breaking news in r.t.e. pussy riot member maria law leaves prison following a presidential amnesty while the punk bands in the danger. is expected to walk free soon. all the newly freed me khodorkovsky steps into the media spotlight he pledges to fight for the release of his associates we take a look at their cases and why they are still behind bars. the u.s. federal reserve marks one hundred years since its foundation conceived as a tool to stabilize the economy critics say there's little to celebrate about its century of money printing. and as we begin a look back at the big stories of twenty thirteen for iraq it becomes the deadliest in the past five years but over nine thousand killed in bloody sectarian strife.

welcome you're watching international with me and now we start with breaking news pussy riot band member maria law has walked free from jail her lawyers says that's a few days after president putin announced a nationwide amnesty and another band member. is expected to be released soon too they had been serving time for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred following a stunt in moscow it's main cathedral so let's get more now from marty's. arena this is a case that's grabbed the whole world's attention but it appears anyway freedom at last for the band members well at least for one of them for sure that's what we're been getting that's what we've been getting reports on. that is said to have gotten

into a car and sped off in an unknown direction her lawyer is trying that is also according to her lawyer. to catch up with her at the moment. and of course her me now just at the according to be released when that is going to happen we are getting conflicting reports on that but i believe you can see live pictures outside of the penal colony where it is that they are going to go. at the moment and of course as soon as we see her release will be bringing those pictures as well know both. you know were given to hear jail sentence. is of hooliganism there were dissipating in this so-called punk prayer in the country's main person cathedral and cathedral of crisis they were in the center of moscow that has grabbed the attention and after they have been put on trial and charged with hooliganism of course that has also grabbed the attention of many people

around the world including some celebrities like madonna who have been speaking out actively in support of the rise members so of course this is recent still developing and we're keeping a very close watch on that ok thank you. bringing us up to date. meanwhile pardoned former pardon for my tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky says he won't engage himself in politics or business but will dedicate himself to helping his imprisoned comrades at his first press conference following his release he said he needs to pay back his debts to those still behind bars well arty's peter oliver looked into one of the cases of portico ski's associates

probably fit yet spent ten years in prison because it is you know it's spent in his image this is. not due to confront. the issue. there were two more. lucrative alexy petrou can. property is an emotional use of shift towards the years when you. still. have left that report there because we do seem to be having some sound problems but responding to this complaint his case was politically motivated. i said as i just mention we do have some technical problems here at r.t. said do bear with. responding to hold of his complaints his case was politically

motivated the rest some say that this isn't the case. why is the price of gold so high. demand global demand do you think oldest money. know the value of the only place we have to live of the water that we need to survive it's not compared to bill i mean gold we're not going to eat gold we're not going to bait with gold. we're not going to drink what clearly isn't is in a desperate economic situation absolutely right what we're wrong to do is say therefore any kind of economic development from the outside is going to be a benefit their only purpose is to extract as much money as possible to feed into the global financial system. with part

of the geo political economic system that's extremely exploit to do. first of all is a question whether mining should even be carried out altogether can it be done in a way which doesn't destroy people's lives resources environment and so on wound you know those are pretty serious questions mining is not a what a moment problem it's happening in asia in africa and south america in central america in mexico and it's even happening in canada and the united states. dramas that can't be ignored to. stories others refused to notice. food since changed the world's lights now.

so picture of today's new. pontiff from around the globe. look to. t.v. . to go to the. science technology innovation all the movies developments from around russia we've got the future covered. as a medium leave us so we leave that maybe. by the same motion securely place your party isn't going. to push you is that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all on politicking only on our t.v. . wealthy british style.

market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on our. hello welcome back you're watching r.t. international do bear with us we've had some gremlins in the works this morning we've had a few sound problems but we'll continue as best we can with some international news in brief in egypt three prominent secular activists from twenty eleven uprising have been convicted of holding unauthorized rally and attacking police the move was the first use of a controversial law restricting demonstrations all three activists received three

year jail terms and were fined around seven thousand dollars meanwhile the islamist coalition's announced it will boycott january's referendum on the constitution amended by the interim government which toppled president morsi. in the capital hold the central african republic thousands of muslims have marched against peacekeeping operations in the country according to locals the rally was triggered after three gunmen were killed in clashes with french troops it was the first demonstration since the african union and french troops arrived to end the sectarian bloodshed. elsewhere a crowd of around sixteen thousand took to the streets of stockholm to demonstrate against racism the police presence was heavy as a previous rally ended in violence a week ago when a group of far right activists attacked protesters twenty eight people were arrested and two taken to hospital following the assault sweden has seen a rise of the far right triggered by growing a growing influx of migrants

a recent poll gave the anti immigration sweden democrats party around ten percent support ahead of next year's general election. form which israel has accused palestinians of planting exploded on a bus near tel aviv police say no one was hurt after they evacuated passengers from the vehicle before the blast israeli forces set up roadblocks that entrance is that the occupied west bank and search cars for suspects violence in the west bank has increased in recent months at least nineteen palestinians and four israelis have been killed since peace talks got under way after a three year break up next peter lavelle goes through global headlines with the power of guests in crosstalk stay with us.

hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm people of a few u.s. presidents elected to a second term in office leave the white house successful or even popular for uk obama is a case in point his poll numbers are low his legislative agenda is in deep trouble and washington's friends and foes around the world do not take him seriously is obama already a lame duck president. cross not whether obama is a lame duck i'm joined by my guests in new york check why he's a democratic political strategist and we also have don de bar he is an anti-war activist and host of the day we radio program right gentlemen cross talk rules and attack that means you can jump in any time you want and i very much encourage it chad if i go to you first in new york congratulations on your victory. race in new york a breath of fresh air

a lot of people say but let's go to president obama he's got very low numbers in the polls right now about forty six that's the lowest during his time in office and a lot of people are saying at home and abroad this guy just doesn't cut the mustard he doesn't have the to get his agenda through and hence he is a lame duck now agree or disagree. well i i really disagree you know i mean any time you have three years ago on any term. there are really too soon to make that kind of declaration in american politics so barack obama has a little bit of distance right now but he has some some great opportunities to implement he said gently ok that was short and sweet don we have a lame duck president in the in the white house right now i don't know if a lame duck is an appropriate saramago back to the issue of an agenda i don't know what the agenda is part of the agenda was to bring in the health care reform that's been done to a degree i mean there are issues with that it's a step forward

a baby step forward people acted obama thinking they were going to get a single payer health care system because that's what he promised across the board looking at foreign policy international affairs war and peace issues everything that he was elected to do was done pretty much the opposite it's like a third term for george bush only on steroids for example in africa he's doing things that bush would never of tried to do invading libya bombing it for eight or nine months all over the rest of the globe the pivot to china everything else that george bush tried to do that you'd have thousands of democrats out in the street in every little town in the united states instead they're lining up behind it but the agenda itself it's unclear exactly what that is ok chad you want to respond to that george bush's third term. well you know we been hearing that. for a number of years but i don't think all that and it's valid his health care agenda ate up by

a lot of the clock for the first term and certainly could have been some adjustment and was presented in how we move through congress but he was successful weaving in a way that eisenhower was unable to do it you know kennedy was unable to do it with johnson nixon carter all down the line none of these presidents. was able to implement health care in any kind of reforming he was able to do would despite the circumstances we're looking at the second term and we still have to get through immigration reform which is a was a big ticket item and i want to say ok much i mean. it's not i mean don if we look at health care if we look at health care it's still not it's not any place here is a matter of fact it's far from being in place one could even make the argument that obama is still running in his first term because his great achievement if you like it or not isn't his first term but it hasn't come to fruition not by a long shot in his second term. yeah but that's by its terms first let's correct

the history ok kennedy started formulating in johnson passed medicare ok that is a much more extensive health care program perhaps not in terms of the age groups in terms of demographics but in terms of the depth of coverage and the number of people in the class you know people sixty five and over sixty two and over whatever that were reached that was a remarkable because it came from nothing what has been accomplished or what is yet to be actualized but what's been accomplished on paper under the obama administration is essentially a reorganizing of the private insurance industry nothing more it's insurance regulation or the adjustment of insurance regulations it's not creating the new health care system out of whole cloth it's just requiring a little more give back out of a private health care insurance system that sucks most of the money out of the

health care system when obama ran when he promised that i would pay what's going to be. ok chad jump in go ahead that's crosstalk go ahead i would think that millions and millions of the people who are now covered under health coverage to getting health care coverage. tended to you. i disagree with that but let's look at somebody's observations that we've seen of late you know especially the forbes in this. put obama number two in the power in the world again who is number one and we look at business and this observation there are a lot of holes in the listing itself and there are some some places there that you know i think are pretty incredible but there are some places where it is believe. i'm glad you brought up this back you brought this up you know why that's why we're doing this program exactly because of that list and that's what what i was thinking

about when thinking about doing this program is a leadership chant i want to go back to leadership and this is the the problem that a lot of people see obama has right now he doesn't have the leadership skills so ok the presidency of the united states is very powerful and no one has any doubts about that but is he powerful enough to use the office to get what he wants that's a very simple question and a lot of people say he's not up to the task. but he is and he is enough to get this this is where this is where this is where we are we have to examine this whole scenario. the president is pretty much on to see the republicans since the first term. but he has an opportunity now in what is about to happen in the twenty fourteen elections to make a reversal so we look at for forbes and this is a snapshot of right now it's

a snapshot of where the perception is of obama and the perception is i don't think it's so much a weakening of obama when you look at the entire landscape of what has happened as he does in his ascension. to pretty much defining himself on the world stage at critical marks ok. and i think i think a lot of people in the world would agree with you on that don but done a kind of allays my question here is barack obama a strong leader because gun control immigration. minimum wage i mean i get my i mean i can go on and on and i'm not particularly a critic of the president but i look to what he ran on when he promised in the east come up short big time. listen there's some essential facts to the american political system that have to be considered even to frame this discussion because the assumption underlying the questions and underlying you know the way

we're looking at it is that obama has a particular agenda that's being frustrated by the republicans and so consequently the reason that the things that people expected from him are not being actualized is because of being obstructed as opposed to identify and specifically what interests he represents who put him there who is beholden to what what his real agenda is now when you're trying to figure out what someone's religion and as you take a look at what they've actually done for us let's remember that for the first two years of president obama's term and for the two years prior to his taking office both houses of the congress were democratic now you had obama eclipsing clinton hillary clinton in the primaries over the issue of war the democratic you know the prime voters that went out and voted in the primaries the people that swing the constituency in that party or against the war the american public has been polling

since two thousand and four as being against the wars in iraq and i think two thousand and six or two thousand and seven in afghanistan which still continues the democratic congress had every opportunity in two thousand and nine two thousand and ten i'm sorry two thousand and seven two thousand and eight two thousand and nine and two thousand and ten to defund those wars which which will. done with the vietnam war that's actually what ended it and since the first two years president obama was in office he was like wise could have done it instead he did exactly the opposite we're at war in more places now that we were one ok. let me go to check it down pat let me go to chant down that obama is a war president just like george w. bush. worse so it doesn't make any sense i mean we haven't had any episodes of shock and awe we don't have you know i don't can't let you know about libya and let's not forget about libya is a little ad becomes a little bit little bit hard not

a bit hard to fathom and when you look at the numbers when you look at the numbers compared to iran's it is you know pretty astounding to me that the balance here so for you this is not to seem to let me just correct you on the subject of your letter is going to be some sort of if you want it is very easy to put it that way ok does not know now go ahead with my done go ahead and let me let me give you some facts ok my friend former representative sensi a macand he spent a couple of weeks in libya while the bombing campaign was going on and she was sending me reports which i was forwarding out to my audience sense that you know it's a different news agencies while she was there on one particular day and while we were in touch she was with representatives of the african union who were there to monitor what was going on now this is only in tripoli this particular day one of like eleven cities that are the major population centers in libya on that date from eleven thirty in the morning until eleven thirty in the evening twelve hours they

counted eighty three explosions from bombs each one the size of the equivalent of what happened at the world trade center in this city population of about two million about the population of manhattan now that campaign went on from march until october and hit every city in libya with a poppy way. total what the time of six million people what he did to libya made what shocking all it did to baghdad pale in terms of tonnage in terms of duration and in terms of the extent of the destruction of the infrastructure so don't say that it wasn't that that was some minor initiative that was engagement so that's the first thing i did say to them the numbers are but i can't tell you to stay i'm going to let you read a line you don't want to resupply our new hampshire rank and after our short break we'll continue our discussion on obama's state talking.

wealthy british. margetts. find out what's really happening to the global economy is a report. one of.

the pleasure to have you with us here today. welcome back to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter we're discussing barack obama's presidency and whether he's a lame duck. ok chad let's go back to you in new york things are getting flaring up in wheeling to the end of the first hour of the program so please respond to don go ahead. well

you know i have a problem when the source of information is. just a nonstarter but we talk about is the effort to talk about the topic that we're here for whether or not whether or not he is a lame duck president and we're looking at three years to continue this presidency and there are a lot of opportunities and i think there are some opportunities. especially with the shutdown of the government by the republicans and. whole piece with take cruz being the gift that keeps on giving the american public right now you see . it probably his. approval rating which is in the forty's but when we look at the shut down. in ninety six with bill clinton his approval rating has dropped to forty two but he was able to read another thing to consider is that the republican party

itself has only an approval rating of twenty two percent and when you look at congress on its own most of the american people have poll rabbits see all the members of congress replace and congressional approval is at ten percent ten percent compared to the forty two percent ok i don't think you had bad those are all here numbers those are going to twenty. fair numbers however if i go to the opportunity i say that it's not a no but it was a good thing that what you're saying is true about all those numbers i agree with you but don how does that help barack obama finish his term in office as a success when you go to done had done what let me let me let me go back to john first go ahead i think that the numbers are relevant and i think the invoking of bill clinton is very useful and light there particularly for people that are outside of the united states that are watching this there's two aspects to american politics there's what they call retail politic. acts which is almost like watching

a football game a soccer game or something where you have people on either side that are very emotionally involved but it's really much ado about nothing the real political aspects you know the real material aspects of politics of course is policy what what policy decisions are made you know you can study the mechanisms of that but what actually comes out what's the output what the implications are for both this society and what the united states for everyone else on the planet more or less bill clinton after his numbers went up for whatever value that had turned around and brought in the hundred ninety six telecom act nafta ended welfare as we knew it you know basically does help to began the decimation the real decimation of the safety net in this country began the real consolidation of the media in this country began the real was shipping overseas of american jobs in this country and

so great his numbers were up he was the best republican president we ever had was his numbers and obama's numbers are about as relevant in the same way what policies are is he actually trying to implement that we can look at the window when he had both houses of congress where and he's got and i have these are his ok chad point had to some point don at some point down we're going to we're going to let me speak but this is we're number zero. the homeowner to country is throw the bums out and particularly the republicans and twenty fourth seed here's an opportunity need to reset this whole political paradigm would be doing the congress as opposed to being so red and making the situation that policy can actually start to move so with this sort of situation and day american public can see congress with approval with an approval rating of less in terms. and i mean i could go out here

right now and i could pull you know more people who believe that elvis is still alive and they can take bad and move bad bad more more democrats go into the two congressional setting but this is with the knowledge of what happened with the last opportunity in two thousand and nine as far as moving agenda so we have to set the stage that we get past this callista troops do we get past this deadlock and start moving some policy and start getting some. chat let's have to be split into that let's take a plan statement so badly damaged that they have no other choice it's let's stay with policy what diane you know i'm going to let's go to don no don waiting to war i've really been waiting for immigration reform well i think a lot of latinos are too and it's probably not going to happen don i mean the perception from the outside looking in is that barack obama is just

a figurehead for corporate america he's more interested in their interests. it's hard to hard to dispute that based on policy let's look at immigration reform he has deported more people than all prior presidents combined and he's only partway through his second term ok so what kind of policy is likely to come out i mean this is charade that goes on that this is a compromise american politics i know is the world are in to people outside of the united states you don't have ideological differences between the parties there is wage issue. you know matters that you know i have audio article to do pretty. serious are you serious you don't have audio magic observations about it we didn't graduate anyone who read up about now you can't be you she had confidence in your ears listen. listen and the rest of the.