brain cells in tackling a growing insurgency. well it will take a revolution to bring real change in the american political system that's the message ted rall is taking across the u.s. to promote his new book the tease of a situation i sat down with the cartoonist and outspoken critic as he calls for the fight for democracy to begin. i. but she's sitting down with award winning editorial columnist and cartoonist ted rall ted thank you so much for meeting up with us today thanks for having me let's get right into it right now you're on a tour for your new book which is called the anti-american manifesto clearly that name is bound to tick off some of the political establishment here in the u.s. for our viewers give them a little bit of a sneak peek into the main message of what it's all about it's a call to arms it is addressing the fact that neither the democrats nor the republicans are able or willing to address the biggest problems facing the united

states today which are the economy the environment health care and the wars and now you have to ask yourself as an american do you want to tolerate the system do you want to tolerate a system that is unresponsive and not going to go anywhere or do you want to change it the anti-american manifesto is not anti-american it's anti the american government or more specifically this american government we can do better and that's what we want to that's what i want to do now you're a big critic of america's wars and occupations both in iraq and afghanistan a call to arms really seems like you know an aggressive way to respond to the aggression that the u.s. government is involved in the reason i oppose this particular regime is because it is so in aggressively violent. as the rest of the world knows the united states is always involved in some kind of war of aggression it rarely goes spends an entire year without invading some for some foreign country and that's only part of the

story i mean there's the overall economic system that the united states provoked presides over that is incredibly violent and unjust so i'm talking about taking on this monolith this violent horrible disgusting system that is brutal and is willing to do anything you're going up against them you can't fight these guys with one arm tied behind your your back. probably going to lose anyway but you you have to you have to be serious let me follow up on that we have the united states really liking to criticize other countries and really try to get involved one way or another how come if all the things that you say are true we're not hearing more voices of criticism from across the globe well anti-american ism is rampant throughout the world obviously and not just in the muslim world and much of it is justified unfortunately due to u.s. foreign policy and you know in terms of other countries let's face it you know if you're the president of brandon republic somewhere in central asia for instance are

you really going to challenge or criticize the united states government which is the sole remaining hyper power in the world the largest exporter of arms and possesses the large a bigger military presence than the next ten countries combined no i don't think so the rest everyone's afraid of us because we're a bunch of bullies would you say that u.s. military presence across the world is basically the number one priority of american foreign policy well it's certainly the number one. priority of us federal spending fifty four percent of us federal tax dollars go into the military nineteen percent is just the paying off the interest on old wars that are over and we're not fighting anymore so what the united states is all about is about invading other countries and in and exerting foreign military power whether it's through military bases of which that nobody even knows how many there are if you call the pentagon they can't tell you if it's seven hundred eight hundred nine hundred or

a thousand bases they don't know how much or how many people they have under arms somewhere between two and three point five million directly or indirectly using foreign using mercenaries i mean it's crazy monolithic roman style empire and nobody talks about it including anywhere in the world or here it's not allowed but when you bring up a quote from your book the u.s. . terry would not and could not have killed a million plus iraqis if the people who live in the united states had done anything they could to stop do you really think that's the case what could the people have done considering the fact that many americans were opposing and still are opposing these wars and still nothing is being done for the most part the american left has been dormant or nonexistent since the early one nine hundred seventy s. and the big exception was the opposition to the war against iraq in two thousand and three hundreds of thousands of americans marched in the streets there was vocal opposition even members of congress were against it and yet in the end nothing

changed and you have to ask yourself what could have gone differently i mean let's say of the million plus americans who marched in the streets during the winter of two thousand and two to two thousand and three had been more aggressive let's say they had refused to go home let's say they had clashed with the police let's say violence had broken out i think that then the congress would have been required would have been forced to take pause because they knew that this was an unjustified war of aggression it was an optional war it wasn't about defending american interests it wasn't about protecting the united states and therefore it didn't necessarily have to help and you say in your book that the story of the united states is drawing to a clause close and you call the u.s. is the army empire and especially in the light of the recent elections when we see republicans again enjoying their power it really feels like a circle republicans democrats republicans democrats where will that change come

from that you talk about well it's certainly not going to come within the existing system what we're seeing now that you just referred to this flip flopping the two parties are so close together on the overall ideological framework from left to right that there there's not enough differentiation so big swathes of the population are not don't feel represented at all which is why are voters. turnout is among the lowest in the industrialized world the change is not going to come from the d.'s and the r.'s the democrats and the republicans and the fact that people are constantly just voting against the party in power is a symptom of that people are frustrated the message they're sending is not right now we support the republicans nor was it in two thousand and eight we support the democrats the message is we hate them both so we're voting no the story of the united states government as the twentieth century invading bullying imperialistic economic and political empire that is coming to

a close it is unhealthy for us and it's obviously terrible for the world but you also claimed that it's very likely that the united states could become a fascist state and this is clearly a statement that is bound to get many people outraged what do you see these traits well i don't think that we're going to see you know brown shirts and nazis stepping in the streets but we have elements of proto fascism in the unit in american culture today whether you look at the vague nature of the politics of the tea party where you know vagueness political vagueness and a lack of ideological specificity is a trait of extreme right wing politics the cultural back basis of so many americans particularly in the middle of the country and in the south is centered around extreme forms of right wing christian fundamentalism and that religious force is is very nativist racist bigoted zina phobic and

anti-feminist anti-gay it's a very it's very narrow minded all of these attributes not to mention the major attribute of being so militaristic is are elements that we saw in traditional fascism in germany and italy where there are civilian rule. that military is this is not worshiped you know we don't have all this rhetoric about the heroes have fallen another fallen hero this is not to say that we should disrespect the military but americans have especially since nine eleven have come to fetish eyes the military you get a lot of criticism especially from channels like fox news they say you're not a patriot because you are against this widespread military presence of the united states. are you not a patriot i am more of a patriot than those people ever will be i care about the american people more than i care about about the american government the american government is supposed to

be here to serve the american people and because of its leading role in the world also the people of the world we have a tremendous responsibility because of our political and economic power and we are we are just completely acting irresponsibly and insanely now i want to ask you one of the latest articles of yours is called obama was bad from the start realistically which his promises has he kept in the in these last two years has he kept well that's well that's to be a short short answer well he did promise to escalate the war against afghanistan and he has he did try for health care sort of but health care reform turned out to be really creating a system of the even worse than what we have now he hasn't kept many promises i mean he promised he would close guantanamo that he would end torture that he would end extraordinary renditions that he would ramp down and pull out of iraq all he

did was rename the troops who are in iraq from combat troops to something else assistance force those he is he's a very cynical guy i want to ask you about following up on afghanistan do you think it could become the graveyard of the u.s. is an empire like many people are predicting since there's not really an end in sight we know the pentagon has come up with twenty fourteen as the timeline but not a deadline what does that mean decades more i thought two thousand and eleven was supposed to be the deadline and now it's two thousand and fourteen and who knows how long this goes on i mean there are so many threats to america's continued status in the world that it's hard to know exactly what will bring it to an end all we know is that it's unsustainable you know it's kind of the united states is kind of like a why. the man who uses drugs and drinks and commits crimes and beats people up and everyone hates him all you know is it's going to come to

a bad end you really can't be sure how but something bad is going to happen you know you've cited the enormous amounts of money that is that is being spent on the military and u.s. defense if there's so much money available how come it's not being spent to create jobs for millions of jobless people and why do we continue hearing that the country is in a recovery yet it's really crazy you know i mean if you took the one point four trillion dollars that were initially spent just to bail out the banks and you would redistributed that money among all the millions of americans who were who were having problems paying their mortgages and who had just lost their jobs in the previous year or two i remember doing the math and back of the envelope determining that each one would receive a check for three hundred fifty thousand dollars the reason is because the u.s. government does not serve the people and it's not afraid of the people and even though it knows that its actions are shortsighted and will ultimately lead to its

demise they cannot help themselves they cannot stop stop themselves ted rall thank you very much for your time thank you. seventy six hours of intense fighting. six thousand dead. several kilometers long. and now as a result one person who cares. you see we are surrounded by grabbers everywhere but also there. on this beach which of course is the most appropriate city signification is a symbol of everything that's wrong with our goddamn government allowing not only garbage but to accumulate were. so many guys died. a new battle is going on. will the history be protected. return

to tara what julian cooper story on our team. would be so much brighter if you knew about sound from finest impressions. from star totty dot com. fifty. five. you know florida is arrest twenty six people for allegedly plotting terror attacks

for the christmas period. of a radical islamic sect to have links to international terrorist organizations and chechen militants. the russian president says he recognizes the country's imperfections is found to meet a consistent in his own mind blowing. on the trees the signs of a stagnating democracy promises to develop. now that. the afghans are questioning whether washington meet its troop withdrawal deadline as it moves at military personnel and equipment from iraq. the shift to give false hope to afghans. short term results of a growing insurgency. those stories this hour now rym on joins us now with the latest from the world of sports one of the champions league it was a bad day for the red white and london you could say last night gary if you mean spartak moscow and arsenal then yes both teams lost without scoring

a single goal though the londoners are still in the run for the knockout stage while it's all about the europa league call from now on more on that in just a moment. hello and welcome to spore on r.t. covering stories from russia and around the world for of and let's take a look at our top stories in brief. going marsay with three zero at. tech today and the moscow side hopes of reaching the last sixteen of the champions league. while champions under pressure holders entering the land prepared to host start side f.c. twente group of eight on the back of a five game domestic flight. to roger federer out classes and american take command of group b. at the a.t.p.

world tour finals in london. and we kick off with football where mar say have written a list sickly and hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the champions league for the first time in fourteen years the french side triumphed three nil over. ten man muscovites village nicky stadium right here in moscow at points against more say would have been more talk needing to beat bottom side not to qualify but the visitors open after eighteen minutes luke matthew while boy louis remy capitalized on a deflection and hit both both to make it to neil after fifty four minutes and the home side were left with a mountain to climb as a striker well it's in what sense all ten minutes later quickly made it and that's how it finished now the only way i could qualify is to thrash. margin and hope chelsea's do the same at our say next wednesday. and.

see we're a lot stronger on the peach and he played with class this squad was we didn't have key players like luke so it's not surprising to see we're physically and they won once when. to do know is work harder. elsewhere at chelsea cemented their leaving group effort with a two one victory over who finished bottom of kingsport saw his voice it's a third place and for the round of thirty two in your role for the giants all reality driven ac milan advancing the champions league last sixteen following respect. and all their group rolled from two goals down to beat group eat leaders by and edge closer to the next round all they need to do is draw with bottom side to lose the last one nil and shots are now top of group h. as they thrashed underdogs. while former leaders arsenal were shell shocked five brought to zero. in the meantime defending european champions enter milan are

preparing to host dutch side. in their group a encounter on wednesday and perhaps the dutch side gets a phase rafael benitez is men at the perfect time that sat inside are in the middle of a mini crisis having not won in their last five league matches and are now lying nine points behind siri pacesetters arch rivals ac milan but despite being hit by a series of injuries to key players such as wesley snider goalkeeper julia says r. and defender maicon the interim manager believes in his players. which are people going to. turn to physical assume very good in non-active both situations and counter attacks so we have to be very careful because i'm used to seeing if we do the job well we can beat any team. for manchester united will be looking to clinch the top spot in group c. in their match against glasgow rangers wayne rooney should be back in the starting line up for manchester to help his side guarantee

a place in the next round the previous encounter between the two teams in september had no winner as the game at old trafford ended in the goal is true but united have been on form since then. well joe. well done well we're done already and it's no more some go you know and hopefully that survives to model. the performance in the end so it was so a. user experience very well known and bursaspor was put up to first class control the much meanwhile saw in him are brimming with confidence heading into wednesday's group a clash at home to werder bremen an impressive three one win over white hart lane in their last champions league outing left leaders spurs well set a goal for the last sixteen and three points against her on wednesday will guarantee their passage through to the knockout stages much the joy of manager harry redknapp. it would be a great achievement you know we. looked at the draw for it was

a tough group inter milan vertebrae and twenty good so i didn't know weak teams in the group you know one of the groups you look at and there's a few games very well most give me games you know but the group is always going to be difficult and if we could come out of it would be it would be a great achievement would be very pleased. and those games are just reopened a champions league pictures taken place on wednesday elsewhere need a victory to boost their flagging campaign as they host copenhagen for a second group. boss of the group the face benfica group the leaders barcelona travel to rock bottom cost second place shock in the group the leaders. who are in the final group c. fixture. to tennis now and raj jeff federer has produced a masterful performance to outclass britain's andy murray and say command of group

b. of the a.t.p. world tour finals in london the world number two one six four six two in one hour and sixteen minutes and with the top two from groups a and b. the same man round robin competition advancing to the semifinals better is now in pole position to go through while murray may need to be in his final match on thursday. and robin settling has boosted his chances of reaching the last four after defeating the third in two sets that was a close one third didn't need a lot of pressure on sorting the spaniard say three set points in the first set but it was the swede who controlled the long rallies and eventually won it seven five seven five also smashed a total of twelve aces along the way the outcome of this group the match means that the qualifiers will not be decided until the final round on thursday. moving across to the ice right now and double defending champions akbar stumbled in their bid to keep up the pressure on the top two in the kontinental hockey league as they

lost at home the tracks are now the men from failed to go level on points with league leaders do not want moscow as they went down three two in overtime else worth to. claim the narrow hole with over seven. st petersburg losses moscow in a shootout in st petersburg had no problems against the now on. then scans the number really got the story right here in the russian capital by four parties cost of has the details of the match for. an encounter between two sets of four underdogs in the western conference didn't promise to be very exciting but it turned out to be a cracker to scum made an electric start and an homage could hardly cope with a blizzard of attacks as the visitors looked confused and couldn't leave their zone i think the first ten minutes of the game we were really sure were very. much we were controlling the game and coming into the know in a mission after the first period similar to go you know very well for us the entire

game and the army man broke through using the advantage of playing with a man up inside including me when the face off and you go to me kyle of sent it back above the goaltender shoulder with a few wrists last shot but the ring inside responded and equalized in the last minutes of the first period thomas are all we rewarding their effort of his teammates by scoring a splendid goal and just after the restore deny much took their chances and put their noses in front loaders daughter inch capitalized on a power play to one but the visitors kept helping their host by earning penalties and young mark one time the short bus the goaltender to all at the end of the second and in the decisive period of play in the third now meant to believe when martins car so much push the book a signature in the goal mouth scramble but kearney have made it all square for the third time as this column called on the power play on our i thought we shot the part really well we got

a lot of shots from the point through the night was very much the result of why we had success. when you have a shooters mentality from in the line that always helps however right up to the face of dinner my game to believe. is putting his name on the scoreboard and ten minutes later alexander snoozer broke away and increased the lead to two goals while dinner. when we're short handed. men did manage to pull one go back but that was all they could manage at the am for the final score. we were really unlucky tonight we had lots of opportunities to score but every time we made a mistake and dinamo got to our zone and scored it was an important match for us but we failed to win so dinner on home to lead to in a good mood after a six away game serious and beating their rivals which could be crucial for a place in the playoffs well to discuss chances of reaching the postseason becoming slimmer and slimmer concern about top of our team. finally let's cross continents

so where in the n.b.a. new jersey have snapped their three game losing streak the nets getting the better of that plan to hawks in overtime now the hawks were playing catch up right from the off not managing to get in front even once brooke lopez doing the most to keep them in check the center itself scoring for the nets with thirty two points which was also his season high while devin harris and it's what it's we have his twenty seven points in the second half but jamal crawford sank a three pointer with just a minute left to put a plan to within a basket a couple of free throws then set the game into overtime but again the home side were in control of the nets winning one zero seven two one zero one. well it was a good night for the home side in america washington also needed overtime to edge philadelphia the los angeles lakers won their fifth match on the balance beating the chicago bulls ninety eight ninety one and there were also wins for indiana new

york and dallas. and that's all for right now there will be more sports quite soon but you don't have to wait to get an update when you get a chance calls our website r.t. dot com to get the latest from russia and around the world thanks for being with us .

sweet and cleaver. and fear useful. radioactive and dangerous. and even did it and desolate. field keep their unique secrets their bottoms unique lakes on. fears rise of christmas terror attacks in europe as belgium authorities swoop on

a muslim extremist network said to be linked to chechen militants. recognizing the russia's imperfections moscow says its own check engine forming its political system despite signs of stagnating democracy. as the us puts its military on the move from iraq to afghanistan there where as it may boost the afghan insurgency and give local schools hopes of getting the troop withdrawal deadline. and the sea change in central asia the dried out desert that used to be well knowledge of supporters of want to slowly comes back to life. on the and on the line with well news on my.