and as we're saying like as i said the budget has gone down slightly twenty seven was about twenty seven million in two thousand and sixteen twenty eight million and twenty seventeen and their request last year was only twenty three million which is slightly down but the budget also suggests that they're talking about merging the voice of america's latin american spanish with them which means it could double or triple that but now imagine if russia or china did something like this in light of nato country or something we would be you know exploding all our group politicians be losing their minds on t.v. if that was going on right now it's all based on this idea that there is no independent media that there is nothing that people in cuba have no access to anything that they have no idea how to get any information that isn't all pro cuban government and that's not true because there's a many there's like cyber cuba the r.d.o. de cuba are all critical of the government but available via internet on the island in fact just this week the telecommunications company of cuba wrote

a test of their upcoming three g. capabilities and while it was slow and only allowed people like seventy megabytes to use for one day they were able to download videos they were able to go through music and news and have the internet write and download things from you tube which means they're getting there it's not an easy process but they're not trying to keep anybody out and most people on the island of learned a long time ago to use and things like that to counteract they know how to get around it and they don't like outsiders like we said with actions telling them how to feel about their own government and i think that's the biggest that yes that's the most important all right as we go to break court watchers don't forget to let us know what you think of the topics we've covered the facebook and twitter circle shows that r t v dot com coming up journalist max blumenthal joins us to discuss another u.s. government funded political meddling organization that he showed some new light on in the new documentary and then look at the future of office cubicle interesting stuff say to watch in the.

semifinal done well enough so that it can get out now hundreds of billions of dollars on the point. line and if he would be would it be that easy to find a ten that i had in me. plus is that going to people who. didn't. vote but i thought it might have been love a little bit of a wonder but not that i little bit that i accept that out of money going to know about much of the woodwork the mob not to get it but it. exists as one does apply the rules to some boards of.

to see. if anybody will vote on. live. i i. i i i live. i. want a loved one is murder it's natural to seek the death penalty for the murderer i would

permit me to live the death penalty just because they think that's the fair think the right thing research shows that for every night. an execution is one kong thing is found innocent the idea that we were executing innocent people is terrifying is just no there isn't and that we're even many victims' families want the death penalty to be abolished the reason we have to keep the death penalty here is because that's what murder victims' families want to that's going to give them peace it's going to give them justice and we come in and say. not quite you know we've been through this this isn't the way. from one form of us meddling in a sovereign country it's politics to another this week journalist next blumenthal

unleashed a new short documentary that shines a light of the rather curious work of the united states government funded national endowment for democracy or ned founded in one thousand nine hundred three by then u.s. president ronald reagan the ned was started under the guise of promoting democracy around the world that is funded primarily by the u.s. congress in the form of a grant awarded to the united states information agency however with its deep ties to conservative as m and a cold war era ideology as many claim the group is more of a mechanism for influence peddling and propaganda than promoting any kind of democracy cia whistleblower philip achieve once stated nowadays instead of having the cia going around behind the scenes and trying to manipulate the process by inserting money here and giving instructions secretly and so forth they they have now a sidekick which is the national endowment for democracy ned joining us now to discuss his investigations into the national endowment for democracy as investigative journalist and senior editor of the gray zone project thanks for joining us thanks for having me and thanks for saying i on lease to document the war because it's

worse than the documentary so i'll just release it oh you know that was wrong. you know. this was a boom for a lot of people because i think when you look at the metal in belmont for democracy it sounds so nice and wonderful i'm sure will make millions and then doubt me exactly but no one but i want to ask you you you know kind of women do it and looked at what it was really doing and you know what is the measure for democracy really doing around the world and what inspired you to actually take a look at it the first voice the first time i wrote about this organization was actually in two thousand and four an article i wrote for salon dot com called the other regime change and it was about how the national endowment for democracy and its republican partner organization the international republican institute which was run by john mccain had effectively toppled the government the elected democratically elected government of haiti john bertrand aristide the liberation

theology preacher who is socialist oriented in his love a last movement which was a big challenge to american control domination of haiti and they funded all these opposition groups they controlled them they strategized and they got them to basically sabotage the political system and create the context for a violent coup so i learned about it back then i returned to this subject again and again but most explicitly this summer when i attended an awards ceremony that the anybody hosted on capitol hill with you know a bipartisan cast of members of congress for korean defectors and activists who were funded by the u.s. government dedicated to promoting regime change in north korea and what was significant about this event was it was timed for the day of the trumped him summit to sabotage plans for peace between north and south korea so you got a u.s. government funded organization undermining a u.s. government initiative which actually threatened the organizations it was funding

because if you have peace you don't need to fund these groups anymore don't you don't you really where's the fun and yeah. i mean what would we do with all these hundreds of millions of dollars if we didn't use them for that how what i wonder is how how is ned work different than what russia has been accused of in terms of meddling in foreign country's politics so what's the difference between these two things while give you one example. you know i was just in nicaragua reporting on a another coup very similar to what took place in haiti where the national endowment for democracy and its partner groups were heavily involved in funding opposition media opposition civil society groups and i found that through public filings it's all public this is all in the open as philip agee said the national endowment for democracy had spent over four million dollars between two thousand and fourteen and twenty seven thousand to fund the opposition to the elected send a nice the government of daniel ortega along with the usa id another state

department related group which does the same spend about five million ok so now let's take there are six million people in nicaragua that's about two dollars for every citizen let's imagine that russia and china got together and spent one billion dollars or about two dollars for every american citizen to fund civil society groups and the media in the us including groups that we don't know they fund to topple the american elected government can you imagine the uproar can you imagine what would the united states do russia has actually banned the national endowment for democracy because it was seeking a color revolution in russia. how would americans react the thing is americans don't know that they do this they don't know that their tax payer dollars fund this and they don't know the consequences the consequences in nicaragua are dire a country that was growing at a five percent rate a year the economy was very productive which had no migration crisis which was not contributing to drug trafficking is now been d.c.

has now been destabilized its economy has gone from five percent it's contracted to . one percent there is a migration crisis now and criminal gangs are slipping in because the country's been destabilized this is partly the work the handiwork of the national endowment for democracy you mention were taxpayers don't know who jumped on me to mention the timing obviously avoid hey we're going to do this more of korea meeting and all that but what do people need to know one of us tax payers need to know about meds work regarding north korea the they might think twice about wanting to bomb yeah i mean it's it was very clear to me at this event that ned the national endowment for democracy was threatened by the idea of peace breaking out on the korean peninsula whereas polls consistently show that south koreans over eighty percent of them favor peace with the north and you can see this with the government of mungy and he's put he's staked his political career on peace with the north reconciliation

and most importantly reunification and now you have this u.s. government agency coming in with often. for reports that are unreliable in many cases and we've seen a lot of the defectors actually fabricate testimony the most important one being the only park. in order to sabotage that from taking place so this is a group that claims that it favors democracy and human rights which actually is sabotaging it in many cases i mean you can just look at the record of the color revolutions they've spawned and what happened afterwards in eastern europe how much conflict has taken place in ukraine for example there is an active war in ukraine's east the ne d. was heavily involved in the my down coup neo nazis are rampaging a government funded neo nazi group called c. fourteen is attacking roma camps across ukraine and you know i tried to warn about this at the time and people said you know come on it's just about democracy let's

keep the money flowing into civil society groups and now ukrainians favor peace and the u.s. wants to. more weapons. serving under many levels and what's even more disturbing to me is that right here on capitol hill are people who don't seem to see that who are supposed to be you know the great minds like you know nancy pelosi. well can i just make a quick point there which is that you know you brought up nancy pelosi and she was at this event the democratic minority leader and i i question her about this but one of the most important things people need to understand and why this conversation we're having is so important is that there is no public debate about these kind of initiatives so you constantly hear about polarization between republicans and democrats on capitol hill but when something has so much bipartisan support like the anybody that's what you should really worry about and that's why we need to keep having these conversations transparency is so important because i don't think the public would want to know and what i thought was really interesting

is that you know nancy pelosi when you tried to ask her about that had said you know i don't want to get my hypotheticals though that's like ninety nine percent of her job but that's not like that's literally your job is to understand pathetically max i want to ask you are u.s. politicians like pelosi just too blind with this like pseudo patriotism or are they are they where do you think that they absolutely know what's going on there and at some point it's just somebody is getting paid or somebody just thinks that's the right thing yeah i think they partly compartmentalize but really what it comes down to is american exceptionalism that we do i mean this is the dictum of democracy promotion is to do unto others what we hope they do not do to us and so what i asked nancy pelosi was how would you feel of russia was funding civil society groups in the u.s. to encourage regime change and she said i'm not going to get into hypotheticals and it's a question she's never had to engage because she's an american exceptionalism and she believes where a special nation or

a shining city on the hill as reagan said it it's our job to export our system worldwide and no other country should seek to do that. to us which is absolutely ridiculous because to me that goes against the very fabric of what i think all three of us and millions of other taxpaying citizens feel about this country is that it's not our job to police the world it's not our job to tell the world how to think what to think and why don't think just so we can make more money on the back and i'm pretty sure that's why we had a little thing called the revolutionary war at least one of the reasons we had as we wanted to move away from that well also we wanted to keep slavery going but oh you guys i was looking at i want to through speaking of slavery you guys did a really important segment earlier in the week or last week on the prison stripes yeah i mean we still have slavery in this country what right do we have to export our system when that's going on at home and it's not what about every it's about providing context that we need to work this out at home and not spend tax dollars to supposedly promote human rights what we're which when we're what we're really

doing is promoting conflict and destabilization and let me ask you this because you know we obviously we pinpointed one of the problems with them is who is what you know someone sitting at home what should they do what do you recommend as a journalist how do you combat things like mad how do you say like ok if i want to see if i don't want my tax dollars going to this what should i do to help stop it yeah i think you know it's really about writing your local representative and there are some representatives who unfortunately for me someone on the left they happen to be more on the libertarian republican side because they don't want to spend lots of tax dollars but i think this is an issue about accountability and the public needing to be more involved in foreign policy what we've recently seen is the public getting interested for the first time in yemen and now there are calls in mainstream media to end that war the public needs to look at this organization the national endowment for democracy and call for it to be totally defunded and for those for those tax dollars to come back home and be reinvested in building democracy in this country where one still doesn't exist and those virtue of

merrick's are going to thank you for coming on great work oh as always always thanks for having me. thank you are still. open concept offices stand up desk air purifiers an ergonomic keyboard all work to make will work slightly less soul crushing but the folks at the mit media lab have gone one step further and are developing a smart cubicle as part of the mediated atmosphere project which seeks to improve wellbeing and productivity in the workplace the workplace is not only modular but also as a frameless scream custom lighting speakers video projection and both wearable and contact bio signals sensors the whole thing is designed to self regulate based on the user's activities and physiology it collects over thirty biological signals including heart rate facial expressions and posture so we get stress in the workplace it will literally adjust the lighting images and even sound in order to help you relax if you're getting distracted easily the smart workspace will learn

what helps you focus most and implemented based on your body by experimenting with things like lighting and sound and objects that we interact with science and technology have been shown to have a monumental effect on cognitive performance mood and even physiology it really does seem like the geniuses of our generation might just make going to work all ost as fun as not going to work well i get the pleasure of working with tabitha wallace and shawn stone a journalist like max blumenthal so i love coming to work every day what would be your favorite thing to what do you think would be the thing that called you out if you want to scream the word pop up and show yourself. and video games and what that would distract. from the problem there's a bit to presume i wanted i really was a very very good others are just over the head remember every one of those worlds we're about told the world love tell you all i love you i am tired robots are at

the top of the lawless people and watching those harks and have a great. what politicians do something to. put themselves on the lawn. to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president or injury. or somehow want to preserve. its right to be for us this is what the forecast for you in the morning can be good good. i'm interested always in the waters of our. question.

because you know provision of my by going to i want to. get. there so you'll know i lost his boss because. we don't have any of those in prison but the pressure on us i don't know if it is for any of them. so i says you know but i was you know. you know just i mean what it i'm already but i was just going to go eat i mean we're going to. give it up as well i must. get off on getting the rest but those were the old. one of those but it was just this weather this one of these on. my boat in with us if you could a car bomb i just got that already yes it will be and he thought of getting up there calling.

washington releases its latest list of anti russia sanctions which come into effect next monday we'll look at what difference they might make on top of the existing restrictions. must be aware of being a news channel as trump russia solution stories again hit headlines t.v. channels are now being caught in the hostile often this hour. a rift at the top in stalin's governing party over sexual allegations leveled against the former first minister alex salmond he talks to r.t. about why he's taking legal action against the government and. situation when the scottish government starts to break confidentiality after the shooting everybody connected with this was going to be absolutely protected for the process

. thank you ok you're watching r t international bring you your live news update this hour with me jacqueline luca welcome to the program. the united states has confirmed that the latest anti russia sanctions will kick in on monday the restrictions will target russia's financial sector as well as arms sales reporting from washington d.c. hears. these sanctions were announced earlier this month over russia's alleged involvement in the script paul poison in which there is still no evidence for russia has repeatedly denied its involvement and has even offered its assistance to the quay and investigating the incident but this was apparently ignored now the new batch of sanctions will come into force on august twenty seventh and will prohibit russia from importing secure u.s. goods and technology related to national security but there were also

a few waivers first the foreign assistance act which would have terminated all aid to russia except for urgent humanitarian assistance is waived second the prohibition on arms sales that was introduced in two thousand and fourteen will also be waived determined on a case to case basis a state department official said that these waivers are essential to national security third arms sales of financing which has been in place already sanctions it will deny u.s. government credit and financial assistance ban exports of secure goods and tech a few days ago president putin said that these sanctions were counterproductive let's take a look. regarding the sanctions those actions are counterproductive and meaning that specially when it comes to a country like russia others it's not just about the u.s. president's position it's about the position of the so-called establishment the ruling class and prudent to have the realisation that this policy has no future will come when they cooperate in a normal fashion. now as russia gets slapped with sanctions it's very likely that

we'll see russia respond with to for tat measures. we can now cross live to political journalist john white in the state joining us now now some of the newly announced think sions have been partially waived was that expected. ok i think saw i think there is the discord in washington over the circusy of the sanctions and clearly i think key members of the trump administration would be opposed to understanding their counterproductive and also have to pay attention to the increasing disquiet in europe over the sanctions especially in germany which has coarse and low standing economic ties with russia so as to be expected that some of them would be waived but i think the metanarrative is key here and that metanarrative is that the beast of the germany which results in washington remains fierce as agitate unsatiated than it was ever more federal as it's taint to

exercise a gemini over the world and increasingly pushed by for example in syria u.s. plans for regime change are being taught it largely due to russia's participation in that conflict and also as a temporary up to russia's western border force using georgia into those in a ukraine in twenty fourteen as catspaws they have also being they have also been pushed back by russia so this is retribution because as your reporter at the states that are yet not one shred of concrete evidence to support the allegation of russian state involvement in the poisoning of the script our so really we cannot lose sight of this yet it may turn out of there which is all about germany now we know that one area to be targeted is u.s. military assistance to russia what effect if any will that have on russia. i don't think i'll have any effect i don't think there's any longer any appreciable

military assistance to russia thank you toughs you struggle to find that using the hubble space telescope at this stage russia doesn't need any military assistance from the united states i think this is zero smoke and mirrors i think this is just an attempt to confuse the public mind and united states to try and distract from the growing problems within that country problems of ratio injustice social economic injustice its attempt to force on force consensus when it comes to the ability of the us ruling class to wage wage domination in the world its position in the world so i don't think this will be of any what he and more school were sort of on now in a recent interview with reuters president trump actually claimed he would consider lifting russia thank chance if russia with to do something positive for the u.s. what do you think he means there and would he actually make good on that promise of . well think trying to look at any any kind no

sense or any kind of consistency and don't trump sinkin is akin to trying to near rain rain drops to the wall at this stage this man is in office but by no means is he in power his presidency is in my increases in paralysis for reasons well no and again this isn't a tape to confuse the public mind this presidency this administration i think is on its last legs i think what he needs to i think he means doing something for them in syria as i said earlier their plans for regime change have clearly failed to do our duty to russia's involvement in that conflict at the behest of the legitimate government in damascus and i think he's looking for for something it's a desperate plea for some kind of favor to try and remove the rules from his own back within washington the liberal establishment that is intent on destroying his presidency over the fire they think their defeat their preferred candidate hillary clinton in twenty sixty. political journalist john white thank you for your time

and your comments. trump russia college and stories are again gaining momentum but now one t.v. channel is under fire with it even suspected of being in cahoots with the kremlin daniel looks into the claims we've all heard about trump russian election collusion you know the great scam that brought the u.s. president to power who's asian of collusion collude passably smelled a whole lot like collusion there was ample evidence of collusion but where is the closure you know there's still looking for closure where if they don't lose your finds a can lose your little did we know the conspiracy goes deeper now it's in the media it started with a trump tweet on proposed land expropriations and alleged murders of white farmers in south africa covered prior to this by fox news president of south africa posed

has begun and you may have seen this in the press seizing the land from his own citizens without compensation because they are the wrong skin color that is literally the definition of racism it's a story that's been making headlines for quite some time in different outlets multiple countries but there's just too many coincidences here coverage by r t to that list throw in russia and things get heated i'm simply shocked shocked shocked that r.t. has also been pushing a story line similar to tucker carlson's about threats facing white south african farmers including this family they claim sought refuge in russia. thanks for pointing out i did know that threats to south african farmers was a major story on r.t. there must surely be a link here a fox news report trumps twitter feed or t.v. there's a clear pattern if of course we ignore the fact this shuttle has covered related issues in south africa for quite some time the south african parliament has voted

in favor of new legislation that could see land from white farmers seized. south africa's government has vowed to tackle violent crime a problem that it says pose as an equal threat for all races living in the country . just outside south africa's capital stands the statue of the man who was behind the earthly policies of apartheid it's a whites only enclave which allows black visitors only under special permit but. the discrimination of the apartheid in south africa has long can turn and all the evidence is obvious trump's been talking to the russians again and r.t.e. collude with fox on what to cover when and how it all adds up this u.s. of illustration just loves putin and next time you see reported in russian media that's also covered by other media that's also been tweeted by trump you although what's really going on. a rift in scotland's largest political party is

emerging as the country's former first minister is being investigated over accusations of sexual misconduct and is accused of two cases of sexual harassment the current first minister nicola sturgeon a close ally of salmon said the situation is incredibly difficult for her. for my party this will be extremely upsetting to members of the s.n.p. up and down the country it's a difficult situation but what is important is that complaints are treaties seriously regardless of who the person complained about it is i can confirm the scottish government received two complaints in january in relation to and examined mr sam and was notified of the complaints in march and forms to sam and the people involved on wednesday august twenty second of my conclusions and that i was considering the public interest.