ah, with a tension coming to you live from the russian capital. this is r t international. i'm rachel loven's. here with the top stories of the our welcome to the program. the pentagon claims that china is refusing to get in contact with senior us officials to explain recent large scale military drills. beijing held on its own territory. washington issued the statement just before the us began its largest ever wargames with its south east asian ally. the philippines. lines between our military is a particularly important in scenarios like this,

and we call and beijing to engage us in this channel. amid the escalating tensions for us in the philippines have launched joint military exercises on an unprecedented scale involving more than $17000.00 soldiers. the drills are said to focus on deterring external threats. china's foreign ministry claims the increased u. s. military presence in the region will further destabilize the security situation. just before the us drills the president of the philippines address china's concerns. we will not allow our military pieces to be used for any offensive action. it is only meant to help the philippines when the philippines is in need of help. not everyone in the philippines is happy about their country, strengthening military ties with the u. s. during the opening ceremony for the war games, pupils are to the streets of manila to protest against rising us influence in their nation. we heard from a local activists at the scene. i can think of the lie right now is that you are

just here to help us, i guess in china, and that is more of the magic. we will see you warehouse washing for your own is the 1st one. again, that is not after philippine blah, blah, bring the philippine national vendor. number 2 that is on that the u. s. will help they have the modern nice and they've been having, having us exercises for 13 years now. they've been having r u. s. b 9047 to 91. we've had the virginia court agreement and i think i'm going to press on all these and we very exercise. there's all b, b and c l m a new s, hyphen capital have been 80 under developed. we have not modernized by any means. we have to remain dependent on the you are. so it's not, it's not true that they're here to help us to develop some of your here to keep us defend them in the american. the dates in american military international

relations expert, joseph gregory mahoney, believes that the u. s. is using china's military drills to justify its own large scale exercises with the philippines. i am inclined to see these exercises between us and, and the philippines as fortuitously timed by the u. s. i perhaps even in collusion between the, by the ministration and the speaker of house, how the house of kevin mccarthy was. recent meeting with the taiwanese leader in california was set by him and which predictably invited the response. we've seen the u. s. provoked the chinese response over taiwan and then provocatively went ahead with the exercises with the philippines and concurrently as fall to china for not communicating. now, this is a well born tactic from the u. s. play book at this point. i do something nasty, then try to act reasonable and blame the other side when they don't play along. the fact that china hasn't responded is also har for the course by now as well. we saw

the same thing happen after policies visit last year. ties are still deteriorating, this is the trend and there's no sign. this will change any time soon. and investigation by the russian parliament claims that u. s. officials had been operating biological weapons, labs and ukraine, that had a version of biological defense forces outline the find makes. or to prove this for solo in a garage or in the course of the special military operation. the defense ministry has analyzed more than 2000 documents, confirming the implementation of military biological projects in ukraine, and identified officials who participated in organizing military biological research in the united states and ukraine. here, what is fascinating story mirage? and of course, a bit of by way of background, you know, moscow started to raise concerns about of very, very complex sprawling where essentially of, of laboratories in ukraine. and, you know, very soon after the beginning of the special military operation last year. and

they've, since them in publishing troves of documents outlining in great detail the complex work that these, the parties were doing, who was funding them and who was involved. and also russia took this issue by the way to the un last october, seeking a, a, an international pro, but very interestingly that was blocked by the united states, france and the u. k. interestingly. and of course, they haven't directly challenged any of the issues that russia has raised around these laboratories, what they were doing, what they were making. why were they in ukraine? and we can actually listen to the commander of russia's nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops. igor, kerry love now, you know, telling us a little bit about more about their failure to do that much of a deal, but manage. it should be noted that the u. s. has not denied any of these facts presented by the defense ministry. no one including western countries,

had any doubts about the authenticity of the published documents i was, it was very interesting and we've heard a lot about these sort of things. but has the west show is how do we say the west? i'm in the u. s. u. k. france. those have they reacted in any way? well, they've reacted in a predictable way, predictably saying that they're not funding by a weapons labs or bio labs your crime. but they don't deny. and they do actually acknowledge that they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars that we know about to fund le le bar to which they say are there to counter the spread of bio weapons. you know, we've seen through the information released by russia. dozens of scientists, big name corporations like 5 or for example have been involved in these innumerable laboratories in ukraine. and they've never given assurances about the safety of these the parties, how the pathogens and the work being done there is, is protect the ukrainian people. and you know,

and they are also saying that this is down to the ukrainians now because they only fund the research. it's not really there. you know, so there's a familiar face as well. involved here. victoria newland, the under secretary of state for the united states who's will be well known to ukraine and russia, watchers if you like. and she had something to say also that the funding of these, the barges, if we can have a listen to that. now ukraine has her biological research facilities. we are working with the ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of russian forces. should they approach why did that ukraine was chosen for these bio labs? well, that's the interesting question. i mean, you know, obviously ukraine had a lot of difficulties long before the russian military intervention, a lot of corruption, lack of regulation in certain areas. and it was probably seen as a bit of

a mark for the off the radar development of these type of activities. if you like, of course depleted uranium shelves now seem it's okay to use them in, in ukraine and things that would be an acceptable in the west that would come a little far more significant scrutiny or from western authorities as seem to go undetected in ukraine. i mean, significant cash and insolence as well. morality comes with this research, hundreds of millions of dollars in a country. that's what it's issues with corruption. so you have to take all of that issues, isn't it? well, one of the most corrupt countries. so we talked about last stage, remember, yeah, just corruption, corruption, corruption, and hey, we have suddenly that corruption. yeah, yeah. and we're talking huge sums of money on these are the sums of money that we know about from these very complex and very detailed documents which, which the russian authorities have released and persistently releasing. and of course, as i said, the un doesn't seem to want this investigated. so, you know, sadly ukraine has become a testing ground on the battlefield for, you know,

highly complex western weapon systems which have never been tested in a combined arms operations before. so the skeptics would say that the war is being perpetuated and prolonged in order to test these weapon systems. and of course, it seems now that ukraine has also become a laboratory or a testing run for very dangerous pathogens and research into things that could be very harmful to the ukrainian population. if there was to be an action aircraft giant, boeing reportedly plans to restore full production of its controversial $737.00 max jazz. it's been 4 years since you are deadly crashes. love more than 300 people dead and saw the aircraft around the world over and the company's reputation severely head. you may remember the 1st of those fatal crashes occurred in indonesia and october 2018. the jap lunch from this guy. just 13 minutes after take off, killing all 189 people on board. just 5 months later,

another of the plants came down in almost identical circumstances that meet the obeah, claiming the lives of 157 people. following a 2 year global grounding, the model was clear to fly again after boeing overhaul this flight control systems . we spoke to an expert in the field who believes big companies use their money to very bad new i can see on numbers. it is simply not enough. you cannot at reagan, i laid off a near and dear one was one who were lost in a board viet crashes is really challenging for a family to go against this. i got to put into culture and they simply buy people and families off in the process as well. ab ation is a hugely regulated industry. the tax investigate does have a lot of stakeholders, innate beam out, asked the members,

so the reality high to come out white in the process. we have seen boeing news, a lot of repute and which is one of the most challenging things to reagan after a couple of crashes beacon place. and one of the highest dec it off on, on the scene of aviation. so we're looking are challenging times ahead. ah, it's been 23 years since our french president has visited the netherlands. but despite finally ending that record a manual, my chrome didn't quite get the reception that he might have been looking for and said he was heckled while giving a speech at europe. saw on your sovereignty, allan institute in the hague. and i'll come and bed. yeah. hello, oh my friends, democracy resident. i can,

i can answer this question if you, if you give me some time the president's speech touched on european sovereignty insecurity and economic matters. his words followed his recent statement that made plenty of headlines around the world where he questioned whether europe should continually follow the policies of the us. the pandemic and the board just pushed us into a situation to discover that we have to reduce our dependency to preserve european identity, otherwise will progressively be dependent on everything discusses further las cross . i'm now to independent journalist luc brevet lucas. great. have you on the program today? so the french president found himself on the and of some aggressive heckling by protesters during his speech. are you surprised by that? not really, but it was in the netherlands. i mean,

france is always jeered when he arrives anywhere for the wallet. he's not popular a tall. um, so it was so, you know, it brings a smile when you see it happening in the meadowlands to using the word democracy in breton, the lack of democracy. one was here, my whole speak soft m communicates what he does very well. yeah, he only seems to expect to see protesters in some form just about anywhere he goes . so do you think it came as a surprise at altima crohn himself? i mean, he told the hecklers that he was prepared to answer their questions. he didn't seem not phase. is he just supposed to expect those kind of been given his policies when he had to say something, so he said okay, i could he fives he carried on with his o, present. um, what was good in waste on produce this are, you know, taiwan is so like us to be. um we have um, this is an error i think in michael's eyes. and this is good for you in

a way that we should keep our independence on the military side on. but what he said in the hague this afternoon was a pretty disturbing on. he said indeed that thanks to call, that he and the other had sustained, realised that um, we were filling dependent upon asia and all the places for our industrial production of europe as the industrialized over the last 23rd. he is in a terrible way because of the likes of michael. and you know, it's because of people like him of globalist liberals like him that everything has been sent. all production is sent to, to china and all the places, you know, believing that children could be only a service society. well, it doesn't work like that. we have plenty of unemployed and bring in plenty of microns war, long qualified, so with, by the find industrial chops quickly. so it's good that he realised that even if it's fairly late, because of course, one thing,

the 2nd thing he said is that on our russia weaponized energy, this is not true. really weaponized entity. we the western europeans said to russia, we cannot impose sanctions. that will bring you to your needs. we won't buy energy from you anymore. we did, but we are allowing this, you know, we have an inflation of 20 percent for basic food in the supermarket. it's astonishing. every time i go there and then he said a 3rd thing that on was not while accepted everywhere in europe. is that the fact that on europe that the european commission should lead me to go belief. all god will not go down well in europe because mockery go the dear parameters throw hold, for example, of netherlands, will not accept that. he wants to speak for the netherlands router and not let me says from the land do it the same for germany. the same for spain,

the same for all the countries, all the economists of europe. we are of course, in the european union together. but the you should not lead to sovereign policies. it is not a sufferance. thank you. that's very important. he one to step too far. you know, that's really interesting that you say that because on one hand is talking about your dependency. and then on the other hand is saying that all these nations should be dependent on the european commission. okay, so we've washed from the crown, make headline after headline this week. so what do you make of these statements that he is making the fact that he's speaking out now in specifically the fact that he's talking about europe's dependency, what's behind all that? well, it is true, you know, we are very dependent not well upon the united states for our defense because the office leaders of nato is the you west look at what happened with the r 2 pipelines, the baltic co, not stream one and 2 that was blown up by whom? yes, by the you west, say more. hershey. famous bullet. surprise journalist,

the most respected journalist in america says it was the american navy that did it . what strikes us? what strikes me in many of the journalists is the fact that germany did not even react. so russia and germany and the europeans paid for these own gas pipelines and baltic down, not blowing up germany, a sorry, the america didn't ask us for that. they just did, it's not all lines. you know, it is, we are a colony of the west. mili carroll, you know, and germany, julie buys at 35 american plains, that's one side of it. and then on the economy on the comic front, we have given the way our industries every where are in the well to developing countries to china, out south america and, and we don't produce any textiles anymore. all not even masks. pharmaceuticals need

to be imported or components. so it is a terrible situation trance is, is in a deep trough that, oh, it's industry's gone. and john, we absolutely need to, lee industrialize. that's important because of them because of the likes of my home. who for the last 2030 years ever let everything go. or ethan, i had even pushed 22 of this place into street to our asia. so that is what he meant and it's good that he understands that yes, certainly a lot of moving parts there. unfortunately we're going to have to leave the conversation right there, independent journalist, lucre of it. thank you so much for your time and analysis. thank you. ah, the brick summit plan to be hosted in south africa this summer will reportedly now be held on line. the reverse come as members of south africa as political

opposition had called for the rest of the russian president. if he attended the event in person demands for vladimir hooton's detention came after the icy seat issued the warrant last month on war crimes charges relating to the conflict in ukraine. it occurs as potent of a legally supporting children to russian territory. moscow claims it was done for their own safety. the south african foreign minister confirmed that the russian president had been invited to attend august brick summit, which was due to be held in the city of durban. the diplomat also question the icy seas objectivity. i have mentioned the problem of double standards in global affairs. there are many other countries that have been involved in was invasions of territories med is of people, an arrest of activists. but none of them have been cold by the i c. c. it seems that if you are powerful and enjoy a particular status in the international community, you can get away. and this worries us because it obscures the objectivity of the i

. c. c. as a fair arbitrator. south africa, the communist party has called to break all ties with the tribunal. back in 2016, the country officially informed the un of its desire to leave. then government claimed that the icpc pursued regime change in countries. instead of seeking justice. however, the attempt was overturned by the countries high court, the communist party believes that global power is news, the international court for their own good. one to disrupt a proper convenience of the bricks. i mean, in this country, not much about prevent putting the fear in what bricks is becoming an alternative of this new multi paula. well, imagine i gave the unit unit. well, it's input vision by the united states and its friends. in europe. our case spoke directly to the secretary general of the south african communist

party, who liked why he feels that his country is just advertised with the i. c. c. the i . c. c has lost their intermission, r e t. it's become biased. it's an instrument now that is to spade in periods or is led by the us and european countries. it's africa as a country saying that troops and we had us for you to draw from that 2 by 2. and i've been badly quality and long processes. at 444, we'd throw out the pieces. that is why we're fed whatever it takes, the nation that a good people, our government should be able to take a position that guarantees at the convenience of breaks with different types of ration fit in for them to come without any. and she, many games that may have been using a weapon in instruments,

despite times or weapon, imperialism as ease. they don't want anything of wealth or wealth significant, but he's not led by them. that is why even to say, why don't was issued, they get the day that the chinese because then she'll be more and more school and, and therefore they realize that he was going to talk about the piece plane on the conflict. and instead of wanting to be discussed the outcomes of a plan and contribution to the piece, plan, dad put in more military hardway escalade to the war. so that is right in the context of africa, which have taken a strong position not to take sides in this war by 2 part for peace. because they know if that africa pronounce is the other way around. when you have african countries, we follow a high ranking us official has he wants to see our she closed

down for good. that says he spoke about so called the russian disinformation and in interview to radio for europe that he gave during a trip to the balkans. we would not like to see russia today or. ringback russian media outlets anywhere in the world. we'd like to shut down the channel. you were watching right now is officially banned from broadcasting on tv in the entirety of the e. u. canada, and the u. k. among others, european foreign policy chief, joseph burrell, even said that banning r t was in defense of free speech r t is also under e u sanctions along with many other russian media outlets. so to discuss this further, let's cross live now to jose vega i journalist joins us as a, it's great to have you on the program today. now what do you make of this statement that r t should be ban altogether? coming from a top us official looks like we may be how, you know,

i think it just goes to show the fact that they're afraid of the piece that's breaking out. oh, can you still hear me? i'm still here. i can hear you. i think we're having a little trouble with the picture, but go ahead. what is your response to that statement? excuse me. i was just saying that piece is starting to break out because the chinese are brokering all around the world. and as a result, the united states is getting scared. you know, you see the fact countries are now feeling in the you on the 20 and you on, you know, the actual dollar is now dying and we have the resurgence of a better you won. oh, you know, and if you ban russian media, that's the only tactic they have. you know why? i honestly it's the only free media we have anymore. it's not just here in the united states, but all over the world. and so if they continue to play russian media, the truth will be out there and they absolutely cannot afford them. well, you know, when it comes to them claiming that they want it to be banned,

you see there is something that could actually happen that the us could actually pursue all talking about the importance of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. well look, what's happening here i, i, you know, i'm really afraid of actually what's going on here because, you know, you have what's called the restrict or the restrict bill, which is supposedly the tick tock ban bill. the problem is not mentioned once any in the government power to spy out american home, through their routers and modems. and if they're caught catching something or using something from a country that's deemed an enemy, like china or russia, they can go to jail. i mean, what is this, right? and so we're seeing elements of this new fascism starting to arise now. and we saw it earlier when the premium was 1st started cultural sense where they were banning books and russian literature all over. i mean, you know what, what now it's just being used as a prefect for the government to spy on people in the united states. yeah,

i know that research act is certainly driving a lot of concerns all around and it could be the patriot r 2 point know. now i guess the question becomes when you got people that are talking about saying that they want to ban something like r t. i mean, couldn't you also argue that that would drive more and more people towards archie when you have people saying how bad it is and that may actually make the public want to try to watch it. do you think that those something that they're concerned about it all completely totally. and we see the for julian a thought right. all they did, but putting julia the sanction bellmarks vision. elevate him now more people more than ever. he will. they don't exactly know what he did or he is no name julian a such and then it gets them the look into all the good things to actually put out there for the public to see. and so, yeah, any attempts to try and spencer people,

you only elevate what they have to say. so in one sense, they also come out with russian media, right? they're definitely talking about it and publicizing it. ok, so at the end of the day, what do you think is the real reason for the us wanting to go after an outlet like or do you think that they really understand the backlash? and i guess the precedent that would be set by going after r t specifically i know, i think this is honestly just a desperate move. they're losing the narrative. i knew crane. they're losing the narrative on the economy, losing the narrative on the culture. everything that the united states government is trying to do right now in terms of its imperial motivations, whether domestic, where they try to control here domestically. or they try to control people with, with, with force across the world, like they're trying to make pie one. the next crane right now, it's all sailing. and so this is what happens when the chicken runs with it cut off

. it just runs mile. and that's what we're seeing from the united states. yeah, that certainly seems to be the case now. ironically r t is not actually banned in the us, like it has been in europe and the u. k, as we saw last year. so what do you make of the fact that the us official is still arguing for this band, even while seeing the fact that plenty of people in europe sto, watch, they just go to other sources, use a vpn, look for other methods to try to find r t, what do you make of the fact that that argument is still taking place here a year later? i don't know. i think people always going to find ways to try and get around censorship and information. i think that's why the restrict those so scary because it's saying if you even try to use some kind of vpn to get around our center shift and blocking, we're going to give you a 5 and 20 years in prison. i mean,

i thought the spectrum privacy now, right? yeah. and widely used around the world. so it'll be interesting to see where that one goes. and do you think that enough people are really talking about the restrict act specifically? do you think that the word is getting out there so much so that it could lead to more pushback against it.