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 iran and syria to a sas president's assad peace plan implementation as 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 post gadhafi libya have allegedly flocked to help bring revolution to president assad's door libyans are now openly voicing their support for the syrian uprising as oxana boy can discover. a butcher our dad made the owner of the ski pop shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most fitting term for syria's bashar al assad. tell us it is economic the biggest

game in the in the world not the syria. other 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're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want in syria and its soldiers we have a and our people are subject to the result just wanted only a few soldiers we have gone we have enough but i think we want to leave. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to be 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. 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 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 they move from one revolution to another some motivated by personal gain some by conviction all there is by the venture if i put them all on the vision of freedom and for now at least is 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 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're 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 anonymous freedom fighter but for the united states it's now. a 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 according to our to sources not a group of several hundred libyan rebels to syria just last month. we can do in to

support the syrian people because we know they are facing this situation before and do but it comes to be would. why the syrian people who give their freedom i think we should do what the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard done 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 this new and no less bloody chapter of some of our t. 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 big a thank you for joining us serene 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's the proper way for any sort of a formal monitor to enter a country that's in the kind of turmoil that syria. 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 is 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 we 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 now the syrian regime is already under our set of sanctions from the united states and the e.u. how's that influence the crisis and how has it affected 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 sion the people that are ruled by those governments it is the people who suffer it 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 u.s. 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 massacres 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 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 original 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. the so-called insurgents or terrorists attacks were actually instigated funded or in some cases even committed by foreign troops sometimes even by some say the 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 the cia agent that was uncovered over there and look or that's 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 did we have the middle east expert and host of the new america now radio program think you so much shereen for being with us and for offering your point on everything thank you for inviting. pakistan facing a crisis and its relations with the us 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 how talks with chinese officials last week josephs 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 throughout the history of the people's republic of china increasingly pakistan. has a certain strategic value to china certainly is for you all know pakistan's relations with the united states are in difficulties because of the nato attack on is a military outpost last month to washington d.c. the fuse to deliver kind of policy. i guess then the government and 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 it's high number to mediating role between the military and the 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 chew over explores the legacy of the soviet collapse. even today many generate their own

explanations for the fall of the global goliath but some putting it down to the rule of just a few. i'll give you two reasons. and you should. 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 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 parts stand out so rigidly it can feel like those two decades never happened this one human to 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 worker 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. nineteen ninety one changed all that the post soviet economy is were shattered their deficits skyrocketed production plunged and it took them years to get back on their feet in the last years the soviet union there was a possibility before to solve you're going to continue with 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 elite many didn't want to support the drive to modernize and in turn save the union instead they wanted to destroy it and during that descent many republics were plunged into ethnic violence after gaining independence or before when it was clear the union was falling apart

it seems to have national minorities started dragging the blanket to their side but it was at that time that georgia forcefully included self-assertive and applies here into its territories very 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 set about creating a new wall made of. the alliance steadily move 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 offing russia could have expected that there wouldn't be a nato expansion that. russia itself but perhaps. 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 for ever 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 and bill of this guy 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 didn't mean that one should have started with an economic treaty if we had signed a treaty establishing a single. expensed i think it would have been

a step towards preserving an upgraded modernized soviet union which could have freed its self from the darker part 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. if we look back at history any large employer 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 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 benefit 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 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. as it's a completely different picture but even today creating a single economic space if it's done properly it will scale and we currently have agreements with the recent kazakhstan pertaining to that and it's also possible that kyrgyzstan will join in if it all goes well. it'll be one of the pillars of

securing integrity and preventing any dissolution. don't just cause that was clear 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 so no 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 the others 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 would be a great advantage in a solution as you pointed out it is

a well known fact that economic problems where the primary contributing factor to the us the stars the solution today it will look at the us and the e.u. shaken by a particle 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 don't know i don't think so because of course some serious impact is inevitable in the case of europeans so much i would call 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 or 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 or to have complied with the requirements or you would have a different attitude to those who joined the union just recently set up with seventy. here's

a hypothetical questions just several years after the collapse of the soviet union nato war and he was 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 it no more. 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 this is 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 independently without taking notice of the soviet union or russia. i was going to work or were i saw what price did russia 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 or what have you 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 nothing of the style also and here's the final question the u.s.s.r. promoted a certain ideology any strong states. 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 called a national idea has not been articulated yet but 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 you're welcome.

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thank you for joining us six thirty here in moscow i'm characterizing with a quick recap of your headlines 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 fighting for regime change there do you want us to mates more than five thousand civilians have been killed in a serious since march and while the regime claims it's fighting an armed insurgency . a new ally pakistan seeks closer cooperation with china.