important oil routes if the west stepped up sanctions james corbett the editor of the colbert report website says tensions in the region will only rise if the u.s. and its allies continue to pressure iran. i think it's quite remarkable to think that france and the us and other countries would be willing to step up sanctions that have already had such a profound effect on the iranian people on the basis of their hunch that era to run is developing nuclear weapons as as france has basically put it it's quite remarkable because that really does is tantamount to an act of war and and really the i think the only logical outcome for this is another increase in military tensions between the countries involved in that region that are already on the knife edge of military tension so it is quite an explosive thing to be talking about and i think of the escalation in recent weeks with the recent ten day military drill in in the straits of hormuz has to be weighing heavily on the minds of of the u.s. and others but but i think really the idea that iran would really close off the

straits of hormuz or attempt to do so would only be an absolute last measure resort for a country that relies on the importation of refined gasoline and other things through the very straits that they would be sensibly sabotaging and planting mines in so it's it's quite remarkable to think that that iran would do that in any other situation other than they felt that the entire existence of their country was an under threat so adding more sanctions to to the mix is is really just a recipe for military disaster i think. with our tickets good to have you with us today still to come in the program the righteous fight a quiet german it becomes a bumble field between neo nazis and those prepared to stand up to them the full story just ahead. jordan is hosting the first a bilateral meeting between israeli and palestinian negotiators in more than a year is considered a last ditch attempt to revive direct peace talks aimed at reaching

a two state solution the palestinian president says his side will take quote tough new measures if the meeting fails to bring any progress. reports from tel aviv. both sides have played down any kind of expectation that there will be a breakthrough in these talks saying that these will not lead to direct negotiations and should not be confused to be done in direct negotiations themselves a diplomat said that these talks will not solve anything although they do bring a new energy to the table the israeli defense minister put it this way he said that these are negotiations about negotiations now the last time that israelis and palestinians sat down around the negotiating table was more than a year ago the chief palestinian negotiator has called on israel to stop with its settlement building to release all palestinian prisoners and to recommit itself to a palestinian state within one hundred sixty seven borders he says that if israel does this it will show

a commitment on the israeli side to restart peace talks just last week there were several palestinians who were killed when this all launched a series of strikes on gaza the israelis say that those were in response to palestinian militants firing into southern israel these raids also concerned that any kind of negotiations that they reach with will not be it here to buy from us until there is a reconciliation deal in place between these two palestinian groups the other stumbling block is of course the whole issue of settlements and he had the netanyahu government has shown that it is continuing to build settlements despite the international criticism these ladies of said that they can be no preconditions for these talks the mood is really not that upbeat and most people don't really expect anything significant to come out of these talks. reporting we're always interested in your opinion today those. peace talks are the subject of our latest online poll if you head over to our web site. right now bringing up the

numbers here for you from home right now over half of you say it will be a few. the second highest number of voters think it will end up in a major diplomatic disaster a minority claim to become a first step toward. the previous one. david. look at the stories we're also covering for you on our web site. in the sky find out about the satellite which could give the rest of the world close up images of israel for the very first time also online. check out this for a very cute couple. settling into his new home at a chinese soup this is just one of the many videos we have.

more news today. these are the images. from the streets in canada. a giant corporations are today. you with r.t. live from moscow egyptians are voting in the third round of their first post revolution parliamentary election the country's leading islamist party is expected to dominate with results now in ten days the vote will see a transition of power from the army which has been in charge since the toppling of former president mubarak in february of last year mubarak in the meantime is on trial charged with complicity in the killing of more than eight hundred protesters

during february's popular uprising last month the previous round of voting was overshadowed by violent clashes between protesters and the army and government raids on charitable organizations last week also added to the bad feeling and those artists are really going to score reports from cairo this content is running high. the revolution may have toppled hosni mubarak the manager passions accuse of corruption and suffocating freedom but now it's the ruling supreme council of armed forces which finds itself in hot water with the west following raids on human rights organizations last week for this is a very dangerous situation because you have the elections on the one hand producing a majority but the people on the streets pushing for change and secularists who have links with these groups so it's a sign that this big tension really between washington and kyra. cell phones and more than twenty boxes of documents were reportedly seized during raids by the

police authorities promised all will be returned yet several questions are mean what prompted the raids and what could possibly be so suspicious about energy all of the races in post revolutionary egypt. the members of the arabic center for an independent judiciary never did get an official explanation for the confiscation of their documents or the vixen from their office that followed. we don't know what they were searching for we told them we could give them anything they wanted but they came in search everything and. didn't give a simple answer whether they wanted bank statements or anything else. sitting on a sidewalk by their former office the vicks it and geo workers point out a certain irony this never happened when mubarak was in charge of our surprise. the police like. to see. just. can't take

a position. against the human rights activists. say she. is a. human rights activists in egypt believe the rays are attempts to punish them for accusing military rulers of failing to carry through democratic reforms but western observers say the authorities are becoming increasingly wary of the ever watchful eye from washington and the true purpose of raids is to prove foreign funding over again is ations which authorities accuse of destabilizing egypt the seems to be a strand of opinion in the military inside the state machine that. is very disillusioned with the friendship with the west and may be trying to find evidence to prove that some of the trouble on the streets. has been in some way fostered by these n.g.o.s washington tirelessly repeats the old adagio of the

importance of its relations with egypt as a key player in the middle east but the light talk may hide a very different agenda washington doesn't want stabilization they want permanent so that they can you know use that as a lever in the entire region egyptian activists aren't too happy with western help which they say can do more harm than good. and i don't like the way foreign countries with pressure on egyptian authorities that's pressure has to come from the egyptians and we as a. and write something zeeshan should provide it on the market my time and money from us whatever the real reasons for the reads of n.-g. o. arthur says the increasing internal strife in the country could portend a shipwreck not just for egypt's relations with the west but for the country's revolution in cairo in a ghost go r.t. . harder let's get some more details now on the situation in egypt and talk to middle east expert tariq ali i live for us in london i thank you for coming on the

program today egypt's islamists are the overwhelming favorites in this election if they do win do you think the military power will actually step down well it depends for details of being done behind the scenes even as we speak we know that the moderate islamists have been negotiating sometimes against the will of their own membership with the military and also the united states which is a big player in that country my own feeling is that if they do push through a compromise deal with the miller create a lot of people with their own base some of the key question is the new constitution which needs to be written really not just steal constitutions amendments on time out. it has for the army the large majority of egyptians want the military to be a defensive outfit defending the country against outside. going to mention and not

play a political role at all because for the last thirty to forty years egypt has essentially whether under mubarak or under some there have been a moth eaten dictatorship run by the miller crean people who want an end to that so when the military. more barak on trial again it's an attempt to divert attention from its own rule in that can create that is what is really worrying people and that is or should be discussed sure. the military have political rule in egypt today and the uncertain there should be no checking the. i mean i'm not a great fan of western funded n.g.o.s to be honest on bad but nonetheless the jim carrey is is i think to show that form. it's so clear which is nonsense anyway when you mention when you mention the issue of of

these ngo offices that were raided computers were confiscated documents accommodated as well some of the ngos are u.s. sponsored you mentioned the issue we know that when mubarak was in power he was receiving a lot of funding from washington here as you're saying the military might desire to stay in power although the islamists look poised to win the election how much influence does washington have in this day and age now in egypt that mubarak is gone. i think washington has a great deal of influence within the military after all it billions of dollars i mean big you know billion dollars a year that's a huge amount of money washington easily if they wish to switch off that and say we can't afford to be jerks and me to create our own increase in prices and then what the military would have to be cut down it would have to.

force have to stop intervening in different. countries industrial and political life so we shall see but i don't think one should even assume for a minute there's long as this money is coming in us through in egypt is diminishing as as you say u.s. funding still coming into egypt what will do a lot to influence how the going is on when it comes to when it comes to the government and certainly some sort of external influence if we may just focus on on the former president hosni mubarak for a moment as you mentioned a moment ago are currently on trial he keeps turning up to court in a stretcher the hearings are continually adjourned and delayed at the end of the day with the trial what do you expect to be the verdict what's going to happen. it will probably be found guilty on some charges and not on others a key point is this mubarak and his coterie is crony sensually should

be tried especially the cronies and including the mother mubarak is son who c.n.n. was introducing to american audiences is the next person featured not so long ago should be tried for corruption the amount of money they have taken from various enterprises where their money is how that money is being your looseleaf we lock up if they are found guilty now if we if we may just go back to the elections here that are going on are the third stage being entered. the big islamist party that does seem poised to win the election of this moment if indeed it does win the election what's going to change in the every day life of a gyptian is to think well this is a very important question and beyond is we do not know if the model of the gyptian islamists is going to be the same as the turkish islamists who are currently ruling turkey then one has to say that in terms of the economy and social

life and social conditions very little creature in egypt because the turks the turkish government is very near liberal in its orientation believing in may you try a new program privatizing great deal i mean it's difficult to do now given the global crisis but that certainly i think would be the opinion of the moderates in the leadership of the brotherhood whether their base was where it is and not the question on foreign policy i think that they were trying to go here with the united states some sort of long term settlement just like the turks have done and whether there will be recognize israel who knows it depends whether there's pressure from below i think that they will carry on more or less in the same way but making a little bit more noise when they're not happy tariq ali a middle east expert talking to us from london thank you thank you. but you're

with r.t. live from moscow and russia is speeding up the reforming at what innovation of its armed forces the military hasn't been a top priority since soviet times but the kremlin is now eager to set that right and as artist on barton reports change is long overdue. the russian armed forces the pride of the nation or are they the russian forces certainly falling behind enough for a behind some of the larger arrivals new equipment is a priority there's also a dire need for reforms in organization recruitment training pay and military doctrine the government has promised six hundred forty billion dollars over the next ten years to buy new weapons but russian arms manufacturers are no longer what they used to be me she just our army now is in need of contemporary modern equipment and if the russian defense industry can't yet provide us with what we

need will buy it a broad new purchases include this london ship the mistral bought from france lorries from italy and flying drones from israel drones has proved a particular problem the defense ministry dismayed by the russian company tasked with designing and building them yet. i asked them what was their problem and what prevented them from producing good vehicles the enterprise is bosses found plenty of excuses such as the absence of engines gliders exacta but i now know how much money they received and i saw the rubbish they produced not all new russian made weapons are falling below standard the su thirty four fighter bomber is widely considered an exceptional aircraft but so few have been delivered that the older models they were to replace are starting to fail although russian designers come up with some excellent hardware for instance in terms of fighter combat aircraft some

time the industry has trouble in maintaining these at a high level and actually producing about the kind of numbers of the armed forces needed and the reforms still have angry opponents to both in and outside the armed forces many of them argue that the rearmament is going just fine and that buying foreign weapons undermines russia's military. independence commission. we are becoming dependent on foreign suppliers of spare parts for military equipment and foreign military personnel training on foreign supplies will specific fuels and lubricants and other substances needed for the new equipment nonsense say other servers in two thousand and eight russian forces pushed the georgian army out of south setia in just five days but experts were dismayed at how outdated and clumsy the russian army looked when faced with real opposition it reinforced the need for serious change the money being thrown at the problem is vast the regiments of rubles on their own aren't enough most here at the defense ministry now know that

before the armed forces are ready for a modern conflict a very long and very demanding war for reform must be one here in the corridors of government and in factories around russia tom watson r.t. moscow. all right it's good to have you with us today on our let's get to the world update here for you some other international headlines in brief first to libya it's where fighting has broken out in the center of the capital between two armed militia groups at least five dead at latest count the clashes are thought to have started after former rebels based in tripoli arrested fighters belong to a rival group from the city of misrata that happened on new year's eve witnesses say the tripoli militia the tripoli minister scuse me arrested six men brought them inside a council building beat them up and detained them the resulting intense battle on tuesday involved machine guns r.p.g. news and anti aircraft guns an eight month civil war in libya did end in october but there are concerns over growing hostility between the rival tribal groups.

the arab league has called an emergency meeting to discuss whether to withdraw its observers from syria france's voice of the effectiveness of the league's monitors in the country and with concerns that forces are still killing anti-government protesters in the most recent wave of trouble a gas pipeline exploded in homs province which the government has now blamed on terrorists five thousand people have been killed in syria since the uprising began last march. thirteen people have died in three separate bomb blasts in the afghan city of kandahar in the first a motorbike bomber detonated explosives at a police checkpoint killing four civilians and one police officer official say the target may have been a nearby police vehicle the second attack of the day thought to be against a nato convoy killed a child that was nearby. despite a dark past with fascism like many other european countries germany is seeing

a surge in support for neo nazi groups it's a problem that sometimes divides whole towns between those in favor of extremism and those trying to make a stand. now investigates what's driving people down path. a quiet down disturbed. a small community divided. it began with the appearance of nazi symbols then the local social center was burned to the ground your. office was also vandalized says for him the final straw was when your nazis marched through the town's main square. i used to be afraid but it helps not to act alone to have supporters i became a public person with our initiative and it sort of my protection the n.t. minority initiative is actively supported by around fifty locals many are retired

and armed with posters they stand up to those who are often much younger and are looking not too friendly like this young man who openly calls himself a neo nazi and admits encouraging a teenager to set the social center on fire he now faces up to two years behind bars and we won't let me or nazis rule here yet not all locals agree the initiative is often criticised the neo nazi party even gained three percent of votes at the most recent local poland election did. the incident split our town some say we're exaggerating and are only making things worse by attracting too much attention but i think they're simply afraid. activists say it's easy for new nazis to recruit new members especially among disillusioned and dejected teenagers with poor infrastructure and high unemployment and few social skills which the town can

offer it's often simply boredom driving them to extremes while the population of just around six thousand people it's also in is a typical small german town far away from large industries and financial centers life here is called peaceful or at least it used to be before two thousand and nine mr vantine and the other activists do say they are not going to back down until after it turns back to normal but unfortunately the problem with neo nazis in germany exists on a much wider scale thousands of new gather for a new all marches in dresden often clashing with police and fascist activists and in november german authorities caught two suspects believed to be members of a neo nazi terrorist so that it is keep them for years and were involved in killing at least ten foreigners but. it's money struggles which are igniting the trouble. it causes families conflict and

families. solved we have a kind of rage but now. as you know escalated. education germany's spending billions to call the eurozone crisis but ignoring economic trouble at home could be. if left unchecked it may be too long before disenfranchised youth drags the entire country toward some of the biggest mistakes of its past. germany. our interview with a former german chancellor big time businessman that's coming your way in just a few minutes after the headlines with me rory sushant. news. from.

one stream cascading from mom slopes the view is miss moment she moved this beauty brings death at a speed of more than two hundred kilometers. to stephanie but i'm along on all.

the of the of them is to the physicists to the food to. feed to fish if. nothing to the fond coming. wealthy british style. sometimes a bit surprised that my. heart. sank.

the global economy. rising. i'm finding. it's getting bad out here. but not saying. you know what's going on here. concrete.

says u.s. warships will continue to sail in the gulf. warning to stay away from an area. the negotiating table for the first time since the peace talks broke down. year ago but both sides have played down expectations of a breakthrough ahead of the meeting. and the russian military is trying to restore its former glory but the kremlin came to reform the armed forces the military

industrial complex has fallen behind technologically but also become riddled with corruption. up next to r.t. we talked to a prominent german statesman about the euro crisis and discussed the benefits of energy cooperation between russia and the e.u. this is art. i. go through the world charles love germany from one nine hundred ninety eight to two thousand and five he's now chairman of the board at north stream russia's new gas pipeline under the baltic sea to europe mr further why should the e.u. increase its dependence on gazprom. we're not talking about russia's dependence we're talking about cooperation between russia on the one side and the european union on the other in the energy sector the new stream is viewed as a priority project both by russia and the e.u. .