chose to ignore the story. from moscow this is. a look at the headlines at this hour. ministers meet in brussels to consider the bailout fund for struggling economies skeptics say the single currency is broken beyond repair with several eurozone members. and tunisia forms a new national unity coalition government days after widespread protests the previous president who's now in exile or the new regime will be hoping that economic development will return the country to its position as a beacon of stability in the region. and

a toxic tourist trap claims that nato is dumping poisoning depleted uranium of the adriatic sea need with silence from the alliance and the italian government locals and fishermen and deadly health risks. well those were the headlines of the second part of the old gonna show is up next. time for tonight's tool time award and we're calling out one company that does loves to keep americans over caffeinated starbucks the most notorious copy joint in the country is now expanding its menu and you know about the tall the grand a venti sizes for their coffee but now they're introducing their newest biggest size the trenta starbucks says that the trend to size is reserved for ice drinks

and will be in stores nationwide by may first now the try to size is seven ounces larger than the venti size it costs only fifteen more sense and i'm not really worried about the cost here because let's face it if you're willing to pay for five dollars for a cup of coffee i doubt anyone is going to hesitate to pay another fifty cents but my question here is why the hell do you need an even bigger cup of coffee i mean are americans so well done caffeine that they're just not satisfied with those huge event tea cups that we have now twenty ounces of pure caffeine that's not enough now the venti sizes already be equivalent of two and a half cups of coffee why anyone feels the need for more than that all in one serving i just don't know how starbucks defend their big gulp of coffee by saying that they did a test run in some markets and people are all about the even bigger size as far as i'm concerned i say this is getting a little bit out of hand at this rate the only way to get more coffee in your system would be to hook you up to an i.v. and just inject it straight into your veins nothing else the transit will only lend

itself to more frequent bathroom breaks while you're at work but that is why starbucks is tonight's tool time winner. now while the u.s. government continues to try and build a criminal case against wiki leaks founder julian assange for leaking classified state department cables and looks like a sun jewel be busy himself by ripping the lid off the swiss banking system today during a press conference in london former swiss banking executive root. elmer announced that he had given julian assange details of more than two thousand prominent individuals and companies that he contends engaged in tax evasion and other possible criminal activity now elmer didn't identify any of the individuals but said that there are about forty politicians and quote pillars of society amongst them from around the world the us britain germany austria asia all over in his words but while we wait for those names we first should look at the very public nature of this disclosure earlier i caught up with r.t. correspondent laura and who's in london i first asked her to give us some

background information on who rudolf elmer is and the timing of this press conference since elmer is facing a few legal troubles. he does that's right rudolf elmer is a former senior executive at the swiss bank julius bio which is one of switzerland's most famous banks he sure in his time there was based off shore in the cayman islands and he was fired by the bank in two thousand and two after eight years as their chief operating officer now he says that he witnessed money being hidden in various offshore accounts to keep from paying tax he says he doesn't agree with the system and he wants to expose it to the general public for what it really is this information that he's handed over to wiki leaks on monday he says includes details of two thousand people particularly of forty politicians that multinational companies and financial institutions who all around the world the u.s. europe and asia all who were secretly and deliberately avoiding tax or

much more seriously laundering money you mentioned the timing of this media conference that was held on monday that is interesting this was really last chance saloon for rudolf elmer he has to be in zurich on wednesday to face a trial of what is in fact a differently this time for passing on client data to wiki leaks back in two thousand and seventy said. nate the bank is accusing him of violating bank secrecy but also with threatening julius by employees now interestingly wiki leaks never released that information to the general public but what it did do was alert the authorities in several countries and that did then lead in turn to prosecutions for tax evasion so here he is already facing prosecution did he say why this time around he decided to go to wiki leaks rather than i don't know handed over to certain media organizations directly and since he's making his face known he isn't

trying to just you know keep his his to himself secret. he's not and wiki leaks wasn't in fact his first port of call he says that he did try to bring up these issues that he had about swiss banking secrecy internally inside the bank both while he was still working there and also after he was fired and he maintains that he in fact was offered quite a substantial sum of money at that time to keep his mouth shut he also offered this information to a former german finance minister and also to several universities but he said that he never received any response from that interesting really the swiss media for example is not on his side he says that they didn't adequately cover the substance of his allegations but they in turn view him as a bit of a crackpot generally they say that he's paranoid across the swiss media there's an

sort of sense that his allegations don't necessarily add up when you look into them so really he seems to view wiki leaks this is the last statement of course he did has already cooperated with four years ago so he knows what it's all about well so what are we hearing from the swiss banking community today now that he's made this announcement public now that he's publicly disclosed as they allegedly tried to bribe him to keep it all of a secret what are they saying. would you list by understandably has come out all guns blazing they say that. is to discredit their bank and also to discredit their clients as a direct retaliation for having been fired back in two thousand and two they say that he's spreading baseless accusations which he is substantiating with unlawfully acquired material and moreover that he has falsified documents in order to back up his claims now they're obviously taking him to court already he has to appear there on wednesday as i said so he can't be assuming that this is the last time they're

going to bring charges against him as wiki leaks told us that our how soon it will be until they publish this information on their website. not much information out about that so far julian i saw as the founder of wiki leaks was there at the media conference on monday but he wouldn't be drawn on how long it was going to take them he was literally handed these two c.d.'s he said he didn't know how much information was contained on them and it's unclear how many staff wiki leaks actually have to sift through information like this. these all these documents do relate to complicated financial arrangements and it's going to take time to pick through who the actual wrongdoers are and who just sort of got caught up in the net but does seem committed to releasing names and information about any any wrongdoing that he does uncover and we may be looking at a period of two weeks but that's really just just sort of rumor at the moment now very quickly laura i'm just curious you said that the swedish press seems to

consider this guy a bit of a crackpot but what about the british press today in london what was the scene like there for this press conference. there were a lot of people at this media conference on monday the swiss media were very well represented but also other media outlets from around the world and in fact there wasn't room for everybody who wanted to be there to act. it was partly about there's no doubt about that but it's also you call it about you and i saw it wherever he goes at the moment he draws a huge crowd people are always interested to see him and this was his first public appearance since he was released on bail in december of course he is now awaiting his main extradition hearing to sweden on the seventh of february so certainly it was about these these allegations this information he's releasing but it's also about seeing to try to draw him out on how he feels about his extradition hearing

well we definitely will have to be waiting patiently to find out who the names really are here on the swiss banking list laura thanks so much for filling us in. now a quick correction on the previous interview and the last question i was asking about this with the press not the swedish so forgive my flat moving on this week chinese president hu jintao will be visiting washington toby receiving a full state dinner from the obama's but in a very rare move ahead of the visit a chinese leader gave written answers to questions submitted by the wall street journal in the washington post and the questions he chose to answer i think give us a pretty good preview of what who's willing to discuss as well as what message he's bringing to the u.s. while calling for a common ground so in the both countries stand to gain from a sound relationship versus one of confrontation who then hit directly at the dollar he called the current international currency system dominated by the dollar a product of the past he highlighted china's aim to turn you want into a global currency and he offered criticism for the fed's recent move of

quantitative easing two saying that u.s. monetary policy has a major impact on global liquidity and capital flows and that therefore the liquidity of the dollar should be kept at a reasonable and stable level now these sentiments come as no surprise but the real question is during this visit who is going to have the upper hand joining me to discuss it is edward harrison founder of the blog write downs and thanks so much for being on the show now this is. very rare good intel is not one that's known to be friendly with the media especially not foreign media organizations so you know to me he sounds very confident here do you think that he's trying to send a distinct message before he comes here he's not necessarily contrary it's more he's sending the message that you're talking about and that is with a contrary tell me exactly. the united states is is the currency manipulator we're not the kurds manipulators that's basically what he say he's trying to say that in fact the currency that you know are the stability of the currency has nothing to do

with anything it's really the united states with the fact that they're engaging quantitative easing they're the bad guys not yet but everybody's pointing fingers right because the u.s. is doing exactly the opposite they're pointing their finger at china and calling them a currency manipulator so i mean just this meeting really have any chance for success any chance to go somewhere can we ever see eye to eye or is there always going to be blame the other guy the good thing is that the economy in the united states in particular is on an upswing with the republicans now in congress people are much less and with the economy doing much better people are much less concerned about the currency issues it's still an issue so it gives. the opportunity to go out there and be somewhat flamboyant with his language but at the same time when he's meeting with the with the president he can say look you know i don't think that the currency is going to go anywhere in the near future the current status quo over time fifteen twenty years we'll see something but you know clearly we want our

currency to play a larger and stronger rule but i'm not so sure about that because already this morning you know we got news the from several senators including chuck schumer who are saying that there still is the political will to pass legislation to make sure that they really do clamp down on china when it comes to their currency manipulation or the way i think u.s. sees it so i mean. is it really even up to obama or could this congress really go for if if today before the visit we're already hearing this kind of push who i think you will hear that from schumer schumer is one of the congressmen or senators who's going to say that because he's been at the forefront of that movement but all of the incoming leaders eric cantor you know the incoming speaker of the house john boehner they've all said pretty much we're not really that interested in becoming protectionist with china on this particular issue now talk about what hu jintao said about the currency system he said that it is

a product of the past is he right i mean is this something that nobody in america really wants to admit that we don't have to long left with our dollar being a reserve currency and around the world i think he's definitely right the dollar you know you have you the problem is that if the dollar is the reserve currency everyone wants to have dollar reserves in order for everyone to have dollar reserves the united states has to run a current account deficit and right now one's talking about the fact that the united states is running a massive current account deficit that's an unsustainable thing over the long term to run large kind of deficit so eventually it's going to lead to unsustainable debt accumulation and the collapse of the american economy my personal view is that it's going to be replaced at some point whether through crisis or through some sort of you know easing into dollars later by him because even who acknowledge that yes they would like one day for the u.n. to be you know the international reserve currency but that they're still far away

from that were happening so at the moment i mean is there something else to replace the dollar and there's not a let's the that's the real problem the real problem is there's nothing to replace it in the immediate future gold's not going to replace it the euro certainly isn't going to replace because we know the sort of problems that they're having in europe right now the chinese are certainly not ready to replace it so there's nothing there waiting in the wings if we have some sort of systemic crisis where the dollar sudden. becomes unstable then we're a big problem but it's china slowly gaining the upper hand in this relationship for the moment yes they're only the second largest economy in the world we're still number one but you know how long until really they overtake us how long even until their g.d.p. becomes higher than ours i mean it could only be years right who you know i don't necessarily look at it as i think it could be a symbiotic relationship it done the right way really you have to look at it from you know how can we gain in the game at the same time just because we get rid of the reserve currency doesn't mean that we're not losing in fact i think we would gain because we did the constant need to accumulate dollars by for

instance all the asian central banks but then we ditched the prestige really entire idea right by the dollar in the reservoir and c. of the world. will say you know what the tone is like ones who's in town gets here and you know maybe all this really behind closed doors but maybe we'll get into a little bit of a conversation here thanks so much other thank you appreciate well coming up steve jobs is stepping down as the chief executive of apple for medical reasons because that's put one of america's most successful companies around the world. and where are all the republicans vying for the presidency chris christie promises that he isn't running but my question is is kind of all the money of the. repairing a broken. highway construction and humanitarian. official get the spoils of free it's the people the price. is no longer just

down to drug trafficking. afghanistan. sure is that so much. i mean it really. speaks to. all across the globe countries one after another foul play and how others. download the official auntie application on the phone all i pod touch from the shops to. watch on t.v. lights on the go. video on demand. gold coast's and already feeds now in the palm of your. question on the. very first verses of the bible

that all human beings are created but sentimental came in god's image and it doesn't say just dues or knowledge is. sixty to seventy percent of what i did as a combat soldier territories was to do with the turds doing what we call making our presence felt to go out. so they hear a knock on some doors run to the other corner invade another. religion and nationalism not as judaism have been a part of the problem they've been part of what leads to. bloodshed if you want to bomb gaza and kill. a thousand four hundred people in a month and you want to expect that this will have no effect until a feat you have to be either extremely naive or extremely stupid not to hear a religious jew calling another joe and not the way they really didn't.

apple makes headlines weekly for u.s. tech geeks but today the company is making headlines internationally c.e.o. steve jobs is announced that he's stepping down from the company for medical reasons however he does plan to keep the c.e.o. job title and be involved in major developments but this is the second time in three years where jobs has had to step down and although he doesn't give details on his current medical condition many speculate that it could stem from previous problems he had with his liver but the way the press was talking about this you might have thought that steve jobs has already died along with the entire apple brand so just how influential is steve jobs company apple i would go with

a very real company gets massive amounts of international public city between its top selling products and the way that steve jobs sells the company apple is the rock star of the tech sector and the sales person for america and american products thanks to one of the marketing techniques that ability to connect to individuals it seems like apple really has put a spell over the entire world everybody wants apple and therefore everybody wants steve jobs it is the one american company that seems to have almost no competition from india from china nothing on the horizon as of yet but if apple doesn't keep steve jobs the question is would the world still want apple and more importantly will apple continue to be an emissary for the u.s. around the world spreading a message of youth and individuality only time is going to tell we can only hope for the sake of both apple and steve jobs that he gets well he gets back to selling america around the world because we all know that american business definitely needs it. while this thursday will be two years since obama assumed the presidency

that leaves less than two years six hundred fifty nine days to be exact from today until the next presidential election and yet there doesn't seem to be a frontrunner a rising star in the g.o.p. that it's clear will take obama by this time in two thousand and seven there were already seventeen candidates declaring their run for the presidency so where are all the republicans here to discuss it with me is so he'll con board member of the american conservative union and senior fellow at the institute for global engagement so he'll thanks for coming on. where are all the republicans i mean i'm serious you know i don't understand where is everybody are you feeling like the g.o.p. is a little bit you know at a loss right now no actually it's quite the opposite we have a wealth of candidates or at least a dozen top tier candidates that may jump into the race is two years out as you rightly point out so it's early but it's a major decision takes a lot of time for organization and importantly money so i think these guys are taking their time getting out there testing the waters and speeches and books and

things like that but you'll see some top tier guys come out some of what i was saying to you here is i was saying like that's not a whole lot of time because people are constantly campaigning in this country right people start very early on so i find it a little shocking that there's still a lot of i might i might not want to think about it you would expect a little bit more of a front runner so you know how much does money actually have to do with it in this time of economic distress are people choosing to push back campaign money as a factor means affect your base not the only deciding factor if it was you know we would have a president steve forbes or president hillary clinton it's really wide open and more and more we see that there is a real energy on the grassroots level that's starting to obama on the democratic side and now we're seeing the tea party movement republican side that establishment monied candidates are not necessarily going to be the ones who get the nomination so that's causing a lot of candidates to take a step take a deep breath and decide before they jump in full you know head first into this presidential campaign now yesterday chris christie and now. t.v.

that he is in fact not going to be running right said obama can calm down because when they did the polling head to head he was the only candidate that really could be up there with the right could beat him so i mean is that kind of a let down i know that you were you know looking forward to chris christie running it is a disappointing because christie is this is a rising star and doing great things in new jersey and i hope that you know like a lot of political statements this won't be the final decision maybe in a few months he might reconsider but again we have other top tier candidates who might in fact jump in and pull him to minnesota just launched his book tour is going to new hampshire and i was just here in washington last week and we have people like mitch daniels the governor of indiana who are seriously taking a look at this race so i'm hopeful that one of these guys senator thune from south dakota is taking a good look at possibly jumping in and so we have a lot of new people fresh faces to the country known to insiders but to the country new faces that might get into the race and really start off running whereas you

know where do you think republicans conservative voters where they really want this to go because let's break down some of these candidates one by one right i mean if we look at tim paul and he has got a strong appeal with evangelicals but also just came out saying that he would be happy to bring back don't ask don't tell that he is absolutely opposed to raising the debt ceiling and those are kind of really far right you know ideas at the moment well they might be they would be considered very conservative positions you know by the independents or the democratic side of the aisle but again first they have to get the nomination and so that might be good solid positioning for a primary voter i mean remember you have to get through iowa first a caucus which is a very hands on retail process in the new hampshire and in the old joke in new hampshire is one can one voter in new hampshire asked another where you think about this particular candidate they haven't made up my mind yet i've only met him three times i mean you really got to make the sale and so these candidates you know might be will definitely be having to burnish the. conservative credentials but if those

positions might be economic or social before they can go toward the general election we can't count their ducks yet but you still are moving more towards a new guy you're not necessarily saying that it's going to be you know mike huckabee or a mitt romney or perhaps a newt gingrich around here i sense is it's going to have to be somebody who really excites the base and that is going to be somebody who has a new level of interest and that's why folks like rahm you're going to have a tough time because they couldn't do it no way now with the emergence of the tea party movement you really are looking for somebody who's going to be so we can excite the grassroots base and that's going to be both economic and social conservatives well unfortunately sarah palin really excites a lot of people but. i don't know if you know her video address the she made in response to a lot of attacks after the tucson shooting really kind of squash that for her because i think a lot of people thought that that was a complete and utter embarrassment and really a horrible response to that but but she excites people of all the g.o.p.

establishment actually let her go through will see i mean she excites some people you're right there are many in the g.o.p. who really have some concerns about her i think the video message this week in response to the shooting in arizona was very ill advised and really said two things one that she is looking at running but two that maybe she might want to rethink how she responds to some of these national issues that really don't have to do with their even when accusations are leveled you know what let others come out and defend you if that's necessary but we'll see what happens again that there's a long process you have the new hampshire south carolina and a candidate has to have not only organization and money excite the base but it has to have the wherewithal to get through that process and while there might be some candidates that look really good right now we'll see what happens in the end why i think everybody is definitely holding their breath waiting to see because like i said you know if it's it's definitely coming up and the type of star that barack obama became during his campaign would be really interesting to see somebody counter that and somebody. have the same kind of appeal on the right i mean i think

it would be unfortunate but. they would be interesting so we're going to have to wait and of course there are the rumors about john bolton david petraeus you know swirling around even though donald trump is a little donald trump as are so of the ladies who will be writing about him so much thank you well time for our tweet of the day before we go last night ricky gervais' shocked hollywood with his biting humor and ridicule as the host of the golden globes and tonight another famous brit piers morgan will make his debut taking over larry king spot on c.n.n. so we were wondering what would john bolton speaking of tweet about the influx of british talent in the u.s. we thought he'd say the british are coming we have approximately eight days to bomb before they fully take over hollywood that's it for tonight's show thanks for tuning in and if we do not have a show tomorrow to make sure to come back on a wednesday we'll have an experience from the young turks on the program in the meantime don't forget to become a fan of the alona show on facebook in the follow us on twitter you missed any of tonight's show or any other night you can always catch it all you tube dot com

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