i. think. i. story is that shaped the week here on r.t. u.s. russia ruckus barack obama cancels an upcoming meeting with vladimir putin and suggests relations need a time out after moscow granted temporary asylum to whistleblower edward snowden. claims of genocide could say they are being targeted to ethnic cleansing amid mounting reports of al qaeda linked fighters attacking their villages in syria. moscow 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.

are they welcome you watching r t coming to you live from moscow 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 glad to meet putin and then even called for a pause in the relationship russia while 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 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've heard two different messages coming from president obama and foreign minister lavrov they're 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 with president obama seemingly doing the opposite take a listen they remember very real words who said when we were saying goodbye he said we'll i believe that we can make a difference in the rest of the. let's. say as adults. and that's. when president putin who was prime minister when i'm 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 with russia it's time for the u.s. to make a pause and recalibrate the tone of the office of 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 lead to disagreements and scandals completely overshadow whatever progress the two countries can actually make and one area where the two countries tend make a difference is the crisis in syria both say the same objective that they want to political solution and 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. that the syrian opposition is going to be there but making progress on those very important issues concerning global security becomes not much part of wind relations are defined by scandals now going back to president obama's news conference it was not all about president obama's proposals

before me and i say. president obama said he intends to work on the. one provision of the patriot act known as. the government broader authority to obtain business phone data records he announced the creation of a panel of outsiders. liberty and privacy advocates and others to assess the program since. it just 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. opinions do differ on whether a set back immolations was provoked by russia granting fugitive u.s.

whistleblower edward snowden asylum or whether that was just a pretext whichever is true moscow's efforts to limit the damage from snowden's affair are being underestimated says mary j. of ski who's the chief editorial writer for the u.k. based independent newspaper know that some people say all 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 that being 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 torch of solution but it's very difficult to see how that can be a solution such plies both sides. from the institute of democracy and cooperation in paris says there 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 ultimately 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 while however strongly political differences between moscow and washington business relations will carry on regardless that's the view of the head of the american chamber of commerce andrew summers his full interview is coming up and oksana boy coast worlds apart next hour. the kurdish minority in syria has reportedly been the target of heavy attacks by radical is for over three weeks now with stories of killings and kidnappings increasing almost daily four hundred fifty civilians were allegedly slaughtered in

the in one incident alone although that information is hard to verify gitta they chaos and violence engulfing the region at the moment kurdish journalist bars or meter has helped us put together a timeline there of what has been happening and this is it according to him islam is launched their assault 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 enclave were blown up one village destroyed completely 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 seven hundred and the three hundred fifty artie's correspondent in the region that inclusion is following the conflict . horrifying images of slow turn mayhem from a region already in throes of conflict this week some reports emerge that hundreds

of kurds have been slaughtered by extremist groups in northeastern syria those still in very fight because insurgents keep the media from getting close this is 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 revolution granted them all their money home and are women and 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 their 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 all the 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 qaida state right here on what they hope to be vestiges of syria but there friday 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 there especially into a lot it's a loss a free army as they are united 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 long that means it's or a lot for you once you fight for for god's. 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 and it's not the first such 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 heard 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 gird say end up in the hands of extremists but 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 to familiar through the overthrow gadhafi in libya to syria we've been supporting al qaeda the very people who attacked united states of america prior 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 in the film school r.t. istanbul. while the kurdish community say they are being targeted for genocide and that's forced the iraqi could lead to threaten to intervene in syria if the reports are confirmed the kurdish democratic union. party appealed to the year earlier this week calling for help and protection and the peace in kurdistan campaign has

a huge the world to defend the kurds from massacre and the 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 author's down to claims that it's not involved although or that it doesn't support al-qaeda affiliated fighters investigative journalist my motion rights he's been closely following the she will lead us both turkey and the us have links to the radical groups fighting in syria. our international interests especially the international the geopolitical interests of turkey was a very important nato member we shouldn't forget that nato troops are also german

troops are now at the turkish syrian border with patriot rocket systems heading against syria so we have thirty on the site and that's a long turkey place this important real conflict i don't think that there will be any serious international reaction a former member stated that the leader of the north is the verb king or working close with the cia and we have other information from the kurdish popular defense units who claim that most of our 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 artie's request the un said it's launched an investigation into reports of kurdish civilians being targeted in syria your office of the high commissioner for human rights said if there were a fight those attacks would amount to war crimes karen luke filed 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 tool 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 of both about the resources of the various groups because the kurds are not going to deliver to their request we're going to take a quick break now but when we come back there's plenty more including

a former guantanamo bay prison guard tells r.t. he was instructed not to regard detainees as human. world. technology innovation all the developments around russia. the future harbored. 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 know. i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's

all here on. reporting from the world talks of p.r.p. interviews an intriguing story for you to. see arabic to find out more visit our big. comeback now hundreds of gay rights activists have staged protests in london and 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. you 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 and actor and gay activist stephen fry for

example who joined a rally in london the kynge the olympic committee of not trying to fight what he called russia's barbaric laws he also complained or compared president putin's attitude towards minorities to hitler the olympic committee responded saying that sport 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 discard for other political aims. in nazi germany homosexuals really were discriminated against they were putting to 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're going to boycott russia altogether now i'm not saying i support what i oppose or anti-gay goals whatever that passed in the world but why stephen fry focusing on russia there are about eighty countries in the world and 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 those guys have as eighty countries. have worse records on gay rights the russia stephen fry's

talking about that so i think it shows double standards here and 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 in russia people wore homophobic they're racist it's nonsense it's not true in the wake of international protests against russia r.t. sent an isa now we to find out exactly what life is like for gays in moscow and she found a thriving community. but 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 massive 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 the 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 solve thirty years ago there was criminal punishment for being if you take examples from some states in the us

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 it's. packed on the weekends and is full of foreigners its owners asked us not to film on the inside to protect the privacy of its clients but reassure us business is a group there's a happy arriving 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 fried 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 fused with this capitalist boom with excising the west lifestyle i was in such you last week filming there's a gay community there there's a great do you see him in such but the west has a big and it's on it regarding russia but it's a great. state right that got together and he's now a r.t. moscow. while supporters of the gay propaganda law says it up holds the views of the majority of russians and that seems to be backed up by independent research that was done by the then the center and here are the results from that just under half the people i asked said that homosexuality was actually immoral while some of them believed it could be the result of a mental trauma or nowness ninety twelve percent of people here believe it is a normal sexual orientation was some people remain undecided interestingly the

figures of the same survey conducted in one nine hundred ninety eight were almost identical suggesting this would change in attitude in the last fifteen years. and over to our website liquid danger online we've got the story of contaminated ground water under the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant which is now leaking into the pacific ocean you can get all the information and the timeline. at r.t. dot com also there is time to make a wish hundreds of feuding stars dart across the sky over the next couple of nights you can head to party dot com to read about that 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 mistreatment also complain of invasive body cheese which sometimes includes sexual assault sorry 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 a result such we didn't implement them and over a hundred sixty six remaining we've had to live in your ribs 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. takes an in-depth to get these human stories behind that you are to assess the award.

everyone respects a promise written in stone promises written on the internet well they're a bit more flexible and a lot easier to erase obama made a lot of promises as a candidate on his site change dot gov including some about protecting whistleblowers and obama said that we need to empower federal employees as watchdogs and that he would strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste fraud and abuse of authority and government but strangely and possibly coincidentally two days after the first revelation of government spying by stoughton these promises of the change dot gov site were taken down if this is not just some odd coincidence and they consciously chose to hide obama's campaign promises that this is political cowardice at its worst and what is even worse is that they didn't think that this would get exposed almost immediately if you try to conduct some sort of medieval book burning to destroy information on the

internet then you are only going to get burnt yourself but that's just my opinion. years on the world has almost forgotten about that for just five days of watching this relatively few casualties and yet that war had all the hallmarks of the bloodiest conflicts in human history political posturing backstage scuffles dramatic a fact all leading to profound finale it was an act of war with real people

drawn into crowds scenes. was. that if you get the. world. international politics always involves a fair share of scripting and staging smiling while scheming and keeping up appearances while tensions simmer beneath by summer of two thousand and eight relations between russia and georgia had already been strained yet with a new leader in the kremlin there weren't a reset was trendy in diplomatic circles. i can still remember the moment when i

stood up to meet him in my office he entered the room with a shining. i told him i'd like to find a way to ease relations between our countries to improve them. take into consideration the distinct feelings that georgian and russian people had to watch each other. that he had the same feelings and he thought that was our primary goal and that it could be achieved. that was the end of our discussion. i was on a visit to the white house presidential administration. the first words that george w. bush my future colleague said to me in fact about him. he said. there's a good.