join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest on the world of politics score business i'm show business i'll see you then. russian president vladimir putin is currently holding his first ever summit with his north korean counterpart kim jong il and they both expressed a willingness to work together to try to bring peace to the region. hopes that we will have a substantial exchange of goods. i'm sure. also human rights groups have condemned as grotesque the beheading of thirty seven people by saudi arabia and the largest mass execution in years one even crucified in public. also a new un report claims government u.s.

and international forces in afghanistan are responsible for more civilian deaths in the militants they've been fighting we hear reaction from locals. among the child or woman killed in afghanistan the afghan government should ask the foreign forces about them but there is no one to walk we want the americans and i says to stop killing our people we do want the u.s. and nato we will work with each other. hello there welcome good morning just gone eight o'clock here in moscow you're watching r.t. international now within the last hour and kim jong un sat down together for their historic summit in russia both leaders talked of their eagerness to work towards peace on the korean peninsula so let's get the latest now from our correspondent there who seemed ready for start where the meeting is taking place good afternoon

pay your anyway we understand the meeting is sort of started in is well underway isn't it. oh you are absolutely right history was being made about. fifty minutes ago when the first ever a handshake between them are putin and cam john happened now how the are behind closed doors the cameras are off they are believed to be one on one with only one or two translators together with them in the room when they are talking but before that we were shown three scenes of interactions between the president and the chairman the first one was the handshake outside the university doors and i can tell you it was a very warm because for several times they kept on repeating good to be here good

to meet you thank you just a couple of minutes later we saw a straight line of the most senior russian officials including the foreign minister sergei lavrov and we could see kim jong un walking around the corner standing in front of them and then shaking all of the hands of everyone who was there and then they had a quick conversation with vladimir putin the translators were there too and then just moments later they were finally in calm feet chairs smiling sitting there just in front of north korean and russian flags and it was clear that they are keen to establish friendship they were saying many nice things to each other including something that was said by vladimir putin we have to remember that. john only became the supreme leader of north korea about eight years ago but the russian president still congratulated him for that in response he got the same from kim

john newman who said mr putin you were reelected last year i congratulate you for that as well now let's have a listen to what else they said when they were there in that room. but i'm sure that your visit to russia will help to develop. bilateral relations between our countries and will help us to better understand what ways russia can contribute to those positive processes that are happening right now on the korean peninsula i also hope that our meeting will be fruitful for the friendly relations that our countries have alone. and i hope that we will have a substantial exchange of. i'm sure of it. you heard mr putin was saying that russia wants to contribute to the peace talks and to peacemaking in general on the korean peninsula we know that the. of that

region is on the agenda so what if russia adopts this new major role in this peace dogs i have to tell you that russia is in a unique position when it's in great relationships with both koreas and that is why it's very important that the first ever talks between the leaders of russia and north korea are happening after two summits between kim jong un and the american president donald trump that were very successful now that this time it is not a coincidence that later on thursday there is going to be meeting at a different location between a senior security official from russia and south korean president so russia's making all kinds of efforts to talk with high ranking officials from both koreas and we will have to see where that goes unfortunately though we won't hear from me

here in vladivostok any more he won't have a press conference and he won't of peer in front of journalists together will vladimir putin but the russian president will be there and he will spend about half an hour talking to the journalists and hopefully we'll get to ask him every. think about what was being discussed behind these closed doors i'll be there as well and i'll tell you all about it ok thanks for trying to there for us the latest from friday as we say both leaders currently in the meeting but we do express a press expect a press conference after that thanks. ok well let's bring in dr tim below he's author and. asia specialist to you and he's with us now and thanks for coming on tim appreciate it so far so good isn't it i mean the body language between the leaders looks good they've said some positive things what do you expect to come from this summit. well you know everything is going to be really

under the radar they're going to make these these gestures he's polite speeches in public. and unlike the hanoi summit i don't think we can expect any unpleasant surprises because you know they're both professionals so we're going to get some fine was the question is the one we can't really answer is what they're going to be talking about in in private and we presume that is going to be partly to do with the i'm for mentation of sanctions. will expand then i mean why would that be right ok that's crucial because russia. can't do anything formally about the un sanctions russia and china made a mistake years ago of the cream with them and now they're set they're in concrete they can't overturn them. though they have made statements they like them to be

relaxed they can't overturn them because united states has got its allies subordinate states on the skirt the council and it's called a veto so on the formal level. you know things are a bit stuck can't do very much about the sanctions. but they can do something about implementation and that of course is being a norm for years especially with china also with russia so we can see we can expect they will be discussing discussing that ok tim do you think there's anything significant they can do to help kick start again need. talks with america over the. korean peninsula. i think the very fact of their meeting and the very fact that putin is going off now to china after this meeting he is a morning to the united states there are other players in the game. and the second

being very important from john's point of view. so he's you know he's lining up good news lining up she. got moon in a sense and so forth so there is a certain amount of pressure on the united states but the basic problem is the united states establishment. basically doesn't want peace i mean there's no reason why they would want peace they want tension in the in the in the region for their policy against china and against russia so whatever trump wants to do. is one thing but is that their point im sorry to interrupt. just on the basis. we have tried very hard we were one of the first country to primary peace talks with north korea why would we want to strike up tensions there and i know the united states has been in a sense at war with with north korea for seventy years. they've had these various

things which have never borne fruit and the reason they haven't fruit is search every time something looks like it's happening. you know spokes putting wheels and as we saw in hanoi the americans handed over and demands which were clearly unacceptable to the koreans. bolton and. would have known that so they would deliberately derailing the talks so i don't think we can expect very much unfortunately. from the americans say they're going to struggle in coming to terms with this situation but things are changing china is getting. strong russia is getting stronger north korea is not caving in so who knows what's going to happen in the future but it's not going to be straightforward by any means . apart from talking with the north korean leader delegates in south korea and

meeting with russian defense delegates to be read into that well because russia has good relations with korea's. and south korea of course is much more important economically than the north korea. russia has great. interest economically in what happens in on the korean peninsula because if there is peace if. they can have you know gas pipelines going through the korean peninsula into south korea. sending gas and what have you on the japan huge benefits both koreas for russia for japan. so there is that in the background as well so these is you know is easy the motivations are there they're very russia's very keen on not merely on on please but on progress

towards. all this lessing of tension and the reaping of the economic benefits that could accrue from that but the problem is of course as so often is united states doesn't have these motivations past and i think really nice until he we're going to have to leave it there. specialist thing thank you. much more expected to come from this summit between bennett. and we will keep you updated with the very latest from stock and. a leading human rights groups have been scathing of the saudi arabia's execution this week of thirty seven men on terror related charges amnesty international and

human rights watch both stress it marks an alarming escalation in the use of the death penalty in the country they also describe the punishment as grotesque particularly as one of those executed was then publicly crucified with all the details his more of a few things so was much fear into the hearts of your own people there was mass executions the men were executed for adopting terrorists an extremist thinking and performing terrorists else to corrupt and destabilize security allegedly among their crimes was this respect towards authority some of them can you believe that like the king protested against him so serious with their crimes that one of those executed was also crucified yes crucified in two thousand and nineteen his body strung up for all to see

for all to fear. today's mass execution is a chilling demonstration of the saudi arabia no authority and callous disregard for human life it is also yet another gruesome indication of how the death penalty is being used as a political tool to crush dissent from within the country's shia minority in fact almost half of those killed were executed after taking part in pro-democracy protests see the arab spring didn't skirt saudi arabia the shia minority rose up they wanted change better fairer life the king obviously thought they wanted too much.

one of those executed by the way was sixteen years old at the time of his arrest attending a protest apparently he was still a kid now he's an example in fact of the current king began his reign by staging a massive execution forty seven people behaved it shot for crimes that included disobey and saudi rulers biggest blood show since the nine hundred eighty s. who said fictions and common peaked in two thousand and twelve one five people were strung up paralysis reportedly is also in a judge's arsenal seriously they can sentence a person to be paralyzed as punishment roots back to a four thousand year old law or that someone wrote on a stone pillar to throw a tooth and literally in this case a knife or

a knife saudis took that stone pin. very seriously in two thousand and five a cordon saudi arabia ordered a migrants i gagged out as punishment for getting into a fight and beautician also a favorite especially for theft chopping off people's arms and feet stealing and of course stoning reserved for crimes like being too friendly with the opposite sex what can you say you want to cherry on top saudi arabia's on the un human rights council. what a world. war against the if there were saudi arabia has defended its decision to execute individuals it says it will not hesitate to punish anyone threatening the security and stability of the kingdom spokeswoman for the gulf and for democracy and human rights first to me aspect that he believes riyadh's justice system does

allow it to tackle anyone he's used differ from the official position. it's not the first time which saudi arabia or the death penalty took punish prisoners of conscience who hold dared to spoke out about the human rights violations in the country we've not just there and i think and five of the of the executive people who where really charged by terrorist to terrorism charges we don't trust saudi arabia introducer system we don't trust how did how did the saudi authorities handled their matters especially against the british there's a whole took to the streets to demand rights and freedoms and who spoke out about what was happening in the country. as most of the gulf kingdom saudi arabia uses is to did you show the system to fabricate the charges against the dissidents especially against the activists who spoke out or who used their social media

outlets or rules participated in demonstrations there is a taboo in the gulf kingdom especially in saudi arabia no one is allowed to speak about what's happening in the country watching r.t. still ahead for you this hour a u.n. report is revealed but forces fighting militants in afghanistan have killed more civilians than the militants themselves we'll have a look at this alarming report just awful. you know world big partisan lot and conspiracies it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door. and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for

the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. when lawmakers manufacture consent to public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. in the final merry go round. the one percent. nor middle of the room sick. again now in afghanistan local governments u.s.

and international forces have been responsible for more civilian deaths than the militants militant forces they've been fighting that's according to a new u.n. report according to the report in the first three months of twenty nineteen almost six hundred civilian deaths were documented in the country and pro-government forces are responsible for more than half of them the majority of the fatalities were the result of airstrikes the number of deaths is up thirty nine percent compared to the previous year we asked locals for their reaction. no more than you know we always requested from the american forces and the afghan government if you want to bombard any areas please take care of the civilians there don't target civilians sometimes you claim that you are able to see everything on the earth but unfortunately we see you carrying out air strikes or waiting in funeral ceremonies even on allied military convoys for any child or woman killed in afghanistan the afghan government should ask the foreign forces about them but there is no one to

ask we have concerns. both of our people have been killed or injured women have become widows children have lost their fathers people have lost eyes we want the americans in isis to stop killing our people we don't want the u.s. and nato here we will work with each other that are the look over there and we request from foreign forces and afghan government forces and from the taliban that if you are fighting with each other and take care of the civilians in the area and do not use residential areas as a position if the american forces do not take into consideration the civilian casualties in afghanistan and they continue killing civilians by name in them insurgents the future will be very bad for them well the u.s. currently has about fourteen thousand troops in afghanistan most of them are involved in an operational nato led training missions report back in december claimed that donald trump had decided to draw down u.s. forces in the country although there's been a sign that being put into action the war in afghanistan is america's longest ever

conflict. on my orders united states military has begun strikes against al qaeda terrorist training camps. the taliban willing to come to the negotiating table this is no talking to the taliban we don't want to talk to the taliban the only path to peace and political legitimacy for them is through a negotiated settlement their choices are to reconcile living a relevance. when

a research analyst at the center for peace studies says it is interesting the afghan government only started to raise concerns about civilian deaths relations with the us salad. yeah one government has to. be responsible for this in an address concerns of the locals to protect them. a lot of the time when the worst airstrikes in the air bombardments by the afghan or the american forces the one garment would not even come to condemn it in that it was unfortunate that the latest condemnation came after relations between kabul in washington deteriorated more accountability is required on the part of the of one government to make sure that civilian casualties in civilian lives are not harmed during that year and ground operations. that the former u.s.

vice president joe biden will officially reveal today what's been one of the worst kept secrets in u.s. politics he's entering the twenty twenty race for the presidency only polls do show he is currently the most popular candidate among the democrats although it does seem the road to the white house for biden could be lifted but the potholes of his past is colored mop it expects. joe biden barack obama's vice president is set to announce his presidential bid for twenty twenty at this point he is the most popular potential nominee among democrats now joe biden is a long time democratic party superstar he has a long career representing delaware in the u.s. senate however growing numbers are concerned about his record let's not forget that he supported george w. bush's invasion of iraq and pushed the lie about weapons of mass destruction saddam is dangerous the world would be a better place without him but the reason he poses

a growing danger to the united states and its allies is that he possesses chemical and biological weapons and he's not the me too candidate by a long shot not only does joe have his own touchy feely proclivities but he jumped over the need to hill way back in one nine hundred ninety one when she was accusing them supreme court nominee clarence thomas of sexual harassment it is appropriate to ask professor you anything any member wishes to ask her. to. the depths of her credibility and joe's also a lock him up guy he was one of the most outspoken supporters of bill clinton's one thousand nine hundred ninety four bylane crime control act which led to an explosion in the u.s. prison population which critics now see as a big problem joe is also a big supporter of the death penalty even calling for its expansion biden crime a bill is before us calls for the death penalty for forty

fifty one offense is. a way to get the newspaper recently wrote that something to the effect that biden has made a death penalty offense for everything would jaywalk back when bill clinton's crime bill passed joe biden was such an outspoken supporter he said quote i'd like to be running and have someone use the crime bill against me welcome to twenty nine thousand joe at this point your biggest opponent bernie sanders actually wants prisoners to be able to vote socialism is now a favorite word among young people and your tough on crime talking points might come back to haunt you now the twenty twenty democratic primary is still a fair way off but if joe biden things it's going to be just a typical action he may be in for a big surprise hail of mop and artsy new york. times washington this morning we're back with more news as usual on the headlines in just a. facebook

and google started with a great idea and great ideals unfortunately it was also a very dark so. they are constructing a profile of you and that profile is real it's detailed and it never goes away turns out that google is manipulating your opinions from the very first character that you type into the search bar it will always favor one dog food over another one comparative shopping service over another and one candidate over another they can suppress certain types of results diced on what they think you should be see if they have this kind of power then democracy is an illusion the free and fair election doesn't exist the more we give them the sooner we are all.

in the united states relations with russia or iran have never been particularly cordial but under the presidency of donald trump both took a downward spiral there have been sanctions attempts at isolation and a badge of evil from both moscow and to iran how are the two leveraging american and the. greetings and salutation. you know what's so great about the world it has a funny way of reminding us about. what truly matters we get so wonderfully distracted you see while many of us have been whiling away the hours obsessing over

the fallout from the mahler report wondering how many games the warriors will lose on their way to another n.b.a. championship and taking bets over who lives and who dies in the avengers and game of thrones the world is waiting for us to catch and the raw reality for many of our brothers and sisters living under the sun of the united states of america's comeback hard to knock us out of our pop culture haze with the recent viral video of the vicious police beating of fifteen year old luke raul in broward county florida and just what agree just acted deluca commit the mitigated blast of pepper spray to the face and having his head bounced off the concrete a few times well according to the arrest warrant affidavit while the police were cupping another teen for trespassing to look at picked up the arrested teen cellphone and then according to two officers who assaulted him belated to his body and began clenching his fists and that my friends is apparently was enough for two

grown adult male officers with biceps to fear for their safety from this young skinny black teenage child in a red tank top holding a cellphone. and it's this kind of insanity that needs loud independent voices to help shine a light on and cup through our pop culture haze so that we can find real solutions to end the racial and class division in the us but far too often the voices of our leaders come from the hollow halls of privilege wealth in academia far too disconnected from the street level reality of the struggle so today let's throw out the status quo works up to believers and thoughts and give voice to the voiceless as we start watching the hawks. get the. real deal with. like you that i got. with. this.