traditions called the police and us announcement of creating an armed force along the syrian turkish border in fact america continues its actions to establish control of a parts of serious territory close to the border in the meantime the u.s. scares the kurds away from the dialogue with damascus washington is encouraging separates a sentiment among the kurds. while there has been plenty of reaction coming from europe too on the latest development in northern syria germany's foreign minister said any military confrontation could potentially carry huge risks and france has called for an emergency un security council session author abdel bari atwan told us he thinks the us has made a mistake by trying to break up syria and create a kurdish state. i think very aware miscalculating there and when i don't. ask them to choose either he or the kurds they made their grave mistake when the side to actually side with the kurds all be three journal poll.

and that is that and this weekend in syria the partition of syria and the clear think that this is the without core of the nation with russia with syria with iran and with and now i believe that. a very very clear cut message that you know that americans are actually at a liable. and they cannot actually count on them. the rallies against the military operation have been held as you can see all over the. continent also in turkey demonstrators were met by a heavy police presence with reports the authorities use force to disperse the crowds at least a dozen people were detained we are keeping a watch on the situation along the turkish syrian border and all developments will be brought to you here on r.t. .

now america's national security agency has the power to identify people by this song and of their voice the n.s.a. is thought to be using technology much more advanced than say we're almost on that's according to a report based on documents leaked by the agency's former contractor edward snowden picking up the story this hour jack the into gaza. on the top of my voice there isn't much of my identity very compelling i'm female and people act like they're going through but i'm american i love. the n.s.a. however could do a lot more easily using my voice to identify who i am what language i'm speaking my gender and my dialect according to classified documents from the snowden archive the n.s.a. has been developing technology to identify a speaker using just their voice for years when sigyn to transcribers work the same target set for a long time they sometimes can identify

a certain individual in recorded conversations just by the sound of his voice and by his unique way of speaking this process was traditionally known as voice identification now rapidly improving technology is available that can do the same job mathematically the technology works by analyzing your voice is unique features to create an individual voice print and once the n.s.a. has that a single speaker can be almost instantaneously pinpointed even among massive databases now in two thousand and sixteen alone the n.s.a. corded more than one hundred fifty one million records of americans phone calls and that was after their bulk collection abilities were limited by congress so there's no telling how many boyfriends they could have at their disposal and theoretically a person could be instantly located and tracked down as long as a microphone is somewhere nearby and as edward snowden pointed out there's almost no escaping mikes these days i don't think anybody would augie the police. chase terrorists paedophiles who don't talk you about just told is he

surveillance what little he that is everybody everything piece of data die everybody being collected and scanned by software thinking that looks deviant and he could stop talking to people involved in very legitimate things like demonstration of straw eeks even you know people who vote for the wrong way this was the american government is considered another fear is that speaker. ignition could end up discouraging people from speaking out it has the potential to unmask anonymous sources are tracking journalists or whistleblowers and according to the intercept this technology isn't only in american hands either it looks like interpol the european union and china have their own version as well among others so you can run but you definitely cannot hide. this keep your attention still for a little while longer because we're going to update on the story we've been talking about for a few days now indeed three days into a u.s.

government shutdown the senate has now voted to clear the path for funding u.s. institutions till the eighth of february with the details and he's in washington joins us live now. how is the last thing compromise being struck here do that the if the favorites not long ago are to go and to leave the what lies ahead. well people across the usa are holding their breath now at the moment we find out that there has been a vote in the u.s. senate the vote was eighty one to eighteen for a resolution that would keep keep the government functioning for two more weeks in order to reach some kind of deal that would put the government back into function for two more weeks however we're still waiting for the u.s. house of representatives to vote on it and we're still on the third day that the u.s. government is still shut down now it may not be clear exactly what the implications of this are so we want to explain that to our viewers take

a look. america knows this is the trump shutdown i think it is still sure a shutdown so let's get that nice little ring to it doesn't it senate democrats shut down this government a big fat failure and. unfortunately

we cannot see your call today because congressional democrats are holding government funding to encounter the heat immigration debate each of the third direction the government is shut down. now there has been an international reaction to the shutdown of the u.s. government an interesting article appeared in chinese state media saying that the shutdown of the u.s. government indicates a spirit of non-cooperation in washington d.c. now the article that was published it talked about how the shutdown of the government was a slap in the face for donald trump the article went on to talk about how at essentially donald trump has undone every major policy of his predecessor barack obama the article pointed out that in the developing world the developed world the united states political model is kind of held up as an ideal that this is the best way that

a country should be run this is the ideal political model. it indicated that the gridlock and the inability to get things done in washington d.c. shows some dysfunctionality in that political model so widely hailed by western countries the article went on to say that what's happening the united states today will make more people worldwide reflect on the viability and legitimacy of a chaotic political system. can i do to. you being in washington you're a little bit further up the coast on to new york city thanks very much for the update kim open from new york. heading fock to europe guards europe's largest prison to the north of set up barricades and block the entrance to the facility and protesters were working conditions it comes as part of a nationwide strike triggered by a series of the types of prisons across the country the latest incident was on sunday when two guards were assaulted by an inmate the union say the demonstrations

will continue until the government takes steps to protect personnel working in june some of the protests over the past week have led to violent clashes with police. in germany social democratic party islam by its own membership after a u.-turn on coalition talks with an eagle a merkel we tell you about all means right after this. altie we have a great team we need to strengthen before the free float and you're better than a legend to keep it so it's at the back. in one thousand nine hundred two that must qualify for the european championships at the very last moment no one believed in us but we won and i'm hoping to bring some of that waving spirit to the r.c.c.

. recently i've had a lot of practice so i can guarantee you that peter schmeichel will be the best since my last world cup i feel that we've. thousand zero zero zero zero zero. left left left more or less ok stuff that's really good join me every thursday on the alex simon chill and i'll be speaking to us of the world of politics school business i'm show business i'll see you then. twenty minutes into the program welcome back germany's droll annoyed coalition talks could be on the verge of a breakthrough the social democrats leader martin shuls sounds persuaded his party

members to vote in favor of reestablishing the grand coalition with chancellor angela merkel's party however this could say be migrant alternative for germany party become the main opposition force in the country peter all over brings us more of the. all this was the result that martin schultz wanted it was the result he campaigned for both speak it was a visibly very worried martin childes waiting for those results that come in he gave a speech just before the ballots were cast he said that there were only two options it was either go into coalition with angela merkel's conservative bloc or they'd have to be another election and he was very clear on which one he prefer that you do you know you everyone should realize the question is coalition talks for new elections my take on this is very clear i don't think new elections are the right way for us but what would a coalition do for the bundestag how would the book the stagg look if

a new grand coalition can be formed well what it would do is it would mean that the social democrats who are no longer the largest opposition party that would go to the new kids on the block of turnitin for germany they would be the largest opposition party they would also get all of the or perks and traditions that come along with that including being the chair of the bundestag budget committee all new ground for the right leaning and tea establishment party a party in fact in which martin schultz and many other senior members of the social democrats have decried as racist before the election in september and said that they shouldn't be taking up seats within the bundestag well in an attempt to try and hang on to power for himself he may well catapult them up into the position of being germany's largest opposition peter all of our whole apush for a second grand coalition has had a polarizing effect i think it's safe to say in s.p.d. members of their parties on the left are also warning the social democrats that

they are jeopardizing their future. there is no more appropriate term than political suicide to describe this because if the s.p.d. really carries on like all the things they were punished for in the last election then i don't know what will be left of them in two or four years' time and that's the vicious circle with them trapped in for so many years now and that we should break it with. another. government. point. that the people think in terms of the party will be destroyed by the grand coalition martin doul terry homburg m.p. from the left wing d. link a party believes the social democrats have long been drifting away from their core values that is a long term process which is followed by this decision when we see the social

democrats since ten or fifteen years. original position they gave up to be a party which really has a decisive politics for peace a decisive politics for. the interest of the workers for the interests of the majority of the population. just. this process for. now doing the high school chores isn't exactly everybody's idea of fun is it but one russian cosmonaut may beg to differ these are pictures sent from the international space station coming up showing him hovering around on a vacuum cleaner.

that's how you have flown in space and that's all for us probably not i'll be back in what thirty five minutes time but more greats our team programs lie just around the corner stay with us. one else chose seemed wrong. but old rules just don't hold. let me. get to shape out these days becomes active. and engaged with equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. bit coy my enemy here every year ago better pick one of the nine hundred to prague

there that this was their year twenty seventh day to go to all kinds of crazy eyes and yeah it sure is good our experiencing a bit of a fall back. with this manufactured game sentenced to the public will. when the room in closest to protect them so. when the crime is clear your own lives and neither will most of them. to ignore middle room signals. the real news is. the war hawks sell you on the idea that dropping bombs brings police to the chickenhawk forcing you to fight the battles that don't. produce talk spread

a tell you that every gossip and tabloid but most important news today. the office of advertising tells me you are not cool enough to buy their product. all the hawks that we along with all the walking.

hello welcome to sophie and co i'm sophie shevardnadze attentions and society sometimes reach a boiling point if not taken care of leading to revolutions how do they work and are they in voidable i ask professor jack goldstone scholar of revolutions forward consultants to the u.s. government and professor of public policy at the george mason university. politicians ignore those they govern and the people's discontents becomes intolerable politics spills out from parliament chambers into the streets and squares what does it take to get from peaceful protests to an uprising revolution just toppling governments really bring about the end of people. what happens after

a revolution is successful. professor jack goldstone really great to have you on our program today welcome thank you very nice to be here by so let's start with tunisia i remember it was seen as sort of an arab spring poster child now seventy years on the sea or has started yet with new protests and people are saying hardly anything. why is it as a success story well if you compare the conditions in tunisia to those in libya or syria or yemen it still looks great by comparison revolutions in general are messy uncertain if you look at the situation in ukraine after the two thousand and fourteen revolution the transitions are all difficult at least tunisia is not in the civil war get to ukraine but if we talk particularly about tunisia because that's where the arab spring started. in comparison everything is different but if we talk in particular about tunisia the nothing has really changed within the

borders of tunisia for the batter and me well i wouldn't say nothing has changed you have groups that are now active in politics that previously were shut out you have different coalitions forming what you don't have is a kind of idealized utopian transition to denmark right you don't take a country that was middle income corrupt and authoritarian and instantly create a somehow rich modern peaceful country it takes a long time to complete that transition tunisia is having problems that's to be expected but it has not yet collapsed and that is worth applauding. so if you look at the arab world that's only home to like five percent of the world's population yet in accounts to how awful the terrorist attacks that take place in the whole world and there's still so much. and so much instability young people are growing more and more unhappy do you think there is

a chance of a new our new revolt well we're never there is injustice and deep inequality there is always a chance of a revolt people get angry about injustice they will tolerate poverty they will tolerate slow progress if they think their government is working in their interests but once they believe the government is no longer. taking care of them in any way if the government officials are simply enriching themselves you have the risk of revolt and i think certainly throughout the arab world that risk will continue. but just in a nutshell the whole arab spring that took place seventy years ago would you say it brought the region for. region any good or were pretty much where we started off i would say the results are mostly negative but again you could have said the same thing about the french revolution and seven hundred eighty nine it started off with

great ideals and it plunged the entire continent into war the nature of revolutions as they nurture wonderful dreams they often run into difficult painful realities but in the long run of history revolutions often serve the role of creating a change creating a space for something new to develop we don't know how long that will take revolution they will know what kind of change it will be no we don't in that sense a revolution is like giving birth you don't quite know ten or twenty years down the line what type of person your child will grow up to be but you need to have birth in order to have change so you brought up ukraine and obviously revolution in ukraine. big hopes and now people are looking back and they're saying the situation is so bad we might as well have a new revolution so i was wondering if revolution happens ones i mean durables destabilize country to a point where the country is prone to fall back into this arrest time and time

again one of the difficulties with color revolutions is they are peaceful relatively but because no deaths i don't mean no deaths i mean you don't have a kind of mass terror and civil war it's hard to have a revolution without a some number of people a few dozen a few hundred maybe even a few thousand but the great revolutions killed anywhere from. tens of thousands to millions so the color revolutions are more peaceful by comparison but they also tend to be less completes and the changes they bring you don't have a new government that completely extinguishes its enemies you don't have a new government that develops new sources of revenue or a new ways of doing business that's rather a partial change and for that reason there are a lot of problems that remain unsolved and there's always a risk of going back there is what i call a partial or incomplete change that has the potential for regression or for further

progress but in either way is not yet complete so what does it take for a successful revolution i relish is just lucky revolts i mean does it take more than a clean siddons and angry population to make it a successful revolution or there is much more to it if it was that easy there'd be more revolutions in history than there are in order to overthrow a regime it does take popular discontent and popular mobilization but it also requires actors with it in the leadership of the regime who feel that the regime is no longer serving the national interest you need people in the military or the bureaucracy or both who are willing to see the regime change otherwise they would be able to put down a popular revolt that did not have support at higher levels so one talk about america a little bit because there's also a rise in more radical movements like we see the black lives matter there is the ultra right and the other flank i mean this groups aren't exactly prone to dialogue

and compromise they're actually quite uncompromising is there a chance that they could actually radicalize american politics or it's a thing that will pass well if you talk to a lot of people in america they feel our politics have already been radicalized democrats and republicans are not talking to each other that much president donald trump seems to be something different he's not a conventional republican. he's certainly not friends with the democrats he seems to represent something else at what he calls the voice of the forgotten people by which he means rural small town america which is not being well served by the forces of globalization automation meritocracy and so we essentially have a radical popular movement aiming to restore something like the america post world war two when america felt it seemed the dominant country in the world that's what a lot of americans long for sometimes movements that which is cited to party and

yes and also the black wax matter and the right flank do you feel like they have a real chance of succeeding and getting somewhere with being at the helm of the country well black lives matter is succeeding in bringing police reform there are a lot of people who are quite distressed and we now require police to wear cameras when they carry out arrest so we have a record of what's happened but let me point to another radical movement and that is the hashtag made to a movement to say the traditional ways that men have interacted with women are not going to be accepted anymore yes we live in a patriarchal society but that does not mean men in power can impose their will on women or men who are their juniors and this has led to the downfall of some extraordinarily wealthy and powerful white men in america who thought they were untouchable so i'm thinking massive protests in the united states that have taken place in recent years like there are millions marching against war in iraq. a lot

of people writing against police killing of black people unjustly. sit ins at the caught up pipeline and really they brought nothing why is that why are the protests of today weaker than let's say those of the sixty's because they really made ground it's a very good comparison i grew up with the riots of the sixty's and they had an enormous impact. civil rights women's rights and of course ending u.s. involvement in vietnam right now the movements that we're seeing tend to be specific to a particular cause as you said stop a pipeline here deal with police brutality focus on women's problems now the great thing about america is when people want to express themselves they have the right to protest to assemble to create sit ins disruptions and that has always been a healthy part of american politics it's less effective now because the people who

are looking for change have not come together in a broad national movement instead you have a number of limited movements now in american history when there was a time of major changes the little movement sometimes coming together and produce a big outcome i think that was the case in the one nine hundred sixty s. it may be the case in twenty eight teen if there is a transformative democratic wave that leads to electoral change perhaps we'll see movements come together but we don't know yet all i can tell you is there is potential but so far it remains divided so you've said many times that actually people need to come out in the street and protest time to time to remind the government what they want and why they are unhappy but should this and overthrow of the government of these protests are for instance ignore it that the government no of course not the advantage of a democracy is that people can vote to change the government without having to overthrow it in the streets and indeed one could argue that the election of donald

trump was a major protest against both of the mainstream political parties by people who felt we need a huge big change and they could accomplish that at the ballot box even though voting is often supported by popular organization and demonstrations the two essentially are i think complimentary parts of democracy they're not widely different. so if you look at riots and revolution is generally right people who actually can't get themselves to get up from the couch go out in the street and protest and you know be very adamant about it are the active wants right for it but that they salant majority majority of the country they're just too lazy to go out and they sit at home or maybe they're not lazy but we don't know what they think so how is it fair to judge. going to mass protests as an expression of a whole country well lazy is not a good description unless you've gone out and interviewed people and asked why they're staying at home

a lot of them simply have jobs and families well we're happy with everything we don't know that they're happy here's what we know in countries with a very youthful population you tend to have larger more violent more ideological revolutions because young people are wide open to the future they're not tied down with family obligations they're willing to take risks they're often more excited by the idea of change when you have a population that is older it's harder to get people into the streets it usually only happens if there is some process under way that already has got people thinking about change for the future but people who stay home are not usually lazy they're usually fearful and waiting to see is this really an opportunity for change am i going to make a difference or is this something i had better sit out and wait for a better opportunity for us and we're going to take a short break right now and when we're back we'll continue talking to professor jack goldstone top.