donald trump dares russia to try and shoot down u.s. missiles over syria and suggest the strike is imminent the us president goes on to say that relations between the two powers are worse than during the cold war the us is threatening military action against a mass just over an alleged chemical attack yet a probe into the incident has yet to take place with an international fact finding mission not even due in syria to the end of the week. the us has approved a grant for a media company started by a palestinian journalist killed last week while covering clashes at the israel gaza border. and facebook's bosses probing over elections modeling and data leaks but it turns out those really are the c.e.o. have been financially supported by him in the past meanwhile the social media giant faces a fiery battle from some of its black users. want facebook to be they are not ol

boys this is not. the body is. a warm welcome to the program for me jack america and all of the crew here at r t international thanks for joining us this hour the situation around syria seems to be escalating by the minute with the u.s. president sending a chilling warning get ready russia has promised quote nice new smart missiles will be fired at syria in response to the alleged chemical attack in duma he also said relations with moscow are now even worse than during the cold war russia warns any strike on syria will get in the way of investigating the reported chemical incident that sparked the current crisis. and by the way worthy of the c.w. experts warned that those missiles my destroy all the evidence of chemical weaponry

used on the ground or they just want to quickly hide the evidence of the provocation by those smart missile strikes so the international experts want to have any proof to look for. for more on the latest escalation between washington and moscow we can now cross live to artist caleb mop and take us through what's been happening over the past few days while this heated exchange between russia and the west which has escalated with trump a sensually challenging russia to counter american military my as he intends to strike syria this didn't begin today now on tuesday we saw a very heated u.n. security council meeting in which russia's resolution was vetoed by the united states and the resolution of the united states was vetoed by russia people called it essentially a diplomatic deadlock let's go over some of the highlights of tuesday's u.n. security council meeting. clearly explained to me what this alleged

chemical attack was necessary for the massacres especially for almost all militants . because today they vetoed for the sixth time a resolution condemning assad for chemical weapons attacks on his own people the removal you have already a point to guilt in such cases bush in the wrong. way we are not able to support the text it would be like. and identifying that and doing nothing to put it out to. colleagues than a real investigation. now at this point in the aftermath of his tweet donald trump essentially has three options his first option is he could launch a limited and somewhat symbolic strike against syria he could do that like he did

last year and while that wouldn't spark some kind of huge international confrontation and this this strike that he took last year it certainly did exacerbate relations between moscow and washington now from there his other option is he could actually go headlong into a full scale confrontation in syria and that could have very unpredictable and grave consequences involving russia or he could backtrack and if donald trump are to backtrack and not strike he could have simply lose face with the world and you know be not fulfilling his promises so at this point it's also important to note that there's not much information about what actually went on on the ground in duma where this alleged chemical attack took place on the first reports were filed by a group known as the white helmets now the white helmets operate only in rebel held areas of syria and they are not known for their impartiality their close with militants they have been accused of having direct ties with terrorist groups other

than many reports seeming to indicate they have direct ties with al nasra that other terrorist groups and that seems to be one of the only sources of information that's being cited however the usa despite this rather non-credible source being cited was quick to condemn damascus however we did hear from heather nauert of the u.s. state department she admitted that the usa doesn't even really know what chemical weapon was used or what really went on in duma this is heather nauert of the u.s. state department now we do know that some sort of a substance was used a chemical was use we're just not sure at this point today exactly what was used. now russian experts have actually visited the site of the alleged chemical attack in duma and they chemical experts medical experts from russia visited the site and they have not been able to find any traces of chemical weapons furthermore they haven't found any eyewitnesses or any victims so at this point there's quite

a gap in what people say they know or are hearing our or what exactly is going on the ground there's just a lot that is not clear here so the whole world is watching to wait and see what comes next quite a few unanswered questions mop and thank you so much for bringing us that report we can actually now cross live to dr jamal wakim professor of history and international relations at the lebanese university in beirut thank you so much for joining us now this seven am tweet by trump has caused quite a stir in the world do you think his cabinet also supports his stance. i believe so i believe that the u.s. administration is going. towards a confrontation in syria especially that this step comes few weeks after the appointment all of bolton. as national security adviser and we

know the history of the guy we know that he was the one behind the invasion of iraq one of the guys behind the invasion of iraq and we know that he has a hawkish attitude towards syria towards iran and towards russia so that's why i believe that the appointment of john bolton completed the war team and the united states and donald trump is just meeting what the intentions of this war team i believe that that would be a strike that is a high. possibility of a strike in syria in spite of the risk of going into direct confrontation with the russian. army or the russian military that is operating there and at the same time i believe that. the objective would be to cripple the syrian regime give a breathing space for the insurgents to gain much of the territory that they lost

in the past few months and at the same time try to direct a blow to the iranians and to the lebanese hezbollah that is supporting the syrian regime. against the insurgents so i believe that this is the real intention and that's why we see that the russians. had like preemptive declarations just to warn the united states from the risks that are running there now you mentioned russia trump also directly called out a mark of course in his tweet i do think moscow will be tough and its response all to any potential attack or possibly show restraint. well i believe that russia cannot compromise over syria cannot. accept any compromise over the security of syria because it is aware of the fact that the war in syria is

a mere war by proxy directed against russia to contain it and block it from having . a global role over at regional road. the american strategy is to contain any eurasian power try to. block it from having any access to money time trade routes and push it isolation and implosion from within this is what they did with this former soviet union and i believe that loudmouth putin the russian president is very well aware of the fact and he doesn't want to repeat the tragedy of the collapse of the soviet union with russia twenty years later so he first had trump saying get ready russia and then within an hour he was tweeting that relations with moscow shouldn't be this way is it possible to follow his logic there or is it just trumping trump. well. it is a mixture of both actually but i believe. trump would rather prefer to isolate

russia than to go on full scale confrontation with that because the risks of going into a global war and nuclear war is hard so that's why the strategy of the united states is to isolate russia and at the same time to direct its effort against mainly in iran and hezbollah because. in this case russia would be alone in syria and it would be easy for the united states to contain it and come up with a. favorable. solution over a syria that that would be favorable to the united states objectives there's no denying that trump is rather impulsive but do you think he's really willing to take things this far and possibly risk all out war. well.

we need to be. frank about this i believe that trump himself isn't the real problem the problem is really the war team that was able to isolate from that was able to cripple his team and to replace it with a war theme over the past year trump is a show. guy he's used to winning state battles the way he did. the wrestling federation when he used to perform there. on one of the occasions actually but i believe that the war theme that was the military depended on the new york fans that were able to cripple the u.s. administration in the past year and that was able to replace much of the team of donald trump with its own got ready to toward now to

confrontation and they know that they are losing time so it would be rather now or never. especially that they want to. this blog would also help them. resolve the palestinian issue this whole bit actually and get rid of the palestinian problem and establish this plant the middle east. forging an alliance between israel on one hand and saudi arabia on the other hand i believe that this is the real objective of the upcoming strike if it happens and there is a high possibility that it would happen dr jamal wakim professor of history and international relations at the lebanese university in beirut thank you so much for finding time to join us on the program today thank you. while trump may be rushing to act now it wasn't always like that back in two thousand and thirteen he was

highly critical of then president barack obama's approach on syria saying bad things will happen if washington launches an attack but after becoming president trump dropped tomahawk missiles on syria and is now seemingly gearing up for action again here's one possible reason for such a change of tune. bunny brown the flag of thanks and increased popular support of the president during war accompanied by reduced criticism of governmental policies . any nuclear missile launched from cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere as an attack by the soviet union on the united states. progress is now being made towards the restoration of peace in the caribbean. the use of terrorism and its holding hostages. political to me.

to continue along with the. resolution of the crisis. i have therefore directed to reject the iraqi army from kuwait. its president i can report to the nation aggression is defeated the war is over. american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. united states and around. have prevailed. but i ordered a talk you know the jurors. or do you feel. i think from became president of the united states i think this was actually

a big moment. in the wake of president trump's fiery rhetoric u.s. media are speculating about the country's options over syria highlighting that none of them are ideal to discuss this further we cannot cross live to our correspondent who will now explain what options are open to the u.s. president. well it seems that this promise of fire and fury and syria has damaged donald trump's chances of a diplomatic resolution from the looks of a trumpet doesn't have many doors left open to him anymore but one of them is actually the one he's already tried same time last year a parallel situation an allegation of a chemical attack blamed on president assad's forces without even waiting for an investigation trump launches a unilateral air strike. back

then the u.s. president gave the russians an early warning so that its troops could leave the area hawks in washington ripped trump for it saying this is exactly why the air strike turned out to be a waste of time another potential option for trump this time is to go full on forget the warnings forget all caution and just unleash an enormous military campaign where that could go wrong world where shall we start really it would force russia to consider its own military options raising or if it fears zero and memories of the one nine hundred sixty two cuban missile crisis when washington and moscow almost started a nuclear war and finally trump could backtrack on the threat and take more of

a corporative stance like the one indicated by his second tweet but some say this would be as good as committing reputational so aside for trump this would be not simply reversing on a promise but also getting softer on russia as the critics would put it after all trump's already being called out over numerous major inconsistences in his syria approach for ten months and the trumpet ministration has no serious strategy threats to it's one of strikes are not a strategy baiting russia is not a strategy this is why congress needs to reassert control over war powers. so whatever action he chooses strike or no strike trump may have just tweeted himself into something of a corner. meanwhile some european countries have already pledged support for washington's tough stance on syria german chancellor angela merkel thinks there's

more than enough evidence of a chemical attack. their evidence that chemical weapons were used there is very very clear as far as i'm concerned that can be checked over again but it doesn't help us as we condemn the attack however britain's prime minister theresa may has reportedly said she needs more evidence to back a military response and france in turn states that it's not yet decided what measures it's ready to take parties and has more on an apparent lack of unity among washington's allies according to reports citing u.s. officials the white house london and paris have had some kind of consultations where it's understood that the white house would like to come forward with a unified front with its allies but there doesn't seem to be a common approach that those leaders are ready to put forward on the table quite yet my new. friends would like to see a strong and joint response and that some kind of decision would be announced in

the coming days and it's one to keep in mind that he does have the power to go ahead with any kind of action without necessarily parliamentary approval but his approach is not necessarily one that's being applauded throughout france. everyone knows perfectly that in war time the first victim is truth what happens on the ground is almost unknown to us the chemical attack which evidently took place is abominable we must condemn it but we still have to find out who committed it so it sounds a lot like an excuse for the united states of america and their allies to get back in the game and to engage in an armed conflict i think that's currently france is contributing to the creation of the recreate of a certain form of the cold war with russia it's pointless because it doesn't benefit france or its economy or international relations to let the u.s. seeking to stir up a conflict with russia boss around well in terms of our plans about how to move forward here we have heard that downing street and theresa may has basically made

it clear that she's no fan of rushing into. right this minute that she would like to see more evidence about the allegations of assad's involvement and there is an understanding that this was a conversation howled with donald trump and downing street have said that they are of course going to back an international response but they want to find out exactly what happened so really lots of questions about whether or not there is going to be some kind of unified common response taken by the u.s. france and great britain. a media company started by a palestinian journalist killed last week while covering protests at the israel gaza border has received a grant from the u.s. government as polls are reports. well a palestinian journalist was killed last week during the clashes along the israel gaza border between israeli soldiers and palestinian protesters yes it was thirty years old he was a camera man and also the co-founder of a palestinian production company in gaza known as the palestinian media he was just

a few hundred meters from the border. shot in the torso and it was very clear from the pictures we've seen that he was wearing a bullet proof jacket with the word press in blazoned across it we have subsequently heard from the israeli defense minister avigdor lieberman that he was a member of a must which israel guards is a terrorist organization and therefore a legitimate target his colleagues of course deny this saying these claims are ridiculous but this is what israeli defense minister had to say. this is a veteran terrorist of the hamas military wing he was a rank equivalent to a captain in he received a regular salary says to him to those remarks from the defense minister confuse the situation a little because we have heard from the israeli army that it does not intentionally target journalists at the same time it also contradicts statements that we receiving from the united states which provided him with a grant of nearly twelve thousand dollars now this is under

a program that supports private sector development and wants to help his production company in gaza the u.s. state department does not deny the claims my understanding is that he was vetted according to u.s. government guidelines but i don't have anything more more caution was shot last friday and died early on saturday morning he was buried later on saturday and at his funeral the how must political leader ismail haniya spoke saying that he was a martyr and quickly as well that there would be one hundred thousand more martyrs who would rise up to take his place all of this comes amid growing tensions on the ground we expect that this friday yet again there will be clashes between israeli soldiers and palestinian protesters. who are social media sensations diamond and silk say facebook still hasn't inform them why it suddenly restricted their viral pro trump page.

yeah yeah. that's media pushing your idea that we tell people what to stop because we haven't kept working class people this here for sissies is part of the people and i see these two on talent. i say they are the greatest new values of our company for years not the year you are perfectly happy when you see. the duo became a web sensation after comments on the two thousand and sixteen u.s. presidential election but it's not the first time they've been blocked online you tube to monetize almost all of their content a year ago meanwhile this is what facebook had to say we have communicated directly with diamond and silk about this issue the message they received last week was inaccurate and reflective of the way we communicate with our community and the people who run pages on our platform we have provided them with information about our policies and the tools that the ripley people to their page look forward to the opportunity to speak with them however they do or say the social media giant cut

off notifications to their serps subscribers without explanation the company claimed the content was unsafe before clarifying it was due to inappropriate behavior we spoke to the pair who accuse facebook of discrimination. i didn't understand it and when he said that our car tip and our right hand is unsaved to the community our brain is that i'm innocent guy i mean the circus to black chicks that's down with politics right now only of that we are conservative we love our country we love our president a fairy so when i said i was offended by it we was off guard by it we look at this has been certain issues of discrimination defamation of character and even a violation of our civil rights being two black women as if we are some type of animal or limbs or somebody just out there just get out and say that is appalling to me your facebook is going to have the answer to that why what was the reason because we don't know that's right and we can appeal that they said that we could

not appeal that and this was final but it's because of a very huge entity ok that is an entity that people from around the world join facebook so you don't want to get into this here are lying where you have one person dictating what people can see and what people can hear on this platform when a star has millions our round the world not just in the united states but millions around the world because that's where it gets dangerous that's right do not stifle our silence people's free speech that's where i stand is that you got to be balanced and we know that they want to say that they are private entity but you are open to the public eye you are open to the public you cannot discriminate. facebook founder mark zuckerberg is being grilled in the u.s. congress on the second day of hearings over a massive data breach scandal the first on tuesday in the senate was dubbed an utter sham by western media with lawmakers accused of being soft on the web sites

chief last month it emerged that political research firm cambridge analytical improperly harvested data from fifty million facebook profiles then just a week ago that figure was up to eighty seven million the data was sold to third parties and used in political campaigns the firm insists it had facebook's permission it's reported that cambridge analytics may still have the information it gathered the scandal has sparked a social media campaign with the hash tag delete facebook and sent the company's stock plunging however many members of the two senate committees holding the hearings are longtime recipients of political donations from facebook some of them have received tens of thousands of dollars already this year that perhaps explains why lawmakers were not particularly keen to go hard on the giant. and were these people eighty seven million people users concentrated in certain states are you able to figure out where they're from do you think we need consistent probably protections for consumers across the entire internet ecosystem and have you heard

of total information awareness that i'm talking about you know i do not ok mr zuckerberg what is facebook doing to prevent foreign actors from interfering in u.s. elections as we discussed in my office yesterday the line between legitimate political discourse and hate speech can sometimes be hard to identify can you discuss what steps that facebook currently takes in making these evaluations i think you're genuine i got dead since i'm conversing with you you want to do the right thing you want to enact reforms. are you willing to go back and and and work on on giving me a brighter right to a race my dad a. senator you can already delete any of the data that's there order you know interaction i am at work on expanding that. center i think we already do what

you're referring to so how many data categories to use stored to space but stored on the cabinet cory's that you claim senator i'm not actually sure what that is referring to how do you sustain a business model in which users both pay for your service. center we run ads. i say. that's a wrap up for this hour but i'll be back at the top the hour. will show you the snow. from listens. to

the jetsons to. do most to score some good. news that's coming soon since we. moved from so most of those computers to shoot good good moves in your garage to solicit just a little so most of the stupid some stupid was in small. groups the post was slow movements missed most of the listeners from people close to stop.

the. next field or your cheek until his first flight at the age of forty three eleven days at the space station was preceded by four years of preparation of some good good all the way. he didn't even get his own cabin and had to sleep in a sleeping bag but or else. it would wail when they missed the good though. this second flight lasted six months he accompanied charles simile a space tourist it was a tricky mission the cosmonauts were almost evacuated back to earth the computers in the russian sector crashed after coming back to earth your chief in was sure it would be his last flight with you wasn't the roofs and you. were written for those who need to you're in. to world of the school system to lose him.