we will find you we will investigate you we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. you will not be happy with the result the us is dressing links from the white house the transcripts of calls with world leaders are released by the media raising fears of a national security. washington blames russia for escalating the diplomatic crisis between the two countries. congress of souring the ties with new sanctions. the opposition in venezuela says that it will defy the newly elected constituent

assembly and continue to work in the parliament. into. top officials from the trumpet ministration of lash down to the continued links of classified information coming from the white house saying that damaging the country and warning was issued that they are on the hunt for the leak. leaks are incredibly damaging to our intelligence mission and capabilities simply put these leaks hurt our country if you improperly disclose classified information we will find you we will investigate you we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law and you will not be happy with the result. of the strong words

from the officials came after team was hit by yet another scandal of an unauthorized disclosure a correspondent jacqueline vega has more from washington. but turney general jeff sessions and the director of national intelligence sent a clear message that a crackdown is coming on what they called the culture of leaks in america both men stress the fact that these disclosures of classified information put national security at risk and jeopardize all americans exceptional spoke on the fact that they have seen a sharp rise in illegal leaks reporting that in the first six months of the trumpet ministration the department of justice has received almost as many criminal referrals over leaks as over the past three years combined in turning general also added that these leaks are affecting trump's ability to do his job effectively. no government can be effective when its leaders cannot discuss sensitive matters when it so freely in consonance with foreign leaders for the first time sessions

revealed that four prosecutions are already underway and implied that more might be coming and one of trump's closest advisors kellyanne conway has even speculated that using a lie detector test on people in the west wing is a possibility to root out the sources of these leaks so this show of force comes after the washington post published what is likely the most dangerous leak to have happened up to this point the transcripts of trump's phone calls with two foreign leaders from back in january of this year that these documents getting out is seen as explosive given that they involve highly classified conversations with the mexican president and the australian prime minister the call records reveal that trump argued with his mexican counterpart about his proposed border wall and show tension between trump and the australian prime minister over refugees. my position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that mexico cannot pay for that wall but you cannot say that to the press the press is going to go with that and i cannot live with that you cannot say that to the press because i can not negotiate

under those circumstances this is a big deal it is really really important to us that we maintain it it doesn't oblige you to take one person that you do not want this is going to kill me i am the world's greatest person that does not want to let people into the country and likely in response to leaked documents such as those being published sessions offered a warning to the press saying that prosecutors have launched a review of the justice department's policy related to subpoenas and evolving media organizations implying that the press could be held responsible for publishing classified information the term administration has long been fighting to stop illegal leaks and now it's clear that they mean business. early we discussed the latest leaks with former u.s. diplomat jim gentry he also believes that the leaks pose a major threat to national security what could be more damaging if for the president united states cannot talk to a foreign leader frankly without fear of his public comments going public or those

of the person he's talking to how do you conduct diplomatic business which should be the top priority of the president and i think the leaking of this information just just simply shows this kind of remain we have here in washington that nothing is too bad to do this president he's such an illegitimate such a bad president that all the rules can be broken and this criminal activity this criminal leaking is sure why not it's actually patriotic to do that. poland in the e.u. probably we don't need each other at least that's according to the european council chief donald tusk the remarks from the former polish prime minister came during a press conference in warsaw. a lot of that but. i feel this is a prelude to announcing that poland doesn't need the e.u. the e.u. doesn't need poland i believe that would be one of the most dangerous moments in our history i'm afraid we're closer rather than farther away from that moment. was

so in brussels have been embroiled in a number of disputes for some time now last month the polish parliament approved controversial reforms to the judiciary handing the government control of the country's course that despite strong called to action is coming from the european union which was also banned logging in an ancient polish forest but also went ahead and partially cut it down anyway migrants has been causing tensions to simply because poland won't open its doors to a single one of them. ok let's begin to guess now i can speak to professor steve king professor of economics at kingston university great to have you on the line state. how would you interpret this rhetoric coming from donald tusk this is sidon that poland going to be leaving the e.u. like it's a sign the u.s. not working on this is what's not getting through to brussels at all there wouldn't be the clamoring for exit from from the u.k. there wouldn't be the potential of

a very rich and almost victory of marine le pen all the rumblings in italy it's all a sign the system is not working or something fundamental at the core of the european union that if the people you there want to leave or not join and it's strongly getting through to the brussels executive that this is actually their problem their failure that's causing all these eruptions around their borders if you look at things purely financially it would look to many as if poland's done quite well out of being in the european union it's billions in funding it's the economy seems to have benefited what would it mean for poland if it was to leave the union. not a lot because again the european union is actually contractionary paul if you look at what they are actually objectives where in the mastery treaty it was to have government spend less money every year to try to run a surplus that actually says part of society is trying to spend less money if you spend less money surprise surprise your economy shrinks so what actually happens is

often they seem to be carrots to attract you into the you in the first instance but it's fundamental guarding policy of cutting spending every year actually gets to contract an economy and people once they're in then want to get out again so i think paula might be very very was the site this doesn't look like such a good laon long it's rather like a teaser right on the babylon. i would have thought that would have the last things that the e.u. would need right now is in the leaving do you think that they'll actually make quite an effort to hang on to poland in fear that other countries might follow suit i think they will but i think it's what we really need to do is say let's get down and reconsider what on earth we were trying to achieve with the european union in the first place and why is it being so on successful was it only benefiting the northern states which have got enormous strides while the solemn months of suffering with right deficit's and all the contraction that forces upon them when you look at that why and say we have after reconsidered the in trot structure of the year maybe we should even let the pollen tarion spread pose bills which of

course the european union is the only problem and it doesn't allow that so it's a time for think for a fundamental reexamination of the european union and if this message doesn't get through with paul and well it's going to be the one who's next italy and steve said you know poland probably don't need each other he's playing it very sort of cool but who do you think has the most to lose from a divorce. i think ultimately the european union does its credibility as corrupt as crumbling and we saw how to use greece to try to punish greece and it's still punishing greece a decade after the the crossest began there you you've seen it trying to punish the you punish britain for this even discussing leaving all the sides of punishment actually brings up because of the growth of the berlin wall and saying don't leave or will shoot you it is not the sign of a successful union people should be actually clamoring to get in because of its success they should be realizing its own failure and seeing one of the three do wrong in the first instance the lead to this outcome and the real thing they did

wrong was to have a contractionary pact driving the european union rather than a growth pact steve thanks for coming on r.t. we appreciate you taking the time and giving is your friend thought steve king professor of economics at kingston university. now another use more than six hundred civilians are likely to have been killed in coalition air strikes in iraq and syria since operation inherent resolve began three years ago this is according to a new report put out by the coalition of the coalition still says it has more than four hundred reports to assess of possible civilian casualties but u.k. based air walls what stock cites other figures obtained by its own assessments claims that more than four half thousand civilians have been killed in coalition air strikes since the start of the operation many more were forced to flee war torn regions they describe what they saw. yes

nothing is left in iraq except for destruction by the coalition in the isis but the strikes of the coalition with some villages were wiped out his families children and women will hit by random strikes we wish to be rid of both isis and the coalition at the head of. the coalition carried out and strikes on schools children . many civilians were injured when the coalition hospitals as well and. i'm now in force great coalition she has tell us cool so we stopped going there most of civilians were killed in that last strike they were sheltering at the time . i can't begin to guess now speak to patrick henningsen he's a geo political analyst and he's also the editor of twenty first century watch dot com patrick very big difference between the estimates coming from the coalition numbers coming from the independent watchdog in fact like a seven fact

a difference where do you think the truth lies. well no surprise the coalition's going to want to under play any of the sort of casualty numbers for civilians from the operations in mosul and in iraq as well and because it's political you know the whole operation against isis is political if you look at it if you're in the united states it's all about the theater of what the u.s. is achieving whether it's under president obama or whether it's under president trump and everything's viewed through that weird kaleidoscope in the united states and it has nothing to do with what's going on the ground either in mosul in iraq or in iraq in syria and so since two thousand and fourteen just segregate this and talk about syria alone the united states has no legal basis to be there at all so every single person has died whether it's one six hundred or force or four thousand

three hundred as the highest estimates are any life that is an illegal unlawful killing on on behalf the united states coalition should even be operating over the skies in syria anyway. i want to paya that there's an element of transparency i say that in the sense that the u.s. led coalition publishes reports every month gives figures of casualties but it doesn't seem to be any accountability no one's actually put on the chopping block for these deaths of innocent people is that ever going to change. well that the other problem is. these kind of operations are kind of cloaked in a politically correct language that's used by the military and then the united states has pioneered this sort of p.c. language but a militarized version of p.c. language so we're talking about friendly fire for instance or collateral damage you know and what americans don't understand because they haven't had to face it on their own territory is that one man's collateral damage is another man's wife and

children and that's a reality in syria and it's not just about those directly killed from coalition air strikes the people who are have died of heart attacks or health effects as indirectly as a result of these airstrikes those numbers also can be added to this total plus the i.d.p.'s the internally displaced persons you're talking about another hundred twenty thousand how many of those might die of dysentery or of some sort of other disease from living in a camp or not having access to clean water does that get counted in this death toll as well and so these are questions that you know the united states will not want to answer and they absolutely downplay at every opportunity their role in it be like asking a vigilante gangs who just shot up a town to give a report afterwards of how many civilians they've killed of course they're going to downplay those numbers is exactly what the u.s.

military has been doing for decades with all of these sort of what they call interventions and in syria absolutely illegal they should get out and leave it to the legitimate parties or the legal parties to deal with the i. this problem the ice is supply lines are more or less been cut at least to turkey and some of these other rat lines that were allowed to exist when the u.s. was flying over in two thousand and fourteen fifteen and sixteen there they're cut off now there's no reason why the united states should be in over syria at all let russia let the syrian arab army and let their legal partners deal with the problem within syria that is the core or given patrick we appreciate you coming on giving us your thoughts geo political analyst and editor of twenty first century wired dot com patrick. now the u.s. state department has blamed russia for a new low in its relations with moscow after president donald trump signed his

approval to the latest sanctions bill on wednesday. are you saying that russia is to blame for the relations right now. russia's been involved in a lot of activities a lot of activities that are very concerning i know to many of you and to many americans whether it is election related activities or their activities in ukraine they've also harassed u.s. diplomats there i mean there are a whole host of things trumbo seems to have a different view on the issue he says on twitter the blame for the souring relations lies so that the doors of the u.s. congress called the russia sanctions bill which received overwhelming support in both houses clearly unconstitutional such overwhelming backing meant that even if the president had vetoed the bill lawmakers would likely have overruled him the new law also gives congress the power to block easing any of the restrictions the rockwell founder of an american think tank at least the president should be more assertive in his opposition to the sanctions bill. you know the president i guess

felt that he had to sign that horrendous sanctions bill and remember sanctions are acts of war under international law however what he should have done is exactly what george bush i hate to recommend anything george bush did you should have said as he signed the bill he should have said i don't intend to enforce this of course because i believe it's unconstitutional so what trump should have done is just ignored it this is not unprecedented and there are plenty of times when congress felt the president was doing bad stuff and i must say i fear the most is feeling he now has to become another war president and making war against many more different kinds of countries talk to think of trump in that sense he seems like such a powerful guy maybe they've got him on the ropes maybe this is who knows what's ahead i fear it's not good for americans for russians for the chinese people for anybody in this whole world. their position in venezuela says that the country's

parliament will refuse to dissolve itself even if ordered to do so by the fresh the elected constituent assembly now the new bodies holding its session right now the international community has also expressed its concerns the u.s. has been the most vocal among them branding last sunday's vote illegitimate it's also called president nicolas maduro his leadership a dictatorship like and discuss this in more detail now i'm joined on the line by professor joseph and he's the author of latin america and international politics challenging us had germany good to have you all professor what do you make of the recent demonstrations which have been violent and also the calls. to actually ramp up those protests that is. well first you have to take into account that the so-called constituent assembly election was a fraud to call an election would be a mockery of what happened no opposition candidates were allowed to stand and the

votes cast were not in favor of one candidate against and the other so the so-called candidates were all cronies of the president and the ruling p s u v party which controls the executive and the courts so the election was obviously similar to those you had in the soviet union not too long ago in which ninety five percent of the votes cast were in favor of the referendum the so-called constituent assembly so let's get that straight the constituent assembly is it is not a democratic body second of all the. head of that assembly. has been indicted by the united states drug enforcement agency for drug trafficking so he's a very suspicious fellow this constituent assembly now has supreme powers it will probably call for the elimination of the popularly elected you know true election

national assembly the assembly and astronaut and that will create considerable friction in venezuela so we'll have to see what happens now that as you said the constituent assembly is having its first session today and the world will sit and wait the rest of latin america particularly south america is greatly disturbed by the author terry and slide in venezuela and the dictatorial manner in which the president nicolas maduro as usurped power all of them all of the countries in south america are nervous that this will produce increased violence with an opposition which probably represents about fifty five to sixty percent of the pop. of vote if such an election were held tomorrow so the constituent assembly i don't think is going to solve many problems but it is going to perceptor take some action in venezuela which will be watching closely and joseph i just want to clarify it

suffered conflicting reports to what extent was this madieu row not allowing the opposition to put candidates up for election and also i've heard that the opposition actually refused to put people they were before they had but they actually didn't participate in the election the opposition they had their own symbolic referendum five days before sunday's election in which seven and a half million venezuelans voted in favor of democracy ok but there's none of those are the voters have to reports that the opposition actually chose not to put forward counted this. absolutely not furthermore what's interesting and information coming out you want to know who's got the truth and who doesn't go to announce of course that there was a great popular support for the constituent assembly and announced that eight and a half million people had voted the reason he chose that number is because the

opposition had managed to turn out seven and a half million in their symbolic referendum in the previous week so he wanted to show that his popularity was greater than that of the opposition unfortunately for him the election vote the election system is done by a u.s. based company which does it all digital even so it is very modern in its electoral technicalities and that company leaked the information that only four and a half votes had been counted in the computers so mr mother otoh was trying to impress people with how many voters had turned out but in fact that's not the case we'll see what happens when the constituent assembly actually sits as i indicated in my earlier comments the members of that assembly are all pro government and they're led by one of the men. who is considered one of the toughest members of the motherhood oh governor the took of ministration us taken actually supposed

sanctions on in particular on the president of venezuela do you think we'll see further action coming from the u.s. or other international bodies. that's an excellent question and that's the live question before inflation we referred to that in the united states is the sixty four thousand dollar question the sanctions were imposed by the united states treasury department on eleven individuals in the sanctions are on individuals not on the country but the president has made it clear that it is a president trump has made it clear that if matters deteriorate further in venezuela is at least contemplating imposing sanctions on the country and the sanctions would involve a total. block of venezuelan oil exports to the united states that would be a disaster for the venezuelan people personally i speak speaking personally i hope he doesn't do that but it would be

a blow to the government that might in fact produce some change the rest of latin america has not been able to come to a consensus as to what form of sanctions to impose on venezuela all of the regional organizations that exist such as the market of the south medical sued the organization of south american countries. have banished or barred venezuela and they've refused to recognize the legitimacy of sunday's election of the fraudulent constituent assembly so at least there's some action but precisely what sanctions might work on venezuela this government is digging in its heels oh and it is their colleagues are playing an end game and they're making the exit of of from power extremely difficult so they're raising the stakes in a high stakes geo political poker game and we'll see what happens the

russians are deeply involved having just put out another two and a half billion dollars in credit to the veterans. walen government through the state oil shows if i do apologize i am loath to interrupt you know we are about to lose the signal with you so rather than be rude in los angeles every day i say many thanks professor joseph north of latin america and international politics. out of these plans for a new synagogue in sydney australia have been banned amid fears that it could become the target of an isolated terrorist attack the decision by the local council was upheld in court this week and the synagogue was to be built a few hundred metres away from the iconic bond the bond beach but authorities ruled that it could pose a threat to local residents and extra security measures were added to the plans but these were deemed unsightly by the council spokesman for the jewish group that appealed against the decision believes the ruling is

a victory for the terrorists. it basically implies that no jewish organization should be allowed to exist in residential areas it stands to stand for jewish existence and activity in sydney and indeed by creating a precedent the whole of australia and by extension rewarding terrorism potential terrorist attacks have already been hitting the headlines this week in australia after a plot to blow up an airliner was foiled two men were charged with terrorist offenses thursday over an aborted attempt to place an explosive device on a flight coming out of sydney likely scald one of the most sophisticated plots ever attended in the country and let me state importantly helped to organize it by this australian jewish activist a yemeni police that the terrorists are still winning when you synagogues are being banned. for targeting the jewish community because they may become victim or these radical islamists is certainly not the way to go about it it's sending the wrong

message that's a win for the islamists exactly what they want they are trying the way our society i'll be leaving a demonstration the next sunday. from across the border across a strange society who are outraged by this decision this is not a jewish issue this isn't a strain issue tomorrow it could be a stadium it could be a train station it could be any strains will not care what terrorism and why they want to see our government or i think islamic terror they don't. need the current turmoil in the white house donald trump is still ited with one positive development the record gains seen on the u.s. stock market but the president show it could be short lived as on the scale of more pain explains. the u.s. stock market is riding high and there's no one more happy about it than the man in

the oval office we've picked up substantially now more than four trillion dollars in net worth in terms of our country our stocks our companies well that sounds great right well that depends on who you ask first let's quiz the movers and shakers here on wall street what do you think of the spike in the markets the donald trump's been talking about look it's obviously great news that the economy is doing well i think that's generally a good vibe for everyone you know on the other hand i think it's not unusual for a new administration to sometimes won't take credit for a trend that might have surfaced in the previous ones this is are looking to see that there's going to be no more regulation and they're happy to see that. the market is following suit but the average american doesn't really share their enthusiasm a big a lot of people are suffering out there you china to go union jobs like you know i mean everybody everybody is inside of the opinion but from what i've seen like. we're all struggling a lot of people don't have jobs. the jobs you know housing and everything is just

less stuff everything is going downhill maybe the working classes have a reason to be skeptical stocks all around the world are tanking because of the crisis on wall street like the puppies do for twenty years and they're losing their jobs and these are going to cause disease that's the thing to say i did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of you know fat cat bankers on wall street on and on and on regulator after regulator they either chose not to act or turned a blind eye to what was actually going it was a lack of regulation that many people blame for the chaos that took place back in two thousand and eight but fast forward to today president trump says that too much regulation is the problem we have had regulation that's been so bad. so out of line that it's really hurt our country now not everyone agrees with the president on that a recent report from the public advocacy group called public citizen.