dot com. this week's top stories here on r.t. leader steps down handing power to the military after weeks of violent protests while western powers hailed it as a triumph of democracy analysts wonder if an external agenda could be behind the events. russia's the most wanted terrorist who claimed responsibility for moscow's deadly blast in january the attack exposed the lapses in the country's security at major transport hubs. julian assange is in legal limbo waiting to see if he'll be extradited from london to stockholm to face questions over sex crime allegations his supporters claim it's washington's attempt to ensnare him.

with the week's top stories here with r.t. well eighteen days of unrest across egypt finally came to an end as the country's president eventually surrendered his powers to the military the army has since formed a supreme council and begun taking down the makeshift tents rather in cairo's tahrir square all of this in an attempt to return things to normal the council has now dissolved the previous parliament and suspended the constitution the president's resignation on friday was hailed by the u.s. president as a victory for democracy however. nature can report washington's a long term of support for the ousted president as many questioning the sincerity of obama's sentiment. hosni mubarak out from power is

eventually parcher now 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 a by the on a no doubt by the u.s. state department it was a very serious risk 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 projections have 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 egyptians choose 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 or 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 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 imp. our buy american support and huge payments to making him one of the richest men in the world we had a lot to do with mubarak being in power and staying in power like we subsidize and we own him these are puppet dictator he does what we tell him because he gives 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 in other places around the world as if this is the second largest recipient of american aid in the world after its neighbor israel the u.s. 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 progress so too did people rejoice for a time on the streets of carious then 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. well the mood of discontent in the region has also been spreading to algeria where thousands gathered to demand the resignation of president abdullah is easy to flick up more than thirty thousand policemen are being deployed to prevent an uprising similar to what happened in egypt hundreds of demonstrators have been detained in clashes across the capital algiers the country has been under

a state of emergency for ninety days allowing of course used to out of all public demonstrations in the way called. the government said it would lift emergency rule . were you watching r t it's good to have you with us today with much more ahead for you this hour including american dream or american nightmare cities across the u.s. are hard hit as the government faced with. vital services. and with more guns per person than any other european country many swifts are wondering if it's time to finally say of. the problem of underage drinking that youngsters are finding it easy to buy spirits without being asked for id. law enforcement is leaving the country with thousands of teenage alcoholics. well this week one of the world's most wanted terrorists. claimed responsibility for the

suicide attack on moscow's busiest airport last month the deadly bombing drew attention to serious security lapses at transport hubs switch as president here they've discovered himself haven't all been addressed. reports. russia's most wanted terrorist claims thirty six more innocent lives have been taken by his deadly complain chechen born said this week he was the mastermind behind january's bombing at the idea of the airport when one 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 enforces why he's no longer described as just a chechen warlord but as an international terrorist these groups. around the world you know their own downfall shouldn't operate in parts of afghanistan but

some have been skeptical whether mark was indeed behind the bombing the terrorist is talking himself up they say as a self-styled bin ladin to make sure foreign investments. he's a man who wants to put all the trappings of bin ladin ism if you will a sort of ground. to his actions and therefore it's not always clear how much authority he really has in fact from within his own group and there was a rebellion i think 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 can directly is in charge of a barge a 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 him 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 wrote evil with a manhunt is on for seven other suspects wanted in connection with the bombing at the security operation gathered pace the president shifted the focus from what has been down to sort out the own. so much of the tragedy what is being done to prevent similar tragedies from happening again the best thing to do he decided is to go on inspection personally. 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 are any metal detectors i don't see them we don't have metal detectors that's true these factions didn't reveal any c.c.t.v. either and just to compound concerns no police in sight. we've gone through the whole station and i haven't seen a single policeman no police there's

a church 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 so 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. are teeth. and is now at ten minutes past the hour here on the russian capital the extradition hearing of wiki leaks founder julian assange has now been adjourned until the end of february he appeared in court in london on friday as he continues to fight against extradition to sweden where he faces questioning of a sex crime allegations he claims that the case has been fabricated so the u.s. can use sweden to get its hands on him and he said now explores cozy relationship between washington and stockholm. sweden

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 stored on. meatballs top models and long 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 deer hunter film was shown again on swedish t.v. for the. sixtieth time it's an awful film it's the worst propaganda of politics through the back door like sweden's ties with nato you have the military and some politicians cropping intensively with the united states and with nato and the large mass of the population being totally unaware of all the stuff going on but it's not just what swedes are taking in but also what their leaders are ready

to give from julian a son 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 they get. 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. a willingness to. do the errands of the united states over many years from. questions. making asylum seekers in sweden. both to the cia freddy's is particularly strong now with a right leaning government in sweden and with the us wanting him for spying in sweden wanting him for sex crimes julian assange 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 ticks off the us with fierce reaction from one of the country's most notorious neo cons is not a particularly clear. source and love and he is a you know tamil bloodline as it is a criminal only ought to be hunted down and grabbed and put on trial for what he has done hear 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 songs 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 questions about neutrality became even even clearer thanks to some of the documents from exactly within. the big question now is there enough 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. the head of the pirate party laws says that sweden may become just a brief transit stop before sarge is handed over to the united states the extradition case is going to be used as an as a pretext by the united states to get hold of judea sarge and we think there is a very real danger going to be actually taken to the united states even possibly detained in quantity. and actually basically pursuit of some kind of espionage charges it's going to be impossible to see any kind of fair trial or just it's happen if if june in the sand is going to be extradited to sweden

and i was what i'm seeing in terms of how people are spawned ng 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. you can find out. the. guardian. collaborate. with. that's coming your way in the next hour when. we look at the plight of christians. being continuously targeted by extremist groups. with the russian government trying to rein in the country's excessive drinking it seems that it's maybe missing the real root of the problem. found out how russians you may be under the age limit but

are often drinking. these teenagers just may be russia's future and it's looking rather bleak. the problem is that's kids start drinking around fourteen fifteen years of age regularly dependence it takes a few years to four so when they are brought. into being for not always we can pull them out of this tough situation according to n.g.o.s there are anywhere from twenty to sixty thousand in the country and many blame the fact that it's far too easy for a teenager to buy alcohol legal drinking age in russia is eighteen years old so how easy is it for a teenager to get his or her hands on some hard liquor we're going to follow a couple of them through a russian youth organization into that liquor store right across the street which is one of the largest supermarkets selling. to find out whether or not they will be successful in getting their hands on a couple of bottles of whiskey we've been in with

a hidden camera but the experiment didn't work the first time around so no go hear the teenage girls were not sold any alcohol they were asked for identification when they didn't provide it they were refused service but we're going to go to another place just down the street and see what they will be able to get some vodka. or beer there. sure enough each of them had no trouble getting here from this. point confronted this is woman got defensive but didn't seem to faze breaking the law would have never been go go how many times even we tell you not to sell alcohol to the under-aged and you still continue to do that. unfortunately practically every second or supermarkets sell cigarettes and alcohol to adolescents and we have to make positive tendencies to russian parliamentarians have been trying to implement stringent punishments for those who sell alcohol and cigarettes to minors but so far there has been very little progress parents are responsible for the

children until they turn eighteen and i think if we make parents pay a fine when the kids are good drink we will raise the level of responsibility because presently teenagers do all these things practically with a parent's permission to use chorus several routes of this rebel alcohol became an intrinsic part of the russian culture after world war two we have a tradition to drink for any reason and that's a huge problem we need to tackle fortunately many youngsters themselves realize the scope of the problem. they want to relax to feel grown up but i don't think if you drink two three bottles of beer you automatically become an adult as things stand there is little consequence or punishment for kiosk or store owners willing to cash in on minors health but it could be the country's future at stake it even goes corti. well you can always find more and have your say on the stories we're covering up to be found on our website dot com let's check out

a few of the items waiting for you want like the euro two thousand and twelve championship promises a new wave of excitement and a brand new soundtrack find out about the traditional instrument which struck a chord with fans. and months of space travel are finally about to. ok off with the landing on the red planet find out how the crew of the simulated mission preparing to go where no man has gone before. you with the law from moscow as the u.s. economy struggles in the wake of the downside that many states strapped for cash written city with orders are having to cut back on queue services lauren list explores how budget cuts seem to be pushing the american dream further and further

away from reality. yes exactly it's the reality america cannot escape with the city's roughly two hundred eighty million dollars debt more and more people are talking about bankruptcy news of debt like that hitting cash strapped cities and states all over the country altogether it could amount to two trillion dollars and a bill many may not be able to pay the problem of the state and local debt is more serious than the real estate bubble serious because with millions of americans still unemployed and losing their homes there isn't enough taxpayer money to pay creditors local governments which aren't allowed to operate in the red must come up with the cash this means some may be choosing between default or devastation in many cases it will be fairly simple for cities to cut services before they actually default on their debt cities and states coast to coast seem to be trying this route

and the toll it's taking on the streets of america is undeniable i can do new jersey is the second most dangerous city in the country we didn't see many cops on the streets to begin with and now. any the city's had to lay off nearly half of their police force in detroit a city where people have been too broke to bury their dead the city's too broke to repair dying infrastructure to fix roads or lights in the desert state of arizona cuts have been a matter of life and death. governor jan brewer taking a lot of heat over the death of another transplant patient after the state cut funding for the operations here in new york city huge piles of garbage like this one are all over city streets this city's behind on picking up trash after getting behind cleaning up after our snowstorm public officials blame that on any number of reasons but one accusation that keeps coming up is this is the result of budget

cuts cuts have consequences you can't just sort of cut and there isn't enough wasteful spending so to speak to cut you actually do have to cut services that people depend on analysts say the slashing will amount to an increase in unemployment and a lowering of wages dragging more americans down and the economy with it while the prospect of bankruptcy is threaten the pensions of public workers and may cause a run on municipal bonds so that will push the city counties over the over the cliff in the past not the solution either scenario seems to be causing a widespread decline in the american city once relegated to ancient history it's a feedback towards economic shrinking downsizing and the urban ization exactly the same thing happened in the roman empire when in the end broom was left almost a deserted city and all of the production shifted back onto the land that's faced here although the land in this case looks like it'll be abroad rather than in the united states as investment pleased to other countries threatening to take with it

the american dream lauren lyster r.t. new york. well political activist and one says many americans are ready to take action against their government our interview is coming up for you later this hour but here's a preview. we have young african black and brown. community colonial subject being sat down in the street and an obsessive kind of way fifty shots sixty sets laying on a. stomach in our back as we ride or as we walk or flee in retreat from the scene this is an abuse of power which is a powder keg party with we said no and we discussed our already the jobless rate we've discussed already the idea that there's a crisis even in the ideology of america and who would be the next to lead so there isn't a competition about that happening as well that people are charged people are charged

and are waiting to jump into action. that interview with rapper and one is coming up for you next hour in approximately about an hour and ten minutes from now now switzerland is holding a referendum on the long standing tradition of keeping guns at home following military service opinion polls suggest the country is evenly divided on the issue but anti gun supporters are citing switzerland's rate of firearm suicides as the highest in europe however the debate goes much further with many people questioning whether the country with its image needs armed forces at all parties to australia has more. training for combat preparing for war. except these soldiers are from neutral switzerland and are unlikely to ever experience wartime combat more and more the country centuries old militia is being challenged the swiss are voting on the longstanding tradition of keeping

a government issue weapon at home as part of military obligations public outcry about high rates of far suicide and lot of calls to tighten gun ownership regulations but the militia and the country's beloved village shooting clubs under fire whatever the result it's just the tip of the iceberg of a much bigger battle local activists likely stuff by day has been pushing for a complete abolition of the armed forces as normal cold war we totally surrounded by the european union which is. militarily speaking totally friendly so we have no war so the army has no reason to be no enemy just the tradition do you think that's what someone should have an army. for. you know it. just makes fun you know. just play a bit more but we don't. we don't need. a nine hundred eighty nine referendum on

the issue revealed that more than a third of the swiss are in favor of dissolution a figure significant enough to pressure the government to take some action to rein in military activity the size of the army and its budget while still a substantial four point five billion dollars have been cut and the option of joining the civil service instead was introduced. there is a political clout which means that the parliament is made rich people and rich people or an army they feel because they feel insecure there's still about two hundred thousand army personnel with compulsory military service for swiss males and private gun ownership for all conscripts living up to a local saying switzerland does not have an army it is an army not a pleasant prospect for young draftees like adrian feller who just don't see the point. to shoot. this will more. or.

in my opinion an army to get some kind of false security you say well i saw what the army can do and they can't do anything against terrorism they can't do anything against social problems and disorder so why should we lose every year about five billion of swiss francs for something to help us solve the problems we have the arguments are there get the swiss where jordi still can. not imagine a nation without their men in uniform. not only the political left subordinate militia and we're still a minority in this country it's hard to convince the population because it's really a tradition that isn't deeply rooted in this league. there's the rise of political islam and demagogy each one is leading. many swiss feel that abolishing the armed forces is a kid's a letting go of a tradition of losing that sense of security real or imagined so does

a neutral country with no enemies really need an army while support for abolition is elusive the question has been asked and the debate is about to continue just are still here r.t. switzerland. your thought a lot from moscow i'll be back with a recap of the week's top stories and just a few moments. this

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