the pentagon reacts to accusations that washington has routinely lie about america's longest war made by the top u.s. official overseeing afghanistan's reconstruction. program or alexander 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 persecutor under a hail of boos as furious protesters chanting from resign tried to confront him. and russia marks 77 years since the breaking of the siege of leningrad one of world war 2 the most appalling humanitarian disasters.

a very warm welcome to the program from all of us here at our teacher 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 artist and house 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. the u.s. public bring 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 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 caleb mop and r.t. new york. experts told us the watchdogs revelations come as no surprise we've been told so many times by. the generals that we've now burned their everything is going to get better than that we've actually done in a circle. explains more. people are. in the

organization. oh responsible who work. for progressives and are in a stand they don't want to jeopardize their career. it's not going well and 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 so we have killed over 150000 afghans. more you know various militia groups in the region. already are afghan civilians who only want peace here and there for free something they really here for. the inspector general is speaking out after the documents he tried to keep secret were leaked those were 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 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 that 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 requests claims authorities are resorting to torture and an effort to break him alexander binik is being held in greece on u.s. cyber crime and money laundering charges he now has 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 has 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 wandering billions of $1.03 digit. currency exchange he's also want to buy france which claims to be carried out cyber front from his prison cell and russia wants to question him as well now athens has already approved his extradition to all 3 of those countries however russia's acting foreign minister has criticised the procedures warning that greece has completely failed to examine the evidence presented by moscow another lawyer for of enoch to fame was thought 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 joint inquiry commissions for conducting an investigation in any field. the french president has been rushed out of a paris theater under a hail of boos as furious protesters chanting mccrone resign and try to confront him some demonstrators against emanuel across pension reforms got past police into the hall to deliver their angry message. the law wasn't sure what. was the was. a what

the law. with. protesters. as it tried to speed away the president was reportedly with his wife in a black car in the middle of the group of vehicles journalist and political activist managed to film a cron in the theater audience just in front of him and was reportedly arrested for doing so is arrest has sparked outrage. meanwhile more than $100.00 protesters and the french capital block the entrance to the iconic people have joined the union calls to demand the complete withdrawal of across proposals to spite the government's promise to compromise agreeing to drop some of the pension reforms those controversial aspects of the french parliament is due to debate the bill next month but there are currently mixed public feelings about the protests. 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 15 chicks

a patient but it's not a big deal because if they do not strike there won't really be a little for as we know it so i don't mind the strike i'm actually happy i supported them. if someone would lend manta i'm ready to break through the picket line because the situation is unacceptable i don't care about their pension issues. they're uniting and supporting each other reinforcing each other so that's why i'm here please also well 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 we are not the ones that are standing in the way we're not blocking the public cultural service on the contrary 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 maintaining its position is of extremism that is unacceptable for democrats like me who voted for manual micro in the 2nd round of the presidential election against marines. 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 on the roads name may have changed to st petersburg but the horrific memories still run deep. was was. just. 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. like uk and i knew 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 that. was was. already 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. young and don't cut your hair short after an hour she died. at the. very get out they always said the russians will win our pilot course was shot down

i remember they carried him in sheets she was all brown his skin was brown from bruising and we prepared a warm bath for him with medicine they lowered 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 metronome. did you. did. the metro in fall by sirens were broadcast on 1500 speakers throughout the city a slow beat meant retreat a fast one warned that german bombers were on their way and became a symbol of resistance to the nazi air raids and resistance or times to starve people to death or if national reports from the northern capital. leningrad known

today as st petersburg was among 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 just became routine when you walk down the street and then you remember it or rather try to forget you come across dead bodies carried on sledders 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 sights the 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. their childhood was

stolen by a merciless war gongs and hunger there was already too much for them 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 it was made from strange ingredients some a drop in the cabbage others burnt sugar i don't know how i survived and i think god saved my life more. people saw gold but even less so couldn't bear it anymore the water supply system froze and kill lots of all people hungry people freezing people they now became 1st super people searching for war to everywhere including

sewerage system. we went to get water on food with sledges 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 people still wonder how we didn't die drinking this water the citizens during jury shelling this side of the street is the most dangerous says they saw in one of many similar across the city these warnings became a symbol of dangers faced by residential letting go 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 now land you in trouble at a leading u.k. university just paying students to snitch on classmates deemed to commit racist micrograph details after this.

in the united states presidential candidates debate the future of the u.s. and the world. max kaiser and stacy herbert dig into the burning questions of this election cycle. every week. student debt trade was corporate money universal basic. and more catch up with what's front running this sunday exclusively on. wisdom is the application of rock the boat knowledge you know rope where you wave novel called if you learn a particular scenario. a class could be brilliant and you encounter that exact same scenario knowing what to do is just memory that's out wisdom that's not learning

it's just memorizing some wisdom comes when you are facing a brain new context you can draw on tools you learned in other contexts systematically you know what to do. come back start making everything a race issue comments like that could now 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 in northern england will hire 20 students as a race equality champions and pay them more than $9.00 pounds an hour to report offenders other examples of an acceptable questions are why are you searching for things to be offended about and where are you really from we asked people for their reaction to the move. sometimes like you do you don't realize that you like

maybe being mean with someone and you don't even realize and i think it's important to tell them about it people often ask. what they're from so if i say for example based. on. a lot of people stopping you know your talent your dog or terrorist bug a lot i do get asked all where you're from because i know that i have a little accent and there was a 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 an air of ignorance really. just not really being aware that someone might be offended by something. meanwhile there's been significant online backlash to the university's initiative the regime of the shuffled university have decided to police incidents of perceived rudeness with an army of made student my group gresham to talk to thought police jobs at the university of sheffield how is this not illegal what the hell have i just read the also problematize is even benign curiosity is

a micro aggression and therefore is 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 the statement goes on to claim that micro gresham's have a real impact on minority groups talk radio host and columnist on got 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 keeps horrible i think it's the sin and of them that are very big wage and also will be very concerned about who does so eats what he is naught allowed to be said is another attack on freedom of speech and universities should be cathedrals of free speech each kid's eventually going to go out into the real

world if they would get 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 missile jian taku 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 assume a deal to seek 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 stopping of a 20 year old bear there 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 slain capital for a 13th week of protests began over metro fare increases police on friday deployed

water cannons to disperse crowds as demonstrations turned violent. and tall 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 ash debris and mud 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 bio 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 but for many users their efforts aren't exactly love at 1st sight.

x. x. . x. . x. x. . your b. 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 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 lives our colleagues take the decision it's very seriously . you shouldn't apologize the joke is actually good good now i am offended that you deleted the tweet because apparently offended someone with no sense of humor obviously. that's a news break down for this hour and that's all for me as well today it but we're not neil harvey will be taking over and about 30 minutes thanks for tuning in or are you maybe. america's built a prison called the world and it's the president it's the right and runs the prison and the cost of building that prison is 0 because it's all based on everyone in the

world is still willing to accept dollars trade in dollars clear through the new york fed and worship the u.s. dollar wherever you go you'll find a.t.m.'s and countries where the local currency and dollars right dollar is god no matter what religion you say you are around the world the fact is you pray to the u.s. dollar every day. this is a story about what happens auster a stray bullet kills a young girl in the street. what happens to her family and daughters in florida you know the mother daughter is buried in a cemetery it really messes with your head what happens to the community the public was screaming for a scapegoat the police need is a scapegoat so why not choose a 19 year old black kid with a criminal record who better to pen this than him and what happens in court be the . shock shock smar society we feel.

we don't know she'll just frugal. and to destroy unfortunately you too will still love no chill just. join me every thursday on the alex i'm unsure and i'll be speaking to us of the world of politics sports business i'm showbiz. those oh so you that. this is boom bust broadcasting around the world and covering all aspects of

business and how it affects you i'm christiane and i'm bored to bored washington here's what we have on debt. despite a breakthrough in trans-pacific trade talks the chinese economy is slowing but do the numbers tell the whole picture we'll dig into the details transport strikes in france are still raging on r.g.p. correspondent charlotte dubinsky brings us the latest from paris on the impact the movement has head on the nation's economy and later facebook is yet again back on the fire as the social media giant has found itself in federal court for anti-competitive practices r.t. correspondents and months as they are then by to take a deeper dive into the controversy and what maybe it had by the embattled tech company show today so let's get to it. official figures where china shows the country expanded by 6 point one percent and 29000 year over year which is the lowest figure and 29 years last year china has struggled with weak domestic demand and suffered impacts from the bitter trade war with the u.s. the 6 point one percent.