international chemical weapons watchdog. group. in syria. coming up on the program. one person in particular. and closely watched. 247 news live from the russian capital this is your our names you know hello and

welcome to the program. a whistleblower has cast dollars on the way the international chemical weapons watchdog handled last year's alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of duma a link to internal e-mail from all named employee of the o.p.c. w claims the organization cherry picked and misrepresented facts in its official report the released by wiki leaks coincides with the o.p.c. w.'s 5 day conference which is now underway in the hague as he should out of reports. on the agenda of this annual meeting is just routine administrative stuff but this thing this in this whistleblower email is certainly the big elephant in that room because it was compiled by one of the co all of those of the your p.c. w.'s report on the 28 team the chemical attack in the syrian city of duma and well his words

a should say sum up better than anything he's feelings when he saw what the report that he was working on turned out to be as he is accusing the o.p.c. w. of manipulating facts after reading the modified report i was struck by how much it misrepresents the facts an unintended bias has been introduced into the report undermining its credibility crucial facts have morphed into something quite different what was originally drafted now this is not the 1st time this report is drawing criticism some have been pointing out that it took the o.p.c. w. investigators 10 days to get on the site of this chemical attack saying that well this is plenty of trying for people on the ground to tamper with evidence it didn't take that long for the u.s. and the u.k. and france to pin all the blame onto the assad government and to launch air strikes against the syrian army facilities and while this obesity w. report which by the we took a whole year to finish was not tasked with assigning blame one of its findings did

circumstantially. pointed fingers at the sun for instance they have concluded the final version of the report concluded stated that the canisters carrying that deadly chlorine gas they fell from above and the opposition the rebels they simply had no means of doing so they have nowhere force and that was sort of a redemption for the hasty action taken by the u.s. and its allies but according to the e-mail according to this e-mail this whistleblower the initial version of the report did not paint this picture at all the redacted report states that the gas was likely released from the cylinders the original report purposely emphasized the fact that there was insufficient evidence to affirm this so now with all this criticism coming from both the outside and now the inside of the o.p.c. w. this whistleblower he's calling on the body to make public the version of the report that he saw and that he worked on i am requesting that the fact finding

report be released in its entirety as i fear that this redacted version no longer reflects the work of the team well if you're interested in reading this whistleblowers e-mail in full you can go on our website you don't call me and find all the necessary information and links there and now meanwhile we have reached out to the o.p.c. w 2 and just just to see if they have anything to say regarding this scandal regarding this leak so far they are to come back to us. well a little over an hour ago the o.p.c. w.'s director general reiterated the watchdog's confidence in the in the report emphasizing its objective nature he didn't mention the leaked email directly but appeared to allude to it in his speech. if there's one thing it doesn't like it's losing the internet giants formally launched a legal challenge against the u.s. defense department after rival microsoft beat the firm to clinch

a very lucrative contract the decision surprised analysts who thought amazon out of in the bag but the rug was about more than money. to explain it. amazon and white christmas oft 2 giants that have changed the way we experience the world . yes warm and fuzzy ads to appeal to our pockets over the holiday season but it turns out the real money that goes softer is the pentagon's given the u.s. military spent over $600000000000.00 annually it's unsurprising there's a battle for the big contracts so head to head and microsoft have been vying for the pentagon prize of $10000000000.00 over the next 10 years the contract in

question is for the judge by project and ambitious offended that would allow the pentagon to stall sensitive data on a single large cloud it would also allow the military to take full advantage of fishel intelligence tools tools which have drawn concern from ethical watch dogs for their lethal potential in guiding missiles and drones amazon thought it had its foot in the door not only is it believed in the wilds of cloud computing it's also made $600000000.00 from its dealings with the cia since 2013 so you can understand a short quote and microsoft was crowned and amazon is not happy and so unhappy in fact that it's filed a lawsuit saying that it was passed over at the recommendation of a certain donald trump we believe is critical for our country that the government and its elected leaders administer procurements objectively and in

a minute is free from political influence numerous aspects of the joint enterprise defense infrastructure evaluation process contain clear deficiencies there is an unmistakable by. yes and it's important that these matters be examined and rectified it's true trump and bezos have rarely exchanged a kind word the president argues that amazon is swindling the u.s. postal service out of money and doesn't pay enough taxes he's also not a fan of the bears also and washington post whose printing press is pretty hot from all its anti trump coverage so we probably wasn't hard to guess who trump was not going to throw his support behind we're getting tremendous. really complaints from other companies and from great companies some of the greatest companies in the world are complaining about it having to do with amazon and the department of defense and i will be asking them to look at it very closely to see what's going on because i have had very few things where it is really such complaining amazon

thinks that there is evidence of one to influence something both microsoft and the pentagon deny the acquisition process was conducted in accordance with the political laws and regulations in law for his which treated fairly and evaluated consistently with the solicitation stated evaluation criteria we have confidence in the qualified staff of the department of defense and we believe the facts will show they have been a details process in determining the need to the wolf item a best made by microsoft but while these companies fight it out for the pentagon's affections others have been more reticent last year outrage was sparked after it emerged google was cooperating with the department of defense on a project that helped the army identify drone targets over $3000.00 employees signed a petition calling for the trial of more ality over money and ultimately resulting

in the search engine not renewing the contract we believe that google should not be in the business of war building this technology to assist the u.s. government in military surveillance and potentially lethal outcomes is. not acceptable so while some battle with that continent son mother has refused to accept lost fortunes for microsoft it's been a golden with its war chest filled by a milestone contract shaz jumped 3 percent and to top it all off bill gates has recently returned to his favorite position the wilds of richest man rumor has it even helped jeff bezos quit his task of brian becker from the antiwar unser coalition sees the pentagon's considered to be a solid defense and business partner as the fence and profits tend to go hand in hand. but amazon's lawsuit represents indicates the cutthroat competition between the mega monopoly corporations that are competing with each other to become

an appendage of the pentagon big technology companies know that in order to really prosper and thrive in the american economy you have to affix yourself to pentagon spending because the lion's share the majority of discretionary budgeting each year in this massive federal budget actually goes for death and destruction for the u.s. military machine so this is not simply a matter of war the defense department and the contracts this is it this is business and in america war is very profitable and war contracting very very profitable. ok let's bring you to hong kong where pro-democracy movement functions are celebrating victory in the chinese territories district council elections after a record number of voters flocked to the polls on sunday the opposition wall around

90 percent of the $452.00 seats being contested but even for all of 17 of the districts it is the 1st election since a violent protests erupted there in june and is widely seen as a vote. the pro beijing government is handling the on rest on calling opposition leaders say the result sends a clear message to the authorities and the demonstrators demands must be taken seriously well the huge win means the pro-democracy bloc will get a bigger say on the election committee that selects hong kong's next chief current leader say she hopes the territory won't return to chaos for the city to have a fresh start the streets were noticeably quieter on polling day compared to what hong kong how's and jordan in recent months.

was. thanks. we asked hong kong based the columnist benjamin cho whether he thinks the low level in the on rest can last. on one hand the leader's security measures new police chief who took office non-sweet words are dead ahead both sides will can't actually call for a cease fire peace and courage to tell it that actions and inactions of the rioters are high be coordinated contrary to the cream having no mass to my guy even people preaching can lost most of the seats of these elections is not directly impact much the majority of the legislative council for lawmaking nor that you action committee

for the next chief executive so i expect why it's could still go on the respect that you actually results expression of the ultimate intention of the right is not just of all the welfare of hong kong but on a global political competition between powerful nations had this monday when it comes to wind power not everyone's a big fun in germany as the country's go to renewables industry has dealt a blow live from moscow they say is art.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see if. american seems to have inclusiveness issues with conservative lecturers

increasingly being shut out by student protesters last wednesday more than a 1000 university of california students tried to block a conservative pundit from speaking on campus in berkeley. ah ah. ah ah ah ah ah ah ah. ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah. of young protesters forming a human chain to block the audience from actually entering the building be a chanted on t racist slogans on hell banners criticizing donald trump's immigration policy hundreds of police in riot gear then guarded the entrance from the demonstrators up to 7 protesters for the rest of the parties came up and looks at the bigger picture . universities are supposed to be a place for learning getting a useful degree and exploring certain ideas however lately they've become

a home to some rather intense political activism as well as excluding certain ideas take the university of california berkeley as an example during the 1960 s. the campus was home to the free speech movement an upsurge demanding the right to discuss and debate off campus issues however lately it has become far less receptive to certain divergent ideas. with. a columnist with right wing conservative views that are too extreme for some and culture opposes women's suffrage and called for militarily converting the middle east to christianity now arthur laffer is different from ann coulter arthur laffer served in the reagan white house he's not a pundit rather an economist he just wrote a book about trump's america 1st economic vision well being on the university

students did not like that he was given a platform. was the university had to issue an apology it seems like the rules of free expression. in an open discourse don't apply to rightwing speakers and approach from voices conservatives often complain about a perceived a liberal bias in academia damia and the constant curling of the accusations of naziism at right wing scholars samuel abrams a professor at sarah lawrence college actually called for regulating political balance this wolf to ideological distribution among college administrators should give off students and their families pose the ideological imbalance coupled with their agenda setting power threatens the free and open exchange of ideas which is precisely what we need to protect in higher education in these politically polarized times now this idea of hiring professors based on their political views and mandating that it be $5050.00 among the left and right didn't go over too well

in fact many called for him to be fired just for suggesting this is what new york city college students think about the atmosphere on the campuses any ideas that counteract this progressive movement or this so-called leftist movement often get met with a lot of backlash conservative professors or people with conservative viewpoints doesn't get shut out of the conversation would be comparative to me going into a class that was something against what i believed in and making the same insight i like don't you think that they should be allowed to do that they when they hear whatever they want to hear it's not allowing them to experience new and different and challenging ideas that might open their eyes i do say that it is important to have different values to share encompasses not just progressive values or ideas or the ones that cater to ours you we can't just allow ourselves to be put in an echo chamber of liberal ideas or in an echo chamber of conservative ideas we have to be unbiased we have to look at you know different viewpoints and make our own

decisions on and if we only hear one side that's all we'll ever hear in the last several decades ideas described as liberal and progressive have pretty much become the dominant view in america's institutions of higher learning. and despite rhetoric about diversity and freedom of expression these folks are pretty determined to keep it that way and don't mind silencing those who might disagree. art see new york. scholar michael repton wall claims he was forced to leave his job as a new york university liberal arts professor after earning his conservative views he said he's active the students are increasingly turning against lecturers they don't agree but. i would call them illiberal 1st of all they're not liberals there are liberal leftists who are attempting to shut down any speech that they don't approve of even if they don't know what it is because in many cases they don't even know what the speaker say or have to say they don't even understand different viewpoints

a lot of on listening to them they are complete political thoughts and think that their viewpoints are the only wants worthy of. a hearing and therefore they have turned the university into nothing but a semi violent echo chamber so yeah there is a new wave of activism but i wouldn't call it grassroots by any means it's it's an astro turf movement and this synthetic that's being whipped up by members of the democratic and other. leftist groups and it is completely. frenzied it is now it is not rational at all. to run the world with some other headlines this hour a charity vessel docked on the telly in port on sunday after rescuing more than 200 migrants from the mediterranean sea they were picked up following 3 rescue operations last week the italian foreign ministry says they will be settled in

italy france germany and malta in line with a deal reached by those countries in september. chile's entering its 1st week of violent protests over low living standards and inequality so far more than 20 people have died and around 2000 injured during the unrest during weekend riots in the capital police used tear gas and water cannon demonstrators threw stones on torched buildings. iraq is also deadly antigovernment protests 9 were killed and dozens injured during clashes with police in a number of cities over the weekend according to medical sources the protests began last month with demands to encourage to get the government to quit its thought more than 300 people have died since the rallies began. now i widely seen as germany's most important source of renewable energy wind power is suffering something of an economic blow back there once thriving industry had

been at the core of the country's attempt to get carbon emissions down by the year 2030 our current for the lion's share of electricity but financing and support is fading. reports. angular merkel's unwavering commitment to protect the environment has earned her the nickname as the climate chancellor as part of her latest green initiative her government approved a 60000000000 euro package of climate policies it's aim to generate a 100 percent of its electricity supply using renewable energy by 2050 it's induced feast we as industrialized countries are also on the frontline we need to do something to minimise our carbon footprint to stop climate change and reverse the rise in temperature if you push for climate protections it will cost money but this money is well spent if we ignore it i think it will cost us more money that's the truth the linchpin of germany's green shift is wind energy

ringback. considering that you wonder if the industry is booming well its launch earlier this summer zeman lost 2000000000 euros and had to cut 2700 jobs which half of those were here in germany and are called a nother giant in the industry had to cut twice as much as zeman did and it's blaming all that on the government the current energy and climate policy not only jeopardizes the innovations in jobs created in our industry over the years but also climate protection and the energy transition as a whole after the federal government presented its climate protection package it became clear that the problems are even greater other companies have been hit even harder by the energy crisis nordics was in the red and was bought out by

a spanish firm said the on have to file for bankruptcy you are probably wondering why is the green shift facing so many problems well even though many germans do agree with wind energy a lot of them are not keen on the idea of having. a wind farm in their back yard. in an effort to appease protesters berlin announced new regulations forcing firms to seek permission from local authorities if they want to build within a one kilometer of a residential area during approval however can take up to 2 hears the prospect of protracting the legal battles and delays is scaring off investors the fact that the federal government is threatening to sink to this over one of the most important aspects of our economy because of some public criticism over the initiatives shows

the current political weakness studies show that if it wants to achieve its carbon neutrality by 2050 germany must increase its wind power production 6 fold but so far this year wind energy witnessed a significant drop off as investors become increasingly wary about investing into the wind business the dream of turning germany into a green state seems to be fading eventually for r.t. . well if you would like to tell further into any of those stories our website has you covered the latest news on all sides of utes can be found there this is 247 r.t. international. what

politicians do something to. put themselves on the line. they get accepted or rejected. so if you want to be president. or some want to. have to do it to be gross that's what the 43 a boy can't be good that. i'd be interested in the waters are. there should. be always still got you that you're tired indeed that's rude couldn't see me. on. the river in your cloak of these predators then you come one.

who will want to think about you think about it. can mates and each of them tell me how good i'm as old. you don't have them dirty too much how to get to be i get told chris on the author to get the if you go to jail when i'm in a good saloon tell him with all this you if i want it for me don't come fall who will do more vocal than you. hello and welcome to cross talk were all things considered i'm peter lavelle with

ukraine remaining in the headlines we have a look how russia's foreign policy is change since the 2014 coup in care and the impeachment circus continues but it's anything but funny. talking some real news i'm joined by my guest here in moscow dimitri bobbitt she's a political analyst and editor at interest me internet media project and in london we crossed alexander macarius he is a writer on legal affairs as well as editor in chief of the duran dot com all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate let me go to alex 1st in london well ukraine remains in the headlines and the 2nd half of the program we'll talk about the impeachment circus but let's focus on how ukraine the ukraine the ukraine project that the west has had since the coup in 2014 has changed russia's foreign policy and it's something

that's beginning to worry people being said and i mean worrying people at the neo cons in washington in the in the swamp we could talk about sanctions we're going to energy policy that turned to china and europe's reassessment in there's a lot going on right here that's never talked about in western media go ahead alex well indeed we just have over the last. period of about 10 years but it is specially since 2014 is of the crisis in ukraine i think is crystallized russian doubts about the extent to which a partnership with the west is possible and what we saw after 2040 is that there you can take the russians by surprise you can never panic with them and they will always adjust and very rapidly and very effectively to changes in policy by the west and to aggressive moves by the west so what has happened is that the russians

firstly adjusted their energy policy they weren't going to let ukraine continue to sit on top of their transit pipelines and try to block or control russian gas exports to europe so the russians full steam ahead with all these other part lines north st 2 turks stream which are birds now rapidly coming to an. end the end there being they have been they've been built and they've been successfully built and attempts to stop them have not succeed it and of course they have successfully motor 4 ways with a major realignment with china they've built gas pipelines with china they've developed very close police equal relationships with china china's now become their major trading partner and.