just days after slamming syria's white helmets as propagandists rock legend roger waters revealed the activist group had been trying to lobby his support in syria for. somebody who is challenging that you have to go to the hospital to learn when i came in some people grabbing standpoint want to hold my hand a russian t.v. channel says it's interviewed a syrian boy seen in the white helmets footage reportedly showing the aftermath of a chemical attack a child and his father give their account of how events unfolded in duma that day. also this hour police tear gas protesters in paris as paralyzing transport strikes

continue over president microns for forbes. and germany refugees are increasingly turning themselves in as terrorists in a shocking tactic to avoid deportation. and i welcome to our team that are still live from moscow with me you are today thanks for joining us this hour. the controversial group activists the white helmet has tried to lobby roger waters the co-founder of the rock group pink floyd a group called the syria campaign sent an e-mail to the musician inviting him to a fundraising dinner on behalf of the white helmet affiliated organization and in the same letter the group in detail described the work it claims to be doing in syria insists the group's mission is to elevate the voices of syria's peaceful heroes and help bring about

a peaceful solution to the conflict waters though was less than happy with the invitation. i was quite suspicious after i was invited to that white helmets dinner now my worst suspicions have been confirmed on the face of it it felt possible that the white helmets were just good people doing good things but now we know they're trying to encourage the west to drop bombs or missiles illegally in syria r t z goes dark forces in a studio earlier to discuss the controversial group's emails and the critical response to them from roger waters it was somewhat of an indirect response to a number e-mail he received from a different person now it was signed by a man who was described himself as a journalist and also a militant with the syrian white helmets and he apparently arsk for stage time with roger waters at his barcelona gig he wanted to join roger waters on stage and deliver a message apparently on behalf of the white helmets and send a message or to this children of syria you're not forgotten well apparently at that

said gig in barcelona roger waters did this have a look oh man it's. great. reading propaganda if you use sharers with this to the propaganda of the point home it's in others we would be encouraged to encourage our governments to go and start dropping bombs on syria. why do you think then that he decided to speak out publicly there well he didn't give a specific reason for this but you got to know who the white helmets are to get an idea they post videos like this marketing themselves as the civil defense group of the say their first responders they save people the show how they pulling people from under the rubble from the alleged syrian government air strikes but the videos that they are and posting online and somebody else do that for them in those videos they're seen mingling with terrorists for example this is an execution by the all

nusra terrorist group and these are the white. helmet's volunteers clearing up the execution site so also in other videos they are seeing just cheering and generally mingling with terrorists from other groups so possibly that is why roger waters chose to do to denounce themselves publicly you're not the first celebrity is he to talk about the white house but the other ones that have have taken a different stance well indeed the white helmets the sort of by the lime line of glory when it comes to how western celebrities are talking about them for example he's called play a very very popular british band endorsing them and calling them syrian heroes there's another star ben affleck also praising the white helmet send the list just goes on really so roger waters he did not stop just denouncing the white house that's the also he also called on his fellow celebrities to stop indorsing the

white house and to stop giving praise to them now roger waters is arguably the first person of such scale to publicly publicly speak out against the white helmets and the e-mails that we've just seen he provided them to max blumenthal and max blumenthal is in our contributor. speak to the man who broke the story author and journalist my explanations of thanks for joining us so good to have you on the program today obviously we know that these two e-mails came out that showed this attempted lobbying of the waters the co-founder of pink floyd why do you think you felt compelled to make this this statement in public i mean do we have any more details on how exactly this story came about. well first of all i've known roger waters for several several years because we're both active in the

global palestine solidarity movement he's a very outspoken supporter of the rights of palestinians and so and he's excessive all to people who participate in this movement so i've known him and i reached out to him. after this incident in barcelona where he denounced the white house myths and he said that he had just grown so frustrated watching the white helmets footage in duma being cited by the us government and the u.k. government pretty much as their only source as their only source of intelligence to justify bombing a sovereign country that he decided to criticize this organization publicly to warn against its all teary or sectarian agenda and he provided me with these e-mails. and he also gave me comments basically warning other celebrities not to sign on to the syria campaign's efforts to promote the white helmets because the syria campaign is the public relations firm funded now we know by

a saudi billionaire and by the syrian british billionaire i'm an os for a figure who would stand to profit if the government of bashar al assad were toppled and syria were reduced to a failed state so waters essentially had lost his patience and has decided to go public with this warning what helmut done if you had the report just that they've been endorsed by a whole row of celebrities of big names in in the media coldplay mention amongst one of them do you think the move is a statement could be some sort of turning point in the sort of public perception over this group out saw the public figures will now come out and we want to statements. well just from knowing roger waters he's an extremely discerning well read individual and i think he stands apart from a lot of other celebrities who don't do their research and who want to be affiliated with feel good humanitarian campaigns and thought that these genuinely were syrian rescue workers and not an international influence organization that is

actively engaged with violent extremist groups in syrian insurgent territory so roger really is a special person here and i wonder if other celebrities will follow his lead i think what it's really going to take is for western media to wake up and start telling the truth about this organization we haven't really seen that happen obviously you're the only network that's willing to have me on to talk about it but this should be the stuff of a national scandal in the u.s. as i've been saying the united states government has provided at least twenty three million dollars to the state department to the white helmets while the white helmets work hand in glove with job it allness or which is the syrian affiliate of the organization that attacked the united states on nine eleven al qaeda and that is considered a conspiracy in the united states although it's well established so you know i hope that this is that rogers broken the ice here but western media appears to be completely closed off to the facts about the white helmets and i'd wonder if other

celebrities will continue to sign on and at least lead to of course will some links through the saudis who are allegedly funding the white helmets how much of an influence through think they could be in the in the group policies. well absolutely i mean honey farsi is some name i hadn't heard before i'd seen this e-mail that the syria campaign was delivering to roger waters attempting to recruit him at this october two thousand and sixteen dinner honey farsi is a saudi british billionaire he's very active in the film industry and hollywood he is his family has been has earned a fortune i think in the construction industry or the oil industry in saudi arabia and so who knows who else is behind the white helmets but we also know that the monarchy of qatar has donated extensively to the white helmets and qatar also operates al jazeera al jazeera has produced an enormous amount of public relations

videos and reports for the white helmets as well as attacks on people who criticize them including this journalist sitting right here so you know the white helmets ties to governments run deep in the unite the united kingdom has donated fifty five million dollars through its foreign office to the white helmets since the insurgents were kicked out of duma in east the white helmets are substantially concentrated now and live which is under the control of al qaeda is syrian affiliate and they've moved into a free thanks to the turkish invasion and the turkish government was basically using retreads from isis and al qaeda to take over a free and so that's who the white helmets really are there the civil society wing of the turkish jihadist mercenaries and the al qaeda affiliate in it live it it's time for western media to just admit this vaccine stopped announcing it all as a russian conspiracy you mentioned just want to touch upon briefly because obviously the events in duma the footage of those events which was quick to cycle

a little over social media subsequently well over mainstream media as well that footage was used on knowledge of the evidence to base those strikes on syria last week by france the u.k. and u.s. . do you think of a strong enough case my best showing of basis to launch those strikes. well you know one thing we have to recognize about dumas unlike in the town is it live to control it live in april twenty seven thousand and unlike east in two thousand and thirteen duma was cleared of insurgents after the insurgents alleged chemical attack and so media including american media as well as the renowned british journalist robert fisk have the had the opportunity to get into duma and interview people including doctors about what happened and the firsthand on the scene witness testimony completely contradicts the official version that the u.s. the u.k.

and france relied on for their attack and so we've heard this story introduced into especially british media about doctors in which this is being coerced into delivering this testimony meanwhile robert fisk his report is not even being he personally is not even being named by the guardian he's been referred to by the guardian as a reporter favored by moscow that's a direct quote by the guardian so you know western media is extremely terrified of these witness of this witness testimony coming out because it's it's bloated the official version of events a lot of allegations counter the geishas and we'll have to see what that. was the find when they get to the area and take those sol pills and do the investigations blumenthal author and journalist thanks for coming on today giving us your take on the story. now we've asked for a response from what how many will bring that to you and when we do get it.

now in the headlines a correspondent from russia twenty four t.v. channel claims the fallen a syrian boy seen in that white helmets footage just mentioned which shows the off to mothball that alleged chemical attack in an interview which cannot be independently verified the child on his father recall just how events unfolded in duma on april the seventh on. the new accounts. these harrowing scenes panic fear terror soaked trembling children screaming adults and strange as it may seem many of them had no idea about what was going on. we were in the basement my mother told me that we had run out of food and wouldn't have anything to eat until tomorrow i heard noise. somebody was shouting that you have to go to the hospital so when there when i came in some people grabbed me started pouring water on my had.

eleven year old has and was one of the apparent victims in the white helmets video here he is after being drenched and sprayed he was found in duma and interviewed by a russian war correspondent. he's fine if a little confused and that's me in the video that's me. yes as were many other kids any child would be terrified ergo the panic which the white helmets were there to film he was eventually found though by his father who was none the wiser this is the police i didn't hear anything about a chemical attack i was outside britain not say anything further my family lives in the hospital. it does make sense poisonous gas would be invisible you'd

imagine everybody would want to take precautions especially when you're hungry and they give out food for thought spittle. i went to the hospital walked up stairs and found my wife and children i asked them what had happened and they said you go outside was shouting about some smell and told them to go to the hospital at the hospital they gave dates and cookies to the kids one of the. doctors who was reportedly on shift at the time seemed surprised by the sudden influx some people come to. people in what. they said. we wouldn't think. of sympathy the doctor and others did however say that some people came in complaining about difficulty breathing which is common when an explosion destroys

a building for example there's a lot of dust makes it difficult to breathe and especially affects people with asthma. people from the white helmets told us about the use of chemical weapons but we saw no sign of that if chemical weapons were used against those people our medical staff would have also been affected. we've sent a request to the white helmets to comment on this but the received no answer yet what we have seen is more and more witnesses coming forward to say there was only panic and no evidence of chemicals and we heard an explosion and somebody said it was a chemical weapon we run to where the noise came from and started pouring water over the people but they seemed to be ok and then walked away without any help people got so confused somebody started pouring water over people's heads saying they had

been a chemical attack i was at the spot with my wife and daughter but none of us experienced any symptoms of chemical poisoning it's remarkable how these scenes convinced three countries to launch cruise missiles at syria especially remarkable when you realize that so many of the people here had no idea about what was going on only that someone shouted about chemicals. the u.s. and its allies cite their own intelligence sources to justify saturday's strike on syria accuse the syrian government of deploying a toxic asian to over the area which at the time was held by rebels the u.s. british and french militaries hit syria in retaliation strikes however some question the chemical attack allegations notably mainstream british journalist robert fisk who did visit do were interviewed locals we spoke to former british counterterrorism officer charles troubridge to comment on the situation journalists

who got in on the ground robert fisk is a notable person i'm thinking of there he says and attended by syrian government employees and so on he spoke to ordinary residents and to medical staff who none of whom confirmed the idea that there was a chemical attack already i think seeing on detecting science myself that there was a slight backtracking amongst government statements rowing back slightly saying well actually we weren't completely clear that's why we we were relying on social media we were lying on activists on the ground and that's why we only carried out a limited strike so they're already i think preparing the ground for the possibility at least that the port isn't particularly helpful for example it may actually find that there were no trace of chemicals of chemical warfare turkey faces u.s. sanctions for buying russian weaponry more of that story after this break. join me every thursday on the alex i'm unsure when i'll be speaking to us of the

world of politics or business i'm sure business i'll see you there. i think obama the jury. never fulfilled his his threats i suppose are predictions. on the other hand i also don't support trump president trumps you know you lateral actions either but i'm in favor of multilateral responses not unilateral action we all hope for the syrian people that we can find a good resolution of this in fact we can develop democratic processes in syria and elsewhere in the middle east as well as time goes on.

welcome back to our international police have clashed with protesters as thousands came out across france against president micron's reforms the spot of three month long transport strikes of power lies the country. was in the midst of the clashes in paris. this is yet another day to taste the clashes between the police and the free testing is. being made here is. that he wants to make and they determined to make it. seems that he says oh yes it is to clashes that most people are speaking about. we've just come away from the crowd and that's because if you just take

a look behind me might say that a lot of the people have got their faces covered they're wearing black and that's because they know now as being the black folks of the anti fodder these are the anti capitalist see it in fronts and very. i don't like us filming them close and that's because the security services might be able to identify them now it's this group of individuals or the ones that we see clashes as you can see that are throwing project downs at the police as the police are coming round and this is something that we have been seeing not just today but in all of the clashes project just being thrown rocks bricks glass bottles anything they can grow they get their hands of. well we're in the middle of what seems to be a standoff between some of the protesters and the police just take our look behind

me and you you can see a row of the police vans. there in their riot gear blocking off this particular route and some of the protesters are taunting them now they've also been using smoke flares to wear to attention to what they're doing the fires some of the bins and they've also been throwing projectiles to wards the police this protest was meant to be about reforms of macaroons government it's once again tuned in to a clash between the police and a small group of anti capitalist protesters. other headlines the u.s. has piled the pressure on turkey warning of sanctions if it buys russian missile defense systems the purchase could also affect u.s. sales of f. thirty five fighter jets to ankara according to washington the u.s. turkey should be quote mindful of making strategic concessions to moscow during a chorus intervention in syria however nato appears to take a contrary start saying this is

a decision for turkey alone to make or discuss this i'm joined now by. tom are dean of the political sciences faculty his mom or university thanks for joining us good to have you on the program what do you think the u.s. is pushing out grow to stop that russia deal to quit those trades with russia while the head of nato says something entirely different saying it's a turkish matter to decide who they do business with. yes as you alluded know if you have big problems with the. united states in four or five years this is the one of the component of problems that most our problems that we have a serious problem and people idea problems and a coup d'etat by fatah like a lamb movement on support of pave id and also nuclear plant built by russia in our career this is the pack which. you know. united states because we have been seventy years alive it. you not to take its and we

always obeyed their. rules actually in the area up. to two thousand but after this government the government try to be you know at will but independent from western allies and united states and we have a lot of clashes within that turkey and united states and and in syria as well russia is very important. partner for us also a trade an art of things and tourism and this is i think the problem this is not the just. the most missiles about the problem is that the relation between russia and turkey is getting better not better and better at the on the contrary of the relations between the united states and turkey this is the main issue and the missile issue issue is there one of the component of the package problems the u.s.

officials are saying if turkey bodies are just four hundred missile defense systems they could scrap those sales of f. thirty five fighter planes to turkey do you think they could really you know be happy to take such a financial hit by blocking those sales could turkey perhaps find you know jets elsewhere. actually have already some financial problems and now i think in two months we have our lives. in turkey because of poor russian and turkey relationships better relationships are americans tried to you know or pause and try to you know. take turkey from. russia using economic. problems of tricky business should be really difficult for turkey but i think because of turkey you know decided to take. it.

two months and after that maybe a government feel. more powerful against russian are. russian american psyche humans and economic. you know. professor tamad dean of the political sciences faculty at mom or university thanks for joining us with your take today here on r.t. international. the number of terror related investigations in the german state of barden has skyrocketed recently it turns out that half the cases the refugees turning themselves in it's one of those spin taking a look at what's behind these unusual developments. as the number of asylum applicants coming here to germany decreases what we have seen is an actual increase in the number coming here saying that they were part of a terrorist outfit and it has politicians absolutely baffled i can't understand why someone would accuse himself of a serious crime in the hope of gaining an advantage in his asylum claim to

particular reasons in the southwest of the country jump out because it's there that one hundred fifty nine people have declared themselves as members of a terrorist organization already in twenty eighteen if we jump back to twenty seventeen while three hundred people saying exactly the same thing why would anybody claim to be a member of a foreign terrorist group well because maybe that investigation could be solved tomorrow but most likely never investigations are proving to be very time consuming because they are almost always alleged foreign acts for example in syria iraq afghanistan or somalia if we look at countries like afghanistan which germany and all the e.u. nations have already referred to as a safe country to return to then you can see why people would come forward and say that they have information and would rather face

a trial than deportation that you have a thorough seize on suggesting this is the easy way out anyone who makes a false confession must understand that he is going to face criminal consequences all of which has its roots way back in the summer of twenty fifteen when angela merkel opened germany up to refugees peter all of r.t. . those are the headlines for myself on the team here at r.t. for this hour join us again in thirty five minutes with the latest global news update.

welcome to the alex salmond show from comedian whole new york city and that's the first of a solitary of programmes on the contribution of scots to modern america we stopped here and the whole bill by andrew carnegie was a great claim to be the most influential of all scots on modern america he became the the world's richest man for honest and devan ruthless and then he proceeded to almost invent the concept of land for peace and gave his fortune away because in the precepts of underground niggas fear if he dies rich die shamed so we conduct interviews to talk about under can it is contribution and the quite the contribution of scots forced or what it does mean or with your e-mails your tweets and your messages first we hear from him get all he suggested into the canadian

journalist but also goes on to say love your dentist mean a show breath of fresh air and a small kid and let's face it last week of course alex interviewed lloyd taffeta weekly and if you want to face enjoy teaching apply to start it perspective from daf it weekly great interview as with new exchange of p.d.'s week by the much a regular seven thirty thirty am muffy for me and many others i suspect. base he says fascinating interview that i honorable or directly on alex semin show looking forward to the usa shows keep up the good work alex and his mina and finally martin says really enjoyed this week's show with welsh lord but a lord for a reason something we do not think about brilliant now alex is in new york at carnegie hall speaking with gino francisco any the director of archives and. i've got my seat in the stalls here so welcome to carnegie hall i like i just about you know the joke how do you get to carnegie hall which has some buy tickets but some have to have their own show.