prime minister and president surrogate child. when georgia try to topple the resister regime in the break we're republic of south a saturday three years ago moscow was there to help russia became the first state to recognize the independence of south of santiago and the other georgian breakaway republic of casa but in the spring of this year the president gave died of heart failure and now the young country is looking for a new leader and the name will be known soon there's a shortlist of three the acting head of state the opposition leader and the prime minister. thank you for coming to the program we're happy to have you with this house he has been living in dissipation of an early election for the last two months as this situation i think the stability in the republic. it's hard to say that the

untimely death has taken president surrogate bug up show away from us under the constitution of the presidential election has to take place on august twenty sixth the state has held elections more than once before and it will be the fourth presidential election in the history of the country. these elections have always met the standards of transparency and democracy as general evaluations and comments by international watchdog suggest. we're sure the upcoming election will also live up to these standards were invited many observers especially from some european countries to monitor the election. well some eighteen months ago we held the previous presidential election. and that was accessed by the monitors and it's highly democratic and absolutely legal. there is no

election rich among the voters is there. a president society has traditionally been much politicized and has always struggled for the citizens' rights and it causes independence. this is uncertain political activity is clearly seen of a now definitely won't cross the lines by the constitution. and sticking to the election topic do you work together with. president alexander in the government. can explain your decision to rival each other instead of nominating a concerted candidate against the opposition leader. arrival in a chalice candidacy he showed us his goal in his own way. we think it's good to let people choose this is a democratic and open competition which makes the popular choice subject.

mention it comes to a second election round and only one of you has passed the other front runner being . supported one another in this case to be the opposition. you know it will greatly depend on the results of the second election around who wins because the electorate will have formed by that time and i don't think that any attempts on the part of the political leaders to influence their opinions can succeed it's critical to expect russia to take as we remember one of the candidates back in two thousand and four that we have extended talks in moscow do you sense any disposition seen. with a. struggle for its independence for quite long. and the past played into its liberty to the victims and losses. therefore any for intrusion and it causes domestic affairs encounters more but a version of the population. it accounts for the voters' overreaction and two

thousand and four which. as far as i see the russian leadership is not going to meddle with the presidential election this time. they says what on carbon dioxide heard here and now regular meetings of the russian politicians. how do you feel about the possibility of the opposition coming to power who you theory is or should is it critical he's the clearly if they have position seize power can this lead to revolutionary developments in the country we know in two thousand and four it was the opposition that ripped the power this was preceded by a fierce selection struggle of course which is quite common for all the actions in the process and even the parliamentary elections all are political events go in the atmosphere of close competition. i hate to interrupt you but the country was practically on the brink of a civil war in two thousand and four yes on the brink but we always know the right time to stop i hope. truly unique solutions were found back in two thousand and.

two rivaling candidates united and went to the next election round as a president and vice president of mystic it is the president in such matters it is life itself that directs. people. and this poses certain threats to the life of the community. that's why the president society has always been so anxious to preserve stability and peace in his country. you are generally considered to be a soft liner a politician who favors diplomacy and i think you can sense to give this interview the point. some think it is more of a drawback. in the run up to the presidential election you surely have a tough action plan to combat corruption and increase in criminal activity in the country. of course i have one i think you constant force law and order by police methods. you should use diplomatic tools and we are about to do this. but i

am a person with democratic fears a liberal heaven and i'm known for my views. but i think that this is the right approach that helps find solutions to challenging issues that. any sorts of tough measures are simply unacceptable in a cause. just like in any other country but the most is that as we all can see what came out of tough regimes such as to tell a terror in regimes and others. and our people are especially freedom loving and as zero tolerance to pressure you can go in the room and you put it all therefore in a positive. in the society itself there chose to. skip which. is an example of tough proved by one person who has been in office work quite a while. but we see that the motion never stops and job. people are unhappy in the government keeps being shuffled. it often happens in

a month constitutional way to go for a double live a life like this but. with all the difficulties we've been having. a vanilla terms of the blockade. when the pressure put on us by major international players was really high and as you know the united states russia france the united kingdom germany the united nations they all see just another international organizations. in the children of conflict settlement. and most of them put pressure on us trying to drive us back into georgia. but nevertheless we stood by our interests that's something we really know how to do. it. let's go back to the election looking at georgia's experience situation in georgia is quite difficult there are always some spy skin those officials close to. end up

in jail and so on that's what it boils down to. but it could actually be to your advantage because there is an opinion that you are has its hands busy right now it is more focused on his domestic situation and therefore you should expect no pressure to interfere no provocation from georgia during the upcoming election is that true. you know once we signed the treaty of friendship corporation and mutual assistance with the russian federation so that if you wish to find alliance with russia. and the security guarantees provided by the straits. we now have russia's protection. in addition to this will take the opportunity to develop economic relations with russia. and these two facts have changed the situation in a positive matter. and the fears people used to have of georgia are now given way to the new outlook and other new concerns.

these days our society feels that our priority challenge is that of corruption. and this i think speaks a lot for itself. therefore speaking of the presidential elections where certain about. but it well i think it's going to go exactly the way. she was largely criticised for looking into russia too much perhaps in the end for having needs many concessions. leadership would need to make some adjustments in this sense. i think that no matter who gets the office strategic alliance with russia will remain the top priority on a because there's a chance because there is no other option not least because other countries in the region have not yet recognized us. doing this which states between keeps friendship green or would you say it has nothing to do

with a caucus is. well i think that in any case this is worth knowing. how much truth is there in the opinion of how he is independence can actually be in danger and the danger comes from russia that there's a risk that he can be taken over by russia by russian business interests and capital expense business. and. i already said that we are a small country place in many threads and our history proves that. well therefore smart leadership means everything to us. and thus we hope that our leaders will always be very smart. we already had some very bitter experience in the past and we should learn from it and we do not see any attempts on russia's side to suppress our national identity our statehood or

a choice for the national. as for concerns of the economic nature well we actually welcome investments into. the present and this process is already underway. recognition of us over and business encouraged more businesses to explore a country. so we really welcome investors and new projects in our country we already have some projects to offer it says. prime minister. it will be back shortly after the break so stay with us.

welcome back to spotlight i'm al green of and just a reminder that my guest in the studio today is seventy shah the prime minister has . seen and we have touched upon the issue of russia's economic presence an impasse here and you said you welcome the russian investments in their housing economy as

far as i know he must go in from what i saw when he came to a party last year with investment from other countries not just russia and he's equally important to you what is the current situation as a posse attracts any significant investment from western countries a pleasure yanyuwa was just an old don't speak of significant investments at this stage was up on the what was termed business circles and even some american business people doesn't show in certain interests in a process which in the cittie but anyway the number of people who. come up with projects these days is rather limited. are these people interested in to be more precise in buying the stretch of the black sea coast must be after the land. to give you an example there is a turkish company that deals with coal mining also cooperate with companies

interested in it because in resort areas travel industry and natural resources resource there are various business proposals. have already mentioned very scarce that is partially the result of the western policies towards of. the united states and the european union. but there's been considerable interest recently there are certain willingness to cooperate specially in the economic sphere. the us and the e.u. to develop a strategy of engagement without recognition in regard to the state. that's an interesting concept. without. the west cannot recognize it for political reasons but at the same time it is eager to promote cooperation with the french treaty i've heard an opinion that this move was not inspired by the wish to help not even by the considerations of profit to prevent russia from gaining in position in the region since this trend of the western policies is effective.

it hasn't come to the implementation of this policy that of course what you're saying is true. there is competition. we have always senate both in the past on the political settlements was on the way and now when they cannot make interest for all the day foreigners allowed to purchase real estate in a. law stipulates that land can go on sale and only citizens of a are entitled to buy real estate but at the present moment the parliament is considering a lot draft that will enable compromise on this question. if the bill is passed any foreigner not only russians will be able to purchase houses on the seaside am i right i will explain the question the russian resort city of sochi is located only one hundred kilometers away from a house is tremendously popular with tourists and it's overcrowded as you. see is

eminently cleaner the air is cleaner environment is much better than in sochi you should make use of this potential what is holding you back. the thing is we want to preserve this beauty of all nature but isn't that we feel very cautious about projects that can harm the environment but. we have already had to turn down some very attractive proposals because the public was strongly opposed to the projects. which. i don't want to sound offensive with regard to. if woman wants to preserve her virginity she shouldn't get married and she never will in fact. we should find a compromise solution here there can be a compromise in the situation. where we're now discussing this new compromise alone real estate. the slope will apply to the new buildings only. it is

go into a lot of foreign citizens to buy and own new buildings and more parties so a lot of cousins were driven out into turkey during the wars in the caucasus in the nineteenth century there is many of housing's living in turkey as their own personalities much more in fact. living in has here today are very small people with it but they are you planning any real. you know only to attract all those who were displaced from their home country. who are pursuing a special policy in this regard as we have established a state body that deals with. no mass migrations of stars and so forth. that is there are people who want to come back to. the repatriation body helps them to settle down and resolve their rising problems. besides the great number of ethnic and presidents living in turkey terminus the policy of the turkish government which facilitates friendly relations between the cars and turkey

. turkey still hasn't recognized as i thought the turks always take the confusion factor into consideration. the turkish because insects are consolidated within a countrywide cook asian community shill and they form a significant force that can influence the domestic political decision making process. seal in this regard their policies very much like armenia since up to seventy percent of iranians they reside outside their native country but their incomes over half of the budget know the state budget of course but the household budgets of the relatives we have anything of the kind. of situations are completely different because our main is a one nation state. many informal ninety percent of us population whereas we have a multicultural society. and our unique culture so many different cultures is what

makes us strong. this is especially true of all capital. which has inspired many poets and writers but this one of a kind mixture of cultures traditions and religions is something truly unique. this business. recognition for your independent states started off quite well then but it's somehow slowed down and there's been no progress since then as far as i know do expect this process to anytime soon. or is that. we have signed the treaty with russia takes care of practically all of our key problems. and the key problems any country faces in the domains of security and economic development or. our alliance with russia helps us address these two issues

both security and economic development in the most efficient way and i mean a lot has already been done in both fears. and alliance with the world's largest country that we share extended lead boundaries with is naturally the key here. nevertheless well diplomats continue their efforts we cooperate with many countries it has never happened before in our history that her ambassadors work somewhere far from our region although their cousin kingdom existed for many centuries. today style diplomats work on distant continents when they work in latin america and south and central america in the caribbean as well as in the pacific region the process is underway and the main thing. is that there are friendly nations out there and there is an understanding that a president is a sovereign term accredit state recently a strong argument there are also many powerful forces that are trying to hinder

this process well that's the political environment that will be changing as it cannot say the same for a of course in the end of the day recognition of a cause it will depend on the progress we make and another message to the world and i'm sure that our message will be saying that because there is an open democratic and friendly state. it's the kind of country where building the. powerful forces that stand in a way on the global diplomatic arena what are those forces is in the united states or europe or georgia. well they have been well known cases when for example belarus was ready to recognize across but then it faced pressure from the european union and the united states that's one simple example. but if you ever tell me to look at shank over the years that he was pressured by washington international recognition

and he will go bananas i wouldn't recommend telling him that. well let's say he had to yield to circumstances. understand everything and hold no grudge against anyone of course we know that those states and their politicians live in today's world and have to take into account lots going on around so do we actually you know what's going on in the world does worry us to us in the. border with russia which is you along with border you're also have one more important neighbor and there is georgia. which you have legally been a part of for many years so if you expect ever to live to see a constructive dialogue starting with georgia in the. east starting to recognize a partially. you know i have always said that georgia will recognize a cause there one day around the opposing the prison at the present i just don't know when that they will come but you see not much time has passed and yet we

already see well known and rather influential people in georgia including next president mr shevardnadze saying that a cause a should be recognized right now there are obstacles to that but i think as time goes by there will be an understanding that it is better to be friends with the crowd and to remain in a permanent conflict for that in the confront when we see we are ready to have a dialogue was georgia right now but it's impossible to a new since they passed laws. that don't allow us to get behind the negotiations table. to go or the as they claim that it causes an occupied country well we don't regard ourselves as occupied so they secretly have an agreement with russia polish there is a russian military base in the process. somehow as he is about as much occupied by russia is georgia is occupied by the united states well yes we may continue talking to each other like that forever. georgia says that it won't be able to talk with us unless of course it is the occupied. while in this case they have to wait for

a long time and change their mind in the end anyway so if i get it correctly it is possible but not under the current regime and billy see. i think that the sober view of the current situation in the region will prevail sooner or later assuming not only in georgia but also among those who support your chance to see that certain understanding already exists but there are various mutual obligations that prevent the policies. and the situation correctly. especially thank you very much for being with us and just to remind my guest today was said to be a shop that opposing prime minister spotlight will be back with more firsthand comments on what's going on in and outside russia so let's stay in r.t. and take a. in

india. the move to join the hotel rooms. the gateway hotel

the grand imperial truly the tallest was the. most delicious to see don't. run to the kennel was a photo retreat. thousands of protesters remain on the streets of madrid furious at spain's huge unemployment rate and the government's faltering attempts to deal with the financial crisis. president obama to the public to pressure congress into a compromise on rival debt ceiling plans he's got just days left before the u.s. could potentially default on its debts for the first time in the nation's history. and a vigil for the victims in norway remembers those lost in friday's deadly attacks as the man who has confessed to the killings claims he's only one part of an extremist network. want to be alone a show coming up next stay with us here on r.t. . so the. we've got the.

biggest issues did you voice ceased to face with the news makers. good evening welcome to the ilona show where you get the real headlines with none of the mersey were coming live out of washington d.c. i'm not alone of course i'm more lister filling in for a lot of this week she is on vacation we hope she's doing well meanwhile here in washington the debt debate continues as the country gets closer to default but in the nonstop coverage and political press conferences in this saga what is missing from the debate we'll talk to at the neighborhood dogs oh he's director of economic research for the reason foundation we'll find out from him and the norway shooter reportedly inspired by one of our former guest on this show pamela geller what does

this massacre tell us about terrorism i'll get into it with retired special ops master sergeant jim hansen we will have all of that and more for you tonight including a dose of happy hour of course but first let's take a look at what the mainstream media decided to miss today. now with the casey anthony trial over and the british royals well they're not visiting lately and the debt debate is think why it is sexy or soap opera like as some of the news we've seen all over the mainstream media and so i think the mainstream media may be a bit on the prowl for something juicy well enter democratic congressman david wu remember him let's see him if you forget he's this guy in the furry gods doom that was a few months ago he was blackberrying photos dressed like that to staffers which ended up quitting will now a young woman is accusing him of aggressive and unwanted sexual behavior being go now.