dot com a blog described as a regular antidote to that means to media and author of the american way of war how bush's wars became obama's sir thank you for sitting down with us today could be here i'd like to start off by taking a look at the extent of the u.s. military presence throughout the world right now it's global i mean that's the first thing you can say the pentagon is a little hard to tell in detail the pentagon usually at mit's to about yearly to about eight hundred military bases or sites from macro to micro but in their count they don't include anything in a war zone and at tom dispatch you know we've done some reporting for instance on the afghan war or the present afghan war zone where we have upwards of four hundred bases again from tiny combat outposts to the norm of basically american towns with boardwalks with fast food joints and whatever that we just built more or less from scratch and there are certain countries where the countries are embarrassed that their military bases there it's really hard to say i mean eight

hundred to a thousand maybe more depending on what you're counting it's an awful lot it's an imperial presence of a kind i don't think we've ever seen in history and it's particularly strange because the bases traditionally bases more or less where the way you kept colonies but for us bases are actually the thing when you see global it's a frightening word it sounds like every single country throughout just globe has some form of military presence from the united states there i can't swear that it's every city probably isn't every single country but a striking number of countries i don't actually know the number right here but i mean if you think if you if you take this another way and you think to yourself. the u.s. military now has a kind of secret military inside it and those are the special operations forces which have been incredibly p. . up and taken over certain activities that once were more cia type activities in

the bush and now obama period special operations forces and there are thirteen thousand of them according to the washington post stationed outside the united states their station now in seventy five countries there are only one hundred ninety two countries in the u.s. i think that's the latest figure so you're talking about somewhere upwards of forty percent just for special operations forces. it is a lot now it's very interesting that to draw that dividing line between declared war is an undeclared wars which you raise this point in your work often most americans are aware of declared wars with iraq but afghanistan over the last several years what about the un declared war is how come nobody really talks about that the war's skirmishes whatever you know it's hard to know in this country what people know i mean i mean even the wars the afghan war for instance has disappeared more or less disappeared for years at a time from i think from the media well from public consciousness you know it's

hard to say what the u.s. media you can always find something i mean there's something there and that is that it's not there's ever no coverage but you have to be a news jockey like me you have to be reading the inside pages of the papers the war in the pakistani border line and americans obviously know very little about that i mean we are proud of our drones and so we're caught always between calling it a covert war and actually. that actually bragging about it and americans are remarkably detached from the wars that being fought are being fought in their names and the various other military positions and so on and so forth on the globe it's one of the things that i focus on as is just the degree to which we are doing things that americans could know about basically don't we have to put some of that blame on the media who is essentially responsible for bringing some of that information to the u.s. and i have to ask you do you feel like the media and the military are sort of sleeping in the same bed at this point i think the military may have but there's.

there's a history with the military of a post vietnam history of trying to put journalists in bed with it when you are embedded with the military there's an element of stockholm syndrome that just has to be with it and you tend to if you're out with american troops in afghanistan you are in the end i mean your life is at stake you are at the end going to identify with american troops let me ask you this you spent years the ciphering sort of the military's agent of the u.s. foreign policy when what it what should that line be drawn between you know reasonable national defense and really kind of paranoid expansionism is that line ever drawn any more no but basically it basically is no longer drawn and so what you really get is you get american treasure poor into by the multi-billions into you know into into remarkably strange wars approach i've long been convinced that if osama bin laden you know had a dream for him in a nightmare for us it was to involve us in in inconclusive wars in distant

lands that would cost us a fortune there's a kind of intelligence national security bureaucracy that's fed in this country off fear and americans are irrationally scared of terrorism since two thousand and one the number of americans who have been you know killed by by terrorist actions is it's a shark attacks but below everything else dangerous in our world you know and yet the fear level is so remarkably high and everything is justified upon us those lines are drawn and we don't think seriously about what our national interest is and we're paying for it now you've mentioned money and apparently the pentagon is going to be able to enjoy as much as seven hundred twenty six billion dollars next year or something along those nice that's and i have to ask you i mean it might seem a sort of a naive question but it has to be asked couldn't this money be put to better use and it's. actually now in this economy of course you know commanders in afghanistan

can walk into a village they have they have a fund so they can find an afghan village elder if they want to do a hearts and minds' sort of thing they can see that the infrastructure is weak that they have canals or field or whatever they can just pay money to people to start digging out those canals you can't do that in the united states we're a can't do nation here we can't build anything we just we just decided not to build a tunnel between new jersey and new york city where i live because it was too expensive but we can spend billions building these bases very efficiently but if there are extraordinary in a way can do x. these huge bases in afghanistan or iraq or wherever else i think it's quite startling actually and what about the cost of civilians on the ground civilian lives we have piled up many towers in response to the towers that went down to two thousand trees three we have piled up many towers of dead and they don't have memorials nobody thinks about them i mean except obviously their families and their

countries we don't know the numbers in iraq or afghanistan but they are they are startling numbers not only has the idea of peace go on just go on the idea really if diplomacy in the normal sense as opposed to a militarized kind of diplomacy but the very idea of victory the most basic thing to military culture is going on in one of your latest articles you ask this question how old will you be when the american envoy stared state goes down as you often bring up this point of a terror of an eternal state of war you know is that essentially it america's destiny ended in one war and started i actually think not this can only go on so long all things of course must end but in the american case you know we cannot simply continue fighting trillion dollars to three whatever it might be a trillion dollar wars ad infinitum i this country simply can't afford it and washington thinks that we're in a slow. long manageable decline i think this country like the soviet union in an

earlier period it's in decline now most this is what americans know asked the question is this country in decline sixty five percent of americans the most recent polls say yes we are in a state of decline americans feel this washington doesn't fully feel this yet but that reality is going to shape this war world of ours will it continue to go on for the next couple of decades or what i know it's a time when i don't know i don't think it's a couple of decades no i mean longer or less no i think it's less i think it's really significantly less i think we are in a steeper decline and we realize we won't be able to afford. to eternally. it will be a necessity to to lessen the american military on the military mission on the planet talking about these issues and us voisin us military isn't. there many authors out there here in the united states talking about it how come this point is just not get across to washington is it is

a different planets i think washington is had many ways remarkably sealed off from most fresh thinking i think one of the startling things and disturbing things about the arrival of the barack obama in foreign policy terms is that is the people he chose to put around him you know obama picked james jones as his national security adviser but general marie a retired marine general who is a friend of john mccain's he had to make him a lections coming up right out nothing is really going to change after that right it's going to be the same thing over and over again it will be worse it will be worse because the we know before the election happens in without being there are november second without even thinking about it we know that whoever comes in the group be the america will be a country that will be able to do less and congress will be able to do less and less is going to happen for a while. well i mean listen in the sense of anything new any change anything that

would really set of some a different course i think this is not going to be a happy moment. not a very optimistic prediction time go hard thank you very much for sitting time and it's a pleasure. dear mom i'm sorry that i had to do this i've been in so much pain in the past year that i can't take it anymore the stomach and chest pains have been getting worse and no doctor has been able to help me please know that i'll finally be at peace with no more pain i wish i could have had a life with elizabeth always pictured her being my wife and mother to my kids i love you all see you all in heaven when your time comes i'm going to meet jesus christ. thousands of u.s.

troops in iraq received one of these drugs a drug called lariam and it may have prevented many soldiers from getting sick the question tonight is whether or not soldiers were adequately warned about its rare side effects serious life changing side effects. wealthy british scientists it's time to rise. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy is a report on our. there is not enough

space for them on the ground. though dumb to. get things nonexistent under the sun. through the gap of adrenaline. discovered deeply hidden secrets. they are seeking to. find the a c. . and even. talking to god. from. under the ground. more news today in harlem says once again fled the film these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada as true for china operations are

over they. russia rubber stamps a deal to build riyadh mom's first ever nuclear energy plan which should be completed by twenty twenty your green came as president made very difficult of a summit of southeast asian nations. operation top secret georgia refuses to comment on reports it's rounded up a ring of twenty spine allegedly gathering classified information for russia to be says it's staying quiet until a news conference due at the end of the week. afghan opium producing bombs have been destroyed during russia and the united states first joint crackdown on the world's largest heroin factory trademark to return to the country by russian special forces over twenty years after soviet troops left. and among the weeds main

stories as saddam hussein's deputy faces death for crimes against humanity it's being claimed the verdict was time to divert attention from the latest revelations from wiki leaks now mind whistleblower releasing four hundred thousand classified u.s. files for torture and killings which have been under washington's watch. let's get the latest now from the sports desk editor farm boy hi there andrew it looks like the need is looking back to the winning ways this afternoon. after losing the first game of the season last week they're looking for win number eighteen this afternoon which would give them more daylight at the top of the table discourse from sunday just after that. hello there thanks for watching the sport and this is what is coming up. targo choices needed to restore six point lead at the top of the rushing and rushing

football season enters its final week. plus bumppo wins losses overcomes a car crash to reach the final of the w. . th or championship. and texas school that way back into baseball's world series with victory over san francisco. but first russian premier league leaders any to riming to open up a six point lead at the top there entertaining a lanyard her only a couple of points from safety at the other end of the table side by side with everything to play for but in sending a two one up with the half time whistle to blow the last of age getting the any girl so far it's also half time between tara can spot it now and she was grossly side a goal to the good day later the place to discuss still have aspirations of the second automatic champions league spot away sutton slowly angier up against the awful might say from one result from earlier taunts with a one zero win over am cardiff stay in the relegation zone but yesterday moscow

side spot i can to nominate both came from behind to stay in the hunt for european football next season spot type of fourth run celtic goal down after twenty minutes against rostov wondering how cool show playing for the school business is that a spot that went into the bright level aiden mcgeady providing the cross in the league's top scorer of ellison added the finish on one one was the way i stayed until the final minute when such an alexander course job was brought down in the box and making my name mistake from the spot spot that taking three crucial points . on six tyson out of moscow off remain in the chase for a year a police spot off the coming from behind to win four one hundred four from severe. gave the visitors a surprise laid off for an hour but within six minutes the ice had taken nearly seven crying it quickly pulled the level and then in and refinance with an almost identical had to make the two one i stand wrapping up the twenty four minutes to guy alexander semin golf was on target to make the three one stoppage time eagle

same shot i did the fourth after a great cross that from alexander voted me. in england there are two local darby's to enjoy this sunday the first between aston villa kicks off in a few minutes time and that's followed by newcastle against sunderland in the late game liverpool have the chance of climbing out of the bottom three when they travel to bolton. a quick look at what happened yesterday chelsea still five clear of the talk from arsenal after both late witness against blackburn and west ham respectively punched united to third on goal difference after beating tottenham to neil elsewhere fourth place manchester city suffered a surprise to one defeat at borders. and everton got one more victory over the start. tennis nankin classes had to overcome a minor car accident to set up a final against caroline wozniacki at the w t a championships in doha after both recorded straight sets victory in their last four matches wozniacki beating russian

and world number two vieira. in two sets while clijsters dominated the match against. close is involved in a minor bump on route to the stadium that may have been settled at the start the stones are taking three lovely in the first set but the belgian them found her fall and eventually took the opening set on a tie break before wrapping up the second six one to take the match. i am in just over an hour's time rico usually will face. at the far end of the same page as big open the russian got a hard for when i was a russian recruiter soon over on saturday usually taking the aiming set seven five but to soon of storm back in the second to take that six hole in the deciding set went all the way to tie break which the world number ten eventually was. awaiting him then he. had an easier time against a crane even though he needed to overcome

a late hawkeye challenge than his opponent could follow in the footsteps of going to bed becoming only the second kazakh player to reach in one thousand payne told final. i'm just about to get underway is sunday's ice hockey action in the k.h. l f to mobilise and i've been god will start there clashing katherine barrett in a few minutes time the big one of the day though sees western conference latest the normal moscow post garson paid his ball and the other games defending champions and bars take on some kind of people and since. in the mean time second place not my chief loss to struggling a more away yesterday the three zero four open for the hosts the very end of the first. strike to the second period now where raul man converted a powerplay to double a vantage. alexander goose called made the most of a power play with a powerful shot from the blue line five minutes to go into the second period that made it to one but. martin the pool is needed only one minute to restore

a more through guarded by pantry i. was giving of the three strikes and it was a power play to make it great so if he started to say the gang that was it a number on the school board of mine the same until the final buzzer. elsewhere rushes preparations for next year's rugby world cup have suffered another setback after they were thrashed thirty two points to six by argentina's reserve side their second loss to the team and as many weeks is richer than perfect. as let's many years ago two thousand and eleven rugby world cup gets underway new zealand and then putin's russia have a lot of work to do no one is expecting miracles but the newest nation to take part in rugby showpiece event needs to improve fast if they're going to be competitive against the likes of australia ireland in italy as says russia's new banks coach

henri paul. the right to be the world cup o. ne already been involved in a short time but that's all the players they have cells they need before they need to work. pretty much everywhere everywhere. meticulously streets and you know we slowly going to go through the process that is this decision making here to make about who's going to go to the world cup so you know those are things that you know officer steve diamond nickel i will work on myself i would have to work with the cars on technique and schoolwork to continue their preparations for the event in new zealand russia been playing two tests against argentina second string the russians lost we have an encounter of over forty points last weekend and we're hoping for a much improved performance seven days later but for the majority of the first half they would give a good account of themselves and would have been in front before we would go kicking and opportunistic try from of this to strasburg thomas could barely as

opposed to trail by just cool points going into the half time break despite applying some early pressure falling resumption russia would soon find themselves further behind as visitors long problem both managed to bundle is way over the line from close range and the home side were left of a mountain to climb just minutes away turn despite being down to fourteen men certainly didn't individual as and one publish still is was on hand to finish a slick move and put argentina into twenty to six lean meaning russia needed to convert a tries just to draw level those to be no way back for the russians who were beginning to tire and argentine. greater fitness would prevail as they would run into late scores to secure thirty two points to six picturing. him in the first half was quite a positive thing. apart from the try against a run a play by those who came in the first ten minutes because he controlled most of what we had most of position we were in small with and most of zero as

a negative so that's one thing that has something to work on but i think we keep ourselves in the game we were able kick his ego has been working all or you know a lot you know with mr o.l. flyhalf fly off the last two games we've given a few guys are on the fringe and all prefer a lot of game time and that's been great for the development and improved performance by the russians tonight face japan is bay continue their build up of the world cup but in reality the team needs to become much featured stop making elementary mistakes a big going to have a chance of even competing on the same level with some the world's top sides in september two thousand and eleven richard pengelly doherty. now over in the states the texas rangers have got their first win in baseball's world series defeating san francisco forty two to cut the giants lead to two one in the series texas has come into saturday's home game in arlington looking to restore some pride after being thrashed in san francisco was a fraud game but the key moment was when rangers number nine to make small and

smacked jonathan sanchez for a three run homer in the second innings that proved to be enough for the win and gives the rangers a chance to level the best of seven series when the sides return to the ballpark on sunday. you know it's it's nice mitch morgan has certainly established himself as a major league player. he's just a battler he goes up there in. he uses every bit of talent you have. when he gives but you don't miss it it was a huge homerun for us tonight but it's on the board gave us a little breathing room and who is took it from there there's also been a victory in the n.b.a. for the mobile key bucs they got their first win of the season beating charlotte on the ninety eight points to this was andrew bogut first game since breaking his hand or dislocate an elbow in a bad full back and i hope he registered fourteen point eight really bans in full draw to figure this one in the first quarter which led to a quick counterattack but he made it twenty one fifteen it's the puck so this team

might brandon jennings not his first career triple double with twenty points leading the walk into the ninety eight. pictures. jennings writes i. look at other games atlanta has called washington by ninety nine points ninety five sacramento. cleveland portland also came out with his usual cargo in indiana claims time wins over detroit and for the delfina respectively. memphis easily defeated minnesota on home court one hundred nine to eighty nine new orleans having no problems there and that the play. that brings you up to date with all spoke for the moment so i'm back with more sports. to go as you're. covered.

empowering asia robert russia rubber stamps a deal to build vietnam's first ever nuclear energy plan plea agreement came as president medvedev attended a summit of southeast asian nations. operation top secret georgia refuses to comment on reports it's rounded up a ring of twenty spies allegedly gathering classified information for russia. afghan opium producing labs are destroyed as russia and the u.s. hold their first joint down the world's largest arrowing factory. and among the week's main stories acid on the saints' deputy faces death prime's against humanity you look at whether the verdict was trying to divert attention from we can leaks exposé of torture and killings in iraq under washington's watch.

it's three pm in moscow you're watching the weekly with me a nice now way now it's been confirmed that russia will build vietnam's first ever nuclear power plant the deal was signed us president medvedev visits one oil and moscow looks for closer cooperation with southeast asian countries region is one of the world's economic powerhouses but needs to modernize its energy supply to continue its rapid growth capturing those are reports. one of the things that most news outlets will be focusing on and everybody will be focusing on is the agreement signed to build vietnam's first ever nuclear power plant a deal that is said to be worth over five billion u.s. dollars and is said to significantly boost energy resources and of course propose.