live in iraq from moscow you're watching r t you're most welcome my name's kevin zero in and it's just after midnight here now activists in syria claim twenty seven civilians have been killed by government troops over the last 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 the president the sad story libyans are now openly voicing their support for the syrian uprising as of his exam a boy found. a butcher our dad made the owner of these kebab

shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most fitting term for syria's bashar al assad. is a chemical the biggest name in the world not the syria. other syria. you can't make it out of the people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have 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 just on if the soldiers we have all 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 tripoli residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the. a young man who looked

on adrenaline 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 will 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. with the help of we can all be like 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 buoyant marketplace for soldiers of fortune they move from one revolution to another some 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 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 my prayers 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 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 anonymous freedom fighter but for the united states it's now one of the high combat hige one of the leaders of triple a 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 li been rebels to syria just last month. we can't do any to support the syrian people because they are facing the same situation as we were before and do appreciate it comes to libby when. the syrian people who 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 or saved 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 r.t. tripoli. come your way this hour disastrous chain reaction. suddenly there was there was panic i was outside of the car about to film the sound. and the police and the emergency workers saw me just a sound saying. it was all in jack things but i could understand there was that you

could see the fear panic and also they were shouting tsunami literally yelling in my face to get back into the car one of our team of international correspondents i have a band that looks back at the risks he had to take while reporting from the ravaged by the war power of nature. back a star 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 us military and this year's raid to kill osama bin ladin without islam with knowledge the pakistani president is now firming up his country's friendship with beijing holding talks with chinese officials last week just have changed professor of political science at hong kong city university says the two countries have an important cooperate in partnership that allows pakistan to counterbalance its relationship with the united states. has been

beaching spece of the history of the people's republic of china increasingly pakistan has 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 and washington d.c. we feel has to deliver the kind of policy demanded by the pakistani 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 the government and certainly tensions between the tool have been high in the recent year or so. it was a day to celebrate and what to commiserate for others it's twenty years since the soviet union was dissolved the fall of communism through end of the cold war and created more than a dozen new nations but it also supposed economic hardship and regional conflicts not as a country groucho over 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 a few. 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 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 here 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 savings goals so use the collapse of the soviet union is the biggest geopolitical disaster 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 amanda worker 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 one thousand nine hundred ninety one changed all that the post soviet economy is were shattered their deficit 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 us over here to continue with for terror and political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as authorities 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 a true gaining independence or before when it was clear the union was falling apart it seems for you in the national minority 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 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 of the search here and over one hundred thousand more 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 gripped a sigh of relief but it didn't last long when nato set about creating a new wall made of me sells the allies 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 rush off in russia could have expected to there wouldn't be a 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 sixteen grandchildren or a teen. twenty years all were asking what do you think about a rose interested in your opinion what do you think the collapse of the u.s.s.r. meant for the world we're asking that it r.t. dot com this is what you're telling me forty one percent of you say quote it would have been good if nato would get what i was three of you telling us it left the u.s. and also the view that communism often hope for a better future is coming next with fourteen percent eleven percent take view saying we're better off without quote the evil empire the chance to rule said r.t. dot com one of there is well i want to check out these stories we've got online for you how flashing dollar bills could give you a bad reputation the latest security advice in the united states says that paying

with cash could brand you a terrorist suspect plus. lovely drug fest of seeing their performance of russian carroll's classical favorite folk songs of the cabin he said from washington played by russia's renowned new from america. now to continue our series looking back at some of the major events of twenty eleven through the eyes of our own correspondents who covered the today we're focusing on japan's earthquake and tsunami that killed over ten thousand and caused explosions at the fukushima nuclear plant party's over bennett reflects on his experience reporting from japan in the hours after the tragedy. covering the earthquake and tsunami in japan was very difficult because i was actually on my own the cameraman and produce an 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 live stream of or 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 see you every legs. and i remember actually 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 can. you feel yourself shaking slightly and it is 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 and 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 seeing. it was all in jack things but i could understand it was the can to see the fear panic and also they were shouting in tsunami literally yelling in my face to get back into the car as another news crew they're chanting and then get back into the garden and go in and as fast as possible because there was this. and there's a threat of another that 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. racing inland as fast as we could weaving our way in between all the daybreak. 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 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 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 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 one of their rations but he would 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 push him 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 was in 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 of 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 to mimic meeting one young fan. one young couple with a newly born baby actually just. i think a week old or so just been born to cover the 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 a kid by whatever means possible. and then suddenly the tempo changed when there was a third explosion and then the fourth explosion and 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 on the 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've got 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 wall collapsed over here elss of fallen down such as the force of the tsunami this is also the point where we're going to turn back because big 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 kareena story's been very stressful by bending the chin up a nice legs 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. every day into the new year will bring in more personal reflections from our correspondents on the events that molded the news of twenty eleven those stories that they brought to you if you want to catch more of them as well there on our web site r.t. dot com. will do some brief now a suicide attack is killed at least seven in iraq and injured thirty two others by detonating a car bomb in the middle of the morning rush hour the bomber drove his vehicle into a security checkpoint outside the interior ministry five policemen are among the dead no words claimed responsibility yet but suicide attacks are all hallmarks 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 u.s. troops. international communities condemned sunday's bomb attacks in nigeria which claimed at least thirty nine lives including children the 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 across the country which is split almost equally between christians and muslims. south korea's former first lady. heading a morning delegation to north korea to pay respects to the late leader kim jong il they've made youngest son kim jong un who's been named as his successor now the group's m.p.r. new angus part of a two day visit but they're not representing the government he has said in the statement she hoped the trip would help improve relations between the two countries which are still technically at war the north korean leader died from a heart attack almost ten days ago. well as we reported earlier twenty years ago

the world's largest country ceased to exist next then we talked to a man with inside knowledge who witnessed the unraveling of the soviet union firsthand.

do you perhaps recall saying once that you do not understand what stopped the president of the us to start mikhail gorbachev 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 in bolivia sky pusha drunk and groggy on their legs just about to sign of these documents that they were jotting down on the spot and simply take them to their homes instead of arresting them and just take away these papers but this was not the key thing the key thing was and it was brought to gorbachev attention and i did tell him about it too in the presence of others that one should have started with an economic treaty

if we had signed a treaty establishing a single economic space i think it would have been a step towards preserving an upgraded modernized soviet union which could have freed itself from the da. part of its legacy gorbachev gave a public response the next day after we had made the 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 in the process. if we look back at history any large inquiry disorder sooner or later do you think that having

a single economics piece would have been enough to avert dissolution. of course it wouldn't have been enough but it would have been a huge contribution to averting dissolution and you see we can't really compare that situation with today for instance as they are completely different and that's because back then in the soviet union everything was centralized and existed as a single system and no one gained anything through dissolution no one did perhaps russia benefited a little more than others because it's larger and stronger and has a more developed economy but on a large scale no one gained anything that's beyond question by now the republics of evolved into sovereign states which have come a long way and developed a connections and relations with other states in the west and with china and so long those 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 bella ruse and kazakhstan pertaining to that and it's also possible that curious dan will join in if it all goes well it will be one of the pillars of securing integrity and preventing any dissolution for them where they were just always the risk already. it's possible to restore something similar to the soviet union through your asian economic community which comprises several core soviet republics. no i don't think of it as anything similar to the soviet union there's nothing today that can be similar to the soviet union in any way but integration is one of the driving forces of globalization and it's taking effect everywhere we go along with these forces and today we can say that the trans nationalisation tendency in business as well as integration process is at stake levels are the driving forces of today's reality so if we succeed in going along with them if we take over these forums and promote our agenda through them and this agenda will not differ much from that of the west we will additionally focus more

on the national interests of each state i think it will be a great advantage in a solution as you pointed out it is a well known fact that economic problems were the primary contributing factor to the us the stars dissolution today it will look at the us and the e.u. shaken by a purple economic crisis can we expect an up or america to discourse at some point too similar to the way the us has started and you know no i don't think so of course some serious impact is inevitable in the case of europeans so much i recall a talk i had with a person i deeply respect or former chancellor schmidt of west germany or he 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 impact 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 the issues on the other hand the old timers of the union were to have complied with the requirements or you would have

a different attitude to those who joined the union just recently. and here's the final question on the u.s.s.r. promoted a certain ideology any strong state needs to have an ideology and. i think russia has come up with some of its own. can go regional so not only wants they called a national idea has not been articulated yet 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 you're not going to they represent russia's national idea that question thank you but you're welcome. among the least exploded koreas. and touched by money.

surrounded by steep long. case paintings on display for thousands of years. eastern science beyond the time you come on t.v. . cluck cluck. cluck. more news today violence is once again flared up the

film these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. the giant corporations are the day. the mother. this r.t. from moscow it's midnight thirty here top stories for you dozens of new civilian deaths 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 now fighting for regime change there the u.n. is estimating that more than five thousand civilians have been killed in syria since march when the regime claimed was fighting an armed insurgency. shifting the east pakistan with an eye on the future of forges fresh tire.