it's good business for us it's kind of like being a doctor you know if there's a disaster businesses. better unfortunately. an eleventh hour deal looks like it might fall through putting america back on the edge of the fiscal cliff. island assumes the six month presidency of the e.u. facing a wide range of issues from a challenging european agenda to its own ailing finances. and its in it with the new around the globe we digest the highlights of two thousand and twelve and look at the headlines that could have been if things had turned out just a bit differently.

and live from our studios in moscow this is our t.v. glad to have you with us a last minute deal on the american a fiscal cliff was passed by the senate in the final hours before the deadline but has to go before the house of representatives the original deal agreed to raise taxes on americans making more than four hundred fifty thousand dollars per year but the house has postponed the vote indefinitely calling for more spending cuts lawrence freeman editor at the executive intelligence review magazine says nothing can save the u.s. economy from crashing over the fiscal cliff. and anyway so operating in a unique relationship in a farce to work over the mind of the american population be great there is no nothing in the proposal that any way shape or form will actually help the economy what with being right now again with twenty seven the people unemployed and missing

for a get forty nine point seven million people live we already have tens in the people going to bread lines to get their food so this question of the big global economy and the wealth of the population is not good at all for nothing it's going to be resolved we're going to get aggressively to change the whole by means of with them so that with the eagle separation of the banks now will we need them to death with these with bills today or tomorrow obama is believes we nothing good for the american people that. are now let's look at how two thousand and twelve on the whole unfollowed folded for america last year was a success for barack obama who secured his second term as president our washington correspondent says he not only succeeded in snatching victory from arch rival mitt romney but also votes from the third party candidates as well. there were cheers of relief here when he won i would say because the alternative was thought to be so

much worse many voted out of fear that romney could win for them he was another george w. bush so whether americans have fallen out of love with obama the two thousand and eight euphoria was gone that's for sure back then there were these crowds you know in the streets all across the country shedding tears of joy so bad in their view where the eight years of bush presidency obama was we get the savior and then he went and saved the banks saved the auto industry something he took a special pride in during the election campaign but across the country people remained out of work and are still out of court so this time president obama ran under the banner it could have been so much worse as you imagine it was not a banner for the national euphoria it was more like you have no choice but to choose me kind of something that shocked me. i was covering the election here it was it was the second debate between obama and romney i'm sure you remember if you remember that i just presidential nominee from the green party joel stein was

arrested right outside the venue where the debate was taking place she was protesting for exclusion from the state and nobody like no news channel period mentioned her arrest none and i was switching channels for hours to see if anything was said about that and he was nothing i can imagine what the reaction would be here in the states if a presidential candidate is the other big country was arrested in the media there would be but eventually but apparently it happens in the u.s. no big deal presidential candidates get arrested all the time right well there was some irony and yes anyway during the election campaign the mainstream media had been focused on nothing else and no one else with these two candidates and we are t.v. as you remember of course saw the in saw an opportunity there to show what others don't and we hosted the debate. and the end of the years saw barack obama's victory overshadowed by the primary school shooting in connecticut it led the president to

pledge and end to the epidemic of gun violence tom hartman takes a look at whether the land of the free is ready to loosen its grip on the right to carry a firearm my guess is what we're going to see is a cosmetic change we're going to see probably the or the assault weapons ban come back to be a fair number of loopholes in it but you know the u.s. is not going to end up going the way that's what's a longer israel have done or many most european countries have done australia when john howard was president one thousand nine hundred eight when there was a mass slaughter and then they said ok that's it we're going to buy back all the guns and it's not going to happen here there's just too much money being made with guns insane supreme court or at least five right wing crazies out of nine on the supreme court decided that even though the second amendment says in order to maintain a well regulated militia necessary for the for the security of a free state the right to you know you people have the right to own guns that's half of it the other half of it is that the supreme court also said that corporations interest groups lobbying groups billionaires can throw unlimited

amounts of money in politicians two thousand and twelve saw something of a rise of the machines and drone warfare shot into the headlines their killing of civilians abroad and the use for keeping tabs on people inside the u.s. draw fire from abby martin host of artie's breaking the set and she thinks things will get worse in two thousand and thirteen. really when we're talking about drones actually a really serious topic because people are under this notion that drones are somehow precise they're the good way to fight the war on terror really they completely are counterintuitive they create in a harbor more terrorists they have a ninety eight percent failure rate i mean so why are we using and i mean it's just amazing to me that this president is rain on drones and taking on more and more drones and the not only that but i mean the surveillance drones are going to happen in this country in two thousand and thirteen congress passed a bill to now authorize surveillance drones all over the united states so this is

just not going to stop it's going to get worse decide from the from the deaths and the double tap drones that we have in the middle eastern countries now is going to create a chilling effect where people aren't going to want to dissent as much and that's the real problem with the online privacy the online erosion of our civil liberties as well as people are going to speak out as much if they feel like they're being watched and just over two years ago ireland was bankrupt and being bailed out to rescue its failed economy on top of that it's now gone the next six months presidency of the european council as a last minute reports the celtic tiger has some hard graft out of it. it's all change for the e.u. presidency as all islands takes a six month rotating challenge on the first of january not the ovi a choice islands one of the pegs the countries that have the nice stable economies in europe and showed off islands the first country to take hold in the presidency

of the twenty seven nation while being propped up by i.m.f. money so for the next six months the e.u. and its a different problems will be presided over by one of its weakest and most problematic members so what specific challenges faced in europe over the six months of its presidency first the european economy is slowing and the crisis is nowhere near over secondly it must preside over leaders actually agreeing to an e.u. budget for the two thousand and fourteen to two thousand and twenty something they spectacularly failed to do so in fall and thirdly there is a problem coming from right here in london increasing british opposition to brussels and the threats to european cohesion that uses the irish government expects the e.u. presidency to coast in excess of seventy million euros money the country can ill

afford and what will it be spent on twenty four million on catering accommodation and transport for example and another twenty million extra governments. robert oulds director of the bruges group says that too much power concentrated in the hands of brussels could create a serious obstacle for the e.u. members economies. well one of the key whites of people should have is a via to elect their own governments and for that to actually make a real difference but of course with the european union power has become too centralized amongst the into too sions in brussels and that just takes away power from ordinary citizens so the european union can tell us why it's that we have but of course we don't actually have the right to make a real difference elections because far too many decisions now are made at the supranational level made decisions being made in brussels away from the citizens whether they be the citizens of a violent or britain or spain or greece for that matter and that should really be

restored their economic problems will not be resolved until of course it's recognized that the euro the single currency is the wrong for these countries really we need to have a back of powers away from brussels to all the different member states and of course britain should of course have its own referendum on their membership as well and have their own say but it needs to be recognised that the european union is of course failing economically so it still is still there it still exists but the price of people are paying is of course no economic growth and of course massively high unemployment which is now reaching alarming proportions for many different eurozone states. freedom of speech but not for the whistleblower after the break our correspondents who covered your knowledge is challenges that throughout the year reports on what two thousand and twelve meant for him.

couldn't take three. three. three. three. three. old freeboard get the mediocre four year media project free media. wealthy british scientists. time to time. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into a report. click.

and three twelve in the morning here in moscow this is our team glad to have you with us it has been a tough twelve months for the world's top whistleblower join us and spend half of two thousand and twelve under house arrest and the remainder in the ecuadorian embassy in the london our correspondent sara firth has been following his ups and downs throughout the year. a lot of you say we. did more in the. media organizations decades we've really had front of everything we had him at the beginning of the year and. then we saw his the pale rejected that dramatic twist in the time when he went into the i could do it.

the british media we see a lot of the quite viciously especially during the course of this year with these. events surrounding. a lot of people playing it simply to jealousy. as the syrian conflict enters its twenty second month international envoy lakhdar brahimi says the questions must be solved in two thousand and thirteen and wants his peace plan to help achieve that goal but as the new year rang in heavy clashes and shelling reported near the capital middle east expert pepe escobar believes the will to stop the bloodshed should also come from outside syria very sad to see to everybody all over the world that the top jus political tragedy of two thousand and thirteen is going to be the political tragedy of two thousand and eleven the reap of syria the only possibility would be that the opposition.

in a syrian way decides not to listen to the saudis the turks. the americans the brits and the french and they sit down with the assad government and the work out a transitional government or at least the period leading to free and fair elections is this going to happen not like the recent conflict in gaza isn't putting israel off planning even more settlements in the occupied palestinian territories that despite saber rattling from hamas and fatah who are value to rearm and defend themselves by all means middle east reporter paul of slayer outlines how this might affect the region's future. to look at what's happening on the ground israel continues to announce settlement construction and the palestinians continue to say that for as long as these announcements continue they will be no resumption of peace talks it wasn't so long ago that the palestinians were routed upgraded status after united nations but you cannot detract from the fact that we still have

palestinian faction groups hamas and fatah who always seem to me at each other's throats in less than a month the israelis will go to the polls and by all predictions they will really lead the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for another term of office and it doesn't seem as if he has an olive branch so certainly the prognosis for any kind of peace moves is fog let's hope that as tough as it will be the two sides will find a way to work together a happy new year and we follow with recent news from the region of violence has flared up again in the palestinian territory in the northern west bank several palestinians were reportedly injured when israeli security forces fired on them after the troops were pelted with stones and bottles the trouble erupted after the soldiers disguised as vegetable sellers apparently tried to seize operatives of a local jihadist group checkpoints and blockades have been set up in the area follow our middle east correspondent updates on twitter just look for policy or.

stampeded during new year's celebrations in the ivory coast the largest city claimed the lives of at least sixty one and injured more than two hundred the tragedy occurred after the end of a fireworks show performed at a city stadium according to reports a large crowd it leaving the spectacle crushed into a mass of people outside causing the stampede just. at least four people have been killed and dozens wounded after an explosion in a crowded area of pakistan's southern city karate police say the bomb was planted on a motorbike and detonated at a moment a rally of the city's dominant party passed by the no group has claimed responsibility as of yet for the attack on the liberal party but police suspected militants might have targeted the rally prior to the upcoming general elections. russian politics saw a kremlin return for vladimir putin and fresh anti-government protests in two thousand and twelve although in smaller numbers than the year before arty's

a political analyst watched the developments in the heart of the rallies he told my colleagues kevin on one end and he said now earlier how he sees the protest mood in russia panning out. i would say it's kind of bleak but not hopeless ok we didn't come up with any new ideas new organization new faces and if pussy riot is that we are of the opposition that's pretty dreadful situation for the russian people and political development in general here and there's there was political change in this country in a positive change but who doesn't make up the opposition as we have. it's a very interesting question because i have gone to most of the major demonstrations and there were people there of goodwill in my opinion but then there were fascists there ok who were communists there and these are people they're ok and it's your right to demonstrate i'm all for that. but they didn't accomplish anything but i could see they have no organization no unifying ideas except for i don't like but i'm open to it it's not a very it's not a political agenda there were

a few protests which i was out as well where it did seem like that was the method if you wanted to gain traction on this opposition movement do you see people coming out and take the train lost a lot of it's novelty effect right ok because political change takes years in years and years that have to be local this is what happens in political changes with countries that were what they were carrying at one time it takes a long time to get people involved in the process and that is happening very very strongly there are some people who want to really fast and they don't want to do it through elections they want power because they want power because they believe they deserve it and what about the fact that we're not going to see any presidential elections of course that all led up to being elected a third term this protest and now they're kind of when i'm down now what i would say to people i mean if you want to continue to protest for but you know join a political party there are forty four of them now you have a choice ok get involved see one of the things i saw with a lot of the protesters is that they want someone else to do all the hard work ok

they want to go out and wave a flag and say you know give out a slogan we don't want to do the hard nitty gritty work of political change and that's what they need to do. gooder lavelle has been dissecting russian and global politics in his cross talk series throughout the past twelve months and dot com has plenty of the editions of the show for you to watch on the mend. chooses a new president in june mahmoud ahmadinejad has served his maximum two terms leaving the question of his successor unanswered the next president will have to tackle the tensions with the west over tehran's nuclear program journalist afshin rattansi who's often shared his insights on iran with r.t. doesn't expect the new leader to bend to four and will. i think we people of iran elect see foreign policy things are going to be much the same people are already talking about the mayor of tehran at the moment i was in a job himself president ahmadinejad was the mayor of tehran for the new mayor of

tehran ghalibaf and people are talking about him. perhaps winning in june because it's too early in his notoriously difficult to predict iranian elections as to whether they will be as hardline in again the totems in the terminology of western corporate media on this are bizarre and they just get islamic extremists in all sorts of different morning because the point is iran is there to stay in terms of forging a very different type of developing nation and economy because it has all that oil and has all those resources and it's not going to suddenly start changing things the way the i.m.f. or the way that washington wants it to be let's now look at some other stories you can find on our website the vatican is ratcheting up its security a new a swipe card system implemented after last year's information breach scandal is dedicated to prevent any more leaks from occurring. research has revealed that only

fifty percent of signatures on memorabilia by the beatles and elvis presley are meant to add to our website to find out which other celebrities have had their signatures forged on items for sale. twenty thirteen has made it in around the globe within a ray of fireworks performances and a cheering crowds here in russia the new year officially kicked off with a traditional chime of the country's main clock on one of the gremlins to. hours across the atlantic over a million spectators descended on new york's iconic times square to celebrate the event with the traditional drop of the crystal ball and one of the most spectacular shows unveiled was in brazil where some two point five million revelers gathered on

the famous copacabana beach there were mixed emotions regarding the year that passed with some sad to see it and but many more hopeful that two thousand and thirteen was a better times. takes a look at the world that could have been. twenty twelve was certainly full of disappointing headlines hope fueled by the arab spring turned into the turmoil of the arab autumn the war in syria claimed countless lives and a fiscal crisis all the european union torn apart at its very seams and the problems facing our world today certainly don't offer themselves up to an easy fix what if things had turned out differently what if opportunities were actually sees the pawn instead of missed well here's our look at the twenty twelve headlines that could have been. diplomacy succeeds in syria ending bloody conflict. instead this was the image of syria the world saw increasingly violent clashes

between government forces and the opposition had claimed more than forty thousand lives efforts to negotiate a diplomatic solution fall flat because divisions ripped apart both the country and the international community hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to neighboring states where many have found conditions to be dismal meanwhile syria's war is threatening to spill over its borders as tensions escalate within and in the region. atomic triumph sanctions slashed. except. gunning to end gun fire the u.s. rules to restrict firearms mideast peace israel links two states packed with palestine. yes this was the reality israel's assault on palestinian militants in gaza israel's anti-missile shield repelled most attacks on its territory but a strike claimed the lives of more than one hundred sixty palestinians many of them civilians despite harsh condemnation from many in the international community the

war and israel's subsequent decision to construct three thousand new settlements effectively slammed the door shut to any prospects of peace go through people power moment you step aside and let democracy in. get lost get most notorious kuantan in my prison permanently shot. euro zone cuts the cuts and lifts austerity. but the news of austerity only tightened as deep public sector cuts brought thousands of angry demonstrators to the streets of greece spain italy and portugal. the worst economic crisis of a generation has battered the european union's very foundations exacerbating tensions between member states with some regions now desperately wanting out more grew up in a europe that was divided from east to west going to europe that is divided from the south never at any point in the history of this union has there been more

discord of rank that we covered. corporate cash for the campaign coffers as part of the us political please. know we here for u.k. british quit european union. we can expound a judean the solyndra pointed un free speech and. instead a song remains a political refugee at ecuador's london embassy where he's been granted asylum he continues to fight extradition to sweden over alleged sex crimes charges that he says are politically motivated and tied to his work in leaking international government secrets. the power of people speaking up and resisting together to terrify corrupt democratic power so much so that ordinary people here in the west and the enemy of governments an enemy to be watched and enemy to be can flow and to be impoverished. true democracy is not the white house

true democracy is not camera true democracy is the resistance of people with the truth against lies from top to right here in london everyday ordinary people teach us that democracy is free speech and just sense. from heretics to hero american whistleblower bradley manning finally free. droning on the nations agreed to end iraq of remote controlled. egypt's arab spring sees democracy defeat hardline islamist. the reality on the ground was anything but gyptian president mohamed morsi is fouled like power grab unleashed fury and frenzied street battles and a fast track to constitutional overhaul referendum left a bitter opposition eager for change for them two thousand and twelve saw the arab spring transform into an egyptian nightmare had the revolution to get rid of

a title. in order to do that we made elections that evolution and elections to choose someone to the present us turned out that this guy is also a tyrant himself and these headlines may have been the stuff of imagination but that's the of twenty thirteen and all of them to life with the coffin of our team moscow. following celebrations many may be nursing a sore head right now but max and stacey are as sharp as ever and they're here on our team with the kaiser report after this break. it sounds like a dragon crashing through the forest but it is in fact technology this is trees and would you believe it this machine can fall and strip hundreds of them each day get

a word for it when building this facility we wanted to use advanced technology that would increase efficiency and allow us not to use manual labor but also this provides for better quality goods as a result we were able to conquer western markets the demand for caribbean birchwood is high since our production line is quite efficient where i would want for higher wages to our employees the trunks and up here where they're tending to planks which branch off for all manner of uses these would exports of luggage but not all of it goes through. there on the museum island of traditional methods they used to build and maintain churches and dwellings dating back hundreds of years various here in this whole what careers use of water riches bought cease fire complexity these planks are about to become part of something which exemplifies the combination of tradition and technology. but here at the valley on both viking boat

makers what is fashioned into vessels new and old they range from small private boats to replicas used in the historical t.v. series hornblower are going away with my boat some are all special they're like children to me we have to design and build them from scratch it's always sad when we have to part ways every time they sail away well we remain. of the dog and puddle gets much of his timber from karelia saying custom is pine for its high quality would prove which brings us to the first six million cubic metres of wood is cut down in korea's forests every year it goes to make everything from farm houses to firewood and with growing is proximity to europe and the baltic states big forests big business.