international atomic energy agency inspections. work that they had previously done according to the u.s. intelligence community on nuclear weapons it's been suspended so at present iran's nuclear program is not a major threat to the united states the concern is that it could very rapidly become one how rapidly in less than a year according to some estimates and other estimates more than a year a lot depends on whether you're talking about the production of fissile material the highly enriched uranium for a bomb or an actual deliverable weapon a deliverable weapon would take longer production of fissile material could you know within a few few months produce enough or for a bomb within a few months well within a few weeks americans will be heading to the polls to vote for a new u.s. president or keep the current one in the white house many believe that israel has seen this time as a window of opportunity to strike iran dragging the u.s.

into a war is there still a threat that it would do so in the main remaining weeks i think the concern about a possible israeli strike was higher a few weeks ago the israelis are now dissolving their parliament and calling for new elections on january twenty second so this i think changes a lot of the previous calculation of people that thought the israeli government might act before the u.s. elections i think now tend to believe wait until at least after u.s. elections if not actually after the the new israeli elections now opinions vary but do you think iran has an intention to acquire a nuclear bomb i mean this is literally the sixty four thousand dollar question you know there's a pretty good read on what iran's capabilities in terms of uranium enrichment are the big question which i don't think anyone can give a highly confident answer to is does iran want a what people refer to as a threshold capability in other words its ability to produce a nuclear weapon quite quickly or do they want an actual. deployed weapons

according to the u.s. intelligence community and i think most other observers iran just hasn't made that decision in part because they don't need to they want to get to that threshold capability before they make any decisions about whether to go to go farther than that threshold because there's no point making that decision early in fact it might be detected by western intelligence and so you could tip your hand before you get to that threshold so i think that decision has been made you don't seem to be putting the threat level of iran's nuclear program as high as some u.s. officials the republican candidates for example mitt romney and his vice presidential candidate paul ryan have been in past weeks essentially saying that iran is major grave threat are they exaggerating at all with their rhetoric i don't think there's a tremendous amount of exaggeration that iran is a threat generally i mean you know the united states and iran have had a pretty hostile relationship for three decades actually more than three decades

now they have you know had problematic relations in the gulf they've had conflict via proxies in iraq so i think it's not wrong to say iran is a threat the question is whether its nuclear program is a real threat to the united states at the present and it isn't at the present but the concern is as i said it could very quickly become a threat so let's go back to your report according to the findings and extended u.s. military strike on iran's nuclear facilities whether alone or in concert with israel could set back iran's nuclear program for four years but it still would not guarantee that iran would not eventual acquire a nuclear bomb why is that it's because the technology iran already has some pieces and parts they need to acquire from overseas but unless you can guarantee that you can kill off everyone in iran that has knowledge of these programs and their ability to produce these basic component. such as aluminum rotors you can't

guarantee that the program can never be restarted so you can destroy what they have now but their ability to rebuild that even if you can make it take a very long time to rebuild that's what can't be destroyed what kind of long term military commitment with the us have to make to ensure that iran would never be able to build a nuclear bomb i mean it would be similar to what happened with iraq the only way to ensure a country does not acquire a nuclear weapon is to forcibly change the regime and go in on the ground occupy yes that's the that's the only way to one hundred percent be sure that the current iranian regime never acquires a nuclear weapon so we're talking about a ten year war. potentially it could be iran is a larger country than both iraq and afghanistan combined so if you're talking about a war that would certainly be on that scale where there would be ten times harder not quite as hard who knows but it would be a very substantial military commitment should the u.s. be concerned about iran's unconventional war capabilities i think the united states

is definitely be concerned about iran's unconventional war capabilities by its nature it's harder to sort of define what unconventional war capabilities are and you can count airplanes you can count missiles unconventional it's a little harder to judge but iran has a robust capability for unconventional war they have special operations forces they have kind of services they have a variety of capabilities to conduct attacks without you know not in the sort of typical military way at the end of the day is this really just a problem for israel iran possible determination of acquiring nuclear weapons or is this a problem for the u.s. as well i think it's a problem for the entire world i mean certainly the you know the entire world has asked iran to clarify its intentions and its taken steps i think it's a much bigger problem for israel than the united states if for no other reason than proximity in the skies you know israel is a country of you know about the you know in terms of populations the size of new york city and geographically it's quite small it's quite close so i think it's

a much bigger problem for israel that it is for the united states but that doesn't make it not a problem for the united states and the rest of the world how much would a war with iran cost the u.s. economy it's very difficult to tell but you know our estimates that even a modest war would would hurt the u.s. economy in part because it would drive up oil prices even a modest in terms of duration spike in oil prices you know the u.s. recovery right now is quite fragile the world recovery is sort of stalled in places and making modest recovery in others so a big spike in oil prices even if it was only for a few weeks would certainly. damage the u.s. economy if it were a longer extended commitment and big disruption in oil then it would be much more also to the global economy to the global economy and then there's the actual dollar figure to conduct military operations right now in flying planes dropping bombs these things are are not incredibly expensive but neither are they cheap so it would it would there would be a it would be a substantial costly thing so i want to ask you

a question that politicians always reject to answer does israel have nuclear weapons capacity it's something that the israelis have been opaque on by design throughout their history i think most outside observers would say that the israelis do have a nuclear weapons capacity even if it's one that's never really been deployed or tested and as you mentioned benjamin netanyahu has dissolved the parliament in israel with new elections expected as in january february twenty second and whether how much do you think that will play into the israel iran in conflict i think i think this coming israeli elections will hinge heavily on on what to do about iran the netanyahu government will have some decisions to make they could be they could be very bold and take action as a caretaker government i think most observers don't think they will and in fact a lot of the campaign will be about what to do about the iranian nuclear program. so i think that's i think will be a huge issue in determining the future of israeli iranian relations so if israel

has a stockpile of nuclear weapons as many have reported and iran has not even if you're on board to build one wouldn't there be somewhat of a deterrence policy in place why would israel consider still striking iran the belief is you know if both sides have nuclear weapons no no no one side is going to be foolish enough to use them knowing they're going to face retaliation by the other side of the u.s. soviet union the idea of mutually assured destruction i think the israelis are deeply uncomfortable with this because it doesn't take. hundreds of nuclear weapons to functionally destroy israel as i said israel's a very small country a handful of nuclear weapons maybe even only one nuclear weapon some people refer to israel as a one country could do the same damage it would require hundreds of nuclear weapons to do to a much larger country so i think their concern is why take any risk that maybe the current leadership in iran is completely rational but maybe

a future one won't be why take any risk that there could be these kind of miscalculations in a confrontation so say there's an israeli iranian equivalent of a cuban missile crisis say over hezbollah or syria and instead of ending in a in a sort of tense standoff that was resolved peacefully as in the cuban missile crisis this one actually results in the exchange of nuclear weapons think the israeli attitude is you know we have maintained all along we will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into the region we don't want anyone else to do so either because why take the risk you know when u.s. president barack obama was addressing the u.n. general assembly and he was speaking i think iran he said time for negotiations is not unlimited what do you think he meant by that i mean it's you think that there is some kind of deadline a date that washington i don't think that there is an exact date but i do think that patience for negotiations particularly after the last round over the summer is sort of wearing thin the iranians put forward

a proposal allegedly some of the iranians deny it some don't it's kind of tough to tell sometimes what the iranians are actually saying but the proposal would have called for the lifting of most sanctions in exchange for suspension of many of the more worrisome activities of the iranian nuclear program and the president said look we you know this isn't this isn't serious we're not going to remove everything that gives us leverage in exchange for these minor concessions so i think the feeling is look we will give diplomacy all the time in the world if it's actually working but if it's just a way for the iranians to stall and by the way over the summer iran greatly increase the rate a. putting centrifuges into one of its enrichment plants so i think that's the feeling it's not that there's a specific date but if it looks like all the iranians are doing is using negotiations as a way to sort of buy time think that's when the president will say look we've given diplomacy you know all the time in the world it hasn't worked you report indicated that a u.s. military strike against iran would motivate the country to build

a bomb if that is the case doesn't this threatening rhetoric coming from u.s. and israeli officials also cause damage i think the idea is to calibrate the threat and maybe the united states hasn't always done the best job but the idea is you know you apply all of these levers of persuasion sanctions the threat of military action to say look this isn't a good path to go down let's find another path but you're absolutely right that if you you know if you're trying to convince somebody to do something or else you're going to carry out a threat you don't want to believe in you're going to carry out the threat anyway right because why would you ever agree to anything if you think you're going to be attacked anyway so it's it can be tricky you're right to calibrate that rhetoric that you know if you do x. we will do y. but if you don't do x. we won't do well dr austin long thank you very much for speaking with r.t. thanks very much as a great pleasure i. the

ride that takes your breath away pleading across the scholar's it was a mohnish good you know the biggest salt lake in europe and more than two hundred species of birds that are also are on the verge of extinction on these islands in the south of russia they find shelter before migrated to other parts of the world much of theirs here we see the great white pelican and several species of the domination pelican which are both in the red dates of birth but there are only forty to fifty couples left in the region your palate can use as well as other species at the monish gugino feed and face these birds are waiting for their parents to bring them food to the best cash for them is in a small area is a lake with a warrant is relatively fresh as fish cannot survive in the salty

a part of the money and the lakes get insulted every year they manage to do lowe's and all to fish oil reservoir which has failed in the nineteen fifties in the areas hot climate the evaporates quickly and the local stores natural sultanate steaks so are just told to post reported stolen material there are relatively few water sources here some water comes from the dawn river and some from the cuban during the last three to four years we've had a very severe drought and can see to this drought we are practically standing on the bottom of this like it's been falling every year the majority of birds have been retreating as well are they nestle in your limbs or a call from birds the drying out of the lake cool so threaten one of the world's biggest populations. they live on one of them on and on and next destination.

there are more than four hundred is the animals here theories of protected wildlife reserve it's a place of serene peace and calm in recent decades dozens of canals have been dug around here to cultivate the local scamps broad grassy plains this may be useful for humans but it does badly hit many species as the animals here for instance so i guess antelopes which are extremely shy were scared away only to be killed in the hundreds of thousands by poachers focal here believes the substance found in their homes can cure impotence just some forty years ago there were more than two million saigon antelopes living in asia nowhere else in the world but now people brought the species to the brink of extinction this region is be reaching life with thousands of years but now we know relatively short space of time it's why been diversity of creatures is second and it's by man and nature itself.

fresh outbreaks of violence shakes the syrian lebanese border as president as its troops tried to clear our rebels from one of the key spots for arms smuggling. strides triggered by dave named cox rock troubled european countries as the leaders are in stage yet another anti-crisis summit in brussels. plus deadly attacks on a stronghold of the former regime in libya amid accusations the country's new rulers turned a blind eye to the massacre of gadhafi loyalists a year ago. those who have eyes here in our sports next with paul.

thank you very much marina welcome to the world of sports here's what's coming up down the squid and on the pa england drove one one in poland in their rearranged world cup qualifier. vicious cycle lance armstrong was dropped by nike on the same day he stands down for his alleged strong charity as the fallout continues from the doping allegations. nice and call out baskets ask our moscow five two to go in the cage tells eastern conference. but let's start with football why england have drawn their latest well cup qualifier with poland in warsaw the match was played on wednesday because tuesday's picture was postponed due to tarantula rain at the national stadium england were below par but the only way deflected waverley header on thirty one minutes the hosts were close to equalising at the end of the first half but failed to capitalize on this counterattack very harsh and

side were heading for a crucial three point one pound no click level for the hosts with twenty minutes to play in the remaining top of the group one point ahead of montenegro having played the game. meanwhile taskbar moscow will be looking to return from the international break and go back to the top of the russian premier league they're just two points behind the unit is on jay and as richard and pope meet explains morale could not be higher in the young men's camp. it's been six years since it's come from the russian premier league title however this renewed hope that beyond him and you can finally end this drought to go into sunday's clash with rubin just two points off the leaders on g m raul couldn't be higher after beating bitter rival sponsor last time i was always very happy about what today's game especially because the spark target. there when in russia winning this game is always very important for us.

as a team and for the supporters too so hopefully we can keep doing good and trying to to fight the first places despite a poor start of a season so this guy had been on excellent run winning six games in a row in the league however none came to hold against norman moscow and to make matters worse the only men had islands a go if sent off after the russian international lash out at luke will show the twenty two year old was given a five game suspension and runs with says it was great to get back to winning ways again spark clarke yeah now we're back on track again hopefully we can continue like this was a good win an important win also for the first test series carol hope to have seeded back from injury when they take on rubin last season's top scorer in the russian premier league hasn't played since the start of the studio a back injury and he's addition to a score to really containing the likes of castle. there's arguably been the player

of the season so far i'm going to compare between opposed could finally see a serious car in their six year wait for russian football's biggest prize which of them fully dancey moscow. where the man who blew the whistle and lifted the lid on the latest italian football match fixing scandal has found a new job as a community coach at english premier league club aston villa simone a father you know was approached last november and offered a two hundred thousand euros to influence the outcome of an italian cup match he reported the incident to police meeting to the arrest of seventeen people the former roma defendant was given an award at last year's faith as your ceremony but found himself without a club so the thirteen year old is delighted with his new opportunity. is not only the fortunately for me but for my whole family i have always dreamed of coming here to england i don't hide it because it has the most beautiful football at the moment for me it's a dream to be here just in a villa at the stadium to see the support of us from villa makes me very emotional

all them so much. meanwhile it has been another twenty four hours to forget for lance armstrong as the fallout from the u.s. anti-doping agency's accusations of drug abuse continue the former cyclist has stepped down as the chairman of the live strong cancer charity he form the foundation following his own successful battle with cancer believes the post and i quote to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of the control busy surrounding my career as a cyclist not only that but manufacturer nyc announced they would severed ties with the athlete saying this insurmountable evidence he misled the company for a decade meanwhile betsy andreu very has been frankie rode with armstrong in the u.s. postal team says they became victims of his smear campaign after testifying against him. systematically. here.

now to tell us where the kremlin cup here in moscow is reaching the business end of the competition places in the quarterfinals around grabs today first up serbia has an advantage which takes on unseeded russian salary a solid rain or another russian enric you olenka faces jaroslav a shred of a star for the showpiece much later on thursday sees top seed and former u.s. open champion sam stosur up against france's at least coronated. meanwhile in the men's draw places in the last later also at state fourteen thomas baluchi takes on frenchman flavia for polar opposite alexander build a ball over the ukraine entertains poor why it was a bustling while the last russian representative represented alex bottom of junior pairs of a clash against the very tolerant. now the new euro league basketball season continues on thursday last season's losing finalists as car moscow were looking for their second win of the campaign later there in belgrade to take on part of the one

but on wednesday malaga picked up their first winning group big play. and polenta fans get done yet the house we're leading with three and a half minutes to go but they story points from salinger to sun for the visitors ahead and he's the leader they didn't let go of seventy seven seventy five the final score when the polish side have lost their first two matches of the sayings that. staying on the hardwood in houston rockets point guard jeremy lin has dismissed concerns over his knee injury the twenty four year old missed the end of last season with the new york knicks because of the problem but insists he'll be fighting fit when the rockets begin the n.b.a. campaign against the detroit pistons on the type of the thirty five. i'm not sure it's just like befits a good thing early on it was you know. whatever and it's like you know now i feel great on the film better every single day. you know we're just building up and i think we may be two weeks or something like that so i think you know i'm feeling

great right now so i'm really good. to swimming now where the fourth stage of the world cup kicked off here in the russian capital on wednesday on the home fans had something to cheer as stanislav donetsk won gold in the one hundred meter backstroke the next is the highest run rushing competition sitting seventh in the standings the three time world champion missed the london olympics due to injury and was eager to make an impressive comeback and there was plenty to cheer for home supporters as the twenty nine year old outcries just rainier's robert hurley by almost a second to grab first place meanwhile world record holder in the four hundred meter freestyle will be the man pretty still among the best the twenty six year old german took an early lead off the electric start time never looked back again how he was unlucky in second place afterwards be the man makes the race was not as easy as it seemed. was most of the race because the rebels were really the one in

stockholm in front of me so i tried a different tactic and it got real about robert he has a lot of races. the odds are now so i think he's doing a great job. now over to the continental hockey league where two time can go winners at bars beats a scar five to july third in the eastern conference valerie bell of the men pushed hard from the start and went into the second period two goals to the good. open the scoring for minutes in a finish center yako imminent doubled the lead muscovites came back into the game from nicaragua bosky on alexander would give of the efforts to make it to midway through the final period but. imminent drop their second goals of the game to number secure the way the president and the role finished the night since the five two in favor of. finally one amateur football team in greece has come up with a novel way of getting around the country's economic turmoil but if i lost larissa

at me sponsored by two local brothels the decision has caused controversy with legal organizers banning the logos during much is saying it violates the sporting ideal and is unsuitable for under-age supporters the emblems of the villa erotica and soulless house of history pay on the garish pink shirts as teams look for new ways to finance themselves in a drastic government cuts however some say the moral outrage is a case of hypocrisy larry. they advertise sports betting firms very slaughter in sports betting games what are these and the gambling and this brothel sponsorship brothers down to get it it's a false sense of outrage hypocrisy. that is all from the world of sport for now but there are plenty more from a just under two hours time here not a journey that. more

news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china corporation to rule the day. wealthy british style. that's not on. the. market finance scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or

for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on what will change when america picks its president amid muslim rage walking the iran tightrope pushing china and russia as occupy anger spreads the two parties still dictate will there be change to a selection of clothes god one day called r t beginning of solar twenty second. sigrid laboratory to mccurdy was able to build a new its most sophisticated robot which all unfortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tim's mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans and world exists this is why you should care watch only on the dot com . the gold fever. turns thousands into slaves. my father but also among other involved in the mines and

since i started working at the mine i stated. this multi-nationals. a cash cow to be milked dry and if i think that in this country gold medal o.-g. has an environmental cost which is unacceptable to local business was labeled illegal and controlled by criminals in order to protect our lives our families and to work in peace. we are forced to pay protection to illegal groups what price is colombia going to pay. the pro modest effect on r.t. .

which brightened. from months to. come.