u.s. and israeli forces are planning to hold a missile defense drill in the area following iran's recent ten day naval exercise . of the national iranian american council in washington d.c. claimed actions of america and israel indicate that they are preparing for war against iran which will turn out to be a massive middle east conflict. we're getting closer and closer to war with iran. anybody who argues that this you know kind of extraordinary confluence of events planned exercises by the u.s. and israel the exercises that iran was doing in the in the persian gulf we have sanctions in place with no diplomacy the only way that that is through confrontation back in september the u.s. actually provided israel with an advanced radar and for the first time actually deployed. permanently deployed u.s. troops to israel that was a small contingent of a couple hundred troops what we see now though is this much larger exercise not unprecedented but definitely something that is going to have an impact right now as

we see this sort of tit for tat in confrontation between the u.s. and iran the idea is that were there to be a massive war in the middle east presumably with iran that we would be ready to have a set of command within israel and actually have israel set up a command center in europe at the u.s. european command iranian officials have said this they're going to consider any strike by israel a strike by the united states. a political science professor from paris west university says that by isolating iran that western leaders are trying to improve their political standing ignoring the economic dangers that spell. from an economic point of view it is not wise but you know present political point of view this is grandstanding and political. coming from leaders who are facing elections obama in the us and obama has very tough on iran because he's accused by the republicans

are being soft on iran and so cozy who is quite discredited trance is trying to score a success so trying to bash iran something good for political reasons for this readers on the domestic stage it can only be because if prices continue to rise it would be very bad for the entire global economy i think the tensions are likely to have thanks european countries as well and in fact i read that mario drag is asking for a delay for it to leave because he ran owes it to live lot of money so maybe the sanctions are not going to happen in the way they were announced today but it would be very bad for your opinion on him is no doubt it would also have an impact on iran but iran has other possibilities the most obvious one is of course selling to china well as always we'd like to hear your opinions on this story head to the forms section of our website r t dot com to get involved and here are just some of

the viewpoints on what's going to happen. one viewer says that the world is still in a financial crisis which george bush and tony blair left us with maybe russia and china will throw their weight forward to stop an attack on iran another option is iran will not dare to hamper oil exports and start a war in the middle east simply because it will be razed to the ground in europe and america can easily impose any sanctions on iran for the good of all people want to add one more viewpoint is that we should just hope at least one side of this conflict will be sensible and won't push the other towards an all out which automatically means nuclear war the us isn't playing with fire putting pressure on iran. and you can go to the forums section at our dot com to see more and of course to have yourself. also on our web site filling a gap in the market find out how it. seeks to extract profit by launching

a cutting edge dentistry check out the latest in our series. the syrian national council one of the country's main opposition groups wants the arab league to accept its observer mission to monitor violence and to broker peace and has failed to urge the u.n. security council to approve a no fly zone they say the league is providing cover for president assad's regime and to suppress protesters ministers of the international bodies member states are due to meet in cairo on saturday to decide whether or not to allow the observer mission to continue to lead planes damascus has made some compromise by pulling out the heavy weapons and tanks from civilian areas and releasing about thirty five

hundred prisoners in recent weeks which is spencer founder and coeditor of the online magazine alternative right dot com says the opposition is trying to lure the west into regime change military intervention as in libya. this is once again an example of rebels who will want to make a deal with the united states and use their power to talk their enemies in many ways the un remains a tool of the global american order the libyan situation began as merely a america is going to enforce a no fly zone yet once that ball gets rolling so to speak its all time we're going to eventually in regime change war the a and rebels being you know lifted up to a new position after their enemy is taken out. meanwhile in the libya the head of

the transitional government has admitted the country could be sliding into civil war he says it's a likely outcome unless the m.t.c. manages to take control over militias and to disarm them the country's justice system also remains a source of concern with thousands remaining behind bars without ever having been charged to report. 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 spend several months in captivity for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. you know as we are releasing those who didn't commit serious crimes those with blood on their hands will be waiting for the prosecutor's decision when you have the richest were eager to pain the release as a goodwill gesture both the detention and the parole seemed entirely arbitrary some of the dictators supporters as these people to be just work for government agencies

and others happen to be domestic helpers or government workers all and now equal before the law or rather before the absence of it they obviously imprison the west triple is top of detention facility under gadhafi notorious for its mistreatment and arbitrary killings of inmates but while all of its prisoners rest south free in late august as the rebels are in the capital dozens possibly even hundreds of makeshift prisons sprang up around the country according to u.n. estimates up to seven thousand allowed to get out there loyalists are being held there a little chance for justice a 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 behind bars. now in libya there are about a thousand people in detention and the problem is they haven't had any legal review 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 promptly legal review and rebuilding the justice system the treatment is even more brutal outside tripoli the town of talk about a good the 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 rule to be to 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 and you know 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 islams 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 . barack obama has announced a new road map for the u.s. military with an emphasis on making the military a leaner cheaper the plan calls on the armed forces to abandon their ability to fight two simultaneous land wars and reshift focus on stepping their military superiority across asia pacific our correspondent has details. the new strategy is to move away from ground wars from long term stability operations to

mobile wars where the u.s. can as we don't put out a put it shift and deploy forces to fight any enemy anywhere they said they're going to invest heavily in new capabilities seen drones in space technology is to give the u.s. military this whole new shape which is the defense secretary said it will be nothing like the cold war or the post cold war military meaning they are moving away from ground wars told words air wars toward the intelligence war so to speak the u.s. is pull troops out of iraq would feel like thousands of contractors behind president obama said it was draw all day for u.s. forces in afghanistan which is due in twenty fourteen but winding down the decade of being conclusive wars in iraq and afghanistan won't necessarily mean less wars but rather wars of a different shape shape that was outlined to us this morning the u.s. is already fighting this new kind of warfare on multiple fronts in different countries with the use of air force with the use of drones levy as one example the

whole country was destroyed mainly from air pakistan is another example not not a successful one though people in pakistan are infuriated by u.s. strikes which end up killing many civilians and as it happened recently their own pakistani soldiers although washington said the strike was a tragic mistake the u.s. will have to do a lot of damage control work to help the pakistani leadership overcome the humiliation so although the u.s. administration looks at the old strategy of ground wars is passe and irrelevant in this day and age yet it's not clear what results the new strategy will bring brian becker of the antiwar answer coalition believes the new plan means america will save money but won't spare the misery for others it targets for conflict. this is not a step away from war this is not a step towards pacifism or a step towards a retreat from empire building it's actually the use of a military strategy that costs the american political leaders be they obama or

whoever takes his place afterwards less on the home front if there are fewer american casualties of all the bleeding is done on the other side of all of the destruction is done by those who are suffering the consequences of air war they feel that there will be less antiwar sentiment at home so it's not a promise in the progressive directions what the obama administration and what the pentagon are doing in it and obama signaled that explicitly in his speech he puts again the primacy of the turn towards asia which really is a turn against china i think they're looking forward to this competition and the evolution of a possible cold war type scenario with china which again gives the pentagon a long term enemy which justifies gives rationale to the continued expansion of the us defense budget this does not cut the defense budget it only slows the projected growth of the defense budgets the u.s. government budget deficit is a major major problem in

a threat to the united states standing in the global market but nonetheless the primacy of the military industrial complex is in fact intact so if there's a budget shortfall you'll see what teachers laid off nurses laid off firefighters laid off but the pentagon will get more than its fair share. and you are watching r t coming up in the program political rebels gain strength. find out why some a german voters wary of stagnation in mainstream politics are trying to make some a stablish when politicians walk the plank by opting for a new movement the pirate party. prosecutors in the trial of ousted egyptian president hosni mubarak have called for him and his closest associates to face the hangman's noose they have justified their request by arguing that mubarak was personally responsible for every protesters death during the country's of evolution the prosecutor went on to claim that quote retribution is the solution the eighty

three year old is currently suffering severe health problems and it was carried into the hearing on a stretcher radio host and author stephen leatherman said he believes the trial is merely a diversion from the continuing vitalogy against protesters in the country. this is a distraction this is to divert the public a wrong was three weeks legitimate a year i believe being the it was the. first several days each in their interest was all there was so it was in the process these things are worse now one of the military junta and. note also the people running the country to say more closely allied with no barry when he was there to see people cross all agreements there's been people who are j.p. too but i think the protests will go on and the people won't be fooled the violence will continue with this struggle there is a long way to go. with the e.u.

mired in its debt debacle you might think that germany which has been bankrolling the bloc survival effort would be the most concerned but among the many people there there are very different priorities artie's you've got a piece of 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 is 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 or i'm only it's eighteen thousand members across germany. was tired of the mainstream and i was really disappointed in. all this the same way. the faces of. the firefighters in a 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 of the previous election for the berlin state problem a time when the poor party managed to win nearly ninety percent of the vote securing fifteen seats most people who act they say are just something something fresh to me like because many germans believe that politics are crass 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 stream politicians the free democrats party

which is an go in miracles federal coalition porter is the first to feel the change of support from voters actually last. along with another four local volts across the country mainstream politics is also losing attractiveness because. there's often too little distinction or distinct difference 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 use the internet and see it as the new driving force changing politics similar to the way it was in fields way t.v. a little half a century ago so unless the mainstream parties adapt and change their tactics mean before they could find themselves on the margins. or d. germany and now let's check out what else is happening around the world. a wave of

explosions in iraq has killed seventy two people and wounded more than one hundred the deadliest attack was in the country's south claiming the lives of at least forty four she have children meanwhile in baghdad a bomb attached to a motorcycle went off near a bus station and was followed by three more explosions the violence has raised fears insurgents are stepping up attacks after the u.s. troop pullout last month. former israeli prime minister ehud olmert has been indicted on corruption charges he is accused of taking bribes to promote the construction of housing projects it dates back to before his time in office is already on trial for three unrelated counts of fraud and a breach of trust but denies all charges. thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of the yemeni capital sanaa demanding the prosecution of the country's president ali abdullah saleh and the release of political prisoners he remains in power despite ten months of violent unrest are demanding that he quit is not and

has not resigned from the presidency despite signing a deal six weeks ago in november to stand down and hand knowledge was vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution that followed several other international broker deals for him to depart. thousands of visitors have flocked to the city of harbin annual i specify illinois china lavish fireworks marked the opening ceremony winding up the sky the show goes on traditionally until the snow melts attracting over thirty thousand visitors organizers claim the ice kingdom is one of the largest such spectacular ever. the new year is just days old but already there is another looming crisis for the euro zone with greece's threat to the euro if the country doesn't get another bailout next with economist. twenty twelve and what might lie in store

for the european union. today we're joined by are you an economist author and professor at the erasmus university in rotterdam thanks very much for joining us today and the first question is in one thousand nine hundred one you wrote a newspaper article that a monetary union is not sustainable cannot be maintained without a political union after all that said we have the euro exists and there is a crisis can the political union save the euro at this point given the

circumstances that it's in ideally. you could say that the political union could be formed stronger fiscal. coordination but also. sort of supporting dural already in my system and is this europe will not be. able to form such a political union there is too much heterogeneity the country's two different. countries are too attached to their own so often t. they have different styles they have a hard time working together on international issues think of iraq. and so it will be very hard to to have one address that foreigners can call heaven emerged he is there. that they will speak with one voice that are willing to give up their very seat in the united nations and the i.m.f. and they will speak in voice it is at the moment inconceivable. that britain

will give up their rights but also france is not even thinking of giving that up. germany will become too powerful there's simply too much that prevents europe from becoming one political union if you want a german chancellor angela merkel she said that political union is already taking shape is it though and what is she basic that statement on well from where we are we are making progress in the sense of suggestions of because these are suggestions or plans to have stricter rules and to enforce those rules and her view and her reality that is working moving towards a political union but my critique case that what is lacking and what they're really needed for political union is also in sense of society i think is no example

germany germany is a society how do we notice that germany is a society. parts of germany form east german states. that are a real dire financial economic situation much worse than greece is right now do you notice anything about that in the rest of the world and all because west germans take it as as self as something self evident that they are to support the east german states those massive transfers of money going from west to east to maintain a sense of unity and a sense of stability and therefore a sense of society those conditions are not in place and not can be imagined to be in place in europe at large the greek government spokesman said quote unquote greece faces an exit from the europe block unless it clinches the deal on a second one hundred thirty billion bailout from its international lenders how much

do you think they really believe in this threat is it something the really think is likely or are they using this rhetoric to gain support for pushing more sturdy measures i think that they use it know as an argument to enforce all kinds of cutbacks and to get popular consent which they need into in order to make the policy effective i think that greece is still an overall desire to hold on to the euro and the reason is that the greeks are very suspicious of their government's. they desperately want to have european government involved in their country because they're sort of a countervailing power against their own politicians the same story applies to you telling us. this is going to work i don't think so the best spreadsheet is to do what iceland did in argentina has gone in so many other people countries have done before. to allowed to have their own currency if you know you

would sort of make their country more cheaper and i used that as sort of the beginning all the. efforts to organize commercial activity that the neighbor was going to sell when we talked to experts analysts and economists even if they are euro skeptics is the situation seems to have gotten so complicated that they would also mention concessions and they're saying that there are two choices now one is being forced into more europe more integration otherwise the alternative is a financial crisis are these the only two options left. i do think that if. you up the euro which i think you need to do we will face a so-called crisis all kinds of institutions will get into serious trouble banks will fail countries will look at the trouble unemployment. will feel and face a serious depression i think all that will materialize but what i also see is the

possibility and that's what i would focus on. restructuring rethinking the way be doing things rethink also the way we view would you call me focus less on economic growth focus more on quality being more concern to the sustainability and so if you also would have. that i see action an opportunity arising if we give up on ideal that i think is an old fashioned wall. and sort of people holes for the next stage are you thanks very much for your time.

close as being. placed to the most ambitious football club in the world. not all of our g.d.p. goes to the far east where the timber industry legendary siberian tigers where the native community loses its way. in the modern world. and where the country's minerals starts its way across the ocean. to the mars creature. wealthy british style it's.

happening to the global economy in cars reports. direct from the heart of. the news and headlines commentary those headlines now. the e.u. says it has agreed in principle at least to an embargo on iranian oil exports driving up fears of a spike in oil prices troubled global economy. the syrian national council the country's largest opposition group wants the arab league to seek a no fly zone over parts of syria at the u.n. security council leaders of several anti-government movements are urging the league to scrap its observer mission in the country saying it has failed to halt almost

ten months of bloodshed in which thousands have died. barack obama announces a new strategy for the u.s. military. while maintaining its superiority plan calls on the armed forces to shift focus to asia and the pacific and abandon the capability to fight two simultaneous land wars. egyptian prosecutors demanded death by hanging eighty three year old former president hosni mubarak from power by public protests earlier last year it is already being seen as an attempt to divert public. tension from criticism of the country's interim military rulers. those were the headlines up next artie's peter lavelle asks his guests if a boris yeltsin was a great man who made history or was merely a product of his time that's in our debate crosstalk.