oil exports the vast majority of which go through the strait that being said just because it's something that the iranian government doesn't want to do doesn't necessarily mean that it's something that it's won't do if pressure increases to the point where iran is backed into a corner two governments that have been communicating for over three decades and when you don't have direct channels of communication that increases the likelihood of miscalculations and misperceptions and it reinforces a cycle of escalation and conflict and it increases the likelihood that you can you can take actions that might not be in the court and even with your own interests and rather than governments controlling the conflict the conflict begins to control the governments and we end up with an outcome that i think both parties independently would seek to avoid. and from iran to out of syria now where violence began in march as a sport over into the new year arab league observers on a mission to the country have warned against the cracking down on protesters at least thirteen people reportedly killed in just the past day despite the league's

efforts to oversee the implementation of a peace plan this comes as two of syria's leading opposition groups signed a unification deal that also rules out any foreign intervention beyond arab involvement it's estimated that more than five thousand civilians were killed in syria just last year but that figure cannot be verified because damascus has restricted access to foreign media journalist afshin rattansi says the syrian conflict is a powder keg that could ignite the entire region. certainly the western media's viewpoint that we must believe the we must believe opposition groups it seems that any mobile footage is no except as a source what is no doubt is that thousands of syrian soldiers are dying and they haven't died because of peaceful protests but this isn't a libya syria is a linchpin of the middle east and the united states and other countries are the more intelligent people realize that they will be turmoil right across the middle

east if anything happens to stabilize the outside 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. well other syrian regime claims its fighting an armed insurgency funded from abroad yet to be independently confirmed but what is fact is that rebel fighters who helped overthrow colonel qadhafi in libya now eager to take the revolution to the president assad's door hundreds of libyan mercenaries are reportedly already gunning for regime change in syria on a boy that reports from tripoli. a butcher our dad made the owner of this keep up shop in tripoli still undecided what's the most fitting term for syria's bashar al assad. is economics if we give him another thought that the syria . other syria. you can make it

a lot of people see it. 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 any soldier we have. and our people subject syria these are just. on the subject we have we have enough but i think yeah we want we. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents rarely almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of these young men who are 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 our law we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat itself in syria. over the

portraits of shady bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary. with the help of we can all be like to give aren't fighting for peace and freedom around the world. and it seems that che guevara's a deal 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 moved from one revolution to another motivated by personal gain some by conviction all others by the venture if i put out on the vision of freedom and for now at least is the freedom to live 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 neighbors who are shooting at civilians men women and children blind terrorism random killing simply for the purpose of destabilizing the country or from libya or 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 one of the high combat hige one of the leaders of chippewa a militia was once on the cia most wanted list today he's the 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't do any help to support the syrian people because we are they are facing the same situation as before and we appreciated the help comes to lead and we will see why the syrian

people who they need help to get their freedom i think we should do it the use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region middle eastern rulers hard them for centuries a save garcia against their own populations and it now looks like the history of mercenaries in the middle east has got to it's new and no less bloody chapter x. in the wake of artsy tripoli. you know what you're not the live from moscow it's good to have your company today still ahead for you this hour year in brief we take a look back at a few of the stories that made the headlines in two thousand and eleven all around the world. now to egypt where pro-democracy protesters held a candlelight vigil in cairo's tahrir square all new use eve in memory of those killed during the uprising that ousted hosni mubarak meanwhile the u.s. says egypt's current rules have agreed to hold raids on pro-democracy rights groups

this week soldiers and police stormed offices of nongovernmental organizations including some funded by washington documents on computers were seized as part of investigations into the foreign funding of organizations and the groups accuse the ruling military of using the same tactics offer oppression as the former mubarak regime but author william dahl believes there is interference coming in from washington. i think the military has made a deal with the islamic brotherhood and washington doesn't want stabilization they want to be permanent on knees so that they can you know use that as a lever in the entire region there's anger because there's been little change but also because. it's quite the case that foreign n.g.o.s financed by the u.s. congress and others the national endowment for democracy various other so-called human rights politicized organizations are fanning the protests claiming

pitting the military against against these human rights n.g.o.s so. the idea is to create as much chaos through the region as possible in order to justify i believe a stronger nato role permanently in the region. well let's get to somewhere world news for you this hour here on r.t. first our attention goes to that of nigeria where the country's leader has declared a state of emergency in areas hit by a wave of islamist attacks president goodluck jonathan has shut borders with neighboring countries following a string of christmas day blasts which killed over forty the leader has vowed to crush of book militants who claimed responsibility for the attacks and violence has continued since churches throughout the country were first attacked a week ago tens of thousands of fled their homes fearing future violence. in south sudan thousands of fighters from the new or try have laid siege to

a town of one of their rivals members of the tribe stormed a people torching buildings stealing livestock and forcing schools to flee that comes just by un troops attempts to step up security in the town in recent months ethnic infighting caused by cattle rustling and left about a thousand people dead in the region. u.s. president barack obama has signed a bill which means any person can be detained without charge the major defense bill is aimed at dealing with terrorist suspects and it comes with a massive six hundred sixty two billion dollars price tag but critics say the military will now have more thora to detain and interrogate people denying them of their basic constitutional rights. the right to come out of the program here on r.t. insight into enigma one of the few people able to shed some light on the new leader of the world's most secretive country the man north koreans are being urged to defend to the death. there's not much new year

cheer from economists predicting a return to recession in europe for two thousand and twelve in fact leaders use new year messages to warn of hard times ahead for their countries german chancellor angela merkel. said europe was facing its most severe test in decades french president nicolas sarkozy has warned that the debt crisis blanketing the continent was far from over many governments have been forced to slash their spending to meet debt obligations as economic growth in europe has been at a standstill for months investment advisor patrick young says he doubts the single currency has a viable chance of survival over the next twelve months. unfortunately the prognosis for the new year must be one of a terrible hangover it is absolutely to my mind clear that we are going to have a crushing recession it's a tragedy but the european union has alternately made no effort to resolve its

problems we've had one shower after another shower after another shower and they've been spelt summit and unfortunately there's just nothing at this juncture that gives us any reason to be remotely optimistic apart from the fact that we're going into a new calendar year the euro is living on borrowed time it has been on life support for the last six months it could survive on life support for the next twelve months that is possible but realistically i cannot see how the euro can survive certainly not in its current shape or form i think you will find there will be defaults in other words countries are going to turn around and say you know what we can't afford to pay these debts we're walking away and i think that will happen it will happen in greece and it may happen in other countries in the euro zone as well one morning we're going to wake up and the euro will have changed here for normally another day we may wake up and there will be no euro whatsoever right now that probability is fifty fifty at best that the euro survives the next twelve months.

watching the weekly on r.t. the israeli military has confirmed it carried out an air strike on guards this friday one palestinian was killed in a attack which television claims was aimed at preventing militants from firing rockets into israel the country has been stepping up its airstrikes in recent months leaving dozens dead three years after the jewish state briefly invaded gaza military officials are saying they may have to start what they're calling a quote war of necessity attempts at brokering a peace deal of so far proven fruitless but israeli columnist gideon levy thinks that television really trying to avoid conflict. three years ago is the card bludgeon not only a carte blanche of the west to allow this. and didn't say it would against the city but this we are facing a new egypt and gaza ease in the backyard of egypt and i'm not sure that egypt will

remain indifferent visa via another thing but having said this i'm not sure that this is enough to prevent an attack because unfortunately israeli politicians in general not always react in the most racial and logical way the current government of israel has no serious intention about serious dialogue with the palestinians maybe some photo opportunities but nothing more than these the palestinian authority has just launched another proposal for israel to get back to the negotiation table they even gave up the precondition of freezing the settlements which is a minimum. condition and they just just symbolic release of one hundred palestinian prisoners to get back to the goetia table it would say no. it's now a quarter past the hour here in the russian capital north korea has

a vow to improve the economic life of its impoverished people and rallied into internal support for kim jong un in a new year's statement the country is entering a new era with a new leader firmly installed as a supreme commander of the military and head of the ruling party following his father's death however the quote great successor remains an enigma so what is more if a national looks about what we did. the death of the north korean dictator has raised questions and. whether the dictatorship one of the last of the world who followed or will this extremely closed society remain isolated and it's who you lead it to so little is known about the lately there was a great success and his third and youngest son named is a bit of a dark horse even his age remains a subject of speculation his thought to be twenty seven or twenty eight. his

new ascension to power increases the media hunger for information about him so his expensive education in switzerland said lead tracked it's a lot more interest and entrepreneur in moscow with russian origins alexander how good she believes he could have been one of kim's classmates when news spread that kim charney may have gone to an elite school in this week's margins in late ninety's the businessman brought out his all the book to refresh his memory there were quite a few koreans. quieter than others. with the last name kim. as kim is the most common name in korea an example remembers the koreans always different from all the students they were very disciplined they were very disciplined as a group of students. very serious for their interaction. they wouldn't always take part in all fun and games at the other

students were very hard studying to be top class they didn't like to do that although some think this is leaders son may be a figurehead overshadowed by his recently promoted uncle who is thought to wield the real power alexander says the three years channing has apparently spent in europe may change the country's future forever i think. it will make him realize that he has to do something good for his people for his country and make a change in terms of. past experience his knowledge of foreign languages and the skills that he managed to retain being about the outside world used to get most of the news from behind north korea's iron curtain through the country's strictly censored state run media covering the life of the secrets of society from the inside has been an almost impossible task for international journalists but the details now emerging about the new leader is exposure to the liberal west or for

a glimmer of hope that he may ease bag the rigid control over the two terrible regime and begin to open north korea to the world and maybe the war old to north korea written off r.t. moscow. four twenty pm on the first day of the new year here in moscow of course russia welcomed two thousand and twelve with a bang being the world's biggest country it celebrated new year not once not twice but nine times thanks to its nine different time zones with the country's far east kickstarting the festivities and russia's a western most point the baltic city of kaliningrad finishing off while hundreds also gathered in moscow's red square to host the new year of the world was treated to operations of fireworks over the globe to hawaii has just become the latest now to ring in the new year while australia was among the first countries to open its

doors to the new year with glittering fireworks all over sydney harbor asia picked up the baton with spectacular shows held across the region and in dubai hundreds gathered at the world's tallest building to watch an amazing illumination display millions of revelers packing cities all over europe for the countdown to midnight with celebrations sweeping the globe ati's a nice and now we now looks back at what made two thousand and eleven. 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 good to have free after months of nato bombing and the death of north korea's kim jong il don't even begin to illustrate twenty eleven . was that time jos the protester as person of the year and although there were different slogans 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 mosque out. from madrid to her ear 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 a civil war intensifies this is a direct it's the fact that that rhetoric clash between the u.s. and nato on one side and russia and china on the one 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 ranged against desperate austerity cuts to qualify for i.m.f. bailout well germany and france are fine 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 your own 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 boss to shop swer 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 felt multicultural programme and racism into the mix. at the. institution. 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 us and around the world when the protests began in september if you were talking about 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. they are disorganized they look but there's one of the protest 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 raids on camps 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 the rich the one percent from oakland to boston the more people occupied the more. talladega became more and that in the in the. scenario if you're all right and. there are our police forces have been militarized

they are working more in cooperation with the pentagon they're buying and being given military surplus to quit 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 raked. by the protest at least fifty thousand strong the largest in recent history call for free and fair elections and remains peaceful ruling party united russia lost popularity in the vote with official results putting their numbers at almost 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. you know russia for having power for so long maybe not doing everything they could protest organized by vast groups of opposition members are set to continue in twenty 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 he's now a r.t. moscow. and we have much more on the events that shaped two thousand and eleven all waiting for you though on our web site c dot com also for you right now at our web site you can see how the world celebrated the arrival of two thousand and twelve you'll find some spectacular footage of new year's celebrations from all around the world. at the end of the year sold u.s.

troops wave a farewell true iraq dot com explores the implications and consequences of nine years of conflict. and a look at the uprising demos and disasters of two thousand and eleven seem to the eyes of our correspondents hear their testimony at all to dot com. this is. the history in the making. testimony. and stories that shape two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . and it is sunday afternoon on january the first two thousand and twelve this is artsy just a few moments we'll talk to russia's ambassador to the u.n. batali chuck and before that though a recap of the top stories with me will research.

wealthy british style. ties. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with my next concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report.

this is r.t. live from the heart of moscow your headlines now president obama has signed a bill which imposes new tough sanctions on iran over its disputed nuclear program this is despite tehran's threats to shut off a keel. oil supply route in the gulf as tension between the two countries continues to build. the syrian regime's crackdown on demonstrators continues unabated forcing arab league observers to warn damascus to rein in the violence the monitors are overseeing the implementation of a peace plan that president assad has agreed to. and the world rings in two thousand and twelve with a bang fireworks and celebrations across the globe r.t.

has taken a look back at a momentous two thousand and eleven filled with protests civil war and regime change. while our two thousand and eleven as we were saying was packed with world changing events now earlier my colleague kevin owen spoke to russia's ambassador to the u.n. . can and i asked him his thoughts on tackling the issues that are currently dividing the globe. the un security council rejected russia's proposal to investigate civilian deaths from nato strikes in libya what members avoiding or it is simply a case that ongoing conflicts and i'm more important. well you know first of all it was not rejected the fact of the matter is the number of security council delegations including the russian delegation or is the need to have some clarity about civilian casualties as a result of nato bombings because.