thank you bill we will talk to you. with the imminent departure of u.s. defense secretary james mattis fears grow that natori. blackwater is making a comeback. and is published in its name warning that we are coming to. the u.s. congress has criticized a cooperation deal between the associated press and china's news agency saying beijing might exploit it for propaganda. and as another year draws to an end a media analyst lionel shares his personal look back at the winners and losers of twenty eighteen. the initial screech clamor of revolution the truth.

it's two o'clock here in moscow and you're watching international live from our studio with me in a day or two to welcome to the program. the u.s. defense secretary spent his christmas working at the pentagon even after donald trump's abrupt decision to remove him from office two months earlier than he planned to resign james mattis wrote this holiday letter to american soldiers. in this world awash in change you hold the line storm clouds because of you your fellow citizens. james mattis resigned last week after the u.s. president announced his decision to withdraw troops from syria he also advised donald trump to keep ships in afghanistan opposing the idea of using private contractors in war there now it seems that that's precisely what could happen next as more and cast year 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 but i never heard that. there were dead bodies everywhere and it's the knowledge but it's going to be with you people in society among the dead bodies lying on the street that's a rich course in the middle of 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 then rebranded renamed and resold into obscurity but it's presumably back now. united states has spent dearly in blood and treasure in time in afghanistan every prince who found 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

and irregular warfare option that would use a capability 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 breach these reputation to merck's to guys willing to kill for money when the american 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 slowly 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 jumbled. trumps security advisor is much more pliable there are always a lot of discussions i find help for and i'm always open to new ideas 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 shot

and killed with abandon would you trust the same people to run an entire war 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 whoever else 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. christmas present has just become a christmas past christmas future is still to come inspired by the festive season artie's jimmy carr spondon peter of and i get his own fantasy of a classic christmas title. 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 a 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. going to be. but as the clock struck a k.k. was reminded of the past of the party tanking in the polls and also at the ballot box the see 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 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 a. choice a large groups of the c.d.u. party conservatives wanted someone a little more conservative. 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 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 that's in a lot of ways will be see whether the germans believe that k.k. is the woman to take the country forward i'm going to myrtle plans to step down as chancellor and twenty twenty one and performances on the ballot box could decide the way it plays out so there we have it all story has 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. christmas is

past and the end is near across the stories that made twenty eighteen is out clicking on this line and has his personal look back. earlier. said that white washing. oh maybe you could read it oh please stop it you know we're talking about. mark zuckerberg his testimony regarding facebook's social media and the loss of data his appearance before face before congress was a disaster that the 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 was a disaster and it was a template and a learning lesson for the most of the world. there was 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 clamor of revolution. we saw with the yellow vast we sought elsewhere we saw different beginnings of what would be a cataclysm change in the structure of the world is what was intended to be this global polar concrete ization of the world that changed. the truth her. tennis legend martina navratilova has got embroiled in a twitter spat of a child's gender people participating in the sport as women that story after this break.

boy i think it certainly makes sense for for moscow to think strong in its context with the united states i just fear that the dominant view in this city is that it is nearly impossible until the united states kind of settle this domestic divide of the environment and in d.c. he's you know i hate to see these laws work toxic but i. it's exactly what it is

and i think it's in a way. you know you're damned if you do and you don't think. what politicians do you should. put themselves on the line. to get accepted or rejected . so when you want to be president and she. wanted. to write a book that's what the korean people are. interested always in the water. they should.

welcome back to the program the u.s. congress has expressed concern over a new cooperation deal between the associated press and chinese news agency it's worried china might take the america as an instrument of propaganda. explains the u.s. government is on red alert this time quite literally after the a.p. news agency signed a memorandum of understanding with chinese counterparts the letter lawmakers sent to the boss of associated press explains that singapore journalists are well basically all spies and shouldn't be dealt with at all. seeing who was 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 nine hundred seventy 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 all over take 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 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 while the u.s. is worried about chinese propaganda china is worried about u.s. spying beijing is a key. using washington of using its embassies around the world of koval it's covert surveillance but the u.s. accuses china for tagging in cyber security but the latest wiki leaks released 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 beijing claims u.s. embassies are being used to spy on foreign nations around the world including washington's own allies diplomatic compounds are said to have gotten various buy equipment that includes cameras disguised as ties shirt buttons and caps embassies also purchased microphones night vision care and secret g.p.s. locators the u.s. has yet to respond to the claims network security expert benjamin chad told us this would be not just a violation of international law but also of agreements with beijing the now infamous u.s. eavesdropping on it's already common knowledge world president's office. openly criticized the u.s. on the use of similar equipment before

a sudden spike in behavior are right oh right violations of international laws and agreements not to mention one's interest for example the u.s. and china have signed agreements a few years ago or one stop in 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 exposure in bending the country in electronic or. tennis legend martina navratilova is in the spotlight after getting in broiled 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 feed that standard. martina navratilova apologized and later her tweet following a 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 do not play sports what part of a penis is related to tennis i help 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 in fact walk like pretensions you're the real hero here 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 now russell over is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time she's also widely known as an l g b t rights activist they shift china's gender affluence and sports is generating a lot of debate and you can find more views on the issue on our website as altie

dot com. that's our news riled up this hour we're back in around thirty minutes time do you stay tuned now for going underground which is next here a lot of international. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy for him to let it be an arms race in his own spearing dramatic development the only place really i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical. to sit down and talk. to.

come to call russia nor i was ever no one has ever heard of and never even heard about most. people feed the economy because they buy scratch tickets scratch off lottery tickets you know when i was living in the ghetto in new york you know the red apple

grocery store uptown had the highest prices in town 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 in 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 well that's over we got to go back to basics. yes does. she doesn't it with the people most of. what i mean.

i mean. really i look so good with a movie can you see as enough in this life. that you're in the form of a media. almost you must name their baby one with a number on the nose and the money or something in the mile and the most they will start to feel. i've been saying the numbers means they matter the u.s. has over one trillion dollars in debt more than ten hours behind happy each day. eighty five percent of global wealth you long for the old rich eight point six percent market saw a thirty percent rise last year some with four hundred to five hundred three per

second per second and it going rose to twenty thousand dollars. china is building a two point one billion dollar a i industrial. but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only number you need remember in one one business so you can afford to miss the one and only boom bust. i had a great education a good job and a family that loved me. i never had to worry about how i would eat somewhere i would speak. i'm facing christmas alone out on the streets of london. well you look to. the glory like you only. believe you know the snow is still given feet for the storm. but you don't really feel like human being in that. and then. a guy just

came over to me saw me in. this book. time after time you know what you're going underground while we're away for christmas we're screening some of your favorite episodes of this season coming up in this who is to raise a major talk about human rights in the case of jamal khashoggi

a lifelong friend of a saudi dissident and fight for the liberation of palestine as i'm telling me on crimes against humanity and not the jury's amazement surveillance was found in eagle by your of what now for bugging of your phone we go to san antonio in texas to talk to award winning ex convict better brown hounded by the f.b.i. for rejecting a brave new world that's all coming up in the show but first today's seventy is since the. reader of africa's richest defacto nation was killed with u.k. backing here was the reaction of the woman who could right now be president of the usa we came we saw our guide. clinton nato nation media and to resume support of the end of libya's government even as they profess to love this towering african hero no god. saw what. they hit their audience no reason whatsoever.

why we should have any hesitation. they are called it that the human rights as being demanded in south africa but if the tories and liberals helped kill mandela's comrade in arms seven years ago today that all appears forgotten in today's house of commons aside from bracks it though one m.p. did feel that u.k. and israeli oppression this week should be condemned by to resume of pm queues with the prime minister make it clear to the prime minister of israel that this is occupied territory these are refute g.'s protected people who say forcible rape removal would be as the united nations has stated constitute a war for carmichael didn't mention u.k. backing injuries i'm a julie said nothing about this week's garza dead referring to question one particular settlement once again cool on the israeli government not to go ahead

with its pound demolished village in creating its school and displace its residents just a bit of displacement not more than two hundred dead since the great return much began no mention of u.k. arms sales to israel that reached a record high just before prince william's visit to israel joining me now is palestinian born journalist as i am to mimi he was good friends with jamal khashoggi and spoke to him hours before he was allegedly killed and dismembered in the saudi consulate in turkey has and they. coming on the washington post publish what they purportedly said was the last column of your friend and then focus his attention on the muted response to the deaths of journalists in the middle east isn't he belatedly of a point in the sense that you can us back countries of been killing journalists for years what makes your friends his death different atrocities have been committed by humans throughout our history. there are atrocities on the to be condoned but some

of our cities. have a special. status. as nerdish has to several factors that make a treaty different from anything else the fact that he was said that this was a set up the fact that it happened in a consulate where these things don't usually happen i mean if you want john to murder a critic you hire an assassin or do it much more cleanly for it to happen inside the consulate for it to happen in a consulate in istanbul. turkey and saudi arabia on not on very good terms for it to happen someone who writes a column in the washington post that column which has damaged. and when someone is a conference of saudi arabia damage his end of or to to create.