around the clock around the world this is r.t. here in moscow the u.s. says its combat mission in iraq will come to its official end within the hour vice president joe biden is in baghdad overseeing it with all american combat troops having already left the country. and washington says that this means the end of the seven year long war that killed over four thousand u.s. troops however about fifty thousand will remain in iraq to provide training and support for local security forces u.s. troops will no longer be allowed to go on combat missions unless requested and accompanied by iraqi forces but many analysts say baghdad doesn't control the country which remains split some plagued by insurgent violence last week alone dozens of iraqi citizens died in a wave of terror attacks well john laughlin from the institute for democracy and cooperation says the war in iraq is far from over. there's no real withdrawal at all on the contrary fifty thousand troops are going to remain in iraq so what we're

dealing with here is a political package it's an administrative change the troops who are already in iraq will stay there the name of the mission changes but they will still be combat troops they will still be engaged in combat operations and after all the american soldier died again only on sunday so this is indeed all about presenting or rather creating a reality which in fact does not exist the collapse of state power in iraq and the fact that it is effectively an occupied country means that it doesn't have self-determination. i think that people who argue in favor of this war say that the achievement of democracy at least on paper made it worth it i'm not sure of course whether the many hundreds of thousands of people who've been killed would agree with that but even if one can say that the situation has in some respects improved to the extent that there is no longer a dictatorship my own view is that the human cost in terms of deaths is much too

high. well as well as in paris we've also heard reaction to this in the last few hours from baghdad itself and london where now let's head to washington where i'm joined by kelly blasts an antiwar campaigner thanks very much indeed for joining us now i see that your web site describes this withdrawal as a fake end to iraq but we hear that the iraqi prime minister himself is saying it's now a sovereign country he's right is neat. well on paper it is a sovereign country and it's in his best interest as well as president obama's best interest to make this a. seemingly successful moment in history but as you said and as many others have pointed out that there's a lot of loose ends here and there's a lack of clarity in terms of what the u.s. combat operation is actually leaving behind and how much work there is yet to do

there it's leaving behind fifty thousand troops who are troops there to support capacity presence is justified is that from your point of view. well as we've seen in the last several weeks there is still there's rising levels of violence there as we speak there's been a wave of attacks by what's being called al qaeda remnants as well as bathurst remnants there is some grumblings coming from the sons of iraq the sunni's that the americans had paid off to fight in the search there's also some rumblings on behalf of the mahdi army remnants there under a promised a brigade. who is now a kingmaker in iraq has promised to activate if the so-called u.s. occupier doesn't get out so there is a lot of unrest there's political and physical violence on the horizon

that obama is basically facing as he speaks to the nation to the u.s. tonight so this is really the best time for a troop withdrawal under those conditions that you just just described would you accept the fact that they do need to keep u.s. troops there. well i'm not a military strategist but if you talk to the people on the ground in iraq there is a lot of mixed feelings about the u.s. leaving i've seen a number of interviews on the internet as well. as news footage on the television with the rockies basically saying they're unsure that their security forces will be able to handle the security vacuum that's going to be left when when the combat troops leave but let's be clear here fifty thousand troops will be left behind they will have combat capacity general raymond odierno as well as u.s. ambassador ryan crocker both made comments in the recent days that those troops will be able to fight if they feel if necessary the the phrasing of combat

combat troops is easily parsable. there they are they're armed and they'll be ready to fight if need be so like i said there is there's a general lack of clarity in terms of. what the current policy is there as we speak now that remains it's also if occasion for the troops remain of course it's been a painful transition since of the dictatorship was indeed do grieve then that the operation iraqi freedom as it was called which is just officially ending today has set iraqis all the polls to democracy all the flow of venture despite all these painful transition. well i'm not sure about the final path i see as is anybody who was observing there are have been many bumps along the way and i'm sure you've talked about on air already there is a political impasse right now between the rival factions there is no.

working government in a sense on paper and we're going to see a lot of political turbulence in the future weeks and months maybe even years so whether or not there is a path i don't think is important i think what is important right now is a few things one that the u.s. find a way to get here to the status of forces agreement which as we should remember that is what has prompted the u.s. withdrawal president obama will take credit for seeing a campaign promise through and bringing home combat troops but this is an agreement that was hammered now under the bush administration with prime minister maliki that the u.s. withdraw all troops by december two thousand and eleven this is just one part of that gradual drawdown so the u.s. is going to leave i think what's important is what's left behind and whether or not

a political reconciliation can ever come to pass so that there will be safety and rebuilding in that country that has been just unbelievably damaged and destroyed by the last eight years war can leave the host really interesting do we have to say we appreciate your time joining us there in washington and you will complain a critical host thanks very much indeed thank you. coming up later in the program bullet points you can find out why people in the u.s. state of louisiana are saying give us back five years after they had them taken away. russia's high tech lawmakers who are exchanging tweets in the workplace get a ticking off from the president. but first desperate times in one indian village have prompted residents to take desperate measures a severe two year drought has left three hundred families on the edge of starvation they're threatening to commit mass suicide if there's no way to from the government

but despite the stark warning so far no help has arrived current sing has a story. here in the village of gerard you know remote part of eastern india. molly spends time with his family including his little grandson this may look like one happy picture but the reality is quite the opposite with no food to eat. and over twenty other farmers in this small village of about three hundred families have threatened to commit mass suicide. into mutely we will have to die sometime so why suffer like this every day it's better to die now we're so hopeless that we've come to the conclusion that committing suicide is the best option would like to die early without food to eat how many days can a person want to live. the region has had an acute drought for two years now this has driven villagers from jakarta to write

a letter to the president of india and the state governor asking for rations and it a geisha in facilities if help fails to work i they say they'll commit suicide. he says because we requested immediate food aid from the governor and for the long term development work that could provide us with employment such as digging a new well and improving the route to a village which is in a bad state the farmers are desperate as the entire state of charge could grapples with a forty two percent rainfall deficit this year julie shows me his field which should have been full of crops at this time of year but lies bad and instead. of used up all receipts but for the last two years there hasn't been enough water for crops to grow singing the desperate situation you know homes were thinking what is the point of living. the suicide request has george to the local administration into action promises of food and development have been made but little has actually reached the

village officials at the district headquarters didn't respond to our request for an interview meanwhile enjoy villagers wait for the promised. all the senior officials have visited us from the local administration that along with our elected member of parliament they've given us assurances but i do know when to expect action it may take five days fifteen days or even a month. and clearly not so important to the government. this crisis has been in the making for two years now and this letter has just brought it out into the open with an entire village driven to despair the government will have to take urgent steps to prevent this from snowballing into a major crisis got and saying r t from the village of india well countries around the world have suffered from extreme weather this summer with record breaking heat in russia and severe flooding in pakistan to name but two later max

keiser and stacy herbert say the people who bear the brunt of this are victims of irresponsible corporations and i talk about two thousand and ten is the year of global weirding. global weirding look at that that's not that's not right you know what the real problem is it's global warming and climate change brought about by over industrialization and nobody has put the adequate cost of their carbon emissions on their balance sheet the big oil companies for example don't cost the expense of their detritus of their exhaust they don't pay for that exhaust they don't pay for the damage that they do no one of they make money they don't actually pay for the for the raw material that goes into their product and the and the waste that it creates now the result is the worst what is a decade or a year on record temperatures for ever for the existence of historical records of these nine nations zero zero zero thanks big corporations around the world thanks for causing premature human extinction thanks

a lot. and you can watch the cars report in just a fifteen minutes from now here on t.v. . people in the u.s. have just been mocking full of innocence the deadly hurricane katrina in the wake of that storm many people in the state of louisiana had big guns confiscated in an attempt to stem looting and violence but as a report some is still fighting for the right to defend themselves. it's a sunday afternoon in louisiana i just came out here to shoot practice. and guns are a blazing at this shooting range. so our forty percent believe everybody should have the right to defend themselves at any cost in this part of the united states the right to bear arms is part of everyday life i believe part and have the right to sue for ask questions later. been robbed at gunpoint before i

know what it's like i believe that it. living in america maybe it's that we should be able to carry a handgun but that wasn't always the case so what do you know so we've taken your weapons. richard stiring and his friend wayne shoom were on lake ponchartrain about a week after hurricane katrina made landfall and i had almost say anywhere from six inches to a foot of water in the house. but it was still there they went to styron's house to get his things we heard of the. stuff that was going on in the wall and all the shooting then the people that were getting heard some killed from what i've been told. while heading back across the lake the pair was stopped by law enforcement and asked to give up their weapons. from your order for a minute your private property. don't have any right to take in iraq. as the

hurricane took the city by storm residents felt their constitutional rights were being blown away the armed populace keeps the government in check the government should not be in charge of the populace the populace should run the government at whatever the government has the guns and the populace doesn't have the guns the government does what it wants in the aftermath of katrina new orleans was in complete chaos law enforcement couldn't handle all the problems and on streets like this one every single building with looted except for one occasion is pa as they are three smith and wesson club action shotgun twelve gauge semi automatic joe in guido's is the owner of cajun's pub she decided to take things into her own hands there was vans with. them and they were breaking into any businesses where there was no sign of anyone around and that they didn't mess with us here because i stood out front. with my shocked we don't protected her patrons

when law enforcement was nowhere in sight after guarding her pub for about a week we decided to evacuate u.s. marshals came across this in front saw me with my shotgun you know they pulled about a dozen m. sixteen sourness put her body against the wall. took all my weapons and then look she couldn't believe this was happening in the united states i was furious i had no way of protecting myself beyond the physical destruction. they saw their city and even their country transforming before their eyes look at the communist countries look at cuba look at nicaragua look at any country you want to take where the government has the guns and the populace as are and look at how they live and how they're treated it's a story they want remembered so it never happens again preassure either r. t. new orleans louisiana. you can check out our website for more stories that's a tarty dot com and here is some of what's there right now for you on line russian

police busted gang of kids who swindled trusting internet users of over thirty million dollars in just one month. and this black expanse of space has its own smell would you believe you can find out what it is at all to dot com. the ban on gambling in russia is seen casinos forced to move to four designated region so far though the remoteness of those places means many casinos have struggled prompting investors in the country's self to spin the wheel again by considering switching locations and promotes good looks at what's at stake for the russian sin city. this is a gamblers paradise the oracle offers all kinds of games from the army of one armed bandits to poker and roulette. however most of the time the place is deserted. this is the only legal casino in russia a private company invested ten million dollars into its construction and even though there are a few other swell willing to build gambling spots here in the area it still looks

like most in the industry see it as making bats in a burning house last year russian lawmakers banned all casinos and gambling clubs across the country to be replaced by force specially designated and developed serves in siberia western russia the south and the east the industry reacted immediately like you know shutting down the facilities moving them abroad or going on the ground even the most successful the southern gambling zone is mostly being ignored by them to nurse. them most investors a passive many because as a city is far away from other major transportation hubs the local airports underdeveloped and the roads and not that good only that and the other factor is that the gambling ban in russia is really hard to enforce. in cities just a few hundred kilometers away from us all police discover illegal gambling down every week. of course it's officially prohibited but in our neighborhood everyone

knows where to find the underground gambling den you can have a good time there if you play your cards right in the regions authorities have come up with a new plan to make the rules work they want to relocate the whole seldom gambling zone closer to popular tourist destinations like the black sea coast resort the phenomena and inspired by les vegas they wanted to be about more than just gambling . so we said why can't we try and do something like that in russia shipping without making the same mistakes we can use the best that las vegas has to offer so. fine by decades of experience essentially we've come up with a new concept and the resort for gambling will be just one of the highlights the idea will have to get support from the russians the duma possibly together with other amendments to help reverse the odds of getting the new gambling rules to work so for now the future of russia's bagus still looks dim leaving more questions than answers for its supporters and skeptics why. are crossing the region.

twitter mania is sweeping russia's leading politicians so much so that even doing it right on the bus is knows one governor was caught tweeting away in the mill of an important meeting in the kremlin by president medvedev himself and you get that you look at the year of posting something on his twitter page right now during district council session as if he has nothing else to do. but tweeting didn't end with the president's remark as more members of the council joined the online exchange the russian leader is known to be a big fan of gadgets and has a twitter account himself his friends include barack obama and the head of apple steve jobs who presented the president with a new i phone four on a recent trip to silicon valley and this works. now to some other international news this hour here on r.t. for you to yemeni men have been arrested after arriving in the netherlands from the u.s. following suspicion that they were attempting to commit a terrorist attack airport officials acted after finding

a mobile phone strapped to a medicine bottle along with knives and watches both are currently being questioned . in government have reportedly killed four israelis in the west bank one of whom was pregnant the victims were traveling in their car when it came under fire near hebron attack comes on the eve of a crucial summit in the u.s. to relaunch peace talks are so far claimed responsibility. nato says a roadside bomb blast has called for american troops in eastern afghanistan a fifth u.s. soldier died of an insurgent attack in the south it comes after a similar violence on monday which killed eight nato soldiers in the same ninety eight american troops have been killed in the country since saturday. when out about ten minutes time it's the kaiser report with the latest financial scandals but before that we have other business for you and that's our daily business update with the to stay with us. hello and

a very warm welcome to the business program to solve the world's biggest alinea producer has posted a profit of one point twenty seven billion dollars for the first half of twenty ten after making a loss in the same period last year the results were considerably better than forecast and the company's shares rallied in hong kong where the company listed in january results says it expects a strong performance for the rest of the year as demand and prices continue to outstrip rising costs. i would say with the hope that with its results for the first or second quarter to see when the forecast from the first quarter million dollars was up for the first quarter with you i'm going to move us to meet what we had in the first or what we think that i was to that's why i was so happy with the margin which twenty five percent each of them heart of the project in the first quarter due to our control and the cost or the as a moment all three go reach from well three billion. and salo is also heavily

involved in the shareholder dispute for control of russia's biggest my minerals chemical but about putin is in the city of new roles to see the town and to all the plant he's met with the two main shareholders in the company to sell chief i dig deep i am pleased to meet the ton in the head of intervals the two billion is each owned twenty five percent of minerals and want to buy the other out bush and has noted that the conflict is damaging the company and a solution is urgently needed it but the government insists it will not force the issue as long as normally coal continues to operate successfully. the dispute appears through boil down to a difference of opinion about how normal cyclical should be run and who should benefit the company's chief executive social cool ski describes the problem as he says it. conflict is due to a difference in interests one side wants a gradual development of the company to improve environmental and social conditions

while the other one wants to take everything that isn't a company and even more i'm against taking the money out this may benefit shareholders right now but in the next years the company won't be able to develop. or sol is adamant it will not sell up instead elected fosco says he will try to get minority shareholders to equate to a point independent professionals to the boat but the chief executive of nora nicole left little doubt as to what shareholder he was favoring has here fetched her the twenty nine percent loss and real salt ship price since the beginning both here at the company led by david bosco so your search since the beginning of the nickel has been the only company to increase its share price twenty three percent others have a negative dynamic the leader among them is the person you just interviewed with a twenty nine percent because the person who tells us how to work how to control our company he's the leader among losers now whatever he says we listen to through

the prism of a person who did not see in managing a company successfully buyable we have the world's highest dividends fifty percent seventy eight percent is the world's average and everyone is happy here for some people fifty percent is not enough and in other news from the city of new rolls the prime minister says the government is considering a new flexible tax formula for nickel and exports he suggests the system could be similar to fatten post on oil what about put an irish the metal producers to take part in the development of a fair formula. there's an idea to develop a flexible formula similar to the one we created for the oil industry in a very with the increase or decrease in global prices but where is it is not agreed soon we will come up with a solution of our own one of the norilsk nickel shareholders may not like. and the

russian markets finished tuesday session in the red energy stocks make some gains to watch the close ross telecom continued its twenty three from monday the only blue chip up more than three and a half percent. russia second largest oil producer has announced that income for the second quarter fell sixteen percent to two billion dollars that's despite a strong rise in revenues the company says it was hit by taxes sent costs tros faster than the price of crude oil and separately the company says it doesn't intend to buyback the entire eleven point six percent of its shares from current owner conoco phillips and speaking exclusively to business r.t. vice president plenty of good looks planes why. should. we think that the purchase of almost eight percent of shares is enough to reduce the tension on the market and to assure that our shares show enough value on their own the company is interested in increasing its free flow the more shares on the market the more stable there we

are also looking at listing on one of the asian markets in the future i think it's enough to ensure future stable and reliable company before. that's all the business news for now but you can always find more news on our website our two dot com slash business.

wealthy british style. is not on the tireless. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on our. news today violence is once again flared up the faith these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. sheinkopf orations to rule the day.

because you know from the russian capital twenty four hours a day top stories now this hour the u.s. is poised to officially hand iraq's security over to local forces as the last of america's combat troops have left the country and about fifty thousand will remain to train local security forces. a severe drought has left three hundred families in a village in eastern india desperate for help funds down they'll commit mass suicide rolled in starve to death if government aid doesn't arrive soon. and after russia limited gambling to four remote regions casinos there are failed to attract business and prompted investors to stake the future of gambling on a popular tourist destination the black sea coast. well i'll be back to bring you more all no stories at the top of the hour that's less than thirty minutes from now here on our team next though the financial analysts max kaiser focuses on the.