tim's mission to teach me the creation of why you should care about humans and. this is why you should care only. with this is story is now brand new russian passenger plane on the sales demonstration flight. one hundred is missing in with fifty people on board went off the radar when the state says it may have crashed in a search operation is well underway. russia celebrates sixty seven years of victory over nazi germany as the traditional grand parade rolls across red square to all of the epic efforts around twenty seven million people died in what russia calls the great patriotic war. ukraine's former prime minister yulia timoshenko was moved to hospital from the prison in a bid to address concerns over the treatment he has already been forced to postpone

an e.u. summit to several states pulled out in protest over his situation. in fifteen minutes from now in the meantime we turn to syria where reports of violence continue despite the u.n. backed peace plan historian and political analyst who's recently been to the country says the same powers who backed the un initiative are also fueling the conflict. today we're sitting down with pierre pitching in he's a historian and political analyst specializing on the arab world he's traveled extensively to the countries that have gone through since 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 for the first question we'd like to know is we've been to syria the most latest country you visited

a couple of times what was your goal in going to that country. in. syria is a country that is very much diverse in terms of the 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 us 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 an opposition is very much divided they do not share the same goals and they use different methods to reach their goals but actually i never question 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 mean you. don't buy some of the right so you've talked to the opposition various within 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 that 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 heads of discontent if you will 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 there in july the syrian army surrounded the city but stopped short of occupying a security 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 what if these rallies are very moving and exciting event but they never turn violent so the army does not have to respond although the media often say it that the police opened fire on protesters and yeah it's not true at least i mean i have never seen any use of weapons then of the 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 and i would call the members of the civil opposition because 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 as 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 far brigade which originally even

before the revolution was a terrorist and the shiite organization does operate in homs too but 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 has had type province as their bases and they get food and training their adult life. trained along with urban guerrillas and helped by the french army you can read about it in the french newspaper for example in luck. of this if these rebels then cross the border and again raid neighboring towns and cities in syria you know who are they were desert years 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 is sort of with me as for the armed opposition

groups inside syria there are also several salafi groups who are responsible for terrorist acts and times on this commission horrendous atrocities while they may choose not their opponents execute them cut corpses into pieces and leave them in the neighborhood. 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 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 so the same is happening in mali this problem has recently become a popular topic of discussion islamist groups spread throughout the sahara and got it to sub-saharan african countries but there is something unhealthy about these

groups acting alongside the revolutionaries ordered field 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 on the syrian observatory for human rights but in a scenario like this it will be very difficult. to clarify very fight every single death in the country and what would the fifty deaths how would it be different to five hundred deaths how do you put that into context of what you said what is your criticism based on. first of all 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 african magazine last month there i say that there are two such observatories and that they are both connected with the opposition and that 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. journalists job to think critically verify sources and be extremely cautious but if they decide to just spread the information they received 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 you know 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 of the regime is defending its territory from foreign aggression since

the beginning of the crisis the government has always stuck to one line 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 agree on the first of all as for the government's rhetoric i don't believe the syrian government is blind you know 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 any my analysis of the situation is completely different and 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 in 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 where is now despite the prevailing anti israeli rhetoric in damascus israel is in fact quite comfortable with the current regime in reality you know they're getting along pretty well you know at the moment we see that the. 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 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 because you know i'm not advocating the regime i'm doing my research and i want to see what happens on the ground and i take the facts and draw conclusions that are going to feed. bashar al 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 and this this place one. term 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 see the government biggest problem is cross border raids from refugee camps in turkey and lebanon that 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 but you cannot demand this from the government it is certainly a dictatorship but it's a legitimate government according to international law and 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 will stop the violence because he wanted to buy some time you'll hear but in reality they continue their offensive against the free syrian army and frankly speaking i find it quite consistent and logical of it it when. so how do you see the syrian conflict. 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 that's going to a large degree this democracy will be formals yet civil society is awakening to 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 new

constitution approved in syria what allow bashar al assad to stay on for many more years. it is a transitional period which is absolutely necessary when the you can't expect too much straightaway you saw what happened to more mahdavi libya you saw what happened in tunisia and egypt and i think the situations are similar neither the government of bashar assad nor any other government is ready to allow bloodshed i also think that 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. here pitched him thanks very much for your time.

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top stories this hour r t a brand new russian passenger plane on a sales demonstration flight sukhoi superjet one hundred is missing in indonesia with fifty people on board it went off the radar early on wednesday carter says it may have crashed in the search operation is well underway. russia celebrates sixty seven years of victory of a nazi germany is the traditional grand parade rolls across red square to the epic battle around twenty seven million soviet people died in what russia called the great patriotic. ukraine's former prime minister yulia tymoshenko was moved to a hospital from her prison in a bid to address concerns over her treatment give has already been forced to postpone an e.u. summit of the several states pulled out in protest over her situation and i'll be

back with more on this story more developments for you in less than fifteen minutes from now in the meantime unions next with the sport. if you with us this is sports there's plenty ahead over the next ten minutes including. final. sides. on the grid to go head to head in the europa league decider later tonight. remembering the fallen russian football legend victory park to pay their respects to those who died during the second world war. and off the mark world number one defending champion novak djokovic wins his opening round clash at the madrid masters despite a challenging day on court. football first where we have a brand new name on the russian cup being left to celebrate their first ever

triumph in the competition following victory over. after twelve months of action the last two sides standing were left to slug it out in your catherine burg k.g.'s her through it in the all russian premier league clash on the walls increasingly looking like extra time before rubin player i. put paid to that buying home an absolute scorcher a dozen minutes from time one nil plus the final score there are delights for the touchdown i face while the wait for a cup conquest well it now stretches to eighteen years. which also a title up for grabs on the continent this evening bucharest the place to be the rumanian capital plays host to the all spanish europa league final between. on the madrid atlantic co with the most recent pedigree winning the competition two years ago. start a slight favorite this evening there and beaten run goes back seven matches they're

also on the verge of qualification for next year's champions league key defender luiz pereira will be a welcome addition to the first eleven after recovering from a thigh problem but midfielder is suspended while striker falcao is seeking his second title in a row having won the competition with porto twelve months back. when i think to feel a little bit nervous when playing a finalist natural and with this would be historic to consecutive time to different clubs all i'm trying to do is keep really focused on what our coach wants and what the team needs from me and what we need to do is the team on the pitch and let's hope we can reach our time. this season is the first time in thirty five years that i've reached the final of what was then the u. if a cup monitor marcello with a fully fit squad to choose from he also rested a number of players in the league over the weekend the basket. side with a chance to do a double of the season they take on barcelona in the final of the competition ray

in a fortnight's time. measured ok well it's true that we've dreamed of these type of victory for many years but it's to have a good omen to talk about victories before actually winning anything about it and i think it's better to focus on the game on the pitch and then hopefully we'll be able to celebrate because that is a dream we've all had for many years now spain meanwhile will be without their talismanic defender carles puyol when they defend their european title in june the thirty four year old will undergo surgery on his right knee which takes around six weeks to recover from the barcelona captain has ninety nine caps featuring in every major tournaments since the two thousand and two world cup finals. but we have to wait and see how the surgery goes and what the doctors say after worse however it will be virtually impossible for me to take part in your old twenty twelve i'll need to take some time to recover from meeting someone else who was in better shape at my spot because the host of russian footballing legends have been paying tribute

to those who fell during the second world war members of the soviet union to limp and european championship winning teams gathering at moscow's victory park to remember 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 in those growing up during wartime. when i was living in consult the east russia when the war broke out but despite the fact that the phone shoes had taken control of the c.t.e. we boys continued to play football you know courtyards because advantage we had no idea what was going on it's exactly kids like victor when you're dealing with then went on to create the us is a golden era in football. during a ten year period the national team won olympic gold in one thousand 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 victor and nikki to simone young all grew up having no idea what the outcome of the war would bring them over but that didn't stop them from daring to dream. even played a storm 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. he told was back then i lived in a coastal city in what is now the republic of georgia and people believe in peace.

there were many refugees there was no actual war there so luckily it was also quite peaceful. really have the luxury of relative freedom and open space those closer to the front line at far fewer comforts. there weren't any sports schools or the fantastic gene holes we have today we didn't have any protective gear or even boots at times we played their food we played with an empty cans of food. that would give us. with that kind of spirit it's little wonder these boys managed to achieve what they did. some lucky ones where even torn between vocation and. i spent my childhood the desire to become a food with that of being a singer. from food books a cd. but in the end. and soon it became a guilty before do not believe. whether or not these great football games were

affected directly by the collectively they managed to channel any fear. into the beautiful game and if these legends prove that despite great adversity even could rob children of their dreams michael cryptically. to ice hockey russia have maintained their one hundred percent record after world championships after winning their third game in a row is in a two. man seeing off germany two zero in stockholm goals from nikolai. handing russia victory next are denmark as the top seed seek to stay a perfect meanwhile in the other group game in lafayette thrashed italy five nothing elsewhere in helsinki hosts the defending champions finland had no problems against switzerland running out five two winners. three two win over. to tennis for world number one novak djokovic has described the clear court at the

madrid masters quote impossible without the spoiler three set win over done the trevor in the first round the serb beating the native sixty two six six three but was unhappy with the surface claiming afterwards shall i call boots which the reaming chopping also joking he had to seek advice from martial arts icon chuck norris on how to play on the newly installed blue clay the comments come following similar concerns from other players authorities however say they play makes it easier for t.v. viewers to follow the flight the. ball into the n.b.a. playoffs where the indiana pacers are safely through to the second round at the expense of orlando it's the first time the pacers help the rest of the second stage in seven years darren collison and towards hill combining for thirty four points in the one hundred five eighty seven game five win. meanwhile the atlanta hawks are back in contention in their series with boston after edging proceedings on home court chicago and denver also making their respective series closer refers bulls

coach tom thibodeau full of praise for british big old dang we finished with twenty four points against philadelphia. great energy all around game. got some easy buckets early. good de france rebounding but carlos was terrific in the post. gave us great defense great defense and ronnie brewer was terrific it's been a historic night on the baseball diamond meanwhile with josh hamilton joining an exclusive club. the thirty year olds leading 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 players have manage such a feat starting things off in the first any by home run off g r yet the orioles pitcher falling victim to the texas slugger again in the third without second

deafer heading out of the park to make it forward zero rangers' julie notching up his third and fourth two run homer later fall into the night texas are currently top teams and i will be stuck. on that is all your sport for now whether it's coming up very shortly. well for the true science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've dumped the future covered. wealthy british style.

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