one of their. weapons in the wrong hands president putin slams the u.s. plans to supply arms to the syrian opposition when no terrorist groups are fighting within it the. riot broke brazil more than a million protesters vent their anger at the government in major cities across the country with a teenager becoming the first fatality of riots that show no signs of abating. and the french are getting increasingly frustrated with the european union and recent polls revealing over sixty percent believe the book is going in the wrong direction.

costing a lot from moscow you know watching. president putin has criticized the u.s. for having to send weapons to the syrian opposition when that ending up in the wrong hands it's one of many crucial statements coming out of the annual international economic forum in petersburg. joins us live from or lexia give us the details of this. well the main sentiment coming from the russian president this time is that they're not the syrian people fighting the regime of bashar al assad but the rebels and the opposition obviously has been very critical and very vocal about the recent developments in surrounding the syrian conflict namely the calls across the atlantic to arm the syrian rebels to provide them with military training something discussed by washington over the. several months is

a lot to me to put in said that it's not only plainly wrong to talk about a possible peace conference in geneva which would have the members of the opposition and the government at the same tribal happening at the same time of the talks to arm the syrian rebels it's not only wrong but dangerous to have very grave consequences for europe as well as he was quick to remind of one of the latest incidents which which many regarded as a very dangerous sign of things to come let's listen to what the president had to say. who are you going to supply weapons to we all remember the terrible tragedy when the u.k. soldier was killed in london that's just terrible it's mostly people like those who murdered him in france you know son that's what concerns us. another fresh concern we've heard from the russian president is that the arms which hypothetically may be supplied to the syrian opposition may eventually be found in

europe and even in russia it is an established fact according to the russian president that around six hundred mercenaries from russia and europe are fighting on the side of the syrian opposition and as long as there is no composition to the to the opposition movement in syria it's unclear where the weapons will eventually end up at the same time spoke about the recent g eight summit and said that there is no single position among the g eight countries on the syrian rebels not all countries agree that this measure should be implemented at the same time all countries of the g eight agree that a peace conference in geneva to have both the members of the syrian opposition and the syrian government talking about a possible peace solution is something that needed urgently despite that we haven't moved anywhere closer to a real date of this isn't even conference so let's see that's the political side of things coming out of the forum today but also some good economic news for russia we understand. well indeed the president spoke about. many economic

projects about how making the russian economy stronger in particular several infrastructural projects worth billions of dollars but the one thing which definitely good news for many is that he urged the russian parliament to adopt a new law as quick as possible before the duma goes on summer holidays providing amnesty for economic criminals those who committed their first crime and minor offenses those of course not offenses which have great consequences for the state and for the state budget we're talking about fourteen thousand people who may actually walk free if this law is adapted any time soon so this is one of the biggest news coming from economic side apart from of course the deal with china. but that it will later in the program. ok. thanks for that. well some big economic announcements made by president putin as the address the business unit that formed with russia signing off an unprecedented deal with china as you just want to his business correspondent we will bring this moon that into

the program. other news now the mass on the rest in brazil has turned deadly nineteen year old demonstrators died in the state of south after a car crashed through a barricade what started as a rally over transport fares is now snowballed into one million strong protest engulfing more than one hundred cities across the country president rousseff has canceled her trip to japan to hold an emergency meeting the country's key ministers one of the most violent night rioting of eight thousand police officers have been deployed to rearrange his rear end of a football match when activists attempted to advance to the city who are. gas and rubber bullets in dozens injured crowds who gathered in the capital brasilia received the same response from the forty's music you know the of course. hundreds

of thousands have taken to the streets all over brazil in an unprecedented public protest the hottest fourth of the rest remain self paolo with tear gas has been fired protesters who tried to take over the local government building in the capital brasilia clashes have erupted when riot police faced off with protesters trying to break through towards the congress in rio de janeiro local police resorted to tear gas to disperse crowds marching towards city hall police say some three hundred thousand people have rallied but organizers claim it's twice as many there are reports that around thirty people have been injured earlier around eight thousand security officers have been deployed near the city stadium ahead of considerations cup football match between the spanish and haiti football teams such rallies are believed to be the most violent in a decade the protectors say they are angry at the government's excessive spending

for the two thousand and fourteen world cup another point of this content is the increase of public transport fees in several brazilian cities the country's health or it is later reversed their decision to increase the first but the. doesn't seem to have a peace demonstrators they say they are also on grief over the underfunded and education systems the rest come to six months ahead of elections in brasil and as we can see there are plenty of complaints too was president dilma rousseff government the protesters say they will remain until they see change and promise a fresh wave of rallies to take place for the next days. times correspondent bob unease the protests a possible result of global social inequality. it's the same fight in spain in courtship go in many countries and i guess we'll liberalism specs should be you know the kingdom of the one percent the washington consensus grows in

g.d.p. numbers that doesn't take into account what girls own in everyday life in terms of people try to struggle to in the case of a poor brazilians seem like a door and a half or two dollars that they get on a bus fare initially are less than three hundred dollars a month to see the actual disaster and on top of it is four hours to go to bars to go to our school come back so in terms of the political elites it's basically there's everybody still following the washington consensus and it's still a liberalist and eating their old way you old all over is protesting against economic foundations of our system that's why this is so huge . he's you know has caught in focus some of the images on the brazilian protest there right now to see the pictures from the cities in the grip of unrest.

today. these are the images the world. operations are all. on the e.u. is heading in the wrong direction that's how more europeans are feeling apparently according to recent polls but it's france the block's founding member and traditional driving force where disenchantment with a united europe is apparently rising fastest on any two thirds of french people questioned by gallup this month sixty two percent said they were unhappy with where the e.u. is taking them they concerned by the rise of germany as a political force and feel that brussels has mishandled europe's financial crisis

and soaring unemployment is fuelling a french euro skepticism comes as president francois loans approval rating plummeted almost two fold since he took the top job last year or french far right political leader marine le pen says france needs an open debate on its relations with the e.u. . but the boat but the bell first of all you need to understand that the french do not really talk about this both e.u. and the euro a common currency virtually imposed on us i religiously defended here in other words there is no diversity of opinion anything you say against the euro will be equal to blasphemy what i'm asking for is a referendum polls are a good thing but i do remember the polls promised that when asked about the european constitution france would vote for it at the end of the day fifty five percent of french citizens said no to the constitution that's why we need

a wide public debate a referendum to ask the people what they think about full border transparency with the shank of the countries and about this currency that killed our economy we need to ask them how come the e.u. guidelines are more important than our own constitution which in shrines the will of a sovereign nation these essential topics have yet to become subject to public debate in france and i'm sure that if they were discussed today the french would opt for freedom paris and brussels have experienced some friction recently with the european commission angering the present alone with a list of reforms proposed for france and it's called political analyst from the french news sites contra point says and in this country feel it's the e.u. itself that needs to change. i think that so you could list a lot of arguments against the you could say that it's not really did look to because the you do issues under the elected baby here but the european citizens you

could say that it's too expensive because some member states give a little credit to the e.u. budget but don't receive as much money and where the euro as given to europe actually is a way for specific member states to postpone structural reforms and so she's clearly a good example of that word a lot of people are concerned always with think is the do to greet on the very idea of the youth there today we disagree on what form a should the e.u. . be shifting your. doubts mounting on the direction that he was taking the elephant in the room is the upcoming european parliamentary elections this new year europeans will have to decide on the future of the blocs policy matters because artist has also has been finding out if you are aware or familiar with politics. this is brussels the capital of europe and hold to the european

institutions that make laws and decisions that affect the lives of five hundred million citizens the question is how much to the citizens really know about europe do you know what the european flag stands for. the iron. who is the president of the european council european council. isn't it the belgian one you know how many countries in the e.u. you know the thirty seven point seven and who is a twenty eight country. after that matter. what does the flag of the stars on the flag mean what do they mean. i don't. it's an appalling. there's nothing in the middle of it. but what do the stars on the flag mean on the european union flag. those are the member states

now here and for the european parliament there's this exhibit which showcases some of the key moments in the history of the european union will certainly some of these will be more familiar to citizens of the country where it actually took place when it comes to e.u. institutions how they function how they work survey so show that most europeans know very little about what actually goes on that would want to survey by your barometer it shows that the knowledge of it that europeans have with us is just three point four points out of ten this survey also shows that a majority of e.u. citizens think that the e.u. is a good thing however a majority of them also think that their voices do not count fifty four percent in fact now in this report it also says that only twenty five percent of europeans know that there's even an upcoming election in two thousand and fourteen to elect their members of the european parliament right behind me there is no democracy. in the u.k. nor in germany or in brussels we need more. developments for stronger

involvement of citizen well there are officials a very you see institutions calling for a more democratic europe but in order to do so they will need to get people more involved and interested in the first place if we are to achieve this reporting from brussels i'm tests are cilia. more than twenty people been arrested in turkey on suspicion of being linked to violence anti-government rallies to three weeks of street battles authorities in the country now say that prepared to allow one form of peaceful resistance the sign and standing man protest that recently started in taksim square. police once again. demonstrators. it was in the think of it. i've just taken off my cast mask for a minute the air is heavy with the smell of tear gas these two police water cannon have charged into the center of this street in ankara dispersing bronwyn has.

been examining mind of police response heavy handed police response in the eyes of protesters that protesters have been so i'm going about in the past weeks past saying the prime minister over once government is to authoritarian and the police that are all supporting that government all as well and they will do nothing to try and ease their concerns will this affect the politics in turkey upcoming local elections is very much yet to be seen no anger on the streets it's very much continuing on a day to day basis respect to this particular crossroads has become a scene for nightly confrontations between the police and protesters. however earlier in the week protests went on until a small out of the morning without incident yesterday and today. the police

response very different with these vehicles charging in and chasing protesters down side streets liberal use of the water cannon which is strip the bomb puppetry and left deborah over the streets. really not the kind of response people were hoping to see from a police force that has really come in for a lot of criticism from a lot of corners of turkish society in the last two weeks. well still ahead for you cash in the trash the u.s. army starts destroying a dog's stash of costly military hardware and afghanistan but isn't taxpayers' money ending up on the scrap heap report on nothing known to.

use the united states of america a force for good in the world was still the largest economy and an unmatched military critics claim washington's to find you political interests always trump it's a loudly proclaimed values friends of washington are given a free pass enemies real or imagined are to be destroyed and replaced. please speak to language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the world talks about six of the ip interviews intriguing story for you. in troy arabic to find out more visit our big teeth dog called.

european lawmakers want to block the u.s. from accessing the data of its citizens without legal permission as a response to any revelations of washington's global surveillance program run by whistleblower edward snowden the nationalities to be approved by the e.u. member states and receive a majority backing in parliament washington has come under fire for using its a prison data collection program germany shown to be among its biggest surveillance targets ross anderson is a professor of security engineering at university of cambridge he says that this legislation could be met with harsh distance from washington's allies within the e.u. the really interesting political channel is going to be over the european union's data protection regulation which is currently going through the parliament america persuaded the european commission that they should leave a loophole for intelligent intelligence and law enforcement surveillance of communications. because the convince the european union it was too arcane an issue

that few people cared about and they would win but now that the issue has become public does a real chance that the european commission will revisit this and will modify the regulations to try and make it stronger but if they do that there is a risk that pro u.s. government such as our governments and the czech republic and so on will then going up in the european council and will prevent the regulation from being honest so expect a lot of politicking to happen between no undergoes at sauber on november in brussels but as a u.s. army rushes to complete its pullout from afghanistan parts of the country already turning into huge junkyards the pentagon is now destroying u.s. vehicles and other military equipment there despite the war he having cost american taxpayers more than six hundred thirty billion dollars artie's an interesting town investigates. by the end of two thousand and fourteen the u.s. military will have to destroy seven billion dollars worth of military equipment in

afghanistan u.s. officials say they're getting rid of what they no longer need to or what would be too costly to ship back home the list of items that will be shredded. to be sold to scrap includes around two thousand mine resistant ambush protected vehicles or m r eight pieces that were designed to counter the threat of roadside bombs and cost around a million dollars apiece. and are very busy now dismantling the expensive equipment u.s. officials are not explicit as to why they're not leaving the gear to the afghan military one of the reasons that they gave is that they provided afghan forces with lighter tactical vehicles which are presumably a better fit for the country's roads to quote one u.s. military official he said we don't want to live with a lot of equipment that they can't handle and that could compound their challenges as the u.s. is packing to leave again if that will please the bulk of the forces the obama administration is trying to find a political solution with the taliban there are quite

a few roadblocks on the way to that as you can imagine but after years of fierce fighting u.s. policymakers have arrived at the idea that only a political solution can lead to a sustainable peace in afghanistan and in some way the scrapping of military gear is symbolic to how little all that machinery has achieved their. team is working twenty four seventh's with the best stories and pictures here's a quick taste of wants you today. are you an expert in the ugly truth of israeli army tactics including using palestinian children as human shields online food details. on just another click away singapore is choking in huge amounts of smaug levels of it pollution is said to be in danger the health of thousands. of reasons obscuring the city. state.

russian the state duma has approved a third reading of a bill which would ban the adoption of russian orphans by foreigners same sex couples and single people from countries where gay marriage is legal the same time they've made adopting children easier for russian citizens the bill comes at a time when the issue of gay rights is becoming increasingly controversial in russia what is your position off as the details now. on one hand this draft makes it easier and quicker for russian citizens to adopt children law makers have eased the health requirements of potential adoptive parents shorten the waiting time and increase the gretry we defeat those adopting children with disabilities and those over seven years old lawmakers also want to see russian orphans to be able to receive medical attention of rod and for the state to sponsor that but at the same time this draft bans foreign gay couples from adopting children in russia and single individuals coming from countries where gay marriage is legal now this draft

also another one passed also by the state duma recently which bans homosexual propaganda to children both are widely criticized by gay rights activists in russia and abroad but actually if we look at the statistics then it seems the majority of the population here supports these measures all recently conducted while you've got a center revealed that thirty eight percent of its respondents believe homosexuality is something we should be treated by doctors thirteen percent believe that homosexuals should be legally prosecuted so clearly the society in russia is still very conservative and perhaps that's why most public events and rallies held by the rights activists in russia usually end up with them being physically attacked by eighty gay rights activists are usually people who are radical orthodox christians but actually if you compare the situation to western europe where society is clearly much a west conservative issues like allowing gay couples to adopt children are still causing lots of debate for instance just recently we saw mass produced in france

when tens of thousands or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets against the idea. a quick look now at some other news making headlines around the world this hour a suspected suicide attack on a practice mosque in the pakistani city of passion was killed at least fourteen people explosion also injured dozens of worshippers many of whom are in a critical condition. no group has claimed responsibility but shiites have often been the target of sectarian attacks by sunni muslims. in chile a riot police are suppressed a rally by students demanding education reform cash is reportedly broke out in the capital when some of the protesters tried to march on the floors route stones were thrown at police responded with watercolors. cheers experience tradition of education destroying costs and affordable loans and only trying to teach us.

russia has signed off a massive deal with china to supply oil with two hundred seventy billion dollars that's what president putin announced that he had no international home form and simply just but all these crazy pilbeam is following these key economic statements . the two hundred seventy billion dollars deal has been a struggle really supposed all expectations here in st petersburg between ross staffs and china and that equates to three hundred thousand barrels a day that's on top of the three hundred thousand that is already delivered to china about three hundred sixteen tons this is a huge deal and it's a huge deal for a number of reasons we know that the eurozone at the moment is dealing with a sovereign debt crisis the demand has gone down from there and europe has made no secret of the fact that they want to diversify. their demands as to where they get that oil from so this has to play into this as well but as far as china is concerned it is a popular move and turning to the business elite here and they say it's all about

russia moving east from now on you've only got to look at a map to see that it makes sense for these two countries to be dealing with each other to be striking out these multi billion dollar deals also for rough stuff that as a company it was great on the balance sheet we know that they acquired to be paid as a costly. and they are still paying the bills for that but i've got to tell you it's not all about china ross nafta been drumming up her plenty of deals head today they've been speaking to any exxon and also that's all as well so it will set in the head of the company has been a busy mt. i want to talk about shale gas because putin approached this topic in his hand when he was a bit defiant towards the fact that many people are saying that russia let through the. resolution revolution i should say he said the main reasons why it's not in the energy world is simply because it's costly it's more costly to produce the

natural gas and as well as that is also environmental concerns as well to do with the fracking process that is needed to get the shale gas and the fact that it can contaminate the water so as far as producing was the son he was defiant towards the so-called gas. to make it. well the next piece in the ballot box where america's political interests lie and some crosstalk stay with us. i know they track you poor ratings of the presidents of various countries by did though they still research the approval ratings of former presidents twice like

gallup poll that says that george w. bush has been slowly growing in his approval numbers since leaving office in fact his numbers have increased by seventeen percent amongst independents and even his in three rival democratic voters have given him fourteen percentage points of popularity i think this may be due to the fact that obama's magic has worn off and people are getting fed up with things belonging for the bush days is insane if you are one of the people who has recently decided that bush is awesome and please tell me how he differs from obama true obama could pronounce ninety nine percent of the words on a teleprompter in front of him but both presidents have let expensive wars with questionable objectives bush gave us the patriot act and obama continued it with the n.d.a. both of them seem to like their drones and massive government spending and expansion i don't know i don't think that just because obama's was flawed that somehow makes bush's brain into some sort of triumph but that's just my opinion.

hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i'm peter all over is the united states of america a force for good in the world with still the largest economy and an unmatched military critics claim washington's defined geopolitical interests always trump its loudly proclaimed values friends of washington are given a free pass and it means real or imagined to be destroyed and replaced.

to process whether the united states is a force for good i'm joined by george samuel in new york he is a fellow at the global policy institute of london metropolitan university and in washington we cross to bruce stokes he is the director of global economic attitudes at the pew research center all right gentlemen it's just the three of us crosstalk rules in effect i mean you can jump in anytime you want and i really encourage it george the broad question is the united states a force for good in the world today. no i don't really think so peter. if we think of the post cold warrior of the began since one nine hundred eighty nine which would also call the uni polar air of american global headroom an a i think the record of this is is really very poor. economically and financially i mean we've had from one financial crisis to another and politically it's been an

air of extraordinary instability and an extraordinary number of military interventions and attacks led by the united states sometimes alone sometimes with its various satellites so i thought the record all of the united states is since the end of the cold war has been really very poor so if one looks at it right now the united states is anything but a force for good in the world ok very strong words there bruce i would raise the point that while this may be the view of some elites especially some foreign policy elites outside the united states the reality is when you ask people around the world the average person in the street. about six out of ten have a favorable view of the united states. there is a sense that u.s. the u.s.

remains a superpower. there's even stronger public support for americans around the world. and while i can't dispute that some of the criticism of the united states are accurate in terms of the way it's acted around the world i think we can't discount the fact that publics around the world still generally not in every country have a very positive view of the united states well bruce any as you know when you say hold on when you say that when you say that. good point is that american foreign policy is an american culture is that mcdonald's is that disney i mean can you flesh it out a little bit and then it's a crime it's across that it's across the board i mean there is widespread appreciation for americans sense of protection of liberties for example the end. of the spying on america i mean but it's

luck but it's it's all relative right i mean if you ask a question say just china or iran and or the united states how do you feel about they how how they protect liberties america people around the world still think americans are more likely to have their really read protected in the united states now you want to talk about the n.s.a. you want to talk about that kind of work that's a separate issue although i would tell you that at least in the united states when we've done surveys. people. are are more concerned about terrorism than they are about the the n.s.a. listening in or looking at their e-mails but to go back to your per previous point . to matter how you slice it and it really does depend on what questions you ask people tend to like american technology and scientific advances they certainly like it when the u.s. steps in to help them in

a crisis we've seen that in. after the tsunami and in japan we've seen it after the tsunami in indonesia you get a spike in support for the united states that people are appreciative of what the u.s. can do for them in a crisis. but you know you're right but. i don't think there's a lot of people don't like it when america goes to afghanistan in iraq in libya ok also ok fair absolutely absolutely we have we know as our example that you don't only america to get like. you don't get brownie points for behaving decently when there's a humanitarian crisis every country in the world does what he can when there's a tsunami or an earthquake or some natural disaster america is the richest country in the world so yes it would only be reduced. to addressing america is the only one who can actually do that kind of thing george go ahead you do not see

what's going to go that isn't true i mean the many countries many countries do that and as a matter of fact when it comes to foreign aid and humanitarian assistance america's record is actually very poor as a percentage of g.d.p. european countries contribute far more than the united states so if you're just going to do it in terms of a force for good america's record on that level is much worse than that of the european states but even leaving aside the question of the humanitarian assistance i mean you've got to consider well. what about the geo political agenda and that is where many people in the world do have very serious problems and it's precisely the elites. you have kind of being disparaging about the elites but it is the elites who are in many countries that actually follow us dictates against the wishes of its people i mean when we think of all of the recent wars were we thinking of the invasion of iraq where with the way thinking of the bombing of libya when we

thinking now of the upcoming arming of the syrian rebels and then going back further to the bombing of yugoslavia what was widespread opposition among the people not among the elites among the people to their countries getting involved in these american i was and it was the elites that actually where you started a lot goes we have a nato it's a good coder and let's go to. that we have to go along with the americans let's go to the george george costanza he called time equal time rangers equal time bruce jump in please. look look i mean i would agree with george on this i mean our surveys show that eight in ten germans and a majority of the brits and six in ten french are opposed to arming the syrian rebels seventy percent of americans are opposed to arming the syrian rebels even after the president said that assad was using chemical weapons so i'm not trying to

pose the publics against the elites i think he's right when he says that if we were to involve ourselves in syria as not only the u.s. has said they want to do but also the british and french governments or said they want to do it would it be against the widespread opposition of publics in all of those countries ok it would also be against the opposition of people in the region only the jordanians in our surveys want the west to become involved in syria everybody else in the region says stay out even though they say we're terrified that conflict could spread to our country ok so who's right ok george jump in because i mean western involvement in that region of the world is created blowback we're getting it now go ahead well exactly that's the that's the point that this is really what one talks about america is a force for good i mean if you ask people well what do you think of american culture then you know they might have a positive view they may think of all hollywood movies movies. you know big macs or

whatever but that's true about every country i mean if you were to ask people in the cold war what do you think of the soviet union they think oh that's that's the terrible things the invasion of hungary and whatever but if you also but what do you think of russia then they think oh it also yes. of. tchaikovsky so all good things so it doesn't so when we are talking about is america feel so good we are talking about u.s. policy and u.s. policies what. he has been very problematic i mean right at the. end of the call. world war paul wolfowitz who became famous as a neoconservative for the in the iraq war. wrote a memo which was well very important influential within the first bush administration that the goal of u.s. foreign policy should be to ensure that no power in the world emerges and any time in the future on any continent that could pose any sort of rivalry to the united

states well you know the united states has been pursuing that very policy since one thousand nine hundred eighty nine and it has led to extraordinary global instability this is not a. the position of a global hedge benign global hedge and this is obviously or rather a malign global hegemony since we just veer from crisis to crisis due to this desperate desire to be the dominant power on every continent you know bruce is he not it's a country that most of the world wants to emulate today. again i think you have to you have to desegregate that i mean clearly. cut people in other countries. would rather pursue their own national destinies or. changed course you said you have all countries to it and as george said in basically there are aspects of american life that countries want to emulate certainly the middle class lifestyle

of many americans they would like to emulate even though they probably don't understand that much of that's bought on credit. are very appreciative of american culture relative to other cultures whether whether we which is elites may look down on that or not it's true and the reality is that they don't like american style business practices in some parts of the world. in other parts of the world they like them a lot we ask people last year and for several years in the past you know who do you blame for the financial crisis people didn't blame the united states line of blame their own governments they blame the banks george jumping on and i think it's actually so you want to be honest now let me let me let me answer that question to me we actually asked that question thinking this would be the newest source of anti-americanism in the world right the crisis wall street created this crisis and this will be the new source of anti-americanism in fact it wasn't so this is a very complex subject very complex we're going to have to go to

a short break gentlemen return to it if your show prickle continue our discussion on america's role in the world stay with our. wealthy british style.

markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on our. highway bill some the bones of its make it's the winds through one of the wildest and most beautiful regions of russia a place that's home to less than a million people and the keepers of the great frosts. join me james brown as i travel to the coldest inhabited place in the world. and meet some of the toughest people and hardy astronomers on the planet. just make sure that you keep your eyes on the road.

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