that have been made under them inventive presidency and did not lead to any concrete reforms and again we're still waiting for him to do something. you know whether cameras and all the stuff are nice but again i think they're cosmetic and there are easy concrete steps to put in can take to prove that he is serious about some kind of liberal program or put into point the question putin says in this article that political rivalry is what pushes the country forward the great phrase but does he really mean it does he consider the other four presidential candidates really rivals or rather i never do attribute of democracy yes i agree but you know put in. bitterly need new. equal contender you know big real rival. understand it would make it at the end of somebody's opinion he's sick and tired of this figures who are trying for twenty

years to do something in the political sphere and without any success you know it's like mind their shareholders in the corporation so he i think he's a fighter by and by the way you know he he knows how to fight and he's must over do though so well you've got to tell you agree that it is a fighter. but. i'm not sure that the absence of a rival makes it makes him unhappy did they do believe so i don't think i think he's my comfortable the way it is he has never existed in a situation of political competition and still in this political election we're seeing that he refuses to compete even with the granted rather weak candidate the rebels recall the end of the ninety's session to power it was very very strong competition from let's say and the score for the time so. that was there was mainly i mean i don't want to go back to into this. but that was mainly decided.

back stage of the kremlin and with a lot of influence from the old why don't you it was after the people you know it's for the people to decide in the election of two thousand well i can congratulate you i can congratulate you on his victory in two thousand yeah and his victory in two thousand was that all of the fear but the situation as he admits in this article has dramatically changed in society you know bands of society are for political competition by refusing to debate with his can readers the reason is life and gauging and political competition and the reasons why. we don't have the real rivalry because we don't have real opposition leaders in the country what i am saying this is this is interesting because putin takes credit in this article for the emergence of the middle class as such yeah it's true the middle class emerged under the economic policies of the put in regime thanks in part to the to the high oil price however he does not take credit for the political system that emerged in

the past twelve years that did not allow for robust interesting political figures to emerge those who tried to participate in elections or register political parties were routinely denied however in this election as i think again a concession to the people in the streets we see me. you know is he going public candidate nobody knows he says not up his opponents say yes but he is . really charismatic he wouldn't agree to be in office and i don't know and the question is you know open. he is a charismatic new figure he speaks really well i mean he's been practicing politics i think it will be a fascinating debate learning very fast learning very fast so i think would be most interesting to see the two of them debate i mean i agree that the other contenders are sort of old school politicians that so well according to the article that we're discussing today putin once did make the russian parliament into active let's hear

what he writes about that. i propose introducing a rule for having a mandatory review in parliament of all public initiatives which collected based one hundred thousand online to charge a similar practice exists in britain for example the anonymous internet cannot serve this purpose of course although in other cases it can help avoid the problem . well this is interesting we're already started discussing whether we're the put in is changing or not well i say yes because in two thousand and ten putin openly declared that i quote half of what's published in the internet is pornography that's his words but now today he addresses the internet he he changes the ad it towards the web to was the internet community so is this a sign of change and why sure you know literally because of technology lost the

last couple years. definitely has become accustomed to the using of internet and here he became not deeply involved as president and good if who has his twitter and so on but nonetheless this suggestion of. it so it says clearly that he see he sees the internet as a powerful resource for promoting democracy in the country. he's speaking about the the the effective done a lot of channels between the power elite and the society is internet from wouldn't point of view one of these these channels i'm not real i'm not december fifteenth as live call in show with the russian public five days after a massive protests in moscow he said i don't really use the internet very often and he was asked directly do you in a country that has more internet users than any other country in europe. i think that's that's incredible it's true that now he is at least in his rhetoric saying

oh wait the internet exists i should respond to the somehow as a politician i'm not saying he's not a flexible. intelligent and capable politician he is and he's maneuvering every which way what is the quote that you just showed says and this was pointed out an article and kind of question he seems to be one step behind the duma whether he likes it or not is already becoming more open because in the last round of the elections in december. more than fifty percent of the popular vote went to the opposition the duma is opening up and now putting the saying oh the duma needs to open up well whether you like it or not it is so he's playing catch up in a lot of ways and knows exactly when putin writes in this article that the state is lagging behind this is that he actually means in. some sense i don't know if it's a kind of self-criticism i would agree you know well there's a lot of critics of criticism by the way in article after article the prime minister criticizing the existing situation russian economy social sphere so and so

forth but he's been in power for twelve years but at the same to you two to two terms as president one is prime minister so it is twelve years is enough to do a lot that's right. on the other one right but at the same time he's trying to explain why measures taking which is being taken right now was impossible to implement. ten or. five years ago and there is clearly explanation why you need one question i have to listen putin says the new state must work out a tool to catch up with the complicated social realities he needs a tool. he proposes the so-called so friggin lated society well i'm not sure i know what that means but what's wrong about the media as a tool about the unions as a tool why do we need to create something else well all these two tools of the

media and the trade unions are they not effective in the modern society there are many tools how to promote democracy and to make political sphere more transparent but you know it's interesting question what the head of state is responsible for. in russia it's. general saying that the president is responsible for everything yes but at the same time first priority and most responsive sponsibility of the head of state i see he's responsible for the shape of power for the quality of power and this article precisely about this and there is a part of this article called building a competitive nation it's i would say it's not exact translations from russian because in russian version of this article it's called the building of competitive state but this is the difference of mythology western and russian you know but

nonetheless seven points about how to i would say to reset this state how to remade it. to make it really more than just new to meet the challenges of which civil society in russia is sending a stink you very much so and i hope it would continue but we're running out of time and just to remind that might. yes today would be a new political ad on the general political science department in the high school of economics and simon shuster in the time magazine moscow based reporter and that's it for now from all of us here if you are now you are so spotlight we have someone in mind who you think i fit into next time just drop me a line i'll going up at the t.v. dot are used and let's keep the show interactive we'll be back with more first and comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take care. of.

the t.v. .

egypt's streets and squares were alive with running crowds once again a year after president mubarak was forced from power. people here are calling the military council to step down immediately saying they're blocking reforms in the country more from tahrir square just ahead. more pressure is called on the syrian regime as you know it's a new resolution blaming it blends at the u.n. general assembly we'll have live analysis on syria shortly here on r.t. . and greek lawmakers further to brussels with more cuts in exchange for pain of cash while people vent their frustration on the streets of athens top stories this

hour. international news and comment live from moscow this is twenty four hours a day egyptians are staging a general strike in a day of civil disobedience to mark the first anniversary of the toppling of former leader hosni mubarak they're calling for the military rulers to step down immediately accusing them of hindering reform. reports from the iconic on his square. if you ask those people they will tell you that really nothing has really sneezed in the years has gone barak has been ousted as a matter of fact there is saying that things have gotten worse because now they have to do with the military council the scouts and head of the country's government right now with forces him to step down for saying that they're going forth with democratic reforms but most people here believe that is not the case and

that is why they're calling for this massive act of civil disobedience the people who are i think i think the source of this call are the egypt service nuri alliance which is comprised of more than fifty political groups. six of the six of them are the most probably revolutionary groups in the country a lot of them are university students for whom it is the first day of the semester and they're staging sit ins and walk outs they're not going to lectures they're not going to classes they're boycotting exams they're saying that they do want to see some real changes towards democracy in the country which they haven't seen yet they're also calling on workers for massive strikes to go on indefinitely until the military council steps down but a lot of the parties that have made it into the parliament. during the recent elections are actually not supporting the strike primarily or we should know it's the muslim brotherhood who are saying that these are the does these calls for a massive strike are actually destructive to the country because that will only

charge egypt into further poverty and disarray also the religious leaders in the country are not supporting the strike as well but students the young people who work behind this really sit well with the workers who wanted to see some real differences there are saying that things must be chasing mediately more on why it's ins are going to strike here's my colleague mary snow. around a thousand killed at least six thousand injured and even more still missing egypt's people have paid a high price to leave in a new country but despite all the sacrifices the shadow of the old regime still lose large during mubarak thirty years of mubarak's rule the estimated number of people try them under military tribunals where one to two thousand now you know within about ten months or eleven months we have twelve thousand which is of course a humongous number for a country ruled by the military the supreme council of the armed forces or scaf that's no surprise but surprisingly enough those discomforted over from who'd

previously run the country are not themselves before military tribunals. for. suspected. civil court system. that ordinary people there may be. medical records this is a better way and this is in the. hasty with no proper investigation usually with no lawyer and behind closed doors and with no right of appeal human rights activists complain military trials provide no justice and violate human rights you know you have a nineteen year old getting a twenty five year old son to your centers because he had a box of molotov cocktails and people who are found guilty of killing somebody by brutally beating him up and torturing him until he died these are getting seven

years in jail so i mean is there obviously there's something wrong with this picture a lot of these people are trying for absolutely no reason i mean someone just just being in the wrong place at the wrong time is enough to get you in trouble that's exactly what matters is his case september the time the israeli embassy in cairo the place. beyond screenplay writer was present and clashes between the army and demonstrators and began helping the injured arrested he was brought to military barracks after summary trial which lasted just twenty minutes he was taken straight to prison to serve almost four months for terrorists and he says the military dishes out a very rough justice. in the emerging a seventy two year old who's been in the army for at least two years it must be hard for him to take off his uniform and this large stuff and this was the only way they know how to deal with problems. for several days what did know her son's

whereabouts who were there on business when his sister came to me and said i have to talk to you i knew it was about him hoping for the best i prepared myself for the worst. a month after ahmed was released he now faces yet another trial from the same incident at these really embassy. goal is to intimidate people the message is clear if you go to to really you'll be arrested and it makes us even stronger how is it they don't understand that matter is no work you know he wants a title you must shut up he explains if people didn't give up after been beaten and humiliated they'll never give up until their voice is a hand in. the citadel in cairo egypt and medieval symbol of power and strength it was fortified centuries ago to protect the region from his enemies at that time crusades and crusaders today egypt's rulers are doing the same striving

to defend themselves and to keep power with thousands in jails and dozens killed the concern here is that they may have been working too hard. riffing off knotty cairo well let's get some more perspective on this joining me live now is belle true she's a freelance journalist based in qatar and i understand you've been closely monitoring the developments there so why are gyptian protesting the military rulers promised a presidential election in june now that's just three months away why have they run out of patience. well i think first start people are unsure about whether we're actually transfer in jean and so far the military the ruling military council has yet to fulfill any of its promises that said since it came into power also just generally on the streets we're seeing massive human rights violations towards protesters with people expressing their freedom of speech and we've seeing

excessive use of tear gas and cartouche they call it here which is birdshot and maiming protesters has been absolutely no reform of the police. fired by the football disaster a few weeks ago which saw over seventy four people die so essentially we've seen very little reform since the barak stepped down and people are a basically anxious that nothing will change and it will just slip into a new new dictatorship it's interesting isn't it that the party that won a majority in the recent elections the muslim brotherhood they are not supporting the strike the protest why is that considering just a few days ago they were pressing the army to replace the current prime minister with their own candidates. it's a strange move from the muslim brotherhood but we've seen as continuously not backing revolutionary actions so for example in december there were a sit ins into his square against the military and the most of brotherhood refrain from getting involved and because they were actually sort of doing their campaigns

for the elections and there's a brotherhood of playing a safe game at the moment i think people here saying that in parliament they want to stay in parliament it want to rock the boat. they were calling these strike actions as destructive and i'm going to cause the ruin of egypt so i think for them just protecting their own interests which is to stay in parliament where they have a majority what is the future then for egypt with that muslim brotherhoods majority in parliament. it's a difficult one to predict exactly what's going to happen i mean the parliament itself as quiet reduce legislative power thanks to the constitution that gratian written by the ruling military council so it's difficult to say how much effect the muslim brotherhood is going to have on egypt as we hear what you have a constitution in place we're not really sure what the role of parliament is and they're really finding their feet at the moment so i think for most egyptians parliament really isn't the issue it's the government and he's actually in control

who's in control when the constitution is written really it seems that nothing has changed since the fall of mubarak and we're seeing of course these very strong protests and i'll always perhaps seeing the chance of another revolution happening in egypt. i think most people here would put it would say they do say that the revolution never ended but it's called the continuous or the ongoing revolution really since january even after mubarak stepped down this time last year they've been continuous sit ins and protests and violent clashes with egypt's security forces pushing for protestors pushing for change they have sent yes so really we are looking at a continuous revolution just very briefly your your experience of life there in egypt just how is this arm rest affecting the economy and the people there at the moment just very quickly your own personal observations. it's seriously affected the economy obviously. the stock market crashed massively this time last year and

the people feel it on the ground people are desperate for food on the table and this is what's turning opinion against the ongoing revolutions that definitely the economy to get back to is we're hoping it will pick up seeing true thanks so much for your time there corridos journalist joining us live there in egypt. a draft resolution on syria has been circulated at the u.n. general assembly by saudi arabia it's similar to the text vetoed in the security council last week while calling for an end to violence by all sides it lays blame primarily on the syrian authorities state t.v. says government assassinated an army general in the capital damascus the first killing of a high ranking military officer since protests began in the group port of ongoing fighting in the country the city of aleppo suffered twin blasts on friday that killed twenty eight the free syrian army initially claimed responsibility for the attacks but later denied involvement in the government meanwhile syria's opposition says it expects official recognition from arab gulf states later this week. with no

u.n. mandate to intervene in the crisis the u.s. is now said to be getting a coalition of states to support the opposition with calls from washington to arm the rebels well for more on this i can now talk to sarah marusek she's from the university based in beirut syria's draft resolution it's reached the un general assembly moscow opposed the discussion of a similar text veto just a week ago in the security council how do you see this latest attempt by western and arab states to unite international pressure against. well it's kind of expected really it doesn't seem like they're ever willing to negotiate or compromise on any of these issues and they're just always interested in forcing their own interest and their own agenda down other people's throats no matter who they're dealing with it's always comes down to their interests and really it's been very well known that united states and european allies are interested in regime change in syria and they won't stop at anything. that does not

deliver a different government that they hope will be more sympathetic to western interests which is quite naive really when you think about it because the people in syria are likely not going to be more sympathetic to american and israeli aggression throughout the region and so it's interesting that they seem to be so hard hard hard core with pushing these resolutions through either through their own. diplomats or through their puppet. is in the gulf states so i don't think that if the if the resolution was already vetoed by china and russia once before i don't think that this is going to change anything it just shows that this is not a negotiation it's not a compromise it's again an act of imperialism trying to push through poor and interests in syria that syria's population and syria's people you know the syrian

people in a poll recently said that the actually favor assad staying in power because they fear the consequences of him leaving fifty five percent and of course this doesn't get published by any mustard media and no western diplomats or politicians would ever think to take seriously that kind of information this talk about the way the u.s. and other arab countries and nato allies are trying to pursue their interests there we do know that the role calls from washington to. the rebel groups but we also know that some of those opposition groups being linked to al qaida does the u.s. and its allies really intend to support them directly or indirectly in that way. it's absolutely fascinating hearing the contradictory reports coming out of washington recently there were you know u.s. politicians saying oh these are just peaceful protestors they're not armed at all they're not doing anything violent we must support them we must back them in basically take down assad and then you have reports yesterday regarding the blast

in aleppo saying that you know by u.s. intelligence officials saying that this was the work of al qaeda likely coming through perhaps iraq or something like that. so yes of course you are right it's very ironic that you know maybe we have another case where libya a situation where the united states is just so naive in pushing through this policy that they're willing to overlook intelligence that proves that they're going to be supporting our sworn enemies you know this is we kill people constantly with drones you know suspected terrorists and here we are going to arm them of course russia of course is saying this is a serious matter to be decided by the soon xm solves and pushing for negotiation now we're seeing the free syrian army looking for recognition from the arab gulf states this weekend well how significant is that by picking out one element of the opposition the gulf states doing that. help in any way to promote future

negotiation efforts. i don't see this actually being very good for the syrian people at all the free syrian army is the armed opposition it's conducting very violent acts against civilians in syria against both the government and you know innocent syrians we don't know who the body counts you know what politics people have who are killed and it's just purported reported by the media that these are like anti assad civilians but they're not they're also pro assad civilians and so i don't think the syrian people are really going to appreciate you know an outside exile group that's doing acts of violence you know suddenly undemocratically declaring that they represent the people and that they should be recognized as syria's true leaders but you know again this this probably reeks of you know suggestions of washington suggestions coming from the capitals of europe you know arming and training these people in different quote unquote democracy exercises

training they're going to basically say to them look you have to get legitimacy you have to convince people you're really representative but they're convincing the wrong people or convince in the arab states are not convincing the syrian people and it's just grateful the think of what could be coming next if an externally force power is is suddenly implanted in syria is not at all representative of the people and the violence is just not going to and we see it happening in iraq neighboring iraq sectarian violence that is catastrophic and nobody is reporting on that they're reporting on syria and they're not focusing on the potential problems that syria could lead into another iraq so it's just really quite devastating right now the way things are progressing from the sort of queues university based in beirut thanks for your support. the prime minister of.