iraqi foreign ministry is to summon the u.s. ambassador in baghdad after sunday's airstrikes on iraq and syria which left dozens dead u.s. has called it a defensive operation against the rain in the gresham. really nuclear deal is as good as dead if you can trees in u.s. pressure that's the message from iran and russia whose top diplomats of talks in moscow. and wiki leaks founder julian assange claims he's dying in a u.k. prison plied with sedatives and subjected to 23 hours of solitary confinement a day we hear from the sounds his friend who is told the chilling details in a call from the jail publisher on christmas eve. julian rang me because he spent

christmas with me and my family in 2011 on bail what time it sounded awful and he said to me but i'm slowly dying. giving thanks for joining us here on r.t. international. the u.s. special representative for iran has defended sunday's airstrikes on iraq and syria that killed 25 people insists that the attacks are a deterrent against iranian aggression and reports new york. the u.s. state department has defended 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 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 a room. in the mission city of restoring deterrence against me and aggression 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 to get a decisive response that makes clear what the president has said for months and months and months which is that we stand for the slum. because the put american men 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 incur a 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 airstrikes 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. i've known 2 political scientists turned author of a new book trump run from containment to competition for c.r.b. cover welcome the u.s. says these strikes were targeted. but they happened today in the territory of 2 of the countries rex leadership has made it clear they're not happy. with a bit further fallout from this. well it seems that the trumpet ministration has clearly miscalculated the reaction of the iraqi government and the you know high level iraqi politicians who across the political spectrum uniformly condemn the u.s. is attack as a flagrant violation of iraq's sovereignty and so the timing of this attack in the

midst of this very profound political crisis in iraq is very questionable and shows that the u.s. is pursuing a misguided policy not just toward iran but also iraq saw in chaos and instability and this will likely elicit a response by you know those targeted and you know a cycle of violence is likely ahead of us and this will not serve the interest of the u.s. or iraq is going iranians or anyone and so i really question the wisdom of this policy that reminds me of what president clinton did back in 1988 on the eve of a very important impeachment vote he ordered airstrikes on iraq it seems to me that the trumping administration is stealing a leaf from his predecessor and using an artificial crisis in order to

deflect attention from the political crisis at home. of course the u.s. a strong militarily could not do so without anticipating surely a military response is it likely iran will use force against force. well right now you know we are observing. what is called the shadow war or proxy war whatever you want to call it but this is getting to be a very dangerous gambit on u.s.s. part that has engaged in this unilateral economic warfare against iran that is also impacting negatively iraq's economy and a good deal of what is wrong in iraq's economy today can be traced to us as erroneous prost to the region so i don't know what's going to happen if the trump administration does not reconsider its misguided that are pro-choice that is going

to escalate the crisis in the region by pursuing these unilateral actions that are uniformly condemned by the iraqis and and others and this will inflate anti-americanism in iraq and in the region it will make it harder for the us to sustain its military bases in iraq because it requires approval of the iraqi government and his cabinet and you know this is very bad for iraq's political instability and the us government is simply not assisting the. vested interest of iraq is in stability and tranquility by pursuing this unilateral hawkish and warmongering policies. well that's the feel for the people of iraq they say a proxy war is just said being being fought by 2 the nations on the on their own land how how do you see this playing out in the future is the security in the region

going to stay remain this unstable perhaps even get worse or will things improve. unfortunately given the nature of trouble ministrations counter-productive erroneous policies i'm very pessimistic about what's what lies ahead and think that this will have very negative real cautions war iraq's security and stability at a time and the country after years of fighting terrorism and so on. will likely last back into another round of instability and mayhem and that is not you know something that anybody looks forward to and this administration again is using this as an excuse to deflect attention from the impeachment process and we need to look at the domestic sources of this policy and not you know by the our fish our

narrative that escape goats the iraqi militias for what is happening because there's no solid evidence that this particular group is behind that rocket attack in kirkuk and you know there are a lot of potential candidates that could have done that in order to trigger a crisis so i think that the u.s. is verging on the process of becoming trigger happy and the trial by ministration is trying to you know look presidential at a time when the impeachment process has a stigmatized it and and damages reputation not only at home but also in international community i guess is are many thanks to for c.r.b. author of the new book trump an iran from containment to confrontation thanks again . ok let's stay with developments affect in the middle east because washington islam and joint navy drills between iran russia and china the u.s. state department said it's time for sanctions not military games the 3 nations 1st

ever joint naval drills ended on monday and place in the northern part of the indian ocean as well as the gulf of oman and included antiterrorism and piracy training shipping and energy supply routes run through the region sparking tensions between tehran and washington and amid the exercises surrounds foreign minister javid zarif visited moscow for talks with a lover of the top diplomats touched on bilateral relations surrounds foreign minister said that they're at a historical high points but the main focus was the iran nuclear deal officially the joint comprehensive plan of action or. abandoned by the united states back in 26 thing they did that the west must return to compliance with that deal. signal is that because the nature of the u.s. 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 jury c.p.o. a must be recognized as dead shot if 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 g c p o a politically supported but in practice they do not do enough to counter the u.s. sanctions we think the europeans should stick to their commitments. professor side mohammad marandi from the university of tehran believes that the drills are a message to washington that 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 are most european this leaders

just like or anyone else but the reality is that we've moved beyond that stage the united states is on the relative decline countries like iran russia and china are on the rise and 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. it's been a turbulent year for iran and that region as a whole by tough sanctions and the seizure of tankers looking back is roman culture of. 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 tanker crisis and had to deal with the worst domestic protest in 40

years 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 bomb a 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 out is very minute or. strike on iran but withdrew his decision minutes before the operation began so avoid 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 mutual 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 it's easy even put the country on its old school 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 arabian can a poor jobs or eve dismiss that kind of support saying that it was the u.s. sanctions that caused so much suffering to his people. a regime that bans food and medicine for ordinary people including elderly and sick iranians by economic terrorism can never show its 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 ads out with an adversary like washington they're in for still more thrilling moments in the coming year. r.t.

iran. we could leaks founder julian assange slowly dying get a u.k. jail as he's regularly tranquilized and is kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day in a phone call to his friend on christmas eve the publisher made the disturbing revelations. julian rang me because he spent christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail 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 articulate 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 and 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 sent 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 award about is the climbing physical and mental health hearing in february will decide on his extradition to the us where he's accused of publishing classified documents and could face a 175 year sentence but again thinks that the u.k. government has to explain why science is being treated so badly. because remember

he's served time for the bail charged and he served his time so that he's now on remark it's highly unusual to put on remand prisoner in belmarsh when not a threat of a physical violence threat to society i think we need some answers from from the british government why are they treating him like this why can't we have some independent assessment 100 international got to those and asked to arrange a visit at least to send some representatives to check on him but that hasn't been allowed nils meltzer the un rupture on torture has been very clear about asylum just mistreatment and describes it in the most healing terms and yet it's claims very recently in november that the british government of completely ignored his request to see julian probably his health properly assess.

now with 2020 just around the corner let's continue our look back at some of the key events of the year that was. and so much to choose from what they can different highlights so what are the topics for today we have got streets of rage and mind games rather mysterious underworld so let's stick with the simpler sounding streets of res though we go and it's pretty self-explanatory here violent protests is what we're talking about here prevalent all over the world from the other vests in paris to the anti beijing rights of hong kong and of course what's happening in latin america so let's focus on that in particular and the picture speaks a 1000 words there the continent had its fair share of turmoil protests the race from venezuela and bolivia to chile in ecuador i think it all quarter breaks it all 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 the scent. 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. by 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 seen 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 don't try too 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 anything but all of shien's around the table all of these are open to all options or. on the table all options are on the table because

. not to the resolve. 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 don't know what is donald trump's cases against venezuela the cases bellow is the only live in his way or 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 there's either why am i resigning so that my opponents cannot continue to my socialist brothers it's my

duty as an indigenous president and the president of all believe us to seek peace after morale has got the boot senator janine on years 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 is 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. that 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 on the 2019 left in america wasn't the only comes in in the went through 8 to moat she was

pivotal bring into the recap of this year's protests. get us all from me for this evening pretty good almost a round was in a look at my colleague will have all the latest for you in just over half an hour. wow 2020.

times the welcome to going underground we will be back with a brand new season starting on january the 8th but until then we will be showing some of your favorite shows from the last season of the decade coming up in this show a legacy of the brutal british back to provide mr pinochet we talked to one of the most popular politicians in south america's richest country sheerly for geo jackson about overthrowing governments in latin america allied to washington london and brussels and award winning journalist greg palast explains our new liberalism born of western business schools has led to revolution wherever the people of latin america have sought freedom and justice plus the director of moscow winning film still alice wash west with class faultlines at the core of his new film for netflix

. all of them all coming up at today's going on the ground 0 1st it was 49 years ago this month that salvador allende was inaugurated as president of chile the latin american country today is not only in the midst of an uprising against the liberal president sebastian pinera but witnessing solidarity protests for palestine after more u.k. armed violence in the middle east involving serial u.n. resolution violates israel in the past 24 hours i am there would die in office overthrown and replaced by anglo american backed dictator augusto pinochet and according to some leaders fighting global neoliberalism the legacy of pinochet lives on. board they don't want to lecture and they want to. wipe us away in a pinochet style. sometimes we say these hard things and in europe and other places they see it as an exaggeration or extremist and it's not exaggerated they want to put a pinochet in place in venezuela i mean sino today democratically elected maduro may

still be in power in venezuela custodian of the world's greatest known reserves of oil even after attempts by the european union to overthrow him but in chile washington's man is in trouble accused of reviving the days when u.k. companies armed pinochet to torture his people after so many years of trying to recover from a long dictatorship of almost 20 years you have an open wound in the chilean society when you have the military on the street and that's another thing that we have to take into account when understanding this crisis. trauma of to land society of having the military on the street is open again with this repression in human rights violation joining me now via skype is a member of the chamber of deputies of chile the democratic revolution politician jackson who is in valparaiso a city the scene violent clashes between protesters and police want your thanks for joining us before we get to the latest violence drama.