a very warm welcome to you this is our show you live from moscow britain has sentenced to young men to four years behind bars after their facebook posts they said were joke call them others to cause trouble in their hometowns now cumin rights groups of sounding the alarm saying the courts are overreacting by dishing out penalties which are far too harsh but as aussies i've been reports it's part of the political drive for tough justice in the wake of the looting and disorder across england. four years behind bars for the riot that didn't even happen jordan black sure and perry sutcliffe kenan were banged up for inciting disorder on facebook no one turned up after their invitation to riot which they later said was a drunken joke but now they face sentences even tougher than most looters and our worry is that it is an imbalance and a four year sentence for example would normally be given to somebody for

a previous bodily harm for holding someone up with a knife or even for. some form of sexual assault so it seems to me that that there is a danger that the courts are moving into disproportionate territory and that actually devalues our response to more serious crimes that governments encourage courts to dish out harsh sentences by using the public disturbance as an aggravating factor it's meant this man anderson fernandez could even be sent to jail for theft of just two scoops of ice cream because like this one denying bail to most offenders and ignoring any claims of previous good character of the one thousand two hundred seventy seven people charged so far two thirds have been remanded in custody that's way up on last year's rate for serious crimes chris just ten percent some offenders even being made homeless is their punishment with local governments taking away their houses but many say it's all simply cause more harm

than good i think this is very unwise the move to remove people from housing interim move benefits because actually if we are seeing that some of the crime that we saw on the streets was an expression of people not feeling part is the city not feeling part of our communities then these measures are actually going to push people further away from society further away from our communities and far more likely to commit crime the facebook case is the first sign of the government's desire to crack down on social media sites like twitter were applauded by the west for mobilizing the masses in the arab world but they were also instrumental in the u.k. riots so now the prime minister wants it to stop. we are working with the police the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites or services when we know they are plotting violence disorder and criminality when social media fueled revolutions in egypt and tunisia britain called it democracy but now the shoe's on the other foot when

troubles closer to home i'm very conscious of the news you know the. poor. movement we would be the force to complete. the authorities in those countries who are trying to walk. the prime minister says this is where britain fights back put its fear this fighting fire with fire could only fan the flames of civil disorder are bennett artsy london or the british prime minister david cameron's defended the sentence saying at their sending a tough message but freelance investigative journalist you can chandan says the harsh response when you bring more violence across england. i think that's quite clear that the government want to send a very draconian message out to young people. who had any sympathy even with the uprising or the right away if you want to call it that took place but

never again really can the british government legitimately criticize any other regime in the world for any human rights abuses when people are facing jail time for scoops of ice cream for mineral water one child stealing a dustbin for his mother listen these young people have been ignored and they've been exploited and oppressed and they just have no voice now through in a very traumatic experience through the rioting but they have a voice what is the response again of people is to further criminalize them so if you're going to further criminalize and we're going to get more angry and i'm very regretful to report that the message is going around the street gangs in london and other parts of england is a competition as to who is going to kill the first policeman so this is the this is what we're facing in england now it's a civil war situation which is going to make the writing previously look like child's play and nothing is going to stop these young people they're very shocked they've learnt from the student protests that they're not going to be cattle that they're going to hit and run essentially and they'll find other ways of communicating these are young people who live in communities with each other so you

can stop these social networks or that you like it's not going to have a really fundamental adverse impact on the writing which will come again quite soon . the us in major european countries if syria's president bashar assad to step down and impose a fresh set of economic sanctions it comes in response to the regime's violent crackdown against protesters well the statements have been their sense as the special u.n. security council meeting on syria is taking place in new york artie's up what nine reports. not only has the u.s. president called for the syrian president to step down he has backed up his words with action and that action includes issuing an executive order thursday morning with fresh sanctions against syria and now according to the new sanctions that have been signed by obama all americans and u.s. corporations are now prohibited from investing operating or having any business dealings with the syrian government this includes

a ban on imports and exports including cereal syrian oil and petroleum products i do all the syrian assets under u.s. jurisdiction will be frozen so clearly this is some more mounting pressure coming from the u.s. government in terms of financial you trying to corner syria shortly after president obama issued his statement and his executive order we did see germany france britain and the european union all are rapidly issuing statements calling for the syrian president to step down and this all coming just one day after president assad did speak with the un secretary-general ban ki moon are suring him that all military and police operations in his country have halted but clearly this is not stopped as the u.s. and its western allies from putting more pressure on the syrian government the u.n. security council is meeting to discuss the findings of

a report that was released by the u.n. human rights panel this twenty two page report accuses the syrian government of carrying out of human rights violations since mid march when the anti government protesters began taking to the streets but one of our teams correspondents marie if the notion of is inside syria did speak to some people on the ground there are some people who believe that the government security forces are actually helping their lives here's a bit of what she found out. the city of there is sort of maybe liberated but in the last few days it suffered a brutal occupation i mean. there's bandits plot the raids put up barricades it became a gay city we were hiding we were just like hostages for more than a week the military claim the army fought against armed groups that had taken control of the city and had been terrorizing its residents. soldiers of the syrian army i live in the city of there as though near the iraqi border measure officials

are saying operation is now over that the city has been freed from armed groups as you can see people are welcome in the soldiers as the way there is but in other parts of the country the troops lead in assad's vicious crackdown are far less welcome in a similar offensive against so-called terrorists and the coastal city of latakia the opposition claims government troops killed almost forty civilians while human rights groups reporter number of deaths in the country could be almost as high as two thousand some say assad is simply using his army to silence peaceful demonstrators across the country but. the syrian army hasn't met any resistance in the cities across the country were. maybe there was some so-called bandits among protestors and maybe they use the momentum to spread cares but if so where have

they been when the army appeared armed groups is just a theory invented by the state to have an excuse to enter the cities. in new liberated there is or life seems getting back to normal the markets reopened and roads the just days ago were empty are again filled with cars but reminders of the recent troubles arms to hard to find the most obvious one is fear reflash an r.t. syria. this whole farris dr benjamin barber says the west instead of imposing take the functions should all the norms think i think asians with the syrian government to come up with an alternative theory are sensible the west has been deeply inconsistent in its approach to these uprisings across the border in libya where there was an armed insurrection against gadhafi and there's really a civil war the west has been extremely active using nato forces the air arm of the

insurgents in syria were innocent people have been murdered day after day and week after week no action at all has been taken because nobody can imagine what an alternative to assad would look like the trouble is very little can be done because we have offered no way out and we've said in libya gadhafi can go to the international criminal court or he can go on fighting nobody has said to assad what the alternative to him continuing to rule would be would it be that he brought up be brought up on trudges at the international criminal court could be tried by his own people the west is not engaged in genuine negotiations but in largely empty threats and sanctions that won't work and trying to force people who are in survival mode to give up power when there is very little chance they will do that if they want to stay alive. now the israeli military has launched on their strike on gulzar killing at least six including the leaders of the group it blames the

thursday's a bus attack which claimed seven lives meanwhile shots on the egyptian border as government forces on lots in a firefight with insurgents who've been filtrate at the country for the seven palestinians were killed in southern israel on the gyptian forces are believed to have killed these two governments are these borders these in tel aviv with more. well these many military have come firming one strike over the southern part of gaza and then at the same time there are israeli drones flying over the city of rafa which is on the egyptian gaza border not none of this comes as a surprise earlier the i.d.f. the israeli defense forces issued a statement in which it said it would bring to book all of those responsible if you see them at all costs the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is meeting this evening tuesday with defense officials they are messing up the way forward that only he did say that this was an attack on a sovereign state and that israel would retaliate and accordingly now the

jordanians that has transpired not so long ago did inform israeli intelligence that they had picked up that there was a cell operating in the south of the country that they were planning such an attack this was in line with his main intelligence for some time not now israeli security officials have been warning that the sinai peninsula is chaotic and it is an arche there there's rain and they've been warning that shipment of weapons has been making their way to gaza the israelis are convinced that this operation and did originate in gaza that there is still a massive manhunt in the manhunt in the south of the country the israeli air force is cloyd as well as army footsoldiers and just a short time ago they wanted to train some of those shoulder the soldiers and militants have been told that one israeli has been critically injured and the number of gunmen so far killed totals seven or eight the gazans deny have. any involvement from athens in fact issued a statement saying that not only is it not involved but it has warned israel not to

attack it having to send thirty her math interior minister has given a directive for his security headquarters to be evacuated for fear that the israelis will retaliate and strike it as one of the targets to quote in one of the statement they say that israel was trying to force the crisis and transfer it to gaza now the camps along the border crossing which is the border crossing between israel and gaza that allows for goods to be transported has been closed down now the ratings agencies standard and poor's is under fire hovering become the subject of two separate investigations the companies being questioned by the u.s. securities and exchange commission after stripping the u.s. of its treasured aaa credit score but it's also being quizzed over dozens of improperly rated mortgage securities leading up to the crisis of two thousand and eight four for more details are now joined from chicago by financial on the small grids a good result of being with us here on r.t.

that is victory for let's look at the agencies themselves first of all they come under heavy criticism of those same for initially giving investment grade rating says to curate that by subprime mortgages which triggered the two thousand and eight financial crisis so can their assessments really be reliable. well i think that's a really great question and to the audience i mean there is this timing seems to a lot of the public particularly here in the united states where everything is so politicized right now although the timing of this investigation seems a little questionable isn't question that it's been a long time coming i mean frankly even agencies in this within the private sector but the general public would so much weight and the ratings and where they work is very groups and very valuations that they're giving are actually paying down so you can give you know you would have an opportunity to you know get didn't want to go to kl jobs and you know one that he didn't last that how does this actually work so

well you know the tiny little questionable i do think that is you know hide the star start being investigated and the u.s. is indeed now investigating particularly the seven paws and some others unless rather is suggesting that this is simply a game of tit for tat response to the downgrade what do you say to them you know. whether people are saying that or now i would call the debate that look you time seems questionable although of course the investigation did start into the book already at oprah's show us down the road what i will say though is when john was being debated there was actually a provision in there looking into more investigations into these rating agencies lobbyist actually managed to get that all that were done for him was so well the timing just been questionable i will say this it's been a long time coming and investors but they're continuing to buy up u.s.

bonds even all after this downgrade so do you think else assigned that the credit rating agencies themselves of loss their credibility. you know to be honest i actually think it's more a sign that the financial world is scared i mean the dollar and you know the united states generally we're going to go to country we're going to go to currency and regardless of whether he said one day in the bulk of august we're still there and you know with the european union essentially falling apart no one knows what's going on and shyer well we're still buying it up and lower in the old i do think it more reflect how sort of screwed up the rest of the world is more than it does that doesn't know what it's doing and do you think that further action is going to be taken against these credit rating agencies in the u.s. or potentially elsewhere in the world. i do i hope so what my biggest fear is is this is a private system and like i said the public puts so much trust in these rating

agencies when really it is just a paper place to start so well i did down at the height of the political and economic optimists would love for rationality to win out and who are either you know trust that we're in the agencies to decrease or the clarity to increase i think something will be done on the margin i'm not confident that it's going to dramatically change the system and just how much of an impact can these rating agencies have on the judgments they make on the country's economy quite a bit i mean if you look at way. what the government's actually looking into i mean people were buying up mortgages that should not have been just and were able to think these are aaa rated mortgages literally they were not there and many are arguing is part of what drove the u.s. economy into a recession and it goes down in zero eight you know sovereign debt rating is important but i think it's also important to look at what's been done in the private markets based on these ratings ok to buy a gun or

a financial analyst many. think you know. now venezuela has always kept a huge amount of its gold reserves in european and american banks but now the president once the bag is the move goes ahead it would be the largest physical movement of gold in recent history hugo chavez says he's wants to protect his countries from the financial woes hitting both sides of the atlantic although according to author and research agent. he hasn't fully weighed up the risks and consequences. seeing the way the markets are going see in the way we european union's in the united states economy is going price of gold is above eight hundred fifty dollars in these last few days from the point of view of the financial aspect i think it's a very shrewd and intelligent mood to protect his country's gold assets there is however a political overtone in that he is wants to pull out the other financial assets

that israel has in the u.k. it will be u.s. and britain and push it into what he calls more likable how russia china and brazil know venezuela has said very clearly that they will be doing it transitionally and slowly because they want to make sure that the actual goal that they get back is the goal that they originally sent especially after some rumors that there had been some counterfeiting. in various especially in america and other parts of europe so i think chavez wants to make sure that the goal he sent out is the goal he's going to be getting back in his central bank vaults there is however another aspect which i think perhaps mr chavez has not measured the potential risks and consequences because this is an outright at tag on the u.s. on the on you on the u.k. and on the european union as a major financial markets as major areas of safety to keep your gold now if this could start a run on keeping gold in america in the european union and the u.k.

and switzerland this might have much more dire consequences than mr chavez imagines . now the republic in the caucasus is preparing for an area that actually following the death of its president any future leader will take on a wage and still recovering from conflict with neighboring georgia next we talked to the acting president about the challenges facing his country.

we are in the republic of a cause here where preparations are under way for the august presidential election alexander and is the country's acting president and also one of the candidates and he's here with us today the upcoming election will be the second presidential election since a cause a gain recognition just how hard it is for a cause here to live as an independent state i hear some of of course there are many difficulties with the company the loss already but there's still an enormous amount of work to be done but we're optimistic about our future the most important thing is that following our country's recognition we've had its security ensured now all we need to do is get down to work as there are a lot of things to be done for the country and the people many of cause eons currently reside abroad they're also georgian refugees who would like to return to their homes in the plaza will the upcoming election take into consideration the needs of those who consider this republic their home. i don't see any relation

between the abkhazians who reside abroad in russia or in more remote places and the refugees who became ones because. of the war and as for the election it's only citizens of a republic are eligible to vote there's nothing i can add to this will international observers be present at the election who's been invited all ready and who agreed to come up with i think it wouldn't hurt him there will be a very many observers if one hundred is a lot sten there it is because that is approximately the number of observers that will be monitoring our election we have already sent the invitations are parliament sorted that by the way observers were present in significant numbers at the previous election when sergey bank apps got reelected i can tell you honestly that their evaluations were mostly positive for at kanzi a service considered our election to be fairly democratic and transparent and maintain that it causes should serve as an example for many countries and i think the upcoming election will go exactly like that as well since

a pause here remains unrecognized by many countries what are the chances that the current election will be considered legitimate abroad when we have with them the new whom we don't even focus on that what matters to us is that we must administer the election in accordance with their concious legislation how others may react to it is another matter what is truly important is that we do everything right those who are unbiased will come up with an impartial assessment of the election as for the issue of recognition of our election let me speak plainly even if it sounds a bit too blunt for this interview we don't really care the political battles of two thousand and four place the pause there on the brink of civil war what should be done to avoid such a scenario today. there's nothing of the kind not by a long shot in two thousand and four the situation was absolutely different so i can tell you honestly and i believe it's very important that your viewers should be made aware of this back in two thousand and four it was through some very serious

efforts by sergei baggage and rule has imber that the situation was stabilized i would even say that it was thanks to the wisdom in full sight of these two politicians. the the situation was resolved successfully and appropriately society was very grateful to both of them for that if anyone feels that the events of two thousand and four may recur might believe such an assessment is premature we i mean the abkhazian society do not share the opinion of those who believe this election should end up with some kind of confrontation we have entirely different plans the result because in treaty on military cooperation the blade grown work for stationing russian troops in the country was signed one half years ago but it has been submitted for a terrific ation by the russian parliament only recently why is the process getting a fresh start to day is the fear of new georgian aggression and was that if there was if there was. we know that for us georgia is not

a very friendly state because he is present legal standing allows us to say that any aggression will be repelled besides the presence of russian servicemen feeds optimism about the future safety and that of our country is security protected and we intend to strengthen this kind of cooperation with the russian federation we've also been collaborating with russia in other areas everything is just getting started and it all looks promising and mutually rewarding we intend to meticulously implement the comprehensive agreement signed by our two presidents state dimitri medvedev and mississippi baggage we strongly support the case for strengthening our relations with russia what kind of methods can we expect from georgia and its attempts of restoring official dealing sequels the country's territorial integrity when the us over the past years we've lost a lot of people to violence at the border including over one hundred russian peacekeepers as well as zero border guards customs offices reservists and civilians

and it's certainly georgian politicians that is to blame. even today regretfully the georgians often engage in assaults and sabotage operations you probably remember when there was a russian border true but a young lieutenant colonel who was killed in action a few months ago it was in the news reports but despite that russian border troops keep settling down in abkhazia i believe that in the year or so our border will be sufficiently fortified and the situation will change drastically if we're really looking forward to that there's a whole generation of people in a positive who survived two wars with georgia during the past twenty years as a possible at all for these people to live peaceful lives is to remove the model of if you refer to our young people aged eighteen to twenty they ready cherish the events of the recent posts and all know that the memory of those who defended a country's independence and its the telescope the government to keep strengthening this memory the way i see it some people don't live in constant expectation of things to come nor did they consciously think back to the events of the past from

my point of view because these present domestic situation is very tranquil and it's on the up thank you for your time with us today. wealthy british style. markets why not. canada. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on our.

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yeah i hear a mosque a school it's a cracking down with some stiff sentence there is a human rights principle over reacted by dishing out severe penalties indiscriminately to young men given four year sentence is a place to joke about facebook calling for people to town. european leaders in the us as you strong statements calling on syria's president assad to step down just to see announces a whole military operations in the country on the un. criminal court to investigate the regime's needs to crack down on its students. israel launches the.