good.

everybody's. welcome to the program. the british prime minister says she wants relations with russia in the same speech. she described as a global threat that any improvement. we remain open to a different relationship one way russia desists from these attacks that undermine international treaties and international security and we hope that the russian

state chooses to take this path if it does we will respond in kind to resume a delivering this speech to the lord mayor's bank with gathering of some of the most wealthy and powerful people here in london and during the course of her speech she appeared to possibly hold out the opportunity that there could be a fourth in relations between the two countries holding out somewhat of an olive branch during her speech now this all comes against the backdrop of the year of degraded relations between the u.k. and russia especially in the wake of the incident in salzburg which source the former double agent and his daughter a union poisoned with a substance thought to be no reach or can do of course in the wake of that incident the u.k. government laid the blame squarely at the feet of the russian government who in turn denied any involvement in it whatsoever and offered to help in the investigation an offer which was rebuffed by u.k.

or thorough. reason may again repeating in the course of her speech that she held the russian state responsible for what happened to the script we could not turn a blind eye to the threats we face. this is open economies and free societies i'm a also gave a speech to the lord mayor's created tradition for the prime minister to address the events every year and on that occasion she too took aim at russia although then she was accusing the russian government of involvement in meddling and hacking into a number of elections in western countries sustained campaign a cyber espionage and disruption this is included meddling in elections. hacking the danish ministry of defense and the put them to stark among many others it is seeking to weaponize information deploying its state run media organizations to plant fake stories and photo shopped images in an attempt to so discord in the west

and undermine institutions now it remains to be seen whether this year's speech will result in better relations between the two countries there are some who are skeptical and say about to resume a speech focused squarely on russia and put the onus for a more open relationship on their shoulders and had no mention of issues of concern to russia like the ongoing expansion of nato towards russian borders things like nato troops taking shape and carrying out exercises in places like poland or what russia say western attempts of destabilization and meddling in places like the ukraine and until all of those concerns are also addressed perhaps somewhat skeptical to think that this speech could lead to better relations between the two sides. we discussed may's remarks with political analyst john white and u.k. independence party m.e.p. david coburn theresa's me strewn in the speech was awful. her

reaching out to russia was in the form of the mother reaching out a constitution child then promising said challenge that it will be forgiven if it was to change its ways this is not the way to a federal question more than any countries and less western governments start to see the world through russia's eyes and understand how russia sees things then there will be no meeting of minds and this will just go into the box marked questing governments must start to learn sooner rather than later they must also listen as well a speech we should be diverted to to make keep friendship with russia and make sure that we were appropriately perhaps in the future rather than make things more difficult we should try trying to lose all these things that quietly without shaving a big stake i think we need to be more sensible and idealism concert we need to do trade with russia if that that's the way to to move forward quite talking is

probably better in shanxi and. israeli warplanes have unleashed a torrent of bombs hitting targets in gaza of us came in or in retaliation for hundreds of missiles being fired from that enclave it is of the most intense escalation in hostilities in the region since twenty fourteen. the israeli military says it destroyed over one hundred targets among them three strategic ones at least three palestinians were. during monday's strikes and many more reportedly wounded. militants in gaza had fired some three hundred and seventy

missiles into israel around one hundred of those were intercepted but some landed in residential areas injuring fifty three israelis this all happened the day after a covert israeli raid which resulted in the death of eight palestinians including a local militant commander. dozens of rockets that have been fired on the israeli gaza border one of the rockets struck a bus a civilian bus in israel and it led to an injury by one of the was a serious injury the israeli media and the israeli forces a claim of these rockets have been fired by hamas which lead consider as. terrorist military action also we have dozens of rockets that fired from gaza and air strikes of israeli air strikes that respond to these rockets at the same time this is kill ation or distribution of escalation that is happening in the gaza

strip recently is due or the result of the operation the special military operation that happened yesterday by the special israeli forces there was an exchange of gunfire between the israeli forces and. members of hamas that led to the killing of seven members of hamas one of them was a senior leader in hamas and as well as a senior officer in the israeli forces and another was injured spoke with a professor of international or georgetown university who told us that israel's latest operation doesn't help the peace process. these attacks the israeli attacks is going to alienate the palestinian much further because anyone who would be injured would lose a dear one

a loved one in these attacks would not harbor any good feelings for the israeli do you as. administrations in general and particularly this one and this present president has been doing exactly what israel would want what israel considers its own interest in chaos like this would lead to all kinds of unexpected things not in the best interest of the us on the long run and i think not even in the best interests of the jewish people in israel and the israelis in general but this is something that only the future will determine. and you study has found that u.s. soldiers who are part of the war on terror struggling to make ends meet now they're facing a greater hardship than veterans of previous generations as kalamata and now investigators . veterans are the favorite cause of pundits politicians and anyone else who wants

to appear patriotic across america there is no shortage of support our troops bumper stickers flag waving and praise for the military remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation who gave their last breath during a distant land fighting terror gave everything for family country god and freedom or you our respect our veterans are a national treasure their sacrifice will not be in vain but all that bombastic praise an expression of gratitude doesn't exactly translate to a good life studies show that veterans of the war on terror are among the least likely to be able to afford a home once they return to the united states that's right those who've risked their lives in conflicts around the world are among those who struggle the most for basic needs like shelter with housing obviously veterans are going to space you know a whole host of related challenges combined with all the ways employment legal

situation too is but the general perception among the population when you have twenty thousand veterans suicides a day is that veterans don't make particularly good employees i'm tempted to stay stones and are proud to t.s.p. and in combat but it's really somewhat deeper than that and a big part of what my generation of veterans who speaks mean in the united states day particularly unique combination of mental health issues that come out of the unique nature of the occupations of iraq and afghanistan and the treaty that we get from the v.a. is i have experienced myself where bill was hillsborough than actual effective treatments the trauma suffered by many veterans takes its toll on all of society just recently a former u.s. marine gunned down twelve people in a california bar here or heard of maybe suffering from p.t.s.d. or crisis. and i thought that was i don't understand i was part of this. question one the deputies went out to the call with the crisis team that felt he might be

suffering from p.t.s.d. facing that the fact he was a veteran has been a macor the war on terror has had a massive humanitarian cost the latest study puts the death toll at around five hundred thousand half a million but the authors of the study admit that it's actually much larger an additional large number of people have died in these wars by indirect means researchers suggest that in recent conflicts for every one direct death there are at least four other in directives not surprisingly among veterans many are starting to ask is all this bloodshed really helping a lot of veterans and we know are starting to understand the these wars and fundamentally illegitimate that the stack of spices they need were not made just in vain but not even in a righteous cause but who are the perpetuation of the current system of governance of the this live under throughout the world where people in charge get to treat people who are in like rock the perception of the wars in iraq and afghanistan has

definitely changed over time you're in the united states i think just. a matter of going oh yeah we get it now that we were lied to that we were taking advantage of it as a people so badly and you convince to support these invasions and occupations many americans feel that during the vietnam war big mistakes were made and how veterans were treated that's why we see a huge amount of flagwaving and support for military families every time there's a pentagon intervention sense that however at this point a lot of americans are starting to ask if supporting the troops is really just about flags and bumper stickers a lot of americans are wondering if supporting the troops means that maybe we should be more cautious about sending them into harm's way so routinely and if we should be maybe more concerned about giving them a decent life once they return from conflict kaleb up and r.t. new york. singapore is hosting the thirty third annual. which

world leaders exchange views of regional and international concern the russian president vladimir putin is among the participants on the agenda what's a bill to be the world's biggest free trade pact so straight to r.t. is. standing by for us in singapore are you going to tell you today it's about a while nearly a quarter past one where you are putin arriving in about two hours in the afternoon roughly what are the hopes expectations surrounding this year's summit. as you've mentioned the biggest expectation is this a regional comprehensive economic agreement and comprehensive indeed it would be if it comes into fruition countries that seeks to unite make up almost half of the global g.d.p. so that would make the biggest free trade agreement bloc in the history in the world if of course it is pasta but i mean it will indeed it will encompass all

sorts of things all sorts of realms of economic life but there are some challenges it is facing right now see it is being pushed forward by china but it does meet some opposition from countries like india for example do not really want to back down to make concessions and cuts that importing tariffs that their economy right now enjoys with all likelihood a lot of experts here are saying that we will not see the signing of this free trade to blog but something but it is something that countries could move closer to a mutual understanding of things when it comes to this deal now another thing in the spotlight here is the aggravating rivalry and hostility i should say between china and the united states and indeed the two countries of a lot of things they don't see eye to eye with each other it is the south china sea where china wants to. united states to stop conducting military drills in of the united states pretty much ignore this it's the trade war and lots of other things

and countries other countries that are present here at this summit they fear they fear that they may they will may have to choose sides maybe we'll have to pick a side between china the regional powerhouse and the united states that views itself as the global dominance is the globally dominant power so and really neither the president trump nor president xi jinping is said to arrive here none of them are attending this summit so with both leaders absent well you know it is unlikely it is the hopes that these differences could be resolved pretty much futile there as futile as it gets and another the person from the united states who is coming here though well he's expected to only think make things worse because it is vice president mike pence and he is what he's been saying about china not so long ago.

china has initiated an unprecedented effort to influence american public opinion the two thousand and eighteen elections and the environment leading into the twenty twenty presidential elections china wants a different american president. so he isn't the nicest person one comes to china's viewpoint his remarks have been compared to the remarks he made during the cold war and so there is no solution in sight here in singapore to this rivalry all right are you going to an awful lot in singapore thank you. a student in the u.s. is suing a college offer a prevented her from handing out valentine's day cards containing bible says no of course this goes back to february polly olson who was stopped by security staff while trying to hand out cards at ne wisconsin technical college. she then followed lawsuit accusing stoffel of violating her right to free speech but in this week's

federal court hearing the college contested that claim it said olson was stopped because she was in a stock of only area christians elsewhere also feeling a bit of pressure these days or one student senator from buckley university is facing calls to resign after she abstained from voting on a resolution to oppose recent changes proposed by president donald trump on account of her christian beliefs the changes to a lauren sexual assault fail to include a definition of gender limiting critics allege gender identity to one's physical sex and librarians at simmons college published a guide warning christian to the phrases merry christmas happy easter and god bless you a so-called micro aggressions against muslims. meanwhile secretary of state my pump a.o. in the summer underlined the importance of religious freedom in america and for that of the trumpet ministration in particular since the earliest days of his

presidency president trump has directed his administration to advance and defend the rights of religious freedom at home and abroad because religious freedom is a universal god given right to which all people are entitled we discussed the issue with legal analyst lionel dave lindorff if this were any other religion or any other situation nobody would have any problem with this nine that would be it would be up under still it it would be it will be tolerated there would be diversity it would be understood but if it's christianity if it's jesus on college campuses today no go guaranteed and that's just really not true i mean i my wife teaches at temple university in philadelphia and there are christians all over the campus handing stuff out all the time no problem. there's bigger problems i think with with muslims because there's some harassment of them by other students but you

know in general i think in general it's live and let live with religious really fine campuses we can say that temple is different than columbia columbia's or this but in this country right now it is absolutely verboten there are two sets of standards one of the i like it or not it's not legal but that's the way it is culturally christians are over here and everybody else is over here it's that oh atheists agnostics no problem we understand it's a huge exaggeration and it's being used to promote this notion that everybody's becoming intolerant and you know it really isn't but i will tell you that as someone who is a leftist that i experience that kind of intolerance not for religion but for politics. twice as many professors in the last three years have lost their positions for things they've said and published then left then right wing

professors david horowitz was running around trying to get legislation passed to get universities force force universities to hire more conservatives on the on the of the false claim that there weren't enough conservatives in the university when this president came and something happened when it would donald trump became president every he potentially hated every lunatic around it is beyond comprehend of all hell is happening also as it's becoming more and more and more and these kids think it's ok it's ok for you to be sad and for you not to hear things and anything you want will be accepted. islamic state terrorists have been involved in numerous crimes against humanity including ethnic cleansing in slave meant and rape but while its members appear largely to be motivated by ideology financial incentives also play a big role to obtain documents showing how much militants get paid for carrying out

atrocities. remember nine or. nine or.

new day release to u.s. intelligence memos on alleged russian meddling have failed to produce the smoking gun many were hoping full off the site jacqueline virga explains being the land of the free and all the u.s. freedom of information act is a beautiful thing promising to keep citizens in the know about their government but it doesn't always work out so well in practice one request filed by bus seat and the transparency group now that a top secret letter sent by u.s. senators to vent president barack obama who wanted to know more about claims russia meddled in the two thousand and sixteen election so what information came out of the request while we're not totally sure of the information is big surprise heavily redacted was actually known for almost two years that the letter existed but now we

can see a bit more of what the senators were to me. manning apart from the redacted bits of course. we write to request to the extent possible you declassify and release the public additional information related to the russian government and the u.s. election despite the broad national interest in the topic this new information has not been provided to the american people now it turns out obama himself never responded but the acting director of national intelligence did get back to them two months later and that letter is amazingly not redacted at all but maybe that's because it contains no actual information essentially it things the senators for their concerns but makes it clear that statements and reports already made public by the intelligence community would have to suffice but the thing is those past documents weren't exactly i opening stuff for one the lottery refers to a statement made in october of two thousand and sixteen that concluded with confidence that the criminal order of the d.n.c.

e-mail hacks and that conclusion was apparently based on the fact that the leaks were done in russian style the recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails are consistent with the methods and motivations of russian directed efforts these threats and disclosures are intended to interfere with the u.s. election process such activity is not new to moscow the russians have use similar tactics and techniques across europe and eurasia if it acts like a russian and it plots like a russian it must be a russian you may also remember a report that was released in january of two thousand and seventeen to which the letter referred the senator's ickes ations of nefarious deeds by moscow are based on high confidence and the assumption that nothing in russia has changed since the fall of the soviet union the only other thing we got from the freedom of information request were some talking points put together by intelligence agencies but it simply it's all just more of the same varying degrees of confidence in russia's guilt fill the document and variations of the phrase is consistent with

the methods and motivations are russian directed efforts can be found. five times that one surprising bit is the answer given to the question of whether moscow was working to get trump to the white house no direct response is given even though collusion with russia is treated like an established fact by many despite a lack of evidence and that's all folks the rest meaning any sort of concrete proof is left to the imagination thanks to the thorough censorship of uncle sam the big question is is there any real such evidence and i have great skepticism as to whether there is any i mean when you're looking at these documents it appears that the intelligence community essentially came to the conclusions that they wanted to arm russian interference without having the evidence that democrats you know being the editors party at interest in keeping this story a lot so they didn't want to release information that frankly would lead to the

conclusion that there was no basis of support. to claim that russia interfere in the election of. the statue of a sikh soldier on those from the indian subcontinent who fought in the first world war has been vandalized in the u.k. the incident happened in smethwick in the west midlands of the statue was put up one week before centenary commemorations for the end of world war one just five days later the phrase no more was sprayed along the base it's a term previously used for indian soldiers serving in the british army. was.

a member of the town's neighborhood policing team expressed concern over the vandalism ensure the community is that a full investigation will be conducted of the have you know other recent cases of hate crimes against sikhs in europe in august of the doors of a temple in edinburgh were petrol bombed there were no injuries but damage was done to the building in a february this year a sikh man was assaulted outside parliament in london while waiting to meet an m.p. a man tried to pull off his turban before shouting most of them go back home and twenty sixteen three teenagers detonated a homemade bomb at a sikh temple during a wedding party and then german city of s. when i member of the u.k. based sikh foundation told us about where this discrimination tends to come from we carried out survey in two thousand and sixteen zero after the brits and we asked

if they'd experienced hate crime in the last twelve months when we asked where they experienced discrimination often train from police offices teachers school. immigration officers at the airport seems to be equal in positions of responsibility are actually the very people who should be trusted. carrying out this forms of discrimination the way they treat you simply because you look differently. our thoughts on his program for this hour here on international there are many more stories to get you if you are around would love for you to join us in about twenty five minutes. welcome to maximize your financial survival guide. looking forward to your pension account. yonks this is what happens to pensions in britain don't let

this you watch kaiser report. that never. heard. of.