you're watching r t a reminder of the top stories of the week lebanon seizes weapons aboard a ship within its waters the cargo was said to be destined for syria's opposition fires that's as explosions and the mask is deal another blow to the u.n. sponsored peace plan. sarkozy we have phones is pledged to drastically cut immigration after losing the first round of the french presidential ballots a socialist candidate from swallow and that's the national front so far ride votes that are now up for grabs during the may sixth ronald. series of blasts rocked the eastern ukrainian city of her betrothed on friday leaving twenty nine people

injured the suspected terror attacks also stoked fear abroad as the country prepares to host the euro two thousand and twelve full tournaments. ally in anger ready to boil over as a new cybersecurity bill could allow the u.s. government to obtain people's private information from internet companies pac has passed the u.s. house of representatives but is now threatened to be seen by president obama. when asked we ask a former u.s. army colonel whether american israel could strike iran as early as this summer despite no definite proof it's building a nuclear weapon. we're sitting down with douglas macgregor a retired army colonel who fought in the gulf war and was referred to by some officials as the best fighter the u.s. army has got mr macgregor thank you very much for joining me good to be here

president obama has put forward an ultimatum for iran either make progress with negotiators or face consequences consequences meaning war some say a strike may happen within the next few months in your opinion how realistic is that should we expect the war in summer topical question right now in washington d.c. i think the answer right at the moment is no president obama is not remotely interested in waging war against iran so let's be clear about that no one at the top of the united states military establishment is interested in waging war against iran and the intelligence community has made it abundantly clear that iran is nowhere near the development of a nuclear warhead or the capacity to deliver one so we had those things up it's very very obvious that at least in the places that count at the white house the department of defense there is no interest in waging a war on iran and let me say something that's so great there is a great push from israeli influence groups not president obama to just back

a potential strike and as you said they had ministration says the iranians haven't even decided to build a bomb so all this war talk is based on what it's based really on i think the american israeli public affairs committee and it's a subordinate elements are affiliated elements they represent enormous quantities of money that over many years have cultivated enormous influence and power in congress and you simply are talking is just to appease the lobbyists well i think you've got a lot of people on the hill who fall into two categories one category that is interested in money and wants to be reelected and they don't want to run the risk of the various lobbies that are that are pushing. military action against iran to contribute money to their opponents colonel macgregor some say these trade leadership see this summer as that window of opportunity that they don't want to miss for two reasons one iran has very few friends in the wage and syria its

closest ally is a mess right now and second presidential elections coming up in the u.s. some say israel is going to use their leverage over president obama and it's going to be very hard for him to say no what do you think about that window of opportunity for as well well if you were to launch a strike in the summer this would cause a dramatic downturn in the economy just consider that we had a rumor that supposedly iranian commandos had destroyed a pipeline in saudi arabia other fanciful nonsense and eventually it was denied by aramco the saudi arabian oil corporation but in that short period of time or oil skyrocketed on the market up beyond one hundred fifteen dollars a barrel but the point is just the rumor of action was enough to send the oil through the roof so we had a foretaste there of the dramatic economic consequences for the world if we move

ahead and support israel in its desire to strike iran that's why i don't think president obama is remotely interested so they don't think that the israeli leadership sees this as a window of opportunity though they may but look don't count out the israeli population let's not assume that everyone in israel is anxious to see iran destroyed i think that's misleading there's more division of opinion in israel than we think so again how long can mr netanyahu and mr barak play this game of the century trying to bully president obama and push him into an action that he would otherwise choose not to take did ministration is basically saying all they need is evidence that iran has acquired a nuclear weapons capability and here's what i want to ask you. about this capability issue because it's very vague i mean it means being capable of doing something but not necessarily doing it yes how do you see it was deliberately vague it's deliberately ambiguous so the various people can define it as they like what

is a capability to do something in terms of weapons nuclear weapons development well how much in rich geranium are we talking about is it just enriching uranium does it involve packaging the enrich uranium does it involve a test of some type no one has been very specific and i think that's purposeful because you could if you're sitting in the white house right now and you're sitting at the cia n.s.a. or in the pentagon you can always say well we said capability we don't see it yet so is the purpose of that to to keep the u.s. way at least in this in vagueness well president obama is preeminent concern is to get reelected. and that's a very dangerous proposition right now for him depending upon what the israelis do if they launch a strike but a say on their own without consulting us independent of us entirely and they do it say late october shortly before the election obama then can say well you know we're

obligated we have to help our israeli friends and he looks good if they do it earlier then the consequences could be very profound for him because it would certainly tank our economy we would be in severe difficulty here in the united states we have a very narrow will sone an interventionist elite inside washington that operates independently of the american people that thinks of itself as being morally superior and justified in taking action anywhere against anyone that it deems appropriate that's the problem and the iranians are justifiably concerned about that but they have not reached the point where they can weaponize anything they don't have that capability and we do have the ability to detect that know it and respond to it they know those things what we need to do is move beyond this ridiculous confrontational setting that both of us are trapped in and that's very

hard to do in an election year when everyone is pandering to various elements of the electorate for money and votes colonel let's say world powers p five plus one negotiate something but the results don't satisfy as well and the west and they do go to war in summer as some predict what kind of immediate backlash should they expect iran struck a chord is subversion. the ability to subvert so the retaliation would be in the form of terrorism it would be in the form of what i would call asymmetric attacks in other words high payoff low investment in other words use what you can beyond your borders in populations friendly to you to attack the other person's interests now we shouldn't underestimate how much damage that could involve and remember we know that if for instance hizbollah as well as other as iranian elements are here in the united states so we know that we would sustain losses here at home there would be damage here in the united states how many bombs would you have to explode

in public malls to do enough damage to awaken everybody to what's going on my point is you know those are the kinds of things that i would expect but a direct military confrontation would be a losing proposition for them they might be able to inflict damage on our forces and our naval forces but not on the scale that would make any difference to the outcome they they would sustain enormous damage and enormous losses what about long term the fact some say even if you weigh and haven't decided to build a bomb they sure will if attacked well i was something more important that we talk about what they will do if they are attacked i think we should look at the rest of the world what will the rest of the world do if israel attacks iran remember this is an unprovoked assault. the israelis can claim otherwise and insist otherwise and paint this picture of enormous danger represented to israel but the truth is no one buys that my view has always been that if you do this if israel does this that iran

will very definitely have nuclear weapons they won't have to build them they'll get them people will provide those to them they will have more help than they know what to do with any iran will grow more hostile and more bitter and more angry and more dangerous than it has ever been i want to ask you about syria the obama administration has kind of ruled out a military intervention saying it's too complicated what in your opinion. keeps the u.s. from attacking syria there are several things first of all there is a quiet recognition behind closed doors that if assad is removed however much people do not like hoffa's or assad that the government that succeeds in will be a radical islamist sunni muslim government hostile to israel hostile to the west hostile to shia islam in other words. not

a good development from the standpoint of the united states or europe. so i think that's understood secondly there's an understanding that syria actually has despite the fact it's much smaller than iran what twenty to twenty three million people i think very good armed forces it does have an integrated air defense structure that would take some time to dismantle but its ground force is actually very good and it's of the arab forces i would describe the syrians is probably being among the best if not the best best disciplined best officer what would be the main argument that you would suggest for the u.s. not to attack iran right now we see iran through one lens in one way we see this as a unchanging theocracy that is very of the american anti western incurable if you will know the words it's fatally stricken with this theocratic disease of religious fanaticism i don't i think it will change and i

think if we can back away from this iran will evolve differently over the next ten years and we don't have to have this hostile relationship or confrontation that would be i mean are you that's one of my organ see another was don't look at you want to change for the better you look at the future look at what is driving iran what is what is iran's principal interest internal modernization economic development what do its people want israel to focus of everyone's hatred in iran absolutely not most iranians could care less about it in fact most iranians are not very friendly towards arabs so the bottom line is why are we doing what we're doing we're looking at things as though they will not change my point is that nixon had the foresight to understand china was at the beginning of a long period of change my point is that we're going to discover in the next few years that iran too is at the beginning of a long period of change thank you very much thank you.

it will mean for the fun to talk about one mean cleaning machine from university labs to the outer reaches of the stratosphere the russians want to find eco friendly solutions to big city travel take a spin with us and enjoy life on the green side. knowledge i'm doing here on a large chunk of the future coverage of. the man. move. move. move move move.

on. get are sometimes you see a story and it seems so for life you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. the. motion would be so much brighter if you knew me about song from funniest

impressions. moves from stunts on t.v. don't come. lebanon seizes weapons of war and a ship more than its waters the cargo was said to be destined for syria's opposition fighters that has explosions in damascus deal another blow to the u.n. sponsored peace plan. sarkozy reaffirmed his pledge to drastically cut immigration after losing the first round of the french presidential ballot the socialist candidate from launching its national front far right votes that are now up for grabs during that may sixth run off. a series of blasts rocked the eastern ukrainian city of never trops come friday leaving twenty nine people injured the suspected terror attacks also stoked fear abroad as a country prepares to host the euro two thousand and twelve global tournaments. and

online anger ready to boil over as a new cyber security bill could allow the u.s. government to obtain people's private information from internet companies the pap test passed the u.s. house of representatives but is now threatened to be vetoed by president obama. those were the top stories of the week and here's a sports update with andrew. hello there welcome to the small whereas elite are champions again coming up the same page as big side league denominate two one to retain the russian premier league. clash rafa verse says up another final with top seed as arranged in germany. the price of victory chicago be philadelphia in the n.b.a. playoffs but leave scheme and derrick rose to injury. but first any coach can chew

on his plate he has hailed his plays character after claiming a second rushing premier league crime in a row they go to one in some pages to secure the title with three games to go things could not have started better if any they scored first after half an hour on their shabby setting up their own mind should have called out now and then five minutes later let me be sure of the penalty for the home side and top score alexander because you made no mistake from the spot but alexandru a poor young who then headed home from a corner to pull one back for dinar my still in the first half and ten minutes after the break they need had constantine's that he sent off for a second book about offense but hung on to their lead to one is how it stayed and the celebration started for fans saluted their team's third league title in five seasons and if the champagne flowed less he said his place triumph was a combination of skill and mental toughness over a long eighteen month season midfielder roman insurer coffee even got his place to

sign his shirt in memory of their achievement while fans made sure they didn't go home empty handed either. elsewhere to score leapfrog spot like into third after beating their arch rivals two one in the moscow darby sparks was guilty of an awkward only goal midway through the first half brazilian failing to play a free kick by his order and. the red white. made amends right before the interval arching disease by lashing an equalizer however birthday boy family when that killing in a free cake for the army man and spot i expect was effectively sealed and dimitri combative percentile for a second book of all offense right on to one. half finished. house where i double from side to sue and she might see three one i'm attached had a terrible start with tara spurlock putting through his a net there after twenty five minutes however just seven minutes later the railway men. but at the turn the tables on my single handedly

after the bright cameron strike at first making them defensive mistake a midwifery the second half. and then he settled matters with that dazzling entry time and she got a fish into the europa league places well look i like your stand side by winning the streak betty capping things off meanwhile rubin's hopes of finishing in the europa league places with dented after they had to come from behind to do a one one behind the band marcus desire breaking the deadlock with twenty minutes left before the brass nacho converted a penalty in the closing stages to snatch a point for the. second my. found english premier league will have consolidated third spot they grabbed a one one draw with study qualified was newcastle with thrashed four nil by wigan the magpies remain four five four points behind the going to while we can speak

from the. three clear of the drop sides they are level on points with aston villa who drew with west brom both and stay in the bottom three despite it take to draw at sunderland while already relegated will score a full four draw forms a loose wire is going to have tricked little pulls when i've been over it while everton fresh full of four nailed on sunday chelsea host. q.p.r. while sliding rivals top my face relegation threatens blackburn on monday all eyes are on man just a second place to see if united and what could prove to be a title decider. if he can happen but it's not being as they say i think that they have more chance than i was because. the man in the end after we should play against newcastle that would be the go for game and after it would be instead united would play against swansea sound and in that

for them it would be too easy game. well over in france leon have won their first trophy in four years they beat part time a school v one little to lift the french cup play in the french division and it wasn't surprising they found themselves under pressure from the start a venture you can see in what turned out to be the winner after half an hour a somber lopez getting on the end of because that is cross there and that proved to be enough to give leon their first silverware since the early cup double in two thousand and eight. to tennis now and second seed of their is preparing for another final against the world number one victoria as a ranker the two go head to head at the start got open later today trap of are setting up the showdown with a straight sets win over petrushka vater in the semi's she did save match point lead over to force a tie break to wrap of a sell through that seven three for the match and will be hoping it's third time lucky against victoria as are having already lost two finals this year to the

belorussian united and indian wells who are well number two rafael nadal will play fellow spaniard in the final of the barcelona open today the dow with a straight straight sets win over front end of a basket in the semi and looking for the second title on clay beach year after winning the monte carlo masters for an eighth time in a row earlier this month. where the n.b.a. playoffs have got underway with top seed to the chicago bulls enjoying one hundred three ninety one victory over philadelphia in the post season opener however the victory was overshadowed by serious injury to the bulls m.v.p. derrick rose the top scorer on the night with twenty three points and nine assists the slate three pointer opening up a twenty point lead in the fourth but late in the final frame who crumbled to the ground pairing and need ligament which will put him out of the playoffs news which took the shine off a comfortable win for the bulls in the eastern conference. with. the games the

defending champions the dallas mavericks lost by one point as oklahoma ninety nine ninety eight miami heat the early series lead against the new york knicks after the bron james hit thirty two points on the landing magic indiana places eighty one seventy seven. now the failing to win in one hundred sixty three starts golfer jason dufner is on the verge of ending his title drought the american league these you're a classic in new orleans while englishman luke donald looks set to regain the world number one spot has been runner up on the p.g.a. tour twice before but he's now two shots clear of the field in new orleans with a round left to play here five under sixty seven on the penultimate day. graeme goliath. just behind him this is him here while luke donald needs to finish seventh to return to the top of the world rankings and he is currently eight a shot behind steve stricker. boxing and japanese challenge you know.

says he plans to knock out the middleweight champion dimitri when the two square off against each other in moscow at the fight is on tuesday a russian public holiday in the shade it has held an open training session here in the capital and he says he is wary of points decision could swing in favor of the local hold us so he wants a knockout that would put the result beyond doubt but thirty one year old has a record of nineteen with including fifteen or counts in self and no losses for the journey and has more. one of the brightest books and jones russia has still for and probably the most gifted. deal middleweight jumped on me that if you're all first came to global prominence in twenty down when he entered the mandalay bay casino ring las vegas as an underdog and stunned the crowd by knocking out american daniel jacobs capturing the japanese belt in the process but. i knew the only way

to win your was to knock him out but it's a very hard way to fight specially for me is i want a lot so i just decided to box as well as i could and enjoy it anyway so the feeling that after this four years of a packed out arena for the first time also spurred me on. since then man and he's grown twice he's the world professional record he's perfect nineteen wins in nineteen bouts but it's not he startles in full stats which through its hitting record is his style. and when i was young i was pretty small and light my boxing technique was all about speed and throwing lots of punches although i weighed just forty eight kilos than me but suddenly i started growing toward a very fast open that changed me a lot and i suddenly couldn't act the same way in the ring i was only seventeen when i had to adjust to the changes that he was i started taking on board some new things but kept all that i'd learned before thinking that made me a very well rounded boxer waiting in the at the same time i was seeking my own

evening style although i watched tons of fight all of my friends were fired at me with different video i couldn't get enough water to get what i wanted to improve my left hook when i watched the whole trinidad's fights and studied the way they did it all concentrated on mayweather defense to fine tune mine that's how my style is developed. iraq story sports career yes but age just decided to swap goals four hundred. twenty three years later it's safe to label him as one of the smartest squiers blank break to date though he makes sure to salute he's producers. in the eighty's the middleweight division was brilliant magnificent fighters are top of it. your random hagler then it was my favorite i mean it was legit or not or very intelligent or maybe it's because my first coach used to say boys must be smart shouldn't be you could be spectacular and full of bullshit yes

but my current the i just love never good enough. after that you're out of defense but always. getting less sophisticated than you and there are just a few fighters who can do it but it's not just about breaking and peak about events but the protection that naturally prepares you to attack but more broadly that's what i'm trying. to get just enough of you. has already become to special one and i'm russian boxing enthusiastic now it's time to take it to the next level either me or merica. so that's got more.