international news and comment twenty four hours a day this is our kara johnston the world's biggest military is about to get smaller with president obama announcing the biggest strategy review in years to try and make the u.s. army leader cheaper it includes changing from large ground wars to what he says will be an expanded force across asia pacific and the middle east that is going to take on reports there are still unanswered questions. 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 syndrome seen 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 air wars toward the intelligence war so to speak the u.s. as 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 inconclusive 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 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 result the new strategy will bring but braun backer of the coalition believes that you would indeed slow down pentagon budget growth spiros the israel's two conflicts. 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 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 if there's 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. probably announced a shift in army strategy isn't stopping the u.s.

from deploying thousands of troops to israel that they just joined drill raising suspicions of warning very soon the interim military action against its. own i web sites i want him to come. later in the program we look at the simmering conflict between tehran and western powers of the do mean reigning in the export its potential consequences. syria's opposition has around on the arab league observers mission on the bonnets in the country edging the un to approve a libya style no fly zone and accused the go for covering for president assad's regime to suppress protesters the car abased body denies its observers are being misled by either side says the accusations are preemptive claims its mission has made damascus compromise into pulling out its tanks from civilian areas and leasing one 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 itself. this is once again an example of rebels who will want to make a deal with the united states and use their power to their enemy 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. so to speak its all time we're going to eventually wade in regime change war the. rebels being you know lifted up to a new position after their enemy is taken out for political analyst says opposition groups have seized the initiative from grassroots syrians. they are

profiting from the movement the right for 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 an 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 calling for ousted president hosni mubarak and two of his sons to be hanged they argue that barack is personally responsible for every protest his death during the last. eighty three year old is said to be suffering health problems and was carried into court on a stretcher radio host and author stephen leatherman said he believes the trial is aimed at diverting attention from the minute you do this a bit different. this is

a distraction this is. believing. and they're trying to absolve themselves in the process taking things or worse no one of the military and. no also people running the country to say more closely lara. is saying people because all we agree ministers are people who are into i think the protests will go on and people won't if all the violence will. go well online we have more on the world's top stories including how hollywood top level access to information of some in the killing to turn his death into the big screen drama. also online moscow. snow city is on the way turning

everything from a witness club to a prison. what began as a symbol of united europe is now the token at the heart of a crisis that's tearing it apart ten years on then the euro is in real trouble with countries plagued by debt crisis remedies failing to give relief parties to our city reports from brussels. the birth of an ambitious project a common currency celebrated with no less than a big bang. do you agree that big. over strong europe yeah you're. better for the war the better it will.

be a ten years down the road the euro is not in the best of shape. a spiraling sovereign debt crisis credit downgrades rising interest rates tens of millions unemployed budget cuts and violent protests. the euro's going 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 have long argued 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 are reaping the consequences of

a couple that with internal squabbles and deadlocks there has to be a sign from somewhere that some economic entity that is credible is going to back every euro zone and there are 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 be shown in certain member states to allow for what is called solidarity in europe. and if not if we are in for a huge huge recession in europe 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 currency future but it seems whichever way the euro goes it won't be painless does or sylvia r.t. brussels but a happier tale later this hour as we profile another successful export business in

russia it'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 our business but. not enough to today's pathfinder is an american entrepreneur whose business in russia is definitely getting pale plus. this but it is an example of a failed meeting between an outside culture and an eight people. just a few hundred left in their languages on the verge of extinction artie's a close up to expose russia's a community committed to its survival. iran is accusing the e.u. of waging an economic war it's in response to your considering banning iranian oil imports in the coming weeks there's already a verbal standoff over sanctions imposed by the u.s.

at the end of last year and pressing iran into abandoning its nuclear program tehran threatened to block a key mara time trade routes in the persian gulf and later backed off and still warning u.s. ships against sailing in the area along with reportedly another delay for the next month but more activists see western worries over a long supposed nuclear ambitions as an excuse to curtail the country's influence in the region. this isn't just about nuclear weapons if it were about nuclear weapons in the. at least 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 the course by 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 links with hamas they see 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 ministration in my view 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 for political science professor here to learn says that by isolating about western leaders are trying to score political points while ignoring the economic disaster it spills for them. from an economic point of view it is not wise but you know prudent 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 is accused by the republicans are being soft on iran and. want to spread it intransigence trying to score a success trying to bash iran something good for political reasons for the readers on the domestic speech economically of course if oil prices continue to raise it would be very bad for the entire global economy i think the tensions are likely to affect european countries as well and in fact i read that mario draghi is asking for a good leverage live because he ran knows it delivered 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 you rant but iran has other possibilities the most obvious one is of course turning to china but we're getting your thoughts on what the new sanctions imposed on iran took place how opinion is stacking up at r.t. dot com just over half of the say for

a short run to be pushed to desperation gardening as an act of war these passions. can split the south between those who believe the sanctions will change nothing more than another eighteen percent saying full force or crisis or damaging the. economy or the rain the feel that sanctions will harm the rain and senate leaders want to. have. more on trip an aerial trailblazers as we meet foreigners turning their rusher experience into profits today in our pathfinder series we meet american and that office is giving russia's wealthiest some adventures in their own country. just 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

when is going to be the next trip i realize i'm one of these troops so i was talking with one of my best friends that we could do this organization and actually i think we could do it maybe better and we literally wrote our business plan in the tents 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 money 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 so looking honestly all the businesses that were in our service. 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 business 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 corporation has come to our company 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 provinces we call it el bruised but there's so many beautiful places that have a better notion but i would say 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 have to 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 block 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 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 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 which is the end of two thousand and twelve she leave me free 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 come a trophy and so we had some like expedition and tough experience together 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 ruby people ask you oh you know how can you be living in russia all the 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 a bad thing but there are always a lot of surprises you never ever ever board.

just. let's bring you some more world news now in the patient says it rapidly running out in yemen where thousands of protesters descended on the capital calling for president sunday to be prosecuted those who want political prisoners to be released that has not yet resigned despite a deal in the van with a hundred pound to his vice president in exchange immunity from prosecution. hungary may become the first to e.u. country to face sanctions for apparently violating the group's basic principles of the parliament passed a new constitution including governance of its central bank. in the usa the law undermines the bank's independence and broken off talks on getting financial aid from the country there is growing public anger to the actions of home games protesting the legal changes saying they home democracy. radiation area is on maximum alert after storms destroyed a dam protecting the city there's now a scramble to evacuate people from the areas most in danger with around thirty five

thousand residents already displaced people died on thursday as floods swept through dozens of towns across brazil. russia close up taming down benches to part of the country's far east which unites russians ukrainians tatars and even koreans. wherein they have a region where the area's indigenous population is adapting to the world getting smaller as cultures and people makes. tom barton explores how they're attempting to keep their traditions and not have while retaining their identity in the global village. the dance of the drums these are the nine and 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 will of the new most nanae families are happy for us to teach our native culture here at the village hall there is a relatively large population of man 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 froid 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 . at that hour parents are to blame they started the drinking the children seat and start as well some children grow up too fast they start smoking in six since soviet times attempts to integrate the origin to society have had disastrous results the houses here go largely unrepaired most or its children soon drop out of school unemployment and alcoholism are rife you thought that if we tore away their culture and implanted ours would 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 walk he wants work but there's no jobs and in the neighboring town he would need to go there every day but it's not far she would need to pay for the bus to help at wages 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 last ground sharman amid a world still rooted in its origins but nowadays the people around her are very different they've given up they don't want to live a normal life there are now only a few hundred or it's left 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 barton r.t. . but in about five minutes time we explore the struggles of a man who chose today that a hostile us mexico border a soft a recap of our top stories to us. i had a family i lived in a fairly nice community it wasn't rich it was an upscale it was just like you know

archie bunker's society ok then they started showing up here what happened was my company decided i could get cheap labor and they got rid of us. through these are. the rules of the eaglets line 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 law as i figure it's here's one of the major trails in the united states and. i watch and they run run down my property and about this noise. was a little chap mean a cockroach from coming over the wire is protecting the country i'm the kind of guy who doesn't mind it is pants dirty so i come out here you know we're all immigrants as well that we all came from somewhere else.

he has. to. be official altie obligation to go on the phone and called talk from the shops to. lunch all chief law is on the go. video. all

cheesemonger old comes. and says feed now with the palm of your. pushing on the dot com. this is our team let's take a look at the headlines now president obama has unveiled a major overhaul of the world's biggest all me shrinking u.s. military manpower the strategy also includes expanding the forces presence of course asia. syria's opposition calls on the u.n. to establish a libya style no fly zone over the country queues are of observers pro raising of the league says the claims of preemptive. iran is supporting the proposed oil embargo an economic one.