stories that show you that we you and i will see you once russia rocket. counsels and upcoming meeting with a pre-teen and suggest relations need a time out after most could run to temperate asylum to whistleblower edward snowden . claims of genocide occurred say they're being targeted for ethnic cleansing and made monkey reports about a kind of a link fighters are talking their villagers in syria. and moscow comes under pressure from the global gay community there will be a winter olympics taken away from russia over the introduction of what they call conscious style a law against homosexuals. and

the latest news on the week's top stories we're watching the weekly here on ars he was me welcome to the program relations between russia and the u.s. suffered a major setback this week at least according to the american side president obama counseled a one on one summit was legit 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 return to the cold war oh she's going to net church account of 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 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 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 remember the rewards you saw when we were saying goodbye you said will i believe that we can make a difference. let's. as adults. and that's. when president putin who was prime minister warned that if 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 with russia it's time for the u.s. to take a pause and he said recalibrate the tone of the office 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 can make a difference is the crisis in syria both stayed 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 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 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 for him and. president obama said he intends to work on ways to try 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 former intelligence officials civil liberty and privacy advocates and others to assess the program since. 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 reforms 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 relations. and opinions do differ was

a sun block in relations was provoked by russia granting fugitive u.s. whistleblower edward snowden asylum or whether that was just a pretext whichever is true most limit the damage from snowden's affair on being underestimated says married to 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 found more interesting is what i think are the great efforts that 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 ed snowden landed to 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 with such supplies both sides and china laughlin from the institute of democracy and cooperation in paris says much more than snowden's asylum behind president obama's decisions obama in a sense felt that 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 or is of absolutely no significance at all. however strong the 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 and her son was his full interview is coming up next on a boy goes worlds apart later today. the kurdish minority in syria has a risk of reportedly being targeted a heavy at times by radical it's for over three weeks now with stories of killings and kidnappings increasing almost daily four hundred fifty civilians were already slaughtered in one incident alone although that information is hard to verify due

to they can your son violence in golfing the region kaddish journalist bars on ice so has helped us put together a timeline of what's been happening that and according to him islam is launched that sold on the nineteenth of july trying to plant a bomb in a kurdish school and kidnapping local civilians but i'd stay many houses across the kurdish and plays were blown up one village destroyed completely around five hundred kurds were kidnapped that while a radical cleric declared from a local mosque that those caving kurdish civilians will go to heaven and also encouraging people to loot and destroy kurdish homes the violence continued in early august al-qaeda linked fighters know that seventy cares and death with three hundred and fifty aussies correspondent in the region iran are going to scholars for entering 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 this is just syrian kurds find themselves in a green 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 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 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 all the some international players such as it has been hoping those facing again. 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 lot outside lawson free army as they are united against these two very just as they are killing people and i didn't take they call their people you can kill them kidnap them capture their woman and it's all how that means 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 with 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 kurds say ends 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 ominously familiar through the overthrow gadhafi in libya to syria we've been supporting al qaeda the very people who are united states of america. 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 it seems to have been met with indifference it in the go to school r t istanbul. because community to say about being targeted for jet assigned to force the iraq occurred leader to threaten to intervene in syria if the reports are profound they can. there's an acrostic union party appealed to the e.u. this week calling for help and protection and the peace in kurdistan campaign has

urged that while to defend the kurds from massacre and ethnic cleansing and they're asking the jew and the you are sandy hue 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 take israel and is fueling the conflicts in because it is done in kurdish enclaves in syria and it needs to be examined as well the authorities down takesh claims that it's not involved or that it doesn't support al qaeda affiliated fighters that investigative journalist and writer has been closely following the issue of tacky and the us have links to the radical groups fighting in syria. 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 not 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. king or working close with the cia and we have other information from the kurdish popular defense units who claim that the 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. and they respond to request the un 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 verified those acts would amount to war crimes and carin failed and international correspondent focusing on syria says militants are pushing

for control in the kurdish enclaves to get the 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 to 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 here watching the way here on r.t. and more ahead for you this hour after a short break including a forgone tunnel by

a prison guard tells r.t. he was instructed not to guard 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 that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm target market is a big issue. do we speak your language as anybody will or not of the. news programs and

documentaries and spanish what matters to you. that will turn a deaf angle on this story. here to. find out more visit actuality. this is that we're clear on our she coming to you live from moscow welcome back 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 a war based say is an anti-gay policy banks by law however thora to moscow say the bill which only bans big 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 renowned action gay activist

stephen fry who joined iranian london accused him to commit not trying to find what he called russia's barbaric laws and he also compared president putin's actions to towards minorities to hitler the olympic committee responded saying that sport should be available to all and the new law will not afraid of those attending big games and british journalist neil clark believes gay rights are disguise for other political aides in nazi germany who. or sexual who really were discriminated against they were put into 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 now i'm 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 really 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 you go to prison for five years if you're homosexuals it's political i think that's

because i said there's eighty countries who have worse records on gay rights the russia stephen fry's are 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 the idea that in russia people who are homophobic they're racist it's nonsense it's not true. and in the wake of international protests against russia send a nice and now way to find out exactly what life is like for gays in moscow or found a thriving community. 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 a case to the european court of human rights and say the war 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 protest against their 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 soft 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 parked on the weekends and it's full of foreigners it's owners and does not. to film on the inside to protect the privacy of its clients but reassure us business is booming or is a happy the rising excitable you know wonderful gay community which is great martin mandrels 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 call and look for a sons of these 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 couple this with excise the western lifestyle i was in such you last week filming there's a gay community there there's a great day seaman but the west has a big in its baltic regarding russia politically. and he's in no way are to moscow. and supporters all big gay propaganda law say it i'll hold the views of the majority of russians a set of a by independent research group believe at a center found there is and that's not what exactly they have found almost half of those on stuffing homosexuality is a full of immorality while some even believe it can be the result of a mental trauma only twelve percent believe it's just a normal sexual orientation while some people remain undecided under the figures of

the same survey conducted in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight were almost identical suggesting little change to attitudes in a fifteen year is. and about our website right now liquid danger online called the story of a contaminated ground water under the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant which is now leaking into the pacific ocean so get before the nation and timeline at r.t. dot com. and also add time to make a way. hundreds of shooting stars will dot across the sky over the next two nights had to alter dot com to read more about the huge shock.

the hunger strike and gone tunnel of a prison has entered a seventh month with the inmates still struggling to change their situation with the detainees for testing indefinite detention and mistreatment also complain of invasive body searches which sometimes include sexual assault terry holbrooke's a foregone tunnel god told us how his four day job led him to quit and kind of out . 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. 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 them 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 a living year of 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 look in the mirror and take a look at ourselves. gone time to have claimed the number of hunger strike as a troll by milton hall the cheering the holy month of ramadan how about the detainees noise said they found that their clients were easy to send a bribe that really just holiday didn't mean the protests. that sense of desperation that's going on in guantanamo bay has an abated in any way shape or

form i find it kind of odd that we score how one ton of obey is doing by the number of prisoners willing to starve themselves to death let us first look at the fact that only twenty men of the hundred sixty six that remain will ever be charged with a crime according to the united states government the sense of desperation is overwhelming as far as ramadan goes the men were given a choice in that choice was you can spend your religious holiday by yourself without any of your personal effects or hygiene items such as soap in water or in towels and things of that nature or you can break the hunger strike and spend it in a communal setting with the rest of your brothers the way ramadan is supposed to be spent so i think after ramadan you may see a resumption of the hunger strike. alright handing out drug gangs and police raids all in the sense have to hit on and that's one of the break.

while revolutions in the middle east should get a great deal of coverage but you don't mix a lot of sense revolutions are exciting t.v. peaceful protests are nice but footage of molotov cocktails flying and crazed crowds of local middle easterners really grab attention so there's a logical next reason why some protest movements get a lot of coverage in the mainstream media well others kind of adult please forgive me for being conspiratorial but there is one revolution going down which does have all the exciting visuals of the arab spring but just doesn't get any of the mainstream coverage in fact unarmed people in this country recently stormed the parliament trapping ministers and lawmakers with that they held them down for eight hours demanding the government reside until police with shields smash their way

through creating a narrow corridor through which the officials could escape now that sounds like exciting and visual news but why did you hear about it all over the mainstream press that's because it didn't happen in libya or egypt or any other exotic country but in good old boag area right in the e.u. where u.s. and e.u. interests are best served by the status quo being maintained there is no need to hype up an intervention or kinetic action in bulgaria the only time you ever hear about the need for a crackdown in bulgaria is when a government there actually started working in bulgaria own interests and not the us use desires but the shift my opinion.

here you can feel. it.