across a pluralism that the west assumed would take over was in fact rushing into the power vacuum is islamicists john albright the thanks very much for talking to us today now we'll start with the situation in iran because it's very much in the news that the mavens the e.u. has banned all new oil contracts with the country and it plans to extend sanctions on the iranian central bank how much do you think that's going to cost iran the e.u. and the global economy in general it's certainly going to cost the runs we've seen today the real local currency. level against the u.s. dollar in history and the fact is that iran exposed a sizable amount of its oil to the you and coupled with american sanctions unilateral sanctions are already in place against iran it's going to hurt but what we're seeing essentially is the first phase of economic warfare against iran and the problem is that the west has iran all wrong just as it has the middle east all wrong he believes that sanctions will increase the divide between the regime and

the people and historically this doesn't happen there's no proof that this happens whatsoever it's people feel pressured and they look where that pressure is coming from and that's the west and so it makes them more anti west and that's the only logical outcome he also hopes that if there is serious instability as a result then because iran is very ethnically and geographically divided that certain groups will rise up against the regime or there will be a popular uprising but again it's wishful thinking it's not going to happen at all and we saw years of sanctions in iraq didn't wait is that a comparison that you draw yeah and then we saw a war on all of this is leading to war the whole in washington there are allies in saudi arabia and israel are absolutely absolutely determined to bring iran to its knees and it seems like it's now or never and they're going for broke so what will happen next you think well what does. that usually doesn't involve what they're

hoping for is that iran is backed into a corner and some incident occurs whether by accident or design that makes it seem that the rain ians. power as well and then because they very little support in the west for unilateral strike against iran the fact is especially if it's done at the behest of israel and they need iran to do something whether it's the us carrier mine in the strait of hormuz or whether it's just rhetoric on the part of the iranian regime. it's everyone's up. to the extent that something has to happen and the americans wouldn't have militarized to the extent that they have if they weren't expecting the final outcome outcome to be war do you see that that could be the a rainy and looking the straits of hormuz the gulf oil export reaches that now

promising that they well you know though it's not saying that it will do that just as a result of sanctions it's threatening to do that in the event that it attacked and that's just one of many things that iran is threatening to do and has the capability to do it you are very worried about ethnic divisions all through the middle east comes the fore in both iran and also in syria if sunni islamists gain control of most of the middle east what do you think the outcome could be for the majority shiites iran obviously all of this is bad news for iran i think if you look back at the arab spring the turning point came in late february when saudi arabia was given the go ahead by washington to invade. what happened then is related very much to everything that's happening now because it's the only country that is sure majority rule by a sunny minority and. iran has his story claims to the island and the u.s.

navy's fifth fleet is based there crucial to containing iran and so essentially what we've seen is a sunny shia divide reemerge in the middle east with washington clearly backing sonny powerhouse saudi arabia close american ally and saudi arabia in turn along with taken control of the revolutions out swearin so for example its funding and into the main islamic party in tunisia the muslim brotherhood and more extremist groups in in egypt are on the record as saying they go substantial funds from saudi arabia the yemeni government has openly criticized for interfering in its internal affairs and funding radical islamists and of course in syria they are the main opposition is made dominated by the muslim brotherhood and the so-called free syrian army is dominated by not only radical jihadi is from within syria but also

you have these from throughout the region where we're told constantly that there's no real threat because these are moderate islamist parties but of course the definition of moderate makes absolutely no sense in any rational because saudi arabia is often described in the western media as a moderate arab state and i lived in saudi arabia for three years and i can assure you there is absolutely nothing moderate about our country that's all you say that . is the base groups who have stepped into the breach in many of these countries are you saying these weren't genuine people's uprisings at the time. they idea. behind it is that they hijacked the revolutions and precisely because they were in fact islamic inspired the beginning in tunisia could never have been because it's rather in prison or and the muslim brotherhood in egypt openly came out against the revolution initially the problem is that the motivation. for these revolutions was

economic internees here for example it started in the deep south even. south in syria it started in a city near jordan which had it been experiencing a drought for three years i mean egypt an extensive opinion poll carried out even among those who went to her just after mubarak fell showed that only nineteen percent of the free and fair elections and free expression and so on of the top of their gender their main priority sixty five percent is the economy now the people who provide these revolutions foolishly declared their revolutions leaderless and they didn't have an agenda anyone who knows anything about revolutionary uprisings in the past and specifically year round the most ready for the seventy nine revolution in iran knows that what happens in the post-revolutionary chaos is that the groups that are most disciplined. and most ruthless politically then fill the vacuum and when you couple that with the fact that they then with the funding that

we've been talking about from saudi arabia qatar able to manipulate the electoral process. they were perfectly poised to to step into the into the cap and fill the vacuum and that's what they've done what about the free syrian army is that fighting for a genuine democracy and you'll see whether or not they're fighting for democracy is an open question what kind of democracy we then have to us and i'm just appalled and go to the coverage that this jihadi outfit is being given you can't get a word in edgeways and trying to criticize it will trying to illustrate just what a horrible bunch of extremists these people are very string of credible reports that are showing that. especially another gulf states have been funding jihad is not only from within the country but from libya for example announce where i find it very. really how does it's automatic go western style democracy employer is

admitting freedom is what we're seeing in syria basically said islamic revolution absolutely if we've been hearing constant greatly exaggerated predictions of the syrian regime's d. minus for eleven months now if a popular revolution was going to happen it would have happened already the fact is that though they may have no great love for the cucumber face president. the. general feeling of better the devil we know and you talk about the arab league do you think that the mission in syria has essentially played into the hands of days to exacting pressure on the syrian authorities and it is overstepping its mark when it makes demolishes while the mediating the arab league essentially has no credibility on the arab street and everyone knows that it's the top of the g.c.c. and so it's a means not to create momentum that the arab league itself can then implement all

the recounting and has imposed sanctions and they suspended syria and could possibly impose a no fly zone what they're going to do is what they did with libya before you remember before the un resolution on libya the arab league convened and conveniently almost all of those who voted were from the gulf cooperation council in support of the no fly zone in libya what the arab league mission is trying to accomplish is get enough evidence concrete evidence about human rights abuses on the part of the assad regime to then take that to the u.n. and the evidence will be so strong that even russia and china would feel compelled to work but as of now one month after this mission started they seem to know the monitors seem to know more about what's going on the ground than they did at the beginning and so it all looks like it will be going back to square one and in contrast to libya so far western nations did not see. the adamant that they're not

going to go into syria why do you think that it doesn't have a seaport. in the way that it's not on the coast in the way that for example. benghazi was on the coast in libya and so it's far more difficult militarily to get in supplies it's also not resold resource rich. you know obviously they went into living every because it has a great deal of oil and they continue to support saudi arabia and because they have a great deal of oil and gas there is no great pale immediate payoff when it comes to syria but there is a great deal to be gained geo politically they can buy that time and they're hoping for an internal collapse or barring that that the arab league somehow money she's to weaken the regime enough that we've had for example the. mayor of cut saying that our troops should be sent in and so the west is quite happy for the time being for the arabs to do that john albright thank you very much thank you.

wolf. technology innovation all the developments around russia. the future.

on a resolution aimed at stemming the escalating conflict. on the battle for russia's top job goes viral with creative thinking of a new weapon in the arsenal of politics internet you tube videos of fast becoming more powerful tools than conventional t.v. debates. well you don't you will the sports is looking good these days the juggernaut that is moscow basketball just shows no signs of letting up tell you what rory the say things are certain death and taxes well i'm going to add another to that list of moscow winning in basketball in europe more in the coming up in just a second all right. thanks for joining us plenty ahead over the next ten minutes including all the. trouble of a verse is our russian on the bell russian will do battle for the extremely open

title this year with the world number one ranking also. doesn't know the moscow defeats on a dual f.a. is impossible surely to stay perfect in the tournament. final contact liverpool see off a month sister city over two legs but their place in the carling cup decider when the were league side cardiff city. we began at the australian open where there will be a distinctly eastern european flavor to the women's singles final this year and that is after maria sharapova booked her berth at the expense of patrick give each of us a few hours back the twenty four year old russian involved in a tough old tussle against the czech shot for the eventually wrapping up the win six two three six six four that means the world number four will now take on victoria azarenka fellow whose side are the winner also set to take over the world . of course i was there. so much to be back in

a grand slam final stage and then before a few years ago here in it's nice to get that far again after losing quite a couple of years so that means a lot to me and played some moments just results in his being near the last couple of times and i still really wanted today. to herself seeing off defending champion kim clijsters of belgium also in three sets to qualify for her first major finals the minsk nation seeing at the time six four one six six three meaning it's the bottle of the screamers russia versus valorise and salvage winner takes all and conquer. running like a marathon out there but i'm just trying to start to be more aggressive in trying to play my game and you know start from the beginning you know i have one more set to go i have another i don't know hour thirty minutes forty five minutes to to make

a difference so that's why i was my mental. to all of the sports greatest served up yet another classic grand slam encounter at melbourne park right field adele proving once again to have the opera hundred roger federer but at modern most meeting where the other finalists what the pair are trading sets early on for a number two ruffa would turn up the pressure by taking the thirty seven six with the third reich federer not able to hit the heights again he too thought of the night champ in the delta taking it four six six seven six two seven six six four he'll be aiming for his second australian open title and the eleventh grand slam overall while federer hers won only two notches out of ten against roughish and major events through the elements but it takes pride in the other i want a football we go where liverpool will take on cardiff city in england's carling cup final. after the reds drew their second semifinal lead with manchester city to

a pace to advance on our group gets city in the first clash by a single goal that's needed to up their game in the return fixture started off in the right way actually young levelling matters after all go on liverpool though striking back right away stephen girard the man converting from the spot but the sky blue is what again take the lead. finish putting city in the driving seat on the way scored but liverpool weren't to be tonight craig bellamy making it to two in the night allowing pennington police's charges to press three to. barcelona have once again got the better of rio madrid the spanish and european champions making the semifinals of the cup a dollar a at the expense of last practicals barcelona went into the game leading. from the opening leg another advantage was double two minutes from the break thanks to

before half time whistle blowing it was on the night. letting rip with an absolute beauty from the edge of the box and rejuvenating ryall would take to the field in the second period goals from are now doing levelling modest but. then four three and i rate another defeat against the old enemy from reno further joy for fifth monitor of the year. they're a very physical team and when it comes to playing two legs it makes it more difficult we already had a good first like result and they obviously played as if they didn't have anything to lose the most difficult thing in sports is when you defend something that you considered already won if you want i will congratulate both a little for the win at the center jago bonnabel for last weeks when they won with conviction. now to the hard to ignore assess to moscow a stunning run in the euro league shows no signs of slowing down the army twelve zero thanks to victory over turks f.a.'s here in the russian capital robert downey

watch the action for us. what does it take to. today cisco wins these games shoot much more than the first lead by the two time n.b.a. champ. the other men starts ahead of their first home game in the yearly ixtapa sixteen or just slowly us eleven wins out of eleven games in the tournament this season and the muscovites produced their victorious dozen in style in front of a cheering home crowd in fact it was only the first quarter which saw some tough competition only court. but as soon as the host center and not christie each star a dominating in the paint both scoring and rebounding the armaments lead began to grill. the two q so it was far from given out that easy they were struggling and grabbing points well to scupper plate sure in their class over and over again for

eight thirty six but intermission. the game kept the same course in the second half here is discussed storm an underage girl with a slam dunk and even when they are women missed. they still school is in the end i making like a team which hardly has a weak side start saving your team like of us with thirty points and you know. we can differ to give the wrong thing and. sometimes you're rushing to the shots but you know it's just. it's really really play excellent game. we played great defensively and that is very important as we often face are your problems are not friends. who are huge advantage. for the

first time to getting their game pretty close but we managed to break away and it was all. so the our men looked confident on the way to the euro leagues final for the tournament the last one in two thousand and eight robert for the known r.t. . things also going to plan for russia's other representatives in the euro league next. beating reigning champions pof and i called on wednesday to climb atop the summit of group it was the hosts though who had established a twenty two seventeen lead l. for the open quarter when it seemed proving they're shooting in the second however to finish the first half just a point behind the greeks and then after the big break the visitors well they will dominate it's henry dummer can top scoring for the winners with twenty three points the game finishing up getting nine eighty three in favor of the us it's. in women's basketball moscow region side sparta k.s. moved top of your only group c.

after thrashing cross boss get toronto on home court those pretty slow out of the starting blocks whoever leaving the italians it being sixteen to do good after quarter one more of a poke each on those charges would be fun their group afterwards the second quarter belonging to the moscow ladies twenty four points while tronto could only manage eight forty twenty six the swarup the big break sparta they didn't let up either in the ensuing couple period seventy seven fifty three the school board would look at the finish up a comfortable win then for the fourth time your league champions who moved into the bold decision in their battle with this like compact truck off for first place have you see. the ski courses which will be used for the sortie twenty fourteen winter games will soon get broken in a steel world cup stage in february among the event set to allow gold medal hopefuls a chance to get to grips on the future olympic slopes that course will be tested by

f.i.o.s. world cup competitors starting february if. youth team will be first to try the mike before three out cleats from the country compete in the senior section if dunhill skiing on super combined on the menu but top women stars may be in for a surprise the course director saying challenging amendments whomping made especially for the ladies. as far as skiing is concerned we have substantially remodeled the women's course we basically added four hundred challenging meters to be coarse and that stretch should really pulls a lot of problems for the female skiers in their fans downhill descent. that's how your sport looks at this hour i'll see you soon but the head weather is just around the corner.

download the official tee up location on the phone i pod touch from the q. stops to. life on the. video on demand on t.v.'s mine old comes and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com.

i i. take down. making the protest. people fear these corporations too much. explaining why. you were able. to put

a stop to any possible. goes viral. video it's becoming more. adventure. in business see the bulls dominate the markets the rush is no exception with the ruble and stocks getting around one point seven percent close. and there's a business twenty minutes. just after seven pm on thursday here in moscow. with me wrong. key websites being hijacked on a day that thousands of internet freedom supporters are marching outside a major two prong to protest it because the country's just signed up to a.