>> this is "bbc newsnight." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its global insight to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> this week, we are on the front lines in misrata. rebels are trying to push west towards tripoli. and afghanistan, the british army builds a damn. this has never actually been installed. the u.s. has no shortage of those searching for a better life but is tied at the leader of this century? >> we're headed towards a decline. there will have to be a course correction or this will and very badly. -- will end very badly. there was much jubilation among the rebels in libya this week

when they heard that muammar gaddafi is the subject of an arrest warrant. more than 100 days before nato began military operations, anti gaddafi fighters began their operations. >> this was his very first day on the front line. a 19-year-old is being wheeled into surgery. another casualty in a besieged city where defiance is curdling into frustration. >> i don't think that nato is helping as much as they should be. there is a delay. >> amputation is the only option. a 19-year-old boy, a student in

college. they're going to amputate his leg. for what? he does wants his freedom, that is all. that is all. >> of the weary defenders paused for prayers. they have held their ground here despite daily bombardments. ahead of them, the road to tripoli remains blocked. nato don't understand why does not destroy the tanks. they need to hunt down the once he is hiding. when a rebel general are rides to inspect this army, the men

complain that they like bullets and guns. this visit is designed to boost morale from the fighters. the general's message was not an encouraging one. this is still going nowhere without air support. are they doing enough here? >> no. we need more. they did the best that they can. we need more and more and more. >> walks if we don't kill him, will not do anything. >> there is a frenzied the light of misrata.

also one for his son and brother a lot. >> he is a criminal. he is officially a war criminal. >> will vote warrants accelerate the end game here or drag it out? >> i don't want him to stay. if this is a solution to stop the war, to stop killing, to stop people dying every day, we will say yes, he can stay. under special conditions. >> the festivities are over and the gloom of another evening descends on this ruined and isolated city. miles from here in neighboring towns, nato is starting to make a much bigger impact. >> we hear the sounds and we hear the sounds of bombs from the ship's.

this is a sudden increase. they are attacking more. this is three or four days more. the forces of gaddafi will be increased at able to into the city. >> time might be on the rebels' side. at what cost. negotiations failed. misrata has already paid a heavy price all neighborhoods are deserted. rockets are still falling on the city. only shrines for the fallen open late into the night. new faces are being added every day. >> western forces in afghanistan and barred on a project designed to bring electricity to millions of

people by upgrading the dam. as a people called pieces of the mastiff turbine through the western insurgency. -- of the massive turbine through the western insurgency. despite being transported at such cost, the turbine has still not been assembled. we discuss what wrong and what of the project can ever be completed. >> high at the northern end of helmand province, man and nature have combined to produce this. this came about through the american aid project. nato want to double the power.

so far, the designs have failed. this used to be a market and home to thousands. the people left just before the british came here in 2006 and have never come back. the u.s. marines now patrol. >> is used to be a thriving bazaar due to the fighting and because of the intensity of it, people used to work in the bazaar moved out. >> is there one person who lives here? >> there is a bread maker. >> holding on has cost many lives. soldiers here must result to

artillery and even air power to maintain their hold. the americans inherit the dam and its problems from the british. now the u.s. would like to complete a plan to upgrade the dam and install a new turbine. >> to add the turbine which has been vacant for a number of years. we will get that in a and add 50% to the production which is 80 megawatts making it one of the larger facilities in afghanistan. >> it was the british who are originally spoke about installing the new turbine by the end of 2007. today, with this project still languishing, nato's commander has told us that this is an object lesson in how not to do so.

>> with respect, i would be very careful not to overgeneralize on the basis of one very tough mission that indeed may have included over promising and under delivering in the past. one of the other mandates that i've brought in was that we would try to the best of our ability and we cannot always help ourselves but we try to under promise and over the liver and to avoid the kind of trifecta fateful life fall flat fifth excesses but only to find out that they were not as in during as perhaps we thought they were. >> in 2008, the british mounted an operation, one of their biggest in fact, to move a 10 time terror band -- 10 ton

turbine. this involves more than 3000 troops. the turbine was broken down and put on voters. it towards the dam at an average speed of barely 1 miles per hour. the british knew there would be heavy resistance if they tried to fight their way through. they were trying to bring it up the road. they tried to negotiate an agreement whereby it could come peacefully up to the dam. >> the convoy traveled through the desert avoiding an enemy stronghold. for around 100 miles into the journey can just dam itself, there was fierce fighting.

the british held this as a triumph. they lost their troops. an estimated 200 insurgents had been killed. the military was proud of their achievement and flew in the press. they are now being unloaded. >> fighting continued around the dam, the defense secretary argued it was right to push on. even today, the turbine parts are sitting unmoved where the british dropped them three years ago this has proven to be in vain.

is that of proving to be a visionary scheme to bring electricity, this has turned into mismanagement and miscommunication between aid organizations and the military. >> why has it carried up if there are such costs? the chinese workers that were hired to do the work fled. american commanders have been trying to get the project going again. when did the americans think they might have it completed? what is our hope that most of the materials can be used. we should be able to get that turbine installed in about 24 months over the assessment is

done. >> even if that timetable is met, allegis said it will not reach the afghans until seven years. given that hellman has proven to be a graveyard of optimism, it might well be that the project might be finished by the time that they go with ross. >> sometime in the coming decades, china will overtake america as the world's biggest economy. western commentators viewed the u.s. as a sort of place in peril britain was at the end of the 20 century. to discuss this, my colleague spoke to an economist, the author who left after taking part in protests in 1989, and a

writer on risk in geopolitics. first, we take stock of how the land lies. >> the paramount fear -- the crowd is diverse the of all code come to take part in a production of a change their lives. they call it naturalization here. to you and me, that means becoming a u.s. citizen. cheesy, yes, to see one of the ceremonies is to grasp the essence of america. >> this is one of those only in america plummets. this is part of a living -- legal process. this is all wrapped into kind of a movie experience.

it says, "i am honored to congratulate you on becoming a citizen of the united states. because of your determination, this great nation, is now your nation, sign, sincerely, barack obama." >> america is vexed by doubts, but that has not put them off. fresh blood is coming faster than ever before. >> the racism and everything you encounter, i don't feel that here. >> they give me so much freedom. freedom to do anything i want. i can accomplish anything that i would like. as a great thing about america. >> -- that is the great thing

about america. >> who would not want to come to california? the whole world knows this, this is spectacular and iconic. what you cannot see are the statistics plaguy the golden state. 2 million unemployment, a budget $10 billion deep. this is the peril and promise of america. silicon valley is the most fertile place on the plant. the technology will change tomorrow and the slogan, to date is so yesterday. why are my legs so short? >> to facial recognition. >> we are turning you and to 3d.

>> this is running on pedal power. >> intel made $11 billion in profits. they are american-made company but they do most of their business in china. the chief technology officer warns that many of these jobs may head overseas. >> we are going to where the talent is and if the talent is getting educated here and go back to india or china, then we will go to india and china so we can have those people working for us. >> he says the alchemy that help to make america great still insists that it is under threat. >> this is breakable and i don't think that americans in general understand how vulnerable it is and that represents a tremendous risk to the overall model.

>> stanford university, it feels like a laid-back country club but this is the brain that feeds silicon valley. tuition fees have increased. despite appearances, they are plagued by a crisis of confidence. they're concerned with the really big question that dominated all of american politics. how do you regrouped project america when the government is running out of money and the people are no longer prepared to pay more in taxes? this man looks like your typical computer science professor. he could really do with a new bicycle. he can certainly afford it. in a light 90's, he had two students, an enterprising duo

that promised him a share in their new business if he gave him their advice. how much are you actually were? >> i don't like to answer that question. -- how much are you actually worth? >> more than a billion? >> that would not be completely inaccurate, let me put it that way. >> and billionaire professor who carries his own chipped tea mug. he is probably the richest academic in the world. he worries that in obama's america, wealth has become a dirty word. >> we should be empowering these people. we should be encouraging the next generation but i think there is almost a hostile

attitude towards the people that have been successful in this country and the people that are taking a risk or would be taking the risk to start thinking twice about what it meanso do this. >> he invest more money outside of this country and is anxious that america can no longer afford the things that its reluctant taxpayers have taken for granted. >> i think of this like being a jet liner and 30,000 feet and you say, we are low on gas and we're headed towards the ground, maybe not straight down but there will have to be a course correction or this will end very badly. >> the thing that this is going in the right direction? >> -- do you think that this is going in the right direction? >> a large portion of the population must except significant economic pain and an adjustment and how much the

government will do for them. >> when i first moved to america after 9/11, america was quantities the world a lesson. now, the world's teach america a lesson. this is a reminder that one nation a particular is breathing down america's neck. the u.s. is waking up to decline, whether to deny it, embrace it, or beat him. how worried is america and is the right to be worried? >> they used to be a great sense of optimism that anyone would do well and this is increasingly becoming a much more segregated place in terms of their outlook and that is not so different from a lot of the other markets.

>> do you see it like that? >> it is a true that the good news is that americans are worried. they will do something about it. that is traditionally the case in america to go along and you are told that russia will overtake you and china will overtake you. this is all policy mistakes that do it. this is the place. do you see immigration like that? you don't. they see opportunity and freedom. i am optimistic. i will get more optimistic maybe after 2012. >> this has become a point where this is a bigger economy, china, then the u.s. it will be a very long time before it has a higher per- capita income. >> it will be decades and

decades. to the economy is bigger supporting 1.3 billion people compared to 300, that is not me that they're better off. >> how does it seem in china, this question of rivalry with the u.s.? >> china has had a tradition of 5000 years of thinking that they are the center of the world. the difference is that americans think the same way on the americans like to go out and disseminate their values and patrol everyone. china does not do that. in terms of the rivalry, i think in fact the question is not whether we should be worried about is it china will be number one or america. we should all be worried if china's the economy collapses. that would be bad for all of us. >> time of bankrolls the u.s. currently, correct? >> well, yes. this is based on current

policies. >> they have a higher rate of growth. as this translated into political power because that is what usually happens. >> candies and two countries, the world's first and second largest economy is fundamentally restructure the way they have thought about their economy? -- can these two countries, the world's first and second-largest economies. your problem will not be rivalry, it will be no one the the world at a global level. >> we have seen and emerges for a different kind of model on how successful societies can operate. >> that is the talk. we have had different models since hitler in the 30's and communism and all kinds of alternative models. things work differently. the problem is the state which has racked the banking system

there and is sitting on inflation and rising wage costs and they might not be able to sustain this growth level. i am not against china growing. >> there is in power. the chinese are acquiring national resources. >> they have a deep water navy. yes, they will be more powerful militarily in the future than they have been in the past. whether that is a threat is another matter. >> the sheer size will make china and the u.s. much better competitors. japan is when from number82 number three. china took over and no one said boo. america has a culture of shamelessness. when china is number one and the u.s.'s number 2, this will not be the same kind of transition.

we have to be concerned about trying to manage that. >> that is all for this week, goodbye. >> makes sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its th ancl iarength to work for wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?