the syrian army allegedly discovers a lab used by rebels to produce and store toxic chemical substances as reports coming from state television. fugitive n.s.a. leaker edward snowden asks russia for asylum as he struggles to put an end to his legal limbo in a moscow airport transit zone sparking american outrage towards the kremlin. and a criminal probe for an ex-president egypt's former leader investigated for allegedly spying killing and wrecking the economy even as his backers continue to protest for his return.

with a look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly on. syrian state t.v. says the military has found a chemical laboratory producing poisonous materials for rebel forces sources claim there was a plan to stuff shells with the substances and attack damascus a middle east correspondent paula slayer has the details the syrian army has found chemical materials in the town of job which is on the outskirts of the capital city of damascus initial reports say that the syrian army seized a factory that was occupied by a group of foreign backed militants and that chemical materials were found inside that factory now we do see canisters we do see white packages that they have uncovered and it does seem as if they were producing chemicals in the laboratory it says poison chemical substances made in saudi arabia so we do see that a saudi factor. factories are also involved we're also receiving reports of the

rebels were planning to stop artillery shells with the chemical weapons that they were producing here and use them to attack damascus this comes on the same day as heavy clashes are being reported near the capital on sunday on the seventh of july armed rebels were found in position of some two hundred eighty barrels of chemical substances at the time the syrian ambassador to the united nations said that the quantity found was enough to destroy a whole city if not the entire country b. use of chemical weapons has always been a red line for washington and its allies they've always constantly pointed fingers at the syrian government and accused of using chemical weapons saying that if the if it was in the pacific head this would be the red line that they would not tolerate but back in march there was an attack in the second largest city in damascus and it was later found that the did the seventh nerve gas had been used in

that attack moscow conducted its own investigation and concluded that the syrian rebels were actually to blame for the use of the gas and russia gave samples and documents relating to this to the united nations last week russia's united nations ambassador said that wisdom claims appear to be aimed at undermining investigations into the chemical attack he said this when he explained the findings the results of the analysis clearly indicate that the ordinance used in common assault was not really manufactured and was filled with saddam. the site in technical specifications proved that it was not industrially manufactured either the project allen vault is not a standard one for chemical use therefore there is evident use them to believe that it was the armed opposition fighters who used the chemical weapons in khan it's very important to make the point that the united states claims that it regina is using chemical weapons that these planes are without any kind of proof and of

course the whole argument over the use of chemical weapons when mains a hot potato but without that kind of proof the u.s. and its western allies are going to have a hard time of moving anything that they came. well let's get to more on this from middle east expert and historian tatic ali he joins us from london are you surprised to learn that syrian troops illegibly seized chemical weapons belonging to the rebels. no if this turns out to be true and i don't know whether it is or not it wouldn't surprise me at all it's very clear that the sections of the rebel leadership have been desperate for western minute cream to bring. and. had to go a long way to achieve victory remember before all just after this sarin gas attack . media. emblazoned across their front pages in some

european countries to put pressure on washington the fact that washington then pulled back from going beyond what they are already doing indicates that they were not convinced and i think the russian un ambassador was absolutely right to have the west has no proof that these get bent gas. sarin gas was being used by the syrian state by the syrian state so if the latest claim from the syrians is true it's very serious indeed and therefore just to interrupt short of then the u.s. has to react to that because it is it's crude it has said that if a sad regime used chemical weapons that is in effect crossing the red line but of course of the rebels and how discovered using them washington's got to react the same way as no no washington doesn't need to react at all i mean double standards radio in international diplomacy there are very few norms if it is not in the truce

that the united states and its european union allies to react they won't react at all they will not treat the rebels in the same way as they agreed to a syrian state and yet eric an f.s.a. commander has recently been killed by radicals on his own side now we're hearing the allegations of the rebels using chemical weapons surely this is got to change this the stance of the west and the u.s. toward supporting the rebels now hasn't it. i should hope so certainly public opinion in the united states and in britain is opposed by a fairly convincing majority to any western intervention in syria and senior politicians including conservative politicians in britain. have said very clearly that they're not going to support any so braintree so whether the president obama

will decide now up he's been very hesitant to have now to go for this remains to be seen i would have thought that as the evidence of the chances of a western military intervention on the libyan model are becoming more and more remote but i'm over this just put western interests aside what about the friends of syria not get involved and yet the gulf arab states clearly are involved in this even with reports of saudi arabian agents operating within syria so it's easy to forget about that interest and everybody keeps going on about western the us well it's absolutely true what you say both societies and look at the rings have been involved. both in egypt by the way of backing their favorite also in that particular race and in syria very openly by arming the salafi groups and be more moncrief the groups so that there's no doubt that this

is in direct military intervention. clearly green lighted by the united states because without their approval it's very unlikely that these things would be happening i think that the gulf states have got american approval to tell whether they will continue to grow and disapproval remains to be seen at least expert in his store entirely got it thank you very much indeed for joining us live here on r.t. thank you. meanwhile anonymous u.s. officials claim israel attacked to syria's port city of latakia nine days ago the strike allegedly targeted a russian made anti ship missile battery which syria received two years ago israel's prime minister refused to confirm or deny televisa involvement while saying he will not allow weapons to reach has been militants in lebanon well it would be the fourth instr israeli strike on syria within the last several months let's not trace back some of those air raids a military compound just outside damascus was bombed from the air on january the

thirty first a second similar operation reportedly took place on the third of may rockets struck a warehouse at damascus international airport allegedly containing surface to surface missiles and just two days later massive blasts that were described as earthquake like shook the same military base that was targeted in january well on all occasions the attacks were justified as operations to wipe out iranian missiles bound for hezbollah welcome it all and he's a senior correspondent at israel's heights newspaper told my colleague roy sushi this month's reported raid had the same intention. israel's defensive agenda of not clashing with syria but when a terrorist organization such as possible are tries to get its hands on such a sophisticated missiles we have no current confirmation of direct hezbollah involvement we also know that these russian weapons were actually sold to syria

more than two years ago now if indeed israel is involved in these airstrikes what's tell of eve's motivation here israel does not go out and preempt syrian missiles and it does so only when syria seems to be on the verge of transporting transferring those missiles to hezbollah so rather than wait until these missiles reach the root or side of israel probably decided to preempt and hit the. egyptian prosecutors are investigating the country's alstad president mohammed morsi for allegedly spying killing protesters and ruining the economy he was deposed by the military early last week and prosecutors are now cracking down heavily on members of his muslim brotherhood party true is encouraged. egypt's prosecuted general this is from judicial sources has actually frozen the assets of fourteen leading is the most figures who are behind mohamed morsi this comes you

know after course reports all the rest so many of the leaders and of course after these recent reports all of the charges laid against the former president himself meanwhile the most a brotherhood for their part maintains they will steadfast they want president former president ahmed mostly to come back and they will not move from a sit in a mosque in central cairo and the university of to cairo in till he is reinstated meanwhile with things in the can developments here in the interim government we have a lot of appointments and downs today one of them a significant ones is the vice president for foreign affairs and mohamed el baradei he is a leading opposition figure and once headed off what was the largest coalition of opposition forces the national salvation front another leading opponent we've had today is that the foreign head of. this. former ambassador to the u.s. the bill for me he was a barack era ambassador and is very well regarded in washington in america to these two appointments mohamed el baradei and the bill for me could be seen to be

a knowledge towards the west as they both have very good relations with america meanwhile america for their part have announced that they will have an envoy coming to you. to egypt the first. leader to come from america to egypt since the ouster of mohamed morsi this is reportedly to be a leading member of the state department bill burns he is due to come in the coming coming months america is looking cautiously egypt at the moment they haven't announced the last two weeks as a clue neither have they confirmed that it neither confirm that it isn't it's obviously very important that definition because that would affect u.s. assistance to egypt you know america paid to be extending a hand out to the new interim government so we have yet to see what's going to happen with the people who are determined to support to deposed leader whether that involves clashes in the future and also to see how this interim government continues in the next few months. well true that let's get some analysis on the

latest events in egypt from co-founder of the transform think tank. he joins me now from but in the former head of the u.n. to tomic agency and an ex envoy to washington are making up major posts there in the interim government what should we read into the fact that they got such strong western and u.s. tiny's. because of course is a significant factor but. also a lot of other considerations are there but as your report mentioned is the leader of the opposition the young people who brought masses of those to the streets on the thirtieth of june. named mohammed el baradei as the person who is representing them sort of point think here is there finitely a measure from the new rulers of egypt. is that it would have to

make it very clear that what they did was something that they did on behalf of a significant section of the egyptian people as for not being fair and. fair me his name was mentioned as a potential foreign minister before the current foreign minister was appointed. very senior diplomat very experienced very well regarded also unusual is a very respected person i think he would be that i that i was. and of course these are the people washington really would like to see there does that not imply therefore that washington is denying the fact that a military coup has taken place in the country. i think we shouldn't overestimate the influence that the united states is exerting on egypt at the moment. don't forget that the united states was building very strong

relationship with the regime of the former president morsi who were coming very close to the to the muslim brothers they were supporting the and that is a very clear shift in u.s. foreign policy supporting so-called moderate islamists not just unusual but individuals old so i don't know why would i think then turn their back on morsi then because clearly he was a democratically elected president by all accounts he got a higher percentage of votes than the barmah got when he was elected so why the sudden change in attitude. because i think what is important for the united states even though. morsi and the muslim brothers what is more important for them is the egyptian military and the egyptian people what has happened in egypt is not that the united states to end its back on the muslim brothers the majority

a big majority of the egyptian people decide that they do not want to continue with the experiment of having the muslim brothers in power or. they would lead in a disaster but i'm not asking for the but but surely just very quickly there are so many supporters there for the muslim brotherhood is it fight or not to go in a rest these muslim brotherhood leaders and all who are involved with the the higher echelons of the group but to include them politically in this interim transitional process isn't it. that i totally agree with i don't think it is right to arrest the top leaders of the muslim brothers but also keep in mind that the new disney prime minister has extended this is to the muslim brothers and they refused right now the muslim brotherhood on top of a very high tree they have to come down from this to be first and that are voices

inside the muslim brothers who are willing to negotiate but right now we also have to understand what can be described as the trauma the roma ties and we have to just quickly are we are we seeing a democratic process though in egypt no you have seeing an evolutionary process that is not complete yet but once it's complete let's see what would be the outcome whether it will be democracy or a moment. right now it is still out of illusion the approach is that is not over yet and there is a child so the military could continue far longer than is expected to do so or what they said is going to do say. i doubt the military has shown before that the last thing good wants is to rule. it all was once a political civil organization to hide behind its limits as a comic interests and the military has what it what it thinks it is is it's national interest in mind whether we agree with this understanding of national

interest or not the military does not have an interest at all in holding on to power more than what that's really interesting to we do want to thank you very much indeed ahmed but i we co-founded the transform think tank live on r.t. . a court verdict divides the us after the break we'll take a look at the public reaction following the confession acquittal of george zimmerman who shot black teenager trayvon martin. in jack and not a significant amount of small arms into these already extremely volatile region of that porous borders. what kind of a placation could it have not only for syria but also for the rest of the region it's a power game i mean if the opposition gets more weapons which can really strategically hurt the government it could change the equation very rapid.

science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've got this huge earth covered. you watching weekly her naughty more than three weeks off to arrive in the world

finally got side of n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden this week when he surfaced from his hideout in a moscow airport transit said he made human rights activists that shouldn't have you and ask for their help in requesting temporary political asylum in russia alina going to has been closely watching the snowden saga. russian immigration officials say they have not received an official request from edward snowden regarding his political asylum in russia but that request has been filed on friday evening so perhaps due to the fact that it's the weekend in russia right now the paperwork simply hasn't hasn't been properly process just yet russia's conditions were that snowden has to stop his anti american. something which snowden promised he will no longer do three latin american countries said they were willing to take him on now he does not have any people want to travel with his american passport has been the knowledge he doesn't have any other people work he cannot even buy a ticket and he does need some something in order for him to move to another country so that a safe passage could be provided in that he's relying on russia as snowden himself

has explained the situation that he was living in during the meeting with human rights activists a little every one month ago a. family home in paradise and i lived in great comfort. i also had the capability without any warrant of law just search more see and read your communications anyone's communications at any time there is the power to change people's speeds it is also a serious violation of the wall so finding himself in such circumstances it seems that what he was doing came into conflict with snowden's own personal believes and he has explained that in an interview to the guardian newspaper the interview that started it all the second part of it came out just very recently i increasingly was exposed to true information that had not been propagandized in the media. that we were actually involved in misleading the public and i was actually

a victim that i grew up with the understanding that the world i lived in was one where people enjoyed a sort of freedom to communicate with them each other and privacy without of being under threat of being measured or analyzed or or or sort of judged by these shadowy figures or systems so really the ball is in russia's court at this point and it's all up to moscow to decide whether or not to grant edward snowden a status of an asylum and for how long they're willing to do that. a former neighborhood watch volunteer george zimmerman has been found not guilty of murdering black teenager trayvon martin the verdict which is cause fury across the u.s. is that it will live in a place called the united states of america i would always grammar rise in this particular case the car map african-american because we've been. through this we've . never sisters will always kill if we don't know the cause of acute.

demonstrators outside the florida courthouse chanted justice for trayvon and called for a nationwide protest of what they consider to be racial injustice some of the protests took place in other u.s. cities including new york chicago and los angeles zimmerman face life in prison for shooting a seventeen year old martin in february last year something he claims was in self-defense and even though it turned out the teenager was unarmed zimmerman was still not charge for over two months the case to become cause for fierce debate about racism and guns country investigative journalist george map explains why. so many people try to skirt around the issue of race and absolutely and my opinion was a racial case i think there is actually no doubt i think if george zimmerman was in black and he killed trayvon martin who would've been white i actually positively think that he would you know george zimmerman would've been arrested right away and he would have been found guilty of mentioning i don't think anybody can know what it is like to be

a black american less experienced it unless you've been you know pulled over d.w.b. driving on a platter it's happened to me it's happened to most black males unfortunately you know they have to stop and frisk in america you know george zimmerman like i said he's walking around free with the gun that killed trayvon martin and the thing is that this was a man that should have stayed in this beautiful as according to the police he was you know he you know disregarded what the police told him to do and he went and follows trayvon martin and now that you know that unarmed teenager is dead in trayvon you know in george zimmerman is free with a gun to kill them with you know let it eat only it's definitely you know not just . more news with me and the team in about thirty five minutes from now in the meantime does the international community ever learn the lessons of military conflicts and worlds apart those on a boycott after this break. remember

how all the sudden an afghan card protest group became world famous and in we're completely forgotten by the next month yeah i'm talking about the feminist punk rock group pussy riot that performed a vulgar anti prayer and one of moscow's most famous orthodox cathedrals one possible reason for their explosive popularity in the media's eyes was revealed recently by german actress on a tall buck the actress claims a german t.v. channels e.d.f. paid her a large undisclosed amount of money to come out on behalf of the activists banned show said on a t.v. discussion that she doesn't even remember what she said except for wishing them well with dealing with their incarceration it would be very odd for an actress to just make up a bribery scandal especially one she was complicit in but it makes you wonder just how many other people's e.d.f. may have been given a little motivation to cry travesty overall i think that most important of what her

public revelation is that she said that you know what it's a bit dumb when actors talk about politics and i couldn't agree with her more but that's just my opinion. hundreds if not thousands of that's happened breaking down the conflict resolution and he's. one piece that taught us down the subject in here versus all over the wall but the lessons of previous conflicts seem to be forgotten with every war the international community is often paralyzed down the spread of violence and sometimes openly aiding and well to discuss the subject have now joined by fred tanner the director of the geneva center for security policy thank you very much

for your time sir now when i was a student at one of them merican universities i took many courses on the external and internal dynamics of war and of course i never expected to utilize this knowledge but these days you can pretty much cover international politics without covering war so i wonder with so much knowledge and demick expertise on this issue why is it that violence is sparked so easily and sustained for so long. i think clearly it is a distinction between theory and praxis we all know intellectually that. of war is spent use of force is spent civilians will be victims but then of course to apply the concepts of peace theory before term in a. completely different story because you find those so why is it they're completely

different story if we know how bad the war really nice for the civilians i guess some might argue that it is precisely because we know the dynamics of war so well that well some countries would resort to using war as a policy tool exactly i think we find ourselves into in the real politic politics where interests of states or such they they may lead to to go beyond the threshold see the problem with with series of international relations is that. there's a term acceptance that conflict is not bad we have conflicts every day being that home at work but the we want to avoid that conflict turns while it but of course i think that that perception conflict. you know. what they want is only permanent number of countries because people on the receiving end of their

supposed to sydney don't think that conflict is ok yes i think of course one theory is. democratic peace which actually has been found by a terminal also for comment i think about two hundred years ago. assuming that if you have internally in a society a peaceful coexistence the state will be peaceful as well this has been picked up again more recently which led to his theory of democratic peace which was picked up by some states. like mr bush at the time with regard to iraq if you exports democracy to the region in the middle east that we become more peaceful now the legacy of mr bush has been analyzed very great extent but i would like to turn to the legacy of his successor barack obama and in particular why.