it.

all. sparks fly a stoker voices claims to russia's far eastern islands japan has recalled its ambassador to russia amid a diplomatic dispute following president medvedev visit to the far eastern russian

territory of the caribbean islands. the democratic process is supposed to be a track on power instead what we're seeing is perforations hijacking that system in order to funnel more money so the u.s. votes in midterm elections with signs pointing to a republican victory but many americans fear the corporate agenda is eclipse and democracy. and celebrating human ambition the international space station marks a decade of ground operations while critics pushed for breakthroughs to justify its billions in costs. you're watching r t coming to you live from the russian capital welcome to the program first off scandalous that's the way russia viewing the recall of the japanese ambassador from moscow over an escalating territorial dispute tokyo is

protesting against president medvedev visit to russia southern karylle islands which japan claims as its own artie's peter all over is following the diplomatic route. well the latest that we have is from foreign minister said again after all he says that the russia will not recall some from japan in response to ambassador being sent home greeting the cold hope earlier on today a very strongly worded statement from the foreign minister certainly pulling no punches. japan's ambassador in moscow receives directions about his actions directly from tokyo so this is their internal affair but generally the ongoing staring of emotions on japan's part over president medvedev xv visit to the caribbean islands is causing concern with us and i stated repeatedly that such actions and protests from tokyo are unacceptable and we reaffirm this position mr lavrov also said that president medvedev may visit more of the korean islands in the future as for islands a base in me just off the northwest coast of japan they came under control of

moscow of the one nine hundred forty five and japan currently believes that they should be returned to them at the moment this all comes on the day on the eve just about next week we see the apec summit taking place in japan and yokohama now we're hearing from the kremlin that president medvedev will still be attending the apec summit and the japanese side is saying that bilateral talks between president medvedev and the japanese prime minister will go ahead as planned and we can hear now from the japanese foreign minister about the recalling of his ambassador most you know it is extremely regrettable that president made very to visited the crew islands even though japan had earlier notified russia that there could be a negative impact on bilateral relations we decided not in bassett or kono should return home temporarily so he can brief us on the background of the visit. well this diplomatic dispute is caused many politicians here in russia the term it is scandalous and it's something that will be ongoing for a little while yet but the islands have been pretty much disputed since they were

first discovered by explorers in the seventeenth century the dispute that we're seeing at the moment stems from one nine hundred forty five and the end of the second world war when moscow took over control of them and they became part of the soviet union now of course part of the russian federation japan says that these islands should be returned to them as they belong to japan before the second world war now one of the main reasons that these islands are so hotly disputed is because they have vast wealth of minerals oil and gas reserves so key economic places and that's why both sides want them so badly and the head of the state duma's foreign affairs committee concent and says talks over the coral islands won't start unless japan recognizes them as russian territory. the russian behavior depends completely on our interpretation of this situation and this interpretation is that the. belong to russia as a result of the second world war it is not discussable and in case japan has

a certain opinion on this well we are ready to discard that certain opinion but on the basis that the belong to russia and that any change of the situation may be just a result of for good will and nothing else and they believe that this behavior of japanese authorities which now try to present. to overthrow our show we try to pressure on russia is a big mistake because it does not create any further motivation for russia to demonstrate good and does not create any further. opportunities for these discussions on. all americans are voting in midterm elections to decide the future of the house of representatives and one third of the senate opinion polls predict barack obama's democrats could lose control of the house back to republicans but with vast amounts of campaign cash going into these elections some

voters are more concerned about the corporate backing behind the candidates are these going to check yobs reports. a typical attack ad from this election season. actually was to. try to. accept the opponent to approve the ad is herself an expert in months throwing and the organization that back surgery is funded by view enters. this election cycle as being the torrijos in the amount of dirt candidates were pouring onto each other their bankrupting america and leaving our children the bill this is a special election year in the us for the first time corporations are allowed to funnel as much money as they want into political campaigns and they're definitely not missing out on the chance to buy influence on capitol hill what they're hoping to do is bend laws and regulations or prevent new laws and regulations from being approved they'll cut in their bottom lines at the problem is that

a lot of these rules and regulations exist for a purpose they're supposed to protect the public interest the election system in the us is such that it's virtually impossible to run for office without strong financial backing but the bigger the backing the more candidates bowl to their benefactors creases enormously you know quality in influencing policy makers policy made can be increasing their legal process in influencing their regulatory process because we. are behind all of these contributions if not all of the citizens of the united states but basically the most powerful and drita effect might drop a population to watch the influence inaction take republican leader in the house of representatives john boehner wall street invested millions of dollars in his campaign is also a darling among large health insurance oil firms and drug manufacturers boehner is

campaigning a gas all kinds of government regulations as well as a tax increase for the rich and other candidate wanting for reelection republic. congressman spencer baucus who is the ranking member of the house committee on financial services he has reportedly taken over four million dollars from wall street and pledged to find against tougher rules for the financial market the list of corporate favorites on capitol hill is long and not only republicans are on it the democratic process is supposed to be a check on corporate power and instead what we're seeing is corporations hijacking that system in order to funnel more money to themselves many argue the new supreme court decision which made it possible for corporations to invest unlimited amounts of money in politics and be able to be credited as anonymous donors has basically legalized corruption one definition out of core option privatization of public party beer mongering is arguably the main tool corporations use to gain

public support for the candidates they choose some channels like fox news are especially good at getting their message across and it's clear that pushes people to the streets i would like my boat to come as you would be more democratic. next monday and some fear their interest may be left now because of someone's special interest on the outside this democracy is new voice people coming to a polling station fans putting a cost before the name of a candidate they like but in these elections with the influence of corporations on meat it seems all really has the vote in american mail is money going to shut down on t. washington d.c. . scott mccarty a national spokesman for the u.s. green party says the runaway spending is detrimental to the country's political system and that america is desperate for the multi-party approach. well the

important thing to point out is that that money comes from corporations and corporate money has poisoned our democracy but the real problem is an election system that is rigged against us in several ways there are state laws regarding ballot access that democrats and republicans have passed together to privilege themselves to privilege their own planets while hindering the ability of all the parties and independents to participate in the democratic process we need to get those laws overturned and we need to make the us a multi-party democracy the only real democracy is a multi-party democracy and still ahead for you in the program over a barrel jailed for oil tycoon convicted of stealing billions could see his sentence extended in a case that's fueling debate find out more as our team brings you the latest from the courtroom and beyond and also. from within the sensory training for the station

itself did not exist we would name a news we would know exercise machine it's ten years since the pioneering crew aboard the international space station find out firsthand how the facility has changed and what the future holds for mankind's gateway to the final frontier. now russia has started delivering free guns and admonition to arm the afghan police the first aircraft has already landed in kabul and sixteen more shipments are expected to take place as part of a bilateral agreement reached in august now military analysts say russia will engage further in calgary threats emanating from afghanistan. there's a big threat. to all neighboring countries as a regional superpower i think. russia should feel engaged as far as needed the only limits. of russian troops russia pays

much attention to drug problem it was very remarkable new speech came recently a balti successful joint operation we all expect that. operation real continue in the future because russian people. from every day life. drugs. a huge threat to all of us all. former oil tycoon. who was jailed for embezzlement and tax evasion in two thousand and three is back in court new charges brought against him can see his term extended until twenty seventeen now he's been giving his concluding speech at a court hearing. firth has been following the case. lou strong words today for mikhail khodorkovsky as he gave the final speech of the most state court ahead of

the verdict this childlike had a close along with his former business partner plots on lead the standing trial accused of fools and investment but now he's we had him say today call on the judge to have courage saying that the fate of all russians dressed all in the verdict that will be delivered a little they he doesn't want to die in prison and that if it required it he wouldn't hesitate and we've heard strong critics of this case saying that both the previous charges and these new charges that have been full force actually a punishment for the opposition that kind of cause davis showing to the government and now with one year to his release we've seen these new charges pulled but there are others that have said that actually had a close case has ruled this country of billions of dollars and that now he may be trying to evade his responsibility for that says in fact the prosecutor in this case valerie elected saying that cut across these the fed is completely built on

the line and that he's trying to create a political elements and play up to the political element in this trial with a new charges both against how to close down his business partner left with. no food and embezzlement now that they stand the keys of stealing over two hundred eighteen billion tons of oil from the former oil company you close now that's twenty seven billion dollars worth of oil if they're found guilty they could face time behind bars they can live up to twenty seventeen so the verdict for these new charges is expected to be delivered on the fifteenth of december. well more top news stories on our web site r t v dot com moving an eighty five year old woman who was savaged in a pit bull. in her own backyard in russia's south dies after several days in a coma. and are being targeted as a criminal before even committing

a crime find out about preemptive prosecution of the united states dot com. turning to some world news in brief now at least seventy six people have been killed and nearly two hundred wounded after a series of ten explosions across the iraqi capital of baghdad it all happened while hundreds of people gathered to bury the victims of sunday's catholic church siege fifty eight people were killed when the rock the troops stormed the building after all part of militants had taken the congregation hostage during a mass of the gunmen reportedly demanding the release of all imprisoned members in iraq and egypt. a parcel bomb has exploded at the swiss embassy in athens police say the device was thrown into the courtyard of the building but there are no reports of injuries or deaths it comes amid heightened security in the greek capital after a mail bomb exploded at

a delivery company on monday suspicious packages were also found at the bulgarian and chilean embassies greek authorities have already charged two men with terror acts. now britain and france have cited military treaties which include setting up a joint force sharing equipment and testing nuclear warheads the u.k. prime minister and french president are discussing their plans in london officials say the deal will save millions and boost the fighting power of both countries a nuclear testing center will be set up in france and technology is expected to be developed in britain. and now in germany an unexpected sinkhole that appeared in the middle of the street has forced dozens of people to flee their homes the hole which is about twenty meters deep and forty meters wide swallowed and entire car officials say it's still unclear why the sinkhole appeared but it's thought that underground rock had broken up creating

a cavity beneath the surface. now one of the most ambitious projects in history the international space station is marking a decade of manned operations now the i was epic milestone for space exploration as it served as the longest home away from home and been visited by some two hundred people are to have takes us back to the station's early days. they set off for one of the most important expeditions in the history of space exploration on the van but a second two thousand expedition one was to dock with the international space station and become its first permanent crew that didn't know what to expect them over to them when we started training for the isis the station itself did not exist there were no manuals there were no exercise machines in a lot of the docking was a success but now the crew had to activate the station assembled separately in

russia and the u.s. the first time that i said components fitted together was in space it's beautiful the first two weeks on there were extremely stressful if we failed would have had to return to earth and abandon the station it would never have been constructed as planned good to give them a lot of the equipment did not work as planned in contact with us we had to try and fix it on the spot the equipment was turned down but there was no way to live the two russian cosmonauts had already completed long missions on the mir the old russian orbital station. on the mir it was old analog technology switches and stuff the i assess was clean and shiny but it was very hard living there all the space was taken up by equipment that would have to be installed we could barely squeeze past each other and slept on the floor but we knew it was our job and also how often do you get to go into space. and the years after expedition one the station expanded rapidly new modules were added that received two hundred visitors i asked

the current crew what has changed since expedition one. these days the station is so huge like an apartment block we don't get to see each other for long periods of time. it's ok but it's getting a bit worn down now i wish they would renovate some of the sport has been achieved in a decade but overall usefulness of the service is still being debated this station has cost the taxpayer one hundred billion dollars and that's just absurd it's too much but it's there all the expedition one members have now retired from space travel but still believe what they did was worthwhile. we laid the foundation for the international space station and for the future of space research. and with the lifespan already extended to twenty twenty the fruits of expedition one still being born whatever its limitations and budget over and though i assess as important at

the tile work no longer seemed like everything was possible in space and there were no longer the cold war budgets to fund it all the assessed still proves that space research can be right at the edge of human endeavor either on or. moscow well mark iran who's been involved in the space station program since its inception says the project is a crucial platform for further exploration of the cosmos as well as providing vital research. well having a platform in space allows us to test out the next generation technologies many of the systems on the space station like the systems that provide oxygen and water that we need to go further into space are being developed on the international space station today and in order to travel further into the universe we're going to have to be able to recycle all of our materials and the best way for us to see economic growth in the future of all the partner nations is to be investing in that

research and the space station provides an incredible platform because of the new breakthroughs that can allow in biology chemistry and physics in the future and we've already begun right in agreements with universities with private companies and we're looking at developing new vaccines new drugs we believe will be yielding results within the next several years continuing our coverage of the u.s. midterms of the pursuit of votes is mostly seen as a two horse race however r.t. sits down with a four time us presidential candidate who doesn't belong to either of the countries two major parties to get an independent perspective ralph nader talks about the real powers that govern america and ways to achieve genuine change.

elections are usually an exciting time for the american people however with the two party system dominating the political establishment here in washington some ask whether there are higher powers that stake and how much influence they wield over the city now someone is no stranger to this topic is ralph nader he was a presidential hopeful under the independent and green party ticket he sits down now with r.t. mr nader thank you so much for joining us now my first question she was about u.s. foreign policy under both political parties i wonder if there are differences

between how they look at the start treaty for example or the iraq and afghanistan wars or policies towards iran are there really differences between these two parties when it comes to u.s. foreign policy less and less on the start treaty that there are some republicans that are against it republicans for mostly all the democrats are for choosing a difference there but. israel palestine. the. so given the power of the u.s. government to go anywhere in the world chasing you buddy down any country regardless of national sovereignty the similarity between obama and bush the start of the political list. when bush launched the wars he. was not able to legitimize them. obama by extending. the war in

afghanistan and expanding drones going into pakistan going into somalia into yemen it's a no go after anybody that he and the executive branch think are a threat. he has legitimized what bush has put forward in an illegitimate way either election cycle politicians tend to bicker over who should be elected for president or who should be elected for congress but do their policies really differ how much dominance does the two party system hub over the establishment here in washington and help the country is being run well there is a permanent corporate government in washington for president eisenhower in his farewell address in one nine hundred sixty one pointed out the much quoted passage of the unwarranted influence saw earn saw by the military industrial complex of course know it's much much worse and they have cut out a lot of the media i mean look how the media went along with the falsified drumbeat

an invasion of iraq in two thousand and three i mean it was disgraceful so the two parties are where the game is really being played they are the tributes you know they're the voice they're the sheen there is the they they sign on the dotted line it's the military industrial complex it's largely dissin say should both the defense industry machine that never says enough is enough in terms of nuclear subs and drones and fighter bombers and armored vehicles it's out of control eisenhower warned us about it we didn't heed his warning he knew to use talking about he was a five star general i wonder what role does third party candidates have an election cycles and influencing the politics in this country when you have this two party system that has. been in place for so long yeah i mean it's a two party dictatorship and they control the state laws of ballot access so they obstruct small parties and independent candidates requiring them to spend

inordinate amounts of time and resist litigation is frivolous to get on the ballot there's no country no westworld they have struck some voters and candidates from exercising their democratic rights in most countries in western europe you have multi-party systems if the green party gets over five percent and germany as over five percent of the parliament here a party and get forty nine percent of the opponent get fifty one percent the party gets forty nine percent is nothing so there's no proportional representation that with the electoral college nonsense feeds a two party dictatorship and so the role of third parties to break open that two party dictatorship where is the party that pushes for a living wage so they can support their family because the democrats republicans they're not really pushing for that the democrats have a better rhetoric but barack obama promised a nine dollars fifty cent's federal minimum wage in the campaign in two thousand and eight he's never talked about it since it's now seven dollars and twenty five

cents wal-mart wages one third of the workers in this country make low wal-mart type wages is not a major area for a third party so people have got to stop voting for the least worse between the democrats republicans and say they're going to vote for who but they believe that they're going to vote for their conscience they're going to vote for the best interests the american people if it's a third fourth party so be it from what you're saying it seems like a bit of a hopeless situation here in the united states is there any possibility of a revolution here in this country where the people actually were votes against these against this corporate domination well inevitably cycle turns in american history and people say enough is enough i thought the bailout of the crooks in wall street would fulfill that enough is enough but i've seen. people are more demoralized and less able to organize but one of these days they'll be a few billionaires who put a lot of money into thousands of community organizers network throughout the country focusing on congress to move this country forward and put the people back

into the sovereignty arena the constitution starts with the people not we the corporations ralph nader it's always a pleasure to have you thank you so much for joining us. admiral no human. passenger liner sailing in the black sea. august thirty first nineteen eighty six.