we. asked. he has. the court largely supported washington charged. with the judge refusing to

extradite him only because of mental health concerns. does not inspire confidence. that another state might not have time to pursue somebody else in the same way. very very far. and. the hardest. thing in from right across the globe this hour welcome to the international your company i mean the. british courts block the extradition of julian assange to the

united states on monday the whistleblower supporters are turning their attention to the fact he remains in custody while the americans launch an appeal the wiki leaks co-founder will learn tomorrow if his bail application has been successful. well while of course the blocking of the extradition is good news for us press freedom groups are dismayed that is because the judgement aimed at the us sell a solid case against them and only refused to send him stateside because of concerns over his poor mental health artie's morocco's the of looks the message the ruling sends to journalists. it may not yet be true but are these a wean a songe the now has been span being fed into the muscle

a sma cantle mouth of the u.s. justice system. was. 6 the verdict was a damning indictment of the songes mental health will how it must have deteriorated for a judge in such a politically charged case to have made it the chief consideration she just didn't believe he'd survive in the u.s. jail the overall impressions of the depressed and sometimes despairing man who is generally fearful about his future the risk to mr science will commit suicide is a substantial one for years we've heard about the psychological torture of julian a songe the better part of a decades penton hiding in fear of political persecution and this taken a terrible toll and sent an even more terrible message in

a sense the system has succeeded in intimidating the world and passing the message that this is what's going to happen to you if ever you have publishing our dirty secrets and making that known to the world because the judgment comes from this rationale and this whole narrative of criminalizing investigative journalism and book blowing at it avoids even to the tiny risks that it would still have that its own supreme court and the u.s. might overturn. the judgment against to in essence based on on the 1st amendment of the country to say as was done in the pentagon papers we have to recognize that other investigative journalist just may not have used a year. important health issue could still be extradited to the u.s. based on the exactly same charges the ruling may have been a small win for

a son but it's spelled to do for whistleblowers and the judge's opinion journalists shouldn't be allowed to solicits damn namely cool to publish and redacted scandals in my judgment mr sanchez a legit to vicki's went beyond the mere encouragement of a whistleblower free speech does not comprise a trunk card even when matters of serious public concern are this closed and it does not provide an unfettered right for some like mr sashi to decide the fate of others essential ie the judge accepted almost every one of washington's arguments against the sun and by implication whistleblowers what this means is that if you is a professional rule citizen journalist soo much is ask for information about a potential state and you get it via any means but their press office you and who have the knicks it's a liable to be prosecuted and if you publish that information and someone feels

that someone might be threatened by it charges just doubled the only reason why a journalist was not extradited and submitted to the espionage legislation the united states was his health condition otherwise he would be extradited so it's very very worrying dots. that jaci basically creamy now lies journalistic p.v.t. it's. only in the last over $350.00 save the american prison system it's so pretty so fresh picture you would be at risk of suicide if i sent it to the america america thought not going to she said there's no public interest there's no it there's no defense for journalists to come to behave like proper journalists or you. actually i do what most journalists do because this is there's no public interest that these are these with very very biased remarks but that this is not

just about him personally it's about journalism it's about freedom it's about freedom of speech it's about freedom of the press and all those things are being undermined both in this country and by the action of the people of the united states to trying to get him to be extradited to the pushing this action here and essential in the judge agreed with the u.s. government on everything. which leaves a horrible precedent for future journalists activists whistleblowers even happier as president these insets ease catastrophic that essentially outlaws not only whistle blowing but encouraging whistleblowers to do what they think is right what we're left with these as you have new ways to target and punish those with a functioning moral compass or u.s. prosecutors have already said they will appeal the court's the station not to x.

drivers songe they have 2 weeks to do that earlier i spoke to roger waters a finding member of the rock band pink floyd a long time backer of julian assange he warned there is much more at stake than one man's life we his supporters have to be saying you have to bail him out he has he's suffered. way beyond any suffering that should have been bt doubts him for his one small bio infringement which he sees only crime under u.k. law a case of buy him now let the man begin to live this is a battle not just for the life of a one great truly great journalist students and it's a battle for the survival of the human race if we give the full 3 states if we allow. the united states government to crucify a journalist on the grounds that he revealed war crimes by them.

then we give up our access to the real when he said he can believe brought you a list and if somebody comes along and says actually you know what that's not true this government murder journalists by machine gunning them from a helicopter in baghdad in 2007 and we know they did and here is the proof and we're going to publish it and then and and then we will say you can't do that because if you do we're going to kill you is that the world we want to live in. it is not the 1st time britain has blocked an extradition to the u.s. on mental health grounds in 2002 british hacker gary mckinnon was accused of breaching u.s. military computer systems he being fined guilty he cut to face up to 17 years in prison in america after a decade long legal battle theresa may then u.k.

home secretary refuse the sentiment across the atlantic citing a risk of suicide r.t. spoke exclusively to him about the case. we should leave him be in this position you know 7 years in the ecuadorian embassy the best part of 2 years in belmarsh prison. for telling the truth you know he's not a criminal. jury and the killings did their best to always ensure that they have the intelligence assets in danger and it really has been journalism on trial mainly in marji mainly to the heavy handed us authorities but also exacerbated by this from to curiously unbalanced i should mention treaty we have between a president and america can only imagine julian is exactly the same as when i was under house arrest it was at my own house not unlike your going to say. it really is. incredibly difficult it's awful i got to the point of suicide i'm short periods and suicidal thoughts and you're trying to maintain normality you're trying to

fight your case you're trying to live as normal a life as you can but you've got this unbearable pressure inside and when it goes on for 7 years 10 years it gets worse and worse and worse it is really really difficult to handle and one of the few people who could actually speak with authority on just mental health gary mckenna now in the united states the committee to protect journalists welcome a british court decision to block his extradition in jail is urging the u.s. department of justice to drop all charges against them we heartened that a british court has denied the united states' request to extradite julian assange lunch the u.s. government's decision to charge the wiki leaks founder said a home full legal precedent for the persecution of journalists around the world simply for interacting with their sources we asked the u.s. department of justice to refrain from further pursuing extradition through appeals and to drop all charges against a stone age however the play appears to have fallen on deaf ears with america's

standing in intends to appeal the u.k. court's decision artie's came up and takes a closer look at washington's war against the whistleblower. so a huge win for julian assad but the usa is still not ready to back down while we are extremely disappointed in the colts ultimate decision we are gratified that the united states prevailed on every points of law raised in particular the culture jets and all of mr songs as arguments regarding political motivation political offense fair trial and freedom of speech we will continue to seek mr saunders extradition to the united states washington quickly announced it intends to appeal and continue pursuing the extradition and julian aside this makes sense as politicians from both sides of the united states' political spectrum have placed a target on his back or to argue that it's closer than in the high tech terrorists it is an attack on the international community but i'm not for the death penalty so if i'm not for the death penalty i want to do it illegally shoot the son of

a son should be assassinated actually they're tough and say if we catch you we're going to hang you whatever when the world's top military power is out for your blood you don't really stand much of a chance they're ready to throw the book at him he's facing 18 different charges 17 for as and one for attempted hacking of a u.s. government computer if convicted he could face up to 175 years in u.s. prisons the law being invoked is an obscure piece of legislation known as the espionage act from 1917 it was originally used against peace activists during the 1st world war now the parts of the law that suppressed free speech had been cut down by the courts but now it's being used against whistleblowers human rights activists call it a tool of intimidation the espionage act must be reformed it locks the public interest to fund it any publisher any journalist any source finds himself subject to similar proceeding they cannot adequately defend themselves today's decision does not inspire confidence that the u.s.

government or the another state might not the time to pursue somebody else in the same way so that seriously needs to be addressed and we will continue to advocate for broader rick. i want to strengthen protections for journalists for sources for whistleblowers because at present they were anybody trying to publish similar information to what we can at least they could find themselves in very hot water that the case is far from over u.s. officials are very unlikely to forget all the damaging information that found its way into the public eye thanks to julian assange and wiki leaks. much.

we believe. we also spoke with a former lawyer for julian assange about the case and his prospects. i'm aware that everyone is concerned that the americans. appealing. there's nothing to stop a son from cross appealing a songes fundamental position is that he was acting as every journalist acts you know ever since the daniel ellsberg case in russia the pentagon papers it has been fundamental in american role that a person who merely acts as a journalist has the protection of the 1st amendment and. even if that person leaks information to them. commits an offense it is not

a criminal offense to publish that material the most notorious of the disclosures by wiki leaks was the video collateral murder which i think upsets the american the great deal that that video was released by a songe along with a lot of other material later and. we most of us would not have heard about it except that it was republished by the major news networks across the across the world now the leaders of the major news networks are not being prosecuted they're not being attacked fit into could lead us i'm just being attacked. for further insights into the implications of the british courts the session we talked to a former cia officer a lawyer and firstly a journalist. it was a truly disparate surprising decision because you know i expected a judge who had ruled so often in support of the british security state to simply

be a rubber stamp and what was interesting about it to me was the way that the judge's decision essentially endorsed the entire narrative of the us national security state and at the same time they seem to find a way of saving face you know we're at such a pivotal time where news and truth and and getting out information is so necessary and so what one hopes can come from this is a delay meet a slight delay in the process to as races to allow a new president to come in who may take a different view of this nation a certain planes place to eliminate this mess coming into the united states this despicable act where people can't defend themselves where the cia will be shown to have interfered with lawyers and others were that terrible shape of collateral

murder to be shown endlessly about what our troops did in iraq. the political nature of the accusations and the impact on freedom of the press makes it a very difficult to get a fair trial we're starting to see elements of the establishment media and establishment n.g.o.s press freedom organizations which had been muted on julian a songe largely due to his demonization by the press they're starting to speak up for him and they're starting to say this is an attack on all of us the political left or what passes for it in the united states has been very muted and we've seen remarkable developments for example in mexico with president andres money. well lopez obrador actually offering to give sanctuary to julian a songe to take him in this is a president of a country that's historically been allied with the u.s.

and so julian assange has summoned so many of these new currents of resistance to empire and it's going to be interesting to see where he winds up maybe we need a u.n. peacekeeping unit to come in and surround him lest he be droned death or otherwise targeted for assassination by whomever i mean it's sounds crazy be to be speaking about these things but i've been there i've been there and that embassy and i've seen how he's been treated and i know he's in the enemy number one from pump a 0 to 2 to anyone so my immediate concern is that he rarely that he not go out out of the out of belmarsh without a security detail that is equipped to take on anyone well i just want to say that i think that their goal is to debilitate him not to chart try him and they're they've

they've been succeeding at that is mental state and his is ability to hurt him in the future or this is probably been damaged to some. some degree obviously and so i think that i don't think the assassination type scenario serves them either they just want to. neuter the messenger if you will we'll see what happens on wednesday i do believe ultimately julian assize will be a free man but he should be released immediately the conditions in a maximum security prison in london are not much better than those in the u.s. so i fail to see the case for holding him there 'd and still continuing to abuse him psychologically and physically. my experiment of finishing the report basically summing up that the next chapter in the saga is

a decision on this be about will be made this coming wednesday and of course r.t. will be here to bring you all the developments as they happen. the number of daily cold cases in the u.k. has topped 60000 for the 1st time since the pun 10 mick started it comes just as boris johnson imposes another national lockdown and that is the country's 3rd since spring time and the british prime minister said he hopes the move will be enough to contain a highly contagious variant of colbert currently spreading around the country. we now have a new variant of the virus and it's been both frustrating and alarming to see the speed with which the new variant is spreading. scientists have confirmed this new variant is between 50 and 70 percent more transmissible in england we was therefore

going to a national lockdown which is tough enough to contain this variant if come back full circle to to last march when we were told to stay home protect the n.h.s. and to save lives and that mantra was repeated by boris johnson again today and is in force once again what it means simply enough is that people in england are being told to stay home except for a number of reasons essential shopping work if that work can't be done from home exercise urgent medical needs or in cases where someone is threatened with domestic violence and has to get out there's also significant pressure coming for parents and students as primary and secondary schools will move to remote learning from tomorrow and the closure of schools is a major government u. turn as the pm had said that he was determined the primary schools at least in england would stay open he did say that there is a rather downbeat meds message of course that the oxford astra zeneca vaccine means

that the biggest max nation program in the u.k. history can now be effectively rolled out and that he hopes that the most vulnerable will all have been vaccinated by mid february for goes well but berman says that now more than ever we must pull together many people here are going to be extremely frustrated that the government has given them almost no notice again for yet another major life upheaval and is once again being reactive rather than proactive with covert 19 by the way we're back in lockdown in england and the new rules are going to become law from wednesday. you know i did ahead of the new number strictures was seen across the u.k. just before johnson's announcement they mainland part of scotland also moved into lockdown under the new rules people there are required to stay at home and work remotely if possible and we'll northern ireland they have had stricter measures in place since late december to microbiologist that reading university in the u.k.

simon clarke says because of the continually rising figures of late questions must be raised over the effectiveness of lock down if the numbers of infections are going up by definition restrictions on all working because the very minimum they should cause them to level off ideally you want to drive them down so if the numbers are going up then they're not working so really there are only a few leavers left to paul and they are. closing schools and universities. and restricting the amount of people who go to work on a daily basis that those really really have. another story we're closely following today the european union has voted to ramp up efforts to solve the 2015 nuclear deal with iran it comes after to run stepped up its uranium enrichment on monday to levels not seen since before the agreement. not on we are

highly concerned by the steps taken by iran to start and which new rhenium to 20 percent and we will redouble our efforts to keep the agreement. the arena and government confirmed this week it has indeed started increasing its enrichment of uranium foreign minister zarif said the steps are fully reversible if other partners of the deal comply with it however that's appeared increasingly unlikely ever since donald trump pulled the u.s. out in $28.00 days with washington in fact slipping another round of sanctions on iran steel industry only today here's the russian foreign ministry's take on the situation. the renewal overeem enrichment by iran is a departure from the join comprehensive plan of action but these dead the asians are caused by the united states actions iran should be ready to act accordingly once the u.s. abandons its efforts to undermine the nuclear deal the nuclear agreement that iran

signed with the p 5 plus one was based on this all sides would respect the deal now what happened was that under obama the united states never fully implemented the deal whereas the iranians did but then under trumped the u.s. wrote the deal apart after the americans exited the deal and the europeans obediently abided by trump's demands the iranians have continued to still abide by some of their commitments and now the iranians are saying that we're not going to abide by those anymore because the other side is doing nothing so the iranians are leveling the playing field either biden wants to implement the deal if he does fine then the iranians will reverse all of these as our foreign minister stated but if a biden doesn't want to abide by the deal then the iranians will continue with their nuclear program and what are the prospects in 2021 of a global economic revival a lot of businesses are asking the question boom bust has been crunching the

numbers we'll bring you the forecast 90 seconds or so it's a tight. the world is driven by a dream shaped by one person or those. things . we dare to ask.

is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation community. are you going the right way or are you being

that. direct. what is true what is right. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. for a mate in the shallows. this is a boom bust the one business show you can't afford to miss branch a bore in washington coming up following the latest run to an all time high the world's most popular cryptocurrency faces a minor correction head we're going to look at the roller coaster week and what we can expect in 2021 plus the tech industry workers are making

a major step as some google employees have unionized later i'm going to bring you up to speed on the move and whether this could be a larger trend in the tech sector and later on the tensions between the united states and china are chilling even further at several chinese telecom firms will be delisted from the new york stock exchange with a packed show today plus dive right in. and we lead the program with an incredible weekend for crypto currency specifically big oil as the world's largest crypto currency hit an all time. high of over $34000.00 by monday that number had fallen back to around $31000.00 but still leaves bitcoin at record highs and those numbers are also causing a huge push for all courts joining me now to break it all down is jeffrey tucker the editorial director for the american institute of economic research and boom bust co-host and cryptocurrency analyst ben swann.