to crush 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 erodes iran 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 a 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 under threat so adding more sanctions to to the mix is is really just a recipe for military disaster i think those talks between israeli and palestinian negotiators and over again have ended with our breakthrough but size failed to pave the way for a restart of stalled middle east peace talks with new construction of jer's settlements in occupied was the key obstacle blocking progress on his part of syria as well from the middle east. these talks between israelis and palestinians with representatives of the mideast quartet and the door dating government have ended with no major breakthrough and that was to be expected the stumbling blocks were essentially the positions of both israelis and palestinians holed like the major position being that of settlement construction because it's interesting that while these talks were happening in the jordanian capital here in israel the israeli

lands administration and mounds that it was issuing tamed as all three hundred new homes to be built across the green line so you hearing again from the palestinians that there is no real commitment from the israeli side to stop with the station and building the issues on the table really issues of security issues of borders with palestinians again reiterate to make or so will be israelis to withdraw to the one nine hundred sixty seven borders to release all palestinian prisoners as an indication that there are serious about zooming direct talks they have been no direct talks for more than a year be at the issues on the table of course coming from the israeli side is that they want to see a real sign of commitment from the palestinians for there to be no further attacks no for the rockets fired from the gaza strip into israel removed certainly is one of pessimism no one on either these regular palestinian side by and large really believes that they can be a resumption of direct talks anytime soon and that's why we've heard comments

throughout the course of the day coming from people like the israeli defense minister it would be rather saying that these are negotiations about negotiations now we ought hearing from the jordanian foreign minister he says that although there was no breakthrough today the talks were held in a positive light and that jordan is intent on holding future talks between israelis and palestinians in the future so there is of course that some kind of optimism that perhaps there could be a breakthrough but certainly that breakthrough did not come today the palestinians from this side have said that if there is no real commitment shown from the israelis they are considering a number of options. and among those options are going to the united nations security council and calling for the declaration of a palestinian state some something that they have not done in the past because of american pressure they're also considering going to the u.n. security council and calling for a resolution against israeli settlement building and also for the united nations to stand international observers and here to the west bank. and we're always

interested in your opinion on those mideast peace talks on this subject of all ages online poll so head to our website to take part and right now the majority fifty two percent say that peace talks are doomed to failure so as long as so long as the u.s. continues to support she by israel next twenty six percent of our online voters saying that israel is not ready to compromise because of won't hold illegal drish settlement building on occupied lands thirteen percent while planning the talks thinking that the first move towards peace and just one percent say that the palestinians are not ready for dialogue because their leaders are too focused on the settlements issue to be able to negotiate a vaccine what do you think go online to cast your vote and while you're there you can also find these stories we're covering for you on our website. so check out predictions on how the russian economy will perform in twenty twelve it's all on

our website business section where experts model on whether russians performer or barber the world trend towards recession. egyptians have voted in the third round of their first post revolution parliamentary election the country's leading islamist party is expected to dominate with results due in several days the vote will see a transition of power from the army which has been in charge since the toppling of president mubarak in february last year of barak in the meantime is on trial charged with complicity in the killing of more than eight hundred protesters during february their 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 but also others to the bad feeling and as i reports from cairo discontent is running high. in the revolution may have toppled hosni mubarak the manager queues of corruption and suffocating freedom but no it's the ruling supreme council of armed forces which. in hot water

with the west falling raids on human rights organizations last week i feel this is a very dangerous situation because you have to elections. but the people in the streets pushing secularists who have links with these groups so that the 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 several questions are me what prompted the raids and what could possibly be so suspicious about enjoy all of the races and post revolutionary egypt. and the members of the arabic center for an independent judiciary never did get an official explanation for the confiscation of their documents or the eviction 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 the person from a camp sitting on a sidewalk by their former office the vix it ngo workers point out a certain irony this never happened when mubarak was in charge says i would surprise. the police like the. ticket system just. can't take a position. to get it so he moderates the activity and they shoot a scene. this 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 we. thora is accused of destabilizing egypt the seems to be a strand of opinion inside the military inside the state machine that. is very disillusioned with the old friendship with the worst and maybe trying to find evidence to prove that some of the trouble on the streets some of the trouble in tahrir square 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 blight talk may hide a very different agenda washington doesn't want stabilization they want to be permanent arnie's 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. i mean i don't like the way foreign countries put pressure on egyptian authorities that the pressure has to come from

the egyptians and we as a human rights organization should provide it. motherly from us whatever their real reasons for the reigns of n.g.o.s offices 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. r.t. . we have this expert terry connelly says that in order to stabilize egypt the military has to give its people will they want one step down. large majority of egyptians want the military to be a defensive outfit defending the country against outside. checkpoint dimension and not clear political rather told because for the last thirty to forty years egypt has essentially where they were under mubarak or under some dark being a multi to indicate to share run by the middle or korean people want an end to that so when the military want. more barack on cry again it's an attempt to divert

attention from its own rule in the concrete barriers who want to be this really worrying people and is or could be discussed and checking we. can carry is is i think to show that foreign bars are manipulating of concrete and so cruel which is again nonsense i think washington has a great deal of influence within the military after all billions of dollars i mean they get a billion dollars a year that's a huge amount of money russia is speeding up the reforming and modernization of its armed forces the military hasn't been a top priority since soviet times but the clintons now eager to said that right does and he's done a lot of reports changes along. 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 he 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 bite a broad new purchases include this london ship the mistral bought from france lorries from italy and flying drones from israel drones are through to particular problem the defense ministry dismayed by the russian company tasked with designing and building them. 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 and 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 and combat aircraft some time the industry has trouble in maintaining peace at a high level and 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 fuel and lubricants

and other substances needed for the new equipment nonsense say other servers in two thousand and eight russian forces pushed the children army out of south said here 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 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. presidential hopefuls are gearing up in iowa for the start of this election approaches to see who will be the republican candidate to take on veronica bamma for the white house told job one poll rick santorum and me tell me are the frontrunners vying for the republican nomination around one hundred twenty five

thousand party members are expected to vote in this election crisis that can take six months from the clash as funds things wrong pull stars out to other hopefuls because of his balanced and progressive attitude to foreign policy. in his foreign policy is very distinct from the other candidates in that he has a more isolationist viewpoint he wants the united states to retreat from international conflicts in the rational affairs in some areas that can be good he's opposed to military action with the rod who was supposed to be iraq war you know there is that's questionable he opposes foreign aid he does not like the u.s. involved in the united nations so there's some good and some bad but the other candidates are all extremely hawkish on foreign policy very neo conservative and ron paul does stand out amongst them his arguments against military action that is unwise potentially against iran he is making those arguments in ways that are very

appealing to voters who also support president obama from the progressive side of the. some other world news in brief for you this hour on first to libya where fighting has broken out in the center of the capital between two old militia groups leaving five people dead the clashes have started after former rebels based in tripoli arrested fighters who belong to a rival boot from the social news roswell new year's eve witnesses say the tripoli militia arrested six men brought them inside a council building and beat them up and taking them resulting in turns battle on tuesday involved rocket propelled grenades and and i thought guns as well there's gunfire and each month revolt in the bit ended in october but there are concerns over the growing hostility between rival tribal groups. the arab league has hold an emergency meeting to discuss what to of choice observers from syria france has voiced doubts over the effectiveness of the league's monitors in the country and its concerns that forces us still cling on to government protesters in the most

recent wave of trouble a gas pipeline explosion exploded in homs province which the government has blamed on terrorists five thousand people have been killed in syria since the uprising began last march. so two 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 of the shawl so the target my have been and nearby a police vehicle the second attack of the day thought to be against a nato convoy killed a child it was nearby. they talk about it says it has struck a deal with qatar to open a political office that the plot is being seen as a major step towards ending the ten year war in afghanistan germany and the us have been urging the group to grade representatives able to start peace negotiations the u.s. and taliban have previously held talks over issues such as the release of prisoners

from guantanamo bay. next we talk to former german chancellor and current chairman of the north stream gas pipeline get the trader and he tells r.t. about the benefits of energy corp between russia and the and discusses ways for the eurozone to escape its debt crisis. if you.

go through the world charles love germany from one thousand nine hundred to two thousand and five he's now chairman of the board at nordstrom's russia's new gas pipeline under the baltic sea europe mr further why should the e.u. increase its dependence on gazprom. we are 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 not stream is viewed as a priority project both by russia and the e.u. because it's been part of europe's energy networks since two thousand and six recognized by the european parliament and the e.u. council of energy minister brussels wants all russian energy companies not just gazprom to be allowed to export gas to europe what are the implications of that for gas problem and europe. regulator e permission is not the issue which the e.u. germany and the rest of the e.u. nations need gas to sensibly reform their energy policy russia on the other hand

has to sell gas to keep its budget in order so there's a codependency which is a good thing i would be happy to see european companies invest into russia and european markets open up to russian companies it's a good free market economy i think europeans need gas gas has many uses here with the political uncertainty in north. africa it's good to have a stable partner that you can rely on and russia is one if you know better than anyone else for instance that britain recently switched from export to imply that europe needs a gas supply to maintain a stable mix of energy sources but it's climatic conditions require it needs norway's gas but also russia's gas and therefore i think opening the market up to russian companies would be a wise move of. the name to do some e.u. officials oppose russia whatever it does yet as is ford or most mon i guess it is so we have to admit that what i hope we will get over it of it's understandable that the european union needs russia geopolitically but the reverse is also true

it's not a question of the time has come to start cooperating and stop looking back at ideological differences that is for the could russia switch supply eighth to china if brussels keeps up its hostility was that it's unknown as it were to your involvement of wishes in a situation where it could ship gas to china and all of asia and europe i hope russia never has to make a choice the russian government is evidently pro european but europe cannot keep pushing russia or away it hurts russians pride we have to keep in mind that while russia has the alternative of shipping to asia europe has no such alternative and europe's geo political position will only improve if it manages to enter a tiny hard to ship with russia and at the same time grant a session to turkey that would be a sound strategy and into the future the rest is yesterday's debate alice and is from guess that with this huge debt crisis mr sarkozy says no hero no europe surely

europe will survive without the euro so on that. and a former well this is a quote from a successor in office likes to use of course europe is going to have problems if the euro has problems but there's one thing you can be sure of the euro is going to survive as a common currency. in it theoretically things turn out differently which i find very improbable you we will still have a united europe it is. you were chancellor when greece cooked its books to join the euro should you have stopped athens from joining the single currency club when it does. i do not think that was our situation of the european commission its employees that had to conduct the inspections they had let us know that we could take the responsibility for greece's e.u. a session on ourselves but it was a purely preparatory mission conducted by the european commission not the national government we had made the decision to take greece in we could not claim without

having firm proof that the information we got then was diplomatically speaking not entirely correct very much keep in mind that the european parliament voted in favor of greece's membership almost unanimously including the conservatives who are now trying to distance themselves from that decision sometimes in politics you don't want to believe things that he wants condoned or actually happening. under either the commission was wrong or the handling of greece has been wrong since it ended which which is it. it's pointless to talk about how things were in the past we're talking about the future i hope we manage to keep greece in the eurozone for that to happen i hope the package of aid agreements that european leaders have agreed on is implemented if that's the case then i think we can start taking care of stabilizing the market because it was a great deal of help from greece of course there is one point i would like to make in that the country should not be broken down not only does greece need

a budget discipline which is of course true but what greece needs most are investments of that it would be good to see wealthy greek citizens who are currently investing abroad pay taxes in their own country instead of looking for investment opportunities is there a red line beyond which german says they we're not going to bail out southern europe anymore or does germany have. a historic debt to europe as france put it has been digging a bad i'm not against discussing a red line the problem is that if you start to talk about a red line then you'd eventually have to correct it germany's interested both politically and economically in a functioning europe the economic interest is easily explained that forty percent of our export goes to the european union and beyond if those countries are hit by a crisis then so is germany secondly or both the lesson we learned in the past and our prospects for the future dictates that germany is not strong enough geo politically to play a significant role in a game where the u.s. is one superpower and an asian leader in this case china is the other new european

state is only a united europe can take on a role like that if that's why germany is interested in a united europe that is not just because of the past but for the sake of our citizens future that will come from the lord of being gerhard schroder chairman of the board for the north stream gas pipeline thank you for speaking with r.t. . wealthy british style. markets why now. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with max kaiser there are no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to an end to kaiser report on our t. . shirt. this is our time to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we all want that war we free the we hope. to me the american dream

is to live in peace and prosperity and freedom and government under socialism is not a government afraid. to please please let you have very motivated out cross the country who are activists who are willing to fight for what they think is right for themselves but back in order for it. we are. drowning and i think it's threatened by it's cutting off our. it's making a mockery. all but impossible. the

close some genius being to die just on earth plays to the most ambitious football club in the world. not only argy goes to the far east where the timber industry attracts three legendary siberian tigers where the ancient native community loses its weight in the modern world. and where the country's mental well starts its way across the ocean. welcome to the bob barr's creature russia blows up on. the. line. would be soo much brighter than if you knew about sun moon from phones to

parachute in some. nice for instance on t.v. dot com. welcome back a quick check of the headlines at half time for the. provoking tension the pentagon says u.s. warships will continue to sail in the average b. and gulf despite an iranian warning to stay away and while tehran successful a tough spot as missiles during naval exercises claiming it took head to head by the time of. the first talks between israel and palestine in fifteen months and with no breakthrough new construction of just settlements on a pew pipelines remains the main obstacle to resuming stoled peacemaking save us. on the winds of change the russian all made not. two more my station with the

president came to return to some of these. as the headlines up next to max kaiser and to have it present a special eastern european on the wisdom of a star of the concert thanks. max kaiser welcome to the kaiser report one of the great things about doing a show on our today is that new year lasts oh seems like almost two weeks they serve or mag's is only eight days they're a light weight we're still partying here. fantastic well that's because i found what's considered to be a shot in russia a shot of vodka look at the cannonball though this is just a typical russian vodka with a few of these and you'll be taken off a few days or so yeah hey max i learned how to say.