we do not in any way the use of military assets we must not tolerate this regime using military force against its own 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 they will launch such an attack with or without approval and so we're looking at almost a repeat of what happened in iraq. as a result suspect we largely the same but not every country is getting that treatment and libya is not the only african nation in turmoil somalia's drawn out conflict has been called a slow genocide but there's little sign of u.s. or european military input 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

a 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 britain has got its hands very dirty with the libyan leadership over recent years. with black gold libya has the largest proven oil reserves in africa more than three percent of the global toso and there could be a lot more undiscovered the only reason they're interested in. your oil here anybody screaming and yelling about all those people last week they were killed in the ivory coast. i guess cocoa wasn't that much of a national priority but in somalia there was precious little help while the body count rose 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 are the 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 should be clear to an idiot. in the mess that's been made in afghanistan the terrible disaster that was caused in iraq really shouldn't be voted on any more countries in the middle east it's a model today's troubled african nations were to post on their puppet government which is still ruling. out american military occupation of iraq really that it's not because of help. the revolutionaries throughout the middle east need and american and european government shouldn't look for backing. up to a million marched in london even 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 and rising 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. well to discuss possible military intervention in libya let's talk to journalists on the line from london. as we've heard them both the u.s. and the u.k. seem close to maybe using military force in libya what is the likelihood though do you think of that happening at the end of the day. i think it's unlikely that

they'll actually want to invade they certainly won't want to put troops on the ground for the reasons your correspondents have talked about shown that the danger is for them for themselves of getting involved in in what's happened in iraq and afghanistan. but i think that there's a there's a high danger they will try and get involved not by putting troops on the ground putting other kinds of military pressure on i think this is a sign of enormous hypocrisy from the people who in its latest december last year were happily supplying arms to the gadhafi regime. so you certainly want to get involved why what's the agenda you think. i think the agenda is that they're worried about what's happening there what about what's happening across the middle east and things getting out of control it's amazing how often when people are asked to pundits are asked on the television what should happen now they said the real danger in libya is that they don't know who to talk to what's happened across the

country is that groups of people are rising up against the dictatorship when the time when the western governments have just got used to and quite happy to talk to the dictatorship i know that former prime minister tony blair has been ringing out . to try and talk to him about about what he should do next i think they're rather less comfortable about talking to the people who are trying to take control and establish democracy a cross libya is going to ask you but that's interesting isn't it you know colonel gadhafi has been. you know for forty years a lot of western leaders got on with him he was the person you had to get along with and what that relationship is like now between him and britain between him and america for instance. i think it's it's probably pretty much broken down though. let's go to the regret of both sides it seems to be in this case i was rather surprised to hear a p commander peter mandelson place great advisors saying that he on. he wished he'd had a chance to talk. before he made his t.v.

speech saying that he was prepared to fight his own people to the last bullet it seems as if he thinks it's a public relations issue whether his doubts are massacring his own people or not i think that that they are very uncomfortable about what will happen if the people in the in the region and in libya specifically actually start taking control of their own lives earlier on today he did say during a t.v. address that he will fight to the end he's reiterated that again what do you think will happen to him talk now do you think he really does have his back against the wall is there a chance though nevertheless that he may even at this late stage managed to claw back power where do you think it's going to go. there is always a danger that he might claw back i think there's been it's been seen in prising as against dictators well throughout history that if if the momentum of the uprising loses steam then the dictate will start regrouping his forces already trying to

counterattack this morning i believe that if as long as the. rising and the revolutionaries keep their momentum going they will actually manage to push him back and defeat him i think that a lot of the forces who are actually stayed loyal to gadhafi so far are watching to see how long it's worth supporting him i think a lot of the military forces he has sent against different towns to try and try and defeat the rebellion have actually changed sides a lot of people have gone over or at least handed over their own. because they're not keen on going on. what if gadhafi does go. to philly. that remains to be seen i know that even in benghazi. there are different groups of

people who are talking about about taking control there are people who have. just risen up the people who started organizing on the streets the people who heroically taken on get out these forces have started creating councils that are organizing people in pretty much all the main cities of libya now there are also people who were leading members of his regime who have now switch sides who are also saying that they should be able to organize a provisional government which of these becomes dominant i think will depend on what happens over over the next few days i think the west would find it much easier to talk to the people who just defected from his regime i do think in terms of democracy it will be much better if it actually the people who reason are taken on you know much more about what they want about the future of libya a future that would involve a better role for ordinary people i think it would much better for the country if those would become dominant. journalists the line from london tonight thanks for

your thoughts here on the news channels. still to come a little bit later in the program different subject america's foreign policy will kind of different goes under the microscope. the futures defense secretary goodbyes as the president to again send a big american land army into asia. or into the middle east or africa. should have his head examined find out what else u.s. congressman had to say about the country's actions of why some of the government the double standard. in international news in brief before german officials say two people have been shot dead on a bus carrying u.s. soldiers at frankfurt airport two other people have been seriously wounded police have reportedly arrested a twenty one year old suspect from costs of german chancellor angela merkel has condemned the shootings. but the stars of the. list of religious minorities has

been killed in a gun attack in the country's capital police say alleged taliban gunmen sprayed the victim's car with bullets in a residential neighborhood shahbaz bhatti who's a christian had been threatened by islamist militants in the past for speaking out against the country's harsh blasphemy laws earlier in the year of punjab governor was gunned down by one of his own bodyguards for his opposition to the law. nato's apologize for killing nine civilians in northeast afghanistan the coalition says preliminary findings indicate that nato forces accidentally killed nineteen ages on tuesday local officials said the boys aged twelve a number were hit by an airstrike while gathering firewood the coalition says there was a miscommunication of information concerning the location of alleged militants of course they're not teenagers if they're twelve and. now thousands of people living with hiv and cancer are holding a rally in india to protest a planned trade deal between the country and the european union the protesters

warmed the government against signing any deal that would increase the cost of basic drugs denying tens of thousands of people treatment demonstrators marched through the streets of central new delhi before holding a meeting near the indian parliament. the changes sweep through the middle east and north africa u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has called for changes in u.s. foreign policy desperate to influence the emerging political map the future of american involvement abroad is the top of the government's agenda christine takes a look at the changing face of washington's priorities. reisa. 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 the 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 but 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 u.s. global 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. 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 futures defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big american land army into 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 behind 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 r.t. looking ahead in an hour's time when our seats are not an in-depth look at the weapon of choice for terrorists around the world.

you know. the last leader of the u.s.s.r. mikhail gorbachev celebrating his eightieth birthday he has been awarded with russia's highest honor by president dmitri medvedev the order of st andrew medal for his work as the soviet leader for many people his name synonymous with the end of the cold war the rediff occasion of germany and liberalism but its economic and political reforms have paved the way for democracy here in russia is best known policy but astroid aimed to revamp the country without destroying the basis of socialism is nish lives also led to the cancellation of state censorship and the

creation of free speech gorbachev received the nobel peace prize in one thousand nine hundred ninety a year later however started a chain of events which led to the collapse of the soviet union and gorbachev departure his critics say he plunged the country though into a destructive and chaotic reformer the effects of which are still being felt today but the former leader still says russia was in desperate need of change. because of the book google shut up boston police we realized from experience that it was dangerous to wait much longer that we had to take a risk because we couldn't postpone it we needed changes i don't agree with people to the perestroika failed it didn't fail it was disrupted the rails stocks but still perestroika achieved a lot of them inside russia we had democracy free elections freedom of conscience private property freedom to travel abroad everything looked also glasnost order.

there was so much openness the entire country was affected the people realized they had finally got some freedom and 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 and we didn't send our tanks our troops there all our units in eastern europe stayed where they were you know wasn't always easy many things did not work out the way we planned at the beginning but 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-confidence 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 of the 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. i just let you know you can see the full interview with mikhail gorbachev in about ten minutes time tonight here on r.t. . doctors in russia are developing a pioneering alternative treatment of heart transplants and with a shortage of organ donations in the country right now the technique is giving hope to thousands of people on surgery waiting lists i was on a boy reports it's a smile that comes trade from the heart that she almost died from heart failure two decades ago but these visits a cardiology ward for regular check out. look at her she's just a picture of health by now she's been living with a new heart longer than with her own. dr carey to operate on the top should twenty one years ago when a donor organ was her only hope for life 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 the shortage of donor organs nowadays he's pioneering and need to give me that give some patients on the analyst waiting least a more definite hope. a heart transplant is not a panacea firstly the supply of donor organs is so short that you can only help a smattering of patients secondly it brings with it a number of complications starting with ethical dilemmas to biological functions that's why finding an alternative treatment that will allow to preserve a host organ is so crucial. the treatment for it remodeling 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 not to it already proved a real life changer you already where was first diagnosed doctors told me i had a year to leave now i have all the reasons to hope that i'll see my little daughter

grow up i was told that i may still need a heart transplant in the future but the surgery pulls that day four years off. just aid is serious carried out this procedure is far from being routine yet the successful recovery of older patients has already given to many on the transplant waiting list a change of heart reconstructive surgery has many advantages that were heart transplant patients don't have to change or an agonizing and probably gathering to wait for a donor organ the chances of success for recovery higher but like heart transplant this procedure has been one major setback the gap between those who need it and those who get it is still disheartening huge so we cut our teeth in moscow. and are putting more stories for you to explore there on our website go to the clicks right now than a call for a nuclear free world pushes for other nations with nuclear arsenals to start their

own arms reduction programs you find out more about that in mind tonight and also moscow getting your sort of disneyland we hear the capitals fade with goalkeeper park is set to get a facelift with billions of dollars worth of mortgages reportedly behind the project against. twenty twenty three top sport in twenty minutes kate's got used to now the latest from the playoffs after the now moscow snatched a lifeline last night by winning at home to read more about that than shortly but it's choosing our business first with dmitri. thanks very much kevin hello and welcome to business r.t. oil prices are at a new levels in the more than two years as tension in north africa the middle east

continues to fuel concerns over crude supplies now libya's oil chief has also announced a fifty percent drop in the country's crude production and an unexpected drop in crude supply in the united states is also contributing to the group of those figures rent is hovering over one hundred seventeen dollars a barrel in. unfortunately some kind of technical error we can't show you the latest figures right now but i can actually tell you what they are and that's west texas crude one hundred one dollars sixty nine cents that's up to two dollars six cents and brant one hundred seventeen point seventeen that's up one dollar seventy five cents this is as of course just concerns are still high about supply from the north african. total says russia is a safe market for investments and more stable than other oil producing countries meeting with president medvedev the head of the french oil giant christophe

de-merger e said the rest in north africa middle east is only making russia more attractive. to the fundamental rules that are now taking place in oil and gas producing countries gives a signal to all investors that they should be going to russia as russia offers much safer conditions for investment. the owners of russian british have reportedly made an eight billion dollar bid to rewrite b.p.'s deal with sniffed it's another move by the russian british joint venture to try and get involved in the arctic shelf exploration as more of the story. there has been the latest twist in the ongoing conflict between b.p. and their russian joint venture ten k b p over the right to develop the enormous energy reserves in the russian all to together with roughly after media reports the russian company has offered to buy a five percent stake in b.p. for about eight billion dollars experts say the company wants to buy at stake and

then swap it for shares in rosneft which b.p. plans to acquire just to remind you in january b.p. announced a deal with the russian oil major to swap shares and to create a joint venture to explore the russian arctic however the russian share holders of b.p. is russian venture take a b.p. object of the deal saying that it violates their agreement with the british company that any new project of b.p. in russia should be implemented via t n k b p so the latest offer to buy b.p. is taking is expected to be discussed with the company's directors at ten k. b.p. board meeting this friday. going to the stocks this hour and we start with the united states where they opened up the dow is now slipped into negative territory just point two percent payroll processor a.d.p. said that private companies added two hundred seventeen thousand jobs on the seasonally adjusted basis from january to february and that's well above the one hundred eighty thousand new job on the set for the fifth yet while prices are

chilling investor appetites to europe now and european shares managed some kind of recovery one last look at them but they slipped back into the red on wednesday at the end of the session as investors continue to pressure the unrest in the middle east and north africa concerns that rising oil prices could head to number two companies to sell stocks and hedge against further declines. in russia pretty positive picture at the close the markets managed to recover after a positive thing in the united states is of course benefiting from these high oil prices and gold company. also seeing significant gains price for the metals getting a look at that in a second first says some of the russian stocks gold is up two and a half percent at the close energy majors are also higher as i said gazprom up one point two percent of the close but the banking sector is quite weak it is about banker down point four percent at the close price of gold hitting a new record high for fourteen hundred thirty eight dollars fifteen cents per troy

ounce that's for gold and silver is also in demand is trading at around thirty four dollars eighty five cents this. is selling three steel plants in the united states for two hundred twenty five million dollars the company said the private holding the rent current group has agreed to buy warren wheeling and sparrows point facilities owned by such a style north american man a deal may be completed already this month will include a cash payment security. i'll be back in one hour with an update kevin is next with the headlines to stay with us.

hello this is the our team use channel from moscow my name's kevin i win and these are all top stories tonight echo of iraq as the u.k. considers military intervention in libya some fear the ongoing violence in north africa could trigger another disastrous campaign russia as well as other foreign governments have said they are against this which involves the use of international military force. u.s. foreign policy some americans now questioning the country's ever changing political position which they say regularly sees them supporting them. with major shifts in power in parts of north africa and the middle east so americans for the rest will shake their countries global him for. his loss leader of the soviet union celebrates his eightieth birthday mikhail gorbachev was the cancellation of the

state censorship and the promotion of free speech but some accuse him of paving the way for destructive and chaotic reforms. spoke to the former soviet leader about his legacy that interview is coming right up for you. mr gorbachev it's so great to have you with us today good to see you again well mr gorbachev you're turning eighty did you ever think the world will look like this on your eightieth birthday. it's not easy to surprise people like me those who live to see the eightieth birthday have seen a lot in life is a lot we should thank god for giving us so many.