all display recently in southeast london england at the crown court where the extradition hearings of wiki leaks founder and publisher julian assange have been under way accused of conspiring with former us army intelligence analyst chelsea manning to obtain and disclose classified information and charges 17 counts of violating the 1917 u.s. espionage act assad has not only facing down the possibility of 175 years in prison but also the full wrath of the u.s. government in its history of torture and abuse of political prisoners if the united kingdom courts grant this extradition professor of journalism roy greenslade sums up the threat of assad's persecution writing in the guardian the quote these offensives may relate specifically to one man's activities but should they succeed they would set a terrible precedent the aim is to prevent whistleblowers from telling the truth and journalists from giving them

a platform. so at this 1st round of extradition hearings coming to a close and more on the way i think it's time to get the who the what the where and the why why we still can as we start watching the hawks. was going on a city street. there so you'd like to see the grass is always state and city role so i see great city displays systemic dissent says the late show which would bring the real. world to live on the watching the entire world until and i want. to bring us on the ground the insight into the assads extradition hearings we were joined earlier by journalist reka deed in london who had been inside the courtroom following the case as it went on we started by asking him what he feels after witnessing the hearings firsthand what is the biggest story coming out of the courtroom.

i think the big. perspective i didn't want to take personally but kind of having sat through the hearings this week or this past week it became very apparent to me that it seems to me this seems to be that the result is already set in stone regardless of the lawyers arguments those sort of very clear signs of corruption and. kind of lack of following of the jew process you know i can give you some examples of this but i guess one very telling case i'm sure everyone sort of rather read about in the newspapers in the in the media we had this incident where julian stood up in the courtroom half a year to kind of complain about the lack of confidential time he was getting with his lawyers you know there was reports say it didn't you know strip searched multiple times and he held in 5 different holding cells and his legal papers take

taken away from him so we had an afternoon in the courtroom where you know the lawyers were made a petition for him to come and sit in the next you know next to the lawyers in the benches to remove him out of this glass stock that he's been sitting in the back in the back of the courtroom you know where he's not able to hear the proceedings not you not able to take part. in you know we had about 2 or 3 hours of legal discussion about this where the lawyers present the evidence in precedence for other cases where defendants were able to sit with their lawyers. and despite all these arguments despite the prosecution saying they had no problems with julian assange sitting with his lawyers. the judges district judge ness of braced she essentially read off of a piece of paper that was already with her prior to that evening's arguments it was like. her decision had already been made so it was a very clear sign to those in the courtroom that you know this is you know nor case

. process is being followed unfortunately while and the crux of this case where i found it depends dean is proving that a 1000 is being persecuted by the united states for political reasons and not criminal with us because according to the ignition treaty between the u.k. and the u.s. extradition rules out political bent how backed up hasn't found is it depends in making that case. well this again it's a very similar situation where this is precisely the the argument that the defense relied on and discussed in court they said that this is clearly a political offense numerous examples of this. the judge didn't you know didn't seem to be moved by these arguments despite the extradition treaty as this political. political safeguard in for you know political prisoners which in this case clearly is you know we can discuss some of the things going on with. former

congressman rohrbacher her in the new director of national intelligence rick grinnell donald trump all these people these figures are involved in this but. nonetheless the lawyers didn't know the story the judge didn't seem to be able to move by those arguments whereas on the other hand the u.s. prosecution is arguing. you know the political system political prisoners safeguards that are in place in the treaty should not apply in this case even though almost every u.s. extradition treaty in the world has this political safeguard it's in the u.n. you know model treaty example of what you know what treaty should look like it's in the interpol conventions on treaties. and you know the judge seem to be fairly happy with this with this argument whereas you know is completely nonsensical to really have a extradition request that is trying to ignore the actual extradition treaty that

it's based upon the. judge gave the prosecution very little pushback on this but you know he gave a lot of resistance to the defense lawyers for saying a very basic legal arguments that the extradition should follow the rules of the extradition treaty or should follow the rules of the european court of human rights which you know make similar some of the arguments against political extraditions you know i'm not a warrior and i'm definitely not a solicitor in the u.k. but to me it's a kind of obvious i mean to anyone looking at this case that this is a political base case that's not really about crime it's about going after assad for his political inspired actions at the end of the day i mean it's kind of ridiculous to me is that not i mean just from someone outside looking in that the way it was proceeding here and for those of us not familiar with u.k. courts and how they operate you know is this kind of is the operations inside the courtroom true typical of what you normally see in these kind of cases.

i mean i have a kind of attended to many extradition hearings other than this one but i think it's very clear to say that what is going on is ridiculous you know i was speaking to lots of journalists in and around the court room and you know they're all discussing how they were you know bringing up the case with that taxi drivers or you know as a making their way to court and you know sort of just your basic person of the street was able to say that what's going on with julian assange is ridiculous i don't think there's any controversy about that but i think it's a clear sign of what's going on. in the u.k. and in the west in general that we seem to be you'll. kind of ruling society this for say lack of a better word is seems to be very happy to kind of disregard due process and basic rule of law just to kind of secure this prosecution. is setting a very very dangerous precedent i believe. and to rick. where do you where do you

think these hearings go from here what is the consensus so far on whether or not assad will be extradited to the u.s. . well it's still very difficult to say it's going to be a very long process which i think that's something a lot of people need to be aware of so we're going to have 3 more weeks of evidence in may and the that's going to be the bulk of the evidence. regardless of the outcome of what happens in may this will be appealed you know if if the prosecution wins its case you know julian's lawyers will be appealing and if the u.s. government you know loses its extradition request they will be appealing i think it's going to be a 2 or 3 year process. but you know i think personally i think the only solution to this is going to be a clinical solution we need pressure from the outside to kind of say this is clearly a political case this is clearly someone who's not ever committed any crimes they

are journalist and if if we kind of pretend that all countries are based on these principles of democracy in open access to information that is absolutely no reason for him to be in prison the way he is. going to be a court watchers don't forget to let us know what you think of the topics we've covered our social media and be sure to sign up for our exclusive newsletter at least slash watching you can also start watching those arcs on the mail through the brand new portable t.v. out available on smartphones through google play at the apple app store by searching portable t b. so

she and i as a nation from which says something to us and investors but at the. grocery i say for the money for for you to go forward and have the trip improved for richer my p.c.p. i didn't do enough to try to recoup from the. problems. it was because of global was 'd going to have to close to the incident you know why would you od just of us have looked at playing around to see the movie in the sport it's not something you're fighting when it's over for him out. on the west coast you're fortunate enough 4 to 6 months because of the sound. the wash and consensus led by the united states says the liberal world order must be defended at almost all costs said differently the foreign policy blog demands

the post cold war you know polar moment be preserved but alas it would seem a multicultural world has already arrived. and we're going to fulfill repeated promises. to the people and promise to be you know we've all but the truth. pretty. much. now you want to work. no. no

5. cut big. trade and investment to become magic spells to come economic development. most people think about trade they think about goods and services being exchanged between countries and the investment chapter of a trade agreement is about something very different but won't when investment leads to toxic manufacturing that destroys sacred sites all ruins the environment. that means if local communities that are being poisoned jacked if they do anything that the company feels is interrupting their profits they can do no. the nationals are taking on the whole nations philip morris is trying to use i guess india to stop tour of the way from implementing new tobacco regulations aimed at cutting domestic

smoking rates a french company sued egypt because egypt to raise its minimum wage democratic choice of a trump corporate. joint says we try to fund on the t.v. . a dark industry comes to life in los angeles every night. dozens of women sells their bodies on the streets many of them under-age. los angeles police reveal a taste of their daily challenge no if you're going to exploit a child here in los angeles we're going to come as you see officers going undercover as 6 workers and customers to fight 6 trades.

whistleblowers are a vital part of our democracy they can serve as a check the power uncover wrongdoing and bring to light some of the dark behaviors a powerful people as much as we're taught about protecting these breaks the rules and the integrity of the information they bring forward what the wars are where we think of heroes in fact they are stop are a great losses just for telling the truth and making our democracy live up to its creed case in point former cia agent jeffrey sterling sterling joined the cia in 1903 and just 2 years later was promoted to operations officer in the cia near east . south asia division focusing his efforts on iran he later recruited iranian nationals as agents for the cia as part of a secret operation involving iran's weapons capacity being

a civil servant committed to his job of protecting democracy sterling did what we were all expected when we see wrongdoing he raised concerns in march 2003 he communicated with the senate intelligence committee about a poorly executed and dangerous operation merlin a cia led covert operation that was supposed to slow down iran's nuclear program he blew the whistle sterling had been in contact with journalist james risen and was thought to be a key source for his book the state of war detailing america's botched covert operation to disarm iran's nuclear capacity through a series of traced phone calls and intercepted communications sterling was pegged as the inside source for bribes and book in december of 22 in the us government filed an indictment against sterling with charges ranging from obstruction of justice to an otherwise disclosure of national defense of permission without supporting evidence sterling was charged under the espionage act citing key

evidence that persuaded a jury to convict sterling on $911.00 counts as intercepted records and emails but this communication only showed sterling and drive and had talked with each other the record did not disclose anything about the content of their conversations sterling pled not guilty but was convicted on january 26th 2015. he was sentenced to 3 and a half years with a judge arguing that he deserved a much harsher penalty while serving time sterling was denied medical attention for heart conditions placed in solitary confinement and threatened by officers jeffrey sterling author of the book unwanted spot the persecution of an american whistleblower joins us now to share more about his story and the same legacy of operation berlin welcome jeffrey. thank you for having me on jeffery and it's a great honor having you on and i do and before we get started do want to thank you for standing up and speaking and speaking the truth that you knew i think is very honorable blowing the whistle and things like that thank you so much for what you

did and what you sacrificed for all of us. i want to start by saying you know why was operation merlin a complete failure and to what and do you think your role in whistleblowing served to kind of solidify it as one of the cia's biggest biggest blunders at the end of the day. that well when i came into operation merlin and it had been going for some time before my involvement i was assured of all the safeguards and that it was approved by the highest levels of government. and background on the operation as had been said it was designed to slow down the iranian program to gain a nuclear weapon well during the process all of the safeguards that i was told about turned out to be false. and so i felt that it was going to be actually something that would enhance or speed up the iranian efforts to gain a nuclear weapon as opposed to hamper them so i made the appropriate reach out

to individuals within the organization within the cia and i was basically told to shut up then i did eventually go to actually both the senate and house intelligence committees while. mr sterling your book that i wanted spy has everything that tale of a career civil servant and minority rising through the ranks at a time where it was almost unbelievable that someone who looked like you could be in the position that you were in establishing yourself and really taking control. to also shedding light on something that you felt was your duty in a highly controversial and dangerous american foreign policy project can you tell us more about what inspired you to write this book you dealt with a lot in your book there are details of chapters of your life like being a child without a village and a man without a country how have these things impacted you. well timea writing a book it was just about the journey that i've taken and for me there's always been

that racial aspect of the despite my trying to avoid that all or trying to combat it there's been racial aspects and racial hinderances throughout my life just because of the color of my skin so i was facing that growing up in a segregated town in missouri i faced it in social aspects of just growing up because i chose to do things that were not expected of me because i was black but i was determined to just be myself through everything and i stayed to that mantra through growing up in that small town through college through law school and certainly in absolutely while i was with the cia so the book is about a journey and i think there are some things about it i think there's a lot of things about it that maybe americans don't know about their country and things that go on and particularly with regard to whistleblowers as i've said

before whistleblowers are people and citizens just like everybody else and they love and have concern for their country and decide to stand up for their country and take a step that tremendous risk to disclose and uncover wrongdoing by our government officials you know you took huge risks and i think you're going were tragically really punished harshly harshly when anyone looking at your case at least a mile pretty would feel like you know this is this is some place where you know the government and the powers that be really kind of sudden oh we want to punish this man and i think it would not only for boring the whistle but i think also as you mentioned you were also with a few people to bring up some of the issues of race that were taken place at the agency itself what were some of those issues and what advice do you have for whistleblowers and you know future whistleblowers and stepping forward you know looking at your old life and giving them the best advice you can. you know. for me i mean there there is certainly the aspect of the merlin operation mirlande point

that i was a little guess but there was also as you said the racial issues that i was facing at the cia while i was there and trying to and thinking that i'm raising in the ranks in handling my career i didn't realize in that you know i did realize that i was not receiving the same treatment as other officers not the same opportunities the same tools to do my job i asked my supervisors why and they point blank told me the cia having no compunction in saying what he saw in it what's on its mind told me that i kind of stood out as a big black guy speaking farsi. i mean that was a shock to me as an organization that i had established myself as a good a very good clandestine case officer but as i tried to move up in my career they didn't notice the color of my skin and that's when i my response to that was when when did you notice i was black and why does it matter. i took the step to fight

against that discrimination because i had had enough that was not me i wasn't going to stand by and be treated that way i mean i went to law school i know what the laws are there and just leave in the history of this country equal treatment and i decided to fight knowing that there may be risks but i felt i had the law on my side and of course my discrimination case was dismissed because as the courts agreed with the prosecution that it posed a threat to the national security of the united states and i still find out just amazing just to say that that an african-american standing up for civil rights in this country is a threat to our national security. but that's all within my character that i'm not going to stand by and see something especially happening to me or something that i'm involved in and say nothing when i can see wrongdoing going on that was the same for me with regard to operation merlin and with regard to the other

whistleblowers i think if you stay true to yourself you stay true to the integrity that you have. there may be tremendous risk with regard to whistle blowing but or choosing to stand up but to me as if with going to trial i knew i wasn't going to plead to something i didn't do i wouldn't be able to face myself in the mirror and like who i saw staring back at me if i had pled to something i didn't do and it was the same for me through operation merlin and the racial. discrimination that i was facing at the agency i couldn't stand by in the face of wrongdoing and do nothing i think if you stay true anyone who knows there is wrongdoing going on and is wavering on whether to make that choice to whistle blow i think stay true to yourself stay true to the integrity that got you to where you are and that lets you see that something is wrong there there may be risk that

maybe i'm not the poster child for who also blowers but. at the end of the day you have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and know you at least tried to do the right thing well i would say i would say mr sterling i would say that you are definitely a post trial been a poster child for strength and in my opinion doing the right thing i want to thank you so much for what you did and also for writing this book definitely everyone check it out on wanted spy the persecution of american whistleblower jeffrey sterling thank you so much for joining us today thank you for having me on. wow everybody well that at the end of the day that's our show man that's. the powerful stuff we're jeffery so deep so fresh dating at the same time on the right well everybody that is our show remember everyone in this world it's important always remember in this world we're not told we're loved up so i tell you all i love you i am tired of interest and i'm in chicago keep on watching all those hawks out there and have a great day and night everybody. liz

. liz. liz. play her. know when i'm going to be out there seeing i don't think about i don't many of us at home and not near our bar. i kind of were on the ship on course and back and i think now i think it's higher than our. members of the african mafia has promised them safe and quick passage to europe but once they.

leave they are enslaved they count speech util. will not some of them leave your mom and i couldn't you know. this you need to get it out i mean. they sold the. let me get all caught of the and important it was the persona that all.

the freddy super cool for sure it all to look like was and was mean if it was so on the internet to start work i'm sure the speech people feel and i'd ministry's for war for your clothing or not only do it is me going for bush but i will. tell us no . good solution. here. because there's a survival guide up stacy just imo to start with at. first. he should go. back to. public. repatriations look at the rest the 70. delegates keyser of her.

each simulating civilization will be able to run using a tiny fraction of its resources. hundreds of thousands millions of runs through all of human history almost all. beings with our kinds of experiences don't be simulated ones rather than non simulated ones and conditional that are good we should think we are full of the one of the simulated ones. trade and investment to become magic spells to conjure economic development. most people think about trade they think about the goods and services being exchanged between countries and the investor a chapter of a trade agreement is about something very different but what one investment leads to toxic manufacturing that destroys sacred sites all ruins the environment. that means if local communities that are being poisoned if they object if they do anything that the company feels is interrupting their profits they can they serve.

the nationals of taking on the whole nation philip morris is trying to use i.s.t.'s to stop oregon from implementing new tobacco regulations aimed at cutting domestic smoking rates a french company sued egypt because egypt raise its minimum wage democratic choice over trump corporate law joining us as we try to find don't want to.

russia started to cope with 19 vaccine trials promising to get results by the end of the year the countries also rolled out a number of measures to curb the spread of the virus we visit a moscow airport to see what's been put in place. there are 3 layers of good will control that will rise the passengers have to pass through there's the infrared camera there's a thermal camera and the passenger's temperature is it's a kid a brewery the blade. as the u.s. takes tough measures to tackle the corona virus outbreak the secretary of state blames russia for spreading this information over the pandemic.