old us to do all of us started smoking heroin at university six months later he dropped out and does what he can to support his have. he is one of the million addicts in this country the world's largest producer of opium. yes i said my life or is it was there on this drug i know it's killing me but i can stop drug measures to diminish the output but it only costs two dollars providing an escape for addicts ranging from refugees returning from iran and fled the country's civil war to military veterans to teenagers with little to look forward to. the united nations says it's another threat to afghanistan's long term economic growth and security. it's what we call the coca-cola effect i mean people always talk about the demand creating supply but people forget that supply demand and that's exactly happening in afghanistan i mean if you think about the health issues you think every human activity is often starting among injecting drug users it has as well to

do what you security means security forces and the high levels of addiction in the security forces means that yes you will corrupt your security system so all those elements together means that there's a heavy burden for this country local city and threaten them and the police do nothing more than chase them away or throw them in jail for a day or two then they come right back. today there are an estimated sixty thousand heroin addicts in the afghan capital and that number is rising fast many of them say they want help but the government can do little for them in the handful of rehabilitation clinics that exist just a few hundred beds to offer. the u.n. funded new jobs center is the largest and best equipped facility in the capital but that's not saying much it can only handle about sixty patients at a time. to enter addicts must submit to a two months detoxification. but the center's director dr why do. it is a lack of post treatment prospects ensure that over half. of the patients fall off

the wagon. and we just only get on the mother relapse is a huge problem there's not much we can offer these people once they leave here. it's a doula got ten days treatment before running away to get high again. the international community is focusing on combating the flow of drugs leaving afghanistan but within its borders a battle just as important is being fought with addiction a major hurdle in the country's hope for future stability. in kabul for r.t. . as told by the drug and forces says the coalition is had literally no effect on the heroin trade in afghanistan. the size of the poppy plantations hasn't changed this year they still cover one hundred twenty three thousand hectors the number of families involved in poppy cultivation has increased by about four thousand for these persons the fluffy provides the most basic living simply struggling for survival and all the talk about the need to create economic

incentives for them is simply pointless we work as slaves for the landlords and these are the people we need to find and target and what we're proposing nato is it to learn from them. international law and most national legal systems presume that prophecy is used for criminal purposes should be confiscated. coming up on our team tonight a feeling of paranoia russian and then i get shelter. apocalyptic prophecies of well but it's got. to. also. take several hours to get from the nearest airport to the casino in southern russia and as you can see this one still doesn't work like gamblers paradise look at why purpose built gambling is a failing in the face of an illegal games of chance of what russia is betting on to try to reverse the trend. georgia newspapers of the soviet cartoon campaign backed

by president saakashvili a number of soviet time monuments have already been dismantled across the country and schoolchildren shown a documentary likening the u.s.s.r. to nazi germany however as a first reports next tonight many georgians feel nostalgic about this passed. the destruction is savior at monuments a law banning savior symbols and now an anti soviet documentary and a series of cartoons in local newspapers all part of an anti save it campaign currently being led by the cuban government that both the timing and methods of implementation have led many to question its real natives and then you say it's not just anti soviet propaganda but anti russian those conducting this campaign are trying to put russia on a par with the soviet union. it's been two decades since julian independence and

just two years since children attacked south provoking an arms conflict with russia a history of tense relations and these recent events i thought likely to have a bearing on what's now happening. let's cut to a local newspaper your favorite general bearing is a joy with the fathers of wine and vodka that is part of the anti favorite campaign is also being accused of being anti russian and of encouraging the public to leave the bigger picture. than many georgians particularly the older generation hold positive memories of saving at times and blood seeing worked as a police officer in the save the union and jules harsh comparisons between situation then and today we are we know. it was much better in some retirement today in the soviet union we had professional unions protecting our rights today we have nobody to take care much for being poisoned with the ideology of the current

authorities. for people like the destruction of monuments dedicated to saviors soldiers many of whom were themselves georgian is particularly inflammatory they've had to sit by and watch as their memories of the past average east to rubble. why do you think people. dismantled these monuments if you want us to forget our history but we should never forgive. the georgian government his name for its provocative stance towards russia but the controversial campaign techniques are perhaps a step too far once they know the stored in history must be honest and true to fact not one sided all nations united and soviet union are equally guilty for the problems it doesn't make sense to try and blame it on russia but using comic books to facilitate this is appropriate i think the efforts of the government look silly . was the strong emphasis on the negative aspects of the savior paired might well

suit the present political agenda not everyone inside georgia is happy with their government's actions sara fair r.t. georgia. next the birth of jesus or the excuse to give presents and eat well christian conservatives in the united states say the real message of this time of year is being lost they say america's locked in yet another war a war on christmas. tis the season to be decided i'm just so enraged by these all these atheist displays i'm trying to push jesus to the back seat on christmas day but people like head humanist roy speck hard say they aren't trying to push jesus anywhere when they see these ads it does give them pause that it gives them a chance to think about the issues and these issues are plenty to wars record high unemployment and a budget crisis approaching but apparently the real good or well the one atheist group is putting

a new spin on the war on christmas if you listen to the media this is a cheap way of trying to to take a shot at christmas they don't have the guts if they did so i said they go after the muslims. and the v.a. he's referring to is the quote unquote other america the folks who want religion out of public life if you do a real growth and on the opposite side of humanity now with all the political correctness here in the united states like the fact that you can't call it a christmas tree anymore you have to call a holiday tree you can't say merry christmas you have to say happy holidays some groups are taking action like this religious group here god and america's leaders dot com this is the web site they created you can log on and take a ten question what a ball choice quiz about which founding father or politician said it which religious quote but with all that outrage and all the back and forth much of the quote unquote rest of america thinks things probable are politics right now we're focusing all these moral and religious issues instead of focusing on the actual

things like the economy and the wars and things like that is distractions but for those americans who want religion any time any place anywhere it isn't just a distraction there definitely has been a war on christmas for a long time and brian fisher is part of the countless conservative christian organizations that are formed to send this kind of message to single most inclusive thing that you can do this time of year is wish people a merry christmas we think it's appropriate. to ask them to acknowledge that jesus christ is the reason for the season and the division is particularly evident in the most powerful of places case in point democrats were pushing to work overtime even after christmas and republicans like senator john kyl and jim de mint were pretty much calling the proposal blasphemous causing this kind of reaction we need to rethink the. current groups. is the good news rethinking and perhaps considering that the real battle is much more serious.

and it's one that goes on all year round. that's for r t. well in russia christmas is still a couple of weeks away but in our weekly show moscow dottie's martin andrews explores ways to have a perfect christmas here in the russian capital if you do celebrating of december the twenty fifth that's coming your way next hour but here's a quick preview of what he's going store for us. on this week festive must go out program we'll be taking a look at christmas food and while russians have them a celebration is on new year's eve thousand january the seventh millions of other people around the world and from here at moscow already popping open the champagne to join the ranks of andrews let me take a look at a merry christmas here in the russian capital.

where. russian authorities are looking for areas closer to tourists sports to build new zones for legal gambling the gaming ban first enforced almost two years ago is widely seen as big failure and the original four official gambling spots have been taken off. stacks of cash and roofs of one armed bandits federal security service agents freed an illegal casino in moscow eighteen months ago a strict gambling law meant casinos in russia could only exist in four special zones but it failed then the show idea to build gambling. residential areas just didn't work it takes several hours to get from the nearest airport to this casino in southern russia and as you can see the zone still doesn't spare the distance according to regional authorities almost killed the whole idea some of the

transportation is the key factor today we have a steady flow of gamblers coming to this casino enough to make the project worthwhile but that's not the zones full capacity last month russian president medvedev approved a war relocating the only functioning gambling zone closer to tourist destinations would travel to the city of an up on the black sea coast which according to locals may very well become the new and hopefully more successful version of the russian vegas. the village of blagoveshchensk is a perfect transport hub hostin the gambling project will make our resort accessible all year round. these fields have been prepared for a large scale construction by a peninsula with below send it beaches that attract thousands of dorothy's admit however that the news that will be worth less just like they will one unless the illegal casinos disappear wish there was the almost all the after hours game organizers have been able to avoid serious punishment but that has changed now the

region so certain that it may take less than three years to build this new gamblers paradise on the black sea coast but with a huge and powerful underground gambling industry it's still unclear whether the news though will be the right bet for russia there is a lot ski r t crossed in the region. some of use in brief suicide. in a crowded u.n. aid distribution center northwest pakistan where forty five people dead and over one hundred injured a female suicide bomber threw two hand grenades and then detonated their explosives laden vest as locals waited for the three stars the explosion took place in the city of car in the tribal region bordering afghanistan it comes a day after some one hundred fifty militants killed eleven soldiers in a coordinated assault on a neighboring region the army was carrying out operations. the ivory coast opposition leaders called on the army and the u.n. to protect civilians from foreign militia mercenaries other son who were tartars

lead recognized as the winner of last month's disputed election but the incumbent president is refusing to quit west african leaders warn they will use legitimate force against on bug both are making a stand down with the region central bank cutting off access to funds. they did rocket their communications satellites exploded shortly after launch officials say an error caused it to take off at a steeper angle than it should have and then break up its india's second space launch failure this year the nation is the fifth country to enter the commercial satellite launching market that plans to make its first manned flight in twenty six . then usually winter weather across europe slightly met with some degree of foreboding by those predicting the end of the world in twenty twelve so we've got twelve months to worry about it yet one russian man is so worried in fact about the ancient predictions he's now invented a shelter that he believes can guarantee human survival on his r.t. if you go groden have discovered if i am a god doesn't arrive it makes pretty nice song to. ancient mayan

calendar predicts that on twenty first of december twenty twelve the world will and . the earth will suffer cataclysmic events floods the options and earthquakes that will wipe out almost everyone but some are getting ready to survive the apocalypse i think kilometers outside of moscow on an abandoned battery farm and invention has been made we're told save humanity when the end of the world doesn't i behold the doomsday capsule a military engineer by training beaker says he's a genius and that the large trajan collider controls the world whether he admits that many loft when he showed us his proposal for the life capsule one year ago now he's built it he says people are taking him seriously yes we can see kids got four layers of insulation he can float roll down here and learn upside down without

being damaged. of course it can't be destroyed by tremors or loss of all make mistakes storms this is where the show will be and the air purification systems you can house up to four people for forty days and costs eighty thousand dollars will be kept has recruited a band of neighbors who've already booked their places in the capsule but i was i'm scared of twenty two hours we have to be ready. the others are going to die we will survive. the end of the end of the world doesn't come into years you get in he says his capsules can be used as saunders or industrial fridges and recommends that the government order several thousand immediately either an air party moscow region. but back to twenty ten on the eve of the new year the russian president dmitry medvedev held a question and answer session with russia's leading t.v. channels about the past the full version of that's available on your website r.t.

dot com but in a few minutes on this channel we bring you some of the highlights of it. was. mr president but you question on the new start i think one phrase in our henry short story that goes and one other accidents of that year was a democratic president so being a democrat obama is different has done

a good job he has pushed this important document the new start through the senate eight why did you have a conversation with him so late yesterday was he still great in the rift cation if you cut. know he's away on holiday it was quite late when we talked after eleven pm our time like any other person he's entitled to rest is on his christmas holiday but i think he can rest with the realisation that his rest is well deserved he did a really good job i agree with you under rather difficult conditions he managed to get this important treaty approved in the senate. like i said our security for the next few years will be based on this treaty and in general i can say that it's easy for me to work with president obama because he can really listen to you and hear you he's not impeded by stereotypes and what's probably the most important thing for a politician. he keeps his promises he's kept his promises as regards to the new start as regards the w t o and as regards the ratification of a very important treaty on nuclear cooperation and as regards various international

issues so i hope he gets a good rest he did a good job and i told him so yesterday i said barack have some rationale there with . people rarely remember what it past event smelled sounded like the year two thousand and ten so one event there i will remember i think it was even more vivid for year how did you find out about the crash of the polish air force one near smolensk and how did you react. or worth arguing or share your story with my father when it. happened. to all of you know it was a difficult day i was in some petersburg at the time it was a saturday and i was planning to have a break then my aide told me about what happened or i was shocked it always comes as a shock taking in news of this kind you feel shocked and sorry for the people who were killed and this time to add that it was the entire polish political elite gosh what happened at that spot to think it seemed mystical and hard to believe it turned out

to be true nonetheless our relations with poland have gone a long way since then i mean when things were very complicated i think that our relationship is less complex now i paid an official visit to poland we talked with the investigation still has to be concluded of course it can't be politicized to serve as a reason to stop blaming each other we have to listen to all parties involved and accept the conclusions made by international agencies then there is the internal investigation of course of them we can use looking at us and. how do you feel about polish prime minister adult call in the interest aviation kmita report and acceptable. i would rather think that his evaluation was emotional and the result of occurrences in poland's internal politics of poland issue. at it the communal mentality is shattered which is understandable because it was a real tragedy but it can't affect our relations and it can't lead to the results of the intergovernmental committee and the investigation into the incident being

politicized. why did the government in spite of a tradition that has been going since soviet times admit that spies court were working for russia the incident made it clear to me that russia has an illegal spying networking or a few switches. anyone working for our special services is first and foremost a russian citizen they're not cannon fodder or heroes that the state is willing to sacrifice if the soviet union or perhaps even russia has not talked about them before then it was a mistake on the government's policy our main goal in that situation was to get our people out and we did that because as i said they were russian citizens i recently met with intelligence officers and i told them that we will continue doing the same thing in the future if anyone from the intelligence service be at the legal service or not or in a difficult position for these people defend our interests as for the service it

can be different legal or illegal if a country claims that it doesn't have an illegal intelligence service it's usually a lie either that or the country in question is a very small sum on the much can push around a problem of the most tragic events this year was the massacre of civilians in a village near the investigation into which highlighted the did corruption between the police the authorities and criminals there were similar a cure and says elsewhere how can this be tackled mr medvedev on there. is a problem but it's an important subject and i'm glad you brought it up there is crime yes and there is corruption but i believe we've cut off the people who are obviously criminals the situation is different to the level of regional and municipal authorities there are people who still live by their own code that's why we need purges not the same purges as those which took place in the one nine hundred thirty s. but we need to cut off those people from power some of the members of the ruling party but that does not mean the ruling party or any other party should turn

a blind eye to it on the contrary we need to bring them out into the light expel them from the party to strengthen the parties or thorazine she's. worked with you once mentioned it all political system is showing signs of stick nation how should we deal with this while. but it wasn't just with us parties must feel responsibility for the. with or it is they've received a major political party united russia should not just rain but also show intelligence tact and power it should appoint the right people pushing back the corrupt ones and those not willing to work at all or punish them for the party should also participate in the discussion of all the issue it's the fact that they represent opposition does not mean that they're isolated from society's life or they should be speaking openly about all the issues we have. one of them or else. i wanted to ask you how you felt about japan's reaction tv's it to the curial islands. my likeness well what about me nothing has changed for me the japanese

seem tense. take hold back the investor. is going. well i'm sincerely sorry that i was the reason for a break in his political career that was not what we aim for i'm not sure now what he will do but let me remind you that all of the south could allow the use of territory of the russian federation the president is allowed to visit them you will get why has no president gone there before you well it's a remote place that's true but it's our land nonetheless and we have to develop the carolinas to ensure that the people there live well i promise that to the locals i told them that and then sent deputy prime minister chevelle off to work that he's still working and we will send other officials to the corals of this doesn't mean we're not ready to cooperate with japan we'd welcome any initiatives on joint economic projects taking into account the historical events that took place there you can manage we are ready to work with them but this doesn't mean that we will

give up the corals as our territory our partners have to understand that are near our way to meet new press or the global media have made we can leeks the main brand of the year there's no doubt about ted how do you feel about it. but some of what's been revealed is interesting some things were quite surprising you know you're afraid if we can leaks why would i be afraid. the department of state might be afraid not me but they might try to but you know if i was scared of what people might write about me i would never go onto the internet or watch television or some other person who has this kind of responsibility has to understand that people don't praise the authorities too often and probably for good reason the authorities have to work efficiently but no i'm not afraid of what people might write about me as for the consequences of the publication might have an effect on other countries relations but not on our relations with the us we all understand the general attitude of the media and the public we get that information from television and newspaper open sources so we saw nothing new this reminds me of the story that

happened to a soviet diplomat he served as ambassador in a european country and had been granted an audience with the queen and after the audience he sent a cable back home saying the queen asked me about dissidents i had to bring her down a peg that's what happened to a diplomat they show each other how tough they are putting labels on everybody every profession has its own rules our diplomats write to each other to everyone's entitle to their minutes of fame including ambassadors and diplomats. who are very well. thank you for this in-depth conversation we should a happy new year on behalf of our audience it would be naive to see we hope the next year will be better we just wish you a happy new year you thinking about his role. thank you very much i would like to say that i wish you a happy new year too but i promise this i will do it again you know when that will happen. you have to say that this deal he sure does. right thank

you you thank. it's the secret incursion into the country. the invasion by means of. the language. so this is the best deal copied could be. are still unaware of what's going on in the land. mines. i don't know anything about alaska. he.

says. this is all to the international news. for joining us. now the top story the world's biggest exporter of heroin is also one of the. drug addiction makes it nearly impossible for the stomach to quit. propaganda cartoons of george not the soviet campaign as a growing number of people accusing the government there of messing with history.

and conflict diverts media return. from pressing matters in the u.s. conservative christian said the country's. war on christmas. next as he travels to alaska funds reminders that the american state once belonged to russia persists right up to the present day it's just that. once it was a part of russian territory there are still reminders to this day children wearing russian national costumes people having russian names and many orthodox churches are standing here but more than one hundred forty years ago it became the u.s. territory though some americans still don't know about. the still asking have no idea about. like nothing i don't know anything about that alaska it's called. it was called a box of a.