just begun so i made a lot details in twenty minutes time in the business but that's a. good monday morning to you lucy catherine of reporting from the russian capital you're watching our t.v. . now on this day two decades ago the world's largest country ceased to exist the fall of the soviet union meant the end of the cold war and the birth of a dozen new states but even today the collapse of the u.s.s.r. raises unanswered questions as our own country explains. but even today the many generated their own explanations for the fall of a global goliath but some putting it down to the role of just a few. ok to reach. the nineteen ninety one a list

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 over very sudden and. shocking i mean there were people here even months before or during us that this was going to go on forever so i mean 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. the collapse of the soviet union was the biggest geopolitical disaster of the twentieth century. and in that assessment led 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 treat of 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 postes stand out so rigidly it can feel like those two decades never happened this one human to worker 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 that one thousand nine hundred ninety one change told that the post soviet economies were shattered their

deficit skyrocketed production plunged and it took them years to get back on their feet in the last years of soviet union there was that possibility before for your you know to continue with i don't for terror and political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as authorities. 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 the national minorities started dragging the blanket to their side but it was at that time that georgia forcefully included self-assertive and uprising into its territories of similar ethnic clashes between armenia and azerbaijan claimed the lives of over thirty thousand people one thousand people

were killed in the transnistria conflict russia remains on a peacekeeping mission there at least a thousand people were killed in a post break up clashes between georgia and south of 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 as sigh of relief but it didn't last long when nato set about creating a new wall made of missiles 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 itself would perhaps even join nato or become part of

a new system of european. collective security so on the full of the u.s.s.r. put an end to the cold war era for over 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. well former russian prime minister eve guinea primakov was one of the few people watching history unfold from inside the corridors of power in moscow later on the program he shares his views on the dissolution of the u.s.s.r. . the key thing was and it was brought to go because attention and i did tell him about it too in the presence of others that one should have started with an economic treating and 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 be free

to sell 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 by the driving forces of today's reality so if we succeed in going along with them and this agenda 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. they

can hear more of former prime minister ian getting a version of events in just over an hour here on r.t. . now former libyan rebels are now chanting first syrians to follow their revolutionary path hundreds of mercenaries some of whom are former terrorists are now ready to pick up arms again this time to help overthrow president assad archies an exxon of wake of reports from tripoli. a butcher our 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 economics if we can get him enough in the world that 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. and our people subject to the result just live long if the 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 rally 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 sort of we're 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. libya mother of the portraits of shady bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli be some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary. war with the help of 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 buoyant marketplace for soldiers of fortune they move from one revolution to another motivated by personal gain some by conviction on others by the venture if i put out a vision of freedom and for now at least it's the freedom to live by the gun. as a romantic 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 very bound on you tube while it's still unclear who is pulling the trigger there are terrorists who are shooting at civilians men women and children blind terrorism random killing simply for the purpose of destabilizing 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 one day hiking but hige one of the leaders of tripoli militia was once on the cia most wanted list and today he's the face of the democratic leader who according to artist or sis not a group of several hundred live in rebels to syria just last month. we can do it to support the syrian people because we are facing this situation before. it comes to be would. be with. the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard down for centuries

a save garcia against their own populations and it now looks like the history of mercenary. in the middle east has got to this new and no less bloody chapter in the we are to see tripoli. well pakistan has got its eyes on the east for its future partnerships with the president now for an ing up its present friendship with china this is all after a rocky year with america where tires have been all but destroyed from the raid to kill osama bin laden with out informing islam through a last month's deadly john attack for more we'll turn now to our tease priya shrader. 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 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 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 let's 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. well surely we will continue our look at the year's most significant events today we focus on japan's earthquake and tsunami as seen through the eyes of one of our correspondents. 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 a sound saying. it was all in japanese 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. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . well there's been a global condemnation of the christmas day bombings in nigeria that have killed nearly forty people the attacks have targeted christian worshippers the deadliest bombing was in a suburb of the capital where an explosion struck a packed congregation in a church as they left morning mass a second attack followed shortly afterwards outside of a church northeast of a buddha a series of other explosions were also reported elsewhere radical islamist sect boko haram admitted responsibility for the attacks the militants there have been involved in prolonging the bloody fighting with government forces in recent days claiming more than sixty lives on the african political historian professor or shoni believes that is the violence is simply an excuse for the militants to stay

in a spotlight. their aim is to bring the whole country under the core troll . and to do it by terrell by explosion is actually quote unquote cheap way because they do not need big army they do not need. units special units and all airplanes nothing they need for five people who will be able either to suicide or to plane explosion in the center in addition that way of behaviors. keep them in the news and many people are free. you can head online as always for more world news just by going to r.t. dot com lots of stories there for you including how dollars and make you deadly suspicious that's

a security advice in the united states that says that paying with cash actually single you out as a terrorist suspect. and in south korea hope floats south korea sends humanitarian aid on its way to their struggling neighbors in the north got all the details for you at r.t. dot com. now more of this hour's world headlines for you right now our first story a suicide bombing during a funeral in the northeast part of ghana stan has left twenty two dead including a member of parliament the bomber had detonated his explosive filled vest as mourners began to leave the church it's thought that the m.p. was the target the taliban had sought to kill prominent political figures throughout the past year. tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in yemen's capital to voice their anger at the deaths of anti-government protesters security forces had opened fire on peaceful protesters on saturday killing about thirteen people but that led demonstrations to swell calling from vice president

for calling for the vice president to quit for failing to arrest the killers the violence prompted president saleh to valid to leave the country he's already signed a deal to end his decades long rule in february. and a south korean delegation has been allowed into north korea to mourn the leader of the late leader of the death of the late leader kim jong il a former south korean first lady and the head of the carmaker hyundai i had crossed the heavily fortified border to pay their respects the north korean leader died from a heart attack nine days ago the two countries are still technically at war so all the visits require government approval. now r.t. is remembering the ten key events of twenty eleven and today we turn to. japan where the massive earthquake and soon lot to nami killed nearly ten thousand people and also caused a series of explosions at the fukushima nuclear power plant and put the world on

watch fearing another atomic disaster artie's i ever bennett was in japan just hours after the tragedy struck. 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 do live whenever i could set up a satellite phone try to 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 debris left. and i remember actually at one point setting up the lab to want on for a boat being perched on a on a on a road and just been dumped by the tsunami. and i was quite

a surreal experience definitely. to begin with very strange if you are 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 over these three days i actually got used to the tremors the 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 like the sound seeing. 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 proceeded and they thought another tsunami was coming so in those

moments when we were racing in land as fast as we could weaving our way in between all the deborah. i remember 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 to 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 they were people there who had 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 the houses have been destroyed and they will all they had been in the

relief center was was a cardboard sheet of cardboard to lie on and i spend one not one night that i was pretty unbearable because it was very cold there's very little food around and one thing they were rations for people 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. amongst everyone else also. there wasn't any visible panic it seemed like it wasn't in japanese culture to panic and such but more there was certainly fear this is a town of our war i around halfway 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 began to make meeting one young

family one young couple with a newborn baby actually just. i think we cold also been born to 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 the sister situation in fukushima was under control and they just wanted to get out they were heading heading to turkey by whatever means possible. but then suddenly the tempo changed when there was a third explosion and then the fourth explosion and the different reactors in fukushima one morning the happening very quick succession and suddenly. everyone was very scared. so all the news crews were. just 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 ravaged east coast norene like by that they're very just lie strewn all over the place here a wall collapsed over here is a fall and 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 i barely eaten up any sleds 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. and we have more for you on the years ten key global events as witnessed by our own international correspondents you can also watch their accounts of what they saw and

heard by head into our web site r.t. dot com for now of course let's turn to katie to get the latest headlines in the world of business. hello wilma welcome to the business program christmas is over the wilds but in russia the festive season has only just begun despite debt concerns year of. slowing down and as marina culture of found out rush of mad are the full front 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 a fifth 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 mandible spent twice as much i sir partners so what kind of gifts are we're looking at well 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 the christmas tree and the russians are not the only ones refusing to tighten their belts many experts had predicted 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

feel that they have an excuse to finally spend some money on themselves and their. loved ones. let's have a look at the markets now then japanese stocks are catching up with broad gains in global equity markets after friday's holiday shows of machinery manufacturers and other exporters are leading the advance with such a construction machinery gaining one an office and meanwhile markets in hong kong australia and singapore all closed. around half an hour now until the opening bell here in moscow the russian markets closed lower on friday yes lost just a notch while the my stocks ended point seven percent in the rads. russia's new city superjet croft is set to take up to twenty percent market share and some developing countries including those in asia and south america is makers believe that playing is a global player which will boost both the phones reputation and sales we have to

sell our gold. in russia for the rich. and maybe able. for that that's why we have all the people in from out west manufacturers all the brain feels good to. be in the range of one thousand one thousand america so we bring to a twenty percent market share so in twenty years. and that's all the business news now in about fifty five minutes from all. the book of. the book.

the beast exploded areas. and untouched by money. surrounded by steep logs. case paintings on display for thousands of years. eastern sun beyond the time go. on see. it is easy.

to. see. the big. welcome back here watching r t i. i'm lucy catherine of let's take a look now at the latest headlines. now it's been twenty years since the world's largest country was wiped off of the map the breakup of the soviet union and of communism in the region and gave birth to a dozen new states but its legacy continues to divide those who warn and celebrate its collapse. former libyan rebels are taking their revolution on the road to syria mercenary group.