jail sentence that disagree with the fish operation of the events this polanski this is a member of the vilna city council and says soviet soldiers were responsible basing my opinion on the witness list and on the book which was published by the former head of parliamentary the national security committee chair so he wrote in his book and nobody denied that but from the start our representatives of libyan authorities where shooting down into the crowd. and other businesses where i know who lived in that area and still live pointed to bell's houses here on the roofs of which houses better people for their shooting and they saw them. fresh opinions on historical events and nothing unusual based on newly discovered evidence others merely conspiracy theories what's different is that mr polanski is his argument that it

was lift gunman that were responsible could land him in jail i am facing a charge of. up to two years in prison i mean i may receive a fine for up to two years in prison i think this is absolute from term in terms of human rights and freedom of opinion absurd or not it's the law in the few ania that was just because boards are part the lithuanian penal code provides for criminal responsibility for the public denial of genocide crimes against humanity or war crime rules people who believe so these crimes are more victims should be held responsible as the nine hundred ninety one aggression against lithuania and its citizens falls under the definition of a war crime because as an elected official mr play at this is a mune from prosecution however he has waived this right and is prepared to stand trial local historians question plaits cases sources and back. the official version

of events. on the one hand there were civilians who wanted self-determination on the other hand there was military might in my assessment the events of january nine hundred ninety one were an attempt to solve a problem with the use of force claimed innocent lives. but should questioning history bring with it a criminal investigation. i don't think that this is a reason for a person to be prosecuted it's his personal opinion your thirties have overreacted but it's up to the lawyers to decide it's a provocation but it's based on certain logic lithuanian authorities did make attempts to provoke the soviet authorities and compel them to start solving the lithuanian issue. should he be found guilty by the courts in his native lithuania and gladys polanski says he will appeal to the european court of human rights an appeal he's convinced would be carried out from a jail cell history may not agree with the opinion of mr polanski when it comes to

the events of january one thousand nine hundred however those same historians are unsure whether it's the role of the legal system to determine who can say what about the circumstances of the deaths of fourteen people here and illness peter all over r.t. lithuania. nowadays we live and information age and the era of the internet but for many people around the world russia remains a mysterious and misunderstood land it's often portrayed as an evil totalitarian state where only vodka helps people survive the eternal winter you've got this kind of reports it seems a foreign media finds dated caricature is a better story than twenty first century truth. two decades have gone since the cold war ended but it's ghost seem to be alive and well in some western waters but it's the way russia has presented is often one sided or plain negative and if there's no proof sometimes authors just refer to

their own previous publications it's absurd that. translates foreign articles and blogs for a news website so russians can read for themselves how their country are seen abroad and quite often this is what she has to deal with. paranoid mischievous and heading in the wrong direction russia is an awkward prospect for barack obama russia the totalitarian regime in thrall to it's our who is creating the new fascist empire russia is institutionalizing a state gangster culture which promises repression and ultimate economic failure for itself perhaps during the called war of the iron curtain which either blocked or distorted most of the media reports made it easier to create a specific image of an isolated state but times we have changed most foreign press has all been available either in its original language or in translation to anyone with access to the web the nonprofit internet domain in

a forum publishes daily translations of water goes about russia from ten countries and other material from up to ninety others. and judging by what's written russia is still often seen as a vodka drinking beer overrun by mafia seeking world domination. president's made the video in obama has been pushing horror that we stored in relations but it is the western press deliberately avoiding a restart of its own because cold war stereotypes are simply easier to sell. the press as a hostage of macdonald is ation a product has to be easily understood and quickly consumed and if the reader is developing intellectual obesity it's his problem as long as this type helps make some money and boost ratings the ruling war over twenty years ago but perhaps some coverage just doesn't want to let the facts get in the way of a good story why do i tell you all the stuff you go to school of moscow.

still to come for you a little bit later in the program here on our team hungry for change spiraling prices are seen as a key trigger behind the rallies rolling across the middle east we look at which countries could be next. and with speculation of a change of the top among the occupying forces what mistakes are still prevailing in afghanistan. ball in the middle east and the government demonstrations have spread to libya with hundreds of people taking to the streets in the first sign of the country's unrest the uprisings in tunisia and egypt to triggered a domino effect of protests calling for reform all across the arab world and in the rain to protesters were killed and several others wouldn't even violence there police had to use tear gas and buttons to disperse the crowd during three days of unrest in iran members of parliament called for the execution of opposition leaders

they say orchestrated protests on monday that sought to kill president ahmadinejad also vowed to punish the organizers of the us strongly back to the opposition and in egypt still recovering from strikes interim power is now in the hands of the military which is reworking the constitution let's get more details on this now we're joined live from india by a middle east expert dr charlie good to see you so after the uprising in tunisia and egypt the revolt is just rolling through the middle east including iran now although they could be varying issues on this political issues economic issues what do you think the likely outcomes of this domino effect. all of the good looks to me you know you when you we're in the making because democracy is often happened in such a sincere or are small period of time you find a number of countries falling like dominoes towards a particular. samuel huntington called these three leaders and i've been writing

about the our people of the last month and i believe that we are on the precipice of another that we. might relieve the political and the internal. arrangements of politics within in the across the out of work now when you talk about geopolitical issues let's take a bit of a broader stance here because the middle east is digitally a very vital position for the u.s. do you think is there a contradiction do you think between america's support for demonstrators and its own best case agenda whether we're talking about egypt or whether we're talking about iran. well you know so i think there's a few other. proceed involved in this because on the one hand they have taken out pretty much our hands off approach to be cautious of the you can people who look for immediate. removal of mr mubarak we have seen over the last two weeks how many capri very trying to contain the crises and just to have mr mubarak at the

helm while on the other hand there is an increasing pressure especially. less from the government side more from the press and there are certain sections off more than five going parky who are hell bent on raising the question of opposition in iran and going to change in that country so you will realize here that builders are going standard play and this has clearly to do we are here political calculations that involve america's relations in israel and he's rich princes in the region so double standards at play here geopolitical influences as well do you think these middle east countries will end up with a possible a western style democracy as envisaged by washington and other western european powers or could we see something quite different quite unpredictable perhaps something some totally new revolutionary form of government. well i mean the turkish model is quite interesting because turkey has managed to marry radical

islam forms of let's try to democracy and i think generally do moderate to aspire to for egypt five even you are going to yemen and others like libya are going to be mentioned now that you don't use your example or certainly one what i mean you're doing it some modernizing one but at the same time does not give you a pretty special to value keeps be socially and the political structure and so i'm going to pour money now some of these are involved so whether egypt iran grain i mean certainly they are rippling across the region but some of them have been joining comparison with the so-called color revolutions of the posts of u.s. states and america's suspected a possible role in those revolutions that you think the u.s. is playing a similar role in north africa. well i think they have been quite wrong filtered this time because i want to lucia look pretty much engineer. who is effort to

really listen and you'll know what to do so or democracy promotion. of the interview was acted more like saboteurs rather than rather than say do you support us. because lucian is god here ukraine can you start i think eventually figured you were genuine democracy because these were indeed from washington d.c. well even tunisia and egypt was actually going on worse with the americans not a lot of happening back there having intelligence committee hearings in the us congress as to what went wrong and why we could not even sense that this was coming and so in this case i need is much more endogenous sense. generator and therefore it is more hopeful and what supporting rather than be dubious color revolutions of the past especially during the bush administration. fascinating inside the middle east expert with us throughout my childhood from the gentile school of international affairs thank you. well the egypt protest may have ended as

a demand for democracy but it was the cost of putting food on the table that actually drove many on to the streets food prices that became overwhelming for ordinary people and it's a problem being seen all across the world correspondent came forward takes a closer look. in egypt the revolution took to the streets. but it may have started at the table when food prices began skyrocketing for the more than forty percent of egyptians living on less than two dollars per day. and it isn't just egypt around the world where there are billion people who are already hungry they spend more than half of their money on food so these these kinds of huge world crop price increases can translate in twenty or thirty percent or more increases in their cost of. food prices rapidly rising beyond the levels of the two

thousand and eight food prices are forcing americans to make tough decisions at the cash register to hit the price could go and then we have to really have to learn how the if of that them do things. because they don't know we don't get a raise to go on a everything and everything means basic staples like milk be coffee and cereal which rose five percent in the last few months alone this. is going to be every summer going to fifty dollars and i'll get a lot of i mean if i want to. but decisions about who pays and how much aren't made at the register says journalist frederick kaufman imaginary wheat being bought and sold by financial giants is controlling the price of real wheat they're made on wall street by big investment firms who distrust dollars and euros and instead hedge their bets on commodities who's winning you've got it goldman sachs j.p.

morgan chase the largest holders a lot of largest financial dealers in this they're doing very well as the u.s. pushes producers to convert corn crops to ethanol the crisis deepens around the world demand for biofuels has tripled over the past six years and will triple again by two thousand and twenty growing demand for biofuels. challenge increasing the amount of food we have to produce for people and. farmers are having a tough time keeping up but americans aren't as eager to push frustrations from the grocery store to the streets for americans to take hold. you know we haven't got. it when we get it we're doing thirteen point nine billion dollars in cuts to food stamp programs over the next three years means that the average american family all receive fifty nine dollars less per month bringing less food to their tables but it's unclear whether it will also bring them out in the streets in florida washington d.c. . and i do remember there are always plenty of stories for you to explore depth at

our top com online for you twenty four hours a day is a taste of what you'll find waiting for you there right now the concept of multiculturalism is criticized from the very top find out why european leaders are turning against the idea. of the winter olympics host city sochi finally reveals the first slope ready for competition as preparations for two thousand and fourteen begin to take shape that's more on that on our website. but all the best videos just log on to our you tube page. the u.s. secretary of state has to reiterate a call for unrestricted internet connections for all hillary clinton promised another twenty five million dollars to help fight state repression online but paul craig roberts former official under ronald reagan says that her speech is another case of double standards from the u.s. which promotes internet freedom but goes after wiki leaks at the same time. well

it's very embarrassing to me as an american my government is such a blatant public going to correct we don't mind using modern technology to undermine other governments so that we can install our puppets and control but we certainly don't want anyone revealing our own criminal actions or our holy war crimes the way bradley manning did and and so the united states government is trying to terrify. the sort of new breed of journalism that operates on the internet and particularly julia songe and with wiki leaks trying to shut them up with fear because the united states government has this much to hide is any government and probably more so i think in some sense hillary's speech together with the action by the by the attorney general against wiki leaks against

twitter and. this should show the world what are hypocrites the united states is and i don't really know why anyone pays any attention to the pentagon says it's not decided when the top u.s. commander in afghanistan will leave his post to have been a newspaper reports that general petraeus could step down this year he was appointed about eight months ago as part of a senior u.s. stock realisation in the country but as our military contributor says that despite all america's efforts the number of mistakes and afghanistan an increasing. american occupation of afghanistan has already exceeded all possible saw that mistake in that country and accomplished even bellyful more than that in a negative sense and simultaneously having missed all the positive developments that were triggered and promoted by the soviet union intentionally or not in

afghanistan i'm not going to justify the soviet military campaign in afghanistan however i do believe that the current american military campaign in afghanistan provides and ample evidence to exonerate the soviet political economic and military presence in afghanistan from day raise e.g. of the united states information agency of propaganda which rolled supreme during the cold war battle you know afghanistan the economic objective was to distribute the farmland to farmers and that's why the armed forces will fighting the landlords the united states do not try the landlords the befriending the landlords and have turned them into the drug lords and the main negative success story for the united states occupation b.s. that afghanistan has been turned deliberately and not into the narco caliphate.

meantime a former u.n. anti drugs chief says corruption in afghanistan prevents the majority of aid money from ever reaching its intended target of lachie told r.t. that nato itself is contributing to the problems. doesn't the. operation. the contribution of a. need or. of any stanleys different. their contribution to use the military logistic. they subcontract to register people from an extra two private companies. subsequent to. the military will just use a business of a couple billion dollars. to companies who are comprised by world roads and sometimes even by the thought about. the goal of the security of.

the goals from kabul to anywhere in afghanistan in exchange of huge amount of money and the the money that these taken from the military nato military logistic is more i calculate the takes from the drug trafficking. and the interview is coming your way in just over an hour's time right here on our let's so let's get to some other news now making international headlines around the world this hour u.s. immigration and customs enforcement agent was killed and another hurt when they were attacked while driving through northern mexico on tuesday one was critically wounded and died from his injuries the second he was shot in the arm and leg remains in a stable condition it's not clear if the incident was related to the escalating drug violence in the country u.s. and mexican officials working together on the investigation. the leader of north

korea's a communist regime kim jong. hill has just turned seventy years old crowds have started to gather in the capital pyongyang to celebrate his birthday the government officially lists his age as sixty nine records show he's a year older it's thought celebrations could be more low key this year due to a food shortage in the country. and the czech republic's health minister and a group of representing the country's doctors have reached a deal to end the raul over paul pay the disputed peak in december last year when three and a half thousand of them handed in their resignation letters under the deal hospital doctors are to receive a pay rise of around three hundred fifty dollars a month this year and next the deal still needs to be approved by the company. a little bit later here at r.t. will be looking at one of the most liberal leaders of the soviet union before that though the business news with you.

hello time to get the latest from the world of business the any old russian business week is underway in london it aims to address the most pressing economy issues facing russia and the world speaking in the u.k. capital on tuesday russian foreign minister sergey lavrov revealed that trade investment finance high tech and nano technology is worrying long the priority issues to be discussed during the forum our correspondent laura emmett brings us the latest. it's an annual conference which brings together russian businessmen and foreigners involved with russia to discuss the business in investment environment russia is one of the u.k.'s most important trading partners with the route just thousand british business is working in russia trades topping seventeen billion dollars as such participants drawn from the public and private sectors in russia will address opportunities with and for russian companies and how to strengthen the

political and economic image of russia in the world they'll be presentations on the role of foreign capital in the oil and gas industry and also a look at the changing investment climate in russia as the country diversify is away from hydrocarbons and tries to be fast pits technology and small business sectors they'll also be sessions on building and promoting most as a global financial center but human capital is also high on the agenda with an emphasis on preventing a brain drain in russia they'll discuss the importance of attracting talented people back to the country to encourage innovation in all areas of business economics and technology. let's take a look at the markets and russia the indices are fluctuating slightly this hour as investors continue to trade cautiously both the r.t.s. and the my six are in the red again whether only marginally stocks are still tracking asian gains and also energy stocks are beginning to react positively on

high oil that's only one hand but disappointing for distance from the us are dragging them down let's have a look at some thinkers. and shares are mixed gas from this one point four percent in the red nickel is inch and lower about a percent whatsoever stylings gaining on the minds of about point nine percent. and european shares are rising on wednesday honey can is not prove point six percent after the world's third largest brewer beat market forecasts for twenty ten current. thus cost savings move an offset low would be a sales are the gators and called french drugmaker snuffy adventists up two point three percent after you to agree to buy its rival genzyme corporation for twenty two billion dollars in cash. and french learned a source of tension there also its fourth quarter profit for troubled two to its turnaround at its russian unit the russian consumer banking business had

a thirteen million euro profit compared with the loss of fifty eight million here us last year russia which is the largest the lenders second largest market by employees may become the biggest contributor to the international retail earnings by twenty fifteen. gas from expects export revenues this year to top the pre-crisis record as natural gas prices increase and the demand for the fuel but covers through up to europe the company said the total exports revenue could exceed seventy two billion dollars this year which is two and a half billion more than two thousand eight russia's gas giant plans to boost its exports to europe this year expecting european gas prices to rise fifteen percent gas from also said it is a ready shipping ahead of show you. that's all we have time for now now join me in less than one us time.

politician is facing up to. the fore. soviet troops. has found evidence that their western media is finding it hard to a. cold war stereotypes when it comes to depicting russia the countries are still often portrayed as an evil totalitarian state of. soaring food prices are highlighted. in the middle east and the problem could

also be spreading to the world's richest countries. while he was put in power by stalin's followers debunked his predecessors cult of personality the development of the soviet space program next we look at the secrets behind the rule of nikita krushchev stay with us. a politician full of contradictions and paradoxes for nearly two decades his name received no mention in the soviet press many continue to remember him to his resignation. i think he was the best emperor of the soviet era yes he was. publicly that the soviet union would catch up with america and do it he promised to fully established communism in his country by nine hundred eighty he believed it was possible and compelled to share that belief. that this was simply am to talk nothing came out of it anyway come.