stories that shape the week on r.t. u.s. russia barack obama cancels an upcoming meeting with vladimir putin and she jest relations need a timeout after moscow granted temporary asylum to whistleblower edward snowden. claims of genocide kurds say they're being targeted for ethnic cleansing and mounting reports of al-qaeda linked fighters attacking their villages in syria.

comes under pressure from the global gay community who want the winter olympics taken away from russia over the introduction of what they call a fascist style law against homosexuals. hello welcome you're watching r.t. coming to you live from moscow with make. now relations between russia and the u.s. suffered a major setback this week at least according to the american side first president obama canceled a one on one summit with putin and then even called for a pause in the relationship russia expressing disappointment over these developments insists however there are no signs of a return to the cold war. as the details. this week when president

obama canceled the bilateral meeting with the russian president in september u.s. russia relations have paid a new low on friday the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov and the russian defense minister arrived in washington as planned to meet their u.s. counterparts and we heard two different messages coming from president obama and foreign minister lavrov both held a news conference on the same day at the same time in different venues of course with foreign minister lavrov trying very hard to ease the tension to move it away from the cold war talk with president obama seemingly doing the opposite take a listen remember very rude words you said when we were saying goodbye you said will i believe that we can make a difference. in the village and let's. get as adults. and that's what we were trying to do because if the. incidents are. going through every single.

place we could would be the very room who through this president putin who was prime minister aware that it was president came back into power i think we saw more rhetoric on the russian side that was anti-american that. played into some of the old stereotypes about the cold war contest between the united states and russia president obama also said in light of all the disagreements. it's time for the u.s. to make a pause and he said recalibrate the tone of the talks at the state department seemed a bit different there were some very serious issues on the agenda like syria like missile defense in europe where russia and the u.s. obviously don't see eye to eye but it seemed there was an agreement on both sides that they should not let disagreements and scandals completely overshadow whatever progress the two countries can actually make and one area where the two countries

ted make a difference is the crisis in syria both state the same objectives that they want to political solution that they want to bring all sides of the syrian conflict together in geneva to try and map out such a political solution and the syrian opposition says they're not going to sit down at the at one table with those who have blood on their hands moscow says in order to stop the bloodshed all hands need to come to the negotiating table and foreign minister lavrov said john kerry assured him that the syrian opposition is going to be there but making progress on those very important issues concerning global security becomes that much harder when relations are defined by scandals not going back to president obama's news conference it was not all about president obama has announced proposals to preform n.s.a. surveillance president obama said he intends to worry. on the way through one provision of the patriot act known as section two fifteen dooms the government broader authority to obtain business phone data records he announced the creation

of a panel of outsiders former intelligence officials civil liberty and privacy advocates and others to assess the programs and suggest changes by the end of the year but everybody understand it's all happening because of edward snowden's revelations probably that's why the majority of americans say edward snowden is a whistleblower and not a traitor now it's not clear whether the government will actually go through with those were forms promising is one thing delivering on those promises is something else but at the end of the day the american people may actually benefit from what snowden did which can't be said about u.s. marshal ations. what opinions do differ on whether a setback in relations was provoked by russia granting fugitive whistleblower u.s. whistleblower edward snowden asylum or whether that was just a pretext which is true moscow's effort so you limit the damage from snowden's affair being underestimated says married to jet ski who's the chief editorial writer for the u.k. based independent newspaper. i know that some people say our relations between the

u.s. and russia generally are very strained and that the the reset never really happened that it didn't have the desired effects but i think that to an extent is exaggerated what i find more interesting is what i think are the great efforts. president putin has gone to to try to make sure that the snowden affair damages relations with the u.s. as little as possible i think there's a lot of evidence for that which really hasn't been appreciated i think there's been two maybe three one on one telephone conversations between president putin and president obama since snowden landed unexpectedly in moscow so i think there are actually great efforts are being applied to find some source sort of some sort of solution but it's very difficult to see how there can be a solution which such supplies both sides. from mean stude of democracy and

cooperation in paris is much more than snowden's asylum behind president obama's decisions. obama in a sense felt i had to cancel this bilateral meeting because of the internal political pressures and that's really what it's all about but of course the there is a lot of background to this it's not just about snowden obama of course the president of the famous reset four of five years ago in other words of the restart of relations with russia has turned out to have been not much better really in terms of friendship with moscow than his predecessors there is a drifting apart i think things are going badly in a way i think the americans are being very infant tile and silly about this russia and america don't have an extradition treaty so whether or not. snowden was granted asylum in russia is of absolutely no significance at all. now where the strong the political differences between moscow and washington business relations will carry

on regardless that is the view of these head of the american chamber of commerce and for some is his full interview is coming up in august on a boy coves worlds apart later this hour. the kurdish minority in syria has reportedly been the target of heavy attacks by radical for over three weeks now with stories of killings and kidnappings increasing almost daily four hundred fifty civilians were allegedly slaughtered in one incident alone although that information is hard to verify due to the chaos and violence engulfing the region kurdish journalist barzani has helped us put together a timeline though of what has been happening according to him islamist launched

their assaults on the nineteenth of july trying to plant a bomb in a kurdish school and kidnapping local civilians the next day many houses across the kurdish enclaves were blown up one village destroyed completely legally around five hundred kurds were kidnapped while a radical cleric declared from a local mosque that those killing kurdish civilians will go to heaven also encouraging people to loot and destroy kurdish homes the violence continued in early august al-qaeda linked fighters murdered seventy and abducted three hundred fifty artie's correspondent in the region a nigga lucia is following the conflict. horrifying new images of slow turn mayhem from a region already in throes of conflict this week some reports emerged that hundreds of kurds had been slaughtered by extremist groups in northeastern syria they're still in very fighting because insurgents keep the media from getting close they said just syrian kurds find themselves in

a grave gruesome situation. that the militants started shooting everyone who came out onto the streets become should young men and started cussing them with knives the rebel shouted granted them all their money homes and our women then they started losing houses the kurds who are one of the largest nations in the world without a state have tried to stay neutral for as long as possible in the syrian conflict and it's for that they believe islamic fighters from al-qaeda affiliated groups turned up there killing pressure on the kurds. kurds do not want to be part of the war and they have achieved that by not siding with the the saudis they're showing their ability to administrate themselves and that although there's some international players such as it has been helping those facing against the kurds for example there are several al qaeda affiliated organizations in turkey going in fighting against the kurds in syria kurds however want to have a democratic syria not just for the kurds but for everyone on top of that jihad is

themselves have made statements alluding to their hopes of creating an al-qaeda state right here on what they hope to be vestiges of syria but they're fighting a deadline came and went the situation is getting worse and the number of people who have been kidnapped and killed and beheaded is rising every day are they know what's going on especially into a lot it's a loss a free army as they are united together against these two very just as they are killing people on i didn't say so and they call their people you can kill them kidnap them capture their women and it's all how laws that mean it's or allowed for you once you fight for force. russian foreign minister sergei lavrov was among the first to sound the alarm over reports from syria urging the security council to step in we believe that in this action we were shocked by the reports of around four hundred fifty kurds massacred in the north of syria including children just

because the men were fighting against. the first report of the un security council will condemn all these terrorist attacks we've seen some of its members refusing to condemn terrorist attacks in syria justifying it with the fact that the people behind them are fighting against the outdated regime and this stance is totally unacceptable terrorism should be treated without double standards kurt seem to be facing a double threats on this side of the syrian state border they're up against extremists on the other lies terry it's been a bit or a long running battle with the kurdish workers party and only recently seem to be making amends at the same time on karrar backs the syrian opposition which is known to include al qaeda sympathizers and allows for arms shipments into syria which the kurds say ends up in the hands of extremists that when it comes to helping kurds western powers who wasted no time in trying to force out president assad seem to do little including extremists an approach that looks ominous with familiar through

the overthrow gadhafi in libya to syria we've been supporting al qaeda the very people who attacked united states of america we knew prior syria is a cause that spreads from north africa all the way to the gulf that could bring us to a new world war if we don't stop obama and the british policy but for now syrian kurds plea for international help to seems to have been met with indifference it in a go to school r t istanbul. well we could if community say they are being targeted for genocide and that's force the iraqi kurd leader to threaten to intervene in syria if the reports are confirmed. the kurdish democratic union party appealed to the e.u. earlier this week calling for help and protection and the peace in kurdistan campaign has the world to defend the kurds from massacre and ethnic cleansing they are asking the un the us and e.u. to act now to stop what they call brutal massacres demanding they stop sending

weapons to groups in syria which could be used to attack civilians and commit war crimes the statement also says turkey's role in fueling the conflict in the kurdish enclaves in syria needs to be examined as well its authors doubt turkish claims that it's not involved in that in that it doesn't support all al-qaeda affiliated fighters investigative journalist manual or shin writer who has been closely following the issue alleges both turkey and the us have links to the radical groups fighting in syria. i don't expect any international reaction except. protests to right now i don't think so because they are international interests especially the international the geopolitical interests of turkey was a very important nato member we shouldn't forget that nato troops also german troops are now at the turkish syrian border with patriot rocket systems heading

against syria so we have turkey on this site and it's long turkey place this important role in this conflict i don't think that there will be any serious international reaction a former member stated that the leader of the motor up front is the verb king or working close with the cia and we have other information from the kurdish popular defense units who claim that the front is also organized and supported by the turkish intelligence and i think this is not a coincidence when we know how the kurds are treated in turkey itself. in response to our request the u.n. said it's launched an investigation into reports of kurdish civilians being targeted in syria the office of the high commissioner for human rights said if arafat i would have to war crimes carluke found an international correspondent focusing on syria says militants are pushing for control in the kurdish enclaves to

get their natural resources. actually what is behind all this fighting is it's a struggle about control struggle about control of certain areas we know that in the area of fighting in the north and in the east of the country we have. fields and two at least two of the very big oil fields under the control of the kurdish defense movement and they have been threatened openly by you know western diplomats if they don't give the control of these oil fields towards the free syrian army. they will have a problem so i think it's a fight about control above about resources of the various groups because the kurds are not going to deliver to their request there's plenty more after a short break including a former guantanamo bay prison guard tells r.t. why he was instructed not to regard detainee's as human.

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a couple. choose the stories that in life choose to access to often. welcome back hundreds of gay rights activists have staged protests in london in glasgow calling for russia to be stripped of the winter olympics in sochi because of what they say is an anti gay policy backed by law however authorities in moscow say the bill which only bans the promotion of homosexuality to minors doesn't restrict freedom of expression the u.k.'s prime minister rejected the calls to block the games but the gay community is keeping up the pressure right now and actor and gay activist stephen fry who joined a rally in london accused the olympic committee of not trying to fight what he

called russia's barbaric laws he also compared president putin's attitude towards minorities to hitler the olympic committee responded saying that sports should be available to all and the new law will not affect those attending the games and british journalist neil clark believes gay rights are a disk i for other political ends in nazi germany homosexuals really were discriminated against they were put into the concentration camps and killed in large numbers and of course this is not happening in russia today if it was i'd be the first person said we go to russia all together they are not saying i support what i oppose or anti-gay laws were passed in the world but why stephen fry focusing on russia there are about eighty countries in the world where homosexuality is actually illegal one of them is a country called qatar where the world cup is going to be helping twenty twenty two go to prison for five years if you're homosexual it's political i think this guy said there's eighty countries eighty countries have all have worse records on gay rights the russia stephen fry's talking about that so i think it shows double

standards here and it shows this could have russia phobia i think among the western elite that they look down at russia they patronize them and they get this idea that the russian people one of the phobic they're racist it's nonsense it's not true. well in the wake of international protests against russia r.t. centimeter nowi to find out exactly what life is like for gays in moscow and she found a thriving community. there is. no stoli no sochi. dumping russian vodka and calls to boycott the olympic games the l g b t community in the west is furious with the passing of a new russian law banning gay propaganda to minors a detail almost never mentioned lot of here putin signed a law and some very strict anti-gay measures these laws absolutely obscure they're not clear in what they mean of course it will not have a wide ranging gretzky's of being applied everywhere and to everyone and members of

the gay community have been attacked and arrested you cannot say that there is massive suppression or messi of attacks against gay people in the streets and that wherever you say that you're gay you will be killed or beaten russian gay activists are taking their case to the european court of human rights and say the law is meant to target specific individuals but see that picture of gay life in russia from abroad is warped these pictures being shown and being portrayed just because this little became a symbol of a protest against the suppression of l.g.b. community in russia supporters of the law argue it represents the russian majority . if there is a large number of people who believe the lawyers to soften thirty years ago there was criminal punishment for being if you take examples from some states in the u.s. the relationship is much crudely and strict and this propaganda law was this one.

it's important to remember this law is about gay propaganda to minors and it will be enforced with fines not criminal punishment russia is still a very traditional conservative country it wants to hold on to that. this is one of moscow's many day and night clubs yes it's in a discreet location but it holds three thousand people is. down the weekends and it's full of foreigners it's owners asked us not to film on the inside to protect the privacy of its clients but we're sure our business is a group there's a happy driving excitable you know wonderful gay community which is great martin andrews is british openly gay and living in russia for eight years he opposes the law but won't be dumping his russia is dominated by the church in general far more than the u.k. i think if you compare america for example you can't look at some for los angeles

and new york and then look at the middle part of texas and that's what russia is especially moscow you've got the old meets the new and you've got soviet mindset these with this capitalist boom with excising the west lifestyle i was in such a last week filming there's a gay community there was a great day seem in such but the west has a big in its bought it regarding russia politically. stay right that got together and he's now a r.t. moscow. while supporters of the gay propaganda law says it upholds the views of majority of russians and that seems to be backed up by a survey by an independent group called the dissent this is what they found in the survey almost half of the people there questioned thought the homosexuality was a perversion or a bad habit or some even believe it could be the result of mental trauma or an illness only twelve percent of people here believe it is just a normal sexual orientation while some people remain undecided the figures

of the same survey conducted in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight but almost identical suggesting little has changed in attitudes in fifteen. now over on our web site liquid danger online we've got the story of contaminated ground water under the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant which is now really king into the pacific ocean you can get all the information and the timeline at r.t. com also there time to make a wish hundreds of shooting stars one dart across the sky over the next couple of nights you can head to r.t. dot com to read about this and the huge meteor shower.

the hunger strike at guantanamo bay prison has entered a seventh month with the inmates still struggling to change their situation the detainees protesting over indefinite detention and mistreatment also complain of invasive bodies cheese which sometimes include sexual assault terry holbrooke's a former guantanamo guard told us how his former day job led him to quit and convert to islam. we were told not to interact with them not to look at them as humans not to talk with them not to speak with them have nothing to do with them unless it was absolutely necessary important to work we were told to be very aggressive in searching growing and i don't think any of us as guards felt comfortable doing that as a result of such we didn't do that there were certain rules that we were given that many of us just didn't all of we didn't see on those as being the political logical

or ethical in some circumstances and as was all such we didn't implement them and over a hundred sixty six remaining we've had a loving year to find any shred of evidence to charge try and convict them and we've not been able to do that nor we've been able to falsify the evidence i would think of america being the great nation that it is and having the wonderful legal system that it does can extend the courtesy of sending people home after ten years eleven years twelve years of captivity. maybe we need to have a good look in the mirror and take a look at ourselves. well it's a posses next here a nazi. good lumbered sure kirby was able to build a leech most sophisticated robot which fortunately doesn't give

a darn about anything. to teach me the reason why you should care about humans. this is why you should care only. the. economic down in the final. deal and the rest. will be every week.

along with welcome to worlds apart it's hard to find a bilateral relationship that is so common live burdened by old negative stereotypes as the one between russia and the united states and yet when it comes to doing business why did you example as a prevailing child become the nation's. russians and americans just stick to the. health and personal as. well to discuss that i'm now joined by andrew summers president of the american chambre of commerce thank you very much for a time mr summers we often hear that since the united states is the largest consumer of energy and russia is the largest producer of energy the synergies between the two are obvious but i do you really so obvious the may not be obvious

but there is great center g. already not just in energy but in many other sectors of the global economy where americans are investing in russia making a lot of money and expanding their operations this is a completely different world in the geo political world that we read about and business is focusing on making money but whether we look at the trade between the two countries and last year it was just under forty billion dollars it's not so impressive and if you compare that to the trade with china for example which was more than ten times larger. you know it could be argued that one of the reasons for so much geopolitical bickering that we've seen over the past year or so is simply because the two countries don't have that much to lose well i think you can run a very profound point the better the trade relations and the more commerce the risk between each country.