missions made by the arab league over the weekend with the formal announcement of the end of the observer mission and cools for another mission to be started at this time with u.n. peacekeepers now in response to these decisions made over the weekend the first minister said today that he regrets russia regrets the decision to end the mission that the idea of peacekeepers being sent into syria is going to need more explanation and crucially syria is going to need to agree to this of course damascus rejected those initial proposals yesterday for u.n. peacekeepers to be sent ten say now is a breach of their internal affairs said that would need to be suited as well before that could go ahead and also a cease fire would need to be called in the country now the firm minister also a discuss the friends of syria meeting the western lead meeting is going to take place in tunis here on february the twenty fourth he said to this group that if it

was able to unite the different factions in syria then it would be a good thing but it would have to be able to do that not simply be seen to be backing the opposition of course finding consensus both within the country and international just what to do with the crisis because we need to be really problematic has been very very difficult to be able to find a solution a sees everyone we know that the neighbors that there's it's reported that there's a draft a u.n. resolution replaced by saudi arabia and it is still that sixty three really similar to the proposal that russia and china and is a vetoing and of course the pull out that we saw that extremely damaging to the cause of trying to find a solution to the ongoing situation there now over the weekend al-qaeda came out and made a statement backing the opposition and again as i did pull problems to an already extremely complex situation and fuels fears the. the ongoing crisis in syria is

leaving the door open for the imposed terrorist. contending situation in its divided just continues almost daily this issue of look today and how to solve any remaining writes the very top of the international agenda well author and journalist afshin rattansi thinks the u.s. and al-qaeda quarter end up fighting side by side in syria to safeguard common interests once again the united states and european union states as usual supporting al qaeda as they did in afghanistan prior to nine eleven will they never learn it is shocking to hear a american statesman like john mccain calling for intervention presumably u.s. troops and al qaeda side by side fighting against president assad of syria this really shows up what exactly the americans are approving on nort protecting the interests of u.s.

citizens and or european union leaders over here a statement to back any attacks we saw with lethal consequence in aleppo twenty eight dead in december forty four dead in damascus. this is getting out of hand it's getting dangerous. well the u.s. has continued its calls for regime change saying it's only a matter of time before the government collapses and its history shows washington may find a way around the barriers including the un if it decides to push through its agenda on syria. what's in a mandate having failed to reach international consensus on syria it's been a complete waste of time washington prepares to act around the u. way for the time being the administration firmly rules out any form of u.s. military intervention in syria but the pentagon is busy laying out an attack strategy on syria just in case should the president call for action experts say

history shows the absence of international consensus would not be an obstacle to washington if it decides to go ahead with intervention the united states sees the u.n. as a tool of convenience of the u.n. is supple and going along with the united states then the united states is fine to have a u.n. sanction for its actions but when the u.n. and the people of the world or the countries of the world resist then the united states says the u.n. is unwilling to do its job and then uses other instruments like nato or other military arrangements they did that in the case of yugoslavia they did that in the case of the iraq war whenever the u.n. doesn't go along the u.s. then says well to heck with you one will use some other instrument for the exercise of american power last year the u.n. security council authorized me to to protect civilians in libya but the mission resulted in regime change the libyan authorization of force was very specific and it didn't authorize regime change in the countries that partook in their operation clue you know actually it's for exceeded the u.n.

mandate and their operation i think that's symbolic of the fact that these libya that these u.n. mandates really are meaningful in the terms of international law and it's just the reality of it nato countries have flooded libyan rebels with weapons despite a u.n. arms embargo u.s. government wants to you one but they want you. to do the u.s. bidding way of the united states uses the united nations in regard to be israeli palestinian question is very emblematic when the united nations passed resolutions which it is done repeatedly demanding that the israelis get out of the west bank and earlier gaza and earlier the sinai the united states didn't enforce those resolutions they didn't demand that they be enforced when it came to the united nations saying the palestinians have a right to be recognized as a united states acted as if there was a crime against humanity that the united nations there take up the issue of palestinian rights we can see here a manipulation of the united nations when it does what the united states wants fine

but when it stands with the palestinian people which it has repeatedly over and over again then the united states government republican or democrat found a way to condemn the united nations. the u.s. also did not support the resolution on syria forward by russia which called for all sides in the conflict to stop the violence and to start a dialogue instead he chose to take sides in a civil war. right now one might describe the u.s. attitude towards the u.n. as use it if needed go around it if you don't like it but while an approach to the world body might suit washington it makes for a bad recipe for all the ability i'm going to check on reporting from washington. well more in-depth discussion on the standoff in syria coming up for you next hour with investigative journalist also winstanley who says there is no unity in the opposition and that calls for military intervention are supported by facts here's a preview. although both sides deny differences in military intervention

essentially political differences there is different trends in the syrian opposition mainly between people who support outside intervention and the protest. so you've got groups like the syrian national council which are now open me in favor of a no fly zone which to me seems ridiculous because there isn't any even claimed that i know of the syrian regime for all its many crimes there's no claims of this but people so far as just seems a political pretext very. well unprecedented humiliating sellout of greece's sovereignty and future and that's the view of critic protesters after the approval of a massive new austerity package the bill was passed as running battles tore through the capital with more than one hundred buildings looted or torched by the enraged mobs of three hundred m.p.'s one hundred ninety nine voted in favor with many of

those who rebelled thrown out of their party now the austerity measures were demanded by greece's international creditors in return for a second one hundred thirty billion euro bailout now needs the cash to pay off interest on its massive debts to keep its rapidly shrinking economy from faltering let's get more perspective on this from greece i should say with john laughlin director of studies at the institute of democracy and cooperation in paris thank you for being with us once again mr laughlin approving the cuts has been to say the least i think painful for greece surely implementing them is going to be even tougher. it is but the pain is already there because after all this is not the first time that greece has been asked to cut spending it's been cutting spending now for eighteen months and in that period it's fair to say that the greek economy has entered a death spiral in other words there has been an economic collapse in greece when

the first plan was mooted eighteen months ago the e.u. and the i.m.f. suggested that the economy might contract by three percent well in fact it's contracted by six percent in the last year unemployment has gone up to twenty percent sixty thousand small businesses have gone out of business since the summer so we are watching an economy now in free fall and certainly if the new measures which have just been voted are implemented then that free fall will continue and this isn't just a matter of figures percentages and fractions of g.d.p. and so on this is people's livelihoods people are going out of business people are going hungry pensioners will not have enough to live off this is a very very dangerous situation in greece at the moment how does that freefall what you said about the people who are actually suffering and what we've been seeing in athens over the past twenty four hours not enough to change the government's mind and if it's not what is. elections.

this great thing has been going on as we know for two years. there have been cliffhangers almost constantly now for six months on this latest package the fact is that greece is as it were under administration at the moment it has a so-called technocratic prime minister a former employee of goldman sachs a man who used to work for the european central bank he is the epitome of an international bureaucrat and banker. but this situation is a transitional one and there are to be elections in april now you said in your introduction one hundred ninety nine m.p.'s voted for this out of three hundred that means there are already one hundred m.p.'s in the parliament who are against this the parliament previously as you know returned the socialist. prime minister a socialist government under the leadership of george papandreou that party the socialist party is now at eight percent in the polls so it seems to me pretty

certain that by the time of an election is held today called the political landscape will change radically we already see the extreme left and the extreme right on the rise in greece those are the only parties left who protest against this destruction of the country's national sovereignty and i think it's almost certain that they will greatly increase their votes if not possibly even take power by the spring. before those elections or before april there's another deadline to get this next bail out greece was cut three hundred twenty five million euros from its budget and it has to stick to the austerity plan no matter what wednesday is the deadline do you think it will happen. well they have to sign up to these things and yes i think they will sign up to them because as i say for the last six months this is what has been happening last minute deals on paper have been brokered and so yes i think the wednesday deadline for an agreement will be met but that it's

one thing to talk about the agreement on paper and the other thing to talk about what is happening in the country at large. let's just pause for a moment we've seen we've all seen pictures of these. buildings being to light enough so. everybody agrees that that the number of protesters over the weekend was between forty five and one hundred thousand you'll remember your viewers will remember that when fifty thousand people went on the streets of moscow in december people said that this was the end of the putin regime fifty thousand people in moscow is a drop in the ocean the entire population of moscow is larger than the entire population of greece so if you can get fifty thousand or one hundred thousand out onto the streets of athens you're dealing with a very big popular movement and greece is not the only country by the way where that's happening to over one hundred thousand people on the streets of lisbon on saturday as well so i think we really are seeing a break down the aisle in the euro system the situation is untenable and it will i

think i'm sure collapse at some point possibly in april what do you make of the recent talk among e.u. . top do you think i should say about the possibility of greece leaving the euro zone i mean we've been hearing from experts in critics about collapse but now we're hearing about rumors of it at the top what does that mean. it's a very good question and it's an indeed a very interesting development. i'm not sure who exactly referring to but i've certainly seen remarks to that effect made by the german vice chancellor philip and by the german finance minister the finance minister. when these people start talking about it you know that it's serious. there is one theory and i lend some credence to it that the germans who are calling the shots on this do indeed want to force greece out of the euro there is a lot of bad feeling as you know towards greece by germans by germany and vice

versa and there is a theory that perhaps certain leading german polish politicians want to launch the boil and get rid of greece if that is the calculation in other words to force greece to leave the euro if that is the calculation i fear that it's a mistake because the problem in the eurozone is not a greek problem it is a structural problem in the eurozone these debt problems which various countries are suffering from including of course italy but also portugal spain and ireland these debt problems are the inevitable consequence of the way the euro is structured they are the inevitable consequence of it and the measures which are being required of these countries to as it were remedy the situation are only making things worse so even if greece were to be forced out of the euro my prediction is that the markets would then realize that the eurozone is not impregnable and would turn their attention to other countries as well whose position is very similar in particular political right john laughlin director of

studies at the institute of democracy and cooperation thank you very much for your analysis from paris this hour. well arty's cross talk was also focusing on greece's financial predicament coming your way in just under fifteen minutes the hidden costs of bailout rescue. the changes clear germany you give me the cash to survive given my debt problem i'll give you my sovereignty but will the public actually comply will they agree to accept the pain of this austerity and will they agree to submit the most important sovereign aspect which is your first school your budget to technocrats in brussels that are not answerable to your population through i'm going. to get going i mean there's nothing and that's i might's i might be provocative here but that's always the. moment that he funds. it

is this us the country's education system examine the health care and laid foundations for new housing policies the first lady's pre-election push was a mere puts and lays out his plans for social reform in russia the article titled building justice focuses on providing better living conditions for russell's most vulnerable britain outlines plans to raise salaries for teachers and doctors increased pensions and welfare handouts for families with two or more children he's also vowed to solve the country's housing problems by twenty thirty political analysts meet the bobbit ria novosti in moscow says groups as promises are aimed at russia's majority middle class. my whole is that putin no understands that he's electorate right no it's not reach you know reach people he's electorate these are the real russian you know people who are to leave in small towns who are really

hard. to with a market economy. so i hope he's economically will lead to to more. and you know we have. a former finance minister called and we've heard that different from the right now we believe which of rights he wants to give you the states more real electret which means you know the marshal the russian people. well head over to our to dot com for the latest updates comments and videos as well as the stories you might have missed on the air here's a hint of what's lined up for you online today killer photos from japan rising to its feet once again eleven months after the devastating blow by the elements for fear of destruction was entrepreneur. and sky high ambition for russians would be aviation capital as the city that built one of the world's largest planes throws down the gauntlet to its competitors.

well the spirit of the twenty twelve olympic games may now be marred by a sponsorship deal with dow chemical the company many believe owes a moral debt to victims of one of the worst ever industrial disasters in bhopal india bennett looks into the toxic legacy that the games are adopting with the new controversal partnership. organizers claim it's the greenest most sustainable a limb pick games ever but a poisonous cloud of controversy hangs over london twenty twelve because of links to this the bhopal gas leak nine hundred eighty four one of the worst industrial disasters of all time left a toxic legacy still claiming lives the company responsible zahn now owned by dow

chemical a major olympic sponsor meredith alexander was part of the game's ethics watchdog but is just quit in protest all of it is supposed to be about this and instead all of us are going to have the toxic legacy of dow chemicals. fifteen thousand people died when poisonous gas leaks from a factory in rural india the subsequent fall out killed another ten thousand congenital birth defects in the area a ten times the norm in the rest of india for always ten of the time the gas she inhaled left permanent damage and as well i can believe that how it would open her and the money has been. fair i got just one thousand dollars compensation part of a four hundred seventy million dollars payout in one thousand nine hundred nine by union carbide factory owners dow chemical company in two thousand and one but

denies any lingering liabilities but the indian government disagrees demanding dow stumps up one point six billion dollars to clean up the contamination that lives on people's building that water that has been contaminated. by factory children are being born with deformities people have more cancers there's growth. boy there's there is girls have problem with their periods all kinds of issues that have have zero. risen from the ledge and see that has been left behind by this boy in this factory dow chemical is paying for the fabric that will be draped around the stadium olympic rules forbid any advertising during the games itself but doubt is allowed to splash its logo all over the curtain before the games actually begin but it's now said it's not even going to do that says it's nothing to do with the

protests but it does mean it's paying seven million pounds for something that won't even show its name but dow will still be able to call itself a sustainable a lympics partner and organizers say their conscience is clean supposedly thanks to a green light from the ethics watchdog absolutely i do not agree with it it was the question was asked to look at the process and there were discussions within the question and i myself presented a lot of evidence about what happened in bhopal and then i was shocked to see a public statement come out i would never have signed off that statement dow chemical refused to speak to us so did london organizers instead they issued this statement from twenty twelve chief lord coe. i absolutely stand by our procurement process. distance the most sustainable solution to our rock and we are comfortable with that a boy called from indian athletes has been called off but india is

a limpid committee is still demanding down to be dropped with just six months to go it's unlikely they'll get their wish leaving claims of a sustainable legacy severely in doubt either bennett r.t. london. well the latest cross park is coming up on r t in just a few minutes but before that let's get an update from marina at the business that . hello and welcome to business here on our t.v. greek debt problems may have come one step closer to a resolution as the country. even more harshest there it's measures save the nation from bankruptcy and this is sort of vote paves the way for the country's european partners and the i.m.f. to release one hundred thirty billion euros in new rescue loans greece is that european forcing the have billion europe on the march twentieth and needs the bailout funding in place to avoid a devastating default the country's loan package is expected to get final approval

at a eurozone finance ministers meeting of this wednesday. let's take a look at the markets that will start with exchange rates the euro is gaining value on easing fears over the crisis in greece of course and stronger well pushing the ruble higher against both the european and the u.s. currencies and talking about oil let's take a look at what's happening there crude advance from last through they allow after greece's parliament approved austerity measures ease and concern that europe's debt crisis will worsen and curb commodity demand light sweet is shit in close to one hundred dollars for a barrel while the brown blend is over one hundred eighteen dollars your next well we can see that investors are feeling more confident about the greek debt situation the foot sea and the facts are gaining over a half a percent in the south the foot so moving to one percent and a second look at here in russia what's happening the markets have managed to recover from friday's losses both the bourses are gaining the r.t.s.

over two and a half percent in the black this hour. so i'm going to look at the index movers all know my sex gastro myself and that's not news it's european market share grew by four percentage points to twenty seven percent last year drug maker farm standard had slipped back into negative territory once again and that's despite the company increasing revenues by over forty percent to around one to have billion dollars in two thousand and eleven dollars go there's also lower on news merger talks between the company and another miner polymaths will have collapsed. easing concern. and over global growth have made many investors turn against emerging economies and russia is among the apparent beneficiaries capital flow into the country reach the mark of one a billion dollars an average for barry and others expected to strengthen after the presidential elections in march they also add that most russian stocks are currently at the lowest level in three years but this of course follows last year

substantial capital outflow of over eighty four billion dollars. but on the russia's fast food retail market which keeps on lowering foreign investors the somme seven the eleven won the world without food chain is thought to be on up the market that's according to media reports the company hasn't officially confirmed the rumors last year the retailer said its powers brazil and india analysts say that seven eleven will have a hard time if applies to develop a food chain in russia alone they add that the most logical move would be to team up with an existing market player well left kos is the former chief of russia's biggest retail group x five and now the senior vice president of wal-mart told us why you believe sir just a couple of ways to answer the country's market at the moment. all of the way and from market for the. at least visible on the market or dragon for leadership position. of some existing players. and from just

solution when you don't move your stores patrol saw i think with you. next year some other companies will think about rush market truly ready to enter the market. the household business looks the sound i call occurring on a cattle have another update for you in about fifty five minutes and he says that so the headlines.

resistance is not of politics but a culture. is could get. on its own. cultures of resistance on marketing. the mission of free accreditation free in-store charges free. range month free. free. to tide free. download free blog and plug in video for your media projects a free media dog r t v dot com. culture is that so much i can't tell if i go to

other people more so because we're going to sit in these hard times there's no shortage of austerity in the slashing of budgets and the shrinking of the welfare state generate jobs can return us to. here with our to live from moscow our minds syria brushes all fresh arab league initiatives targeting the also regime while washington is thought to be limbering up for military action. happens approves drac horney a new austerity measures as the city explodes with rage over what protesters say is a sellout of national sovereignty to foreign interests. and tainted by association the attitudes of london's twenty twelve olympic games are undermined by a controversial sponsorship deal with a chemical giant linked to the infamous bhopal disaster which claimed tens of

thousands of lives in india. up next artie's cross-talk where peter valen is gas tackled the crippling austerity being imposed on the people of great. old. technology innovation. developments around russia we've got this huge earth covered. and. below and welcome to cross talk on peter lavelle at least hard times there's no shortage of austerity can the slashing of budgets of the shrinking of the welfare state generate jobs and return us to prosperity.