bad choices in crop planting intense cattle pasturing and unfavorable weather conditions of all brought about an ecological catastrophe these daily winds that blow over counties contributed to the disaster they carry solid particles of dust and salt from the drying sea vast lush pastures have been all that robbed of their most. alexandrov clad remembers all too well how it started thirty years ago. and a master plan of countering that invasion was put together. when an emergency state was introduced in the republic almost all farmers schoolchildren and students were involved in seed collection and subsequent sowing works in the region brochure the results achieved proved that it was possible not only to stop does it invasion but also to bring life back but. it will take fifteen to twenty years for this land to

become staff again. we should remember that it's impossible to revive step in its original form on the open sea. the water our goal is not only to reinforce the sandy soil but also to create quality pastures that will foster the development of cattle breeding in kalmykia where. it's a tough task selecting which plants are fit for life in the desert and those that can help turn the desert back into step. bush is was selected by way of trial and error. was one of the first scientists who proved which plants are most likely to survive here with a cord injured this is a route one of the bushes planted to study the. it would be the roots can grow fifteen to twenty meters deep fifteen yet no one and it's a very convenient plant to use because it grows in the sand and doesn't require watering

. when you get in the world enough scientists recommend planting cuttings of killing you know the same way grapes are planted. on what we were hesitant at first but it turns out that it grows well after all even on certain people can't help wondering they tell us what's the use of planting sticks but after three months the sticks start to blossom. today residents of the county village of pecans kate will start another round combating the desert we'll have is an old tractor with soviet era of quick mint attached to fight the invading sands the new agricultural technique of planting cuttings with just the working team is composed of three people two technicians who plant the cuttings and an assistant to stamps on the ground around the plants to make it flat one planting machine can cover up to twelve hectares of sand in a single shift it is hard work especially considering temperatures often reach

forty five degrees celsius one hundred thirteen fahrenheit in the shade in the first year the young plants will shoot out a strong and lengthy root system then every bush gradually gains a territory of about thirty square metres all to itself when the sand invasion is stopped the spaces between the bush rows will be filled with grass this is how a former desert is going to become a pasture. there is a great variety of deserts and some of them instead of being a hindrance can be a natural wonder six thousand kilometers east of moscow in the foothills of the kadar ridge behind lake baikal lies the chara desert it is a unique place siberia. tourists from all over russia visit there even though it's hard to reach the desert is surrounded by rivers and marshes every july it hosts a festival the real. enthusiasm's stay away from the proper roads for the trip to

the festival location is an adventure in itself some travel across tighe on rivers and trucked off road vehicles others had through the marshes on foot one group of thrill seekers full by force has chosen an especially difficult route. dimitri balaban of the shy program from kazakhstan is the focus of attention his car is completely unfit for off road exploits yet he has travelled four thousand kilometers to join the band of adventurous. at u.b.s. i was of course i'd never dared to go to such a place on my own. but going with a group is a different thing. besides the experience guys took a look at the route beforehand and said we should be able to make a point of probably. dimitri ran into problems as soon as the cars left the highway

and the next five hours were very hard however his fellow travellers tell him it's the only way a rally across tigar is a real test but for the driver and for the vehicle. adrenalin is pumping the car is stuck the wheels are spinning and the terrain is getting more and more difficult now the participants will all experience the fun ships of travelling off road through the siberian tiger the crews will help each other out if not many of these cars will end up abandoned in the swamps forever by the time the convoy rives it is already late but the drivers for go exhaustion and start repairing their vehicles right away are the good with no i probably wouldn't want to come every year. because you need some time off but almost it's a very intense kind of experience because you. early in the morning while the

campus is sleep. and experienced hiker well acquainted with the area sets off into the sands his task is to check how safe the route is before the new arrivals hit the road to explore the charred desert the shortcut to the desert goes through a marshland and a pine forest. each plane landing in charge of flies over the desert. with the passengers are always bit will do to actually see sanjay and hear. that legend has it that once there were two brothers younger. and older both were princes and they lived in peace and harmony as even if it was me until they came upon a treasure trove of gold they proceeded to divide it mostly but they could never come up with their hogs one always ended up shorter than the other and this led to fighting and civil war the gods were greatly displeased with it and turned one prince into the kadar ridge and the other into the can rich while the gold they

were fighting over became a stretch of sand between them and the first groups of tourists are approaching the charas sands. each person has to improvise a way of walking over the difficult terrain where the tiger ends and the desert starts the walk ahead of them is fascinating yet tiring the key to success here is to ignore the burning sun and insect bites of the taiga. there is no complete explanation as to the deserts origin one theory is that it was produced by centuries of winds eroding the sediment of an ancient lake. the lake dried out about fifteen thousand years ago and its form of bed was walked on by packs of mammoths and woolly rhinoceros tusks keep turning up in the area to this day. landscape is a breathtaking combination of north and south brought together as if by magic.

there is no other doesn't like it anywhere else in the world. these fabulous sights completed by the impressive skyline of the kadar mountain range the chara desert itself is quite small but just over fifty square kilometers. some members of the talk rupert stayed behind in the count there completing preparations for the relay competition on the festival's program it's going to be tough with over fifty experienced hiker's after the trophy. so that the whole naturally our goal in coming here was not to take some wild rides in off road vehicles or like bonfires balls that water through quite the opposite. we were trying to appreciate the beauty of the desert as it is and we'd like to make sure it stays this way for times to come that on some countries a desert is considered disaster just the char is a place for us to get together and have a good time in a friendly atmosphere. just like today's festival. the relay

competition route is set a few kilometers away from the desert the chara desert itself is a protective nature reserve and visitors only allowed on foot this is no place to host a competition but the protection of the law and the deterrent provided by the sounds themselves make sure that this one of a kind natural treasure remains in its original state. in the evening visitors are treated to one last one the sun setting over a quiet lake lights up low clouds and fog on the horizon creating an unforgettable beautiful picture. once the sun has set everyone gathers at a large meadow by the lake it is time for the awards ceremony and singing songs by the fire all just for listening to the music of the night forest by the slumbering siberian desert.

the situation in syria takes a turn for the worse but as anti-government protesters resist president assad's regime are two questions who's really behind the bloodshed in the stands to gain from a country in crisis. britain needs to lead the way and make sure we've deployed to the sanctions the travel bans the asset freezes in syria and while the drama plays out in syria back at the u.s. leaders are discussing ways to intervene but not everyone is on board are to his own on the stasi a church cannot well tell us who's in and who's out. all over

and back in the u.s. the demands may be different but like syria the message is the say the status quo isn't working well speak to one iraq war veteran who has joined the ranks of the occupy wall street movement. it is tuesday january thirty first four pm in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching our team. well the west now calling on syria president bashar al assad to step down a draft resolution formed by the arab league and backed by the u.s. and european union calls for assad to hand over power to his deputy the west says the move is aimed at bringing peace and stability to syria where violence between government forces and rebel fighters rages on now the u.s. and e.u. stand behind this resolution but russia does not moscow says it will block the u.n.

resolution over fears the move will allow the west to militarily intervene in the country and russia is one of the five council members with the power to veto the resolution artie's on the joins us now live from our studio in new york. why isn't russia on board with this resolution. well is you know it's interesting that this is the first resolution in a while since libya that has received so much attention and so much diplomatic back and forth in the last several months we have to mention that this is the first time in a very long time when a top notch diplomats from the west spearheaded by u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton and her french and british counterparts of descended upon the u.n. headquarters here in new york city to try to push through this very very tough resolution on syria and a big diplomatic battle is ahead because like you said russia and china veto

holding members do not want to support this text because what it entails is regime change and this is something that russia just does not play with that's a key trait of russian diplomatic policy really regime change is something that russia doesn't support and always calls for talks and negotiations first take a listen to what the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov had to say about this. it's not a part of russia's foreign policy to ask leaders to step down regime change is not our job the decision must be solely syrian only syrians all groups of syrians must gather at the negotiating table and hammer out a deal with the good if the demand is for him to go and he doesn't know what's next we're calling the air force bombing we've seen that already and the security council will never approve this i guarantee it. well as the russian foreign minister just said there we have seen this before we saw this with libya and this is exactly what russia fears when not with libya

a no fly zone was voted on at the security council and what happened was a full blown military intervention this particular latest resolution that the west is pushing what does basically give the syrian president fifteen days to step down if he did not do this the you when would be allowed to carry out further measures and this is something that we've heard before so russia is very fearful of not supportive of what these measures could exactly entail is and the u.s. secretary of state as you mentioned hillary clinton was sad or here she did argue today in favor of this resolution do you think washington will be able to convince russia to back it. you know liz very very unlikely in the hours and days to come up because as you rightfully said the united states is very supportive and really pushy with this resolution some have even compared the u.s. in this case to a little baby that does not want to give up its still wants the candy that it just

will be given because for months russia has been seeing the entire time ten months that the anti-government clashes have been taking place in syria russia has made it very clear that a regime change is not something that it would back because negotiations are key and the u.s. knows this perfectly well and it knows that it can't go around russia's support at the security council to make sure this resolution gets passed so it's going to be a tough battle in the next days to come we know that negotiations will be taking place today there under way right now as well as tomorrow and it's likely that some sort of vote or no vote or some sort of result will come on thursday so we'll have to wait and see if the diplomatic battles really shape up into anything productive and we have seen as you mentioned before the way events have unfolded in libya after the west stepped in there you know the west intervene military militarily libyan leader moammar gadhafi was killed and to this day violence persists in the country so is there a fear that the west will lead syria to

a similar fate. absolutely that's russia's number one fear in this particular case the libyan scenario really because what we have to remember when the similar resolution on on libya was being a negotiated at the security council russia was really convinced by the west and the west that a full blown military operation is something that is not being considered all that was being talked about as a no fly zone and of course we've all seen how that has unraveled so russia definitely does not want a repetition of a similar scenario so this is something that it's you know likely to veto we have to keep in mind that in october last year china and russia vetoed a resolution on syria it was a different resolution it was a sanction resolution against the syrian government this one would entail much more serious measures and as we have pointed out russia says regime change is not our job and it is explained numerous times that assad is not russia's ally or friend but what russia insists his very key is that each country be given its right to

exercise its sovereignty so in this case it should be the syrians deciding what comes next and not the west and its western allies on a saucy i thank you for keeping a close eye on the events as they are unfolding there that was our correspondent on the is an associate and she will continue to keep us updated on the latest there so what is behind the bloodshed in syria well arty's sarah ferguson on the ground with the latest. with the sounds of gunfire. yes the face tests from the streets and the increasing. international opinions britain needs to lead the way in making sure we tighten the sanctions the travel bans the asset freezes on syria can become. the syrian case has developed as every side wants to push away the responsibility to another tossing the ball back and forth. in the last few days the situation has

become so unstable the finding people willing to talk quite know his present difficulties. we've had tanks entering in firing and just where we've had six people who've died we travel to the suburbs where some of the clashes have breaking out to try to get a clearer picture of what had been happening here in the last few days in one of the suburbs of damascus at the moment now we were traveling to a suburb called and we thought it was a friday. but we just received a phone call telling us that it's not safe to travel at the moment with the situation. to show you really that you simply don't know what's going on in these areas even the people who are living in these areas don't really have full grasp of the situation at the moment we make it into the southern using that the opposition that just last week had control of some of these areas have now gone underground so there was a funeral for

a resident of died in the fire during his funeral people and his relatives were voicing slogans and called for freedom so someone was shot during the funeral and we had to go and hide from the security forces. are taken to meet some members of the f.s.a. . begins and some other members join as well and there's talk to people they know just being arrested changes. and the atmosphere starts to feel hostile so with such uncertainty right now it seems mistrust is rife. it seems not. convinced the free syrian army not coming closer to the capital would be simpler now this is harmful to the cause of bringing peace to syria. everyone it seems is no waiting to see what if any outcome though the other un's briefings by the arab league's with having ground to a halt. to hold reconciliation talks is not one to be simply dismissed as many have

already done they have do political aims they have two political reasons for. feeding the complicated in syria and i think they don't want that they're not interested in the form and nor are they interested in democracy or freedom was the government accepted the invitation received mixed reactions from the opposition they size of being taken in the past in calling for a syrian solution to a syrian problem that it's repeatedly failed to communicate no opportunities to dialogue are running out fast. and with such desperate pleas from many people here the opposing sides continue to make it clear they don't want to listen the cools the international lection it's just going to keep getting louder surf. is. still ahead on our d. he promised to defend the u.s. constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic he already said one of those

things with two tours in iraq and now he's ready to take army other speak to one former u.s. soldier who has joined the ranks of occupy wall street. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through it's already been made who can you trust no one who is you know. you know with a global missionary see where we had it state controlled capitalism is called sessions when nobody dares to ask we do our tea question more. damning the same. people calling like you said for free and fair elections. and they're still

reporting from the. map you can hear behind me loud explosions. please. get it gave a. to

the capital account i'm lauren lyster. well from hundreds of protesters arrested in oakland to a massive extent in washington d.c. from coast to coast the occupy movement faces big hurdles this week the movement now in its fourth month demonstrates against the growing income inequality gap in the u.s. as well as corporate influence in politics much of the media has dubbed those that take part in the protests as dirty hippies with nothing better to do here's an example of some of that coverage. if you put every single less win cause into a blender and hit power this is the slug you'd get the arse of the most uninformed people if you listen to a verb really unbelievable like the one guy says were affecting things i think the only things affecting his traffic we're all going to crack heads down are what we don't know they're not crack has they're the soft drugs they are certainly unified they're certainly coordinated and they have the behind writing these but mostly kids and aging hippies out there you can't make this stuff up they're passing out free condoms has been open sex going on there drugs easy discourse.

but in reality the nation my protests have drawn people from all walks of life we speak to end of likely occupier there is an iraq war vet turned wall street financial adviser turned occupy wall street protester and he is the author of this boss when i wished i was here dispatches from fallujah. welcome derreck so i mean would you consider yourself a dirty hippie or a crackhead i mean you certainly don't look like lance and me no nom a very very clean hippie i would consider myself to be. no. the whole expression of dirty hippie is just kind of amusing to me because most of the protesters are sort of just like me workers students things that people there just happen to be concerned. the the media has sort of painted this image of. a

dirty hippie it's sort of a creation i think well and how do you feel about the labels given to those that participate in the movement. well i think it's just really misguided i mean if you want to just let's just take the word you know the hippie i think of hippies as being someone that rejects modern society and i think what we have now these protesters are the exact opposite of people that are concerned people that are willing to actually put forth an effort and do a lot of work in their spare time because they see things that are wrong to me that seems like the exact opposite of lazy or or hippie well you certainly do not fit into this stereotype i mean you served in iraq and you once worked on wall street what comes held you to join the movement tell us about your journey from working on wall street to occupying it. well i think there's two major parts one is coming from you know the military background and that would be having you know

having served and having lost friends in this sort of thing i very concerned that the words that we use freedom liberty democracy aren't just sort of words that get slapped on bumper stickers and thought the schoolkids that they are they're actually alive and real and being honored. and you know i have a sort of vested interest in that and the wall street aspect of it is that i understood that things went wrong and that the things that allowed those mistakes we made haven't really been fixed they haven't been addressed. i look at it like. you know i don't think we should eradicate wall street i think that's sort of unrealistic but i think wall street needs to be regulated to make it stronger i think of it as like sort of a teenager that just needs a little bit of guidance because it is going to be a little bit self destructive without that sort of guidance and parenting and having worked on wall street yourself that you observe at any corruption while you

work there. no. i certainly didn't i was i was only in for about two years. when i was laid off in two thousand and nine so no i didn't get to serve any of the corruption a lot of that took place i think years prior to the actual crash itself. and derek i know you compare i read some of your work at the police force at the occupy wall street to soldiers fighting an iraq comparing the movement seems a little bit extreme why do you make that comparison. well i mean i'm making the comparison because i did you know what they're doing sort of i did the riot control and i know the mentality that goes into it and my point i think in the right that you're referring to is that it's like it's like being.