union was the best choice for rich people. live from moscow you're watching r t it's eight pm here now my name is kevin owen and first activists in syria claim twenty seven civilians have been killed by government troops over the past twenty four hours this comes as the primary team of arab league observers is due to arrive in the country their mission is to implement a peace plan intended to ensure the regime ends its crackdown on the opposition damascus denies committing atrocities saying it's fighting an armed insurgency funded from abroad and while that's yet to be independently confirmed revolutionaries from other arab countries say that they are willing to fight for regime change in syria have done a point the reports from post gadhafi will be. a butcher and a dad me the owner of this keep up shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most

fitting term for syria's bashar al assad. is a criminal the biggest game in the world not the syria. other syria. you can't make it a lot of the people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop perhaps even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want syria and its soldiers we have a and our people are subject to the result just wanted only this soldier we have only to have enough but i think we want we. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers shipley residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave. and for some of the young man who looked on the channeling and willing to

part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of allah we will make sure that what happened in libya repeat itself in syria. the portraits of shaky 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 belong to give aren't fighting for peace and freedom around the world and it seems that che guevara's idea of exporting revolutions have gotten a second birth in the middle east the arab spring has created a boy and market place for soldiers of fortune the most from one revolution to another some motivated by personal gain some by conviction on others by venture if i put that all in the vision of freedom and for now it is 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 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 they are from libya they are from afghanistan or pakistan foreign fighters have been brought in here by the cia and the other western services. one man's terrorist could easily be in our man's freedom fighter but for the united states it's now two in one day hiking but hodge one of the leaders of tripoli militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's the face of the democratic leader who according to artist or

sis 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 know they are facing the same situation as before and. who comes to be with. the syrian people to get their freedom i think. the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard them 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 it's new and no less bloody chapter in the artsy tripoli. pakistan facing a crisis in its relations with the us appears to be seeking more support from another powerful ally china. ties with america have been all but severed following last month's deadly drone attack by the u.s. military on this year's raid to kill a suburb in love without is the knowledge of pakistani presidents now firming up

the country's friendship with beijing holding talks with chinese officials last week joseph chairing a professor of political science at hong kong city university told us the two countries have an important co-operative partnership that allows pakistan that counterbalance its relationship with the united states well pakistan has been beating spece our live throughout the history of the people's republic of china increasingly pakistan. has a certain strategic value to china certainly as for your novel pakistan's relations with the united states are in difficulties because of the nato attack on is a military outpost last month washington d.c. the feels to deliver the kind of policy. against any government and at the same time it is very significant the top chinese diplomat when he was in pakistan he had

met the president the prime minister the army chief of staff arguably the most powerful soldier in pakistan as well as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the head of the into services intelligence so it seems that china would be would have been ours to give more military aid to pakistan to balance against the weakening ties between pakistan and the united states and it's also possible that time numbly play a certain mediating role between the military and the government and certainly tensions between the tool have been high in the recent year of soul. well is to worry about beijing's growing global influence talk to columnist in china expert francesco c. she's joining us on the line i just go to see it tonight thanks for being on our to you first so start with the big news of the week that the chinese yuan ahead an all time high in trade against the dollar monday and those sales expected to rise further out there how much is that helping china's global economic influence as we

had no into twenty twelve. it is in theory helping china but china nor is it in the long term it's it in. possible to sustain you take konami growth for at loan so i am more on domestic consumption and the francesco more fully sorry i know you can we can hear you very well we've got a problem with the line on your skype line there we'll try to get back to a bit later so we got a better connection so about our francesco ok let's move on a day to celebrate for some and one to commiserate for others it is twenty years since the soviet union was dissolved the fall of communist rule ended the cold war in created more than a dozen nations but sparked economic hardship and regional conflicts parties are catarina groucho over reports.

even today many generate their own explanations for the fall of the global goliath but some putting it down to the rule of just a few i'll give you two reasons gorbachev and yours. the nineteen ninety one august coup was a turning point in the country's history with images of yeltsin standing on a tank creating a new hero yet for most here even that wasn't seen as causing a fatal crack in the soviet union it was all very sudden and shocking i mean there were people even months before who were shoring us that this was going to go on forever so all the billions and billions and billions that the u.s. and put into intelligence and forecasting all proved to be completely useless the collapse of the soviet union was not so much a revolution rather it was

a peaceful divorce of former republics longing for independence but the breakup led to long lasting and painful consequences pushing your savior to go so use a lot of the soviet union was really just give you the little results to of the twentieth century. and in that assessment 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 morning amount of work or so took six years some thirty million dollars to restore but even the government would consider taking down what is among the most famous unofficial

symbols of the u.s.s.r. . and strong worker and a portly collective farmer were a symbol of crisp air a chance to billeted in a country with a planned economy everyone knew they would be provided with their metaphorical hammer and sickle and knew exactly how much to produce with them. nineteen ninety one changed all that the post saw it a condom use were shattered their deficits skyrocketed production plunged and it took them years to get back on their feet in the last years to solve even there was a possibility before to solve your you know to continue with for terror and political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as the 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 as though you have national minorities started writing the blanket to their side but it was at that time the orchard vastly improved 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 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 mostly with self didn't feel secure after the fall of the berlin wall the world gripped a sigh of relief but it didn't last long when nato set about creating a new wall made of. the alliance steadily move 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 often russia could have expected that they wouldn't . nato expansion that. russia itself. join nato or become part of a new system of european. collective security the full of the years the saarc put an end to the called war era forever 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 exceedingly great children r t. because i was interested to hear your opinion today we're asking what you think of the collapse of the u.s.s.r. and what it meant for the world on our website that's the very question we're asking you can have your say there in our latest web poll this is what you're

telling us. for this hour forty percent of you say it would have been good if nato had collapsed with a majority opinion about a quarter of you think quote it left the u.s. unchecked also that communism offered a hope for a better future that's coming in third and then there's a minority so far taking the opposite view that quote where better off without the evil empire over the numbers for now change them go online you can cast your vote one of their online as well you might be interested to check out these stories to. flushing dollar bills could give you a bad rap the latest security advice in the united states says that paying with cash could brand you a terrorist suspect that's an interesting twist online if you want to find out more also. see a performance of russian carroll's classical favorites. at the kennedy center in washington played by russia's renowned for the monocle strap.

it's exactly eight fifty moscow time world news now and briefed. a suicide attack has killed at least seven people in iraq and injured thirty two others by detonating a car bomb in the morning rush the bomber drove his vehicle into a security checkpoint outside the interior ministry five policemen remain with dead no word claimed responsibility yet but suicide attacks are all mark of al qaeda in iraq it follows a series of bombings that killed at least seventy two people last week just a few days after the u.s. troop pullout. national communities condemned sunday's bomb attacks and i g area which claimed at least thirty nine lives including children a series of blasts took place outside churches and targeted worshipers during christmas day prayers the militant islamist group boko haram said it carried out

the attacks the group wants to impose islamic sharia law cross the country which is split between christians and muslims. three is former first lady the whole is heading to a morning delegation from north korea to pay respects to the lately the jong il they've met his youngest son kim jong un has been named assistant has is successor the group is in pyongyang as part of a two day visit but they're not representing the government he hauler said in a statement she hoped the trip would help improve relations between the two countries which are technically still at war the north korean leader died from a heart attack almost ten days ago. let's take a look back now at the major events of twenty eleven through the eyes of our correspondents who covered them today we focus on japan's earthquake and tsunami that killed over ten thousand and caused explosions at the fukushima nuclear plant raising worldwide fears of an atomic disaster artie's are bennett reflects on his

experience reporting from japan in the hours just after the tragedy. covering the earthquake and tsunami in japan when this was very difficult because. i was actually on my own the cameraman and producing the visas so they had to wait and i went with a flip camera a laptop when i was there and got a satellite phone and so on the road i was trying to do live 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 the every left. and i remember actually at one point standing up to the lamp 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 as strange as that sounds suddenly there was there was panic i was outside of the car about to film a stand up. and the police and the emergency workers suddenly just like the sound seeing. 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 chanting and then to get back into the car and and go in and as fast as possible because there was this. as the threat of another another tsunami there'd been a tremor the tide it receded and they thought another tsunami was coming so and

then in those moments when we were racing inland as fast as we could weaving our way in between all the debris. a member looking around and thinking hang on a minute there's no shelter here. what it was he was destroyed in the previous tsunami and there's no. 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 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 the 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 spend one not one night there i was pretty unbearable because it was very cold and there's very little food around one there were rations but people were all they had was just a cucumber and a slice of bread so that was that was one meal actually. on top of this was also the fear of radiation because the situation to be seen was just going from bad to worse and i was always in my mind it was a very real fear you could see it. amongst everyone else also. there wasn't any visible panic it seemed like it wasn't in japanese culture to panic as such but more there was certainly fear this is a town of our war i around halfway between tokyo and fukushima i'm still under fifty kilometers south of the nuclear power plant but already the radiation levels here over double that of those in tokyo began in the meeting one young family

one young couple with a newborn baby actually just. i think a week old or so just been born a couple of days 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 this is true 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 and 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 you know ream like by that their bridges 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. microsleep it's plain how obviously when i left japan. i feel great relief because covering the story being very stressful by bending each in on the nice legs but the story for me wasn't over there 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. of abandon there were never there until the new year would bring in a more personal reflections from our own correspondents on the events that molded

the news of twenty eleven and brought you those stories and if anything you missed as well you can catch my website r.t. dot com. well back here shortly a fourteen year old russian girl breaks another power lifting record nazis correspondent loans that are protect his microphone at night kido said when a disaster i'm told was averted as holy roman support bulletin around twenty minutes after but the business. when welcome to the program the destiny of the stream project seems to be hanging on the outcome of russia's gas talks with ukraine that's according to gazprom c.e.o. alexei miller who said that russia begad the south stream project in order to secure delivery of gas to europe without having to go through ukraine that was after key of caused transit disruptions saying the cost of russian energy supplies was too high as the prize talks now got off the ground analysts say russia could

cut the capacity of south korea or even abandon the project altogether ukraine comes to agree. christmas is over in most parts of the world but in russia the first of season has only just begun despite concerns in europe and the u.s. shoppers still aren't slowing down and of course pointed in the course of doubt russian men are at the forefront of the seasonal spending extravagant. 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 serve 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 this year so feel that they have an excuse to finally spend some money on themselves and their loved ones. well traders are probably in the shopping centers today in moscow as

european traders are enjoying boxing day so it's a day off most of them russian embassies however in very thin trading volumes were gaining ground the most and for trading sessions also optimise the u.s. economy will continue to recover helping boost quote well put so the aussies myself gave more than one percent russia invested in the moving back into stocks and therefore safe haven assets like polly's gold are in decline while the blue chips one higher banks are in the lead was very bank up one point take the center and gas from other and your shares will also gain. much other stories now russia is a super high capital outflows mostly driven by local firms paying off debts the finance ministers are based out of charge says repayments accounted for half the cash that left the economy this year the country's central bank has raised the forecast for capital in twenty levon several times let's just let's stand by it.

russia's caucus is a step closer to welcoming more guests as russia and france register a joint venture to develop tourism in the region plans to build five world class ski resorts and create over four hundred thousand jobs there by twenty twenty first the money's needed back is help to bring in the fifteen and twenty billion years my project we. can financially stricken so i promise we will get the first tranche of a credit package from russia before the rules were country agreed to at the weekend to take to how quickly years from moscow to support its economy or to price waterhouse coopers calculates that around fifteen percent of cypresses g.d.p. is from foreign companies using the island does not show finance at george v. of bridge that there are forty eight it with russia. so for now the headlines are next with cabin do stay with r.t. if you can.

the be.

all over the news. of the hit. the world live from science technology innovation all the moves developments from around russia we've got the few jerks covered.

line in russia would be soon which brightened if you knew about the song from france to pressure these. groups for a new start on t.v. dot com. by from moscow this is our take it's kevin owen here tonight and these are all top stories dozens of new civilian deaths are reported in syria as the arab league is up to monitor the implementation of a peace plan but hundreds of mercenaries from abroad are allegedly fighting for regime change there now the u.n. estimates more than five thousand civilians have been killed in syria since march while the regime claims its fighting an armed insurgency from that from abroad. shifting to the east pakistan with an eye on the few.