you know while the u.s. is reportedly setting up a coalition of countries willing to support the rebels and pressure damascus into submission. some analysts believe washington's desire to bring down president asad would spell disaster for syria. united states and european allies are interested in regime change in syria and they won't stop at anything. that does not deliver a different government that they hope will be more sympathetic to western interests which is quite naive really when you think about it because the people in syria are likely not going to be more sympathetic to america and israeli aggression throughout the region the free syrian army is the armed opposition in conducting very violent acts against civilians in syria against both the government and you know this in syria and i don't think the syrian people are really going to appreciate you know an outside exile group arming and training these people and it's grateful to think of what could be coming next if an externally force

power is is suddenly implanted in syria that is not at all representative of the people and syria could lead into another iraq so it's just really quite devastating right now the way things are progressing at damascus as it's conducting an operation in the city of homs aimed at rooting out what a cold armed gangs opposition activists disagree and say the army shelling residential areas indiscriminately but series deputy foreign minister alleges that the massacre was actually orchestrated by armed opposition groups to influence international opinion. believe it or not i mean those people who are who have been killed are people who supported the government. people who were killed no. by the armed groups and they were massacred i believe that i'm damn sure that the instructions were given to these armed groups

to commit this message. to mobilize. the international public opinion and to encourage those come to the us to use such a thing in their statements before the security council because everybody in the world or those who are at least interested in following the developments in the region could listen to them. the u.s. and its allies criticize countries who supply military hardware to damascus but a group of republican lawmakers in washington is now calling on the white house to arm the opposition in syria as artie's maria port now reports the middle east is already awash with firepower made in the usa. 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 store really 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 you ok and 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 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 rights. geopolitical

f.b.i. whistle blower 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 arm and mysteriously arms are being smuggled into syria from turkey well who was 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 are some of the biggest companies in america they're some of the most powerful lockheed martin not only do they making so much for the defense department around the world there are federal contractor and many other levels there are going to vote in 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. new york and you can always find more news and the latest updates on the situation in syria on our website r.t. dot com here's what else is waiting for you there right now the day of rage against new anti-piracy laws has rocked the world with protests taking place in dozens of cities across the planet. also online as south atlantic rao why argentina sees military threats from the u.k. around this beautiful and islands. in cairo thousands of people joined

a general strike in protest against the ongoing military rule exactly a year after president of bark stepped down demonstrators one of the supreme council of the armed forces to cede power to civilian government they are unhappy with how the generals have been running the country with few reforms made and escalated repression of the opposition dozens of protesters were killed over the past month and clashes with police across the country and new parliament's been elected and is drawing up a constitution while the military says it won't step down before the end of june but freelance journalist del true says egyptians expect the deadline to be broken. unsure about whether the transfer. so far the military the ruling minutes you count so has yet to fulfill any of its promises also just generally on the streets we're seeing massive human rights violations towards protesters with people expressing their freedom of speech and we've seeing excessive use of tear gas and cartouche they call it here which is shots and maiming protesters there's been absolutely no

reform of the police as exemplified by the disaster a few weeks ago which saw seventy four people dying so essentially we seeing very little reform since mubarak stepped down and people are basically anxious that nothing will change and that will just slip into a new new dictatorship i think most people here would post i would say they do say that the revolution never ended but it's called the continuance of the ongoing revolution really since january even off to mubarak step down this time last year they've been continuous citizens and protests and violent clashes with egypt's security forces pushing protesters pushing for change they haven't seen yet. now governmental organizations across egypt are trying to keep a low profile to avoid provoking a clampdown by authorities the military wants to restrict the work of n.g.o.s and has ordered a probe into their car they're claiming some are working to destabilize a country very few national reports from cairo egypt's new government crackdown on

n.g.o.s has raised many questions and they may want to is why now the groups many of which funded by washington have been on the ground here for a while they were at the vanguard of the uprising against mubarak that eventually brought the supreme council of the armed forces to power last february and no one has ever seems to care about their sources of income that is until they directed their criticism to the new military leadership layman skaf for the slow pace of reform some of them are used by the other. that are quoting people who they are working to an agenda they are the ones that evolution they have . won the radicals who live there this is very much a dangerous for the rich because this is specie led to prosecutors raiding seventeen offices of advocacy groups forty three activists including americans germans and egyptians are now facing trial for illegally using foreign funds to

promote unrest in the post mubarak country activists however claim they are the victim of scarves reluctance to give up power with the people about with their brights with the scaf looking the fall into. subdivisions against the regime and the old mind the round up of activists has also netted the son of u.s. transportation secretary ray la hood further fueling tension between cairo in washington. isn't simply because. of them in a sort of plans for. i don't think. so this is america whose military aid to egypt to reduce one point three billion dollars annually has been very serious there has been quick to condemn car one in the days of blank checks are over. the end of the continued

on flowing that the provide that support also continue. to washington's so-called support for democracy get in the middle east washington wants to step in. as much as possible in order to guarantee its interests they don't care about democracy meanwhile even those on the streets protesting against car share the council's concerns about the ngos motives the usa has had a hand in chips policy making for years but the whole n.t. and your campaign has become the first serious disagreement between america and the country's new authority cairo wanted to send washington and message that it's no longer the silent dog it was under mubarak but an independent state which will last so the rate any outside interference some doubts though they really minute the end to military movement growing ever bigger you can see it over there this is in council of the armed forces or scaf now running egypt is in a very vulnerable position and this nationalistic pronouncement may just be

a nationalist show put on to calm the people down and to win back a shred of credibility. in cairo. well still to come this hour here on our t.v. shooting itself in the food some states expressed turns out that you could end up losing out of its embargo on iranian oil. same to your center of a man accused of being without any source of american secrets branded a terrorist by some while others nominate him for the nobel peace prize. the greek family has warned of uncontrollable economic chaos if parliament does not approve a plan for fresh cuts on sunday new stereo measures have already been adopted by the greek cabinet to secure one hundred thirty billion euro bailout from the e.u. and international monetary fund without it the country could default and march six ministers have already resigned in protest over of the new cuts package and some

one piece from two major coalition parties are threatening to vote against it in parliament the draft bill suggests firing fifteen thousand civil servants and lowering the minimum wage grease is too big a strain unions have held a forty eight hour strike against the new measures while demonstrators clashed with police on friday margrave open rays of the financial advisory firm a.c.m. partners in chicago believes that a new bailout will barely delay a greek economic collapse. either going to commit the measures which i and many economists argue still is not it now to guarantee that deep balls or it will default just sooner rather than later a lot of people are talking about disorderly default i don't think the european union nor greece is going to allow that to occur but frankly i think the markets have been willing themselves the last six months by thinking that there is a better or option i think what you're first going to see much like rick economists have been saying is a shrinking the economy

a poor to buy percent this year think about what that means for country already on the brink of you know social not necessarily collapse we definitely definitely instability and economic not ruined but certainly you know it's certainly not growing things certainly aren't getting better a decrease of more to buy her sense of growth combined with the measures combined the political pressures of the european union will definitely distort disrupt result significantly in two thousand and twelve. our chief financial analyst next guy is there believes greece has become a convenient scapegoat for some of the countries. the credit service who are going to take a haircut on their debt already have that fully insured in the credit default swap market and they're going to make money no matter what they don't take any risk that's why greece is in this problem to begin with all of the toxic debt that has been accumulated on banks' balance sheets around the world in germany in 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 don't don't they're dead. now we'd love to know your opinion of course on the situation in greece so why don't you log on to r.t. dot com it's our website to have your say and our latest poll well today we're asking what impact will the latest rescue measures have on the greek economy let's take a look at what's happening on the site now. so here are the votes so far almost half of you believe that the new measures will do nothing as the greek economy has already do over a third of the respondents think it will only mean further hardship for the greek people nine percent of you saying that won't allow the economy to collapse and a minority now believes bailouts are the only way greece will survive well those

are of course the figures for now but that can change at any time so do feel free to participate in this web poll and let us know what you think r.t. dot com. as greece struggles to control its economic crisis the e.u. turns up the heat on iran over its nuclear program the european union has announced a series of financial sanctions including plans to stop importing iranian oil from july meanwhile iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad announced that the islamic republic would soon reveal major advances and its nuclear program he also warned that europe was playing a risky game by cutting off trade with iran because e.u. consumers account for around twenty percent spoil our part the spanish ambassador to iran said that sanctions will hurt more than any other state and madrid based journalist miguel on your morocco says the e.u. embargo serves only the interests of the us. would we're seeing here is not

the solution that comes actually from european countries to spain never want to do some bar go to to prove to be put in place this is something that comes externally from the united states pressure on the european union and he's not just displaying a neutrally also greece imports long. of oil from iran it could be hard hitting away that would bring them bomb drops in the coming future that would be a complete disaster for the european union and for the euro and that's going to 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 told the strait of hormuz or even if they now decide to beat europe to its bye . bye bye cut to north their oil now because we need this time to find alternative suppliers if they cut the supply now we want to be able to find them there will be

a huge recession in europe and civil society stepping into the front line of russian politics with the aim of keeping the upcoming presidential election fair and transparent leading figures and members of the public are joining forces at most importantly they seem to have the support of all five candidates as well as the voters are to has the details. 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 years 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 votes just around the corner events are unfolding quickly when filmmakers are not sure people want to vote responsibly and to know where their villages go they want political competition independent courts and media forming

the 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 way g.d.s. plague t.v. host and now activist. the latest advocate for the head of a charity fund and blogger he does any of the dmca also known as dr lisa. or other school martha cordoning or over 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 the more people with a similar position there are the better the league's main goal is to ensure fair elections is 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 would appeal 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 we've also arranged to put. together unified database to keep checking the election polls 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 clearly 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 organisation down if it ever starts turning into a political movement cleaning 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. i was tickled at some other stories from around the world israeli air strike the gaza strip where one person dead and four others wounded warplanes fired missiles at three different areas just after midnight on saturday the first hit a field east of gaza city with another landing near the israeli border and a third near the city. israeli army confirmed the strike saying they had targeted sites belonging to terrorist organizations. police in bahrain are fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters in the capital manama no injuries were reported but we can say at least one protester was detained

violence has been on the rise over the past few weeks as the country heads towards the first anniversary of a brutally crush protest against king how mobs rule. in britain five newspaper journalists have been arrested over alleged payments made to police and public officials rupert murdoch the owner of news international says he's committed to keeping the tabloid newspaper the sun running the investigation is part of the country's phone hacking scandal that came to light last year it revealed that for some journalists it was common practice to monitor the private email messages of celebrities. legendary pop singer whitney houston has died at the age of forty eight the six time grammy award winner was found in a beverly hills hotel room on saturday the performer struggled with drugs and alcohol problems later in her career and and third rehab last year with ortiz have yet to determine the exact cause of houston's death.

afghan children were killed by nato airstrike this week according to the country's president in a statement tomic karzai can damned the aerial attack by foreign forces officials launched an investigation later claiming nato forces wrongly targeted civilians after receiving false reports of militants in the area and came just one week after the united states announced it might stop combat operations in afghanistan. and earlier than expected but this strike could worsen an already strained relationship between karzai and his western allies amid mounting afghan death toll investigative historian and journalist gareth porter says the expansion of us and regular troops in afghanistan is to blame for the growing number of civilian deaths. price that afghanistan pays for having foreign troops on its soil troops which carry out operations that are based on best imperfect intelligence and worse simply

lack of fundamental knowledge of local situations and the stakes that are made which will result in innocent people being killed completely unnecessarily the numbers are growing clearly because the television has continued to expand its operations in response to the growth of u.s. nato troops part of the taliban response and i would say the single biggest part of the 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 now we can lease has in the past published manning more afghan war revelations which were allegedly obtained from u.s. army private bradley manning the twenty four year old has spent more than a year behind bars awaiting trial in the u.s. is now been nominated for the nobel peace prize forward by ernest land the parliamentary group which said he should be recognized for exposing

a war crimes cleric stop playing an activist for manning's cause things the accused deserves the prize no less than the current u.s. president did. bradley manning is accused of the greatest act of civil disobedience least in my lifetime. what he is accused of is leaking documents and video. that has led to the end of the iraq war has led to pro-democracy rallies and uprisings all over the world and i think it's much deserved that he he receives this nobel peace prize if obama gets at the why should he obama has done very little for peace even though he promised it and obama is also taking credit for ending the iraqi war when actually that's not the truth the iraqi government did not want to allow legal immunity for u.s. troops after january first and the reason that they didn't want some unity is

because of what they saw in the cables and the videos showing civilian deaths that were being covered up in the corruption by the u.s. government. and a little later r t will take you high up to the clouds as we share the serene secrets of hot air ballooning before that though i'll bring you have top stories of that week.

welcome back you're watching r t these are the top stories of the week the arab league is set to decide its future efforts on syria as violence escalates and the u.s. gathers a coalition of the willing against damascus hundreds of people have reportedly been killed across syria in the past week. the spirit of revolution returns to egypt on the first anniversary of mubarak's ousting with thousands of protesters calling for an immediate step down by the ruling military council but the generals are clinging on to power which they refuse to give up i'm still only a few. people have marched on the streets in anger over. the

government's struggles to keep the country's economy afloat parliament is now due to debate draft bill on the scaredy measurements by the e.u. and i.m.f. . and russian civil society take center stage in politics as a group of public figure steps up to monitor the upcoming presidential vote backing from all of the candidates and the goal of the so-called voters league is to ensure a fair and transparent election. if you like to enjoy the channel experience of being lighter than air while getting a bird's eye view of the world there is nothing quite like a hot air balloon up next we'll take a ride in the oldest type aircraft known to man. people couldn't fly for a long time i don't think because they didn't think it was possible we can learn how to do that without machines anywhere if we want to.