hopes for peace in afghanistan where the u.s. and the taliban are expected to sign a deal to end america's longest war. plus the family of u.s. air force veteran a former drone operator and whistleblower brandon bryant starts a fund raising campaign to get him released from jail as he faces charges of threatening city officials claims the charges are politically motivated. and researchers at mit say a report alleging fraud during the bolivian election fall short on evidence president evo morales left his post amid mass protests over the supposin vote violations.

a very warm welcome to the program from all of us here at our teach in moscow thanks for joining us this hour. the u.s. and the taliban are poised to sign a peace deal which may bring washington's longest war to an end the deal is expected to be negotiated on saturday or in the coming days but the u.s. initially portrayed as a major success has outstripped now for presidential terms are to come up and looks back at the years of war. back in 2003 u.s. officials were telling a story of success when it came to afghanistan listen to donald rumsfeld we're at a point where we clearly have moved from major combat to a period of stability and to blues asian and reconstruction activities the bulk of this country today is permissive and secure it is clear that that is the case by virtue of the fact that we see people returning to their country from all across the globe in large numbers but 17 years and 4 presidential terms later one of the

great powers of military history is about to sign a peace deal with the taliban warlords they've been fighting all this time and the peace treaty looks an awful lot like outright surrender so 1st we have to be realistic and proud of our gains but our generals have determined that this war is unlikely to be won militarily with tremendous additional resources all sides are tired of fighting for the past years you've heard nothing but reports of progress u.s. officials were saying a happy song and also replacing one another we're making progress right now an array of areas that are critical to our combined success with afghanistan but progress is real and importantly that progress is sustainable make no mistake the progress there i think is very roles myself. and it's very substantial 2016 has been significant year for afghanistan and progress has been made but this was all just hype documents reveal interviews with people that were actually on the

ground and the material ironically labeled less than warrant seems to present a narrative of the u.s. defeat in afghanistan the operation is described as a self looking ice cream cone u.s. officials giving reports of progress we're telling bold faced lie the problem is there is a disincentive really to tell the truth we have created an incentive to almost require or for people to law there is an old. mendacity throughout the afghanistan issue and i know congressman connelly has heard me talk about this years ago mendacity in who bruce the original plan was to defeat al qaeda and afghanistan and overthrow the taliban that was sheltering al qaeda all of that was arguably achieved but then washington moved on to the nation building phase at a cost of billions of dollars and at that point it starts to look like no one had

a clue what they were doing would trying to do here we didn't have the full goose newsham the would ruin the taking through the fundamental gap in distancing of the front and over the stated objectives and grew lines in the military and the lack of understanding of the resources necessary and then the drone started flying many instances of success were recorded on that front but in many instances things also went terribly wrong. somewhere along the way it seems like some folks have just had enough in the coming months all announce the next phase of our drawdown and by the end of next year america's war in afghanistan will be over needless to say it was not over a trillion dollars spent and over $4000.00 u.s.

military personnel and contractors killed and at this point the taliban still controls a little less than half of the country and under the new peace deal the taliban will be part of the new government they'll be in the government just like they were you know before the us invasion back in the eighty's i was in charge of. military affairs for the middle east back when i could have gone over i could have i could have rented a motor scooter and i could have. ridden all over the middle east in road to safety you don't do that today i don't think you can identify any particular thing that we have done where we can say this is a real achievement this has really brought about a change for the better in some way and they talk about you know it's so difficult to get out and all of that the best way to get out is to leave. the anticipated deal falls

a weeklong reduction in violence agreement between the 2 sides they succeeded in reducing hostilities however afghans view the expected peace deal with both skepticism and hope. if it was me hope this peace deal will be permanent it's not like before i wish this peace deliberately signed 10 years ago thousands of our people were killed many more wounded disabled and also many widowed. girl decided we're happy about the u.s. peace agreements but i wish the species deal had been signed when the us came to ghana stern but now it is also not too late we told the taliban to stop the conflict you want the us to leave our country as soon as possible. push out into that sort of issue we will be happy if the deal brings peace but i wish to this peace deal had been signed 10 years ago because back then most of our brothers and sisters hadn't lost part of their bodies and they were well i myself lost my leg in a bomb explosion. so. we're gone both the state and the

conflict so that we. can live in peace we were born in war and we don't want to be fused by the war and. the u.s. invasion of afghanistan was launched in response to the tragic events of $911.00 it was aimed at defeating al qaeda and toppling the taliban which harbored the terrorists but 18 years on and it's the longest war in u.s. history at 1st the campaign a was victorious within a month the taliban and al qaeda had been mostly defeated in the country and the afghan interim administration was established however it took 10 years to kill al qaeda as founder and leader and washington still has thousands of troops deployed in afghanistan where you count for half of all international troops they're tasked with preventing terror we spoke to a 911 survivor who says the war could and should have ended 2 years ago. well mixed feeling number one because as a survivor of 911 when they're looking for osama be. the

taliban was basically that they were supporting al-qaeda both. at the same time you know we killed osama bin laden many years ago we should have been having this occupation for so long as a survivor i didn't need these actually we didn't have remember when we were going to war we were in places we were in you know gary stern and then we went to iraq and iraq didn't have anything to do with 911 to try to hold us the idea that the iraqi people would walk with that he was doing so at the scene way over what we're doing right here in afghanistan we were in the year with the main purpose that main purpose was a change of a survivor i want the award to win not only because of the people that we lost but of the people that were killed in the process because there were many civilians that were killed in afghanistan do we know our occupation of that contrie.

over to the u.s. state of montana where a total of 4 city council officials have now asked the prosecutor's office to drop charges against whistleblower brandon bryant who lifted the lid on civilian killings and u.s. oversees drone operations air force veteran had been charged with threatening city officials and a you tube video and is currently in detention for the past few months he's attended multiple city council meetings criticizing the way tax money is being used brennan's mother about claims his incarceration is politically motivated she's launch a campaign and the hope of raising $100000.00 for his bail my son is the u.s. air force this little over who broke the code of silence on the drone program now he's in jail in the facility he has no criminal record and yet he is the held on $100000.00 bail under detention he's isolated from this family and his friends in from his medically i mean indeed an emotional support animal.

right and bryant served as a u.s. air force drone operator from 2006 and till 2011 having left the military he began exposing cases of what he alleged to be civilian deaths resulting from american drone strikes brian claimed commanders often prioritize the elimination of a target over accuracy resulting in innocent people being killed in the process his revelations won him a german whistleblower award in 2015 and also intensified debate over the use of german air base by american drones here's how brennan described his experience to us back in 2015. i actually talked with a lady whose husband. was killed he was has been in brother was killed in a drone strike or talked to or face to face and she asked me why her husband and brother had to die and they weren't bad guys and i just looked at her and i said i don't know and that's not really the best thing that i can tell someone who

is asking questions about why someone that they cared about was killed and they need to know the answers and the really true hard answer to say is that i'm sorry that. the mistake happened and i'm doing everything that i can to prevent further mistakes from happening. at the ready say bryant was arrested on a felony charge after he had allegedly exhibited threatening behavior during city council meetings and on top of that he threatened to eliminate its members and a you tube video our former f.b.i. agent and whistleblower coleen rowley believes bryant's current predicament is connected to his past revelations. this does seem to be more retaliation for his having spoken out about the drone operations and the fact that they were killing innocent civilians more so than what he's now done typically with the

whistleblower they look back in your personnel files 1st to see if there's anything bad that they can use to discredit the messenger and if they can't find anything bad bad in someone's background or personnel file then they wait for the whistleblower to you know make a small error or mistake and the draw was sobel forces are in a fragile emotional state already as you can see with all the veterans they suffer from p.t.s.d. and we know from many other cases retaliate ing and persecuting was of lors that that seems to be that the standard ammo the government is in perpetual war and so the war goes on for ever that means that even if you speak out even years ago and it's especially if you continue to speak out about the wrongful actions in the war crimes it's going to continue this is not to negate the fact that brandon certainly

he erred if he made any threatening remarks or comments he certainly should be corrected and he should receive more treatment but i don't think he should be punished the way he's being punished. researchers at america's mit university have found out a report into irregularities during the bolivian election didn't provide sufficient evidence allegations of election fraud sparked mass protests in the country which led to president evo morales quitting the report was made by the organization of american states at looked at the bolivian general election results of november when there was a break and voting and it appeared more else was significantly in front of his rival the report found irregularities and claimed the election results were not accurate one of the mit researchers jack williams explained what made them doubt those findings. we wanted to specifically look at the portion where they claim that there is significant difference in the results following the interruption and

then also in the last 5 percent of results of the unofficial vote count. during this process me and my colleagues were unable to find evidence that the only way for you to hear results are out there and you know having an effect on the world without any kind of a logical or even like even just the code that they use to produce the results that they created we find it extremely difficult to naturally find the breaks that they found and used for their results so really we would we would really appreciate if the oas would share their. both their methodology and then also if they could share what they used to produce this report that had such a large effect following the release of the oas reports some media outlets spoke of election fraud like it was a proven fact and audit indicated there was a clear manipulation in the country's elections last month accusations of irregularities in last month's presidential election was raised americans put up

a report saying that. they felt that. the holes he was actually. jack williams again believes the media and opposition used the oas report for their own ends. the statistical claim was the one that was able to be tied to the results and to claim that the results that were being presented were illegitimate and that's what the opposition party and that the media is also used to justify those people knew that there was problems with the oas research but maybe didn't have the technical expertise to would center for economic and policy research had released a report prior but it had not gained much traction among especially the media so i think that they really wanted someone to evaluate this and take it seriously. it seems online fun died another death this week. shares her thoughts on internet killed joyce and their latest bouts of outrage. dear diary

what a wreak of distressing stories there's new evidence suggesting that back in the seventy's buddy was a loony rate from to assist a disappointment on his visit to india donald trump managed to vote but he must pick up every single engine that came his way and alexandra because there cortez were $500.00 sequined dress during the day but the thing that really got my anxiety levels peaking was this tweet to be so. that someone somewhere is joining the shoe joyousness of these people who seem to hold these bullets. should be kept as far away from cultural power as possible joylessness is this a joke this is a classic case of conservative debbie downer is waning on our parade there's so literally no evidence to support it. yes ok the university of arizona is

basically begging students to run each other out effect being aggressive progress of triggering insensitive well. i know some would say that fosters an environment of power noir censorship and soul sucking depression but i just don't see it and yes a school in seattle said easter egg should be renamed spring spheres displaying spare heart count me in my past and think it's got a real fun ring to it. but you're going completely out of. it isn't fun. i'm sure i did read about how now it's not ok to expect people to turn on time because in some cultures time is a fluid concept food in you i just hope all the people who signed up for this lesson and witness turned up in time to get the most out of it also they could have had the decency. to tell mr robertson enough to walk up such as why aren't. you

trying to tell. them they also flight telling the bible while special needs does a company down on a hoop earrings no longer for white people apparently so gone of those catherine days we saw into the long hair in the gentle worship yahoo and that went on ok not the best news for me at odds and a pill what is out about because oxford university did cancel clapping but why are people making such a big deal about it there are notes of all the ways to show your appreciation like . them. jobs hatton's super fun but wait on the culture and appropriation. we've got. still ahead a new study has found that minorities are twice as visible on u.k. television screens as on britain's streets that story and more after the break.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy foundation let it be an arms race in his own spear in dramatic development that only really i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and tom. welcome back a new report in the u.k. has found that minority groups are being over represented in the media black asian and other ethnic minorities have twice the presence on t.v. than they actually have on the streets of britain same also applies to the l.g.b. community channel 4 c.e.o. claims its main goal is to reflect modern diversity and its output while the b.b.c. says they are pleased to represent minorities on screen adding that more needs to be done off screen her critics say it's gone too far grow barring diverse

characters to reflect demographics or will provide. you know what else is over represented on t.v. for hate for white people that's even worse there are 4 characters here well 2 have to be nonwhite and one must be gary the country isn't 50 percent nonwhite and of course again. we put the issue up for debate with new york observer columnist andrea walker and human rights activist peter tatchell. this highlights the ludicrous idea of having quotas for everything i genuinely believe that in television like in all the rest of life you should have the best people for the job but you know what if you're going to have quotas that when the white middle class heterosexual mad represents it then you've got to throw somebody else out but we don't have a quota system in british t.v. there are attempts and have been successful attempts according to these statistics to redress the marginalization exclusion and collect past decades and i think

that's a great thing to celebrate because it does show that we are a more accepting understanding inclusive society this is about normalizing the fact that we live in a diverse society this is not about diversity not to be about diversity what it should be about is the best person for the job television is bad to tell humans so you pick the best guy for the job or the best woman for the job who acts in the best way all the social change that peter tatchell talked about all of this let's get a gay person because the guy you're black person has a black it's just a load of 19 seventy's rock i'm certain that all those black and gay actors are chosen not because of their race sexuality because they happen to be good actors we need to fight discrimination we need to ensure that people who are disabled or gay or black cannot discriminate against the idea of just let's just pick the person whoever they are just in order to fill a quota is that all doesn't so pretty and everybody's doing the right. they choose good after you get a piece of pizza i love you to pieces if you're out of date. in what is seen by

some as a landmark free speech case an appeals court in the u.s. has ruled in favor of you tube and its parent company google any censorship lawsuit filed by conservative media company prager university. addressing the 1st amendment claims the panel held that despite youtube's ubiquity and its rule as a public facing platform it remains a private form not a public forum subject to judicial scrutiny under the 1st amendment. in the lawsuit praeger you claimed you tube violated the 1st amendment by barring the company of its right to free speech after some of its videos were deleted from the platform for you suggested that you tube should be viewed as a public forum and blame them for false advertising as a platform that supports free speech the company believes their clips were banned because of the conservative nature of the content but the court rejected the claims after the court's decision google the parent company of youtube also stressed that there was no political bias involved and that prior use claims or meritless of

prayer you maintains that the tech company has become dangerously powerful. sadly it appears as if even the 9th circuit is afraid of calliope google we're not done fighting for free speech and we will keep pushing forward the significant decision because the effect of it is that the court of appeal the state being day to social media companies such as google and facebook have a right to make a decision and. walt people are going to be exposed that's a breakdown of the day's top headlines for now but if you're looking for more you can always had to our website r.t. dot com thanks for tuning in.

the russian state television propaganda machine propaganda outlet propaganda tools we are getting information. that can change the world. we use and the you tube videos the sleepless structure to date the longest network. can. push your brushes russia russia and russia today is. what i want to believe that they will choose russia to live and i'm really happy to join to see you then on r g. 4 are so proud and still. are just getting the numbers.

why have you not shut down our t.v. on you tube it's a propaganda machine mr walker's. point iraqis now they move but should we have had a much better 17 years could we could have had a much more prosperous iraq a stable iraq yes as their. mistakes happen absolutely could americans have made things about time by far they could've done they should've have made it better but that does not take away from the fact of the have i was stood up to run a dictator who was blood thirsty in participated in the mud and killing of hundreds of thousands of iraqis are millions and more of the around then the invasion of kuwait on salt lake.

the point is should we actually be charging for it because this is when we charge for things is because it's a benefit to the person who's buying it and that's the audiology took over education about 30 or 40 years ago but the perspective of education was originally that education is a benefit for society in general i wouldn't want to live in a society without doctors or engineers but it happened without economists. saying it of being a profit benefit in ignoring the public means that we're ignoring that the skill basis we need for a sophisticated society and putting the burden of that skilled bice's on the individuals who were turned it into who is just now the trying institution. become a form a version of a real estate scam that is not the basis for a functional saudi.

i understand that he does it to lead the world. getting off projects and joy and moving toward the energy as fast as possible the planet will be unlivable for organisms like us i say let's shut down vermont yankee in 2012 meet the promise that we made sure that it should louisiana cleans up the mass and let's have a governor who's going to pull this removal energy and move to a sane energy future let's vote for change on november 2nd thank you so much.

i peter shall. do solemnly swear that i will be true and faithful to the state of vermont few shall leash which there will be true and faithful to the state of vermont. federal regulators now say that vermont yankee is fit to be open for another 20 years or do you know bowler joins us now with the latest on this jena kristin late this afternoon in a conference call that an r. c. clear regulatory commission and now said they voted to extend vermont yankee is license the n.r.c. says it will formally issue the yankees new license in a matter of days but under vermont law the public service board and the legislature must also approve a laser since extension.