a saudi prince who defected from the royal families of the gulf war nikifor widespread human rights abuses and a violent crackdown on the opposition in an exclusive interview with our take. the rabies oppression of the regime activists has intensified with arrest and long jail sentences leaving the number of political prisoners in the country well over forty thousand. and the latest leaks reveal only the likes of russia china and iraq are ahead of america's e.u. allies on the n.s.a.'s spying hit list.

i welcome you watching r.t. coming to you live from moscow. now in recent weeks saudi arabia has launched an offensive against anti regime activists arresting many and sentencing is in jail the total number of political prisoners is now surpassed forty thousand according to some reports the crackdown has even forced a member of the ruling family to defect r.t. arabic spoke exclusively to saudi prince how they'd been. who accuses the monarchy of corruption and silencing all voices of dissent. the government is obviously scared of the arab revolutions and they responded as they usually do by resorting to oppression violence arbitrary law and arrest the easiest thing they can do is deprive you of your salary or fire you altogether so the ruling regime is not guarded by justice and this is especially true of the ministry of interior

there is no independent judiciary that has both police and the prosecutor's office are countable to the interior ministry the ministries officials investigate crimes they call them crimes related to freedom of speech so they fabricate evidence don't allow people to have attorneys things like that happen all over the place they even put people under arrest for an indefinite amount of time even if a court rules to release such a criminal or the ministry of interior keeps him in prison even though there is a court order to release him there have even been killings killings and as for the external opposition saudi intelligence forces buying these people abroad there is no safety inside or outside the country could you describe these people who oppose the royal family and what are their goals opposition used to demand wider peoples representation in governing bodies more rights and freedom but the authorities

reacted with violence and persecution instead of a dialogue and now the opposition wants this regime gone but we both know that despite numerous human rights violations and saudi arabia your country seldom faces straight decision from the west and from the united states in particular when senior u.s. officials meet with their saudi counterparts basically can be any critical comments from washington d.c. i mean riyadh well the white house certainly does maintain a longstanding alliance with the leaders of saudi arabia cemented by common interests in the middle east to that end there are classified contacts between area in. the u.s. administration in recent time they've been employed to step up the government administered reforms but those reforms are not driven by the elites desire to empower the people of the kingdom that instead they are merely urged by reforms that the regime might fall unless it reforms itself and oppression is widespread in saudi arabia there is no free speech no freedom of expression corruption is rampant

in all areas for most level bureaucrats to hiring officials every civil servant is very skillful in using bribes in their operations. well the saudi regime's crackdown remains largely ignored by the international community leaving it free to advise other regional powers and how to move towards democracy linsey friends takes in the country's own directly or dealing with its internal democrats. as saudi arabia violently squashes the voice of any opposition we see it sitting front and center in discussions of the democratic transition of power within other countries such as syria on the one hand it reportedly ships arms to the opposition in syria on the other hand peaceful opposition in saudi arabia is answered with prison sentences torture even death for people whose voice their own opinion in fact in october two thousand and twelve amnesty international calls on the saudi authorities to stop using excessive force against pro-democracy protesters here are

just a few examples from this year alone on june seventeenth meet cliff mari was convicted of so we discord and other offenses through writings and exposure of human rights abuses he got five years in prison june twenty fourth seven men were convicted of inciting protests illegal gatherings and breaking allegiance with the king mostly by joining facebook pages and posting messages they each got between five and ten years in prison that we've got on the same day website editor rafe but dowie convicted of insulting islam and authorities through his website and during television interviews he was sentenced to seven years in prison and six hundred lashes in these conditions anyone with something substantial to say about the government society or religion would be blamed for keeping a low profile and this is where the man being called the saudi of songe comes in no one knows who he is what he looks like or where he lives his prolific tweets denouncing the ruling family as corrupt and enriching themselves from government coffers have earned him over a million followers he is known only as much to heat i spoke with him over google

chat to find out why he stays in hiding because it's not for safety i asked him why you remains anonymous he said ironically and on anybody boost his credibility and the courage of people to follow him and talk about his stories without worrying i asked if this meant that people could pay less attention to his biography and more attention to his message he pointed out. there was sheen can destroy your credibility easily and deter people from dealing with you if your identity is public while a heat is forced underground a new monarchie backed religious diversity center has launched its own charm offensive in vienna according to its mission statement it encourages dialogue among followers of different religions and cultures king abdullah has also announced a donation of one hundred million to set up a united nations center for fighting terrorism one of its four pillars is to prevent conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism and ensuring respect for

human rights so while the kings clerics preach a hardline form of islam that often becomes a breeding ground for extremism saudi arabia is assuming a moral high ground in advising other nations in transitional democracy saudi activist. spoke to r.t. about exactly what human rights violations are driving people on to the streets despite the fear of arrest. and the kind of human rights to know that we have really who are physically going to the right and freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. this is mean it is that causes a lot of people. in action where you gotta get a few million trying to warm. them on a day or what they. would use banned by their government and work we have seen is that there is who are more. equal. or.

have at least that now and that. kind of momentum or were some reports. a little earlier we spoke to pepe escobar who's a correspondent for the asia times and he explained how he thinks the root is trying to extinguish the flame of the arab spring. there is equally it's carrot and stick carrot in the form of a sixty billion dollar handout program by a dollar at the beginning of the arab spring in two thousand and one style those were horrified by the beginning of the arab spring in neighboring bahrain soul they bribed are all subjects number one number two this is against the shiite minority of roughly ten percent of saudi arabia who lives in the eastern province that's where most of the oil is by the way they don't want to bring down the house of souled essentially they want more participation the judiciary not

answering to religious powers in basically more democratic freedoms this is not going to happen in saudi arabia period nor in the other g.c.c. gulf cooperation council but from one of those well so it's only normal as ypocras see this through the american civic tell the world that they are intervening in syria for a more democratic syria paused and inside saudi arabia it's the sunni shiite divide and they go against ten percent of their own population meanwhile police in egypt have warned they are ready to disperse the city in protest to thousands of supporters of the deposed president mohammed morsi raising the specter of more violence in the next few hours security forces plan to cordon off process sites to stop anyone else entering morsy supporters are preparing to build concrete barriers and have apparently bought gas masks to protect themselves against tear gas violence has been common since a military coup on july the third with at least two hundred fifty killed in clashes

involving the police and army. a reporter bill true is in the region and closely following developments and you can keep up to date with her on twitter and you can also check the latest pictures from the scene at r.t. instagram. right from the scene. of the first straight shooter and i think the jury. on our reporters twitter. and instagram. would be in the old little. has plenty more to come this hour including yanking democracy washington's pride down to broadcast the values directly to keep ins goes off there is vital budget cuts grand the play in helping to transmit

a signal by no one plus hungary's ready to push his international credits his i'm tough to settling it's day that she financial stability on it's a nice story it's coming up short. to me speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the world talks about six of the c.r.p. interviews intriguing stories are you. trying.

to find out more visit our big. dog called. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse. you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything is. i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. of the blue.

collar face. a pleasure to have you with us here today. the media leave us so we leave that maybe. i will see the security play your part

of the musical. is that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from. politicking only on our t.v. . welcome back now keeping an eye on washington's own allies including the e.u. is a key priority for the u.s. national security agency just behind the likes of russia china and iran that's been revealed by german magazine der spiegel which has seen documents leaked by fugitive u.s. whistleblower edward snowden peter all of a now looks at who ranks where on the n.s.a.'s watch list. well the latest information to come out about the n.s.a. spying scandal is being published in news magazine here in germany now the.

documents that were leaked by edward snowden and dated from april of this year now those documents outlining just the extent of how the united states was spying on e.u. countries now the twenty eight member states it says were looked at in terms of foreign policy international trade and economic stability none of those apparently security related but those were the the areas in which the n.s.a. pursued the hardest now there was also spying taking place and information being gathered with regards to technology and energy as well now also revealed in these documents that have been put forward in news magazine show a breakdown of the countries which the n.s.a. targeted the most now they split into a couple of key is of importance now in the in the top to have countries like china russia iran pakistan and north korea but just underneath that you have countries

like germany france and japan all nations that consider themselves allies and close allies of that of the united states now these revelations as they continue to come out from those huge bundles and bundles and bundles of information that edward snowden brought with them when he when he fled from the national security agency from the contractors that he was working with continued to turn up a a treasure trove of information about just what was going on and these most recent documents seem to back up previous leaked documents that showed that the n.s.a. was spying on the e.u. e.u. offices both in brussels as well as around the world now when those when that information was released in should be legal magazine a few months ago and that caused outrage across europe and we're seeing more of that now as these latest revelations come out that the e.u. was seen as a key target for spying by the united states. i'm the father of the man who uncovered washington's tight for private data has been granted

a visa to visit russia go to our website to find out when long snowden plans to visit his son in russia where he's been granted temporary political asylum. what about flown with heaven help the story weaponry russia is about to stage a contest which sees. the sporting field of battle get all the details but i don't . think. it is a half a billion dollar transmission to nowhere for decades america has been beaming its message of democracy directly into cuba including from

a plane broadcasting over the island but the signal has been successfully jammed in washington is being forced to admit no one is listening. and expects. old habits die hard having spent decades unsuccessfully attempting to undermine the cuban government the u.s. keeps trying washington finds a t.v. channel and a radio station that specifically target a cuban audience with programming that features prominent cuban dissidents what you are doing and of who are to. and projects like toward democracy which the channel's website advertises as a how to guide for transitioning from dictatorship to democracy all done in the hopes that one day the communist leadership in cuba will fall how soon do you think that's going to. well i hope so i'm probably three years we need to work really hard maybe the martine media are working very hard but the cuban public remains

largely unaware of their efforts which have you ever heard of radio most. know i know nothing about it. the martini itself acknowledges the limited reach of its radio and t.v. programs we all have for any way to reach we've the information on the general people became government jams the martys radio and t.v. signals to circumvent that the u.s. has employed a variety of methods one of them arrow martini a plane that had been flying over cuba to transmit us broadcast the us broadcasting board of governors that oversees iraq marty has asked congress to discontinue the program two years in a row admitting it has been a failure it's hard to believe we're still wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on beaming a german t.v. signal fewer than one percent of cubans can see from an airplane to the oil and i did time when u.s. lawmakers cut funding on social programs for all the workers at

a time when we hear calls to defund us public radio and television washington still spends millions of dollars every year on a media operation to overthrow the cuban government in washington i'm going to check out. a quick look at some other world news now al-qaeda front group the islamic state of iraq has claimed responsibility for a string of blasts in sheer parts of the iraqi capital baghdad the times claimed over eighty dives and left almost two hundred fifty injured militants said the attacks were a response to security forces operations a recent spike in violence so almost a thousand people killed in july alone. israel has approved a list of twenty six long term palestinian prisoners to be released tomorrow ahead of peace talks which resume this wednesday the move came amid a toughening stance from both sides after israel announced another one thousand two

hundred settlement homes will be built on palestinian land despite settlements being considered illegal under international law israel refuses to halt construction and in colombia at least seven people have been killed after a truck plowed into a group of protesters the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle when he was attacked during a rally miners were voicing their anger over paul working conditions. hungary is about to pay off its debt to the international monetary fund and then wants the creditor gone the country was saved by the washington based group with a twenty five billion dollar loan five years ago but isn't renewing the aid in order to avoid closest scrutiny of its policies alexia share of ski looks at how budapest is cutting loose. this family can now enjoy picking a pram for their soon to be born child when the global recession reached the country they struggled to repay their mortgage but thanks to

a government support program their flat now belongs to them and they've saved at least ten thousand euro in that time to that. critical situation. is now quite strong. there are lots of stats but look at hungary's economy of late and you'll be hard pressed to find much to be optimistic about the economy is now fading better than during the recession but still most of the important development figures are in negative territory while inflation is even higher than in the crisis years the country's opposition firmly believes hungary would stagnate without e.u. aid hungary's and mad to receive peer. funds and this is very important ninety seven percent of the new developments today finance from e.u. money however seeing what's happening in greece and spain budapest is not keen on grabbing the hands of the international lenders and in this case it goes beyond

merely the bravado rhetoric often voiced by the country's prime minister. literally thirty steps between the building of the national bank of hungary and the head office of the international monetary fund in budapest but that is as close as they get a letter from one building to another at the end of july said that hungary no longer required the services of the i.m.f. and that its employees must leave the country as soon as possible the country's deputy economics minister is tight lipped on any kind of open has still a t towards brussels but acknowledges that what the e.u. bureaucrats are offering this is not suited to the past his message is we can handle it on our own but a greece that level is according to g.d.p. after two hundred structuring and averaging is hundred sixty percent in hungary to present the european. averages know about eighty five percent we are able to finance the public that on the market will have to introduce the reference which

make the contrary more competitive and that is what we have done in the last couple of years and i think they are the gold basis to have an independent economic policy next year hungary will host parliamentary elections and some say the hardline stance with the e.u. may be part of a political campaign by the right wing leadership but analysts are not ruling out that should viktor orban government be reelected the prime minister may take his standoff with brussels to a completely new level by initiating a referendum on leaving the european union altogether alexi russia of ski altie reporting from budapest in hungary. i have more news for you in about half an hour's time next that we speak of al and crosstalk.

the u.s. government project aero marti has been in place for twenty years this project was designed to break the media monopoly of cuban television by putting u.s. government propaganda up to t.v. screens this injection of american t.v. works with a blimp and a c one thirty military plane working in tandem you know this would actually be a major achievement in the history of technology if it actually worked this program which over the years has built up a billion taxpayer dollars simply does not work but continues to exist despite the cuban government completely blocking the transmission the official logic of continuing the program is that it would send a bad message to the cuban government if they stopped brilliance and action but the big question is who gives the u.s. government the right to propagandize cubans just because they have a different lifestyle doesn't mean it is wrong and the u.s. government does has the right to destroy it and even if cubans on mass actually do hate their system then it is their job to change cuba not the military industrial

complex and its cronies in washington but that's just my opinion. please. hello and welcome to crossfire for all things considered i'm peter lavelle coins revolutionizing banking and finance or a nice political pros. this movement take your pick however there is no doubt this virtual currency is being given a careful look on the back of the global financial crisis and the stranglehold big finance has over the economy having an alternative currency appears to fit what is called the new economy.

to cross-talk bitcoins i'm joined by a mere talkie in london he is a bit coin developer and owner of the british bit coin exchange interest sango in atlanta we have daniel castro he is a senior analyst with the information technology and innovation foundation and in dallas we cross to he is the founder of chap would finance dot com and an internationally recognized expert in wealth management or a gentleman cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i mean if i can go to you first what is the value of bitcoins in a few sentences. it's a type of currency which can be sent anywhere in the world like instantaneously and you can't have any kind of government or central power mandate that you how you use your money so you can center who have you want whenever you want wherever you want and there's a big problem right now in the financial industry where we have a global financial system where a lot of people are not allowed to participate so it's not it's if you want to do

business in the world you need to go and register a corporation need to open a bank account and this option is not open to a lot of people it's the financial system is used as a tool of censorship so political organizations like wiki leaks had their payment option shut down by the department of justice after they put pressure on their buying these are a master card and paper to write a story that is used to censor speech and yet at the same time no nazi websites in the k.k.k. is still allowed to be were still being served by these companies who have a monopoly on the market and the same thing with. it was a site which allowed anyone to upload files to the internet is something that hollywood and media executives don't like their business models are failing you know they also want to be dealt are just like the banks and so that so the regulators the u.s. depart of justice came after them too ok all right i think we've got to do what i do we got your point again sounds like financial freedom of speech go ahead ed. i

mean i don't understand how you can say people aren't allowed to participate i mean look this was this was all born out of a paper that was written in two thousand and eight and in the paper great paper but to implement something like that it was not going to have i'm quite right i think the whole thing is kind of silly but it's worth it and it's one of those people ok not to hang on to me or let me take my camera and yeah people can't participate but it does tell me what you mean by that because that's a lie and you know that's a lie there are companies like monopoly coming like these are. and they are they are censoring the internet and they are present they are preventing people from from being out of business over the internet what about sanctions sanctions countries like iran north korea how are you trying to do your writing european money if you think to fight more and he's not participate in the cottage because because of these companies in new york to say that he then i mean are please let ed reply ok go ahead.