For its 10th on-air and online anniversary, RT has brought together leading experts to discuss shifting powers in today’s world. The event moved forward with a gala celebration attended by Vladimir Putin and former Soviet President Gorbachev, among others.
10 December 2015
Vladimir Putin spoke at the anniversary evening marking 10 years since the start of RT broadcasts.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has congratulated RT and expressed his admiration for the network.
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone says that Muslim migrants in Britain had not come to bring Sharia law, but had left “their medieval villages to give their children the quality of life.”
The #RT10 conference has finished. Thanks for following us.
The reason the US is not going to Syria is that the American public is sick of further interventions, after the Iraqi war, according to Max Blumenthal, American journalist and author.
“There is an [information] war going on,” Fred Weir, a Moscow-based journalist who specializes in Russian affairs, said.
Javier Couso Permuy, a member of the European Parliament, shared his experience of the Iraqi war – his own brother was killed in Baghdad.
The US controlled information during the Iraqi war, he said.
Session 5 will be joined by leader of the US Justice Party Rocky Anderson, Member of the European Parliament Javier Couso Permuy, and American journalist and author Max Blumenthal.
Professor of History and Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University Peter Kuznick, Canadian journalist Fred Weir and Editor of Russia Insider Charles Bausman will also take part in the session.
Session 5, entitled ‘InfoWar: Will there be a winner?’ is set to start at 3:15pm and will be hosted by Anissa Naouai, a senior political correspondent and host of RT’s media and politics commentary show In the Now.
Lunch till 3:15pm. Stay tuned on rt.com.
Shooting down a plane is an act of war, particularly since the [Russian] plane wasn’t actually threatening Turkey, said former counter-terrorism specialist Philip Giraldi.
Turkey has a historical interest in northern Syria, said Assange, adding that Ankara has lots of forms of control over northern Syria.
“Shooting down the Russian jet was not justified,” he said.
The entire anti-terrorism strategy of the US government is based on lies, said Philip Giraldi, a former counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
What is happening with the internet is the penetration of every layer of the society, says Assange.
The technique of terrorism is not going to stop, said Philip Giraldi, a former counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Session 4 is hosted by Thom Hartmann, a progressive political commentator and host of The Big Picture on RT America.
The reality is if you do have a surveillance state, it will be used for everything, Gregory Copley, the President of the International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA) said.
People don’t fully believe surveillance is actually happening, said Assange.
“The game for privacy is gone,” says WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, “We can talk about all the laws to be born and how society should act. But it [privacy] won’t come back.”
Mass surveillance and computerization is winning, added Assange.
Session 4 is dubbed ‘Security or Surveillance: Can the right to privacy and effective anti-terror security coexist in the digital age?’
“The only thing we have to say about future is that future is completely unpredictable in our sphere,” says Simonyan, speaking about the future of journalism.
Session 3 has finished. Stay tuned for Session 4, which will be joined by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Former counter-terrorism specialist Philip Giraldi, political activist Ray McGovern and strategic analyst Gregory Copley will also take part in the discussion.
CCCTV has "kind of responsibility to give an image of the whole country [China]", said Liu Ge, deputy director of CCTV News.
“Our channels are trying to bring the values of their countries to the world…” said Simonyan, adding that no matter how objective journalists’ reports are, these views are subjective and are issued from their point of view.
“Journalist have a huge responsibility, but I think we have gone backwards,” says Nigel Parsons, CEO of CTV News.
“The Paris attacks have generated a lot of television coverage, even so much that they managed to create global coalition. However, in the Mumbai attacks in 2008, 165 people were killed. When Mumbai was attacked, there were not many people in the US and UK who were calling for sanctions against Pakistan. That is because the US is hand in glove with Pakistan,” Arnab Goswami, President of the TIMES NETWORK said, according to RT’s Richard van Poortvliet.
“Ten years ago, on average a person used two sources of information, now he uses at least twenty-four. That’s because people realize that there is more to say about the world,” said Simonyan.
Hunted by EU and US governments, WikiLeaks whistleblower Julian Assange managed to find refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London – and RT made sure his voice is heard.
"More and more people are going to use internet news because they don’t want someone else's agenda," says Simonyan.
Simonyan says she is not surprised by the number of viewer the channel has drawn in recent years.
Rossiya Segodnya’s General Director Dmitry Kiselyov congratulated Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, on the channel’s anniversary.
Session 3 is led by Raymond Snoddy, a freelance journalist who presented the BBC Television’s accountability program Newswatch.
Tomlinson is speaking on the role of media during the last 10 years.
Session 3, titled ‘The role of international news media on the new geopolitical chessboard’ will be joined by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, CEO of TVC News Nigel Parsons and Deputy Director of CCTVNEWS Liu Ge.
President of the TIMES NETWORK and Editor in Chief of TIMES NOW Arnab Goswami, Chairman of PwC’s global Media Industry Accounting Group Sam Tomlinson and Editor of BBC World Anna Williams will also take part in the discussion.
"No stone left unturned in the fight against terrorism over the last 14 years," says Jill Stein, Candidate for the Green Party nomination for President, reports RT’s Richard van Poortvliet. However, she laments the fact that this has achieved absolutely nothing over the last decade-and-a-half and terrorism has just got stronger.
Willy Wimmer compares the shooting down of the Russian Su-24 warplane by Turkish forces to the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May 1999.
Rich van Poortvliet talking to US politician Jill Stein, Candidate for the Green Party nomination for President.
Coffee break till 12:15pm. Stay tuned on rt.com.
“The Russian position on Syria is to bring some security in Syria, not to save one man,” said Michael Flynn, ex-director of the DIA.
President Vladimir Putin also congratulated the RT team on the milestone.
"Your company brings together the representatives of the younger generation of journalists - people who are talented, energetic... I am convinced that RT will continue to successfully develop and demonstrate the efficiency and competitiveness, and make a significant contribution to the promotion of the Russian media abroad,” the statement said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has congratulated RT channel on its 10th anniversary.
“RT is among the most popular and successful projects of national TV. During the years of its activity the channel has been widely recognized in the global media space in various countries of the world…” the statement said.
“We have to clearly define the enemy we are facing. This [ISIS] is a cancerous form inside the Islam,” said Michael Flynn, ex-director of the DIA.
RT’s Sophie Shevardnadze will talk to Lieutenant General & former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Michael Flynn, on the crisis in the Middle East in Session 2.
RT thoroughly reported on the Occupy Wall Street protests, which were initially ignored by the mainstream media.
“Our good allies are empowering enemies. Why don’t we start by ending the funding of terrorist groups? That would lay them to rest,” said Jill Stein, the Green Party’s 2012 candidate for US president.
German politician Willy Wimmer says, "Russia is more European than the Russians think," reports RT’s Richard van Poortvliet, adding that Wimmer has hit out at the inability to integrate the country, mentioning it’s good that Moscow is outspoken.
“What the West is doing is destroying civilization – Iraq, Syria… We are destroying everything,” said the former vice president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE Willy Wimmer.
Former vice president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, Willy Wimmer, has thanked RT for its special coverage of the Ukrainian crisis.
“We need Russia to stop civil war in Syria,” ex-Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said.
“Cyril Svoboda is talking about the refugee crisis Europe is facing. However, he says trying to stop the flow is merely a temporary solution. He urges the West to try and cooperate and compromise with Russia,” reports RT’s Richard van Poortvliet.
“No doubt that we [US] have a big military complex. And the beast needs to be fed,” said Green Party’s 2012 candidate for US president Jill Stein, adding that Washington killed about a million people in Iraq alone.
“Former London Mayor Ken Livingston is not messing around. It takes him all of 10 seconds to launch an attack against Western corporate politics,” reports RT’s Richard van Poortvliet from the scene.
"It needs to be the World standing together," says Livingston in the need to cooperate in the fight against ISIS, reports RT’s Richard van Poortvliet. Livingston also says that it is not just Iran and Russia that needs to be brought into the coalition, but also the likes of Brazil, China and Nigeria.
Oksana Boyko, RT’s senior political correspondent and host of Worlds Apart, is introducing Session 1 of the conference.
“We all know about the tensions that exist between Russia and the West. But not all tensions are genuine,” she said.
Session 1 titled “Frenemies: Defining foes and allies in proxy politics” will be joined by ex-London Mayor Ken Livingstone, ex-Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, Former Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE Willy Wimmer and the Green Party’s 2012 candidate for US president Jill Stein.
The venue right in the heart of Moscow is filling up with just a few minutes to go until the conference gets underway, reports RT’s Richard van Poortvliet, adding that about 30 guests from around the world the globe will be talking over the next six hours.
RT online correspondent Richard van Poortvliet is at the Metropol Hotel. He will be tweeting about the conference, his impressions about the people and experts he speaks to and the general mood at the event.
WikiLeaks whistleblower Julian Assange, ex-Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Mike Flynn and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone will speak at the conference.
READ MORE: Helping you to #QuestionMore: How Assange became RT contributor & fugitive of the West
The conference dubbed “Information, messages, politics: the shape-shifting powers of today’s world” will air from the Metropol Hotel in Moscow.