going to change in the near future how will the relations between russia and belarus developed pull discuss that border states treat the union state of russia and belarus anybody. before heading the union state a russian ballerinas group border a border made his way up as a politician and government official he graduated from russia's most prestigious tactical unit bus to and from there join the k.g.b. foreign operations department this reporter spends about thirty years in the intelligence service before he switched to government work in the late ninety's as vishal is occupying a few ministerial positions head of russia's arms trading agency and served as presidential envoy to several russian regions in late two thousand and eleven gregorio reportedly was appointed state secretary of the russia belarus alliance the united states. meet. mr porter welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us today. has chosen minsk the capital of the. as the first place where he's paying an official visit after being elected as president doesn't mean that bill that it was is becoming russia's foreign policy policy priority yes it

institutions of the union state somehow interfere somehow help overcome these these difficulties because because of the result is that they were overcome by the structures of russia but the union state so stayed aside and looked at how the conflicts. no i don't think so because. he cording to my very short experience of working in this. in this field. high survived if i may say so on live one. problem it was a problem in this real aviation civil aviation if you remember and. in solution of this particular problem where we were deeply involved we were participating in negotiations between the two with or it is an authority so it was kind of both countries and we were deeply involved in this and i hope that we. contributed. to the solution of this problem my callers journalists have made note that. look close relations with moscow always start improving when his relations with the west are worsening do you agree do you get the feeling or or you would say that it's a coincidence and yes and no. you know. i usually wait so my judgment on the documents the facts and if for example we. consider the trade relations of bill russia with the west and russia and export of b

on the eurasian question, i think it's going to be the same fate as the union state of russia, belarus. sometimes brought to the fore when it's needed for propaganda purposes, sometimes forgotten. you mentioned lukashenko. exactly the same pattern with that. this union state has existed since 1996. there hasn't been anything to do it. the only unintended consequences, the only good one, you were there, don, a couple months ago. one of the leaders of the opposition from belarus came here to washington to receive an award. and he's, of course, on the band, on the blacklist by lukashenko. he's not allowed to leave belarus. so what these opposition figures do, is because there's no border between belarus and russia, they go to moscow and take a plane from there and fly. that's the only good but unintended consequences of the union state. and in terms of your very important question on the transition, very much up to the regime how this transition will be. you know, when you saw the initial protests in december and february, you saw people coming out, you know, with families, with small kid

common well i think we have to see that at one point in the past they had been states allied with russia in the soviet union and that it looked like a concerted effort to replace area of soviet influence with an area of american influence we have a general wesley clark who was in the pentagon in one nine hundred ninety one through two thousand and one and it's he who has told us about there was a plan to go after all these countries which we've now seen being implemented and one of the people who talked about the plan stalker he talked about the window of opportunity now that the soviet union is gone russia would be too confused state to be able to resist so that all of this should be done quickly so it was very sinister a play for pure dominance in the world and i don't think there's much popular support in the american people for this it was a group of neo car on the say were special clique's. oil companies they had their interests in global domination and i'm very disappointed that the american people haven't done more to stop this because it's become very dangerous to the world and as you're suggesting

what they call the union state clearly it is in russia it's called so use the straits a joint venture and this is a visit that will probably outline the ways for the worse for integration biller us into russia but the real foreign visit that puts in starts his third term is to china and that should be taken as a note as as a hint for the direction of mr putin's foreign policy because biggest china is the number one his national rival for the u.s. to his china is a rising power. it is a game of words whether we call it a rising superpower china's g.d.p. is as large as ten trillion dollars while the u.s. g.d.p. is fourteen trillion and the chinese. economic growth is eight nine ten percent a year so it is a matter of time when china is catching up with the united states in terms of the size of the g.d.p. of course because of china's population g.d.p. per capita is much smaller but nevertheless china is taking seriously in the united states the policy of the bomber administration is called pivot to asia which means the u.s. will emphasize economic and strategic tarries with asian countri

>> union state of russia, -- [inaudible] this union state, since 1996, it hasn't been anything to it. unintended consequences, the only good one, i think, you were there a couple of months ago. [inaudible] he was on the band of blacklist that she is not allowed to leave belarus. there is no border between them and russia. that is the only good unintended consequence of the union state. in terms of your question on the transition, it is very much up to the regime as to how this transition will be. when you saw the initial process in december and february, he saw people coming out with families and small kids, people wearing white ribbons, and it was 100% peaceful of a protest. a moral peaceful protest against this kind of regime. when you have -- basically unleashing an army on demonstrators, that radicalize is the opposite side, too. nobody from the opposition leadership, nobody wants a violent revolution or civil war am a god for bid, or anything like that. but the regime is actually trying to do that. they are trying to completely close off and shut up all the legal avenues. now --

the plan stalker he talked about the window of opportunity now that the soviet union is gone russia will be too confused state to be able to resist so that all of this should be done quickly so it was very sinister play for pure dominance in the world and i don't think there's much popular support in the american people for this it was a group of neo con the say were special clique's. oil companies they had their interests in global domination and i'm very disappointed that the american people haven't done more to stop this because it's become very dangerous to the world and it's you're suggesting dangerous to the interests of the really interests of the americans as well i'd like to ask a question about journalism and american journalism and particle act what i find very strange is that on one hand that that idea of the tradition of critical thinking is very strong in american journalism but when you are dealing with a country's who is in. just are not allied with the interest of the united states say that it's libya or syria russia iran and at least calgon it is very easy and it takes very little time for a

predecessor the and the head of the united states communist party years ago and he was a big friend of russia of communist russia didn't lula did the collapse of the soviet union affect the communist party united states a lot. it affected us we lost membership in the course of it but. the majority of members stayed in the state in the party and. were still. convinced that socialism offered a better way of life but it was enormous change in the world setting and it was a start surprising that some people would. lose confidence and move faith in the possibility of socialism when the soviet union collapsed but again i think the majority of members. didn't waver and they continue to be convinced that socialism offers a better solution than capitalism this soviet union had a very poor record in terms of respect to individual freedoms and human rights what the united states communist party attitude towards these values in today's world and well in our view socialism and democracy should be. you know together. socialist society should deep in the next and the markets in democratic rights to people. i think would be inconsistent for a socialist society to to narrow do

that offends putin we will not we will never sell another book not only in russia but in all the old soviet union satellite states. and they were afraid that it would ruin their business so all the british public is unless we produce an anodyne book the didn't reveal anything and they didn't attract putin's attention i believe this book certainly has then then they didn't want to know they were there were scared of it alexander is it mere coincidence that this book is being presented. after the elections after putin returned it to to. becoming the new president elect of the russian federation. did you did you like wait until the right time has come to to market well it was actually printed before the elections took place that obviously reflects our confidence that mr putin will be elected i think is called publish i obviously would be lying if i didn't admit that i think we wanted to take advantage of the election to promote the book i think it's no coincidence but it's just obviously a great occurrence that that mr putin has been just elected. can you tell us when you were working on this book when when you comi

union. in russia i say religion is alive. beleaguered, tormented but alive. he had written this after her first visit to the soviet union in 1967. in a state where great cathedrals have been turned into obscene anti-religious museums, where god has officially been declared dead, this was a sublime example of his enduring strength in the hearts of men. she had studied the history of the russian orthodox church for her bird "land of the fire bird." the church has represented the aspirations of the russian people and provided them with the inspiration and strength in the darkest hours of their history. this passage both informed and inspired president reagan. we must ask ourselves today if there's not a lesson to be learned about just how quickly things can change in cultures where religious liberties are chipped away and eventually forgotten all together. let us be attentive as we often repeat in our orthodox liturgies. orthodox christianity is finding a home in places like western europe, north america and beyond. this is the christianity tried and tested by oppression of every sort in very recent times. in many places in the west she can s

of the particular of united states britain and the european union i mean you know these are things that are of concern for everybody so hopefully internal dissidents in russia will wane has insurrection. and we hope you will see the whole world to see a consolidated russia acting how to balance out these. overdrive that you see in washington rather than in other western capitals all right i'm afraid that's all the time we have adrian south political analyst and author of a someone else aarons thank you. thank you. r.t.s. political analyst peter of the valve that the organizers of the march needed to provoke the authorities to keep the whole protest movement online. there have been protests here since the start of the russian federation this is nothing new but the same people than these numbers are not growing they're getting smaller gentlemen they're getting smaller someone needs a provocation to keep this movement alive because we're. speaking this is the last thing blood in your putin wants the world to see the day before he's inaugurated one of the interesting things is of the protest movement energized the base for the presidential election and now we'r

: after the fall of the berlin wall and the breakup of the soviet union did the united states miss a real opportunity to listen to russia treat russia with an understanding of confidence going through tumultuous times? . >> i can't complain. i would not complain, probably. if you talk about business community, i think they are quite realistic respond russia quite well. we probably would prefer t expect me unrstaing. we think sometimes it's a one-sided approach, and the american administration-- it's not-- we don't even probably-- it still is quite surprising why is it still there? we would like to see more cooperation. we very much hope-- there's a very positive development during mr. obama's presidency between russiand ameri. rose: itesting. your judgment is the obama administration has reset the russian relationship and that between the president of the united states and the former prime minister and income category president, there's a very good relationship. certainly, there's a good relationship between the incoming prime minister, mr. medvedev, and the president. they seem to get along really well. >> the relation

to emulate the european model of the modern state and have been invited some 50 years ago by the europeans to join the european union. in the case of russia it is more ambivalent because russia sees itself as an empire. it certainly has not had a deep democratic tradition and does not have it yet. but there are increasing signals that russian society is changing underneath putin. i'm relatively confident that within a decade or so the democratic forces in russia will be dominant. that would make the west bigger, more vital, more resourceful, more interesting. >> and also keep a balance of power, huh? >> with asia. >> the title of the book is "strategic vision: america and the crisis of global power." zbigniew brzezinski. back on the other side with "this is america." "this is america" is made possible by the national education association, the nation's largest advocate for children and public education. the american federation of teachers, a union of professionals. the singapore tourism board. there's something for everyone. singapore airlines, a great way to fly. poongsan corporation, forging a higher global standard. the ctc foundation.

russia. they were trying to figure out how to rebuild their universities. since education under the soviet union was essentially propaganda serving the purposes of a state ideology, they appreciated that it would take wholesale transformations if they were to provide an education worthy of free men and women. given this rare opportunity to start fresh, they chose liberal arts as the most compelling model because of its historic commitment to furthering its students' broadest intellectual, and deepest ethical potential. having made that decision they came to the united states, home of liberal arts education, to talk with some of us most closely identified with that kind of education. they spoke with a passion, an urgency, an intellectual conviction that, for me, was a voice i had not heard in decades, a dream long forgotten. for, in truth, we had moved light years from the passions that animated them. but for me, unlike them, in my world, the slate was not clean, and what was written on it was not encouraging. in truth, liberal arts education no longer exists -- at least genuine liberal arts education -- in this country. we have professionalized liberal arts to t

union. in russia, religion is alive, beleaguered, tormented, but alive. the author had written this after her first visit to the soviet union in 1967. in a state where great cathedrals have been turned into anti-religious museums, this is a sublime example of his enduring strength in the hearts of men. she had studied the history of the russian orthodox church for her book. the church is always represented the aspirations of the russian people and provided them with the inspiration and strength from the darkest hours of their history. this passage in form inspired president reagan. the must ask ourselves today if there is not a lesson to be learned about just how quickly things can change and cultures where religious liberties are chipped away and eventually forgotten altogether. let us be attentive as we often repeated in our orthodox liturgies. orthodox christianity is now finding a home in places like western europe and north america and beyond. this is the christianity tried and tested by the oppression of every sort in very recent times. in many places in the west, she can still be found hiding in safe havens or ethnic ghettos but this is

russia's influence as a great power. one of his ideas is a sort of eurasian union made up of former soviet states, and he's not afraid of energy resources as a bargaining chip to get his way. >>but putin is also keen on havg good relations with the european union, and especially with germany. >> for putin, germany is the most important partner when it comes to modernizing his country. that is also russia's most important export market. >> putin envisions a russia once again pulling strings in world affairs, but his options for asserting power internationally are slowly diminishing. and the continuous protests against his election are a reminder that post -- putin does the biggest challenges are not in the global arena. they are at home. >> coming up, we will have some sports, with a look at the team germany is putting together for the european soccer championships. but first, a look at some of the other stories making headlines at this hour. >> serbia's main parties are tied after presidential and parliamentary elections on sunday. the incumbent will face the challenger in a runoff poll for the presidency in two weeks'

union. he does speak russian. he claims it's not as fluent as one would assume but sufficient to earn a ph.d. out of moscow state university. he met his wife in russia. and who is also from mali, but as he points out, and i think it's important in this case, all of people's biographies are complicated, he spent 12 years of his life in the united states and two of his children are americans. he spent 12 years as an engineer. beyond that i think i will let him speak to his own biography. >> okay. that sounds like good advice from a diplomat. okay. well, look, you know, it's -- i have to say it's pretty amazing not one single person has left and i know some of you must have work to do this afternoon. i assume. so we're going to wrap it up, but not before thanking me and please join me for this extraordinary panel that we have with us today. [ applause ] and we look forward to seeing you at the next free state foundation event. thanks again. >> we get more on this topic now as the house energy and commerce subcommittee convene as hearing on whether the united nations should oversee international internet regulations. witnesses include robert mcdowell an

only four nations, only four governments in the world -- russia, the united states, the european uniono accomplish. and this first big step, getting off the ground this morning, was applauded by both the head of spacex and by nasa's administrator. >> the company gathered around mission control, so -- and really seeing the fruit of -- they're seeing the fruit of their labors and wondering whether it's going to work. and there's so much hope right now on that rocket. so when it worked, people saw their handiwork in space and operating as it should. i mean, it was a tremendous elation. >> reporter: what's really important is not control as much as it is the fact that the united states will once again be in the lead, will be providing our own vehicles to take our own astronauts and cargo to the international space station. it's fine to rely on partners, but that's not where the greatest nation in the world wants to be. we want to be taking astronauts and cargo on our own vehicles. today was a huge day in the step to getting there. so, you know, we're on the way, and people should hang with