waldon crucial we're going to produce a. scene that. you'll see to the pacific that this is one of those to stop the completion of the usual forces. of. russian national media buton is sentenced to eighteen months jailed by a us federal court for failing to register as a foreign agent. but i don't think he's in jail folders of politics for that anyone who thinks that someone who wasn't russian would be in the situation is full of journalists who lead sons

a different formation on arms sales and the yemeni war are forbidden for questioning by french intelligence. project alpha truly app a combination britain and germany hailed trying to balance on road trading network initiative that says the countries take part in a major economic forum on beijing's plans. coming to life from the russian capital you're watching our national welcome to the program. and we go straight to our breaking news story a russian citizen media blitz in that conspiring against the u.s. and being a russian agent has been sentenced to eighteen months jailed by a federal court which in a lawyer spoke to the media after the sentencing. clearly ripe for reform.

odd situation where maria could not have been prosecuted under civil farrah which is the one that everyone knows about through metaphor and other cases because she had no knowledge of the statute you know to be criminally prosecuted under fair you need to have a willful violation so because of her lack of knowledge she ended up being charge of the more serious crime the foreign agent statute i think is an area that's ripe for reform if you take it seriously and literally the government's position in this case and applied to other circumstances you really end up in a in a pretty dangerous situation not only for foreign nationals here but i think for americans and abroad doing similar activities i think would not be thrilled with this and i don't know if i'd go that far then we have a overall of a good process in this country i don't think she's in jail for old because of politics but that anyone who thinks that someone who wasn't russian would be in this situation is one itself which you know will serve only have her term having already spent nine months in detention of mopp and has the details those who were

in the court room heard maria buton and give quite an emotional speech prior to her sentence being handed down she talked about how she came to the united states not as an agent or an operative but with purely good intentions and what a nightmare her family has been through this is some of what maria buton a said to the court my parents discovered my arrest on the morning news they're washed in their rural house in a savior and i love them dearly but at home the morally and financially they're suffering from all of that i destroyed my own life as well i came to the united states not under any orders but with who and now nothing remains but penitence. now the prosecutors in the d.c. courtroom argued that somehow maria bootless activities with the national rifle association had somehow harmed the political process of the united states significantly they argued that by being an unregistered lobbyist and working behalf

on behalf of the russian government inside the national rifle association that she was in severe violation of u.s. law and had somehow harmed do the u.s. political system and done a great deal of damage now the judge did then hand down a sentence of eighteen months in federal prison now nine months of that will be time served that will be the time that she's been held since she was initially arrested so only nine months remaining in federal prison and then after that time she will be deported from the united states back to russia now what's interesting is that maria bhutto was swept up in the aftermath of the twenty sixteen u.s. presidential elections in which talk of russian agents and russian meddling and russian subversion seemed to be quite widespread there was quite an atmosphere of fear and in that atmosphere she was swept up and it appears that now after months of being detained after quite a bit of time in which it was it was reported that she was held in solitary

confinement in rather harsh conditions that she now has nine more months to serve in u.s. federal custody before she will be allowed to return home to her family so people are seeing this is kind of a conclusion to the case as at this point her lawyers are saying they will not appeal this verdict. we're joined live now by mighty aboot in this lawyer robert driscoll welcome to the program here on our national now you sad that you don't believe in the isn't prisons because of politics to what extent was the case politically monts of eight sets. i think it's impossible to separate from from the politics i think that there is a an underlying crime that he pled guilty to which you can make out under u.s. law but i think the notion that this would have been investigated or in the rest would have been made for a typical foreign national who wasn't russian and wasn't in the current environment

where in the us i think it's almost impossible to believe that southern politics has a lot to do with the atmosphere of the case and it's one of those things where if the elements of the crime are there they were selectively enforced in this instance i think it's hard to argue otherwise now why do you not believe this would only have happened to a russian nationals surely anyone acting as an unregistered foreign agents would have faced a similar punishment. i don't believe so because the charge is unregistered agent it's not foreign it's not secret agent it's not intelligence agent literally it's just doing something for someone else as being their agent so i mean there was no none of maria maria's activities in the us were illegal in and of themselves so there's no classified information there's no

political sensitive kind of information given and she was not reporting i mean everyone seems to forget that she was not paid by by the russian federation she's not her she was supported by americans while she was here financially so she was not a a paid employee of russia in any way she simply kept in touch with. people in russia including alexander torsion and that's what the u.s. focused on but there isn't a there is not any information or anything else she did that's i think remotely troublesome if you look at the record but she got caught up in this and she rushes hysteria now you've said before that this can sound say dangerous precedent could you explain why. well i think that is that you know the saying goes what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and i would fear that other countries will start applying the same the same standards and saying

that any american who went abroad to another country and it was involved in civil society organizations and social and met people and networks because really all we're talking about doing are talking about anything more serious than that and reported back on those activities some in the u.s. say the son or daughter of a united states senator or cabinet member went to study abroad somewhere and was you know joined a civil society group or a particular interest group that was in to be no different than what maria bettina did and so i think that you know there's been a reason why historically. you know these charges have only been brought against actual spies you know real as we're not agents which no one is contending in the government that maria was so i think it's very dangerous because i think if other countries adopted the same as you're going to get a tit for tat situation with countries grabbing civilians of other countries as

leverage or for other reasons i think it's a bad idea now what what sort of forum story changes would you like to see in the wake of this particular case. well i think that whatever reforms come need to focus on essential what type of information is being gathered i mean obviously if there's. espionage of you know commercial things of course will value commercial secrets government secrets everyone understands those have to be protected. but the notion that you could be prosecuted simply for you know going to dinner dinners that were written about in magazines in the u.s. this is nothing secret in merely networking it's very scary if you really get the f.b.i.'s affidavit they submit in this case he centrally says that you know basic biographical information. you know makes is very incredibly valuable

intelligence sense and so it's actually meant criminalizes everything i think things could be more narrowly drawn focused on actual intelligence agents and spies and maybe have some options other than a federal you know risk of a ten year crime for something as innocent as what maria did now coming back to the case are you going to appeal the sentence and if not then why. usually most appeal rights are waived when you enter into a plea agreement which we did in this case. and so as well as a timing issue and that appeal takes usually cannot be heard before six months or so and she won't spend that much more than that in federal prison as it is certainly will look at our options and see what they are will discuss them with maria but i think that it is most likely with the way the federal system works that with you get time off your sentence for good behavior that i suspect she will be in

federal custody until i'd say roughly the end of november and then deported home to russia so i think it's unlikely would be able to appeal successfully in that time but we'll have to talk to her about that see what we do and know was there any kind of any sort of reaction coming from her family from your clients tommy. i have not heard from them yet. i'm going to have to write tonight we've still been to a lot of work i'm kind of stunned here we are all hoping for a time served result today which we did not get i'm sure there gravely disappointed we were making arrangements. you know hoping that murray would be were making arrangements to get her father in from barnhill moscow and her sister and you know we were all kind of hoping for that which is now not happening and so i'm sure they're devastated and marie is devastated she wanted to be home as well but now at

least she has a date certain to go. hopefully the two governments will at some point take a look at this and decide if this is the way they want these kind of things to be handled or if there's some kind of diplomatic resolution something like this i don't think whatever anyone thought about what maria bhutto was doing in this country the notion that that nine months in the condition she's been it is not sufficient punishment to me is ludicrous that some would think she needed more time . before she's you know she's going to be deported anyway and spend likely the rest of the life in russia all right thank you so much for your time that was maria bruton as lawyer robert driscoll speaking to us live here on our team to a national. and russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov has condemned the arrest that memory of gluttony is the victim of america's internal politics the russian embassy in washington has also reacted to the news that has demanded

immediate release and just scribed her as a political prisoner. as a political prisoner a victim of a few years justice norms and provocation must someone to be your special services we insist on our competitor of innocence we demand her immediate release. french journalists are being grilled by intelligence services over a breach of national defense secrecy after leaking sensitive data about weapons used in the war in german or to each other do pinsky has more. they appeared to have exposed a government line but now it's three journalists all the ones being investigated they've been summoned to appear before the french general directorate of internal security or the d.g.a. s.l.i. after a feeling of confidential note from the country's intelligence services it showed

the french government knew weapons that sold to saudi arabia and the united arab emirates were being used in the conflict in yemen a fact the government has repeatedly denied a war that's left thousands died and pushed millions to war to the brink of starvation it's been described by the un the world's worst humanitarian disaster. you're. the way this investigation by the d.g.'s only has provoked theory with journalists

from thirty seven french outlets signing a letter defending their colleagues this document the publication of which in no way jeopardizes the safety of french agents on the ground was revealed because of its obvious interest to the public they have done only their job to bring to citizens attention information of public interest on the consequences of french arms sales at the center of all that this storm is a classified by france's military agency the d r i'm real to these journalists it should be forty eight french sees a terrorist guns were being used along the sound the yemen food that tanks and fighters sold to the u.a.e. . in action and it's miss our guiding technology may have been deployed as well it reveals french ships are serving in the blockade of yemeni ports directly leading to diet food and medical shortages in additional battalion of sees

a truck mounted how was this had been deployed the yemeni border on the saudi side to bring the number of cesar's in that area to forty eight as of the twenty fifth of september twenty eighth seen about forty you look tanks are observed in a fixed defensive position and advance positions in the west of the seventy or so tanks deployed by the u.a.e. as part of the operation the french government has continued to repeat the line that weapons it sold to saudi and u.a.e. were only being used for defensive purposes but this note was written back in september contradicting those claims the concern now is that this investigation by french authorities is about putting pressure on these journalists to break their professions most. to reveal their sources challenged even ski ulti paris political drone list and elizabeth gave us her

thoughts sunday league and why is cause such concern for the french government. i don't think there's any kind of secret that french weapons are being used in yemen and you could very well argue and the government has been saying this and preaching about this that since the civil war in yemen was started by rebels against illegally installed government with the support of a foreign power in iran this is indeed in defense of a state that's a member of the u.s. it's the position of a number of people from america britain saudi arabia etc so i think what's different in this specific instance is the detailed nature of the report which is fascinating reading but it also ate the meat makes it easier to place possible french agents on the ground so the french government feels that this has harmed it's not helping and it's their position that's what they're that's how they're

defending themselves they're watching our international morning is coming up right after the break. the trump in ministration is on an offensive around the globe as a candidate trump called out neo cons for supporting american military adventures now many of them work for the president in this administration the very idea of diplomacy is absent the large bomb threat saying. imagine that you run a blood bank. in one room are dead patients they've been dead since two thousand and eight that would be j.p. morgan goldman sachs deutsche bank b.n.p. society generali h.s.b.c. except for it in the other room you have a living middle class people and the point of blood bank is to take blood from the

living middle class people and to transfuse that blood to the dead banks next door as if they've been dead now for more than ten years the people that are in the middle class are going to start to suffer and suffer horribly and many of them will die and by the way they won't be getting any of the blood from the other middle class people to keep them alive all the blood all the plasma goes to the dead but. welcome back the u.k. and germany have praised china's plan for a massive global trading network known as the belts and wrote initiative a forum for which is currently underway in beijing there are leaders from your ration countries and further afield have gathered to share their views on how to develop economic cooperation reporting from beijing here's the gorgeous john f. . well i have to say it is more than just a forum more than just

a place for people to meet to walk and sign documents no it is a statement by beijing and those countries and presented to absorb international bodies and leaders who have come here today who have come to beijing it is a statement that this is a new way to boost global prosperity and also it is far from being just a regional event for instance the boat and road initiative and this forum have been the cautiously praised by the european union have a listen to both the mode initiative has tremendous potential to spread prosperity and sustainable development to achieve as it does potentially seventy percent of the world's population a project of truly epic ambition the u.k. is committed to helping to realize the potential of the belgian road and to doing so in a way which works for all of those whose lives are touched by the project in the big used seats we have agreed that we don't want to sign any by a literal memorandums but together make necessary arrangements between the greater

european economic area and the economic area of greater china we will take this promise seriously of this tone goes into a bit of a contrast with what the united states have been saying in fact washington has been one of the most stark opponents to the whole belt and road initiative because they see it as a threat to their dominance and here's why because thing is this forum is merely a tiny part of a much larger scheme a much grander vision of beijing outlined its concept for the first time in twenty thirteen and since then it's been all about well investing into global infrastructure into building new major trade routes somewhat inspired by the you once prosperous silk road in fact he's a map showing you two key projects two key trade highways if i may say so that are being developed within the frameworks over this belton road initiative as for the

rush. in leader vladimir putin he's of course here in beijing and when it comes to relations between moscow and china the two haven't really pulled any complements i should say when it comes to that and also both lattimer potentiating ping they shared their thoughts on why they think the belton road initiative is so important . we work together to promote the high quality development of one belt and one route we are told to the principle of extensive consultation joint contribution and shared benefits and have to create multilateralism that it's important to create an effective all in search of the risks of global economic political and technological space fragmentation and on search for the rise of protectionism the most dangerous form of which is the illegitimate one sided measures taken without any account from the un or even worse trade was well when it comes to action the sides are russia and china have already agreed to conduct joint military drills

sometime in the near future they've also announced the establishment of a new fund of a new investment fund and it is now it is said to gain of the net capital totally worth around one billion dollars and its key purpose is to streamline the process of investments of russia and china investments into projects within the framework of the bridge of the belt and road initiative and somewhat beyond that as well so i guess it is fair to say that russia for now has asia and its spotlight. downtrend plunged on friday to words draw america's support for a land war global arms control treaty the us presidents made the announcement to it jubilant crowds at an angle a meeting of the powerful national rifle association gun lobby. fired british regime will never ratified the new arms treaty and i am officially announcing today

that the united states will be revoking. the effect. of america's signature from this badly misguided treatment we're taking in our signature back united nations arms trade treaty aims to promote global peace and stability and requires that signatories and assure that the weapons they are exporting do not end up in the wrong hands more than one hundred countries have ratified the deal the us signed up to it under barack obama but never formally joined the un has responded to the trumpet ministrations decision to drop its support for the deal the treaty is the only glue lindstrom an improving transparency and accountability in international straight this is particularly important in present times when we witness growing international tensions and renewed interest in expanding and modernizing arsenals. were staying on that topic and now joined by

dave lindorff and investigative reporter and the founder of the news site this can't be happening welcome to the program here on our change or national now the white house has downplayed the fact of the treaty saying it's only constraints responsible countries what would you say to that has the deal been to slip critics claim. i don't think it's had a huge impact at this point but part of the reason is that you know that the biggest supplier of arms in the world is the u.s. and it isn't just a signatory so the fact that trump is canceling that signature is a grandstanding actually to his his what he considers his electoral base because the senate never ratified the treaty and so it's not in effect so tearing up the is this presidential signature which obama put on it really doesn't have any

significant change in the u.s. position it's never been approved as a treaty here. does the u.s. have strong regulations in place to prevent the acts bored out small arms to rights abusers know the u.s. the u.s. doesn't have many regulations at all to prevent export it's you know if it's happy to export guns that's one of the you know the united states is a primarily importing nation and so when it has something that countries want to buy that we can sell at our high labor prices we're not going to probably see the government wanting to undercut the ability of those products to be sold and i think that's part of what's going on here. they don't want to nick the export potential of american gun makers but also it's simply it's simply getting

cheers from the air in our economy you know national rifle association crowd i think there's some lines for brain here inside here on our team for national that was investigative reporter they fled north. and you're watching our international well we'll be back with the morning as rights at the top of the hour. after the previous stage of my career was over everyone wondered what i was going to do next the ball different clubs on one hand it is logical to sit in the home field where everything is familiar on the other i wanted a new challenge and a fresh perspective i'm used to surprising people and i saw one not if you think.

i'm going to talk about football not the or else you think i was going to go. by the way ways of that slide here. also the government just creates a diplomat film against this dialogue because them plump little does not allow any compromise in them platform talks about self-serving crimes how serbia should play war iterations of being an artificial state cos it was simply things that everything is already told us when they wake up from the illusions that they will have to face it several reality where. they can come and blow our brains out at any given time if we can't really do anything actually america is the only country in the world where you can kill

people. war and legally get away with. all the fire crawls still beriah all the trouble here is very frail the point is it's hollow flying to k.k.k. exists because america wants it to exist they are the biggest terrorist group to ever operate in this country and they're dead to media worse all the. the people who destroyed the world trade center is. quite.

a low in welcome across the uk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle the trumpet ministration is on an offensive around the globe as a candidate trump called out neo cons for supporting american military adventures now many of them work for the president in this administration the very idea of diplomacy is absent it relies upon threats and sanctions. cross-linking whether we're going to war i'm joined by my guest peter cosmic in washington he's a professor of history at american university as well as co-author with all over stone the untold history of the united states in burbank we have rough is a day he is president of the international american council and a harvard educated iranian american political scientist.