in the stories that shaped the week the first ever summit between putin and north korea's kim jong. il relations with the focus also on breaking the nuclear deadlock on the korean peninsula. russian. jailed in the u.s. for failing to register as a foreign agent lawyer insists he's a victim of washington's current political climate. not over. his activities in the us were illegal. of themselves but she got caught up in the. hysteria. and saudi arabia comes under fire from the un and human rights groups for a mass execution with concerns that the charges against thirty seven mostly shia

men were trumped up. it's the week to hear a lot international with mina david highlights from the last seven days and the latest up to date stories welcome to the program from a nuclear free north korea to bilateral relations. for the first time on thursday in russia's far eastern city of a lot of us talk after nearly two hours of face to face talks the leaders expressed their willingness to further develop relations and tackle the situation on the korean peninsula. and that's just we just had a fairly thorough one two one conversation we managed to talk about the history of our bilateral relations and about the present day and the prospects of developing those relations but of course we also talked about the situation on the korean peninsula and exchanged views on what needs to be done to improve the situation in

the audience mr president we have just had a foreign exchange of opinions trace to freeze on all of the true matters of mutual importance and i think you for the great times we heard. and even then no agreement was signed it seems the leaders had a productive time that to exchange someone's as a symbol of the me chill respect between their nations and wrapped up the talks with a languished in a north korean state media reports that came is ready for more talks next time. points from a lot of us stuck. literally

minutes after the north korean supremes leader got inside his limo we were given the opportunity to come closer to his armored train. so unfortunately i won't be able to show you or see for myself any of the extraordinary facilities inside that tray that was used by kim john owns father i was trying to look through the window but obviously no chances and the security guards. or watch carefully to make sure that we don't touch it i've already been told off by the inside there are high tech communication facilities several conference room as well as luxury living quarters in the middle of the train

there's a special room for him john wife and right next to it two separate cards for body guards there are two restaurants one is for the supreme leader himself and the second one is for the entire delegation there's even a special section for the leaders limo and they're the one that we saw on the station square that massive armored vehicles can actually fit into one of those. well it turns out that in

a sense john is counting on vladimir putin as a kind of a middleman in delivering his messages to the rest of the world leadership it looks like chairman kim is hoping that his message will get all the way to washington through russia as well it's a. german king also be directly to tell the us about his position and about the questions he has in connection with the situation on the korean peninsula we also found out that the russian leader as confident that pianka yang's essential desire is international security guarantees guarantees. for sovereignty and when it comes to dating cory's nation according to mr putin the only way forward is through these kind of guarantees i would like to remind you that for years russia's peace road map was about mutual concessions from both sides of north korea on

the one hand and south korea and allies on the other and china is backing this plan to well the russian president believes that for years every step forward made by washington was followed by two steps backwards. to show you where the some confidence building measures to be taken which could have been taken back in two thousand and five when the u.s. and north korea came to an agreement the way they later on for some reason the american partners thought this was no it's enough that they needed to add something to this agreement that's when north korea with drew from the treaty if you're making a step forward in two steps back then you will never succeed. after what we heard on thursday it is definitely fair to say that there is a lot of potential in kim putin summit and by the way the president of south korea said that this summit in vladivostok should act as

a springboard for further top ranked diplomacy between washington and pyongyang so chairman kim has been enjoying contacts with the most powerful politicians on this planet his two historic summits with the american president donald trump were followed by one with a lot of our putin and it looks like mr kim knows what he's doing when he's playing his geo political game and i expect the north korean we spoke to says the summit it's a win win for moscow. and it looks like. curry . in a recent bilateral meeting between of korea and the us he was so sure that he can lead the meeting between the u.s. and north korea but now he. sick some help for put inside here essentially achieved

a new election and also now he can have a spotlight from the international community by playing the role for the korea over the korean peninsula as a peacemaker so it would be. for today's summit currently now south korea having air exercises with us and south korea cannot be free from u.s. pressure because of a sense for south korea it could be a good to have russia if russia can play the right role as a mediator because for south korea itself it could be a little bit tricky to work in between the u.s. and north korea. russian national maria but to know was sentenced to eighteen months in prison in the united states on friday it's after she pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent essentially working as an undeclared lobbyist the thirty year old is said to have trying to influence the national rifle association and other conservative groups in the u.s.

several american political figures were suspected to be involved in court ms brooten a spoke emotionally about the effect it's had on her family. my parents discovered my arrest on the morning news they watched in the rural hollows in a city. i love them dearly but i harm 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. i have reasons to she's not the main goal of the circumstances. put it was to break her will and forces to really acknowledge something she might not have done.

sooner or later they are trying to save face but to grab to seize to put her behind bars for sure but there is nothing they can charge to bush and to avoid looking ridiculous they sentenced her to eighteen months to just the shoulder she is guilty of something. serious father exclusively told r.t. that he and the rest of the family had been expecting a very different outcome. but we weren't prepared for such a rough and unjust court decision maria is a russian citizen and given all these investigations she's been caught up in it all even though the murder investigation had nothing to do with her nevertheless the

u.s. has found a culprit over the past few months she didn't have any complaints about the condition of her confinement unlike before when she was badly treated discriminated against all in solitary confinement with walks only allowed for two hours a night maria her lawyers we all expected a different outcome a fair verdict but it's hard to say how life will be for maria now the most important thing for us is that she returns home taking into account this new jail term of. burton as lawyer told us he thinks a dangerous precedent may have been set. i think it's impossible to separate from from the politics and 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 of this would have been investigated or and the rest would have been made for a typical foreign national who wasn't russian and wasn't in the car 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 the sense and so i think it's hard to argue. the charges unregistered agent it's not foreign it's not secret agent it's not intelligence agent it literally is just doing something for someone else as being their agent not 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 she was not paid by by the russian federation she's in her shoes supported by americans while she was here financially but she got caught up in this and she rushes hysteria.

i would fear that other countries will start applying the same standards and saying that any american who went abroad to another country and was involved in civil society organizations and social and met people and networks that's really all we're talking about doing are talking about anything more serious than that and reported back on those activities somewhere in the us so i think it's very dangerous because i think if other countries adopt the same attitude 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. with the vote counting almost complete in spain's general election the voting socialist workers party looks set to win the most seats in parliament is predicted to fall well short of a majority there and will have to secure the support of the left wing creeps in action has also seen a major breakthrough for the far right the anti migrant vox party is projected to

to win twenty four seats if it does it will be the first time since the one nine hundred seventy s. and the end of military rule in the country that a far right party has been represented in parliament to visions of a castle on independence and have been a key driving force for vox in the election here's a quick look at some of the party's highly controversial policies.

vox claims that all of his policies policies are designed to protect the interests of spain. that works it is the instrument that makes the population move forward a little is the only one capable of guaranteeing the unity of the nation and the. socialists communists and separatists across the country everything for spain spain . let's bring in. their international relations researcher at princeton university to discuss what's going on at the moment thanks for coming on to the program jody now we have to stress that all the results haven't been confirmed so we don't have the final results but we can talk about what the main points of been and what we've learned from this particular election can we jordi what are your thoughts on the. well we don't have one hundred percent of the results but we have enough to know

what's going to. we know that the. hard right party bought is going to you know either we in the election where huge impact on the next parliament these are being a way to scare people of all of us spain and got a lawyer and at the end of the us may the spanish population concentrate their board on the socialist five. and sometimes we also know the results in capital. a strong. independent party and once again showing become its power. on the contrary when we see that it's fine you know it's our time. for the socialist party it's the party of the constitution party. it's. new it's

constitution and you can blow. that nobody you know. george if we don't get killed if we look at just pick up on a few points that you've been talking about obviously there are conflict and the tensions have been there for an awful long time of as you've suggested and the box party hasn't won it's unlikely to win again we don't know the final results and you're saying that people are still still the majority of people it might not be an overall you know the majority that they're there they want they're still voting for the second party and so what we're seeing is an increase rather than a takeover isn't it. yet there are. some boaters we are asleep. i have moved towards the fire right party national finals nationally are seeing the box he's. already in

the region of elections and i was the last year and we being the thing spider as the whole thing. i don't think this shows any make over not frankly finest politics more than we used to because as you know if you well know who sions are where. you are we. granted them and ideas that are too conservative for contemporary democracy. now these ideas. i made explicit enough political carsley might be healthy to see the old we can feel. we need yeah i mean how just a quick plea guilty because we don't have that much time but how significance is this breakthrough by the voters polity. well it is significant to the

extent that it shows that in a time of crisis the only tool that spain seems to. have the political system. we all need. nationally. and these warrants were years up the market that's. all that's. what i don't think it will be very. near term meaning coming governor or. explain. in solving its mean national problem then yes the fact that what part of rye into parliament and could mean that a new law is to carve the mind and heart of harcourt ok joe de. international relations research at princeton university great to have you on the program and has thoughts of these latest developments in spain thank you

thank you very much there's global condemnation after saudi arabia executes dozens of men more astore animal after this break. american politics that song again intensity and the notion that somebody playing games at the margins of the election to. influence the outcome is frankly frankly absurd. russia was you know it states you know to states has been following. in influencing the domestic politics of other countries. than russia.

we need a political evolves and that needs to come. from. but ideally to normandy for in the past has been. giving political guidance to the process so basically what i'm waiting for is another political impulse ideally stemming from the moment you feel. welcome back to the program international human rights groups have condemned a series of executions in saudi arabia this week thirty seven men mostly reportedly from the muslim minority were killed on quote terror and violence related charges one party was even strung up in public following his execution human rights watch

states the killings malk an alarming escalation in the use of the death penalty in the country it also described the punishment as grotesque and expressed concern that those punished might not have received a fair trial his all senior correspondent. few things so is much fear into the hearts of your own people is mass executions the men were exit. good for adopting terrorists and extremists 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 you wouldn't believe how creative the saudis are when it comes to killing prisoners in fact the current king began his reign by staging a massive execution forty seven people behaved it shot for crimes that included disobey in saudi rulers biggest blood show since the nine hundred eighty s. who said fictions and common peaked in two thousand and twelve one in 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 routes back to a four thousand year old law or that someone wrote on

a stone pillar to throw it to. and literally in this case a knife or an i. took that. very seriously in two thousand and five a court in saudi arabia ordered a migrants i get out as punishment for getting into a fight and. also a favorite especially for theft chopping off people's arms and feet for 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 is on the you when human rights council what a world in response to the widespread condemnation riyadh says they will not hesitate to punish anyone threatening the security and stability of the kingdom but the gulf institute for democracy and human rights came to sign it just a system often fabricates charges. the first time which so very big you that if you

know t. took punish prisoners of conscience who ordered to spoke about the human rights violations in the country we've not just there and i think around five of the of the executive people who where really charged by terrorist to terrorism charges we don't trust. your system we don't just have to how did the saudi authorities handled the matches especially against the british there's a whole talk 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 do dishes system to fabricate the charges against their 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 kingdoms. should in saudi arabia no one is a load just about what's happening in the country. news for now i'll be back at the top of the hour with more up days but stay tuned for a documentary called to the moon. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race of his own spearing dramatic development only personally i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk. you know world of 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. with your make this manufacture consent to step into the public well. when the ruling classes protect themselves. with the flame and merry go round lifts only the one percent so. we can all middle of the room sick. to the real news is really.

so everyone says they're o.-g. . gangster but twenty ten for me is really when years begin the game theory has worked and people are entering users and speculators and market makers markets are entering it quaint space and this is exactly what the protocol was designed to do was pull these people in is an interesting phenomenon because the technology is right track there but there's something else a pulse people and i call the big coin derangement syndrome in that there is for the first time this mechanism that guarantees freedom and for the human soul it resonates and it draws you in and a lot of those folks in that period you could tell just by looking at them their eyes are like pinwheels and they embraced this what's happening and they were transformed individual you.