international news and comment twenty four hours a day this is r.t. . now civil rights groups have criticized president obama over a controversial defense bill he's authorized the military to indefinitely detain terrorist suspects without charge or trial unprecedented in u.s. history with a bomb i said here serious concerns about parts of the bill and its pledge to be applied in full to americans rights advocates are describing the bill as a blight on his legacy becomes as notorious kuantan a bay prison remains open despite the presence of pre-election vowed to shut it down by the beginning of twenty ten. point nine. long before he became u.s. president or a nobel peace prize winner barack obama was a constitutional law professor we have never been more energized by. a civil liberties champion turned charismatic candidate who vowed to reverse the

abuses and policies of his predecessor george w. bush four years later many civil rights advocates who once cheered yes we can are finding themselves 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 we're in a you know there is a bad state of civil liberties under the obama administration world renowned author and scholar noam chomsky believes the obama administration has changed gears and accelerated illegal practice into overdrive. between bush's policies and

obama's. push bush's policy was to kidnap people. whatever horrible them. put them to guantanamo. or some other two or three. for some information obama just kill. killing them all over the world. another is the targeting drone killing of and where our walk eat and 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 walky 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 the 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 or 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 raised by his own rules the constitution and his promise of change both remain compromise or not artsy new york

. but iran has successfully test fired several long range missiles in the last day of major naval exercises in international waters of the persian gulf it comes amid mounting western pressure on the country over its nuclear ambitions tehran says it's ready to counter any attack by countries like israel the united states and israel. acted angrily to new u.s. sanctions targeting its central bank and financial sector iran has been threatening to close the strait of hormuz the world's most of all exports linking the persian gulf indian ocean meanwhile the e.u. is mulling an embargo on the purchase of iranian oil decision on that expected before the end of the month aside mohammad marandi from the university of tehran says a war with iran would engulf the whole region. it is really the americans that are being provocative they are trying to make ordinary iranians suffer at the same time you see senior american officials and politicians constantly calling for the

assassination of iranian scientists of iranian military commanders of politicians and the constant threat of attacking and bombing their country so really the problem lies with the united states the maneuvers in the persian gulf are basically to show the united states that iran is strong and can protect themselves and it is basically the only way in which to force the united states to recognize that certain lines just simply shouldn't be crossed if the americans and its allies try to make the iranian economy suffocate the iranians will have no option but to respond in a sea of severe manner this is a region where an extraordinarily large amount of oil and gas. goes through and if there is insecurity in the region it's not just the strait of hormuz if there is a conflict in the persian gulf tankers who will be at risk insulations will be at

risk war as hell and this instability will go beyond the persian gulf it will i think of oil exports and gas exports will be at risk in central asia and throughout the middle east and there will be a lot of backlash from the public throughout the region. or there's a showdown in the gulf a bruise we're asking what you think the united states wants to get from a conflict with iran it's not going to r.t. dot com and let us know your opinion so foremost hopefully with even better results the dominance in the middle east in the quarter of all respondents say the u.s. is interested in a want to pull china's woman to use it for. ninety percent say washington is only interested in ensuring israel's security and just a few of you think a conflict with iran would be a boost for american homes and. we were pinioned really does matter so go to r.t. dot com and have your say. now the arab league says the syrian government has withdrawn its troops from cities across the country but the regional

body stressed that security forces are still shooting at protesters and must stop immediately when a team of the league's observers is overseeing the implementation of a peace plans last month damascus agreed to end its crackdown on anti-government forces and release political prisoners let's not discuss the latest developments with patrick henningsen associate editor for info wars dot com thank you for joining us here on r.t. now there are currently only about seventy observer spread across the country so how they manage to cover such a large area and indeed confirm that the regime has pulled its forces back from residential areas well i think the arab league has sent a team of observers to syria. i do think it's more logically impossible for them to like you said cover the whole country and also to verify these alleged civilian casualties of dissidents who were killed by the assad government

a lot like we saw in libya a lot of these so-called human rights reports definitely skewed in favor of whatever the current western policies coming out of the u.s. or london or paris or what they would like to see happen in syria which is rigged game change. is much confusion as you say and the league says that government snipers are still shooting at protesters but how can they be sure the gunmen aren't provocateurs all mercenaries even in damascus does claim to be fighting an armed insurgency funded from abroad. well you know if i think if the arab league observers had bothered to look at the news coverage bridge over the last six months or so they would know that there were no mainstream networks in the city of homs up until probably. late october to early november the reason there were no mainstream networks covering any of that was because there wasn't.

clear evidence of a real genuine and uprising there but there was evidence reported by russia today from webster tarpley investigation when he was in syria that there were a lot of snipers who some of these were mercenaries snipers we don't know who's employing them and they were shooting civilians the people in homs one of the government to come and give them more protection and it wasn't a hotbed of anti assad like we were led to believe by the b.b.c. and some of the other major networks now in protest is reporting the captured dozens of a syrian soldiers this monday some would question how the regime can lay down arms on the opposition is using such tactics. exactly exactly the hole is that the people in the u.s. state department and the u.k. foreign office and the u.n. want to frame this argument is that assad is having

a crackdown on dissidents ok these are not dissidents like the sort of people you see it occupy wall street these are in some cases armed insurgent i mean these are armed people who are actively involved in the sheen change ok and they're being backed. in a material way by the u.s. and by some of these countries who actually are in the league could talk are also has an interest in regime change in this country libya has sent al-qaeda fighters this is on record this is reported in multiple newspapers one hundred al qaeda fighters ok under the command of their tripoli governor to go and fight in syria this contravenes all united name and laws ok and if the u.s. is actively involved in supporting this then they are culpable in international court now we have seen them to mass case has released some three and

a half thousand prisoners as part of the peace to you that how significant a concession is that in your view. well that that is a very significant concession if you look at. let's take a serious israel for instance who have held tens of thousands of palestinians many of them without any trial for over years as in some cases over decades in palestine in israeli jails ok no prisoners released up until recently they took them years to broker a prisoner release deal between the palestinians and the israelis and look the arab league the only thing that leagues are good for is football and basketball the arab league is not a genuine governing body all the members of the arab league and the observers coming from these countries come from monarchy dictatorships like. saudi arabia qatar and egypt has

a military dictatorship as well and they're hosting the arab league summit in cairo so there's no democracy going on throughout the arab league at all the amount of hypocrisy in this star getting syria campaign for regime change is unbelievable this is something we have we haven't seen it's almost going to eclipse the hypocrisy with the u.s. and nato involvement in libya let's hope that the bombs do not drop in syria like they did in libya ok live from london that was apache henningsen thank you for joining us here not to say editor but info was dot com he's had today. so to come this hour marking ten years of the year. 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 the mood is far from jubilant for millions of europeans who enter twenty

twelve a currency that's failed to live up to expectations and has the prospects ahead. and the restaurateur who spotted a beast of opportunity during the last days of the soviet union tracy secrets in a new series finds. now new year celebrations for many people in the euro zone were reined in he's a tough current economic climate many predicting further financial misery twenty twelve see a severe test for the euro as it fights for survival the single currency has now been in circulation for a decade but it leaves millions of europeans anything but optimistic as artists are still reports. the birth of an ambitious project a common currency celebrated with no less than a big bang. theory the beginning of

a strong europe you know. the birth of the war the barracks the war. here 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 going undergoing the worst crisis it has ever been and obviously the founders of the of the euro did not hope that this would happen for what began as a step towards a united europe has become a race against time with the leaders scrambling to keep it together. or skeptics along argue 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 all economic rationality has been thrown out of the window in the pursuit of this goal and we're now reaping the consequences of a couple that with internal squabbles and deadlocks there has to be a sign from somewhere that some economic entity that is credible is going to back every euro zone and there are 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 so this exhibit shows the journey of the european union and the creation of the single currency with 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 in 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 in 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 are cilia r.t.

brussels. for more news analysis always available online at r.t. dot com has some of what's lined up view this hour discover more about the leading lights of the bolshoi theater and as the father of the nutcracker who celebrated his eighty fifth birthday today. also find out more about the first newspaper ever printed in russia which was created on the border of peter the great estate three centuries ago we thought about it r.t. dot com and don't forget you can watch all of our best videos on our you tube channel. the modern world of satellite imaging gives us a glimpse into most parts of the globe from our own computers until now israel has

been protected from close up images but a new turkish satellite will soon put an end to the country's zoom in bad as the turks prepare to launch their high tech satellite israel fares being watched and is worried about its security and it is put to sleep 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. thank you. both to enable me 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 u.s. companies from distributing the pictures the americans very sensitive because of security demands and scrutiny that plays along with it which means even with google

earth one can zoom into israel but only so far to feature a 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 to people sold directly or indirectly some of these injury to him is off israel and that's the fear here especially because tensions between tel of ever denko are at an all time low and aid for terror attempt on gaza two years ago that left nine two and was 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 he isn't really not to be granted the special. services. that if used to have a saying these are military and ignored the playground of. the phone companies everyone should abide by the same laws and 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 once its neighbors knowing its business especially with an arab world in flux and israel fast losing form a phrase policy r t the veil on israel. or some other world news in brief for you now and first to south sudan where the u.n. has advised villages to for the from advancing fighters of a rival tribe the town of people was the center into ethnic clashes on saturday many were forced from their homes as

a local hospital and several other buildings were set on fire the government says it's deploying police officers and troops to the town or to bring the conflict under control around the thousand people have died in clashes over the past few months sparked by cattle raids. riot police in bahrain have clashed with hundreds of demonstrators after the funeral of a fifteen year old protester killed a day earlier the opposition claims the teenager was hit by a tear gas canister once range over the authorities did they to raise questions about the circumstances of the death and said it investigate at least thirty five people were left dead in the bahraini unrest doing twenty eleven including police officers killed as protesters attacked security forces. south korea's president is offering the north's new leader kim jong un new talks if he agrees to suspend new activities and leaders said in a new year's speech that the korean peninsula is at a turning point want against future provocation by the north north korea walked out

of nuclear talks in two thousand and eight after objecting to south korea's requests to inspect its atomic facilities the comments come just stuff that kim jong un was named ruling party leader for the death of his father in december. moving on now just what does it take to become a successful entrepreneur in russia in the new pathfinder series we hear from the foreigners who explore the vast potential of the world's biggest country. and today we hear from the entrepreneur and the restaurateur whose appetite for adventure helped him carve a new career in russia in the dying days of the soviet union henry spotted an opportunity to build a restaurant and buy across the country and reveals now his special recipe for success running a business and russia. is challenging for different reasons. in the west

the risk in the reward. equation applies to russia. there's a great opportunity in the market your return on investment here is higher than you would expect. in the west 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 but what was interesting and challenging at the same time was that things were changing really what was changing and how things were going change was 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 that we chose to open a swiss restaurant. with a fondue one steak and season and things like that it's funny the story about the caesar salad 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. the key dish it was a caesar salad it was prepared in front of the guests by the waitresses a lot of people have to learn how to make this you thought well as the years went on and new restaurants opened one of the things that everybody knew was to make a caesar salad so it was a recipe that was kind of passed out 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 in the first couple years it was very much the 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 opened up a restaurant it was full next day you didn't have to try very hard so i set out really to make a strategic shift away from just opening up restaurants to. implementing. customer service and guest satisfaction and that started. training programs because the restaurant business has a relatively weak turnover of staff we would teaching bringing knowledge to

a huge number of people that work for us for a while and many of them left two of the restaurant and so forth so we were the professional kind of growth model for a professional knowledge in the restaurant business how do you pizza later to become ill patio was hugely successful likewise the planet sushi as general manager of ross center throughout these many years four hundred restaurants three years ago i started opening my own restaurant now the same restaurants but as a franchisee have today twelve restaurants it's a business that requires a lot of affection 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 there will be meeting more business trailblazers in the russian capital in our special pathfinder series of the next two weeks here now take on the back of the headlines in a few moments stay with us. the

. wealthy british style it's best not to rise. up

in the. markets why not. find. what's really happening to the global economy is cause a report on our. welcome back time for a look at the headlines now head up to there's uproar in the u.s. says the president authorizes a goal to detain terror suspects without charge the right to defense rights advocates saw the scrubby on preston today just as a blight on obama's legacy. iran testifies long range missiles during that naval drills in the persian gulf and says it's prepared to hit back if it's attacked becomes as western nations plan to impose further sanctions targeting its own and financial sectors.