after a u.k. judge blocks the extradition to the us of julian assange attention now turns to his bail and washington's appeal we hear from high profile supporters of the wiki leaks founder we his supporters have to be saying you have him now he has he's. beyond any suffering there should be for his worms. which he's trying to. press freedom groups are ringing the alarm though after the court largely supported washington's case against assad's with the judge only

refusing extradition over mental health concerns. does not inspire confidence that the u.s. government or the another state might not have time to pursue somebody else in the same way that judgment very very far. rationale that underlie u.s. indictment and. eventually criminalize investigative journalism. wherever you are whenever you are whoever you are you're watching our international quarter bringing the news from moscow to you welcome to the program. after a british court blocked the extradition of julian a songe to the u.s. the whistleblower supporters are turning their attention to the fact that he remains in custody while washington launches an appeal that wiki leaks co-founder

will find out later on wednesday if his bail application has been improved approved . press freedom groups have been angered at the court ruling that's because the judge maintains the u.s. has a strong solid case against assad she only refused to send him stateside because of concerns over his mental health or against the of looks at the message that the ruling sends to journalists. it may not yet be me but of these a wean a songe for now has been span being said into the muscle a sma can kill 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 a depressed and sometimes despairing man who is generally fearful about his future the wrist and 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 it has 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 to publishing our dirty secrets and making that known to the world because judgment is coming from this

rationale and this whole narrative of criminalizing investigative journalism and book blowing at it or noise even to the tiny risks that it would still have that its own supreme court in the u.s. might overturn a. 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 a use for your. 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 dam namely to publish an redacted scandals in my judgment mr sanchez a legend to vicki's went beyond the mere encouragement of a whistle blower 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 sunshine that by implication whistleblowers what this means is that if you as 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 a liable to be prosecuted and if you publish that information and someone feels that someone might be threatened by it while you charge is 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 joshua basically creamy now lies journalistic t.v. it is. 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 american to america thought not going to she said there's no public interest there's no it there's no defense for journalists who come before you like probably journalists or you. he likes to do what most germans do but call mr wilson there's no public interest rates these are these with very very bad for both of them 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 in the united states to trying to get him to be extradited to the pushing this action and the

socially 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 whistle blew is 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 earlier my colleague union o'neil spoke to pink floyd founder roger waters who is a long time supporter of a sanchia believes there's more at stake than the freedom of just one man 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 be to doubt him for his worms mobo

infringement which he sees only crime under u.k. a case of by him now that the man begin to live this is a battle not just for the life of one great truly great journalist julian and some it's a battle for the survival of the human race if we confront 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 world and we say ok we didn't believe you lives and if somebody comes along and says actually you know what that's not true this government murdered 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 well we want to live in. this is not the 1st time britain has blocked us extradition request on mental health grounds in 2002 british hacker gary mckinnon was accused of breaching u.s. military computer systems had he been found guilty he would have been facing up to 70 years in an american prison after a decade long legal battle theresa may that then u.k. home secretary refused to send him across the atlantic citing a risk of suicide or she spoke exclusively to him about the assad's case. we shouldn't even 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 amaze us abated by this from to curiously unbalanced i should mention treaty we have between a president and america can only imagine julian says exactly the same as when i was under house arrest it was at my own house not an ecuadorian embassy. 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 us committee to protect journalists welcome to the british court's decision to block assad's extradition to n.g.o.s urging the u.s. department of justice to now drop all charges against him we heartened that a british court has denied the united states' request to extradite julian assange

launch the us 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 a source's we as the u.s. department of justice to refrain from further pursuing extradition through appeals and to drop all charges against a stone age over that play appears to have fallen on deaf ears parties kaleb 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 were 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 is closer to 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 in just the kinds that 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.

but we do believe. we also spoke with julian a song just former lawyer about the whistleblowers prospects. i'm aware that everyone is concerned that the americans. appealing about 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 russian the pentagon papers it has been fundamental in american law that a person who merely acts as a journalist has the protection of the 1st amendment and. even if the person who leaked information to them. commits an offense it is not a criminal offense to punish that material the most notorious of the disclosures by wiki leaks was the video collateral murder which i think upset 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 finda could lead us i'm just being attacked for more insight

into the implications of the court's decision i spoke with a former cia analyst a lawyer and an investigative 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 'd 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 that 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 them shane where the cia will be shown to have interfered with lawyers who knew 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 a man 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 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 really 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 there 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. so the next chapter in the asylum saga is a decision on his bail that will be made on wednesday and of course r.t. will be here to bring you all the developments as they take place. join me every thursday on the alex i'm unsure when i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then.

seemed wrong but i will just don't call. me. yet to shape out this day become active. and engaged because the trail. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. looking back to the kaiser report imax guys are time to go to being know of dollar collapse dot com john welcome back to you steve now we've known you for many years going back 3 big cooling days and well 2020 seems to be the year that bitcoin has driven the dollar to collapse in a way that gold was unable to. go

back to the program now germany has strengthened its measures against the spread of the pandemic within the last few hours chancellor angela merkel both extended and tough international lockdown restrictions on kids c.e.o.'s. very close to full capacity in some hospitals which is also one of the reasons for us to introduce these far reaching madness today. for those living in areas most affected by the virus they won't be able to travel more than 15 kilometers from their home without a valid reason and contact with people from outside a household will be limited to just one other person existing restrictions that have been ramped up since november will now be in place until at least the end of january including the closure of schools and all non-essential stores. the e.u. has vowed to ramp up efforts to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with iran it comes after tehran stepped up its uranium enrichment program on monday to levels not seen

since before the agreement. no not at all we are highly concerned by the steps taken by iran to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent and we will redouble our efforts to keep the agreement the iranian government confirmed this week it has started increasing its enrichment of uranium its foreign minister said the steps are fully reversible if other signatories comply with the deal however that appears increasingly unlikely ever since donald trump quit the agreement to 2018 with washington slapping another round of sanctions on iran's steel industry only today here's the russian foreign ministry's take on the situation. the renewal of reman richmond by iran is a departure from the join comprehensive plan of action but these deadly 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 the assumption that 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. global oil markets have been handed a new year boost after russia and saudi arabia reached a compromise over oil production for the next 2 months a group of major producers agreed to keep the oil supply broadly steady. in

february and march that's after the pandemic forced some economies back into lockdown while government struggled to roll out vaccines and while russian kazakstan have been permitted to add a combined 75000 barrels a day for both of those months saudi arabia pledged an additional unilateral cut of $1000000.00 barrels a day while prices jumped 5 percent on the news of the deadlock over february's oil output levels had been resolved it followed a slight drop on tuesday due to the continued uncertainty and new covert lock downs saudi arabia's permanent representative to the u.n. told us he hopes the oil market will recover and stabilize soon but look at this we are able to reach agreements with russia and all notice is a positive indication. plus going to open a few months is there to stay and we continue to maintain discussions in coalition with i want to meet your players in the market so i think it all indicates

a positive outlook i think of what nations would benefit from this agreement didn't wait. that it isn't in the form of reduced output generally a limit if use in the full metal prices so i think they will go along with this agreement and then they will support it and reality continuous contact with a little bit partners and me we're trying to do something which rights to use it consideration we think that there will be a company in the world in markets with the new year and with the improved economic situation and that's really increase our approach to t.v. for. producing and selling a lot of sort of mom's quantities. that's it for this hour for more details on your world news story struck us out at r.t. dot com and follow us on twitter i'll be back with more in just about 30 minutes i hope to see that.

has changed american lives but pharmaceutical companies have a miraculous solution. based drugs for the people who are chronic pain and believe that their prescription is working for them on the remedy be sent to the price

that they pay closer dependency and addiction to opiates the long term use that really is and scientifically just now study actually suggest that. the long term effects might not just be the absence of benefit but actually that they might be causing long term. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle is there such a thing as public opinion anymore after all after 2 election cycles in

a row data has been largely imperfect is there is more than just one public and are there good reasons not to trust the polls. to discuss these issues and more i'm joined by my guest and martin in washington he is president of the national conservative organization that was shot the eagles as well as co-author of the conservative case for trump and new york we have sarah norman she is a democratic strategist digital marketer and data scientist and in pasadena we cross to greg john who well he is co-host and co-creator of the independent media show convoke are across up rules and effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i was appreciative ok let's go to it and and you know when i look at the last 2 election cycles and how the the polling was off i think it's it's more than

methodology it's what we think about polls and and it seems also to me that imbedded in that is that there should be a certain kind of voter and i think that the polls that are written looking for a certain kind of voter and when you do that you don't get the results that you want or people simply just won't answer honestly because they don't trust people they don't trust polling and politics. fortunately and so divisive so head well i you know i am a little bit more cynical if you can believe it i actually think my old boss phyllis schlafly for whom i worked like phyllis schlafly who had such a long career in politics she used to describe that one of the key things for her was running for office she ran twice for congress and lost and i ran for congress an attorney general missouri lost but you learn a lot one of the things i learned that pollsters come in and try to charge you money and give you an answer that you want and i just want to say very clearly i believe the posters as.