stories that shaped this week western nations are inching closer to military intervention in the syrian conflict with plans to set up a no fly zone and threats to authorize a strike on the country. the region mascot under the gray because declared sane and gets twenty one years in jail is going to islam agenda serves as an inspiration for even more radical groups. a scandal that unites muslims and jews and after a german rabbi was charged for performing a circumcision despite a recent controversial ban on the practice. and britain withdraws its threat to go to the ecuadorian embassy and the rest falls for a boycott south or north american nations side with tkinter in the diplomatic round .

the look back at the past seven days of the top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly. 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 france suggested that western nations could consider setting up a no fly zone over the stricken country without a u.n. security council mandate a little earlier president obama for the first time said he could authorize military action on the syrian territory when a poor nine reports 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 us 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 this uptick uptick in talk and threats over

military intervention into syria comes as the un security council is scheduled to have a ministerial meeting on syria on aug thirtieth that meeting was called for and will be chaired by france reporting from new york marina r.t. . syrian opposition activists accuse pro said troops of snorting two hundred civilians in a town the damascus reports are difficult to verify but the government says it's carried out an anti terror operation in the area the rebels claims of the latest in a series of previous similar accusations that all came just as international powers were about to decide the next move on syria talk to kevin barrett he's a specialist in the affected region told me earlier that he believes the timing is a coincidence but once again as with the houla massacre we have a very interesting set of circumstances where right before this u.n. ministerial meeting coming up on august thirtieth we have a big orchestrated p.r.

event designed to smear the government in damascus and the west intervening in syria and i'm very suspicious i was asked about this shortly after the whole a massacre and i think we need to wait and see what really happened and there are some indications that much and perhaps most of the killing in the whole atmosphere was actually perpetrated by the rebel forces and the same thing might be true this time the so-called no fly zone of course what that really is this is just a euphemism for an aerial attack on the country yet again i'm told that if western countries do try to take over syrian airspace he may very well be shot out of the skies and so i certainly hope they don't try because this is the world to the brink of a very dangerous confrontation. over twelve thousand christians are trapped in a syrian village near the lebanese border besieged by rebels the two week blockade is course shortages of food medicine and other crucial supplies but people can't

leave the area due to the threat posed by rebel snipers meanwhile across the border in lebanon the situation remains fragile following a spike in syria related sectarian violence at least fifteen people being killed and more than one hundred injured in clashes between pro and anti said government troops were deployed to stop the travel route based political analyst dr franklin lamb says there is growing dread among lebanese is the violence spillover continues the concierge of my building who is syrian sometimes hides in my apartment there been round up of syrian nationals here in beirut in south beirut even though it's a great deal of fear people are saying not since the civil war how things is so likely to ignite or that people are feeling so insecure as you know there are two neighborhoods in tripoli both for the the shia are aloysius and the babble to bomb is section right down the middle

ironically is the name of a big street called 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. still ahead for you this hour in the weekly libya marks one year since the fall of tripoli but the celebration is anything but joyous as continued tribal violence threatens to send the country into chaos. plus resentment on the rise in pakistan as a u.s. to legal minds when it comes to its deadly drone strikes. this week the case of norwegian mass murderer anders breivik reached its conclusion bravery committed 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 toyah island last year he smirked when he heard the verdict which he says he will not appeal

during his final statement he apologized for not killing even though many people if it was insisted on his sanity in the killings were part of his fight against the islamification of norway e.u. countries were suffering a rise in far right activities before the tragedy but as the reports briggs ideas a feeling even more hatred towards immigrants and is now. there's no doubt about his guilt for right militant unders brave massacred seventy seven people in norway thirteen months ago to show his rejection of government policies and immigrants and islam all this case once again highlighted europe's deepening divide over immigration and integration and the subsequent radicalization of ideas. last week a twenty nine year old suspected brave except authorities are 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. and

a rise in political extremes one step up the fringes countries are increasingly criticised for failing to properly engage people on what's needed for 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. we think occasion of. everyone trying 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. jesser cilia r t brussels. amid growing talk of a crisis of tolerance in europe another scandal flares up in germany after a rabbi was charged for performing a circumcision a regional court in cologne banned religious circumcisions under a new law he caused outrage among jews and muslims worldwide accusing the thora does of infringing on religious freedom german based rabbi just spent us as the issue could be exploited by radical movements there's no question that this issue is of a 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 who are uncomfortable with this of all 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 infants and so this is a noble position which is a much harder position to say cow when one speaks about workers or minarets of 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. the diplomatic spat between britain and could or over june the songes asylum aziz to london retracted its threat to stall the south american countries embassy in order to arrest the whistleblower they were drawing just a day after a thirty four member bloc of american nations sided with ecuador in the royal stressing the sanctity of diplomatic premises it means that the song hold up in the ecuadorian embassy in london for more than two months is safe at least until he steps out of the building the president of ecuador says the two countries are ready

to return to dialogue over the future course with brings us the details of the meeting that prompted a break in the standoff. it was a meeting that lasted five hours but eventually ecuador got what it wanted out of the meeting essentially the foreign minister made a speech in which he condemned britain for what he called an an assault on. 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 britain 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 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 julian assange has added to fulfilling this court order which says that he must be extradited to sweden whatever 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 doing that so i 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 due to of course still in the ecuadorian embassy in london still very unclear how he will get out. commenting on the increase support for acquittal attorney and spanish host eva got a judge says only continued international pressure could force the u.k. to let him go but the pressure is very important to continue to try to sort out we'll aware. those issues and it's stubbornness in this specific case and i wanted to show each time that these types of meetings and the 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 and eventually

hopefully the british government will back down to wait and see. all the twists and turns and julian assange has long running saga as well as expert opinion and analysis always available on our website if you missed our exclusive interview with the naked or in present it's also there for you right now at r.t. dot com. as iran faces growing pressure from the west regarding its nuclear program there's also a significant display of solidarity towards the islamic state delegate from over one hundred nations which don't consider themselves an idea any power block currently convening in tehran for a high profile summit research director of the national iranian american council in washington lisa miller 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 interpreted 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 un atomic watchdog declared that recent talks with iran had failed israel claimed it to iran is speeding up its work on a nuclear bomb while the islamic republic insists it's only pursuing peaceful energy some experts believe the west's rejection of iran's right to atomic energy could backfire. well there's no doubt that iran has quite a bit of support among the nonaligned movement you know along those countries that are. nuclear have nots if you will say they do in fact have

a lot of support for the point of view which they spot which is that they have a right to enrich uranium and that free western powers are essentially taking trying to take that away from them for political purposes essentially using a double standard or even worse. remember you can find all the latest stories comments on videos on our website. and here's some of what you may like while you all their clothes don't make the man or do they want to taunt ovoid when trying to board a passenger plane in the u.s. . still thinking what has been a weekend with your girlfriend pick your brains no more get your pulse racing by walking the trail of the day. and also a lot of the moment his big bulging eyes and chubby little face have captured the hearts of locals this baby seal is taking up home on a russian beach in a line full picture is the key.

which brightened if you live. from phones to pressure these. stocks on t.v. dot com. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images. from the streets of canada. giant corporations rule the day.

the weekly continues at twenty minutes past the hour hand russian capital on the threshold of the first anniversary of the fall of tripoli libya seems to be blocking the event with violence and chaos and the latest in a series of recent attacks on sophist rinds salafi islamists were blamed for blowing up and bulldozing a fifteenth century sentry sectarian tensions in libya reached new levels after so if you religious sites were destroyed by some of its government security forces this against the background of savanna ethnic clashes which have spiraled since colonel gadhafi was ousted most recently at least twelve people killed and dozens injured after the fighting parties used heavy weaponry including anti-aircraft guns . and a listing consultant thinks clearly it will descend 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 where the same state. in afghanistan we've got the

situation in libya which was again a force regime and as you would expect there will be breakaway groups because at the end of the day although gadhafi was a fraudster in many ways eve brought that country from the doldrums into great prosperity and the wrong government got in and so the military is still trying to pull the strings there and of course that's failing very fast and i think we will see a natural rebellion occur like is ongoing in iraq like is ongoing in syria and egypt. talk to you now on more world news in brief the world updates at least thirty six people have died after a fuel tank on a passenger bus collided in northern china before catching fire three survivors were taken to hospital with severe injuries the latest wreck follows a series of road accidents in the country the death toll of more than seventy thousand last year alone. but as well as president hugo chavez has declared three

days of mourning after at least thirty nine people killed following an explosion at the country's biggest oil refinery the government run plant was rocked by a blast caused by gas leak nearby buildings were also damaged by the explosive impact the accident is the worst to ever hit the south american nations on industry . the first man to walk on the moon and one of america's greatest heroes nearly armstrong has passed away at the age of eighty two his condition deteriorated after complications caused by recent heart surgery only half a billion people had their eyes fixed to the t.v. as the former apollo eleven mission commander stepped onto the lunar surface back in july one thousand nine hundred sixty nine. pakistan is investigating a u.s. drone strike that reportedly killed but didn't her current leader of the haqqani terror group the taliban claims he's still alive u.s. led attacks have long been a source of contention among pakistanis and is going to can explains its episodes

like this 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 as 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 abroad 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 for what's so wrong about being dexter i mean everyone loves dexter it's a very popular t.v. show here in the united states and all across the world but 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. other figures that have been attacked by drones over the last few years but the united states also makes mistakes that have been and the number of civilian casualties associated with these drone strikes so in some sense they're in a similar moral quandary the u.s. government as you said you know there's 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. here's 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 no police is there well there isn't any police of course there are international laws and there have been a number of reports on 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 blowback which really represents the

casualty or shall we say the consequences that are most direct the drone program. he morse in the weekly live from on these and to hear more about the headlines in a few minutes and that's a leading middle east analyst describes how to solve the syrian conflict that's in our in depth interview stay with us and. to.

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