international news and comment live from my headquarters here in central moscow this is. the u.s. have signed a joint missile defense pact in washington the agreement authorizes the deployment of ballistic missile interceptors in romania is part of an american project to build a broader nato defense shield in europe and reports now from washington. what they've signed this part of america's revamped plan to build a missile shield in europe with elements of it deployed in different countries in eastern europe romania will host america's land based s.m. story interceptors the shield will be unfolding fairly close to russian borders needless to say that's always been an irritant in the relations between washington and moscow the new u.s. missile defense plan that we're talking about is a four stage plans of the first two stages envision the installation of s m three interceptors of lower capability in the last two or higher capability is the last to that especially by the russians the more advanced ones because russians have

a different analysis of the weapons that the so-called rogue states happen what they don't have on moscow doesn't want the system to be eventually directed against russia the war of words on missile defense has been going on for quite some time with washington saying we need powerful missile interceptors against a possible attack from some dangerous state they usually maybe ran in with korea and moscow saying why would you need interceptors for weapons that those rogue states don't have but russia does russians have been quite persistent a few years you know saying ok if it's not against us let's build a missile shield in europe together and the response they get is always a no a polite no but no they say yes we will cooperate but not on equal terms to that russians say then give us legally binding guarantees that the defense system will not be used against us the sights the surface the mere effectiveness of the shield is now in question last thursday for the first time the u.s. tested its advance this blunt one interceptor missile and it failed to hit

a target by the way the federation of american scientists recently come up with a report that calls for a review of america's missile defense plan based on the inconsistences that they see between schools and means the report touched upon two very interesting points a the effectiveness of those interceptors is arguable from a scientific point of view and be that it could push the russians and possibly the chinese to try and restore some kind of balance by arming themselves more. and appear going to professor of paris west university says the u.s. missile shield plans are for political reasons as there's no real threat facing america and its allies i don't think it's really a military necessity no one really believed that it was a possibility of iran attacking europe its myside still not reach could not reach western europe so it was the deployment was scrapped in the czech republic knowledge and new deployment in rumania but i think this takes up surely political

washington probably wants to reassure the former satellite countries of the soviet union so it's a political move but hardly a military necessity and also considering the state of the us economy i don't think it's a wise move in financial terms one of barmah had this reset policy would pressure at least he was achieving something corp russia and key issued but this new deployment is aware of antagonizing russia which is going to turn into maybe some kind of new arms race which is totally pointless not only because the effectiveness of the shield is problematic it doubtful but also because it's going to cost a lot of money and unnecessarily because frankly i don't think iran is in a position to attack anyone in the west. in libya the transitional authority has given residents of the besieged gadhafi stronghold two days to evacuate or face

a full scale attack that as nato airstrikes help the rebels to secure a key oil town in the east the leader of the street since the colonel was ousted urged libyans to strive for a civil democratic state based on moderate islam meanwhile amnesty international has called on the country's new leaders to prevent human rights abuses accusing both sides of the conflict and concern grows over the humanitarian situation there in libya that scene of a two thousand six hundred killed since the uprising began. has been talking to the people of tripoli about the outcome of the revolution. you free tripoli just can't stop chanting to celebrate the birth of the uli the man of all remind us of a recently overthrown dictatorship are suppressed but used to bring nightmares to some for decades. after. his

curly hair we call him because his hair is so long and he doesn't cut it it's ugly actually but someone else smiling believe in the past gadhafi freedom is nothing but the mineralogy a crime has been the rest of three times in the last two weeks rebels interrogated him and took his documents the reason the twenty seven year old copilot says is his family's ties with gadhafi his regime we cover his face and change his name in supposedly free libya this man is afraid of being thrown to jail again or even killed you can see above wars along but you can say about wars and about could be a national icon for what they are talking about democracy this is not. a crime says libya didn't get rid of a dictatorship but only fell into another. one of the rubbles weapons in a city where the gun has become a common accessory just like

a cell phone and where one can only cross the town's numerous checkpoints with an obligatory a large part of the winners this is a reality not hard to believe you. know everybody we are happy we are freedom good there feels good run away this is not true believe me because they are fair to all have a good laugh are turned back to tripoli you see the same people same people same personality they are supporting a revolution can pretty much tell you which comes after you is often different. egypt street the scene you are still on the streets this weekend seven months after talking president mubarak and at the lack of progress on the reforms libya's future two is still far from clear the post gadhafi libyan capital has been the scene of euphoria with celebrate three gunfire and singing heard here around the clock for

more than a fortnight already like all parties however some believe they could be a serious hangover after wards in the form of retribution and uncertainty as to how the future country will be governed regional r.-t. tripoli libya. well still ahead here the disaster site see today's adventurous travelers one first hand experience of the exclusion zone twenty five years after the troubles nuclear plant blast but the government has says the tools are illegal . and. still to come before us television will continue to abide by its peace treaty with egypt despite the attack on its embassy in cairo that's according to israel's prime minister he spoke following the assault in which three people died in clashes with security forces on friday angry crowds stormed the compound in response to five egyptian officers being killed by israeli troops in a border clash last month meanwhile the turkish prime minister who's on a three day visit to current ones israel it is facing growing regional isolation

and turkish research for now. told me earlier that the two countries want to pressure to have it into abiding by international law. turkey and egypt is in the process of creating mutual understanding all regional and israel for sure is one part of the mutual understanding of what they want to do is just to drag israel into international law or in this scope of the international law of the problem with the israeli government is they don't abide with international laws and they interpret interpret international law just for their sake for their interests that is the point and both countries at this moment want the once the israeli government to revise their policies are not in the process of diligent to my doing israel instead we are in the process of finding vase for israel to push israel

back to the international community. the latest on the developing story in afghanistan now where reports coming from kabul set least nine people have been killed and twenty three wounded in an ongoing taliban attack in the government an embassy district of the city the american diplomatic mission a nato coalition headquarters have come under heavy fire and several other sites in the city were also attacked including police stations and the office of iran's press t.v. news channel insurgents stormed and occupied an empty high rise building from there they fired guns and rocket propelled grenades afghan and nato forces have surrounded the broken several insurgents are reported killed at least one remains inside this comes just weeks after twelve people died in an attack on the british council office in the same district. or discuss the worsening situation in afghanistan we're now joined from texas by democratic political director of the

brave new foundation think tank thanks very much indeed for being with us here on r.t. well this attack and indeed ongoing it's continuing through the night by all reports this is the latest in the series in afghanistan over the recent months how unstable is the country ten years now after the u.s. led occupation and of course bearing in mind half a trillion dollars being spent in the process of that cost should be in every person's mind that's on the hook for taxpayer dollars here in the united states what there was a check show is that the war in afghanistan hasn't made americans safer and it's not worth the cost your question about the stability is the right one we're ten years into or watched. with the idea of responding to the nine eleven attacks but here we are just as the nine eleven ten year anniversary and major attacks are being mounted at the capitol we're just weeks out from betray us you know kind of crowing about the most recent statistics you want to cite saying that you know violence was coming down but that was immediately followed by august which was the most deadly month ever for u.s.

forces in afghanistan and then followed by the spectacular attacks in the capital. it shows that the military approach in afghanistan supposed that you're right you're looking back what hasn't let's look at the present situation in the future you are of course against military involvement in afghanistan but surely the level of violence we're seeing today and in the numerous other attacks we've been talking about there is now a need for a massive security presence isn't it to protect ordinary people and indeed to stop the taliban returning to power we'll keep in mind that was the justification for sending the major searches the first place in afghanistan the point of a counterinsurgency strategy we were told by our generals was to protect the population but what you saw was as troop levels increase after the major escalation of the obama administration violence increased concurrently and what we've been arguing for a while is that if you increase the presence of foreign troops who are welcome in afghanistan you're going to entice further strengthening of the insurgency you're basically driving people at the arms of a movement that is now training itself as

a national liberation movement but what we've been arguing for some time is that the united states needs to let go of a military centric strategy and instead get serious about negotiations with the taliban because it's not realistic based on what we've seen from the strategy so far the military strategy is to drive the taliban out of afghanistan or prevent them from being a player in the political future of afghanistan and given that that's the case shoving hundreds of thousands of troops and two billion dollars a week at that problem through military means is just going to exacerbate the problem and continue rising violence what needs to happen to end the violence in afghanistan is for the united states to get serious about a real political settlement with the taliban that doesn't have as a prerequisite surrender on the taliban's part they've got to get those people into real power sharing negotiations but you've got now you've recently argued that the u.s. was trying to be no longer makes sense indeed not just because of what you've said but also alcott is leading us i'm up in not the home of bin laden he was killed of course you say now that actually makes it no reason the tool there's no reason told

for this campaign to continue but the voluntas is carrying on isn't it as we've seen today so has been the ones that actually given more encouragement and provoke those minutes into the fight even more now. i don't think that's what's happening i think what's happening is that because the united states didn't respond to their primary just for cation for the war being achieved which was the killing of osama bin ladin that has lent credence to the taliban argument with the local people that the united states has its own purposes in afghanistan that that don't match their publicly stated purposes in afghanistan the justification the united states use for launching the war in afghanistan in the first place was to get osama bin laden and they targeted the taliban because that taliban were shielding him and that they were turning him over but now that he's dead in the united states and didn't immediately respond by saying we're going to begin withdrawing troops that has given the taliban even more recruitment abilities to be able to say that what's happening here is the united states is occupying afghanistan the conflation between

afghanistan sorry the taliban and osama bin laden was always the wrong thing to do from a military perspective first place by not withdrawing troops the encouragement of the given to the insurgency is that they have this ability to continue to recruit people against a foreign occupier that's what's really happening in afghanistan so what do you make all the future then and his residence in the head of nato he says that he's confident the afghans will eventually be able to handle security what do you make of that and indeed what is your prediction for afghanistan and what should be done . well i think that the news this week both in terms of the attacks happening in the capital right now but also when we've heard what the. security forces in afghanistan are doing with the money they're being sent right now by the americans you've got this new report showing beds from human rights watch showing that local forces that have been funded through the military strategies sort of answer to

local terrorism have been raping and pillaging with impunity on the american taxpayer dime and until the united states starts taking a hard look at who exactly they're giving money to both at the top level by backing warlords and local powerbrokers but also at the local level by funding these unaccountable local security forces there's not going to be stability in afghanistan my prediction for afghanistan is if united states doesn't change course we're going to see continued slide instability in the country to new rise of local instability and local power brokers who are going to further destabilize the country we're actually generating a situation in afghanistan right now that was much like the situation that led to the political rise of the taliban so unless the united states gets serious about political negotiations with the leaders of the taliban we're not going to see an improvement from texas democrat very interesting to you i have to say thanks for sharing us your thoughts political harm to the brave new foundation think tank live there thank you for your time thank you. germany is called on your is

a member to stick together in the term to settle nerves over the potential greek default the chance in the sense that greece must stay aboard the block to avoid causing a domino effect that statement came off the fears of greece declaring bankruptcy cools the shop for the global markets on monday it was triggered by reports that germany was preparing for greece to leave the euro zone and has been struggling to bring its debt crisis under control despite stringent storage emergency financial journalist says there is no easy way. there are different ways that. the european central bank and the e.u. could go about dealing with a default of greece or an exit of greece portugal or some of the peripheral countries they could break the euro into two different types of euro but the fact that no one is willing to talk about that option openly and kind of admit that that's where we are with an unsustainable debt like greece has and and now the fact the country is the size of italy which is no longer really able to access the markets the way they're accessing it for the markets but the e.c.b.

isn't there buying italian spanish debt so the fact that you have these countries on able to issue debt paper on their own is is frightening for the european union for the eurozone there is no real exit mechanism from the euro if you're part of the v.m. you are part of it supposedly for life ok and so we saw how chaotic it was when argentina. default on its debt and exit of the dollar peg in the case of greece it's not even a peg they've given up their currency their french banks that are that are potentially on the hook with a lot of greek debt now who is exposed to those french banks that whose exposed the banks that are closed the french banks a lot of the banks prefer an environment like they've had now which is we can lever up as much as we want doesn't matter and if we lose we just get bailed out there they're they have structurally adjusted their business model and their profit making mechanism to this new environment which has been perpetual bailouts that we've seen since the one nine hundred eighty. it's been dubbed one of the most unusual tourist destinations in twenty five years after the chernobyl nuclear

disaster the exclusion zone around the plant seems to have been pulling the. keeping them out ukrainian government however recently banned excursions to the contaminated area amid allegations officials were pocketing money from the business . with forming levels of radioactivity there are new plans for the area. these cars were once heavily affected by nuclear radiation now the radiator for a different reason part of an exhibition in key of dedicated to the clear rubble of the one nine hundred eighty six chernobyl fallout over the years the museum in ukraine's capital kiev has become one of the top tourist attractions especially in april this year when the world marked the twenty fifth anniversary of the disaster but for those craving for the firsthand post-apocalyptic experience looking at the exhibition here has not been enough. and there is an adventurous alternative to the contaminated zone around. of applause decades tourists have been flocking to hear

more than ten thousand of them each year that's why forbes magazine named the dead zone one of the world's most exotic tourist destinations. former resident of the ghost town of organizing for several years you told us that visitors are always fascinated by what they see their motivations for making the trip have always varied. different reasons. to see what an apocalypse could look like. so moment to feel the history. it's their childhood like the atmosphere of the soviet union has been preserved but for me it's more important not why they come here it's what effect it has on them. but since june that this radioactive tourism has been suspended the prosecutor general's office conducted checks and ruled that the emergencies

ministry had broken the law with these trips as well as making and on healthy profit every tourist to the zone has been paying around one hundred u.s. dollars to do so equating to a multi-million dollar revenue every year. the ministry to inform the government of every dollar earned by districts and we know that a lot of money but we have no idea. why not put the money into the budget and use it to solve the problems but. the ministry is defined it says it stuck by the law it claims these troops are a vital way of educating the world on how to avoid such disasters the chernobyl zone will never again be inhabited but experts say it could still serve other purposes. due to decontamination procedures almost half of there has acceptable levels of radiation and that's why we can use this watch on a composite spaces to build solar and wind power stations and even grow be a fuel that the emergencies ministry has now filed a lawsuit in

a bid to resume tours through the contaminated zone and the court is expected to start hearings in mid september ukraine's thirty kilometers and you can a wasteland will remain closed to the public until then but the debate remains very much open. from kiev. in ukraine. struggle to restore security in libya there's growing concern about the massive number of weapons on the streets not to use being speaking to a former un but about the challenge of disarming civilians peacefully that interviews coming your way very shortly with some of our main news stories in about eight minutes from now.

with all the talk about diplomacy and power of the gun still remains the primary means of solving international conflicts to discuss the current state of arms trade and we are now joined by the former u.n. expert on those issues brian johnson thank you very much sir for being with us today let's start with libya in the beginning of the uprising of the revolution whatever you call it there were concerns that there may fall into the hands of terrorists has already happened. because it's easier for guns.

most of the guns that were looted in the nine hundred ninety just still missing. in the hands of criminals as much as in the hands of terrorists. start off by being illegally maybe even legally sold but at some point. in the case of libya. a lot of the rebels were until fairly recently. we go at it as being in league with al qaida in some cases so that is similar to what they might do with them that is certain you know when i was tension called a calculator the mark you have which is always you take an interest in what happens in libya and once you get support for the revolution of any sort then you turn to the control of some of the individuals within it is now prior to the uprising russia was one of the main suppliers of rappers to libya. but as far as i know it was not the only one and some of the countries that are now waging a campaign a military campaign against colonel gaddafi are also supplying weapons to his

regime quite openly yes because it's interesting isn't it that if you look at the the moral record to the west in these things is not well for the good we seem to intervene in. iraq and libya because they've got something we won't i don't see anyone having any great desire to go and invade syria and disposed of president thought so maybe he's got nothing nobody wants you know so i think that's where real politic comes into play but yes there was a decision taken whatever reason to support the libyan uprising even though the same countries did go to the security council and get a resolution which in part imposed an arms above you they then went a long long way beyond those terms of reference you could argue the bombing campaign itself was pushing the envelope what sort of measures do you think the league and authorities daily been authorities could take it out it's here to crazed

the. percentage of votes but then the population i mean maybe buying them out there or are offering some sort of surrender campaign or find buying guns back is a city that says there's not a good i mean i've been bold and several sort of buy about campaigns for guns that have been now discredited but there's one occasion i was working one in browse of a hole in the congo going to go twenty years ago in there and i forget the price but we were paying seventy five dollars shall we say a gun when the problem was on the other side of the congress you could buy the fifty books so people were actually bringing guns for the country became a sort of business becomes a business this is the rent of the we're going to get the bounty so they then tried different ways around this by saying well as a community as a child there was a village if you cross a weapon sort of in the forest we'll build you when you bust shelter or you post a small stuff like that so that seems to work better in some ways i have to say that the problem of getting weapons at the circulation is much more difficult than

people tend to think when in kosovo it just failed totally it was a very very expensive campaign and that was it was embarrassing you know and everyone looked like a look at it like made it in the end with it is easier not to get guns or to secure the. but to conclude i mission because i'm going to sion is happy it's both. and you can have more success and there's no point having a gun if you're going i mean the sion so many ways so domination is the key to controlling lawson's weapons if the common good i mean ocean of the dumb gun is no good to them fine i have a question regarding their recent allegations or theories that some countries may be. illegally selling arms to rebel us i know that the french have admitted dropping weapons to some rebel groups southwest of separately which is on the face of it's a breach of the security council resolution which one can only do pull. particular

when a permanent member of the security council goes wrong frothing resolution they voted for i think it's a very bad show but you know real the real world is sometimes not so last place to be in. a british foreign secretary back in the eighteenth century said that once that britain has no permanent friends i mean you couldn't interests and i think that's true of every country is true of russia it is true of us it's true that americans and the french so people will look to their interests as they see them at the time but yes it's about thing when the united nations system is not perfect but i would it and for its and i want to work has failings but by going to speculate nothing else which is the best system we have and i think it's is very unfortunate when a member states of the security council then ignores the resolutions they voted for us brian johnson thomas thank you very much for it's a pleasure. and some. of

the earth or the. have but.

wednesday morning here in the russian capital top stories now the u.s. and romania a strategic defense. of the nato. russia. over greece's potential deal. of the eurozone to stick together stormy skies and looming over europe. libya's transitional forces are giving residents of the stronghold two days to meet face. for me today. should be hit the top of the news continues in the meantime financial.