officials that is trying to integrate iran and south caucasus policy. again within a think about it even of the national security council, we have the caucasus together covered with the balkans. two regions are completely different. the dynamics are completely different because the dominant power in the balkans. where in the south caucasus where the region that with huge influx with turkey, russia, all competing. this region is vitally important for the outcomes of russia, iran, iran and turkey. so thank you for calling attention to these two policies. as part of that integration i think u.s.-iran policy can benefit if the south caucasus were integrated into these policies. one as you point out is the sanctions regimes. these countries are crucial to the sanctions regime both on the negative and positive. the countries like azerbaijan to fully implement the sanctions, watchdogs for the united states by doing a very important job. but the countries that don't have been at the sanctions is the loophole is a danger to an i think especially we see this in t

. >> armenia is a small country in the southern caucasus, nestled between larger and more powerful neighborsbut when it ceso chess, armenia is world class. it is a national obsession. this chess grandmaster is the founder of a chess academy for children. he also initiated the project to bring just to the schools. to help make his idea a reality, he trained many schoolteachers and wrote textbooks on chests. >> -- textbooks on chess. >> it is an honest game. the children learn how to play honestly, how to win with honesty and how to lose. that is very important in life. >> he says armenia should encourages young people to think big and achieve. most of the parents who bring their children to the school agreed. they say chess is part of their hope for a better future. today, the school second graders are not learning chest. they are learning about history. they are visiting a memorial dedicated to what our media calls the genocide that took place in t oomanmpir in 1915. although turkey refutes this, the mass murder is an unresolved, for armenia and is an important part of its national identity.

. >>> russia says that its forces have killed seven suspected militants in the troubled caucasus region. security forces say that a fire fight broke out and is surrounded a building in the capital. they say that rebel fighters fired on them as others were being led to safety. >>> thousands of people protesting against bashir led government in iraq. large demonstrations have been held in the center of iraq. and replaced it to the streets over a week ago when the bodyguards of the city finance minister were arrested, accusing the prime minister nouri al- maliki of trying to break the alliance. iraq has suffered its highest rainfall in decades with many areas flooded. poor infrastructure is making the situation worse, and many are blaming the government for not helping them. >> after three days of heavy rain, the streets of the capital turned into rivers. many roads were blocked, homes flooded. the rising water adding to the misery of a population that has suffered decades of wars and sanctions. in one of baghdad's poorest areas, the people blamed the government. >> we are suffering. where

open up new opportunities to improve bilateral relations and work toward stability in the southern caucasus on the basis of the respect for territorial integrity it is particularly important to address the protracted conflicts i also raised the importance of moving forward in the five to talks on the conflict in transnistria and expressed concerns regarding development in our god look at how but by working together the european union and russia can make a decisive contribution to global governance and regional conflict resolution to global economic governance in the g. eight and in the g twenty and to a broad range of international regional issues i would like to congratulate president putin for taking over the chairmanship of the g twenty i am pleased that in the sentiment that president putin and the european union have discussed all these issues openly in a very constructive atmosphere i want to thank the president of the russian federation for the constructive and productive exchange and i wish you all of you a very happy new year and merry christmas of course. mr barroso you have the f

is no conflict inside of the west if you look to russia with the chechen conflict in the northern caucasus if you look to singe analogy owner that's been over for a decade now more than alive now more than a decade so it's not a conflict. well i mean i would still call it a conflict with a violent conflict but money is not a vote there's no vote there's not a violence in chechnya maybe around it but not in chechnya ok then i'll say cases here and let's look us laid out allegations and there was a trial here and yeah well i mean let's let's look at south ossetia let's look at abkhazia let's look at the transnistria we have a number of areas in which we have unresolved territory conflict that is not the situation the west simply speaking simply put our territory conflicts that we will still have you know dealt with or they are dealt with at the conference table we discuss these issues in a way that is very peaceful and if you look and that is i think the most dramatic really the most dramatic region in the world the south china sea the far east north eastern asia with north korea there and o

you have of course the foreign element these for all of the middle east the caucasus region in russia. to syria you are only because of that ideological reasons but because they were promised a salary by the qatari government and saudi arabia which is also something the base said publicly so these are the can groups i would like to call to why the us has now are two years to live in one of these groups that has the nuestra as an on as an al qaeda terrorists a clue. i think because. this group has the coast media for its various suicide bombings terrorist activity but actually not very different from other groups inside syria. or by the syrian regime. that just recently was a media article i think of the twenty nine. of the say have come together. but that the u.s. has. a terrorist organization and it would be nice to petition to say that we are all strong and until. you have no heat brigade. those close by new york times journalists were embedded with. sitting on a prisoner two i don't need to look at a government checkpoint and then unknown prisoners so i would doubt this distinction

from from the caucasus coming we are more where more and more people turning to islam in this country and they see that conversions they don't like it they are ready to they do respect it but being like me or not inside these know what i mean you know this is the this is the problem do you people want to agree heap there i don't really think here they want to do something or anything conversions will will ruin their identity i think that . traditions that i grew up with like celebrating christmas and how we need and things like that that i really value and actually when i was being in russia this this fall i kind of missed how we are and i will miss thanksgiving or any of the good old days i love them it's kind of normal if. we have to put up with it and i don't think this is so stressful that it makes me hate the world in fact i actually like russia well maybe missing christmas and being away is is one thing and the other thing is well for example in england they tried to make people forget the world christmas tree in the whole of the holiday tree you know this christmas is it may be

also online the deputy of russia's main muslim spiritual leader is shot dead in the north caucasus new details on that targeted attack authorities website. the afghan foreign ministry says their country has lost more than seventy million dollars in tax because foreign firms linked to nato are not paying their dues report says tax dodges rely on the u.s. led alliance to keep kabul off their backs for political analyst and former afghan m.p. . says local politicians are equally to blame. what was going on in two thousand and one two thousand and two when the interim authority came to existence in this country they signed deals exempting some of these companies who were dealing with neato and i said and then. many other companies came and started. carpetbagging and backpacking. illegitimate gains and they never paid taxes this is not new and this government will never have the guts to collect taxes from those rogue companies just an aviation alone. there are dozens and dozens of companies who are bringing passengers and cargo to this country and who are bringing other goods and they have

that's also online the deputy of russia's main muslim spiritual leader is shot dead in the north caucasus more details on the town attack ahead to artie's web site. iran says it will allow u.n. nuclear inspectors to look at the military base the specter of carrying out atomic related work but only if the threats against it are dropped but israel's prime minister built his reelection campaign around an anti iran platform and washington is piling on the sanctions well let's now talk to mohammad has uncanny from the faculty of political science and islamic studies at the saudi university thanks for joining us here on r.t. why isn't the international community taking iran up on its offer of goodwill. excuse me i lost your words can you repeat again yes why isn't the international community taking iran up on this offer of goodwill. well first of all i do believe that we have to define what is an international community you know the problem is that the americans have just. portrayed the international community in a way that's as if the whole war is such commissions it won't and that it's not th

is you so if you're interested in human stories i mean there's a lot you can find russia in the caucasus for example i mean just wild well things this is i mean since i've been here this is i've had this conversation with so many people and i would love to i mean when i look at a map and i see russia it's i'm i'm in too much in oroville i would not literally know where to stop. it's one of those places that you really need to i mean like i say i wouldn't know where to start it's hard to it's hard to come up with a plan of what you would do in russia you know so vast but. if we leave russia alone you you described as a person who has been every corner of the world is that true. true you've been everywhere i don't think so no well anyway it's easier to do to say where you have the right somewhere i deftly have been is the. talk to an antarctic certainly i've never been there. someone asked me this morning i think i've probably been to about eighty or ninety countries and i think this one hundred is almost two hundred countries almost so i've been half you know. is there a region a big regi

russia's main muslim spiritual leader was shot dead in the north caucasus with details on the targeted attack and to watch he don't come. i. believe that he would speak. to. her. when i was. able to leave good legal. and legal. document that i really. feel. doctors and nurses once again on the streets calling for plans to privatized hospitals to be scrapped striking for a fifth week in a row metal workers are also angry about possible layoffs where many still unsure whether their contracts will be renewed next year spain's government says the cuts are needed to maintain the health service through session countries regions an estimated one hundred forty five. your position in egypt has dismissed president mercy's calls for dialogue i mean he hasn't offered any real substance on wednesday merci delivered his first national address of the signing in the new charter hailing it is paving the road to democracy however the opposition insists the new constitution allows the islamic majority to form a dictatorship meanwhile egypt's prosecutor has ordered an investigation into claims the opposit

speaker of the house puts out his bill and just moments later has to pull his bill back because his caucasus in full revolt, that says something. we're in the midst of a civil war that's going on and i think the american public will be much to the collateral damage to what's going on on the republican side. i think we're looking on this problem down the road until the republican speaker gets his act together, if he remains speaker, if he has an up-or-down vote without the majority of the majority. >> even if they manage to avoid the worst, the way this process has played out before us probably won't fill americans for a whole lot of hope for the next two years, will it? >> no, though in a sense you could argue if they did actually pass something in the next 48 hours, which seems a little more likely than it did a day ago, then can you argue the cliff worked as it was designed. this was designed by congress to force congress's own hand. if something passes at the last minute, it's a case of at least that part of the system working out, congress doing what it forced itself to do. i think corne

we can, and that was made very clear in the white house, that we can do very best we can for the caucasusnd the country is waiting for us to make a decision. >> both chambers will gavel back in this weekend before the end of the year. earlier today, harry reid said he will bring the senate back into session on sunday at 1:00 p.m. eastern, and the house will return at 2:00 p.m. eastern on sunday, with votes expected in 6:30at 6:30? ris mccain and carl levin spoke to reporters for about half an hour. >> why don't you give them a bunch over here and let them pass it out. ok, sorry for the delay. we thought we had a vote, but there was no vote. senator mccain and i are part of a group of eight senators who have been working for about a month to come up with a proposal for our leaders and our conferences, which will hopefully overcome the gridlock that has so permeated the u.s. senate. the eight senators who have participated in this effort are myself, senator mccain, senator schumer, senator alexander, senator cardin, senator kyl, senator prior, and senator barasso. it is a bipartisan proposa