on the good. video. of my old car. on the view was. the biggest stories of the week here on r t eleven a person emerges triumphant in the russian presidential election after turning overwhelming poll numbers into a convincing victory but tough challenges are still ahead for the new leader. the russian opposition scrambles to recapture the public's passion but dashed expectations and internal fractures leave the movement increasingly short of support. russia and the arab league are finally in the same boat over how to stop the syrian crisis but there are still those trying to put sticks in the spokes of diplomacy not analysis on the short here on r.t. and three days of more deaths reported in his radio strikes in israeli as israeli

airstrikes continue in gaza after the assassination of a palestinian resistance leader sends rockets flying over the border our top stories this hour. with a look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly here on. how long the harsh and hard fought race for the kremlin is over with prime minister vladimir putin now set to make a return to the presidency after a landslide election victory but expectations are now greater than any other time with serious national challenges still ahead compounded by a public role politically cute the never before. reports. it was more emotional minefield like even. john i do still. we would when we get him

i mean i need to be on. but you've got to get foreign minister may have just the family history is my decision but no one would be surprised if it was caused by the joy of beachley i it was hardly a shock as think you had been the elections clear front runner but eventually result of almost sixty four percent stunned even those at the helm who would never think of such a high result so it's even higher than were predicted for ourselves and it shows once again actually proves that organize a political figure number one of these countries and he's potential is here is yet to be oh i'm closer there so it's no time to party now many experts believe kitchens real challenge in fact starts now. this will get sort of a battle between the two alternative concepts all of that state a relevant coherent development strategies for myself i've been to try the first

concept has gotten a lot they want russian political system to be transparent whereas russia's economy where they will get more nepotism and corruption on the other hand this other group are for us as well as russia and probably. associated with a. they just need status quo they need just some ten dollars from the state they don't want any change which is they don't know where the change manifested itself in the sudden rise of me how you pull that off in under four months the russian billionaire managed to persuade more than five million people to vote for him many say this new face in the country school takes has serious potential and girls have already declared an intention to form an opposition party with which in promising he would cooperate with it to symbolize the new the new russia need some be sure. other candidates. from coal. summit.

and. then obviously you know any more leaders of the younger generation and figures speak for themselves second place community gives you gonna gauge seventeen percent in houston for presidency less than he scored you could earn a parliamentary vote and experts say even this came mostly ask protest voting in the eyes of many this is a clear signal it's time for politicians to make way in the western conference you can party loses the election its leader reason for a changed if it happens again then he should happen if you challenge these guys had lost three times trying to convince a lot of those folks are still seen as being somewhat out of touch you in the russian street is it all look these guys had their chance in the one nine hundred ninety s. to screw things up you know we still need stronger leadership and they're able to offer we need a more concrete program to push and will continue his work as prime minister for two more months period which could become crucial and decisive for the country's

long term future blood even a portion will officially return to the kremlin on may the seventh that is when his inauguration takes place by till then the president elect will have to work out a strategy of holding a dialogue between those in power and those in the streets and given that some are still calling for him to step down even after such a convincing victory this may prove to be quite a task alexi russia ascii r.t. reporting from moscow. one of the issues this presidential campaign will be remembered for is the massive rallies that heralded a political awakening of russia's public and by all appearances they worked with transparency becoming a top government priority today however a protest movement is fizzling and support quickly fading these are going to looks at why. when the protesters i'm happy with the results of the presidential elections to the streets the day after the house to place some caps the police busy . and some who started to on stevie wanted two hours yes he was there

philip was it you know you know look i'm not going to leave the square i'm staying here until putin leaves where the tents and there were no tents but there was a fountain which all died some chose as a makeshift stage to make his statements from and from which police removed him and several dozens of his supporters that the situation repeated itself on saturday when police pulled them suffer from an atrocity transformer again after the opposition rally was officially over but the council the opposition leaders seem to do little to keep people coming to protest rallies for years about but also it was of the with the spirit if that hysteria that irritation and aggression that continues it would have alienated the population no one here wants a revolution no one wants to fight with police that people who come to these protests really want change or they don't want to like shit all violence which is what could scare them away the results of the elections to this to do much hotly

contested by many brought tens of thousands out in the streets of moscow the day after presidential elections nearly half of that number showed up to push his square and even fewer still for the demonstration on saturday yeah i'm looking for a serious debate and all i see every single protest action which took place over the last i don't see it was of a good many that are you going back you know you have ok so it was good. i didn't hear it was there some blame the lack of a coherent idea and absence of unity among the opposition leaders for the waning support that i am i think these people all have a different agenda something of a here i find is that i want to see different independent candidates if i could choose from but i tell you think we can really reach any goals by protests like the us even some of the most vocal supporters of the movement for their elections say a solid foundations are necessary to carry on with the movement because that's in

the market some sort of regulation and structure is needed some sort of goals an understanding of what happens next which could be easily understood by are also necessary. began as a call for free and fair elections in russia for one vote for the state duma seems to have turned into haphazard series of gatherings they have achieved success in bringing. suit streets yeah trikes see which rights more attention their slogans but we are now witnessing that their slogans need to be changed. or. impact the rallies seem to have only one slogan out with putin like it what to do if he leaves no one seems to know in moscow those are to me a reaction to vladimir putin's return to the presidency by no means stops at russia's borders coming up in about twenty minutes

a stake for everyone media's relentless to rail against putin's can of the sea comes to a hard stop as observers and russian voters paint a very different picture of reality. than if you're in the mood for more election stories or footage of pre and post poll rallies that always part there on our website at the party dot com and also their expert and amateur opinion on what's ahead for russia and the course that the people want to take that and much more for you online all the time at r.t. dot com. debate on how to stop the syrian crisis has been tending towards diplomacy russia and the arab league have come up with a joint plan foreign intervention calling on both the government and the opposition to lay down arms that says the u.n. arab envoy has been to syria promoting an all inclusive dialogue but what is more information reports there are those still trying to undo the efforts. after several

recent differences between western and arab views and those of russia and china on how the long running syrian conflict should be handled we are now seeing some consensus after the meeting with his arab counterparts russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov has said they haven't out a common plan that sends a clear message to all the sides being involved in this crisis the solution to this goal we've agreed a joint position of five main points first to stop violence wherever it comes from secular to create an impartial and independent monitoring system which external interface for offices the unrestricted delivers humanitarian needs to the syrians and finally the firm supporters of mission to start political story. because if soon it was it suddenly group the joint u. arab league envoy is currently on a peace mission here in damascus both their sources and within the country opposition welcomed the initiative but the efforts were dismissed even before coffee allen's arrival to syria by and now the opposition group based outside the

country the syrian national council recognized by many countries but as a legitimate representative of the syrian people seeking for democratic changes from rejects of talks. on the side these calls were followed by suggestions by qatar to deploy for troops to syria but there is a feeling here on the grounds of the growing international interference in the country's conflict paving the way for an even bigger crisis as the syrian conflict stretches out. it has also spread geographically. case of the rising health far from the country's borders what's happening in syria is heartbreaking. and what you're seeing is the international community mobilize against the assad regime strategic analyst says one thing is clear that motor isolation has many more forms than officially stated. during the operation in baba amr the syrian army arrested fighters from both countries and afghanistan iraq libya and some european

states their work was coordinated by qatari and saudi intelligence officers as well as cia and mossad it's also seen israeli weapons especially in missiles and israeli drones while the us and many other countries have admitted all kind of link to extremists groups fighting alongside beyond authorization in syria. says some countries are using those groups to further their own interests. to get local players involved in order to hide there and this is why we hear mostly arabs like saudi arabia and qatar or iran which countries don't have democracy at home of course they cannot ask for establishing it in syria they have another agenda. there are books and written sources where this plan is described in detail taken. out of the question of a blogger and freelance journalist has been investigated for a serious crisis since last year she says this is

a story with three main chapters weapons smuggled across the border this is the tractors and foreign cash when you see a lot of money in syria i believe this is comparable to what happened in. there were plenty of money then you will find not the going to talk about dollars or something you would kill him. now you would see now this is a. form. with more and more reports on international involvement emerging and calls to your position getting louder you could put those grass roots of the rising initial euphoria is turning. i can say we regret what we did but we didn't want things to go down. we turned so much militarized globalize on going to boil and we never wanted and don't want intervention no one but here's

our. lives it's could be too late to stop this older current flames of conflict while the conflict between france and bashar al assad and his opponents here in syria about to end so it's something dear another conflict is also in full swing between those calling on dialogue and political settlement as the way out and those who insist on military solution and the let's say started into a fight almost as important as the one claim in blood on the streets. see damascus syria. now for more on this let's cross live to jordan based political analyst professor. so moscow and the arab league have managed to hammer out a new plan to solve this syrian crisis does this actually mean that russia's repeated calls for diplomacy are finally being listened to. i'm sorry to say i do not think so i think this is a good regrouping by the allies the nato and the gulf cooperation council who have

seen their plans in syria falter and they are trying to reorient and regroup their designs in a way for in no attack in the meantime they need some kind of armistice a kind of rest by temporary one for sure because we have heard the foreign minister of saudi arabia. his position both international and our troops need to be sent inside syria so we are sure that the origin and plan politico's bashar al assad and change the regime in syria replace it with a more nato friendly regime are still in place what is happening now just a little maneuvering because of the competence on the ground and the ability to achieve the field goals militarily or political what about the finance mission then

to syria what will that achieve. well the kofi annan mission as part of the three orientation procedure were the west the nato and the gulf cooperation council all need some kind of response to regroup and reorient designs however let's not forget that kofi annan was the head of the united nations when it was transformed into an arm of the u.s. state department and now he's not going to change suddenly however we can be sure that the russian veto and the steps of the syrian regime on the ground has forced the opponents of bashar al assad at least consider and to make some concessions in the hope of making a political penetration and then this regard i would like to say just as an end upon them commentator that the agreement reached by lover of with the saudis and

the companies in cairo is heavily laden with very vague language what example with the talk about humanitarian corridors or the talk about having some partial observers this is basically the same plan of until crating on undermining the sovereignty of syria once the president has a stop list in syria who's to say we're not going to witness a repeat for it and such neoren goetia for that matter well if regime change is achieved what about the consequences of a sad for would they be for all for worse than what we're seeing now what happens after that if those goals are cheat. well what we have seen so far is basically an opening act and a servant or war and the gates of hell being cracked a little bit open there's so much that is that stake here there are

six thirty on paper it's see the hand we are talking about the possibility of a very a very bloody and prolonged civil war that will definitely extend into iraq and lebanon since it will be around the sunni shiite issue mainly. talked about the media coverage here to cut our base t.v. channel al-jazeera has seen a series of resignations in protest against his editorial policy toward syria but what's been wrong with their coverage do you think well what's not trying with their coverage i mean what's wrong with their coverage is that they have been pronounced completely and to propagandize mouthpiece for the invention of them in the arab homeland this is this has become an office of the world we're all just now thing of all your months after all of human sand one lie after another

a global stipes lies that are meant to justify military intervention by nato and other about toppling an dependent regimes and replacing them with a neighbor friend their resumes that's what's wrong with the cold based political analyst professor abraham who should thank you very much indeed for your thoughts good to hear thank you. israel has carried out several airstrikes on gaza killing seventeen people over three days it's the worst violence the region seen in more than a year the first attack came despite an informal truce between the sides it targeted a high ranking palestinian resistance leader and sparked a fierce exchange of fire paula slayer is watching developments. the situation here on the ground continues to escalate as israeli forces and palestinian militants continue exchanges of fire for the third straight day today sunday now the latest figures we have put the palestinian death toll at seventeen most of the nonmembers of the islamic jihad but overnight

a twelve year old palestinian boy was killed in the devalued refugee camp by any israeli airstrike is reportedly mediating what he's trying to mediate here is a hamas delegation in egypt and the gyptian ambassador to the palestinian authority has put the blame thermally on the shoulders of the israelis saying that they are to blame for breaking this tacit ceasefire that has been in place between israel and gaza at the same time the arab league has been meeting in cairo also called israeli airstrikes and messing with the middle east quartet to look at these stored negotiations between israelis and palestinians that meeting comes ahead of a special session of the united nations security council that will be addressing the arab spring uprisings pull u.s. soldiers being returned after going on a shooting rampage in southern afghanistan killing sixteen civilians including nine children it's thought he opened fire inside local homes in the middle of the night

nato is investigating the incident which comes after mass protests last month over the in the words and burning of copies of the koran at a u.s. military base in germany from the start the war coalition believes this is massively damaging for america's entire campaign in the country. the americans will try to say this is just an isolated incident but we have to remember that there are one hundred thousand occupying troops there are many many demonstrations over the koran that isn't just about the offense to islam it's also about the occupation itself the airstrikes from particularly in this case we know that every night in afghanistan up to forty thousand is a raided looking for alleged terrorists in the country now if this soldier is one of the many involved in these raids and it does raise many many questions as to exactly how the americans are treating the population the afghan

people. japan is marking a year since a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated the country leaving more than twenty thousand dead or missing people gathered to the exact moment the quake struck last march to grieve in silence. the nine point zero magnitude quake which literally shifted the earth's axis the whole thinks of the country in ruins displacing hundreds of thousands of people the tsunami triggered also knocked out the cooling systems at the fukushima power plant triggering the worst euclid crisis in decades dr robert jacobs a professor of nuclear history and culture at the hiroshima peace institute says the japanese people were betrayed by their own government. the psychological burden on the people is brutal and on the people who remain in the contaminated areas and the people who have been evacuated who will likely never return to their homes

their psychological burdens are intensely these people have been betrayed in repeated ways they were betrayed by being lied to that nuclear power could never have a problem at these kind of accidents don't happen and when the accident did happen it was hidden from them for three months that there were meltdowns they were lives for three months that they were meltdowns they were not told where the contamination and the explosions were going so these people have been lied to repeatedly now they've had their lives and there. were innings ideal for the health and welfare of themselves and their children and their families. meanwhile the whole world joined japan in grief it's special event staged across the globe members of the japanese community gathered in france to remember the victims in germany in the u.k. thousands of people have been rallying in front of nuclear power plants in the country's abandoned town of energy belgium also saw some of the marches where the disaster in japan raise serious doubts within the government over the use of such facilities. it's been

a week of sharp ups and downs for the greek economy athens managed to talk private creditors into accepting a crucial deal that's considered the biggest write down in history the agreement seemed to loosen the noose around athens neck for reducing the debt burden by another one hundred billion euros e.u. leaders praised the deal to the skies claiming a solution to the crisis had at last been found but just hours later the euro crisis suffered. just slap in the face by the credit rating agencies as moody's and fitch declared greece and to fool the markets back the sentiment by showing no signs of optimism anderson so your professor from the state university is resolutes in his assessment which is difficult whatever you settle with your creditor for less than what you. have agreed to do it i don't care how systematic it is or how complicated these debt swaps are we are dealing with it we'll live by default everybody knows that just because sir cosey claims that it isn't

a default means absolutely nothing he's a politician don't believe you also have to deal with the fact that for a long time his greek government has been living this gravy train an imaginary gravy train with borrowed money and now all of a sudden reality is hitting them and i think. in the long run you're going to see what's happening right now nothing's burning people setting fires here and there that is not exactly bode well for tourists unless i know people come to greece to see ruins but they want to see the ruins on talk of the acropolis and not in downtown athens. i top story here in all t. the russian presidential elections of two thousand and twelve from politicians to the media across the world the election run up was an opportunity to make a statement from a public opinion and take cheap shots but for many of them pushing sixty four percent victory came as an anticlimax leaving newsrooms with little left to say art is over bennett mel delves into harsh rhetoric may come with

a hefty price tag. a ruthless dictator whose days are numbered not exactly the language of international diplomacy but that's what britain's former foreign secretary thinks of russia's president elect casting his aspersions even before russians cast their vote while david miliband is using the sort of expressions dictatorship but don't conform to reality in a dictatorship people are not allowed to protest people are not allowed to walk around publicly with placards in the face of the leader of the country with derogatory terms written across the by cause we've seen this in russia david miliband comments appeared in a british tabloid the morning of russia's presidential poll long before it finished the m.p. accusing putin of reversing russia's reforms because of vested interests the sort of claim some experts say typifies the perception here uprooted and russia the

coverage has been very stereotyped so that when bad things happen in russia then they get huge coverage and then when is it really good things or progress like genuine economic progress that tends not to get reporter david miliband may not be in government now but he's widely expected to feature again should labor return to power as well should that happen he'll face a tough job repairing relations with russia after such a venomous attack talk about getting off on the wrong foot as miliband asserts to a vital partners when it comes to foreign policy security and economic issues david cameron. reaction to putin's elections been far more measured until now the prime minister's haven't exactly been close to team didn't even make it on to cameron's extensive christmas card list last year but while cameron may not have congratulated putin on winning he has endorsed the result it's clear the election has delivered a new science result evenly and your polling data put putin above the fifty percent

needed to win in the first round the same can be said of britain according to the electoral reform society two thirds of m.p.'s elected in two thousand and ten lacked a clear majority thanks to the ballot method of first past the post is russia's electoral system perfect no it's not but then no let's all system in the world is perfect let's not forget that in britain british prime minister ever achieves anywhere near fifty percent of the votes the protest movement against putin's return to the presidency is certainly loud but according to official election results it's toward by those in favor hooting received almost sixty percent of the vote miliband predicts that support won't last for long but while it does britain will have to like it or lump it if it wants to do business either bennett r.t. the. next we got a recap of this week's top stories that's after

a very short break stay with us not in a mosque. is easy.