coming up on r t it appears no one is immune from the n.s.a. spying tentacles the latest as a leak revealed to us have to watch a close ally and well known international charities details on these latest revelations ahead and the u.s. lawmakers are demanding the release of a secret cia report detailing torture of detainees after september eleventh this as a british reports shows their own intelligence agencies turned a blind eye to some controversial u.s. practices we'll have information on that coming up and more sanctions on iran that's what a group of senators is calling for despite repeated requests by the obama administration to halt any legislation what's really behind this latest push we'll have that answer for you later in the show.

it's friday december twentieth five pm in washington d.c. i mean you're a david and you're watching r t we begin today with a press conference where the president faced a flurry of questions about the n.s.a. after receiving nearly fifty recommendations from a white house appointed committee to reform the n.s.a.'s surveillance practices president obama pledged to make a definitive statement in january about which suggestions he will undertake at the press conference president obama maintained that while edward snowden's disclosures have prompted an important conversation the method of how the information was leaked has been damaging take a listen this is an important conversation that we needed to have. also said before . the way in which these disclosures. have been. have been damaging to be united states and damaging to our intelligence

capabilities and. i think that there was a way for us to have this conversation without that damage damaging or not the conversation about who the n.s.a. is looking into continues with the new me from edward snowden just this morning artie's sam sachs reports on the latest. just when the n.s.a. thought the week couldn't get any worse a new edward snowden leak drops this one jointly reported in the guardian the new york times and their spiegel reveals that the n.s.a. and its british spying partner g.c. h.q. are using their global dragnet to spy on economic diplomatic and humanitarian targets in more than sixty nations specifically the secret documents revealed joint surveillance by american and british spies on charity and development programs run out of the united nations including unicef on the doctors of the world

a french humanitarian group that provides doctors to conflict zones and on the trade union the economic community of west african states the documents also include joaquin almunia as a target of joint surveillance as the vice president of the european commission focuses on antitrust issues and has taken on several american companies including google and microsoft companies that were pushing for n.s.a. reforms at the white house this week perhaps most embarrassing about the latest snowden revelation there's evidence that g.c. age q. and the n.s.a. were spying on more allies including government networks in germany and spying on the former prime minister of israel a hoot olmert and other israeli officials with these new targets of n.s.a. n.g.c. h.q. spying revealed it adds more evidence to the claims that the n.s.a. and its spying partners have overstepped their national security mission and are engaging in mass nearly limitless surveillance around the world can i say has been

not only violating the trust of its own citizens by conducting mass cracking that surveillance on innocent people but on doing that to be innocent populations of allied nations the man who is holding on to all of the edward snowden documents journalist glenn greenwald testified in front of an easy you committee this week in argue that these disclosures prove that the. have a say in partners are spying to gain economic and diplomatic advantages as well but targeting by the us in the g.h.q. it had a morass the oil giant and or the organization of american states for economic conference is where economic accords are being negotiated in latin america or spying on energy companies such as we've reported in norway and sweden and what a lot of this signing is about has nothing to do it terrorism national security that is the pretax it is about diplomatic manipulation and economic advantage and essentially if you malaysian of power and the n.s.a.

has responded to this latest report by denying of its engaging in economic espionage on behalf of u.s. companies the agency did say however that intelligence about economic systems and activities around the world are critical for policymakers to make informed decisions regarding national security but then what exactly are the national security threats emerging from allies humanitarian groups and economic organizations that justify my surveillance well that's a question the spies won't answer in washington d.c. sam sachs r t. and verizon communications has just announced it will publish semiannual reports on the number of government requests it receives for customer data risin is the biggest wireless provider in the u.s. and has been under fire for its cooperation with government surveillance programs up until now it had decided to keep any data requests from the government private however it says it will start disclosing that information early next year this

announcement comes just days after the nation's biggest technology firms including verizon warned president obama that national security agency's spying was detrimental to the reputation and standing in the economy brides and communications has said that it's facing angry shareholders and some of them have even filed lawsuits the manning the company disclosed the extent of its participation in n.s.a. intelligence activities while there's a limit to how much companies can disclose under current law risin won't be the first to file a transparency report google facebook and yahoo reported receiving over ten thousand data requests from the u.s. government in the first half of this year apple was queried forty five hundred times and twitter was asked about nine hundred times for user account information and all say they only complied with some of those requests so verizon will be following its tech competitors footsteps as it moves towards transparency. and the

pressure is mounting on the cia to release a very significant document from the post nine eleven era it's a secret senate report that reveals in great detail how the intelligence agency employed torture tactics in its handling of detainees the six thousand page interrogation report is the product of three years of work three years of work and forty million dollars in costs now ever since it was completed a year ago there's been strong disagreement between intelligence officials and lawmakers over how much information the public should be a lie. to read some officials at the cia claim the document is deeply flawed and inaccurate while members of the senate intelligence committee say it's the best account of how the cia carried out its role in the years following nine eleven here's how some local lawmakers address the issue at a hearing earlier this week. the course of techniques used by the cia during the time frame were quote not consistent with our values as much as anyone i want to

see the committee study of the cia's enhanced interrogation program finished and released but that cannot happen while the cia slow walks the documents that we've requested we don't have many options available to us to foresee agencies corporation but i will not rule out any in order to get the agency to finally cooperate with our requests the new york times editorial board is also pushing for the obama administration to release the report with minimal redactions the editorial published today says that the illegal detention and torture did not happen on president obama's watch but his quote expansive claims of secrecy have succeeded and blocking victims lawsuits and helping to keep details of rendition and torture secret denying the country a reckoning necessary for the historical record establishing accountability and avoiding similar human rights violations in the future now while efforts to bring

this report to like continue here in the us it seems british lawmakers have found more success just yesterday a document called the gibson report was published that takes an in-depth look at the role of british law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies and post nine eleven operations the one hundred fifteen page report specifically looks at the involvement of the m i five and m i six in the abduction of terrorist suspects who were taken in secret to prisons where they were mistreated it also takes a look at how these agencies interacted with the cia earlier i was joined by r t correspondent sara firth from london to talk more about these revelations i first asked her how hard it was to get the gibson report off the ground. well it's been easy process this inquiry was launched years ago at the time of the prime minister saying this is a response to the allegations that we've seen of british agents involved in.

torture rendition and mistreatment of detainees that it's been a rocky process from the very beginning now we've seen the human rights groups abandon cooperation with the inquiry and last year it was scrapped and we then saw it fall into the hands of the parliamentary committee and that caused a lot of upset a month's human rights groups he really wanted to see this be a judge led inquiry rather than have that government involvement so the report that we actually published finally after all that time was actually an interim report and so human rights groups here in the u.k. have branded that a whitewash wow and this report outlines how officers of the m i five and m i six had turned a blind eye for years to outright abuse of detainees can you talk about the kinds of torture activities these agencies were ignoring. well it was a huge amount of documents that we've gone three for this inquiry and it's not easy

reading we saw evidence of british spies had been aware of the detainees makes mention two examples of physical assaults sleep deprivation and the use of it wasn't saying that this was british agents who were carrying out this mistreatment but what it did point see was that they had been directed at scenes not to intervene in one part of the court it says that officers were advised that faced with apparent breaches of geneva convention standards that there was no obligation to intervene said that certainly causing a lot of concern the scenes the direction coming from the u.k. was when these alleged pieces were taking place. back in key quiet sure and what's your sense as to why the u.k. had decided to by and large stay out of the u.s. is way essentially giving them free rein to detain anyone for as long as they want it well it was

a common scene that ran all through the report that these cases that were looked at hadn't been dealt with appropriately the issues hadn't been raised appropriately and it seems that the british intelligence officers he'd raise concerns about the mistreatment of detainees by the united states we're told not to intervene it seems the fear of offending the u.s. i think that's definitely hinted at in the report that there was a sense that these issues shouldn't be raised because it could have a potential knock on effect to the so-called special relationship between the and the u.s. and as i understand it serve peter gibson's investigation listed twenty seven areas he believes needs further inquiry can you talk about what questions were left unanswered by this report. absolutely was there a large number and he identified four key areas in that twenty seven issues that he felt needed to be examined first that was interrogation and treatment rendition

guidance and training and policy and communications and certainly the guidance and training the oversight eight of these operations that is really a major area that's raised repeatedly throughout the report if we look at the way that these complaints raised by intelligence officers from the dealt with the guidance that they were then asked to give we saw one cabinet minister saying that that was clearly one of the issues that needed to be handled and that it seems clear from the report that at the time intelligence officers weren't perhaps given the appropriate guidance that they should have had they were in at the deep end essentially i'm not sure that's going to hold much sway with human rights because they're going to have wanted a little more than that and that's certainly what's come from this inquiry is that there is a lot of unanswered questions his have to see if those get answered but that leads me to my next question which is what's the next step now you know is there going to

be a follow up report are there any actions expected as a result of what's already been released. the government's response so far has seem to be we've got the publication of this interim inquiry there's a sense that possibly they want this to be a line in the sand essentially when it comes to the issue of britain's involvement in rendition and torture in these allegations as i said human rights groups are not going to let that go lightly they've been heavily involved in this process as we said they actually abandoned the inquiry in their involvement because of the government involvement and so i think there's a real sense of anger amongst these groups that this is being put out in the form that it has in their response has been look there is more questions raised here than answers this is no line in the. and there is still a big issue that needs to be addressed properly and they want it to be a full inquiry you know what such a happened is is being handed over to the intelligence and security committee and

of course again the greater the fact that the next steps going forward from here are once again going to have that government interference have to see what does happen next i do appreciate you coming on and breaking it down for us r t correspondent sara firth and bipartisan legislation was introduced this week about meant to shake up the ongoing negotiations between the u.s. and iran the bill which is called the nuclear weapon free iran act of two thousand and thirteen now has the support of twenty six senators both democrats and republicans the bill would authorize new economic sanctions on iran if it does not hold up its part of an interim agreement to limit its nuclear program the measure if approved would entail harsh restrictions on iran's petroleum industry while also imposing financial restrictions the introduction of this bill comes just a month after diplomats from iran and six world powers signed an accord in geneva

that temporarily puts a halt on certain parts of to iran's nuclear program in return for some relief from its current economic sanctions and the obama administration has said that new sanctions would completely undermine those africa here's what president obama said today at a press briefing what i've said to members of congress democrats and republicans is there is no need for new sanctions legislation not yet while the discuss this bill and its implications i was joined earlier by retired colonel lawrence wilkerson i first asked him why this bill would be introduced at a time when the u.s. and iran are so close to achieving a comprehensive peace agreement. i think there are people who don't want that peace agreement to be achieved we know the obvious characters like b.b. that yahoo in a pact here in this country advocating for netanyahu. there are other people though like my own senator mark warner whom i just sent a note to that inexplicable in terms of why they're signing on with senators like

robert menendez and lindsey graham and john mccain and others i think many of these people won't war they do not see diplomacy as a way to keep iran absolutely from having a nuclear weapon and they believe war is a way course i've got news for them war is going to make a wrong get a nuclear weapon not keep them from getting one plus drag the united states into another trillion dollar enterprise in southwest asia but they don't seem to believe that they they think that dropping a few bombs and then mow in the grass afterwards as they say is sufficient to keep iran from getting a nuclear weapon and diplomacy isn't well you mentioned prime minister benjamin netanyahu let's take a listen to what he has said in the past about the historic deal you ought to take you only cosmetic steps which it could reverse easily within

a few weeks and in return sanctions the two years to put in place are going to be eased so you're on got the deal of the century and the international community got a bad deal this agreement has made the world a much more dangerous place this is a very bad deal. so can you talk a little bit about the pressure from israel and how that's sort of playing into this whole thing. well netanyahu has been saying this now for about twenty years by my calculation when he started saying it really adamantly they had three thousand centrifuges and all of his efforts hardline efforts you might say have resulted in their having now some nineteen or so thousand centrifuges so it hasn't worked and they won't work in the future i understand prime minister netanyahu position and they have

a door lieberman and others like him in the israeli government and out of the government they are maintaining their political power based on the fear of iran based on keeping israelis worked up about iran based on keeping that issue in front of the israeli people that's how they're maintaining their political power and understand what this is all about it's not about nuclear weapons not really it's about who's going to be the power in the gulf you've got three contending parties here you've got the saudis and the g.c.c. the gulf cooperation council you've got israel with the united states behind it and of course you've got the united states allied with saudi arabia for all practical purposes too and then you've got iran really the only stable state in the region other than israel and this is a contention of power game in the persian gulf israel does not want a rapprochement between tehran and washington because that means israel by power

implications would mean less and so it's really all about a power game in the gulf it has nothing to do except superficially with nuclear weapons and who has them and who doesn't well it does seem like there's also a power game here in washington you know the white house has said that they would veto this bill if it actually were to get passed so some of the people who are really trying to push this bill through like senators menendez and schumer are they just think gauging in political theater here. well they are to a certain extent just as some others did for the budget battle that we had which was probably the most believable thing to show the rest of the world about the united states i've ever seen in my almost seventy years on this earth and the congress seems as if it is lost its bearings of late it doesn't seem to be able to deal with foreign policy issues or domestic issues at all and this is just another case in point when you have senators like schumer. minda is who are more or

less taking a position against their own president it makes it even more ridiculous especially when it is as i said such a war mongering position and let's be very clear it is a war mongering position right and it does like you said it does seem like it would take that achievement away from president obama and you know there are a lot of democrats that are behind this bill which is interesting but one key republican sponsor of the legislation senator mark kirk has said this of the bell he said quote the american people rightfully distrust iran's true intentions and they deserve an insurance policy to defend against iranian deception during negotiations i mean do you think it's really the case that american people that the american people are very wary of iran's intentions or is this just something he sort of came up on his with on his own we have to remember that this is a man who said that he came to washington and this is almost a direct quote to protect israel. now if i had voted for

a senator or representative who said that i would quickly and vote for it because i don't see in my senator or my representative to washington to protect israel that's not supposed to be their primary purpose so just the fact that you quoted kirk is enough to disbelieve him but let's look at this issue from the perspective that i think people like him are looking at it they're saying that the long term interest of israel is served by military action against iran because that's essentially what they're advocating if you don't want diplomacy you're advocating military action because you can't just sit there and do nothing let's just see what that does for israel military action against iran is going to start a conference in that region of the world that will last for at least a decade maybe two that was retired army colonel lawrence wilkerson. with the

winter olympics in sochi less than fifty days away the world's eyes are on russia the country's president vladimir putin surprise observers when he announced the pardon of former oil tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky so who is khodorkovsky and what does his freedom mean artie's an isa now we brings us up to speed. 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 bit of four hour q. and a and not one question about for the whole ski and then this but you don't know who the kosi recently wrote a petition on asking me to pardon him but i showed him where he spent more than ten years in prison and this is a serious punishment he saw as humanitarian reasons saying his mother is secure in the i believe taking jew 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 rather caused the 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 tons of oil worth twenty seven billion u.s. dollars. behind a holder called schemes 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 stock a smart move but most intriguingly about what's next for mikhail khodorkovsky and

he's now a r.t. moscow. despite the vigorous attempts of whistleblowers to expose government wrongdoing it's often quite difficult for them to find media outlets to publicize the information they're trying to bring to light media stan is a new movie out backed by wiki leaks that highlights that struggle artie's lucy calf enough has the story. it's been described as a wiki leaks all good movie all in the journey of a group of police associates across central asia searching for media outlets to help publish secret diplomatic cables would make me do. 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 have difficulties in

responding to and publishing secrets that have to do with the united states really empire in our world johannes wall 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 to people 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 to its. social group you're going to version was then your bills you were sure you could get more with it but. most of the other. question as to. whether you know another thing.

in case after case editors would initially show interest and then back off. don't. know. not. to me it was surprising. not as much based on the idea that these countries are bastions of free press and. but i was more surprised about the honesty. in their limitations and was surprised that many of the of the editors and journalists that we met. in the central asian republics they would with actually explain that there are certain things we can in certain cases we can actually see where fear of. having your funds or something else does actually physically influence your ability in reporting. 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 a 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 challenging but we're going to the main point which which we're trying to make isn't that you know there's somebody which is more censored than somebody else the main point is that there is there's a certain degree of censorship everywhere and what would you say is the biggest obstacle to freedom of speech and freedom of information the instance 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 to 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. is that the censorship that we had just a few years ago has become irrelevant. that was a report from artie's lucy cavanagh don't forget to tune in tonight at six thirty pm for media stan you don't want to miss it and that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america check out our website r t dot com slash usa you can also follow me on twitter at amir i gave it.

straight to the studio. strategically she told. a larger covert team of journalists trying to release which leaks documents about how the united states is trying to. make the local media more pro-american they encounter fear ignorance and pressure. the country blocks the way to information freedom. media stuff on our t.v. . he. is a.