coming up on our team new information comes out about an american fighting for the islamic state and he's not the only westerner fighting for their cause we'll take a look at the group's recruitment tactics and how many more may be taking up weapons for isis. and the bowline out from ca we are tracking the virus as it's claimed more lives and continues to spread more on that coming up. plus a grassroots effort to help the town of ferguson missouri through the power of music we speak with organizers of the new benefit concert that comes days after a massive protests over the police shooting of an unarmed teen more on that later in the show.

it's wednesday august twenty seventh five him in washington d.c. i mean you're a david and you're watching r t america. an american man believed to have been killed in syria was there to fight alongside a terrorist group most likely the islamic state formally known as isis it was thirty three year old douglas macarthur mccain a regionally from san diego according to an activist linked to the free syrian army which saw his body mccain was among three foreign jihadi fighting with isis who died during the battle u.s. law enforcement and intelligence officials have long expressed concern about foreign fighters joining hard line to harvest in syria as to vary but most suspect the number of fighters with western passports is in the thousands more than one hundred are thought to be americans officials have expressed concern that

radicalized foreign fighters could one day import those influences once they return home in fact just last week federal authorities urged law enforcement across the country to be alert for possible attacks inside the u.s. in a joint bulletin the department of homeland security and the f.b.i. said because of the individual lies nature of the radicalization process it is difficult to predict triggers that will contribute to homegrown violent extremists attempting acts of violence they went on to say that offenders present law enforcement with limited opportunities to detect and disrupt plots to discuss this i was joined earlier by jake deliberate tow iraq war veteran and doctoral researcher at the university of birmingham in the u.k. i first asked him to talk about what's driving americans to join radical groups like isis. well i think there's two components of this that stand out most

particularly the first is you need to see the foreigners that are joining insurgent groups are doing out of a feeling of connectivity a desire to give up their lives and sacrifice for something else isis as it stands is not necessarily something that's directly related to anti american ism isis is a form of standing up for islamic extremism or. belief so when you see these foreigners coming to join isis it's a more out of a passion a extreme desire to stand up for that fundamental extremists and have an outlet to express that and also simultaneously the second component of that is being able to not just simply express a religious faith but express a religious faith and demonstrate political power and political control that which is similar in any other combat whether it's in the streets of chicago gang warfare

or it's in a battle the border of america and mexico with the drug cartels and the american political control it's an outlet for an individual to express control and it's an outlet to express a religious affiliation of a religious belief even if it is manipulated by some form of extremism indeed it always goes back to power well we know that isis has quite the public the department can you talk about some of the techniques that they used to really recruit people so what we've seen since the development of isis as a and as an organization this is post the fall out of the syrian breakup with isis and. isis has an extraordinary online presence this isn't geodes chat rooms this is a twitter this is with every form of social media young people who are technologically savvy can access these chat rooms they oftentimes change their names they change their identities and it's a form of sort of social and entrepreneurial phenomenon in which people get to

share ideas and they get to do it in a way that as someone sitting in a home they're able to sympathize become emotionally attached much in the same way if somebody were to have private spiritual life in their home it's the same way but however it's connecting a religious belief and a political orientation a movement to support isis finds its foreign supporters by first making a connectivity of. social connection but then allowing that connectivity to fester and metastasized into action and that's what isis wants young people to do across the world and the u.s. is clearly concerned about these fighters coming back here last week the d.h. as in the f.b.i. urged law enforcement across the country to be alert of possible attacks and officials say they have no evidence of any specific threat so how concerned should two components of the first is whether isis wants to strike the united states or

not is not something that we have seen besides a few anecdotal pictures a few anecdotal remarks on online chat rooms that isn't what you would call a social movement like we've saw from osama bin laden during the one nine hundred ninety s. were there was a series of strikes made against the united states of tanzania embassy the u.s.s. cole in the one nine hundred eighty three world trade center bombing as well so we haven't seen that sort of overall coherent strategy push forth that doesn't mean it's not coming so in order to basically put it put a cap stone and say we know a strike is coming we only know a strike is coming so far is that what we can see what isis done so far isis is shown a regional interests a localized interest not so much a global interest that doesn't mean it's not coming but it hasn't been as forthright and planned coherently as bin laden did during the one nine hundred ninety s. to what i find so interesting is that these young men and women are even targeting

muslims pacifically sunny muslims and a lot of people don't quite understand that isis is actually comprised mostly of sunny muslims that shocks me because when i think about the group i think of more you know targeting western interests so does this say that this group is just so much bigger. than what we've seen in the past is it just go beyond you know the original stated goals of some other terrorist groups well i wish we had more time to good talk at length about the diversity. and the political ideology within the different sunni insurgent groups and how that relates to isis what i can do is simply narrow it down and say the reason isis is targeting sunni communities generally is because the same reason that we see we saw a.q. why under which the al qaeda in iraq and mr khouri target cities it is the lack of political power in the region and the need to demonstrate and take over power the way that you do take over power if you're an insurgent organization read of the

people i don't agree with you get rid of the people who don't agree with you yes but it's also whoever's got the strongest gun whoever's got the biggest gun is the one that will maintain power and this is not nothing new herat of just wrote about this centuries ago and this is the same type of experience you see anywhere in the world where there is not political power reason isis taken actions because they want political power and they want to demonstrate control of society and engine class a a lot of people look back on this and say you know this is the obama administration this should have been addressed earlier before by ruling out of control in your mind is there anything in ministration could have done to prevent from this you know from seeing happen what's going on right now with this this sort of anti obama remarks that are coming in and out of washington are are ranking just anti obama isms without any real coherence the reason that isis exists today in such a powerful strong format is because in two thousand and nine at the end of the u.s.

counterinsurgency campaign there was a failure to develop a long term coherent political plan that incorporated all elements of iraqi society that was able to make long term sustained political peace building from the bottom up we achieved temporary success and what we did when we defeat it well when the sunni's defeated al qaeda in two thousand and nine we essentially pushed them into the to the countryside push them into latency but that actually didn't get rid of the problem. which was. old tribal differences political different ideologies and what that metastasizing has now brought about isis to be more vitriolic more powerful and more dangerous than anything we've ever seen in iraq in the last decade that indeed all right jake deliberate iraq war veteran and doctoral researcher at the university of birmingham in the u.k. these are weighing in on that they are much. and now to the latest in ukraine moscow is planning to further provide humanitarian aid to the people of donetsk and

lugansk regions that's what russian president vladimir putin told german chancellor on the merkel and a phone conversation today the two sides discuss the results of the customs union member states meeting that took place in the capital of belarus but the focus of media attention was of course on the first one on one meeting between putin and his ukrainian counterpart petro poroshenko artie's irene a go go has the details. clinton is the first ever hinted between the current president of russia and ukraine and just your onlookers hoped it would herald some kind of breakthrough but put in said the talks went well but insisted the most pressing issue finding a solution to the conflict in ukraine was something key of needs to settle but if you go in there should we didn't talk in detail about it and frankly speaking russia can propose any conditions for a cease fire or speak about possible agreements between uki haven't done that score

lugansk this is ukraine's affairs we can only try to help to create an atmosphere of trust during these negotiations that are in my view very necessary. something that is becoming worse than the problem of humanitarian catastrophe in ukraine and cities of the guns hundreds of thousands of refugees are fleeing for safety many coming over the border where there was real was in discussions over the gas dispute between the two countries which he promised to negotiations will be started in the future because it's a problem which affects the e.u. just as much as it does. the russian president was all smiles ahead of the one on one with bush and co the ukrainian leaders feels betrayed the fact he was probably a little less relaxed head of talks with a lot riding on them. it was a day of tough negotiations but the logic of the peace plan was supported by heads

of state which. ultimately though no real breakthrough came in attempts to end the bloody struggle in ukraine but after the events of recent months just the fact the leaders are talking is some kind of progress. r.t. minsk. as the warring parties fight for control of donetsk in eastern ukraine the country's largest chemical plant and going three thousand people has been hit with missiles landing close to pipelines and storage tanks artie's policy where has an inside look at the image around one of the largest factories in ukraine of chemicals and coal and as you can see it has come under shelling you can actually still smell in the air this smell of burning and there's also the constant fear that any moment now but ukrainian military will shell again we're trying at least to get to the center of the nets because here it is too dangerous. to show for just let me show you where. this is what is left of the show but others fear another

channel could be on the horizon that in its krege and has nearly four thousand dangerous factories and facilities to hit on any one of them would pose a threat to the entire area and indiscriminate punishment to fighters and civilians alike we're talking about i was because they were great in the atmosphere. because we're talking about here which should be chlorine related. risks in most of these cases will be. problems. disappear if your station residence nearby the plants are not taking any chances it's been more dangerous here since the morning when it was some houses have been hit on the edge of the neighborhood and this is part of a ruckus that was fired from a grad missile launcher more and more these are landing here in civilian areas of course the r t. eastern ukraine. as the

a bolo death toll continues to rise across west africa and unprecedented number of medical aid workers are themselves falling ill with the disease artie's manila chan brings us an update in this growing epidemic among the very people meant to treat it with more than twenty six hundred people infected and over fourteen hundred deaths the recent a bola epidemic has now claimed the life of another doctor leading the fight against more water shutoffs are coming to people who are behind on their bills and detroit this comes as a moratorium on the shutting off of water expires earlier this week right now nearly forty five percent of the city's home water accounts are past due after detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation's history despite claims from some that water shut off should be seen as human rights violations thousands of

those who are sixty days behind on their bills or all more than one hundred fifty dollars have had their access to water disconnections are still going on in the city but thousands of customers have agreed to new payment plan so they can continue to pay off their balance and have access to clean drinking water only ten percent of balances are required to enter the payment plan that's down from thirty percent before according to the u.s. census bureau detroit is one of the poorest cities in the nation with thirty eight percent living below the poverty line. and now to ferguson where all hundred people marched in the community last night to honor the life of eighteen year old michael brown and encourage the community to heal it comes after more than two weeks of protests over the shooting death of brown by a ferguson police officer but that commemoration is not only taking the form of

protesting tonight in new york hip hop activist group rebel dia's will do a benefit concert to raise money and awareness on the issue. it's a cause that sits very close to home for the members of the group not too long ago they joined the protest with the residents of ferguson and got some rare insight into michael brown's family after those events front man rodriguez of innate us known as rod stars wrote an op ed about that experience called ten important observations to know about ferguson to discuss this i was referring to earlier by the members themselves rod stars and gonzalo been a guest also known as g one i first want to talk about what compelled them to drive the seventeen hours from new york to ferguson. wealth to see the images of these young people in ferguson demanding justice for michael brown was very inspiring for us were based in the bronx and in the bronx we had our own michael brown our own trayvon martin his name was ramadi graham who was murdered in his own home in front

of his grandmother and his little brother a couple of years ago in the bronx to this day the officer that killed him richard haste has not been brought to justice it's a struggle that we were very much involved with in a building with the family of ramadi graham in the bronx and so when this happened for us we really felt the need to express solidarity with the community of ferguson with michael brown's family we also our collective in the bronx has a personal connection to michael brown's family d.j. charlie hall so it was a member of our collective grew up with michael brown's cousin and so also was very much a personal thing to be able to go and build and express solidarity with michael brown's family. ride to you said one of the things that struck you during your visit with michael brown family was their view of brown's final action before his death can you talk about what they meant by that. michael brown's final action i think showed a lot about his character and we want to talk about this because you know the

media's been assassinating his character and more than anything he was a selfless show that he was a selfless man what he did is basically he told the other friend that he was with dorian to run and then he turned around and surrendered and put his hands up which is why you know all the young men in ferguson have been you know doing the hands of don't shoot as a way of just saying you know like that the young people are being murdered but the act that he committed was that i think it says a lot about his character he was a young man that was supposed art college the monday after he was killed you know and more there was that the family was showing you know a different side of things that that's that's really nice to get put out there is that is that mike brown was a good kid you know he was the family called the mike mike the gentle giant and you know he was an innocent kid that was murdered by them and there was and is still free and he won when it comes to the media do you think that there was a conscious effort to characterize michael brown in

a certain way or do you think he was portrayed that way just by default. absolutely absolutely the media is trying to assassinate his character for example the video you have this bogus video that comes out. and this video is based on nothing because what happens is that there was never a nine one one call to talk about a robbery because a strong armed robbery didn't happen you know when the police stopped michael brown there was no knowledge of anything that had gone on in the store i think it says a lot you know just to understand is they now make people that live in new york people that live in cities with this bodega that you have that relationship or just or there was never a robbery that may have been a disagreement but there was never a robbery there was never a call and more or less it's an adult think that we we have a problem with god and it was this nation's moral compass it was even having the discussion about whether you know the fact that somebody potentially did or did not steal some cigarillos deserves the death penalty necessarily what occurred this was

an an execution of a young black man and it goes the test it's a testament to the fact that in this nation there black lives are undervalued there devalued and becoming just a variable in an equation for profit unfortunately what we're seeing and rob one of the things that you also talked about in an op ed was outside agitators it was coined by authorities picked up by the media of course as well about people infiltrating ferguson from elsewhere to stir up commotion by that definition it could have included both of you being that you're from new york why did you make of that distinction. i think that we have to be clear that social movements has historically had outside agitators and infiltrators from the f.b.i. cointelpro and stuff like that so we have to understand that that the enemy is always going to have that be a part of it but i think that in this case there was also i think you know an over

and for some the focus put an outside agitators which i think is also a tactic to take away value from an uprising of young black people and young poor people i think that that's that's that's a that's a key thing that we have to differentiate we wouldn't even be here right now or even be having this conversation about ferguson if those young people hadn't responded the way that they did you know in two thousand and fourteen you know the government the state has a monopoly on violence and i think that just the fact that people are even talking about this response when you compare that to the police terrorism and a military occupation of a town that they were responding to or even as simple as a police murder of one of their friends i think that that's that's when you start walking you know a fine line which is something dangerous i think that for example you know the so-called leaders of al sharpton have dictated a narrative that pits the good protester versus the bad protester and i think that that's a dangerous it's a dangerous narrative to really take part in when what we would have doing is that

it takes away the rights or almost you know if it devalues the right of young people to resist the system and i think that that would happen in ferguson is a tipping point in which young people you know the young man that i met that was fifteen years old that's only you know i was i was nine years old when obama became president what polls were polled racial america day talking about mean or even young man who's who talked about you know they killed trayvon last year and they get away with it they killed a mardi gras in the bronx and they get away with it how do i know that i'm not next so i think the main point that we're trying to make with that is that you know the there was a young rebellion that happened and i think that we need to understand. that was a response the main thing we should be talking about that this was a response police murdered subleasing arizona and a military occupation of a town of twenty thousand people so you know that's a very very good a very good point to make indeed unfortunately we run out of time wish i could talk

to you both some more but that benefit concert is tonight in new york city best of luck than a dozen gonzalo been a guest of the group rebel the thank you you thank. all right and here are some of the other stories we're covering you may have missed starting off on the west coast the california senate has approved a ban on using drones for warrantless surveillance the bill attracted support on both sides of the aisle passing twenty five to eight the strict regulations require law enforcement agencies to obtain a warrant before using drones for surveillance except for emergencies like fires or hostage situations california joins virginia and idaho as the third state to pass laws to protect privacy against potential drone surveillance abuses and when obama signed off on the end of the u.s. military's don't ask don't tell policy some gay rights advocates thought the government had neglected the t. in the l g b t now

a new report authored by high ranking military leaders says it's likely the u.s. will join the eighteen other nations where transgender members serve openly noting that an estimated fifteen thousand five hundred service members currently serve in secret the report concludes that allowing transgender personnel to serve openly is a ministry to every feasible and will not be burdened burdensome or complicated and finally from our neighbors to the north a novel fund raising idea who needs a kickstarter when you can fundraise through sex that's right porn star in quebec has pledged to sleep with twenty five men on september fifth in order to finance her breast implants event called the balls on will cost attendees fifteen dollars and will take place in a trailer behind the bar in the town of good tino where it will be filmed for later release. and before we go don't forget to tune in at nine pm for larry king now

tonight's guest is country musician jake owen here he is talking to larry about how he got his start. true about the shoulder injury in college is responsible for the taking of the kids are very true and you know what you are not you would florida state right i want to florida state i was i wanted to play golf the other golf team was going to walk on much one brother had a full ride there in tennis and i had some other offers to play a smaller schools but want to be a punchline rather so i went there and ironically enough had a at a shoulder strap surgery after an accident waterskiing and i don't know if that was the reason i started a fix of guitar but i know that. it was like a way that my life told me that maybe it's good supposed to take a different path so there's a you have to be nineteen twenty years old i was nineteen twenty years old had you son before it all in the shower in the car i remember when rather as a promise is an honest truth i'm never forget it just kind of singing along to

a song and my brother are sitting in a back seat of the car on time and he's like mom you should like do something with jake because i think you can sing ok i'm never good. but that was early i was young like ten eleven years old. so two men and nine pm tonight here on r t america now does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to you tube dot com slash arts in america check out our website r t dot com slash usa follow me on twitter i mean david i'm out the martin stories we cover here we're not going here in iraq and start that have to have a life time as a reason they don't want to have our want that i know that we should all be really great now let's break the set.

remember that u.s. drone strike in yemen back in december that military officials have defended and insisted that no civilians were killed and well documents obtained by a human rights organization called reprieve indicate that in may of this year some yemenis received more than a million dollars combined in compensation and first family members who were injured or killed in the exact same drone strike the payments are important to say the least for two reasons the first reason is that the payments confirm the fact that yemeni civilians were indeed killed in that u.s. drone strike despite what military officials like to say along with other details with previous documents reveal the identity of some of the civilians who were

killed among them was a twenty nine year old man who was an associate of an organization working to curb islamised militancy the second phase in the payments are so important is because they're so large yemen is among the poorest of nations in the middle east and yet here is the yemeni government has account over a million dollars to victims of one drone strike gregory johnsen an expert on yemen who investigated the strike and payouts went on record as saying it's extremely unlikely that yemen would be even able to make such large payments on its own and that's led many experts to believe that they knew was might actually be behind the pavements made to the victims in the drone strike that the military doesn't want to admit killed civilians it's not outrageous to think the u.s. is secretly behind these payments either as it's. common practice for the u.s. to issue what it calls salacious payments to compensate victims for errant strikes

as if the money makes it all ok for instance according to a twenty thirteen pro publica report the u.s. paid out almost a million dollars to victims in afghanistan but that was over the course of a full year and covered many strikes unlike the case of the recent yemeni payout which is outrageous is that anyone in the u.s. military would contend that no civilians were killed when officials at the cia have even admitted that civilians were probably killed what is outrageous is caitlin hayden spokeswoman for the national security council insisting on calling civilians noncombatant in her e-mailed statements about the yemeni payments as if that intentional switch of words somehow of race and the fact that innocent people died in the attack u.s. officials might try to write her of their way out of admitting guilt in this case.