crosses 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 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 in principle for not for an embargo on iranian soil now will that happen in effect will they take this measure in practice just will we'll see a meeting on january the thirtieth for the european union regarding this matter i doubt that that will happen on a bill even a 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 as so the colbert report kind of fast that side size that by trying to slap and also actions on iran the last sunday here only starting out dangerous tension in the region. i think it's quite remarkable to think that france and the u.s. 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 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 the idea that iran would really close off the straits of hormuz or attempt to do so would only be an absolute last measure resort for a country that relies on the importation of refined gasoline and other things through the very straits that they would be sensibly sabotaging and planting mines in so it's it's quite remarkable to think that that iran would do that in any other situation other than they felt that the entire existence of their country was under

threat so adding more sanctions to to the mix is is really just a recipe for military disaster i think. and you can always share your take on this developing story so go to our website to tell us what you think of new sanctions on iran and so far the hope of those who respond that say brown will be pushed into a corner and see new sanctions as an act of war nineteen percent of you slightly more than last hour believe the u.s. measures simply won't work the rest are almost even a big space between the saying the world economy will suffer as sanctions drive all prices skyward saying they will only hot water and people in iran cast your vote at all. and also no website find out what you need for success in the pastry game as a world famed bakery had to make some dough so check out our new series of foreign business forging their way in russia that's passed by and is as.

damascus has criticised the u.s. for sending an envoy to cairo for talks with the arab league about ending the assad regime squatting down on dissent syria's foreign ministry says the u.s. is interfering in effect as that and none of its business damascus has pulled out heavy weapons at times from certain is after pressure from the arab league or size that security forces however are still killing civilians protestors london based political analyst chris bambery says america's actions indicate it's preparing for military intervention in syria. at this meeting with the arab league there concerning actions against syria and the key ally in the sense of prize turkey has been involved in arming the free syrian free syrian army and truly we nor there are also american advantages in those camps in turkey training and i think when you combine. all that together. deploy diplomatically but also involved with the free syrian army it begins to create a dynamic with actually american woman to be involved in military operations syria

who can pull in that type or not direction where you support it is clear that you've held on to support if you can. if forces and is not in immediate danger of toppling from power it also does not look like the three syrian army have the ability at moment to overthrew or defeat the security forces in an open conflict and therefore more if you want to keep going down this route war western intervention via talk in jordan if you did that is a very dangerous dangerous road as we know from a previous history of a conflict going on in vietnam once you send advisors and trainers into a country it's very often the case that troops will force i think america is in danger of going a slippery slope which could lead to western intervention. the process of finding a single republican candidate to represent the past the twenty twelve american presidential election officially got underway in the state of iowa the results how it was anything but decisive big spend that makes romney these are his children

a conservative rival rick santorum but it just bugs trading the two by a very small margin is one of the only candidate who is against a war with iran and it's been hours before the but many people are still undecided after a republican election run out not by sex scandals mark foley and take the top p.r. all of that point with actual aid and diplomatic joel rubin believes it's wrong paul who shines from others. 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 of international affairs in some areas that can be good he's opposed to military action with the rod who was 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 amongst 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 kind of positioning will not win the general election against president obama. as the republican campaign develops there's a growing question over just how much of a challenge obama can still pose to them having come to pile on a wave of hope four years ago his chances are beginning to live with many previously all didn't supporters expressing frustration with his broken promises and corporate influence. three years ago one historic campaign turned u.s. politics into a pop culture phenomenon. 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 each strayed from a cherished right has been donated to a new find that became a phenomenon in two thousand and eleven there are twenty people holding out david mulford 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 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 oh 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 it all starts with 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 talk to cornel west was one of obama's biggest supporters i think he's got the beers you got the new season. at diversion is 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 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. yes 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 eighty was the unassailable candidate of choice this time mr obama is likely to stay in my default. artsy me or. greece has warned it could

leave the euro zone in as little as three months that's unless the u. and that's funded with a second one hundred thirty billion euro bailout officials from both of the european central bank visit the country in mid january to review how it's trying to cut its months of debts through a stellar c. measures prime minister lucas papademos has defined yet to be just rio and card saying a positive reviews crucial talks over the bailout have stalled for months with creditors demanding an overhaul of greece's economy which they see as ultimately doomed belgian business journalists your husband over well it believes that the game is already out the greece's exit from the euro zone is unavoidable. the greek economy is going down like a storm. 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 the point where everybody's research realizes that we can now go online list 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 they are looking for an alibi to offer to their public buy i would say well it's not our fault. if the international community that pushes us to wards the exit of the euro zone and i think also here in europe at brussels headquarters 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 seen as one of the biggest blights in modern day per cent toggling is proving difficult with the government seeing a firm response as the only means of dealing with it but there's a growing criticism that attempts to improve the situation on to addressing the roots of the problem also is lower smith explains.

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. to. for the. 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 here in new. london two thousand and twelve olympic park but it's also got more gangs 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 the 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. you have to have a. i don't. know when a boy. in london and the neighbor. and the neighbor. if the government really knew and understood would be happening. when gavin met sheldon thomas an x guy next to 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 renny 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 gangs gun violence. gang rape drug that's just a manifestation the causes of it all is in stemming from family breakdown

morals on the window from 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. and as the british government plans further crackdowns on criminal gangs some are already feeling the force also of the law you kate there have been sentenced to fourteen and fifteen years behind bars for the racist murder of a black teenager almost two decades ago the judge said the punishment would have been much tougher on them and have been adults at the time britain stabbing stephen lawrence shocked the country as a stark an example of racial divisions. at least

a dozen civilians have been killed in the democratic republic of congo as the beginning of the year the deaths occurred in remote villages in the kiva province the worst violence seen in the central african country for months suspected rebels who have terrorized eastern congo for years are thought to be to blame. so series of three explosions in this second largest city in afghanistan have killed at least thirteen people including one child the first blast happened as a suicide attempt to police. checkpoint and two other bombs went off later the violence comes a day after the hour then taliban announced plans to open an international liaison office in qatar something that could be a step towards peace negotiations. so argentina is a fifty eight year old president cristina fernandez that kush now has had a successful operation for tyros cancer but has left office for months to recover

doctors predict a complete cure with no need for chemotherapy so as the cancer has not spread just before surgery she hundred over power temporarily to the vice president and is one re-election in october last year it was found to have cancer just after starting her second film. in egypt the muslim brotherhood party's leading up to the final third round of parliamentary elections with results due to be announced next week the poll is the first democratic election in more than a hoffa century and follows they revolt and listing the mubarak dictatorship in february and earlier rounds were marred by clashes between protesters and the army egypt's ruling military generals remain in power despite the poll and phase growing anger over the handling of protests that have killed on the sixth it stands and the . developments in egypt and elsewhere in the arab world come into sharper focus next on r.c. as we talk to professor of middle east politics germy salt.

thank you jeremy for joining us here on out. as well as call put it when it comes to the middle east there west talks. and acts brutally if it's true if you agree with this what should be done what can be done to prevent syria from fallen into

these patterns look at what's been happening in the middle east and the policies the western governments of followed since the beginning of 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 then was no longer possible to back him when it was indefensible they dumped him and with him with the president of tunisia and then they moved very very quickly on libya what was happening in libya. absolutely terrible in many cases in the name of human rights the kind of attack in libya the same with syria you know it's kind of it it's a protest movement it's democratic change and reform which are very worthwhile motives to support but there is another agenda here which has to do with broader global and regional strategies what has the libyans are now. failed in syria will

the western powers change that tactic i think that libya was the template for syria they kind of went to the u.n. they got the no fly zone resolution and that opened up libya to aerial attack and i think they thought that they could repeat this in syria but it didn't prove to be possible largely because of russia actually because russia made it plain that it would not support another no fly no fly zone resolution in the security council so this left the government of britain france and the u.s. in particular with you know they had to work out what policy they were going to pursue you know still think they would like to intervene in syria but they realize it's not the same as little or nothing as in libya is a different situation altogether stakes are much higher the risk is much greater the dangers are much greater because intervention in syria how would you describe that whether you're talking about a buffer zone or the top american military humanitarian causal as a french foreign minister does it still at the same thing the invasion of another

country and syria would resist that iran would get involved actively get involved it's hard to take the fall back position i think is to support. certain activities inside syria which are calculated in the downfall of the assad government and its replacement by. government will be formed presumably from the exiles from an agitated. we presume would take take over in your book the unmaking of the middle east you chronicled alone in the history of western invasions in arab lands with all the efforts by the u.n. and arab league of arab league is the threat of foreign military invasion for syria is in the past right or not yet of course is still a possibility of course as to the possible to do rather because it's risky for intervention would be risky however it was done would be to kind of maintain the

support for what's happening inside syria on the side of the opposition like the calculation would be that sooner or later these precious if they were interned would result in the collapse of the assad government well as compare syria with the league and iraq to what extent the syrian national council similar to libya's national transitional council or iraqi national congress rocky national congress was almost a fiction the leader no support inside iraq whatsoever. iraq for a long long time and he was pumped up because they wanted to create this body called the iraqi national congress so there was an iraqi voice in the propaganda war against saddam hussein the libyan situation the lives of the libyan transitional council as you know basically would affect us from the government tripoli they jump ship when it got too hot they took a very informing the they went to benghazi and the transitional national council for all of whom we didn't know we knew someone from all the places we can't say the

syrian national council is largely composed of the mixture of people who have the roots who are inside syria but the dominant i think exiles. has been in paris for a long time like read one. who's preston. washington has very very close ties with the state department you know what kind of clout what part of holder these people have inside syria i would say not much so there are similarities between these councils and of course you know that the transitional national council will national transitional council in libya. recognize the syrian national council as a legitimate representative the syrian people it's not this is simple as that so it's kind of part of the campaign against syria of which that that that now the lid is now the libyan government is now part and actions at various levels are currently on to go in in syria with more had so what do you think will bashar al

assad remain in power as a result and we have a very very dangerous situation in syria which could have exploded into a very very nasty. total breakdown inside the country and could lead to a regional war. in this context let's see if this is given a few months and see how the process works for bashar does have. a base of support . i don't think you can say that the party would be doomed the moment they call free elections the good will. come one stream cascading from mountain slopes the view is miss mirage. but this beauty brings deaths and

a speed of more than two hundred kilometers per. step in the long. i had a family i lived in a fairly nice community wasn't which was an upscale it was just like you know archie bunker society ok then they started showing up what happened was my company decided i could get cheap labor and they got rid of us sure these are long runs a legally slum legally we have to get up every morning we have to go to work and you know we have to pay our bills only have to kill him and that's just the american dream and if you want the american dream you have to go by the last i figure here's one of the major trails into the united states. i watch and they run run down my property and about this noise. or this little gap between that crack or just from coming to the wire is protecting the country and the kind

of guy who doesn't mindedness pay and sturdy so i come out here you know we're all immigrants as well that we all carry some sorrow. this is art. to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we all want that wall we breathe the we hope. to me the american dream is to live in peace and prosperity and freedom and a government under socialism is not a government of free. i'm free. to. have very motivated out cross the country who are activists who are willing to fight for what they think is right for themselves but the fact is already we're for it.

we are drowning in property drowning and i think it's spread by it's cutting off our. it's making real democracy. all but impossible. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations rule the day.

this is a see the headline. the ripples of tension from the persian gulf are now being felt worldwide as old friends a sudden jump in response to the standoff between iran and the u.s. naval exercises and two rounds of threats to cut off key supply route for near martin's functions this week the u. is expected to formalize a ban on imports of rain in crude oil later this month. they told me wins the iowa caucuses by a whisker kicking all the republican brains to pick a challenger to oppose brought up with the white house the compatriot moves next to new hampshire where that policy membership will be focusing on who will be the

strongest candidates to compass relies on disillusionment with the current president. and greece millions it may have to ditch the year and leave the euro zone knowledge if it doesn't get a second bailout from that and european central bank troika the country needs one hundred thirty billion euro as troika the shoals come to inspect athens austerity measures to reduce its massive debts which face huge public opposition. as the headlines up next is the time in this part of the wall for winter sports so next we follow snowboarders and skiers in the mountain challenges they face so stay tuned special report why to risk next on. the cool open in russia's north home to the q.b. need massive mountain range this is the wind. the snow.