from that time on you know we have had for example we were buying arms from the u.s. and because certain members of congress were making noise about alleged human rights violation you know when we need that the most it was in there but here comes china and here comes russia despite policymakers in beijing and moscow saying let's be careful let's see what's happening you know took a leap of faith and came to manila and don't get me wrong the u.s. also helped us in malawi and the australians the japanese you know and we appreciate this but what we're saying is that we want that much your real friendship we may be a smaller country well that that friendship also has a material benefit. is all it said not only friendship but also not that far away i mean russia or not and i have a perfect question for you on the subject because i think you have some very funny amazing metaphors i heard you say that with ten million filipinos living abroad the

you guys x. print in long distance relationships i think we here in russia and a bit more said that to me time to develop stronger ties with those who are either close to these dos we can reach to territorially through land what could possibly breach the eight more than eight thousand kilometer distance bits bin moscow and manila will discovery i think the more we discovered russia and the more russian discovers the filipinos will find out that we have a lot of things in common. we both have a strong sense of identity and are finding our place not only in society in the world but both of us just you know want to get along with the rest of the world have enough food that they will know we're also often misunderstood in our intentions right that this is one and one of the things me because of again the cold war mentality i mean again it's always spot caged in some. western media that

this is correct this is so wrong you know so we have to judge country's actions and leave their said the rector gives case per case you know you're going to everything the us the historic or you can oppose or say everything the u.s. is wrong so we need more objective but the reality is. you know media tries to give the facts but also leans. their world view so this is where social media and direct communication comes in unfortunately it's sometimes called fake news that sometimes is but it's sometimes actually a different world view packaged as fake news by powerful people now i know that russian particularly is interested in marketing its nuclear power and transfer the expertise to the and to the philippines i wonder is that something that may be of interest to you particularly the nuclear energy issue from what i understand it's quite a contentious subject in your country we are interested in everything that they saw

russia and we hope that we can interest russia with everything that's filipino from our warm hospitality to our beautiful islands countryside mountains from your sophisticated military hardware to your transport that vehicle is exciting motorcycles you know i'll ask you specifically about it then you can do this from what i knew if you actually built one nuclear power for but it never went into operation because bill you are in of the us that infested with corruption we pay of course u.s. . company under the guidance of international financial institutions the us which corruption has been exposed in the last few decades so the contention it's not the use of nuclear power itself or aid or help or fresh or russian technology the issue of more of the location of where the. but the nuclear power plant the controversy

is more if we should build there because there are strong feelings given the history but in so far us cooperation in this matter we've signed agreements where our scientists are very excited by point of science and technology our department of energy is excited that the way it works with your. agencies and at the mic and nuclear fields ok well secretary we have to take a very short break now but he will be back in just a few moments. is this is harlan kentucky. boy you see you go from st patty's. money city with almost no coal mines left. the jobs are gone all the coal mines are

said. that it was a laugh to these people listen five years of disappearing before their eyes. i remember thinking when i was younger that if anything ever happened to the coal mines here and that it would become a ghost town but i never thought in a million years i would see that and it's happening it's happened. became a camera. roughly once they showed some new feel for the. uncool videos the film with the broken string. down more on string i don't roughly don't t.v. .

welcome back to all the parts of it. on a secretary of foreign affairs of the. secretary we mentioned the situation in. before and i think it would be fair to say that both the attack on that c.t. and the long destructive siege that followed deep fears among asian countries as well as across the world that isis may seek to expand in other locations after suffering defeats in syria and iraq just the other day we heard the devastating attack in indonesia perpetrated by a whole family including four children who returned from syria do you in the philippines understand how to deal with you know how good you are first of all our hearts go out and we express our condolences to all the victims of terrorism worldwide even here in russia you are no stranger to. extremism and acts of terrorism. it was

a painful experience you know fighting. your own countrymen and fighting extremists you know it was the first time that there was fighting in a city in an urban setting it's usually outside and sunni they say that you know if there are religious undertones or society or historical differences but here it was just filipino against filipino in the name of a perverted. and i'll read you say on the one occasion that there was a real danger at one point of time. forming from being a battle between terrorism and the. war the dangerous there the president is in the best position because he's seen this he was going around the camps already seeing watch out keep a keen eye you know it will just take it's like gasoline spread all over and it just takes a spark and he knew at that time that syria and iran. would soon stop the lies and

the diaspora and isis will be defeated and where we'll go the couple hundred or a couple of thousands of southeast asian jihadist fighters who join dice were will they go how do you think these people should be dealt with because the it's not only the fighters it's also the families it's also the children again the indonesian recent internation example shows the children could also be used as he said bombers well you know. it should be dealt like a no nonsense father the firm hand but then open heart you know no one wants to scold or put in jail or stand in the corner his son or his daughter you know but if you lose your lab these people into your back into your house and you know that they present a potential danger if they are terrorists you know then they are a trip to all nations to all people having said brothers in the govt have to communicate that to us there's need for rehabilitation there's

a need to communicate to their families that they have been rescued and not capture you know but there's so much to be done from intelligence sharing from taking out the fertile ground for recruitment of that kind of mentality so poverty and crime and drugs put together just creates that fertile ground of breeding extremists and this kind of ideology now you mentioned already did that the united states and the philippines have just. joint military exercises to build on the lessons of the moroccan siege involving some eight thousand troops from both sides as well as a small contingent from australia and japan is that a sign that your political relations with the united states beach were strained as you sat over the criticism about the war on drugs. is it a sign that that relationship isn't proving well i don't know the term military to military. relation you know never suffered. it is fact friends they do tend to

sad that there is an exercise it would be suspended we suspend all of the exercises in the south china sea and with regards to certain aspects of the eight thousand you mentioned today it was more for disaster prevention so yes we focused on that and he's keeping it that way what i'm saying is that if people two people the relationship is still strong military to military relationship be strong and you know russia and china have never said to us and never interfered with our relationship with the united states but they don't have such close to the million ties yes but that makes the relationship strong when you respect the bilateral relationship with your friend with the other friend you know this isn't grade school or high school way and if you fight with a friend you want all your other friends to fight with him or to you know you have to have much your relationships and that includes security and defense arrangements now speaking about maturity and leadership present to tears his personal style his

temperament his sense of humor sometimes compared to that of donald trump do you find that comparison flattering. you know they're both authentic speakers they say or do a tweet what what they want but you know in the philippines he's been compared more with president put in political determination political will a vision of what to do in the country remember the problem with the there is just not only who and what they do in the direction but also the circumstances at home you know it's very hard to judge a president donald trump he's a good friend to the philippines but he is in a political circumstances where there are you know challenge just in all fronts so we have challenges with the u.s. congress challenges with the n.g.o.s who are using human rights as a political weapon challenge just sometimes with the state department but we're

trying to build those bridges you know but in the meantime president that there that this is really care who it is compared to you know he just wants to do a good i understand that it's very easy for the leaders to publicly shrug that kind of that kind of criticism and i think it gets to you and when your country's being maligned over and over again it's it's not pleasant especially if you're dealing with some real life but president that they're the best and care as far as he's concerned he likes president trump they have a good connection they talk frankly but this fire suppressant this concern he very much like see he's called president putin one of my idols you know so and he says it's none of your business if i like him or not now incidentally president trump also has his own druck epidemics to tackle and correct me if i'm wrong he has not only refrained from criticizing the philippines over the conduct of the war on drugs he actually sat and praised president for the quote unquote deliverable job

joe job on the drug problem does the philippines a sas chomps efforts to dress them up. an opiate crisis in the same way do even analyzed but the end of the demo the president has said that he's very supportive he has empathy he understand what the americans are going through unfortunately the . us and western media do not understand that there are different challenges when it comes to drugs. now a president is talking about opioids but in the past it was about more of cocaine and cocaine and methamphetamine have different effects in cocaine it's a health issue with the person but that person doesn't go around raping people killing people raping two years old shooting their father met them fit the means have that effect and that's what they were trying to. do you can counter that but

saying that even when you have a mentally disabled person committing a crime you do you put him through assessment and that's what we're doing but this human rights groups wants to legalize prohibit the drugs and it's making it appear there's an even do you end up with two and said there's no evidence that this kind of drugs need to violence so even with the mentally disturbed person you know identified a dangerous dangerous to himself or herself then just to family and do remedies so we are just remedying the epidemic of drugs illegal drugs in the philippines respect president trumps efforts but we also recognize said that human rights and drug issues have become so politicized you know that we're not discussing it in the level to solve it but to criticize each other and helpful. secretary i notice that the war in drugs is pretty much the only thing that the western reporters ever ask

you about and i don't want to focus on too much and that but i do want to ask you one more question on on this issue i came across a poll from last year we suggest that seven. three percent of filipinos worry about becoming victims of extrajudicial killings and that's about as high as the general public support for the crusade again against crime so that leads me to conclude that people support the goal but they are a little bit apprehensive about the math do you share because it depends on the question in the poll so if you ask do you support so for example if you say do you support nuclear power and you get eighty percent and then a fallout happens somewhere and you ask the same question are you concerned that the fallout will happen of course your answer will be you know but look at the later polls nowadays you know people are seeing that we have safer streets people are seeing that yes there are abuses but this was because of fun abuse of police

force not because of precedent but there at this directive and with us now by modern day quick meant more surveillance more c.c.t.v. cameras there more assurances to the public that you know this drug is precisely against those who violate the law and those who are violent you know president there has told president trump and president has listened carefully that we don't shoot people in cold blood but what did the american media report that precedent that they did not discuss human rights so you know they're focused on the form that on the substance they did discuss human rights in a manner of a friendly nations respecting each other sovereignty what would you say to those who claim that they detect administration has been a bit blinded by this and to drive campaign and overcommitted police and army resources to counter the drug problem at the expense of other security challenges which. could have the situation we describe discussed previously in laramie where

we care about the filipino we care about the philippines and we know that we would have would open up the day that we were narco state if we don't do this so we don't really care that much about the people who has the luxury to provide solutions that didn't work or were given the chance to solve the problem and didn't in order to problem so any country with an existential trap is always criticise that they focus too much on that trip but precisely why you call it the next the stench of trip it's a threat to your existence so if we don't believe that if we didn't if the president didn't put that focus will wake up one day that the all of five minutes in the philippines have the problems with drugs with violence and i can state that we've already seen generals we've seen the politicians we've seen hype officials we've seen billions millions thousands of past us in drugs we've saw a cache of cash and drugs in mirali so i think we prove our point that it is

a real danger to us and if other people want to ignore it if other n.g.o.s want to politicise it that's their problem but we'll deal with the real problem while our secretary and forces do we have to leave it there i really appreciate your time very hard to shape the fraternity thank you and i'm courage of yours to keep this conversation going in our social media pages and i hope to see you again same place same time here and will the party. eh what. when

lawmakers manufactured them sentenced him to book wealth. when the ruling classes protect them so. when the financial merry go round be the one person. we can all middle routes to. the real news is really. disinflation very little inflation for decades interest rates have gone down for thirty years markets and rally for thirty years now the whole thing is reversing interest rates are going up so as inflation so we'll see how that plays out if wages rise faster then inflation. as such then trying to wonder

if wages don't rise as fast as this neo inflation then we got trouble. arrests are made of the right wing rally in the us city of portland with police attempting to prevent classrooms with leftist counter approaches to. republicans and democrats campaign in local and rational mid lections both parties make use of president trump's image to get their message across. thousands rally in the israeli city of tel aviv furious at a controversial new law that seen as discriminating against jewish citizens.

and venezuelan president nicolas maduro saugus it by drones the explosives sharing a speech at a national event he himself has come home. go to r.t. dot com for more on those and other stories as well coming up next though what are the international it's going on the ground in the u.k. and ireland is up next. and after a tense scene we're going on the ground as scotland hosts its annual military parade in partnership with austerity funded bank r.b.s. in the shadow of millions killed injured or displaced up the u.k. interventions in iraq afghanistan libya and syria coming over the show terrorists

or humanitarian volunteers real video or fake propaganda or truth as assad's forces secured victory in the south of syria we speak to the boss of the white helmets. about allegations of links to isis and al qaeda in a going underground exclusive all the civil war coming up in today's going underground but first today is the one year anniversary of the landmark hizbollah peace deal in syria and is now syria's victorious but charlotte said aided by the international community wins his war against isis and al-qaeda linked groups who exactly with the british funded white helmets we recognize the very important and valuable work that the white house mates are doing they always he says doing this in. difficult conditions they are incredibly brave the white helmets one near unanimous praise from britain's arguable still no group of a power media during british support for militants trying to overthrow the syrian government is the u.k.'s channel four news explaining the context of why

a legacy set up for murdered labor. m p joe cox funds the white helmet white helmets joe cox wanted them to get the nobel peace prize to save one life is to save humanity that is their motto but that's not the way some see it mr clyde. members and that's proven on the theme members of killing. all excusing or celebrating over did bodies of the humanitarian heroes arguable the enemy of donald trump and president assad hollywood though doesn't see it that way at all thank you for the white house. sadly right the head of the white homeless is not able to join us tonight the white helmet being celebrated there at the oscars and while the head of the group couldn't make it to receive the other wardrobe has been able to make it to talk to going underground the head of the group that has been nominated for the nobel peace prize for its work in a conflict that has killed wounded or displaced millions joins me now via skype

from istanbul in turkey. welcome to going underground so how many lives have the white helmet saved. since the establishment of the white helmets in syria at the beginning of twenty thirteen and until now we have saved more than one hundred fifty thousand people from under the rubble during the aerial bombings by the syrian regime in russia. and who from foreign governments have supported you know. like all other humanitarian organizations that are working in syria like that arab syrian red presence all the other humanitarian organizations like the agencies that are affiliated to the united nations that receive international funding from all countries we don't have any exclusions in terms of funding we accept funding from america great britain holland denmark canada france and other countries like japan and qatar and we also receive very large public financial donations from the arab people and. people from different countries that

is through the donation campaigns that we launch through our websites or social media the british prime minister talks proudly of british funding for the white helmets because britain give more than the united states number yes britain is one of the largest supporters of the white helmets and that can't be hidden from anybody the british government announces publicly in the financial amounts that it offers to the white helmet and we also have a true partnership with the british government at the service of humanity in syria and i want to get into the humanitarian issues in a second but did you feel a bit abandoned by the dollar trump who appeared to try to stop funding by the us government for the way helmut. knew and i think there's been some vagueness on this issue is there was general funding which included funding for the white helmets and after that came to a stop it was restarted again in the funding for the white helmets began again in a normal way there is currently no reservations all residents on the amounts that

are donated to the white helmets on the contrary the budgets that are offered by the united states of america have in fact increased in order to sponsor the search and rescue operations that's we do in syria during the bombings and raids are done by russia and the syrian regime and so the white helmet still are in syria because there are reports that white helmets are being evacuated to other countries. those that have been evacuated are ninety eight volunteers and their families escaping the revenge operations that they were subject to by the syrian regime and the militias that are affiliated to it that word advancing towards the syrian golan heights however we currently still have around three thousand seven hundred volunteers who are working in the areas that we are able to access and are providing essential services to the communities that they work with where the ninety six go. currently they are still in jordan right so the girl in britain or israel or france has been reported. they are still in jordan ok i don't know were

what you thought of this with the british broadcasting corporation's panorama program british aid is going to terrorists they made a program called in jihad these the jihad is you pay for what do you make of allegations that aid money from britain is actually going to terrorists the program that was presented by panorama was not in relation to the funding that was received by the white helmets there has been some reservations about some of the funding that went to certain organizations however the truth was later revealed as this was merely propaganda and a promotional action by the media that was aimed at distorting and ruining the reputation of civil syrian activists eventually the work of these organizations was restarted and continued once their innocence was proven through an investigation that took place in britain with the sponsoring parties so you've never worked with the free syrian police and all white helmet volunteers are always other throughout

they've been on them throughout the conflict. no no i have never said those words what i said was that the b.b.c. report was concerning other organizations i've not said that we do not work with the syrian free police we do work with the free police and with all the civil organizations that work in the areas that we are able to access what i said is that the program was talking about other organizations and not the white helmets organization in syria since you have been involved in the white helmets have you ever seen any evidence of infiltration in the way of helmets by islamist groups national and system when we established the organization there were rules and regulations in relation to the international humanitarian norm and the management of the search and rescue operations teams based on which this organization was built that it began to expand and prosper and became an international humanitarian entity working for the service of the syrian people and to save them from under the rubble after the aerial shelling done by the syrian

regime. in russia we have not seen any case of infiltration having said that there has been on some occasions certain areas that we have had to evacuate in a sudden and quick manner and therefore we left behind some clothing or equipment have been used by some groups to distort the reputation of the civil defense the photographs and fabrications that have come out as a result are not necessary truthful or generated by the syrian civil defense the white elements in fact in regards to all the issues that have surfaced if they were ever related to that organization we produce an official statement and we announce our stand regarding the mistakes that's might take place so are other organizations responsible for the alleged fake videos and photos a large. i believe that the main motive for the forgery and misuse of the photographs comes from groups that are active in social media and that are affiliated to russia and the syrian regime they are constantly working on ruining our reputation in order to refute the facts regarding what we offer to the united

nations community concerning the violations that have been committed by the syrian regime against the civilians which includes the use of chemical weapons as well as the violations that have been committed by the russian army during their operations in syria tell me about. the boy whose. awards he was covered in dust and the white helmets bordley saved his life. the truth is as you know i'm run doesn't he she is home was bombed and he was extracted by our teams from under the rubble and we did not photograph you know the source of the photograph that was published was not to the white helmets but a journalistic reporter we saved him and his brother who stayed in hospital for several months until he recovered we were surprised at the way he was used and exploited by the russian government to speak in the media. that me she's father been given the safety and been taken to a safe place he would have spoken differently than he did under the.