a proxy war between two of the biggest powers in the middle east around and saudi arabia has escalated directly affecting other countries in the region. i hundreds of thousands of take to the streets of barcelona they're outraged that madrid crackdown on former catalan leaders who were behind the region's independence declaration. highly anticipated formal meeting between donald trump and putin failed to materialize per did chatter on the sidelines of the apec summit and agreed to cooperate on syria. and the u.s. justice department demands r.t. america register as a foreign agent by monday failed to comply with the channel's bank accounts could be frozen.

thanks for joining us this hour you're watching the weekly here on r.t. international. the geo political rivalry between two of the middle east main powers saudi arabia and iran has been destabilization other regional players yemen and lebanon. and the latest development saudi led airstrikes targeted the defense ministry in the yemeni capital it was back in march of two thousand and fifteen saudi arabia first began its incursion into yemen by launching an air campaign against rebels who are backed by iran many civilians have also been affected by the latest saudi led bombing here's what they told our sister channel r.t. arabic. and then a second rocket hit my house was destroyed i'm just an ordinary person i'm

a bus driver i'm not a military commander not an agent of the state why did they do that to me my house didn't hold a single bullet did they fear that i had weapons so i want them to watch this i have nothing this is just a house and i'm a poor person that i would feel if you knew i had an leg were injured our houses were destroyed this is the result of aggression how how is this in the area are affected by the strike. we have has intensified this bombardment of yemen in response to a missile fired towards the saudi capital of we can go i think the fight is saudi arabia was quick to blame it on iran saying tehran directly supports the peace later a senior u.s. air force official played the ballistic missile had been made in iran. in iranian markings on the business. as it demonstrated. there are pictures that take that to mean that connects the dots to iran in terms of who's supplying. missiles

and that capability has some i am going to we do not even have the ability to transfer missiles to yemen. and they've managed to increase the missiles range. what is my guess the of takes a look at the current tensions between two of the biggest players in the middle east. recently benny a days seems to go by without saudi arabia making headlines and it almost always boils down to it's enemy iran it is a game of chess that spans an entire region on every front in every country the saudis see iran's evil influence. the huth the rebels in yemen who saudi arabia has been bombing for many years fire a rocket riyadh that the saudis could only describe as

a rainy and aggression the saudis also ready to throw that allies under the bus to create an excuse to denigrate iran. q the lebanese prime minister holding a successful meeting with the iranians and then going to saudi arabia and out of the blue without warning declaring his resignation while lou inching into a tirade about evil raney an influence plunging the region into chaos and destruction. were of iranian prison simply discord and destruction and interfering through our countries in lebanon syria. yemen what i would like to say was the iran and its followers that they would lose in their. you lose a poor and gain an opening then there's the blockade of cattle.

a trade embargo seven ties ultimatums and warnings punishment some say for cata daring to deal with the rain ians and then there's syria the saudi sponsored rebellion is dying that. the hardest allies are losing and asaad is winning and while syria may have unexpectedly checkmated riyadh here in the saudis around picking up attacks on iran on other fronts truly this is an international game of chess with nations and populations at stake ironic given that last year saudi arabia's highest islamic cleric banned chess saying that the game causes enmity and hatred between people and even when played on a giant geopolitical scale well it looks like he was right.

the unexpected resignation of the lebanese prime minister is only added to tensions there's been speculation saudi arabia could be holding saad hariri against his will denied the claims and self has just given his first interview since quitting where he said he is free to leave saudi arabia whenever he wants and a hard look at how look i'm free and rubio if i wanted to leave tomorrow i would leave tomorrow all these people need to know that i did resign i know it's not an all do it with resigning but prime minister i know that but i did it because i wanted to send them into short positive shock so lebanese people would realize that our country is in danger you are saudi arabia and its allies kuwait the united arab emirates and bahrain have ordered their citizens to leave lebanon immediately we asked analysts for their take on the current situation between saudi arabia and iran. riyadh is rolling out an entirely new plan no to create chaos in the region

where a recount and another squidgy of the flu isn't easy sure it's low hanging fruit there is a great momentum right now as we're speaking this week in saudi arabia to try and create some sort of military strategy against iran to destabilize around or or any of iran's proxies in the region saudi arabia is isolated in the ne in the emerging new we do least they've lost in syria because of the feel of the dash project the last in iraq i was just back from baghdad and the talk in baghdad is about not bach and i was ation but about iraqi national unity the last blockade against got there they are losing the war on yemen which is horrifying we dance of thousands of civilian casualties and supported by the u.s. congress for that matter and use the american weapons and u.k. weapons and now they're trying to change the narrative they're bringing the run

they're trying to ratchet up a confrontation involving level which is quite in the crossfire and is still is the same old story the saudi arabia yes the iran and countries seen the middle east states are going to be caught in the crossfire. and saturday night a massive crowd turned out in barcelona demanding the release of catalonia is jailed former leader is in the station was held in catalonia as national day and attracted almost a million people. i. doubt if we are here to have a free country where we stand with you push them on your key and all of the catalan government are in our hearts. i went to all of the demonstrations because i want my grandsons to have a life that we didn't have. that was we here to defend our politics defend those currently in prison and to differ. democracy and here we do find our human rights.

law our culture is all there for our children and they feel. the spanish prime minister is now in barcelona and has attended a presentation of his party's candidates for the upcoming regional election going to quote separatist. whole hosting be gathering was full of people supporting spanish integrity waving both national and catalan flags. early this week pro independence protest spot clashes with police as activists tried to block railway stations in barcelona and euro. i. i i i i. mean after a general strike brought much of the region to hold again in protest over the jailing of the region's former leaders to ridicule system of rebellion and sedation and as an old catalonia as a declaration of independence. several members of the deposed leadership fled to

belgium where they're now waiting to see if they'll be deported back the cattle traveled to brussels to offer support but were confronted by a spanish unity rally spoke to an r k catalan spokesperson for the european partnership for independence she joined us from one of the prone opponents protest in the catalan capital. just said. there were aggressive force. crackdown on institutions and obviously. you. know you are right. i would rate it's very good for him for that for the spanish to stay. so you made me believe that they i don't want reagan when i was bringing the bar there and i know my you know just imagine way perhaps i'm. just

a little. more know it's a national trait is. that they say i'm from all the south so many nations i'm did you mean by some rights in that i don't get to met. and i live by. our sister channel r.t. america's been given until monday to register as a foreign agent in the u.s. that's on the orders of the united states justice department farty america fails to do so as bank accounts could be frozen it was made in the legislation adopted over seventy years ago prior to the second world war to counter nazi propaganda in a coach and takes a look at the reaction to the me. we are a news channel but at the moment we are in fact is the news the mounting pressure and r.t. as this week cominius it and an ultimatum sent to us by the u.s. justice department r t america has been required to register as a foreign agent in the united states by monday with been left with no other choice

but to comply but artie's adventure into the channel is being forced into conditions and wish cannot war. just imagine you work in the media and have to sign everything you do with foreign agent or produced by a foreign agent how does it feel for any media outlet to disclose its personal data it's trucked to have to declare any interviews that you do to ministries and institutions this can be called part of the job these conditions are aimed at destroying us as mass media. at the moment russian lawmakers are drafting tit for tat measures targeting american finance media in russia while there is a list of candidates that might be had by those and among them are c.n.n. and voice of america radio liberty and its korean toin television channel but the crackdown on r t n the u.s. poses some very uncomfortable questions there fifty students that have pursued him

and those who are doing this in the u.s. have always been proud of being the world's number one democrats and freedom of speech has always been the main value at here to buy them there's no democracy without freedom of speech and attack on our media in the us is make no mistake an attack on freedom of speech itself the. pressure has been mounting on r.t. ever since we were accused of somehow making us voters choose trump over hillary last year but can one channel really will that much power or is this just in a town to stifle alternative. ok will have bring me more of the week's headlines in a moment including donald trump of vladimir putin of cross paths of the apec summit in vietnam and hundreds of u.s. naval forces staff are being investigated for bribery it's being called the worst corruption scandal in u.s. maritime history stay with us.

make this manufacture consent to probably. well. when the ruling classes project themselves. with the famous merry go round. we can all middle of the room sit.

back u.s. president donald trump has said that better relations with russia would be key to solving world crises such as syria and north korea he was speaking a day after the apec summit in vietnam we have to get to work to solve syria just solve north korea to solve ukraine to solve terrorism and i feel that having russia in a friendly process as opposed to always fighting with them is an asset to the world and an asset to our country not a liability getting along with other nations is a good thing not a bad thing believe me

a formal meeting between the russian and u.s. presidents had been highly anticipated but never happened apparently problems nevertheless the two leaders did briefly catch up on the summit sidelines and they released a joint statement on the situation in syria. they both confirmed the determination to defeat islamic state the president's agreed there can be no military solution to the syrian conflict they added a final political settlement should be found through the geneva talks for months and stressed that syria is still a sovereign country pickton in terms common views on those issues immediately spelled backlash cia boss john brennan claimed was intimidated by the russian president or former intelligence chief james clapper a friend in the naive and even a threat to america i think it's very naive and again for perilous to this country to make an assumption the rush is going to be with. the

of the world or the united states and. i'm pleased to say i can speak now to neil mccabe from the online news site big league politics mail you would have thought perhaps that was a positive thing donald trump speaking in fairly encouraging terms about the russian president about perhaps closer relations but there's been an establishment backlash against any kind of approach my why. but i think what you have is certainly in the case of clapper and brennan you have two political hacks who are basically just you know taking pot shots at the president the matter no longer working in the intelligence agencies in the now we know that in the at least in the last year of their tenure under president obama they had used you know they became very political in the use of their intelligence they are opponents of the president they are opponents of what his agenda is trying to do and and really i think in

a way they're trying to distract people from what what happened in syria what happened with russian relations during their own tenure. really think it's of luck he's been dubbed naive by some intimidated by putin by others is this all bowing down to the president cast doubt on the the claims of russian meddling in the elections and he standing against what is being said by many members of congress and particularly members of the intelligence community. i don't think anybody has a concrete idea of what russian meddling collusion hacking raking actually is there are a bunch of stray meetings and you know things that are sort of strung together as some kind of conspiracy that somehow delighted me or putin put donald trump in the

white house and i respect the president for pushing back and i think that his supporters would be shocked to learn that they voted for the president because they were fooled into voting for him and i think that's sort of the basic thing there's a history in this country going back to president nixon's election in one nine hundred sixty eight where the mainstream media and the democratic party has challenged the validity of every political of every republican president and so you know nixon made a deal with the south vietnamese ronald reagan made a deal with the iranians. george w. bush tampered with the election in florida tampered with the election again in ohio it's every cycle when a republican wins the democrats in the mainstream media do their best to undermine his mandate and the legitimacy of his presidency this is not a new thing this is an old thing that we go through every time couple claimed it's

naive to assume that russia would behave in the interest of the united states or the woo what you think he was trying to get out of the well. well i mean i. was shocked that putin is trying to work things out for russia while we shock the trump is trying to work things out for the united states trump branded a slogan of america first i don't think anybody would be surprised that putin put russia first i think that what have what people also have to realize is what you might call naivete or what not is this is this is trump's first year in office and by my count putin has dealt with clinton bush. obama this is what his fourth us president and so let's not be surprised if putin is a little bit more calm or a little bit more poised is handling it a little bit more measured but i think that all in all this president is on

a phenomenally successful overseas trip and you know we're not hearing any criticism about his success in the philippines and vietnam and china korea or japan so this is what they have left they're going to try to try to hang him with some putin nonsense to be fitted on to him during his election campaign he was saying wouldn't it be great if we can get on with other countries like russia wouldn't be great if we could actually be friends with him so to hit him saying it again now this isn't the shock is it people voted for him knowing that this was the approach he wanted to take. there's a group of people in the united states who are all geek dub about taking on russia and challenging russia and i guess what they want is a war i don't see any of these people enlisting for a war but that's kind of what they're trying to do we saw with president barack

obama in his in that last month when he when he issued those sanctions right before new years it was just it was just callous it was gratuitous the president obama did not check in with the incoming president and say by the way i'm about to tick off the russians and let's see what happens so i don't really know what game is afoot but there are certainly people in the united states who are gigged up to challenge and some have some kind of conflict with russia not everyone wants a war with russia but some people think it's a great idea they'll appreciate you coming on r.t. my guess from the online news site big league politics. colossal bribery and fraud has engulfed the u.s. navy that's according to prosecutors in the so-called finance learned case they've now revealed the true extent of the scandal the initial inquiry took place more

than four years ago that was when just twenty eight personalities leading to admirals were indicted now those transpired four hundred forty nine of the stuff are under investigation including more than sixty admirals and scores of offices all of them suspected of sharing secret information in return for bribes like alcohol and prostitutes the identities of the majority of people implicated are being held back to avoid jeopardizing the investigation the release of such information would likely reveal sensitive details about the breadth and scope of the criminal investigation and pending cases. these revelations have been described as the worst corruption scandal in u.s. navy history yes some are surprised that handing over classified information to a foreigner is being treated as fraud more pain takes a closer look. but what did they do well allegedly they were seduced by leonard francis a.k.a. fat leonard he offered them booze parties luxury hotels and cash in exchange for

information about where u.s. navy ships were going in the pacific ocean he did this in order to earn contracts now fat leonard aka leonard francis is in a san diego jail so giving away military information launched an inquiry into corruption now these navy officers admitted to giving away ship schedules and they pleaded guilty to bribery but leaking and giving up classified government information under u.s. law isn't called bribery it's called espionage why is the espionage act not being applied to corrupt navy officers christian saucer took some photos with his cell phone in a classified area of a u.s. nuclear submarine nobody paid him anything and he didn't leak them to anyone he simply lost his cell phone well he ended up getting sentenced to a year in prison now his mother thinks her son got a raw deal in two thousand and nine there was no cell phone ban on submarines at that time technology was new and didn't catch up maybe hadn't caught up yet and i

really have no doubt in my mind that it was a twenty two year old guy that wanted to make it out of where he worked yeah we were ready and he took pictures and so forth were allowed now when it comes to whistleblowers who reveal u.s. forces killing civilians or the n.s.a.'s massive surveillance it doesn't take long for them to be charged with espionage. months later i started working at the agency were you we were at the time or did you.

saw it looks like photographers without malintent and whistle blowers get hit with stiff penalties but if you're a good ole boy in the u.s. navy brass and you trade military secrets for sex and cash well it looks like the stiff penalties just don't apply kaleb up and aren't seeing new york. hundreds of moroccan football fans have clashed with police in brussels following their country's qualification for next year's world cup and. the russians turned violent when run police found water counted at the crowds in an attempt to bring them under control police find twenty two officers have been

injured and several cars have been torched in the clashes. ok and that's and you are right up to date see at the top of the hour. i live the good feel confident.

we have many things in this world and this is you know. why some peoples also take our things all the power just for themselves and to see that. one hundred years ago russia was consumed by revolution and unprecedented violence is not an understatement to say the russian revolution. was a defining moment of the twentieth century how did it change russia.

i think. the old situations are coming out of the stand pulpit. and that is a i don't think for you a bit made toys coming good directed to the board over the show but of the other side of think it came back the old impression of confrontation that's a mistake of the rest of the special by the americans also on the other side. i've had to really go shake that memory over and over and over again.

and again water flying and can scream. it's summer after i turned eight. when ever really knew what to expect from. during a particularly bad swing she went through some really desperate things there and she put us all in the bronco and to the spread drive down of the river. before we got to the river she was just purely robotic. she decided it was time for all of us to die. my memories of bad moment were really in black and white. i'm not sure that i ever really met my mom again after.