marina partner reports the region's been flooded with american arms for years. at the united nations security council america holds one permanent seat but when it comes to weapons the world's largest arms exporter is often seen as sitting on two chairs they say there isn't an international embargo on arms preventing them from doing that that is a fact but that doesn't change the immorality of supplying a dictatorial regime that is killing its people in massive numbers every day and we are are deeply concerned about that as u.s. officials continue publicly scolding countries over relations with syria critics say the accusations are being thrown from a tremendous glasshouse the us is a hugely difficult in this regard because they've long been the largest arms dealer and most of those weapons the us sold the story quickly more than four hundred billion dollars worth of since the one nine hundred sixty s.

have gone to the middle east and you can't argue. seriously that it's made the region any more stable in the past few years nearly fifty percent of u.s. weapons exports have been flowing to the middle east many countries with the biggest appetite for american weapons have also made headlines for carrying out brutal crackdowns against dissidents and opposition groups if you are are so you're ok in france they are thugs you're not i mean this is for all of us who have been overseas the duplicity and. of american foreign policy is painfully. evident according to congressional figures america has sold one point four billion dollars worth of weapons to bahrain since two thousand and america struck its single biggest arms deal when saudi arabia ordered sixty billion dollars worth of arms the us has long subsidize the israeli military and recently supplied them. bunker

buster bombs experts say this strategic arming of middle eastern countries is aimed at iran and extending u.s. dominance in the region with. these going on the war. against your own. you know human rights. it's all about some geopolitical f.b.i. whistle blowers sibel edmonds has accused america of playing particularly dirty while leading a campaign for regime change in syria but it's not some kind of. simultaneously op rising situation where people are a ballet and then suddenly they are mysteriously armed and mysteriously arms are being smuggled into syria from cherokee who was providing this arms nobody's asking in the u.s. media well these are u.s. arms shipped to turkey this as the u.s. military complex flush with record revenue continues to lobby its interests on

capitol hill arms manufacturers or some of the biggest companies in america they're some of the most powerful lockheed martin not only do they make it so for the defense department around the world they're a federal contractor in many other levels of the elections this statue outside the u.n. headquarters is a symbol of global peace and nonviolence but critics say the idea has been twisted by the u.s. which goes around advocating peace arming countless conflicts all for the sake of profit marina point ny r.t. new york russia has been trying to mediate a peaceful solution to the syrian conflict for months and wants to host talks between the warring sides but one middle east expert told r.t. that negotiations will be hard to bring about as long as the syrian opposition is rallying for regime change. 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 actually don't seem to want to participate in the gauche ations and are setting preconditions or saying in order to enter negotiations assad must fall and i think that is part of a what the whole thing for the west is not about negotiations is about overthrowing a regime which is a part of the i broke block which washington or which some western states western powers want to get rid of including israel also wants to get rid of them. greek politicians last minute agreements on fresh plans hasn't exactly been greeted with open arms the forty eight hour strike has been called by the country's two major labor unions and eurozone member states say they will put even more conditions on greece before handing over a second bailout after a struggle athens did manage to program multi-party a c.r.t. deal which has been demanded by creditors it was a place just a matter of hours before you were ministers met in brussels but they're still

unhappy and unwilling to hand over a one hundred thirty billion euros the greek parliament now has to pass a package of cuts reforms by sunday the journalist crisis to media says the situation and the country is deteriorating and the consequences could be dangerous . what we get from all these measures. if we have all the default then we. shouldn't where we have to face the show death from starvation in which this situation in greece you see extreme at the moment we have children playing ping in their school because they don't have proper breakfast and because they don't they don't have enough food so you realize that that she tray should be getting water should wash we have a lot of people as i told you that they are hungry at the moment first of all they demand the election which i have to tell you right here and now they want elections they want that she trained to be trained to check and they have been wondering who are we following at the moment increases i mean the greek government there should

be controlling the i.m.f. and there should be simply doesn't work. it's going to do three each old view that troika gives their main. orders and you know that we get more and more she in the last two years so far as they say and i agree with them easier to see this time to morrow rice from the west than to see all of these orders and all these measures bring us to growth and bring us back to normal life. robert oulds chair of the london based think tank bros group believes that it's the european currency itself pushing greece. greece is in severe economic difficulties and it's failed to meet many of the targets that the eurozone in the i.m.f. has set it for what it has to do in terms of to be able to reform its finances to be able to pay back some of the debts that it so that has been largely caused by

issues to do with the euro itself and the problem that the euro creates and how it makes the greek economy competitive so basically greece cannot survive while it is in the euro and the more austerity measures which are being forced upon it will just hurt the greek economy even further wages have been cut by thirty percent on average in greece pensions are being carved people are finding it very hard to survive because of the result of the austerity measures in the problems caused by the euro what they're doing at the moment is just throwing more money at the problem and really putting back the day when greece will have to deform will have to leave the euro and coming your way here in r.t.e. innocence lost in afghanistan find out why the latest airstrike has left afghanistan the president can downing foreign troops. and separate spouses why israel is stopping thousands of palestinians from permanently living with the and

israeli families. civil society in russia is moving to the forefront of politics with a mission to keep the upcoming presidential election fair and transparent a group of leading public and pro-active figures are joining forces and crucially they seem to have the support of the candidates and the voters are just going off as more. it doesn't take long to find videos of alleged violations during the recent parliamentary vote in russia just a couple of clicks is enough since scores of these files have flooded the internet and even though most of the allegations are still to be proven in courts tens of thousands of people have been taking to the streets demanding fair elections with marches presidential vote is just around the corner events are unfolding quickly when. people want to vote responsibly and to know where their villages go their own political competition independent courts and media forming voters league is not our

achievement the idea was floating in the air the voters league was officially founded in january by a group of journalists and bloggers activists artists writers and other public figures and statements made tedious like t.v. host and now activists who want to get ready for africa or the head of a charity fund and blogger at the dmca also known as dr lisa. or two other school martha poured in a tour of the blue buckets movement fighting for equal rights on roads for everyone was more honest our league is an opportunity to gather people who are not indifferent to what's happening the more people with a similar position there are the better the league's main goal is to ensure fair elections it's published a list of initiatives on the web divided into groups that everyone can be a part of public discussions and online votes are the key instruments and letters have been sent to all presidential candidates asking them to cooperate with the

league and even though the project is less than a month old everyone has so far agreed including prime minister and presidential candidates pledging middleton we fully share your view on the necessity to hold a fair lection of the president of russia march fourth we are thankful for your offer we are sure by uniting our. for its will be able to ensure. we accept your proposal to. another candidate businessman mikhail prokhorov has already struck a deal with elite you have to go and willing to authorize one hundred fifty thousand league observers was also arranged to put together a unified database to keep it from the election points because according to its founders around ten thousand observers are needed to ensure a fair election in moscow alone. it's great that the civil society wants to be more active but it's really important not to cross the line and observers not only are a position it is serious so if the mutations are not to take sides in the political

process. the league's founders say those shut the organisation down if it ever starts turning into a political movement they are keen to work with all candidates equally there's no doubt society has changed more people want to have more influence on russia's political life perhaps that's why it took less than one month for the vote was leaked to establish ties with both the authorities and the opposition and with the help promise from the candidates the league just may secure enough access to effectively monitor the vote in march as long as it avoids taking sides and protects its neutrality is going off r t moscow and get all the latest news and updates on line by logging on to here's what's waiting for you there today. returns to our one hundred seven drone that was downed in december last year to the united states only now it's. about an eighty s of its original size.

also online it's too soon germany is forced to switch back to reality just one year after declaring it was giving it up find out why on r.t. dot com. just over a month before rerun of the presidential vote in south city one of the candidates is in hospital alan joyce is recovering from a stroke she suffered on thursday when prosecutors arrived to take her in for questioning she's been called as a witness to the raid on government offices late last year joy to claim victory in of amber as disputed presidential election which was an old by the assyrian supreme court the country's capital was gripped by protests four weeks after the vote joyal is planning to stage her own inauguration as president this friday which the acting

head of the republican attempt of cool artists on a boy who has the latest from south city. in the remember last year the city held its first postwar presidential elections the results of which were later canceled by the central election commission of violations of the new elections and now scheduled to take place on march twenty fifth and earlier on thursday police security services have raided sure it was housed in the capital of south sudan during that drove herself conscious and she's now in a host being treated for a minor according to the. interim authorities she is the main reason for these unexpected a raid of george's house was to bring her in for questioning to the prosecutor's office. and avoid her reporting there now the afghan president has ordered an investigation into the air strike that killed eight children on wednesday in

a statement hamid karzai and damn the aerial bombing by foreign troops just a week ago the united states announced it could hold combat operations in afghanistan earlier than expected this straw i could worsen an already strained relationship between karzai and washington and a mounting afghan death toll documentary filmmaker claire bourne sings that despite condemnation civilian casualties will continue to rise. to have any viability is a legitimacy as an afghan when something like this happens but he is basically a tool of the american occupation there so we can expect any real demands to change from here this kind of thing obviously doesn't win hearts and minds this happens in the same area where afghan soldiers recently killed french troops on ports and i think because the u.s. is planning a pullout even moving next day for him because the french are moving their troops

out we can expect more airstrikes and more civilian casualties in afghanistan you are a saw two thousand and eleven eight percent above two thousand and ten in terms of civilian casualties i'm afraid we're going to see that trend continue in two thousand and twelve precisely because they know if they have to pull out decisively because they noted the gayness up. now take a look at some other stories from around the world germany's finance minister has been caught on tape saying portugal's bailout plan may need to be revised once second bailout for greece has been finalized the comments came at a meeting with other euro zone ministers are the first acknowledgement from a high level you are official that portugal may need more time and money to get its back on track the country received a seven billion euro bailout last april. into a deep recession. than a human rights judge called the sardar saw and has been convicted for ordering the

illegal recording of corruption suspects talking to their lawyers arsalan has now been barred from practicing for eleven years with no chance of appeal against the decision spaniard gained international fame for his attempts to extradite chile's former dictator augusto pinochet in nine hundred ninety eight. stranded cruise on ships off the ukrainian coast have had to be airlifted to safety after their vessels became trapped in. ukraine's emergency services say one hundred twenty six ships on the sea of us are currently stranded temperatures are fluctuating between minus eleven and minus seventeen degrees celsius the severe weather is part of a cold snap in europe that has caused dozens. of dollars year on apple founder steve jobs released by the f.b.i. includes allegations of drug use and former friends describing him as deceptive not august the previously classified files were put together when jobs was being

considered for sensitive job as a trade consultant to president george w. bush the computing pioneer who died in october after a long struggle with cancer and also received bomb threats according to the report . and israeli citizenship law is denying thousands of palestinians the right to permanently sell down with their israeli spouses and children the government says the law was designed for security reasons we are now reports it seems the battle against terror could be doing more harm than good tearing families apart. this is the document that's ruining lana's life it makes no mention of a university degree a husband or two children it simply states she's palestinian and therefore illegal and wanted in israel i have a stay here now i. don't have any rights just to breathe. and drink and for me it's not allowed but a lot of chooses the nonlife because it's where her husband and children live by

law they're israeli whereas the rest of her family live across the border in janine palestine each time we travel during the week. i go through a path and i and the kids go through. what. i have to walk. until now known as move between the two worlds with temporary visas issued by television but she's afraid there could stop at the government tightens its grip on an eight year old law denying permanent citizenship to palestinians married to israelis it's trying to limit the graphic in growth of the arab citizens encourage. citizens who marry palestinians from the west bank and gaza or from jordan to actually immigrate try to relieve israel israel says the law is for security purposes and it's trying to prevent palestinians from taking advantage of being able to get an israeli id through marriage and then carry out

attacks on israeli citizens but human rights groups don't buy that they petitioned the law arguing that in the last fourteen years more than one hundred fifty thousand palestinians entered israel because of family ties with israelis only fifty four of them were ever found to be a security risk. in upholding the so-called citizenship law the israeli supreme court president said it was one of the most difficult questions in the state's history the battle against terror while at the same time maintaining the nation's democratic nature we are talking about thousands of family that as a result of the decision of the supreme court that validated upheld the law they are now living under the tangible threat of being forcibly separated from their spouses from their children from their parents so we are indeed talking about a huge issue with a huge effect of thousands of people this law is thinking about it.

i mean one of. degree before having your very jewish. but in the meantime it threatens to tear families apart as lawn interests now face the very real danger that they might not be able to continue living together policy r.t. israel. when winter comes to town moscow can look like a fairy tale city albeit a cold one so our moscow team went to try so when terrorist seemed activities on the outskirts of the russian capital magical forest and husky dogs to snowplows and tiny villages here's a preview. of

. the well. i'll join the moscow team in an hour's time here on our team before that we'll have a look at what's happening in this. how and welcome to business here in r.t. thanks for joining me the european central bank has kept its key interest rates at a record low one percent on thursday that's the rate it charges the banks for borrowing the move could help the eurozone stave off recession and recover from the global financial meltdown b.c.b. has draggy expects europe's economy to gradually recover in two thousand and twelve

in addition to lower interest rates the european central bank earlier flooded the market with cheap loans this was intended to raise fears of possible government defaults and bank failures despite all the efforts and many analysts say the region is likely to slip back into recession and greece could remain a constant source of problems. but just second largest lender of each of you will buy shares from its minority shareholders at the price they paid back in two thousand and seven during its i.p.o. the bank will buy back a maximum of seventeen thousand dollars worth of shares from individual investors and legal entities the move will cost the bank around six hundred million dollars and will be implemented in the next three months the buyback at a professional price will only apply to small shareholders. for more capital says that this could be a stumbling block this initiative creates so we're all this

student to arbitrage opportunities which are north to call before it is a purely market and almost practices when you see the sea costing different amount of money you can buy cheaper we somewhere and so it more expensive somewhere else if the certain category all shareholders are ground to prove which it must be explicitly explain why the other category of shareholders are not. they had a view to be under a course in says that they have taken into account all legal risks and the buyback will be carried out in forward cordons with the law meanwhile other analysts believe that the decision to buy back minority shareholders will not affect the bank's credit profile at least that's the view of international ratings agency standard and poor's. it's not really in trouble to the strategy of the bank itself and you wouldn't expect this to happen again and this is really is not something

that makes much of a difference from there we started pours look at the institution and look at its credit profile or potential performance in the future. he will be bringing you the latest updates on this story as we get them meanwhile let's check the markets crude is falling for almost three weeks as concerns about europe's debt crisis outweigh signs of an economic recovery in the united states. is trading at over one hundred and eighteen dollars per barrel while the open. markets in asia dipped down after greece approved the long awaited austerity agreement. losing over half a percent while down over one one point two percent financials are broadly lower carmakers were weaker in tokyo with. one point three percent. markets. losing over and. banking energies dogs.

a multi-billion dollar merger between russian miners miners metal failed newspaper cite sources close to the talks saying not satisfied with the terms the owner of russia's largest gold mine. that the firm doesn't need additional assets in the country the company now wants to merge with one of its. gold metal are joining worth around seventeen billion dollars merger could have created the ninth biggest in the world. well some of russia's richest people may soon find themselves subject to one of tax prime minister put. away must be found to close the subject unfair privatizations in the ninety's he suggests that tycoons who took control of the country's resources should. hey something back knowledge is that the process of privatization after the collapse of the soviet union was dishonest there are one

hundred fourteen billionaires in russia and many have made their fortune from commodities but i would say more of the shelf magnet says put his idea will be difficult to get. but. it's very important to understand how this idea can be implemented in reality who should pay the tax current so news all the ones who privatized the assets back in the ninety's plus many login surprises the private millions of people this issue must be addressed the question is though how exactly this can be done well that's all for now but stay with us for headline news coming up right after this.

culture is that so much i'm going to give each musician a very fine mark when the fate of the battle for syria the international community is as divided as the syrians themselves when it comes to resolving a situation. welcome

back you're watching r.t. live from moscow these are the top stories america gathers a coalition of nations to help bring down the syrian regime and directly yes u.s. weapons really find their way to passive forces was no. syria the un american and its allies are piling pressure on damascus while supporting the opposition. labor unions stage a two day strike in response to the latest wave of staring cuts which they say is pushing workers and the economy towards a financial abyss the measures word crucial step toward securing a desperately needed one hundred thirty billion euro bailout package. a

group of public figures from russia's civil society gathering widespread support of their quest to keep the presidential elections fair and transparent after succeeding in establishing ties with both of these awards and the opposition the are planning to monitor the vote in march. they have up next peter lavelle asks his guest why the arab league seems so concerned about the protests in syria and whether there is any way to stop while and without turning it into a new libya or iraq is next. and. below in welcoming. the fate of in the battle for syria the international community is as divided as the syrians themselves when it comes to resolving a situation.