at the time of this the argentine declared independence from spain no one had de facto control over the falklands and was until a two hundred thirty three with a major british settlement that really became permanent around eight hundred thirty eight that the falkland islands were actually settled by anyone and this argument about a geographical location is holds no water at all because look at canary islands for example then morocco would have a claim over the canary islands ok larry if i can go to you i mean as a result of the war thirty years ago there was it was the united nations that it should be a compromise or should be negotiations between britain and argentina why can't why can't this just be resolved i mean if there's just no political will is there. well in. a lot of little elements here one is argentine is not particularly famous for good governance and an argument is repeatedly made to remind us that back in nineteen seventy six eighty three some twenty five thousand

arjun current civilians were murdered by the military. secondly. in terms are precedents and so forth you clearly can't look at this self-determination issue as either strengthening or weakening the respective positions of the two countries because you can find compelling arguments going either way and sovereignty issue isn't clear cut and you know both countries can score their points the real issue at this point is that there has to be a solution because the argent tines are going to continue to mine over the issue because this is a great national cause that can be exhumed when. you need a big whenever you need a good distraction waves

a bloody flag of frog. and even even a severance go right ahead. yeah let me jump in very quickly can i let me tell you one very easy way for me to lose this argument by defending the military junta and argentina and i would never do that i'm not going to defend a group of murderers and murderers who are currently serving life sentences in jail now the real issue here is that ardent the argentine democracy today which has not only distance itself from this military dictatorship but has been proactive in finding justice for for the atrocities committed why should they have to pay for the stupidity and the. just the actions of these military generals the violent actions of these generals i think we have to i think what mr burns is doing is he's equating the government of cristina kirchner to that of the dell or some of these more of these these dictators and that's just not fair so i think we have to

really look at modern day argentina today ok just to get to a second point this issue of what ok i'm going to raise your second point quickly go. to an easy argument also to say to discard argentines claims here is that it's bloviation they're whining this is all political but if you actually look at the past thirty years their claims to the islands are and i'm talking the last thirty years very in keeping with foreign policy in economic policy after the the actions the belligerent actions of the military junta with with the birth of democracy following the failure of the war under menem in the ninety's he kept this issue low he wanted to get on the good side of england of britain but what happened with the kitchener first minister and the christina with their governments is they didn't want to be dependent on these strong western countries the united states england so they said we are going to build our national sovereignty we're going to making do you know we're going to make this country great i'll actually get in let me do that involves let me jump in because there's another huge issue out there that we haven't really talked about and that's called oil and there's

a potential there vast reserves could be there and the british are now unilaterally doing exploration. is this what it should really now all about is about oil because maybe the britains don't care about the falkland islands but they care about oil b.p. does go ahead. well that's a forgive me it's a bit of a simplistic way to look at the situation you're absolutely correct in saying that there is exploration going on around the falkland islands but i also believe and correct me if i'm wrong alex about i think there's some actual there was some joint falkland argentine exploration going on as well but the matter to me is quite simple if the oil that is found is found around the falkland islands in the area. under its sovereign control then we know where the oil belongs but this sort of back and forth between margin. than that and their followers and that continues to

dominate alex go ahead so i could say yeah like i said the only the only colonial asking me to this whole debate is the fact that argentina once a colonized three thousand british subjects in the hawk eye and i think that's a bit simplistic alex do you want to record i heard david cameron too but oh no that's right yes something i know what you are aware of us that us of the three thousand one hundred s. the three thousand people who live on the falkland islands and they will want to remain british ok larry if i can go to you how do you how do you see the oil playing into this here go ahead go ahead larry. i'm sorry i didn't get your point now my but what you know we throwing in oil now here how does this change the mix all right right right. this becomes an economic determinism argument. you know the british certainly like the sniff of oil. but you have to face up to the fact that income we have to calm the nigeria and so forth which have plenty of oil the british had no problem giving up. colonies.

it is not that. and the. british tradition when it comes to come these what you have here is that the conservative party margaret's. sure the iron lady. who was able to describe general and be known many as ten pop dictators but i had no problem in hugging and bracing general pinochet of chile because chile was of use to the british in the falklands that is the tories big adopted this issue as the as the great pottery out of the issue of the decade and it was a very heroic one and the british sending their v. bombers thousands of miles an improvised oil tankers that had landing

strips laid down on them it was a it was really a glorious war and there is a subset of the british population that is deeply committed to that war and also. a much larger percentage of the british population that can have their enthusiasm be revived very quickly if there's any threat to the fore croons and the tories know they can work this issue and of course is a domestic component to this but it's not something that the world has to get with because the british have quite quite you know as a matter of fact as bonafide the case no better no worse than the arjen time and i don't think the argentines have a say there's another scenario there's another element here look if i go to you what about the the antarctic ok because it's become more and more important and this is a nice nice foothold for the for the brits to be on what they call the falkland islands i mean there are other places they did these islands are moving but

political reality and economic reality is moving. yeah with it with these islands and the south atlantic you know the days of the british empire are over. value these islands now in the twenty first century are. not really relevant this isn't about for great britain this is not about oil this is not about power this is a. strategic influence on the subtle and think this is a simple matter of three thousand people living on some islands that wish to remain british subjects and say is listen i'm going to give you we're going to give alex the last word here is this just a principled issue here there's no it that's that's the top priority you think in this conflict it's principle but of course you have political rhetoric of course on both sides christian churches saying give peace a chance which everybody i think gave a little sigh to this is about i mean this is about sovereignty and this is about

the issue of what are we going to leave the colonial past behind are we going to look to the future are we going to face up to reality which is that it's not sustainable for the islanders on the falklands and the argentine citizens to keep up a good relationship if there's this tension and if there's this ridiculous divide between them trading lines their relationship in many different ways is very clear so we should just acknowledge that all right gentlemen we've run out of time but a status quo has lasted for thirty years maybe another thirty years that many thanks to my guest today in washington thanks to our viewers for watching us here are to see you next time and remember. you.

more news today violence has once again flared up. these are the images the world seeing from the streets of canada. china operations to rule the day. we'll. iran says it's been considering cutting the oil sales to six countries but wouldn't do so quote at the moment because of the cold snap across europe. syria's president announces a vote on a new constitution that would effectively and nearly fifty years of single party rule the country amid rising turmoil. and rallies marking a year since the pro-democracy uprising in bahrain protesters face yet another harsh clampdown with police using tactics and weapons a. midnight

in moscow i met très a good to have you with us here on r t our top story iran has reportedly war in six states it may stop supplying them with oil in response to a series of sanctions including an embargo on terror on this key export iranian official also added that only reason they're not stopping crude sales immediately zero six stream lee cold current temperatures are he's jacob greaves has more from greece. accord to the latest reports here all we hear is the iranian foreign ministry has cooled up these are bastards of these six nations being concerned and told them that cuts will happen but not right away or they will face a ban on exports of their nations but they'll be given some leeway and that's what they termed humanitarian reasons the cold snap has been sweeping across europe but will no doubt if implemented preempt somewhat those sanctions imposed by the e.u.

back in january and due to be implemented in july six nations in question here well those reported to be in the really thick of it when it comes this economic crisis we have the netherlands of france also portugal italy spain and greece is well there's already been questions raised here because tehran says that he can find other people to buy its exports that's the likes of india and china where is is down to being raised as to whether or not the place that good and quite cheap supply of oil to those who have been so stricken in recent times greece in particular is in a sticky situation right now failing to guarantee another bailout plan even though they push through further popular austerity measures just on sunday and this really raises a bit of a concern at the moment that those imposed sanctions on iran back in january by

e.u. member states could shortly come back to bite them. stay with us here on r.t. for more analysis of the e.u.'s economic woes with journalist charlie mcgrath will join us later this hour. meanwhile tehran has reiterated its readiness to resume nuclear talks with major powers to discuss the country's controversial nuclear program as well israel has stepped up its stance against iran with prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying tehran's aggression must be stopped he repeated the claims that iran was behind recent bombings allegedly targeting israelis in india georgia and thailand israel says there are links between the incidence of iran denies any involvement saying israel is waging a psychological war that many fear may pave the way to military action political analyst chris bambery from the international socialist group explains why he thinks israel is acting as if. i have to take israel's claim that iran is behind the attacks on its diplomats in georgia and india with

a pinch of salt firstly should be said israel has a long record of using assassination as the tool i think it might be better of originals to turn around and say in response to those that is going to stop its assassination policy other nations like iran to it is appropriate but i don't think israel is going to do that because used assassination so often i think what it is rules are trying to do is trying to up the ante and so the americans will do something they aren't capable of taking out iran's nuclear program they don't have the means to do it best they could memorize a hit and run and run attack i think it actually behind the rhetoric about nuclear weapons the reality is what they are worried about is the increase of increase of iran's influence in the in the region the rain is of constantly said they're not going to me nuclear weapons international atomic energy inspectors have just been to iran that came by saying it was a good visit they were going back to iran they're getting cooperation you wouldn't

know this from reports in the western media so i think there is a rush to the my opinion is the ratcheting up is not by the iranians it is by the israelis and by the americans and i think there is a lot of hypocrisy about iran's nuclear program find a new coordinate. oh indeed nuclear weapons i do one but it was ok for iran to have a nuclear program in the one nine hundred seventy s. when britain france and america would queuing to sell the shah of iran you could say it was ok then because the shah of iran was one of the guys it's not ok for the iran to have nuclear weapons no and islamic republic. has more on the other kinds of pressure iran faces over its nuclear program on our website the us plans to a big iran from a financial group that would hurt the country's oil sales but could in turn have global consequences click on r.t. dot com for all those details.

syria's president bashar al assad has ordered a referendum on a new constitution to be held in eleven days it could put an end to the one party rule of the president's bath party which is a tried in the current constitution you know this man came amid reported violence in the cities of holmes and hamas some of the fiercest in the months long on rast marie if an ocean or reports from damascus. but they did for the people's referendum on the country's new constitution has been announced on wednesday it is expected to be held on the twenty sixth of february in eleven days the syrian government has been working on a draft for this new constitution for quite a while now and it has sad that the most important thing about this new constitution the most important change is that it implies the end of monopoly of the ruling party in syria involved party has been in power in the country for the

last fifty years actually since the beginning of the uprising here in syria last march protestors have been calling for democratic reforms and for amendments to the country's key law the wake of violence that followed in the show demonstrations peaceful demonstrations many opposition leaders have been only demanding president bashar al assad to go and they will not be satisfied with this particular reform with this particular month random this news it's how has come i mean numerous reports about violence all across syria we've been hearing reports from the city of hama north of the capital damascus from the opposition activists saying that the tanks of assad's army have been deployed in the city and we've also been receiving reports from another troubled area from the city of homes where reportedly there have been explosions at the all pipeline activists have been reported four

hundred people dead in the last few days since almost all these recalls happened coming from one source from the opposition they has been a feeling that another part another side of this conflict in syria has been kind of ignored. since the beginning of the uprising in syria last march the regime of bashar al assad has been accused of repression torture and killing but with a bad month of homes blame has since focused on assad forces attacking civilians and shell in residential areas. the beautiful yard calls himself a member of the opposition an intellectual not the really one his stress is from a social democratic group originally from holmes he blames assad for mistakes which allowed bloodshed at the start but he just defies what the regime is doing in his native city now he is the two i mean he is trying to.

protect civilians i think that in homs there are many gangs you know there is a title and everyone can claim that he belongs with this title and no one can ban him the danger posed by the armed forces was seen in the killing of a french journalist last month and he says when he went to homs he put in his mind that the syrian opposition is very peaceful and the g.m. is trying to frame them so he he was like a pioneer in the call and he was killed by the some gang attacks on government targets have become increasingly bloody themselves with twenty eight people killed and scores injured on an attack on a military base in aleppo last week and f.s.a. free syrian army representative at the meet its responsibility before the organization later denied it claim and government forces claim ridiculed by the regime. insurgents and terrorists have committed this attack only an insane person

could say that the government is killing its officials and officers and destroying its own administrative buildings these armed terror groups were created to commit these crimes and they have committed them in the past and will continue to do so if the west and the arab street support them last sunday the arab league vote still for full political and financial support for the opposition to unify its ranks it is similar call from the leader of al qaida and muslims to unite efforts to help overthrow bashar. recent reports suggest iraqi weapons qatari troops and libyan rebels are role in syria on the opposition side this makes for a volatile and highly dangerous makes. many western powers interested in fomenting unrest and syria and so they'll turn a blind eye to extreme weapons coming in through borders like lebanon and turkey to

create the very militants i won't call them terrorists but very dangerous armed groups but the west has its eyes wide open when it comes to the reported death toll to come of the no un figure of more than five thousand employees civilians only but that's bigger leaves out any mention of pro-government forces killed in the conflict some say the numbers are destroyed to meet a political objectives. our number so far on six of them i don't see expose them but you would be surprised to know that over two poles of it hundreds. this is the . good the commented foreign pressure has focused on the assad regime but the syrian government and its international supporters say there's been a total failure will talk more with violence from opposition forces which has been a key factor in the country's present turmoil they warn that find it a solution to the country's crisis isn't possible without recognizing all its

causes written off now t. damascus syria. is continuing to put pressure on syria's president assad to step down confirming new sanctions against the country are underway political analyst dr obama xabi thinks western leaders are sending the wrong signals to the opposition who should be encouraged by the announcement of a referendum on the new syrian constitution. the way forward is to have dialogue and i think in order to have dialogue there must be sacrifices on on on both sides here is the president making. a huge move forward by presenting a draft of the constitution and i think that that should be in his view in many people's view sufficient for to convince the other side to sit down on the table. and to have a serious dialogue. that would save syria the destruction and say this so many

people. the city and opposition is calling for reform what is the best way to get that done is it through cutting weapons and shooting at government institutions. and having a civil war of course not i think all of the city and. however many of the groups who are fighting today in cities they actually are not ready for dialogue they have they have working according to western agenda in order to remove that is i think it is their little problem or foreign interference in sit in affairs. greek party leaders or senate written commitments to brussels saying they'll stick to the agreed austerity measures even after the general election is set for april are still demands athens has failed to fulfill which led to the cancellation of a key meeting of eurozone finance ministers greece continues to struggle to secure a second ballot from its international creditors which is due to default next month

for more on this i'm joined by charlie mcgrath founder of wide awake news so the greek finance minister tried to reassure the people saying that the country needs to stay in the euro zone for the sake of future generations after all the protests that we've been seeing do you think there's any hope left of among the greeks for a better future. well for the citizens i do not i mean it's pretty obvious that the european central bank and the cabal of banks' toure's that are currently running the global financial system have put their puppet in their path to demas then he will do everything possible until he is. let go of his tenure as prime minister to ensure that they will have this onerous austerity being implemented on to them so for the people of greece you know the prospect the future is not bright at all all this is being done of course to make sure that banks don't realize any losses at the expense of the people of greece and there's been a lot of criticism pointed at greece as it keeps delaying decisions demanded by the

e.u. when the greek president responded to the attacks rather emotionally taking on the german finance minister saying quote i don't have to x. i do not accept having my country taunted by the finance minister and as a greek i don't accept it how wide are these political cracks that seem to be forming in the e.u. . well there are very wide and it's important that the fracture continues because what's at stake isn't debt it isn't the big banks of europe being paid off what's at stake is sovereignty for the five hundred million people on the continent of europe you know greek greece is the first domino once they read a cape a sovereign nation in greece which they are trying. to hand over fist to achieve over there by neutering their parliament by dictating laws financial loss from brussels once that's achieved in greece you know it is not going to stop there and i think that's what a lot of people don't realize you know even the day that this greek deal was announced moody's came out and downgraded austria france italy malta portugal

slovenia slovakia spain and the u.k. they are not going to stop in till they can eradicate representative government government inside of europe and have everything controlled financially out of brussels and if you control the financial the financial aspect of these countries you control these countries but many people are pointing to the fact that the greek economy is uncompetitive and simply won't survive in the euro zone what's your take on that. well you know in the western media the mainstream media would have you believe that this is all brought on greek greece and it's their own fault they want you to believe that these folks retire when they're twelve years old they get every benefit under the sun and they contribute absolutely nothing to the eurozone if that is the case fine let em default that's what happens in free market capitalism if you can't pay your bills as a person or a nation in free market capitalism you default you go bankruptcy bankruptcy is a very important part of free market capitalism unfortunately that is not what we have we have a disaster capitalism we will use disaster use crisis in order to implement all its

austerity and make whole entire nation's debt slaves these european banks they took a lesson from what happened in this country the united states in two thousand and eight and this time instead of asking the people of the continent of europe to bail out the banks they're demanding it so wouldn't the best thing then be for greece to simply default do you think and do like argentina did default go back to their original currency and then build the economy up from there i would agree with that one hundred percent the people of argentina the people of iceland you'd say the banks i'm sorry i can't live up to my obligations i'm going to use a common practice in free market capitalism i'm going to default i'm going to declare bankruptcy and we're going to start all over again that would be the best things for the citizens of greece just like it was the best things for the citizens of argentina and iceland it won't be the best thing for the international globalist banks there's. charlie mcgrath founder of wide awake news thanks for your time.