syria readies a democratic referendum on a new constitution but it defiant coalition led by the u.s. house even more pressure on the mascot's the so-called friends of syria group of nations refusing to negotiate with president assad who supporters will be among the voters in sunday's poll. thousands of cash strapped students in spain again expect to see united in anger at education spending cuts similar protests earlier this week led to police we need to use that heavy handedness when dispersing demonstrators. and waging war on an unseen enemy the us to close its fight against cyber criminals such as those who hacked several federal websites in recent months but experts expect the hype is simply to help people earn big profits from fear and internet ignorance. up next spotlight takes a look at presidential hopeful vladimir putin's assessment on defense facing up to the concept of modern warfare stay with us.

hello again the welcome to spotlight the interview show are to high level we love and today we're talking about national security matters the concept album modern warfare has changed a lot just the last few decades there's no more evident superpowers face-off out of the biggest threats part terrorism and extremism rather than hostile neighbors and the russian army has a big job ahead to adapt to new circumstances to prime minister and a presidential hopeful whether put who expressed his opinion of how this job has to be done in another article seen by many as his election that if asked will discuss what his proposals would go to look at that of the chief of russia in global affairs and james brooks the moscow world based correspondent for the voice of america eligible to vote. putin has been outlining his

vision of russia's future in a series of articles written for the country's major dailies in the run up to next month's presidential election the latest one in total being strong national security guarantees for russia focuses on the prime minister's ideas for developing russia's defenses putin promises seven hundred sixty eight billion u.s. dollars will be invested in the modernization of russia's armed forces over the next ten years stressing he does not intend to militarize russia's budget only to make up for the years when the army and the navy were regularly underfunded put indwells in detail up on ways to make a military career in russia more attractive seeing wages fields will grow as for the us need a new sound of fans shield being built in eastern europe prime minister of the. the country will respond to it actively and symmetrically.

so when this when this article appeared on monday many people compared it to the munich speech. and put in a couple of years ago so how would you characterize the author of this recent article is he a hawk a dove or in the middle is a moderate well i think it is pretty hawkish but you have to keep in mind the elections are in ten days so this is a pre-election statement now every society has to decide the right formula between guns and butter if you look at his numbers he will be doubling the percentage of g.d.p. going to military from three to six over the next decade that's a lot of money and that was the reason why finance mr cooper and quit last fall over the excessive what he saw as an excessive military spending coming down the river which is so hard to shift from the american point of view from europe when. i want to call it hawkish in

a way it's not more hawkish than before so he didn't say anything new i would rather stress interesting details for example he's talking about how to modernize how to transform military industry which seems to become one of key issues for the next president the next mandate and looking at conflicts all the time about between our me and me their industry which prism is really of try to address so putin was very clear in saying that the military industry basically should be private and it was interesting how well let's hear what mr putin says about why a country needs and especially strong military muscle these. in a world of economic and other our people there is always the temptation to resort one's problems at another's expands to pressure and force it's no surprise that someone calling for sources of global significance to be freed from the exclusive

sovereignty of a single nation that this issue will soon be raised as a matter of course. well do you agree that we really live in a time in a world where major powers are ready to fight for resources means through pressure and force as political puts it well i want to say big powers are ready to fight for resources director so because this formula means maybe that the ready to fight each other what is your sense and of the called war and this is a paradox that the readiness to use military force is much higher now than twenty five years ago and this is what. stalking about and generally i fully agree with his initial stands that today's world of the extreme really risky extremely risky and unpredictable which means that any country should be prepared for any threats.

in a time when resources become become very very important and this is and this well isn't this yes i do believe as putin obviously does that russia a country so rich was resources is at higher risk than many other countries i don't really believe if you look at the relationship between russia and china which is pretty unique and i know russians don't like the comparison but a little bit like between the united states and canada that china is a major trip russia is a major treasure house of resources and exporter and china is a major importer of resources they worked out a good relationship i don't see the chinese posing a direct immediate military. rhett i think it's been handled through diplomacy very similar way relationship with canada as well russia russia china relationship compared to the us canadian it's an interesting thing i never heard that before but

there is a major difference the first about anglo-saxon countries russia and china are very different what would you start thinking in that direction. frankly not because i think the the major difference is the us canada is a very clear. clearly u.s. is politically leading power kind of the snow compassion of canadian political activities in russia china relationship steel now russia is politically leading maybe not forever but still politically leading china is leading an economically and talking about resources the part of the ox is that what we describe is what. you should be but china is not the bigger. consumer of russian resources here anyway. james put in doesn't mention

any any enemies in any actual threats but he doesn't mention the united states the i think is the only country that he does mention in this big article about building up military. muscle well this is that bother you or would you say that it's the usual russian election anti american as well it is one level makes for great to be just like the russian routine i mean really we do have the election coming up . the cost three thing is who attacked the us iraq attack china you don't want a voice that way and for russians traditionally the threat has come from the west and after the cold war that's a quick hit there's been two or three months of pretty tense times for the kremlin politically. we need an enemy of the using right now the question is will the research survive this or is the kremlin delivering access to the us russian cooperation and i think it is a setback did you feel at ease in this role of being an enemy for the job even

though a couple of weeks is not really because i'm not sure that'll do for back i've seen surveys were people think that twenty five percent of people think the united states is behind the opposition protests and forty five percent are quite sure it is up to seventy percent so you're changing russian public opinion or russian public opinion can change back and has gone back and forth but for now we're living through a fairly officially sponsor anti-american phase the russian global affairs this is the name. that you really think can you tell us there are real threats to russia from abroad from somewhere well except terrorism extremism and well there's no actually there's a unique moment in russian history when we cannot identify any major power to threaten russia to to pose a real trip and including the united states i would disagree. with james about. so the see the election character of this american is

putin i'm afraid is not that simple because of course election campaign everywhere including russia including the united states is a special time and there's an easy way to to get to get support but my feeling is unfortunately the mr putin is jeannine the very very much suspicious united states and this is not because of his called war past as many people in the west used to say this is because of his personal experience with americans with george bush administration into silence and he started to actually as a very much pro western and pro-american guy and he offered to a lot of things to europe and particularly the united states he closed the. russian military for. cuba and vietnam he opened. for terrorism and so and what he got in return from his point of view so he wouldn't turn very aggressive expansion of american interest in the post so. part of being of

this. american rhetoric what you're seeing is actually in his deeds has been a pretty pro american president well pro russia u.s. friendship little disappointed. i think that's true and i think first impressions are often the most important. i think. has really neglected to focus on the obama administration has not by political reasons the obama counterpart obama inherited two wars he wrapped up iraq as far as we're concerned got all the troops out about six weeks ago they're speeding up their withdraw from afghanistan afghanistan is going to be russia's baby probably in about two years along with. pakistan i mean you know we will be out of there and so that he was probably scarred by the bush years he felt maybe tricked or something but i think

he's neglected to focus on the last three years with obama who inherited these two active fighting wars and has gotten out of one and is getting out the other and the american taxpayer would like to see afghanistan in the rearview mirror very quickly well if. reelected that we may be looking at having some quality time together. just reminds of the. question magazine and james grew up. in moscow are here in my studio spotlight will be back. in just a minute so stay with us don't.

if so.

welcome back to spotlight i am al green of and just a reminder that my guests on the show today are further lucky enough the editor in chief of russia and global affairs magazine and james brock chief of the the away and last caus bureau jim and while we've been discussing. the recent article by vladimir putin we came to a conclusion in the past fifteen minutes that that this is pretty election rhetoric but it is sort of hawkish and that the at least the american side may be afraid if this out issued is imposed and continues after the election so let's hear

what the prime minister says about the things that help when the international moral law is neglected here's the quote. we continue to see new areas of instability and deliberately managed to pay off there also are purposeful attempts to provoke such conflicts even within the directorate city of russia's and its allies borders the basic principles of international law being degraded and eroded especially in terms of international security under these circumstances russia cannot pull back on diplomatic and economic matters alone to settle action and resolve conflicts. so there you disagreed with james when he said that put in being hard but this this deliberately managed chaos and the erosion of international law this does sound sort of sort of munich. yeah and some sort of munich and putin actually munich was almost five years of fires

ago was here two thousand so and they're exactly fantasy exactly. and that is quite consistent and then saying so i think so that's why why and why i think it's not pre-election by the way pre-election i think it's about he is the belief in how today's world functions and of course about deliberate organized cause that's maybe too much but it's all to almost everybody now that he is no normal country including the biggest one have has capacity to to govern what is going on everybody must only only react to coming to risk well you know if james you have noticed staying here in moscow monitoring the situation that the election situation here from moscow for some reason their

relations with the united states are becoming a very big issue in this election campaign in russia which may be strange for the united states and. i have heard an opinion about one of the talk shows recently from one of the candidates that i've said i've been to the united states americans don't care about russia i mean they really don't care whether they have other things to do so and it seems that russia the russians and all the russian kandice really do care about the united states what they're thinking what they're planning do you see some consolation here between the attitude of us us and them in the us you know it is a conflict and i had the chance to ask a question to the candidate me. thursday and he said you know we are a great country talking about russia and good point you know we are a very great country and we will not be pushed around or affected by what an ambassador does or not so basically he was able to come put it into perspective and

mental eyes and i think there's been a lot of historical stuff in the russian media and on this question on the web somebody is very outrageous videos attacking the u.s. ambassador and the problem is when you attack a master mcfall he was approved by the u.s. senate only two months ago by voice vote so go straight back to the senate he worked for three years in the white house and go straight back to the white house so you know we're getting to the point where is the reset mortally wounded. what kind of reception will prime minister putin is likely present what kind of reception he get in chicago in mid may when he goes for the g. eight meeting. allow me to ask you a personal question you as the bureau chief for the v.o.a. for the voice of america. wouldn't it be easier and more fun for you to work if they bury their reset. you need really said oh it would be a lot like professionally better for me because that was the golden times of the vo

way in russia when the i mean they're on the call with. a person of enjoying life. without a lot of tension and i'm going to mess it like. see the relations between both countries for a shit ok well you know the quote putin says we are being pushed into action by the united states and nato missile defense policy is a global balance and forces can be guaranteed by that by building our missile defense shield or by developing the ability to overcome any missile defense system and protect russia's retaliation potential which is far more effective well this is pretty hard to to understand but for me what it means is that the trillions of rubles that put this way to allocate to the military will go to two to the rebuilding of the nuclear missile potential is that right is there any means yes that's right and i think it's answer on this question is not optional for one

to build the russian the missile defense system which i think is very good decision because we are the second is far more effective the second is far more effective and the first is far more expensive because we already had this arms race with the united states which ended up with the collapse of the soviet union so it's very good at russian leadership understands reality but as for strengthening our nuclear potential that's what will happen and why i'm sure that in the current situation when the russian army is in deep with a transformation process nuclear potential will be the main equalizer and guarantee for us and saw a need to which means by the way about the russian american relationship i don't think that after the election in the united states obama or another candidate that we will be interested to continue our talks and to russia is not exempt to the economic problems faced by by mimic countries in the world many countries of europe

so do you think russia can afford really being hawkish today. russia can. ford it's my deep conviction and they agree with the former finance minister couldn't russia cannot afford the kind of a location of money which is promised including in points article i'm absolutely sure the real investment will be much more modest but of course to to pay for their defense it's necessary little bit put in another put in sadia to make the military in the industry so to see a driving force for russian modernization again as it was in the soviet union i don't believe the army and their industry is in the capacity to do that but. something should be done because it should be much more effective and i think that for me no military industry will be as important for an ex-president as army reform

was important for me to get james you mention of the macphail he you recently said something like i can personally guarantee that this missile shield will not be used he used against was something that i can give you guarantee do you think that maybe some find out word from the ambassador and maybe maybe a surprise well i know one the russian side like to get things in writing but let's put it in context you know if i mean trucks you know we do away with where they want to get things in writing i can just remind you that when you started like well that about ten years ago. they said we will never move nato closer to the russian borders this twenty years ago i think they said that and it was not put in writing what it was there were no i didn't keep them so they are there i mean the kremlin. is going to talk over. i think the people running russia cut their teeth in

the brezhnev or when ronald reagan was pushing star wars sort of which is going to be a whole continental. ballistic missile defense system i think if you. look at the anti iran missile defense system it's much smaller but once again the generation that is currently in the kremlin is thinking star wars i think they have to put in context of the american taxpayer boring individual on the right one hundred million and they pay the taxes and they pay the bills does not want to launch on a huge missile defense program this is very targeted very specific it's hitting a bullet with a bullet the maybe six bullets somewhere in the czech republic romania hoping to knock down one strain iranian missile it is not going to take on two thousand russian missiles period paragraph end of story oh well let's move on let's and now here what how in the view let me put in rearmament the modernization of the army will boost economic growth in russia. the huge resources invested in the

renewal but defense industry and even the rearming program must facilitate the modernization of the entire russian economy they must serve as a major incentive for quality growth where state spending creates jobs facilitates market demands and speed signs. well here we are present that it has been talking for years about modernization skulk of nanotechnology and so on now then you can says says that that the move to industrial complex is going to be the locomotive modernization and well your reaction to that so i again i just said that i don't believe that made it into so complex is ready to become. the problem is how to make it at least more efficient because since soviet time we didn't get much new but we still

exhaust the. resource so that technology will resource so unfortunately it was not very successful with. style skolkovo modernization i don't believe that putin style military modernization will be much more efficient because one of the countries that has always capitalized on war and military that's the calmest so do you believe do you believe that that we can modernize the country move ahead through the military using the military short answer no no. but america has done that there's been a useful part of the industry of the economic scene you have to look at look at syria where russia has sold a lot of weapons but they had to cancel seven billion dollars in loans so these are almost i won't say gifts but. russia i don't think is making a lot of money you know they're financing these things and selling them and it helps to keep the industries going and once again it's a perfect korea lections. they've been because their quarter million guys are work

building rockets and tanks and armored personnel carriers and submarines and they want to hear this ok thank you do the thank you very much a full directly with running out of time i have to say goodbye to. the editor in chief of russia global affairs magazine and james abruptly the chief of the the away bureau in moscow and that's it for now from all of us here the spotlight will be back with more first hand comments on was going on in and outside russia until then stay on party and take care. of. download the official anti allocation. pod touch from the top story. on the go. video on demand. costs

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