president obama unveils his candidates for america's top security jobs creating uproar over a possible shift in telecom policy and fears of a bush era revival at the cia. halfway through the u.k.'s coalition government marks midterm with an enormous to do list leaving mattie in the stare he had britain deeply unimpressed. was has the hand of google visits north korea the spine of washington's criticism we look out whether the internet giant has any chance to gauge with a reclusive nation that remains under u.s. sanctions.

it is now i am in the russian capital watching r t was me marina joshie now president obama has routed out his national security team for approval by the senate he's nominated former senator chuck hagel as a pentagon head and counterterrorism adviser john brennan to leave the cia the pegs have sparked speculation that obama is actually trying to kill two birds with one stone as he's going to explains. by appointing chuck hagel as defense secretary president obama is arguably trying to change the perception that he has embraced bush administration national security policies because after four years of militaristic foreign policy that's how people see it chuck hagel former senator from nebraska vietnam war veteran as being one of very very few u.s. politicians who opposed u.s. military expansion and who dared treasure and sent from washington orthodoxy. one

of them has to do with israel he dared to publicly for years the west and israel of our countries and american interests. really interest when they can and that's a subversive thing to say here in washington could be a career killer yet a catered for direct negotiations with hamas he condemns the power of the pro israel lobby in washington here's one of his statements to that effect the political reality is that the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here i have always argued against some of the dumb things they do because i don't think it's in the interest of israel i just don't think it's smart for israel that's what he said needless to say his nomination for the position of defense secretary has incurred a slew of objections for the past three weeks different interest groups have been running attack ads on t.v. saying things like he's soft on iraq and he's a bad choice for the job go on like the vast majority of us politicians who keep repeating the all options are on the table mantra has allowed himself to say

outright that attacking iran is a stupid idea is nomination is seen as a bold move on president obama's part and it's an important decision image wise for the president as hinted at possible change in foreign policy but many fear that chart could deliver that changed. more than in substance because there's only so much one person can do in washington speaking of the other person along with chart page will president obama nominated his counterterrorism adviser john brennan as the next director of the cia john brennan has been in charge of some of obama's most controversial policies including the targeted assassinations. program one where the administration determines who will be marked for execution without any due process oversight or transparency is the man who's been in charge of president obama's kill list last year john brennan claimed that the u.s. drone program caused no civilian deaths in pakistan over the prior year which was an outright lie by so many pounds add to that the fact that as

a bush era cia official mr brennan had indorsed torture and rendition and also was a vocal advocate of bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and we can see why he is deemed fit for the job as the head of the central intelligence agency which over the years has evolved into a paramilitary force the logic some see behind nominating hago and brennan for these top national security positions is that when accused of being the president can say does my defense secretary lew kokesh to you if we choose the being soft he can point out his new cia director who can be accused of anything but being soft my colleague bill god spoke to former cia officer ray mcgovern who believes obama security nominations may serve as a counterweight to each other. i've served under nine cia directors and brennan would have to be the worst. he is an open ad because of what is called extraordinary rendition kidnapping torture black prisons illegal

eavesdropping and kill list from these drones that they're so proud of flying over places like pocky suddenly i'm almost compelled to conclude that either he's really dumb or he sees real profit as the corporations do in the profiteering on these and less wars and in contrast to this the nomination for defense secretary that it's very different in character in a chop seen by many as a pacifist what do you make of the future of u.s. foreign policy if indeed haykel gordon is top man in the defense. the difference between hale and his predecessors is this hagel has been there done that ok hagel served in war he was an infantry noncommissioned officer wounded twice to two purple hearts he knows what war is like that means a difference and when haig will says he would be very very careful about employing

our forces in fool's errands such as afghanistan god help us iran somalia game and the rest of it he's going to be a worthy stand up against people like brennan who don't know the half of it and who never served our country's armed forces what about his attitude towards israel he's been accused of speaking out against the influence of the israeli lobby there in the us is that something that will be a stumbling block for his nomination higgle famously said one time i'm not the senator from israel i'm the senator from america. now. doesn't that make good sense on the face of it would somebody be open to criticism for that kind of the you know it shows it shows how delicate this question is in our country that he can't even speak about the jewish lobby or say that he's the senator from the united states and not from israel without being criticized for what those that tell

you about the power of the israel lobby while the nomination of john brennan as head of the cia is also under scrutiny in today's edition of breaking the set and as always abby martin pulls no punches describing the controversy surrounding the choice so watch the show at six thirty am g.m.t. . the white house counterterrorism policies is gone a little something like this shoot first ask questions later and answer to no one catchy phrase for which we should thank john brennan in fact he coaches obama every terror tuesday on how to assassinate around the world this is the number one advisor overseeing the drone kings kill list john brennan's nickname is the assassination czar for godsake and this is the guy who is ushering this country to the next phase of the war on terror. one hundred eighty promises in just over two years left to prove they are not all

empty the u.k.'s ruling coalition has used a rare joint appearance to pat itself on the back and pledge more a tough decisions for an already a sturdy had britain r.t. sarah further as more on the mid-term review. prime minister david cameron and the deputy leader of the kurdish nick clegg giving one of their rare joint public appearances together to deliver this mid-term review it was an awkward appearance it was really really difficult watching there were red faces several awkward pauses there were these really embarrassing it was certainly i think rather public to integrate into somebody would say of this they support and that's probably quite a good thing this is something up where halfway through the coalition now of course a huge question was whether the coalition again to be breaking up whether they're going to stay together the main message from the key leaders was that presenting a united front that they're in this for the full five years of course their plan so

they laid out the next steps that are going to follow already being criticized by the opposition who said this is an empty promises no real substance here you know there was a lot of summing up we're going to get the details of this sort of bulk mid term or the in the coming weeks that some of the things that they saw to touched upon that they feel they've achieved and among the things like the welfare reform the education reform you know you cast your mind back to what that actually entailed we saw these huge protest movements a hike in the university fees that he's outraged and feats of london you know i think when you get this bulk of detail like this some he certainly seems to be brushed away the as i said a little bit awkward and it is very noticeable that people were laughing genuinely as i was sort of met with a kind of a nice silence in some part saying you know this is no laughing matter it's a very serious point in the coalition there are big questions for the future this

is a question still remain every time they give an appearance like this we also years and people trying to clean a bit more information and you know it is quite short on substance i think a lot of people are just behaving the plans that were laid out today in the. going to be better received than the prime ministers jakes were at the take a little bit of a closer look at the detail of what the coalition has achieved or not the case should be here's my colleague. well it does look like the private pension could be going extinct that's according to one prominent pensions expert here in the u.k. he says that by twenty fifty they could be no more because it turns out that just twelve percent of young people in their twenty's and thirty's are saving for their retirement so we've got a lot of young people in the u.k. who aren't thinking about their pensions a tall and that's leading to concerns over a potential pensions gap in the future the sad reality is that young people

nowadays they have a lot of very immediate financial pressures on their plate you know with austerity measures in full swing with the financial crisis with young people on very low wages having to live with a very high cost of living at the same time they could have debts in the form of university fees that they have to pay off if they're lucky they'll have a mortgage but the the truth is is that a lot of young people have all these very immediate precious and so they just don't have time to think about putting money away for thirty forty years down the line that's money that they might not see again and there's a double sort of irony in this because by the time that they retire the pension age is going to be at least sixty eight and there are reports saying that some people have said that well if the pension age is going to be sixty eight we might not live that long so why save for it so it is quite a grim picture at the moment. and more financial problems in europe as medics hit the streets of madrid after that was decision to privatized parts of the health

care system to help bring the wife into the country's recession plagued economy. process over jobless recoveries from surgery there is speculation venezuela is on the edge of a political crisis we report on that a more later in the program. let me tie one of the world's most reclusive countries north korea has had a rare high profile visit from the u.s. by eric schmidt chairman i'll be online search giant google the private trip has already prompted speculation about the company's intentions to engage with pyongyang also drawn condemnation from washington that's looking to punish north korea following its recent missile test meanwhile korean authorities are reportedly engaging german experts to help prepare the country for foreign investment dr ro you're frank from the university of vienna says economic development in north korea is still a distant dream. so to receive it

is the reluctance of western investors to actually go to north korea the north korean west the environment is nothing cures for although the state has been trying a lot still to do have reports of investors who have difficulties with the red tape and also a change of attitude of the government you know all the best to specially chinese investors who have left the country frustration the biggest problem i think for this list is all over the us and sasha this is easy actually it's almost impossible not to while you sentient if you deal with north korea because almost anything is dual use the procedures of checking whether you are not worth it sanctions are very complicated because. there's also a great deal of going to insecurity about what the us. my first is that this is to be the first of those those approaches are the big ones. on why we have

a story about the an easy relationship between u.s. intelligence and the president of ecuador so you have to argue dot com to find out why president korea believes the cia will try to kill him out of the a coming election plus. that picture of your dinner that you posted to twitter some time ago will soon be stored next to the good and burn bible we tell you why the library of congress is archiving all public tweets. was just days left before the inauguration of an as well in president a good job as the country's opposition is waiting for its chance to remove him from

office if the ceremonies delay due to his for health lucic off enough went to iraq is to find out whether the risk of political instability has changed people's perception of the country. the flames of economic fury the debt crisis spreads anger across europe well unemployment brings despair to what was once the land of opportunity life in the west once all but guaranteed a better future whether it does so today is up for debate with no end in sight to the financial crisis many are finding refuge in countries with an alternative economic model or some venezuela represents hope and new opportunities the bolivarian republic may be a surprising choice after all it's been ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in the hemisphere whose murder rate exceeds that of iraq still the world bank says venezuela draws the largest number of immigrants after argentina with one million flocking here in two thousand and ten alone the muscles who's. going to get weaker

rosa is one of them after decades of struggling in the u.s. she decided to start anew in venezuela. and that come to you completely alone you go that trying to find a new way but you really alone nobody helps you the most. in caracas the helping hand came from the government a cheap loan to kickstart a small business and subsidies that enabled her to purchase this home that's why rosa and others like her see the country as a place where. you can move more freely you have more opportunities. robust economic growth and increased spending on social projects to help create those opportunities having the state on your side in terms of the benefits is a huge thing because you don't have to worry about your basic necessities everyone has the right to universal free health care quality health care education at all levels the government provide subsidies to start up small businesses medium sized

businesses they do the same in terms of housing to help people if they're coming from a country where the economic crisis is so bad they've been cutting all those benefits but as well it begins to look like a paradise that may certainly seem to be the case for those on the bottom president to go child has helped bring the poverty rate down from fifty percent when he took office twenty thirty one percent last year and the u.n. says venezuela has the lowest level of inequality in latin america. it's one child as diehard supporters among the poor but what about the rich critics say child this is ilya meeting the wealthy many of whom turned out in droves to vote for his opponent in october to see contended election twenty first century socialism hasn't helped us it has hurt job his opponents blame his so-called socialist experiment for problems like limited foreign investment they say that it's driving businessmen and entrepreneurs out of the country. by daniel year g.'s himself a young businessman disagrees after spending twelve years in barcelona he decided

to return to venezuela not just for the economic benefits he says but for the chance to partake in a different sort of future or do you go there are two very different political forces in this country one monster towards capitalism the other is in the popular solution is in the october election the people of venezuela voted to make the country greener fairer to create more opportunities i mean in this regard many venezuelans like myself have decided to return home. and so they do showing that for some gambling in venezuela system may be worth the risk. of r t. venezuela. after fourteen years in power when as well as president hugo chavez is known for his lengthy speeches and in two thousand and twelve there movers and shakers around the world have been making a name for themselves now it's your turn to say who you think was a person of the year. well right now on our web site it seems like there is

a clear leader the attitude of the whistle blowing web site of wiki leaks julian assange is on top right now with seventy percent of the vote and next airedale feliks baumgardner you will remember land of the jump from the stratosphere and he takes well first sand very first person to hit one billion views on you tube with gangnam style south korean rapper sa a wax attention r. t. dot com with only and first the humble eight percent of the vote goes to the more opposition leader on song suchi. thousands of doctors have marched through madrid in the first spanish protest of two thousand and thirteen they are angered by the government's plans to partly private eyes the national health service in the latest move to cut the budget and dig a country out of debt but investment buys a patrick young says spain's economy is out of control. there's really absolutely nothing that can be done about the current spanish situation the government is

affectively running a deficit or wrong to divide ninety percent of g.d.p. and it really year that's a huge number spain has the ten biggest deficit on the planet of any country and effectively it's hemorrhaging money at the moment because the budgets were made in the good old days when property markets were going through the roof not days nobody can sell a property nobody can manage to get a job and oversee the government simply doesn't have the money even for essential facilities like health care clearly there is a concern amongst the doctors that you're going to see an incredible amount of i live just profiteering being made by the private health sector but i think actually the truth is that ultimately governments are hideously inefficient when they do large scale health provision that's the pure on certainty spawn yours are not sure whether their economy survives in its current creaking states well keeping the budget under control is proving to be a headache on the other side of the atlantic too later today or next kaiser

explores the murky waters of american spanning strategy. why is the pentagon off the table but pentagon spending is a function of money printing it's a function of money printing because money printing what ordinarily cause massive inflation but dead soldiers equal deflation that's how you have to look at that arlington national cemetery that's america's answer to inflation it's the deflationary forces of genocide and pentagon budget increases and killing helpless women and children around the world they keep stuff in america cheap enough for they can see no good like class to keep themselves amused and distracted from the. violence spiraling in northern island where dozens of police officers have been

injured in clashes with loyalist over belfast city halls decision to restrict the flying of the union flag alice and political blogger a make felt he believes the riots are symptom of deep social division and political failure to represent loyalist views. what we're seeing here is in northern ireland as a result of the peace process we have a government in which everyone who is elected to the parliament is part of the government that leaves no space for parliamentary opposition and so when something like this happens that is seen by certain mostly working class president suddenly in lower middle class communities to is being provocative there is no political way of actually expressing your opposition so to some extent we're seeing just hard difficult it is to my mom age. a popular protest in a situation where there is no option to change the government so to speak because the government includes everyone who ever gets elected. now take

a look at some of the stories from around the world sounds in half are tested in the sri lankan capital against the government's attempt to impeach the country's first female chief justice on monday her conviction was squashed an appeal after the supreme court ruled the case against her was unconstitutional move half barred accusations parliament was breaking the law last month the government said the chief justice was guilty of unexplained wealth and abuse of power. firefighters in the northern china have managed to put out a massive fire that engulfed a shopping mall it two three and a half hours for the place to sweep through an area of almost one thousand square metres although it's still unclear what started the fire some officials when it's you welding work seen carried out at the site. nato has begun deploying patriotic missiles and support troops to the turkish syrian border the alliance claims the warheads provided by the u.s.

the netherlands and germany will boost their gaze heir to fans in the wake of the escalating conflict in syria but berlin based journalist matthew austin heart believes western governments are pursuing their own agenda with a move in the face of public skepticism. of course it is a high risky mission but fakes placed there but this is what we saw already in the past with other international missions that governments don't seem to be so concerned about what will bring the future in this area but we see something else we see that the population in the european countries if i can say at all during the the population is strongly against such missions so you see there is a big gap between the public opinion and the activities of the governments and this might have to do with the say that the government's nice things are not being on

the behalf of their own national interests or and they are on behalf of their own security interests we are right now acting on the interest of the nato what everybody knows who sees the situation right there at the border that court is taking place actually not just since yesterday but several months that each of us that. are coming from turkey on syrian soil to do what to kill their people so turkey is right now a security danger for syria not the other way while it brings us up to date and now it's time to take a trip to the heart of russia's corridors of power where there are now a grand tour of the kremlin begins right after this short break don't go away.

well. it's technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. the government no longer represents the . the people are going to take the term. least in the traditional but. the way our economic system currently lives not. cut cut. costs.

whether you die from high or to the depths. catch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents. play well prepared is a must and if you're lucky. you'll never forget your experience we only need them a screen that's going to be heaven. in the flight see up close and below the ice on our t.v. . please

. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm trying hard welcome to the big picture.

they stand on the kremlin walls is over two kilometers and if you want to go around it you have to go real fast because the winters in russia are really cold it's minus ten today.