do you bear in mind we also are posting all of this information on our dot com here we have the latest sukhoi superjet one hundred ultimately it was on a sales pitch in asia carrying out its second demonstration flight of the day the russian crew is mostly russian over there also at least thirty six international passage of passengers on board a fifty totaling the number of people on board that plane research efforts and certainly investigators focusing around a mountain about thirty two miles away from jakarta as we've been reporting here on r t it's nighttime there now or so helicopters in the search and rescue have been grounded for now we'll keep you posted on this developing breaking news story here on r.t. of course for now though we turn to syria where reports of violence continue despite the u.n. backed peace plan historian and political analyst a p.r. for c.n.n. who recently returned from the country says the same powers who are backing the un peace initiative are also the ones who are fueling the conflict.

today we're sitting down with peter pitchin he's a historian and political analyst specializing on the arab world he's traveled extensively to the countries that have gone through some so-called arab spring and he's also written extensively on these countries the most recent one being syria thanks very much for joining us today thank you and the first question we'd like to deal with we've been to syria the most latest country you've had for a couple of times what was your goal in going to that country. syria is a country that is very much diverse in terms of ethnic and religious groups you have to be inside syria to understand what is really happening there on the ground my goal was to get reliable information so i had to screen all the reports coming from the western news agencies magazines and other media i did some research and

found out that there are actually two rival syrian human rights groups that monitor developments and supply the bulk of information to the west you know what i discovered too was that the uprising was supported by a minority of the population which differs from what the western media are saying when they quote the syrian observatory for human rights also this eerie and opposition is very much divided they do not share the same goals and they use different methods to reach their goals actually i never questioned the credibility of the information that was coming from the region on my way to syria i thought i would see a country torn apart by a raging conflict a country aflame with revolution a country where it would be extremely hard to move around so i was very much surprised when i was given a visa and i mean these stories that it's so difficult to get into syria are sort of you. know all right so you've talked to the opposition various groups in the opposition can you tell us about what you discussed with them and how you would

assess that. with your saying hearing first feels that there is no such thing as a single opposition in fact there are many opposition groups and some of them are in conflict with each other. i'll try to present you with a clearer picture there are two hot beds of discontent with one in the city of hama where the muslim brotherhood led an uprising in the one nine hundred eighty s. the demonstrations that took place there were peaceful in july the syrian army surrounded the city but stopped short of occupying a city early in august the army moved into the city and establish control over it and they've been demonstrations are continuing the army and the police are present there to prevent the protesters from accessing major squares in the streets the protesters to throw stones at the police from time to time but it's a sort of intifada with these rallies over a very moving and exciting event but they never turn violent so the army does not have to respond although the media often say that the police opened fire on protesters it if it's not true at least i mean i have never seen any use of weapons

their homes and other historical center of discontent has become the fighting ground for many armed rebel groups you know you know so i was there with the residents of homs i would call the members of the civil opposition i mean these were ordinary people who took up any weapons they could find and defended their neighborhoods from the army in fact they were very badly aren't you however along with this civil uprising we have witnessed a much more dangerous one gash i'm talking about the islamist movement which is fighting in homs it's mainly represented by the foreign brigade which originally even before the revolution was a terrorist organization does operate in homs to what the rebellious city residents do not want anything to do with this also there are insurgents who call themselves the free syrian army it has been active on the border with turkey and lebanon mean the free syrian army has been using refugee camps in northern lebanon and turkey's have type provinces as their bases they get food and training their dog. trained

along with urban guerrillas and helped by the french army you can read about it in the french newspaper for example. about these rebels then cross the border and again raid neighboring towns and cities in syria. who are they were desert but there are not many of them the syrian army has largely remained loyal to the government there are fighters who came from libya qatar and saudi arabia so it's not quite clear what kind of force the free syrian army years. after the armed opposition groups inside syria there are also several salafi groups who are responsible for terrorist acts and times commit her renders atrocities they may kidnap their opponents execute them cut corpses into pieces and leave them in the neighborhood or how do we classify this movement in syria then is it a civil war is it an uprising is it a revolution. i think it is a revolution i think we can say that it is it but there are islamic groups in syria

that are trying to use this situation and turn syria into an islamic republic something like a salafi caliphate in a way this is similar to what happened in libya there was a civil war between tribal clans and now a group of salafi is represented in the new government of libya the same is happening in mali this problem has recently become a popular topic of discussion islamic groups spread throughout the sahara and god just sub-saharan african countries but there is something unhealthy about these groups acting alongside the revolutionaries ordered it's impossible to identify or contact them if they are truly secretive groups. now you've been critical about the usage as well as the reports in the syrian observatory for human rights but in a scenario like this it will be very difficult. to clarify very fly every single death in the country and what would the fifty deaths how would it be different to

five hundred deaths. so how do we put that into context of what you said what is your criticism based on a quote in a press. interview first of all reason i don't think it's too hard to have a more or less clear idea about what's happening in syria i've been able to visit the country twice in the last six months i rented a car drove all over syria was able to go even to hama and homs i was never detained at any military checkpoints the western media choose to rely exclusively on the syrian observatory for human rights of and i publish the results of my investigation in the africa magazine last month there i say that there are two such observatories and that they are both connected with the opposition and in reality these organizations are the oppositions propaganda agencies propaganda tools i don't understand why the media choose to use them as a source. it is part of the journalist's job to think critically verify sources and be extremely cautious but if they decide to just spread the information they

receive from the syrian observatory for human rights without asking any questions to let me give you a clear answer to your question i am saying that several dozens were killed in the armed conflict and even if they were journalists are talking about reprisals by the regime if the government attacks peaceful protesters we can call it reprisals but if the syrian authorities are dealing with an army based in refugee camps in lebanon and turkey financed from qatar and trained by the french army it's not repression the regime is defending its territory from foreign aggression since the beginning of the crisis the government has always stuck to one blind which is these are armed groups or they're supported by outsiders by foreigners. are they blind to what is happening in the country to the past or the possibility that this is a real real revolution are they right are they how would you assess the government's stand. and also could you know will in the first of all we'll ask for

the government's rhetoric i don't believe this. government is blind rhetoric and reality are two different things syria's government is in denial of the fact that a revolution is taking place they are talking about some foreign conspiracy about israel and the us plotting against syria more than that my analysis of the situation is completely different i think that starting with two thousand and one after nine eleven the us chose to cooperate closer with the syrian government and they both discovered a mutual enemy the islamic values and i think that the us is very unhappy with what is going on now. israel is also very concerned now should the syrian regime collapse the country could sink into chaos and then israel will have significant problems with what and where is now despite the prevailing anti israeli rhetoric in damascus israel is in fact quite comfortable with the current regime in reality they are getting along pretty well you know at the moment we see that the ruling regime has successfully established control over most of homs as well as over it

leave in hama and is fighting the free syrian army on the borders of them or the regime is far from collapsing it's nowhere near a downfall only russia assad has a lot of sunny days ahead of him many people ask me how can you say such things you're advocating the regime you know i'm not advocating the regime i'm doing my research i want to see what happens on the ground and i take the facts and draw conclusions that are anything. assad has agreed on the piece by presenting by coffee at nine but bashar al assad has made a lot of promises in the past and a lot of them who did not do you think is going to make good on his promise this time for a cease fire on this this place one. of them of him or part of kofi annan plan wasn't very well timed but the more as far as the syrian government is concerned you can't really demand things from the government when it has the upper hand and is defeat on the free syrian army at the moment the government biggest

problem is cool. border raids from refugee camps in turkey and lebanon so what happens is that if you well the government gets the upper hand and is defeating the free syrian army a demand comes in to stop the violence and it comes from those who helped the free syrian army conduct their training guitar and france were directly involved in helping them get new arms advanced and heavy weaponry and help them reorganize and review their strategy you cannot demand this from the government it is certainly a dictatorship but it's a legitimate government according to international law under the westphalian system and it's suppressing an armed revolt to reestablish control over its territory i understand that bashar assad said yes we should comply with the plan and it will stop the violence because he wanted to buy some time but in reality they continue their offensive against the free syrian army and frankly speaking i find it quite consistent and logical that so how do you see the syrian conflict ending at all.

unless of course there is an intervention from outside office i expect that the baathist government will be able to control the situation with military force after that i think it will conduct aggressive reforms to develop democracy this may even be a formal democracy at the initial stage i believe it's going to a large degree this democracy will be formals yet civil society is awakening and making its position known and in the future the government will have to make a turn towards a real democracy but how can we speak about democracy or democratic change with the new constitution approved in syria would allow bashar al assad to stay on for many more years six to build that. it is a transitional period which is absolutely necessary you can't expect too much straight away you saw what happened to more market duffey in libya and you saw what happened in tunisia and egypt i think the situations are similar neither the government of bashar assad nor any other government is ready to allow bloodshed i

also. with the moderate opposition and there is moderate opposition in syria which is not ready to take up arms the moderate opposition realizes that a transitional period of five to ten years will be necessary in order to accomplish this change peacefully without the country being engulfed in civil war. thanks very much for your time. if you move it. from plans to. screen start on t.v. dot com. a recap of

our breaking news here on r t a brand new russian passenger plane at the sukhoi superjet one hundred has gone missing during a flight over indonesia with fifty people on board authorities in jakarta are searching for the craft but the operations being complicated by nightfall and bad weather officials say the plane may have crashed but they are not ruling out a possible hijacking. and here we have pictures of the liner posted by russian blogger. who was supposed to be on the flight but decided not to go. on a sales pitch in asia and was carrying out its second demonstration flight of the day by the crew is russian but there are also international passengers on board mostly indonesians so it is now focusing around a mountain some thirty two miles from jakarta do stay with us here on our t.v. for more on this the developing breaking news story. the sport.

thanks rory the sporting headlines this hour are not. final comment on spanish sides of. the great purge to head to head battle in the europa league decider later tonight. remembering the fallen russian football legends gather victory park to pay their respects to those who died during the second world war. and off the mark world number one on defending champion novak djokovic twin's his opening run clash at the madrid masters despite a challenging day. for first where we have a brand new name on the russian cup rypien left to celebrate their first ever triumph in the competition following victory over. after twelve months of action

the last two sides were left to slug it out in you catherine berg a cagey furth right in the all russian premier league clash on alyson creasing looking like extra time before. alexey. put paid to that by going home on the absolute scorcher a dozen minutes from time one the final score then delight for the tatarstan i fit well wait for a cup conquest now stretches to eighteen years. is also a title for grabs on the continent this evening bucharest the place to be as the roumanian capital plays host to the old spanish europa league final between us let it build on that letting cole madrid let it cool with the most recent pedigree winning the competition two years ago simone a side will start to slide favorites this evening their own beating run goes back seven matches on their also on the verge of qualification for next year's champions league key defender lewis pereira will be

a welcome addition to the first eleven. recovering from a thigh problem but midfielder tiago is suspended. now this season is the first time in thirty five years that they reached the final of what was then the u. if a cup. with a fully fit squad to choose from he's also rested a number of players in the league over the weekend the side with the chance to do a double this season they take on barcelona in the final of the copper del rey in a fortnight's time host of russian football legend pain paying tribute to those who fell during the second world war members of the soviet union someone pick on the european championship winning teams gathering of moscow's victory park monument trim member of the dead michael reports. it's pretty much the dream for any boy growing up to become a football hero but few would have had as difficult a time achieving that dream than those growing up during wartime. when i was four

and living in. peace to russia when the war broke out but despite the fact that the phone shoes had taken control of the c.t. we boys continued to play football in no courtyards because advantage we had no idea what was going on is exactly kids like victor who then went on to create the us golden era in football. during a ten year period the national team won olympic gold in one hundred fifty six became european champions in one thousand nine hundred sixty and then came second in the same competition four years later legends like goalkeeper. and strikers victim and nikita simonyan all grew up having no idea what the outcome of the war would bring them. but that didn't stop them from daring to dream. even played a storm accts they fed us only once a day and still we continued to play football and once the war was over every

single yard was full of children playing football and the most famous footballers came from these yards in stark contrast to those who were directly affected by the tribulations of war and there were some who were more fortunate because of the us. territory it meant not all of it was directly in the line of fire and. i was very young when the war began so i have a very fuzzy memory of how it told was back then i lived in but to be a coastal city in what is now the republic of georgia and people will even peacefully ovo there were many refugees there was no actual war there so luckily breena was also quite peaceful. really had the luxury of relative freedom and open space those closer to the front line had far fewer comforts nearby there weren't any sports schools or the fantastic gene halls we have today we didn't have any protective gear or even boots at times we played their food we played with empty

cans as food or to sort that mom would give us a few it with straw and use that with that kind of spirit it's little wonder these boys managed to achieve what they did. some lucky ones where even torn between vocations. i spent my childhood juggling the desire to become a food bill and with that of being a singer. and from food books a scene in a back to food bill again but in the end my calling was food bill and soon it became a goalkeeper phenomena police. whether or not these great footballers were affected directly by the war collectively they managed to channel any fear or despair into the beautiful game and it's these legends that prove that despite great adversity even rule can rip children of their dreams michael christian. meanwhile in tennis world number one novak djokovic has described the clear court of the madrid masters as impossible despite

a three set win over down the jimeno traveller in the first round the serb beating the native six two two six six three but wasn't happy with the surface claiming afterwards he should have come out in full boots joke of it's the reigning champion also joked he had to seek advice from partial or excitement chuck norris on how to play on the newly installed new play the comments come following similar concerns from other players authorities however civically makes it easier for t.v. viewers to follow the flight of the. finally it's been a historic night on the baseball diamond swith josh hamilton joining an exclusive club. the thirty year old leaving his texas rangers to victory over baltimore by hitting an incredible four to run homers in a single game in the league's one hundred forty three year history only fifteen peers with such a feat starting things off in the first any by home ring off jake. the orioles pitcher falling victim to the texas slugger again in third with

a second effort heading out of the park in a four zero rangers'. julie his third and fourth to run homer later on on the night texas are currently top in the. stock. all your sport for naught. well the british. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global

economy in the kinds of reports. from the russian capital. here in moscow we have been following wednesday's victory day celebrations every year a minute's silence is observed in commemoration of those who were killed during the great patriotic war that's how it's known in russia twenty five million soviets lost their lives during the war right now we will mark the.

new minute. when you man you're attention go eat eba guy this is moscow that i bought that sits in threat all the central t.v. and radio stations of russia us that are working smut that each year isa. musket will.

be at them by the light of our grateful memory. sidelined of our love to believe that. city of the light of agreement should. lead the names of the fallen said shine in our memory for action. spork let us recall that he will at this three years the city meet and once again others eighteen days. what city great patriotic war claimed the twenty six million six hundred thousand ilads eek it is truly a way to. spawn new let us remember spoke of ledgers remember the those who fought the enemy at the front of the way while those who fought in guerrilla detachments the star those who suffered in fascist

concentration camps spall new let us remember those who worked without sleep and rest on the home front spoon even let us remember those baby girl each the bird in prague you go and so it was you who are not with us today at. school you let us remember the villages and certainly should get that were reduced to ashes let us remember the hundreds of towns destroyed but we're not defeated to look at those resolutions let us remember look at your every street. every house spoke in every home gosh they don't. sell best soldier of the great patriotic history. you fought to the bitter end my school near moscow in a stalingrad go through delivered bread at me to the blockaded leningrad. and you are burned in a tank at the front line. but you buy it when dying as it is saving

millions of lives. you lost your kids and in the stolen labor camps and such freedom to the inmates of outwits. and. if that you did not intrude for an boundaries need sco neither did you see. fame bees this show just defended your motherland as a she defended your family. spoke set us today remember all those who place their lives on the altar of a tree. that is barlow too that's. what it will as the years and decades passes each year. one generation takes the place of another motorist emotional but is it possible to pass into oblivion says she the heroic deed of the warriors could defend and not only our lives each of the very

notion of a human being to that fascism for she wanted to crush. with the people in the day of the great the tree square game we bow our heads in bright memory a seriously bad beats you did not get in return if somebody will send the sons the cittie daughters. at some others. not yours. dear and fathers more free husbands. wives but others sisters at nama john's. relatives. and friends. no stupid eight mean the chair knew the minute of silence.

and.