get a good look at this right here and you can go faster dead banker. breaking news this america has stripped of its capitol hill press credentials just pressured to register as a foreign agent in the united states. little . boy. dies after taking poison in the war crimes court in the hague. the white helmet sort of. the reporters without borders tried to cancel a press event critical of the syrian request was rejected as being an attack on free speech. for the.

past midnight here in the russian capital thanks for joining us. this is our team and. we start with breaking news a congressional committee in the u.s. has just revoked america's accreditation on capitol hill received the following letter informing us of the decision the executive committee of the congressional radio and television correspondents galleries exercises with or easy to withdraw the news credentials of the network this action was taken in response to the registration of the network as a foreign agent please return your credentials to the senate sergeant. i can speak to us correspondent caleb someone who be directly affected by this case to tell us more about the season and what indeed it will mean for reporters in the

u.s. . this decision essentially prevents us from doing our work on capitol hill in washington d.c. congressional hearings with both the senate and the u.s. house of representatives take place on capitol hill and you're required to have a credit dacian to be able to attend those hearings and report on them and such this will limit and essentially prevent us from from attending those hearings and continuing to do our work now this comes after r.t. america was pressured and basically forced to register under the u.s. foreign registrations act farah now after that happened the state department spokesperson heather nauert insists that we would be able to continue doing our jobs we wouldn't really be affected we would be able to continue functioning after we registered under this law take a listen to what she said when the united states tells someone to register under

a foreign agent requirement we don't see impacts or affect the ability of them to report news and information we just have to register it's as simple as that. well it does impact our ability i have now received this letter informing me to that i have to give up my credentials in order to operate on capitol hill now the foreign agents registration act was first passed in one thousand nine hundred thirty eight and it was an attempt to combat the influence of propaganda coming from nazi germany the law basically requires periodic disclosure of activities and the finances of those who have registered it's mainly applied to lobbyists now in the in the previous months r.t. has been under quite a bit of pressure you tube has removed our premium ad service on you tube google

which operates and controls you tube removed us of our premium status twitter has also outlawed on and prevented us from doing our advertising work and we've seen numerous hearings in congress directly targeting are accusing us of different things the so a lot of pressure is being put on this network and it looks like another step has been taken making it harder for us to continue operating in the united states and doing our journalistic work reporting on events in the united states. ok in the bring us right up to date from the u.s. thank you. on to the news from a military commander slobodan priapic has died after he took poison of the war crimes court in the hague the verdict was being read out at an appeals hearing you'd expect to be produced in a small bottle and drank from it in front of the judge. but other.

beliefs don't. i have taken poison. dramatic scenes in the courtroom at the hague as the judge announced that slobodan play the former bosnian croat military commanders twenty year sentence for having taken part in war crimes would be upheld and he would be returned to the cells when this the play act produced a small bottle from his jacket said that he was not a war criminal and drank from it we understood that he then collapsed into his chair the video feed cut out he was rushed to hospital and it was confirmed later that he died in a hospital yack had been convicted in twenty thirteen for his role in the destruction of the mob star bridge now the courts had ruled that this caused

disproportionate damage to the muslim civilian population in the region it was just last week that the international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia hundred on a life sentence to ratko melodic the former bosnian serb military commander was convicted on charges of war crimes crimes against humanity and genocide and the appeal hearing of slobodan pray yack was actually going to be the final hearing involving the c.t.y. it's supposed to be wrapped up next month following eighty three convictions and sentences being handed down by the court since it was first started back in one thousand nine hundred three at the height of the conflict in the former yugoslavia in the time it has come in for criticism most notably for the handing down of sentences disproportionately to those from the bosnian serb side of the conflict.

political analyst john bolton it's believed that the purpose of the cole was to set nations against each other the purpose of the court was to set these three brother nations against each other in perpetuity so that you could divide and conquer the region general probably was convicted had no chance of winning his appeal. i think he realized that it was a death sentence the man was in his seventy's twenty years imprisonment meant a death sentence in effect i'd like to point out that this man was primarily convicted for blowing up a bridge and the bridge has since been reconstructed and if you went to the site you'd never know the difference but the same general and the muslim generals in the area ethnically cleansed one hundred percent of the serbs in that region and nobody was convicted for that crime so if you look at the three sides in the war. the

grounds for conviction were were never fair. the controversial white helmets group is again causing divisions have to reporters without borders urged the swiss press club to cancel a conference that was critical of the syrian activist chris was rejected by the head of the organization is big modern day censorship. you are challenging our support for this conference with the name of our organization appearing on the list of media members return only dissociated ourselves from the savant and do not wish to be associated with the conference we invite you to abandon this project which will damage the image of this wrist press club it was very surprising and very disappointing to see the journalist association asking for the kind of censorship that was my first reaction and so i decided to reply writing your letter and asking them to respect the freedom of the speech and bruce

risk constitution. if he previously can it is only best occasion into the white helmets while on the ground in syria has more details now on what caused the split between the journalist organizations. you can't talk about that imagine what will happen to your reputation said the journalist how far the profession has fallen when one of its biggest unions tries to censor a simple discussion we are accustomed to to get the pressures from everywhere in the world and mainly from dictatorial. dictatorial countries but what which was very surprising was due to gets such pressures from a journalist association so it's the first time in the twenty years of do existence of this response that we receive such demons from a journalists association which is supposed to support to to support the press

freedom so far almost everything you've been told about the white helmets is stuff from their press releases and video productions not from locals or civilians no know from white helmet sponsors and p.r. agents that's great and all but let's at least hear from the people they say they're saving shows them helping the people but they only help the rebel fighters they really those close to them the last thing they cared about is civilians have whenever food aid was brought into the white helmets and rebels were taken after themselves to give us nothing not even bread and he to us what there were many people buried alive would come to save them and if they found civilians they might help and they might not that's a huge surprise what a shocker the white helmets aren't perfect who would have thought they were just

regular people with their own shortcomings their own agenda just like everyone else so why on earth would reporters without borders want to censor this absolutely obvious fact. calling it russian propaganda i think it was the topic which was this disturbing this disguise now having described. as an. organisation they cannot admit they were wrong and yes they didn't even admit to here are people who are criticizing. tournaments has it was a taboo to speak about that's impossible for a serious journalist or simply honest person to admit such such abuse of your own for whatever reason it is taboo no one in the mainstream

media or in western governments says anything remotely critical of the white helmets you remember ever hearing anything unflattering. reporters without borders has all but taken sides let's not forget in two thousand and sixteen they named a syrian rebel activist and the journalist of the year is taunting syrian conscripts buried under rubble he says he wants them to taste a slow death the swiss press club has made a point not to judge for me i cannot see myself in the mirror or if i am good big censorship or deciding you have the right to speak you have not to speak because you are representing the bad the supposed bad part and it is paid off they've received an outpouring of support internationally and they vow to

continue doing what they do irregardless of pressure i also received many people criticizing russia. for garry kasparov for. this is nemtsov are who who are criticizing criticizing russia so i am open to everybody even to do people who are supporting russia and not going to be criticizing that's i think the goal of the real prescribe and not the politically correct. association. to speak now to independent journalists for nasa bailey she took part in the white helmets panel which reporters without borders wanted to be canceled even t. vanessa what do you think the motivation of reporters without borders was here what were they trying to achieve. i mean i think it's absolutely clear i mean the

reporters without borders and not with their own. question about background and they've been funded by the national endowment for democracy they've been funded by usaid according to an article by william and a renowned analyst in two thousand and ten they were involved in a sort of mockingbird media operation against humor also against venice waiter during the cia failed coup against hugo chavez in two thousand and ten and there predators of press freedom campaign was run by such and such you can't get much more elite behavioral insight section changing agents on your site but i think basically what this operation was about was basically censoring any dissent against. mass media manufactured hollywood promote

a multi-million dollar fund by various nato member states by the various gulf states that are funding terrorism inside syria and basically preventing any diverging views or any evidence against this organization being exposed or revealed at the geneva press club. and it's quite personal as well as i understand that reporters without borders in the letter they wrote to the swiss press club they called you a so-called journalist. said that you only appear on russian propaganda media presumably they're talking about this channel in particular how do you respond to those allegations. i mean you know this i mean i really have to extend here a huge thanks to. for his courage under fire. and

for his standing by the principle of freedom of speech i mean you know where in such a dark age at the moment i never expected in my life to see us living through what we're living through now this carter years and that was censorship by exclusion of independent analyst journalist his story and i mean are they going to say that john pilger is a legitimate are they going to say that gareth porter is a legitimate i could go through a whole raft of some of our most esteemed and most prominent commentators and as i said investigators and analysts are those people now illegitimate because they've appeared on our team i mean this is this is sheer insanity and the point that i made actually very strongly last night is that to say that the evidence against the word helmets is coming only from russian propaganda

is an insult to by the syrian people who are speaking out against this organization and who have lived under. a regime of terrorism affiliated with the white helmets in east aleppo for example but the majority of the evidence against the war at all much comes from the white helmets it comes from their own social media pages it comes from their own videos it comes from their own admissions and often also it comes from the rebel in inverted commas media outlets that we know to be majority of them to be funded by the e.u. the us and the u.k. also so as moved out it's just you know the propaganda puts the white helmet up on to this extraordinary pedestal. is produced by their p.r. agencies by the countries that are funding them that are also funding the. in syria . and try their own by their own proclamation of glory and

humanity which is denying the syrian people who have come into contact with. and i would say for example personally i don't know to what extent the white helmets are legitimate or not but i would certainly want to hear the arguments on both sides and i'm sure a lot of the people watching would feel similarly want information all around this conversation while you were trying to have this kind of discussion on this panel did you find that it was useful in terms of you know informing people about the white helmets and what they're about. what was absolutely extraordinary. i think as a panel we presented some very solid facts and very solid evidence and we raised some very important questions about this organization an organization that has been filmed and participating in to date at least four dreadful executions of both

civilians and prisoners of war including an operative clambering over the dismembered bodies of syrian arab army prisoners of war in june two thousand and seventeen and. that evidence that was present there was not one question around this evidence nobody actually broached the subject among the press there about the word helmets they say they presented questions about the legitimacy i present to my own age or our own. panel and in fact in total stefan brucella wrote today basically regurgitating the accusation from. not one point. i mean this ceases to be journalism this becomes a sneak smear campaign this is not free press quite frankly this is gutter press because this journalist has come to a professional panel with people who have presented this evidence and he has taken

nothing away from that he was asked no questions on the night of the people that he then goes away to smear. as i said this is this is not professional this is not in any way hearing to any sort of journalistic ethics i would say if you're saying negative things you don't have any facts to back it up but i'd call that smearing so i'll give you a chance now then and i'll ask you for facts to back it up if you have anything to cast doubt or any aspersions upon the white helmets or not you know how would you assess their work to what extent are they are not legitimate. first of all the white helmet is described as. impartial apolitical organization they cannot make that claim when they are consistently lobbying both politically and for military escalation inside syria that's the first and

second the we have a huge amount of evidence of that sectarianism for example them demonstrating against and i don't like using sectarian terms because they are not welcome inside syria among the syrian people themselves but pictures of the white house much demonstrating against for example developers of. villages marooned in the middle of the calling for their extermination for the burning and that. we know from civilian testimony that they did not help civilians and easter the majority of the time they were only saving the nursery front or associated militant fighters as i mentioned they've been found participating in celebrate mopping up after front executions of both civilians and prisoners of war and also we've seen them exhibiting brutality towards civilian prisoners. i mean you know the evidence is

actually pretty overwhelming even down to the funding of the white house by exactly the same entities who are financing and arming and to a great degree promoting the terrorist factions inside. attacking the syrian people for example in damascus with the mortar fire from drive after my time on from. so the white helmets are basically in my opinion a form of human shield that moves with the terrorist entity is predominantly national front and gives them humanity. he uncover when each section of syria becomes a front line so the white line on its move always with front for example they didn't stay. to help this it really ends who were struggling to go east leopard west they didn't state and how and they laughed on the bus front to the new front

line which of course incident and there you see i can guarantee you the white helmet probably grand begin again with the last hospitals that are stocked soon as the syrian army starts its campaign to basically remove the terrorist factions from . some very interesting insights appreciate your time independent journalist for nessa billy is my guest. ok let's return to our breaking news story this hour a congressional committee in the united states has revoked r.t. america's accreditation on capitol hill i can discuss this now with private investor and writer charles or tell you joins me on the line could speak to you charles we were well r.t. america was told this wouldn't affect their work registering as a foreign agent was just on formalities how it was kind of patrol nonetheless we have this revoking of accreditation what you think comes next.

well it's i got to say you know i'm not an expert on media law or and also not a lawyer but in looking at this i believe your organization was to was commanded to register as a foreigner under the under fair or and you follow the direction to do that and it would seem at first blush that you already have been potentially harmed and i wonder you know when we think about this how many other organizations starting in russia how many other russian government related news media organizations have followed the same path and beyond that how many to take the b.b.c. for example and other you know the chinese state controlled media operations how many in the united states how many foreign government controlled media operations have been put through this drill and if the answer to the question is only r t then i would have thought that the the it's not as if relations between the united

states and russia you know are hunky dory and improving i would have thought that this would be something they go would go directly all the way up the chain and that would trigger close attention by the highest levels in your government and that you know quite a stern response would be delivered to our side by tomorrow morning our time yeah i mean and my understanding of this whole debacle if i can use that word is that this is about funding that there's been no revelation of any wrongdoing in terms of the reporting by r.t. america this essentially came down to where the funding comes from i.e. from the russian government which is no secret in any way shape or form is there no danger though that what we're seeing here is a silencing of them turn into media will be a few of the organizations looking over the shoulder non-thinking of my next. absolutely you know one must take a step back i'm not familiar with the organization i don't know exactly who is in charge of f.a. or a i think it's it's part of the our justice department i don't know whether still at this late date the people who make the decisions if they are

a are obama. clinton bush era holdover so i don't know whether this can be laid to record at the feet of the trumpet ministration or not of though and you know at this point out you know they're probably out of excuses i also don't know this organization that did die the congressional accreditation i don't know how that's governed so certainly at this moment there are elements within our own deep state who would like to provoke hostilities and i think that's clear from history. and i think the deep state at this moment is under assault. for very good reasons so you know i question exactly the timing i question the timeline. and i think one needs to do some very good not necessarily journalism investigation deep investigation as to how did this arise who's behind the initiative at faro what were your people told exactly were they apprised of the consulate consequences and then as you

rightly point out what does this mean across the media of spectrum inside the united states and around the world now i've only been to the u.s. once but my understanding of it throughout my lifetime is that this is the homeland of free speech you have the most robust protection of free speech of any country or the come across how does it fit in then when you've got this seemingly silencing of certain press organizations. well i mean i would lay that at the doorstep in part of the generation that has taken control of our university system and forgotten the great contributions of thomas jefferson just a brief brief commercial thomas jefferson was the author of the virginia statute of religious freedom and he was it was obviously the author of the declaration of independence and he was the founder of the university of virginia in addition to that he was a governor of virginia he was our foreign minister he was vice president was president ited states you know what he was proudest of and what's on his tombstone the first three things i mentioned not that he was president not that he was

secretary of state but that he was the founder of the author of the bridget virginia statute on religious freedom which is that forms the core of the first amendment so yeah i think this is really you know a very. dire development and i like to as an american i'd like to know more about how this came to light this just doesn't make sense to me based on my interactions with you all and of course this is the point at which one would expect the free speech activists the organizations to step forward and say wait a minute you can't do that that goes against everything we believe in but of course that is this toxicity that's been established anything connected with russia is poisonous what will it be brave enough to say something and step forward. i would hope so i think in the past you know those organizations you speak of i think you're thinking of the american civil liberties union and things like that do actually defend fear forcefully the right to free speech and i would hope there was

stand up and be counted here one other thing i would mention i do a lot of appearances across the medium spectrum many different organizations and many of them will ask me in advance you know pose questions and ask for my responses your organization has never done that indeed on this most contentious breaking development all i was asked to was just come on and react you didn't know what i was going to say none of your organization did and you know that seems to me to be the way in which your organization functions you try to find people who do their homework you give him a chance to express themselves and you expose many sides of you that seems to be the core of modern journalism whereas our mainstream press seems to have lost its way i mean think about the way in which the mainstream press the united states completely missed breck's it completely missed the donald trump victory and completely seems to be missing reality in two thousand and seventy yeah thanks for pointing that out charles because maybe some of our viewers don't appreciate that maybe they pay down say i can back that up i've never sort of pretty checked with

the guess what they will say and indeed i'd guess they've attacked me on our channel quite vociferously live on that but i've always respected their opinion even if not agree with it and you appreciate your time charles private investor right to charles and tell us my guess persian. thanks to you guys for chiming in hopes but informative back in half an hour's time with the latest news. candidate trump was criticized for not having a coherent understanding of global affairs indeed he largely dismissed the foreign policy elites a year after his election in since his inauguration is there such a thing as a trump view of the international system.