it featured. documents emerged revealing that the u.s. drugmaker. ran a campaign to suppress negative stories about is widely prescribed opioid painkillers. the u.s. stresses his commitment to nato his mission is the french president slams the lines is brain dead we asked what they. were going to pursue that nato is obsolete because europe truly has an organized enemy units territory i think europe needs to start having its own weapons both political and economic to protect itself under british university cancels a talk by feminist speaker after students accuse her strap of transphobia we hear her side of the story. i don't believe i'm transcribing i don't believe i said

anything trans transpired it i mean it's all universities are learning places there are places you discussed it's all disagrees with me then i want to find out why and we can learn from each other but. hello there you watching r.t. international where it's just gone 10 o'clock in the morning here in moscow now newly obtained documents reveal that the u.s. drugmaker purging farmer leading media outlets to downplay the risks of its widely prescribed opioid painkiller the drug has been blamed for america's deadliest opioid epidemic revelations were made by the investigative media outlet pro publica where the misleading articles in question were written by analysts from the funded think tanks and they cited funded studies with more his caliber. purdue pharma the corporation that created oxy cotton is generally blamed for the

crisis due to their efforts to reorient the medical community and change the narrative regarding the dangers of addiction let's go over a specific example of how they went about doing this in 2004 the new york times ran an article containing this wildly misleading statement regarding the danger of addiction contrary to media portrayals the typical oxycontin addict does not start out as a pain patient who fell and wittingly into a drug habit. the author of that article is sally said tell a fellow at the american enterprise institute specializing in medical issues coincidentally the american enterprise institute received $50000.00 a year from purdue pharma since 2003 plus an additional 800000 dollars for special events according to documents received by pro publica but it gets better what study did said tell site in order to defend a funder of her institute the national household survey on drug abuse found that

among non-medical oxycontin users 98 percent has also used other addictive pain relievers for non medical purposes and more than a 4th had used herring well what they don't mention is that that study was actually carried out by employees and consultants of purdue pharma now sally's to tell says she has no idea that her institute was funded by purdue the new york times and the american enterprise institute have denied any wrongdoing but sallies to tell didn't just defend the profits of purdue in the new york times she also did it elsewhere she was quite a media star when it came to propane killer opining. oxycontin does not cause addiction it's abusers are already addicts. the real public health damage here comes from the pitched campaign conducted by zealous prosecutors and public interest advocates to demonize the drug itself this is tragic because oxycontin has

been a godsend for millions of patients. only a minority of people who are prescribe opiates for pain become addicted to them and those who do become addicted and who die from painkillers over dues is done to obtain these medications from sources other than their own physicians but media spin was just one step for do also funded other organizations to push its agenda of more prescriptions for pain killers the american academy of pain medicine and the american pain society promoted this. for example studies indicate that in over development of addiction we know people it's used for the relief of pain is low furthermore experience has shown the known addicts can benefit from the carefully supervised judicious use of opioids for the treatment of pain or do it lips these donations were made but it defends its position per view has been contacted over the years by policy experts at a variety of think tanks who are seeking additional context on industry issues for their work our engagement has always been appropriate and aimed at providing

a science based perspective that the company felt was often overlooked in the larger policy conversation over 400000 americans have lost their lives to opioids since the year 2000 and many more lives have been ruined by addiction kaleb up and r.t. new york purdue has made billions of dollars selling oxycontin is now settling fatties ins of legal cases it all seems claim the company aggressively pushed the drug while failing to be upfront about the risks of addiction and also overdose on average $130.00 americans to die every day from overdosing on opioids nearly 80 percent of heroin use is started out on painkillers addiction dr honey lemke thinks that the influence of companies on think tanks is dangerous. that's typical for produce pharma to try to influence the way that doctors prescribe opioids by going into organizations that they know can influence the way that doctors think about

how to treat pain so in this instance influencing in important think tank. which produces articles about whether or not oxy cotton is safe and effective is a very clever and very standard way that produce pharma tries to influence opioid prescribing in the united states giving money to the. think tanks in a clear africa to influence them seems very dangerous indeed. nato foreign ministers have convened in brussels ahead of a meeting of alliance leaders in london early next month the u.s. secretary of state mark campolo was there and used the occasion to stress america's commitment to nato mission during a meeting with his secretary general. looking forward to the meetings in december as well. have a success for a very good or 2 where we set the conditions so we can have successfully or summit

continue to thrive this incredibly important for his words there are in stark contrast to those of the alliance's one of the lines his leaders french president emanuel man across recently said that nato was becoming brain dead because he dartmouth has more on the story. the nato heavyweights are converging upon brussels and it's all smiles and pats on the back end a very very v.a.p. guest all the way from the united states the secretary of state might pump a 0 himself but behind this facade of handshakes and mutual joy hides a nasty in the blocks fabric and that is between the believers in the alliance and heretics who dare question the relevance of the block and this whole aggravation it stems from right here from france when president emmanuel mccrone dared to assume dare to say that the bloke is experiencing and i quote brain death while we are

currently experiencing is the brain death of nato nato only works if the guarantor of last resort functions as and now since early november when that happened this jab is still hurting with the nato for instance secretary-general stoltenberg has felt the urge on tuesday to comment on those words and essentially he said that europe is defenseless without nato e.u. cannot defend europe well mccraw those words didn't sit well with other members of the block to for instance the us ambassador to nato she said that she strongly disagreed with them and she called the alliance essential i don't think europe would be a sea without a transatlantic bond that we have the german foreign minister also talked about this and he said that nato had been europe's military insurance for the past 70 years. and one polish member of the european parliament well he managed to find the only present russian trailed behind micron's words in fact he stopped very short of

calling the french president a russian puppet i think is very sensitive to russian pressure in any case in france this is a long tradition and this is only the latest in a whole spree of loyalty troubles faced by nato lately for instance even the locomotive pulling it forward the united states has had its problems with the block donald trump for instance has criticized europe for being unwilling to pay a fair and due amounts for all the benefits europe is well apparently enjoying from its partnership with nato the most are also ensure that nato members meet their financial obligations which pending 90 percent of their job with the piggy bank that they like to take from get assessed paying the bills united states. it helps them there in europe helps them a lot more than it helps us that doesn't work folks well i asked parisians where

they stand when it comes to the relationship between europe and nato does europe need nato yeah i think so yeah before build up of defense. we have to speak of with the russian and to try to bring the europe a bloc efficient between the u.s. and china and russia going to sort of nato is obsolete because europe no longer truly has an organized enemy on its territory. i think europe needs to start having its own weapons both political and economic to protect itself europe cannot defend itself without me being alone we don't advance well with help we can move faster and stronger evidently the chasm between opinions on whether or not nato needs europe and vice versa is as wide here in paris as it is. within the block itself a mortgage diana reporting from paris hard to see we talked about this with the

director of the crisis research institute mark almond he says that there are a number of disagreements threatening nato's integrity. brought certain tensions between paris and berlin between paris and washington french so that the need to assert themselves and your views for such as a separate pillar of nato and not be too dependent on the americans but other countries like for instance germany that's often seen as a copartner axis with france running the e.u. is rather worried about this all of this brings out that there are deep divergence of interest was a deep chasm division within your about how you judge the major power to its east and so all of these things come together to make a very messy birthday party for a major coming up in 2 weeks time. now an embarrassing incident during a t.v. interview with the us democrat lawmaker has gone viral and in its own bizarre way it has highly highlighted to the divisions in u.s. politics is saskia taylor explains more so than other and washington is thick with

intrigue and contriver see the public hearings in the latest trump impeachment saga into their 2nd week and everyone wants to know has he done it will this be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back the president used taxpayer dollars to ask the ukrainians to help him choose an election that can't be right guys i think we've got the wrong sound bite in the. what really ok no apparently that is right tag for what gate is on everyone's lips democratic representative eric swore while was weighing in on the ongoing impeachment hearings when he dropped. dropped an explosive bomb on m s n b c do you think though that while one world human stuff happens move on and 2 the president of the united states of america could possibly be impeached potentially

just the thought in the country's history but no the scandal over that quick moment is refusing really. to blow over and mainstream media is leading the charge trying to get to the bottom of it i'm really sorry about the but i have to ask if this was you or someone in the studio it was not me and i didn't hear it when i was speaking you look like you heard it and are stifling a lot i guess i did not hear it even politicians have jumped on to the bandwagon even to show off the shop where it. clearly. cruz made a rookie ara and forgot that he too had been involved in the story that also rippled far and wide to show you senator and thank you for keeping it clean you

know without raising out more so let's see what all the conspiracy theories on the table are the program on which i happened hardball tried to cover up its tracks and said it was just the presenters scraping his mug across the table to which swalwell took a leaf out of trump's book and breathed a sigh of relief but let's test that one out neal over to you. not sure so maybe another one the cameraman was to blame they were who is think they're safe just because the locking in the shot but guys is that even possible you know. neither of the theories held up to scrutiny though view was smelt a rat pluto was demoted as a planet which eric swalwell is now secure among the gas giants eric swalwell is

not a candidate that you can stand behind the cover of is own way is worse than a crime so while iran faces protests bolivia it faces a coup trump faces possible impeachment and the u.k. faces and not the string of practice that delays the media follows it's very funny excellent nose for stories let's see when this one runs out of gas ok thoughts at this is ridiculous i mean are you know you can talk about this seriously and. that and i still if you this iraq creep in floyd from man has spoken to r.t. about his dismay at what's happening to the whistleblower you'd inosanto have this view yourself right.

markets are making new all time highs so interesting the money that is being forced into the. markets like draining into the liver of a duck on a fatwah farm has to come from somewhere i must say let's dig into this little bit more. concern about new technologies and i think society should be like and i try to help them get gauged in those concerns . but we also should have concerns about doing nothing doing nothing is extraordinarily risky you know with some point 5000000000 people and a series of. ancient technology that are not necessarily suitable for the more.

welcome back you with r.t. now the issue of free speech on campus is making headlines again that after the u.k.'s oxford brookes university canceled the talk by a feminist artist after she was accused of discriminating against transgender people so is a trans exclusionary roger who feminist who frequently shows trans phobic discourse on her social media we firmly believe that inviting such speakers infringes upon academic freedom oakford brooks i don't believe i'm trying to fight back i don't believe i said anything's trying to transfer the basic. i mean we're having a discussion based on no facts and you know that's quite worrying and we should be dealing with facts ok i mean you reinforces to see what the definition of trans phobic is and why they're calling me transphobia. and then we can start the

discussion from there they're always going to talk about my work is fabulous i talk about the problems women have building big installations i'm especially because i do a lot with technology so i talk about women in stem and stuff like that i mean it was just purely talking about women in art. i mean so nothing radical or tool i mean the thing is with the l.g.b. plus. it's a very very divided organization you know there's a lot of tension between sort of women in trans people and gay people i mean it's very very divided and i think that's why one organization like the l.g.b. alliance has been set up to actually you know just so people who have the same issues around same sex attraction can meet together where. you know the trans people seem to have an issue with concerns over academic freedom have been growing in recent years both and u.k. and abroad with critics arguing that non-conformist forces are being stifled research by the policy exchange think tank suggests for instance that over half of

britain students do not consistently support free speech on campus but again she believes that universities should encourage critical thought and constructive dialogue. honestly that was ridiculous i mean i'm talking about art and i'm talking about the way i make art there's no infringement on academic freedom at all i'd honestly i would be really interesting to see who the complainants are you know and i would suspect there's probably a few disenfranchised men who have problem with women talking about women making awful feminist issues even though you know universities are learning places there are places you discuss if someone disagrees with me then i want to find out more and we can learn from each other i mean what would be really interesting is the people who he put this tweet out why are they hiding behind this sort of fake name why don't they come forward we can have an open discussion you know because they could teach recently and maybe i could teach is about open discussion. now israel's political deadlock looks set to continue and after the leader of the blue and white

party benny gantz failed to form a new government the winner of the september elections informed the country's president of his failure and returned his mandate just hours before the midnight deadline israel has been trapped in the current political deadlock since the 1st general election back in april now the country is likely to face an unprecedented election in a year we are split on this mitchell barack about how he sees the situation unfolding. what's happening is it sounds easy ok if we don't have a government we're going for new elections no one in the country wants no elections the people are really fed up i mean all of our polling numbers are showing that people are really fed up with politicians of what the government so those in knesset have to know so there's a big risk that they may be voted out of the government because if they have to face new elections again it's possible that other parties will run their people will punish those same members of knesset the leaders of the parties that for 2

elections couldn't form a government. 2 months ago the blue and white party beat its rival it could which is headed by the incumbent prime minister benjamin netanyahu and as you can see from the results here none of the 2 favorites actually gained enough seats for a parliamentary majority and it meant that dance was tasked with forming a coalition government however a number of sticking points to get in the way of that for example gans refused to cooperate with netanyahu claiming that he's been in office for far too long and is swamped in corruption while the prime minister himself has also said he has no intention of siding with his rival in addition the kingmaker of the door rejects both of them and insists on a radical overhaul of the entire system. believe could could actually form together with blue and white if they would done that and you know if they would replace it and you know if they would find someone else that could happen in the next 21 days it's going to be interesting because there's 2 significant things is going to take place 1st is whether litany i was indicted lead attorney general may decide to

indict him in 12 or 3 cases right away lives are crimes of bribery so that in you know is reported to have committed while he's been prime minister and 2nd the clock is ticking on those 21 days and those members of knesset are going to do everything possible to avoid another election. the front man of the rock band pink floyd roger waters is spoken out angrily about what's happening today in the sand in an interview with r.t. it comes amid fears that the whistle blows extradition to the u.s. is now more likely after sweden dropped to 2010 rape case against him america accuses him of conspiring to hack government computers if convicted he may face up to 175 years in jail he's currently in belmarsh prison in the u.k. and his extradition hearing is set to take place in february which waters told us is a political prisoner. there's no process of little big forward at the moment somebody

somebody. and go up in belmarsh for 23 hours out of every $24.00 being slowly murdered by the state cause he told uncomfortable truths about. america. it surely purely political this is a political prisoner he's been hung out to dry as a warning to others others who might decide that they might be journalists that they might fulfill that function as journalists by informing the public and the electorate of what goes on secretly in their name so this business objects tradition has nothing to do with the legal process he's being railroaded in it's disgusting to find the truth these days is that string really difficult in any sane universe he would be lauded as a hero of the people for getting at the truth and then publishing it and he's not

killing him. or water speaking to us earlier that that's how things are looking so far today here on our team or from us in about 35 minutes. i'm going to fulfill the repeated promises apologise to the people and come on you know with all pots be. ready for a. pretty good burka. do you want to work at that. time no.

no. ball. coming. is a tense situation in venezuela is still all over the news the problem in venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented but that socialism has been faced only implement from the inside venezuela things no different we're going to announce sanctions against petroleum to venezuela associated. in the schools that have a son of the moment who's. down for some political battle so on the people who come up with a moment of focus the whose story isn't new makes him cold in henry kissinger to

tell him that it would not be tolerated that in latin america an alternative economic and social system could take hold and therefore the policy would be to make. the chilean economy scream so wants and making the economy of venezuela screed. let. me thank you thank you. thank. god and. welcome to the alex salmond show as be approached the halfway

point and this christmas election today we return to our celebrated pundits panel to say this has made the early running in the campaign but also whether there are still some surprises presents to come in the blue corner we have peter oborne the man who knows more about the tory party than most attorneys in this festive consul he plays the ghost of christmas present in the yellow corner we think that opec one time liberal democrat presidential candidate but to know it born again brick city here lembit is the ghost of christmas yet to come and in the very corner we think a new comer to our panel former labor adviser professor richard murphy who will assess whether the opposition has still some christmas crackers to pull right traditions the mantle of the ghost of christmas past and to hold up the tartan end of this panto we have recently showed a woman who is rumored to have ghostwritten the best speeches of success the 1st minister's talks well timed to our panel shortly but 1st your reaction to last week

sure featuring the spices of the cattle and politicians locked up for extraordinarily harsh prison sentences for their role in organizing and defending the independence referendum of 2017 now we asked the new spanish government for their comments last week but if yet to receive a reply when it comes to hand we will feature that response in future sure us as we continue our series on whether catalonia however in a statement. covered in the washington post of october 14th prime minister pedro sanchez was quoted as saying in a social and democratic state of law compliance means full compliance this has been a judicial process with full got into it and transparency government to spain will work in the coming days towards god and to public order and protecting our democratic laws as it has always done so if your tweet and for speak here from lend lend says wow those cuts are when women were so inspiring shame on the e.u. for not helping catalonia i'm so happy that scotland stands by catalonia vester

catalonia he says if you want to says fascinating insight into the impact of the husband's been political prisoners remember to keep writing to them georgina says thank you for the c.d.'s could i suggest the interview questions can be answered in catalan and said to please what your dinner sometimes we do use interpreters but we thought i guess english was really 1st class it was great to hear it 1st hand directly from them alan says this current interview is a wonderful but heartbreaking i hope they stay strong lovely message alan i'm just says what a lovely woman i hope your man gets to come home soon he deserves our thanks and he says the children will one day carry the torch of freedom and finally gordon says chill is an inspiration what a strong woman it's horrific that is come to this that we're trying to catalonia next week but today we're back in blighty covering the progress of the christmas election the u.k. general election takes place on the 12th of december that are the number of parties

standing including the conservatives labor the pool democrats change u.k. the greens the brics party and ukip and additionally in scotland the s.n.p. in wales place company i didn't or than arland the d.d.p. sion fame s.t.l. p. ulster unionist party and the alliance party as well it's a number of candidates sounding as independents but 1st to scotland and to alex. and i'm joined from glasgow by the doyen of scottish political journalism a woman who's been covering scottish elections since alaska with 10 election of 1000 some to 4 i'm delighted to be joined by roof wishart i'm not sure i'm delighted to be carbon dated claim that alex ruth the departed the main party leader said gemma carbon bought us johnson of both been in scotland and last week but neither visit was an annoyed success no atoll in fact boris johnson has taken.