Great to have you with us as always the u. S. Embassy in iraq has announced one hundred fifty Million Dollars is to be spent rebuilding cities left devastated in the war on Islamic State and thats only a fraction of what the u. S. Has earmarked for its continued military presence there. Has more on the story what does this look like to you. Resident evil no this is mosul iraq whats left of it quote a sea of thousands of air strikes we film this a few weeks ago and nothings really changed from when we were there last this is what the off the mouth of a classic strike in mosul look like neighborhoods that numbered in the thousands its been reduced to a handful. The iraqi army in the u. S. Led coalition seem to make sure to not leave a square meter on scorched earth it took of precision i havent yet seen a single house and none still untouched by fighting the neighboring street all but destroyed the street across rubble the street over there its the same story wherever you look cities and towns that house millions devastated husks even now in mosul you are never far from the stench of rotting bodies or unexploded bombs help reconstruction no one seen any of that youll be at the. Ok i did they enter a little when it was two and it was. Doing. Well shes a little hungry ill get a lot of you know she be going to school in the citizen not. What else is there to do in mosul divisiveness im just a little dog in the holocaust and that to me that if she ever put it to you. As strange the u. S. Had pledged to help and do what its bombs did theyre already helping Fund Reconstruction iraq says it needs one hundred billion dollars to rebuild and the United States has doubled its. To one hundred fifty Million Dollars or about zero point one percent of what iraq needs and no one seems to have seen any of that but a city in your city if you had mice if you. Did you would. All die for. Dont surely. Love comedy not the shiny about i would die i should i hadnt this way now my god now one of the magical set had it now after shiny. Went up five as i had the sort of a dallas market and if thats not filed many of us said it would rather than send a message that the the numbers are an entirely different leagues what the United States spent on burning isis out of iraq and what the us has pledged to repair the damage it did or entirely in comparable numbers the average cost of a u. S. Air strike in iraq at the beginning of the operation very roughly counting fuel flight time cost of bombs made an uncertain military pay was hard for a Million Dollars for one their strike they carried out fourteen thousand strikes in iraq alone and after helping turn a rocky cities into these will be completed his one hundred fifty Million Dollars the equivalent of two midsized passenger jets that isnt going to change many lives in iraq. Well lets go back to the top headline of julian a song allegedly getting some sort of. From a bit of confusion about what exactly is going on early reports coming in hed been granted ecuadorian citizenship its now claimed only been handed an Identity Card for the country so bit of uncertainty about what exactly is going on there lets cross live to our correspondent in a situation whos in the middle of it all extraordinary scene in london where of course assads remains holed up in just a syrah a confusing picture of not really whats the latest we do know what does it mean what could it mean rather for a song if these reports that out to be true. Will down and the mystery of what happens next in this ever complicated tricky and internationally spanning case of Julian Assange really continues with some developments trickling in this evening here in london where we are in fact outside the Ecuadorian Embassy and just some of the confusion of some of the reports that have been coming out seems to be stemming from first of all it tweets that Julian Assange had posted on his twitter page wearing a t. Shirt with the Ecuadorian National colors parking lots of debate and questions online about whether or not this could potentially mean that he has either has been or is on his way to being granted citizenship those questions of course are yet to be specifically answered by either Julian Assange himself the founder of wiki leaks or ecuadorian officials what we do know so far is that asuncion seems to have been issued some sort of national ecuadorian Identification Number which is easily seen on the ecuadorian web site where this particular number coincides with his full name now the questions there are whether or not this is an i. D. That could potentially be used for him to apply for it with dorian citizenship or somehow change his status when it. Comes to this very complicated case that has now spans over several years what we do know as this comes following earlier statements from the ecuadorian foreign minister saying that its really time to move on with his case lets take a listen with a beating up the peasant companies in those conditions forever. Considering the option of mediation with this intercept that could be done virus that country or individual the only solution no solution is possible without International Corporations or without that if the u. K. Which has expressed interest in finding one. Will there are lots of questions now about who this potential mediator could be because obviously when it comes to the complications of Julian Assange being able to actually step out of this embassy behind us revolves largely on what his status is in the u. K. Because clearly its been made very clear many times over and over by british officials that even if he does step foot outside the embassy he would be snatched up by them for the simple reasons of having breached his a bail when around the time of when his whole case began to unravel so that has been the position of the british officials of course despite having a the world seen that organizations such as the United Nations have found his detention to be arbitrary that of the swedish investigation that has been going on for quite some time having drops of the sexual allegations against him there were lots of assumptions there that this would open the door for his sons to walk out of the second dorian embassy where hes been holed up a bunch of the asli all of this has been based largely on the fact that a staunch himself believes that as soon as he walks out he would be extradited to the us which seems to be his biggest fear given the sort of expectation for him to be punished there for his work as a whistleblower with the. Web site wiki leaks having provided so much information when it comes to certain doings of the American Government so certainly a lots of questions were going to obviously be watching this very closely in terms of what is this going to mean for songes status not just within ecuador but potentially his case beginning to move forward a little bit more. Probably more questions than answers at this point necessarily time it seems closer to a resolution the case gets more cryptic and more complicated and bring us the latest from outside the door an embassy. Lets discuss this further to go live to a Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell whos the director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation Peter thanks for coming on today as you probably heard from our correspondent whos outside the case remains pretty murky right now lack of real information would have a confusion as to whats going on. If this turns out to be correct Identity Card has been issued what could that mean for june assad is this a serious step to resolution of this seemingly endless tsonga. Well as your report suggested the ecuadorian government has made it very clear they want to resolution and theyre prepared to negotiate they want a way of julius arent leaving the embassy to clear up the fact that hes been holed up there all these years thats clearly their desire publicly expressed the granting of an Identity Card is of course potentially the First Step Towards being granted ship of ecuador and beyond that the possibility that he could be granted diplomatic status which would give him diplomatic immunity and the suggestion might be that if he was granted diplomatic immunity he would therefore be free to leave the embassy and travel to ecuador and the British Government would not be able to lay a finger on him that is of course speculation its a long way down the road yet but clearly the granting of additional card is a movement a new development which may open the door to further things in the future i mean this is obviously been going on for five five and a half years often multiple reports myself from outside that embassy as well and you know as we said earlier there is a step forward. A lot of questions still do remain but i mean a lawyer id card lord passports at this stage at least give him immunity unless its a diplomatic passport so really nice to see is still said he still liable for rest of course as soon as he steps out of that embassy is only. Thats right and that is still the official position of the British Government the question i think british people have to ask is is there a Public Interest in continuing to pursue during the sanj i think its a very thin Public Interest if one at all. You know the saga has dragged on for far far too long i dont think theres any compelling Public Interest reason why the British Government should keep on pursuing him i think probably behind the scenes many british officials would be very happy to see the end of during the sanj and if ultimately a diplomatic passport and immunity was a way of accessing the country then certainly that is thing i think something that many british will be glad of of course there is the question you know the conventioneers that someone who has a bit of passport is immune from prosecution. That is the way its been traditionally dealt with there is of course no guarantee that pastor additions would be a guide to future practice there is still the possibility that even if he was granted a diplomatic passport and immunity by the ecuadorians the British Government might still try to snatch him that would be a very serious breach of diplomatic protocol and convention i doubt the british would go that far but on the other hand you know there are some people who want who really want to get him so i wouldnt rule out anything at this particular point in mind point in time what i would say is that on the question of diplomatic immunity in two thousand and one i was beaten unconscious by the bodyguards of president Robert Mugabe of zimbabwe in brussels and his bodyguards claim demotic immunity the British Government did not contest that they decided to take no action against the bodyguards of president mcgarvie for beating me unconscious likewise the belgian government as well so. They didnt recognize diplomatic immunity if thats what do you know sanjay eventually get through diplomatic passport but then recognize that in the case of a violent assault that would be an incredible contradiction an incredible double standard so my feeling and hope is that diplomatic immunity and passport will come and that that will be the way of. Exceeding the u. K. And seeking and securing asylum in ecuador indeed. Dramatic quite a shocking example you gave there of you know the Diplomatic Community and whether that is or not i mean at this stage as you quite rightly pointed out the key thing is not to rule anything out all possibilities are open but lets just speculate for a minute this does go ahead that easy should a passport diplomatic immunity. I mean. Why has this taken five years to do this does seem like a very convenient way out of the situation five years down the road if it was this simple issue of a passport issue here that diplomatic immunity seems straightforward enough why has it taken this long do you think. Well you forgive me are not entirely up to speed with the ecuadorian government rules with regard to citizenship and maybe hes had to. You know serve a time. On ecuadorian territory which is what the Embassy Years in order to be considered for citizenship so maybe the delay is simply because you have to be an ecuadorian territory for x. Number of years before you can be considered for citizenship and maybe now our standard is approaching that limit and so therefore a citizenship could be granted and then a passport following thats my only thats my speculation. Agree with that that does sound quite logical although im no expert on ecuadorian law either i mean just finally you mentioned there perhaps many british officials many think is an established image should all be happy to have an end to this saga it is. Causing at least a p. R. Problem perhaps for the British Government on the International Stage if this does go ahead how do you think we could react to the move by acquittal would you be surprised if they did block this diplomatic immunity move or would they be happy as you mentioned to wash their hands of him and put an end to this five year saga. I think that if a diplomatic passport munity was granted to do in the. I think the British Government would be quite reluctant to breach that convention they wouldnt like it because there are people there who really want to get him but i think they recognize that if you start breaking this convention then where does that start and where does it end you know that you know there could be retard three actions against british officials whose diplomatic immunity could be challenged so it would be a be a very extreme move for the british to take the far point just like to say as we have to remind ourselves that whatever you think about your innocence. Heres wiki leaks organization did perform a great Public Service by shining a light on human rights abuses. He was not himself a whistleblower he was a publisher but he did publish the leaks of others such as Chelsea Manning with the iraq war logs which showed the horrendous example of the killing of innocent civilians by a u. S. Helicopter crew in iraq. You know shining a light on those kind of abuses was a great Public Service and even if you have some criticisms of the way because leaks of behavior on some issues you cant take away from the fact that he did help expose things that successive government wanted to keep hidden from the people of the United States and indeed the world and in that sense i think he is somewhat of a hero regardless of other criticisms that may be made indeed he certainly as much admired as he is a figure of controversy internationally as well will be keeping updates of course on that throughout the night throughout tomorrow to see what the those details are peter that sure Human Rights Campaign a director of the peace thats all Foundation Thanks for coming on such short notice and giving us your take on what could happen there. Give. Another news according germany has provoked controversy after it blocked the deportation of a turkish hardest decisions likely to also give chancellor merkel a headache she continues to struggle to form a Coalition Governments are to charlotte would ski as the details. Well germanys top court has ruled on wednesday that a person cannot be deported back to their country of origin if they face torture or Inhumane Treatment in that country now Turkish Court has said that germany would need to have appropriate assurances that neither of those would take place if a person was deported to that country now this case has been highlighted because of a court case brought by a german born turk who was convicted back in two thousand and fifteen of supporting terrorism the man whos thirty years old had traveled to syria and had supported a terrorist organization in the country including giving funds to that terrorist organization where he received a three and a half year sentence for doing so here in germany but in two thousand and sixteen he was threatened with deportation back to turkey and he decided to appeal that threat and take it to the court system here in this country now he had support from groups such as amnesty who said that if he was deported to turkey because he had links to a Terror Organization he could be tortured or abused and that man has two thirds of his sentence left to serve and could be released within the next year and that is highly controversial here in germany because many people fear that he could potentially be a Terror Threat in the future. More moderate to liberal liberal germany. On our polls and people think your. Idea. Im afraid of the future and germany of course is no. Stranger to terror attacks the countrys been on high alert since the Christmas Market attack in december two thousand and sixteen which killed twelve people and injured dozens others in just weeks after that Christmas Market attack the german interior minister called first speech deportations in cases like this but this ruling could spoke in the wheel of those with anybody now able to claim that if they deported back to their country of origin they could face Inhumane Treatment or torture about ruling comes amid merkels ongoing struggle to form a government following the election in september the chancellor failed to create a coalition with minor parties and is now conducting negotiations with the leader of the social democrats thats martin seed of course previously refused any offer we spoke to publicist and former german Intelligence Officer ryan a rope who believes the controversial ruling to keep of potential terrorists in the country may cause further splits in the parties this thing is. A few on the fire or anyone. On the. Loose in the. Pleasure of the public at large. Its use of the Intelligence Services as one of formulating defense strategy. Reporter rock was not a last resort and didnt represent an urgent threat there was no undeniable evidence of weapons of mass destruction being used by the iraq government Lindsey German from stop the War Coalition believes its easy for you to vote for war but much harder for them to deal with the consequences. Chilcote was meant to change the whole why in which these decisions were made it hasnt been implemented it hasnt been taken up and i fear that we are going to get another episode like weve had with tony blair in the past and of course it shows that this government just like the blair government doesnt want to be constrained by anybody the decision to go to war can be taken by a tiny clique of people around the Prime Minister with very little democratic accountability and of course its very very easy for these m. P. s to vote for war its much much harder to deal with the consequences of war as weve seen in iraq and as we as were still seeing in afghanistan and libya we know that to raise in my final domestic circumstance you very very difficult indeed a moment more than is easier for governments like this we have an enemy abroad and to bolster the case for war. Pressures been mounting on the israeli Prime Minister off the controversial recording involving his son the year was leaked to the press Benjamin Netanyahu is lawyers reportedly trying to prevent the tape being broadcast on local television. I would forgive me if. Im coming over because. I was in a. Recording you just heard there was made in twenty fifteen yo yo can be heard chatting to the son of israeli gas tycoon coby my man outside a strip club called the milan is a shareholder at a gas company that allegedly benefited from a controversial law on Natural Gas Drilling rights lets take a closer look at what happened here the legislation concerned has concerns to newly discovered gas fields off israels coast now it is actually gave corporations control over the development of the deposits with the government arguing it would stimulate investment critics though slammed the proposals they said it gave too much power to wall professions and demanded nationalization of the deposits following the release of the controversial video your unit and yahoo denied any knowledge of the plans saying his conversation was nothing more than a drunken joke i regret the remarks and apologize if anyone was hurt by them in addition the things i said to my mind were a dumb joke and joking around with him as anyone could tell. Prime minister netanyahu is already being investigated in two separate Corruption Cases there legations include receiving bribes and negotiating favorable Media Coverage the Prime Minister strongly denies all like hes ations in the meantime though hes pushing for special immunity in which could allow him to avoid prosecution we discussed the latest controversies surrounding the netanyahu family with regional alice looks really bad for the Prime Minister and it doesnt look like you know someone who wants to be a leader of the country to have his son running around in a government vehicle doing things you know dont look so complimentary and is not the kind of wine that the Prime Minister would want to do whether its a danger to the Prime Minister or undermines no i mean its a self undermining thing and the reason he did it is because it looks bad but you know were in a democratic country and as long as. Hes living in the Prime Ministers residence i may have to answer some questions this is not the first case that were speaking about corruption in the family of Binyamin Netanyahu as the prime minster of israel these are either its may lead to drool of confidence and thats the main threat. Thats why theyre trying as a family to play with words showing that its not. A fact but it was just a matter of a guy who was hanging around with his brains and he was just chatting about Different Things but this is not a matter of fact. Now as the saying goes hell is other people and thats especially true seems on twitter which might be why the devil himself if they can interest with the church of satan account now fast becoming a twitter beast. Thanks for staying with us here and ill tell you thats all from myself on the team for this ill join us again another thirty five minutes for more global headlines well see you then. I had a great education a good job and a family that loved me. I never had to worry about how i would eat and where i would sleep. But im facing christmas alone out on the streets of london. Well you look to be honest. I could love for you like. You know just like the still give up food for the over the. Past you dont really feel like that. And then. The guy just came over to me saw me and gave me a change of this book. Hello and welcome to cross talk where all Things Considered im Peter Lavelle a cursory glance at the media environment could easily give you the impression that the vast majority of journalists studied psychology at university so many are convinced donald trump is not mentally fit to be president or the same journalist suffering from trump derangement syndrome. Crosstalk in the media im joined by my guest Steve Malzberg in new york he is a conservative political commentator and bloomington indiana we have kevin howley he is a professor of media studies and deval university and author of drones media discourse and the public imagination i love that title
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