for the tycoon president putin's decision to pardon mikhail khodorkovsky may have caused a bombshell at home but it's only a reserve reaction of. the syrian kurdish community presses for a seat at the negotiating table the upcoming geneva peace talks hoping to grab the opportunity to secure their rights. and on the team of wiki leaks journalists make a road movie about their mission to blow the whistle we talk to one of them about changing the world. it is friday morning here in moscow it's r.t.

international with me roar from everybody here thanks for joining us one of russia's highest profile prisoners for oil tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky is set to walk free president putin said he'll pardon him after getting his appeal for clemency. he has spent a decade in jail on tax evasion charges and the announcement of his release came as a big surprise as a tease and he said now it reports. he may well be one of the most well known prisoners in the world but the idea of a pardon for former russian tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky was unexpected to say the least read really with. the news came absolutely out of the blue last time i spoke with him was back in august and he didn't show any intention of filing a petition i totally support any decision of his he needs to be set free his children and even grandchildren grew up without him a four hour q. and a and not one question about for the record ski and then this if you don't know

who the kospi recently wrote a petition asking me to pardon him he spent more than ten years in prison this is a serious punishment he signs humanitarian reasons saying his mother is sick and i believe taking jus account of all the circumstances it's possible to take a respective decision and in the near future i will sign a decree to pardon him the former c.e.o. and founder of the oil company yukos built a fortune that made him russia's richest man after the collapse of the soviet union snapping up state assets at a bargain price in often dubious circumstances. fall from grace began in october two thousand and three when he was arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion he and his business partner plateau never dead were found guilty in two thousand and five and handed eight year sentences four years later fresh charges were brought against the two men and twenty ten both were convicted of money laundering and embezzling two hundred eighteen million tonnes of oil worth twenty seven billion

u.s. dollars. holder course he is here by sentenced to fourteen years in prison. word of his pardon and imminent freedom came as something of a surprise for all sides including apparently his lawyers debates are raging over whether this is a pay our start a smart move but most intriguingly about what's next for mikhail khodorkovsky and he's now a r.t. moscow. it is thought that a quarter called ski could be free by the year's end but what will be his role in russia when he does walk free of foreign affairs analyst a modern safe says he'll never be the man he was in the one nine hundred ninety s. what is not going to happen is that is going to be a credible figure in russia he was significant in the one nine hundred ninety s. the beginning of the twenty first century for two reasons first of all because of his vast financial wealth and political clout from putting together you cosyn the

first place and he doesn't have the yukos conglomerates as a base anymore so that's gone and secondly it was a figure from the one nine hundred ninety s. he was able to amass so much wealth so far as the all the guards did in the chaotic yeltsin era right after the collapse of communism this is now in history in russia . meantime in europe there's been reserved a reaction to the news of course. she's been discussing his release and it's glad it's finally happening and the head of the european parliament martin schulz he called president putin's decision progress all across the atlantic though it's all quiet on capitol hill as artie's guy nature kind of reports the reaction in washington to the news about the upcoming release is very muted it would be fair to say there is no reaction other than perhaps a written statement from senator mccain has been bashing president within three years since he wrote this russian president vladimir putin's announcement today

that he may pardon me that surprising and welcome news well first of all send a mccain misinterpreted the president's announcement a little bit it did not say he may pardon you said you will pardon what is also surprising perhaps is that the news about whether this thursday did not generate much if any attention in the u.s. media and i've been following the mainstream channels throughout the day and i've seen one report early afternoon and i was it online media on the other hand has been a little more active and analytical some said that the decision had to do with the olympics the slate for example ran an article saying that it's because of pressure from the u.s. that president putin is pardoning because of the cost but again no official comment here in washington. and russia as an act of mercy hasn't gone unnoticed by activists in the u.s. they're calling for president obama to grow into a contractor turned whistleblower edward snowden who's faced a witch hunt from washington for unmasking the n.s.a.

is all seeing the full story coming your way a bit later here. on our syrian kurds want their own delegation for next month's peace conference on syria known as geneva two last month the group declared an autonomous government of the country kurds are one of the world's largest largest ethnic groups without their own state but as paula slipped reports history could soon be in the making. discriminated repressed and divided for years the kurds were the scapegoats of the middle east but now the fortunes have turned resilient and hopeful history is on their side for four thousand years kurds lived in iraq now they're enjoying defect autonomy and many believe independence is not far away but is now practical is not run by a powerful state in baghdad and a strongly believe that we are moving towards. a full independent kurdish state in

the north of here across the border in turkey as much as twenty percent of the population is kurdish they fight for independence has long been a thorn in ankara side but most of the larger longer. always called for a kurd fighters they have more weapons and they'll never give them up easily but it's in syria where the kurds face a toughest fight they are caught up in the middle of a bloody civil war their territories are being claimed by al qaeda villages raided their people killed residents of this kurdish village of suparna forty five kilometers from aleppo say all it does is make them tougher fight as they are prepared to die to protect their land and their people over there now every night they want to restart the clashes but now we're well prepared because we made new bunkers so we have more ability to them before if they attack us we are ready to defend ourselves but if they don't we want to attack anybody. with such

a strong fighting spirit and even stronger desire for sovereignty the kurdish influence in this part of the world is growing and arguably it might be only a matter of time until a new state appears on the map of the middle east policy or r.t. . but while that state is not established yet let's take a look at the so-called kurdistan region where the majority of codes live it's the area right around here along the border of four middle eastern countries you've got a turkey syria then you've got iraq and iran over here as well the total population of the kurds living there was about forty million of the ethnic group is now taking control of a large parts of northeastern syria right along the border here and one kurdish political analyst saying the civil war there is actually played directly into their hands. the kurds in syria was emboldened by the fact that the arab spring came about and the regional powers busy with internal strife with. this to

political the governments. of the different factions syria are fighting each other and the government is weakened and the kurds have found an opportunity to run their own affairs and grab to whatever they can in terms of territory. historically speaking tonight to take he's not very happy because what he sees if the. the the kurds in syria get involved and have some sort of autonomy turkey fears that this will translate into or encourage a. kurdish population to demand the same rights or similar rights. and turkey is certainly worried it began building a wall on the border with syria and many see it as an attempt to divide the kurdish majority on both sides of the fence. from the syrian kurdish democratic union party

he believes ankara's actions are likely to backfire. because i would think that if turkey's government keeps supporting militants in jihadists and facilitates their entrance into the kurdish regions into the central areas of syria then the kurds that live in turkey won't stay silent also if the jihadists attack the alawite dominated regions turkish the whites will also take actions turkey's cooperation with terrorists will have consequences if you play with fire you get burned as they say turkey is interested in stability in the region and supporting terrorists is not in the interest of turkey nor is it in the interest of the kurdish in arabic people in the region. are still ahead for you this hour on r.t. international when for sale signs are popping up like. mushrooms and the pinch of austerity squeezing people out of a country. migration statistics we're talking about.

science technology innovation all the developments around russia.

pleasure to have you with us here today i'm sure. it's all live from moscow thanks for joining us american activists are calling on president obama to pardon edward snowden who of course is in a rush to run a temporary asylum and u.s. authorities want him to stand trial for charges associated with his leaks that revealed details about the extensive surveillance of the operations of the n.s.a. in the meantime the plight of whistleblowers has been documented in a new film called the media stalin it's shot by a crew of wiki leaks journalists and it costs light on their dangerous mission to

seek an outlet for their secret documents. reports. it's been described as a wiki leaks or road movie following the journey of a group of wiki leaks associates across central asia searching for media outlets to help publish secret diplomatic cables with making it. something which which i would like to call an acid test and our us interest was one of the u.s. state department cables where you give these cables to certain. publications and see how they react to it most of the publications had difficulties in responding to and publishing secrets that had to do with the united states with empire and our yohan as well strong helped direct the movie although a feature film wasn't the original plan initial goal was to actually distribute this material that bradley manning allegedly makes to work in weeks and.

in that attempt to get the material out to the public and people will realize that there were some interesting things happening in the way that the media were actually reacting to it the team traveled through central asian republics from kazakhstan to us occupied afghanistan all in an effort to partner with local news outlets to redact and then publish relevant cables. diversion was then get the bulls you were to do more with it but you really need more than the other. question is to. get. another things additional in case after case editors would initially show interest and then back off. and not. to me it was surprising. not as much based on the idea. that

these countries are bastions of free press or not but i was more surprised about. in their limitations i was surprised that many of the of the editors journalists that we met. in the central asian republics they would would actually explain that there are certain things we can publish in certain cases we can actually see where were fear of. having your funds got down or something else does actually physically influence your ability and in reporting on. what you know in this particular test the material is american. but it's hard to tell to what extent it's a question of fear particularly from the united states or if it's a fear from the local regime as censorship of sorts that johan is believes exists within the western world as well the idea that censorship is something that exists

. in third world countries and speak but not in the enlightened west that idea i think has. been very challenged by works the main point which which we're trying to make isn't that you know there is somebody which is more censored than somebody else the main point is that there is there is a certain degree of censorship everywhere and what would you say is the biggest obstacle to freedom of speech and freedom of information these days it's the biggest obstacle to to freedom of. speech is the obstacle which isn't in our minds it is the the idea that the people don't deserve access to knowledge because people cannot deal with it and that idea in my opinion is there is not just a little stick it is. it's incredibly insulting but in making

a film about the boundaries of press freedom johana says he discovered a world that's moving away from old boundaries one of the most amazing things which has happened with them. with these releases and particularly if we speak about the n.s.a. documents it. is that the censorship that we had just a few years ago has become irrelevant in the next hour on r.t. international will bring you the second part of that alternative road movie do stay with us if you can for that. strategic. undercover team of journalists trying to release wiki leaks documents.

to information freedom. now a fresh snowden leak reveals that denmark the netherlands spain and germany have joined the club of so-called five working hand in glove with the intelligence services of the u.k. and the u.s. however it's still unclear how the collaboration with these third party states works as previously revealed the u.s. has been closely watching as a target not as a partner. former advisor to the us justice department says the n.s.a. spying has fractured trust among our allies. the n.s.a. has spread its reach into so many other countries including our ally. which is completely unnecessary destroy its diplomacy disrupt economic relationships with other countries all for the purpose of gathering and storing

a bunch of data on innocent people all over the world who are suspected of doing absolutely nothing and i think we were. not among the five guys countries some of whom have been helping the n.s.a. gather this data but we see the. world and they are far reaching because again and this is tentacles have been far reaching. the national locked and loaded people welcome as guests to jump in on a hot discussion about a pardon for snowden. by any stretch of the imagination never lost for words over the n.s.a. spying. it's not that we should do it's edward snowden we should praise him welcome him home for exposing what what i call incipient fascism is like they don't need to strike a deal at all the whole premise of the charges against said word snowden are bogus and the man has broken the law these arguments that which are quite

eloquently made make it to the jury make it to the sentencing judge but he has broken the law. crosstalk is a bit later on so you for now though on screen and on line as well. plenty more stories for you including right now life you've got. a spectacular show stained glass mosaics are projected onto a cathedral to celebrate the christmas holidays you can see a lot more of the. in motion section on our website. and more eye catching footage available for you on our you tube channel here we are watching a billion dollar telescope embarking on a five year space mission it's job to bring back to worth a three d. model of the milky way.

to see. first rate. and i think you're. going to. be in. just a moment. for now though from verging on a bankruptcy just a few years ago things are now looking up for ireland while it recently exceeded its international bailout from the i.m.f. it's not stopping young adults from exiting the country so this to show that emigration numbers from the emerald isle are only rising as people look to leave continued austerity behind. reports. despite painful

a steady three years and counting the irish capital of dublin is relatively bustling but the same can't be said for all other parts of the country carlos wants him to be our your sugar company that at the forefront of industry now stands empty this sound is only one hour away from dublin but niles apart in terms of the economy even if you just grab a surface a look around you'll see a lot of these boarded up houses or flop fronts or for sale signs a shadow of what this used to be this is the same true. for three hundred euros. fifty years. while the government heralded arlen's exit from its international bailout as a success many find little to celebrate with others having long moved on in search of greener pastures people with skills people with jobs and i live in the country we thought that we put behind us the black plague effectively immigration out of

the country and now it is back growing sectors of this economy which are importing workers from outside of violent on high wages with high skills and so forth completely deservedly but that is starting to draw these little bit of attention within the population as well the european commission statistics office figures show thirty five thousand more people left ireland and then arrived last year making arlen go from having had the highest net immigration levels in europe to the highest net emigration in just six years if we see what. i believe he said we want. you. to sleep here and when young emigrants do come back it won't come as a surprise if they're just back for the holidays like feel one who had just arrived from perth he left two years ago after completing a science degree and went on to become a videographer in australia there wasn't anything. sort of keeping me here besides

my immediate family really almost friends you go to london or canada they're just completely cross the world so i made a very easy and while the holidays draw back the irish to their native land it will take more than a bailout exit to keep them home just are still your r t r. and some other global headlines briefly for you here on the program to fifteen people are dead at least fifty eight injured after an overloaded bus plunged off a cliff in the vehicle was traveling on a mountainous road when it veered into a ravine twenty meters deep in the country has a poor road safety record last year more than four thousand people were killed on the roads. now more than eighty have been injured at least five of them seriously after part of the roof collapsed during a performance of the apollo theater in central london police say everyone trapped inside have now been freed when the roof caved in it took parts of the balcony with

it seven hundred twenty people were in the theatre at the time the venue was built in one thousand one of the collapse there right now is still unclear. now the united nations says it peacekeeping base in south sudan has been stormed three indian peacekeepers were killed in the and more casualties are likely the assailants are believed to be rebels from the country's second largest ethnic group the nation is facing its greatest crisis since end of independence and twenty eleven so far around five hundred people have been killed in the unrest that broke out just over the weekend. or up next one r.t. international how america's first lady is preparing for christmas this one more on larry king's politicking that's just ahead on artsy international.

if you nothing and you got no opportunity. to start to construct your own little term. kuno learn to be a bit give don't want to be gangstas you don't want to be dog deal this they don't want that bull with all the time that the kid came to be we can see. you just made the boat as i was and i hope i was in the hood and what if you know somebody's been thirty round clip. but it felt like. i said what about the. i don't want to die i just really do not want to die young young a. right

to see. first strike. and i think picture. on a reporter's twitter. on instagram. to be in the know. on. odd.

it was a. very sorry state and. once again. there's a lot of that that will make their lives.

philip the torch is on its epic journey to such. one hundred and twenty three days . through two hundred cities of russia. relayed by fourteen thousand people or sixty five thousand killings. in a record setting trip by land air sea and others face. olympic torch relay. m r t v dot com. the host still an iconic sunday talk show david gregory moderator of n.b.c. news meet the press joins us to answer questions instead of asking him from washington's amazing newseum plus a look at christmas in washington including scenes from inside the white house with first lady michelle obama all next on politicking with larry jagan.

from the fantastic museum in washington d.c. it is now but there's no place like this the newseum as we call it right right my fiance yeah it's a want to say news museum and it will have david gregory the moderator of n.b.c. news meet the press he's moderated since december of two thousand and eight he was the chief white house correspondent during the regime of george w. bush and meet the press is the oldest running sunday news talk show in american television history when you got this job for we get of of things yeah and what was that like it was extraordinary told you well our prior news president the time steve capice called out.