by targeting western capitals with his own. confrontational confrontational speech . to. a democrat questioning. the white house also. as

a global threat. and. whether she was in the moment or not we. just don't understand. two. top stories for you on this. russian president vladimir. he to target perceived threats with its

latest hypersonic missile despite also stressing that the new weapon is reportedly purely defensive. threaten to retaliate by targeting western capitals with his own new weapons lattimer putin threatening to target the united states with its new generation of hypersonic missiles if the us bases intermediate range missiles in europe for quite a confrontational step quite a confrontational speech by the russian president during his annual state of the nation address the russian president announced that zircon on a new hypersonic cruise missile that can be deployed both from land and you see will undergo full testing later this year r.t. correspondent has details. another day another excuse to panic for the mainstream media for them for the second year in a row the flavor of lattimer putin's the state of the nation address is faster. deadly are you sure you knew you another room vonzell product does work on which

you don't go in and you certainly be completed on schedule namely i would like to talk about the comm hypersonic missile good i'm going to get you and that's a big enough trigger to get everything from the tabloids to serious outlets hitting repeat the concerns are not entirely unreasonable though the zircon mess is set to become a force to reckon with it's a silent assassin covering three kilometers in one second means zircon travels nine times faster than the speed of sound the target literally won't hear it coming there's no hiding from it's either it can hit both the ground and see targets within a range of a thousand kilometers it can be launched from either submarines or from military ships it is out of the books ready to use with the launch pads already in service yet the intimidating tech specs and. to

a bigger extent even the click bait headlines are obscuring the fundamental thing about the new weapon russia hopes it will rust away and fall apart and not a single shot will be fired huge and as the word when you lonely it was a decision called russia the biggest threat to the us around with that but i can tell you that russia wants to have an equal and friendly relationship with the united states russia is not threatening anyone at all our actions in the security done solely as a response and so they're of a defensive nature but i need to look at it moscow says it won't throw the first punch it only ever wants the missiles to be used as blanks during military drills but it's better safe than sorry. we discussed what this new hypersonic cruise missile might mean for global security with a number of experts. actually in hong says the stapes the bullets you have to turn systems and the reason i say that is because deterrence currently relies upon

missile systems or aircraft in different systems which are inherently detectable if america was to launch for example missile strikes which destroyed russia's ability to respond by for example talk to come on to control systems that the submersible weapon systems would still be available to actually mounts or targets restriking the united states which means hopefully the other side would be deterred from using its weapons i think is a reasonable massy you know i'd have to tend to agree with the sentiments that putin has expressed because i saw no purpose that i think the nation of acceleration of the animosity between these two countries came by us is cancer not of i and out out of the treaty and out open up the door for this so i think it's reasonable for defensive purposes to do this i think where a lot safer then the people in washington and the people who build our weapons

claim we are because even if it's not for the fact of aggression and starting a war i think people when they make profits building weapons there are likely to promote problems. the u.s. house of representatives has released a report indicating that the white house may be planning to transfer sensitive nuclear power technology to saudi arabia and not submit concerns in washington over iran's nuclear program a democrat led committee has now launched an investigation into this matter as the reports if there is one thing that congress gets touchy about is when the president tries to swerve around them this point we've got the house oversight committee looking into whether donald trump was trying to rush nuclear technology to saudi arabia these reports also indicate that saudi arabia is refusing to agree to. an enriching uranium and processing plutonium similar to that he's agreed by other

countries in the region. however experts worry that transferring sensitive u.s. nuclear technology could allow saudi arabia to produce nuclear weapons that contribute to the proliferation of nuclear arms the concern is that this could lead to saudi arabia developing nuclear weapons now from what we understand the saudis were refusing to agree to prohibitions on process and would tell them and enriching uranium that other countries in the region have agreed to prompt was apparently directly engaged in the efforts now the report cites a few whistleblowers who are in on the negotiations the whistleblowers who came through and have expressed significant concerns about the potential procedural and legal violations connected with rushing through apparent to transfer a nuclear technology to saudi arabia ip three nuclear energy corporation that was part of the negotiations said that providing nuclear secrets to was necessary because of russia and china it is a strategic imperative that the united states competes and win against russia and

china in the nuclear power arena tom barrett who was on trump's inaugural committee also thought that possibly arming might be a good idea mr barak's gauge meant an investment in business development throughout the middle east for the purpose of better aligned middle east and u.s. objectives and well known as are his more than four decades of respected relationships throughout the region the issue of nuclear power for saudi arabia has been discussed before but that refusal to agree to not enrich or reprocess has been a big stumbling block you might be noticing a little bit of a double standard here not only does the united states oppose the peaceful nuclear energy program of the islamic republic of iran it's actually imposed sanctions on the country for decades and this isn't the first time that the twenty treatment of the two countries has left us officials red faced in twenty seventeen a reporter asked about the usa criticizing iran's elections when saudi arabia is completely devoid of democracy here's how it went to

a said your review is committed to democracy. and does the administration believe that democracy is a barrier against extremism. i think when we say is that. at this meeting. we were able to make significant progress prompt has been very upfront about the u.s. relationship with saudi arabia he says that weapons sales make lots of money for american military corporations so america first told me it's all about america first we're not going to give up hundreds of billions of dollars in orders and let russia china and everybody else have a it's all about for me very simple it's america first when it comes to the middle east u.s. officials have long been known for

a kind of doublespeak and contradictory policy but you can understand why some people might get a little one nerve when nukes are involved they will blow up and are to new york iranian foreign minister zarif immediately condemned the leak news calling the u.s. move hypocrisy and we spoke with political commentator lou rockwell who suspects that the white house has a ron in its sights if it really is funneling nuclear technology to the saudis. day by day it becomes clearer to the world would was always clear to us neither human rights nor a nuclear program have been the real concern of the u.s. first a dismembered journalist now illicit sale of nuclear technology to saudi arabia fully exposed us he procrustes the idea that they would arm mohamed meant zalman with nuclear weapons just strikes me as something out of a science fiction movie it's like dr strangelove it's very alarming it's a terrible thing to spread this kind of technology and this is all part of the. the

. plan to destroy iran and it's this is really a horrendous thing and i'm so glad that was the blowers in the white house gave this information to congress. a statue based on a landmark photograph commemorating the end of world war two seems to a fall and fall of the me too movement the sculpture in sarasota florida titled unconditional surrender depicts the moment in one thousand nine hundred five when a soldier kissed a stranger on the day that japan capitulated to the united states it was spray painted with the meat to hash tag one day after the man depicted in the work war veteran george mendonsa died at the age of ninety five and the image is considered a symbol of the euphoria that gripped the nation after the end of the war the woman in the photograph said that the sailor drunkenly grabbed her on times square and kissed her so some have now suggested that by that he committed

a sexual assault. well the photograph was published in life magazine and became iconic at the moment has been recreated in films and works of art as well as victory over japan day out of a series of the me too movement has a track record of reappraising things from the prost critics say it sometimes goes too far for example by condemning everything from disney fairy tales and classic songs to sitcoms a women's rights advocate resurface and an international law expert jennifer britain would divided over the latest me to talk it. absolutely support the need to movement in saying this statue does not have right to stand because we have a big knowledge of it from the woman and i believe there's actually an acknowledgement from the man as well that he was drunk and didn't know her and so if that's the case then anything that does not reflect who we are trying to become as a country as a people it can't stand and we don't have it when we don't have the context of the time that it occurred in and so that's that's the point is that we're taking this

we're looking at this from a lens of a perspective that we just don't understand it because we live now in such a divisive time whether she was swept up in the moment or not we do not see this as a bidding activity to celebrate in those moments such as the confederate flags or the cookie i mean there are times even in the one nine hundred sixty s. if you look at martin luther king jr and some of these civil rights protests even the protests for women i mean never never would would vandalism have been ok especially for dr king is criminal acts were peaceful they were meant to vandalize to harm they were meant to prove a point but i do think it is important that we look at the times now and let's not why not why i was just trying to find what is not in that let's not do that when you have to stand up and disobey and something that sometimes an up he will sometimes violence sometimes things that we don't like will be required and don't want to make sure that everyone's placated and comfortable with what we're doing

and that it's also politically correct. because change sees nothing without a demand if there has to be some discomfort momentarily so that justice can be carried out then by all means that's what must be done and it's true that the discomfort is going to happen what i bring up with dr king is that that he talked about his his purpose being to change the laws to change the laws for the better for just laws and because the laws were unjust we have laws in america today that protect against sexual assault that protect against unwanted advances advances that are not consented to so we have laws today for that even if we didn't back in one thousand nine hundred five and so i think i think it's relevant to bring this up in that context when civil disobedience goes against the law because it's an unjust law there is no law here that is unjust it's the behavior of men that we're seeing in society and in this instance it was men from sixty years ago. diplomats in brussels are being told to watch their words when out in public a recent you report warns there are hundreds of russian and chinese secret agents

snooping in the city's cafes and restaurants so here is our to use so i do. for my next assignment i'm going to cover to see if we can expose a nest of spies in brussels it's a city best known for its food and being at the heart of european politics. but now the two tangled up in a new scandal the european capital brussels is apparently full of spies hundreds of russian and chinese agents are installed the eve security services have reportedly suggested that diplomats should avoid a populous state cares and to care fate near the european commission's q. it mentions. names but it doesn't take a super spook to realize that this is the only steak house nearby where the food is

apparently being served up with the sight of said information. this is the only steakhouse in the area so i. see. this is you know. it's amusing to think about this and i don't think it's true. you. know i would love to get calls like james bond. but. i'm not convinced i'm sure he knows more what's he hiding. i was never questioned by the security service but i can imagine they did background checks on us they probably did. know more after the interview i'm not going to speak to mr such is the concern about spies stalking the streets of brussels but the e.u. is diplomatic and foreign wing the e.p.a.'s has warned member states embassies that

hundred so. so if they know. where all they. been told that this city is full of spies have you seen any yet yet. and not respond favorably hold still for the rich and give to the poor and we need to do that in brussels with all those euro props have you seen any yes we have you have people that you don't know about that are the most important spies they know the most so not russian not chinese. related to the right direction. i have been told that you can. oh yeah i am definitely a spy on the this is good but i couldn't do that so shuffle is something that command to least also from the m.s.m.

. looks like a good spy doesn't cheat russian spies. must leave or well after much searching here in the heart of brussels it seems that they've been taking me on a bit of a wild goose chase and no we're actually spice. back in the restaurant tells me that even if they were filling up the seats they probably won't be here you see. it's very difficult to spy there's lots of noise and you can choose where to sit so you can just arrive here and say here is the commission and i want to say that a forehead over a belgium state security service once described brussels as being like a kindergarten for spies he said they usually pretend to be a diploma. shakara journalists so with

a trail getting colder and colder it looks like i'm the closest thing to a russian spy now what was that restaurant. r.t. brussels. still to come facebook's bombing of several russia linked page was a slam by media freedom group so i will hear their reaction much more in a. remember

the globalization of protests from ten years ago or so. now it was called globalization i'm sure they caused it but that's what's going on a lot. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race. theory dramatic. only. exists i don't see a. very critical time to sit down in. just twenty twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow the chancellor of austria has

said he will continue to support the north stream two gas pipeline being built between russia and europe despite heavy objections from the united states especially in coats was speaking after a meeting with donald trump in the white house. president trump has clearly said that the united states is against this project buying gas from the united states would not be a problem for us but as long as russia's price is better than that of the united states russia is more attractive for us as upon on this issue i believe that as a form of businessmen trump can understand that we have different interests here north stream two was a gas pipeline with five big western investors including austrian oil and gas company o.m.d. total cost of the project is nine and a half billion euros or eleven billion dollars and to open in twenty nineteen it is set to double imports for. russia to europe and washington has threatened to sanction european companies working on the north stream to project claiming it's for the use by russia as a political tool or oil revenues and the executive vice president of the center

says the u.s. is alienating its european partners with its stunts on this particular project. mr kirk has been a very strong supporter of north korean all along and this is about energy security energy supply policy in europe not in the united states in europe and by ellen g. from the us is you're going to increase not just the price for energy about thirty percent but you've got to then cause manufacturing will be a loser competitiveness and it's going to impact the rest of the economic situation across not just in austria but across europe what the u.s. is actually doing is it pushing away their own allies and basically destroying the partnership that we have with the and it's not just nordstrom lou i mean there are there are differences across on trade policy as well as the iran nuclear deal the g c p o a and just the whole backing out of international agreement.

the media freedom representative from the european security organization the o s c e says he's following the situation regarding facebook's suspension of several. news sites a few days ago facebook blocked a number of math inc media pages and german based company which produces online shows and one of them is in the now who's videos have been viewed millions of times the move with a c.n.n. reporter was deliberately trying to hide its ties to the russian government. there are rules under which any community should tell who is sponsoring them the president of the international federation of journalists has also hit out at facebook over a suspension of these are linked pages. closing a facebook account or any internet link from the media without prior warning can be considered as opposed by the i.f.j. facebook replied to media saying it needed to make clear that they are affiliated

with r.t. . c.e.o. then tweeted that they are now waiting to hear if they'll be allowed back on the side and talk show host jimmy door believes facebook has no legitimate reason to block news pages. this is a bunch of unelected bureaucrats in silicon valley deciding who gets freedom of speech based on completely random rules that are public and they make up on the fly that that's what so this is an actual censorship happening so if you're going to take away someone's of rights you have to have a transparent process to do that you can't just do it willy nilly with a bunch of unelected bureaucrats in the middle of the night in silicon valley deciding who gets to have freedom of speech or not and that's what's happening right here and by the way it's happening in conjunction with the government which makes it doubly horrible but it's not really being reported correctly in the united states because corporate media is in bed with the same people thanks for sharing

some of your thursday with us here at r.t. international more of your worldwide headlines to continue at the top of the hour. hello from brussels i say do you to be in commission headquarters coming conceit in the united kingdom for all the prime minister has to do is somehow cobble together a steady parliamentary but short at the in favor of some sort of deal to the european union and then everything will be hunky dory and fight even if she manages that that is only half the battle because that deal would have to be agreed with this institution behind this with the chief negotiator. representing the twenty

seven member states of the utopian union apart from britain and thus far over the last two years michelle obama has been running rings round your kid negotiate those he has to clear the objectives were. one is to make sure that whatever deal was done with the u.k. it's not as good as that for any member state that is crucially important and follows to have not to be encouraged to also leave the club and secondly the european commission will stay if it were firemen and there is flags flying here today because at least he is inside that building opposite bob the irish in with the bricks in europe and europe will stick with the irish so michel barnier will represent that interest is going to be a tough task for the prime minister thus far says don't build up to it we'll see what happens and today in the alex simon show we present some home for from europe

what do the brits see and think of the breaks that black and white of you the peons think as the u.k. negotiator stumble from one expedient to another the first of what the ties back in the studio three a preacher e-mails and your messages. thank you alex last week we talked to some of britain's back to cheers in europe knifer different perspectives will be sticking to the man voted as the most influential u.k. you do m.p. claude moraes the n.d.p. for london we talked to quite about how brussels regards breaks it and it has put that whole impact on labor scase in europe we also look at this week's bombshell defections of m.p.'s from labor and tony are we on the way to full scope let's call realignment that was been set for an independent do we turn to one of the u.k. press contingents most experienced of things but first your tweets emails and messages on last week's shoot with of course you and i have another very interesting program always presenting things from a different angle to graps he says i like that alex give space for

a broad set of stances on the issue and a lot of these x. you compress and bricks a supporter of the space to speak more than something the bricks that the british people wanted and voted for except for the will of the people and of the system i'm surprised alex doesn't come to the question of course he wanted alex asked about scotland and i've got news for you to because the next week sure we're going to be looking at scotland's play streak to access carbon the greatest in a once again through scotland under the bus to d. not happy is jim and guy says how could an actual political party be entirely focused on bricks and he of course is referring to the new brics party at the former ukip members are launching will they publish or manifested to include education defense economy health etc brian says seventeen million to sixteen million and you keep trying to say everyone wants it can go to spoke last on some of the detail says that it's a big differential between trading by w. two your standards and the w.t. you deal w.

two you rejected you case attempts to get a deal. and i last twenty years britain had gone from leaving it up into the single market to leaving the e.u. altogether covering all the twists and turns of our story and often from our north american perspective has been marking bikes out of cup with them in brussels for an insight into the inside story of these last hope you went there. or marked by it so that a few u.k. journalist more experienced in the ways of the brussels politicking than yourself with what's like twenty years you've been analyzing and reporting from from this capital that you were think when when you started off as a european correspondent for the i had three of newspapers the that is to get to a position where you are commenting on this all process of the u.k. withdrawing from the european union altogether well i came from a background of working on mostly regional papers in the u.k. it's interesting how these some of the distinction between the way the e.u.

is reported may be used to regional level and local press in the u.k. and national level where there's a really huge difference the regionals in the u.k. they take him i think dead on published ill do and generally sympathetic you approach it constantly in one.