in the world corrupted, you need to descend. ah, so join us in the depths or remain in the shallows. ah, ah, top headlines here on our team is national natural gas prices in europe. hit new wreck holds sending household bills, skyrocketing and putting the pressure on government to green light, a brand new russian pipeline. facebook denies a whistleblowers plane that is spreading, hayton weakening democracy, while us senators call for tougher controls on big tag. it is the latest sign of the tide, turning on social media giants a decade after they were hailed for bringing about the arab spring. also us republicans cry double standards as a marine is court. martial court slamming the biden administration's handling of the afghan pull out 2 years after another officer was praised for standing up to

the trumpet, administration, and france and threatens to cotton power applied to the united kingdom. i made a post wretched route over fishing. ah, lots of stories to you today here on the wednesday program live from moscow. this is our t international. a very will welcome to you. so natural gas prices in europe are surging to new records, adding 15 percent in just the past 24 hours. and it's put the continent on course for a major energy crisis, just ahead of the winter heating season, less learn more about this now. crossing life to berlin. throughout these peter all about hello to you. peter price is keep going up as a winter looms asked us to holiday season, where most people will be out shopping for present. how are these energy prices affecting people?

well, what we're going to see is high energy prices at the wholesale market. that's going to be passed down to the consumer and those high prices at wholesale, they're only getting higher at the moment. in fact, the price po, a, 1000 cubic meters of natural gas is past $1600.00 on wednesday. we're currently also hearing from the european commission that there's a 25 year high when it comes to demand for gas across, across the, the, across europe and fi cadre. simpson, who's the e. u commissioner, in charge of energy. she's warned that these prices could continue to get higher and facts and she expects them to continue to grow throughout the winter, hopefully dropping off in spring of 2022. but exactly how high things get. well, that could be dependent on something as well. fickle as the weather, if it's a particularly bad winter than what we are seeing,

predictions is prices could go as high as $2000.00 per 1000 cubic meters of gas. that would be a, a real severe increase on what we've seen in recent times. and what we already know though, is that if these wholesale prices go up, well, so do consumer prices and consumers across europe been telling us they're already stretched as far as they can go. annual frost bichon, but also it's the 2nd increase this year. and this one is worse than the last 2. we have a gas boiler and i heat until will go up from january. the 1st. i've heard it could rise by 150 to 400 per cent of whiskey. i feel angry about this is specialist we told us just the beginning of and bills could shoot even high in springfield on people who are already struggling. i'm going to suffer the most for an average pensioner. it's going to be very significant. run along lol. of the downstream 2 gas pipeline,

the new route to bring russian gas into europe is still undergoing its certificate ition process before it can start full operation. earlier this week, the danish energy agency gave the the green light to the 1st string of the project . it operates with 2 pipes, basically that go from russia into germany. one of those pipes has been given the green light. the other one is currently still going through its to vacation. there's still a lot of air hoops for them to jump through though before it can be fully operational. when it is operational, though, it should take up a lot of the slack of the demand that the currently is for gas because not stream to could provide as much as 55000000000 cubic meters of gas to europe every single year. that's around enough to, to heat and light 27000000 euro p in homes. and there is certainly the, the demand for it right now. i, peter, thank you. so facebook is in a damage control mode of

a claims of spreading hate and division. an employee turned whistleblower has testified before the us senate after leaking a trove of company documents, and in a lengthy response on his page c. e o. mug. zuckerberg denied prioritizing money over the platforms uses. we care deeply about issues like safety, well being and mental health. it's difficult to see covers that misrepresents our work and our motives. i don't know any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed. the moral business and product incentives all point in the opposite direction. facebook exploited teens. do you think that teams are profitable for their company? i would assume. so those dangerous algorithms that they admit are picking up dead that they stream sentence that vision their product. it is often destructive facebook's products, harm children, stoked to vision and weak in our democracy. the damage to self interest and self

worth of inflicted by facebook to day will haunt a generation. it is pulling families apart. and in places like ethiopia, it's literally fanning ethnic violence. well, it's a very different picture from a decade ago when platforms like facebook and twitter were being lauded by liberal commentators for helping to bring democracy to the middle east during that of the arab spring. social media play a role. social media is much broader than sending a 144 characters or twitter, or updating your status. post on facebook. those are useful. you're giving facebook a lot of credit for this or yeah, for sure. i want to meet my group in one day and thank him. actually, indeed, social media did have some very pronounced impacts on the arab spring. earlier, my colleague neal harvey discussed the shifting opinions on facebook without a contributor nico house. it does seem a little bit peculiar that in 2011 with countries like tenicia libby and egypt,

facebook was not only celebrated for put like for helping spread the news about the process. but the algorithm seemed to be a perpetuating the protests and propelling them for that millions of people are able to react and noticed what was going on. now, interestingly enough, about 3 of those countries to protest there actually benefited united states interests. so what it seems like is on the like, now that the script has been flipped 10 years later. censorship actually benefits the united states. so i guess you could say it's pro democracy, i guess if you wanna call facebook, you know, a democratic institution, i guess you could call it that because the government seems to be on the side of censorship. facebook as readily pushes the ship. is it a very different based these day? so what it was years ago does less freedom of conversation, freedom of exchange, freedom of discourse. ah, there seems to be no consistent application of rules or principles or guidelines on any of these platforms. and i would say that at least on the surface now, it looks like the government, at least their opinions have much more influence. i mean, just

a couple of weeks ago, jim pa, sanky was actually saying that it was time to come down harder on facebook and regulate them more fast forward this whistleblower who's actually represented by a firm that the sac he actually worked for. or as a senior advisor, not even not even a year ago, is now sitting in front of the senate after going on 60 minutes getting a lot of air time. so i would say at the bare minimum, what it looks like is there is a lot of coordination going on behind the scenes in one way or another that everybody seems to be involved in, except for the people who are most afflicted by which i would say is the average working class individual and maybe potentially activists organizes and protesters a do you think you ask of an festal has the, has it the powers at its disposal to, to limit to rain in facebook. i think the thing that they need to do the rain facebook and is to hold them to the standards of a publisher. ah. whereas in even escaping a lot of accountability for the,

for the how they selectively apply their rules. i like their editorial lists, but they, but the federal government hasn't done anything about it. now on the other side of that fence, they do have the capability, the force of the sensor more to what it does seem like they've had to. they fit every time. one of these is, this is happen. facebook seems to sensor more on their own. so even though they have the power, they haven't exercise it. and they've been able to get faced with the kind of do what they want more and more without ever having to hold them accountable. and in legal matter, throughout tuesdays hearing us senators cold for tougher controls on facebook and other social media giants. there are plenty of questions now of a how the government might use or even might abuse that control r t host a been sworn has more in the congressional hearing and our admiration for you. what they're essentially saying is government needs to get involved and government needs to decide what content is allowed and not a lot on social media in order to make it the word they like to use. safe problem is, is that there are so many tens of millions of americans who do not believe that government

is trying to keep them safe, but is instead trying to manipulate them and push political messages on to them. should social media b, a public square where people are allowed to get up and speak and into voice their opinions and their worldviews and where rigorous debate can take place as you would have in the public square? or is social media supposed to be contrived and controlled to the point where a few government entities and bureaucrats decide what is acceptable thought and acceptable belief? and i think that's the real core problem here. when government bureaucracy decides what is dangerous and what is not in the public interest, it breeds all kinds of corruption. and it reads a situation where the average person doesn't have a right to speak or to think in any kind of public spirit. i think that's hugely problematic us republicans are accusing them a tree of double standards. so for a marine facing a court martial for criticizing the biden administration's pull out from

afghanistan, it's in stock contrast to another officer who was hailed. busy as a hero for standing up to the trump administration, ortiz kid muffin takes a closer look at both of the cases. $2000000.00 from over $27000.00 different donors. that's how strongly people are feeling. the case of lieutenant colonel sheller. these facing potential criminal charges over criticizing commanders over the withdrawal from afghanistan. now, his hearing has been delayed until next week, but his family is not very optimistic or we have been told to prepare that it could be a long prison term. sheller was an active duty u. s. marine, who's frustration over the bungled retreat from cobble lead to making videos, bashing biden. and the pentagon brass that quickly went viral. people are upset because their senior leaders let them down and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability are saying we messed this up. i'm not saying we've got

to be in the in afghanistan forever, but i am saying, did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, hey, it's a bad idea to evacuate bob graham airfield, the strategic berries before we evacuate everyone. i am submitting charges against general mckenzie for his bad assumptions, not because i've been to it, but because the senior leaders need to be held accountable to the same standard as us. he's now accused sheller is not the 1st military man to raise a voice about issues. lieutenant colonel alexander vin damon was on active duty when he 1st spoke up against the pentagon. brass, he testified at trumps impeachment proceedings as a pentagon whistleblower he claimed the donald trump had made a quid pro quo with the president of ukraine. he was anointed by mainstream media and the democrats as a st. this guy 0. this guy is a patriot. one of these 2 men, the president and lieutenant colonel whitman, devoted his life to duty and honor. right matters what an extraordinary statement

from an immigrant who served this country proudly his entire life. now the answers from the white house quickly turned evasive when they faced tough questions about parallels. present been called lieutenant colonel alexander vin minute hero, for speaking out against his manners. she even has for the capitol hill in uniform . so how is this different, especially since you just said the president welcomes the candor and the advice of his military advisors, does the president also see with sheller hero? i dont have all the details on these circumstances. i understand that can be frustrating to you. um, but we will work to get you an answer on republicans or speaking up saying that they see a double standard. if you speak out against the democratic president, you get thrown in the brig. but if you're doing something against a republican president, you are lord of the hero. this is double standard. lieutenant colonel vinland was

celebrated by media while of tenant girls sheller is in prison for demanding accountability on the disastrous withdrawal. both challenged leadership. one was treated as a hero and the other punished. i remember when military leadership wasn't an oxymoron, it's no wonder they can't see the obvious coming any more. the best bureau cuts on the absolute worst wolfowitz is of the ones that get promoted and make the decisions. military leaders who criticize donald trump got talk, show appearances and book deals treated almost like heroes. while one who just criticized biden is facing a hearing and a potentially long term spell behind bars. the double stay in that we c p, an exercise here today. it's a very dangerous precedent escort or gets the standard by democrats, 1st of all it, but also manifested tremendously by the mass. media tends to be predominantly, less leaning in very much and pocket a, b,

o the democratic party, anything that was an antique trump was hailed. and so it's not surprising anything republican, as to the chase with minimum, lisa was treated with kid gloves now and as a consequence, or he gets off scott frame, having no late classified information. the political landscape has certainly evolved from what it was a year ago. democrats are no longer celebrating those with the courage to speak up against those in power. being a hero isn't so much about what you do, but who you do it against? kayla mopping, r t new york. so france is threatening to cut across channel electricity supplies to the u. k. it's over a post bricks at fishing dispute on seeds. charlotte, who was getting reports from paris on a fight that threatened to offend a series of crucial agreements between the 2 neighbors. france could be about to

slam the brakes on the relationship with the u. k. as this right over fishing rights is pretty much imploding. last week the u. k refused the majority of licenses that came from french, smaller fishing vessels to fish in it's wooded, only approved 12 out of 47. and as a result of that, iris is furious. it's now saying the bilateral agreements that cover everything from security, border control to trade in energy are now under threat because paris says that london simply cannot keep its commitments under the brakes. it deal. bruton does not respect its own signature month after month the u. k. presents new conditions and delays given definite if licenses this cannot be tolerated. we know the u. k is facing this unprecedented energy crisis just like pretty much all of the countries across continental europe. and it could be a back to get even worse, because francis said that it could in the next few days decide to turn off

electricity supplies to the u. k. well, how significant is that? pretty darn significant. according to you, k governments own papers in july of this year, france supplies almost half of the energy for electricity for the u. k. to this really could see the lights being turned out. well, you mean it, both the u. k. depends on our energy exports. they think they can live alone while also beating up on your own. and given that it doesn't work, they engage in aggressive one of them ship. we negotiate a comma nicely 9 months, and all dots are not little done. and add to this pretty much perfect storm, a threats that are coming directly from the french fishermen themselves. now we know that boss johnson has already warned the u. k. that could be supply issues in the lead up to christmas. that with energy, that's with petro, that also with products in stores and now french fishermen the same. you know, what, if you do not a move, all fishing licenses,

we are going to block the ports. we'll make sure that they'll be no in ports and no exports between europe and the u. k, which really could add to, boris johnson was and those are threats that the u. k. should also take pretty seriously, given that we know that the french one, they like to protest and 2, that have already been tense stand offs in the last year over this issue over fishing licenses. now the u. k, for its part says look, we've done nothing wrong. in fact we keeping to our commitments and we're keeping the agreement over fishing licenses. we have granted 98 percent of the license applications from me you both to fish in our waters. so we do not accept the we are not a biden by traded cooperation agreement. we have been extremely generous and the french folks in, in, on a small category of boats and claim. and we have behaved, unreasonably, i think is not really a fair reflection of the efforts we have made. france as well as pulling out the big guns with those threats over energy. and bilateral trades has also asked for

the european commission to take a much tougher stance when it comes to the u. k. over this and other issues. the u commission though, isn't sort of really wanting to get into the murky waters over at this particular spot. it's saying what is going to do is to ask the u. k. can explain its methodology and it will sort of go from that or limp from that. the reality is though, in this prose bankers it will as the issue surrounding that are beginning to bite. there is a real threat coming from france at the moment, and it does seem as if forest johnson has some really tough decisions to make. he is essentially caught between the devil and the deep please say i for the come here on the program agree approach. the 2nd blog, disbarred american lawyer gets a prison sentence for a criminal contempt its years after winning a case for ecuadorian villagers against oil giant chevron will give you the full scoop on that and the rest of your wednesday bulkhead lines in just about one

ah oh, when i was sure seemed wrong when i was just a world, yes, to shape out disdain. because the answer to an engagement equals the trail. when so many find themselves worlds apart, we choose to look for common ground. and let's see. oh, the answer. the allows only been problems and much was ok to invite everybody's lloyd. that wasn't the glitch. that was the feature

let the plead food is owings volumes and that is owned by a feature. join me every thursday on the alex salmon. sure. but i'll be speaking to guess when the world politics sport business. i'm show business. i'll see you then . mm. oh, it's good to have you with us today. american human rights activist and former lawyer steven dons ago has been sentenced to 6 months in prison on charges of criminal contempt. now that's off the he waved a decade long crusade on behalf of ecuadorian farmers and indigenous people against chevron earlier, even one than $9500000000.00. judgment against the oil jain to in ecuador over pollution. the countries rain forest. the reason i marked up is because we were

successful. okay. i, along with other lawyers helped indigenous peoples america or when a historic $9500000000.00, pollution judge, when a good chevron for the deliberate dumping of billions or goals or cancer causing waste into the amazon. don't think i was charged in 2019 placed under house arrest, and then even disbarred last year, he previously represented a villagers in ecuador as amazon region, who accused chevron of knowingly dumping toxic waste into lakes and rivers between $964.19 aside from the environmental devastation, the pollution is believed to have cause health problems including that of cancer. now as for chevron, it refused to pay the multi $1000000000.00 fine claiming misconduct by danziger and the ecuadorian judiciary. the u. s. court blocked enforcement of the fine in 2014, saying the 2011 ruling in ecuador was one through bribery. but dons ago has plenty of outspoken supporters, including his friend,

a pink floyd co founder roger waters. he thinks the latest ruling against the lawyer sets a very worrying precedent. the questioned arises for a soul is, what is the law for? and is it available to all of us, all members of society, irrespective of the depths of our pockets or are or are connections politically he spent 7791 days now under house arrest. and it's way too much punishment, because all he did was deny judge louis a kaplan access to his computer and his cellphone. to give those 2 pieces of equipment to chevron corporation who are the people who we are fighting this battle against on behalf of his clients. it would completely contravene all the rules of grant privilege. if he had done that. initial

a pollution case was 1st brought against texaco petroleum or tex pet, which chevron bought in 2001. chevron has done either any wrong during saying tax paid. did it share with the clean up and most of the damage was actually caused by the state oil firm, petro ecuador, the government that could go over, saw, and certified the successful completion of text, pets, remediation, and fully released taxpayers from further environmental liability. petro ecuador, however, failed to conduct the clean up it promised, and has continued to operate and expand all operations in the former concession over the past 20 years. however, danziger is support, his aunt entirely persuaded. a roger waters again thinks the old john should still be held accountable. stephen and i have become friends through all of this. i met him back then and, and immediately it smells fishy. the whole thing's melt wrong to me and

a israel. and it is wrong. and it will be go on, it will go on being wrong and tell chevron pay those $30000.00 ecuadorian people there. it's now about $12000000000.00 with interest with interest and damages. it's gone up to about $12000000.00 that eroded reparation. and they needed a die you know, poor pads the nino who represents the amazon watch said that he said, what was the quote. he said this is like very, very slow motion. mass murder is what chevron of are guilty of and it is either is or your top stories for this hour here lie from moscow on out he international. thank you for sharing your time with us here at the russian capital . i'm rural. re sushi with more of your wednesday, i'd like to continue at the top of the

imagine picking up a future textbook on the early years of the 21st century. what are the chapters called gun violence school shootings, homelessness 1st was my job and then it was my family. didn't was my savings. i have nothing. i have nothing and it's not like i don't try. i look for resources, i look for jobs. i look for everything i can to make this pass and i end up doing is passing the road to the american dream paved with dead refugees. it's this very idealized image of this older america, native americans look past the deaths that happen every single day. this is a modem. history of the usa, my america r t i, there's financial survival guide. liquid assets are those that you can convert into

cash quite easily. but keep in mind, no as if the inflation better watch guys report mm. in with my mention, return, see what going on the ground coming up with the show as british prime minister bars johnson addresses this party conference, how much of his party is bankrolled through corruption. we speak to the managing editor of the i, c i. j, behind the pandora papers, the reputed, largest ever league of offshore data, to shed light on the shadowy world of capitalists delete sounds corruption. after

the european union respond to the pandora papers by proclaiming probity, lawyer of cattle and lead accomplished more tells us why sardinia set him free this week and what it means for democracy from edinburgh to barcelona. as they fight london and madrid. all the same, all coming up in today's going underground. but 1st today, british prime minister bars johnson addresses is conserved to body conference in manchester. but while he refuses to stop a key cut in welfare for the poorest families, new revelations, from the reputed, biggest ever off shore data league alleged corruption at the heart of his party, the so called pandora papers were leaked to the international consortium of investigative journalists. they shed light on the dark money world of elite capitalism, the ica j's managing energy. fergus, she'll joins me now from washington, dc. thank you so much reg, a server joining us just before we get into the tip of the iceberg of these complex and voluminous revelations. just for the sake of the poorest people watching this,

the significance of them in what it tells us about elite and the very idea of democracy around the world. war we know about the ocean world is it drains trillions of dollars from the economies of countries around the world. and the consequences of these are poorer how schools, poorer schools per universities. and it's a recognized problem. it's a problem that governments around the world have said that they intend to tackle. and what we're showing now is that any efforts to tacklers have failed. now were there has been some publicity about individuals, obviously listed, and there are so many. i mean, you can tell me how, how much data there is. obviously there's been an immediate reaction from some saying where the names of the richest people in the world is it because they just use tax avoidance. in plain sight, we know of the big oligarch, silicon valley billionaires who do use tax avoidance. as a matter of course, well,

and we're, we're in the fortunate position. he's saying that some of those names are in the pandora papers. we have the names of more than a 100 billionaires from and scores of countries. and we also have the names of more than $330.00 our tissues and high level public officials from scores of countries. so the pandora papers have shown a profound way in an unprecedented way, the entanglement of power and uber wealth with the offshore world. well, let's get to the politicians in a 2nd, but i mean, are you going to make this database really available to be searched like wiki league or because i can't seem to be able to get a link at the moment. so the i, j has as a database called the offshore nick stated mason, which is the public. anybody can access information about our past projects. some information.