the pentagon rocks to accusations that washington has routinely lie about america's longest war made by the top u.s. officials are saying afghanistan's reconstruction. russian programmer alexander arrested in greece on washington's work last rights to plead for help saying he has been tortured and refused the most basic human rights. plus in dramatic scenes the french president to visit rushed out of a persecutor under a hail of bruises as furious protesters chanting resign try to confront him. and russia marks 77 years since the breaking of the siege of leningrad one of world

war choose the most appalling humanitarian disasters. are watching our 2 international bring you your live news update from our studio here in moscow welcome to the program. the pentagon insists it's been honest after washington's own watchdog for afghan reconstruction accuse the military leadership of routine lies over progress in america's longest war. has more. common cynicism aside most people would prefer that those responsible for leading the country tell the truth and this is most especially true when it comes to situations like war where the lives of the men and women in the armed forces are on the line well according to the special inspector for afghan reconstruction the pentagon has been lying for years the problem is there's a disincentive really to tell the truth we have created an incentive to almost

require or for people to la there's an odor of mendacity throughout the afghanistan issue and i know congressman connelly has heard me talk about this years ago mendacity and who bruce now the department of defense was quick to chime in and dispute this congressional testimony here is the response the idea that there was some efforts to hide the truth the reality on the ground just doesn't hold water this idea that they were somehow missed statements i don't think that really shows it has been roughly a month since the washington post published the afghanistan papers this is a trove of documents from the office of the special inspector general showing a sensually among many revelations that the efforts of the usa against the taliban have been completely ineffective america's top military brass were clueless about

afghanistan and had no real understanding of what was happening on the ground and no real strategy this is how one of the top military generals under the administrations of both bush and obama explained it would trying to do here we didn't have the full goose newsham that would ruin the taking through the fundamental get up and distancing of the front and the stated objectives. in the military and the lack of understanding of the resources necessary internally the pentagon knew that the situation was bleak however that is not what was told. u.s. public for years americans have gotten a steady stream of information claiming that there was progress being made in afghanistan we helped liberate an oppressed people. and we will continue helping them secure their country rebuild their society and educate all their children boys and girls. that i set to defeat al qaeda and deny it

a chance to rebuild is within reach and we're doing a tremendous job. and as you know a big part of the job is. certainly the biggest. and we. got it down very low numbers wise lies and more lives the usa has been in afghanistan for 17 years now making it the longest military engagement in all of us history and despite the new revelations showing how bleak the situation is and that deception was part of the modus operandi for the pentagon it seems like top voices in washington still don't have an exit strategy they look up and r.t. new york. experts told us the watchdogs revelations come as no surprise. we've been told so many times when i buy american journals that we've now burned them or they're everything is going to get better in your stand that we've actually done in a circle and. that explains

a moment here the people who are. in the formal it's a juror b o responsible who work. for progressives in their areas there they don't want to jeopardize their careers are saying. it's not going well in fact we're not in progress i think it is definitely time for the united states to remove its troops we've been there 80 years we have killed over 150000 afghans some of whom are colophon some of whom are you know various militia groups but the great majority are afghan civilians who only want peace here in their current 3 something they really here are cared for and so was the inspector general is speaking out after documents he tried to keep secret were leaked those words leaked after year after year after year of these same nonsense being repeated so it's possible for these things to build and steamrolled but the united states has a has a president who campaigned on ending this war and is that out repeating the tired

old lies that he's about to win it in a day which are not unique to this war they say they come with every war every occupation and there's not even been a requirement that a victory be defined nobody has any idea what it would be a victory is to continue losing for another year. a russian programmer arrested on washington's request claims authorities are resorting to torture and an effort to break him alexander remake is being held in greece on u.s. cyber crime and money laundering charges he has now written a plea for help. they're trying to use torture and psychological pressure to break me they do not allow me to breathe fresh air the last time they let me out for a walk for a few minutes was on new year's eve i'm a man without rights illegally imprisoned in greece for 30 months without charges they want to destroy me for my knowledge they want my head on a block just because of what i know and my technological abilities the case of

alexander vinick is a case of blatant violations of human rights it's an international disgrace this man is been imprisoned for 13 months without a charge in greece he's not being prosecuted in greece without a sanction without a penalty without a trial alexander is not a criminal alexander is someone who has extremely high skills technological skills in blocked chain technology he is not targeted for any kind of criminal behavior because it's very clear that what he has done is not criminal however what he has done is very very annoying to those who wish to control the economic. exchanges of the people what is worse is that during the last days the conditions of detention of alexander make

amount to cruel and inhuman treatment which is a form of torture as we all know alexander is being denied the right to go outside his. hospital room he's been hospitalized during the last 12 months more than 12 months actually and today his mother who came to visit him from russia was the night of the right to see her son. when it was arrested in 2017 the u.s. accuses him of long and billions of dollars through a different. current exchange he's also wanted by france which claims to be nick carried out cyber fraud from his prison cell and russia wants to question him as well now athens has already approved his extradition to all 3 of these countries however russia's acting foreign minister has criticised procedures warning that greece has completely failed to examine the evidence presented by moscow in

a lawyer to a famous ought to have told us why he should be extradited to russia. i greece has not only decided to extradite alexander simultaneously to 3 countries but has also specified the order by which alexander should go to these countries the point is that the extradition of alexander to the united states cannot be fair as he has never been there and hasn't committed the crimes that the usa attributes to him work with new technologies cannot be a crime especially if at the time of the activity the legislation regulating these actions simply did not exist. concerning france they used only american evidence and investigators have never concealed it but today we know that france is not going to conduct any prosecution against him on its territory so the decision about the extradition of alexander vinick to france and then to the united states is purely technical the so-called greek trick is this to send him to france where he's

going to be rejected and then sent him to the usa. the best ending for both alexander vinick and for every other party to this case will be of course his extradition to russia because russia is the place of the alleged crimes and because russia has all the information it is capable of creating a joint inquiry commissions for conducting an investigation and any feel. for the french president was rushed out of a paris theater under a hail of bullets as furious protesters chanting resign tried to confront him some demonstrators against pension reforms got past police into the hall to deliver their message. wasn't sure what. was the quite. a while.

was. the we're all more than a 100 protesters in the french capital block the entrance to the louvre museum people have joined union calls to demand the complete withdrawal of iraq was. just by the government's promise to compromise agreeing to drop some of the pension reforms controversial aspects of french parliament is due to debate the belt next month but there are mixed public feelings about the protests. on the filmmaker to them i'm happy that they're defending culture i left at 7 in the morning from dish on where i'm from to see the an artist of intrigue sufficient but it's not a big deal because if they do not strike there won't really be

a loser as we know it so i don't mind the strike i'm actually happy i support the. cops like show if someone would lend my hand to i'm ready to break through the picket lines because this situation is unacceptable i don't care about their pension issues restoring these they're uniting and supporting each other reinforcing each other so that's why i'm here please also call we are against it they should not be here picked in for an hour to strike to express their opinion very good but to piss off everyone all day long who comes to visit he comes from far away that's shameful while. we understand the anger of the business is what this anger should be directed at the government who wants to force its pension reform project through we are not the ones that are standing in the way we're not blocking the public cultural service in the country we're fighting for a strong public cultural service when you look at the support of the population of the strikers we're very surprised to see the government maintains its position is

the phoenix dream is them that is. unacceptable for democrats like me who voted for my new micro in the 2nd round of the presidential election. exactly 77 years ago the red army broke the nazi siege of leningrad with the blockade being fully lifted towards the end of the month a vast majority of victims in the city died not from bombing but from hunger and hypothermia and i'm grads name may have been changed st petersburg but the horrific memories still run deep. was. that was when it was me and my friend went to a store with food stamps there was a huge field and suddenly we sort playing it dropped a bomb we were taught that if you see a bomb flying towards us you have to run

a direction of the bomb because that way it is possible view that we ran away we got away and kept walking suddenly i realized i'd left her behind she won't towards a fence i came up to check on her and realised she was hanging in the fence already dead my friend what could i do i was barely alive myself some people helped me carry her home goods and we weren't too far away from home i. got fucking right you know when my father died of hunger and we were going to bury him the weather was extremely cold it was about minus 36 or 38 degrees we owed thanks to our neighbor who constructed the casket for him and helped us to carry my father to the cemetery and the cemetery there was a chapel next to the chapel there was a pond of dead bodies higher than the chapel itself and every time i come to that place i still can see this pile of dead bodies in my head i still have this picture

in my head. and i knew after i buried my father i signed up as a nurse at the military field hospital once in january i came home from the hospital and my mother was lying on the bed hall for life but she said to me zoya i think i'm about to pass away i bought meat patties at the market and i think they're made out of human don't leave the girls alone don't marry to. young and don't cut to henschel often hour she died. going. they always said the russians will win a pilot cool shit was shot down i remember they carried him in sheets he was all

around his skin was brown from bruising and we compared to the him with medicine they load him into it and he exclaimed please save me i have to keep flying i have to keep fighting. group i threw. many lives in the city were saved by the ticks of a metro. i. never. did it was. a metronome followed by sirens were broadcast on 1500 speakers throughout the city a slow beat mantra treat a fast one and warn that the german bombers were on their way and became a symbol of resistance to the nazi air raids and resistance to attempts to starve people to death reformation our reports from the northern capital. plenty of grog

knowing today as st petersburg was a main strategic targets for nazi germany and the fates they prepared for this beautiful city were still laid to waste by bohrman it and also starving its almost 3000000 population to death the horror of the siege was how desperate came routine when you walk down the street when you remember it or rather try to forget you come across dead bodies carried on sledges all the time or dead bodies lying on the streets and at some point there was a lot like they simply stopped paying any attention to these horrific saw its appearance really do i remember the 1st time i saw a corpse on the street wrapped in some rags at 1st it was scary but then people got used to it and just walked by i can't say the bodies were just randomly dumped in the streets eventually they took them away with the kids their childhood was

stolen by a merciless war bombs and hunger there was already too much for them but there was something maybe even more terrifying as lack of food became too dramatic children as well as many adults often became a target not for enough to germany for hungry people so all the worst thing was the hunger it was unimaginable at the factory they gave us just 200 grams of bread as a religion it was made from strange and gritty and some a drop in cabbage others to burn sugar i don't know how i survived through i think god saved my life of more. people struggled but even metal couldn't bear it anymore the water supply system froze and collaged bombed people hungry people freezing people they now became thirsty people searching for war to everywhere including sewerage system move could you please we went to get water on. food was ledges it

was very cold there was a severe frost the river had rose in over but there was a hole and people were queuing to get water to drink people still wonder how we didn't die trying to use water citizens during tillery shelling this side of the street is the most dangerous says this sign one of many similar across the city these warnings became a symbol of the dangers faced by residents during the siege and still today they stay as silent reminders of those terrible day. still the calm phrases like where are you really from could now land you in trouble at leaving u.k. university just paying students to snitch on classmates deemed to commit racist micro gresham's details after this.

you know world of big part of the lot and conspiracy it's time. to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door. and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely watching the hawks. what. they put themselves on the line they get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or some want to. have to be right to be crushed that's what the 3 of the more people are. interested always in the waters.

there shouldn't. welcome back stop making everything a race issue comments like that could not get you in hot water at the top you can university which will pay students to snitch on people making what it calls racist microaggression sheffield university and northern england will hire 20 students as a race equality champions and pay them more than a 1000000 pounds an hour to report offenders other examples of unacceptable on acceptable questions are why are you searching for things to be offended about and where are you really from we ask people for their reaction to the move. sometimes they. realize that you. may be being mean with

someone and you don't even realize and i think it's important to tell them about it people say well what if it's also for example. a lot of people stopping you know you're tired of your terrorist but i do get away you from because i know that i have a digital accent and they always say oh i'm so sorry and i know why are you apologizing because i didn't take a bad thing i think it is a matter of ignorance really. just not really being aware that someone might be offended by something meanwhile there's been a significant online backlash to the university's initiative. the regime of the shuttled university have decided to police incidence of perceive group miss with an army of bade student my grew gresham detectors fought billy's jobs at the university of sheffield how is this not illegal what the hell have i just read the all through problem unties is even benign curiosity is a my crew aggression and therefore as racist this is a recipe to create

a climate of distrust and of breakdown of social relations these people do not speak for me in averse a for its part has defended the initiative saying its main objectives are to facilitate healthy open discussion and give students the tools to think critically about race issues a statement goes on the claim that micrograph sions have a real impact on minority groups talk radio host and calmest on gant told us whatever the intentions the program could end up doing more harm than good we need to obviously condemn the racism but recruiting students to do it like it is if they're undercover i think it's horrible i think it's the sin and of a very very big wage and also will be very concerned about who does so it's what he is not allowed to he said it's another attack on freedom of speech and universities should be cathedrals of free speech each kids eventually going to go out into the

real world if they work in a factory if they work in an office they're going to hear the news they don't like . it's about challenging that of course and i just think this is not going to prepare them for the real world and tackle racism tackle 6 has tackled the shoji and tackle homophobia of course and make sure you institution is inclusive but this is not the way to do it this is a retrograde step this huge of some idiotic academic who's never lived in the real world themselves you need to get a life and get out of students' lives. now some world news in brief and greece tensions are high as dozens of protesters took to the streets following the stabbing of a 20 year old libron from yemen according to authorities the suspect is another migrant from the same camp. plus thousands have gathered in the slain capital for a 13 that week of protests rallies began our metro fare increases we saw on friday

deployed water cannons to disperse crowds as demonstrations turned butlins. and to all volcano remains a life threatening authorities warn after it suddenly and spectacularly erupted more than a week ago and continues to cover surrounding areas in and called to the boy and much crime 20000 people have evacuated their homes and the region remains on the highest alert. the german foreign office has apologized after inappropriately trying to tap into the viral hash tag so do some one in 4 words government institutions around the world are trying their hand at humor in the latest twitter craze for many users their efforts aren't exactly love at 1st sight.

x. x. . x. . x. x. . your he said court approved. if your visa application process did not make people feel less than human it might have been funny but it does so this is gloating in your discretionary power laughing at people who are subjected to it not cool and quite out of touch this is not funny playing on people's feelings is inappropriate there are thousands of people who are waiting for their visas that's simply the real face of you guys period. being funny is apparently not always our strong suit we deleted this we've been there and

apologized to all who were offended by this we know that the surprise is complex and these are decisions can deep effect people's lifes our core nick's taken a decision it's very seriously. you shouldn't apologize the joke is actually. good now i am offended that you deleted the tweet because apparently offended someone with no sense of humor obviously. that's a wrap up of the day's top news for now but don't forget you can always find us on many of your favorite social media platforms like twitter and facebook for up to the minute reports.

no offense to you no longer a young woman in fact one of the last living survivors of the not. from yet. was living the life to be inhaled she would never believe it was a human to as an operating cost for 3 years and be very bad at all seems so a lot offered by the good side to all make it right when i get out on the farm saw you. next the place and hope for the bless her.

damn actions are times you were going underground as we approach 9 years since britain and the united states use their air forces to destroy africa's richest pick up a country and in a week when moscow attempted to broker peace in libya coming up on the show 24 hours ahead of the berlin summit to find a peaceful solution to libya's post nato intervention we speak it was abraham former spokesperson for libyan leader moammar gadhafi and how stable is restored all star power sharing in its recording of a money and boris johnson's vow to rule out prosecution of u.k. soldiers during the troubles of the. judea and shin feigns fronting malloy about putting irish before english old. it's more coming up in today's going underground but 1st you gave labor leader jeremy corben defended his election manifesto against boris johnson the prime minister's questions on wednesday almost seeming unaware it

has been rejected by the british people but while his party in fights over its pro israel leadership candidates the subject of democracy itself was raised by this scottish m.p. the prime minister said in the letter to the 1st minister of scotland you have a right of the people of scotland to have a choice over their own future mr speaker this was not a surprise the prime minister is a democracy prime minister boris johnson denied that allegation before later being asked arguably about defacto democracy in syria a country johnson voted to bomb my constituent was on that came to the u.k. as has refugees fleeing persecution and human rights abuses committed by turkish backed places in syria how many remain in the area and she is in a daily fear for their life that there are multiple reports of human rights.