i wrote was several years after the soviet union departed. the taliban it was not involved in fighting. against the soviets to drive out the foreigners from. the capitalize on the opportunity to develop in afghanistan after the end of the war when it was largely ignored by everyone else to weapons you know the. tradition of being armed individually the weapons are provided most a very simple weapons mostly there with few exceptions the kind most guys could handle without difficulty so you don't believe that the funding of the dean led to the formation of the taliban today no but if i look look look what the osama bin laden himself said. some of bin laden described the reasons why he engaged in terrorism against the west and in fact that so it was not. international terrorism that the taliban was involved in imposing their star on the medieval concept of suicide. but unfortunately it gave a haven to al qaeda osama bin laden and al qaeda had global aspirations and engage in global terrorism would we be having this conversation now if we didn't

soviet union and america. has made possible the kind of reconciliation but it's not under way in eurasia but more important to removed a paralyzing. dilemma a paralyzing danger but hovered over the entire international community so the threat of the soviet union such as you're mentioning right now with of course much more important than the threat we say we have now with the so-called war on terror well clearly i mean look in the event of a war between the soviet union and the united states i was involved in the decision making process that would be provoked by an attack i would call for a response so we knew exactly the nature of the threat that we're all facing within a few hours literally within a few hours about eighty five to twenty million people let me repeat its numbers eighty five to about one hundred twenty million people would have been dead in the united states and in the soviet union. there's just no comparison between that and terrorism which was a nasty dangerous and horrible particular victims

union to the former soviet union to invade prior to our funding. and so on he was already involved directly through the years by the time to funding started the funding started at a time when the soviet union was already making preparations. did you think that that would provoke the so far i have no way of knowing but i was assuming they would go in because they were going you know it was evident there was an escalation of soviet involvement and by the time the funding started the soviet union was already involved with the turkey with the guns and i get back to this this idea from your book that eurasia is the spirit important chess player well for. the united states you also mentioned in your book that you're a just us the chessboard out much the struggle for a global primacy continues to be played and the most immediate task is to make certain that no state or combination of states gain the capacity to expel the united states from eurasia or even diminishing if it's only its decisive arbitrary rule now which states at the moment would you say are

in one thousand nine hundred thirty nine he of the soviet union and nazi germany embracing each other a deadly embrace that we would find out later how did we get to that point where did what went wrong to the international system go wrong who failed eastern europe and could have the war been avoided you don't have to answer him all the same time . well i think you possibly start back in one thousand nine hundred nineteen with the end of the first world war i think the basic point is that the two countries which really matter in europe in the twentieth century germany and russia it's only really germany and russia which have the resources human and other potentially to dominate the whole continent the first world war was above all else a struggle between germany and russia to dominate the central europe and either of them if they dominated the central europe would have the resources to dominate the whole continent the great irony is that the first world war ends with both russia and germany being defeated and the versailles settlement is created against russia and against germany and

war between the soviet union and america. has made possible the kind of reconciliation but it's not under way in eurasia but more important to remove the paralyzing. dilemma of paralyzing danger but hovered over the entire international community let's talk about the future implications of that decision that was made all those years ago. what did you expect the dean what your calling the afghan resistance to do with the weaponry that the u.s. and other countries provided to them after the soviet union fell on did you expect this weaponry to be given back to the civil war which insinuate after to lead to the formation of what we have now which is the taliban i think the problem you know has to be looked at closer historical perspective the war lasted almost a decade it was a terrible brutal war for the soviet union the way it is now going to be killed close to a million guns they drove about forty five million guns in their country. so the process of consolidation the rehabilitation of understand it was bombed to be put. on th

union to the former soviet union to invade prior to our funding the mujahideen so much he was already involved directly in through the south for several years by the time to funding started the funding started at a time when the soviet union was already making preparations to invade afghanistan did you think that that would provoke the so far i have no way of knowing but i was assuming they would go in because they were going in you know approach that was evident there was an escalation of soviet involvement and by the time the funding started the soviet union was already involved militarily with guns there so i want to switch gears to another region that were influential on the middle east with the israeli palestinian conflict now you helped draft a letter with with lee hamilton that suggested that hamas should be part of this equation what do you make of the current day peace process the one that's taking place right now hamas is not part of that equation how far do you think they'll get in finding a solution to the problem a two state solution ultimately i think it would be very di

of the soviet union was to a degree more important. and that you don't stand by that statement now yes our version of the interview was not an interview the interview was an extensive interview which was supposed to. me never was. sort of amalgamated and published but basically the fact united states decided to provide. resistance. it was big to compete directly. when it. was expanded and continued under republican administrations after the president carter left office. turned the resistance in the direction of the collapse of the soviet union and. removed from the international scene of the horror of the possible nuclear war between the soviet union and america and it has made possible the kind of reconciliation that it's now underway in eurasia but more importantly. a paralyzing. dilemma a paralyzing danger but hovered over the entire international community let's talk about the future implications of that decision that was made all those years ago. what did you expect the dean what your calling the afghan resistance to do with the w

nineteen forty three the pick up between the soviet union and hitler's germany. it was then that secret burials were found in the village of canton near smolensk the german on his medical course at the bodies of more than four fouls and polish army officers had been found seven ditches in a forest. they had been examined under the supervision of professor again brooks a well known anthropologist from breast versity but slater told the international red cross committee about his findings. written on april thirteenth one thousand nine hundred forty three radio berlin announced that polish army officers and policemen who had been shot and killed by the end of a day in one nine hundred forty the soviets refuted it two days later they claimed that the polish officers had been executed by the germans in the autumn of one thousand nine hundred forty one for. in one thousand nine hundred three dmitri was thirteen years old he's lived in the county in forest area all his life the german authorities took him and many other local people to the exhumation site dimitri thinks

union and the u.s. so the mujahideen and when they fought there if you take it from the ever going in perspective you know it's just a country being invaded and as i told you from a muslim perspective it was like by the power of god and to religion it's this is this is the main if you like argument behind this in the muslim muslim world so then there's the element politics which is like the whole war if you like that all but the western world and the muslim countries the course and they support the war against the soviet union so when we went there. fully aware of the political context time well not me. but the main issue here does that our agenda or not this is the main issue so if you ask me i didn't go there to hold the u.s. or the cia i went there to help most there to help the afghan people against an ideology of believe it's real to islam i know the cia involvement in that war but i would like just to ask him if he can give us a single evidence or just one evidence that at the time there's a. comm

polish prisoners of war were brought to the soviet union soon after the start of world war two german troops had altered by poland in the autumn of nineteen thirty nine and so obvious entered the country's eastern regions the poles were sent to prison camps in a gold star a belt and cars outside. the poles were held in order to prevent any potential riots or attempts to restore poland's territorial integrity among them was career officer. the father of polish film director j. vida yeah coleman his fellow on the servicemen was sent to the camp in the smolensk region to feel that it was a few that i mean unlike my father most of those taken prisoner when not korea offices rather they represented the polish intelligentsia. they were university professors high school teachers actors and autists among them. in short all those who had been drafted into the army in one nine hundred thirty nine. in august that year the soviet union in germany signed a non-aggression treaty in moscow which later became known as the molotov rippon trial pact this covert document detailed the partition of easter

union so when we went there we are fully aware of the political context. not me. but the main issue here does that our agenda or not this is the main issue so if you ask me i didn't go there to hold the u.s. or the cia i went there to help muslims there to help the afghan people against an ideology of believe it's real to islam i know the cia involvement in that war but i would like just to ask you know when if he can give us a single evidence or just one evidence that there at the time there is a communication link between the cia and the i can assure you it's very hard to prove that and even with the afghan mujahideen themselves you know there used to be seven parts. i am aware did they dealing with the pakistani intelligence service the i.s.i. so even themselves didn't do the deal directly at some time and there's a meeting but but stan used to control every single issue especially like the military stuff emissions fund it's all it has to go to. afghanistan and while we talk about the cia a soldier will be a muslim country and one of the leading muslim

dystonia is gearing up to become the first country from the former soviet union to adopt the euro the new year will see the new currency adopted a move being hailed by the country's politicians as historic but with the single european currency on shaky ground right now many a stone in fear the joining the club could lead to financial uncertainty top part reports. a day at the market an experience you live fears will become considerably more expensive the impending arrival of the single currency cock up which now as a regular housewife i am against the doctrine of the euro because with that adoption prices for basic groceries such as sugar potatoes and carrots will go up on january the first stone it will become the seventeenth country to join the euro area it's taken years of economic reform and government spending cuts to get here we need to keep inflation low but this means also we need to keep our salaries low and cannot have. high growth we need and that's why according to my understanding the timing of joining gehrels own is not a court it's an exhibition to mark the euro countdo

the collapse of the soviet union prevented a nuclear war between the world's two superpowers that's the views of a burgeoning say he's a former national security advisor to president jimmy carter and has been speaking to r.t. . in the event of a war between the soviet union and the united states i was involved in the decision making process that would be provoked by an attack i would call for a response so we knew exactly the nature of the threat they were all facing within a few hours literally within a few hours about eighty five to one hundred twenty million people let me repeat was numbers eighty five to about one hundred twenty million people would have been dead in the united states and in the soviet union there's just no comparison between that and terrorism which is nasty and dangerous and horrible particular victims but in terms of scale it's simply not the same ball park. and you can see the full interview with the former national security adviser to president jimmy carter next hour here. now georgia's attempts to clean up its towns are leaving st trade this in the gutter they

now since the soviet union however the u.s. is not going to give up their military alliance as established during the cold war now it's very convenient to have a bad guy and pyongyang that can be used as a scapegoat for everything let's try and. economical and political more towards the personal you've spent so much time in north korea i believe you've even met kim jong il personally what kind of a man is he when i have to say that kim jong il appears is an energetic and informed person who knows what he does and knows what to strive for i think stereotypes appearing regularly in western and frankly also in russian people are caissons about some unpredictable politician and regime are absolutely ungrounded because an irrational and unpredictable politician would hardly be able to hold power in his hands for the past two decades when many revolutions broke out in many countries actually disappeared money expected the north korean regime to form. however for a number of reasons including purely pragmatic and realistic policy and

i would say, though, that i think the chinese have tried to go to school on the soviet union. and the soviet union basically spent itself into oblivion on the defense side, undermined the support of its people, and scared the rest of the world to the point where we put a lot of pressure on 'em. i think the chinese do not want to go down that track, and so they're beginning to try to uh, engage in exchanges, not only with the u.s., that's been somewhat difficult, but with many other countries, many of our allies, countries in southeast asia, and so forth, you see the chinese inviting many of other countries, people to their academies and uh, military schools, and so on. so they're trying, on the one hand, to build up their capability, but on the other hand, be reassuring, and that's a very difficult tightrope toalk, and we'll see if they're successful. >> just a footnote on the space thing. i was going to ask you about that anyway. why is china engaging inhat space activity? is that a military focus, is it a matter of national pride, does it have to do with communication techno

those powers were the united states, britain, france, and the soviet union. the soviets controlled east germany, while berlin was carved up into three sections. the western sectors were known as west berlin, surrounded by soviet troops. the treaty paves the way for german reunification and set a date for the occupying troops to leave. 20 years on, traces of the allied presence are still easy to find, especially in berlin. >> the cold war lives on in the center of berlin, all staged of course. german actors play american military police. the massive poster shows a young gi facing the east. a young soviet soldier faces west. the building in the middle is a copy. mitch johnson does not need a reenactment of the cold war. he was there as a sergeant at the time, one of 6000 gis stationed in berlin. >> at the same time we had our soldiers in the city, there were thousands and thousands of russians and east german troops on the other side. we were basically an island at inside of east germany at the time. there was always during the training time it was said war cou