed to do their job to actually expose all this so now they're blaming somebody who has exposed it and it makes them look bad ditto for the government the media coverage of the n.s.a. scandal oh litmus test for journalism that most are failing instead of cleaning up

their act and dwindling ratings networks are busy looking for bad guys elsewhere instead of looking the real villain in the face when you consider that as recently as one thousand seven richard nixon was forced to resign in large part because he thought well. this is a huge change in our perception while the media war breaks out over supporting or hating edward snowden as little airtime as possible is actually dedicated to the spying on unsuspecting citizens itself the biggest privacy leak in recent u.s. history has shown the media to have little ability to deal with complex issues instead indulging themselves in a manhunt yet again but then again this shouldn't be too shocking when the finger pointing every now and then is paused it's stories like this that fill air time. or and the sound of your holiday your holiday weight. i'm going to

new york. the u.s. says its large scale spy program is there to target only terrorists but experts suggest those planning terror don't exactly spend their time googling the scoping or the facebook page or use of english to explain exactly what part of cyberspace they do. and there's suppose a quest for preventing terror attacks and increasing security prism only gathers data from the internet big players such as google facebook and so on but most of those who look forward to harvest or terrorist related information can find it only on the appropriate forums which are hidden deep within the so-called underwear none of these resources in that realm are actually indexed by the major search engines and in fact google how that one point admitted that it indexes a tiny fraction of just one percent of all data that's available on the web if you imagine it as an iceberg that you can understand that prism only covers the very top the very tip of the iceberg the rest of the information is actually not covered

by prism according to dutch intelligence service but sensual terrorists go to these core forums which are highly encrypted and hidden deep within the web so one really needs to know what they're looking for and where to find it a case in point could be the brothers they have turned to one of the war no radical sources sometimes referred to as the vanity fair of al qaida although the web site existence is no secret for some reason u.s. security services failed to track down the brothers activity even after a tip off from russia and thereby they failed to prevent the boston bombings so although the cia and the n.s.a. say their surveillance programs are directed at protecting people it seems like they're too busy reading innocent people's e-mails eric draitser a new york based geo political analysts believes the government and media are working together to wage a concentrated smear campaign against another. in the united states we see a concerted propaganda campaign designed to demonize and to destroy the image if

not the total character of snowden and we see this happening from the right wing and also from the left wing those who are attacking glenn greenwald for his revelations and snowden themselves this is now becoming a real story in the united states the way in which the controlled media is attacking snowden and serving the interests of the surveillance state and the partisanship behind president obama the united states certainly will not give up we've seen cases of extraordinary rendition from all over the globe carried out by the united states and it wasn't just in the context of so-called terrorists if i were snowden i would be working under the assumption that there really is no place anywhere on earth that will be one hundred percent safe but i think that the strategy that he has taken incorporating china incorporating russia using the infrastructure built up by wiki leaks is absolutely critical to ensuring his safety

before leaking data and what should he do now well these are some of the questions being asked in cross talk later today is a quick preview point. all these people who are saying well snowden released information that was harmful to the united states because he revealed for example that the united states was spying on russia are spying on china or hacking into universities and places like that well you know they already knew that everybody knows that let me ask you this question mark if if edward snowden is really standing on principle and i don't know if motivations i don't think any of us really know his motivations but nevertheless if he's really standing on principle and what he cares about is really exposing the truth why should he come back to the united states go on trial and really stand up for what he's done if public opinion is so behind him why would that be a good thing for him to do you're arguing you know you should do you don't do the crime if you don't want to do the time well great but that's not the time he's going to do he's not going to be tried we already know that he's being charged

under the espionage act which carries a potential life in prison ok he didn't do anything like that so yeah he has every reason in the world not to want to spend the rest of his life in jail for something he didn't do he'd be stupid to come back here. cross talk come you win a couple of hours from now here on we'll be back with more news for you shortly after this break.

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continues here and britain's chancellor george osborne is announcing billions more in government spending cuts austerity measures are already biting for many across the u.k. and as sara first reports the effect can be devastating for the most vulnerable. once a place of sanctuary now a patent symbol of austerity burson a small garden with west f. me bottle of gin sought refuge from her financial worries it was here she'd raised a family but when her son moved out she was caught by the new government scheme the bedroom tax days in social housing with spare rooms must face a cut to the housing benefits all moved to somewhere smaller less than a month ago and the fifty three year old grandmother of one killed herself by stepping in front of a moving lorry she left this suicide note behind for her devastated family

about god with her world she loved about god. and. all that she'd know. small tight knit communities like this one lived in might be a long way from westminster but as many of the people who live in communities like this there have been among some of the hardest hit by the government's austerity measures many people. are having to pay. from a budget household budget which is already just stretched beyond belief to have. this problem was caused by the banks this problem was caused by not proper regulation of the financial services. the government insists that the cuts are necessary and that the current changes to the benefit system will eventually

improve the lives of some of the poorest family but as part of the wealth of a whole taking place right now angela murray had essentially slashed from twenty hours a day to just three earlier this week she delivered a petition signed by forty five thousand people calling on the chancellor to invest in. if you think you know you haven't committed any crime you are in a situation that's not your own doing and you've suddenly been restricted to something like a prison cell. or how would you call it you face another fifty years but. there are. some of us are not gifted with. some of. the. experts have said that situations like stephanie's are avoidable and point to

iceland as an example the country saw a collapse of its banking system a few years back that protected spending cheesing stimulus. the banking crisis and enjoyed three percent growth in two thousand and twelve compared to just not point two percent in the k. but with the government seemingly committed there were. the worry is that these cuts will for many more people across the way like stephanie friends and family have a say this is irreversible so. rotted white believes the fresh cuts will do nothing to write the sinking ship that is the british economy the country seen one point one percent growth in the last few years we have more growth in this country's economy for the last one hundred years. as a continuation of the experiment human disappear it is ideologically driven that

can only talk them out and it is done with the objective of affecting the transference of wealth from the poor to the rich under the pretext of an economic crisis not reason it's a pretext this was the economic crisis which of this country into seven. economic you know if you're considering these policies on the basis of economics being clearly completely irrational the us economist paul krugman greatly disparaged. dr. dreaming of blood and when that doesn't work doing won't work for me this is entirely appropriate to discourage this moment foresee the stare. instead of think historically it doesn't work in painting or session a painter decision to go to war to be introduced to my coaches contract you can see . now from the online news

a polluting factory in russia's stunning lake baikal will soon make way for a brand new disney style theme park a tourist sites in a national park with nature reserves are only a part of the major project get the full details of this multi-million dollar plan at r.t. dot com right now plus. still thinking these pictures from a rally were actually this time hundreds of youngsters weren't battling police but . with flower more pics and details that are t. dot com. the first part of a long awaited addition to russia's sea fleet power has been unveiled in some petersburg the stern of the heavyweight mistral ship will now be sent to france to be fully assembled. explains what this deal means for moscow and paris. miss strong always been a strong and usually cold wind in her eyes but it might also be

a wind of change when it comes to places that shot. her. up. to find the ground according to the deal signed two years ago this shipyard in st petersburg will play a vital role in the fabrication of vessels the section built here will soon had to france for completion before making the return journey to enter the service in russia's navy although there's no champagne available to celebrate here today because a bottle of it was just smashed on the new ship or rather on this section of a new ship it's still a big day for a big ship as high as a fifteen story building and around two hundred meters long the mistral class warships have enough capacity to carry sixteen helicopters up to full two tanks or armored vehicles and around six hundred troops and

a range of around forty thousand kilometers the equivalent of a single trip around the entire globe and what's even maybe more important it is a multipurpose vessel if. this ship is like a swiss knife it can be used both for military and civilian purposes it's a hospital it's a command point it's an assault ship and it's a headquarters it would be great for each of our four fleets to have the ship however the purchase of the two ships is not without its critics some of russia's own ship builders complain that frons got a huge order to sort of the mastic shipyards they also say the deal has more political than economic benefits it's just recently emerged that the two mistrial quasi warships will not be able to operate in russia's bison winters without special lubricants that means more expense for the navy and dependence on a foreign supply chain others argue. it's a win win situation for both countries france gets an order worth over

a billion euro which will keep many of its ship builders in business more important now than ever because of the ongoing euro zone debt crisis while russia gets a warship that will considerably boost its military capacity and also gains access to a very latest naval technology the first ship is expected to join russia's navy by the end of next year with another want and as to whether this one deal will lead to closer ties with paris. will simply have to wait to see which way the wind blows. our team st petersburg. and some other news making headlines around the world at this stage of the day at least eight people have been killed during a shootout in a rio de janeiro's the security forces were hunting for the killer of a police officer when they clashed with locals meanwhile the anti-government protests continue to sweep across the country people demanding better social services that's despite a recent proposal by the brazilian president for a referendum on widespread political reforms. seven people have been killed by

a roadside bomb attached to a motorbike which detonated in pakistan's southern city of karachi a senior judge who was thought to be the target of the attack he was seriously wounded after the suicide bomber rammed into his vehicle there it is claimed responsibility for the blast the judge had reportedly been receiving death threats . rescue operations are ongoing in india's region where a massive floods cut off around five thousand people in the mountains more than eight hundred have been killed and one hundred thousand displaced of the ten days of flooding and landslides the forces of war that rotting bodies left in the water pose a risk of contamination and outbreak of disease. and finally. u.s. president barack obama afghan leader hamid karzai have reaffirmed their commitment to peace talks with the to. and about both said they support the negotiations at the taliban new headquarters in doha as long as it is used as nothing more than

a place for talks that's the spot in attack on the presidential palace in kabul by the insurgent group on tuesday morning three security guards died in an almost to a gun fight before all of the militants were killed. well i beat out with the news team with more for you in just over half an hour from now in the meantime i want to show you prime interest that will be starting here in a couple of minutes after this break. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

choose your language. with oh if. some of the. choose the news that concerns you. choose the opinions that invigorating. choose the stories but in real life choose the access to.

good afternoon and welcome to prime interests i'm perry and boring in washington d.c. let's get to the prime headlines of today. what the frak mcgraw hill of the owner of standard and poor's is embroiled and another scandal but this one deals with price fixing in the energy markets a decade after a similar tarp charges were leveled at the firm the european union it just launched another and asked to gauge that oil companies may have submitted false trading data to the energy division up look rock hill which is called plaid in order to manipulate prices i'll talk to tyson slocum of public citizen energy program and just a bit about the energy market manipulation. and housing prices are up according to

the s. and p. key so index which gained one point seven percent coming in a far above expectation just keep in mind the foreclosure pipeline has effectively been stalled by the big bangs because they're scared of new regulations that are coming down the pipe that means housing inventory is being kept artificially low which we can thank for higher home prices along with the fed the eighty five billion dollars a month subsidies to the financial industry and speaking of housing and fannie and freddie are on the chopping block of our partisan and group of center. there's want to wind down the mortgage giants and replace them as well another mortgage giant is new and busy will be called the federal mortgage insurance corporation and the newly revised proposal would reduce the potential for lenders losses in the event of another financial crisis well if it smells like a fanny and it walks like a friday you can see we're going out.