the gulf is on edge two u.s. warships close to an arabian naval exercise right next to a crucial oil route that threaten to block we've got the latest for. egypt's ruling generals are accused of tyranny is raids a staged against the offices of foreign human rights groups that the military says a stirring up trouble. plus a tough year for your government's many doubt the so-called bureaucrats now in charge of nations could bring relief from the situation they helped create in the first place.

hello ten pm friday night here in moscow my name's kevin owen you're watching r.t. and first two u.s. warships are vented an area that iran is using for a large scale naval war games further escalating tension between the nations the maneuvers are taking place in neutral waters close to the crucial strait of hormuz oil supply route which of rads threaten to block washington says the vessels are on a routine mission garniture cans been following the developments. day after day we see the degree of tension rising iranian and american warships kind of brushed shoulders earlier as u.s. ships past the area where terror ron is holding a ten day military exercise the u.s. fifth fleet said they crossed the strait of hormuz unhindered and that he was a routine passage iran's right in to cut off the strait of hormuz which is the major golf oil artery forty percent of the world's tanker shipped oil passes

through that strait the u.s. said they would not tolerate any disruption of supplies which suggests that if you ran goes through with their threats we might see a military showdown there but now based on the statements that we hear washington seems to think that iran is bluffing but right now you won't find itself in a situation where its main source of livelihood namely oil export is in danger because of the looming sanctions and the threats that are coming from iran indicate that it's ready to take action to protect its interests if attacked it's almost sure to retaliate right now were iran is flexing its muscle showing off its capabilities doing their naval military exercises and as part of the exercise on saturday they'll fire long range missiles capable of reaching israel by the way the touching upon some of the latest decisions the u.s. congress passed a bill that would dramatically complicate transactions through iran's central bank european and asian nations for iranian oil and use its central bank for their transactions president obama has yet to sign the bill and that's going to be

a severe blow to the uranium economy around eighty percent of its revenues depend on crude sales e.u. ministers say. a decision on whether or not to boycott iranian oil will be made in coming weeks the west says all the rand has to do to avoid sanctions is to give up their nuclear program iran says they are not doing anything wrong by pursuing a peaceful nuclear program for civilian purposes some experts believe cornering iran like that by sanctions creates power. a keg which could blow up at a slightest spark and a potential confrontation over the strait of hormuz can be that spark. which is a very worrying sore got to washington d.c. for us let's talk more about the deadlock in the gulf now and how it could play out with patrick henningsen in london he's associate editor it in four wars dot com hi there patrick i mean looking at the background of setting back from this around made its threat to block the strait at the same time performing these large scale

military exercises it's been carrying out is it a provocation or will be something proportionate in response to threats of sanctions what do you think will the reds' military exercises or well within its rights as a sovereign nation. taking place within their territorial waters and also within the international waters bordering iranian territory so this isn't anything that's against international law and certainly with the with the retort that's been coming out of washington is becoming of white hole in the last six months or even in the last few years iran is well within their rights to shore up their national defenses not as a provocation the u.s. will use the word provocation order to spin the discussion into skew into a galeon dialectic which they do quite regularly in order to patrol around is the evil person in the story. our correspondent said just now and it's for mention is one of the last couple of days that washington is considering iran's threat bluff

here do you think it is safe to assume that this won't go past words or is that a dangerous game. well one thing i can say for sure is if if an incident did take place and a conflagration began or some sort of conflict began the u.s. and the european bloc will obviously blame it on iran but if we look at the long range of the story how it begun and where it is now the i.a.e.a. has no evidence that iran is working on a military nuclear program they have yet to produce anything to show that they're involved in weapons of mass destruction so iran is simply playing this game in a defensive position ok but we know who to blame if the war does kick off you can blame the u.s. and you can blame israel because they are trying to isolate iran and push them into an economic depression situation where they can't export their number one product that will develop their nation it's absolutely horrendous well as far as sanctions

are concerned iran is a cold major role producer that's what you're talking about there the market's reaction to an embargo of course will be huge in the west shooting itself in the foot. well look there's three players in this in this little game here ok on one side you have israel ok which is joined at the hip to the u.s. congress in the u.s. senate so israel has its agenda on the other side you have the oil producers and the oil retailers ok i'm talking about saudi arabia and the other gulf states and i'm also talking about unocal acts on british petroleum and these companies that actually take and deliver the oil from the arab states ok if this goes to blows with iran it's going to mean a spike in the price of oil and the oil companies are absolutely drooling at the prospect of setting a new standard around one hundred dollars a barrel or maybe one hundred twenty as a new benchmark for oil this is good news for the saudis because it's making money

overnight and it's good news for the oil companies because even if this conflict calms down they will maintain the price at the pump at a much higher level in proportion to what it should be from the price of the barrel to the price of the pump it's win win situation for the threats of the drama got i mean which side in your opinion should make concessions to know what your answer is going to pay but if a diplomatic solution is to be found out of this deadlock we should blink first well look the united states britain france in all these coalition nato countries right there always talking about diplomacy and democracy ok no one has actually seriously followed up on the u.n. from the u.n. to the u.s. has seriously followed up on the russian plan which was to take the enriched. uranium from iran process it and then deliver it back via russia ok no one's ever followed up on this because it's actually a good solution to any real diplomatic solutions you've got a lot of course meant that one could go missing to be used developed into

a ball not was the whole point was in it absolutely absolutely or i mean it. sorry pops like a stop to there in full flow if you've got nothing more to say please do. yeah you know look the whole thing is we're coming into an election year ok two thousand and twelve is an election cycle nearly eight states so the game that you're going to see played which is exactly the games on two thousand and eight which was if the price of oil rises then those people mainstream candidates like obama or hillary clinton who's likely to be a vice presidential running mate for obama in two thousand and twelve and on the republican side they're going to say look we can't rely on middle eastern oil now that's why you're also expensive we need to lift domestic drilling moratorium to drill within the united states and on the u.s. coast this is part of a longer game you're going to see and also the sinai peninsula is going to be a big target for israel because right now you have potential destabilization in

egypt israel's had his eye on the sinai ever since they lost it thirty years ago so you have you have the suez the horn of africa and the straits of hormuz those three points are the key key crucial points in the geopolitical game that we're looking at right now patrick harris is thanks ever so much for a source associated cigarette in for wars dot com joining us on the line there from london appreciate it. now on our website along with all the stories the big stories the day we're asking tonight what do you think about this tell us how you think the strait of hormuz deadlocks going to evolve this is what you've been telling us it are to go home to start the half of you who voted so far think the u.s. will use the standoff as a pretext to attack iran kind of what patrick was saying there about a third of you think it won't have immediate consequences being just the latest move in a long game thirteen percent if you think a radical takes the western lesson by cutting off vital supplies six percent of you think will achieve its goal of preventing those sanctions how do you think this is going to go tell us always good to hear from you at r.t.

dot com. egyptian rights groups have accused the military rulers of using what they describe as mubarak era tools of repression that's after soldiers and police raided the offices of ten non-governmental organizations including some foreign ones. reports. don't thursday just carried out unprecedented armed raids on at least seventeen high profile human rights and pro-democracy organizations all across the country and it's been done in a very brutal and 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 whose chairman is now republican senator john mccain and freedom house so as you can see. 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 thursday call it highly provocative and only did to try to resolve it as soon as possible and to return the stuff that has been taken from the in jos employees the organizations themselves have also responded they've condemned the raids carried out in egypt saying claiming eight reminded them about tough times and egypt's former dictator hosni mubarak in egypt is going through tough times of course these days clashes between demonstrators and police and soldiers still continue no of course the country continuing claim lives just last week it ended in the dust of cleaved 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 and determined in promise democratic reforms struggling to

cling to power very sensitive about any influence especially from both and very sensitive about control and they're trying to keep power and to control everything and of course as part of this for a new military government might even suspect these organizations n.g.o.s sponsored from abroad of a supporter of sponsoring protesters all across egypt. foreign policy analyst at shamu told me that he believes the military government is trying to make sure it stays in power but the people are determined for democratic change this is part of the military the supreme council or armed forces way of making sure all of this you know who you should basically is malted to the to the type of government they want because that's those are the same generals by the way who worked for mubarak. but really the military has to step aside they will not give up 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 their country i think all the evidence indicate that despite the sacrifices there have been large scale and he regime marches have been held across syria hurt some in fresh reports of violent crackdowns against protesters activists also suggest that over one hundred people have been killed by security forces since tuesday when the arab observers began the fact finding mission in syria's flashpoints however is hard to verify the information coming from the country clashes began in march between government forces and protesters with both sides being armed we're joined now live by journalist ramsey borrowed used to work in the region joining us from seattle ramsey hi there it's becoming difficult isn't it to decipher the exact situation in

syria so many people are reporting back and as a journalist how credible do you think the reports at the moment that we're all hearing actually are. the situation. on syria writing about syria has been extremely difficult really because we do not have any substantiated dooku words coming from from there and neither neither does the government allow for many international reporters and journalists to be there and the news that are coming from the other side to be. inconsistent politically polarized course so we kind of we have to kind of pick and choose and we in the picking and choosing based on our political leanings and our ideological leanings as a result of the syrian story is very polarized and very inconsistent and frankly much of it can be trusted from a purely journalistic on to be a big focus of course all know what the arab league observers are got to say how

much faith should we put in what they're reporting back. very little faith really because the league has very little credibility to begin with if it's anything it's it's it's all can do it of the corrupt arab regimes that are being taken out of the picture one after the other so to to put our faith in the arab lives of providing anything that is concrete in and is going to advance the cause of democracy in syria or anywhere else for that matter. we would not be accurate assessment at all and on the ground syria's opposition army the free syrian army is all the is fighters to stop offensive operations while those only observers are watching what's going on that is a positive sign though isn't it. well it depends really i mean first is this happening for a fact are they not did the in fact seize their military activities and number two

is there for a specific purpose or is this going to last for a week more or less. these speak about peaceful revolution in syria. but on the other hand we hear from this the free syria army which is being funded and based in other countries and they are in cahoots with some very corrupt arab regions and we hear that they are actively attacking other syrian military installations and soldiers here and there so we are also not getting a consistent story from this is a peaceful uprising this is an armed uprising. and that's that's really part of the confusion i think senior american official jeffrey feltman so want to further international options as he puts it should the arab league peace plan fail what options and you talking about do you think this is a real worry we do not know what the americans are cooking right now and obviously they are they are thinking of a much greater political context than syria they are thinking iran they are

thinking the stability of iraq in the post american withdrawal and they are also and most importantly they are thinking how will the political vacuum if such a vacuum is created in damascus affect israel israel's security and the northern border particularly the golan heights front israel cannot afford another security nightmare from their point of view force to be added to that of south lebanon and gaza and this is really mostly with the americans are very worried about they are worried about. israel's security there and it's of concern about democracy or human rights in syria or anywhere else in the middle east i think the americans are yet to find a formula that would assure them that in the absence of assad there will be a political rejean that they can trust and i think this is what the americans are trying to ensure right now once that is gone there is going to be another

alternative that america can work with and until the americans find an answer to this question we are going to have this this conflict raging on for a long time from hebrew thanks for your thoughts journalist for joining us on the line from seattle much appreciated. spain's new conservative leadership was given a civil service employees a dismal new year gift by announcing a fresh package worth almost nine billion euros no therefore joining the greeks and the italians who were hit by enormous cuts and tax hikes imposed by their governments this year and promises more of the same really good reports on the gloomy prospects for the eurozone 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 that help of europe's most troubled nations and will they really make things better for the people. probably not greeks

pride themselves on that 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 that 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 capable of doing anything different than before well the irony is of course that many of these technocrats from. the disastrous europe project in the first place so it really is pretty annoying then out 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 student of failure and moreover i would have the rain and 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 death numbers these have been the only steps so far undertaken by european governments both old and new to this capacity and at the people who think that maria monti came to help italy out of the crisis order to help spain. those who keep positions in seats of power on represent the interests of goldman sachs and other major corporation by ease and there is always the chance that things could get even worse there is a real possibility. in the mediterranean countries that will see governor. months well not evil and not even legitimate governments but was the government's

overthrow i think was also a big worry that we may well see the kind of nationalist political movements springing out of this that we thought we'd 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 where end up not only with a bleak future between the very little reason to call themselves democratic it in because go r.t. . so is twenty twelve creeps closer we continue to look back at the stories that dominated the past year and what a year it was this time it's the occupy movement that exposed social and financial injustice in so the most unexpected places. 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 opulent 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 some 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 a bar this was right after the supposed to be announced raid by the mayor where about three thousand if not more protesters had gathered around the park to 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 shouts 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 me.

i was just feet away from the area where several police officers mountain of course backs out of the out into the crowd hurting some of the protesters seeing with my own eyes for the first time the excessive level of force. 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 officers 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 a hundred the 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 one of the other interesting experiences a 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 active as and where the people there the protesters there were so much more outraged 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 was howls of thousands of tens of thousands of people who were gathered who were marching around seventy to eighty is not a lot of police presence that there 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 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 there are marching up behind me as sticks and hands but johnson and 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 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 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 the feeling of powerlessness and smallness. that's something that i think i'm not going to forget for quite a long time. the final of a reporter for the post reflections from zero two with international correspondents who brought you some of the events that shaped two of your lives if you missed any of these special reports we brought you over the last week. website as well. aarti dot com it's twenty seven and a half minutes exactly past ten here in moscow got sport coming up very soon including the legendary russian fighter dubbed the last emperor who is about to step into the ring again before that as well arty's moscow program looks back at

the cultural highlights of twenty eleven but indeed is how the next half hour looks you're on r t this friday night. a move. just so.

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