believe early twenty first century military bases a network of military bases all around the world for misleading empire that the united states is trying to do it's astonishing most americans have no idea there are more than a quarter of a million or more than two hundred fifty thousand u.s. troops stationed on these bases all around the world. we don't have power bases in america we don't have any british base we don't have any korean base we don't have any french bases or you know we just all american bases in our bases are fine there are the noises i would ne of those along the us i don't because they're all bases but for older people it's almost like a cancer here for these people since the end of world war two d. spaces have been here. we're here to provide a safe and secure environment for everybody. the

questions they have thing goes to get everything you needed. six thirty am in moscow these are your r t ed lines in japan are discovers radiation levels far exceeding the legal limit even outside of the exclusion zone surrounding the stricken fukushima daiichi nuclear plant traces of the element strong said because of bone cancer and leukemia also been found at high concentrations near the plant. colonel gadhafi pledges he'll never leave libya as he faces off against a chess grandmaster in the devastated capital tripoli meanwhile nato steps up its offensive and declares it's expanding operations against the libyan government but an independent fact finding mission on the ground in question is the alliance methods. the pentagon says it can't find six point six billion dollars of cash

meant for iraq reconstruction even after a lengthy investigation officials in baghdad are threatening legal action to reclaim the funds that come from the countries seize the assets and oil sales. dressed of bosnian serb general ratko melodic has divided public opinion in serbia some believe it will seal e.u. membership others accuse the government of betraying a national hero journalist sergei grew tsunami who covered the spazzing in civil war in the mid ninety's shares his memories of the general without a grain of spotlight.

oh yeah welcome to spotlight. on r t algernon today my guest on the show is going to. serve general accused of genocide and mass murder in the bosnian war of ninety nine and two thousand and six. finally in his capture. the serbia. of the european union and now the. blasts but the serbian people are split as many see it. as a national hero and a martyr while the smooth costs the country more than it may bring our guest is a journalist based in belgrade during the civil war he met. personally and is ready to share his memories right now. present very started says europe is ready to

support the country's bid to join the european union this became possible after belgrade sent general rascal managed to the hague where he's going to be tried by general who's accused of genocide and ordering the massacre. is threatening to start a hunger strike but the. leadership remains firmly focused on the european union. thank you very much for coming. under which circumstances when did you did you meet . well. when i was working in the former yugoslavia during the war i met the general mood each more than once also met his political leader the former president of republic a sort of another one. you know he has been on trial in the hague scenes two thousand and eight. and. now.

it's joined him i met mother church several times between one thousand nine hundred two and ninety ninety five. first time it was in pali the capital of bosnian serbs and then several times in. this city that was shelled the ground. forces. i was weakness how soldier of of general killed civilian people if i'm not throng. seven or. a thousand civilians. were killed by a soldier of self. most members so it was my eyes you really yes are you sure that . was convinced and ruthless nationalist is a true yes exactly really i can see i can repeat your expression.

i was more watching him several times i saw. from this during the war and i have the impression that he was like a small local napoleon yes he liked very much his. uniform he'd like to show his guy and swear. but then life here was middle. his colleagues from the military academy in belgrade told me that they didn't expect that he became a general fugitive bosnian serb army general ratko was arrested last month after sixteen years on the run spotlight sealing the deal me there has more. last month the rest of russia can live each game is

a long awaited really full bosnian muslims but was not accepted as happily by serbs bringing back bitter memories of the violence the balkans had to go through in the one nine hundred ninety s. the collapse of yugoslavia was accompanied by fees struggle for territorial control and by much bloodshed the largest massacre since the second world war is associated with chain you're all right. in one thousand nine hundred five the bosnian serb forces on the east command attacked the un controlled town of srebrenica with tens of thousands of bosnian civilians according to the us. and tribe you know why did she spoke thousands of women and children and or did the execution of more than seven thousand men and boys she wanted by the international war crimes tribunal why did she had been on the run for sixteen years before his arrest and extradition to the hague. event caused huge protests in serbia with thousands coming onto the

streets of belgrade claiming that ten didn't want each over to the hague tribunal was treason many said serbia would prefer their own courts to deal with the case so best arrest an extradition of the former bosnian serb army chief was one of the key conditions for the chance to join the european union potential membership would mean billions of dollars worth of bronte. listen the main accusation against nitish is they should have been it's a massacre. i'm sure he he really because personal responsibility for it well. i mean personally i wasn't insane bring inside during this. sad case but i have information from my colleagues and from historic calls from belgrade from.

that it was a crime and he personally ordered killed this innocent people. would do you agree to what the west generally believes that that the serbs there the lion's share of responsibility for for the atrocities and and for the crimes committed during the bust in war. to be fair i must say that there are no side of the conflict was very humane neither syrups not creations not muslims it was the war but i am sure that the late president of serbia dictator slobodan milosevic and his visit from zagreb former president of create for a new man. the share of the most of the blame for initiating the long

and bloody war i met was them several times i had some interviews with both of them . they know personally they agreed on their plan to divide and herzegovina so so so this is the main thing and if we get back to the atrocities you had to you had to report as a journalist. on the on the atrocities and what happened. in the field in these villages of the police who were you a witness to any work crimes to interest yourself. especially in survivor. it was ninety ninety two ninety nine three ninety ninety four i lived in the holiday inn hotel in the center of survivor together with foreign journalists and it seems that was agreement between serbs and muslims do

not. push to not. do not make some bad for journalists living in the in the in this hotel because it will work against them yes that's why it was a unique building in the center of soraya wasn't it wasn't for her some bullets you can see places from the bullets on this hotel even today i was inside i was three months ago it's a lot of destroyed buildings in the center of the city with the hotel still the hotel i was living in the same hotel and the city in general how would you explain or is there an explanation for this very high level of hatred for is. high level of violence during the civil war. the main

reason of this tragedy is nationalist. serbian nationalism muslims nationalism creation nationalism now i'm sure you want to say that that the former yugoslavia it was a nationalist country. it was. it didn't happen like this i mean it should have been nationalist before before the war was there and there were only two federal so-called communist countries in the europe soviet union and former federal soviet republic. for. yes it's exception because after they divorced czechs and slovaks they are living in peace in the center of your life in harmony in. the european union but in the case of former soviet union it was a small number of victims but in yugoslavia there were thousands of people killed

because of nationalism nationalism is on the first place. blood which i guess it was in in a month and a result really yes it was. i didn't expect i had some rumors about i'm a journalist i was looking for this rumors but. i was in montenegro. and i find a fare on the mountains and inspectable i saw one guy. it was wrapped in luggage he was already in hiding was he yes did you have a chance to talk to him to communicate doing just. that he said let's just hello and disappear that's. can we say that. each was characterized. as particularly cruel

person compared to other person's symptoms of the war was it special or mol mol lots of people know like he was a prophet in the hands of slobodan milosevic yes because milosevic gave him orders milosevic paid him money and send weapon to boston syrups. it doesn't mean that he's not. guilty he is but. his political leader was slobodan milosevic. and i believe that now in cake. i'm glad that you will show two. trials first time secret documents captured together with him in the village close to belgrade and that will be

documents. against not only slobodan milosevic who unfortunately died was a. result. trial but against the lead there of syrups nationalists and the radicals slobodan. voice left special. cause paramilitary groups killed people on the same way like soldiers of iraq on luggage sensitive vegas is not a witness of the one in the boat in the nine hundred ninety s. russian spotlight will be back we'll continue this interview in less than a minute so stay with us.

one stream cascading from mom slopes the view is miss mirage. but this beauty brings death at a speed of more than two hundred kilometers per. step in the long. we'll. bring you the latest in science and technology from the ground floor. we've got the future covered. 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 both an affront to. extradition to the bottom of the earth are. welcome back to spotlight on al green of in just a reminder that my guest in the studio here today is city gigglers and off a witness of the world both who met general lavage several times he's a russian journalist and he just published this book about about the events of the civil war in the former yugoslavia in the ninety's we're talking we're talking about them live each case we're talking about the guy that was arrested and is now in the hague facing facing trial. does the fact that it took so long that it was so hard to to to

a wrist the mean that the laddish enjoyed some cover up from from the serbian military you just mentioned before the break that you just occasionally met him in a cafe in montenegro we're just having a cup of coffee but we're with somebody over there because so so. it he wasn't somewhere like bin ladin in some secret hideaway place so by the way. i think it's very good that. they kept. the blood alive not like it was in case it was bin laden and we have some serious misunderstanding between. you know official version and. some controversial from the journalist the

official version is that he was he was captured by chance the just happened well it was a special operation is it true. you mean luggage yes yes. some time ago i. think with serbian president the current serbian president the leader of serbian democrats. started sure we know each other twenty years and. i am very satisfied with his policy now and i ask him morris please tell me between us you is it true that you didn't know nothing about his location all this years he said sergei trust me i didn't i believed him but but. mother was arrested on their rather strange circumstances i have no reason to doubt the current president that age but

considering. their recent here he could hardly live so why it was a professional medical because he is so. very very breeches and a veil or bow if you went on the ground more water then when the security forces arrested blood which. my serbian contacts told me about it last week i was in belgrade he had expensive medicine with him. that is very hard to find this medicine in belgrade now really yeah so so it came from from europe from western europe somewhere but somebody zealots the point is not. personal and ok how influential are the supporters of luggage today in the serbian society can the society be split over his arrest yes the society is split but.

last week i told you i was. a guest in belgrade the presentation of our book in serbian language and i was a guest. in belgrade t.v. . and that was the vaulting or spectator of about the main. the main interesting event from that week and only one. spectators named the case of realize as a main event people talked about. probably not football not not basketball scandal great cultural crisis etc etc and what. i want to say that. the rest did not cause a major public outcry in serbia remorse serbia's it didn't surprise yes yes most serbians realize that those of his link. fortunate past

their professional lawyers should work with and serbia should look to the future of to find a way on the european union because serbia now has a lot of problems. is not a problem it is the past of the country is if blood each karrar just children again if the if these guys are really the poorest when saying that do you mean syria and former yugoslavia in general today are no longer can time in the to do with this virus of nationalism well unfortunately the bulk of the region is still under political economical and moral tension. this is why the rest of it should be welcomed as another step towards service european union membership

and we had a lot of troubles in more stand karats ago in that you know that there is. fighting between politicians about the future of course of a former part of serbia we have. questions on mustn't go in there and i will repeat a lot of problems in serbia and call. serbian economy do you think that bustling and herzegovina will survive in the current food well it's the fairly hard to say. what what can we expect from this country in the future but not a good source and. when i was a young journalist in belgrade the young people of my it was working in belgrade toll now he's a high executive his name is valentinians and sometimes i can call him and ask him well and then what can we expect. even the poorest man in bosnia cannot for the

future because you know mostly in serapis one so they have another idea as the. leaders of the car and. him the way. the problem of diplomacy. mixed it together and find the some good solution but i think that politicians and journalists will have a lot of work many many years what about the bosnian serbs do you think that the bosnian serbs will get. the right to secede following the example of cost of a ticket because if not that will be double standards will it when you know what is the difference i mean i mean that the muslims the albanians and the surgeon cost.

it's the main question because the. statute of boston served now is. it's not finally. clean there is all the idea of the great serbia. from. serbia from part of boston carrots ago and from the part of creation and that was plan made by dictator slobodan milosevic and this idea is still the life in the society. what about the hague tribunal. will they try bill for for for for me this live you consider to be an example of justice do you believe that it's really doing a good job i think so because. i was in. the weiss and i had interview with the leaders of this institute and them sure

they are not against serbs like some people say like to say in moscow or in belgrade they're against crime crime. in belgrade in zagreb and in. the majority of the accused by this hague tribunal for the just like there are serbs do you consider this fair. because we know that that also that not only serves the muslims cravats lots of lots of ethnic groups participated in the war but the sometimes it looks like the the tribunals is only for serbs no i am not agree with this view because it's very easy serbs populations twice more then in creation and twice more in boston occur in the herzegovina and the many times more than in slovenia. do you

think that general route could not reach who is in syria do you think that he'll get a fair trial in the hague. i hope. i hope that he will have a fair trial i'm sure that he will have. a good look it's. now he's free to think about his future it's in the his interest. question the arrest. it is considered to be a door opener for serbia do you think then that now that this arrest will pave the way for serbia into the e.u. yes i'm sure but it's not the last problem to belgrade we have. which have the case of course over the next step will be causal thank you thank you

very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest on the show today said good there was an awful with this the boss in the end war and an author of a book he just published on the events in former yugoslavia in benign suits and that's it for now from all of us here if you want to have your sound spot might just drop the mark will be back with more for spending comments on what the lawn and outside just going through so then stay and i take place. i said.