international news live from moscow this is r.t. with me thanks for joining us and we start off with big political changes in russia with the firing of the finance minister the president's been vetted it follows an interview by alex and in which he criticized the president over budget policy and said he couldn't work with him should medvedev become prime minister that these scenario planned but planned by the country's leadership after next year's elections when prime minister vladimir putin aims to become president with made a vet of leading the government as premier and it's now has more. well it all started with the weekend's big news that led to mayor putin will in fact be running for president in two thousand and twelve and he'd like president medvedev to go on to become his prime minister of finance minister former i think you could say now of course finance minister alexei kudrin scam ends up about that news him saying that he doesn't see himself working in images governmental obviously talking about him possibly becoming prime minister the president not happy about the comments

they were making in the u.s. what was there and a visit he calls them utterly inappropriate and this is what he had to say and he sat down with us which is if you think your views on russia's economic agenda differ from mine as president you can resign but you have to answer right here and now are you going to resign. what's the. footage just of my opinions do differ from yours but on only take such a decision after i've talked to the prime minister of lebanon to say that she's female most of the scale of what you can talk to whoever you want including the prime minister but as long as i'm the president i make these decisions you'll have to decide very quickly and give me an answer today even you reconsider the differences you're talking of and all if these differences do exist i see no other way than for you to resign although this would be an unpleasant don't come in body of work was deal with thought yes because of some very harsh words there from president medvedev as you could tell it on the spot there is

a fiscal position now and then but what this means the fourth. year of us in politics no one can really say oh we're going to see some reaction force upon the markets higher for all those that were saying after the weekend's news that possibly politics are stacked boring it might just be that they were very wrong the reaction has been very mixed here in russia and up cross the globe out of course social media was just a buzz feed into even if you look at twitter and lots of comments both positive and negative i. if we just go stateside in the not very unexpected western media really a body in there produces about russia and its democracy i just want to take you through one of the treats that was written by a u.s. senator john mccain known for his anti russian rhetoric by nancy putin unspecific rhetoric by saying surprise surprise shocking news which it is running for president again in the back here in a moscow the presidential aide to madrid you have our party to recall but she

writes but nothing to be cheerful about it's better to play ice hockey stick a stadium that of course is where the big announcement was made on the weekend and he goes on to write it's high time to switch to a sports channel with that said it's no secret that both john and medvedev and their so-called tandem enjoy very high support here in russia putin as president is known bringing stability to the treaty turbulent ninety's next person tell you that is very much seen as a strong leader here in the country and that's part of this new time for region and made it on a ticket bringing united russia through the parliamentary elections in december and then on to the presidential elections next month the first all season he sonali on the fast moving developments in russian politics right now. eurozone leaders are working against the clock to set up an extensive rescue plan for the regional to plunging the global economy into a new recession the idea now is to apparently bruise the size of the eurozone

bailout funds to trillion euros that's after they are on their wanted may not be able to help out the big european economies leaders are also planning to write a whole host of greece's debt but analysts say default is still on the cards greece has been hit by another wave of public protest against public cuts but the priority now is to prevent the so-called too big to fail countries such as italy and spain being drawn down as ghana can reports the global the i.m.f. is being accused of just proportionate policies. the leadership has changed but the methods have not for a desperate economy the i.m.f. still offers the same bitter medicine of draconian budget belt tightening reeses push to redouble its austerity efforts at a time of deep economic recession and to sell a vast chunk of public assets at fire sale prices some have no choice but to cut dificid know the i am i have swore my head dominique strauss kahn said they're

forcing greece to pay back its debts would on acceptably impoverished the country and that everyone must be willing to accept losses on greek debt but feel lancer be has never been the i.m.f. so strong point it's a new situation where my main shareholder is the united states of america well any dollar in the euro but is invested in the fund goes bach. to the member principle and interest we're not in the business helps us of subsidies we're not in the business of giving grants the u.s. and europe are holding the most votes in the organization and veto power despite the fact that emerging economies have been the engine of global growth in recent years the organization's policymaking has been under fire for being biased in favor of its top shareholders one of the functions of the i.m.f. is crisis warning and prevention but when three years ago the financial crisis in the us was sending devastating shock waves throughout the world the organization proved completely redundant in the case of united they should have taken

a much stronger position warning about the build up financial that to be. that write it up again and. completely drop the ball and it must be able to monitor the rich and united states as well as other countries it will lose its credibility some experts see the intimacy between the i.m.f. and u.s. corporations as a matter of concern all of the big decisions at the i.m.f. are made by the us treasury department well even the head of the world bank has accused the top advanced economies a few congress in their policies when countries with large fiscal deficits preach fiscal discipline the poor countries what are they really saying do what i say not what i do when countries pay homage to free trade but hold back developing countries with barriers what do they really say do what i say not what i do

a do what i say not what i do world well fracture to the detriment of all. the old ways can in most change with the item have swapped the as members themselves spacing their own problems many doubt whether the organization will be able to take adequate measures to work off possibly another global price it's as well lending money to the world's weaker economies the i.m.f. is still facing the challenge of offering viable solutions that do not come with crippling measures but one thing is clear the world demands an i.m.f. that does not work solely for the benefit of the few i'm going to check out with forty four more r t. as the euro tumbled against the don't own monday british conservative party member of the european parliament david campbell bannerman says new cuts come be a recipe to stop the crisis because people living in the us simply can't take more austerity measures. but i think what's happening is democracy is reasserting itself

a lot of countries are saying no you're getting real trouble on the streets of greece the cia actually prophesies that agree a military government in greece is a possibility god forbid. there is serious political movement since in amongst young people in italy i think the democratic price or more as there are too is potentially too great and that actually takes us really to the edge when it comes to the euro is a very serious situation this is the a move in the right direction to stabilize things but the moccasin may just not have it the world is very interconnected which is why this is all happening in the banking sector particularly is very interconnected i think french clients in particular are very exposed to greek i think i've seen a figure of forty five percent. actually been due to french banks so there is concern about the knock on effects to those growing in france and elsewhere of course. it's all part bags around the world we're very interconnected and so yes

there is real concern here. and in a few minutes here in our see. what proved to much for president bush was no problem than that. to look into why america's current leader had no trouble signing of the supply of bank of the us just a tele bed that's also. to protect and subdue british police get power back blanket ban marches on demos as ride paranoia leads to the rights of expression as he reports from london minutes. the united nations security council has hold its first closed door meeting to consider the palestinian request for u.n. membership the bid will be considered on wednesday despite opposition from the u.s. and israel ati's marina is across the latest. the worst kept secret is the fact that the united states. says it will veto the palestinian bid for u.n.

membership and statehood but nonetheless the palestinians have submitted an official application for statehood with the united nations now at this point what the palestinians would need would be nine out of fifteen of the security council members to support this application no vetoes but us president barack obama did state last week when he was addressing the general assembly that the only way there could be an independent palestinian state is through direct negotiations and and peace talks between the israelis and the palestinians washington said it would cast a veto if it had to but let's remember that u.s. credibility and influence in the middle east is at stake here u.s. president barack obama has been seen supporting the so-called arab spring the to missions the libyans the egyptians and so for the u.s. to cast a veto now against the aspirations of the palestinians would be as some critics

have said hypocritical the palestinians do have another option and that would be to take the vote before the general assembly where they do have the majority of support that would only raise. status at the u.n. to observer state a nonmember observer state but they would be able to file lawsuits at the international criminal court and participate in many forums but at this point it is stuck within the security council with washington pressing very hard for the palestinians to back down and not put them in a position to cast a veto palestinian president mahmoud abbas said he would return to negotiations only only if israel halt its settlement construction and since that has not happened and since the statement made by the quartet did not include that then the president of palestine said that there's no point in talking this can't be business as usual russia as a part of the court. russia the u.s. u.n. and now russia is one of the many countries that you when that said they would

support the palestinian bid for u.n. membership and stay put as stated but at this point. president abbas is saying that there is no point of returning to negotiations that have continued on for nearly two decades have not resulted in anything no peace plan nothing and just resort back to the way everything has been proceeding so while the international community is trying to come together right now to get both sides back to the negotiation table it seems that the palestinians are really driven and determined to decide the fate of their country and with that they're taking this argument to the united nations and that's weighed where they are planning to leave it and that's where it will continue. as the palestinian bid for statehood at the u.n. continues reports have emerged claiming that president obama secretly approved supply to israel fifty five deep penetrating bombs of so-called bunker busters the

country has been requesting the high tech weapons since two thousand and five a plea rejected however by the bush administration which could sell the technology to china and american political cartoonist columnist and also believes the deal means the u.s. is merely staring up tensions in the region which are already sky high. it seems that there is very few limits that the united states is willing to cross in order to support israel at any cost you have to almost wonder how it is that the tail wags the dog in this respect israel is a training mission the size of new jersey and it has no oil wealth it has barely a strategic position and yet it's telling the sole the world's sole remaining superpower what to do and it just goes on and on in the bunker busters a five thousand pound bomb that is only used in order to penetrate deep deep fortified positions iran does keep its is is said to keep its nuclear research

facilities deep underground and the only way to really access them would be using exactly the sort of weapon so. it's not speculation to ask where they're going to run would be interested in what would be would care about this transaction this is very much an escalation of the conflict between israel and iran. and elsewhere the u.s. developments and another arab country where this cost the syrian foreign minister met his russian counterpart to assess the seven month crisis in the country but there are says that more than twenty seven hundred people have been killed by security forces and a government crackdown the city but dr abraham children give us to how claims they are addressed as being fuel from abroad armed gangs the government's actions. well i think that moscow has already proven that it is very serious about instigating reform has initiated a series of regulations regarding the media a multi-party system but the opposition unfortunately has been refusing to sit down

and dialogue with the regime so the problem here is not the syrian leadership but the opposition which is being encouraged by interference from abroad whether by the gulf cooperation council or the nato reoccur especially and other groups working on their ground so i don't know what you define as military intervention but if you have an armed mutiny that is being financed and supported from abroad i don't think you can call that a peaceful uprising another thing i would like to point out i do not necessarily agree with you about the unbiased mouse of the u. n. the un and many of its agencies has merely been a spokesperson for the united states government and the nato alliance so not everything that comes out of the u.n. is necessarily accurate and many cases the u.

and as a cover for imperialist designs whether in the arab homeland or across the third world. perchance have long believed that free to express that opinion is publicly every rights that some believe is now under threat since runs riots erupted across england in august that come from the government by a notch resident six parts of london sponsored by plans by islamic rightwing english nationalist group to notch three a predominantly muslim area in the city as they are and to force opponents believe that freedom of expression is being undermined. the view of workers activists on the home office ban on marching is clear it's an attack on the basic democratic rights in this country through september in six areas of london anyone marching like these people did last winter is liable to be arrested and fined or

even imprisoned. the ban was prompted by plans by the anti muslim english defense league seen here in luton in february to march through tower hamlets the area with the highest concentration of muslims in the country but instead of banning one march on one day the home office banned all marches in six baros for an entire month activist richard seymour sees a wider motive once the ban is passed it doesn't necessarily mean to say that march isn't going to happen it just means that the police more powers and that's part of the wider problem but if you're restricted to a static demonstration the police have a right to pen you in. a restroom very. small doses or offenses these people behind me are amongst the lucky few they still can march just by pure accident of geography where hit in lumbers which is not one of the six bars affected by the baton but if as many fear the government extend and widen the

ban to take in more parts of london the scenes that you see behind me both small and large marches through london and many other cities across the country could be a thing of the past the band comes hot on the heels of widespread rioting in many english cities in august it also coincides with the introduction of government austerity measures which some say amounts to the dismantling of the entire welfare state many say public fear of civil unrest is being manipulated to prevent unions from turning out to protest fierce cuts and pat. reagan from the workers revolutionary party says it's just the tip of the iceberg to the talking about area curfews that talk about shutting down facebook social network sites they're talking about dictatorial civil war measures because what they're doing in britain is creating a historic change in which inevitably. the majority of the population will oppose

them the home office can only stop marching it's powerless to prevent people from gathering but workers' organizations argue it's no good just standing there you've got to be able to march to make a statement as the unions did in march when more than a quarter of a million people turned out to protest the cuts activists say that's exactly what the government's trying to stop just in terms of where we are at the moment in this country with the process of a stereotypical pushed through by the government trade unions are one of the major box opposed to that no public order legislation does tend to be used against striking workers i mean that's been very clear. there's been some recent examples of people being pulled off the picket lines and obviously we can see any resistance to freedom of expression and dissociation in shrine didn't u.k. and european law with the u.k. renowned for its powerful union organizations but the ban gives police the ultimate

power to step in and arrest demonstrators merely for exercising their right to speak out against the government and that's a dangerous precedent to set nor am it r.t. london. more hard hitting news and exclusive stories available around the globe called man his was being lined up for you to discover britain is next to me excuse me britain's estimated to have racked up. two point seven billion dollar top of the league seven times more than planned angry taxpayers now want to know exactly how much the military is shelling out. russia's state of the art of mars probe this is the ship that will go on a major mission to dig into martian moon to reveal the secrets of its soil the details are dotted all the here while you tube channel for more unmissable story.

that's all the news for now i'll be back with the headlines very soon but first we talked to former nation general secretary general george robertson who explains that if things deadlines today's taking the right direction. s. . s. .

george robertson thank you very much for being with us again two years later now you've managed a global military organization now and you're on a board of one of the world's top energy companies are there any similarities between energy markets and the war theater. well we we both operate a global marketplace we're dealing with globalisation oil is politics. in everything whether it's national politics or international politics so i didn't leave completely behind what i did they took it because one of the things i didn't need to i wanted to do in the door was to establish control ations with russia and to bring russia much more in. the mainstream western. you know i'm in russia for a russian company. i want to join now you once said what i will remember most from my time in the chair is meeting children to the countries that meant to moscow to

care for a decade later do you think his children live in a better world for instance if we take libya how come there been so much child casualties in libya during the nato. operations these children. will live in a better world a more prosperous world and a world that sanctuary three years of a lot of the fear as the previous generations the world war of localized war so there is no doubt that keeping prosperity in the world has improved the chances of living and the quality of life that's what we were seeing in the arab spring more as a younger generation and remember that something like sixty percent of the middle eastern population is under the age of still saying they wanted a bit of that action as well they wanted a bit of that prosperity a bit of the enjoyment people don't want to see all the g seven i don't want to go to the ships by and large they want. they want to have a host of want of

a nice family they want their children to go to great schools and that's a huge events all desire whether it's don't turn. don't turn a mosque or don't turn and one. now i don't think that there were large numbers of children casualties. and i knew who the target is the other eight and it is done very very carefully indeed if there were casualties it is because colonel gadhafi put those children on those civilians to deliberately into danger and that of course has happened before and yet if you were head of nato today is there anything that you would tip differently in libya no i wouldn't have done anything different i think secretary general rasmussen has done a very difficult job highly successful because no one knew that nato troops on the ground at all it was all done in either of the of the population who themselves

through the lead cell of a transitional government you know made the offer of the refuge to those who wanted to leave kabul gadhafi i think in retrospect. although it strained nato to the live in a chill it was a very good operation we should leave a lasting legacy in libya for the people that they woke up you are also a member of the british parliament are you concerned that the british military has set foot on another nation's soil while the british military one of the nato countries sit food on libyan soil but me a bit small number of people there giving some advice but by and large it was done by the libyans themselves and it was done with the backing of the arab league and it was done with the backing of the un security council so i think there's a template of home these things should happen if there isn't a sense that if you do it there was no need for any old say intervention is in the

people did it themselves no need for military intervention in egypt the people did it themselves but in libya you had a desperate at the time despicable dictator with a chart a great coat of mourning his own people who were undoubtedly have done it if we hadn't taken action but then why don't we try to do the same thing in syria look at the casualties that we have that we take. well because you can't intervene everywhere doesn't mean that you shouldn't intervene where you can't you know the war is weak resolution there was a un security council resolution either the peace things apply at the woman to what's happening in syria but then so regime at the end of its time just as it is as it were it may take some time to walk over and there are other means by which you can enter the economic political diplomatic and has what i've been saying at this conference let's pick a period for the next surprise or keep all of the weapons available the weapon of

last resort because the military pay for that you use economic poll used to put my they use political influence church cheve these games of trying to protect. people . was only taken in libya because gadhafi and his own people so that those who would rebel to the weight. thank you very much for the. question. twenty years ago are just countries from the certificates of. say. one hundred extremists each began a journey. where did it take them.

it's. just simply. the be.

welcomed. this is an see and these are the top stories russia's finance minister has been signed by president medvedev to say to him as prime minister should lead evolution take over as leader after next year's elections and for criticizing aspects of budgetary policy. speculation continues over a greek debt default as eurozone leaders scramble for an urgent rescue plan to stable deep recession meanwhile the international monetary fund has been criticized for not treating all countries equally and for favoring the rich. and the united nations security council says it will concede a palestine spadeful full u.n. membership on wednesday with its leaders expressing hope of success despite opposition from the u.s. which holds.