friend. i do not understand why it happened he was one of the best people i've ever known i do not understand maybe it's frayed the wanted to have to happen. the russian premier league football referee. just one of the forty four killed monday night with one three four carrying fifty two people from moscow to northwestern russia crashed on this road missing the runway by a kilometer twenty four hours later the crash claimed another victim when one of the survivors a young boy died in hospital. when i heard the little boy in the hospital died i was shocked it's awful my late husband was a pilot he had landed planes at this airport many times it's very personal to me. the site of the crash has been cleaned up the roads have been reopened the wreckage of the plane completely removed but there are still clear marks evidence like this chorus that reminds people of the tragedy that struck on monday night and for those

who had been here to witness the horrific scenes they say that those memories are unlikely to go away. i didn't sleep for two days i couldn't even fall asleep i can't recall and people screaming and pulling forty's away from the plane. you'd get me was one of the first that the scene his house only metres away from where the plane came down. i heard the explosion and ran outside the lights went out i ran to the site and we started rescuing people trying to win two women and the pilot he was dead the firemen arrived and we helped them the man we dragged away called his wife and he asked me to get his phone from his pocket he still alive but still in the hospital. while all the bodies have been recovered the relatives of the victims still have the tough task of identifying their loved ones investigators say all possible scenarios are being looked into but initial reports suggest bad weather and pilot error are the likely causes of the crash

a suggestion that didn't sit well with some locals. it's easy to blame the pilot because he's dead i think the airport itself is to blame family and friends are waiting for answers but all they can do now. he was only thirty eight. only thirty eight is remembered those they've lost deaths are still you r t russia your region. the reports this morning suggesting seven special forces officers have been killed and at least sixteen others wounded in an anti terror operation in russia's volatile north caucasus fierce fighting broke out when a group of militants have been surrounded in their hideout try to break free to go police can offer. this operation is still continuing it's been going on for two days it's all happening in the troubled republic of the big east down in the

caucasus in a forest area so perhaps events complicating the operation for the special forces it started with the authorities surrounding a group of militants. try to break through and that's reportedly one of the police officers were killed the afghanis have also deployed havey old artillery including tanks and helicopters to assist them in this operation unfortunately the north caucasus is called the cradle of terrorism in a washer and president an economy that it has been saying many times very it's one of the key goals of his administration to strengthen security in the caucasus authorities have been able to hold some successful operations in that region including the republic of the just last week the found and destroyed an underground weapons factory with numerous homemade explosive devices with remote controls all saw last week before

a limited person will be it will be have been searching for since last knew it was plotting terrorist attack in moscow all of the new year's eve all that just shows how important it is to strengthen security in that region because it really does f.x. security in the entire country. this is are coming up for your first time the kind from the libyan frontline we hear from a journalist who was in the region in the few days ago and who says that all is not what it seems. to greece next though where the prime minister has won a crucial parliamentary vote of confidence in his newly reshuffle government now the navigate the nation through a series of tough spending cuts and sales of national assets in order to secure a new e.u. bailout and avoid a default but as a teacher of first reports for the millions of anxious gregg's who feel their voices are going on heard the future has never looked so bleak. is considered by many to be the best place in democracy to increase now waiting gap between me and

the people in the government is preaching explain. that we are a mix of people that have no political dollars and we are here all together to say that we cannot be on the vice president we cannot hold. the measures the canonical measures that they take for us without us and we want to take our lives back demonstrations held on the central square now on a daily basis with some of the protests turning violent the trade has to stay the suffocating take as nothing compared to the a state if they fail a strangling their economy the people are being refused very right to judge what policies are going to be implemented upon them and of course the greek government is an accomplice to this most of popular sovereignty i mean we're not

one of anymore in the proper sense a sovereign country when the i.m.f. can dictate policy when the european when the and the european union and the i.m.f. the so-called troika can come and say listen these are these are the measures you're going to implement you're going to implement them whether you like it a lot we can say you know we're we're facing a very peculiar form. by the european union the european central bank and the. way finance chiefs a desperate not to see the first year raising suffering default and they're rising concerns about the crisis that could trigger. i think very chance of a domino effect if if greece. announcer default and this is their problem and this is the reason why the europeans were helping greece but in fact we are here pingers because they don't want this domino effect and because they want to take all very short of greece. sixteen percent of the week

what full sun employees western economic conditions here in queens to you is a dream it seems is a. if the government would listen to the people or worse. things were before over people not there were uprising or were they would be a lot of violence in the streets the people said that when that turning out into the streets and then millions and the government continues to push ahead with the pace measures when they deign to have democracy anymore. the government is trying to grab the people who refuse to be governed in this way every day that disconnect becomes more and more dangerous. about the reef. really a world away from what's been happening on the streets. the question a lot of people. just when will point lenny when he was on the streets about to witness the violence that is already past that point the question

a lot of people are now asking is really how much does this guy. would like to get more serious inside sense of the problems in greece to learn how those peaceful protests in hong. kong. this story as well as all change in the netherlands with a humble coin has been. cashing in on the small. just a few hours' time the u.s. president expected to confirm his decision to pull thirty three thousand troops out of afghanistan by the end of twenty twelve is part of barak obama's efforts to restore public trust at home where the nearly ten year long war now has become

increasingly unpopular afghan war veteran turned peace activist j. dilla berto things nato should overhaul and surprise afghanistan if it really wants to bring peace and prosperity. the longer that the u.s. stays and nato stays inside of afghanistan the more enemies we create because what happens in war unintentional consequences innocent people get killed more people join the insurgency that normally wouldn't not having troops there doesn't allow the insurgency to grow we've seen every year the longer troops stay the insurgency grows and anti-american anti western anti european sentiment grows so that's why we should leave more importantly the not the money we've invested has largely gone to waste and it will continue going to waste by any nation that continues to support what we can do is provide financial support for n.g.o.s and non-governmental institutions that where the money actually hits the ground where the people are at

where schools are being built and roads are being built by n.g.o.s if we can to do that it would be good for the afghans if we continue to give money to the central bank in kabul that's bad because that's where karzai and his cronies will steal it . it's a he's called for an immediate ceasefire in libya to allow humanitarian aid to be brought into the country the appeal comes out today to admit into a blood resulted in the deaths of civilians including children investigative journalists michel called and told me he was in the country just a couple of days ago and he says nato is pursuing its own interests in the region. they are skilled mall civilians that the losses from the initials problems there are few small civilians the nato bombings so the real id is not protect civilians the rio de is to achieve the economical structure ticklish interest of the of the west us in europe i mean the oil i mean the financial reserves of libya

i remind the us is a bankrupt country and also all preventing that kind of would be a sort of turner used to do i.m.f. some buying for african development your idea is to make the public international opinion accept the idea that nato is the cup of the world that that nato has the right to make walls where they want to revisit the people in hospitals and we saw victims and you did this in million population is attacked that must be very clear it has nothing to do with immunity or and war. three top world news stories feel right now at least fifty seven our capabilities have managed to escape from a jail in yemen after insurgents attacked the prison from outside they targeted security guards and sings their weapons killing an officer the jails believe the house more than one hundred members among the escapees who are prisoners convicted on terror charges months of unrest in yemen have led to fears of growing al qaeda

influence there. syria's old school on e.u. moves to impose sanctions saying it will simply forget europe's on the map of violent crackdown against anti-government activists in the country has left hundreds dead since the uprising began in march activists are calling for president bashar assad to step down meantime the u.n. secretary general ban ki moon said the syrian president now lacks credibility and bringing about promised reforms at a tourist chinese artist and anti-government activists has been released on bail after confessing to tax evasion way was detained in airport in beijing in april is a respite to global campaign for his release the outspoken critic of china's human rights record is perhaps best known for helping to design the country's famous bird's nest in lympics stadium. the countries of the former soviet union have been marking the seventieth anniversary of the nazi invasion which claimed the lives of some twenty seven million people solemn ceremonies are held across states which

bore the brunt of the war against hitler's armies here in moscow russia's political elite laid wreaths at the tomb of the unknown soldier by the kremlin. president better stress the importance of keeping the memory of a war alive making sure it doesn't fade with time for them better or worse a special ceremony was held a breast fortress and saw the first major standoff between soviet financing forces from where artie's catrin approach over the report. but like any careless child i had plans that evening i wasn't afraid when they started shelling i only remember that something exploded in my bed was thrown into another corner of the room. not only four year old canady was unaware of what was happening his father an experienced red army officer was also called food that night seventy years ago were different i was at this house with my mother and my father who was

later defend the bridge fortress this was our window on the first floor my father was sure there could be no war this is what the party gets saying he thought it was an earthquake he grabbed his accordion and ran outside my mom stopped him totally and this is war. the war for which the nazi military the very marked had come up with a name for long before blitzkrieg but his seach they'd planned would last just hours instead was to go on for weeks in a fierce battle with those who defended to the death there was no warning when the nazis invaded on the night of the twenty second of june one thousand nine hundred forty one the bombardment of the garrison by a surprise that army officers was spread out and. hossam wrong then i mean nation but even this didn't stop them to funding the fort in fierce battles until the last

survivor stories of the heroic resistance quickly reached different fronts soldier me gloss of received the news far away in the republic of course in northwest russia it was a deep grief silent pain for all people trapped here everyone knew that the german army was much stronger every day we receive reports of the enemy marched another hundred kilometers deeper into our homeland the nazis were in a hurry at the gateway to vast country they bore him to the breast fortress with devastating intensity up to sixty six missiles a second archive footage from the time shows the fortress silhouetted in heavy smoke hundreds were killed in their sleep during the first minutes of the attack among them small children some survived the night only to be buried alive later this is my second mother when the nazis rounded up refugees scattered in villages nearby this woman saved me the germans dug

a mass grave into which they were about to throw women and children and this woman pushed me and my mom under her skirt with the german slaughter everyone around and left this woman took me out from under her skirt crossed me and said i just did what god told me to. after nine days of fierce fighting hitler's forces captured most of the fortress but their losses amounted to almost nine thousand there were reports that isolated defenders remain resisting the nazis as late as august one hitler and mussolini personally visited the site of the battle it's claimed that a stone hitler picked up from the remains of the fortress was found in his office after the war. i'm often asked what was the biggest award for you the one most valued from that was the most press. award for me was that i stayed alive everyone was fighting like true heroes but few survived but could i understand it four years

of age nothing it's only now that i'm a father and grandfather myself that i realize what a life is worth now i'm a fierce pacifist i hate war i don't understand how one human being can do violence to another i've lived my life never doing any harm to anybody. in the churchyard t. . that start his talk suppression story and dr michael jones who's written extensively about world war two and shared his knowledge about why hitler invaded the u.s.s.r. and how the soviet people bandaged to win the war.

today marks the seventieth anniversary of the start of operation barbarossa hitler's code name to germany's invasion of the save the union it became the largest ever military operation both in terms of share resources deployed and also in casualties datsun michael jones's new book tells the story of the red ball me during the second world war dr james thank you for talking to r.t. today let's start from the beginning of operation why did decide to invade. always wanted to invade the soviet union the reason he gave out was that the soviet union would actually attack germany underneath that justification to his military with two main factors the first was hitler's hatred of communism both of us and

that underneath and the real truth about this war was race hatred and if one reads my income hitler's book it's clear that he always wanted to carve out a living space in the east and do so the expense of the people he regarded as racially inferior he he thought in terms of a war of survival and it was going to be the survival of the fittest and it didn't take and started to realize the consequences and of course the red army was caught deeply unprepared and. nineteen forty one your book is about the sort of human story behind the how did it develop militarily. in the beginning and nine hundred forty one the red army was hunted. by the autumn of nine hundred forty one the last between two and three million tons of killed in this thing and should

. i think few of them is in the world to sustain that level of punishment and still carried on fighting and it was not. this high come on to believe at that point the soviet union. what was it that kept the red army fighting that's the sixty four thousand dollar question an extraordinary mix of. brutal leadership tough leadership from stalin but it was also churches and profound treaties and what was at stake was not just a communist system but russia as a country and it really did become a culture of it was certainly by the end astonishing drug that that to try and better equip and i believe there was just the science or the technical side germany could very well have won it either in one nine hundred forty one nine hundred forty two but it was love of the model and it was this extraordinary determination to carry on fighting that the germans underestimated hitler wanted to. quit campaign

was crucial but it didn't work out like that's a toll that well the germans blame the weather. again and you could just pop seen that one coming but they were caught by surprise and then they said the weather rolled but in fact i think the weather was part of the story and the other part that was much harder for them to acknowledge was that an army seemed to feed to demoralize them last in a matter of weeks and five days turned itself around and started fighting and resisting with stupendous power and the first turning point was outside. the germans expected to take the copper so they were later than they thought but they still thought that would on the war and it was the strength and determination of resistance that cooled by surprise what the consequences of the ultimate failure of operation. well it destroyed the german army it destroyed the lot that

throughout the war the majority of its resources were concentrated on the eastern front and even off to d.-day more free for which is this division its military divisions were fighting on the eastern front so it was where the biggest battles took place take these casualties took place under. the rug and more casualties in the city could do with the place kaushal its bets so it became a war of attrition and ultimately it was going to be germany's that would lose that war and that mocked which had behaved with a deal of decorum on the western front behaved in a completely different way nice didn't it what do you put that down to well after the war the german claimed it was fighting a clean war and it was it was the units behind the army and it was the us that were doing all the on pleasant stuff but that was not true that some soldiers on the

eastern front would decently and behave decently but many were infected by the race proper conduct towards the smallest tools to choose and the german army by the participates in an atrocity atrocities against the jews against the russians million population or certainly knew they were going on and justified i mean the justification was we are fighting a brutal war of survival. bit but war with darker than any other war in the twentieth century indeed possibly in human history. the role played by the steve you need to face it head is vastly underappreciated in the west why is that. one in part it's the legacy of the cold war surprisingly history is normally written they say by the victors is that view of this part of our history is very

strongly determined by the germans so there was an underestimation on unwillingness to recognize the soviet union but i think the other reason is the scale is so low i mean we're talking about twenty seven million and the civilian the military council i think the other is some is simply it's so big the people who struggle to really comprehend it that's michael james thank you very much thank you.

just so pleased. to. see. culture is that so much of an oldish musician on the market from spring to be uprisings in at least me states fast becoming fish is simple. if. the. machine would be soo much brighter if you knew all about sums from finance to

freshen some. meals for instance on t.v. don't come. to.

this is r t international thank you for watching tonight our top stories a plane crash in northwest. bringing the death toll to forty five experts are investigating the evidence from the site to establish the cause of. early reports suggest pilot. and anti-terrorist operation in russia's north caucasus is underway with reports suggesting special forces have suffered losses in an attack on a militant at least seven officers had reportedly been killed in gunfights in the thirty strong militant group. the greek government wins a vote of confidence as it struggles for support of spending cuts that need to be passed to secure a new e.u. bailout of thousands of angry greeks are protesting against

a new measures. are not being heard. in the former soviet republics remember the victims of the war against fascism marked the seventieth anniversary of the nazi invasion of. twenty seven million people died to bring about peace from. programs continue now next people of this latest debate whether the popular uprisings will ever bring democracy to the arab. and you can. follow in the welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle from spring to fall the uprisings in at least three arab states for fast becoming vicious civil wars is the arab awakening less about democracy promotion and more against

a stifling status quo and police states and what are the chances the arab awakening will be hijacked by new strongman and dictate. in. the process not the uprisings in the arab world i'm joined by david price jones and florence he is senior editor of the national review and author of treason of the heart from thomas paine to kim philby in washington we have all maher bad or he is a political scientist and human rights activist and in austin we cross to alan cooperman he's an associate professor at the l.b.j. school of public affairs of the university of texas all right gentlemen this is cross talk and i mean cross talk rules in effect you can jump in anytime you want if i could go to david first in florence is the is the arab awakening as it's being called turning into an arab nightmare as i started out the program three of these countries that are undergoing. social strata.