and pakistan holds top level talks to cement its ties with china and its american ties with the final straw for the u.s. came off the last month's drone attack which killed twenty four pakistani soldiers . are next to r.t. hears from a man on the inside the soviet union unravel two decades ago is his account of what happened. do you perhaps recall saying once that you do not understand what stopped the president of the u.s.s.r. mikhail gorbachev from using military force in order to prevent the signing of the treaty in forcing the dissolution of the u.s.s.r. in one thousand nine hundred one do you think that the u.s.s.r.

should have been preserved at any cost. you see i don't even think there was any need for military force what could have been done that's my opinion while others may have theirs but i think that the better russian military district could have been given an order to encircle the three leaders passing their time and bill of this guy a pusher drunk and groggy on their legs just about to sign of these documents that they were jotting down on the spot and simply take them to their homes instead of arresting them and just take away these papers but this was not the key thing 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 part of its legacy gorbachev gave a public response the next day after we had made these suggestions to him he said

he didn't think an economic treaty should be signed first because he was sure it would jeopardize the signing of the political treaty which he thought had been pre-agreed one thing that wasn't considered properly was that once a single economic space is in place relevant supranational political structures will develop that's inevitable that's why we should have started with an economic treaty and men. in fact we're ready to go along with that even the baltic states were ready to go along with the idea of preserving a single economic space in the. back at history any large inquired disorder sooner or later do you think that having a single economics piece would have been enough to avert dissolution. of course it wouldn't have been enough but it would have been a huge contribution to averting dissolution and you see we can't really compare that situation with today for instance as they are completely different and that's because back then in the soviet union everything was centralized and existed as

a single system and no one gained anything through dissolution no one did perhaps russia benefited a little more than others because it's larger and stronger and has a more developed economy but on a large scale no one gained anything going to me that's beyond question by now the republic of evolved into sovereign states which have come a long way and developed a connections into relations with other states in the west and with china and so long. it's a completely different picture even today creating a single economic space if it's done properly full scale and we currently have agreements with the roots in kazakhstan pertaining to that and it's also possible that kyrgyzstan will join in if it all goes well it will be one of the pillars of securing integrity and preventing any dissolution. don't just cause that was correct do you think it's possible to restore something similar to the soviet union through your asian economic community which comprise

a several republics. no i don't think of it as anything similar to the soviet union 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 into. ration processes at state level shows are the driving forces of today's reality so if we succeed in going along with the guys for good we take over these forums and promote our agenda through them and this agenda will not differ much from that of the west if it will additionally focus more on the national interests of each state i think it will be a great advantage in a national solution as you pointed out it is a well known fact that economic problems were the primary contributing factor to the u.s.s.r. is the solution today it will look at the us and the e.u. shaken by a rifle economic crisis can we expect an up or america to discourse it's not going

to do similar to the way the u.s.s.r. did and you know no i don't think so because of course some serious impact is inevitable in the case of europeans so much i recall a talk i had with a person i deeply respect or former chancellor schmidt of west germany or she is now ninety two or ninety three and he's still a totally bright person i had an insightful conversation with him last year you know he said the events in the eurozone would have an impartial jury and he believes it could on the one hand lead to a deeper integration of a number of states within the e.u. in terms of foreign policy defense under their issues on the other hand the old timers of the union were to have complied with the requirements or you would have a different attitude to those who joined the union just recently. here's a hypothetical questions just several years after the collapse of the soviet union nato want you both right here if the u.s.s.r. had not collapsed do you think nato would have gone ahead with operations in yugoslavia afghanistan iraq and libya. it. would be

talking of nato involvement in yugoslavia i think it could have taken place even when the u.s.s.r. was still alive because the alliance acted without permission of the un security council but there is much more to it in a few years after the dissolution of the u.s.s.r. i mean in the first half of the one nine hundred ninety s. our foreign policy. to show support for the u.s. position sure to follow in its footsteps says the position of the foreign ministry voiced by its head was as follows we desperately need to become part of the civilized world by any means the rest is jibberish so the west must have seen that such sentiment was present in post soviet russia and make even have been prevalent in some circles that is why they felt an ever growing desire to act independently without taking notice of the soviet union or russia. i was going to work. what price to trash have to pay for such

a spineless policy when as you said it followed in the footsteps of the us. mint. the price was tremendous economically last more than joining the second world war why would such was the price the scale of the losses would become clear if all people had a chance to watch the hearings in a london court. and roman abramovich going to listen to the horrendous stories or what have you businesses were given protection by crime in officials or the way privatisation was carried out with that in mind it would be insane to say that the country benefited from the one nine hundred ninety s. you nothing. else is and here's the final question the us asserted promoted a certain ideology any strong state needs to have an ideology do you think russia has come up with some of its own. can go to goodness and once they call the national idea has not been articulated yet we're going we all work to make people's lives better and safer the demographic situation needs improving the economic model

needs an overhaul because the one that was in place before the two thousand and eight crisis will not work in the future with these challenges are evident and taken together your mortgage if they represent russia's national idea that question thank you you're welcome. lol i didn't see. any.

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would. be a. it's twenty years since the world's largest country was wiped off the map the breakup of the soviet union ended communism in the region gave birth to a dozen new states but its legacy continues to divide those who mourn and celebrate its collapse. former libyan rebels are taking their revolution on the road to syria mercenary groups including former terrorist right in the country saying they're ready to take up arms to help oust president assad. and pakistan holds top level talks to cement its ties with china as its american ties with that final straw with the u.s. came after last month's drone attack which killed twenty four pakistani soldiers.

up next sports with remarks. hello and welcome to sport on r.t. coming to you from the russian capital with me or i'm on call for a first as always the headlines. the rink dreams russia's junior ice hockey team goes to canada to defend the world side's old one in buffalo. reaching for the stars long jump the norm and on zaria collegiate aims to make a huge debut at the london olympics. gangs of new york the giants run out confident winners over local rivals jets to get the big apple bragging rights and a chance for an n.f.c. east ground but will start with ice hockey where there were eight games on offer in

the kontinental hockey league on sunday three early matches to tell you about first where off on billy's conceded in their ninth consecutive matchups are losing to deny moscow on home ice over in almost with a score all for two defending the garden cup champion still about to live one whole match against more with the same for two score and rock virtually have been scored to second few it goes against visiting sorbet unusual girls which were enough to win the match now let's follow up with suits on the garden cup winners are the bores who was defeated visiting side c.v. by three bucks to one while kate shells that boys d.t. has lost to or drives of on guard in the moscow region by the narrowest of margins to one nifty he made beats let's all give up his nets three to the match between severstal and you gras and it scoreless in regulation and oversight and but the home side got the upper hand in that penalty shoot outs while spartak moscow a loss to the visiting it makes a little money to work in the russian capital so one gets

a little to have now extended their winning streak to seven matches and staying with ice all key where the russian national junior team are preparing to defend the world crown they captured a year ago that's when it's well championships get underway in calgary canada on monday and robert byrd the neon has the preview. was. the young victorious lending at home in blaze of glory to live their world youth champions get up in front of their adoring fans the russian youth hockey team cool or the truth the out of the hands of their canadian peers in buffalo us in a dramatic finale last year. now the reigning champions are ready to take on the even tougher challenge in their own land of hockey canada they hope to hold on to the ground they cantered a year ago because of course when el facing an even tougher task we won the title

and now we need to defend it and our opponents are going to see us in a different way with much more respect and with the aspiration to beat us we'll see how we can handle it our ashes. this man probably more than anyone else in the team holds the art in his hands one of the most gifted russian players of the new generation gainey has needs of the nineteen year old forward played an essential role in his team's brilliant performance last year. that you have been slated just kept on shining taking part in the kid all star game in twenty eleven and also making his debut with the national senior team but he's back for his third world year jump and ships which gets norway on monday and he's looking forward to settling some old scores all of that better than i enjoy playing against canadians it gives me a kind of a special drive recalling last year's finals in buffalo even when they took the

three no lead and the whole arena started singing our team got a spark to get them even more so when we scored the winner and the home crowd walked out a whole minute earlier it was unbelievable though with it's a safe bet my native dragons men will give their all to get the feeling once again . and it really does take much more than one great turned to chief that was the theme of says that russian fans have every reason to expect some new up and comers to show off in the big showdown with the most of them each one of our squad can be a leader among them all for one and one for all that's the way we play it doesn't matter if it's me was or is a lot of goals or any of my cimi. i will the golden boy is a russian ice hokey please their first test in the group stage begins switzerland. r.t. newschool region. one of the world's brightest up and coming the long jump stars is

hoping to make the upcoming london twenty two over the next her shining moment zaria collation has been training right here in the russian capital after a string a world class performances into wednesday eleven that collation out won gold at the under twenty three european championships and the european championships of this year that's when iraq also owns the second best mark among juniors ever after she broke the seventy meter barrier aged nineteen collation of becoming a popular figure securing plenty of endorsement deals thanks to her looks and achievements and the upstart long jumper is already focused at stake in the next step to have a chance at standing at the podium in london this summer. i. think this is over this new we say that the dream is something that is unrealistic and a long way from reality so for me the olympics are not a dream a time get something that i'm aiming for and focusing on in just over

a year's time hoping to get in a very fast in big games and i will be talking to success i just don't know things go well and i can perform to the best of my ability and become a champion of it moving on to the national football league now where talk turned out to be cheap for the jets coach rex ryan the new york giants coming out confidence once a nine fourteen winners over a gang green after plenty of media barbs from both sides leading up to the clash giants quarterback eli manning finding bits or cruise's spies being pinned inside his own end zone and the twenty five year old showed his blazing speed by making a huge ninety nine yards down run the giants going up seven seven late in the second quarter after that amazing effort by their breakout star ahmad bradshaw also a big contributor for the g. men as he gashed the jets defense for two touchdowns the giants thus setting up an n.f.c. east side all showdown with the dallas cowboys in the final week. the denver

broncos quarterback team d. ball has been known for his late comeback to royce but he was the exact opposite against buffalo denver was up seven three before my calvin turned it sides during the offseason overlook special teams plays and eighty yard ponds return putting buffalo via three for their first lead of the game meanwhile couldn't bring his team back late this interception return score by jerry is byrd was followed by another one from spencer johnson forty fourteen the final the broncos fall back into for the a.f.c. west. meanwhile has begun that c.b.s. process of recovery from a broken leg he sustained earlier. this month during the club world cup the barcelona star hoping to see his once heal so he can help spain defend their consentual title of the year olds who went to twelve the thirty year old checked out of a barcelona hospital after undergoing surgery on monday but doctors say villa will

likely be out for around four or five months that means that he can technically aim to make the euro its way to twelve thirty mins which starts in june while villa himself is focused on recovery rather than any club or international competition. if you're not on the guru is not to be able to play in any final competition yet there is still many months ahead with it happens and to think the forehead is not my style and really concentrate on the day to day basis and i can tell you i will do everything to do back not necessarily for the champions league and year route twenty two will. build it. and with the year twenty eleven almost over it is high time to reflect on that seems an athlete which made an impact in the sporting world and while somewhere bass is setting the world records and helping their teams with trophies others were winning in less conventional ways save monza gorski takes

a look at some of the more offbeat sporting events of the year. running up flights of stairs and riding a bike are both good exercise but going up the stairs on a bike is a completely different ballgame well known footballer zombie is often putting on a show in barcelona but this time it was a slightly less famous zob excess stealing the spotlight from a soccer namesake with a flawless take me he was able to ascend one hundred fifty floors and setting a new record this hotel building seems like a mountain to climb but scientists achieve that feat six times over. while australia's most athletic cockroaches are given an opportunity to showcase their unique physical gifts the thirtieth annual cockroach race in queensland drew plenty of interest with competitors really itching to get out of the gates fourteen events and all to be contested between more than five hundred participants the cost of owning your very own thoroughbred insect athlete is just ten dollars and proceeds

from the tournament a given to local charities crashes are always something to be avoided especially in motor sport but sending your vehicle tumbling down this long straight is the only way to win here the ramp rollover championship sees the participants trying their best to crash in style and earn points but for some just getting out of the car in one piece is a reward enough twenty nine year old wayne drury emerging as the winner from all this carnage. staying with the racing theme and using the lawn more has never been this much fun or competitive the motor is divided into three groups from the simple engine to all the way to cutting edge of grass trimming my criswell a cut above the rest in group two in a ten lap race sub par playing conditions are the essence of this footballing competition to rather than a nuisance mud sweat and tears on the pitches at the swamp soccer world cup in scotland with participants really having no choice but to play dirty brazil holland

and even russia i'm on the countries where the sport is growing increasingly popular yvonne's are gorski r.t. that's all for now but more sport will be coming your way in less than a couple of hours meanwhile our you tube channel at artie's for news is always available for your comments so head there when you get a chance thanks for watching. witnesses. to history in the making. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and seven on our t.v. .

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end of the soviet era twenty years ofter it's full there's still an equal measure of love and hate for the days back in the u.s.s.r. . libya's soldiers of fortune including former terrorists head to syria take their revolution to president assad's doorstep. and pakistan looks to beijing for support tough to last month's deadly drone attack leaves toys of the u.s. in tatters. christmas may be coming to an end in most parts of the world but you've got some of the things that you just begun how's your business but it's an intense minutes time.