all. sparks fly as tokyo 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 curve realize. 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 money so the us votes in turbo elections with signs pointing to a republican victory but many americans fear the corporate agenda is eclipsing democracy. and celebrating human ambition the international space station marks a decade of mad operations while critics pushed for a break loose to justify its billions in talks it's. you're watching r t you live from moscow welcome to the program now scandalous that's the way russia's viewing the recall of the japanese a basset or a from moscow over an escalating territorial dispute tokyo is protesting against president medvedev visit to russia's southern kuril islands while japan claims as

its own party'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 its 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 yes it was japan's ambassador in moscow receives directions about his actions directly from tokyo so this is their internal affair but generally the ongoing stary of emotions on japan's part over president medvedev 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 four islands have based 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 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 embassador 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 to 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 because 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 concentrated says talks over the kuril islands won't start unless japan recognizes them as russian territory. the russian behavior depends completely on our interpretation of the situation and this interpretation is that the. belong to russia as a result of the second world war it is not discussable and in japan has

a certain opinion on there will be already to discuss that certain opinion both on the basis that the belong to russia and that any change of this situation may be just a result of for good will and nothing else and they believe that the behavior of japanese authorities no try to present. to overthrow try to pressure on russia is a big mistake because it does not create any further motivation for russia to demonstrate. and does not create any further. uniters for these discussions. now 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 and the 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 cultural battle ahead of it are. reports. a typical attack ad from this election season. actually was to try to. accept the opponent to approve the end is herself an expert in months throwing and the organization that back surgery is funded by viewing. this election cycle as being notorious in the amount of dirt candidates were pouring onto each other they are bankrupting america and leaving our children the bill this is a special election year in the u.s. for the first time caller. for asians 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 that will cut

in their bottom lines and 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 u.s. is such that it's virtually impossible to run for office without strong financial backing but the bigger the backing the more candidates oh to their benefactors between creasy enormously the you know equality in influencing policy makers policy making in increasing their legal process in influencing their regulatory process because we. are behind all of these contributions if not all good citizens of the united states but basically they most power for a breach affect mentor 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 baner is

campaigning a gas all kinds of government regulations as well as a tax increase for the rich and other candidate wanting for reelection republican congressman spencer baucus who is a ranking member of a house committee on financial services he has reportedly taken over four million dollars from wall street and pledged to find i guess tougher rules for the financial markets 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 of core option. private or public party fear 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 moneyball to come out as you'd be more democratic. next monday and some fear their interest may be left down because of someone's special interests on the outside if democracy is new voice people coming to the polling stations putting a quasi with the name of the candidate they like but in these elections with the influence of corporations on first it seems that really has the vote in american mail is money and it's shut down on t. washington d.c. . earlier we spoke to dave levinthal from the center for responsive politics that tracks the campaign spending now he believes there's a possibility politicians will become dictated by their donators as soon as they

get into congress. there is a concern among many people that politicians who receive a considerable amount of money from a particular industry or a particular union or special interest group are going to be beholden to that entity when they get into congress so in other words they get a whole lot of money from people who want them to do something in particular and then they go to congress and then all of those special interest groups come back to them and say hey remember when i gave you that big chair to remember when i supported you with millions of dollars of television advertisements well they're going to come with their handout at that point wall street has played a major role in the success of republicans going forward in large part because we are. that republicans have shifted their donations just in less than two years time from giving primarily to democrats to now giving primarily to republicans so across the nation that equals the equivalent of millions upon millions of dollars then

sort of benefiting the democrats are now benefiting the republicans as so ahead for you in the program over a barrel of jailed for oil tycoon victims of stealing billions could see a sentence extended in a case that's fueling debate find out more as our to bring see the latest from the courtroom and beyond and also. training for the station itself did not exist there were no menus there were no exercise machines 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. former or. call of ski who was jailed for embezzlement and tax evasion in two thousand and three is back in court new charges brought against him could see his term extended until twenty seventeen now he's been giving his concluding speech at

a court hearing and firth has been following the case. lou strong words today from mikhail cut a close as he gave the final speech of the mosque a cool head of the verdict this childlike had a close get along with his former business partner plots on lead the day standing trial accused of fools and vessel the now he said we had him say today call on the judge to have coverage saying that the fate of all russians dressed all in the verdicts that will be delivered a little bit he doesn't want to die in prison so 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 bought for actually a punishment for the opposition that kind of clothes he has shown to the government and now with one year to his release we've seen these new charges quotes 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 he had 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 a key of stealing over two hundred eighteen billion tons of oil from the former oil company yukos 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. more top news stories on our web site r t v dot com including

a five year old woman who was savagely piers. well attack in her own backyard of russia south dies after several days in a coma. and being targeted as a criminal before even committing a crime find out about preemptive prosecution of the united states at r.t. dot com. now despite international efforts since the taliban's removal from power in two thousand and one women's rights continue to be violated in afghanistan many women face domestic violence and abuse with a growing number committing suicide because of a lack of trust in the justice system and with many courts in ruins and judges facing death threats the situation shows little sign of improving artie's falsely or has that story it's a choice no mother should ever have to make her children or her family her husband's thrown her out and this woman's parents will only take her back if she

abandons the children she had with him. i'm feeling so alone my husband hates me a lot i'm sick my daughter is sick my other two children are with him. her family was against the marriage from the beginning the man was from another tribe already married and taking drugs but at the age of fourteen desperate to be with him the goal ran away and married him. my brothers want to kill me i'm very fraid of them they say if you come back alone will accept you. but if you come with your children you are view and also afraid of my husband. the twenty four year old now hides in a shelter last year the human rights commission received eight hundred and fifty similar cases and that's only in a book it says the justice system is falling far short of helping these women that

are on this problem make about it from us we have no women prosecutors and most provinces no women police family courts whenever a woman is accused of something and there's no one to help her these judges are listening to a case of a young girl who wants to break of her engagement they tell her to come back in the next hearing a husband wants to divorce his wife because she visited her parents for a week without his permission you know women feel helpless and even in the rare situations where they cases get to court they feel justice has not been served in the last six to seven years the problem of women burning themselves has grown especially in herat and kandahar provinces to suicide because women feel they have no way out afghan court officials say they have enough to deal with even before trying to help these women were freed and all but ahead of them with a three decade war has damaged the capacity of the afghan judicial system we've had

fifteen judges killed across the country many of our court buildings are destroyed and we have problems with transportation and staff. in remote areas the problem is worse many judges simply refuse to be posted there complaining of bad salaries and even worse security women who have. all the security help implement law and order and security are better areas but unfortunately the villages are not ready to practise these kinds of laws. and often this precious little the courts can do especially in places when warlords and special allegiances of the law we've got to pay to the judges higher salary so that we can cope with their. needs of daily life and provide them a place to stay in especially in the little area in the district area and also training of them and also. reporting the cases we did decide said that the public

should go so while this woman waits for the courts to hear her there's no guarantee that even after they do she'll be any better off policy r.t. couple. 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 baghdad it all happened while hundreds of people gathered to bury the victims of sunday's scout troop seat fifty eight people were killed when the lucky troops stormed the building after all kind of militants had taken the congregation hostage during a mass the gunmen were reportedly demanding the release of all imprisoned al qaida members in iraq and egypt. 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 moving parts 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 layered embassies greek authorities have already charged two men with terror acts. now one of the most ambitious projects in history be international space station is marking a decade of mount operations now the us has been an epic milestone for space exploration and it served as the longest home away from home and been visited by some two hundred people are. 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 vanguard a second two thousand and expedition one was to dock with the international space station and become its first permanent crew that didn't know what they expect them or in the government when we started training for the i assess the station itself

did not exist and there were no manuals there were no exercise machines that 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. because of 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 with the give them a lot of the equipment did not work as planned in contact with we had to try and fix it on the spot the equipment was turned on but there was no way to live the two russian cosmonauts had already completed long missions on the mir the old irrational with all station. on the mere it was old analog technology switches and stuff the i assess was clean and shiny but it was very hard living there a list 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. in 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 your 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 spiders 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 its

lifespan already extended to twenty twenty the fruits of expedition one are still being borne whatever its limitations and budget over and though i assess as important at the tar work no longer seemed like everything was possible in space and there were no longer the cold war budgets to fund it all there are so still proves that space research can be right at the edge of human endeavor either on or out see moscow well mark iraq 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 it can allow in biology chemistry and physics in the future and we've already begun writing 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 welcome to the coverage of the u.s. midterms the pursuit of votes is mostly seen as a two horse race however r.t. sits down with a four time u.s. presidential candidate who doesn't belong to either of the country's two major parties to get an independent perspective ralph nader talks about the real powers of government and ways to achieve genuine change.

fault 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 to you is 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 and mostly all the democrats are for it says a little difference there but on iraq on afghanistan on israel palestine. on the. sofa given the power of the u.s. government to go in the world chasing you but he done any country regardless of national sovereignty the similarity between obama and bush the start of the

political analysts 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 an illegitimate way better 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 have over the establishment here in washington and hell 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 a run saw by the military industrial complex of course now it's much much worse and they have cowed 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 not where the game is really being played they are the tribune's you know they're the voice they're the sheen there is the they they they sign on the dotted line it's the military industrial complex it's largely dissin say sure both 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 what he's talking about he was a five star general i wonder what role does third party candidates have an election cycles an influence of 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 entities requiring them to spend inordinate amounts of time to resist litigation is frivolous to get on the ballot there's no country in the western world that if strikes voters and counted them exercising their democratic rights in most countries in western europe you have multi-party systems if the green party gets over five percent in germany as over five percent of the parliament here a party can get forty nine percent the opponent can get fifty one percent the party gets forty nine percent is nothing from what you're saying it sounds like. 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 revolt against these against us corporate domination well inevitably cycle turns in american history and people say enough is enough i thought the bill.