with the imminent departure of u.s. defense secretary. blackwater is making a comeback. with the warning we. the u.s. . cooperation deal between. seeks a second meeting with. the.

international into the for. the u.s. the defense secretary spent his christmas working at the pentagon even after donald trump abrupt decision to remove him from office two months earlier than he had planned to resign and james mattis wrote this to american soldiers. in this world to washington change you hold the line store. because of you you'll feel safe at home. last week after the u.s. president announced his decision to withdraw troops from syria he also advised donald trump to keep troops in afghanistan opposing the idea of using private contractors in war though now it seems that's precisely what could happen next. imagine you're sitting there on your porch reading about guns and huntin and all

things good and then you see this ad we are coming blackwater judging by the logo the infamous private security group who is trigger happy antics further disgrace the very name mercenary but i never heard that. they were dead bodies everywhere and this is the argument in which you keep it it's not among the dead bodies lying on the street that's which i was in the middle of the seven years old.

just last week a former blackwater contractor was charged with first degree murder for his part in that slow thought it was then that things went easy for the mercenary group which was then rebranded renamed and resold into obscurity but it's presumably back now in a state suspect dearly in blood and treasure in time in afghanistan every prince co-founder of the original blackwater now that everyone's fearful over trumps of ghana's down withdrawal erik prince sees an opportunity the option i was pushing the options that were considered by some of the. white house an irregular warfare

option that would use a capability some special forces capability some contract a capability to strengthen to give a skeletal support structure to the afghan security forces prince is selling a new kind of war private war war waged not by governments but by corporations the plan is simple six thousand mercenaries backed up by a few thousand u.s. special forces guys give them a small air force private their force and the glue cost to about five billion dollars a year a year for reference the afghan war has cost on average five billion a month for seventeen years but the pentagon is reluctant you just can't trust national security priest these reputation to merck's to guys willing to kill for money when the american put to put their mission credibility on the line

privatizing it is probably not a why it's idea every prince has been absent for years he's been selling this plan since he found out that the president wanted to get out of afghanistan the president was right to campaign against endless wars the only reason or message to him he's going to on the mat is to for this to happen if we leave decisions on warfare soley to the pentagon we will be at war for well mr prince had been new year to you james mattis u.s. secretary of defense will leave his post on the first of january and john bolton trumps security advisor is much more pliable there are always a lot of discussions i find helpful i'm always open to new ideas but the issue here is different it's more about principles about morals we know how blackwater behaved in iraq we know what they did when. they had immunity they ran wild they shot and

killed with abandon would you trust the same people to run an entire war trump may do it just to because it won't have the it won't have the spotlight that u.s. troops did it it's quite conceivable that he might. buy into that idea united states has had over one hundred thousand troops in afghanistan and still the taliban has grown and in terms of its influence the answer will not be the use of private military contractors to resolve the overall problem of afghanistan but it's going to take you go shushan in discussion among the countries in that region every princes selling point may not be that he's cheap or it's that trump and the pentagon will become less accountable gotta start will no longer be entirely their responsibility if blackwater or whoever alex messes up at the be on their heads and

it'll all be written off to plausible deniability and corporate bureaucracy so what do you think worth a try letting mercenaries run an entire war. the u.s. congress has expressed concern over a new cooperation deal between the associated press and chinese news agency xinhua it's worried china might exploit the american outlet as some instrument of propaganda or correspondent he could have done off explains the u.s. government is on red alert this time quite literally after the a.p. news agencies signed a memorandum of understanding with chinese counterpart singe who are the letter lawmakers sent to the boss of associated press explains that senior journalists are well basically all spies and shouldn't be dealt with at all. singh

who are serve some of the functions of an intelligence agency by gathering information and producing classified reports for the chinese leadership on both domestic and international events the congressmen and women who signed the letter seem to be a bit out of the loop though because here's a newsflash a.p. and seeing who are have been partners since nineteen seventy two this memorandum is something of an official pinky promise to stay friends and make each other's jobs easier the reason mammal of understanding dates a relationship that has been consistently the same since one thousand nine hundred two and opens the possibility for future commercial interactions it does not include or invision any sharing for its official intelligence information or any other technology and normally this indeed would be way under the radar of the us government but this time the chinese are involved democrats and republicans often seem like they're ready to rip each other's heads off but as soon as beaching gets

in the picture oh they sing in tune nine is effort overtake the united states as oral preeminence over power china is totally eating our lunch they intend not just to supply america but all countries on earth and the west china is ruthless in how they go after us we're in a fight with china we have to ride to china tyler earlier this year the wall street journal reported that washington was mewling branding seen hawaii as a nasty foreign agent this is what happened without seeing the us this is what al-jazeera has so far been avoiding the interesting thing the bell congressional letter is on the one hand they want to. protect us national security but they're trying to protect the country claims. a free enterprise system of companies over. to tree with counterparts

only domestically but around the world so on it's a contradiction if you want to claim that you have freedom of enterprise on the one hand and yet you restrict you know on the other here so it is a very terje subject and this is the question that war have to go to us in the letter to the a.p. chief seems to continue the trend when the american government tries to sketch over the media landscape the mighty still stand for now at least but the foreign agent label begins to loom over the horizon. now while the us is worried about chinese propaganda china is worried about us buying a beijing is accusing washington of using its embassies around the world for covert surveillance and the u.s. accuses china for tagging in cyber security just like you weeks really nice shows

the u.s. is guilty of throwing sudan and some glass houses. the statement came after wiki leaks published a list of purchases made by u.s. embassies all around the world the report highlighted spy gear reportedly made for cia and national security agency global operations now claims u.s. embassies are being used to spy on foreign nations around the world even including on washington's own allies in fact diplomatic compounds are said to abort various forms of spy equipment and that includes cameras described disguised i should say as a tie or shirt buttons and caps embassies also purchased microphones night vision gear and secret g.p.s. locators the u.s. has yet to respond to any of these claims but we spoke with network security expert benjamin chel who told us that this would not just be a violation of international law but also of agreements with beijing. the now infamous u.s. eavesdropping of its alley's is already common knowledge to the world president's

office alys and openly criticize the us on the use of similar equipment before a certain spying behavior are right oh right by allegiance to the international laws and agreements not to mention mention trust for example the us and china have signed agreements a few years ago on stopping spying activities for commercial purposes the more than china is a peaceful country and we believe in limited situations through trade but at the same time china is becoming very well equipped in mordor warfare expression bending the country in one electronic war. christmas present has just become christmas past and christmas future is still to come and inspired by the festive season artie's germany correspondent peter all of us now gives his own rendition of a classic christmas tale. hello hello and welcome comments under fire would you like to hear story one involving three spirits which is quite similar but for many reasons quite different to

a christmas carol well come with me to germany where i'm going to. german journalists abbreviated named k.k. has been elected to the role of leader of the christian democratic union party. taking over from america when he ran the party. was never going to be. but as the clock struck worn a.k.k. was reminded of the past of the party tanking in the polls and also at the ballot box the c.d.u. and their allies. in twenty eight. local elections it is painful for the city you that we've lost so many votes the losses for the cd you became wins for the green party on the center left and the on t.v. gratian alternative to germany right. now

after bringing tidings to kate the spirit was gone see this is how it's going to work you're with me so far right leaving the past in the past and switching to christmas present the second spirit to visit a k.k. showed the state of play today. was the first choice of chancellor angela merkel to succeed she wasn't the first choice for a large groups of the c.d.u. party germany's conservatives wanted someone well a little more conservative c.d.u. needs an awakening and a renewal at this time of migration and globalization the modernization must be firmly grounded in national identity and traditional values in our actions. it's uniting a group that fits the bill is pale male and stale if i was to be somewhat unfair the whole be the main task for the woman now essentially the heir apparent to take

over from mrs merkel when she steps down. so let's see what the spirit brings with it in the future there's a whole load of states and other local elections lined up in germany next year in a lot of ways we'll be seeing all of votes of whether the germans believe that a k.-k. is the woman to take the country forward i'm going to myrtle plans to step down as chancellor in twenty twenty one and performances on the ballot box could decide the way it plays out so there we have it all story is coming to an end and all that's left for me to do is this and to wish you all the very best from us here at r.t. and hope that twenty nineteen brings you wealth health and happiness so christmas has passed and the end of the year is now across the stories of may twenty eighth cookie media blitz lionel has his personal book the.

early. said that white oh i think. oh maybe you can't read it please stop it you don't know what we're talking about. mark zuckerberg is testimony regarding facebook social media and the loss of data his appearance before the face of a poor congress was a disaster. nothing short of a disaster next mainstream media news in general took a hit from every conceivable angle and i believe one of their readers might have been. the jim acosta moment next. merkel and globalist in

general it would it does sastre and it was a template and a learning lesson for i think most of the world. there is a revolution going on in the world right now regarding the new platforms a new bases for information delivery and platforms such as this are proving that this is the best source of news again why the ability to not be limited by a commercial the ability to speak freely the ability to question more. the initial screech and clamor of revolution. we saw with the yellow mass we sought elsewhere we saw different beginnings of what will be a cataclysm

a change in the structure of the world in what was intended to be this global even of polar type of congress's ation of the world that's changing. the truth hurts and still up and coming here on the program on the u.s. judge orders pyongyang to pay a half a billion dollars in damages for this to the family of a student who died after a student a north korean detention we'll have a look at whether this case could on hinge the future a trump kim summit more of that interesting.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race in. spearing dramatic development only. exist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical. to sit down. well i think it certainly makes sense for for moscow to think. in its context with the united states i just fear that the dominant view in this city is that it is merely impossible until the united states kind of settle the domestic divide of the environment and in d.c. he's you know i hate to see these laws work toxic but that's exactly what it is and then i think it's in a way you know you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

put it past right now here in moscow a u.s. judge has ordered pyongyang to pay a half a billion dollars in damages to the family of a student who died off to being released from north korean custody here's a quick look back at what happened to auto won't be. after i planned to detail to accomplish my plan i arrived in pyongyang on the early morning of january first two thousand and sixteen i committed my cry of taking out the important political slogan from the staff only area i even made the

worst mistake of my own. by the only things i. can say for me. he was blind he was dead he had a large scar on his right foot in north korea is no victim there terrorist a today's droid stage they purposely and intentionally injured i think you need to define torture the fact that he has an ox ache in several up at the or brain damage caused by the lack of oxygen to the brain we don't know what the request was and that is i mean could that have been torture at the time we don't know we don't have enough information about what happened to auto at that initial insult to draw

any concrete conclusions following the death of off a wall washington or realist of north korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in nov twenty seventh when john yang rejects the allegation of torture the student prior to his death and with donald trump getting ready for a second meeting with kim jong un we look at what consequences the wall case might have. an american family the warm beer is experienced north korea's brutality firsthand when north korea sees their son to use as a pawn in that to tell a tarion state's global shenanigans and face off with the united states. the u.s. should be prudent and practice self control keeping in mind that if it persists in the end to the d.p. r. k. smear campaign while unreasonably picking a quarrel with the d.p. r. k. over the human rights issue it will pay dearly for all the consequences rehashing accusations of badly evidenced torture against north korea seems to be

a step backwards for peace especially when only several months ago trump and kim were shaking hands and making nice. thank you for. the man you met today. as you know has killed family members has starved his own people is responsible for the death of here why are you so comfortable calling him very talented interesting how back of then trump attributed discussions on korean denuclearization to none other than otto himself or rather his death otto warm beer is a very special person and he will be for a long time in my life his parents are good friends of mine i think without. this would not have happened and the north was set out to win as well with the u.s. potentially lifting sanctions but the script on the significance of those deaths

has now been flipped aside from kim's destruction of a nuclear test site neither side has fulfilled the promises of the singapore summit despite all the haughty pledges neither denuclearization nor sanctions relief has taken place and looking forward to the next summit it's still unclear how both sides might use all those case in the political arena. israeli military is claiming to have shot down an aircraft missile coming from syria and syrian state media are saying three soldiers have been injured in that israeli strike on an arms warehouse just west of damascus reporting from tel aviv oxys. what we're hearing from the syrian side is that they say they activated their ground to air defense missile systems in response to incoming missiles from israel what we are hearing is that they managed to intercept eight out of ten rockets now syrian state media says that they intercepted what it's calling hostile and in the

targets that were aiming at areas in the damascus region we are hearing met the israeli strikes have caused damage to an ammunitions and that three syrian soldiers have been injured we have heard from the israeli side the israeli defense forces the israeli army has issued a statement in which it says it can manage to launch its defense missile systems and that they intercepted at least one rocket that was fired from the syrian side now all of this is hot on the heels of the american president donald trump announcing that he was withdrawing american troops from syria you might remember that just two days ago the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said that would godless of whether or not the united states withdraws its will continue to act and act forcibly in syria oh terrible to the parliament decision to withdraw two thousand u.s. troops from syria will not change our consistent policy we will continue to act against iran's attempts to stop which military presence in syria and if the need

arises through even expand operations there certainly tensions between israel and syria are escalating. tennis legend martina navratilova is in the spotlight after getting embroiled in a twitter spat over transgender people participating in the sport as women. clearly that can't be right you can't just be claim herself a female and be able to compete against women there must be some standards and having a penis and competing as a woman would not be the standard never to have an excuse me about it and i read a lower than apologized and then deleted her tweet following the spate of criticism online including from cyclist rachel mckenna who last year became the first transgender athlete to win a world title. that's transforming genitals did not play sports what part of a penis is related to tennis i hope you see your way to regret and how you tremble

this never until the street is just another variation on someone saying that if you have a penis you're not a woman let's be real and stop pretending she isn't transphobia just because she's reached and famous and effects will like pretensions you're the real hero here i'm a tina the truth is painful to some but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be spoken it's incredibly disappointing that you've been intimidated into backing down from telling the truth navratilova is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time she is also widely known as an elegy beauty rights activist the issue of transgender athletes and sport is certainly generating a lot of debate these days you can find more opinions on the subject or a website r.t. dot com for the meantime though the rest of your wednesday worldwide news headlines continue at the top of the hour.

people feed the economy because they buy scratch tickets scratch off lottery tickets they you know when i was living in the ghetto in new york you know the red apple grocery store uptown have the highest prices in town right and the liquor stores are open and you buy you know more expensive in the ghetto and that's how you build an economy it's almost built on the backs of the poor america was built on the slave market america was built on prison labor to give them it looked at the

good times of america the ne'er do wells it's all very swishy and swell that's over we got to go back to basics. when our mind when the comb tempo or mind. changed there are fees to ratio of the level of the physiology that is at the level of the brain the brain as a form of plasticity can rewire itself and not just the brain bubbles the rest a little body responds to. knowing welcome to cross talk we're all things we consider time peter lavelle now

long ago the political left are the guardians of the. the speech along with the big tech to 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 liability and welcome to the era of simply shut up and not. talking in forced speech i'm joined by my guest emanuel galvin paris she is a french lawyer in new york we have lionel he is a legal analyst and the news decoder at lionel media dot com and in lake jackson we cross to dan you make adams he is the executive director of the ron paul institute for peace and prosperity all right let me go to danielle first hero we're pretty much the same age here i was i remember growing up and it was a time of being sensitive to people let's put it that way there are certain words in our vocabulary i'm sure we probably exist in french as well is that things you

don't say and i.