the pentagon ranks to accusations that washington has routinely lie about america's longest war made by the top u.s. official overseeing afghanistan's reconstruction. russian programmer alexander vinick arrested in greece on washington's request writes a plea for help saying he has been tortured and refused the most basic rights. in dramatic scenes the french president is rushed out of a purse theater under a hail of boos 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 2 use of most appalling humanitarian disasters.

a very warm welcome to the program from all of us here in moscow thanks for joining us this hour. the pentagon insists it's been honest after washington's own watchdog for afghan reconstruction accuse the military leadership of routine lies or progress in america's longest war often 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 joe's 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. internally the pentagon knew that the situation was bleak however that is not what was told to. 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 she cure 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. we've got him down very low numbers why is 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 caleb mop and r.t. new york experts told us the watchdogs revelations come as no surprise we've been told so many times but i. don't see that we earned that were there everything is going to get better and stand that we've actually done in a circle. explains why. people are.

informal it's a sure. no responsible who works. for progressives in their interest and they don't want to jeopardize their. it's not one will and we're not in progress i think it is definitely time for the united states to revisits troops we've been there 80 years we have killed over 150000 afghans some of whom are thought of on some of the more you know various militia groups in the majority. we are afghan civilians to leave what he says here and there for free something they really here . 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 this same nonsense being repeated so it's possible for these things to build and steamrolled but it's that 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. or russian programmer arrested on washington's requests warns authorities are resorting to torture and an effort to break him i'm sorry nic is being held in greece on a u.s. cyber crime and money laundering charges is now in 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. because arrested in 2017 the u.s. accuses him of laundering billions of dollars through aid. currency exchange is also wanted by france which claims to be nick's 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 countries however of russia's acting foreign minister has criticised procedures warning that greece has completely failed to examine the evidence presented by moscow and the lawyer for salt of told us why he

believes that 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 in any field. the french president was rushed out of a paris later under a hail of boos as furious protesters chanting mccrone resign trying to confront him some demonstrators against emanuel across pension reforms passed police into the hall to deliver their angry message. the law. wasn't sure what. was the was. a what the

law with. protesters fall macross cortege as it tried to speed away the president was reportedly with his wife and a black car in the middle of the group of vehicles journalist and political activist managed to film in the theatre audience sitting just in front of him and he was reportedly arrested for doing so is our us has sparked outrage. meanwhile more than a 100 protesters in the french capital block the entrance to the people who have joined union calls to demand the complete withdrawal of across proposals us despite the government's promise to compromise agreeing to drop some of the pension reforms the most controversial aspects the french parliament is due to debate the bill next month but there are mixed public feelings currently about the protests going to come with a 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. but it's not

a big deal because if they do not strike there won't really be a lot for as we know it so i don't mind the strike i'm actually happy i supported them. you know. if someone would learn man to i'm ready to break through the picket lines because the situation is unacceptable i don't care about their pension issues . they are uniting and supporting each other reinforcing each other so that's why i'm here also we are against it they should not be here picked for an hour to strike to express their opinion very good but to piss off everyone all day long who comes to visit comes from far away that's shameful what. should be directed at the government who wants to force its pension reform project through will not the ones that are standing in the way we're not blocking the public cultural service we're fighting for

a strong public cultural service where you look at the support of the popular. of the strikers were very surprised to see the government maintains its position is of extremism that is unacceptable for a democrat 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 a year later the vast majority of victims in the city died not from bombing but from hunger and hypothermia undergrads name may have changed to st petersburg but the horrific memories still run deep. it was was. just us but it was me and my friend went to a store with food stamps there was a huge field and suddenly we saw a plane it dropped

a bomb we were told that if we see a bomb flying towards us you have to run in the direction of the bomb because that way it'll pass over you but we ran away we got away and kept walking suddenly i realized i'd left her behind she walked towards a fence i came up to check on her realized she was hanging on the fence already dead my friend what could i do i was barely alive myself some people helped me carry her home a good thing we weren't too far away from home because we're. tied up bucket and 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 pile 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. was. that i knew after i buried my father i signed up as a nurse in 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. and don't cut your head off to an hour she died.

they always said the russians will win a pilot course it was shot down i remember they carried him in sheets he was all ground his skin was brown from bruising and we prepared a warm bath for 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 joke many lives in the city were saved by the ticks of a metronome. good . god did it it was. ok. metronome followed by sirens were broadcast on 1500 speakers throughout one grab a slow beat mantra treat well a fast one warned that 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 row for national reports from the northern capital. leningrad known today as st petersburg was a main strategic targets for nazi germany and the fates they prepared for this beautiful city was still laid to waste by bohrman 8 and also starred in its almost 3000000 population to death the horror of the siege was hollow dest became 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 those a lawyer they simply stop paying any attention to these horrific saw its appearance review and 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 see the bodies were just randomly dumped in the

streets eventually they took them away. from kids their childhood was stolen by a merciless war gongs 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 for enough to germany for hungry people so the worst thing was the hunger it was unimaginable at the factory they gave us just 200 grams of bread to the road and it was made from strange ingredients some a drop in the cabbage others burned sugar i don't know how i survived and i think god saved my life of more. people struggled but even that's all couldn't bear it anymore the water supply system froze and collaged people hungry people freezing people they now became 1st 2 people searching for war to everywhere including

sewerage system could you push broom we went to get water. on food with sledge just it was very cold there was a severe frost the river had frozen over but there was a hole and people were queuing to get water to drink and people still wonder how we didn't die drinking this water the citizens during the 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 of letting god during the siege and still today they stay as silent reminders of those terrible days coming up phrases like where are you really from could not land you in trouble and a leading u.k. university which is paying students to snitch on classmates deigned to commit racist micrographs shows that after the break.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you then.

welcome back stop making everything a race issue comments like that could now land you in hot water at a top u.k. university which will pay students to snitch on people making what it calls racist micro aggressions sheffield university in northern england will hire 20 students as race equality champions and pay them more than $9.00 pounds an hour to report a funders other examples of 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 sometimes like you do you don't 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 often ask. where they're from so if i say for example based. on. a lot of people as well for you know you're tired of your terrorist blah blah blah i do get away you from because i know that i have a little accent and they always say oh i'm so sorry and i why are you apologizing because i didn't take a i was like a bad thing i think it is a matter of a ignorance really. i just know really being aware that someone might be offended by something meanwhile there's been a significant online backlash to the initiative. the regime of the shuttled university have decided to police incidents of perceived rudeness with an army of bait student my group gresham detectors for police jobs at the university of sheffield how is this not illegal what the hell have i just read the author problematize is even benign curiosity is

a micro aggression and therefore as racist this is a recipe to create a climate of distrust and a breakdown of social relations these people do not speak for me the university for its part has defended the move saying its main objectives are to facilitate healthy open discussion and give students the tools to think critically about race issues the statement goes on the claim that micrograph sions have a real impact on minority groups talk radio host and columnist john gotti told us that whatever the intentions of the program could end up doing more harm than good . needs to be called the racism but recruiting students to do it like is if they're undercover keeps horrible i think it's the sin and of a very very big wage and also will be very concerned about who does so eats what is nort allowed to be said is 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 were cool enough if they're going to hear the news they don't like. it's about challenging that of course and i just think they seized nor going to prepare them for the real world and tackle racism tackle six's tackle mr g. and tackle homophobia of course and make sure your institution is inclusive but this is not the way to do it this is a great 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 african migrants have started fires outside greece's morea refugee camp following the sobbing of a 20 year old there they are demanding to be held separately from immigrants from afghanistan after authorities arrested an afghan at the camp over the killing. thousands have gathered in the 2 lane capital for a 13 week of protests rallies began over metro fare increases and police on friday

deployed water cannon to disperse crowds as demonstrations turned violent. and in the philippines the tal 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 ankle deep ashbery and around 20000 people have evacuated their homes and the region remains on the highest alert. the german foreign office has apologized after in a purposely trying to tap into the barrel 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 .

he always said go it 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 deeply affect people's lives our colleagues take the decisions very seriously. you shouldn't apologize the joke is actually. good now i'm offended that you deleted the tweet because apparently offended someone with no sense of humor obviously. that's a global news update for this hour but don't forget you can always had to our website r.t. dot com for the details on all those stories and many more. liz

. lead. the 4. legged. lead. played. live live. live . live. live. oh. please.

live. live. live. and very well continue watching us and. the letter was leaving the store for biased out because of the salon you force me out of all of us if you said yes for. what. you see in the draft i wish that i'd prefer most what more would you. rather we really.

was. not here. yet unless. when i came out from this hell i really could not even shill happy ever and sometimes even people are joking about something i would catch myself if i was even electing i feel guilty and to it's very probably difficult for a normal person to grasp and understand you live with that all your life i want to ponder that we will live with it but we did not receive help like now when our boys are coming from the wars in the knowledge finally they need to mend.