sunni rulers responded to their demands by using security forces from saudi arabia and pakistan now artie's ivor bennett looks at the masterminds behind these tactics . tear gas and stun grenades supposedly the work of a reformed police force but one year on since the first anti-government protests will crushed in bahrain it seems not much has changed the only difference now the crackdowns been planned by one of britain's former top cops john the eights used to be assistant commissioner of london's metropolitan police he now works for bahrain's monarchy which says he's there to oversee police reforms the police have borrowed or behaving despicably their latest trick is to throw cans of tear gas into homes of people they don't like shut the doors and people have died choking to death tear gas or use out of doors and i think for the british police officer overstimulate is retired to be associated in any way with his is his role yes

resigned from scotland yard last year in early fix him of the phone hacking scandal he popped up in bahrain in december as part of the regime's p.r. campaign to clean up its image a campaign pushed hard it seems by yeats himself he recently told the daily telegraph his new charges had a well rehearsed plan for the anniversary of the uprising adding the concept of reasonable reaction to provocation has been reinforced. as for the uprising itself he said this isn't organized protests it's 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. over sixty five people actually died from police brutality activists in bahrain insist 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 toxic gases and use of poisoning. mr john 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 seizing 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to bahrain from july to september last year long after blood was spilled that despite insisting all licenses had been revoked as for yates his contract runs until april by which time he hopes to put in place concrete reforms on this evidence that seems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 r.t. london. middle east expert. says that besides the u.k. an american policeman has also been hired by the country's authorities to train a security forces. those countries which i regard it as as the west still stooges of the west basically not criticized regularly very rarely do we have coverage it's not just the gulf states and bahrain in particular it is also countries like yemen whose brutal former president is currently in the united states receiving medical treatment and no reporting it's taking place now we have a situation where the chief advice to the bahraini police is the former chief of police in philadelphia and in florida. who's recorded those two parts of the united states wasn't very good he's not giving women rights on how to

crush and brutalized to demonstrate to us and he says they're doing it like should be because these demonstrators create traffic problems the problem in bahrain is sort of traffic problem it is a problem that seventy to eighty percent of the population feels it has no representation whatsoever and yet nothing happens on this front actually. our website our two dot com is of the place where you can find all the latest news and analysis including the column. here you can read expert opinion that says that the last is struggling to keep a brave face as it proceeds with its grab for dominance in the region also online for you right now. russian language is silenced in one field as the majority of voters in the baltic states project a proposal to give official status to the language used by a third of its population. the chinese vice president has received a warm welcome in washington and during his tour of america however the us media

has been less positive positive promoting a menacing image of the communist country which holds a quarter of all u.s. foreign held a debt but for the white house business comes before public opinion as art he's got to check out reports. what a better way to celebrate valentine's day than with a partner who lends you money nonstop provides you with cheap labor and host thousands of your factory to the remarkable development of china u.s. relations america's love for china would be boundless if not for the growing fear of it these guys around for us and the end of it and looking for ways to. to work to harness i want to be china i want to go to war with china and make america the most attractive place in the world to do business menacing and vilifying china are typical for political campaigns in america these days like

these that delegate. us to adapt to our fortune through it and that is how our great empire grows again. it's not too late to stop this nightmare it's on r.g.p. even children still made in china in short that if anything get a kidney no sweetie the chinese aren't going to get. there's two billion of them in their economy is getting there with their fear does it take now to do they're going to be good and they make it. with china being the biggest foreign creditor for the us the economic interdependency between the two is raising red flags in the minds of many americans china can very easily just bankrupt america overnight all they've got to do is just dump dollars and treasuries switch to euros reveal the current lets him have a market except experts agree china would never do that because beijing is just as interested in preserving the value of their us treasury holdings as well as the

rich market for their manufactured goods but this economy interdependency becomes a headache for washington when china demonstrates policies independent from america's will and the white house has to stifle this content. mindful on smiles china blocking the u.s. backed resolution on syria is one example russia came under fire from washington for opposing forceful regime change in syria while the u.s. criticism for china was far more muted for taking the same position but the reality is that. the west has to treat with much more with kid gloves because of the integral relationship in terms of the way that the chinese economy now is so totally woven in with the western one washington's treatment of this or that country depends on its interests there is nothing surprising about that but it seems with really no american may find itself hostage to those interests in

a situation where you cannot simply dictate its policies in the meantime beijing's economic clout is growing feeling america's fear i'm going to check our reporting from washington our team. u.s. presidential contender ron paul has warned that his country is slipping into a fascist system with a broken government ruled by big business speaking to supporters in kansas city the republican candidate said americans individual liberties were being stripped away from radio host and author stephen leatherman says the vast majority of americans are unaware of how much their civil liberties have been eroded. america is a fascist state the only thing i disagree with that is it's not slipping into it it's deep into it i am not a ron paul supporter but i absolutely support is up with this interim period all wars he has got out of the federal reserve the easiest is a repressive group is privately all new upgraded it isn't federal and it doesn't

get reserves is ron paul explains is owned by the media basically just mean little wall street was used and the money flowing to create more of it at the public's experience is long as the system goes on this way that in the muck you see cannot coexist it doesn't and these bashes bankers are allied with the fascist militarists their group allies in people that run it rule lising people are all we have deeply repressive police state laws the most recent was slipped into the national defense authorization act on the last day of two thousand and eleven he gives the us government the rate to let the military arrest and throw in military dungeons you want to seriously anywhere in the world jobs than leave them alone charged give them a military tribunal trial give them no trial let them rot in prisons forever if

there isn't a fascist dictatorship what is. now some of today's news making headlines around the globe this hour. twenty people have been a killed in baghdad after a bomb exploded striking a crowd of recruits outside a police academy no group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast which also saw at least twenty eight others wounded iraq's police are considered to be the weakest element of the country's security forces which are the target of bombings and shootings almost daily. a prison riot in northern mexico has left at least forty four people dead the unrest started in the city of upper dhaka when a group of cell mates took one of the guards hostage the riot then spread to a second cell block as well deadly unrest in mexican prisons is common with gangs often attempting to joe breaks some thirty one inmates died in january in a riot in the gulf coast city of all tomorrow. with two months to go until the

french presidential election nicolas sarkozy has held his first major campaign speech in the port city of say the president was met by thousands of cheering supporters today says the latest opinion polls place him behind socialist rival the current front runner francois. france is now facing an unemployment rate ten percent has been forced to cut spending. and i will be back with an update of the latest developments and this week's top stories in just a few moments. from. back

to you are watching our team with the latest news and the week's top stories. iran . stops oil sales to british and french companies to head off the e.u. sanctions aimed at curbing tehran's automatic atomic program saudi arabia has stepped down by saying it is prepared to supply blood with extra oil we've needed. the u.n. general assembly voted. to condemn of the assad regime or for the violence in syria

while russia and china continue their efforts to broker peace and through negotiations this comes amid reports of escalating violence in the country while damascus promises reforms. and the greek prime minister flies to brussels for last minute talks to secure a vital one hundred thirty billion euro bailout for his country thousands have taken to the streets of athens to express their anger over fresh austerity measures . now for some insight into what may be behind the pressure heaped on iran we spoke to brian becker a member of the answer antiwar coalition that interview is up next. thank you for joining us on r.t. thank you but does the united states want from tightening the sanctions i mean there it's even beyond tightening the sanctions now indeed it is the united states government has created an artificial crisis that's first and foremost it's

a manufactured crisis iran is complying with the i.a.e.a. iran does not have a nuclear weapon iran is not threaten its neighbors iran has not started a war with any of its neighbors israel on the other hand has hundreds of nuclear weapons and unlike iran refuses to sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty does not allow. inspectors into its country so there's not really a nuclear menace or a nuclear danger from iran and so what is the cause what's the cause of the crisis of the artificial crisis the real goal is the united states government has embarked on a course of extreme economic aggression against iran with the hope that by creating economic suffering economic isolation economic misery that part of the population will rise up or become disenfranchised with the government so that the u.s. can do as it has in history carry out regime change they deny that the us deny that

it's trying to carry out there was a change in iran right i mean we have to take that with a very very big grain of salt because we know that since one nine hundred seventy nine the united states refuses to have relations with the islamic republic of iran why is it because iran is a dictatorship well it's actually a democratic government it has democratic features far beyond some of america's most foremost their allies in the middle east such as saudi arabia for instance since one thousand nine hundred eighty nine iran became an independent government before that between one nine hundred fifty three and one thousand nine hundred seventy nine when the shah was there the shah basically is a proxy or a puppet or a client of the american power. so the u.s. says they're not carrying out regime change but in fact everyone who's watching knows that indeed is the u.s. policy to create pressure on iran carry out overt operate covert operations economic sanctions and now these new sanctions are not really even

a like the old saying they are same to the rest of the world if you dare do business with iran central bank if you buy iranian oil which constitutes half of iran's g.n.p. if you have any business with iran whatsoever you will not have access to american banks to american corporations to the american market this is in fact a blockade something like an economic blockade of iran and by international law in economic blockade is an act of war and so we should understand it just like that so what do you think iran's response is going to be well iran so far has been very prudent even though they said that they would consider closing the strait of hormuz that six mile stretch of the persian arabian gulf where twenty five percent of the world's oil supply goes through. and even though much was made of that in the western media in fact iran has not done anything to give the u.s.

. pretext an excuse a provocation so to speak that would allow the united states or israel to trigger a set of military actions a run i think is also telling its people that we are not panicked we the iranian government are not panicked that they're trying to show that they have a serenity and a calmness and a confidence and that they will weather the storm but in fact economic sanctions are taking a bite on the iranian economy right now there is a lot to see about this israeli possible attack specially israeli possible attack wall street journal says that the u.s. is planning a plan b. . should israel attack i think the israelis try to pretend that iran constitutes an existential threat to israel i don't think that that in fact is the case even though iran's military has the capability to do great damage to israel in the event

of a war even though israel is a nuclear power i think that the israeli government has in a pattern and a practice of invasion and bombing of its neighbors in the middle east it carried out the bombing of a racks nuclear facility in one thousand nine hundred one even though that was a permitted by international law and subject to spectrum's in other words a nuclear program for civilian energy purposes israel came and bombed it they did the same to syria in the last few years and they would like to carry out military strikes against the iranian government the americans don't want that right now even though they are happy to be have iran in a state of tension they don't really want israel to become the main protagonist with the iranian government by carrying out an unprovoked military strike i mean i'm talking about the main sectors in the american establishment because that would then present the crisis death struggle between the islamic republic of iran on one

side in the israeli's regime on the other and in that case iran will be able to mobilize mass support throughout the middle east for it the united states has a different tact they want to keep israel sort of in the background lou mean danger in threatening iran in one way keeping iran in the state of tension perhaps militarily but have the economic sanctions do the bulk of the work by carrying out economic and financial isolation against the iranian government they think in the long term that's the easier way the better way or the more effective way to carry out regime change the u.s. has puzzled over israel's intentions so what if israel does decide to try. iran and this is a u.s. official says it's hard to know what's a bluster and what's not with israelis well i think a lot of that is baloney and nonsense the israelis are the recipient benefactor of three billion dollars a year in u.s.

military aid if they do something that's completely contrary to what washington wants they will be on the very short end of the stick the israelis are not dominating and dictating u.s. policy in this geo strategically and they are not they have a big influence in washington they have a strong lobby but when it comes to iran or when it comes to iraq the israelis do not tell the united states what to do it's vice versa if israel strikes no if the conflict is presented that way between the islamic republic and israel the people of the middle east will really to the side of iran the assassination of tehran in scientist which rick santorum called half a mess or. or john bolton of. the former u.s. ambassador to the united nations the sanctions that tightening up the sanctions the . coalition that the u.s. is trying to build against iran what is iran going to do to face all of this

pressure well iran has certain allies to iran has russia and it has china increasingly it has venezuela and cuba another words those governments in the world in addition of course to syria which has its own problems right now but the countries in the world don't want the entire world to be dominated by one power the united states of america they recognize that the existence of iran as an independent government is something that is positive meaning that if the united states were were were to be successful in carrying out regime change in iran they would be emboldened to carry out further destabilizing efforts against other powers including russia and china by the way even though there are great powers. so i think that iran has allies and i think iran is trying to show that they can weather the storm and also that they can rally their population in spite of the

fact the divisions that were revealed in two thousand and nine after the elections the presidential elections the iranian people as a whole i don't believe they should be sanctioned the iranian people believe that they have as they do the right to develop nuclear power for peaceful civilian purposes and i think right now the iranian government is trying to weather the storm they're also making it clear that they don't options that they have they have limited options they have limited options and that's the big issue here i think is that. in america right now in the united states nobody feels this issue they don't feel there's a war looming they don't feel the problem of economic sanctions it's the iranians who are feeling it it's the tension the pressure of the economic problems are all one sided this is like a great power the seven hundred pound gorilla who decides to sit wherever it wants to sit and it can create immense tension and pressure and economic suffering somewhere else without having to endure any political price so that that's the big

problem and as a peace activist and as someone who believes in human rights in i think will do will see this more and more in the united states we are starting to concentrate our efforts to expose the fact that the united states government is carrying out through a different set of tactics the same thing that they did in iraq they carried out regime change in iraq not to make iraq more democratic more human rights oriented but to dominate a wreck and i think they they want to do that in iran and we need to have people outside of iran stand up and say iran should not be alone on this that's not presidential elections have any say in what's going on in real and what's going to happen with iran and tens of washington. i think the presidential elections in the united states definitely play a role in u.s. policy towards iran that by the way has been the case ever since the iranian revolution iran has factored into american politics in this case the republican

candidates are sort of baiting obama and suggesting that if obama is reelected we will have a nuclear armed iran someday soon well i might do something just to counter their statements because it's an election year i don't think so i think that it's not out of the question that obama could opportunistically up the ante or even escalate tensions or even allow some sort of limited military attack against iran in order to show how tough he is and how why he's not a liberal. or something like that but i don't think so this is a very big project for the pentagon for the cia for the us establishment i think it goes beyond electoral politics and i think the obama administration and the pentagon are having a carefully calibrated approach that won't again with regime change the republicans and democrats share the same objective one is more demagogic lee militant against iran they both share the same objective which is to bring iran back into an

americans fear of influence and i think the republicans can't move obama that much because obama actually has the backing of the pentagon in terms of this particular approach the pentagon is bogged down in afghanistan they really were pushed out of iraq they have a lot of a lot of military problems a major full scale war right now which could happen even if they don't intend it by people climb the escalation ladder.

the latest news in the week's top stories right here on r.g.p. iran stop the oil sales to british and french companies to head off a few sanctions aimed at curbing tehran's atomic program saudi arabia has stepped into by saying it is prepared to supply the block with extra oil if needed. the u.n. general assembly votes to condemn of the assad regime up for the violence in syria while russia and china continue their efforts to broker peace through negotiations and this comes amid reports of escalating violence in the country while the mask is promising reform. and the greek prime minister flies to brussels for

last minute talks to secure a vital one hundred thirty billion euro bailout for his country thousands have taken to the streets of athens to express their anger over pressure charity measures. and those are the top stories this hour dmitri is here next with all of the sports news. hello there all the latest from the sporting world in our team in the next eleven minutes of our top stories this hour. be seen russia win the european cup here in moscow for the second time in a row. boxing brawl bridge david haye and chisora. press conference has metallic which call retains his w.b.c. heavyweight title. and his first european crown to

a five year old golfer from south africa. the masters in new delhi. so let's start with boxing where heavyweights world champion metallic leach caus points picture of a british challenger jarrett has been overshadowed by a brawl at the post fight price conference klitschko was celebrating retaining his w.b.c. title with a unanimous points victory over to zorra when the press conference was interrupted by another former heavyweight world champ and david haye. leaving the stage and confronting the news klitschko what's on his or claimed he was lost and then said he would shoot a partridge to the last stage swung a try but his trainer adam booth was left with a bloody face german police detained to store. for his part in the incident.