that could be in the way of the ratification are partisan games political bargaining which have nothing to do with the treaty itself and its content speaking of bargaining at some point the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell came out and said republicans would want any democrat initiatives if they don't extend tax cuts for the rich so you get a sense open the expand will willard be willing culture on capitol hill on the substance of the treaty whether it's good or bad for america has long stopped being the focus of discussions here in washington to the point when it could become a threat to the u.s. national security a world without buying u.s. russia arms control treaties is a more dangerous world the obama administration is going out of its way to have the deal ratified the president's arguably major foreign policy chief meant is on the line not only does the start nuclear arsenals of both countries by a third it's also seen as a symbol of trust between the two nuclear superpowers russia has cooperated with us

on critical issues to our national security like iran sanctions transit to supply our troops in afghanistan working on securing loose nuclear materials and their relationships and trusts that are built from the nuestro treaty spill over into a whole host of other national security issues that are of vital importance to america these shoe of trust and america's reputation globally was addressed by the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee every senator has an obligation to ask that question of themselves over the course of these next days are we a credible partner can other nations rely on us what happens when the president united states negotiates a treaty and he comes back here and the rest of the world sees that a treaty bogged down not in the substance of the treaty. but in the politics of the day and if the treaty does get bogged down this year chances are the new senate

which is going to be more republican and obama hosts tile will put off the new start indefinitely maybe for months or even years to get a check on our t. washington d.c. well democrat party strategist robert wiener says the main reason the treaty is not ratified here is down to republicans election cycle mentality that would be stupid for the republicans to continue to block it but then again they want to block everything in the past republicans used to work with democrats now since a new game which they've been wanting to kill everything publicans have learned that sound bites can win elections instead of good governing something has to change we have to get past two year old election cycles and think in terms of the good of the country something has to happen to help us to good governance but good governance in the world not just the united states includes passage of the start treaty i think perhaps by embarrassing the republicans from trust stopping them

from playing politics which is dangerous it's devastating it could cause terrorism to succeed they will come around and pass this treaty. the deputy director of the national security network think tank says the length the ratification could indicate obama's political weakness at home. but if it doesn't. actually fails there could be serious consequences for american leadership on arms control fallout for the american reputation around the world would be significant if it doesn't pass but it is not turned down but just to lead that's true also a signal that president obama is weak at home that's why advocates for the treaty are saying you know. why from moscow if you're with r t's still ahead for you this hour the wiki leaks founder in court he of help make valve is the porters insist the charges against him are a cover for the u.s. to get their hands on the whistleblower. and our military contributor shares his

view on the opportunities the late veteran diplomat richard holbrooke left behind for american policies in afghanistan and pakistan and. also argue gets behind the scenes of the upcoming launch that will take the next international space station crew into orbit. but first russia will buy at least one mistral helicopter carrier from france the sides are currently agreeing the price of the deal which will be the largest military transaction between russia and the nato country is going over reveals the details of the long negotiated to agreement . at this point it really does seem this deal is going to be sealed at least thus according to russian officials moscow looks set to bind the mistral produced by france this is a huge. helicopter carrier ship it's also capable to transport dozens of tanks and other transport vehicles the negotiations on this deal have been continuing for

around a year first to washington was its concerns on a nato member state selling this time to work with been to russia you know with the restart of relations between moscow and washington this situation seems to have changed previously the french prime minister who's visited the moscow just recently he said there are no you know obstacles remaining in this deal and it's incompletion moscow wants to buy at least one mistrial and may also get the license to use more or less it's a toy you know it's of just one missile costs around eight hundred million euros dollars although the final price for this deal still hasn't been decided but russian officials say they expect the final details of the documents will be finalized on this deal before the end of this year. well to me three of us who knew from the specialist moscow based magazine export of arms says the most but how they

all will play a major role in boosting russia's industry rather than its military sector. one billion euros that's how much some experts believe the mistral contract is worth to the french economy in our interview show spot white coming your way in about twenty minutes time we hear from christine lagarde the french finance minister who says if the deal is complete it will or affect our border partnership between russia and france here's a quick preview. really it would be a very strong symbol of the very close relationship and the partnership. between friends. and. not just in exchanging the musicians and dancers and painters and writers not just having its roots in the history of our two countries that have been so close over the years but also in the industries of the future.

but young russian woman arrested in london almost two weeks ago on suspicion of spying has been released on bail twenty five year old. who's now facing deportation worked as an assistant to british m.p. mike hancock the u.k. so she used her position to gather information on the country's nuclear facilities but close live now to our viewers laura who's in the market for. you had a chance to speak with the alleged spy what's the latest information on the case and how does she feel about this scandal surrounding her. that's right so i had a chance to speak to her this morning she was released on bail us around five o'clock last night it seemed quite an unexpected decision and she seems a bit shocked by the whole process very relieved obviously to be back home but she says she's really had no time to even turn around to sort of think about things and think about what the implications are this is not over. yet it doesn't seem she has

been released but she is very strict bail conditions she told me that she wasn't able to meet with anybody without the express permission of the home secretary so she wants to meet with anyone give any interviews talk to anybody she has to apply in writing through her lawyers to the home office and then with five days notice and then they will decide whether or not she is allowed to meet with them so really conditions that amounts to house arrest she's also reportedly not allowed to have. any contact with her boss mike hancocks a member of parliament or indeed anyone that she worked with during her time in parliament so not out of the woods yet what about deportation i mean how does she feel about that and if she do anything to avoid back from happening. she is and i mean does she see through her lawyers she is planning to appeal against this

deportation order she's always said that she says that she's also going to do her best to comply with the terms of her bail so as not to anybody and she still insists this time that i spoke to have at the time before that she's done absolutely nothing wrong she says that she was just doing her job working for mike . and she also said that time that she had no evidence presented really quite difficult for her as she and her lawyers are trying to appeal against something that they they really don't know what they're dealing with. perhaps not straight away because she did sound extremely tired when i spoke to her this morning but she does look set to carry on this fight against her deportation now the scandal of course broke out in the best tradition of spying thrillers lots of exciting headlines tell us more about how the story actually developed. after it was detained almost two weeks ago now so she spent two weeks in a detention center some distance from london and the original news that we received

was that she was to be deported on the basis that presence in the u.k. wasn't conducive to the public goods that goes with the grounds of her deportation she'd been working inside the houses of parliament as an intern and as a parliamentary assistant to. member of parliament for the an area in the south of england for two and a half years so she'd been issued with a parliamentary security checks in order to get hold of that and then. she was questioned on her way home from a holiday in croatia she was detained at the airport by customs. border officials questioned about her activities they then let her go and she carries on doing her job and going to work every day until just under two weeks ago when she was then detained by the authorities but this is a story that moved very quickly away from the political arena and into as you say the sort of. details presented in the media this is a girl who is quite tall with no legs she's alone she's russian she wears short

skirts and high heels according to her colleagues and she certainly did on the occasions that i've met her and so this is perfect fodder for tabloid headlines and sure enough they didn't they didn't have a chance like that. so it remains to be seen what's going to happen in the development of this story but. it is going to stay in this country on bail for at least a short time and then and then we'll have to see what happens laura reporting live from london thanks for that. we're going to stay in the u.k. because the founder of whistle blowing web site wiki leaks is leaks i should say is in a london court hearing whether he will be granted bail julian the songes in british custody after stockholm issued an arrest warrant in connection with weight delegation's which firmly denies sweden wants to question him although the country's chief prosecutor canceled a previous warrant saying there was no reason to suspect that he committed the crime the wiki leaks founder supporters say the accusations are false the site is

still operating and continues to publish confidential american diplomatic cables lindsey german from the coalition of resistance joins us now from outside that court hearing taking place in london thanks for being with us this hour what do you expect to happen in court today. well i hope he will be released. because many people feel that the americans of putting pressure on the swedish government. this actually happens we think getting a son should be treated as somebody who is a criminal he should be treated as somebody who is on the public service in releasing this information that we have found out over the last three weeks about what our government do more they want to keep secret from us. now berman sweden insists this is solely to do with the sex crime allegations you're obviously not

convinced of that what evidence do you have that there is america's political hand at work here. well the point is that nobody knows the truth or otherwise of the allegations in sweden but we do know the one prosecutor has said that the charges should be dropped we do know that charges have paid points against him in sweden so it is quite incredible that he's being extradited from britain own supposedly as far as i can tell for a crime which doesn't exist in britain and when the haven't even been on the charges against him is waiting and therefore i think the the supposition must be that the americans are pressurizing sweden just as they have pressurize most calls and movies on the big corporations. to have anything to do with wiki leaks and i think this is just another example of how they're trying to cover up these questions comparisons are being made with america's attempts to silence truly enough on while supporting the chinese nobel peace prize winner saying his human

rights are being abused holes are you seeing in washington argument here. well there is a protester here with a with a placard saying julian assange should win the nobel peace prize and of course this is always what people do they don't want distance in their own country but i do like them they don't mind them so much in other people's countries and this is what the americans are really saying we're prepared to support democracy as long as it doesn't impact on what we want to hide from people and there is a growing movement in this country in support of julian assange but it's also ok. in political movement in this country on a range of issues the students have demonstrated that they met with very very heavy police tactics i will say this is all one movement and we want to defend today in the sunshine wiki leaks of course continues to publish regardless of what's happening now with this hearing and these accusations there's a bigger movement at play here isn't there so why do you think that all the guns

are pointing out of songs. well they're all pointed out to him because he is the person connected with wiki leaks but what he's doing is he's speaking out for many many people who would like more democracy who think that the government should be the servants of the people and not their malls and who believe that we should have them with the information and it does seem to me quite incredible that we are but he is being treated in this one eight in the united states people are saying that he's he's are the enemy combatant will be authorized to make homes competence of the united states have ended up in guantanamo bay and. if i had they why some of these people would like him to be in prison for a very long time right lindsey german from the coalition of resistance joining us from outside julian assange just extradition hearing thank you very much for your input there thank you thank you very much. now you can always keep up to date on the week you leaks and all the latest news on our web site here some of what's

online for you right now accelerating into the twenty first century russia's motor industry showcases its first eco friendly hybrid car. and when i'm sixty four a swiss woman defines the age carrier to become a mother for the first time with a little help from some russian friends. the next space bound rocket now stands poised for wednesday's blast off russians saw hughes will take a crew of three a russian an american enter talian on the twenty six mission to the international space station argues peter all of our reports on the rockets journey to its launch site in kazakhstan. carried by can all the final preparations underway ahead of the

launch of the soyuz t.m.a. twenty rockets which will carry cosmonaut to meet to be called and astronauts. and katherine coleman up to the international space station for the rocket has received a blessing from a priest from the russian orthodox church in line with tradition here at baikonur that's not the only tradition they have here have many many traditions and superstitions if you will to be carried out before the launch one of those traditions as that the astronauts and cosmonauts visit because not museum here would by could also they get to look at what those who have gone before them they brought back from space. museum they also sign forward with the picture of the soyuz t.m.a. rocket on it and write a little message of a memory of what they were about to do with this mission now there's been plenty of former astronauts and cosmonauts say it's a lend their support to the mission crew. liable and then matter what the water as it doesn't matter what you know it's just a very robust strong system that can withstand just about anything in nature

control and you know it's been flying since the sixty's it was a rare exception or so every time and some of those who have been up there before say it's those little things that can make life hard when you're up in space i think probably the biggest challenge for me you know i think it sounds kind of trivial but it was the lack of variety of the food after you know you know one month it's ok two months it's ok and then you know three months you know exactly how many brownies are in the desert have been you know exactly how many heaters are in the meat. because it's all the same so that's how it's looking here at the moment in baikonur the cosmonauts and astronauts are currently tucked away so they can catch any sniffles all colds or coughs it's very cold here in baikonur of course they if they do get sick they can be pulled from the mission and the whole team of. coleman would be removed from the mission and replaced with the crew so that. desperately trying to make sure that doesn't happen there all took the war

and that's how it looks here at the baikonur cosmodrome. also more of the world's news now thousands flooding the streets and rolling protest against silvio berlusconi's success and when he will lower house confidence vote minister narrowly survived by a margin of three votes the decision came after berlusconi had already gained the necessary support in the upper house he had recently warned that the country would be jeopardized if he were forced from office for critics say mr berlusconi support has been weekend after a series of scandals and budget cuts. a major irish bank has cracked down on clients to pay out forty million euros in bonuses in a statement the allied irish bank said it had received a letter from the government threatening to withhold further public money if they went ahead with their plans the bank is one of the debt institutions at the center of the country's financial crisis absorbing billions in taxpayer cash to cover its small suits. that of south korea's army has had his resignation accepted by the

presidential office after being appointed to the position in june the army general was recently linked to a financial scandal involving property investment his resignation comes amid heightened tensions on the korean peninsula after the two countries exchange fire last month south korea's defense minister resigned after his response to the attack was heavily criticized. that are an american diplomat richard holbrooke has died at the age of sixty nine after ongoing emergency heart surgery nicknamed the bulldozer he's best known for pushing the u.s. agenda in the balkans during the bosnian war more recently he became barack obama's special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan argues military contributor colonel. holbrook's passing gives the u.s. and russia a unique chance of starting to work together on the eradication of. opium grow in afghanistan. he wiped out the whole generation of american politicians

and generals and diplomats and ambassadors who were taking the active stance to be the focus on aerial eradication of ghana's stand after richard holbrooke came in he made a complete overhaul of u.s. policy from counter narcotics to. effectively promoting the u.s. but was is that the u.s. drug store policy in afghanistan leading lose all these things and drug lords that's resulted in in effect. the criminal drug trafficking in afghanistan keep personae fight the trail of the historical u.s. counter-narcotics approach in afghanistan just for the benefit of the leap service of preventing the so-called friendly farmers from going to tell about the united states of the drug enforcement administration together with the state department have by default a unique opportunity to reset and jumpstart the russian american cooperation

specific really really on that counternarcotics with the main focus on area there were indications because the reason no alternative and the reason the personalities in the white house who was opposing the richard holbrooke. and a few hours on r t would take you on a dangerous underground journey between god and the egyptian border. if you live next to the. beach. but also on the border of peace. they are responsible not only for themselves. but also for their loved ones. they are ready to take any risks.

on a large. well sort of the in the program we hear about russia and france getting even closer than they are but first let's check in at the business desk. now and investors seem nervous ahead of the opening bell on wall street why is that the supreme market trading is choppy head of u.s. retail sales figures out today that should give us a sign of the economic recovery we'll have more on that in a minute but first precious metals again in for a second day as investors look for protection from the tumbling all of the federal reserve is due to meet later on tuesday to discuss interest rates and a second round of quantitative easing q e two as it's become known is intended to boost economic growth when creasing the amount of money available to banks but investors fear the injection of billions of extra dollars into the markets will bring inflation. gold is trading near fourteen hundred dollars an ounce the prices jump by nearly twenty ten he's heading for its tenth straight year of growth.

stock markets now europe is mixed as investors cash in yesterday's mining gains because like many other top losers in love those metals companies are down over three percent. and the russian market is stinking in the red in the afternoon my six is losing half a percent weight but energy stocks most of the blue chips are in the red with energy majors losing most. d.t.b. is gaining just a normal. the yes rosneft is shedding our one point eight percent losing more than one percent on the my six probably more losing point seven of a percent this our. forces biggest minded little cynical has sold its entire stake in us metals company stillwater nickel sold thirty seven stillwater shares to the public at nineteen dollars fifty and the remaining nine million shares for u.b.s. securities the russian mining giant had said it was selling its shares to focus on its corporations. taking b.p.

says it will invest three hundred million dollars next year ross has joined you more peninsula the energy firm will spend two thirds of the budget on development of risk fields and fields of its gas subsidiary. investment budget is part of the company's. plans to double gas production in ten years. burbank is considering selling five percent of its shares on the london stock market in the form of global depository receipts currently russia's biggest lender is only listed on domestic policy is making its whole to reach for international funds has been one of the main drivers of the market this week according to maxine believe it from u.b.s. we discussed is some of the stocks of the world that. the man on most of the market which came out yesterday evening was still a long story but they expect next year to have two hundred billion rubles it's a. profit today in the press conference mr griffith. they are planning to shoot

new capital shares which for a percent might be places you did your arse in london and that's really good news in terms of the international community for the stocks and supporting that market movers. specifically record on the losing more than two percent each. also true don't acquire a decent hold him and we see some sellers international vocals so that's another reason for the market being down to. that's the latest to join us for the wall street opening figures in fifty minutes time.

they live not only next to the border of the gulf of egypt but also on the border of peace and war. they are responsible not only for themselves. but also for their loved ones. ready to take any risk. played. in india in the movie the joys the photo. the gateway photo the grand imperial trying to talk western coast coromandel let her tell the close with saddam did to go and. read the same the colonel was her job as

a retreat. watching r.t. live from moscow many so now with the headlines after five thirty pm no christmas break for the u.s. senate until the nuclear cuts treaty is ratified as democrats ruffled the harness republican support for one of president. bamma most crucial foreign policy. the biggest naval deal between russia and a nato country is on the horizon with moscow to buy at least one helicopter carrier from france after almost a year of negotiation. and the russian woman accused of spying while working for british m.p.'s released on bail she gives her side of the story to our two.

next the french finance minister talk starting about why france and germany are continuing to prop up a currency on the verge of collapse spotlight with al gore now is coming up. again and welcome to spotlight the interview show. of today my guest on the show is christine legarde the eurozone has been living through severe financial problems it cost billions and billions of euros to help greece billions were sent to ireland to bail it out of its financial debt people say that spain portugal and italy also may be the week late but countries like france and germany are still optimistic what is their optimism based.