but hundreds of thousands of iraqis were killed the infrastructure of the country was say next the result of a no fly zone was not to prevent but of course the humanitarian crisis and it doesn't take a great leap of financial nation to see thoughtful situation unfolding like the 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 a degree in politics to work that out until understand what's being said of course it doesn't want america and britain. still to come on the program but later america's foreign policy goes under the microscope. the future's defense secretary good guys as the president good 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 he was congressman to say about the country's actions and why some accuse the government of double standards coming up. speaking to the chamber. to russian defense. while she gets to central russia. coming. harsh winter exposed even more original. and well trained to be just. a small. pressure placed on. wealthy british style. to. look. like.

market finance come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with much stronger no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on our deep. down the official ulti allocation your money phone or i pod touch from the i choose our. jobs life on the go. video on demand tease my world calls and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. questions on the dot com. world news a brief martie moscow the u.s. air force has confirmed two of its servicemen have been killed and two with the shooting at frankfurt airport the government opened fire on a bus carrying military personnel while it was parked outside the building following the shooting

a twenty one year old suspect from kosovo was arrested by german police u.s. president barack obama said he was saddened and outraged by the attack he promised the u.s. and spared no effort in investigating the shootings. stands minister for this is minorities is being killed in a gun attack in the country's capital islamabad police say alleged taliban gunmen sprayed the victim's car with bullets in a residential neighborhood shahbaz bhatti was a christian the been threatened by islamist militants in the past for speaking out against the country's harsh blasphemy laws the issue's been under the spotlight since november in fact when a court sentenced a mother of four to death after her neighbors complained that she didn't sultan a prophet mohammed. nato has apologized for killing nine civilians in northeast afghanistan the coalition says preliminary findings indicate that nato forces accidentally killed nine children on tuesday local officials said the boys aged twelve and under were hit by an airstrike while gathering firewood a cold. says there was

a miscommunication of information concerning the location of alleged militants. thousands of people living with hiv have cancer or are holding a rally in india to protest a planned trade deal between the country and the european union the protesters borne the government against any signing of a deal that would increase the cost of basic drugs for denying tens of thousands of people treatment demonstrators marched through the streets of central new delhi before holding a meeting with the indian parliament. and its changes sweep through the middle east and north africa u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton's call for changes in u.s. foreign policy desperate to influence the emerging political map the future of american involvement abroad is at the top of the government's agenda right now at his christine takes a look at the changing face of washington's 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 the plan for the future generations of americans including my own have grown up successful and safe because we chose to lead the world and 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 and sometimes we support the bad guys and the bad guys become our enemy. 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 maybe we need 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 futures 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 if 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 the now r.t. . last leader of the u.s.s. mikhail gorbachev is celebrating his eightieth birthday he's been awarded with russia's highest honor by a president to mutimer vote of 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 reunification of germany and liberalism this economic and political reforms he paved the way for democracy here in russia is best policy perestroika aim to revamp the country without destroying the basis of socialism and his initiatives also led to the cancellation of state censorship and the creation of free speech which often did receive the nobel peace prize in one thousand nine hundred a year later though who started a chain of events which led to the collapse of the soviet union and gorbachev departure but his critics say he's plunged the country into a destructive and chaotic reform the effects of which are still being felt today

despite the criticism though the former leader still says that russia was in desperate need of care which is of the book because of our past lives for this we realized from experience that it was dangerous to wait much longer that we had to take a risk because we couldn't put scholars we needed changes i don't agree with people to the perestroika failed it didn't fail it was disrupted with a really really old stocks but still perestroika it's used a lot inside russia we have democracy free elections freedom of conscience private property freedom to travel abroad everything also glasnost and there was so much openness the entire country was affected people realized they had finally got some freedom an opportunity to act in foreign affairs we put an end to the cold war we normalize our relationship with the u.s. we reunited germany when we didn't send our tanks or troops there all our units in eastern europe stayed where they were it wasn't always easy many things did not

work out the way we planned at the beginning 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 and or 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. while mikhail gorbachev a lot to say and he spoke to us you can watch the full interview with him next hour and also just about you don't miss our adventure of cross-talk coming up in quarter of an hour people of ali's guest explore more of gorbachev's legacy. doctors appear in russia are developing

a pioneering alternative treatment of heart transplants with the shortage of organ donations in the country right now the technique is indeed giving hope to thousands of people on surgery waiting lists and sort of boy reports it's a smile that come straight from the heart that just almost died from heart failure to decades ago these visits to cardiology ward for regular check out with a. 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 dennis care each operated on natasha twenty one years ago but a donor organ was her only hope for a 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 the shortage of donor organs nowadays he's pioneering any technique that gives some patients on the analyst waiting list a more definite hope. a heart transplant is not

a panacea firstly the supply of donor organs is so short that you can only hope 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 that 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 someone like this patient not to it already proved a real life changer here buddy where was first diagnosed doctors told me i had a year to leave now and i have all the reasons to hope that i'll see my little daughter grow up i was told that i may still year roger has planned in the future but the surgery was there before years of. just aid in syria to risk 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 reconstructed into has many advantages that were heart transplant patients not have changer and agonizing and blocked from garrincha gratefully do no more than the chances of success for recovery are higher but like heart transplant this procedure has one made just how bad the gap between those who need it and those who get it is too disheartening to huge so we cut our teeth in moscow. astroids online tonight is worth one of your say about it's an artsy dot com also getting the clicks there right now he's out of fashion talking down to john galliano is being given the holds of a dressing down from christian dior after allegedly making racist remarks in a video posted online you can catch the latest on that story out of moscow's getting in so he does need to this is

a distrust. on the capital's famous kooky park is getting a facelift with billions of dollars in roman abramovich from the height of the project financing to get more details online from us but our team. could have just a few minutes crosstalk. discuss the last soviet leaders main achievement as you turns eighty that's to come but let's get the wednesday business up next the matrix . i know you're watching business r.t. live from moscow and the news just in french oil nato teller's buying a twelve percent stake in russia's independent gas producer novak i'm to boost it

to nineteen point four percent in the next three years this takes valley was not made public but judging by overtakes current michael capitalization it could be worth around three and a half billion dollars now totalis also joining overtaken the strategic partner in an ambitious project on the your mouth and inside that meeting with president of bet at the head of the french oil giant christophe de margerie said the unrest in northern africa in the middle east is only making russia more attractive. to the fundamental rules that are now taking place in orland gas producing countries gives a signal to all investors they should be going to russia as russia offers much sweeter conditions for investment you can walk down one prices continue to wobble close to the highest levels and more than two and a half years. in north africa and the middle east continues to fuel concerns over supplies libya's oil chief has announced a fifty percent drop in the country's crude production and an unexpected drop in

crude supply in the us is also contributing to the growth brant crude rose to around one hundred sixteen dollars a barrel on wednesday light sweet is holding around the one hundred dollars per barrel barrel mark is that saudi arabia may not take any significant steps in bringing down the price of crude oil until brant reaches hundred twenty dollars a barrel is going to the spike. the owners of russia british have reportedly made an eight billion dollar b. it's to rewrite in peace deal with rosneft it's another move by the russian british joint venture to try and get a volved in the arctic shelf exploration deal with other. there have 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 rock to together with profit 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 that's what it's for shares in roughly half which b.p. plans to acquire just to remind you in january b.p. announced a deal with the russian oil major to snow shares absent create a joint venture to explore the russian arctic however the russian shareholders of b.p. is russian venture to p.p.p. object of the deal say that it violates their agreement with the british company that any new project for b.p. in russia should be implemented riot c m k b p so the latest offer to buy b.p. a stake is expected to be discussed with the company is the record at ten k. b.p. board meeting this friday. we're going to miss stock markets now the u.s. stocks are trading higher payroll for he says eighty he said private companies out of two hundred seventeen thousand jobs in the seemingly adjusted basis from january to february well above the one hundred eighty thousand new jobs that i must have predicted yet the high oil prices are changing investor appetites in europe the

picture is in the red on the closing minutes. so for london and frankfurt european shares were low on wednesday as investors continue to frenzy the unrest in the middle east and northern africa concerns that rising oil prices could have taken over from coverage prompting investors to sell stocks hedging against further declines russia for yield to the picture markets managed to recover after a positive anything in the united states russian energy sectors will see benefiting from higher fuel prices coal companies are seeing significant gains as the price for the precious metal was rising second looking for in more detail dollars. gold up to one hundred percent the energy companies strong gazprom up one point two percent bank down point four percent and they say the last potential to test new record levels. through for assume a very negative for probably the markets recover a bit of that was so often in the day but then it will do well if it was watch

lists that would have seen yesterday when the market was this time of the resistance a little i think people is that a wait and see poll today in new york will go to growth or if it was one day correction on the neurosis about inflationary pressure from the price come out of their prices then we can see continuation of why in the russian market with sume. we can see russia at the new levels. you would join sevastopol is selling three steel plants in the united states to run program the u.s. private holding firm has agreed to buy warren wheeling and sparrows point for senseis owned by sort of north america the deal which ran through valleys that one point two billion dollars could be completed as early as this month. well that's all from the business desk today will be back on thursday morning around eight twenty moscow time had like the next not seen. if. the.

culture is that so much company is going to make it a lot of people a very up look as he turns eighteen and going to trust legacy sees him most abroad in loath to home as glasnost and perestroika become distant memories week. the.

line in motion would be soon which bryson if you knew about someone from phones to christians. who for instance on t.v. don't come. close to. bringing you the latest in science technology from around russia. we've got the future covered. say for instance this is not a provocation but a warm. day for just let me show you some steppers are you sure it's a pretty trish because they have no idea about the hardships to face. plate one it's business is it all going to the same for any army to life somebody using them is. the most precious thing in the world. is of self-sacrifice

and heroism of those who understand the feelings you have to live a. real life stories from world war six. victory nineteen forty five dot com. had some past eleven pm moscow time these the top stories from our t.v. echoes of iraq as the u.k. considers military intervention in libya there are fears the ongoing violence in north africa triggered a disastrous campaign russia and other foreign governments who said they are against moves which involve the use of international monitors. as washington seeks to shake up his foreign policy of members of congress and question the u.s. government's ability to back the right candidate for the middle east u.s. secretary of state's admitting america's struggle to successfully palettes its

interests in the first place if for the last leader of the soviet union celebrates his eightieth birthday because gorbachev was the man down the consolation of state censorship in the promotion of free speech some accuse him of paving the way for destructive and chaotic for. the people of eleanor's guess discuss next how the legacy of the father of russian democracy is seen both in his own country and across the atlantic cross-talk is coming right. keep. following welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle as he turns eighty neil got a bunch of legacy season loved abroad in a low speed home as glasnost and perestroika become distant memories we ask how will history judge the man who seemingly ended history. can.

you discuss the legacy of the last soviet leader i'm joined by stephen cohen here in the studio he's a professor of russian studies and history at new york university and his latest book is the victims return survivors of the gulag after stalin in london we go to geoffrey hosking he's an american professor of russian history at university college london and his latest book is rulers and victims the russians in the soviet union and also in london we have lads sobel he's an analyst at the i would securities and another member of our crosstalk team on the hunt all right gentlemen this is crosstalk that means you can jump in anytime you want steve i want to go to you first here as very much off is eighty years old today and let's talk about global legacy and then let's go to specific to russia what is his contribution to history at eighty years old remembering his rule ending the soviet union well one contribution is already recorded in history he's set free the countries of eastern

and central europe that's done where they go from here is up to them about what's not settled or written history is the fate of democracy in russia there are different opinions about the condition of democracy in russia whether and he has very strong opinions because and for good reason he wants to go down in history as the father of russian democracy in the west we attribute it to yeltsin but that's not true now if. democracy flourishes in russia one day and stabilizes russia will go to gorbachev again is the greatest former russian history if democracy fosters and fails and russia will go down in history as another tragic russian former he knows that and that's why is what pressure about what's going on in russia is rising honestly it's burst or it maybe he's just protecting his legacy here ok vlad i was today i was going to go to you anyway go ahead but the thing is here is that maybe some people attribute democracy to one leader or another but

most russians don't attribute democracy to either yeltsin or got a touch of go ahead. i would just like to make one point that i think that much of what 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 that would be my first point and secondly i would argue that russian democracy is proceeding on course i don't think that little bit of authoritarian isn't in the meantime stabilize the political system to stabilize the economy bill actually do very much harm and i would add to that the president go to prison in that video if he is now leading a new way if similar to perestroika and i would guess that you know both then you will see genuine democratization in russia it's very and jeff if i go to you in london i mean it's very interesting here because we see it live lived here for twelve years and 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

think of trying to strike is coming about under putin now under yeltsin or got a bunch of. well i was going to say that i don't think global trust reputation depends on what happens in the future now i think his reputation is there to see he was in charge 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 there were 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 of his democratic reforms he didn't have the courage or the insight it seems to me to take that process of democratization through to its logical conclusion it steve if i agree and one of the things we talk about what a striking glasnost is reforming the soviet union that was a reform of ball ok let's look at the economy ok the that type of command economy

failed now how do you fix that you just have to exit don't you know i mean many countries have entered into elements of another economic system into very confusing my bread would have worked but it's not a hybrid i mean most economies of the twentieth century have been mixed economy state market economies i mean what would roosevelt's new deal with the attempt to introduce a large state sector into what had been an uncontrolled private sector try to do the reverse to introduce market into a state economy the chinese did it the hungarian had done it even before the virtue of of course it's doable but it's going on around the world do you believe it was going in reverse direction because what do you that's the data that's the difference but on the other hand there's no evidence that it wasn't possible i mean it's a long process and i don't actually agree with jeffrey in the sense that he didn't carry the process through to the end you would have had to have the temperament and the power of stalin to impose full democracy on russia in one thousand nine hundred nine hundred ninety the problem was group which off was the quintessential anti

stalinist he had come to dismantle the system and let me remind you of one other thing i admit i've known governor. for twenty years i'm not entirely objective to be fair but george washington was elected president united states by the american congress not by popular vote it's a process that has to begin someplace that was a step forward ok you're talking about other countries and i agree with you that mixed economy is in fact a general rule in the twentieth century but the question really is was the soviet union reformable now when introduced elements of private enterprise into the service economy what the private enterprise did was to suck goods out of the state economy and create an economic crisis where there were desperate shortages in the cities so that the way he carried out the reform did not work or it worked badly vlad what do you think about that i think the soviet economical so dysfunctional so wasteful it was impossible to reform it the only way was actually what is a and complete call arcs and disintegrate.