hosting the president who's wanted by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity. and broadcasting live direct from our studios in central moscow this is r.t. i'm sean thomas and glad to have you with us freedom of speech and it's considered to be one of the basic principles of democracy but just weeks after the u.s. troop withdrawal from iraq we find that that basic right is being violated there and while iraq is learning to manage its own affairs consequences are proving brutal for some in a report now from our sebastian meyer we speak to some of the journalists that have faced imprisonment and even torture. this spring iraqis inspired by neighboring arab countries began protesting against their government in a square in baghdad one which shares its name with the better known counterpart in

cairo. but iraqi journalists trying to cover these protests silenced by the government security forces in today's iraqi journalists who speak out are routinely imprisoned beaten or just simply killed it seems to be a high level of intolerance or dissent or for public criticism of either government policies or particular leaders use it felt to me a freelance journalist showed some shocking you tube footage from the protests this february that explicitly show iraqi security forces targeting him because he's a journalist. he shouts which is arabic for a journalist over and over again but it makes the police more violent three or four maybe five. right police were around me one of them slapped me in the head other one kicked me in the and they grabbed me fast managed to escape

arrest thanks to two foreign journalists who intervened but since the arrest of one of his colleagues he stopped covering protests altogether became hard for for example to go to i myself i don't go there i stopped there a long time ago not because. not that scared to be arrested. you know i'm worried to be mistreated we tried to speak to journalists who've been arrested in baghdad but everyone was too afraid to appear on camera so we came up here to the more peaceful kurdish region to see if the situation was any different here i met a young photographer who was arrested while covering similar protests in the kurdish region but after the interview he called to tell me he was scared of reprisals from the government and asked to blur his face and change his name after his arrest in april it was imprisoned for four days and tortured. six men came to the room and started to shout at me to beat me with cables then they gave me

electric shocks they wanted me to admit that i hadn't been at the protest. when he was finally released after four days a friend took pictures of his wounds and published them in a local magazine immediately ahmed was rearrested as a punishment for publicizing his initial arrest. they held me for three days and made me sign a document declaring that i would not talk to the press again back in baghdad the government spokesman admitted to r.t. that individuals in the iraqi government were indeed using their powers to silence the press that an artist that people been using there but this is again is not protected by the government the government is there. and you can see that there are people in the ministry of interior for example they have misusing their power against the citizen and they can assure that as they keep a comfortable and some of them has been fired almost nine years after the invasion u.s. troops are home but one of the country they're leaving behind with politicians using

the security forces to silence journalists it appears that iraq lacks any credible press freedom a freedom that is essential to any democratic country sebastian meyer r t iraq. and if you'd like to see more of sebastian's reports you can find them on our website are two dot com under the headline iraq also there we're running a poll asking where you think opposed to us iraq is headed as of now most of you think of the country is slowly slipping into chaos while a third of you say iraqis will overthrow the current u.s. backed government and make their own way forward in the future just over a quarter of you believe iraq has already hit rock bottom and things can't get any worse there and get this only three percent harbor some sort of a hope that it will develop into a western style democracy party dot com and add your voice into the mix. the u.s. and u.k. have called for syria to be expelled from two unesco human rights committees the

british foreign office representative said the country's presence isn't conducive to the work of the body or its reputation the move comes after in the country which is boiling point after a suicide blast killed twenty six people in central damascus meanwhile the arab league observers that have been working in syria since the end of december are expected to present their initial report on the situation in the country on sunday . an analyst from the canada based center for research on globalization says the west has no right to exclude syria from unesco committees as its leaders have blood on their hands and themselves. it's just something to think the credibility of the assad regime and it's quite absurd when you think that the u.k. and the u.s. has selves more criminals running free i mean george bush and tony blair there is ample evidence that they have committed war crimes and some of the run free. absurd

. they want takes on a serious from that from the council if you have the syrian government that is being. thrown on them you're going to put someone in place that's going to further the western interest and i was and i was russia was an ally and then of course the next step would be regime change in iran. sudan's president omar al bashir wanted on genocide charges by the international criminal court is in libya for a two day state visit it is his first trip to tripoli after the fall of his bitter opponent colonel gadhafi human rights groups have condemned the visit and question of the priorities of libya's new government but patrick ace from spike magazine believes it is the west that has set the example for libya when it comes to strengthening ties with controversial regimes in the face of human rights concerns . gordon brown shaking hands with muhammad get their feet in two thousand and nine at the g eight summit in italy or for example tony blair shaking hands with gadhafi

in two thousand and seven just outside of his hometown where he was killed in certain two thousand and seven so i mean i think yes there are double standards here but at the same time western leaders are very open to doing this and do this themselves as well which is support the libyan rebels who are fighting against gadhafi and have good material reasons to do so for a long time sit down in libya gadhafi in libya. heads and you can understand why bashir wanted gadhafi out and why now having supported speech the rebel uprising there would be some attempt to kind of welcome him. into libya no i must say that so many find of the national transitional council most of the time they weren't even in libya to the people on the council themselves so off cozying up and getting the approval of western governments to lead libya rather than orienting themselves for the libyan people and actually fighting for democracy there i find it very striking that you have no question. criticizing the libyans for their labors

in sorting out diplomatic relations i always just i'm staggered by the fact that these human rights groups basically we human rights as missionaries in the nineteenth century will did the bible in the ten commandments to basically civilized countries seem to be inferior and incapable of governing their own countries and people egypt's parliamentary election has drawn to a close with the muslim brotherhood claiming nearly forty percent of the vote it is closely followed by the radical islamist party secular parties have acquired only about a third of the seats middle east blogger karl charles says and islamised led government is doomed to fail. put look at egypt i mean to be honest everybody anticipated a big big win for the muslim brotherhood and youth but having said that the results that the north party in specific achieved in egypt were a bit of a surprise and i think where we need to look at there is specifically this an

ability of the more secular elements in the egyptian uprising of talking to the people and kind of galvanizing them and raising their support in the elections now what it does about the arab or the if you like for the future i think it would be a combination of conservative socially conservative politics this is in. the short term. the broad support that slimmest of kind of more. if you like liberal economic policies but i have my doubts about the ability of the service parties across the board to govern and i think it's a position shared by them as well and they will try as much as possible to form alliances with other groups and bring in more people and you're likely to see why there correlation is taking power both in egypt and in other countries. also ahead

for you this hour delving deeper into russia's industrial heartland. parties a close up crew takes a look at the amazing fusion of ancient traditions and thriving businesses setting the region on the path to success. we don't just keep printing money we don't keep inflating government so that's why most of the european countries are having trouble it's because the government is sixty percent larger than it should be so why why do you and i think it is and government leaders can't because we don't get paid by the people that are behind the seats. what's wrong with the global economy and how would you fix it the president asks that question on the streets. well up next we continue our pathfinders series bringing you the stories of foreigners who are successfully pioneering business in russia this time we meet the man who brings scores of world renowned actors and music groups to the country bob

van runkle he used to be a restaurant tour in los angeles until deciding one day to try his luck in russia something he has never regretted. basically ended up moving to russia all by accident in one thousand and ninety eight i was asked by a russian friend in los angeles if i could bring a hollywood studio to moscow because mayor luzhkov was interested in building multiplex cinemas and wanted a hollywood studio partner i had friends that were running warner brothers they sent head of international theatres with me gosh my my first trip was very impressionable i couldn't understand how so many young people i was meeting were making tens of millions of dollars a year and some of them millionaires before they were thirty and these were some of

the things that made me realize there's a lot of opportunity here there's not a lot of people who are doing hollywood business there hasn't been a lot of contact and interaction with celebrities i love a challenge what could be more challenging than moving to russia and trying to develop and create a business here ross with the real i didn't know any actors but i started meeting them just to bring them to russia or working on that project the russian comedy that's going to shoot in america steven seagal zola he told me they'll do it a couple days for two hundred fifty thousand dollars bail kilmer's interested in helping out. then wealthy russians started asking for other people and i just started calling everybody i knew in l.a. who knew a producer a new a director and i called them from russia after eight years i brought over eighty actors and bands to russia i think it's very important for you to go to los angeles with me in the next few months and we should meet with you hopefully make your

releasing a different actors you would like to do cameos in this film the biggest challenge to overcome is gaining people's trust and performing one example is recently i was asked to bring john claude van damme to chechnya for the president's birthday and day of the sea. and. yet of live music at the other one i go to only in my heart. it's a place most people are very afraid to go to of course john clyde you know his expenses need to be paid then others for him to go there and it's very frightening dealing and working with chechnyan friends knowing that if something went wrong didn't come and money is paid. who are people going to come calling and looking for asking for the money back and it took a long time for me to win people's confidence that they would send money to an actor or a band in advance russia it costs more than

a lot of other parts of the world because russians have been willing to pay more you know if russians weren't willing to pay more celebrities would be coming for less but when they have people making such big offers just to get them how can you refuse so russia's been great to help push up their prices jennifer lopez gets two million dollars to go and perform you know in russia and kazakhstan and some other places if you're american in the u.s. we understand our system how to set up a business where we can easily research any product or any idea we have to find out if it's been saturated or not in russia it's really different because it's so hard to get to the important people that make the decisions when i have to work with. a person who works for someone here i get nowhere i can't do a deal because they need to see so much because their jobs on the line their names on the line they're so afraid it just drags on and drags on whatever i'm talking to

them about when you can pick up the phone and call the head of the company or someone on the board of directors i know in a week if i can do this deal or not with them rush is just much more individual life you really need to know some important people here to have success you know i was thinking you're from year which is a part of the reason i never learned russian is i just thought ok one year from now i'm sure something will come up back in the l.a. in the u.s. i'll go back i'll start doing movies but it is so exciting here every day and so many new things and new deals and new opportunities and that i haven't been able to leave. and the world economy is heading into another year at mid dark predictions from economists about the breakup of the euro and a looming recession next of the resident takes to the streets of new york to find out what people think should be done to save countries that are mired in debt.

today everyone's upset with how the world leaders are handling the economy so how would you fix that this week let's talk about that whole country do you think is doing a good job. let me say. you know now. what would you do to fix the problem in greece. injuries were out. there i don't know how did that. because i know i say no no no maybe that's why it's going all around a good word fixes each of our problems personally so if we're all out there working hard and spending money to local communities then that's you know a way of part of building up each local community eventually the whole country right yes in a time maybe for the government to stop trying to fix it and let people and companies fix their own wallets i think that's

a good answer yes to fix the economy what should they be doing. should be pumping more money into it pumping more money they've been pumping millions and billions and trillions and done a good so why is that the solution that we keep going back to the only thing we can do so we can also see just do nothing and let people sort it out themselves. people can sort of themselves not a matter of not throwing money into the economy it's a matter of living within our means if you don't have enough revenue then you have to cut spending yes so governments are trillions of dollars in debt so it sounds like they have no money right well they have to they obviously you can't stop everything all at once but you do have to you do have to pull back and you have to come up with a reasonable plan to stop the hemorrhaging but we don't just keep printing money and we don't keep inflating government so that's and most of the european countries are having trouble because the government is sixty percent larger than it should be so why why can you and i see business and government leaders. can't because we

don't get paid by the people that are behind the scenes and since i'm not ready for a campaign campaign contributions by people that. politicians are. really so what should they be doing better. other probably trying to change its economy from an oil economy to something else we've got heaps of people with lots of brains and we need to be doing something about the environment just people with brains are in positions of power. so it seems like with the system that's currently in place for how world leaders get elected it might be time for solutions to come from someplace. russian tanker carrying an emergency fuel delivery is making its way through thick ice towards the alaskan city of gnome the renda set out across the pacific in

december and is now less than two hundred miles from its destination accompanied by coast guard icebreaker it is carrying on more than three point eight million liters of petroleum products to nome a severe storm has left the alaskan community of about thirty five hundred people cut off with not enough fuel to last through the harsh winter the unprecedented mission is due to reach the town by monday morning. and if you like our news coverage here on t.v. well make sure to visit our website at r.t. dot com there's more waiting for you there and hear some of what's there right now . dinosaur like russia to get its very own version of a drastic part of fossils may get a new lease on life plus. we find out the consequences as u.s. freezes of millions of dollars in aid to palestine just months after it's essential to the u.n. cultural body. now

to some more international stories making headlines for you this hour. three freight trains collided in a rural part of u.s. state of indiana starting a fire and injuring two of the six crew members involved one of the trains carrying mostly empty ethanol tanks was stationary when it was hit in the rear by another a third then ran into the rail carriages on the parallel track local officials said there was no spill of any hazardous material from the wreckage nevertheless they ordered the evacuation of several dozen houses near the crash site as a precaution. a ship aground off the coast of new zealand since october has broken into after being pounded by storms the greek renna ran aground on an infamous reef

spewing highly toxic fuels into the ocean more than twenty thousand sea birds are thought to have died after the ship foundered in what's been called a new zealand's worst environmental disaster the ship's captain and navigator face criminal charges . now time for our russia close up series as we continue to explore the country's far east. the region is russia's main a gateway to the pacific and a center of coal and wood exports to the fuel hungry asian economies and as our teaser tom barton discovered ancient traditions are important when it comes to keeping the industry on track. the hub are us krege and russia's far east is becoming a growing center for export to the hungry economies in the south china south korea and japan increasing material exports of ward and coal are going out to the pacific

and south and is that they were looking at in my report this monster called a coal stacker is the new face of russia's far east coast it can load over four thousand tons of coal an hour into ships at this rapidly expanding sea terminal this year they exported ten million tonnes of the stuff almost exclusively south asian markets but we've noticed there's a coal boom of coal consumption worldwide has increased so this ports covers almost all of asia from the coal comes from some of russia's largest deposits five hundred kilometers inland he joins the oil and timber flowing out of the region in ever greater quantities tugboats maneuver the ships into place through storms and the winter cold and even the most modern tankers once on their way to helped along by a much older technology now and this vast new ship internals are springing up to

supply overseas markets will all see very foundations presented by this life pass which moment for help makes a russia's gateway to the pacific hundreds of lighthouses dot the coast all the way from the border with north korea up to the arctic. victor has been manning his lighthouse for over thirty years but he's glad he's not too far out into the wilderness. we're close enough to the nearest town look at it other lighthouse keepers are stuck out in the tiger without even roads sometimes a ship or helicopter deliver supplies but there's no other way to come or go big has not had a ship run aground since the end. in one nine hundred ninety s. he seen bears moose and tigers visitors white house and ses he never grows bored of the ever changing seascape far from feeling lonely he talks of the remand to system

of being such a secluded spot on the coastline you know i used to go down to the bay at four am catching crabs and start a fire then my wife and kids would join me and we'd have breakfast on the shore and watch the sun rise in the summer this whole field would be bright orange and blue. quick to retire next year he says he's come to love the spotlight robinson crusoe on his island and while he can remember the pristine beauty of his coastline others are seeing it sail on into the future with his talk a little bit more about the bar often the experience of moving here from abroad is the main aholic that came here from britain a basket self is trying to upgrade itself trying to move into the out of the soviet times and into the modern modern age where industry with the also working on a new cosmodrome what do you know about the new developments here i know that is very very important to the local area and you know that it's improving transport

links all the time people are finally investing in the far east which is obviously going to be very good for the economy i mean i'm here because my fiance is working for an oil refinery in the same more investment there and this cousin jane is going to i think only improve putin said it was one of the biggest and most important projects that's happening in russia at the moment so yes i think it's up and coming this this region as someone who's come from a different culture from outside what would you say to what the people who are thinking. there is possibly business which changes but should i come here what would you say to them. i mean it's worth a try to how good during a russian with this important and very few restaurants or cafes where they have an english menu and and things like that i think when i don't speak russian people. find it frustrating rather than think so i'd bet that in mind prices. so high prices are extortionate. and you can go check. even adventure well there we go

that's an insight from someone who has made the leap out to the far east so he bought off so it's not going to get any warmer here but it seems that with future with the development of the region he's going to get more connected to the outside world such as tom barton reporting there for us from russia's far east now coming up we have the turbulent story of a modern day american vigilante living on the us mexico border waging a one man war on illegal immigrants that's after the headlines in just a couple of minutes right here on r.t. .

stream cascading from mountain slopes the view is mesmerizing. but this beauty brings death at a speed of more than two hundred kilometers per. step in the long run on. this is our time. to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we are one that won't we breathe the we hope. to me the american dream is to live in peace and prosperity and freedom and

a government under socialism is not a government of free. you . have very motivated out for us the country who are activists who are willing to fight for what they think is right for themselves but the fact is already we're bridge and. we are counting. properly drowning and i think it's threatened by it's cutting off our. it's making real democracy. all but impossible.

i'm broadcasting live and direct from our studios in central moscow this is our tale of. a battle for the truth are to investigate the iraqi government's continued a crackdown on freedom of speech and the journalists we need some of the reporters that claim to have been jailed and even torture. the u.s. and u.k. call for the exclusion of syria from unesco's human rights committee they say the country's president damages the organization's reputation and the move comes.