individual self determination whether she or sunni and a majority shia country like bahrain should be shia a majority sunni country like syria should well to me and maybe glee it weren't the geopolitical game going on there should arabia ok bing russia have to let me go to praise i forgot my very go ahead but i had before the break go ahead i'm marked on mark's promise that america should be a christian nation and a white nation because it's the majority nation i mean that's completely american only the land he or she answered to the basic tenet of democracy or freedom all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here this is going to start playing out again after that short break we'll continue our discussion on saudi arabia stay with art . i was thinking somehow i have to come back because mom was waiting for me. i just knew that everything would be fine for some reason there were so confident because we were going to get married officially after he came back how could he not come back the mere thought of it never crossed my mind. when the militants decided to try and break through. scr

country like bahrain should be shia a majority sunni country like syria should well sunni and maybe glee it weren't the political game going on there should arabia ok probably run far out of it let me go to praise him for the primary go ahead but i had before the break go ahead i'm marked on mark's promise that america should be a christian nation and a white nation because it's the majority nation i mean that's completely. shattered the basic tenet of democracy or freedom all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here this is going to charlotte bring out again and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on saudi arabia staying with our. leave the. technology innovation all the developments from around russia we've got the future covered. countries rich in natural resources are the poorest the colony is a colony of the big corporations it's a colony of someone's home leaders who are under the thumbs of the big corporations so they have to beg from the world bank's development of social programs goes to pay back debts. that they had and so every year they would borrow mon

country like bahrain should be shia a majority sunni country like syria should well sunni and maybe glee it weren't the political game only going on there should arabia ok brother run for that let me go to praise him for the primary go ahead go ahead before the break go ahead i'm marked on mark's promise that america should be a christian nation and a white nation because it's the majority nation i mean that's completely america owes the land where she had sort of a basic tenet of democracy or freedom all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here this is going to go to shirley out again and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on saudi arabia state with our. legal. well if you will show harmony why should be all the face i describe you know. pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm sure. this is the place that has been consecrated to god for almost a thousand of years people jam here twenty some years ago it's already established and i stick life on the silence. and people feel the love of christ all working. people say you can. come and something happens

so there was a perception that they were close to the shia.this made -- even where you see the president of the united states have vulnerabilities. something in kuwait, they did not want to take on some of these groups on what was a popular issue at the time of syria giving support to syrians. they did not want to look like they were acting as another faction in the community. i do not know anything about this, but there has been a lot of ruling family factionalism in kuwait and competition within the ruling family. i have no idea how this plays out or enters into the syrian issue. at least there is the potential that, again, what has been a popular issue in the past coming out in a position that is unpopular may be plagued against -- played against you within the ruling family. one thing that is interesting to think about though is the height of this is sort of passed now and the ruling family has a lot more influence right now and seems to be able to kind of control this. a lot of the ways they actually got more of the public coming back in

shia rally around the shia viewpoint and they control the government, you have seen the sunis feel alienated and the kurds defying their own region without too much reference to baghdad. that has led to an increase in violence and has been inflamed by a conflict in syria. >> and the u.s. sending 75 hellfire missiles and going to deliver 10 ten unarmed surveillance drones coming up in march. does this seem to represent some sort of change in our policy there? >> well, i don't know that it is much of a change. i think the u.s. has tried to provide support to the iraqi government since the withdrawal of the u.s. forces. but i think there is a big difference between the fight against al qaeda when the u.s. was present there and the fight against al qaeda that we see now. when the u.s. is present there, of course you have to stop al qaeda. just the recent attacks against these christians going to church, they are horrific and need to be stopped. sometimes it takes hard force to do that. but it has to be coupled with a political strategy. when the u.s. was in iraq, we had the suni awakening when w

country like bahrain should be shia a majority sunni country like syria should well sunni and maybe glee it weren't the political game going on there should arabia ok brother in florida then the oldest brother he's only got three go ahead but i had before the break go ahead i'm marked on mark's promise that america should be a christian nation and a white nation because it's the majority nation i mean that's completely america only the land he or she has sort of a basic tenet of democracy or freedom all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here this is going to go to shelling out again and after that chilled break we'll continue our discussion on saudi arabia stay with our. leave. countries rich in natural resources are the poorest africa's a colony it's a colony of the big corporations it's a calling of someone's home leaders who are under the thumbs of the big corporations so they have to beg from the world bank's development of social programs goes to pay back debts country is. good and so every year they would borrow money. and they would use that same amount of money to pay bac

iraqi sunnis say they have enough of what they call marginalisation by the shia led government. >> in the city of fallujah, armed men burnt a military vehicle, taking control of government and security officers. other gunmen blocked a highway into the city to stop government forces from approaching. all this happened as 44 iraqi members of parliament announced they'd resign. they are demanding the army get out of ramadi, the largest city here, and that a prominent sunni politician be released. >> i received the resignation from members of parliament. i'll do my best with the government institutions and international community. we are asking the government to answer the demands of the protesters, and to pull back their troops. >> in ramadi the army cleared protesters from their year-old sit-in. >> last night there were 30 al qaeda members there. we don't know who gave them the information. they fled when they found out the government forces were approaching. most of them ran away. >> sunnis say they are being treated unfairly by the shia dominated government. there has been unrest for

there was a report this week shias killed in syria.i was wondering if you can elaborate about that help that the shia community into weight is doing for hezbollah and in syria, and look underfunding, fighting with the syrian regime and that? to comment on what the man just said, and i agree with him, there is a fear now when you concentrate on the issue like this, without making a distinction, and i thank you for making the station between the organizations that are helping and the ones who are buying weapons and raising money for weapons, you will eventually have a fear that the government will crack down on these people and then the syrian people on the ground are going to suffer. thank you. so, on the shiite angle, i do not know much more than i have already said. this is something that i would like to look into further. it is clear fundraising is happening. the extent, but it is comparable on what is happening on the sunni side in amounts of money. kristen, maybe you can help, but i believe there is long-standing historical ties be

we didn't understand the depth of issues between the shia population and sunni and shia and kurdish so we relied on others that provided us that information which really was not true because they were ex-patriots who hadn't been in the country for a long time, long time as well so we underestimated and didn't understand so if we had known that i think we might have been gone about doing things a bit differently. >> rose: and fair enough, and why didn't we know that? is. >> well, i mean if you think about it we had very limited access, so we didn't have, you know, people on the ground, understand we had -- it had been a while, and i think, you know, what we do is we -- >> rose: i thought, even though we had a relationship before with kuwait and helped them in terms of the iron wrap -- >> yes, but what we underestimated was sanctions did have an impact. >> rose: right. >> that changed, i think, the regime began to change after we kicked them out of kuwait. i think that somewhat had more of a significant impact than we thought on the regime. but we just didn't understand the -- unless you

what i'm saying what i'm saying is the saudis and the iranians are in a battle it's the old sunni shia battle you've got egypt and turkey involved as well if you run gets nuclear weapons saudi arabia will get nuclear weapons in turkey will get nuclear weapons and egypt will get nuclear weapons then iraq will get nuclear weapons capable get nuclear weapons the entire regime will get nuclear weapons the whole air. well look this is a battle for head germany there's no question about it ok saudis can maybe that's true because the but maybe if i go wrong if i could go to brian maybe it would be better if the united states had a good relationship with iran and get rid of the drop this authoritarian tyrannical regime called saudi arabia maybe you'd be a better bet the u.s. government right now by engaging even in the first step of negotiations with the iranian government over its nuclear program or really about the unfreezing in a modest way of some of the sanctions not most of them against iran it raises the specter both for israel and for the saudi government and that there could be in fac

>> yes, shia labeouf. >> jimmy: shia labweff. >> labweff. >> jimmy: chet labewff. [ light laughter ]ian action send. [ romanian accent ] >> i have a romanian accent. [ romanian accent ] >> jimmy: very good. now, did you take class to talk like this? >> you got a little russian. >> jimmy: sorry, i'm not an actor. >> no, no. yes, i did. i studied for three months before we started filming and then we didn't have the money to keep the dialect coach on the set. so i basically just had to listen to the locals as a romanian. >> jimmy: how was romania? give us the scoop on that. >> oh, man. it is intense. it is not here. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: that's the worst guide description. you are not in america. >> you are not in america. >> jimmy: we have a clip of evan and shia labeouf in "charlie countryman." take a look. ♪ [ indistinct talking ] >> say, okay. charlie, please. >> yeah, i can't either. i don't know how to do that. i don't know how to do that, i'm sorry. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: i always wanted to do that! oh, you're so cool! evan rachel wood! "a case of you" is in theate

then you have internal shia strife.ou have iranian influence because of their concerns and what they do. you see all of these things come together. then the kurds have their own -- ands on how to there's always been mistrust. we have just watched this play out. watched, they are doing reasonably well. >> they are doing really well. in northern iraq, every time that you go back there, it is incredible the difference that you see. continuing to grow, a lot of thosement by turkey in areas. relatively secure. there was a bombing recently. the first one in many years. it had -- they have been able to maintain relative security. >> can you get them out by 2014? >> we can. i hope we do not have to. in afghanistan, we are making good progress. i was out there in january. >> how do you define progress? >> the afghan military has taken complete control of security. they have done it through this last fighting season. they have performed very well. they have the capability to provide security for the nation. they have proven it. t

you guys don't even seem to recognize this is a fight with the shia. that is not the american view. >> it's not that she has. their revolutionary regime for their really upfront. >> now, i think these are not the speech is obviously that officials make, i think in addition to the problem for the saudi's have you ran under any management, you know, there is a deep religious conflict here. .. of the ability to stay in power. a horrible year, a horrific year for the syrian people, and even for many people who are part of, sort, the sympathetic to the assad regime because the conflict continues. but in term of the state of players specialtly since the spring, the wind is a little more at the assad regime's sails. what i have seen on the ground and have heard from the analysts that i'm -- ic are credible and go in and out of northern syria and other places is the absence of any strategy to advance their goal. and maybe it is . >> the saudi strategy. >> it's similar to the u.s., but i think you get it in terms of not only the obama administration's posture,

committee parallels where the shia committee in kuwait was also a real center for shia islam, especiallyacross the gulf. there were some very prominent activist that came from iraq that settled in kuwait and are based the internet influence in transnational networks throughout the entire gulf. and some of them when industry as well. those were parlayed as well into business contacts on another site. so there's activist communities and you also have a higher level businessmen that were working for the syrian government across the gulf, a lot of men are waiting with this unit government as well. during the time in the gulf have a lot of money and were looking to invest abroad, but those relationships were established. >> beth, on the second question, about good funding versus bad funding, can you talk meant about what saudi arabia has attempted to do? there's been a lot of fundraising for humanitarian relief for syria in saudi arabia. but they've also attempted to crack down on -- can you talk about that a bit? >> this is a great example because i mean, across the gulf the syrian crisis, i

our problem is not with shia or persians. >> yeah.well, i would say on the syria case, i mean, again, another example in my view of how saudi arabia has a stated goal. they would like to see assad go. it's actually an alignment with u.s. policy. i happen to believe that u.s. policy actually is not in alignment with that stated goal. i think that's an obvious point. [laughter] if you look at 2013, any serious sort of neutral analyst will say this has been a very good year for the assad regime in terms of its ability to stay in power. a horrible year, a horrific year for the syrian people and even for many people who are part of sort of the -- who were sympathetic to the assad regime because the conflict continues. but in terms of the state of play especially since the spring, the wind is a little bit more at the assad regime's sails. so i would, again, go back to what the stated ambitions are and from what i've seen on the ground and i've heard from the analysts that i think are credible and go in and out of northern syria and other pl

here is shia -- bahrain. i can understand why even in the context of having an agreement with israel,, interest of the nuclear program, they see that the united states has a different or fundamental difference with ran. >> this is why i think syria is an important test case in many ways. when people talk about the iranians, we have had problems with home, but if you need more evidence, look at what they've done in syria. it is an expeditionary force. no matter what happens, the iranians seem to profit. saudi arabia concerns there makes sense. >> i think they would echo those concerns. a lot of actions to have an impact. we didn't cause the chaos in the region. this shift from a strategic paradigm, probably not a good time sustainable strategy in itself, but it had onsequences. it had consequences and it had consequences when you talk to people inside of saudi arabia and iraq. what i'm suggesting is the whole region is in this time of competition for implements -- - competition for influence. t is changing. i

country like bahrain should be shia a majority sunni country like syria should well sunni and maybe glee if it weren't political going on there should arabia ok brian russell i want to let me go to praise him for the primary go ahead go ahead before the break go ahead i marked on mark's promise that america should be a christian nation and a white nation because it's the majority nation i mean that's completely i mean are closed the land he or she has sort of a basic tenet of democracy or freedom all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here this is going to go to shirley out again and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on saudi arabia stay with our. leave. the pledge was a terrible mistake and led very hard to make our lives against a longer a plug that never had sex with the target there's no legs let's play. lists the m let's. listen. to the. think i fucked her. over by going to go did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy allmers. in fact the sing

i think this is a bit of a hoax i mean the attacks are carried out against shia communities and sunni communities i would like to refer to. a message. we last week. that. big capital and sunni arab parts of northern and western iraq have borne the brunt of the upswing in bloodshed so it's clear that not only. it's the sunni and shia the iraqi people started as a whole because they're not satisfied with mr malise handling the security they're not satisfied with. the services that don't exist and she was attacked special what is special about this is. there seems to be a return of the counterinsurgency all of the. you know was brought to iraq by the rails in two thousand and five to seven in the same press release from a.f.p. he said the most troubling bloodshed came early friday which is dirty november when authorities discovered the village of eighteen men including two tribal chieftains along in a farm near the sunni arab army. can i start and i and i get certainly get the line of what you are saying that it can i just ask you this is happening at a time when the justice minister has

iraq at least is majority shia country. we are not per power -- we are not prepared to see the shia take over. >> i will ask you both. at what point do the saudis have a point when it if there with american policy, and at what point when brian challenged the title of the panel, it is not alliance in that way. it is relationship. it seems to be a problematic relationship. insofar as a lot of it has to do with oil for security. it is been a lot of times the saudi's screaming at the americans do this, do that. before that, it is best to leave them, guide them, influence them. at what point when they are saying this are they right? when they are talking about syria or iran? we need you as a superpower leading, or you are wrong on syria. how do we distinguish the noise from when they are correct. >> you could argue they are already right in this regard. i would respond in terms, back to strategic interests and how having a clear plan of how this this go, if you wanted to go into in all in strategy, i don't think it won't happen.

they have long complained that the shia led government as marginalize them and targeted them for arrest. the flashpoint came in april when iraqi security forces conducted a deadly raid on the cd protest camp in how we judge a town north of baghdad al qaeda responded with a relentless campaign of bombings across the country targeting both shiites and other sunnis believe to be cooperating with the government. it was two years ago this week when us troops withdrew from iraq after nearly nine years of war at that time of qaeda's influence had been greatly diminished. they did not have the freedom of maneuver. they were very much even though there were dangerous. they were a shell of their former selves. us army major general jeffrey buchanan was the chief military spokesman as the americans left in two thousand eleven. even then he says there are concerns about the iraqi security forces' ability to defend the country they had some significant gaps that we all recognize they recognize that the us failed to reach a deal with iraq to allow american troops to remain in the country the us embas

but iraq, after all, at least in the sense as a majority shia country. this is a country that's 74% sunni. we're not prepared to see the shia take it over, and you're not helping. >> uh-huh. >> i think it's, actually, a very powerful argument. >> well, i'll ask you both, i mean, at what point do the saudis have a real point when they differ with american policy, and at what point is it just when brian challenged the title of the panel, alliance, no, i think it makes sense. it's not alicense in that way -- alliance in that way. it's relationship, right? and it seems to be in lots of ways a problematic relationship insofar as elliott was describing it, a lot does have to do with oil or security. and historically it's been a lot of times the saudis are screaming at the americans from the side do this, do that. and as elliott was saying about bandar and bush, it's best to lead them, guide them, influence them. but at what point when the saudis are saying, as elliott was describing, at what point are they right? it's either we need you as the superpower leadi

. >> jimmy: it's you an shia lebeouf against cars that turn into robots. [ laughter ] and you and shia a robot." [ laughter ] and that's as far as i made it. >> you got to see this movie. >> jimmy: you got to see this movie. one quarter of it is in 3-d. [ laughter ] and we won't tell you what part but you'll know it. we have a clip here. here's joaquin phoenix from the new movie from spike jonze. it's called "her." check it out. >> keep walking. keep walking. and stop. now turn around 360 degrees. slower. slower. good. okay. and stop. walk forward. and stop and sneeze. bless you. >> thank you. >> okay. turn to your right. stop. spin around. keep going. keep going. and stop. now walk forward. everyone thinks you're really drunk right now. and stop. now say, i'd like a slice of cheese please. >> i'd like a slice of cheese please. want a -- with that. sure. >> i figured you were hungry. >> thanks. >> jimmy: that's what i'm talking about. [ cheers and applause ] our thanks to joaquin phoenix. if you see him smoking take a picture put it on twitter. then we'll know and maybe we'll back toge

there's the shia majority in bahrain. the old desire for long geofftive over what is the persian guflt gull or the arabian gulf. i can't understand why even in the context of having an agreement with israel or -- not an agreement but common interest about the nuclear program, they see that the united, europeans, israel have a different or perhaps have a very different fundamental position with respect to iran. >> this is why i think syria is an important test case. when people talk about the iranians. it's not an expanse of power. they never really fight themselves. i think you were talking to the saudi tbbs you were talking to the emiratis and kuwaitis. we've had problems with them at home. if you need more evidence, look at what they have done in syria. as you said before it's an expedition their force. no matter what happens to assad, it seems the iranians stoned profit in the meantime. so saudi concerns there certainly make sense. >> and i think they would echo the concerns about iraq. but again, i think it's importan

the shias are supporting hezbollah against us. they're going attack us. this kind of rhetoric is change to hear in kuwait in the extremely dis-- diverse and messy society. essential like every society is. you didn't hear the direct conflicts in the past. i think they have been exacerbated by people's involvement. >> thank you very much. kristin, can you help give us a sense of the political and the social context for this kind of fundraising? why is it happening now? is it different than the kind of sectarian activism you might have seen in the '90s or '00s? >> sure. first, i would like to say, i mean, i really enjoyed reading elizabeth's book. i enjoy reading automatic -- all of her work. a lot of thing i'll be doing is providing context. she covered a lot of ground in her report. and one thing, i think, is worth to emphasize on what he said. kuwait is historically served as a main center for fundraising for islamist movement. i mean, that's been there for a long time. the reason it's been there -- a couple of things. one, kuwait is really rich. not only

to curb production of meat to the force of the genious nine in new daddy often the last outside a shia mosque in pakistan's got a sense that they are from attending the county and state kills two people including two police men sales of the common bond announce that dr could step up attacks against the minority shia community the suicide attack happened outside the mosque been only seven hundred people are offering the pianist some fine bomb explosions have been using the attack which also damaged several vacant spot outside the mosque off the ship sank. the suicide attack the detonated himself when he was at the hand in five plays a big mistake the bottom of the deal indeed. the deal gave up a body good. the mom of the good mom like another one of anemia. steve beshear said the data model. that gives it the bumbo wire. but so little time. what is going to deal with the meal money the woman told him it was at the four bottles of it. when boston tuesday's attack is to say can stop eating them i not teach the upcoming ep in pockets done and it's been a week. safety intentions have been d

in iraq violence between shia and sunni muslims continues. but that hasn't stopped an islamic leader joining the christmas eve mass at a church in baghdad. the people prayed for peace alongside the leader of the shia muslim political party the islamic supreme council of iraq other religious groups also joined one christian said this may be the first time for such a mixture of religions. to celebrate christmas in iraq together he still in the middle east syria refugees in lebanon prayed for an end to the civil war and their home country. nevada has accepted more than eight hundred thousand refugees from syria one family spent a quiet christmas eve at their apartment in beirut. they fled the northern syrian city of qom initially five months ago the fire father said they don't feel like celebrating when they think of their countrymen still caught in the conflict. baby wishes for the future the new school. and again sunday. i am happy to go back to school in stereo with my friends. to celebrate christmas with them someday barely decorated their r

invasion started while seeking to undermine the shia government sunni insurgents have a target civilian targets in different parts of the country bringing the total number of suicide bombings to fall silent the northern city of kirkuk is often caught in the crossfire lying close to al qaeda strongholds and being claimed by both the iraqi government and the autonomous kurdish authorities. found out how people that cope with the deadly violence. the iraq war is supposed to be over but these pictures tell a different story chaos and confusion the aftermath of yet another deadly blast here into a kook. which city has been described as. a symbol for the country's most intractable woes escalating violence the conflict among ethnic religious groups and the fight over iraq's resources. getting there was our first challenge a group of kurdish soldiers had agreed to take us in both baghdad and the kurds lay claim to cure kook and are sparring over control aside from the danger those entering from the kurdish side need special permission to get past the iraqi checkpoints we inhabit. roadblock. and

the dominant nation the americans threw out saddam hussein and he was our enemy and now we've got a shia. government in baghdad well since you brought up saddam hussein in iraq iran is much stronger internally a lot more unified than iraq was in case of a conflict it will not be a pushover and everyone understands that when the u.s. talks about a military option there is it really ready for another tough thing gates meant in the region is it even in the country's interest. well i don't think a war with iran would be in the interest of the united states at all. and i hope and pray there is no conflict between the two countries but i think you're somewhat mistaken when you say that iran is more unified if you take a look at iran the core center of iran is persian but there are baluch baluchistan in the sound system baluchistan there are secessionist movements there there are arabs in the southwest there are kurds up in the north east and there are zero three in the north made at the end of world war two stalin of russia in the red army was in that area and had to be forced out of there in

is sad anyway and it is actually in terms of the general picture i don't think it's a sunni versus shia it's the iraqis fighting each other with the instigation of a variety of people from within the country the region and. that's why we have such a high toll of casualties in iraq which is ten years after the so-called. liberation of iraq by the western powers by the usa the iraqis have lost more people now than ever before the country is destroyed more than it has ever been before and this is this is not a natural disaster this is a willful act by the international community especially the united nations and the western powers you say it's a rocky's fighting each other well if it's not religious then it's along what lawyers who say fighting who as you see it well the principle of the divide and rule philosophy is not something new everybody practiced it in every area and every time in history divide and rule you divide people. i don't know any lines you want whether you want one sectarian or ethnic you have the kurds and the arabs you have the muslims and the christians you have the sh

and to love and now work commander of the shia militant group has been killed outside his house in beirut he was shot as he returned from work at midnight the organization has accused israel of carrying out the assassination saying that he had been targeted before but managed to escape multiple attempts on his life israel has denied an involvement. a bomb attack has been for oil in the russian republic of dagestan with the help of a robot passers by noticed a suspicious package near a shia mosque and cold the police a bomb disposal unit came to diffuse the device equivalent to ten kilograms of t.n.t. using a small radio controlled robot it removed the explosives and transported them to a safe place detonating the bomb with zero damage. up next a trip to an orthodox christian retreat in karelia vom so journey you're watching r t international don't go away. dramas the truth be ignored. stories others refuse to go to. places changing the world right now. to take your old days you know. from roads to to. doctors. are you a deeply divided kid sovereign decision to walk away from an associatio

fought on is grounds internal interests of the shias the sunni is the kurds the religious fundamentalists the terrorists the insurgents also externally u.s. interests raney and interests you came trysts but this is a terrible legacy and a state that was already weak in two thousand and three has now completely collapsed ten years later how to make the situation better at the moment i cannot see a way and i don't think those parties who are behind the violence would let it get worse there are far too many competing interests there is too much struggle for power on so many sides that i cannot see it being allowed to get better lottie has created a special online project a website which brings together detailed reports on the dar scale of the violence in iraq you can see that online at r.t. dot com for more of the big events of the year our series why it twenty thirty matters will be running all this week here on r.t. . in syria a week of air raids on the northern city of aleppo has allegedly left almost five hundred people dead although the exact figures coming from the anti government grou

in the past year attacks against the shia have tripled. yes and who is behind who is behind their time. who is behind them is hard to say because a lot of the time there is a car bomb somewhere and nobody knows nobody acknowledges it but more recently i can say that it is what they call al qaeda in iraq al qaeda in iraq has taken advantage of the discontent both in iraq and in syria against their government and they have directly attacked the states of syria and iran and this has been since april in iran from your point of view why this situation in iraq got so much worse case here. the situation is this. after the americans left at the end of two thousand and eleven. the prime minister in iraq who had tried to be cross a tarion up to that point started to have to swing the policies and the soon as were more and more distrustful of the government and the end of two thousand and twelve the start of protest the got more and more frequent and of the twenty third of april of this year the iraqi security forces actually are tucked protesters an

suspected israel of poisoning in which television denies that over the now where a commander of the shia militant group hezbollah has been killed outside his house in beirut he was shot as he returned from work at midnight the organization has accused israel of carrying out the assassination saying that he had been targeted before but managed to escape multiple attempts on his life israel has denied any involvement. a bomb attack has been foiled in the russian republic of dagestan with the help of a robot passes by noticed a suspicious package near a shia mosque and called the police a bomb disposal unit came to diffuse the device the equivalent to ten kilograms of t.n.t. using a small radio controlled robot that removed the explosives and transported them to a safe place detonating the bomb with no damage. up next as promised the turbulent situation in ukraine is the center of debate and people about cross-talk. what defines a country's success. faceless figures of economic growth. for a factual standard of living. if you refuse economic up downs in the final months they belong to the o

our problem is not with shia or persians. case,, another example of how saudi arabia has a stated goal. they would like to see assad go. it is in alignment with u.s. policy. u.s. policy actually is not in alignment with that statement. 2013, any serious neutral analyst will say this has been a good year for the assad regime in terms of its ability to stay in power. a horrible year for the syrian people. even for people who were part of i would go back to what the missions are. the analyst that i figure credible, the absence of any strategy to advance their goal. maybe it is the saudi strategy. it is similar to the u.s.. you get in terms of knowledge , thisama administration reticence to go into -- so you can evaluating and say we don't have any strategy that will meet our goals, but the saudi's are doing that. they are doing things in ways that maybe not topple the regime, the creates the security problem that could quite rival the challenges we see in yemen or northwest pakistan. i fear and 2014 the situation could slip rapi

there was a report this week about ten kuwaiti shias -- [inaudible] working in hezbollah. i was wondering for you can elaborate more about the fact that the shia community in kuwait is going for hezbollah and in syria and what kind of funding and what -- fighting with the syrians regime and stuff like that. the second one is, [inaudible] the manager said and i agree with him. there's a fear now when you concentrate on the issue like this without making distinction i thank you for making the distinction between the -- [inaudible] organizations that are helping and the ones who are buying weapons and raising money for weapons. you really are going to -- is there a fear that maybe the government of kuwait now -- being sanctioned and then the syrian part-time -- underground are going suffer. thank you. >> well, so on the shia angle, i unfortunately don't know more than i've already said. i think it's something i would like to look in to further. it's clear that fundraising is happening. i don't know the extend but i imagine it is probably exriebl to what is happening on the su

we have more about the leader and what his death means to the mostly shia muslim group. >> reporter: in the driving rain hezbollah prepared to put to rest one of its most senior commanders, a funeral in the mainly shia city where he grew up. in life little was known about the secretive leader. in death, some background is emerging. he had been a key figure in operations against israel 37 his place in hezbollah dating back to the '80's. he's thought to have played a part in the war against israel. his son was one of the fighters who died in an airstrike. his fate was to die from gunshots out of he's home. this one in south beirut. hezbollah immediately accused israel being behind the killing saying there had been several attempts in the past. israel denied involvement saying accusations were an auto reflex without evidence. >> reporter: first its own security, when an important leader like this can be shot dead outside of his home. and also if this is a part of an escalating campaign against hezbollah for its involvement in the war of syria. >>> last month there was a twitter claim af

ther reasons question mar >> i think that is one of the main reasons many of these killings of shiaset little notice. and saudi arabia has, through arms contracts, through its money, sort of made itself part of the international establishment in which normally foreign leaders visiting saudi these don't bring up delicate topics. and could very little pressure on the saudis to do anything about it. but it enables the saudis to really go on supporting jihadi organizations at the state or private level in the same way they were doing in afghanistan, post afghanistan when they supported the taliban and before iraq,after 9/11 during after iraq. there seems no into it, but it is rather astonishing there is less reaction from governments and the media in the u.s. and western europe. >> what about that? in theue of the media united states and how a cover saudi arabia? -- and how it covers a saudi arabia? >> it doesn't really cover saudi arabia. rather delicate coverage. of course, the saudi's don't make it easy for journalist to have access. but many of the facts about saudi arabia's relation

if you talking about the semi- shia divide, they are at opposite ends of the spectrum. while many will greet this as an act of benevolence design to support and bolster the state, there is pressure from all sides. to look at itely with a strong dose of skepticism. >> adam, thanks very much indeed, reporting from beirut. chancellor angela merkel and tennis star boris becker are michaelose wishing shoemaker a speedy recovery. he is battling for his life after suffering severe brain trauma in a skiing accident in the french alps. dr. sadist too early to say whether he will pull through. -- doctors say it is too early to say whether he will pull through. in thehis head on a rock french out. the 44-year-old german was airlifted to a local hospital before being transferred to another facility for further examination. he had he arrived suffered a serious head injury and was in a coma and required immediate surgical care from the neurological unit. last night he was in critical stage, he and at this will remain in the critical condition. >> doctors added that it was still too e

assad forces and hezbollah and other shia fighters are gaining ground. >> translation: we could hear the the gun battles, me and my daughter took the position to get out. a man drove us to the border. we'll wait here until my sons and husband make it, i hope. >> her daughter is sick with a fever. >> translation: i don't have any medicine. we have nothing. we left as you see us now. we didn't think we'd make it here. >> the sun may be setting on this road. for the people escaping the fighting, there's nothing to look forward to. aside from the wind and rain there's the cold. the main enemy now. like so many aspects to the war, it shows no mercy. >> with the makeshift camps and a quagmire and an overcrowding and shiffering form of dest tuition. the lebanese topulation is 40,000, add to that 50 methods refugees and the situation is dire. there's heap laid on under the campus. 70 families are housed here. next door the municipality has permanent shelter. they are called homes for families of the syrian martyrs. >> with protection from the cold new arrivals are settling here. the u.n. is