president obama warns of a danger of defaulting cues in the republicans of putting america's economy at risk with no progress being made to the paralyzed government. thirty people involved in a greenpeace protest against oil drilling in the arctic sea and charged with piracy we talked to a former leader of the group who believes activists overplayed their hand. and fresh infighting among the syrian opposition is al-qaeda linked rebel groups seek to hijack the civil war and push for the formation of an islamic state our top stories this hour.

live from our studio center here in moscow which has turned this is. barack obama has called on his republican opponents to show some common sense warning that if congress is not able to agree a budget there is a very real risk of a national default well meanwhile an estimated three hundred million dollars going down the drain every day the government is shutdown. has more now from washington d.c. . getting last night at the white house between president obama and congressional leaders failed to yield any deal to end the government shutdown now in its third day and it's becoming increasingly clear that the president and congressional leaders want to include increasing the debt limit and i'd like to end a government shutdown as well because the debt limit is the real serious issue here this government shutdown is having effects on our economy the longer it goes on the more effects it will have on our economy but failure to raise the debt limit in the u.s. still will go on and so that's would be absolutely catastrophic to put it in perspective in two thousand and eleven when republicans just made the threat of defaulting on

our debt we saw the u.s. credit rating downgraded we sold job creation so we saw the economy slow and we saw about a billion dollar hit to the u.s. economy that was just the threat of a default so here we're looking at the very real possibility of a default which many economists think it could be on par with the financial crisis like we saw in two thousand and eight. right now we see between both parties republicans and democrats with this default looming over their heads no closer to a deal they're both digging in and we've heard from the democratic side words like republicans are acting like an artist's speaker the house john boehner needs to grow up he needs to act like an adult and from republicans i just want to read this quick quote from a republican congressman who said we're not going to be disrespected so that's where we are today and we have to get something out of this i don't even know what it is yet so we have republicans saying we need to get something out of this democrats saying we've given you everything that you're going to get out of this

meanwhile the country races towards this default in a few weeks which would be a really a self-inflicted economic recession. so what happens if the u.s. fails to raise its debt ceiling well president obama would have to find money to service the national debt from somewhere else most likely that would be done by shutting down some of the most costly government programs another possibility is the raising of taxes meaning americans would feel the cold hand of history but what happens if those measures are not enough washington would have to announce it was defaulting or politicians and experts say a default would be devastating for both the american and global economy it would affect all countries holding u.s. debt now the u.s. government is obliged to pay back hundreds of billions of dollars each month and that would be put seriously at risk because washington wouldn't have the money well confidence in the u.s. would be severely hit making it much harder to borrow money and that would leave one of the world's most indebted countries without

a financial safety net further increases in interest rates taxes and unemployment are likely to follow possibly undermining the u.s. dollar as the global reserve currency well yeah list of all the keys the head of the analytical department of deutsche bank in russia says that global economies are hoping the u.s. will resolve its crisis for everyone's sake. we believe that at the very last moment probably but there will be a breakthrough an agreement will be reached i think there is too much at stake in terms of what a default. or for there are delays and reaching the compromise would mean for the american economy so this is the case for the u.s. economy this is the case for the global economy as well as for russia as we've seen before with similar cases in two thousand and eleven. certainly the main transmission mechanism is through will prices so pressure on commodities pressure

on oil prices would signify essentially pressure on russia's economy and financial markets and then the other channel of course is capital outflows those may intensify further delays in reaching the compromise in the us to a place washington's position as the global economic and political elite are threatened this is certainly something that undermines. the the role of the u.s. and leading the world economy out of its current predicament and going forward of course the hope is that some sort of a working arrangement is worked out in the u.s. so that cases like that in the future are avoided well let's get more perspective now from robert she's chair of the european union think tank of the bruges group robert so if it did happen if there was

a default how would that affect the european economy and indeed asian economies. it would have a big effect of course particularly for the asian economy such as china which owns a lot of us dead of course the situation is though is that under president obama public spending has increased massively the debt has increased massively it's approaching seventeen trillion dollars simply raising the debt ceiling again is like you have a hangover or the approaching a hole just to put it off but of course ultimately just makes it worse in the long run and there comes a point where member can debt becomes unserviceable that it's just too high as a city supposing the seventeen trillion dollars and something really does need to be done about this because we can't just keep on borrowing more and more money because otherwise it's putting off the disaster for future generations and i'll just make it even worse when the debt crisis does finally hit they really do need

to stop this massive increase in public expenditure which of course is largely at the heart of this conflict between the house of representatives and the american president of the moment now there is also talk of course of the dollar losing its dominance as a global reserve currency something close to your heart you're very much against the eurozone the euro but actually that's more important now if that did happen for the euro to get much stronger i mean that would be obviously an important aspect for europe. what the euro increased in strength that would actually harm a lot of european union economies actually hurt even german exports to countries such as such as china of and outside of the euro zone so if the euro increases in strength that will actually increase its users as what about increasing its status as an alternative reserve currency though. oh yes the american government he has

been thoroughly debased by. successive us presidents have always been. always been to questioning the status of the dollar which has been devalued constantly time and time again and there will be a possibly a time when people will actually finally think that the us the dollar is no longer a currency that we can rely on and i will look for other currencies such as the pound the yen and of course the euro until course that finally breaks up as well the euro has of course significant problems which will not go away as well well there you are sitting in one of the world's leading financial locations london but of course so is the u.s. just held damaging will this debacle be for its reputation globally. very damaging it's the common crisis with the shutdown in of the u.s. government and public servants not being paid that will harm economic growth that undoubtedly and of course if there's

a. default on american debt then there will. creates severe repercussions for america and that and the global economy but of course the president of the house of representatives commonly they're not negotiating they're just arguing amongst themselves need to sit down and reach an agreement and common find a way of tackling the debt crisis because just raising the debt ceiling is not an answer that will just store up further trouble and will be the same situation just a few years down the line again there was a similar crisis in two thousand and eleven where the. on its debts then of course that led to a downgrade in u.s. debt since then boy in costs for america have actually or did actually decrease but of course we're now just two years later again we're seeing the same thing happen and it's raising the debt ceiling once again would just mean further down the line will be severe problems america has very severe financial problems raising the debt ceiling is not an answer but of course austerity as we've seen in the european

union doesn't work either so america is in a very difficult economic position where you certainly ring the alarm bells there in highlighting the precarious position the states is in and you said earlier a bomb is going to sit down with a proposed republicans and resolve this matter do you see a resolution happening quite soon or could it go on well in the past but it lasted for three weeks the last shutdown is going to really be as as bad. at the moment the republicans want to have negotiations with the democrats for the democrats i know it's already been decided there's been forty two votes on the on the health care reforms just go along with it just agree to it except it it's done it's over but of course of the publicans think that actually obamacare as they call it is unpopular and of course it will add to more costs to the taxpayer arguably it can't be afforded in america why now so really there does need to be some compromise and both sides need to eat some humble pie and just recognize that for the good of the

american economy and the global economy because it can it will affect us all if the u.s. defaults it doesn't need to be why forward and with and sticking to their policies and ramming them through the as the democrats and president obama wants to do and of course the publicans trying to block that every single turn and it's to be some kind of compromise otherwise it won't just be u.s. government employees it won't be getting paid it will be people in the in the private sector as well where you are in the world economy suffers a crisis when america or if indeed america does default robert great to get your perspective there from london thank you very much on the road all this from the bridge group there in london here on r.t. thank you very much. much more government must now shut down until congress funds it again. well if you live here in moscow within twenty four hours a day more news coming your way right after this short break.

mission to teach me. right.

from the. entry. visit. thirty people involved in a greenpeace protest. in russia's northwestern port city they were arrested after attempting to. protest over off shore drilling in the region while greenpeace lawyers are appealing the decision insisting that there was no violence involved authorities say they pose a serious threat to the security of the. facing up to fifteen years in prison still refusing to give testimony. he's a former greenpeace leader and he believes they should have found

a better way to convey the message. you can't expect to have people allow you to continue to storm their oil rigs oil rigs are a very serious operation with really big safety issues and you start scaling the rig and then people have to come and try to get you off it puts them in danger and so i can certainly understand why they were apprehended and finally towed away from the site the other thing that's quite ironic is greenpeace is using a diesel powered ship to. occupy a loyal rig and so they you would they needed oil to get there if they had sailed there or rode there in a boat maybe it would make more sense i do tend to agree with president putin that they are not pirates it is pretty obvious i think their intentions were not to loot the rig or anything like that but they're still putting people in danger and it is a serious situation but let's just quickly talk about the oil rig itself it is

static as opposed to floating offshore platform is it true to say that this is actually a much safer way of extracting oil for the environment it's my understanding that this is the first oil platform that is done zines specifically to withstand ice the intention is to make it a safer way of extracting oil but you know when it comes to oil this is a this is the problem with the greenpeace situation their tactics i know they're not trying to hurt anybody but their policy is ridiculous they live in this dream world we're now they are against fossil fuels they're against hydroelectric energy they are against nuclear energy which between the three of them supply about ninety eight percent of the world's energy and they seem to think that civilization can operate on wind and solar alone these technologies disappear for five days at a time when there's no wind and no sun how do you run factories and schools and hospitals and businesses and homes with this kind of energy so i think it's their

policy that should be rejected but i. concerns justified when it comes to the arctic it is a pristine the last remaining wilderness it is in danger is it not of suffering environmentally by this exploitation the arctic environment is no more fragile than the tropical environment or the temperate environment or the environment of england or the environment of anywhere else in the world it's just you know mostly ice as most people know which is not alive they talk about how the glaciers are dying and all of this is if these things were alive they're not alive and the world might actually be a better place if there wasn't so much ice. greenpeace has become known around the world for stunts like the one it pulled in the arctic or do you get a picture this cannot be criticism of the group's tactics this story has all the elements to be able to storm into international headlines like the arctic greenpeace russia and armed men in masks but besides the action and the drama it's

also full of controversy for instance the same exact oil rig was already targeted by another group of greenpeace activists in august two thousand and twelve back then they did manage to climb onto it and didn't get arrested but later greenpeace itself criticized russia for failing to provide the proper security saying that all rick could become a potential target for terrorists second gas is clearly not in operation unlike those used by other energy companies working in the arctic like norwegian stat oil and also this particularly rig is static which means it's standing on the bottom of the sea this technology is widely considered to be much safer than that used in floating offshore platforms so many reason the question why is all the attention focused on this particular one. well i'm now joined from london by ben alle if he's the head of greenpeace is arctic campaign now you said that greenpeace was taking peaceful action to defend the environment so why did the russian authorities say

that you were in danger in it and indeed threatening the staff on board that rig. i think you'd have to ask the russian authorities but certainly you know thirty activists have been charged with piracy this is fundamentally a charge of a crime that didn't happen this is an accusation that is just pure fantasy greenpeace has a long history of peaceful protest it was perfectly obvious to the coast guard to the operator of the platform that this was a peaceful protest and the response that we've seen in the subsequent charges today i'm afraid are extreme and completely disproportionate but isn't it reckless to storm an oil rig with all those safety issues at stake. when i think we did not storm the platform we tried to put a team of two climbers up the side of it to protest the what gazprom were doing and the threat that this region that the platform itself poses to the arctic region are

people who are very well trained we have expert climbers at no point was there any danger of anything happening to the platform let's not forget this is one hundred sixty meter square platform with about a quarter of a million tons of concrete rubble underneath it a couple of protesters in a river are going to do damage to a platform that is supposedly built designed to withstand year round i think oceans well i spoke to a former leader of greenpeace and he conceded you committed civil disobedience you therefore expect to pay the consequences after all you all eco warriors and of course there is no dispute that you do have a huge support many people do share your sentiment new concerns about what's happening the arctic but is there not a better way of getting your message across and quite frankly there you've taken a risk and you should be there for prepared to suffer the consequences. well i think there are two things to bear in mind firstly that is the urgency of the need to action not only is the arctic undergoing fundamental change and vanishing before our eyes but this platform the gazprom platform is about to produce oil for the

very first time this will be unique in world history it will be the first ever offshore platform to produce commercial quantities of oil from the icy waters of the arctic there was an imperative for us to act because of the great risk that poses to the environment however greenpeace has spent a lot of time in russia talking to the orthorexic talking to gazprom about the specific risks that this rig platform posed at every stage we've been ignored we've written letters we've sat down in conferences said you shouldn't do this time and time and time again we've been completely ignored i'm afraid given the urgency and the specific risks that this platform posed to the arctic there was a very very clear need to take peaceful action well i believe you haven't been ignored because gazprom has just said that they want constructive dialogue i'm reading the news was now they're saying yes we want to talk to greenpeace so are you now prepared to have a constructive discussion with them. look of course greenpeace is happy to have constructive dialogue with anyone about the future of the arctic we realise that

this is an issue which concerns all of humanity what happens in the arctic affects every man woman and child but the issue with gazprom of course is that this form is about to start drilling they're about to start the pumps working it is completely unsafe it is a reckless process project and yet and i've been talking to say this is out of the rate it's cast on would be compliant and please nabl to deal with any sort of spill in this region they're completely unable to deal with the deepwater horizon spill so until they're willing to say ok we don't think we're going to go ahead with this project then dialogue is fundamentally pointless all right so what about the fact that this is a static rig not a floating one and i was talking to an expert yesterday saying this is a much safer method so the environment and the safety issues have been considered here it is definitely a much safer way than previous methods. what i think safe drilling for oil in the arctic is a complete oxymoron whether it's a platform in russia in greenland or off alaska this person on your platform has

been cobbled together from decommissioned all rigs that sat rusting in amount shipyard for nearly two decades we haven't published a full oil spill response plan so there's no way to independently verify that this this platform is capable of operating in what are the most harsh conditions imaginable on the planet put your a c. is ice bound for nearly two thirds of the year this is the extreme end of extreme or oil and it is simply a completely impossible for gazprom or the russian authorities or anyone to say that this will be able to drill safely when for instance there is no technological way anywhere on the planet of cleaning up oil but it's built in ice so you could say the same about the role that shell operation in alaska always and also norway stat all operation would be targeting them along with the russian target. of course greenpeace has run a big campaign a very public campaign against shell in alaska for instance we've done it for over

the past eighteen months and luckily we were able to shine a spotlight on shell because of their fiasco essentially in trying to drill for oil in alaska of course the same for can energy in greenland for start all in the barents sea it's very interesting actually that you mention shell that they're about to become partners in the arctic with gazprom and you really couldn't think of two more reckless companies that you wouldn't want anywhere near what is probably one of the most unique and fragile environments left on the planet many say your policy is ridiculous you're against fossil fuels nuclear energy and hydroelectric energy of course the world relies on these at the moment alternative energy wind source and solar energy just cannot supply the energy needs of the world and i spoke to your former leader yesterday he said your policy is totally miss guided. well patrick moore. as is perfectly entitled to whatever opinions he cares to carry the issue here is is unconventional front here or oil the oil

industry is being pushed to increasingly marginal and fragile parts of the world be it deep water places like the gulf of mexico of brazil and increasingly the arctic this is because the age of easy or oil is is over essentially the companies have no other choice but to go into these very risky remote and expensive areas what we're saying is that actually given the urgency of the need to act to stave off the worst impacts of climate change the oil industry certainly needs to get away from these very very risky expensive and environmentally sensitive areas that will cost them and their investors a fortune if something goes wrong and actually start making the shift the way to things like energy efficiency cleaner forms of technology we understand of course that this isn't going to happen overnight we're not saying to people turn off the gas taps turn off your tank but if you look in places like western europe in in north america demand for oil is actually flattening so this idea that we're going to need more and more and more oil until not completely sated isn't true there is

a flattening demanding key demand centers and oil companies i think have to respond to that by realizing that going into the ever more risky front here is like the arctic is that is a gamble too far or i thank you very much indeed head of the greenpeace arctic campaign ben live in london thank you very much indeed for your time. the decision to put fugitive n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden on the shortlist for europe's human rights prize is received a less than positive response from the director of his former agency rena. joins me live from new york to explain marina take us through exactly what was said. some u.s. officials would prefer to put n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden on a much less popular list no citizen would ever want to be on u.s. journalists brendan who covers technology policy for the hill blog reports that former cia and n.s.a. director michael hayden has joked about putting edward snowden on america's kill

list haven's alleged comments were made at the washington post cyber security summit where he also noted that snowden has been nominated for a huge human rights award and then reportedly said quote i must admit in my darker moments over the past several months i had also thought of nominating mr snowden but it was for a different list unquote now at the washington post panel discussion on cyber security hayden also reportedly defended the u.s. government's use of targeted killings joke or not some would argue that this is probably the worst time for any u.s. official to even speak sarcastically about america's assassination program why well because journalists jeremy scahill and glenn greenwald are currently working together on a joint investigation on how the u.s. national security agency has been involved in a wider overseas assassination programs run by the obama administration both of these journalists are known for their hard hitting investigations of the u.s.

government and their collaboration reportedly reveal how the vast surveillance network of the n.s.a. operates in conjunction with operations run by the u.s. military or cia so here we are in a situation where i had word snowden is being considered for a european union human rights award considered among the highest and his name even in a joking matter associated with a kill list would mean in theory that a whistleblower and internationally recognized human rights campaigner would have a mark on his head clearly a circumstance many would say that is no laughing matter. thanks very much indeed for the poor. fresh clashes have erupted in syria between secular rebels and al-qaeda linked extremists is the latest spate of infighting among the camp which has seen a rapid rise of radicals in their numbers western analysts put the total number of rebels of the one hundred thousand splits into as many as

a thousand different groups ten thousand fighters or radical jihadists with links to al qaeda up to thirty five thousand others a hard line islamists who share many of his views now that leaves the rebels. but. so that brings up to date for the moment i'll be back with a news team with more for you in just over half an hour from now this is all t. live here in moscow stay with us if you can't. down the fine. the rest. will be.

pretty free. free. free. free. free. free. video for your media project free media. welcome to the kaiser report i backscratcher hey you there in liverpool or thanks so much for the max graffiti you can now see on your screen i asked people around the world to put max your feet up in your city liverpool thank you this is got to be five or six cities now around the world have huge max portrait graffiti yes ok now it will appear.