the president's speech says russia is not seeking to dominate the world and is capable of defending itself to protect its values. european parliament resolution brands ukraine's u. turn of the association agreement a huge missed opportunity so in order to persuade to sign up. if you think it's democracy and revolution it's a nationalistic coup to get people to break the law amid the old going to talk to the demonstrators who are being overlooked. also this is right in saudi arabia a report of a tag team of a common interest in the middle east to fording out with washington on syria and iran our top story this hour.

from the city center here in moscow where just nine pm this is international the russian president has championed traditional values at the state of the nation address and stressed the country can defend itself if need be that improved in touching a wide range of topics in his speech from the economy to international politics. was listening to what the top man of the kremlin had to say it's traditionally become the place to be to find out the president's vision of the president and his plans for the future every year russia stop politicians businessmen economists and elites gather at the kremlin to listen to address firsthand just returned from there as well and here are some of the key points. had to make russia. but that doesn't mean it has to stop protecting its traditional. if you are like

a stone that we know that there are even more people around the globe who support our position in terms of insuring traditional values these are the values of traditional family and the value of human life including religious life that is not only material life but also spiritual of course this is a conservative position but the point of conservatism is not that it hinders the movement forward and upward but that it precludes the movement backwards and downwards back towards chaos and a barbaric state diplomacy was another point in the president's speech or specifically recent breakthroughs with syrian chemical weapons and the rain in nuclear programming many analysts agreed these are examples that diplomacy still works by the time when russia. suggested. the process of chemical disarmament stars and syria. very few countries in the world were keen to support the so-called obama option which would have been yet another bombing of the

at another country so i think this is a very important lesson. lesson on. the crisis of this time should be sold us plans to build an anti missile defense system in europe one of the biggest sticking points in moscow's relationship with washington was of course also talked about the president's message was simple without a threat from iran what's the point of building it. moscow does see the shield as a threat to its national security and putin says powering up russia's military is one of the ways to protect against it. you get when you don't know what you do see it unless it was more sinister that it's what no country should harbor illusions of achieving military dominance over russia we will never let it happen russia is ready to meet those challenges both political and technological and we've got all the potential needed we are military doctrine as well as our military equipment allow us without a doubt to ensure russia's security finally it be for. into the crew situation in

ukraine who said moscow respects the desire of those who want to be fools to to be e.u. as long as decisions aren't made by hard heads in our beast and on the groups we know forty moscow. and you can always learn more about vladimir putin speech today on our website all the highlights and analysis is there for you right now on. dot com. the european parliament has adopted a resolution saying europe needs to do more to strengthen ties with its eastern partners this comes amid the three weeks long pro e.u. rallies in the ukrainian capital and artie's poor scottie is in kiev right now so paul tell us what have you heard from brussels. well on thursday members of the european parliament passed a resolution urging for more to be done to help integrate what it calls gates and european partners now he says that should be using all the tools at its disposal

including aid trade these are waivers and energy security projects in a more strategic and flexible policy where the resolution says that ukrainian president viktor yushchenko which is decision to postpone plans to sign the eighty were association agreement was a major missed opportunity however this all comes on the day the president yannick overage said to government delegation to brussels to try to negotiate on the deal which he says in its current form would simply be too damaging to the cranium economy which is fragile right now just by the article that has to stop washington saying it could hit the country with sanctions if violence returns to the streets of kiev. are strong message was on the ground all policy options including sanctions are on the table in our view but obviously that still is being evaluated. well the mood amongst the protesters

right. now seems to be as defiant as ever my colleague alexy our is in the crowd behind me now there is a delay on the line but alexey if you can hear me what's the mood like down there. we're now outside one of the barricades which was installed to separate the protests square the heart of the protest and the rest of the ukrainian capital it is no bigger and stronger than before you can judge i'm one hundred and eighty six centimeters high and this barricade is almost twice taller than me let me just cross the wall to show you how thick it is these guys are here to keep a twenty four hour watch over the barricade in case another police attack happens just follow me here. and this part of the barricade it's made of these bags which have snow inside them and it's not melting surprisingly despite the temperatures in kiev now rising above zero now in the twenty four hours i've been here i've heard complaints from the local taxi drivers that this barricade is creating something of a traffic nightmare for the locals but also i heard statements coming from the

government that it's also creating economic problems for the country but that's not the focus of the protest here obviously the mood here is very much to find that people are willing to stay here as long as it takes for the government to resign and for the president to step down they even set up something off campfires over here to keep themselves warm and if we go over here you'll see the tent camp the ever present tent camp in the independence square which is now sinking the crane anthem thousands of people out here there protesting and i'm willing to go anywhere for the last twenty four hours it has been pretty much peaceful but you can never rule out anything when it comes to ukraine and there might be another attempt to disperse the crowd anytime of course the situation is stance but we are watching how the developments are unraveling here. well thanks very much indeed. and alexia shitty reporting live from the center of kiev more from you no doubt

later throughout the day thank you. well amid the many voices of support from washington for what they call the ukrainian opposition's fight for democracy geopolitical expert richard becker doesn't buy into these statements. it's clear that the what the united states government is after is regime change in the ukraine and it has nothing to do with what they say they're concerned about that is you know three rights and they're not this law you know we saw i think that it stands with russia and the occupy movement in dozens if not hundreds the cities carried out in an organized way ordinated way. by the federal government against people who are peacefully focusing here and now we hear. these kind of statements coming when in the ukraine it's clear that the leaders of the opposition are trying to overthrow the government they're not just engaging in peaceful protests they are engaged in a process which they hope will bring about regime change and in that campaign they

have the full backing of the u.s. and nato while ukraine is always faced a deep divide with the west gravitating towards europe while in the east ties with russia have traditionally been stronger and their rallies have fallen short of the mass media attention as all teams in english go now reports. it's new it's hip it's exciting it's a revolution and like moths to a flame the bright lights of rebellion are drawing in western politicians political has beans to even homegrown rock stars all keen to breathe the air of change tasty pictures in a fashionable message the foreign media is having a blast to protesters here feel they're fighting for the future of the country pro european protesters clashing with police they saw these agreements as a chance to open ukraine up to european business ideas rule of law standards here

my don has received a massive amounts of airtime in mass media both at home and abroad but the simple fact is the opinion of people here is not the solely representative of the opinion in all of ukraine here's the other side of ukraine's protests the invisible one they may go unnoticed by the media but thousands of people are rallying in many cities you have read on trade to join the e.u. and opposition instead of taking students and school children to the scratch should sit down at the negotiation table and help find the best solution for our country. and we've gathered to say no to the orange strange they captured buildings brought the work of the government is unacceptable and will only home ordinary people. the mess just doesn't fit the pretty picture of a trend a revolution. if you think it's democracy and revolution it's a nationalistic coup they instigate people to break the law they want to grab power

and clear ukraine apart. unlike the people yelling ukraine is europe in capitals independence square these people have been looking at the possible consequences of the trade deal with europe stuff is america ready and i wouldn't want our utility payments to rise and pensions and salaries frozen for his. own. for cheap labor or to buy their products unlike the protests in kiev these rallies aren't marred by the presence of masked men or radical slogans or tumbling monuments and because for the media if it bleeds it leads only telegenic revolution gets a chance to be heard and seen in kiev. r.t. . israel and saudi arabia are reportedly cementing an unlikely partnership with both

countries increasingly alienated by their longtime ally america washington's diplomatic approach to syria and iran has fallen far of israeli and saudi interests in the region on reports. the two countries saudi arabia and israel found themselves in one boat in their frustration over washington israel and saudi arabia hate the nuclear deal that the u. was now the world power struck with iran israel is very vocal about it the saudis are a little bit more restrained but the saudi intelligence chief said there would be a major shift in dealings with the us saudi arabia wanted the us to go all in on syria the us instead went along with russia's proposal and cut a deal with the syrian leadership to get rid of chemical weapons there saudi arabia and israel are very suspicious of each other the saudis oppose the creation of the jewish state they support the palestinian cause so it's too early to speak of friendship but washington definitely brought them closer together at least in their

desire to threaten war saudi arabia is now reportedly working with israel on a plan to attack iran it reportedly gave israel the green light to use its airspace in the case of a strike and pledged other assistance here in washington the israeli lobby is fighting what they describe as a tendency in the u.s. to disengage from the middle east the apac meeting was all about it they talked about how war fatigue in the u.s. could be a reason for washington to want to be less involved in regional affairs they saw the nomination of chuck hagel as defense secretary as a signal pointing in that direction of course the obama administration quickly reassured everybody that the u.s. will not stop interfering in the affairs of the region but israel and saudi arabia are not so sure at this point or they don't see the kind of interference that they would want to see i'm going to check on in washington or to. learn to speak with the saudi prince who defected from the royal family calling them an oppressive regime he believes the u.s.

is prepared to sacrifice the integrity of region is for its own strategic interests . yeah let's have a bit later but i believe the main reason for the change in america's alliances in the middle east is issue of the iranian nuclear program and that's a shift in the u.s. approach to iran from one of confrontation to one of containment this is the main reason even if it does come at the expense of america's strategic allies like saudi arabia and israel it is of utmost importance to the u.s. and its interests in the middle east us foreign policy takes care of its own interests but our strategic alliances with israel under nonpermanent alliances like with saudi arabia with american interests are much more important to washington than alliances and let's not forget that saudi arabia and israel always need washington support militarily and on the intelligence level as well as in many other aspects they need the usa and they rely on it. israel and saudi arabia pursue controversial policies and siding with them will tarnish washington's reputation

well that's according to professor of politics even zunes. israel is in violation of. the whole number of the international legal norms the ongoing occupation and colonization of the occupied territories there are periodic assaults on civilian population centers and neighboring lands there there you have our lieschen the un security council resolutions will court rulings that said or other anyway seen as a pariah state and to have the united states closely allied with israel many people are reacting izing actually does the united states more harm than good and similarly saudi arabia it is an incredibly repressive regime was as much as we complain now with some reason of course about the lack of human rights in. iran for example the human rights abuses in saudi arabia are far worse for concern about so-called fundamentalism of news comical for all you can get much more repressive

than theocratic than the saudis. well still ahead the program here a lot international extending a helping hand too far to the u.k. second place its foreign aid budget that's not going down well with those still struggling to make ends meet at home. and france vastly expands its surveillance operation just weeks off to shave in the u.s. for its monitoring practices more details on that right after the break. when you talk about working with the society of one who do you think should be in charge of determining which we use all of due to the people shouldn't be the government this is not the issue about right or left it's an issue about fundamentally it's more extremist. so what we need to avoid these level of hate speech these are all. this excessive radicalization that can lead that

even to terrorists. dramas that trying to be ignored. stories others refuse to. fix is changing the world right now. full picture of the taste. from around the globe. with britain improving its economic growth these days there's money in the bank and

now there are plans to spend more of it on foreign aid result his or smith reports the motions puzzling some who believe the funds will be better spent on the needs of the country's taxpayers. the economy is growing better than expected so more money in our pockets to relieve some of the miseria home lift people out of poverty help them pay their heating bills but controversially and despite cuts and hardship home the more positive figures will also mean increasing the amount the u.k. sends abroad in foreign aid not because there's more suffering in the world but to meet an arbitrary target not point seven percent of national income the british government seems set on increasing amount of money sending overseas aid merely for the sake of meeting a particular target not. target driven policy which is the the worst kind of way to set policy but we think it's irresponsible of the british government at

a time when money is very tight for everyone for family from the government to be sending more and more typos money abroad particularly when a lot of the current defeat budget is not being spent very well money gets lost through fraud money is being spent in countries which even have their own aid programs to other countries it means sending a billion pounds more over the next five years and where's that money going well over the last five years nigeria has received more than a billion pounds from the british taxpayer it's got its own space program and is mired in corruption an estimated thirty billion pounds are stolen from the states every year by corrupt officials and politicians and india also trying to push a man in space they get two hundred eighteen million pounds a year from britain and they've got their foreign aid program worth one point three billion dollars the g.a.c. counts ability report shows the u.k.

already spends more percentage wise on foreign aid than any of the g eight country and the greatest irony britain is still borrowing billions of pounds every month and now growth is on the up it will be borrowing more than it has to just to give us a way. bickering over money is not the only issue britain's leadership as we reported little later in the program. the european union is standing likes rayman empire and it's. not going to be. the decision of whether to remain in the e.u. lose the u.k. looks into ways to cherry pick which european policy is to follow at the risk of rattling many cages in the blow. of france's boost to the extent of its surveillance capabilities just weeks after lashing out at the u.s. for its global spying program data that was previously only accessible to

intelligence agencies will now be available to ministries including finance defense and interior the grounds on which surveillance could be carried out will also broaden from terrorism they now include protection of national economic and scientific interests along with national security crime rules has been greeted with fierce public criticism and. civil liberties advocates says the french are legalizing exactly what n.s.a. leaker edward snowden has been warning about. the current government which has a majority in both courts say it was just. somehow a way to legalize what is already down and that was what frighten us most because it really looks like. what's know to. show this about. the french state. population communications that's really frightening

usually. when you have los to defend something. defending the scientific or economy. of a country it's protected by the low but it's limited by justice system like with a judge and with a trial here we got authorities which doesn't the independent don't have to publicize anything so there could be many illegal interception of communications and we would never know about it. he used to lead the struggle to president assad. himself. to run for. america.

british prime minister david cameron is aiming to renegotiate britain's relationship with brussels ahead of the proposed referendum. that picking and choosing which policies to follow would destabilize the. where does the u.k. stand or want to be in the e.u. there are two possible scenarios one it stays in the union with a really good position everybody is happy with or to an outright exit the european union is standing like. we can. simulate a debate a war games organized by the. pace of how difficult a. process could be differences abound everybody.

real life in britain. sort of topics related to. pointing out what they say is an exploitation of the british welfare system which is not backed by any concrete evidence. that it is. possible exit. britain is just cherry picking it simply isn't the case. that the european union is actually. on the grounds that it's losing track in the globally competitive marketplace you know we've a long tradition of democracy we can't simply leave people feeling completely disempowered that's what our negotiating team has to be all about if they get nowhere i think britain is heading towards the exit the key question coming out of that simulation is what exactly does the u.k. want and ask for europe how much is there willing to give to keep the u.k.

happy if at all this is r.t. international live here in moscow more news in just over half an hour in the meantime multi-culturalism nationalism that's in worlds apart. after the break. as you all know the holidays are a great time for families to get together and sometimes on the l. call gets flowing they're also a great time for us to argue about everything from politics to religion with the ones we love but if you happen to be an n.s.a. agent and the government has an official list of talking points that way you could win those family arguments for sure yeah that's right the government is now giving n.s.a. agents lists of very corny talking points going to firedoglake so that way they could convince their relatives over the holidays of just how awesome effective and necessary the national security agency truly is the spite all those little

revelation thinks of mass spying by snowden trust me talking points exist for a reason political social and religious organizations and use them so that when their members who may not be the best debaters on the planet can defend the positions of the organization and i would have no problem with the n.s.a. gave this list ages they could answer questions from journalists but when the government wants you to propagandize your friends and family over christmas and thanksgiving it all seems kind of cultish to me that's just my opinion. welcome to. george w. bush famously said that democracies don't go to war spit upon another quote that is often recycled by western politicians when they see people in other countries

taking the streets and yet over the past few years quite a few examples of supposedly crowded protests in generating not just violence but into food long wars how do these trying to balance its demands of democracy. and didn't have security well to discuss that i'm now joined by lumpier to the new year secretary general of the organization for security and cooperation in europe mr zinni or thank you very much for a time we are speaking in key of the capital of ukraine ricci's overtaken by protesters who disagree with barack government's decision not to align itself a bit more closely with europe and so far at least it's been relatively bloodless there's been a couple of clashes but. thankfully no casualties even though both sides accused each other of violating the law i wonder how do you draw the line between. a democratic protest and a riot and isn't it's similar it's you know you know that distinction between

terrorism and freedom fighting you know something that is essentially in the eye of the behold there i would say there is no absolute rule and certainly one cannot come from outside and say this is this is the line and each country has to find its own way its own way and strike its own balance. in the u.s. see this is a debate where we're having internally of course and what we see is that different countries see this differently and in fact they tend to draw the line in different places the debate we have is among other things also about this and it's a very central point. the way we interpret security in the u.s. see is that security goes well beyond the military relationships and the security or be disarmament issues security is also stability of our societies. must be based. on some fundamental values human rights and

the principle of the rule of law. so this is what also decision stands for but of course the devil is always always in the details so how how much can you. force a rule of law and implement the laws to the detriment of potential freedoms freedom of. expression of world one's views and the vision of the freedom of assembly and older than we've seen statements by the government here. referring to the fact that there will be investigations if there have been abuses it's. but but it's a matter of all sides acting responsibly absolutely but i think and i know that you mad the foreign minister a fair ukraine and you're stressed that all sides have to to respond. i think we can also see from some of the european countries the reaction from them has been

that you know people's right of free assembly has to be respected there's a lot of emphasis on the right to assemble freely and i think it's not that simple because strict politics is obviously a very imprecise masher of assessing democratic attitudes and people who gather it in the center of key of these these day demand nothing less than the resignation of the government and early elections something that some part of the electorate may support and some parts of the electorate may very strongly oppose but. it seems that in barricades and many european countries supported that very strongly it's not just about the voicing their views it's about demanding nothing less than what they want it's my way or highway they don't care what the rest of the country may want so it seems that you know this interplay between security and democracy is very.