2 pm sunday after the 5th of january here in moscow and in the headlines the body of the assassinated iranian general money is returned home as tens of thousands lined the street is killing us put the world on war alert after relations between the u.s. and around sink to the lowest in years and bring you up to speed this week. elsewhere. he believes co-founder during the sounds claims he's dying in prison clyde with sedatives and subjected to 23 hours a day of solitary confinement he made the allegations in a christmas phone call to a friend apparently. rang me because he spent christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail one time ago he sounded almost gone he said to

me but i'm slowly dying. and we cast our eyes back over the year that was $29.00 t.v. reflects what happened to russian national marine boot in a jail that i took of russia gates what moscow called a politically motivated ok. welcome to the weekly with me kevin owen here r.t.r. 7 days roundup of the news that made and indeed is making the headlines and 1st than the week did the year got off to a troubling start with tensions skyrocketing in the middle east following the united states assassination of iran's most senior commander kasim solomon he's bodies now been repatriated to iran where he'll be buried tens of thousands of mourners there iran have been paying tribute to the general crowds also throng the streets of the iraqi capital on saturday for a big huge funeral procession their rallies have been ongoing since friday's deadly u.s. air strike on baghdad international airport iran's swiftly to. death as relations

with the united states plunged to a new low donald trump has also threatened to retaliate without hesitation if iran attacks american bases. they attacked us and we hit back if they it's like again which i strongly advise them not to do we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before so rans responded to that warning saying the u.s. doesn't have the courage for a full blown military confrontation the latest exchange of threats comes after several rocket attacks took place in iraq on saturday evening close to both the american embassy in baghdad and a military base near the capital iraqi security forces say no one was hurt no one so far come forward to say they're behind it here's a look at how 2020 opened with a turbulent and terrifying 1st week that.

6 some of. those. just didn't want. the things he's been. so among his assassinations polarized opinion worldwide and within the u.s. to our senior correspondent greg as the of next today 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 how how would you like to do it again oh yeah. iraqi television is just confirm that cosine sula monny former general in iran's revolutionary guard unit commander of the could force has been killed in a rocket attack apparently initiated by the united states. in the sort of the us at our allies on alert at the petra matic attack iran's top military commanders here and. around the community. 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 monica monda 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 sunni money was considered an icon in iran and iraq a man who helped prevent isis takeover of iraq and syria who inspired and move allies tens of thousands of people multiple countries to fight the blight that is isis while cada. 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 the us is now

more hated among iranians and iraqis hundreds of thousands have joined 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 knocked out troops have been put in combat readiness and now now middle east in 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 trump asked 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 us 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 own 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 is council plans to train and counter ahead 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 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 we've been here in reaction from analysts in the us questioning donald trump's decision to kill general saw the money than. if this action this assassination this drive by shooting in gangland style makes americans 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 while you've already create you already made an act of war on iran and over. 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 than 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 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 over what disagreements over syria or whatever else. whether to use wiki leaks founder julian assange claims he's slowly dying in the british charities and cost royalties in the ledges he's trying and kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day he made

a disturbing claims partly to phone call to his friend smith on christmas eve. 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 refuse 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 that i'm slowly dying here please remember he served that time all the bail charge and he served his time too 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 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 rocketeer on torture has been very clear about asylum just 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 because society the rest of the a problem since their medics and un observers of warned about his declining physical or mental health hearing in february is set to decide that his extradition to the united states he's accused there let's not forget of publishing classified military documents who could face a 175 year jail sentence the british home office refutes society's claims about all this calling them unfounded and falls but it's still spurred some politicians activists and celebrities to further draw attention to his plight.

words are not the word. you have been exposed to psychological torture for a prolonged period of time that's a medical assessment and. 2 for renewals it's to investigate this case. 15 killings wait in. the medical situation is there by urgent there is no time to lose.

thanks so much is today here on the way more big events of the past year as we look back including a look at some of the political pawns who spent time in prison as well that i'm over the weekend returns with me kevin owen here now to international after this break. here's a thought experiment and a bit of a prediction for 2020 going back to saudi aramco around town as it went public just recently at a market valuation an excess of $1.00 trillion dollars i think i want pointless war 2 trillion dollars i think that we're going to see them make a hostile buy of a company maybe facebook for example and it could be the 1st trillion dollar hostile raid in history because they've got the balance sheet out if you've got a 2 trillion dollars balance sheet that means you've got you know the ability to borrow another trillions they've got a 3 trillion dollar war chest if you go after an apple. or even

a berkshire hathaway 5 or $600000000000.00 why why when saudi aramco buy berkshire hathaway to start a hostile trade and then they are like a huge portion of the whole global market the american market why not they've got the balance sheet now they want to diversify away from oil and gas and i think we're going to see a move like that the next 6 to 9 months. i gave you watching out international just come quarter past the hour now so let's continue to take a look back some highlights of 29000 the year just going to reflect some more of the signature events. i. as far as the memory machine should we see what comes up next well among the people

who are languishing behind bars during 29 for some it was questionable reasons too they were politically motivated perhaps let's remind ourselves of what happened to maria now there's a name because you're with. the russian national and gun rights advocate spent more than a year in a u.s. jail there she is for being an unregistered foreign lobbyist to federal prosecutors in the media her involvement with the american gun lobby and mingling in republican circles think proof enough that moscow was sending agents to meddle in the us news coverage smeared her as a spy and she was also wrongly accused of trading sex for political gain buton it discuss here or deal with us direct so she got back to moscow. could we do you think this would have happened if the political climate had been more sets of the trump became president it's going to. be. certainly

political climate is one thing thing is rhesus monkey to our great to see it that there is racism in us and it's getting stronger but it's look if i belong to any other ethnic group number i shouldn't there be no keys today however if you are russian and you are and us there is reason to be worried and i am living proof. that they still agree it was done on purpose to create an image for the u.s. audience the public is familiar with today let me come school but maybe to no 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're moved to sex for money hype the piece itself is pretty boring for an agent or not that's all bureaucratic really exciting he added flames to the story i saw with my own eyes that there is no justice in the us some more than 90 percent

of defendants plead guilty to a way jury because they know they'll be convicted what kind of justice are we talking about the. money to decide to play do 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 will because now that you know with the beside of yellow. 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 it's very cold and you sit on the floor so you might be facing a 15 year sentence i thought about how old i was. going to be and why there might be parents who are going to be alive when that day. and then you find out that according to statistics and you were asked about 90 percent of the friends who face the jury get convicted of the chance of you losing is while quite high besides who

would have been judging me but i would have faced a jury in washington people who watch c.n.n. and people who already have been fat this narrative and we dose people you wouldn't 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 settle strong women and. talking to us who should go back here to russia know something else that we want to talk about the wooden ones we also you of course of information overload and new ways to try and block what we didn't like hence mind games is our next subject things went much further than a simple face poem as council culture hit full speed online the wider repercussions the moment the collective silence and sometimes of voices or even people taking big hits to their careers in some cases kill them open next looks at how the power of the public but became weapon used on the web. us 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. told 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 to see make america great again around seeing in need of a miracle now is there 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. supports and i get your honk if you do your home my hand i don't. like you 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 the age he served it was i think it's very hard and you know it. is harder than becoming our

eyes on him again. it's not just trump 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. are to new york we didn't need to know the stories the ages going folks who want some of the hollows because so much more of what's been happening that we can return to just over half an hour here without international keep up to date with what's happening now in iran the course. big funeral procession going on if you don't call it a social media meantime here in moscow it's kevin i mean so i think you're watching a big season's greetings to.

you know world of big partisan movies lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that midstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the back and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. time after time called her ration to repeat the same mantra sustainability it's very important it's accelerating transitions to sustainable transport sustainability stay number man at a more equitable and sustainable well. they claim that production is completely hamas does need the funding of. the

models and it does not the companies want us to feel good about buying their products while the damage is being done far away and this is something else this must be going to mean and i mean look. this is the move in unison we didn't want any minute and i'm stunned seemed to be based on disconnect with what is going and . what is physics physics is nothing but the harmony who can create on vibrating strings that is chemistry chemistry is the melody the melanie's you can play on strings what is the universe the universe is is a symphony of strings. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy going for indication let it be an arms race off and spearing dramatic development only really and going to exist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical

time to sit down and talk. here's a thought experiment and a bit of a prediction for 2020 going back to saudi aramco aramco as it went public just recently at a market valuation an excess of $1.00 trillion dollars i think at one point was worth 2 trillion dollars i think that we're going to see them make a hostile buy of a company maybe facebook for example and it could be the 1st trillion dollar hostile raid in history because they've got the balance sheet now if you've got a 2 trillion dollar balance sheet that means you've got you know the ability to borrow another trillion so you've got a 3 trillion dollar war chest if you go after an apple or even a berkshire hathaway 5 or $600000000000.00 why wouldn't saudi aramco buy berkshire hathaway just as a hostile trade and then they own a huge portion of the whole global market the american market why not they've got

the balance sheet now they want to diversify away from oil and gas and i think we're going to see a move like that the next 6 to 9 months. on a while come to worlds apart today we're coming to you from barcelona where thousands of people to go to the streets to celebrate. national day without having and nation state do you hear us have to wash the independence referendum put on your remains both in the morning and in bargaining chip in spanish politics and that's the acting government in madrid that just after

a loan said to the north elections in 4 years what is it to leave the secessionist coffee i'll be putting this question to alfred bosch minister for foreign action institutional relations and transparency of patel on am. all for bush it's good to talk to thank you very much for your time thanks for inviting me. i introduced you as a minister but the spanish authorities you're more like a counselor with an outsized mandate because the spanish authorities don't believe that colony is supposed to have any foreign the action of foreign policy and then dado independent state why this could tell on a need to have for an action that you are responsible for or we're not going to argue about words we simply translated like that in english so that you understand that i'm part of a government catalan government it's not an independent government belonging to recognize state but still we do have a minister like lenders in germany or other governments also have. yes

we've been seeing how the spanish government especially the ministry of foreign affairs. brady has been trying to stop us from making any foreign action we think we're entitled to that because. in the 21st century you go to be competitive and have a place in the world otherwise you won't prosper i'm sure would agree that the law means no it's like any other city in spain this dispute has been plaguing this country for 3 centuries and if you look at the recent polls it's not evident that the majority of cut the line support independence i wonder how do you frame this issue right there is it still about full. independence or do you stop way outsell determination and the right to vote the regardless of which way the boat go from a pro independence party and our ideas that we can have a better country and better welfare for all people with

a capital and republic so that's what we're pursuing and regarding how many people support that you have all kinds of polls some of them were majority and some of those perhaps not but that's exactly why we want to vote we want to know the real numbers we want to know who's supporting in the pens and who would smoke and there's no way the kingdom of spain can agree on such a referendum like the u.k. did it for scotland or. so we don't think we're better than any other nation but we're not less than any other nation and that the e.u. know that the problem with referenda and i think the bracks of station shows that the independence moment it's called. is that as well is that people may change their mind the circumstances may change. are you sure that if you have internationally a recognised referendum and if the majority of catalan say no to independence is that going to put the issue to

a raft once and for all. not for me or people like me but we will have a result and we will accept it obviously. the same thing if there is a yes we expect the spanish authorities and the international community but especially the spanish government to do what they didn't do on october the 1st 2017 when such a vote was held and they did exactly the opposite which is put people in jail my predecessors in the catalan government we saw. the police troops being sent to hit people in their heads and we seen almost 2 years of preventive chill for people who organize. vote can i ask you specifically about that our friend because. from what i understand neither the current cut on the authorities nor the spain authorities consider it legal or free and fair for you it wasn't free and fair because of the police presence for them in the.