the course candidates for the american presidency prepare to make that last pitch to voters here. bypassing a long standing media embargo. a string of deadly explosions rock syria a suicide bomber detonated himself in the flashpoint come up province and children are reportedly among those killed by a fresh blast in damascus. plus greece is set for a week's freeze as workers across the board kick off strikes against austerity. vote on new cuts to satisfy international many.

international news and comment live from the new center here in moscow this is r.t. almost thirty million americans have already cost their vote for president queuing for hours at polling stations across the country although too soon to tell which way the voters barack obama and mitt romney locked together according to most polls but lost in the rivalry between republican and democrat all of the alternatives that many americans have longed for. here it is the venue for the next presidential debate with the alternative candidates in this election our studio in washington d.c. though it's not very big as you can see it will make sure there is lots of room for discussion on issues that somehow don't fit into the mainstream media discourse here alternatives to obama and romney have effectively been pushed out of the major national debates we ask how and why they. pushed out and quite literally jule styne presidential nominee from the green party was the rest of them

on the day of the second presidential debate between mitt romney and barack obama in mid october right outside the venue where it took place she was there protesting her exclusion from the debate we were tightly bound with plastic restraints and tied to chairs for eight hours for daring to stand up and demand open debates turnout of presidential candidates had their own debate in chicago they brought up issues which the big party candidates never came close to discussing like the legislation signed by president obama which allows the government to indefinitely detain american citizens without charge or due process it's an incredible the trail of our civil liberties on foreign policy the alternative candidates argue there's practically no difference between mitt romney and barack obama regardless of whether or not romney gets elected or obama gets elected three things are going to happen we're going to find ourselves with

a continued heightened police state in this country we're going to find ourselves continuing to militarily intervene in the world which results has resulted in hundreds of millions of enemies to this country that wouldn't otherwise exist the similarity of views that president obama and mitt romney showed during their foreign policy debate became a matter of numerous jokes on foreign policy it appears that all that's left for the presidential race is this one model. i mean at least we still get our choice of color but if. the us mainstream media are entirely focused on the two party race the majority of americans know very little if anything about alternatives jule styne of the green party why sit down with before her arrest is not going to be represented on ballot papers in every state the american system is designed to eliminate political opposition like some of the you know dictatorships that we

criticize that have rigged political systems in many ways the american system is also rigged but in ways that are not as straightforward and with the like of interest from the mainstream media smaller parties see the deck stacked against them in a national vote but not only are americans stuck with a two word phrase but they're also not guaranteed to get the president to the majority cast their votes for in a us presidential election a candidate can win the majority of the popular vote and still lose the election because it's not the popular vote but the electoral college that decides the outcome of the presidential election here so how does it work every state but made in nebraska gives the candidate a certain number of points and the winner has to collect the magic number two hundred seventy points even if a candidate loses a state by just say three votes they get zero points that's how george w. bush won the election in the year two thousand although he lost in the popular vote he won due to the tricky state to stay score system according to gallup poll

a record forty percent of americans now identify themselves as independents the chief of the federal election commission on the george w. bush michael toner told me in the us electoral system they don't have much choice if you moved away from a winner take all electoral system and once or proportional representation i think you would have far more successful political parties here in the states because there are a large number of americans actually the most. most of the biggest share biggest increase in voter registration today in america is not democrats it's not republicans it's independents if you look at the states large numbers of people now are identifying it as an independent now they often will vote pretty reliably republican or democrat but that's a pretty good indication that there's a million tens of millions of people who if they had their choice might pick another party but one group that stands to win from the lack of choice spurred the

corporations that contribute lavishly to political campaigns trying to buy support for their companies what we have in this country in many respects is covert corruption legalise corruption in the political system itself being held hostage by special interests is a form of corruption each candidate on the republican and democratic side now spend nearly a billion dollars each in order to get to the white house i mean i think our founding fathers would be spinning if in their graves if they could see this while in office mr toner oversaw a campaign finance of the elections the most sophisticated companies what they do is they're in good shape no matter who wins right they hire lobbyists on both sides of the aisle they often make political contributions both sides of the aisle this is called hedging your bets here in america as you would say in las vegas. and in vegas as they say no matter how you play it the house always wins speaking of us

alike sions one could say no matter how you vote business as usual wins it won't be business as usual during the alternative candidate is the bait this monday night the candidates will be here in this studio were chosen by online voters as the winners of the last third party debate held in chicago about two weeks ago we brought has that debate live no mainstream us news channel did so an important point to make here is that by giving a media platform to these candidates does not mean that we endorsing their views it's an honor for us to host the event. we're trying to show what others don't and we also think it's going to get a lot of viewers you're welcome to be one of them i certainly well from our debate ready or almost ready studio here in washington i'm going to check out. well for perspective on what exactly the third party candidates have to offer let's talk to mike harris he's managing director of a.m.t. capital partners another third party candidates they they have ideas radically different from the two mainstream parties do americans really show

a readiness to embrace such change. now is not merely a readiness americans are clamoring for such change and let me correct a statement you made we don't have a two party system we have the illusion of a two party system currently we have a one party system because if you look at the two major parties and look at the two major candidates to look at who is contributing the money to them if you look at their top ten contributors the same on both sides so you no matter who wins the corporations and the major contributors always wears that's the bottom line it's not two party system it merely an illusion but isn't it hard for the electorate to break that illusion after all for generations the scene has been dominated by the republicans and democrats so it's very difficult isn't it to overcome the cultural traditional barriers perhaps. well it is it is very difficult and that's one of the obstacles that the alternative candidates have is that the american people have grown up with a two party system but you have to look at the changes in election finance laws

that have affected this. election cycle every electoral cycle and just for background i served as the finance chairman for the republican party in the one thousand nine hundred four election cycle i ran for governor of arizona in two thousand and six so i'm intimately familiar with the obstacles to bringing a third party again. it's it's really assess it before is that the two things that really affected the electoral process is the passage of mccain feingold which has been an unmitigated disaster for the american people and then the recent does supreme court ruling about citizens united were corporations are now considered to be persons and ergo have the freedom of speech that an individual enjoys and that is just a travesty that's wrong so if those parties don't have the financial backing they've got no hope in a bearing in mind of course what we see in a record breaking election campaign in terms of money what a billion dollars each for the two main parties and bearing in mind of course the parties are anti corporate said they're never going to win out on the financial

basis will be or they're not but what we can do as a people is we can deprive the two major parties. voter turnout is very low in the us it may not even get fifty percent of the people voting that's how disgusted that's how sick the people are of this corruption in washington d.c. so if there's less than fifty percent turnout and let's say that the you can siphon enough votes away to a third party candidate so that neither major party candidate romney or obama does even have a majority of the turnout then that's that is a pretty lame excuse and there's no way that either party can claim a mandate just to let them know how then the ice is under their feet how little support they have won public so in effect they need to vote if a third party candidates in the in the swing states could actually do quite a lot that mich. yes they could and i'm counting on it. what about all so many people that i thinking really my votes going to be wasted because there's just no

chance and that's another negative feel is it not in america at the moment well that's a that's a psyop to your vote doesn't count anywhere we've got so what should change in the voting process these electronic voting machines can be rigged just like a slot machine in las vegas so you can you can tell what you know how much you want to pay out so these electronic voting machines they don't correlate with the exit polls or even longer they're not even close so it the you have to infer that there is electronic tampering going on here evidence of this there's been congressional testimony that there has been electronic tampering in the past and i expect the same thing this time as well so the most important thing you can do is deprive the major candidates of your vote so give it to an alternative party candidate if there is an incumbent in another office let's say a senate seat or congressional seat for the challenger get rid of the people that are in there and make sure them all the door when it's time for regime change in

the u.s. ok what was said i'm interested to hear what the party kind of the three have to say in our debate here on our t.v. live late of the day and the meantime mike harris thank you very much indeed for joining us on thank you very much a regulation for having the courage to host host third party debate i really admire that thank you thanks very much indeed. now this is our team coming to you live from the russian capital just remind you as i've just mentioned we are hosting the party kind of the debate here on r.t. and to give you an idea of the time it is at nine pm or two am g.m.t. . will two parties keep us politics a one way street. or will new voices disrupt the power power of the. us if america changes trucks u.s. election clothes guide monday nov fifth on r.t.e. . greece is about to grow into a hole during a week of nationwide strikes against austerity the government is losing support as

they get ready to vote on a new set of tax hikes and spending cuts international lenders demanding the measures before they hand over more bailout cash is in athens. the first demonstrations in strikes against the latest round of austerity measures for greece are under way these people and journalists who've walked out in anger at what they say is unfair measures that are going to be imposed by the somali government on the greek people in order to make the thirteen point five billion euros worth of savings that's being demanded of crease by its three main credit is the so-called troika those thirteen point five billion worth of cuts of beamed demanded in order that greece receives its next round of bailout money a all important thirty billion plus euros worth of cash without which well greece is facing a very painful d. fulton's being kicked out of the euro zone now and they say that the cuts that are

being imposed on them by the government are going to be imposed on them by the government that's up for a vote in the parliament on wednesday that they're totally unacceptable now on tuesday and on wednesday these journalists will be joined by people from all across greece in the parliament the opposition who said that they want to see new elections in greece so unhappy are they with some modest his policies and they all say said that why couldn't the prime minister renegotiate the thirteen point five billion worth of cuts that's been demanded of him or her. he said the reason he couldn't do that is because it wasn't negotiable this is being dictated to greece and that's prompted the opposition to call for the people of the country to rise up peacefully over the coming days and take back their country. deaths in bahrain as four of homemade bombs go off in the capital we bring you one expert's opinion on who could profit from further destabilizing the protests not nation. british

pm david cameron courts of gulf war logs in an effort to sell him over one hundred fighter jets shrugging off criticism of abuses and pointing to decades of friendship what's that after a break. as his day starts at five am even earlier in the winter tending to his flock of three hundred sheep in the mountains and pains of t.v. thirty five years old it wasn't the life he dreamt of having studied accounting but he dition and familiar duty dictated that he would take on the care of these animals after his father has just made camp at their winter found stage setting up his ewart the traditional t.v. and round tent made of disc ins his p.c. back amongst his family as his job is a lonely one and tough going out in all weathers braving streams of plus to minus

forty degrees celsius it's just that i just don't there are certain difficulties there's not enough time for everything i'm almost alone my sister works with my mother my mother is seventy five she's very old and i miss mountains when i'm in town and i spend a lot of time here right now probably so on the survey i said simply carrying out the work that his father did and his father before him nothing has changed over many many centuries and that's half the problem it's hard work and many people don't want to come into in stream now and it's really fit there could die out altogether. it's difficult to manage everything alone i used to have people who helped me but they were no good they didn't take care of the sheep with all their hearts they hurt the cattle dogs. with more people leaving than coming to the countryside the region's government is having to act making the life of a herd and more attractive than promising largest subsidies for produce and livestock and organizing cooperatives for the sale of day products to ensure the

herd a get the highest fair price i asked sympathizes with those youngsters leaving for an easier more profitable life day in their publics capital because ill but he no longer wishes to join them he enjoys his pastoral way of life and looking for a helper who shares his enthusiasm with more time on his hands he says matter of fact he can start to look for a new wife. pati life here in moscow at least fifty syrian soldiers have reportedly been killed in a suicide bombing in the flashpoint hama province while civilians including children are reported dead after a new terrible loss in the capital damascus middle east correspondent paula has more details. three major attacks have taken place across syria on monday in the first a suicide car bomb that killed more than fifty seven soldiers as well as

pro-government gunmen now it happened in the central syrian province of hama and according to reports the attack was carried out by an al qaida inspired islamic militant group states also say that only two people were killed but we have no way of independently verifying this information there are suggestions that at least one ton of explosives was used in the attack in a separate incident in the capital city of damascus in a blast there has killed several people and injured many more among them children it is thought that the cause of that attack was a car bomb and then also on monday a bus attack also in damascus so five people killed three of them children as well as a woman there many bats in which there were traveling was hit by a mortar shell and that that caused this explosion now we do not know who is behind these attacks that circle in the past rebel groups have claimed responsibility for similar such attacks what we have seen as monday

a bloody day of violence in syria where the situation on the ground is intensifying . on the base generous and right at neil kinnock says the latest attacks will join the many previous ones that have been ignored by key international players. the trouble is being caused by groups that are being bought by outside forces with weapons arms coming in from outside these are terrorist attacks by any objective assessment but of course they're not being condemned as such by the western powers the hypocrisy grabbing just imagine if these sort of bomb attacks were going off in reality saudi rarity here in tel aviv in israel and we have pretty much hate it here we cling to it in seconds coming out condemning them they are not doing this we had a bomb outside a nursery school a few weeks ago we had the appalling murder this weekend of a famous syrian actor who was killed he only crime was of course supporting the government in syria i'm so we've got terrorist attacks taking place on a daily basis and not me by the west and i think we all know why. and hundreds

gathered to demand a recount after the parliamentary election in ukraine opposition parties say they're ready to renounce their seats completely to protest against alleged fraud more on that story ahead for you here on r.t. . the first wave of at least five explosions a swept bahrain's capital manama the bombs which exploded in different parts of the city were all homemade and these two people killed in what the government say were terrorist attacks comes amid the kind of regular pro-forma position marches and often end up with riot police resorting to violence to a political analyst from the u.k. economy website patrick police the monarchy will use these attacks as a pretext to suppress opposition and that. it doesn't fit the modus operandi of the reform movement in bahrain says and been done before and also by looking at the victims and the locations it doesn't fit standard terrorist bombings so the government is the one who's benefiting from these blasts and not the protest

movement one should ask that maybe this is a false flag bombing whereby. parts of the government security agencies or mercenaries hired by them have set off the bomb in order to radicalize the protest movement but also to give the government. justification for a heavy crackdown against pro reform movements in bahrain uprisings in places like kuwait in book reign. or i believe there are genuine arab spring uprisings if they're u.s. allies if there's staunch u.s. allies and you see an uprising then there's a high probability that they are genuine uprisings therefore the west will not cover this. the british prime minister david cameron has kicked off his middle east on sales tool pitching to sell more than one hundred fighter jets to gulf monex faced with criticism about his client's human rights record the pm replied by saying he would talk to them about it but as party boy reports there's history between britain and the kings. in the past the british prime minister has spoken

about how britain's interests line up holding the country's values but it was all interests and no talk of values this morning when david cameron touched down in dubai he's going to be trying to sell over one hundred u.k. typhoon fighter jets to the leaders of the united arab emirates and saudi arabia that's despite concerns about person pedaling fighter jets to regimes with questionable human rights records david cameron says he's happy to discuss human rights as well as lucrative rons contracts with countries that he calls old partners but it looks like talk about human rights is familiar rhetoric to justify a long standing tradition of toys to less than squeaky clean gulf states sandhurst military academy behind me last year accepted a three million pound donation from the kingdom of bahrain inside these gates

sandhurst offices train in the new bahrain sports hall even though the bahraini government launched a brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters last yeah a scientist even said the bahraini government and crushing letter thanking them for their generosity the three million pound gift was mildly a break with tradition but it's possible a long standing relationship of reciprocal favors between the bahraini monarchy and strains within the british establishment so it looks like talk of british values is good p.r. when it comes to defending trade links and good relations with countries whose human rights records some would call into question. more stories available for you right now on r.t. dot com a website including big business again read the story of one supermodel and have been planning to stage an elephant polo match for modern tycoons fiftieth birthday

. plus the sun usually colored lobster apparently wants to take part in the latest halloween festivities naturally choosing the perfect costume. ukraine's election commission says it's impossible to determine the results of parliamentary voting in five constituencies suggesting polling in those districts be repeated earlier today opposition protesters gathered at the commission in kiev accusing the ruling party over election fraud of his election. politics in ukraine are back to being a boiling point only a week after the parliamentary election now we understand that the vote counting still continues with more than ninety nine percent of the votes have been counted so far and as it stands it seems that the ruling party will be winning this election and will be gaining the majority in parliament once again but the opposition is believing that this result has been falsified that it's been rigged and on a number of occasions on certain polling stations where the votes were counted have been fist fights and confrontations between between the authorities between the

police and members of the opposition who believe that a result that those particular polling stations were falsified now a thousand around the thousand people have gathered in central kiev near the central election commission to protest against what they believe to be a falsified result and we understand that protests will continue this is only the first action where waiting for the official results from the central action commission to come out and certainly the protests are likely to intensify as the date of the official announcement draws closer the situation is certainly getting more and more tense with holes in the opposition are getting more and more vocal to hand over the mandates to lay down their seats in parliament and thus cancel the result of this election and cause a revote but if the official results if the final result will stand the definitely we're in for a very turbulent new parliament in ukraine because about ten percent of the votes were guarded by the radical right wing nationalist party and this already has

causing lots of controversy in ukraine this party openly supports the insurgent army of one thousand forty's which many believe in ukraine to be nazi collaborators and definitely in the country which suffered greatly from the nazi invasion things like having this party in parliament would definitely cause lots of controllers and we'll probably see more fights in parliament and more heated debates inside the ukraine's highest with the body so it is for the moment sports is next with kate coming up in just a few minutes. a sacred place rising out of the waters of the lake the lawn ministry is home to one hundred fifty orthodox monks mostly younger than thirty five and they've come from

many different places and backgrounds to live in isolation here spiritual life it takes up many hours on the road to becoming a monk requires both hard work and religious tele cation. alexei wants to become and herds cattle as part of this preparation. however these beasts get a musical accompaniment of bass you're a menace sound sequences you know they react to the sound signals the flutes the herders had in the old days they needed them it wasn't just a fun thing but these meadows didn't come naturally the current decades of composting to bring the soil up to farming standard. this island is mostly rock. the soil here is very thin and the monks can't just get more of it because they're surrounded by the lake so they have to work very hard in order to provide whatever food they need. they grow their own crops farm their own fish and repair their own churches. but the central purpose of alarm has always been religious the main

monstrous surrounded by smaller priories spread through the many archipelago the monks here know their existence is a little different from that of other ministries here we are out of the way and we do have. some times tourists as well but only. tranquility this is hardly. the. combination of high religion and down to earth hard work that motivates these men.

hello welcome to the artist for round up thank you for joining me kate partridge and these are the week's top stories marching on discuss going injury time to snatch a two one win over look at our teeth in the must go top of the russian premier league we have all weekend action. while top gear as the battle to win this year's formula one title guys down to the wild a look at a young russian aims to make his mark among motorsports elite. fast and furious in russia's a battle as they call another big scalp this collection as the kick boxing champion . that got all drago in the first round. although stories to common first of football were tear gas not a stoppage time winner to triumph two one in the moscow dobby against luck and what if and go top of the russian premier league which of on corporate reports on the weekend of closely fought battles. since conquering means of a clash with luke rivals look at.