the latest news on the week's top stories from r.t. barack obama's tough foreign policy action kicks in quick after soft talks acuteness control of the white house for another four years. urged by western powers to step out of facing death threats from the rebels the syrian president exclusively tells r.t. he'll stay until he's voted. live cd here live event tonight after some of the most intense a stereotype clashes in months greece facing more protests as it decides tonight to get on draconian twenty thirteen budget that's the see from outside parliament and israel takes aim at its neighbors firing its first rounds in syria since the start of the conflict after killing six palestinians in retaliation for attacks from gaza

called more than coming up to. a watching a weekly roundup of top stories here on r.t. with me kevin no internet first republicans in the u.s. a licking their wounds after voters put democrat barack obama back in the nation's top job in the week it was a close race that ultimately ended though in a clear win over hard line a mitt romney but a bomb a soft campaign talk on foreign policy soon transformed into tough action even before all the ballots have been counted he's going to teach you can explain more. in the wake of president obama's reelection there was no sense of euphoria as in two thousand and eight but his victory did come as a relief to most americans his challenger mitt romney was widely seen as more aggressive especially his foreign policy rhetoric also

a seemingly out of touch with middle class america we are on the american family and we rise or fall together as one nation out of. school waiting for him right after reelection is the so-called fiscal cliff a combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts all we need is action from the house. and i've got the pen ready to sign the bill right away. but averting the fiscal cliff was probably not the first issue addressed by the president. he also rise the drone strike targeting a group of al qaeda militants in yemen on wednesday the u.n. has raised concerns about the legality of such strikes due to reported heavy civilian casualties on lack of transparency on the u.s. part we're in uncharted waters when it comes to policy american policy related to drones this week the administration imposed financial sanctions against iranian officials so the u.s. planes were jamming satellite broadcasts and blocking internet access in your rant that comes on top of

a whole lot of other sanctions that had been put in place by the u.s. which proved to be crippling for the iranian economy the goal is not to change the iranian government's decision making it's actually leverage ordinary civilians against the iranian government and to threaten to topple the government by inciting you know food riots or you know people who are unhappy because they can you know their grandparents are dying and can't get medicine and on friday despite president obama's claims the u.s. should move away from the cold war thinking in relations with russia the white house launched its first permanent military presence on polish soil the issue has been a constant sword in the side of relations between moscow and washington as the u.s. also plans to install missile interceptors in poland but the president every other democrat that i'm aware of is also made it clear that if it needs russia is still opposed to it still sees it as as a we're just going to go ahead with any of the president's actions so far have

shown while he may be talking soft he's acting tough looking at all is president obama's first moves up to reelect in one could say he picks the idea of america being the wall police very seriously but the question is who can hold that world police itself accountable in washington i'm going to check on. where former cia officer told us the bomber needs to break free of the strings big pulled from the right. what i would suggest is that he call a press conference what he would say is you know the campaign is over and i found out that i've been grievously misled they told me to say that iran had threatened to wipe israel off the map and i found out that they never said that it's a matter of fact the israeli deputy prime minister sort of said ok ok they never said that and so my speechwriters are being canned and i'm going to get some new speechwriters the intelligence community keeps telling me that he ryan has not yet

decided to build a nuclear weapon and so i'm going to get rid of all those folks from brookings other places who are the solve all of the speech saying well you know you still have to worry about this instead of negotiations once these troublesome people have their own agenda are dismissed then he has a square chance of saying look we're going to do it deal with the run just as i said five years ago we're going to talk directly to them and we're not going to let that be sabotaged by either israeli intelligence or israeli official or not those within the neoconservative camp in washington. syria's president has rebuffed western calls to step down toward foreign intervention will spark a global disaster in an exclusive interview he gave to us this last week the interviews and it's also coming up in full later tonight again too. this thing that really marked me the most is how really how much more complicated situation inside series that from what we see in the media because i talk to people yes the country

is divided and even the people who didn't like us before this conflict started are now so scared that fundamentalists will come to power fundamentalists who are fighting on the side of the free syrian army and syrian people are not about that i mean this is like the only secular our country that had a lot of different religious groups always living in peace with each other whether it's sunni or shia or always or christians so they're really scared that if the army will fall apart and then you know you have this extremist muslims coming to them and asking them to basically be just like them so it's not just about assad i think people feel like whether he goes or stays. it's only can get worse if he goes because it will get i mean the terror attacks will continue and the fundamentalists will come to power so they're very scared of that. that he is not a western puppet he also denies the fact that civil war is taking place in his country he is saying that it's not civil war it's

a conflict where he has to fight different fractions of terrorism aphis us on the fact that the financing of this terrorist fractions was unprecedented and it was coming from abroad he also said that if west were to intervene militarily it would have a do you know a far cry from atlantic to pacific vision if it's going. to be more the whole world came before because if you have a problem in syria and iraq the flow thrown. her beauty in the region and coexistence. it will have a domino effect. to the pacific you know because you know. i don't think. it's going. to go but. nobody can predict what's next but. there is an art to exclusively. on r t r t dot com. well president assad says that only elections can determine his future

of it seems not everyone agrees the free syrian army media chief says that they want the president's head on a plate. in his statement to your channel he said he would not leave syria we know this very well because he will not be able to leave syria he and his people not managed to leave the country the free syrian army will not let him do this he will not get out of syria live long enough you'll be lucky if he meets the same fate as market. the leaders of the syrian opposition say they've signed an initial agreement now to form a new on brother coalition during a conference this weekend in qatar but the body's lost support in syria itself after key activists there this of out of the exiled officials meanwhile the u.k.'s top general now saying the country may launch a limited military intervention in syria as early as this winter it is the most serious british threat than to damascus yet let's get some reaction from london go live there gets reaction from dr marcus public office publisher iter of politics

first magazine dr good evening president assad was on this very channel this week therefore intervention would quote spark a disaster which the world won't be able to afford is learn to not take him seriously than well of course president assad is absolutely correct when he says that they so intervention in syria would be catastrophic the middle east is the most volatile part of the world and of course syria is essential player in the middle east geographically and politically but i think that western political and military planners are aware of i think what we're seeing at the moment is two wars in regards to syria one literally being force on the ground between syrian militants syrian armed forces and also for propaganda and told by american british and french politicians for example of possible intervention in in syria i don't think we should take that so seriously i think it's more designed to actually

invigorate the syrian militants who are who are of course the proxies of the west and at the same time to try and scare the president's scare the government of president and to try and demoralize the syrian armed forces which of course are fighting a very long protracted. bloody war so i don't think such talk for example the chiefs will be generous offer the british armed forces that. they should be taken too seriously ok course there's another element to bill the news will damascus has previously warned isn't that it may possibly unleash its chemical weapons stockpiles allegedly the biggest in the world on any invading forces if they ever came would britain take that risk. actually i don't think so let's follow it up do you think syria whatever deliver on that threat or is it empty talk. the whole concept of countries having you killer biological and chemical weapons is of

course to defend themselves against an external threat so if erotically of course if there was foreign intervention in syria or in nato or turkey or saudi arabia theoretically the syrian government could use it against such forces let's take france france is a member of the nuclear club if france was invaded with the french government's results using its nuclear weapons sure ethically yes but at the same time i think what we need to realise is that if there's going to be a western intervention a military intervention in syria or turkish or saudi arabian military intervention in syria it will only go ahead with america's consent britain and france for example will not take any military action on their own against syria without american consent from a practical point of view but if armed forces a very stretched one the british and the french armed forces over the experience in

severe cut backs at the moment yes there overstretched in afghanistan also i didn't think it's a seriously about british military intervention in syria could it be done here are some feelings about it and decides what sort of war what happens in this country was not true but could it be done via the back door then if you like britain was there a vision of the arms embargo to syria to see if weapons could be supplied to the rebels under a humanitarian xcuse if that happened would there be a need indeed for direct. literally intervention well possibly possibly not i think if the arms embargo is lifted and that is a big if because as a whole lot of issues issues regarding that but if it if it was to happen we would probably say a similar satiric situations afghanistan in the 1980's when western governments were arm into that safe that would have it in inclusion in latin and of course if

that was to happen in syria or if the young of the syrian militants who would go on and on and on and of course so many more people died and the violence will just increase dramatically to weigh on the our good thoughts on the s.n.c. as well we got a moment big meeting in qatar this weekend the syrian national council says it's now united the opposition into a broader coalition however the main syria base activists say they did the s.n.c. is that much credibility and influence do these acts out officials even have at this point. well i think from the very beginning of the conflict in syria the big question is how much influence do these groups outside of syria actually have within syria and i think there's a strong argument to say that they don't have much widespread support within syria but you know or you touch on the topic of what's been happening in doha in the last few days i think a fundamental point which is being missed is that the future affairs of an

independent sovereign country are being discussed by foreign governments in a foreign country that is absolutely outrageous we're talking about the united nations the pillars of the united nation state sovereignty being completely undermines i mean if there was a domestic crisis for example in spain would it be acceptable for foreign governments to convene in rome the capital bitterly to discuss the future affairs of spain it's absolutely outrageous and it's also illegal ones. international you are very good questions you raise there and put to us thanks for your thoughts dr marcus publisher editor of politics first magazine. folks back in. gritted teeth in greece people are gathering in central athens tonight as parliament imposed a vote for next year's budget doesn't make comfortable reading for hard pressed citizens but it needs approval for greece to secure that fresh international loan and an added condition to was further wage cuts and the bigger tax hikes which

naturally squeezed through parliament on thursday but public patients were long ago of course five years now into this long and crippling slump more than a quarter of the country is out of work violence broke out as lawmakers mull the latest cuts riot police repelled with molotov cocktails from furious crowds were transferred to the parliament building there over a hundred arrests i spoke to dr dimitri from delhi greece dot com he believes the origins of the greek problems are not economic. people the greek people are in a three year of a state of the goats with no hope in their losing nearly the suffering cats all these perhaps who are getting worse this winter this is going to be our winter of discontent if you want and this is a political problem in my book because. you may draw a very nice a steady back and soon to be successful in droughts in the white house have your

surplus at the end of the year or. better day you need to act politically and. and move forward we have to make some tough decisions the collective memory now it's been been this ease steam. stock and forced disparity three or four years ago if these people are struggling the situation in terms of what the last or what they keep losing. perhaps we need to see the situation in more forward durham's and the government needs to express that. so interesting guest earlier on talk to dimitri's kamar some is titled i'm just now the site is deadly greece dot net not dot com israel's military is a gauged on both its northern and southern front is this weekend the country's fired into syria in response to a mortar attack on the golan heights and televisa warning of tougher action two against militants in gaza after a surge in salvos from the palestinian territory paula slayer wraps it up. early on

sunday afternoon israel fired into syrian territory for the first time since the one nine hundred seventy three war as spoke earlier with the israeli defense forces folks listen unit who did confirm that these warning shots took place he said that they were in response to a more to show for link near and the israeli military post in the golan heights now these ladies do not believe that they were the target they do believe that the shell was part of the byproduct of the internal fighting taking place in syria between forces loyal to assad and rebel fighters but the army is saying that it won't tolerate more attacks from syria that violates the disengagement agreement between israel and syria now there have been several such incidents over the past two weeks just last week three syrian tanks crossed over the demilitarized zone between the two countries alarming israelis and also causing them to waste their lives in the area the idea of has filed a complaint with the united nations saying that any kind of fire imitating from

syria into israel will be responded to also on the southern israeli border we have seen a flare up of violence between the israelis and palestinian militants the latest we heard from the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is that his country is ready to strike hondo against the gaza strip if it does not stop attacking israel he made these remarks today sunday at the weekly cabinet meeting in which he said and i'm quoting that the world must understand that israel cannot sit idly by while attempts are made to attack it now hostilities along the israel gaza border have escalated choppy particularly this past weekend this follows israeli airstrikes that killed six palestinians four of whom were teenagers and two of whom belonged to the militant group islamic jihad according to the gaza health ministry spokesperson there are any number of people who were injured the biggest stands at around thirty including children the problem though is that often in these israeli airstrikes israel lands of killing civilians and not militants as its intention. it

is a must has taken responsibility for this attack they were four years maybe soldiers and wounded and response from the palestinian side was dozens of rockets that were fired into something as well on sunday morning the whole sort of israel is in a state of high alert and this comes as palestinian militants the vow to take vengeance for the stiff's now flareups along the israeli gaza border are quite common and we had seen already two flare ups this month this though is one of the highest casualty counts in gaza in a single incident in recent months. forestier a middle east correspondent knows change of the top in china in the once in a decade power shuffle they're hoping to stay with us tonight we tell you the country is on track to become the world's. and the challenges it's going to face along the way to be a big news story in the coming years plus bahrain's reform what come pain is placed troops instead of talks in the long struggle for a voice further what's really driving the crackdown in

a few minutes from us. recently protests and demonstrations of any kind were banned until further notice and buck rein 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 assaulting 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 that 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. with their targets but that's just my opinion. i mean saw. a city in europe the host of the twenty fourteen winter olympics. so. it's.

more of big news stories from us for the past seven days now bahrain's largest opposition group says hopes are fading for any breakthrough dialogue go kingdoms deepening crisis witness fresh clashes this last week with authorities deploying its paramilitary national guard back police in their battle against protesters the latest wave of protests began friday security forces tear gassed thousands of worshippers who tried to reach their mosques for prayers the teenager was killed in a traffic incident during those clashes and then there was more violence during his

funeral on saturday thirty. don't public gatherings last week to try to quell many two years of anti-government actions i spoke to geo political analyst patrick henningsen told me western nations are helping the monarchy gag the opposition. if you look at you know what you mean hagan quit hillary clinton gallivanting around with the friends of syria meetings accusing the assad government of crimes against humanity you only have to look at bahrain to look at a litany of crimes there revoking nationality of protesters right now they're they blaming the latest bombing on hezbollah as if this hizbollah has any any connection with bahrain so not be a rajab he's going to have his appeal denied next week by the the all talk or see in bahrain so you know the euro loves bahrain and they go down there for loads of money in that country formula one grand prix every year and loads of oil coming out of that country there's absolutely zero chance of any democratic reform in this

country and this is a country the absolutely needs it washington and london have more or less given the boot the go ahead for the bahraini roll family and that and that government that autocracy to really go hard and fast and drop the hammer down on any pro reform movements and that's exactly what we've seen. china has launched its once in a decade transfer of power this week the communist party congress is now reviewing the list of candidates expected to announce them in the next three days the incoming top officials vow to tackle the growing challenges facing the world's second largest economy the i.m.f. predicts it's set to overtake the u.s. to become number one by twenty six the beijing is promising to increase its influence across the globe by buying up ailing businesses in europe and developing africa's vast resources lucy catherine of traces the nation's rise the corruption issue and that's a huge issue among the chinese population i've talked with students as recently as three weeks ago when i was in beijing. and i asked them what they considered the

greatest weaknesses and this is a pervasive sense among young people that the party leadership is not. in touch with the aspirations of the younger generation or the people generally in this this is a question of the very legitimacy of the party and that i think is a huge challenge that they're going to have to address the chinese are very concerned about these so-called obama pivot the asian pivot which is really a china pivot that obama announced earlier this year the south china sea the provocations there with the eastern part of that with the islands next to taiwan where the japanese government made an extremely provocative move no doubt at the behest of washington to claim that those islands are japanese islands because private investors sold them to the japanese government now that those islands are a security necessity for the chinese in their or long term defense as they see it and historically the chinese have. quite

a strong right to claim those as chinese territory so it's a very provocative kind of game that's going on between japan and australia and the chinese with the us very much in the background. lucy catherine of the slightly deeper voice the normal course that was there with him. talking about the same said . lucy about the subject later i'm sure now five months behind closed doors is taking its toll on julie her son's we're talking about online it's fear the whistle blows deteriorating mental health is putting him in real jeopardy report online also fleeing the course of the cia boss's job but is infidelity really forced to trace out interesting read from us and rolling with a storm tough times for sort of big jagger's girlfriend from the sixty's to auction off the rock legends and love them just a few of the so many and varied stories we got for you lined up at our table called . libya's trying to tout its wealth of ancient ruins these days to attempt to

respect after the revolution kept visitors well away but the country's most recent history is off the map and holidaymakers aren't likely to learn much about the deadly siege of by the lead less than a month ago r.t. sara first reports we're here at the world's top of a market a trade say taking place in london or people can come and select their holiday inspiration that scouts exotic spot for a honeybee 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 area the site is a political side so it's completely safe to you that's got to be safe more than even almost big towns like london or like new york but there's somewhere there's not mentioned in the guide the bani walid a desert town this remain loyal to formally declare no good it's just a few hours try southeast of the traditional tourist destination chipley but it's

a world away from the safe environment the two guides the pitching. the town's 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. us he ran the 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 the conversation when i saw this. it was of course with surprise and i came. back of the situation of the moment. and if we have so many people it means situations they could be coming most and we can think for next season to do something with libya and it's a wonderful country so. what about what's happening at the moment. but

do you mean was hacked was being happening there's been fighting do you know about that no we went to confront the tour operator i saw you speaking some people eat telling them about what's been happening in bani walid at the moment. this is. for the future. because 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 same media and government remain resolutely silent i've got to sort of package nish as a success is very important for nato so we have. of these countries have been 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 one of travel information the new will be given reasons to visit libya and undoubtedly there are many there's a concern.