three arrangements three. three stooges free. and free brokers videos for your media project and a free media john tarrant dot com. three thirty am in moscow these iraqi headlines three months on from the fukushima nuclear catastrophe in japan public anger at the concealment of the true size of the disaster spills to the streets as people demand action to get end to end the ongoing crisis in march a huge tsunami swept issue are leading tens of thousands dead and damaging the fukushima reactors. powerful dangerous and possibly illegal that's the view of activist protesting the secretive meeting of some of the world's most influential

and political leaders at political and financial leaders at the builder bird conference a group claims it offers a useful forum for people in influential positions to discuss problems candidly outside the glare of the media. and r.t. looks at the large scale modernization the russian city of sochi is undergoing to make the twenty fourteen paralympic games easily accessible for participants and spectators alike russia's paralympic team has long been near the top of the leaderboard at the vancouver two thousand and ten games they won a total of thirty eight medals twelve of them gold. coming up next our pride interview show spotlight it's time al gore and i was speaks with areas foreign minister to find out why the country is considering hosting elements of nato's missile shield stay with us here at r.t. . it's.

hello again the welcome to spotlight the interview show on r.t. i maldonado and today my guest is to identify. the area as both an important hub for russia's energy projects in the region and also an intel role private and then vicious nato missile shield military project all this political gathering diplomacy and the center of intensive diplomatic negotiations to tell us about the results in moscow and also to explain bulgaria's point of view on burning international issues on the show is a bogey areas foreign minister. russia and nato have failed to come to

terms of the project missile defense shield in europe. confused about who the alliance believes is a potential enemy placing its warhead so close to russia borders bulgaria is other european countries feel safe on the nature protection and supports the shield sophia strongly believes the proliferation of ballistic technology will make such protection vitally necessary. it was a little of welcome to the show very good speaker thank you very much for being with us it's a pleasure and an order well first of all i wanted to ask you about your meeting with the recent meeting with mr lover of russian foreign minister where you said i quote it's of paramount importance that our balcony become part of the european security system well obviously you meant membership in nato. so i also meant membership of european union ok right and are you sure that that nato is the main

factor that will guarantee security in europe is that is that the belief i'm absolutely positive because if you look at it. things historically you will see the last twenty years in the balkans we have seen so many worlds and so many divisions among ethnic groups and religions there we have a historic opportunity actually more than that we have a historic responsibility to make sure the war will be impossible in the balkans and the way you make war impossible in the balkans is by bringing in the neighbors in the west welcomes inch of the european union and nato that achieves two things very important things first it provides for a common framework of laws and regulations to allow for the development of society secondly it builds on the community of values that europe has in terms of security when you are allies. together with everyone around you you don't fight you don't

waste money and you don't waste resources. protecting each use you go so far against your neighbors you actually invest your money in your resources in tackling the contemporary challenges of security that we have and these challenges today are quite different from the way they worked in the nineteenth century or of the twentieth century edition foreign minister voiced more than once the russian position russian proposal to create a paid european says the security center they need to know what's. happening in a bad this proposal we look very carefully at the proposal that came from russia for the new security architecture if i'm going to go with that and i think the many issues that still need to be discussed within the framework of the always see we always see is the framework which gives. the entire brings everyone together

in a forum to discuss the security challenges they face but i view is that the best way to guarantee security. for all of us within nato russia and each and every country is that being gauge on more practical and practical ways in involving our military establishments and growing up. in daily interaction to protect ourselves from the threats that emerge from outside of europe and russia and north america this is a very this is a very important approach to be much more practical in that sense but also to look at the existing structures that we have. a good framework within the nato russia council in which we meet. them and we discuss exactly these three issues we discuss the challenges of security we discuss how we're going to work together in afghanistan we face a major threat from the. from the taleban and from and from international terrorism

how we're going to tackle the problem of piracy and somalia all of these issues that we can deal with and i think this framework is a is a very substantial one we need to build on it we don't need to start from scratch we need to build an existing institutions and we have almost seems to be very nervous about the u.s. initiative plants creating a missile shield and you gary decided to take part in this program is this decision final where is the course of the course of this and it is a decision which is not just in the national interest but it's in the interest of the security of the border incidents as we go forward we're going to both mental but nato ballistic missile defense system it is of paramount importance to us that the entire territory of gary be covered by the system so that citizens can feel protected from the threats that they emerge when you contend these threats and

these threats stream of come from russia they come from a number of factors and they're common to both europe and russia. here's here's just a very quick list we have a an interregnum nonproliferation regime which over the last ten years it's faced very stiff opposition and then has in some parts been weak on places a substantial international problem today ballistic missile technology is much more accessible and then ten twenty thirty years ago and you have a number of radical groups and ideologies the aim of acquiring such weapons and this is this is a combination of these three factors if you had a number of countries that are quite unstable as we speak as well this threat becomes very important so what is important for us within nato and russia is to find ways in which we can work together to jointly together protect ourselves

against such a threat and some of the proposals that have been made is to start again with a very practical approach on setting up a mechanism setting up a center that would exchange information that would builds trust between the military people let's go leaders so good when you have such a center which allows for the nato missile defense system and the russian missile defense system to exchange information and to develop in coordination and you back that up with the political will which was very clear from the list when summit. to work together then slowly but surely will develop that cooperation in the trust that is vital so i don't think that anyone in russia should feel threatened by the system on the contrary it provides as a wonderful and very practical opportunity to join three work together against a quantum sort then could you explain why there why wasn't. washington and also

made it countries happy the russian proposal and part of that system you remember the russians proposed anything. the karbala station for tracking the missiles and they're using very ladies the very these are very complicated discussions because they always end up in a technical debate that relates to military technology and all kinds of other quite specific issues i think what is important is that there is a political will which was stated by nato and the president met with that we find the ways in which we can cooperate and we can coordinate and this and that that we now move to the next level of the after the statement to find the more deleterious through which we can begin exchanging information and building the trust in this i think this would be this is quite important it is a very innovative project if you think about it it's probably you know. five years ago or ten years ago if somebody had come to you and said nato and

russia are thinking how to work together and to protect their territories against ballistic missiles coming from third countries you would have probably laughed yeah i thought they were just crazy but today we i still consider it to be crazy when somebody tells me that russia may become part of something american military program such as the missile shield which still is an american program and you believe you really believe that russia may become part of it what it actually well it's obvious. you say that what i say is that you know there are you know really only two keys there are a number of opportunities for nato and for russia to work together in protecting nato and protecting russia. by using our own systems against such a threat. i don't see why people here are so skeptical of that i do wish that you

know. people in russia would be a little bit more understanding of the fact that we are now partners there is a partnership that is being signed. by nature in russia there's a strategic relationship between the european union and russia and that one doesn't need to be suspicious of everything one needs to be much more open minded and to find a way through which we work together in a way that actually delivers to the indian the interests of our citizens it was the citizens of all garia citizens of russia the citizens of any country. in europe or in north america basically the same people want to live in security they want to have their rights guaranteed to be ones that have economic opportunity and when there are threats against. against these very basic human desires we must stand up and protect ourselves against well

a you said that russia obviously is not the source of threat and you also mentioned the terrorist groups that want to acquire weapons but terrorist groups are not firing ballistic missiles it could be more specific and would you consider the threats coming from the you know places where these missiles that would be shot over bulgaria and flying from i would be a little bit more careful with were you with such an assessment because twenty years ago. terrorists did not do many of the things which we now you know find should be common practice i mean some groups improvised explosive devices very sophisticated improvised explosive devices complicated and well planned attacks on civilians aimed at disrupting civilian infrastructure indeed it harks recently we had terrorists walk away naval facility and took out the little damage that so the

world is changing and we need to be prepared not just for the threats of yesterday but for the threats of tomorrow and this is why. developing such a system in concept with other things that we're doing come so that was a dialogue we had when identifying. the core. fundamental reasons why terrorist groups exist in the world in addressing very fundamental i deal with ideological divisions but now try to explain the world is of collapsing and some form of crush of civilizations the question of religions all of this is fundamentally. a problem an issue that we must solve and it doesn't matter whether that comes from russia whether it comes from. says. gary is foreign minister. will be back shortly after we take a great settled stay with us.

wealthy british style sun. rise. of the. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy is a report on our. more than a month. in one of the most extreme environments on the planet this is antarctica and people have to be aware that they're far away from civilization sean thomas discovers what makes antarctica so special and attractive for many the wildlife in antarctica is. an.

expedition to the bottom of the earth. welcome back to spotlight. and just a reminder that my guest on the show today is nicole a melodeon of who's the foreign minister of bulgaria. garia i was determined to contribute into another. big. program of nato which is the mission in libya russia's foreign minister a lover of was criticizing nato as appreciate in libya in this current form he said he said that it was not corresponding to the initial nato resolution what does go gary think about your participation in the libya and really the operation and what's the final go out and get

a feel what could could do you actually see the final go bridge yes i do and i think first of all of a step by saying the. i think it's very unfortunate the way that colonel qadhafi respondants to have a gypsum that concerns him good judgment demands that he was as people had for more democracy informal but the space in government for more openness the right way to respond to such demands is to actually address the real concerns that people have notes to take tanks into the streets you know to quote your citizens' rights and not to attack them and this is what happens particularly in benghazi and if it hadn't been for moving very quick and very rapid reaction of some countries members of nato thinking united nations or u.n. security council resolution and with a nato operation we would have seen

a massacre of one proportions extent so i think that the operation in libya is right it is legitimate because it's based on the. u.n. security council resolution and it is just because it protects the people from now if you ask me about the final how do we get out of that question that question is very much a political question and i think the international community has laid very clearly what are the requirements or the. stepping stones towards reaching such an agreement and bulgaria takes a very strong interest in libya because we have a strong relationship with the people of libya and we have many bulgarian national school of them if you would we are analysis shows very clearly the political resolution to the future of libya must be based on a strong and very clear roadmap which brings people together from both east and west of the country unites the tribes of libya the different families the different

factions and brings them together in a process which allows them to choose their. own transitional authority a transitional authority that will design a new constitution would design a process is leading up to it to an election of course in this process there is really no place for colonel qaddafi and i hope that he will understand quite soon unfortunately he doesn't seem to have a list of up till now that the further. you know that the staying on continuing to stay in the position that he has now it's not just unattainable for him in the long run but it is beginning to damage very much the libyan people i hope that you know we will see also an increased international effort to dress the humanitarian situation both on the side of the. in places like resort up to what

it's very severe but also increasingly in tripoli as well we hear more and more reports from our people on the ground of the difficult conditions that people there face. as a naval asset and naval blockade bill exists thanks rick i'm traveling with the contact group meeting in abu dhabi where we shall be discussing further international with and i hope lots of discussion will focus also on how do we find a political solution to this crisis. this is the same i mean your opinion about libya would you talk about like i mean about syria syria should the international community so exert pressure on brush out that to to keep it to stop violence against his own people get demonstration would that solve the situation is seen as you see it i do this that's a very complicated question because i generally don't think that we should look at the situation in the middle east and. without understanding the specifics of each

country syria is a very different country from libya unfortunately president assad. has not been able to push forward the reforms that he promised and would we have seen over the last few months is an increase in violence in syria which is completely unacceptable and it is it is in the long run it damages very very seriously syria both syrian society and the ability of syria to come into a community of nations that would very much welcome it if it if it meets all international standards and good practices on this i was in damascus a few weeks ago and met with president assad and we had a long discussion about the reforms that are needed and about the need to stop the violence unfortunately i think we violence has gone so far and so deep into syrian

society that now we're really in the last minutes or last days of an opening for political reform i understand that over the last few days some. initiatives have been taken to allow for an amnesty to have a debate on the constitutional changes and also to open a dialogue with the. different opposition groups within syria however this is too little much much more needs to be done and it needs to be done very very quickly. one of the most. important questions in russian abu gharib bilateral relations is cut ration separation and energy cooperation in two thousand and six had the two countries i've been dreaming to build their nuclear power plant in well anything else. right well however construction has not started yet can you tell us the main reason the main obstacles why isn't the project starts cracking well thank you for

that question but let me start somewhere else because you said these issues are energy is one of the most important issues and our relationship and i agree with you but it's not the only one we have a very good relationship with russia and my visit here was to try and focus more of our discussions not just on energy and tourism but on a number of other areas where we can cooperate including culture. and education as far as berlin is concerned poland is a very big project and it's quite a complicated project the way that the bulgarian government approaches it is in a constructive manner to try and see to make sure that the project itself which was developed sometime ago in the cong as you said the contract was signed in two thousand and six but it's an old project that goes by some thirty ins and that everything in the project today meets the highest also both international standards

and particularly european requirements and safety you understand that after fukushima we are all very much more sensitive towards safety and i'm not saying that before fukushima we relax on it but the public itself is now very much more sensible so what we're doing now is our experts are working with the russian experts to make sure that the project is. at the very very top of safety requirements and we don't have any differences in that because. neither bulgarian or russian or any other country would be willing to jeopardize our safety and secondly we're working on creating the. economic and the financial package to make this project interesting to outside investors as well because it's a they said in the beginning this is a very substantial project obviously this takes time it doesn't happen quickly but i can assure you that it is in the interests of both the welfare and energy

companies the russian energy company that is involved in it both governments and everyone else in europe that we if we go ahead with this project we go ahead with the very very firm basis that doesn't leave any questions to be asked as far as safety economic benefits or financial records is people who take wiki leaks seriously they say that one of the reasons i had bring this project may be that the americans were. pretty much pressure on bulgaria according to wiki leaks. that in favor of house instead of russ that i'm american investors instead of russian investors is that true. i'm not one of those people who take wiki leaks seriously so if you want to talk about that you better find somebody who takes a series of other sources of information says look the price as i said i think you

know all of the these conspiracy theories and these discussions that are being spurred by leaks are very interesting and fascinating but the reality is that we're talking about a nuclear power facility i nuclear power facility is a highly complicated. facility that must. you know at the very minimum meet the requirements in terms of safety that we know. and as i said after fukushima people who have been very sensitive to that but you. know we're not abandoning them for energy at this point definitely not. you know people are sensitive after fukushima but people in bulgaria also remember mobile and they remember the effects of that happened and these effects still linger on. in many bulgarian families.

stories about how the government then the communist government then did not inform people of the risks that they were facing going out into the streets because of the clouds and all of that. and indeed some people to conserve up to be a very serious crime so this is why. society is very sensitive to these issues so you know with all due respect we can leaks with all due respect to different types of reactors and producers when you build something on your own territory you wanted to be top notch thank you thank you very much for being with us and just to remind you that my guest on the show today was. before this throughout. and that's it for now for all of us the spotlight will be back with more first on comments on what's going on in and outside russia. stay on r.t. and take you.

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