it is good to have your company on this new year's eve this is artsy with me rule research and i was just under two hours left until we celebrate the arrival of two thousand and twelve right here in moscow we have a special treat for you let's cross live to a festive studio overlooking red square where a rather chilly kevin madden he said no way standing by. neither rory thanks ever so much yet the show page ready very much so this and of course we got a great view of the scene of the celebrations of the heart of moscow just over a shoulder the kremlin the be full of fireworks later hundreds are going to be gathering in red square behind this and of course thousands more expected to fill the streets across the city tonight. but well they did fresh air fun and festive fireworks is about to be plenty of happy hugs and kisses going around as well of

course i do if you can stay with us here at r.t. for the whole evening for the next couple of hours as we bring you the celebrations from russia's capital live and in the meantime of course we're also looking at what it was like in twenty eleven and what twenty twelve may have to bring it's already arrived for billions of people across the pacific region asia and in most of russia i defer you are in that part of the world we wish you a very happy new year and we wave farewell as you just mentioned there as well to twenty eleven we're going to be looking back tonight at the key events around the world that shape the gear and what lies ahead maybe it's been a big news here lots of turmoil an especially in the arab world to needs a egypt and libya all seeing some revolution fwe their leaders from power the european union has been struggling to keep it single currency afloat bailing out several of its members and even contemplating kicking some out altogether well anger has been spilling out onto the streets as we've seen this throughout the year on mass in

america and across europe and russia of course no exception here's a detailed look in just a few things that shaped a truly momentous past twelve months. two thousand and eleven could easily go down as the most eventful year in years the killing of bin ladin after a decade long manhunt libya's gadhafi after months of nato bombing and the death of north korea's kim jong il don't even begin to illustrate twenty eleven. time shows the protester as person of the year and although there were different slogan signs and demands of solutions twenty eleven will ultimately be remembered as the year people came out onto the streets the arab spring bloomed into a european summer which harvested an american autumn from cairo to california moscow to madrid to harir to occupy global rallies shared common themes but if one

thing stood out in the middle east and north africa alone it was protests that lead down one road regime change. tunisia and egypt got rid of their dictators without war but libya was not so lucky nato and allies began a humanitarian mission with a fierce bombing campaign the critics called it a mislabeled invasion to take down gadhafi for benefits the only reason they're interested in with libya is about the oil you hear anybody screaming and yelling about all those people last week that were killed in the ivory coast or whose sudan gadhafi was brutally killed in october as the world watched the graphic video go viral thousands of civilians were killed over months of bombing and that's twenty twelve neared syria found itself in a similar set up for intervention russia and china fearing

a repeat of the situation in libya as civil war intensifies this is a direct effect that that rhetoric clash between the u.s. and nato on one side and russia and china on the what you know on the other side much more david was in libya protests continue in egypt libya syria and many more arab countries as the year ends. the battle to save the drowning single currency left to board rooms and banks in twenty eleven and flooded the streets of europe most commonly and violently in athens greek debt became the centerpiece of the euro crisis protests raged against desperate austerity cuts to qualify for i.m.f. bailout germany and france are vying for influence in the debt ridden so i think we will see an exit of greece given the situation in which the greek economy find itself has become really unavoidable draining the economy of big year old brother

germany can't go on forever greece and italy are now led by on a lark to brussels back technocrat leaders who are trying to curb the crisis coming into a new year critics say twenty eleven bell outs or bust was the beginning of the end for the single european currency there's every chance the euro is going to crash. london burned for days in the summer of twenty eleven what began as a peaceful protests demanding justice over the death of a twenty nine year old man who was shot by police turned into days of riots and left authorities helpless talks of possibly bringing out the military bars to shops were looted car set on fire and windows smashed across the u.k. the police the job center all the banks everything that's happening the recession you know there's a lot of anger about that social experts also through

a fount multicultural program and racism into the mix you know stop and so. on a sense of place a certain institution. and probably institutionally racist as well the riots faded but the problems are still passing some say only a spark is needed to set the public off again. occupy wall street became a household name in the u.s. and around the world but when the protests began in september if you were talking about it the mainstream media stayed silent until seven hundred people were arrested on the brooklyn bridge and that was truly based in the end of his roots of american politics but it is. there are a disorganized a look but there's one of the protests that nobody seems to know but negative coverage didn't stop us from spreading from small towns to huge ports occupied was

not going anywhere rates on campus heavy handed police and burning pepper spray only helped occupy grow read their message of the need for economic equality and an end to corporate greed their slogan became we are the ninety nine percent and they are the rich the one percent from oakland to boston the more people occupy the. more brutality became more and that in the was in the in the i'm sure if you're on the right there are are police forces have been militarized they are working more in cooperation with the pentagon they're buying and being given military surplus the quick meant that has been kind of designed for use in war and this is something that. needs to treating the public as you would treat an enemy

a public that has promised to come out in full force in twenty twelve. parliamentary elections were the push behind tens of thousands of people coming out onto the streets of moscow after allegations the december duma vote was raped. by. the protest at least fifty thousand strong the largest in recent history call for free and fair elections and remained peaceful ruling party united russia lost popularity in the vote with official results putting their numbers at all most fifty percent but experts say a sixteen percent drop from two thousand and seven should be taken as a warning i think a lot of people wanted to punish. united russia for having power for so long and maybe not doing everything they could protest organized by vast groups of opposition members are set to continue in two thousand and twelve next year russia

along with the u.s. and france holds presidential elections which makes it a safe bet people will be out on the streets in twenty twelve in europe america and around the world and you see now way r.t. moscow. throughout december snowflakes have just rolled with protesters here on the streets of moscow thousands angry at the results of russia's parliamentary election results they made up the biggest opposition demonstration and russians recent history although demonstrations did pos peacefully despite some ominous predictions let's now get some more details on this and discuss it live with current good to see you so protests in the russian capital and other cities across the country tell us just how significant what day. but december is seen as some of the biggest protests actually in the past decade the two decades the past twenty years it all started with the december fourth parliamentary elections united russia winning two

hundred thirty eight of the five hundred seats in the parliament people took to the streets protesters claiming ballot box stuffing and fraud because of the outcome of those votes. we saw some of the biggest of those protesters taking to the streets on ball of my square that happened around december tenth some twenty five thousand people showed calling for fair and free elections of course opposition claiming that fifty thousand showed then again on december twenty fourth the number rising to thirty thousand people showing opposition as well as protesters all there with opposition claiming that one hundred twenty thousand but definitely the largest numbers that russia has seen in the past twenty years as well as not to mention today you have ed ward lemole no this is a he represents the far right nationalists today an unsanctioned protest was held something like two hundred people showing. in addition to sixty other protests protesters both arrested now one of was said to have paid a fine he was released on those protesters are said to be released by the police

sometime before the new year will bring in but again a lot of claims all drawn and many people really just trying to voice their right to vote. the recent post-election protests. possibly up to twenty thousand people were in attendance we heard that the people making their voices heard but what about their government how did the kremlin react. you know it's actually looking like the government is responding positively prime minister putin as well as the president medvedev they're both very positive in this and they want people to come forward and express their right to say something whether it be negative or positive and we also saw that in mid visit his address to the nation he is actually looking to rebuild the whole electorial system he proposes at the moment we have the registration of political parties you need about ten thousand signatures in order to register they were he wants to drop that number down to about five hundred

also governors currently at the moment we have governors being elected by the president back in the ninety's this was a voted upon and then it was done away with in the early two thousand so at the moment you do have these up proposals does want to bring a backup power decentralized power so to speak and bring that to a vote you also have anybody running for president of an independent candidate has the right to run for presidency and he can only gather at the moment two million signatures president moves of hoping that number to come down to three hundred thousand so it does look like there are some proposals and moves towards what the people are calling for karen a few minutes ago you did mention something about an opposition leader if you want to spend a bit more time to give us a broader scope as for the opposition who is leading the charge here now has it actually gained any great influence in recent weeks. well there are a lot of faces to the opposition i didn't mention edwarda of representing the far

right nationalists also in addition you have broker who is a russian billionaire he is also owner of the american basketball team the new jersey nets he also claims we'd like to run for president he was at the accademia soccer of his protest as well he did not speak at that protest but he was there amid the protesters talking to the public very interesting to see what will happen with him but he does promise. elections if he is elected another very famous name in the public at the moment you have a body. he is supported and he makes this very publicly known by washington's national endowment for democracy he was the former your former deputy prime minister in the ninety's and but lately has been claiming has been seeing a lot of negativity because of some phone conversations that were leaked where he called a lot of the opposition leaders as well as a lot of the protesters we saw in december hamster's so he's somebody who's looked

at right now not a very positive light. as well he wants more protests and on his blogs actually calls for the million man march so we're scheduled yet to see more protests possibly in the month of february but he was also arrested at the beginning of december before the protest on the tenth of the twenty fourth he is also not as well known for the nationalist line where he claims russia for russians so to speak where he is a against the he sort of anti immigration movement so many faces yet to see what will happen with the that opposition but certainly seeing a lot more of the opposition in the media as well all right. thank you. now let's discuss some of the user rallies and upcoming presidential elections in russia whether you were talking off or from the institute of our world economy and international relations i thank you for coming into the studio just two hours away i suppose an hour and forty five minutes now away from the new year of

two thousand and twelve but as karen was saying she was addressing the issue of the recent post-election protests some saying russia has seen its biggest protests since the beginning of the ninety's that what has pushed the people truly out onto the streets because it was in a very broad demographic a lot of younger people were making these protests first of all i would just seeing as i said it's not a political it's more social logical problem first of all i don't see the elections . were rigged anyway or it did the scale the position likes to say you know unlike for instance the united states where some states have ballots while others use a tronic system in russia electronic thought count is being better top by paper ballots and so every ballot every war is being counted and recounted so you're saying it's very difficult you're saying it's very difficult to it's original it's hard to imagine how it can regulations on a massive scale with paper system. and an army of a half

a million observers monitoring the election every location all over russia so i think the problem is more social logical source there has risen of the new breed of people younger people. years ago. came into power first as prime minister and later the president russia was haunted by the legacy of the collapse of the soviet union it had all out war in the north caucuses and this war was spreading into russia mainland these problems have been solved during the years and no new generation of people they care about absolute a different problem of the magnitude of the problems have totally changed they care more about. the. ethnical issues about their authenticity here and those. basically this is the fact that pushes people into the streets all right so as you say over the years feelings are have changed too among the certain demographics that have staged protests but desires and wants of life are different

now than they were let's say twenty or even ten years ago but you know when it comes to mr a lot of who is as we know running for the presidency he's already spent so much time in office why is he seeking another term you know who has proven to be a very good politician and now he is a part russian politics and his first twelve years first as prime minister then as president and then as prime minister again have proven to be very successful have to remember the twelve years ago russia was of the age of its existence and now russia is. a developing economy it's the fastest growing record of europe. its g.d.p. it has all almost doubled in the recent decade but now has absolutely different clans and he has contributed march to that change to the contrary there's a new generation of people there's a new breed and his first term was very successful but where the he is second

stored in the fourth in as a president successful it depends very much in how he understands the politics in russia and these new breed put is proven to understand people really well but there's a very young given a new generation who were born after the collapse of the soviet union they have travelled marja travelled much to europe and they have absolutely different agenda so so you're saying that what part of a putin's job now is to connect with today's youth yes and to see that because he was very successful there in the recent twelve years but where the he remains as successful as you used to be depends very much in here and the people around him that's why we see people are carving good russian politics and president easy. gets his stuff before he is ready to take the office so actually the next ten years will not be very easy for him but we have to understand that the country is changing in

russia changing rapidly while i wish we had more time for this indeed if you go from the institute of world court of international relations we have to continue our retrospective of two thousand and eleven and our build up now because the time is a well with an hour and twenty one minutes now until two thousand and twelve so do stay with us for that thank you for your time as the. are you with r.t. live from moscow are still ahead for you this hour what changes would you like to see in two thousand and twelve. noble borders or borders. just i'll be one country. because it's so difficult to travel abroad with just about an hour and forty to go before the new year are to use a lorry a half finished hits the streets of new york to see what people there want to see the back of. but you can also get first hand accounts of the year's major events from our correspondents who've covered them as they happen those testimonies are waiting for you twenty four seven right now available at r.t. dot com. this is. the history in the making of.

testimony. ten stories that shaped two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . it is good to have you with us on this new year's eve and turning our attention to syria now it's where the two largest opposition groups have agreed to unite against president bashar al assad violence continues across the country for the meanwhile and tens of thousands of people have held rallies against the regime security forces have reportedly opened fire in response government supporters have taken to the streets in several cities as well including the capital damascus arab league observers are currently monitoring the situation in five provinces gripped by an arrest they would be aware of reports that dozens have been killed since friday alone adding to the figure of five thousand the u.n. says have lost their lives in total the government blames armed gangs for causing the violence and journalist ramzy who used to work in the region says the conflict

is being managed from the outside this is a real worry we do not know what the americans are cooking right now obviously they are they are thinking or a much greater political context than syria i think in iran they are thinking the stability of iraq in the most 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 the most that would the americans are very worried about they are worried about. israel's security. it's of concern about democracy or human rights in syria or anywhere else in the middle east i think that americans are yet to find

a formula that will 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. 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. now it is coming to you live from moscow now iran plans to test. a long range missiles of this over the persian gulf it should happen over the next few days it's part of naval drills which have been increasing tension in the region almost on a daily basis and it led to some saber rattling from the u.s. which swiftly deployed warships to the area of course wanted to go on a tip you can has details on this. 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 iran 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 exercise but 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 import 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're not going to do it they're not doing anything wrong by pursuing a peaceful nuclear program for civilian purposes some experts believe cornering iran like that by sanctions creates powder keg which could blow up at a slightest spark and the potential confrontation over the strait of hormuz can be that spark. parties are going into can right there well as we count down the minutes to two thousand and twelve here in moscow new york's times square is one of the iconic spots to meet the new year so it seemed

a good time to send their own big apple residents to ask people there what they'll be happy to see the back of in two thousand and twelve. two thousand and twelve is now arriving what would you rid the world of in the new year this week let's talk about that i think wall street protest because it doesn't really help anything at all if you ask me i'm a business student is my fifth year in college and i just i don't know what the point is i understand what they're fighting for and i grieve for but for me i'm like you just taking up space i would probably been. gambling the world be a better place without those things yeah i think it would probably be lots of benefits yeah i agree i think a lot of people would protest though oh i have no doubt a lot of people would protest definitely including the government because they make so much money out of it it be occupy the liquor store time yeah that's right noble

borders and more borders let's just all be one country. because it's so difficult to travel there are people trying to scope put seem politics. you'd make clean up politics then twenty two out made them to do things to good for the world to not just get to get reelected oh poverty for sure so how do you think the world leader should go about starting that. well distribute the wealth intolerance you'd make everyone tolerate all different cultures. that's a tall order i know well you asked if i could religion probably ban religion all of a spiritual but religion as a religion we think the difference that. no. control no matter what you'd like to abolish internationally let's just hope two thousand and twelve brings us a little closer to a better world. you

all with our new year's is just over an hour and a half away to stay with us here in the russian capital for a recap of our top stories with me role research i see you soon. whether you dive from high or to the depths. catch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents.

if being well prepared is a must and if you're lucky enough. 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. . movie . just sleep. just sleep. on.

the phone. without the locker must go on rule research showing as we are ticking down the final hours of two thousand and eleven we do look back at the year that ushered in protests civil war and regime change uprisings in the arab world as well as public fury in america and all across europe these dominating the headlines for two thousand and ten that. syria's opposition to unite against the government and with a new wave of violence which is reportedly left doesn't.