us presidential hopeful tulsi coward fails to make it through to the next round of democratic debates despite becoming the most searched on line she's not questioning the d.n.c. selection process. also this hour a french mayor vows to appeal after losing his battle to protect the people of his village from harmful pesticides we get reaction from locals. i think the government isn't doing its job they're the 1st to see that there should be no best sites but they do nothing we breed the in the past the sites we did during testing the amount of press to sex with found was alarmingly high. and declassified documents reveal

that 20 years ago the u.s. knew indonesia would use terror to try and stop east timor from becoming independent but. you're watching our 2 international coming to you live from the russian capital where it's just turned 3 pm welcome to the program. one of the most popular democratic presidential hopefuls has failed to qualify for the next round of t.v. debates hawaii representative tulsi gabbard was the most searched for canada on google after the last 2 t.v. showdowns but this time around the d.n.c. it says she has failed to meet the criteria required something called into question . the whole process really lacks transparency. people deserve having that transparency because ultimately it's the people who will decide who our democratic nominee will be and alternately who our next president commander in chief will be

and when you see that lack of transparency it creates you know a lack of faith and trust in the process it's primetime television if you want to be anybody in the democratic party you better make sure you get on the stage at the presidential debates so what do you need to do to make it 2 things 1st to get over 130000 unique donations to get at least 2 percent in a national poll ah but here's where it gets tricky not every poll is the same and if the democratic national committee doesn't like you they can reject the poll results that show things in your favor now tulsa gabbert has met the donations threshold he's got over 2 percent 126 different national polls however the democratic national committee says that doesn't count they have their certified list sure it's important of that information it's being provided but let's take a quick look at some of the polls that were rejected politico the economist reuters if these widely respected outlets and news agencies aren't credible in america then

who is holing in the united states there is a club. a network of close associates and friends and they frown upon those polls that are either new or are not members of the club or the association so i would certainly speculate that has something to do with that it is a partisan organization the democratic national committee so any poll say that may have a tradition of leaning republican or not considered to be in the mainstream of democratic artists and ship you know would be would be ruled out even the polls deemed credible. the democratic party have a margin of error of between 2 and 6 percent and when the criteria for being in the debates is only 2 percent a margin of error like that is a pretty big deal so tulsa gabbert could have between 0 and 7 percent support among

american voters now keep in mind there are over 200000000 people who are registered to vote in the united states of america so what's the difference between 0 and $14000000.00 well whatever it is it is apparently not important to the democratic national committee there is a margin of sampling error so if the margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent what is 2 percent in the polls if if it's 1.51 percent that the candidate has then does get rounded up to 2 percent whereas the 1.44 percent which is meaningless one could argue the democratic national committee is a private organization we can establish our own rules but then they also have to be open to the charges by somebody else again berg who says this doesn't smell like it's fair and frankly i agree with their i don't think it's mills that is fair

now the d.n.c. doesn't exactly have a reputation for impartiality and fairness leaked emails in 2016 show that the democratic party leaders were working pretty hard to defeat bernie sanders and make sure that it was hillary clinton who ultimately took on donald trump now after the outrage in 2016 the new democratic party chair tom perez promised to empower grassroots activists i am more committed than ever before to restoring votes is faith in the democratic process because even the perception of impartiality when unfair advantage undermines our ability to win that is unacceptable to that end the new d.n.c. under my leadership is committed to the topic of making sure that all 2020 nominating process will be unquestionably fair and. trends byron's so as the list of candidates gets whittled down to one final nominee voters will have to decide as to whether mr perez is living up to his promise. r.t. new york meanwhile another democratic 2020 presidential hopeful bernie sanders has

come under fire for iran mark about china u.s. senator praise beijing's efforts to reduce poverty prompting condemnation from politicians and the media as are explained. it's the strangest thing there is bernie sanders one of the leading democratic candidates for the nomination and that of the blue the goose that does something that new god fearing american should ever do said something almost complimentary about china. is a country that is moving unfortunately going to war with north korea where you have the directions but what we have to say about china in fairness to china and its leadership is if i'm not mistaken they have made more progress in addressing the extreme poverty. than any country in the history of civilization bad bernie

good thing there are patriotic journalists free media and honest politicians to remind me that it's not nice to say nice things about china it was seen as bernie basically praising the chinese communist party you know which is probably killed more than any other regime on earth do you think this will be a problem for him going into the general election i think. this again it was a wild way to answer that question well the chinese socialists killed millions of poor people so there's that dead people are poor just dead they call that the great leap forward and after that they used a tool that bernie despises capitalism i wish there was a visual metaphor for bernie's argument. i just have to keep watching i don't know why just to bring everyone up to speed what bernie meant is near enough 40 years ago about 9 out of every 10 people in china

lived in poverty 9 out of 10 today 2009 seed it's one in 100 people one person in every 100 that's below the poverty line is that it's. sounding yes the great news for a 1000000000 people yeah but it's china if we lived in a fair world that send them a congratulation note and flowers don't china does something bad to raise hell about it does something good very well ignore it oh in russia don't forget brought here if they want to join us are knocking out isis that is just fine as far as i'm concerned worked together to beat a monstrous group that's killed untold thousands and soon terror worldwide work together not a few are a god fearing american donald trump believes that russia is our great ally against

isis in syria but what russia is doing in syria is setting up missiles that only shoot down planes which isis does not have i think it's incredibly naive to think that vladimir putin would do anything in the us press interest and then he may run among us presidents forgetting things like when jimmy carter praised yes praised hugo chavez well no he didn't really praise him but just to clue we came to know a man who expressed a vision to bring profound changes to his country to benefit is specially those people who had felt neglected and marginalized and once again the free media and patriots had to remind mr carter that chavez is bad and venezuela together with china and russia iran maybe turkey a little north korea definitely geez bernie better grab

a pen them and more baddies and even if they do what america does you can't compare the 2 because you actually can't compare them it's entirely possible and even reasonable but because. just don't as trump found out when asked by a journalist about president vladimir putin being a killer a lot of killers get a lot of killers why you think our country so innocent wrong well it's technically right but it's not what america wants to hear one patriotic american put it and no i don't think there's any equivalently but i do think america is exceptional america is different i think there's a clear distinction here and when you're exceptional you don't have to make sense you wouldn't just special you do bernie and be quite so nice here. a french mer has for now lost his fight to protect people and his village from

pesticides although he banned the use of a court has overruled him and he's now appealing that decision however his case has inspired other mayors across france to take summer action. reports. this tiny breton village of language has found itself at the center of controversy in the battle over the pesticides in may the local mag to court some saw as being a bold decision to ban the use of pesticides within $150.00 metre cordon over the village farming unions were furious and the matter ended up in court now the man daniel coeff had his ban overturned but the debacle is now shining a light on the deep political contradictions so rounding pesticides in france well president might call and praised his intentions for tackling phosphates a burning issue over health concerns he said the solution was not to issue a decree that doesn't comply with the law so macko if that's

a double standard. i don't understand what is happening in my craw and the ecology minister said that i am right and doing a good thing to protect my people but in the meantime i am facing court for a decision to keep pesticides at a distance of 150 metres i don't understand politics now it seems the decision by the court to take his ban all pesticides was illegal has also earned good residence in this usually sleepy village. to children which lots of fields around long where and it's important health matter for us especially for children we breathe the in the past the sites we did your intestine the amount of best the sites we found was alarmingly high even though we eat organic and we grow some of our own food that is also organic. it was a bad judgment and the mayor wasn't heard i think the government isn't doing its

job they're the 1st to see that there should be no pesticides but they do nothing so i honestly think it was a bad legal decision by the court. which poll shows we are in a small village that is close to a farming area we need to protect people we never know what kind of health issues could be created by pesticides so i think the decision by the mayor was intelligent and he needed to make a decision to protect the people but now he has difficulties with the justice system the world health organization has said gleich phosphate often used to weed killer probably causes cancer while gov phosphate has hit the headlines over health concerns much corn had promised to ban the use of phosphate by 2021 that provoked an outcry by farmers in unions who said they needed an alternative mark and then pushed the ban back to the following year when the current license will expire now across france the ban imposed by mcewan has gained traction he may have

lost the 1st battling court but now a round 20 other mess have followed his lead banning the use of pesticides close to homes farmers are furious cry these bans as being politically motivated saying they are getting on the environmental bandwagon ahead of my oral elections. mayors are already thinking of the next election environmentalists are wreaking havoc on our agriculture and our only factories floundering in this these mayors are outstanding scientists they are taking advantage of people's fear to make this kind of decision which is good for their image is protectors of the environment and the population but it seems the government has been backed into a corner there must be a minimum distance between residential areas and best decides brain i will advise in the coming days forming unions and the companies that produce pesticides ashore

to have something to say about that but so too does make us who believes that these things all the only way to protect people who live in their farms which use pesticides otherwise he says their health is screwed so it's even scary for altie lang go it in pretty. newly declassified documents reveal america's role in indonesia's decades long occupation of east timor story and more after the break. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics or business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then.

welcome back u.s. president donald trump has announced plans to slash the number of american troops stationed in afghanistan by half with further withdrawals contingent on the outcome of peace talks with the taliban. we're going down to 8600 and then we make a determination from then as to what happens we'll make a determination but we're going down to 8600 we're bringing it down we have a very well controlled now after nearly 18 years of war in afghanistan there are currently around $14000.00 u.s. troops in the country even if half are now pulled out it's unclear when the u.s. will fully withdraw trumps and of course not the only u.s. president who's had a hard time getting his soldiers to come home when barack obama was halfway through his 1st term there were some 100000 troops in afghanistan by 2017 he managed to get that number down to 8400 but he failed to keep us promise of a complete withdrawal starting next month we will be able to remove 10000 of our

troops from afghanistan by the end of this year and we will bring home a total of $33000.00 troops by next summer fully we're covering the surge i announced at west point after this initial reduction our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace by 2014 this process of transition will be complete in the afghan people will be responsible for their own security. we're now doing live by middle east expert ali risk for more on this why do you think trump is not willing to commit to a full withdrawal yet. well trump is being subject to some significant pressures within america pressures from the deep state there are close allies to tromp in the republican party who have voiced their objection to any complete withdraw i referred to lindsey graham the well known republican senator who was also closely allied with trump and lindsey graham has

been very vocal in saying that the year which should not completely withdraw in fact he had an article in new york times with the forma a year worst vice chief of staff jack keane in that article graham and mccain said that the withdrawal shouldn't be a withdrawal which is all which meets the conditions of the taliban and shouldn't be there for. a process which only satisfies the demands of the taliban but should satisfy the demands of america or meet the american conditions so we do have these well known figures within the united states who have clearly objected to a complete withdrawal have been very vocal in that and it appears that bald trumpet has succumbed to those pressures trump referred to keeping as well keeping a counterterrorism force in afghanistan saying that this counterterrorism presence will continue for the foreseeable foreseeable future that was also something which

leaves a graham had mentioned before so that's the that's what i think i think that is the general framework basically the trump administration or donald trump himself is bowing down to these pressures and i think it becomes clear that in the end in some particular issues the any american president has to make some concessions to the deep state and that's what happened in this particular case with our kind of. what the same time many will remember that trump openly criticize obama for failing to end the war and i. can a stand but now finds himself in the same boat as he had a better excuse or just this is the way that it works. you know as i said in washington the deep state continues to advocate to continue the american presence in different countries including afghanistan and i think that

it's become clear that it is indeed quite difficult to completely defeat the deep state you can challenge the deep state yes but in the end you have to make some concessions or you have to cut some deals with the state i think that's exactly what donald trump has done hey i think that what don't trump is trying to do his trying to satisfy he's like troll base by saying look i'm you know i'm living up to what i pledged to i'm decreasing their presence at the same time he's also trying to satisfy the demands of the deep state and the republican all within his very same party by saying look i'm not easy when it comes to counter counterterrorism i'm continuing to be strong in counterterrorism and therefore i'm going to leave this ridge will all this remaining force it's striking a balance i think between these 2 different camps if you would like the antiwar camp on the one hand trumps electoral base and the hawkish can in the trunk

republican party. now how will that have an impact on his reelection might cost him maybe elections because you know people will see this as trump not living up. to their pledges to him made also people might you mentioned the issue of barack obama how he wanted to get out but was forced to say now people might say look trump is no different than obama has also bowing down to these pressures so when it comes to domestic political calculations i think it just might also be costly for trump when he gives in. to these pressures. our risk middle east expert thank you for your time and your comments. to more on friday marks 20 years since a un backed boat and a bloody decades long occupation by indonesian forces and pave the way for it to become an independent nation australian prime minister scott morrison has arrived in east timor's capital to attend the celebrations along with other dignitaries 2

decades on there has been little justice for the families of those who died and post independence referendum violence which was eventually quelled bias trillian led united nations peacekeepers here's a quick look back at east timor story. the . sisters were. recently. decided to contribute to the force in a limited but essential way. including communications the most just to calais.

intelligence their lives of personnel and material and coordination of the humanitarian response response to the tragedy the violent sense is apparent to all of us who care about human dignity and democracy. newly declassified documents reveal that the us knew months in advance that indonesia would try and disrupt the vote but washington refused to act and said pushing for a closer military ties with jakarta go picks up the story. all those declassified u.s. security papers so many times they lead to red faces and some very uncomfortable moments in august 29th one release revealed american officials were perfectly aware of what the indonesian military was up to the cia notes said their methods were to cue drive or intimidate into silence independence activists and to the general

population into acceptance of from these 2 more under to conscious control at the pentagon was at the time very keen to keep up with the stars with indonesia there's another document which shows a us admiral referring to the head of the indonesian army as a friend digging a bit further into the past has led us to more awkwardness or even ugliness how about this on the part of australian diplomats in the seventy's an embassy memo pointed ad daily torturing raping and exit puting the captured population on the island of to more yes back then that was also on the hands of indonesian troops the ugly part is this handwritten remark by an aussie diplomat it says sounds like fun another dark page in indonesian history was when the government got rid of hundreds of communist sympathizers throughout the sixty's guess who helped put together the lists of alleged communists the u.s.

embassy here's how one of its staff recalls that support it really was a big help to the army they probably killed a lot of people and i probably have a lot of blood on my hands but that's not all bad there's a time when you have to strike hard at a decisive moment so again there's hardly any doubt the americans knew exactly what the rulers and charge in jakarta were like and so time magazine found no better words to describe their rise to power than the west's best news for years. in asia so there's fraud to do watch out for any redness on the face of the assistant secretary of state or perhaps you'll need some very powerful optics well i think unfortunately most countries including the us back in the 1990 s. and early 2000 would would be guilty of engaging and political alliances for geo political aspirations and for things other than preserving the rights of

other people of course a state government's 1st priority should be to its own civilians but unfortunately we don't see that in many countries now that being said what we're talking about it needs to more in indonesia since the us had interest with the indonesian government and the military and where actions were taken alliances made and even violence allowed to preserve an interest to preserve an interest of the administration but it is true that countries all governments should absolutely make sure that the 1st priority is the maintenance of their people their own economy before they go into to preserve other interests in another place even if it's under the false guise of human rights. that's a global news wrap up for now but i'll be back at the top of the hour with the latest thanks for turning him. post g 7 what is the lay of the land calls for unity to demonstrate the opposite

also iran is again in the spotlight just what is trumps foreign policy in this volatile. during the great depression which i'm old enough to remember there was most of my family were unemployed. there wasn't it was bed you know much worse objective listen today but there was an expectation of the things were going to get better. there was a real sense of hopefulness there isn't today today's america was shaped by the turn principles of concentration of wealth and power. reduced democracy at tax a loadout engineer elections manufacture consent and other principles according to no i'm jones to one set of rules for the rich opposite. that's what happens when you put her into the hands of

a narrow sector of will which will is dedicated to increasing power for chills just as you'd expect one of the most influential intellectuals of our time speaks about the modern civilization of america. to. me here.

greetings and sal you take today i think it's time we we have a little talk about priorities watchers priorities those things that take precedence before others because our values deem them to be more important than most our children are often our priorities our health our families all are generally considered to be universal individual priorities in all of our lives but what about the priorities of our communities or our countries to the united states of america for example now one would think that here in the self-proclaimed world's greatest democracy the boating and maintaining the sanctity of our voting system would be an important priority for.