if we look at just some of these countries yemen is an important american ally the rain is an important american ally i mean if we look at a place like bahrain there the united states houses the headquarters of the u.s. navy's fifth fleet the big question mark for washington of course is iran because it does not have a strong american influence there in these clashes that happened today wednesday a lot of protesters were holding up and t. even with signs they were they were chanting anti american slogans and the feeling is growing within iran as it has been for some time against the american administration if we look back at what inspired a lot of these events the toppling if one can call it that of president mubarak in egypt the united states was given conflicting messages at the beginning of the demonstrations it seemed to support mubarak the u.s. had supported for thirty years if they inserted changed its support to the demonstrators and by the time the bike was overthrown it clearly put itself of the

demonstrators but people here asking the question this doesn't really change the u.s. influence particularly in egypt because now the army is in place and for years the u.s. has been financing with billions of dollars the egyptian army so to some extent the army is really just the other side of mubarak's power to the u.s. watching these developments with increasing concern and needing to balance itself people here criticizing a american involvement and b. their involvement as being of double standards and then of course israel comes to the party its role watching events israel increasingly concerned that it could see islamic republics erupting on its borders so as the tsunami continues to sweep across the middle east the u.s. and israel as well increasingly alarmed. their own russian president dmitri medvedev who's on an official visit which really expressed hope that the q. rights and liberties of people living in the revolution torn states will be observed and respected. it's a very difficult process we hope that all conflicts that are taking place in the

middle east will be settled on a legal basis through observing the constitution and fundamental rights and freedoms of people living there. and during a visit key agreements were signed including one on military transit to afghanistan and an assett swap deal with an italian energy company and our business update will have more on some of those deals for you a little later this hour the us unconditionally supports the corrupt regimes of the middle east but switches sides as soon as the dictators of toppled well that's according to finney and coming up who's an expert on the region and he spoke to us earlier from protest stricken by. the us foreign policy is replete with contradictions of what they heal the virtues of democracy free markets free speech and these kind of things but in reality on the growing they've shown past and present to be fools who are behind regimes that are the into this is of

these values regimes that are brutally repressive regimes that are corrupt elites regimes to destabilize the region through the misconduct abuse of the populations on the neighboring book publishers it's very telling in the very mature real positional of the us regarding the demonstrations in egypt and elsewhere they do you have to give some sort of lip service imo stansell support to the movement for democracy always very noticeable that these discipline is quite lukewarm and it's quite large early in its it's not so bad food some support for the demonstrators in my. uterus who do this quite evident the walking a very fine line because of their protests areas contradictions. experts say rising food prices were one reason behind the wave of anti-government demonstrations in north africa and the middle east the u.n. has warned of impending social upheaval in countries that are quite literally

hungry for freedom issues also creeping into the u.s. where food stamp programs are being slashed ati's killed in ford has this report. 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 two thousand 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 vote the friday though we have to really have to

learn how to improvise and do things. because they don't know we don't get a raise to go on everything and everything means basic staples like milk the coffee and cereal which rose five percent in the last few months alone. is going to give it some are going to fifty dollars and i get a lot of i mean if i want to eat healthy food 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 but 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 bottles all. 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 from earth to take. you know we have got sick and tired of being sick and tired of the we get do we do with 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 toward our washington d.c. . and staying with the u.s. we explain to you later a new budget proposal is making some americans fear even for the future. why the

trillions in federal spending will fall in the wrong hands and will only benefit and. let's move on to the way you know we're disagreeing with the government can land you behind bars an opposition party leader faces jail after blaming his country's authorities for orchestrating a fatal gun battle with soviet troops two decades ago. one of the takes a look now at both accounts of that day. i think. january nine hundred ninety one fourteen protesters dying after clashes with saudi troops the incident sparked international support for the demonstrators cause an independent state of lithuania however one local politician now faces a possible jail sentence that disagree with the official version of events a good artist polansky this is a member of the vilna city council and says soviet soldiers would responsible basing my opinion on the witness list and on the book which was published by the

former head of parliamentary national security committee chair so he wrote in his book and nobody denied that but from this star our representatives of libyan enough are ities where shooting down into the crowd. and other businesses for i know who lived in that area and still live pointed to valves houses here on the roofs of fish houses there are people who are shooting and they solve them. fresh opinions on historical events are nothing unusual so based on newly discovered evidence others merely conspiracy theories what's different is that mr polanski's his argument that it was live in government that were responsible could land him in jail i am facing a charge of. up to two years in prison i mean i have i may receive a fine up to two years in prison i think this is absent from in terms of human

rights and freedom of opinion absurd or not it's the law in the few wanita that authors work with the lithuanian penal code provides for criminal responsibility for the public denial of genocide crimes against humanity or war crime rules people who belittle these crimes or more victims should be held responsible the nine hundred ninety one aggression against lithuania and its citizens falls under the definition of a war crime. 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 plates cases sources and back the official version of events that i mean we're. 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 it 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 or thirty's did make attempts to provoke the save your thirty's and compel them to start solving the lithuanian issue. should he be found guilty by the call. it is needed lithuania and gladys polanski's says he will appeal to the european court of human rights and appeal he's convinced it 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 one 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 in vilnius peter all

over r.t. lithuania. well coming up later in the program when the law meets the world of sports. m.m.a. fighter or tarzan redhead are commonly known but that's it has been refused political asylum in norway and will return to russia to stand trial and the details coming. up as a mother. international news in brief for you at this stage of the day an iraqi defector in the sense of how to say no weapons of mass destruction has admitted he'd lied. claims were among those used to justify the u.s. led two thousand and three invasion of the country he said in an opportunity to topple the regime and bring democracy to a search group say that resulted in about one hundred thousand civilian deaths. a drop of the pressure system which developed into a category one cycle and as part of the northern australia darwin thousands of planted some main roads have been cut off by floodwaters pile winds and heavy rains

lashed the city overnight operation trees are knocking down power lines schools and the city's airport remain closed cycle calls is expected to intensify to a category two as it nears the coast and will linger till friday. south sudan has been announced as a name for the world's newest country it will come into existence in july after a referendum last month went overwhelmingly in favor of a split from the north have been much speculation over the territories name among suggestions work kush and the republic the separation is hoped and decades of conflict between north and south. and the right sectors in china are condemning a magic trick with synchronized goldfish they say cruelty was required to make the fish move in unison and act was made famous after being broadcast on state t.v. during a lunar new year celebrations last month in the most watch program of the year responsible says there's no abuse quit refuses to give away the secret of this film

. the trip. where u.s. president barack obama has unveiled his twenty twelve federal budget proposal in which he hunts the country's financial priorities the plan includes budget cuts and tax increases all aimed at reducing the deficit over the next decade and while washington is calling for over three trillion dollars in federal spending experts say regular americans will not benefit from this i think we have a political system that is scholar rhotic and what i mean by that is all the beneficiaries of government spending the companies that get subsidies the military producers who sell goods to the government the working people who get some benefits even if they're small all of them have mobilized to hold on to what they get to make it politically costly for any congressman or woman to go against them those people whose programs will be cut they will be hurt those people whose taxes will

be raised they will be heard but these are very small potatoes the basic picture which republicans and democrats alike support is a budget that's going to be basically one and a half trillion dollars short the government is going to spend that money the republicans and democrats agree on all of that they're just squabbling over little amounts but the larger picture nobody addresses nobody debates and that's an economy that requires a huge amount of government support to keep probably long and debts into the future that we will suffer a farm much more than anything being debated by republicans and democrats in washington and that was professor richard wolfe a court in norway has ordered the russian nationalist be extradited back to his country which is not that sequels and then in his mixed martial arts days as the ginger tarzan escaped from a psychiatric ward in russia and sort of political asylum katrina czar of a has the

latest now. request was sent by the russian prosecutor general's office to norway asking that this man be returned to russia to stand trial he is of course wanted here in this country for a number of robberies he is also of course known for many strange and bizarre acts. as a self-proclaimed relative to some sort of pagan gods that he believes to be of russian descent he has called himself the lord of the more forest which of course is a region in russia has denied christianity as this country's religion has proved himself to be a hardcore neo nazi and even the fighters themselves of course not the m.m.a. fighters the mixed martial arts but perhaps other well known figures in the fighting community have all said that as a fighter and even as

a human being the dots it is not one of them and he of course continues to shock the public with his escapades the latest of course being that he broke out of a psychiatric hospital apparently allegedly tearing at the fencing with his bare hands and then rode in a boat to norway from st petersburg that is how he arrived in that country and asked for political asylum that was refused to him and he's currently serving a prison sentence there for illegal possession of and on the registered firearm of that prison sentence will continue up until may be received eight months behind bars as soon as may be just left that six may be extradited back to russia he of course and his lawyers say that they will fight this decision by the no to force stop does it is already considering asking for political asylum in both law to be

and looking at. katrina czar of are there two russian cosmonauts on board the have taken this year's second space walk flight engineers dimity. have now returned back to the station after spending about five hours in open space because we're also clad in state of the art space suits which are interactive displays telling them what must be checked and what to do in an emergency to take six hours but the cosmonauts were able to complete their work sooner porter. by the way log on to our web site for much more news and videos in addition to what you see here on screen you can also read our blogs from around the world and of course leave your comments is a taste of what's online right now at r.t. dot com sochi ski slopes are being put to the test as the twenty fourteen winter olympics host city prepares to stage the old pine european cup. also wanted to travel back in time and that fantasy was a part of

a film called distant neighborhood based on a japanese manga comic spoke to the lead actor and find out what he had to say on r.t. . the pentagon is denying rumors that the u.s. commander in afghanistan will leave his post by the end of the year the british press only reported the general david petraeus is due to leave afghanistan along with a large share of u.s. troops washington's promise to pull all of its forces out of the country by twenty fourteen quote come hell or high water ati's military control the us fail to learn from the campaign that. american occupation of afghanistan has already exceeded all possible saw that mistake in that country and accomplished even

illegal 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 their raese g.-u. of the united states information agency 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 they're so good armed forces while fighting the landlords the united states do not fire the landlords 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. former u.n. anti drugs chief peter larky says international corruption in afghanistan is underreported and accounts for great problems in the country. i would put forty billion dollars that lived in afghanistan for the civilian aid all the eight of these forty went through the affable that is international the production international newspapers by figuring western newspapers never speak about a big piece of the key base because of the time about africa which is there of course but this is most likely to be. the biggest corruption. that i discovered the steel from african people eighty percent there with

international aid. and you can watch that interview in ten minutes from now here on r.t. dimitris next with the latest business news. welcome to business are seen gas from nafta set to join the elephant oilfield in libya in an asset swap deal with italian then the company any the us expected to be signed during the official visit of russian president dmitry medvedev to italy on monday morning to deputy chairman of gazprom and exceed the estimated worth of the deal is one hundred seventy eight million dollars among other topics for discussion is the potential participation of any and they'll in russia's high tech hub of skolkovo also the south stream project which is to carry gas from russia to southern europe across the black sea. you know russia could quits the burgas

alexandra palace oil pipeline project that bypasses turkey's bosphorus straits according to russian media transnet rosneft and gazprom the after about to officially end their financing of the project this with effectively kill off the whole idea russia bulgaria and greece agreed to three years ago and that is to build almost three hundred kilometers of an oil pipeline to export crude to european clients however transplant does deny this information saying russia does not intend to redirect oil in the various other pipelines but some analysts doubt the economic value of the whole project. together with the completed one pipeline and together with the plan to be completed next year to pipeline i think currently . russia has enough expert capacity is probably the distribution i mean geographical distribution overall is not so diversified as russia. may want or potentially many i don't think that. construction of some.

extra pipelines world is justified economically. because of the markets in the u.s. they are being as the fed is pretty optimistic about the economy new home construction the u.s. came in better than expected strong earnings results are boosting the market from a family dollar and abercrombie and fitch and genzyme is up around two percent this after french drugmaker sun if you haven't as a group to buy the u.s. biotechnology firm for around twenty billion dollars russia ended wednesday's session on a positive note to push time by oil prices and optimism in the u.s. and europe banking stocks were in the lead with burbank up one percent b.c.b. the biggest gain of the day up almost four percent because one of the biggest losers of the day especially says it's reconsidering its outlook for the company as the buyback of results taken on a cold could damage the seven stars up one half percent for your force it may cut

steel supplies to carmakers after that and michael. says investors continue to be upbeat about russia. the my six is up about sixty basis points today helped by a combination of factors including strong. strength in the u.s. equity futures and also better than expected u.s. housing start data sentiment towards russia remains quite positive rate now helped by the firm environment and also by yesterday's better than expected industrial output data which showed that growth in russia is actually accelerating right now. and the possible merger of russia's heavy truck producers. is one step closer to reality. deputy prime minister. russia's desire to consolidate but the potential merger could. purchasing and creating a completely new company. and would in return give mazz shareholders

a stake in the. retail prices in russia dropped two point four percent over the past week aviation fuel was declining this came after a russian prime minister was criticized. justifiably high prices and that this edition of business.

old saw. her mug. her. mug on her. city street still keeps its secrets the balance time from the feel the touch of the soviet finds the key to the true flatlined obsolete. wealthy british

style subtlety sometimes the such. and such a. markets finance scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy in the kinds of reports.

we're here live in the russian capital twenty four hours a day this is our team top stories this hour egypt's unrest is resonating throughout the arab world with many in neighboring countries demanding political reforms and protests get invited me wanting to run anti-government demonstrators are getting unwavering support from washington some say the u.s. is using the pretext of democracy but displayed double standards. all the rest as lead to a search for culprits with wall street in the dark for orchestration food price hikes planting the seeds of revolution analysts say this was the original cause of frustration which forced people to take to the streets. politician in lithuania may face jail for disagreeing with his government he claims local authorities and not soviet troops were on uprising twenty years ago he has even waived his right of

immunity from prosecution and to stand up for freedom of speech in the baltic states. lobby but with another update for you in about fifteen minutes from now in the meantime more than half of all drugs produced in afghanistan are consumed in russia and the european union over thirty thousand people die every year from drug addiction in russia alone well she spoke to the u.n. and narcotics chief a lucky about a new five year plan aimed at eradicating drug production in afghanistan and that interview is next. thank you very much for being with us today now some experts were.