the u.n. poison gas watchdog. groups official reports. in syria. coming up in the. losing a contract worth billions drive on microsoft a lawsuit claiming one person in particular. hong kong's pro-democracy movement takes a break from protests securing a big win in closely watched local elections seen as a litmus test for. just after 5 pm here in the russian capital this monday november the 25th hello and

welcome to our international. a whistleblower cast doubt on the way the international chemical weapons watchdog handled last year's alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of do not a leaked internal e-mail from named employee of the o.p.c. w. claims the organization cherry picked misrepresented facts and 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. on the agenda of this annual meeting is just routine administrative stuff but this thing this in this whistleblower e-mail is certainly the big elephant in that room because it was compiled by one of the co all of those over the o.p.c. w.'s report on the 20 team that chemical attack in the syrian city of duma and well his words i should say sum up better than anything he's feeling so when he saw what

the report that he was working on turned out to be as he's 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 some 10 days to get on the site of this chemical attack saying that while this is plenty of time 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 o.p.c. w. report which by the way took a whole year to finish was not tasked with assigning blame one of its findings did

circumstantially pointed fingers at the saga for instance that 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 no air force and that was sort of a redemption for the 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 the. picture at all the redacted report states that the gas was likely released from the cylinder as 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 whistle blower he's cooling on the body to make public the version of the report that he saw and that he worked on i'm 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 whistle blower's e-mail in full you can go on our website coleman 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. very happy to say we can bring on live to the program know joan korea jones a former cia analyst and whistleblower john good to see you if the irregularities flying dollop in the leaked e-mails actually do turn out to be legitimate what consequences could the o.p.c. w. face do you think well the sad truth is not many consequences 1st of all i think that 6 the truth the original. report will get out there somebody had the conscience and the presence of mind to send this e-mail at

least 2 week you remember week you weeks has never ever had to issue a correction or a retraction so we know that you permission is true we know that came directly from the organization so. i think that that what we have here is the opening salvo in you know a back and forth between the media and the you that is going to eventually result in the release of more information remember it wasn't just you that was originally talking about this not having been taught by us that there were other organizations out there washed up right that said that information just didn't add up and that we couldn't come to. you speaking just a few hours ago we heard from the o.p.c. news director and he apparently alluded to the leaked email we can just have

a quick listen together. these themes that nature both for inquiry for in the reader. team express subject to its use what is some of these. new super groups and so the public discussion. i would like to read to rate. by the partial and professional conclusion reached by the 5 finding mission. is so there you have subjective diverse views how did you read that does it suggest the o.p.c. w.'s just going to ignore this. you know i can't help that just smile when i hear this statement because what he's not saying is that the whistleblowers information is incorrect what he is not saying is that the report was it changed the redacted report was changed from its original so sure. a big one for you

bureaucracy bureaucracies protect themselves he's trying to protect the organization right now rather than address the facts of the situation and the facts of the situation indicate that the report was changed it was changed for political reasons but surely those who felt the organization the they want to know the truth they want to see the. i would i would suggest i would hope so and who could force the watchdog to take the claims more seriously than. well the u.n. secretary general certainly could but don't forget that the u.n. secretary general doesn't actually run the united nations the security council runs the united nations and even within this council it's the united states that runs the united nations and so you know if we're going to get the bottom of this it's going to have to come from u.n. headquarters and it's going to have to come with us from the united states and that

i have trouble seeing just one response to moscow has threatened to block next year's budget in fact for the o.p.c. w. if it includes funding for another investigation and identification team by the watchdog not an independent team that's what they have been calling for for quite some time not just moscow by the way a docket effectively shut down in the o.p.c. how would other countries react to that do you think. you know i think actually there would be a sizeable number of countries that would support such an action because the truth is really what we all ought to want to find and you can find the truth through political channels through doctored reports or or reports that are changed out the back i think the russians are are correct that the only way to exert influence in a situation like this is to report a budget john thanks very much for your time this hour john kiriakou former unless one whistleblower life on r.t.

international. all right let's move the program or no it's more headline stories if there is one thing amazon does not like it's losing a business battle the internet giants formally launched a legal challenge against the u.s. defense department after rival microsoft's fall off the firm to clinch a very lucrative contract the decision surprised on willis who thought that in the bank but the raw is about more than just money or perhaps the. amazon and microsoft 2 giants that have changed the way we experience the wild. yes warm and fuzzy ads to appeal to our pockets over the holiday season but it turns out the real money that both ofter 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 jet die project and ambitious event 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 that lethal potential in guiding missiles and drones amazon thought it had its foot in the door not only is it the need in the wilds of cloud computing it's also made $600000000.00 from its dealings with the cia since 2013 so you can understand the shock when microsoft was crowned and amazon's not happy it's so unhappy in fact

that it's filed a lawsuit saying that it was pasco at the recommendation of a certain donald trump we believe is critical for our country that the government and its elected leaders administer procurement subjectively 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 bias and it's important in these matters be examined and rectified it's true trumpton but also have rarely exchanged a kind word. but the president argues that amazon is swindling the u.s. postal service out of money and doesn't pay enough tax 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 there is really such complaining i mustn't think 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 retreated 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've been a detailed. process in determining the need to the wolf item of 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 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 their conscience and mothers refuse to accept last fortunes for mike. 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 waltz richest man rumor has it even helped jeff bezos clear his desk of brian becker from the antiwar hunter coalition

says the pentagon is always considered to be a solid business partner in us defense and profits tend to go hunting to the. well 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 this is business and in america war is very profitable and war contracting very very profitable. hong kong's pro-democracy movement is celebrating victory in the chinese

territories district council elections after a record number of voters flocked to the polls on sunday the opposition want to run like a percentage of the 452 seats being contested putting them in control of 1718 districts it's the 1st election since violent protests are up there in june and is widely seen as a vote on the prove beijing government is doing the unrest hong kong opposition leaders say the result sends a clear message to the authorities that demonstrators demands must be taken seriously now the huge win means the pro-democracy bloc will get a bigger say in the election committee that selects hong kong's next chief current leader the she hopes that turkey won't return to cale's for the city to have a fresh start the streets were noticeably quieter in polling day compared to what hong kong has endured in recent months.

was. how. to say. thank you. we asked hong kong based economist benjamin char whether he thinks the low in the on risk last. on one hand the leader's security lashes the new police chief with topol case last week words on the other hand both sides can't actually call for a ceasefire peace and courage to tell it that the actions and actions of the rioters by be coordinated contrary to the kind of all happening no loss to my god even the people preaching can last most of the suits these the secular action is

best not directly impact much the majority all do get the legislative council for lawmaking north that election to be for the next few weeks that so i expect why it's could still go on respect people that you actually results expression of ultimate intention of the right is really not just of all the welfare of hong kong but on a bigger growth will put itto competition between powerful nations or of monday's news in moments. the world is driven by dreamers shaped by thinkers senate those with.

thinks. we dare to ask. one else chose seemed wrong. when all along just don't call. me old it is yet to shape out just they become educated and in gains from it equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart when she's to look for common ground. american academy seems to have inclusiveness issues with conservative lecture is

increasingly being shot at by student protesters last witness the more than a 1000 university of california students trying to block a conservative pundit from speaking on campus in berkeley. ca. moves protesters from the human chain to block the audience from entering the building the chants of racist slogans on and held banners criticizing double trumps immigration policy police in riot gear then guarded the entrance from the demonstrators up to 7 protesters were arrested the event did eventually go ahead. and has been taking a look 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 upsurge demanding the right to discuss and debate off campus issues however lately it has become far less receptive to certain divergent ideas. a columnist with right wing conservative views that are too extreme for some. ann coulter 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 but 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. i the university had to issue an apology it seems like the rules of free expression and open discourse don't apply to rightwing speakers and approach from voices conservatives often complain about a perceived a liberal bias in aca damia and the constant curling of accusations of naziism at right wing scholars samuel abrams a professor at sarah lawrence college actually called for regulating political balance this walked 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 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 counteracts this progressive will mentor 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 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. different and challenging ideas that might open their eyes i do say that it is important to have different values share on campuses not just progressive values our ideas are the ones that cater to our e.c.u. 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 them 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 a little up and artsy new york. fishing for red proles which are a delicacy in the telling cuisine has become a whole lot more dangerous for fiction than in sicily it's got nothing to do with the sometimes treacherous scenes but rather because they face being attacked by the libyan coast guard with some even ending up in jail that's the spite the italian authorities warning freshmen to steer clear of water is claimed by libya back in 2005.

my life has been filled with tragedies each time i go out to sea when i say goodbye to my wife she says i don't know if you're coming back families remain in fear because for us fishermen the mediterranean is in a continuous war. i've had somebody experiences with them on the 22nd of march 996. next a libyan patrol boat seize my part off to 4 or 5 hours of shooting it all happened in international waters off the 6 months they released us from prison for good behavior. at all i was afraid it happened off the coast of tripoli while we were below deck

they kept shooting we hid in the machine room in the freezer cells and they continued shooting and didn't want to stop. right here going to the e.u. does not help us there are shootings and many other risks if they should us we might die. a slow is that it waged this is our job i was born a fisherman we've been fisherman for 3 generations i want to die a fisherman. ok more programs get their start here on our team moments and i'll see you in 32 keep close.

to. what politicians do. they put themselves on the line they get accepted or rejected . so when you want to express an injury. or some want to be upset. at it like to be close it's like a korean war camp. that. interested always in the waters and that. there should.

be always still got you that you're tired indeed that's ruthless need. to grow cool it will rebuild your cloak of these predators and then you. could want to think about you think about it. can they each you want to look at them with all. the read too much how to get to be a good tone chris on the author to get the if you go to jail when i'm not good children till one with all that's you if i want it for me don't come fall who will do more.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle with ukraine remaining in the headlines we have a look how russia's foreign policy is changed 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 neocons 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 as specially since 2014 it 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 2014 is that there

you can take the russians by surprise you can never panic will have and they will always adjust and very rapidly and very effectively to changes in policy in the west and to aggressive moves by the west so what has happened is that the russians firstly adjusted their energy policy and they weren't going to let ukraine continue to sit on top of their transit pipelines and try to block all control russian gas exports to europe so the russians full steam ahead with all these other part lines north street to turk stream which are birds now rapidly coming to. an end they're being they're being they've been built and they've been successfully built and attempts to stop them have not succeed it and of course.