mock executions electrocution and a taste for beating detainees these are just some of the accusations facing the british military over the iraq war with the international criminal court now urged to investigate. national security any fish and see an independent study finds the u.s. why agency has been grossly exaggerating the effectiveness of dragnet data collection in combat in terrorism. and the egyptians vote on a new draft constitution the third in three years as the military backed government seeks popular legitimacy after pressuring the muslim brotherhood.

you're watching r t international from our moscow headquarters where it's just after ten in the morning i'm lindsey france thanks for joining me the iraq war continues to haunt the u.k. with lawyers representing hundreds of detainees of that conflict now saying the british government is ultimately responsible for torture so brutal and amounts to sadism their testimonies have been submitted to the international criminal court but as artie's polly boyko reports the u.k. is determined to stop any investigation in its tracks. up until now the international criminal court at the hague had mostly tried to african dictators and tyrants but the i.c.c. has been asked to investigate thousands of allegations of war crimes committed by british forces in iraq a two hundred and fifty page dossier presented by a human rights organization and a british law firm contains allegations of beatings of electrocution is more

execution. assault committed by u.k. forces and according to the all says of this report the finger of blame extends to the very heart of the british government at the time so the head of the british army the former defense secretary and the former defense minister could face prosecution for what this stuff he calls systemic war crimes there are many hundreds of cases where the people have been interviewed in the provided reports about this abuse and it varies from what people might think are. relatively mundane examples of abuse to really quite appalling physical they're put says that british military commanders knew that their forces were committing war crimes and moreover that their civilian superiors consciously ignored such information at their disposal but the u.k. foreign secretary william hague has already firmly rejected the suggestion that

those at the top here in westminster knew what was taking place on the ground in iraq we reject allegations of systematic abuse but whether all substantiated allegations of things going wrong these things have been or are being investigated that does not require references to the international criminal court the position of the british government has constantly been or were doing enough the point of this is simply that they still haven't done enough there are right now at the international criminal court two heads of state one of them a sitting head of state of kenya and the other the former head of state of called d'ivoire they're both on trial at the international criminal court not for getting their hands bloody they didn't do anything themselves but people under their authority or people they should have controlled were committing the crimes so if it's good enough for the african countries it should be good enough for the u.k. to the international criminal court has come under increasing pressure to act

against war crimes committed by. student countries it's now up to the prosecutor at the i.c.c. to go through the claims of abuse and to decide whether to call high ranking british officials into the dock at the hague. artsy london. this is far from the first attempt to bring the u.k. armed forces to account for the iraq war transgressions the last one being in september on our website you can read the harrowing allegations of how british troops and one battle mutilated the bodies of fallen iraqis. the u.s. national security agency has gone to a staggering lengths to hoard the private data of millions of people but all that effort could have been in vain and independent study now suggests all that information is simply failed to produce actionable results in averting terrorist attacks or she's more in a point nine explains. when edward snowden first revealed the u.s. government's indiscriminate collection of every american's phone data u.s.

president barack obama defended the program insisting that dozens of threats around the world have been a bit courtesy of the national security agency and i say chief general keith alexander claimed meditative collection has toward it in four different terrorism related activities post nine eleven now unfortunately for the white house a new study shows that the numbers they're using well they've been slightly inflated because an analysis of two hundred and twenty five terrorism related cases in the u.s. since the september eleventh attack has found that the n.s.a.'s program has provided evidence for only one case now the study by the national based nonprofit new american foundation has concluded the bulk collection of data by the n.s.a. has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism researchers found that in the majority of post nine eleven terrorism related cases tips or evidence

actually came from traditional law enforcement and investigative methods now these findings come as president obama is preparing to address the nation friday outlining his proposals to change intelligence operations and oversight geo political analyst eric draitser doesn't expect the president's promises to equate into significant action i think that the reality is that what we're looking at is a vast infrastructure with billions of dollars invested in it over the course of multiple decades so whatever obama might be able to say politically using whatever rhetorical cover he needs the reality is that the infrastructure is not going anywhere the scaling back is only going to be superficial because as we know the surveillance program itself is all pervasive it goes to hardware it goes to software it goes to the companies themselves the servers the the cables themselves so as. they said it is a closed system that they've created so for obama to be able to say oh well i can scale back this system this is merely for public consumption just last month

a task force appointed by the president himself also concluded that the n.s.a.'s counter-terrorism programs are not essential to preventing attacks reporting from new york marina r.t. . the secretary of state the west threatens to cut support for syria's rebel government if it were fuses to attend peace talks with the opposition is a step ahead calling the bluff and saying that between hardline islamist and the regime there is no other choice a report of the upcoming geneva peace talks around the corner. with over two hundred thousand police on the streets to provide security egyptians are voting on a new constitution a yes vote would cement the power of the military backed interim government which replaced islamist president mohammed morsi after he was ousted in july last year beltran reports on how this would affect the troubled nation. well it gyptian to heading to polling stations once again to vote on a new constitution if it gets

a yes from the people that would mean egypt's seen three constitutions and possibly three presidents in as many years now people are voting on an amended version of a two thousand and twelve constitution which was thrown out by egypt's military generals after they overthrew islamist president mohamed morsi into law i know since then the government has launched a bloody crackdown on mr morsy supporters and also his grip the base and both of his which was declared a terrorist organization on christmas day blamed for a spike in terror attacks it's the situation that's led the whole country to be on tenterhooks today as the police and the army are being stationed the polling stations preempting violence from the government hard line groups meanwhile human rights organizations have expressed dismay at the state of freedoms here in the country particularly after seven members of a strong egypt party were initially in support of the military where arrested for putting up posters calling for a no vote in the referendum the streets here were literally awash with a vote just to be screened on radio and t.v.

stations back to back however a new very campaign is barely visible meanwhile the mizzen brotherhood and that support is a calling for a boycott now a high turnout and a yes vote is essential for the government as this would be the start of approval from the people for the roadmap that egypt's generals made back in july and it could pave the way for armed forces chief general abdel fattah el-sisi to become president now critics say that there are many articles inside the constitution the current constitution which people are voting on which would in fact strengthen military power over civilian governments leaving little hope for a democratic and peaceful future for egypt while s. kandahar a journalist and blogger working out of cairo says their language in the new constitution would provide legal and political immunity for the military. although there are a lot of egyptians that are really pro this constitution and they really seek stability there's very little chance that this constitution will do so and mostly

because this vote on the constitution isn't a vote on the constitution itself but on a plethora of other factors including the muslim brotherhood whether the people want them back for not. general sisi but that whether people want him as president or not and then the last thing it's about is the actual cost efficient surely serves the army at this point they want to be protected against any kind of accountability for anything they've done it's still valid to see that even if there is a democratic president as long as the army is in power and they have that much power and autonomy that they can choose pick and choose who stays on and who leaves and i don't think the concept the next constitution addresses that. no growth and no clear way out france is scrambling for economic answers and its president gets the cartoon treatment as he pedals like crazy to get things back on track and we've got

the latest on his new low tax approach coming up in the program. and when your motherland just doesn't love you back up ahead love be in limbo for all those who lived their whole lives there but what state was possible that stripped them of key privileges enjoyed by ordinary citizens. played. little. little little little.

little cross talk rules and if it doesn't you can jump in anytime you want. a little. britain and the united states are repeated are reportedly threatening to cut off support for the syrian opposition unless it agrees to a tension even peace talks next week but the syrian national coalition insists that with al-qaeda rebels on the one hand and assad's regime on the other there's no one else for the west to deal with meanwhile the roadmap for the peace talks is being

hammered out in paris as you can offer ports. well one of the first things that we've heard from u.s. secretary of state is that russia the u.s. and the un are completely on the same page that the only solution of the conflict in syria is a diplomatic one mr kerry also said that both the syrian authorities and to the opposition are equally responsible for the atrocities committed there now we've also seen a slight shift on iran since a lot of barbara he needs u.n. special envoy on syria and syria lauber off the ball for saying that they want to see iran taken part in the geneva two conference this is a key player in the region this was something that the u.s. has previously against but now according to u.s. secretary of state washington wouldn't mind seeing tehran there at geneva two if it supports the agreements reached earlier at the one now mr labral also said that the authorities of syria have now confirmed that they are going to take

part in the conference although one of the sticking points right now is that it's really unknown whether or not the opposition is planning to do the same although we are possibly witnessing now positive tendencies somewhat of a positive tendency when it comes to the relationship between the opportunities there and the rebels since we've heard today about possible exchanges of prisoners and allowing humanitarian aid to get in but according to sergei lavrov right now regarding humanitarian aid the rebels are the key obstacles that's why moscow doesn't want to see the terror threat among the key issues to be discussed to be on the table there. now to have heard nothing about calls for president assad having to step down which is different from sunday since the french prime minister when he met with the syrian opposition he did make these calls for the syrian president to step down which shows that right now even though the key players now

working on organizing this conference they are completely on the same page when it comes to lots of key issues some countries in the west are sending mixed signals which could theoretically undermine the success of the conference. u.s. congress is also sending mixed signals and at first the u.s. secretary of state welcome to iran's possible participation in the syrian peace talks but some time later we heard a different tune coming from washington saying iran hasn't yet proven itself ready he was simply stating that there are ways around could show the world that they want to see a positive outcome and if they did so obviously that would mean that if they wanted to play a role in geneva two on the sidelines we would look more favorably on that but certainly no one was indicating an openness actually voting them these are things that if they do they would definitely be invited there are just things that they could do to show that they want to effect a positive outcome but again we have no indication they're going to achieve it too is in how many days so i think really it is that it's probably very small. and

medium analysts told us the u.s. needs to take a more consistent approach and invite all sides of influence in the region to the negotiating table seeing contradictory signals and obviously the u.s. is undecided on this issue is very unfortunate because it sends the wrong signal to iran the real. address consequence so that we do speak to confidence building on the nuclear issue so i think the united states should stop this self-contradiction soon then invitation through the u.n. to your arm so that all the parties the stake in this conflict could participate and bring an end to do so tragic catastrophic conflict. meanwhile the situation in syria is growing more chaotic by the day rebel factions are now in an all out war with each other with almost seven hundred opposition fighters killed just over a week what's worse the balance of power is quickly turning away from the relative

moderates and in favor of al-qaeda now one of the most notorious of those is the islamic state of iraq and the levant it began a campaign called expunging filth which targets everyone opposed to it especially moderate rebels among the methods used by the jihadists are executions bombings and enforcement of sharia law along with capturing those who do not share their beliefs the group is so brutal that even al qaeda leadership has disavowed it it now controls chunks of syria and iraq that are larger than portugal you can see the area here in black we'd love to hear your thoughts on the geneva two conference and you can have your say by adding your comments to our t. dot com and the poll we've got running there. also online a torrent of support the jailed founder of the world's most popular file sharing website the pirate bay gets a modest improvement in his prison conditions after over one hundred thousand people signed a petition to allow him access to books and other basic items. and license to

speed hollywood style car chases may soon be a common sight on the streets of britain as the country spies get immunity from road regulations allowing them to ignore traffic lights that are string crossings and speed limits that story and more that are to dot com. the french economic ship appears to be dead in the water now it's even compared to its struggling european neighbors it's a situation that's left the pro-tax president scrambling for a new way to spur growth and he looks ready to make a surprising political u. turn to do it. thank you so just like this what if i thought this video clip mocks francois lawn's tax policies which are among the major reasons his become the least popular president in france as more than history really couldn't hold ultima told him all together with belgium france's tax grab is the highest in the euro zone don't want to do it but still it was

a good way to head for. the last two hours french i was able to tap says more than two thirds of the country's population of clear tops aren't so so right eighty percent of the president's economic policy is misguided and inefficient gianluca is among those eighty percent an entrepreneur he was foolish to close his business down after taxes became too big to bear a second if you're sick this is a vicious circle my business has stopped working which means i can to provide jobs for others and i can pay taxes to my country to help its development it's like everything falls apart right up to the current taxation policy was part of the finance strategy chosen by the french government to fight economic crisis but almost two years later critics say it simply hasn't worked the country's credit rating has been caught the unemployment level all those table recently is still at its highest in almost sixteen years and for twenty fourteen the european commission

for costs just zero point nine percent g.d.p. growth in france against one point seven percent in germany and two point two percent in britain people and businesses alike oh my god another tax and another it's not that they're too high but there are too many and a combination of all these taxes makes it really heavy taxes today really break an economy and. it seems that's also finally beginning to dawn on the country's leader examples out of new rule all rule taxes big. came having to have a usually known for very optimistic speech in his new year address. sounded rather concerned. the economic crisis turned out to be longer and deeper than we could have predicted that. the socialist leader pledged some too liberal changes such as cutting labor costs and public spending making people talk about

a new or loaned and new hopes of the country's recovery but critics are still vocal as they say longs plan is short on details and some are afraid it could simply be too little too late. rafe nationality from france. well as the french government struggles to find a remedy for its sluggish growth max kaiser shows us how big business manages to thrive at your expense. but get back to the connection between surveillance and obesity because the surveillance technology you say could be surveilled by anyone they're not being surveilled by security looking for ways to keep people secure they're selling the access to marketing corporations and big pharma and big agra big consumer products companies who then spy on you in ways to help them sell you stuff more trance fact foods more junk food more junk credit everything to make you on healthy more drugs everything that makes you lazy obese and stupid i.e.

american that's what they're in it for and they're succeeded because you've got a jobless mass of obese trog go buy it while going around in their little try cycles at a wal-mart looking for new ways to help plumb the nether regions of their intestines because it's all clogged up thanks to bill gates of the twenty four seven surveillance apparatus which is meant to keep people all the way that they are just look at the average of wal-mart shopper and throw up. as the saying goes there's no place like home but for some there is no country they can call by that name hundreds of thousands of people in latvia have so-called alien passports even though they've never lived anywhere else and naturalization test intended for immigrants is the only way for them to get it right with four citizens artie's pasco investigates you guys when you mean but at the moment

non-citizens have limited rights we can't vote can't occupy government positions or be policeman or lawyers in total there are ninety differences in november alexander invited un secretary-general ban ki moon to latvia for a congress on the issue the invite was politely declined. and you're going to then you know there are around three hundred thousand of us and i'm one of them here's my passport it's an alien passport. when the soviet union collapsed latvia only gay full citizenship to people and their descendants who had lived in the country prior to nine hundred forty when it became a soviet republic that was around fifty two percent of the population everyone else was classed as a non-citizen today one in seven people are considered alien canady is one of those affected he was born in latvia and although his mother is latvian because his father moved to the country after nine hundred forty not it was denied citizenship

he eventually went through the process of naturalization when he was twenty two years old how did it make you feel having to go through that process despite the fact as you say you are born in this country well does your mother love you. right and that's the same if she does that you feel good and if she doesn't feel a bit the bands and insults it the process of not you realize ation attests noncitizens on their knowledge of not be in history culture language many feel they're hostages to history claiming the lobby and government are using them to avenge the past but it's not just a moral issue it could also be economic benefits to ending this policy you've got three hundred thousand people will be back into political and economical life will be very good fuel for the country so you know it's easy to finally move on further because we always look back into history who are trying to go further. into european union security and so on but we still had its tone but those fighting for

their rights acknowledged they have a long way to go before they win the argument because they are prepared to take their case step by step. altie latvia. more global headlines for you now an attempt by organic farmers in the us to get agricultural giant monsanto to promise never to sue them for accidentally growing their modified seeds as failed the national supreme court says it won't hear the case brought by the farmers who say they risk being targeted by the company on santo meanwhile says it's never sued for inadvertent use of their copyrighted scenes and doesn't intend to in the future. tens of thousands of protesters have central bangkok to a standstill are threatening to tighten a blockade of government buildings some said they will storm the stock exchange with the prime minister refuses to resign he dissolved parliament in december under pressure from opposition activists they accuse her of trying to get her brother off

corruption charges and bring him back into power. coming up next it's a break in the set with house abby martin you're watching r.t. international. because you don't and states is the big dog the only hyper power and the cultural driving force of globalization it takes a lot of flak i mean hate globalization means the whole world gets hollywood and hot dogs and not the other way around so let's take a break from the negativity and talk about something truly amazing about america and as a guy who lives in moscow i could say that the constitution of the united states is something truly amazing in russia there is constant talk about needing a new national idea new ideology or political theory or big changes to the russian constitution and so on and it's hard for people in america understand this but

twice in the twentieth century the system that russians gave their lives for collapsed and the current constitution was written quickly after a period of violence and said collapse not after a glorious victory now you see why people here aren't exactly memorizing amendments and founding fathers quotes here in america there are debates between liberals and conservatives but almost everyone believes the constitution and it is america's greatest strength there is a national idea that is a sacred document with a list of rules as almost universally agreed upon everyone with half a brain on the street but sadly not in congress knows when something is against the constitution or should i say against america near universal belief in the constitution is actually something truly exceptional about america but that's just my opinion.

well it's about everyone i. martin this is breaking in the set saturday january eleventh marked the one year anniversary of the death of one of those brilliant innovators of our time aaron swartz and was a computer prodigy an internet activist who tragically took his own life at the age of twenty six c. aaron was facing thirty five years behind bars and was the subject of a merciless which by the department of justice for the crime of releasing information the footage that your scene shows aaron and during an mit electrical closet to download millions of academic articles from the online service j. store which he intended to release for free this video was used against him by prosecutors who felt he deserved more jail time than murderers and rapists so why

did swartz do it when i didn't care about making himself wealthy from uploading the files he cared about internet freedom civil liberties and making information accessible to everyone a spy of their academic or financial background considering the odds stacked against him tragically it seemed. the only way out and his suicide was the result of a two tiered justice system that puts profit over knowledge rest in peace erin now let's break the cycle. of the. it was a. very hard to take a. look. at her had sex with her through their little. league.