univers is a symphony of strings. the body of assassinated iranian general. returned home tens of thousands lined the streets is killing us put the world on warner after relations between the u.s. and iran sicked the lowest in years. wiki leaks co-founder claims he's dying in prison in london plied with sedatives and subjected to 23 hours a day of solitary confinement he made the allegations in a christmas phone call to a friend. rang me because he spent christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail one time again. he said to me but i'm slowly dying. i. have new year new protests for hong kong after

a massive turnout for 20 twentieth's 1st rally turns violent with riot police the ploy to disperse protesters. live from moscow thanks for joining us on r.t. international and daniel hawkins were you treating him from the program. of the week and the year got off to a troubling start with tensions skyrocketing over the middle east following the united states assassination of iran's most senior commander. his body has now arrived in iran in the southwestern city of buffalo was greeted by throngs of mourners on saturday thousands turned out in the iraqi capital for the general's funeral procession rallies have been ongoing since friday's deadly u.s. air strike on baghdad airport and ran swiftly vowed to avenge his death as relations with the king. and states plunged to

a new low donald trump has also threatened to retaliate without hesitation if the ron attacks american bases. they attacked us and we hit back if they attack again which i strongly advise them not to do we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before on saturday evening the united states confirmed that several rocket attacks took place in iraq some close to the american embassy in baghdad the military base near the capital iraqi security forces saying no one was hurt in the attacks and they want to get admitted carrying them out is a look at how 2020 opened with a turbulent and terrifying 1st week. in

. iraq says it will now limit the american forces actions in the country after friday's events from now on the u.s. will only be able to conduct military operations with iraq you consent so the money's assassination polarized the reaction worldwide and within the u.s. to our senior correspondent right guys they have takes a closer look at the consequences. you can imagine how trump agreed to it then he

was playing golf and up comes an agent smith holding a folder he says mr president you remember when we killed baghdad yes the eyes the sky yes the media did love it so how how would you like to do it again oh yeah. rocky television has just confirmed that cosine sula mani former general in iran's revolutionary guard the commander of the could force as we killed in a rocket attack apparently initiated by the united states. this is the us at our allies at alert at the veteran matic attack iran's top military commander. salim 80 has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the middle east for the last 20 years one gets the impression that the agent that came up to trump

didn't exactly brief the president and potential consequences of killing the 2nd most powerful man in iran general seems silly money commander of iran's quds force we took action last night to stop a war we did not. take action to start a war then you probably shouldn't have killed him general sulaimani was considered an icon in iran and iraq a man who helped prevent isis takeover of iraq and syria who inspired and moved belies tens of thousands of people multiple countries to fight the blight that is isis. the americans are not aware what a great mistake they've committed they will face the consequences of this criminal act not only today but also in coming years there is no doubt that u.s.

is now more hated among iranians iraqis hundreds of thousands have joined a funeral processions and protests condemning his murder rage is in the air iran has promised revenge american civilians are being evacuated from the entire region u.s. embassies and bases in this slew of countries are in lockdown troops have been put in combat readiness and now now middle eastern the red lert they claim that they only want peace that was the time to take this action so that we could disrupt the spot deter further aggression from qassam salami in the iranian regime as well as to attempt to deescalate the situation from sgt no one europe woke up to a world that was a heck of a lot more dangerous than when they went to sleep germany claimed tensions that only god up stating the obvious the british called for everyone to come down from

doesn't last for permission frankly the europeans haven't been as helpful as i wish that they could be the brits the french the germans all need to understand that what we did what the americans did saved lives in europe as well at best he's right chances are he's wrong and at worst what america did is going to kill a heck of a lot more. people than would have died otherwise which they may have thought of the us to anyone but they didn't trump told no one not even his soon federal government not the house of representatives and not the senate this action may well have brought our nation closer to another endless war exactly the kind of endless war the president promised he would not drag us into or rather he did tell someone apparently what trump kept from his own nation from his own people he told the israelis our assessment is that the united states informed israel about this

operation in iraq apparently a few days ago the murder of a mani was an act of war by any measure by any book on law and social media world war 3 was the top trend people are genuinely afraid the us football team has cancel plans to train and kept the head of the world cup out of security concerns and judging by means being spread appropriate or otherwise no one in particular is enthusiastic to go to war all black humor aside any escalation would be disastrous for all of us human lives 1st and economy 2nd a 5th of the world's oil passes by iran every day in the event of war that would stop we don't yet know how much of a blunder sulaimani is murder was what we do know is that the world now is a more dangerous place millions will hate america for this and that hate will last

for generations just remarkable isn't it how many people more and more keep having to die so trump and the pentagon can feel safe i've been hearing reaction from analysts in the united states questioning don't trumps the citizen to kill general sort of money. if this action this assassination this drive by shooting in gangland style makes american safer then why was the 1st thing the state department said is for all americans to get out of iraq as quickly as you can you know so obviously it's not making us safer the idea that now pompei would say oh we need to decide deescalate we don't want war what you've already create you already made an act of war on iran and over one. there's no justification under international law moral law our constitution is just aggravation and the fact that we're there in

a way as a gas then have an embassy there we've never had been given any authority to do what we did i think it's morally wrong and if they're doing this to make us safer they said that we had they had to do this to make american safe complete nonsense i feel less safe because there will be retaliation expansion and who knows what is going to lead to. the fact that he's a high state official in a government that we're not at war with we've crossed the rubicon not only in tehran but in moscow beijing pyongyang caracas they ought to sit there and say to themselves all right the americans now feel entitled to kill anybody and our government because of what disagreements over syria or whatever else. we could eeks founder julian assange claims he's slowly dying in the british jail he's in costs very thin and alleges he's tranquilize them kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day and made a disturbing claims in

a phone call to his friend with christmas eve. all fall 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 in but clearly he's being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day he sounded awful and he said to me that i'm slowly dying here please remember he's served that time all the bail charge and he served his time to 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 violent 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 roughly on torture has been very clear about asylum just mistreatment and describes it in the most of all human 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. the songs he was arrested in april and since then medics and un observers have warned about is the climbing physical or mental health hearing in february will decide on his extradition to the united states because of their of classified military documents and could face 175 years in prison. or a british home office on their part has refuted a scientist claims calling their mother found that false spurred politicians activists censor liberties around the world to further draw attention to his plight

. in other headlines china says it's sacked its top official who dealt with relations with hong kong state media say when jimmy has been replaced as beijing's chief liaison have been of months of violent antigovernment protests in hong kong which took on a renewed energy over the new year. and one particular aspect of the unrest violence and brutality were perpetrated by the hong kong protesters has gone largely without comment from the west on the saskia taylor asks why. hong kong has gone from being the economic pole of the orient to the face of the fight for democracy and boy does that fight fire.

an amendment to a preexisting law that would allow the extradition of criminal suspects from hong kong to mainland china has brought the financial haven to its knees as a protest accent into the 7th month violence on both sides has escalated but all the wild over politicians and john continue to hail the peaceful aspirations of those fighting to arrest themselves from beijing all the while coming down hard on those aggressive dust spots in china you have a chinese government that's getting increasingly aggressive increasingly repressive it's disgusting what they're doing in hong kong they're taking away basic rights trying to seem trampling the most basic human rights of its own citizens beijing is

increased its interventions in hong kong and engaged in actions to curtail the rights. and liberties. of its people but it seems so many incidents have managed to escape the scrutiny of western media but only because i was. glad. i was. at. scenes like that combined with the discovery of 10000 petrol bombs packed with high explosives and shrapnel make it harder to see is peaceful what appears to be a slippery slope into the territory of terrorists methods you can all fight for freedom of speech by silencing people. who disagree with you. you cannot fight for democracy by terrorizing the public to force others support you. you cannot condemn

brutality by brutalizing people who hold different views to yours deval an ex are one step closer to the acts of terrorism china is treading kathleen refusing to send in troops to shut down the protests and local elections were held in which pro democracy candidates won in a landslide hong kong authorities conceded defeat the extradition built has been withdrawn but still the barricades on signing the flames according to china washington. china urges the us to correct its mistakes and stop interfering in our internal affairs we will take further steps if necessary to uphold hong kong stability and prosperity as well as china's sovereignty. some have chalked down beijing's words to paranoia but let's take a look joshua wong why he billed as the face of the protest movement was snapped

speaking to an official at the u.s. consulate oh when i forgot to mention he's not big on compromise so there's no end game there is to infinity ward at home people are willing to engage there's also an organization funded by the u.s. congress which has been distributing money to groups it claims are preserving democratic rights then of course as the in century legislation washington's passed the human rights and democracy act in clearance i'm going to stay for those arrested up protests and will monitor hong kong to ensure that in the eyes of the u.s. of course an appropriate level of autonomy from mainland china is. these 2 bills an obvious intervention of hong kong some turn north further than necessary and without grounds they will also harm the relationship and interests between hong kong and the u.s. all of this on top of the protest as musts waving of the star-spangled banner have sparked concern that the u.s. might be lending more than just

a supportive hand leading many to ask the question if the protest as a calling for self-determination is appealing to a foreign power to shape the future the best way to go about it especially when that foreign power might want to contain a rising star they're reaching. for and using methods that have created challenges for the united states and for the world. and we collectively all of us need to confront these challenges from the p.r.c. head on and on each of the many facets the fallout of all this has a little impact on washington of course it's the average hong kong or who find his pocket that little bit lighter on his home that little less popular the violence in hong kong has spooked foreign investors shoppers appetite has also soured in the wake of all the violence with the retail sales in freefall and hong kong facing its 1st recession in a decade bombed apparently being caught in the middle of tear gas and rubber

bullets isn't topping any tourists the wish list because hong kong saw its lowest number of visitors since 2003 the major. is really the truth in the retail sector because. nobody is coming to. tolbert to. buy 50 percent more. it's dropped by 50 per se as far as as fair rises and as prosperity fades it seems this fight for freedom is costing hong kong more dearly than many could have imagined. the next stop was taking stock of 2019 reflect on more of the signature events of the year just gone.

so among the people who are languishing behind bars during 2019 for some it was for questionable reasons they were perhaps politically motivated let's remind you of what happened to maria boots in a russian national. she was also a gun lobbyists gun rights advocate spent more than a year in a u.s. jail for being an unregistered foreign agent now to federal prosecutors and the media her involvement with the american gun lobby as well as mingling in republican circles seemed to proof enough that moscow was sending agents to meddle in the united states news coverage smeared as a spy she was also wrongly accused of trading sex for political gain. and i discussed her ordeal with us when she returned to moscow. you said when you think it would have happened if you quit school climate had been

more sets of the trump became president it's going to. be this long the political and thought also certainly the political climate is one thing thing is released as much are greg to see it but there is racism in us and it's getting stronger look if i belong to any other ethnic group number i should there be no keith today however if you are russian and you are and us there is reason to be worried and i'm living proof. that they still agree it was done on purpose to create an image for the us audience the public is familiar with the dilemma because corporately me to know i knew absolutely absolutely they just took some hollywood cliches in made me the scapegoat the color of my hair and my features served as proof of guilt that's the way it should be because we see this in the movies only bade it made for good headlines on t.v. if you are moved to sex for money. hype the piece itself is pretty boring for an

agent or not that's how bureaucratic really exciting he added flames to the story i saw with my own eyes that there is no justice in the us some he's more than 90 percent of defendants guilty to a win jury because they know they'll be convicted what kind of justice are we talking about the. meeting. he signed a plea deal we were watching the case very closely just like all russia some noise said the prosecutors might not have enough evidence to prove. why then take a plea bargain with his mother or with the besotted yellow dog. imagine you are in a foreign country away from your parents you have no contact with your family you're locked up in solitary confinement which is very cold and you sit on the floor so you might be facing 15 year sentence i thought about how old i was going to be and whether my parents were going to be alive when that came and then you find out that according to statistics and you was about 90 percent of the fens who

face the jury get convicted of the chance of you losing is quite high style besides who would have been judging me but i would have faced a jury in washington or the people who watch c.n.n. and people who already have been fed this narrative and with those people you would have mattered what i was being accused of i would have been on trial for being russian out have been sentenced to 15 years so i believe i made the only right decision there was no other way to signal stronger meaning so do you. see it was also a year of information overload and new ways to block out things we didn't like things went much further than a simple face paul. culture it's full speed now with the water repercussions though the collective silencing of voices or even people taking a big hit to their careers. looks now at how the power of the public backlash became weaponized on the web. u.s.

society is said to be the freest in the entire world never before have people been so free to be who they want to be identified however they want to identify and you can say whatever you want yes americans have total freedom of speech just so long as what they say doesn't go against the mainstream media narrative if that happens you get cancelled. so how do you avoid getting canceled well be careful when making jokes or better yet avoid humor altogether a comedian lost his dream spot on saturday night live after making a joke that was offensive to chinese americans and even if you're offensive joke is decades old it could still hurt you kevin hart lost his gig hosting the oscars after his tweets resurfaced and were discovered. facial expressions can be important also this young man smirked at the wrong time though he was also wearing

a hat that has been deemed to be offensive team soon make america great again around seeing a native american now in washington a troubling incident at the foot of the lincoln memorial disturbing viral video has sparked outrage toward covington catholic high school america great again hat is just as maddening and frustrating and triggering for me to look at as a k.k.k. hood as to avoid this cat also. who the president. to support his plan to get your honk if you do your home my hand i don't want. them to kill people like you and the political views that this hat is associated with can also land you in hot water like former miss michigan after 18 now as an aid conservative which i think is very hard if you know he is harder than becoming our eyes on him again. it's not just trump's supporters liberal

star scarlett johansson faced a huge amount of backlash after she tweeted out that as an actor she can play any person any tree or any animal such insensitivity the term cancel culture has recently been added to dictionaries so there is no escape best to apologize in advance for your past jokes your political views or for your religion. r.t. new york about settlements even myself or programs for documentary channel coming next that well back in 30 minutes with the latest global news updates. in the united states presidential candidates debate the future of the u.s. and the world. mexico is a red state you see her but dig into the burning questions of this election cycle

one self big every week. tax student debt trade was corporate money universal basic. and more catch up with what's front running this sunday exclusively on. time after time called her ration to repeat the same mantra sustainability very important celery transitions to sustainable prized board sustainability space where men are more equitable and sustainable while. they claim their production is completely hama's. because. it does not supply companies want us to feel good about buying their products while the damage is being done far away and this is something else just as he didn't even and i mean let's. listen we didn't even and i'm stunned.

that on disconnect with sue sue going into. something. i think the men that we attract to the military you know we've got to the army of one you know be all you can be all those themes that we've had throughout the years very very heavily masculine masculinity cannot be victimized because if you're a leader if you're a masculine person and you're victimized then you're weak the problem is that anybody can be a victim of sexual assault. i join the service in 1972

the military is a great well i. got to see the world. i got educated i love the military. post 19 and i want to challenge all alone and the next thing they mail all was laying on the ground i was struck from behind. and you guys will hold me down to one day i was pulling my pants down. and. you know. just taking care of his business and you know i struggled and i was being struck and hit and told you know told to shut up or they'd kill me. and i see i would destroy my life. i mean that i'm i've been married 3 times this luckily i have a wife right now who i've been married to for 25 years. you start wondering you start sort of you know you're coming up with reasons why things are the way they are and

for a long time i kept thinking i don't know this something something else. i had never told anybody over 30 years i decided to tell my wife. it was the scariest moment in my life i was going tell my wife she was going to leave me and i would be lost without her i mean honest to god i couldn't i couldn't get up every morning without my wife. you know. and i told i felt horrified and i felt sad and i felt angry and you know all along the course of the evening you know feelings just started to surface that were probably just simmering for a very very long time and she put her arms around me and were both there and saw it was like.