had control of the falkland islands you made the point that the the spanish the falkland islands are in need their control but the last spanish settlement actually left an eighteen eleven and i believe that they argentine declared independence from the spanish and eight hundred sixteen so at the time of this the argentine declared independence from spain no one had defacto control over the falklands and it was until eight hundred thirty three with a major british settlement that really became permanent around eight hundred thirty eight that the falkland islands were actually settled by anyone and this argument about a geographical location is holds no water at all because like a canary islands for example then morocco would have a claim over the canary islands ok larry if i can go to you i mean as a result of the war thirty years ago there was it was the united nations that it should be a compromise or should be negotiations between britain and argentina why can't why can't this just be resolved i mean if there's just no political will is there. well

you have a lot of little elements here one is the argentine is not particularly famous for good governance and an argument is repeatedly made to remind us that back in nine hundred seventy six eighty three some twenty five thousand arjan current civilians were murdered by the military. secondly. in terms of precedence and so forth you clearly can't look at the self-determination issue as either strengthening or weakening the respective positions of the two countries because you can find compelling arguments going either way and sovereignty issue isn't clear cut and you know both countries can score their points. the real issue at this point is that there has to be

a solution because the argent tines are going to continue to mine over the issue because this is a great national cause that can be exhumed when. you need a big whenever you need a good distraction waves a bloody flag a frog. and even even a british severance go right ahead. yeah let me jump in very quickly can i let me tell you one very easy way for me to lose this argument by defending the military junta and argentina and i would never do that i'm not going to defend a group of murderers and murderers who are currently serving life sentences in jail now the real issue here is that art and the argentine democracy today which has not only distance itself from this military dictatorship but has been proactive in finding justice for for the atrocities committed why should they have to pay for the stupidity and the. just the actions of these military generals the

violent actions of these generals i think we have to i think what mr burns is doing is he's equating the government of cristina kirchner to that of the delo or some of these more of these these dictators and that's just not fair so i think we have to really look at modern day argentina today ok just to get to a second point this issue of what ok i'm going to raise your second point quickly go ahead. the uneasy argument also to say to discard argentines claims here is that it's bloviation they're whining this is all political but if you actually look at the past thirty years their claims to the islands are and i'm talking the last thirty years very in keeping with foreign policy and economic policy after the the actions the belligerent actions of the military junta with with the birth of democracy following the failure of the war under menem in the ninety's he kept this issue low he wanted to get on the good side of england of britain but what happened with the kitchener first minister and the christina with their governments is they

didn't want to be dependent on these strong western countries the united states england so they said we are going to build our national sovereignty we're going to making do you know we're going to make this country great i'll actually get in let me do that involves let me jump in because there's another huge issue out there that we haven't really talked about and that's called oil and there's a potential there a vast reserves could be there and the british are now unilaterally doing exploration. is this what it should really now all about is about oil because maybe the britons don't care about the falkland islands but they care about oil b.p. does go ahead. well that's a forgive me it's a bit of a simplistic way to look at the situation. you're absolutely correct in saying that there is exploration going on around the falkland islands but i also believe and correct me if i'm wrong alex about think there is some actual there was some joint fall when argentina and exploration going on as well but the matter to me is quite simple if the oil that is found is found around the falkland islands in the area

that. under its sovereign control then we know where the oil belongs but the sort of back and forth between margin. in that and their followers and that continues to dominate alex go ahead so i could say yeah like i said the only the only colonial asking me to this whole debate is the fact that argentina wants a colonized three thousand british subjects on the hawke and i and i think that's a bit simplistic alex you want to record i heard david cameron too but oh no that's not right yes something i know what you are aware of us that us of the great and wonderful as the three thousand people who live on the falkland islands and they will want to remain british ok larry if i can go to you how do you how do you see the oil playing into this here go ahead go ahead larry. i'm sorry i didn't get your point now my but you know we throwing in oil now here how does this change the mix all right right right. this becomes an economic argument.

you know the british certainly like the sniff of oil. but you have to face up to the fact that income we have to call in the nigeria and so forth which have plenty of oil the british are probably giving up. colonies. it is not. and the. british tradition when it comes to commies what you have here is that the conservative party margaret's. sure the iron lady. who was able to describe general and be known many as tin pot dictators but i had no problem in hugging and bracing general pinochet of chile because chile was of use to the british in the falklands that is the tories big adopted this issue

as the as the great pottery out of the issue of the decade and it was a very heroic one and the british sending their v. bombers thousands of miles an improvised conkers that had landing strips laid down on them it was a it was really a glorious war and there is a subset of the british population that is deeply committed to that war and also. a much larger percentage of the british population that can have their enthusiasm be revived very quickly if there's any threat to the fore croons and the tories know they can work this issue and of course is a domestic component to this but it's not something that the world has to give us because the british have quite quite as a matter of fact have as bonafide a case no better no worse than the arjen time and i don't think the argentines have

a say there's another scenario there's another element here look if i go to you what about the the antarctic ok because it's become more and more important and this is a nice nice foothold for the for the brits to be on what they call the falkland islands i mean there are other places they did these islands are moving but political reality and economic reality is moving. yeah with it with these islands and the south atlantic you know the days of the british empire are over the sheer t.j. value of these islands now in the twenty first century are. not really relevant this isn't about for great britain this is not about oil this is not about power this is a. strategic influence on the subtle i think this is a simple matter of three thousand people living on some islands that wish to remain british subjects and say is listen i'm going to give you we're going to give alex

the last word here is this just a principled issue here there's no that's that's the top priority you think in this conflict it's principle. of course not you have political rhetoric of course on both sides christian to just saying give peace a chance which everybody i think gave a little sigh to this is about i mean this is about sovereignty and this is about the issue of what are we going to leave the colonial past behind are we going to look to the future are we going to face up to reality which is that it's not sustainable for the islanders on the falklands and the argentine citizens to keep up a good relationship if there's this tension and if there's this ridiculous divide between them trading lines their relationship in many different ways is very clear so we should just acknowledge that all right gentlemen we've run out of time now that a status quo has lasted for thirty years maybe in another thirty years that many thanks to my guest today in washington thanks to our viewers for watching us here are to see you next time and remember.

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iran says it's been considering cutting off oil sales to six e.u. countries but wouldn't do so quote at the moment because of the cold winter striking europe. syria's president announces a vote on a new constitution that would effectively and nearly fifty years of single party rule in the country i made escalating turmoil. at rallies marking one year since the pro-democracy uprising in bahrain protesters face yet another harsh crackdown with police using tactics and weapons from the u.k. .

eight pm in moscow i match reza good to have you with us here on r t our top story iran has reportedly warned six nations it may stop supplying them with oil in response to a series of sanctions including an embargo on terrans key export the ban was not supposed to come into effect until summer but the islamic republic has repeatedly threatened to bring and mediate halt or he's jacob riis reports from greece one of the countries allegedly subject to the oil cut by terror on. the latest report said what we hear is the arabian foreign ministry has cooled up these of basters of these six nations concerns and told them that cuts will happen but not rice away that they will face a ban on exports their nations but they'll be given some leeway that's owing to what they termed humanitarian reasons the cold snap has been sweeping across europe but will no doubt if implemented preempt somewhat those sign sion is imposed by the

e.u. back in january due to be implemented in july six nations in question hey well those are forces to be in the really thick of it when it comes this economic crisis we have the netherlands of france also portugal italy spain and greece is well there's already been questions raised here because to ron says that he can find all the people to buy exports that's the likes of india and china where is this down to being raised as to whether or not the place that good and quite cheap supply of oil to those who have been so stricken in recent times greece in particular is in a sticky situation right now failing to guarantee another bailout plan even though they push through further austerity measures just on sunday and this really raises a base of a concern of the moment that those imposed sanctions on iran back in january by

e.u. member states could surely come back to bite them. meanwhile tehran has reiterated its readiness to resume nuclear talks with major powers to discuss the country's controversial nuclear program this while israel has recently stepped up its stance against iran prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying that terrans aggression must be stopped he repeated the claims that iran was recently behind bombings allegedly targeting as were targeting israelis in india georgia and thailand israel says there are links between these incidents despite authorities in india. and thailand saying there is no such evidence and iran denying involvement tehran in turn says israel's are waging a psychological war that many fear may pave the way for military action to discuss the events unraveling in and around the region i'm joined live from london by chris bambery political analyst with the international socialist group so what do you make of today's reports that iran is looking to cut oil supplies to six nations and how likely do you think to iran is to carry out this threat. well the first thing

to see is the deal we've also seen in europe and america for the tightening sanctions financial sanctions on tehran and the aim is to drive iran out of the international oil markets and to cripple their economy and iran's response is twofold is on the one hand the hard response by threatening to cut off oil supplies to these five countries the five poorest countries as you report mentions and offering to talk to the european union and america over the whole new career issue and incidentally. iran has also offered to talk to america after hillary clinton delivered the. message that shot in the straits of hormuz of the red line for the united states so on iran is responding to is it saying look we're going to put hardball if you if you do this but at the same time we are prepared to talk and this comes as your report mentions that a time when the real is a ratcheting up of

a propaganda war which strikes me as preparing people in the west for some sort of military adventure today in the united kingdom the sky news channel reported this story that iran has somehow created an alliance with al-qaeda whereas everyone knows that iran and al qaeda are complete loggerheads and hate each of you have republican presidential candidates speaking in missouri claiming the iran has the missile which can hit missouri which is a fantasy you have in the wall street journal respectable call mr quinn that iran is going to bring a barge with nuclear weapons across the atlantic ocean somehow on scene and launch them at pennsylvania avenue our manhattan of course iran doesn't have nuclear weapons that egging this on israel all the time when these claims i have to take israel's claim that iran is behind the attacks on its diplomats in georgia and india with a pinch of salt forceful it should be said israel has a long record of assassin using assassination as the tool i think it might be

better. of originals to turn around and say in response to those that is going to stop it's assassination policy and with other nations like iran. but i don't think israel is going to do that because it's used assassination so often so i think it iran is responding say look we're not going to push the road but in the same time we're prepared to talk we're prepared to talk is despite the propaganda campaign from the united states britain and israel and despite the military build up in the persian gulf with the u.s.s. lincoln sailing through the straits of hormuz with the british ships friendships true in mind again yesterday which i see as a very very provocative act so i think iran is responding in quite a measured way to what's going on unlike many people as i see in israel in the united states now turning to israel prime minister netanyahu resorted to some harsh words today urging a halt to what he called iranian aggression do you expect any concrete moves to follow that statement. i think what they are really and israelis are trying to do

is trying to up the ante and so the americans will do something they aren't capable of taking out iran's nuclear program they don't have the means to do it best they could memorize a hit and run and run attack even the americans don't actually have the bunker busters capable of getting of getting into the bunkers where the nuclear facilities are in or around but i think the israelis are trying to ratchet up and what the fear is not so much the nuclear program of the round because iran is normal or near have even if it wanted to have it denies it but if it wanted to have nuclear weapons. create a creative one unlike israel of course which does have nuclear weapons it would appear to use them what i think israel and indeed america is more worried about is growing really an influence in the region in iraq in afghanistan they're worried about iranian influence already in lebanon and. gaza and one of the things that can put the upping of the game in syria the pressure on the syrian regime is one of the

things the americans see egged on by the israelis is by knocking note assad one of them around our eyes that would be a war against iran so i think actually behind the rhetoric about nuclear weapons the reality is what they are worried about is the increase of increase of iran's influence in the in the region and the other country egging on america is so dear arabia who is probably more fearful of iran far more fearful around that is an israel very very worried about what's going on and that's why we've seen so directly as it's done in bad green to try and ensure that the arab spring does not come into the. countries they reviewed and ensure because these are very very worried about what democracy would mean in. iran's controversial nuclear program is again in the spotlight today with a lot of upgraded set of futures at facilities for enriching uranium do you think this progress could be followed by a further escalation of tensions surrounding the country's nuclear activities. well

it's very difficult because the rain years of constantly said they're not going to me nuclear weapons international atomic energy inspectors have just been to iran they came back seems a good visit they're going back to iran they're getting cooperation you wouldn't know this from reports in the western media so the iranians are collaborating and they constantly say they're not going to create new nuclear weapons of course american and responses to say that they're lying but i think we have to take them on on the world so i think there is a ratcheting up of my opinion is the ratcheting up is not by the iranians it is by the israelis and by the americans and i think there is a lot of hypocrisy about iran's nuclear program and of nuclear energy or indeed nuclear weapons i don't want them but it was all keyed for a round to have a nuclear program in the one nine hundred seventy s. when britain france and america would queuing to sell the shah of iran nuclear technology it was ok then because the shah of iran was one of our guys it's not ok for the rant of nuclear weapons no and islamic republic so there is hypocrisy there

it was ok for a nuclear program when when the going was good for the good for the west and i think again one of the reasons why the americans are still annoyed with iran is that these remember the humiliation of the one nine hundred seventy nine revolution which knocked out when there is the shah of iran and the occupation of the iranian embassy in the holding hostage of its staff and the way president then president jimmy carter was humiliated by that incident they have never had payback for that and the americans will wait a long time but there always will and get paid back and i think that's why again one of the reasons driving on driving on the white house and in washington and washington ministration because they want revenge on. islamic republic because they feel they've never had it was events all thirty three years ago or so there are a lot of issues here so i don't blame iran i blame the americans and the israelis for ratcheting this up at every turn we have to leave it there chris bambery with

the international socialist group thanks for your time. syria's president bashar al assad has ordered a referendum on a new constitution to be held in eleven days according to the country's state run news agency it could put an end to one party rule the president's baath party which is in shrine in the current constitution changes to the law were a key demand by the opposition at the beginning of the country's eleven month uprising but in the wake of deadly clashes with the army many opposition leaders are now insisting that the president quit you know a bit of a referendum came amid reports of new outbreaks of violence with tanks shelling the fourth largest city of hama and in oil pipeline broken up blown up in the rest of city of homes but with reports of atrocities coming mainly from the rebels there are concerns that one side of the conflict is being largely ignored artie's maria emotional reports since the beginning of the uprising in syria last march it was busted on assad have been accused of refreshen and killing but with

a blood much of the blame has since focused on assad's forces attacking civilians and shelling residential areas. the beautiful yard calls himself a member of the opposition and intellectual not true aleutian everyone his stress is from a social democratic group originally from holmes he blames assad for mistakes which allowed bloodshed at the start but he just defies what the regime is doing in his native state he now is the two i and he is trying to to. protect civilians i think that in homs there are many gangs you know there is a title and everyone can claim that he belong to this title and no one can ban him the danger posed by the armed forces who are seen in the killing of a french journalist last month bill says when he went to homs he put in his mind that the syrian opposition is very peaceful in the trying to

frame them so he was like a pioneer in the call and he was killed by the some gang attacks on government targets have become increasingly bloody themselves with twenty eight people killed and scores injured on an attack on a military base in aleppo last week and f.s.a. free syrian army representative at the mit its responsibility before the organization later denied it blaming the government forces a claim ridiculed by regime. insurgents and terrorists have committed this attack only an insane person could see that the government is killing its officials and officers and destroying its own administrative buildings these armed terror groups were created to commit these crimes and they have committed them in the past and will continue to do so if the west and the arab states support them last sunday the arab league vote for full political and financial support for the opposition to unify its ranks it is similar call from the leader of al qaida muslims to unite

efforts to help overthrow bashar al assad. recent reports suggest iraqi weapons qatari troops and libyan rebels are role in syria on the opposition side this makes for a volatile and highly dangerous makes. many western powers interested in fomenting unrest and syria and so they'll turn a blind eye to extreme weapons coming in through borders like lebanon and turkey to create the very militant i won't call them terrorist but very dangerous armed groups but the west has its eyes wide open when it comes to the reported death toll the come only know un figure of more than five thousand employees civilians only but that's bigger leaves out any mention of pro-government forces killed in the conflict some say the numbers that is stored to meet a political objectives. our number so for six thousand i don't six thousand

but you would be surprised to know that over two calls it hundred from. this is. good the commented foreign pressure has focused on the assad regime but the syrian government and its international supporters say there's been a total failure to talk normally to violence from opposition forces which has been a key factor in the country's present turmoil they warn that find it a solution to the country's crisis isn't possible without recognizing all its causes written off now t. damascus syria. for more on the syrian situation i'm joined by political analyst dr omar in a shop so the assad regime has announced the long awaited referendum in a few days do you think that will help bring peace back to the country. well i think that that's an excellent opportunity i mean the bloodbath is continuing in syria. gunmen coming in from abroad and we have seen seven reports and recent days

that of of fighters coming in from iraq of fighters coming in from libya of a lot of money coming into syria and weapons into syria to destabilize the situation there are accusations and counter-accusations. to stop this bloodbath i think the only way forward is to have dialogue and that was. the reason why russia and china object it to the security council resolution because the security council resolution was not balanced and it didn't stress dialogue between the different groups inside syria the way forward is to have dialogue and i think in order to have dialogue there must be sacrifices on on on both sides here is the president making. a huge move forward by

actually giving up the presenting a draft of the constitution that would be an amended. draft where he would remove the clauses that would claim that that would state that the bath party is this old political party and it holds all. of all the power in the syrian government and also there are other. parts of the constitution that have to do with the president there is no president for life and the president's only has a term of seven years it can only be extended to one time i believe there are also some other. amendments that all fall in line with the democratic process so therefore that's a move that the president has done and the regime has done and i think that that should be in his view and in many people's view.