selve saying no you can't not only has the obama administration blocked torture accountability and refused to investigate and prosecute. he's he's basically maintained indefinite detention has revived military commissions. and as we've seen as well he has expanded targeted killings so they've increased under the obama administration many fold and he's even authorize the killing of a u.s. citizen so you know i think yeah where and you know there is a bad state of civil liberties under the obama administration right now an author and scholar noam chomsky believes the obama administration has changed gears and accelerate it illegal practice into overdrive this shift between bush's policies and obama's. push bush's policy was to kidnap people. whatever you thought about them. take them to guantanamo or some other two or three.

strikes and information obama supporters just kill. and killing them all over the world. and another is the targeting drone killing of anwar walk easy an american born cleric u.s. drone strikes during obama's first two years in office exceeded the total carried out during bush's tenure president obama described a walking as the leader of external operations for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula human rights groups which voiced international opposition against bush counterterrorism policies quickly condemned the killing journalist jeremy scahill says obama's policies have drifted far from his political roots a president mccain doing the exact same thing that a president obama is doing would have been denounced by a lot of liberals and so we're at one of those dangerous moments in u.s.

history and we saw it a bit with clinton in the ninety's where a democrat who campaigned on a pledge to change you know the country in the world has actually pushed a right wing agenda further forward than a republican rip up republican could have if they remained in power they took power or expanded power as obama gears up for his reelection campaign civil liberty groups that believed his words the first time around are now left to judge the commander in chief on his actions america's democracy is represented by a president who studied and taught the rule of law and is now armed with a duty to carry it out but critics say as long as obama ways by his own rules the constitution and his promise of change both remain compromise up or not artsy new york. and a little bit later the former chief prosecutor of guantanamo military commissions tells us here about see that president obama not only followed in bush's footsteps he even went further. he took office the first thing he did was sign an order.

closing guantanamo within one year but his order which was signed in january of two thousand and nine and we're sitting here today and want on a most still open the military commissions have resumed and in my view the president just didn't have the balls to follow through with the doing the right thing candidate obama has said all the right things about justice and american values and closing guantanamo and doing away with military commissions and upholding the rule of law and then once he gets in office you know he didn't just embrace the bush policies he kissed him on the lips and ran with them and his advanced them further than president bush ever did. i mean what the full interview with morris davis said about twenty minutes time here on say. now the defense bill signed by the u.s.

president also imposes sanctions on iran penalties against the country's central bank in an effort to. nuclear program in response the islamic states been threatening to close the strait of hormuz it's the world's most important oil export adding to the situation is iran's naval drill in the persian gulf which has seen missiles being tested director of the beirut based center for middle east studies. believes washington's actions are adding fuel to an already highly flammable situation. united states is doing its best in every day and they are adding new sanctions against iran and i think iran is going . nuclear probably around and it will not stop but. exploitation of all it will be directed in my opinion even maybe iran will not close the three but it may disturb our navigation and in

this case with the presence of. military but the ship from both sides we do have more conflict and this more can increase and to be bigger and bigger and may lead to a war and. we thought a lot from moscow and still to come for you in the program here new years full of all that would laughter and festivities on new year's eve in most parts of the world dozens of new yorkers were forced to celebrate in custody find out why also. the restaurant. was something truly unique back then. there were no restaurants. in russia there was a. restaurant and this was basically the third restaurant in the soviet union meet the man who brought a taste of something new to russia and find out why the caesar salad is now on

almost every menu in the country and special new series. prospects are ahead for europe's single currency in the new year as the region's leaders want to tough sacrifices in this quote most severe test in decades two thousand and twelve marks ten years since europeans first held euro notes and coins in their hands but with that recession looming the sense of optimism that greeted the united current c. at its inception certainly seems to have evaporated and sillier reports. the birth of an ambitious project a common currency celebrated with no less than a big bang. theory is the beginning of a strong europe yeah you know we should be the best to do all that back in the

world. yet ten years down the road the euro is not in the best of shape. a spiraling sovereign debt crisis credit downgrades rising interest rates tens of millions unemployed budget cuts and violent protests. the euro's growing undergoing the worst crisis it has ever been and obviously the founders of the. did not hope that this would happen for what began as a step towards a united europe has become a race against time with e.u. leaders scrambling to keep it together euro skeptics have long argued that the euro was flawed from the start pursuing a political dream above all else well they say lumping together polar opposite economies like that of greece and germany into a monetary union could never work economic rationality has been thrown out of the

window in the pursuit of this goal and we now reaping the consequences of a couple that with internal squabbles and deadlocks there has to be from somewhere that some economic entity that is credible is going to back every euro zone and the only two or three entities that can do that what is european central bank. the other is basically the german government and neither of them right now are willing to do it but this exhibit shows the journey of the european union and the creation of the single currency the documented events in history that explain why it would have been appealing to decision makers at the time so much so the crux of the fundamentals may have been overlooked or ignored which brings us to this point ten years after the creation of the euro its appeal has waned and despite last ditch efforts to save it its future is still uncertain and the spirit of the new year we asked for some predictions but one can be sure of is that this crisis is

going to be a long and bumpy road however if you would ask me do you think that the euro would still exist in ten years time my answer would be yes they can't bring themselves to admit that it was a mistake and so i'm afraid we risk the very thing they purport to fear which is a disorderly breakup of the euro caused by having tried to keep it together for too long downgrades almost certainly i think you'll see a french downgrade i still think this is solvable if the political will is shown in certain member states to allow for what is called solidarity in europe and if not if not we are in for a huge huge recession in europe sitting my prediction that at least greece will leave the euro in the next year and what happens beyond that is unpredictable euro watchers may have divergent views of the single currencies future but it seems whichever way the euro goes it won't be painless does or cilia r.t. brussels. i was just turning twelve minutes past the hour here in moscow the arab

league parliament has and the body is monitoring mission in syria violence still flaring up in the country despite the observers present since last week now the organizations of peace plan calls for an end to fighting and the removal of security forces from cities universal peace federation ambassador dr sun moon says there are preconditions that hamper the observers from remaining impartial. i believe they are partly by as the as they are being affected totally by some out of state powers that see a regional such as cup third in their major egyptian officials and international cars or europeans even at the level of the european community and the united states for sure though this national pressure to towards the observers will give them it by is the by starters where they should not covered as independently as in of no if they were to release any public statements this will effect tarnish even the whole

process and this will affect the transparency of the whole measures that see and the process itself by monitoring independently that is basically enough let there be one distance between the loyalists and the opposition is as such i mean as observers they had they have to be at one distance between the opposition as to that is evil of bashar al assad and to the loyalists of his government without t.v. it's good to have your company today in these days of satellite navigation on google earth we're used to looking closely at almost all corners of the globe although israel does try to keep prying eyes out of an eye when someone's former ally in the region turkey is to launch a satellite that could blur the lines of israel's former protection and it sharply in the focus of the global gaze. of reports. israel's leaders are worried and they've good reason to be in just

a matter of months they'll be nothing stopping satellite companies from getting up close and personal. security through. to him able. to very high resolution. until now only the americans had the technology capable of taking images greater than two meters per pixel resolution and american law stopped us companies from distributing the pictures the americans very sensitive security scrutiny that plays along with it which means even with google earth one can zoom into israel but only so far if you try to look at specific parts of israel many of them will come out blurry than any other place in the world that i've checked but that's about to change turkey is putting the finishing touches to a military satellite it plans to launch within the next two years the gawked took satellite will be capable of taking the very pictures tel aviv doesn't want

distributed and there are no american star legal qualms in turkey about upsetting its photosensitive neighbor took it could be sold directly or indirectly some of these injury to his office. and that's the fear here especially because tensions between tel aviv a day and co are at an all time low and aid for to the attempt on gaza two years ago that left nine two exterior and anchors expulsion of the israeli ambassador has tel aviv nervously weighing its options the irony is that it was not so long ago that the gawked took satellite would have spelled good news for israel the two countries cooperated extensively often sharing military intelligence but whereas turkey was once israel's a closest ally in the muslim world today it is ankara that is asserting itself without a television as a powerful player in the region turkey is trying to say that really not to be granted this pressure. serve. to have a saying in the north of the playground to feel different countries everyone should

abide to the same in order to have the same standards one satellite is barely enough to put israel's picture shy world in a spin but this is not a country that wants its neighbors knowing its business especially with an arab world in flux and israel fast losing former friends policy r.t. and a veil on israel. of course. they

were. meanwhile the protest.

movement has mostly given voice to a sense of frustration about. both. and perceived that a lot of people have about the economy i think it's an ambiguous that the u.s. economy doesn't work it doesn't work very well overall the g.d.p. growth is poor our present eight point six percent unemployment is probably under reporting on it's quite high the high level of college debt that people are coming out with young people in student loan debt and they're in abilities to get a jobs or b. jobs that pay them enough to live and pay back their dad makes very clear that the united states has serious economic problems we haven't really seen anything like a suggestion about a different plan or a different way of organizing the economy come out of the or occupy wall street

movement yet now it's also a very young movement so that may evolve somewhere down the line but this looks to me like the early stages of something with a lot more to calm most of the story yet to be written so to speak i i think what we're seeing is frustrated and anger people beginning to coalesce around that frustration and anger but i for one haven't seen real proposals on economic policy yet you may see a bit more of that this year as it's election time and policy issues i think authorities had hoped the movement would kind of fizzle out or go away and when it didn't want to back through and got more and more attention and more and more adherents there was a little bit of a heavy handed over response by authorities that involved using force part of the reason it's a problem is because what it tends to do is bring out more protesters and raise public sympathy for the protesters the ham handed and overly marshall response to protest has actually helped to build the occupy wall street movement. twenty minutes past the hour here are you with a check of the world update for you now some other brief world headlines a south korea's president says the korean peninsula is at

a turning point and he's ready to resume nuclear talks with the north but he warned against any provocations by pyongyang the comments come after north korea valid in a new year's message that it would bolster its military and defend the son of the late leader kim jong il to the death kim has now been declared the supreme commander of the armed forces and as ruling party leader of course this following his father's death in the middle of december. the government of south sudan and the u.s. have to ploy more troops to bring escalating tribal violence under control in the state of jungle a. tribe members swept through the town of people home to their rivals they torched buildings seized of livestock and forced scores from their homes the u.n. has issued a warning to villages in the area to flee from fighters from rival tribes. egypt's deposed president hosni mubarak has been taken into court on

a stretcher and his trial resumed after a three month break he faces the death penalty if found guilty of ordering the killings of protesters during the uprising that toppled him in february his co-defendants include his two sons the former interior minister and six senior security offices is being treated in a military hospital for his heart condition. a passenger boat has capsized off the coast of kenya leaving at least seven dead and dozens missing but the ferry was taking people from lamu island to the mainland when it collided with another vessel twenty five people have so far been rescued survivors said the boat was overloaded. with the fatalities among american soldiers in afghanistan actually dropping in two thousand and eleven the taliban commanders believe it's because the u.s. has lost its taste for combat the military contributor says the only reason for

washington to keep up its involvement in afghanistan is to fight the thriving drug production that now when the new year has just clicked in let's take a look at what to expect for the united states and there are nato allies in afghanistan and pakistan the white house has to realize that the only way to improve their relationships would be to minimize its political and military affairs in pakistan and afghanistan and if there is any excuse for the u.s. military presence in afghanistan it has nothing to do with the terrorist threat it is the threat that is the only justifiable reason for the u.s. military forces to deal directly affected and efficiently.

this is r.t. so want to take to become an entrepreneur here in russia in our series on the pathfinder business r.t. talked to some ex-pats who discovered the country's huge potential. anyone who's been to russia might have been surprised to find a caesar salad cropping up on every restaurant menu lettuce garlic and source and parmesan hardly traditional russian fare the answer to this riddle is. a danish restaurateur who came here in the dying days of the soviet union. running a business in russia. is challenging for different reasons. in the west the risk in the reward. equation applies to russia all there's a great opportunity in the market your return on investment here is higher than you

would expect in in the west but it is justified by the relatively high risk that one has to face in the market it was nine hundred ninety one came in september and the collapse of the soviet union was six months later i was new in the country i didn't speak the language well was interesting and challenging of the same time it was that things were changing really what was changing and how things were going to change for it is totally unpredictable so opening up a restaurant in russia. was something truly unique back then there were no restaurants. in russia there was a total of two restaurants and this was basically the third restaurant in the soviet union and a country of three hundred eighty million people and we chose a swiss restaurant. with fondue one steak and

seasonal solvent and things like that it's funny in the story about the caesar salad the situation in russia is quite unique because the season salad is on literally every menu in the whole country why that is so in my opinion is when we shall lay the key dish it was a caesar salad it was prepared in front of the guests by the waitresses had a lot of people have to learn how to make the thought well as the years went on and a new restaurant opened one of the things that everybody knew was to make a caesar salad thirty was a recipe that was kind of passed among the few professionals in the restaurant business in those days the influence of the pioneers yes you felt it but really it was later on. one realized the profound impact. that one had in those days at the time it wasn't that it was just surviving it was just trying to do things right and get the business going in the beginning and in the

first couple of years it was very much this pioneer work opening up a new concept by the late ninety's it was very much starting to become a more competitive market you had to be good you had to offer something special because in the beginning you open up a restaurant it was for the next day you didn't have to try very hard so i said i would really to make a strategic shift away from just opening up restaurants to really implementing customer service and guess the distraction and that started with training programs because the restaurant business has a relatively weak turnover of staff we would teaching bringing knowledge to a huge number of people all of the workforce for a while and many of them left all the restaurants and so forth so we were the professional conduct and growth model for a professional knowledge in the restaurant business how do you pizza later to

become filled patio was hugely successful likewise the plan of sushi as general manager ross in two or throughout these many years. in the breast three years ago i started opening all of my own restaurants now the same restaurants but as a franchisee have today twelve restaurants it's a business that requires a lot of perfection in every kind of execution that personal touch. it's the small things that count but that's not special for russia it's everywhere but surely it's a requirement for russia because here again the competitive environment has become so tight that you need to be really really good to be successful. and i will be bringing you more on our special series every day here on r.t.

as we meet some of the business trailblazers right here in the russian capital if you kind of do stay with us for that they were shortly we'll talk to the former chief prosecutor of the military commission of the notorious guantanamo bay certainly an insightful discussion coming your way in a few minutes i'll be off of the headlines with me.

the close up team has been to die to stop birthplace to the most ambitious football club in the world. now on r.g.p. goes to the far east where the timber industry attracts the legendary siberian tigers where the ancient native community loses its way in the modern world. and where the country's mineral wealth starts its way across the ocean. welcome to the from mars creature russia blows up on arche. lines. from.

the russian capital this is your headlines president obama. could see terror suspects held indefinitely without trial. at the start of the new year. two thousand and twelve. to patrol the skies.

and one of the first promises made by president obama when he. was to close the. detention center. still here. the former chief prosecutor of the military commission. disappointment. we're sitting down with morris davis a man of a very interesting career he was the chief prosecutor for the military tribunals or guantanamo bay in two thousand and seven he resigned over his objection to the use of evidence obtained by torture and to what he saw as growing political interference in those military tribunals now he says although president obama promised to shut down guantanamo he doesn't have the.