protests is just vandalism rioting on the streets claims hotly disputed by london's bahraini community i mean when you get thousands and thousands of people. demanding their rights. you seem to forget that sixty or sixty five people actually died from police brutality activists in bahrain insists their protest was peaceful their aim to reach the iconic pole roundabout in the capital manama they say they were met by tanks toxic gas and rubber bullets what we witnessed on the ground as not. the front of. this previously but it's been extended through the. use of poisoning of. mr john is contributing we should see a positive things at the ground what we are seeing today is nothing acceptable it

may not just be british tactics bahrain's easing but weapons to government figures show the u.k. sold over one million pounds worth of rifles and artillery equipment to bahrain from july to september last year long after blood was spilled that's despite insisting all licenses had been revoked as for yates his contract runs until april by which time he hopes to put in place concrete reforms on this evidence that seems a long way off either bennett's. london. greek party leaders have written commitments to brussels saying they'll stick with the agreed austerity measures even after the general elections in april there are still in new demands are things failed to fulfill which lead to a cancellation of a key meeting of eurozone finance ministers greece is still struggling to secure a second bailout from international creditors without which it's due to thought next month for more perspective on this i'm joined by marshall portfolio a strategist and hedge fund manager joining us from denver. so we'd like to start

with this video clip here that we're going to show our viewers it's a video of a greek woman she's sitting on that window ledge there and she is threatening to throw herself off the balcony in protest against these austerity measures she was eventually talked down from the ledge but still it seems that's kind of representative of what's going on there the greek people in despair at these never ending cuts do you think the government fully understands the extent of that despair. i don't actually because if i do if they if i thought they did i think they would have already defaulted i mean the fact of the matter is that as you suggested that woman is a perfect metaphor for the greek economy i mean they're there at the cliff and at the cliff face and they're being told to jump to get a little bit more help with it after the fall and about several hundred feet below and there's no light at the end of the tunnel well there is it's an on rushing train but the absolutely no growth component in the latest package it's more of the same thing and things are going to get worse if they implement the package now the

european commission says if greece leaves the eurozone it'll be a disaster while the german finance minister admitting that the monetary union is now better prepared for this than two years ago so i do think the consequences would be if athens returned to its old currency return to the drachma. ok well the fundamental problem that greece has not only the fiscal stary but it is a very competitive economy relative to other parts of europe so they probably do need the expedient of a substantially lower exchange rate and clearly they can't get that when they're in the euro zone so reverting to the drachma probably is the ultimate source of alternate solution for them it will mean a fall in living standards they'll probably be it will be a currency that will be substantially weaker against the euro but then at least they could adjust to they would become the terms of trade would do substantially in their favor greece could become a very very low cost tourist destination all of a sudden it would be much more competitive than say italy portugal or the french

riviera and it would be it would be like the florida of the of the european union it can't do that those loans it's within the european monetary union and for those who would say that it would lead to disaster well it won't be pleasant but i would remind viewers that the same thing happened in russia in one thousand nine hundred eight to the ruble collapse the entire banking system collapsed it was six months but here we are several years later russia survived the ruble has survived the economy has recovered and i don't see why the same couldn't happen for greece the problem of course is that the bankers will take a big hit and that's not what they want to do right now so greece keeps failing also to fulfill its promises or perhaps delaying them is a better way of saying it do you think there should be any trust left with its partners. well you know i don't agree with the characterization that they've been failing i mean they have been cutting very aggressively the problem is if you continue to cut spending in the midst of a depression the economy continues to head into a tailspin so of course they're going to miss their targets there's been several

thousand business failures over the last several months you can't possibly see the economy growing in the midst of all this fiscal austerity so it's a bit like a dog chasing its own tail it's not going to work and any country that would be that it would have implemented the cuts of the scale that the greek government has already implemented would see themselves in exactly the same position this story about tax evasion and not fulfilling your commitments it's a huge cannot. do you think it would be in the interest then to let greece to falter and show other elling nations that brussels is serious in demanding that member states stick to their fiscal targets well i think the whole notion of fiscal targets is nonsensical i think they should change that in any case what i think has happened is the constant delays. has led to situations where there has been a degree of contingency planning so that the e.u. can now cope with an outright greek default in a way that say couldn't have done maybe a year and a half ago but i can tell you that if they if they continue with the same policy trajectory going forward then you're going to have the same problems arising in

portugal italy spain the question that's going to rise with all these other indebted countries is why should we have to pay if greece was able to secure a haircut of up to seventy percent that's a problem if they strike a deal and so it's going to be very counterproductive because if the the bond markets will bond market holders will demand a higher risk premium to fund these people you need a growth component and that's something that the germans in particular don't seem to understand if you don't have a growth component then you can't grow your way out of this debt problem or a marshall are about par for your strategist and hedge fund manager thanks very much for your insight. business next with kareena stay with us here on r.t. . our welcome to business here in our gee thanks for joining me this hour as we've been reporting iran is denying reports it's cut supply to six european countries

earlier iran's state run press t.v. said the country was halting supplies to spain italy france greece portugal and the netherlands this caused all prices to jump to a six month high. now the euro has been depreciating against the dollar and negative news from the e.u. the ruble is high against both the european and u.s. currency gains on the russian market. markets and mostly higher and better than expected growth data from germany and france and also meant signs support for the region from china but britain's footsie close point one percent in the red king off media reports that use their own officials may delay a bailout package for greece mining stocks slipped for a second day in london led by anglo american that was down three percent. here in russia markets closed in the black lifted by high prices of oil will be r.t.s. analyze extended even let's check on the index for some of my six most of the blue chips and that higher all majors were in the front line would look all up under

a percent where banks finished higher as well the company finalize a deal to buy east european fog bank international and truck maker come hours bucked the trend at stocks over three percent after an unexpected thirty percent jump on tuesday he'll get a cut your mother from the capital wraps up today's trade. was it to use today or was chinese pledge to hold his denominated tin euro so it's ruled the positive for the markets however doesn't solve the greek problem. as far as market movers are concerned call the rising by four percent today his rule is the top story in local market today yes to do is movers like server stall and. energy transmission companies are more or less flat the later short term drops of russian gas supplies to europe spurred discussions on how to secure consumers from possible

cuts in the future ahead of export branch very of says one of the ways is to increase storage capacity in the region. oh to choose a key for me and for security of supply for extreme situations like like two days because that's where the report was a problem for double our. capacity and. experience with all the rest between two hundred thousand three hundred million euros in the next five years there's a cute little ones that's all the business news for now but stay with r.t. for headline news coming up next. you're.

culture is that so much i can tell you that you'll already the most of yourself worth trying a different take your pick oh my one of them i'll be in britain and argentina again sparring of the legal status and future of these islands is this disputed. any match one split is going. to burn for ever more eternal fire is gone thinkable would cancel.

do we all want to see this on forever. wealthy british style. that's not on the title. markets why not scandals find out what's really happening to the global economy with max keiser for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on our.

eleven thirty pm in moscow the zero r.t. headlines iran says it's considering cutting oil sales to six e.u. countries but wouldn't do so at the moment because of cold weather in europe. syria's president announces a vote on a new constitution that would effectively end nearly fifty years of single party rule in the country amid rising turmoil. at rallies marking one year since the pro-democracy uprising in bahrain protesters face yet another harsh clamp down with

police using tactics any weapons from the u.k. . across top coming up this time peter lavelle and guest talk about the strained relations between argentina and britain over the falkland islands stay with us. story. below in welcome to crossfire computer all about take your pick of the falkland islands with a melvina britain and argentina are again sparring over the legal status and future of these islands is this dispute about self-determination and sovereignty or one of the last vestiges of british imperialism. still. to cross-talk the endless dispute over these islands i'm joined by my guest in washington larry burns he is the director of the council on hemispheric affairs

alex gibson he's a fulbright scholar specializing in contemporary argentinian politics and a research associate at the council on hemispheric affairs and luke coffey he's a fellow in the margaret thatcher center for freedom at heritage all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want larry i want to go to you first here over the last few weeks and months we've seen a ratcheting up of tensions between britain and argentina over these islands the islands that these two countries fought a war over thirty years ago what's in play here what what we should be worried about the tensions here or is this something of a function of domestic politics in both countries. well probably a combination of all of those things i think that the the real danger that lies at the bottom of this whole issue is is an accident or some kind of unplanned development that may deteriorate into a shooting conflict but the both the option time military and the british military

are really in no shape to. fight a war that's thousands of miles separating the disputants and oh so it's very different that much of the motivation behind this conflict is there to ration of domestic conditions in argentina which was the same explanation for why the war in one thousand nine hundred two broke out that is the military which ruled the country in argentina at the time was. gay gene corruption and deep cation of funds and the government needed some kind of great patriotic issue to. pull the nation together roughly speaking the same sort of thing is happening now and i think that is part of the explanation for what we're now seeing ok if i'm going to look i think it's very interesting here in

britain most people don't really care much about the what they call the falkland islands and i mean of course that there was there was patriotic on the side of the the brits thirty years ago but it's not really a big issue and people aren't sitting in pubs talking about these islands but they are in argentina is that isn't that kind of a risk too and it seems odd if it people in britain don't care about it why does the british government care so much about it well i would have to say that your average person on the streets in great britain don't care much about the issues surrounding the falkland islands and tell it's made in this year by the argentinians. we saw that the front page of the sun newspaper today in britain had sean penn's remarks. during his recent visit in the falklands so i think i think you're absolutely right about the political classes cared a great bit about the falkland islands and britain sovereignty over those islands and i think the reason is because no british government could ever survive losing the falkland islands ok alex that's rather peculiar too because i mean there's so

much as it riskier i mean britain and argentina these are important countries and they should have good relations why is it isn't it with their risk for the british to put so much into this bad relationship over what three thousand people whose claim of self-determination is a bit dubious at best. if i can just quickly respond to mr burns point first and then get to luke and yourself we should be careful first about drawing parallels between the ninety two situation between argentina and britain and what we see today because as mr resolute two one thing that should ring very clear here is that no one's going to war in both countries know this so what's what's really really important question to get at here is what are the underlying motives why are we talking about this now other than just the fact that it's the thirtieth anniversary of the conflict getting to this point about about the importance of the

falklands to britain and well let me in let me add on that a bit to argentina i think the question of survival is a bit extreme i think anyone would acknowledge that and britain would be absolutely fine with out without the falklands under their sovereign control but what would pose an even greater problem is the is if argentina were to continue on the track with this relationship with the falklands now what i mean is without some sort of sovereignty or at the very least nick sovereignty very basic things like trade agreements between the falklands in argentina is just the effect of their geographical location is going to make it difficult to sustain a puzzle relationship not just for argentina but for those cultures which are what the falkland islanders are called one final point here and quickly also. the main thing to remember about all of this is. this this isn't an issue that's going on like i said before it's going to escalate in into conflict it's a political issue but it's also something that's at the core of argentine identity

these these islands have been under argentina's claim since before its independence this is not just something that came off as a wind argentina leaves that these islands belong to them and has felt that for over a century so i think we have to look at the deeper issues underlying this rather than just the politically agree if we go larry i mean there's a need for the mother. ok ok look but for many in south america this is just a colonial and you two it's a colonial issue for a lot of people in south america right go ahead well well yeah. so far as the argentinians would like to call it is the three thousand british citizens and her majesty's subjects currently living peacefully in these islands that want to go back to a point alex smith i think you misunderstood me slightly when i was saying that the issue about survival is that the great britain as a nation can survive with the loss of the falkland islands i was saying that the government of the day would fall if the falkland islands were ever taken now i do

agree with you know there is not going to be a military there's not going to be military answer to this this is going to be resolved peacefully in the end i firmly believe ok look if i can stay with you it's been thirty years so why hasn't it been resolved and it looks like nobody on either side wants to resolve it well as far as the british government is concerned the situation is resolved they've made very clear that. it's a matter of self-determination is clearly a line in the un charter and that is so long as the people of the falkland islands want to remain british they shall remain british and this is a very simple the simple fact the people of the falklands want to be british ok i don't want to be arnold and i don't think it is that simple go to larry here i mean this is not an indigenous people to these islands are they and this is what the argentine position is ok when he's how strong those who claim to self-determination if they're not indigenous to the island and as a matter of fact i mean i read somewhere was that only forty percent of the

population there is lived there for ten years what kind of self-determination is that. well trace of paternity of a lot of countries a lot of civilizations you may find kind of a murky antecedents but the interesting thing is of course the british had no difficulty in liquidating a vast empire its empire today consists of christian to. other falklands bermuda and a couple of other islands here and there so this is not exactly a country that's dedicated to colonialism or can you find an explanation of why this is happening in such a simplistic explanation as colonialism i think really what it is is that. in both countries the issue is become wrapped in symbolism and there also is another issue here and that is what really brought argentina into

the falkland war in one nine hundred eighty two and why is it posturing again right now i think the beginning of a discussion is we don't really know all the facts of the matter for example i would like to know why in general vernon walters was in the argentine military club when the issue is being of invading the falklands was discussed the being discussed and everyone turned to general walters who is raked president reagan's emissary from the united states and he simply shrugged this was taken interpreted by the argentine military as an ascent to archaeology and counter we're about to do and we also had ambassador jean kirkpatrick that evening the evening of the invasion which at the argentine embassy in washington she knew the invasion was going to take place why was she there. i think that the argentine government has

a point. body called the running back commission which is looking into these matters but this war this conflict this issue has an extraordinary potential for being explosive not because of richard herring important but because of the emotion now do you catch the issue on both sides ok alex what about the issue of self-determination i mean how strong do you think the case is for the people who live on the island for self-determination well i think. argentina has a very long history of angle argentine relations and not just that but english heritage within argentina there's no reason why the islanders the people who live on the island can't live peacefully independently within the sovereignty of argentina i mean if you look at argentina today has had to go new it also has to give me about well because that they want to be british subjects ok well look you

bring up a good point why you want to be british such as it can be why can't they just be british subjects within the sovereignty of argentina. what's wrong with that well they were under the salary control of argentina they would be british subjects. like it's very clear that some determination is based around the idea that these people living in the falkland islands today a want to be british now this argument that they're not indigenous population well there's never been an indigenous population on the falkland islands ever in fact the closest thing we have to an indigenous population is what we have there today you're correct in saying that you know roughly forty percent of these people may have lived in the falklands for less than ten years i'm not sure those facts but it sounds about right but i mean sixty person have lived there longer and some of them have been there for generations so quite clearly this is a matter of self-determination for the people of the falkland islands wanting to remain british now large and tina needs to do is if they if they think they have

a solution to this problem they need to say what they would do with the three thousand people living on these islands who wish to remain british if these islands were to go back on or go back into argentine control all right let me jump in guys we're going to go to a break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion of the future of the south atlantic island state party. resistance is not a politics but a culture. this could just. on its own. the be.

cultures of resistance on marching.

on. the. welcome back to crossfire i'm peter lavelle remind you we're talking about what the british called the fall when i. said that we were talking about the issue of self-determination and and researching this program here i'm going to i'm not an international lawyer but you know it's

seems like the they are sometimes have a pretty strong case for the sovereignty over the falkland islands i mean in many many ways i mean it was that they were themselves a colony of the spanish so i mean you know it is this this is not helping either side because either side is very rigid on that but they do have still a very strong case. yes i believe they do and i want to make it clear i'm not a nut rallying for the falkland cause either i like to look at this of the perspective of a journalist but i'd be very happy to outline the arguments in argentina's favor and i think the biggest one just to respond to what luke was saying a moment ago the three thousand islanders that want to become british we should certainly respect that we should hear them and respect their their desires but also recognise the basic fact twelve million argentines to three thousand people who live on a colonial vest each is not exactly equal in terms of of what they're both of

the weight of both causes what we have right now is a falkland fortress and the question is do we want to continue that you can you know cameron king keeps sending out as many elite destroyers as he like but it seems a bit counterproductive and what we should really be looking at here again are the valid id of argentina's claims which as you alluded to go far back both historically and also the importance of the geographic claims the resources surrounding the falkland ok i want to i want to get into the what i want to get to the way only shoot i want to tell you i should a second look i'll jump in go ahead you yesterday firstly that they don't want to become british that they are british in terms of the history of who has had control of the falkland islands you made the point that the the spanish the falkland islands are neither control but the last spanish settlement actually left an eighteen eleven and i believe that the argentine declared independence from the spanish in eight hundred sixteen so.