you know main source of of. foreign exchange for china will be to export energy it is an act of war this thing is how you're going to implemented and who's going to respect that being made your opinions like you know the french foreign ministry pathetically is saying look we have to curb our imports of your own in oil what's going to happen to the european economy if that happens you know now it's one hundred eighth a barrel so it's going to be one hundred trainee and in one month could be one hundred forty one hundred fifty and you want to recover the economies of the u.s. and europe as well with oil at one hundred fifty it's not going to happen and it's totally counterproductive. law and amendments and the way it's going to be interpreted by the obama administration i'm not sure they're going to try to provoke a confrontation against south korea for instance an ally with russia china or with countries in south america or for that matter the editor of the corbett report current affairs website says that by trying to stop more sanctions on iran the u.s.

and e.u. are only stirring up dangerous tension in the region. 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 iran 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 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 an under threat so adding more sanctions to to the mix is is really just a recipe for military disaster i think. well you can always share your take on this

developing story go to our web site to tell us what you think of new sanctions on iran so far this is what the numbers are looking like over half of those who responded to tehran will be pushed to desperation see new sanctions as an act of war seventeen percent think the world economy will suffer sanctions drive oil prices skyward the same number believe the u.s. measures won't simply won't work and fourteen percent say iranian people not the government would be most hurt by the same cast your vote at r t. in other news the process of finding a republican candidate to contest the twenty twelve american presidential election officially got underway in the state of iowa the results however were anything but decisive with career politician mitt romney beating his conservative counterpart rick santorum i just ate a vote just a few points behind the two was libertarian ron paul the only anti-war candidate in

this year's lineup even hours before the vote many people were still undecided after a republican election run by marred by sex scandals months flinging and tit for tat p.r. now despite all of that a former congressional aide and diplomat told rubin believes it's ron paul who stands out from the rest. 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. affairs in some areas that can be good he's opposed to military action with the run he was opposed to the iraq war but the other candidates are all extremely hawkish on foreign policy very conservative and ron paul does stand out among them makes voters want to support him. leading the party and getting other republicans on board so it really shows you know he hasn't someone who says a free american can make it on my own and that's what ron paul really embodies but

republicans also understand that kind of positioning will not win the general election against president obama. well as the republican campaign develops democrats are beginning to wonder just how much appeal president obama still has come to power on a wave of hope four years ago his chances are beginning to look dimmer with complaints from voters of broken promises and corporate favors driving them away or important iowa has more. three years ago one historic campaign turned u.s. politics into a pop culture phenomenon. thanks to the world the democratic candidate achieved unprecedented support international fame and a record breaking six hundred fifty million dollars in donations. i thousands of new yorkers celebrated the victory clutching an enormous

american flag hand sewn by obama supporters but the winds have changed and the very same democratic symbol waved in honor of the president elect in no way each straight from a straight has been donated to a movement that became a phenomenon in two thousand and eleven there are twenty people holding out david moffatt out organize the flag project after being inspired by obama rhetoric a dream shattered by the subsequent years of politics as usual curly what's inspiring me is because over to us like that that's the thing that's inspiring you know like that's why i brought the fight so ws and the thing that inspired me about it is the fact that it's a grassroots movement. that had a like a very clear and transparent process artist shepard fairey seems similarly just in chanted releasing an updated version of his iconic hope poster replacing obama with his now clear support for occupy wall street with an economy still in crisis wall

street largely unregulated social programs slashed and over forty five million citizens on food stamps the. starts with you making a decision to get involved obama's familiar prose may not be enough to win back his familiar fan base he didn't produce what people wanted him to produce in two thousand a professor an offer dr cornel west was one of obama's biggest supporters i think you get the because you've got the newness he's got the first taking part in more than one hundred campaign events but last april the prominent intellectual told r.t. that obama has failed he's a friendly face of the american empire abroad he's in the process actually of becoming very sadly upon the big finance and a puppet of big business and any politician here knows they are in trouble when the hollywood a listers start turning their backs are you happy with the way that obama

has been running the country. you know. and i think i really think he misinterpreted his. his mandate yet the approval ratings show voters are even more turned off with the alternatives leaving obama seemingly the lesser of two evils america's president clearly enters the twenty twelve race amid a growing band of disillusioned democrats most will still back barack obama over his republican rivals arguably with heavy hearts in two thousand and eight he was the unassailable candidate of choice this time mr obama is likely to stay in my default. new york. but still ahead for you this hour arning their daily bread we tell the story of two wealthy ex-pat entrepreneurs who banked their way to the top in russia's top and pastry sector. but first

egyptians are heading to polling stations once again as the country's first democratic election in more than half a century and its final stage results are to be announced next week with the muslim brotherhood being the favorites after clinching the lead in the first two stages of the vote last year earlier poll rounds were overshadowed by clashes between protesters and the army is its ruling military generals have been accused of clinging to power and now face anger over their handling of protests that have left some fifty nine dead since mid november recent army raids on western sponsored n.g.o.s have added even more concerns over the country's stability middle east expert tariq ali says that in order to ease tensions the military has to give its people what they want and step down. no huge majority of egyptians want the military to be a defense outfit defending the country against outside. checkpoints eventually and

mostly a political role the told that goes for the last thirty to forty years egypt has a saying should be whether i'm to look barack or i'm just being the most eaten dictatorship run by the military in pete. well one can end to that so when the miller creek works mobarak on trial again it's an attempt to divert attention from its own rule in the concrete that is what is really worrying people and that is or should be discussed and attacking the g.o.p. and jim carrey is is so i think to show that formed by manipulating of concrete and synchro which is again nonsense i think washington has a great deal of influence within the military after all bit behind it billions of dollars i mean to get a billion dollars a year that's a huge amount of money. the rise of islam as parties in egypt has prompted western concern for the policies of the country may adopt if the likes of the muslim

brotherhood step into power we caught up with regional politics expert dr jeremy salt his outlook on developments in the arab world is coming up next hour in our interview program. what's been happening in the middle east and the policies the wish from governments of followed since the beginning of this year they have always had the the noble most you know we're doing this for this very very good reason but we don't have to be to be skeptical cynical to understand that actually behind the noble motive is so for interest if you look at what definitely egypt the west backed mubarak right to the very last and there was no longer possible to back him what it was indefensible they dumped him. greece has announced that it couldn't ditch the euro and exit the euro zone in as little as three months unless the e.u. and i.m.f. fund it with a second one hundred thirty billion euro bailout well talks over the cash lifeline

have stalled for months over the poor performance of austerity measures and fears for the future to discuss these latest developments are now joined by belgium business journalist and your hand over live with us on the line from brussels all four of the book the end of the euro so it's now out in the open in greece is threatening to leave the eurozone unless it gets more cash to fund in a commie that the e.u. and i.m.f. negotiators believe isn't working what's your view why the sudden change years of desperately trying to stay and now threatening to leave the euro zone. well i think the greek government is realizing that there is actually no other option left the greek economy is going down like a stone. g.d.p. contracted by four percent in two thousand and ten by six percent in two thousand and eleven and there is probably worse to come in two thousand and twelve one of the main reasons is that the greek economy lack totally like external

competitiveness and this combined with the need to stabilise public finances to increase taxes and to cut expenditures brings into being a kind of debt spiral for the greek economy and i think we are now at the point where everybody in greece realizes that we cannot go on like this and that unrest and even in the country is becoming so much of a threat that some drastic things need to be done and my reading of what the greek government is doing is that they are trying to that they are looking for an alibi to offer to their public by which they can say well it's not our fault it's the international community that pushes the steward's the exits of the eurozone but what leads to look like greece is using its predicament and the threat of a default to blackmail the e.u. into giving it what it wants whether or not this is for the people or not. i think we can explain this in several ways and they are not mutually exclusive indeed it's

a kind of blackmail give us more money or we exit and you remain in countries in the eurozone some kind of chaotic situation but the other fact is also like i already mentioned that they really are at the end of the road there is no other option left for them they're in a deadlock they cannot rewind the greek economy and so they are facing in a big black hole what was a greek pm lucas papademos meant to be a brussels man here after all he was all but appointed by the e.u. whose interests do you think he's serving. well i think mr papademos is right almost a man with a good sense of economic analytics and i think that by now he realizes the extent of the greek problems in full and i think even he has now to concede that greece can't be solved by growing the road of structural reforms that need to be

done anyway but they take time to take effect and greece doesn't have that time left the problems are so severe the recession is so deep that you need a kind of shock treatment and of course the existing exiting the euro zone would be that kind of shock because amongst other things that would mean immediately a lot of very much the value of currency the new exactly which would bring back international competitiveness to the greek companies some analysts start using the e.u. in fact of using that second bailout as a pretext to force greece to leave the euro zone in a voluntary manner at least have it look that way if that were to save the euro why not them. well i think that's again one of the explanations that can be given but i think there was pretty much very broad conviction here in brussels among europhiles and european populations that indeed they could keep the eurozone together just by

giving or extending credit and money to greece on the one hand and on the other and . greece to follow a strict program in terms of expenditure cuts tax increases and of course most of all structural reforms of the economy i think with respect to what greece needs it's still very much the same issues that are on the table the only problem is greek greece hasn't left any time to bring these structural reforms about and so something needed in the short run and i think also here in europe at the brussels airport is of the european commission people start to realize that really is no other way to solve the greek problem by but then by an exit from the euro zone right there have been overread has bonds on the euro and where it's going in twenty twelve thanks for being with us on the line from brussels. well it's seen as one of

the biggest blight on modern british society but tackling gang violence is proving difficult but the government seeing a firm response is the only means of dealing with it there's a growing criticism though that attempts to improve the situation aren't addressing the roots of the problem are just more smith explains. it is. six years old. and often also teaches. the dark underbelly of life in britain is in a city's gang culture dramatized here for a television series for gavin it was real life he got into a gang to escape a feeling of powerlessness an abusive home life where money was a constant struggle seen the things. so. over the top. name for the.

people. at his lowest ebb gavin admits to having stopped and his story isn't unusual in deprived areas no where is the question of how to solve the gang problem in london more relevant than. it lies in the shadow of london's two thousand and twelve olympic park but it's also got more gangs than almost anywhere else in london round here young people say you start just by hanging out with your friends on the streets and you end up in a spiral of gang violence and fear. in you are more than half of the kids are living below the poverty line and they don't feel the government doing anything to help them how can you hold me. you have to have.

a government really knew and understood. when gavin met sheldon thomas an ex gangsta himself he turned a corner and they're now working in a team to get young people out of gangs the government claims it wants the same thing and having laid the blame for august's riots firmly at the door of gangs there solution the carrot and stick method or if you found some excellent police work to identify and manage the highest risk members through a combination of targeted surveillance enforcement and arrest for any offense however minor and positive offers of training employment and drugs treatment for those who want a different life. but for those not prepared to break away from violence they will face harsher and tougher punishments but this isn't going to work according to sheldon thomas who feels the government is forcing him at every turn what they do

is they look at the manifestation of god's gun for i don't. know this gang rape drugs to kill that's just a manifestation. of it because in stemming from the breakdown moles on the window from society as a whole while the government rhetoric sounds encouraging other policies will undermine both carrot and stick economical steroids he cuts will mean sixteen thousand fewer police officers on the streets and services that deal directly with gangs now will have their funding cut by between twenty and ninety percent in some areas that means young people like gavin in the future will have nowhere to go but the st lawrence smith party london. more and all the stories we're covering can always be found on our website r.t. dot com here's a look at what's online right now with focus on an advanced search

a twenty eleven and bring you our correspondents firsthand accounts reporting world hot spots in our testimony series. and the night of planet party our picture galleries capture the high spirits from around the world as we are short in twenty two out of that and much more at our t.v. dot com. up next. entrepreneurs based in russia tell us their success stories and describe their path to prosperity in the latest from our pathfinder series. just. today we bring you the story i am going to go hard to call ameri gurus who break their way to a fortune in russia's premium pastry sector for more than four years now they've been running the most successful business of its kind having started from scratch up next they give us a taste of what it takes. i am twice only in the production sector

and the rest of the time i'm in the restaurant genya. genya to hear that stuff national said just to make sure everything is ok definitely in the west when you're starting something new everything is setup the industry has existed here we had to do everything from scratch. when we started the business we realized. we had to. really difficult objectives one was that we had to create our own brand and we decided to license at least initially in the nation's national brand for us and the whole point of our project the whole point of the business was that these products i called the bakery hardly exist in russia today you don't have many customers here you can help in the early to this and that customer should be greeted every time every time you are developing a company culture you know that one of the most difficult things in russia few

years ago was to make sure your line staff smile is just smile if it's not interesting culture it at the beginning i would say if i come to the restaurant and if you're smiling i really give you a hundred. if you're not. really ever my desire your resume so you could give me this again be still but it's still a chat the first step was that we split in two thousand and six we spent nine months developing a very small factory we basically had a third is with me the room where we were trying to make something like fifty products fresh every day and the biggest challenge was the local ingredients it would be insane to import lots of flour to russia when russia is one of the biggest low exporters in the world we were very very lucky that we did this because by the end of two thousand and eight when the recession started the first thing that happened in the recession in russia was a collapse of the ruble exchange rate compared to the euro so suddenly overnight imported prices up. thirty forty percent and that is deadly for any kind of

business like dogs but for us at least the cost of our products was relatively stable because for the main ingredients like sugar like flour we were using locally made products. it's still a lot of things happens in russia mechanically in the service industry we have a hard time legally the idea they followed the rules or did they have a problem so this is the difficulty in russia united states or in europe it's a little bit easier because they have be used to it. you need to empty the garbage cans you need to clean up that place what is that card from there higher on the other hands if we see their hearts they take it to heart. in other cultures that may be a little bit more difficult the idea is to build a bakery business in russia was exactly right and the idea that the competition

wasn't so high in the sector i would do again but i think i would make sure that we raise a bit more capital upfront than we did i would also make sure i think that we invest at the beginning far more in training of production people than we did we should have outsourced much less than we did four years ago we should have made much many more products ourselves and then we would be even more successful than we are today i think but yes i would absolutely do. well i have more features on foreign entrepreneurs doing big business in russia in our pathfinder series throughout the week but a look now at some other international news this hour a series of three explosions in the second largest city in afghanistan have killed at least thirteen people including a child the first blast occurred as a suicide bomber attacked a police checkpoint and two other bombs went off later the violence comes a day after the afghan taliban announced plans to open an internationally is all

for us in qatar something that could be a step towards formal peace negotiations. thousands of people have taken to the streets in northern peru protesting against the development of a gold mine the demonstrators say waste from the works will taint their water supplies approach as common one of the country's most heavily mined regions it also has a history of troubled relations with neighboring farmers and ranchers. about wraps up our main news block here in artsy this hour i'll be back with a recap of our top stories in just a moment. and

one stream cascading from on the slopes the view is missed much. of this beauty brings down. the speed of more than two hundred kilometers per hour led steppers along. on. the a. leisurely. lives.

the most such. a splendid come up. on. the a. sled. the sea the most so the sea. the emission and free the cretaceous free transport charges free the maintenance free risk free stews charge priests.

the old sleaze ball just plug in video for your media projects a free medio dot com. to watch an artsy live from moscow these are top stories at five thirty pm the u.s. says its war ships will stick to their missions near a crucial. person golf despite warnings from iraq staying away. your drive up oil prices and tension. probably can presidential candidate race gets underway in earnest but voters remain indecisive over just two to put forward to capitalize on disillusionment with iraq obama. plus the rise of crime and gang culture among british youngsters from troubled families who say if their only way of escaping violence. coming out now we follow snowboarders and skiers and the mountain

challenges they face that's next here in our city. the cooler peninsular in russia's north home to the q.b. in the massive mountain range this is the cold and windy bolshoi pass the snow here between one and a half and four meters deep avalanche safety specialists are probing the snow structure on one of the slopes. the top layer of snow drifts on the slope is unstable and skiers could trigger an avalanche shift attention those of you who are keen to scull mountain peaks please be careful. some avalanches a wet others a draw it all depends on the snows composition the speed of avalanches varies.