2 stores that shape the week just gone a blame game flare is the u.s. accuses iran of attacking to tankers in the gulf of oman brands the accusation sabotage diplomacy. of london's grenfell tower fire start legal action against u.s. companies whose products its played contributed to the tragedy. more than 170000 people signed a petition demanding italy drops criminal proceedings against a ship's captain who rescued more than a 1000 refugees from drowning in the mediterranean sea. live from moscow is kevin with you for this hour's weekly or rather but the big

stories of the last 7 days as brought to you starting with this than the united states and iran are stepping up the blame game after washington accused iran of attacking 2 world tankers in the gulf of amman on thursday saying no one else in the region had the capacity to carry out the attack u.s. central command presented a video it claim shows radians removing an unexploded mine from one of the vessels the tank is older though says the crew reported being hit by flying projectiles saran has in turn branded america's claims sabotage diplomacy accusing the u.s. of destabilizing peace and security in the middle east the 2 vessels call far one of the world's key oil routes near the strait of hormuz it's the only way in and out of the gulf indeed the instant immediately caused worldwide reaction as well as a surge with all prices with all the details more now mopin. so there were 2 or oil tankers that were hit.

on top of your fire probably. so hold your horses down if your boat for all went. from left to from folks or you hope you. want but. don't you get a brand you dream i'm going to be on board don't fly well no i don't care but i don't want company the moment is going to be on. the boat but it will do the civil debate in the system when the did it will get on or not supposed to be and when the let's go over the facts now the 1st one belongs to john fredrickson he's a long time norwegian trading partner of iran his relationship with iran goes back to the 1980 s. one biography even refers to him as the ayatollah as lifeline so at

a time when washington is using all kinds of pressure to try and stop or running an oil exports it really doesn't make sense for iran to then lash out and attack one of its oldest friends now the 2nd oil tanker to be hit is even more interesting this is a japanese owned chemical tanker and it was hit at the same time that japan's prime minister shinzo ave was in tehran meeting with iran's supreme leader is that. iran from the ancient times of the persian empire into the present day has been the great country of the middle east and will remain so i mean the future so we're to believe that at the time that iran was making nice with japan while japan was helping them to find ways to help their oil exports keep flowing despite u.s. sanctions that iran then turns around and decides to bomb a japanese vessel. in fact iran has been rather nice to the united states in the last few days a us resident who is charged with espionage was just released as

a gesture of good will so why would they then choose this moment to fire tar paedos in the gulf of oman the iranian foreign minister job and zarif is describing these events as suspicious reports of the tanks on japan related to tank use occurred while pm was meeting with ayatollah for extensive and friendly talks suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning while iran is struggling to keep its nuclear deal intact and keep its economy afloat by selling its most prized resources on the international market like bomb peo would have us believe they then flipped out and torpedoed their 2 key business partners now why exactly would iran do that well because they're the bad guys of course don't ask too many questions hale bopp and r.t. new york so what's really going on here on r t we discuss who could have been behind the latest incident. washington with mr palm piro and mr bolton

are really trying to. escalate the situation so that they have an opportunity and an excuse to attack iran when a crime is committed you have to know to whom this crime is beneficial so as we can discuss and we can see the geopolitical situation of iran and the united states in the persian gulf we can say that the iranians are not going to torpedo its ship which will lead to the americans to attack them and it's going to give the american an excuse to attack that. they ran the country of iraq there are other interested parties who could very easily been walled in this particular act which took place in the last 24 hours could be saudi arabia could be washington itself with this fleet in the gulf region the americans not because the americans despite what donald trump always says he doesn't want to go to war he doesn't want to put boots

on the ground he doesn't want to send his troops to iran to get killed the american people are not ready for that he just want to score a political win and get the uranium to come and discuss on the table with him in the usa wants to remove the current government in tehran mr bolton has clearly been rubbing his hands with glee over the last decade when he wasn't a security adviser that he wants removal of the regime in tehran so it's only john bolton who wants to go to war but even the president from recently said that he's ready to go to the to discuss with the iranians and even my computer the secretary of state with the hotkeys and who was go to war all the time he said recently that the united states is ready to negotiate with iran without any precondition. nearly 250 survivors and relatives of the victims of the grenfell tower tragedy in london

a suing 3 us firms that made materials used to the block of flats it's claimed they facilitated the spread of the devastating fire in 2070 some of the products and data banned from use only u.s. skyscrapers prompting accusations that of double standards. are comics and the message that foreign line of the worth less than american lives and that it is acceptable to expose people outside the united states to dangerous to which people in the united states would not be exposed to lawsuit names clouding producer or comic whose product is by the company's own admission flammable it also names whirlpool the maker of the refrigerator this believes have caused the fire and insulation made by a seller takes is said to have released cyanide gas leading to further avoidable fatalities and i was.

all 3 companies expressed their sympathies with the victims will paul also noted that 2 separate probes had failed to find a full with it for a generator so the tech said they'd since elation was just one element of the clotting system used on the tower whilst our konak said quote it would respond in court we spoke to peter herbert co-founder of b m e lawyers for graham phil who says that these multinationals will eventually have to face up to the law. the united states does have a very little good friendly culture whereby if a multinational national company has been guilty often selling magazine product or

a rich tail product without sufficient safeguards then they will permit those previously been cases in the united states where a building collapse has resulted in damages of around about $230000000.00 being distributed to the victims and residents and that tragedy i believe there's a 2 year limitation period in the united states that acts and must be commenced the floor 2 years expires otherwise the limitation act would rule any action outside of their limited jurisdiction of the u.s. so it is a necessity to safeguard their legal position and at the end of the day the question is are the individuals that grants loans stop that so much going to get you to real benefits for those of their families who have been bereaved people who are often the breadwinners and therefore if that is right then that must be part of a just settlement. 170000 people signed a petition demanding that italy drop criminal proceedings against

a german boat captain accused of abetting illegal immigration 35 year old peer clent could face up to 20 years in prison over it after she personally assisted in the rescue of more than a 1000 migrants are at risk of drowning in unsafe dinghies as they attempted to cross the mediterranean to reach europe written on the story in the week. this is the case of peer clem a german boat captain and hero to some criminal to others she was at the helm of the event of boat in august 2017 when it entered the port of lump it was it located on an island between malta and the coast of tunisia the rescue vessel was detained and appears a lawyer now says she may face up to 20 years in prison and horrendous fines but no matter what appears status is unwavering get out food have witnessed what women and children have to face if they are denied safe travel by ignoring the submarine boats of european warships and expelling libyan militias brutal people who shelter

refugees from unsuitable overcrowded scraps and beat them up sometimes too late italian investigators have accused her crew of colluding with smugglers with photos leaked to the media alleged in the boat returning to libya's coast on purpose to be used again by smugglers a date hasn't been set yet for with klemp has dubbed her show trial and many agree tens of thousands of people are back in her in a petition calling for italy to drop the charges this however falls under matteo salvini is crackdown the talent interior minister and deputy prime minister is known for his open and strong until migrant views to stop rescue ships that are carrying migrants from docking on italian shores and allowing refugees to disembark it's what he's been after since his appointment last year and he has supporters too it's not as though the italians are to do without probable cause there is much truth reporting that every year of investigation preceded the arrest including

videos witness statements don't develop the picture mrs rescuing people from drowning is b.s. propaganda rescue them and take them to germany it is quite convenient to rescue people and leave them initially greece cetera we have enough migrants we do. not once anymore cian able the trafficking of people that's illegal she's responsible for the so-called refugee crisis there is a clear split within the e.u. over how to tackle the migrant crisis and while they seat undecided on whether to assist or hinder the flow of migrants into europe captain pierre clem could be losing her battle at sea and on for a brief nationality reporting from germany. the mainstream media has been focused on the death of a controversial syrian rebel icon this last week settles the root died in a battle against syrian government forces according to the opposition faction he belonged to a goalkeeper for syria's youth team the 27 year old gained prominence for staging

street protests against the country's president bashar al assad and has even become the subject of an award winning documentary film it was also widely known as a singer of the revolution too with some of his songs similarly supporting values that go against those of western countries fighting islamic state in syria his double quarter explains but 1st a small word of warning his report contains scenes of an execution became the poster boy of the syrian uprising or shall we say the voice ringback. oh my. god. and his death in battle against government forces apparently made him a fallen hero in the eyes of the media syrian footballer and singer of revolution killed in conflict. syrian soccer goalie who became rebel i can dies in battle

syrian soccer star symbol of free vault dies after battle. that also route was a former syrian footballer who turned rebel fighter and not just any rebel fighter oh no he became an icon of the fight against bashar al assad so he wasn't shying away from speaking the truth here's one of the so-called singer of the revolutions greatest hits judge for yourself. and. perhaps the lyrics don't exactly communicate the artist's intended message that's all right though also it was much more articulate about his political beliefs in this 2014 interview that our vision of what we do blame islamic state. but that blame comes with love because we know

that these 2 groups and not politicized and have the same goals as us they are working for god and they care about islam and muslims no you didn't hear that wrong the same goals as islamic state and apparently 911 was a great accomplishment to. was good yet. there are those in the media who acknowledge it's problematic characteristics but for them a little elbow rubbing with terrorist groups shouldn't stand between him and his rightful page in the history books. some individuals celebrated as heroes make you doubt all stories of heroes in history books others like abdel baset also root not inspire of but despite his flaws make those stories highly plausible he's a true legend and his story is well documented may his soul rest in peace so if

these guys got an oscar. abdul deserves a grammy no less as in our. code for western operations it becomes important to to maintain this sense of plausible deniability it's clearly being useful for for the us and the us media to maintain the whole idea of there being moderate democratic forces and among the rebels in syria but clearly most of the groups fighting the government were really extreme islamist groups that's the reality and these were the groups that

the cia and and its allies its british and french and saudi and qatari and turkish allies were supporting and arming from the very early stages of this conflict. some of the minutes past one just after moscow time. when we come back russian authorities probe the arrest of investigative journalist yvonne going to not trumped up drug charges he speaks exclusively to us. in a world in which there are the americans that the chinese the indians the brush. europeans can only really be a player at that global top table by standing united and we are already united on the economic front and we increasingly understand that we have to do so also in the

defense from. starting really in the 1980s under reagan at that or in deregulation you had the fed takeover and their sole purpose at that point was to try to squeeze workers' completely out of the global economy so wages never went up real terms sense that stock markets keep going up and the reason to justify this is that the fed will say we need to try to take care of deflation even know that they are causing to function in an environment where their money printing is increasing the debt.

under this is art international is the weekly or rather the big stories of the last 7 days this made headlines big time here in russia. investigative journalist was arrested on drug charges which leads to that to be false the case is a tried to broad public attention here and the authorities have launched a probe to let's go through it in more detail. such a lot. of following on from the exclusive interview with him after his release on shoes day.

when i was detained the 1st thing i wanted to do was get my lawyer i was focused on that so i didn't have emotions like anger or fear i link all of this to my work as a journalist because drugs for me just ridiculous i never had anything to do with them if there had been more plausible accusation i might have had some emotions it's probably either because of the notes that have just been released or the ones that are about to be released i saw and heard people giving the support when i was in court in that cage i could hear people shouting through the closed windows that was moving i am deeply grateful to everyone who supported me it seems like this is not about me but about the general outrage that people feel some my situation became symbolic for them i couldn't believe it when the newspapers are printing my name i can remember such a thing happening 3 of the country's main newspapers all taking a common stance in the front pages now i have an urge to turn back the clock and

pretend nothing happened so i can ride the metro piece and do the job that i love. the community sent out to the vatican for its latest guidance that questions the existing principles of gender identity that was meant to tackle well the catholic church calls an educational crisis so it could tailor delves into the reason both of a sudden. for literally ages. now you'd be forgiven for thinking the catholic church doesn't really know what turns the public on and you'd be right in fact it's just dealt a mosque to class and turning people off the vatican has released a paper which says there are only 2 genders male and female and it's called male and female he created them just so there was no misunderstanding if we wish to take an approach to the question of gender theory that is based on the path of dialogue is vital to bear in mind the distinction between the ideology of gender on the one hand and the whole field of research on gender that human sciences of one's taken

on the other so according to the catholics men are men and women are women and anyone who sees themselves otherwise is provocative and poses a threat to the institution of marriage and seeks to overthrow nature itself on a surprisingly it's head up you know note amongst those who are outraged to find that any of you want gender theory other than that of course exists by refusing to engage in dialogue with people about their lived experiences or so from the standing in faith the vatican remains in the dark ages for motoring a false teaching that relies on myth rumor and false hoods so the paper's not popular partly because it sounds like it's from the time before christ which it is it's filled with quotes from the bible after all and because it was released during pride month the 30 days every year the world celebrates the l g b t community bit awkward but wait no where in the paper does it say being gay is sinful and in fact it condemns any discrimination and violence against people the number of men and

women who have deep sit. thomas sexual tendencies is not negligible they must be accepted with respect compassion and sensitivity every sign off and just as true a nation in their regard should be avoided now it's surely not news to outrage friends that the church struggles with accepting homosexuality and transgenderism and when they do throw in the twopenny swath net the backlash is huge as one bishop in rhode island planned when he decided to chat his view on pride month a reminder that catholics should not support or attend l.g.b. t.q. pride month of vance held in june they promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to catholic faith and morals. it seems the people who replied must of left the christian values of kindness out the door we woke up this morning and we saw the bishops tweet and we were honestly flabbergasted he is like the don't trump of the catholic church goes on twitter and

spews out hate my catholic children will be attending pride events as this. guy always taught me what would jesus do yes i know jesus would be attending that pride parade with also with pride and i also know that god is love and jesus is love and love is love the bishop apologized and decided to spread the love but the question begging to be asked is why the surprise kids the church isn't known for being big on reform is it really shocking it's not breaking it's happened it's a pun intended. wrapping up this bulletin with a look back at some of the biggest stories of the last 7 days as brought to you by us international here in moscow is kevin i would have the over to unit in half an hour but if you do the rest of sunday have a good one. what

holds us institutions meeting. to put themselves on the line. to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president i'm sure. more some want to be. the 2 going to be closer that's what the 43 of them or can't be good that i'm interested in always in the waters of our age. there should. be. when the whole make is manufactured to sentenced him to public wealth. when the right wing clubs assume protect themselves. with the financial

merry go round listen to the woman posts that were told. to ignore middle of the room signals. to leave the room grim really leaves room in the world. all. alone of welcome to all the parts it's hard to believe now but there was a time when the western economies generally believed that the soviet union would

almost inevitably overtake the united states as the world's leading economy and it wasn't just fierce. beaking they had graphs and calculations to prove it decades later it is now in china that's projected onto the kids benefit and has learned a lot from the soviet failure is that enough though to win and hold onto it cannot make primacy will to discuss that i'm now joined by james robinson prominent political scientist and also at all why in nations fail mr robinson good to talk to you thank you very much for your time pleasure now you published the book back in 2012 when the world felt like a totally different place it was before the economy became political again before this wave of populism rolled over a number of western societies if you were writing you today do you think you would have changed anything in it. well not really i mean our focus is very much on the long run you could say. you know we're trying to figure out you know why does the

world look the way it does you know in terms of these big patterns of economic prosperity and poverty and that's a sort of deeply historical process so you don't change your views over a few years and i would also say that you know in terms of populism i mean you're right that in a sense the world looks a lot different but but but not the different i mean there's lots of populism historically for somebody like me who studies latin america a lot you know very used to populism you know that's all part of the package in some sense well the reason i'm asking is that question is because i have a sense that in many western societies people i'm now starting to question whether indeed they have a winning economic and political systems and you define failure or success as 1st and foremost economic growth but the problem with economic growth in the west is that it's quiet imbalanced a lot of it goes into

a very small portion of society the majority here either benefits very little on doesn't benefit at all so whether you have that growth but only for selected few if that's really a success or failure and qualify the system as inclusive or the other charmi use extractive i mean that's a good question and i think you know in the book we you know we make this argument about how inclusive economic institutions are create broad based patterns of incentives and opportunities are what you need for sustained economic growth and innovation in the long to ship and i think you still do have that in the united states i think if you look at these enormously wealthy people like bezos gates and how did they make their money through through innovation you know. they make their money by selling people things that people value but i also agree with you that

this enormous increase in inequality is is a challenge you know i'm not you know in the book we point out this happened in the 19th century in the united states and the system was able to respond to that you know the inclusive political institutions was able to kind of respond to the enormous increase in inequality on the political challenges that create is go back to the time the american constitution was written in the in the late 18th century james madison and how milton and other people who formulated it they were worried about populism in the 17th eighties so i think populism is an old thing inequalities and old thing you know what we try to argue in the book is that you know these challenges are been met successfully in the past in inclusive societies like the united states but that's not to say that that's inevitable mr robinson you mentioned that inequalities in all thing at the at i think it would also agree that it's been exacerbated greatly by globe.