syria's president rejects western finger pointing over an alleged chemical massacre outside damascus saying facts not assumptions should come first as you want weapons inspectors had to the site. bugs planted at embassies and offices and now even the united nations headquarters a newly legal document reveals another front in the n.s.a. is all wild spying effort. plus as media marks two years since the fall of gadhafi we report on how the government is reverting to the colonel savage methods to crush the sand while the country slides into konami turmoil.

it is three pm in moscow you are watching r t with me marina joshie welcome to the program. now the authority of the united nations appears to be facing a serious challenge was countries including britain and turkey saying they're ready to join a military intervention in syria even without u.n. security council approval u.s. warships are already come converging around the war torn state after washington officials accuse the syrian government of unleashing deadly chemicals against its own people last week meanwhile the u.n. the convoy a. convoy of u.n. inspectors i should say has reportedly come under sniper fire in syria the weapons experts have traveled to the side of the alleged attack outside damascus a fact finding mission the syrian government has given the go ahead for the pro but the u.s. and its allies seem reluctant to wait for their findings are these more international takes a look at the reality behind the rhetoric. united nations experts are in syria to

investigate whether chemical weapons were used during the ongoing conflict finally but even before they start a senior u.s. administration official has said there is very little doubt that chemical weapons were used by the syrian regime against civilians these are the arguments we have told were given to president obama as proof the reported number of victims talkin the number explain how they see during world war two up to eighteen million people were killed what does that tell us about how they died the next argument the american ministration size leaves them in little doubt assad attacked his own people with chemical weapons is the reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured symptoms of course speak for themselves but how does that answer exactly who was behind this u.s. intelligence cites witness accounts that is hardly

a reliable argument for syria since the beginning of the conflict there almost two and a half years ago each side has accused the other often acquainted charger while covering events from different cities in syria those undercover manto or rebel control i often that and talk to witnesses from both sides whose accounts contradicted one another the truth was never easy to find even on the ground well it would be chemical weapons were used in syria why doesn't automatically point to the syrian. to be investigated it all appears to be based on assumptions we still believe that they don't have the capability to use chemical weapons that has not changed again we're looking into the facts on the ground but there's no reason if there's nothing to hide for the regime not to let the investigative team do you know if the team is a reading into the same assumptions that the position doesn't. use these principles

then yes there. meanwhile major world media are bombarding audiences with glow task pictures of dead people including children allegedly killed by chemical agents allegedly used by the syrian regime and all that during the military escalation in the region the pentagon is moving its naval forces close of to syria three destroyer is already in the mediterranean ready and for a variety of attacks all of them carrying up to three hundred cruise missiles more scope warns the west against repeating the tragic mistakes all these is remiss and of events of ten years ago in which he was in false information that the iraqis processed weapons of mass destruction the united states launched a reckless enterprise with consequences that everyone is well aware off russia's foreign minister spokesperson said well this small tube colin powell the u.s. secretary of state at that time presented to the u.n. security council as proof led to disastrous consequences will history repeat itself

. r.t. moscow or here as president has responded furiously to allegations that his army was behind the camera call massacre last week branding them nonsense in an interview with a russian newspaper he slammed the u.s. for finger pointing without gathering an improved on thomas has the details. the president bashar al assad in his interview directly refuted international claims of a legit chemical weapons use and his forces using it against his people the bashar al assad in his interview said that it just doesn't make sense that refutes the logic this is what he had to say statements made by the u.s. and other politicians violate common sense and ignored public opinion in their own countries it's nonsense they threw accusations first and collect evidence later and

the one doing this is the us a powerful country now the military option has always been on the table in fact the western powers have been trying to go through the u.n. channels to get some sort of a military intervention however this is been blocked at the u.n. security council by china and by russia also the western powers are kind of sitting on the fence recognizing the fact that there are al qaeda linked groups among the syrian rebels and so by backing the rebels they're actually backing al-qaeda so they wouldn't be fighting terrorists as well but there's also no support at home in fact the polls in the united states show that the majority of the american people do not want to become involved in syria and terms of a military intervention in fact they're completely against the idea in the in his interview bashar al assad seem to recognize this fact another obstacle to a military intervention is that everybody understands the syrian conflict has

nothing to do with the nation's revolution and demand for reforms it's terrorism in this situation whiston the discount till the citizens we're going to syria to support terrorism. well russia has been urging caution all along in fact they are saying that the western powers should not jump to conclusions they should wait until the u.n. investigation has been completed before making any decision because otherwise it would be a tragic mistake in fact of the foreign minister of russia made a phone call to his counterpart the united states john kerry in which he wanted to draw attention to the implications what it would mean for the middle east and even north africa as an entire region if they did decide to proceed with a military intervention and in fact russia is hoping that the u.s. and russia and other countries will meet in geneva to try and find a peaceful solution a solution on the diplomatic level as well well for now our let's get some more

perspective on the growing tension surrounding syria i'm joined live by professor hussain bochy and international relations x. part of the middle east temple university in ankara thank you so much mr bochy for joining us here and to discuss as well turkey it happens to be one of those countries they're ready to go beyond the u.n. mandate and go ahead with a military action against syria why do you think are they ready to go ahead with a step. first of all turkey from the very beginning is. for supporting all the opposition groups also turkey is one of the conferees which is their claim that the assad regime has been using chemical weapons against its media and they took this foreign minister statement this morning that turkey will join any international call if that is an intervention is important from turkish point of view how well that turkey can know that the most

provision used to be jordan because they took this parliament has to ratify any decision if there is no from the united nations security council in two thousand and three. would act intervention by the united states of america and months on the other. turkey is insisting to also. meet think about the engineer well once again turkey is video could be organizing just however this possibility that there is a military intervention by the forces. that for the turkish government says because of the mess well mr monti let me interrupt you you know there is no proof at this point down the assad government in fact did he use the chemical weapons and we are now seeing the inspection from the u.n. investigating it and in fact we're hearing from the u.n.

spokesperson that there are shots fired you know why the convoy so forcing the investigators to spand investigation there doesn't i mean doesn't that all look suspicious to you that no matter wot the findings are the decision has already been taken to go ahead with the military action. i agree with you about the turkish government under turkish foreign minister i believe. there is such a regime that used this convince this is why they make such a strong certain sound your rights and such will be until the king is in the. government allowed that they can make investigations of course there is no clear cut decision yet whether the government has it or not while yet in that case i mean it just might mean that the western states are jumping the gun. yes i mean by the turkish side anyway this is very. jumpy if you

want by the turkish government about it but i was just going to say because the fish government has no backing for this shooting unfolded here in the last three years so the whole theory much of that with this they can turn this defeat if you want to and then i think it's important to see this. we have to wait of course for the investigation results and then see whether turkey indeed should be part of the coalition forces or not i mean this is the government's decision this is the decision of the minister however the parliament has to decide whether turkey should intervene in a neighboring county able to read an international coalition forces well and as he said the investigation after it is being hampered at the moment by shots being

fired at the convoy but will of course wait and see what happens there mr bochy professor was a much international relations expert on from middle east technical university thank you so much for your views here on our team. about. now a massive flood in russia's far east shatters communities as thousands are forced to say goodbye to their homes meets those are the term and to stay there submerged houses to the bit around. and a major transatlantic trade agreement could be under threat should the german chancellor be taken by her main rival coming up find out about the dress take measures planned against the u.s. . the u.s. national security agency has been spying on the united nations headquarters in new york that's according to newly published information leaked by edward snowden artie's marine a fortnight is in new york with the details on this latest revelation. america's

national security agency allegedly cracked the encryption guarding the united nations' internal video conferencing system that's according to german or spiegel the publication says that the n.s.a. surveillance of the united nations took place last summer and three weeks after hacking into the video system america's spy agency had allegedly boosted its number its number of such decrypted communications from twelve to four hundred and fifty eight now for anyone who doesn't already know this spying on the united nations is illegal under international law der spiegel also reports that the u.s. maintains a monitoring program called the special collection service in over eighty embassies and consulates around the world often without the knowledge of the host country now many may be wondering why is it that the united states would want to spy on the united nations would spy on its allies because as as we've been reporting and as us

president barack obama said himself recently the n.s.a. is in place to protect america's security and target only potential terrorists what we do with it or some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or e-mail address that we know is connected to terrorist group now it's unclear how spying on the united nations and international partners coincides with america's war on terror if anything what many critics are saying is that what may come out of the n.s.a. is worldwide surveillance is a loss in confidence and reliability in the united states because you have to think about it if you have a friend that you trust to find out is always spying on you is listening to what you're saying is watching what you're doing is reading what you're typing does that relationship still stay strong and that is a question that is clearly coming to light not only following this report but those questions have been coming to light over past months ever since edward snowden blew

the whistle on n.s.a. spying programs. i'm really unders daughter and am happy for the swedish pirate party believes such spying practices have been made possible by the loose and her protection of terms like terrorism by the us and european governments that are described as anything from copyright infringement to actual making of the form of bombs that could be harming to these people's physical integrity and so we have a very vague understanding in international law today of international disclose how we make policy especially in western europe in the united states we don't know what you mean by the border it's like two weeks ago i heard in sweden that copyright infringement can be avoided what is border actually at the. united states is trying to stop the united nations. because we have there's absolutely no legal jake to how they're using the word who or the n.s.a. spying revelations are taking

a toll on germany's upcoming election angela merkel's main rival says that if you wins he'll freeze trade talks with the u.s. until there is clarification of the surveillance program argues peter oliver has more. what peer steinbrück the head of the leader of the s.t.p. and the only real candidate who has a chance of challenging angle of merkel in the in the upcoming elections what he said is that should he become chancellor well he'll put the brakes on ongoing talks on a a free trade agreement between the us and the e.u. now these are trade talks that have moved at a pretty pace at the best of times and they are potentially worth multiple billions of dollars worth of money to both sides but there are sticking points and it's what he said during an interview on german television was that how can we trust our american allies and colleagues when it comes to talking about the best trade deal for both sides when how do we know they don't have microphones under our desks and

they aren't listening to everything that we are saying they are one of the only few issues in which the which the opposition can can attack angle merkel on she remains incredibly personally popular here in germany and is pretty much expected to be to be returned as chancellor but if it is to get in there and is to have a good chance this is the option what he's what he's gone for because this is one position where anglo merkel has appeared to be slightly we can go on because she is the chancellor of the book stops with her and it seems that not only did she know that the united states was conducting espionage activities on on german civilians and on german businesses but it seems that at some points according to the leaked documents that edward snowden put forward that the german security services may have actually helped them to do that it's seen in the past these documents coming out. the b.n. d. the german security services were very forthcoming with trying to help the n.s.a.

in their spying activities so this is a major issue if not the major issue going into the elections just how much should angle merkel know and what does she do to it if anything to try and try and stop and look after the interests of the german people. by watching right to life or mosque and there are plenty more stories lined up for you and coming up after this short break. well. it's technology innovations all the developments around russia we've got the future of coverage. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm target market is

a big issue. choose your language. of choice because with the internet you going to feel so much. choose that it's the consumer you. choose the opinions that you the great. choose the stories that impact the. truth you access to. welcome back this is r t r two years on from the fall of colonel gadhafi in libya euphoria of the revolution has all but gone today armed militias and islamists rule much of the country fighting over territory smuggling routes and shares of

dwindling oil revenue the top that off a desperate government is quietly reactivated current gadhafi is feared surveillance apparatus using it to hunt down to sanders r.t.s. policy or reports on the sobering adversity. anniversaries are often a time of celebration but two years on libya has pushed little to be applauding. with the us i'm not sure it will be right to assume that there's a government in libya there's no army no police armed militias are in control there's violent chaos. minister violence stalks the land jihadist groups are growing strikes threaten to cripple the oil industry and economic stagnation is everywhere with all the bad negative things that they're for say about that they those that. control it by force the situation of these devout divide the countries libya post gadhafi is far from the haiti days of that with illusionary euphoria

human rights watch says a wave of assassinations has killed dozens of politicians activist judges and members of security agencies all we hear is very. very troublesome because we hear about clandestine detention centers. detention centers that are run by militias that are not accountable to anybody these armed militias reportedly have more power than the government turning the country into a new hub for islamic extremism over the past few weeks we knew kind of cans have allegedly opened in the south libya is becoming the main base for all kind of in the maghreb we also know that as a direct result of the libyan intervention that the civilian government and bomb a ko mali was overthrown in the north of the country and certain islamicist took over creating a humanitarian disaster leaving tens of thousands of internally displaced persons

not to mention tens of thousands of refugees fleeing into mauritania linked to burkina faso basically creating a morass and if that's not bad enough the much promised constitution has failed to materialize politicians are deadlocked over the role of sharia law and bitter regional rivalries. libyan society consists of arabs berbers and taboo so the constitution should represent all segments and if any group is ignored then this means exclusion. the berbers who make up ten percent of the population are threatening to take up arms against the government there is a real danger that libya may break up you've had a severe problem in libya with regard to the darker skinned nationals of the south of the country not being except that it's equal but those who are lighter skinned in the north and the deteriorating economic situation isn't helping commercial

banks are closing their doors in potest against a current armed robberies in a desperate attempt to keep a grip on things the new government has reportedly using methods that were popular during gadhafi time libya's transitional government has quietly reactivated the surveillance technology it inherited from the depth of the scene it uses it to protect the mobile phones and online communication of gadhafi loyalists the two machines it seems on the back to front possible except that oil production is down with libya unable to promise crude deliveries next month as on off strikes power lines its major terminals two years on many are asking was it worth destroying libya to get this broken state when it's not clear who won it different if he doesn't seem to be the libyan people policy r.t. tel aviv. libya's oil production has plummeted to fifty percent of what it was before the revolution for a country heavily dependent on fuel x.

ports that represents a catastrophic loss of income are just kind of feel that explains. according to the libyan oil and gas minister nearly one point six billion dollars has been lost in less than a month because of the security guard strikes libya's two main crude oil export terminals remain sharp which means the country's financial recovery after the twenty eleven brest has been told the contras reliant on oil exports accounting for ninety five percent of all output produces shipments have been cut to the lowest level since the civil war of twenty eleven well than half of libya's capacity with some estimating just three hundred thousand barrels per day and now being shipped out of the country and as a consequence libya's government to have said it will use military force if necessary to stop the striking security guards from selling the country's independently but the root of the problem remains is the ousting of gadhafi regime

the country is still plagued by chaos this time the cause is economic and knows. well and as if it can out of turmoil and infighting word in our full cry is now reportedly making its new base of operations a top official described how the terror network is taking advantage of the chaos and establishing itself and the south of the country are you as a q. added to the pan-african newswire predicts that instability will only get worse. this counterrevolution has been detrimental to the well being of the libyan people what we've seen over the last two years is a total disruption of libyan society in the area of the economy it has been the most pronounced we've seen the production of all cut in half the cost of strikes and rebellions of been going on there is no plan for the national restoration of libya many of the key political players involved in an attempt to run libya right

now divided over tribal regional as well as political levels and until the general national council of government there are reigns in the militias and tries to bring about some type of national reconciliation process the economic decline and consequently the social instability will intensify record flood levels in russia's far east are forcing more people to leave everything behind and as the authorities try to find ways of helping the devastated region survive the upcoming winter more rains are forecast are to talk to those who decided to stand their ground no matter what it is a village under threat on the banks of the red river residents wait nervously. record breaking water levels in the region a still rising forcing more and more people from their homes ruining property and livelihoods this lady is

a full time carer for her disabled father she says leaving is simply not an option here not. i don't live here i live in that neighboring house my garden is underwater i'm here because i take care of my dad life was tough for residents in rural eastern russia even before the floods here father and daughter grow their own potatoes and vegetables but now the land they used to rely on is totally under water there he said that all that my garden and chicken coop flooded the water is coming nearer and nearer to the house they are the only residents to remain artie's film crew later came across this man he's also decided to stay with his submerged property like many scared to leave through fear of looting because they say all of the every three hours a report to the emergencies minister the situation is under control we are on guard and we are ready to deal with all variance to the situation as it changes up to ten thousand people can be housed in temporary accommodation centers that have sprung

up across the region shelter and supplies are provided along with psychiatric support to help people deal with the fallout from the devastation. that west can use now people are grateful to those who have evacuated them from their homes who have provided everything they need matunga sleep residents worry about the future about the hoons and how they will spend the winter well how about office remains relatively untouched by the flood waters so far the same parts to the fifteen kilometers worth of dimes that have been built around the city in order to keep the water at bay or thirty's ordering it to reach a height of nine meters at the moment in order to contend with the rising flood waters but that is of little comfort to the people in the remote rural regions you're seeing their lives swept away. sculls how about us. and coming up next here in our teeth carol of health crosstown don't go away.

sometimes it seems like in the face of giant corporations people are just sort of helpless i could be pretty pessimistic myself about what a few individuals with no real money or power can really do against the system but you never dull in fact if you remember tour discussion about ammonia doused pink slime being used across america and frozen fast foods well shift jamie oliver has actually managed to shame mcdonald's enough on t.v. to get them to back down and stop using this ultra processed form of quote meat at their establishments also we recently discussed gamer rage at the rather racist portrayal of russians in the game company of heroes two well all the rage actually worked and thanks to the seventeen thousand.