[000:00:00;00] ah, this is our disease. these are the top stories, the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi has been meeting the president of taiwan. despite warnings of severe consequences from china. earlier she visited parliament, unloaded the island, is one of the freest societies in the world policies, the most senior us official to visit the self governing island in 25 years. i gather geisha and came here to send an unequivocal message. america stand with k one. and j, i guess, hope that it's really clear that while china has stood in the way of taiwan participating and going to certain meetings that they understand,

that they will not scan in the way of people coming to taiwan. don't mean while the chinese military says it's on high alert and his launched targeted military actions around taiwan, ty, ones defense ministry says the drills have violated the island sovereignty and have breached the rules of the united nations. over 5000 indonesian u. s and other troops are holding annual joint military training exercises until august. the 14th this year's gutter shield is it's known as expected to be the biggest yet. and it will include 14 countries drills are being held every years since $29.00. the 1st cargo ship carrying grain to leave ukraine since the russian invasion have been cited off the coast of turkey. the ships being monitored by a joint chord nation center in the stumble, turkish russian, ukrainian. and you and staff are there as part of a deal signed last month. yelman's warring parties have agreed to extend a full month truce for a further 8 weeks hours before it was due to expire. you,

as president joe biden says, the agreement between the government of the hu fees is an important step forward. voters in the state of kansas have rejected a measure that would have made it more difficult to get an abortion. u. s. president joe biden says the result shows most americans believe women should have access to abortion. the referendum asked whether the state constitution should continue protecting the right to terminate a pregnancy. kansas is the 1st state to vote on reproductive rights. since the u. s . supreme court all court overturned the rule versus weight decision. iraqi, she a politician, mocked out al, sad as reported to have told his supporters to withdraw from racks, parliament, and continued their protest outside. thousands of them stormed complex in baghdad on saturday. saturday, had called on all iraqis to join what he considers a revolution, but his opponents of called the takeover of parliament. a cool. those are the headlines that use continues here on al jazeera in about half an hour's time.

that's gonna be after the listening post. good by off to a like time within the walls, in a rainy mc, a bengal tiger horizons. a suddenly whiten when she lands an unlikely road in a feature film. but how long can have better sweet freedom last? when crisis strikes the see? ah, with miss my a tiger tail on al jazeera julian assange is still in the legal fight of his life. and there are geopolitical angles of clinton in this story. blacklisting journalists, it doesn't like the zalinski government. censorship can be kremlin, s and with misinformation and propaganda swirling across social media, kenya gets ready to vote. ah.

hello richard gibbs burton. you're at the listening post where we don't cover the news. we cover the way the news is covered. we start with the journalist currently locked in a maximum security prison in london without having been tried for any crime. julian assange, the founder of wiki leaks, is currently in legal purgatory. last month, the u. k. government formerly approved his extradition to the us, where he is wanted for publishing classified documents that exposed among other things, american warcraft. the u. k is high court now decides whether to allow assange to appeal against an extradition that press freedom group say would put journalists everywhere at risk. the american pursuit of assange is far more than a question of law. it's about geo politics. u. s. allies like sweden, the u. k and australia. have all assisted washington on this. support for assange has been growing and australia, his birthplace now has a prime minister, who,

while in opposition, wanted him released, has anthony albany as he changed his to. and if he hasn't, will it make a difference? our starting point this week is wiki leeks, the worker sanchez, news organization did that landed him in jail the, it's easy to get buried in the galleries of the case against julian, the jurisdiction. question. the expedition was the accusations of a legal hacking and asked me what can get, why is the journalism assange and what you weeks produced. starting in the mid 2000, that news outlets around the world went to town, including what we learned about american wars in afghanistan and iraq. what they couldn't tolerate was when judy and i will send video footage

by them all up come on, which showed in the helicopter, in killing ordinary people. that is the principal, the exposure of war, crying that caused outrage, especially in the intelligence age of the united states. and then in 2010, there was a huge cation, united states, diplomatic cables. there were quite frank assessments of foreign leaders with wiki leaks revealing a directive from clinton for us. diplomats the united nations to spy on their counterparts that perhaps were not considered in the best traditions of diplomacy, shall we say. and those cables also to some extent helps box. the spring started with a cable chard that ruling family, was in

a corrupt and again on the protest. i went to that governance down for i saw a sanction. and wikileaks have had a tremendous impact on the wall, especially those eli is the irregularities and flaws in the legal case. the video evidence, the u. s. acquired illegally. when assange was at the ecuadorian embassy in london, a key witness for the prosecution. a hacker who turned out to be a convicted tita file who later admitted his testimony was made up the assurances the americans have made and the british have accepted that assange will get a fair trial. when the u. s. has not even denied reports that its officials disgust assassinating him in 2017. none of that has really changed. what has changed is that a stranger has a new prime minister anthony alba. nice. the question for assange,

who was born in australia is which anthony alban easy? are we talking about the opposition leader? who said this during the election campaign about assange and his most famous source chelsea manny enough is enough. the person, it was actually late, the classified information to wiki likes is free, but the person had published that information remains in job or prime minister albanese who. when asked if his government will press the u. s. to drop the charges. now says diplomacy is best conducted in private. discreetly can we imagine us around on north korea imprisoned in australian woods, sterling prime minister, and be content with just talking behind the scenes and quietly lobbying, or would he make more of a public pressure cup? and we have to remember than the us as an ally,

that the pendulum straightly force of its strategic goals and the pacific. it's an ally that was really as done favors for perhaps uneasy is not willing to spend the political capital he has on helping us out. the reason that no australian government has dared challenge of the extradition of is the they're now locked in with the united states, just like burton on every level on defense and ideally, treat what makes them different from britain is that their main economic deeds of china, us but they are ideologically, and via a big uniting factor, unfortunately is race. this is largely still

a white concrete by white dependency if utilize. and for that reason, they will log break with the united states or compare australia. and it's government's public reticence on the julian assange case to another american ally, mexico. who's president says if assange is extradited to the us, where he could die in custody. america may as well dismantle the statue of liberty . is fully a far more mm dekessa. elaine, today there's brazil where opposition leader and current favorite to return to the president's office. lula de sill calls assange a champion in the cause of freedom getting west so she won't be l cream. if you go to little safety. i catch the

wiki leaks found or has far more political support in latin america than in countries to the north. germany, for example, where they've built statues of assange and where i stood guard angio awarded him at peace prize in 2020 more than 70 members of parliament have demanded his release. but the government, led by chancellor olaf schultz is content to lead the matter to his allies in the us and the u. k. so asked the german chances office for their position under janice ost case and i replied statement. and i wanted quite the federal government has full confidence in the rule of law of the british destry, and therefore refrains from making any further statements under ongoing proceedings . the german government could act there to skate good because they are part and parcel of this bowl. made toe

e u complex. and in germany there is more support for him. why? because germans have been taught that things like arresting gender, so extradited them to a likely depth of things that used to happen either on the hitler on these german government. we don't behave like that. it's almost important ally apart from the european union on the u. k. and we are at the moment in a situation where we are in the war with russia. so we need to be nice. our government thinks and needs the matic. i think it's natural right. or the support tool that kind of turn in the source and to fight against expedition or important and happening. i don't think it will change the case vicious very fast because we are sacrificing all venue. that's what we're seeing in america,

the u. k. germany and from so many other governments in canada, france, italy, just to name a few values, sacrificed alliances, preserved, and precedent, dangerous ones or journalism about 2 percent very strongly agreed amongst lawyers and researchers, as well as journalists and civil liberties campaign that the terrible press. what he did is, as many journalist pointed out, no different to what journalists and publishers do every day. so it is basically criminalizing journalism. there is a very real danger that the said social suppression for the us to be able to wield this very extreme power of being able to pluck a journalist from any country and send to jail in their own waters, but also the other countries. now looking at this example, we'll say, well,

hold on, if the united states can do this, why kind of week? china is rising power. imagine now in china is able to say, well, we're going to do the same thing because we don't like what some of these american or british strange and journalists publishing about what's going on in our country . so saying that us officials will do well to, to contemplate political propaganda can be clumsy and russian tactics in ukraine are well documented. but 2 can play at that game. and joanna, who's is here with the details, we have to go back to march 2021 roughly a year before the war started president floating, there's a lensky, establish the ukrainian center for countering this information to curb. what he described as propaganda and destructive information from moscow. through these months of war, the center has been compiling

a list of individuals that it deems to be promoting narrative consonant with russian propaganda. that list includes politicians from around the world from ram pull in the u. s. to marine the pen and our exam were in france to robert fico in slovakia. their alleged crime, public statements that appeared to side with a kremlin. beyond politicians, there are academics and journalists, military analysts, like edward lit work, an american who suggested that the donuts and lou hunks regions should hold referendums to determine their futures. political science scholar john merch. hi, my name is there as well for arguing that nato's expansion provoked russia. american journalist plan greenwald was on the list for quote, scare mongering called it standard mccarthy. i'd idiocy and defended his right to be critical of a proxy war between the world's 2 largest nuclear powers. look what tweeted that key of enemy les needs, quote,

some serious scrutiny rejecting his pro crumbling label and reiterating the fact that he has personally lobbied for nato countries percent more weapons to ukraine. exactly. what key of hopes to achieve with this list is unclear. some of the arguments they've taken issue with, like questioning nato's expansion, have been made by numerous analyst and reporters, including us here at the listening post by blacklisting people for that sort of thing. they're copying a tactic straight out of russia censorship playbook. thanks joe. kenya is about to go to the polls with its presidential election on august 9th, who, who can yatta, cannot run again because of term limits and 2 familiar figures are vying to succeed . him the deputy president william, brutal and rylon ow dinner and opposition figure taking his 5th run at the top shop . social media is where most canyons go to keep track of development. it's a place where politicians are paying influencers and small armies of bloggers to

get the word out. to play the fear card, raise the specter of ethnic tensions and political violence if that's what it takes to get votes. canyon politicians used to rely on some questionable western communications firms to run their social media, produce their propaganda and spread misinformation. now they have new sources of media expertise available domestically to do that. but listening posts, ryan, cause now on canyon influencers for hire. and the misinformation running rampant in this election campaign usually begins with a simple what's up message. a political operative delivers an assignment to a social media influence or for hire the jobs very. but the ask is always the same . make this content go viral. we spoke with a kenyan influencer who insisted he had to remain anonymous. the person you see here is an actor. during our interview,

the influence are revealed some secrets about an industry that as kenya, gears up for a general election has grown in size and impact. so tell me about your operation. what's the size of your team? how does the process work? my team is sometimes just 30 people and can grow up to 100. i'm the point of contact with the client and i left the team know about the assignments through what's up group chat. we then use facebook and twitter to push political messages. how much do your services cost? it depends on the task, but it ranges from $50000.00 shootings to $1000000.00 shillings. that's like it 1500 us don't. can you give me an example. busy something your team has made go viral. i'm not going to answer that because then you know who my client is. okay, but in general terms, how would you describe the content you help spread for politicians? look,

my team is ethical. we are very careful with what we push. we mainly share content that promote the politicians track record, or if down you that promises for the people. have you ever agreed though to attack your client's competitor or spread negative information? yes, it happens for all the assertions that the work is above board. this influencer does not advertise his services. and secrecy is paramount. it's now become part of the report of being a big honcho politician to holes who have a certain amount of influence or blog as other people that can quickly whip up a site and sentiment about you on line. it is done in secret because some times, some of the stuff that these people put out again, falls into incitement. and a lot of it is feet and manipulative content and much of the time. they also violate the terms of service, of many of the platforms in which they engage propaganda is, is

a budget item. when it comes to politics, you have to have budget for propaganda. you have to have budget for if it isn't, it's usually under communication. but we know what communication means in, in politics. we know what that means. like that's the name of the game. his papa. john's is our minimum. that trailer can win 2022 general election influencers or you pick what is the selection and are utilized by virtually all kenyon politicians . their primary targets are leaving candidates. william root ho, the current deputy president and railroad dingum, the former prime minister. much of the misinformation, features run of the mill factory, photoshop campaign rallies, fake endorsement, or dr. academic qualifications. however, the post often veer into darker territory and a lot of them live on tick tock. this is an application that did not exist 5 years ago when having elections in 2017,

but suddenly it has become very popular with the younger demographics. much of the content that we had to view was teetering on the edge of promoting his speech and the incitement to violence. using other language which we know has been used a lot during dinner, say things like my door door, which is a very lead in town in the can in political context, you would be, you could talk my door door. my do i do come here to quit with what you see while you was to money, not or come back to could toyota to tore my door door. is that the mac mad or do i just means it's almost like got like stains or something. and so when you mention that, what you're trying to do is read is bring up tribal tensions. what you're trying to do is the traumatized canyons. we were thrown deep into the post election violence and those wounds are still very fresh. they will continue to do videos that look like in or hora apocalyptic. you know,

end of the days. that recipe for online success may have been imported. take this video, it paints a devastating future for kenya. if william router wins the election, it's slickly produce, but is a direct rip off the scene for scene of a video president kinyata campaign put out in 2017. the target was riley dinner to his campaign for office back then as well. the video was put together by harris media, a texas base marketing agency made infamous bias political work around the world. they and other companies, like the notorious british consulting firm, cambridge analytics, worked on 2 of kenyatta, the presidential campaign. those companies might not be involved with the candidates in the 2022 elections, but the methods they employed are still in play. their dentist still pretty much in the room a little bit tactics that we saw activity to coverage analytic and the other 2 companies are still very much being used within our political sphere,

especially on social media platforms. so i look at something like the real rayleigh campaign, which i think we had never really seen before. that was sort of trying to paint this picture of opposition as this sort of boogeyman that needed to be feared. the use of very emotive campaigning characteristics within the campaign messaging and the very specific use of platforms to turn, disseminate this content into the public consciousness. it's nearly impossible to pinpoint the origins of this content or the number of players involved. and with so few influences, willing to speak on the record, much of this process remains in the shadows. so we took our question straight to the digital strategist of the 2 meeting candidates, william root ho and riley dinner. mr. tony, thanks for speaking with me. can you clarify, has the right loading campaign, hired influencers to amplify their message? this election might be off, for instance,

the people who don't believe in this message. so you're saying you don't hire influences in secret to attack mr thing as opponents or spread propaganda about his main rival, william rito i know they do not. ready a lot. ready ready they claim they want christie to mean. we don't have to get in and get it. i spoke with they are doing a campaign and they say you guys on the router side, what you call the can you kwanzaa campaign, edit videos and higher influencers to spread propaganda? is that true? we have not, i am actually in the campaign to do that. manipulation given me at the top of the campaign, i'm not hired by the company. i'm a volunteer to the company. so any other seeing that to see the campaign of hired people then would be, would be missing formation by itself. do you know whether the dingo campaign hires influencers to spread negative messaging about router?

i mean, when you see 40 people sharing exactly that same message, then those are definitely people or not. so it is money and dimensions. on the other side, on the company. accountability is lacking in kenya. some steps have been taken by platforms like tick tock and twitter to delete harmful information or suspend accounts. but it hasn't been nearly enough to stop the problem. the main governmental agency responsible for doing something is called the n c. i see they released the list of bad words on social media including madeau a door, but we're widely ignored. they've even brought influencers to court for hate speech, but kenyans have yet to see a prosecution. the government could be really doing things, but we don't get to know what they do because there is always an information gap that they active cases on his speech in court that people who have actually been arrested on his speech. but this case is easily not highlighted. so the resulting

effects is i think the government is not doing anything. and i think what we need and what's my act would be to the government is to make an example out of a case where we actually see that we actually see them being prosecuted. i think the reason we have accountability when it comes to this type of thing is because we have very weak institutions. the n c a could be one of those entities where we are seeing very clear examples of violation of certain laws. but nothing is essentially happening to the people that break those laws. yeah, they're not strong, independent confusions that unspeakable to go opinions of their overload within the government. and that's a problem. and finally, the pope has just completed what the vatican calls a pilgrimage of penance to canada. pope francis started out west with an official

and long overdue apology to indigenous communities for the horrors and violence inflicted by the catholic church, particularly at schools run by priests and nuns. indigenous children suffered physical and sexual abuse punishment for speaking their mother tongue. hundreds of them disappeared, buried in graves only recently discovered the investigations or ongoing. there will be more news to come. here are some recommendations on where to go online to find a p t and national news. part of aboriginal peoples tv is a website dedicated to indigenous history and current events, host podcast and programs from interviews to investigations. groundwork for change of the site any canadian can use to educate themselves about aboriginal issues through video, maps, articles, and links to help people connect with 1st nations mfc and in your communities. cook

request is an indigenous online news magazine focused on stories on 1st nations communities in atlantic, canada. most of their followers use twitter. they're also active on instagram and facebook. on twitter, we follow pans pulling that here, and indigenous mac lawyer, professor activist, and politician tonya, to log out author columnist at the globe and mail and founder of mac, creative, and indigenous owned production company, and cindy black stock, executive director of the 1st nations child. and family carrying society of canada . she's all over this story. one that the canadian mainstream media have paid to little attention to for far too long. the next time, the listening in on the 9th of august, we'll head to the pole. the country phrase for a closely contested general election will determine it to president. i'm

a growing political and economic tension who will be the widow and can expect a free and fair election join us for special coverage on the 0? no place. and so i go on with say, press retreated to the car about a media hub and vital vantage point during the 1st truly televised war from the roof. we could see the declaration at the american embassy, where the most iconic images of the conflict of vietnam were transmitted to the world. this was the front row seat to the final stages of the war cycle and caravel war hotels on al jazeera. from the wells, most populated region in depth stories from across asia and the pacific with diverse coaches and conflicting politics. one 0, one east on al jazeera, both jen and you say the police violently discussing protest this. these are some

of good tens of thousands of people trying to flee. gobble, inspired to program, making welcome to generation chains, unrivalled with broadcasting. white people did not want black children in the schools. we have to fight forecasted and al jazeera english proud recipient of the new york festivals broadcast during the year award for the 6th year running. ah, i'm roberson, and doha, the top stories and all j 0. the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi has been meeting the president of taiwan. despite warnings of severe consequences from china. she visited the parliament and described the island as one of the most free societies in the world. follow, sees the most senior us official to visit the self governing island and 25 years. i