breaking news this hour an r.t. whistleblower and former army private bradley manning has been sentenced to thirty five years in prison if he is found guilty of handing america's secrets to wiki leaks. russia says an alleged major chemical attack near damascus looks like a provocation timed to coincide with a visit by u.n. inspectors to syria and pending peace talks in geneva. also the former egyptian president hosni mubarak will be set free after a court ordered his release it's part of pending retrial over his involvement in mass killings during the two thousand and eleven revolution of top stories this hour.

international news and comments live from our studio center here in moscow it's not just turned eleven pm this is. so our breaking news this whistleblower bradley manning has been sentenced to thirty five years behind bars the former army private who leaked thousands of classified u.s. documents to wiki leaks we'll also be dishonorably discharged manning's attorney now plans to call on president barack obama to release him producer andrew blake heard what the lawyer had to say and joins me now live and so what does manning's attorney plan to do next what did he say. well you get pretty much already there within the coming days you can be filing paperwork with the secretary for the united states army who will then push a petition towards president obama who in turn will be presented with the

opportunity to pardon p.f.c. manning or perhaps offer him clemency should the president decide not to do either and only three years time p.f.c. manning will first be able to appeal to be heard by a clemency board and four years after that p.f.c. manning could petition to actually be paroled so although it is a thirty five year sentence there is a possibility pretty well possibility that the whole process could start in a few years and by the time manning is in his early to mid thirty's he might be a free man again now his lawyer has read a statement from his client to the media let's listen to a part of what he had to say. has had similar dark moments for the virtues of democracy. the trail of tears. the dred scott decision. we currently use them. in the japanese american in term and can't mention here. i'm confident that many of the actions since nine eleven will one day be viewed in

a similar light so here under the red criticism of the u.s. war on terror the efforts of which of course manning wanted to highlight can you tell us how he did that take us through his story and how we got to this eventual situation. yes of course manning was deployed to iraq in late two thousand and nine and just weeks later began collaborating with the anti-secrecy website wiki leaks now manning on his own accord took a hold of classified material to make state department cables want tunnel bay detainee assessment files and over the course of a couple of weeks and months he sent these two p.q. leaks to be published he was arrested in may two thousand and ten it was in free trial confinement for the last three years now with looks like it's going to be perhaps another thirty five but like you said the lake of como said reading from manning statement. he exposed a lot of things one example that comes also gave was the infamous attach the

helicopter video that manning was the standard and we could fix published it under that name collateral murder said something along the lines of regardless of if you're for a war or against the war what seeing that video it's it's clear to see that something was not right and manning is an individual who's realized he needed to take another step it wasn't just this isn't right it was just isn't right and people need to see it. and very much indeed for that we shall see what effect the attorney has on manning's predicament in the future meantime thank you very much indeed for that live report live from the states. well six agent any national believes whistleblowers like manning should have some way of safely leaking the truth. the response has been disproportionate so for example in the u.k. if you blow the whistle on the military and the intelligence agencies you face two years in prison even if you betray your country to a foreign and hostile power you face fourteen years in prison and yet he's facing

thirty five years in prison for exposing the crimes of others which have yet to be investigated by the way so it's the disproportionality that is troubling i have to say as well that i think there is a crying need as our countries get more and more involved militarily and with drone strikes and with extraordinary and titian and with torture and with cia kill lists there is a crying need now for some sort of avenue to be provided for young men and young women of conscience to come forward and say we are troubled by this we would like an investigation or not have to risk that the rest of their lives being locked up in a maximum security prison by doing that because they are actually providing a service to our democracies. spot intense debate within the u.s. as well as internationally or has got to come report on whether americans see the whistleblowers enemy or hero. among bradley manning supporters we hear outrage on the one side i mean thirty five years murderers get more leniency and some sort of

a relief on the other side he will not spend his whole life in prison but he certainly will be robbed of this youth as his lawyer put it many people support bradley manning because they support the public's right to know they don't necessarily support the fact that he broke the law but they realize that there are things that would have never been exposed to debate it had it not been for bradley manning now generally speaking americans don't care that much when it's about their government's wrongdoings abroad they care a bit more about domestic policies possibly that's why you don't see a huge percentage of support for manning in opinion polls but bradley manning may have actually gained more support in the wake of edward snowden's revelations more and more people are starting to realize that the government will always be trying to sweep controversial issues under the rug u.s. troops may have never left iraq had the iraqi government granted them immunity from prosecution something that the obama administration was trying to negotiate around the same time bradley manning leaked all those eye opening files we wouldn't be

having this conversation if it weren't for the leaks of who's been following bradley manning's trial closely a web site already dot com is keeping you up to date and then you'll find the latest analysis and opinion on manning's case. russia has suggested allegations that the syrian government launched a massive chemical attack near damascus could be a deliberate provocation there are conflicting reports about the alleged assault some say dozens maybe even hundreds of people were killed while syrian officials deny any involvement or explains what has caused moscow's suspicions. first of all moscow said that the timing as well as the nature of these statements is highly suspicious it's not the first time that such statements are coming from the opposition or the rebels response when a a un investigation mission is on the ground so moscow said that they have as a matter of fact launched their own investigative action into this matter but of

course they're hoping that the rest of the international community will also pick up the pace and a closer look at these allegations and also the russian minister of foreign affairs said that indeed early on wednesday a rocket has been fired but from the territories which are under the control of the extremists and the rocket is very similar to the one which was fired some time ago again by the extremists with the chemical of unknown nature so these are several issues that russia has with the state visit also saying that the way a dad to the opposition minded media in syria has picked up on this story is also indicative of that that this is a carefully this is a carefully planned. ruse in order to provoke a some sort of investigation and reaction to the words the president also but it is important to to noted that the head of the u.n. of the u.n. investigative mission which has just landed in syria on wednesday has already called these statements coming from at the opposition highly suspicious.

the u.n. security council is holding an urgent meeting to discuss the alleged chemical attack in syria and all these miniport is in new york and i hope to be talking to her live in this next hour. meanwhile allegations of the attack came shortly after u.n. inspectors arrived in syria to look at earlier claims of chemical weapons used by both sides in auntie's correspondent in the region paula takes a detailed look at current and previous accusations. media reports are citing the syrian revolutionary command council which says that government forces loyal to the syrian president bashar assad were flying over the area after the bombardment using chemical agent now this is a test happened in the rebel held area of eastern damascus in a place called eastern good to the area has witnessed heavy fighting between opposition fighters and the army what we are hearing is reports that the north

through a front which are fighters that are affiliated with al qaida are also operating there now some reports do suggest that more than f.l. some people were killed in this latest attack but other reports talk about dozens dying graphic images have flooded the internet showing an alleged victims choking foaming at the mouth and displaying other possible symptoms of the attacks in syria the origin of this footage however is unverified enough point needs to be made that no one knows where it was filmed or who filmed it we are trying to get more details at this stage from the area we have been speaking with local residents who complain that there was fighting there earlier but they insist that there have been absolutely no signs of any kind of chemical attacks the first to break this news was the saudi arabia network r.b.f. now suddenly arabia has its own agenda inside syria it's anti the syrian president assad and therefore any kind of reports of the use of chemical weapons we must take

this into consideration reports have been vehemently demarc denied by the syrian government while they have caused a huge storm elsewhere in the world the u.k. is demanding an immediate action by the united nations security council the arab league says that the incident should be investigated at once and all of this comes at a time when u.n. inspectors are inside the country conducting a chemical probe the situation with chemical attacks is far from clear we need to make. point that the first reports of chemical weapons was that they were used in the field back in march the nineteenth this year by the tech fieri terrorist groups when they launched a rocket attack in cold. now that did cause widespread destruction in syria immediately demanded an investigation from the united nations the syrian government also has said that it is aware that sarah and projectile are being manufactured. in

the suburbs of damascus and this has been confirmed by fighters who've been arrested by the syrian army the united nations for its size has said that it has received up to thirteen reports of chemical weapons used in syria the one from the damascus government of race mainly from the united kingdom france and the united states both sides of the conflict and here we're talking about the rebels and the government have however denied using chemical weapons the inmate the united nations independent investigator carla del ponte has said that there was strong support suspicions that the rebels had used this illegal seven gas issue has become part of political manipulations in terms of what is happening inside syria the american president barack obama has declared that any kind of chemical attack would be a red line that could ultimately trigger american intervention inside syria but as i say what actually happened today at the moment is far from clear. what he's

pulled his sleeve i want to discuss this alleged attack further with dr you blame a political analyst and a professor of these that in a university in amman joining me live from jordan is capitalism so the nothing's totally clear yet but the syrian government forces they apparently have the upper hand in the fighting so why would they resort to chemical weapons at this stage. i think the real question is what the syrian government do something like this at the same. time there's a you and delegation that has just arrived to syria to investigate the usage of chemical weapons it would be political suicide on the other hand if we ask ourselves who is benefiting politically from such allegations we have to look at what's going on regionally and employer nationally as you know there was a few meetings over the last couple of weeks between the united states and russia

to plan for geneva through the. peace conference in syria and the united states government has has has expressed displeasure at the fact that the syrian government has decided to attend that gin they have a two meetings so this allegation would provide grounds for banning the syrian government from attending that ginevra to conference also we have to keep in mind that the syrian opposition is using the smallman they are viable of the us and delegation to impose certain types of of intervention under the pretext of looking for and investigating the usage of chemical weapons as happened and iraq before as we know so the timing of these accused accusations the timing is very suspicious the numbers are very suspicious

al jazeera is talking about sixteen hundred. bodies found as a result of the alleged abuse of chemical weapons moreover i would like to draw your attention and it would it would be very good if you brought this from your. archives just three days ago three days ago the jordanian for the jordanian prime minister abdullah one sore had declared openly in the media that we are looking at . the possibility of chemical warfare in syria this was this was not a private statement that was an open the collaboration this is at the same time the jordanian government has requested drones u.s. drones to be stations and jordan threw. out of syria or out let me quickly also use that he said the idea that chemical warfare really could become a reality then syria the us president said the use of chemical weapons in the

country would become a red line just briefly how do you think the west will now react to these latest allegations. well these are fabricated allegations that are meant to impose. sanctions on syria and to justify some kind of intervention possibly from the jordanian border and that's meant to provide you and cover for such and to run should and should they go and refuse to provide such cover because of the russian on the chinese rethrow then at least the u.s. and nato would allegedly have some kind of moral pretext for direct military intervention in syria so i look at this mainly as an attempt to pretty geneva two to prevent genever two from taking place at least not with the participation of the syrian government and as a pretext to launch some kind of a military strike against syria. to fend off and allege of chemical attack

all in all i find these allegations police posterous preposterous and fabricated to justify political ends that are extremely sore that it's also extremely well moral to line up all these kids for a media shot to condemn the syrian government i'm in the way this is being used and the media and the web. as well as the out of me of the allied with the wealth. of political agenda. thank you very much indeed for your thoughts live on thank you thank you. that brings us now very minute to eighteen minutes past the hour in the russian capital more news in the team after the short break.

dramas that trying to be ignored. stories for the rest refused to notice. faces changing the world right now. on the old picture of today's new lived on to and from around the globe. broke today don't get me. but he sees things that sighted people don't notice. these days. but he hears things that most people never do they call him disabled but he's the world's first deaf and blind doctor of science. professor i think the other civil of. the great life lived against the odds.

use continues here on r.t. and we return to one of our top stories this hour the u.n. security council is now holding an urgent meeting to discuss that alleged chemical attack in syria we're not even a partner is in new york and joins me now live marina so what's been the international reaction to these allegations and what's expected from the u.n. security council meeting which is taking place. well there's been a variety of reaction but the reaction from certain parties is similar what we what we have seen in the past for example in a statement the white house strongly condemned any or all use of chemical weapons and said that those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in syria must be held accountable but at

a white house press briefing us deputy press secretary john earnest said that it is no secret that the united states and the obama administration believes that bashar al assad must go and that is the ultimate goal for washington and washington to make sure that the syrian president steps down in addition to the u.s. america's western counterparts including britain and france have called for an investigation into this latest round of the allegations against the syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons but we should remember that this news is emerging on the day that u.n. inspectors are arriving in damascus to examine suspected cases of chemical weapon use in the war torn countries now the u.n. expert and the head of the current mission to damascus told a news agency that while he had only seen t.v. footage the high number of casualties reported by the syrian opposition sounds very

suspicious he said that the high numbers of killed and wounded being reported also sound very suspicious so the opposition in syria have made these these new allegations against the syrian government using chemical weapons we've seen the images we've seen the footage it looks grave it looks very horrible it is given to this platform one could say for the u.s. . parts to once again call for bush are all assad to step down the u.s. has previously accused the syrian government of using chemical weapons against the opposition the u.s. and france and the u.k. publicly stated that they are supporting the syrian opposition with military so this is now a new chapter that is unfolding where you see western countries coming forward once again and calling for president bashar al assad to step down but in the meantime we do know not know who is responsible for these alleged attacks that can only be

concluded by the u.n. investigators that have just gone into the country and in the meantime we have the security council gathering behind closed doors for an informal meeting on on these new allegations and once that meeting is over and more information is available the old horse update our viewers thanks very much indeed for that report. in new york the. egyptian president hosni mubarak was stood from power in the revolution of two thousand and eleven could be freed from prison this day the court has ordered his release of part of the case into allegations of corruption but barack still faces a retrial of the claims he ordered the killing of protesters two years ago while it is true reports now from. this is actually a legal decision ground. even though it seems quite ironic that two and a half years after this revolution people calling for hosni mubarak's ouster and

wanted him to be in jail he could be seen walking on the streets in the next forty eight hours basically hosni mubarak has been in detention in prison now for the next month the time someone can be detained without charge now because we're seeing a retrial that means essentially the clock is being turned right back to two thousand and eleven before he started any of these trials so it's almost like he'd never been sentenced in the first place because he's already been to ten. and for several years they now can't keep the men before he's actually sentenced now with he has been in jail obviously because there been other charges against him knew of charges in regards to corruption now that he's been acquitted of their use is no reason to keep him in jail however he still have forty hours max for the prosecutor to basically appeal the decision to release him if they decide that he should be released and he will remain in jail almost see you know how long they'll keep him as the trial goes for weights the reaction on the streets is being wrought largely makes people here a kind of reeling from the situation in the last few days been basically in the

bloodiest weeks in egyptian modern history in the fighting between mostly supporters and security forces who will get by that the fun of hosni mubarak could be free to the same time is almost too much for some revolutionaries here he is speaking to me and told me that what was the point of coming out of the streets two years ago what has been the point of fighting for justice and freedom and bread in the last two and a half years is the very person they started fighting against is to be walking free we will see what happens as his trial is set to restart again on the twenty fifth of august at the same time as many other leading muslim brotherhood figures will also stand trial and some ironic that these two that figure is it because it basically to be facing trial at the same time but largely on the streets people are pretty upset that this much hated figure could be seen to be walking home in twenty forty hours. let's discuss mubarak's pending release with glazebrook an independent political journalist who joins me live now from oxford in the u.k. do you think this decision to free mubarak is purely a legal one or is it political. it was clearly very symbolic just

exactly was intended to symbolize the is the issue isn't it i mean there's been a whole there's a whole dilemma in egypt at the moment for the egyptian government as there is for really all countries of the global south in particular for egypt whether to continue the alliance with the usa britain france israel the world's leading war criminals or whether to align themselves more closely with the rising powers of the global south china and so on and they have been moved for example the tower of protest movement the brought the millions of people on the street against morsi that led his dismissal last month there's been moves now by the same movement tamarod to call for an ending of the camp david peace treaty which is the linchpin of the kind of pro-u.s. and pro-u. rail security arrangement in the region and a peace deal between israel and egypt and they've been calling tamils been calling to scrap this so israel us are getting very nervous about whether now the army is such a reliable ally and enforcer of this arrangement as it had been in the past so this

is the this is part of the context is the release of mubarak intended to reassure the west that they're not going to be diverting from the mubarak era policies of collaboration. with israel or in fact is it is even intended the snub to the west because the west has been very unhappy with what's happened recently with morsi or at least in public has been unhappy with it talks about britain and france taking egypt to the un security council you're been discussing cutting off aid and so on so is this just ask yourself this is not clear certainly very symbolic. but exactly what the message is trying to send is not entirely the right so that's the regional and international perspective but what about the egyptian people themselves is it basically a complete reversal of that two thousand and eleven revolution now for them. i would be still very wary about using the word revolution when applied to the

events of two thousand and eleven there's been no real concrete change in the policies or the arrangement of the egyptian egyptian government what morsi did when he came into power is really to continue the worst elements of the mubarak era that is the collaboration with israel the collusion with the i.m.f. and so on and even then add some some disastrous policies of his own such as facilitating the west's proxy war against syria and it's interesting that in june mid june when there was a toll disaster for the rebels in syria when they lost their key stronghold in qusayr it was at that point that the west lent on on morsi who they saw as a very reliable ally ally in facilitating this kind of regime change in the region lent on him to declare an all out jihad against against syria raising the possibly even the the egyptian army could be dragged into some kind of conflict syria as a kind of last ditch effort to save and save the rebellion so so if these are the kinds of policies and this policy has been reversed now if these are kind of policy

been reversed that's not entirely a bad thing just briefly the future for morsi and political islam what is the future. that's a big question and it's you know the future is unwritten as they say i think it's unclear i think a lot depends on the debates that like i say the dilemma within the army at the moment about which way are they going to turn the what i mean in my opinion really the west and you can see this by the appointment of robert ford who is the architect of kind of divide and rule strategy in iraq and syria the ambassador there. from entering unrest from mentoring divides along ethnic and sectarian sectarian lines he's been now appointed as u.s. ambassador for egypt that doesn't bode well he will be his job will be to try and find the fault lines and gyptian society to turn it on a self to make sure it's no threat to imperial interests in the region what needs to be done to overcome that is to overcome this false division between islam isn't

a secularism and to look at the real heart of the issue which is the country going to continue on a pro imperialist proclaimed prosiness kind of policy or is it going to do something different and independent and reassert its power as an independent regional player. live in the u.k. thank you very much indeed for your thoughts here on r.t. well i'll be back in just over half an hour with more news after the break it peter bell and cross talk. to the. gunman's drills in trying to take this on this morning show we found out why security state may soon be a girl's best friend and i really can you joining machine make sure the workers saw it was a design classic still has room for improvement when we learn how to dispose of tires and improve roads in one fell swoop. g'day. we've got this.