on the continuing search we have not yet found shiny pointy things that i would call a weapon before we can draw from conclusions we need to let the iraq survey group complete its work. we were all wrong probably in my judgment. and that is most disturbing. sometimes the true patriots takes the unpopular course but helps their country of origin stakes and even if they come this way at least for the time that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels and i think these are scoundrels they have no argument now they have no defense for what they did the country is in a terrible international security situation that i think is perilous so they're attacking the patriotism of others.

in the. the u.s. congress passes the debt limit bill to avoid criticism that america still faces harsh economic recovery. while the bill has been given a green light after months of political wrangling but the question remains will this be enough to avert a deepening the financial crisis more details out of washington in just a bad. un security council debates a resolution on syria following the escalation of violence there russia says any decision must meet the interests of the syrian people. and. a tidal wave of protests demanding sweeping economic reform but demonstrations complained this summer of discontent is not being called by the international media

. plus. prices for gas from as a german energy major takes matters support we'll have more business and. international news in comment of this is our live here. in the russian capital so after months of political squabbling in the shadow of a looming default the u.s. can finally breathe a sigh of relief the senate has passed the deal to raise the country's boring limit the final hurdle for the bill after being given the go ahead in the on monday with correspondent has the latest forest in washington. has been waiting for with bated breath around the world. oh it certainly has and while i'm sure the political

journalists here in washington are all thrilled that they actually have some real news to report on we do have to keep in mind that this is really just a political game frankly that the united states does not necessarily have to go through let's talk about why we got into a situation where this nation risked almost a first ever in its history potential default the debt limit raising the debt limit which is something that the united states has done dozens of times in fact more than one hundred times since one nine hundred forty is a relatively routine thing what happened here is that the rise of the so-called tea party faction of the republican party has turned this routine vote in to essentially a proxy battle over ideological differences and what are those different differences will the republicans say no taxes they want lower taxes no government spending they really think that the united states has gotten itself into this fiscal pickle so to speak because of spending on social programs and keeping taxes way too high and the

republicans of course completely disagree with that and so what we saw is instead of doing sort of a routine piece of legislative act making here we have these folks fighting over these issues in a completely unrelated piece of legislation the debt limit of course is about how much money the united states has already agreed to pay out it has nothing to do with future spending and of course we can't forget that there is a whole element of the twenty twelve little election here since the president will be running for a second term in office the republicans wanted to essentially put him in a position where it's a little bit embarrassing for him the sad irony here is that both sides walked away very very unhappy with the deal that frankly does almost nothing with the exception of averting this self-imposed debt limit crisis isn't it cool so i mean. it's a long term prospects that the economic long term prospects in the u.s. good despite of course there's agreement being made right no. well not at all good

of course and we still haven't heard a concrete information from the credit ratings agency is standard and poor's is really the one to watch here they are the ones that have said that they wanted to see a promise of some four trillion dollars in spending reductions of course this deal sort of cobbled together about half that amount short term economic implications for the globe and the united states also are looking very good because what we have in this legislation is the promise to cap spending to limit the amount of spending this is coming at a time when the united states is facing growth we saw the numbers last week from the g.d.p. growing at one point three percent over the second quarter that's very very small unemployment rates are still astronomical at nine point two percent and a lot of economists are saying hey this is not the time to curb spending meanwhile of course what the legislation actually does is sort of create a super committee that's going to deal with these issues figure out exactly where

to cut and how to cut several months down the line by november is their recommendation is do and of course that's just a lot of a lot of words to say they're kicking the problem down the road it remains the political issue going on right up to the point of the election and of course it doesn't do anything to resolve these fiscal problems that really do have implications not just here in the united states but all across the globe. and that's. all washington studios and we spoke general. trends research institute and publisher of the trends journal he believes despite the most minute deal the u.s. is heading towards the next great depression. to devaluation of the dollar it's been going on for a long time but they're not calling it a devaluation what they're doing is they are flooding the world markets which eats alors just as the europeans are doing which eat the euros so the more the product

is out there the less valuable it is the dollar isn't worth the digital paper it's not printed on the united states can't deliver on it's of yours that loses wars where there are rock afghanistan the war on drugs the new war with libya they're losers the the government did everything that they touch look at all the trillions of dollars the tens of trillions that have been pumped into the system since the panic of zero eight struck why would any thinking adult look at the republicans and the democrats the inept and the incompetence to come up with a program that's going to salvage the nation investors having confidence looking to the same people that caused the problems to resolve it that's called insanity the american economy as well as much of the global economy is heading into the greatest depression anything and everything that they're doing is not going to salvage it if you have a third mortgage it's like taking out a fourth in

a fifth how is that going to fix the real estate problem which by the way the prices of fall and more dramatically since two thousand and seven since the great depression of the one nine hundred thirty s. how is it going to fix the trade deficit problem it's not the great depression is underway and all they're doing is trying to make it look as though they have a plan to stave it off they're not going to. gerald celente there a fresh outbreak of violence brings more death to syria as government forces far again on anti-government protesters the un security council has resumed discussions on the situation in the country amid reports of over one hundred being killed on sunday while our is in new york with more on the potential international response to what is going on at the moment in syria. we do know that the u.s. and european countries are pushing for some fierce fierce resolution potentially maybe sanctions against syria stop the violence that's taking place there we do

know that sanctions will not be supported by russia and possibly many other countries here security council the russian foreign ministry has said that sanctions that option sanctions are absolutely off the table russia's position is that that would it would just add more pressure to an already very sensitive and vulnerable situation that's taking place in syria we did hear that brazil's ambassador said that the country would possibly consider. supporting a presidential statement by the security council that would that would talk about or oppose any kind of ongoing violence but where the security council is divided on is where they want to please the condemnation russia china and other countries are very concerned about not condemning one side or the other not taking sides not exacerbating this problem there are many countries that are part of the security

council that do not want to see a repeat of what took place when the resolution of for a campaign against libya for a no fly zone over libya was adopted and implemented and many countries including russia believe that it was actually used lawfully and has been used unlawfully and so many countries do not want to see a repeat of what is taking place in libya but there may be may be an agreement on the text for a presidential statement that would call for all the violence to end we just have to wait and see if all fifteen countries will agree on what they can say. marina portnoy there talking to me a little earlier let's get more on the situation in syria from james denzel he's a writer on middle east politics is joining us now live from london james thanks for being with us here on r.t. well with many pointing the finger at economic recession along with calls for political reform and democracy being the cause of discontent amongst these

protesters in syria could there be other forces at large here behind this unrest. while i'm not entirely sure what you are looting to i think that ultimately the arab spring has had the same fundamental underpinnings across the region each country has its own unique sort of circumstance that has affected what's happened since the sectarian issue in america to james the south korean issue sure that well in syria we've not seen a serious a tear in dynamic emerge yet so though there is of course elements that narrative two in particular the first being of course the fact that the regime does have a heavily alawite elite although the same time if you look at the numbers of political prisoners and find lots of alawite political prisoners within that too so that's one thing the second thing is of course what would happen if the state collapses words of sectarian kind of divisions divide in essentially determine the future politics of the country much as we saw in iraq so that's the first point i would say we've not seen sectarianism determine the conflict today the second one

is if the regime collapses of course there is potential for it to be a mode of future politics in the country ok more about politics beyond the country in the region what would happen if the regime collapse. well i said i think we're a long way away from that at the moment but ultimately i think we've got a lot of examples of state collapse in the middle east nowhere but it's look to the east and west of syria itself and lebanon stay collapses led to a very weakened sectarian a tense government that constantly collapses initially and is unable to really address the political challenges of the day much the same thing exists to the east in iraq which of course is a lot larger as a country and has huge supplies of oil but once again the central government is characterized by sectarian patronage in the ministries it's going to wards issues that affect the people in the country so i don't mean there's a real good prospect of what happened if they collapse because these of examples in the past what the syrian opposition would hope for is that the regime regime doesn't bring down the state with it that it chooses the path that mubarak and ben

ali took to some degree of exile organum moving off into the political wilderness and allows for a technocratic government to essentially implement the democratic reforms that have been promised over the last five months in the three asaad speeches that he's made it was want to reward that story as well as people want that replacement government consist of his beloved neighbor and that people want to show really what the opposition is. well that's the i mean i'm not talking about the opposition here i'm talking about having a technocratic caretaker government in which the opposition can take part in future elections in libya you have a transitional council and they're arguing that their role is simply to take down gadhafi before implementing a period of transition for the country in syria and you know in near this point yet in syria any really effective opposition is externally in terms of organizing internally there is a huge public protesting opposition that don't want a sad but we don't know exactly what they do want because there's no real political space for them to operate in and one of the reasons why assad is attacked hama on the start of ramadan is because he's afraid that ramadan provides

a bigger political space within the organizational structures of mosques in this particular time of the year for his regime to be challenged and he's clearly worried by that and he's taking steps against civilians are dying though and the u.n. security council obviously discussing its response to the events there what stand should it be taken in after all should there be foreign intervention to help those civilians which was the message of course in libya. well i think the u.n. is looking fairly impotent to the moment largely because of what happened in libya in the sense that the russians and the chinese feel that they were betrayed by the west and the people who pushed the resolution one hundred seventy three they thought it was about humanitarian protection it turned out to be about regime change they didn't sign up to that so i can feel why the russians and chinese are so grieved by that but the other hand for them not even just sort of come out again in the russian language is changing now but they're coming out against what is now being called in some circles the ramadan massacre sending tanks into civilian areas and using heavy artillery against these people who don't seem to have many weapons

if none at all so i think the u.n. is not necessary for dealing with syria ultimately if i were in washington or london i'll be looking to put pressure on the countries who are far closer to syria the russians the chinese the turks and also the iranians to see whether they can actually influence saudi arabia but beyond that i feel that because the regime is so terrified by what's going on inside the same borders it really doesn't care about what people say beyond. it was good to hear what you have to say james thanks very much indeed james denselow writer on middle east politics talking to us live from london thanks for time well still ahead here on this information vacuum we are for them why mainstream media remains numb and one hundred fifty thousand israelis demanding social change. and it brings a whole new meaning to overtaking a tank and the city's one that's all about it later in the program. but first an independent panel says there are adults about the objectivity of ponens investigation into the plane crash that killed president lech kaczynski

along with much of the country's political elite was all agreed that pilot error caused the tragedy in russia last year that claimed the lives of all ninety six people on board but difference is remain between ponens findings and those of the moscow based interstate aviation committee has the details for us. in general it's clear that the conclusions mead earlier by the polish side and those made by the interstate aviation community here in moscow are similar in the sense that it worked the actions of the pilots were caused. but after the media conference held here in moscow by the interstate aviation committee it also it's also clear that their approach to detail is different first of all the interstate committee says that the pilots ignored the warnings from the air traffic controller and decided to attempt to land the plane anyway despite the weather conditions it is a fact about the hand off the polish air force was present in the cockpit at the time

when they were trying to land the plane and the interstate committee says that that alone can be viewed as direct psychological pressure whilst the polish side says the head of the air force was simply standing there monitoring the situation i was able to personally speak with the chief technical expert off the interstate aviation committee and here's what he had to say on this as a presence of their commander in chief of the portière forces who was treated as a poor from who. and when commando for the for all the crew members if like that. and you can see that several times he informs. the only way he says that he was doing some of the actions of the pilot so our pilots our experts as a technical investigation team we definitely consider these to be psychological.

pressure on the another issue very important here is that the polish committee concluded that the airstrip itself was not ready to receive the plane all the. interstate aviation committee that airstrip is certified to see planes and even though their world minor defects. be sold we could not have possibly a way to be plane crash the interstate comenius also they are an independent international body while the investigation conducted by poland was being done by a state committee questioning its objectivity he heard his reporting that to israel now in tel aviv central square has been turned into tent city crowds of protesters have expressed their discontent with soaring prices and plummeting salaries but reports the peaceful demonstrations often go unnoticed by their government and by

the world's mainstream media. tens of thousands on the streets of israel angry and protesting for change but is anyone listening when it comes to a lot of the foreign media want to see more of an action movie and this hasn't been a very violent it's been very hasn't been violent at all it's been very positive. well into week three the largest demonstration in israel in over a decade and how did a.b.c. c.b.s. and n.b.c. cover it they didn't a young a woman set up a tent while the editors of france twenty four b.b.c. and sky coughed up just a few meager seconds perhaps not even that interesting. back you know back in the studios ok there's a protest well what exactly is the protest a social protest. it's not the same kind of story that they used and it's not as big and dramatic as some of the bigger revolutions happening around the middle east

and i mean isn't surprised by the worldwide lack of media interest he's worked in the israeli press for decades reporting from media both foreign and local there is a box that the international media has put israel in and that is the israeli palestinian conflict also the israeli lebanese and syrian conflict and anything that doesn't kind of fit into that. immediate type of of news item which is unfortunate the street has been dubbed top corner by some of the people here an optimism perhaps that they can bring down the government in the way the neighbors in tough with square. bus was the cameras there were nonstop here they push ups and that just makes hundred wayas and others angry for nine days she's been camping here furious that she can't make ends meet as a university student it makes me feel sad that when egypt decided to stand up and say we've had enough and when in lebanon they. to say we've had enough the media

was all over there i haven't seen anyone from c.n.n. or from fox news or any other big news channel here and it's really sad we also deserve a chance to be heard out result foreign media very few people around the world even . it's a missed opportunity and a crucial time just weeks before palestinians plan to announce the state policy on t.v. television. by the way there's a lot more for you on our website on t.v. dot com online all the time is just two of the stories you can find there at the moment you think the whole thing is a revive no it's isn't the baltic states welcomes veterans of hitler's. rally in the stone year with fascism a pocket of support in. an open panic strikes eastern russia becoming the country's first ever city tornado a thirty minute twister injured dozens and caused massive damage. their stories

available for you right now online now to some other news from around the world in our world update this nato send more troops into kosovo after a week of conflict between ethnic albanians and serbs border violence killed one cause of a policeman and peacekeeping forces on the far in and says the additional troops are not there to beef up its presence in the region but to provide immediate relief for soldiers have been on the ground since fighting began tensions were raised last week when cost of and police seized two border checkpoints to impose a ban on imports from. twenty three people have been injured in the northern iraqi city of kirkuk after a car bomb exploded outside a catholic church but he said two further attempts to bomb christian targets were for all the wounded including church staff and people from neighboring hells as which also damaged the malls this is the latest of a series of similar attacks in the muslim region where minorities are regularly targeted by insurgents really just really just extremists. and israel's prime

minister benjamin netanyahu has agreed to discuss. possible return to pre nine hundred sixty seven borders with palestinians the country's been occupying land in the west bank where palestinians hope to build their own state since the six day war you know it's been. used consistent result of the same proposal put forward by iraq obama in may turn a lot of students were expected to drop their bid for statehood at the u.n. and formally recognize israel. still. well before the business news with marina let us tell you about this story heavy traffic parking is a daily headache in just about every major city of the world of course and people unable to find a parking space but often just leave their cars in any available sports pavement or a bus stop out the mayor of lithuania is capital vilnius has decided that a ticket just isn't enough and seeing how he employed simple yet effective means to solve the problem of this mercedes parked on

a bicycle lane to close it as you call it comes to worst in a scuffle with the. unions published by the mayor's office is a reminder to those who traffic and parking rules. clearly more effective than a parking ticket. going to do that again is a. tactic that seems to work very well you don't see. insults on that street that should try here cars are everywhere. well known around five minutes we'll be exploring the notorious former soviet labor camps us in our special report for you here naughty but first here's the latest from the world of business as promised with marina. hello and welcome to business here on r.t. now a new legal specialist this being appointed in each of russia's eight federal districts to help improve the investment climate the position of the so-called investment on

this note is the brainchild of president dmitry medvedev their role will be to break down administrative barriers and be a point of contact for investors with the central government's. german energy major as taking gas from the courts to get a lower price for russian gas the company argues spot prices are up to fifty dollars cheaper per thousand cubic meters than the current long term contract it has with gas from artists and the local has all the details. gazprom says it already revise the gas price for last year at that time persuaded gazprom to sell a part with gas at a price linked to support prices which will lower the gas pumps contracts now eon is asking for further reductions the company's suffering had a loss of due to the gap between the gas pumps price and that's all the european markets which even third but gazprom wants to stick to its long term contracts which it says provide security for a customer at only

a small premium to support prices the talks have lost more than a year now without success so now iran is taking the matter to an arbitration court lawyers we've spoken to suggest it is it will be in the courts power to instruct gazprom to decrease what it charges but it would need a contractual reason to find in favor. and stay with the story analysts claim russia's gusman openly is in a difficult position as it's stuck between losing profits or market share. the all in all the. things actually especially they would like to surprise the one hundred percent i think the key. was in its profits from the other many criticism is probably. because they think the guest doesn't hold it kind of flexible. they will lose market share

so that's the balance between losing market share and losing the profit. let's take a look at the markets now it's more or less a see over ride everywhere in the u.s. stocks are down as investors are cautious about the prospects of a recovery and a potential credit downgrade that coupled with a report stating spending the cline in june for the first time in almost soon years in the seas in the negative territory and in europe stock markets closed in the red with the banks neither the kleins footsie and that they almost one percent down while the dax lost over two percent. and the similar picture here in moscow both in the souse and that the trade in session and negative territory the r.t.s. has dropped almost one percent while the my sex loss point seven percent let's take a look at some individual movers on the my sex energy and banking stocks were weighing on the indices gasper almost valid point seven percent while the t.v.

lost almost one percent meanwhile russia's air carrier air fault was holding the square around supports of by positive results the company has almost doubled its net profits and the forest half of the year reaching two hundred forty three million dollars. and that's all the business news for now the headlines on that.

good. to. see. the being a good. good. thing i took your thought up. this is true still keeps its secrets but now it's time to reveal the truth of the soviet files on r.t.c. .