turmoil in the u.s. and europe the russians are spending twenty eight percent more on the christmas holidays this year amounting to eighty one billion the group 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 zero in 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 now in the country their mission is to implement a pace 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 allegedly flocked to help bring revolution to president assad or

libyans and i will openly voicing their support for the syrian uprising as xander boyko reports. a butcher my dad me the owner of this keep up shop in tripoli still undecided what the most fitting term for syria's bashar al assad. is economic the biggest game in the world and syria. not the 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. and our people are subject to the result. only if the soldiers we have all have enough but i think we want to leave. 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 gentle an enemy willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. we're already drawing 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 vajra are now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli be 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 marketplace for soldiers of fortune the mobile one revolution to another

some motivated by personal gain some by conviction on others by the venture they bought put out on 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. video so 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 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 and now a man's freedom fighter but with the united states it's now one day hiking but

hodge one of the leaders of triple a militia was once on the cia most wanted list and 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. 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 art sea tripoli. let's get some more insight analysis now on the situation in syria and talk to the director of the beirut based center for middle east are these

dogs hisham jaber thanks for being on the line with us. good to see you tonight arab league observers are supposed to be confirming are they 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. yeah we cannot deny that it's very complicated mission very sensitive nature of course syria did accept. the call and did sign 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 represent a breakthrough of the situation in syria which has been that for ten months. 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 the end no one can can 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 you talk about thousands of people killed in syria they don't mention. civilians and also we cannot deny that. about two thousand and. three of those observers are going to syria to see on that and what's going on really the syrian authorities and the syrian government will give all facilities. accomplish 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 and permanent contact with the syrian authorities to be advised protected. and. now of they would succeed all day will fail you have to wait and see because this machine is very as we say 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 the question because i didn't see if the arab league want from this yes those hours of service only they are not forces keep it 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 fall in the massacres is continuing the violence what then. damascus and the government syrian government i believe that as 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 for and weapons against peaceful civilian rule is not a winning to do it but damascus is will continue to defend. against the insurgent no one can deny the presence of the and serve their own 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 in the battlefield and to see what's going on but they have to do and to do their mission at our company is their mission 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 desire of terrorism from the army and against the insurgents 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 for another powerful ally china ties with america have been all but severed following last month's deadly train. but the u.s. military and this is ridiculous some a 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 are important cooperative partnership that allows pakistan to counterbalance its relationship with the united states. pakistan has been between spece for 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 a military outpost last month and the washington d.c. the fuse to deliver kind of policy. against any government and the same time it is very significant the top tiny's diplomat when he was in pakistan he 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. 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 sparked economic hardship and regional conflicts artie's a 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 justice. for two reasons. and. the nineteen ninety one august coup was a turning point in the country's history with images of yeltsin standing on a tank creating a new hero but 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 showing 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 your savings goals so use the collapse of the soviet union is 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 past stand out so rigidly it can feel like those two decades never happened this morning

amount a worker and guy 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 nine hundred ninety one changed all that the post soviet economies were shattered their deficit skyrocketed production plunged and it took them years to get back on their feet in the last years a soviet union there was a possibility before to solve you're going to continue with a no for terror and political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as the chinese but among the political elites 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 the national minorities started dragging the blanket to their side but there 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 trans mr 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 eight 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 bricked

a sigh of relief but it didn't last long when nato said 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 offing 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 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. some ten minutes past ten in ira let's continue more of our series

now looking back at more of the major events of twenty eleven through the eyes of our correspondents and 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 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 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 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 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 a 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 jacmel things but i could understand it was the can see the

fear and panic and also they were shouting and tsunami literally yelling in my face to get back into the car there's no news crew there chanting and then to get back in 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 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 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 spend one not one night that i was pretty unbearable because it was very cold and there's very little food around and one 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 it 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 and such but more there was certainly fear this is a town over a wall right around half way between tokyo and fukushima i'm still one hundred fifty kilometers south of the nuclear power plant but already the radiation levels here over double what of those in tokyo are going to make meeting one young family one young couple with a newborn baby actually just. i think a week old also 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 but they had left they just didn't trust what the government was saying that the sister. 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 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 and arena like by that their bridges lie strewn all over the place here a wall collapsed over here is a fall and down such is 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 its plan how obviously when i left japan. i felt great relief because covering the story being very stressful i barely eat enough barely slept but the story for me wasn't over 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. he was good to see him 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 want to catch up on again there on our website as well r.t. dot com website back to shortly something completely different a fourteen year old russian girl breaks another powerlifting record in artie's correspondents thrown into the thick of it in like eight or seven a disaster was averted i'm assured that's holy roman is a sport both 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 gas from

c.e.o. aleksey miller russia began the south stream project in order to secure delivery of gas to europe without having to go free trade that was after key of course transit disruptions saying the cost of russian energy supplies was too high as a price talks are now gotten off the ground analysts say russia could cut the capacity of south stream even abandon the project altogether if ukraine comes to terms. signaled he's ready for compromises and can even sacrifice key projects if it goes from gets direct participation in ukraine's guest transit network 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 what are the chances of it being realized with full significantly reaching out on christmas is over in most parts of the world but in russia the festive season has only just begun despite their concerns in europe and the u.s. shoppers still aren't slowing down and as our correspondent in acosta found out

russian men are at the front line of this is not 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 sand bar 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 as their 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 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. i was thinking of finally of 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 i think first global output from russia investors were moving back into stocks stuff was safe haven assets like produce gold were declined more blue chips were up as burbank up one point eight percent at the close

gazprom is also gaining a good price. believe the stock is on the whole. this year for example. the best ever year so that's the best even though it's probably the highest and that's profit the 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 do stay with us. you're.

going to be so much brighter if you only bounce song from finest impression these. start on t.v. dot com. this

is all to moscow now top stories for you dozens of new civilian deaths are avoided 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 that the u.n. estimates more than five thousand civilians have been killed in syria since march when the regime claims its fighting unarmed and surgeon saved from the flu for. shifting to the east pakistan with an eye on the future for just fresh ties not with china or.