this is artie coming to live from moscow with me rena joshie today we take a look at what's been happening during the week and crew was locked up in a u.s. jail for thirty two hours after filming a protest against a controversial military training facility in georgia dubbed the school of assassins reported kalon for described her treatment as brutal and international organizations condemn the use of police violence against members of the media but despite all the outrage american mainstream media has remained silent gun education as more. it started off as a rally outside a u.s. training camp for latin american military and police officers what followed this nonviolent protest caught everyone by surprise dozens were arrested police targeted journalists along with the activists i'm a member of that right. i'm a member of the program sorry ok i'm sorry among those arrested were r t correspondent kayleen forte and our two cameramen john conway both there on

assignment covering the protests that brought together thousands of people. here the only thing i asked officer to please remove the handcuffs these plastic handcuffs and at least put one on that was a little bit looser he took out a hunting knife to remove my handcuffs and that's actually part of the reason i have the cuts on my wrist for our worse killing had no clue what the charges against her were we asked on the bus what are we being charged with and one of the sheriff said don't worry no charge the ride is free we're taken to the county jail and we ended up spending thirty two hours there suited to tommy were mira's who was there as an activist tells a similar story i kept asking them what did i do to tell you my rise tell me why i'm getting a wrist i kept asking them and i never got a nonsense from them every year thousands of people gather at the gates of the training camp dubbed the school of assassins calling for its closure officially

there to train latin american military and police it's called many of latin america's most notorious torturers mass murderers and dictators despite anger at the establishment violence has never been part of the protests so why the mass arrests now we feel like the message was look you know we don't want you to be there we're going to make it dangerous you know to make you think twice to even show up despite the outcry from many at the rally that their rights of freedom of speech and assembly were trampled upon. it's not a story that's caught b. eye of the us media we can see the newspapers of this country editorialized in favor of free speech and first amendment and give stirring in passionate defenses of these core american values but when another journalist from another media outlet is arrested without charge without provocation and put onto a paddy wagon those media outlets are largely silent and i think it's because they

feel like these are stories that aren't supposed to be covered well i guess so much for covering stories ignored by the u.s. mainstream media the incident at fort benning left some guessing what would have been the extent of the media coverage in the west had a member of the foreign press been treated in a similar way in some other country say russia the remarkable thing about a good thing you know in moscow here a b.b.c. correspondent or a c.n.n. correspondent had gone to a demonstration where there was a legal permit and was roughed up by the police in the case of our correspondent she was almost sexually assaulted those are her words that would made headlines all around the world it would have been a diplomatic row between countries but you know in the case of the united states the your national communities can damage what's happened and called on the u.s. to respond even the organization for security and cooperation in europe sent

a letter to secretary of state hillary clinton calling the journalist the rest disturbing. while it is clear that police pleiku should grow in maintaining or do during public demonstrations the indiscriminate media and bringing charges against them goes well beyond what's necessary to keep the peace but the u.s. state department which is usually quick to condemn freedom of speech violations in other countries has remained surprisingly tight lipped about its own we're going to shut down our t. washington d.c. . well that story has raised a lot of questions about the rise of journalist while covering events like protests and later this hour laurie harvest also known as the resident test the public mood on the issue on the streets of new york. we need to be more thoughtful about how we allow the press to counter what's happening so we can get a legitimate true view without encouraging people to do things that they wouldn't otherwise but the fact is if you're going to go someplace a protest to get that really hot story you've got to be repaired for the fact that

life is going to sometimes interceded about a lot of force on whatever should be interstate if the people are being a really oh hell yeah what about the press are being unruly the press being unruly same things apply if you break the rules that's what happens if you're not willing to accept the consequences for your actions don't take the actions of. twenty six suspected terrorists with links to chechen militants have been arrested and you are a belgian police suspect the group of being part of an international terror network which was planning a series of attacks over christmas across the continent those held are also under investigation for seeking recruits and funding for al qaida linked terrorism and russia's republic of chechnya british security analyst peter powell says once it's the last query that russia and the west are fighting a common enemy of the potential for cooperation is vast. let's not fool ourselves al qaida is somehow great regiments of uniformed soldiers marching over the horizon

it is in fact much more of a franchise yes the strong power base in the foothills between afghanistan and pakistan and it's clearly. a strong cobol now operating in yemen but we're now seeing this creeping out under this broad term of al-qaeda but it doesn't necessarily mean it's got the official stamp on it so what we've seen is a tremendous increase in european cooperation and the most crucially an increase in not just intelligence gathering but intelligence sharing. i've never quite seen it like this before but you know something really bizarre about this i went on to the b.b.c. website i found it impossible to find this story and it's been overtaken by the events in north and south korea but also by the pope talking about condoms in the royal wedding coming up in the u.k. strangely enough it's called off the front page a bit quickly in the u.k. many people see this is very significant security analyst peter power there.

russian democracy is improving but its political system still needs tearing out in his latest video blog president retributive here called for more opposition voices to be heard by the ruling party getting complacent. if the opposition has no chance at all of winning a fair fight it degrades and becomes marginal if the ruling party never loses a single election it is just coasting ultimately to degrades just like any living organism which remains static for these reasons it's become necessary to raise the degree of political competition but our main task the task of any democracy is to improve the quality of popular representation make sure that the political majority is not just static or rather that it does not become the majority consisting of actors and dummies but you and me to public out of the united russia party says the opposition should consider this message and change as well. i think he was trying

to say actually that this should develop with relates both to united russia and opposition parties so. i have already started a lot of innovations such as primaries. the development of this interparty a discussion the size of the dissipation the open public debates and so on and so forth i think the same should be done by. board and says well that will be very important because as we all know this long as your decision is taken by the authorities depends on the quality of criticism they get so they need to have very good feedback. both united russia and up of three parties that should provide this kind of feedback in order for systems to be sustainable as a major boycott of the united russia party there and what you want to live from moscow still to come on the program as new gets more help for afghan campaign for

russia many experts whether it's a war that ever. lived . as germany grapples with how to meet its energy needs wouldn't offer a surprisingly green solution details in just a few moments. switzerland is heading to the polls on sunday to decide whether foreigners who commit serious crimes should be expelled from the country and they should wide referendum was initiated by a right wing party but critics claim the proposed measures are racist isn't story for us. just a year after the swiss voted in favor of a controversial law banning the building of new minarets and mosques they're going back to the polls for another yes or no decision now this time it's relation to the mandatory expulsion of foreign criminals who have committed serious offenses such

as murder or rape that were bull's eye for this law was put forward by the a swiss people's party people with a. heavy criminal courier there is no place for them into it so that is the idea they're getting a lot of support actually from the people according to initial surveys because of all these stories of swiss nationals being attacked by foreigners who may file to fight trying to get to. keep other people lose the pool didn't do anything and have no respect for the one that switzerland has the highest per capita rate of immigrants that twenty percent of their population are actually foreigners so it's a very sensitive topic here in switzerland so. you can't keep them all out we need immigrants period now where we have a backlash from the european union and the wider world the government has put forth a counterproposal they amended the list of crimes it's different from that proposed by the s.p.p.

and also they are saying that it has to comply with international and swiss was humanitarian laws it also states that expulsion must be limited to convictions of a year or more so it's kind of a softer version of the s.v. piece of proposal is insisting that a hard line is necessary now critics of this proposal are saying that this is very unfair that in the eyes of the law everyone should be treated equal can you make a difference between a drug dealer who was from the judio from russia from india or he's a swiss is a drug dealer drug dealer a better one so i don't make a difference between someone who is doing something wrong the north should not look where. he's white bra and black coal what there are also questions of the separation of time be should a prisoner convicted be sent out of switzerland what happens to his family if they've been living here for more than four generations for example but don't have the papers what is going to happen to them to there are a lot of questions coming from the other side the critics of this proposal and so

we're going to have to see what the swiss are going to vote whether it's going to be a yes or no the economic crisis gripping eurozone continues to force worried and angry demonstrators onto the streets tens of thousands marched in dublin to protest ireland's harshest therapy measures protesters want cots to be directed at the rich and the banks not ordinary working people earlier island confirmed it's negotiating with the e.u. and the international monetary fund for a one hundred twenty billion dollar loan to save its crippled economy elsewhere in the euro zone there are fears portugal and spain may be next in line for a bailout german economist marcus kerber told r.t. that europe's biggest economies won't be able to pay the debts of others forever. the german taxpayer is no longer willing to lease is very very becoming very reluctant to bail out countries like greece where there is an example of very bad governance and we are no longer willing as neither to bail out island to fuel an ailing a banking sector i think this is

a general incentive this umbrella which the. heads of government have created in under the menace of the president of the european central bank this is so large that everybody wants to be protected and the more it's raining cats and dogs the more they want to be protected and the portuguese. prime minister and the finance minister pushed island to put themselves under the umbrella to be under the umbrella themselves as quickly as possible this is an inflation of claims to be bailout which will ruin the eurozone sooner or later and germany is economically not able to to bear such a bailout neither the german taxpayer who has a word to say in all that is no longer willing to do saying something like that. germany's financial support for new countries was also touched upon by prime minister vladimir putin during a visit to berlin. to show we have often use the experience of oh jim and

colleagues to things like the country clunkers program but i guess he's proved it is mostly the french who make his chief so it turns out germany worked for the good of you in union again which is great. wasn't held talks with chancellor angela merkel were they admitted a currency union between russia and the european union is possible that he also promised to clear the path for increased business blanks and to develop science and technology together but it also said he no longer sees any obstacles to russia's accession to the w t o and in a meeting with german businessmen he managed to widen the serious mood over wise while the touch of humor. is there so the german community doesn't like nuclear power i don't want to make any commitments. you don't understand what you're going to use for heating. he don't develop your nuclear power who are you going to use again you would know that it was if he'd

have to get them to school. so that it would just if you don't have fully would only the. also have for this hour here in our team from basin of life to hard bed of death. metal monsters like this fishing vessel said here abandoned waiting for the sea water to return to the deserts of kazakstan with international rehabilitation efforts taking effect in the arrowfield proves it may once again return i'm one of the friends to join me in central asia to explore what used to be one of the world's largest landlocked body of water. this week russia stepped up its efforts to help nato struggling campaign in afghanistan i decided to. allow the airlines to transport armored vehicles through its territory the transit deals confirmed by russia's foreign minister during talks with his afghan counterpart in moscow will allow nato to reduce its

reliance on volatile pakistan but he also pledged more joint action to battle drug trafficking last month russia and the us destroyed one ton of heroin in a combined anti-drug operation of ghana stamp despite successes like that many experts still believe the war is essentially on a winnable. my basic view is that the war is completely unwinnable russia may be making friendly noises towards nato now because of those we know there's a rapprochement between the alliance and russia but in my view it's basically formal in other words these are gestures. meant well i don't think russia is playing a double game i'm not trying to say that i'm simply saying that the war cannot be won the soviet union learned that lesson in the one nine hundred eighty s. the british learnt it in the nineteenth century and the americans are in the process of learning it although it seems that they haven't learned yet so i don't believe that a military solution could develop was the shipment of arms could pacify afghanistan

no. us military chiefs also admit progress is an event with just modest gains against the taliban artie's policy or has been watching troops in iraq gearing up for their move to afghanistan to boost american led forces there but mary i worry that more troops means more violence. will trick which is time in iraq is coming to an end he's part of the american forces who stayed behind to train assist and he quit iraqi security forces sure there was a bomb that's for sure no one knows whether once they hear the generous not just movement of troops and equipment since world war two the u.s. army is moving with supplies from iraq to afghanistan certain equipment such as are in. mine resistant vehicles or humvees or those types of equipment a lot of our rolling vehicles rolling stock of course some generation that

equipment yes will be dedicated towards. the mission in afghanistan but critics warn that moving troops won't help much that. we're not going people see u.s. forces and. that country it brings in paganism and makes them turn to terrorism. so as more american troops come here from iraq it will just make things worse i don't believe the americans will leave for another fifty years they have two of the main military bases here and then building. americans leaving iraq also sends the wrong message to insurgents the afghans the americans are drawing from iraq and they think themselves ok they're going to withdraw in a year or two we got a hold on things we'll take control in a year or two it doesn't matter how real to quote she's already been told he'll be going from iraq back to afghanistan it'll be his second time there and he's not

looking forward to it i would definitely say that afghanistan is a lot more difficult so the terrain is a lot more heavy about this region we have to do a lot more walking and whether the beefed up presence in afghanistan will help troops meet mixtures did line to pull out or make it more difficult is still unclear the guys and just come back from the cold everything went ok until the next one. and will be discussing the american effort in afghanistan with the country's foreign minister interviews coming your way in just over ten minutes time. to central asia now home of the arrow c.e.o. was once the world's fourth largest lake but almost disappeared half a century ago durham bishes soviet era geisha projects the receding waters robbed the region of its economic lifeline but the people who remain living out of shores hope one day the sea will return as artie's lines of france reports there are signs that wish that wish come true but there are people living at this harbor who

have never seen the water which once lapped at its walls the former port city of a raskin kazakstan was once a bustling hub of business and human activity but beginning in the one nine hundred sixty s. rivers feeding massive. in fields from the soviet union five hundred water away from the rivers that fed the air all see they have any hope when i came here to see was close to the city my husband and i have said we would swim to the islands picnics on the weekend we swam and lay in the sun nation the sea started moving away the waters became shallow and then just joined up my children so i don't in the pictures until the waters were so aggressively diverted the air all sea was the size of ireland the disappearing sea took with it fishing jobs commerce and an entire way of life just a few decades ago where i'm standing now as far as the eye could see was bright

blue water ships just like this bobbing up and down bringing in the day's capture now when you drive across the former seabed all you see is abandoned villages abandoned ships and camels now people here call it errol coom or errol desert it was a cargo of whom or the soviet planned economy is largely to blame for the dying of the aral sea all decisions are made in moscow which took no account of the ecological balance of that region the consequences of that could be felt as early as in the one nine hundred sixty s. the r.t.c. region the fines the terms pre-crisis crisis and disaster. it was after the collapse of the soviet union that people were faced with the seriousness of the disaster the sea had split in two in two thousand and five experts harnessed what little water still flowed into the lesser erroll see from this year darya river by building the cocoa. and eighty seven million dollars project funded in part by the

world bank the smaller body of water had become the great hope of the future. we had over two hundred people here from russia and his back a step the work was very hard and many of us lived here on site for two or three years but now we're happy to say the time has come to pack up the structure is working perfectly welcome to news after years of failed them projects and wasted water in just a few short years these small downs have turned parts of the cows like desert back into a seascape dotting it would be. the hope is that as the project progresses the dams will be built even higher keeping more water is extending the boundaries and the boundaries of the lesser erroll sea back to the city. when the sea left us my husband did not want to leave this place he used to say children would grow to see with their own eyes even before he died he believed that the sea would come

back. now as the excess water flows through the sluices it disappears out into the nearly and greater peril see no grand scheme for saving that exists yet for the one million people living in kazakstan poorest region measurable improvement will only come when these shores once again fill with folks lindsey france r.t. kazakstan that was the latest in our series the reports on one of the world's worst of the logical disasters and in about an hour we'll look at how the prospect of the are all seas return is putting fisherman back in business. so take a look at some other stories from around the world in the u.s. and south korea have become ortiz of joint military exercises in the yellow sea according to washington the maneuvers are intended as a sign of the turns to north korea has reportedly deployed surface to surface missiles in the yellow sea as a response and south korean officials say artillery fire has been heard again you're an island which was barred by the north less than

a week ago killing four people. and four you know cargo plane has crashed in pakistan killing up to twelve and eight crew members and four on the ground it went down five minutes after takeoff causing an explosion and fire in a housing complex for naval officers the russian made i'll seventy six was heading from karachi to sudan carrying relief supplies and one russian was reportedly among the crew the exact cause of the crash is not yet known. now is go back to our top story the arrest of an r t film crew in the u.s. it has fueled concerns about the way police in some countries treat journalists covering demonstrations laurie harshness also known as the president has spoken to people in the streets of new york about the freedom of the press and its limits.

how much freedom should the press have should they be treated differently than people on the street when covering events like protests this week let's talk about that well i think the press is how we are informed so personally i like it when i see members of the press that get in can get more information than what i as a regular citizen can get because i look up to you for my information on many occasions the thing that they should be allowed to get more access absolutely i think the public is wary of the media but at the same time i think they're doing a lot of freedom because with cell phone cameras and all kinds of video equipment around that the authorities are much more careful than they were in my age when they push people around a lot more so i think that today the press does have that access but i think it's very important that the press continues to have that access but the fact is if you're going to go someplace to protest to get that really hot story you've got to be prepared for the fact that life is going to sometimes intercede and about. what if should they intercede if the people are being unruly oh hell yeah what about if

the press are being unruly the pressure is being on really same things apply you break the rules that's what happens if you're not willing to accept the consequences for your actions don't take the actions that gives people a stage or a platform that they wouldn't have if the camera wasn't there so i think that's why we need to be more thoughtful about how we allow the press to capture what's happening so we can get a legitimate true view without encouraging people to do to things that they wouldn't otherwise whether or not you believe the press should be treated differently during a protest the bottom line is that without them the protesters voices would go largely and heard. that brings us up to date here on our team i'll be back with our audience in a while.

seventy six hours of intense fighting. six thousand dead at the beach front battlefields several kilometers long. and now there is only one person who cares. you see we are surrounded by garbage everywhere but also there are. on this beach which of course is very most appropriate signification a symbol of everything that's wrong with our goddamn government allowing not only garbage but to accumulate where so many guys died. a new battle is

going on. will the history be protected. return to terra what julian cooper story on our team. in some petersburg ots available in hotels a story of a little ambassador in a small school to kowtow to triple desoto a true school toto gold to gold and no tilson to elvis you still dostoevsky live in a sea of palace if you visit go. welcome

back here with here's a look at the top stories of the week they arrest of an r t crew covering a peaceful protest in the u.s. and the silence from american news outlets leads to questions over media. prices of multiculturalism in your ass with roland's holding a referendum on controversial plans to the poor foreign criminals with a proposal already being branded braces by manny. and russia's democracy is far from perfect but is improving that's what the country's president said in his latest walk but if called for a stronger showing from the opposition to prevent complacency from those in power. nato plans to withdraw its combat troops from afghanistan in four years time but there are doubts whether kabul.