if. you dig.

a recap of the stories that shaped the week. george's arrest of the russian spy

a political farce aimed at scoring political points to move forward with mistrust. one of russia's top investigative journalists was severely beaten in moscow his professional activity is suspected to be behind the attack. responsible because the smuggler one hundred five dollars in the us will sell it you to iran over four hundred poverty and despair for so many iraqis to smuggle back home to neighboring iran at the risk of their freedom and life. follows the dangerous traitor. and obama's party who suffers a defeat in the u.s. mint but some say it's common americans who have really lost interest but big businesses played a big part in deciding. with

the top stories of the week today this is. in a fresh james bond style scandal between russia and georgia tbilisi this week confirmed that it had arrested thirteen people accused of spying for moscow russia says the whole story is a political fuss and the georgian authorities are simply attention seeking ahead of a nato summit and as a teaser reports many georgians fear the government's russian mania could land them in prison for espionage as well. for alina this spy scandal was a horrible deja vu her own husband. was thrown into prison for allegedly spying for russia during the two thousand and eight conflict between georgia and south a city or three and five they said some three thousand three hundred pages of data which my husband supposedly sound to russia that's

a blatant lie we have presented evidence numerous times that on information with which fact and worked was just his analysis if you look at his case you'll see that it's easy to say that anyone's a spy in georgia something. as husband was george's envoy to nato he was named in a documentary just shown on one of george's main channels to as one of the russian spies who didn't get away in fact the film was just part of what seemed to be a spy novel unraveling in a small caucasus country over the past week thurst the news of the arrests that came suddenly and not from the authorities but through western news source then a week of silence after which the georgian interior ministry made the announcement with much pomp and circumstance aspiring for years a work by the georgian counter intelligence service amol embedded into russia's chief intelligence directorate so what is this latest spy scandal all about

a political farce a desperate plea for attention or simply much ado about nothing moscow says it's a combination of all three and many say it won't do georgia any good mosco reacted almost immediately the saakashvili regime suffers from some chronic spine mania fueled by only russian sentiments in recent years the georgian leadership has resorted to fabricating similar scandals more than once cynically hoping to political dissidents inside the country and abroad some analysts believe the whole affair was an attempt to put pressure on georgia's opposition. the regime of circus really does not feel safe and they use any possible to again in the in their struggle against a position which still is not consolidated body is getting in power more and more and in georgia the spy story was met with distrust. everything that concerns any

information coming from the georgian authorities is highly don't fall and with a healthy dose of irony. this whole affair seemed to be fashioned on the american spy scandal only it lacked and on the chaplin the sex symbol but apparently the tastes differ at the same time it's an attempt to lead the situation between russia and georgia to another's collation. but to beliefs in mosco exchange verbal blows one woman continues to wait for justice for her husband well you know i'm not afraid but i know that if need be georgian authorities can accuse not only me but any georgian citizen and spying for any contradiction they donated to right now but when they will they will accuse me of a movie in those court t.v. to be lisi georgia. russia received nato's proposal for a joint european missile defense system on wednesday and the alliance's secretary

general was on a visit to moscow anders fogh rasmussen stressed that nato sees russia as a friend and an essential player in regional stability president medvedev said partnership with the alliance could boost security in europe and the world the meeting comes ahead of a nato summit in lisbon later this month with the with the president rather will attend an expert in conflict resolution dmitri trenin told r.t. that a joint of russia and nato missile defense project could be a breakthrough for both sides the secretary general is a champion of joint missile defense on russia's russian. corporation with nato on missile defense he made that statement during his first speech on russia is first major speech on any issue you may september last year basically you need to realize that no amount of the strategic arms reduction said

limitations can transform the russian made russia western russia us relationship one needs to have a strategic collaborative project and it looks like missile defense is the one thing the silver bullet the project that can has the potential at least to transform the entire russian western relationship it's a game changer or it with fail to seize upon that it could be a game breaker. nato's original plans for an anti missile shield in europe send russia's relations with the airlines to a new low but recently things have been on the mend in september nato invited russia to take part in the alliances next summit and last month the two sides carried out a joint anti drug trade in afghanistan. and while russia and nato boost cooperation in afghanistan moscow delivered for the first. asked rather the first of sixteen planes with weaponry to kabul on tuesday the arms are being supplied free of charge

following an agreement between the two states on fighting militants and drug trafficking russia's defense minister says it's possible that the country's military experts will help to help train afghan security forces moscow has however stated that its troops will not return to afghanistan despite earlier speculation by the em cause you lynn who is the director of the conventional arms program at the russian center for policy studies says moscow's efforts in the region help to slash drug problems. is a big threat. to all neighboring countries and to russia as a regional superpower i think that russia should feel engage 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

of all the successful joint operation we all expect that this cooperation real continue in the future because the russian people are more from everyday life. drugs. a huge threat to all our c.d.'s all our generation's. turning our attention to iraq now where the war has ravaged the economy with estimates suggesting a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line many resort to illegal means to make ends meet smuggling spirits into neighboring iran where drinking is banned sebastian mayor follows the alcohol trail. in northern iraq smugglers load their horses with hundreds of boxes of booze taking into. all the alcohol is forbidden in the public much of tehran's boards was. can't resist a drink and these smugglers provide them with an extraordinary selection we're here

in a smuggler storm in a mountainous area of northern iraq that borders around we have absolute fuck you here teachers here mr chavez whiskey black and white whiskey back here we have johnny walker black label we have johnny walker red label over here and we even have over four different kinds of smear. this box of what will cost a smuggler a hundred and five dollars in iraq he will sell it in tehran for over four hundred although the profits appear amends to men who actually take the dangerous journey are paid a mere fifty dollars a night this is not work for those looking to make a fortune he does work for the poor uneducated and desperate. i do this because i'm a literate i don't know how to do so this is the only job i can do out of the rain is brutal in its approach to keep alcohol out a smuggler recently arrested and was sentenced to life by others who have been wounded in police ambushes have been fined up to half

a million dollars to invent charged the price of the bullets that were shot with a mind of a step down. we crossed the border and there are explosions shootings arrests or fights terrible nothing we can do because we're poor. only as the job dangerous but the living conditions are bleak on the iraqi side of the small river that makes the border so it's a series of shanty towns full of tattered shacks they serve a small shelters for the smugglers as well as stables for the horses the place is filthy and stinks of horse down then man it is this isn't a lion there's no food or drink it's getting cold in the wet now and it will lead you down. on the other side said hundreds of a rain in border police some in concrete towers others in canvas tents but all ruthless in their pursuit to keep the smugglers out of their country a few days before we arrived they mounted an ambush on one of the smugglers. they came from the other side and took three of my mules back across the border and show

everyone. the iranians left the corpses rotting on the riverbank as a warning to the smugglers nine a phone call comes in is clear. quickly finish packing their horses and then take off towards the border what awaits them on the iranian side is uncertain. tomorrow the same dangerous job away to those who are desperate enough to do it sebastian my martini on the iran iraq border. angry response we followed to. the far east. japan is on. the international space station is celebrating ten years of life in orbit. back at the successes of the cosmic project in just a few minutes time. a top level police investigation has been launched into

a vicious attack on a russian investigative journalist. correspondent for the newspaper qamar son who was brutally beaten. friday night is now in an induced coma with severe injuries investigators say his professional activity was one likely reason behind the assault police obtained it c.c.t.v. footage showing two people attacking the journalist the cases wide public response with many rallies in support of caution taking place here in moscow russia's president dmitri medvedev said the attack is a must to be found unpunished. former editor in chief. says. writing could indeed have provoked anger among some. of course the reason for this attack is conscious professional activity. he was a popular blogger and he was more open and outspoken on mind then in the paper

common sense has a certain morris served style this beating is very similar to the attack on the journalist macao beckett of which took place a couple of years ago this mashing of his fingers for example so that the person could not write any more there is a horror show element here. japan assumes a ready to bend ties with russia as its ambassador has returned to moscow earlier than expected he was recalled following president here there was a visit to the co real islands to which tokyo also lays claim but is are to use office on a boy to reports moscow has not forgotten its remote territory and has big plans for it. it's a leftover from the second world war old soviet tanks rusting on the shore but their barrels pointed toward japan they're about to be scrapped from nacho when the visit by the russian president put them at the center of another fiery exchange between russia and japan discovered in the seventeenth century the audience changed

hands several times to the soviet union lost in the month to expel the japanese army from the islands in all this stuff nineteen forty five that prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty leaving your door open for japan to claim the r. and sovereignty. sixty five years after their handover the tussle to define the islands national identity still goes on this cross a period here if you years ago when the russian orthodox church opened its parish on the island of she could tun after decades of seeing its population window they are and is now in the midst of a baby boom. we have the highest birth rate in the entire celing region there are many kids here and parents bring them to be baptized and living standards acquired decent nowadays just a few hundred metres from the church i did to you my motor is teaching japanese at a local school and here class seven great or sit alongside their parents and many of them getting

a job and to fan is their best shot at lifting their families out of poverty are classes are very popular and people keep coming here year after year. sentence it seems like and with my family again. this is precisely why the president came here to tell the local. that russia has not forgotten about them and while the regional officials try to paint a pretty picture of roads and crumbling infrastructure betrayed the island's chronic financial problems. it's an important part of our land we will definitely invest money into the region. and the midst of reach fishing grounds the ons are a prime spot to buy seafood and opportunity that made that it didn't miss lloyd to the point is it was smelt. can i get some. while fish and seafood are affordable here everything else costs almost twice as much as on the mainland the locals complained of unreliable supply but as the

president noticed one item was always in stock. apparently you don't have any problems with the supply of i'll call here the president's visit wasn't missed on the japanese side took his foreign minister said the trip heard japanese public sentiment and temporarily recalled its ambassador from moscow. it is extremely regrettable that president made very do visited the korea lions even though japan had earlier notified russia that there could be a negative impact on bilateral relations his russian counterpart was unmoved. because that only japan's reaction isn't acceptable it's our land and russian president was visiting russian territory was already explained this to our japanese porkers plan to once again an ambiguous new retreat this position however we're not going to take any steps that would hinder relations while the russian officials consider last week's rout over the greenland's unfortunate they stressed that their

first priority is to make sure that the people who actually believe on the islands aren't left feeling more wrong according to a two thousand and nine nationwide poll about ninety percent of russians would strongly object to handing the grill audience over to japan but the overwhelming majority of the respondents have never visited this territory and are very likely to do so in the future the audience may be an integrity part of russia on the map but they cannot make clear and logistically they're still very much a foreign land it's not a work of artists in russia's far east. stories with. years ago. one of the.

new company. change. the elections a. serious blow to president obama's administration the republican wave of public frustration with the pace of economic recovery. but experts say it's not. big business money that's. this was a special election year in the us for the first time corporations were allowed to funnel as much money as they wanted into political campaigns and they definitely

did not miss out on the chance to buy influence on capitol hill we've come to take our government and. big businesses pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the pockets of the republican party that's now in charge of the house of representatives so what was at stake what they're hoping to do is bend the laws and regulations or prevent new laws and regulations from being approved they'll cut in their bottom lines the problem is that a lot of these rules and regulations exist for a purpose they're supposed to protect the public interest to watch corporate influence inaction take republican john boehner now a majority leader in the house of representatives wall street invested millions of dollars in his campaign he's also a darling among large health insurers oil firms and drug manufacturers boehner is campaigning against all kinds of government regulations and against a tax increase for the rich and other republican congressman spencer baucus is going to be the chair of the house committee on financial services he has

reportedly taken over four million dollars from wall street and pledged to fight against tougher rules for the financial market and it seems there is no way around it 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 over to their benefactors many argue the latest 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 of core option is the privatization of public policy two years ago corporations supported obama knowing he was going to bail them out but now that he imposed tougher rules on the financial market. and wants to increase taxes for the rich they are betting against his party fear mongering and constant attacks on obama were arguably the corporations main tools for making things work their way and it

wasn't hard with most americans on happy with the way economy works and with the unemployment rate at its worst in almost thirty years people are frustrated they're deeply frustrated with the pace of our economic recovery some corporate darling channels like fox news were especially good at channeling people's frustration. but many americans now fear their interests have been left down because of someone's special interests on the outside this democracy is new voice people coming to a polling station fans putting a quasi with the name of a candidate they lie but in these elections with the influence of corporations on me first it seems all really has the vote in american mail is money and it's shut down on t. washington d.c. . the republicans are making a comeback and congress one republican former president is also coming back with his memoirs and later this hour we'll look at how people remember george. yes will

. not be able to get a job after that as well iraq war a lot of things i remember about george bush i think will be like harry truman it may take twenty years twenty years later i think to be looked upon as maybe decent president. this week the international space station marked ten years since its first crew went up into orbit this is the longest unbroken stretch ever spent outside the earth's atmosphere more than one hundred thousand people from sixteen nations across the globe cooperated to make it possible artie's a graph now takes a closer look at the project. november second two thousand the first permanent crew reaches the international space station as the world watches its arguably humanity's most them vicious engineering project to date

a mixture of science technology and political cooperation between formal sworn enemies. in the ten years since the ourselves has expanded to the size of a football field and received two hundred lives it has put up a bit before the i.s.o.'s is a breakthrough of corporation that before there were separate space agencies now they work together whether it's a leap forward in this station has cost the taxpayer one hundred billion dollars and that's just absurd it's too much but it's their money now admit they're not sure what to expect from the station and that includes the expedition one cosmonauts themselves you to get them get out trains but then i says crew members his own training was more chaotic than we're going to give them an edge when we started training for the station itself did not exist there were no manuals there were no exercise machines with the first crews job was to fully activate the station much of it had been assembled separately in russia in the united states and

the first time beats parts came together wasn't space of the militia would be the first two weeks on there were extremely stressful if we failed we'd have to return to earth and abandon the station it would never have been constructed as planned expedition one was a success despite problems with construction following the columbia shuttle disaster three years later most of the modules were eventually successfully docked the completed space station provides a unique platform for experiments and weightlessness that could develop new materials and medicines starting real now and next year we're going to find out if you have researchers tinkering in space we can have breakthroughs if not the whole thing was a waste but others believe that the value of the i assess is not that scientific discoveries its lifespan has already been extended to twenty twenty and possibly beyond we're looking of projects of using that i assess as a docking port for missions to the moon and even mars. and if mankind does mention further afield i searched will serve both as

a blueprint and an instruction manual of space should do and don'ts whatever its limitations and budget over and. the assess is important at the tar worth no longer seemed like everything was possible in space and there were no longer the cold war budgets to fund that all the i said still proves that space research can be right at the edge of human endeavor eager of nerve artsy moscow after two years out of the limelight george w. bush has published his memoirs reflecting on his life and the presidency and confessing some mistakes from the past glory half an ist also known as the resident took to the streets of new york to check out what memories people hold of him and if the time has revived his image. decision points george w. bush's memoir is hitting bookstores everywhere how do you remember him this week

let's talk about that i remember him as will ferrell being dropped to the stage gently on the cable from a helicopter and landing in times square fictionally being dumped and saying when he arrived that was weird on obama's inaugural day that's how i remember so you don't have necessarily fond memories of even two years later well i would say that's a fun memory going to prom with him his school my book though do you think that people in general feel better about him now two years later than they did when he was in office. i would say they know but. but i don't think obama's really proven anything you know above and beyond what he did so makes him look a little better i guess and one might not be able to get a job after that as well iraq war a lot of things i remember about george bush to do do you think that his staying

out of the limelight for a couple years has helped is the image of dollars that kind of just i don't think it changed you know the first six seven years were good bullish year we had the financial difficulties and the difficulty we go to war i think will be like harry truman it may take twenty years twenty years later i think will be looked upon as maybe a decent president if you think that's fair for a lot of presidents it takes some mattress back i think so i think the only thing we could look barely upon initially was nixon with the watergate he never really seemed to recapture new glory the bottom line is it's always easier to judge in hindsight so it'll be interesting to see what people think about bama two years after his presidency ends whether that's in two thousand and fourteen or twenty eighteen we'll have to wait and. and i'll be back in a few minutes with a recap of the week's lines.