badge of peace for a region in turmoil the e.u. is set to receive its nobel prize but hundreds of protesters joined the voices saying it doesn't deserve the award. egypt's opposition calls for more protests across the country after rejecting the referendum on the islamist face constitution . and the ruling regime in the opposition in bahrain say they're ready to sit at the negotiating table but many believe their divisions run too deep to end the twenty one upright. forecasting around the world and around the clock this is r.t.

the european union's three presidents are and also to receive this year's nobel peace prize on behalf of the group is being given to commend the e.u. for fostering peace but not everyone agrees hundreds marched to the norwegian capital in protest but all of the looks now it's why anybody that doesn't deserve the prize and want to hold that noble institution may need to rethink. mark or little children. will one day live in a maze they will not be deterred by the call about them but by the content of back character. the one it can be probably would have to become a laureate to the home. however the nobel peace prize is only awarded to a living person this is when it tests such trying especially when it comes to finances the announcement the european union was to pick up the twenty twelve gongs

sparked heated debate the award was being discredited particularly after the outrage of who's picked it up recently well to be frank inside the united states i don't think very many people pay attention to the nobel peace prize anymore large numbers of americans were stunned when yasser arafat received the nobel peace prize many years ago president obama was given a prize for reasons that no one understood see what's. done over the last twelve months to convince the nobel committee it's with the of such a prestigious award. it supported regime change in foreign countries and several member states indulged in violent crackdowns on demonstrators outraged by the failure of the government's. skeptics. think it devalues the whole concept of the peace prize and what's really happening is that the european union is having its worst year ever at its mates and the international community

coming to it's a brit to have been awarded of the announcement to be made in the very week that i went to athens i was greeted not just by tens of thousands of protesters but people dressed up in swastikas and giving it. frankly i grew up in a europe that was divided from east to west and i'm now living in a europe that is divided from north to south and never at any point in the history of this union has there been. more discord and rancor that we've already got among more moderate forces there are concerns the peace prize is being used as a political football i think this award basically does a lot kind of discredit past people who've won this prize i mean it demonstrates a sort of heavy politicization of the use of this award i know it's been suggested that this year's winner of the peace prize picked it up more for not having done something as opposed to having food the peace around the globe it seems like they got the prize more because there hasn't been any war in europe for many decades

rather than having done anything specific i think as long as civic institutions like the nobel prize continue to lose their legitimacy in their spirit through political favoritism and these prizes are always political but obvious political favoritism and maneuvering i think it actually takes something away and i think it's actually damaging that leaves the whole institution off the prize facey the question of whether the nobility is the drain from the new down peter all of them are two of them. but with the e.u. mired in economic strife it's sort of the can peacefully that the protests and riots let's now talk to max alter who's a business professor and an independent investment fund manager thanks for joining us here on r.t. firstly do you think the e.u. deserves this award. levy agree with the a previous speakers that it's really a symbolic gesture it's like a perhaps on the shoulder the same as when it was awarded to obama but this is even

stranger because how can you want such a prize to an institution i mean if you want it maybe you should of water to the originators of the idea of european unification adda no one should mom and so on and so for us to go a little they had a vision put forth and they set it to work but how would you really. want to prize an institution that really doesn't have a vision and some. smarts crisis of legitimacy in decades and i guess it's just a muddle over to really you have a half of the show so you know for me to decide the e.u. was worth the price despite the region wide unrest in the wake of the financial crisis for example it's probably some kind of official ideology that supplied here would see ideology that this year or has brought peace which it hasn't has brought on the wrist i mean the european idea as such is certainly one of the. broad he

sort of states. in western europe and beyond but not the studio and not the official policies we're pursuing right now all of them have nothing to do was peace and maybe it's just a way to mislead people in the populace about the process and of course many e.u. countries are also members of nato france for example was part of the bombing campaign in libya and there's such conflicts in europe as such how much should the know both parties take that sort of thing into consideration. well the bombing in libya we see i mean we see you know what's coming out of the so-called arab spring and we see egypt i mean basically destabilized the region which is not to say that people were not oppressed and that change is needed but in libya really germany was excluded from any action and france england in the u.s. later said you didn't join not germany wasn't asked of the reasons for that is that if those three countries went ahead by themselves the spoils in terms of oil fields

and so on would fall to them and that's as simple as that. yes and i mean the nobel committee has made controversial decisions before hasn't it been a leader yasser arafat and barak obama is an organization losing track in your opinion well of course is controversial but at least it's a plus in this stood for something if it was the right thing can be debated obama when he started stood for nothing so it was already a symbolic gesture and the e.u. was not opponents that we don't know what it stands for so. yes it's losing focus it's getting of a stranger i can still understand are if you can say no where you doesn't just apply to the country but we can debate it but i don't know how you can debate at all if it is an institution like you is going to get the nobel peace prize so what should the criteria be then. well it's basically for spirited people let's say spirited people that lead organizations or states that have brought some

process in motion that has brought some ideas that actually bring it forward and i don't see those ideas of the very reactive policies of the european leaders at this point and so. that's. really had an initiative the peace process that those goals and maybe the times would go to both of them but i don't see it at this point ok i have to leave it professor thank you for your thoughts had r.t. today are. well it's also on the unstable situation in the european markets italy's technocrat leader says his time in office will soon be up later we look at what's in store for the ailing eurozone remember seemingly no way out of the crisis. but egypt so opposition wants to up the protests pressure nationwide rejecting a referendum on the new constitution they claim the vote you in less than

a week fails to represent the entire nation and will lead to more division of journalists in cairo says present mercy has tried to make some concessions but it doesn't ease the tension. this morning president mohamed morsi. on the decision to increase tax burdens on the country is a sales tax on consumer goods and services this is seen to be quite popular for him in the face of much to sense the increased tax burdens were supposed to be part of i.m.f. loan international monetary fund lone wolf point eight billion dollars loan the country's been trying to secure recently definitely these reducing these tax burdens will perhaps make him more popular among the streets but yesterday of course the national salvation front become a nation of opposition forces going in many of these protests in the city so they completely reject the concept of referendum set to be next week and have called for protests they say the constitution only in-force a presidential dictatorship i mean it's

a. key social economic demands as well as being presented of the country. by islamist dominated constituent assembly to here in cairo really expecting big crowds on cheese day against the president to protest was arranged by a new coalition of islamic forces supports the president on tuesday they said they want to have a million people on the streets in support of the president of course with the background of violence on wednesday between rival protest groups right here at the presidential palace which bloody scenes in the streets of cairo such a recent eight we've now been told the president has also made a tree to step in and secure the nation in addition to giving power to arrest citizens this has been met with much criticism from the protesters who feel that the military will take a heavy hand this comes after. egypt hosni mubarak stepped down last last year

which witnessed quite a heavy and bloody crackdown on protesters during the last transition period last night at the protest in front of the presidential palace protesting screens footage all. minute trees human rights violations toward the protesters on the screens of the president the president on the wars in the presidential palace they said to remind people of what the military are capable of right now the republican guard still have their tanks side that they have erected twelve foot barriers which the protesters define it's to push through and that is still a sign that maybe we'll see more tanks on the streets as a descent continues in the lead up to this controversial referendum where u.s. says so far remains silent on egypt a draft constitution even though it's being criticized by undermining basic freedoms geo political analyst women says that washington is secretly supporting the muslim brotherhood to turn egypt into an islamic dictatorship you have the

brotherhood which has been supported by the state department in the obama administration. as it has and i would guess the ickle to create a if you will an islamic dictatorship in egypt but they're pushing a black agenda a secret agenda much much like. a sunni organization for sequences where the triads are the the. actual they're pushing an agenda on the population and the population rightly so which was a skunk and i think this is the coptic christian groups are threatened if the book brotherhood gets its constitution and imposing sharia law for. other groups of muslims for example should be places of worship are under attack in egypt and likely will be increasing your soul and this is probably one of the most major. here in intelligence projects of the last fifty years since the u.s. conference of forward of the muslim brotherhood to create islamic fascist regime if

you want to use that term across the islamic world across the muslim world from afghanistan down through turkey into saudi arabia qatar and of course egypt. one of egypt's main opposition leaders and the former head of the arab league says mercy's regime is failing to fulfill the nation's hopes for change or deal with its major economic problems. the change that we want to the people hoped for dealing with the services education be health care and the rest of the files pertaining to the life objections have not really produced anything new fifty percent of the country lives in poverty the illiteracy the cat unemployment the other problems that have not been addressed something this moment this is the point that one many of us as citizens are liberals as nationalists believe that. we are losing time we should not have to stand still kind of policy we have to move

on let us move together the vision of dividing the country dividing the people dividing the public opinion is not in our interest. but artie's a full interview with egyptian opposition leader was on later today at six forty five pm by g.m.t. . well while one country struggles with the outcome of its revolution another still caught up in an uprising despite a glimmer of hope and the prospects of talks involving deep divisions between the opposition and the family that proved too big to overcome with reports shortly. drawing its own red line israel's fears that syria's chemical weapons could end up in the enemy's hands on that after the break.

a sacred place rising out of the waters of the land. the lawn ministry is home to one hundred fifty orthodox monks mostly younger than thirty five and they've come from many different places and backgrounds to live in isolation here spiritual life it takes up many hours on the road to becoming a monk requires both hard work and religious tell occasion. alexei wants to become and herd cattle as part of his preparation. however these beasts get a musical company. they can remember sound sequences you know they react to the sound signals the flutes the herders had in the old days they needed them it wasn't just a fun thing but these meadows didn't come naturally requiring decades of composting to bring the soil up to farming standard this island is mostly rock. the

soil here is very thin on the monks can't just get more of it because they're surrounded by the lake so they have to work very hard in order to provide whatever food they need. they grow their own crops found their own fish and repair their own churches. but the central purpose of alarm has always been religious the name on the street surrounded by smaller priories spread through the many archipelago the monks here know their existence is a little different from that of other modern streets here we are out of the way and we do have. bill creams and sometimes tourists as well as. away. from clearly to use use hardly. the. combination of high religion and down to earth hard work that motivates these men.

for international stories for you now the twenty month uprising in bahrain could be heading for some kind of resolution but the opposition and the ruling regime say they're ready for face to face talks without preconditions but as the next year reports that the visions might run too deep for any lasting peace. said dick says his life was shattered his sits on a municipal council in bahrain and several months ago he was shot by police during a peaceful protest looking at his injuries his lucky to be alive they had been online more and i was with many of the protesters when we were faced by riot police they did not hesitate to shoot us directly to the head with the bullets the police

are using. for hunting birds and animals i've been shot at over one hundred ninety two hell it's scattered all over my body in the head face arms and legs the most dangerous ones are those inside my lungs. is just one of hundreds who have suffered in the anti-government protests that started around twenty months ago when revolution fever was sweeping the middle east and north africa the descent in bahrain differs little from that in nation swept by the arab spring at the start of a stop it is a daily in many different areas against the regime against that because of the shit i didn't stir up the situation. one thousand five hundred has another we have. every day we have a lot of. security forces surrounding the area attacking the people at that house and given the outcome of the arab spring of evils bahrain's ruling elite is doing its best to stamp out revolt the government recently slapped

a ban on all public gatherings bahrain's chief of police says it's not permanent but it is necessary we have introduced a temporary restriction on gatherings and protests and that is. one reason because lately we have seen that these gatherings and protests have been taking more violent. methods and one year we had over four hundred protests in bahrain that's more than one protest a day and we have tried to solve the problem however they didn't seem to be able to control protests and the gatherings despite the ban and the risk of arrest people are still gathering the hard core of the protest comes from poor neighborhoods as soon as we reached one we immediately and counted a small in peaceful anti governmental rally. some are simple some to estimate how many people were actually taken by them just a moment in fact is that these protesters are being supported by the local shia

community which make up to seventy percent of this country's population. the ruling elite are sunni muslims and this may look like a sectarian war but the authorities firmly reject their actions are religiously motivated there is a radical movement in the opposition party they are hardliners they want to see regime change they want to implement their own style of government they seek a secretary in theocracy and that is an acceptable saw because i feel out of desperation they know that they don't have the support of the rest of the population of bahrain they have turned to these violent means the protests are gathering momentum and allegations of torture in prisons are leading to serious international pressure being put on. so bahrain's rulers find themselves in a tough position they want dialogue with dissenters but the question is whether they will be satisfied with what the king has to offer let's hear a shift key r.t.

reporting from the kingdom of bahrain. or the western warnings are circling over syria's chemical weapons but many nearby israel has another worry on its mind and he also could get in the hands of hezbollah for israel such arms getting being controlled by what it considers to be a terrorist group would be a red line but countries agents are said to be operating in syria to track and possibly some atar stocks. well concerns over arsenal recently reached a critical level in the syrian government insists it won't use them on its own citizens damascus is thought to have gone when weapons components in those in them into delivery systems. political activist. says the main threat is not from the syrian government but the possibility of their own people getting hold of the weapons and. the danger is that the the west is aware of such materials

in syria but at the same time it's going to be used against the syrian government as a pretext for intervention united states has recently started listing parts of the syrian armed opposition all of the armed opposition in syria as terrorist organizations that say something that is probably aware that part of the of the armed opposition in syria and probably they seem most powerful part of the armed opposition who are the no surprise probably aren't possession of such materials and probably are planning to use them. and online a few right now video clamp down on what is it saying it begins sharing website to challenge you to after dinner websites content inappropriate. or someone like moscow has to prove a blacklist of americans accused of human rights violations response to washington's it's a bill using russians of the same. there's unrest on the

market started italy's technocrat prime minister mario monti announced his plans to leave the former pm serbia but a skinny has thrown his hat into the ring again after he missed tunis party support for the government in auntie says he will go out and next year's budget is passed which could see an election in february which is earlier than expected elsewhere the greek prime minister is trying to secure more support for ukraine as a wealthy conservative region above area earlier greece is a creditors are going to prop it up another forty four billion euros a week attorney george felos the also missions are still a long way off. so most guys me loose don't. listen to music. but unfortunately generally know and. don't view it is not easy to. control it's just that you go to example even to the.

national military fund. as if they know. that but of course it's real easy for the smirk you do so such a. german experience so. the simple you serious are usually more of a more cell phone for people with. such. well if the e.u. are pursuing the goal of united europe at the expense of individual nations that issue take center stage in latest edition of people crosstalk just around their five minutes here r.t. . of course the european union has to be based on subsidy or it's a principle which means that the decisions are made close as possible to the citizens on the other only or is that indication is that the case song truth is that the case let me finish or i go ahead yeah yeah of course about dontcha think that. in a case that a federal union existed with a federal strong budget that the sovereignty of the european citizens overall would

be better than we have now in that crisis we are all victims at the moment because we do not have a fully fledged. my question is did people join to create something like the united states yeah i mean they have been going to they joined it to create a united states of europe. that it has to be discussed i'm so i'm saying yes there is no alternative to that and if they don't want to be. bound to a federal union or european union or stay the united states of europe they can of course leave or negotiate the treaty. or the news making headlines this hour the taliban are sort of a police station in northwestern pakistan is left at least eight people dead three attackers reportedly fired rockets and grenades in a battle lasting over an hour to insurgents who detonated suicide vests during the

clash with the taliban say the attack was to avenge the death of a relative of their former commander. great because the philippines is already trying to recover from the devastation by didn't typhoon and there are reports yet of injuries or damage of the one point six magnitude tremor. thousand people are still missing following last week's cycle of survivors in the worst hit areas are suffering severe food shortages landslides and flash floods build more than six hundred people left one hundred thousand this. prominent female official responsible for women's affairs has been assassinated in afghanistan she was shot dead by two unidentified men while on her way to work it comes just months after her female predecessor was killed in a bomb attack and one has claimed responsibility but the main suspicion falls upon the taliban who actively suppressed women's rights during their rule a decade ago. hamas says it won't give an inch of palestinian

land to israel during his visit to gaza the group's political leader khaled meshaal refused to recognize the jewish state's legitimacy but israel rejecting international calls to end its settlement expansion which journalist gideon levy says the standoff between the two will continue. these really public opinion it doesn't seem to be. very troubled by the un resolution and by the fact that these are all so isolated there and also both the government is known as the united states continues to support them too big. the concern is. this big new rope the this there i mean they lost the vote in the un but steve israel in faeces if you are a peace supporting basically simple think israel. will stay with octavia and after the break crosstalk focuses on the recent spike of separatist sentiment across iraq

. an artist was arrested for putting up posters critical of drone usage all over new york city the poster show a menacing drone shooting a missile at innocent children with the words drones protection when you least expect it written at the bottom these posters definitely reflect a lot of americans fears that a big brother skynet will completely eliminate the very concept of privacy and free speech so to prove that americans live in a free country without any government spying he had why p.t. hunted down the anonymous artist and arrested him for expressing himself having arrested him at his residence they charged him with fifty six counts of criminal

possession of a forged instrument grand larceny possession of stolen property and weapons possession for having a deadly terrorist weapon and unloaded twenty two caliber pistol although being in jail won't be pleasant perhaps arzt s m a t actually in the end it got what he wanted he proved to the world that big brother surveilled him and arrested him all for throwing up a few posters looks like he proved his point but that's just my opinion. god. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture.