it's five pm here in moscow this is archie coming to you live now with our top story this hour and oil prices have jumped in response to the latest heated exchange between iran and the u.s. over the persian gulf and the critical trade route in the strait of hormuz washington says it's airships will continue their missions in the region despite tehran's warnings that they should stay away well iran threatened to block oil shipments through the strait of hormuz if new western sanctions hit its exports the threat came at the same time as a ten day long naval exercise which showcase new aircraft a medium range missiles the us use ships are stationed in the area and maintains that it won't tolerate any hindrance of path to asia times correspondent pepe escobar says new sanctions against iran will hurt the global economic recovery. can you imagine if it was the other way around if the sanctions were against american

exports of oil or if this is or against china for its assuming china you know main source of of of foreign exchange for china will be to export energy it is an act of war this ng is how you're going to implemented and who's going to respect that we need europeans like you know the french foreign ministry pathetically he's saying you know look we have to curb our imports of your own oil what's going to happen to the european economy if that happens you know oil is now it's at 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 is 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 essentially you're for that matter. the editor of the corbett report current affairs website says that by trying to slap 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 her own is developing nuclear weapons as as france has basically put it is 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 under threat so adding more sanctions to to

the mix is is really just a recipe for military disaster i think. but 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 say brown will be pushed to desperation seeing 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 for many months hurt by the sanctions 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 libertarian ron paul the only anti-war candidate in this year's lineup even hours before the vote many people were still i'm just cited after a republican election run marred by sex scandals months slinging and tit for tat p.r. now despite all of that former congressional aide and diplomat joel rubin believes it's ron paul who stands out from the rest. of 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 of international affairs and some areas that can be good he's opposed to military action with the run who are supposed to be iraq war but the other candidates are all extremely hawkish on foreign policy very neo conservative and ron paul does stand out among them he makes voters want to support him but he's far as leading the party and getting other republicans on board so it

really shows the agenda no he hasn't done that someone who says i am a free american and i 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 let me 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. occurs during the democratic candidate achieved unprecedented support international fame and a record breaking six hundred fifty million dollars in donations.

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 interest rate has been donated to the movement that became a phenomenon in two thousand and eleven there about twenty people holding out david move food 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 as much as i would of us like that that's the thing that's inspiring you know like that's why i brought the flight 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 and on. 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 and eight perfessor an offer dr cornel west was one of obama's biggest supporters i think he's got the because you've got the newness he's got the freshness taking part in more than one hundred campaign events but last april the prominent intellectual told r.t. that obama has failed he's too friendly face of the american empire abroad he's in the process actually of becoming very sadly upon 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 you misinterpreted his. 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 arena. new york. i still had 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 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. large majority of egyptians want the military to be

a defensive outfit defending the country against outside attack or intervention and not play a political rather tall because for the last thirty to forty years egypt has essentially whether under mubarak or under some dark been a mocked eaten dictatorship run by the miller crean people want an end to that so when the miller creek or more barak on cry again it's an attempt to divert attention from its own rule in the concrete that is what is really worrying people and is or could be discussed and attacking the g.o.p. and jim carrey is is so i think to show that foreign buyers are manipulating of concrete and synchro which is again nonsense i think washington has a great deal of influence within the gyptian military after all big billions of dollars i mean they 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. remember for 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 motives is self-interest if we look at what happened in egypt the worst backed mubarak to the very last and there was no longer possible to back him but it was indefensible the dump in. 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 your han overwrites 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 an economy 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 lacks 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 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 us towards the exits of the euro zone 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

you can explain this in several ways 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 interest do you think he's serving well i think mr papademos is a quite honest 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 recession 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 devalue would 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 this 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 your files

and european top politicians that could give the eurozone together just by giving extending credit and money to greece on the one hand and on the other and obliging greece to follow a strict program in terms of expenditure 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 brussels that quarters of the european commission people start to realize that really is no other way to solve the greek problem than by an exit from the euro zone right over about his father on the euro when where it's going in twenty twelve thanks for being with

us on the line from prague. well it's seen as one of the biggest weis on modern british society but tackling gang violence is proving difficult with the government saying a firm response is the only means of dealing with it there's growing criticism though about attempts to improve the situation aren't addressing the roots of the problem are just more smith explains. the six years old. and often also a picture of. 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 see in the freezer stores a young. mother disposal to. start.

to. be angry over the top. name for the discos crazy. people started to miss but at his lowest ebb gavin admits to having stabbed a girl 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 here in new and 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 and more than half of all kids are living below the poverty line and they don't feel the government's doing anything to help them how can you hold me if you don't understand you have to have a. i don't think they know it looks like. you were around no in

a bar of the house in london and the neighbor. and the neighbor. in london. i was there to government really knew and understood would be happening . when gavin met sheldon thomas an ex gangster 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 their solution the carrot and stick method are as 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. the manifestation of god's gone for i don't. mean this gang rape drugs that's just a manifestation. of it and stemming from 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 r.t.e. london. with more on 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 we focus on an advance such 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 captured the high spirits from around the world as we are assured in twenty twelve all that and much more at our t.v. dot com. up next expert 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 the puzzles are just to make sure everything is ok definitely in the west when you're starting something new everything is more subtle 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 high quality big hardly exist in russia today you don't get many customers here you can't help with. this and that customer should be greeted every time every time you

are developing a company culture you know one of the most difficult things in russia a few years ago was to make sure your lines that smile is just smile if it's not interesting at the beginning i would say if i come to the restaurant and if you're smiling i will give you one hundred. if you're not. really my desire your resume so it could give me a game but it's still a chat the first quarter we spent in two thousand and six we spent nine months developing a very small factory we basically had a thirty square meter 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. flour to russia when russia is one of the biggest low exports 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 of the euro so suddenly overnight imported prices were up thirty forty percent and that is deadly for any kind of business like gods 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 have a hard time getting the idea or 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 a use to it. you need to empty the garbage cans you need to clean up that. car from there high over on the other hand if we see your heart they take it to heart. in other cultures that may be

a little 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 and 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 of 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 on office 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 the parts as common one of the country's most heavily mined regions it also has a history of troubled relations with neighboring farmers and ranchers. well that wraps up our main news block you're an artsy this hour i'll be back with a recap of our top stories in just a moment. white

stream cascading from mountain slopes the view is miss mirage. but this beauty brings death and it's. speed of more than two hundred kilometers her leg step along. the a.

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stuart chaifetz free. the old free blog cancelling videos for your media projects a free media. tom. to watch an artsy live from moscow these are top stories at five thirty pm the u.s. says its warships will stick to their missions near a crucial oil light on the persian gulf despite warnings from iraq saying the way the standoff continues. drive up oil prices and tension. probably can presidential candidate race gets underway in earnest but voters remain in decisive over just two to put forward to capitalize on disillusionment with the rock obama. plus the rise of crime and gang.