tonight an r.t. dozens of new civilian deaths are reported in syria as the arab league gears up to monitor the implementation of a peace plan but hundreds of mercenaries from abroad are allegedly fighting for regime change they're. shifting to the east pakistan with an eye on the future for just fresh ties with china after last month's deadly drone attack shattered its already tense relations with the u.s. . a blessing or a curse it's twenty years since the fall of the u.s.s.r. opinion is still splits about whether breaking up the union was the best choice for its people. despite the ongoing financial turmoil in the u.s. and in europe the russians are spending twenty eight percent more on the christmas holidays this year amounting to eighty one billion the group called more about the

business of the twenty. live from moscow you're watching r t it's no ten pm here my name's kevin irwin our top story activists in syria claim twenty seven civilians have been killed by government troops over the past day it 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 orchestrated from abroad backing up that claim hundreds of fighters from post gadhafi libya have allegedly flocked to help bring revolution to president assad's door libyans and i will openly voicing their support for the syrian uprising as xander boyko reports. a butcher

a dad me the owner of the ski pop shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most fitting term for syria's bashar al assad. chavez it is economically if we give him enough in the world that syria. other syria. you can make it a lot of 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 the syria and its soldiers we have. and our people are subject to the result just like only this subject we have only 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's on the channeling enemy willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. i don't know what if we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of all our we will make sure that what happened in libya repeat itself in syria the libyan model with the portraits of shaky borrow now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli be some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary. 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 a deal for exporting revolutions have gotten a second birth in the middle east the arab spring has created a buoyant marketplace for soldiers of fortune. 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 is the freedom to live by the gun. as your mantic and spontaneous as it may appear aiding the syrian uprising with mercenaries may not be such a jamia. video women and children in syria gunned down by snipers very bound on you tube while it's still unclear who is pulling the trigger there are terrorists who are shooting at civilians men women and children blind terrorism random killing simply for the purpose of destabilizing the country or from libya or from. pakistan's foreign fighters to be brought in here by the cia and the other western services. one man's terrorist could easily be anonymous freedom fighter but with the united states it's now. a big hike in the hides one of the leaders of chippewa a militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's the face of the

democratic leave being who according to artist or so is not a group of several hundred li been rebels to syria just last month. we can do any help to support the syrian people because they are facing the same situation as before and do appreciate it comes to lead and be would if we could provide the syrian people who need help 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 hired them for centuries a save cars 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 in the wake of artsy tripoli script some more insight analysis now on the situation in syria talks of the director of the beirut based center for middle east studies dr thanks for being on the line with us dr appreciate it good to see you tonight arab

league observers are supposed to be confirming army that damascus is sticking to a peace deal that was brokered by the league do you think they will be able to do that and how long could it take for them to confirm it. we cannot deny that it's very complicated mission and very sensitive nature of course syria did accept. it because syria want to get out you know from this. and. many observers believe that russia was behind this and to convince syria. to make. the protocol. which are presenting a breakthrough off the street action in syria which has been and that for ten months. first came to syria they are not supposed to listen to political. opinions it's not that mission they have to go and to see the

facts on that end. and can't deny that the insurgents in syria and our health report that they say the twenty seven civilians civilians or. many many. they mix between civilians and children because one day talk about thousands of people killed in syria they don't mention. and also we cannot deny that. about two thousand. those observers are going to syria to see on that and what's going on really the syrian authorities and the syrian government will. complicate their mission but we have to be careful because the syrians did warn them that if they want to go to.

the fighting for their own security they have to be direct contact with the syrian authorities to be advised. now. they will succeed all day will fail you have to wait and see because this regime is very as we said very sensitive exactly but what what is your prognosis what do you think the implications would be if they are oblique decide that damascus isn't keeping to its part of the day what would happen then. would you would you please repeat that question because i didn't see if the arab league wants from this yes arjun those hours of preservers only they are not keep forces people they will not have a mission whatever they decide dr what if they decide that damascus isn't keeping to its part of this deal what if they find that the mask is continuing the violence

what then. damascus and the government of syrian government i believe that i have a direct daily contact with damascus and with syria and we do understand that syria made it clear that is not using is not using forty and weapons against peaceful civilian who is not willing to do it but the massacres will continue to defend. against the insurgents no one can deny the presence of the and servian in syria even hillary clinton did recognize this and said they are well equipped and well trained like that now the situation we have to be clear about defending against and surgeon and which is very very dangerous and very sensitive i don't think the observers can be in

a situation to go and the bottle filled them to see what's going on but they have to do and to do their mid-term companies their military and to do their job but as i said syria the government of syria will not continue i am not i am sure about it will not shoot civilians and demonstrators but the army and syria will defend good can do will continue their military operation against deserters or from the army and against that surgeon who has you know the most sophisticated weapons now ok well we get your message loud and clear if any civilians are listening tonight hope for the state a bit safer after hearing what you've said live from cairo talked ation jaber director of the science of middle east studies thank you for your thoughts. pakistan's facing a crisis in its relations with the u.s. appears to be seeking more support now for another powerful ally china with america

have been all but severed following last month's deadly train. but the u.s. military and this is raid to kill a summer beloved without islam a bird's knowledge the pakistani president is now firming up the country's friendship with beijing holding talks with chinese officials last week joseph chugs a professor of political science at hong kong city university says the two countries have an important cooperative partnership that allows pakistan to counterbalance its relationship with the united states. 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 normal pakistan's relations with the united states in difficulties because of the nato attack on is military post last month and the washington d.c. the fuse to deliver kind of a policy. against any government and at the same time it is very significant that

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 number they play a certain mediating role between the military and of government and certainly tensions between the tool have been high in the recent year of soul. it was 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 and created more than

a dozen new nations but also spot economic hardship and regional conflicts artesia katrina groucho reports. even today many generate their own explanations for the fall of the global goliath but some putting it down to the role of just. ok to reach. 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 but yet for most here even that wasn't seen as causing a fetal crack in the soviet union it was very sudden and. shocking i mean there were people from months before who were shoring us that this was going to go on forever so i mean all the billions and billions and billions that the u.s. and put into intelligence and forecasting all proved to be completely useless the collapse of the soviet union was not so much a revolution rather it was

a peaceful divorce of former republics longing for independence but the breakup led to long lasting and painful consequences pushing it's a vehicle so use the collapse of the soviet union is 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 morning a man to work or and go who wasn't so took six years some thirty million dollars to restore but even the government would consider taking down what is among the most

famous unofficial symbols of the u.s.s.r. . and strong were. her 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 the soviet union there was a possibility before to solve you're going to continue with for terror and political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as the charge. 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 for you in the national minorities started dragging the blanket to their side but there was at that time the georgia forcefully included self-assertive and of 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 thousand killed and over a million people displaced even mostly with self didn't feel secure after the fall of the girl in world the world bricked a sigh of relief but it didn't last long when nato set about creating a new wall made of me sells the lines steadily moved towards russia incorporating

former soviet republics but leaving most out of you. rip's new security framework the west broke a number of promises to russia offering russia could have expected that there wouldn't be nato expansion that. russia itself would perhaps even join nato or become part of a new system of european. collective security the feel of the years as sark put an end to the cold 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 exiting the grand children r t one scale. some ten minutes past ten and i realize continue more of our series now looking back at more of the major events of twenty eleven through the eyes of our correspondents who covered them and today we're focusing on japan's

earthquake and tsunami that killed over ten thousand and caused explosions at the fukushima nuclear plant raising worldwide fears of atomic disaster it is over bennett reflects on his experience reporting from japan in the hours just after that tragedy unfolded. covering the earthquake and tsunami in japan was very difficult because i was actually on my own the camera man and producing even 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 long 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 their legs. and i remember actually at one point setting up the latter one for a boat being perched on a on a on a road just being dumped 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 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 saw me just a sound saying. it was all in jack things but i could understand it was the scene for fear and panic and also they were shouting tsunami literally yelling in my face to get back into the car there's no news crew there chanting and then to get back

in the car and and go inland as fast as possible because there was this. as the threat of another another tsunami there'd been a tremor the tide proceeded and they thought another tsunami was coming so in those moments when. racing inland as fast as we could weaving our way in between all the day every. 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 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 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 the houses have been destroyed and they were all they had been in the relief since it was it was a cardboard sheet of cardboard to lie on and i spend one not one night that i was pretty unbearable because it was very cold there's very little food around there were rations but people would all they had was just a cucumber and a slice of bread so that was that was one the other 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 but more

there was certainly fear this is a town of a wall right around talk way between tokyo and fukushima i'm still one hundred fifty kilometers south of all of the nuclear power plant but already the radiation levels here over double lot of those in tokyo going to make me think one young fan . one young couple with a newly born baby actually just. i think a week old also been born a 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 but they had left they just didn't trust what the government was saying that the sister situation in fukushima was under control and they just wanted to get out they were heading heading to turkey by whatever means possible. but then suddenly the tempo changed when there was a third explosion and then the fourth explosion and the different reactors in fukushima one morning the happening very quick succession and suddenly. everyone

was very scared. so all the news crews were. just suddenly packed up and left and that really difficult for me was i was on my own i didn't have anyone else to consult. and i just realized at that point ok i'm going to get out this is the start of japan's ravaged east coast norene like by that there are bridges lie strewn all over the place here a walls collapsed over here is a falling down such as the force of the tsunami this is also the point where we are going to turn back because the dog account is reading the highest it has done all day one point zero four microsleep it's plain how obviously when i left japan. i felt great relief because covering the story being very stressful i barely eat in lump 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. it was good to see

you back to other bennett one of our team of international correspondents and just let you know every day up until the new year will bring you more personal reflections from our team on the events that molded the news of twenty eleven if there's any. to catch up on again there on our website as well r.t. dot com our web site back to here shortly something completely different a fourteen year old russian girl breaks another powerlifting record in artie's correspondents thrown into the thick of it and like it was a seminar disaster was averted i'm assured that's all the romans the sport bulletin in twenty minutes after we've got across monday's business wrap next. and then a warm welcome to business r t the destiny of the south stream gas pipeline project hangs on the outcome of russia's gas talks with ukraine as according to gets from c.e.o. aleksey miller russia began the south street project in order to secure delivery of

gas to europe without having to go free trade that was of the key of course transit disruptions saying the cost of russian energy supplies was too high as the price talks now gotten off the ground and the say russia could cut the capacity of south stream or even abandon the project altogether if ukraine comes to agree. because brown publisher has signaled he's ready for compromises and can even psych reforms key projects if goes from gets direct participation in ukraine's gas transit network so the stream will no longer be a priority partly because there will be no need for it i don't think they will stop the project straight away but the chances of it being realized significantly. on christmas is over in most parts of the world but in russia the festive season has only just begun there's spike that concerns in europe and the u.s. shoppers still aren't slowing down and as a correspondent in the course of found out russian men are at the front line of the seasonal spending extravaganza.

years 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 the first 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 other 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 men both spent twice as much as their partners so what kind of gifts are we're looking at for the most popular items are expected to be alcohol then we have a choice and finally household appliances so no matter how romantic under 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 turning 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 in the u.k. some shops already seen an increase in sales more than last year but this may be a big. it's been such a tough year for ordinary working people now about the holiday season is here so feel that they have an excuse to finally spend some money on themselves and their loved ones. i am still going to find me at the russian markets while european traders were enjoying boxing day russian embassy's games the most in four trading session starts on optimism u.s. economy will continue to recover first global output from russia investors were moving back into stocks therefore safe haven assets like produce gold were the clymer blue chips were up as burbank up one point eight percent at the close gazprom is also gaining a good provider from target i love believe the stock is on the. p.c.

it for example is the best ever year so that's the best even though it's probably the highest and that's profit stock is still negative from the beginning of the year but the whole year was. kind of the main theme was outflows from the risk and this is nothing specific about russia the headlines are next on to you to stay with us. to.

the. russians would be so much brighter if you knew about someone from first impressions . start on t.v. dot com.