the presence of u.s. troops in afghanistan beyond two thousand and fourteen is thrown into doubt after the latest killing of civilians by american forces. moscow pushes for an equal role for iran at this month's international peace conference on syria as the russian foreign minister hosts meetings with these raining and syrian counterparts . and as the n.s.a.'s mass surveillance antics draw on welcome comparisons with the stasi of east germany r.t. talks of veterans of the feared and revered cold war spy service to find out just how much the two have in common.

which is our senior national coming to you live from moscow with me marie and josh . relations between the u.s. and afghanistan are in jeopardy after the latest killing of civilians by american troops in the war zone the afghan president says seven children at a woman died in u.s. airstrikes on wednesday nato claims the incident took place during a counter-terror operation at admits that at least two civilians were killed by mistake it's the latest in a series of collateral damage scandals that have shaken u.s. afghan relations kabul has repeatedly demanded an end to deny raids and airstrikes in civilian areas but some malice say it should be going further by ensuring that justice is served for the innocent victims. that's always the argument that the foreign powers make they always make it sound like they're invading a country just because they care so much about the people that are under attack but all over the world you can see the fruits of us foreign intervention these kind of massacres are really built in to foreign interventions you can see it wherever this happens whether in the middle east africa asia anywhere the result is poverty

misery suffering they've never improve the lives of the people of the people have the right to run their own country a president karzai if he represents the afghan people should be demanding that reparations be paid to the people of afghanistan for the so many crimes that have been committed there for all the people killed for all the lives lost for all the poverty and misery created by u.s. intervention and those reparations shouldn't come from ordinary working class americans it ought to come from halliburton it ought to come from general electric and all the military contractors that have made so much money off of the destruction of the people in afghanistan and so many other countries in the world the collateral damage around us cast fresh doubts whether kabul will sign a key security pact was washington the deal would see thousands of american troops remain in afghanistan for another ten years after the nato was drawled by the end of two thousand and fourteen the afghan government has so far been reluctant to agree to the pact which would also make americans immune from afghan law if the agreement is not sealed washington will have to order all of its troops out of afghanistan. coming up in the program the battle for the

north pole intensifies as climate change opens the region to trade anarchy and even military competition we discuss how far the nations with claims on the arctic are ready to go. moscow is stepping up its mediation efforts to bring keep power players to the table at this month's international peace conference on syria ahead of the summit the russian foreign minister is hosting his iranian and syrian counterparts for talks scott has the latest. russia reiterated their desire for iran to take part in next week's peace talks on syria in geneva moscow believes that tehran should be represented as an equal member of the discussions and should not be participating from the fringes from the sidelines as has been suggested by the united states now these peace talks on syria known as geneva two a shuttle to start on january the twenty second russia helped broker the deal and

russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov says that successful discussions are in the interests of the entire international community and we will. we stand in support of syria's sovereignty and its territorial integrity we want the equal rights of all ethnic religious and other groups that live in syria to be secured so that the country can exist in peace with all its neighbors and like the syrian people and the people of iran we want to eliminate the hardwoods of terrorism on syria's territory so this is our unified position but it's not a unique position it has been stated by the united nations security council we do not have a hidden agenda and we have nothing to hide our stance is shared by the whole international community well this many round of diplomacy is to last for two days with a larger offset to make syria's foreign minister in moscow on friday following the meeting with his russian counterpart iranian foreign minister zarif set down with sophie shevardnadze to discuss the future of syria and he says if the opposition

really wants to replace president asad they will have a chance to face him and the ballot box later this year it seems that there is a great deal of insecurity among those people who are setting conditions for even negotiations this should happen and that should happen this should be the outcome of the negotiations should be the outcome of the negotiations if the people have confidence. in that ability to attract the syrian people if they believe they do present the bishes of the syrian population then they should be ready to go through the ballot box why do they need to set preconditions and it's all put onto the site at the end of the day no country other the syrian people can decide what will happen in syria and if they try to impose their riches on the syrian people sooner or later they'll see the fate of that process.

when leaked files from the us national security agency revealed that the american spies have been keeping close tabs on a key ally germany the government there was furious comparing the practices to those of the stasi is germany's notorious secret police are just pure all over met with a veteran of that service to find out just how similar the two really are. on finding out that the united states attempt to private mobile phone and glimmer confronted president obama with this claim. former offices in the east german secret police which was known as the stars he have a warning for the n.s.a. if they think must surveillance is the solution to a nation's problems who quoted even the best qualified and most advanced secret service cannot save the state we showed you that away from the professed shock of

the politicians at the n.s.a. spying ability how does it compare with the actions of the east german secret services cheering the cold war as can now it's really this is exactly as illegal as some of the tactics that the stars are used to employ it is a breach of human rights but the government machine is so powerful that you can't stop it edward snowden's leaks about the shape and scope of n.s.a. surveillance show in germany as one of the top targets for u.s. snooping again high up on top of the ominously named devil's mountain life the remnants of the last major n.s.a. spying program to look into the private lives of the people of berlin or its abundant now back in the day this post with ears to listen in only private phone calls of thousands of citizens and both the east and the west of the city. then it was thousands of calls now it's millions sometimes tens of millions of data

connections that are tracked and logged with them and they move the way they do it now is much more intensive your web browsing history credit cards they can build a profile on you way easier than was ever possible in my day. didn't have access to this type of technology they rely on developing personal contacts. even those who were working in counterintelligence in the west were ours even they said it we were pretty good even then the fear of being listened into is taken seriously as one former officer charged with looking into nato told us human those fyrst my superior officer is there any technology we have for that they can use to stop eavesdropping on my calls yeah answer yes just don't pick it up these veterans of the spy game might be impressed by the capabilities of the n.s.a. but they're cautious about the quality of the information collected for lessons yet

they relied too much on technology that technology might let you locate a person or listen to their calls it doesn't let you know what they think with the usa doing all it can to justify its intelligence gathering the operation dubbed two point zero by critics looks set to continue for some time yet peter all over r.t. germany president obama is expected to release a proposal this week on limiting the n.s.a. surveillance practices but a former east german intelligence officer rainer rop bullies nothing is likely to change in the way of the secretive u.s. agency operates. this is a good cold vindu dressing to pretend something is happening but if you look at the composition of the committee of the advisory committee vidual is supposed to suggest changes these are the same guys who. are operating the system and we've been participating in the construction of the the very system that

they are now supposed to modify or to emasculate. nothing to be expected from from they soon if you look at the details and the pits and pieces which have been coming out of washington or from the n.s.a. or from. alexander quite open the. need not only admit it but confirm that they're continuing to spy on congress as well. the n.s.a. revelations came courtesy of edward snowden who is hiding from washington's prosecution and russia later this hour with me a woman who stood up and support him and his fellow whistleblowers in her own unique way.

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. americans are to international as the arctic sea ice melts away at an alarming rate access to vast oil reserves is opening up and countries bordering the region are determined to the fam their slice of the pie the polar sea bad may hold as much as fifteen percent of the world's undiscovered oil and thirty percent of its natural gas stock take a closer look at how nations hope to benefit from the receding north an ice cap while the lion's share of the arctic natural wealth is still hidden five nations are leading the charge for its resources and that's canada down mark norway russia and the u.s. the other arctic council members are finland iceland and sweden who are trying to expand their influence in the region the organization also has twelve observers states most of them european but i'm a last year several key asian powers china india japan singapore and south korea

established links with the club and the economic rise of asia means that its influence on what happens in the arctic could be crucial but as i found out the battle for the region could take a dangerous turn. melting ice caps in the arctic have ignited a military build up over the world's smallest ocean and the riches buried beneath it the arctic circle is believed to contain thirty percent of the world's undiscovered natural gas and fifteen percent of its oil the future of the world economy to some extent is dependent on the arctic and i think you know russia and canada the united states and norway and denmark are very interested in exploiting these resources last month canada abruptly claims that it owned the north pole while the united states with its alaskan outpost has plans to boost its military there claiming it lacks operational experience and needs to police the thinning ice as it's replaced by fuel filled maritime traffic but that's not all.

actually u.s. submarines are deployed not too far away off the norwegian coast it would take us missiles sixteen to seventeen minutes to get from there to moscow so we really hope that with all the things that have been happening in the world over the past few decades we put the cold war confrontation behind us in all five countries bordering the arctic caps sovereign rights to resources within two hundred nautical miles of their territorial waterways but a growing opportunity for a bigger slice of the pie is what many fear can inevitably spark a twenty first century cold war in the frozen waters there are also unexplored resources that we don't know yet to which country belongs which could be of course of interest to many countries i do think that. smaller things could spark. tension and maybe more tension that we would like to see you know port r.t.

new york and try to wise a northern sea route offers a highly attractive short cuts for russia and europe to ship fuel and other goods to asia did a song on this passage could take as little as twenty today. and slash transport costs for comparison the southern voyage through the mediterranean across the indian ocean is roughly twice as long we heard earlier from christopher parry a strategic forecaster and former british naval officer is things disputes are unavoidable in the race for the arctic where i think we could have some disputes is there are a number of other interested countries such as india china korea japan all getting very interested not just in the northern sea route but also in the resources that exist there in the arctic already the chinese are. greenland to places like that and i think there will be a scramble by some of the other countries for some of those resources whether the ice does recede to you know just going to the northern sea route across the top or

russia the northwest passage across canada you're also going to have a route around twenty fifty straight across the top of the north pole now that means that the countries in the past to face each other across the north pole that icy waste are going to have open water for quite a few months of the year and that will introduce different perspective different geometries and you're going to see canada and you know these states also entering into the arctic so it's going to be an interesting situation point of view probably around twenty forty five twenty fifty people will be getting ready for that who will sit in the years leading up to the. dot com right now cheating in class was never more dangerous a turn down to thirty four u.s. air force officers responsible for launching nuclear weapons are not as highly trained as you might expect they're only able to pass their monthly confidence test after receiving the answers via text message. also on our web site this is not the

alps or any other world famous skiing destination it's actually north korea's attempt at a top class went to a resort all you want to know about its cameos pet project is waiting for you online. to other stories now a new constitution for egypt put forward by the military backed interim government has received or wellman support in a nationwide referendum ninety eight percent voted in favor according to early results released by national media as the most opponents boycotted the vote claiming the no campaign was never given a chance by the authorities belcher reports from cairo now many people thought this would be the case as there's been a huge drive by the government and the military pushing people to participate and very yes as well as multi million dollar purse to campaigns by businessmen across the streets calling on people to ratify this constitution and this is what the government really be looking for is a big yes as this would basically be

a state of approval on that political roadmap and would see basically pave the way for elections and possibly also paved the way for a presidential come this is kind of the seat of egypt if i'm to be there i'm general ability to tell sisi who said he might run if the people want him to so this will be a huge blow to them is the brotherhood in that regard the situation as basically illegitimate and they've been boycotting the votes this yes to the constitution basically be it make it even harder for them to be able to function on the streets to give the dismissal of the government to move forward with elections so we'll have to see what's going to happen next but the most brotherhood and supporters have said they will start to step up their protests so expect that in the coming days. the vote on the constitution to follow the months long military crackdown on members of the muslim brotherhood and other activists who objected to the course taken out by egypt's new rulers protest without prior permission or ban the muslim brotherhood also found its hands tied as a group was branded a terrorist organization the president of the arab lawyers association told us this

new constitution votes egypt on the road to dictatorship once again. as a lawyer i've read the constitution the present constitution than the one before this present constitution the biggest problem in it is that it puts the me and the armed forces above the state and above the constitution people would have to understand that egypt is the only out of country that the army actually is in control beyond any other country all the people who rose against mubarak no being of a new mubarak situation in every sense of the word and even the hardship mubarak regime at the present moment i think the government in egypt at the present moment it's gone way beyond the previous regimes and its treatment to the citizens who do not support it. look at some other stories around the world activists have torched

trash cans and clashed with police in the spanish capital madrid the rally was held in solidarity with the people of burgas in northern spain where thousands have been protesting against the government's plans to revamp part of the city center opponents claim it will cause traffic chaos and drain public funds the standoff is forced the local mayor to suspend the project. in iraq government forces have regained control of a small town near the city of fallujah following an air offensive advances being hailed as a major success for rockey troops who have struggled to force militants from the area fighters from the islamic state of iraq and al qaida lyng group leavened have controlled most of the province for nearly two weeks now they've also stepped up violence across the country forcing the prime minister to plea for international help. last round the clock protests are raging in thailand's capital where crowds are refusing to leave the streets for a fourth day the end dressed as a bid to disrupt bangkok and force the government to step down over the gunshots

were fired at a crowd of demonstrators injuring at least two people the prime minister has confirmed that she will plow ahead with snapple actions in fabby in an effort to calm the situation. there was protest in support of whistleblowers such as julian assange bradley manning and edward snowden have taken place around the world in recent years are teammates one woman who chose a different way of show her support for the movement. she's a lawyer she's got a ph d. in international law and she was a lecturer but she's also posed for glamour calendars what some would say would be provocative or racy photos of her age she says is to raise funds and awareness for the works of whistleblowers and other activists like that today we're joined by dr roles live fuller thanks very much for joining us today but what i'd like to know is why did you choose this matter of getting awareness why not another way well

actually i have written articles on whistleblowers in the military so i have actually written quite a lengthy article is that are going to be published but i really thought that in order to make a difference to these with employers who as we know are in jail or you know at the moment i needed to involve myself in a more material way and i thought well how can i do something that isn't just a matter of talking i think there's quite a lot of consensus on this issue that we have talked enough i do think that something that was a glowing review in violations of international law is very empowering i think there is attention given to these issues obviously however i do think that people hear about these issues and they might you know get you complain in private or perhaps say on that they've been unfairly treated in private but what i'm trying to do is give people a way that they can contribute materially because you can sit and you know complain in the poverty something like that but this is a way to actually make a contribution to funding the legal defense or for example organization awareness

or organizational help for whistleblowers not necessarily i just wiki leaks or chelsea manning or snowden also we're finding out public internet work and fair which is a canadian initiative reforms are also one place was a blowers are very important as well so this way it gets away fast and basically put our money where our mouth is and help people go we. have a hard takes on the issue of capital punishment in breaking the set just out here. the majority of congress are now millionaires for the first time in history according to the center for responsive politics which sounds pretty insulting when the average americans are doing so well financially this seems bad like a bunch of rich guys rule the country which they kind of do but one could argue the congress isn't rich enough first off due to inflation

a billion dollars is not as much as it used to be especially the cost of one campaign to get in the congress costs around one million six hundred thousand dollars so yeah a million dollars of net worth may sound pretty rich to you or me but the expensive game of us politics these guys can't even afford the costs related to getting the work electoral campaigns are a big money affair so it is no surprise that people like you or me can't get into the law making business without selling at least a little piece of our souls to someone who has very deep pockets so again the problem isn't that congressmen are wealthy it is that many of them have to get constant financing in order to maintain their positions and as you average folks know once you're in debt they've got you by the throat well that's just my opinion .

with economic sounds in the final. day of the old sang i and the rest of life it's a neat take it will be everything. everything . that you know the the prices. only industry specifically mention the constitution and. that's because a free and open process is critical to our democracy albus. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our crafts difficult we've been hijacked why handful of transnational corporations they will profit by destroying what our founding fathers once told us i'm job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's

actually going on in the world we go beyond identifying the problem trying to fix rational debate and a real discussion critical issues facing america to find the book ready to join the movement then walk a little bit take. place .

cross talk rules in effect of these you can jump in anytime you want. the the the. good and tog i'm abby martin this is breaking the set you know at this point pretty much nothing surprises me when it comes to the overly curious government entity known as the national security agency but i guess i still thought that you're at least protected from n.s.a. snoops if you want to play offline solitaire in the privacy of your own home what's gas not see according to new york times report the agency has planted software in almost one hundred thousand computers around the world that don't have to be connected to the internet through the city news then see it works there's something called radio frequency technology which allows the n.s.a. to use a covert radio channel to access the microchips in the machines and deliver the data to a listening post up to eight miles away but don't worry according to the n.s.a.

the only computers that are called miles of those are the enemy targets but at a world where everyone's presumed guilty before proven innocent aren't we all considered enemies now let's break the set. of the police. it was a really very hard to take out. one that had to act would that hurt their.