there were there was also there was well it's interesting the report hasn't been published it has been leaked and it seems to be much more balanced than. the reports about the report we've been seeing in the process i would say that i think the arab league has increasingly become an instrument of several key arab states particularly the g.c.c. states and cannot unfortunately be seen to be a neutral party in the syrian crisis so so so. the arab league monitors in syria there were only as you put it they report so european qatar withdrew their prisoners for the reason you just mentioned law i think if you look at arab states like saudi arabia and qatar i think from their point of view the arab league initiative and the sending of monitors and so on was never really about resolving the crisis i think it was about laying the groundwork for international

intervention or at least the internationalization of the syrian crisis that came to an end with the russian and chinese veto of the united nations security council is for this reason that as we were talking earlier i think it's increasingly likely that they will now start to look at ways of for example sending arms to the syrian army. impression in general is like a period like twenty three days this is the nerve to evaluate the situation twenty three days since the army i mean well again i think unfortunately that the arab league mission was never or at least for some key players it was never about the objectives that were stated what about this so-called the un moroccan syrian let me say. leaves way gives way to norman do you agree well i mean i think when you have a u.n. security council resolution that basically calls on the. of state to relinquish

power and it's clear that number one the head of state is not only not going to relinquish power but retains sufficient. armed force and support to stay in power for a very long time and at the same time that the opposition doesn't at least have the wherewithal to eject him from power it's certainly in the groundwork for heightened conflict and in that context it could eventually lead to covert or perhaps even more overt forms of armed intervention i have to say i think it's a very good thing first and foremost for syria that the scenario has been prevented will you. for the second time in this program you say you sound like an optimist to say that the military is being prevented at least for now but we can remember that some thirteen years ago there was a chinese russian veto yugoslavia but the western countries disregarded it and so

bombed you so obviously i work on this i believe you know well again it could happen again it could eventually happen again i think in the short term the more likely scenario will be covert support to the. two armed opposition elements i also have to say that i very much hope that one of the well let me take a step back and say that the problem here is that there are very few potentially credible mediators left certainly not the arab gulf states certainly increasingly less turkey given its growing hostility with syria russia is one power i think that can bring sufficient weight to bear on damascus to persuade if not the syrian president then at least the syrian politically about the urgent need for a genuine political transformation that could prevent some of these catastrophic scenarios that you've been suggesting believe me being here you know in moscow you probably have heard the opinions of russian russian experts. politicians that into

syria would totally miss balance the whole region that this is some actually think that that an intervention in syria would be the first step to further attack iran is that true and while what makes people think well first of all i would say that foreign intervention in syria or indeed anywhere on less there are truly exceptional circumstances bordering on the unique who is something that should be rejected and the pose is a matter of principle i think that this is a specific situation in syria there are all kinds of additional reasons to reject and oppose any attempt at foreign military intervention in syria regarding your question about iran. i think those who have iran in their in their sights certainly would see. regime change or you know the destruction of the syrian state or whatever as as

a good preamble to an attack on iran but i'm but i think it may be exaggerating a bit to suggest that iran is motivating current western policy towards toward syria i think it's taking place more on its own terms with the potential fallout so so so you don't see a direct connection i think i mean i think there is a connection in the sense that you know the same region i mean well iran has has has very few allies in the arab world and syria one of them is syria for all intents and purposes the only one would be partial exception of iraq and lebanon and clearly removing syria from this equation would be seen as a important and substantial benefit by by many western powers but to suggest that that is what's motivating western policy on syria i think would be probably going a bit too far and. the head of the pentagon said recently that he is expecting israel. to attack iran sometime between april and june and how should we be taking

this won't again only more as a threat again it's very difficult. to to read the coffee grinds of the tea leaves if you will my sense of it and again this is speculation on my part is is that the u.s. at this point has no intention of attacking iran and it is genuinely concerned about an israeli attack on iran precisely because. the americans seem to have come to the conclusion that the purpose of an israeli attack on iran will not be to attempt to destroy the iranian nuclear program but rather to provoke an iranian american conflict armed conflict in other words if israel attacks iran it will be impossible for america not to become involved in this the seems to be a growing concern in washington particularly during an election year and perhaps

one element of such statements is to try to forestall such a scenario but why is america concentrating its naval power after the reunion close to to to the peacekeeper war. to conflict well i'm not suggesting that the americans. don't have their own conflict with iran but i think. in terms of your specific question about an armed attack taking place this spring there i don't think the american woio you may be right because because the really and they don't seem to be more worried about about this this naval activity of this year are they i mean. they're reacting rather calmly to that well i think what you've seen in iran recently is is that they're getting increasingly concerned about the expansion of sanctions you recently had american sanctions on the iranian central bank you have the europeans adopting a resolution to stop the imports of iranian oil and so on and so you are now in

a situation where in fact you do have all these heightened tensions and a growing possibility of perhaps and inadvertent move by one side or the other leading to the armed conflict the recent the recent attack on the russian embassy in damascus how do you think it is connected with do with the whole situation you with the world russia is trying to play well again i think there are clearly. there are forces in syria that see the russian veto in the u. . and perhaps russian policy more general us generally is somehow a betrayal of your syrian people but i think there are also others who view the russian role as having prevented the type of internationalization of the syrian crisis and foreign military intervention that they would dearly like to see thank you thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest today was not by the middle east report contributing editor and that's it for now from paula spotlight will be back with more first on

comment on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on our team to take a. look .

that's.

syria's forces bombed the city of homs with reports of dozens more casualties but with the conflicting number of deaths coming from the country it's almost impossible to get a true picture of current events. as the e.u. plans to bring iran to its knees with an approaching. there are fears that the movement could backfire and hit a european countries the hardest. plus u.s. drone attacks rained down on pakistan with hundreds of civilian deaths in collateral damage this as the country's foreign minister tells us here at r.t. that such measures are counterproductive to the war on terror.

worldwide news twenty four seven. live from moscow with me rule research showing the u.n. says it plans to team up with the arab league and restart a monitoring mission in conflict torn syria president assad's forces say they are conducting anti terror operations for the meantime shelling several areas including the flashpoint city of homs but activists are accusing the government of a massacre saying hundreds of civilians have been killed over the past week something that is still hard to verify and with conflicting opposition reports of casualties there are those who believe the figures are being manipulated to push a regime change agenda. that reports. from the syrian observatory of human rights syrian observatory for human rights the syrian observatory for human rights it's one of the most widely quoted sources of syrian casualty figures but is not always

telling the truth and ownership the syrian observatory for human rights is left several media outlets quoting false information as to rivals fight the same name the original group was hijacked by opposition activists to posting military deaths alongside civilian one thus both sites claim they're the official observatory this is the original site in arabic with an english version on facebook and this is the fake site launched in the center and mostly in english several foreign news outlets have assume they're one and the same thing quoting the fake sites casualty figures the consequence a very different perspective of the crisis the original sites latest figures showed just over five thousand one hundred civilian deaths against almost two thousand military casualties the rival site claims well over six and a half thousand civilians have been killed and barely six hundred troops

a difference many claim suggests this is a lot more than just a numbers game i don't think even the people using these figures are have any objectivity really they have an agenda a clear agenda is the just the fire by any means possible that assad regime is a brutal massacring regime and it needs to fall a soon as possible and we can see the like nations security council when that human rights strategy for regime change doesn't work how annoyed western governments are have got arab league monitor the original observatory strickly opposes military intervention the man who hijacked it's name disagrees. used to translate at the real observatory he was fired after falsely claiming to be an official spokesman and using a live interview to call for a no fly zone. since then he's launched a smear campaign against the original group claiming they're the impostors as are we and these figures have been quoted by the b.b.c. c.n.n. and a.b.c.

australia the other groups say they try to pass some political views so far by calling for no fly zone for international intervention and we made it clear i sit on the server tree for human rights. original organization is that we are i guess an interventional we are against a no fly zone all we need is to stop the bloodshed in that is going on in syria as are we and his group refused to speak on camera stating i cannot waste my time talking about this is the moment whilst people are dying in homes there are my priority right now he did refer us to another opposition group based in london and they too refused to comment on the ownership of the observatory but they did confirm that reporting military deaths was not in their interest it's not our position to report. it is of. government troops the b.b.c. and the guardian had to withdraw material after falsely quoting as always the human

rights observatory the un stopped counting the death toll claiming it's too difficult to keep track of but its human rights chief also said five thousand civilian deaths should be enough to provoke international action the real observatory still documents the deaths civilian or otherwise but it may be too late for the numbers to matter either bennett r.t. london. for more on the situation in syria we can now talk to ali risk of middle east expert joining us live from beirut thank you for coming on r.t. today an israeli website reports that the british and the qatari special forces in syria that they're assisting the rebels now if these claims are true are considering western states and the arab league saying they're against the libyan style scenario in syria where could this lead to do you think. i think it tells you how desperate actually the forces have become whether it be the us or whether it be

israel or whether it be the so-called arab moderates certain arab sunni states i think that now after the russian veto would offer the chinese veto a bill to severe blow to their own now they're in a desperate in the state of the world they're probably well there are probably stop at nothing to try and get a regain their momentum once again because as i said they have lost a lot of momentum due to the veto so this will probably mean more escalation on the ground some more covert military operations a hand on the political level we've also heard that some arab league countries all the arab league very little is intending on officially recognizing the syrians are additional council the syrian political opposition body so i think it has something which is what they expected and of course really i see that more violence will be in the making because of the state of desperation which are so did i said suppose fear fear they are in right now however we also do hear that the russians for example are providing the most assistance is possible they can to the syrians to

deal with this issue now don't forget that the russian side has cautioned time and again of the roys of islamic fundamentalists all the presence of islamic fundamentalists inside syria those who oppose a syrian regime and syria has also spoken of them as well the son of a sudden the members of al qaida we have to remember here that russia has had its own share of problems in the past with islamic fundamentalists like in chechnya for example so i think russia here at the time where the rest of the violence will escalate and some arab sunni states will try and get more and more involved in cause more casualties i think at the same time we're going to see a rush also further more assisting the syrian leadership to deal with these people to live with these and as you say you know as you say they also you discussed the fact that russia has had a policy history with islamic fundamentalists as we all know moscow's been trying to bring all sides of the conflict to the negotiating table do you think this will work out with the armed opposition still receiving strong political backing from

western and arab states. the problem is that in order to have negotiations you need two sides to be ready to accept negotiations now until now as we heard bashar assad after the meeting with the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov expressed his readiness however the other side is not expressing its readiness there are some members of the syrian opposition who are expressing readiness however there are other sides a lot including the muslim brotherhood who don't want to who actually don't seem to want to participate in the gauche asians and are setting preconditions or saying you know the cost to enter negotiations must fall and i think that is part of a what's to those on the i've noticed that over the past few days actually ever since the russian veto was used if you follow for example the american newspapers you hear you see a lot you read a lot about how the situation in syria from the from the point of view of the west and from the point of view which israel is a way to curb iran to curb what we call here in the region as the resistance block

iran hezbollah in syria so if you listen to what commentators are saying they are saying that the viewpoint the political political stance is that if we overthrow assad then we don't a severe blow to iran's presence i would go to a severe blow to his below two of the usual staunch enemies so i think the fact that many people or many syrians minister in opposition are not ready to participate in the garage is the fact that the whole thing for the west is not about negotiations is about overthrowing a regime which is a part of the i wrote a blog which washington or which some western states western powers want to get rid of including is are also going to get rid of them so i think because i think that i was wrong i do apologize because they are running very very long time here there are many political analysts who do bring in the iran issue that if indeed there is a regime change in syria it would enable western powers to get more of a clinch on iran but do forgive me were running low on time here i must ask you one question we've got reports today that lebanon's a security officials say that a suspicious cargo containing huge amounts of u.s.

dollars guns and passports that been seized in beirut from the u.s. what's your take on that discovery because a couple of minutes ago you made the you made the mention about covert action ongoing in syria. yes actually i did hear that report about about this issue the eve of the u.s. dollars and money on from the very beginning has been a big part of unfortunately the infiltration into the border and of weapons are smuggling you have to remember here that this syrian regime but. does have his fair share of enemies inside lebanon he has his allies like possible law but he also has enemies like saad heidi the former prime minister and the march fourteenth movement who i think find it in their political interest to assist as much as they can through bashar assad and it was also said that this march fourteenth alliance is joining forces with the seller first hand with the religion religious fundamentalists so this comes as no surprise that the syrian ambassador to lebanon made a very clear one week ago when he said that most of the weapons and most of the infiltration

most of the smuggling is coming in from eleven and unfortunately as the escalation from opponents continues all inclusive i think that we're going to discover more and more smuggling and more and more negative growth from some lebanese in the syrian issue or indeed there are certainly reports in recent days and weeks about whether it's being smuggled over the border from neighboring to iraq and lebanon i'm afraid that's all the time we have for a middle east expert at the risk i thank you for coming to us live from beirut. what europe has become more dependent on oil imports from iran new research suggests the e.u. countries bought more oil from the islamic republic in two thousand and eleven with the biggest customers being spain and italy but with the e.u. planning to cut off trade in july in line with the international sanctions against tehran many on the continent of voicing concern the move could backfire tehran has also warned europe that it is shooting itself in the foot the view is shared by

spain's ambassador to iran who says his country suffers the most from the continuing e.u. pressure against the islamic republic and some in madrid believe the oil embargo has been forced upon europe. but what we're seeing here is not a decision that comes actually from european countries to spain never want to disembark go to to prove to be put in place this is something that comes externally from the united states pressure on the european union european union actually had a very good relationship in terms of the economy and trade with iran it was retrieved in the last twenty years the connections that have been lost after the iranian revolution and the situation was improving until we came to these new tension and he's not just to spain and italy also greece imports lots of oil from iran and it could be hard hit in a way that would bring them bankrupt in the coming future that would be a complete disaster for the european union and for the euro and that can happen

because of the. political move it has now become an economic issue and can have even more. destructive effects if the iranians decide to say cut of the strait of hormuz or even if they now decide to beat europe to it by. by by cutting off their oil now because we need this time to find alternative supplies if they cut the supply now we want to be able to find them there will be a huge recession in europe. with r.t. still to come for you this hour financial troubles prove a health hazard in the united states as manufacturers gamble on america's caffeine dependency often with disastrous results that story coming your way just a little bit later on. and we explore the sky high ambitions of the russian region that pioneer the country's aviation industry that will be in our upcoming close up series. one of the most senior al-qaeda chiefs in pakistan

has been killed by an american drone strike along with three other suspected militants the attack took place in the north waziristan tribal area close to the border with afghanistan but is suspected of killing dozens of people in the country and abroad that comes after the bureau of investigative journalism found hundreds of civilians died because of similar cia ordered aerial attacks chris woods who compiled the report thinks the u.s. is simply ignoring the condemnation over its deadly drone policy. the cia has been saying for some time now that it hasn't killed a civilian in pakistan since at least may two thousand and ten every news agency out of pakistan every credible news organization that's looked at this is finding that that's not the case we know that civilians are being killed in pakistan with these drone strikes that does seem to be an indication there that these drone strikes are happening despite what pakistan wants not because of what pakistan

wants these are causing huge problems within pakistan no united states court has ever looked at the legality of these drone strikes and there's a reason for that every time a case has been brought in the united states that is attempted to look at whether these strikes are legal or not the united states is claiming something called state secrets privilege that that's where they say actually this is a covert operation and we can't discuss it well that's somewhat been blown out of the water by the president himself going on google recently and talking live to americans about the existence of this so-called covert program. quarter past the hour now here in the russian capital let's get to some other world news for you brief this hour greek leaders finally reached an agreement on new austerity measures without the cuts the country wouldn't be able to get the crucial one hundred thirty billion euro bailout from the e.u. and a default a spokeswoman for the prime minister's office said the deal will allow alternative cuts to those rejected early thursday the main sticking point was proposed deep

pension cuts. a criminal court in the mall beeves has issued an arrest warrant for ousted president mohamed nasheed this comes a day after the leader was among dozens injured when riot police used force against protesters as unrest deepened his ousting resulted from a police mutiny and popular protest over a controversial decision to arrest a top judge now see it claims he was forced to resign at gunpoint and promises to return to office. so his troops have killed thirteen kurdish insurgents in two separate clashes in turkey nine people died near the town of being goal in four others near the town of cook could occur after rebels attacked a military station that it's less than a week since turkish warplanes bombed three suspected rebel targets in northern iraq tens of thousands of died since nine hundred eighty four in the kurds fight for autonomy in turkey's southeast. in the u.s.

when the economy needs a fix so do the people the country is now the world's largest consumer of coffee and this addiction to caffeine is being exploited by some unscrupulous producers who are looking to boost their profit artie's marina portnoy reports. in the city that never sleeps our perpetual craving for energy never eases i nearly every manhattan street you'll find two things a coffee shop and customers cupping their fix a liquefied legal stimulant that most can't envision quitting i feel like you know i get it again. so i just have to are both of these real yes actually i don't know if i could give a i love. it five or six cups a day yes i'm not good to much of anything like this are going to drink three cups that definitely. americans.