hello and welcome to the weekly this is our team in syria the decisive battle for aleppo is escalating as international peace suffer a stumble with mediator kofi anon heading for the exit and the un has slammed its own security council for failing to unite and work out a solution to the syrian crisis and. the trial of the russian punk group pussy riot evokes a chorus of responses from artists town politicians from all around the world the three members could spend up to seven years in prison for performing and stand in the country's main orthodox cathedral. and the regime protests are gathering force

in the gulf region saudi arabia's crackdown on dissent is claiming more lives while dozens have been arrested and injured while praying for demonstrators demand more freedoms from its monarchy the u.s. is considered by many to be a place of high living standards but critics claim the notion of general wealth and well being is just an illusion archie talks now to a leading un health economist and renowned americans to titian dr howard friedman for his views on the 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 we want to serve drinks the old fashioned american dream thank you yes we are

just the same i don't think america is an exceptional nation of freedom and opportunity and i hope this 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. stands 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 so 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 in 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 there's almost a faith it's a denial of facts and 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 y. that. 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 the. 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 us 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 our 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 extremely 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 are 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 our team my pleasure thank you very much. everyone wants to be pretty. whether they're an old lady drugs. but it might be quite tricky to get a from c. code. because you live around here in siberia. and the only way to get to you is by train.

in syria all the decisive battle for aleppo is escalating as international peace efforts with mediator kofi annan heading for the exit and the un has slammed its own security council for failing to unite and work out a solution to the syrian crisis. the trial of the russian punk group pussy riot evokes a chorus of responses from artists and politicians from around the world the three members could spend up to seven years in prison for performing in the top of the sun and the country's main orthodox cathedral. anti regime protests are gathering force in the gulf region saudi arabia's crackdown on dissent is claiming more lives

while dozens have been arrested and injured and crying for demonstrators demand more freedoms from its monarchy. here's the union with the latest sports news and of course the games in london are taking center stage this month but plenty of action pitch side in russia too there certainly is the russian premier league is in full swing we're now in week three and we've got a couple of clear leaders. including champions need some petersburg we're going to have a look at how the vig on current in just a sec. thanks for joining us this is sports there we have got plenty ahead few including all this . class on grass arena williams claims olympic gold in ladies tennis blitzing maria sharapova in a totally one sided affair the. saints go marching on the meets

in petersburg maintain their perfect start to the russian premier league season the victory over fellow title hopefuls. and russian roulette. wows iris audiences with a thrilling routine at the latest stage of the cliff diving world series. that started at the olympics in london where russia came up short of a golden triumph on the if day of the games but there were at least a few silver linings for the country richard dunne port fleet has more on sundays up sunday on starting on the tennis court. but maria sharapova was looking to complete what would have been a golden saints were 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 by serena williams six love six one the school there has been american breeze to victory in just over an hour and sharapova had to settle for the silver medal or there was some unexpected success for russia in 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 a b. olympics. 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 the medal for our country to do it the opinion that it does tell the children or salvage the medal with the women's heptathlon following a good last eight hundred meters but was still a long way behind the eventual winner i was just going to miss rain brits and. to shine the cupboard got a silver medal for russia in the discus mobility fortune he was a major hope for russia but the 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 and to be kept there overnight but his condition is more serious but better news for russia's men's basketball team who continue their fine tallman 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 you a misleading is clear russia has certainly going to be one of the many many contenders for a medal a most are pro the. no code they go to. produce a pretty good system that puts a lot of players no i don't think. the. of course it's 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 not for the first time of these olympics. in. london.

where on saturday a world record holder you same boat was in quite his imperious best in qualifying for the one hundred meters men's semifinals the defending champion clocking by his standards somewhat sluggish time of ten point zero nine seconds the jamaican nevertheless winning his qualifying event american ryan bailey sent out a signal of intent after running the fastest time ever in an olympic heat coming through in a blistering nine point eight eight seconds to the fast track in east london allowing his cum patreus justin gatlin to ten seconds in nine point nine seven chambers who is only competing for team g.b. in northern ireland to offer a ruling from the court of arbitration for sport overturned a british ban also qualify for some of the sammies running ten point zero two. meanwhile the title defense of men's four hundred meters champ in the sean merits

is over the american polling off injured in his he heard of see a recurring home string injury the twenty six year old a similar problem in the diamond league meet in monaco three weeks before the games but even quote conflicts hours of treatment are unable to prevent the problem fairing up once again. staying with the four hundred meters for oscar pistorius has created history the south african becoming the first amputee to compete in the olympic games this story is reaching the semifinals after finishing second in his home. too. now most unequal of. you. you who i dream to be as being lazy motion before you and i. do. have compassion. to their pride. pride they're

one of the potentially biggest stars of the games has arrived in london but with question marks hanging over his fitness former one hundred ten meter hurdle world record holder pulled out of a diamond league meet last month with a back injury his coach says there are no concerns over a foot problem two thousand and four champion john missed the beijing games with a similar thing. that brings us to football where russian premier league champions need to have dealt an early blow to title rivals ask them also the same petersburg squad recording a three one win away in the russian capital is an eight finished fifteen points ahead of saskia last season and have already put clear daylight between themselves on the army men in this campaign the much as good as over after just half an hour surrogates simak topping home an alexander to push back off cross just ten minutes in three minutes later it was to know this time smoke was brought down in the box

allowing for jack off the chance to hit home his fourth goal and three matches this season confusion in the cisco box would then allow us to mark to seal the points on thirty two minutes leaving to sixty five hundred strike before half time a mere consolation three wins from three for the reigning champions and. have secured their first win since returning to the top flight in some style to the fit go into town and to wreck grozny their task aided by the special of tara goalkeeper. after just two minutes the first half brace from brazilian daniel necco plus tracks from to my. caution putting a life for up at half time visitors then how another month sent off for arson. completed the spring in injury time five mill. was how it ended up.

the opposite side of the equation for luck on the day the railway men seeing a one hundred percent start to the season shattered by f.c. clusters are that the spy flip a casino putting the visitors ahead in one thousand minutes but the home side of it would jump into life in the second half an early own goal coming up from the public chunka from the corner kick was followed by converted the new penalty on fifty six minutes. the time i then put to bed by a contender for goal of the month ten minutes from time armenian international europe must show his trust on trust and dar to move up the second local for us to i real madrid christiane rinaldo says he has not ruled out the possibility of playing in america one day the portuguese star is currently in the u.s. with the clock to close on a pre-season campaign on the twenty seven year old says he could follow in the footsteps of david beckham his top madrid for the m.l.s. and i think. you know they do it's the best i can i think is is good but they can

they can be better so if if i can help to be a better soccer here i can help but i think it's. great they are in the good and the good way and the coming year to play when they. definitely made for l.a. that guy now over in the green jim furyk did just enough to secure a one shot lead heading into the final round of the bridgestone invitational the forty two year old finishing with an even par seventy on the day to remain on course for his first p.g.a. victory in almost two years the twenty ten p.g.a. player of the year watching his soul birdie on the second hole negated by a bogey on the twelfth the american breaking even the rest of the way twenty twelve masters runner up really is one shot but one of his three birdies coming here in the twelve to twenty nine year old south african force on track for his third of the year here bradley hasn't lifted a trophy since the twenty eleven p.g.a.

championship but the american finds himself in range for strokes. and finally jumping off perilous rock faces for a living is something that might not appeal to many but for the cliff diving world series for eternity it's what gets them up in the morning welcome to in a 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 efforts with the course nine time champion of the complex two k. here showing just why he had dominated the sport for so long with a dozen dive but even that's wasn't enough to earn the colombian top spot instead he had to play second fiddle to arch and still change the russian coming back to back wins in the competition for the first time within the electrifying new dive bok armstrongs on the blind entry earning him tens across the board that results means he sits third in the standings will do tastings top all words now if he is or

is for the world to make. someone buy arch him a whisky for that is all your sports flow whether it's next year and twenty four hour party. well. science technology innovation all the developments from around russia we've got the future are covered.