how the mighty fall it's been twenty years since the soviet union was wiped off of the map but it continues to divide those who mourn and celebrate its and. they and former libyan rebels take their revolution on the road to syria as groups including said to be former terrorists arrive to help out president assad. and pakistan moves to become buddies with beijing as ties with the u.s. whether following november's dead leaving drone attacks.

you're watching our tear a very warm warm welcome it's eight am here in the russian capital and this is lucy catherine of reporting for you now on this day two decades ago the world's largest country ceased to exist the fall of the soviet union amend the end of the cold war but also the birth of a dozen new states but even today the collapse of the u.s.s.r. raises unanswered questions as artie's own. explains. even today the many generated their own explanations for the full of a global goliath but some put down to the role of just a few. true rich gorbachev. the nineteen ninety one august coup was a turning point in the country's history with images of yeltsin standing on a tank creating a new hero yet for most here even that wasn't seen as causing a fatal crack in the soviet union it was all very sudden and. shocking

i mean there were people here even months before who were shoring us that this was going to go on forever so all the billions and billions and billions that the u.s. and put into intelligence and forecasting all proved to be completely useless the collapse of the soviet union was not so much a revolution rather it was a peaceful divorce of former republics longing for independence but the breakup led to long lasting and painful consequences in your savings goals so you the collapse of the soviet union was the biggest geopolitical disaster of the twentieth century . and in that assessment let him or putin is not alone older many russians began enjoying freedoms never imagined in the u.s.s.r. sixty percent still believe the collapse did more harm than good twenty years on russians still seem undecided over how to treated the legacy of the u.s.s.r. in moscow most soviet names have long been a race from the streets and people's memories but some symbols of the parts stand

out so rigidly it can feel like those two decades never happened this one human to worker and guy who wasn't so took six years some thirty million dollars to restore but even the government would consider taking down what is among the most famous unofficial symbols of the u.s.s.r. and strong worker and a portly collective farmer were a symbol of crisp air a chance to billeted in a country with a planned economy everyone knew they would be provided with their metaphorical hammer and sickle and knew exactly how much to produce with them. nineteen ninety one changed all that the post soviet economies were shattered their deficits skyrocketed production plunged and it took them years to get back on their feet in the last years of soviet union there was a possibility before for your you know to continue with for terror and political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as the charge.

but among the political elite many didn't want to support the drive to more than once and in turn save the union instead they wanted to destroy it and during that descent many republics were plunged into ethnic violence after gaining independence when it was clear the union was falling apart it seems their national minorities started dragging the blanket to their side it was at that time that georgia forcefully included self-assertive an uprising into its territories similar ethnic clashes between armenia and azerbaijan claimed the lives of over thirty thousand people one thousand people were killed in the trans mr conflict russia remains on a peacekeeping mission there at least a thousand people were killed in a post breakup clashes between georgia and sell the search here and over one hundred thousand were displaced into g q stan the consequences were the worst sixty

thousand killed and over a million people displaced. even mosco itself didn't feel secure after the fall of the berlin wall the world briefed a sigh of relief but it didn't last long when nato set about creating a new wall made of me sells the allies steadily moved towards russia incorporating former soviet republics but leaving most out of europe's new security framework the west broke a number of promises to russia off in russia could have expected that there wouldn't be a nato expansion that. russia. would perhaps even join nato or become part of a new system of european. collective security so the full of the u.s.s.r. put an end to the cold war era for ever a fundamental shift in global geopolitics with just a few now calling the shots and without a powerful counterweight today's world remains far from secure exiting the

gretsch over r t. now former russian prime minister he again a play about cough was actually one of the few people watching history unfold from inside the corridors of power in moscow later on this program he'll share his views on the designation of the u.s.s.r. . the key thing was and it was brought to gorbachev attention and i did tell him about it too in the presence of others that one should have started with an economic treaty if we had signed a treaty establishing a single economic space i think it would have been a step towards preserving an upgraded modernized soviet union which could have freed itself from the darker parts of its legacy that's why we should have started with an economic treaty and many in fact were ready to go along with that but even the baltic states were ready to go along with the idea of preserving a single economic space of course it wouldn't have been enough but it would have

been a huge contribution to averting dissolution there's nothing today that can be similar to the soviet union in any way but integration is one of the driving forces of globalization and it's taking effect everywhere we go along with these forces and today we can say that the trans nationalisation tendency of business as well as integration process is at stake level of other driving forces of today's reality so if we succeed in going along with them and this is you who will not differ much from that of the west but it will additionally focus more on the national interests of each state i think it will be a great advantage. and of course you can hear more of former prime minister have any pinnacle of version of events right here in r.t. in just over twenty minutes time. now former libyan rebels are now chanting for syrians to follow their revolutionary path hundreds of we're sorry some of whom are said to be former terrorists that are now ready to pick up arms a yet again this time to overthrow president assad or to six on

a bike of reports from tripoli. a butcher my dad made. the owner of the ski pop shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most fitting term for syria's bashar al assad. jealous of his economic team because in the end the look at syria. other syria. you can get a lot of people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want syria and its soldiers we have a kind of if something serious it is a jetliner long if this subject we have to have enough but i think yeah we want to leave. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents rarely almost every week

calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of these young man who looked on adrenaline and willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. your were all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of allah we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat itself in syria. over the portraits of shaky bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli be some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary. book with the help of allah we can all belong to give aren't fighting for peace and freedom around the world. and it seems that che guevara's idea of exporting revolutions have gotten a second birth in the middle east the arab spring has created a boy and market place for soldiers of fortune the mobile one revolution to another

motivated by personal gain some by conviction others by venture if i put them all in the vision afraid them. for now at least it's the freedom to live by the gun. as your mantic and spontaneous as it may appear aiding the syrian uprising with mercenaries may not be such a genuine move video women and children in syria gunned down by snipers are involved on you tube while it's still unclear who is pulling the trigger but there are terrorists who are shooting at civilians men women and children blind terrorism random killing simply for the purpose of the stabilizing the country or from libya or from afghanistan or pakistan foreign fighters have been brought in here by the cia and the other western services. one man's terrorist could easily be in our man's freedom fighter but for the united states it's now two in

one day hiking but hodge one of the leaders of tripoli militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's the face of the democratic leader who according to our to sources not a group of several hundred li been rebels to syria just last month. we can do in who to support the syrian people because we know they are facing this situation before. it comes to be would. the syrian people have to give. the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard then for centuries a save garcia against their own populations and it now looks like the history of mercenaries in the middle east has got to its new and no less bloody chapter. artsy tripoli. now still to come in this program nigeria's christmas killings are going

to hear what led to the atrocities that saw dozens of christian worshippers die on one of their most holy days. well. comes to pakistan the country now has its eyes eastward when it comes to future partnerships the president of pakistan is firming up his country's ties with china well this comes after a very rocky year with the united states with more ties have been all but destroyed from the raid to kill osama bin laden that ended up taking place without the information of islamic law through last month's deadly drone attack artie's british leader explains. the top ranking diplomat from the hu jintao administration has said that this visit is very important it marks sixty years of diplomatic ties between china and pakistan and he's hoping that this trip will bring that relationship to a new level to an all time high the leaders from both the countries talk about security regions in the area and obviously all of this comes just one month after the nato military strike on a pockets than an afghan checkpoint that actually killed twenty four pakistani

soldiers all relations between pakistan and the united states as a result of that incident or i don't know all time low so many analysts are saying that this meeting could be a sign that pakistan is actually shifting towards depending more on china as opposed to the united states beijing express their solidarity with pakistan after that incident and actually a pakistani diplomat said that china has backed all of our efforts referring to that nato air strike both china and pakistan have a lot of mutual concerns they have a very strategic partnership one of their major focuses on their mutual neighbor india another major focus is trying to work together to counterbalance the united states influence in this region recently china actually invested two hundred million dollars to build a port in pakistan where they're hoping there can be more energy trade between the two countries china has also worked with pakistan in the past few years to build

nuclear reactors in that country last just last month pakistan and china actually participated in military exercises together so this visit is just yet another signal that the two countries are moving closer together and you know time will tell what that means as far as the united states influence in this region. now in just a little bit of time we're going to continue our look at the year's most significant events today are two focuses on the. earthquake in japan and the subsequent tsunami disaster that struck that country as seen through the eyes of our correspondent. suddenly there was there was panic i was outside of the car about to film the sound . and the police and the emergency workers suddenly just like the sounds it. was all in jackets but i could understand it was that you could see the fear panic and also they were shouting tsunami literally yelling in my face to get back into the

car. this is. history in the making. testability. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . now there has been a global condemnation of the christmas day bombings in nigeria that have resulted in nearly forty people killed the attacks have targeted christian worshippers the deadliest bombing was in a suburb of the capital where an explosion struck a packed congregation in church as worshippers left morning mass a second attack followed shortly afterwards outside of a church northeast of a series of other explosions were also reported elsewhere in that country the radical islamist sect of boko haram admitted responsibility for the attacks and militants there have been involved in a prolonged bloody fighting with government forces in recent days maybe more than sixty lives political talk show host stephen leatherman says that election

contributed to the country's instability. both will have a room maybe an extremist islamic sect but he issue is very political corruption cronyism temper of the human need the last of the late shouldn't worry list them for even fear goodfellow shot of the way he represents the christian cells about half of their each year year he's a muslim here in the north they were marginal i was given the year they are being totally shut out of the system and jonathan is a close western star and he's close washington ties close big all of the guys in to ease their miracle to turn the country to big oil and let them sort out the wells out of it if the experience of the people vs the anger that striving to use those

firearms. now is always lots more stories waiting for you on our website r t dot com one story for example how dollars make you deadly suspicious that's a security advice from the united states that says paying with cash single you out as a terror suspect and hope floats in south korea sends out humanitarian aid on its way to their struggling neighbors in the north we've got all the details on r.t. dot com. and more of this hour's world headlines right now. a suicide bombing during a funeral in northeast of ghana's and has left thirteen people dead including a member of parliament the bomber detonated his explosive filled vest as mourners began to leave the church it is thought that m.p. was the top of the m.p. was a target and the taliban has targeted prominent political figures in afghanistan throughout the year. and in yemen tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in the country's capital to voice their anger at the deaths of anti-government protesters

and security forces had opened fire on the preschool protesters on saturday killing about thirteen people but that led demonstrations to swell calling for vice president that country's vice president to quit for failing to arrest the killers and the weekend violence prompted president sali to val to leave the country yet again he's already signed a deal to end his decades long rule in february. now r.t. is remembering the ten the key events of twenty eleven today which went to japan's massive earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly ten thousand people and also caused a series of explosions at the fukushima nuclear plant power plant and put the world on watch fearing an atomic disaster artie's ivor bennett was in japan in just hours after the tragedy struck.

covering the earthquake and tsunami in japan was very difficult because i was actually on my own the cameraman and producing the visas so they had to wait and i went with a flip camera a laptop when i was there and got a satellite phone and so on the road i was trying to to do lines whenever i could set up a satellite phone trying get a link. and only when i actually got there that was when i fully understood the full force of the tsunami i didn't i didn't appreciate that until i actually saw the sea of legs. and i remember actually at one point setting up the lamp to want on for a boat being perched on a on a on a road just being dumped by the tsunami. and i was quite a surreal experience definitely. to begin with very strange if you were in a building suddenly you. could feel yourself shaking slightly and it was difficult

to walk in a straight line for about thirty seconds and gradually these three days i actually got used to the tremors as strange as that sounds suddenly there was there was panic i was outside of the car about to film a stand up. and the police and the emergency workers suddenly just a sound saying. it was all in jack things but i could understand there was the can see the fear and panic and also they were shouting and tsunami literally yelling in my face to get back into the car there's no news crew there the shouting and then to get back into the car and go inland as fast as possible because there was this. as the threat of another another tsunami there'd been a tremor the tide it receded and they thought another tsunami was coming so in those. when we were racing inland as fast as we could weaving our way in between all the day every. member looking around and thinking hang on

a minute there's no shelter here. what it was he was destroyed in the previous tsunami and there's no high ground and the only way we're going to be safe is to actually. beat the water. i had to take a taxi to sendai from tokyo it took about ten hours because all the transport links were down and arrived in the middle of the nights no hotels were open the only place to stay was actually a relief center and this was inside the local government offices and though people there just lost everything all they had were the clothes on their bank whatever positions they had with them at the time the earthquake struck and clearly their houses have been destroyed and they all they had been in the relief since it was it was a cardboard sheet of cardboard to lie on and i spent one not one night that i was pretty unbearable because it was very cold there's very little food around there

were rations to be would all they had was just a cucumber and a slice of bread so that was that was one meal actually. on top of this was also the fear of radiation because the situation to be seen was just going from bad to worse and i was always in my mind it was a very real fear you could see it. amongst everyone else also. there wasn't any visible panic scene like it wasn't in japanese culture to panic and such but more there was certainly fear this is a town over all right around half way between tokyo and fukushima i'm still one hundred fifty kilometers south of the nuclear power plant but already the radiation levels here over double that of those in tokyo going to meet meeting one. young family one young couple with a newborn baby actually just. i think a week old also been born the cover of a before the before the earthquake and. the mother wasn't particularly well

summer she was very weak and obviously she wanted to stay put there from sendai that they had left they just didn't trust what the government was saying that this is troops situation in fukushima was under control and they just wanted to get out they were heading heading to a kid by whatever means possible. and then suddenly the tempo changed when there was a third explosion and then the fourth explosion and the different reactors in in fukushima one morning the happening very quick succession and suddenly. everyone was very scared. so all the news crews were. to suddenly packed up and left and that really difficult for me was i was on my own i didn't have anyone else to consult. and i just realized at that point ok i'm going to get out this is the start of japan's rubbished east coast norene like by that their bridges lie strewn all over the place here walls collapsed over here elss of fallen down such as the

force of the tsunami this is also the point where we're going to turn back because the dog account is reading the highest it has done all day one point zero four microsleep it's plain how obviously when i left japan. i felt great relief because covering the story being very stressful bending eaten up a nice legs but the story for me wasn't over though until when i was back in moscow . the next day i had to get to the hospital rooms checked for radiation and thankfully i was clear. now ivor story isn't the only one you can watch we have more on the year's ten key global events as witnessed by our teams on international correspondents you can also watch their accounts of what they saw and what they heard by heading to our website r.t. dot com but for now let's get the latest headlines in business with katie.

hello welcome to business here and i'll say christmas is over in most parts of the walls but in russia the festive season has only just begun despite debt concerns in europe and the u.s. shelf is still all slowing down as a marina culture of thousands out russian men are at the forefront of the seasonal spending extravaganza. the year's eve as when the russians give gifts and this year they're going all out at least eighty one billion dollars will be spend this the stamper and the first of that will go towards presents consumer spending is expected to increase by twenty eight percent and muscovites will withdraw twenty percent more cash than any of the month of the year that's about five hundred sixty dollars each if you are a russian woman then you can look forward to a particularly lavish gift as man ball spent twice as much i serve partners so

what kind of gifts are we're looking at it's what the most popular items are expected to be alcohol then we have a choice and finally household appliances so not all that romantic on the christmas tree and the russians are not the only ones refusing to tighten their belts many experts had predicted that americans and europeans would trim their spending but it's turned out to be a different story most surveys now suggest we will see an increase actually the average american is expected to spend up to twenty two percent more while in the u.k. some shops already seen an increase in sales more than last year but this may be because it's been such a tough year for ordinary working people now about the holiday season is here so we feel that they have an excuse to finally spend some money on them so. and their loved ones. let's have

a look at the markets now crude prices all flocked to positive last week so all futures pose the biggest weekly gain in two months as indications the u.s. economic recovery was gaining momentum and growing fears over disruptions of radiant or supplies boosted prices as in asia japanese socks all catching up with broad gains in global. holiday on friday shares of machinery manufactures other exposures are leading the advance with the subject of construction manufacturing gaining ground on a halt the sense meanwhile markets in home call australia and singapore all closed all the days and it's now us in two hours ahead of the bell here in moscow the russian markets closed lower on friday. just a note to all the my sides ended point seven percent in the rads. and not so for me for now i'll be back in about fifty five minutes for more business news.

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