wealthy british style. markets 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 into cars a report on our.

the international association of russian language and literature teachers will hold the world festival of russian language. are you interested in a better understanding of russian language and culture can you sing russian songs well. the good the participants of the world festival of russian language and really exciting trip to st petersburg in russia. for more information visit the festival website.

welcome back you're watching r t coming to live from moscow bringing the headlines very shortly before the though here's some breaking news we're getting in the sour while we are receiving reports from faxes agency of shooting in or around the parliament of grozny which is in russia's republic of chechnya now it's being reported there may have been a number of people killed and at the moment this is all the information that we have and we will of course bring you up to date as we get more information through the day and just joined us breaking news this hour is that there is reportedly some shooting in or around the parliament in grozny which is in russia's republic of chechnya we'll be bringing you more on this as we get it. in other news here on our team fifty years since the u.s. imposed a crippling trade embargo on cuba and some say the policies of major we think is

required critics say the costly restrictions have failed in their main goal to bring down the castro regime and have instead just her common people. the leaders of russia germany and france are meeting to try and find a common vision for the future of european. if you were the president would be out of this to push his proposal get again for a new plan to replace the current system which he says is outdated. and israel is facing criticism over a recently adopted a bill that requires no jewish citizens to swear loyalty to the staging mission of his straining already on these relations with the arabs who refuse to pledge themselves to a country they say snatching their land. while former u.s. president bill clinton believes it's in fact russian immigrants in israel who present an obstacle to peace with palestinians lives here next to look more.

hello again and welcome to spotlight and today my guest in the studio is mark levin . the recent verbal attacks on the immigrant jews by former american president bill clinton have added to the rising nationalist divide in israel he accused them of not willing to find common ground with palestinians and hampering peace talks in the middle east what do the survey born jews have to answer here is mark levin executive director of and c s j which advocates on behalf of jews in russia ukraine the baltic states and. the world appears to be fostering

a more tolerant attitude towards jews and vice versa the new exhibition in berlin on hitler and his power over the german people has been welcomed by the country's jewish community they see it as an important step to a greater understanding of the holocaust but in israel itself nationalist feelings are on the rise and saudi born jews are often blamed for this foreign minister avigdor lieberman was born in ukraine he rebuffed the pacifist tone of a recent european delegation he told them to settle conflicts in europe first before advising israel how to deal with the palestinians. as levin thank you for being with us well first of all we're a news channel so so i want to start with the where where were the news related subject which is this first ever exit of ad of head that that has opened

germany's the first ever post war exhibition of this kind it's in the national history museum germany the jews org. they should have always been very sensitive to such things and as far as i've heard today the jewish organizations in germany have already protested against this exhibit how insulting do you think these things are well i think it's of great concern. i haven't seen the exhibition so i can't comment comment on on it first the personal belongings mostly personal belongings of battle fettling i don't think at this time in in the world today it off needs to be commemorated in any fashion whether it's by museum or any other entity but what is where is the line between between not forgetting between history historical facts and commemoration is he a pretty well i think that the there is

a distinction between learning from the lessons of the past and commemorative commemorating what most of the world considers one of the worst tragedies in twentieth century history. do you think that this exhibition as some people would say i quote can true vile i say there in the eyes of young germans i hope not i hope that. those who are whose responsibility is to remind people of. the horrible mistakes that were made don't trivialize or don't. reduce it to. almost a comic book ok another that another news connected with they with not forgetting or commemorating the germans in the second world war

was the recent visit of the of the german president to russia had he visited the german cemetery and. german soldiers and he laid flowers and this was. the press tried to think if it was an official act a symbolic act or just a personal act and they came to a conclusion that it looked rather official and rather symbolic and a large percentage of russians according to the recent polls felt insulted by german president coming to moscow and laying flowers to to to to the nazi and nazi and had nazis and sentry here do you think that was the right thing to do well i think what's important is that the germans and russians over the last sixty years have tried very hard to normalize relations and have come a long way in doing that. but i think that the.

this would be you know something that obviously was discussed of time with the their russian counterparts and the. must of been accepted by sure it should know the regional vertically there was nothing wrong of course the the foreign ministry the the the for the winter of these things but but. what i want to now is do you think that do you think that the. like a. large percentage of the russian people who felt that this was insulting do you did are the right things to be there to feel insulted by such things or they should like like we say swallow it and say ok no no i don't think it's either or. and unfortunately millions and millions of of people lost their lives. including awards a number of of germans and i just think it was again not knowing of the event

itself like you think your views are just your own who support you nothing more ok only. i've. always thought and i was taught in this way that germany is one of the most or maybe even the most anti fascists anti nazi country in the world today according to laws according to public opinion but here is the recent recent polls that say that according to these surveys one third of germans would send foreigners back home if there weren't enough jobs do you think that this shows the the really the far right attitudes are on the rise that there may be a risk of the rise of the far right and maybe even now a knight says but i think i think one of the great challenges in the world today is to combat rising gnash alterna xenophobia an extreme stream of them around the

world it's something that my organization is very concerned about in this particular religion in fact not only in germany or not all of these so they're unfortunately whether it's because of economic or political reasons. the extreme elements in the political spectrum seem to be gaining ground is a done on purpose by certain politicians or do you think it's like like a reaction of the public to difficulties and stuff you're asking a chicken and egg or you know the end. and in this case. of a two handed economists that it's both a it's but it's both ok now another survey another survey in germany says that one six out of the germans think that jews have too much influence do you feel that jews have too much influence and do you think that this result shows that also not

only is in a furby and also anti-semitism is undermined so i should have mentioned the summit to something which has been a growing problem for a number. viewers and it's something that the united states government russian government and others have focused the considerable amount of attention on and i would hope i would hope that through education through. implementation of appropriate legislation and learning what learning the moral lessons of the past would counter the ability of extremist views from taking hold but this is really have anything to do with the real amount of influence the jewish community has had not now absolutely not that that then what's the reason why you should have been thinking about the reasons of this rise of wealth and unfortunately anti semitism has been a part of the wife for for centuries for four or longer

and. the jewish the jewish people unfortunately have been scapegoats for any and the number of tyrants and dictators. and and others we are a small people. in the global village and we i think that we are given far too much credit. for for the successes as well as the failures of. of different issues a little small but pretty influential he she should have made that the jewish lobby is very influential all around the world not only in america where everyone has bad that but the other countries to. i i smile when and when i hear the jewish lobby because it really isn't a jewish lobby it's organizations and individuals who are exercising their rights

as citizens in the united states and elsewhere to make their voices heard and if in some cases we're able to get our. you point across i think it's because we are able to to argue the merits of the case so so so you don't you know what you're saying is that you you deny an existence of a jewish lobby at all and there's no such thing and you're making it sound sinister online i don't know. but that doesn't i mean this is what i want to believe in the american papers in writing that this is the result of the obtuse lobbying on a device to put in that context you know you are it could be the it could be that healthcare a lobby or the or the educational or. you know on issues of concern to the american jewish community we are well organized i think we could do a very good job of presenting our side of the argument and have been able to gain

the support of our elected officials and depending on the issue you know we reflect the views of the majority of americans nothing nothing unusual muffy outlandish but still you say that that opera the anti semitic problems today and even in the night. despite then flew despite of your organisation despite the ability to fight back and stuff you yes that. and there is there are two trends two types of anti-semitism prevalent today one is the traditional and the senators and that has existed for centuries and will and what we what some have referred to as the new anti semitism which tries to demonize and deal with. the jewish people in the state of israel says mark

kalev and at executive director and c. as j. which advocates often jews and russia ukraine the by. states and you arrange the spotlight will be back shortly right after a break so stay with us we'll continue this interview in less than a minute. it's the secret incursion into the country. it's the invasion by means of. tradition the language the july thirty first to compete the beat. and culture. the think. that the have the dims are still

unaware of what's going on in their land you're still asking for more if you. like. i don't know you but alas the great. on our cheap. ticket every month we give you the future we help you understand how we'll get there and what tomorrow brings the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world join our technology update on our g. welcome back to spotlight. in just a reminder that my guest in the studio today is mark be eleven executive director of and see as jay which advocates on behalf of jews in russia ukraine the baltic

states and other countries on the continent. mark for more than twenty years russian jews had no problem with immigration from this country from russia but it was your organization that lobbied the jackson vandyck amendment in the seventy's and it was it was a restriction on trade with russia until the soviet union allows jews to emigrate freely so what do you do to repeal this image today or did you did. and we like to say that countries should be removed or graduated from the amendment and for the last half years and c.s. jay has been on record in support of the russian federation's graduation from the jackson family commitment. have all the other former soviet republics been been a little for this amendment you know there are only i believe only four have been removed from the amendment i think ukraine was removed georgia the kurds republican

army and the rest are still there yes including the baltics know that all the swore the baltics were moved there with the dissolution of the so now they're hearing him because united states that the record of the soviet takeover of people took it well let's take a look at what the jets nevada commandment is all about and reported by spotlights you get the to me that. between one thousand nine hundred seventy five and the collapse of the us assad in one thousand nine hundred ninety one half a million soviet so left the united states and twice as many immigrated to israel there were many more who wanted to leave and get in and that is it these are was not simple one of the obstacles was the so-called diploma tax introduced in one thousand seven hundred two it meant before getting permission to leave you had to compensate the state for the higher education you received in the u.s.s.r.

the sum was astronomical one hundred times the average salary and although the diploma tax did not exist for long it wasn't enough to cause international protests to pressure the soviet union to allow integration the jackson then a commandment was adopted in the us it puts certain limitations on trade relations with the soviet union while the fact of checks and then again on the soviet union is questionable it does affect more than relations between russia and the us although since nine hundred eighty nine. the amendment has been regularly waived it's still in force now after the co-op something soviet union russia sees it as an justifiable trade discrimination standing in the way of its accession to the w t o china was also subject to jackson then it but it was removed from the legislation more than ten years ago. so mark. there should be political forces in the us who support this this checks and then i

commend the good because whoever asks including you say we are fighting against it with think we think it makes no sense with think if it happened as trade relations between the countries the business says no we don't want it so then who does well we we say that the russian federation has fulfilled the requirements of the amendment and that should be recognize that it should be seen in a positive light and therefore the amendment should no longer apply to russia there are a number of organizations. entities who continue to oppose russia's graduation for a variety of reasons including the what they see as broad base human rights violations and questions about russia's commitment to democracy in

addition there are means certain parts of the american business community community who believe that russia should be removed until all of the negotiations for the beauty of membership have been completed but i think the removal of this of this amendment is there will will go automatically with russian inclusion them latino they they can count co-exists know. it well now those who know what will happen with the. accession to. all the members of the w two will enjoy. the trade benefits with russia except the united states until the amendment is no longer applied to russia ok now another thing in the end of the subject we always talk about intelligence we've talked about germany we've talked about xenophobia and semitism but what about israel itself would you agree to

what many people write today in the press in this country that that this phobia is taking hold of the israeli society itself how would you explain the right wing shift in israeli politics i think israel is one of the most open democratic countries in the world today and the accusations about it. being an extremist society are way off the mark so you don't see any any worrying signs in israel. that israel you know many other democratic countries in the world is different. no have. they have the ability to see political shifts take place over time but they never see you know what but the political shifts go center left or center right i don't see an extremist

element taking hold in israel today well actually president bill clinton former u.s. leader he does see. signs of the rise of the n.f.l. we have in israel and here's how he tries to explain it. an increasing number of the young people in the israel defense force are the children of russians and settlers the hardest core people against a division of the land. this presents a staggering problem it's a different israel sixteen percent of israelis speak russian. would you agree that israelis of russian and soviet origin are really less tolerant than the rest of the jews absolutely not i think the. israelis of russian origin may be more on the on the conservative side of the political spectrum but i don't think they're any less the less tolerant and i think having

had the privilege of working with president clinton in his administration for eight years on these types of issues i suspect that his words of. not by you but originally reported may have been just misinterpreted or misunderstood right out of the context so maybe out of it because this quote was all over the press not only was something a lot of the absolutely but i think i think the point president clinton may have been making is where where are the israelis of russian origin stand today in political life and nothing more maybe maybe what he means i'm just suggesting is that is that the russians who came to israel to live for good they want to be as the french say. at least clear what i mean more and more jewish that the jews. so i think. that for many

israelis of russian origin who came particularly in the sixty's seventy's and eighty's they have a healthy skepticism of. of too much government influence. and believe in a strong national defense. mark do you happen to. prefer mr lieberman and his finest i've had the opportunity to hear him speak. and i have met him on a couple of occasions but i want to know him yeah ok well he has a russian origin and it and some. commentators describe him as the as the aggressive as the right just face of israel would you agree to just such a suggestion i think he has very strong views that he articulates in

a very strong fashion and. then again in a free society he's able to express his views and try to gain support for for those views and and having been elected as part of the majority coalition in the government has obviously convinced enough people to support him. as a person who worked with bill clinton you may agree that after that after the bad my distraction came to power the. relations between washington and jerusalem have become to leave have become well less less war a month sort of a chill is there would you agree to that not today not today i think that both governments have made up for it's too. late to improve the relationship and have done so and the fact that i continue to believe that the united states remains is

one of israel's if not israel strongest advocates but this was happening from for a period of time and thought through i think i think there was a difference of opinion in. several. in several areas and. as allies they work through those differences i don't you know whether it's a role to a friend a business associate i don't know of anyone who is always one hundred percent together. ok ok thank you thank you very much for being with us it was a pleasure talking to you it's to it was my pleasure to be here thanks thanks and just to remind that my guest in the studio today was mark levin executive director and see as jay which advocates on behalf of jews in russia ukraine the baltic states and your asia and that's often after all of us here if you want to have your

say on spotlight and have someone in mind do you think i should get to you next time please drop me a line at al green of ads are you and let's keep spotlight interactive will be back with more first out of comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take it thank you thank. hungry for the full story we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers.