these are things taken for granted here in britain.ut in 1990 in burma, the winner of the elections, the nld, was never allowed even to convene parliament. i hope that we can leave such days behind us, and that as we look forward to the future, it will be the will of the people that is reflected faithfully in burma's changing political landscape. this journey out of burma has not been a sentimental pilgrimage to the past, but an exploration of the new opportunities at hand for the people of burma. i have been struck, throughout my trip, by how extraordinarily warmhearted and open the world has been to us. to experience this first hand, after so long physically separated from this world, has been very moving. countries that geographically are distant, have shown that they are close to burma in what really matters, they are close to the aspirations of the burmese people. we are brought into proximity through our shared values- and no geographical distance, no human-made barriers, can stand in our way. during the years of my house arrest

. >> the burmese opposition leader addresses both houses of britain's parliament. it is a rare honor given only to the few. and returning on to britain, a symbol of the fight for freedom, but just how close is she to achieving that goal? hello and welcome to gnp. i am george alagiah with a world of news and opinion. also on the program, will anders breivik and up in prison or psychiatric hospital? spain pays a heavy arts for its latest debt auction, but there were plenty of takers. what is going on? it is early morning in washington, 7:00 a.m. in -- 7:00 in the evening in shanghai and midday in london. the burmese opposition leader is set to address westminster. it is a rare honor. it is a mark of her remarkable journey from prisoner to the international symbol for the fight for political freedom. is all of this too much, too soon for a country that still has a long way to go? more on that in a moment. but first, here is naille. >> aung san suu kyi has already begun her day on her whistle stop tour of europe. she is also due to meet prince charles and the duchess o

britain did have an option.ve -- when you have a debt, a high debt, and when -- when the economy has just collapsed, then of course the debt/gdp ratio rises automatically. now, how do you get it down? that's the question. i would say and a keynesian would say you don't get it down by shrinking the economy further. that is a move that will actually cause it to rise. you have to find some way of getting the gdp up and then the debt-gdp ratio will sink. and i think that's very, very, very clear in my mind. and i think events have borne it out. what we've had is a great experiment in the application of a particular economic philosophy which neil agrees with. he says this is a temporary blip and in a year or so, we'll be back to buoyant growth. >> i don't think it will be buoyant growth. one has to realize under a debt mountain such as the size of britain -- >> it's not a mountain. >> it is a mountain. debt to gdp is up there with japan at 600% if you include public and private debt. that's important because that's u

britain is celebrating the diamond jubilee of queen elizabeth ii. it marks her 60th year on the throne. whatever you may think of the institution of monarchy, the queen has led an extraordinary life. she came to power in 1952 before the current prime minister david cameron was even born. she meets with him regularly as she has done with every prime minister back to winston churchill. the past 60 years have seen elizabeth's britain undergo great change, from leader of an empire to member of a commonwealth. but through all of this, the queen's presence represents stability and continuity. >> i declare before you all that my whole life-- whether it be long or shot-- shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. >> rose: joining me from london, suzy menkes. in london, sally bedell smith, her latest book is "elizabeth the queen, the life of a modern monarch." from cambridge, john burns, a london bureau chief of the "new york times." with me in new york, naill ferguson, he's a professor at harvard

britain also controlled parts of china. remember british gun boats started to open war in the 19th century which forced the chen dynasty to give up control of hong kong. but these are all long in the past now. these days british employees work for indian bosses and indian investment in britain is on the rise. even for china it is no longer britain and other western powers but it is beijing that is often calling the shots. >> talk about trading places now. the global shifts of power, population in developed countries is decreasing and the opposite in developing countries. >> it is an important factor to explain the rise of the emerging nations. the world's population passed the 7 billion mark last october and it is forecasted to keep on growing. but what is interesting here is where exactly this increase is taking place. the trend varies considerably by country and region. the united nations surveys estimate that asia's population will exceed 5.1 billion in the middle of the 21st century and in africa it will reach 3.5 billi

neil clark a contributor to britain's guardian newspaper says western states are using the recent tragedy in houla as a pretext for possible intervention. from the very first time we heard about this massacre that lives in the u.s. and great was the syrian government was responsible for any evidence of it and i'm afraid that there's been a lot of pressure put on the the u.n. h.c.r. this week and that's behind their statement which isn't very helpful at all u.s. britain france so do i think i do not want to succeed it's the syrian government wanted to see the russian china for the last fifteen months it's been an attempt to western powers backed by states to talk with the regime in damascus and this reminds me and i'm sure to remind a lot of people too about what happened back in the late one nine hundred ninety s. yugoslavia a situation where the loss of the government there was under enormous pressure as well what we had then was western forces backing the rebels against that regime we had so-called massacres taking place we should being used as a pretext for military intervention which

. >> jamie: what an historic day it is, in great britain and around the world for that matter as today'siamond jubilee celebrations get underway, in london. all commemorating queen elizabeth ii's 60 years on the throne. the queen herself as you can see, there, on the shores of the river thames, a short time ago, leading a thousand-boat parade down the river and good morning, everyone, pretty exciting in london, and martha mccallum is there and i'm jamie colby and he we're here for you in new york well, as you can see, we are witnessesing a spectacle of pageantry and history, millions are expected to join the festivities in great britain throughout the day, martha mccallum is joining us now in london to tell us what to expect. >> jamie: hi, martha. >> reporter: hello there, eric and jamie. >> jamie: we are dying to hear all about it. >> reporter: it is just beautiful, jamie and eric and we have the flotilla is underway behind us and we'd are celebrating as you said the queen's diamond jubilee, 60 years of her reign in great britain, now, this is not something that happens every day. it on

britain also controlled parts of china. remember, british gun boats were started open war which forced the dynasty to give up control of hong kong. these are all long in the past now. these days, british employees work for indian bosses and indian investment in britain is on the rise. in china, it is no longer britain and other western powers, but it is beijing that is often calling the shots. >> talking about trading places now. these global shifts of power. obviously population in developed countries are decreasing while it is the opposite situation for developed countries. how significant is this? >> many experts do point out the change of demographics as an important factor to explain the rise of the emerging nations. the world's population passed the 7 billion mark last october and it is forecasted to keep on growing. but what is interesting here is where exactly these increases are taking place. the trend varies considerably by country and region. united nations surveys estimate that asia's population will exceed 5.1

or claimed by spain britain france and even the dutch. do claim. pretty soon one but argentina is concerned about structure it's going to. go. under the water there the idea to you to discover. you know argentina it is possible to extend wide through to the falklands. british companies. prospecting for our own to foreclose so we see fighting and. then that makes it. strategically economically very very important and. of course very very wealthy well elsewhere around the world this hour british prime minister david cameron has fined in front of a u.k. media ethics inquiry saying press regulations need to improve cameron has come under fire following the phone hacking scandal at murdoch's now defunct news of the world tabloid british officials were accused of helping the media giant ovoid investigation cameron has also been criticised for the way he handled murdoch's to take over british sky broadcasting. toronto rains have large areas of central china triggering mudslides and forcing hundreds from their homes one person is missing and officials have

they hope that this will in fact establish a legitimate say of the islands as part of britain. and that the people will vote if it's ninety percent ninety five percent and so on that is a very strong vote in favor of remaining part of britain not choosing to be part of argentina and it's if you like a signal. that the focus is or is the argentinians call them last month in those wish to stay part of britain and don't wish to become a province of argentina. a british foreign office minister jeremy brown is currently in the falklands officially commemorating our marking rather the war could there be anything else. or something more to his visit at this time. well if you look at the language which is coming from what is are it's the argentinean government is using very very strong language and some people might say threats about security of the rebel and they're claiming it very very strongly. and the british minister will then say right we are behind you we're going to defend you here and this will be a clear signal. that britain will defend the folger those if in fact they are a

of the world's top whistleblower julian assange loses his extradition appeal from britain to sweden on sex assault charges. hello and welcome you're watching the weekly here on r.t. a roundup of the top stories of the last seven days with me kevin know it and first russia's warning that the u.n. human rights resolution condemning the syrian leadership for last week's hulu massacre risk railing the peace plan moscow called it premature because the investigation's ongoing and therefore is putting pressure on the security council where russia is resisting foreign military action on sunday president assad insisted his troops had nothing to do with the slaughter of more than one hundred people in the city he blamed armed rebel gangs for the attack and outside forces for instigating the conflict to trigger intervention washington which backs the syrian opposition and the push for regime change admits there are plans for military action as opposed to neil clark a contributor to britain's guardian newspaper he told me western states are using the recent tragedy in houla as a pretext for a poss

it was a real surprise in great britain. remember, they are focused on the napoleonic wars and fighting france. there's a world war that's really the focus of their attention but here on this shore our american navy is now proud. we've stood up for ourselves. the british focused a little more attention. they say you can't engage one of these american ships. they realize we build bigger, stronger ships than a typical frigate so they said you can't take on an american ship unless you have superior force, two-on-one, and there was a blockade on the atlantic coast. so much of the action of the war of 1812 moves inland to the lakes. that's not "constitution's" story. she's here on the coast, but eventually towards the end of the coast she does escape the blockades and meets the british one more time. this is a wonderful portrait of william bainbridge actually painted by sarah peele, one of the first female professional artists in our country, the daughter of charles wilson pierre, and there's a wonderful store we this portrait be

witnessesing a spectacle of pageantry and history, millions are expected to join the festivities in great britain throughout the day, martha mccallum is joining us now in london to tell us what to expect. >> jamie: hi, martha. >> reporter: hello there, eric and jamie. >> jamie: we are dying to hear all about it. >> reporter: it is just beautiful, jamie and eric and we have the flotilla is underway behind us and we'd are celebrating as you said the queen's diamond jubilee, 60 years of her reign in great britain, now, this is not something that happens every day. it only happened one other time in the history of the monarchy, and that was queen victoria in 1897 and she was not nearly as able and well as queen elizabeth ii is, she's enjoying all of this thoroughly. it is really a high point for the monarchy, and, everybody is very much in celebration of her life on the throne and all that has come before her and, when we look at those shots of the thames, the river lifeblood of london and has an extraordinary history for the royal family going back to the days of hearn viii when he came down here on

working on developing new nuclear power stations in britain but the other two. have both now pulled out so it's almost as if the government hasn't noticed the writing on the wall that's left the u.k. government having to hunt further afield for the much needed cash despite saying they won't let the pendants on outside sources it's countries like japan and china that person's reported to have been touting around for investment and you know in a sense we're kind of offshore project for other countries i mean it seems to me that the u.k. which is quite a big and supposed to go to country. opening up of foreign investment from other countries because knowing the best route to invest in nuclear their own countries don't want to take it so they're going to have britain having being one of the first countries to gain new clear britain's power stations are now old with many being decommissioned and with nuclear accounting for around sixteen percent of the country's energy provision the government says if it doesn't get the investment in the new plants it needs it could

britain france saudi where they do not want to succeed it's the syrian government wants to see the russia and china for the last fifteen months it's been an attempt by western powers backed by states to topple the regime in damascus and this reminds me and i'm sure remind a lot of people too about what happened back in the late one nine hundred ninety s. yugoslavia a situation where the loss of big government there was under enormous pressure as well what we had then was western forces backing the rebels against that regime we had a massacre so-called massacres taking place we should being used as a pretext for military intervention which is what we got in the nato bombardment of yugoslavia and twelve months ago we had exactly the same thing again with libya but we had across the stories coming out of libya america and britain with the forefront of saying look we've got to intervene which is what happened in the end of course i said it's deja vu it's like one thousand nine hundred twenty seven all over again. we were violence from syria spread across the border with at least thirteen kill

and britain is gearing up for a four-day national celebration. millions preparing to mark the queen's diamond jubilee. >> hello, again. the united nations human rights council called for an investigation into the killing of more than 100 civilians at houla. it also condemns syria for the mass car and calls for those responsible for the violence to be named, opening the door for war crimes charges. russia, china and cuba voted against the resolution. the diplomatic correspondent reports. >> more disturbing images from syria posted on the internet by opposition activists. factory workers forced off a bus and murdered they say, by pro-government militias. on account u.s. observers inside syria hasn't verified yet but they did confirm the massacre at houla and today the human rights council blamed syria for it, urging inquiry to investigate possible war crimes. >> these acts mount to crimes against humanity and other international crimes and may be indicative of a pattern of widespread or systematic attacks against civilian populations. >> syria's en

britain has been up until now the largest donor. it has been the education that i hope can play a major role. we need short-term results so that the people may see it as a tangible positive impact. we need the creation of positive opportunities that are particularly important. longer term, the education system is desperately weak. reform is needed not just of schools and the curriculum and training of teachers but also of our attitude of education which at present is too narrow and rigid. i hope also that british businesses can play a role in supporting the reform process. through what i have termed democracy friendlyinvestment. investment that arises on a countability and environmental system. i investment in labor intensive sectors if carried out can offer benefits to our people. one test will be whether new players will benefit from the investment coming in. britain played an important role in facilitating a visit next month in the initiative secretary. i hope this will be the start of many similar initiatives in the months ahead

by russia and by china in the case of the opposition they're being supported by the united states britain france and the client regimes the gulf states saudi arabia qatar turkey and so you see a civil war but it civil war with international dimensions and the international situation will of course have a direct impact on the outcome i believe that there is going to be protracted conflict i think the syrian government is fighting to the finish and their allies russia in this case recognize that if they were to be overthrown the united states would create in syria a proxy client regime as they have in iraq and as they have in libya ok if i go to you and i ask the question who would be the winners and losers when considering what we just heard here only the syrian people lose. a loser. the syrian people and this is very upset because yes there are international dimensions of the crisis but all of the more than more than ten thousand people killed so this is enough to see. the ning but in my view of the world of this started fortunately and people are dying there for four or four months and t

has france and britain left the region in the second world war they left minorities in charge in all the eleven thousand states and what's happened in the post colonial era is that the minorities have been thrown out of power the maronites in lebanon the sunnis in iraq the the jews in palestine of course have been able to become a majority and they've solved their problem by by becoming the majority in gathering jews from around the world and of course pushing out muslim palestinians but the alawite so the last minority that rules and that's the heritage of the french colonial period the sunni muslims are going to overthrow them i believe and what's going to be a protracted war because it's becoming a proxy war as your your guests have have mentioned and so it's going to be a long struggle and i'm joshua's as you can we hear liz very important let's take a look at some of the recent events in syria. am syria has descended into civil war and all means including force should be used under international supervision to help restore peace this is the take on the situation in syria voiced

of options to resist this extradition and what chances do you think he has of managing to stay in britain. i think the situation is very dangerous indeed i mean it's a bit of a shame the british highest court in the land the supreme court they couldn't even get it right as to whether julian sondra been charged at least during a council one on that point because paragraph three of the documents that he had been charged you'd think they'd get that right basically you know the united states could be a little bit more could be a little bit more or less obvious about it all hillary clinton was in sweden over the weekend with call built a good friend to call rove the bush white house it couldn't have been the connection between the united states and sweden not one nation in the world has been unaffected by wiki leaks and julian chose to personify it because that's the way the media like to take on stories the corporate media and he was doing the best for his sources. well it seems you're pretty sure he will in fact be extradited to sweden what happens next as you see it straight to the us or no

so britain under the gold standard was largely panic-free. it was indeed a financial system that, as i think they said in mary poppins, was the envy of the world. and no small part of that had to do with i think the objective nature of of the currency, but a part of it had to do as well with the ethos of personal responsibility that seemed part and pashs elrcel of the financi arrangements. there was no regulation of banking in edwardian england. not a single regulation on books as i understand it and the banks were solvent. today we are positively choked with legislation, dodd/frank 2300 pages or so, and we still see -- we see the most extraordinary demonstrations of near-misses and of flat-out misses in our financial system. i think you are hard-pressed to put over the point that the gold standard was the cause of financial disruption. humanity is the cause of financial disruption. the question is, what system best contains it? and under what system and what system is the most equitable and the most given over to establishing prosperity. it