and there have no you moved can you hear me show i. mean. you know world's big part of the. conspiracy it's. a way to dig deeper to hit the stories that made stream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smart we need to stop slamming the door on the shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely watching the hawks.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle russian president vladimir putin has proposed some important political reforms what are they what are their significance importantly why now and what about the claim of clinging to power. across talking some real news i'm joined by my guest she's a political analyst and editor and you know smee internet media project and in london we crossed alexander material he's a writer on legal affairs as well as entertainer in chief of the duran dot com our german crosstalk rose in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate i want to break up this program into 2 parts i want to talk about what these reforms are their significance and then i want to look at the critique in criticism of them on all sides ok let me 1st go to alexander macarius in london . this is a bombshell and really is what are the most important reforms. mentioned

proposed that will be voted on by the electorate maybe sometime later this year. what you're also important takeaway go ahead alex but there's a whole package of reforms firstly the power to appoint the parliament the government will now be shifted from the president to the parliament so the parliament will decide who the prime minister is and the parliament will be able to hold the government to account and also to appoint the ministers so that is going to be a major shift of power at the same time the business body the state council is being built up and if i can explain the president will retain overall control of foreign and defense policy he will also continue to set in the general direction of the country's domestic development he was also a point the minute the officials who will deal with security and defense policy but

there will be this body this is the state council which already exists which looks like being the bridge where all of these various people will meet together so the the the government the people appointed by the parliament will be there probably the most important parliamentary officials will be there the president and he's officials will be there and of course the various representatives of the regions the regional governors directly or recollected by the regions they too will be there it will have a consultative but there's not an executive or legislative there's that he's very important but it will be there where they will thrash out all their various discussions now there are also various other lesser provisions the the constitutional court has to be beefed up so that it will have an ability to actually check and confirm the constitutional validity of legislation the local

procurators will be appointed by the president these. well the district attorney is if you like of the of the of the russian federation they will now be appointed by the president in consultation with the upper house of russia's parliament the federation council which represents the regions as opposed to being determined directly by the regions has been the case up to now and i think importantly for many russians there will be steps both to make the russian constitution. superior to the international law not not superior to international law but that in future court decisions by say the european court of human rights specific yes it will only apply in russia if they are consistent with the russian constitution as

administered bind the constitutional court of the russian federation and last but not least people top officials including the president have to be russian citizens with residency of 25 years instead of 10 years now so it's an important package of measures it's primary purpose is to strengthen the parliament. zulu but way from the super incidences eat still routine 88 pound residency but of more duvall's if you know deep game and what i think was something that hasn't really been mentioned pretty clean western media which we will talk i'm the 2nd now for the program is it this is actually pumping up the political parties because if there are going to be elect the in the prime minister i'm very powerful post the in russian the political parties are going to play a much more important role and that's been one of my criticisms over the last 20 years were the political parties are not is much part of the process now it looks

like they will be well it's true or because the bottom and to will be basically of point in their prime minister and the all of the meanest us will have to be approved by the parliament so indeed political part us will more important role by you know kitchen op one of ward that exam that had as just said a bald preponderance over russian or over their international one i want to or this in us and our viewers to understand we have this so-called magnitsky act now north on the in the united states also in several countries for the european union all of the baltic countries spall and they you key one does it mean mike need to character it means that any a on the can be rested to all of the for integrity the and your vonn can be stripped of his assets if sound one basically of the government in the west decides to at these person breach the human rights in russia or in there on over in china

anywhere so in this situation it if we stuck to the system where on international wall is of bob russian the war than we would not be able to protect ourselves so let me remind you of that just recently we've heard that the keeley and all of general store you my knee of was perfectly legal according to their america the what we've heard it from quart of officials i think it was illegal of course saw the 2 countries or not it war oh i can't buy about when you have such as situation when the sheriff isn't working when the job isn't working you have to protect yourself you know that's a very american there to do it if you want so this is very important changes to the institution that make russia more solver and more able to defend itself but the general trend toward putin said in his address is that we ensure that we are able to protect ourselves despite 800 times more money spent in the west we have a new weapons that can protect also protect us 2nd the financial stabilization has

been achieved right now it's time to develop i think this is the real reason why medvedev and probably some people from the economic walk or his government will have to go all they were good at preserving financial stability you know russia's economy is not intact us as a bomb set and there's the times and russia actually does grab the russians now you know the former british ambassador to russia 20 brandon wrote that russian economy collapsed that means that he doesn't understand anything you know the real come out of so economy we've had in the soviet union between 10081081 nothing like that is happening now and the collapse of the soviet union was basically produced by financial crisis it was the inability to control that financial situation in the country so financial stability is there but we need to develop and we need to vote that's that's the next stage or alexander let me go back to you in london i mean the interesting thing is that. critiques of the political system in russia for the

last 20 years is power vertical it seems to me that that is coming to an end when you're having your devolving power is down in spreading it out because russia has reached that level of political development where that can happen your thoughts aren't on the agree if i may say actually i mean the thing that comes across to me many of these comments and indeed in the general response we did rush to the stage is that unit. yes it's one of more to mrs a though the period of crisis which you know began many years ago has now basically been overcome and when the country's financial system completely collapsed in the 1990 s. it has been a herculean task to actually study law is it now russia has single digit inflation around 2 percent this this this is where it is at the moment until the early and it was 2010 it had been

in double digits we deem and i know that very very well very well nina massive task. it's not big financial reserves it's got a functioning banking system which is no longer by the way dependent on western loans it has. 6 every basis now for actually moving forward towards a major investment program to develop the country's interest and they're going to do it and they can do it are their own and they can do it on their own and you know do you know what one of the commentors is that the atlanticist in the government have been well said goodbye to when we look at the we the the new the new law that will be voted upon and we have to like for example be prime minister you have to be lived here for 25 years not to be the president to be the president 25 years but

only essentially one of the critiques is that it's pushing out the westerners in promoting the modernizers how do you feel about that well there are all kinds of exotic versions about it i even read in the british press there that the normal bar to present having to leave russia for 25 years is actually directed against well. that's the more exotic i would seem to pertain to beer but we don't know what the new government will be you know we don't know the personality. yes but the general trend is what you said you know if you are a minister or a governor or a judge you cannot have double citizenship. unlike ukraine and other so-called democratic countries of the former soviet union russia allows double citizenship you can be for example defacto citizens are always real and a citizen of russia at the same time i think this is very humane but putin has said if you are an official if you are serving the country you must have russian

citizenship you can be billed as emotions yes only russians if you are going to be a businessman and then ok you know we have documented history so a lot of people and adopt in places like israel or germany simply because they wanted to you know to or to do business or to develop their same difficult human so that we are not losing these people but if you want to be an official if you want to be a judge you have to serve russia that's very important ok so how can it still be a presidential system if we're going to have these changes here real quick before we go to prove the president can sack ministers and other state officials who split and put it all last he is or her confidence so this was a very important tool for removing all been the cynically seen you can do you know if you can hold that thought we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion of some real news stay with r.t. .

this is a story about what happens auster a stray bullet kills a young girl in the streets. what happens to her family and daughters in florida. no mother. is. really messes with your head. what happens to the community the public was screaming for a scapegoat the police need is a scapegoat so why not choose a 19 year old black kid with a criminal record who better to pin this on than him and what happens in court the . shot after shot as far. as we feel. we don't know still just for the. end of this trial unfortunately you. will still not know childress.

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tongue to the kid seemed to say the boy tonight. you know we can. move this because i'm listening to. you. welcome back to crossfire where all things considered i'm peter lavelle to remind you we're discussing some real news.

ok let's go back to alexander in london i've been waiting for this announcement for this these reforms whatever nature well because we're looking at president putin's term will end in 2024 and everyone wants to know and it's it's a cottage industry operation successor we've been thinking about of her 20 years now it's coming about and i think the timing is just perfect it is a gradual process. looking at the constitution tweaking it here and there to meet the times and face the future here however of course we have western media coverage coming to power how do react to how westerners have received this this path. of reforms go ahead alex well it's both predictable and absurd and let's just unpack this moment how computed cling to power when the

he's made it absolutely clear that there's only going to be 2 terms so that rules him out standing as president in 2024 and there is no other thinker going to be comparable to the president. as a result of well i mean well you know the criticism will be like a dow shower paying you know you know the president of the bridge. association yeah well another you go like that has nothing like that has ever happened in russian history there is no analog for this in russia anybody who knows russian history knows that the power goes to the office the man or the person or the woman or whoever else that you know whether is there so you have to look at who the top officials will be the person who is the president is going to be the person who is going to lead the country the state council the people who are talking about would

be a purely consultative balti so he put in cannot rule the country by being a member of the state council the idea of the problem it was what's really upsetting you know what i've been saying to people for years i mean tainted the demon here and you may agree or disagree with me on this but you know the operating assumption is that putin wants to claim to power he's trying to what you know restack the deck so he can say i would i've thought for a long time now is that he wants to find a way to leave now like to stay and to end to leave where he feels that his project for this country for 20 years he's achieved he wants to make sure his legacy remains intact and is a foundation to move forward so it's not wanting to stay in. not wanting to hang on but it's a find a way to gracefully leave where everyone is please well we have been critical of mania for in publications here there is one publication that finalists the rules of

all the places it's in great shape you know really deep advance you know wrote in the editorial put in did not choose the success it was a myth that medvedev was his plan success this means doesn't exist anymore what putin wants is to create institutions that would work after his presidential mandate expires in 2024 that's exactly true putin wants to create institutions and if he succeeds in that that will be his main chief of mint as for demonization you know we know from time c. memorial that lion is asian or petitions is boring well demonization can also be boring and very unprofessional and we have seen it i mean the same words in the in the headlines you know the new yorker with marsha gessen put inspire or grab the same power grab in the new york times in washington everywhere you see this

expression power grab you know what power grab putin could stay with video for a few more years you know he there were all the opportunities he started very thing going to switch chairs back and forth and these people contradict themselves they don't know which is they have been saying the ultimate power in russia how can he grab power already on it but the more the most outrageous situation that was there with the british press you know i rather do surprise the telegraph you know the 4 were in paragraph let me call this whole thing in full or 20 years in power putin has created a clip crissy it's a system that morgan mimics democracy but which is also italian in its nature. you pint. elections have been called political opponents leave in fear of been assessing that and then i read the same almost the same paragraph with the same

signature in the times the same day since coming to power in the year 2000 when you were put in cars built on authoritarian clipped ocracy in russia in this system elections and political institutions have been called all of the supine and political opponents and i guess their little pleasure is a. look at this guy this someone named andrew faux hoff was the director of russia and eurasia start a center at the country jackson society knows the same society where i think i guess with. a few other people so he publishes he basically plagiarize us from self you publishes the same stupid paragraph into those papers almost at the same time and then it reminds me of dr gurgles who said that basically you just have to repeat the same thing in many times and you commit seeing seeing you know it so these people repeat the same you know. in london i think what's really again you have to kind of think counter-intuitively about all of this i mean why would

create a system as he exits to undermine the very system that he wants to preserve i mean no one thinks that far i know that's a deep question nobody wants to think about that in the west go ahead well nobody wants to think about that because they've constructed this completely absurd force image all because russia and mr hussein and they're now trapped they cannot among themselves to actually meet the constitutional changes simply cannot do what they say they will do because they admit that on the whole this whole construct that they built up over the last 20 years simply collapses i mean can i can i just. something not one of these articles has explained how mr intends to hold on to power of 22 and if for no one no

not one of them has an analog just these changes in any way whatsoever as we have tried to do on this program you know in one of the things i think is really interesting if you look at maybe franklin delano roosevelt when you look at the presidency before him. it was very limited in scope ok and then you have the super presidency as a result of the new deal of the 2nd world war yes and then you have somebody like charles de gaulle that invents the super presidency of france because it was necessary at the time and i have lived through this tumultuous history of russia i've been here for over 20 years and i can understand the construct that has come into being and i see that there are parts of it that are no longer necessary or useful and how you need to move to in a direction that is a reflection of how change is going about well it's true that russia. had to have

a super presidency because. presidential power was weak and that was there on the global shareholding and i think you're going constitution was came into being under yeltsin yes not a lot of mere putin and the limitations the limitations on democracy that were important russia where imposed by the so-called liberals you know their constitution was written in 1903 by boris yeltsin support us right after their terrible of an assault or when 1903 when several dozen people were killed in what's called you know because he also had a conflict with the parliament but i would pick up on the word alexander has just said that demonization of you know the problem is that the western analysts they have talked themselves into believing that fortune is the only problem because it allows them not. to doing anything you know you've put in is the only problem then you don't have to ask questions about american policy in iraq. american boy has seen levy under obama about the american policy in ukraine it's all putin's fault

you know so they cannot get out of you know it's chaotic you know that alex and we're rapidly running out of time and i probably get my critics you know plenty of fodder here to attack me but. you know the it was the times in the 1990 s. under the advice of western advisors. about reforming the economy they created the necessity of somebody like vladimir putin and i'm echoing something the demon just said there it's not really the person it is how history created someone of the necessary at the time and we have a president that is looking for years in advance how to move from the center of power that's not a power grab go ahead alex no it's not at all i mean as you correctly said the times created the man i mean the putin is a response he had to deal with the crisis of the 990 s.

and i have to say this he did it very well the country is now a lot of stable it has stable political institutions it has a stable financial system and by the way we should stress very considerable growth in the economy since no i mean in fact transformed economy since the 1990 s. and a real to real democratic activity a real civil society so of course the time has now come to start to consolidate all that to build the institutions the demon was dorking about to try to make for a more stable system or rather a system less dependence on one individual what the russians i think talk about you know the system is excessively manual. how are you power vertical the power vertical exactly exactly and let me ask demers as a russian here because we're talking about your country you know one of the things

that people would say to me when i 1st moved here in the late ninety's all they wanted was a normal country is it a normal country now. well. it's not knowing you were on the spot here it's not normal in the sounds that michael would see of this war you know if you stand there here is what he said we will still be formed in iran and we will stop threatening iran when it becomes kind of you're right it's not normal in the sense that i but by the it's much more normal than it was in the late 90 s and of course life is much more peaceful predictable and predictable now and. it's was norton achievement of you know lonely it's an achievement of many people and many factors and unfortunately one of the main call to productive just was there all of the west so one of the if you asked me what surprised me about these. basically sooty years

since the reform started to russia it was that the west was mostly north porch but the negative factor in our development this is something that's surprising there are 8 point brought out of time gentlemen many thanks to my guest here in moscow and in london thanks to our viewers for watching us here r.t. see you next time and remember. that's geysers manager but they say most of the girl. who goes to the zoo this is a central plank so for dying a government funded problem right now they started. what politicians do something to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected

. so when you want to be president or injury. or somehow want to. have to go right to be cross that's what the books will scream the more can't be good that i'm interested always in the waters of my colleagues. first signal. from a trusted news source people biased the slimes you force me to do the focus on the best of you so he's. going to want to get what. you see in the film which not just because it's the most good movie you know. you know not a lot more. not

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