thanks. first group of arab monitors is in syria to assess the situation on the ground this as reports emerge of tanks firing on the city of palms causing casualty numbers to rise. a new ally pakistan turns to china after last month's deadly drone attack shattered its already strained relations with the u.s. . and its twenty years since the fall of the soviet union but there's still heated debate about whether it's break up changed people's lives for the better. thank you for joining us with our team this tuesday at six o'clock here in moscow

with a look at your stories fifty arab league monitors have arrived in syria to a sas president assad peace plan implementation this is the first time foreign observers have been allowed inside the country since internal fighting erupted in march meanwhile more than twenty people have reportedly been killed as tanks opened fire on the city of homes damascus claims its fighting and armed insurgency orchestrated from abroad r.t. has learned that hundreds of fighters from posted off in libya have allegedly flocked to help bring revolution to president assad's door libyans are now openly voicing their support for the syrian uprising and socks on a boycott discovered. a butcher or dad made the owner of the ski shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most fitting time for syria's bashar al assad to show us that is a commitment to begin giving up in the world not in syria. another syria. you get we get

a lot 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 have very firm. where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want syria and its soldiers we have. enough people such as syria it is all just bloody long if this soldier 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 these 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.

over the portraits of shady bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary. war with the help of we can all belong to give aren't fighting for peace and freedom around the world and it seems that che guevara's idea of exporting revolutions have gotten a second birth in the middle east the arab spring has created a buoyant marketplace for soldiers of fortune the mobile one revolution to another son motivated by personal gain some by conviction others by the venture if i put out all the vision afraid them and for now at least in the freedom to leave 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 bound

on you tube while it's still unclear who is pulling the trigger there are terrorists neighbors 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 they're 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 for the united states it's now two in one day hiking but hodge one of the leaders of tripoli militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's a face of the democratic leader who are courting to artists or says not a group of several hundred li been rebels to syria just last month we can do in here to support the syrian people because we they are facing the same situation as before and do but it comes to be when. the syrian people have

to give their freedom i think we should do it the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard and for centuries a save garci 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 x. in the wake of artsy tripoli. for more analysis on the situation in syria we are now joined live from san francisco by littlest expert and radio host serene so biggie thank you for joining us arain arab league observers have a difficult task ahead of them if they are to get all sides to agree to the peace deal how long will it take them to complete their mission and what is it exactly they're looking for well i think the key part of your question is what is it exactly that they're looking for and it seems to me that can be answered in one word and that's trouble they're looking for trouble i don't believe that they're

going in there without assumptions without biases and i don't think that that that's the proper way for any sort of a formal monitor to enter a country that's in the kind of turmoil that syria is in but what if the arab league concludes that assad is violating his part of the deal what can they do then i don't think that there's any doubt that they will do that that's why they're going into syria as it is you have to kind of look at the history of the arab league which today many many critics might refer to as the american league or the british league or the french league i don't think that it's an independent and i don't think that anyone or many i believe many people would agree with me when i say that it's not clear whether their interests are with the interests of the of the arab people when the syrian regime is already under our set of sanctions from

the united states and the e.u. how is that influence the crisis and how is it effected at the syrian people. you know when the u.s. and the e.u. and the un and nato and whoever else you want to put in the mix sanction governments what they do in effect is saying ssion the people that are ruled by those governments it is the people who suffer is the people who do not get food that they need who lose jobs. that don't get the energy and water and sanitation and all the basic needs that they require to live on a daily basis it's the people that lose out when sanctions take place so if the us government's primary interest is with the people of syria then then these tactics of sanctions and their governments are quite contrary to that objective now what happens after mass chaos does and its crackdown and agrees to negotiate with the

opposition can we expect that the forces well unite and be committed to peace. i think that crackdown is a problematic word i think it's clear that there are. opposing sides in syria right now there is the government but the government has different layers and they're opposition groups and they're not all united i think what's not clear and what a lot of the international media is not paying attention to is who exactly is instigating this violence who is the hind the people that are instigating this violence and whose interests are actually being met right now in syria what i think is very clear to anyone who has any sense of decency or humanity is that the syrian people are suffering they are suffering from this violence they are suffering from the sanctions that they are they are not being helped by arab league

and its monitors who as you know as recently as november chick syria out of the very meager that it helped to found that sharing there been reports indicating that hundreds of armed fighters from libya have infiltrated syria and are now gunning against the region regime damascus does of course claim to be fighting an insurgency that's being funded from abroad what exactly is your take on all of this . i think if you look at iraq before us before us before today if you look at pakistan if you look at libya itself there has been a great deal of the best reporting that has revealed that. so-called insurgents or terrorists attacks were actually instigated funded or in some cases even committed by foreign troops sometimes even by some save troops that are western allies and westerners british french and american if you recall what happened in pakistan

a few months ago this year with a cia agent that was uncovered over there and look for that exactly what came out of that which is that the u.s. government had some kind of ties to suicide bombings that were happening in pakistan so when we talk about insurgency in syria or insurgent attacks taking place in syria i can't personally and i think there are a lot of people who would agree with me even determine who those insurgents are serene so we have the middle east expert and host of a new america now radio program thank you so much serene for being with us and for offering your point on everything. thank you. pakistan facing a crisis and its relations with the u.s. is now seeking to firm up the country's friendship with china ties with america have taken a blow after last month's deadly drone attack by the us military and this year's raid to kill osama bin laden without islam being told the pakistani president now

seeking support from beijing held talks with chinese officials last week joseph chang a professor of political science at hong kong city university says the two countries have an important relationship that allows pakistan to counterbalance its tense relations with the states. pakistan has been between spece of the history of the people's republic of china increasingly pakistan. has a certain strategic view to china certainly is for you all know pakistan's relations with the united states in difficulties because of the nato attack on is a military post last month to washington d.c. the fuse to deliver kind of policy. i guess then the government at the same time it is very significant and the top chinese 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 number two mediating role between the military and of government and certainly tensions between the tool. in the recent year also. two decades ago the soviet union fell apart leading to a major change in the world's geo political balance and creating more than a dozen new nations artie's it at that and i'm going to show explores the legacy of the soviet collapse. even today many generate their own explanations for the fall of the global goliath with some putting it down to the rule of just

a few. ok for two reasons gorbachev. 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 sure of us that this was going to go on forever so all the billions and billions and billions that the u.s. imported 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 risk and 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 who isn't so took six years some thirty million dollars to restore not even the government would consider taking down what is among the most famous unofficial symbols of the u.s.s.r. . and strong worker and a portly collective farmer were a symbol of prosperity and stability in a country with a planned economy everyone knew they would be provided with their metaphorical

hammer and sickle. and knew exactly how much to produce with them nineteen ninety one changed all that the post soviet 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 for your you to continue with i know for a terror and political regime but to liberalize the economy in the market in the same way as the target. 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 before when it was clear the union was falling apart it seems the national minority started dragging the blanket to their side it was at that time that georgia forcefully included self-assertive and apprise year into its

territories similar ethnic clashes between armenia and azerbaijan claimed the lives of over thirty thousand people one thousand people were killed in the 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 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 briefed 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 europe's new security framework the west broke a number of promises to russia off in russia could have expected that 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 u.s.s.r. 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. i'll be back with a recap of our top stories in just about thirty minutes time next we talked to a man who witnessed the all around billing of the soviet union first hand as the world's largest country ceased to exist twenty years ago that interview is coming up next.

do you perhaps recall saying once that you do not understand what stopped the president of the u.s.s.r. 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 off 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 economics. based i think it would have been a step towards preserving an upgraded modernized soviet union which could have freed itself from the darker 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 supra national 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. that history any large inquire a 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 to put 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 put on a large scale no one gained anything beyond question by now the republic 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 the recent 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. don't just cause those do you

think it's possible to restore something similar to the soviet union through your asian economic community which comprise a 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 level shows are the driving forces of today's reality so if we succeed in going along with them as for good 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. as you pointed out it is a well known fact that economic problems with a primary contributing factor to the us the stars the solution today it will look

at the us and the e.u. shaken by a powerful economic crisis can we expect an up or america to discourse at some point too similar to the way the u.s.s.r. did it and you know whom no i don't think so because 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 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 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 took up with. here's a hypothetical questions just several years after the collapse of the soviet union nato weren't here with 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. it. would be talking of nato as 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 foot steps 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 make even have been prevalent in some circles that is why they felt an ever growing desire to act independently without taking notice of the soviet union or russia. or us going to work. 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 price was tremendous economically last more than joining the second world war when 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. and roman abramovich going to listen to the horrendous stories of what have businesses were given protection by crime in officials or 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 know some of the still says that and here's the final question the u.s.s.r. promoted a certain ideology any strong state needs. to have an ideology do you think russia has come up with some of its own. ideas can go to now suddenly once they call the

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 very much you're welcome. whether you dive from high or to the depths. cohens catch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents.

the feeling well prepared is a must and if you are lucky and know for you'll never forget your experience only nice them a screen that's going to be heaven. in the flight see up close and below the ice on our t.v. . among the least exploding areas. and untouched by money. surrounded by stupid law. case paintings on display for thousands of. eastern sign beyond the time of the fall on chief.

move. move move move move move. move move move. just so pissed so. odd.

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