marget. find out what's really happening to the global economy because reports on. egyptian president hosni mubarak has seemingly bowed to pressure at home and abroad as he finally resigns following the brutal unrest over the past few weeks. wiki leaks founder julian assange have to wait to hear his extradition fate. hearing into whether he'll be sent on sex crime charges. however may be just a short stop leaked cables uncover an american agenda behind the swedish wiretapping law that might in our washington to press charges.

live from our studios here in central moscow this is r t with you twenty four hours a day good to have you with us this hour so the egyptian president hosni mubarak has finally stepped down and handed power to the military according to the country's vice president bring you live pictures there from caro this resignation comes after more than two weeks of mass uprisings in the country which have been accompanied by a wave of clashes between pro and anti government protesters western powers including the u.s. have been calling for a transition of power decades of. isolation. joined he's going to con there in washington d.c. well considering the involvement the u.s. has in egypt it's no surprise that it's been fairly vocal in these past few weeks so what's the reaction from washington now. well bill in the u.s. it's presented as a triumph of democracy in egypt mubarak left this is what the egyptian people want

it to and that's how it democracy should work that's the rhetoric here president obama is expected to deliver a speech along these lines congratulating the people the media here to celebrate the new and free egypt but little is known about what really happened in cairo last night said in his address he was not leaving until september it's not quite clear why is it that it is his vice president omar suleiman who is announcing his who announced his departure would also happen the army staff is now basically in charge of the country and the army which is largely funded by the united states the question is who is really in power in egypt right now and are the gypsies really free washington can hardly be impartial when it comes to power struggle in egypt it's a strategic location for the united states egypt is a neighbor to has been a close ally for thirty years the u.s. has been pumping billions of dollars into the egyptian military and they certainly

don't want to lose it whoever comes comes next although the official position is it's up to the egyptian people to choose their next leader but some analysts say washington is pulling the strings and it is very likely that the next leader will be approved by the united states but as you talk to us gone are we're showing pictures of those celebrations there in cairo and throughout the country i guess part of the reason the egyptian people have been so successful is that they haven't stood alone in their protests very. well yes the u.s. officials have been saying all the way that the egyptian people demands are legitimate and they would want to see a leader who hears his people's grievances but if you watch american t.v. listen to american politicians it's really all about u.s. interests here not really about egyptians they talk about democracy in egypt but had to walk the walk or say that would be acceptable for the united states we remember what happened with some of the other us promoted democratic revolutions in kurdistan or ukraine. the shots were that we're about to show you right now are

from egypt are not for it they're from ukraine for two thousand and five people on that square also thought there came the triumph of democracy it was a similar uprising in kyrgyzstan quite violent actually people were happy it for years but those leaders who came to power were later rejected by the same people. or thanks very much indeed for that analysis and insight there from washington d.c. no doubt more from you a little later now or to sara first. western influence on the events unfolding there in egypt and the way the situation's developed in the past three weeks. barack his history his steely determination not to resign. as he finally stepped down as president seems a celebration marking an end to the leader's thirty year regime and a new start for the egyptian people. but who ready the west is jumping on the

victory bandwagon claiming this is a successful democracy and trumpeting egypt's new found freedom and perhaps they forgotten that if egypt is now free then it's from a regime that was into recently largely supported and funded by the western leaders who now denounces support. for such a long time. talking about democracy and the right rather than such swift policy u. turns the west might well be better placed to press harder on autocratic regimes such as they restrict political freedoms damage economic progress. progress. for democracy and human rights efficiently.

in the past me parents resignation marks a significant moment in egypt's history and there's no doubt that this is a huge success for the people but this time will also be pivotal in determining their future and a real and enduring political commitment to change and it's now commands rather than time wasting rhetoric however inspiring. terrorist square has been the recent at the center egypt's democratic the stage for the people's revolution and instead of the battle for better governance should speak for its western involvement now needs to tread carefully to ensure that they're encouraging genuine and lasting reform as opposed to simply fueling an impassioned resolution that risks replacing one. for another so. well that's good for the reaction and speak to mark almond he's visiting from the international news from bill can't university in thanks for joining us here on our team do you think that the fact

that barak has stepped down is due to the will of the people there in egypt or could it be as some suggest external power is really behind this uprising and his eventual resignation wherever it is certain to decision to step down was obviously caused by the furor that he sparked in washington having made president obama and i took the head of the sierra nevada who just said he. announced his resignation although certainly loud aggression to be good and so america must have been working the phone lines not just mubarak to clear to the generals to press him to go and in a sense one problem with people power of lucian's is that we can see that a lot of people have a lot of reasons for grievances and explaining them and putting them out in very loud slogans of course but it's also part going on behind the scenes one problem is we don't really know who represents the protest they all are united by saying get rid of the bar but who do they want to replace who does the west who do the generals face are we going to see the horse move. or could we see something that's

workers and. somehow going around in one thousand nine hundred nine when there was a mark between sharleen the country. so do you think after asking all of those questions there is a chance of getting another mubarak back in office that. well you know since there may be a problem a breakdown of law and order breakdown of control we saw some of that a few days ago what happens if the army has to step in to control the situation a little old what happened for instance if the economic position continues to get worse the whole a big problem why so many people are happy because you had corruption of the elites that ordinary people are free to tribes in whom. this new solution offered dr el baradei the various spokesman who have painted the opposition have really concentrated simple message mubarak must go but it could radicalize revolution when people have expected everything to do better but in fact the economy will still get

worse for the nicely months even if the wisest possible regime this is all up to the military though isn't it as we could see that many people saying that he was forced out by the military some i even say that it was in effect a military coup so the military will be there to stay for quite some long time whitney so in effect it will be a military state but this i think is the problem we might now see managed elections hind all the rhetoric about democratizing long last will be built and their collections and. we rarely see a genuine choice there are no real parties with any popular base apart from the muslim brotherhood there are no real politicians who have any kind of profile outside a very small circle of people so it's very difficult to imagine what will happen if you have elections in a few months time and so the risk must be the people who really control state the leaders of power that's the general will be able to put somebody they want in a figurehead i know could have a kind of shadow democracy but in reality behind the scenes. i just want to quickly

ask you finally you were mentioning earlier that the the corruption of the elite in the way that so much of the the money which has been bankrolled by the u.s. and other countries into the regime never reach the people and a great cause of concern this corruption issue there are reports now of mubarak's assets being frozen by the swiss authorities now. do you perhaps think this is a way of the u.s. and the other countries response of this regime of a way of getting their money back. well they may get their money but the great problem is whether the egyptian people will see any money or see any. protection of so many of these great people power revolutions going but when the dust settles people discover but their lives have been made much better than just a change of pace is when. you need a regime that actually doesn't have swiss francs accounts from the moment gets the money back from a previous ruler but so it can really interesting to hear what you have to say and we appreciate you joining us live here in r.t.

mark almond visiting professor in international relations from bill kent university there in ankara thank you thank you one hour let's cross live to a british journalist and it was correspondent who's going to be joining us here now on r.t. yvonne ridley there in london thanks so much for joining us well it's a remarkable development of events there in karachi less than twenty four hours ago the president the power up there he was vowing he was going to go nowhere so what do you think changed his mind so suddenly. i think that he had a phone call from the white house that persuaded him to leave the problem facing a dictator like mubarak is that when you have many billions stashed away. he obviously had to seek assurances that wouldn't be frozen much has happened in switzerland to save hurt already there are lots of things that i think he's had to sort out in the suburbs they've been a lot of deals going on behind the scenes but at the end of the day the victory is

with the people they got their way i was in tahrir square just on tuesday and it was and the electric atmosphere the scenes from last night i really. felt for the people but today they got their rewards. that patience paid off but will it pay off in the future as we're listening to our correspondent in washington a little earlier there are some people who liken what's happening to happening in egypt to what happened in those so-called colored revolutions and kind of gets done in ukraine where eventually we've seen political turmoil is it really good news for the long term for the egyptians. i think it is because they get an egyptian is that they are in tahrir square and i met many of the leadership very intelligent they're not stupid they've seen what has happened in the past they know their history well

. they still want to see a complete and to this current regime they know very well what they don't want. they determined to get every member of this brutal regime out and then they will start building for that future that way and hopefully. without western interference is that really realistic to think that every member of this past regime when we see the vice president omar suleiman he was the one who was making the announcement the fact that mubarak was stepping down in effect only not seeing somebody here making a grab for power. well if he's making a grab for power that he's most stupid the mubarak people if. they know what they want. notice that the signs and the posters and the banners clearly said not only not barak out they want the regime so this is what the people want it's taken

them seventeen eighteen days to get barak out it's been a long struggle. you know determined to get the rest. can i quickly ask you and finally there you were as you say in caro a momentous occasion many people saying this is going to be an incredible positive effect for the country but what about the implications for the rest of the middle east we seen almost a domino effect here haven't we egypt yemen what's next. well when the people who lead the lead decide the have to start following and listening and old they will become irrelevant like mr mubarak tonight a solemn warning to every dictator out there who thinks that might is right that. they today the power is with the people. great to hear what you have to say yvonne ridley joining us live there in london british journalist thank you for joining us

here on r.t. thank you. well just to let you know that peter lavelle will have more on the resignation of the egyptian president that's in his show crosstalk that's coming up a little later here and also here's a brief preview for you. there's a long ways to go this is the beginning of a very long term process and really we've witnessed the first internet revolution we've seen the first indication in an age of facebook twitter instantaneous communication the internet autocracies are inherently unstable they can't sustain themselves not one that the interior has not changed i want to enjoy it are sure. susan go right ahead this is crosstalk you can jump in anytime you want. i'm sorry so i wanted to say you know this is not a facebook or twitter revolution i think that's a very very oriental is sort of the american way of looking at this is an addiction revelation it was a revolution of the people. well

the news today the verdict in the high profile case of the wiki leaks founder has been adjourned for two weeks during the saunter appeared in court in london on friday as he continues his battle against extradition to sweden where he faces questioning of a sex crime on occasions and claims a case we fabricated for the u.s. for new sweden to hand him over on espionage charges auntie's nor emmett has been keeping track of developments from outside the court. all we're waiting for now is the verdict and that is due to be delivered we now know on the twenty fourth of february so in a couple of weeks' time we were hearing today the closing statements made by bass the defense and the prosecution and now the judge is going to presumably retired to his chambers to two weeks to think about the evidence that he's heard and then come up finally with a verdict stay on the twenty fourth of february we're not expecting that to take very long literally everyone will just go ahead and the judge judge will tell us what he saw he says in terms of what we've been hearing on friday morning we essentially heard summaries of the evidence from the prosecution and from the

defense i prosecution has maintained all along and maintained again today that there's no reason why us all shouldn't go to sweden to all answer those questions during the news about this payment due to nationalise came out of the court and made a short statement to the media he used that statement to highlight what he called the injustices of the european arrest warrant under which his extradition is being requested let's hear what he had to say that gives me hope that we can through this particular case. not simply draw attention. to the difficulty and the pressure. that we and other people have been under. but rather. perhaps we have an opportunity. to set a new president. about the abuses of european arrest warrant we had some quite graphic details from the defense about these alleged assaults

sort of all. mais making light of the of these allegations as the prosecution said talking about the sexual encounters that took place with two women in august and we also heard an angry statement by the defense solicitor about comments that the swedish prime minister has made recently about unionist on the defense coolth that a devastatingly prejudicial attack and said that the swedish pick prime minister had spread malicious lies about you and us are suggesting that he believes that women's rights of worthless and also suggesting that he's already been charged with these this rate which in fact is not the case at all in any decent country the rule of law is separate from the political process it appears that in sweden it is norms and not the prime minister has i am afraid to say so or to change the legal process just one more example of the point exceptional behavior in the julian

a solid case another factor this is also a case that has descended at times into farce and today is no exception there's a new book out by a man called daniel don't cite burke who used to work with student ourselves at wiki leaks and he is essentially written a book about our sons and his relationship with him and he says that as always has an emperor complex that he wants to be the king and the old powerful person you know everything and he also alleges that a son has turned into the sort of man that he used to hate the sort of man that he used to want to bring to justice but the most bizarre thing about the allegations that dumpsite burke has made is something to do with his cat he said that our sons lived with him for a while envies thought in germany and that has a cat which julian and sid into a war of suprema see where the senshi attacking the cat and then pulling back saying he would win sometimes the cat one sometimes i saw one and he says that that shows that ourselves is some kind of power hungry maniac we haven't heard any more about the espionage charges that the u.s. is said to be preparing again. but we do know that politicians and other people in

the u.s. have come out very much against him in terms of the relationship between sweden and the u.s. which is of course what all this hinges on essentially if you look at it from that perspective we have had access to some wiki leaks cables from the u.s. state department they told us some very interesting things about the relationship exists cozy relationship between the u.s. and suisun i prepared this report on the subject bugged and wiretapped at the behest of the us swedish intelligence service the f. are a has the power to monitor and intercept all internet traffic in the country and thanks to leaked u.s. state department cables we now know the controversial law was adopted after pressure from washington and the security services were deliberately kept out of it to reassure swedes there was no funny business force to operate under strict data storage and protection citizens are concerned that the public may perceive their

involvement as an attempt to work around these restrictions by using a foreign intermediary those poisoning any chance for success the u.s. interest is clear eighty percent of all the internet traffic from russia travels through sweden and from there to america but most men from by by government representatives that no no no the purpose is not. just the morning monitor among other things. traffic but what kind of information are they are worth i think the information that is made excess will special services by this law is of course sensitive and there are ways it can harm russia's political interests. the law has been slammed by some as the most far reaching eavesdropping plan in europe and prompted widespread protests ahead of its implementation cables also suggest the swedish government was colluding with the u.s. to avoid involving the public at all. costs. the agreement may have to be presented

to parliament and a vague constitutional requirement for matters of great importance if so the process will take considerably longer and be subject to public scrutiny something the government of sweden will want to avoid as the ministry of justice continues to analyze the proposed text it is also considering how to craft in a range meant that will avoid the need for parliamentary review there is no parliamentary control over what the. us. and of course the general public in sweden has even less control and much of the pressure coming from the united states and from the corporate industries it's being in the swedish government the more than happy to. to to do whatever these american corporations. ask through the american government judging from the date on the leaked cables while sweden was debating whether to pass the bell the americans were already negotiating with the

swedish authorities on what kind of information they wanted they see the twenty third meeting as an opportunity to seek precise details on the type of information the united states wants and overall a movie agreement and it's clear the u.s. ended up getting what it was after at least in terms of information on the eighty percent of russian internet traffic that passes through sweden our intelligence cooperation with sweden on brusha is excellent do you need a direct left turn in general burgess will be here next week for exchanges with the swedes on russia and of the topics now it's not just information on russia that the u.s. is after it's reportedly carrying out its own investigation into wiki leaks founder julian assange still siv all this information to see if it can bring espionage charges if it can and applies to sweden first extradition all this close cooperation that we've seen may mean his feet won't touch the ground you know and

it's r.t. . well the leader of sweden's part party rick fulk says wiretapping by sweden has dealt a tremendous blow to the country's reputation as a human rights campaigner. has done tremendous damage to sweden's reputation as an up holder of human rights it's quite potentially the most egregious violation of human rights in western europe in terms of wiretapping i mean it's said that every human being have human rights and here comes the swiss government saying no no no no we're not going to wiretap any swedes well it so happens that all humans have human rights including particularly for some reason the government says the target of this is going to be russia primarily like swedes wouldn't care about. russia will not tolerate japan's radical approach towards the far east including lines which tokyo claims and its own moscow's official stance comes as the japanese foreign minister is in the russian capital for talks and in two hundred to be sure

is part of the capitulation agreement has the second world war were no formal peace deal has ever been signed between the two countries has the details. no radicalism and preconditions that's the message from russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov right after his meeting with his japanese counterpart if you pour the full when japan adults are radical approach towards the peace treaty with russia which happens regularly and is shared by the country's government he's impossible to negotiate these issues i said to mr million here and that we're still ready to work on the peace treaty but with no preconditions the table through dispute between russia and japan over the south and crew islands has been going on for over half a century now and swears up every year during these so-called northern territories the in japan tokyo claims that these southern crew islands are traditionally and

historically japanese territory while russia says that they are a strategic partner for russia and that is one of the outcomes of the second world war so we continue standing firm on their positions but nevertheless both sides said that they are ready to talk more about this issue and also to work together in many others years from culture and energy to business of course which is only growing every year. well now to bring you up to date for the moment just turning twenty six minutes past the hour here in the russian capital on the back at half past the hour with a summary on the news stories business is next with dmitri. welcome to business so it seems good to have your company nor snicket was trying once again to resolve the shareholder dispute that's dogging the company russia's largest miners made an improved offer to buy twenty percent of its shares from element giant roussel for twelve point eight billion dollars and assemble the miner to buy

all twenty five percent of resell shares for twelve billion dollars which was promptly rejected resale says it's considering the new offer no nichols other major shareholder into ross has been fighting with herself for control of the company since june and a further blow to on friday resell lost a court case filed in siberia to cancel norris nichols election of interest backed board members took a look at russia's stock markets and they recovered and is off to three days of losses on friday that was helped by a strong will rise in the session following the equity markets close boils leave one percent as egypt's president mubarak stepped down too late for shares here to react. enormous nicol rallied the most in five weeks trading after the company increased its offer to buy back its shares from who sell shares closed up one percent on the news that gas from sold its ten percent stake in the gas producer for a first two percent discount but gazprom came under pressure as investors showed their

displeasure at the deal those shares recovered towards the end of friday's session . of course that's a very negative and it's was taken by the markets very negative. so i think the markets actually are on friday punished for this news but again as i said before guestroom was a very big story so this year we expect. still the stock is seriously underweight by international. and the stars and with two thousand and twelve will be changing here in the sense that the negative cup which will be changed. and i think it will rated this year. markets will be reacting i will direct imposable it so for now the headlines are next to us.

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