this is the prevalent. in syria they decide it's impossible i let those escalating as international peace efforts stumble with kofi anon heading for the exit and the un has slammed its own security council fold failing to unite and walk out a solution to the syrian crisis. the trial of the russian punk group pussy riot evokes a chorus of responses from also sound politicians from all around the world the three members could spend up to seven days in prison for performing an anti brutal stunt in the country's main all to expose the trail. around on to the regime prowse has sought gatherings also in the gulf region saudi arabia's crown down on the

descent into claiming more lives while dozens have been arrested and intraday in bahrain where demonstrators demanded more freedoms from a small. now the u.s. is considered by many to be a place of high living standards but critics claim the notion of general wells and well being is an illusion and he talks to these in you on health economist and renowned american statistician dr howard friedman for his views on these social and financial ills of his country. in the promised land of stars and stripes us presidents have always reminded citizens how lucky they are and where people of every background can work hard and reasons are dreams the old fashioned american dream thank you yes we are the justice i don't call an america is an exceptional nation of freedom and opportunity

and the story of america reads much differently when facts are taken into account the measure of a nation is a new book comparing america against thirteen other wealthy nations to see where in fact the u.s. stance author dr howard stephen friedman sat down with r.t. i mean it was initiated by a conversation with my cousin when they were discussing the patient care and affordable care act patient patient protection and affordable care act and he had been defending the current system in america saying that it's the best in the world and i asked him how do you know that and his response was well i have no idea interestingly just a couple days afterwards i was doing some of my work at the united nations and i was looking at the human development report and it dawned on me that the data to compare the united states to other wealthy countries is readily available you can look at it you can see how we're doing and from there you can identify if we're doing better or worse and in the areas we're not doing as well one of the lessons

we can learn from other countries so when you do the comparison what you find is overall the united states doesn't do that well on health safety democracy and equality we get some of the lowest rankings for education roughly in the middle but one of the disappointing factors is we used to be one of the best in most of those categories in the case of social mobility you found that america is not the land of opportunity it promises to be as a matter of fact you say countries such as canada and germany. rank better than america what exactly did you find out this is what i found to be one of the most surprising results of the book i grew up believing in the american dream work as hard as you can and you can go anywhere and it's true some people really do move up from work classes to the wealthiest but the chances of moving are much lower than in other wealthy countries someone who was born in the poorest part of the united states not just geographically but the segment of the population chances of them

moving just even out of that group are almost fifty percent that is almost fifty percent of those people are going to stay there and the rags to riches story going from the poorest to the richest group is lower in the united states than the other wealthy countries for which there is data that shocked me so what happens to this so-called american exceptionalism the country prides itself on where you know american exceptionalism is really a tough concept because at some level there's almost it's almost a faith it's a denial of facts i'm just looking at the side deals from a religious point of view and i find american exceptionalism as an argument to look at what i call competitive intelligence for america as a problem because people they would say well the united states is exceptional you can't compare us and i view that as just a self-defense mechanism or just a way of someone trying to maintain blissful ignorance on the other hand a frightening reality according to your facts is how america's level of inequality

compares to europe and other wealthy nations so when you talk about income inequality there's really two measures there's what's called the pre adjustment and the post adjustment period just meant is just that roi income you earned post adjustment is after you paid taxes and after the government has provided supports welfare social security as it turns out the us has the highest level of income inequality both pre and post adjustment why the. it's true is an interesting question this level of inequality has gone much larger over time as we've seen changes in the pay structure the weakening of the unions degradation of the minimum wage in the united states as compared to other countries so a lot of factors are affecting that pre tax income inequality but for the post tax income inequality it's all about many of the changes that happened in our tax laws there was a time where we really had

a very progressive tax system now with capital gains taxes being taxed much lower than regular income with hedge fund managers earning millions and sometimes billions and paying fifteen percent look for example at mitt romney a man has earned many many millions last year you paid a tax rate that was probably half of what you caved in case our viewers are interested you found japan spain korea and italy to be among those nations to have the best levels of wealth inequality switching gears how does america's democracy compare to other wealthy nations that's another one that's problematic there was a time where i think it was fair to say the u.s. was a leader we came up with that constitution the declaration of independence the whole idea of a modern representative government but now we've slowed down if you look at our turnout for voters it's one of the lowest of any wealthy country at the same time our two party system with

a winner take all single seat election is unusual most countries don't do that and the reason why is that type of election ends up alienating a lot of voters most countries use proportional representation where the representatives in congress actually reflect the voting they also use other systems such as preferential voting where you rank order your votes so that if i have a candidate i like but maybe they're not from the largest party i could still vote for that candidate and not have to worry about my vote being discarded to. any other wealthy nation allow private money to fund and fuel presidential elections the way the united states does i didn't specifically look at that but i can't underestimate the impact of money on the american political system and in fact there's some interesting analysis done by political scientists that showed that people from the top third of the economic class have a very strong voice and government people in the middle third have

a weak voice in government and it showed that people in the bottom third of the economic group the united states have no measurable influence and that's hype of information is powerful and if you look at the politics of many other countries around the world it's shocking to think that there would ever be true the voice of people who are in the poorest third of their nation still have a powerful voice and i think that's a real challenge in american democracy is to make sure that we really are in a world of one person one vote instead of dollar equals vote are you hopeful that the candidates currently running for president could make any reforms or changes that would elevate america to better global position right now i'm not terribly optimistic in the reason why is there hindered by a few things and the factors that i think are preventing the united states to from really moving forward or one most americans just aren't aware of how we're doing they're just not aware of our situation they think we're doing much better than we

are the second is complacency. we're relatively comfortable in our world situation so people aren't dying in the streets so there's not a as much of a passion to see change the third one which is very important our democratic process really resists change if you look at our structure of government it's basically designed to not move much and it unfortunately suppress the voice of a lot of the americans who really could benefit from change so we have those factors that are all playing in the last factor is there are groups in america who've benefited greatly from some of the issues that we have that are preventing us from being great in health or from excelling in education or safety or democracy or equality and those groups that have benefited well they're going to do their best to protect their profits that's the free market. it's not just corporations though for instance the two party system in america right that's not a system that enables lots of americans to have their voice heard but at the same

time those two parties will defend a two party system so corporations are certainly one aspect but even the groups that are benefiting from our political system will defend the current political system and i give you a great example. for the presidential debates there's a committee that was brought in that said you have to have at least fifteen percent polling before certain dates to participate the only reason why that rule was put in place at that high level was to prevent third parties from being on that stage with the candidates of romney and obama the american government has always position to itself as a global leader of human rights and justice however you say that the u.s. is the least peaceful wealthy nation what exactly do you mean by that what we looked at was crime rates we looked at incarceration rates those are internal measures of safety at the same time i also took

a look at external that is our military spending our tendency to have extra wars so internally looking at measures of violence and crime and extremely the type of safety the war interactions and as you look at it what you see is our incarceration rate is multiples higher than any other wealthy country at the same time our murder rate is much higher one of the things that most americans don't realize is our gun policy is completely different from any other wealthy country at least the ones i included but when we talk about external military interaction we need to reflect on the fact that the united states plays a very different role than other countries the other countries that i compare in my book many from western europe canada for your pain and south korea they receive somewhat of the protection of the united states so that's the one example in the book where the actions the united states takes really do impact the actions of

other countries by the united states spending far more on military and being at least viewing itself as more of armed to protect many of these countries it ends up letting those other countries spend less and that's exactly what you see in the dynamics. in what areas does the u.s. find itself in a leading position among other wealthy nations there are a few areas where we excel we have some of the best colleges in the world so that tertiary education are graduate schools are outstanding some of the strongest in the world our hospitals our technology overall is world class and overall those types of advantages i would draw as the best talent in the world here students come here in order to learn and hopefully we can keep the opportunities for them not only to arrive here but for them to stay our technology that allows us to innovate and create some great companies that still exist and are entrepreneurship the

government rules that allow us to create new companies and to patent things really as outstanding u.s. universities and hospitals may be excellent but if the student debt bubble is above one trillion dollars and roughly fifty million citizens are living without health care how are americans benefiting from their nation's excellence they're all emblematic of one of the things that's true about the united states which is we have the extremes of excellence and a public system that seems to drift behind if you take education our undergraduate school or some of the best in the world and they're really expensive that's a challenge so it's only accessible to a certain percentage of the population but for those who can access it they're excellent our graduate schools same thing our medical system for those who can afford it we really do have a great health system our public health system is way behind that's all the time we

have dr friedman thank you very much for sitting down to speak with r.t. my pleasure thank you very much. i mean. when you take. for chargers free. range month three. free studio types free pledge download free blogs just plug in video for your media projects a free media dog r.t. dot com.

he's told stories in syria the decisive battle for aleppo is escalating as international peace efforts stumble with a mediator kofi annan has in for the exit. of the security council failing to unite and work out a solution to the syrian crisis at. the trial of the russian punk group who see a rise of rogue said chorus of responses from artists and politicians from all around the world the three members could spend up to seven days in prison for performing an anti putin stunt in the country's naples this cathedral. the regime closure has a gathering seals in the gulf region saudi arabia's crown down on dissenters claiming more lives while dozens have been arrested and injured in bahrain where demonstrators demanded more freedoms from its morning. headlines and right now you

know scale of this force and you know i guess if russia and paeans were at school their report would read must try harder yes indeed or stop smoking behind the bike shed because there was twenty plus gold medals up for grabs on saturday russia didn't win any of them but still absorbing day all out ahead right now. thanks for joining us this is plenty indeed ahead including the stories in bree. serina williams claims olympic gold in ladies tennis blitzing maria sharapova in a totally one sided affair or in wimbledon. the saints go marching in petersburg maintain their perfect start to the russian premier league season with victory over a fellow. russian roulette.

irish audiences with a thrilling routine to leave the stage of the cliff diving world. team russia have come up short all by gold in triumph on the day of the london games but there was plenty of silver lining for the country our correspondent richard dunne poured fleet's who's in london has more on russia's performance thus far. four silvers and a bronze was russia's medal hold on day aides of the london two thousand and twelve olympics however there may be a feeling that they could have done a little bit better when they die and boy a mixture of missed opportunities and bad luck but maria sharapova was looking to complete what would have been a golden cents at an olympic gold medal for different grand slams but she's won so far in her career however she was blown away in straight sense why serena williams six love six one the school there has been american breeze to victory in just over

an hour as sharapova had to settle for the silver medal there was some unexpected success for russia and the badminton women's doubles. i mean of these managed to win a bronze medal for russia haven't really had much success in this sport in the past and in fact this was the first ever badminton medal that they had managed to win of the olympics. was. the bronze medal match was nerve wracking but we managed to get our emotions under control we didn't want to finish fourth as we knew we would leave london without a medal however we played well and were the superior team of the day against our canadian opponents and i'm really happy that we managed to get a medal for a country to do it the opinion that the wall there were true silver medals for russia in the aphoristic city limbic stadium tatyana chernova salvaged a silver medal in the women's heptathlon following a good last eight hundred meters was still a long way behind the eventual winner i was just kenyan is right in britain. to shine the cupboard got a silver medal for russia in the discus fortune he was

a major hope for russia but two thousand and eight olympic champion fainted just two kilometers from home in the men's twenty kilometer war he had been taken to hospital under be kept there overnight but his condition is more serious but better news for russia's men's basketball team who continue their find them and so far as may be the reigning european champions spain seventy seven seventy four a russian i have four and i know. and according to all if you wayne is leaving this clue russia has certainly going to be one of the many contenders for a medal i'm not surprised the go you know coach and a good coach the. pretty a pretty good system there's a lot of players you know i don't think. the. course is a whole different. system is. it's

a lot of go it was an hour or so of russia in the weight lifting how does one even all finishing second in the mind kilogram category but for the first time of these olympics gold. so the bronze takes russia's medal tally to twenty eight so far at these games but they'll be desperately looking to try and just the free golds that they have won so far here in london richard all see. richard up past his bedtime there are no elsewhere on saturday a world record holder you say in both wasn't quite his imperious best in qualifying for the one hundred meters men's semifinals the defending champion clocking by his standards a sluggish time of ten point zero nine seconds the jamaican nevertheless winning his qualifying event american ryan sent out a signal of intent after running the fastest time ever in olympic eight coming through in a blistering nine point eight eight seconds the fast track in east london allowing his competitor just. ten seconds and nine point nine seven wayne chambers who is

only competing for great britain after reeling from the court of arbitration for sport overturned a british ban also qualified first on the semi's running ten point zero. meanwhile the reigning men's four hundred meters champion the title defense is the american polling off injured in his heat courtesy of a recurring hamstring injury the twenty six year old suffered a similar problem in the diamond league meet in monaco three weeks before the games but even quote conflicts hours of treatment were unable to prevent the problem flaring up once again. staying at the four hundred metres where oscar pistorius has created history this. african becoming the first amputee to compete in the olympic games the story is reaching the semifinals after finishing second is. to now

stand on an equal all we knew. you moved i dreamed to be as being lazy motion before you and i. know you will. have repercussions. to their pride potentially one of the biggest stars of the games has arrived in london with question marks hanging over his fitness former one hundred ten metre hurdles world record holder new zhang pulled out of a dominant meet last month with a back injury pace coach says there are no concerns over a foot problem two thousand and four champion john missed the beijing games with a similar kind. of people our departure from germany you had an examination of his food by german doctor who told us the danger is not a big problem to put how well he can until it's no serious the point is i think we'll have some medical experts to have a check and used in the olympic village do you also will try to just the situation

through training so the next couple of days sure that's a challenge to. the football russian premier league champions and have dealt an early blow to title rival saskin moscow the same petersburg squad not a three one win away in the russian capital and finished fifteen points ahead of sasco last season on have already put clear daylight between themselves on the army man and this campaign the match as good as over after just half an hour serious and not topping home alexander project off cross just ten minutes in three minutes later it was two nil this time so moch was brought down in the box allowing for jack off a chance to hit home his fourth goal three matches this season. confusion in the sask box after that so lots of luck to seal the points on thirty two minutes leave in case. zuki honda strike before halftime and near consolation three wins from three for the reigning champions and. have secured their first

win since returning to the top flight and in some style to the. fit going to tun on terra grozny the wind aided by the dismissal of turku keeper on tunnel change after just two minutes of first half brace from brazilian to neil necco a strike from thomas pristine on bloody near caution putting the visitors the hosts i should say for neil oppa half time this is then had another man sent off for arson. completed the scoring in injury time five millenia with i. the opposite side of the equation for locking on t.v. moscow on the day the real women seeing their one hundred percent start to the season shattered by f.c. crust nadar out the spitefully pick a c.d.o. putting investors ahead of ninety minutes but the home side of the german to life in the second half an early own goal from the public change. from the corner

here was followed by conferred a penalty and fifty six minutes the tie then put to bed by a contender for goal of the month ten minutes from time armenian international euro . showing his class here three one cross the dar to move up the second local. real madrid's christiane rinaldo says he hasn't ruled out the possibility of playing in america one day the portuguese star is currently in the u.s. but they collect the codes on a pre-season campaign on the twenty seven year old says he could follow in the footsteps of david beckham who swapped madrid for the m.l.s. . and i think to the song you know they do it's the best i can and i think it is good but they can they can be better so. if i can help to be a bit of soccer here i can help but i think it's. great they are in the good and the good way and coming you know it's

a play when they. finally jumping off perlis rock faces for a living is something that might not appeal to many but for the cliff diving world series for turner the that's what gets them up in the morning welcome to initial more a small island off the west coast of ireland the stunning area played host to stage five of the red bull world series on saturday stunning africa. nine time champion randy showed just why he had dominated the sport for so long with a dazzling dive but even that wasn't enough there in the colombian top spot instead he had to play second fiddle to this man archon still chained to the russian claiming back to back wins in the competition for the first time with a electrifying new dive back armstrong with a blind entry earning him right across the board now sits third in the standings baltic states on words to be as yours for the penultimate stage.

credible stuff that is all your sport i'll be back in just under two hours time with more. well for the future of science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. wealthy british style seinfeld's not on. the. markets why not scandals. find out what's really happening to the global economy in the kinds of reports on our.