downcast and dejected edward snowden could stay in russia for a while a lawyer involved in the case says an intense u.s. manhunt means the whistle blower's plans could now include russian citizenship. scaring the scots the british government goes on the p.r. offensive telling scottish voters their independence could cost them a heap of problems ranging from lower salaries to bigger phone bills. and photos of western weapons in the hands of pro assad militias emerge online of sparking fears the us government can't control over its arms and. thanks for joining me this hour we've got live news and analysis for you i'm lucy

catherine of and you're watching r.t. well the man who exposed america's global surveillance network may be looking to settle in russia at least in the medium term edward snowden has been stuck at a moscow airport for three weeks now trapped by a manhunt the scale of which has even surprised the whistleblower himself farmer has the latest on snowden's plans. from a lawyer representing mr snowden that russia could become his permanent you home if you don't receive temporary asylum it will allow him to live and work freely in russia for one year and after that we are told he might apply for russian citizenship and used to but if you told me that he's going to stay in russia and i do not rule out but he may stay here permanently and become a russian citizen with all the rights and responsibilities while the lawyer added that mr snowden has been he's been holed up put sheremeta hold over the last three weeks and he was very surprised at the intensity. of the manhunt but he says that

his client mr snowden has every chance of getting asylum and says the main reason he has asked for it is because he fears for his own life if he returns back to the u.s. . when asked by immigration service agent why he chose to prostitution in russia and why he came here he replied that he fears for his life and well being and also fears that he could face torture or execution and what he says sounds quite convincing as the u.s. still administers both capital punishment and torture. now edward snowden has also said that he would not release the documents which could damage u.s. interests while he is on russian territory in his words mr snowden has said that is something he can do it is an important point though because president putin has made this a precondition for asylum and he says that in this whole saga it has been russia's role to take a humanitarian stance and the actions it is taking should not be regarded as

hostile towards the u.s. and the also said that mr snowden's actions were actually in defense of human rights those issues militants on the ropes human rights work usually carry some cost for those involved when this work is done under the auspices of the united states government with its financial and political support it's quite acceptable but when someone criticizes washington the situation becomes much more complicated the incident with the bolivian president's plane illustrated this well in the coming days he should receive these documents that will allow him to go through passport control here at this airport and then come through the exit and on to russian soil proper because remember at the moment he does not have a valid passport or visa but these documents should arrive with him we understand within the next five days while his application for a temporary asylum is processed which could take up to three months the next thing is that he would require accommodations about something he would have to look for

effectively he's probably a man feeling much more it sees this afternoon and it could be a new life and a new chapter for him here in russia. snowden's asylum request to russia is assumed to be a stopgap measure if moscow does granted that he'll find himself with a breathing room to pursue a longer term asylum in south america are to contribute or option or tons he says that has been a diplomatic nightmare for all involved. these applying for temporary asylum resume reason we can just go about his business as a normal citizen walk into the venezuelan embassy in moscow walk into the ecuadorian embassy and fill out forms and papers the obama administration was so quick to just say right make him a known citizen and cause him trouble in this way well they didn't just go that route so drabble because the. government's trouble notably the bolivian one with. a. few weeks ago they're going to make lots of allegations in the press and you'll

see them in lots of right wing newspapers that the national security agency is a beacon of freedom and without their ability to surveil your skype account your outlook dot com accounts are in breach of revelations about microsoft the forces stationed in iraq and afghanistan would sustain formal casualties what rubbish we know the american government in the surveillance state is desperately seeking around to prove that they need to be able to be through all of our emails all of our phone calls for our own security we're closely following the twists and turns in the snowden saga both on air and online and r t dot com at six weeks on the follow from his leaks is raining down on washington d.c. the architects behind america's global surveillance network are now being called in for another round of questioning on capitol hill lawmakers say they want to clear answers this time around adding that spying to this level was never authorized by congress more on the reactions and obama's defense and our team dot com.

scotland's make or break referendum next year is seeing london faversham try to keep britain together with an anti split campaign that sometimes verges on scaremongering pollie boyko reports on exactly what westminster is trying to do to persuade the scots to vote no. it's just a very year until scots have to answer a simple yes or no question about whether or not they want to break with the united kingdom the scottish national party says there's absolutely no doubt that scotland has the potential to be a successful independent nation with a strong economy but the british government wants scotland to stay in the united kingdom. i believe that england scotland wales northern ireland we are stronger together than we would a poll. it is time to speak out whatever the consequences because something very special is in danger that sense of danger is one that the british government has recently been accused of playing on too heavily though in the run up to the

referendum westminster has been busy publishing papers on how it believes independence will be bad for scotland the latest and most bizarre caution is about mobile phone bills a new government paper suggests that if scotland breaks away then scots visiting the u.k. and using their phones will need to pay extortionate raving charges the scottish government has already debunked that myth saying that all roaming charges in the european union will be abolished in twenty sixteen but according to whitehall scotland might have to reapply to join the european union as well the british government has also been keen to remind that the royal mail and the post office will no longer be for scotland should they choose independence nor will the two hundred or so public bodies that deal with bureaucratic procedures such as issuing driving licenses managing roads and even broadcasting such as the b.b.c. if all that hasn't put off for any of those considering voting yes in the

referendum next year well a recent think tank report has cautioned that an independent scottish army would struggle to defend itself and what about money well the scots say they'd like to keep the pound something the u.k. chancellor george osborne has been quick to dismiss so if the scots choose independence it could be no pound no easy you know army high phone bills and not even any royal mail to use as an alternative they're a piece of cautions have led to accusations that the anti independence campaign is engaging in scurrilous scaremongering what we're getting now is the kind of fear factor managing you can't be part of a single currency union a sterling union if you have independent you can't have this you can't have got no these are big. substantial debating points but it should be used as a gun to the heads of scores if you want this is going to be a punishment scotland's first minister has already said that the british government's so-called project fear isn't going to work as we go through that to be

every. month. how more horror film the release of caution zone obscure subject has reportedly angered senior figures in the u.k. government by dwelling on petty issues such as these many say that only giving credence so the scottish nationalists probably boy care artsy london. earlier my colleague listen to both sides outline the key pros and cons of a great british break up some say scotland is the richest part of the u.k. outside of london so perhaps scotland actually could go it alone. i agree with that i think scotland could go and i think it would be economically viable and i think there's still it's still a big risk that it would create a lot of economic uncertainty for instance what currency would scotland use that examined as consistently given different answers on that what would it barring rate

be what its credit rating be we need much greater detail on this but i think scotland can make a good go of it and so on and so in that countries of similar size which do you wish them well on their own but i just think that scotland is better for being part of the u.k. and the u.k. is better for having scotland as part of it the truth of scotland is more secure is better to economically if we are breaking with westminster we want no truck with illegal wars which cause security problems we want no truck with the standard to which caused a great deal of issues for people that are facing not just job losses but actions from their own homes and we have the opportunity here to build a society which is in fact did advance of everything that we're doing just know should we want to oppose war we want to push we want to oppose the states and in their place we want to see scotland taking a peaceful role in the world but we also want to see scotland it's actually building an alternative to the market into new liberalism which let's be honest is

one rump and wish minister. there's been a fourth day of protests across the u.s. over a controversial court ruling thousands are angered by the acquittal of the killer of an unarmed black teenager and even the country's attorney general wants some deeper debate on gun control and racism at stories coming up ahead also for you the world student games conclude in russia with some of the event as well as the criticism it's had ahead of the closing ceremony that story coming up in just a bit. what drives american foreign policy values or merely interest in claims that supports democracy as a universal value but makes glaring exceptions when it suits its jule political purposes and what about the neo conservative agenda is it the genetic code of pax americana. you know sometimes you see

a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you don't know. welcome to the big picture. good luck or a tour. was to build a new most sophisticated. fortunately don't learn about anything tunes mission to teach music creation why you should care about humans and. this is why you should care only. so welcome back will egypt's interim president has sworn in a new cabinet dominated by liberal politicians it doesn't include anyone from the

muslim brotherhood which has propelled the now ousted mohamed morsi to the presidency the islamist group that dismissed the capital's formation that supporters are now pledging mass demonstrations well as had not live now to say here i mean an egyptian journalist who is based in cairo you know actually we will get that guest back on line for you in the meanwhile other stories coming up for example let's move on to syria the united states and europe may be squarely behind syria's rebels but large numbers of high caliber u.s. and european weapons are circulating among the other side now internet images of shiite militia men fighting alongside president assad's troops with western arms have emerged feeling concern that washington won't be able to control where its weapons actually end up as artie's got into can now reports. weapons don't discriminate us made arms our national will not be in the hands of iranian backed militias fighting in syria analyst philip smyth points to photos

with hezbollah fighters coding u.s. made m sixteen s. and m. force fitted with laser and holographic sights as well as an two or three grenade launchers how do they end up in there and if there's a will there's a way and if you want to get let's say an m two zero three grenade launcher in an m. four car being you'll find a way to get it so long as you have the right amount of money and the right amount of for connections is not clear whether the weapons were captured still learned or bought on the black market this weapon might be and. has been law from. military only been his army of course illegal but i don't believe that is and. could be the source of this weapon iraq. similar u.s. designed weapons appear in the hands of syrian rebels including fighters with all new sort of front and al qaeda affiliate the u.s. has designated

a terrorist group it shows the alarming tendency for the weapons to change hands in unexpected ways but despite this the obama administration has decided to directly arm the rebels in syria a move supported by washington so hard and we can give them the heavy weapons that they need who's there who's them i know them i've met them they're there unfortunately for senator mccain some of the rebels he met in syria were kidnappers and his office had to issue a statement saying the senator did not know that when he agreed to do a photo op with them but not everyone in washington thinks flooding syria with more arms is the solution a group of congressmen have introduced the legislation to block an unauthorized u.s. military aid to syrian rebels arguing that the law prohibits any military assistance to syrian opposition forces unless congress issues a formal declaration of war since our nation's security interests in syria are unclear risk giving money and military assistance to our enemies. there's great

ironies to supporting the syrian rebels one will be supporting forces that are associated with al-qaeda the two thousand and one use of authorization of force said specifically that we could go after the taliban al qaeda and associated forces we will now be one of those associated forces because we will be allied with al qaeda against assad the voice of caution comes not only from the president's opposition in congress but also from former administration officials including for us to think we can influence or determine the outcome of that i think is a mistake i thought it was a mistake in libya. and i think it is a mistake in syria we overestimate our ability to determine outcomes you may think that the u.s. has learned the hard way that by arming friends who may be arming animals but it seems u.s. leaders yet again are ready to take that risk in washington i'm going to take on. a former cia officer ray mcgovern says that u.s. politicians acknowledge there's little they can do to control who gets hold of any

weapons that may be sent all right now seventy percent of the americans are against giving military aid to anyone in syria and even the good the chief israeli spokesman spokeswoman in our congress you know analysts late in and has said this would be folly she's against it too so it's incredibly ironic and but there are enough weapons now to go around even rowsley and recognizes that she can't prevent us weaponry from hanoi going into the hands of people who might turn them against us in the longer run six thousand syrians aren't leaving syria every day over the last month this has got to stop this is humanitarian crisis approaching what happened to wonder we ought to think about human needs to go to think about people being killed unnecessarily. well it is the first day on the job for the new interim government in egypt of us cross live now to an egyptian journalist who is based in

cairo we have on the line with us shahira amin ma'am thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us how is the formation of the new government being received by people in egypt overall. if i hear you correctly you asked about the interim government and. as you saw that two weeks ago we had this huge rebellion against president morsi people were dissatisfied with the government's performance saying he was in when i using this state appointing his own brotherhood members in key positions in state institutions and now we have this technocrat government. that includes several women in the cabinet lineup a number of young ministers and so people who are pleased at the change they

see this as a first step in the democratic transition and a lot of people are you know very pleased to see the back of the islamist government and are glorifying the military and are you know welcoming the military takeover of the country well certainly a large segment of the population who probably isn't pleased are the islamists and of course we do have to keep in mind that the islamists have won straight five straight elections since the twenty eleven uprising that had ousted hosni mubarak and i'm curious i mean the what are the implications of the do you interim government not including a single member of any of the islamist factions and it. i think that is a fatal mistake excluding any political faction from the transitional political process is a fatal mistake people were complaining the war see was in one eyes in the state

and now they're doing exactly the same keeping the islamists sidelined hoping to push them back underground this will have very serious implications as you see the there is a lot of unrest street violence clashes between opponents and supporters of the president just a short while ago there was a very brutal crackdown on pro morsy protesters outside the parliament. and just last week fifty one pro received protesters were gunned down by security forces so i'm afraid that this will have very dangerous implications we're already hearing jihadi groups say they will launch. a holy war to defend islam so my worry is that there may be terror attacks to come and the street violence the bloodshed will continue as

long as the muslim brotherhood and other islamic groups a sidelined and marginalized certainly a worrying trend but at the same time the muslim brotherhood brotherhood of leadership had willingly boycotted the transition government had effectively removed it from the transition do you believe that that was a mistake on the part of the islamists. yes they refused to take part in any negotiations unless lord c. is reinstated they say that they are defending a digital to see that this was a coup against legitimacy and they vow to stay on the streets until the islamist president returns which of course is a very slim chance of that happening they are in denial and i think that their only chance is to take pot in national with conservation talks because.

of of them not to i don't see any solution to this crisis. all right well shahira amin thank you so much based in cairo egyptian journalist weighing in there on what's going on with the situation in egypt. u.s. laws on self defense gun control and racism need revamping this according to the country's attorney general thousands have rallied across america in the past few days since the acquittal of george zimmerman that he is a florida neighborhood watch volunteer who had killed a black teenager and by the name of trayvon martin last year that was ruled to be a self defense a case of self-defense even though trayvon was on armed law professor charles rose

says that it's not about race but gun control. road to the ease with which you can not only purchase a weapon but then use that weapon to defend yourself in the state of florida in approximately twenty other states is really what led to this tragedy not the issue of race i prefer to think that what it gets us in the united states to do is to what we as a nation of immigrants always need to do to talk about how we come together and that issue of race is an issue that's always present within the united states and it gives us an opportunity once the emotion is run itself out to talk about this in a way that can be positive for the country in the long term it was not about race it was about self-defense and who was the aggressor race had nothing to do with it but has become synonymous with racial issues within the united states and that's what something takes on a life of its own becomes very difficult to separate them back into what the objective truth is my big and for

a slightly different perspective we spoke to social justice expert and professor lisa albrecht from minnesota universe and how she believes that zimmerman's acquittal reflects a deep racial bias within america's legal system. all the. justice system in this country is racial from the moment of imperent police arrest more people hold or. are convicted in greater numbers the apes are sentences that are longer and there are greater numbers of people who are in prison and the united states given in terms of their population so you already have all that data and this we see as a continuation of. this man has been acquitted so now is the time for our government to hear our words that's why i live in minneapolis the state of minnesota we will have thousands of people in downtown minnesota in front of a court to share our concerns about these issues. a quick look now at some

of this hour's other world headlines. hundreds of police reinforcements have been called to belfast in northern ireland to help restore control after five nights of riots across the city the violence began almost a week ago after u.k. loyalists were prevented from walking through a mainly nationalist area half a dozen cars were burnt and dozens of petrol bombs lobbed by protesters as police came under attack on tuesday night. protesters have rallied in the greek capital to demand an end to government budget cuts amid a twenty four hour nationwide strike that had brought the country to a grinding halt several thousand demonstrators gathered peacefully outside the parliament building waving flags chanting slogans and this comes before a vote on wednesday to set up a so-called reserve labor force of twenty five thousand people but there is concern that it could lead to more greeks being put out of work. the world student games

are coming to a close in the russian city of the host country is overwhelming lead in the medal count has been somewhat marred by criticism that moscow has been politicizing the games more now from our teams paul scott. well for the last twelve days to more than thirteen thousand student athletes from one hundred sixty countries now these games boasted more sports than ever before and there were more gold medals on offer than even at the london olympics last summer three hundred fifty one gold in total a record breaking number tens of millions of people have watched these games worldwide and russian estimates say that seven hundred thousand spectators have descended on over the last fortnight well russia top the medals table some margin as well they currently have one hundred fifty one gold medals to their name. in second place who have just twenty four and it has led to some people suggesting that russia politicizing the games an intent to enhance the nation's sporting

reputation added what is going to be a massive decade of sport for the country now this criticism stems from the fact that russia do have a number of professional athletes competing in their ranks up against the amateurs . who are the game's governing body the committee that oversees the games they check every athletes for eligibility and their credentials and the rules are the same for anyone and for russia's part they say that less than ten percent of their entire squad is actually made up by professional athletes now the other criticism that being is being a indication the organizers is the cost of the games at the start of the games russian estimates said that the games cost four point five billion u s dollars now that's not just a one off payment organizes jesting it's not a one off payment for a twelve day party it's a long term investment not just in the future of russian sport in the next generation of sporting athletes but also in the city which has undergone a huge renovation in the last five years there's a new transport network new hotels

a new student university campus and of course thirty new sporting venues have all been built from scratch as for now well all attention turns to the stadium behind me where tonight's closing ceremony is set to take place. up next is cross talk with peter lavelle do stay with us here watching our team. oh. music is our job the army our destiny these soldiers don't know what real arms look like but it didn't take them a single shots to conquer the world. china and korea try to imitate them america and europe cry bravo absolutely amazing

amazing. meanwhile back in russia military artists are losing their grip on the audiences. of young people especially soldiers they seem to me to differently from. the russian musical army has been fighting for eighty five years now will it stay in tune with the times and win over the younger audience is up to date or has the time come to give up the fight and defeat. find out on our t.v. . leave facebook.