after three days inside the country. it is now at thirty four hours until the new year here in moscow it's good to have you with us this is artsy with me roar research showing tension between the u.s. and iran is mounting with tehran threatening to block a crucial oil supply route in the hormuz strait the u.s. meantime has positioned two warships in the area where iran is carrying out a naval war games demonstration merely to ensure passage remains free and open but it's not he's gone nature can explain the situation there could ultimately escalate into all out war. responding to iran's warning the u.s. said no such disruption would be tolerated and that the u.s. fifth fleet that's based in the gulf would ensure that doesn't happen the strait of hormuz links the golf and the oil producing states of bahrain kuwait qatar saudi

arabia the united arab emirates to the indian ocean about forty percent of the world's tanker ship oil passes through that strait it's a major oil artery a potential cut off might cost turmoil in the global oil market although a saudi official said that golf nations were ready to offset any loss of iranian crude from the statements here you get a sense that washington things iran is bluffing because there have been there had been such threats before but right now you are in finds itself in a situation where it's a livelihood its main source of livelihood is in danger the u.s. congress passed a bill that would dramatically complicate transactions through iran's central bank european and asian nations import iranian oil and use its central bank food for their transactions president obama has yet to sign that bill that's going to be a severe blow to the iranian economy around eighty percent of its revenues depend

on crude sales e.u. ministers say they will make a decision on whether or not to boycott the iranian oil in coming weeks and those threats that are coming from iran indicate that it's ready to take action to protect its interests tensions rise the west says all the rana has to do is to give up their nuclear program iran says they're not doing anything wrong by pursuing a peaceful nuclear program for civilian purposes the rhetoric here in washington against iran is getting very harsh the u.s. spy drone shot down by the uranium before that a washington accusing iran of plotting to kill the saudi ambassador to the u.s. and blow up the israeli and saudi embassy in washington those were just some of the most recent episodes it all adds up and creates a lot of tension now if something happens over the strait of hormuz this could erupt into an all out war. what is going to educate reporting right there what we're always eager to know your take on our story time for you to get involved we're asking you what the deadlock in the strait of hormuz will actually lead to

bring out the numbers right here on r.t. here we are about a third of you think it will have no serious consequences being just another move in a long ongoing game or half you believe america will take advantage of the situation to strike iran the rest are split between two options here whether iran will teach the west lesson of what it's like to be deprived of vital supplies or america will back off with its sanctions to cast a vote if you have the time but r.t. dot com. well our oil traders are closely watching the growing tension between iran and the u.s. and are joining me to discuss what they make of the situation is our business out of the pool thank you for coming on the program today certainly there's going to be a lot of jitters all over the world when you consider the vast amount of oil that comes out of the hormuz strait if indeed iran does follow up with this threat to block off this this small but vital patch of economic water so to speak just how high crude oil prices will be the worst case scenario the sky is the limit i mean

if the political situation is. broke we need iran which is a pretty sure fire way of starting a military conflict then we're talking about two hundred dollars a barrel two of the fifty dollars about who knows forty percent of the world's always probably goes through that particular little there's a gap in the ocean and. completely disrupting that supply of course would have enormous impact over that it seems to be unlikely to happen in the market is not banking on but if you look at the way the price is really risen in the last few days it's called sort of steadily outwards but it hasn't shown a huge leap it doesn't have people thinking my goodness they're going to cut off you know nearly half of the world's oil supply but on this certainly completely heals all of the west certain european countries have voiced the need for sanctions against iran would. so called non cooperation with nuclear issues and iran is saying automatically if you go ahead with these sanctions then we might fulfill our threat of blocking off the whole move straight as you would say you said fifteen

million barrels of oil passing through there every day if iran did for some reason blocked off the strait all the while there are two american warships in the area but if it did lock off wouldn't it be shooting yourself in the foot economically speaking it would be shooting itself in the foot economically and everybody else in the foot it seems to be a likely to have lowered. the e.u. actually proposed this initially to cut off oil supplies from iran and all sort france did the other members of the sort of backtracked from that and said we don't think that's a terribly good idea it's going to ruin an already difficult economy so i think it's unlikely that these sanctions will go ahead all right artes of business editor nick poole i thank you very much for coming the program. well egyptian forces have been raiding the offices of human rights groups throughout the country reports say soldiers stopped employees leaving and interrogated them while searching their computers let's get more now from an auction who's just across the street in good

to see you so what exactly do we know about what's been going on. well rory indeed on thursday just carried out unprecedented armed raids on at least seventeen high profile human rights and pro-democracy organizations not only you're right in the capital cairo but all across the country and it's been done in a very brutal in a very unpleasant way policemen and soldiers swept into office into a gated people didn't let anybody you know out didn't actually let the people make calls to their relatives and eventually seized computers and documents from the offices among those targeted organizations were the u.s. government funded national democratic institute the international republican institute who's chairman is now republican senator john mccain and freedom house so as you can see and. sponsored from abroad especially for america has been targeted washington whose military aid to egypt amounts at one point three billion dollars has been very quick to react expressing its. disappointment with what happened in

egypt on the thursday call it highly provocative and calling on egypt to try to resolve it as soon as possible and to return the stuff that has been taken from the ngos employees the organizations themselves have also responded they've condemned the raids carried out in egypt. claiming it reminded them about tough times and egypt's former dictator hosni mubarak. must ask you why. perhaps it's been a tough year for egypt does it have anything to do with the post revolutionary developments that. egypt is going through tough times of course these days clashes between demonstrators and police and soldiers still continue northwards the country continuing claim lives just last week it ended in the dust of that leaves at least fifteen people and these days a supreme council of military forces egypt's new authority is often criticized for being too slow and too undetermined in promised democratic reforms are struggling

to cling to power very sensitive about any influence especially from abroad and very sensitive about control and they're trying to keep power and to control everything and of course as part of this. as you wish paranoia might suspect these are going to zation is especially n.g.o.s sponsored from abroad from america. supporters and maybe even sponsoring supporters all across egypt. has more information about live in istanbul thank you. well egyptian forces have been raiding the offices of human rights groups or throughout the country as we are saying reports say that soldiers stopped employees leaving and interrogated them as maria was also discussing searching their computers foreign policy analyst a doctor. told us that the military government making sure that it stays in power. this is part of the military the supreme council of armed forces way of making

sure. the you know who you should and basically is molded to the to the type of government they want because that's those are the same generals by the way who worked for mubarak. so that's really basically is part of that struggle is going to be usually i'm going to go forward or is there who isn't going to be more all that and subdued into some visible role to the middle but really the military has to step aside and let the civilian government come to power once the election are held and the election should be held as soon as possible they were not given the power that easily but i think the egyptian people and the arabs in general have lost their fear from corrupt government and they have restored of their dignity and they will not tolerate another military dictatorship in the country i think all the evidence indicate that despite the sacrifices they have given. and egypt is also on

the table of the year ending cross-talk program where people of elder and his guests discuss the trend setting moments of two thousand and eleven it is coming your way next hour here on r.t. but for now a sneak peek. we're going to see the fulfillment of a lot of the hopes that you saw occur when mubarak actually fell because like i said you can take the snakes head off but what about the rest of the body will just rot at the expense of everyone else so it's a lot easier to decapitate the snake then tire actually kill it you know the system is in fact more entrenched and more dangerous and more vicious now than it was even under mubarak in during the time when the protests actually started the system is very good it generated itself regenerating itself and the core issues in egypt which ultimately are not just about democracy it is about bread it is about economics. you watching r.t.

live from moscow now arab league monitors are heading to three more syrian cities to witness the government's peace plan implementation earlier they visited the city of homs saying the situation there is quote reassuring although clashes are said to be continuing with twenty five reportedly killed on thursday across the country information coming from the country it's hard to verify it's mostly mobile footage and it claims by activists clashes began in march with government forces and protesters being option in return see a journalist who used to work in that region so it's the difference between arab league reports and mainstream coverage shows that the opposition is winning the media battle. certainly the western media viewpoint that we must believe the we must believe opposition groups it seems that any mobile footage is no except as a source certainly what the arab league said about holmes very different

a great deal of the reports we've been getting on t.v. channels of massacres going. what is no doubt is that thousands of syrian soldiers are dying and they haven't died because of peaceful protests. libya syria is a linchpin of the middle east and the united states and other countries are more intelligent people realize that they will be turmoil right across the middle east if anything happens to destabilize the government from outside forces but certainly syria the syrian government itself has to step up the pace because it's certainly losing the propaganda battle so i could have you with us here and still to come for you. when we started. shooting towards our direction started tear gassing my cameraman with tear gas i was injured and that's why. we continue to count down the top ten stories to. look back at the.

history making. two thousand and eleven. nearly quarter past the hour here in the russian capital but it struck eurozone is set to enter two thousand and twelve in a gloomy mood. remaining near the seven percent danger zone. has pledged more efforts to revive the economy in the end of his year speech arena going to school reports there are huge doubts the new man in charge of a number of the eurozone states will ever find a remedy for the struggling. the autumn in europe saw the fall of several european leaders spain greece italy all of these countries are changing leadership across a two week period but who are these new faces at helm of europe's most troubled

nations and will they really make things better for the people. probably not greeks pride themselves on essentially inventing democracy back in however long ago that was too bad the man who is now being touted as the man with the plan is an economist who was appointed to the greek people know gordon elections there well the greek prime minister was the greek finance minister at the time but greece joined the euro so he was responsible for cooking the books to get greece in for this ever expanding empire he was rewarded by going to work at the european central bank and as soon as i would mention the word referendum he was there and even if we skirt the whole issue of current governments being appointed by someone else from another country another question pops up will they be people of doing anything different than before well the irony is of course that many of these turn across. the disastrous euro project in the first place so it really is pretty annoying that

they're now in charge of all these countries and that doesn't go down well with the economists who saw the eurozone disaster develop from the beginning this project is doomed to failure it was always tuned to failure and moreover i would have them arraigned i would have a fiscal crimes tribunals i would like to see some of these people sent to prison so far cutting the public sector firing tens of thousands of people and telling everyone to brace themselves for tough times ahead in the midst of raging protests unruly unemployment and mind blowing debt numbers these have been the only steps so far undertaken by european governments both old and new to this give us an image that people who think that maria monti came to help italy out of the crisis or not going to help spain are totally mistaken. those who are in key positions in seats of power represent the interests of goldman sachs and other major corporations by east and there is always the chance that things could get even worse there is

a real possibility. in the mediterranean countries that will see governments well not evil and not even legitimate governments but will see governments overthrown i think there's also a big worry that we may well see the kind of nationalist political movements springing out of this that we thought we said goodbye to back in ninety forty five if the technocrats fail to reach the wreck the economies in italy greece and spain the nations were not only with a bleak future between the very little reason to call themselves democratic in the coast go r.t. . and i forget how our website also got more news comment and. a quick look at what's in store for you with our. deadly delicacy. petersburg sees almost two hundred kilos of caviar being stored inside a more. likely source from. shining

a light on the less fortunate to find out more. you are watching arts he now has two thousand and eleven draws to its end we are looking back at the stories that shaped the year as witnessed by our correspondents this time we look at the occupy movement in the united states the story extensively covered by lucy calf. i remember at the start of the so-called so-called arab spring we saw so many mass movements from europe to the middle east people rising up taking to the streets protesting and the question we kept asking ourselves over and over again is why not

here why not in the united states i mean for years we've covered stories that touched upon social inequality economic inequality the overdue undue influence in fact that politics has been the money has in our financial system and i never thought that this kind of popular outrage would really come to the united states that it would really hit home. when the occupy wall street movement began my initial impression i have to admit it was utter skepticism you know it sounded like some american protesters saw what was going on in the middle east and thought it would be i meet sort of symbolic way to emulate what they've seen for example into where square. one of the biggest things that really sort of woke me up as an individual was that that night in times

square in october this was right after the supposed to be announced raid by the mayor where about three thousand if not more protesters had gathered around security park two to defend their space and they succeeded they weren't raided and we saw literally thousands of people marching into times square which you know the physical contrast of the sort of a temple of consumerism which is times square in manhattan these flashing lights these logos these expressions of corporate power and consumer culture in stark contrast to. literally thousands of people who have gotten together to speak to shout to feel the physical presence of of other americans who are just no longer content to sit back and watch society unfold in the direction that it's taken. i was just feet away from the area where several police officers mountain of horseback sort of filed into the crowd hurting some of the protesters seeing with

my own eyes for the first time the excessive level of force. an old gentleman who looked like he was probably in his sixty's slammed down to the ground his arms and back women of all ages men of all ages carried away for doing what for sitting down on the ground and not moving or making a point quietly. standing there with my camera man with this line of police officer several hundred of them armed to the teeth you know what happens out of sticks out of line of protesters behind me you know i thought i was there as this protected almost impartial observer there to tell the story but when these lines of police started moving at me it started moving forward towards me starting shooting towards our direction started tear gassing my cameramen was tear gassed i was injured and that's when it really changed for me there are at least hundred not

two hundred three hundred police officers in full riot gear as you can see advancing behind us right now on the occupy oakland movement now one of the other interesting experiences they i think for me was sort of seeing the contrast between occupy wall street in new york and in oakland in oakland where there is such a radical history of activism where are the people there the protesters there were so much more outrage so much more ready for a radical fundamental change of this within this country. but at the same time. one of the experiences that really stands out to be in my mind was the day of the port shutdown on the member second you know there are thousands thousands or tens of thousands of people who were gathered who were marching around seventy to eighty is not a lot of police presence that they really felt that perhaps we had turned a new chapter in this country perhaps this was going to be an opportunity for these

kinds of expressions of political discontent with the sort of crackdown that we've that we've seen in the past and what happened that evening really really shook me to the core i have to say the contrast between these peaceful marches and. seeing firsthand the streets of oakland turned into something i might have seen on the news and as you can see these are marching up behind me as sticks and hands but down hand i don't know if you can get any closer on that shot i think that really galvanized this country and really woke us up to our reality. the reality is that there is a lot wrong and there's a lot that needs to be changed but instead of sitting here and you know inviting experts to go and talk about it we're seeing people physically participating in what democracy really should be all about. i'm an american citizen i feel that i am here to tell the stories and i have a right to tell the stories and that is part of what this country is fundamentally

founded on and sort of experiencing firsthand the the loss of the the inability to do anything though the feeling of powerlessness and smallness. that's something that i think i'm not going to forget for quite a long time. and the final of special reports on the personal reflections from our team of international correspondents on the events that dominated two thousand and eleven if you did missed any of them you can always watch them right now so you don't call. and also what don't forget to join us some more for our special end of the year coverage where we bring you a correspondence live from the locations where the pivotal ovens of two thousand and eleven take place around the clock.

now at twenty five past the hour here in moscow a reminder all of our top headlines with me rory seems to interest a few minutes before that. and the business. story that's right time for the business up days and twenty eleven has been a testing here for investors as the world economy struggle for growth stock markets here in russia also saw some success because typically bucked the trend dental

bushell looks at the rollercoaster ride of the last twelve months and what to expect in the new year. gold has been an exceptional investment it reached all time highs of over nineteen hundred dollars per ounce in september six hundred percent but since then the prices slid back and broke his normal going to fall further in twenty twelve fearing the bubble will burst. the dollar risks switching your roubles into the greenback would have brought a small return but changing into the euro would have been hard that ploy both in the states and the european union mean those currencies continue to be unstable. so become much more reliable the credit crunch wiped out riskier lenders while the states brought in guarantees insuring all deposits up to seven hundred thousand

rubles some banks now offer healthy return of over fourteen percent a year. most weeks merger of russia's stock exchanges has kept the poor twenty eleven the more six slipped eighteen percent as political uncertainty worried investors but i'm missing vis cafe expect a strong rebound in twenty twelve as the new government settles predicting a return to previous years when markets where the world's best performing. times have a check of the markets they are in that southwell is pushing oil off from rising sharply recently falling around about destruction for the financial straits of hormuz brands not trading at one hundred seven dollars a barrel while the lights reduce that ninety nine dollars a pound. and european stocks have fluctuated a german finance minister on down to your area. and russia the markets are slightly higher this hour traders are unlikely to make an impact moves ahead of the

new year holidays let's not have a check on some of the individual share moves in the mindsets energy majors the higher the sounds for the funds from the koreas. oil company lukoil is not part of the cent and financials a mixed spare bank is losing of one hundred percent while b. to be buying is just in the trial. that's all we have time for no more market analysis than about one us time for you here on archie.

quite stream cascading from mom slopes the view is midsomer much of. this beauty brings deaths at a speed of more than two hundred kilometers from. step in the time along on our cheek. move. move move move.

move. move a fish if. here in the russian capital with headlines now u.s. warships near the area. the last big. oil supply. a number of your governments so many so-called bureaucrats now in charge will ever bring any relief some of them were behind.