ukraine's president signs a law granting amnesty to those detained during riots in the country on opposition front and seek more support from the west. progress is mentioned for the first time in talks between the warring sides of the syrian conflict the us reminds damascus that military action is still an option. after twenty four to. we will support a unified afghanistan as it takes responsibility for its own future. future. the government of afghanistan afghanistan faces a looming threat of the taliban's resurgence as kabul and washington wrangle over a proposed security deal to end the thirteen year war.

this is r.t. international law to mustardy center here in moscow where it's just past midnight and ten pm in ukraine where the president has signed a law that gives amnesty to all demonstrators detained during the riots in the country on condition the protesters stop their blockade of streets and government buildings meanwhile the country's opposition leaders are at a security conference in munich where they've got a few important meetings lined up including a one on one with the u.s. secretary of state john kerry well earlier i spoke to daniel mcadams he's the executive director of the ron paul institute and he says washington support for ukraine's opposition is bordering on the offensive. by what rights to see have any authority to to to undermine a legitimately elected government in tell the president of this country what he

should or should not do you know what's really funny because the us is the us state department released something yesterday a statement yesterday saying that ukraine needs to move more toward a parliamentary system instead of the strong presidential system and this is the same week that president obama in a state of the union address said well if congress doesn't go along with with my with these laws that i plan to pass i'm going to start ruling by executive order so it's it's quite ironic is there a united opposition as john kerry said he's going to support it if you're a covert he does perhaps go in the long term is there a credible opposition to replace him. well certainly you see you know there's a debate as to whether the people on the streets are being controlled by the opposition or if they're out of control of the opposition. there was some information that some of the computer seized from some of the opposition parties indicate that this had been planned for quite some time including the violent component of the protests so the question is do they do the people in the streets

follow the opposition we know that people like klitschko who meets kerry and says one thing and then talk to supporters on the street and speaks in a whole different language a very violent language and of course as are all of your viewers know there are many people in the opposition who are extraordinarily unsavory in their views and these are people who who john mccain for example sat down and had dinner with when he was there in december these are neo nazis well with brunt's now spreading wide across ukraine's west it seems unlikely for the talks will bring any solutions pulis live reports from one of the hope beds of the unrest. this is the regional administration building event notes from card skin western ukraine where at the a week ago the regional governor had his office but as you can see just liking kiev's there is now a giant barricade surrounding the building with snow tires and planks of wood radical and and he russian this is the heartland of nationalism where anti on

a comic sentiment runs deep and that's the way an italian and her comrades want to keep it the twenty nine year old entrepreneur has been here since the building was overthrown she says work can wait this is more important. is supposed to have no president than to have you know called which but with the opposition as fragmented as it is that tully is the first to admit no yanna coverage could well mean an alkie whitley bishop along with the problem is that we don't have any person to replace him and we will need to take someone from their position which won't be easy the sentiments blown across central and western ukraine where regional offices are being picketed and seized by protesters i believe a group of right wing radicals some wearing masks stormed the municipal building chanting we have the power they used fire extinguishers and wooden sticks against police. in china gov demonstrators set up barricades made

a vehicle pass and sacks of snow they demanded police in the building was similar scenes played out and she can see where protesters trying to said like to furniture they smashed windows and threw stones at security forces. the anger has moved even further westwards. ski protests descend ukrainian hymns while ignoring the governor's attempts to disperse them. in a van or from coffs those now laying siege to the municipality buildings are forbidden any symbols or sentiments of the ruling party. they claim it goes against the will of the ukrainian people no one knows where the head of the administration is there are parts of this building that are still functioning for example the day to day running of the city but on a political level everything is come to a standstill all this process might. lead store division of the country of course as

a result in some arab spring helps in the long term perspective. despite their criticism of coverage these protesters have nothing better to offer policia r.t. even a front costs western ukraine. well one ukrainian protester who had gone missing for more than a week has turned up alive the triple lot of claims he had been abducted and tortured by the police are already investigating his case said to r.t. dot com for the latest news from ukraine. as time ticks away before nato troops pull out of afghanistan the u.s. is growing increasingly frustrated with the country's government kabul is still refusing to sign a security pact which would permit american soldiers to remain in the fragile state result of explains the absence of an agreement could leave afghanistan vulnerable

to a major taliban resurgence. after thirteen years in afghanistan washington is counting down together with our allies we will complete our mission bear by the end of this year and america's longest war will finally be over. but ending a war isn't the same as winning one when it comes to afghanistan peace is far from certain and a past ten years there were not able to build afghan security for forces to be able to face the challenges and this country and to be able in the future to confront the challenges and the taliban forces and the taliban fighters and al qaeda forces and the taliban have been active in the past two weeks alone the group has staged numerous attacks in kabul kandahar nimrods helmont and nanga har in fact ministry of interior incident reports reveal clashes with the taliban in most of the eleven

provinces bordering pakistan the group also controls several districts in parwan just a short drive from the country's capital some provinces are believed to be controlled by shadow governments that answer directly to the taliban on that if anyone at night the taliban run the area the district government is just me but there is no real security and it could get worse a classified american intelligence assessment warns that the initial objective in afghanistan removing the taliban and disabling al qaeda as operations in the country could fail and that the taliban could return in full swing by twenty seventeen the u.s. wants some troops to remain in the country by the pentagon's logic the pursuit of terrorists is best based in the region same goes for u.s. drones and without american help the afghan army could collapse but the u.s. first needs the afghan president to sign off on a key security pact something he has been refusing to do so far. now our position

continues to be that if we cannot conclude a bilateral security agreement promptly then we will be forced to initiate planning for a post twenty fourteen future in which there would be no u.s. or nato troop presence in afghanistan there's also the issue of talking with the enemy the consensus seems to be that the afghan war could only end in a negotiated settlement with the taliban not a military victory but that's proven elusive the taliban are internally divided and the rift between kabul and washington has reportedly empowered hardline commanders who want to keep on fighting at the expense of those who support peace talks the u.s. war has succeeded in toppling the taliban regime and many afghans have seen their lives improve but those gains could easily be lost depending on who wins control over afghanistan a country that's once again could be up for grabs reporting in washington for our team i'm lucy catherine. washington and spent billions waging the afghan war since

two thousand and one that has cost the u.s. taxpayer just under eight hundred billion dollars and here is some bills still to come every american soldier serving in afghanistan this year will cost two point one million dollars on average more than seven billion dollars worth of equipment isn't going to be shipped back so will have to be destroyed and a new thirty four million dollar military headquarters is now likely to be used and therefore it will be demolished but according to the former british s.a.'s officer richard williams the u.s. drawdown means the afghan government will have no choice but to reach a deal with the taliban. president karzai and those who have seen with him as they approach these next elections. and his supporters and those who he is supporting in the elections need to do a deal with the taliban going forward in twenty fifteen the taliban in certain provinces the conflict provinces in the south certainly will be the dominant

political element and as the president goes forward there's going to need to be an accommodation with them so this is a political gesture and so yes he is taking risks with the lives of his own soldiers the afghan army and afghan police are all fighting hard at the moment in these conflict probably says yes he's taking risk there but it's for a higher purpose and the higher purpose is clearly some form of political solution with the taliban. and his taliban insurgents are running rampant the question is if american troops do stay will they be able to secure afghanistan alone one security firm formerly known as blackwater operated in iraq until their guards were accused of manslaughter for shooting unarmed civilians back in two thousand and seven the company's founder told aunt sophie in code program that private security companies will be indispensable after the drawdown. between iraq and afghanistan the company did more than one hundred thousand missions protective missions and no one under

our care was ever killed or injured we used to build the afghan border police we built the bases we ran the base we trained tens of thousands of afghan policemen border police these guys couldn't read couldn't write they've never seen a flush toilet before the be an embassy there will be some kind of a training or support function i'm sure left behind for the afghans because the you know they're they need support combat service support aviation support for the afghan army to try to continue to defend the country so there certainly be a role for private sector companies. and lack of lethal drugs could lead to a return to gas chambers and firing squads in some u.s. states. you know something stumbling in only partly you know not quite

bleeding you know these are things that are also prone to error to pain to revulsion from the public shortly we have from experts to describe what condemned prisoners will face when the old methods of execution a back in action. this is the media lead us so we leave that maybe. by the same motions secure. the party there's a good. questions that no one is asking with the guess that you deserve answers from. politicking.

we're turning to syria now one of our top stories this hour on the first round of talks in geneva between the warring sides in the country brought no breakthroughs but finally produced some initial signs of progress over washington is ready blaming damascus for violating previous u.n. agreements and is questioning the regime's commitment to chemical this moment when

he's in the stars it chicken it joins me live now with more from new york at the start of us more about the existence of being made by the u.s. . well bill what we've seen over the last few days is u.s. officials take on again this new vigorous rhetoric against assad's government saying that it is just not moving quickly enough in terms of eliminating the chemical weapons that it's promised to get rid of the crisis torn country on wednesday for one we heard from the u.s. intel is an intelligence chief james clapper tell the u.s. senate that there may be reason to believe that assad's regime may have advanced its biological program and me be able to advance and create agents of that sort then we heard from the u.s. state department department spokesperson jen psaki say that the syrian government assad's government has only so far relocated as little as just five percent of the

chemical stockpiles in the country also joining the voices of politicians who are saying let's see this process now. much quicker and of course our most recently we heard from the u.s. secretary of state john kerry see that the process really needs to pick up the tempo that it's too slow and that if assad's regime doesn't listen ah something else would happen take a listen. we now know that. assad regime is not moving as rapidly as it promised to move the chemical weapons out of syria so we have serious issues to talk about in terms of compliance with the agreement that the united nations security council has ratified that is now a global legal international obligation. and i would remind her

of. the agreement that we reached in new york with the security council makes it clear that if there are issues of noncompliance they will be referred to the security council for chapter seven. well of this is of course a warning that if the assad regime doesn't listen what would happen is a possible return of negotiations at the united nations security council because under the a deal brokered by russia and the united states assad of course means to move chemical weapons out if not negotiations would resume in terms of possible further steps or possible further sanctions and this deal of course was reached last september after the west threatened with military action a following an alleged chemical weapon use in syria that the united states blamed on the assad regime now while all of this is going on it's important to keep in

mind that syria is saying that the reasons for any delays are purely reasons of security that transferring these weapons is complicated because the country is torn by a crisis russia has echoed this position a representative of the foreign ministry has said that syria is in fact acting in good faith and that russia is willing to continue and provide more technical support but that moscow cannot in on itself carry out to provide all of the support that syria needs in this particular case and also we've heard from the head of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons saying that it's important to ensure that the process agreed on continues and for this to continue certain age old possible insurances and possible steps for it to make for it to happen should take place so while these rigorous messages are coming from washington it seems that a much more helpful approach continues to be a viable option. of stars if it's very much indeed for that of the stars or chicken

a lot of the you know new york studio. well you know i talked to him a britain gold and he's a former commanding officer of the british army's chemical defense ridgemont and he told me it's almost impossible to rid the country of its toxic in a war zone on the proposed should you. there always been great difficulties doing this is a hugely ambitious plan and without the leader of the russian federation in the u.s. we just wouldn't be here the majority of these chemicals and pretty. stark north of des vascular. we know the sort of fighting that's going on in the contested areas has to go through and there's a big i still battle going on just twenty five kilometers from attack here there are many sides to this and the opposition do not appear to be helping. realize that un resolution which has the chemicals moved out of syria. gas chambers electric chairs farming squads what seem to be a thing of the could soon be making

a comeback in parts of america lethal injection drugs used to carry out the death penalty are in short supply because in some us states are looking to return to the old methods some of which critics say verge on torture report has more. in just the first month of twenty fourteen six executions have already been carried out on u.s. death row inmates however the shortage of drugs coupled with an increasing concern surrounding the efficiency of lethal injection has prompted lawmakers in some states to push for the reintroduction of long abandoned torture methods in missouri some officials have raised the notion of rebuilding the state's gas chamber and also proposed making firing squads an option for executions death by gun has also been proposed as an option in wyoming meanwhile in virginia there's been a push to make electrocution an option so why are u.s. states now advocating to bring back these relics of the past in recent years

european drug makers have stopped selling their drugs to prisons because they say they don't want their products to be used to kill prisoners as a result many u.s. executions have been delayed in other cases the use of new drugs for lethal injection caused slow painful deaths lasting over twenty minutes richard dieter of the death penalty information center says old execution methods being advocated are prone to even more mistakes you can imagine with a firing squad you know stumbling in only partly. bleeding. you know these are things that are also prone to to error to pain to you know revulsion from the public and so states changed to protect that. to lethal injection so to go back would certainly jeopardize their whole purpose of carrying to carry out executions. some u.s. states already provide alternatives to lethal injection alabama arkansas florida

kentucky oklahoma south carolina tennessee and virginia it minister the electric chair if by the defendant delaware new hampshire and washington state allow inmates to choose hanging. and wyoming legally allowed gas chamber executions as an alternative currently lethal injection remains the only enforceable method of execution in the us but if states get their way somewhere down the line death by firing squad or electric chair may become the new norm in america reporting from new york. r.t. . management to the major u.k. nuclear reprocessing site ordered many of its. friday. we reveal exactly what went wrong. given some workers an extra day off but it. does nothing more than we think. the agency disclosure is

a mysterious object on the surface which the space agency is simply calling a real. winter olympics reach top speed just. jumping into the. dozens and then hurtling down the track at speeds of around one hundred thirty kilometers an hour. to examine the. the olympic hopefuls in bumps lady and skeleton will be chasing the dream here at the sunday sliding center them. the movie cool runnings a news retelling of the true story of jamaican bobsled team could perhaps resonate

in sunny's old sheep but i've always wondered how do they get the shape of the track to be able way it is i also how did they get it so smooth while i was on the onset today and it takes one polit to actually call out to the shape of the track and once that's done this big baby here comes into action and what it does is it works footed like a vacuum machine so it fucks up all the office i often tried and then moves that over the causes of for us in russia to have three up and slopes which help to slow speed and keep athletes sleep but the competitors can still pluck up to one hundred and thirty five kilometers an hour and get a tribe level it takes a few called the to lose and educated convents i wasn't making my way all the way to an olympic track without testing my carving skills. i dig in.

and this is how we get the tracks. it really isn't as easy as it looks so you really need men like being a hero who know what they're doing has been trained to do what they're doing right now to actually carve out the ice now twenty seven of them including jamie how will we add during the olympics basically taking care of this entire tribe making sure that the bobsled and the sledging competitions go exactly the way it is because a truck is too big to get through the narrow lanes it's done the old fashioned way with this new shovel and a broom. the russians speeding down. going up and that's why this venue has been called sunk the russian word. mom would say at the sankey sliding center line. in half an hour from the politicking with larry king is here after the break this is r.t.

international.

i've always had mixed feelings about speed traps it seems like it's a waste of the police officers time but on the other hand they sure do make people paranoid and drive more slowly one man from texas is completely sure of his opinion about speed traps and he set out to save his felt texans from being fined for speeding and much more importantly from potential traffic accidents caused by the hidden police and now he's the one who is in deep trouble according to fox news ron martin faces a misdemeanor charge for violating first texas sign ordinance that says that you may only stand around holding a sign on private property martin claims that he was doing the exact same thing as a speed limit sign reminding people to slow down and i think ultimately he is right you should be able to tell other people where the police. they're setting up speed traps because that will cause them to drive more slowly which is the real goal of speed traps in the first place the only reason local authorities would be against this is because they love the income that comes from a nice big pile of speeding tickets i hope that mr martin finds a way to go right back to holding his sign but this time on private property pascha my opinion.

and. how do you operate gillum i'm going to remain as good sports such experts to the. roof and not on a limb to. eat my fine. jesse ventura is going off the grid we want you to join him he's opinionated of course outspoken american original bucking the political system and doing it in a bare knuckle no holds barred way yes even durham has a lot of his mind and he's ready to un load it's all on this edition of politicking .

politicking jesse ventura on larry king or a t.v. has a new show featuring the former governor jesse ventura the show is called off the grid and that's exactly what jesse is doing he'll join me from his secret location welcome to aura t.v. jesse good to have you aboard. larry it's great to be here i can't believe that we did an interview probably a little over a year ago when you told me this was where i should be and lo and behold i've ended up here on ora t.v. it's fantastic and i'm indeed off the grid larry and will be moving around constantly so they can never get a fix on me when i broadcast back into the united states ok we're going to talk about off the grid in the next segment within a concentrated some politics in this obama's job approval rating is sitting around forty six percent does that surprise you well not

really because having been an elected official you realize that whenever you make hard decisions you're going to get people angry at you a lot of people are one issue people so if you go against them whatever that particular issue might be all of a sudden they don't like you for the other nine things you might do good so you never do hold you know polls like that fluctuate like the wind larry they're going to go up and down depending on which way the political wind happens to be blowing how do you assess how he's doing well i've been extremely disappointed in him because you know he ran to change their ass and ben any change where the same country we were under george bush we're still involved in these ridiculous wars we're still we've got everybody under surveillance and all american citizens seem to be potential terrorists that's why they're watching us i guess and that's an amazing thing too larry.