summit treasonous as the media continue their meltdown a second summit is in the works to be held in washington what was accomplished in helsinki and what is the point of a sequel some. five hundred meters away they could see that around a few minutes later they began bombing the area and killing people an airstrike in afghanistan killed fourteen people including children are disputes to witnesses at the scene. investigative journalist a group of red fish shines a light on germany's arms trade claiming that not everything is above board.

mentioned. from. western powers welcomed me evacuation of the white helmets from syria to jordan we look at the controversy behind the. broadcasting law. this is our team international and john thomas glad to have you with us. fourteen people including children have been killed in an air strike in afghanistan in what was meant to be a military operation against the taliban it's not yet clear whether it was carried out by afghan or u.s. aircraft are two spoke to witnesses at the scene and a warning you may find some of the following images to strip. out i'm going to be looking is going to kind of look you know one of them because no one would see them

in the next room but you're going to want to look at those. afghan officials say most of the victims are women and children the u.s. military has admitted that it did conduct airstrikes in the area but it claims there were no civilian casualties are just what you have as commentary. after seventeen years the nile. it's propaganda by the enemy foreign troops are our friends and we don't target civilians u.s. forces did conduct strikes and on the ground assessments of those strikes reveals no indications they caused civilian casualties. taliban propaganda they claimed with an on the ground assessment to prove it who can argue with that almost sounds like the results of a scientific experiment would have helped of course of that actually visited the place. the americans never visited this area and i'm witness to this

national defense forces visited the area to check at first they wouldn't let us drink out the dead and injured. no foreigners didn't visit this area. they are lying a delegation came here from the local governments and security officials ok so if you take the locals all of them at their word it's the afghan army that lied to the american troops it wasn't until the neighbors relatives erupted in outrage that authorities admitted to potential civilian deaths even the un is on the case so what actually happened. the reconsider standing five hundred meters away they could easily see that civilians were around a few minutes later they began bombing the area and killing people. i saw the bombardment with my own eyes the americans first used artillery they bombarded my

home and my aunt's home without giving us a chance to flee. then they used a big bomb and we felt like we were in hell all around us was covered by gunpowder and dust my sister and all my family members were unconscious. first the shell the area where there was an aircraft bombarded it with three bombs there are twelve and one wounded we dug out the victims from the rubble with one missing we found the hand and shoulders and the few other parts of one marketeer and buried him. the victims in the house owner's wife and daughter in law. three daughters four grandchildren two sons and more difficult to spin them as enemy fighters even with the pentagon's notorious guilty until proven innocent casualty counting mechanism and locals survivors don't have a lot of faith in justice. my expectations are that they would tell us it was all

off in our sin and no proof that there were taliban fighters here this is not the first time. they always kill civilians and never give us a chance to speak up so that they can say that they killed the taliban. no no i've seen no one help the family i've lived here for a long time during times and now and i've never seen anyone given eight. province which is partly controlled by the taliban has a history of strikes go in astray in two thousand and fifteen when the us had the doctors without borders or spittle killing forty two the pentagon denied that at first until eventually barack obama himself had to apologize in the last year when the un investigation found that the u.s. had killed ten civilians in a different air strike again denied that even offered

a thorough investigation and again eventually ended up apologizing. on response to a request from our team nato said no civilian casualties resulted from u.s. airstrikes and of afghan investigators will release their findings in the next few days and i were activist richard becker says denial has become second nature for the american military. well i think that there's been hundreds and hundreds of such incidents in afghanistan every single time we hear of one of these incidents like this latest one it can do is we hear oh they were all terrorists at first and then someone goes out media go out in the interview the villagers and they say no they were just villagers and then the military says well we will conduct an investigation and then it's off into the ether and very little ever happens no matter how terrible the atrocities are but this pattern happens over and over again

and no matter what kind of apologies or excuses are given that it's repeated and it's repeated and repeated over and over again. germany is one of the world's largest arms makers and export hers but an investigative reporting group has claimed that not all german arms are being sold legally here is part of the report from red fish which can be found in full on the group's youtube page. in open the mentor to wish to understand our understand to tell as some of them as a long call had tired. of playing element. germany gets a lot of praise for its reasonable approach to politics but the german government has a dirty secret while germany prides itself on having some of the toughest arms export

laws on the planet it's actually the fourth biggest arms exporter in the world lawyer holder wrought by hour has taken one of the country's major on as manufacturers and one of the world's biggest small arms producers the infamous heckler and koch to court they stand accused of illegally shipping weapons to conflicts on the heckler and koch trial. is not using that word too often it's historic it's really historic because it shows the i would call it blasphemy this seeking of etiquettes of the german government because the german people the eagle on shipments they're accused of include sixteen batches of g thirty six assault rifles some of which ended up being used in a tragedy which shook the world. in two thousand and fourteen forty three students became collateral in mexico's bloody war on drugs when they were kidnapped by corrupt police who handed them over to the new tory is guerrero sunita was drug

cartel at least several of the students were killed by the heckler and koch rifles the company is incredibly hostile the media interest and public attention it didn't take long for the police to arrive to stop us from filming in the town's residents were particularly enthusiastic to speak to a seal we approached heckler and koch multiple times to discuss the allegations cited in this report unfortunately despite all our efforts. we're very happy to see us. if. you don't want to say something. to get an export license german arms manufacturers have to go through several government ministries who will check that the shipment destination isn't subject to any sort of ban by german law if it is in the arms company's application fails then they have another option they can appeal to the

federal security council and here's where things get interesting this council is made up of a handful of senior ministers who sit down with the german chancellor angela merkel in a secretive meeting where they review the application and decide whether to approve it or not the details of this meeting are never made public there is no media presence or independence group. the heckler and koch company says it is fully cooperating with the investigation their lawyers say the guns were sold legally to a well controlled police department in mexico. germany has agreed to resettle eight members of the controversial rescue group known as the white helmets as well as their families after they were evacuated by israel from syria canada britain and france have also pledged to receive some of the four hundred twenty two people are to earlier discuss the story with my colleague jacqueline for

. well the praise that this massive relocation effort has received in the west from some of the most senior people in charge seems absolutely unanimous it is of course but barely anyone of those joining in the course has actually spoken to civilians on the ground and r t how has done that and i'll tell you what there really is a rather strong contrast between what the big names are saying now and the things that we heard when we talked to these syrians that we've been able to get these brave people and their families out of syria after the extraordinary work they've done saving lives this video shows them helping the people but they only help the rebel fighters they really those close to them the last thing they cared about is civilians we can paint for the ever creation of the white helmets and i were grateful now that this was successful and that some of these people and their

families can be accommodated here in germany where no one did anything out of humanitarian concerns it was all about money the joy in the what helmets and the others only for money no one cared about the syrian people and what was the urgency behind this relocation well right now the syrian government troops are making some serious advances in the south of the country and that's where areas have long been held by the militants that are seeking to overthrow the assad government and i can tell you that there have already been attempts successful attempts i should say to move some of these rebels to the country's north where areas are held by some elements of the syrian opposition but now it seems it is turned to relocate the white house although they are being moved abroad and this is perhaps another sign that these people have long had some political connections with the west and after all it is no secret that the group is being kept. afloat with cash from western

countries and some cases that's taxpayers' money which means millions of dollars and the white helmets have been working very hard on building and maintaining not just a positive image but an image of heroes their networking their p.r. efforts our ferd's to visualize their rescue activities are really impressive but all of this may backfire if you cheat all that was used in april by those trying desperately to prove that the assad government used chemicals against children and duma was a white house video but later the very same people who featured in it insisted that the entire rescue operation after the chemical attack was staged. we were in the basement and then heard someone outside scream go to hospital they were scared they started to pour water on me i don't know why they did this you can

easily think of other controversies for instance videos with jihad as holding exit q. sions and then suddenly out of nowhere men wearing white helmets showing up or videos when people wearing white helmets were waving al qaida flags plus you can just take a look at some of the things our correspondent saw when he tried to trace the footsteps of the notorious group on the ground in syria here's what you'll find in one of the rooms of the former white helmets headquarters here and will stand across the aleppo bomb elements. as well as detonators hundreds and hundreds of empty bullet casings this was by all appearances a weapons factory of all making factory over here shrapnel. this is what they put in boredom stew cause horrendous casualties over there you'll see an

industrial mix up again. what they used to mix chemicals and gunpowder so clearly there's a lot of inconsistency is here have these concerns been ignored by western governments altogether no not in all cases you may remember when the white helmets won an oscar for a documentary about the things they were doing when that's when their leader was invited to the u.s. for the awards ceremony but then he was banned from entering the country and that was something that led to a rather awkward situation at a u.s. state department briefing is the u.s. taxpayer supporting a group whose leader you have banned from coming to the states i mean if you have reason to revoke his visa that he could be a security threat or something like that why would again you just support but again trying to separate this individual from their roots so they don't know if you're saying that basically that he is suspect which is. well again i can't speak to this

if i go against us against them and i'm sorry. so it might indeed get complicated when it comes to some elements of the white helmets group and the security back home russia's foreign ministry has issued a statement saying that the white helmets fleeing syria shows that they are hypocritical and not there just to tend to civilians middle east analyst i risk believes that not all the western states will be willing to accept white helmets members. this section reflects of the lemma which the worst finds itself in its finds itself supporting terrorists will the west allow these people to settle. in these countries in the us are not sure i don't think that they will allow what i think would really reveal their wish to be true hypocritical but i think that in other countries yes they will be allowed to settle down under this a label with these people are freedom fighters or involved in rescue operations i

also would like to point out to the following that yes they're here in beirut i heard information i tribute to the certain sources that amongst those who activated the not just members of the so-called white helmet spurs in addition to that intelligence officials from nato from certain gulf arab countries in the gulf like you know of saudi arabia etc. the chinese president is touring africa that story is still much more still to come stay with us. it's.

what politicians do something. they put themselves on the line. they get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or somehow want to be rich. it's a joy to be close to see what the full screen the more people get. interested in the logs of. a six.

pack of this is r t international the u.s. president is considering revoking the security clearances of six former intelligence officials including the former heads of the cia f.b.i. and n.s.a. all of whom were outspoken critics of donald trump the white house press secretary gave a statement explaining the move. the president is exploring these mechanisms to resume remove security clearance because they've politicized and in some cases actually monetized their privilege service and their security clearance clearances and making baseless accusations of improper contact with russia or being influenced by russia against the president is extremely inappropriate and this comes a week after former cia chief john brennan accused all trump of treasonous behavior he was referring to the president's summit with one reputed in helsinki he went on to accuse trump of being in the pocket of the russian leader. cross live now to earl rasmussen who's the vice president of the eurasia center think tank thanks

for being with us here on r t international so. the white house press secretary senator sanders we just heard there she accused the six former intelligence officials of politicizing and in some cases monetizing their public service is that a fair allegation considering i mean anyone who's ever held a government position to have to make money after they leave office and having a security clearance is kind of part of the deal. you know it's. they have politicized it quite a bit probably more than normally and monetizing it people are going to i mean there there are resources i mean from the intelligence side they've inside we get hired by corporations outside after we leave government for who we know and what we know and our own understanding of the process so really there's no. it's a fair statement but but i don't think there's anything outside of that that the

politicization probably sometimes a little extreme and also former intelligence officials have security clearance for good reason sometimes they need to be called in on short notice in crisis situations. could this move potentially be harmful for national security. you could say that but i don't see a big a big impact negative impact or adverse impact on that side and central you've got a lot of different senior. security people that perhaps have a lot more career background and understanding from a broader perspective that could easily be called in and if you needed them you could easily grant an interim access. for this type of thing could be probably granted so i don't see a major adverse impact on on that side james clapper called the move very petty saying if trump chooses to do this for political reasons. kind of actually what

they're being accused of doing anyway that's an abuse of the system could this open trump up for accusations of abuse of office i think i think mr trump he has let let's say he said you have a security clearance and that's a discretion there's a reason you have one. and based on that you're looking at honesty credibility your reputation your loyalty all of that comes into play. once you no longer need access to the information there's really no need for that and so really it's up to the discretion of the president on whether he he allows them to retain their security clearances or removes it and. he just needs to be cautious on how he does it to not make it overly political because and then obviously he's got other political fights and battles to to deal with as a result of that but but really it's within his prerogative to to remove the security clearances for those individuals all right then just him here thoughts are

all restless and vice president of the eurasia center think tank thanks for being with us here mark international. all right chinese president xi jing ping has rived in rwanda as part of his four nation trip to africa to establish deeper trade ties. here earlier visited to senegal which is the first west african country to be involved in china's belt and road infrastructure project beijing has been expanding its presence in africa in recent years in two thousand and sixteen alone china invested thirty nine billion dollars in the continent bringing the total to more than two hundred billion that's roughly twice the amount the united states has invested in africa. earlier this year u.s. ties with several african countries were put under strain by some infamous remarks from donald trump president of the united states is racist he really is the devil this is an actual quote from the actual president this is the gift that he decided

to give the american people they're not whole countries for one donald trump isn't their president. io johnson founder of viewpoint africa believes the u.s. government's policies on africa have encouraged countries to look to china. the united states' influence on africa was already doing beat well before don't want to sean came into the play and it will continue to drink because of some of his comments he's attitude towards africans and he's position on africa in general he's only interested in issue basis and african so i'm afraid i'm very much interested in partnership and those that take them seriously and i know school is like a liberalized constant it's voting with his free time is changing the united states in every sector that i know of in favor of the chinese all of course china already had a huge presence and influence and that influence i've just grown to levels for which

even if the americans were to try now like you to ever catch the the chinese in my lifetime. they proposed a plaque to be added to a statue commemorating a famous merchant involved in the slave trade has divided locals in the english city of bristol edward colston is a prominent figure in the city's history for his philanthropy however much of his wealth was acquired through the royal african company which was involved in the slave trade during the seventeenth century now residents say people need to be more aware of colston's past and a second plaque mentioning his role in the slave trade is needed we discussed the issue with racial equality campaigner lead jasper and stephen morris from the english democrats. why are we got the statue of a man who sold millions of africans into bondage and slavery ripped african babies from their mothers breast separated families killed maimed

and murdered millions of africans but he gave some money to charity so we should have a statue of him in our town square we have to look at the full history of the of the slave trade was going on for thousands of years before europeans arrived africans were enslaved africans and selling them to the arabs way before we got there and it's actually quite unfair to judge the past by today's standards and today's models so for me eight is part of the history but it really got to be showing the full history of what was going on at the time and not just to be a scene until your opinion. actually the fifty million people is a lot more than a ransom for thing one could go on for was always knowing all the redesign and find it that the historians of the time are all consensual around that figure so i think it is you need to get your facts straight it all depends what the plot is going to be saying because you've got to put things into context of what was happening at

the time now you're the guess is this man is a racially and all the ground so that's what i. wanted before i moved trying to put forward i'm going to pluck there then you have to make sure that you put it into context of what was happening around the world we shouldn't be imagining and celebrating colton it should be either a bristol museum of shame which he can go in and all the ardor of colonial aspects and relics of the past can go in but i don't way it should be called textual eyes as the most horrific period in bristol's history you cannot george historical events by today's standards you have to look at what was going on at the time more blood was enslaved by blacks than there were by the europeans so he needs to needs to actually. look i'm still being very hypocritical. and that doesn't for me i'll be back in to top the hour with more news you're watching art international stay with us.

people criticize us or they questioned us and they want to know why we're not more book critical of russia and the real question is how come we're not tooting russia's horn more because they are been genius during this crisis but that would be i think a little bit you know over the top to simply point out all the good things that they're constantly doing so we just try to take a more balanced middle of the road approach that's you know the fact is that they're making all these other economies look stupid like prayers. seemed wrong. but old rules just don't hold. any new world yet to shape out these days comes to educate and in games from an equals betrayal.

when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle some call donald trump a traitor and the helsinki summit treasonous as the media continue their meltdown a second summit is in the works to be held in washington what was accomplished in helsinki and what is the point of a sequel summit. cross-linking

summits i'm joined by my guest mark sloboda he's an international affairs and security analyst and in cyprus we cross to alex kristof or he is the director and writer for the duran dot com all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in any time you want and i always appreciate alex let me go to you first in cyprus i want to in this program on talk about what was and what could happen so let's talk it's one pack helsinki. i don't necessarily think that it was a failure for donald trump it was a failure for the media and their continued meltdown go ahead yeah i think it was we don't really know many details as to actual policy that was discussed between the two leaders in helsinki and one of the reasons we don't know that much about the meeting which we should be discussing policy because after all that's that's why they met and that's the important part of this summit all we're hearing about from the media. is the meltdown over how truck is a trader. how.