well with. science technology innovation all the developments from around russia we've got the future covered. now here in the russian capital this is r.t. with twenty four hours a day top stories this hour president pledges the opposition will have more of a say in the duma and says again that claims of electoral violations will be investigated he made the comments as he met with leaders of the parties who won seats in russia's lower house of parliament after the december fourth polars. a deadly attack in belgium a man throws hand grenades and opens fire on crowds in the city killing at least three and injuring dozens more officials say the attacker who died in the incident had served time in jail and was on his way for police questioning when people

launched the assault. sanctions on syria and one sided pressure will not work russia's foreign minister condemns the west for ignoring atrocities committed by opposition groups so you have god said the gangs want to create a humanitarian catastrophe and pave the way for foreign intervention in the country . and supporters of the former ukrainian prime minister stormed the court building where her conviction is being appealed to you to machine who was sentenced to seven years behind bars for abuse of power while in office. what is part america's military withdrawal from iraq washington is still preparing plans to control the country's rich all reserves that's according to ranjit singh color he is india's former ambassador to iraq and that interview with him is coming up next here on r.t. . president obama has announced the united states will definitively end the war in iraq at the

end of this month but as the united states attempts to get the military personnel and contractors out of the country questions still remain about the implications of this decision for security in the region joining me to help discuss this is the former indian ambassador to iraq and the author of the book the ultimate prize saying kala things so much for joining me first of all i want to ask you about the recent terrorist attacks in iraq obviously there have been quite a few in the past few years and they've claimed hundreds of iraqi citizens lives do you think there is still a role for the united states in iraq when the americans walked in the good not to have done anything but to introduce some semblance of democracy otherwise what was the reason the going in and once they went in and they decided to introduce some semblance of democracy it was going to be a shiite led government. and because it was

a shia government it has very strong links with its. religious in iran. and therefore the main aim which i should say was make sure that the oil be. the means available would be in jeopardy and i think that is basically the present dilemma if you withdraw from iraq completely you leave this why must the oil wealth of iraq in the hands of a shiite led government which very close links with iran and therefore upsets the political balance as far as the middle east is concerned so to that extent. to counter this the americans have now called for. withdrawing the troops but at the same time strengthening the position in iraq now the u.s. embassy in iraq is going to be almost twenty thousand strong it's going to have

numerous what they call some offices like training training of troops etc who will be what they call basically americans who would be basically military men but working for the u.s. embassy similarly there would be a consulate in they would be a consulate in. good cook there would be a consulate or not and each one of these gauntlets is about a thousand strong it will perhaps be the largest u.s. embassy anywhere in the world i mean normal embassies are usually between thirty to forty maybe if it's a very big embassy perhaps one hundred strong but twenty thousand strong it's means that they're going to be lots of other people who are going to be still in iraq now the reason why i say this is that big cannot afford to be completely absent from iraq. and therefore while what shall i say while agreeing to withdraw troops as

per the agreement they are in a way coming back varying civilian clothes and in fact i don't see any lessening of american influence as far as iraq is concerned. and you sort of just spoke about these sectarian issues within. one and if the united states technically leaves the country how do you think the iraqi government will be able to stop these sectarian divisions into becoming a full fledged civil war it's going to be extremely difficult because if you see the communities of iraq as they existed most of the military in the u.s. invasion iraq was sunni dominated most of the officers were sunni. the shirts were basically foot soldiers they had more basic military training as such and therefore because it was a similar government they were able to keep them in check it was basically by force

of arms that people were kept what we call in check and of course the strong arm methods of every ruler the who has been there whether it was or even earlier most of them were using very tough methods to keep. the population in check now whether the new government that is the shiite led government will be able to equally dick strong on message. control be what they called situation is a bit doubtful because frankly i don't think they have the experience to be able to run a country like iraq and therefore they're going to be for see sectarian violence perhaps may not be of the scale that it is no but may have little more than what is presently going on and you mentioned the united states troops going to crawl way how do you think the arab gulf countries are going to react to that are they going to welcome the americans i don't think so because i don't see i don't see this.

actually i think it's a just the shuffle of the cards so as to speak because the americans are not going very far they're just going to quit which is next door and you can always come back . because the bases will be kept intact and as i mentioned with a twenty thousand strong u.s. embassy most of the staff etc will always be there and secondly they have made sure that there is no law the air force in fact you find that there is hardly perhaps not even less than they don't even have five planes to fly around so they don't control the airspace the airspace over that are controlled by the americans. which means that you can reinforce at will whenever you want however you want and you can also prevent anybody is from coming in perhaps even if the say the iranians were to decide the american air force would be available make sure that they don't cross over so i don't see i don't consider this an american withdrawal i think it's just

a reshuffling of the pack and what about iran do you think iran could potentially be ready to fell some sort of void if the united states leaves iraq well that is always a possibility because the iran iraq border is very porous it's very difficult to police the entire border it's a very long border and. in many areas you find of course the mountains then there's the bed of the plains and there's a river the shuttle of which is the boundary between iran and iraq and then most of the tribesmen living on the iranian side are also arabs. and there too so there is a lot of to inferring going across the border and it is intermarriage and it is also a lot of. illicit trade which goes on across the border so as far as the iranians wanting to intervene or to create problems in iran that is always

a possibility and don't forget in the past it was the iranians who used to provide arms to the kurds to create problems for saddam hussein and it won't be the first time and proper probably not the last time either when they would do so obviously you know president obama also has announced that he's going to pull the troops out of afghanistan we're about to enter an election year how much of pulling out troops from iraq and afghanistan do you think is part of for domestic consumption by the americans when obviously he has to meet deadlines which have been set by himself i mean in the u.s. administration have set the deadlines themselves and as i mentioned in the case of iraq it's basically the shuffling of the pack i mean you give it another name you change it around call them what you like but as far as the vanished on is concerned perhaps a similar kind of started you may be followed where you may be able to withdraw

u.s. may be able to withdraw troops from afghanistan but leave a very strong component behind perhaps in the form of civilian advisors military advisers and training teams except who may not be taking part in combat. role but they can certainly act as an advisory role to the new afghan army as in many develops but many cases i think that's a little. let's see because i don't think it's going to be a decision is going to be taken so quickly and the united states has spent so much money in iraq three trillion dollars what do you think the americans can gain from . everything that happened there i've always believed anybody who lived in iraq as i have lived in iraq that. nobody goes there for tourism it's a complete. a country which is hot it's fifty degrees centigrade most of the time

flies that. there's nothing to see except plain does what do you therefore. obviously otherwise why would anybody spend a trillion dollars to go lose about forty five thousand two thousand what for and the reason is the oil is plenty. and second it's very high quality very high grade you don't need to find very much to some for content is very low and just below the surface costs a dollar to think about a dollar and a half to three years or a lot and therefore anybody who has access to the. can be. a game changer as far as the politics of oil is concerned and i think that's precisely why the americans are there and how do you think the united states' pulling out of afghanistan is going to affect india well obviously it's in our neighborhood. going to stand is in the neighborhood of course it makes

a difference because naturally the people who are indulging in terrorism will be encouraged that they've been able to force an american withdrawal now it all depends on how this withdrawal takes place does it because of a defeat does it take place because the united states gets. understand does it take place because of very strong domestic compulsions or does it take place as a result of an agreement it really depends on how the withdrawal takes place my guess is that if it takes place as a result of an agreement perhaps it can be done gradually may not be done completely in the sense of a complete withdrawal one bit. of time and i think that perhaps is the best case scenario all it'll definitely be interesting to see how president obama polls the troops out of iraq if that happens and what the implications of it are going to be i want to thank you so much for your time thank you.

grant. and this is project on upright. testing times is the allergenicity immune response lower nutrition for environmental contamination don't you feel like a lab rat some consider the experiment in human treatment very significant differences between the d g f l there are those at the.

belgium a man throws hand grenades and opens fire in crowds in the city of killing at least three and injuring dozens more officials say the attacker who died in the incident had served time in jail and was on his way for police questioning when he launched the. sanctions on syria and one sided pressure will not work russia's foreign minister condemns the west for ignoring atrocities committed by opposition groups

so they can evolve said the gangs want to create a humanitarian catastrophe and pave the way for foreign intervention in the country . and supporters of the former ukrainian prime minister told the court building where conviction is being appealed in october yulia timoshenko was sentenced to seven years behind bars for abuse of power while in office. but up next kate is here with the latest. hello you're watching the latest sports update this tuesday evening and here are the headlines. and substitute frank grandpa grabs the winning penalty as chelsea inflict a first defeat of the season on leaders manchester city and blow the english premier league title race. while targeting top block on the t.v.

. with both sides painted with a group bell and avoid the manchester clubs in. our last emperor in japan every day legend you know young cat announces his next fight against and the limbic judo champion new year's eve in tokyo. the festival ball and frank lampard came off the bench and fired home the winning penalty was chelsea one two one attain to ten man the leaders manchester city the defeat was the first of the season for about a month men and blows the english premier league title race wide open while the future city would have put the five points clear and thirteen ahead of chelsea and they looked on course to do it in merrier ballot tally open of the ninety four seconds but half an hour later the views levelled through the. city went down to ten men on the hour often left by the she picked up too quickly adds with eight minutes to go joleon lescott time for allowed to convert the penalty to get chelsea victory to one lose went seven points behind leaders city and now just nine points

separate first place well lisa lampanelli started from the bench for second straight games as he wasn't sure why he hasn't been this awesome eleven. when it captain dimitri last goal for has defied injury and travelled with luck moscow two belgian side and elect for a battle to decide the group alwynne is a europa league on wednesday the thirty seven year old midfielder is only doubt with my injury the russian side now. fortnight into their winter break well it is and like are aiming to finish the group with a perfect record and are the only team to a one all in matches so far but a lot coke can win the group if they better the earlier two goal defeat they suffered to and elect in moscow lotto would then avoid being drawn in the knockout round against clubs such as manchester city and branched united dropping into the competition in the champions league and elects well they've lost their last two league games. i mean judge as a marine i was in

a confident mood despite saturday's three one l. classic zero defeat at home to barcelona assist side prepares to take on thirty one for the day now in spain's capital right this tuesday night well merinos team saw their unbeaten start in fifteen game winning run ended at the bernabeu by quadea the side who went top on goal difference though right now have a game in hand but the portuguese coach is determined to get his side back to winning ways and has a particular motivation in the spanish cup as the holders aim to retain their title . as john just points my motivation that i would like their warner to have my name beside that of my game years one of the most successful managers and the biggest club in history my motivation is to be the best don't we give them years and years a marine year the two highest achievers in real madrid history fifteen victories champions league record leader of championships with their so on but if we get a point on saturday we will be

a so leaders and you're asking about motivation please come home. well one of rael stars has received a timely boost a strike of benzema was voted france's player of the year the twenty three year old has scored eight goals in thirteen matches for rail so far this season and was instrumental in front of european qualification campaign before might lead off for what it netted three goals in seven games for his country as labor sealed a berth in next summer's finals in poland and ukraine as narrow group d. with us had opposed to giving. handouts one spain my job it ended of us has been named as the best national coach of the water cannons from the international federation of football history and statistics the sixty year old led the red fewer each of them made in world cup glory last year and hopes are high back in spain that will help them retain their european title next summer. when i'm going to remember them off and we can complain about their results and not compare. it is game so we have largely accomplished and sure we have had some setbacks we have

some very strong rivals but we have managed to cope with the expectations a little time to prepare for the euro two thousand and twelve we have only one more game on the twenty ninth and february because the league and the local competitions are very intense and there is also the champions league but you know the players get on and we have a good bet the fundamentals are in place and everything will be there when we're going to do your. well meanwhile in japan south african champions sent also held a training session in as they prepared to take on local side as she were a soul in the semifinal of the fee for club world cup and their brazilian player of the. rays in barcelona and their star striker you know messi and i nine hundred year old son for what he is hoping to play against the club he considers to be the best in the world and the title decider the boss to take on the side in the last four on thursday. marshall are the best club in the world if

i have the opportunity to play them i'll be very happy and we'll certainly try to win the game to be compared with messi makes me very proud and i'm very pleased to have this comparison. well barcelona have been taking a break from their preparations but. you know messi. and other first team stars make youngsters who fled their homes after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country last march the players also gave their children. each with the name of the new owner but after a photo call it was back to training for boston as they aim to reclaim the tracy very first two years ago. now russian m.m.a. legend field will be hoping to end the year with a second straight victory after he announced he'll take on judo expert. on new year's eve also in japan those are the five year old ended his three fighting a losing streak after beating jeff monson by a unanimous decision on november the twentieth here in moscow and he's now

preparing for a showdown with the two thousand and eight olympic judo champion he she joins you for your old japanese has only fought in six balance of mixed martial arts winning four losing one and drawing the other however he's likely to face his toughest test yet against the last emperor in japan. while the most anticipated boxing bout is once again being put on hold as heavyweight champion the tally for each call just chosen to defend his w.b.c. belt against derek chisora instead of fellow briton david haye did go vs chisora match jewels to take place in the german city of music on february eighteenth while at forty be ukrainian he's thirteen years older than his opponent in last month's klitschko said he plans to retire after another two fights so a possible some a showdown with haye could be his swansong. rugby now an england fly half jonny wilkinson has announced his international retirement of the age of thirty two

bringing down the curtain on an illustrious thirteen year career high point of his ninety one caps came in two thousand and three and his drop goal in the last minute of extra time won the world cup for england against australia following that triumph came from years of injury problems though wilkinson managed to return to the highest level and help his country reach the world cup final in two thousand and seven he also wants held the record for most international points and dropped goals with thirty two year old will continue to play for his french club too long. basketball now and after months of uncertainty the new n.b.a. season will finally get underway on december the twenty fifth with the miami heat looking to make up for last year's disappointment of losing. the play off final well despite boasting a stall study squad defeating the likes of le bron james dwyane wade and chris bosh the heat failed to win the n.b.a. championship for the first time since two thousand and six after losing the best of seven finals series four two to the dallas mavericks so i would say i'm with triumphing in the new shortened season and i am open to that training camp on

monday and the head coach says there's plenty for his team to build up. there's been so much talk about last year being an absolute epic failure for us now we don't view it that way but that's part of this journey sometimes and sometimes things frankly as much as you don't want to admit it sometimes they just don't go your way it doesn't mean we want committed doesn't mean that that wasn't our goal we have another shot at it this year and that's what we're committed to doing is give ourselves a chance there at the end and to do that we've got to start now no only thing we can control that is now. and win this day but it's a different film to come into this year honestly you know for me personally i'm more live. more be back to myself for who i am and i'm excited i mean to have two months of you know my work and being used to being back in in a season two months ago i was excited. come finally to me writing and maybe

a former f one world champion but it seems the finn doesn't quite got to grips the top of his swollen veil lets you two year old who recently joined loss' reminisces day and a minor wrist injury off to crushing his time of ale at a pro celebrity race in austria however the finishers were tending to formula one after two years in the world rally championship later said on twitter that there's nothing to worry about the made event was won by the events of the just sixteen ahead of defending champions unique out for racing to a bust as the two thousand and seven f one world champion says the main goal was to have some fun. but maybe said first time for me here just a bit fun but i don't want to enjoy it. but it's very died so i didn't bother. to have a fun just a minute. and that's all the sports more in just under two hours place join me again.

twenty years ago in the largest country in. what had been. began a journey. where did it take them. down the official anti obligation to go on one pod touch from the dumpster. life on the gun. video on demand. mind would come to. an r.s.s. feed now in the palm of your. question on the dot com.