secretly to bring down the very union that created it. international news and comment live from moscow this is r.t. good to have you with us this hour a deadly explosion targeting police has rocked a residential neighborhood in damascus killing up to twenty five people it's believed to be in a suicide bombing with most of the casualties civilians syrian t.v. says the blast happened near a primary school it comes as the leader of the country's biggest armed opposition group has reportedly called for president assad's regime to be overthrown by military means meanwhile the former high ranking army official who defected to the opposition has claimed the government was lying when it said the violence was caused by gangs aided from abroad or from on this let's talk to author and middle east expert tony carney he joins me now live in london blast targeted policeman

coming just after opposition calls for the overthrow of president assad militarily is this then a signal being sent here by the opposition. well it seems to be the case i mean some of the opposition are saying there are said regime organized this last themselves but i think it's unlikely the fact is that the national called a nation committee in istanbul which is being coordinated itself to a certain extent by nato. is not in control of all the forces on the ground so i think it's quite likely that the suicide bombing was carried out by an opposition force and western governments like france saying that even if they did it the conditions have been created for them to do it something they never say about suicide bombs in . israel or concrete which they're supported so i think the indications

are that the bombing was carried out by the opposition to create havoc and to create reprisals and a response we truly make foreign intervention more possible and yet on the other hand the opposition members are legit a said regime itself may have been behind the attacks aiming to discredit the protestors what do you make of that. well you know anything is possible in that country but i personally doubt that the regime order would have done this i think all the likelihood is be the exact opposite the real question that has to be confronted is what are the aims of the opposition and the opposition inside the concrete is not at one with the national alternating committee in istanbul which is essentially now being orchestrated by the syrian muslim brotherhood it's turkish and u.s.

allies and they are the people calling for an immediate foreign intervention whereas the syrian national council in syria itself which consists largely of progressive left wing kurdish parties has not called for a foreign intervention and are essentially insisting that the struggle against the assad regime continues within the country and there are other groups also in the opposition calling for a negotiated settlement to bring this regime to an end so there are three different to use the strongest group in the country of course is the muslim brotherhood and that is now in my opinion and i very clearly with nature well the head of the free syrian army has called for the world through all of the the current arab league's mission the arab league coming under a lot of criticism of the moment french officials even saying that the observers on capable of doing their job properly what do you think is behind that i think it's

behind what is behind that is that they don't want the these observers to witness anything that they're so it's up to i mean i recall very well in iraq. being made to get the inspectors out because they were coming up with reports that didn't. justify war and i think what is going on in relation to these arab league commissioners who probably are not the most efficient people in the world is a similar thing get them out of clothing and see what we're about to do that therefore imply really that the opposition groups aren't really interested in a peaceful conclusion to this and would pursue the military option at all costs i think some of the opposition groups of my own reached that position and though i think that it's it's it's not a correct position especially if they want to organize nato bombing raids on the

country i think it's not correct but i think at the same time it has to be said that the assad regime has brought this upon itself there was a chance so year ago eight months ago six months ago for the regime to take an initiative and have a negotiated settlement with the opposition inside the country they have not done so we just opened the room to these rash maneuvers which are now being organized from istanbul author and middle east expert tariq ali thank you very much for time joining us live there in london thank you. well richard spencer from the alternative right website says the opposition is taking its lead from libya and using foreign forces to help further its cause. this is once again an example of rebels who will want to make a deal with the united states and use their power to topple their enemies in many ways the un remains

a tool of the global american order the libyan situation began as merely a america's going to enforce a no fly zone yet once that ball gets rolling so to speak it's ultimately going to eventually way in regime change war the day and rebels being you know lifted up to a new position after their enemy is taken out. or we've been following developments in syria since the very first sparks of uprising ten months ago and we'll keep you up to date on all the details on that suicide blast in the capital as they emerge you can also follow up twitter feed and auntie's facebook page for the very latest . if the.

u.s. military is in for a facelift after president obama announced america's focus would fall on the stablish in its dominance in asia the plan calls for a shift to special forces operations improve surveillance and cyber warfare capability alongside a slight reduction in ground forces was going to come on reports there are still plenty of 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 in drones in space technologies 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 toll words air wars toward the intelligence war so to speak the u.s. is pull troops out of iraq would feel 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 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 as passe and irrelevant in this day and age yet it's not clear what result the new strategy will bring. there we spoke to all of these military analysts to seize the oval who is the result of a poem struggle between branches of the u.s. military. contracts. this is a pseudo strategy that was lauded by the us military industrial complex that 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 all the game is over so now they're shifting their attention to the high tech stuff this is how under the age of. their military contractors are going make a mega huge bucks by provoking another arms race in the classical fashion against china is just

a talking head for god's sake he's only signed up whatever has been done under the intense turf 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're the main winners in this they knew war for their shrinking you as budget. well just on. 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 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 u.s. 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 military maneuvers in the middle east washington sending thousands of troops to israel for a planned training exercise but the move sparks worries of a possible build up to an attack on iran. that's still to come for us to stand up beginning and no less spectacular decline ten years on and the euro is in real trouble with member countries plagued by deepening debt and widespread disorder it means that what began as a project to establish an economic european superstate is now quickly becoming its very undoing. reports from brussels. the birth of an ambitious project a common currency celebrated with no less than a big bang. theory the beginning of

a strong europe you're. back to the warm bed of the world. yet 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 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 the leaders scrambling to keep it together. or 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 all economic rationality has been thrown out of the window in the pursuit of this goal and we're now 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 ship 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 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 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. turning sixty minutes past the hour here in the russian capital this is our t. live in moscow coming up here later in the program this hour. this is an example of a failed meeting between an outside culture and a native people are to your for you a view from the inside out how ancient communities in russia are struggling to keep their traditional way of life a lie. that's still to come for you but first the u.s. is moving thousands of its troops to israel for a planned joint exercise it comes against the backdrop of increasing tensions in the persian gulf over iran's threat to block the crucial whole new strait some analysts have voiced fears it could be part of a build up to a military strike on iran while for further details let's join our correspondent she is in jerusalem so these latest movements should they be cause for concern.

well certainly people here are concerned by the latest developments they come at a particularly sensitive time in the region as the american president barack obama has signed into law sanctions that will make it very difficult for countries to buy oil from iran and what we're hearing from the israeli military is that it will reportedly be holding its biggest military drill ever with the united states and what's important to note is that we're not talking here of only a military exercise we're talking about the deployment of thousands of american troops into israel what we're hearing from both sides is if they will be testing various missile systems against rockets and against missiles what we're hearing though from the iranian officials is that they believe that this is the latest and most blatant sign that israel is planning to attack iran and attack at some time soon the israelis of course denying this their announcement comes just ten days after the iranians held a military exercise near the crucial strait of hormuz but the israelis say that

this announcement that they'll be holding this joint exercise with the americans is unrelated to the iranian exercise but nevertheless it does seem pretty serious when you do set against the context of what's happening there in the persian gulf can you bring us up to date on what's the latest from there at the moment paula. well tensions certainly are running high here in the region what we're hearing from tehran is that they believe that the european union is waging an economic war against it and this is in light of the e.u. constituting imposing sanctions against iranian oil exporter exports and indeed if this goes ahead it could be implemented by the end of january what we're hearing from iran is a threat that they in turn will close and block the oil trade through the crucial for moore's strait and they've also warned the american naval presence in and around the persian gulf certainly tehran is feeling the pinch of the sanctions that

the international community has imposed and looking to impose against it the rainy and currency dropped to a record low after the american president signed into law those sanctions so what we're hearing from iran is also that it's preparing its own naval exercises that these exercises will go ahead soon they're part of a series that has been dubbed the great prophet so certainly that has people both here in the region and in the international community concerned paula thanks very much indeed that's part of their lives there in jerusalem. and all of the of the national iranian american council in washington claims the actions of american israel indicate that they are preparing for war against iran which could descend into a massive middle east conflict. we're getting closer and closer to war with iran. anybody who argues that this 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 we're 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. well now let's see what else is making the news this

hour in world update have a look at some other international headlines now 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 general is the most senior official in the dock in a series of investigations into alleged anti authority plots in the country the arrest comes after three elections reshuffle the power structure in the country's government. thousands of people have taken of the streets in the capital of yemen demanding the president steps down opposition leaders say they have strong doubts that he will resign despite a deal being struck back in november that agreement stipulated that president saleh should have handed over power to his vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution. well now time for our close up series here as we continue to explore russia and bring its most spectacular corners closer and this week our team is ventured to part of the country's far east the region.

this is russia's melting pot of cultures with all sorts of customs and traditions mixed into an amazing blend but discovered sometimes it's hard to adapt old habits to the pace of modern day life. 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 oldest 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 nand i and that's helped conserve some of the traditions of the central to the nano way of life has always been fishing the russians brought with the 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 drop we froid them boil them smoke them and dry them we are all sorts of fish. but 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 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 or its children soon drop out of school unemployment and alcoholism are rife you think that a vote tore away 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 them 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 boss 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. . well the sports update is to have you later this hour first though couple a recap of all main stories also a quick break free that will be about to three and a half minutes from now stay with us live here in moscow this is lot to.

do. all. the close up team has been to done you stuck birthplace to the most ambitious football club in the world. now all of our g. goes to the far east where the timber industry attracts the legendary siberian tigers

where the ancient native community loses its way in the modern world. and where the country's mineral wealth starts its way across the ocean. well come to the from mars creature russia close up on archy wealthy british style seinfeld's america has moved on to the right on. target. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy in the cause. the report on. the lead mission free the couldn't take should free transport chargers free the arrangements for free the trip free stereotypes freeze plug. the old free broadcast plug in video for your media projects a free media dog r.t.

dot com. play. play play. play .

this is. a suspected suicide bomb attack targeting a police. twenty five people killed it comes amid growing opposition from. iraq. to focus on increasing u.s. influence in asia. and unconventional.