a u.n. security council resolution on a nationwide cease fire. the twenty eighteen winter olympic games. come to a close but the drama continued right to the very end of the game for the first time in twenty six years i saw key players from russia. germany for three and then . finally. gives away our olympic athletes from russia a total of seventeen medals and. then one of the stories which germany's leading tabloid published. russian meddling in the country's

politics. with stories from the past seven days on right up to the moment developments well this is the weekly welcome to the program our top story defense ministry says that militants in eastern syria are continuing to shell civilians in damascus despite just yesterday the united nations security council having passed a resolution calling for a cease fire across the war torn country for more let's bring in our senior correspondent. and this is days of writing that went into the resolution being passed the cease fire for thirty days. are we learning while the russian

conciliation center ceasefire monitoring center in syria says that over the last twenty four hours since the resolution resolution two four or one was adopted by the un security council resolution that calls for an immediate sation of hostilities in syria by all sides all been a difference so that food and medicine and can be delivered to you know people who needed humanitarian hot spots and the wounded evacuated. the reconsideration center says that over the last twenty four hours rebels in the east launched no less than thirty one shells into damascus and i know what that looks like every time we've stayed in damascus every time we've been in damascus we have shells landing all over the capital all over the massacres because it is the last rebel stronghold in the vicinity of the capital the last stranglehold you know of the rez revolutions

because all other on claves around the capital have been have been retaken by the syrian government nevertheless these leads the incidents of shelling they're very random they shelled blindly you know shell might land in a market that might land in a military base and a hospital of a government building and usually there's a lot of casualties over the last twenty four hours a dozen casualties syrian authorities but. the rebels in east ghouta generation islam the army of islam which holds which is the most powerful rebel group in east ghouta says that it is abiding by the cease fire it says that it is being shelled and bombed by the syrian government and that is indeed happening there are strikes from what we've gathered from the various reports there are airstrikes on going against against al islam the army of islam but the syrians are saying that you know the rebels are shooting at us and the rebels are saying

the syrians are shooting the other so there's no cease fire to speak of quite yet i'm not a situation as it stands just a day as you say after that resolution was passed in new york at the u.n. security council thanks so much for non-grata. well investigative journalist rick sterling is of the belief the russian amendments to the ceasefire will allow anti terror operations to continue on and paid it. but i think a kid didn't get the resolution was the inclusion. that the syrian government can continue the fight against al qaida and isis in east and i think that was the reason that it did pass unanimously with the support of russia and the encouragement of the syrian government one good thing in the resolution is that it was there quickly affirms the fact that the territorial integrity of syria needs to be preserved of course this is very relevant because right now the united states.

illegally set up their bases and is occupying territory in eastern syria we've got to turkish soldiers even in northern syria so this is this is a very important to keep reaffirming the principle of territorial integrity he on the last point made by rick the spike the cease fire resolution which in compas is the entire country turkey sais it is not going to halt its military offensive in northern syria claiming that the decision doesn't apply to it has been carrying out an operation against kurdish on t.v. i still militia fighters there we should fuses terrorists and its push to dislodge the kurdish people's protection units from the border area the turkish military struck a convoy and touring the city of off screen on thursday. it was carrying fighters and weapons but the kurdish forces insist that the trucks were carrying only civilians food on medicine they say one person was killed in the attack.

took. place just. a little but. earlier in the week pros syrian government forces arrived in offering to help try and repel the turkish offensive that came after the kurds appealed for support but if elements in the region put the u.s. in a difficult position as jacqueline phooka explains. two of america's main partners in the region are now at each other's throats to put it mildly. and as the u.s. tries to avoid taking sides in the conflict they seem to be losing on all fronts

turkey a longtime ally looks to be getting increasingly impatient with washington's inaction america has only dared to call for a reduction in civilian casualties in the fight prompting a vicious response from the turkish president. what disappoints us most in this process is the hypocrisy and even the levity of some countries which we consider allies and have deep political and military relations with turkey has had enough of life's promises and delaying tactics and on the other side we have the kurds who have been essential to the u.s. led coalition's fight against eisel and the absence of support from their american partners against the onslaught of turkish forces the kurds have been forced to look elsewhere and that has pushed them into accepting help from pro-government forces this week militias loyal to the syrian government flooded afrin to bolster the kurds. which are out we have come to our brothers to fight together to protect africa.

we are the popular force we came so that we could help our kurdish brothers because we are one people. now that surely ruffled feathers in washington when the syrian president comes only after i saw on their list of enemies the us has tried to shift focus to an issue that puts them back in the driver's seat battling eisel calling the situation in africa a distraction what is going on in a dream is taking away from the fight against isis it is a distraction as secretary mabus had called it is certainly. not helpful to have people take their eye off the ball of isis we've talked about that numerous times before but in reality many in the region have already recognized that arsenal is all but defeated despite that the us led intervention which is in its third year has no end in sight but they may be left there with no one to call a friend as they continue to alienate their allies. the twenty eighteen winter olympics inside korea came to a sparkling close on sunday

a stunning fireworks display rounded off the knights as well as the traditional for to the next winter olympic games host which will be china's beijing in twenty twenty two summing up this month's auction on controversies here's the trend go in p. and check. time really does fly and i can't believe that it's already the and of twenty eight thing we've seen the closing ceremony and the nation's parade at it and i'll tell you what it was much warmer than the opening on february ninth quite literally and the fans didn't have to freeze themselves that much to see the spectacle something that hasn't changed though is the fate of the russian asked the who weren't able to march with their national colors there had been a glimmer of hope that they'd be allowed to do that but earlier on sunday the i.o.c. decided not to lift the suspension of russia's national olympic committee after two

of the all way our athletes tested positive for doping although the i.o.c. president has said that these two cases appear to be isolated these are cases off of negligence and there is no indication. of so ever for a systemic or systematic. doping affair here the astley's who failed the test though claim it could have been a result of salva taj or some sort of mistake they say that they have never taken banned drugs on purpose to improve their performance back to the final day of peeling chang twenty eight thing i guess if you asked the russian fans would they rather see their national flags at the closing ceremony or would they rather have their men's ice hockey team win gold for the first time in twenty six years most of

them would still choose the second option and that is exactly what happened inside the gardening ice hockey arena on sunday the red machine b. germany for three and a gripping final and then at the prize giving ceremony the olympic anthem was. played instead of the russian anthem obviously but guess what the winners and the stadium sang then the national anthem of course and that was quite a scene to watch this was the second gold at these olympics the first one was won by fifteen year old alina is the gates of the figure skating and i'll tell you what these winter olympics were really games of hope for russia with many more experienced star athletes having to sit out yung chang twenty home the o.e.r. still won a total of seventeen medals that is of course by far not the best performance but

still in these circumstances it deserves a huge round of applause as for the whole medal table norway came first with fourteen gold fourteen silver and eleven bronze and that's of course a spectacular result well as you mentioned sunday marked a thrilling win for russia's men's ice hockey squad competing as a limping catholics from russia they secured goal with victory over germany and a gripping final the decisive goal scored in overtime for a four three overall scoreline it's the first time in twenty years russian players had reached the final and you have to go back to france in one thousand nine hundred two for their last gold in men's ice hockey that was also under a neutral banner the team didn't have its own flag at the time following the break up of the soffit union. and here are today's a lated exhausted hockey stars taking their bus back to the olympic village we spoke to one of the key men in the russian team in the. marginals well game was

very tough for germany didn't get to the finals for no reason at all so it's great that we want to be in if that we level the school and then the final point in overtime i think this goal brought joy to millions of russian fans face there with everyone celebrating today. well after a. less than smooth build up to the games the delight of the traveling russian fans getting to celebrate their country's second gold all of the tournaments on the last day was clear or go at them when you were going to last it but anyway things turned out ok it was a super match and a super victory and russia is the champion we did not see it that the germans were playing very well it was a beautiful game mainly to the german team and there were russian team for such a wonderful final we're so thrilled. russia's father christmas looking at home in the cold weather inside korea there so indeed the winter olympics have wrapped up for another four years but it appears that the spirit of goodwill is continuing

north korea has said that it's ready for talks with the united states that was annoying to after the country's officials met with south korean diplomats at the games finale. but not everyone was happy to see the north korean delegation there were protests on the site korean border town against the visit scuffles also broke between some protesters on the plates independent china specialist under long told us about the controversies that could shadow north korea u.s. . so far as the sanctions are concerned of course the united states want to up the sanctions and use military coercion is what i mean solving international issues it depends on what kind of a deal united states has struck with. the united states. that north koreans to abandon its nuclear arsenal. oldest capabilities to develop

nuclear weapons and long distance their lives as well and that's something which i don't think this is really except that. then we're back to square one and back to confrontation. but the only other hand it's quite possible to. reach. coming up find out when washington thinks it's ok to meddle in other country's elections later in the program. what's going on is only producing. delusional fears it doesn't have any meaning less it leads to real fears which. even though guaranteed only by christina president.

everybody i'm stephen both. hollywood guy. proud american first of all i'm just george bush and r.v. juiciest this is my buddy max famous financial guru where she's a little bit different. than those up with all the drama happening in our country and i'm shooting the mood to have some fun every day americans. look silly start to bridge the gap this is the great american people which. you're back with are to international it's the weekly germany's at best selling newspaper with strict a number of days ago into publishing

a fake bomb shell story on russian meddling in the country's politics the report in build detailed how a mysterious russian agent on both muster a cold yury that supposedly offered his services to the head of the social democratic party's youth wing kevin hart hoping to sell the time as a coalition deal between his party and i'm glad merkel's conservatives here's a snippet of the purse suppose that exchange. didn't care for him i'm yuri i'd like to talk to you about supporting your new group campaign thanks for your mail jay already told me to expect a mile from you but just to be sure could you name me g.'s favorite beverage as you can certainly understand this is a delicate matter me oh me oh martin ginger oh dear yuri perfect that's a relief so what can you offer me basically we can offer you everything an opinion campaign with but surrogates schultz social bots on twitter and facebook or even

a targeted facebook advertising campaign but there's just one problem the whole conversation was fabricated by the german said to recall magazine titanic the editors behind the hoax posted this triumphant photo online it shows one of the magazine's employees posing with the transcript of the fake e-mails and the tabloid subsequent article the editor of titanic say the hoax was all too easy to concoct less than an afternoon's work in fact. we had to turn it over to record magazine we worked with the same. methods as a build so we knew how to think like and build editor there were no rumors about russian meddling and we thought this cannot be we have to make an alliance with the build tabloids and push a story about russian meddling a story that was techie and like an aspiring movie and we had a good feeling that this would work when there's a story like that for four built they don't care about the details it's only

interesting if the story is good and it was a good story indeed it was yeah it was like a good movie i hope it will be made into a movie sometime or build has now retracted the story what's more the head of the s.p. dean's youth wing insists that how they really been made such an offer he would have turned it down. i don't know but this group but of course we would refuse any of these offers who don't work with social mobs i don't know how information that would even received. well whenever you see meddling mention these days russia is usually being linked to it but it seems the united states is where head on that front a former cia director has admitted that washington interferes in other country's elections and domestic affairs when it's quote for a good cause because the it has been taking a closer look at this as well no one likes

a spoiler medlars interference especially when it comes to american elections there who really pure and spoiled and unsullied or they were before the russians got to them they say but judge not lest ye be judged especially when you have a fetish for getting your fingers into foreign elections when i do that i don't mess around other people. only for the very good to do that through online video and those former cia for a very good cause. said the former director of the cia it's funny because and when america does it when someone else's even suspected of doing it no no no bad bad did the russians break the rules or do something bizarre the answer is no not at all said

a thirty year veteran of the cia come on the cia wrote the book on meddling. we've been doing this kind of thing since the cia was created in one thousand forty seven we've used posters pamphlets mailers banners you name it we've planted false information for newspapers we've used with the british called king george's calorie suitcases of cash add to that assassinations coups information warfare hacking and that's just the stuff we know about this the johnson that helped oversee the cia's exhibit g.'s he'd know the difference is they say when russia does it it's to destroy the world even when that meddling has no actual impact on the elections as even the justice department just admitted when america doesn't so the greater good the more chris see and all that you could ask of course

how on earth overthrowing democratically elected leaders as the cia has done is helping democracy how sending billions of dollars worth of guns to gulf dictators is helping democracy but don't well the united states has been interfering in other countries elections since the one nine hundred thirty s. and in the caribbean and in latin america when i was in cia in the seventy's and eighty's in europe i would say that the that the cia and the u.s. government basically were interfering in elections almost every election that was taking place in europe this was just routine that the us wanted a friendly government of a certain type and was willing to do certain things to enable that to happen if we're going to claim that america has the right to interfere behind the scenes in the politics of another country. it's a little hypocritical for then america to say oh

a russian intelligence has been interfering in american elections. you don't get to have it both ways. a dutch shipping route is facing ickes ations of selling a number of vessels to scrap yards in turkey and india which were used to ferry harmful waste exacerbating environmental and health problems in those countries and potentially violating e.u. laws.

well that's a review of the week's big stories more updates in around thirty minutes but stay

with us now from more great r.t. programs just right around the corner. her. would need to make this manufacture consent instinctive public wealth. when the ruling classes and reject themselves. in the primary your realm if suddenly the woman was told. to ignore middle of the room sick. to lose her million more unionists ruled the world. about your sudden passing i've only just learnt you worry yourself in taking your last wrong turn. you're out caught up to us we all knew it would i tell you i'm

sorry suddenly i could so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met in my life turned on each breath. but then my feeling started to change you talked about war like it was again still some more fun to feel those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave a funeral the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with death this one quite different to speak to now because there are no other takers. claimed that mainstream media has met its maker.

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missa three years old and you might see both flip it out thing you want because of the list you sent at them with cause then you would skew issue believe it if you don't think you should i mean more than a little then i did you question which to put on which to just leave all of. them to me. look the skies are still when you do we're still wishing that the storm to not shift and. if you were seeing it in those a credit. union the only thing going near the development at the floor when you praised. it with them would just heard if they would just heard it's a desert in the judicial that is it the missing link where there's a dog only the way in which to work it put christie to. my new because north korea who are both on the military.