latest news the week's top stories from r.t. washington fails to get the world on its side for an attack on syria with scant support from the g twenty the e.u. russia is taking a firm stand against saying the syrian rebels are provoking a foreign intervention. he sees the brutality of the civil war firsthand as the syrian army tries to clear an ancient christian village of its al-qaeda linked rebels. also the headlines officials in afghanistan say a nato air strike has killed civilians including women and children something the alliance denies we take a look at the legacy that coalition troops are said to leave in the war ravaged nation when they withdraw all forces next year. voting draws to a close in moscow with exit polls suggesting opposition to the figureheads alexina valleys come second in the capital's first narrow alexion and nearly

a decade. of just joined us for a good evening to this is r.t. live from moscow it's just after nine pm here now it's split a tough week for us so korea state john kerry has been trying to convince the european union to get on board with a military strike on syria over the regime's alleged use of chemical weapons but presented no new evidence against the syrian government and very few countries are willing to rush into action without u.n. approval and he now says a bomb has made no final decision on whether to strike an apparent turnaround from last week so far turkey and france first in line to back the united states against syria but president barack obama was unable to change the minds of the other world leaders at the g. twenty summit here in russia and said petersburg they agreed that tough action should be taken but they didn't. military intervention but isn't this enough it was

that. i was elected to end wars not start a u.s. military intervention in syria dominated talks at the g twenty but if obama was looking to gather overwhelming support at the summit he didn't get it in st petersburg you know. there is no military service we will not participate in military action. aside from france turkey and saudi arabia a few countries expressed outright support for obama's proposal of a military strike in a joint statement they condemned the use of chemical weapons blaming the office of government and called for some kind of response but they stopped short of backing a u.s. attack on syria summit hosted president putin accused the rebels of being behind a chemical weapons attack near damascus. that he says was carried out to discredit syrian in the eyes of the west just the way. i view everything about how

to get the so-called use of chemical weapons in syria publication by the count on help from abroad from those countries that originally supported them that's the reason for the provocation i also want to remind you that the use of force against a sovereign state is acceptable only if it's done for self-defense and we know that syria hasn't attacked the u.s. and only if the u.n. security council approves it such action as one of the participants of our discussions on the issue put it yesterday those who do otherwise put themselves above the law. obama continues to insist assad was behind the attack and he won't wait for the u.s. to respond to assad's regime brazen use of chemical weapons isn't just a syrian tragedy it's a threat to global peace and security the u.s. president is due to address the american public on tuesday and try to make his best argument for an attack on syria. one that failed to convince global partners at the

g. twenty. summit could have been a last chance for a political solution to the syria crisis or at least an attempt to push forward with diplomacy but leaders parted st petersburg's with solidly on those for or against military intervention in the syrian war what has been called the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history reporting from the g. twenty and he's now away r.t. no surprises in the syria overshot of the talks in some places but this week but there were also pressing questions about where the global economy is heading. venture capital caught up with the head of the international monetary fund christine legarde to discuss the global economic outlook we'd like to watch that show china again it twenty thirty g.m.t. it's also available for you streaming when i would like to see it our team will call.

us congress is still decided over whether or not to attack syria the first senate showdown vote expected a wednesday the anniversary indeed of the nine eleven attacks but a reuters poll says fifty six percent of americans don't want their country to use its armed forces against syria and some of been making their voices heard in the capital to. well there were the chants ringing out of washington d.c. with crowds marching from the white house to capitol hill and n.b.c. poll has found that nearly eighty percent of americans think the president needs congressional approval for any armed response against syria a bomb or those says he does still have the authority to order a military strike even without lawmakers support. so let's talk about the polls again showing over half of americans against any strikes on syria that figure is even higher instantly in france and the u.k. sixty an eighty percent there respectively against military action and similar

sentiments to shared in germany and italy the share of those against intervention in syria's neighbor turkey too it's worth noting is even higher both houses of the u.s. congress are expected to vote than on what to do with syria this coming week is tentatively where they stand right now when you add up both democrats and republicans in the house and senate just forty eight percent are in favor of a plan for intervening in the syrian conflict but much bigger here two hundred sixty three against military involvement while the remaining one hundred twenty two therefore have made a decision just reminder for you that two hundred eighteen total votes are needed in the house and fifty one in the senate for any resolution on syria to pass. syrian president bashar assad meantime says he had nothing to do with any chemical weapons attack and that there's no evidence linking him to it in the united states that claim is backed up in a letter to president obama written by former intelligence and military analysts read mcgovern's a former cia analyst and one of those who signed that letter let's speak to him no

show we are there oh thanks for being with us good to see you tonight your thoughts . are there and you were one of the signatories to that letter to the u.s. president do you think it's going to influence a bar at all. well the problem of course is getting into the what they call the mainstream media the media is drumbeating for the war just as before iraq and they don't want to hear that the evidence is very very flimsy they don't want to hear that people within the cia senior people with mission are sure us veterans that there is no conclusive evidence that assad ordered those chemical incidents on august twenty first they don't want to hear that they want to pursue beyond that and just just deal with what we must do assuming now you don't assume those things you need proof of them so why don't they

want to hear it why don't they seem to want to take the information that let's it way you say you've got evidence that the syrian opposition and its allies are the people that carried out this weapons provocation why is it being ignored. the reason that they don't use the evidence is because it would not stand up not only not stand up in this a court of law it would not bear close scrutiny who have been down this road before it happened before iraq what the president needs to do is to release the intercepted message upon which of the upon which most of this depends and once he's done that we can see what he's got there's precedent for this ronald reagan in one thousand nine hundred six when the libyans bombed a discotheque in berlin killing two u.s. servicemen and wounding hundreds ok he hit khadafi spotless killing his little daughter fifteen months old and almost killing his son three years old now the

world was in high dudgeon they said you can't do that what's your evidence that the libyans did that and reagan came to us and said we have to release that it's accepted message we said no no no you can't do that because you're blow our source and he said do it anyway that was released and the in the world calmed down i don't defend killing little children but at least reagan gain some credibility from the fact that he saw that the interests of the state of the united states of america superseded protecting sources and methods that's what obama has to do now we have a very suspicious that says is unwilling to do that since he sends his chief of staff before the cameras and says well it wouldn't stand up in a court of law but hey intelligence is intelligence you've got to trust us or we're not going to trust them this time so especially when the head of the intelligence establishment so how is it is it because i think it is a he is a self admitted perjurer. it's hard to come to still taking this law and limit it

does that as the days in the weeks go on saying that washington's having a hard time selling the case to the world for intervention but why is this still occurring on this puff just what we've just said well i have to say that if you look at couey bono you know that the classic question who does this profit the only state the only country that it profits is israel as long as there's an unending looks like it's going to be a thirty years war in syria a shia against sunni contest not only in syria but in the whole middle east area now that israel feels that the sunni and the sheer are not going to be turning their swords or their guns on israel it's that simple no john kerry has amply demonstrated that he is under the influence of netanyahu he made believe he was talking about palestine the last couple of months but he's really talking about

was syria and that shows in his behavior and even his demeanor so what we have here is a situation where israel and the the tough guys and tough gals now in the white house for advice and obama say well you got to do something and the only country that will profit from this is the state of israel is he changing his tax laws john kerry backtracking a little yesterday saying a bomb hasn't made a decision yet on syria the u.s. president is much more certain about an attack on syria we could go that was me is he so think astounds what you think is happening here. well you know what happened a week ago and it was almost exactly a week ago last friday kerry went before the cameras and say we got to do this and here's the not intelligence assessment mind you but the government assessment meaning the white has white house had a chance to massage it had it edited ok here's the assessment it didn't hold up to scrutiny ok now what happened. apparently the military got to the president

and i see some evidence of this. the for next thing we know that the president changed his mind on saturday afternoon and the only thing that really intervened was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff martin dempsey telling the president look you know it's going to be really hard as we're going to be really hard to explain what we have to do this now we could do this tomorrow or next week or next month we don't really have to do it now and the president said that in justifying his delay so playing for time what's more evidence lindsey graham and john mccain the next day just took off after the joint chiefs of staff chairman in a very personal and big give way because they know that finally the military leaders went to the president said look you know we know we know you've been told that this is going to be easy and limit all this stuff but these guys and these gals don't know a thing about war we do and we know that it's not going to be so easy and so if

you're going to do this you better get white support because otherwise your presidency is over all right right now he should say really how do you think the congressional votes going to play out in the upcoming vote which way is it going to go we've seen which way we think it is going to go what do you think well you know it's not a domestic political analyst so my my opinion is an informed one but not much better than anybody else the public view and they want you all that you know presidents the feeling around you. well around here in washington within the beltway and all the t.v. shows here we've got to do something we've got to protect the president and elizabeth the odd thing is that this time the democrats have drunk the coolie ok this time we have to protect the president he's gone out a limb here and they're drunk the kool-aid and i talked to a congressman last night for five minutes and it was very clear that he pledged to

house leader nancy pelosi that he would vote according to what that what the president says because we have to press that we have to protect the president and are you do that you can say that the president is why you don't have to say the president is lying or you do need to say according to our information is that the president is being given cooked up intelligence because john brennan the head of the cia and james clapper it can be confessed perjury or have thought it in their interest to cater to the wishes of the white house which have been very clear this time we want to strike syria right it's a terrible situation it's a political sort of thing now and we'll have to see how it plays out i frankly don't know i have more hope than this time last week that it would be turned down and then i don't think the president would would violate the constitution and the u.n. charter both by starting a war right thanks for your thoughts interesting to me on the program on a list as you are a mcgovern there on the line from washington d.c.

thanks ray so as the politics rattles but it was moved forward as we've been following the latest developments in syria itself there's no going army operation and one area in the ancient christian village called money which was stolen by al-qaeda linked rebels a few days ago focusing a lot of areas solely on his main phenomena next she was able to enter the village with the help of the syrian army she called this report by. we entered my lula through its ancient gates burnt and damaged in recent attacks shortly after the syrian army announces that most of the militants were pushed back signs of the recent battle and destruction a reverie where we were told to move fast and to follow the military is the cause without stopping or even slowing down there are some parts of the road where we have to speed up offices still fear they could be snipers around we hear them shouting go go fast on one turn we suddenly stop. to understand.

it's hard to understand exactly what happened we only hear a loud boom and feel the earth shake. we get out of the car to take a look around then outside our little. christian community all over the world now it is a battlefield look at this. and then we realized we have landed in the heart of this battle as suddenly bullets started flying around us we've ended model of village with the army but just just a few minutes later they told us to get back the militants launch an attack fire in and throw in explosives from the safety of high ground so that's what we're doing right now we're coming back to you to the entrance this is where. a car bomb exploded on wednesday morning and this is how it all started after

a suicide attack militants mostly from just the looser group stormed in and since then clashes have been contained in for three days and as you can see they are considered now soldiers firing shots back but they can't even see enemy fighters who are cooped up in the hiding places. that the real militants in that model now and in the us i fear hotel this is the mountain top hotel which was my. brother told. me from. also from behind the mountains surrounding the ma lula village and that's is where the danger lies because the wrong many snipers and the wrong rocket grenades and the rock warms mortar bombs was even see the

situation on the ground it is very hard you can see that the army is recruited right now but this. is that so mario one day visitation could change dramatically because this is the day when the american congress starts debates on syria whether to strike this country or not the decision made thousands of kilometers away from these battlefield will affect the set up at this military theater but exactly how it is not easy to predict ration ocean asti from mali in syria. where he is tweeting the latest on the standoff reporting on the ongoing clashes another historic christian want to keep it there was a can on twitter. the in the. online. officials in afghanistan to say

nine out of fifteen people killed in nato as latest strike were civilians including women and children in line seven says it's not aware of any collateral casualties saying that only ten militants were taken out in a precision attack as they called it the taliban's meanwhile killed at least four afghan troops in an assault on an intelligence office in the capital you saying here pictures of the aftermath of that right now all of this is ahead of the show jewel foreign troop withdrawal in twenty fourteen we spoke to investigative journalist a said baghdad told us nato is presence is actually the main cause of the insurgency . the civilian death toll shows us over the over ten years that look that nato is not winning in afghanistan that fighting militants is very very difficult and civilian casualties have been on the increase now even though nato called these positions precision attacks they're not very precise whether they are in afghanistan when the border regions of pakistan civilians are paying the cost of this war since the occupation started the taliban have seen an increase in support

there it's almost that the movement has been revived civilians normal people are looking for someone to resist against the occupation and i think that as you see the increase of civilian casualties if people's brothers sisters fathers homes are destroyed people are murdered family members killed they will turn to those people that say look we can free of this oppression coming up after the break here on our team muscovites of course the votes in the city's mayoral elections exit polls suggest opposition hopeful alexina valmy second place behind the current acting chief should be on him because the latest tom but developing story tonight very shortly.

is the media leave also we leave the media. motions to the. for the physical. issues that no one is asking with the guests they deserve answers from. do we speak your language as anybody will or not i didn't. use programs in documentaries and spanish what matters to you breaking news but will turn it into angles stories. for you here. in troy i'll teach spanish more and more visit.

again voting is going to close here a moscow where candidates are battling for the post of city mayor in the first municipal election in a decade the incumbent surrogates to be on it has been facing a strong challenge from opposition hopeful alexina valmy as god speed on this risk in office of the kremlin tonight either the polls closed what just over an hour ago results i guess not expected till tomorrow what's the what's the thought on how that vote went. well we're hoping to actually find out the preliminary results before the end of today or before midnight we are receiving a lots of exit polls from different sources both official and independent ones but the figures are still very different however they do suggest that acting mayor city gets a bang and may have gathered the majority of the votes but it's still unclear whether or not a second round will take place that will happen only if neither candidate manages

to get over fifty percent now this election is being monitored by eleven thousand observers from a major part of which are independent activists. cameras ordered stalled at polling stations at over thirty six hundred polling stations across the city feeding a life into the web as of the vote went on actually during the course of the vote itself there were no we also had major violations the biggest problem was the unexpectedly low voter turnout which merely exceeded twenty six percent we're now only receiving speculation that two candidates may be preparing to file official complaints about the violations but we'll have to we'll have to wait for that now the basically now the focus of everyone's attention is how ballots are going to be counted because we're really talking about several percent of the difference from the data from these exit polls the six candidates are taking part in the election

but. bannon and the candidate from the opposition i don't see why they are the two biggest rivals now if mr sideband in has been heading the city for over two years now for dixon i mean this is the first attempt at such a high political post here is quite a controversial figure in russia known for his online anti corruption activities also links to the russian nationalists last year during the mass wave of protests he did become one of the leaders of the opposition but in july town itself in the center of a criminal scandal it was found. of embezzlement sentenced to five years behind bars released on bail and while many analysts agree that that didn't only allow him to take part in the selection but also may have served as additional publicist he's expected to appeal that sentence after the election also mr know when he said that no matter what the outcome of this vote will be he's already gotten a green light from the afterwards to organize a rally to meet with his supporters in central moscow on monday but once again we

are waiting for the preliminary results which are expected before the end of the day before midnight of course as soon as we get them will bring them to you a.s.a.p. ok go thanks for the update there from the center of moscow appreciate it. on air and online r.t. dot com is a taste of what our web teams lined up for you today a couple stories we've picked out you might be interested if you're a smartphone owner by phone android or black berry your security settings it seems that no match for the n.s.a. which is fully capable of accessing your data it's not know we've got the story online also to. look at those cheers echoing across tokyo the city was awarded the twenty twenty summer olympics leaving rival istanbul behind we've got full coverage great pictures of the celebrations and reaction from other countries as well on our website our teams new video agency ruptly don't see the some great footage only one check it out.

of some other news making headlines around the world independence day celebrations of spiraled into chaos in brazil protesters flooded city centers across the country voicing their anger over rampant corruption and failing public services in rio police disperse crowds with tear gas and stun guns to try to prevent them from interrupting a military parade taking place demonstrations started back in june over the mismanagement of public funds. protesters and police clashed in greece is second largest city after another round of anti of stereotype rallies fighting broke out after the prime minister delivered a speech promising that economic recovery was on its way its government backed firm austerity measures in a relentless push to get a third bailout from international lenders those steps include tax hikes along with labor market and pension reform. protests as well roads leading to one of the world's largest arms is in london over thirteen hundred military security companies

will be displaying their hardware at the event this set to launch tomorrow monday police were called in to manage the situation but no clashes were reported so far and he will group said the fair encourages arms sales to countries with poor human rights records. thanks for being with the r t network tonight after the break we investigate the hidden lives of the wives and mothers of militants in brushes north caucasus it's our next program after the break. iraq afghanistan the balkans somalia haiti libya yemen and so on and so on the list of engagements and airstrikes by post cold war nato just keeps getting longer and now it looks like it's serious turn a lot of people have written me asking me to predict what is going to happen next which for me is impossible i am not good at predicting the future but i can say is

that we are living in a very tense moment in history many argue that the us economy with its unfathomable debt is really propped up by war and the petro dollar so if the us backs down here won't could be the beginning of the end for the world's only hyper power but if they do attack syria there will probably be some sort of reaction from iran russia and china if you haven't noticed nato has been trying to encircled these nations and had russian internet conspiracy land a lot of people are saying that russia is next you see if there is no resistance in syria then one by one all resistance to the un ending hunger of nato will be smashed out one by one the reason syria is so important and so scary is that you have one massive military force that could be very motivated to attack for its own self interest while you have a group of massive military forces how they build defeated to counterattack for their own self interests this is a very tense standoff that could lead to a major moment in history military history but that's just my opinion.

well you know i beg you please your father and your brother all here do with think of your wife and children think of your family will you please come out i promise you that not a hair on your head will be harmed you would come out into the yard raise your hands take off your jacket and show them that you're not wearing a bomb belt but just walk slowly towards our people and let them search you do you understand me. come on please.