dear the violence has asco waited in syria for the past week opposition forces claiming assad's forces are shelling on several areas including the city of homs activists are accusing the government of a massacre saying that hundreds of civilians here have been killed something that's hard to verify meanwhile the u.s. is setting an international coalition aimed at supporting rebels and their struggle these so-called group of friends of democratic syria will involve countries willing to prop up the opposition and pile more pressure on the regime although direct military action is has been ruled out some reports suggest the british and cuts are a special forces are already in the conflict so there are now calls from washington to arm the opposition and as our teams merino port i reports that the region has been flooded with weapons from the u.s. 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 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 that the us sold the story clearly more than four hundred billion dollars worth of since the one nine hundred sixty s. have gone to the middle east and you can argue. seriously that it's made.

region anymore 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 they fear are you're ok friends they're thugs you're not mean this is for all of us who have been overseas the duplicity in a park or city 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 with bunker buster bombs experts say this strategic arming of middle eastern countries is aimed at iran and

extending u.s. dominance in the region. is going on the war. against your own. you know human why do. 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 this is not some kind of. simultaneously op risings situation where people are a ballet and then suddenly they are mysteriously armed and mysteriously arms are being smuggled into syria from turkey well who who is providing this arms nobody's asking in the us media well these are u.s. arms shipped to turkey this is 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 there.

some of the most powerful lockheed martin not only do they make console arms for the defense department around the world they're a federal contractor in many other levels there are going to vote little actually 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 while arming countless conflicts all for the sake of profit marina point ny r.t. new york. meanwhile reports of a most of that support is on its way to a assad's forces chinese media claim that iran has sent fifteen thousand of its elite revolutionary guard troops to help maintain order in syria but professor mohammad marandi from the university of tehran says that despite being an ally of syria iran would not interfere and is to much to problems iran has no troops in the country iran has never had troops involved in the problems within syria this is

basically western propaganda someone in the chinese media has been receiving information that is completely false well definitely iran does support the syrian government and it supports reforms in the syrian political order iran is completely opposed to foreign countries imposing their will on the syrian people iran's position is based upon a moral principle and that is non interference of neighboring countries in the syrian internal affairs the syrian people have to make their own decisions there doesn't need to be any funding for weapons coming outside the country. well iran might have every right to be worried over the elements ongoing in syria because regime change in tehran is the reason why the u.s. and its allies are pushing for action against damascus this according to a concert in cut off from the foreign affairs committee and the russian state duma . and this is not about democracy in syria this is not about any internal developments in this country this is about syrian foreign policy because syria is

considered in the reality is one of the closest allies of certain countries in the region in the first iran and removing the regime as it is now would mean the address the changes in the foreign policy towards syria and iran probably will be the next goal after syrian regime would be forcefully removed from power or something similar will start a tape in the in iran this is a global game this is a geopolitical and geo economic interests unfortunately countless like syria are being called as it kind of hostages towards the geopolitical and jew economical interests of the western countries. there was a constant in charge from the foreign affairs committee in the russian stadium are talking to us about the developments ongoing in and around syria. you're watching

r.t. and greeks are venting their anger at even more planned cuts which the e.u. is demanding in return for vital funds police fired tear gas at protesters in athens who threw stones and fire bombs at them they've also been some reports now incoming of people being injured around seven thousand people gathered outside parliament while ten thousand communist supporters marched in another part of athens as a two day union strike brought the country to a standstill after a tough multi-party deal the parliament is expected to vote on the austerity package on sunday but i. junior coalition partner says it won't back the new plan euro zone finance ministers put the second bailout worth one hundred thirty billion euros on hold say they want to see concrete action first without it athens will go bust in march natural analyst max keiser says the debt athens has to pay off was forced upon it. all of the toxic debt that has been accumulated on banks' balance

sheets around the world in germany and the u.k. in the u.s. have been put onto the balance sheet of greece and now the government of greece wants the people of greece to pay for this toxic debt the debt in greece did not originate in greece it originated in these other countries that have used greece as a toxic debt dumped to dump their debt now they want the greeks to pay the debt the greeks of course will be on able to pay their debt to greek government is in place by the bankers the previous greek government was put there by the bankers he was trained in chicago the same place christine legarde was trained the greeks have not had representational government in quite some time they need to take a page out of the arab spring they need to stage a revolution they need to become self-sufficient and regain their sovereignty again by staging some kind of coup. our tears coming to you live from the heart of moscow still for you this hour in the program innocence lost in afghanistan find out why

the latest airstrike spog the afghan president's condemnation of foreign troops also separation anxiety. they are now living under the tangible threat of being forcibly separated from their spouses from their children from their parents palestinians married to israelis fear the citizenship law in the jewish state could end up tearing their families apart. just after ten past the hour here in moscow people in russia becoming more and more involved in the political structure in their country ahead of next month's presidential election a group of journalists bloggers and productive figures have created a league of voters in a bid to make the upcoming vote fair and transparent he's got a pretty good off reports. 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 years of these files have flooded the internet and even though most of the allegations are still to be proven in court tens of thousands of people have been taking to the streets demanding fair elections with marches presidential votes just around the corner events are unfolding quickly where. people want to vote responsibly and to know where their votes go if you want political competition independent courts in media feeling the voters league is not . the idea was cruising in the air the voters league was officially founded in january by a group of journalists bloggers activists writers and other public figures and stay with sweden g.d.s. blake t.v. host and now activist. the lady. or the head of a charity fund and blogger. it is idea to be also known as dr lisa.

or people from school martha ordinator of the blue buckets movement fighting for equal rights on roads for everyone. our league is an opportunity to gather people who are not indifferent to what's happening to more people with a similar position there are just better the leagues 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 pledging to another candidate businessman mikhail prokhorov has already struck a deal with the leak you have to go i'm willing to authorize one hundred fifty thousand league observers was also arranged to put together a unified database to keep the check and election fraud to close 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 positioned it is serious so for the mutations not to take sides in the political process. the league's founders say they'll shut the organization down if it ever starts turning into a political movement claiming there 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 candidates 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. now i do remember plenty of news and eye

catching videos always standing by for you twenty four seven at artsy dot com a quick look at what's waiting for you online to right now at our web sites are hungry for power the muslim brotherhood demanded that egypt's military rulers suck the appointee of prime minister and replace him with their own candidate. and the cia spy jailed a former engineer from the police military cosmodrome that gets thirteen years behind bars for selling secret data on a russian intercontinental ballistic missiles to the united states certainly more that story at all to talk. is.

the official. video. feed now in the palm of your. it is could have you with us you're watching r.t. live from moscow and afghan president hamid karzai has ordered an investigation into a nato air strike that killed eight children on wednesday this comes a week after the united states announced it would halt combat operations or certainly could try to hold them in afghanistan earlier than expected but this strike could worsen already tense relations between karzai and washington amid

a mounting civilian death toll journalist for things that foreign actions are to blame for the continuing to grow numbers of casualties there. this is the price that afghanistan pays for having foreign troops on its soil troops which carry out operations that are based on at best imperfect intelligence and at worst simply lack of fundamental knowledge of local situations and mistakes that are made which will result in innocent people being killed completely unnecessarily the numbers are growing clearly because the telephone has continued to expand its operations in response to the growth of u.s. nato troops and part of the taliban response and i would say the single biggest part of their response has been to lay more and more i e d's this is the primary way that the taliban has been able to find to kill u.s.

nato troops and even more so to wound seriously u.s. and nato troops. or a new type of in the business but for now let's go to some other global news in brief for you with the r.t. world let's start with iran that's where eleven militants have been killed and over a dozen are wounded this after a local security forces fired artillery shells at suspected hideouts the crackdown that took place in the could tribal region where dozens of died in fighting between soldiers and insurgents over the last few weeks pakistan's military has been conducting anti terror operations in court since the beginning of the year. a planned strike by police in the rio de janeiro over low pay could jeopardize next week's notorious annual. despite an agreed pay rise of thirty nine percent over the next two years law enforcers are demanding double similar industrial action in the city of salvador saw the murder rate double with one hundred twenty people killed

during just a nine day police strike thousands of soldiers could be deployed in brazil's capital to try and provide security for. hungry. central bank is a literally burning money to help keep people warm in europe's deadly cold snap the bike has been pumping wards of tissues notes into bundles that could be burned by those in need of heat by being provided as a free source of fuel for the past four years but the need is particularly great now with hundreds perishing in the conditions across europe just over the past few weeks. marrying the person you love and living freely with them may be a basic right in most democratic countries but apparently it's not always the case in israel israeli palestinian families say they face daily discrimination and risk being separated altogether and the country's insistence that it's quote only protecting national security has a few people convinced. reports this is the document that's ruining lana's

life it makes no mention of a university degree one husband or two children it simply states she's palestinian and therefore illegal and wanted in israel i have a stay here now but i don't have any rights just to breathe and eat and drink and for me it's not allowed. but a lot of chooses this nonlife because it's where her husband and children live by law they're israeli where is the rest of her family live across the border in janine in palestine each time we travel during the week. goes through perth and i and the kids go through another. what. i have to walk. until now known as move between the two worlds with temporary visas issued by television but

she's afraid they could stop at the government tightens its grip on it law denying permanent citizenship to palestinians married to israelis but strain to limit the demographic. growth of the arab citizens encourage. citizens who marry palestinians from the west bank and gaza or from jordan to actually immigrate 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 can travel 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 on thousands of people this law is thinking about it. i mean one of the. last degrees before having your very pew jewish state but in the meantime it threatens to take families apart as now face the very real danger that they might not be able to continue living together. israel. and it's not good to have you with us here on our team today now with the winter and full swing still here in the russian capital moscow those look

every bit the fairy tale city albeit a rather cold one go out seem i want to try some winter themed activities on the outskirts of the russian capital have a look at. i . wonder what i do find out more about the window found in the russian sun that's

coming your way shortly here on r.t. for now though as i promised it's katie and the alley business. hello there thank you for joining me this hour gold is losing value on stronger dollar lifted by fresh worries about the european debt crisis however the sentiment has been generally bullish for the billion with a price up around ten percent a share rob edwards from its capital sees no reason to think a gold bubble is developing and that the prospects for the metal are still good. gold is twelve percent off its lows we should this record in december it's only ten percent off it's hard it's been very volatile but if you look at the long term chart for gold going over the past. fifty. two thousand dollars in the us now that's been a very consistent bull run and in many periods over that period of time it's been

going up in the currencies which is the true definition of a bull market was living in the age of gold is still going to be relevant we don't see it breaking below fifteen hundred dollars an ounce and the end of the day is still a commodity there's a cost of production there's a cost of supply and i'm still very very hard charging people think. we're going to move on to the precious metals prices and now let's take a look as you can see gold is point nine percent down and silver is one and a half percent down by the slide in the year that softer greece said it could pay back one hundred thirty billion euro bailout bill the country needs to avoid bankruptcy we're going to have a look at the exchange rates now the euro is lower against the dollar and uncertainty about the situation in grace. all these weighing on the ruble which is losing value against the european and the u.s. currency. all continues to decline even. after news that the international energy agency cut its twenty twelve global demand for calls

a six month to see a darkening economic outlook as they called it reducing prospects for growth amid supply concerns following the sanctions on the brain in oil. and u.s. markets now they open where the main follow on from a loss is a coup or else. the year they are moving even further into the red as i keep saying it but it's the greek situation that is weighing on investors sentiments today the talks will continue throughout. weekend european finance ministers are now holding back the rescue package demanding the commitments from athens. and here in moscow the markets closed in the red today my sex was over has sent down the arts yes it is over two percent down unified my size r.t.s. stock exchange could hold an i.p.o. in the fourth quarter of the share of market conditions. we're going to see how the

individual moves got on today gas from finish of a percent in the red the companies gas exports rose a substantial share my cut come us was also down the companies that profit reached thirty three million dollars our share against a seventy four million dollars loss. by the us gold against buying reports about its filed tying up with polymath tell. a multi billion dollar russia's mine is probably us gold and probably metal has failed that i missed the news papers cite sources close to the talks gold is not satisfied with the terms of russia's largest gold mine number of claims the firm doesn't need additional assets in the in the country the company now wants to merge with one of its foreign rivals the us gold and jointly walk around seventeen billion dollars merger could have

created the night's biggest gold miner in the world. but also the business days from now back in about fifty five minutes to do come back plenty more markets plenty more business. culture is that so much of an olympic village music is on the mark when the feet are in the battle for syria the international community is as divided as the syrians themselves when it comes to resolving

a situation. but i. was struck by somebody australia you know the new zealand no wait until you see the film on screen if you want to have sex go and have sex. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything. i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

here and this is our headlines now a split within the ranks of syria's opposition fighters at first they claim they were behind twin blasts in the country's largest city of aleppo killed at least twenty five but another spokesman has denied responsibility that coming just an hour later. thousands of greeks against more planned cuts as police fired tear gas to disperse groups who threw stones on fire bombs people are angry at lawmakers budget sacrifices after eurozone leaders put more bailout cash on hold. and russia's public figures come together to ensure

a fair and free presidential vote by forming the voters' league to monitor elections and the challenge now is just to stay impartial. my colleague bill dog here in half an hour's time but for now though it's time for opinions to fly sky high to stay with us for crosstalk. below in welcome to cross talk on people about the fate of and the battle for syria the international community is as divided as the syrians themselves when it comes to resolving a situation that looks like a civil war with every passing day should there be an international intervention to stop the violence or would doing so make the situation even worse.