i wasn't told to go with the pope to do what you know the way forward is predicted any syrian president bashar often speaks exclusively to r.t. about even his country's future saying he's not a western poppet and is ready to die in syria. barack obama slaps new sanctions on iran and one of his first foreign policy decisions and since reelection. levy a talent itself as a tourist destination just weeks after a deadly siege of clashes in the town of bani walid. it is ten am in the russian capital you're watching r t. the syrian president has predicted a global catastrophe should western states intervene in his country and this close

of interview with r t bashar asad also vowed to live and die in syria respond in the region policy has the details. in this exclusive interview with r.t. the syrian president bashar assad stressed the point that he will remain in syria he said it was only for the syrian people to decide his fate he said that he was not a puppet of the west and you have the situation where the west creates enemies that essentially they are motivated by the selfish interests he is not the target but he did warn that these self interests of the waste lead to foreign intervention which ultimately has a domino effect he also made the point that at the moment there is no civil war in syria he said the situation was such that you had these factions fighting they were being funded by the west he called them terrorists and he said that these terrorists coming from abroad are the biggest problem facing syria today the syrian president said that the majority of arab states supported syria but that they were

too frightened to admit this publicly and this is largely because of their interest in petro dollars but he was assured of this support at least privately on the topic of turkey he did say that there was no war no conflict between the syrian people and the turkish people that the disagreements were on a government level but there too this indeed had requested that the turkish government set up a committee to investigate what was happening on the ground and this was in reference to shells that have in the past been fired from syrian territory and landed on the turkish side and he said that this response had not been made positively he did say that he believed that editor gann was in support of a muslim brotherhood power base in the region because this would help him entrenched his own support within both turkey and elsewhere on the topic of iran he said that both countries have friendly relations dating back to nine hundred seventy nine that iran is a close ally of syria and that they support each other's cause but when it came to

western powers here he spoke again about the involvement of wisdom powers that it was the self interest that motivated them in terms of what. as happening in this side syria he said that he was not a puppet of the west he said that what the wasted was at its used its own self interest which then ultimately resulted in some kind of domino effect linked to foreign intervention wasn't a target there wasn't a problem you know there with all it's created anyways it was the communism that it became. became for promising for different reasons and now they want to create a new enemy because of the problem with the president so he has to leave first of all you have to focus on the real problem with our time listening to what they say he said that he didn't have any regrets although he did make the point that the conflict is still ongoing on the ground and as such it's a little bit too soon to really step back and properly address it so again no

regrets but too soon to judge the situation if today was fifteenth of march two thousand and eleven that's when the protests started to escalate and grow what would you do differently what i would do what i did exactly the same for exactly the thing just to ask the different parties to for to have dialogue and to stand against the terrorist group but i always thought if you didn't start as modest because there was more but within those markets you had militants who thought that putting the civilians. at the same time maybe on the tactical level you could have done something different but as president you're not there because the decision or strategic level which is different in essence the point being made by the syrian president bashar assad is that his government was fighting a legitimate cause that what is happening in syria today is foreign intervention that is attempting to destabilize the situation and that he is taking his cue from the syrian people all you can see the full exclusive interview with syria's

president bashar asad next hour here in r.t. and it's also available any time on our website r.t. dot com. i'm syrian i mean. i mean if you have to be from sudan but it's even russia our allies did you that are to exclusive friday through sunday on r.t. and r.t. dot com meanwhile the divided syrian opposition is locked in negotiations over the creation of a unified group backed by western states it's hoped they could forge a transitional cabinet which they are keen to present as a government in waiting politics professor stephen zunes believes the opposition strategy is shifting towards terror tactics fed by weapons coming from abroad both asserting national council and riyadh is with some of them has long been divided on the question of armed struggle both were mostly criminals of nonviolence who saw saw and saw the shift more towards the arm struggle. late last year but now people

are reevaluating saying hey folks this is not working it's just causing even more people to get killed it's frightened a lot of potential supporters looking up the system to consolidate their support with the government because are afraid of the fundamentalists and other extremists have gotten into the mix and so i think we are starting to see a reevaluation of strategy. accordingly sent in the cia and those to turkey to try to make sure that those arms that are coming in get to the two to the so-called moderates but so the ability of any outside power to control arms once again going to hands of people who want to use them is pretty limited and just days after his reelection to the white house barack obama has impose new sanctions against iran in this comes as the pentagon has revealed that iranian warplanes tried or should down a u.s. drone flying near iran's border last week are just going to count has more. president

obama's first moves after he won reelection have pretty much indicated that in the next four years he will aggressively pursue the idea of the u.s. being the world police the administration has imposed financial sanctions against the iranian officials with the u.s. blames for jamming satellite broadcast and blocking internet access any wrang that comes on top of a whole bunch of other sanctions that have been put in place by the u.s. which are proved to be crippling for the ukrainian economy and the population there is suffering a great deal because of that while campaigning president obama indicated that he didn't want to go to war with iran but that he would continue the sanctions policy and that's what he's doing we've heard reports that the obama administration might engage in direct talks with iran at some point but there has been no confirmation of that. threatens to attack iran and the u.s. appears to be stopping them some argue that the u.s. might be playing a good cop bad cop diplomatic game there anyway the administration's strategy appears to be to make iran's so desperate that they would agree to anything but

sanctioning iran was probably not president obama's very first move after winning this election government officials here say that said on wednesday a u.s. drone strike targeted a group of al qaida militants in yemen and the president had to authorize that and possibly he did that within hours after his reelection the use of drones has been highly controversial it's quite clear not everybody hit by those drones are terrorists and the administration so far has been far from transparent on how they pick the targets and basically authorize executions overseas the u.n. has raised concerns about the legality of such executions there has been a lot of criticism especially after numerous reports of civilian deaths in the meantime this administration is said to rely on drones more and more and other drone related story this week the pentagon said the reunion military had fired upon but they did not hit a u.s. drone flying close to the pentagon claimed the drone was there on a surveillance mission. so looking at some of president obama's first moves after

reelection one could say he takes the idea of america being the world police very seriously but the question is who's going to hold that world police itself accountable now the u.s. has so far failed to use the bargaining opportunity the sanctions potentially have says reza marashi research director at the national iranian american council you can continue to ramp up the sanctions on iran but sanctions ostensibly are supposed to provide leverage at the negotiating table if you're not using them as a negotiating chip when you're at the negotiating table then all they are is a blunt instrument the ends up adversely affecting the lives of innocent iranian people this is the first instance in which we've seen obama move forward on sanctions and it remains to be seen whether or not he doubles down on the diplomatic track of his policy to try to find a peaceful solution to the crisis but we haven't seen to date tangible evidence of these sanctions causing the iranian government to change strategic calculus on its

regional policies or on more specifically its nuclear policy and that's supposed to be the goal that's the metric of success that both the bush administration and the obama administration have defined seen the obama administration really ramp up the amount of drone usage you know whether it is yemen or pakistan or even today we saw a report of the iranian government shooting at an american drone that was off of its coast so we're in uncharted waters when it comes to policy american policy related to drones and until we have some rules to this game that the international community can abide by you know playing off the same script that it increases the likelihood of a conflict that the united states and the international community i think would independently seek to avoid. well coming up it's all in the name for one u.s. citizen stuck in can we find out what you are called could link you to criminal activity and bar you from entering your own country. and twenty three years since the fall of the berlin wall we examine the changes the years have brought to

germany the details after this break. recently protests and demonstrations of any kind were banned until further notice and by train a curfew as in you can't go out of your home when the government doesn't want you to has already been in effect in the country since two thousand and eleven many of the protests which are now totally forbidden were related to members of the public demanding the release of political prisoners four people were also recently arrested for insulting the king over twitter wow a middle eastern country that has totally shut down any form of protest and holds you down if you tweet about the leadership so it's pretty undemocratic to me i bet nato is already fueling up ready to take action some freedom into warmer right well

not really if nato really cared about spreading democracy you'd think they'd be more consistent with their targets but that's just my opinion. which was that so much of it which of course is right on it will be. obama winning decisive victory returning him to the white house for another four years what accounts for this victory was it a well run campaign in changing that. download

the official application so choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorite from outside now a t.v. is not required to watch on t.v. all you need is your mobile device to watch on t.v. any time i did it. while the libyan town of bani walid is still struggling to heal the scars of the siege which took place less than a month ago libya's being promoted as a new travel hotspot are just our first visit at the world travel market in london to find out why tour operators remain silent on the tragedy. we're here at the world travel market a trade show you taking place in london or people can consulates their holiday inspiration or that scouts exotic spot for a honey way one country you probably wouldn't expect to see being touted as

a tourist destination and that's libya the places where the tourist interesting the site is a political fight it's completely safe granted it's got to be safe more than even towns to break downs like london new york but there's somewhere there's not mentioned in the guidebook bani walid a desert town is remaining loyal to salma leader colonel gadhafi is just a few hours drive south east of the traditional tourist destination tripoli but it's a world away from the safe environment the two guides of pitching. to towns become the scene of some of the fiercest fighting since the libyan uprising last year but despite reports of indiscriminate shelling and gas attacks on the local population at the hands of the libyan army there's been an almost total media blackout in the . r.t. run story for more than a fortnight before anyone else picked it up back in london and despite libya being

showcased it seems that bani walid has once again been conveniently left out of the conversation when i saw this. it was a ghost with surprise and i came to two hours of feedback of the situation at the moment in libya and if we have so many people there it means our situation is that it becoming more stable and we can think for next season to do something with libya and it's a wonderful country so we are. good about what's happening at the moment i knew you were legal but do you mean what's happened was been happening there has been fighting do you know about that no not at all we went to confront the tour operator i saw you speaking some people eat telling them about what's been happening in benny walid at the moment. this is a global. that's done for the future. there's a reason we don't speak about it was deeply disturbing is that despite a growing body of evidence about crimes against civilians and increasingly vocal

concerns from human rights organizations the k. media and government remain resolutely silent they've got to sort of package this as a success it's very important for nato so we have the speed of these countries to be liberated in inverted commas as great places to go great places to invest and the reality for the everyday person in these countries is a living hell really pick up one of the travel information then you will be given reasons to visit libya and undoubtedly there are many there's a concerning silence this being a case by the u.k. media a seeming refusal to talk about what's been happening in places like bani walid the reality is that the new government is struggling to control its militias and bridge the deep divides the remain in the country but none of that you are going to read about in a glossy brochure surf artsy london. a leading bahraini human rights activist continues to wait say the trial of the field or job has been under arrest since

july would zoom in a month's time after thursday's hearings find out more by logging on to r.t. dot com. new frontier astronomers discover a planet seven times the size of earth which could support human life one day an online. and american now living and working in qatar has been barred from traveling home to visit his sick mother sadik along who is an air force veteran has been placed on a federal no fly list without explanation adam sultani from the council of american islamic relations believes his muslim name makes him an undesirable person in the united states. there is no indication of any reason for him to be on this no fly list he has never been convicted of any criminal activity he has served his country for ten years in the u.s. air force and he has indicated that there is nothing he can think of that would would link him to anything criminal in the nature you know there are cases kerry

has dealt with in the past of individuals who were placed on the no fly list sometimes it just has to do with the name their name may sound like someone who was affiliated with criminal activities or or something of the sort we've never really been given answers by the f.b.i. and the department of homeland security so we're not one hundred percent sure it's kind of speculation at this point but nevertheless you know he's indicated that he has a law abiding u.s. citizen and really cannot think of anything that would prevent him from travel now the fall of the berlin wall and of amber the ninth exactly twenty three years ago symbolize the aunt of the cold war the day will be marked by memorial ceremonies across germany but as more and now reports even two decades after the fall divisions still remain. made in love a ballet produced in western germany by a choreographer from the former d.d.r. in the eighty's when one nation was riven into stuff and fled what he saw as

a prison for the promise of freedom. we artists needed inspiration who didn't have the chance to see the outside world were telling us in the old weights roots in the west where we were different emotional genuine and that. he never came back because even twenty years after the fall of the berlin wall the east is still locked in the dark past soviet era infrastructure derailed never really adapting to the capitalist reality reunification it turns out was more annexation what happened politically in the way of international laws that west germany became bigger if they would have taken the chance in that time to say we abolish both germany as we abolish the west of germany and we abolish the eastern region in the east germany and we make something new we make a new germany this might have been much better the forging of one nation was the end of another this is all that remains from

a once large power plant in the village of man that stein in eastern germany it used to generate electricity for railroads and trams shortly after reunification the plant was shut down as happened with most industry in the former g.d.r. abandoned buildings like this and deliberate dated are still scattered all across the east here silence reminders of the former republics power the two decades following the reunification so a million and a half had west most to youngsters live in an aging population behind slowly that might be changing since two thousand the migration numbers are declining and in two thousand and eleven we had for the first time note not more. migrants than migrants these people are living breathing statistics they're all see the nickname for born easterners and they've returned home and everybody want to come but sometimes opportunity is not given it's

a responsibility of the political to encourage people to stay here to give them like a maybe. opportunity to earn money but they're using eastern greed and western guile to help themselves probably they're all had similar problems like where do i find the flour or if i want to buy a whole lot of these kind of stuff so the next project was that we build the workload where we try to collect all the information but the challenge is the tougher to overcome maybe unspoken the water between the g.d.r. and west germany was one of the hottest across in the world this brown path is what used to be a mine field and imposing construction with city be cameras barbed wire fences and watchtowers every one of the half kilometers it was all taken away after reunion this place is now a museum but while there was a may have become part of history division remains the boundary in some people's minds is as solid as ever and until these barrier falls through reunification will

remain just an illusion. or if an ocean r.t. reporting from germany. and coming up after a short break it's capital account with lauren lyster stay with us because. the sun rises over what seems like and last forest here in the new directions cry for hundred kilometers north of light of all stalk as in much of the world it's disappearing at a catastrophic rate. for much. longer is both illegal and those finding ways to outsmart the system for filing down the forest of the more skewed region for them profit goes well beyond the future of our planet and the result could be an ecological crisis the world wildlife fund for nature makes regular trips to help local rangers do what little

they can to stop the logging but it's not easy lager set up trucks making them hard to reach an already rough terrain and have mastered ways to jump through legal loopholes this is a nature reserve were only sanitary logging of disease trees is allowed according to law and not a single berry can be picked but loggers like this use their sanitary logging permit to cut down absolutely healthy trees and sell the profitable timber over the border in china we are on the hunt for illegal loggers and it's not going to be easy the forest is enormous and our chances are slim now for now we can stay in our dreams but as soon as we find solid tracks we'll have to drop our wheels and get out silently in order not to scare the loggers off alexander someone in ca has been a ranger for over twenty five years he can spend weeks at a time tracking a single group of loggers it's easier to work when snow falls in autumn it's

impossible to find human tracks and even transport tracks are hard to see after hours of driving we get sent in the right. direction by word of mouth you can see that the ground us soft here which means that they have twelve the tractor trails are very fresh which in fact means that we need to be quiet in order to not scare them off as we get closer. this team says they're illegal but have no documents now xander can now call the police to take over his work here is done he is overwhelmingly outnumbered there are too few rangers working in the promote the region and the w w f says the government isn't doing enough to stop it i guess the government now is they started city for more whole forest legislation so assumes the pals and so on regards a new forest court and according to. every for us that's the guys in waltham in the in the forest to the still forest courts still doesn't work just. do

it because no one tries to stop them in just five years the force will be gone they'll sell it all to china what will the people who live afterwards do live it's a question more and more people are aware of today climate change and the safety of our environment as a whole are being discussed around the world and perhaps it's those small steps that might be a start to people living in harmony with nature. see good laboratory to mccurry was able to build the new age most sophisticated robot

which on fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything to me. to teach a reason why you should care about humans in the. dish is why you should want your only. good afternoon welcome to capital account i'm more in the store here in washington d.c. these are your headlines for thursday november eighth two thousand and twelve more than a couple dozen companies over the last five years did not tell investors they were getting ready to file for chapter eleven bankruptcy kodak is included american airlines that's just to name a few this is according to a wall street journal analysis and this is arguably material information investors would want to know so what's the find a decision like this which not to professor of behavioral economics and author dan ariely ellie and j.p. morgan chase has reached an agreement in principle with regulators that the as

these thieves to resolve claims related to mortgage backed bonds handled by j.p. morgan and bear's terms the firm j.p. morgan of course of choir now it doesn't seem settlements deter wall street wrongdoing as we seem to see it continue so what would will discuss and greek lawmakers passed an austerity bill mario draghi announces he's keeping interest rates where they are but what's causing a real stir is the e.c.b. putting a princess from greek mythology europa on the euro up with their planning at least we'll talk about it in loose change and catch up with the special guest economist steve keen to see what he's up to let's get to today's capital account.

when it comes to cheating or potential criminality on wall street and in washington we've heard explanations like these over the years you sold a customer something i don't recall selling hundreds of millions of that deal after that all right let's just take a look exhibit one sixty six mistakes i made in preparing my tax returns these were careless mistakes they were avoidable mistakes but they were unintentional i simply do not know where the money is or why the accounts have not been reconciled today. i didn't know i didn't mean to as to whether people knew they were doing wrong in business pacifically wall street or not on the issue of legality we continue to hear this narrative tell me what you were involved in where there was real wrongdoing well stephanie you know you know the irony of all of this the reason no one has gone to jail.