the sophie shevardnadze meets one of the world's leading experts on u.s. foreign policy walter russell mead explains the way the land lies for america's global feature. walter russell mead thank you very much for being with us today sir good to be here it's a pleasure i use calls twenty first century the wildest roller coaster ride in the history of time i wonder what spills and thrills to expect before the ride is done well when you look at the way the internet is already changing everyone's lives you look at how migration is sending people all over the world you look at how the world economy since two thousand has just been up and down and up and down this is much more thrilling than life use to be i was in i came to this part of the world

for the first time back in the one nine hundred eighty s. and very little had happened politically for a very long time and to get some ways the unfreezing in russia began unfreezing in other parts of the world we're seeing it today in the arab spring not necessarily for better not necessarily for worse but for more interesting what do you make of the violence that there is right now in the world has it always been that way and just that weren't aware or has it got to really worse well it you know it kind of ebbs and flows in the world i mean you think about china in the one nine hundred fifty s. russia in the one nine hundred thirty s. you think about germany of course in the thirty's and forty's so there's been times when the pace of death was faster than it is now but also times when it was slower . you look at the war in the congo and people say as many as two million people

have been killed in a series of civil and international conflicts in the congo in the last ten years and i'm afraid that as we have more technology. we don't become better we simply become more able to do things both good and bad that is technology doesn't change who we are as human beings but it turns up the volume so that we are able to express whatever is in us good or bad more fully say a thing it brings the good that's good out of us as much as the bad as the bad we're all the same as before we are just louder there is the belief that china is in the prior revolutionary state i wonder why does it have anything to do with the fact that it's getting older faster than it's getting richer well that's a problem for china you know pre-revolutionary i don't think i've ever used quite that word but what i see is that the chinese government is extremely competent i have nothing but admiration for their ability to manage

a growing economy and so on and certainly you look at thousands of years of chinese history in many ways discovering what has delivered more for more people than any other but at the same time every success they have at fostering more growth more development means to have a more complex society which then becomes harder to to manage especially when it comes from the top down corruption becomes more of a problem i think the chinese financial system is. is in a much shakier state than might appears for a very long time the economy has been growing at ten percent a year. it's hard to lose money as a bank when the economy is growing that quickly so i think there might be a lot of stupid loans and many corrupt local officials their brother in law is getting money for something and so should something happen to knock china off that

very rapid path of growth we might very very quickly see that there are many more many more probably. then then it now looks like they have that in that case what the chad is revolution look like. i left my crystal ball home. but i think what you would have is is more than a billion people all trying to live their lives in their own way and i think you'd have a lot of confusion and you look at. chinese history and certainly before one thousand nine hundred forty nine you had a very long period of chaos and disorder before an order was formed it might take china a while but that's speculative so i know that you're an advert democrat you voted for obama has said disappointed and in some ways yes in some ways no. i have to say when i voted for him i didn't think oh this is the one everything is going to be

perfect i thought that he would be able to manage our foreign policy. effectively not perfectly no one and i think he has. i think we're in fairly good shape and he's been able to do some of the things that the bush administration tried to do but without all the trouble and aggravation and some ways which is good domestically i think he made some mistakes at the beginning he he thought that the country had elected him to transform the country i think he was actually look to be more like bill clinton and try to keep everything nice and so he's gotten out because he tried to do too much and do some things people didn't expect or want he's now on the defensive and this is a difficult time for him what do you think shapes the value of

a promise that may station a lot of things i think he's very much a product of the kind of ivy league educational system. he. he sees himself i think is part of a new kind of america that almost the millennial generation in some ways looking to build a post racial society i think he does he's he's not as much on the left as some people have thought a year as i don't i don't think that's right i think he i would consider more a kind of a technocrat in the in the mold of people like mcgeorge bundy the sort of great harvard technocrats of the one nine hundred sixty s. and seventy's i think is where he is getting is going to get reelected that's very hard to say but i know that you have described the united states e.u. and japan as financially irresponsible superpowers so i was wondering how do you think the world can afford to be led by

a responsible super powers well of course there are a lot of financially irresponsible non superpowers too i think financially they're not superpowers right but what i guess what i'm saying is who else can it be led by that was going to my second question that if the united states actually loses their leadership who would it be well that's partly why i think it may be less likely that the u.s. will lose and in some ways the dollar as a reserve currency it's the chinese are not going to internationalize theirs for a while the euro is is not really an alternative to the dollar so what is it the swiss franc the south african rand ok but do you still get a sense that the superpowers are losing says of per prince and it in fixation or not. i think that the american economy is in a period of deep restructuring if you look at the last three hundred fifty years of sort of the rise of global capitalism you'd argue that the british and the

americans have we've had many financial crises ever since the south siebold in the dutch tulip bubble even in some ways. and when there's a financial crisis an economic crisis some countries seem to be faster to innovate and some countries say oh we knew capitalism was a terrible system all along we're going to have nothing to do with it so the argentina's ins and some others try to get away from it and then when the time comes for the next wave of growth they've isolated themselves i think the british and the americans in are still prepared to try something new my guess is that the whole world has reached a stage where the old system economic system doesn't work we don't know how to make the transition to the new and we're floundering around trying to invent i think the americans are going to get there faster than some others so let me just recap because there's been a lot of talk in the past two years about the world becoming law type color. and

european things are going to stay that way they are the walled order for a while well i guess what i would say is the whole the goal of american foreign policy is not actually a uni polar world i think people. think that the united states actually is more a grettir garbo and that is we would like to be left alone for example the european union from the united states' point of view is the perfect solution the europeans aren't going to war with each other they aren't going to war with us they're pretty prosperous they like a lot of the things we do so the europe if the united states had a dream for europe that would be it it's ok now we have much less power in europe than we did in one thousand nine hundred five when we could decide who ate what's ok but you have much more power in other parts of the world right

but again what we want to seize and we would like every place to more or less be like your happy rich at peace so that you can be. so right so that the world would be the way we want it to be but we wouldn't have to make it perform that's the american goal and so in that sense. multi-polar world in which most or all of the polls kind of like the american way without us making them like it and you see that's the goal and to some degree the emergence of india the emergence of europe the fact that brazil is growing into just that kind of power suggests that that we're getting that what americans would consider a banal on multi-polar would be rather than say the one nine hundred forty s. when you have the soviet union germany and japan that all heat that system and are trying to destroy it how would america like to see russia america would like to see

russia happy free democratic and secure thank you very much for this interview thank you. wealthy british style. the tireless. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look lobel financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on our. mission and free accreditation free zones for chargers free. range and free risk free studio tied for free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects a free media dog party dot com. well slippery bringing you the latest in science and technology from around russia . we've got this huge area covered. cave.

it seems.

top stories from r.t. tonight angry crowds gather in athens to protest against a new set of government cuts which are expected to be passed at the end of october it says prime minister george papandreou tries to convince germany's leaders and businesses that a third will help his country avoid bankruptcy. government forces reportedly storm a key opposition town in syria after pounding it overnight with heavy machine gun fire moscow is calling on both sides to enter talks to stop the violence while rejecting western sanctions and boarding a repeat of the libyan scenario. and violence flares up between serbia and breakaway costs of seven kosovan serbs have been injured in a disputed border crossing in exchange of fire between protesters and nato peacekeepers. about a twenty to forty six moscow time thanks for being with us wherever in the world you're watching this culture the sport you can see how you. see us cuz our men really did live up to their names and they were the real battling performance and i won quite enough in just

a step too far yeah exactly kevin you know when it comes to giants of european football there are much bigger than in trying to prove that tonight they got the win when really that shouldn't have but that's of course what big teams to where the look. the rest of the champions league football in just a sec. thanks for your company this is sports there are plenty ahead over the next eleven minutes or so including. army men disarmed see eskimo school fight back from two goals done but still lose to enter after a five goal european cup thrower in moscow. team green's former world number one golfer tiger woods joins up with the new comedy following the break up of his thirteen year partnership with another bag steve williams.

time rush is a rugby team enjoy a day off from talking scrums on tactics at the world cup testing their mettle i'm sure park when you see. pictures more than the moment but one of the biggest nights all of the russian football year has ended in disappointment for the home side cisco going down into a tele and giants enter in their second champions league group much all of the season it was. me who had the visitors to only twenty three minutes but didn't lie done first hobbling the deficit on the stroke of half time through. before knocking out deserved equaliser seventy seven minutes in from love but it was interview would have the final say and morrow is about to strike eleven minutes from time earning the milan men their first win of the company. night seven all their games not just on the way scoreless through are to europe however

trabzonspor who are seeking their second straight win in c.s. could screw up the year off against french champions that illegal buy in munich are hosting a shell beings league debutantes manchester city while not pulling your entertaining theory i'll soon group a with both teams seeking a first win in this year's tournament money. yes tonight are going head to head with group c. leading lights while ten feet counting rumania new voices absolutely are induction record nine time title winners real madrid are at home to the spanish side lead group d. after a one zero win over a fortnight ago while the bottom place croats themselves are taking on seven time french champions league on the score of the top of your screen there is of course three to ensure that's how it's finished michel platini stated preparations out all for euro two thousand and twelve in use in ukraine are moving along at a quote surface factory pace the u.s. president though pointing out the country which will co-host the footballing event

with poland still has work to do. the preparations are going very well there i would say leave the roof isn't finished now let's see and don't is there are some hotels which i'm finished and unheard of the transport isn't finished these are small problems for they're going to zation of the competition but today can see it was difficult at the start for ukraine and from three years ago of golden easier oh. russia's rift mick gymnastics team has every reason to celebrate after clinching tough spot the twenty eleven world championships their seven gold and six silver medals healed in an event in moscow on tuesday the squad receiving their just rewards from sports minister vitaly would go following this month's triumph. in particular drawing major plaudits for her exploits the siberian native winning six out of a possible six schools in france the twenty one year old not quite incredibly a seventeen time world champion in the sport but with the olympic games fast

approaching can i have a isn't about to take it easy. yes. my target is to get to london next year we have many more completions ahead and only a few weeks before the olympics our coaches will see who is selected so what i have to do now is train hard and try to keep healthy. golf for fourteen time major winner tiger woods has unveiled a man he hopes can return him to past glories the former world number one. his new caddie woods fired his previous by steve williams in july after a thirteen year partnership the thirty five year old american our affiliate in himself with calvin who's best known for his long term association with another former world number one fred couples who has been without a title for over two years on the step to fiftieth in the world since the much publicized revelations about his private life and subsequent to force.

brings us the paralympic sports where the third annual. national awards ceremony took place in moscow on tuesday the events named after the famous russian gymnast who was badly injured during a competition just weeks before the one nine hundred eighty games all the major wars going to for time part of the picture in russian skier eric is a report although it wasn't only part of the show on the serve one of the amusing look at punctuality who's been suffering with a muscle disorder since he was born a serious illness can be overcome the comedian showing off the same down study performed up to twenty ten winter olympics opening ceremony. eight years ago i was unable to. six years ago i could only take three steps today i'm taking more and more is that.

amazing stuff that brings us to rugby where a draw was witnessed for only the third ever time in world cup history today remarkably it was japan and canada who fought to a stalemate the same side also drew at the two thousand and seven tournament the game here played in perfect conditions and with the most positive of approaches canada eventually fighting back to deny japan only a second ever world cup with twenty three apiece how it ended up after the italy ensure their qualification for the twenty fifteen games of victory over the united states the history also still in with a shot to meet ardent in this year's quarterfinals following the fullness point win in nelson. ok let's stay at the world cup where vs final match of the tournament takes place on saturday against australia the players using the down time to fit in on adrenaline packed afternoon en route to ruin our correspondent richard brown

poor feet went along on walls let's say a reluctant participant. it's been a tough debut world cup of the russians but they were finally given a chance to let their hair down a little adventure park in route to room. jumping off a forty three metre platform might not be everyone's idea of fun but it certainly was for denise implicated. but twenty year old completed one wife long ambition recently was scoring a try on his world cup debut over mobile made tive also on the very first bungee jump however when it wasn't the only one want to give peace a b. action is followed by a team if he clearly is keen to prove himself off from among globally highlights. i'm in the front and saints players said it was a fantastic frail. bustling i've dreamt of this there's a while before and this is a dream come true hopefully i'll have

a strength to go do the bungee jump as. the players were like kids in a candy store and we're trying to royds time after time after time. even though some of russia's challenges seem more interested in getting better acquainted with the local animal population. england recently got round to criticize for doing similar then charge to tease of the russian coach kingsley jones couldn't have been more different in his approach saying it was a wonderful distraction for the players plus that it's important you know we've worked hard for the last. hundred twenty days and they need to refresh recharge no . technical things we can work on the thing that's going to carry us through and make us part of the reforms constrain years everybody fresh mentally physically and you know the mental thing mental rest and change from coaching is and getting coaching training every day is important of course this is

a fantastic break from the russian players who make great use of their free time while many of whom product to this for the first time in their lives but there was no way that artie's correspondent was going to get away scot free oh all. right we're very married now. so i am forty metres out there. well say. i managed to live to tell the tale just a buyouts. a but didn't prove to be the end of my new found friends seeking experience. the russian favorites are going to decide to give it a try as well on a go. russia number seven company. go. russia

will now move to nelson on wednesday ahead of their final world cup game and when the tournament finished for them on saturday they will certainly have some fantastic memories. the funny thing is we sent richard out there to do work i'm not sure he's doing it but he is sending us back those great pictures and here that's all the sport for tonight whether it's next.

this is our team tonight crowds gather in athens angry over facing more deep cuts which are due to be imposed by a government scrambling for debt rescue cash in germany right now. also this hour as government forces stormed a key opposition town in syria calls on both sides to talk while rejecting western sanctions. and violence flares up between a breakaway cost of zero seven. and the disputed border crossing. even for me kevin owen here in moscow tonight it's now eleven pm moscow time not top story on our greeks a gathering in athens to protest against a new set of government cuts which are expected to be passed next.