random then he would immediately fire down. the russian speaking minority and lot is estimated at three hundred thousand people out of the population of almost two and a quarter million another three hundred twenty thousand ethnic russians are classed as non citizens and are forbidden from voting this ban experts say could prove to be crucial russian may become largely a second state language only if at least seven hundred fifty thousand people vote for it organizers of the referendum say realistically there will be only half of that the result will be then deemed unconstitutional but may still become a major talking point like this russians hope that the referendum will help brussels notice their distress call and have a hard talk with the vote takes place on february eighteenth with a final official results a few days later. r.t. reporting from in la. let's take a look now at some other stories from around the world this hour palestinian

president mahmoud abbas will head to the joint in term government will have a joint interim government i should say created by opposing political movements fatah and hamas it's hoped that such an arrangement originally proposed by the emir of qatar will help speed up the reconciliation process inside palestine the government whose full lineup will be named within two weeks will prepare the country for a parliamentary and presidential election. for me as prime minister has dissolved the government saying he did it in order to preserve social and economic stability in the country this follows weeks of protests over austerity measures introduced in twenty ton in order to secure financial aid from the e.u. and i.m.f. the pm urged the country's politicians to bridge their divisions and vote in a new government as quickly as possible. and the greek government warned of deeper spending causes party leaders gathered in athens to resume talks on a one hundred thirty billion euro e.u. rescue plan it comes after

a meeting on sunday ended without any deal reached the prime minister's other country's prime minister lucas papademos is seeking support for tough reforms as a condition for the bailout to avoid default greece needs to secure the package by march. now democracy has become a profitable export for one international group that started off as a student movement in serbia with the backing of the us became a worldwide brand for revolutions archer's lives the coffin of investigates. this is the business of selling a lot of sky high heels barely there clothes revolutionary styles exported from the fashion capitals of the world hello i'm moderately. rich and this is the business of selling well revolution it's fresh exporting how to lessons and revolution aided by the democracy capital of the world

democracies after all aren't born knowing how to run themselves a decade ago merivale launched the serbian student movement that helped oust president slobodan milosevic. the group was called out for resistance and it bore the now familiar symbol of the clenched fist but behind the spontaneity of the uprisings was a carefully researched strategy guided by the west no boy somalia is a balkans columnist who's been chronicling the events in serbia since one nine hundred ninety nine the or poor movement itself was just a tiny student organization that it got subverted taken over the operatives then expanded it turned it into a branding empire and ended up basically one ing the ground the grassroots level of the revolution that's turning it into an astro turf war they were run by the needy which are very openly goes in and says our goal is to more promote democracy a new york times investigation documented the extent of u.s.

assistance according to journalist roger cohen poor was no ramshackle students group but a well oiled movement backed by several million dollars from the u.s. but the objective is regime change the objective is to install a government that will execute orders the worst thing about all the. is that it's undermining a concept that enabled the united states to claim moral leadership in the world in the first place with milosevic gone ivan marriage now spends his time advise young activists abroad ever since i've been traveling the world and teaching people how to get rid of their pesky dictators so you come up with these three easy steps so you too can get in on the action and laugh your way to freedom the video was made by students at the school of authentic journalism in mexico for narco news t.v. but ivan has helped develop a video game called a force more powerful in which players can practice scenarios like organizing mass protests and overthrowing dictators today outdoors called canvas and with the help

of the internet their methods and symbols are exploited the world over from the color revolutions in georgia and ukraine to venezuela and the arab spring uprisings in egypt william engdahl has written for over thirty years about washington secret geopolitics he's convinced the canvas is not acting alone the instigators of those so-called spontaneous protest from his twitter revolts in cairo and tunisia and so forth have all been pretty organized and should you assume some of the people leaders of the protests have been trained in belgrade in serbia by old poor activists financed by the u.s. state department. this thing has the state department and u.s. intelligence all over it three easy steps and that's all it takes to overthrow your very own government so this revolution become a commodity a product that could be branded popish to mass produce an export out all across the globe well just like ivan's video this too of course is

a spoof but the game of regime change is quite real and it's unintended consequences can be downright dangerous. since the ultimate for the american taxpayer i think is getting. the short. of the bargain because there are there are bankrolling people that are going around the world for minting astroturf revolutions that are eventually backfiring and they're backfiring all over the place and once the people find out who was behind this their anger turns to the american government and the american people once we're bus service you can get it over. and easy recipe but the aftermath may be the hardest to see catherine of our washington. with a recap of our top stories at half past the hour but let's get the latest from the business desk now with natasha.

hello and you're watching business on r.t.e. russia's gazprom has acknowledged that it temporarily reduced supplies to european customers at the end of last week the companies said it had to cut deliveries by as much as ten percent of sign a boy has the details. the figure that you just mentioned ten percent was was during a meeting between russia's prime minister and gas problems deputy c e o andrea crow glaus crew glow sad that there is cuts to european suppliers they didn't place for just a few days and they were caused by an enormous search in domestic consumption russia as you may know is battling ever very severe cold snap right now with temperatures hovering far below the averages for this time of the year and this is a result the demand for heating fuel has significantly increased now also sad that as of now russia is supplying gas to europe in accordance with its contractual obligations he also said that some european countries that are also

dealing with these unusually cold temperatures have turned to gas from for additional supplies requesting supplies that go above contractual obligations it is still unclear where the gas from will be able to meet this additional demand and on top of that russia's prime minister right here putin who is going into presidential elections last than two months from now already said that satisfying domestic demand was gas from his number one priority. and the main focus on monday's the talks between greek party leaders here is waiting for athens just say if it's ready to accept the strict terms of a new bailout deal without a greece is facing a high probability of a default in march and let's now see how the markets are reacting the exchange rates first the euro is slightly lower against both the dollar and the russian ruble meanwhile the u.s. currency is gaining two didn't go sour and now on to oil and it's losing value and

strengthening u.s. dollar and concerns about european debt crisis which could hinder demand right now light sweet is under ninety seven dollars a barrel while brant is out below one hundred fourteen dollars. and european shares are shedding value this hour greek problems are the main drag on the indices both the footsie and the dax so losing around a third of a percent each. and the russian markets were in the red earlier in the day on declining oil prices but this hour they managed to bounce back the r.t.s. is flat to positive the my sex is gaining around a quarter percent. and now some individual movers on my six gallons problem is higher after seeing some losses earlier in the day and precious metal producers are on the rise the price of oil in bethel reached an all time high today at the moment it's a bit off those highs and dollars gold is one of the best performers this hour is extending last week's gains. and some of the details about four years old that's

posting have to gains more than eleven percent the sour gets the backdrop of sliding indices amounts after gaining a whopping thirty five percent on friday but the company's capitalization now reaching almost nine billion dollars analysts mention a couple of reasons among them possible merger of oil is gold and it's made of russian rival pointed batal which is also gaining as i mentioned and also the company's expected to buyback around four percent of its shares minority shareholders. and that's all the latest from the business that i'll be back about the.

culture is the same of you are going. to finance a search of the national commission and so obviously this is what many scots say they want a realistic is an independent scotland would be over. you

were to the line from moscow where it's three thirty pm the house binds back to basics the e.u. mulls over fresh economic punishment for president also the syrian regime after failing to push through a polarizing un resolution. modern technology to support political activism prime minister putin goes on line in his bid to improve russian democracy. was wind of change in lafayette as the country's russian minority hopes to win an upcoming referendum that could see their native language officially recognised this is the

latest attempt by as nick russians to secure their political rights. up next on cross talk peter the velasquez guest about scotland's debate over independence and how realistic it would be for the nation to go it alone. below in welcoming crosstalk i'm peter lavelle in search of national determination and sovereignty this is what many scots say they want a realistic is an independent scotland would it be a viable state or is this all a ploy with the scots looking for a better deal within the e.u. . to cross scotland's potential sovereignty i'm joined by david kopel in denver he's

an adjunct professor of advance constitutional law at denver university in edinburgh we have kenneth gibson he's a scottish national party politician and member of the scottish parliament and in london we crossed to william bayne he is labor m.p. for glasgow north east and shadow minister for scotland tory gentlemen crossed the girls in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want but first i'd like to go to david in denver as a constitutionally legally david what kind of case does scotland have to become a sovereign state to have to express its national determination. well they have the same right that people everywhere in the world do which is the the right to rule themselves so if the people of scotland vote in a fair referendum for independence then then that would be their right just as the people of ireland with somewhat more trouble were eventually recognised as independent and the people of taiwan wife wise have the same rights of self-determination everyone in the world has the right of self-determination i mean

that doesn't mean they gave it doesn't mean. i'm a nation that doesn't mean they get self-determination does it. well the nice thing is if you're part of the united kingdom which is a. democratic nation with freedom of the press and lots of tolerance for political dissent you've got a better chance of achieving it than the people of taiwan do where the country that's trying to deny them self-determination is a rather rip asia imperialist nasty country that would invade them should they ever actually formally assert their what is there now de facto independence ok william i don't think that you think. england would invade scotland if if and when the looks like it's a matter of time when scotland has a referendum in two thousand and fourteen to have independence what is your attitude towards that would it be a viable state is it legal is it the right thing to do. any state can survive the question is how you prosper best and my belief is we do that better within the

united kingdom there are clear benefits of being part of the united kingdom's financial system provides we know who's going to regulate the banks we have a currency which is stable we have provisions for public spending which are democratic i think there are enormous disadvantages in breaking some of those institutions up just to reform them to create a new currency union which apparently is the policy of the s.n.p. but i think we also share so much history we share welfare state yesterday m.p.'s from across the united kingdom were opposing government cuts to disability benefits to benefits for cancer patients we share the b b c we have a great influence in the world pearman and membership of the un security council these are great advantages that mean being part of the union and being part of britain is good for scotland ok ken if i go to you i mean i guess really the glue

the real question for you as a scot is that you know you want independence so that's it's a good opening close case right i mean we just heard from david about go self-determination william says that you have a mutual benefit but the scots have a voice so what do they want to go their own way and will they go their own way. we do have a voice and over the next thirty three months we will take you eating the arguments for independent spirit scholars who in history its own traditions its own culture and we see no reason why scotland cannot be as prosperous an independent nation as for example norway the netherlands denmark so many other countries in europe which are relatively small in terms of population but are democratic have a high quality of life and high standard of living and under the. party after thirteen years of the rule the gap between a twenty percent richest and to a percent purist was a way to stay in the we see diesel i thing we can do a better job in scoring will of our own resources and then what's important is that we will take decisions for ourselves and you know not. so far as we know we know

the interests of oversea increased every year go ahead william here kenneth child poverty has increased well examined has been in government it's gone up every single year the economy is growing less for less quickly in scotland in the last four years than the u.k. average and before that when there was a labor administration hollygrove grew more quickly so i think the picture is a bit more close that's likely issues aside i mean this is an eating. well look at the figures and i'm sure i'm sure the viewers will be able to judge the figures from themselves they're publicly available but let's let's look at this issue the last five years it was one that you really saw plus the u.k. only once in the last five years of an economic. growth so there's still a lot to be lower in scotland than the u.k. average those figures are going to be the sentiment ok gentlemen i'm going to jump in with your reasons why dismantle gentlemen let me jump in here david i guess is what is the interest here ok this is look like these two people should be together

if you look at all of the different the. well despite some as some important differences they have what's sort of sad for me as an outsider it is is how much they haven't in common when we heard. professor bain talk about what's what's so great about being part of the united kingdom he talks about the b.b.c. and the welfare state doesn't even mention the great history of great britain as the country that spread freedom in so many places in the world and including saving civilization from hitler both of them were talking about the welfare state and what i think they both failed to realise and there they were reasonable the there are good representatives of the labor party and of the scottish national party which are both more or less socialist parties and have woken up to the fact that they've run out of other people's money and that if they're trying to make this issue about

self-determination for the scottish people about who's going to more effectively fleece a to give money to be what i what i would wish they would both be talking about that is completely new and this is an issue of scottish and i know you hear about but don't anyone have what about the people of scotland right now why why is neither of you talking about things that could bring more self-determination to the scottish people right now like letting them elect police boards the health boards have direct votes on self government. to. actually there are no a letter is like they'll have this is going to tell you where i want william to jump in go ahead william in london go ahead ok the key issue i think is growth i mean what we need to collectively as a group of political parties is come up with policies that are going to break away from the sort of get rich quick of capitalism that we've seen in too many countries in the g twenty and across the world in favor of a longer term investment in many ways our economy needs to become rather more like germany's we need to invest for the long term we are arguing for

a state investment bank that would be able to get investment into the green industries and to tourism and to other sectors i think we've got to change our whole model of growth and i think we do that best within the united kingdom rather than going through the expense and the trauma of setting up a separate state so i think that is the key response i would have to david's point i think the way that we will empower the scottish people is to an economy that works better for them that produces more jobs and more secure more social justice as a result ok ken if there's a big argument and it seems to think i'd like to ask you there's a big argument is that there's a big argument in this debate is that the guards have to be cognizant insensitive to the the sensibilities of the of the wellsian of the english of the irish do you think that's fair i mean it's incumbent upon you to convince your fellow members in the union that you want to go on your own way or do you think it's just a matter of a democratic process where you have the right to vote and you vote on independence . well i think the issue which the united nations recognize is up to scottish

people decide their own future but we are the first ones that has tried to reach out to other parts of the need to king to make it clear and independent school and very good friend to england northern ireland and wales and indeed other countries in europe we have no enemies in the world we are not a country that seeks conflict with anyone the great thing about the independence struggle in scotland is there's never even been so much as a news bleed and i may disagree on many of the points but the argument is done through the democratic process and democratic channels and we want it strong to be independent so that we can attract and would investment but also the difference in really nice he thinks london news best for what's in schools interest we think the people of scotland know best and just as you wouldn't want your next door neighbor taking decisions on your behalf we do one angle and even with the best will in the world decisions on behalf of scotland and this remember is an incorporating union it's not a union of equals scotland is very much a subordinate partner we have less than a tenth of english population and decisions political decisions will be made on

behalf of the majority within you key england and scotland basically if we make those decisions on our selves those decisions will ultimately be better for scotland whether it's a government which is left of center as a professor seems to imagine or indeed one which i believe would one that supports a mixed economy and is more social democratic rather than socialist william why not have two united kingdom as neighbors ok as equals that is you know it can it was pointing out why can't you have that you can still have the same currency if you don't throw it out throw them out of the the pound you have the same queen scotland pays for the defense issues why not equals. well i think that's a false point i mean i think that the key issue is precisely what you mentioned the economy i mean let's consider what alex salmond is proposing here his preference is for a currency union with the united kingdom now we can see across across the sea another

currency in the euro and we know what chancellor merkel last week said that free proper currency union you need to have fiscal union taxes and spending being coordinated across the different countries within the union you also need fiscal and political union and she also said that you need a common treasury and know what is being discussed today by the end of this is easily you want the better willy's baseline of england well. these things a cd you think should be in charge or you know as i were saying well it's enormous what i would hope that i would hope that we have more central between as a half of the government and germany and this is an end drawing up the fiscal rules of europe as i hope that francois roll on if he wins the french presidential election this me will do but the reality is that what we've seen in the in the eurozone are very harsh and fierce fiscal rules and the fact is if i examine wins this referendum he would be doing a deal to drop similar fiscal rules with george osborne it doesn't sound much like

independence from a tory tax and spend policy to me nor indeed i think it would be for the scottish people. cases no one since because the bank of scotland has been independent the chancellor says nine hundred ninety seven and did it even in previous generations when will file and under still go independence they are still part of sterling for many years if i'm going to jump in here gentlemen we're going to go to one short break and after that short break we'll continue or to our discussion on the fate of scott state with our. wealthy british scientists are. sometimes.

markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cons a report on r g. p soon which brightened soon moved from funds to questions. whose firms don't totty dot com. and you can. start.

welcome back to montauk on peter lavelle to remind you we're talking about the independence of scotland. and you can just start. ok david if i go back to you in denver and a recent poll how gives the the following numbers fifty two percent to thirty two percent english voters favored maximum devolution from scotland or independents a bigger margin of support then the s. and p. s.n.p. in scotland itself i mean it's really interesting it seems we're having talking about it leads right here in many ways a lot of it one and one trend that is really moving in the u.k. is that the english are feeling more english and less british at least that's what some data is showing i mean is it a matter of and leads and institutions that want to keep this together and devoid to what people actually think. well i think we have that the opinion polls within

scotland itself ok fair to show that there is very strong very strong support for even for more diva aleutian more more scottish home rule but probably for independents per say that that only gets about a third of the support of the population which is one of the reasons why. is trying to change the voting rules to have sixteen and seventeen year olds vote but i note that the it is still all about elites in this argument because it's a question of whether you can have central planners in london or an edinburgh running the lives of all the people in scotland i noticed that the two other guests didn't want to talk about my suggestion that the scots could have a much more home rule right now by letting them elect the important officials in their local governments that control their health care and the police both of these gentlemen are also for keeping scotland in the european union which is an institution which has a tremendous democratic deficit it has no legitimacy unlike say the united states

constitution where our states joined together to make a true national union that was done by the people themselves acting in the conventions were as in scale the european union has been this project ever since john boehner started back in the olden days of jamming having elites jam it down on the public and they're all the elites have been consistently terrified of allowing referendums how about our scottish national party friend if this scotland achieves independence will you allow the people of scotland to vote on whether to stay in the european union and ask our labor party friend why not let the people of scotland vote on that and why not let the people of the united kingdom as a whole vote on that why should laws be made in brussels that apply to people in the united kingdom or in scotland if it's independent when the people of scotland in the united kingdom have never consented to surrender their sovereignty to a bunch of bureaucrats.