album mighty fall it's twenty years since the soviet union was wiped off the map but it continues to deploy more than celebrate its a. former libyan rebels take their revolution on the road to syria as groups including foreign terrorists live to help oust president assad. and pakistan moves to become buddies with beijing as well as with us whether november's deadly drone attacks. a late in our business bullets in the process markets have opened up high up. in the flag i mean for more detail from twenty minutes time.

there broadcasting live from moscow you're watching our carriage last 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 twenty years on the collapse of the u.s.s.r. races unanswered questions. explains. even today many generate their own explanations for the fall of a global goliath but some pushing it down to the role of just a few. gorbachev and. 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 moved here even that was a. seen as causing

a fatal crack in the soviet union. 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 us and put into intelligence and forecasting or 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 pushing it's a vehicle so use the collapse of the soviet union it 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 past stand out so rigidly it can feel like those two decades never happened this one human to worker and who wasn't so took six years some thirty million dollars to restore not 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 ninety ninety one changed all that the post saw that 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 i don't for terror and political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as the tardies. but among the political elite many didn't want to support the drive to modernize 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 or before when it was clear the union was falling apart it seems you and their national minorities started dragging the blanket to their side but it was at that time that georgia forcefully included self-assertive and apprise year 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 nice trick 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 the said 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 burden wall the world briefed a 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. would perhaps even join nato or become part of a new system of european. collective security the full of the u.s.s.r. put an end to the cold war era forever. or

a fundamental shift in global geopolitics with just a few are now calling the shots and without a powerful counterweight today's world remains far from secure sixteen grandchildren our team. of former russian prime minister you get a primakov was one of the few people watching history unfold from inside the corridors of power in moscow later 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 treaty or 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 in 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. in. and there you can hear more of a former prime minister primakov of version of events in just over an hour's time here dotty. former libyan rebels are now out chanting for syrians to follow

their revolutionary path hundreds of mercenaries some of whom are said to be former terrorists ready to pick up arms again to help overthrow president assad. reports now 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 economic figures given that enveloped the city. of the 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 such as syria these are just life long if this soldier we have we have enough but i think yeah we want we.

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 i don't know what 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. over the portraits of shady bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary. with the help of we can all be like to give aren't fighting for peace and freedom around the world. and it seems that che guevara's a deal 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 all others by the venture if i put out on the vision of freedom and for now at least in the freedom to leave 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 my prayers 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

anonymous freedom fighter but for the united states it's now one of the high combat hige one of the leaders of chippewa 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 it. because we know they are facing this situation before they do but it comes to be would. be would have to be. the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard done for centuries a save gars against their own populations and now looks like the history of mercenaries in the middle east has got to this new bloody chapter of some of our sea tripoli. stone has its eyes on the east for future partnerships the

president having helped the country's friendship with china and so after a rocky year with america where times have been all but destroyed from the right to kill osama bin laden without informing us not about the last month's deadly drone attack auntie's should have explains. the top ranking diplomat from the hu jintao administration has said that this visit is very important mark 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. we 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. but shortly we continue our look at the year's most significant events today we focus on japan's earthquake and tsunami seen through the eyes of our correspondent. in those moments when we were racing inland as fast as we could weaving our way in between all that every. member looking around and thinking hang on a minute there's no shelter here. where 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. witnesses. to history in the making. testimony. chance to

restate shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . there's been a global condemnation of the christmas day bombings in nigeria that have killed nearly forty people attacks targeted christian worshippers the deadliest bombing was in a suburb of the capital when explosion struck a practical negation in church that morning mass a second attack followed shortly afterwards the church northeast of a series of other explosions were also accordance with radical islamist sect. responsibility militants have been involved in prolonged bloody fighting with government forces in recent days claiming more than sixty lives on the african political historian. the shining leaves the balance is simply for militants to stay in the spotlight. their aim is to bring the whole country under. to do it by by boat is actually quote unquote cheap

because they do not need big army they do need. airplanes nothing they need for five people who will be able either to food or to plane explosion in. evolution they had way of behaviors. in the new. and make people to him free. well you can head online for more world news dot com dollars make you deadly suspicious of the security advice states says paying with cash could hide like you as a terrorist suspect. and hope floats south korea sends military an eight on its way to this probably neighbors north details for r.t. dot com. for more of the world headlines now

a suicide bombing during a funeral in northeast afghanistan as that twenty two dead including a member of parliament detonated his explosive field vest as mourners began to leave church you saw the m.p. was the target the taliban has sought to kill prominent political figure this throughout the year. tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in yemen's capital to voice their own deaths in protest as security forces opened fire on peaceful protesters on saturday killing thirteen. demonstrations to swell the vice president to quit failing to arrest the killers we can't ballance person so later vowed to leave the country he's already signed a deal to end his decades of. a south korean delegation has been allowed into north korea after the great leader kim jong

il a former south korean first lady on the head of comic the honda boss the heavily fortified border to pay their respects north korean leader died from a heart attack nine days ago the two countries are still technically at war visits require government approval. but artie's remembering the ten key events of twenty that and today we turn to japan's massive earthquake and tsunami that killed more than ten thousand people it's also caused a series of explosions at the fukushima nuclear plant that put the world on watch fearing an atomic disaster parties are better it was in japan in the hours after the tragedy struck. i was actually on my own the cameraman and producing the faeces so they had to wait and i went with a flip camera a laptop when i was there i got

a satellite phone and so on the road i was trying to do long lines whenever i could set up a satellite phone trying 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 every 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 just been don't 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 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 saying. it was all in jack things but i could understand it 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 chanting at them and 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's been a tremor the tide proceeded and they thought another tsunami was coming so and then in those moments when we were racing inland as fast as we could weaving our way in between all the deborah. 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 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 they were people there who 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 but all they had was just a cucumber and a slice of bread that was that was one meal actually. on top of this was also the fear of radiation because the situation in fukushima 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 like it was in japanese culture to panic and such more there was certainly fear this is a town of i was right around tough 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 lots of those in tokyo going to make me think 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 some of the 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 a kid 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 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 because the thoughts of japan's ravaged east coast norene life by the day every just lie strewn all over the place here a wall collapsed over here is a 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 my perceive it's plain how obviously when i left japan. i

felt great relief because covering the story being very stressful bending 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. we yes ten key events as witnessed by ots international correspondents you can also watch their accounts of what they saw by heading to r.t. dot com. now it's a guy with a test business news katie. hello welcome to the business program christmas is over in most polls in the wild but in russia the festive season has only just begun despite debt concerns in europe and the u.s. slowing down and as marina cultural found out russia men are at the forefront of

the seasonal spending extravaganza. 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 summer and the 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 madame boll spent why since march i sir partners so what kind of gifts are we're looking at it's 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 are already seeing an increase in sales more than last year but this may be because it's been such a tough year for ordinary working people know about the holiday season this 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 mall hits now japanese style cloth catching up with group gains in global equity markets after friday's holiday shows that mr machinery manufactures expulsions on these he made evolve with he thought she construction machinery casing around the descent meanwhile makis in hong kong australia and singapore

closed the holidays on the russian market have picked up. day's trade in at the bellagio the drafters stocks are gaining the most in full trading sessions and optimism the u.s. economy will continue to recover help and bruised global output by the r.t.s. on the my stakes are around eight percent in the plan that. despite the lingering global financial uncertainty russia is still aiming to attract a further five percent more foreign investment in two thousand and twelve presidential aides are kathy talk of it says he expects investors to start bringing their cash in the second quarter of next year international stock market players took almost all the money their investors into the country during two thousand and eleven. financially stricken cyprus who got the first first tranche of a credit package from the rush up before the year is the word the country agreed at the weekend to say a good two and

a half billion euros from moscow to support its economy or to top pricewaterhouse coopers calculates that almost fifteen percent of cyprus is g.d.p. is from foreign companies using the island as an offshore finance sent up the majority of the firms are affiliated with. and that's all for now i'll be back in about fifty five minutes for more business news here and i'll say.

for sure is that so much and a lot of people are. gary i will stand still for it tell the difference twenty years ago an old historic event town in the soviet union came to an end and with it the conclusion of a cold war what is the soviet union's. wealthy british style. that's not on. the. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on our.