for violent overthrow president of assad's regime meanwhile a 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 jordan based political analyst professor. thinks the bomb attack is a sign the gangs are actively trying to destabilize the country. right from the start the demonstrations were not truly peaceful and there were many incidents of. gas perpetrating crimes against the army against the security forces against the civilians and of course there were denying it the so-called opposition denying it for a long time but now everything has become clear these terrorist acts these shameful terrorist acts are a clear indication that there are armed gangs and there are terrorists working in syria to disrupt life in syria they're not aiming the aggression only against their

regime but against the whole syrian people and against the whole syrian obviously what we we're witnessing in syria is not their revolution but actually it is a very ugly conflict to dismantle not only the syrian regime but to change the whole area it has nothing to do with democracy and freedom and that there are certain forces international forces and local forces as well which are actually trying to change the situation in the political reasons. respective of the costs that will actually be imposed on the syrian people and on the whole area author and middle east expert tariq ali believes that the opposition is responsible for the attack and that they are laying the ground for foreign military intervention. some of the opposition are saying there he said regime organized this last themselves but i think it's unlikely the fact is that the national

coordination 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 get it the conditions have been created for them to do it something they never say about suicide bombs in . israel or countries which they are 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 tried make foreign intervention more possible i think there any calls for nato in under whatever disk i hope you're buying syrian air space i don't really on justified and shouldn't be supported by anyone we've seen what the six

month bombing of the libya has done on the ground the figures being touted now between twenty five and thirty thousand libyan people died in both bombing raids we do not want the same thing to happen in syria. of course we here at r t have been following closely the developments in syria from the very beginning of the unrest for more analysis on the situation you can cross to our web site where we've got all of the details on the suicide blast in the capital you can also follow our twitter feed and our facebook page for the very latest. retooling the u.s. military president obama has announced that america's focus will now be on a stab at superiority across asia and the pacific the ambitious plans call for a shift to air power with improved surveillance and cyberwarfare capabilities at the expense of ground forces but is it going to church or can 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 technology is to give the u.s. military this whole new shape which is the defense secretary said it will be nothing like the cold war or the post cold war military meaning they are moving away from ground wars toll words air wars toward the intelligence war so to speak the u.s. as pull troops out of iraq would still leave thousands of contractors behind president obama said it was drawled date 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 is passe and irrelevant in this day and age yet it's not clear what result the new strategy will bring. with commentary from washington arties going to church you can now still to come this hour maneuvers in the middle east. israel and america are gearing up for a major missile defense exercise but the move sparks fears of a possible strike on iran. and orthodox christian that worshipers celebrate

christmas worldwide with night vigils also happening all across russia we'll bring you more from the center of moscow in just a few minutes but if you just can't wait you can log onto our dot com. a visionary idea to unite european states has turned sour for some of its members as the euro celebrates its tenth anniversary countries in the grip of financial crisis are debating what a future in the euro zone might mean. has more. the birth of an ambitious project a common currency celebrated with no less than the big bang. theory the beginning over strong europe there you're. back to the war back in the war. here 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 is growing undergoing the worst crisis it has ever been and obviously the founders 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. 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. has been thrown out of the window in the pursuit of this goal and when they are 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 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 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 in the single currency is future but it seems whichever way the euro goes it won't be painless does or sylvia r.t. brussels. the us and israel militaries gear up for their largest ever joint drill designed to improve defense systems and cooperation between the two countries the move comes just days after an iranian naval exercise but tel aviv says the

drill is not linked to recent events party's policy or has more. 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 very nonsmoker 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 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 export 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 more strait and they've also warned the american naval presence in and around the persian gulf certainly tehran is feeling the pinch of these sanctions that the international community has imposed and looking to impose against it the currency

dropped to a record low after the american president signed into law those sanctions so what we're hearing. the rand is also that it's good paying its own naval exercises but these exercises will go ahead soon a 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 concern and. policy reporting for us there and sticking with the same story. of the national iranian american council in washington says a joint u.s. israeli strike on iran is just around the corner and a massive middle east conflict is inevitable we're getting closer and closer to war with iran. anybody who argues that this you know kind of extraordinary confluence of events planned exercises by the u.s. and israel the exercises that iran was doing in the in the persian gulf we have sanctions in place with no diplomacy the only way that that is through confrontation back in september the u.s.

actually provided israel with an advanced radar and for the first time actually deployed. permanently deployed u.s. troops to israel that was a small contingent of couple hundred troops what we see now though is this much larger exercise not unprecedented but definitely something that is going to have an impact right now as we see this sort of tit for tat in confrontation between the u.s. and iran the idea is that were there to be a massive war in the middle east presumably with iran that we would be ready to have set up 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. and orthodox christians all around the world are celebrating christmas more than thirty thousand churches and cathedrals across russia are holding religious services central to the orthodox christian year. comes

thirteen days after western christmas in accordance with the julian calendar worshippers in moscow gather that christ the savior cathedral on the banks of the river from nighttime vigil he's all over. gracing christmas in here in russia that was ushered in with a traditional here at the christ. in the center of the russian capital that service presided over by the patriarch of. the heads of the russian orthodox church and attended by the great new good the dignitaries old russian society president jimmy t. made to get it in there as well as see me a pig is attending this church service around five thousand people in total crammed into christ to say we can see more of them in fact actually taking places around the outskirts of the cathedral to just try and get a view of the church something what was going on inside it of course to hear the

bells that had been a ringing out to celebrate the birth of jesus christ now. flaunts question it always comes up is why is christmas being celebrated in january now this is to say the fact that the russian orthodox church as well as some of the branches of all the docs christianity. julian calendar as opposed to the gregorian calendar used by western christianity which means in russia as well as some other countries christmas falls on the seventh of january as opposed to the twenty fifth of december now. around five thousand people crammed in there to worship and to celebrate the birth of jesus remember this service can go on and did go on for. several hours no seats inside there a real testament to their beliefs how they come together and. break this huge day in the old calendar and something has become

a real tradition here in russia it's opening in one nine hundred ninety seven the traditional christmas. christ the savior. of his peter all of our forces there and merry christmas to all of you celebrating the orthodox christmas i'll be back with another song for you in just under twelve minutes up next we had to italy to see what footprint russian artists and public figures have left on the country's culture through the ages.

hello and welcome to the program from architecture to music russians have been fascinated with culture for centuries and today they come here in the tens of thousands in search of everything from fabulous fashion to the world of italian cuisine so join us as we explore various locations connected with one of the most historic and peaceful cities in the world road. is one of the main symbols of the roman empire it stands in the city after almost two thousand years actually called the fluffy. it was given the name of the colossal statue of nero that was later destroyed beneath hundreds of tourists from all over the world including many russians. architecture through the climates are all reasons why where mr popular

especially with modern day muscovites. of. things in common. street. full of history. it's really an internal city. of architecture. it is a nation with which and then. and many russians are very much into history they like to study it and that's why they like rome so much i was born and grew up in most cases and when i first came to almost ten years ago i had culture shock i was so impressed with its magnificence and its history over the. place both made a huge impact. and culture. and

both countries created flourish. moving on and to the onion shaped dome of the church of st catherine of alexandria the history of the compound goes back to the nineteenth century when the proposals put forward to building an orthodox church in the italian capital there are only a few russian orthodox cathedrals to out italy and this is the largest and most traditional looking church in. the russian cathedral of the. it is not just a church it's a russian house in a way people come here not just for religious reasons but also to spend time together and communicate in their native language just something that you miss

a lot in a foreign country. inside you can see jerry speak for icons and walks by tell you a machine must is from the inside you'd never realize that the building is brand new. this church opened in two thousand and nine located on a hill not far from st pete is its mobile designs and bright interior is a striking to say the least as a new place of worship run hundreds of russians from the nearby areas come to various religious services here and the building also acts as a social outlet for the community. the outdoor space above the chapel offers a magnificent view of the city. it is also home to a large selection of bells and whenever rang the sensational sounds can be heard

around the city. next location now and welcome to. a glittering five star. impressively situated between. having enjoyed. a hotel in the elegant. tradition despite some.

sweets. and impeccable standards. on here. situated on the sixth floor. the. popular. car. business or pleasure. also has several conference rooms. several of which. the roman. whose and to find out more about the russian connection with. let's meet this week's guest great to meet you great to meet you in this wonderful hotel tell me where did the name come about being. in the nineteenth century. cold.

because of many of ash and they moved to b.c. rome were staying in these. so we we kept the name of the sea in. a very very popular place. very much. very much so and. growing year by year and i hear very popular with. celebrities and politicians and hollywood. very much so very much so many both russian and the local hollywood celebrities have chosen to come to the scene since since the. very beginning when we opened in two thousand we hosted all the movie out from the ocean.

thanks very much for the time thank you. thank you very much. to the jury now you can see why do you use a popular with hollywood. in your in the seventeenth century was a celebrated meeting point for the high profile guests in the restaurant basically put in the summer months. in the bushes i wouldn't be surprised to the secret to. in every possible way no one. is popular with russia. even the. outside here is if you can afford it no protests.

moving on and there are many russian influences and connections in rome collection of russian icons has been put on display and one of the main sights of rome the consul the exhibition consists of almost fifty icons which were handpicked by italian organizers from the collection of the private moscow museums showcasing religious art on display representation i complain to the fifteenth the twentieth century is. the venue to see many celebrity. guests. displayed at the café international artistically often came to the venue including. google like the cafe and spent a lot of time there writing his famous dead souls. the jerry

thomas speakeasy project is a secret location in central. special russian. are created in a very italian atmosphere of the bar you can find quite surprising drinks inspired by russia the team has created a special cocktail menu called twist on a classic number three from russia with love. with such cocktails as the kremlin flip. and said petersburg delight. wondering around the city site should be surprised what you might. bump in safety in the park available a situated two monuments that were erected to on a russian right is the statue is of right at nikolai gogol the second is dedicated to alexander pushkin that was in belgium the year two thousand. created by russian sculptor. it was presented to the villa borghese the state by the moscow government as a gesture highlighting cultural achievements. as

one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the world as a popular tourist destination it's clear why millions come here trevi fountain here for example of the state photo opportunity but but often it's the small influences and nuances that make up a substantial soul in boots of a city and with the cultural connections italy has to russia it only helps create a culture and of creativity elegance and style. was an incredible city full of fortunately that's the time we have left on this week's program i'll see you again at the same time next week and sell them for me and the rest of the crew from the magnificent seven thousand here in rome by now.

including. science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've. covered. and two thirty in the morning here in moscow russia's capital business and if you're celebrating the orthodox faith from all of us here at our table it's a suicide bomb attack targeting a police bus in the syrian capital damascus leaves at least twenty five dead and dozens more this comes as one of the country's largest armed opposition groups calls for the overthrow of the assad regime by military force. and thousands of

u.s. and israeli soldiers are said to take part in joint defense drills ever. some raising fears that the move is just a rehearsal for a strike on iran to leave denies the allegations saying the exercise was planned long in advance. and orthodox christians as mentioned are celebrating christmas with churches and cathedrals across the world holding night vigils here in the russian capital the patriarch of moscow has led the return of christ the savior cathedral. tempted by big city life then disillusioned next to the tragic and turbulent story of a modern day revolutionary living on the us mexico border. he had to earn it i mean we have to earn it every single day of our lives 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 and that's just the american dream and if you want to.