in the. police man under attack from the hordes of anti-government protesters in the ukrainian capital where business is more buses rather have been burned during street battles. and i look back at the week's top stories the international criminal court may soon see top british military officials in the dock for the first time over accusations over the war crimes committed by troops during the iraq war. a price worth paying vladimir putin speaks out about the record breaking cost of the sochi games while dispelling fears over the safety and security of those attending. the geneva two peace talks on the verge of realm and as a syrian political opposition group is now threatening to walk away unless the u.n.

cancels its invitation for iran to take part. seven am in moscow i match reza bring you today's top stories and a look back at the week's news we begin in kiev where disturbing images are emerging of the violence there were dozens have been injured in bitter clashes after anti-government protesters attacked police this some of the most dramatic footage that we've received the video from marty's video agency ruptly showing rioters beating officers with sticks crowds also throwing stones and fireworks at police who responded with water cannons and tear gas about ten people arrested and now facing rioting charges ukrainian journalist to avoid tells us what he witnessed . i saw them out of cocktails thrown into the rows of police so we tap on the old

the time one police is trying to stop the protesters and to come to them closer to the protesters threw us off rolling stones to write articles young people tried to break through the. police to go to the governmental. city and police trying to trying to stop them people are killed in the barricades the use of the cars were just standing on the square the one to choose to achieve the goals now still be the one to victory and of course to go away to be not present president they want to have another government and they want to have this even in one moment they don't talk to journalists so they can't explain what they want so they want to fight activists and opposition leaders pushing for the government to step down over a new law they say is in breach of the constitution they say that will make it easier to prosecute demonstrators campaigning for change meanwhile an adviser to

barack obama expressed support for the ukrainian opposition alec ross writing on twitter that the protest violence is a result of president and his party this is the white house demands police leave central kiev going so far so threaten the sanctions if they don't and he's a really good louche go was in kiev when the protests started last year and shared her experiences with my colleague of another. i there had to say burst into flame earlier right when they started back in november or it got to the point where they have to do something and by they i mean the protesters and of course the government as well but most of the protesters because for a while there they tried to you know keep it coming in waves they're waiting for the dispersal of the my down they keep saying it's going to happen people are getting messages through their phones and through twitter they've been threatening messages which were essentially saying we're about to be ambushed and the police are about to. because there's going to be you know essentially all hell breaks loose and it never happened it's really quite safe to say that we've probably had

several hundred of these nationalist activists but i would say this is exactly what they wanted them to him and at one point they tried to direct the bus somebody got into the bus and tried to direct them at the police if we go back to back to december. there was already an incident when they tried to run the bulldozer into the police as well so this is sort of a repeat of what we saw just a month ago essentially but it does look a lot does look a lot worse it's much more colorful now rewinding the cloak. very briefly. back back in the day basically it was about the fact that you know at the very last moment from signing trade agreement with but now they're completely different now it's against the government now they're protesting now they're saying this is their revolution and government to step down. second month protest and they cannot agree

on anything they decided not even to bring out a unified candidate should the elections take place and a lot of people were really upset by that but that's what people were chanting earlier today they were they were shouting because that's exactly what they need and they don't see. it says he's ready to enter talks with the opposition to resolve the ongoing political crisis in ukraine neil clark a u.k. based journalist who's been monitoring an arrest in kiev thinks the opposition is trying to topple the government because it knows it will lose at the ballot box. it's the opposition. they claim to have and why don't they simply wave elections we're not talking about five years' time we told you about next february when he took in about thirty months time so i think the opposition are now trying to bring down the government try to bring it out very early elections to bring when called the elections to talk of the government and he's undemocratic because you know the majority of people on that represented by my view there's no evidence that they. do

support them and i think that is the goal of this would be undemocratic move freely and a caucus of the western leaders about this is quite striking because you have a cottage was a democratically elected leader ukraine is not korea it's not saudi arabia it's a democracy and it democracy if you want to remove the government and what you do is you try to persuade people to. free elections and that i mean not as i say every twenty fifteen so why don't you opposition way to the knocking what we're seeing in the ukraine is an attempt for a change. parties unless you covered last year's protests in ukraine is following turmoil and the latest on his twitter feed and you can follow him for the most dramatic pictures and up to date information. turning now to some of the week's other top stories top u.k. military officials could be tried for war crimes for the first time in history or a port by european human rights groups claim britain is concealing evidence of

abuse by its forces during the iraq war thousands of former detainees testified they had suffered violence and torture at the hands of british troops the dossier now being examined by the international criminal court. has more. up until now the international criminal court at the hague had mostly tried to african dictators and tyrants but the i.c.c. has been asked to investigate thousands of allegations of war crimes committed by british forces in iraq a two hundred and fifty page dossier presented by a human rights organization and a british law firm contains allegations of beatings of electrocution smoke executions and sexual assault committed by u.k. forces and according to the all says of this report the finger of blame extends to the very heart of the british government at the time so the head of the british army the former defense secretary and the former defense minister could face

prosecution for what this stuff cia calls systemic war crimes there are many hundreds of cases where the people have been interviewed in the provided reports about this abuse and it varies from what people might think are. relatively mundane examples of abuse to really quite appalling physical their point says that british military commanders knew that their forces were committing war crimes and moreover that their civilians to parry as cautiously ignored such information at their disposal the u.k. foreign secretary william hague has already firmly rejected the suggestion that those at the top here in westminster knew what was taking place on the ground in iraq we reject allegations of systematic abuse but whether all substantiated allegations of things going wrong these things have been or are being investigated

that does not require references to the international criminal court the position of the british government has been or were doing enough the point of this is simply that they still haven't done enough there are right. no at the international criminal court two heads of state one of them a sitting head of state of kenya and the other the former head of state of cold d'ivoire they're both on trial at the international criminal court not for getting their hands bloody they didn't do anything themselves but people under their authority are people they should have controlled were committing the crimes so if it's good enough for the african countries it should be good enough for the u.k. to the international criminal court has come under increasing pressure to act against war crimes committed by western countries it's now up to the prosecutor at the i.c.c. to go through the claims of abuse and to decide whether to call high ranking british officials into the dock at the hague probably boy artsy and the

majority of the reports contents are being kept away from the public but some parts of it have leaked out the dossier contains reports of killings beatings rapes in various torture methods u.k. forces allegedly used against iraqis for orderly targeted the year old son of one man supposedly slapped by an officer as his father was arrested another former detainee claims soldiers thread and to abuse his sister we spoke with one of the co-authors of the report for more. evidence shows that it's not only about individual and single cases and incidents it's really a systematic pattern of reparative acts which are cured and finding in our report or communication to the i.c.c. it's mars and single isolated incidents it's not all the time because the u.k. had ten years to investigate to prosecute the direct perpetrators but also the higher ups. in the u.k. ten years and there are still hardly any prosecutions in the country so now it's

simply the time that international courts have to step in president obama's much anticipated speech on n.s.a. reforms got a cold reception top ranking lawmakers on capitol hill calling for bozos ineffective while criticizing him for creating a climate of uncertainty that still to come. but first about amir putin says russia will do everything it can to ensure a safe winter olympics without making security measures too intrusive with less than three weeks before the start of the sochi games the russian leader sat down with the international media addressing the huge cost of staging the event and dispelling fears that gay visitors may suffer discrimination my colleague in leadership of all of us spoke with artie's and you far more who is in sochi but the president's address these games the expensive million pick a strain five times the original price tag but mr putin did stress that over the last five years so cheek was the biggest building site in the world all the venues

had to be built from scratch in this huge infrastructural development. and railings and he said because of that it was expected things would go out the budget but he said where i will spend has not been justified action has been taken and people have actually lost their job see clothing a russian olympic committee member he was in charge of the ski jump the city which went six and a half times the budget and he was. however mr putin did say that there was no corruption among government officials though if evidence was presented it would be investigated russia's law against gay propaganda to mine is arose a lot of calls to boycott the olympics from abroad so this issue was also mentioned it was and again he stressed that homosexuality is not a crime in russia but he did say that calls for a boycott on the games on this topic was a throwback to old style thinking which he did not think was helpful and he said that he thought that the worst still people in the west they were looking to

restrain emerging countries in the east that had become global competitors and you also drew a parallel with china saying they also experienced call for a boycott in the run up to the beijing games back in two thousand and eight. i don't think these are manifestations of the cold war but it is a demonstration of competition when such a powerful country like china starts showing rapid pace in growth it becomes a real competitor in global politics and being global markets and of course tools to restrain such growth are switched on probably some out approaches towards russia still exist from the perspective that there is a need to restrain something. and finally security and how it will affect the games is of course what war is many people that want war the president's comments on that . is a major issue particularly after the new year bombings in volgograd he did say that

forty thousand troops and police are on duty in and around the search area at the moment he did say it was necessary but he also did stress that they would do all they could to make sure that they would not be too intrusive for members of the public and all these people will come to such a to try and enjoy the games for my own experience i was walking along the promenade yesterday and on the horizon was a warship and yes you do see small. patrols of police on the streets and also regular police write checks but i wouldn't describe it as overbearing in fact i would say that i think many people will find it reassuring certainly at the moment with around three weeks to go before the start of the games you can watch the prelim big interview with the russian president in full on our website r.t. dot com. the syrian national coalition is threatening to withdraw from the geneva two peace conference unless the u.n. cancels its invitation for iran to join the talks as according to

a twitter post quoting the group spokesman tehran has reportedly agreed to take part in negotiations to end the syria conflict that are due to kick off in switzerland on wednesday or here appears canards back at the week's developments with time running out before the start of geneva two conference on syria it was a busy week for global diplomacy it's our hope that in the face to face meeting of the regime and the opposition will be the beginning of the beginning of the end to this unspeakable conflict never before have russia and the us been so united over syria holding damascus and the rebels both responsible for atrocities standing together for a political solution and going further still we wouldn't be going to try to send the signals to the syrian sides on the need to establish localized ceasefires to consider the lists of prisoners of war including civilians and also to allow humanitarian aid. washington even turned around its stance on iran saying it could

also take part in the conference so long as it supported previous international agreements on syria they keep ours laying the foundation for he would say you are on the same page when it comes to the most important issues but the same can be said about some western nations who may be risking it all so perhaps right now just one wrong move is enough to bring down this diplomatic house of cards such as the mixed signals sent from france to the rebels who themselves took the whole week to decide whether they'll take part. we don't have the assad regime on one side and terrorists on the other it is the regime that is fueling terrorism such statements may be music to their ears but these are cynical statements the western military alliance has been recruiting right from the outset and it's confirmed by numerous. reliable sources from pairs the diplomatic bitch move to moscow which was visited

by syria and iran's chief diplomats the mosque has confirmed it will be a geneva two. because it's going to r.t. there is former french prime minister dominique de ville pen explain why he thinks it's crucial that iran participates in the conference. it should be as much as possible part of the talks because you want is a very regional important players i believe the dialogue that the international community is having with iran on the nuclear question is a very poor twenty we should try to go forward and settle and if we can if you run the board in discussing the current crises of the region we of course we will be much more efficient how can we solve the iraqi crises how can we solve the syrian crisis with iran and that's why i really believe that the dialogue with this country is important and we should really take into account the fact that without

having you run aboard days no solution to be the least getting later today will bring you a special preview of the long awaited geneva two conference plus don't miss coverage of the talks that start on wednesday. after three years of. over one hundred. m. a c. and common sense come together with one. war is not. does he said the chance. i really anticipated address by president obama and reining in n.s.a. spying has been criticized some lambasted the proposed reforms as being cosmetic and most likely ineffective others said they carried additional risks one of the key points of the speech was that any data gathered by the agency were no longer be stored by the government this sparked fears that

a third party could access the information if it was stored beyond official control not only that but lawmakers accuse the president of failing to bring forward actual reforms and creating a sense of uncertainty former f.b.i. agent whistleblower colleen o'reilly is among those left unsatisfied she says by the president's address. well i think the speech was a few baby steps in the right direction but it was a lot of i dissembled lane and certainly it was a reassurance to the n.s.a. and its employees that they have been doing the right thing he talked really focus was on the two fifteen telephone metadata program that is just one of dozens of massive collections nothing in obama's speech putting any rain rain the end this collected all approach there was a big revelation of our call dish fire program that just fire program was collecting all tax calls literally hundreds of thousands of text calls every day

are going into the n.s.a.'s vacuum it's gigantic hoover the n.s.a. tactics angered many across the world some comparing its activities to the full scale espionage of the cold war era our correspondent peter all over takes a look from berlin. on finding out that the united states had tapped a private mobile phone and glimmer cool confronted president obama with this claim . former offices in the east german secret police which was known as the stars of a warning for the n.s.a. if they think must surveillance is the solution to a nation's problems who quote if it's even the best qualified and most advanced secret service cannot save the state we showed you that away from the professed shock of the politicians at the n.s.a. spying ability how does it compare with the actions of the east german secret

services cheering the cold war disk and now it's the elite this is exactly as illegal as some of the tactics that the stars are used to employ it is a breach of human rights but the government machine is so powerful that you can't stop it i would snowden's leaks about the shape and scope of n.s.a. surveillance showing germany as one of the top targets for u.s. snooping again. on top of the communist leaning devil's mountain life the remnants of the last major n.s.a. spying program to look into the private lives of the people of berlin or it's abundant now but back in the day this post with ears to listen in normally private phone calls of thousands of citizens in both the east and the west of the fifty then it was thousands of calls now it's millions sometimes tens of millions of data connections that are tracked and logged with them electronically mukesh the way they do it now is much more intensive your web browsing history credit cards they

can build a profile on you way easier than was ever possible in my day. didn't have access to this type of technology they rely on developing personal contacts mendelssohn's even those who were working in counterintelligence in the west were ours even they said it we were pretty good even then the fear of being listened into is taken seriously as one former officer charged with looking into nato told us you mind those fires my superior office. is there any technology that they can use to stop eavesdropping on my calls you know it's just don't you know these veterans of the spy game might be impressed by the capabilities of the n.s.a. but they cool issues about the quality of the information collected for lessons yet they relied too much on technology that technology might let you locate a person or listen to their calls it doesn't let you know what they think with the usa doing all it can to justify its intelligence gathering the operation. two point

zero by critics but since you continue for some time yet these are all of the gemini turning now to some other stories making international headlines in iraq government forces launched a long expected attack on militants who had seized large parts of ramadi in december fierce fighting broke out leaving at least twenty police officers and our allied tribal militia dead or wounded in nearby fallujah also had fallen under the control of the same militant group that later declared an independent islamic state in the city. violent clashes breaking out in istanbul as thousands mark the death of a journalist seven years ago at the time of his death a reporter was pushing for reconciliation between turks and armenians but their campaign sparked great anger among nationalists in the country the two countries at odds over whether turkey engaged in genocide after invading armenia almost

a century ago. in egypt ousted president morsi facing a fourth trial on charges of insulting the judiciary while still in power he apparently claimed a judge oversaw a corrupt election and military backed government has been stepping up pressure on the x. leaders muslim brotherhood power base declaring it a terrorist. and a norwegian village famous for its picture picturesque wooden homes has been severely damaged by fire thirty properties were burned to the ground at least ninety people were sent to the. hospital for treatment fire crews eventually managed to get the flames under control but police warn they could flare up again because of the ablaze under investigation. and stay with us here on our t. international crosstalk i mean your way next.

are you. tanya laid it well tell me how you want my little grandson. i don't like i don't like. was being cut off. except as an ecovillage that the spiritual side is destructive. i tried to convince her to try to preach that it was a sect but it's dangerous and she had to leave it was

a story she had lost her mind will. you know you she will come back i know it and i will wait but even if it means i must wait until my dying day. dramas that can't be ignored to the. stories others who refuse to notice. the faces change the world. full picture of today's blog. from around the globe. broke to the.

hello and welcome to crossfire all things are considered i'm peter lavelle u.s. president barack obama's public opinion ratings are in the doldrums now called a lame duck by many he may finish his days in office as one of the country's worst in least effective presidents how do historians and the public determine the success or failure of an american president and why are some presidents rehabilitated years or even decades after they leave office. to cross-talk the worst american presidents i'm joined by my guest samuel put to leakey zero in moscow he is the president of the preparing global leaders foundation and a visiting professor at georgetown university in washington we have doug weed he is a presidential historian and a former white house advisor to two american presidents and in boston we cross to

robert near he is a core lecturer in history at columbia university all right gentlemen welcome to the program crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i'd like to go to doug first in washington you know lot of people when you look at presidents the history of the presidency it's either thumbs up or thumbs down or you forget everybody else where is barack obama standing these days lot of people call me a lame duck already we know his public opinion poll numbers are low is he going to be in the bottom rank. it's too early to say he's going to be a very significant presidents because he's the first african-american president so it's going to be a real linchpin in history so i don't know that historians will take a long time before historians can look at him objectively as a president because it's so history breaking i mean the founding fathers wrote all men are created equal and many of them had slaves so this is a great. landmark in american history and he's going to be his election

is going to be viewed as a great moment regardless of how his presidency is if you don't ok bob if i can go to you i'm a lot of people said that about jimmy carter the most important thing about his presidency that he was elected in the first place after that it was all downhill but where do you stand in on this because i agree with what doug had to say but i think the american people have gotten used to the fact that barack obama is an african-american and he's there to rule he was voted twice to rule the country to be the chief executive and the public is saying right now he's not doing a very good job i think that we're all historians here and yet there's no doubt that historians like to take the long view so it's true that in the broad picture it's too soon to say i think we can all agree on that however it seems to me that some of the basic sort of frames for analysis are typically the economy war and justice when presidents are evaluated and so by that standard considering the economic wreckage that barack obama inherited and the fact that the stock my.