strategic foreign policy problem that the united states has had since the failure of the war in iraq the war in iraq was meant to give them a stable pro western pro-business base for operations in the middle east what it ended up doing is making iran a great a regional power than it was before and so they've got to deal with this problem and this is what the sanctions are about but the sanctions as we know in the past as we know over the case of iraq indeed were the precursor to war they were a way of preparing public opinion for military conflict and therefore they are doubly dangerous in this case they're economically dangerous in the short term but as your news report has pointed out we're looking at now a conflict in the gulf of hormuz which is one of the main arteries of the world economy it really couldn't get more serious than this and of course the other big outcry over this that's not the mistake that we've heard from experts saying that china would be very glad to buy around all shipments if the e.u. refuses to so i guess by pushing for sanctions like this isn't the u.s. providing an extra energy source for the global power that say this washington's

economic nemesis. well this is going to be the difficulty with any military conflicts in this region in years to come you see you can look on the iraq war you can look on the afghanistan war as wars conducted by a superpower against a very small countries but the growing differentiation in the world economy the growing military might of of china the recovery of russia itself is going to lead to a situation where his not simply a conflict involving smaller powers in which the big powers want to get their way but it's going to break up any kind of international community as it's sometimes called and in which the major powers will be dragged into the conflicts as well and that's a quality deeply more serious situation than the ones that we've had even in the past ten years on those was serious enough and of course the possible economic implications as well is it why i wonder to attempt to isolate such a major role produce a jury in these terrible economic times that the world saying right now. well you

would think that some element of caution might might kick in here that just as we're on the brink of discovering that we haven't reached the pit of this recession but there's larval to be as i think nearly every konami commentator says at the beginning of the year a very profoundly difficult year for the eurozone in which we may see the breakup of the your own which we're certainly going to see further austerity measures pushed through by governments in europe and in other places you would think that this wasn't exactly the moment to risk further instability in the world economy so why no progress on restarting talks about iran's nuclear program and this despite the fact that iran has made unprecedented concessions russia's been suggesting this comprehensive step by step resolution what is the stumbling block still at the heart of this stalemate do you think. well i think the stumbling block is the point i made at the beginning of this interview you see this isn't this isn't just about nuclear weapons if it were about nuclear weapons in the middle east then the united

states would have a bone to pick with israel which is the only power in the middle east would actually possesses nuclear weapons it's not about that that's the cause of spell life but the reason for this continued conflict is because the american administration simply can't live within iran which has as much regional power as it has at the moment you see the americans when they look at the iranian regime they see its links with syria they see its links with hamas they see its links with hezbollah and this is a challenge to american power in an absolutely critical economically critical geopolitically critical area of the globe and it's that which is the sticking point for the american administration in my view just briefly how bad could this get we have you know the u.k. supported washington's rhetoric saying it's warships are ready to prevent an attempt any attempt by iran the hindu trade through that crucial strait of hormuz could this go further do you think develop into actual warfare. well i think this is certainly in the minds of some of the players in the international community we know that israel for instance has test flights out into the mediterranean for

exactly the same distance as there is between television. with a view having a strike on the nuclear facilities and we know that even the bush administration in its last months had to restrain the state of israel from doing this so you know there are some people hawks in israel hawks in the united states who want to start all this militarily and it does seem to me that once we begin on the process of implementing sanctions of iran responding to the sanctions that there will be calls further down the road for direct military conflict and that in this case is even more dangerous than it was in the case of iraq john reese political activist national stop war coalition thanks for being on the line from london for us who we touched on it just know that talking about the diplomatic side of it iran's president reiterated his support for a step by step plan proposed by russia and india resolving the nuclear stalemate the comments by mahmoud ahmadinejad obaid in

a phone conversation with dmitri medvedev his russian counterpart under the plan no new unilateral sanctions would be applied to iran instead it would respond to questions on its nuclear program one by one the suggestion is then for each point clear the another set of existing sanctions on to rand would be eased or lifted altogether this proposal's not brand new it first made it in washington in july last year but so far it hasn't much support in the west we go to your opinions about it what do you think about it head to our forums of our website r.t. dot com to get involved this is just some of what you've been telling us some of the viewpoints one viewer saying the west can do without iran's oil in the long run is just provoking to rand to give an excuse for a military strike another protest is hopeful that at least one of the sides will be sensible enough to back out of an all out. because it could mean nuclear war. and other opinion that the u.s. will attack iran as soon as possible to set the machine in motion before america's

presidential election later this year another poster as well arguing that to rand won't have the courage to carry out its threats and start a war saying the west should go ahead of imposed sanctions and other forms of r.t. dot com see more opinions and have your say as well. as prosecutors in the trial of ousted egyptian president hosni mubarak or called for death by hanging for him and his closest associates they justified their request by arguing that mubarak was personally responsible for every protesters death during the country's revolution the eighty three year old currently suffering severe health problems international relations expert professor mark allman told me he believes hanging about it would only bring harm to the region. you said. we were in demonstrations you know we washington and the prisons are the state. and so. what about strangers who remember this year.

and second why who. we are and then we're barred instantly so i am a person who by ramsay has no point in shining. with. what graham are who are so in fact wind of the spectrum here who are music's. just. speaking to us but earlier radio host and author stephen leatherman said he believes that the trials merely a diversion from the continuing unrest in the country. this is a distraction this is to divert of ok ron was legitimate a year all right bill aiming. for each in their own trying to absolve themselves in the process of taking things or worse no one of the

military and no also the people running the country the same ones closely allied with mobarak were used to see people because all the grievances of the people are too but i think the protests will go on and people won't be cool the violence will continue to struggle there's a long way to go. meanwhile in syria over five hundred fifty prisoners evolved in the anti regime uprising there have been released according to state t.v. it comes as arab league officials said the government has pulled out heavy weapons and tanks from similar civilian areas that so that the activists had previously said was untrue opposition groups also accused the mascot's of misleading the league's observers by taking into areas loyal to the government those pressure builds on syrian authorities the country's foreign ministry slammed the u.s. for interfering as have to washington sent an envoy to the arab league for talks about the latest developments barrow based political analyst and journalist author

of when the shabby says the other bleak observers run for amends pressure from the west. the arab observers that have been. sent to syria from the arab league in cairo have been working for the past week and additional numbers of observers entering syria they are under a lot of pressure apparently some american pressure there are pressures by some arab countries that are pro-american on the your observers to actually like the way they will draft their reports these observers the syrian officials have been given the or service access to all locations in syria today the observations are visiting the prison in that. they have access to police stations they have access to different localities in the in the different neighborhoods where there was a lot of tension now let's hope that they will let this commission do its job independently and will make the truth come out and the truth i think is that there

are. gunmen shooting at the army there are some groups of gunmen who are creating chaos in syria and now they are profiting from the movement it's such a big shame that some western powers and some fallen intervention in syrian affairs is using these people and using the demands of these people to reach political objectives and that's a very destructive move on the part of the united states and its allies in the region just letting you know a bit later this elder looking a postscript effete libya the leader of the m.t.c. there admitting the country could be on the brink of civil war and calling for immediate crackdown on militias thousands remain behind bars over the previous political allegiances this region is forced from some of the world's rarest big cats but they also hosted locust timber mills and illegal hunters who started to

make a great profit. you see we're also reporting on how some of the world's most beautiful predators are being prey departments. and russia's far east. market one of the lowest moments since the onset of europe's debt crisis more than two years ago the greek government is now publicly threatened to abandon the euro the warnings came from the prime minister lucas papademos says negotiations over that one hundred thirty billion euro bailout package drag on the pm or the greek economy could enter an uncontrolled collapse as early as march if more cash isn't secured creditors and greeks are at loggerheads with bankers refusing to write off any more debt while unions say they will make any more stereotypic hurts hope now is that a fiscal union will act as a last line of defense against the debt crisis but that's something the leading economist area clamors little faith in my system it is that this europe will not be able to form such a political union there is too much need to go to the countries to different.

countries or to return to their own so often to have different styles they have a hard time working together on international issues think of iraq the union in europe is not all that strong. is forced if you walk around brussels you feel like european union is for real but as soon as you are away from brussels and walk around to the country the rest of europe you see that brossel is far away from from them. and it's not reality the people of the loop with. those economists are you claiming there is full interviews coming your way just over an hour's time on this channel so with the e.u. mired in its debt debacle you might think that germany which has been bankrolling the block's survival effort will be the most concerned but among many people there are very different priorities r.t.c. go piskun off reports on an interesting phenomenon the rise of the country's pirate

party. it looks like an ordinary scene at one of the many bars in berlin except there's one thing which makes this party totally different from all the others the parties they must get out and. the pirate part of germany that's right and this is an annual meeting of a political party and all these people are alone it's eighteen thousand members across germany like me treat was tired of the mainstream and i was really disappointed in. all this the same way. the faces. and the firefighter was really different one of its key differences apart from the style in general is a software system called liquid feedback allowing ordinary germans the opportunity to propose policies online the pirate stand for more transparency and freedom on the internet but when it comes to core issues like the economy and we don't have currently a stand on this crisis maybe we'll have the next federal convention

but this wasn't a problem at the previous election for the berlin state problem and when the port authority managed to win nearly nine percent of the vote securing fifteen seats most people who i talked to they say are just something something fresh to me like because many germans believe that politics are cross to this time as the big players struggle with big economic and political issues but part party doesn't even have an official stance on the eurozone crisis or the arab spring nevertheless it continues gathering more supporters i mean a coincidence or an alarming signal for me stream politicians the free democrats party which is an go in merkel's federal coalition porter is the first to feel the change of heart from voters actually last. along with another four local votes across the country

a mainstream politics is also losing attractiveness because. there's often too little distinction or distinctiveness between different parties from different fields or areas sometimes it's even difficult to tell the difference between conservative and social democrat experts see the pointed towards success tool is the internet and see it as the new driving force changing politics similar to the we it was influenced by a t.v. over half a century ago so unless the mainstream tories adapt and change their tactics it mean or be too long before they could find themselves on the margins you go to school of or d. germany. let's look at some other stories happening around the world barack obama's announced a new road map for the u.s. military with an emphasis on cutting spending the plan calls on the military to abandon its ability to fight two wars civil taney asli and the shifting focus instead on surrounding containing china and iran the announcements but expected for some time as america's forced to contend with

a smaller budget because of its huge debts. a wave of explosions in iraq has killed two people and wounded more than one hundred the deadliest attack was in the country south claiming the lives of at least forty four shia pilgrims meanwhile in baghdad a bomb attached to a motorbike went off near a bus station it was followed then by three other explosions afterwards the violence has raised fears that insurgents are stepping up attacks after u.s. troops pulled out last month. former israeli prime minister ehud olmert spain indicted on corruption charges he's accused of taking bribes to promote the construction of housing projects that take back before his time in office already on trial for three and related fraud and breach of trust but he denies all the charges. then of libya's transitional government's admitted that the country could be sliding into civil war he says it's a likely outcome unless the n t c well it is to take control of the militias and disarm them it follows a recent skirmish between armed groups in tripoli streets that left four dead

meantime the country's justice system remains a source of concern too with thousands still behind bars without ever having been charged what is xander boyko reports. it was one of the first amnesty of the new libya hundreds of men and women many of them sub-saharan immigrants released from a makeshift prison most of them spent several months in captivity for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. we are releasing those who didn't commit serious crimes those with blood on their hands will be waiting for the prosecutor's decision while the new off the richest were eager to pain the release as a goodwill gesture both the detention and the parole seemed entirely arbitrary some of the dictator's supporters as these people to be just work for government agencies and others happen to be domestic helpers or government workers and now equal before the law or rather before the absence of it they are mostly in prison

was triple his top detention facility and that gadhafi the tories for its mistreatment and arbitrary killings of inmates but while all of its prisoners rest sat free in late august as the rebels over in the capital dozens possibly even hundreds of makeshift prisons sprang out around the country according to u.n. estimates up to seven thousand allowed to get off the loyalist i beheld there a little chance for justice of fair trial just a year ago this place used to be a school today demain last i'm being told here is that during the transition to democracy quick reactions are a must while many in the new libyan government held positions of power under gadhafi those who failed to jump on the bandwagon early enough and now finding themselves tugged behind bars. now in libya there are about a thousand people in detention and the problem is they haven't had any legal review

they haven't had access to a lawyer they haven't been brought before any independent judicial panel or judges so that's what we're calling for now is a quick and. legal review and rebuilding the justice system the treatment is even more brutal outside tripoli the tell not talk about a good that gadhafi forces used to launch attacks against misrata is still a ghost town many of its former residents live in refugee camps and even their extraordinary renditions by militia are common this man says he was tortured for several days before finally being released the group he beat you until you confess to things you haven't committed like entering homes or looting it's a grueling dilemma many of these mothers and wives have to confront to pray for their loved ones to be rotting in a prison with torture being officially acknowledged i do hope for their death children need their fathers and women need their husbands the government isn't doing anything to find them if they're dead that we want to know where they are

more than a month since his capture libya's most famous prisoner still doesn't have access to a lawyer and while many dollars say full islam's ability to have a fair trial he still appears to be better off than many of his country man at least thanks to the limelight he's not running a risk of being executed like his father while many still are kind of artsy tripoli . that we continue to explore all corners of russia and our close up series today we're taking you to the bar of russia's far east in fact eight thousand kilometers from here in moscow. just to paint the picture the scale about you can see it on the for a long time how about our spain a safe haven for a huge range of rare and remarkable animals including siberian tigers but with major industries advancing into this picture perfect coastal region but the

wildlife coming under threat. takes up the story. feeding time pollutes the the tiger he was found starving in the forest as a six month old car he's now nineteen years old has a pair of platinum false teeth and as a siberian tiger he's one of an increasingly scarce breed in this region's forests a home to some of the world's rarest big cats but they also host that loggers timber mills and illegal hunters who stand to make a great profit here and whose activities have pushed those same leopards and tigers to the brink of extinction. loued miller looks after the tigers bears deer in fact just about any injured forest animals that arrive at her center as well as poachers it's forestry on the impact it has on local habitats that concerns her to go. to tigers need a lot of territory to survive there can be a lot together when there's forestry the animals they prey on are scared off and so

the tigers have to leave killing it off so what it really comes down to is russia's endless forests being assaulted by the power of industry this new timber factory in the far east eats eight hundred thousand cubic metres of wood a year and it's expanding but they're not concerned by forestry saying they're responsible obvious that there was another name that is trees are a new bill resource unlike coal oil we plant trees to replace the ones we cut down so they'll be plenty for the next generation environmentalists paint a very different picture they say there aren't even reliable records of the rampant tree cutting and warn that russia's forests aren't as endless as the timber barons think. it is when we tell officials at the so little untouched forests remain vulnerable industrialists get very accurate they say environmental organizations are trying to shut down their industry or will there are others trying to replace

lost forest this local government project harvests and sorts pine seeds. grows them into saplings and then plants them but they admit that the planting just isn't keeping pace with the felling but also worried that in an ordinary year we can replace logging losses but if there's a forest fire as well it could take us ten years to catch up we're fighting a losing battle. lutie is all right he has his meals brought to him but his cousins out in the wild could soon run out of places to go on barton r.t. . beautiful animal now just out of five minutes from now and ought to we invite you to meet the skiers in the snowboarders see the full force of an avalanche up close scary and managed to come out i'm scathed an action packed than here on this channel auty from moscow come in a. white

stream cascading from mountain slopes the view is miss mirage. but this beauty brings death at a speed of more than two hundred kilometers per. step beyond a launch. 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 at what happened was my company decided i could get cheap labor and they got rid of us george loser long negroes in the eaglets love legally we have to get up every morning we have to go to work and you know we have to pay our bills and we have to do it 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 in the states. i watch and they run run down my property and about this noise. all this legal team that car motors from coming over the wire is protecting the country i'm the kind of guy who doesn't mind good news pants dirty so i come out here you know we're all immigrants and well know that we all here some somewhere else.

this is our time to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we all want that wall we breathe 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 a free. if. you . have very motivated. cross there are activists who are willing to fight for what they think is right for themselves but the fact is for to work for it. we are counting. properly drowning i think it's spread by

it's cutting off heart. it's making the marker see. all but impossible. led mission free accreditation free in-store charges free range month free risk free studio time free. the old free broadcast quality video for your media projects a free media. more news today. fled if these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china operation today.

look. this is r.t. moscow in our top stories the e.u. says it's agreed in principle an embargo on rein in oil exports driving up fears of a spike in oil prices amid a troubled global economy. egyptian prosecutors demand death by hanging for eighty three year old former president hosni mubarak was ousted from power by public protests earlier last year it's already been seen as an attempt to divert public attention from criticism of the country's interim military. authorities announced they freed over five hundred fifty political prisoners and have withdrawn security forces residential areas as part of the arab league peace

plan but opposition activists continue to claim the regime concessions are a sham. next this offer one clear danger for skiers and snowboarders and that's the threat of tons of snow to watch them next then we meet the mountain thrill seekers who stared death in the face and lived to tell the tale in our special report. 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 is 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 now .