Chinese it does ring a bit cold war ish to russia however were beyond cold in terms of the cold war the rhetoric is much more aggressive much more pursuit for us the agenda is much more pernicious and its become a centerpiece of u. S. Partisan politics the whole russia gate issue donald trump also announced that hed signed an executive order to keep the quantum obey Detention Center open as the spy get mo becoming notorious for various human rights abuses including two terms pretty decisive barack obama vowed to close the facility back in two thousand and nine but never delivered on that promise. In the past we have foolishly released hundreds and hundreds of dangerous. Only to meet them again on the battlefield including the isis leader. Who we captured who we had who we released. So today im keeping another promise i just shy. Prior to walking in an order directing secretary to reexamine our military detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities in guantanamo bay. When crime came into power he said not only that he believes torture works hes going to fill guantanamo up the only reason why i can say this is because theres no precedent for people being prosecuted for war crimes and i think its important that this would praise the said the war crimes carried out in kuantan immobile graham and all the other detention for the cities by the americans in fact recently now for the first time i think in recent history the i. C. C. The International Criminal court is finally investigating some of the abuses that the americans carried out in afghanistan and perhaps later in kuantan them and its an unprecedented move so to be saying that at a time when this investigation is taking place that im going to keep quantum open is an affront to the very notion of justice. The russian Hacking Group fund seabirds is claiming that the Canadian Olympic Committee covered up a positive doping test of its National Poll vault champion prior to the rio olympics earlier my colleague erin discussed the details with arties really bitter end. Well it looks like an raising email exchange supposedly between the people from the Canadian Olympic Committee and also their National Body that is responsible for sports ethics some pretty disappointing tactics in there it looked like attempts to play down an antidoping rule violation and some corkey damage control around the summer olympics in rio and here is the athlete at the center of this what can you tell us about him well its all of the case of the former pole vault champion from canada his name is shawn barber prior to rio he had tested positive for cocaine but instead of being thrown out of the olympics after several and turned all Disciplinary Proceedings with that in canada he was allowed to go and moreover this case was hidden from the international Olympic Committee for a while he was not permitted to disclose shaun sue wish and prior to or during the games we do not condone this behavior sure has apologized for his mistake and poor judgment. Now for a moment just bear in mind all the treatment that the russian olympic athletes have been getting and listen to how shawn barber was cleared to basically what he did was claimed at the hearings that he had in the haled or ingested the cocaine during a sexual intercourse with someone he called a professional woman she found him allegedly on a craigslist ad and the cocaine was transferred when a kiss happened so canadian officials were happy to let him go and keep the odyssey in the dark about this by the way just for your information the pole vaulter and came out as gay a few months after the olympics and said that he was proud of it very interesting i have presumed the i. O. C. Has taken this on very seriously well i can tell you it was too late to take this seriously they couldnt do anything about that when they found out but apparently some people at the i. O. C. Werent so happy with the situation president thomas allegedly called the ruling a decision that was influenced by National Interests but in the meantime if we go back to the emails some top canadian sports officials appear to have been trying to do everything to make sure that this case doesnt get any further attention including legal attention and if you look at the wording it suggests that anyone whos concerned or anyone whos just even trying to ask questions about this is doing something terribly wrong it does not seem right that this is being suggested publicly would have an independent determined that the athlete was a new fool in this case. And the i. O. C. Had the right to appeal the decision of the time and none of them did well this is the point where i once again want to mention all the russian olympic bans well everyone has their own understanding of the words double standards. We discussed the issue with professor of sociology at Aston UniversityEllis Cashmore he believes theres a double standard at work given that russias athletes have been banned even without testing positive for doping what is novel of course is this apparent relaxation of warders rule of strict liability warders premise with all of its other rules regarding drugs is that the individual athlete is slowly responsible for his or her own body as if youre in a bar and somebody spiked shore drink your responsible for it even if youd left your drink on guarded while you went to the toilet or Something Like that or turned your back your the perpetrator of the crime russian athletes have been banned from competing even without giving any kind of positive dont test at all being guilty by association so there is this kind of striking difference between the treatment that russian athletes are being given and those that have been afforded to north american athletes the looming only one hundred sixty nine russian athletes will be invited to the games that out of almost five hundred they were nischelle he put on the list russian president Vladimir Putin has apologized to the athletes saying the country failed to protect them but you know better than anyone else how hard it is to gain victories in modern scored how much effort you need and its two times harder when sport is mixed with events unfamiliar to sport politics we apologize for not managing to protect you from that r. T. Talked exclusively to a number of russian olympic hopefuls who heard from the president. So youre going to there is a certain amount of pressure on all of us of course its quite a complicated situation are really want to do my best want to overcome my anxiety and distance myself from all the stir the media is causing around us now i want to address our fans i want them to be more kind and to keep supporting us no matter what i need to forget about our desire to win forget that everyone is against us and just continue doing our job. Within ourselves we know what country were present it matters what we feel not what we wear just so you know you have hard feelings for those who werent allowed to participate even though they were innocent and maybe were still a bit angry about that. As afghan and u. S. Forces have increased their attacks against militant strongholds in afghanistan civilians are finding themselves caught in the crossfire in their own homes. Islamic state militants came here the government then dropped off a leaflet to warn us so we fled our village and then the americans were martyred and destroyed these houses we demand the government help us. The three villages who were killed did not belong to i saw all the taliban they were in their houses during the bombardment a man a woman and their son were killed in that incident. We were on our way villagers said the u. S. Forces were coming here then we continue our trip tour its a Central District during this time they bombed us there were eleven of us and vehicle on the i survived theater ten people including my appearance in cousin were all killed. The latest statistics from the u. S. Air force makes the situation clear in the last year the United States dropped more than four thousand bombs in afghanistan and since august alone the u. S. Has carried out twice as many as strikes as in the previous two years combine American Military forces insist that they take every precaution to avoid civilian casualties. I discussed this story now in more depth with Nicholas Davies hes the author of blood on our hands the American Invasion and destruction of iraq nicholas that the civilian deaths were talking about in afghanistan theyre quite terrifying the numbers tripled since two thousand and fifteen the obvious question is why is this happening. Well i think we have to take take those put those figures in proper perspective because the figures that we hear from the u. N. That are widely reported are only the numbers confirmed in completed investigations by the u. N. So this is really probably a very very small fraction of the total number of civilians who have really being killed in afghanistan over the last sixteen years. And you know this this war is just raging on. The number of airstrikes is yes its a lot more than in twenty fifteen and twenty sixteen but that figure of four thousand bombs dropped in the last year thats actually about average for the last sixteen years theres been a total of sixty seven roughly sixty seven thousand bombs and missiles dropped on afghanistan in that time and you know the physicians physicians for social responsibility did a report called body count about two years ago they estimated total civilian casualties between one hundred six thousand and one hundred seventy thousand thats just civilians not counting competence and thats probably that also is probably a very conservative estimate this this war has been variously a nightmare for civilians in afghanistan weve witnessed in the last month in some really horrific terrorist attacks so many people have been killed in those in afghanistan why do you think were seeing what seems to be adding an uptick in those is it perhaps a response to the bombing campaign. Yes im sure they yes the taliban is is fighting back. You know by the means that are available to them and in fact its the taliban that has been making progress since. U. S. Troops most u. S. Troops were withdrawn in twenty fourteen. And so now yes there are operating successfully in cabo they are they now control completely control fourteen district capitals around the country and and according to a survey by the b. B. C. The taliban is now active in seventy percent of the country. It was in august on interim balances new strategy in afghanistan what you strategy i mean forgive me if im wrong it seems to boil down to just more bombs more airstrikes is it achieving anything how would you assess it well no because its still just more of the same its exactly what theyve been doing. This level of bombing four thousand bombs in a year for the last two or three years of the Bush Administration and the first three or four years of the Obama Administration this is exe thats the same level of bombing four to five thousand bombs every year thats about a hundred hundred bombs a week. Year in year out. You know five or six years there and you know this is not a war that can be won. By by the us and if its afghan allies you say they cant win this if washington was to pull out what would happen in the void how would the Afghan Forces cope against the taliban another likes. Well the official u. S. And Afghan Government policy is actually not to win the war or to militarily defeat the taliban what they have been saying for years is that their strategy is to degrade the taliban to the point where the taliban will come and negotiate and agree to some kind of political compromise but of course now for the past two or three years the taliban has been gaining ground so of course the u. S. Does not want to sit down and negotiate with the taliban from a position of weakness but that ultimately is what has to happen for the sake of all these thousands hundreds of thousands of people now who have been killed nicholas good to speak to appreciate your time and your views my guest Nicholas Davies author of blood on our hands the American Invasion a destruction of iraq. On to other news israeli legal activists a father lawsuit against two New Zealanders one of whom is jewish herself and thats because they apparently influence the pop star lord to cancel a planned begin to live on this policy or as the story. Late last year the new zealand pop star norwood announce that she was canceling a performance that she was scheduled to have given here in tel aviv in june of this year now it seems as if her announcement was made following an open publication of acorn by two New Zealanders urging her to boycott the country lord posted her response on her twitter feed noted been speaking with many people about this and considering our options thank you for advocating me i am learning all the time to now is really activists are suing those two New Zealanders in what appears to be the first lawsuit filed under its controversial israeli anti boycott law the law goes back to two thousand and eleven and it could open the door to civil lawsuits against those calling for a boycott of his role including of lands its occupied if it can be proven that that call knowingly to a boycott now of the law is part of the israeli governments way to try and deal with the boycott sanctions and disinvestment movement there has been growing traction against israel in recent years it does allow the courts to impose damages against defendants now critics of the law of course argue that it stifles freedom of speech and freedom of expression. After much anticipation from football fans the english club leeds united im very old its new burj only to receive loads of criticism quickly caved in and is now living supporters choose a different design in a public vote. The is. Ok you got it today that is all from a i have to go now out you probably knots but anyway no need to worry sean thomas will bring you right up to date at the top of their. Home. Is this is hotter than kentucky. Over all of this rube boyce says if you work in st fannys where you. Mean. A co money city it was only the snow cone mines left. The jobs are gone all the coal mines of said. Id. Love to see these people the survivors of disappearing before their eyes. I remember thinking when i was younger that if anything ever happened to the coal mines here that it would become a ghost town but i never thought in a million years i would see that and its happened its happened. Across europe municipalities are taking their water supply back from private companies to meet people this is a simple song alone even some company elsewhere though they invited private companies to take over the utilities anybody tell us the rope was allowed to miss you guys you got. To quote them out of it for you. Brought up locals are ready to stand up for the basic human right of access to water its about water but its also over much more and more its about the hurt and the redistribution of. Their day down towards the one. Below and welcome to cross talk where all Things Considered im Peter Lavelle the release the memo moment is upon us republicans are billing it as some kind of Silver Bullet revealing political corruption at the highest levels of the department of justice and f. B. I. To democrats on the other hand and their supporters in the liberal media distraction finally the public will decide. Cross knocking released the memo im joined by my guests least granahan in washington hes an investigative journalist and a cohost for faultlines on radio sputnik also in washington we have james chatteris hes a former advisor to the u. S. Senate Republican Leadership and in los angeles we cross to ha goodman hes a columnist and journalist pup. Which in the Huffington Post salon the hill and other publications right gentlemen crossed liberals in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate a. J. As usual you got up early as for this for this program god bless you glad to have you with us all right we have our heads beginning to roll we have entered mccabe out. Rosenstein next in who else and talk about the state of denial in the liberal media go ahead ha its good to see again its great to be here well the Obama White House illegally spied on trump since two thousand and fifteen this is according to the guardian g c h q was sending information to the u. S. Intelligence Committee Community about Trump Associates this is before the alleged russian hacking of the d. N. C. This is before all the facebook posts apparently gave swing states to try and this is before the russian hacking narrative there is no crime that trump is said to have committed so theyve been spying on trump illegally susan rice on mask names illegally and they try to find information on Trump Associates even though trump has never been accused of a crime and hes not the subject of a crime they havent found any evidence and its been since two thousand and fifteen the mullah probe is completely partisan and it was a result of james comey squeezy memos. Russia never interfered in the election to the point of giving the election to anyone what took place was it was a one point two billion dollar loss from Hillary Clinton and to cover up the loss we know that there was an insurance policy so peter struck in the Text Messages stated well i spoke to Andrew Mccabe and now mccabe is out. And we cant we cant. Question whether or not we have to have an insurance policy if in the event that trump wins then y