egypt's crossroads day one of the first post mubarak parliamentary election is drawing to a close as people vote against the backdrop of ongoing protests over the military rule. pakistan permanently closes a vital u.s. military supply route to afghanistan after the deadly nato air raid that triggered nationwide anti american rallies russia's also condemned the strike and called for an investigation. also the kremlin's human rights party says russian lawyers said gay magnitsky could have been beaten to death in custody two years ago while he waited trial for tax evasion.

hello this is r t it's midnight now here in moscow kevin zero in on the top story for you it just shouldn't voting in the first step of a long parliamentary election which will happen in stages now until march it follows a week of violence which returned to the cities with over forty people killed in protests against the military regime is in this in hours got the latest from cairo . people go to the polls since the first time since the fall of hosni mubarak some of them voting for the first time in their lives with that said there are serious concerns over the legitimacy of this vote firstly of course because of the security situation in light of that violence the clampdown in clashes that we saw just ahead of this vote and also because an announcement from the military had that the actual parliament will have limited powers and they won't actually be able to just solve any kind of cabinet but that said the muslim brotherhood is expected to make major gains in this part of the mentoring vote on tuesday voting will continue so far it

looks like turnout has been very successful a lot of people that excited but still doubting like i said the legitimacy of the vote i spoke to the only female presidential candidate who told me that she believes that this vote will in fact be void and some people that we spoke to are going as far as to boycott the vote but. some adoptions are bracing for the worst medics are lined up and security is tight for egypt's first parliamentary election since the revolution the country's only female candidate for the presidency expects the vote to be void due to for on but send this message to the supreme council of the armed forces or scaffold took over after mubarak we are as. movement. we are rooting you. money during the election just to connect the mistakes and the proud we had

and all growing for democracy others are planning to boycott the ballot minya a protester at occupy cabinet says they are encouraging people not to vote trying to do with trying to call the people to come zone here so we would be a lot of people and nobody would vote and then they would know that these votes and this elections is not correct it's wrong how could you ask us to vote. for a parliament which which you are building under you were a scout for. the violent crackdown that swept over egypt just before elections seems to be pulling focus from the long awaited dream of democracy minya says if the vote goes through the military will succeed in covering up the blood spilled. like take them to courts or something like for the people the kills i got shot in my yard like here but of course it's not that big of deal like other people go now they're blind and

a lot of them are did because of what happened who is going to say when you were wrong the party likely to win a staunch number of seats is the muslim brotherhood considered a terrorist affiliated organization in some countries appears very popular here in egypt known for tight organization and a hard islamist line also accused by some of wheeling and dealing with the military supreme council they are politicians and they mean the who was wrong that they won in that it will use indians and this not for that he would use some of this hold the power of power that the people on talk rere have been fighting for on the streets to his square people would love to have a strong presentation in the parliament. so i urge everybody knows who is going to miss the election please don't do that. but what egypt wants and what egypt gets

has so far proven to be two very different results many egyptians feel the political parties on the ballot don't resent the people and even more so their revolution one of the most common things you hear on top here is that the people running the country are no different from mubarak and they're thought to be very much running this vote reporting from cairo and he's now a party. lawrence freeman from the executive intelligence review magazine he says the egyptian people have rejected western interference in their country the muslim brotherhood was the most prepared may have been active in the politics of egypt for a long time. so they are the most prepared they are the best organizer you know they're also getting support from some of the operations in saudi arabia. and there's other operations being run into egypt and then of course you have on the other hand you have the united states which is played

a very nasty role in the entire region and the west has done nothing to really help the people of egypt over the last ten months since they started this revolution the young people in your twenty's and thirty's and forty's who want a future who want to be able to deliver the material standard of living to themselves and their children and they rebelled against the policies of more bar coups basically carrying out the policies of the the i.m.f. and the west and i can accept the fact that the muslim brotherhood is now going to be in control of the situation nor are they going to accept the fact that the military is going to be in control the situation we need to reel to reel revolution in people's minds and hearts and started and i don't think it's going to be suppressed. so the gloves are off and tell you next hour in crosstalk as people of well grills his guests over the western role in the arab spring. we saw a year ago almost now the turmoil in egypt which is now returning no democracy

there obviously the americans or the west are waiting for a western friendly government to be imposed of course to the israeli situation so that the the border with gaza is controlled by the west and by israel to create this because talking about the lack of democracy that been an uprising in egypt and have been clamped down there was no democracy there and then these developments are part of the process and i believe that it is an inexorable process in which ultimately the arab peoples will achieve the democracy that they aspire to everyone should have the right to democracy except for the power steering winds and the people of bahrain ok because these are national security issues of the united states of america. syria is another country feeling that its decisions are being made from outside the e.u.

has agreed to widen financial sanctions on the regime to further publish it for failing to end the violence and allow foreign observers in syria's repeatedly claim that measures against to the only fueling the crisis. from brussels. but this time of the e.u. was putting more pressure on the financial institutions in the syria more specifically they put a ban a long term financial support on trade with the exception of perhaps a few industries such as food and medicine e.u. companies are now prohibited from doing business especially with syrian state bans as well as investing in sectors such as energy and oil there's already an oil embargo on syria that has been imposed by the e.u. some time in may now e.u. officials would maintain that all of this is to aimed at cutting off the financial support to at the syrian government but the people themselves so the syrians the state t.v. in syria have been showing them going out into the streets by the thousands granted these are state backed protests but they are frustrated with the growing growing number of sanctions on the country because they are the ones who are feeling the

pinch just an example i was there with the r.t. crew about a month ago and it was almost impossible to find it was impossible to actually five eighty have to get some money and everything was done in cash and when you ask the locals why is the case they said we say because there are sanctions in our companies the e.u. sanctions are in addition to the arab league sanctions which is the toughest sanctions by the arab league to work towards an arab country and they think that this is a quale they feel that an economic war has been waged on the country and that they maintain that by doing so it's simply exacerbated the situation is just encouraging those who are involved in what the government sees the terror as terrorists and those who are part of an opposition that is growing increasingly militarized the government thinks that all these sanctions would just encourage them and those who are opposed to a putting sanctions on the assad government and one of the arguments put forth this if this is really intended to come up with a solution to the crisis why is it only focus on one side when both sides first of all are increasingly capable of violence and so by putting pressure on one side it

encourages another side. corresponded to. how he's been hearing as well a view from neighboring jordan as to how the sanctions will have no effect on syria just a tool for western maneuvers in the region. these sanctions are meaningless actually i think they're meaningless and on every level on the level on the economic level and on the security level it will not stop the violence western powers particularly the united states now to use the sanctions on iran to use the decisions of the arab league for their own purposes to put pressure on syria to put pressure not for the syrian regime to stop the killing as they put it you know they what they want is to weaken the syrian regime and to weaken the alliance between syria iran and lebanon i don't think that they they. so much for for syrian blood in

libya more than one hundred thousand people were killed by nato bombings and the country was devastated that nobody said anyone so i can't actually believe that they're now searching about three thousand syrians when they are not actually what it about more than one hundred thousand libyans it has nothing to do with stopping the violence on the contrary they're feeding the violence. an even bigger blow for syria may be just around the corner too as u.s. president barack obama hosts the e.u. leaders in washington concerns over iran's nuclear program also on the table there with the european oil baron the likely response but syria and iran are not the only topics discussed in washington as both america and the e.u. struggle to contain their economic troubles the most urgent is europe's debt epidemic at the center of course which is athens and just let you know in about fifteen minutes tonight we speak to greek m.p.c. . says there's no telling what tomorrow holds for the embattled union right now.

fearful tomorrow we don't know what's coming next and believe that the whole of europe doesn't know what's coming next even though the ball goes closed tomorrow. greece doesn't produce we don't mean that greeks need so it's the first time since world war two that greece called feed its people in the country like greece where everything can grow i think it's a crime. iran is wasting no time responding to the tightly economic measures against it the country's constitutional watchdogs giving final approval to reducing ties to a minimum with britain and this comes in direct response to the u.k. ordering its financial institutions to stop doing business with the islamic republic over its alleged nuclear weapons program let's talk about this more now with dr ferber desired is from taran university dr zuhdi very good evening to you thanks for being on r.t. international much appreciated. these u.k. sanctions coming on top of the broader clampdown of the u.s.

how disruptive business combined pressure are going to be on your country with the . i have difficulty hearing you can you repeat the question yes i did i well i think the survey showed in the background maybe if we get over. these are you ok sanctions i was talking about they're coming on top of a broader clamp down from the u.s. . yes how. are these sanctions going to be on your country. sanctions no doubt some effect but iran is used to sanctions because iran has been under sanctions for the last thirty years so the u.s. u.k. or the governments increasing the sanctions sanctions are actually directed against ordinary people in. the country has been able to manage and they stand on its own feet and be able to go around section of action. your country runs previously said

it's ready for international talks over its disputed atomic plans now it seems to be further isolating itself by cutting off ties with britain here. isn't it going to hamper your country's efforts to reduce any tension with the world community by doing this. i don't think the leaders in iran can see the u.s. and u.k. the world community i think there are other countries in the. in the. developing countries move and these countries. actually the majority of countries in the world so i don't think i think iran is more or less. able to go on the pressures that it's getting. and i think they are considering the pressure from u.s. u.k.

a number of countries basically something that iran in the long run. since this nomic revolution here thirty some years ago they have continued pressuring iran and i think this is going to continue i think the iranian leaders believe this so. basically. doing along as they talk to britain of course promising a robust response now what do you expect to do next. i think given the high percentage of the. iranian parliament. deputies that voted to kick out the u.k. ambassador i think this will happen i think the government will follow through with request of the parliament and i think we will have a situation. probably will respond respond in

a similar and this is basically what's what's going to happen i think the u.k. relation. it's. a very low point and. what is happening in iran is actually. going back to the colonial times i think lots of people here actually. seeing this. nine hundred fifty three. problem. even before that in the nineteenth century cause a lot of problems in iran so the history of ukraine has not been very good and in the last. part of my broadening out a bit if we can these threats being thrown in both directions between iran and the west whoever in the west and israel as well how likely is this to descend to

a point of no return maybe worst case scenario if military action a military standoff. i. have difficulty hearing your question or worry i was going to say are you any closer is your country any closer to night towards a military standoff with the west where there israel as these tit for tat. words of the said go in either direction isn't likely to get outta hand maybe turned to military action at some point i think. the military threat against iran is taken quite seriously here because israel has sure. it's inception to be able to attack its neighbors they have attacked lebanon they have attacked jordan they have their back to egypt so they have a history of war against their neighbors and i think iran leaders take this

type of threat seriously but given. that given the oil prices given the fact that iran is able to defend it and actually. push back of attack that may come i think these factors make the possibility of a quiet time. university pleasure to have you on the program sort of the sound problems are a bit against us but we got the gist of what you were saying thank you. pakistan's intensifying its rage against nato it's now permanently closing the alliances key military supply route for its troops in afghanistan the already strained relationship is said to the freefall after u.s. airstrike targeted a known army base killing twenty four pakistani soldiers russia's nato's actions in paying for a thorough investigation of the tragedy the incident triggered massive rallies throughout the country elevating anti american sentiment to new levels it comes as

a new nato strategy came to light paying taliban fighters one hundred fifty dollars a month to stop fighting journalist phil reese's this shows how desperate the alliance has become. the point about afghanistan and you know there was a very unflattering colonial statement about the afghans that you can't buy an afghan but you can rent him in other words that you can you know gain loyalty for a short term but after the money runs out you know their loyalties we will return to where they were before and i think the afghans are very well trained as it were taking from both hands so as a strategy you know i think it's going to fail and what's going to stop taliban members simply taking their money and going back home you know i think it's a desperate measure and i think it's a sign of the failure of the whole afghan episode and the fact that the taliban are probably going to return as the most powerful political

force once the west is gone. world news when he was of that r t dog column is what's online feud right now crowd and courage britain's prince william rescues two russian sailors after their ship sank in stormy seas off north wales dramatic pictures there as well there was a tragedy to it didn't all and happily also online why you can't poke fun at the monarchy in thailand where facebook giant could get your fat jail that sold line from us tonight to. a russian lawyer who died in custody may have been killed as a result of police torture the presidential human rights council has been looking into the high profile two thousand and nine death of serve again the need ski who is being held on tax evasion charges artie's peter all of it has more on the findings. for the presidential cumin rights council is demanding that new evidence into the death of study give magnitsky be looked into by those investigating his death now these new documents that have come to life suggest that it was the

illegal use of rubber bottoms by stuff at the detention center to get my kids he was awaiting trial for corruption charges that led to his death they suggesting that a number of stuff from the detention center he said you might be with rather the tones as they called this which led to his death now before he died so to get magnitsky had called his arrest as a retaliation for testimony which he had given which condemned high level law enforcement offices here in russia for for financial impropriety no so far as the investigations continue to doctors have been charged with negligence regarding the death of so you might mitigate that investigation it is continuing but the the case itself has drawn a lot of attention from human rights groups backed by budgets case family who say

that the thirty seven year old lawyer from her its capital was denied medical attention on purpose and not led to his death now the united states weighed in they came up with a so-called black list of those that they want to see they that they claim all responsible for the death of so to get by now this was slammed by russia's foreign ministry who said the united states had no place whatsoever in interfering in a investigation which is ongoing they said that if russian prosecutors wanted to speak to anybody in this case if new evidence came up relating to any new people in this case that they wanted to talk to the russian prosecutors would speak to them directly and that they didn't need foreign governments telling them who they should be talking to. next so our team from moscow greek m.p.c. was skating kogelo shares his source with this song what the future might hold for a europe struggling to contain its debt epidemic.

she was good to go thank you very much for being with us today so look us up a demo stick greece's new prime minister now but the key people in his government still remain the same for instance to finance minister can people trust this new

elected government this government is a temporary government with a special specific mandate. a timetable a specific timetable if the job of this government is to pass the brussels deal to implement. the laws passed through the malls are thought of necessary by parliament and we support them for this job it is. it is very important that we have elections the soonest possible because there is a problem of the democrat the image of migration of all of them and for greece greece don't feel rightfully represented by this government they like this parliament because they feel that they were tricked in the last elections the socialists were saying we have money we will give you money and they ended up by taking the money of the people. now the average salary in greece today's thirty

percent less than it was a year ago and the prices are going higher and higher so. this cannot go on for long and the greeks need to feel rightfully represented by the parliament and we need a government that is supported by the greek society and that can come only with elections i guess not only public sector but it would talk about the ongoing protests and a huge strike that's coming up on the first of december how much the causing your economy with boys ever and i've lost track of the strikes for the past year it's nearly day by day we have some strike. it is understandable that people don't want the changes they were used to another way it was an easy way it was the way of. borrowing money and giving it away it was done in the wrong way for example greek farmers were paid they were getting subsidies in order

not to work they didn't cultivate anything of they were just taking the money so we don't produce as much as we did before and we don't have the exports that we could have and we haven't attract the investments that we must attract so we must change the whole structure of our economy very quickly and completely how come there is such a dissonance between the government and the measures that the guy wants to push in this thirty measures and ordinary people. why can't they understand each other. because. we didn't speak the truth to the people of the past years we will we knew the problem for example my party did a big mistake when we came to power in two thousand and four although we had of. the right program to face the problem of public

a comic so we didn't do what had to be done quickly and radically we tried to the changes we had with sucking the society it proved to be too slowly and too late so now we must speak the truth explained that for the past twenty years greece has been. importing more than it's been exporting we don't produce even if the border is closed tomorrow the council like greece doesn't produce the wheat the meats that greeks need so it's the first time since world war two that greece can't feed its people and the country like greece where everything can grow i think it's a crime but certainly the sturdy measures that the government is pushing for and if there is more to come will undermine the demand in the economy aren't you afraid

that greece will find itself in a big recession. the problem that we're trying on my part is trying to explain to our european partners is that austerity of austerity and justice that it doesn't solve the problem it makes it worse when you raise the taxes and then economy that is in a recession then the results are catastrophic so we need a policy that encourages development if we go as we were growing up in the collapses. you know that greece is now desperate to receive an urgent credit tranche of eight billion here on this or else in two weeks grace may go into default what would that mean for greece for the player if that doesn't happen in a month greece can't pay the salaries and the pensions. more than three or four million people. so it's going to be a tragedy that's going to be

a greek tragedy and it's not going to be only greece you know that it's a scandal to have a domino effect in the whole of europe already you see that the problems are getting very serious in italy. spain was already in the picture now france is starting to feel the shock waves and germany had the first message when sick child one germany tried germans tried to sell their bonds and they didn't manage so i think we must. decide to face this problem all together thank you very much for this thank you to.