russian president chose his destination for the first official visit outside but. what does this choice mean for the relations between russia and germany and between russia and europe in general europe which is now in the grip of an economic turmoil who ask this and other questions to a prominent expert and international relations in germany that. prudence travel plans have received a lot of media attention lately. in america and went to. germany. contra to visit. president germany has long been brushed. and one of the biggest markets last year russia germany is worth a record seventeen. countries are also working together on. line which

would deliver russia. its first line was launched. welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us well first of all how was it seen here in germany that mr putin chose berlin as his first destination in europe first foreign nation outside the space. where for. schools of thought in germany concerning russia one is very into the ethic about russia this is the business community and the enthusiastically of course welcomed mr putin here in germany and they understand that through mr putin they can do business with russia and as long as he's in power they will face stability on the russian market and they simply see no alternative to him and can't imagine any real alternative for him in the next six years there's another through school of thought

that of. i would say moralists. liberals here in germany who would rather like to conduct a policy oriented and focused solely on values towards russia and to they think that is departing from democracy they think that russia is turning toward totalitarianism system and they didn't welcome pushing it all so so so the reaction was mixed but german chancellor angela merkel she pressed putin to allow democratic diversity ike want to develop in russia how serious is this issue on democracy in miracles policy towards putin had a very difficult to understand. german see value oriented policy viz every reality politic which is also always traditional in germany germany eastern policy mrs america said. two or three weeks ago. that

crane is a dictatorship she very much criticized the court which she also very much criticized the question and also as a dictator i think that in the past couple of days she understood that she controls the east. and while criticizing me in the corporate for having you let you must and can prison she had to balance somehow this kind of harsh criticism was more a out politic approach towards russia because the business in germany has very strong interests in the east and if america would concentrate only on the value or the policy only criticizing russia for not being democratic then business would feel it on the russian markets and also the human to human contacts will suffer so i think she she says she's ok in that she's trying to do both when she talks about values sure of course sense that signals to her own people here in germany but

nevertheless she understands that the riyadh political approach is very important towards a complicated but a very important partner russia there was an article in sheffield i think in germany winning about a new age in coming up in the russian german relations then it was followed by a couple of publications in russia and the sleaze the russian expert expert committee started talking about problems that may happen in russian german relations because they said merkel liked method of death as a partner more than she likes putin is it true or is that speculation no well it's . true speculation because you could witness is that not only mrs america but the of the west favorite video clearly or put in because of send the right message just to the west and made a video for appeared to be more western like more democratic more liberal than the

putin who is in many ways to connect that was was a traditional authoritarian policy in russia isn't putting more real politik then medvedev i would say made a video for the president was also very much for our politics but i wouldn't put too much weight and. who or what america was formally saying about me bit of yes she liked him a little bit more than put in but she's real politik enough real for the titian enough to understand that putin is not russia russia is not put in germany for the next decades centuries need school till ations was russia we can build a europe was old russia so she has also to deal with putin and i think she will do it at this for the next year until the german elections we don't know who will be german chancellor after next september did this visits did the fact that the new president started his relations with the world from germany did it somehow.

add to systems some more understanding when proven tough and the standing between the two capitals. i mean video of course in this for years at a very good relationship with america and a lot of things especially in the sphere of business but but i would also say in the context between elites about civil societies mehmood forward. i could have been for example the people dialogue meeting every year who's developing it to have very interesting vehicle of connection between two nations to states if you want and to elites but don't forget that putin this long enough in power and then mrs america was before becoming chancellor of germany as the leader of the opposition party in the german bundestag for many years so she knows putin very well or more or less well since he became russian president and she has a working relationship with him from all the european leaders now and you see the

the french president has gone tony blair has gone in britain obama is relatively new bush was leading america the first decade of the century mrs merkel remains of the old veteran of the weather coming events. of course a very responsible in in what she's doing for the west now she is the ultimate leader of europe with no secret about this and she feels more and more for was each year when she's in power that kind of responsibility and that means that she also feels a lot of responsibility towards russia and of course even if she maybe does like fortune because of his biography nevertheless i think she will do good work with him and by the way i watch this press conference during their visit and detected some positive chester between those two leaders well let's hear more on this now from. this report from the heart of germany. growing and

moscow have grown very much dependent on each other trade between the two can. this has been ruled will bounce impolitic still remains russia's main mediator in his dialogue with the west one of the reporters first official presidential visit was to berlin despite all that oh it's very simplistic to focus to. countries. that might mean spreading over russia's relations with the home of the e.u. although a recent joint press conference between the respective leaders in berlin was mostly about mutual understanding on the show of syria it was not devoid of a fly and the german chancellor is raising the issue of democracy in russia for minors i mean it is clear on my part that we have every interest in democratic versity in russia being able to develop further because my experience is it is only

that way that a truly robust civil society can rise which supports the development of the country . and that was just one of the mutual reproaches in russia's dialogue with europe that same day and a news conference in paris it was intense turn to criticize the west he spoke of russia's need for guarantees and plans for a european missile defense shield an issue which has always disturbed russia. in the past we've often been promised it wouldn't expand then we were promised that nato wouldn't put military hardware near russia the bush seen it expand and its base and spread now we need guarantees usually the go to another stumbling block in russia's relations with the e.u. the stalled negotiations over creating a more user friendly visa regime the problem was discussed at length at the recent russian e.u. summit in st petersburg russia stance on the syrian crisis remains one more point

of disagreement as the country has been happily criticised by some of its european partners for its rejection. military intervention in syria. well one of the fields of disagreements between russia and europe in general most of germany's one of europe's leaders is of course syria and the rising tensions in syria what's going on in this country the attitude because europe thinks that russia is backing the syrian leader russia is saying that europe is trying to interfere so do you think there can be a compromise between russia and the west in the middle east policy the compromise here is not on syria syria is secondary and the whole thing a power game which which is being. which is developing in the near east and where europe russia and that state is very much involved i would say the

big question is here about the future world order and here of course the germans don't understand the russian position they think that russia is backing the syrian leader what is from my point of view not true russia. is not backing. out and syria is not such a big friend of russia what is true is that has to be understood understood here in the west that russia does not want to help the west to create new when you let a world order where nato would act as a policeman that can leave yesterday and tomorrow in syria because nato or nato states decides who is civilian and who is a good guy here in the world in the world politics and this is what russia wants to prevent and here russia is very close to connect of course with china china has the same interest to create the multipolar world where there will be many centers of power and where there will be no single made center which would make decisions to

punish and whom not if you miss a miss misbehaves in world affairs you know if if i could. rightly my impression is that the europe and germany as one is not also very very much interested in becoming a policeman anyway including the middle east because they are if it's a uni polar world is going to be doing that it states not nato. the problem only it will live in the in a new world concerning information strategies information communications the role of the media has grown. very extensively in the past couple of years and those pictures which are being produced by the western media us are being very becoming guidelines for politicians what i want to say that if you see more and more pictures of what is happening in syria as this massacre which

took place there a couple of weeks ago you can close your eyes as a petition because of the societies your elites demand that you do something with that because people don't don't want to see it they think that this is a criminal act that this is a genocide what is happening in syria as a genocide which from the point of view of the west what's happening in libya and the force of politicians to react if the politicians don't react they loose or sort of the look simple little sympathies here and also power so in a certain way this is a very complicated game between media images which are being created the politicians have to react says i mean sound is rather prominent german political spotlight will be back after to take a short break so stay with us. if

you're following the phone line. but back and part of. it goes back to a time when people would bite out of their forces in the wild and pick up future dates and put them into the sheriff for prosecution. and when they go out there he comes when. you have to hope that nothing. good. but we're chasing killers and you gotta keep that in mind others a to me a dollar bill pretty risky. but not super hero they can be killed to you know they shoot me in the head i'm going to die. and. once you put it on you and i

never go back to hide anything else. welcome back to spotlight i'm not and my guest on the show today is alex on the ground a prominent german political analyst we're talking about the recent recent visit to

germany and also about the first moves in the foreign policy of the newly elected russian president mr rouse. you just mentioned the the first steps in the reaction here in germany to the first steps of mr putin after his visit to berlin he came back to moscow and he met with the europeans in st petersburg rather where he was insisting that europe should abolish these as for russians and in moscow it was seen as the main international go for this. for this term of enough is do you believe this will happen. should look into the our hosts and then they will detect that putin made the proposal of abolish visas back in two thousand to ten years ago so it has been his agenda of his first term and of his second term and it was. a presidency which also was devoted to the bushing of visas

between the european union and russia but we know that there are problems. many technical problems in this regard. which some have to be solved i think it's a nonsense and i said it on many occasions before that representatives of the let in american countries of course united states canadians israelis can travel to europe without results even some representatives of northern african countries school could go with obvious us to france of spain but russians are craniums and belarusian i think that situation must change and my guess is that until the soccer championship in russia in eighteen. this visa issue will be solved our german ex foreign minister your fish said recently that merkel leaves europe to ruin with her austerity measures well at how do these measures serve her popularity do you think that there is

a probability that miracle will follow sarkozy and berlusconi. we are now in a very interesting moment when this austerity policy which was conducted and developed by mrs america and the conservative french president sarkozy may change that maybe another compromise everything looks like a compromise where there are two measures that will remain in place but will be mixed with some kind of other policies of supporting grows in europe that includes more government changing maybe maybe even more money printing we are still in a very deep crisis and the solution is now that. when you see we are in a clearly germany earlier in the u.n. germany of course germany is also in the crisis of can't avoid this enjoy many years in the crisis but what should be said about greece and spain so there could be. the greeks are somewhere else the burden of the crisis but europe is in the crisis but europe is not falling apart and they are scenarios of what might happen

i mean one of the scenarios which is widely discussed in europe is a change of the euro zone i mean greece will leave the euro zone but poland will become a member of this euro zone a stone member of this or as old sweden will enter the results will no catastrophe i think will happen the problem is that if the aura zone will change and greece will leave and the south some countries will also maybe have problems and staying there or a zones like italy spain and portugal we will deal with a different europe we are you talking about greece leaving the euro zone is something normal but many other people including financial risk would say this is faster this is the end of the euro well there are already troubles and i and the markets today here you don't see it as a catastrophe i mean not you personally but german the germany in general greece makes two percent of the european economy. and greece will not suffer

badly if they go out of the euro of the depths which. they accumulated. will be forgiven anyway this was the main reason why we kept greece in the aura zone for the past three years or so probably some experts were right in saying the degree was had to borrow your earlier nobody do if after greece other countries will fall or it will be because if even conservative david cameron the british prime minister called the e.u. governments to create a budget union in order to save the euro would germany approve such decision because they will have to to pay the biggest sure thank you for the advice mr cameron but you yourself are almost leaving the european union because you don't want to do anything with with this sort of problems. which which we have. but. this is the way this is the way how the german politicians and german salit see it

more europe better than less europe because it will now stop in the process of building of a common european states of the danger is that we will fall back into the national states in europe because europe will not bind countries together and there who are wholly idea of europe will suffer and we are in a very decisive moment in the in the next months where politicians have to take right decisions i see in the the decisive moments and then european politics today because the relations between germany and france are going to have a very strange you know better than me and they they will never easy but the two countries for five of the last decade they were the main driving force behind the european union now when when merkel last sarah because e as a closest ally do you think new problems may appear between germany and france if you argue politically then you can say that yes there is

a danger that france will become the leader of the so-called south against the. austerity policy of mrs america in the norse of europe but at the same time i mean every normal thinking european will face of the german french malta or the german french allies alliance is the key alliance for europe and if this breaks apart then the whole european idea that the german french motor and the german french alliance and corporation is very important and if you look back to the police or past even twenty years you always have seen even attempts even by the french to say that if things will go bat let's start to create the common a common state together those germans in order to safe europe what i would argue is that in germany and in france is a dia of keeping this europe as it is even strength and it's it's key it's still without us turn it if and it will stay for a couple of time is there such

a thing as euro skepticism i mean as a serious thing in germany is there sort of a year for the business market for example i don't protect it in germany because the germans so far have won from the oral because germany is producing something here on its territory. other than other countries in europe who do not do this and germany can sell its products on a much larger interior european market so a lot of people benefit from this and look at the numbers in germany yes i told you before we are in a crisis we're in a crisis because the middle class is suffering from too many taxations from all this money which it has to pay for everything but on the same time we don't have a mess and employment like in spain or in italy or in porto go or in greece we have some perspective on the global markets there is we have we don't have

a radical party like in greece or and some other countries which could be elected to the top of germany. there is more stability in the than elsewhere in germany and this might be a very good also sign for europe that there is still a good chance then the worst there will be hopefully soon over what about the nationalistic problem i mean as we saw as the recent russian campaign in france has shown us. politics is becoming pretty and emetic in europe and this is worrying for many people do you have signs of that in germany is that what we know anti semitic i disagree i mean this is this is not what i see but. muslim. say for a nurse. other. it's a key problem maybe in countries where you have mass unemployment where people are losing any kind of perspective for what to do how to live in future but not in germany because i said there's not no unimproved no must look to look at all

elections we have elections every year in on the federal level every four years but we have elections regularly lections in. the communes where the criminal level and the lender and you don't see any radical party coming up lately more stability than elsewhere thank you thank you very much mr just reminded of my guest on the show today was alexander rock prominent german political analyst that's it for now for the spotlight will be back with more firsthand comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take.

outside is number two calls on militants across the world to join syria's rebels in their fight against the assad regime this statement comes in an undated video broadcast a week after washington claimed he'd been killed in a drone strike. european football's governing body condemns violence surrounding the poland russia match at the euro two thousand and twelve championships polish fans attacked russian supporters before the game and then clashed with police afterward around one hundred fifty poles and twenty four russians were arrested. and while julian assange the way to bring the supreme court decision on whether it will reopen his extradition case kamal's a new bill that could prevent potential whistleblowers from speaking out. up next the big picture with thom hartmann stay with us.

alonzo marmont of washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight the big picture. psychiatrist dr justin frank the same man who analyzed presidents bush and obama as analyzed mitt romney and says romney is comfortable line in part because of the way he was raised in his mormon faith because the real reason why romney can't tell the truth to something much more simple and to make him unfit to be president also is republicans will win in november with out the help of illegal vote purges and what exactly is mitt romney's plan for health care reform in america that and more into nights alone liberal rubble and depending on the outcome of this week's elections greece may soon be departing from the euro and facing even greater financial crisis this be the best move for the greeks or is there another way for them to save their economy and rebuild their nation.