well you look at the thing. with the imminent departure of u.s. defense secretary james mattis fears grow that notorious blackwater is making a comeback after a full page ad is published in its name warning that we are coming to. us congress has criticised the cooperation deal between the associated press and china's news agency saying beijing might exploited for propaganda. and another draws to an end to media outlets lionel shares his personal look back at the winners and losers. the initial. clamor of revolution the truth.

is three o'clock here in moscow and you're watching international live from our studio with me to welcome to the program. the u.s. defense secretary spent his christmas working out of the pentagon even after donald trump's abrupt decision to remove him from office two months and his plan to resign james mattis wrote this holiday letter to american soldiers in this world awash in change you hold the line store. 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 to keep troops in afghanistan opposing the idea of using private contractors and war now it seems that's precisely what could happen next as jeff 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. the. there were dead bodies everywhere and this is the argument going to be with you people in society among the dead bodies and i don't mistreat those who are close in the middle of next 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 and i stayed. 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 ston 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 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 the few thousand u.s. special forces guys give them a small air force private their force and the blue 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 breach these reputation to merck's the 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's 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 resented her 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 new year to you james mattis u.s. secretary of defense will leave his post on the first of january and john bolton trump. 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 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 gonna start will no longer be entirely their responsibility if blackwater whoever altus 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 christmas past and christmas future is still to come inspired by the festive season artie's jenny carson and peter gives his own mentorship of a classic isthmus tell. 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. play 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 right in the party. but as the clock struck a cake was reminded of the past of the party tanking in the polls at the ballot box the cd their allies. 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 un

team a gratian alternative to germany right. now after bringing tidings to kate the spirit was gone see this is how it's going to work 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 her the state of play today. was the first choice of chancellor angela merkel to succeed. the first choice of a large groups of the c.d.u. party germany's conservatives wanted someone a little more conservative 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 for mrs merkel when she steps down chancellor. so let's see what that spirit brings with it. there's a whole load of states and other local elections lined up in germany next year. where the germans believe that k.k. is the woman to take the country forward i'm glad merkel plans to step down as chancellor at 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. christmases

past and the end of the year across the stories that made twenty eighteen is our media analyst leinil as his personal. literally. 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 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 in the days after 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 new 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 mass we sought elsewhere we saw different. beginnings of what will be a cataclysm a change in the structure of all of the world is what was intended to be this global polar type of concrete ization of the world that changed. the truth hurts. only back in a couple of minutes. now

the financial survival job today was all about money laundering first to visit this cash into three different. oh good this is a good start well we have our three banks all set up here maybe something in europe something in america something overseas in the cayman islands in a room full of these banks are complicit in their club congress to decide to give mccall and say hey i'm ready to do some serious money laundering ok let's see how we did well we've got home got a nice luxury watch for max and for stacy oh beautiful jewelry and how about. luxury automobile again for max you know what money you want to hire legal. watch guys record.

well they like the program congress has expressed concern over a new cooperation deal between the associated press and chinese news agency it's going to china might exploit the american letter as an instrument of propaganda you got shit done 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 the 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. 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 because grisman and women who signed the letter seem to be a bit out of the loop though because here's a news flash 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 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's ruthless you know 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 chinese china is worried about you west spying beijing is accusing washington of using its embassies around the world for covert surveillance planes the u.s. accuses china for tagging and cyber security but the latest we go weeks really

shows the u.s. is guilty of throwing stones from glass houses 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 bought various buy equipment that includes cameras disguised as ties shirt buttons and caps and bases also purchased microphones night vision gear and secret g.p.s. locators the u.s. has yet to respond to the claims that work security expert benjamin chad told us this had to 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 mention trust for example the u.s. and china have signed agreements a few years ago or 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 exposure in bending the country in electronic or. tennis legend or martina navratilova is in the spotlight after getting embroiled in a twitter spat have a 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 the standard latina russell over apologized and deleted her

tweet following the spate of criticism online including from cyclists rachel mckinnon who last year became the first chance gender to win a world title. that's transformative genitals do not play sports what part of a penis is related to tennis i hope you see your way to regret in how you trembled never to was treated 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 femurs and in fact walk like pretensions you're the real hero here of material 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 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 the issue of charles genda in sport is generating

a lot of debate and you can find more views on the issue on our website that's r.t. dot com. the russian defense ministry says that israeli air strikes on syria that injured three on choose day night also endangered two passenger jets live to artie's a poor let slip it's got more details on this report what more do we know. well as you mentioned we've received a statement from the russian defense ministry saying that when israel launched its strikes overnight at a syrian targets it happened at the same time that a passenger plane was landing in both favorites and another one in damascus and that those israeli operations put civilian lives at risk now this comes as tensions in northern syria continue to escalate turkey is now vowing that it will launch an offensive against kurdish fighters who have been controlling the northern syrian

city of we are receiving reports of some forty pickup trucks some on the personal vehicle some law and also two tanks belonging to the syrian army have entered the. south of what we understand there was a brief meeting that was held between leaders of the white. could and the syrian soldiers before which the syrian army was given full control of the city we have however besieged a statement from the turkish ministry of defense saying that the area has belonged to the syrian army since two thousand and seventeen is a controversial operation with quite a checkered history take a look. we do not support and we would oppose efforts to move south and engage in activities

against the syrian democratic forces so kurdish commanders have made commitments that they will turn over areas to local population as they have been so tremendously successful in liberating those areas from gosh we expect them to live up to those commitments. i have my mom's age and. the turkish threat is god's will we are going to fight it together with the americans and the coalition against the turkish army until their withdrawal from one bridge and the surrounding villages this is syrian territory. we noticed more movement from the euphrates shield along the front line as turkey

before its military operation on a friend threatened that manned beach would be the next target. as i said before our relationship is a critical juncture either with us. put it back on track or it will further deteriorate we have agreed essentially to normalize our relationship again question a man is one that as i said is going to be given priority in our joint work you are there for him this is one of his vision for measuring a good one of the issues of work together. we are a part of syria and we don't support separatism what you want an agreement to be reached and saw from this tradition as part of a free syria. now already last week the kurds proposed that the syrian government into monday's all of this is coming hot on the heels of the surprise announcement

by the american president donald trump that he was withdrawing american troops from syria so commands to be seen how exactly that impact what's happening on the ground . thanks for the update there are thousands pointlessly. i thought news round of this i'll be back in around thirty minutes time but do stay tuned now for crosstalk which is up next here on our international. so you will both be in the lottery showing last year's does. it with the people most of. all what i mean.

i can make it. really a lot to get me from him he can see as you know he and his wife. that you're in the home of they leave your. home with you move in with their baby one was in the mud almost nothing to do with many balls up in this but why will you move forward at the field. when our mine when the content of our mind is changed there are fees equal out there ration out the level of the physiology that is at the level of the brain

the brain as a form of plasticity can we wire itself and not just the brain but also the rest of our body respond to that. anything. that comes you call russia you know as ever no one has ever heard of that and never even had about most.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports this list i'm showbusiness i'll see that. i had a great education a good job and a family that loved me. i never had to worry about how i would be somewhere i would sleep. i'm facing christmas alone out on the streets of london. playing along. those lorry like. you know the slogan still give out food for the homeless. her sleep. because you don't really feel like a human being you know. and then. the guy just came

over to me saw me and gave me a whole change of this budget. plan . i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter the u.s. has over one trillion dollars in debt more than ten colored prime stampede each day . eighty five percent of the global. well you long to the ultra rich point six percent market saw thirty percent from 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

remember it was one distance shows you know for two minutes the one and only. my son doing drugs my nephew was still in drugs my sister just with doing drugs it was like an epidemic of drug abuse america's public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse started going after the users in the prison population sewer we started treating sick people people who are addicted to these drugs like criminals while i was on the hill i increasingly became convinced that the war on drugs was a mistake there are countless numbers of people who are in prison for inconceivable certain sins for minor minor offenders in the drug trade it's a lot watching your children grow up and miss you in waves and say bye daddy as you're walking out of a business it's just it doesn't get easier. well

i think it certainly makes sense for for moscow to think posts trump 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 this domestic divide the environment and in d.c. he's you know i hate to see these bodies work toxic but that's exactly what it is and then i think it's in a way you know your dad. if you're doing your down to fit all.