a lot of people have left here i don't know too many people here and slowed down so much they lost their jobs that laid off the american dream is changing that's not what it used to be. it's a tough reality you don't. subscribe to rep people already called in for just twelve euros fifty per month. britain's foreign office is funding a secret operation of russian campaigns across europe that's according to documents expose by hacker group anonymous names of those involved in the clandestine network have also been revealed. yellow vests fuel price demo spread out across france where in one of the garments threatens to blow up

a petrol station. replying to a tough question a top level event in writing russia's foreign minister hits back at the double standards of some states claiming to fight for human rights around the world. you are obsessed with the roads and. the road. which is the fuel in the road both of. you are one so. the anonymous group may appear to show the u.k. government leading a massive operation to control politics and public opinion creating what anonymous has called a large scale secret service around europe he has done off with the story. so this hacker group anonymous they're saying they got their hands on a trove of classified documents they see directly from the u.k.

foreign office according to the leaked the u.k. has been funding an operation that prompted public opinion makers to promote anti russian narratives on social media or by planting planting stories in the press the british government has apparently been running those since twenty fifteen through proxy organizations it's called the operation integrity initiative now this initiative is not confined to just the u.k. you can see the map here for example it shows the already active cells if i may say so and they're really almost all across europe looks like a ground an expensive operation house is supposed to fight what what is so called russian descent from asia and it is that it's expansive it as in all major powerhouses of europe but the key to understanding this is who they work with they say it's policy makers opinion shapers and so on and so forth and they are formed into clusters according to the documents this network has a very concrete structure influences are divided into clusters based on the

geography of their activities there's a u.k. one for instance featuring dozens of names but most prominently perhaps outspoken critics of russia and the right hand the man of the russian opposition figure alexina valley all who is allegedly coordinated through concealed contacts inside british embassies now a very important detail here neal is that yes this operation does have a budget but we do not know whether or not the people mentioned in these cluster lists so to speak get even a penny out of the budget because well the documents that have been published by anonymous they shed no light when it comes to that so for all we know for all it's worth the people mentioned they could be in it without even knowing that the are being property. by the you can by the u.k. government directly ok just how influential do we consider this operation any

particular case is being highlighted well the most illustrated example is the example of the spanish class it seems to be the most powerful at least judging by the documents and they conducted a so-called one kilo operation in spain of course but all banned as was seeking to become director of the country's department of homeland security but this statement made him to pro russian for the integrity initiative what country has everything we like real sure we've achieved nothing by provoking russia a comment by likely new national security direct to burn us so yes that statement was would climb to london's rebuke of machinery into action and he was put on the bad guys list so it's all started with tweets like these in an attempt to discredit banus by members of the cluster in not only make spain look really bad it's a real danger for the contrary in europe as a whole when realizing that without any effort he has just got one of his

affiliates in government with full access to our security and defense policy but that was just the beginning it didn't take long for headlines to follow the online phase the initial phase also anonymous say that they obtained screenshots from the whatsapp conversation quite bluntly called the hash tag no pedro ballasts and this is one of these screenshots and it kind of does shed light as to how the whole thing was coordinated by powerful people within the ruling socialist party are making pressure to stop this this meaning the nomination of badness so what they essentially tried to do was to convince the spanish prime minister from the u.k. that the guy he wanted to take one of the top jobs in spain was no good you was too pro russian and as a justifiable cause for that you. they presented the public opinion they themselves tailored to how they wanted at least that's the narrative the anonymous are saying

is in their documents of course we couldn't really very find them independently although we did we did reach out to the u.k. government but guess what apparently the spanish cluster succeeded and. i mean well historically it's a story called fact that patrol banus did not get the position as the director of homeland security in spain so if that's not meddling in foreign countries affairs then what is. we asked the u.k. foreign office for comment and while we were waiting it responded to another media outlet saying that the information about the project is publicly available and that they welcomed the raising of awareness on the project and while a source within russia's foreign minister told us that they already looking into the documents and are not at all surprised that the u.k. is conducting such activities we also got quite a response from one of the people featured in the documents released by anonymous. the documents prove no such thing i have not been paid by the institute but i applaud their work in dealing with the checketts regimes put knishes information

and influence operations the kremlin is losing russia bullying neighboring countries and murdering its critics why don't you investigate that the real risks of phobia instead of trying to smear people who are trying to resist the kleptocratic xenophobic incompetent hoodlums who make your wonderful country into an international pariah michel gondry pharma discuss the issue with security analyst and former u.k. army officer charles super rich. what struck me was the sheer speed in which this influence operation was able to swing into action in real time not just in organizing or rather influencing media coverage but actually through twitter and other social media very rapidly. mobilizing resources in order to change minister appointments even in other countries when you look at the timeline of that operation it was just just a few hours from when the operation was launched to when the operation succeeded is there a gray area on whether they're actually doing anything wrong here because they're

pushing an opinion but everybody's entitled to an opinion aren't they and it would be up to using the spanish case would be up to the spanish officials to take everything on board before finally deciding who to appoint. yes you're absolutely right and it's certainly no problem with anybody expressing any opinion so long as it's lawful doesn't. facilitate or violence and so on but what we've got here is it hidden influence actually these are not genuine opinions or if they are genuine news they're being pushed and given prominence because they are backed including by funding from organizations such as the u.k. government and the funding of backing so often of course the whole point of a covert operation is not disclosed and so that gives the impression that these are genuine popular feelings when in fact they have been orchestrated by generous funding and important figures into in this case the u.k. government. man has been threatening to blow up a petrol station in the french town of on share in the west police are currently

confronting an individual who's also claiming to have explosives on him the man appears to be wearing yellow vests similar to those worn by activists who've been protesting nationwide against rising fuel prices french interior minister confirmed the man has been demanding to meet with president comes as the l a vest movement spreads elsewhere in france protesters of block sections of a motorway on the shore that do pinski reports what it's getting a little rowdy now as you can see the yellow vests protesting. but taken over vis a section no roads they are now completely in control of it and trying to stop the traffic from coming through the police at the moment are remaining a third the back what they owe in maintaining a close watch on this situation and you can hear that the merger is hard shooting that hones saying support for this movement which is now in its seventh day by a hundred to two hundred you have

a supporters all saying that they won't see the resignation of president mark owen and they want there to be a complete change in the first break here in fronts just how to look at them some of them while do the excitement as they feel that the momentum of this movement is still building official figures suggest that only between five and six thousand people were out in protest on friday but people say that's because many people are at work and they can't be out to the protests every day but saturday is expected to be another big a pinch point in terms of the protests over three hundred thirty and forty thousand people expected to attend a big protest in that paris for the moment it looks like things are heating up paying that out in the last few nights there have been fairly a huge number of schools she's between the police and the protest is and yet again it seems like the heat is on as this protest goes into you know this several nights

in syria the eighth day shall i do you r.t. cal a. string of deadly violence is rocked by some twenty five people were killed in a suicide bombing at a crowded festival a market in the northwest region. but there is. a separate attack three gunmen trying to storm the chinese consulate in the southern city of karachi during that incident two police officers and all three of the attackers were killed the following video captured the moment the gunfire started near the consulate.

the presence of the pollution the security forces were very much in the know down the chinese consulate there were more of them we. were just showing it's going. good made. their edges very obvious there was it wrong reaction bipartisanship your forces. more stuck to their wrist which is probably people have been. all sort of suggesting that probably some of the members of the security forces have also been giving extreme you're fired all members of the. libyan one member or three of. violence was afloat in neighboring afghanistan at least twenty six people were killed and around fifty wounded in a suicide blast at a mosque near an army base in cost province that's according to security officials all of those killed were believed to be working for the national security forces attack comes three days after another suicide bombing at a gathering of religious scholars left dozens that.

defended a key new u.n. agreement on migration accusing its opponents of being blinkered nationalists speaking in berlin the german chancellor even called for a u. members to hand over their sovereignty to brussels. today nation states should i would say must be prepared to give up their sovereignty but of course in an orderly manner. i'm joined on the line number independent political observer steven meisel good evening to you stephen doesn't the angle of merkel have a point here if you couple it with crohn's desire for a european army to tackle threats doesn't this make sense. well let's look at what she said that this would be some kind of like a nationalist view to not. ratify the agreement around the world is a lot of countries which would be potential. goals or target countries

for the migrants to go to have decided they're not going to take part from the information i last saw united states. canada israel. australia. austria and a number other countries have decided they're not going to go there in switzerland as well they're not going to go and sign the agreement so i mean all those countries run by rightwing nationalists i don't think so. the e.u. has struggled to say to deal with issues such as the crisis to be lots of different opinions within the bloc wouldn't it help if more power was handed to brussels to provide united way forward. i would propose the opposite actually if we had less united europe we probably would have had such a tremendous difficulty with the migrant crisis in the first place we would have had more individual action of nation states like hungary there were defending their borders and it wouldn't of would have occurred in the first place so how can more

of the same be a solution to the problem that europe faces today just since when is. more alcohol going to help with alcohol get over it i mean i just don't see that happening that way we have to go the other direction and what about people who say when you sign up for the euro you're automatically giving up part of your sovereignty isn't that what membership is about. to a degree yes. but it's a question of degree and i would propose that we have gone too far in the integration especially the schengen agreement was maybe one step too far. because it merely though because it wasn't accompanied by the promised strict border controls and so we ended up with this huge migrant crisis which has led to the rise of populism the right wing populist movements all across europe so saying that we need more integration and more power to brussels i think it's delusional. time on

the ten you would have she's going to be going trying to go with a bang. it sure looks like it i was actually expecting that she would basically be a bit of a lame duck chancellor slowing down things and just sort of running the show until the next leader takes over but it appears to me. she's really stepping on the gas pedal now she's basically proposing in a very short period of time a tremendous number of very radical initiatives. in her last year or two in office maybe three years and the absolute most which is kind of hard to understand what's going on because many you think she's proposing there are things that the german government had consistently opposed for the past years and that other countries wanted for instance. being securing the the financial system with the with the backing of the german savers. in the savings situation to

guarantee the liquidity of the savings of the banking system and that was opposed trickly because the german banking system is relatively secure in comparison to the spanish italian and greek and portuguese systems. and another one was. she was proposing to create a european wide. job security program. that was something which is kind of really crazy because in germany we have fairly low or the lowest pretty much the lowest. unemployment rate and now all the german workers would be through their. deductions would be useful financing the unemployed in italy which was a tremendous number of them and that's something that was also tried many times sort of or proposed by the southern european countries and in germany always said no no no it's all these initiatives are suddenly coming from america where she said

herself no no no we're not going to go that way we're not going to do that it's against maastricht it's against our interests and all of a sudden she's all forces like what is going on here i really kind of wondering about this myself well steve is to good to speak to you thanks for joining us here on r.t. my guess is as the independent political observer. thank you. russia's foreign minister has been answering some challenging questions in rome on a work visit to the mediterranean dialogues event in the italian capital parties at the trunk it has the latest. thirty lavrov was much more outspoken than he usually is at his regular press conferences and the audience right in this building was all yours and it seemed that they view russia as a power that can give direct orders to the syrian government and so this question ok western mention of heavy states if the. thousands of their own populations what's the rationale of keeping these kind of states if you're upset

with human rights and don't give a damn about the stability of countries if you don't give a dam a boat the right to life which is a human the right but. not to mention the going to can socialize words then i'm afraid you are one side of the conversation actually took a real it talian twist when the whole thing started comparing international lation with those that he has and his family when my wife weapons to be a russian it is an argument with me she often sees the media you don't respect me you know there is another russian saying. you are afraid of me then you respect me if you have some concerns normal polite people raise direct question look good i don't like what they could this is what i you

know can you explain this. i mean this if you have a problem with suspicion regarding your wife. i mean you ask the right. way you don't go to the media and the know so. that. you can shed light on the exact language that is used by officials who have former secretary of state rex tillerson when accusations are thrilled at russia you know yourself that you did that's that's a good i'm not joking this is what the rex tillerson told me after i asked him to elaborate on his statement of undeniable fact that we muddled was all that he laughed and said but ask your special services though you know what i mean.

and i said i said he left off will be in portugal saving ukraine a topic set to be on the table we'll bring you the very latest from his trip. in other news the british museum as agreed to give back a collection of bronstein cheese to nigeria albeit temporarily political looks now at how a growing number of ownership disputes can see museums lose their treasures. it may be called the british museum but many of the precious artifacts inside here are from far far away a quiet some might even say looted during the times that the british empire ruled far and wide and now an increasing number of persons former colonies all outright victims of theft all saying that they want their precious treasures to be returned home now in response the british museum has rather courteously said that it's willing to lend out some items rather than return them the latest loan will be to nigeria

a collection of bronze statues the bin mean bronzes as they're known were originally taken from africa by british. troops in eight hundred ninety seven and other nations are submitting their requests to you have to take it keeping you two hundred in peace to use your skills so once again we can hope that was the governor of easter island begging the british museum for its precious statue earlier this week and the list of disputed museum treasures keeps on growing. so should the spoils of the empire be we're tunde i want to know what those

resisting the museum those feasting their eyes on the foreign office have to say about it there's a lot of dispute actually over some of the foreign office attacks the british museum caught in the times of empire should they just return everything. well that would be received. well i want to do a question you know we just been talking about it's a big speech so everybody's forced you to soothe what i feel so he should go back to the little stuff you do love. but kept it in your call yourselves for other countries set up to shoot so should we briefly about we want to fight for a coach to. shriek if that conference is that a bit rich as well say will lend you back to the things that we stole from you possibly from the city your lot in the in from the different could use and stuff is just false i would never give it to you wouldn't people see it would we do that mean yes you have a few of the stolen things oh yeah you think yes you should go back another

otherwise you think we should keep it to remind ourselves of all history of why this stuff is here in the first place their risk of the music. being and see if it won't get everything back. was a lot. but as for the british museum itself well it told us that it welcomes debate and transparency regarding the history of its collections but that in many cases allowing them to stay in the museum gives them wind up access we are very much in favor of more transparency around the provenance of objects and museum collections we still believe however that there is a very strong public benefit from museums like the british museum housing objects from across the world under one roof while the issue of foreign artifacts has been made all the more thought he thanks to a more laissez faire attitude across the channel the french president emmanuel macron appears to be more willing to send france's colonial acquisitions back to their rightful owners and that's putting museum directors here at risk of losing

large swathes of their collections in a bit of an awkward position. tourists in the council on capital barcelona are no longer safe that's the message on leaflets being handed out by local police amid a spike in the city's crime rate over the last year some three thousand leaflets to be given to tourists in seven languages including english french and italian believe as include tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of crime. currently there are some sixteen and a half thousand officers in the area but the force says it needs around two thousand more police personnel and their supporters took to the streets back in october protesting against the catalan interior minister. think of i am

i i i i am i i i am. officials say the crime rate has skyrocketed nineteen percent on last year to levels not seen since the eighty's with us some tourists and local residents think the situation isn't but when i came this was one factor that this new england may hate and that if i'm not secure leg that is why i'm getting such a big margin certify know my comfort side by chinese other parts of the world and it feels pretty sight all the place in the world you never going to get rid of one hundred percent crime i just tell people to. be careful and don't keep their bibles in their pockets as if you know i haven't come across anything the should make me feed uncomfortable and save my sandal i feel super secure obviously i take care of

my personal belongings but it's a quad cities safe you can walk at night i mean i don't feel like something bad will happen to me. so joining us here i'm also international i'll have the latest on this for you in half an hour.

it was. most people think to stand out in this business you need to be the first one on top of the story or the person with the loudest voice of the biggest raid in truth to stand out of the lose business you just need to ask the right questions and demand the right answer. question. you know world of big partisan lot and conspiracies it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smart we need to stop

slamming the door. and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely watching the hawks. i think that everyone. but inside i'm i'm dockside i think. going down to your neck side you can improve yourself. but it's all so bloody. but i really believe that the bottom that we show on the side that it's all we and the band. like.

a low in welcome to cross talk we're all things considered i'm peter lavelle future historians may look back at donald trump's handling of the murder of jamal khashoggi as a case study of the lack of leadership and outright following his reasons for giving the saudis or rather the crown prince a free pass simply don't make sense why because it's all about iran. talking trump and saudi arabia i'm joined by my guest with the entire around he's a professor of political science at the university of tehran in london we have john

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