u.s. official call sunday's strikes on iraq and syria that killed dozens a defensive operation in that direction. iranian nuclear deal is as good as dead this country is bound to u.s. pressure that's the message from the round of russia whose top diplomats of hope killed some months ago. julian assange claims he's dying in the u.k. prison plied with sedatives and subjected to 23 hours of solitary confinement a day we hear from his songs his friend told the chilling details in a call from the wiki leaks co-founder on christmas eve. rang me because he spent christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail and what time it sounded he said to me but i'm slowly dying.

good evening and welcome this is r.t. into. the u.s. special representative for iran as defended sunday's strikes on iraq and syria that killed 25 people brian hook insists that the attacks are a deterrent against iranian aggression said. to a new york correspondent caleb openings across this story for us just bring us up to date with the details please indeed now the u.s. state department has just sanded the decision to conduct air strikes in iraq and syria saying that this was done to deter the influence of iran in the region now 25 people were killed in the raids and dozens were injured let's take a listen. one of the things we want to emphasize is that this was

a defensive action that was designed to protect american forces and american citizens in iraq we're also working on the missions that of restoring deterrence against in rimi integration now it's important to point out that the target of these strikes was an iranian backed militia and according to washington the patience of donald trump regarding tehran and its activities in the region is starting to run out. what we did was take a decisive response that makes clear what the president has said for months and months and months which is that we stand for this long. to take action the put american men and women in jeopardy i would add that in our discussion today with the president we discussed with him other options that are available and i would note also that we will take additional actions as necessary to ensure that we act in our own self-defense and we deter further bad behavior from militia groups or

from iran. now the airstrikes according to u.s. officials are retaliation for a rocket attack in courage cook iraq against a u.s. base that killed an american contractor now no one has claimed responsibility for that attack however the pentagon has specifically singled out an iranian backed militia and blamed them for the incident and the death of this u.s. contractor now the group that was attacked is one of the main shia forces in iraq that was key in the fight against islamic state and essentially now we have iraq coming forward and saying that these airstrikes are a direct violation of their sovereignty as a country furthermore iran has referred to these recent air strikes which killed 25 people and injured dozens as an act of terrorism now the iranian islamic revolutionary guard corps has actually said that they reserve the right to take

revenge and carry out attacks in response to these actions by the united states so this is quite an intensification of the situation in the region all eyes are waiting to see what happens next quite a tense moment thanks to the correspondent in new york the killable. washington also slammed joint navy drills between around russia and china and the u.s. state department said it's time for sanctions not military games the 3 nations 1st ever joint naval drills which ended on monday took place in the northern part of the indian ocean as well as the gulf of oman and included antiterrorism an anti-piracy training shipping in energy supply routes run through the region sparking tension between tehran and washington amid the exercises around foreign minister javad zarif visited moscow for talks with her gay lover off the top diplomats on bilateral relations with the rounds foreign minister saying that they're at a historical high point and then focus though was around nuclear deal abandoned by

the u.s. in 2016 valid the west must return to compliance with the deal. sitting on the start because. the us is forcing the countries not to fulfill their obligations despite iran's compliance with the reached agreements we demanded that the us and the e.u. both return to full implementation with their obligations voluntarily and then iran would do the same but if our western partners do not want to confirm their respect for international law then the. must be recognized as dead or to be the united states is trying to impose its will on other countries and make them violate international norms and standards as for the european position on the. politically they support it but in practice they do not do enough to counter the u.s. sanctions we think the europeans should stick to their commitments. of us aside mohammad marandi from the university of tehran believes the drills are a message to washington it can no longer dictate global terms unilaterally. the

united states. c. still sees itself as the head of a uniformed world and or wants to see itself as the head of the unipod world and the europeans of course are. will abide by the united states no matter who's in charge of the country whether it's trump who they most european leaders dislike or anyone else but the reality is that we've moved beyond that stays the united states is on the relative decline countries like iran russia and china are on the rise the united states is going to have to accept and recognize the new situation and i think that the fact that these 3 countries actually carried out these maneuvers together jointly all 3 together is of major significance and it sends a message to the united states that they can no longer dictate terms the turbulent year for iran and the region as

a whole marked by tough sanctions and the seizure of tankers looking back his or mine cultural. for terror on the year 2019 was thrilling to say the least it narrowly avoided an open military conflict with the united states got hammered by new stifling sanctions to port in a so-called oil tank let's go through it one step at a time. following its withdrawal from the iranian nuclear deal the us continued its sanctions against the islamic republic the country's uncompromising stance swiftly led to an american military buildup in the region the united states is deploying the u.s.s. abraham lincoln carrier strike group and bomber task force to the u.s. central command region sent a clear and unmistakable message to the arabian regime that any attack on united states interests on those of our allies will be minutes with unrelenting force in may and june of 2019 some oil tankers were damaged and some caught fire in the gulf

of oman washington immediately blamed terror on in may the rebels in yemen carried out multiple drone strikes on a saudi oil pipeline the u.s. again stated that it believes iran was behind the attack and continued deploying a different troops over the next 2 months the pentagon said the buildup was in response to heightened iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations these assets would join the u.s.s. abraham lincoln carrier strike group and a u.s. air force bomb a task force in the middle east region in response to indications of heightened iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against u.s. forces and our interests president trump even said that should there be a conflict it would be the official and of iran washington saber rattling seemingly ended when trump approved the sale of $8000000000.00 worth of weapons to saudi arabia but tensions reached a new high when a u.s. surveillance drone was shot down by the iranian military trump had ordered arafat

is very military strike on iran but withdrew his decision minutes before the operation began to. boy the loss of life. pressure on terror on continued in early july when british royal marines seize its super tanker off the coast of gibraltar iran responded by capturing british flag tanker that stand in peril as it passed through the strait of hormuz following usual accusations of piracy threats by iran to close the strait of hormuz and the ensuing panic in the oil markets all ended well as both tankers were eventually released. despite iran's resilience to the u.s. sanctions their effect has taken its toll the last months of 2019 or more by protests across the country when gasoline prices skyrocketed due to the government's decision to cut fuel subsidies so the plan was to direct the additional funds to supporting over $60000000.00 people in need crowds it still

took to the streets it was initially a peaceful rally but it quickly turned violent in some places and resulted in several deaths including law enforcement officers now that story if he's even put that country on it sold the internet shut down to prevent the protests from spreading now let's guess who was the 1st to capitalize on iran's civil unrest people enjoy a better future when their government begins to respect basic human rights abandons its revolutionary. posture and its destabilizing foreign policy in the region and behave simply like a normal nation he's a radiant counter porridge of odds are he dismissed that kind of support saying that it was the u.s. sanctions that caused so much suffering to his people. a regime that binds food and medicine for ordinary people including elderly and sick iranians by economic terrorism can never show it's disgraceful support for the iranian people despise and the other year under serious pressure life here in tehran continues the

internet is back online with all major social networks available and i checked that myself but hardly anyone in iran has any it sounds with an adversary like washington they're in for still more thrilling moments in the coming year. cost of r.t. tear on. claims he's slowly dying in the u.k. jail if he's regularly tranquilized and is kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day in a phone call with his friend smith on christmas eve the wiki leaks co-founder made these disturbing revelations. julian rang me because he spent christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail or what time ago i think he simply wanted a few minutes of skate and to talk to us because of the memories he had about happy memories he was slurring his speech was slurred he was speaking slowly now julian

is a highly after kulaks very clear person when he speaks and he sounded awful and it was very upsetting to hear him the idea of him being sedated has come from several people who visited him who clearly been told and the british government have been asked about it and they refused to address that matter what they say is they're not mistreating him but clearly he's being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day he sounded awful and he said to me but i'm slowly dying here and he said that all started from my own why not of course my children his father keeps telling us that his father is telling us this do you know we must stop this what i find so depressing as a country is clearly we harbor political prisoners we have political prisoners because that's exactly what he is i didn't think that we were the sort of country that mistreated them in this way. it was arrested in april and since then medics and un observers of warned about is declining physical and mental health hearing in

february will decide on his extradition to the u.s. where he's accused of publishing classified documents and could place a 175 year sentence on smith again thinks the u.k. government has to explain why his sons is being treated here. because remember he's served the time for the bail charged and he served his time for that he's now on remand it's highly unusual to put a remand prisoner in belmarsh when they're not a threat of a physical or violent threat to society i think we need some answers from from the british government why the. treating him like this why can't we have some independent assessment 100 international doctors and asked to arrange a visit so at least a sender some representative to check on him but that hasn't been allowed nils meltzer the un roughly ter on torture has been very clear about a sounders mistreatment and describes it in the most of hauling terms and yet his

claims very recently in november that the british government of completely ignored his request to see julian probably his health properly assess. with 2020 just around the corner let's continue our look back at some of the key events of the year that was. i. now take a look at the topics that we have chosen for our highlights today streets of rage and the strange they named mind games that stick with what we know the streets of rage go to be or do says on the tin indeed rage in different parts of the world you can see the yellow vests in paris sent to beijing writes in hong kong and of course latin america too many countries to really name so let's just have a look at some of the scenes that will witness their continent had

a really big show of turmoil last year protests raging in venezuela bolivia chile equitable parties don't quarter breaks it down for us. it started as a spark the next thing you know the inferno of revolution is all around you and can't be extinguished that is the south america of 2019. what's crucial if that's your aim is to find just the right moment to stir up dissent. venezuela's chaos was the epicenter

right after the country reelected president nicolas maduro washington pounced challenging the government's legitimacy and trying to provoke a coup. i'm mike pence nicolas maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power and it gracefully in doubt the legitimacy to run venezuela upon the leader of the opposition to me i swear to formally assume the duties of the national executive as president of venezuela president trump officially recognize the president of the venezuelan national assembly one going to do is the interim president of venezuela the time is now to support the venezuelan people to recognize the new democratic government led by interim president gore though the safety and security of president and his family are of great importance to the american people why don't tried hard to win over the military but when it became clear it stood behind a majority washington rolled out some empty threats are you hearing very well that

is what i consider getting a thing but all 'd options are on the table all of these are all options are on the table all options are on the table it was. not to test the resolve of the united states and steamrolled the country with sanctions adding to the suffering of ordinary people already living through economic collapse but is it really democracy that washington and its allies were interested in or perhaps this has something more to do with black gold not that what is donald trump's cases against venezuela the cases bellow is the only live in his way now the riches of venezuela it's gold gas diamonds iron water a material riches resource grabbing hasn't only been confined to venezuela in the region. bolivia seen its own share of unrest this year but there are right wing coup was successful the elected president

abel morales forced to step down and flee the country well he does either why am i resigning so that my opponents cannot continue to myself. brothers it's my duty as an indigenous president and the president of all believe in this to seek peace after morale has got the boot senator janine anya is proclaimed herself interim president not exactly a household name before that but what's more important is who had her back and he guesses we pledge our support to the believe in people and to the transitional government led by president janine and yes as they prepare for these elections. we support you need 9 years in bolivia as she would to ensure a peaceful democratic transition through free elections and just like in venezuela it's ordinary people who are paying the price for regime change.

and seeing the parallels here's another one lithium is in high demand in the united states and that valuable resource also happens to be in abundance in bolivia. chile has also been no stranger to disorder where clashes have been deadly at times thousands have rallied since mid october demanding the president resign and the constitution be revised there have already been widespread reports of torture and unlawful killings following the military's deployment.

but on these protests the u.s. has been silent maybe it's because the president is sebastian piñera a harvard graduate who's free market policies have shown he's happy to do business with the u.s. the case is not so different from this next country. at last we have ecuador a country that became engulfed in protests after the government carried out i.m.f. backed severe austerity policies. yet again silence from the us and the reason is pretty much the same as with chile the us supported the government's newfound allegiance with the i.m.f. washington might pick and choose the battles that benefit its interests the most but at the end of the day fire is fire it doesn't care who it burns and when

a whole continent is set ablaze it becomes extremely difficult to extinguish. and in 2019 latin america wasn't the only continent the went through a to mulch was to bring another recap of this year's protests on tuesday. for now though let's continue with the highlights cern this time to move on to another topic we've heard states of mind games. now we're delving here into the issue of controlling the way people think and the role of social media in that particularly facebook. takes a look now at how the tech behavior has become the censor in chief many say when it comes to what we can and cannot say. i'll tell you what having this job for 6 years has made me report on censorship quite a few times look at this freshman giorno patrolling co asking about facebook censorship at a press briefing hey man you have no idea what awaits you and 29.

by the end of the decade look at it the evolution of online platforms has gone all the way towards 0 tolerance for offenders even though it all one started down there with pretty much 0 regulation but who decides what exactly makes someone an offender all right let's dig into the 2900 stage of the evolution look at these one by one and check out their censorship record. you chub work hard on reading their platform of harassment see the latest update to their harassment policy came out in december go on read into it you'll find words like veiled threats pli threats right there warning that whatever that's supposed to mean will be punished and you'll find 0 examples and no proper details.

because it was in force these policies seemingly random oh no it's cool so once you know to trust them to do it now i'm skeptical one of the late night hosts allowed to gross people and pick on people's physical appearance but on the you tube has come so you new guidelines they don't set lines and they don't go right. the latest in a series of policy updates after the previous ones you tube didn't hesitate to take action the result record breaking numbers of accounts and videos taken down. in $29.00 taking facebook really took us all by surprise by showing what it takes to put on a new face not that it looked like they were keen to do it but someone just happened to notice that while trying to dodge a defamation lawsuit facebook prefer to itself as a publisher look at this mature c.e.o.

telling congress his network is that tech company not a media one well that happened before 2019 and the new f.b.i. gave itself the green light to censor just about anything which they've been up to quite strenuously although in march when the new zealand shooter live streamed a massacre of 50 people everyone was like where the hell were the moderators or censors were anyone to stop this another thing i won't call anyone out for consistency but in a recent interview mr zuckerberg said no to censoring political ads even if they contain lies in what i believe is that in a democracy it's really important that people can see for themselves what politicians are saying it's that they can make their own judgements and i don't think that a private company should be censoring politicians or news the tech giants however have been blamed for screwing up

a bit of campaigning like when gabbert for instance challenged google for taking down her ads this alarming trend has been growing with tech giants continuing to silence voices and restrict access to information this concentration of power and influence is a direct threat to our democracy by the way did you know about this side to it 29000 saw the list. facebook moderators claiming to have p.t.s.d. growing with a former employee suing the social media giant even though the company said it was offering all the required support. well no point in digging too deep if the story's repeating itself twitter has mastered the art of new era suspensions and bans to the vagueness of the rules probably isn't so much to worry about so you can get in trouble for it can be many things from supporting joy massage to pulling

a prank on the fans of the cats movie but just keep in mind what kind of folks you may find among twitter's staff a british army psyops soldier war saudi arabia is tasked with digging into the counts of the kingdom's critics well we'll keep using all of them anyway right let's wish the industry pioneers well in wherever the volution takes them in the new year. thing with r.t. this evening go stick around but not top stories for you in half an hour.

of the day there are good terrorists and bad editors the bad terrorists and those in yemen or the united states deems to be a threat the good to those war in syria the cia and the u.s. military were engaged in covert actions really throughout the world. where they were assassinating populist leaders they were backing up right away military windows funding an army of death squads there's not any more because there's always a small car. or a really good. profit. airs . oh wow ok on it 2020 should be a whopper. thousands of american men and women choose to serve in the country's military and the

decision that has shattered lives every song came to a complete. the day that i was raped all being struck in here you know told to shut up or they'd kill me and i see how destroyed my life any screamed at me and he made me come in the gram my arm and he raped me with his birth thinking if you take into account that women don't report because of the extreme retaliation it's probably somewhere near about half a 1000000 women have now been sexually assaulted in the us military rape is a very very traumatizing thing tat happen. but i've never seen trauma like. women who are veterans who have suffered military sexual trauma reporting rape is more likely to get the victim punished than the offender by hand and almost 10 year career which i was very invested in and i gave a sex offender who was not even put to justice or put on the registry this is simply an issue of tower and violence male sexual predators for the large part of target whoever is there to prey upon whether that's

a man or woman. in a world of big part of. a lot of things 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 smart we need to stop slamming the door. 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 we're watching closely watching the hawks. glow in welcome to crossfire where all things are considered on peter lavelle it is

a long held tradition on cross talk to take stock of the year that is about to pass we have a look at what moved us what changed us and what gave us concern us 2019 the good the bad and the ugly. cross talking the year that was i'm joined by my guest robert bridge he's an r.v. website writer we also have dimitri bobbitt she is a political analyst and editor at enosa me internet media project. and in nicosia we cross to alex christian for oh he is the director and writer for the duran dot com originally rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate all right let me go 1st to alex in nicosia you know alex so much happened this year it seems like the time lines get shorter and shorter.