Seven thing. Arguably the biggest story of twenty seven seen was russia it was on the lips of World Leaders and politicians but this wasnt always the case this was obamas analysis of the country back in twenty fourteen russia is a Regional Power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors not out of strength but out of weakness Regional Power weakness well that was the past in the last year weve seen russia propelled to be the greatest threat on the planet in the words of the former f. B. I. Chief what kind of threat do you believe russia presents to our democratic process given what you know about russias behavior of late. Well certainly that in my view the greatest threat of any nation on earth well heres how it all began on january sixth of last year u. S. Intelligence agencies issued a report saying that russia had tried to influence our elections with this russian president Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in twenty sixteen aimed at the us president ial election russias goals were to undermine public faith in the Us Democratic process denigrate secretary clinton and home her electability and potential presidency we further assess putin and the russian government developed a clear preference for president elect trump now the authors of the report at the time said they had high confidence in their judgments a few pages later they explain exactly what they meant by high confidence with a little disclaimer high confidence generally indicates that judgments to based on high quality information from multiple sources high confidence does not imply that the assessment is fact or a certainty such judgments much be wrong well after the report the word got around that blaming russia was now a thing and that opened the floodgates in twenty seventeen hardly a lection went by in europe without russia being accused of meddling. The balance disruptor covert effort in two thousand and sixteen covert disruptor. Part of our responsibility to educate the rest of the world about whats going on in the United States the other one in montenegro. From hacking into the Danish Defense ministry to trying to meddle in the maltese elections russia has had a truly diverse collection of accusations of influencing the braggs it vote through social media probably yes sure im i believe all of this its russia theyre crazy. Russia was accused of intervening in the French Election yet you know what i believe that to the german election sure. Catalonia separatism. Yeah yeah i believe that to all take oliver how about sending bots after a star trek star trying to take him down with sexual allegations star check no star wars i would believe i have my doubts about its so i would say no they were actually accused of that was. Russia hacked into the us irish and british power grids fake russia was influencing the braggs it vote through social media fake russia hacked into cataloging a separatism and was promoting cataloging a separatism in spain real how about buying ads on social media in order to influence u. S. Public opinion yeah yeah why not make up the budget actually all of those allegations were leveled against russia do you believe that do you think that theyre actually doing these kind of things from what the seventeen u. S. Intelligence Agencies Syndicate in the strong possibility that they did i feel its just i saw news it to sell newspapers people just wrote of one story then put it on Everything Else that listeners showed new yorkers is dwarfed from an actual file of things that russia has been accused of it turns out that if you point the finger at the kremlin you can find a convenient scapegoat for almost any trouble that youre dealing with able mop and r. T. New york. Germany started the year by introducing a new tool to tackle hate speech but its already being criticised for blocking the twitter feed of a satirical magazine and ice america now explains applying this kind of legislation can be a legal minefield. Well governments are now trying to regulate content on the internet by pushing the online world to crackdown on his speech extremism and of course the mysterious bots and trolls who somehow manage to elect president s but so far there are attempts havent exactly been successful for example in germany a new online hate speech laws only came into force on monday and twitter has already banned a parody account after users reported it as hate speech but under the law platforms have to delete violent or slanderous content by a certain deadline or face a fine up to sixteen Million Dollars well the first case a far right politician of the alternative for Germany Party had her twitter account briefly suspended after users fired her tweets as hate speech against muslims now thats after she lashed out against German Police for putting out a new years tweet in arabic and prosecutors are now examining whether or not her tweets do in fact incite hatred then on top of that twitter banned the account of a magazine that was actually mocking her but in doing so repeated her line now the magazines editor said he was shocked by the decision and the association of german journalist said that it qualifies as censorship adding that theyve warned of this danger when the law was drafted last year a private Company Based in the United States decides the boundaries of freedom of the press and opinion in germany now this is even going on in the u. K. Where twitter and facebook are facing sanctions after m. P. s that said that they failed to thoroughly investigate how russia supposedly swayed the brigs it vote but the has to be them theres some mechanism of saying if you fail to do that if you ignore a request to arms if you fail to police the science effectively and deal with highly problematic content then the has to be some sort of sanction against you. So the only trace of russia the companies were able to find were three ads worth less than a dollar however the idea that maybe russia didnt influence the election is apparently off the table so who exactly polices the internet is it government or is it the social Media Companies or is it the government through social Media Companies thats all very unclear at the moment so mary kom that will mean while the french president plans to crack down on fake news by targeting foreign media but have a look at that in a couple of. Apply to many clubs over the years so i know the game and so i got. The ball isnt only about what happens on the pitch for the final school its about the passion from the families its the age of the shaper money to kill you know their own lives and spending to do the twenty million and one player. So its an experience like nothing else not to because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful game but great so what more chance for. Me its going to. Welcome back now the french president is vowing to combat a news for the law to regulate media influence by foreign state and the new macron announced the move to journalists in paris what was initially tween fake news machines in the professional media we run the risk of losing the truth the barriers have been destroyed in president ial campaigns and almost all modern democracies have displayed their weakness and our collective failure to come up with a response. When he wasnt specific about which countries he thinks could be influencing french media but Russian Media including r. T. And the news agency have already been in that crohns firing line both were denied accreditation during his president ial Campaign Last year and were later labeled by him as propaganda outlet its the shit of the russia today have been influential outlets which have several times spoken mistruths about me and my campaign thats why they have not been invited in my headquarters however the r. T. Family did have a nice Little Christmas present for the french speaking world with our launch of new this channel r. T. France and it immediately ruffled a few high profile feathers to several French Public figures published an open letter calling for r. T. Frances license to be revoked they said that r. T. Has repeatedly faced numerous allegations from the u. S. And several European Countries political commentator Adrian Yellen believes though that mccrone should actually be careful about taking legal measures against any media. I think what he is now trying to do is to change the french civil code in order to prevent what he sees as a quote him from his press Conference Today a threat to the democratic life of the nation he clearly sees r. T. In sputnik as part of that but i think that he also wants to change the merit of the conversation to make this more about the head of what he calls false news fake news i think you need to tread very carefully i think that its a very thin line between exercising new laws that protect. Peoples rights and what have their their views challenged by untruths and actually clamping down on freedom of expression so he could find himself acting unconstitutionally if youre not careful. Donald trumps lawyers are threatening legal action against the former advisor steve bannon he reportedly made explosive comments about trump family members in a new tell all book about the president would trump earlier publicly lashed out at his former right hand man he said that bannon had lost his mind and it only works for is only interest and was never part of trumps in a circle the White House Press secretary also added fuel to the fire. It was during. What you said which first. I think furious discussed it would probably certainly fit when you make such outrageous claims and completely false claims against the president his administration and his family well the spot is over what bannon reportedly revealed to the author of a book called fury inside the Trump White House hes quoted as saying that a meeting between members of trumps camp and a russian lawyer during his Election Campaign was treasonous and unpatriotic and he also allegedly hits out of the president s daughter to ivanka trump and steve bannon left the white house an organist a year after joining from selection to the masses chief strategy is to ban him was a pivotal figure too for the president during his campaign through to taking up office legal and media on this line or thinks that trumps reaction is par for the course there is a simple rule if you dont go after trump he doesnt bother you go after him in any way insult him criticize him take him to task and hes on you with a death grip youve never seen does anybody think that anybody in the Drug Administration cares one i older about this i mean its what it does is it throws the Mainstream Media the Washington Press corps and the Mainstream Media news troops it throws them into disarray which trying thrives on and after hes done with bannon hes going to Say Something about france or italy or or some his neighbor has someone this is his pattern does anybody not Pay Attention trump thrives on this he loves this. Well with his First Anniversary you know face the problems in the u. S. President has been talking up his economic record in typical style economic miracle created more than two million jobs unemployment is at a seventeen year old the stock market is at an all time high fantastic for the economy our economy has already surged to three percent growth unemployment is at a seventeen year old liberated the American Economy and our economy doing well well mind he doesnt share president trumps optimism there is the former u. S. Congressman wrong poll intelligence that the growth in the u. S. Is principally benefited just already at the top if youre in the stock market wealthy person here doing quite well but what were forgetting here when we listen to this rhetoric of all this optimism is that theres a large segment of our population as have been a difficult time where there is prosperity and more jobs it depends on death yes an individual can feel very good if they have a line of credit to the bank but eventually that line of credit runs out we in this country benefit because we have the reserve currency of the world we can run up a lot of debt and we can spend a lot of money and even with that weve had a great deal of difficulty is last eight years trying to get out of the recession now i see everything we do is a big bubble and all those q. E. S. That we have dealt with in these last eight years have just created a huge bubble and everything is in excess whether its our military budget our overseas gage friends whether its the welfare state and that bubble will come to an end were going to have a sudden cataclysmic and which is sort of what happened to the soviet system its not going to be identical and our states arent probably going to break up but i do sincerely believe that we will no longer be able to afford our empire around the world. Rumpole speaking there he watching our table had more news for you in by. Heres what people have been saying about redacted the night was you know i was actually just full on awesome the only show i go out of my way to launch you know a lot of the really packed a punch. Yampa is the john oliver of marquee americas got to say we are apparently better than boobs. And see people youve never heard of love right back to the night my president of the world bank hey youre going to write me seriously send us an email. Its the cradle of jazz. We are. Told this jazz feel. The city of climatic testify is alligators on the loose of poverty and crime are used by the at least twelve members of my close most. Of street racing in that piece of the night this new orleans itself is the best place in the world. Welcome to max kaiser financial survival guide. Looking forward to your pension account. Yonks this is what happens to pensions in britain. You watch kaiser report. Clone of welcome to worlds apart russia and the United States have long had different takes on power and its constraints but both now find themselves at an interesting juncture while russias development is slowed by too much power invested in the executive the United States seems const trying for the exact opposite phrase and how few or how many checks does it take to undermine the governing balance well to discuss that im now joined by a shot at a best selling author and Management Consultant dr i. D. S. Is great to talk to you thank you very much for your time thank you summer welcome now a few years ago one russian bank invited you to speak on whats more important leadership or institutions and that seemed like a stupid question to a westerner but of course you need both but i think in russia where Political Leadership he story clearly tended to supplant institutions that was actually a very pressing issue i guess i would try to rephrase it into how much or perhaps how level leadership does it take to build proper genuine institutions in a country that the problem here merely is. Either or. We need leadership and we need these situations the question is what can the leadership in a look to see to shell do work together. The usual problem is when you have a very strong leadership it forces the whats called the trap in other words when the leadership is doing a problem or making a mistake there is no countervailing power to control the mistakes not to be done in america this the two shows are relatively strong that they can control what the president is making in decisions who theyre going to be very disastrous when you have the situation is weak and this leadership is strong majorly states can be made and there is no controlling controls absolutely and the russian state is quite used to having expansive powers but on the other hand the increasingly here it complaining about paternalism add a lot of initiative from the people and thats ultimately i think is a question of management how do you manage to without being overbearing how do you exercise control without subduing do you have an answer to that. Being interviewed by. On the same subject and i have been repetitively saying that the russian the the ship is in a trap what is a threat russian culture is used to having strong leaders or so critically that if they leave very strong and very able to critique then they discard them then look at them as if they are not good enough no one one hand. The russian are saying we need more democracy we need more openness we need more ability to participate but on the other hand the discouraging that because you believe that is open participative that is scotty so the us Going Forward through the. Us can for is what the rejecting the most i believe that the russian leadership thought it was putting going all the way down they can not change their style if they wanted to change the style or they will be pushed aside and is regarded i know that you also and used to matter for also marriage in your speeches but i think in the russian context again a highly paternalistic context the parenting matter for is actually more political you dont want your children to endanger themselves but if you dont lad and make their own mistakes you will never see them grow into what you want them to be and i wonder how do you introduce freedoms into a society that has been so traumatized by both control and chaos like russia the key word that you use this with the children you can know the reason to be what you want them to be thats where the mistake is you cannot make your children what you want them to be they have to be what they want to be and you know to enable them and environment within which they can become the best they can be without being look legitimate or were doing something illegal or something which is in danger in their health as long as im not doing that they can do whatever is good for them to be reflected i think the problem is with this culture is this potential is there and that i is there live there no better than you and you better do what they tell you to do in medicine we say that to be held the you should listen to your body the program with the russian system is that the head is the touch from the body you dont listen to the body you dictate to the body and that is where the disease is thats where the problem is well dr jesus im afraid its easier said than done especially for. Country with history like russia this year we are marking this in tannery of bolshevik revolution and this event changed not only the course of russias history i think it changed the entire World History of the Twentieth Century and it was one in the in the series of events that made the russian people the russian authorities the russian psyche extremely risk averse you can see that in many studies russians still value security over Everything Else which certainly leads to quote unquote i rest the development in both politics and economy do you think the russians will ever be able to overcome it i dont think that they agree with you i think that the russians the visuals the willing to do you think to russia put them somewhere else and they were. It is the environment that doesnt allow the russian person the russian individuals to exhibit or the capabilities as you know i used to joke and say the problem is with the russians theyre not giving a chance to use the brain you invent a lot of things you have innovations you have incredible cup abilities in the people with the system resettle katie now why is the sister suffocating is very interesting because the whole system is organised their own efficiency and not on the thickness you efficiency is everything so the planning the scheduling the organisation of the system of the zation they try to make it criminal in directed from the top down efficiency and by doing it so i fish and you make it so controllable that you lose effectiveness and you lose flexibility and you lose innovation and yourself look at the people from the bottom up now you asked me the other question before which i do not answer how do you make a change how do we change this culture because the russian people are not being used im telling you the only the things that are thinking of the leadership the rest of the people are not at allowed to think which means the company is subtle kate that if you want to move out of the gas and Oil Dependency to high tech and to some services you have to allow the rest of the body to enter pretty nerve to think to create to innovate rather than only at the center of making that change is very difficult i will give him only a bottom line at the election. The expression in all languages is the fish stinks from the head but you clearly its from the tail we need to make the changes last dog down is impossible we have to leave the changes vote them up well but hes actually i dont think you are contradicting anything that the kremlin says because president putin just the other day a meeting with german investors sad that the kremlin is actually very interested it has a goal of increasing the share of small and medium sized businesses in russia from a couple of percent to forty percent by two thousand and thirty and he actually asked for german advice on that im sure he would appreciate your advice as well do you think this is just a way of getting around the konami sanctions or do you think there is a potential for something bigger here a building that capacity that citizenry compasses youve been referring to. Is of the truth russian me. Economically. He can afford it political is a different question because the moment you have Small Businesses you have small medium plus the movie a medium club you have a lot of Political Freedom which is going to bake a little bit problem for him to control the system so as long as you have Big Companies you have control well but im sure its going to be a very interesting not only for him but also for for the rest of the society and i think its pretty clear that the Petroleum Economy or the hydrocarbon economy that we have been enjoying for the last several decades has reached its limit its no longer producing enough resources to sustain russia both domestically and internationally if the west is really interested in making russia more democratic wouldnt it make sense to take putin on his word and how russia to develop this small and Medium Business capacity as a matter of not only diversifying its economy but also making russia more open and more risk. Possible more democratic i think that will be the lead the lead decision to delay the city by the election but that means really changing the. Culture of the pendency on the classic leadership you have to change the culture is the change in me to you within which youre going is issues can grow today its not that the media does that exist but i wonder if that is also a matter of perspective because what i sense here in russia is that the word freedom is becoming more and more to economic rather than political categories something that feels efficiency creativity flexibility innovation everything that you need in a society set to succeed in postindustrial an informational age i want you that could be the way just changing the perspective from you know west the west trying to preach as you know with its liberal ideas and focus more on on the economic angle but the day and at the end of the day they all wrote seem to be leading in one direction that that amandas into the bend the civet tree and political and economic environments when you change the economic environment in the vote in the eventually you have to change the political environment that will that been to china china will when they cannot take root decentralize market economy and now the political power is. The depression for the political power to change as well you cannot have market economy on one hand and said there are less political power thats what happened in yugoslavia and it was the philip out you cannot have this until his vision at the bottom is that there is a show that off so eventually if you open the market then if you open it for the market economy and a lot of middle class thats going to them that will lead to them across this nation of russia and i dont know whether were ready for that its interesting you mention china but you know if you look at the chinese example there how it has actually. Been a number of trans for example the chinese authorities efforts to make courts more independent and as again a matter of attracting more investment into the country theres also been. A heightened concern about the Environmental Protection and environmental rights there has also been a growth in the number of small and medium sized businesses so i wonder if that is actually because again we we we hear this argument that threat from the why is that first you need to change the leadership on down everything will follow suit i want even if it just the other way around first you change the system you build institutions and then you will get you will get the leadership that you deserve well i agree with you you dont just the leadership you have to change a system thats going to create the leadership you want in other words well teach is a culture we have to start you know with regard to style through school for medication to teach the people not only to know but how to learn how to participate we have to develop a culture where people can disagree without being disagreeable and resulting skill to being disagreeing and thats it that used to sell us on the issue of the bottom up it is not going to happen by. Good to happen by the the say from now on the environment is what to be open it doesnt happen by the way the creed it has but it took a shoulder to really study that from the family the families that you said from the beginning of this interview are very paternalistic ali it is autocratic starting from the family itself he will talk about the from the duke of system