that we should let alone countries to the sexes that manufacture with holes of must storage and the time has come for us to remember our values to put right all our wrongs to celebrate our humanity and truly live the belief that each of us is the same parson as all of us. who are the because. if you use only one hand nothing happens but with thousands of hands things will change. food bill why did i protest people are scrounging for work without any freedom duty they are repressed and arrested by the government told me i'm of letting out of the family i. got there on the military trucks

smashed the gates and entered the monastery they beat up everyone and destroyed everything they tied up the monks and they kicked anyone who looked up. for you know that you know they made the monks crawl to the trucks they beat them from behind until they vomited blood. regardless of our lives we protested we protest for freedom. it's always the what the regime is doing is very unjust getting students and monks in jail as political prisoners. monks were and continue to be tortured and. sit on us military dictatorships never care about the people you do it to us and. they control and subjugate with fear of the law don't be on

a teacher. laugh. that was. last. as monks we don't take up arms did in the nick that we don't start and revolutions that would or yeah i know no more. than making the political situation would not benefit from armed revolution. i would say that the protest wasn't successful because many were killed.

in the past no one knew that the dictator tortured bait and arrested people need upolu moment we are but we know these are you can load a good word on. who we are will suffer on the revolution and show the world the cruelty of his regime the volume you need to know yes that is what all of this is one tangible victory. your government. the notion of what we do as people all around the world have huge consequences. for the extraordinary global mobilizations of february fifteenth two thousand and three when the world said no to war there were somewhere between twelve and fourteen million people in the streets that day all with the same slogan the world says no two in

a hundred different languages it was an amazing outpouring was summed up the guinness book of world records said it was the largest outpouring of humanity on one issue in the history of the world might not and should face later the new york times wrote there are once again two superpowers in the world the united states global public opinion that was huge we fail to soften your. but it did me in that when the war happened no one could deny that it was illegal this wasn't a situation where the us had been able to bribe and threaten enough countries of the un that the un gave them permission. might be more fun than it. might. be. nice. or. bad thing. pentagon playing out in your diverse

study. would break things a common goal. so we're trying to realistically as possible present this world as it could be so people can see what it's like. if you start to work towards it and then we have to push to make things actually help. you. the strike you have to demonstrate you have to go sit in the senator's offices if they don't do what you want it to do all the things to make things interesting and the best outcome would be ok what. that needs to be different from. the fifth and that should be because the. people. at the top of. the we need to do is go back to the take our lead not from a political party or

a politician. but take our leave some people struggle crossflow who have the audacity to say no. we must raise our voice says so much the only thing left is to fight to fight to fight. cut. please please

. just like you. don't like that song in my bare pocket because showing my daughter my you know we're basically. going to. talk about. what you could. do to them when. you just cut. cut cut cut cut. cut cut cut.

cut. cut. cut cut cut. short. since. what you see. with john limbert we did well. that's right. you can't wait. till you want to. go to greece is. that going to do you react. in a galaxy to. cut . cut cut cut.

cut. cut cut. cut cut cut. in a way to make sure you tell me let me shift on the markets i. will see. culture is the same of geography and job but you know that already one of the old we're into a different take your pick moment i went with a melvina britain and argentina against sparring over the legal status and future of these islands is this disputed. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear sees some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture.

three. three. three.

three. video for your media. free media r t v dot com. iran is touting two major developments in its nuclear program today and that's not all the countries doing sources now claim that iran is threatening to cut off all shipments to six european union countries are these rumors true and if so has the country countdown to conflict officially began. many western powers interested in fomenting unrest and syria and so they'll turn a blind eye to extreme weapons coming in through the borders they say there are two sides to every story but when it comes to the chaos in syria there's media outlets are only reporting about the trials and triumphs of the rebel forces we'll show you what lies on the other side.

i. could even that's wednesday february fifteenth four pm here in washington d.c. i'm lucy catherine of and you're watching r.t. well new developments out of iran today which has reportedly threatened to preempt a european union oil embargo by cutting off its own fuel exports to the region ron has also proclaimed major advances in its nuclear program today development that's not likely to sit well with the west which suspects that program of being aimed at producing atomic weapons and the significance of these developments lies partly in the timing iran has reiterated its readiness to resume talks with major powers and or in order to discuss controversial its controversial nuclear program but that message seems to have been drowned out by the drumbeat of war or at least aggressive talk out of israel now prime minister benj. in that time yahoo has accused iran of trying to destabilize the world alleging that tehran was behind the

recent bombings in georgia india and thailand iran in turn says that israel is waging a psychological war that many fear may pave the way to military action now a lot of tough talk here about if it turned to action the big question is where that would leave the u.s. it's a little bit too much of a familiar scenario here but it reminds me a little bit to be frank with iraq the threat of weapons of mass destruction al qaeda in iran pundits and lawmakers warning that the time is to actual right now or else it seems that the u.s. public opinion potentially a swaying to and recent poll by the newspaper the hill found that nearly half of all likely voters believe that the u.s. should be willing to use military force in order to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and while president obama has called for a diplomatic resolution he has been just as clear that no option is off the table so the drumbeat of war is growing louder the question is whether that march will lead well for that let's turn to investigative journalist and historian gareth porter who is with us in our studios here in error thank you before we sort of get

into. the nuances in the u.s. administration's policy towards the issue try to help me sort of dig through the rhetoric here because everyone each side israel their radiance the americans are sort of playing this game of bluffing of you know talking tough there is a lot of that going on no question about it i mean the iranian move to threaten to cut off exports of crude oil to european countries nothing first time they've done it and of course it's the logical thing for them to do because it is a bargaining tool for them to try to get greece spain and. italy particularly the three major european countries which do import large amounts of oil from from iran to pull back and say well maybe we can figure out a way to avoid a cut off of our and in. of our dealings with iran are struggling economically they're struggling economically and this gives iran obvious bargaining chip which

the iranians are the ones who are going to always play their bargaining chips they are the world's greatest bargainers it's not for nothing that we talk about persian rugs they're the original persian rug salesman and they always want to hold off or hold on to the bargaining chips until they can play them when the timing is right and i think they now feel this is the time to do it so that what accounts for example for israel's rhetoric clearly the israelis are you know have a geopolitical strategic interest for not seeing a nuclear armed iran but it does seem like the talk has been count up massively in the past few months well there are two different levels of this at one level there's no doubt the israelis particularly benjamin netanyahu the prime minister are playing the threat of a war against iran for everything it's worth to try to put pressure on iran to put pressure on the united states perhaps even more than that iran to do something more

drastic more fundamental against iran of course what they really want to the united states to attack iran's nuclear facilities but behind that there is a very serious question as to whether prime minister benjamin netanyahu netanyahu has himself personally a kind of massada complex as some jewish friends call it or or a messianic complex about being the the savior of the jewish people and thus being willing to risk. really the end of the state of israel so there is a serious question about that and i i don't know the answer but but it does in fact demand very careful attention to it to his role in this but yet the timeline of all this came from the u.s. it was panetta who leaked our sort of said that he's expecting the israelis maybe i don't i. as another ploy another bargaining. tactic if you will to try to put pressure on iran to say look it's a good cop bad cop routine at the same time i do think that the obama

administration is very concerned about the israeli policy that they want to distance the united states from any threat of war by israel against iran and should the israelis make that decision it's not clear what obama would do whether he would come to israel's assistance or not he's been making very quiet very subtle signals to both israel and iran that the united states would stay out of a war if united states bases and forces were not attacked but let me just step back for a moment and. bring to bear a little bit of historical perspective in this situation where everyone is very excited the u.s. news media sort of hyperventilating over every new. charge against iran and every new statement that iran makes about its nuclear program it's wise i think to just remember only a few years ago two thousand and six when the iranians were actually talking to the

european three the u.k. germany and france sitting down to negotiate the iranians were actually offering to limit the number of centrifuges to three thousand or less that is a deal that if the united states and the europeans would have leapt at it would have avoided this kind of crisis at that point the united states was not willing to support the deal and it was not willing to give that element. that the iranians demanded which was a security guarantee the europeans wanted it the bush administration refused and how can you have any serious talks with iran without really talking about a security guarantee that is of the essence of the deal that has to be made right well i mean you know you talk about sort of the rhetoric coming out of the mainstream media and even from our own politicians and the assumption is or the portrayal of the iranians is always as these you know irrational actors this terrifying threat and yet we haven't really seen that at least not in recent

history the iranians acting out you know not of course is a complete caricature or hardly even a caricature worth paying attention to because the matter of fact is that the iranians are very careful calculators they're very clever negotiators they carefully consider the balance of forces and what their house sets are and what the the advertorials assets are i think they are the exact opposite of the caricature that we're hearing from particularly of course from the israelis but also from from the united states to a great extent and yet the israelis for instance the israelis have attacked unprovoked we saw the bombings a few years ago the israelis of course have not admitted to having a nuclear program but have also not signed on to any sort of international court as a student of international politics i have to point out that the contrast between israel and iran militarily is really quite profound the israelis have very great

offensive capabilities the iranians have nothing we have no offensive capabilities at all all they have is the ability to retaliate both through assets in other countries their allies particular allies in the middle east and through you know retaliation through through missiles against israel and against u.s. bases in the region so really they are a defensive power by definition by the very stiff nature of their military assets and the lack of us so in that light. since you say in your piece are sort of talked about the u.s. which seems to be hinting that it would only get pulled into a conflict of its own soldiers or its own ships or its own bases were attacked could we see perhaps there's so much brinkmanship here. and attack that was done perhaps by somebody else in order to pull the us into that world out of the force that of course is always a danger that there could be a false flag attack or an effort at least a false flag attack but i can tell you that both the iranians and the americans are going to be very very alert for anything of the sort and it will have to be done

very very well in order to pass the test of scrutiny by both countries right and very briefly when we you know we see everyone sort of throwing around this drumbeat to war myself included what would be the consequences even if a quick u.s. military intervention attack and iran i mean it seems like they're being a lot of the from the united states i mean i can guarantee you with almost certainty that the united states is not going to take the initiative to attack iran the question is what would happen if israel attacked and what i'm hearing is that the u.s. military is very determined that the u.s. response immediately should be to call for a cease fire not to intervene not to start their own war against iran but to call for cease fire i think that's quite credible right law enforcement going to leave it there but quite interesting discussion especially in light of all of this again amped up rhetoric wherever you turn so thank you very much for shedding some balanced light on this issue and that was gareth porter investigative journalist

and historian. well from the drumbeat to war with iran using that phrase again to the escalating civil war in syria president bashar al assad has ordered a referendum on a new constitution to be held in eleven days at least according to that country's state run news agency that the move could effectively end nearly fifty years of single party rule and is aimed at stemming ongoing violence in that country and announcement of the referendum was greeted with criticism in washington the white house press secretary jay carney called the move quote quite laughable and so that it makes a mockery of the syrian uprising that the move may also be too little too late for other western countries have grown louder in their condemnation of assad's brutal crackdown on the uprising in syria archies maria for notion has more. since the beginning of the uprising in syria last march the regime of bashar assad has been accused of repression and killing but with

a bodman to blame has to focus on assad's forces attacking civilians and shelling residential areas. the beautiful yard calls himself a member of the authorization and intellectual not revolutionary one his tresses from a social democratic group originally from homes 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 why and he is trying to. protect civilians i think that in homs 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 b. says when he went to homs he put in his mind that the opposition is very peaceful and the g.m. is trying to frame them so 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 one attack on a military base in a letter last week an f.s.a. free syrian army recruits entered to admit its responsibility before the organization later denied it blaming government forces a 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 states support them last sunday the arab league vote still for a full political and financial support for the opposition to unify its ranks but it

is similar call from the leader of al qaida urging muslims to unite efforts to help overthrow bashar al assad. recent reports suggest iraqi weapons qatari troops and libyan rebels a role in syria on the opposition side this makes for a volatile and highly dangerous makes one of 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 lone figure 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 for six thousand i don't see expose them

but you would be surprised to know that over to cause of it hundreds of. this is. 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 talk more with violence from opposition forces which has been a key factor in the country's present term or they warn the find of the solution to the country's crisis isn't possible without recognizing all its causes written off an hour to damascus syria i have a lot to discuss here on this issue so let's bring in michelle. he is the director of the center for research on globalization thank you so much for being here now and as we just saw president assad has ordered a referendum on the new constitution as part of promised reforms and what impact if any do you see this having on the global dynamic when it comes to the western attitude towards syria. i think the question we have to is. what is the

likelihood of success of a referendum in a country which is characterized by by war terrorist acts this referendum can take place under present conditions that's absolutely a possibility one would have to pacify and there that the these terrorists that it's a very should withdraw that so that i i don't very optimistic as far as the referendum has been so i certainly know it's the fact that the government. that's that's its commitment to swallowed by the constitution that introduced a multi-party system but the people who are well fighting the government are not interested in multi-party democracy and they are they are directly and we know they are directly backed by doing so we also know from reliable sources including

military sources that they are not employ six and cia. operatives which are present all the ground out there qatari french british and turkish special forces. syria. collaborating with the rebels the free syrian army is not something which is representative of the opposition that is an opposition within syria within civil society but we're dealing with something entirely different which is that of insurrection and that has been the case like with de waart i'd be following this since these events are up to the. march of last year and as such is asking you say that these rebels are backed by nato what interest when nato or the u.s. or western forces have at all and backing the opposition well it's a bit leave the purpose of this action is to create.