market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with much stronger or no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars report on our. wisconsin democrats sure are unhappy with the state assemblies approval of a plan to curb unions but shame should be directed elsewhere will reintroduce shoot to candidate obama who may just contradict with president obama. there's every expectation that with the end of the cold war nato would be disbanded. but there's still kicking even after the dissolution of the warsaw pact so what's the point of nato today and who exactly is benefiting. and drill baby

drill ladies tension may make what you pay at the pump painful so could the u.s. open its own territories for some relief. i don't want to learn a song in russia and hear what inspired this american to learn the russian national anthem just a new day. it's friday february twenty fifth seven pm in washington d.c. i'm christine for sound watching our team. well all eyes are still on wisconsin as thousands of stand strong at the state's capital protesting the republicans plan to curb unions this as the early morning vote in wisconsin state assembly pushed governor scott walker's budget repel care bill one step closer to getting passed

but protesters and democrats are not giving up in this fight it was far from over. but you see here democrats and protesters point the finger at republican lawmakers making their way through the chamber after the one am vote this morning now the bill will move on to the state senate when that vote will take place remains a mystery because wisconsin's democratic senators are still nowhere to be found and another democrat missing from the action president barack obama which may be surprising to some since during his presidential campaign it seemed there was no doubt he would support the labor moment movement and understand the issues of american workers or be denied their right to organize and collectively better than when i'm in the white house put out a comfortable pair of shoes myself. with you as president either thank you.

so where exactly are those comfortable shoes it's been nearly two weeks since the protesters took to the state's capitol and we've heard very little from the president this despite the promises he seems to have made during his presidential campaign to stand on those lines with the workers and it's not just wisconsin the president has to worry about union protests all over the country have broken out and there is much much more action expected this weekend. well it has been twenty years since the war stopped a military alliance between eight eastern european states was dissolved and with the soviet threat the u.s. and its allies were poised to fight against but the west equivalent nato is still alive today and has expanded its size and scope in the days in years since the cold war is the oldest and largest military alliance in the world are says laura lister asks why it was an alliance born of fear originally supposed to define defend western europe against the soviet union but the fall of the berlin wall changed all

that now decades later the military alliance formed against the soviet threat long deprived of its enemy has been. the answer fumbling for a clear cut mission the north atlantic treaty organization has been fighting for justifiable reason to be but that hasn't stopped nato from continuing to pursue a global reach it's been twenty years since the warsaw pact formed a response to nato dissolved but even without its name rival nato has continued to aggressively expand and to date it has operations spanning several countries with troops and resources in the sudan the mediterranean sea kosovo iraq afghanistan and the start of africa in november they redefined their goals going forward at the summit in lisbon wanting to tackle everything from nuclear disarmament to terrorism and cyber security. it was all adopted and it's protests on the streets and nato is

out of date now out of time we need a world of peace and justice is not going to prepared for yet more wars and already nato members have been divided over the near decade long war in afghanistan it was not prevailed there calling into question the alliance mission. there's every expectation that with the end of the cold war nato would be disbanded instead we. it happened in fact and in violation of even the accords and the agreement at that time was nato aggressively expanded critics say it's u.s. defense companies benefiting most from this expansion with the sales of weapons to every new nato member and the building of every new base and that growth allows other tools to be used as it's changed altered militarily to become also this very powerful political entity that is used to pressure countries to bow down to nato as agenda nato is agenda being primarily a u.s.

agenda it's an agenda some countries see as a threat and critics of that agenda right in the u.s. say it's global expansion must be stopped i don't believe there's anything that justifies nato has contributed systems. in terms of security of its own assault to the peace that nato once pledged was formed taking lauren lyster r.t. new york now earlier i spoke with russell baker the founder and editor in chief of who what why dot com for a wider discussion about the relevance of nato today he questions why so much money is going into the american military industrial complex. ultimately we have to look at what the military power is back and of course a client states like saudi arabia puts them in a difficult position what are they going to do is media would intervene to stop the saudi rulers from bombing their own people would be right up like the others do the world is changing so fast now and things are so destabilized as we see one country

after another rising up now there are demonstrations in iraq itself i think all of these things are in play and i think people are going to start asking questions of like the people rising up in those countries and people now here in our country in wisconsin they're going to start asking all these questions and i think the biggest question of all if i may is is why is so much of our money going into this incredible machine that just eats it you know we're all struggling here in the united states people are struggling everywhere in the world and i think that if those resources were better diverted for taking care of people's very sick needs we probably would have a lot less need for nato to begin with and i know as he was spoken a lot about the might of the u.s. military industrial complex i want to know what role it plays in nato is geographic expansion and widening scope of operation leads me to or just as it does everywhere here in the united states we very carefully have cited the defense contracts in

every and rational district in the united states and now this has expanded into hungary poland the czech republic they're well getting a piece of the action but it's not really people who wins and consider getting a piece of the actual it's a very small. norman clips who are right if you will that is benefiting from this and so yes i mean the bottom line is that the u.s. economy increasingly means other economies are inextricably linked to the profit taking in so-called defense activities except how much of it really was defense look at some of the countries and in nato like denmark which is a stance of league. mido right now but this is a tiny country and they are always under severe pressure from the u.s. government and i think from the british you know our other larger powers germany and so forth to cooperate in so in cases like iraq where you have a trumped up excuse because they're forced to go wrong it's really it's not tenable

for those going to cause the notion is that this is all democratic countries that participate with it i'm quite sure this beat average person in any of these spent beats is not participating or understanding choices that are involved at all. and i was rest maker founder and editor in chief of who what why i got conned and it has been a rough ride for oil prices this week crude oil reaching one hundred three dollars a barrel as oil companies shut down production in libya due to the protests there now a lot of investors seem to have become concerned that bet on the rest will spread to other major oil producing countries earlier i spoke to steve levine contributing editor for foreign policy and also author of the book the oil and the glory of the pursuit of empire and fortune on the caspian sea i asked him if oil prices could perhaps which two hundred twenty dollars a barrel in the near future. the question is what kind of a timeframe are you talking about and what event i do think the markets have been

calm down over the last twenty four hours saudi arabia has gone around and quietly assured everyone we not only can add more volumes to the market but we have as these these volumes and that's why you see the oil prices go down the difference that would create a situation in which prices would really skyrocket if another opec country went offline so you've lost a million barrels a day is offline from libya. algeria which is also having trouble it is lynette's one point eight million barrels or more. saudi arabia that would bring saudi arabia right up to its capacity to to substitute the volume then you would see i'm not sure two hundred twenty i think that's probably an analyst trying to get headline but maybe one hundred fifty that that which is still pretty high i

want to say on this you mentioned saudi arabia and they really kept calm promising to kick up oil production i know you've written about the fact they already have but to what extent can they keep doing this i mean if there's an arrest continue it . this is the this is the question one one question that i'm exploring today is why is saudi arabia so nontransparent the the single fact that has that has allowed or oil prices to go through the roof over the last week and then all the way down which we've seen since the end of the day yesterday is this question can saudi arabia really replace the volumes and your question even if it does replace the iranians or how long can it do it and then a third question could the unrest that we've seen in neighboring bahrain wash over into the eastern province of saudi arabia where all of that oil major oil fields

are located i want to talk about the interesting relationship between the united states and libya certainly twenty years ago thirty years ago it was a very tense relationship but i think it changed over the last few years and there are some who say you know that the u.s. has invited libya back in due to its own will supply your thoughts on that and sort of u.s. foreign policy in general as it relates to protests and oil. well just to get that one question one question out of the way first is the united states. renew its relationship with libya in two thousand and three because of oil yes so that. that's a fact and i don't think people look at the situation in those days it was. right in the middle of this war that the united states was in barking on in iraq it was it was during the. war on terror that is very high and

here was a state libya willing to renounce weapons of mass destruction to to renounce is its program to develop nuclear weapons and the bush administration and the blair administration it was two countries the united states and the united kingdom. hey wait a second lesson embrace the jockey he did not look under the. age nor is terrorist past nor lockerbie. for that reason the terror reason but also because the doctor said hey listen i'll let all your oil companies come in they can drill i've got forty four billion barrels of oil which he does have and incidentally. a lot of them about fourteen fifty or no oil companies become it including gas. but just to take him as

a little further in terms of very current events i mean do you think to what extent do you think you know president obama when he decides to speak out say about hosni mubarak stepping down in egypt what does he weigh in terms of ok how is this going to affect oil why you know do you think this is why we haven't heard as much on libya i mean how much of a factor is or will in the u.s. you know ability to speak out on all these things. when i see a little bit the office and i see that the united that obama is not speak out much on mubarak and does speak out sofie the calculus there is. how much impact does our relationship with that leader have on the other moving pieces in the middle east in terms of barak he seems one dictator there are links to saudi arabia and other countries with which we have very important relationships

in the middle east if we pull a precipitous leaf from mubarak do we tell those other dictators our relationship with you is is. is very very strong now we may drop you tomorrow that was dark out it was it daffy everybody knew this guy is a rogue the united states obama can very easily stand up immediately and say you are a rogue. you know. do not crackdown on your people keep the violence down and out and out telling gadhafi essentially to step down because none of the other middle east leaders care about the suffering all right stephen concerning editor with foreign policy also author of the book the oil and the glory a decrease in our dependence on foreign oil using clean energy and green jobs to

poor communities those are all good reasons to drill for natural gas in fact natural gas drilling is experiencing a boom around the united states from pennsylvania to colorado however people everywhere are also experiencing the unfortunate side effects and there are many from contaminated drinking water to infections to nosebleeds i'm not a democrat of a new and small town that's been hit especially hard ever since all oil and gas companies are brought hydraulic fracturing or fracking for their back yards. i got . a family and the problem runs deep. underneath the soil in their roots i was born and raised here about with off my father. already here the girl from march and acres of land a swimming pool a pond and a new generation with roots here to go to. those kind of are reasons to pack up and

move. everything about me is here but times have changed since can't really grew up here for the last year in four months he and his family have been unable to drink their water either since he agreed to allow cabot oil and gas to drill for natural gas on his property they're one of more than a dozen families in dimmick pennsylvania who have water networks like this because it's full of methane gas. instead family right but you always have to live on of tanks two hundred fifty gallons of water delivered once a day for a family of five that's what showers portion of washing dishes and water. it was not. what we expected life healy says he and his wife signed on only after they were assured it would be a quick safe process clearly that didn't happen. it got so bad that you and his cousin who lives down the street decided to find out what would happen if they let

their water on fire. a lot like a flame would come a gal. like let's hear how they were the quick looks like kind like that how i think. or had parents not there was never. any never any problem but for jim grimsley and his wife anne dimock is where they came to retire the drilling just started on their property but their home. we get signed on. not sorry that we did out of town is kind of a poor county so a lot of people did get work and they got jobs and they're making money so to be that's a plus but some who buy jobs complains about the company and were punished or put on leave most employees are from texas and stay in rented houses or hotels the pennsylvania department of environmental protection has been out several times but has now decided to take action that has. really become a creature the e.p.a.

has issued orders for cabinet to plug three well. as they've already drilled which could cost millions of dollars they also have thirty days to install permanent water supplies for families including the get water delivery if kerry presents agree to these terms and there will be a court seeking a court order to enforce what i've just laid out for grimsley what happened is probably simply a rough patch that's like anything i mean i'm sure when there were big and subways in new york city one hundred years ago everybody probably hated them and so who wants them today to move a couple million people a day without in new york city would be here but for easily it's a looming question of whether to up root his family from the only place he has ever known a lot of memories here or keep him there with the hope that at some point things will change preparing him to make pennsylvania christine for our team well the

issues surrounding fracking have started to gain momentum especially as they get increased media coverage well one man has been so disturbed by what's going on he wrote a song about it take a listen. we . were the writer mark black is in fact chopping florida on back in the tallahassee area he joins us now to discuss and mark you know people write songs about love and life or about a broken heart but you were chosen to write a song i'll fracking why. well for one thing it sounds cool. and the other thing is besides being a really good sounding word to write a song about it's something that can break your heart if you actually see what it

does to people's homes and lives what as you say and i mean what are some of the stories were guarding hydraulic fracturing that have really stuck out to you that you found most disturbing well you know i travel a lot in the first summer really came in contact when i had a gig out in sullivan county which is actually a near where the original was stuck festival was and. there were people there who were i found out that there were families fighting against family and families that were split because they were they were basically being tortured you know they're getting offered five thousand dollars an acre to lease their land but the problem is you know they're only supposed to lease for a couple years but the problem is when they come back the land is useless and of course we've all kind of seen the videos of people turning on their faucet and lighting a match and seeing it explode and i mean let's face it without clean water there's

no right very very scary a lot of situations happening to clean with dirty water people getting sick a lot of chemicals in the air and i just even read that a mayor at a small town in texas has decided to leave to say goodbye because his kids were getting back from bad i thought i read i read a great york times the new york times was reporting that it seems to be causing earthquakes in arkansas it's just endless it just seems like the last big greedy land grab on you know carbon carbon based fuel pretty interesting and of course you know this weekend is the oscars and there is a film about fracking that has been nominated for best documentary a comeback land and we want to play a little snippet. oh. i never healthy i was exposed conditions from china. and all those guys you're looking at here for oil and gas wells you know where i was so sad because you know what i have and bills that are

from all over the country and i'm wondering if you're interested and they didn't. and so gas land has really tried to get a grasp on exactly what fracking is because guy it's personal for him the gas company came to his house and he decided to find out what this is all about and you know we find out this is a nominated for an academy award but now we learn that an industry group energy and that's has written a letter to the academy of motion picture arts and sciences saying the movie is largely fabricated well it turns out the group is sponsored by big oil companies but i want to talk with you mark about the psychotic me of the big oil companies just trying to get in the way of any of these stories being told. well i i can't say that i know firsthand any of this stuff but i i certainly know that it's in the oil company's best interest i mean the gas companies best interest for this stuff

not to come out i mean i don't know if your viewers know this but during the bush cheney administration the gas companies were totally exempted from the clean air and clean water act i mean what could be more revolting that i just think if i'm in the majority of the people in this country knew knew that alone they would be in trouble pretty interesting as well amendments that they seem to sneak in and so many of this legislation out and i want to ask you i mean kind of piggybacking off that comment and you think americans really have any idea of you know some of the major issues with frankly no well obviously some do but that's exactly the reason i wrote the song and why we're doing the video in i mean some tremendous players you know agreed to play with me in the song including john sebastian and the great banjo player eric weisberg from dueling banjos i mean everybody wants it who knows

about it wants to help get the word out because i mean it's amazing i was every every place i go like i was talking to some people from new york city last night they have no idea well i've got no pun intended i want to give you a chance to play a few notes front. pray to be happy to sing the my song is set up where the verse is from the point of view of the gas company and the chorus. yes man asked the farmer what he thinks then he goes like this. no bracken way. no racquet way. so you. know track the. and i will drag you go back you. go. now a singer songwriter mark black to russia with love i feel your song of national

pride sung by an american the bombing of the domingo airport brought in sympathy from around the world but also inspired when american to sing his heart out are to course want to remember lindo introduces us to a man a long standing less well put his emotions into a melody. off. the familiar to some half a world away said to russia with love by jersey gated in los angeles resident mercy santo's at mit's he is not a singer but the national anthem of russia has become his newest law on line i came across the. national anthem for those most amazing thing amateur samples stumbled across the and i'm trying to find more news call agenda where's terrorist attack on a moscow airport the gayness and russia santa brought out some raw emotions my

first heard the entire song actually what tears my eyes definitely. customer. mercy tells me that once he heard the russian national anthem he spent the next three days and three nights learning that in russian it was the least thing that he could do with his mind to show his love and sympathy for the russian people from the. middle over. the. the middle literally. and you can see i just was inspired and i have to listen to every word and listen to the music and know the changes and. i really was motivated by the competition saying the there was no question.

that was without even. knowing what they were saying. carlos. when i saying the song it was the pure inspiration something says making a few bucks mr and his lighter but it took a terrorist attack to dig deeper into the nation's culture and history is dedicated to the anthem is his way of saying to russians that he stands with them. all over the. place here so. i can send in the guns missiles there to protect anyone so least i can do is. do something artistic and sing santos a former college football player received his greatest inspiration from the tragedies youngest victims. yes exactly.

the children that were affected because i come from a family bad whereby i lost both parents and i just know how those the interim feel now going through life without their parents or parent while russia mourns samples hopes his songs and newly found connection with people in a far off land will be shared and great compassion here in america as well. we all just my strive for a better country in the world to live in. very large for that same goal. in los angeles. archie thank you and that's going to do it for now but for more on the stories we covered and go to our team dot com slash u.s. .