we are being treated as criminals for that we are the grease used to leverage is a real serious. foreign draw and it's become more heavily involved in the sea when conflicts where the opposition pledges to carry on fighting and a rejection of president assad's new peace plan. a war of words between britain and aldrin taina but could it turn into a real war the u.k. prime minister says he is ready to fight to keep control over the falkland islands . and marking off its christmas in russia and around the world as people park it to churches and cathedrals for special celebration.

international news live from moscow this is all she was me you lash above all of a hello and welcome to the program the syrian opposition and western leaders have rejected the peace plan proposed by president assad and instead they are again demanding that he should go in a red to address bashar al assad offered a national dialogue and a constitutional referendum to end the nearly to get civil conflict but he pledged to continue fighting what he calls terrorists violence and nations to stop funding his enemies assad speech was punctuated with loud cheering from his supporters but his opponents dismiss their dress as hypocritical political analyst marcus papadopoulos believes there are elements within the syrian opposition that will continue fighting despite any peace proposals. it's very important to make this

clear in particular for western audiences who are unfortunately not fed the full picture when it comes to syria the free syrian army is a lethal cocktail or various groups including many islamist groups and many groups linked to al qaida and the street free syrian army is of course backed by certain countries in the west and certain countries in the region and the free syrian army has been responsible for. terrorist attacks in the last couple of years in syria but ultimately it's got to be america turkey saudi arabia qatar they've got to stop supporting the militants people who are ideologically speaking the same people who brought about the terrible attacks in new york washington london madrid and bali so questions and have a reason even western nations supporting the rebels as to who exactly is fighting the syrian conflict. takes a closer look now at how the standoff is attracting competence from far beyond the

country's borders. she keeps her son's room exactly the way he left at last spring his clothes and art supplies are the only reminders she has of twenty one year old son i'm only some he told his mother he was going to a conference in libya he wouldn't stay more than one week to ten days he went in for the whole week that he stayed there he called home every day he called in the twenty second of march and said he's coming back to tunisia but never arrived at the beginning of april i got a skype call telling me my son was captured on the border as he was crossing from turkey to syria in a group of fighters. further proof came with a syrian t.v. report in which sami was future and among the captured rebel fighters he talked about his coming from tunisia to fight for the syrian people still the explanation wasn't enough to ease the minds of his parents if anything it made matters worse these simply can't understand how intimidating man transformed into

a jihadist notice all they do have was. a year ago sami began to pray and i was very happy because i'm a muslim and i thought it was a good thing. maybe after that he started going to a mosque and heard something that made him go to syria. official reports claim some four hundred out of the five thousand mosques are controlled by radical islamists who call in their followers to take part in jihad in foreign countries the exact number of tunisians fighting in syria or libya or rock is not known but the families and friends of those who went off to fight in a foreign land are saying that even one death is already one too many especially for those who are fighting a foreign leader in a different country the government says they're watching the situation closely but relatives of those who have died are not convinced they believe that the government's silence is as good as

a green light for the impressionable youngsters. it's known that for the last ten years most terrorist groups have tunisians in their midst some a job in belgium others have been killed in afghanistan but we know that a great number of to millions have gone to syria recently and it's likely that the government was encouraging them to go by being silent about it but if you should know about these things but don't say anything these fighters went to libya then they went to syria by way of turkey we're talking about more than one hundred tunisians already killed in fighting in syria. this statement is supported by united nations human rights investigators this report published at the end of two thousand and twelve more of an increasing number of fighters pouring into syria investigator said people from at least twenty nine different countries are fighting alongside syrian rebels most of them are sunni's hailing from neighboring countries but some have come to syria from as far away as america and europe they get called

in for supposedly higher purpose but once they're on the ground the situation proves far more mundane. it's impossible for any arab convert from fighting in syria to get treated whoever gets injured dies i dare them to bring me a single arab who got injured and treated in a field hospital we are being treated as cannon fodder we have the grease used to abrogate that using syrian blood for them a city got to see despite such warnings many young men in tunisia still choose to go abroad to battle infidels in the name of allah it only goes go r.t. in tunisia. china has told the world as prime minister to make jobs not war in a robust response to his comments about the falkland islands david cameron said the u.k. military is ready to fight for the disputed territory sparking concerns there could be a repeat of the armed conflict between the two nations thirty years ago or she's a surface has more for us. here with asked this question in an interview whether

britain would fight to keep the falkland islands and prime minister david cameron saying of course we would say he made his position there extremely clear if an attempt was made by argentina to retake the falkland islands that military troops would be deployed by britain so absolutely very clear on the very strong rhetoric coming from the prime minister is that issuing this comes on the back of argentina as president re making these accusations that the falkland islands stolen from argentina by britain i think she called it a nineteenth century colonialism and i think some concern for people here today that you know this is something that is very much focused on in the course of the interview this was some of the strongest statements over the course that ceviche are doing a little bit some of the other very important issues that are happening on a national level at the moment here in the country we've got rate cuts to trials and if they're coming in this week it's cheese day that i'll go to the house of commons as a very important issues here at home at the moment of course

a lot of people say we're talking about fighting a war somewhere else when it when actually was fighting our own battles here in the country on the remote screen nearly thirty years since we saw the end is the focus war it definitely has a very strong resonance with people here in britain that we seeing this result make a call for again as i said we've had very strong comments from the president in argentina is also of course commenting much more recent argument again because it's been discovered that there are large oil reserves of course i think that's really going to play a big part in seeing this contest over the islands the tween britain and argentina really heating up again it doesn't look like it's going away. as david cameron spoke here larry's head home is dropping some analysts say there were new debate over the falkland islands could be used to distract attention away from issues the government is failing to address but david cameron it's a great issue that it's come up again because the economy here is in dire straits

in britain austerity is really biting people are very unhappy with what he's doing and so i think that cameron is very much open. to the greenback the average of ninety two and the people's attention here from the very popular things that he's doing at home but for this issue to come up now is very timely because the government is well down of the opinion polls the government is really unpopular i can't recall it becoming so on popular so quickly and so i think that he will want to keep this in the news headlines because why he directed in such a sort of strong way. this is an aussie and still ahead this hour it's not only enemy fire taking its toll on u.s. troops but also mourning their own with the misery of war forcing more and more american soldiers to take their own lives. and violence has once again spread through the northern irish capital raising

tensions between pro british loyalists and irish republicans on that later in the program after the short break. egyptian muslim brotherhood is accused of illegally accepting hundreds of millions of dollars from the u.s. government before even coming to power a group of egyptian lawyers has triggered an investigation also saying that the brotherhood funded armed cells that sparked violence at protests you and a yasser seder who filed the complaint says that led to u.s. payments were all about preserving interests. you know most are that much thought of this money might have been beneficial for both the american side promises support for the muslim brotherhood while they in turn promised to secure american interests in egypt namely a u.s. air force base in the province of. dealing with the brotherhood as a political authority is permissible but funding it before it had even come to

power is not we also believe that the brotherhood run cells tasked with provoking public unrest and violence are protests active member who quit the brotherhood spoke of such groups and carried out operations for the muslim brotherhood benefit we have felt more sort of to say that all the back with more news in just a moment. a nation in free credit take three months for charges free. range month three. three. three leg leg download free broadcast quality video for your media projects a free media john darche dot com. or go.

to world. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. the news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations rule the day. you know watching aussies good to have you with us let's move on now this is side in the u.s. has rocketed with the number of those taking their own lives now higher than those

who perished and as he's going to check and finds out while the government trumpets its military success stories they come at a high price going to be trolls like over the world tonight. another feel good moral boosting speech on afghanistan the u.s. president is delivered many of those workers trying to convince the american people that the war was worth it when you're missing a birthday or you're missing a soccer game or or what you're missing an anniversary and those of us back home or of a good joint it's because you. when soldiers come back home they missed much more than that their own selves once you go into combat you know once you kill people and once you spend a year and an environment you're not the same person tim kenny came back severely wounded from a tour in afghanistan two years ago having spent ten months in combat the vehicle

on which he was a goner was blown up nine times when i got crushed by p.t.s.d. i mean. i was suicidal you know i mean but i'm married with four kids and i just couldn't find a way to kill myself and some kind of accident that my family wouldn't have to suffer he was able to step back from the brink but many of his fellow servicemen were not so fortunate. more american soldiers committed suicide last year than were killed in active service in afghanistan staggering statistics that's almost want to day when. i think. i can't cope anymore. because they don't think i'm a. normal society. officials in washington seem to be trying to present afghanistan as a success story while for those coming home it looks anything but that they do put

lipstick on a pig or cancer to speak they take real you're in pain. for the mainstream media in the us with their everything military their questioning of the cause of the war usually comes down to this sort of makes you the most proud about what you've done here a mindset this testily perpetuated that the ends justify the means while those ends are often identified in abstract terms like freedom and security what have we got we've got quite a bit i mean honestly the afghan people even from when i was a ploy and i reckon all three during the invasion you could see the iraqi people and the afghan people starting to do stuff on their own having more freedoms and stuff like that stuff like that also includes almost twenty thousand afghan civilian deaths and drug production which has gone through the roof since coalition troops have been in the country towns like this never make it to mainstream

airwaves neither do major u.s. news channels dwell on the subject of the afghans overwhelming desire to see american troops out of their country instead another success story on t.v. but there was another war the war on terror continues to go somewhere else would you still go without it without a doubt yes these are painting spinal soldiers mother who was petrified her son would be deployed he never was and she counter self lucky but the fear caught up with her and it's. these series of paintings are reflections on those who were turned wounded physically or emotionally reflections that clash with the mindset that human suffering should be the price you have to pay for a cause in washington i'm going to check out. and later this hour he's crossed all guess try to figure out how u.s. policy is defined the perception of the west in general and all the time called will means nowadays.

he did france and switch to russia and iran of attacks with many branding him a traitor but some projects that movie star. is only leading what others will follow amid criticism that french policies are driving out the super-rich and my colleague spoke to us he's thomas about what russia the world's second most popular destination for migrants still for newcomers. let's look at the taxes and that's the question at hand right now if you look at russia at the current laws we have a flat tax rate here of thirteen percent in fact france and germany they both have complicated tax codes if you look at france forty one percent right now up to forty one percent in germany up to forty five percent as opposed to russia's thirteen

percent but if this new law comes into effect in france that. market for france goes up to seventy five percent likely that when it comes to the global meltdown that we've been seeing for years particularly twenty twelve was not a good year for the eurozone if a much of the world indeed but somehow russia managed to avoid the global economic crisis and that is certainly the case in fact it is one of the brics countries which means it is one of the emerging markets in the world but if you look at what's been happening around europe in fact in the past year we've been seeing austerity protests we've been seeing people come into the streets who are looking for jobs and in fact the unemployment rate's if you look at greece twenty six percent if you look at the e.u. in general the average there eleven percent if you look at the unemployment rate in russia only six point four percent the united nations is actually taking a moment to appraise russia's immigration policies that what's what's that about well certainly if you look at the numbers the most recent numbers in fact show that russia is the second most desirable country for immigrants to come to only second

to the united states in fact in fact it can be a little bit confusing because people look at the numbers about moscow being one of the most expensive cities for ex-pats to live with that's for ex-pats and it is true things here it is a big city it can be expensive but if you look at average cost of food it's cheaper than the rest of europe much cheaper to live here for gas prices as well i think that the real reason people come here is that you get two christmases and you get two new year's. don't forget you can always share your pain around. to france on his new russian citizenship dot com and there's plenty more for you there as well when we show you enough cash if you're planning to visit the pope money only in vatican city after credit card operations were suspended and i'm to find out why at r.t. dot com. also line food lovers across the world it seems you don't need to worry about losing weight anymore so we have the details on a new study which claims being overweight leads to

a longer life. in northern ireland hundreds have again clashed with police in belfast over the weekend in protest of the decision to fly the british flag only on designated days and war from the christian science monitor things the complex triggered by the fungus but british protestants are losing ground to the growing catholic majority who mostly favor leaving the u.k. to form a united ireland. but first this tradition throughout its history been

a predominantly protestant unionist city and the latest census results show that's not really the case any longer it's not slightly it's like a republican nationalist a majority or for the decision itself to fly the flag only on seventeen designated days a year taken on december third. reflects this change and that seems to be what's troubling loyalists rather than the like itself because in fact flying the flag they simply didn't learn with all the british government and civic buildings. and let's not check some other international news stories this hour and that's hung by a suicide bomber as of late at least five lies in southern afghanistan they turned about militants breached the government compound shelled the god dead and then detonated their explosives they were reportedly targeting local officials it happened in kandahar province one of the most violent in the country and believe they're smuggling corridor to pakistan. australian

authorities have started a search for up to one hundred people missing in areas hit by wildfires thousands more have been evacuated to safety with on a very high temperatures nationwide have provided optimal conditions for bushfires to break out authorities warned that they really hot and dry weather is likely to continue throughout the week. security forces in the philippines have gone down thirteen suspected gang members who were trying to break through a highly checkpoint highway checkpoint while firing at gods at least three police personnel were among the god-man tonks of thought to be a case what criminal syndicates plot by and grab reason security forces and to corrupt politicians. as christmas celebrations and western countries in are over for lose of the orthodox church around the world this seventh of january marks the biggest day of celebration that includes many millions in russia and the

country's main cathedral has been parked out to mold their cajun oh she's tall but not reports. here at the christ the savior cathedral the main cathedral in the russian capital in churches and cathedrals both here across russia and in all three docs communities across the world it isn't fact christmas it would be awful lot church in the in the crisis a few cathedral worshippers have packed in to take part in to listen to the liturgy chanted and to feel the presence of of the spirit of christmas eve which is here celebrated on the sixth to the seventh of january not the twenty fifth of december because of the use of the julian calendar here but the or russian orthodox church rather than the gregorian calendar in other countries after the soviet union which is just over the end of the soviet union just over twenty years ago there was a

a large gap in the number of believers after that long atheist period and even today most russians don't strictly observe the russian orthodox christmas for most russians new year is the real celebration but there is a significant number of of strict religious observance of the russian orthodox faith and for them this is an immensely special night indeed for them just as for most russians on new year's eve at large banquet is held many big dinners held and it's also a time for them to go to their church to take part in what is one of the longest services in the russian orthodox calendar but also. in the view of many believers and observers of russian orthodox faith one of the most beautiful services. peter let's hear now in just a few minutes with a fresh additional cross talk to state that are.

crime is a plague of the big cities but in a tiny arkansas town of twenty five thousand it is really getting out of hand puregold is a property crime index of more than double the national average and rape burglary and assault are also way above average poor poor gold is a dangerous place to live in but what's the answer to living in constant fear of criminals well the mayor thinks that the answer to that problem is to live in constant fear of the government how logical the mayor and police chief have a doorstop plan to send out police patrols with a ar fifteen and full swat armor to i guess intimidate the local population into submission well actually the plan is for them to stand around it ask people an

important question ask them to show id the answer to crime isn't a police state sending guys out with automatic weapons and body armor around just to check people's i.d.'s like it's the berlin wall or something won't do anything a guy who breaks into your house for crystal meth money isn't going to be affected by this only the good average citizens will have to show an armed thug of their id just to go buy milk but that's just my opinion. the streets.

will. all of the. final me.

leave me. alone welcome to crossfire i'm peter lavelle what do we mean when we use the term the west is that geographical historical or more of an outlook in

a state of mind many around the world have an ambivalent attitude towards the west indeed the west remains relatively rich but it is also associated with arrogance and violence. to cross talk what we mean by the term the west i'm joined by stephen lemmon in chicago he is a blogger author and radio host for the progressive radio network in washington we have david markel he's a former deputy assistant secretary of state and in toronto we cross to michael coren he is a t.v. and radio host columnist and author all right gentlemen cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i really encourage it steven if i go to you first when you hear the term the west what can't what comes to mind for you when the term wears really reflects western values western civilization and i think many viewers know about or maybe you're old enough to remember.