as of the past week and the big one yesterday saturday the biggest secret in russian politics was exposed it's now certain that prime minister vladimir putin will run for the presidency in two thousand and twelve speaking at a ruling united russia party convention current president dmitri medvedev made the announcement while agreeing to head the party in parliamentary elections he also said he is ready to lead the government if they win out he said this and now you witness the story speeches first hand the wait is over. i believe it would be right through the convention to support the candidacy of planting your putin in a presidential election. this applause means i don't have to explain what kind of experience under thirty putin has. and they're going to say something else despite

rumors that there's been a split within our tandem i can see that this is a well thought through decision. putin is running for president. i'd like to express my gratitude to you for supporting my candidacy to run for president it's a great honor. that you're going to get the numbers and with the parliamentary elections coming in december i'd like to ask all russian citizens to support the united russia party with dmitri medvedev at the helm. but i am convinced to become prime minister and we continue to thoroughly modernize our society. the tandem now running on a platform of taking russia through the next decade promising more growth and stability with their party united russia in december's parliamentary elections and

next year's presidential run both putin and medvedev have their work cut out united russia's popularity has been falling in recent years by making such a move. or tandem as you say they sent a political message to the russians as a result of the best of the world that it. is not our beat it is not absolute this is a liable construction which. can work for years you see it is quite effective and so was the announcement even the delegates there were absolutely taken aback when they are not only confirmed of course everybody expected it but it must count as one of the best kept secrets really in recent political history the west has. readies started emphasizing how much the move lacks surprise i'm sure that some of the opposition political commentators have mentions are you proud to say is of course the risk of political stagnation and after all these country members very

well the era of the seventy's in the eighty's especially one the communist party leadership didn't really changed and they all stayed there until the way to five years old now i would rather disagree with those who predict stagnation in russian politics for one simple fact. and this is a healthy skiers meaning a so-called western style democracy might not be the way for russia something we are seeing the us especially push for across one of the world's most unstable regions i think it's it's really disgusting how the us is use the arab spring to try to use it to put in their new dictators their new friends and their fictitious democracies to be able to control or oil and control these populations countries like russia just want stability and stability is something russia knows this dynamic duo can deliver at least so far russian g.d.p. has almost doubled the level of life in russia lower russia not only the capitals

has improved but putin and medvedev want to take it to the next step with the reshuffle in united russia already under way new faces transparency less corruption and more growth are all part of the platform the intrigue is dead and now the real work begins united russia has to convince the country they are the party to move past stability towards further development and sell the west russia has a right to its own style of democracy and he's now r.t. moscow the carter years as a political analyst to the voice of russia radio station in washington ricardo very good evening chief thanks very much artie international so that what you think about that putin running for the top job again what's the response was your response was more broadly the response in the u.s. . well actually kevin there's been no official response as of yet nothing from the state department i think the white house of course this is certainly an

internal matter right now for russia but as again as your reporter mentioned this is really no surprise so i was talking to a moscow based correspondent yesterday on the voice of russia radio and we were chatting about how strong a candidate lot of our putin is and i said is there anyone else out there that they could have looked at and his answer was really not know he's just he's that strong of a candidate and can consider this letter putin at the end of his let's say second term in his second time around as president of the russian federation he'll be in office in power for almost over twenty years now i think what your reporter was saying earlier was actually correct i think the issue of him becoming president and many veggie of course becoming prime minister swapping these positions it does show there is political stability in russia and again maybe the west doesn't see it that way they would like maybe a breath of fresh air and they are a new candidate but at this point it really isn't any candidate as strong as it was about sort of course about the a big push the reset button early on that when the advent of took over we've seen

a lot of that talked about the reset of relations between moscow and washington is that trend you think going to continue if putin does get back into all faces the president. well i think it will have to simply because with the global economic crisis being what it is russia has to be a player in this i just had a chat with a economists here in the u.s. and she attended the meeting of the i.m.f. this weekend in washington and said that russia must be a bigger player in the economic situation globally the eurozone debt crisis is something that could could be is contagious it could affect democracies and countries all over the world and that a lot of our putin will have his hands full once again seumas the office of the presidency simply because he's got to start creating jobs just like other presidents other prime ministers have to do across the globe he's got to start the russian economic engine going again reset the button on the economy there and as you know russia's finance minister alexey couldn't is not terribly happy with this

arrangement and he says he's not going to join the new government after the march elections so again there are those who say no big surprise here but what you saw there on its minister not too happy he recalled it talking about president facing problems of course of president obama facing horrendous problems your side of the polls add those elections in the u.s. to if the republicans got in if they headed the administration what would the implications be then do you think for relations with russia with mr putin if he was president. i don't think much will change simply because political relations are one thing but economic relations are something else i mean economic relations right now that is the number one issue across the world how are the economies of the world working together are they working well together are they borrowing money are they spending money the whole economic web that is now this global economy that's the big issue so i do believe there's i could be much of a change in relations between the u.s.

and russia simply because economically everything is so tied together when you put it out there earlier because there were an awful lot changed in the last couple of years that the world's changed a lot since putin was last in the president's chaired you think he will change his style i don't think he needs to change this point he has been very consistent as showing himself as a very strong decisive leader and he certainly has done the same with his protege obviously president. and this is the kind of political intelligence this is the kind of smarts but i think people respect whether they're in russia or the u.s. is shown to be very decisive very strong and has a vision for russia and i think that whether it's the u.s. or russia or any other country when you have a leader who has a vision and the strength of the people can see that's the that's the individual they want to recut a young political analyst voice of russia radio station in washington thanks that was about the program much appreciated. thanks and of course we're asking you what you think about this story on our website or what you think will happen if present

heard of and prime minister putin do switch jobs well this is what you were telling us thanks for voting if you have almost half of us still saying you believe the reshuffle time there will be a success is going to be at this hour because it will give people what they want just five per cent from last just over a quarter of you think this war is going to anger voters and it's going to strengthen the opposition again on the spend again about a quarter of you twenty five percent feel little attract foreign investment from russia but not much will change otherwise twenty four twenty five twenty six march for the past few hours still time to have your say look into of course what you think. history was made this week at the u.n. as president mahmoud abbas delivered the palestinian bid for statehood and received a standing ovation the sea addressed the general assembly cheering crowds gathered in ramallah to give him a hero's welcome as the arrive from new york addressing the rally to clear the beginning of the palestinian spring now when he spoke to the un assembly on friday

jubilant scenes played out across the palestinian territories but words quickly turned to violence on the west bank border culminating in clashes between police and palestinians artie's mideast correspondent paula slayer picks up the story. and historic moment after decades of struggle tens of thousands celebrate across palestine after pleasant mahmoud abbas submitted requests to the united nations to recognize a palestinian state but as feared it wasn't all cheers alongside the celebrations violence clashes have erupted across the west bank as fears grow of a third intifada we're here in ramallah where there is a standoff between the israeli army and palestinian protesters just a short distance down the road there are tie is burning everywhere the army is also using a new found device known as the scream which unbearable sound now b. situation here is very very tense be clashes have. right across the west bank one palestinian has been killed now what we understand happened is that country one

hundred israeli settlers started burning the trees belonging to palestinians in the village the army was called in and the result was one palestinian shot and killed in the mix. for months the israeli army has been preparing for these exact scenes and palestinians worry televisual now use these clashes as an excuse to beef up its army presence in the west bank and possibly even punish palestinians by withholding tax money it collects on their behalf for weeks the army has been pointing land mines on israel's northern borders to prevent the kalandia checkpoint scenes from unfolding here the mines are not necessarily there to deal with people who have peaceful intentions but mines are a legitimate form of the fence. have mines on their borders for that reason but locals are outraged now they are trying to work mines. maybe it's more comfort for the. mines. ripping them at the heart of the clashes are

israeli settlers and palestinians both lame claim to the same piece of land jacob taylor has been farming deep in the hebron hills for more than twenty years he says this land is his and he has the papers to prove it we are the only people in the world that have got approved a document a document that these in. the measure know. the quote the bible but not so what makes the same claim he insists the land has been in his family for some eight hundred years but now this is the closest he can get to it and it's eating him up watching jacob farm it is a very hard feeling but what can i do nothing or even if we don't resist with force it's enough that the settler says we said something the army will come immediately and arrest us this fence cuts through your calls farm meaning that white now i am standing inside palestine. and as i walk through here. i'm now in israel

it's one thing to declare a state and another to determine where its borders will be policy r.t. ramallah. political activist no day told r.t. despite the impending veto palestinians regard the bit as a major breakthrough as palestinians we have a very heightened sense of national pride at this moment and even though we know the veto is most likely coming out what there it's next week or the other really makes no difference but there is a very high sense of national actually have meant at this point because for one souter of those very disappointing years of the so-called peace process the political leadership and the popular popular public opinion are in line and they're in an on one side of the political debate if you will going back to negotiations is not something palestinians oppose on principle but if we go back to negotiations with our occupiers and that's what israel is without any terms of reference without

israel clearly committing to international law clearly committing to its obligations according to international law and relevant u.n. resolutions then it's purely point. coming up who will be the first to face charges of crimes against humanity embattled colonel gadhafi or president sarkozy who now faces possible legal action over the military intervention in libya but more about the head. of the booming drug industry destroys afghan lives and fuels terrorism but it was done to stop it because special report called. the finish priest has been temporarily defrocked for speaking out against one of the world's most wanted terrorist stockholm are of past. denounced rather the center website which he believes acts as a mouthpiece for the campaign finished human rights activist your backman says the authorities are sheltering militants by protecting their websites activity.

actually you are more is only repeating what is said about the activities of all of this terrorist organization by united nations by the usa by russia by the international media so actually you are morally cannot repeat the same information in finland which is said in the international media about these terrorist organizations the person who is responsible of the website this. he has organized some migration off militants from turkey to finland and now he is facing charges he's prosecuted in finland over the same time he has a very strong support on the highest level of the finnish. and also the finnish government for example the minister of development of finland had hoped always very close partner to make i was told so the situation is really strange finland ease actually protecting these militants and they are all going to

using their activities on the territory of finland. or this story as well in our website r.t. dot com including your blog on the controversial website is activity he claims that the camp care center is already written some two hundred resulting articles about it we've got a lot of. talks of a possible greek default grew louder this last week leaked reports suggest some of the eurozone finance ministers already regard the country's economy as a lost cause the i.m.f. reportedly given e.u. countries six weeks now to build up a financial fire wall to protect themselves from the shock wave of a potential greek default that comes amid rising fears of a double dip recession after world markets all their worst week since two thousand and eight patrick young is executive director of the investment advisory firm he told a repeat of the global financial crisis now he sees it looks inevitable at this stage . but let's look at it in the united states of america growth is basically any

match in europe groups it's very low or it's going backwards in all of them if you're economies and also we've got this terrible terrible north sideslip beach issue with the likes of greece and if we look at somewhere like china which has been a huge engine of the global economy well they had some pretty bad manufacturing numbers come on and that too is leading to a big fear that maybe china is finally heading the buffers at least for the time being it's had a huge credit expansion in the last two years that looks really rather like europe and the u.s. looked in sort of two thousand and five two thousand and six two thousand and seven and i really fear that i mean if we see that happening in china then ultimately all the role that the world economy is in for a very very difficult year in two thousand and twelve. the greek debt crisis however bad it might turn out and likely to affect russia's economy that's the view of the russian finance minister alexey could read we've got exclusive interview

coming up with him all about that in several minutes. if the debt crisis does spread it does not affect us too much at least directly because our banks do not hold any of the greek debt as she was full of french and german banks on the other hand will suffer greatly because they were not on their hands that would not be cleared because they do this will cause problems within these banks problems with these banks credit some overall problems on these markets because banks are after all the leading players. libya's transitional government forces have stepped up an offensive on one of gadhafi is the last strongholds of sirte that's after saturday's attack failed to defeat the colonel's loyalists meantime some western leaders are facing accusations of hope now over the galatea of the military intervention or bush will examine the reasons behind the claims in the week you may find some of the pictures coming in this report upsetting. for injects foreign minister rowland jumar says he's ready

to defend good they're free in the international criminal court which is issued a warrant for his arrest but nato will have to find the colonel first libya's deposed leader is in hiding for good reason. if they find him they'll kill him like bin laden some states are now claiming the right to kill against all international law. images like these are moving french lawyers to turn against the government because he faces lawsuits over the birth of ordinary people in libya lawyers here in france accuse the presence of committing crimes against humanity this lawyer calls the libyan war renew vietnam where the u.s. sprayed tens of millions of liters of toxins on crops in the sixty's and seventy's causing brain disorders miscarriages and birth defects to this day. they're using missiles with depleted uranium which causes cancer in tripoli i saw

people crippled by nato attacks office workers who have nothing to do with the fighting that's why we're seeing president sarkozy for crimes against humanity nato first denied bombing this residence where thirteen civilians including four children died then called the place a military command center this journalist went to see what it really housed books videos spiderman had toys and cultural moves and everything is nothing nothing military in another attack. wife or child and grandchildren were reportedly killed in their home nato is accused of deliberately waging a campaign of terror. their bombings targeted libya's electricity water and food supply after five months of deadly nato bombs and thousands of deaths people will stop supporting the regime because they simply cannot take it anymore. western leaders a poised for their first big legal challenge over libya if they stop the cases

coming to court all together as chickadee it will prove once and for all that western justice really years run by politicians not the rule of law the new bush or r.t. paris. and other high profile killing show afghanistan this week the country's former president an advocate of peace talks with the taliban was assassinated on tuesday in a suicide. tagg berta dinner bernie was killed by a militant who couldn't be explosive device in his turban claimed to be a taliban envoy rabbani who fled the country in the one nine hundred ninety s. was a key figure in current peace talks with militants thousands of mourners gathered in the afghan capital kabul on friday for his funeral the bombing follows a string of high profile targeted killings including the murder of the current president's half brother back in july with the taliban stepping up its attacks in afghanistan one of the main sources of income is in full bloom meanwhile but nato isn't doing anything about that as r.t. the gulf is going off and that. the penalty for drinking beer in kabul is

sixty whips on the back publicly it is a very traditional muslim society or is it there are dozens of people if not more for doing drugs right there under this bridge in the center of the city with all of these coming and staring at them and all these insane conditions we still rubbish being strong rate here where we're standing right now this is just incredible to see. carol when. it's all cooked mixed injected or small to write more on these piles of rubbish here not one policeman anywhere near. but that's not all we were told these people don't just come here to do drugs and many of them called us home pakistan and india and we don't have any job we don't have any editing to do if you can't pay for the war on. a study

commissioned by the u.s. state department shows each family has at least one drug user all bits are now found in breast milk and all kids even newborns have morphine in their blood there's no doubt that the area of plantation song with narcotic crops has increased since military hostilities started and afghanistan i believe that the war was the root cause that forced afghan people to turn to poppy growing their own ninety percent of all the opiates in the world are produced in afghanistan interval cleans the markets global trade turnover has long surpassed the five hundred billion dollar mark or russia is one of the worst affected state with around eighty tons of heroin thought to any we settle in the country. it's tragic that despite the enormous resources nato has put into afghanistan including military force drug production is just phenomenal moreover the head of nato military committee personally told me fighting drug production is not their goal there is no such

directive. many experts find this a bit strange given the fact that a large part of the revenues from drug money is used to sponsor the taliban nato is key enemy in the region meanwhile the international community and spends billions of dollars to fight again it stands drug traffic but since nato has no legal right to coordinate the funds are spent with very little positive results while officials say that multi-billion dollar afghan drug network has the whole world in its grip you've got the skin of our t. kabul afghanistan. elsewhere around the world tonight four explosions have rocked the city of karbala in southern iraq at least nine people killed about one hundred injured two of the explosions happening a government office that issues identity cards for iraqi citizens no one so far claimed responsibility for the attack to keep the cost of a story for you. nineteen people have died in a plane crash in nepal is carrying tourist to mount everest and it failed to land

killing all but one passenger instantly the a surviving victim died later and all spittle i would have says report the aircraft clipped one of the houses in the local village before crashing no casualties reported on the ground. it's coming up to a ten thirty pm is in fact ten twenty six. here in moscow kevin our sports head through fifty minutes tonight reveals how russia sports minister thinks the bears for the lions of the rugby world cup more than three shortly thanks for watching out international.

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going to be soo much brighter if you mean about someone from phones to impressions . please for instance on t.v. dot com. t.v. . three . three. three. three. three.

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stories. and staying on the subject of the economy next he spoke to russia's finance.