having voted in the affirmative the resolution of ratification is agreed to. and with this approval russian the u.s. will start the new year with a treaty that has become a symbol of trust and cooperation between the two nuclear superpowers and glad that democrats and republicans came together to approve my top national security priority for this session of congress the new start treaty. this is the most significant arms control agreement in nearly two decades and it will make us safer and reduce our nuclear arsenals along with russia both states have some very significant reductions underway over the next ten years the countries will cut their nuclear arsenals by a third down to some fifteen hundred fifty deployed warheads on each side the deal also limits the number of delivery vehicles and launchers but even with those cuts both russia and the u.s. will still hold more than ninety percent of the world's nuclear weapons so many agree that the value of the new arms reduction treaty is not just in reductions but i think it's also important to say that the significance of the treaty is much

larger than the implications for arms control it really does give a lot of momentum and boost to the broader u.s. russia reset and i think puts obama and medvedev on course to cooperate more closely on a whole host of issues and it may well be that this is seen as a turning point in which the russia u.s. rivalry of the past is finally laid to rest for weeks and months the president of the united states all members of his administration the military all living former secretary of state and of defense were calling for senators not to ruin this reset opportunity for us who are sure relations and the message did resonate with many senators every senator knows when you're trying to get things done relationships matter and the relationship between the united states and russia has been critical since we fought together in world war two and will be continued will continue to be

so this is an on parallel opportunity to enhance that relationship and to say by signature and by ratification of this treaty that yes the united states of america wants to work with russia despite the huge support the treaty has. sieved on many levels a number of republican senators in the early sabotage state their actions provoked an avalanche of criticism from the country's top security experts who feared that the treaty could become a victim of political games on capitol hill the arguments the treaty adversaries brought up on the hearings ranged from there's no earthly way to do all of this within the time that we have to even more unsubstantial ones like we don't have to have this treaty if we don't have a nuclear treaty with the u.k. anglin we don't have one with france in the final days of debates on start some

republican senators trying to rewrite the deal which would have actually killed it they wanted to take out the line in the preamble which makes the connection between offensive and defensive weapons stuart straight jackets the united states missile defense capabilities but all of those from the military who testified before the senate said the connection between offensive and defensive weapons is obvious they also maintained it's not start that would make the us weaker the treaty itself explicitly says either side can pull out of it if at some point they deem it threatens their national security for russians this new start is about balance and equality and they will be in it as long as the us respects that balance. through the established basis of the contract the principles of equality parity and the equal an invisible security of both parties this becomes the new gold standard for the conclusion of our agreements the agreement not only strengthens the security of russia and the united states but has beneficial effects for international stability

and security in general in russia the outcome of the vote in the u.s. senate has been well come from many in moscow it's a signal that the u.s. and russia can now open a new page of cooperation russian lawmakers made it clear they had no objections to the treaty and would pass it as soon as the u.s. did advocates of the treaty see the outcome of the vote not so much as obama's victory but a victory for the whole world which on the one hand is going to have considerably if you were weapons of mass destruction and on the other hand tool nuclear superpowers former adversaries actually trusting each other and looking toward an enhanced to provide their security going to check on our team washington d.c. . and lawrence korb a senior fellow from the public policy research organization center of american progress in washington believes these start new political street is also hugely important because it deals with the problem of the nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands. i think it's significant for two reasons number one it

helps us get our relations with russia back where they should be and get the russian help and things like stand and grab and the other is that the real danger to the security of the united states is a nuclear weapon or nuclear material falling into the wrong hands and this treaty is the first step to dealing with the problem what it is is if we get all of the countries of the world including russia the united states signed the nonproliferation treaty which they agreed that if all the countries would develop nuclear weapons they would reduce their eyes and really we haven't had anything for a decade so we're still moving in that direction yes the united states and russia have ninety five percent of the world's nuclear weapons but this much fewer nuclear weapons in the world. this is ass here in the program the call from russia's deaf community to be head.

so it's a sign of the times as the country's millions of hearing impaired people pledged to get their language recognized. russia's most famous former agent is making a new foray into politics as a leader with a very united russia party as youth movement on the chapman shot to fame during the summer in the u.s. as one of a number of agents swapped between moscow and washington after the f.b.i. uncovered the russian spy ring tone boston to ask her to call in her new role. it was at this meeting of the young guards organization which was filled with a young audience looking towards a political future in russia that chapman turned up and gave her blessing to the she was elected to the public council of the organization and when she was given the microphone she gave them some words of encouragement. there are so many people

who assumed power fame and money but does all this make us happy probably simply need positive human emotions as he would be listening to t.v. in society if each of us woke up with a smile and now faces a loved one or close as it would matters most if he dreamed the ability to really use well that might seem a little bit rich coming from a child man who has pursued quite ruthlessly the goals of publisher to fame and fortune but if we just say. do it she says not what she does she may not be the best spokesman ever but one of the organizers here joked to was wherever she goes she's brilliant for publicity because she's followed by a massive pack of cameras she certainly very notorious spy ring supposedly uncovered in the us. and it was on the chapman being deported back to russia as part of a supply swap since lenny would have thought coming home with her tail between her

legs that she would have been really put into obscurity quite the opposite has happened she's turned into a huge celebrity since then she has been appointed as advisor to one of the one of the russian banks she's traveled to baikonur to see a space rocket fly up to the to the international space station perhaps most notoriously of all she says she has been in a number of photo shoots the most raunchy of all being for the russian edition of maxim magazine and her firm fertile figure carrying a reputation before her so the question really is is she going into politics well who knows but if this organization wanted figure they could have chosen a far worse one and a half less attractive one than miss chapman. russian football fans are finding themselves caught in the middle of extreme nationalists notoriety if not a ethnic riots were sparked by the death of

a spartak moscow fire thought to have been killed by a caucuses man earlier this month prime minister vladimir putin has been meeting the leading foreign clubs calling on them to resist the far right. a history lesson for an unlikely audience talking to football fans still fuming after their recent clashes with ethnic minorities let me put in carefully navigated between giving a pep talk and showing yellow cards but still wish that you throughout its history russia has always had a strong immunity to nationalism and xenophobia but now it seems this immunity has started to slacken and you can see that in the activities of the fan movement to nationalistic calls are sometimes heard of the stadiums beginning of a football fan in moscow allegedly by caucasus man and he subsequently released by seemingly bright policeman prompted days of after nick riots the violence left dozens injured and to death by surprise it clearly revealed the tensions between

slavic nationalists and the north caucasus minorities used to be. i wouldn't bet ten cents on a russian man who would show disrespect to the qur'an in the north caucasus i don't think his health would stay intact but people from the north caucasus when they move to central russia also have to respect local traditions customs and laws only this way by respecting each other can we fully utilize the multicultural strength of our country. like in any multinational country hate crimes in a full b are nothing new for russia but never before had the situation spun out of control so quickly with groups hounding darker skinned passers by just steps away from the kremlin all the more embarrassing for russia so soon after securing the right to host the two thousand and eighteen world cup. is working very hard to mobilize football into different nationalist. groups. doing a lot of progress with a lot of success a lot to me putin struck

a similar note praising fan clubs for their free spirit he called them down to retain their ideological independence and avoid being swayed by nationalism and he sent to score in this particular goal these fans from the same region where they found suspected murderer came from so that regard list of death in the city football fans in russia have the same event to look forward to. we waited for the world cup to come to russia for so long put so much effort but there are still some forces who want to prevent the championship from coming to our country against the murders and other provocations. while police didn't confirm any such conspiracy theories after intense public pressure rearrested the suspected murderer and opened a fresh investigation while the prime minister criticized the fans for unsporting behavior he also admitted that the clashes may have never flared up for it wasn't

for the corruption and came from a ship involved that the only way to avoid such clashes in the period here is to create a level playing field for every one of a kind of worker or three. turn is looking to offer some financial muscle to beleaguered european economies to help ease them out of their debt crises the suggestion to buy up some of the sovereign debt came at a high level meeting with the union beijing and economist mark or told us why china is looking west. i think that there's a number of issues here one is this extends china's political influence in europe by making a lot of european states dependent on china to buy to buy their debt this will help them massively in the next round of trade talks and create significant leverage political leverage with regards to to further trade talks also it

allows china perhaps to slow down the appreciation of the yuan as the europeans and the the u.s. have been really going on about for quite a few years now the chinese even many ways are are massively overexposed to u.s. treasury bills and this allows them a way of diversifying from that but also u.s. treasury bills are very low yielding at present so high yielding distressed european debts that may well seem way of diversify away from from treasury bills. this is r.t. and let's now have a look at some other international news stories in brief. front says that he begins to leave ivory coast after a political crisis in the african state erupted into deadly violence the un secretary general area warned the situation is becoming increasingly volatile and risks every turn to civil you ban ki moon says your view on peacekeepers will be started by the incumbent president after it recognized his rival's election victory

forming a picture people have reportedly died as the ballot. students across italy have marched against university budget cuts that are expected to be approved by parliament thousands demonstrators along one of his main highways causing a great dog say the reforms will mean education standards will suffer and there was some violence in palermo but most marketable peaceful it contrasts with last week's one it's still several arrests and a hundred injuries after prime minister berlusconi survived a no confidence about. president obama has had a successful day in the u.s. senate on other fronts aside from approving the new start treaty senators passed a bill to cover the cost of medical care for rescue workers and others made by toxic fumes after the nine eleven terror attacks and a longstanding provision forcing gays and lesbians serving in the u.s. military to keep their sexuality secret is also repealed approval of the measures

marks a significant u. turns for the republican party which had threatened to block them. well you might expect a language used by around ten million people to be very well supported but for deaf people in russia communication gets no further than their own community so island which is still not officially recognized daria bush called it reports now on their side and struggle. so. alex you can't hear the song. and i believe. he had he sings it with his hands touch and. that was that. 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. lutyens appreciates this theatre of the deaf actors is an exception in the world mostly hostile to those speaking with their hands. even though language doesn't officially exist all previous attempts to pass a law giving official recognition to the russian sign 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 gate 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. you wish. you. the head of the old russian federation of the deaf believes there are more than ten million hard of hearing people in the country but no interpreters no t.v. channels almost nothing to ease their interaction with the world that is one of four children the only deaf one in the family. this is the beauty shop for the hard of hearing and has a stealth interpreter. they

may not hear but they're not commute and they love talking. to. us. after all those who call and hear all the same people it may be just that the music of their hearts and souls is loud but still not loud enough to be officially recognised. the.

party moscow. iraq next hearing also georgia's opposition leader talks to aussie you know we're not as it was in moscow recently veiling of a monument to walter's soldiers georgia destroyed a memorial to make way for government buildings despite protests and has been telling us on a boycott that a country has a democracy. just

that with the. often one interesting rallies you say your mission is to introduce democracy to draw region to make it more democratic because 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 children democracy. the myth of georgia as a democratic country really exists to a certain extent but it's based on the fact that soon after the rose revolution we really began to bring about serious democratic reforms reformed the bureaucratic apparatus passed me laws supposed to bring the country on a democratic beeline however unfortunately even when i was in power i was talking about the problems that then existed including independence of judicial power and of the media notions that were already gaining momentum there was also concerned

about the issue of decision making when more often than not decisions were taken by a certain circle of people by two thousand and seven and in january two thousand and eight when president saakashvili was reelected for the second term there had been a chance that the sack of the government and the team would realize the problems and mistakes they had made and would try to fix them recreate a bully though i could see that all the promises they had given about reinforcing democracy were implemented just in a contrarian way i saw the country go towards a bigger man open. of power more control over the media which i don't like including constitutional changes the situation with business and ministration of justice that does not infer a democratic state because you have been in opposition for several years so strong is the georgian opposition no in your opinion it was like there it's hard to be strong in

a nearly totalitarian state program nearly the whole business is under governmental control 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 convey my arguments to the people when there is no administration of justice it's very hard to protect oneself from slender constantly being dished out toward not only from the government but also from the media under the control nevertheless i believe the active steps that are manifested from time to time are a sign that the opposition keeps on struggling to change the topic slightly haggard to describe the current relations between our two streets russia and georgia. the holes in the globe could not be worse i guess it could have been worse only during the august events during the war indeed it was a tragic phase in tragic days not only for georgia i think today relations between russia and georgia can be described as very bad and far from normal i think the

situation will hardly change for the better as long as president saakashvili is in power for a simple reason in the west see you has been trying to prove his indispensability through fighting against russia on the one hand he says yes it is necessary to have a dialogue with russia but on the other hand his steps and even statements invalidate any normal politically correct proposals i am absolutely certain that russia georgia relations should become normal but that will be possible only when both russia and georgia have respect. the lawful let me repeat this a lawful interests of each other and when the relations are based on implementing the agreements they will have been achieved then most go in there i knew. we had mentioned the war and before august two thousand and eight russia had often expressed concern over the growing military power of georgia what is going on now

is georgia stepping up its military potential by reequipping its army or you suggest as in europe but not anymore just because there are currently no supplies or deliveries of armaments from western allies i believe it should not be a priority for georgia stepped up its armed forces as an independent state georgia surely must have its armed forces but they should conform to the standards georgia needs as a priority peaceful development of the country and an ability to defend itself and its interests by no means. should feel that what transpired in the tragic days of august two thousand and eight. they should be aware and be sure not through me or words but indeed that georgia would never use force against its own citizens. and no matter how complicated that might be negotiated not in the language of weapons but diplomacy and based on finding

a common language. both before the war many had an impression georgia had been the darling of the west it seemed to many in the former soviet union the church it had more chances for transformation including of democracy because the west was assisting not only morally both materially do you think that now that two years have passed since then georgia has lost its an ecumenical support from the western powers i mean benevolence and readiness to support some programs in georgia there. is a but i'm sure. it was kind of a favorite one i see that after the revolution both our government and myself felt proud because we enjoyed the support of the majority of the country and the west was loyal to us as a matter of fact during the initial period russia had a sort of let's wait and see stance although positive unfortunately i have to say my main complaint against really is that he destroyed all that the domestic support

that used to be so high in the support from the west as well well the west does back us now but it goes beyond comparison to what we have enjoyed before the war by the support from the west began to do window even before the war because the west so clearly the democratic reforms were not as quick and right as expected i remember very well how dubious germany was about the legal system in georgia and the war surely destroyed georgia's your application was your mother we have mentioned the recent war of two thousand and eight but i also know that today you attended a ceremony open a memorial to another war why did you decide you had to turn and the i'm not going to. go it's because this war for me as for millions of people not only in the countries of the former soviet union but also all over the world is sacred so now to destroy a monument is absolute sacrilege some members of my family died in that war and the

brother of my grandmother still alive in the war for those people the destruction of the soviet war memorial. was so painful into salting what is most amazing it was not clear what it had to be done for. wealthy british style. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger or a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports.

we'll. bring you the latest. from the. coverage. here where she also he is going to have you with us the headline. finally gets to a new start also intensive by obama he gets his way in the last ditch push as a u.s. senate finally approved this stalled you could almost call streets with a long shot after months of running mate welcomes the move that's kind of sheltering you relations. and other news this hour the new face of russian patriotism the country's best. agent russia champ and replies to start

a political career and if you look. at this football fans groups become infiltrated by white wing nationalist movements part of it is to protest says they need to be uprooted. and coming up next i'll see his guests whether kosovo is graduate turning into a criminal state supported by washington on dates nato allies close talkers up next . if you. live. well from the crosstalk i'm peter lavelle call so again on the brink after a less than successful election in allegations of organized crime including organ trafficking and heroin smuggling this self-proclaimed country is a threat to its neighbors. play. here.