we're clearly not the safest. faces a rising tide of opposition is the facility marks twelve years of scandal and scrutiny it's very easy to end one ton of. new release that. you're not prosecute but the white house is unswayed saying gee process is a luxury it can do without keeping these men behind bars it's hard to tell right now exactly how one will be down here doing this mission we report from inside guantanamo bay on the future of one of the world's most maligned prisons plus r.t. visit here i am in the homeland of more than half of the remaining inmates we focus on plans to build one town in my base excessive there and how detainees relatives give the situation. and a publicly funded paradise british tax pays

a surprise to learn they fall more than ten million pounds in the last four years to support a small island community in the pacific. and i welcome to the program here with r.t. . now three dozen of america's most respected former generals and admirals have joined calls for guantanamo bay prison to close down the military facility itself is just turned twelve years old having survived torture scandals hunger strikes and global scrutiny artes and brings us her final report from guantanamo.

when it comes to this prison the numbers speak for themselves since being set up after the attacks of nine eleven a total of seven hundred seventy nine hundred have been held at guantanamo today one hundred sixty four people remain over half of them have been long cleared for release but remain locked up a total of six people is currently under trial alleged prisoners of war brought here since two thousand and two removed from the battlefield of america's ever expanding war on terror it's both the policy of the u.s. not to hold anyone longer than necessary but we also know that whenever we release someone we assume a writ that's over a period of more than a decade the majority of detainees held here have been set free and if the men of guantanamo are really these superhuman monsters you know the worst of the worst are quote dick cheney. they would have been released. most of those still kept locked up have not been charged and are being held indefinitely what sort of a black hole of the system where the president of the united states simply refuses

to say the innocent but u.s. officials say the law of war brings behind this barbed wire the idea that in a war when you capture folks you as the capturing authority are permitted to hold people during the duration of hostilities. when hostilities and or if there's no longer any purpose legitimate purpose to to hold them then they must be released a tiny problem the war on terror has no geographic borders with men once held here repeat treated to a wide array of countries. who are only specific to guantanamo you can't even you couldn't even the case on the u.s. mainland because it would be unconstitutional and illegal the war on terror also has no end in sight and national security is a popular excuse to simply ignore the law. the spite the rhetoric really isn't about national security or prisoners being so dangerous that they can't possibly be released that can't be true after being locked up the legal process if any moves at

a glacial pace in two thousand and twelve five detainees were transferred to had completed their military commission sentence two were court ordered released. detainees been repatriated and one was a suicide over the years countless detainee claims of mistreatment and abuse dozens of suicide attempts mass hunger strikes lost patience and hope just this year the majority of the prison population refused to eat for six months street only to be force fed the. mandate that we have is being able to provide adequate nutrition to preserve life washington has appointed a new envoy to close a camp that is a dark spot on america's image this comes after a mass hunger strike that returned the world's attention to the place that some have dubbed the gulag of our times even if close to it seems. to mean a state in u.s. history forever it's very easy to end one ton of. you release the men that you're

not prosecuting. and as you said only six men are being prosecuted right now the military prosecutor has made clear that he intends to prosecute a few more but he's also made clear that it won't be more than a few more barack obama promised to close the notorious facility on day one of his presidency he's now in his second term it's only a president who can do it and the idea that it's you know that it's congress's fault is just not correct it is the president the top holding these men in detention some president has to come in and this. it's hard to tell right now exactly how long will be down here doing this mission. and artsy guantanamo bay cuba. or than half the prisoners still at guantanamo bay

yemeni nationals the arab countries considering building a new facility to receive inmates after their release leading it to be dubbed one time i to see caffein of his just returned from yemen where she met relatives of the detainees and shared her experiences with bill dullard. it's difficult to stay positive about these detainees coming home when you've been awaiting us long as over a decade as was the case with some of the families who we've met now yemen is in a specific different situation for a variety of reasons than other countries more than half of the remaining detainees are yemeni citizens to fifty six of them have been cleared for release to get sent back from guantanamo not a single one has come home and in fact the last citizen to return to the country came home in a body bag and twenty twelve and that is the fate that some of the families that we met with worry could be in store for for some of their loved ones one of the fathers that we met said that his son told them everything was going well and then basically found out through news reports that his son was participating in quite

ill from the hunger strike which we have covered here at r.t.e. interesting enough there were reports of a similar detention center being set up in yemen do you read into that right so basically they get a government has been pushing for years now for a so-called rehabilitation facility which would basically take these detainees help them adjust to society and make sure that they don't rejoin with terrorist networks which is the main concern of the united states what we're learning now is that the united states and yemen actually had secret talks in rome about this proposed facility but there's very little details that have emerged and the issue really boils down to trust and money yemen has tried to use this as a political issue to get more funding from the united states in the past so the u.s. isn't necessarily willing to foot the bill actually the funding issue something that we spoke to about a with yemen's human rights minister this course of money we want. to integrate into society to. give. the i'm sure that they have.

any. yemeni government because they have the feeling that we neglected them since a long long time and just briefly it. could actually be closed i absolutely would not read into about it at all where u.s. official. the key concern isn't the difficulty of reintegrating these former detainees in society it's the concern that these detainees will reintegrate into al qaeda networks and it's not a completely not valid one we have to remember that in the arabian peninsula was founded by former guantanamo detainee is certainly a valid concern this is going to be such a long way off i mean if we waited this long for it to close unfortunately i don't think it's going to be sped up just because of this idea. or more and we've got interviews with former guantanamo inmates and in-depth coverage on the international pressure facing the facility so head to our t.v. dot com to read more about that and later in the program afghanistan's drug disaster reaches a whole new level twenty thirteen season number precedented opium cultivation after

a decade of failed international efforts to tackle the problem also a shadow workforce r.t. looks at why illegal migrant labor in russia is becoming such a divisive issue. one surf and sand is a tiny tropical paradise in the pacific and home to just over fifty people and although residents of the pit can islands pay no tax they get tens of thousands of pounds per person each year straight from the pockets of the british taxpayers so seriously reports on where all the money is going. have you ever heard of pit care . ok. not ever heard of picked karen. to pick an island. i think in the pacific so why.

did you know that part of your taxes go to that island. have you ever heard of pitcairn. if you've never heard of pitcairn and you're an e.u. citizen it might be well worth knowing for that's where part of your taxes are go a. bit as one of britain's overseas territories a small island in the south pacific with a total population of about fifty people now locals don't pay taxes and the island's main source of income include tourism and postage stamps but it's still heavily reliant on british and e.u. eight well let's break down the numbers here in the ninth european development fund or e.t.f. received two million euros in aid allocated for infrastructure building in the tempi v.f.p. it can receive two point four million that's a total of four point four million in thirteen years about six thousand eight hundred euros per person per year but that's not all earlier this year it emerged that the u.k. had sent about ten million pounds over four years proponents of development aid the

importance of maintaining quote solidarity and peace in developing nations and the european commission has indicated its attention to strengthen the focus of the e.t.f. on the world's poorest countries but details are scarce on how that assessment of allocation will be done but critics in the e.u. and particularly in the u.k. have long been voicing their disapproval on the government's money management which is essentially protecting what's given to others while slashing budgets for those at home now a two thousand and twelve you gov survey says that fifty four percent of the british public think that the british government should not be giving very much overseas aid. regardless of what public opinion surveys say for now the status quo remains in place reporting from london and tests are cilia found online we're reporting on the great lengths some european countries are going to at the moment just to put money in their coffers smelter for example is just a week away from selling off passports for

a whopping six hundred fifty thousand euros. russian officials are pushing for tougher checks on foreign workers they want to ensure that incomers have all the necessary papers and to limit the time they can stay in the country scott takes a look at the statistics and perceptions on moscow's foreign labor force. migration in moscow is a sensitive subject right now following last month's murder of russian margot sure the back of allegedly at the hands of an azerbaijan migrant a nationalistic riots that followed the issue is firmly in the spotlight and an r.t. camera crew has found out just how sensitive the topic is we went to a market on the outskirts of moscow to try and film an interview with mohamed the president of the russian federation of migrants despite getting private mission to film it soon became clear a presence was not welcome. you russian though i have to repeat myself the site

with the fence we have in chile set up our interview away from the market. yes i think they may have suspected some illegal activities of course when you have thousands of migrants some of them may not have work permits or residence permit so the exact number of migrants in moscow is hard to calculate the best estimates put the guy around one quarter of the population and according to official statistics one in five murders one in two rapes and one in three robberies a carried out by migrants your thirty's are keen to be seen to be tackling the problem as we found out before our meeting with mohammed. since the rest in the outskirts of moscow police have been tamping down on illegal immigration every friday they go in range of accommodation places of looking for illegal immigrants it's friday morning we go in with the police on one of those rights and it didn't take long for the police to get down to business demanding people's people.

you know where do you leave. where do you leave. the raid on the outskirts of moscow in the stuff i was last did to just about an hour and so far police have rounded up thirty five individuals who don't have the correct paperwork. around one hundred eighty thousand work permits to grow into each year according to mohammed this figure is far too low. to address it you need to conduct a survey as to how many migrant workers more scrutiny if it needs a million workers you should issue a million work permits not a mere hundred thousand. it's believed around three million migrants are working in moscow twenty four percent of the illegally it is creating a vast black market for cheap labor markets some key to keep out of the spotlight let's go to. moscow. now she's become the face of the u.s. president shaky health care reform the emotional scars to prove it is cyberbullying

over her wanted role in promoting obamacare reaches page you can go online for the details about her story also that pope francis has crossed the italian mafia one investigator says and could be in danger as he pursues his vatican crackdown on church corruption that is a dot com. russia's foreign and defense ministers are in egypt's capital for a meeting that local media have dubbed historic with major arms deals being considered well let's get more on this now from artie's belcher who joins me from cairo what exactly is being discussed then. well this is the highest level delegation of russian officials to come to egypt in the last few years and according to rumors top of the agenda is historic arms deal cording to those who've been close to the russian defense ministry egypt wants to get hold of some two billion dollars of russian weaponry including helicopters fighter jets and also

defense systems we don't have any details yet of this deals in the press convert. happened this morning journalists were told we weren't allowed to ask questions about it however egypt's foreign minister did tell our time a few days ago that this deal was on the cards so we get to see what's going to happen with it but what could be the stumbling blocks you think. well it's a very difficult deal to broker in this politically charged environment as it doesn't involve america now america's been given one point three billion dollars of military aid to egypt since the one nine hundred seventy nine piece of agreement which involves israel they would back in october pending progress on human rights here in egypt this. general is quite suits considerably as aid package is extremely important to egypt and more importantly to america it has allowed them to have significant control over what egypt is allowed to purchase sometimes weapons with egypt cruising up to russia this could seriously upset america and hinder relations

between the two also egypt doesn't have any money at the moment the economic situation here is particularly dire off the two don't use a political term or following the january twenty five revolution they may look to saudi to fund these arms deals but it's not sure yet whether that's actually going to happen what this is showing however is egypt is russia's influence over the region russia is definitely looking to currency up to egypt as the influence of america wanes so it's still very important even though we're not entirely sure what's going to happen with this. reporting live from cairo. we're going to take a quick break now but on its way more news including afghanistan's flourishing. right after the break. the recent between iran and the united states may potentially put to rest one of

the most toxic and one sees in modern geopolitics a possibility that would arguably benefit many peace loving nation. but is this newfound goodwill at risk of being derailed and why is the character of the war sweeter than the chance of peace. margy dot com is launching a special project to mark the appalling scale of violence in iraq. we want you to know.

follow again now opium farmers in afghanistan are expecting a record harvest this year bringing huge profits for warlords and heroin traffickers poppy production continues to spread at a staggering pace with some growers claiming government officials are taking a cut from the lucrative business well as you can see here opium cultivation has spiked by more than a third in two thousand and thirteen according to the latest u.n. report and that's despite international efforts to curb it with up by several thousand tons afghanistan share in the global supply of illicit opiates is likely to hit ninety percent. and by the end of the year and it's easy to see why farmers give in to the temptation to grow illegal crops with the profits. from traditional agriculture in the impoverished and war torn nation artie's. investigates the

problem opium production has increased forty times in afghanistan since nato started its war on terror in two thousand and one and now the drug money goes to fund terror and god knows what else not to mention of course thousands of lives taken by heroin consumption every year what expect more drugs coming out of afghanistan because the value of opium is. and any other crop available to afghan farmers that afghans are not planning on giving up on poppies anytime soon even though the tribal leaders in the afghan government publicly denounce opium production according to afghan farmers they still manage to tax them for that and this is what one former. government officials grow opium themselves and if they don't grow it themselves they rent out their land to farmers who grow it if the officials don't care about the law there is no reason for us to respect it that's according to this farmer for more than

a decade nato and the us of course of the government that it had put in place in kabul every fews to impose a clear ban on poppy growing possibly thinking such a ban would turn more people against the u.s. but here's how u.s. officials explain it this in just trying to eradicate poppy and the opium it's also trying to give people an alternative mechanism to live and to feed their families but there is so much money behind narcotics that even with alternative ways to make a living it's very difficult to imagine that such massive drug production will stop unless there is a clear cut ban on it in washington i'm going to check them. just to remind you today's edition of breaking the set looks at america's impact on the drug trade in afghanistan here's a taste of what's coming up. and guess what guys the taliban had banned it almost completely eradicated opium afghanistan shortly before the u.s. invaded look at these headlines the corporate money was even lauding the taliban

success fast forward to today the harvest this may resulted in five thousand five hundred metric tons of opium forty nine percent higher than last year wow that's a lie when and a lot of money being made someone's got to be reaping the spoils which brings us back to war which is always been about two things resources and control. so a little later on now we get leaks is published part of the draft of a u.s. brokered international trade deal whose exact wording has been kept secret for years the trans-pacific partnership agreement or t.p.a. pays expected to encompass eleven nations representing about forty percent of the world's g.d.p. critics have already dubbed the scheme and consumer and they say the league makes it clear that it's tailor made for major corporations allowing them to strengthen their monopoly control over sectors from i.t.

to pharmaceutical goods recently almost two hundred u.s. lawmakers though resisted pressure to fast track the agreement and that puts the deal in real danger according to a lawyer from the public citizen consumer advocacy group. is an outrageous secretive process and this is going to significantly increase the pressure not only become aggression or move but the fact that for the first time countries proposals are are exposed in the united states visibly isolated it is clearly lost the debate and is simply trying to bully and pressure countries by hook or by crook into lining up with big pharma hollywood anywhere in the united states can get that agreement but it's really not looking very good for those proposals meanwhile the white house is urging congress not to impose new sanctions on iran saying they could damage progress in ongoing international nuclear talks however washington has gone ahead with its annual renewal of what's called a state of emergency against iran and the old sanctions still stand and america's

ally israel seems to be putting all its lobbying is into hitting iran with new restrictions but middle east political analyst saeed al a very things that further measures would harm u.s. interests. chronos provided a golden opportunity for. the global community to come around the table and now to an agreement about introducing new sanctions at the same time they're inviting for that in negotiations as quite a country productive and erode the confidence of the iranians. to continue the negotiations and the only thing iran is trying to achieve is kind of for a go commission by five plus one about legal enrichment and having rights for. nuclear technology. some international news in brief twin

blasts have ripped through a religious procession in eastern iraq killing eight people and wounding more than twenty the attack happened in the city of west see cheering festivities marking a shura the most important day in the shiite muslim calendar ten people were killed in four explosions yesterday all of them shiite gatherings. in thailand protests against a political amnesty bill are gathering pace with thousands flooding the streets of the capital bangkok critics say the legislation would allow i've stood prime minister thaksin shinawatra to dodge a jail sentence for corruption and return from exile legislation that has yet to buy the senate on monday but could be put forward again by the lower house in six months time opposition parties have called for demonstrations to continue to demand the government resign. and the team of palestinian negotiators have pulled out of peace talks with israel citing a lack of progress since they regime in july the head of the delegation says the

decision by television to continue settlement expansion rendered further negotiations manus officials from both sides admit they failed to find common ground in the last few months. that makes it so worlds apart with hopes on a boycott. you know i love these rare moments where action of something clearly sounds positive to share with you the f.d.a. is working the ban partially hydrogenated oils which are the leading source of trans fats and foods and possibly the cause of up to twenty thousand heart attacks per year across the usa according to f.d.a. commissioner margaret hamburg. as you know i'd like the chemicals in my food kept to a minimum but the thing is the people at the f.d.a.

are surely aware of all the hormones in beef and jim o's being produced why does the span have such a very narrow narrow focus in fact when you look at all the things that americans consume smoke use that to swear health some get the violent band hammer while others are completely tolerated if you ever talk to hardcore marijuana smoker they'll tell you but dude weed is better for you than beer and that's the eagle man and they kind of have a point i think there is this is one of those rare instances where a balance position isn't really a good idea well the country could go the libertarian route and let it be everything be legal let people make their own choices or do what i think would be much much better actually really ban all the things that are destructive to our health both of these paths have positive and negative effects but they are a lot better than our current plan of ban some harmful things for some reason and allow other harmful things because while they lobby better but that's just my opinion.

this is immediately so we leave the baby. bush and secure the. party there's a bill. for shoes that no one is asking with to get that you deserve answers from. politicking. come on the welcome to worlds apart the recent rapprochement between iran and the united states may potentially put to rest one of the most toxic and it is in more than geopolitics a possibility that would arguably benefit many peace loving nations. but not israel a country that seems to be increasingly constable living under what it calls an

existential threat why is the spectral war sweeter than the chance of peace while to discuss that i'm now and joined by ronen bergman an israeli investigative journalist mr bergman thank you very much for your time thank you for inviting me there is a very old ancient jewish proverb about a bad peace being better than a good war but it seems that for israel the state of bad peace has become so familiar so constable that these really leadership simply contest for to lose iran as in the enemy they seem to be very bad on keeping the. animosity going why is that. time of israelis invited to be interviewed good outside of the. representative of the country's government so let me start and. we'll try maybe to reflect what.