so who's to blame patients doctors manufacturers all the government. a former u.s. intelligence analyst faces years in jail for exposing america's drone assassination program we speak to a whistleblower who's in close contact with him. he did it because he was exposing a war crime he's not allowed to see that and so he really doesn't have any chance of acquittal. as germany struggles to suppress a 3rd wave of the coronavirus the christian democratic union party leader suggests a return to full lockdown something met with skepticism from german politicians. bricks the price of post checks we discussed the background of the weekend's violent attacks on police in northern ireland.

from moscow thanks for joining us today here not international i don't know who can swerve you are today welcome to the program. u.s. intelligence analyst faces up to 10 years in prison for blowing the whistle on washington's targeted drone assassination program daniel hale pleaded guilty to transmitting and retaining national defense information his case comes amid mass disclosure of similar crimes allegedly perpetrated by the united states.

i have to tell you when he called me a few hours ago he was surprisingly upbeat and optimistic and he he remarked about how much press this issue has been getting since he decided to plead guilty so in the end i think that he thinks that this is been worth it that americans know more about the drone program now than 8 they did 6 months ago or a year ago and even though he's likely going to go to prison it was worth it the u.s. is flying these drones or at least it was until recently that were used ostensibly to kill terrorists or would be terrorists but in reality to kill anybody who might resemble a terrorist and that included women children the elderly and anybody else who

happened to be on the ground i believe that we're we're a nation of laws and we have to abide by those laws whether we like them or not if we don't like them we should change them go through the process and change them if congress has not declared war on a country we don't have a right to attack it we just can't decide that we don't like the politics of whoever happens to be in charge in a place like yemen or pakistan or afghanistan and then launch drone strikes against them it's a violation of international law. information about these and similar cases was given by hail to journalists from online news publication the intercept back in 2014 it later became available to the general public and the analyst was accused of disclosing classified intelligence information advocates for the defendant claims such exposure is a mess a sorry for a strong society. using the espionage act in this way to prosecute journalists sources and spies chills newsgathering and discourages sources from coming forward

with information in the public interest particularly when it relates to national security where government secrecy is at its height these documents detail the secret unaccountable process for targeting and killing people around the world including u.s. citizens through drone strikes there are vital public importance and activity related to their disclosure is protected by the 1st amendment well the american government stuck to an alternative point of view there for 2 years ago heyl was arrested and charged with violating the espionage act and other related offenses as biden came to power the public anticipated changes in the drone assassination program now media reporting is to boast armed drone exports to countries including those with poor human rights records john kiriakou a former cia analyst and whistleblower told us the terms of the espionage act leave hale with little hope. this is really the worst part of the of the espionage

act this is the reason why ed snowden can't come home this is the reason why i couldn't go to trial this is the reason why jeffrey sterling the other cia whistleblower was convicted because there is no affirmative defense we are prohibited by law from going into court and saying i did it but i did it for this reason in the case of daniel hale this was a war crime he did it because he was exposing a war crime he's not allowed to say that and so he really doesn't have any chance of acquittal the best. to do for daniel as it was for me as it was for so many others here charged under the espionage act is to take a deal and to hope for the lightest possible sentence the decision that was made early on even before joe biden was inaugurated to pursue the appeal against julian his son it was that decision that made it clear that joe biden was going to pursue national security leaks just like barack obama did and just like donald trump did

after him but you can see the full version of our interview with john kiriakou on what's in the hopes throughout the day on ati. now the leader of the christian democratic union of germany and russia it calls for a stricter looked out of the country struggles to contain a 3rd wave of the coronavirus initiative was met with criticism from lawmakers. we disrupted all b. i think we need another transitional look we need to build the bridge again to the dates when everyone is vaccinated i know that many a time of the pandemic too many already to take another step now and then move to another fees for me jude and lash it isn't just the chairman of the christian democratic union party he's also the head of the state of north rhine-westphalia and some of his fellow local leaders aren't particularly happy with what he's had to say the leader of the state of terror in jail the mayor of both question the well the sense of having a short term lockdown michael miller who's the mayor of burlington saying he

doesn't think mr lasher it has thought about the long term implications of putting everybody into another lockdown this is ultimately the one of the big problems with coming up with a unified position here in germany it's not like i'm going to medical can say from the chancellor's office this is what we're doing everybody get on with it what ends up happening is the leaders of the 16 states listen to what mrs merkel has to say and then go we're not sure if we really want to do that and that has resulted in a lot of problems lot of lack of clarity when it comes to an overarching plan here in germany. now saying we need a 2 to 3 week lockdown this is a change in tune from the leader of the the state of north rhine-westphalia previously he was one of the loudest voices saying we need to open up everything the c.d.u. chairman is still the bookies favorite when it comes to being his party's candidate

to run for chancellor in september however going into a short term lockdown may well win him some support based on those that i spoke to on the streets of berlin i am happy they're putting more regulations on place i think things are looking a bit grim and it seems like it's going back to you know christmas despite we had back in christmas so i'm happy if things go back to. the way they work christmas is full lockdown i think that something mark stream has to happen i don't know if it's going to be a lockdown then they have to be more aggressive and say you can't leave your house you can't see people i think trusting people to do the right thing isn't working as it's been the moment specifically the restrictions must be made stricter because the numbers are going on the restrictions that we have now and not enough to deal with it i think in 2 or 3 weeks or maybe a months we will have a problem there for us to we need more to experiment restrictions and movements and nations than germany was supposed to go into a locked out over the easter weekend in fact it was announced from the chancellor's

office by angela merkel herself only for her to turn around just a short while later and say actually they weren't going to do that this would be ultimately a good turn on that u. turn if they were if germany is to follow through on the arm and lush its plan not exactly what you want to see doesn't give confidence in the leadership when you having this type of planning or lack of planning we've also heard from again spy on the health minister here in germany he's not painted a pretty picture of the state of affairs at all he said that there's been an increase in the number of people going into intensive care with covert 4000 over the weekend he's also you said the vaccination itself won't be able to stop the 3rd wave of covert 19 that's currently gripping germany he says on side with arm in lash its plan and says lockdown is what's needed. several months of one roast with protesters holding patrol bombs at police the

recent post brooks of trade rules. the details. we've seen numerous police officers injured and these violent clashes as well as dozens of people being arrested some as young as 13 and 14 years of age and so now police are really appealing to community leaders to try and stop this disorder and stop this on the breast as well but it all follows on friday decision not to prosecute leaders of the irish nationalists the shin fein party for allegedly breaking coronavirus restrictions for attending a funeral of a former. leader last year that funeral was in june and allegedly around 2000 people attended so that is one part of the narrative but also receiving rising tensions due to post bricks issues as well as a specific part of the brics that withdrawal agreement that's a northern ireland protocol is coming under fire today what we're seeing as it all boils down to the fact that these new trade barriers between northern ireland and

the rest of the u.k. essentially creates a defacto border on the irish sea now what that requires is that goods entering northern ireland from britain will have to go through specific checks essentially a treaty a completely different to the rest of the united kingdom it's always been a huge sticking point in both to reserve may's attempted break that deal but also boris johnson signed sealed and delivered brics it deal that is a huge sticking point officials in brussels dublin and london just sore on technical terms but actually what we're seeing is a real a motive behind it it's an erosion of sovereignity for some it's a betrayal by the british government and all acutely rips up the good friday agreement all together and all the promises of peace within it as well it does seem like neither the shin fein for that matter nor the d.p. are in the mood for to taunt any time soon when it comes to these violent clashes all to do. with that northern ireland protocol and it seems all of this stoked up tensions is accelerating by breck's it seeing the appetite to unify northern

ireland an island really increase in the last few weeks if not months to its highest level of around 42 percent not just confined to the wish for nationalists either but that appetite is also growing amongst the devolved nations too we know that over in scotland that appetite has been growing for years but nicholas sturgeons reenergize efforts are seeing that trajectory continue as well even though looking at wales which is the 2nd smallest nation of the 4 nations they're jumping on the independence bandwagon too with around 25 percent in the polls saying that they would vote for independence which is double what it was around 6 years ago so it seems like these recent clashes over the last few days in northern ireland really are just real reflect real concerns when it comes to the disunited kingdom. scared of roaches professor of international history thanks for joining us good so did the program to do. 3 consecutive nights of

volunteer we've seen or does this tell us about post. the relationship with northern ireland. well it tells us that the unionists the loyalist protestant. george to you know on. being treated like 2nd class citizens under beginning to realize and feeling it. no not a protocol. more or less takes northern ireland away from the united kingdom and makes it a can a province of the european union so they're in a situation. unlike the rest of britain all the european union rules regulations directives apply to them. and that under the do stick in of the you being. called justice and that means that you know they're going to suit you since the not seduce the european union and yet the laws of the you union are formed part

of being applied to them and of course to do and i mean this. and this was all. supposedly to protect the no not east peace agreement but it means can nothing to do as an old priest agree with the european union and the government very stupid deal again. and this was a special deal of the 'd. would be a hard border imposed between the republican party did not love. the good friday peace agreement doesn't see anything about borders and the only border that would be created and it would be very easy to do so it would be one with a few cameras this failure to trade between the north while in the republic where this is a huge room between great britain and northern ireland with the same country. the e.u. wants instead of

a board recess between. southern republican the north. part of the other which would push it once instead to create a border. to include britain and all the sea and did scott this under i think all the northern irish protocols portaloos drooled recruitment and that means the. huge numbers. regulations. certificates also so things needed if people want to trade between britain and northern ireland which of course was the bull's part dissin country. is going to be tested in the coolest probably this week of very soon because the fundamental documents mix on and no is not important to the united kingdom is the act of union 1800 and can i just speak to a clause that says that the subjects of great britain and ireland should be in the

same food thing in respect to trade in navigation and ignore the ts which form the subjects of it should have the same proof or do just as british subjects say out there that they don't have the same proof that it is which is something. unlike the 2 subjects subject to the jews diction of the you i mean are still trying to use i just want to get as many questions as i can and what while there quite a time if you can hear me start to interrupt i mean brooks it was it was a device to be she wasn't well in the u.k. but given the calls for a friend in both scotland and rising calls in northern ireland now do you think perhaps the billable of division has caused the would cause has been a bit underestimated. no i mean i'm scottish and i don't believe for a minute that the scots will vote for separation we had a referendum in 2014 and there was a decisive majority in that referendum for staying in the union and the latest figures from scotland should that support for independence. has fallen in the last

few weeks and you know it is subgoals. about 4049 percent want independence but if you say to people you know do you realize you want use of power and you will be and will be a hard blow to the king and. you have to have some strange currency and you'll probably be bankrupt to mean clearly as all this is explained to him support for independence vanishes the idea will being independent ridiculous a simple $75.00 cent don't want a large minority of the we'll just want to polish welsh polland and the majority of welsh is a small minority it will try and impose the will scale to language on the majority english speakers. do you think london could regret is the posture from the bloc given the difficulties on the tensions it's caused story. do you think all of them

could regret its departure from from the block given the difficulties it's caused just very briefly. well there are no difficulties britain is doing very well i mean this year after the shambles i mean if we'd put a state in the e.u. part of the great shambles will thanks a nation which is going on there with the stead we've. ruled out of vaccines here and we're much better off. economically by the end of this year will be economically much better off than the european union. which is going to face some kind of economic crisis. because the difficult issue having affectionate teams of people means that they're getting and getting a lot done schooling or will be doing this loose all sorts 'd of. untied research and we are we already had i'm sort of a bit of a burgeoning talk you out of time afraid out and scared everett is professor of

international history at l.s.e. thanks so much and syria and soon in the program thank you. all more news after this very short break stay with us here at r.t. . first visit this. something if you're going to america. cayman island to do all these. to do some serious moon ok let's see how we did while we. all beautiful jewelry. for you know what money laundering

is highly. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have. let it be an arms race. here in dramatic development only. i don't see how. very. you sit down and talk. back to the program a connection between the vaccine and blood clots exists yet its cause is yet to be defined as the research funding from top officials at the european medicines agency live now to show to do for an update on what's been going on there in paris charlotte just let us more about the indictment is now facing.

well this is perhaps the most damning indictment that has been made against astra zeneca to date this comes from the european medicines agency is one of their top officials he's given an interview saying that in his opinion there is a clear association between astra zeneca and some red types over blood clotting pacifically blood clotting in the brain and this is a cover larry who has given this interview and he says that the cases of this rare blood clot during off and would be seen in the general population and he says that he believes in the next few hours that they may will also confirm that link. we're trying to get the precise picture of what is happening to define in detail the syndrome due to the vaccine in my opinion we can now say it is clear there is an association with the vaccine what causes this reaction however we still do not

know. now cover larry did go on to say that the risk benefit ratio still is in the favor of astra zeneca but what this could mean is that the advice is possibly to only give astra zeneca just certain age groups something we've already seen here in front of the last few weeks now astra zeneca hasn't made any comment about this latest claim from an e m a top official but it has previously stood by its vaccine defending it and saying that it did not believe that there was an overall risk over blood clots now there have been concerns about astra zeneca roy from the very start not only did present market reforms described it as being cause the effective at 1st it wasn't to be given to old age groups now the advice suggested it should only be given to old age groups at least here in france also questions about its efficacy questions about

whether or not it cools blood clots leading the maid to relaunch a new investigation re-evaluate the data but the reality is this latest indictment which is incredibly damning from this top official is now going to probably make a lot of people very concerned people who've had astra zeneca perhaps in the last few weeks or last few days people who are waiting for an appointment to have the vaccine and could be having astra zeneca they might me now saying we'll do i won't it because i'm still not clear as to whether this vaccine is ok for all it's only ok for certain people of a certain age group it's more risky for women because the advice it seems becomes continuously unclear and instead of people being able to trust in a vaccine that was produced to have an impact against it 19 many people are now just becoming increasingly wary just to give you an example here in france they're

all already cases and investigations underway. after the deaths of a number of individuals including a complaint for manslaughter charges after a 38 year old social worker had one dose of astra zeneca so already those complaints are being brought in this latest statement by one of the top officials really is not going to give people much hope and is really likely to raise concern even further of course we will be staying across anything that they may says in relation to astra zeneca and update when we have that information yeah a lot of questions still left to do with you there live from paris thanks for that update or we can go live now to independence bennett for her take on this very thanks for coming on the program great to have you with us today and all that you know i'm a bridge and we approved this astra zeneca job as safe as affective and now that it is him saying that these serious side effects exist they're doing a bit of a u.

turn i mean do you think they bear some responsibility here. is really quite difficult for members of the public to really know information as well and that's why it's to follow so it's really just around. the issue because nobody can really you know what really is to be given to people in the next the younger people are now it is a. very confusing. do you think the agency should perhaps have reacted earlier given that many states suspended the use of the vaccine then then then resume it i mean should they perhaps have a lot of us to go after the very 1st incident yeah i think it would have been very useful to treat this is very seriously because we're dealing with the lives of people so i think from the moment there was any doubt they should have acted very quickly on that. as a nurse i mean you're in contact with patients who are are they getting the job or thinking about about getting

a job i mean what are you hearing on the ground are people concerned about getting this this job after what they've heard you know people are very worried and they obviously prefer him to go through different type of that nation but yet the general feedback that i'm receiving is that i'm unsure what to do because there's so many different and completely. given out so it's very difficult for people members of the public and to make their mind up. a lot of confusion and in terms of the restriction on that some countries of limited that up to certain age groups others have suspended it altogether what's behind that decision i mean if there are these blood clots or if the link has been found why is the job still being used on certain age groups want to suspend it altogether. and i guess i don't really work for those who can i say shouldn't so i can't really comment on that if i can only relate to as a member of the public. is aware of the vaccination definitely some

confirmation of the risk and we need to know how serious and how dangerous is that seen if it is dangerous or if it's not what we need. rather than just allowing people to be getting peace and just allowed to be given these facts in nations without that sure and and reassurance and that's exactly what people expect normally from an organization like the may you know to understand what's going on to be given some answers now that you know there's this element of confusion and doubt do you think that you're may's reputation could be affected here with people not knowing who to trust anymore. yeah i definitely hope that they learn from this and they start listening to people's back and concerned you know what if they can reassure us tightly then i guess it will be a different thing so after me if he wanted to get he surance from them because recent not long ago they said that there was no connection with blood coursing and

today surprisingly we learned that they could be or maybe connection. and that's the issue and that's the concern because obviously we just need to get beyond says and be able to make informed decision about which brand of vaccination to use yeah absolutely and sooner rather than later given the emergence of the 3rd wave. thanks so much for a time when our too good to have you with us on the program. a scandal has erupted in france after the merge the ministers allegedly attended the secret elite cafes and restaurants in violation of code restrictions and undercover report found luxury restaurants privately opened their doors to v.i.p.'s guess what interview or even claim to himself illegally dining restaurants with a certain number of ministers and guests apparently didn't wear masks they're not black bottles of champagne and members of the french government there have been ides any knowledge of the gatherings if ministers have broken the rules they must

be punished like anyone else if this was to return is so well informed let he name names there are not 2 types of citizens those who have the right to party and those who don't restaurants are supposed to open close in front since october in order to slow the spread of a coronavirus were gauge reaction to the claims on the streets of paris. it was because of course we all need to relax but such a different attitude to people is simpler shocking most french people like streamlet attentive we are asked to be on all guard and so it is surprising that people are treated differently it seems that everything is allowed for them and they have the right to do what others do not have the right to do i think these ministers need to everyone to the restaurants because people have not been to restaurants for a long time if they invited us it would be nice. on the one hand they tell us stay at home do not go to restaurants close the restaurants and so on and they spend

money there and do not worry about the crown of ours and we the people have no right to go there it's not fair this is an injustice and for going to a restaurant these people men and women are not waiting for the same consequences that would await for us if we were caught doing this it was not from us you're not going to put this if it's true then i think that they're the embodiment of the state the imposed limits of decisions taken at the state level therefore they should be a role model and if they do not adhere to the rules that they demand from the citizens then their power loses all 13 so i think it's very bad if it turns out to be true since their ministers need to watch their behavior so soon for the cause a report in just a few of its time but he went back in half an hour with the latest there join us again that. was a pandemic no certainly no borders to nationality.