and using foreign forces to help further its costs. 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 that you remain a tool of the global american order the libyan situation began as merely a americans going to enforce a no fly zone yet once that ball gets rolling so to speak it's ultimately going to eventuate and regime change war the. rebels being you know lifted up to a new position after their enemy is taken out. and political analyst dr omar hassan me says armed opposition groups are using the demands of grassroots opinion in syria to suit their own agenda. they are profiting from the movement

for a 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 fun an intervention in syria in 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. well we've been following developments in syria since the very first sparks of the uprising ten months ago up to date on all the details of that. as they emerge you can also follow our twitter feed and our facebook page for the very latest.

the u.s. military is. president obama. the plan calls for a special forces operations improve surveillance and cyber warfare capability. because. there are still plenty of. 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 drone scene space technologies to

give the u.s. military this whole new shape which is the defense secretary said 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 for us as pull troops out of iraq would still leave 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. well i spoke to our military analyst who sees the overhaul as the result of a power struggle between branches of the u.s. military and arms contractors. this is a pseudo strategy that was lauded by the us military industrial complex this is where they're going to make money the united states has failed the troop intensive so-called coin in iraq and afghanistan it's old the game is over so now they're shifting their attention to the high tech stuff this is how the age of. their military contractors are going to make a mega huge bucks by provoking another arms race in the classical fashion

against china a bomb is just a talking head for god's sake he's only signed up whatever has been done under the intense terms battle between the u.s. army u.s. marine corps. navy and the air force so for the u.s. navy and for the u.s. air force they are the main winners in this they knew war for the shrinking you as budget. just hours after its unveiling the plan was already drawing the ire of peace groups around the world many of them say the strategy is nothing but a military expansion disguised as a drawdown. 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 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. well coming up later in the program here on our power play in the persian gulf. the american administration simply currently with an iran with a regional power at the moment we take a look at the western scramble to corner you wrong as cues in that you are starting an economic war with its latest set of sanctions. but first a stellar beginning and a no last spectacular decline ten years on and the euro is in real trouble with member countries plagued by deepening debt and widespread disorder that means that what began as a project to establish an economic european superstate is now quickly becoming its very under we are these towns are sillier reports from brussels.

the birth of an ambitious project a common currency celebrated with no less than a big bang. the big. draw your. parents to the wall better. yet ten years down the road the euro is not in the best of shape. spiralling sovereign debt crisis credit downgrades rising interest rates tens of millions unemployed budget cuts and violent protests. undergoing the worst crisis he has ever been and obviously the founders. 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. 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. commies 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 a saw and from somewhere that 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 but this exhibit shows the journey of the european union and the creation of the single currency with documented events of history that explain why it would have been appealing to decision makers at the time so much so that 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 huge huge recession in europe city 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 our cilia r.t. brussels. well i happier tell later this hour as we profile another successful business here in russia i was under canvas and high up in the hills. 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 a business but. not enough to today's pathfinder is an american entrepreneur whose business in russia is definitely going up the hill plus. this village is an example of a failed to meet between the outside culture and the nature people. are the owners

who are view from the inside out how ancient communities in russia are struggling to keep their traditional way of life. iran is planning to hold a new naval drill near the strait of hormuz a critical oil trade plane out of the persian gulf to iran had earlier threatened to block it if you. all embargo on it which could happen by the end of the month iran's finance minister has described the pending sanctions as economic warfare the country's economy has already suffered through the latest penalties imposed by the u.s. due to suspicions of wrong is pursuing a nuclear weapons program israel and the u.s. meanwhile are planning to hold their own joint defensive money and see more action to see western worries over iran supposed nuclear ambitions as an excuse to curtail in reigning influence in the region. this isn't just the by 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 the cause of a lot 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 say it's linked 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 there are some people hawks in israel hawks in the united states who want to settle 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. well we want to know if your false on how the new sanctions on iran might

play out here's how opinion is stacking up so far at our dot com most of those who voted over fifty percent believe the measures will push the wrong to desperation as tehran will regard them as an act of war eighteen percent say they will force oil prices up damaging the global economy quality equal number think the same sums don't work at all thirteen percent say they will harm the people of the wrong instead of a government program to argue dot com and cast your vote also online for you this hour. walking the plank of political debate german voters just allusions with the country's interesting m.p.'s are starting to turn towards the pirate party find out why and what it stands for. the new year fireworks italian style washington spectacular scenes from as europe's most active volcano began its first eruption of twenty trout this story and much more at our team dot com. up

next our series about the risk takers from around the world who took a chance by setting up business in russia and are still reaping the rewards today are pathfinder is an american woman whose company helps tourists stray far from the beaten track. and the 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 where it is going to be the next trip i realize i want to be true i was talking with one of my best friends that we could do this organization and i think we could do it maybe better and we literally wrote our business plan in the you know between three thousand meters and five thousand six hundred meters so maybe that's why a business plan is a little. not enough to. one of the goals of our life business plan with this

new company was that we're going to find really cool husband but my friend met her husband on the trip i'm still looking honestly all the businesses that were in our service. and because we've been operating for ten years and some of the businesses we've already given birth to a lot of competitors who are you know our top consultants our top managers who eventually decide they want to try to do this 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. and asked you know how can we help promote together to bring more. luxury venture tourism to the region first thing we said was stop calling it the northern we call it. so many beautiful

places have a better. but i would say general business in russia of course it was in a way easier to enter the market in the ninety's but it was 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 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 the 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 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 lick 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 extraditions 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. in the open on russia again another area of growth you know a lot of foreigners who want to come to russia most important thing is i mean. 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 lag expedition and tough experience together very good

dinner guest because i can always talk about different places that i've been to good places to go. always argue. about this because i love it. i people ask you know you know how can you still living in russia over time 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 the best thing but there always was a surprise never ever ever bored. it's twenty one minutes past the hour and that's what's making headlines around the world in turkey a former chief of staff has been arrested after being accused of leading a terror organization and planning to bring down the government it. is the most senior official in the dock in a series of investigations into of lives and to authority plants in the country the rush comes after three elections reshuffle the power structure in the country's government. thousands of people have taken to the streets of the capital of yemen

demanding the president steps down opposition leaders say they have strong doubts that he'll resign despite a deal struck back in november the agreements to peel a did the president so they should have handed over power to his vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution. more than two hundred firefighters an aircraft water bombers have been battling a huge bushfire in southwestern australia the blaze which started on wednesday has destroyed almost eight thousand hectares of land officials say the flames don't pose a direct threat to homes or other properties. now it's time for a close up series as we continue to explore russia and bring its most spectacular corners closer this regard team has ventured to part of the country's far east region.

this is russia's melting pot of cultures with all sorts of customs and traditions mixed into an amazing blend but as our team is tom barton discovered sometimes it's hard to adapt old habits to the pace of modern day life. the dance of the drums these are the nana and native people who were here in the far east long before the first russian explorers arrived they still retain links to their pretty russian culture. to them honest 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 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 a new technology and culture most of the eighteen 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 draw we freud 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 orange 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 he thought that of early torah where their culture and implanted ours will help them so they became dependent not. 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 neighboring town you would need to go there every day but it's not the fall you would need to pay for the bus to help at wages as you will but at the moment.

you'd miss 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 than usual they've given up they don't want to live a normal life. there are now only a few hundred all rich left this been ages perched on the edge of the sea but in a quite different sense it's now clinging to the edge of existence tom bottom. coming up we look back at the fall of the u.s.s.r. cross-talk us critter labelling his gas discuss what went wrong and whether the soviet union it could have been saved after a short break and a look at our top stories.

this is our time. to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we all want that one we breathe the we hope. to me the american dream is to live in peace and prosperity and freedom and a government under socialism is not a government a free. here least. you have very motivated out cross the country who are

activists who are willing to fight for what they think is right for themselves but the fact is forty four brit and. i. think. we are. in proper grounding and i think it's spread by it's cutting off our. it's making real democracy. all but impossible.

to. say.

you're watching live from moscow our top story is a suspected suicide bomb attack targeting a police boss rips through a residential part of the syrian capital with up to twenty five people. killed it comes amid growing opposition calls for the overthrow of president also by military means. rock obama announces and then to iraq style occupations to focus on increasing u.s. influence in asia with extra emphasis on air domination and unconventional warfare . iran is calling the proposed oil embargo an economic war

a strong reaction is the latest in a series of intensifying military and diplomatic responses by tehran i mean a growing pressure from western powers over its nuclear projects. up next peter the well asked his gas. was a key history maker or just in the right place at the right time crosstalk is next here in our. hello and welcome to crossfire computor lobo boris yeltsin was he a great man who made history or was he merely a product of his time and opinions differ widely don't know when denies the important role he played in creating our present continued series from the collapse of the soviet union twenty years ago.