this is our just in time for your headlines now children kept underground and in isolation for ten years by an islamic sect uncovered in russia's city of. the battle intensifies for the strategic syrian city of aleppo between government and opposition forces a senior aide to president obama says a no fly zone over the country is under consideration. and a un report condemns israel after a forced palestinians from their land turning it into a military training ground. phyllis bennis the director of the washington

based institute of policy studies she explains why she thinks the arms flowing into syria are really coming from. thank you for joining us on r.t. the red cross and many other experts are saying that the situation in syria has descended into a civil war a full scale civil war. how does that how does that affect the positions of the u.s. the positions of the west versus the position of other countries so far we have seen no indication that either the us or any of the outside actors are taking seriously the consequences of the determination by the international committee of the red cross that this is a full scale civil war what it means among other things is that the international laws of war what's known as international humanitarian law apply throughout the region and it applies to the opposition as well as to the regime they are obligated

under the conditions of international law not to use certain kinds of weapons not to attack civilians not to hold prisoners without some kind of process all of those things are part of international humanitarian law and we have seen no evidence yet that any of the outside actors are taking any of that seriously what does that mean to the syrian conflict what it means for the syrian people is that the militarization of this conflict is escalating that can only be in my view dangerous more dangerous the notion that there can be a transition a regime that would not have the same kind of repression that we have seen from assad all these years is still possible the fact that hillary clinton is now reduced to acknowledging that that if assad himself arranges a transition safe haven whether it's in moscow whether it's and saudi arabia or somewhere else that's still possible then the question becomes who is going to be in control if the escalation continues if the militarization continues what we will

then see is that the post assad. government will be led by the men with guns just like what we saw in libya just like what was so in somalia and many other i don't want to make comparisons libya is a very different country than syria somalia is a very different country but the notion that the victors of a political struggle because this is still a political struggle in syria when the victors are those with the guns that always bodes ill for women for children for civilians syria is not libya syria has a long history of of civil society mobilization and organizations they have many things that was not possible in libya it's not the same i don't want to equate them but the danger is that you will have certain parallels certain similarities such as unaccountable militias who will not put themselves under the accountability of

a new government that is a very dangerous reality and as diplomats have already acknowledged if there is another bigger explosion in syria if the entire syrian body politic explodes it will be an explosion not an implosion as libya was there is the danger because it is becoming sectarian because of that sectarian character that is only now becoming dominant in syria in a country that was not traditionally a sectarian divided religiously divided country despite the use by the regime of the religious and sectarian divisions to maintain its power this was not a population that identified primarily by their religious affiliation as sunni or shia or alawite or whatever it was a possibility that if you were alawite you had a better shot at power but it wasn't the way people define themselves the danger of course is that with that growing the sectarianism growing there is the danger that

it will spill over the borders and by some congress. and senators calls to arm the rebels for the u.s. to intervene don't you think that's just going to make it worse any further intervention by further militarization is going to make things worse the original militarization has made things far more difficult further militarization is going to kill more civilians the choice of the syrian opposition to take up arms was contested from the beginning by other parts of the syrian resistance who said that we have a better chance of changing our government of overthrowing the government by nonviolent methods so certainly more escalation whether it's by the u.s. or any other outside power is going to be very very dangerous experts now say that the rebels in syria are very much dominated by there is an interest in the united states for instance of downplaying the role of the islamists but it's become more

apparent that there are islamist forces whether they are al-qaeda i think there is certainly not much evidence yet i think that it is a very dangerous for outside actors who are not on the ground who don't necessarily have good sources on the ground to assume that any islamist forces for instance are part of al qaeda that's a word that's designed to sow terror in the minds of anybody in the west anyone in europe in the united states it cetera i don't think we know yet what we do know is that the opposition in syria is very diverse there is a part of it that has an islamist framework the same is true of all of the the rebellions that have led to the arab spring we see the muslim brotherhood in power now in egypt that's not al-qaeda there were people claiming it then it was not true we don't know if it's true in syria diplomatically the efforts where do you think

that's had given that the escalate the situation on the ground is escalating the fact that the u.n. has. allowed the the monitoring mission to remain on the ground for at least another thirty days is the one bit of hope that i see right now kofi annan team led by general mood the norwegian general has begun the political process in which they have been able to use in one town another town in small areas from the ground up to make possible a kind of diplomatic process of local commanders of the military and local commanders of the opposition forces of the resistance to create small scale ceasefires in three or four towns the town of day sore is one town in syria where it's apparently working if that could be expanded if that mandate could be shifted from simply monitoring a non-existent national ceasefire to facilitating small scale local ceasefires

that could then spread and move up from the bottom bringing people with it rather than trying impose something from outside from the top down which certainly has not worked that might be the one hope for a diplomatic and less militarized solution but susan rice and other foreign diplomats at the u.n. said that they are willing or they will withdrew the withdrawal of the monitors if the situation on the ground is does not improve and so far it's not improving so is that is that is that them saying that this is the last time where expanding this pressure they are saying this is the last time they said that the last time they will change based on political realities not based on the realities on the ground the realities on the ground are not what is determining u.s. positions russian positions qatar's positions saudi positions anybody's positions except for the people of syria what the outside powers are doing has virtually

nothing to do with what actually is going on on the ground so what we're seeing play out of the united nations. is a power struggle between the united states and russia between nato and the gulf states on the one hand and other arab states on the other we're seeing a bunch of different battles playing out diplomatically almost none of which are taking into account the interests of the people of syria where do you think that's had you think there will be since susan rice clinton and other diplomats have talked about intervention on site they won t. think that's going to happen do you think that's a possibility that the west is looking at there is already intervention underway the western countries have provided the military of saudi arabia the military of culture that's where they buy their weapons from they buy american weapons so it is already western weapons that are going in it's not coming directly from the us but it is weapons of the west the danger of that escalating is very serious the danger

of further escalation involving other outside actors is very serious i don't think the us right now in an election cycle i don't think the obama administration wants to engage in a direct involvement in an air campaign for instance against syria of the kind they engaged in libya i don't think they want to whether what is known in the us as the c.n.n. factor the political pressure on a president in this case on a candidate in the election based on what people are seeing on their television sets becomes very important it's not impossible that even when the regime in power in any country and in this country when the obama administration doesn't want to engage directly if there is enough political pressure they may give in to that pressure that's happened before it could happen again mccain is trying to exercise that kind of pressure other congress and other senators there's

a number of senators there's a number of members of congress there's calls from the punditry in the mainstream media it's. there's a lot of pressure on the obama administration not because any of them have a proposal of what would actually work but simply because they're using this as a stick to hit candidate obama in the context of the elections that's very dangerous for the rest of the world what are the solutions that you think are best for syria and he's saying there is still time for dialogue but when the government and the opposition i think there is still time i think the time is diminishing i think that the level of repression from the government has been so horrific and in response the opposition which i support as a principle of the right of people to rise up against a repressive regime the fact that they are using stronger and stronger military. strategies and military tactics makes that kind of discourse that kind of

discussion that kind of negotiation more difficult but there is still time i think the question remains will the international community help to make that possible for example by small scale community by community village by village city by city negotiating processes at the grassroots bringing together local commanders with local officials of the of the military to work out a cease fire and then the political process the best thing the international community could do would be to allow the u.n. to play that role rather than as a fig leaf of international involvement a fig leaf of multilateralism to cover the unilateral decisions of several different governments.

nuclear fashionables side. radioactive fallout all government betrayal of the government. everything law and claude and claude how can the truth be revealed if there's no official evidence there was a very great danger to the servicemen concerned who will give them no problem protection and to the people of this country generally because of radio like the fall of. the secrets of the u.k.'s nuclear tests explosives.

the headlines on arts he children kept underground and in isolation for ten years by an islamic sect uncovered in russia's city of. the battle intensifies for the strategic syrian city of aleppo between government and opposition forces as a senior aide to president obama says a no fly zone over the country is under consideration. and a un report condemns israel offer of force to palestinians from their land turning it into a military training ground. or a disk of latest in the world of sports and of course fear lympics with kate.

thank you for joining me the latest sports the top stories. eleventh gold rushes natalia beat american model of the should it be missed by seven hundred of the second to win the women's four hundred meter hurdles while last for the russian men's basketball team will face european champions spain after we try lympics of a final first time since the end of the soviet union. and the twenty six steve double olympic champion elaine isn't viable to talk to r.t. about her future after finishing third in london. but first let's get the latest from london where russia has won bronze in the men's one thousand meters in the canoe sprint at the olympic regatta but you know of. who can finish third in the final heat three seconds behind when it's peter crouch and cheryl out of germany defending champions brothers and they and alexander them down

a bitch from baton rouge they took silver. while late on wednesday russia's natalia stormed to have made an olympic gold with a hard fought victory in the women's four hundred meter hurdles as russia's medal tally went past the fifty mark that you want to roll the one by the skin of her teeth as she was almost caught on the line by american world champion rushing to davis but the russian did just enough to play the second lever and the gold check the zuzana kind of or two bronze. while you're there like all over such a personal best to clinch silver in the women's long jump behind america's reefs. thank and in wrestling the ball while also one bronze in the sixty three kilograms category and there was also a bronze in the fifty eight k.g. section of the bonus taekwondo alexy did i think claiming only russia's second ever medal in the sport. but also russia's men's volleyball team have made the last four on a straight set when i was

a poland while the men's basketball team also suited the seventy is eighty three points to seventy four we travel if you am not a european champion space for a shot at the gold medal gave some very good i think it was once again a stone with a double double of nineteen points and thirteen rebounds but if you are a deist captain says russia has more firepower than just the minnesota court. you know who's playing well but you know the whole team is playing well the word system is building you know they've got a lot of good passes. you know breaking down one on one. and you know people people looking for him for a break so he's playing a lot a lot of guys on the team playing well and. you know very kind of the blue room no we're going to be so i think best accuse the whole team. just curious i think kirilenko you know so there's a living score but you know a lot of guys getting the ball. and russia are guaranteed to silver's in women's

boxing where to go about will face islands world champion katie taylor in the lightweight final while european middleweight champion of the gallup poll that will go up against american progress the shields. and i'll swear at russia's olympic swimming captain you're going to get a dish going house call the games the success of the here his teammates support home four medals has given himself a second only to michael phelps in the one hundred meter butterfly after failing to claim a medal on two previous occasions. added the ratio of russian swimmers reaching quarterfinals and semifinals was higher overall than four years ago he admitted his personal results games have completely changed his future plans. i had plans to retire completely from swimming after the olympics but because of my success i have now had to radically rethink my future i guess the next event i'll be focusing on will be the upcoming european championships. in the meantime american sprinter allyson felix has claimed her maiden individual gold following

a spectacular victory in the women's two hundred meters the twenty six year old entered the final stretch trailing jamaica's two time one hundred meter champion shelley and fraser pryce but the three time world champion was not going to settle for a third straight and then pick silver the american stepped up a gear to clock twenty one point eight eight seconds to make it third time lucky american carmelita jeter was third. and there was more joy for america in the men's one hundred ten meter hurdles as a result merritt captured his maiden olympic gold medal and patrick jason richardson beijing champion de ronde robers of cuba who dropped midway after injuring his right hamstring to make us hours late parchment two of us. while there was drama in the men's pole vault lazaro borgia's escaped unhurt up to his post match during qualification but even missed out on a spot in the final. now there's there's even you saying

bolt is aiming for and then big double as he tries to retain his two hundred meter title but what makes the jamaican super sprinter tick and you follow caught up with one person who has the inside track on the world's fastest man. now after his bond storming performance in the one hundred meters the same boat will go for gold again in the two hundred meters on thursday and to talk a bit more about that is a person who does know him very well carol back to joins me she is the publicist the same boat thank you for your time tonight firstly after that one hundred he must be a change to get back on the track is in the absolutely and the two hundred meters is his favorite race and having you know come back from this qualification in daegu and tram so much in one hundred he's going all out for the two hundred and four by one because jamaica currently has the world record for the four by one hundred metres now you know him pretty well certainly for the last four years or so he always seems so relaxed isn't he. even for one hundred meters is the hundred meter

final he's smiling he's joking is that a carrot to you know yes i'm you saying he's happy he's excited about doing his job he things that's the way to get people's heart and he said i was sad of his physical performance he's here to do a show and he likes keeping a proto happy and based on your response i mean it was overjoyed i mean after the race. how for the stadium if not more were shouting you saying you saying you saying he's always said he would like to break you think we'll get another one in the two hundred but if the weather is right and doesn't like the cold it's not bad actually. a little bit of rain here and there he's going after it he doesn't go for records he just wants to wait and whatever comes after that's available and. i think in the four by one though he would his would want to challenge the world record and watch his preparation for a race i mean he wakes up on the morning of the final you know he sort of routine. depends on afternoon or morning race typical breakfast he has his beverages

and so on that he takes no one to call it in names of anybody but you know he does his usual. it's quite a bit. but not too much you know probably we'll talk to somebody in this family is team obviously his coach and his best friend n.-g. . robberies watches television he's into sports big time and now with their live pictures when we went to visit him he was watching boxing and cycling and then he gets into it see the checks is there he's now over a million fans wanted to say he's excited about that but he does want that typical twenty five year old does and these happy once he wakes up he's ready to go looking ahead slightly if we can the world championships athletic championships are in moscow next year is not something he's looking forward to after all he will be looking to get his crime back there will certainly i think after the disappointment

when the one hundred meters anything is possible he's the defending two hundred meter champion and obviously will want to go back after that and can we see him in russia before then do you think i'm sure if the price is right hahaha you know what i think is a lot of children and i think if we can coordinate some kind of activity where you can interact with the people of russia he would be excited to come along ok with it carolyn speak. thank you for your time and we can hope that you same boat we can probably expect the same boat will get the gold medal in the two hundred fifty knows maybe a world record in the relay andry farmer. london and finally it looks like the sky is the limit for pole vault legends yelena isinbayeva the russian could only manage bronze in london but that third place seems i want to have a thirst for dory as much. arguably russia's most

recognized authority around the globe to limp gold from athens and beijing have something to do with your stardom but it was a case of unlucky for the pole vault in the british capital and show how true condition was gone with the london wind well i was happy i was hoping. it was i was a risk to get any medals because of terrible weather conditions. but but physically there was ready to jump higher than for fourteen so i was also afraid that rather. bother me. for the for the medal so i was worried about. a bit of heartbreak for somebody but that bronze also did at least one good thing to give the russian a reason to put the time and the thirty she wants to start a family and give birth to the first child and this is by the hopes of having a baby will help her deliver the goods through games in four years time for the moment the main objective is

a wall championships in moscow two thousand and thirteen is going to be a historical event for russia we're going to house well temperature first time in history. and after that service have some break. i think i hopefully i will have. a new family gives me mitigation the huge motivation for that is what is my mind that i don't know is going to happen next. well whether she makes it to brazil or not bother has already achieved everything and the dream of she's a double champion not to mention before title holder got me to it was also said a staggering twenty eight ball drop is due. and she's the only woman to have a complete heart of more than five metres tough to follow. this record from there. maybe more years five metres it's incredible it's not easy it seems easy. it looks easy but it's so difficult and just a full. so it looks like you see by the has confidence to spare which would be

enough to unhook even more sports and glory watch the space. that's always posted by. well good. science technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future covered. sigrid lumber tour. was able to build the most sophisticated robot which fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tim's mission to teach creation why it should care about humans and world this is why you should care only on the dog.