still pens tear jerking poetry keep. norrish. we post only what we knocked out r.t. to your facebook u. street. one welcome to our team is newsroom i'm i need some now and tonight obama says military strikes are on the table in iraq as isis militants are locked into fears and battles for the country's a vital oil reserves and two years since julian assange has been holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london what's next for the wiki leaks founder still very much a wanted man by the us plus the latest broken presidential promise to halt a military offensive in east ukraine as the people there continue to suffer your in the now.

here's president obama has just said that the country's forces won't be in a combat role in iraq but military strikes might take place we will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires we hope to rejoining karen kwiatkowski retired u.s. air force lieutenant she plans to be with us in the now we'll get to her as soon as we can get her on the line for now are two years ago has more for you on what isis is doing and how it's taken half of the country under its thumb. fifteen thousand fighters ten thousand operations in iraq one thousand assassinations and all last year alone the state of iraq and syria now known more notoriously as isis has been slicing through iraq moving closer and closer to baghdad and they're running

a slick modern p.r. campaign to even publishing an official report of their activities using computer generated graphics it paints a clear picture of the terror organization including the types in amounts of weapons they use their strategy details of operations and targets and former intelligence officers claim it produces its press releases like a giant corporation trying to create an image of a world structured disciplined and effective organization or to attract funding but their actions speak loudly to as isis fighters have almost to reach the iraqi capital killing scores of people along the way in just around seven d. while during the u.s. led invasion of the country it took the allied forces twenty two days to reach baghdad also a goal of isis is to create a new slavic state merging parts of iraq and syria into one now it's believed that the movement grew out of al qaeda in iraq emerging from the cast of the two thousand and three invasion today it has fifteen thousand fighters most of whom are

thought to be from neighboring middle eastern countries but around two thousand are believed to have come from europe including britain isis has also become known for extreme brutality including widespread beheadings and crucifixions most of its funding is traced to southeast asia particularly indonesia the country with the biggest muslim population on earth and would following the arrest of high profile jihad is there it said extremists are now turning their attention to the conflicts in iraq and syria. concrete koskie retired u.s. air force lieutenant colonel is now joining us on the line we do have her karen i hope you can hear me possible military action up to three hundred additional military advisors no combat role but perhaps precision strikes what do you make of this well it's a politically safe thing for obama to say just threatened to have that in the back in his back pocket as far as strikes but we all know and our history is even with

the best military in the world precision strikes particularly when your intelligence is poor on the ground don't work they do not work at all and they actually cause more chaos earlier obama said he doesn't need permission from congress to launch a military strike in iraq now he says if he decides to go ahead he will try to pass this through congress why do you think we're seeing such a quick change well this iraq situation or the dozen years or so the american people it's not popular amongst the people it is being handed to the democratic party now is their war we've forgotten that this started out as the bush war the republicans war so. in order to retain support for democratic candidates this november he really does not want to be seen as a president that ignores popular opinion in the united states. the obama administration of course saying you're talking about the hesitation from the

american people perhaps he's playing it safe but he talked about complications in the case of airstrikes what does that mean militarily how are you analyzing that. well you know everything looks good on a computer screen and show you blow up a kid or a wedding party or kill women and children and that gets on the internet so these that we don't have a lot of control in targeting we don't have a lot of good data on the ground at all is far is what isis is doing in the country and where maliki's people are and plus it's a very fluid situation on the ground this is a fast moving. in some ways a fast moving transition of power. we've seen the conflict that's putting it lightly for years in iraq it seems like the situation is getting worse why are we seeing so much to touch me at least by analysts and and u.s. politicians from the actual invasion back in two thousand and three and what we're seeing today. i the only thing i can see is

that the americans today are far better informed about what is happening in iraq and what is happening in the middle east then they were in two thousand and one two thousand and two two thousand and three when we invaded iraq at that time in two thousand and three we believed our government we believe the neil conservative propaganda i didn't but the majority of americans did. today the majority of americans do not believe the government's propaganda they do not favor the neo conservative viewpoint and they don't understand and don't buy into the argument that somehow american intervention is going to bring democracy and peace anywhere certainly not in the middle east well certainly hasn't brought out in iraq so far karen kwiatkowski retired u.s. air force lieutenant colonel thanks so much for being in the now. when iraq as

we've been reporting isis jihad azour trying to capture the nation's largest oil refinery army officials say they have repelled the attacks but media reports citing the facilities workers suggest that militants are still there or oil corporations such as exxon mobil and or evacuating their staff although they still continue to pump oil almost the same amount the city of baiji which is said to be under siege as a key oil outpost in iraq it accounts for more than a quarter of the country's entire refining capacity the facility produces about three hundred thousand barrels a day and all this goes to petrol stations across the nation as well as power stations where the battles are taking place here and you can see that some of the country's major energy pipelines are located in areas that are now under isis control but joining me live in the now to discuss the situation is slate erekat is former u.n. spokesman in iraq thanks so much for being with us it's clear or at least it seems clear why militants would be eager to capture the oil field the route the reserves

the refineries but how are they going to use them what's the danger here other than to the market. well we have to remember that isis in particular has already developed a lot of experience and running or a lot parishioner's they have done it in syria they control the major portions of the syrian oil although it's a lot smaller but they do have experience so we should not dismiss their billy to do that and to conduct themselves in a very professional way there are always some sort of you know shadowy market and so on which they can market but the main thing really is not so much running the oil operation that is to really place a stranglehold on the country and basically paralyze the maliki government and that's what they intend by controlling the belief facility and i know that facility huge facility it is the one that supplies iraq with his domestic gasoline and

finished products and so on so he can create a lot of chaos it can wreak havoc it can is sort of vendor the movement through of iraqi troops from one place to another so that is their intention so if it's not so much their fine product or the crude oil itself then its ability to impact the government and in turn is the government's ability to move about and exert its sovereignty what's your forecast here i know it's a difficult question how do you see the situation in iraq developing it would seem to me that obama's announcement of possible precision strikes in iraq could run. an impetus for more extremism in the region no. no doubt i mean. people tend to forget but in fact there was no qaida in iraq before the invasion of two thousand and three despite the best efforts of former president vice president

dick cheney to say that regime of saddam hussein was a type of. as well as having weapons of mass destruction so we know that it was actually the american invasion that made the iraq a sort of human in a great environment for the rise of extremism. now on the ability of the united states to strike precision strikes and so on that's not an easy task at a very very difficult task. as your former guest said it looks good on computers but the reality is different and i have seen it and we see it today and in yemen and we see it in a. back pakistan millions attack and wedding parties and so on so it is not an easy thing and what i see the outcome of this is that basically iraq for all practical purposes has been partitioned it has been divided the kurds have a virtual sovereignty in the north. and the south that's where the majority of the

oil is the crude oil will be satisfied and happy to have some sort of a share stand down there and in the west to the west from mosul on down you would have this islamic caliphate run by isis you know that aspires to go into jordan parts of syria and so on and that that's basically and their name so what we see today is a really defacto partition in iraq unfortunately what about maliki could his departure help calm things down and also just briefly are there behind closed doors kind of negotiations going on between the united states and maliki about what that could mean for this crisis. well there in our so it's there i mean it's almost over at least saying look this guy will not be able to work with them he will not be able to work with all your arche he's not the person that can sort of launch or form a national reconciliation government so that's not even a secret they cannot work with maliki they have had

a very bad relationship with him in fact maliki doesn't have any external relation with anyone he has a very tenuous very difficult relations with iran the same thing with with many other countries with syria and so on he is unable to form probably coalition he's not only. asked to side with and i was side of his community are committed but even from with them because he's unable to work with other groups like he had allawi like abroad he will jaffery and so on and these were you know former prime minister prime minister so he has his work cut out for him and i think probably behind closed doors they're telling him that the time has come for you to leave and say there are cards former u.n. spokesman in iraq thanks so much for being in the now thank you. time flies it's two years already since we killing saturday julian assange found

refuge in ecuador's embassy in london during the time he's been holed up there he's grown a beard given a couple of balconies features witnessed lots of protests just outside his window some of them turned ugly and he was visited by lady gaga herself two years in the same tiny room forget friday night hangouts movies jogging we're talking about no sunlight even many violent criminals get walks outdoors during their time in prison but doesn't have much of a choice tonight we ask you our audience will he ever leave the embassy. well let's say our son's has had enough and you walks out the door sill immediately get arrested and probably taken to the u.s. as soon as possible god knows what will happen to him there but if he tries to go straight to ecuador say quickly gets in an embassy car and attempts to even more quickly board a plane there's a homo stuff hundred percent chance will be stopped on the gangway and it doesn't

even squeeze into a diplomatic bag or a box which could then be taken sent to ecuador no such bags should contain only documents for things an official use not worth trying i know it sounds silly but this was being debated when i saw it first went to the embassy and the embassy itself is being constantly watched twenty four seven a son chance been holed up in a small room on the second floor of the embassy building since june at least four police officers stand good inside and outside the building twenty four hours a day waiting to arrest the son should do you tend to leave in addition a mobile command unit to stationed outside the embassy while surveillance teams keep watch from nearby buildings. can you imagine how expensive that is let me tell you one day of babysitting a son's cost eleven thousand pounds that's almost twenty thousand dollars that's

more than three hundred thousand pounds a month and more than four million a year so no doubt this man is very very dangerous many say he's a terrorist because revealing america's war crimes is apparently an act of terror. i think the man as a terrorist is closer to being the high tech terrorist and julian assange has engaged in warfare joining us in the now to talk about julian assange mention his fate is john pilger australian journalist based in london he's a documentary filmmaker and here range the donation process for julian assange just being locked up for two years is it a better alternative to what he might face if he didn't get asylum well yes that's why ecuador granted julian assange political asylum because outside the embassy he faces i would have thought a fairly swift trip to the united states virus we.

and the prospect of the kind of thing that chelsea manning has had to endure and possibly torture. if sweden does drop the case against us songe and that's what his lawyers are aiming for right now would it be a game changer i mean he himself says that he wouldn't dare to leave the embassy even in this case well the british government would have to ground would have to the laws of political asylum that's one of the the real issues here. you know assumption is an international political refugee when i say international he's been granted refugee status under international law because he faces danger it is up to the british government to ono that law and allow a safe passage to ecuador now if the swedish government drop the case

there is absolutely no reason why the british government can't comply with that more is there a way out of the embassy is there is there any way out of the embassy. to get say. no one well you can't very well climb out the chimney no. there's a siege at the embassy the british police have that embassy under a kind of seeds but that's what you know that's what you see when you when you go to the embassy and what this is about is the punishment of julian assange and wiki leaks for revealing the whole landscape of war crimes committed by the united states and all its conspiracies against so many of the governments that's why all

this it's sweden is is a sort of almost a grotesque red herring if the term is understood but it's a distraction. because that is the main game as they say the main game is that they want to get their hands on the silence and that has been that has been demonstrated last month under afraid of been formation released the f.b.i. admitted that there was a major investigation. for prosecution of us and under an act that has no relevance to the espionage act in one thousand nine hundred seventeen so this is a which charmed against basically a truth teller when the desire do you think to apprehend the sonship be a strong and say ten years do you think that things will calm down.

well i don't know i can't for cross we've we all get. hopes up at the moment is. there is some discussion. a possible. arrangement with sweden but julian assange is for somebody who's been without direct sunlight for two years he's doing he's doing pretty well extraordinarily so actually i'm not sure i've been as good a condition as he is at the moment and he's actually promising more revelations in this case think it's the right thing to do i missed the first part of a question say it again please julian is promising more revelations as we mark the two year anniversary of him being holed up in the embassy is that the right thing to do in this case. of course is the right thing to do. you know

this is this is called freedom of information it's called freedom in the in the most literal sense we have a right to know what our governments do whether it's a democracy or not we have that right and what we keep leaks is down but it's so enrage secretive governments it is that has told us what they do in private in contrast to what they say in public now we keep leaks is has been releasing documents pretty well all the time it's up to journalists to look at those documents analyze them and do their job so releasing more documents at the moment is is what we could leaks has been doing now for several years john pilger australian journalist based in london and documentary filmmaker thanks so much for being in the now. to him as long as story has become a plot for

a hollywood movie he appeared on the simpsons but n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden might be taking some of his glory his paintings are apparently selling like crazy in china the painter is making a fortune reportedly he sells them for three hundred bucks a piece. the

. economic down in the final long day the new york sank night and the rest that i was doing became believed every week may. be a great army has confirmed its troops have restarted their offensive this morning across the country just a day after the president promised to back off with a unilateral halt well false reports of renewed airstrikes and artillery bar barmitzvah of towns and cities anti-government forces claim new areas are now being

targeted by kiev civilians lives in residential areas are being destroyed as they learned to live with the now day to day bloodshed. if you go there you. know you could then you would not cause the million year look to be your true do you. suppose a little news or need to renew the deal it's love in school give all you good people you're going to. get. now did say the so-called ceasefire would be brief but long enough to allow anti government forces to lay down their arms and this would be the first broken promise from ukraine's president to the people of the east when poroshenko won the election he held his first trip would be to the nowicki in the east playing the good guy possibly an attempt to appease the suffering population there because really his first trip was to poland and talked with obama on the country's crisis.

inauguration day came and so did another claim i don't want war but peace and unity for ukraine but actions speak louder than words the bombs shells and tanks continue to terrorize civilians in the east under the umbrella of an anti terrorist operation. a deadline for a ceasefire by the end of last week was also missed this video it was shot on june fifteenth clearly a broken promise and here's the latest pledge to hold the offensive in the east in order to give vent to government forces a chance to lay down arms well that hasn't happened yet in fact this video reportedly shows lines of tanks ready to move just outside. the president of dello russo alexander lukashenko is probably face palming himself after falling for a call from a well known russian prankster the conversation itself was recorded and leaked by

an unknown source the man calling pretending to be the son of ousted ukrainian president viktor jenna coverage asking to help his father check it out. yes or no torture but you could go low whisper who the reporter over to come universal. which i'm sure. and then the prankster pretended to be very grateful so much so that he offered some goods in exchange for them but they. do in the movie. but. if you do. can you get a bill you know you should. well apparently look at sango wasn't too happy when he found out it was a joke and he's the first politician to get upset about pranks fidel castro was furious after this call from go chavez.

i wanted you out of the courtroom true get paranoid you can't grow out of you in my culture so my culture where no. but some high ranking officials like un secretary-general ban ki moon catch on to the phony phone calls like from canadian pm steven harper after he talked about crazy glue in his hair and hockey. how are you mr secretary general how are you are you i find are you. good. i was calling above the most important subject for us. room about what it's about the hockey team to quebec nordiques you have to speak to gary bettman to bring them back it's a big situation in quebec and i'm a partner for. no no that's pullin don't be

a. great sense of humor but the prize goes to the same team of pranksters who got republican vice presidential candidate sarah palin with this call from a so-called star cosey a fake french president who seemed odd as the real thing for a whole six minutes. this is a nicolas sarkozy speaking and while you. are so good it's so good to hear you who are calling us oh it's a pleasure thank you sir we have such a great respect for you john mccain and i we love you and thank you for. talking to me you know i see you as a president when the you too. baby and here's where you feel you you know we have a lot in common because bissonnette one of my favorite activities is to two very good we should go hunting together exactly we could go try and think like you did i never did that you know i look forward to working with you and getting to meet you

personally and your bill or wife oh my goodness you had a liturgy to your country. with that beautiful family of yours thank you very much you know my wife would love to meet you you know even though she was a bit jealous that i was supposed to speak to you today. take a hug for me you know my wife is a. farmer and she saw it in bed she even wrote a song for you oh my goodness i didn't know that. that doesn't read this week have a great weekend see you monday. so are we going back to iraq recently violence has flared up as insurgents are taking cities from the current iraqi government and response to this chaos obama

declared that his administration is prepared to take military action whenever our national security is threatened oh well since the weapons of mass destruction were never found in iraq and the current militants can't shoot their forty seven's over the ocean i don't see how us national security is at risk now or before the iraq war even started but on the other hand the flow of oil from us but tamia well that might be at risk but sometimes i forget that obama is a politician and just a day later he was quoted as saying quite the opposite about the same situation declaring that we will not be sending u.s. troops back into combat in iraq which sounds great to my ears until you wait yet another few days and now he is saying that they want to send at least two hundred seventy five troops to provide support and security for u.s. personnel and the us embassy in baghdad i think this or willian attitude towards the truth comes from two factors one lying works and obama gets away with it.