this is r.t. international news and much more welcome to the program the world's biggest military is about to get smaller but president obama announcing the biggest strategy review in years to try and make the u.s. army leaner and cheaper it includes changing from a large ground wars to what he says will be an expanded agile force of course asia pacific and the middle east ghana chicken reports there are still unanswered questions. then you 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're moving away from ground wars told words from air wars toward the intelligence war so to speak the u.s. is pull troops out of iraq but still less 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 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 is 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 over 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 result the new strategy will bring or braun becker of the antiwar coalition believes that you plan will indeed slow down pentagon budget growth but won't spiros as the result of continuing 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 last 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 the 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 budget 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 it is a budget shortfall you'll see teachers laid off nurses laid off firefighters laid off but the pentagon will get more than its fair share. of the announced shift in

the only strategies in stopping the u.s. from deploying thousands of troops to israel the biggest ever joint drill and it's raising their own suspicions over their warning that americans don't need to action against it when that's on our web sites. and they to hear in the program the simmering conflict between tehran and the meaning arabian oil exports and its potential consequences. syria's opposition has rounded on the arab league observer mission on the violence in the country urging the u.n. to approve and libya style no fly zone they accuse the league of covering for

president assad's regime to suppress protesters in cairo based pointing dies it's observers are being misled by either side and says the accusations are three empty if. claims its mission has made them ask compromising to pulling out its tanks from civilian areas and releasing more than three thousand prisoners in recent weeks richard spencer from the alternative rights dot com says the opposition is taking its lead from libya and using foreign forces to help propel it so. 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. tool of the american order the libyan situation began nearly a miracle is going to enforce a no fly zone yet once ball gets rolling so to speak it's all to me going

to eventually wait and regime change war the rebels being you know lifted up to a new position after their enemy is taken out. for political analyst i'm on a shabby opposition groups have seized the initiative from grassroots syrians. they are profiting from the movement the rightful movement of people to protest for basic rights and they have rights and it is true that there are some legitimate demands on the part of the syrian people but it's such a big shame that some western powers and some foreign 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. prosecutors in egypt are calling for ousted president hosni mubarak and two

of his sons to be hanged they argue that mubarak is a person responsible for every protest his death during the last prepress revolution the eighty three year old is said to be suffering health problems and was carried into court on a stretcher a radio host and author stephen leatherman said the trial is aimed at diverting attention from. the tribunal is there any different. this is a distraction this is. believing. and then try to absolve themselves in the process i think things are worse now one of the military and no law also people running the country to say more closely allied with mobarak when. you see people because all agreements are certain people are objecting to i think the

protests will go on the people won't be all the violence will. go. on line we've got more on the world's top stories including how hollywood got top level access to information or some of the killing to turn this day into a big screen drama. also moscow's snow city is on the way to taking everything for it this crowd to prison. what began as a symbol of the united mirapex now the token at the heart of a crisis that's tearing it apart ten years on and the euro is in real trouble the country is plagued by debt crisis where are these failing to give relief auntie's

attests also the reports from brussels. the birth of an ambitious project a common currency celebrated with no less than a big bang. theory is the beginning of a strong europe yeah you're. back to the war back to the war. here ten years down the road the euro is not in the best of shape. the spiralling sovereign debt crisis credit downgrades rising interest rates tens of millions unemployed budget cuts and violent protests. the euro is growing undergoing the worst crisis it has ever been and obviously the founders of the of the euro did not hope that this would happen for what began as a step towards

a united europe has become a race against time with leaders scrambling to keep it together. euro skeptics along argue that the euro was flawed from the start pursuing a political dream above all else well they say lumping together polar opposite economies like that of greece and germany into a monetary union could never work economic rationality has been thrown out of the window in the pursuit of this goal and we now reaping the consequences of a couple that with internal squabbles and deadlocks there has to be from somewhere that some economic entity that is credible is going to back every euro zone and the only two or three entities that can do that what is european central bank. the other is basically the german government and neither of them right now are willing to do it so this exhibit shows the journey of the european union and the creation of the single currency with documented events in history that explain why

it would have been appealing to decision makers at the time so much so the crux of the fundamentals may have been overlooked or ignored which brings us to this point ten years after the creation of the euro its appeal has waned and despite last ditch efforts to save it its future is still uncertain in the spirit of the new year we asked for some predictions but one can be sure of is that this crisis is going to be a long and bumpy road however if you would ask me do you think that the euro would still exist in ten years time my answer would be yes they can't bring themselves to admit that it was a mistake and so i'm afraid we risk the very thing they purport to fear which is a disorderly breakup of the euro caused by having tried to keep it together for too long downgrades almost certainly i think you'll see a french downgrade i still think this is solvable if the political will is shown in certain member states to allow for what is called solidarity in europe and if not

if not we are in for a a huge huge recession in europe sitting my prediction that at least greece will leave the euro in the next year and what happens beyond that is unpredictable euro watchers may have divergent views of the single currencies future but it seems whichever way the euro goes it won't be painless does or cilia r.t. brussels. but a happier tailor later this hour as we profile another successful ex-pat business in russia that's building instead of breaking its balance sheet. we literally wrote our business plan in the tents you know between two thousand meters and five thousand six hundred meters so maybe that's why a business but. not enough. pathfinder is an american entrepreneur whose business in russia is definitely going up hill. this village is an example of a failed meeting between an outside culture and

a native people just a few hundred left and their language is on the verge of extinction these close up team explores russia's forest and a community committed to its survival. iran is accusing the e.u. of waging an economic war it's a response to europe considering banning iranian oil imports in the coming weeks well there's already a verbal standoff over sanctions imposed by the u.s. in the end of last year and it ran into abandoning its nuclear program to iran threaten to block a maritime trade route in the persian gulf. but it still morning u.s. ships again saying in the area. like the city's west. side with nuclear ambitions as an excuse to curtail irena influence in the region. 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 which actually possesses nuclear weapons it's not about that that's because it's belarus but the reason for this continued conflict is because the american administration simply can't live with an 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 links with hamas they see links with hezbollah and this is. 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 ministration in my view there are some people hawks in israel hawks in the united states who want to tackle 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 for political science professor pierre galen says that by isolating iran the

western leaders are trying to score political points while ignoring the economic disaster it spells for them from an economic point of view it is not wise but you know from a political point of view this is grandstanding and political. coming from leaders who are facing elections obama in the u.s. and obama has been very tough on iran because it is accused by the republicans of being soft on iran and so cozy want to spread it in crisis try to score a success so trying to bash iran something good for political reasons for this readers on the domestic speech economically because if oil prices continue to raise it would be very bad. for the entire global economy i think this tensions are likely to affect european countries as well and in fact i read that mario draghi is asking for it in the leverage to leave because he ran owes it to live

a 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 this no doubt it would also have an impact on the ranch but iran has other possibilities the most obvious one is of course selling to china. well i think your thoughts on what the new sanctions imposed on iran will lead to his jalapeno starting up at r.t. dot com the heart of your show around will be pushed into desperation by the measures regarding this matter what is split between those who believe the sanctions will change nothing at all another eighteen percent saying it will force all prices up damaging the world economy. saying that sanctions will bring people instead of leaders who want to r.t. and have yourself. entrepreneurial trailblazers not was we need foreigners turning their russian experience into profit today in our pathfinder series we meet american and that loftus is giving russia's wealthiest

some adventures in their own country. any travel in russia is adventure travel for most people. i had a great time in my corporate career but i was working and living in thinking about wayne is going to be the next trip i realize i want to be true so i was talking with one of my best friends that we do this organization actually i think we could do it maybe better and we literally wrote our business plan in the tatts you know between three thousand meters and five thousand six hundred meters so maybe that's why our business plan is a little off. not enough to. one of the goals of our like life business plan with this new company was that we're going to find really cool husbands but my friend met her husband on the trip i'm still looking honestly all the businesses that were

in our service business and because we've been operating already for ten years and some of the businesses we've already given birth to a lot of let's say competitors who are you know our top consultants are top of managers who eventually decide they want to try to do this because themselves i've been to more than eighty three countries now before starting ask for of it also since starting ask for every year we go to some new places to expand our offering we have our own helicopter school in the northern caucasus northern caucasus development corporations come to our company had the action and asked you know how can we help promote together to bring more high in luxury venture tourism to the region first thing we said was stop calling it the northern caucasus we call it el bruised but there's so many beautiful places that have a better notion but i would say the general business in russia of course it was in

a way easier to enter the market and in the ninety's but it was a little crazier than now the business environment it's a little bit more regulated little bit easier to work because everybody is you know not paying taxes it's not like you're competing against the people who don't pay taxes at all i'd say you know because we have quite a small group of clients we are growing every year but it's we're not a big agency so i can't say that are trying to like the rest of the market but what we do find it is that the people that have. more money than they can ever spend. and had the opportunity to travel everywhere in the world they want to travel in russia and what russia needs really for russians of that caliber and also foreigners who want to travel is it needs we need more infrastructure bridges and i'm shocked that the season is very short so most people come between july and

august maybe the beginning of september in june you can still have some snow on the ground and the mosquitoes are bad and by col has three hundred on the actual lake you have something like three hundred sunny days a year it's really a year round destination two thousand and twelve will be sending at least six expeditions around the world we have already planned iceland the media probably mexico because we want to see the end of the mayan world and the end of two thousand and twelve she'll be. on your feet and also around russia again it's another area of growth you have a lot of foreigners who want to come to russia most important thing is having the right business card. i have been really blessed i met my business partners most of them in the early ninety's when we were working together would come a trophy and so we had some lag expedition and tough experience together we are very good dinner guest because i can always talk about different places that i've been a good places to go. always argue. because i love it really by people

ask you know you know how can you be delivering in russia over time i think because every day still now you know never never know what's going to happen it's like maybe it's not always a good thing sometimes it's the best thing but there are always a lot of surprises and never ever ever bored. just. we bring you some more world news now and patience is rapidly running out in yemen where thousands of protesters descended on the capital calling for president senate to be prosecuted but also want political prisoners to be released leader has not yet resigned despite a deal in the vendor to hand over power to his vice president exchange immunity from prosecution. religion arizona maximum tough the storms destroyed a dam protecting the city it's now a scramble to evacuate people from the areas most in danger the around thirty five

thousand residents already displaced eight people died on thursday as floods swept through dozens of towns across brazil. russia close up tame down benches to part of the country's far east which unites russians ukrainians totters and even koreans. yes we're in the region where the areas indigenous population is adapting to the world getting smaller as cultures and people mix tom barton explores how they're attempting to keep their traditions alive and retaining their identity in the global village. the dance of the drums these are the nine a native people who were here in the far east long before the first russian explorers arrived they still retain links to their pre

russian culture. to the fullest opinion most nanae families are happy for us to teach our native culture here at the village hall there is a relatively large population of now and i and that's helped conserve some of the traditions for the central to the nano way of life has always been fishing the russians brought with the new technology and culture most of the eight hundred thousand and eight sea now have other jobs but still take regular trips out onto the windswept ice. fishing is extremely important to us as part of our traditional way of life to fish drop we froyo them boil them smoke them and dry them we are all sorts of fish. which further to the east we find a much bleaker picture this village is an example of a failed meeting between an outside culture and a native people whereas the night sea have accepted a large degree of assimilation but remain productive and connected to their

heritage the origin people here have lost far more than just the native ways the orit's were also a native fishing people now their fishing boats lie broken and unused on the shore that of. our parents are to blame they started the drinking the children seat and start as well some children grow up too fast they start smoking at six since soviet times attempts to integrate the origin to society have had disastrous results the houses here go largely unrepaired most orit's children soon drop out of school unemployment and alcoholism are rife. with torah where their culture and implanted ours will help them so they became dependent. now the social and economic situation has changed they need to start helping themselves but they're not ready to do that oksana as house is falling apart and she hasn't stored enough food to last in the winter but her and her jobless husband want to be given

a new house and free schooling. why is your husband not working does he want to work he wants work but there's no jobs and in the nearby town he would need to go there every day but it's not that far he would need to pay for the boss to help at wages as you were but at the moment. miller's house nearby is much better kept she is the village elder and shows me pictures of her grandfather revered as the lost ground sharman amid a world still rooted in its origins but nowadays the people around her are very different unusual they've given up they don't want to live a normal life. there are now only a few hundred or it's left that this village is perched on the edge of the sea but in a quite different sense it's now clinging to the edge of existence tom bottom r.t.

. that a few minutes we explore the russian flavor of some italian culture in florence a softer recap of our main stories today that go like.

the. to me. if. i am. if they shoot something inappropriate for me they can easily be. casualties of war ok. i wish she would have never happened but it has.

for a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary with their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave. and the spear what happens with such witnesses i got him on my site. many checks. merce's shooting. not with not about spilling blood. just the war of the barricades from one side and fears blockade from the other. invisible border has cut people from the land for twelve years.

the conflict that divided serbia into two hostile parts is still not over. welcome back every capital of our top stories now. president obama has unveiled a major overhaul of the world's biggest army shrinking u.s. military manpower a new strategy also includes expanding the forces presence across asia. syria's opposition calls on the u.n. to establish a libya style known flaw is that the country they cues are observers or pro racing bonus for the league says the claims of preemptive. iran is.