simply. let's go to support. eight thirty am in the russian capital good to have you with us here on our t.v. these are your headlines after the pull out triple bombing in baghdad and dozens dead growing doubts over whether rocky forces can manage in the wake of the withdrawal of u.s. combat troops. instant karma the internet's rise and russia's allowing more people to highlight problems like crime and corruption that in the past would have gone unnoticed. also when a house is not a home as average americans fall on hard times r.t. revisits tent city homeless camp in the woods of new jersey. and proud to be sovereign celebrations in the republic of south ossetia which is marking twenty

years since it declared independence from georgia. concentrating troops in afghanistan and spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the hunt to on the trying to hunt down al qaeda is a flawed strategy according to former marine officer matthew hoh an outspoken critic of u.s. policy in the country he thinks washington is inconsistent in its military pursuits as he explains to our tease guy in a cheeky. does the goal match the cost that is something many americans are asking when it comes to the u.s. strategy in afghanistan and members of the of ghana's then study group call on the president to bring the majority of the u.s. troops home abandoning the strategy of defeating the taliban and matthew hoh is heading that group he's a marine officer who resigned from the state department in protest of obama's policies in afghanistan it happened last year and he he's here with me now thank

you so much for joining me in that matthew so the war in afghanistan is the longest and it has cost a lot poorer to the united states who are saying american interests at stake in afghanistan do not warrant this level of sacrifice please explain why. the war's cost us about four hundred billion dollars it's lasted for over nine years american dead or close to twelve hundred there's been fallon's of afghan deaths. we're spending one hundred billion dollars a year next year will spend about one hundred twenty billion dollars a year according to the congressional research service in a country whose g.d.p. is only fourteen billion and knowing that according to our cia there's only fifty to one hundred al qaeda members in afghanistan so you're talking about spending one billion to two billion dollars a year on each al qaeda presence in afghanistan matthew i know that you had been working in iraq for a while before going to afghanistan was that war worth it was that war programatic

you know i mean we've seen from where rock was a few years ago yes the country has stabilized you know you've gone from four thousand civilian deaths someone's down to a few hundred it's still by no means a story and i don't know if i will ever say it was worth i i don't agree with those who believe that we needed to be. iraq in order to make the middle east a safer place or a more democratic place and certainly if you look at the reasons why we were given for going in there ties to al qaida that wasn't true weapons of mass destruction that wasn't true. you know saddam was was effectively contained as i saw it he was no threat to this to us or to his neighbors i don't see the expenditures you know the over the forty five hundred american dead near trillion dollars that we have spent there the near one hundred thousand iraqi dead i don't see that in any way justify the invasion of two thousand and three the other thing too is that since

we're talking about iraq and afghanistan one of the larger problems i think with u.s. foreign policy particular national security policies are not consistent if they're if we are in afghanistan because of al qaeda and if there are only fifty to one hundred members of al qaeda in afghanistan then why are we pulling out of iraq where there are one thousand to two thousand members why do we see and we need to keep. hundred thousand troops in afghanistan when those operations come out of somalia and yemen as when and pakistan yes so that consistency is not there in our in our foreign policy particularly in our now security policy and that's very worrisome to me because you don't have consistency if you don't have good critical thought if you don't have a degree of intellectual honesty in your policymaking you are going to have bad policy and you're going to have things like iraq we're going to find yourself nine years into afghanistan entangled in a civil war spending one hundred billion dollars a year for

a purpose that does not make the united states safer matthew you have been saying that stabilizing the government in afghanistan does not defeat al qaida and that it's like using a flash hammer to kill a fly do you think it's such a fly and if not a sledgehammer what should be used to kill that fly you know i mean sure of fly can bite you short before i can affect you he could get in your. refrigerator make your food moldy or what not but you try and kill with sledgehammer you end up wrecking your house and if you look at our successes against al qaida they have not come from occupying afghanistan yes it was based off and stand when we showed up they fled to pakistan they dispersed around the world they became this near virtual decentralized loosely for motivation that uses individuals and cells and doesn't rely upon large physical tracks so plan our successes in. against al-qaeda and there's a good new yorker article not too long ago about this. have been through more of

a police or the law enforcement or intelligence role and we capture khalid sheikh muhammad then by the fact that we've got tens of thousands of u.s. troops occupying. two muslim countries out also suggests that we need to look at our strategy in the sense of that our policies have been counterproductive and we've turned to using military occupation as a tool to beat a terror network that is more similar to a mafia organization or a criminal organization and that is only composed of a couple thousand or a few thousand members worldwide well let's get back to the taliban are you saying the u.s. should not be afraid of palin band of ghana's than i don't believe so. i'm not i'm not one be apologist for the taliban you know and i don't want to be accused of that or be seen as that but we have to recognize the taliban is not a monolithic movement the taliban is composed of many different groups within afghanistan that have diverse motives supporting taliban

a lot of times that being financial financial the sense of now i'm going to give you ten not because i give you ten dollars to put a bomb aside because in your valley on a give this group a couple thousand dollars and that's going to make that group the most powerful group in that valley a lot of the groups that support the taliban have very vocal concerns. things are not going to affect you and i here in washington d.c. or other folks throughout the united states also to the ties between the taliban and al qaeda are not really there there or certainly elements of the taliban that have ties to al qaida but you can you can isolate them do not because there is ten or fifteen or maybe even twenty percent of taliban that are irreconcilable or do have links to transnational terror groups does that does not mean we should not done do our best to negotiate with and work with that other eighty percent or ninety percent of taliban that is reconcilable and that we can get

a negotiated settlement with because they don't have ties to al qaeda messages and you also said that ghana stands neighbors say china or russia have actually more to lose from the instability in afghanistan that the united states and i would have more reason more and more reasons to get involved in keeping it again and then quite and you think countries like take turns saying waging war thing afghanistan oh do absolutely not i think it's an. every other nations interest to see a negotiated settlement in afghanistan it's been a proxy war or. a real war in one way or another for the last thirty thirty five years in afghanistan and it has improved nobody's economy as a prove nobody's way of life i think for nations like the central asian states for russia for china that have issues with their own ethnic minorities or muslim minorities i think it's important for what's happening in afghanistan not the

spread across boundaries was the biggest issue for russia is the dragging flow of the argument you know that's a that's a great point i believe it's about ninety percent of the drugs that leave afghanistan go to russia or to europe it's a huge huge issue but you're not going to feet that you're not going to feed the drug trade there and to you stabilize the country until you stop the war until you stop one side from having incentive to utilize that drug trade to you know provide the money to fight the war until you take away the aspect of the war itself you're not to be able to address any of these issues and that goes for the drug trade that goes for women's rights that goes for other ethnic or other human rights and that goes for development as well in terms of i mean it's a very it's a incredibly poor credibly desperate country it needs a lot of assistance it's not going to develop it's not going to grow without there being instability so for so many different reasons but if someone asked to keep

them stable they can do it on their own are all the money they have to ultimately they have to do it on their own as long as you have outside powers backing up one side or another and putting one side in a position where it's trying to subjugate the other side you will not have stability while and on these upcoming parliamentary elections of course in afghanistan do you think there are going to be are free and fair contests the nato secretary general put it nothing i have seen or. read the most recent thing i read was actually a report from the american special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction so our us government's watchdog over there. their report that came out just recently this past week really basically said all the problems that occurred in two thousand and nine they're still with us and it's going to take years and years to address and rectify those those problems the guardian two days ago had a very good article on this but no i don't fortunately i don't believe that they will be free and transparent and that's dangerous because one i think the like i

said that we're all pashtuns or so the pashtuns feel excluded from the political process already but there are other elements within afghanistan in the north and the west in urban areas that are part of this coalition that makes up the karzai government and if the same thing happens as happened last year say where the the fraud was massive in elections were stolen well will you see a further cracking or further fracturing of the karzai kolisch and and so that's very dangerous so i'd like to see them be fair and transparent but none of the reports i see coming out suggests that they're going to be making my last question to you and the situation as we can see in afghanistan is as bad as ever the corruption is rampant and the casualties rate to the ag is thirty one percent i've read are you saying that the u.s. should go out should pull out now no one's saying them well we're not saying about afghanistan study group is not saying abandon afghanistan unfortunately when you

get in these conversations you kind of get it it gets characterized you're all in or all out war you want to cut and run that's not the case we're saying. the problem is inherently political not country so utilize political solutions. take the foreign troops out of the places where there are a catalyst for the violence whether a catalyst for people to join the insurgency engage regional nations find a better way to do economic development it's important the way we're doing it now is not working and is doubling down the effort is not going to work and prioritize the u.s. interests u.s. interest in that region is al qaeda and pakistan's nuclear weapons so have a policy that goes after al qaida and helps stabilize pakistan in the region so that those nuclear weapons are never put in jeopardy and that's what we're advocating we certainly are not advocating wave the magic wand and disappear tomorrow but afghanistan figured out for himself well thank you very much it was matthew hoh with me here in washington d.c. who resigned from his job where the state department because he thinks the u.s.

is fighting for the wrong cause in afghanistan and paying too big a price for that i. every month we give you the future we help you understand how to get there and what tomorrow brings the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world join us acknowledging update on our jeep. our stop we are going to come back.

we'll have a rally will sell lots of beer will wrong wrong they will wear uniforms that will damage is down the black for them moving but very little damming to white. and they are the key to our problem are already. wealthy british. markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on our. fifty five. ft.

a pullout a triple bombing in baghdad and dozens dead bring doubts over whether romney forces and manage in the wake of the withdraw all u.s. combat troops. instant karma the internet's rise in russia with more people to highlight problems like crime and drugs and that in the past might have been overlooked. also what a house is not a home as average americans fall on hard times our team revisits tent city a homeless camp in the woods of new jersey. and proud to be sovereign celebrations in the republic of south a city which is marking twenty years since it declared independence from georgia. sports news is next with union o'neal stay with us here on r.t. .

good to have your company this is sports today i mean you know these are headlines closing the gap of being moved to within a win of leaders in eight in the russian premier league thanks to a last gasp goal. top of the pile an orbital russian challenge cup comes to an end just outside moscow with spain's carla still more al riding his way into the record books. in this case the stoner wins their first ever oregon grand prix but it's jorge lorenzo who remains very much the ryder to catch let's get going pitch side were routines quest for a third straight russian championship received a boost on sunday the man from securing maximum points against with virtually the final kick of the game on my way this was it hesitation a plenty in the free kick build up with the call. rifles in the winter ninety

plus minutes relief. for writing emotion on the face of what would be. the full time whistle blew seconds later sealing the one will win for the champions still a lot of work to do though if they are to retain their current leaders meet maybe just three points in front of the whole the hefty. in. the days early kick off. could not be separated and. got things rolling for a local five minutes from the break before ran out. in the back of his own net to make it one and one would end both sides remaining in. mediocrity. can reestablish their six point advantage this summer at the same petersburg side evening to keep their unbeaten run intact in chechnya where two. and wait then there's a clash of the two spark talks and null chick the game also taking place in southern

russia third place will fully expect to claim points at the expense of rock bottom syberia in the late game. the game of the day in the english premier league was on daughter plea old trafford were not in liverpool did battle for the first time this season they have bragging rights look to be having to run chester by the time. berbatov clinched his brace on the hour mark liverpool looked dead and buried. but steven gerard thing scoring first from the spot and then with a superb free kick however united ensured temporary top spot in the league when berbatov not stopped his how to trick minutes from the end three to the score after an absorbing much it is chelsea though who finished the day on top the champions season to a four no win of a bluff pool meaning their one hundred percent record this season means intact after five games among city took care of business had wigan to evolve to fourth.

pro golf returned to russia the first ever challenge cup reaching its conclusion of the sea a live golf club victory going the way of carla still more all meaning the spaniard has a great chance of getting his place on the european tour proper next season farmer now reports. so it was a fitting finale to what has been a hugely successful tournament jack nicklaus design course colace the moral started the day four shots off the late but by the final hole he'd fought his way to the top of the leader board with a one strike advantage over his nearest rival. and although del model found the sound he recovered well to finish on eleven and overall and that was enough the victory after all isn't missed his part means that the moral walks away with twenty eight thousand euros in prize money and also boost his chances of qualifying to play on the european tour next season i came here four years ago for

a european tour event it filled in we went to red square it was just. filled awesome especially with great conditions great golf. so tonight. i only have to see here so he's smiling but so too is the russian golf association it has big plans to promote this sport across the country and the sleeve a golf course here has proved itself to be of championship quality and is being raved about by the players i think the reflection from the players some of the players i've talked to which is pretty much everybody has been a good response. enjoyed the course immensely they have told me that it was being prepared to the highest standard. the practice facility. every facility even down to the catering in the club. has been welcomed by the players. while it is

only the second time the challenge tour has come to russia which still only has a handful of courses but after the last week who knows russia might just have found its way on to golf calendar on a permanent basis andrey farmer r.t. moscow region. it was another spaniard celebrating on the greens of brute jose manuel long. edging a tightly contested final round the austrian open the thirty three year old when he carded a sixty four to catch up with joint overnight leader david lin the two are tied at seventeen under par after seventy two holes it was a lot of key plays nurse in string theory off to win the first extra holding inishmaan we both meaning lara if he could make par on the replayed it think he would win only his second victory on the european tour he did just that his previous title coming three years ago and hong kong danny well it's true shared the lead heading into the final day of his last three holes on how to set for john

third place with the u.s. open champion green mcdowell alexander norton of sweden. or at moto g.p. there's been a race of firsts the inaugural oregon ground for a former champions casey stoner nicky hayden posting a first win first podium finish of the season respectively stoner when he started from poland spain will still be followed by in form danny could do except for most of the race but the two thousand and seven champion way towards the end to beat the home favorite by more than five clear seconds championship leader for he looked on course for a third place finish but a sterling last laugh by american peyton insists that down to four thoughts his first finish right side the podium and three so far this season this bunny and whoever sits a huge fifty six points clear of produce at the top of the standings with just five more races to go stoner is now a third overall he may be out of contention but still relished the well deserved.

were able to get the bike working on my so i wanted to have a little slip off this morning which was a little bit boring going into the in and staying away from everyone i could never want to get too close but yeah we were able to pick up the pace when we needed to during the race and. for the team for everyone who's stuck by. i mean you know i'm sorry it took so long. cricket is still reeling from the allegations of much fixing centered around pakistan's recent test with england fans around the world then will be hoping the upcoming high profile clash between astray and india will get focus back on the crease a sentiment echoed by the players. the events of the last couple of weeks and. i'm sure around the world in the world the game is he's. but. that's completely there's nothing we can do that. we can do is play the best brand of cricket in the most

attractive brand of cricket the way comply. double olympic champion. has won the great north run with insurance from a flare vic's crazy ethiopia dominating and most popular half marathon. is the man's world record holder in the marathon on entering the room bringing event as hot favorites and it didn't feel to deliver on his debut in the biggest athletics festival of its kind the thirty seven year old breaking away from kenya. the half way point he simply revealing happiness by the time he had finished the race in gateshead with the rest. of the frame the four time world champion the only competitor to cover the twenty one kilometer run and last hour the celebrations continuing alongside compacted for honey a dairy later the same victory in the women of. great saints and let's finish with some big waves were marched towards on precent and how

a century of elite tourist surfing victories shows no sign of abating the florida native wrapping up title of forty three on the opposite coast line the latest stop of the hurley prue event the nine time world champion are looking to reach. into the top of the. southern california but he was pushed hard by the man who defeated slater on the same piece of beach in two thousand and six that was bad in. the. higher ranks to reach the decider but that's where the australians highlights would end thirty eight year old slater dominating the two metre waves to ease to victory on pocket one hundred on fire. dollars in the process the two well i'm just i'm just trying to soak in this and not think about everything right now. just want to week i mean we like that as well forecast pattern our taxiing in like laughing on the phone going look what we're going to get next week and i just told pat i'd let

one hundred five thousand people punch me in the face to surf these ways by myself i mean you pay me money. as all your sports are where the weather is coming up and just take stay where you are. so.

this history still keeps its secrets but now it's time to reveal. the soviet findings house on the embankment.

russia would be so much brighter if you knew about sound from phones to impressions . from stunts on t.v. dot com. for.