moscow has slammed washington sanctions on russia's north's train to gas pipeline to germany saying it's crossed a crucial line against its nato allies and it comes and gives an angry reaction as well padding the sanctions interference in domestic affairs. a u.s. court rules that american spy agencies can collect data on citizens without a warrant if done by accident. and iran has been sentenced to 16 years in jail after stealing and burning in l. g.b.t. flak from the us church debate whether the time fits the crime. 16 years for offending probably one of the most privileged groups in america when it came to

court he did not express any regrets and indeed justified his actions based upon his particular extremist interpretation of the traditions say. hello you're watching r.t. international i'm arizona lot where to thank you for joining us. now there has been strong reaction from. the latest u.s. sanctions targeting nordstrom to the russian gas pipeline to europe that is almost complete. we're looking very closely at the u.s. crossing a crucial age of foreign policy as it starts imposing sanctions which russia has already become accustomed to against its own allies we can see the intention to make europe by american liquefied gas and thus to slow the development of the continent's economy to undermine its capability of competing with the u.s.

in the global markets washington has decided that even the closest nato allies don't deserve mercy if the u.s. geo political and commercial ambitions are at stake. the german government has regretfully taken into account that sanctions against north stream to turks stream initiated by the us congress they affect german and european companies and are tantamount to interference in our domestic affairs or we requested comment from nordstrom spokesperson new dollars completing the project is essential for european supply security adding the work will be finished as soon as possible the e.u. also slammed washington's punitive measures saying it objects to any penalties against european companies that are conducting legal business and it comes as the main swiss contractor of nordstrom to pulls out over washington's tough penalties earlier saskia taylor told my colleague andrew far more on this story. the trumpet ministration sanctions have become

a political tool of choice and often simply. automatic reaction to anything that the president takes issue with in this case is apparently no different because president trump has officially signed a bill which will require him to impose sanctions on any foreign companies and individuals which are involved in the building of nordstrom to no money of course no no $2.00 is a huge $11000000000.00 pipeline over 1000 kilometers long running from russia to germany and essentially it's going to flood the european continent with russian gas at a faster and cheaper rate than anything else currently available on the market since the very beginning washington has had a bit of a problem with the project germany is really drove out of russia because they were getting from 60 to 70 percent of their energy from russia and the new part we don't want your energy supplies to. the united states commends all our european partners used to going to strong stand against north stream 2. and we demand others to do

the same many see this bill as a last ditch attempt by the u.s. to stop trying to end its trucks the pipeline was originally due to be completed by mid 2020 but it seems they're ahead of schedule that in 2 weeks out from it being done in fact there are any around 60 to 70 kilometers left of the pipeline to lay now one of the many companies which will be affected by this bill is the swiss can i say should. and they've been providing vessels for the construction a couple of days ago they in fact received a very aggressive left a from the republican senator ted cruz which can only be described really as a letter of blackmail he gave them an ultimatum either you stop participating in this project or we're going to freeze all your assets in the u.s. and we're going to. all of your employees from coming into the u.s. so unfortunately they count out and and have stopped all the operations america has made it clear is concerned it says about europe's energy secure. it's a bit of a. wildcard pipelines between russia and europe run through several european

countries such as poland but to russia ukraine. this means that of course they get a very hefty transit fee for allowing these pipelines through in contrast to the baltic sea meaning that these countries will be bypassed washington maintains that this is unfair and specifically with regards to ukraine says that it's somehow politically motivated by what's very important to note here is that just a few hours before the bill was signed into effect russia and ukraine decided that they would likely by the end of $29000.00 sign a new 5 year agreement on russian transit gas value crane to europe so that completely undermines what washington saying that somehow russia is trying to cut ukraine out of a deal and it's led many to suspect that really what washington is up to is is trying to eliminate fact competition and its dominance in the energy markets especially considering the bill also impose sanctions on another russian pipeline

which is tug stream which runs through the black sea to tuckey so it's quite a patent being established to your so american who you see exporting its own gas to europe as a result in europe's reaction to all of this the e.u. and u.s. standpoint on this issue couldn't be more different european countries call this an economic project that benefits everyone involved russia agrees germany and particular has consistently said that european and that you policy is europe's business and it's also a us to stop meddling so it's probably on surprising that these latest sanctions were not welcomed germany's doing. things the u.s. sanctions have done some serious damage to relations between them and washington. this project is so close to completion and it's so crucial to the german economy. that there will be a way and we will find a way to complete this project but of course the damage to the german american

relations is done and. the idea that america is consciously imposing extra charity extraterritorial sanctions to the german economy or to hurt the german consumers is now firmly implanted into germany's minds from the left to the right that is absolutely outraged by the actions of the us government because in germany frankly some parts of the governing party are very close to the u.s. government but they are by this decision because they know the importance of russian gas supply to the entire germany on. america's spy agencies are permitted to gather information on citizens without a warrant in certain situations the u.s. court of appeal has ruled this can happen if a non-national who is legitimately being monitored abroad makes contact with an american the case was brought by an american citizen arrested in 2011 he had paid

to guilty to attempting to give material support to terrorist organization however he questioned whether it was legal for the n.s.a. to collect information on him without a warrant form an intelligence official and whistle blower william binney told us the ruling does not reveal anything new. it doesn't make no difference at all it was all under executive order $12.00 triple 3 section $23.00 c. which they used that's been signed into into effect since the reagan years the reagan presidency so they've been using that as in the as a way and also the use the excuse that they are unable to separate that data and that's a bright line to so they've been lying to the courts all along and they have the capability to sort that stuff out it's just that they don't want to because that gives them power over everyone the ability to look into all the political opponents like they did the president from. all the n.s.a.'s illegal mass phone and internet

surveillance of its own citizens was revealed back in 2013 by edward snowden form a contract at the agency he's wanted in the us and making classified information that we've gone to the file of by russia. alphabet soup of government agencies was it carrying out all kinds of wild spying and violations of privacy it was all pretty clearly a violation of the us constitution or that meant it offers protection from unreasonable search and seizure however at the time the n.s.a. tried to fight back pretty hard does the n.s.a. collect any type of data. on millions or hundreds of millions of americans.

no sir. it does not. not wittingly 7 years on u.s. federal courts have ruled that edward snowden the whistleblower who really feel this apparatus of surveillance won't be able to make any money from the book that he just published the ruling argues that edward snowden violated his contract with the cia and the n.s.a. because he didn't submit his book for prepublication review who don't want to see books linked to skip written especially don't want to see books like this get rid of from it is still pursuing that case quite strongly they're more focused on that of the financial censorship side of it this court ruling comes as federal courts have also ruled that it is now acceptable to monitor the communications of americans with a quote foreign interest without any procedure or warrant so while u.s.

courts have ruled that it is now acceptable to continue carrying out practices once considered to be scandalous they have come down pretty hard on the man who revealed . these practices to the public so the americans even remember edward snowden we decided to ask new yorkers can you tell us who edward snowden is now he doesn't ring any bells help edward snowden i don't know edward snowden. it's. way to 2nd stone's not the. not to bret's that guy. here is the wiki leaks not like the wiki leaks guy but the guy who was working for the government here and is over in russia now that he leaked some information he leaked basically the government spying on us and watching of our things and gave a detailed report as to what the government's doing yes there was

a massive outrage back in 2013 when this was 1st revealed but it seems that sense then this is all become part of the new normal in the united states what was wiretapping of civilians will continue in the united states and american leaders will also continue to boast that they have the freest country in the world we're going to do with sitting there in case it's in a mission that the unit and i say is incapable of collect the only targeted data on who aren't fine lines that they're monitoring so i mean to me that now is not a problem even back in the 99 he could have done that but they decided not to do that then we're going to collect everything but they're not saying here is that the cia the f.b.i. and the d. e a another law enforcement people have access to that data to search for a common crime in the united states and they use it against u.s. citizens in and in criminal courts without without telling the crew or anybody else in the court lawyers included so they're fundamentally violating the rights of

others of us do this every year and they do this without any oversight whatsoever or even attempting to move or say to us in the united states and many of the intelligence. these is any good anywhere it's just it's over look conversations they are not over for iraq. a man found guilty of committing a hate crime has been sentenced to 16 years in jail after stealing and burning an l.g. p.t. flag from a us church adolfo martinez was 1st arrested in june and accused of desecration the flag belonging to a local church in iowa earlier in the week he was also convicted of 3rd degree harassment and reckless use of fire and he's admitted he's against homosexuality however the length of his sentence has led to some debate why does the left cheer when the american flag is burning no one goes to jail for that but they do for burning an activist movements flag while he got more years than murderers get in

the u.k. unbelievable so burning a rainbow flag is hate speech bunning an american flag is freedom of speech i see. he should have been the american flag then he would have been praised statues dedicated well i think in principle people should have the ride to behead flags a flag is a symbol and people have a right to disagree with homosexuality they have a right to disagree with denied states or britain i don't think that should be a crime per se but i would say that the flag is a bit different from the american flag because it days ignites a specific community in the same way as maybe burning a jewish flag might designate the jewish community you look at the report of what happened he was kicked out of the strip club he grabbed the flag he set it on fire outside of the strip club and started ranting about i was gonna burn down the club i was in there i don't know it sounds like maybe he was wasted i don't think i

don't think this is what they just would go around doing even if that weren't the case it still is extreme and hate crime laws are silly anyway they should exist no a crime happened here it is absolutely 100 percent our institutionally protected speech to burn the gates of the gay pride flag in the same way that according to the supreme court's also protected speech to burn the american flag well i'm gay and much of my human rights involve supporting the human rights of l.g.b. plus people but i've got to say that this sentence is excessive it is disproportionate it is not commensurate with the crime committed however there are some disturbing elements a he was not given the sentence purely for stealing the flag and for burning it there were also. accusations and claims of arson and threats to burn down all the properties namely a strip club when it came to course he did not express any regrets and indeed

justify his actions based upon his particular extremist interpretation of the christian faith now i don't believe that this flag necessarily represents the rainbow flag i don't think it. represents gay individuals maybe at one point it attempted to but we've come to a point where the rainbow flag and all the symbolism represents an l g b t political ideology which is becoming increasingly authoritarian increasingly toxic increasingly anti-christian so people are going to have gripes about it i mean this is actually proven that people are our millennial was a study done recently that young people millennia old are less in favor of how they were a few years ago now the left in the gay lobby would say that is due to hate speech on the internet and trumps america blah blah blah no i would say the real reason is probably because this movements that is symbolized by the flag has become authoritarian and ridiculous we see it with the insane trans narrative in the

bathroom transfer people and women sports we see it with the children with the transylvanian the drag queen stories i mean you can think of and this is just another example 16 years for offending probably one of the most privileged groups in america. well still to come on the program the u.s. democrats have released a guide on how to combat propaganda we'll bring you that top tips after this quick break. one of the things that i started to realize is that the noise in my head as it me i started the practice of organizing my wife is a wrong what i wanted my life to be about even when it conflicted with my internal noise so you know why i wrote a book but in my head i'm not smart enough people like me to write books. but what

i held myself to it was the action and i started to notice that i could co-exist with that while still living a life that went beyond that. to what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race in this spear in dramatic development only really i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk. welcome back now us democrats have an axe to grind when it comes to propaganda which perhaps is why they've released a guide on how to spot and fight it top tips include don't watch artie and read

george orwell daniel hawkins delves deeper. the us democrat party is concerned about the information people are consuming so they've created a handy guide to make sure you can distinguish right from wrong we've seen what happens when dissin from ation goes unchecked it threatens our democracy and makes us less safe that's why we're making sure you know how to combat bots troll farms think accounts dissin from ation and propaganda it's short and sweet and prepares you on how to fight fake news and use social media properly and responsibly so let's take a look actively seeking out information online from multiple authoritative sources firstly you should actively look for news don't just absorb but there is one caveat you should try to find only authours of sources if you can't decide what those are just use the ones approved by fact checkers and don't go near the blacklist

speaking off fact checkers news guard is one plug in the list recommends it's got several high ranking officials on its advisory board where previous cia director x. the nato secretary general the former us government officials and leading media figures and it marks many mainstream outlets as trustworthy despite any scandals they may have been embroiled in while r t is a big no no so change channel right now before it's too late. ask yourself who the all through online content is where they post the information and what they're hoping you will do with it next check is the author factuality and objectivity seem to be prioritized in the guidelines something one can argue with until they mention social media transparency features as one tool to help find the facts there's a link to facebook's transparency of god lines which separate the real from the fake but it's fair to say not all those telling the objective truth get verified

and all those verified stick to the objective truth. rules 3 and 4 go without saying of course one should never be manipulated nor let blatant fakes go unchallenged the void to be manipulated by divisive or dishonest content if you see something untrue and social media trying to inject truth into the debate and then we move on to the final and most comprehensive point educate yourself on the tactics of online manipulators as a whole list of recommendations of what to watch and read and perhaps unsurprisingly the emphasis is on democratic leaning outlets from n.b.c. to the new york times they also have recommendations for you to watch projects launched by loyal media you can learn all about internet outrage on the right wing's role in fake news controversies on a podcast by the daily new york times enterprise also in the recommended reading list of pieces on russian interference the $26000.00 election and trumps alleged

collusion with moscow as even a special warning reserved specifically for right wing disinform ation though no mention of the same risks on the other side of the political spectrum and if you're short on time and can't read a lot there's some quick links the democrat supported social media accounts although if you do have a bit more time on your hands you can always delve into longer reports where you can mainly learn all about russia's efforts to attack and destroy worldwide democracy always a classic democrat narrative it was borrowed short who said if you teach a man you will never learn or this god may go even further not teaching but telling in no uncertain terms where the truth apparently lies to be found only in acceptable narratives and only trustworthy sources and summing up that list george orwell's 1984 though i only lost their. well chris hedges is the pulitzer prize

winning host of the o.t. show on contact he says the d.n.c. is advice is designed to shut down in alternative views the guidelines are meant to tarnish our discredit critics of the system unfortunately because they have a megaphone and a platform it's somewhat effective we now have lived with since the beginning of the trumpet ministrations services 3 years there is a whole demonization of russia which has burned a convenient for oil to attack social critics they want those voices shut down and they have of course a facebook twitter you tube have created algorithms to shut us down independent of anything to do it's a combined assault against critics and they use the idea of us working as foreign agents or. influence or manipulation of a foreign power as

a kind of excuse that's nothing new we saw in the cold war. now in other news this hour in the u.s. it has been alleged the mormon church is sitting on $100000000000.00 in donations that it misled its members into making the whistleblower behind the claim used to be a senior portfolio manager at the church's investment decision division he also says the church may have breached tax rules. for many years the mormon church is startling $1.00 to $2000000000.00 a struck last. reserve of the reserves. are one c 3 non profit well according to the whistleblower a company called n sign peake advises helping the church exploit its status as a nonprofit organization to dodge taxes alleging the mormons could go a huge amount to the state the whistleblower also says that members have parted with their money on false pretenses including propping up a couple of businesses mormon church asks members to give it 10 percent of their

income and this money is meant for charitable educational and religious purposes but that was a blur claims that simply been squirreled away for the last 2 decades the church denies the accusations. claims being currently circulated are based on a narrow perspective and limited information the church complies with all applicable law governing our donations investments taxes and reserves well the church also claims the whistleblower is a disgruntled ex employee seeking compensation and altie source inside the church told us the internal revenue service finished a major or did 2 years ago and found no problems but people we spoke to in new york were not surprised by the whistleblowers revelations i'm not terribly surprised after all the scientology. money tax evasion what i feel like churches are corrupt there's always issues with $5.00 a one c. series in churches and money and doing what they're doing i mean i guess it just

depends i should pay definitely should pay taxes now especially with the guys will have those big houses in the jetson tax free it's not fair they should pay something but they just don't that's constitution it's a constitutional question to do this a place axis more investigation more arrests and it's doing that everything but no taxes let everybody everybody pick one and sign peak advisors it was an arm of the mormon church which proved that it was not. born acquirements which is why they got into this in the 1st round because we didn't have to reports what was going on under the i.r.s. tax law if you are informed then you have to use that money for such a charitable purpose but in this situation this particular investment arm there was a bailout evans serves per day also in the. city so those are projects where there is no charitable purposes that once per week you priceless and they have

a plaque form we are getting involved and those are the ones for profit then turns or maybe they should. well that is your update i'm eyes on a lot could not be back here with the rest of the team at the top of the hour with more news from around the world will see that. this is a sticker from the water bottle phone in the stomach of the fish the brand is part of the coca-cola company which sells millions of bottles of soda every day the idea was that let's tell consumers there are the bad ones there the litter bugs are throwing this away industry should be blamed for all of this waste the company has long promised to reuse the plastic. in maine as soon as. their plastic. stay in your own hands at special

projects funding. online your best bet is the end of a footy team but for now the mountains of waste only grow higher. in a world of big part of the new lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the back and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then.

strugar this is the kaiser reported hour of one is there is argentina so many head of. this country for can rock stars yes we're going to talk about some of the opportunities that have been taken over the last few months or years and you know it fits into this theme that we've covered over the past few years which is that as soon as the u.s. used the u.s. dollar and in particular swift as a financial weapon alternatives emerged and thus said in the end of the power of empire this is happened throughout history hubris often sinks an empire when they become a bully and so we're going to look at what

a story about china china working with a dutch company by the way here this is when the us all those tariffs on agricultural goods and all sorts of goods that china retaliated by stopping all imports of soy bean products and of course argentina is a big producer of that so they're china's pivoting and having to re develop and build infrastructure in countries that they want to do business with so here's a headline china wants to build a greens super highway and arjen tina here is the parana river is their main waterway and it dumps out to the ocean and here's your guy here's argentina is when osiris and china has stepped away from u.s. agriculture imports and said it would bid on a project that could create a greens superhighway in argentina reported reuters chinese state owned construction company c c c c is readying a bid that would allow it to dredge art.