all. the stories that shaped this week egypt for president was in mubarak's resignation preceded by weeks of mass protests is hailed as a triumph for democracy around the world but some point of the pomposity of the west that is back to flying as a dictator for decades. russia's most wanted terrorist still cool bottled claims responsibility for january's bombing at moscow's domodedovo airport the attack killed thirty six and led to intensify checks into security lapses at major transport progs plus. influence on sweden seems to be growing from juliano songs to terrorist acts to nato support when america wants something they get it but why and what's in it for this so-called neutral nation.

welcome to you or to you live from moscow i'm tesser syria now this week has finally seen an end to war then a fortnight of on rest in egypt as the country's president finally decided to step down having powers to the military for a period of transition now on saturday night people in cairo continue to celebrate the rest of the nation for a second day because the mubarak's location is still unclear the contradictory reports suggesting he's either in residence in his residence in sharm el sheikh or he fled to be united arab emirates his resignation on friday was hailed by the u.s. president as a victory for democracy whoever as artie's go and reports washington's thirty year support for the dictator to the sincerity of obama's statement.

hosni mubarak ousted from power is eventually departure not without the help of washington he had a phone call from the white house that persuaded him to leave the former egyptian president left cairo just hours after he addressed the nation saying he was not going anywhere the screws have been put upon him by the on a no doubt by the u.s. state department but it was a very serious raise for washington and in the end they decided it would be safe to dump mobarak in the west mubarak's departure was hailed as a triumph of democracy with the cheerleader in chief buraq obama gyptian said made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day but it's egypt's military largely financed by the united states which will now control the country until it gets used to lose their next president they have a very cool relationship with the pentagon don't always very very close to robert

gates they talked on the phone at least five times this past week or so all because the washington will be supervising any sing that happens that's unlikely to satisfy the overwhelming desire as many egyptians for change which drove the revolutionary events of the past few weeks if you heard the slogans that were being chanted it was egypt egypt egypt meaning we have fed up of being bullied by foreign powers and forced into peace treaties which don't do us any good and our generals bowl to directly with billions of dollars by the pentagon mubarak is yesterday's man for the us now after thirty years of being their top pants man in the arab world when a blind eye was turned in the west to appalling human rights abuses under his rule bigger problem with the us policy and that is cozying up to. dictators in the first place that we really don't need to cozy up to and then when they get into. trouble

we get into this hypocritical position of supporting an autocratic regime when we're spouting democratic rhetoric here in the united states mubarak was kept in power by american support and huge payments to making him one of the richest men in the world some estimates put his while that as much as seventy billion dollars in a country with widespread poverty we had a lot to do with mubarak being in power and staying in power like we subsidize and we own him he's our puppet dictator he does what we tell him because he has so much money he's gotten probably sixty seventy billion dollars and i understand his family probably has sixty or seventy billion dollars stashed away in swiss accounts and other places around the world as yet there's the second largest recipient of american aid in the world after its neighbor is well the us is pumping billions of dollars into the egyptian military which gives washington huge control over the

running of the country and its future now celebrates the end of rule by an autocratic leader restricted political freedoms and economic congress so too did people rejoice for a time on the streets of carriages stan and ukraine in recent years after so-called democratic revolutions with western approval but the leaders who came to power were later rejected by their own people even though there's a lot of celebration and jubilation going on in cairo we don't know really whether the military is going to give up its power and authority and if they do to whom how far will they share or what's going to happen some say the lesson that the west could learn from recent revolutions is to abstain from supporting a leader just based on how convenient they are for the west rather than how much they can do for their people got a check on our t. washington d.c. . william spring of christians against nato aggression says the fact that swiss bankers decided to freeze mubarak's accounts just

a day before his resignation shows a massive about of hypocrisy suddenly the european union wakes up after thirty years to the fact that there'd be major violations of human rights and the swiss government suddenly decides to sequester at somebody assets this is quite an acceptable what are they being doing for the previous thirty years while mubarak was actually torturing people. putting down you know opposition by force we turn it in the last week or so we've seen the degree of the bulb hours of the mubarak regime and suddenly the swiss bank has wake up to the fact that they should see question. what about the assets of other dictators who are still in power no i think it's appalling political unrest is sweeping further through the region as thousands of algerians took to the streets of their capital to demand the resignation of president abdullah as he's beautifully well police detained more

than four hundred demonstrators in clashes across the city algeria has officially been in a state of emergency for nineteen years a lot of authorities to battle public demonstrations where protesters ignored the ruling following uprisings in tunisia and egypt forcing algerian authorities to reconsider the declaration. and coming up in about twenty minutes time r.t. spoke to the voice of the u.s. streets and activist in a political rapper and one who says everything is a place for a vault to happen in america. that of conditions that existed in cairo exist in new york city exist in miami florida they exist in los angeles you have a ruling class with abuse of power i was recently in cairo. i was there on humanitarian aid mission to help the people in gaza in order for us to get to gaza we had to jump in from with rockets and we began to understand that not

only did the government but the controlled by bureaucratic politicians in. israel have a stake in making sure that. the state of interest was the way that it works and that is definitely the situation in the street look at what we have inside the united states. now russia's most wanted terrorists model of claimed the ork he orchestrated the deadly suicide attack on moscow's idea of an airport last month while the incident drew attention to serious lapses in security at transport hubs which as the country's president himself has discovered have it all been addressed. looks at this week's developments russia's most wanted terrorist claims thirty six more innocent lives have been taken by his deadly complain chechen born model said this week he was the mastermind behind january's bombing at the my idea of the war of made the claims in

a video message posted on an extremist website he described the suicide bombing as his special operate and promised more terrorist attacks security experts say the massachusetts in feel says why he's no longer described as just a chechen will lot but as an international terrorist these groups move more fiercely round the world and you know their own down to operate in parts of afghanistan but some have been skeptical whether mark was indeed behind the bombing the terrorist is stalking himself they say as a self-styled bin laden to make sure foreign investments. he's a man who wants to put all the trappings of bin ladin is and if you will a sort of ground zero. to his actions and therefore it's not always clear how much authority he really has in fact from within his own group there was

a rebellion i think august of last year where he resigned and then he remained his resignation and the younger members apparently wanted him out so it's not quite clear where they who is in charge of a barge number of these militant groups or where they can simply putting himself in a position of their own near in order to gain more authority in self meanwhile this week security forces arrested three suspected accomplices of the airport bomber all three are from the north caucasus republic of english and are believed to have known about the attack planned by twenty year old mohammed the evil with a manhunt is on for seven other suspects wanted in connection with the bombing as the security operation gathered pace the president shifted the focus from what has been down to sort out the aftermath of the tragedy what is being done to prevent similar tragedies from happening again and the best thing to do he decided is to go on inspection person. he checked security at one of moscow's busiest railway

stations and was left unimpressed to say the least. i see private security agents here but where is the police and where any metal detectors i don't see them we don't have metal detectors that's true these specs and didn't reveal any city t.v. either and just to compound concerns no police in sight. we've walked through the whole station and i haven't seen a single policeman no police but there's a church shop well at least you have some place to pray. but the time when people relied soley on god not police may finally be over russia's anti terror law is likely to be seriously amended soon just as the country's police force is now undergoing a major overhaul it's hoped the changes to the police will put an end to cop corruption and security lapses exceeding the crash of a r t. well you're with r.t.

and coming your way in a matter of minutes a look at the white of the iraq christians who were forced to flee their homes to escape sectarian violence plus. germany's chancellor is quiz over the deaths of dozens of afghan civilians in an empty taliban airstrike two years ago. now this week we kill leaks founder julian assange face extradition hearings in london or the verdict on whether he will be handed over to sweden for questioning over sex assault allegations is expected later this month and with the u.s. reportedly preparing its own case against assad many are seeing a fair conspiracy between the two countries artes and he said now it has more on the law lasting us swedish cooperation. so we didn't a quiet little neutral scandinavian nation the current foreign policy establishment in sweden has a remarkably close relationship with the united states the country that gave us our

flat pack furniture for dollar meatballs top models and lawn bombshells may not be so neutral after all american influence is everywhere from food to feature films but in sweden it seems to be supersized just the other day the deerhunter film was shown again on swedish t.v. for the. sixtieth time it's an awful film it's the worst propaganda politics through the back door like sweden's times with nato you have the military and some politicians cooperate intensively with the united states the nato and the large mass of the population being totally unaware of the stuff going on but it's not just what swedes are taking in it's also what their leaders are ready to give from julian a song to terrorist suspects to nato support when america wants something they get it but why and what's in it for the so-called neutral nation. all the

benefits of being an intelligence partner of the united states without the baggage of being in nato it's a partnership decades in the making there is been a willingness to. do the errands of the united states over many years from. questions of. making asylum seekers in sweden. both to the cia buddies is particularly strong now with a raid leaning government in sweden and with the u.s. wanting him for spying in sweden wanting him for sex crimes julian a son is wanted by quite a team and the songe wiki leaks case seems to be just the next continuation of this very old intelligence relationship here's some other relationships we dug up julian assange just ticks off the us with fierce reaction from one of the country's most

notorious neo cons is not a particularly credible source and mobile and he is a hero to millions my mind as it is a criminal only ought to be out of delta grabbed him and put on trial for what he used earlier these words from karl rove who claims he's part swedish and just happens to be advising the country's pm while the former swedish minister of justice is a partner in the firm who filed charges against a songe for sex crimes with another link to the us thomas von stroheim is claimed to have handed the cia asylum seekers from sweden who were then tortured the questions about neutrality became even even clearer thanks to some of the documents from exacting with t.v. the big question now is there nuff room in the british justice system to protect julian assange from the united states of sweden america and let him keep blowing his whistle and he's in no way are to stockholm sweden. well the head of the pirate

party laws kay says there's overwhelming support for julian assange a model of the public but that there's a risk he could even end up in guantanamo bay the extradition case is going to be used as an as a pretext by the united states to get hold of julius ceasar which. we think there is a very real danger julian assange could be actually taken to the united states even possibly detained in quantity. and actually basically pursuit of some car. charges it's going to be impossible to see any kind of fair trial or just happen if if june in the sand is going to be diverted to sweden and what i'm seeing in terms of how people respond to the wiki leaks is that actually people overwhelmingly support the freedom of information we can see how the free flow of information has

been absolutely crucial to democracy. and next hour you've got more another legal fight assad could have on his hands this style one of wiki leaks publishing partners the guardian the british newspaper has recently been accused of the back to the leaks and lived with its editorial agenda. now former u.s. secretary of defense donald rumsfeld has lifted the lid on life at the helm of the war on terror by publishing his memoirs and titled known and unknown it charts how he served under two of their can presidents gerald ford and george w. bush or the eight hundred page board defense of the iraq invasion and says one tunnel days detention center provided only effective training intelligence brian becker from the antiwar asser coalition says it's because of what the world now sees america as complicit in the business of torture. he set up an interrogation regime that allowed a starting of course anchoring with

a grave that allowed the american government to be understood by the entire world is nothing but torture inc torture incorporated that he helped set up along with the c.i. a not only not only the guantanamo bay which is the un described as a torture center but all sorts of black cold prisons and secret detention centers where people were horribly tortured and murdered in fact and now he has to describe this is something that was good so of course from the point of view of rumsfeld and bush and cheney they want to rescue their image they want the american corporate media to treat them kindly they want of course as they do constantly to make mega millions of dollars from this kind of promotion but i think the record is so clear the world recognizes the bush administration as nothing but torture it can at the center of that at the center at the top of the command was donald rumsfeld secretary of defense. and while the u.s. officials work to clear their names and justify the human rights loophole of

guantanamo hundreds of thousands of iraqis continue to suffer from the u.s. led invasion now faced with growing sectarian violence and religious persecution iraq iraq's christian minority has little choice but to flee and a sebastian my reports those of chose to remain are putting their lives in danger. every night miriam gets ready for bed with her family but it's not her bed it's not even her house miriam and her family are christian iraqis who have been forced to flee from baghdad to the semi autonomous kurdish region because they become targets of extremist groups in the country in two thousand and seven miriam was hit by a bomb that was planted outside her house the lack i want to put my arms just to buy some chocolate and come back i went out and didn't see anything i just heard the bomb and i fell to the ground and the room was lying in the street with her foot dangling from her leg her father i had rushed outside.

i saw my daughter lying like it was a live and. my daughter was lying in the growing and people were running. everything was covered in dust and charges so i picked up my daughter with her legs dangling i almost lost it i was shaking my daughter she's been hit by a bomb but. luckily i had was able to get her to a doctor who could repair her leg but others have not been so lucky in october last year fifty six people were killed by militants when they attacked the our lady of salvation church in baghdad in the following weeks dozens more were killed in attacks across the country many fear that eventually christians will be driven out of iraq completely of the eight hundred thousand christians in the country before two thousand and three almost half of fled in the past month alone four thousand have moved to the comparative safety of the north. in kurdish region here they can worship and live in peace but in leaving their homes they've lost absolutely

everything many like miriam's father and are forced to make a living cleaning toilets in bars and restaurants these are mostly i served first seven years in the military under saddam hussein i'm an iraqi christian and i don't have a square switch of lines in my name why what's my crime many in the church feel that countries in the west are responsible. some opinion americans are liars we don't trust them their reputation is terrible because everywhere they've been they have light and the us trained the sunni and shia and they just watch while they kill us it is impossible not to see all these murders but they don't get involved. it's the end of a long day and time for the family to go to bed everyone gets ready and eventually the lights are switched off in the darkness and uncertainty miriam and the rest of her family are left to dream about and hope for a better tomorrow sebastian meyer r t so i'm in the iraq. german chancellor

angela merkel faced questioning over a military airstrike which killed scores of civilians in afghanistan almost two years ago well the strike ordered by a german officer after two fuel tankers were hijacked by taliban militants left up to one hundred forty two people dead the majority of them civilians the massacre left the country and allegations every cover up the resignation of dozens of officials including the defense minister the chancellor denied that she had held back the true number of civilian casualties to prevent the loss of votes at a previous election or the questioning came just days after germany voted to extend its presence in afghanistan despite tremendous public opposition only spoke to christophe more style of business and government consultant who says voters have little say anymore. because of nato to put it straight because washington order to be there and that is going to continue no matter that eighty percent of

the german people are opposed to this military to get engaged to the politicians are not listening and that means they must be more afraid of washington than they are filled people and of course this is a very severe. you know political decision to go against your own people is to be elected politician means that our democratic structures are no longer well functioning media are lying constantly about the war our politicians and the whole selection process even of members of parliament to be candidates for to stand for election is not democratic anymore we are killing mostly civilians it's no sign of any better future through nato in afghanistan in fact we are losing this war we are losing the good will of the population. and in our special report later today we find out about a silent casualty of war the environment scarred lads and wounded lives is coming

up next on r.t. . well when one deals with war for us to realize that this tremendous amounts of damage that it done not just human damage but damage to the physical environment in which the battlefield takes place tremendous amounts of damage done by aerial bombs by napalm boy chemicals that whether it's a sonic boom say tractor marine mammals or it's the burning oil fields in the rock or it's destroyed rees in the pacific for women purposes the list just goes on and on the geneva conventions of nineteen forty nine states that are shall be taken in the war to protect the involved against widespread long term and severe damage the united states although it is accepted almost all of the provisions of protocol one has taken exception to that.

well you can catch that documentary next hour but first russia has slammed japan over its radical stance on the coral islands which tokyo claims as its own it came as the japanese foreign minister visited moscow earlier this week. when japan adults are ready. to peace treaty with russia which it is regularly issued by the country's government it's impossible to negotiate these issues i said to mr money. in this peace treaty with no preconditions. the russian proposal to involve leading historians from both sides to help calm dialogue over the territory was rejected nevertheless the two sides decided to work together on nuclear programs and develop business ties all the islands in the pacific ocean were handed to russia as part of

a handover agreement at the end of the second world war however no formal peace deal has ever been signed between the two countries. and now to some other headlines from around the world has declared that material emergency followed the recent influx of over three thousand tunisian immigrants most of the asylum seekers who sailed across the mediterranean in small boats were intercepted by the coast guard and taken to a sicilian island or the government has increased patrols and requested additional aid from the european union the authorities fear further arrivals in the coming days from north africa including algeria and egypt. eleven people have been killed and over twenty five injured in a stampede at a campaign rally for nigerian president goodluck jonathan in the southern city of port harcourt the may have occurred at the city's stadium as the president was addressing the crowd or the panic was reportedly caused by gunshots fired by a police officer into the air aimed at controlling the crowd area has been hit by

a surge of violence in recent weeks in the wake of presidential elections scheduled for april. two more cuban dissidents have been released by the country's communist government as it continues to free officers asked a visit by arrested in two thousand and three more for a construction worker and a journalist had been promised freedom last year but were kept in prison as they refused exile in spain it follows the radius of four other political prisoners earlier this month that two men are among fifty two dissidents president roic ostrow agreed to free last year with seven more are still behind bars. and update on the week's top stories in a few moments. ago

who. are. going. to lead the rally in the beer will. they will wear uniforms that will damage. them but very little damning the wife. and they

are the key to our problem our own writing. wealthy british style. that's not on. the. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on our. line. would be sinless.