it's good to have you with us here on r t moscow rule received a welcome to the program tensions between iran and the west are soaring ever higher with fresh calls on terror and to stop all nuclear enrichment they've come after an urgent un security council session was called by france in response to reports of a new atomic facility in the islamic state meanwhile the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has dubbed terror on this recent threat to close off a vital oil trade route or as a provocation the u.k. is also reportedly send its best equipped warship to the persian gulf saying it's ready to send more if iran moves to block the strait of hormuz sees a guy in a future can now it takes a look at the latest in a deepening dispute. the cold run of tension between iran and the west is

simmering. it seems the slightest the increase of heat could make it boil over into an all out confrontation. but where will be that boiling point the point of no return we're getting closer and closer to war with iran the iranians are playing with fire problems in a crisis if you get where any small thing can really set it off and it doesn't quell washington that the international nuclear watchdog is arm side closely monitoring iran's nuclear activities are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon no but we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability and that's what concerns us and our red line to iran is do not develop a nuclear weapon iran's main source of livelihood is oil export is in danger the u.s. is imposing fresh sanctions that will dramatically complicate transactions through he ran central bank iran is also close to losing europe as a customer the reason that this is happening is that this is the logical conclusion

of our current strategy against iran we have sanctions in place with no diplomacy the only way that that is through confrontation cornered by crippling sanctions iran's threaten to block the strait of hormuz a vital artery through which a sixth of the world's oil is shipped the u.s. replied by moving its fifth fleet to the region and saying if iran goes for it they will attack experts say the policy of isolating iran may lead to other threats from tehran and the possibility that one day they will go through with their threats but washington signals that it's ready or it wants everybody to believe that it's ready could way if we had to without using nuclear weapons ourselves take out their their nuclear capability well i certainly want them to believe that that's the case well is that i absolutely want them to believe that the secretary would you add anything to that some believe. it's just a war of words and neither side will go for an all out conflict considering what it

is that it will be for the whole region frankly speaking this tension is artificial it doesn't have to happen it doesn't need to exist the iranians would do themselves an enormous favor by saying less. and we would do ourselves a favor by ignoring most of it all of this i sadly i think is connected to israel and the israeli fear of iran for rhetorical reasons more than military ones it may be a war of words but actions are already showing thousands of u.s. troops are being deployed to israel an american citizen has been sentenced to death in the rand convicted of espionage iran might feel cornered and therefore make drastic moves right now it's in a war of words but one bullet shot and the powder keg can blow up the question is what's going to provide that deadly spark i'm going to check our reporting from

washington r.t. . and iran is blaming america and israel for the assassination of a nuclear scientist in tehran on wednesday further destabilizing the delicate situation columnist and veteran war correspondent eric margolis believes tehran is willing to retaliate but he's being cautious as he doesn't want to spark a major regional conflict. it's either israel did the killing murder and the united states certainly didn't condemn israel for doing and gave its assets through the major financial support of israel i'm surprised that in fact these attacks have not invited bringing in retaliation against these suspects it in certainly an international crime violence and international law and see issue has not been raised once a curate council which it should be retaliation could be directed against this really or american scientific personalities. in the region i

think the radiance are just very anxious to get revenge but they are being cautious now because it seems not so far away in the gulf american forces massing and there are growing threats war against. well we always like to know what you think of the stories we cover including this one and on our website r.t. dot com we are asking what you think will come next in the standoff between iran and the west from our web site here at how the votes are stocking up almost one half of the votes say the u.s. will attempt to provoke iran into an all out war just under a third think washington will simply strike and worry about the consequences later the rest are split fairly equally eleven percent say iran will try to scare off its adversaries by claiming it has nuclear capability and ten percent believe tehran will fourchon alliance against the u.s. with countries in south america do log on to r.t.

dot com and cast your vote. with the iranian standoff gaining momentum its bitter rival israel is coming in for a stinging criticism at home ahead on the program here on r.t. we report on the wave of anger over a planned new laws which people there say threaten their freedom of speech and human rights. a foreign journalist has been killed in syria for the first time since the ten month anti regime uprising began a french reporter and eight more civilians died when shells struck a pro-government rally in the central city of homs both the country's government and the opposition were quick to blame each other for both being behind the attack meanwhile one of the arab league monitors in syria has abandoned the observer mission pending it was unable to achieve its goals another monitor has threatened to follow suit within twenty four hours despite growing tensions president assad is still backed by a large number of syrians during

a pro-government rally seen here he once again accused foreign powers of sponsoring the unrest and online news journalist james corbett says the syrian leader may have a point. it's important to understand that when he speaks of this conspiracy that he's going to strike down and these foreign terrorists who are invading his country that this is in fact not something that's open to debate it was actually revealed in documents that were leaked from the u.s. state department last april that prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the u.s. state department has pumped in at least six million dollars secretly on covertly into syrian opposition groups since two thousand and sixty arab league mission there is is pretty much pre-ordained no matter what the mission itself comes out with if there is even one dissenting voice the one dissenting voice will be given all of the media attention so it's a it's a question of which way the powers that be have decided this is going to go in unfortunately it looks like it's going to stack up in the in favor of military intervention once again i thought it was the view of james kopp an independent news

journalist based in japan. but a professor of international relations mark almond says even those opposing assad still prefer him to the idea of a foreign intervention and the risk of more bloodshed but the problem for president assad is that the main centers of resistance to him all based around the borders and that also however is a sign of the limitations on the support for an insurrection against him that it really depends upon getting money weapons and even perhaps personnel across the border from lebanon turkey and to some extent from jordan so we have a kind of standoff president assad has all of us part of the opposition has support we don't really know what ordinary people think but i think one of the things that president assad just tried to do is to say do you want to see debian style civil war chaos or would you or to see this what it happened in iraq a few years ago and that's quite a powerful argument for people not necessary to be taught how to portsmouth

certainly not to want to see themselves die in a brutal civil conflict that could spiral out of control. it's now or ten minutes past the hour here in moscow and yet another scandal is erupting for u.s. forces in afghanistan this time in the form of a you tube video which appears to show american marines urinating on the corpses of afghan fighters are the video went viral in just hours causing outrage and revulsion among viewers the u.s. department of defense has promised to investigate it let's talk about the video and possible consequences from islamabad is empty as goold the head of the center for research by the security studies and thank you for coming on the program urinating on dead bodies it's hard to think of a more insulting act and given how high profile the video has become do you expect it to have a tangible effect on the situation in afghanistan some are for seeing a type of backlash. we're not sure whether this video could have

debilitating impact on the operations of the u.s. and nato troops putting in afghanistan however this i think reflects a very the alarming aspect of conflicts wars where the united states and other forces have been involved in i think the latest history involving all these troops led by the united states starting from of coniston then going back to iraq and some other parts as well as the operation there their detention of a number of other qaeda and taliban detainees at guantanamo bay it suggests that there is not enough regard for the fundamental lies not enough respect for even for the dead bodies that. that these people have basically it's humid all of mercenaries and i would say they're probably this is because of the predominance of

the private security contractors that the department of defense in washington has been relying on a lot in the last couple of years but when you mention the issue of a private security contractor it's still yet to be determined if they were involved or if it was indeed just straight u.s. marines if that video proves to be real do you believe an apology will be made and if an apology was made by the pentagon by the state department do you think it would ever be accepted. i don't know the americans are not in the habit of offering apology look what happened to in pakistan in the border area when twenty four soldiers were basically executed. fired upon and killed in cold blood in a raid that lasted over two two hours but the u.s. administration as if used to our first lady had knowledge so coming back to what has happened in london. stone or what happened there before dieted. by the

blackwater mercenaries i don't think there is any apology would be forthcoming if i think if something comes out that is just an expression of the good so i would say that it to acquire a total investigation it requires i think all the penal action against all those people involved in such acts whether they are the special marines or private security contractors and if i may just jump in for a moment here often the ultimate price for such scandals or ends up being a loss of trott's by the afghan people towards the occupying forces would it be fair to say that this is all playing into the hands of the taliban if they could show this video as some sort of form of recruitment. well of course i think such videos such scenes or incidents do play into the society operations that taliban and other militants are conducting this obviously falls in sync with what the taliban are trying to tell the world as well as their own people that here you are

dealing with foreign occupation forces forces which have little regard for the human rights for the locals and even for the dead bodies so this is a sort of being projected as a heinous crime committed by the us marines or private security contractors i don't know who they are actually are but i think we have to probably. should not sit in judgment for as the involvement of marines or the private security contractors is concerned this is something that has been happening that has become part of the military operations but equally ever since the reliance on private security contractors by the department of defense has increased and i think such anomalies keep recurring if i mean you know. my keep occurring of course most of all if one does not want that to be the case but let's let's take a broader scope here and forgive me we're running very low on time but how will

this video allegedly showing marines urinating on former taliban soldiers how will this affect the relationship between washington and the karzai administration both have been under strain for years now the better part of a decade when i think all such incidents do stalk public sentiment they do i things you go down all the efforts that are being undertaken by it and as a administration and by several other afghans to appease and calm down the sentiment and get the taliban the combatants on board for reconciliation so i think it's simply does not fit into the publicly stated scheme of things coming out of washington and i think a lot of damage control would be required to m.t.s. school ahead of the islamic center for research and security studies thank you for joining us on our to you today. but the world's most controversial person just turned ten years old the anniversary of guantanamo bay was met with protests around the world with fresh calls on obama to keep his election promise and shut it down

but today that's a fading fantasy after washington inducted a new law allowing the military to indefinitely detain anyone that it deems hostile laura smith reports one zero zero zero zero zero zero one zero zero zero abdullah i am not really today is probably just another day for the inmates of guantanamo bay they may not even know that people around the world are campaigning for them but as far afield as london demonstrations are held to demand the release of the hundred seventy one men still held without trial in the cuban camp after ten years one of those men. whose dubious distinction of being the last british resident held in guantanamo he was in afghanistan or nine eleven he says doing charity work digging wells and building a girls' school in couple. when the u.s. invasion began almost went into hiding from an increasingly wary northern alliance

but his freedom didn't last shot because supporters maintain he was sold for a bounty he went into the hands of the northern alliance who were warlords basically and he actually thought all the americans that my goodness it will save me from the torture that he's had lots of torture by them but no he was transported to and there he has remains despite president obama's original election pledge to close guantanamo altogether despite being cleared for release and despite being a legal permanent resident in the u.k. with family. which includes one son he's never even see and fought for moving closer to being. shuckers supporters see worrying developments in the u.s. is attitude to extrajudicial detention obama recently signed the national defense authorization act which places domestic terror investigations into the hands of the

military and extends a ban on transferring prisoners out of there i'm very sorry indeed president obama for reasons of a. lack of political will or he would say complete inability to deliver those norms. lived up to that promise and indeed is now bracing to book american citizens to trials in military commissions which are very far from being fair trials we. the british government has requested the release of but there's been no movement on the case since two thousand and seven meanwhile as his family grows up without him he lives out his life in a tiny windowless not knowing whether he can ever expect to be released. r.t. london no more of that story online at r.t. dot com let's have a quick look now and see what else is available on our website at this moment for example

a crying shame north korean authorities have reportedly begun to punish citizens who didn't display enough sadness of the death of former leader kim jong il. that r.t. examines the claims that the first reason to be considered up to no good by british police has become better of skin color. twenty minutes past the hour here in the russian capital the chorus of critics is growing in israel against the so-called boycott law it punishes anyone who speaks out against the country's second. construction in the west bank she would rights activists have turned to israel supreme court to overturn the legislation but artie's paula slayer reports there's a whole raft of other controversial bills that might not be to their liking either

. gershon baskin is a wanted man in israel for his outspoken views against the government's policy of settlement expansion it's ironic because if it wasn't for those left wing israeli activists it's doubtful israel would have secured a recent prisoner swap that's always weighty soldier gilad shalit exchanged for palestinian prisoners after five years in captivity gershon says it was his contacts within her must that allow the two sides georgian agreement but now a controversial so-called boycott law threatens to find the post while hero if he steps out of line for you to the public is an arab appeal. and there is a competition of who is more strongly advocating a position which is a very arab what the law says is that any israeli could face legal action just for speaking out in favor of boycotting settlements the first steps to fascism are quiet so. i hope that the supreme court gives us

a loud scream telling us that fascism shouldn't pass but for now the supreme court is keeping quiet the state attorney again this month asked for more time to consider the arguments angering gabion who team who filed a petition to another law the morning after it was passed in parliament until the court rules otherwise israeli owners of companies based in the settlements can seek damages for boycotts called against the goods i don't i don't accept any book. by the. right or left. the boycott law is one of several controversial pieces of legislation being advanced by the netanyahu government a number of similarly criticized bills are currently under discussion in the israeli parliament another bill aims to dramatically. limit foreign funding of non-governmental groups critical of israel it's expected to receive cabinet approval soon this is a very conservative right wing coalition they have a solid majority in parliament but still they sort of promote these

bills which which are preceded not only by the left but by the previous by the courts is is not encouraging the democracy ok or sort of limiting free speech in israel many here think it's a way for the right wing coalition government of prime minister netanyahu to stay in power before people like gershon baskin he says he'll continue to call for a boycott of the settlements and far from since when him the law has only strengthened his resolve to stop israel's growing onslaught on democracy policy r.t. tel aviv. before we get to daniel with a business check of the art world update for you now mudslide severe flooding caused by two days of heavy downpours have killed at least twenty nine people in southeast brazil almost a dozen and missing with thirty thousand residents forced to flee their homes more than thirteen hundred people died or went missing last year because of floods in

the same mountainous region. a south korean fishing vessel has burst into flames in the southern ocean near antarctica claiming three lives thirty seven crewman were rescued including seven who were severely burned in the fire which started in the living quarters the boat which is reportedly still burning is to be towed away from hardaker to minimize the impact on the environment. i have a look at some amazing footage here are some pictures from adrenaline junkies storming the russian railways and one daredevil climbed the roof of the country's fastest train just before his departure to some petersburg on one of moscow's or main railway stations this is the hair raising footage you filmed as he defied sub zero temperatures and speeds of up to three hundred kilometers an hour but the video proving to be a huge hit on line. all right i've done your and the business.

to business despite the financial challenges of twenty eleven russia has become the third force this growing economy in the world of the china and india the latest economic data revealed by prime minister vladimir putin showed four point two percent added to the country's g.d.p. last year meanwhile industrial production rose four point seven percent the fourth best result in the world despite major global economy is suffering budget deficits into an eleven russia managed to finish the year with a surplus the threat of oil supply disruptions continues to trouble investors as japan the second largest consumer of iranian crude but its new sanctions against the islamic republic so do you really be a says he has an oil pipeline that could stand in for a portion of the missing supplies but energy strategist karen lewis davis believe that in the worst case scenario alternative energy routes will not help to plug the gap completely. if the straits of moves were to close and again we don't believe

this will happen alternative routes of getting middle eastern oil to market need to be examined saudi arabia already has a pipeline across the arab peninsula to the red sea which is not being used at the moment that could take two million barrels a day or so production you eat are about to start a pipeline that will. vent the straits of hormuz again that's right about one point five billion barrels a day so taken together that's still a small proportion of the oil that would be lost if the straits of hormuz were to be closed. let's have a look at the markets now oil first both brant and light sweeter up over a dollar a barrel of the hitting a two week low early in the week it's been triggered by concerns we just heard the strike in nigeria and threats of more sanctions against iran's nuclear program crude supplies stock markets have shot up in italy and spain off the boring course fill in that auctions today in the sun those countries are getting to grips with

the euro it was millions job almost three percent of london and frankfurt are also higher this hour. and here in moscow the markets have picked up their first gains for the week both e.r.t.'s and my six are hovering around one percent in the black at the moment. this of a look at some of the share moves on the my six energy majors a mix this hour gazprom is up after announcing plans to spend five point seven billion dollars on the soar to winter olympics in twenty fourteen but rival no overtake is flat preliminary results just belts these natural gas production grew forty one percent last year after versus accelerated for a second day some reports the ribbon is an alliance plans to increase its share in the russian car maker to fifty percent in the first quarter of this year. and the russian markets or car sales jumped thirty nine percent in twenty eleven of european businesses as they reached over two and a half million vehicles that's much higher than forecast however it still has managed to get back to pre-crisis levels expects the market to grow at

a much slower pace this year and reach two point eight million cars. the worst case scenario is very much linked to what may happen with the global economy the impact that that may have on russia. because believe russia would be immune from that i think the be upside is very much around the continued opportunity really in russia or in terms of a low level of car ownership in a relatively number of vehicles on the road provided we see a stable economic situation good availability of finance which is very important both for for retail customers but also for businesses and also for retailers who want to invest in new facilities then we have the potential to see upside from that you want dates but two point eight feels that the right level and finally the russian cinema industry has got a present for the new year locally produced movies outperform foreign ones the box office over the nationwide winter break the magazine book is bulletins there's russian films generated forty seven million dollars or fifty four percent of the

total box office versus surprise given that the total share of local movies for the whole of two thousand and eleven was around thirteen percent in the russian market the top grossing film is still a form one that sherlock holmes a game of shadows. that's the business for now do join us for more next hour. if. you.

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which brightened. from plans to pressure. for instance on t.v. don't come. here with r.t. live from moscow time for your headlines now a storm brews over iran as the west accuses it of provocation amid suspicion is developing nuclear weapons while tehran blames the u.s. and israel for the assassination of a fourth scientist in just two years. by islands in syria claims the life of a foreign journalist for the first time since the unrest began as the arab league powers to continue its observer mission there despite one the monitor deciding to quit.