tv [untitled] March 1, 2012 8:30am-9:00am EST
8:30 am
these are the images. from the streets of kandahar. five thirty pm here in the russian capital this is r.t. now you headlines massive protests and rallies across the e.u. about the cuts affecting millions it's putting a question mark over brussels forceful demands for ongoing austerity. french officers are reportedly detained in the heart of the uprising in syria but the u.k. withdraws its embassy staff all that amid a rising international chorus calling for the rebels to be on. israel faces international criticism over its policy of detaining suspected palestinian
8:31 am
8:32 am
hello again oh welcome to spotlight the internship i'll take my dog lover and together we are talking about foreign policies and international relations the coming of a new president shows likely to go along with a shift in the russian style trials the world is changing of the new leader will have to face some new tougher challenge a week before the election the race five replied with food and published his version of the world today one of the problems of russian encounter in the future and how is it will going to cope with them if the left is he really getting ready to change the shift from policy dramatically or are his proposals rather pre-election rather to discuss it now with that is all it's a letter through in chief of the russia profile magazine and jeffrey taylor moscow correspondent of the atlantic magazine. heated political debate in the pro and anti-government rallies differentiates the current presidential race
8:33 am
in russia from the two previous advance. contributed seven are you to program discussion the articles published. in russia's major dailies outlined his vision for the country's future putin discussed the liberalizing russian society and the prospects for the middle class migration and xenophobia russia's economic revival and social welfare and national security in the last pre-election article published this week on defined his foreign policy priorities he criticised nader for its. pretensions and rounded on washington for its desire to secure in van or ability and total security at the expense of others he analyzed the arab spring is outcome and play tribute to the dynamic growth on greeks countries key to putin's program though is the principle that moscow should remain
8:34 am
a decisive player on the global stage. gentlemen thank you for joining the discussion this summer usually is the last article in a series of these put as pre-election manifestos and foreign policy and in the beginning of this article he says we will sure i've changed sure a new world order well this sounds strange to me because what's new or russian foreign policy has always been advocating status quo and stability rather than of asian so what is it talking about. first of all i think that this doesn't correspond with the rest of the article because further down he pretty much lists any of the catalogue of the existing issues in russian foreign policy and in the outlook is is very traditional i personally had a hard time finding anything new in terms of russian foreign policy in this article
8:35 am
. but it's of course very useful to have it all in one place and kind of there is a some some noticeable gaps of there like like there is no chapter on the on the former soviet union there and that is supposed to be the top priority in the russian foreign policy everybody has noticed that i don't know whether that's a that's a mistake of people who are preparing this article or it was the intent i really i i don't know well many consider this this article on foreign policy as being pretty anti western and american well let's hear what that reporter wrote about the concept of absolute invulnerability. the american soul become obsessed with the idea of becoming absolutely in boehner of all. this utopian concept is unfeasible absolute invulnerability for one country would in theory
8:36 am
require absolute vulnerability for all others this is something that cannot be exacted violation of the principle of unity and the indivisibility of security to pull just a serious threat. while speaking about invulnerability i think makes a good point here but. it's a difficult target with what he says but do you agree i do agree jeffrey that that he really sounds american he really sounds as if as if america is regarded by puttin as the biggest real threat to russia no actually i think that down further in the article he talks about meeting with henry kissinger former secretary of state and security advisor. who's one of the wittiest figures we have in the united states who is that we've been advised to try to but he also keeps a strong rope with russia and he and putin makes it very clear. when he meets with
8:37 am
kissinger the message he takes away is they both agree that the united states and russia at times of instability need to work together that is they don't need to overturn anything create any new orders. so i don't i think he stresses that i think that there is somehow a call for partnership that putin was issuing many years ago when he first became president that has basically been not entirely accepted by the united states in fact it's a it's been ignored even if they formally have accepted and i think he's not closing doors there. but it's definitely take the gist of the article is taking a stance against something like the idea for spectrum domiciles look so what you are implying that you being an american and you having seen a lot of election campaigns in the states that if we if we leave aside the usual
8:38 am
pre election rhetoric what he actually means there which actually is really to do is ok those who worry. that this. country putin speaks of i quote of a compromise our missile defense he thinks discourse about what one would not like to see right in the deployment of the american system on a scale that would give all the implementation of our declared countermeasures so he wants a compromise he speaks of count two mergers what this means our base can russia afford luxuries today yes and well i don't think the united states i don't think this is really about an arms race this is the rhetoric you know the controversial is a treasure proposed worthy of the. kinder than kaliningrad yeah i mean i have not heard of any other country measures kind of that that have been put on the table but they should be the last in mexico that's the that is going to yeah yeah so but and but
8:39 am
even that is of course kind of very very easy for europe it's a very uncomfortable threat. and he basically it's clear from the article that missile defense remains in terms of security international security in a v the toughest and the most painful issue. in the relationship between between russia and the united states and russia and nato and now let's you know the quote here's what put in reality about neglecting some major principles theorize ations coexistence. major principles necessary for any usable civilization would indeed be usable security to a state the unacceptability of excessive use of force and the unconditional observance of the basic standards of international law the neglect of a neo pleased to introduce can only be just to do is ation of international
8:40 am
relations it is through this prison but we do see some aspects of us that need to construct that contradict a logical modern development relying instead on the stereotypes of law based mentality. jeffrey here we have again i have transcribed question once again he again mentions the us and its allies as sort of a destabilizing force that neglect the middle aged principles of our civilized relationship so well that doesn't worry washington ok rhetoric what does it all mean the end of a bad medvedev resect well i'm not sure whether the reset really took hold in the first place good thought so. in any case the fact remains that now. the old world order based on state sovereignty has been overturned and for
8:41 am
various reasons we have so-called humanitarian interventions in countries which often happen to have oil or other resources are strategically placed so i think there is still point to the same instability we have now is going to continue so it's a question of where it pops up next it's already popping up in syria. and there are already strong calls from republicans and united states to intervene in syria which would give us maybe the fifth country we're basically a war and now if we if we intervene there with just as unpredictable or far worse consequences the more we had with iraq and afghanistan not to mention yemen and the concern constant drone bombings and assassinations wrong extras right. there there is a total which would be a total game changer or we wouldn't be very difficult to see how the economy and world economy we're not going to depression if we if we. mean further rising tensions between russia and the united states especially
8:42 am
if a bomb is real if if the republic is beat about and so so so so will will putin and the republican presidents be. be a good pair like like for another round of of like boxing. actually i'm not sure there's going to be a disaster you know or historically republicans have been had been much more pragmatic all the major deals. where we've gotten there of course change with the neo cons when the head of the liberal converts to republicans and sort of appearing on the stage people who who are internationalists by by spirit and conservative sort of can if they're they're the reason you have and. they're not really kind of conservative and that was the that was the drama of the of the of the bush era yeah so i'm not sure that we're there with
8:43 am
a republican administration put in place there would necessarily be any of this as a dramatic worsening of russian u.s. relations i think that the issues there are on the table now are going to persist as jeffrey has. kind of rightly said there is the old world order based on the on the sovereignty something that even in this article putin is trying to stick to to hold on to and say ok of the the this is this was the holy of holies. that is there is no longer it has not disappeared completely but it is no longer that you. finding the funding principle of international relations say journalists and results from russia profile magazine and jeffrey taylor from the atlantic magazine spotlight will be back shortly after a break so stay with us well that. russia
8:44 am
votes for president archie looks at the five running for the kremlin top job the candidates guillotines you got off sixty seven chance to achieve most of communism from before his time on the record the second in all presidential elections since the end of the u.s.s.r. the two thousand and twelve those would be his fourth plan for presidency free education is housing punish illegal immigration and introduce ethnicity stops in pa sports controversy two colors communists usually vote with putin's party on the big issues known abroad for exploiting soviet nostalgia with pensioners and discontented in just three
8:45 am
a working class. presidential election two thousand and twelve on park city. in russia. which brighten if you remove the sun from steve she. starts on t.v. dot com. welcome back to the spotlight i am al green of and just to remind you that my guests today are andres thought of the russia profile magazine and jeffrey taylor from the atlantic magazine. talking about putin's recent article that was published and that
8:46 am
touched upon the issues of international relations jeffrey you mentioned you mentioned putin's meeting with aware and consumption well this. was practically not reported in the russian made it was it was really neglected by the reserve as a journalist but on the other side nearly the same day put me to kissinger some opposition leaders were met meeting the new american investor in moscow and that caused a huge outrage especially especially from from behind the kremlin was i mean i mean every said well how can you well during an election campaign go and maids and some of those people were representatives of the of the other candidates for presidency so why do you think this cause such an outrage especially the time when when the acting prime minister is meeting kissinger i mean so what's the big deal and if anybody has any idea. i don't think it should have been such
8:47 am
a big deal and that's part of the ambassador's job. the element of controversy here is that michael mcfaul is associated with democracy promotion and cut the rising soviet ology yeah yeah i was not that you know your dad but i particular the democracy from all these right so that the problem probably wouldn't have made such a difference if the previous ambassador had met with the opposition non-systemic opposition that day but with michael mcfaul it seemed that the demonstrations break out the ambassador's change and then almost the first day i think it was actually meeting with i think was nicholas burns yes it was it was a meeting with nicholas burns and the best of the meeting but he still was gave his imprimatur to the meeting of people who had rickets and she was never an advocate of human rights. ok let's hear what vladimir putin wrote after
8:48 am
he met kissinger by the way what he writes about human rights and double standards and human rights protection. which is often said that human rights holder rights state sovereignty as well when states already recently finally did in the name of this provision when human rights are protected from the outside and on a selective basis and when the same rights of the population are trampled underfoot in the process of such protection including the most basic and sacred right the right to one's life these actions cannot be considered a noble mission but rather outdrive demagoguery. and right i did have a word with jeffrey about this point was article and he said that probably at least in the west what he writes is actually read. by the
8:49 am
what we call the expert community not for not for the the general reader what would you say well what we just what we just. and saw on screen this quote will this things like that really be understood but why the ride's election or if it is also for for the expert community no i think i think this is a. series of parties it is a specific but but it really speaks about the ideology or a lack of such sort of in in the kremlin as far as international relations are concerned and of course the the biggest fear sort of that this this article reveals is is a fear that. humanitarian intervention can one day be applied to russia so the kind of the entire if you can think of ok what is the driving idea behind putin's foreign policy as expressed in this article kind of we don't want to
8:50 am
experience an arab spring and we don't want to have a military intervention by the united states against russia and we are trying to list all the arguments against it and see where we can use force where we can use this where you can use that to prevent that so that russian sovereignty remains entirely can live controlled from the from the kremlin walls and that's what this this paragraph is about one of put concerns is as he as he wrote himself he admits that i quote when it comes to media influence we're often outperforms this is a separate and complex challenge that we must confront right when i think it's not just about media i mean where he says needy influence it's also means it's the influence of ideas it's a soft power yeah i thirty years not just now i do not just like russia today i went oh yes it's right over me i mean we are here we are part of it
8:51 am
but you know ordered it. you know i think it's it's really weird that the year of the year. russia finds itself sort of old the wrong side of history yeah well i think i think i was making a good point so jeffrey what would you say what's really what's really were important for media influence and which put the speaking is it is it the the quality of the media of the quality of the ideas i think i think a lot of it has to do with the quality of water if you're talking about media influence in the west in the united states the representatives of the country maria sharapova are probably one of the best representatives of russia being a beautiful decided yet what issues russia or america well i just. got on it only. made you know that this town is so big that this is not
8:52 am
a good period to coster in paris what's true is considered to be austrian seger but nobody can deny who wrote you know who. are going to press that there's a great is difficult to find media figures or stars now who are recognizably russian and russian in an unabashed way in the united states or in europe and very popular and that would actually have a big influence i think because otherwise russia has sort of dropped off the radar for a lot of westerners and they don't know really much more than theirs and they're shut up and shut up of an oil well actually there are a lot of beautiful russian tennis players so i think that is a problem and then russia has not been. using the media the same way as say saakashvili did in georgia or in two thousand and eight when he was on t.v. speaking in english to the to b.b.c. c.n.n.
8:53 am
the other channels pretty much the entire time of the war and at that time rushed. didn't have that intimate connection with the western viewer that saakashvili was trying to create two three saying is that really needs a technology i mean being able to deliver it speak english being a able to read share opera visiting different fields is more important than the idea that stands behind i think the idea is crucial because his idea was we are western ally we are changing the course of georgia and the russian bear is preventing us from doing it and he was and as a. kind of law school american law school graduate he was kind of delivering it in a very good english to all the channels that it clearly were predisposed to like him russia could not or for any alternative to that. kind of
8:54 am
a bunch of generals who did appear it kind of eventually of course projected a completely different image out there so i think these these things that the technology and the and the ideas i mean i think that the mortaring world lead the whole so-called program tick approach sort of especially in russia overestimates technology i think you think that technology is good as long as it's out they are to to to hell deliver kind of good idea let's get that international relations where we're promising talk about foreign policy well you already get free started talking about the arab countries which which are a big issue in foreign policy these days let's hear what mr putin's wrote about the arab spring consulates. because of stream was initially perceived with a hope a positive change people in russia sympathize with those who were seeking democratic reform however instead of searching for democracy or protecting the
8:55 am
rights of the minority the temple being made to depose an enemy and to stage a coup which only resulted in the replacement of dawn dominant force with another even more aggressive dogs force. so tell me what about there first of all how how long do you think russia will insist on backing and defending ourselves regime so the end. until the last day i mean is as was the case with. and the same and the same about iran america will be threatening a strike on iran. i will tell us face is well a global. conflict or what do you mean will america attack iran at this be threatening to attack. well they they keep this pastor they're not taking anything off the table and all the while the expectation is that probably israel will attack and israel's decided to issue a warning or fifteen minute warning. so i don't think that the
8:56 am
last thing that president obama needs now is any conflict with iran before the elections so do you think that that the middle east and the our world today will start selling out as a base of culture between russia and america or it will become. but i think it's real watch to say the committee least this theory of course and yet from the russian america kind of russia plays a very very small role in the middle east and. not like the soviet union and i think that the middle east will continue to be the most volatile. in today's world and something that will present a lot of huge challenges including the challenges to the revolution are immense and says sort of that a lot of westerners harbor and a lot of russians despise and. kind of that's i think.
8:57 am
kind of as more and more kind of results started to appear kind of their thank you thank you very much jeffrey thank you thank you both for coming in just to remind you that my guests on showbiz tonight were under is the local and queen she felt pressure profiled by geoffrey taylor cost her correspondent of the atlantic magazine and that's it for now for all of us here spotlighted will be back with more first hand comment from what's going on in it outside michele until then stay on i'd say it's a cute. all
39 Views
Uploaded by TV Archive on