a change of tone in syria. back the international envoys called for both sides to lay down their arms and start dialogue with the opposition and once again it rejects the idea of talking to assad. as a live pictures for you here in central moscow an opposition rally underway it's seeing a much smaller than expected turnout critics say the protests waning because this winter's the united to call for a fair election holds less power and. also optimism about the greek debt write

down proves premature as athens suffers a fresh downgrade from fitch ratings agency with moody's going even further declaring greece in default also. may be might turn. around the world should be accused of stoking fear to get the american public in the mood for a new war military strikes on iran are firmly back on the table. parties bring me worldwide news with me rory suchet live in moscow welcome to the program the u.n. arab envoy kofi annan is holding talks with syria's president he wants to negotiate an immediate cease fire involving both the rebels and government forces and

a round of open talks and the efforts though have been back by the chief of the arab league before his trip to damascus both men spoke out against any move towards a libya style foreign military intervention that maria financial reports from syria seem to be forces at work who hold the opposite view. the joint u. and arab league envoy has announced that his mission's main goal will be to end the violence by persuading the warring sides to speak to each other he's also said that he believes that a solution to the country's long running crisis lies in a political settlement which hopes are fading already but this mission will succeed the leader of the syrian national council turkey based opposition group recognized by e.u. as a legitimate representative of the syrian people has said that anons comments and his idea to find their way out of crisis through dialogue are disappointing while syrian people he said are being massacred every day here in the country but hunger

you has also said that any political solution will only work in syria if it's a company by military pressure on the regime of bashar al assad calls to give more weapons to the rebels and to provide them with any help they need have become especially loud after the rebels withdraw from the baba amr neighborhood in homs heart of the conflict following the army's operation there saudi arabia and carter have been among the most active supporters of the militarization of the conflict in syria calling the idea too on the rebels and next and one who recently heard a lot about foreign weapons is tearin syrian foreign volunteers and security officers captured in hopes following claims by the free syrian army that it's already received weapons and anti aircraft missiles from the west meanwhile coffee alone has been warning that further militarization would only make things worse expressing his hopeless no one is very seriously thinking of using force in this situation but it seems that some are considering this as an option to go as former

presidential candidate and senator john mccain has called on air strikes on syria to save innocent lives here in the country although official washington did drew out military intervention as an option the u.n. estimates that around seven thousand people have been killed in the clashes between the soldiers and the opposition here in syria the clashes that's been lost and for . now already the opposition activists have been saying all the time that the regime of bashar al assad has been suppressing syrian people civilians innocent people while officially damascus has always been insisting that it's face against terror groups operating in the country. is more of a national reporting meanwhile has a call for international military forces to be deployed in syria to help end the conflict there lawrence davidson professor of middle east history at west chester university says some of president assad's opponents are rejecting talks just

because they have the backing of some foreign powers perhaps they have talked to the. saudi east and the americans and the brits and and come to conclusion that peace these groups will continue to back them and therefore don't just buy their time they're in a very weak position and they're out of the country their numbers of armed men under their command are limited they cannot win against the government militarily win against the government. the government is attempting to co-opt the moderate the moderate protesters with you know promises of wise widespread reforms which give implemented would go a long way to satisfy the your original demands of the opposition if implemented so the armed groups now really. don't have

a good position i mean i don't think they are backed by the majority of the people in syria even the protesters. well other u.n. commission we are going to store in just a moment excuse me the commission just to let you know briefly has been looking into libya about alleged war crimes being committed by those opposed to gadhafi and those on the side of gadhafi details on that in just a moment and still to come on the program here though this hour that over grabbing power at any cost in it could stand violence has become an integral part of the democratic process with politicians exploiting ethnic divisions to achieve their ultimate goal. and we report on palestinian children learning the first tough lessons in life thanks to a long and hard daily journey to school. around ten thousand people have gathered here in central moscow to protest the conduct of

sunday's presidential poll which saw a lot of effort and security in the kremlin the number is significantly lower than what the opposition and hoped for the presidential ballot was widely seen as the most transparent in russia's history with webcams and crowds of observers monitoring proceedings but activists claim there were still violations in voting. to pursue an office at the demonstration now joins us live here on our good to see you the rally apparently winding down it's see it seems to have gathered far less people than in previous protests why do you think that is. that maybe saw you organizers expected up to fifty thousand people police say that around ten thousand people gathered for this rally at the moment but it is definite that this rally is a test for the opposition which has been experiencing various problems within its own rows there is still no clear leader in fact a group of nationalists who just walked out of the rally saying they couldn't agree with liberals the whole protest movement really began in december after the problem

and free voter i mean accusations of ballot fraud it led to a massive social campaign for a transparent presidential election and indeed. unprecedented steps were made in that sense i'm talking about the web cameras a stalled here to over an eighty thousand polling stations they fed a live videos on to the web nearly a million observers who monitored how the elections weren't on at these polling stations as well but the opposition says that many of the. violations they accuse you of occurred during campaigning but it is fair to say that society split on the outcome of the presidential election we've seen mass rallies both in support and a guest is result in fact a few members of the opposition were detained at a previous protests rally one we didn't want to leave after the time agreed with the authorities ended and also some members of the opposition are facing accusations of provoking the afterwards which sort of undermines the peaceful

nature of previous a rally to see how this one goes but it's definite that the opposition needs a new thiessen easily and constructive and concrete demands. are you going to is going off there or central moscow thanks very much. political analyst alexander says the protests are becoming smaller because there's no unity or common agenda among opposition leaders. this is a clear sign of protests and i think that's because the non-systemic opposition they need to show more transparency about their leaders their own leaders and more consistency with their agenda so if they have obviously achieves whites enough successes. while the systemic opposition f obviously failed while non-systemic opposition leaders they have achieved success in the bringing people

to the streets and were try to attract more attention to their slogans. we are now witnessing their slogans needs to be changed there is a need for a new age gender while there is no new agenda i believe that the majority of those people will not support because this is what we know of unfair election has obviously standards of the so called weasel played with the majority of the global power is acknowledging that the elections were fair and that putting these the right felicia so unless there's a new agenda from the not systemic opposition there will be these tendency for waning numbers of protesters and streets. right there when you can watch the live streaming video of the ongoing rally in the in central moscow just up the street here from the r.t. broadcasting facility i do so at r.t. dot com and we will of course be joining our correspondent over the next few hours for the latest updates from catherine do stay with us for that. u.s.

president obama's quest for diplomacy with iran over its nuclear program has failed to quell talks of a pending military confrontation statements from america's top defense official suggest a strike on to iran is in the planning stage and could use a type of bomb that's never been seen before and as i say he's honest chuck and i reports the u.s. has a strong record of persuading the public that war is the only way forward. water for a fish are popular among us war veterans like map and show soothing the nerves of some of the roughly one hundred seventy thousand american soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder the us army frag has one hundred eighty three campaign ribbons on those one hundred eighty three ribbons each represent wars when you compare that to the way of two hundred thirty six years that we've actually been around as a country you're talking about you know

a war on average of once every year and three months serving americans are on permanent standby to deploy to carry out warfare on command as the u.s. has a bone to pick with one enemy after the other from the soviet union in the shabbiness threat was the most useful enemy where we are legitimate and we are completely fantastical it was always available. and here is see it against which to justify any smaller untag this after the cold war the list keeps expanding allied air forces began an attack on military targets in iraq in kuwait airstrikes against serbian forces our war on terror. begins when i try to select a target some military importance to undermine saddam hussein's ability to wage war we hit it out these are differences with the defense budget that surpasses the military expenditure of all other countries combined. no other nation drums up war

as consistently as america and while people are still responding in recovering from the violence that's committed in one place or even in the same place we're launching new operations and more atrocities in different parts of the world the military industrial complex worth billions of dollars is largely america's driving force. deeply rooted in the system that would serve no purpose if there was no one to fight if there were no more enemies left there would be raw sort of a sense of mission. frightening thought to many as this would reveal the economic social and cultural emptiness at home i know your love of country when there are no enemies trying to put together the evil empire again do in a syria what we're doing now in libya we've got to overthrow this guy the threat that iran poses us here in and year out americans are convinced that the u.s. has to remain on the defense petrified of death by terrorism and so should i don't think i think

a lot of americans wish we spent more money on war finding the next target is never difficult we are inventing a nation of iran as an enemy as a threat to the united states says the sister of nuclear weapons it is not. a nation that has not attacked or not there are literally centuries and has no capability or desire to attack ours to be the way of my part of the world with iran iran is the world it should be iran the us has been picking and choosing which countries to intervene in for centuries as the list of nations that america loves to hate expands the concept that no more war is also an option seems to have been for about just as in turkey right see. us conflicts waged across the world have left a trail of a military bases in their wake often not even in the countries involved in the fighting i look at the role of the global web of bases and how their fake host nations us in a special documentary coming up

a little bit later here on out. to a substantial degree and one form or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of europe. and the shadow is in protein. early twenty first century military base is a network of. forms that believe. that the united states is trying to it's astonishing most americans have no idea there are more than a quarter of a million more than two hundred fifty thousand u.s. troops stationed on these bases all around. we don't have power bases of america we don't have any british base we don't have any korean base we don't have any french bases or you know we just all american bases in cross our bases of i hear the noise is our noise and doesn't bother us at all because they're our bases but

for other people it's almost like a cancer here for these people. since the end of world war two these races have been. working here to provide a safe and secure environment for everybody. because since you think you get everything you need. for some default for others greece is experiencing its latest slap on the face from a ratings agency moody's declaring athens in default on its debt that's after the country finally sealed the deal with private investors which is considered to be the biggest debt write down in history the agreement reduces the greek burden by over one hundred billion euros the first of four starts about the deal with fitch ratings agency which downgraded athens to restricted default economic analyst

a mixed record there are still a lot of questions greece needs to deal with aside from the debts what do you. there's a lot of moving parts but the vehicle is the first part then we have structural reforms which frankly if we make it for forty years ahead of privatization process which hasn't really begun it with any great momentum and then the worst part of it is the tax hikes adipose the cuts in wages the first thing you need is a little bit of the bill that he and visibility in the sense that people are afraid to invest here because we may return to a drachma sometime soon and that could mean a devastating devaluation and a loss of money so we need some stability in the eurozone we need the list differing from european union leaders and we ourselves see after take some responsibility and put together a medium term economic plan so we know how to climb out of these very still despite all of these one hundred thirty billion bailout package coming and despite the heck

out of close to one hundred billion still a shortfall of seven billion you don't want to make that up with taxes. on the latest right here on out so you max kaiser and states you have revealed a scheme which helped greece mosque it's not that to join the e.u. now of a ten years ago and how it's going to tidy profit. gold secret grease alone shows two centers as client unravels on the day the two thousand and one deal was struck the government of greece owed the bank about six hundred million euros more than the two point eight billion euros have borrowed by then the price of the transaction a derivative that disguised the loan and that goldman sachs persuaded greece not to test with competitors had almost doubled to five point one billion euros but this was greece as nine eleven the day they met goldman sachs it was them hacking the sovereignty and the future of

a nation of greece. no martinis yes. just one in twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow this is our team along dangerous trek to school and back bus the baby slogan for a group of arab children in israel forced to watch their classmates enjoy the luxury of provided transportation and authorities to fall asleep explains the uphill climb just on the way to class. the lessons of life come only to the children hours before the rest of the country wakes up these young arabs are preparing for the long trek to school it's a twelve kilometer walk there and back tiring difficult and more than a little hair raising it takes the children about two hours to get to school and the older ones help the younger ones which if that is the road is dangerous and

just a few days ago one of the children now the worst being knocked over by. the children have to walk along dirt paths and cross many busy streets part of the journey is on a bus but after they get off they still an hour more of walking their elated every day and exhausted even before the first listen starts the youngest is just three years old. it's because we are arab because our religion is muhammad not moses that's why everything is like this. is radio losses transport must be provided for children living far from school but because the local authorities say the families are squatting illegally on privately owned land they refuse to help. their growth. internationally and also in israel children should have a first through education a reasoned response from the. a day after we visit the bulldozers arrive because

far from wanting to help the children one family's gone where is the day before this house here we come back and find the outcome of them the now since the founding of the steed not a single you out of the village was built and for most of the song really in existence there is no overall plan which means that every construction is around the legal. and so with the homes up for demolition and the dream to be in to cater to a daily trudge these children are learning the hard way that some of life's most important lessons happen outside the classroom. r.t. surfin junction is wrong. i don't see comes amid increasing tensions in the region after israel's targeted assassination of two resistance leaders palestinians retaliated by launching an estimated eighty rockets are reportedly launched from gaza into southern israel killing at least eight israelis israel's air force or

sense struck several locations and guards killing at least ten palestinians and two . well you can explore all the stories we're covering online here's what's available for you right now at r.t. dot com a poland releases its final report on the air crash that killed the country's president most of the political elite almost two years ago in russia are those details stunning wife you know it or r.t. dot com. also unavailing freedom iranian feminists stripped off for a calendar promote their fight against sexual oppression find out how the north origins responded to their provocative steps that our website. the central asian country. kilgour stunned experience popular unrest long before

the arab spring with two revolutions shaping the country in less than ten years that some hailed the uprisings as a triumph of democracy but others see that praise as dangerous justification for the use of violence to gain power at any cost nazis on a boy who went to a city that so brutal scenes just two years ago are. it's so much in time in kyrgyzstan second largest city candidates for the local legislature appear down from posters striving to project stability and trustworthiness yet the streets are silent and mc and uncertainty isn't there through provocateurs who would use any chance john to mine. to stun the former soviet republic in central asia as a poster child for revolutionary fever two of its previous presidents were ousted by enraged crowds each uprising was perpetrated by the west as

a people's democratic awakening despite numerous casualties and widespread looting so much so that some could just people are now taking pride in that ability to settle political disagreements by force. is that a weak europe is can wait for a while but once again our nerves you better run for your life. but nowhere has this trigger happy political awakening cause more pain and suffering than in arch and ethnically divided city in the south of the country in june of two thousand and ten vine political elites instigated fierce clashes between communities more than four hundred were killed thousands lost their livelihoods all victims of militarized politics that have become a part of the democratic process here. the second neighborhoods that were burned and looted a year and a half ago are now being rebuild. but many locals fear that politicians will once again gamble on ethnic divisions to achieve their ans suspects and kurds have

different political preferences but given the kurds majority and their professed readiness to fight for their interests democratic procedures are no longer just about the country's future for many years becks in it's quite literally about life and death. very afraid. they will again be used to scapegoats in political games many have left the city on the eve of the election for fears of riots i verge those who stay to vote like her it is to to avoid any anger from the side while the sunday vote has seen could be streaming to the polling stations in many respects made arrangements to leave town one son i ended with a revolution others have to seek refuge over the past few years their words a revolution and democracy have become almost synonymous but they couldn't be further apart because overrides the strongest of arguments and it always puts an end to any mini in full political dialogue and this kurdistan's example shows once

violence is introduced into the political process very soon it becomes the first rather than the last option to resort to it's not going to artsy reporting from posh interest. oh let's go back to one of our headlines stories here are roughly about ten thousand people gathered in central moscow to protest the conduct of sunday's presidential poll which of course or a lot of important security in the kremlin to live pictures right here for you now certainly the crowds are thinning out i would have spent over some will that be enough we are about street right in the heart here of the russian capital of a number of activists significantly lower than the fifty thousand that the opposition has been calling for but as you can see the crowd is waning and started to dissipate in the area although the presidential ballot was widely seen as the most transparent in russia's history there are thousands of web cams and upwards of a million observers monitoring the proceedings but despite all that still claim

there were violations in the voting this rally is viewed as a test for the protest movement here in russia three opposition is facing some serious problems within its ranks also there was a long weekend here in the country and some protests supporters of middle class russians are not in fact of chosen to get away rather than take to the streets also maybe somebody. out. after the headlines in just a few moments i do hope you can stay with us here in. the.

the e. to move.

to. the for.