so if greece stood its ground. the banks. greece. and. what constitutes one to go down say in the show delta they know. this is the truth six. months or is that so much seven and there's a huge decision by the french toast divided against itself the sunni shia conflict rages across the arab middle east and beyond is this sectarian division being used . he is under siege for. destruction without mercy. what could have been just ruins. saved by a great sacrifice. and restored by huge efforts. a remarkable reminder of courage and selflessness. beauty is of more people. the russian the song i. choose your language. because you know if. someone. chooses the least the concerns get clinical. choose the opinions that invigorating the good. choose the stories get into a good life choose to access to your office. live . live. olympos. her mother. the speed. her her. mum will. sleep good luck good luck to her mum just see the mummy mummy mummy mummy. mummy i'm a little. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lang you think you unders

so if greece stood its ground. the banks. greece. and merkel was tough to choose one to go down say in a showed they know. this is the truth. little. girls are. there on. the street. you. we're. going. to come out of it in a. moment but i'm a little. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

portugal greece and spain have. full blown still colm syndrome finds the study host to just a crippling bit bonkers coast full of the loans and dependency and a terrifying twist the state's so-called risk of the same as the host each take has first great premier pop at the most then it's a nice moment to see. multinational because for stints of power don't call us and thing us develop the theory he joins us now why did you call it that. is seen drum because i can see that that governments are kidnapped by b.s. because late we could achieve this kind of people and. they are not defending that . we can see that greece and spain mainly because. instead of. being able to work on our. ways to go out of crisis they are getting here was the solution these of course he said gains the interest. of people well or in these very issues and example they decided not to use. odious states in international law loans moultrie paid because taken against the interests of the people equate those debts repayment was loaded in favor of l

so if greece stood its ground. the banks. greece. and merkel was tough to choose one to go down say in a showdown they know. this is the truth. it's perched atop a jaw drop and the view from that the ball scrubland stretches this fall as the eye can see up for a city that chilled all of siberia for centuries. it lost its economic importance even before it was bypassed by the chance siberian railway but the a spiritual center. things like these are a yearly occurrence thousands of orthodox worshippers of them selves and blessid water to commemorate the baptismal jesus. it doesn't matter if it's minus thirty it's a siberian tradition i do it myself every year for everyone to overcome their worst fears it is desirable to take the plunge. but that's picture postcard churches the story of a city built by opportunist explorers political exiles and crafty fur traders. in the fifteen eighties the russians had only just conquered siberia taking it from the muslims. surrounded by enemies to be their stronghold constructed on top of the city bu

so if greece stood its ground. the banks. which have to choose one to go down say in a showed they know. this is the truth. secret laboratory to mccurry was able to build the world's most sophisticated robot which fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tunes mission to teach creation why it should care about humans in the world this is why you should care only on the r.t. dot com. he and some to see. destruction without to see. what could be just ruins lives saved by a great sacrifice. understood by human jets it's. a remarkable reminder of courage and selflessness. beauty is a. russian a site. that. luke lives. speak. with. lisa. lisa. slim on. line i'm a little. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture.

similarly in greece. so, you had executives coming to greece, bribing politicians. the greek government -- they did not listen. then 2008. the conservative prime minister, he is not a stupid man. he was a terrible prime minister, but he is not a stupid man. you know what he did? he bailed out. he has not spoken since. he affectively called for a general election. he did not contest it. it was much worse than obama's first debate. he appeared before them and was like "don't vote for me." he lost that election. he did not have to call for that election. he called for it to lose it, to stay at home. he has not spoken since. he is having a nice holiday. and then there was papandreou. i was an advisor up until 2006. so i am not to blame. who unfortunately, he did not see the crisis of the eurozone collapsing. the eurozone had no foundation. there was an earthquake. it starts unraveling with greece. and let's say between 1995 2008 god and his angels descended on an athens and ran the show. with rationality, omniscience, ethos, and morality. greece would not have been the

former leader of greece cancelled a referendum. we said this was after he made a deal with john paulson the hedge fund manager and lloyd blankfein they had a meeting with happened rails in greece right before the collapse and before the redo the lao them to have the referendum to vote against the troika coming in just in their country we said that there was a huge payoff for this turns out say five hundred fifty million euros now discovered in papa jails mom's account and get in here you have a black hole of debt in the government finances of athens of greece and that was caused by the black hole of debt in goldman sachs's bank account in their accounts so that was go the greece is a black hole of debt because of goldman sachs's black hole of debt and here and radio was saying there is no alternative the population of greeks all you greek people you have to give us your money you have to have austerity we have to take all your wealth put it into this black hole of death in the meantime his money his wealth was safe in these mountai

debt ridden greece gets its latest installment of bailout funds needed to keep the economy afloat in exchange for a debt buyback scheme which many see as counterproductive. and as the u.n. atomic watchdog resumes talks with iran and we look at why many iranians consider acquiring nuclear energy as not just a matter of necessity but of national pride. world news live from our moscow headquarters i'm lucy catherine of and you're watching our t.v. well a ukrainian journalist kidnapped by syrian rebels faces execution on thursday unless a fifty million dollar ransom is paid and car has been working in syria during the conflict helping international news outlets including our team. now the world's main groups defending journalist have strongly condemned this attack as well as the general targeting of reporters our middle east correspondent paula slayer has been following those developments for us the journalists unhappy coach never was taken hostage in october and holmes the free syrian army has held her for nearly two months they've accused her of being both a russian and a syrian spy sh

was part of the second bailout loans which greece started receiving. it's not the banks that have failed it's. the economic situation that was created that has decimated the greek banking sector which was. one among the most resilient. in europe it was not a never exposed to toxic instruments will function fine but then came the now these banks are now nonetheless if these bags do need a bailout i guess some of the brunt of that is going to fall on the public isn't it . oh no most of it is going to fall to the dock on the public because the loans on which. this recapitalization of the banking sector is going to greece are coming from. the troika e.u. i.m.f. and the e.c.b. and they are going to be paid they're going to be part of the big national debt which is going to be paid by the greek taxpayer who is already blackly so it does is also it is bad news for the greek public. communal immediately a very short. yes i can last question tears on how do you assess this whole bailout policy the whole bailout strategy for greece the you say your country when

greece is standing has dropped -- greece's standing has dropped. somalia, north korea, and afghanistan are considered to be the most corrupt in the world. the report said, in greece, public confidence in the authorities had dropped significantly. >> there was this list where it emerged that former finance minister christine lagarde, now the imf chief, pastelist to her greek counterpart of people who were evading taxes, but -- passed a list to her greek counterpart of people who were evading taxes, but it was never pursued. >> politicians and officials are taking bribes, even as austerity programs continue. >> earlier, i spoke to the research head at transparency international. i asked which country had made the most progress in the last year at overcoming corruption. >> it is difficult to single out individual countries. what we want to focus on is the countries that stay at the top of our index. we have the scandinavian countries, countries like new zealand, where the commitment access to information, to the justice system working, to open budgeti

he can understand why they are anxious to get out of greece. >> greece is in a bad way right now because the state is imposing ever more taxes on companies. they are being milked for all they are worth. some of them have had enough and are taking their business elsewhere. >> this financial adviser agrees. these days, he is working with a growing number of wealthy clients from greece. >> i have observed an increase in demand on the part of private clients from greece -- clients worth up to 5 million euros. we are confident that this demand will continue. >> the stakes are high, and switzerland is cleaning up, but even in switzerland, not everyone approves of what is going on. according to one suisse think tank, every year, the country takes about 30 billion euros in tax revenue from foreign companies. >> when it comes to taxation, everyone should be treated equally. it is not acceptable for switzerland to cherry pick and take liberties at the cost of others. >> needless to say, this multi millionaire has a different opinion, but he is concerned about the exodus of businesses from greece.

at the center of it all, greece. the country grappled with a need for bailouts with strings attached in the form of severe budget cuts that sparked protests from the people. however, the financial crisis in europe is providing an opportunity for china. earlier this year, we heard from new york times reporter liz alderman on a chinese shipping company that is making waves in greece. > > how successful has this shipping company, known as cosco, been so far in greece? > > it's an interesting story. this chinese basically state- run shipping company came in here about three years ago in a $500 million deal that ever since then has been a model for the country, because what they did is they bought half of piraeus port, which is an ancient port in greece and one of the most important ports in the southern mediterranean. what they did was they basically took an operation that had been effectively lagging under greek ownership and completely turned it around. > > have the the greek people been welcoming of this? the chinese

germany will be giving more financial aid towards greece now we saw m.p.'s voting with four hundred seventy three saying yes to this aid package one hundred saying no and eleven abstentions now what this does mean though and it's being talked about throughout the week is in next year alone it could cost germany over seven hundred million euros but we are seeing the politicians at least giving their support financial support towards greece but that support isn't being particularly backed up by some of the electorate here people on the streets of germany suggesting that perhaps greece should be left to its own devices. that is enough because we won't see this money ever again. at some point it should be stopped it's high time they were capable of helping themselves we're ok for now but someday we could also go broke there's alice speck north like no doubt to vice is all you we have already given at least so much more on the issues started only a lot going on hunger strike. and there's nothing more it's made i don't well they were people speaking just outside

calling it a big success for greece and a big success for europe. investors are still uncertain about the global economic taken to stabilize the euros zone. major central bank leaders are beefing up the coordinated action to secure confidence in global financial markets. they're extending a program that makes it easier for commercial banking to borrow money. taking part are the u.s. federal reserve and the european central bank as well as the central banks of canada, britain and switzerland. the leaders agreed to extend the foreign currency liquidity swap by one year. the arrangement was set to expire next february. the bank of japan whether to join the plan at the policy meeting next week. it was introduced last november when commercial banks had trouble getting money from the markets due to the european credit concerns. the bank leaders say their decision shows they're taking all possible measures to ease global financial strains. >>> more business headlines for you next hour. here's a check on markets. >>> north korea's state-run media say the co

. >> the german parliament approves billions in loans and guarantees to save greece from bankruptcy. >> with more and more shoppers seeking out handcrafted and traditional gifts, germany's famous christmas markets struggled to keep up with the demand. tens of thousands of egyptians are out protesting against president morsi at this hour after an islamist-led assembly raced through the approval of a new constitution, a move to end the crisis. >> the document is based on sharia law. critics say it ignores fundamental democratic principles and marginalizes the nation's large christian populations. it has set the stage for conflict in a more increasingly divided nation. >> opponents of the president are outraged at the document adopted by the assembly. protesters are maintaining a vigil, and demonstrations are growing. critics warn that egypt is fast becoming an islamic state. >> hosni mubarak never divided the egyptian people. now, there is president morsi, and we do not know if he is the president of egypt or the president of the muslim brotherhood. >> islamists who dominate the assemb

however the deal might not actually be as good as it appears for the eurozone greece's given its financial back is something of an early christmas present by buying back a chunk of its debt from them however when they take the wrapping paper off that gift they won't find it's a little less which they've asked for as part of a bond buyback scheme which saw athens buy back its own bonds at around thirty four percent of their original value the international monetary fund had expected greece to be able to get its debt situation down to one hundred and twenty four percent of overall economic output by twenty twenty now that really does not seem likely right now this is because the i.m.f. to say well we won't be lending any more money to any countries that can't pay back their debts however there is a dangerous precedent with this in terms of greece been able to return the money of course private investors private creditors greece well a lot of banks and a lot of insurance companies have already had to take that hit and it may swell there's no way we're going to get this cash back from greece b

check out greece. that's what happens when a country avoids making tough fiscal decisions for too long. >>> a top republican pollster about what went wrong on their side. a lot of information coming here and why if republicans don't change the way they do business they may be on the losing end of elections for years to come. plus, the black helicopter crowd is at it again. republicans in the senate reject a united nations treaty to ban discrimination against the disabled. they say it would allow u.n. officials to come into this country and force home-schooled children into government-run, that is public schools. senator john kerry joins us to cut through the nonsense. >>> also tonight, the simpson's mr. burns gives us a rich man's look at the fiscal cliff. >> think of the economy as a car and the rich man is the driver. if you don't give the driver, he'll drive you over a cliff. >> that's an aside show and this is "hardball," the place for politics. >>> never too early for pollsters to start head to 20

britain greece skips its latest installment of bailout funds needed to keep the economy afloat in exchange for a debt by about scheme which many see as counterproductive. and. watchdog resumed talks with iran we look at why many iranians consider quire of energy is not just a matter of necessity but of national pride. welcome to r.t. world news around the clock kerry just ukrainian journalists kidnapped by syrian rebels faces execution on thursday that's a fifty million dollar ransom is paid. had been working in syria during the conflict helping international media including r.t. european federation of journalists has strongly condemned the targeting reporters making outrageous demands a middle east correspondent for the smear is following developments. the journalist and her coach never was taken hostage in october and no hones the free syrian army has held her for nearly two months they've accused her of being both a russian and a syrian spy she has appeared in two you tube videos that were released earlier by the free syrian army and in one of those she appealed to the embassies of ukra

kona welcome to a business see a large loop oil has been discovered in greece's tax system embezzled money amounts to twenty eight billion euros per year that's equal to fifteen percent of the troubled economies g.d.p. now the international monetary fund is blaming businessmen government officials and even actors for neglecting to pay what they owe the country but apparently the fund believes it is impossible to return all of that money and suggests a write down fifty percent of it now while also adopting a law to automate the system deducting the from the embezzlers a bank account. of what's happening on the markets which we actually managed to show a bit earlier in the program or two steps forward one step back for russia is the ruble it has lost around three quarters of monday's gains versus both the dollar and the euro now on the russian stock markets it seems indeed not a creature was stirring not even a mouse as i said before russia traditionally celebrates christmas on the seventh of january so tuesday was a working day because it was pretty much the only market trading very l

debt level for greece. your of the program is not an option. everybody here is -- failure of the program is not an option. everybody here is saying the program will succeed. >> thanks for that update. athens is going for a bond swap to cut some 20 billion euros off of its debt load. we talk about how that went down on the frankfurt stock exchange. >> the buyback offer, which the greek government made to private investors, it is much better than the market price of these government bonds was during the last few weeks. that is why many in the markets believe that maybe investors will accept to take part of this deal. the overall movement on the stock trading floor monday was a bit mixed, not so good economic data from the united states came in. on the other hand, chinese economic data looked quite good. it indicates that the economy in china is expanding again. that means that german companies can hope for new orders from china again, and the markets here can hope for new chinese money to be invested soon int

breeds a sigh of relief as greece scrapes through with its. watchdog talks with iran to examine. how secret nuclear. to practice is if. you're watching kerry johnston at least sixteen people have reportedly been killed and many more injured including children in a bomb explosion in the syrian capital of damascus this follows several blasts outside the interior ministry building in damascus on wednesday it's not yet clear who was behind the bombings. and admitted it was responsible for similar attacks in the past washington has denounced the most terrorists something the key rebel coalition in syria has condemned what is going to experience. it's clear that washington is trying to distance itself from extremists in syria they have designated the front a terrorist organization it's thought to be one of the most aggressive and ruthless groups currently involved in the conflict washington's decision to call them terrorists is seen as more of a symbolic move because many other fighters in syria possibly most of them welcome the efforts of those there's a terrorist efforts that include

is this is side you think that greece is on the road to recovery in a better bet these days or not going to. listen to music. but unfortunately. there. isn't an easy to. just give you an example. as we thought. but of course it's easy for your to so will use to determine experience so. will you see. more and. more stuff in for people with. so it's going to get tougher for angela merkel to get the there the backing to do this and it's going to get tougher for greece to come cap in hand in the future and is well let's let's talk about what the public think of it in germany gather some sixty percent of germans would rather see greece kicked out of the euro zone rather than pour more cash into it even if it's even as it stands at the moment along and you think can't keep up her financial support or is this the edward well you know. the. the oregon national audience is and look of you know. for recent it's not exactly a problem or for this between countless interest through the. economic divide between the sides in the north but long as the new congress we're going to see that clearly or spen

your resume sire relieved as greece's great strewn with its dead buyback scheme with afghans now pulling flying for billions more in bailout cash. and the new u.n. nuclear watchdog or news talks with iran hoping to examine facilities they believe how secret up comic development might the evidence to back this is pushing this. it's not me i'm here in moscow are you watching our team with me to bomb what's a washington's decision to brand a leading rebel group in syria as a terrorist organization spock's of course of all drage among others who enjoy america's overwhelming support the key rebel coalition recognized by the u.s. as the sole representative of all the syrian people has thrown its weight behind al qaeda linked to al nusra front archies gannett you can experience it's clear that washington is trying to distance itself from extremists in syria they have designated the front a terrorist organization it's thought to be one of the most aggressive and ruthless groups currently involved in the conflict washington's decision to call them terrorists this in as more of a symbolic move bec

this shows that greece can meet its financial commitments. i spoke to the fellow at the peterson institute for international economics. >> i think was s&p is catching up to is the improved political goodwill in the rest of the euro area towards the greek economy. yesterday, greece got 34 billion euros as a quid pro quo for having implemented a long list of reforms and fiscal austerity. s&p as saying, we expect this money to continue to flow from up euro area. nd we expect thre greek government to continue to implement economic reforms in the future. >> does this upgrade change anything for grece in rea ?ce ter >> the greek exit from the euro area is an extremely unlikely event, precisely for the reason s&p outlined -- that the euro area has politically decided to keep greece in the euro area. this is not something that will make a big difference in the short term, but because it does not reflect a change in the domestic economy in greece. it's equally important, it does not really change anything with respect to the european central bank, bec

yes greece while you are comparing greece to russia and then that's symptomatic because i have read in a couple of the that russia is no different from greece but differences on gas i mean well. do you agree that there we may be facing the same problem where of course russia is. not inside the for the eurozone well around that it was going to be enough i thought i would have you know clear arras rule if you know where then we would have to become portugal you remember that there may actually surprise portugal as almost a reference persia goes in terms of g.d.p. if you seriously are we facing similar problems with a not really a not now i am a while or let's put it this way. of course is associated with huge problems with public that is the one and from this press taxi of our problems very different greece is like grocery shelf years ago. and. that country can get out of its. speaking of structural problems to increase competitive strayed from problem this prosperity and are we can say there are still no larry it is. still situation is different because greece has an employment in th

greece and spain were the worst hit. >> eventually, it was the european central bank's controversial bond-buying program that manage to come down the markets -- calm down the markets. >> germany's finance minister says he thinks the worst is behind us. is he right? >> the wildfires in 2012 were the worst spain had experienced in years, but it was not the only disaster the country had to deal with. the financial sector was also in flames. right from the beginning of the year, it was clear that the eurozone had a tough time ahead. credit rating agencies handed out significant downgrades to spain and portugal in particular. europe's firefighting coalition of finance ministers hoped a fiscal pact with tight budgetary controls and national debt breaks would need future crises in the bud, but some economists were more realistic. >> the fiscal pact was basically superfluous. we already knew that all the countries were trying to cut back. weather or not they continue making cuts in 2018, which is what the fiscal pact promise, is of little interest to the markets. >> agrees also posed a chall

with me dmitri medvedev and co a large loophole has been discovered in greece's tax system and battled money amounts to twenty eight billion euros per year and that's equal to around fifteen percent of the troubled economies g.d.p. the international monetary fund is blaming businessmen government officials and even actors for neglecting to pay what the country but apparently the fund believes it is impossible to return all of that money and suggest to write down fifty percent of this same time it's also adopting a law to automate the system suggest adopting a law which would be ducked the necessary sum from the embezzlers bank account. rise quickly take a look at the markets it was a very very quiet day of course most market closed two steps forward one step back for russia's ruble it has lost around three quarters of watergate and on monday against both the dollar and the euro now on the russian markets it seems not a creature was stirring not even a mouse russia traditionally celebrates christmas on the seventh of january so tuesday was a working day but because it was pretty much th

to do that, greece must first settle it unpaid bills. >> of the 9 billion euros that greece still owes, we will pay back everything by 2013 in accordance with the troika deal. >> so, for now, greeks can breathe easier. eurozone finance ministers approved another round of bailout funds set to be released in the coming days. >> to syria now. for the first time, russia, a key ally of damascus, has said the assad regime is losing control and that a rebel victory can no longer be ruled out. >> thursday, dozens of people were killed in bombings in and around the syrian capital. a car bomb killed the most -- claimed the most lives. >> it is for this building and and several others. reports by syria's state run -- and destroyed -- it destroyed this building and damaged several others. the government said the bombing was a terrorist attack, a term syria's president, basher of assaad -- bashar al-assad, uses to describe rebel activity. russia has acknowledge the rebels might defeat the government. until now, the kremlin has been a firm ally of the syrian regime. after recent developments, a defe