a saudi prince who defected from the royal family slams the gulf war nikifor widespread human rights abuses and a violent crackdown on the opposition in exclusive interview with r.t. . saudi arabia's oppression of anti regime activists has intensified with the rest and long jail sentences leaving the number of political prisoners in the country at well over forty thousand. and the latest leaks reveal only the likes of russia china and iraq are ahead of america's allies on the n.s.a.'s spying people it's.

international news and comment you're 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 sentencings two year in jail the total number of political prisoners is now surpassed forty thousand according to some reports the crackdown is even forced a member of the ruling family to defect r.t. arabic spoke exclusively to saudi prince how they'd been so wired who accuses the more nicky 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 but 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 and there have even been killings killings and as for the external opposition saudi intelligence forces by means 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 in 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. what 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 areas. 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 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 in every civil servant is very skillful in using bribes in their operations. while the saudi regime's crackdown remains largely ignored by the international community leaving it free to advise other regional powers and to move towards democracy artie's lindsay france takes a look at the country's own direct order dealing with its in turn or 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 me cliff mari was convicted of sowing 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 badawi 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 anonymity boost his credibility and courage as 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 well to 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 king's 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 remote pepe escobar who's a correspondent for the asia times explained how he thinks saudi rulers are trying to extinguish the flame of the arab spring. basically it's carrots and stick carrots in the form of a sixty billion dollar handout program by king abdullah at the beginning of the arab spring in two thousand and one the style theirs were horrified by the beginning of the arab spring in neighboring bahrain sol they bribed their own subjects number one number two this stick is against the shiite minority of roughly ten percent of saudi arabia who leaves 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 solid essentially

they want more participation. not answering through religious followers 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 someone accuses as well so it's an enormously for prosy the state to the americans and they tell the world that they are intervening in syria for a more democratic syria opposed to assad and inside saudi arabia it's the sunni shiite divide and they go against ten percent of their own population. well germany has come under fierce criticism over its arms sales to saudi arabia and other gulf countries with poor human rights records billions weapons exports to the gulf monarchies have almost tripled in just two years you can see here from five hundred seventy million euros in twenty eleven to almost a billion and a half in twenty twelve an angler merkel's government has approved weapons exports

of more than eight hundred million euros in the first half of this year suggesting the level will continue to grow saudi arabia is the biggest buyer of german weapons among the gulf war nicky well to discuss the increase in german arms supplies to the gulf let's go live to bill in and. he's the code executive director of transform which studies conflicts and political developments thanks very much for coming on to the program today we're hearing that heavy arms even tanks are among the latest weapons being shipped out there by germany what are the gulf states gearing up for do you think one thing in their view to go put anything in but the good work they have been traditionally male usurer. i think are full reasons for the amount of money but are first to stage the traditional notion of national security it means that you need. large and strong.

second with also buying. from the worst. of ensuring the maintenance of the legitimacy and standing by spending massive amounts of money. certainly of course. to have an interest in doing some kind of a balance of power. and. fighting spirit. you say they're not particularly gearing up for anything but german tanks were used to crackdown on protests in bahrain and twenty eleven does put in not fear that something similar might happen again. do you showed obviously chancellor merkel all that's in saying that this is a realistic fear but of course that this will be a list of. these where. of course the u.s. the only point in. the mess that. we've seen that germany has put

its exports on hold to each year because of the unrest in cairo do you think that might be a sign that it is rethinking its policies no i don't think so. germany is doing what other western countries have done in the united states as we have seen as just forceful on ship. egypt the situation in egypt is very unstable not even western governments don't call up libya or fish of what happened in egypt who many people in the west feel that it is indeed the call . i doubt that there will be any measure. angela merkel has said that these weapons can be used to fight terrorism the fact that the middle east is a volatile region. doesn't she have

a point. yes maybe she has a point but we have to consider either points as well and here we have not just heavy military equipment but also smaller arms you have to know that small arms are becoming the real weapons of mass destruction. that anything between one thousand and one thousand five hundred people who die every day because of small arms. we that is absolutely no way if we're going to see that the weapons but they are being shipped legally countries like saudi arabia or even egypt do not fall into the hands of terrorists so the weapons will end up in the hands of. the us to import them. from doing. it who did the region in mexico and also in libya during the libyan.

all. of this and there is absolutely no way of knowing how these weapons and. yes maybe she has a boy and. i can and. she's exporting weapons to fight terrorism but on the other hand weapons themselves that are into sport and that giving a lot of power. as you mentioned at the expo. there that paid to be legally export it but it's not a theory that some of these countries where these arms are getting to actually violate human rights how could you explain that. so we looked at the. germany is the. exposure in the world. in two thousand and eleven germany issue licenses for. ten billion euros for the first five minutes is it simply a very lucrative business. ok thank you very much for your time doctor after we

care executive director of transform live from berlin thank you still ahead for you this hour young king democracy washington's program to broadcast its values directly to cubans goes off air is vital budget cuts grand the plane helping to transmit a signal why no one. plus hungary's ready to push its international creditors after settling its debt and the huge financial stability on its own these stories and more coming up in a couple of minutes. most of these voices the couples blog for violence or thirst. but we drove the window climbed in and tried started. we pushed it a little way here we were drunk. and soon you're an alcoholic nearly all of them

are homeless orphans with no money or relatives. were you afraid to live without me . for a moment but there it felt like i was back with those street hooligans who could have beat me up at any moment. as i turned my back i couldn't help wondering where my safety. isn't a warden he's there or the father you could say that slava raises us he makes normal people out of ugly duckling. i.

follow again supporters of egypt's toppled president mohamed morsi are waiting for security forces to raid their protest camps in cairo the army has warned it is ready to disperse the crowds taking part in cities raising the specter of more violence in the egyptian capital police are said to be about to cordon off protest sites to stop anyone else entering and morsy supporters have built barriers and apparently prepared gas masks to protect themselves against gas violence has been common since a military coup on july the third with up to three hundred killed in clashes involving the police and the army the reportable true. is but is tweeting at the moment and is on one or the protest camps and one of her latest tweet she says volunteers have been holding drills to guard the crowds from any kind of intervention to stay up to date with the latest in car you can head online

to follow bell on her twitter account. right to see. first strike. and i think you're. on our reporters. 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. of the latest

information to come out about the n.s.a. spying scandal is being published in news magazine here in germany 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 in 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 him when he when he fled from the national security agency from the contractors that he was working with continued to turn up 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 that information was released and should be able magazine a few months ago well 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. and the father of the man who

uncovered washington's appetite 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. thus what about a buyer along with heavy weaponry russia is about to stage a contest which sees huge tanks take to the sporting field of battle you can get all the details at r.t. dot com. that hungary is about to pay off its debt to the international monetary fund and then wants the credit to go on the country was saved by the washington based group with a twenty five billion dollar loan five years ago but isn't new in order to avoid closer scrutiny of its policies and actually our share of skin looks at how budapest is cutting links. and family can now enjoy beginning

a brand 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 flag now belongs to them and they've saved at least ten thousand euro. the thousand there. are in america to call situation the government is now quite strong so. there are lots of steps 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 failing better than during the recession but still most of the important development figures are in their goods of 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 a period of e.u. funds and this is very important ninety seven percent. of order new developments today finance from 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. 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 does not suit budapest his message is we can handle it on our own but a greece that. according to g.d.p. after two hundred structuring and editing is hundred sixty percent in hungary eighty percent the european average is nil about eighty five per cent we have been

able to finance the public that on the market will have to introduce the reference which make a country more competitive and that is what we have done in the last couple of years and i think they are good 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 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. auntie reporting from budapest in hungary. a quick look now at some other world nice al-qaeda front group the islamic state of iraq has claimed responsibility for a string of glass and cheer parts of the iraqi capital baghdad the attacks claimed over eighty lives and left over almost two hundred fifty injured militants said the

attacks were a response to the security forces operations a recent spike in violence 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 hold construction. and a massive blaze at one of venezuela's largest state oil refineries has been put out there were no reports of casualties the fire was reportedly sparked by lighting lightning that hit storage tank sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky last year an explosion at another oil refinery claimed fifty five lives.

it's 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 yard and but the signal has been successfully jammed and washington is being forced to admit no one is listening artie's gannett explains. old habits die hard having spent decades unsuccessfully attempting to undermine the cuban government the u.s. keeps trying washington funds 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 to an opportunity. 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 soon 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 nothing about it. the marty itself acknowledges the limited reach of its radio and t.v. programs we all have for any way to reach with the information on the general people became in government jams the martys radio and t.v. signals to circumvent that the us has employed a variety of methods one of them arrow martini a plane that had been flying over cuba to transmit us broadcasts 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 gem t.v. signal to 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 a low 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 it's coming up so you half past eleven here in moscow up next our special report called last chance far. the u.s. government project arrow marty 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.

he. was posting to some degree or he would you tell to bring everyone together here everyone's here. you can you see everyone fifteen people really pleasantry i was wondering what fishing with you under my eyes deceive me then yes i would but of course when it comes to fishing he can do that for now as well as that ask him to call everyone together and nobody's here will remember why you're late what's the problem you were douglas when you always mess everything up with yours that you. what am i. a clown what would. most of these fifteen boys have been in trouble with the law for violence or whatever nearly all of them are homeless or friends with no money or relatives. we just love or uncle slava as he's known.