a massive new bailout for greece amid doubts that athens will be able or willing to shoulder the grouping of sturdy measures imposed by brussels. iran and israel exchange threats of preemptive strikes put tel aviv's allies want an attack on tehran could cause a wave of chaos across the middle east. and civic conscience replaces indifference as russia's upcoming presidential election sees an awakening of people wanting to take part in the nation's political life our top stories this hour. international news and comment live from moscow this is. another day of violence in the flashpoints of crisis like syria it's an edge heavy shelling by government forces in the city of homs has left dozens dead and there are reports the army has

fired on demonstrators in the capital damascus even aid workers say they are now unable to deliver vital supplies to the worst hit areas. is in the syrian capital. here in the capital damascus we're hearing shootings from time to time either in the morning or late in the night but actually this is the only thing that i can confirm in terms of violence other reports of clashes and army search in residential areas in the ras these things are very hard to be very far it's mostly because protests and demonstrations never last along here in the capital and there are two reasons behind that first of all security is tight enough and they react very quickly but at the same time there is a feeling that those who are doing this what they want to make it very fast and then disappear as if the only goal is to make others believe that the raise violence happening here this week we're expecting the mission of their countries call themselves friends of syria russia has already and now is that it's not going to take part in that some of the representatives of the syrian opposition have been

invited while the syrian government hasn't been invited to take part in this meeting and this contradicts russia's position which has been clear since the beginning of the uprising that both sides are responsible what's going on the international committee of red cross has been in talks with both rebels and syrian authorities recently to try to call both sides to stop the violence at least for a while to allow humanitarian aid to reach affected areas we while the reforms are continually country and this sunday we are expecting the random on the country's new constitution and ballots instead of bullets messed of a stray shoes and violent protests have been rolling across syria for almost a year. that. the syrian government does are calling for the people to shape their future together by taking part in a referendum on the country's and you cost you should fulfill its pledge to reform

. was very excited that soon he'll be able to decide his own to morrow. it's a completely new era all is good for everybody even opposition can take part it's for all the amendments to the country's number one more have been the key demands of the opposition since the uprising began and the draft seems to cover the most pressing issues. it starts with eliminating baath party supremacy which have ruled the country for the last fifty years introduces a multi-party system and sets a two term limit on any future president however even these reforms a cause in controversy jihad and his friend odin flower shop in damascus he says this new document draws a line between him and his muslim business partner just to shout there's a big contradiction with the article thirty three says while you were a number that he says i can be

a president had what about the other ten percent that are not here temporarily they have been living together for ages with the muslim want to be counted. now maybe ten ten percent of the people they speak about this. ok but maybe if i was removing this article from the new constitution the ninety percent who said well why you take this article out. public debates on the draft constitution have been organized to bring the people and the authors of the two documents together they don't trust me they don't se the sailors or specific ones meet you work for hire if you meet me that was c.b.s. going to see this becoming one but some say there is still a long way to go to that news syria and they don't believe the government will follow through with the reforms i'm afraid if i were a goes the constitution somebody will in the world will shoot me clashes and protests almost every day but some hope that the referendum rule not only breed and

you constitution it might even be able to stop the bloodshed. there are people who want to improve and develop but also others who want to divide syria it is this it was shouldn't help them but we should go and vote for the future and the way. the draft of syria's new constitution has been made. look ten days before the national referendum fourteen new and forty seven amended articles are all here with comments and details to base are also on t.v. and the internet never in the country's modern history for its residents so close to policy making its many here on the ground fear that the ongoing violence could bury any hope of reform refill altie damascus syria. washington is once again said it will consider what it calls additional measures if president assad doesn't yield to international pressure some analysts however

believe this hardline approach towards the conflict hinders syria's chances of peace the referendum which follows very pro slee on the veto in the security council really does open a prospect for a political solution up till know western states effectively have encouraged the opposition simply to pursue. a single policy of asking and calling for the demise of the government asking him to solve dismantle his own spade and of course that has not been acceptable not only to assad but probably a large majority of syrians it is mostly the exile groups that are calling for military intervention but not inside the national councils and the opposition groups many of the opposition groups within syria are asking for negotiations. a

new bailout yet the same old problems the greek parliament has convened to force through the last of the e.u.'s demands attached to the new one hundred thirty billion euro check approved by the eurozone finance ministers the lifeline will however come with a heavy price tag one that many doubt athens will be able to take our correspondent has more from brussels. after months of political wrangling and compromise the euro zone are fine as ministers had agreed to give the second tranche of the one hundred thirty billion euro bailout to greece and this in effect will stave off a default in march potentially however before greece can actually get the money there is still a lot of hurdles to go through for example greece will still have to vote on a further funding gap measures finishing german parliament will have to debate and vote on the bill that will approve this bailout this is very closely watched especially considering that germany had been putting forth a lot of conditions to be satisfied before it was willing to give this

a bailout is the story more political wrangling over there now as far as private investors are concerned they will be forced to take a haircut on their holdings in all of this stuff aside from that the greece is also accepted a quote unquote and how permanent presence of monitors in the country under international lenders increased have already been voicing out their concerns on the debt sustainability as well as greece's ability to implement all the promised reforms and now it's going to be a permanent presence of the country certainly a sensitive move given the fact that greece already has a technocrat government installed by brussels over there and not just that another part of the deal the greek government has committed to and frightening into a law that debt repayment will be a top priority over other public expenditure that means pay back the e.u. for instance will proceed spending on health care on social spending as well as certainly a move that would make people there even already frustrated disenfranchised from

everything that's been going on in the country and other twenty percent is why people still see the greeks coming out into the streets voicing their frustration. well commenting on the political analysts rodney shakespeare believed greece's future is being sacrificed to preserve a system that cannot work. the plain fact of the matter is these are manipulations the justify the banking occupation of greece the people are being smashed into the ground their sovereignty is being destroyed their property. assets are being sold off they're being put into poverty and debt peonage not just for the rest of their lives but for their children and their grandchildren's lives the whole thing is a fraud is not fair to sit in the opposition it is not just and it is not coming back into power so you're really seeing part of our overall downward turn which is going

to go on for the next ten fifteen or twenty years. by the way if you missed any of our stories don't hesitate to log on to our website r t v dot com for another look here's some of what's there at the moment for you russia will either join the u.s. backed anti missile shield of its borders or ruin it present video of lays out his determination to make moscow's security interests count. also known at the moment nasser experiments with an exclusive martian diet on volunteers happy to try out some space food find out whether he could shrink your waistline to r.t. dot com. a rain in general says his country will attack preemptively if it feels its national interests are endangered the most immediate threat emanates from israel which many sources now suggest has been considering a strike against iran's nuclear program but there's a lot easer in english to reports the aggressive israeli stance isn't popular with

its allies. at the moment it does look like becoming more and more isolated from those who have traditionally been supportive of all of their political endeavors the top brass from from the u.s. have asked israel to give some time for sanctions to take all israel senses also guard response from the u.k. where top officials have also said that if the strike does go through this will bring very tragic results for the entire region this fight all warnings israel refuses to rule out the possibility of attack on iran's nuclear sites at the same time in tehran of course the echo of the political rhetoric which has been going on over the past couple of days is obviously clear to iran is carrying out military exercises which are aimed at protecting its nuclear facilities from possible air attack there is information that another american military vessel has entered the strait of hormuz which has been the center of controversy twenty runs threatened to

cut any access to the straits preventing oil shipments to other countries and that of course brought about diplomatic tensions between tehran and the rest of the world this issue continues to be very strained again between israel tehran and israel's allies which at this point does not show any indication of supporting israel's potential strike on iran's nuclear objects. robert naiman the policy director from the just foreign policy think tank told me earlier that he thinks that if iran got the bomb it would undermine israel as a regional military power. the u.s. really position which we're seeing increasingly wicked in some corners of washington and that's according to the government is the red line who or where. you have been should not be the decision by iran and syria of course it will happen but rather the point at which iran has to have the scientific and technological

capacity to produce a nuclear weapon i think. is really motivation to try to warn you that the window who are this really military attack me because because iran technological process and possible possibly to creating hostility beyond the reach of history we hear is correct the second is that the strategic perspective of some israeli official seems to be that even in iran we have the technological about we'd be an intolerable actor for them in the region and we'd be good actors constrained who are israeli military action and weapon on. us senator john mccain has been on a visit to egypt to discuss the arrest of n.g.o.s please accused of inciting protests against the nation's post revolution authorities glenn a writer for the american free press newspaper has told me that he believes the negotiations will lead to nothing as washington is simply interested in

a turbulent egypt. he's american let's just call them what they are they are seventy two hours who are out there and tuning to to continue this unrest in egypt they are there acting as its agents who are in the us and the cane being president of one particular branch of course by agents let's just call it the will of most of the mosques and. mccain being there and he's going to walk away any who i think if you and if they want america and israel want to see to place or continue instability in egypt. politics here in russia is back in fashion from glamorous socialites in moscow to factory line workers from the urals everyone wants to be heard so with the presidential election less than two weeks away no ortiz diapers kovan looks at the unprecedented rise of civil activity. sponsored to paris hilton

t.v. host senior subchapter has a reputation to match claiming to earn two million dollars a year she leaves a life of glamour blood putin was once very close to her father and is still a family friend if rumors are true he could even be such a good father hence the shock when she became a vocal part of the new energized opposition which i laughed putin as a man who saved my father but i don't respect his politics right now he is a free person to think whatever he wants he can think of anything as a betrayal it's his choice i can't agree with his politics and it's not of the trail at all i just don't agree with this in december subject for the first time in her life joint thousands of history tragedies triggered by leaking with falsifications during final three elections. it all started with videos like this one showing eleggua relations at polling stations. i immediately understood i had

to make this video available for everyone and i felt it was my civic duty to report what i believed to be a breach of electoral law when you hear legations led to an outburst of civility between russia encouraging people to get involved in the political process tens of thousands willing to brave subzero temperatures in support of fair elections is the way we don't do anything nothing will change we are not guaranteed but it would be stupid not to use this opportunity for change i'm happy the country has woken up at that hasn't happened for many years but with the fact that all of us who are so remote from politics gathered for this rally it is a sign. contrie is in my new civic organizations all the time the old ones are getting a second wind before no one even talked about the civil society people didn't have this feeling they had their own business and this was most important for them and russia wouldn't be the same. now and this is for sure not everyone is unhappy with

the current state of affairs to be how muscular a factory worker from russia's euros region has been absolutely indifferent to politics until recently there are people who don't want revolution and who want stability and for us stability means putin the right to promise he made headlines after his televised q. and a session with the prime minister where he offered to come to moscow and help with street protests shoes in iraq. these days you can find signs of civil activity almost anywhere in russia for example this campaign has decided to hold their own presidential election unofficial of course anyone can cast their vote simply by choosing their coffee with an image of a relevant candidate on its phone this is the new ground for russia where shaping the country's future has become everyone's business. r.t. . the top for a look at some other news making headlines around the world in our world update

yemen is voting on a new president marking the end of ali abdullah saleh a decades long rule there's not much choice though the only candidate is the old vice president the ballot was a condition of the power transition deal side by side in november after term months of anti-government protests and of yemen is the first arab spring country to reach a negotiated settlement. but he stressed carne is being investigated for his alleged role in a hotel prostitution ring in belgium and france it's rather allegations of escorts being supplied for sex parties in several countries the former international monetary fund chief faces charges of knowingly taking part in go. paid for by a french construction company last may he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in new york but the charges were dropped. to preserve to date i'll be bringing you some of our main news stories for in about two minutes from now in the meantime we discuss the conflict in syria with former u.s.

presidential advisor pat buchanan our special interview next point. i. i. i'm sitting down with patrick buchanan senior adviser to presidents which nixon gerald ford and ronald reagan he ran for the presidency three times he wrote many books and some of his books have really manage seeing titles his latest book is called suicide of a superpower will america survive to twenty twenty five very pessimistic sir first

of all thank you very much for joining me you were writing and speaking out extensively about the bush era in iraq crusade under the banner of ending terror name in the world do you think that crusade is still long or the idea that we're going to end tyranny in the world is utterly utopian we never are we've had tyrants from time immemorial and what the united states should do in my judgment in its foreign policies is build a defense establishment strong enough to protect our vital interests and our vital allies and when problems arise whether it's in zimbabwe or somewhere else the people there have got to deal with their own problems there no doubt about it that throughout history tyrants have a risen and seized power in one place or another and as long as they don't threaten our vital interests or threaten and kill our people the fact that they rule and or

misrule certain countries is none of our business well some of bin laden successor said he supports the war against assad in syria and it was reportedly behind the four suicide bombings which killed scores of syrian officials and soldiers seen damascus and aleppo aleppo doesn't it seem strange that the u.s. is on the same side with the whole kiting syria row it to if it does indeed listen the the government has been has been ruthless and brutal and suppressed. uprising and the insurgency against it not as brutal as his father was tough as a last sod who slaughtered twenty thousand people in hama in one nine hundred eighty two when they rose up and it would probably be a good thing if he departed and they had a more democratic government but your point is well taken united states should ask itself not only what is the character of this regime but first question should be

do we have a vital interest in who rule syria my answer to that is no secondly if the incumbent government is overthrown who comes to power and syria you have the muslim brotherhood is trying to overthrow assad you have al-qaeda apparently which is moving in trying to overthrow assad so we've got to ask ourselves is the devil we know preferable to the devil we don't know but in the syrian situation i think the very fact that al qaida has been involved apparently indeed for suicide attacks should tell us that we ought to be wary about overthrowing or participating in a movement to overthrow assad before we know what's going to replace him as you said it's very hard to tell what's going to happen to syria if more radical forces seize power do you think the u.s.

foreign policy. might be helping terrorists indirectly i think the united states. american strategists would have to be fools not to see what al qaeda is doing not to ask the question if it's good for al qaeda can it be good for us and not to look at saddam say he may be a ruthless dictator and what he's doing but what comes after him when he falls i think al qaeda does its best work or it works best when it finds a country that is fundamentally a failed state in yemen somalia afghanistan under the taliban and i think in those conditions that's where al qaida can plan and recruit far better than it can when you have a a regime which is a hard line regime running the situation whether it's secular or whether syria torn apart by civil war and that that's that seems like

a good environment for that i think we could have there are a proxy war between the sunni and shia all over that region there already have sunni coming in from iraq they already have al qaeda in there apparently. you could have also a conflict ethnic conflict with the druze in there and the kurds in there as well as arabs and there i think this is why i'm against plan putting weapons in and aiding the anti assad resistance because an all out war there could be a disaster which leaves a failed state in syria so what about this strategy that the u.s. is now pursuing putting pressure on assad alone. and not addressing the armed groups the fighting. among the opposition as well well i think that's basically the united states has taken sides in this war we've taken sides there just like we've taken sides in libya what should or what. should not the u.s.

still here in syria. my policy would be if i were and if i were in the white house would be by and large hands off syria in one of your articles you argue that the obama administration doesn't want to war with iran the pentagon u.s. intelligence community they're saying iran does not having a clear bomb and hasn't decided whether or not to build a nuclear bomb iran is obviously getting nothing from a war if nobody wants it then why the drums of war why are they so loud do not think no one wants a war you don't have wars unless someone wants it and quite clearly the israeli government would like to see the united states smash iran's nuclear program which they think is creating the conditions where iran could with one leap forward get a bomb the israeli lobby in the united states would like to see a war they support is really the neoconservatives do many republicans do there are

many americans who genuinely believe that if iran they believe iran is moving toward a weapon and if it is they would favor military action to prevent it during the cold war with due respect soviet union had thousands of weapons they could have destroyed us in an afternoon and we could have done the same thing i was around during the cuban missile crisis that was genuinely term fine but iran doesn't frighten me and i don't think it should frighten the american people they don't have a bomb they don't have they haven't made a decision to bill one didn't have the means to deliver one and the israelis have three hundred atomic bombs i mean who presents the existential threat to whom thank you thank you i.

it's all designed to keep you closed in your. world as a prison. you know you leave somebody in there for a couple hours like in a stress positions. you have this fear of the unknown in this stress sort of building and. i've seen interrogations go on ten twelve hours they chose songs i remember from marilyn manson. slayer the two songs would be angel of death and raining blood to me going to war coming up here into iraq. charlie poole of the body for just the rock n roll band it was fitting for the job we were doing .

sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then something else you hear sees some other part of it and realize everything you. are welcome is a big. wealthy british. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy. the global financial health. klein is going to cause a report on. her feet. her.

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