in the flag i mean more detail twenty times. and they're broadcasting live from moscow you're watching r.t. i'm carrie johnson. 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 a twenty years on the collapse of the u.s.s.r. raises unanswered questions kathleen koch over explains. even today many generate their own explanations for the fall of the global goliath but some putting it down to the role of just a few ok too rich of guilt. 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 very sudden and. shocking i mean there were people here even months before who were showing us that this was going to go on forever so all the billions and billions and billions that the u.s. imported 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 pushing your savior is going to tell 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 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 parts stand out so rigidly it can feel like those two decades never happened this morning amanda worker 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 where 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 i don't for terror and political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as the chinese. 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. when it was clear the union was falling apart it seems you have no national minorities started dragging the blanket to their side but 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 transnistria

conflict russia remains on a peacekeeping mission there at least a thousand people were killed in a post breakup clashes between georgia and south the search here and over one hundred thousand word displaced into g q stan the consequences were the worst sixty eight 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 said 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 itself. 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 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 a grouch over 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 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 have read it self 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 put 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. and there you can hear more of a former prime minister getting primakov of version of events in just over an

hour's time here in r.t. . former libyan rebels an hour 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 artie's excitable 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 economy if we give 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. an hour before subject to the result just live

long if this soldier we have we 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 the 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. war 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 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 moved from one revolution to another some motivated by personal gain some by conviction on others by the venture if i put out on the vision of freedom and for now at least is 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 are involved 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 hodge one of the leaders of tripoli militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's a face of the democratic leader who according to our to sources not a group of several hundred libyan rebels to syria just last month. we can't do any to support the syrian people because we are they are facing the same situation as before and do but if she comes to lead and we will. provide the syrian people to get their freedom i think we should do what the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard then for centuries a save gars 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 actually we are at sea tripoli. pakistan has its eyes on the east for future partnerships the president firming up the country's friendship with china and after a rocky year with america where times have been all but destroyed from the raid to to kill osama bin ladin without informing us now about the last month's deadly drone attack at his expense. the top ranking diplomat from the hu jintao administration has said that this visit is very important 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. will shortly we continue our look significant events today we focus on japan's earthquake and tsunami. through the eyes of our correspondent. and in those moments when we were racing inland as fast as we could weaving our way in between all the daybreak. a 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. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on r.t. . 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 a church that morning mass a second attack followed shortly afterwards outside a church northeast of a series of other explosions were also ported elsewhere radical islamist sector hiram admitted responsibility militants have been involved in prolonged bloody fighting with government forces in recent days claiming more than sixty dives total the african political historian. believes the violence is simply for militants to stay in the spotlight. their aim is to bring the whole country and

the courtroom. to do it by by boat is actually quote unquote cheap because they do not need big army they do not need. special units no airplanes nothing they need four five people who will be able either to food or to plane explosion. in addition they had way of behaviors. in the new. and make people too afraid. well you could head online for more world news dot com dollars make you deadly suspicious of the security advice in the united states says paying with cash could write like you as a terrorist suspect. and hope floats south korea

center military aid on its way to this problem neighbors north of the details for you 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 filled vest as mourners began to leave church you saw the m.p. was the target the taliban has sought to kill a prominent political flip of this throughout the year. tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in yemen's capital to voice their anger. and then to 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 balance prompted presence or later vow to leave the country has already signed a deal to end decades of. a south

korean delegation has been allowed into north korea death of a leader kim jong il a former south korean first lady on the head of comic ohio crossed 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 so who 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 camera man 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 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 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 and just being 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 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 there was the you 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 proceed in and they thought another tsunami was coming so and then in those moments when we were racing in land 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 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 and this was inside the local government offices and though 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 will all they had been in the relief center was 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 one there were rations but people would all they had was just a cucumber and

a slice of bread that was that was one the other 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 was in 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 half way between tokyo and fukushima i'm still a hundred fifty kilometers south of the nuclear power plant but already the radiation levels here over double that of those in tokyo are 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 the 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. then suddenly the tempo changed when there was a third explosion and then the fourth explosion in a different reactors in fukushima one morning by having a 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 father very 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 microsleep 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. well we had more on the years ten key player but events as witnessed by ortiz international correspondents you can also watch their accounts of what they saw by heading to r.t. dot com. 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. shop instead on slowing down and as marina cultural found out russian 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 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 man both spent twice as much as 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 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 themselves and their loved ones. let's have a look at the mall hits now japanese style cloth catching up with group gains and labor that the markets after friday's holiday shows that mr machinery manufactures

expulsions on the need evolve with he thought jake construction machinery caving around of the descent meanwhile makis in hong kong australia and singapore closed the holidays on the russian market have picked up. day's trade in the ball lag with russia stocks are gaining the most in four trading sessions on optimism the u.s. economy will continue to recover help and bruised global output. yes on the my stakes are around eight percent in the plan that. despite the lingering global financial uncertainty russia is still anything to attract a further five percent more foreign investment in two thousand and twelve presidential walk of it says he expects investors to stop bringing that task in the second quarter of next year international stock market players took almost all the money then vested into the country during two thousand and eleven.

financially stricken cyprus who got the first first tranche of a credit package from the russia before the year is the word the country agreed at the weekend to take a 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. the muzzle for now i'll be back in about fifty five minutes for more business news here and i'll take.

culture is that so much of a lot of people at the area will balance it all or it's tough to for twenty years ago an old historic event town from 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 title. 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.

here with our team headlines for you down just a. years since the world's largest country was wiped off the map breakup the city even ended communism and gave birth to a dozen new states but its legacy continues to divide that is to mourn and celebrate its collapse. former libyan rebels are taking their revolution on the road to syria mystery groups including former terrorists arrived in the country safe.