and doubts over the euro zone's ability to tackle a debt crisis grow as nine nations get their credit rating cut routes losing its top notch status. weekly news review a very warm welcome t. well tensions between iran and the united states increased dramatically this week tehran blames the west for orchestrating assassination of one of its nuclear scientists on wednesday america is also pushing hard for an oil export embargo on iran over its nuclear program with tehran threatening to block vital maritime trade route in response what is going to chicken has the story. the cold run of tension between iran and the west is simmering. it seems the slightest 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 on site 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 threatens 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 weigh up 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 if i absolutely want them to believe that that's the way that secretary would you add anything to that somebody. 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 our team for another country under increasing international pressure is syria because as a rule of proposing sending our troops to the country to stop the violence that

shake in the is the first leader of the country to call for military intervention qatar which is a u.s. ally has been one of the strongest advocates of regime change across the arab world despite being a monarchy itself its national affairs consultant that even roost told r.t. that the country's lecturing serial democracy is a critical. now south is clearly not what you would call a democratic leader but within the arab context he should be not the worst one on the contrary i am a dad i believe he's doing i mean who does the arab league represent the back arraign the united arab emirates saudi arabia what are those do and they are feudal monarchies and they are not the ones that should point a finger and south whether there is an international conspiracy where there are elements that point out of this part of it i think it's more complex than just that there is also genuine popular revolt but it is absolutely sure that there are

elements from outside who are taking abusing whatever there is living among the syrian people for their own purposes that is absolutely. for turkey also stepped up pressure on its neighbor at the beginning of the week and often takes a look at why syria's one time ally is not advocating sending in troops. to the bloody status quo in the syrian crisis maintained for months she is a growing and finance may start spreading beyond the country's borders especially with its close neighbor turkey once a close friend but now a harsh critic of damascus on. syria's first priority should be to listen to its people and meet their demands not to denounce others instead of massacring its people we should listen to them. so glitter glue is a harsh critic himself but he's criticizing the turkish government and korea is on

the side with the free syrian army and the syrian national council and military and diplomatic forces and overthrowing the regime of bashar al assad it supports a buffer zone and a humanitarian corridor which some fear could bring turkish troops to syrian soil what does that mean according to international law it means aggression against a country it means war but any intervention would be different from the one in libya since russia and china have made it clear new war no fly zone resolutions which means the role of regional players like turkey increases dramatically but fruit claims and korea's behavior is irresponsible and risky it has larger implications beyond the bilateral context of turkey syria as such the situation in syria must be handled with great care by all powers and unfortunately i don't see that. separation. especially the part of our

government on hand works with a middle eastern studies center based in and kyra it's sponsored by the turkish foreign ministry to help shape policy and its opinion on syria it's clear syria is killing their own people or not always that's clear nobody has objectively information what is going on in syria the centers specialists haven't been to syria for over a year it means the picture they paint for officials in ankara is unlikely to be an accurate one the technology changing you know when you look at the photographs or the videos coming from these governorates you can easily see that there is something going on with the sources of these videos are often questionable so it's easy to be misled and we'll get a false picture of what's really happening but there does. researchers from coming to firm conclusions military operations this is the last option which turkey does

not want to see but this is an option it may have declared it doesn't welcome a military solution to the syrian crisis but turkey hasn't ruled it out either plain and if game if there is massive migration from its troubled neighbor turkey says it will have to protect its own people and marc fisher and korea insists it wants peace and stability in the region its troops are already just kilometers from the border with syria. r.t. turkey. marty later we'll hear from the author of what's been described as the blueprint for nonviolent revolutions next our new film explains where his concept. is any match for the reality. and where incomes have started with the years of the next in vibrant things to find out why that's unlikely to survive the similarities to other trouble nations. europe's debt management got a cold shower from a major ratings agency this week essentially being told that the austerity they're

imposing on people isn't working standard and poor's lowered nine countries scores with france nostra stripped of their top aaa status the action around the euro zone was mixed with some expressing disbelief and others like germany's foreign minister calling for europe to have its own ratings agency chancellor merkel said there's a long road ahead when it comes to rebuilding in western continents is now. how world stock markets will respond with monday on laughlin from the institute for democracy and cooperation in paris says europe's leaders have become accustomed to growing. troubles. downgrading shows that those strongest countries are not as strong as we thought they were even austria has been downgraded so this idea that the core europe can somehow save the periphery even that is not tenable and it's true that these agencies are not above reproach they've made a lot of mistakes in the past and goodness knows the financial services industry

including the ratings agencies is far from perfect but i think that european leaders are being completely paranoid when they blame the ratings agencies for their problems any fool can see that there is a massive debt problem in europe the fact is there's been a lull in the crisis but that was really to do with the christmas and new year holidays they have assessed the situation and they have come to the conclusion so many other people that the situation in the. and is untenable and i think when the euro finally collapses as it will do surely within i would think probably the next year that we will see this day this announcement that downgrading of france or as having been one of the decisive moments for germany came out of the downgrade sweep unscathed keeping its aaa rating and investment see that as a significant power shift in the eurozone and the situation in france as finances is that they've basically been borrowing money on their every year budget since the

mid one nine hundred seventy i mean it's absolutely ludicrous and unfortunately all good things must come to an end and actually they've only been lucky because of economic growth in europe as a whole and the fact that there are economic power height has been struck to the ultimate power out of europe which is germany and that's why this is such an emotional moment of the european experiment because not everyone across the border into germany from france is going to be looking dining on their neighbors and saying why should we germany and up being alone amongst the very elite club of nations that have got their aaa the top grid and indeed our french partners the germans are going to see it is no longer the perfect bride it's tarnished goods. the comfy you hear in r t the soldiers sowing the seeds of their own destruction whether of american marines film your innate corpses or one of them wanted to be putting their troops lives most of. us unfulfilled promises surrounding the

world's most notorious prison for violence yet to be getting his campaign about to close the ten year old. boy center. people in kazakhstan are heading to the polls the parliamentary election comes just a month after the country was shaken by deadly riots in a tunnel. striking oil workers clashed with security forces over poor pay the pows were routinely shaking and the next august president dissolved parliament water and the date forward the move is seen as an attempt to broaden the single party dominated parliament and his office on a book or reports the time seems right for a change in a country that doesn't want to follow in its restive neighbors would steps. it wasn't for the snow and the freezing temperatures kazakstan capital of astronaut could easily be mistaken for one of the gleaming cities of the gulf

a village just two decades ago it is now an oasis in the desert but it's architecture having a distinct flavor like many arab countries kazakhstan's primary sources of income are all in gas and it is that x. ray that allowed this country the luxury of building its new capital from scratch in fact kazakstan is now producing about as much oil as lieve beer was churning out prior to its civil war and the similarities don't and here both kazakstan and libya have predominantly muslim populations both were considered stillbirths of calm in their turbulent neighborhoods and both have experienced decades of rule by just one man in terms of style that fast. is the exact opposite of erratic more market and of course. he's still in power but the libyan scenario no longer seems improbable in kazakstan even to its leader some young people are fascinated with what's happening in the world right now in africa and europe but we have to explain

to the new generation that blindly believes everything it's told that there are those who envy our well being the countries who are revolutions took place have gone back ten to fifteen years economically speaking the town of xenos and is rightfully called catholics tons of oil capital but it's no match for glistening asked. despite producing much of the country's hydrocarbons for decades it's been poor and neglected. the uprising in western kazakstan has molded since last spring but culminated in december in a weekend of clashes with police that left seventeen dead and more than one hundred injuries as the protest spread to other cities. jittery in the wake of the arab spring it got it worse because extern has a semblance of democracy with several parties in parliament and some of position media but the essence of the regime is similar to those of the arab countries but the first thing the authorities did when their prize and began was to switch off

the mobo networks and the internet connection before the people even demanded it out loud because of the riches decided to offer political reforms the people are now going to the polls to elect a new parliament recent constitutional amendments guarantee they'll be more than one party that has been up until now the challenge now is to keep all the good things stability prosperity. and at the same time allow the society to evolve. meanwhile their wages have approved millions of dollars worth of programs to give their rest a cd basically to create new jobs between ages. the presidents called associates appointed to oversee. the turbulent region she says in a few years john is in will make some cities in the gulf pale in comparison business come here in a few years and you won't recognize this city while the arab spring may have

inspired protesters around the world it's also talk of the richest valuable lessons on how to contain those rallies like those five much rather learn from the mistakes of others especially when they come at a price paid by gadhafi and a boycott artsy kazakstan. well to talk more on the stance of parliamentary election we're joined by alexander son of one of this international affairs expert from moscow state university for humanity is a thank you for joining us here today on the latino what do you think prompted the president not survive to move the election date for it. partly because of. the political system being very competitive in terms of there is very little competition in the parliamentary system and. as. advisors recently in an interview with channel. one wants to enter the third of its

independence. not a single part of parliament by the bipartisan system in columns and so i think it's prompted by the riots in december and definitely the leadership of. the libyan scenario and that's why they are offering reforms is live in syria so also have forms after the uprising started as you say a little competition that the president's party has held all the seats since the last election in two thousand and seven do you see any changes this time round. well i believe that maybe another party. managed to break that some percent. need it to actually have representation in the parliament and so never you will see the bipartisan the tea party parliaments in person and very soon bartz not like three or four party problem and so there will be competition but you have to know

you have to understand the nature of the political system and how to stop and if you see that if you look at the recent history our political struggle probably stand you will see that everything president actually offer its parliament was carried by the fallen for members and so i don't think we're going to see any competition in the parliament very soon after the election so what you're saying then the ruling party is expected to get a majority of the seats whereas its core supporters come from that in the country. well i think that the really party the incumbent party will still have support and are the people right now that have been the thirty five percent of blacks where it have voted already and some of the support namely comes from the regions and from the big cities from big cities and public start still i believe that the leadership will be looking forward to. their political system and mainly focus on the

parliament rather than and so they're trying to move from the presidential republic to the parliamentary republic and more democratic state in the eyes of the international community and as you mentioned the election campaign was marred by the deadly riots and the oil got over that was that a one off or is there an unsettled move elsewhere in the country in your opinion. well i mean yes as i said the decision was also spurred by the rise in journalism and the leadership is a little bit you know there's not surprised but i believe they're scared out. of the possibility that riots also are spreading across the country so if these were heat cases like they're now isn't cost the country but i think that we're going to see the results not be very much and will be so.

i think. and maybe we will see another presidential election soon i don't know there are no immediate signs of these happening ok after they get that exile the sort of honor for thank you for joining us here live on r.t. . but of course we'll be following the parliamentary election in kazakhstan to bring you the latest news along with some expert analysis throughout the day. a group of american marines filmed you in eighteen on the corpses of taliban fighters have been identified and punishment is promised but it's doing little to quell the growing disgust felt around the world this week and regional experts say could mean that u.s. soldiers currently serving in afghanistan but end up paying the price. so let's not forget that the americans came to understand with the explicit objective also off transforming this country into a more humane country into a democracy and what we're seeing is happening right now with the appearance of

this kind of a video it's the opposite and it is having an impact let's not forget that this is a region where religious values are really very deep deeply entrenched and the way you treat bodies and the way you treated the dead it's something that is treated very secretly here and with this video you can you can rest assured that this will have an impact in terms of the kind of reaction the kind of backlash to this will generate this video will generate against the very. the american soldiers who are there right now in a modest and it really in danger is their life so it is fair to say that with this video surfacing the lives of american soldiers in afghanistan have become more let's say in a more precarious situation than they were before this video all of it here also triggered a phase it will encourage more young people to join the town about an al qaida afghanistan war veteran jake to have better sense that coupled with previous abuses

this latest scandal is simply helping terrorists recruit new members. just to remind people of a few incidents that occurred a while back there was the burning of the koran that happened with. jerry jones and then there was a great incident and before then there was the decision to invade iraq that had nothing to do with nine eleven so all of these these situations pile on and they add up and what happens is al-qaeda and other terrorist organizations and then using this video and they put it in their recruiting videos the end up on you tube across the jihad of web channels and they end up reading anti-american sentiment this is the hugest recruitment for al qaida that we can do that anybody can do and nobody in the united states military is trained to pee on dead people this is the behavior of ill discipline soldiers under my opinion are probably also separate

from of severe amount of p.t.s.d. for a long ended war and what happens when you suffer from the t.f.t. you end dehumanizing other human beings in the battlefield it's and it's unfathomable how pathetic this is become because the war hasn't been brought to an end like obama said he was going to do and what we're seeing abu ghraib has happened twice now in afghanistan on what everyone in america is outraged by what the marines were films doing his own his own life even to to praises the troops actions and to see you do the same in this situation. off to ten years of war in afghanistan the u.s. reached another dubious milestones the wells most notorious prison took top ten years of existence went on to a base anniversary was months with protests and schools for president obama to keep this election promise to close it with washington recently possible to definitely detain anyone it deems terror threats to close guantanamo one of them defense loose

miserables. one zero zero one zero zero zero abdullah and we are now freely 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 is shaka omer who's earned the 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 kabul. when the u.s. invasion began almost went into hiding from an increasingly wary northern alliance but his freedom didn't last shuckers supporters maintain he was sold for a bounty went into the hands of the northern alliance 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 the way but no he was transported to the internet and back 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 in london which includes one son he's never even seen and fall for a moving closer to being freed shockers supporters see worrying developments in the us 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 kuantan i'm very sorry indeed president

obama for reasons. lack of political will or he would say complete inability to deliver has not. lived up to that promise and indeed he is now basing took american citizens into charset military commissions which are very far from being fed to. 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 expect to be released. london with us also so it's on top of the bay protests but thomas wilner a lawyer for several detainees that claims president obama doesn't have the will to close the jail this is a political problem in a democracy when certain people are playing with fear the republican party is

basically playing on fear to influence her constituents and in the face of that fear the obama administration hasn't had the courage to oppose it or the courage to get the job done other things like the economy have seen more important it's a shame it's a challenge in a democracy and we need to continue to fight to have this cause it's a stain on the reputation the united states it's a horrible place. but recap of our top stories is just a few minutes away stay with us here.

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market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our. welcome back at the stories that shaped this week tensions between iran and the u.s. intensified the terror round raining west killing a nuclear scientist from washington is threatening action for a gallon of blokes a bottle of pending sanctions. qatar becomes the first arab league member to call for troops to be sent into syria tackle the ongoing violence there or the proposal is being labeled critical coming from the keep preaching regime change elsewhere.