in general in the region because it's not as black as black and white as it used to be but iran is an issue here and we hear a lot of saber rattling right now in so let's look at the issue of syria and iran because there's a lot of countries in the world including the united states would love to see the iranians punished somehow one way or another you know take down hezbollah you mention to masala already i mean it's really has nothing to do about the poor people of syria or democracy it's a geo political play to go after to turn around and turn around would be oh i met loser if the regime in damascus did fall well it's both exactly which part of the reason why the united states would like to see assad go because then iran loses its only regional ally and it further isolates you are allowing the united states and israel to put more pressure on it to stop its nuclear weapons program suspected nuclear weapons program so there is a clear strategic interests go ahead jump in i just want to jump in i do think there are any and they're greatly concerned here i think one of the problems at the

top of their concern is if the syrian regime falls that in a sense the arab spring will blow back into iran again in the sea and taken there in the opposition or own country so i think just for the strategic reasons they want syria to stay because it's their pipeline and lawson has once important regional ally but i think it also has domestic implications for them that they're really concerned about what you think about that james i mean what how does the rand play into all of this here because again i look at western mainstream media and they're just doing this typical colored revolution element here which we we all have to be honest with ourselves we don't really know what's much of what's going on on the ground because western media all media as far as i can tell all been banned from the country so all these numbers coming about casualties guesstimates as far as i'm concerned. well that's a very valid point peter i mean the endgame here is iran i mean the neoconservatives in the us the pro israel lobby want to take down the ronnie regime because it supports the enemies of israel and hezbollah and lebanon and hamas and

that's what this is all about that's what iraq was all about iraq wasn't about oil how much oil are we getting out of iraq it's negligible i mean it's nothing how many a lot with oil company american oil companies there was about taking down saddam hussein because he supported the enemies of israel and with regard to the palestinian resistance there so with iran that's what then game is for this agenda like i said i'm not saying that elements of the pros are a lobby started that revolution or uprising in syria but i think the numbers have been inflated i think i saw an artsy piece about that about it about reporting entity and they've been exaggerated in western media and like i said then game is iran you can read my friend's book the transparent cabal dr steven seagal ski and that is what we're we're working towards they want to take down the neocon service and wrestle pros are a lot we want to take down the. main arab ally and that's syria and it all goes back to nine hundred sixty seven peter and israel's deliberate attack on the u.s.s.

liberty of a good friend former republican congressman paul finley and he told me when israel got away with murdering american marines and sailors on the u.s.s. liberty on june eighth one hundred sixty seven he wrote the excellent book they dare to speak out about the pro israel lobby influence in america he said once israel realize it got away with murdering american sailors and marines and people like john mccain and others in his admiral father covered it up for lyndon johnson they could get away with anything and that's what we're dealing with here you got politicians in america to put the interests of israel first and they don't put the best interests of america first you have neoconservative think tanks like the heritage foundation american enterprise institute they're all pushing war for israel against iran and syria well and recently right as we go to jim jim is from the heritage foundation go right ahead would you like to defend yourself or a comment i mean are you supporting. you kid. well i mean you can go to heritage dot org we have peace on our website it's we think the u.s. military intervention in syria is not a good idea so i think it speaks jim let me stay with you here what you also know

is that ok let me let me stay with him here jim what is the what is the future now you think of the humanitarian interventions right now because. russia and china particularly russia has been very much criticized in western governments and and western media for its veto and the russians are standing by it was listen to what russia's ambassador to the u.n. but how he had to say about that. our effort was directed at ending the bloodshed those who are accusing us have been trying to fan civil war and conflict in syria so you know i don't want to learn to mimic them in using this kind of hysterical language but we should have. recall that track record in dealing with the situation of syria supporting opposition sometimes with arms with their goals or forty's even change so. history will show i think. russia has been doing everything we can and continues to do everything we can. ok jim so what do you think about

that i mean what my point is here is that you know these humanitarian interventions which i think is an oxymoron in a way because so much violence is used but i mean you know it was libya. being what we're looking at libya as a president we can do it in other places and let's be fair and places where the west would like to target their co called enemies of the west and all that friends of the west they're never going to be targeted that way even though their human rights records could be deplorable or eccentric cetera i mean and i think you know the right to protect is a very good case russia did that with south to settle we can disagree on that but that's how russia looks at a valid form of the right protect the south were defenseless they were not fighting anyone and now we have a people that are in very dire straits i believe but the whole idea of an a humanitarian intervention has been short circuited because the some western countries took advantage of the libyan case. well i do believe that humanitarian

operations are really no different than any other kind of foreign policy decision and it's never simple go to the rule book and it tells you exactly what to do you have to weigh the merits of all the situations your own capability what's the right thing to do what can you actually bring a situation i actually think the right to protect is a pretty bad he was an empty doctor and that can be used for going after your enemies and could be used actually to prevent people from doing legitimate humanitarian operations so i would just put it aside it's going to go to the ash heap of history we're going to take each one of these cases on their own merit i mean i would say in the case of russia russia does have a longstanding relationship with syria and this regime they i think they they have special access and i do think they have special obligations to make every possible effort to do what they can and i think they are. well and it looks like they're going the extra mile in trying to get the sides to talk to each other each other in moscow another venue i mean the ambassador was very emphatic about all of that i

mean the the the behave the reaction from western politicians and diplomats i think was hyperbole i mean the amount of violence that to the u.s. is committed against the people in the greater middle east in the last twenty years particularly you know is that you know it just gets to the point of hypocrisy here make a fine go to you what do you think about the future of these humanitarian interventions i mean we had a dead end right now because or we do see western powers or a coalition of the willing as i keep saying they'll end up doing it because the u.n. security council is not going to back it up anymore. we'll see a coalition of the willing to put it the best thing for the united states to do now is support the support the support saudi arabia in whatever they can do to help the opposition to go back to a point about this responsibility to protect doctrine i think the situation in syria now shows that strategic interest always trump humanitarian missions.

the world may want to help the syrian people honestly but. it would be a huge mistake to antagonize china and russia now by crossing them and intervening in syria despite a seat oh i don't think that any human. in the west will be big enough to actually prop governments ok james james in l.a. i'm going to give you the last word how do you think this is all going to end you think we'll be doing a program on syria a month from now. you know i think it's going to end with us arming people like john mccain who has been a neo con mountaineer can sort of mouthpiece for years now putting israel's israel interests ahead of america i think you'll see him and joe lieberman and others pressure a bomb to arm the rebels in syria i think unless collate from there perhaps you'll see civil war and you'll see these a liberal here. in a very short run out of time thank you much for a very very interested question it looks like it's going to be

a terrible ending no matter how you cut it many thanks to my guest today in washington amsterdam and in los angeles and thanks to our viewers for watching us here at you see you next time remember rostock rules.

michoud three couldn't take three days for chargers free arrangement free. three stooges free. old free broadcast quality video for your media project a free video done to r.t. dot com.

syrian opposition fighters are claiming they are behind the twin blasts in the country's largest city of aleppo which killed at least twenty five people. a greek default looms large lawmakers race to secure more bailout cash by trying to pass another round of massive cuts which send some workers onto the streets to strike. and observing political change rushes of public figures come together to ensure a fair and free presidential vote while striving not to take sides.

worldwide news around the clock is coming to you live from moscow with me rory sushi the free syrian army and wing of the syrian opposition has claimed responsibility for two massive explosion. in the city of aleppo the blasts have killed at least twenty five and injured some one hundred and seventy five explosions hit a military intelligence complex and a security force base aleppo syria's northern city has been relatively quiet since mass antigovernment protests started in march the government claims it's fighting a foreign funded insurgency and blamed terrorists for several bombings in the capital damascus late last year the violence has escalated in syria since the past week with opposition forces claiming assad's forces are shelling several areas including the flashpoint city of arms and activists are accusing the government of

a massacre saying hundreds of civilians have been killed let's get more of the situation from journalist lizzie feelin now joining us joining us live from london i thanks for coming our to you today the free syrian army now claiming responsibility for these enormous blasts in syria today do you think there's any chance that could change nato states attitude towards the armed opposition groups in the country. well i mean i would say that this attack was directed from london paris and new york it's quite clear that the explosions i mean the explosions themselves were huge i've spoken to people in aleppo today who are in fear for their lives and there were people up to twenty kilometers away who felt the explosions so let's look at the evidence for the fact that this attack was actually directed externally of course that was carried out by so-called free syrian army insurgents but first of all i'd just like to say that this is clearly

a response to the russian and chinese veto is a message from the west that if we don't get our way through the united nations security council we are going to go ahead with these stabilizing the country syria by any means possible so first of all we've had. in the first minutes after the explosion an hour and a half an hour ago we had the western. media. that the syrian government was responsible for the attacks but of course it was from foreign student twenty four who broke the news that the. mood claims responsibility for the attack so of course we had william hague just a few days ago in the british media promising that britain would support the free syrian army by any means that they could and of course that means political support financial support and military support and is no coincidence i would say that it

seems to be always the french media that breaks the announcements by free syrian army officers claiming responsibility for four attacks of course it was the figure of zero who broke the announcement by free syrian army offices that they were responsible for the killing of the list. and the syrian civilians so this indicates . a very close communication and frequent communication between the french media and the friends and the opposition and then of course just a few days ago as well the video emerged online of israeli official. and a free syrian army officer below where they were talking in much depth about how they could cooperate more closely and then at the same time we are seeing in the media. an increase in accusations of syrian government violence against civilians and fun but since the military operation to protect civilians in farms began the syrian

military has found a number of caches of weapons of israeli weapons including these. weapons so we cannot separate the attack in aleppo today that there are reports that more than one hundred fifty people have been killed but so far the ministry of health has only been able to identify twenty five bodies this is because there are explosions was so strong that there are literally pieces of people's bodies of children for these strewn across the street and then the other evidence that this was conducted by. facilitated by external intelligence is that as you mentioned in your report the attack took place in very sensitive areas outside military buildings and law enforcement agencies well obviously there will be a very high level of security so. i'm terribly sorry to interrupt you for me just jump in just for a moment here it's simply very very interesting how you discuss are there external

players here that are creating a spawn or call of a backbone to help the opposition against the assad regime but as you talk about so these two enormous bomb is going off in aleppo the u.s. and its allies are looking into supporting the syrian opposition including arming the rebels and creating a quote humanitarian corridor which you serious some might say this sounds suspiciously like the no fly zone over libya according to u.n. resolution one hundred seventy three. yes well absolutely i mean they can't they able to get your new united nations security council resolutions that have a libya style. view and fig leaf for the in so for the intervention so as we know they are doing it through other means and then the israeli intelligence by themselves reported just a couple of days ago that there were british and qatari special forces already on the ground in syria so because of the russian's determination top hold

international law prevents a violation of a direct violation of syria's civil war in the city and interference in the internal affairs which is already taking place because of the west's support for these insurgents on the ground then the west as i said is going to try any means possible to destabilize the country. by not going through the united nations and let's be clear that the russian stance of consistently and continuously reminding the world of its international obligations under international law is being continuously rubbish by the west as we've seen in these explosions today who at the time into violates all all of its responsibilities under international law in order to get its way in syria in order to destabilize the country so that it can get hold of the it can get hold of the gears strategic area that is syria so so

that it can have. a strategic advantage in its later confrontations that it is pushing for with russia and iran all right how the journalist alyse feel and wish we had more time for this we are live from london thank you. thank you mean what meanwhile in washington officials there are setting up an international coalition into supporting rebels in their struggle the so-called group friends of democratic syria will involve countries willing to prop up the opposition and paul more pressure on the regime with some calls from washington to arm the opposition parties are more important i reports the regions are already flooded with weapons coming in from the us. at the united nations security council america holds one permanent seat but when it comes to weapons the world's largest arms exporter is often seen as sitting on two chairs they say there isn't an international embargo on arms preventing them from doing that that is a fact but that doesn't change the immorality of supplying

a dictatorial regime that is killing its people in massive numbers every day and we are are deeply concerned about that as u.s. officials continue publicly scolding countries over relations with syria critics say the accusations are being thrown from a tremendous glasshouse the us is a hugely difficult in this regard because they've long been the largest arms dealer and most of those weapons that the us sold the store really more than four hundred billion dollars worth of since the one nine hundred sixty s. have gone to the middle east and you can't argue. seriously that it's made that region any more stable in the past few years nearly fifty percent of u.s. weapons exports have been flowing to the middle east many countries with the biggest appetite for american weapons have also made headlines for carrying out brutal crackdowns against dissidents and opposition groups they fear are you know

ok in france they are thugs you're not i mean this is for all of us who have been overseas the duplicity in a park or city of american foreign policy is painfully. evident according to congressional figures america has sold one point four billion dollars worth of weapons to bahrain since two thousand and america struck its single biggest arms deal when saudi arabia ordered sixty billion dollars worth of arms the us has long subsidize the israeli military and recently supplied them with bunker buster bombs experts say this strategic arming. of middle eastern countries is aimed at iran and extending u.s. dominance in the region. is going on. against your own it's not a rule of you know human rights. geopolitical

f.b.i. whistle blower sibel edmonds has accused america of playing particularly dirty while leading a campaign for regime change in syria but it's not some kind of. simultaneously op rising situation where people are a ballet and then suddenly they are mysteriously armed and mysteriously arms are being smuggled into syria from cherokee who was providing this arms nobody's asking in the u.s. media well these are u.s. arms shipped to turkey this is the u.s. military complex flush with record revenue continues to lobby its interests on capitol hill arms manufacturers or some of the biggest companies in america they're some of the most powerful lockheed martin not only do they making so much for the defense department around the world their federal contractor and many other levels are going to vote in elections this statue outside the u.n. headquarters is a symbol of global peace and nonviolence but critics say the idea has been twisted

by the u.s. which goes around advocating peace arming countless conflicts all for the sake of profit arena what ny r.t. new york. you're watching r t greece is at a standstill once again people venting their anger at more planned cuts which he is demanding in return for vital funds public transport and other services have been disrupted by the unions two day strike protesters in athens are clashing with police throwing stones and molotov cocktails crosses coalition government did manage to agree on a new austerity deal their creditors have been demanding but eurozone finance ministers remain skeptical saying they want to see concrete action before the second bailout worth one hundred thirty billion euros can be handed over without the cash athens will default on its massive debts in march the greek parliament now has to approve cuts and find over three hundred billion euros to trim off the

year's budget by wednesday journalist still leon those that process them with us says his government is dancing to the tune of foreign creditors. what we get from all these measures. if we have already before then we are in this situation where we have to face slow death from starvation this situation in greece is extreme at the moment we have children playing in their school because they don't have proper breakfast and because they don't they don't have enough food so you realize that the situation is getting worse and worse we have a lot of people as i told you that they are angry at the moment first of all they demand the elections here and now they want elections they want the situation to be seen second they have been wondering who's recipe are we following at the moment increases i mean the greek government recipe comes from the i.m.f. and they're actually simply wasn't sure. it's going to do three each of you the

troika gives their main. orders and you know that we get more and more see the last two years. as they say and i agree with them easier to see this time to morrow rise from the west than to see all these orders and all these measures bring us to growth and bring us back to normal life. oh let's go straight to live pictures here right from the center of athens this is rather outside the usual place outside the parliament building as a big see the crowds are gathering there angry at more planned cuts certainly this has been about the start of two thousand and twelve for many greeks two thousand and eleven was just a stream of ongoing protests so we can see the riot police are out the crowds are assembling outside the parliament building in athens again live pictures here and we're streaming these for you as long as it goes on for on our web site just head over to see dot com your source for the latest and breaking news.

all right has still to come for you this hour here on r.t. innocence lost in afghanistan find out why the latest airstrike has sparked the afghan president's condemnation of foreign troops also separation anxiety. they are now living under the. threat of being forcibly separated from their spouses from their children from their parents palestinians married to israelis fear the citizenship law in the jewish state could tear their families apart. quite a past here in moscow people in russia are becoming more and more involved in the political structure of their country ahead of next month's presidential election a group of journalists bloggers and proactive figures have created a legal voters in a bid to make the upcoming vote fair and transparent. piskun off reports. it doesn't take long to find videos of the alleged way lesions during the recent

parliamentary vote in russia just a couple of clicks is enough years of these files flooded the internet and even though most of the o.e. shoes are still to be proven in the words of thousands of people have been taking to the street demanding fair elections with mortars presidential votes. just around the corner events are unfolding quickly with a meter but not sure if people want to vote responsibly and with the internet where their votes go see what they want political competition independent courts and media forming the voters league is not our achievement is the idea was floating in the air the voters league was officially founded in january by a group of journalists and bloggers activists artists writers and other public figures and statements wayne tedious leg t.v. host and now activist but one of the ladies advocate for the head of a charity fund and blogger he does a day at the bianca also known as dr lisa. or other school martha

corden a tour of the blue buckets movement fighting for equal rights on roads for everyone but is more than this to our league is an opportunity to gather people who are not indifferent to what's happening to more people with a similar position there are better the leagues main goal is to ensure fair elections is published a list of initiatives on the web divided into groups that everyone can be a part of public discussions and online votes are the key instruments and letters have been sent to all presidential candidates asking them to cooperate with the league and even though the project is less than a month old everyone has so far agreed including pledging to appeal to another candidate businessman mikhail prokhorov has already struck a deal with the league you have to go on willing to authorize one hundred fifty thousand league observers was also arranged to put together a unified database to keep checking the election for two post or.