The u. S. Special representative for iran has defended sundays air strikes on iraq and syria that killed 25 people brian hook insists that the attacks are a deterrent against the rain in the aggression and has more from new york. The u. S. State department has defended the decision to conduct air strikes in iraq and syria saying that this was done to deter the influence of iran in the region now 25 people were killed in the raids and dozens were injured one of the things we want to emphasize is that this was a defensive action that was designed to protect American Forces and american citizens in a room. In the mission city of restoring deterrence against me and aggression now its important to point out that the target of these strikes was an iranian backed militia and according to washington the patience of donald trump regarding tehran and its activities in the region is starting to run out what we did was to get a decisive response that makes clear what the president has said for months and months and months which is that we stand for the slum. Because the put american men in jeopardy i would add that in our discussion today with the president we discussed with him other options that are available and i would note also that we will take additional actions as necessary to ensure that we act in our own self defense and we deter further bad behavior from militia groups or from iran now the airstrikes according to u. S. Officials are retaliation for a rocket attack incur a cook iraq against a u. S. Base that killed an American Contractor now no one has claimed responsibility for that attack however the pentagon has specifically singled out an iranian backed militia and blamed them for the incident and the death of this u. S. Contractor now the group that was attacked is one of the main shia forces in iraq that was key in the fight against Islamic State and essentially now we have iraq coming forward and saying that these airstrikes are a direct violation of their sovereignty as a country furthermore iran has referred to these recent airstrikes which killed 25. People and injured dozens as an act of terrorism now the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary guard corps has actually said that they reserve the right to take revenge and carry out attacks in response to these actions by the United States so this is quite an intensification of the situation in the region all eyes are waiting to see what happens next quite a tense moment. Washingtons also slammed a joint navy drills between around russia and china the state Department Said its time for sanctions not military games the 1st the 3 nations 1st ever joint naval drills which ended monday took place in the northern part of the indian ocean as well as the gulf of oman and included antiterrorism and piracy training key shipping in Energy Supply routes run through the region sparking tension between tehran and washington with the exercises irans foreign minister javid serif visited moscow for talks with a good laugh or off the top diplomats touched on bilateral relations with irans foreign minister saying that theyre at a historical high point the main focus was around nuclear deal abandoned by the u. S. In 2016 and of rob added that the west must return to compliance with the deal. Sitting on the start because now its the us is forcing the countries not to fulfill their obligations despite irans compliance with the reach agreements we demanded that the us and the e. U. Both return to full implementation with their obligations voluntarily and then iran would do the same but if our western partners do not want to confirm their respect for International Law then the. Must be recognized as dead or to be the United States is trying to impose its will on other countries and make them violate International Norms and standards as for the european position on the. Politically supported but in practice they do not do enough to counter the u. S. Sanctions we think the europeans should stick to their commitments. For society around it from the university of tehran believes that the drills are a message to washington it can no longer dictate global terms unilaterally. The United States c. Still sees itself as the head of a universal world and or wants to see itself as the head of the unipod world and the europeans of course are. Will abide by the United States no matter whos in charge of the country whether its trump who they are most european this leaders just like or anyone else but the reality is that weve moved beyond that stage the United States is on the relative decline countries like iran russia and china are on the rise and the United States is going to have to accept and recognize the new situation and i think that the fact that these 3 countries actually carried out these maneuvers together jointly all 3 together is of major significance and it sends a message to the United States that they can no longer dictate terms. To the turbulent year for iran and that region as a whole marked by tough sanctions and the seizure of tankers looking back his room and culture. For terror on the year 2019 was thrilling to say the least it narrowly avoided an open military conflict with the United States got hammered by new stifling sanctions to port in a socalled oil tanker crisis and had to deal with the worst domestic processed in 40 years lets go through it one step at a time. Following its withdrawal from the Iranian Nuclear deal the us continued its sanctions against the Islamic Republic the countrys uncompromising stance swiftly led to an American Military buildup in the region the United States is deploying the u. S. S. Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike group and bomb a task force to the u. S. Central command region sent a clear and unmistakable message to the arabian regime that any attack on United States interests on those of our allies will be minutes with unrelenting force in may and june of 2019 some oil tankers were damaged and some caught fire in the gulf of oman washington immediately blamed terror on in may the rebels in yemen carried out multiple drone strikes on a Saudi Oil Pipeline the u. S. Again stated that it believes iran was behind the attack and continued deploying a different troops over the next 2 months the pentagon said the buildup was in response to heightened iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations these assets would join the u. S. S. Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike group and a u. S. Air force bomb a task force in the middle east region in response to indications of heightened iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against u. S. Forces and our interests President Trump even said that should there be a conflict it would be the official and of iran washington saber rattling seemingly ended when trump approved the sale of 8000000000. 00 worth of weapons to saudi arabia but tensions reached a new high when a u. S. Surveillance drone was shot down by the Iranian Military trump had ordered out is her 8 minutes or. Strike on iran but withdrew his decision minutes before the operation began so avoid the loss of life. Pressure on terror on continued in early july when British Royal marines seize its super tanker off the coast of gibraltar iran responded by capturing british flag tanker that stand in peril as it passed through the strait of hormuz following mutual accusations of piracy threats by iran to close the strait of hormuz and the ensuing panic in the oil markets all ended well as both tankers were eventually released. Despite irans resilience to the u. S. Sanctions their effect has taken its toll the last months of 2019 or more by protests across the country when gasoline prices skyrocketed due to the governments decision to cut fuel subsidies so the plan was to direct the additional funds to supporting over 60000000. 00 people in need crowds it still took to the streets it was initially at peaceful rally but it quickly turned violent in some places and resulted in several deaths including Law Enforcement officers now that story its easy even put the country on its old so its a good shutdown to prevent the protests from spreading now lets guess who was the 1st to capitalize on irans civil unrest people enjoy a Better Future when their government begins to respect basic human rights abandons its revolutionary. Posture and its destabilizing Foreign Policy in the region and behave simply like a normal nation hes arabian can a poor jobs or eve dismiss that kind of support saying that it was the u. S. Sanctions that caused so much suffering to his people. A regime that bans food and medicine for ordinary people including elderly and sick iranians by economic terrorism can never show its disgraceful support for the iranian people despise and the other year under serious pressure life here in tehran continues the internet is back online with all Major Social Networks available and i checked out myself but hardly anyone in iran has any ads out with an adversary Like Washington theyre in for still more thrilling moments in the coming year. R. T. Seron. Julian assange is claims he is slowly dying in the u. K. Jail as hes regularly tranquilized and is kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day in a phone call to his friend on smith on Christmas Eve that were getting is cofounder made these disturbing revelations. Julian rang me because he spent christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail what time ago i think he simply wanted a few minutes of skate and to talk to us because of the memories you had about happy memories he was slurring his speech was slurred he was speaking slowly now julian is a highly articulate very clear person when he speaks and he sounded awful and it was very upsetting to hear him the idea of him being sedated has come from several people who visited him who clearly been told and the British Government have been asked about it and they refused to address that matter and what they say is theyre not mistreating him but clearly hes being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day you sound awful and he said to me but im slowly dying here and he said that all started from my own why not of course my children his father keeps telling us that his father is telling us this do you know we must stop this what i find so depressing as a country is clearly we harbor Political Prisoners we have Political Prisoners because thats exactly what he is i didnt think that we were the sort of country that mistreated them in this way. Science was arrested in april and since then medics and un observers of warned about his declining physical and Mental Health hearing in february will decide on his extradition to the us where hes accused of publishing classified documents and could face a 175 year sentence smith again thinks the u. K. Government has to explain why a silence is being treated so badly. Because remember and hes served the time for the bail charged and he served his time so that hes now on remand its highly unusual to put a remand prisoner in belmarsh when theyre not a threat of a physical violence threat to society i think we need some answers from from the British Government why are they treating him like this why cant we have some independent assessment 100 International Doctors have asked to arrange a visit at least to send some representatives to check on him but that hasnt been allowed nils meltzer the un rockets are on torture has been very clear about asylum just mistreatment and describes it in the most of pulling terms and yet his claims very recently in november that the British Government are completely ignored his request to see julian probably his health properly assess. There were 2020 just around the corner lets continue our look back at some of the key events of the year that was. I was. Ok so the topics weve chosen for today are streets of rage if well play along with me there we go yes 29000 are streets of rage with a computer game mind game slightly mysterious lets stick with what we know the streets of rage and its pretty clear because we see violent protests all over the world in 29. 00 to yellow vests in paris and the beijing riots in hong kong and of course lots and lot in america to talk about so lets focus on that and the picture here pretty much sets the scene for you a constant with the mall over the last 12 months protests have raised in venezuela bolivia chile and ecuador has done a quarter breaks it all down for us. It started as a spark the next thing you know the inferno of revolution is all around you and cant be extinguished that is the south america of 2019. Whats crucial if thats your aim is to find just the right moment to stir up the scent. Venezuelas chaos was the epicenter right after the country reelected president Nicolas Maduro washington pounced challenging the governments legitimacy and trying to provoke a coup. By mike pence Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power and it gracefully and out the legitimacy to run venezuela upon the leader of the opposition through me i swear to formally seen the duties of the National Executive as president of venezuela President Trump officially recognize the president of the Venezuelan National assembly one goh i do is the interim president of venezuela the time is now to support the venezuelan people to recognize the new democratic government led by interim president gore though the safety and security of president and his family are of great importance to the American People so i dont try to hard to win over the military but when it became clear it stood behind a majority washington rolled out some empty threats are you hearing very well that is what i consider getting thing but all d of shiens were of the table all of these are open to all options are on the table all options are on the table because. Not to do this as a result. And steamrolled the country with sanctions adding to the suffering of ordinary people already living through economic collapse but is it really democracy that washington and its allies were interested in or perhaps this has something more to do with black gold not through what is Donald Trumps cases against venezuela the cases bellow is the only live in his way now the riches of venezuela its gold gas diamonds iron water a material riches resource grabbing hasnt only been confined to venezuela in the region. Bolivia seen its own share of unrest this year but there are right wing coup was successful the elected president abel morales forced to step down and flee the country theres either why am i resigning so that my opponents cannot continue to myself. As brothers its my duty as an indigenous president and the president of all believe in this to see peace after morale has got the boot senator janine anya is proclaimed herself interim president not exactly a household name before that but whats more important is who had her back and he guesses we pledge our support to the believe in people and to the Transitional Government led by president janine and yes as they prepare for these elections. We support you need 9 years in bolivia as she would to ensure a peaceful democratic transition through free elections and just like in venezuela its ordinary people who are paying the price for regime change. Theyre. Seeing the parallels heres another one lithium is in high demand in the United States and that valuable resource also happens to be in abundance in bolivia. Chile is also been no stranger to disorder where clashes have been deadly at times thousands have rallied since mid october demanding the president resign and the constitution be revised there have already been widespread reports of torture and unlawful killings following the militarys deployment. But on these protests the u. S. Has been silent maybe its because the president is Sebastian Pinera a harvard graduate whos free market policies have shown hes happy to do business with the u. S. The case is not so different from this next country. At last we have ecuador a country that became engulfed in protests after the government carried out i. M. F. Backed severe austerity policies. Yet again silence from the us and the reason is pretty much the same as with chile the us supported the governments newfound allegiance with the i. M. F. Washington might pick and choose the battles that benefit its interests the most but at the end of the day fire is fire it doesnt care who it burns and when a whole continent is set ablaze it becomes extremely difficult to extinguish. Burning 2019 latin america was in the early continent went away to mulch a spirit will bring you know the recap of this years protests. For now though lets stick with our highlights of the year and move on to another topic so weve covered streets of range what are mindgames what exactly is that well were talking here about the issue of controlling the way people think of the role of social media in that particularly facebook. Has taken a look at just how the tech behavior is believed to become the censor in chief when it comes to what we can and cant say. Ill tell you what having this job for 6 years has made me report on censorship quite a few times look at this freshman giorno patrolling co asking about facebook censorship at a press briefing hey man you have no idea what awaits you and 29. By the end of the decade look at it the evolution of Online Platforms has gone all the way towards 0 tolerance for offenders even though it all one started down there with pretty much 0 regulation but who decides what exactly makes someone an offender all right lets dig into the 2900 stage of the evolution look at these one by one and check out their censorship record. You true work hard on reading their platform of harassment see the latest update to their harassment policy came out in december go on read into it youll find words like veiled threats and ply threats right there warning that whatever thats supposed to mean will be punished and youll find 0 examples and no proper details. Because it was in force these policies seemingly random its tools so one should not trust them to do it now im skeptical one of the late allowed to gross people and pick on peoples physical appearance but on the you tube is combed so you put out its new guidelines they dont set lines and they dont go right. The latest in a series of policy updates after the previous ones you tube didnt hesitate to take action the result record breaking numbers of accounts and videos taken down. In 29. 00 taking facebook really took us all by surprise by showing what it takes to put on a new face not that it looked like they were keen to do it but someone just happened to notice that while trying to dodge a defamation lawsuit facebook refer to itself as a publisher look at this mature c. E. O. Telling congress his network is a tech company not a media one well that happened before 2019 and the new f. B. I. Gave itself the green light to censor just about anything which theyve been up to quite strenuously although in march when the new zealand shooter live streamed a massacre 50 people everyone was like where the hell were the moderators or censors were anyone to stop this another thing i wont call anyone out for consistency but in a recent interview Mr Zuckerberg said no to censoring political ads even if they contain lies in what i believe is that in a democracy its really important that people can see for themselves what politicians are saying its that they can make their own judgments and i dont think that a private company should be censoring politicians or news this tech giants however have been blamed for screwing up a bit of campaigning like when gabbert for instance challenged google for taking down her ads this alarming trend has been growing with tech giants continuing to silence voices and restrict access to information this concentration of power and influence is a direct threat to our democracy by the way did you know about this side to it 29000 saw the list. Facebook moderators claiming to have p. T. S. D. Growing with a former employee suing the social media giant even though the company said it was offering all the required support. Well no point in digging too deep if the storys repeating itself twitter has mastered the art of new era suspensions and bans to the vagueness of the rules probably isnt so much to worry about so you can get in trouble for it can be many things from supporting joy massage to pulling a prank on the fans of the cats movie but just keep in mind what kind of folks you may find among twitters staff a british army psyops soldier war saudi arabias spies tasked with digging into the counts of the kingdoms critics well well keep using all of them anyway right lets wish the industry pioneers well in wherever the volution takes them in the new year. With updates on top stories in half an hour in the meantime dont forget to check out our web site plenty more news available there. It is a long held tradition on cross talk to take stock of the year that is about to pass we have a look at when we moved just what changed us and what gave us concern 2019 the good the bad and the up. Leaks lost lonely guard. And when you. Look at the distance was most of the book but. Still its about seeing. Theres. Just too little. On may 3rd of 2003 the ambassador of switzerland to teheran delivers a letter from iran to the United States. In that letter the iranians essentially offer negotiations to open up the Nuclear Program for full transparency. The proposal came in i happened to see its because it was also given to a member of congress that i worked for at the time. He sent it over to the white house and called rove called rove called back he said that he found the proposal intriguing he wanted to know if it was genuine were a promise to put it in front of the president i would call karl rove a dear friend. Ive seen made a far sighted courage put america on a war footing. And protect us against a brutal enemy in a dangerous conflict that will shape this new century no formal response was given to the iranians at all im grateful to have been witness to history. And the argument was that whatever could come out of a negotiation with the iranians. Even more could be achieved by simply removing the regime in iraq. In a way to sum up the argument however a principle in the Bush Administration said that we simply do not talk to evil. And as tony zinni said former Central Command commander if you like the rock youll love iraq. That is a 10 to 14 year 3 to 4. 00 trillion dollar invasion at the end of which the world western asia will look not much different than it does right now itll still be in turmoil and still be in chaos and 70 plus 1000000 iranians will hate our living guts. I was in the pentagon and i wanted to see your new secretary of defense the idea is that wolfowitz shared with me he and secretary cheney in 9192 packaged retooling around him went to the white house briefed people like president s americanese a new strategy of forcible regime change. Hers ideas brings back in 2001. I went through the pentagon in