forms they want the arab league mission to focus on their job of course the problem is you've got countries in the arab league like saudi arabia like. you now seem to settle that they're preaching democracy to syria when of course they themselves don't have the book to see. rush's stances once again that this should be seeking resolution with alice for an intervention now i've actually spoken to the national coordinator council which is the opposition within the country they welcomed the mavin again reiterated their felt that as long as there is no move towards foreign military intervention that they are very pleased with the response from the arab league mission because you still got observers on the ground it's expected that the mission is actually now going to continue possibly for another month and pulled usually. of their powers and their numbers as well of course what you don't want to see happen now is that the arab league mission which is really the only route there remains a key to seeing dialogue in the country to now have blocked could in its way so the

question really is how to make the mission the observer mission more effective because as we've been witnessing in the past couple of weeks really at the moment in the country what you want to be thing is the sightedness and not further division. or civilization. or movie going. to homes the conflict has moved ever closer to the country's capital now many damascus suburbs rule so in brussels in the conflicts between government forces and the armed opposition. well this is all that's left of many of the houses now inside just absolutely gutted it's broken glass you've got bullet holes lining the walls you've got clothes seen around the house where people have left them behind fleeing very quickly you can really see the devastating consequences that this conflict has heard the picking up the pieces way easy amongst the opposition themselves there

are a worrying divisions and as the conflicts become increasingly violent there are now areas of the country where it's unclear exactly is in control more to the people here and i think the syrian army having control not or. not have. a lot of numbers a number of six weeks ago is in charge and so. quickly the issue of the coordination the diversion of the stuff arab league observers look set to remain in the country for another month trying to build the basis for multi-party elections even seen by the international community although you are your sort of or you are into a position you have to put in your mind that you have to work with the other side's working with you as a. group instead of trying to change it with thousands killed bringing the different factions to the negotiating table is going to be

a major task sara for r.t. damascus syria the e.u. has imposed fresh travel bans and asset freezes on the syrian regime as a punishment for any ongoing violence sara mara circle political analysts from syracuse university says the opposition may also be partly to blame for the bloodshed and that pressure should be put on both sides to start talks. of course there are certain parts of the opposition that should share in the responsibility for the there are a good amount of syrians who are dedicated to peaceful demonstrations who have been showing up on the streets and have been you know resisting calls to violence but then there are also many dangerous segments of the opposition who have long used violence we see this as nation more and more especially over the last several months with a lot of weapons coming in through foreign borders to opposition that's becoming increasingly militarized and carrying out some very devastating attacks on syrian

infrastructure syrian government institutions the police and also innocent civilians are getting killed in syria and so really the violence now is a two way street and it's really a failure of the syrian mission the observers if they're not going to have pressure on both sides it's unrealistic to force one side to make all the changes when there is violence coming from both sides what's going to happen to the silent majority of syrians who are not protesting are they going to be attacked by the more militant forms of protesters are they going to be injured in some sort of process that is not going to facilitate dialogue that's going to facilitate chaos. in egypt is one of the countries where people are now seeing the consequences of the democracy they fought for of the newly elected parliament holders who are supposed to have a session lady gyptian say they've been betrayed by the muslim brotherhood and its march to the jordan. but first nations are formally adopted an unprecedented set

of sanctions against iran including a block wide embargo on iranian oil the move targets iran's nuclear program which the islamic republic insists is purely for peaceful purposes russia says it regrets the sanctions adding that they undermine diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis or at least has more from brussels. sensually a total oil embargo it will have immediate effect on new contracts but that existing contract will be allowed to run for another six months they've also agreed on a ban on a gold and gold trade and other precious metals with the iranian central bank all of these of course aiming to financially and economically cripple iran over its controversial nuclear program with western leaders still insisting iran is trying to build nuclear weapons while tehran denies this now the e.u. embargo follow strict new way u.s. sanctions that were passed into law by president obama in january so as far as the e.u. is concerned by july it will be a full and total implementation of these new sanctions this is unprecedented in

terms of the scope and be desired of potential effects on iran but it is also one president in terms of its potential economic impact on the european union itself let's not forget the e.u. imports up to twenty percent of rain in all its second biggest buyer and above the twenty seven the biggest fires within that are elite spain and greece the very same countries that are now struggling to deal with that sovereign debt crisis greece in particular heavily dependent on the radio oil with up to one third of its total imports from iran also its relying on terror for easier credit terms so they will definitely have to find alternatives for these countries these are what their leaders will have to talk about how to cushion the potential economic impacts on the several member states and of course because of all the uncertainty oil markets have already reacted pushing oil prices up and higher oil prices will just mean higher prices of goods. a senior iranian official has said if you impose don't bargo affects world oil trade it will go ahead with its threat to block the vital strait of hormuz oil transit route but james corbet editor of the corporate report

thinks the threat is unlikely to be carried out anytime soon. i think there's no doubt there is some provocation and some testing of the waters quite literally and figuratively going on right now and certainly with iran's recent threats to to block the strait of hormuz now we see the americans sending ships through there to sort of test the defenses so to speak so so i think there is definitely some cat and mouse going on right now and i think at this point it is saber rattling and testing both sides testing to see how far the other is going to go and as i say at this point i would be extremely shocked to see iran actually pulling out the the option of of mining or otherwise blockading the strait of hormuz because that seems to me that that's that's pretty much the last card of their sleeves so i don't think they want to put it on the you know on the table too early oddly enough i think the further that iran is pushed into a corner here than war their position will strengthen over time as the as they develop alternative routes out for their for their oil exports if they for example

increase their trading partnership with china or russia and india as we've seen in recent days they've been scrambling to establish exchanges in other currencies including their local currencies including even asking india to trade in japanese yen so we could see really a fundamental shift in the in the entire dynamic of this that it's energy export economy that that's taking place right now and it could actually serve to to benefit iran in the long run from getting them off of their dependence on the petro dollar. and stay with us here on r t still to come in the program the twists and turns of russian politics as electoral campaign intensifies presidential hopeful but if you're in the wanted to get tough on immigration. but first an e.u. entry ticket has been approved by the people of croatia the us wasn't as solid as expected with more than half of croats failing to vote in the national referendum the country will become unions twenty eight states by july of next year if the

other member states ratify the move croatia was split on the issue with those in opposition saying there is nothing to be gained from a country joining a bloc that's experiencing its worst ever crisis as artie's tom barton reports from zagreb the divisions may be there to state even after the yes vote. violent scenes in the croatian capital it's the country's referendum but setting. limits to be made there i mean the police seem to protest as only they take protest is late six ways. in the creation capital and financing has been telling. these anti protests to say the government is trying to suppress the dissenting voices the options of joining with surrender the way she has independence to

brussels. in another street nearby the foreign minister is trying to convince people that accession is vital for the current economy to leave the stability that scale can lead it into the creative trading of creation. that is translated into membership of the. creationist budgets would be in serious trouble everywhere you turn in croatia the e.u. is being. but whereas most of the political class no longer question the europhiles stands for public views differ widely in the soup but let me tell you as we come into or see and touch all our fish and that's our biggest problem i mean if you look carefully at the six told us we have to bane the e.u. has regulations those that don't want to they must stop trading here in memphis even if we have two sons who are unemployed and maimed because of that i would be

prior to being raped or murdered if the sin was because you know there are legitimate worries about solvency of local industry and economic well being a form of extremism there are still some voices in parliament that think the benefits of what joining. the calls. were not going with our heads high up we're going in our knees because our economy our non-existing our exporting is pretty bad our b d p is very low so we don't really have anything to offer if you back out on the streets the arguments quality will not continue with ferocity with such strong emotions it seems unlikely this referendum dissolve the nation's division of the european membership box of rocks. and there are still tension in one of the newest e.u. member states for a mania the country's foreign minister has been sacked for criticizing the protesters angry at the government for more than

a week now people have been demanding the president and minister step down this against a backdrop of wage cuts and tax hikes in the second poorest country which is struggling to meet the demands of its international creditors and to watch reports sent in by our teams tom barton who was in the middle of the recent violence in bucharest it's all online at our website r t v dot com. with russia's presidential election just around the corner candidates are stepping up their campaigns prime minister and now presidential hopeful why demure putin is proposing stricter immigration rules in his second major newspaper article in the run up to the vote peter all four reports. but talking on multiculturalism a migration vladimir putin praised what he sees as russia's long history as a multicultural nation a history he says goes back to the days of the russian empire have been some very serious problems though when it comes to migration and integration of migrants in

russia that these problems over the last twenty years since the collapse of the soviet union were very serious indeed in our problems that russia is still struggling to to deal with today speaking about what the results can be of migration going wrong he warned of the rise of nationalism the rise of xenophobia these type of issues that we saw acted out in real life eight in moscow in two thousand and ten with ethnic clashes taking place i'm right next to the kremlin in the heart of the russian capital a hit so to. see nationalism rising hit out at those who have slogans such as stop feeding and stop funding the caucuses the caucuses are a part of russia talking of multiculturalism he said that russia had a very unique system of multiculturalism something very different to say what happens in europe he said basically multiculturalism had failed and that russia system was something. very different over to me and said that there's no way that you can completely get rid of all illegal immigration into russia if he's elected

president in the elections in march that he hopes to be able to make significant cuts to the amount of people that are arriving in russia illegally now he wants to do this by toughening the more to try and deter people from entering the country illegally he also wants to see a system put in place not just to monitor foreign immigrants coming into russia but also to monitor internal migrants also by twenty thirty he wants to see an exam put in place to those wanting to come and settled and live and work in russia but they have to be able to pass the russian language exam also an exam on russian culture russian history so those are the things that he wants to put. the issue of migration and multiculturalism in russia as the march vote approaches r.t. is keeping a close eye on the campaign trail of course you can always find the latest on our web site r.t. dot com a click away right now pre-election scandal flares up around a veteran liberal candidate he may be pushed out of the race because of violations

in the registration process you can find out about all that at. and staying with the elections topic newly elected parliament in egypt started its first session of most of the seats now filled by muslim brotherhood and other islamic party members who won an overwhelming majority in the first post mubarak poll but as artie's worry if an ocean reports many feel the brotherhood may have allied its way into power there is a growing auction here in egypt already that these. changes will actually not be as dramatic as people in the revolution demonstrators taxes have expected them to be the muslim brotherhood's freedom and justice party has indeed won the first vote in the bar mostly because it had voted had promised people all aid to. touch in transitional transition from ministry to civil law is something people have been calling for have been demonstrating for since the supreme council of the

armed forces took power from mubarak last february because to them they say that the ruling generals have been actually representing the old regime something they've been fighting against and something actually they revolution has been designed to gets read off but even in today we have many signs indicating that these in this new parliament the muslim brotherhood as well as the business section talk to didn't. actually going to cooperate we call and that's why many people who have been able to speak to he wrote say they feel a little bit strange. artie's worry if an ocean is tracking the latest developments in cairo you can check out her updates on our his twitter feed its walls her personal account the latest on egypt's first parliamentary second and the growing frustrations in the region and one of her latest tweets he writes demonstrators are calling for elections for president in two months instead of waiting till june you can find all the updates online r t underscore com. turning now to libya at least

four people are dead more than a dozen injured after fighting breaks out in the former khadafi stronghold of bani walid fighters still loyal to the deposed leader clash with militia what follows is a warning from the leader of the libya's national transitional council that there's a real threat of civil war flaring up again protests in the city of benghazi forced the resignation of his deputy earlier this past weekend in a rage of libyans took to the streets of the city that had been the center of opposition against the gadhafi regime demonstrators now accusing the m.t.c. of corruption the lack of reform in favor and former government loyalists. president of the arab lawyers association tells r.t. that libya could be on the edge of a return to chaos. that is the risk for two reasons the reason number one is that the still in the hands of the that it's militias that is. the differences between the two on

a tribal basis and what have you and at the same time the ideas the political views of the people in conflict you have some people who wants. to have more than ten percent seats and. while at the same time you have others who saying you shouldn't percentages women should have equal rights but no special favors for them you have a situation where people who want to be on the constitution well you have the other the liberals who don't want to do that so you have a conflict on policies as well as the availability of. democratic change in the middle east. recognize the right of. nation.

still waiting for a resolution. what do you expect from russia's leadership at this stage. decided according to international law. the russian federation as well as the soviet union before it has been regarded as one of the key principle hopes for the

palestinian people since the nine hundred seventy s. when the late palestinian president yasser arafat visited moscow our nations have enjoyed good relations it's not only the result of the role that russia plays in the region but also the fact that russia was a great power a member of the united nations security council and a member of the quartet of middle east mediators this is why we focused so much on strengthening our relations and why we expect russia to play a positive role recently the quartet took a number of steps calling for negotiations without doubt we. position with russia and several other countries to get an understanding of where palestine stands what it should do and what it shouldn't. this is why we visited the u.k. germany and have now come to russia we hope that the talks with israel currently underway in jordan will result in a positive outcome but if they fail we would need to have a list of further steps to be taken and it putting together the action list we want

to listen to the opinions of the countries i mentioned earlier and russia in particular. the negotiations are just a way to gain time they say the talking games will not bring about solutions or agreement which will make. that. what stands behind that statement. means they want to preserve the status quo something we completely reject all illegal settlements all illegal buildings must be torn down and removed from palestinian territories perhaps the israelis have a different vision although in the past they have left their illegal settlements on the sinai peninsula and sharm el sheikh and returned back to their borders we have the same situation in lebanon believe some of the settlements there even with that they want to preserve the existing situation of the palestinian territories and to convince the international community to accept that they want to make us accept

this vision we will never accept it. netanyahu said that he gave you a twenty one point detailing the israeli position by doing so he refused to meet in ramallah despite. what the document all about. three times in september two thousand and ten the first time in washington on an invitation from president obama and the second time in sharm el sheikh the third time we met. on the twenty fifth of september at his house in jerusalem where we talked for four hours and discussed all the issues yet the talks ended with no positive results no discontinuation of the development of the occupied territories no changes to security policies the israeli way they intend to occupy the west bank and the heights for another forty years. this is colonial policy and colonialist logic this is not the logic of

a person interested in constructive talks and peaceful coexistence with his neighbors i don't refuse to meet but i need to have a good reason now i get twenty one point proposal and what are these twenty one points are they just some headlines or indeed a list of twenty one issues that need to be addressed by our peoples. as of today we only need to discuss and solve two issues borders and security why would we want to add more issues to the agenda did he think it was some sort of a secret but it's no news and it's not of any practical use either but it is not appropriate for a prime minister to submit this way a document that simply enumerates some issues such as borders security the jewish state of cetera with no clear indication of what is actually expected of the other party. do you think current events in the arab world could strengthen your position in the peace talks and help the. international

. still no clear position common to all arab countries yes there are revolutionary changes taking place but it will take time to figure out what results they brought about the countries we want to work with in order to strengthen our position will need time to get back on their feet and build their states under the new conditions however the general arab stance on the palestinian issue has not changed but the people who lead these revolutions are the same people who supported the palestinians in their pursuit of independents. and these people have not changed what has changed is their attitude towards their leaders and their governments but that is their internal matter and we don't get involved the arab stance on the palestinian issue has remained the same. mr president your address to the u.n. general assembly was very emotional it could truly be called an historic event but

as it turned out it still wasn't enough to convince nine members of the u.n. security council to grant the palestinian authority the status of full u.n. membership would it be possible to continue with the talks if you agreed to the status of member observer state. in the united nations security council we received eight votes but we need nine still may not upset everyone is pressured to vote against our membership today we refuse the idea of being a nonmember observer state though everything is possible i'm not saying that it can't be everything is possible if you ask me about the official position of the palestinian state on this issue i'll give you the answer we seek full membership we will apply for a second for a third time etc until we get our bid approved. thank you very much for being with us today every possible success in the implementation

of political reforms and creation of a palestinian state. issues that so much. and which are. the biggest and most expensive elections money can buy this is how many american see what are called political action committees or super pacs. to me. the are limited. to keep the so. to.

expand. was. old. so it's technology innovation all that makes them elements from all around the shop we've got the huge earth covered. the and. crew and and.

the . one thirty am in moscow the zero two headline syria slams an arab league plan to solve the country's crisis that requires president assad to step down damascus said the initiative was an interference in its internal affairs an attack on itself and . the e.u. adopts unprecedented sanctions against iran including a complete oil embargo a move targeting tehran's controversial nuclear program. a mistake that undermines the diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis samia bardot won't make the one change

of policy. and gracious votes in favor of joining the dead in a national referendum but low turnout and some violent protests preceding the vote show there are still divisions within the country. those are your headlines up next peter lavelle host cross-talk stay with us. and. we welcome the process on people about the biggest and most expensive elections money can buy this is how many american see what are called political action committees or super pacs.