it's u.s. relationship lurching from one crisis to the next but the strains heightened by the covert american raid that killed osama bin ladin as well as last month's drone attack that left twenty four pakistani soldiers dead. and also in the program we continue our look back at the big stories that shape the year focusing now today on japan ravaged by natural disasters the white house news of live from the millions fearing a global nuclear catastrophe. suddenly the tempo changed when there was a third explosion in the fourth explosion and different reactors in fukushima one morning the happening very quick succession and suddenly. everyone was very scared of a band of one of our teams international correspondents there sharing his memories on the destruction he witnessed the horror he faced hearing more from him a bit later. but exactly twenty years ago to the day the u.s.s.r. the world's largest country at the time ceased to exist the collapse of the soviet union brought with it an end to the cold war and gave birth to

a dozen new countries but also hardship and ethnic tension former republics gained independence but for many that meant years of economic instability and ethnic unrest to this day there are split opinions about whether the fall of the union brought more harm than good the august ninety ninety one coup was seen as the trigger for the eventual collapse thousands of people were saying history rewritten right in front of their eyes next we talked to a man with inside knowledge he witnessed the unraveling of the union first how. do you perhaps recall seeing ones that you do not understand would stop the president of the us a star but you. from using military force in order to prevent the signing of the

treaty enforcing 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 go which i was 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 parts 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 many in fact were ready to go along with that even the baltic states were ready to go along with the idea of preserving a single economic space is the principle. that if we look back at history any large enquiry 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 a. 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 republican have 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 and 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. where there were just as there

was credit do you think it's possible to restore something similar to the soviet union through your asian economic community which comprises 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 trials nationalisation tendency in business as well as integration process is at state level are the driving forces of today's reality so if we succeed in going along with them for that 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 and a solution as you pointed out it is a well known fact that economic problems with a primary contributor. factor to the u.s.s.r.

is the solution today it will look at the u.s. and the e.u. shaken by a purple 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 europe 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 or on the other hand the old timers of the union were to have complied with the requirements would have a different attitude to those who joined the union just recently. quit it includes 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 with that no more show or shrink or 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 was to show support for the us position sure to follow in its footsteps was 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 may even have been prevalent in some circles that is why they felt an ever growing desire to act into. penitently without taking notice of

the soviet union or russia or the us gov list i was going to go with. what price to try to have to pay for such a spineless policy when as you said it followed in the footsteps of the us. mint the good the price was tremendous ability but economically the last more than join 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 of between bodies but it's all ski and roman abramovich not going to listen to the horrendous stories of what how business is more given protection by crime and officials who are 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 cannot do. that 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. where you can go regional certainly 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 sure 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 with your welcome. culture is that so much a lot of people at highbury of course there is it all up to twenty years ago historic event happened the soviet union came to an end and with it the conclusion of a cold what is the soviet union's. the

least explain rhea's. and i'm touched by my. surrounded by steep law. case paintings on display for thousands of years.

beyond the time go. on see. whether you dive from high or to the depths. catch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents. the well prepared is a must and if you're lucky. you'll never forget your experience. we only miss them

a screen that's going to be covered. in the white see up close and below the ice on our t.v. . me completely eat eat eat eat eat eat eat eat come.

home. i'll use. a little bit hit me.

the headlines dozens of new civilian deaths reported is syria as the arab league gears up to monitor the implementation of a peace plan but hundreds of mercenaries from abroad origin in fighting for regime change there the u.n. estimates now more than five thousand civilians have been killed in syria since march while the regime claims its fighting an armed insurgency funded from abroad. shifting to the east pakistan with an eye on the future forgers fresh ties with china has its u.s. relationship staggers from one crisis to the next but the strains heightened by the covert american raid that killed osama bin laden and last month's drone attack that left twenty four pakistani soldiers dead. and some celebrate

a few commiserate it's the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the soviet union and opinion still splits about whether breaking up the country was the best choice for its people it ended the cold war and paved the way for democracy but sparked a series of bloody regional conflicts and economic downturn. this is our monday night sport. oh and of all compass for an artsy coming to you from the russian capital with me ramani costs are about first as usual the headlines. dress for success for russia snowboarders receive brand new uniforms out of their new season and salt she wins or nit picks in twenty four it's a. good five seconds to go at two point zero from derrick rose gives the

bulls a narrow victory over the los angeles lakers in the new n.b.a. season. r.t. on the mats our correspondent explores the simplistic it world all the japanese martial are called by. all that's coming elbow will start with ice hockey where there were eight games on offer in the continental hockey league on sunday to mobilise conceded in there and nine consecutive match after losing to go on home ice all over in with the score all for suit defending a gory cup champion sell out your life want to hold match against war with the same for two scoreline tracks or it should have been scored through second period goals against visit saints or better news minogue earth which were enough to win the match to its ongoing cup winners are the bars defeated visiting side c.b.d. by three parks one while cape shells bad boys it has lost two or tribals of a guard in the moscow region by the narrowest of margins to one nifty kimi beat me

to lucknow because that's. the match between severstal and you grok and it's scoreless in regulation and overtime but the home side go the upper hand in the penalty shoot out while spartak moscow lost to the visiting and that's a look at warsaw so one. so missile are going to divorce have now moved up to fourth in the eastern conference of the continental hockey league following that narrow two one victory over sparta. right here in the russian capital now the visitors opened the scoring five minutes into the second period. on the scoreboard for the other kind of charges the moscow spectators had to wait until the beginning of the third period where the dushan got a long way to the equaliser as he made the most of a power play to make it all the lord's response was that much quicker. needed only forty four seconds to put his teammates in france again sealing the final results off to one spark second from bottom in the west. snowboarding

now where it seem russia have presented the new kits in which they will perform for the next three years including that's what the fourteen home and then takes in tsotsi the russian alpine skiing and snowboarding federation has signed a sponsorship deal with one of the biggest brands in extreme sports equipment the country is becoming one of the powerhouses and trendsetters in the snowboarding world with many athletes competing for podium places the outfit was presented by members of the national seeing and among them was a european cup winner in big city gate. and sell female boarders in parallel slalom to guess who won it's also all of six races last season also claiming the first ever world cup title for her country and. who was the first russian's acknowledge olympic silver medal in snowboarding in vancouver despite a poor start of the current season the borers are eyeing an overall win at the world cup with the next stage starting on january the thirteenth in austria.

i started this year's campaign with a second place but it later stages my results became even worse however i do conclusions and worked hard to improve in my performance it's still a long way to go for me to try and win that woke up for the second straight year. i was age just like last year but i feel to improve on my results so far i was just unlucky. three know is the right twenty so after the world cup speech is turning in january before much better international told the rankings. so the harwood now where opening games of the new n.b.a. season were finally held in one of them a former n.b.a. champions los angeles lakers have started the new season with defeats kobe bryant and company losing to the chicago bulls on home court by single point eighty eight eighty seven the visitors had a narrow two point lead after the first quarter they extended their advantage to seven by halftime mainly thanks to derrick rose who would eventually finish with

twenty two points for the visitors the lakers woke up only in the third period as bryant with his partners added eight more than their rivals to find themselves one point ahead by the beginning of the fourth quarter dunk from josh mcroberts giving los angeles a sixty nine sixty eight means besides were neck and neck for the final twelve minutes but with less than five seconds to go rose added the most important to point to seal the final result the game finished eighty eight eighty seven in favor of the bulls. stand across the ocean where in the n.f.l. the green bay packers have clinched the number one seed in the playoffs that's asked for a beating of a chicago bears on home serve thirty five twenty one aaron rogers turned out to be the hero of the night as he had the first down match of his career rogers may twenty one of twenty nine passes for two hundred eighty three yards and five scores german michael finn they call it once and make it seven nil to the hosts in the

first quarter jordy nelson james jones downs of peace with the packers improved to fourteen wins and one defeat in this season. and that brings us to go which is considered to be one of the most complicated martial arts russian leading instructors gave t.v. reporters a unique opportunity to finds out what it is all of. out firsthand are they on has more. the japanese martial arts or for kiddo he's in to keep one it means way of her more in a spirit and doesn't involve any offensive moves at all and teaches you to use your opponent's aggression and power against him without causing injuries living many developing it can be really effective might be probably one of the reasons why russian leaning i keep instructors held the muscle class court t.v. correspondents in moscow and promptly showed some specific i.q.

did petitions. now what if somebody tries to take your microphone away don't resist getting saw it and it's still in your hands. it's all the same if you need to take it away from somebody else. just get inside like this. and take the microphone however it only looks that easy in the hands of a skilled i.q. the practitioner if it's different when it comes to one man who was maybe just a bit over confident after war now we're alone lesson. here is the way you get you through is a fool who is bigger and stronger than you. who are seeking the other skills just like ito was also known as a martial art for intellectuals is a very sophisticated one so those who hope to gain skills very quickly soon quit my kiddo tasks are much tougher than some stand up fighting or wrestling techniques as

in judo or something. nevertheless having experience in a different martial arts can only help in starting a kid where perfect balance and coordination are a must the russian national team member in the player would know is a perfect proof of that but initially having had a vast do the bare ground in two thousand and one she became the first ever russian woman to get a mussar sports degree kito this border though he put it takes more time to reach a decent level of skills in my career than in other martial arts how do i can patients that's their new way one can become really good i keep i some start with a background in other martial arts some just start from scratch that's possible at any age i keep the founder money taught that kids can steer their way of harmonious spirit as soon as they are able to work the earlier you start the closer we get to perfection robert for the new and arty more skilled. well that

a year to go before the summer olympics and yet an amazing letter that came to one aims to win his first ever gold medal for his home country now this seventeen year old young man is one of the country's most talented young athletes he made. his international debut for vietnam at the two thousand and nine world youth weightlifting championships in thailand winning three silver medals a year later he represented his nation at the inaugural youth and picks in singapore where he claimed gold in the fifty six kilograms of vision his form in twenty eleven was impressive he smashed two world records at the recent asian championships and lifting its old self two hundred seventy seven kilograms it's a nature is currently the world's sole pragyan here and is second in this senior rankings. to win a gold medal for vietnam at an event as big as that in big games in london would mean so much to me i would be so happy for me it would be the perfect way to pay

back the love and belief that it's a minute people have shown to me. and finally let's move on to a variation of weightlifting now where russia's marianna no more ball has set the new under fourteen world record at a recent russian powerlifting cup right here in moscow that's all of year old after he won the competition in style with an impressive results should bench pressed seventy seven point five kilograms despite an injured shoulder which is strange during the warm up but she coped with the pain and finished the tournaments up marianna hopes to enhance her current result by lifting eighty kilos next year. that's all for now there will be more sport on artsy very soon meanwhile our youtube channel at r.t. sport news is always available so head there to rates and comments on some of the stories seen right here thanks for watching.

wealthy british scientists. like. markets. scandal find out what's really happening to the global economy. global financial headlines to name two kinds of reports.

good.

witnesses. to history in the making of. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. .

dozens of new civilian deaths are reported in syria as the arab league gears up to monitor the implementation of the peace plan put hundreds of mercenaries from abroad or allegedly fighting for regime change there. shifting to the east now with an eye on the future of forces fresh ties with china after last month's deadly drone attack shattered it's already tense relationships with the u.s. . on the blessing say it's twenty years since the fall of the u.s.s.r. and opinion still split about whether breaking up the union was the best choice for its people.