well russia says the alleged chemical attacks near damascus are aimed at disrupting peace efforts and that any military intervention triggered so we've confirmed claims would violate international law. meanwhile the u.s. and its allies gear up for a possible strike on syria despite the u.n. inspectors still working to establish whether a chemical attack has taken place. a fresh leaves claim that the americans n.s.a. is even spied on the united nations have waters while across the atlantic washington surveillance scandal threatens to influence of cambers german election. and from triumph to despair we'll look at how libya has risen directed the same

control methods used by the toppled regime as a country was dragged back into chaos two years after the revolution. well this is r.t. coming to you live from the russian capital on marina joshie welcome to the program well russia says foreign intervention in syria would be a mistake that would further destabilize a country and the region and a news conference in light of the u.s. and its allies considering military action foreign minister sergei lavrov said there was no proof of regime used chemical weapons largely as a shawn thomas has been following the briefing and joins us now live sean talk us through the key points that sergey lavrov made what exactly do you say well certainly marina sergey lavrov spoke very seriously about the situation he had knowledge. that there is a growing hysteria and

a build up of military presence presence regarding the situation in syria he questioned the west's inconsistency about evidence and the chain of custody with unconvincing arguments he also said that he questioned the timing saying it was aimed at peace talks and smashing those peace talks including the new geneva two accords planned by russia and the united states jointly and he says that a build up of military power is a case of misplaced priorities saying that we've seen all of this before take a listen to what he said in his own words. to observe but we are committed to the most important provision of the g eight declaration in which the leaders expressed the need to combine the efforts of the government and the opposition to find terrorists in order to oust them from syria so i'm convinced this is what we should focus on rather than forcing a confrontation and building battle groups in the region we've already seen this

including the examples of iraq and libya and none of the cases of outside intervention led to the establishment of security for a better life in the country in the region on the contrary the way the region is now destabilized is unprecedented. now as i went on to say that this talk of escalation would only make the situation worse that make it a bloodbath in fact and he said that forces who intend to go in western forces rather are shrugging their responsibilities to the g eight leaders that they made previously at the summit earlier also he said that it's very important that the u.n. go in and do their job but there's a team of experts on the ground right now and they are assessing the situation and their main responsibility is to determine if chemical weapons have been used not who used those chemical weapons at that point they're supposed to bring their evidence to the. u.n.

security council they're supposed to look at that evidence and then make a determination then that any action that is premature to that would be against the law international law so that is what lavrov had to say in this press conference pretty much. all right and what about the syrian president bashar assad what has he said on the situation in and around his country well bashar al assad spoke to a russian newspaper and he was very defiant and strongly criticized the west specifically the united states he directly refuted claims that chemical weapons had been used by his regime against the syrian people saying that it would it basically defies logic he also spoke about saudi arabia's role as a key player in the situation in the conflict in question turkey's role saying that they are a puppet of the west this comes as turkey has said that they are willing to join a military coalition against syria to get strollo saddam out. regardless of if they have u.n. approval or not now as the u.s. and our late u.k.

are looking at military options and both countries have put ships in the region the op of military intervention has always been on the table this is what bashar assad says he says in fact that the reason they haven't done anything sooner is because they just don't have support in the u.n. security council they've been blocked by russia and by china not just one country but two and they say there isn't support at home as well this is something that bashar assad is very well aware of listen to what he had to say another obstacle to a military intervention is that everybody understands the syrian conflict has nothing to do with the nation's revolution and demands for reforms it's terrorism in this situation whiston the discount till the citizens we're going to syria to support terrorism. defiant and remaining so strong against this western elevation of the situation sergey lavrov of urging

calm saying that we need for the legal channels to play out before anything more happens. or a chance thank you very much for talking us through this news conference and what sergei lavrov had to say on the situation in and around syria sean thomas our correspond there following the events now the u.s. and many of its allies seem impatient to wait for the u.n. findings with american warships already converging near the war torn state and the british are preparing to join them artes marie phenomenal looks at where their confidence comes from in blaming the syrian government for using chemical weapons and word might lead united nations experts 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 that reported number of victims talkin the number explain how they say during world war two up to eighty million people were killed what does that tell us about how they died the next argument to the american ministrations 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 say exactly who was behind this u.s. intelligence cites witness accounts but is hardly a reliable argument for syria since the beginning of the conflict there almost two and a half years ago h. side has accused the other often acquainted charger while covering events from different cities. but manto or rebel control i often matt 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 if chemical weapons were used in syria why does it automatically point to the syrian regime isn't that still 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 with the u.n. team is a reading into that the same assumptions that the position doesn't. use these incidents yes they are. meanwhile major world media are bombarded 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 closer to syria

three destroyer is already in the mediterranean ready in 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 . moscow well earlier i talked to broadcaster neil clark who is a long focused on covering the middle east and he told me that whatever the u.n. inspectors find it won't alter america and britain stands we're going to see the

weapons inspection teams going to the site and whatever they do the syrian government will be blamed the u.s. would have made that quite clear william hague has made that quite clear they buy the syrian government whatever the evidence or lack of evidence and there is no evidence that the syrian government ordered this massacre with chemical weapons yet they're still going to blame because they want war will go that they may find chemical weapons traces or they may not and if they do then of course the u.s. is said quite clearly the syrian government is the party capable of using chemical weapons so they buy their mind up if they don't then the syrian government will be accused of moving them so the syrian government be damned if they do and damned if they don't whatever the un inspection teams find the decision has already been taken i think well less than ten percent of americans back the idea of military intervention in syria that's according to a recent survey anti-war activist highbury explains why people in the u.s. are far from enthusiastic with the prospect of involvement in yet another war for the last twelve years the united states has been fighting. a war of choice in

iraq it war of choice in afghanistan that turned out to be longer battle the war than the then the vietnam war which also was a war of choice the american people are war weary we know that what's going on inside syria americans even the average american know it's a proxy war we know we're not going to get the correct information from our government and we know that our government officials are only interested in continuing what would be a fear tactic of a continuation of war after war after work to keep the american public in check in the american public is no longer going to buy into it. well our web site r t dot com you can tell us what do you think the preparations for a military response could mean let's now take a look at the picture that we've got here so far well as you will now see in a second most of the responders believe it's washington trying to distract public attention away from its own problems at home chance under

a third of those who voted think the u.s. will go i had with the attack despite president obama's cautious words and their rest are so far divided between believing it's being done to get leverage over the u.n. investigation or whether it's all just the pentagon's plan b. so do us know what you think on this issue by logging on to our dot com. well it seems even the united nations isn't immune to being snooped on by america's scandal plagued national security agency recently published information leaked by edward snowden indicates the world body is new york h.q. had been caught in its controversial spine at rina board now has the details. america's national security agency allegedly cracked the encryption guarding the united nations' internal video conferencing system that's according to german 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 we've been reporting and as us president barack obama said himself recently the n.s.a. is in place to protect american 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 the terrorist group now it's unclear how spying on the united nations and international partners coas 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 world wide 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 think is your 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 srong 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. well one of our former u.n. director of communications told us that the united nations can't do much against acts of espionage like this without the help of its members the u.n.

secretary that has limited resources not very sophisticated techniques that it's basically depended to the techniques that it does have the same elegy that it does have on its bed with states so i think that this operation was that if the especially the united states which is a host country where the headquarters are located be very advanced superpower. communications technology if they really want to crack whatever encryption the secretary at is adopting they will probably be able to do say it's unfortunate because of course diplomacy does need to be confidential for the sector general to do his job properly he needs to have the confidence of the heads of state and government at alba's but he's having conversations with delta that all to mention his own colleagues but you know these are some of the on pleasant facts of

the world that we live in. while the ongoing n.s.a. exposure is could impact the political race in germany were there is an election in just under a month chancellor angela merkel's main rival is promising to freeze train talks with the united states until it comes clean on its espionage programs if he's like and more from our oliver and berlin. 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 u.s. 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 are listening to everything that we are saying they are one of the only few issues in which the which the opposition can can attack angola merkel on she remains incredibly personally popular here in germany and is pretty much expected to be to be returned as chancellor but if stonebridge 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. 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 german civilians on german businesses but it seems that at some points according to the leaked documents that edward snowden

forward that the german security services may have actually helped them to do that in the past these documents coming out. 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 it's not the major issue going into the election and being the politician he's seeing he sees an element of weakness there and they're rounding on the current chancellor. and i'll be back in just a couple of minutes with more stay with us.

well see british science. is not out to explain. markets why not scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy is a report on r.t. . speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. the fourteenth of the world talks scipio ip interview intriguing story so you. see arabic to find out more visit our big. dog called. welcome back this is r.t. now leaving is old wounds which led to the fall of colonel gadhafi two years ago

are still open the country is gripped by militias violence as long as squabble over territory and bigger share of plummeting oil revenue on top of all that the government is trying to revive some of the tactics used by the former regime to keep dissenters a bay policy or explains. anniversaries are often a time of celebration but two years on libya has pushes little to be applauding. i'm not sure it will be right to assume that there's a government in libya there's no army no police militias are in control there's violent chaos. the. 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 will say about that they those that. control it by force the situation is the vote the by the countries

libya purse khadafi is far from the haiti days of the with illusionary euphoria human rights watch says a wave of assassinations has killed dozens of politicians activists 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 please nomic extremism over the past few weeks we all kind of can see the need to be open to the south libya is becoming the main base for al qaeda 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 leading to 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 should be a law and the to be general rivalries. libyan society consists of arabs 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 post haste against the current problem ease in a desperate attempt to keep a grip on things the new government is reportedly using methods that were popular during the duffys time libya's transitional government has quietly reactivated to the surveillance technology it inherited from the depths of the sea it uses it to protect the mobile phones and online communication of gadhafi loyalists the two machines it seems on the back to front off to gold except that oil production is down with libya unable to promise crude deliveries next month as on off strikes patronize its major terminals two years on and many are asking was it worth destroying libya to get this broken state when it's not clear who won it definitely doesn't seem to be the libyan people policy r.t.

to levy. well striking workers in libya's have brought the oil industry to its knees with production more than have during their protest artie's canuck l b m explains how the collapse of fuel exports will make the economic turmoil even worse . 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 derailed become trees 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 his regime the country is still plagued by chaos this time the cause is economic. and a look now at some other stories from around the world three palestinians have been killed and fifteen reportedly wanted in clashes with israeli border police in the west bank according to israeli officials security forces arrived at yves refugee camp to arrest a terror suspect but were attacked was rocks and live ammunition palestinian witnesses deny that saying they did not shoot the soldiers and there are also reports that the incident has led the palestinians to suspend the peace talks with israeli negotiators in washington. in india a rally in support of detained him to nationalist leaders and supporters turned violent when hundreds of protesters clashed with police security forces resorted to

water cannon and tear gas to disperse the demonstration the retasking as word of five government ban of the pilgrim march at a disputed holy site has been the cause of death we clashed with muslims. huge wildfire in california as you saw many national park is continuing to spread ten days after it broke out forcing people in small mountain communities to evacuate their homes the flames fanned by high winds and dry conditions are also edging closer to a reservoir that san francisco depends on for its water supplies around three thousand firefighters and a dozen helicopters are battling the blaze. well it brings us up to date here in our team and time now for the sports update with kate partridge. technology innovation all these developments around russia. that you

covered. 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 realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. choose your language. because we know if you're going to say still some. choose to use the consensus here to. choose the opinions that immigrate to. quit choose the stories that impact the life choose the access to your office.

hello and welcome to the r t sports show i'm kate bod tridge and coming up is twenty six minutes of sporting action from russia and around the globe and these are the week's top stories. turning blue chelsea agree to sign attacking midfielder william from angie in a reported forty seven million dollars deal subject to work permits. last turbo charged while red bull sebastian vettel cruises to victory at the belgian grand prix we meet the young russian who's able to reach the top in formula one. and some like it hot watch the top of beach volleyball giros from latvia and brazil defied the cold to triumph at the bosco grand slam. but let's get the ball rolling with football and english premier league side

chelsea have agreed a deal with russian club angie to sign attacking midfielder willian subject to a work permit hearing on wednesday the twenty five year old midfielder had undergone a medical it taught him but the blues are not a band at all which then intervened with his fellow on the guard suliman karim off who owns an injury personal terms have since been settled along with the fee understood to be almost forty seven million dollars with chelsea also able to offer champions league football this season thirty two year old striker simon let's go the world's highest earning footballer is also reportedly set to leave angie stanford bridge. in germany a new coach brad wardell that continued his perfect started charging travel winners by in munich with a two nil when at home to learn berg in the first half they would allow bush or his penalty saved but the old guard saved brian's blushes in the second as frank rebury finally broke the deadlock with twenty minutes to go and i and robin can phone victory ten minutes later to see the home side stage joint.