with the. water it's making. the u.s. . cooperation deal between the. meeting with kim jong un. to the. north korean.

welcome to the program. the us a defense secretary spent his christmas working at the pentagon even after a decision to remove him from office two months. james mattis wrote this holiday letter to american soldiers. in this world to washington change you hold the line storm clouds loom because of you you'll fellow citizens live safe at home jasmine has resigned 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 a war there now it seems that's precisely what could happen next as what i guess dia explains imagine you're sitting there on your porch reading about guns and huntin and all things good and then you see this as we are coming

blackwater judging by the logo the infamous private security group who is trigger happy and dick's further disgrace the very name mercenary. of a person that. they were dead bodies everywhere are losing the argument going about even with few people in society among the dead bodies lying on the street that's which causes the movement 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 iffy for the mercenary group which was that. rebranded renamed and resold into obscurity but it's presumably back now united states is spent 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 stan withdrawal erik prince sees an opportunity the option i was pushing the options that were considered by some in the white house in irregular warfare option that would use a capability some special forces capability some contracted 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 lulu cost 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 put their mission credibility on the line privatizing it is probably not a wise 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 and he resents your message to him he's going after all the maddest 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 you. 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 them 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 he won't have the spotlight that u.s. troops do 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 because shushan in discussion among the countries in that region every prince's selling point may not be that he's cheaper 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 as in who are its worried china might explode the american outlook is some form of propaganda artie's evolution of tries to explain 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 counterparts 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 them all of understanding updates a relationship that has been consistently the signs in 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 breaching gets in the picture oh they sing in tune nine is effort over take the united states as

oral preeminent superpower 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 the congressional letter is on the one they want. protect us national security but they're trying to protect the country claims. a free enterprise system of companies over three. to tree with counterparts on domestically but around the world so on the 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 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. and while the u.s. is worried about chinese propaganda china is worried about us buying a beijing is accusing washington of using its embassies all around the world for covert surveillance but he the u.s. accuses china for tagging cyber security but the latest wiki leaks release shows the u.s. is guilty of throwing stones in glass houses the statement came after wiki leaks

published a list of purchases made by u.s. embassies worldwide the report highlighted spy gear reportedly made for cia and national security agency global operations now beijing claims u.s. embassies are being used to spy on foreign nations around the world in fact even including washington's own allies factor diplomatic compounds are said to report various forms of spy equipment that includes cameras to skies to tie shirt buttons and caps embassies also purchased microphones night vision gear and secret g.p.s. locators now the u.s. has yet to respond to these claims but we spoke with our network security expert benjamin chel he told us 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 presidents of its alleys and openly criticize the u.s. on the use of similar equipment before a sudden spike in behavior are right oh right by late into the international laws

and agreements not to mention mention trust for example the u.s. and china have signed agreements a few years ago on stopping spying activities for commercial purposes the more than china is is a peaceful country and we believe in women's situation through trade but at the same time china is becoming very well equipped in modern warfare exposure in the fending the country in electronic warts. a christmas present has just become christmas past christmas future of course is still to come 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 comes under fire would you like to hear a ghost 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. be mercifully for german journalists abbreviated a k k has been elected to the role of leader of

the christian democratic union party. taking over from the run the party. is never going to be. but as the clock struck warn 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 took civilian losses in twenty eight. and in. crucial local elections it is painful for the city you that we've lost so many votes the losses for the c.d.u. became wins for the green party on the center left and the un team a gratian alternative to germany right. after bringing tidings to kate the spirit was gone see this is how it's going

to work here 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 the c.d.u. needs an awakening and a renewal at this time of migration and globalisation the modernisation 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 that spirit brings with it in the future there's a whole load of states and other local elections lined up in germany next year. of ways we'll be see whether the germans believe that k.k. is the woman to take the country forward i'm glad merkel 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 come 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 mia across the stories that made twenty eighteen as our. media analyst lionel he was his personal.

they really. said that white russians. oh maybe you could read it oh please stop it you know we're talking about. mark as zucker burned his testimony regarding facebook social media and the loss of data his appearance before face before 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 the readers might have been . the jim acosta moment next. marco and globalist in general it

would have disaster 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 is what was intended to be this global polar type of concrete ization of the world that changed. the truth hurts are still to come here on the program on a us judge orders pyongyang to pay a billion dollars in damages to the family of a student who died after a stint in north korea and detention and we have a quick look at whether the case could ultimately on the hinge the future trump summit and more on that just.

when our mind when the content of our mind. changed there are. the level of the physiology that is at the level of the brain the brain as a form of plasticity can we why your itself and not just the brain but also the rest of our body responds.

you wednesday program welcome to it a us judge has ordered pyongyang to pay off a billion dollars in damages to the family of a student who died after being released from north korean custody here is 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 morning of january first two thousand and sixteen i committed my cry of taking out the important political slogan from the staff only area made the worst mistake of

my own. by the point these. can save for me. he was blind he was deaf he had a large scar on his right foot north korea is not. their terrorist hate 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 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 otto at that initial insult to draw any concrete conclusions following the death all of. washington

relisted north korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in nov twenty seventh and rejects the allegation that torture of the student prior to his death with donald trump getting ready for a second meeting with kim jong un we look at what consequences the won't be a case of. 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 us 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 i'm reasonably 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 war here why are you so comfortable calling him very talented interesting how back of them trump attributed discussions on korean denuclearization to none other than otto himself or rather his death row warm beer. he's 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 women as well with the u.s. potentially lifting sanctions but the script on the significance of all 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 hardy 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 autos case in the political arena. tennis legend martina navratilova is in the spotlight after getting embroiled in a twitter spot over transgender people participating in the sport as women clearly that can't be right you can't just be claimed 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 feed the standard martina navratilova apologized and deleted tweets following the spate of criticism online including from cyclist rachel mckinnon who last year became the first transgender athlete to win

a world title that's transforming genitals do not play sports what part of a penis is related to tennis i help you see your way to regret and how you trembled this never until this treaty 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 in fact walk like pretensions you're the real hero here and martina 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. never considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time he was also widely known as an elegy rights activist. transgender athletes and sport is generating a lot of debate these days you can hear more opinions on the issue online our website don't go. just twenty twenty five minutes past the hour here in the russian

capital more of your wednesday world headlines of the top of the hour hope you can join us. well i think it certainly makes sense for for moscow to think. in its context with the united states i just feel. and you in this city is that it is a nearly impossible until the united states kind of settle this domestic divide environment and he sees you know i hate to see this. as 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.

come to russia no one is evil no one has ever had and never even heard about most. cut cut cut cut. cut.

cut. by the way bankrupt person or bother to think of what all that is or is about those they perceive them as institutions completely divorced from your mom so. the justice department said today the inmate population of federal and state prisons in this country is at an all time high. the public sees a need for more prisons because crime is the number one concern of the people in the state. too many inmates in not enough space. in their crime another. one hundred already have and i'm with will start a. combination explosion in america with all of this going on since i'm going towards want to. be in. regard to.

a shocking new number was released today that deserves our undivided attention one out of every one hundred americans is now behind bars walked up to prison or in jail. the most important thing. as to talk from your heart if you have more than one child give a like that overall message but then do an individual one to each child throw them a kiss talk to them about what you do daily the rest should be just you if you've written a poor we've had people pray we've had people saying one guy showed his little boy

how to shoot a basket the creative. these are gifts to your children. the families of punished right along with. the people don't think so but the collateral consequences of somebodies incarceration affects not just the whole family but it affects the whole community and affects you as an individual or the you know whether or not and whether you know that person or not that's incarcerated. get to inform. you should care. i have a background in film and video as a producer and i thought there's got to be something i can do so why not combine my career and my experience with the prison system and come up with something for these kids. in that camera. and that they can look at and. this isn't your fault.