we are being true to the strength of the father god we are the grease used to love the syrian. foreign jihadists began nor have been involved in this conflict but the opposition pledges to carry on fighting and a rejection of president assad's new peace. also this hour a war of words between britain and argentina but could it turn into a real war david cameron says the u.k. is a really ready to fight to keep control of the new clint islands. and knocking over the christmas and russia and around a while this people park into churches and cathedrals for special celebrations.

international news line for most go this is all she was me. and a very warm welcome to the program. the syrian opposition and western leaders have rejected a peace plan proposed by president assad and instead they are again demanding that he should go in the rare t.v. address bashar al assad offered and national dialogue and a constitutional referendum to em's the nearly two years civil conflict but he pledged to continue fighting what he calls terrorist violence and those foreign nations to stop funding his enemies assad's speech was punctuated with loud cheering from his supporters but his opponents dismissed their dress as hypocritical political analyst marcus puppet dopplers believes there are elements

within the syrian opposition that so continue and will continue fighting despite any peace proposals very important to make this clear in particular to western audiences who are unfortunately not fred which one 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 and london madrid and bali questions i have a reason even in western nations supporting the rebels as to who exactly is

fighting in the syrian conflict our seas it 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 she left it last spring his clothes and art supplies are the only reminders she has of twenty one year old son and. 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. that further proof came with the syrian t.v. report in which sami was featured among the capture example fighters he talked about coming from tunisia to fight for the syrian people still explanation wasn't enough to lose the minds of his parents if anything it made matters worse these

simply can't understand how intimately transformed into a jihadist notice how well they do have us. a year ago certainly 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 and heard something that made. official reports claim some four hundred out of the five. 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 iraq 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 that 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. well 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 to millions have gone to syria recently and it's likely that the government was encouraging them to go by being silent about it the officials 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 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 different countries are fighting alongside syria most

of them are sunni's hailing from neighboring countries but some have come to syria from this 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 be treated whoever gets injured dies i dare them to worry me a single arab and injured and treated in the field hospital we are being treated as cannon fodder we are the grease used. syrian blood for them a city got to see despite its warnings many young men in tunisia still choose to go abroad to battle infidels in the name of allah you don't go school r.t. in tunisia. tina has told the british prime minister to make jobs not war in a robust response to his comments about before clint island's 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 assaf it has more for us. here with our says 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 treats would be the fluid by birth and so absolutely very clear on that very strong rhetoric coming from the prime minister a view that issuing this comes on the back of argentina as a president really making beef accusations that the falkland islands is 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 of it of course perhaps a discharging 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 travel

that 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 fear in the country on the 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 but we see in this result in the kickoff again as i said we've had very strong comments from the president in argentina is also of course comments 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. now does it david cameron's popularity at home is dropping some analysts say they renewed 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 isn't geiser it's in britain austerity is really biting people are very unhappy with what he's doing and so i see. cameron very much hope that this will break the average of ninety two and the people's attentions here from the very popular things that he's doing at home but for this issue to come up now is a very trying week because the government is well down to the opinion polls the government is really unpopular i can't recall him becoming so popular so quickly and so i think that he will want to keep this in the news headlines species why he's reacted in such a sort of strong way. this is our c.n.n. still ahead it's not only enemy fire taking its toll on us troops but also mourning the dead or the misery award forcing more and more there are console just to take

that our lives. and violence has once again spread through the northern irish capital raising tensions between for a british loyalists and irish republicans all that lays in the problem. egypt's muslim brotherhood is accused of illegally accepting hundreds of millions of dollars from the us government before even coming to power a group of egyptian lawyers has triggered an investigation also saying that the brotherhood funded armed cells that's part of violence at protests and yes i say the what the file the complaint says there let's do us payments we're all about preserving interest. you're going to start at much thought of this money might have been beneficial for both without 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's had even come to power is not we also believe that the brotherhood run cells tasked with provoking public unrest and violence are protests form active member who quit the brotherhood spoke of such groups and carried out operations for the muslim brotherhood benefit . and of course there's much more news heading your way after this short break. mission in three accreditation three months for charges free. range month three. three. three. legged download free broadcast quality video for your media project a free media john darche dot com. or go.

to the. 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. joint operations throughout the day. or combined this is on t.v. this suicide rate in the u.s. army has a raucous had with the number of those taking the own lives now higher than those

who perished in battle and as always he's going to check on finds out while the government trumpets its military success stories they come at a high price going to be charles i think we're told tonight. another feel good moral boosting speech on afghanistan with the u.s. president is deliberate 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. a well you have a second anniversary and those of us back home or able to enjoy it it's because you . when soldiers come back home they missed much more than that their own selves when you go into combat you know once you kill people and what you spent a year and an environment you are not the same person tim kinney 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. but i'm married with four kids and i just couldn't find a way to kill myself and some kind i actually did 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 work killed in active service in afghanistan staggering statistics that's almost want to day with two hundred i think is. i can't go any more like a lot of guys and so they don't remember back. to. 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. 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 is tacitly perpetuated that the ends justify the means while those ends are often identified in abstract terms like freedom and security what have we got us 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 everyone that we blame for nine eleven is dead or in jail. there is no justification for this war. there's no reason that our brothers and sisters should die in the sand there is no reason that their children should go to sleep every night terrified of the next drone strike or the next move kicking down their door 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 if you go somewhere else would you still go forward without a doubt yes these are paintings by a soldier's mother who was petrified her son would be deployed he never was and she counts her self lucky but the fear caught up with her and inspired this series of paintings her reflections on those who have returned 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. later this hour he's coastal guests try to figure out how u.s. policies define the perception of the western chain you know and what the term cold war means now at eight. drones are killing innocent people as well as the guilty you know there was a time when warriors storage other face to face them was never a good thing sometimes it's inevitable i don't blame the west for using drones it's an exclusive the worst of course all people use them only two percent two percent of those killed are what america cause high level military targets nearly all the others who are civilians you talk about drone wars they're killing civilians the pentagon denies it the cia deny me the cia absolutely denied but those are the core hard facts do york university and stanford university don't blame me talk to them. with.

a dish france and switch to russia over time many branding him a traitor but some predicts that movie star is only using what others will follow and they'd criticize the french policies that driving out the supposed rich and early and my colleague a very socially spoke to thomas about what russia the world's second most popular destination for migrants has to offer a new comer. 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 of 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 or for 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 you look at the unemployment rate in russia only six point four percent the united nations that actually taken 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. so welcome to russia and of course you can always share your opinion on. france and his new russian citizenship as r.t. dot com and there's plenty of also you guys well like my show you go in our house planning to visit the park it's not money only in vatican city after all credit card operations were suspended and a.t.m. that war. was about ten years beware asomugha private elite from the u.k. set sail to protect shipping where it's awfully close to restart her car from pliers more to your home for you.

in northern ireland hundreds have again clashed with police and belfast over the weekend in protest of the decision to fly the british flag only on designated days and jason walsh from the christian science monitor things the conflicts driven by the fungus that 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 traditionally throughout its history been

a predominantly protestant and unionist city and their latest census results show that's not really the case any longer and it's not likely republican nationalist a majority work 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 this like itself because in fact it 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 of the brave this hour another time by two suicide bomb attacks claimed at least five lives in southern afghanistan they taliban militants breached the government compound shot the guard dead and then detonated their explosives they were reportedly targeting local officials it happens in kandahar province one of the most violent in the country and believed to be a smuggling corridor a lot of pakistan. five that accused of the virtual gang rape of an indian

students that led to head does one have appeared in court for the first time for pretrial hearings they've been charged with murder and duction a six suspect age seventeen is expected to be tried separately in a juvenile court the rape case sparked massive protests over the rising number of crimes against women in india. and australia authorities have started the search for up to one hundred people missing in areas hit by wildfires thousands more have been evacuated to safety winds and very high temperatures nationwide have provided optimal conditions for bushfires to break out authorities warn that big strongly hold and dry weather is likely to continue throughout the week. but hey russia is christmas celebrations in western countries and over but also around the world there's seventh of january monks the biggest day of celebration so

that includes the many millions here in russia the country's main cathedral as been parked out to mark the occasion boston reports now. here at the course to save you 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 could 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. join my colleague rory says schaefer nor news in half an hour's time and after a short break it's bitter i'm out with crosstalk.

you know how 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 harpur welcome to the big picture.

to me speak your language. program documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the world talks but it's the fiord piece interviews for intriguing stories for you. in trying. to find out more visit our big don't all t.v. dog called. i am.

a i. i i. i. i. i thank you. oh and welcome to cross talk 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.

you 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 what comes to mind for you when the term where it's really reflects western values western civilization and i think many viewers know about or maybe you're old enough to remember what can be said about western civilization when asked he said he thought it was a good idea it was a classic gandhi put down he knows that over many centuries that western civilization has caused so many millions so much.