expert rather in our. terms of how we protect the nation opposition to the treaty has been huge in washington a number of republican senators went out of their way to undermine it without substantial arguments against it they were putting forwards and managements after a man was that would actually kill the treaty that would make the administration go back to the russians and negotiate a treaty and actually russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov said the treaty is based on the best interests of both the u.s. and russia and it doesn't need to be changed their actions provoked an avalanche of criticism from the country's top security experts who fear of the treaty could become a victim of political games on capitol hill in the final days of debate on start they wanted to we write the language of the treaty which would have actually killed it they wanted to take out the line in the preamble of the deal which states the fact of the connection between offensive and defensive weapons in a security expert would say the connection is obvious and in fact all of those from

the military who testified before the senate were saying exactly that they also maintained it's not the start treaty that would make the u.s. we curred the treaty itself explicitly says either side can pull out of it if a some point they deem is threatens their national security if we look at the cots part of the do we have some very significant reductions on the way over the next ten years both states will cut their nuclear arsenals by a flurried down to some fifteen hundred fifty warheads on each side they do will also limit the number of delivery vehicles and launchers but even with those cuts both countries will still have more than ninety percent of the world's nuclear weapons so many agree that the value of the arms reduction treaty is not just being reductions it's in the trust and cooperation between the two nuclear superpowers that goes with it for weeks and months the president of the united states all members of the of his administration all of the military all living former secretary of state and of to fans are calling for senators not to ruin this reset

opportunity for us russia relations and the outcome of the global will show whether or not their calls fell on deaf ears in congress. well joseph cirincione the president of the unseen euclid term pain group the fund says barack obama has done well to become the many obstacles in the start treaty ratification process most of the opposition to this relatively modest treaty has been political the opposition what thought they could deliver a knockout blow to president obama they missed and he struck them down instead part of it is ideological there's about twelve to twenty senators in there in the senate that are just opposed to arms control treaties they're arguing to the bitter end but they're a minority they're losing they were trying to run out the clock they kept making the argument we don't have time and then they started to these do these little mini filibusters around their amendments to prove they didn't have time they were waiting for something to happen they were tipped the balance in fact what happened

is that military officials talk to each senator they got calls from republican secretary of defense bob gates from hillary clinton the secretary of state they got classified briefings and republican senator senators were reassured so you saw the moderate senators senators breaking from their own leadership this is actually an unprecedented split in the senate republican leadership we haven't seen anything like this all year where you going to lose ten to twelve senators are going to break with their own leadership to support this treaty that is in the national security interest. still ahead this hour u.s. military expansion beyond afghanistan fiction friction we also there's any evidence that it can force is considering ground raids in neighboring pakistan something the u.s. is going to send in the next plus. a ten note here but have

a lot to say explore how deaf people are rushing into world world impervious to their problems. britain's foreign secretary says that russia and the u.k. have each expelled one of the others diplomats in iraq spying it's the first signing in the two countries relations since moscow and london began working to reset ties where emmett's reports now from on the. william hague the foreign secretary wrote a letter to the house of commons explaining what had happened he said that britain had indeed expelled the diplomat from the russian embassy in london they requested that diplomats expulsion on december the tense after what hague is calling clear evidence of russian intelligence service activities acting against british interests here in london then we are also hearing of course from the other end that there was a tit for tat expulsion from the british embassy in moscow and in response to that expulsion from moscow william hague said that britain rejects any basis for that

particular action despite the fact that of course it was only a response to what the foreign office here had done well this of course is a huge embarrassment for the foreign secretary william hague who when he took office as recently as may this year said that he vowed to improve relations with moscow and here in fact went to moscow and met with president dmitri medvedev which is quite a rare occurrence for a lower official than the prime minister and then we're going to see do visit by david cameron which is supposed to take place early next next year now whether that will affect the timing of that visit is obviously not clear yet william hague the foreign secretary says that he still wants to have a co-operative and productive relationship with russia within the bounds of this country's laws we saw another tit for tat expulsion in two thousand and seven following the livin young career fair three diplomats were expelled from each side then as well and that was in protest from the british side

a russian refusal to extradite lugovoy to face trial in the u.k. he is of course britain's prime suspect in the murder of alexander litvinenko since then there has been attempts on various sides to push what they're calling the reset button in russia u.k. relations this could have serious implications for that reset button. b. u.s. led coalition in afghanistan is denying reports six extending its reach into neighboring pakistan but the new york times is quoted an anonymous american official saying special forces will start targeting militants across the border u.s. has been using unmanned drone strikes suspected insurgency bases and so on to civilians in the process that the attacks. vice president of the washington d.c. chapter of veterans for peace says the u.s. is not learning from past mistakes i would not be at all surprised if there were

u.s. forces on the ground in pakistan already flashing back to the late one nine hundred sixty s. and the situation in vietnam when our government and our military said we have to go into cambodian areas where the sanctuaries are where the training facilities are very limited as to make it safe for the u.s. military and i mean it just seems like the u.s. doesn't learn their lessons or these things just seem seem to escalate we go into situations very easily find ourselves stuck there with no way out in it's always a bad ending for all those involved u.s. military and of course the civilians on the ground who are indiscriminately killed by these drone attacks. a special report in just a few hours time on war through the eyes of american veterans. did i kill innocent kids allies are calm of course and that's never answered.

mom a song from the skull still with me i think of it every day. of the flies but trouble to memorise. so much so that a long time i'm just here trying to tell. i was. i was ashamed that i had been. i was ashamed that i hadn't been a hero why i got marm i got my legs i'm a lock. but i wanted to be. cordial. believe what i was doing i was or i think. that i was a good soldier. but you know most soldier on the other side and i think i'm just a good.

from a start in school and to soviets in difference the death in russia have not had an easy time even now in that the russian sign language is not officially recognized and many say that it's humans can be a problem too but deaf people are finding ways of making themselves heard the study of the reports. alex econ to hear the song. from the family. he had he sings it with his hands touching. that i thought it. was. he tells me he speaks the most beautiful language in the world. and so despite living in the world of silence aleksey and his fellow performers put

on a show full of life and music our. audience appreciates this theatre of deaf actors is an exception in the world mostly hostile to those speaking with their hands. even their language doesn't officially exist all previous attempts to pass a law giving official recognition to the russian side language have failed. the problem dates back more than seventy years when sign language was banned from soviet schools in one nine hundred fifty stalin made the situation even worse by calling it not even a sorry state language unlike what some might think it's not a primitive way of conveying basic information it's

a fully fledged language capable of expressing just about anything. it's. going to show. you. the head of the old russian federation of the deaf believes there are more than ten million hard of here. people in the country but no interpreters no t.v. channels almost nothing to ease their interaction with the world. i. guess. i that is one of four children the only deaf one in the family.

this is the first beauty shop for the hard of hearing and has a stop interpreter. they may not hear but they're not commute and then love talking. i.

i after all those who call and hear all the same people it may be just that the music of their hearts and souls is louder but still not loud enough to be officially recognized. kovach r.t. moscow. well more news and analysis is always at your fingertips on our website that's r.t. dot com just a taste of what's online few right now hundreds jailed off the protests at present with the shakers election victory and other groups get more on what's been happening on the streets of the capital and what. it costs a short list of eleven has been building russia's competition from what's good for the twenty fourteen winter olympics unite is it ranges from the gulf in to put.

could it be choose which one you like best and. u.s. officials have come on the farm for a edged shady dealings to get fuel for the american air force base in kurdistan congressional investigators say the u.s. turned a blind eye to multimillion dollar fraud schemes by the supplier peter the eurasia democracy initiative says the dodgy deals were a factor in sparking the popular unrest former president of in april. what the congressional subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs. dealt with in the report was allegations of corrupt dealings between the subsidiaries of the

pentagon which were supplying fuel for kyrgyzstan to prosecute the war effort in afghanistan and members of the family of the deposed former president of kyrgyzstan kuhlmann begg but key of the same report stated that these subsidiaries namely the mena corps and red star back in two thousand and nine to reach out to the former president's son maksim but key of who has subsequently followed his father in exile and is now in hiding in the u.k. to try to engage in bad door negotiations with the pentagon regarding the future of the base following kyrgyzstan's announcement that it would shut down the base so what we saw in that case was another proof of the fact that president's family and so on were calling all the shots in the country and were pretty much running the place what would eventually happened was the direct result of this relationship we saw in april two thousand and ten when president was ousted was the direct result

of the popular anger that was stirred by the complete lack of accountability lack of transparency in the deals that the pentagon was cutting with. your government. that was peter's a mile above the u.s. democracy initiative. after sealing a deal for russian nuclear power to a few india's growing energy demands to be treated better it is off to discover a different kind of oriental energy on the second day of his indian told the president to take in bollywood at the taj mahal with billion dollar deals reach agreements and high tech the countries see themselves as privileged partners teeth and has more from india. now that all the major deals have been signed during president the biggest high profile visit to india it's time for the russian president to explore the other side of the country here in mumbai the problem of

the visit includes a trip to bollywood where russian president is meeting with a india's most. popular film directors and film stars such as indian films have always been rather welcomed in russia and now indian filmmakers are looking to reproduce some of their classics together with the russian directors also here in mumbai russian president is meeting his meeting with representatives of the general public at a local university as cooperation in science and need to acknowledge is crucial for the two emerging economies if two countries like ours can come together and perhaps show to the rest of the world good these are the alternatives for the intelligentsia and about countries you know we can all fall down to dave ways of thinking earlier during his visit to meet daily billion dollar deals were signed between washing president and his indian counterpart including deals in military cooperation and russia's also trying to such as fight india's growing demand for

energy to already but he's already building two nuclear reactors in the south of the country hold together all the thirty documents were signed back in new delhi as of course the two countries of the bric group of emerging economies have many spears of corporations. now that let's take a brief look at some other stories from around the world this hour the ivory coast faces the risk of returning to civil war threatening to suited presidential election warning comes from u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon he added that un peacekeepers were being forced from the country by a convent known about of the world body recognize the picture of his rival president use the international community of trying to bring a fight to his country the u.n. says more than fifty people have been in recent days. freezing temperatures and heavy snow are continuing to cause massive destruction across europe travel has been severely hampered as airports struggle to keep runways free

of all its brittany's badly affected hundreds of flights grounded and tens of thousands of travelers stranded. has criticised transportation agencies and says more must be done to prevent disruption in the future. the un general assembly has called on member states to fight the north occasion of not system and start the destruction of world war two movements among the few countries which didn't support the resolutions georgia which blew up more in the last year or more in the moments destruction russia decided to create a similar structure to on the world war two victims the head of the georgian opposition version was at tuesday's opening our interview with her is coming up in ten minutes time but here's a quick look. i would like to say it's hard to be strong in a new a totalitarian state of opera when we really look at all business is under governmental control and it's next to impossible to find ways to finance political

parties when the media is under state control it's really hard to have my voice heard and convene my arguments to the people they lose no administrational justice it's very hard to protect oneself from slander constantly being out of order not only from the government also from the media under the. the u.s. commander in afghanistan general david petraeus says that they too richard holbrooke made a vital contribution to the campaign in the country he claims that president obama's special representative helped to build an effective team on the ground of artie's matric contributor and we have got a who shot so as the diplomat failed to tackle the most burning issue. with the gradual shift of the u.s. military and intelligence community from afghanistan to pakistan i guess the u.s.

commander in afghanistan has a bigger fish to fry than to waste his style his energy and credibility and respect and attention from his troops leveraging mr pearl period preys on the architect of the drug promotion strategy in afghanistan and the main defender of the opium cultivation all across the country we choose to be general at the trio's when men know if general petraeus stick with his praise to richard holbrooke calling him the titan of the us policy in afghanistan and pakistan he might as well make his mission guilty by association he might be stuck with the mission creep which will be described as a titanic fubar both in afghanistan and across the border in pakistan. but a few minutes the business means with that ambush will stay with us. for the. we've

got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. in moscow. it is congress motel. culture in the city. called small. as it can. be struck for us to become a hotel. business russia's biggest banks burbank has posted a record profits of one hundred sixty billion rubles that's around five point one

billion dollars this year that's according to the bank's head growth earlier predicted the banks profits would exceed one hundred fifty billion rubles or four point eight billion dollars. increase this record profit to six point four billion in twenty eleven for the graph said the bank will not raise dividends despite those profits. has risen driving a benchmark index closed to a two and a half year high as commodity producers gained. a record oil traded near ninety dollars a barrel and the euro climbed after a game in japanese exports to confidence in the global economic recovery. markets finished in the black with most of the blue chips gaining. point nine percent higher than my six was up over half a percent. trading volumes are expected to be lower and quiet on the russian markets today as the holidays approach. president

a trucker dialogue gives us his take on what to expect as well as the merger talks . they i think the market will continue to be quiet but still strong we saw in previous few days consolidation the market and i think that the market is said to going up after christmas call it is finished i think we will see inflows in the russia and will go up there are particular ideas for example as for will come this is very controversial issue so the board approved the deal but still killing or can block this deal and will be very difficult to kind of finally prove and make the deal and in fact show one telamon or said that day against these deal the markets accepted these moves very positively and it was a very good rally in the stock about two from point five percent just an announcement so there's still the she is very controversial so i would be a bit cautious right now about advice into buying into the. tax revenues for russia's consolidated bulgy a healthy twenty two point six percent in the first eleven months of this year

that's amounts to a little more than two hundred twenty five billion dollars the tax take increase in virtually every sector demonstrating the recovery of the economy profit tax rose forty three percent income tax was up six point six percent higher capital requirements for russian banks will likely fall some institutions out of the market next year but the impact on the sector should be minimal according to the head of the deposit insurance agency who spoke exclusively to business r.t. . such as that society goes into bunk school so because of the strategy to develop the banking system the minimal capital requirement level for retail banks will grow and this will lead to some banks leaving the sector i think from ten to twelve banks currently the agency has funds of about three point seven billion dollars and it will reach four point five billion by the end of january and the size of the fund will continue to increase we believe it will grow by one billion euros next year and even more in twenty twelve was probably only this our christmas and the new year expected to be

a profitable time for banks as shoppers turn to their credit cards to buy presents and food research from home credit bank shows that the number of people willing to buy gifts on credit has risen to thirty nine percent from twenty three percent last year the research also reveals that people are ready to spend more money on presents as confidence in the russian economy recovers after the crisis. that's the latest join us for more in fifty minutes on.

this secret incursion into the country. invasion by means of. traditions the language the jell-o. you visit the best did beat the beat. and culture. the thing is that the have the dozens are still unaware of what's going on in the land still asking my dear cuts like this if i don't know anything about them alaska the great deal on our cheap.

line. would be so much brighter if you knew about someone from phones to impressions. for instance on t.v. dot com. watching r t let's take a look at the headlines about. the u.s. senate wraps up debate on the nuclear cuts treaty with russia clearing the way for value expected to take place as soon as wednesday that occurred so short of a deal single despite strong opposition from republicans. the u.k. expels a diplomat from the russian embassy on suspicion of espionage reciprocates the move in retaliation there are fears that new spy around like threaten the recent foreign relations between moscow would love. to see

a billion dollar defense and energy deals with india retreatment bit of is in for a cultural treat on the second day of his visit russia even would explore the phenomenon of the bollywood film industry. to. talk to the georgian opposition leader you know question about the state of democracy in the country and its relations with its neighbors. just that with the. often when interesting railways you say you mission is to introduce democracy to do region to make it more democratic place conflicts with the image of your country in the west georgia is often presented as a beacon of democracy what don't you like about the current version of the church and democracy. the myth of georgia as a democratic country.