new one suspends libya from its human rights council following the government's aggression against protesters there speculation the u.s. and the u.k. could have their own plans for the problem called for. shifting priorities as the on the rest of the middle east and north africa is taking the world america's foreign policy is changing course on long with it. as the soviet union's first and last president celebrates his eightieth birthday look at his legacy as the prime the put rush on the path towards democracy.

coming to you live from moscow you're watching r.t. thanks for joining us and the u.s. is flexing its military muscle moving its naval forces quote certain libya triggering speculation of possible strikes while the u.k. is also not ruling out the use of force meanwhile colonel gadhafi backed by an army that's made weakened by the factions continues to hold on several towns near the capital tripoli are now in the hands of the opposition the international storms gathering over the libyan leader with the u.n. suspended the country from its human rights council and also calls for a mass humanitarian evacuation for people caught up in the crisis as world pressure mounts are laura ever reports on whether nato is ready for a new war. and we do not in any way the use of military assets we must not tolerate this regime using military force against him. people is this history

repeating itself the british government getting the guns on standby as a country crumbles into impose a no fly zone in this case libya in two thousand and three it was iraq it's looking very dangerous looking quite possible that we will launch such an attack with the approval and so we're looking at almost a repeat of what happened in iraq and in the results suspect really large in the same but not every country is getting that treatment and libya is not the only african nation in turmoil somalia is drawn out conflict has been called a slow genocide but there's little sign of u.s. or european military inputs and it's a similar story on the other side of the continent there are events unfolding right now in ivory coast where there is also conflict an armed conflict between rebels and the government but nobody seems to be thinking of that it's only because fashionable attention is focused on libya but also for the political implications

of the middle east as a whole as we all know the west including my own country has got its hands very dirty with the libyan leadership over recent years. black gold libya has the largest proven oil reserves in africa more than three percent of the two so they could be a lot more undiscovered the only reason they're interested in. your oil here anybody screaming and yelling about all those people were killed in iraq is rico's . i guess cocoa was not that much of a national priority put in somalia there was precious little help while the party count over the years except for one brief disastrous intervention involving u.s. soldiers immortalized in the movie black hawk down american forces failed at great cost to stabilize the country they left quickly and haven't returned. and the

lessons were learned when it came to iraq which remains our staple even now with only feeble sheets of that much vaunted democracy allied troops are equally bogged down in afghanistan with no convincing timeline for withdrawal and an ever rising death toll could be cleared up but the mess that's been made in afghanistan the terrible cause in iraq really shouldn't want any more countries in the middle east it's a model today's troubles african nations were imposed on their government which is still ruling. out american occupation of iraq really. help. the middle east. and american and european government shouldn't look for backing at home either to a million marched in london a for the invasion of iraq in two thousand and three and times have changed this is now austerity britain where starting another war wasn't factored into the budget

british troops are already fighting an unpopular war in afghanistan it's highly unlikely the public has the appetite for again getting involved in someone else's struggle battling as they are at home in the face of deep cuts being unemployment and it's unlikely to be popular inside this building the ministry of defense has to slash spending by more than seven and a half billion dollars in the next four years it's an intervention britain would find hard to afford on many levels your average r.t. . was in russia's envoy to nato says there is opposition inside the alliance against any military intervention in libya. you know as of today nato was an alliance won't take a decision to intervene into libya some european countries within the bloc are against any military actions without an agreement from the u.n. security council if the u.s. and britain decide to intervene that will be

a gross violation of all international law this can be sanctioned only going to un i talked to the lines just secretary-general and i hope moscow's voice was heard. carol turner an antiwar activist says the wall the majority of libyans made vontae regime change they don't want to see it achieved by foreign intervention. i'm extremely rare it could be a foreign intervention led by the united states and britain i think it's very difficult for them but on the other hand if they feel that there's any opportunity of toppling and installing a pro western regime or if they think feel that oil interests another cheers for the interests are in some way threatened then i think ultimately they won't hold back i'm particularly concerned about the no fly so policy that's been discuss for comparison would be what happens in iraq in the ninety ninth is at the ends of the

gulf war of ninety nine he won the united states and britain and so on a stop list and no fly zone the net result was that hundreds of thousands of iraqis were killed the infrastructure of the country was see net result of a no fly zone was not to prevent splits to cause a humanitarian crisis and it doesn't take a great leap of imagination to see that sort of situation unfolding in libya population across the region has made pretty clear in my opinion that although it wants to change regimes it doesn't want foreign intervention you don't need the green politics to work that out for them to understand what's being said of course it doesn't want america or britain but in a we'll have more of the developing situation in the arab world shortly but first let's have a quick look ahead at what else we have for you this hour doctors are pioneering

life saving surgery to find out how they are helping to keep takers checking on a few minutes. the violence in libya and the rest of the region has led to what our president and surge in oil prices or the fuels been sensitive to the escalating situation for weeks that is now well over. a hundred dollars per barrel for the impact let's cross our business back over the story and so supply will hire you yes so what effect is that going to have globally so world prices are higher going as violence in the middle east and north africa sparked fears that the unrest will spread i'm going to see the turmoil in the region as being particularly negative for foreign investment in the longer term which could effectively result in the loss of incremental volumes and a slowdown in exploration it's very difficult to make any forecasts now oil prices have been particularly during the recent years was sold in spiraling to one hundred

forty seven dollars a barrel and then plummeted to thirty dollars but we continue to question else. good or bad for russia many are saying that. it's if we speak about russia today it's definitely good news why the world price this is. definitely an advantage for russia as this is fifty percent of russia's g.d.p. so from that point of view it is good news but there is another positive aspect here and surging oil prices russia can prove itself as a sustainable energy supply. and many as experts are saying that it's difficult to make in the longer term the shop rising oil prices create a series of economic risks and. that's a serious blow to the global economy which is struggling to recover from the global financial crisis and on the porch in countries where energy is the great to share

or overall consumption are even more vulnerable we'll have more analysis in business and about action minutes. all right well thank you very much for that update from our business. well the situation in north africa and the middle east is rapidly changing well so is america's foreign policy its future course the agenda for u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton as she met with the foreign affairs committee on capitol hill christine purcell looks at the changing types of priorities. afghanistan iraq egypt. libya. when it comes to u.s. foreign policy this country's hands are not just full they're often tied secretary of state hillary clinton charged with the task of laying out a plan for the future generations of americans including my own have grown up

successful and safe because we chose to lead the world in tackling the greatest challenges but now clear signs that the challenges and the times are changing a lot of people in this country have come to the conclusion that our policy overhaul has been inconsistent that sometimes we support the bad guys and the bad guys become our enemies. twenty eleven has been a major year with major shifts in prominence and power in northern africa and the middle east. and signs that us will influence may be waning just days before the regime of egyptian president hosni mubarak fell both secretary clinton and cia director leon panetta called it stable until it was. prepared there are also in consistencies on the war in afghanistan in afghanistan integrated military and civilian surges have helped set the stage for our diplomatic surge to support afghan led reconciliation that could end the conflict

and put al qaeda on the run but robert one kansas senior u.n. official just said quote it is fair to say that security in the country is at its lowest point since the departure of the taliban even secretary of defense robert gates said this just last week to a group of cadets at west point in my opinion any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big american land army and asia. or into the middle east or africa should have his head examined as general macarthur so delicately put it there is also the matter of money u.s. own economy weak and losing leverage to other powers like china and brazil another frustration voiced by lawmakers doesn't make any sense at all for us to be borrowing money from china and giving it to other countries especially giving it

back to china. now when it comes to iran there is a clear position given by the state department the denial of human dignity in iran is an outrage that deserves the condemnation of all who speak out for freedom and justice but in many other regions like the rain albania and most prominently iraq where many many more people are killed at the hands of u.s. allied governments the silence is deafening. and as the landscape changes daily in libya cracks in the foundation here grow deeper we must maintain firm ties with our allies and enemies must be clearly identified it is a constantly changing position on good versus evil and increasingly diminishing power to influence what's next in washington christine for is now r.t. . well jacob warren burger from the thinker freedom foundation believes that the u.s. government should stop meddling into other countries affairs. just classic u.s.

foreign policy they they shift the tides they support these dictatorships they have supported them for decades and then all of a sudden the winds start shifting people start getting angry and outraged over the brutality of the tyranny of torture and so the tide shift for the u.s. government as well so they're either supporting the dictators there ousting them instead of really what they should be doing is just leave the world alone national security is one of those meaningless terms if they ever came up with it it's just an ad hoc subjective determination to justify whatever they want to do including the multi decade support opposed to the dictator of egypt posed to dictators in tunisia yemen. and all over that region as well as in latin america in other parts of the world and i think americans need to be doing is start reflecting on what is

the role of our government in all this you know in creating the the anger and hatred is that it's engendered the terrorist threat that any of us does the excuse to take away our freedom we need to be doing some soul searching over here just like people over there are doing are doing soul searching. and take up more burger from the future of the foundation there and of course from our coverage on the revolts in north africa and the middle east you can go to a website that's our dot com. at the end of the cold war the reunification of germany liberalism to strike up the u.s.s.r. is first and last president mikhail gorbachev today celebrates his eightieth birthday and his legacy has he has a hailed as the father of russia's democracy gorbachev was born in a small village in the south of the country and he became the leader of the u.s.s.r. in nineteen eighty five over this you cannot make a political reforms pave the way for democracy in russia because that's no reform is destroyed which aim to revamp the contrary without destroying the basis of

socialism. his initiatives also read. and. free. prizes. were ever a year later he was removed from power. which saw the collapse of the soviet union and that boris yeltsin became president possible while gorbachev still sells his reforms were timely and necessary. to the google book of those for us when he said we realized from experience that it was dangerous to wait much longer that we have to take a risk because we couldn't postpone as we needed changes i don't agree when people say that perestroika failed it didn't fail it was disrupted the rails stocked but still perestroika achieved a lot inside russia we had democracy free elections freedom of conscience part of property freedom to travel abroad everything looked old so glasnost there was so

much openness the entire country was affected the people realized they had finally got some freedom an opportunity to act in foreign affairs we put an end to the cold war we normalized our relationship with the u.s. we reunited germany we didn't send our tanks our troops there all our units in eastern europe stayed where they were it wasn't always easy and many things did not work out the way we planned at the beginning and when we made our first mistakes we didn't really explain to people what was going on and didn't get them involved in all those processes we were self-confident in the war but in public politics i don't think we have ever lost a major battle nuclear arsenals were significantly reduced thanks to our efforts during perestroika today when the world is so divided we need to find things that bring us together for instance the g. twenty is a step which brings us closer it's an instrument and a mechanism for handling the hardest and most challenging issues but we need more than that it's a matter of learning to live in

a global world. well you can watch the full interview with me. just over an hour here on r.t. and also throughout the day you can watch crosstalk where peter lavelle and his guests discuss who else is counted among the forebears of liberalism in russia and what are considered among. much of was actually responsible for peaceful disintegration of the soviet union and i think this is a very important point especially when we see what's happening in the middle east so i that would be my first and secondly i would argue that russian democracy is proceeding on course it's very and if you're providing to you in london i mean it's very interesting because we see it live lived here for twelve years and we don't hear the word perestroika but a lot of people would attribute the attributes what we you all of us here would begin to try to strike is coming about under putin not under yeltsin or got

a bunch of. well i was going to say that i don't think it depends on what happens in the future no i think his reputation is there to see he was insured for five years he launched democratic reform there's no doubt about that he started the process he dissolved the communist party of the soviet union he set up elections in which two genuine parties conducting a fight with each other but he didn't and couldn't take the process through to its end i mean for one thing he never himself stood for election as president of russia which would have been or of the soviet union which would have been the logical outcome. crosstalk is gone in just ten minutes time here on r t but for now let's have a quick look at some other international headlines but the sun's minister for the just minorities has been killed in a gun attack in the country's capital police say that gunmen opened fire on him outside his house as he was leaving for work. it was a christian who had been threatened by islamist militants in the past for speaking

out against the country's harsh blasphemy laws were earlier in the governor was gunned down by one of his bodyguards for his opposition to the last. year has been removed from a list of countries requiring special observation by the un's drug control watchdog the international narcotics control board save the move was in recognition of the country's achievements in fighting the problem would continue to monitor developments closely all the un's two thousand and ten report showed drastic reduction plan solutions in colombia and that more drugs were seized there than any other state in the world over the past decade. federal authorities in the u.s. have charged a former goldman sachs director with insider trading the securities and exchange commission says rajat gupta abused his position by passing on confidential information including a five billion dollars deal so

a comp. shares in the regulators claim groupers illegal activity from late two thousand and eight to early two thousand and nine net of the company hedge funds eighteen million dollars. all first a change of heart is their only hope for life but a lack of donors in russia means that we also have survivor survival that is are firmly stacked against but now we're pioneering a new technique being used in the country could reverse that trend are the six on a boy has a story it's a smile that comes straight from the heart almost died from heart failure to decades ago these only visits are cardiology ward for regular check out. look at her she's just a picture of health i know she's been living with a new heart longer than with their own. dr dzung miscarriage operated on natasha twenty one years ago i don't or organ was here only hope for live one of the best

known cardiac surgeons in russia he performed hundreds of lifesaving transplants but still thinks of the thousands he couldn't do because of a shortage of filner organs nowadays he's pioneering and need to tweak that gives some patients on the analysts waiting least a more definite hole. a heart transplant is not a panacea firstly the supply of donor organs is so short they can only hope a smattering of patients secondly it brings with it a number of complications starting with ethical dilemmas to biological functions as why finding an alternative treatment that will allow to preserve the host organ is so crucial. the treatment that rockport remodelling consists of seven surgeries that together reverse the damage to a broken heart russian doctor started performing it two years ago and its long term effectiveness is still being tested yet for some like this patient not stare it already proved a real life changer here buddy when i was first diagnosed doctors saw me i had

a year to leave now i have all the reasons to hope that i'll see my little daughter grow art i was told that i may steal your heart transplant in the future but the surgery was that day four years of. risk carried out these procedures is far from being routine yet this excess the recovery of aids patients has already given to many on the transplant waiting list a change of heart reconstructive surgery has many advantages over heart transplant patients don't have to change your and agonizing and phone from a guaranteed way for to do no or the chances of successful recovery or higher but like heart transplant this procedure has one major setback to get between those who need it and those who get it is too disheartening the huge. team must. forget you can always find plenty of stories to explore in our website that's our

two dot com including a harsh lesson in economics a massive budget shortfall and one u.s. city has a government threatening to lay off local teachers. and treating the strong arm of the wall to colleagues and kisses a group of russian performers are just a time to reform what they call the gloomy reputation of the girls in blue well find out if they're successful at all or to meet dot com. as promised you'll hear joins us with all of us in business in just a moment. oh time for your business of data variable welcome world prices continue to hit their

highest levels more than two years as the tension in north africa and the middle east continues to fuel concerns over crude supplies the price of light sweet past the psychological one hundred dollars per barrel mark at one point during wednesday morning trading and raise the branch current growth through almost one hundred sixteen dollars a barrel you can see the figures on the screen this comes after the news that saudi arabia really not take any significant steps to bring down the price of crude oil until brant reaches one hundred twenty dollars a barrel which is about eight percent above current levels but both benchmark world blends so soon a slight dip and there are two trends with french currently at around one hundred fourteen dollars and lights with just under one hundred dollars per barrel. russian oil giant local is planning to maintain its foreign oil production and turn to eleven million tons this year the company's international appraiser look all overseas will also invest two and

a half billion dollars into its struction projects outside russia in twenty eleven that's according to the divisions president who also said the company is still interested in middle eastern because us despite the political instability in the region it plans to start drilling in iraq in the first half of this year. now russia nor we are stepping up corporation after the two sides finally came on to agreement over the arctic dispute the new stage of economic relations between the two countries started last year when russia and norway and later forty year debate over their marriage time borders and agree to explore in the arctic region the region minister of trade and industries says their strategic know how and expertise can greatly help future corp in the energy sector. we have. a very. strong companies have started of course there's no vision because the. company.

supply. technology has some services and goods for go it's secure and i think also we have security and environmental standards procedures and people would use that would be really bringing in the arctic area where the consequences of the worst accident can be even more severe if you know. let's have a look at how the markets apparent that. just snap a winning streak pushed down by concerns that rising oil prices will hurt the global economic recovery it's down almost two and a half the sand and perhaps saying is losing as well with caroline in property stocks leading before here in russia the markets are mixed at the moment they are also straining in the black but there's of unrest and while producing countries continue to election that's just what the russian energy sector is benefiting from surging oil on wednesday but gold companies side spectra to meet significant gains

price for precious metal gas high and my success down in the opening minutes of wednesday's trading session let's have a look at some individuals here in russia energy majors are gaining up momentum call and. yesterday's losses bucking the trend is for a bank losing more than five percent under force on the r.g.s. . and the price of gold has hit a new record high as investors worry that political turmoil may spread across the middle east it has jumped on the london market by more than fourteen dollars to one thousand four hundred thirty four per ounce gold has traditionally soon as i have been for investors in times of uncertainty. but that's not the business bulletin to your up to date now you can get more stores for website r.t. dot com slash the business.

consulting speech of your country and republic. the center of russian defense production. was he heads to central russia. crafts a become an industry. the harsh winter makes me even more enjoyable. and where everyone can train to be a stump.