i. rage in the u.n. now after a syrian rebel group kidnaps. peacekeepers amid suspicion that such action may see the opposition lose much of its international backing. as afghanistan's neighbors brainstorm over how to curb extremism after the u.s. troop withdrawal the threat is growing elsewhere with islamic unrest sweeping through bangladesh. a man known as russia's great cardinal resigns from the government we take a look at the man and what could be behind his exit in the halls of power. and then life in prison is the only life you can afford some courts in ohio jailing the homeless and people with disabilities because they can't afford to pay small fines .

and you watching our take with me and three fab. now the u.n. is calling for the immediate release of four of its peacekeepers held by syrian rebels the peacekeepers were abducted in the golan heights the demilitarized zone between syria and israel is our middle east correspondent. i've just gotten off the phone with the deputy chief of staff for the united nations peacekeeping force in the area and he says that they are definitely remaining there this follows the kidnapping of four filipino un peacekeepers who are being held in a ceasefire between syria and the israeli side of the golan heights now that is almost a no man's land not the israeli nor syrian forces can go operate in that area what we do know is that they were abducted while on patrol the u.n. does say that efforts are under way to secure their release and according to the

u.n. chief banking moon he has strongly condemned the abductions and he has called for the immediate release of these peacekeepers a syrian group by the name of the martyrs of lamarck published a photo that is purportedly showing the four men who have been held they also say that they're being held to quote for their own safety now according to this group they were clashes and heavy shelling in the yarmouk valley which is in the south of the separation zone this is not the first time that forces have been kidnapped in this area the kidnappings could potentially see the rebels losing their overwhelming support or could even harm their reputation i mean one just has to look at washington which seems to be taking now a much more moderate position washington is agreeing that both sides should sit down at the negotiation table and course that is a position that moscow has always held that there is a need for the damascus regime in the rebels to sit around a negotiating table and hammer out their differences meanwhile the need for talks

between the warring sides in syria has been agreed during a visit by the u.s. state secretary to moscow there's now talk about that with middle east analyst david cardwell thanks for joining us do you believe the u.s. could be backing away from it staunch support for the rebels. i think it's less of a question of backing away than really still being unconvinced by the photo they're at they're there in opposition we're supporting i think because they're so dis you know it's so you fractured so disorganized on able to really justify whether the political representatives speak for the military representatives on the ground i think really does in the absence of a sort of a u.s. conference of backing out talk of organization and the fact that the u.s. clearly does want to intervene militarily in syria than they are i think looking around for other options another option is diplomatic options and that has brought them back to back to the russians effectively. do you think we're seeing

a change in rhetoric from the americans because the secretary of state did stop short when he was in moscow of calling president assad to step down. i think it doesn't is the charge of rhetoric from both sides to be quite honest and russians of. sort of grounded some of the more sort of but a close talker is what i think there isn't except where the sun appears to be growing acceptance that perhaps talks pap's a relaunch different initiative with firm u.s. and russian backing can succeed i think of the huge different difficulties and in getting all sides to the negotiating table to think it's a little bit early yet to for or for any form of optimism on this what we mentioned that the trouble we might have been getting people to the negotiating table russia has long said we're accused western nations of trying to derail things or inciting violence rather than promoting dialogue is it likely do you think that will see a concerted effort by everybody internationally to get everybody around this type.

well i think what you might see is i mean you may see a u.s. effort to get the syrian opposition back from around the table but they're going to need if they're going to get any form of syrian representation around the opposition representation around the table they're going to need probably because sorry saudi and circus supported not on the other side the russians are going to have to try and get the sides around the table not all good reason more difficult proposition given the. vested interests in damascus given the damascus probably feels at the moment that it has the military upper hand in the conflict and the fact that iran syria's main proxy doesn't want syria to be old as one year sides rather get around the negotiating table saying plus there's also the fact that we don't quite know whether russia has the leverage over the sides to be able to get them on the table in the first place there are huge amount of difficulties with this. now the syrian opposition is made up of various factions including extremist ones who could make these groups and their arms do you think.

very good question probably will not cannot be answered straight off i think in terms of the extremists i think there is there is. the salafi jihadists groups that are now operating in syria really they're not i mean when we talk about the syrian opposition we tend to exclude those groups because really that are not part of an agenda the breeze seeking to negotiate with the u.s. side regime certain parts of the secular opposition don't want to negotiate with yesod regime either but maybe for more political than audiological religious reasons so they're all sort of nuances within the oppositional not front but clearly the salafi opposition is extremists are really the main group occupy the most serious threats and in the long term because of the way that they are well organized well funded and partly well and boy are they could stories of the saudis or other gulf government he's ok mr well thank you very much for your insights and we do have to leave it at that middle east correspondent and this story i should

say well thank you like stone across talk examines the many unanswered questions thrown up by series drawn out conflict in his a quick taste of what is coming up. i disagree that there's any solution in which side is going to remain in power that's simply not going to happen we need to be thinking about a post assad syria here's where i think actually russia has an important role to weigh to play they have been trying to do that and the americans have been saying no because obama i know what one of the one of the first album alliances assad had to go and now they're bowed restraint you're saying look after three years he's not going the only possible solution i agree from there but i think that's right it was proposing that let's sit down. there all the players as you are including all the regional players. as well as at individual i mean saying oh.

well the clock is ticking in afghanistan is international forces prepare for the twenty fourteen with rule the even the country on its own with its flawed security transition has many regional players on alert is there a brainstorm over how to contain afghanistan's especially the recent brand of extremism. reports. the u.s. prepares to withdraw the bulk of its forces from afghanistan by the end of two thousand and fourteen karzai stepping down with the elections coming up also in two thousand and fourteen what's next the possibility of a power vacuum in afghanistan and the question what demons can emerge from that vacuum is of great concern to the whole region a vacuum in afghanistan seems to be nobody's interest here's a brief and very rough breakdown of what players regional and non regional are trying to achieve in galveston you ren despite the rivalry with the u.s. has three years supported the karzai government because having a completely chaotic and unstable afghanistan is a neighbor is obviously not good for them washington is of course interested in

keeping the more or less centralized structure of the government in afghanistan for that the us is even ready to engage the taliban in talks and maybe see them as part of the government in the future that's right having fought the taliban for over ten years the u.s. is now talking about a political solution pakistan is the middleman here the message that they want pakistan to deliver to the taliban is that the allies are ready for talks on leave the taliban make. an ambiguous public break with global jihad is the telephone have a strong pakistan although the pakistani government denies having much influence on them but pakistan's motives have been mixed to say the least on the one hand the help that you western the allies and pakistan has suffered greatly from the extremism that spilled over the border after the u.s. invasion in of ghana's then on the other hand they were accused of helping the taliban to keep leverage with them in case they give power also as a hedge against indian influence so they have that rivalry going so as far as

pakistan's interests it's been complicated russia possibly the greatest threat to russia faces now from afghanistan is the flow of afghan herring that kills thousands of russians every year so russia has a state it has stated a clear interesting afghanistan that would be under control of a responsible government not plagued with. corruption a government that would help and this drug plague but what if global powers are on able to avoid a power vacuum in afghanistan what could happen then if we get there comes to the stage where we have could deploy our forces or support somewhat if you may have to believe the only problem is in the past in the one nine hundred ninety s. after the soviet withdrawal discussion of external proxies let me just civil war with no. positive outcome one thousand nine hundred ninety six so we want to avoid that kind of civil war like situation now as far as the taliban the talks with them

stalled last year after their failure to agree on the terms for the release of five afghan insurgent commanders held at guantanamo it's not really clear how far those talks will go because the taliban are not homogenous either a part of them seems to think that once nato pulls out they'll be able to take over anyway so why negotiate in washington i'm going to check out this danny mention there russia is one of those countries most interested in a stable afghanistan and focusing on putin said that international forces have failed to make a breakthrough in their fight against terrorism and the regional players need to act to prevent radical groups spreading well beyond the afghan border. international terrorist groups are making no secret of their plans to export instability and they will try to spread their activities from afghanistan into neighboring central asian countries and russia holds serious risks for us like an increase in drug trafficking and crime plus the uncontrollable flow of refugees and

fundamentalism. as afghanistan's neighbors puzzled over how to prevent the spillover of extremism another country in the region could well become their next headache is on is have recently grabbed headlines in bangladesh with their latest confrontation with security forces leaving at least thirty six people dead place and more than two hundred thousand hard line islamists there have been mired in running battles for days i will violent demands to make blasphemy a crime punishable by death the government refusing to budge though with police reportedly now using live ammunition islamic factions are also demanding other amendments that would in frind shari'a principles into law more on this now i'm joined by dr carol kirsten a lecturer in islamic studies at king's college in london thank you very much for your time bangladesh has been in the state of chaos recently hasn't it g two islamic spoilers but just how strong is the secular government there what is the

danger that the country could end up becoming a hardline islamist state. well i think that is a very farfetched for the time being this describing islamisation is actually part of a much larger phenomenon that deals with with all those things than just trying to achieve an islamic state through political or or legal means it is the fundamental question is about muslim identity and how to accommodate that in a political system in a world order that is based on nation states which are secular in nature and bangladesh is a self-proclaimed secular state and both the government party. and the opposition parties. want to keep it that way saw the islamist activists are up against a rather formidable counter force there and do you think there's any connection between the growing radicalization of islamist scene in pakistan and what is happening now currently in bangladesh. no i don't think there is

a direct link i think in this this global age inspirations are drawn from the world over and this whole muslim identity question of facts muslims much further afield as well that has surfaced in indonesia and that has become increasingly an issue as well in the middle east since the our approval zz of two thousand and eleven the thing with blasphemy is that it is very easy to manipulate it politically because it deals with religious symbol it symbolism that works as a very strong motivational force to get people onto the street and it is also easy to exploit it's much easier to get a blasphemy law or. campaign for a blasphemy law done say demanding changes in marital law the penal code or or the financial system so i think the success rate the dissipated success rate for

islamists is higher but once again it's not simply about achieving a political change the deeper questions is the discomfort felt by many muslims with the political systems that are generally determine in politics in their countries there might be another factor here put it to us drone attacks triggered away that anger and resentment among pakistanis how much of the u.s. activities in in places like pakistan and afghanistan contributed to the rise of extremism do you think. or i think that certainly hasn't helped that they have the handedness to continue to have a handedness in the wake of a military campaign stand are now more than a decade old have definitely not and dear to united states in countries like afghanistan and the spillover it has had in pakistan but i think it's very important to to to separate the bangladesh case from this this is definitely determined by local circumstances were. there you have

a country where the constitution says that it is a secular state and both the government party and even the opposition are in agreement on that so there you have to be very careful in linking these things now obviously bangladesh is a very important country it's the third most populous muslim country in the world so it definitely. is important to pay attention to the development there because it it works like a barometer for global trends the fact muslims across the globe and we do have to leave it there dr kirsten thank you very much for your thoughts thank you for being on r.t. today that's talk to carol kirsten lecturer in islamic studies at king's college in london. i'll be back in a few moments more news for you including russia's government ideologist renowned for his pay our tactics heads for the exit after more than

a decade of power breaking we hear why in a couple of minutes. i . love the song and. we will remember that we will. find out that.

he. and i welcome back not a man known as russia's great cardinal has resigned his vice premier after more than a decade in the hallways of. became a renowned audiologist as a leading figure behind the scenes in the government for more on this and his resignation that. this was a shock that she wasn't what led to it yes it came as a bit of a surprise today. had been marking his deputy prime minister and dmitri medvedev

carbon of the. responsibility for government policy and media policy. his resignation follows a particularly fractious cabinet meeting with president putin yesterday where putin criticized the cabinet for ticking boxes but not following through with substantial policy reforms he called the their work superficial point. beg to differ during that meeting and his resignation was accepted by putin shortly afterwards he's called the great card listen why is that yeah. the evidence griese the great heart of the kremlin known by russia watchers everywhere he is the out of p.r. into the kremlin administration and is the concept architect behind what's known as sovereign democracy this was the ideological and political pillars around which found a lot of your putin built his early administrations so when democracy. advocated values of pride independence and what became known around the world as i

guess as part of putin's don't lecture us stance when it came to democracy in transition particularly young democracies such such as russia is some would say it could have a near of democracy over water russian political traditions was a. topic or reason be controversial policy at the time and remained so he then became better known for managing the p.r. around he was a very capable p.r. operator and as everybody knows political p.r. in russia are particularly choppy waters and difficult to negotiate at the best of times basically defines the parameters by which those kind of p.r. events and p.r. arguments would take place he was an odd man supremely as it were a madman supreme and should i say and because of his work on the political p.r. side the expression so-called go propaganda entered the contemporary russian

lexicon you mention that around with you saying that he had that's not the. is it recently that he said well it's he's you're are you referring to school couple here and. worked with president medvedev of modernization he advocated setting up the school technology hold the research excellence hold that running outside moscow now . a strong vision for modernization of russian economy and bringing innovation culture into russia's economy. most recently has been involved in a rather controversial corruption probe. has been used in a public dialogue with one of the prosecutors spokesman's spokesman. it was stressed today those so-called decision to resign had nothing to do about it and that it was related to his role as deputy prime minister for carrying out the president's orders and for going a presidential policy ok well thanks for being giving us some clarity on that. all season you said it's either crossing thank you thank you. the american civil

liberties union has launched a campaign to educate the public about the severity of the key much debt that's after revealing figures show a rising number of people who fail to pay back bad debts being put in jail. or has been in the state of ohio where such practice is fairly common m a m eight harsh criticism it violates the constitution. a midwestern u.s. state. internationally recognized for being the battleground where america's next president is decided let's talk about the importance of ohio and in the battle for ohio state eighteen electoral votes means so much elbows pay a lot of attention ohio ohio. you're probably going to decide the next president of united states for the past thirty six years no candidate has entered the white house without winning this swing state while hisle undoubtedly wields an enormous

influence in the arena of u.s. presidential politics the state is currently garnering headlines for its presence specifically the medieval type punishment being imposed on countless citizens who are drowning in debt according to a report released by the a.c.l.u. of ohio thousands of citizens are being locked behind bars because they are too poor to pay their debt and we saw some really troubling numbers one case that we looked at out of mansfield ohio there was a gentleman and his crime against the community was he let his dog walk in his mobile home park without a leash he was fined thirty dollars and he ended up being found in contempt of court and was sent to jail for not paying for a thirty dollars fifty five year old jack jolley was incarcerated three times for failing to pay nine hundred dollars in fines every ninety days you had a jail date. and if you were working well you're going to do debt prisons violate

the u.s. and ohio constitutions according to the a.c.l.u. most of the defendants weren't given hearings before being jailed for outstanding fines if the court had taken any time to ask whether or not they could afford to pay that they would see that these were people who just simply cannot pay they were individuals who are homeless many who haven't worked. for months if not years people who are disabled people who are taking care of disabled family members these are people who are working and just don't feel like spending the money these are people who literally have no money people like dante stiles who is unemployed and says he often has to choose between feeding his two children or paying his fines a promise so back and forth back and forth in court back before a conflict here fifteen days here and while the cash strapped citizens are incarcerated in gutters prisons. there fines keep growing like credit card interest

it's described as a vicious circle it was seven hundred thirty thirty seven dollars ok at the eleven days when i went back to court at the core course and paranoid the public defended it went up actually two hundred dollars more than one point eight million ohioans reportedly live in poverty and i want to get it behind me dolly lost his job last year after missing work for a ten day sentence in debtors prison i had just started the job i was probably there not quite a month. i was expecting a paycheck so i'd gone in early to get a paycheck so i could go in and pay on my fine you know my release i was terminated from my job dollie has received a fifty dollars credit for each of the sixteen days he was illegally imprisoned but most like styles have not and the state revered for predicting america's presidents has garnered a new reputation for how it punishes the poor. archie ohio. a quick

look now at other international news starting with iraq where at least three people have been killed and dozens injured in a series of explosions in the northern city of kirkuk a suicide attack on the office of the kurdish patriotic union party was followed by a blast of a checkpoint and a security patrol in the south west of the city three more people have also been killed in an attack on a police station in the city of felipe. elsewhere a cargo ships crashed into a control tower in genoa in italy killing at least seven people three more are reported missing the accident happened as the vessel was heading out of the port about thirteen people are thought of being trapped inside the tower. and france and poland are marking the victory over nazi led forces in one nine hundred forty five the presence of the country's occupied during the world war two laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in paris the sixty eighth anniversary will also be celebrated in moscow on thursday

a nazi will be covering the parade life starting at six in the morning g.m.t. . next east meets west and more time victory technology that's coming up. every detail. every piece of metal. and every one of those who will step on the red square on the ninth of may are ready. for the victory day parade. watch the live coverage on our t.v. . choose your language. we can you know if to himself

and i. choose the concerns you. choose the opinions that invigorated your mind. choose the stories that impact your life choose your access to your office. in the early hours of a hot july day on a group of unusually dressed people carefully head on to the shore of one of the to

be up as tributes raise their clad and servant military uniform from the days of world war two. in the summer of nine hundred forty one on the sort of view of a crossing the a small landscape one hundred thousand people were killed while they were trying to escape the surrounding enemy eyewitnesses say that the river ran red with blood for several days now candles float down the river. moscow's military history club called the division has traveled here to honor the memory of full and russian soldiers but this journey to smolensk is just the beginning now they have three thousand kilometers to cover across the european roads to take part in the legendary war in peace show in england. up. in the village of belching in kent is the old hope fund surrounded by a huge cock today it attracts collectors of military vehicles and others with an interest in reenacting.