hello ten pm here in moscow you're watching r t with me kevin zero in on the top story oil prices have jumped in response to the latest heated exchange between iran and the united states over the persian gulf or the critical trade route in the strait of hormuz washington says it's their ships will continue their missions in the region despite to ron's warnings that they should stay away iran's threat to block all shipments through the strait of hormuz if any western sanctions hit its exports the thread came at the same time as a ten day long naval exercise which showcased new aircraft and movie brains missiles the u.s. who ships are stationed in the air it maintains that it won't tolerate any hindrance of passage around the already suffering from four rounds of sanctions the latest bill signed by president obama on monday so its national currency dropped by ten percent to a record low earlier it's an expert on mideast affairs told me he thinks diplomacy

is the only way out of the stalemate as sanctions will damage all sides. the oil prices now have increased this comes at a time where birth europe and the year worse are witnessing a very very dire economic situation economic problems both in the u.s. and europe and this latest step taken against iran will only of course that the president for increasing economic problems for the west in general escalation won't serve any side whatsoever we've seen the. economic situation in europe they'll be somewhat i believe very soon between the french leader and the german chancellor angela merkel to discuss the economic situation and so it's in nobody's interest to continue with this and i have to head back to the negotiating table the european union has agreed in principle i repeat it in principle for no for an embargo on iranian soil now will that happen in effect will they take this measure in practice june will will see a meeting on january the thirtieth for the european union regarding this matter i

doubt that that will happen i believe in from now until the end of this month until the end of january we might see some kind of a solution with players like turkey coming in trying to bring about a solution here to the colbert report current affairs website says that by trying to slap more sanctions on iran the u.s. and e.u. are only staring a 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 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. so you can always share your take on this developing story along with all of the big stories on our web site that's exactly what we're asking you what you think of these new sanctions on iran which is what you've been telling us over half of you who took the time and trouble to get by who say iran will be pushed into a corner fifty three percent say that and see new sanctions as an act toward this hour eighteen percent of you slightly less than last hour believe the u.s. measures simply won't work then the story the rest of you evenly split between saying the world economy is going to suffer a sanctions drive a ball prices sky would we have seen the start of that already are those who think they will only hurt ordinary people around party dot com is the place where you can cast your vote on this story. 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 though are anything but decisive career politician mitt romney beating his conservative counterpart rick santorum by just eight votes just a few points behind the two was libertarian wrong paul the only antiwar candidate in this year's lineup even hours before the vote many people are still undecided after a republican election run up marred by sex scandals mudslinging in tit for tat despite all that the former congressional aide and diplomat joel rubin believes it is wrong paul which stands out from the rest. its 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 international affairs in some areas that can be good he's opposed to military action with the ron he was opposed to the 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 inspires leading the party and getting other republicans on board to really change the agenda no he hasn't done that he's 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 that kind of positioning will not win the general election against president obama. the republican campaign developed democrats are beginning to wonder just how much appeal president obama still has having come to power on a wave of hope four years ago was chances are beginning to look dead with complaints from voters a broken promises and corporate favors driving them away. reports. three years ago one historic campaign turned us politics into a pop culture phenomenon. free for 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 a way you strayed from a cherished right has been donated to the movement that became a phenomenon in two thousand and eleven there are about twenty people holding a david moved 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 up as a lot of 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 disenchanted 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 it all starts with you making a decision to get involved obama's familiar prose may not be enough to win back his familiar fan base who didn't produce what people wanted him to produce in two thousand and eight professor and author dr cornel west was one of obama's biggest supporters i think he's got the beers you've got the newness he's. at 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 the friendly face of the american empire abroad he's in

the process actually of becoming very sadly a pawn of big finance and a puppet of big business and any politician here knows they're 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. yes the approval ratings show voters are even more turned off with the alternatives leaving obama seemingly the lesser of two evils and there goes 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

i default. artsy new york. ahead in the program tonight earning their daily bread we'll tell you the story of two wealthy expert on. the way to the top of russia's top and pastry sector. the euro's woes flare up again as we head into the new year with after this now threatening to pull out of the eurozone unless the e.u. and i.m.f. . casualty rates collapsing economy. polling stations have closed in egypt after the final day of a three stage vote the country's first democratic election in more than half a century final 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 rounds were overshadowed by clashes between protesters and the army egypt's ruling military generals have accused the clinging to power the now facing anger over their handling of the protests that left fifty nine dead since mid november recent army raids on western sponsored n.g.o.s have also added even

more concerns over the country's stability let's go live to london and talk to political analyst chris bambery to discuss what the election means for egypt chris good seats not very happy new year two things spring with this the results so far of a strong islam is showing seemed to mirror the partner elsewhere in the regions elections since the arab spring what does this trend mean for the arab world do you think. i think it's not surprising the muslim brotherhood have done very very well in these elections they were the only organized force in egyptian society they had an ambiguous role of the mubarak form or they were banned but actually were allowed to participate in political life in egypt and therefore they hide their network they have popular support popular support for several decades in egypt and as i say the only organized force who are able to really affect where we are the action campaign which could do well i think secondly as well there are those in the west who are almost hysterical by the idea of islamicist parties doing well in the elections of

june is here now now in egypt i think you have to say that if you give people the right to determine their own future it was always good to be the case that is imus's policies would do well in egypt as he did in. his ear so i don't think it's a surprise i think it also reflects the fact the really in the time span between the revolution the overthrow of barack and these elections the various other forces the left and the liberal forces have not effect we got their act together it was always going to be difficult to get the right to go to. but i have to say the muslim brotherhood are held up occasionally as a boogie man in the west of course there are party which did collaborate on occasions with mubarak and previously nasa lists of repression from both as well but they did collaborate they made a commitment that they will respect a free market economy they've entered into dialogue with hillary clinton in the west they've gone out of their way to suggest as the record shows there are moderate force in egyptian society the front organization of political organization

of freedom and justice party has been taking lessons from the turkish government which really politic was under the same name as was the case in is here and i don't think it is a bogeyman in any sense i think this is a sea of hands chris that we patrol themselves as a moderate force one thing but the muslim brotherhood spokesman has already told local media that his party is set to grant immunity to army officers who killed protesters in the recent clashes short of that adds to the fears of a possible alliance between the islamists and the ruling military no. well i think you're right to talk about this the muslim brotherhood have cooperated with the military don't the rude they were not killed in the protests which followed up and . in the summer they did eventually join the protests this that which we saw in november which you mentioned in introduction but again the limits of their participation in those protests there was a fatally a split of the youth wing lucia's been involved in the revolution ever since which

is far more radical and far more challenging in terms as well i think you're right i think the possibility of some sort of compromise between islam and his forces the army is there in fact the more radical islamist rivals are being backed by the saudis who talk about a pakistan. scenario in egypt which is a coming together an alliance of islamicists and the military in the secret service the sort of the alliances we've seen and back in pakistan and indeed by extension into into afghanistan but there are clearly tensions here people have expectations of the muslim brotherhood will deliver and some of the promises they made in the past they i would contain more radical elements in particular among the people who want democracy want more radical change and they will be expecting as well that mubarak should be brought to justice and some of those officers responsible for the torture and the killing of activists in that was recent recent months should be dealt with and any talk of an amnesty for the military i think will inflame the

city situation has to be said to many of those people who. look to the military as safeguarding safeguard the revolution of no turned against them because of the record in office over the last few months chris final thirty seconds what role now for washington e. in egypt as we head into twenty twelve thinking of course of last week's raids on american sponsored. cetera what's washington's role going to be. i think washington is a very poor or pointer to stand back and watch the form of barack didn't like it they had to see weasel words of the support of the revolution i've been a very keen to rebuild support with the military and was after all a key ally on with israel but i think the americans have taken a hit in egypt and i think those raids were a warning to the white house that yeah of course we'll play ball with you and occasion but we're not going back to the situation as it was before the fall of mubarak and i think overall the arab spring despite some of the voices made in washington has been a ball to washington i'm going to sit back and watch the fall of people like

mubarak and possibly how we are in yemen or still calling on the americans i'll go to a taken a hit and worry about more radical forces emerging in the region and worried about the challenges that may arise that's our israel in egypt in tunisia and other countries in the middle east london based political analyst chris bambery thanks for your thoughts on the program. the rise of the mis 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 and we caught up with regional politics expert jeremy soult his outlook on the developments in the arab world for the next twelve months coming up next hour in our latest interview. good look at what's been happening in the middle east policies the western governments of followed since been this year they have always had the noble motive we're doing this for this very very good reason but we don't have to be terribly skeptical or cynical to understand that actually behind the noble motive is self-interest if we look at

what happened in egypt the west backed mubarak right to the very last and there was no longer possible to back him when it was indefensible they dumped him. my mistake that's come up in fifteen minutes from now a little bit later this hour. greece has announced that it could ditch the euro and exit the eurozone as little as three months that is unless the e.u. and the i.m.f. fund it with a second one hundred thirty billion euro bailout talks over the cash life lot of store for months now over the poor performance of a sturdy measures and fears for the future we spoke to belgium business journalist your butt overvoltage believes the number say it all the greece is exit is now under voidable. 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 and i

think we are now at a point where everybody in research realizes that we cannot go on lying list and unrest and even an arche 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 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 exit of the euro zone and i think also here in europe at brussels that quarters of the european commission people start to realize 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. it seems one of the biggest blights of modern day britain tackling gang violence there is proving really difficult with the government saying

a firm response is the only means of dealing with it but now there's growing criticism that the attempts to improve the situation that actually addressing the roots of the problem is laura smith explains more. it is. 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. as a young. man. behavior . so. angry over the top. name for the crazy. people.

at his lowest ebb gavin admits to having stabbed a girl and his story isn't unusual in deprived areas nowhere is the question of how to solve the gang problem in london more relevant than his new it lies in the shadow of london's two thousand and twelve olympic park but it's also got more guying than almost anywhere else in london around 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 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. know in a bar. in london and the neighbor. and the neighbor.

in london. if the government really knew and understood would be happenin. 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 gangs gun violence burdens gang rape drugs to

deter that's just a manifestation that's what the causes of it the cause in stem from family breakdown moles gone out the window from society as a whole while the government rhetoric sounds encouraging other policies will undermine both carrot and stick economic austerity 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 of the stories we're covering on our website are two dot com few stories of interest and i will focus on television to the shape of an eleven and bring you our correspondents first time the kurds reporting from the world's hot spots it's not a test of a series of being captured last week pretty interesting accounts from some limits

online from us tonight article called. the plan of party is that what you do with a good time we want to live picture galleries capture the high spirits from around the world as we should in twenty twelve great pictures from moscow as well as our to talk. up next expert entrepreneurs based here in russia tell us their success stories and describe the path to prosperity in the latest from our path finder series. and today we got the story some very hands on bosses here then go on to color e gurus of break their way to a fortune in russia's premium pastry set for all of four years now they've been one of the most successful business of its kind they started from scratch next they let us know what it took. i have twice a week in the production center and the rest of the time i'm in the restaurant

genya. genya but here that's just to make sure everything is ok definitely in the way 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 that 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 bakeries hardly exist in russia today you don't have many customers here you can help you know or later this and that customer should be greeted every time every time we are developing a company culture you know one of the most difficult things in russia a few years ago was to make sure your line staff smile is just smile if it's

not interrupt your gods or at the beginning i would say if i come to the restaurant and if you're smiling i will give you a hundred. if you're not. really ever my desire your resume it could give me again the steel but it's still a challenge the first step was that we felt 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 a flower to russia when russia is one of the biggest flow 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 were up. thirty forty percent and that is deadly for any kind of business like god 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 horse time mingling the idea or they followed the rules or did they have a problem so this is the difficulty in russia we are nice it 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 carthon there however on the other hands if we see that you are rooting hard to take it to heart. in other cultures that may be a little bit more difficult the idea 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. interesting story we've got more features about for an entrepreneur is doing big business here in russia in our pathfinder series here in r.t. throughout the rest of the week as well the world news headlines no it's after twenty seven it's past ten moscow time a series of three explosions in the second largest city in afghanistan is killed at least thirteen including a child the first blast happened as a suicide bomber attacked a police checkpoint and two other bombs then later went off as well the violence comes a day after the taliban in afghanistan announced plans to open an international liaison office in qatar saying they're hoping could be

a step towards formal peace negotiations. thousands of people take the streets of northern peru protesting against the development of a gold mine the demonstrators say waste from the works will take their water supplies the protests coming one of the country's most heavily mined regions it also has a history of troubled relations with neighboring farmers and ranchers. coming up in the next half hour we focus in some more on the latest developments in egypt and elsewhere in the arab world to get an expert view about what's likely to unfold in twenty five twelve that's coming up also andrew pharmacy the latest sport for you to this wednesday evening my name is kevin irwin thank you for watching r.t. convention live from moscow.

now it's not about spilling blood. it's the war of the barricades from one side and fears blockade from the other. invisible border it has cut people from the land for twelve years. the conflict that divided serbia into two hostile parts is still not over.

this is all to moscow our top stories tonight the u.s. says its warships will stick to their mission is there a crucial oil laid out of the persian gulf despite warnings from iran to stay away stunned. continues to drive up oil prices and tension. the republican presidential candidate race gets underway and with voters remaining decisive over just who would have put forward to capitalize on disillusionment with barack obama. the euro's woes flare up again now for a christmas lull with athens no.