live from moscow this is r.t. could be with us as our top stories now the u.n. urges both the syrian regime and the rebels to lay down arms to prevent the country from sliding into a full scale civil war this comes as u.n. observers a visiting the site of the latest massacre near the city of hama. a big day for european football as the euro of the tournament has kicked off but the fair play has been dealt a blow with boycotts over human rights abuses and claims of racism most recently from the dutch national team. and eurozone on a knife edge as experts predict spain could ask for a bailout as soon as the c evening but it's powerhouses trying to keep the single currency afloat one town is banking on the past to turn

a profit. but that's it for me and the news team for the moment when the summary for in fifteen minutes from now in the meantime u.s. economist am politician tells r.t. about just what seems to be going wrong in europe. mark weisbrot thank you for joining us on r.t. i want to start with a g twenty promised to boost the i.m.f. lending resources with over four hundred thirty billion dollars. yet the i.m.f. steering committee said that these new resources will not be used for a particular reason do you think this is their response to the concerns that this money will be used to bailout the eurozone i think it's clear the reason they're asking for a new resources for europe they would have enough if it was for the other countries it's only europe or the big money i mean the deaths of spain and italy are enormous

and that's what they're worried about even if it were only portugal and ireland and greece. they wouldn't really be that worried it's really spain and italy that's what the money is for and any talk to the contrary is just talk the rest of europe is also contributing to this but they're there pledged one hundred fifty billion dollars their approach is fundamentally wrong i mean they don't have to do this they can do with the federal reserve did in the united states our federal reserve has created over two trillion dollars since two thousand and eight they can have the ability they can do that to they have a central bank they can create euro zone and they can do what the fed did here they can lower the interest rates and even guarantee a certain interest rate in the spanish italian bonds and that would put an end to this threat of a severe crisis so do you think your guard said that the highest risk is

yet another crisis in europe do you think that's coming that's exactly right if there aren't any big risks to the global economy other than what the europeans are doing to themselves and that's really what it is it's a self-inflicted. the recession that they're in right now if the recession continues that deep and more importantly if these governments do what they're being instructed to do by the european authorities that would be the european central bank the european commission and the i.m.f. if they actually tighten their budgets further cut spending further they're going to go deeper into recession and then we don't know what happens that's what christine lagarde is worried about in spain which is the big trouble spot right now because investors are selling their bonds and driving up the interest rate on the ten year bonds to dangerous levels that's the real fear right now i mean that's what happened in portugal and ireland and greece right the interest rates get to

a certain level they can't borrow sustainably on private markets anymore then they have to go to the european authorities for money and then then there's maybe debt restructuring bank losses all the things that happen with greece but on a much bigger scale that's what they're really worried about i don't think that's necessarily going to happen but the problem is that the authorities the european authorities are pushing in that direction spain is supposed to cut make spending cuts of this year of about. budget tightening of about two point six percent of g.d.p. so that's big that will definitely they've got twenty five percent unemployment already forty five percent youth unemployment the economy is shrinking and here the authorities are doing the opposite of what almost any other governments in the world would do we didn't do that here ok we would never do that here you know our political system wouldn't allow it but because the spanish don't have control over

their over the european authorities they're being forced to do something that is really worsening their economy so what they're out there and the alternative well it depends there's two ways of looking at all serve one is if the european authorities co-operate and if that case it's your. alternative is very easy the e.c. beat came actually just by the spanish bonds and push the interest rate down to a reasonable level so that it doesn't explode so their debt doesn't explode they can keep it there and they don't have to spend very much to do that either and they can create the money so there's no burden on the european taxpayer that's the easy solution no if they won't do that and they insist on making spain worse then spain really has to consider leaving the euro that's the only alternative for them you think the european countries are not cooperating no there are there are insisting on these budget cuts i mean this is the worse this is just pouring gasoline on the fire the fact that they are contributing to the i.m.f.

the fact that they're trying to be a lot of countries in the euro zone like we see they did in greece that doesn't show corp and the fact that they're trying to help spain right now well that kind of help i really wouldn't wish on my worst enemy because they're sure they're putting together this fund but they're attaching conditions to all the lending and it's the conditions that are driving europe further into recession and increasing the risk that you get a full blown financial crisis like you had you know after lehman brothers collapsed no you that risk has gone down since last december when it was really high and that's because the european central bank started loaning of a lot of money it was over a trillion dollars they pumped into the private banking system and the private being system use some of that the by the european bonds but that's not enough they have to really make sure that those interest rates on spanish and italian bonds

because those are the ones that are too big to fail you know their debt is five times the size of the other countries ok though they have to guarantee that that interest rate doesn't keep rising because that's what sets off the panic once spain's interest rates reach a certain. will they're not going to be able to borrow on private markets and what's upsetting the whole financial situation right now is that some investors think they're already close to the level or at the level know what about the breaks power. those rising powers versus the voting rights that bad mouth and that whole debate that took place in the spring meeting these institutions have been controlled by the united states since. you know nine hundred forty six really and it hasn't changed much at all and you know some people think the europeans control the i.m.f. because they get to appoint a european but that's not true the u.s. decides what you know they have a veto over what european heads the i.m.f.

and they still have the dominant voice in the i.m.f. and europe is the junior partner now that's changed a little bit in recent years because now sixty more than sixty percent of the i.m.f. loans are in europe and so the u.s. treasury department will defer to europe for matters that are focused on europe but in the rest of the world in all the developing world where the u.s. still where the i.m.f. still makes loans it's the u.s. decided so they control both really of the mess in the world bank which is two out of the three international institutions that have any power the third one is the security council and there they have the veto as well so this is this is the world after world war two and the global governance is not changed that's one of the reasons they created the g twenty but it's still the g. seven making all the solutions because and mainly the g one you know here in

washington because that's who has power in these institutions of international governance that actually have power you don't see that changing. not only when it comes to voting rights but the policies of these international. organizations are talking about di enough in the world bank there's change it's slow change it's definitely slow the bigger changes are taking place outside of them so in other words the i.m.f. doesn't have a fraction of the power that it had even in two thousand and seven ok in other words the developing countries or two thousand and three i would say ok by two thousand seven it already lost most of its power in developing countries that was one of the biggest changes in the whole international financial system and the media didn't really pay a lot of attention to it but you know the united states exercised influence through the i.m.f. but no you see the middle income countries don't borrow from the i.m.f. anymore you know russia the asian middle income countries the ones that got burned

by the i.m.f. in the asian financial crisis they all got out of it got away from the i.m.f. fast they couldn't ever going back same is true for almost all of latin america in so that's was changing the world is changing very rapidly it's just these institutions are not changing rapidly they're changing very very slowly so you don't you don't see the brakes. or becoming a fully fledged negotiating bloc from what we so you know coming out of spring meetings well they are. but they're not negotiating very hard because first of all of a i mean from their own interest they shouldn't really contribute to funds going to europe these countries are a lot poorer than europe they all have a fraction of the income that europe has so for them to bail out europe makes no sense at all i mean your of can bail itself this is the richest economic region in the world practically and they have

a central bank and they can take care of this themselves the united states took care of itself why can't the europeans and we can talk about the economy without talking about the oil prices tensions in the air pollution what do you think that's having you know the oil pressure. have been following in the last couple of months and i think that's because primarily reduce tensions you see the united states finally. looking towards negotiations with iran and instead of just being the war drums you know and it was the war drums that really drove up the price of oil probably more than anything i mean it's not the whole story some of the weakening in oil prices is due to some investors. worries about the global economy and the crisis in europe so as the crisis in europe gets worse and the possibility of another well europe is already in recession but the possibility of that recession leading to. further slowdown of the world economy you know that

could lower oil prices as well but my guess is that most of what you've seen most recently has been the increase prospects for a possible. peaceful resolution of the conflict between the united states and iran it was really the united states drive towards war which is where we were going and still are really in my opinion i mean they're still headed in that direction but not at the same speed that they were just a few months ago. with the end of the war and the going away of the soviet union many people thought that

nuclear weapons disappeared. the risk is not zero that something might be going off by mistake special it solves the nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert. us of a difference to use it as a threat all as an actual event that you know if you keep spending a trillion dollars a year on weapons of eventually you're going to blow everybody up you you know people are dying from these weapons but until we actually see it people don't wake up to nuclear weapons or a bill. that represents all the firepower of the second world war and this. is the equivalent firepower of the world's nuclear arsenal today.

wealthy british style stock. market. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mikes concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. a report on our. top stories on r.t. the u.n. just both the syrian regime and the rebels to lay down arms to prevent the country from sliding into a full scale civil war this comes as human observers are visiting the site of the latest massacre near the city of hama. a big day for european football as the euro two thousand and twelve tournament kicks off fair play has been dealt a blow with boycotts every human rights abuses and claims of racism most recently from the dutch national team. and euro zone on my fed ex but critics scrape it off for a bailout as soon as this evening but house is trying to keep the single currency afloat one town is banking on the cost to turn a profit. that was more in their stories in fifteen minutes from now in the meantime and is next in the sport and an exciting start to the euro zone are you

because your team potent haven't made you lead against great in the first match of the details on that plus the build up of course to russia's in a sec. hello there you're watching the sport here in r.t. and these are the headlines euro twenty twelve kicks off as co-host poland take on greece and russia prepared to take on the czech republic. this is seven french open final as djokovic confederate fight to join in. and catch me if you can impede champion you saying bowl wins dramatic race no way to throw down the gauntlet ahead of the looming london games. twenty twelve european championships have got underway co-host poland have kicked off against greece in the first game of the tournament in warsaw and the poles have had the perfect start leading one nil at half time thanks to a call from grover eleventh poland are the lowest ranked team in the tone but they

dominated this game to the life of their fans you heavily outnumbered the greeks in the municipal stadium in warsaw so one nil to poland at the moment and in two hours time russia and the czech republic will go head to head in their opening game in the group with the build up to that. it's. the way it's almost over to take out the captain as russia side as day began their euro two thousand and twelve campaign here in ross love against the czech republic on friday for the team of the pairing for almost three weeks now. three friendly matches which culminated in a fantastic free no victory you really have a cow billie's but results give the team a lot of confidence is important not that important but if you win three you know it was a little bit flat route but it gives a lot of confidence in the team and that's important but to morrow will be a total different game against

a different opponent so. different team. for the team effectively picks itself with nine of us starting spots pretty much already decided however two places up for grabs first of all in goal there is really a straight fight between either i can fear and mala favre last can play if he's had a few injury problems over the last couple of days but looks to be good and in good form as the approaches my favorite he's been in fantastic form to z. needs and the thirty four year old certainly wouldn't do any harm if he was put in between the posts for a game against the czech republic whatever position which dick advocaat has to decide on is the right side of attack where really it's a straight fight between. a man of his mile of go if he's recovered from a broken bone in his forwards and looked very impressive against me entirely and last week was one of these also impressed returns of a national side after a six year wilderness and he was in very good form in the early friendlies against

uruguay and lithuania all in over the camp is in very good mood and dick advocaat says there won't be new nerves when the team play the czech republic you know i think if you. do this if you are many people in your work hard to come so far as a player and as you know we are really enjoying what we are doing. a decent cyber know manch for a great team of two thousand and four which managed to get to first semifinals of a euro two thousand and four championships in portugal where they possess players of a caliber of young and medved but nevertheless for a very workman like side and have santa aims such as thomas received ski. and they have the potential certainly to cause rusher a few problems but again if the russians play to anything like their ability and they can reap capture of a form of a friendly win again safely is no reason they can't get their euro two thousand and twelve campaign off to the perfect stars rich of onboard fleet r.t.

of poland while the check. will have to make a late decision on the fitness of their strike me but are expected to play with playmaker in midfield who had been sidelined with injury and the arsenal man is wary of russia's attacking threat. of. the strongest burden of the russian team is a mirror of. three very good forwards they're all very experienced at this point in their career it will be a challenging match we have to get through the group and then we will see where optimistically unprepared for the game. of russia's world cup winning ice hockey team you can email in has a few tips for the countries footballers at the euros the pittsburgh penguins forward has been named the russian player of the in the n.h.l. and said one of the secrets to his success is not to worry about the media malkin was the points leader in the regular season with fifty three goals and sixty four system is also named the most valuable player at the world championships last month

he came footballer too and had this to say to take up the cars men. first. of all i can say is the issue closer to there on the much pressure now so i hope they don't read the papers too much they should just relax and do their best to just close it to get on the pitch and do your best from start to finish no matter what the score is you can always come back we should always do our best as fans and then i think the guys can win a medal perhaps even gold said latest from the french open where world number one novak djokovic you're not your federer fighting to join rafael nadal in the final this is a rematch yes but semifinal last year which thought better of triumph with djokovic has just gone two sets to love up there djokovic came to be the first person to hold all four grand slam titles at once since rod laver back in one nine hundred sixty nine well whoever wins will face defending champion rafael nadal next he thrashed. there in straight sets in less than two hours and has only lost once in

seven years at roland garros he's also aiming for a record seventh french open title. so the. russian pair maria kirilenko and that he betrayed her have lost in the women's doubles final beaten by its leader a bit of in cheek and sorry ronnie two sets to one and the rani also faces russian maria sharapova in the women's final tomorrow sharab ever enters that is the new number one after beating petrak of the in her semi it was the day the russian described as very special she wrapped up a six three six three victory and certain on match point after just over an hour and that's out of victoria as a rank as the world number one and clinch the russian on course for the only grand slam title that's a ludicrous so far. nice to know that. it happened again for me. i was in a position where a few years ago when i didn't quite know if i would ever be here again and this

stage playing professionally and not just at that but at a level to get to number one in the world. and a first roland garros final for me so a very special day no doubt. close to becoming only the six woman to complete a career grand slam her next opponent so ronnie is putting off upset after a twenty one c. overcoming u.s. open champion sam stosur in her semi. so i'm very happy for how i play because i think i make good games and there. and there is not we saw have won much more i have to think about that and that's it. to the n.b.a. now where the eastern conference finals will go down to the wire miami levelling the series with boston at three a pace for a ninety eight seventy nine victory last night lebron james scoring forty five points for the hate and that picture before it is a winner takes all going seven back in miami with the winner going on to me in the

n.b.a. finals. will continue to be aggressive i will try to continue to play at a high level of hope. resource abuse numbers are going to retrace member. of. my game. i don't really care would be you know what we. will lose or draw i'm going. with the mindset of always. this whole season. you know we see what happens. down the fastest man on the same boat as once again proved he will be the one to catch it next month's london olympics jamaican stole the show at the latest diamond league meeting in norway before during and off to his rights in fact he entered the business stadium in a flashy custom built car very nice to you but looked off the pace a bit at the start of the hundred meters. because fellow jamaican surged

ahead of the first fifty. only to be reeled back in by the would be champion a nine point seven nine seconds. then plowed into a flower girl at the finish line. for sure you know she was ok she looked like she might have enjoyed it even as far as slow start he blamed it on the starting blocks claiming they were too small for his size thirty eight while the dominique switches to new york on saturday were both other main rival johanne blake will compete in even though he is just twenty two the world champion from jamaica wants to be remembered as one of the greatest athletes who have ever lived. that was last year this year london i feel like easy want to be a legend. you know i would love to be remembered like. you want to be and. i want to remember i was one of the group it's likely to ever. to run and that's what i'm working for. it is coming true will come

true i was up to keep porpoise which i am. now also competing in america here screen test on your riches ross she said for world leading times over the two hundred and four hundred metres this year and is happy with her form ahead of the olympics. how is the less pressure now that i've finally gotten back to where i hope to be at this point in the season. i'm not really going in concerned about being the favorite or not i've gone in to major championships as the favorite in our going in not being a favorite so not really paying attention to that i just excited to finally be getting my race back on track my coach and i still have a few things i want to work on to improve my race and so i'm excited about it and i'm just looking forward to the trials and hopefully making the team there which is our number one goal and then going to london and having accessible race there so that's sport just to remind you potently greece at the moment in warsaw in the

first game with the european championships and russia preparing for their game against the czech republic which starts in a couple of asked. you

know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for langley you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know what i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. above. the bit. player. the bit.