iraqi foreign ministry has to summon the u.s. ambassador in baghdad after sunday's airstrikes on iraq and syria that left dozens dead the u.s. has called it a defensive operation against iranian aggression. the iranian nuclear deal is as good as dead if you countries bow to u.s. pressure that's the message from iran and russia whose top diplomats have had talks in moscow. and wiki leaks founder julian assange claims he's dying in the u.k. prison clyde was sedatives and subjected to 23 hours of solitary confinement a day we hear from a soldier's friend who was told the chilling details in a call from the jailed publisher on christmas eve. me because he spent christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail the work time if you sounded

all of what he said to me but i'm slowly dying here. you're watching r.t. international i'm whereas other loquitur thank you for joining us. from baghdad says it is summoning the u.s. ambassador over the latest airstrikes on iraq and syria that killed $25.00 people the u.s. special representative for iran brian hook has defended those attacks insisting that they were to terence against iranian aggression auntie's caleb maupin has more . the u.s. state department has defended the decision to conduct air strikes in iraq in 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 will give you a mission 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 $25.00 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. while staying with developments affecting the middle east

washington has slammed joint navy drills between iran russia and china the u.s. state department said it's time for sanctions not military games the 3 nation's 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 key shipping and energy supply routes run through the region sparking tension between tehran and washington amid the exercises iran's foreign minister job ads are if visited moscow for talks with sergey lavrov the top diplomats touched on bilateral relations with iran's foreign minister saying they're at a high sturrock or high point but the main focus was the iran nuclear deal officially known as the joint comprehensive plan of action or a abandoned by the u.s. back in 2016 level of stated the west must return to compliance with the deal. signal is that because nature the u.s.

is forcing the countries not to fulfill their obligations despite iran's compliance with the reached agreements we demand that the us and the e.u. both return to full implementation with the 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. you must be recognized as dead so 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 g.c. p.o.a.'s politically they supported it but in practice they do not do enough to counter the us sanction because we think the europeans should stick to their commitments. professor said mohammed him around the from the university of tehran believes 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 uniform of world time and or wants to see itself as the head of the appalled

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 who they are most european leaders dislike 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. while a has been a turbulent year for iran and that region as a whole marked by tough sanctions and the seizure of tank is looking back his room on closer 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 took part 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 boma task force to the u.s. central command region sent a clear and unmistakable message to the iranian regime 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 tensions reached a new high when a u.s. surveillance drone was shot down by the iranian military trump had ordered out is very military 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 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 the crowd to still took to the streets it was initially at peaceful rally but it quickly turned violent in some places and resulted in several deaths including a law enforcement officers now that story if he's even put that country on it's old so it's a good shutdown 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 binds 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 out 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 ramon koester of r.t. terror on. now turning to some other headline news wiki leaks founder julian assange claims he slowly dying in 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 von smith on christmas eve the jailed publisher made the disturbing revelations. do you 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 of that happy memories he was slightly slower his speech was slurred he was speaking slowly now julian is a highly after looks very clear person when he speaks and he sounded awful and it was very upsetting to head and 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 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. a solid was arrested in april and since then medics and un observers have warned about his declining physical or mental health hearing in february will decide on his extradition to the u.s. where he's accused of publishing classified documents and could face a 175 year sentence for an smith again thinks the u.k. government has to explain why it sometimes is being treated so badly. because remember he served the time for the bail charged and he served his time so 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 violence threat to society i think we need some articles from from the british government why they treason. and like this why can't we have some independent assessment of 100 international got to those and asked to arrange

a visit so at least a sender of some representatives to check on him but that hasn't been allowed and those melt so the un rockets are on torture has been very clear about assange just mistreatment and describes it in the most appalling terms and yet his claims are very recently in november that the british government of completely ignored his request to see julian probably his health properly assess. still ahead on the program we continue our review of the past year look at some of the key events including the unrest in latin america we'll have that after this short break. 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 and what gave us concern 2019 the good the bad and the other. is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe from. high salacious community. are you going the right way or are you being that. direct. what is true what is faith. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or a maybe in the shallowness. welcome

back now with 2020 just around the corner let's continue our look back at some of the key news events of the year that was. well today's top picks that we're putting in the spotlight here are streets of rage and the mysteriously titled mind games let's see what stories the 1st of these topics has for us if we can work it out they get latin america hong kong yellow vests and friends violent protests were prevalent the world over in $29000.00 from yellow vests in paris to the beijing riots in hong kong and of course in latin america so let's focus on that shall we here's a picture that shows some of that the continent had more than its fair share of turmoil in 29000 protests have raged from venezuela and bolivia to chile and

ecuador auntie's down of course 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. i. 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 or lower. 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 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 thing but all options are on the table all of these are all options are on the table all options are on the table was. not to do this as a result 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 at all what is donald trump's cases against venezuela the cases bellow is the only live venezuela 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 persecute my social. 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 you 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. they were.

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 whose free market policies have shown he's happy to do business with the u.s. a case 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 $29000.00 latin america wasn't the only continent and went through to malta is period we'll bring you another recap of this year's protests on tuesday. for now though let's move onto another topic from our recap of the news events from the year let's take a look at mind games and see what we've got in there were delving into the issue of controlling the way people think and the role of social media in that particularly facebook so let's take a look at what the ministry of facebook has in store for us a live. takes a look at how the tech behemoths has become the censor in chief when it comes to what we can and cannot say. i'll tell you what having this job for 6 years maybe 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 evolution look at these one by one and check out their censorship record. you true 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 ply 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 it's tools so one should not trust them to do it now i'm skeptical one of the late 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 2019 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 a 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 or anyone to stop this one other 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 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 judgments and i don't think that a private company should be censoring politicians or news this 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 count's 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. social media lawyer yeah cohen believes facebook is becoming more and more engaged in political censorship. it became very difficult call the company to change. not just perception but realisation. party to a political game facebook is now finding itself. actively engaged with whether or not to broadcast or certain political.

instead of simply. free speech for everyone because of. lack of transparency we don't really know on what basis facebook is making certain decisions. effectively a publisher facebook is taking active role in deciding what content should be published. they will be back at the top of the hour with more.

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hello and 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. locking in the year that was i'm joined by my guest robert bridge he's an arty website writer we also have dimitri bobbitt she is a political analyst and editor at internet media project and in nicosia we cross alex christian for o. he is the director and writer for the duran dot com 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.