unanimous support of the country's military many top officials former and present have testified in favor of the treaty now several republican senators say the votes are there and the new start will most likely be ratified by the end of this week it seems the only thing 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 won't want any democrat initiatives if they don't extend tax cuts for the rich so you get a sense of the expand the willard billing culture on capitol hill and the substance of the pretty 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 cut 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 the relationships and trust that are built from the new start treaty spill over into a whole host of other national security issues that are a vital importance to america the 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 on

stage to go sure it's a treaty and he comes back here and the rest of the world sees that a treaty. 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 host dial will put off the new start indefinitely maybe for months or even years to get a check on our t. washington d.c. democrat party strategist robert wiener says the main reason the train is not ratified yet is down to republicans election cycle mentality it 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 break 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 that are in the world not just 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. and deputy director of the national security network think tank says delaying the ratification could indicate obama's political weakness at home. but if it doesn't get 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 delayed that's true also a signal that president obama is we could hope that's why advocates for the treaty are so you get past the. year with our team live from moscow still ahead for you

the wiki leaks founder is a sea of hell laid back but his supporters insist the charges against him are a cover for the u.s. to get their hands on the whistleblower. and artie's military contributor shares his view on the opportunities the late veteran diplomat richard holbrooke left behind for american policies in afghanistan and pakistan. also r.t. 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 is that all helicopter carrier from france the sides are currently agreeing on the price of the deal which will be the largest military transaction between russia and nato country are going over reels the details of the long negotiated agreement. at this point it really does seem that this deal is going to

be sealed at least thus according to russian officials moscow looks set to buy 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 those deal have been continuing for around a year and first washington royce's concerns on a nato member state selling. whitman to russia you know with the restart of relations between moscow and washington the situation seems to have changed previously the french prime minister who's visited the moscow just recently he said that 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 produce more although it's now itself thought to just one mistral 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 and the documents will be finalized on this deal before the end of this year. to me that my seem to you from the specialist moscow based magazine export of arms says the us that i'll deal will play a major role in boosting russia's industry rather than its military sector. we already have certain technological cooperation with france and there are certain mechanisms in place therefore france has been chosen and it seems that it will be easier working with france politically and then say with south korea all of the netherlands who have also submitted their projects now it's common practice around the world that when buying weapons and military equipment the importing country sets its own requirements for instance we buy a weapons while you are going to his license production in our country and provide us with your technology etc so naturally russia doesn't want just to buy ships but

also produce them itself mastering foreign technology i don't know how it's going to fit in with our military system but it will give our industry an edge this joe will be supplied with our equipment of course and our enterprises will participate in this process. they were here twenty four seven but you can always keep up to date on our website it has all the latest news blogs analysis lots more there's just some of what the line right now celebrating into the twenty first century brussels motor industry showcases the first eco friendly. and went on sixty four what's woman defies the age barrier to become a mother for the first time with a little girl for at. a

young russian woman arrested in london almost two weeks ago on suspicion of spying has been released on bail twenty five year old. now facing deportation and worked as an assistant to british m.p. mike cox. used her position to gather information on the country's nuclear facilities or more has been speaking to. she was released on bail it around five o'clock last night it seemed quite an unexpected decision she seems a bit shocked by the whole process very relieved obviously to be back but she says she's really had no time to even turn around sort of think about things and think about what the implications are this is not. yet it doesn't seem she has been released but she is and 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 hancock the member of parliament or indeed anyone that she worked with during her time in parliament through her lawyers she is certainly 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 not to anybody and she still insists this time that i spoke to her 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 she and her lawyers are trying to appeal against something that they they really don't know what they're dealing with. it's

perhaps not straight away because she did sound extremely tired when i heard this morning but she does look sexy carry on this fight against her deportation it was almost two weeks ago now so she spent two weeks in a detention center. some distance from. the original news that we received was that she was to be deported on the basis presence in the u.k. wasn't conducive to the public good with the grounds of her deportation she'd been working inside the house of parliament. 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 then. she was questioned on her way home from a holiday in croatia she was detained at the airport by customs and 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 blonde she's russian she wears shorts and high heels according to her colleagues and she certainly did on the occasions that. this was perfect fodder for tabloid headlines and sure enough they didn't they didn't. do it remains to be seen what's going to happen in the development of this story. 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. founder of whistle blowing web site wiki leaks is in a london court hearing whether he will be granted bail will do no songes in british custody after stockholm issued an arrest warrant in connection with rape allegations which

a song firmly denies sweden wants to question him although the country's chief prosecutor canceled a previous warrant saying there was no reason to suspect committed 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 well for more now i'm joined by gerard batten who's a member of the european parliament from the u.k. independence party. base for being with us this evening i understand you support julian assange tell us why. well i'm not here particularly to support mr sands you know irrespective of the right and wrong to be surprised what i'm here for is to draw attention to the unjust injustice of the european arrest warrant as such because under european arrest warrant the court has almost no powers to prevent extradition the european arrest warrant came in early two thousand and four and under its provisions provided the paperwork has been filled out correctly then

there are very very narrow grounds for actually refusing actually are so in a number of these cases now and listen to the proceedings and i'm afraid at the end of the process every one of those crises resulted in the extradition in fact it's not even called a tradition anymore it's now a judicial surrender the court has no power to look at the problem the facia evidence against the accused person and if decide whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant extradition so we're waiting to find out now what's going to happen today i think mr saunders lawyers are applying for bio and he's going to try and delay the process i'm sure and he might succeed in that for another month or two but i think extradition or judicial surrender as it now is it is almost inevitable. critics are saying that's because the united states is lining up to extradite him from sweden do you think that's the way it really is. i'm sorry i didn't quite hear that could you say that is they are critics are saying that the reason like you just mentioned his extradition is inevitable is because the u.s.

is then lining up to extradite him from sweden do you agree with that. well i think that yes i think that that what they're trying to do is to get him back to sweden on a holding charge so they can try then issued item to the u.s. and of course the european tradition as a warrant is is absolutely key to that because it's as i said it's a formality under this procedure to take him back to sweden so it fulfills the purpose it's an ideal tool for them and it illustrates missed them if this is the highest profile case it's actually happened under this arrest warrant procedure and it illustrates the injustice of the whole thing not just you know to mr songs but all the british citizens and european union citizens who've been extradited under this procedure now upon just under a european arrest warrant which last year ministers agreed not to misuse is only wanted for questioning not charging here does that kind of treatment fit in with that. i'm sorry i'm having difficulty hearing what you what you actually said i

want you could repeat please i'm just saying that according to european law he was arrested under a european arrest warrant which last year is ministers argue they would not misuse do you think european laws are being misused here. this is this is a this is about the creation of a common european legal system and under our courts used to have the power to consider the evidence and prevent extradition that's all gone most safeguards have gone now and i don't have that power. and this is as i said this is the key issue here it's not just about mistress saw and it's about whether the courts can protect anybody from extradition and judicial surrender and i can on the friday it's there are very narrow grounds for example you can object on the basis of that you are being persecuted on the race religion sexual orientation or political persecution now are set in a court where people have tried to argue that their human rights were being abused

but if the country is a signatory of the europe. convention on human rights which we can of course ease because you can't be a member the european union if you're not the court will cite your view that it's impossible for you to contravene the provisions of the here appear in the convention on human rights so you can't use that as a defense and it won't work an older defense is that he might try to put up i think doomed to failure is that right to our bat member of the european parliament from the u.k.'s independence party thanks for being on the line with us live from london . well next hour here on r t max max kaiser looks at the financial fallout from the ever continuing stream of wiki leaks. the next space bound rocket now stands poised for wednesday's blast off russia's

sly hughes will take a crew of three a russian an american and a battalion on the twenty six mission to the international space station is peter all over reports on the rockets journey to its launch site in kazakhstan. hereward baikonur 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 paolo nespoli 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 many many traditions and superstitions if you will to be carried out before the launch one of those traditions as the the astronauts and cosmonauts visit the cosmonaut museum here and by can also they get to look at what those who have gone before them days and what they brought back from space while at the museum they also sign a board with the picture of the soyuz t.m.a. rocket on it and write a little message 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 to what the water is it doesn't matter what you know it's just a very robust strong system that can withstand just about anything nature can throw at it and we've seen you know it's been slices the sixty's and it was a rare exception or service 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 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. are in the meat. because it's all the same so that's how it's looking here at the moment in baikonur the coast minolta 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 backup crew so they desperately trying to make sure that that doesn't happen they're all talked up nice and warm and that's how it looks at the baikonur cosmodrome peter all of a bike and. well now some world news in brief for you this hour terms of found them to government demonstrators flooded the streets in rome in protest against silvio berlusconi and when he will lower house confidence vote the prime minister narrowly survived by a margin of three votes decision came after berger scotti had already gained the necessary support in the upper house he had recently warned that the country would be jeopardized if you were forced from office critics say mr berlusconi's support has been weakened after a series of scandals and budget cuts. a major irish bank has backed down on plans 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 situation is at the center of the country's financial crisis absorbing billions in taxpayer cash to cover it says. that or an american diplomat richard holbrooke has died at the age of sixty nine after undergoing emergency heart surgery nicknamed the bulldozer he is best known for pushing the u.s. agenda in the balkans during the bosnian war more recently he became brock obama's special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan military contributor colonel you again you were shelved says holbrooke passing gives the u.s. and russia you need a chance of starting to work together on the eradication of opium growth 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

before. dennis stand after richard holbrooke came in he made a complete overhaul of u.s. policy from counter-narcotics to. effectively promoting the u.s. pows is that the u.s. drug store policy in afghanistan relating lose all these things and the drug lords that's resulted in in effect. the criminal drug trafficking in afghanistan keep personae fight the betrayal of the historical us counter-narcotics approach in afghanistan just for the benefit of the leap service of preventing the so-called friendly farmers from going to taliban the united states of the drug enforcement administration together with the state department have by default a new opportunity to reset and jump started the russian american cooperation specific only. on that counternarcotics with the main focus on area there were

indications because the reason no other alternative and the reason the personalities in the white house who were opposing richard holbrooke. next we update you on the big business stories of the day stay with us at that. hungry for the full stop we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on. the latest in science and technology from. the future.

to business precious metals again in for a second day as investors look for protection from the tumbling dollar the federal reserve is due to meet later on tuesday to discuss interest rates and the second round of quantitative easing q e two as it's become known is intended to boost economic growth by increasing the amount of money available to banks but investors fear the injection of billions of extra dollars into the market will bring inflation. gold is trading near fourteen hundred dollars an ounce they sell the prices jumped by nearly a third in twenty ten and it's heading for its tenth straight year of growth. at the stock markets wall street is edging higher in the opening minutes after a better than expected roys in u.s. retail sales for november best buy was an exception however its shares have slumped over six percent after the retailer of lower profits europe is mixed as investors cash in yesterday's mining gains. of the top losers in london those metal stocks

are down over three percent this hour. russia has edged into the black in the afternoon here in moscow gazprom is half a percent higher on the my six as it moves to tie up a long term deal with better british. d.t.b. is gaining just a notch on the r.t.s. rosneft shedding one point eight percent and luko losing more than one percent on the my six guess from as we can see is just flat at the moment russia's biggest one north nickel sold this entire stake in u.s. metals company still water nor nickel sold thirty seven million shares their will to share to the public at nineteen dollars fifty and the remaining nine million shares the u.b.s. securities russian mining giant had said it was selling its shares to focus on its corporation's. thank you b.p. says it will invest three hundred million dollars next year ross says join. the energy firm will spend two thirds of the budget on development of field and fields of its gas subsidiary investment budget is a part of the company's earlier announced plans to double gas production in ten

years. now the world's biggest retailer wal-mart is leaving russia wal-mart has long been trying to buy its way into the markets but says it's failed to find enough attractive targets and company has closed its most office saying there was no reason to remain despite a continued interest in russia is the second big international retail it's a leave this country after france's call for failed to make its business profitable and while this may be bad for russian shoppers it's probably good news for the mystic retailers it's still positive for the. retail companies since it basically eliminates but then still but still a very large compared to all the concerns about large buter. exiting the market ungrounded in in my youth because none of the russian retailers the public wants. right now at least the prices that wal-mart is offering. that's all for this hour

you can always find more stories on our web site that's all t. dot com slash business. if. i am.

in india oh jeez i'm able to move the joint the hotel rooms. the gateway hotel the brand imperial truly told us to. see don't need to go and. read this in the candle was her job as

a retreat. here with r t live from moscow our top stories christmas break for the u.s. senate until the nuclear codes treaty with russia is ratified democrats wrestle to harness republican support for one of president obama's most close policy deal. the biggest naval forward deal between russia and a nato member state is on the horizon as moscow looks set to buy a helicopter new year from fronts. a russian girl accused of spying whilst working for a british and pay has been released on bail i have spoken to her and i'll bring you all the details chairing the program. next fast trains trade and energy we're talking about russia's times with its northern neighbor finland our exclusive

interview with president taria hollande and it's coming right up for you. thanks. thanks. thanks. president hello and thank you very much for being with at to day so you've just stepped off a high speed train line between helsinki and st petersburg how do you think this connection will change the alliance between the two cities i really impact these people we have come close of the sather of course feel many so good now will. the country which is the most popular among the e.u. countries to give the us but i think that's just one point but now the point is there that it has to be very popular already now to be said to them i have access to the female but now we.