all.

the. bright. moon of the sun moon from the student christian. starts on t.v. dot com. a recap of the stories that shape their week here on our moscow calls georges or rest of you know alleged russian spies a political fasts aimed at scoring political points. move was also met with

mistrust. one of russia's top investigative journalists is severely beaten in moscow his professional activity is suspected to be behind the attack. response will cost the smuggler a hundred and five dollars in iraq he will sell in tehran for over four hundred poverty and despair forced many iraqis to smuggle banned alcohol to neighboring iran at the risk of their freedom and life follows the dangerous trade for. president obama's party suffers a defeat in the u.s. midterm election but many say ordinary americans who have really lost out as big business played a big part. in deciding the outcome and. you

always see as we are highlighting the top stories of today and all this week. in a fresh james bond style scandal between russia and georgia tbilisi this week confirmed that it had arrested thirteen people look used of spying for moscow russia says the whole story is a political farce and the georgian authorities are simply attention seeking ahead of a key nato summit and its artie's are reports many georgians fear their governments and the russian media 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 the city or. they said some three thousand three hundred pages of data which my husband

supposedly slammed to russia because that's a blatant lie we have presented evidence numerous times that all information would witchcraft 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 spine george or something. the line is husband was george's envoy to nato he was named in the documentary just shown on one of george's main channels to as one of the russian spies who didn't get away in fact this film was just part of what seems to be a spy novel and we're having in a small caucasus country over the past week first 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 so i'm all invited 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 call been a. of all three and many say it won't do ga any good mosco reacted almost immediately the saakashvili regime suffers from some chronic spine mania fueled by under russian sentiments in recent years the georgian leadership has resorted to fabricating simula scandals more than once cynically hoping to turn political divisions inside the country and abroad some analysts believe the whole affair was an attempt to put pressure on georgia's oppositions the regime of saakashvili 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 fully and with a healthy dose of irony. to this whole affair seem to be fashioned on the american spy scandal only it lacked on the chaplain of the sex symbol but apparently it tastes just the same time it's an attempt to lead the situation between russia and georgia to have those collation. the twelve police in mosco exchange verbal blows one woman continues to wait for justice for her and. i'm not afraid but i know that if need be the georgian authorities can accuse not only me but any georgian citizen and spine for any contradiction they don't need to trade now but when they will they will accuse me of a movie in those court tbilisi georgia. a question mark appeared this week

over the ratification of the strategic arms reduction treaty between moscow and washington rushers a state duma foreign affairs committee revoked its approval of the deal following a number of changes made by the us senate also with american midterm elections giving republicans more seats in congress the treaty could now face more opposition within the u.s. the deal signed by presidents midyear there and obama in april this year would see the nuclear arsenals of both countries slashed by a third to come into force it has to be approved by the russian parliament and the us congress well despite the latest developments president obama has expressed hope that the treaty could still be approved by the end of the year and see wall activists and journalists co-host and believes the democrats have made so many changes to the treaty in an attempt to win the support of the republicans but it's lost its original purpose in order to get the republicans to sign on to the start treaty they basically had to add so many amendments and riders to the thing that it

basically allows for the creation of brand new generations of hydrogen bombs dozens and dozens uncounted new facilities for manufacturing hydrogen bombs more submarines more air power and they've changed the accounting methods for the nuclear warheads in such a way that actually the united states doesn't really have to reduce their stockpile of nuclear weapons hardly at all so they've turned what ought to be the most important issue in the world the mutual reduction of american russia's nuclear weapons stockpiles and turned it into a farce. and still ahead for you this hour on r.t. the possible fuel of the future. wars weather story and could become the cheap clean a new energy source that will put and oil few. and russia's prime ministers being thrill seeking again we look at vladimir putin is the latest dream poppy.

to iraq now where the war has ravaged the economy with estimates suggesting that 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 follows the trail. in northern iraq kurdish smugglers load their horses with hundreds of boxes of booze they're taking into a vein although alcohol is forbidden in the islamic republic much of tehran's boars wasn't can't resist a drink and these smugglers provide them with an extraordinary selection we hear in a smuggler storm in a mountainous area of northern iraq that borders around absolute fuck you here teachers risky 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 not. this box of luck it will cost

a smuggler one hundred five dollars in iraq he will sell it in tehran for over four hundred while though the profits appear immense to many 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 in desperate. i do this because i'm a literate i don't know how to do you know i was 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 and then charged the price of the bullets that were shot at them with a mind they stepped on. we crossed the border and there are explosions shootings iris or fights terrible much nothing we can do because we have who are. only is 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 to serve

a small shop is for the smugglers as well as for the horses the police is filthy and stinks of course down there and man it is the season and there's no food or drink it's good in the cold in the wet now and it will lead you down. on the other side said hundreds of a rainy. border police some in concrete towers others in canvas tents put all 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. came from the other side and took three of my mules back across the border and showed everyone. the remains left the corpses rotting on the riverbank as a warning to the smugglers nine a phone call comes in saying that the route is clear the smugglers quickly finish packing their horses and then take off towards the border what awaits them on the iranian side is uncertain what is certain is tomorrow the same dangerous job awaits

those who are desperate enough to do it sebastian mire party on the iran iraq border it's now ten minutes past the hour here in moscow you are with r.t. and elections in the u.s. dealt a serious blow to president obama's administration the republicans rode a wave of public frustration with the pace of economic recovery so we're number jordi in the house of representatives but experts say it's not the regular voters but big business money that determine that this outcome. 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 by big business is 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 and 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 is also a darling among large health insurers oil firms and drug manufacturers baner 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 implats to fight against tougher rules for the financial market and it seems there is no way around it 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 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 core option is the privatization of public policy two years ago corporations supported obama knowing it was going to bail them out but now that he imposed tougher rules on the financial markets. and wants to increase taxes for the rich they're betting against his party no fear mongering and constant attacks on obama were arguably the perforations the 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 fast gratian. but many americans now fear their interest of being left down because of someone's special interests on the outside this democracy is new voice people coming to a polling station putting a quasi with the name of the candidate they like but in these elections with the influence of corporations on me it seems that really has a vote in american mail is money going to check out our t. washington d.c. . well as the republicans are making a comeback in congress one republican former president is also coming back with his memoirs but it's a day we look at how people remember george w. two years on. now i've been 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 i'll be looked upon as maybe

a decent president. a top level police investigation has been launched into a vicious attack on a russian investigative journalist oleg kashin the correspondent for the newspaper com our son was brutally beaten there as moscow home on friday night he is now in an induced coma with severe injuries investigators say his professional activity was one likely reason behind the assault police obtained a c.c.t.v. footage showing two people attacking the journalist the cases draw no wide public response with many rallies in support of caution taking place in moscow and st petersburg russia's president dmitri medvedev says the attackers must be found and punished under a facility of former editor in chief of commerce sun says cash ins bold writing could indeed have provoked anger among some. of course the reason for this

attack is conscience professional activity he was a popular blogger and he was more open and outspoken online then in the paper consent has a certain more reserved style this beating is very similar to the attack on the journalist. which took place a couple of years ago to this mission of his fingers for example to the person who could not write any more there is a horror show element here. that japan and seems ready to mend ties with russia as its ambassador has returned to moscow earlier than expected he was recalled following president but if you're there is a visit to the co real islands to which tokyo also lays claim but as r.t. on a bike of 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. 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 allens changed hands several times to the soviet union lost in the month to expel the japanese army from the islands in august of nineteen forty five that prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty living a door open for japan to claim the arlen sovereignty. sixty five years after their handover the tussle to define the islands national identity still goes on this crossed a period here if you years ago when the russian orthodox church opens its parish and the island of she katon after decades of seeing its population window they are and is now in the midst of a baby boom. we have the husband straight in the entire region there are many kids here and parents bring them to be baptized and livingston's it's a quite decent nowadays just

a few hundred metres from the church at ikeja motor is teaching japanese at a local school and here class seven greater sit alongside their parents many of them getting a job and to fan is their best shot at lifting their families out of poverty our classes are very popular and people keep coming here year after year i'm hipp be a sentence it seems like and with my family again. this is precisely why the president came here to tell the locals that russia has not forgotten about them and while the regional officials tried to paint a pretty picture of roads and crumbling infrastructure betrayed the island's chronic financial problems so it's an important part of our land we would definitely invest some money into the region. and the midst of rich fishing grounds ons are a prime spot to buy seafood an opportunity that mitchell inventive didn't miss. what is it smelt can i get some. while fish and seafood are affordable here

everything else cost almost twice as much as on the mainland the locals complained of unreliable supply but as the president noticed one item was always talk of apparently you don't have any problems with the supply of alcohol here with the president's visit it wasn't missed on the japanese side foreign minister said the trip heard japanese public sentiment and temporarily recalled its ambassador from moscow. it is extremely regrettable that president medvedev 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 is an acceptable it's our land and russian president was visiting russian territory with a ready explained this to were just a nice porkers plan to once again been a big risk a 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 karylle 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 integral 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 boycott r.c. in russia's far east. do you remember our website r t dot com. always keep you posted on these and many other stories we're covering including on this day sixty nine years ago nazi forces go to close out of moscow than ever before but soviet troops destroyed germany's ambition said one of the fiercest world war two. so you

don't fall off it was a flashback to that landmark event. and the rats can be beautiful as have been proved by an unusual beauty pageant in russia you can watch the pet rodents from all over the country struck their stuff on our website r t v dot com. well some scientists look for green cheap ways to produce energy others claim they know the answer for years metal called the story of his clean abundant millions of times more efficient than coal discoveries why it has yet to gain a foothold in the market. we

all use energy but at what cost. energy security why many morton wars are fought the oil's running out and there doesn't seem to be a viable alternative insights but unbeknown to most there's an energy source that clean green and abundant all over the globe story m z nuclear fuel and its supporters believe it will change the world conflicts that we see today based around energy could go away and that these energy sources that i'm talking about which don't emit carbon dioxide or or greenhouse gases and don't produce dangerous ways chord. unable to have cleaner water cleaner air and less intrusion on our environment from energy production a ton of the silvery metal produces as much energy as two hundred tons of uranium three and a whole million tons of coal. the amount of thorin that it would take through vied

all the power to run your entire life. is about the size of a marble bag a group working on three in the u.k. says it hasn't managed to get the british government on board so far so it's looking to cooperate with countries like russia for several years now a russian physicist has been proposing to build saurian power stations but i wanted his ideas haven't been taken up a lot of focus on renewables at the moment so maybe that's where they feel that there's more public support rather than. research on thore and was largely halted in the middle of the last century after a year rainy and powered reactor was designed. many believe also fell out of the spotlight because making a bomb out of it is thought to be almost impossible but today not all scientists are thore and converts foreign reactors. every challenge and it's

a whole new technology which has very problems. since two thousand and seven cities from london to sydney have held our turning the lights off to save energy proponents say is the real power became a reality we could turn the lights back on with confidence. through. the rooms a divisive thing some say it's a technology that's being tried tested and found lacking others say that because the light water reactor got there first the room was never given a proper chance but while it's cheap abundant and even a possibility the scientists here at the annual florian conference say give it a go it might even change the world you're at it london. well another

mineral has already changed the world but a high price cult is an essential material for producing electronic devices finds out why it's threatening human lives in our special report coming your way in just under ten minutes time. cell phones would be useless without this mineral. tiny pieces needed to make them . but use of culture and is extracted at a cost to light. this week the international space station marked ten years since it first went up into space with a crew 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. now takes a closer look at the project. the 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 i said has expanded to the size of a football field and received two hundred visitors well for a short bit of up to before the i.s.o.'s is a breakthrough corporation of before there were separate space agencies now they work together on whether it's a leap forward 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 were not sure what to expect from the station and that includes the expedition one cosmonauts themselves you to get then get out trains but then i says crew members his own

training was more chaotic than we're going to give them a nice when we started training for the station itself did not exist there were no manuals and 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 these parts came together was and space of the militia with be the first two weeks on there were extremely stressful because 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 we all 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 at scientific

discoveries its lifespan has already been extended to twenty twenty and possibly beyond that if we're looking at projects of using di assess as a docking port for missions to the moon and even mars. and if mankind does venture further afield i search will serve both as a blueprint and an instruction manual of space should do and don'ts whatever its limitations and budget over and. di assess is important at the tara worth no longer seemed like everything was possible in space and there were no longer the cold war budgets to fund that all the still proves that space research can be right at the edge of human endeavor eager unnerve artsy moscow the russian prime minister seems to be looking to become the fastest politician in the world is in need for speed was for a field in some petersburg where he took to the track on four wheels. going.