intra asian trade asia africa, asia the middle east, asia latin america. >>reporter: while emerging economies across the world stand to benefit, it is the countries in india and china'simmediate periphery that should prosper most, especially for 10 asean countries. >>jiafu: since china and asean have signed the "10+3" agreement, asean became china's biggest free trade zone. since the agreement took effect, china and asean's trade increased rapidly. as a shipping company,we have seized this opportunity and increased our shipping volume to asean. >>reporter: it's an understandable association. china may be asia's biggest star but asean represents a huge market right on the doorstep, with a larger population than the eu and at 1.7 trillion dollars larger economically than india >>bergsten: quite naturally the strong growth poles china and india in particular are sucking in the countries in their neighbourhoods by pure gravitational force. lots of market development in china both on the import and export sides. >>reporter: of all the asean countries, perhaps t

those of us who are asia watchers were very happy that you were going to asia first, and it was your first major speech on the renewed u.s. commitment to engage with asian powers. right before the program i definitely and distinctly remember getting a call from richard. he was on his way to pakistan, his first trip as your special representative to afghanistan and pakistan. imagine his surprise that he didn't even know that you would be speaking at the asia society. and it wasn't because he had twisted your arm. he was very proud of the fact that your office had reached out to us without his prodding as it was always the case before then. at that point i knew that we could actually go on without richard being our leader. much has happened since that first speech that you gave here, secretary clinton. ambassador holbrooke is no longer with us, and we feel his loss acutely every day. in your tenure so far in this two years, you've made it very clear that asia is central to the obama administration's foreign policy. we also know that now as of late january you are the most-traveled secr

this is on the eve of your first trip to asia. we were very happy that you're going to asia first. and it was her first -- and there was a renewed commitment to engage with asian powers. right before the program, i distinctly remember getting a call from richard. he was on his way to pakistan. his first trip as your special representative to afghanistan and pakistan. imagine his surprise that he did not even know that you would be speaking at the asia society. it was not because he had twisted your arm. he was very proud of the fact that your office had reached out to us without his prodding, as it was always the case before that. then i knew that we could actually go on without richard being hour later. much has happened since that first speech that you gave here, secretary clinton. ambassador holbrooke is no longer with us, and we feel his loss acutely every day. in your initial forum, you made it very clear that asia is central to the obama administration foreign-policy. we also know that now, you are the most travelled secretary of state. hata that, we also know that you have t

>>> welcome to "asia biz forecast." i'm shery ahn. both sides agreed to set up a preparatory panel to revise the constitution and lift the emergency law. the central bank says the country has so far lost about $8 billion. so how will the events in egypt affect the rest of the world, especially asia? first let's take a look back at recent developments. the large demonstrations have been taking place in egypt's capital city of cairo. rallies sprung up across the country from suez to alexandria. the protests grew increasingly violent after the first on january 25th. the so-called day of wrath. demonstrators set fire to mubarak's ruling national democratic party in cairo and there were reports of journalists being attacked by the egyptian police. on january 29th mubarak announced he will dissolve the government, rein in skyrocketing food prices. he appointed omar suleiman vice president. the opposition movement and their allies called for 1 million strong across egypt to gather to demand mubarak's immediate resignation. the egyptian army

on to east asia. a lot to deal with across the east. we've got some systems moving out of japan, high pressure to push on in. but those very warm weather conditions we had across the country, they will be gone unfortunately. across the rest of eastern china, a couple of areas to talk about here. in the north, we're looking at a good deal of snow. that's good news in areas like beijing where the drought conditions hopefully will be alleviated just a touch. in the south and southeastern areas of china, rain could be an issue. some of it is heavy at times. and watch what happens over the next 24 hours. that'll be pushing into the koreas. now southeast asia, fairly dry, off and on showers, some of them very heavy and intense across southeastern portions of the philippines. manila will stay fairly dry, 31 degrees for you, 21 in hong kong, as well as chongqing, 16 in shanghai, beijing, back down to single digits, just 2. 11 in seoul and 9 degrees in tokyo. huge difference from the 20 we had on friday. now, as we head into the weekend, i want

all southeast asia and asia there are a lot of similarities. >> he is a male entity. he is not -- are you referring to the story? >> it's interesting you should say that. a unique indian concept is one of half male, half female. and that

all southeast asia and asia there are a lot of similarities. >> he is a male entity. he is not -- are you referring to the story? >> it's interesting you should say that. a unique indian concept is one of half male, half female. and that is -- unlike some dances the solo dancer portrays all of the parts in the story. you can portray a feminine aspect and then masculine aspect with the bow and arrow. the male has to portray feminine and the female has to portray masculine. there is a very fierce dance and a soft sort of dance and every dancer has to learn all those aspects. it's very, you know, my teacher i call him a guru in this art form you have to study very, very hard. you have to learn about all the cultural aspects. he says it's liberating because he enjoys and has to learn to bring up the feminine aspect. he's a strong character it's a challenge for him and he likes it. the stories are metaphor cal. i don't look at this that this is a man or woman. there are qualities we all have that some of us are in touch with and are not. in our culture we think people shou

to former soviet countries and asia and the caucus so asia is a valuable supplier for nato forces in afghanistan while georgia could be a base for part of the american anti-missile shield but is russia's position on this considered in washington and brussels here's laitos deputy assistant secretary general. and security policy james. security and transparency in any joint russia you asked me to me europe but creating this is no easy task some republican senators in the u.s. have proposed the pentagon deploying an anti-missile radar in georgia russia's neighbor moscow is opposed to such facilities close to its borders threaten the country's security some experts down long term american military presence in georgia is possible but many agree new u.s. based in central asia will most likely appear before. and welcome to the show thank you thank you very much for being with us it's a privilege having you well first of all. let's start let's start with news from washington where four republican senators are calling on the administration to place a part of the missile defense radar in georg

>> asia? >> sugar over the land from asia, not very likely. >> how this poor napoleon and the french people going to sweetened their hot chocolate? marina is going over there. >> by using syrup from the maple trees. >> a substitute. >> bees. remember where our story began, with mike and his grandfather had been a serif? napoleon learned that a german scientists have figured out that the sugar is chemically identical to cane sugar. this was the first time in human history that a tropical show product could be substituted by another product. science is now going to tell us where our sweetness comes from. not anymore of the plantation in the middle east could reduce slaves have been freed. science is not going to begin to give up the power sugar. >> so what you have, which is exactly what he said, the server that is related to his aunt, he is developing be sugar. enter in the west india's, the west indian planters are saying who is going to cut my came? >> no one is coming from africa. no one fro

not only for the oca or the council for asia. but also for international federation. you will find any multi sport game. you cannot host it in two cities. and the idea you have to have a very close link together is one of the sport and the ideals. but it was a new experience for me, i think it was very successful. all the indoor sports was in astana all the mountain events is in almaty. i am trying to help this country, to help two society, two generation in one game. for them it's more difficult because they have to work double. double preparation, double planning, double work. but for us we have our game. our goal, we are achieving them through this game. but also we are dividing all those facility, which will help to develop sport. and will help to educate a new generation. how good is sport. ... for that i think this will be very nice for thekazakh people to divide their facility. and to invest it in the right way for their society. and for the generation and for the sports movement. >>eckart sager: now what are the odds of kazakhstan being awarded the 2022 or 202

>>friedman: and are there other markets that you are interested in: china, south east asia, the middle east thatyou are interested in? any of those places? >>castellucci: yes, but for the short and medium term our main priority is to go deeper in those countries where we are present, india and brazil are continents and we believe that we can play a significant role inthose markets without dispersing the resources elsewhere. >>friedman: so are those markets rather that old europe that really holds the future for you like other companies? >>castellucci: old europe provides competencies, financial flexibility, but the growth will be in those markets andwe want to be there. >>friedman: ok, you have got these ambitions in india, brazil, latin america. but you are an infrastructure company and you have these new road corridor opening up that really will take trucks and vehicles all the way from europe to china overland. don't you want to be part of that action and what is that aboutstrategically? >>castellucci: our strategy is totally in line with the ambitions of governments to develop mobi

>> asia. >> but you can't -- sugar from asia, not very likely. how is poor napolian and the french people going to sweeten their hot chocolate? marina is going over there. >> by using something syrup from the maple trees or using bees. bees? >> bees. >> remember where we began? remember where our story began with my aunt whose grandfather had been a serf? napolian learned that a german scientist had figured out that beet sugar is chemically identical to cane sugar. this was the first time in human history that a tropical product could be substituted by another product. science is now going to tell us where our sweetness comes from, not anymore the plantation, at least the british slaves have been freed. science is now going to begin to give us our sugar. >> so what you have in this period which is exactly what links us, same period, that serf that's related to his aunt, okay, he's developing beet sugar, and here in the west indies, the planters are saying who is going to cut my cane? >> where can they get someone to cult their cane? no one is com

it's somehow stabilizing south asia. for the last decade at least, if not more, certainly since the cargo war if not beforehand, we've been playing russian roulette in south asia. by my counted we have now at least explored three rounds. you know, there -- if we have another terrorist attack on the scale of mumbai or on the scale of new delhi in 2001, i think all bets are off the next go-round. i know all the reasons by india show restraint in the past but i also know at certain points politicians don't listen to reason. they listen to what they have to do. so we do need a big idea. big diplomacy. something that would be very complex. the good news here is there are a lot of stakeholders who also share or interest in trying to do something about this. for example, china. china used to have a south asia policy all about using pakistan as intended. now china has a huge economic relationship with india. it has a more subtle and more significant relationship with india than it did in the past. the pakistani nuclear program d

those of us who are asia were happy regard to asia first. and it was your first major speech on the renewed u.s. commitment to engage with a should hours. right before the program, i definitely and distinctively remember getting a paucolorado m richard. he was on his way to pakistan, his first trip as your special representative to afghanistan and pakistan. imagine his surprise that he did not even know that you would be speaking at the asia society. and it was not because he had twisted your arm. he was very proud of the fact that your office had reached out to us without his crotty, as was always the case before that. at that point, i knew that we can actually go on without richard be our leader. much has happened since the first speech that you gave here, secretary clinton. ambassador holbrooke is no longer with us, and we feel his loss acutely every day. in your tenure so far in these two years, you have made it very clear that asia is central to the obama administration's foreign policy. we also know that now, as of late january, you're

base in central asia will most likely appear before too long. and welcome to the show thank you thank you very much for being with us and says it's a privilege having you as well first of all let's start let's start with the news from washington where four republican senators are calling on the administration to place a part of the missile defense radar in georgia rather than putting it in turkey well is this proposal acceptable because georgia is not a nato country well for the moment we're not close within nato to deciding where we're going to put radars were at the very very beginning of the process of determining what this missile defense program will look like and part of determining what it will look like is determining what we will do in cooperation between our system and a russian system. one of the best i would say russian military analysts i'm among journalists among my colleagues and a good friend of mine i was under gult he wrote i quote the biggest problem with this sexual idea is that nato has little faith in the ability of russia'

been this and this only that we've seen the russia's response to the situation in the middle east asia being markedly different to the approach taken by other western countries especially as we've been hearing in the u.s. they had this big pro-democracy rhetoric can we. russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov saying that you wanting western countries really that this. revolution for the sake of revolution in for a democracy tool can be counterproductive to actually the focus should be on a stablish in now these democratic processes in the country as to what he's who in western countries is not to interfere in the regions internal affairs that these countries have the right to define their own future and there was a french need to be very careful that they're not using me as the first of their own chief is to gaze since the energy rich country open for investment we've seen russia make the most of these opportunities right but in two thousand and eight. oh . who is then the president of the country fiza to chipley and signed a three point five billion dollars deal for a high speed rail

and in russia the indices that tracking those losses in europe and asia the r.t.s. in the my six are significantly lower on the tuesday after posting their highest climb in more than a week on monday let's have a look at some of the individual share moves now energy may just continue to do well on the strong but well priced bucking the weaker trend on the market pressing up to stop almost point eight percent this solid but financials saw suffering both burbank and down almost three percent on the mites. well the rally in that world price since the beginning also here is giving the russian government new options speaking exclusively to our chief finance minister says the higher revenues will mean lower boring. new spoilers only zero we're going to cut our initial plan for and borrowing due to the high oil price this year it could be cut by around five hundred billion rubles we have an opportunity which we haven't used yet to finance modernization with money from asia in particular this relates to projects in the far east and inside syria the money could come in the f

as we head into eastern asia, it's going to be very dry for the weekend. more heavy rain, though, unfortunately down towards the south where we see this low pressure system just sitting over southern parts of the philippines. yet more drenching rains coming into central and southern locations, so there will be a continuing high risk of flooding and landslides as we head to saturday and sunday. here are saturday highs across eastern asia really looking like spring, pretty warm. 15 in shanghai, 13 chongqing, 21 in taipei. also in hong kong. a hot day in bangkok, 34, 12 in tokyo and 6 in beijing. all right. now let's head to north america. winter storm yet again. this one is focused out in the southeast. we've got extremely cold air plummeting all the way down here to the south. that mixes with all this moisture coming from the south as well. and it's going to result in some very wintry precipitation across areas like texas pushing up in towards the mid-atlantic you'll see snow, you'll see ice, maybe a slushy, sleety kind of mix. that's all going to be headin

as we head into eastern asia, it's going to be very dry for the weekend. more heavy rain, though, unfortunately down towards the south where we see this low pressure system just sitting over southern parts of the philippines. yet more drenching rains coming into central and southern locations, so there will be a continuing high risk of flooding and landslides as we head to saturday and sunday. here are saturday highs across eastern asia really looking like spring, pretty warm. 15 in shanghai, 13 chongqing, 21 in taipei. also in hong kong. a hot day in bangkok, 34, 12 in tokyo and 6 in beijing. all right. now let's head to north america. winter storm yet again. this one is focused out in the southeast. we've got extremely cold air plummeting all the way down here to the south. that mixes with all this moisture coming from the south as well. and it's going to result in some very wintry precipitation across areas like texas pushing up in towards the mid-atlantic you'll see snow, you'll see ice, maybe a slushy, sleety kind of mix. that's all going to be headin

territory that is in asia, it is important to take lessons from asia. one thing we cannot do, we cannot sacrifice and education. that will hurt our economic advantage. >> i want to set and the point that my colleague made about the connection we see these -- see between education and economic -- economic opportunity. we could bridge the economic -- bridge the education funding during the economic downturn. if you are in second grade, you do not get to sit out second great. right now is your time. no way that the stimulus funds were trailing off this year, we planned for that. we can afford to beat our own record in the coming fiscal year without the use of stimulus bonds. that is exactly how the stimulus bill was intended to work. >> i would simply closed the discussion by saying i agree with the president in his state of the union address. we have to out-educates. we can ill afford to cut back on educate. whether it is early education in the head start and all the way to k-12 and higher education, which has to keep its doors open and its quality up. on

we don't own any exchanges in asia, but we have a lot of good companies listed in asia. with a 5- to 10-year view, we hope asia can be a part of it. that's what we think we're creating here, the leading financial capitals of the world running their exchanges together, and hopefully we can be a good partner for other exchanges down the road. >> duncan, there have been many emotional reactions to germany inc. nyse. it is an american icon. what do you say to that? >> the bottom line is the shareholder bases are both very global. in fact, the largest contingent of shareholders will be u.s. shareholders, probably 55%, 60%. it is a very global shareholder base, largely u.s. balanced management team, dually headed in new york and frankfurt. i hope people get over the nationalistic feelings. no one feels more strongly than i do. i work here every day. i poured my soul into this place. >> there are a lot of misunderstanding about the deal. what is the key point you want to hit home to american people. >> a lot of people think of us as the new york stock exchange. nyse a very glob

nato calls the central asia and the caucasus. strategically important regions what does that mean does it mean the oil rich and that's it well both regions have strategic importance and i think one look at central asia in a wider map will show anybody why of course energy there's no doubt about that but as i mentioned nato is not an energy organization but a number of security challenges that we face here at least run through that region . drugs terrorism extremism. all of those challenges can be best faced in partnership with their central asian countries and we try to help support them in their fight against these problems the caucasus of course again a very significant area when it comes to energy but also we have a major partner in georgia. what happens between as a version in our media has a direct influence on an ally turkey and a partner georgia so for anybody in europe including russia what happens in the caucasus has significant effects for all of us. well nato usually calls itself and the alliance of democracies and we'

it's somehow stabilizing south asia. for the last decade at least, if not more, certainly since the cargo war if not beforehand, we've been playing russian roulette in south asia. by my counted we have now at least explored three rounds. you know, there -- if we have another terrorist attack on the scale of mumbai or on the scale of new delhi in 2001, i think all bets are off the next go-round. i know all the reasons by india show restraint in the past but i also know at certain points politicians don't listen to reason. they listen to what they have to do. so we do need a big idea. big diplomacy. something that would be very complex. the good news here is there are a lot of stakeholders who also share or interest in trying to do something about this. for example, china. china used to have a south asia policy all about using pakistan as intended. now china has a huge economic relationship with india. it has a more subtle and more significant relationship with india than it did in the past. the pakistani nuclear program d

not only for the oca or the council for asia. but also for international federation. you will find any multi sport game. you cannot host it in two cities. and the idea you have to have a very close link together is one of the sport and the ideals. but it was a new experience for me, i think it was very successful. all the indoor sports was in astana all the mountain events is in almaty. i am trying to help this country, to help two society, two generation in one game. for them it's more difficult because they have to work double. double preparation, double planning, double work. but for us we have our game. our goal, we are achieving them through this game. but also we are dividing all those facility, which will help to develop sport. and will help to educate a new generation. how good is sport. ... for that i think this will be very nice for thekazakh people to divide their facility. and to invest it in the right way for their society. and for the generation and for the sports movement. >>eckart sager: now what are the odds of kazakhstan being awarded the 2022 or 202

and other countries in asia. >>> brazil is in the mood to celebrate. and no wonder, its economy is booming. the country's growth over the past decade has given birth to a vast number of middle income earners who spend lavishly. with this new economic clout, brazil has become a global player. and it's the focus of the second part in our series on latin american economies. brazil is the largest economy in south america, and as well the -- as one of the four countries collectively known as brics, it's helping to drive global economic growth. the commission for latin america and the caribbean says south america likely grew by 6.6% in 2010, but brazil is doing even better at 7.7%. so we wanted to see how the country's rise is playing out among its people. nhk world ayako sasa filed this report from sao paulo. >> reporter: sworn in as brazil's first female president on january 1st. she was hand picked by former president silva, who oversaw the nation's rise as an emerging power along side china and india. >> translator: i will do all that i can to maintain b

we do not see freedom rush across central asia and the caucuses and russia itself is contrary. the there's new conflicts breaking out, we've seen templarred expectations when it comes to what kind of political economic and social system is going to be existing across the space of the soviet union. i want to walk through your map of the world two decades after the collapse of the soviet union. you have views that are very controversial making some unexpected predictions that some of our readers won't necessarily know what to make of. russia itself, tell me where you see russia heading in the next decade. >> guest: russia is russia. it's not a copy of the jfk. russia for # 00 years -- 200 years had a security system at the center. around this security system, the state grew up, around the state grew up relationships throughout the country that were marketing relationships, primarily state controlled relationships. russia is not the united states and is never going to resemble the united states for geographic and other reasons. the russian empire in the soviet union were not accid

and i think the biggest test of the next two years is whether america and europe and africa and asia can work together in cooperation to build economic policies that mean that you have sustained growth and because of environmental improvements, sustainable growth, and you can create jobs. and i've estimated you could create 50 million extra jobs, and this would help america escape this period of unemployment if we had coordinated policies across the world. so the message i have from my experience and learning from what we had to do to counteract the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 is that there are global problems, and they need global solutions. you can't have financial stability in america if there's financial instability in every other country. you can't have good environmental policies in america that work if they're going to be undermined by bad environmental policies elsewhere. and you can't have growth without trade, and that means that you have to cooperate with other countries to do so. this week is the week of the nobel peace prize being awarded, controversially as you kn

as comes as asia's becoming one of the top priority regions for the russian businesses that can provide huge sources of demand and capital. shows the first evolving markets in asia china korea and japan are making is reconsider our plans we're now paying more attention to developing value added products and alloys and we're trying to find out how to cut our customers costs through maximizing our production efficiency while giving more time to have a quick look at how the markets are faring that solve the footsie of attacks that are inching lower the mining sector is mixed shares of anglo-american are down about two and a half percent and that's despite the company's profit jumping ninety three percent on high metal prices well the firm's chief executive did warble short term on starting just in the outlook aerospace and defense program be a new system this is also a top to climb here one point six percent down extending losses from the previous session when it warned its forces about twenty eleven due to expected lower defense spending in the u.k. and the u.s. . and here in russia they

shows the first evolving markets in northern asia china korea and japan are making is reconsider our plans we're now paying more attention to developing value added products and alloys and we're trying to find out how to cut our customer's costs to maximizing our production efficiency. russia's gas giant gazprom is to boost its natural gas exports to the u.s. by fifteen percent and twenty eleven that's according to the head of gas for marketing and trading u.s.a. the increase would see the company export more than nine hundred million cubic meters annually has promised been selling gas in the united states market since water in two thousand and nine and successfully shipped six hundred million cubic meters in the second half of last year the u.s. imports over seventeen billion tons of gas annually but russian companies found it difficult to break into the market. take a look at the stock markets now but see the dax mixed the mining sector is to blame anglo american is two point three percent down that's despite the company's profit jumping ninety three percent on higher metal prices

and in russia the indices that tracking those losses in europe and asia. inching significantly lower in early trade up to sing their highest climb in more than a week on monday. now that oil spikes are having a positive impact on the russian equity but of a message on a stretches from believes crude is a double edged sword and says investors shouldn't let their guard down. mr should be kosher is because we are getting into oil super spikes and we are we're overdue. getting to levels of hundred and five. you know the tensions are going to continue we're going to see higher price. it's good for russia's current accounts it's good for russians it's makes them makes them welfare but it's a key you were for me when i sit in the sun from our nation's capital there their russian labor market is improving but the end of a wave of metz layoffs seemingly over russia's statistics bureau says the show axed employees among the country's total workforce fell from around four percent in december to roughly two percent in january and companies are hiring more than firing

we have not seen a tidal wave of democracy and freedom wash across central asia, and the caucasus and russia itself is quite the contrary. in many ways we've seen a resurgence of nationalism. we've seen new conflicts break out. we have seen tempered expectations when it comes to what kind of political economic and social system it's going to be existing across the former soviet union. i want to walk through your map of the world after the collapse of the soviet union. you have user very controversial, that are making some unexpected or perhaps predictions that some of our readers will not necessarily know what to make up. russia itself, tell me where you see russia heading in the next decade. >> guest: russia is russia. it is not a copy of the jfk school. russia for 200 years has had at its center security system. around the security system, the states grow. around the state, relationships throughout the country. they were market relationships and other relationships. russia is not the best days and will never resemble the united states for geographic reasons and other reasons. the ru

. >>> hong kong is proud of being a trade hub in asia. but its vibrant economy has spawned a nagging problem. its landfills are getting close to capacity. so the government is now proposing a host of urgent measure's including the construction of an incinerator. nhk world's adrian brown reports from hong kong on the pressing waste management issue that has sparked controversy. >> reporter: in hong kong the growing amount of garbage is an imminent problem. burning the refuse is one solution the government has now come up with. and last week it announced the most suitable site for the new incinerator. >> translator: our study shows that the area around shekuchau has a relatively small population and would make less of an environmental impact. >> reporter: the latest government survey shows that local households and businesses produced 30% more garbage during the ten years through 2009. it means that each of the city's 7 million people produced a staggering 921 kilograms of municipal waste. hong kong has three landfills for dumping garbage,

that was the moment as if the whole continent of asia was being swallowed up by the red sea. after that, that cold war propaganda and anti-communist paranoia for charlie chan to continue to wisecrack in that poisoned air. that is when all things chinese would take on negative and in city is connotations. many of you will remember in any film noir movie you always find a character with a charlie chan mustache and dubious chinese name hollering in the background. there's a famous example roman polanski's chinatown. the punch line at the end of the movie was forget it. it is chinatown. meaning anything will be in serious and negative. there is a reason charlie chan became a very problematic character. on the one hand of the cold war mentality and the other the racism against asian-americans. there is a very good reason at that point out that a famous asian american writer announced in 1993 that charlie chan is dead. there is a very good reason for that but somehow charlie like a calf with 9 lives has lived on and i don't really think we can explain his longevity in american cult

east asia and the middle east in each case there is a country that unnerves the neighborhood and if that the contrary you seeing very little in the way of major weapons purchases in latin america where by and large none of the neighbors are terribly concerned about any of the other neighbors ok there's some purchases i speak but yeah i mean paul and i mean i was brought up here i guess iran indirectly i mean if you didn't have countries like saudi arabia that were buying state of the art and i mean in huge amounts dollar amounts in some of the other smaller smaller neighbors to saudi arabia then why that is why iran wants to build up its military i mean it is doing it for at least defensive purposes i mean if someone is militarizing your border your neighborhood you don't have much option but to react and i'm not justifying or or agreeing with the iranians here but just on that on a principle basis of someone's arming their your border you have to react. well one could raise that as a proportionality aspects and is what is being supplied and discussions on more than sixty billion do

>>friedman: and are there other markets that you are interested in: china, south east asia, the middle east thatyou are interested in? any of those places? >>castellucci: yes, but for the short and medium term our main priority is to go deeper in those countries where we are present, india and brazil are continents and we believe that we can play a significant role inthose markets without dispersing the resources elsewhere. >>friedman: so are those markets rather that old europe that really holds the future for you like other companies? >>castellucci: old europe provides competencies, financial flexibility, but the growth will be in those markets andwe want to be there. >>friedman: ok, you have got these ambitions in india, brazil, latin america. but you are an infrastructure company and you have these new road corridor opening up that really will take trucks and vehicles all the way from europe to china overland. don't you want to be part of that action and what is that aboutstrategically? >>castellucci: our strategy is totally in line with the ambitions of governments to develop mobi

they're interested in making sure that islamic extremism doesn't take root in central asia. so this actually is an opportunity for the u.s. and russia to find some common interest and work together in battling that kind of threat in the region. >> i think if the russian economy continues to have problems, which i predict it will with, with the energy evolving the way it is, that the caucasus is the most likely place, ah, for them to begin to reassert their, their hegemony and maybe even make some claims that this is rightfully, rightfully theirs ala, you know, world war ii again. and, ah, i think for all the reasons that were pointed out, as far as the economic and security interest, um, we may be forced to take a stand, ah, if russia does decide to do that. maybe not by ourselves of course, but as, as part of the nato alliance. >> david, what do you make of the claim that russia makes, that this is their neighborhood and the united states ought to pretty much let them handle things there? >> the soviet union is over and russia needs to accept the fact that these countries,

on gasoline. >>> now here's the weather. >> hi there, time now for your weather update for eastern asia. we are monitoring a winter storm that's moving across northern japan. it will be dumping significant snow today as that cold air dives in. we're looking at about 20 to 30 centimeters of snow to fall in the northwestern corner of the country. on the contrary, though, down toward the south and along the pacific, it stays very warm and pleasant. lots of sunshine to look forward to. meanwhile, across the korean peninsula, high pressure's been still keeping things dry. it's dry and mild. for china, big changes ahead. you can see the widespread rain and snow redeveloping over central and northern regions. and that cold air really starting to make its way into inland areas, coming in from the north. and that's going to be dropping temperatures come the weekend, also bringing significant snow, as well. do enjoy that mild weather while it lasts on friday. we've got seven degrees in beijing. 13 in shanghai. 8 in seoul. and tokyo, 19 degrees. now we head to new zealand where we've seen quick sh