it. colonel gadhafi is pulling out all the stops to regain control of his country with new air strikes being reported american and british forces are on standby but locals fear the intervention will do more harm than good. conflicting reports and confusion coming from libya with the public unsure of what is happening meanwhile dozens of people have been killed in fish fighting and hundreds more injured join me for an update in a few moments from the libyan border. egyptians are struggling to cope with their newfound freedom some are still celebrating

others of them on the further change mixture which scares tourists away costing the country millions of dollars in revenue. it's fifty eight years since the death of joseph stalin but decades on his legacy still divides opinion martin speaks to a man who went from hero cheap labor camp prisoner on the order of the soviet leader. from our studios here in central moscow this is r.t. with twenty four hours a day opposition strongholds have been under attack because moammar gadhafi made a major push to regain control over strategic parts of libya a day of fierce fighting has reportedly left seventy dead and three hundred wounded meanwhile two u.s. warships are departed that base in the mediterranean as part of a military buildup around the amid fears of

a possible intervention. has the latest now from the tunisian libyan border. on saturday the libyan leader moammar gadhafi launched a fresh military offensive he's trying to retake some of the towns he's lost in the past eighteen days of fighting there were some seventy people killed those are the latest reports we're receiving and more than three hundred people injured with reports of strikes and live ammunition and growing fears that libya is descending into civil war most of the fighting is in the key towns of libya such as zawiya which is some fifty kilometers from the capital tripoli and the oil rich port of ras north of the latest reports there suggest that rebel leaders are in control slowly making their way towards the capital city of tripoli in the we're itself at a draw the iraqi forces launched an attack they fired mortar shells they used machine guns and throughout most of saturday if you fighting happened to their villages what we have from the rebel leaders themselves of that they remain in

control inside of the town and we're hearing from government forces that they're in control around the perimeter now this is an important town because it is so close to the capital and if the rebels are able to maintain a presence there they will have a better chance of attacking tripoli it is interesting though that some of the pictures we're showing you here on our t.v. have actually been distributed by the gadhafi regime it's really trying hard to present its version of events it's using these pictures as proof that its forces are in control in most of these towns in the east it's very difficult to tell from these pictures inside who is in control in the ground but it certainly is indicative that in addition to the fighting on the ground there certainly is a fight in the media and information war in terms of who is in control of what now many of the media in europe and in the united states has been supporting the rebels there have been editorials in major american and european newspapers actually calling on the west to support the rebels and attack gadhafi the latest word we

hearing is that the western media is trying to portray gadhafi is. forces as a losing and the opposition forces as winning but as you can see from these pictures it certainly is not clear who has the upper hand and also analysts who are putting forward in the opinion of the western media is so anti gadhafi because he has taken such a strong stand in the past against western interference in developing countries the latest word from the british government is that it is confirming that it is considering and is on standby to deploy its forces within twenty four hours it says of these forces will be used for humanitarian and evacuation purposes and not for any kind of military intervention the latest word we have from the u.s. is that it's two warships have a left crease and according to a statement they issued they are part of the military buildup around libya and we also know that two american planes have landed in tunisia they are reportedly here for humanitarian efforts we also know that france to the united kingdom are putting

pressure on the united nations security council to make a decision on a no fly zone there so here's something that libyans here do not support as i found out when i spoke to people around the border this is the road out of libya but it's also the road that lines the pockets of hundreds of libyans who make their living selling fuel in tunisia for ten times the price they paid back. the libyan good half your work or more and libya long. let him stay in power for life. and as much as some may support gadhafi other libyans despise the united states or the mob. the u.s. will not enter libya what rogers they are they don't have a good. afternoon is libyan for days he's been trying to get to that unity inside of the border to check up on his family who on the other side you know some of them have been injured the answer he says is not with foreign intervention. maybe if.

what i read to me like so much in libya but foreign nations seem to be giving little concern to what libyans themselves actually want to debate for a no fly zone is continuing and u.s. warships are sailing not far from the libyan coast already come help libya not to be based help libya for the road was the world this is probably. if the u.s. russia and other countries case involved it was time that scenes like this used by the egyptian people here are against foreign involvement they know well the price it is often paid for so-called humanitarian assistance history has shown that many children aid in any war zone is more often than not they need to sky's military aid during the war in bosnia it was discovered that u.n. trucks delivering aid were in fact transporting military equipment in afghanistan

the very weapons america gave to the taliban in the early eighty's came back to haunt the u.s. army following its two thousand and one afghan invasion so it's no wonder libyans whether they support gadhafi or not are united on one issue they want the world and american particular to stay out of there with his policy r.t. . on the chin asean libyan border and you know living author and blogger says it would be a serious mistake if the u.s. and its allies choose a military in the via. intervention in libya would really i think rob the moral force and dignity of the sort of indigenous arab revolt that we've been seeing i think it would be a serious mistake that really would put the u.s. and yet another difficult quagmire if the crisis truly gets on hand then it's up to the arab league and the african union who have discussed their willingness to

perhaps intervene if things did truly get out of hand any military adventure can end disastrously regardless of the initial motives even if they are noble and benign which in itself is an heroic assumption really no one really knows how these sorts of things kind unfold there are many factions many tribes in libya many external and internal factors in me taken account which is precisely why these kinds of military adventurism. attacks and invasions are are ill advised the united states really does not need to hit and should not get involved in yet another another war in an oriole rich arab country however it is true that certain bush era officials certain certain neoconservatives have been pushing for war and or at least what they like to call under the pretext of intervention. well for more on the crisis gripping libya and the entire region stay tuned for some opinions

from the streets of the big apple coming away in just a few minutes from now. i was going to go. with this guy it was just a matter of time before these dictators were you know things change people want to change the people were hurt people hurt we moved to action people angry they moved to action i believe it's more about power and the unfair distribution of power than it is about real democracy. i mean one in egypt crowds are calling for the death penalty to be handed to their former interior minister as he stands trial for corruption in cairo the country one of the first to erupt in popular protest is still reeling from the uprising after president hosni mubarak was forced to step down in february and have sent a boy to reports not for many egyptians even harder than before. loading

on freedom after decades of protest abstinence egyptians are tasting their newly found liberties still unable to get enough of with. even the resignation of hosni mubarak's close associate as prime minister one of the key demands of the opposition didn't take the steam out of their three squares rally in fact the number of tent city residents seems to be getting even higher nazli has been camping on the square for three weeks formerly a special needs educator she quit her job to be here and so far has no intention of looking for a new one we're going to stay here until all the demands are connect the demands are being met one by one but it's still the process is taking longer than expected the revolution is not yet over but it's already becoming a brand street vendors who paddles mubarak's portraits just two months ago have now switched to the revolution in more a billionaire. a lot of people love revolution everyone wants to be

a part of the bloods are selling world to prove means liberation in arabic i think the need for sport has become a focal point in anding mubarak's autocratic rule you have a few profiteering vendors notwithstanding the egyptian revolution comes at a high cost per square is packed with protesters again only now instead of resignation demand they're chanting celebrator slogans the piece of revolutionary intoxication about totally natural is costing image of millions of dollars every day branded as a symbol of egypt square stands in a stark contrast to another egyptian attraction the slave build pyramids the rhine crowds have scary their way visitors with lost revenues already exceeding one billion dollars usually to speech are really repaid before is a problem is good business after. probably.

many people here don't believe that cairo protests will significantly alter their life prospects for them freedom comes with their ability to feed their families that for now remains far from certain the business is growing very slow at the moment we have almost like five or seven percent of the clients and most of them are coming from middle east none coming from europe it's not that they don't support their revolution they're just the first to discover it's very sweet taste and to realize that revolutionary intoxication is almost always followed by a headache sort of like an artsy cairo. as the wave antigovernment revolts rocks the arab world it's unclear how and when the uprisings will end across the ocean own resident in new york or a snapshot of opinion on the ongoing protests. you

know the insurrections revolutions and uprisings in the middle east catch you off guard this week let's talk about bad are you surprised i'm not surprised. i'm going ramallah i will say seven weeks ago in minute. i report of. the political situation in the middle east was very very unstable one week off the whole single in tunisia and egypt you know change was coming we all knew cheese was going to come we moved more could offer you this guy it was just a matter of time before these dictators were you know things shay's people wanted change people were hurt people hurt we moved to action people were a very they moved to action the world leaders are caught off guard by those. i think they're caught off guard and knowing what how to react because they i believe

they know the world is going to be more unstable but they have to support the idea of freedom so it's a mix a mixed blessing we think they all these are going to lead to more i'm raster more instability yes i believe it's more about power and the unfair distribution of power than it is about real democracy oh i think it's you know does the time make the leader does the leader make the times that's always like an ongoing question when it comes to stuff like this and i think we have to wait and see this is going to be a good test for everyone in power right now to see how they come out yes but what do you think the effect is going to be around the world what i think it's really not going to make much difference. when different people come into power that they'll see and they'll start treating people right and everybody in this world we will have to be united states will have to be a police country anymore all the social networking that's. so you can no longer hold their people in even the propaganda that they used to do you think this is

something that could happen here or in europe or in other places. that's scary you . know. so you're prepared for it but i think. it's a little scary to know that anyone can have so much influence now i don't lie it's a leader giving me proud again but it's a little unnerving to know that anyone with a computer can have that kind of. power to it you have to be strong enough to know what to listen to and what to ignore whether or not you think anyone has any idea of what's to come next the bottom line is that there's no denying this is a time of change. a little later in the program here in our team shows you a different side to one of the oldest cities in russia you can find out how people to spice things up in the winter and how sports put you on the map as one of the

top tourist destinations in the country they have all the details for you in a few minutes from. the first fifty years after his death soviet leader joseph stalin remains one of the most controversial political figures in history a daughter and idolized by some he's despised and scorned poilus stalin that the country to victory in world war two but through the heroes who helped him do it into labor camps he's covering as our reports on his legacy and also hitler benito mussolini joseph stalin some of history's most notorious dictators and for years were you ordered by the people of their countries because of personality phenomenon has intrigued historians and psychologists alike . but the simple sounding question of how one person exact such influence over millions still does not have a simple answer and is something that remind me of the stockholm

syndrome in a way where. after you have been killed in the processes by some bad person you start loving you. the lot of these not a true lot but it's a way to save yourself to keep your balance ok the so-called people's father ruled the country with an iron fist and despite a carer's persecutions and executions he was almost worshiped. by the terms of being entered the second world war stalin's personality cult was at an all time high men and women all across the country were willing to lay down their lives probably believing that bravery and ultimately victory guarantee them stalin's approval. was twenty three when he returned home from the battlefields having

survived dozens of attacks partisan missions and months in captivity he was proud to be coming back alive proud to have accomplished what comrade stalin had asked of him. i remember being marched for a small lot in term the local women were all standing on the street throwing things at our spitting and shouting stalin's bandits that's what they called words as a means and i remember feeling then a sort of pride because being all leaders bend it somehow it was close to him and we all wanted that i had that feeling for a long time until i set things straight. in one hundred forty if near there was accused of being a traitor and sentenced to twenty five years in a labor camp the charge was simple he survived captivity which to stan's mind when he had sold out his country for his life and no proof was necessary after three months of torture and if there was ready to sign any document whatsoever with it i

refused to sign this so-called confessions even after all the torture they put me through but then they said if you don't sign will bring your parents here and i can let them go for us so i agreed a few months later i was on my way to the polar region to the real labor camp. eight years later you have returned home and the new secretary general of the soviet union denounced alan's personality called the man who had twice been named time magazine's person of the year had all his carefully sculpted glory taken away . and evokes mixed emotions with his actions still being debated ensuring in some respect his personality cult still survives. cashew nuts are of a party not. well now it's time for other news making headlines around the world and all while the. israeli soldiers have used tear gas and smoke grenades against female palestinian protesters in an attempt to disperse them dozens of them along

with international activists demonstrated in northern jerusalem calling for an end to the israeli occupation of the west bank to say they respond by political democracy that if it is egypt and choose it. its own prime minister silvio berlusconi is back on trial facing corruption charges so sick of his prime minister but it's no use media empire purchased television rights using offshore companies as part of a tax dodge it's one of four trials that the italian media is currently making including allegations he paid an underage girl for sex and abuse of power he denies all the allegations. of the videos emerging the brutality of the continued political standoff in the ivory comes seven women were shot dead while many others were wounded on thursday pro-government forces opened fire at a rally against the incumbent president model but both he stepped out after november's election results and says at least three hundred sixty five people died since. the

international crews of the mainland back up flights to the international space station have been cleared for the next orbital mission six space men have excelled in that final exams at russia's cosmonauts training center in star city and that should last all from the baikonur launch pad in kazakhstan in the mortgage machine will be diverted to my fiftieth anniversary of the first man in space yet it is a cruel spent one hundred seventy days on the i said to us shuttles and three russian cargo ships a space walk is also planned during their mission. now the latest in a special series of travels across russia is heading your way next year in r.t. this time the focus is the historic city of yet us marvel. polities close up journeyed some three hundred kilometers northeast of where i'm sitting here in moscow to the millennium old city. it's day three of our

exploration that i've already seen it's a story of architecture and culture but one thing we didn't talk about is its fascination with sports leagues in france want to check out how the region's landscapes are not just great to look at but to ride on as well. everyone's going crazy for sports in the jaroslaw region of russia just past the roster of professional athletes speeding through the international ski federation's cross country world cup at germany now a center of winter sport and leisure situated on the christine banks of the volga river poland's olympic gold medalist just smoked past the other one in the first day of the races this is. the conditionals difficult for the classic but if you split with next was the men's frames where valentino over herself the first female cause may not was blocking the finish. you tell you it's

a great event of course i want the women steam to be even better than a tease but they do perform well we have a very glad for russia with over four hundred children enrolled here termino offers the average middle class russian a chance to realize their dreams as a sportsman and offers the foreigner a chance to see this place what it really is. locals wanted to be the new winter destination one that will fill the surrounding restaurants and hotels it's booking this this is a front desk of the city thousands of people come and spend their time here every year and with shorter expand opportunities because this will inevitably affect a number of people and go into sports in general and being for winter sports in particular. not far away in the historic merchants' city of glitch festivities are just getting underway to celebrate the winter during a season when most cities are pretty quiet these people are making a party of it doesn't vine yet does that all year i've been i swimming for thirty

years i love it there is no need for any of the home full habits that are widespread nowadays. massive down on the volga river powered moscow with electricity throughout world war two a collection of churches greet tourist boats on their first start from moscow from the church of john the baptist to the church of princeton mitri on blood built in commemoration of young prince dimitris gruesome death in fifty ninety one the place is steeped in tradition but it has a way of breaking out of it shout back at them and between the skiing and the snowmobiling which they were kind enough to teach me they're waiting for a good burn at the end of the world cup races a frightful windstorm this summer of two thousand and ten knocked down ninety percent of the surrounding forest locals retaliated by stacking the fallen wood twenty two meters high then registering it in the guinness book of world records

they'll burn it into a massive bonfire after the final race now that is competitive sportsmanship in the jaroslava region lindsey france r t. by the way you can always find more of our stories online in addition to what you see here on screen here is a quick look at what's that the men were developed he don't call him. a good. that's the story about the american who has decided to record the russian national anthem and sing it in russian that story is available that at our team dot com. and also. some here. and there as well on our website if you want to know what

that's what about and i want to r.t. dot com apologies for the confusion there with our pictures now nato service members being killed in a bomb attack in afghanistan it brings the total number of alliance personnel killed there since general to seventy bogged down in a grueling war with the taliban the coalition is losing more and more troops. and does that and it's down drug production spirals out of control the u.s. is also feeling the impact on home soil the american naval academy has been hit hard by the drug abuse scandal they commence exposed as part of an ongoing investigation not even if you can see what he thinks the u.s. could be secretly cashing in on the afghan drug trade it's been almost a year since the high seas has acquired a totally new connotation for the u.s. navy in march two thousand it was the beginning of the corruption of the u.s. naval academy and to annapolis by sea did it drugs since then dozens of the navy shipment has been separated or expelled from day care to unfortunately it was not

an exception neither for the u.s. navy north for other branches of the u.s. armed forces so in a way the latest drug abuse investigation is only in the tip of the iceberg of the pertinacious and negative influence of the american involvement in afghanistan indeed what could motivate future u.s. navy a leaders to buy and to resale. there are drugs among their peers there it could be several reasons for such a reckless and criminal action the most of this is that the us navy are jealous of the us marines who are enjoying the poppy fields in helmand and kandahar and as a result they just fall back on the artificial stuff situation all of that organic murray who want to however he did legitimize gold kinds of criminal activity it also legitimize the cult of impunity and profiteering and that is probably the

hidden agenda of the us open ended commitment to afghanistan. well the present state for the moment i'll be back with a look at our main news stories in about two minutes from now and coming soon all special report on how corporations control world food supplies needing to thousands of people starving to death but stay with us for all of that sunrise in saudi but with a quick recap of our top stories in a couple minutes from now. that

is the complement and look i'm talking of creation of the of the food system the global food system is not created to feed the people of the world is created to maximize the profits. gernot trading the actual physical grain your trading promises for grain to be delivered a month or six months or twelve months or eighteen months in the future. for is a commodity likely silver or gold that can be negotiated and afforded to some degree in. some place.