our correspondent paula sneer who's on the streets of cairo for us to do stay with us for that and all the west say is calling for an all to the transition of power in egypt analyses the evidence more on the international response to the ongoing unrest in the country. president obama started a my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful. it must be peaceful and it must begin now and then faithfully one after the other one the other governments followed suit. these democratic change has to start now. it needs to happen now for greater freedom and democracy in egypt and it seems the theme was contagious as the call for a new egypt spreads uncontrolled across the western mass media there were one hundred and fifty thousand people in the streets of cairo protesting for democracy this is how democracy happened but what right do u.s.

and european leaders have to get involved in what's essentially domestic unrest about dissatisfaction with a ruler who cares what they want in egypt certainly not these demonstrators at the egyptian embassy in london basic or do you feel regime for such a long time. you feel regime and now they are talking about democracy and respect the from the right side of this and to obama's speech. could be sitting on the fence so much. everything is not the same going overboard just saying that's the appearance for a transition where is this peaceful transition there are shades of past conflicts in the world's attitude to the situation in egypt egypt is a sovereign state but what they have always done for the west they've used this humanitarian or good moves they've said oh we can intervene in yugoslavia we can intervene in byelorussia we can put sanctions for example this week so i put sanctions on. on the grounds that they in directions were in some way invalid or

there were some irregularities as well they're all sufficient irregularities in the british elections without your knowledge you opinion putting sanctions on barlow it's a complete turnaround for the western world which has always supported hosni mubarak as a force for stability in the region the u.s. gave him one and a half billion dollars a year for his armed forces alone and it was western support that catch mubarak in power betraying an inherent misunderstanding of the way society operates according to chuck. house dory regimes like mubarak survive. by making themselves useful. to the west so they have to convince the world that. if they leave it'll be the muslim brotherhood. in egypt. it's the worst case scenario so the. minute you can see beyond never really fall or all of which

suggests that western countries should stand back and let the egyptian people exercise that sovereignty the president of the united states would call to move immediately and. to make changes as if we are the fifty fifth state of the united states we are not trying to play a role in egypt steve is a dangerous day in the west and leaders hosni mubarak enjoyed strong support from america and co for many years but now at the first sign of trouble best approach is conspicuous in its absence this sends a message to friends and foes alike in the region when the going gets tough don't count on us a message that's likely to further destabilize an already deeply unstable part of it was a majority. well let's cross live now to altie as poor as lee he's in cairo for us government protesters all still in the square has there been any

political move so far. while alice as you see night has for landslide a night here in the egyptian capital and indeed day the deadline that protesters gave to president mubarak to resign has come and gone with no word from him some of those protesters in fact many of them are very disappointed still amounts are starting to make their way home they do not want to be outside in the night but having said that there are still hundreds of thousands who remain in toughness where hundreds of thousands remain in alexandria the country's second largest city when we look at some of the banners of people have been displaying particularly in . xandra there they're not just calling for mubarak to step down they calling for him to be assassinated they calling for him to leave the country the organizers are encouraged they've been void by the numbers that turned out today many people saying that the numbers on the streets exceeded a million more than the one million march number that was called for on tuesday so we do expect that these demonstrators demonstrations will continue making his face

known today in toughness which was also the secretary general of the arab league he was welcomed he was cheered and he actually said that he might consider standing for the egyptian presidency now no doubt he will have to resign from his current post to take up this new post but it certainly is putting a new face in the political arena also appearing a tough to square with the country's defense minister and this naturally was welcomed by the crowd it did make them feel secure that the army and the government would not carry out any kind of crackdown against them it is also indicating that there are some kind of divisions within the government between those who feel that mubarak should step down right now and listen to protesters demands and those who still support him and watch him say that he wants to stay in power at least until september he was not in tough with square today with mohamed el baradei he is the figure that has emerged as the leader of an interim government in fact we haven't seen him in this way for some days now and this does point to a knowledge of problem in terms of who is leading this opposition they've been able

to rely on the spontaneity be anger the frustration that has brought people to the streets but very real questions asking what are they going to do and what can they do when the president simply does not listen to their demands to step down before sunset friday there are also other legal hurdles that the protesters themselves would have to overcome there are question marks hanging over issues such as how do you nominate presidential candidates and who's actually allowed to run for office and then of course earlier in the day we did see prayers that was a moment when everybody came together in midday prayer. they're saying that this was not an ideological movement it was not a political movement and he actually praised the army and the soldiers for not getting involved and managing to maintain calm throughout the day friday and of course all of the whole world has been watching as events unfold in egypt it's really gripped international attention the wauconda of reactions have been coming

out from from all over the world. well the european union has been meeting in brussels and their twenty seven member states issued a statement very much in line with what we're hearing from the american government and that is a call for mubarak to step down as soon as possible for the process to be put in place that would lead to free and fair elections there is one proposal on the on the table coming from the american administration that the current vice president omar suleiman would head up an interim government and that seemingly seems as if that is something that the egyptian people would support perhaps not in the long term then did that then in the short term we're also hearing from the un secretary-general ban ki moon and he has called for elections to be held here in egypt as soon as possible and not only to be held in september but by and large we've had a lot of criticism on the streets any kind of international affairs interference the egyptians themselves saying that this is an internal domestic issue and really the world community was from must remain. poor that many thanks for those thoughts

that was updating us from the egyptian capital cairo. well let's get another point if you aren't all this now i can talk to james dens our ride from middle east policy and security from king's college london many thanks for joining us. now was hope that calm would be restored after mubarak said he wouldn't be standing for reelection in september but then we saw strong problem about rallies and further violence on the streets of cairo do you think we're going to see any further such classes or all will peace now be restored to the streets well it's a very tense situation and clearly there's every prospect of violence those armed gangs on the streets the army is out in force you have made tanks rolling around central cairo what i would say is that previous to mubarak's announcement the entire situation was like a game of chess and one move would be made by the opposition and the counter move

would be made by mubarak and it seems on this occasion he made two moves that once he announced that he would not be standing in the elections later this year at the same time he unleashed members of his own security forces in in mufti so much like sort of looters for hire and what that did was sort of essentially crystallize what was apparently a sort of peaceful revolution uniting the country into a far more complex one reflects how entrenched the regime is and that of course remains a reality as we speak today and the rest has been spreading throughout the wider region hasn't it are we seeing the formation do you think of a different sort of middle east. well i think the middle east won't be the same after these actions occur i mean certainly whether egypt goes to a sort of being a military regime light rather than the mubarak style or opens up into the arab world's most populous country and its biggest democracy we will see but certainly what's happened so far is unprecedented whether it's what happened in tunisia the fact that algeria state of emergency has disappeared events in yemen jordan's

government falling so far it's been an incredible wave of of action from the people without any sort of form of external support and it makes you look back at what happened in two thousand and three and the american sponsoring of the invasion and the toppling of saddam hussein and wondering whether actually it could be done far better by the people themselves i think it's an incredible coincidence of two new factors in particular that of a did this not only is it the more a bomb say to these countries economies it's large youth unemployment it's also the fact you have a huge amount of transparency coming out through wiki leaks and social networking and internet tools allowing people to organize and sort of subvert the traditional obstacles that a police state prevents to stop them essentially participating in their own countries of how washington openly says that it is negotiating president backs departure from office calling for a quick transition for a free and fair elections do you think it's likely to be seen as further meddling

by the us. well i think that no one will ever think that the u.s. is a neutral. in this affair i mean clearly it's got a huge amount of vested interest in egypt egypt is the location of the second amount of u.s. military assistance in recent history so the u.s. is not under any illusions of its role and its relationship with the country and of course it supported the mubarak regime for decades i think that the obama administration's response is characterized by extreme amounts of fence sitting and i think it's only come to this point where clearly the population of egypt has totally and utterly rejected mubarak and his regime that they decided to take action now this of course brings us to the next question is that how deep will this change go the population of egypt have clearly shown again that they were except about staying for even a few more months so what happens next because his regime is far more than him and of course the cronyism the petroleum guard system the essentially built in the

country will remain the politics of that will remain to unless there is a significant alteration of the constitution and the politics of egypt and that of course remains to be seen with american support that level because of course it's instability that's associated with such an incredible change in such a large country well let's look forward to the future if mubarak does that heed to the demands from the people on the streets and does step down who or what will fill the void if radical groups do you gain some sort of political power could that possibly result in parts of the middle east uniting against the west. well i think your question needs to be slightly repositioned the reason there were such things as radical groups in egypt was because more traditional legitimate groups were allowed they were banned which is the reason why the regime ran the country as it did it didn't allow for an effective and open opposition so if the politics of the country significantly change and we see a period of time in which parties are allowed to articulate the concerns of normal

egyptians that i think we're far more likely to see a politics that everyone can actually agree on rather than focusing on this fear mongering about islamic extremism where of course it's an issue as an issue cross the world as other forms of religious dream ism are but i don't think it characterizes the only other option to mubarak's rule which is the story that he tried to peddle himself he says and he says he'd love to leave the country but he can't for its own stability yet it is he who is unleashing armed gangs on the street were throwing molotov cocktails at people and shooting people so i think he's ultimately trying to answer his own question which is not fair for the people of egypt. looking at one particular faction which could potentially gain power as a result of all of this the muslim brotherhood it says that it will take steps to ensure a peace treaty with israel is actually canceled if it does again how it is this likely to happen do you think should israel be concerned about what's happening outside of its borders reject. well israel is most definitely concerned and i think that's there's no doubt about that i think it's

a bit too far ahead to say what exact role the muslim brotherhood will have in any future coalitional political structure in egypt i think it's interesting to look at what happened in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine in the iranian revolution where by revolution a popular revolution comprised of several more factors than simply islam it's power but it was islamists that were able to consolidate power following the revolution so the muslim brotherhood clearly have a structure of control that allow themselves to continue to exist under the pressures of the mubarak regime that will give them a huge amount of strength going into whatever happens next but it really does come down to the idea of what other groups will be able to speak up for themselves and organize now the whole this peaceful protest so far thing is reflected in a very innate groundswell of ability to organize so i think there's no guarantee that the muslim brotherhood will simply dominate the politics of post mubarak era. from king's college london many thanks for speaking to us. well there's always more news of blogs and feature stories on our website r.t.

dot com available any time you like here's what's online for you right now when it comes to pioneering forms of travel it's always a good idea to aim higher than the competition discover how russia's a new super jet is spreading its wings and taking the world. from bicycles to space exploration and everything in between take a look at a place where the curious confronts us find their thirst for all things scientific . u.s. lawmakers are pushing for renewal of the patriot act which allows security agencies to go through private telephone and e-mail records the majority of congressmen insist the law defends the public from the threat of terror but it can reports many

people view it as a violation of civil liberties. major provisions of the patriot act about to expire are due to be extended by lawmakers brought in by the bush administration as an emergency anti terror measure the act gives sweeping powers to the authorities to spy on people but the u.s. senate's judiciary committee is in a real hurry to rubberstamp rather than discuss and debate the far reaching measures they expire in three weeks and i think there is not time really to go through. a major change in those there was no time either for real debate back in two thousand and one when the patriot act was adopted weeks after the nine eleven attacks according to congressman dennis close senate lawmakers hadn't even read what they were passing what happened once the patriot act was passed the fourth amendment rights to. reasonable certain to be

protected from unreasonable search and seizure just thrown out the congressman was one of the very few who openly oppose the act we have a challenge to the essence of our democracy with the very existence of the patriot act and of course its name the patriot act who would want to oppose the patriot act because it makes it sound as though you're a patriot if you're for it but actually. idea of patriotism to destruction of cherished constitutional privileges needs to shelf to be challenged although lawmakers insisted that the patriot act would be used just for anti-terrorism federal authorities have used its powers far more broadly the senate's intelligence watchdog found that without any judicial checks government employees journalist anti-war activists and others had been spied on over the last six months more than twenty anti-war activists around the country

have been subpoenaed after the f.b.i. raided homes in chicago and minneapolis reportedly using patriot act powers to round up american citizens there's ample reason to believe that when you create massive databases of politically potentially very useful information about both innocent and guilty people eventually someone with access to that information will misuse it and we see all the time how people who become politically engaged politically threatening are subject to disclosures of sensitive information about them the patriot act allows security services to lawfully spiny by wiretapping large groups of phone numbers and monitoring e-mail addresses in ball instead of meeting a warrant each time the national security agency has even intercepted bill clinton's private e-mails later said to be an inadvertent mistake among millions of other pieces of correspondence snooped on a privacy watchdog suggest that since two thousand and one the f.b.i.

has intelligence investigations have compromised the civil liberties of american citizens far more frequently and to a greater extent than was previously assumed supporters of the act say it's needed because of the terrorist threats that we've had thirty six stored in terrorist attacks since nine eleven well do you know for a fact that it was thanks to the patriot act that the attacks were prevented it's difficult to say that for sure because when you look at court records and other documents that are available you can you say in these cases. there were cases where patriot act like tools would be useful and so we can suspect that they were useful and some of them congressman could sanish says the act is supported in congress due to a climate of fear so you have a whole nation of fearful people promoting fear you cannot have a democracy if the democracy rest upon fear you cannot walk in faith in freedom and fear at the same time americans have

a great deal of respect for their founding fathers and one of those wise men benjamin franklin said quote those who give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety and of quote it seems that piece of advice is largely ignored by today's america reporting from washington i'm going to check out our team. a series of ultranationalist the tanks in ukraine has once again shown up a society divided by ideology the west and the east of the country hold very different views on what it is to be ukrainian and as. the reports they're often expressed in violence. an innocent joke or a deliberate disick ration recently activist of a ukrainian radical nationalist party cooped ags in bacon on the eternal flame in caves memorial park a monument to the red army soldiers who died liberating the country from the nazis rather deputy. sees little surprise as to why this happens in more than day ukraine

at the. nation was brainwashed by five years of you should as a rule actions like these are an attempt to write off the sacrifice this country made to be liberated from the nazis in the resulting professions propaganda like the rehabilitation of nazi collaborators like you keep it in bond errors or produce them the two nationalist army leaders to bandung there and i mention kiddish were made heroes of ukraine by former president you sure there are groups are seen by many as nazi collaborators first they fought the german invasion then turned against the soviet troops at times using gruesome tactics against civilians the former president's decision split open ukraine ideologically now with victory on the court which in office the author proved in court that been there had no right to bear the heroic accolades for. the law that only a citizen of ukraine can become a hero and been there wasn't

a ukrainian citizen but the law doesn't matter to some people here they believe the really crane is in the west of the country and they don't want to find any compromise here the court's decision caused a massive public outcry in the west of ukraine and nationalist hotbed from renaming the streets after been there to raising funds for the new monuments people in this part of the country stressed that their loyalty to been there will stand firm. on darryl walls is on the way to be our hero this is what we believe in and no court decision will ever change. but at some point. it's turned into actions nationalist wings organized a series of extremist attacks this summer jean larson back to arc's visit to ukraine the bomb the church and have also vandalized soviet era monuments and the country is left to wonder what reaction would follow should another controversial world war two ukrainian be deprived of fuse hero status on february the sixteenth

accord new key if we decide whether i'm secure which will also be stripped of his medal and while experts say he is most likely to follow been there us footsteps they say no matter their decision ukraine will still remain divided over its perception of the past let's see russia fifty see reporting from kiev ukraine where the news is here on the go in just a few moments where you know be up next through but it is. well welcome to our business program. russia could attract up to thirty billion

dollars of foreign investment in two thousand and eleven and this can happen if all the companies take part in the state privatization campaign hold an i.p.o. this year carol dimitri if president icahn private equity says the goal is achievable. i think thirty billion is a very realistic target and i just came from was in bric countries for very much a focus of the investment targets in russia specifically because of that address the president did of the children there are very media specific interest in investment opportunities in privatization program in beyond the reach of asian programs in russia will do just three examples agriculture is a very interesting sector and we'll all know what's happening to food prices in the world increasing dramatically in russia is one of the most dominant agricultural players infrastructure is definitely a great actress well were awards of infrastructure investment will be happening for the olympic games for the war champions. in shipping ship. and all investments related to middle class which is growing very dramatically in russia so being. lots

of sectors where russian population is growing better purchasing power and can build a very successful investment stories. and let's take a look at the markets and russian markets closed up on the day having climbed for a third day energy majors are the early game goes as all of us trading about one hundred dollars a barrel in london amid political unrest in north africa and the middle east. and all cynical and spare banks both closed trading down on the day after however added close to two percent on both forces after the oil giant stated that its fourth quarter net income saw in nineteen percent jump over the previous three months. star economist nouriel roubini dr doom forecast russia's inflation will hit double digits this year in the first month of two thousand and eleven consumer prices in russia saw its two point four percent hike topping market expectations meanwhile the government's official inflation forecast for two thousand and eleven is still

set for six to seven percent norio roubini explains why inflation is on the rise and how russia needs to pursue economic growth. so far the growth rate. in the recall very has been disappointing and probably because there was excessive amounts of that the leverage in the financial system or parts of the corporate the world so while china india brazil are growing six to eight nine percent and last year that are called video gold shows only around four percent i think that not only that is a rogue or old but compared to other emerging markets inflation dizzy and my reach double digits of ten percent or more and the central bank has been call shows and raising interest rates and inflation might be gold also higher i think that the way that russia has to deal with the fact that they want to get what they need to limit the inflation is to make sure that it was higher and if you make structural reforms if you free ob private enterprise if you make more efficient state than other

enterprises if you have more incentive to run for banerjee then potential growth can be high growth can be and inflation is going to stay on their control. well that's all the news for now but you can always find more stories on our web site that's archie dot com slash business thanks for watching. we'll. bring you the latest in. the in.

the future however. there is hope here in moscow this is protesters in their tens of thousands of crowds cairo's main square calling on the president to step down on what they've dubbed the final friday. so major political figures in the west bank demonstrators trying to oust the egyptian leader leading to criticism that taking some life in an internal uprising. ultra nationalist movements brings harm ukrainian authorities nazi collaborators the stripped of their hero status but their followers refused to give up their ideas. price of freedom for patriotism u.s.

lawmakers are slammed for denying essential civil liberties for the renewal of the patriot act allowing a media unlimited spying on citizens. now if you have a taste for high altitude in a high speed danger all special report is in a free flight. i've never been like this before. so how does it feel. to. these people don't have a runway or how is all that's needed is a steep hillside or with each.