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tv   [untitled]    July 28, 2012 9:00am-9:30am EDT

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syria's commercial capital becomes the country's fiercest battleground to date. the rebels on their western patrons for leaving damascus no choice but to fight on. the olympic ceremony british police take down a peaceful mass bicycle ride during the games opening as organizers astonished the world with a breathtaking show. saudi arabia police club down demonstrators on fire live rounds that's progress for protests spread from bahrain the united arab. live from moscow this is our rule research very welcome to the program dozens of people have reportedly been killed in the fresh clashes in syria's largest city as government forces step up
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a counter offensive against the entrenched rebels eyewitnesses describe the scenes in aleppo as the fiercest fighting of the sixteen months of conflict russia says syrian authorities need to work towards peace but can't be expected to concede when the western backed insurgents continue to take over cities i must go accusing this foreign powers of fueling the violence to bring about regime change in damascus meantime the former head of the u.n. mission to syria says assad's fall is only a matter of time but admits that it won't necessarily mean an end to the conflict and you want to have also a most of foreign meddling in syria in defiance of u.n. efforts. reports. one week has passed since the united nations has issued a new mandate for its observer mission in syria beach and this theoretically should help calm tensions in this country but if anything violence in syria has only intensified over the past week the clashes between the army and the rebel still
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continue in the northern city of aleppo with the death toll believed to be in the hundreds and enormous damage to the city's infrastructure now before the syrian uprising began aleppo was considered the best case for the burgeoning economic and political ties between syria and its northern neighbor turkey but ever since are there on and bashar al assad stopped calling each other france turkey has played a very active and some would say a very destructive role in syrian affairs turkish territory is being actively used to smuggle weapons for the free syrian army and on the top of that's reuters news agency has revealed that turkey alongside saudi arabia and qatar has sat at a secret military base in one of its southern cities to direct vital military communications support for the free syrian army now a number of experts have long warning that turkey's adamant support for the syrian
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opposition may calm at a cost to its own security for a number of decades the turkish state has been struggling against its own militants i'm talking about the crudest on its workers' party the been fighting for the establishment of an independent sovereign state for the kurds the world's largest people without a state a few months ago i shall get a chance to visit several kurdish settlements around syria and i was very surprised to find that they are defected independent they have their own security forces that are own schools that own administration so all these developments with the kurds in syria leave turkey very nervous. and on thursday its prime minister accused bashar al assad of aiding kurdish militants in syria and those are the on sad that he's country it reserves the right to strike kurdish targets kurdish locations within syria pretty much like it does in iraq and. this may be needed
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for turkish own self-defense but if those attacks carried out that's going to make it very volatile a very bloody very unstable situation in this region far worse and so of course went on a boy reporting right there let's go let's get some more on this now and speak to beirut based activist. joining us live on the program good to see you today as i'm sure you're well aware you know we take our attention from syria now to northern lebanon where fresh clashes have taken place in the lebanese city of tripoli this between supporters and opponents of the syrian regime but what is beirut's role in all of this. well most respect agreements. please continue. they would must respect the agreements between syria and lebanon that. no country must disturb must destabilize
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the other as you know tripoli there are a lot of. persons there and salafist too so as in order to respect the agreements they would must take it this is if action against those men in order to stop the pass we arms between tripoli and syria and also there are a lot of thing counts for military the. armed gunman. yes or so so you're saying and as we can as we can quite easily understand here the violence in syria has spread over into lebanon here but has it spread over in such a major way as some of the pictures are suggesting and if it has who is to blame.
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well obviously the government the lebanese government must have taken a harsher and sharper action as soon as there were stories about the armed men. so instead of waiting until it's bill's or they start to spills on the border it must have taken action diet directly as soon as the stories when it came through and it is one documented that there are training camps and lebanon is a base of support for the free syrian army so yes it should have issued though it should have been much much before. until now or let's talk about some of the opposition here the rebel movement ongoing in syria russia says the president assad has no reason to back down as long as the rebels continue to carry out terror attacks and occupy cities do you think do you think it is a possibly time for foreign forces to step in between and get involved.
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well since there are still terrorists terrorizing the population in syria who are kidnapping citizens who are committing crimes. in the first step to any any further enforce as a buffer zone must must an agreement for all of the by the west to by the west to stop funding and arming these terrorists so it can't have oftens on made by foreign forces right now. is pointless because we don't you you are you ready for you raise a very very good point you're saying that a buffer zone by international forces is pointless because.
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because if for example if the west it is known who else is funding the terrorists or where you are if indeed the west is funding the terrorist let's talk about this a nato here in nato has been reluctant at this point to get involved even after syria shot down a turkish plane what would it take for their u.s. led block to where you are in a show we say libya style well syria is not syria is not libya the west is trying to implement and they talk in a scenario in syria but syria is definitely not leave you and i honestly don't think they will succeed because unlike online libya. and iran and china it's very very very clear that if.
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any western force tries to assault syria they will not resign and so yes all right. activists are joining us live from beirut here on r.t. many many thanks for coming on our program thank you. are still to come here on a tomb raider is on a rampage find out why north or it is a failing to stem the increasing flow of stolen artifacts from the country. now the summer olympic games are finally underway in london and while the athletes were gearing up to go tough on their opponents police were getting a bit tough on locals around one hundred cycling activists taking part in a monthly mass bike ride arrested during the opening ceremony to the olympic games so they claim to have been encircled by police while pedaling towards olympic park officers reportedly used pepper spray as the scuffles broke out at the opening show
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itself proved to be a breathtaking masterpiece of art a final price tag of twenty seven million pounds the olympic torch was delivered by a football superstar david beckham via a speedboat on the river thames and seven young athletes nominated by british sporting greats lit the flame to the largest. bell it look at these images that's just pressing the extravaganza did culminate with this marvelous fireworks this. updates on the competitions results on more stunning pictures including those of the queen playing a rather important role in the olympic spectacle there she goes how do they convince the queen to jump out of a helicopter and that's all for that for you on the web site artsy dot com short of visit it for more coverage of the grand sporting event. well while some love the olympics others may not be too enthused. i know i'm here. looking
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a bit crazy back home because of the yeah people in the big apple whether they'll remember the names of the athletes several months after the olympics concluded the resident in about ten minutes time here on out it's. also over the athletes are cashing in on their perfect bodies the last couple is in a photo shoot leaving the sport as a bit of an off the thought at the games. this is on its tensions are simmering in eastern saudi arabia following friday's police crackdown on protesters clashes occurred in the city of qatif where activists say about fourteen were injured off the officers did begin shooting with live rounds several arrests were made following the demonstrations against the political imprisonment and discrimination by the sunni rulers of the area mostly populated by shiites as seen on rest throughout the year with saudi authorities and security opposition forces have also been silenced in bahrain and the united arab emirates geo
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political analyst eric draitser says the ruling elites in the region are actually marching to the beat of a different drum. to voice your view in saudi arabia is to stand against anglo american hegemony in the region remember the united states the british the israelis and the western powers have been propping up these regimes for decades and so to popularize ideas that are anti regime is essentially to say that saudi arabia qatar and the various gulf monarchies are not going to be subjected to us hegemony any more saudi arabia has a very repressive police state apparatus that exists in the country and because of that you see a tremendous amount of repression. and that repression can very easily escalate into violence we saw a similar situation in bahrain where the the royal family essentially carries out
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what what would what could be considered entirely backwards system where people are thrown into prison for tweeting people are thrown into prison for criticizing the regime really what we're looking at is a situation where there it's the pot calling the kettle black the united states and the western powers and their proxies in the middle east are using human rights as a cover when it is convenient and in turn violating human rights when it serves their interests so we can't we can't look at this in any objective terms this is all in the service of anglo-american imperialism in the middle east and in the gulf now as egypt writes new pages in its history pieces of the country's legendary pasta slipping away museum looters and toomer raiders have stepped up the hunt for the facts but officials say they lack the resources to stop the thieves and reports . egypt's pride and past which is slowly being stolen from its people here at the
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museum of egyptian antiquities in cairo more than five thousand years of civilization on display unearthed over the years from the shifting sands with the world's largest collection of fair army pieces and the treasures of king tooting carmen but the ancient world's artifacts are being plundered the this museum and something. looted from the museum. this is not the one of the better down sides of the chaos of last year's bloody uprising on the streets of egypt an outbreak of museums and antique warehouses across the country more than one hundred thousand artifacts are stored in the cairo museum basement alone and at least a million are stored across more than egypt protecting these treasures requires a colossal effort all the more difficult since many police have left the force in the wake of the countries and raced before the revolution where fifty gore placed the maximum when they threw ten people then to fifty after the movement it became seventy four hundred people around that's again is. the twenty inside it all starts
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here in the shadow of the permits ancient temples in visit sites here egyptians dig for quick and illegal back it is easy to go deep under the cover of darkness and far from the nearest security guard but many don't even go there far instead turning over their own backyards under the ground on the only house there are only one so if you want to conclude from million people on the ground even something as simple as a knife from the times of the pharaohs can sell for up to fifty million dollars on the black market deals are done through a labyrinth of illegal buyers across europe and the united states. of money digs happen and vast open places that are difficult for us to access those responsible then leave the country by sea or across the border where we have few police it's impossible to know what's been stolen directly from the ground whereas we have
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documented evidence that at least three hundred pieces were stolen from museums since the revolution it's estimated that illegal digs have increased one hundred fold in the last year those trying to safeguard egypt's in comparable history feel powerless the country's treasures are falling into the wrong hands and lost to the people forever the egyptian president may have more pressing matters right now but many archaeologists here feel the legacy of the people is surely worth fighting for before it's too late egypt is in a state of flux and while there are many people here worried about its future there just as many worried about preserving its past policy r.t. cairo. could have you with us here on r.t. today are still ahead for you in this hour words of freedom georgia was hailed by many outsiders as one of the world's best young democracies but we hear from those on the inside it's a very different story. orat
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a clashes in lebanon start off the r.t. was up. for us now overnight sectarian violence between the gunman and allawi rivals in lebanon's northern city of tripoli have wounded eight police fired warning shots trying to disperse the combatants before troops were deployed in the area tensions in the country were sparked months ago by the uprising in neighboring syria with the alawite minority supporting president assad but the two countries cherry tangled web of sectarian connections which tend to be rather easily inflamed . a drive by shooting in southern thailand has killed at least four soldiers and injured two others the troops were cornered by suspected is limited militants and shot at close range this is they are returning to their base from military patrol the islamist insurgency in the country is a volatile south erupted in two thousand and four since then over five thousand have died. a major police operation on tajikistan's border with afghanistan
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has left at least seventeen soldiers dead and forty injured in the ongoing offensive was launched on tuesday in an attempt to track down a former warlord used to killing a senior security official police have killed a total of thirty militants and captured forty one some of them reportedly having defected from neighboring afghanistan or authorities have see all the border crossing points in the region with the only exception of the one providing nato supply trucks with access. to the wildfires of engulfed parts of russia's far east with a state of emergency being declared the situation is being hampered by extreme temperatures but the crews battling the blaze say they've managed to protect residential areas the firefighters work is being held back by a poor visibility that prevents the emergency planes and helicopters from reaching the worst hit areas the cities in the region are also enveloping small making it difficult for people to pray. now praise for preaching freedom and reform the
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georgian leadership is cast as a democracy success story both by the west and by certain state channels at home but some journalists who work in the country see a very different picture and saudis are in a good school found out. that's exactly what we're seeing in my culture the well you my part of the world you know you are liver and begin your energy by giving people more freedom freedom is the key word find words from the georgian president some western officials like hillary clinton continuously praised me really for his supposed program of reform but journalists in the country are less impressed and say talk of freedom doesn't extend to the media made at the new journalists is now a dangerous profession in georgia there's always a risk of being accused of being a spy journalist get beaten up frequently all of this is happening in front of the entire country. so the chances are that most people in georgia won't find out
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about these cases from their evening news according to the latest polls more than eighty percent of georgians depend on t.v. as their main source of information yet georgians only have free access to three channels all of them controlled by the state one way or the other. but one channel is owned by saakashvili aid another one his friends relative to all people get really is just state controlled propaganda and i think so whatever georgians don't get the full scope of their country's events from the t.v. sets after all there is always the internet but still they have to understand a lot of people here still live in rural areas and for a lot of them the world wide web is simply not available readily at their fingertips. independent channels like of cossey or channel nine are available only to those who have satellite dishes and other luxury for most georgians. sometimes i have friends or relatives visiting from other parts of georgia and they watch
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these channels and say what is this really happening in this country we knew nothing about it but operating an independent media outlet isn't easy here journalists say their cash flow has run dry since advertisers were told by authorities to stay away from channels which may be affiliated with the opposition on top of that their every move is being closely watched by authorities here i know as well i constantly find myself facing over the top control from local officials i'm always being followed by some strange people who say they're from some unknown news agencies and ask me questions why do we film stories about political prisoners for example last august it's about the state officials don't feel comfortable coming to us because we ask questions they don't want to answer but state controlled media never ask those questions. president saakashvili is a frequent guest on various american t.v. channels but he's never made an appearance on any of the opposition channels at
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home perhaps it's not so much the questions that he minds is the effect his answers may have in the bill e.c. ga. r.t. and r.t. is coming to life in the heart of moscow of course while the limpid games grab the headlines these days with the lavish opening ceremony and ongoing sporting events some say though it's just a way to hide from problems thanks to our president takes to the streets of new york asking whether people share their jubilant olympic spirit that has certainly taken over the british capital. do you really care about the olympics this week let's talk about that are you excited about the olympics i know i'm here. but is it crazy back home because of it yeah and we got out what are you excited about how the team usa i hope we go all the way. does that mean we're the best country in the world if we win all the gold
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medals who i don't know about people really aren't that into track and field and. you know then the swimming you know the media build up between. phelps and his rival you know but you don't even know the name of the right man even to give his name on the front just finish tonight. for a minute do you think that the olympics are kind of a way to just distract people from what's really going on might be. problems do you think people remember the names of all the athletes three months after the olympics are done i guess it depends what kind of sponsorships they've got and what advertisements they're doing but yeah if their names are in plays and in lights everywhere yeah they're selling us wheaties yes exactly those athletes will be remembered a lot of them probably wouldn't you know i guess a sort all some boss that did push ups. that does push ups that i admired for the olympics. that's insane so they're trying to yeah
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they're getting they're getting people excited in any way that they can what is why do they do that just for the good of sports no idea probably just try to drum up some more money for the country at that right over here terrorism you know historically the olympics is something that's always meant to be a unifying action yes so it doesn't that kind of take away from that message of unification when it comes down to just drumming up business ya think. greed is unfortunately taking over the priority of some folks whether or not you care about the olympics the bottom line is that you should be prepared to be bombarded by a lot of media coverage in the coming week. or an hour staying with our story number one in sports today the olympic games of course a perfect chance for the athletes to attract the world's attention not only with their sporting skills but also by flashing their flesh as i see
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a truck and i found out some of the competitors have been very quick to strip. faster higher stronger bodies built like machines and olympic extravaganza of athletes grace magazine covers baring it all it would be nice to take it like to not look at these athletes like you know these are special specimens almost members of a different race but these are people just like us because they could help us strive to do better their superhuman bodies are on display in a competition for attention and personal exposure the olympic gold is not just the the gold at the sleeves when and where but the good old of all these endorsements and all this this ability you know they want to cash in on it's their moment in the sun unfortunately i think that undermines the olympic goal and ideally. the original idea of an old to lettuces and human might scrapped the olympic dream
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and culture now transformed into glossy images of athletes striking a pose in the nude the original olympics were performed completely naked so you could take the case this is turning back to the original form of the olympics in an ever expanding entertainment culture surrounding the olympics self p.r. is the new tradition and the fifteen minutes of fame an opportunity not to be missed and you've got hundreds of athletes who come back to nothing but a lot of them really look back and say well what do i get out of the last four years i could have made more money being a manager at mcdonald's corporation that's one of the biggest sponsors of the olympics is on a journey to send a somewhat confusing message while the athletes are busy promoting their stunning bodies mcdonald's sets up the biggest joint in the world outside the olympic stadium to record one hundred fifty thousand condoms are also being distributed at the olympic village that's roughly fifteen condoms for each athlete some argue
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sexing up the olympics is slowly racing the true meaning of these historic games the marathon really. came into effect and they based it off this is a great story i'm a guy that's a pita coming from wanting you know citizens about basically how the war was ending with the persians and going twenty five miles in just having bleeding feet and how that inspired the marathon for what it is today. or surrounding the olympics of today's anything but poised sportsmanship appears to be the last guest joining this party and stacy churkin a hearty new york. now i'll be back with you in just a moment here on r t yeah that'll be well with the headlines and anywhere ruffling feathers of the one percent with max kaiser saying in a moment. started
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here before going global and now it's cooling the fire. law again.
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choose your place take your stand. to. make your statement. spread the word. coupon through the month. for. mine. russia would be soon which were brighter if you knew about someone from funniest impressions. he's fun stuff on t.v. dot com.

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