russian president pledges drastic measures in a bid to create a better investment climate in the country. decentralizing power and stifling corruption goals voiced by to meet the may day to fear at the international economic forum in st petersburg join me at least an hour for more details in just a moment. no consensus no care she u.s. congressman say they'll cut funding for the libya campaign unless the president gets the proper constitutional go ahead for the ongoing war. a bomb has ninety days of action without sanction runs out this weekend. plus the e.u. moves towards new sanctions against syria and a push that's feared to be a build up for a libya star intervention. international

news and comment live from our studios here in central moscow this is. russia must modernize its economy in the next few years regardless of who is in charge prism if it has been outlined in the country's direction at the petersburg form of top business leaders he also wants the government's large role in the economy along with corruption threaten development and must be tackled parties and he said now reports now from st petersburg. well there are certainly a lot of obstacles and president medvedev knows that became very clear and has for real with his whole term as president that he thinks modernization is the way to go into the future with russia and he clearly outlined all of the obstacles that the country is facing first let's take a listen to what he had to say about modernization as

a whole and it's called. if the studios choice is not only a major green you will of outdated elements in the economy but all public institutions used we need to hesitate to say sorry about many bad habits we can focus only on the step by step development question that would be a mistake that would be which we should focus on the following improvement of the investment climate in russia to create new jobs in the regions the creation of police and other security forces improvement of the effectiveness of the jurisdiction system and finally the modernization of government employee approaches and the centralizing power which of course one of those bad habits so to say as the president phrased it that he was talking about was corruption it's no secret that corruption is widespread unless of course in many other emerging economies it's widespread as well the president clearly wants to fight it this is the morning he'd have passed on officials that are corrupt he's got a noose around the neck of those who practice corruption should be told it's and

and the whole of russia agrees with this without exception which could go to corruption is very difficult to do with the government should be purged of corruption in a more dishonest if way young for that purpose we should enhance the way those suspected of corruption or dismissed from public service he. joining me now here in same here is first to speak more about modernization and the challenges that russia is facing especially in terms of the economy danielle trey's read this from u.c.l.a. thanks for being with us i'd like to begin with the president's speech of course once again we heard the trend of monitors ation corruption decentralizing the government. what are the details problems if you could tell us briefly that are hampering this process that's why it was touched on some very familiar to me that a lot of help from. the need for police reform if that's your story and so on. that's fine but that's part of the trouble but the problem really has been

implementation in many speeches and many programs that they'll say it's less clear ground level this has really changed the way that you're that's because throughout the summer. how do you think those spot steps to begin to be taken where does it need to start at the lowest level it's the start of the whole of the supply chain to sleep so i think everybody is supposed to take place fighting corruption. for the effects of the state and that is to introduce more political competition although. at the same time was increasing freedom costs. or sometimes we exaggerated in the west that the restraints on the press markets the tax credits still to have was genuinely in the friendly publication so television travels with help tremendously the question is whether the breach if at this point it's

fair to take more risks introduced elements of political opposition. media freedom of course that all adds to the push for modernization as well tenuous and thank you very much for being with us here at the economic forum we'll continue our coverage over the rest of today and tomorrow as the world's modern innovators top business executives and world leaders gather to face the challenges facing the modern world and of course the top. and business team is also keeping track of what's coming out of the international economic forum for the transit he'll be with us to bring a small in just a few minutes from here on. president medvedev announces that the government is planning to privatized more of a sad sad and move toward a more open economy more live from st petersburg coming up. the u.s. congress members are threatening to cut funding for america's military campaign in

libya which is racking up a bill of ten million dollars a day but the white house is refusing to ask for congressional approval of military action which is required by law the president is allowed ninety days before asking permission and runs out this weekend not he's going to come as more in this. u.s. lawmakers are saying that president obama has to either stop waging war in libya or ask for congressional approval the lawmakers claim that the military action will violate the nine hundred seventy three war powers resolution if it does not and by friday and they mean this friday ninety days after the intervention began under the u.s. constitution to wage a long term war the president needs to get authorization from congress and only say the obama administration will certainly find a way to get around the requirement by referring to his rights as commander in chief as well as certain legal speak to this day the administration has refused to say war when it comes to their actions in levy they call it kinetic military action

as a result of that kinetic military action civilians are bombed every day a group of international observers is now in tripoli including a former u.s. congresswoman cynthia mckinney we spoke with her a few days ago she said they heard and they counted eighty nine blasts in just one day those are civilian neighborhoods eighty nine bombs dropped in just one day there is a lot of concern that the voices of those who are caught up in that war in tripoli go unnoticed in the national community but here in the uighurs it seems the voices of the majority of americans those who oppose the u.s. military involvement in libya also go unnoticed by the white house the administration continues to stress the good cause that they pursuing leiby a but some analysts say the administration also seems to be in denial when it comes to the will of their own people regarding the issue as well as constitutional procedures legal experts say there is not much congressman ten do to force the president to comply at least with the u.s. constitution because there are ways to get around ways he'll bomb administration

seems to be using extensively most congressmen now criticize president obama for as they say ignoring congress but capitol hill observers say it's mostly political games that the lawmakers are playing to score points by snubbing. the president come the day to actually vote the majority of them will vote for more military spending as they always do but there is a small bipartisan group of congressmen ten people in it who went further then. they sued president obama on the grounds that he's violating the constitution but everybody here knows that the lawsuit is certain to be dismissed on procedural grounds because the u.s. supreme court has determined that members of congress do not have standing to file such a suit and this is where it hits a dead end and it makes many wonder whether or not u.s. lawmakers actually have the capacity to effectively represent the people. kind of in washington israel has been holding back millions of dollars of palestinians

money leaving thousands of people without any wages it's tax revenue that's supposed to be passed back to the palestinian people but since the political groups hamas and fatah reconciled the payments stopped being meeting some of those who are suffering at the shop and. i look we are we've gone to the palestinian ministry of finance his job is to check everything that comes into this building but he has no control over what goes out least of all his salary which is paid by the ministry and sometimes comes long overdue if my salary comes later it's like my life starts i simply cannot do anything i have a wife and four children to feed and when i don't get paid on time it makes lots of problems for me and my family. i want to cleave the ministry gets its money from the israeli government it comes in the form of customs and tax treaties that television been collecting on goods arriving at israeli ports and destined for palestinians the arrangements and one thousand nine hundred three is part of the oslo accord giving television control of the international borders between israel

and the palestinian territories with the money transferred each month to the palestinian ministry of finance which uses it to pay wages except now we're talking about seven hundred million dollars for. example hundred fifty pounds. if they were free the situation itself. palestinians fear their tell of of could again choose to withhold tax money like it did last month israelis argue they have every right to do so if they suspect the money could be used for buying weapons. to the hamas terrorists are paid for the same bank account so i don't want to find these terrorist. palestinians insist the monies for ordinary work as it is. sore because on one hand it's a punishment but on the other hand it's a punishment it's a collective punishment that would mainly weaken the moderate elements within the

palestinian society and play to the hand of the extremists the relationship between hamas and fatah is a turbulent one but both groups are trying hard to work together ahead of september's planned declaration of statehood no doubt israel will be working even harder to thwart them should it feel its interests are threatened policy r t. let's bring you up to date on some of the other top stories. all r.t. in the world update greece's appoints the new finance minister in a major government reshuffle to try and stave off a catastrophic collapse of its financial system leaders are trying to force through deeply unpopular cuts which violent street protests this week greece needs to secure billions of euros in a second. and i.m.f. bailout germany in france a quick deal is vital to stop greece is spilling into other countries. north korea is accusing seoul of forcing nine of its citizens to stay in the self warning that it could worsen relations between the two countries but seoul says it

won't extradite the group which defected by boat last week saying they've asked to resettle in the south in favor of the north responded angrily when its neighbor refused to send back for fishermen who asked for asylum. china is on its highest disaster alert level after days of heavy rains forced more than half a million people to evacuate their homes in central and southern provinces officials say over one hundred people have been killed by the floods and sixty five are still missing the reports are expected to continue into next week army troops are being mobilized for the relief effort. and the protests have flared up in syria against president assad's regime with sixteen people reportedly killed in clashes on friday meanwhile the e.u. is planning a third round of sanctions because of the government's crackdown on protesters. let's cross live to washington and i understand if we can talk to antiwar activists

brownback and he's in our washington studio ron thanks very much indeed for joining us here in r.t. what with more and more civilian lives being lost in syria each day now is the time isn't it for the international community to act and put a stop to this. well i think we have to have a very so estimate of what's going on with this the if it adopts these new sanctions the third wave of sanctions they're incrementally escalating the u.s. and western european intervention into syria i think that we're going down the road as we when libya where one step leads to another step they're climbing the escalation letter they have a very sort of selective concern for the lives of protesters and democracy movements or movements that call themselves democracy movements you take rain they're they're they're condoning the crackdown on peaceful protesters i think what's really happening is that syria syria has been targeted by the united states

and also in principally by by france and the u.k. for regime change and i think they see this growing protest movement and the possible slippage of the country in the direction of civil war as an opportunity to overthrow what has been considered to be an independent government in syria but what would that replace the current regime in syria if it was overthrown. well i i think that the goal of the those who impose the sanctions is to get rid of the current government and bring the power our client regime another words a regime that is loyal to those who became its benefactors and patrons on the international scene another words a client of the western powers who of course historically as the colonial force in the region and including in syria ruled the roost until the arab people in syria were able to manage to take control of their own destiny so i think they're looking

for the elimination of an independent government and the replacement of it with a proxy or puppet government in damascus isn't that the right thing to do because of those concerns that if the regime is overthrown then the country could descend into civil war and that. and in fact drag of the volatile neighbors into a regional conflict a much bigger conflict what you see in syria the moment is not a good argument. well i think that what we see and what we must recognize is that when the western powers are intervening in syria or in libya or as they did in iraq it's not because they have great tender concern about the situation of the people in those countries or in the region they have their own interests those interests are basically they have control over a region that has two thirds of the world's oil rather than being a stabilizing force i think we can see and i think we can see it clearly from the

last few months that the dictatorships and regimes that were put into power and financed by the west and by the united states and the west european countries those governments themselves became the force the catalyst for destabilization because the people reject those governments you mentioned bahrain a little earlier why is the west seems to be more concerned about libya and syria. rein in yemen at the moment why isn't there such interest in those countries. well bahrain is the site of the u.s. fifth fleet that's where it's housed that's where its bases are it's considered an outpost an extension of american naval power in this geo strategically part of the world in the case of yemen for the last thirty years the yemenis government has fundamentally functioned as a proxy for the united states and for western powers so i think we can see that there's a selective demonization of some regimes sort of a turning away or winking at other regimes at the very last second the united

states said they to support of the overthrow of mubarak but that was only when mubarak's days were clearly numbered because of the mass movement similarly in yemen the goal there was to keep the institutions that were loyal to america maybe without the figure of saleh in yemen or mubarak in egypt but to maintain that sort of neo colonial power they had extension of american military power in this region let's talk about the developments there in washington where you are at the moment u.s. congress members are running out of patience with obama's actions there in libya at the moment and time is indeed running out for it to be a legal military campaign do you think they really will have the guts to stand up to him on this one what america really has had it in for get off you for so no no. well you know article one section eight of us constitution says only the u.s. congress has the right to declare war that's been whittled down as we all know for the past sixty or seventy years congress adopted the war powers act in one thousand nine hundred eighty three saying the government must report within sixty days to

the congress and to get approval from congress for the continuation of military hostilities that's what we see happening now in congress the obama administration has mounted an absurd defense against its requirement to comply with the war powers act same the bombing of another country in this case libya doesn't constitute quote hostilities as associated normally with war which of course is just an upside down version of reality will congress do it historically congress has been very weak in the face of executive power but the american people by a by a margin of two to one now according to the recent polls are against the war were sponsoring and people are having anti-war activities all over the united states starting this week live from the u.s. capitol thanks very much indeed for talking to us here on r.t. . to work in some of the world's harshest conditions you need to man up and muck in or in the case of one and thought it work or it's bringing an essential woman's touch to the tough life. has been to to me.

as a filmmaker olga stuff and of the likes of the penguins and seals but for her and article is about something much greater still that had that. even though it seems like this is a naked land make it stones to cliff's nothing special snow like ana's snow but what happens inside of you when you are here for the whole year and are removed from all other external factors is a very valuable experience. staying through an antarctic winter is serious business and so every member of a winter team has a specific purpose and they rely on each other to make it through olga is one of only a few women to have ever been allowed to be a part of this experience. of olga ended up on our team was a big bonus for us it's the first time such an intelligent young woman with such high professional objectives has been on the winter team she's definitely made our existence. of calls to us and difficulties and attractive girls with fifteen men

for eleven months so it was some difficulties but we've learned to manage them all this experience in wintering a building house and gave her a true rare opportunity to experience and document the life here in antarctica now she's working to expand on her project and find an audience for her work but he just. right now i am putting the finishing touches to the second part of the film the first one is already finished it's cold weather in the winter the second part will probably be called this season and it will feature of the antarctic summer. to debut her documentary olga invited some special guests the same antarctic winter team who are the subject of her film a fact that makes her slightly nervous you know if you watch as i love and respect them they're close and dear to me and they have such huge background knowledge they know people in the film they know their winter season firsthand they have been through this themselves i get wolf when you put off leash as for the thoughts of

the. those who have seen the film. this film makes a big impression on you there may be some shows that expose unprofessional actions by a couple of members of our team but to show that the way it was showed it the way she saw it and it was spectacular. a unique look into a world that is inaccessible to most in antarctica sean thomas or a t. . and you can follow more sean's discoveries in the world's coldest continent with his videos and blog at all to call a website. 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 are far away from civilization and sean thomas discovers what makes antarctica so special and attractive for many the wildlife in antarctica is a bonus if you leave the. expedition to the bottom of the

earth. it's always there and all of t. cold concrete is next with an update on the second day all of that economic forum taking place in st petersburg in a moment stay with us for that. how a welcome to business here on our top story today russia's most important financial event of the year the st petersburg international economic forum. the city of st petersburg has always been called russia's window to europe but the economic forum in full swing has become the window to the whole world as a wraps up the second day. highlight of today indisputably president medvedev keynote address to the assembly here talking about modernization and innovation as

the main the main focuses of the event and the main focus for the russian economy in the years to come he pointed out beyond x. and mailed out rule as a shining examples of home grown business is that i've done well on the foreign market examples that others can follow also talked about the ten billion dollars state backed private equity fund something that he believes will bring more innovation and spur growth here in russia also expanding the thirty billion dollar assets sale program of state assets into private hands something that he thinks is also going to be a good deal for the russian economy. the loans amounts of it but it has only. privatization of major companies is that the implementation of these plans is necessary at the very modest busy to the first of the scale of trying to time as they should in order to his old lease i'm sure will be able to go through with it in

a movie transparent way to attract. the best is the sufficient funds for the russian budget but you medvedev also said that state capitalism is not something that's going to work for russia but that the role of the government should instead be doing what it can to help foster innovation and foster for investment in the country and come up with a good atmosphere a good environment for businesses to thrive in russia that's what he said is going to move the economy forward along those lines he believes that the country needs less regulation less red tape to get business is hopping off the ground. russia and also he believes there needs to be more efficient development in the country now along those lines we have had lots of business go on here at the economic forum of the size just the keynote speeches from president medvedev and chinese leaders. there are also there are some up. dates on are russia's energy deals with foreign companies gazprom nafta and american shell have agreed to jointly develop new coil

resources and some of the hard to get areas of russia to russia and a broad this is a deal that could help gazprom that increase its presence in europe countries also planning to jointly develop in the arctic the deal or check that there's been a bunch of news about a major deal that could become the agreement of the decade the failed arctic tie up between the ross nafta and b.p. the other countries were planning to jointly develop the arctic but the deal collapsed as b.p. and other in his rather russian partner they are opposed to the agreement despite this b.p. says that eased off to a mistake about prospects we were not successful in reaching a set of commercial conditions that were acceptable to all of the companies involved i think the concept of a strategic partnership to see who's good for russia good for. the energy markets. good for all of the companies involved. in that says it is

still looking for a partner to help develop the arctic and as soon as this is as soon as here possibly and energy should minister sergei because radko highlights the nonetheless it triggered investor investor interest in the russian shelf and b.p.'s chief is also positive about this so in all lot of important economic news going on here in russia and being highlighted day two of the st petersburg international economic forum. russian markets closed lower on friday sinking the most into week as oil it's up to now four month low yes and a down point seven percent in the my six that is when a quarter of a is that in the red now let's have a look at some individual moves on them isaac's oil companies were among the main losers on the include prices with technique and down more than four percent last year as an after of us gain over. a half percent supported by news the company may start assembling green cards for the new russian startup. and will start

a call rocketed twenty five percent after the company's shares were included on the r.t.s. index has been stable. sold the business news we have for you but you can always find most always on our website just logon to our.

to a substantial degree and one form or another socialism has spread the shadow of the regimentation over most of the nations of europe and the shadow is an approaching a river. leave early twenty first century military bases a network of military bases all around the forms of the movement empire that the united states is trying to do that'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. 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 of. the noises our north of those of all the us at all because they're all bases.