the week's top stories here on our team here's a foreign intervention and violence for a libya where a group of british special forces soldiers reportedly been seized by protesters on sunday. think three d. in iraq if that major exploit the air was roughly experts say it's not concern for libya's people but the interest in oil that's fueling some western reactions to the unrest with the u.s. economy already suffering from soaring prices of the pump. we are in an information war and we are losing that war hillary clinton asked for extra funds to spread u.s. media broad as a growing number of people turn to other countries' news outlets to get a fresh view on world events. u.k.

citizens wary of the upcoming nationwide census and its protection to a foreign army manufacturer sparking calls for a boycott to avoid personal data falling into the wrong hands. four pm in moscow i'm not sure as i bring you today's top stories in a look back at the week's news here on r t we start out in libya where there are reports that british soldiers have been seized by anti could often forces as more western warships and planes move closer to the country the special air force officers were said to be involved said to be involved with the eastern part of the country escorting a diplomat who was supposed to negotiate with the rebels the protesters say they were outraged by the incident seeing it as foreign intervention in libya's internal affairs this comes as the country slips locoed closer to civil war with fighting

intensifying and reports of airstrikes and heavy weaponry archy's policy or has more. on saturday the libyan leader moammar gadhafi launched a fresh military offensive he's trying to retake some of the towns he's lost in the past eighteen days of fighting there were some seventy people killed those are the latest reports we're receiving and more than three hundred people injured with reports of it strikes and live ammunition and growing fears that libya is descending into civil war now many of the media in europe and in the united states has been supporting the rebels there have been editorials in major american and european newspapers actually calling on the waste to support the rebels and attack gadhafi the latest word we hearing is that the western media is trying to portray gadhafi forces as a losing and the opposition forces as winning but as you can see from these pictures it certainly is not clear who has the upper hand there also analysts who are putting forward the opinion that the western media is so and she could afi

because he has taken such a strong stand in the past against western interference in developing countries relations words on the british government is there is confirming that it is considering and is on standby to deploy its forces within twenty four hours it says that these forces will be used for humanitarian and evacuation purposes and not for any kind of military intervention the latest word we have from the u.s. is that its two warships have left crease and according to a statement they issued they are part of the military buildup around libya now they also know that france and the united kingdom are putting pressure on the united nations security council to make a decision on a no fly zone. but. says foreign intervention has already begun. foreign intervention can only exasperate the problem in libya it cannot help in any way and as a matter of fact foreign intervention has already begun the french the united

states and the british have already said so-called many tarion aid to benghazi but they've also sent military advisors and special forces this means that your operations have already begun we are seeing a similar scenario of what happened to iraq we're seeing talks about sanctions false reports that have been used to justify the no fly zones about aerial strikes on protesters and civilians this is. scenario as iraq in fact they're starting to talk about chemical weapons in libya it was in two thousand and three that the united states and britain want to fight the gothia someone who gave up his weapons of mass destruction now they're doing about face in claiming that colonel gadhafi has chemical weapons you know this is another book they're creating to justify their foreign policy in regards to libya in fact it's very ironic that the united states called on protesters in egypt and the regime to talk things out but in libya

we have a whole different story because of oil interests or black gold as some may call it . a u.n. resolution adopted last week see the libyan leader facing the international criminal court pepe escobar a correspondent for the asia times says. the prospect of an investigation. magine it's got that to tell it's on a twenty four seven days it's called adoration of libya did the glare of the stony trio that you know brought back to the international community all the shady deals the gold all the shady financial deals with the telly specially any which has invested at least fifty billion dollars oil interest to leave. dodge a relationship so they're actually every european government not summation of the us an arms deal is from the brits that would be a fantastic show with. however awarding intervention in libya might seem pretty

obama administration it's the us that will suffer if there is a military strike that's the view of the russian senator and middle east expert mccallum our galaad is that if you coming up in about twenty minutes time here's a pretty. good when america is in the world and two very difficult wars in islamic world against and iraq. and the decision to get into another war in spite of either in the short or long will be serious damage for the image of president obama i don't think for him for domestic consumption so to speak it will be a wise decision. trends forecaster gerald celente says it's not support for the libyan people but interest in the country's vast oil fields that's driving us rhetoric and action. the only reason they're interested with libya is about that you oil we hear anybody screaming and yelling

about all those people last week that were killed in the ivory coast were the superior i guess cocoa was that that you know much of a national priority they will try anything but we already heard hillary clinton say that they're willing to do anything to anybody in libya that needs aid so there you have putting it out there already they talking about no fly zones and they have cockers see is just being on the belief i mean for example they did has anybody called for a war criminal trials against mubarak as they are for the you know in all of the world is the the western world are calling for his head but the other heads in bahrain and in yemeni and in egypt you know they're ok tunisia leave him alone what they're calling for gadhafi said why because it's all oil you think we'd be in iraq if that major export there was

broccoli. because the arab world continues to seem to turmoil the cost of oil is jumping to new heights experts claim skyrocketing prices in the u.s. are threatening the country's economy as are his lawyer and lister discovered the hike in energy costs could see the obama administration come under fire. tunisia. egypt. by hurricane. algeria. libya protest in countries seeming to fuel one another unrest spreading like wildfire through the middle east and north africa all raging in or near the oil rich countries that helped fuel the world's use of more than eighty four million barrels of crude a day. uncertainty over production has sent prices soaring meaning the shock waves from the middle east turmoil are being felt worldwide now the mideast

crisis is hitting home for outrage americans as oil prices have skyrocketed so too have the prices you pay for gasoline and now the price americans pay at the pump is threatening to derail the u.s. economic recovery a surge in oil. prices will be the end of the u.s. economy mark just an end to the recovery there's no more a reality peak oil expert michael c. rupert sees happening it boil hits one hundred fifty dollars a barrel which he believes is inevitable this year others predicted going to two hundred twenty dollars it's so devastating because oil. fuels more than just cars. it fuels the entire global economy. though there's no doubt that if gas goes to five dollars a gallon for americans as some predict there would be a high political price to pay for the obama administration you know gasoline prices

go out much and for a very long period it could. be your or. your political impact here there is no denying the u.s. has played a role in the events that have transpired in the middle east every time u.s. president barack obama went to the podium calling for this that there must be reform political social. and in economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the egyptian people and calling for egyptian president hosni mubarak's resignation it was calling for an end to the status quo which means a rise in uncertainty and oil rich region so did leaders weigh the toll it could take on their own economy some argue they don't have the power to kind of winning back up trying to push their back against an avalanche and i don't think we're going to hear a lot of success and that may not stop the u.s. from trying to take control some observers believe the u.s.

may intervene militarily in libya or oil reserves are massive under false pretenses of helping protesting people has nothing to do with interest or people it has everything to do with the interest of the u.s. corporate oil corporations military. profits either way analysts say the price of fuel going up will simply fuel public rage and the government is largely helpless the american people are going for a very nasty ride and there's no way out of it now but i can tell you the government understands that it's time lauren mr r.t. new york. still ahead this hour the man who changed the course of history for the u.s.s.r. . the truth if you will believe i don't agree with people to the pedestal if you failed it didn't fail it was disrupted. our team looks into the legacy of the soviet union's first and only president mikhail gorbachev who celebrated his

immediate first day this week plus. it's essential any government use whatsoever confidentialities be the polish we explore why the british fear their personal information gathered during a nationwide census night at up in the hands of u.s. authorities. first though hundreds of people thought of the streets of afghanistan's capital to protest the deaths of nine children killed in a nato air raid last week protesters directed their anger at the u.s. occupation and afghan government demonstrations follow the country's president hamid karzai nation of the killings protests are continuing despite the u.s. leader and military officials apologies for the incident civilians and civilian casualties are sensitive issue in afghanistan where more than one hundred innocent afghans were killed in nato military operations in recent weeks political activists would sultanzoy explains why the alliance can't cope with their anti-terrorist making matters only worse for after. it's very difficult to translate these

apologies. into really meaningful. things to victims' families these are casualties that have been happening for too many years and there are too many civilian casualties the people of afghanistan the civilians are the victims of both the nato civilian casualties and the terrorists who come with bombings and with industry targeting of civilian areas and the people of afghanistan are tired of both the hearts of the people of afghanistan or in the hands of two incompetent players a player is the international community and one player is the afghan government and one. players are incompetent and ignorant about the true meaning of hearts and minds the intention of this war was to fight terror but the people of afghanistan have become the victim of terrorism united states and coalition forces have to do much better and they have to also hold the afghan side also at

a higher standard in this case the afghan government and the international community are held responsible in their eyes and and and the eyes of the people of up on the snow. was a million deaths are escalating in afghanistan another weapon terrorizes people around the world claiming countless innocent lives every year history of a car bomb explored in our king special report. live. hillary clinton says the u.s. is losing the information war to foreign media outlets including r t this week the

secretary of state asked congress for more cash to step up america's efforts to get its message across or he's got a report's war declared the us is now officially in an information battle with foreign media which provide alternative views on world news views which often running contrast to the coverage of events by the us mainstream media we are in an information war and we are losing that war i'll be very blunt in my assessment al-jazeera is winning. the chinese have opened up a global english language and multi language television network the russians have opened up an english language network i've seen it in a few countries and it's quite instructive we are cutting back the b.b.c. is cutting back some five years ago western media outlets including d.t.c. and c.n.n. had a near monopoly in the coverage of world news things have changed since then more and more viewers across the world can into various foreign media to get

a fresh take on events clearly the united states feels on the defensive in part because it can no longer monopolize not only the terms of you know the soroti in these countries but also the terms of the big there's other information out there there are other points of view and those points of view are profoundly damaging to a country that believes that its point of view is the only point of view or should be the only point of view r.t. presence on you tube is one example almost three hundred million views as opposed to c.n.n. that has around three million archy's constantly growing audience is already an indication to many that the days of media monopoly are over and people demand a multi-polar approach to news you know there's no real commitment to the kind of freedom of the universe speech that we really need if we're going to be a democracy at home and in a you know a community of nations overseas and now the administration is seeking more funding

to step up u.s. propaganda efforts abroad during the cold war we did a great job in getting america's message out after the berlin wall fell we said ok fine enough of that you know we've done it we're done and unfortunately we are paying a big price for it last year the head of the agency that manages the us government who are an international broadcasting asked for more money for his department we care allow ourselves to be out communicated by. to me the least phantom is included russia china iran and venezuela walter isaacson the head of the sea which runs voice of america among other media outlets later backtracked on this statement isaacson speech for more funding seemed even more unconvincing considering he has a budget of seven hundred fifty million dollars and it's way more than the budget of r t iran's press t.v. and venezuela's tell us were combined probably money alone can't provide global

will be a cloud walter isaacson's speech last year sent quite a hostile message to foreign media exposing the shortcomings of the us means for the secretary clinton statement may be the first the us is fighting a global information war and this goes on i'm going to start our reporting from washington are to. christopher chambers a professor of media studies at georgetown university says american news outlets are losing audience because they're putting profit first. basically you have news and entertainment in the united states that has merged and is serving basically and one of maybe three or four giant corporations and all they are concerned about is not gathering is not reporting news but commentary on the news punditry if you will and entertainment slant on the new so the more sensationalistic the more that they can deliver a demographic to their sponsors all the commercials in other words that's all they care about so you have a lot of inaccurate reporting you have

a lot of incomplete reporting but it serves the corporate purpose or to domestic audience has grown significantly because people are not getting real news and that should scare washington. you're going to have your say and all the stories we're covering so rather. than share your take on the media war debate. freedom cannot be put off for another day that's the message from president dmitry medvedev this week who said reforms only lay the basis for russia's internet elop. a lot of what we can postpone or freedom nor should we fear that the free man might use his freedom to quickly some believe that our country's tragic history in the twentieth century was a result of a failed injection of freedom they believe the skeptics who say grand scale reform

is unsuitable for the russian people think differently country should not be held together with tightened screws it is over us that in order that it is excessively strict excessive number of controllers does not usually leads to the triumph of good and nots to victory over corruption but rather to degrade a should have management for it's extremely important to get this is science see a chance to organize itself the president's message came as russia marks one hundred fifty years since the abolition of serfdom lies are alexander the second liberal reforms of the nineteenth century became a starting point of industrial development and private enterprise in a country where better of late then with his own modernization drive to move the country away from its dependence on energy exports to innovation race. and the man credited with laying the foundations of democracy in russia. celebrated his eightieth birthday this week the last leader of the soviet union his name has

become symbolic with the end of the cold war president dmitry medvedev a child today by awarding him one of russia's highest honors seeking to create a more open and prosperous u.s.s.r. his initiatives range from introducing free speech to a massive overhaul of the state. he also famed for a leading role in scrapping the berlin wall and the reunification of germany in one thousand nine hundred efforts were awarded with the nobel peace prize i barely a year later the soviet union collapsed some critics play in his unfinished reforms for the disorder and turmoil plaguing russia in the ninety's were others resent him for destroying the powerhouse that was of the u.s.s.r. but this criticism the former leader says russia was in need of desperate change. we realized from experience that it was dangerous to wait much longer but we had to take a risk because we couldn't dispose we needed changes people realized they had finally got some freedom an opportunity to act inside russia we had democracy free elections freedom of conscience private property freedom to travel abroad

everything 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 or troops there all our units in eastern europe states where they were it wasn't always easy and many things did not work out the way we planned but 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-confident. you can go to follow through with my card with many others anytime on our website or kinda. the u.k. is preparing for a nationwide census to take place later this month the government says it will help provide the services and resources people need the involvement of a carter rowsell u.s. defense for all these many theory or privacy could be violated or his laura reports wonder if it senses time in the u.k.

when every household in the country is asked to provide detailed information about their lives to the government so they can keep track of what's going on and who will be in charge of this sensitive data. yes it's controversial u.s. arms manufacturer a lot martin and campaigners ranging from religious groups to peace activists to data protection lobbyists are really against it on ethical grounds play on a number of oppressive regimes they also own. the u.s. heavily in the wars they fought in iraq and afghanistan are opposed by the majority of people in britain even if supported by the british government hill vows to boycott the census despite the risk of prosecution he says he won't be alone look he makes land mines and nuclear weapons and contracts out interrogation or kuantan of a pay although it will be the u.k.

arm that carries out the survey there's still a worry that the information could fall under the auspices of the us patriot act which compels personal data held by any company on systems in the us to be made available to government intelligence the office for national statistics which in gauged lockheed martin maintains it's taken measures to make sure u.s. authorities can't access the data. all dance of processing will be carried out in the u.k. no dancer will leave or be held any point outside the u.k. no lockheed martin staff will have access to any personal census data all dance is the property of the and only u.k. you owned companies will have any access to personal census data but it's that last point that's raise red flags for data protection lobbyists who say that all the private information collected during the census will be available to practically any organization that requests it any use found any statute. any

use by the security intelligence services for national security purposes any use for the pursuit is croyde any use in pursuit of a new community obligation so any e.u. rules that information can be passed over so it's essentially any government use whatsoever of confidentiality has been abolished and u.k. government agencies don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to safeguarding information three years ago a file containing secrets terror related documents was left on a train more recently the national health service lost the medical records of tens of thousands of people thanks to lockheed martin's involvement in the census it would be hard for the u.s. authorities to lay their hands on that information if they wanted data from the said so it is used by the government to award grants to local councils and recognize new groups in society this is run by lockheed martin raises grave

concerns in britain about ethics and international security if a lot of people boycott this that says it will make it ineffective and a waste of money with a two hundred forty million dollar contract amounts will go into looking at martins pocket anyway you're an authority on that. stay with us as we continue reviewing the week's top stories i'll be back in a few moments with our headlines. a

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has become human and mobile is tolkien of creation of the beautiful system the global food system is not created to feed the people of the world is created to maximize the profits. gernot trading the. actual cash physical grain or trading promises for graeme to be delivered months for six months or twelve months or eighteen months in the future. for reasons moderate light silver or gold that can be negotiated and afforded to some degree in. some places. water. possibly it's not traded now but it could be in the future.

which morning's today violence has once again flared up the flame these are the images cobol has been seeing from the streets of canada after. china cup for asians are rooted a. coupe. wealthy british style sign it's time to. market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with months concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on our cheap.