clashes in catalonia more than sixty are injured and at least thirteen arrested in the spanish region in a pro independence protest against a meeting between the prime minister and a local leader. for a project by u.s. democrats. state election is revealed in a new york times report it is claimed they use the methods of an old adversary those much maligned russian bots. and another hit for the trumpet ministration defense secretary james madison ounces he is stepping down just

a day after the u.s. president surprised the allies by saying he is withdrawing american troops from syria. direct from our studios in moscow this is international and certainly. violence has erupted at the independence protest in spain's catalonia region more than sixty people have been injured including at least thirty five police officers as anger flared at rallies over a federal government cabinet meeting which had been relocated to be held in the city as a conciliatory measure. the who

was the who. was. the one. who was all right extra police were brought in and at least thirteen protesters have been arrested demonstrators threw rocks at officers started fires and build barricades while police responded with a baton charges journalist evelina kutch in sca who is in barcelona brought us up to speed with friday's events. thousands of cuts of loans took out of the streets today to protest against the meeting between the petro sanchez and their regional readers of cuts along normally the cabinet meeting it's held in madrid that's as bad as it already and also want to do it here in barcelona and people took it as a provocation because only one year ago that's a long and declared independence so people obviously are angry because they want to

be independent and they want to be separate separate from the hosting so as you can see a behind me you have a science of the but at this is politico's which means peace libor rate the political prisoners still nine of them are held in detention and basically you have all those people you have young people protesting and still trying to remember what happened here one one year ago so that people took out of the streets not only here in the center but also they blocked he said what seven which is the true way to leading to the airport so many people were blocked today and couldn't go home for christmas. the thought is had hoped that relocating the meeting to barcelona would reduce tensions in catalonia the spanish prime minister and the couple on that leader agreed on thursday to an effective dialogue and independence referendum held in october last year was deemed illegal by madrid which event arrested leaders for

rebellion and sedition a spanish prosecutor recently claimed that former president. would you want to spend more than eight million euros on the referendum which you want calls the claim was a. doctor a one hundred year old who is a reader in spanish history at britain's newcastle university says the rallies should have been expected because the current come along leaders are not listening to protestors concerns. the capsule. trying to work through. the mind you can send it to many spanish. and the. crowds was not a good deal so the many ways that was expected. the government cannot control everyone in the. camp this is the first time that the spanish and we can. see in

the elections in december last year. was somehow symbolically very important both the spanish and the catalan government for the current government because they haven't been able to do much in the last year in terms of legislation. pressures alleged online meddling has surfaced once again but this time moscow cannot be blamed the new york times are reporting that a group of democratic party members undertook a secret project to test online tactics during an election in the u.s. it took place in the state of alabama last year by employing methods allegedly used by russia to influence campaigns. over the college or. for years the public you me were barash by stories of russian bots on t.v. radio papers daily he told us of malicious programs of evil software soulless slaves puton an existential threat to america

take the alabama election a year ago russian bartz the media reported interfered medaled corrupted on behalf of republican candidates roy moore so surprise a tougher supporting more they both have a deep love of country the countries russia but still. choose for it's pretty alarming when a guy has slipped into fluent russian or speaks fluent russian russian it everywhere year later is moving closer to the oval office one might wonder why on earth russia would bother with a massive dissin from asian campaign in alabama of all places through france taliban but come on as juicy a targets room or himself was clueless about it had no idea why this was happening so as is republican tradition he blame the democrats for setting him up the

democrats as a source are tradition change the subject and insulted him maybe more should check with putin who shares his views on depriving people of their civil rights he is where it gets really good the new york times did some digging and found a report titled the alabama project and figured out those weren't putin's bots at all they were faked dressed up to look like russian bots. we orchestrated and a labrat false flag operation that planted the idea that the more campaign was amplified on social media by a russian but that i've seen some dirty stuff and politics all over the world but this this is platinum tear this on this deplorable and dirty tricks turns out it was all of fake psyop orchestrated by a group of c.

experts who wanted to help the democrat win by cheating by lying and by defrauding millions of voters in an attempt to frame the republican as being helped by russia the guy who allegedly financed all of this is billionaire reid hoffman co-founder of linked in and apparently a guy with a really faulty moral compass often comes with the money my experience now here is the kicker and lighty is telling people shouldn't worry it's only one hundred thousand dollars peanuts when it comes to elections whatever world the democrats live in a hundred grand is pocket change. joe trippi a seasoned democratic operative said it was impossible that one hundred thousand dollar operation had an impact on the race journalists no longer report the news

they report their opinions same new york times when talking about how alleged the fake russian facebook accounts spend the same money hundred thousand dollars on advertising on a national campaign the disclosure adds to the evidence of the broad scope of the russian influence campaign so when a democratic group is all but cool with spending a hundred grand on this information on lies framing and defaming someone it's just one hundred grand pocket change but if it's the russians at one hundred thousand dollars becomes an absolute fortune crime against america and god i've always been suspicious that the russian narrative was slim z. and was probably made up simply because that's the kind of saying that the

democratic party does they makes things up in order to create the basis for an attack on the right wing and on the conservatives this is in the character of the democratic party and in the a lack of character i should say and it's it's a criminal element that has taken over the democratic party the mainstream media only talk about things that service that democratic party agenda and it's an agenda that we saw in syria you know it's an agenda that will lead to war it's an agenda that risks nuclear conflict with the two great nuclear powers it's an agenda that needs to be stopped. trump administration has taken another hit defense secretary james mattis has announced he is leaving his post pointing to different. of opinion with his commander in chief. because you have a right to have a secretary of defense whose views are best or aligned with us on these and other subjects i believe it's right for me to step down from my position. james mattis

has served in the military for more than forty years and has been defense secretary from the start of trump's term he supported the president calls to strengthen the military but was known to disagree with trump on many points including this week's surprise decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria that announcement seems to have been the last straw for madness it also appears to have driven a wedge through the u.s. at large as well with many media and establishment figures criticizing the move while the american public largely seems to support it with more. promise announcement withdrawing the usa from syria has got the media up in arms the republicans and the democrats are livid they say that the usa is losing out i believe it is a catastrophic mistake the job's not over dangerous premature jeopardize america's mission in theory and her allies makes our country an even bigger laughingstock

than it already is that gift it benefits iran the only reason they're not dancing in the end to run in isis camps is they just don't believe in density media's outrage does not match public opinion polls show that eighty six percent of americans say that u.s. military force should only be used as a last resort now that opinion used to be very common on the opposite side of the political spectrum remember the peace marchers the antiwar movement this is what bernie sanders had to say my main concern terms of the middle east is to make certain that the united states does not get involved in perpetual war in the quagmire of iraq and syria trump made the same announcement last year but forces swiftly moved in to change his mind russian president vladimir putin who sent forces to support the syrian government against the terrorists a big game changer in the conflict he says he's a bit skeptical of trump's announcement would be stupid to you concerning the u.s. withdrawal from syria i don't really know what that means for example the u.s.

has been present in afghanistan for the past seventeen years and almost every year they say that they are withdrawing the troops they are still there now because of the presence of american troops needed in syria or do you think so let's not forget that the presence there was illegitimate it was not agreed either with the un security council nor with the syrian government if the us plans to withdraw that is the right decision while politicians and media from both sides of the political spectrum is voicing outrage trump's move is at least complying with international law now let's see if he sticks to his guns this time. r.t. new york. former italian foreign minister franco frattini told us that he thinks this move is a step towards a political resolution to the syrian war i you'll very much dead president will keep the promise to withdraw from syria because no doubt that tang's to the commitment on the russian federation tends to the

cooperation with the turkish shoes laurentiis they possibility to go into wars that political solution in the future of syria not in military one andy a withdrawal of united states troops with palak in order to avoid krises areas that can treat where unfortunately that victims are innocent simply ends concerning afghanistan i know very well we have been talking about withdrawal in foreign troops for years and years and years now there is a concrete threat i see reserve gentz all taliban and first of all all die which is a span doing in afghanistan what to do in my view only

under united nations umbrella that they could be and mission to try to fight terrorists in afghanistan while still be allies ing that count treat after seventeen years of foreign presence there. all right the turkish foreign minister has welcomed the united states a decision some analysts though are warning that u.s. backed kurdish fighters will now be left of band india and vulnerable turkey has threatened an offensive in northern syria against kurdish groups which may view as terrorists. no we're bearing the terrorists and the well they dug themselves and will continue to we spoke to mr trump those terrorists should go east of the euphrates if they won't go but. because the both the ring us were asked was strategic partners with the us than was to do with these needed. right in syria

the official spokesperson of the armed opposition the syrian democratic forces confirmed that the surprise withdrawal could endanger kurds in the region. but this is the american decision to withdraw from syria is sudden and shocking to us and even for the american troops here on the ground. the american withdrawal will surely contribute in one way or another to escalating the continuous turkish threats toward the north of syria in general and towards the kurdish people in particular. meanwhile the u.s. plans to pull its troops from syria has caused to anger among the mothers and wives of local fighters killed by ice all they gathered near what is thought to be an american base in aleppo province appealing for the decision to be reversed and for the u.s. to help the syrian democratic forces. america turned his back on us as we continue to find. any.

why did they leave i said. you know we went to the airfield they promised that they would not leave and now they've sold us out. china is it denying american allegations that it is running a huge global hacking operation details on that coming up right after a short break stay with us those are. not long ago the political left are the guardians of free speech along with big tech the left today has gone from protecting speech to enforcing speech even to the point of penalizing you if you say the wrong thing in public you could lose your job and libeling welcome to the era of simply shut up. much bigger economic power lunch or wall. i think.

you have to live with that. and there's lots of advantages that the europeans jethro but as well as a lawyer. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics or business i'm showbusiness i'll see that. this is r t international so china has denied us allegations that it is behind an extensive hacking campaign in a dozen different countries and this comes after two chinese citizens were indicted

in america over what has been described as a massive cyber theft of sensitive data china also urged washington to retract its accusations. may find me so she's sure to see your new year's fabricates facts out of thin air the chinese government has never beat its a supporter of anyone secrets but as the years to me did lose draw the so-called indictment of china's citizens all right the chinese nationals are accused of stealing data on one hundred thousand u.s. navy employees as well as on the nuclear power research center in california and a nasa jet engine propulsion lab and the allegations of mass hacking campaign come with relations already strained between the u.s. and china over a trade war through weeks ago at the g. twenty summit president xi jinping agreed on a ninety day halt to new trade tariffs on steel and aluminum exports in the hopes of a broader trade agreement could be a reached now however that agreement was quickly overshadowed by the arrest of

a chinese tech giant official in canada at washington's request. was the company's chief for now. officer and faces extradition to the u. s. the rest is believed to be related to alleged violations of u.s. sanctions on iran we heard from the director of the china national association of international studies who says the u.s. accusations are sensational and political. position against the individual chinese cannot be worse at a time when china u.s. relations are very much strained not only by the trade wall but whatever that has been made available by the u.s. government is very flimsy they don't seem to really want to get to the facts they seem to have a major design to says sation the lies and politicize this whole situation and they want to create the fear of china not only in the united states but in many other countries and i think the rest of the world knows for sure that the u.s.

government is the biggest acute abuser of cyber security this is really a good history of the relations between china and the united states keeping with the same topic chinese telecom giant huawei maybe blocked from a german auction to develop high speed internet infrastructure comes amid rising security concerns over the company's possible espionage activity for beijing now earlier a u.s. delegation reportedly visited berlin and held a closed door meeting at the german foreign ministry encouraging a boycott of wall way the company has already been blocked from building high speed networks in the u.s. australia and japan the u.k. secret service chief alex the younger has also voiced concern however germany's i.t. watchdog has expressed skepticism due to the lack of evidence proving why ways to spy activity. for such serious decisions like a ban you need proof. jeffrey tucker editorial director of the american

institute for economic research thinks this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. the u.s. is is famous for its for its hacking and cyber surveillance of every political system in the world i mean so this is this is getting really out of hand and it's starting to be i must say deeply embarrassed seen for the u.s. on international economic stage but i think it's really sad because we're supposed to be in the middle of a trade truce but instead of just using the ninety days to come to a better understanding what the u.s. is doing is almost you know every forty eight hours another propaganda blitz against china is kind of a rhetorical bombast we're getting on a daily basis is actually having a tremendous human cost and it's also a few i mean yes china is a rising economic power if you want to call it power but actually what it really means is that we can as

a world community get to get richer and richer together and i think the u.s. needs to like come to terms with this and stop playing the bully on the playground with a. north korea has issued a stern warning to the u.s. saying it won't give up its nuclear capabilities unless washington is willing to meet halfway the statement could cast a shadow over the recent thaw and u.s. north korea relations. the united states must understand the proper meaning of the korean peninsula denuclearization and they had better study geography. when we talk about the korean peninsula it includes the territory of our country as well as the whole of south korea with the united states has placed its invasive forces including nuclear weapons when we talk about the complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula it means the removal of all sources of nuclear threats not only from south to north korea but also from areas neighboring the korean peninsula. all relations between pyongyang and washington took

a nosedive when trump initially took office as the two countries leaders traded insults and threats the situation has improved though in mid june this year when the two met in singapore donald trump and kim jong committed themselves to denuclearizing of the korean peninsula and normalizing relations the summit was seen as something of a breakthrough although not much has been accomplished since with u.s. officials insisting crippling sanctions will remain in. the united states has no intention of easing are unilateral or united nations sanctions they have they have not lived up to the commitment so far and until that happens there's not going to be any release of the economic sanctions. and to discuss this further let's now bring in erik's rock-n. a human rights attorney erik always a pleasure to talk to you. is so you and i have had many discussions about north korea in the past this latest warning from north korea makes it clear they expect a quid pro quo from the u.s.

on nuclear weapons including even areas neighboring the korean peninsula obviously that refers to japan do you think washington will be willing to negotiate over this issue. i think that washington has not approach these negotiations in a. level the same level as north korea and there's always been a very paternalistic view in dealing with north korea put away your toys put you know that kind of language put your weapons down and we'll talk in reality what they're proposing is not anything different it's still the idea that we can do nuclearized with peninsula when we make it so the threat of nuclear attack to go on from both sides what does that entail at this point that is going to entail the u.s.

opening up its facilities to international inspectors to make sure there aren't nuclear weapons still there the u.s. doesn't comment on such things although supposedly they were pulled out many years ago under the first george bush administration but in reality here they are saying in north korea from what how i read it is we haven't seen any progress from you on formal relations ending the korean war of ending the state of war in the korean peninsula why would they be nuclearized when there's a pending state of war there that's what we're confronting and they think it's simple that those steps could be taken an initially and then we can look at the military there is a sion of the korean peninsula and deal with it as a whole primarily between north and south korea making tough choices well erica

there were high hopes for an historic breakthrough following the meeting between donald trump and kim jong un to this is back in june i mean you know the the leader of the united states and north korea had never met especially there in asia i mean kind of on kim jong un's doorstep if you will why has this momentum this strong momentum been lost. well what we had is we had john bolton come into the national security position with an attitude about ending north korea if you will that it is attitude for decades now and so you have some different interests in the white house in the revolving door of. diplomatic positions and military positions in the white house which doesn't make it easy but those positions have taken a hard line which is. to put down those weapons and then we'll look at

peace and it doesn't work that way now what we could have if the u.s. wanted to talk more on equal terms is a commitment in these coming meetings that we hope will take place because there was success there was a deep using of conflict but what we want to see in the next step of this is a signing a peace treaty even a contingent peace treaty that's that says we are at peace and subject to that and formal relations we will end the korean war and we will both denuclearize the peninsula both in the light the international inspectors in all right interesting to hear your thoughts i know that you and i were both very cautious about the situation in june and interested to see out would play out and now i guess we're seeing how it's playing out so looking forward to hearing more on this with you and

human rights attorney on art international thanks our ride to that doesn't the back of the hour with more news you are watching attention national stay with us. her play. i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter the u.s. has over one trillion dollars in debt more than ten white collar crimes happen each day. eighty five percent of global wealth you longs to be rich eight point six percent market saw thirty percent rise last year some with four hundred to five hundred three per second per second and bitcoin rose to twenty thousand dollars. china is building a two point one billion dollar a i industrial park but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only numbers you need

to remember is one in one business shows you can afford to miss the one and only. when the make its manufacture consent to step into public wealth. when the ruling classes and protect themselves. with the financial merry go round lifts only the one percent. whole middle of the room six. million real name is pretty low.