don't. the stories that this week on our western nations inching closer military interfere . with plans to set up a no fly zone and threats to authorize a strike on the country. say twenty one years in prison. an inspiration for even more radical groups. a scandal that unites muslims. a rabbi was charged for performing a circumcision despite a recent controversial court ban on the practice. and britain withdraws its threat to go into the ecuadorian embassy and the rest of. the softer a block of south and north american nations side with in the diplomatic.

the stories that made headlines this week if you're watching the weekly with me wrong. foreign powers came a step closer this week to engaging in syria's internal conflict as the u.s. and its allies dished out fresh threats from suggest the western nations could consider setting up a no fly zone over the stricken country without a u.n. security council mandate just a bit earlier president obama for the first time ever said that he could authorize military action on the syrian territory is more important this report from new york . as the violence in syria continues increasing western countries may be inching closer and closer towards military intervention this past week the u.s.

britain and france all separately signaled when or why they would take direct action u.s. president barack obama said that washington would intervene if the syrian government deployed chemical or biological weapons against civilians britain echoed america's sentiments while france called for the consideration of a partial no fly zone to be imposed over syria's airspace and that is a suggestion that u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton previously made now the syrian deputy prime minister who was visiting moscow this week for talks has accused western countries of reaching for any reason that would lead to direct intervention he also said that president obama's threats are linked directly to the u.s. elections damascus also drew parallels between western focus on syria's chemical weapons and the invasion of iraq where the existence of suspected

chemical weapons were never confirmed now this uptick uptick in talk and threats over military intervention into syria columns as the u.n. security council is scheduled to have a minister. areal needing on syria on aug thirtieth that meeting was called for and will be chaired by threats reporting from new york marina portnoy r.t. kind in the mean time i was corresponding eric margolis believe that the wider interests of the us in the region that ultimately drives washington's warmongering on syria united states is no strategic interests in syria what this is all about and ron and the fact that the us is very sensitive election year with this pressure on the obama administration to do something the republicans screaming do something and so let's hope that these threats of verbal i'm still hoping that there will be

a diplomatic solution but the chances are receding as political pressure grows in the united states and behind us let's remember that the it's really pushing very hard to do something. overthrowing the government and even support some fronts syria may be breaking up into little cantons fighting one another along religious ethnic tribal lines or just as a living on was that the one nine hundred seventy s. this is a very frightening prospect and we have to work hard to be sure it does not happen . now over twelve thousand christians are reportedly trapped in a syrian village just near the lebanese border as they are being perceived by rebels at a two week blockade has caught a massive shortages of food and medicine another crucial surprise but the people can't leave the area due to the threat posed by rebel snipers meanwhile just across the border in lebanon the situation remains fragile following

a spike in syria related sectarian violence these fifteen killed more than one hundred injured in clashes between pro and anti assad government troops were deployed to stop the violence beirut based political analyst dr franklin lamb says there's a growing dread among lebanese as the violence spills over. the concierge of my building who is syrian sometimes hides in my apartment there's been round up of syrian national news here in beirut in south beirut even going to great deal of fear people are saying not since the civil war how things been so likely to ignite or that people are feeling so insecure as you know there are two neighborhoods in tripoli jim ball both for the the shia are always and the battle to bani section right down the middle ironically is the name of the big st paul syria street and that really tells the tale up there

but we have seen in beirut and other parts of the country a similar division things are very much on the edge of. what you are see live from moscow are still ahead for you this hour libya marking one year since the fall of tripoli but the celebration anything but joyous it's continued tribal violence threatens to send the country further into chaos. plus resentment on the rise in pakistan the u.s. continues to blow legal lines when it comes to its ongoing drone attacks. this week the case of a norwegian mass murderer anders breivik reached its conclusion breivik who admitted killing seventy seven people was declared sane by judges he's been jailed for a maximum of twenty one years for his bombing and gun rampage in oslo and who toil island of course was last year breivik smoked when he heard the verdict which he says he will not appeal during his final statement he apologized for not killing

even more people like he's always insisted on a sanity and that the killings were part of his fight against the islamification of norway e.u. countries who are suffering a rise in far right activities before the tragedy but as artie's testor australia reports breivik so ideas are fueling even more hatred towards immigrants and islam there's no doubt about his guilt for a right militant unders brave massacre of seventy seven people in norway thirteen months ago to show his rejection of government policies and immigrants and is long over this case once again highlighted europe's deepening divide over immigration had integration and the subsequent radicalization of ideas. last week a twenty nine year old suspected brave exemplifies it was charged in the czech republic officers found weapons and police uniforms in his flat and they believe he was planning a brave extol slaughter. while in norway police are investigating

a threatening email sent to newspapers and politicians from a person who claims to be brave and in command i would my soldiers to give all due respect to our people our culture and our ethnicity and warn all advocates of multiculturalism they gave this war we are now so deeply in physical violence is. a line that we draw very clearly now multiculturalism in the sense that everybody could keep this culture well this idea which has been the official idea for over for the last twenty years this idea is over there is a leading culture of the european values and european culture such far right fire has gained traction in europe but it's also angered the racism groups and proponents of the left there are some resorting to very public displays of opposition. while there's an increasingly vocal quality and

a rise in political extremes one step up the fringes countries are increasingly criticized for failing to properly engage people on what's needed so what the problem out and so much social tensions are testing the limits of tolerance. yet despite the obvious threat of a deepening standoff between europeans and immigrants others say europe's tendency to walk on eggshells in the name of political correctness makes any real and honest debate all but impossible when you have a riot in. we think occasion of missed you missed and everyone tried to find some excuse. but condition of life and if we don't send a clear message to everyone far right. muslim . it's become impossible to understand the police under is brave extra we may have

reached a conclusion but europe still no where near to wending at all to whether the cycle of fear and hatred. now i made a growing talk of a crisis of tolerance in europe another scandal flares up in germany after a rabbi was charged for performing a circumcision so after a regional court in cologne banned religious circumcisions under a new law as a result has caused outrage among jews and muslims who accuse the authorities of infringing on religious freedom german based rabbi josh spin a says the issue could be exploited by radical movements there's no question that this issue is other piece with the minarets right through and in switzerland with the burka question in france with the ritual slaughter question in holland the thing that is particularly striking about this issue is that from the perspective of those who do not actually ones for are uncomfortable with visible minorities in their presence this is

a fabulous issue because one cloaks the criticisms and the undermining of religious freedoms in protecting the rights of info and so this is a noble position which is a much harder position to say cow when one speaks about workers or minarets a ritual slaughter and so this really to a great extent i believe is the issue goes people in western societies who are going to try and push back against genuine tolerance are going to use it's a very convenient issue for them it also unites almost all jews and almost all muslims so it's killing a number of birds with one stone in a very pretty stone at that. live from moscow this is r t another diplomatic suspended between britain and ecuador over julian assange as asylum has eased as london retracted its threat to storm the south american countries embassy in order to arrest the whistleblower the withdrawal comes just a day after a thirty four members a lot of american nations sided with ecuador in the row stressing the sanctity of

diplomatic premises it means that julian assange still holed up in the ecuadorian embassy now for more than two months is safe provided he doesn't step out of the building the president of ecuador says the two countries are ready to return to dialogue over the wiki leaks his future so our teams are laura smith now brings us the details of the meeting that prompted a break in the standoff. it was a meeting that lasted five hours but eventually got what it wanted out of the meeting essentially they the foreign minister made a speech in which he condemned britain for what he called an assault on all sovereignty and eventually what happened was that these thirty four countries signed this resolution which rejects any attempts to put at risk the inviolability of diplomatic premises anywhere in the world and and expressed solidarity and support for ecuador in their offering of asylum to julian assange but also to

continue talks between ecuador and preston to try and sort out their diplomatic problems the usa and canada are members of this organization and they were very much against this meeting from the very beginning and they all say that he expressed reservations about the resolution that was passed in the end but it goes to show that particularly in its own region ecuador is not acting alone and it's now got huge international backing across the americas but we've seen no movement in britain stance so far they still remain committed to arresting today in a sound and to fulfilling this court order which says that he must be extradited to sweden was. happens and in fact we've seen further proof in recent days that britain is not going to abandon its plans to arrest him we had a policeman photographed outside the ecuadorian embassy one of the many policeman who is guarding the embassy twenty four seven holding this piece of paper a piece of restricted information says that julian assange should be arrested essentially at all costs whatever it takes even if he emerges in some way in

a diplomatic car even if as some have posited he emerges in some kind of diplomatic crate or bag that is not going to put the british police off arresting him that they're really very intent on arresting him and fulfilling this court order so that's a position that hasn't changed in the last few days and i see no reason that it will change as a as a direct result of this but as i say the international pressure is growing meanwhile dude in essence is of course still in the ecuadorian embassy in london still very unclear how he will get out not is laura smith reporting there were commenting on the increased support for ecuador attorney and artie's spanish host eva golinger says that only continued international pressure could force the u.k. to let our science go. the pressure is very important to continue to try to whittle away. position is stubbornness in england in this specific case and i wanted to

show each time that these types of meetings and resolutions happen and we see the u.s. position in particular is showing that the united states government is behind all of this and is behind the persecution of the signage and so it's really important that comes out and people understand that governments understand that and that eventually hopefully the british government will back down actually. now all the twists and turns in julian assange has long running saga as well as expert opinion and analysis always available on our website if you do if you are those who missed our exclusive interview with the ecuadorian president. that's also there for you at our two dot com. quarter past the hour moscow time as iran faces growing pressure from the west regarding its nuclear program and there's also

a significant display of solidarity towards the islamic state delegates from over one hundred nations which don't consider themselves allied to any power block convened in tehran for a high profile summit just this sunday research director of the national iranian american council on the hour she says the gathering shows iran is not as isolated as the u.s. wants the rest of the world to believe there are one hundred ninety three members of the united nations general assembly and about one hundred twenty of them are going to be in teheran with some kind of diplomatic representation. because that's how many members there are of the nonaligned movement so you know it's a great talking point to say that iran's international isolation will continue but if you look at the totality of the world a large degree of countries maybe don't agree entirely with what the united states led sanctions are doing and what they're seeking to accomplish. the summit takes place just a few days after the u.n. atomic watchdog declared that the recent talks with iran had failed israel claim

that iran is speeding up its work on a nuclear bomb while the islamic state insists it's only pursuing peaceful energy some experts believe the west's rejection of iran's right to atomic energy could ultimately backfire. well there's no doubt that iran has quite a bit of support among the nonaligned movement you know among those countries that are the the nuclear have nots if you will they they do in fact have a lot of support for the point of view which they spouse which is that they have a right to enrich uranium and that the western powers are essentially taking trying to take that away from them for political purposes essentially using a double standard or even worse. you can always find all the latest stories comments and videos on our website www dot com let's see some of the items you may like at the moment for example clothes don't make the man the old perhaps they do find out what attire to avoid by trying to board a passenger plane in the u.s.

. and are still thinking way to spend the weekend with your cool friend your pick your brains no more she might do it for you actually get your pulse racing by walking the trail of dead. another look at this little cutie right here big bulging chubby little face capturing the hearts of locals where this baby seal has taken up home on a russian beach adorable shots on video all online at www dot. brighton if you live from phones to pressure.

groups don't talk t.v. dot com. the news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are today. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tired of them is a big issue. if

you're just joining us a very warm welcome to you this is the weekly on r.t. and on the threshold of the first anniversary of the fall of tripoli libya seems to be marking the event with violence and chaos in the latest series of recent attacks on our sufi shrines a salafi islamists were blamed for blowing up and bulldozing a fifteenth century sanctuary sectarian tensions in libya have reached new levels after two soofi religious sites were destroyed by. government security forces this against a background of severe ethnic clashes which have spiraled since colonel qaddafi was ousted most recently at least twelve more killed dozens injured after the fighting parties used heavy weaponry including anti aircraft guns political analyst and consultant peter thinks that libya will only descend deeper into chaos libya is

following the same trend as all the other countries where there was of course regime we have the same scenario in iraq we have the same situation in afghanistan we've got the situation in libya which was again of course regime and as you would expect it will be breakaway groups because at the end of the day although gadhafi was a fraudster in many ways brought that country from the doldrums into great prosperity and the wrong government got in and so the military is still trying to pull that the strain and of course that's failing very fast and i think we will see a natural rebellion perfect like it's ongoing in iraq like is ongoing in syria and egypt. all right time for the r.t. was update now we will start with northern china where at least thirty six people have died after a fuel tanker and bus collided before catching a blaze five years were taken to hospital with severe injuries the latest wreck

follows a series of road accidents in the country with the death toll of more than seventy thousand last year alone. venezuela's president hugo chavez has declared three days of mourning after at least thirty nine were killed following an explosion at the country's biggest all refinery the government run plan was rocked by a blast caused by a gas leak and nearby buildings also damaged in the explosion of the accident is the worst you have ever hit the south american nations oil industry. the first man to walk on the moon and one of america's greatest heroes neil armstrong has passed away at the age of eighty two his condition deteriorated after complications caused by recent heart surgery nearly a half billion people had their eyes fixed on the t.v. as the apollo eleven mission commander stepped onto the lunar surface in july nineteen six.

now pakistan is investigating a u.s. drone strike that reportedly killed the. leader of the terror group the taliban still claims he's very much alive a u.s. led attacks have long been a source of contention among pakistanis. explains it's episodes like this one that fuel the insurgency. the u.s. prides itself on the rule of law but on a number of issues the line between what's legal and what's not has kind of blurred in the last decade or so is wiretapping legal no but in the name of national security yes there are attempts right now in congress to legalize big brother on the web by making it legal for providers to funnel all private correspondence to national security agencies the law in the u.s. protects free speech but never before has there been such a hunt for whistleblowers that's in america but as far as u.s. actions the broad the issue of what's legal and what's not even murkier washington

has expanded its target assassinations program in different countries essentially putting itself above the law now i'm joined by john feffer author and co-director of the institute for policy studies he has an interesting theory of u.s. foreign policy he compares it to dexter the t.v. show dexter is a fictional character who is a good citizen by day and a serial killer by night but he only kills bad guys mystified for what's so wrong about being dexter i mean everyone loves dexter was a very popular t.v. show here in the united states and all across the world but it raises some difficult moral questions because of course dexter is judge jury and executioner and sometimes he makes mistakes and the united states too is in a similar position united states often says it only kills the bad guys but some of the law in other figures that have been attacked by drones over the last few years

but the united states also makes mistakes there have been any number of civilian casualties associated with these drone strikes so in some sense they're in a similar moral quandary dexter and the u.s. government as you said you know this administration has expanded its drone program dramatically and the strikes in pakistan yemen and other places they end up killing many civilians we're talking about extra judicial killings and. the question of pops out. you know when when someone does something outside the law they're usually afraid of getting caught but in the case of the us who is the police to catch them there is not police is there well there isn't any police of course there are international laws and there have been a number of reports on the implications of international law on the drone attacks and the un for instance report tour has condemned drone attacks as being illegal but i think the chief concern here for the united states in terms of getting caught

is being caught by blowback in other words by the consequences of these drone attacks and those i think are significant because of course we've seen people here in the united states who have cited these drone attacks as the reasons for their terrorist activities for instance so i think it's this blowback which really represents the casualty or shall we say the consequences that are most direct the drone program. all right and i just a moment here in our leading a middle east analyst describes how to solve the syrian conflict that i'll be off to a recap of the week's top stories see you know. my

name is richard davis i'm an architectural photographer from london and i've been traveling in russia for the last ten years on a project fed rough wooden chair choose obviously i fell in love with the trenches they are extraordinary ok it's a beautiful opiates and the church is is a religious monumental obviously but it's also an object of wonder you know it's something that people can look tense and event in their eyes it betrays what can be achieved by using your imagination. and.

the. polls. the going down of the song and good morning we will remember that we will. leave. you.