the couple damascus. the hash tag delete facebook has been trending on social media after it was revealed that the giant failed to protect the data of millions of users from being used for political purposes the scandal involves a british data gathering firm called cambridge analytical and it worked with mountable u.s. presidential campaigns including that of donald trump and reportedly harvested the details of as many as fifty million facebook profiles for its operations the company is now under investigation and is even suspended its chief executive id's and sethi has the story. political campaigns have changed they're no longer about running the most t.v. spots or spending the most money they're about to spend the smartest money finally a political communications company that really knows how to pitch and then they came which analytic a house prestigious and academic connotations to again very convincing small money

must mean smart ideas writes we add a unique extra layer of data about personality decisionmaking and motivation this creates an unparalleled rich and detailed view of voters and the issues they care about so you know exactly who to target with exactly what type of message cambridge and i think a claim they can do all this with a mix of data analysis and strategic communication that card list is want to boast about trump cruise cost and the list goes on so impressed so far but how exactly do cambridge and it's a target a company now accuse of using the private data of tens of millions of facebook users to directly target potential american voters data analytics firm that harvested information from millions of americans without their permission facebook is under growing pressure to explain how to protect americans personal information from people wanting to exploit it for electoral gain tricks by tens and conditions wow suddenly doesn't seem so impressive especially when you end up in

a legal feud with the social media giants and it tends outs cambridge on earth to have a not small skeletons in their closet according to britain's channel four news and they're on the cover investigation they posed as potential clients interested in the outcome of the share lankan elections last month they found cambridge on the list because secretly works to influence over two hundred elections worldwide and their tactics would so squeaky clean the two fundamental human drivers when it comes to taking information on board effectively our hopes and fears and many of those unspoken and even unconscious. it's no good fighting an election campaign on the facts because actually it's all about emotion but that's not what came returned to publicly admit of course publicly they say that advertising is not coercive they'd also tell you they never use any ditty tactics bartz you mentioned intelligence gathering as well as part of the mix didn't you yes we have

relationships and partnerships with specialist organizations that do that kind of work you know who the opposition is you know their secrets you know their tactics since some girls around to the candidates house we have lots of history of such things with years of practice cambridge and then let's go have become real pros that having the result they want if we are working and then we can set up fake i.d.'s and websites we can go in as students doing research projects attached to university we can be tourists there are so many options we can look at i've had lots of experience in this at cambridge i'm a little we are creating the future of political campaigning. so it's a story with twists tens of action meddling in the minds of voters using dirty tricks but something is missing oh and the narrative that russia must be behind it all now that it's an impressive result donald trump's campaign was not the first to

use facebook data gathering for political purposes a former campaign official for barack obama revealed how in twenty twelve they obtained much more personal information than their republican rivals davidson added that it was all thanks to loopholes in facebook's privacy terms at the time. facebook twenty twelve election we got people to opt in and the privacy policies at that time on facebook were that if they opted in they could tell us who all their friends were where this gets complicated is that freak facebook out. so they shut off the feature so that is out there you can't take it back to the democrats have this information. we've pointed richard goodstein former advisor to hillary clinton's presidential campaign and a legal and media analyst lionel to discuss whether the political use of social media inside the u.s. is more dangerous than the claims of potential foreign interference. looks like it's undisputed that they did things that either were clearly against the law

campaign finance laws the involvement of foreigners in u.s. election campaigns let alone kind of the moral approach of basically pretending to be something that they weren't. so they either clearly would over the line or they they went right up to it and i think that's what investigators where the state attorneys general i'm sure congress will look into it whether this justice department looks into it because donald trump was the beneficiary of his campaign that they worked with i wouldn't exactly hold my breath on that happening the entire point is being missed here is not cambridge analytic is the fact that facebook is a tool a proxy if you will of that government and it's a surveillance unit it was conceived it through darpa through seed money this this faith oh do you think they use the information against there are

you kidding me facebook apple everything that we do is basically sucking up every bit of information we have where has the world ben you're living in and the pan optic on and when barak obama was the you beneficiary of facebook data i'll be it not cold and gleaned by these characters like especially don't forget legs and in action american you say that and that immediately turned that's the dog whistle went missing the point this is about a surveillance world that we live in that's being utilized by everybody constantly look we've already had facebook why publicly about what they did and didn't know they finally had to come clean right because i actually think they have a bit of a guilty conscience having worked with to try. campaign to do things that are frankly kind of un-american so you know we'll see i understand that's the kind of

party line which is whatever whatever the russian box may have done was to war by you know this large things we'll see what did they do that was un-american what well again they picked they they ran messages that pitted blacks against whites they got under the skin of blacks because some of them claim that they were whites were coming after them and vice versa you are telling me that all the sudden the russians are who are the russians is the russian government that lattimer putin is at the kremlin some guy with a russian name who are these russians so let me get this straight we we had prayer president barbaric obama who basically went and absolutely not only colluded with but actively campaigned against bibi netanyahu no problem then he went we guarding brags that he said you're going to be waiting in the queue if you don't or if you vote for braggs it let me also when actually involved himself in the scottish independence movement as well so we we don't seem to care about this and i can't

believe it that we have gone from that to this dainty miniscule didn't move him in miss micro staffing buying a facebook ad and somebody is going to say oh wait a minute hold it i was going to vote for hillary clinton but now where i just how did you say that facebook ad that said i mean really this is this with all due respect this is the best the russians have facebook ads if lionel is of the view that all those billions of dollars that spent worldwide on advertising or news channels like arts here and others is just absolutely just wasting money to see you might as well throw it out the window if that's your attitude than obviously i'm not going to persuade him or anybody who believes that that by you know that's what he's going to affect anybody's opinion light oh no she is me i didn't want to. so i said my point is my point is my point is that yes i think facebook should be

ashamed of itself because the evidence seems to be that it knew exactly what it was what its role in this was and in a sense it was kind of facilitating this in the interest of making a buck and i think that's wrong because if i show break up about with more news in a moment. but politicians to do something to. put themselves on the line. to get accepted or

rejected. so when you want to be president i'm sure. somebody want to listen. to going to be the person that's what. three of the people. i'm interested in the last. person. welcome back new arms deals became the main topic for talks between the saudi crown prince and the u.s. president on tuesday found a creative way to present his potential customer with more military hardware. three

billion dollars five hundred thirty three million dollars five hundred twenty five million dollars the freeness review. so here is a very wealthy nation and we're going to give the united states some of them well hopefully. however that meeting was met with protesters activists called on washington to stop backing the saudi led bombing of yemen bahrain yemen there's a cry crown prince it's here in the u.s. it is inside the white house right now meeting with president trust he's here to secure it for a cure for u.s. weapons to be used against you and to the bargain himself as the reformer well being responsible for creating the worst humanitarian disaster on earth yet.

dr hassan berar repression of international studies at the university of jordan joins me very good evening to you doctor. so the saudis more weapons made that very clear what kind of leverage does that give to riyadh. well you know as you know the american president is a proud of getting the money out of the saudis he paid a visit to the saudis last year and he got a lot of jobs and money is to the american economy and he's proud of that so because of that you know the administration is siding with the saudis in their war and in yemen and also turning a blind eye on the humanitarian crisis caused by. the very american weapons being used by the saudi forces there's a debate coming up in congress a little later today the u.s. saudi deal on civilian nuclear energy cooperation what kind of points what kind of result do you think we'll see from the debate. and you know i told us as audience

there was the american the americans are divided when it comes to the relations with the saudi arabia and the one hand the americans are. more interested in getting their money and underscoring the strategic relationship with the saudis but on the other hand there are those people who are really not happy with what the saudis been doing in the region in syria in lebanon in iraq and particularly in yemen and their record in when it comes to human rights is really not something that the saudis can be proud of so those voices in america are very sensitive to those and they believe that supporting the war liam and there's something that should come to an end. now the saudi crown prince commented on the concept of pursuing a nuclear program in order to counter it run let's listen to the exact words. a

certain direction to the saudi arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb but without a doubt it's around developed a nuclear bomb we will follow suit as soon as possible. so i mean it's all hypothetical at this point but if iran wants to get a nuclear weapon do you think that washington would help the saudis in terry. i think show yeah you know the only problem here is there will be israel the israelis would be very mad at the americans have the support of the saudis in their nuclear attempt but it's all hypothetical i don't think the iranians will go that. far because we're probably create a different dynamics in the region and it would set off a kind of race in the region that would be detrimental to the stability i think great powers would not allow to this dynamic to take up in the region but but again if you're an managed to get its hands on a bomb like nuclear bomb making the saudis would follow suit there's no question about that. appreciate your time my guest dr somber all repressive of international

studies at the university of jordan thank you. in other news to gas was used in the course of an assembly on wednesday just ahead of a vote this was on a disputed border agreement with montenegro proceedings will hold true when a member of the opposition party threw a tear gas canister into the chamber the bill was about recognizing the boundaries between montenegro and costs of those opposed to it claim that it would be tantamount to ceding lun to montenegro. and you brought up today thanks staying with. just over half an hour.

time. and again. and again and i mean i in my mind i'm. thinking of that. in the middle. of the you just have images of what. you would about an actual again i've seen the video i could see the. oh. it would appear the more the bullet. well left and their allies in the corporate media tapped donald trump the more we learn about the corrupt behavior of the deep

state the firing of andrew mccabe at the f.b.i. is a case in point is this the beginning of a purge. greetings and salutations according to the united nations human rights office as of november last year at least at least over five thousand civilians in the war torn country of yemen have been killed over eight thousand have been wounded and according to human rights watch those numbers are likely to be much much higher one of the major players in the catastrophic loss of life and diabolical living conditions currently savaging yemen is the kingdom of saudi arabia who along with their coalition forces have aggressively and violently bombed yemen into what many are calling the world's

largest humanitarian catastrophe. yes even worse than what you've read about and seen in syria but who wants to dwell on you know little things like human catastrophe would royalty is coming to town yes the crown prince of saudi arabia sell bahama been solemn hit washington d.c. this week mohawk watchers and judging from the fawning corporate press and overjoyed expressions on defense contractor faces you would think that the son of helio sim self-hate the un had just landed at dulles international and promised one concubines and chariot rides for the kids c.b.s. is on sixty minutes the grand old long running emmy vacuum cleaner news show hyped their one on one interview with the crown prince by tweeting out prince mohammed bin solomon is already the most dominant arab leader in a generation his reforms inside saudi arabia but revolutionary is a mancipation he's a man separating women introducing music and cinema on cracking down on corruption in the land with fifteen thousand princes princes. you know sixty minutes i

just come here i just want you know sixty minutes that you know you're here in are gas loving colonialism and showing just. as many hasan wrote for the intercept move over tom friedman and david ignatius table acknowledges the saudis seem to have found a new cheerleader within the us press corps so that raises the big ultimate question hawk watchers has been solomon the dreamy reformer prince that mainstream media is making him out to be or is he just another tyrant king in the making let's find out by watching the hawks. that that's. the part of. you that i got. this.

well the watch of the hawks arms i robot and i'm tabitha wallace and i am also. very very disappointed oh it's so similar to a straw and i'm really disappointed in sixty minutes i know they've made mistakes in the past i feel like they have to you know it's on as if they're perfect nobody's perfect but years and years i mean i've watched sixty minutes since i was child and. to watch this interview which was softball question after softball question i man roughly only a couple of minutes was spent on the saudi airstrikes or with the human the very very very horrible human rights violations. in in yemen no coverage no questions about their you know controversial record of stonings and beheadings

nothing on the little thing like no big deal just kind of forgot to ask about it no questions about twenty eight declassified pages that connected you know the so there was a pos strong strongly suggested at the very least a connection between what happened in new york on nine eleven and this and saudi involvement or funding which i think it's a pretty big deal another good question that i ask of the get a situation like when you have a leader there right one of you you go to our school the hard questions are to the point you're sixty minutes no we're just supposed to sit there as women and of course they have interviewed this like as if a woman are supposed to go oh my god this so wonderful that he's like letting women do this first of all. i could do an hour on that alone but you know maybe i don't know ask him about how there's a death penalty in saudi arabia for you know blasphemy or sorcery you know i get in trouble for that one clearly adultery and homosexuality people get so much that they get thrown off buildings people get beheaded for these things and yet that

wasn't a big deal and money has long been in the interest of also mentioned this and he said instead we're treated like the idea that they should be writing and said we were treated to o'donnell owing an eyeing of the crown prince's youthfulness workaholism and lest we forget support for women drivers the interview itself consists of one softball question after another and it was separate tending ole he let me drive you may and separating anybody it's still it's a monarchy it's a dictatorship i mean president i don't understand why we're falling over them it's amazing to me to when you see that kind of duality taken place because it's like on one hand you know we're ridiculing people for you know calling up to say like hey can grab see one while on the other hand like the media is like falling over themselves for a guy who doesn't even have elections in this country you know there are fifty thousand princes i mean that's not it you would write when i read that script i read that tweet and i think i mentioned on my twitter account also it said the

thing about you know he also was literally the architect of the war in iraq and that's the thing that you know mentioned what's amazing today do is that we're having a vote in the senate on tuesday the same day that the prince arrives to essentially . you know pass a potential resolution directing u.s. military to stop cooperating with the saudi liberals and it's gotten that bad that the senate actually voted on stopping the rule which is extraordinary in the united states today. not having more war and not voting for more war. shocking to me one of the resolutions backers of several likely republican out of utah. named on the senate floor last week listen to this he said the constitution is polluted pretty clear on this point it says that congress show of the power to declare war congress not the president not the pentagon but congress so now they are stepping up i think him leave bernie sanders one another person stepped up to put this resolution forward and maybe get out of the business of helping saudi

bomb yemen into the stone age and the part about that vote is that it has to happen because it being a war resolution being the kind of resolution as they have to vote on whether or not so they can push off to the side and then you'll know who is forward who is a hawk that you will know really quickly from that because i mean there's no way that you could look at the suffering going on in yemen and say oh we want to continue to be a part of that that the suffering going on there justifies the mission that we've been told over of well you know we've got a it's an iranian proxy and we've got to keep iranians influence down and all of this other garbage that we get fed all the time it's like you know none of us even matter how true or not true justifies the amount of suffering in yemen that we've seen in these last few years that no not the starvation none of that stuff. when every day in a news cycle can feel like a year back on earth one of the twentieth century and maybe hard to believe that this week marks the fifteenth anniversary of the u.s.

invasion of iraq much has changed since then iraq has undergone one wave of chaotic violence after another in the nihilistic forces of isis of largely coming on in the u.s. three radically different presidents have now all had to struggle with the political ramifications of one of the nation's longest and most controversial wars hundreds of thousands perhaps even millions of civilians have now paid with their lives for a conflict we still fail to fully comprehend and rationalize and slowly evolving understanding of the intelligence. that led to the two thousand and three invasion has allowed any unbiased critic to realize that the entire enterprise was premised on a series of lies and manipulations but one thing nevertheless remains the same and that's the other lack of accountability for any of the players responsible for the debacle are chased and cohen joins us now to explore how those very same players are now back at it again getting the word your arms unimpeded with new targets on their minds thanks for joining us good to be with you fifteen years later down and i see those same faces that brought us into the iraq war one after another the

crystals and like all of the layout for us you know who are some of these people what are they saying what what what are the folks that we're looking at here well i mean it really starts at the top we have to look at the commander in chief himself you know mr mission accomplished george w. bush two term president. who started the war in iraq based on a series of lies that he knew were lies and in the savagery of the trump era has been able to completely rehabilitate his image and is now be loved by liberals simply because he goes along with the narrative that once again is evidence free that russia hacked our election and so he's been welcomed back into the bosom of the mainstream we can look at colin powell the former secretary of state who lied at the u.n. security council about anthrax claiming saddam hussein was behind it and is now a fellow at there are no is on the board of directors of the neo conservative think

tank the council of foreign relations and he even admitted that he was he was lying but he really you know faced no punishment i think most of all the greatest figure today is robert muller the former f.b.i. director who is now leading the justice department special investigation into alleged russian interference and he is he more than anyone is beloved by liberals as a hero who is going to take down trump with the silver. bullet that just seems like it's so close but they can't quite get any continues to to feed this monster that is a total distraction from our devastating us foreign policy that continues to destroy countries today to get us all what word of muller fit into that hole in the very rock and although i get colin powell i get to take it remind the viewers avoid where moeller fits into that kind of trifecta where he testified under oath and should you know perjured himself that saddam hussein had weapons of mass

destruction and he should be held accountable for that but you know obviously like like all these other officials he's not there yet lying to congress and it's not that big a deal if i got by on or minor infraction as long as you're on the right party at the time what i wonder is how culpable is the mainstream media for sort of to keep feeding and re feeding and rebranding these think tank ideologues that we watch i mean let's be real about think tanks have to get out not to major in the entire conversation about another day about how. they are to begin with but do you how much does the press. you know how they are continuing to let people who have lied about major things that have led to a million people dying if not more how couples the press for letting that happen well i think when we talk about the military industrial complex we have to understand that a major component of that is media and media is its role is what noam chomsky called manufacturing consent which is pushing out lie after lie and creating this

environment where people are unable to resist and we see that with the russia gate narrative we see that with syria where it's you know allegations of chemical weapons nonstop we see that with the current and well it's not even an investigation there's been no investigation into the poisoning of the double agent in london. and so you know we look at figures like bill kristol who is a long time neo conservative guy did his his his think tank the project for a new american century guided the bush administration into war with iraq and now he's welcomed on m.s.n. b.c. on major networks and so i think you know regardless of liberal conservative our mainstream media there is a pro where probe or a narrative that voices anti-war voices that one time were allowed to come on anti-imperialist voices have been totally excluded and the entire range of discussion is basically when are we going to bomb and let's do it now and what

isn't can we know how so you know for peace and what's interesting too is you saw the shift in i would say the two thousand and six two thousand and seven around the time of the democrats back and that are really took the. congress because you saw that anti-war movement big shift and all of these people were you know the crystals and all the like oh no get these people off t.v. we don't like them at all that it's dramatically in even the obama era you didn't really see bill going on t.v. that often as an example but then you saw this dramatic shift the moment trumpets of soldiers ask you given you know your history. studying politics in this country do you think that when the democrats say the democrats can remove trump or win and get him out we've got potential i guess will that ship and suddenly bills out of the gate well these people that we trust now who say trumps bad will they suddenly be like oh no we don't like you anymore well i mean this is the folly of partisan politics you know all of these liberals who like oppose the war in iraq it was because it was a republican and.