that work. in the stories that shape the week. rested after spending almost seventy years holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london. as the rest global attention and concerns over a song just possible extradition to the united states. also this hour a u.s. republican senator urges military help for venezuela to prevent what he calls genocide by president will drop claims an invasion is being discussed behind closed doors. and a military coup the president of sudan's thirty year rule thousands of protesters massed in the capital demanding an immediate transition to

a civilian government. in the weekly here on r.t. international. thanks for joining us this hour. almost seven years holed up in ecuador and. dragged out by police this week came shortly after the south american country suspended the citizenship asylum. exclusive footage of the moment he was arrested. oh it. was a little over.

his arrest. there he was found guilty of fighting for himself into authorities in twenty twelve in relation to a sexual assault case which has since been dropped but more details his. states. gave. the ok to the u.k. government needs to make sure it. will never be extradited to united states or.

try to. put. police baton and taken into police custody now very soon afterwards we learned that julian assange just political asylum and to citizenship had been revoked by the ecuadorian authorities . announce that the discourteous and aggressive behavior of mr julian afs own ship the hostile and threatening declarations of his annoyed organization. on especially the transgression of international treaties have led the situation to a point where the asylum of mr assad regime is unsustainable are no longer viable the ecuadorian authorities didn't like the fact that they said julian assange and was interfering in the international affairs in the affairs of other countries

through his online activity through his activities this editor of wiki leaks but also there was this kind of domestic disputes bubbling beneath the surface as well last year julian assange was given a list of conditions that he needed to add here to if he wanted to stay on the good side of his the ecuadorian hosts he was told they needed to tidy up after himself between his bar pay for his own food to pay for certain on three clean up after his talents which they threaten term leave and subsequently did british officials are pretty pleased about what's happened we'll welcome the news this morning that the metropolitan police have arrested judy in a sorry. mr speaker this goes to show that in the united kingdom no one is above the law but what we've shown today is that no one is above the law julian assange is no hero he's hidden from the truth for years and years but also

a very courageous decision by president arroyo in ecuador to resolve the situation we've witnessed the end at the very least of the embassy chapter of the julian assange one stop the saga and to women living on to perhaps a rather poor truncated chapter of an illegal extradition battle. well julian assange sought refuge in the ecuadorian embassy in twenty twelve the u.s. was then investigating the publication by wiki leaks of classified military documents relating to the war in afghanistan it also looked into a songes release of cyber tools used by the cia and of hillary clinton's private e-mails which it's claimed was part of alleged russian interference in the twenty sixth presidential election following his arrest on thursday the u.s. issued a formal request for asylum extradition washington accuses a songe of conspiring against the united states the indictment alleges that together with chelsea manning

a former intelligence analyst in the us army assad's cracked a government password and access to classified material is now if convicted he could face up to five years in prison let's take a look back at wiki leaks major publications over the years. i know i.

love. does he say any data on millions of. wiki leaks walks like a hostile intelligence service. like a hostile takeover of service. former british m.p.'s always got away believes it's not only june in a song his fate at stake but journalism as we know. you don't have to like him you don't have to like everything he's ever written or published but if you like the fact that we have the right to speak and to know often uncomfortable truths the

rulers don't want us to know then you should be here in person or at least in spirit because if julian. is criminalized and incarcerated for. revealing the truth then you might as well volunteer for a prison cell yourself because you'll no longer be free and you'll never be free again there may have been a theft of information involved but if every publisher who publishes material that was stolen from its owners was put on trial and extradited and sent behind bars there would be no publishing i give you just one example i was a member of parliament when the daily telegraph bought stolen information about m.p.'s expenses and they published it and they want to wards for it because it was in the public interest that people should know that hundreds of members of

parliament were cheating the taxpayer stealing from the taxpayer by fiddling their expenses that's what journalism is that's all that julian essential has. a song a rest has gained global attention with thousands running in support of the australian born whistleblower from quito to budapest protest this happened gathering outside u.s. embassies expressing their concerns over a song just possible extradition my colleague nicky r. and discuss the international reaction to a song just arrest without trying. a lot of these skeletons in the closets of the world's mightiest the most powerful probably will never be pulled out but if it wasn't for julian assad some people wouldn't even start thinking merely that some of this nasty and gruesome stuff even existed and indeed a very important part of his legacy probably the most important part will always be

that he encouraged so many people to think and ask questions about what the most powerful people in charge of this world could be hiding and this can truly be felt through the things that are being said by the activists right now in reaction to what's happening with the whistleblower let's take a look at what the american civil liberties union came out with any persecution by the united states over mr. publishing operations would be unprecedented and unconstitutional would open the door to criminal investigations of news organizations prosecuting a foreign publisher of violating u.s. secrecy tools was set and especially dangerous precedent for us journalists who routinely violate foreign secrecy laws to deliver information vital to the public's interest cumin rights watch are now actually saying that every news organization is activists and activist organizations to those who support him he is you know.

a hero here is an award winning journalist but there are those who hate am out here as a whistleblower a villain how is he regarded. well some people don't see a difference between behavior to a list and a whistleblower some people do but you can argue that in any case this joy in a solid situation and his whole fate well always be intertwined with the notion of freedom of speech and it seems that any kind of attempts by the us political elite to paint them with that brush and to try and convince the world that he is not a journalist will always be challenged by the world's most renowned whistleblowers and investigative journalists as well images of those in buses inviting the case secret police into the embassy to drag a publisher of like you to know it was waiting journalism out of the building are going to end up in the history books it's critics may cheer but this is

a dark moment for press freedom week you leaks is a publisher charges now brought in connection with its material or any attempt to extradite assange to united states for prosecution under the deeply flawed could you know of the espionage act nine hundred seventeen is an attack on all of us the g.o.g. sis part of what a science did to just before his prosecution beyond allegedly helping manning get the documents is that he encouraged manning to get more documents for him to publish journalists do this with sources constantly is a criminalization of journalism it's hard to acknowledge the political undertones of this case that how have politicians been wayans things songes arrest well know what to reason may said no one is above the law and it looks like the likes of the u.s. the u.k. and the current government of ecuador will continue to team up in saying that these

suspected criminals should be prosecuted and they will keep on pushing that line but at the same time even in the western world and also in other parts of the world there will be politicians will keep on saying things like. phony pretext and they will continue to treat this case as pure hypocrisy of the western political elites this whole story with the persecution and hounding with establishing inhumane living conditions is consigning to oblivion the rights of the freedom of speech and disseminating information. that is something that it's absolute if you think that i mean that we are talking about that. show on the wards abuses and by a lesion of your mind in international right hand over of this australian journalist to the united kingdom in a shameful act surrendering our sovereignty the extradition of julian a son to the us for exposing evidence of atrocities in iraq and afghanistan should

be opposed by the british government and the case now whatever the people say it's still all depends on the next steps by us police and u.s. prosecutors so we will be watching out for that. u.s. republican senators called for military action in venezuela in order to prevent what he's calling it genocide by president nicolas maduro this comes amid washington's repeated vows that it won't exclude any option after it proclaimed the country's opposition leader one way door as interim president back in january. we've got to really consider whether we do military. you know help getting us aid in to stay the same the starving people of venezuela they are starving to death i mean this is genocide emma duros doing it meanwhile an american think tank called the center for strategic and international studies or s c s has reportedly held an off the record meeting to assess the use of military force in venezuela and that's

the roughly forty s. and the use of the event includes current and former u.s. officials including from the department of state my colleague neil harvey spoke to my expert a month old editor of grey zone projects and the man behind the report. i confirmed that the meeting took place with a staffer at c.s.i.s. however she refused to give me details grik stream lee nervous on the phone in a second source who participated in the meeting who confirmed it also refused to give details they were extremely nervous that somebody in the media knew about the existence of this and that it was a very high level meeting with basically the main people in washington involved in making the sausage of trump's venezuela policy one of the more interesting elements was the participation of high level staffers from the u.s. for international development and usa id is now talking about military options so this could be done under the auspices of some kind of humanitarian intervention to

save venezuelans but it's really interesting that an aid agency is participating in this discussion and the u.s. is using economic sanctions as a form of no lateral coercion in place of a military invasion that's according to the un special rapporteur or edris. and they don't seem to be removing the dura the u.s. has called on the military in venezuela to turn on the door and they've stood firm and honored the constitution and one is kind of on a tour around then a swale or. and he's not rallying the crowds the u.s. had hoped for and so i see this secret or a private meeting at c s i s as evidence of the us is desperation and they're trying to find any means to dislodge material after several months if the u.s. wants to use military force to go in to a sovereign nation do you think the people of america would tolerate that or not.

similar to the kind that we had during the invasion of iraq with hundreds of thousands of people in the streets and you'd have a catastrophe across south america the entire region right in the u.s. is so-called backyard would be destabilized washington's in the policymakers. the u.s. u.k. norway and turkey have all called on sit on the military to hand power over to a civilian government in the country comes after several days of protests in the sudanese capital khartoum who people there say they'll remain in the streets until a civilian transitional council is formed on thursday the army toppled longtime president bashir with power assumed by a military council the news of all this year's removal was met by widespread celebrations as more of the if explains though the mood quickly turned sour.

a dictates of falls and the people were drawn happy empowered optimistic it's it's always the same how many times have we seen this happen this decade revolution was removed by the military which sided with the people sort of what the militant must really the military takes full responsibility for changing the entire regime for a transitional period of two years in which the government will be handled by the armed forces. now you could understand why people are a bit miffed they rebelled risked everything to get rid of a dictator for freedom for democracy and what they go to the end is a military regime what has been just stated is frost's a coup and it is not acceptable they are recycling the faces and this will return us to where we have been on the other hand consider how much worse it could have

been temporary military rule may just have been the lesser of two evils but these revolutions rarely and well. you may recognize this picture it's from a different era most of the leaders either deposed in exile or dead countries no better off.

a grim even depressing picture yet it seems people just don't learn from the past earlier this week we heard the same tired calls from the u.k. u.s. norway calls for regime change. the demand for political change from the courageous and resilient people of sudan is becoming ever clear and more powerful the sudanese people are demanding a transition to a political system that is inclusive and has greater legitimacy there is a reason they wanted him gone not so much because he's a dictator they have plenty of tyrannical friends know because mr bashir like solly

and gadhafi before him made inroads with the west's rivals boosted relations trade military and economic cooperation with china with russia iran has with them almost any give us any area of iranian conflict will harm the whole region arrow counter ease and iran itself neither iran nor the arabs would leave the region i suppose the burst option is to kill exist and deal with the problems that we have through dialogue and negotiations it is better than using guns and that it would appear was an unforgivable sin the united states considers africa its own and doesn't want anyone else on its tough unfortunately billions upon billions of us taxpayer dollars have not achieved these are facts they have not prevented other powers such as china and russia from taking advantage of african states increase

their own power and influence from now on the united states will not tolerate this longstanding pattern without effect to be fair mr bolton hardly helped years of u.s. sanctions of civil war so don is a traumatised nation expecting democracy and magical reforms overnight is well it was never going to happen. u.s. presidential hopefuls sparked debate by proposing a bill to provide reparations to african-americans. senator cory booker's says this would compensate for the suffering of slaves a recent poll finds that only one in five voters black the move up to the mobile officially acknowledge the legacy of american slavery and financial to compensate those still affected by discrimination issues getting a lot of attention from fellow democrats. we have to recognize that everybody did

not start out on an equal footing in this country and in particular black people have not. and so we have got to recognize that and do something about that and give folks a lift up i believe it's time to start the national conversation about reparations so that we can as a nation do what's right and begin to heal there are massive disparities that must be addressed so we're going to do everything we can to put resources into distressed communities and improve lives for those people who have been hurt from the legacy of slavery we debated the issue with conservative commentator brian logan and author of recent assen who took a rather opposing view. you could have identified the former slave master and a former slave right at the moment but we're now winds are every two years past a particular point in time who's going to pay people did not have slaves nobody i

left a day in twenty nineteen was a slave back then so what do we gain pay for who is going to pay we're right again pay it's no more than a campaign promise from democratic hopefuls trying to get some kind of attention now you're paid a.b.l. listen that's the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard they provide economic restitution to those people now if i came into your house mr a.b.l. and i stole a thousand dollars from you and then i died or if i sell a million dollars from you and then i die would you say oh well reason died so that money doesn't matter anymore no he would go talk to my children and children are still living off the benefits of that million dollars just because somebody is grand days though it doesn't mean i'm responsible for it if somebody is granddad was so you know a killer and then they found out one hundred years later you go after the kids and say ok you get to go to jail now or you get to pay back some money because of what your grandfather d. makes no since you know who did it you should have been able to catch him why they

were alive punish him why they were alive we want to focus on is the economic harm that was done to black. if we really break down with slavery was people were brought from across the water to work and that was free labor so what we have is generations and years hundreds of years of systematic distant discrimination and shutting out of economic access the black people and that has to be repaid me as you will pay for it so how does it make any sense like i see it would have been more let me says you know how many times that you are mostly under paid his slave women for raises would have been too which is at the end to slavery not right now it makes no sense to so argue me it is space no logic here america's never even study the effects of slavery on black people they never sat down and said we know that as a government we thank him with this thinks this experience but we don't even know how far that experience reaches because no one's ever study it how much do we owe

black people no one ever studied and why because the government has literally buried it had it's paid out everybody else and turned it back on the black people in america who hate anyone i do to want to just drive initiated a hand and language and years later i didn't hear hopefully my generation will stand up and say that the buck stops here so we don't have to go on with this any longer or that lines for the south thanks for staying tuned with us here in austin international back at five am muskets time for more live news updates. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confront

dacian let it be an arms race off and spearing dramatic developments only personally i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk. and. they're also the gate have to be changed and we are still living with historical legacy sophie doesn't see most of there was a legal frameworks in invest and worked all of them are designed for industrial face of the stick watch and now we are moving ahead and i think the problem is that our concepts are lagging behind.

us more than a little. mention about on. the way to the put it it. doesn't is that the. product of a very. good work it's a more efficient use was it. does look if you're going to. distance troops leave it to the u.s. just for much notice of. this if you believe you. but there is quite a. holdover from the wires for just finished from the.

second which of course comes. in march twenty seventh the russian space agency launched a new cosmonaut core recruitment campaign the requirements were strict a degree of piloting engineering or science psychological stability perfect health even height weight measurements are important because not all has to be able to fit into a space suit and of course the ship four hundred twenty applicants was shortlisted from the campaign but only eight would be selected we'll focus on three of the would be cosmonauts whose progress we followed for almost two years.