generations of americans including my own have grown up successful and safe because we chose to lead the world and tackling the greatest challenges and choosing to leave the world can be quite a challenge in itself but why is it that the united states is allowed to pick and choose what's important going to take a look at the mixed messages of american foreign policy. and what really drives that foreign policy here's a hint it form from three well slick letters that have very sticky repercussions. and facing revolution as middle class america rises up to fight for their right to

collectively bargain a one woman brings a face to the cause this week a student harriet of rowan from wisconsin. and britain seems to be coming to its senses but who's controlling its mind some say it's the us military machine. that evening it's tuesday march first five pm here in washington d.c. i'm going to sawston you're watching our team our top story laying out the future of u.s. foreign policy that was the agenda today for u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton as she spoke before the house foreign affairs committee on capitol hill and as events each day now change the global landscape is becoming more and more clear that the power and influence of the u.s. government well that's shifting as well are the corresponding christine for his outlooks into the changing tides of american foreign policy.

afghanistan iraq egypt. libya. when it comes to u.s. foreign policy this country's hands are not just full they're often tied secretary of state hillary clinton charged with the task of laying out a plan for the future generations of americans including my own have grown up successful and safe because we chose to lead the world in tackling the greatest challenges but now clear signs that the challenges and the times are changing but a lot of people in this country have come to the conclusion that our policy overhaul has been inconsistent sometimes we support bad guys and the bad guys become our enemy. when eleven has been a major year with major shifts in prominence and power in northern africa and the middle. consigns the u.s. will influence maybe we need just days before the regime of egyptian president

hosni mubarak fell both secretary clinton and cia director leon panetta called it stable. but. there are also in consistencies on the war in afghanistan in afghanistan integrated military and civilian surges have helped set the stage for our diplomatic surge to support afghan led reconciliation that could end the conflict and put out on the run but robert want kansas senior u.n. official just said quote it is fair to say that security in the country is at its lowest point since the departure of the taliban even secretary of defense robert gates said this just last week to a group of kids at west point in my opinion any futures defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big american land army and asia. or into the middle east or africa should have

his head examined as general macarthur so delicately put it there is also the matter of money for our own economy weak and losing loveridge to other powers like china and brazil another frustration voiced by lawmakers doesn't make any sense at all for us to be borrowing money from china and give it to other countries especially giving it back to china. now when it comes to iran there is a clear position given by the state department the denial of human dignity in iran is an outrage it deserves the condemnation of all who speak out for freedom and justice but in many other regions like the rain albania and most prominently iraq where many many more people are killed at the hands of u.s. allied governments the silence is deafening. and as the landscape changes daily in libya cracks in the foundation here grow deeper we must maintain

firm ties with our allies and enemies must be clearly identified it is a constantly changing position on good versus evil and increasingly diminishing power to influence what's next in washington christine for is now r.t. . for more the president of the future of freedom foundation think of former is talking to us from virginia take a good to see you as always i want to read something that you actually recently wrote you said if the u.s. government is not supporting dictatorships with money and armaments it's innovating countries to oust them are you hinting at the fact of the u.s. might intervene militarily and libya. well that's what they're contemplating you know they're sending warships over there and it's just classic us foreign policy that they shift with the tide they support these dictatorships they have supported them for decades and then all of a sudden the winds start shifting people start getting angry now raged over the

brutality the tyranny the torture and so the tide shift there for the u.s. government as well so the reader supporting the dictators there ousting them instead of really what they should be doing is just leave the world alone that's what the u.s. government should be doing well i think you think that you say that because of course hillary clinton today spoke to lawmakers on the hill and just last month congress approved a sixteen percent cut in funding for the state department and the u.s. agency for international development created said that if those cuts went through it would be devastating to national security same sentiments echoed by mike mullen and then robert gates about their respective agencies but you know can we still afford all of these projects and adventures abroad you're saying the u.s. should just stay out clearly we're not doing man. absolutely and you know look national security is one of the most meaningless terms that they ever came up with it's an ad hoc subjective determination to justify whatever they want to do

including the multi decade support of hosni mubarak the dictator of egypt post the dictators in tunisia yemen. you know all over that region as well as in latin america and other parts of the world and well i think americans need to be doing dina's doing exactly what the people in the middle east are doing is start reflecting on what is the role of our government in all this you know in creating the the anger and hatred that is engender the terrorist threat that ben is used as the excuse to take away our freedoms we need to be doing some soul searching over here just like people over there are doing are doing soul searching but you're saying look the u.s. has supported some of these regimes some would say brutal regimes forgot days now but now when we saw the situation in egypt what we heard from the media was sort of all about these out pro-democracy reformers no one was really talking about u.s. support over all these years for for those regimes that they wanted out why do you think that is i mean why hasn't this is sort of brought to light our. well it's not

even being discussed today and you know you can see the mainstream media sympathizing with the protesters and the demonstrators but with absolute total silence as to the regime that has enabled supported participated with these regimes include he would torture agreements and that is of course the u.s. government and we've seen this time and time again and this is this is why i'm saying is that americans need to do some some tough soul searching here not just sympathize with the demonstrators but ask what has been the role of our government in all this let's have some investigations there let's find out where u.s. foreign aid has gone let's find out what support we gain for their military what were the torture agreements that our government made with syria with egypt and other torturous regimes and speaking of foreign aid at the time secretary robert gates actually spoke at west point has passed right i want to play you a clip of something that he said and i want to get your reaction listen to this and

i must tell you when it comes to predicting the future and location of our next military engagements since vietnam our record has been perfect we have never once gotten it right. from the my aquarius to grenada panama somalia the balkans haiti kuwait iraq and more we had no idea a year before any of these missions that we would be so in so he sank our record has been perfect in that we never got it right why do you think about that i don't use absolutely right it's amazing to hear a u.s. official talking like that but it actually goes much further back we can go back to iran where the us government the cia the democratically elected prime minister putin the shah of iran a brutal dictator in fact it was funny watching your clip with hillary clinton talking about human rights abuses in iran you didn't see u.s. officials talking about human rights abuses under the shah when the shah was in

charge you got guatemala the regime change operation there that installed a series of brutal military dictators and you just go on and on and on and this is why we're saying the future freedom foundation it's not just enough to do these had hard decisions we've got to really examine the role of government as federal government in world affairs because that's the root of the problem with respect to terrorist blowback against the united states and something else that we're not hearing about of course is the violence in iraq is going on as well it's not just you know in libya iraq a place where the united states is trying to untangle itself i think a form of our always so great to have your advice thanks so much for coming on thank you so much team of the president of the future freedom foundation hornberger there and of course what all this has to do with is will prices as well that's the big fear about the unrest in the middle east and that's something that we have to be very mindful of because just this past weekend gas prices have surged to

nationwide high food prices jumping to their highest level since the fall since fall of two thousand and eight of course all of these factors are connected in just the day that. ben bernanke has a sign from the u.s. congress who told lawmakers there that a prolonged rise in oil prices what is back with the u.s. economy but he didn't think that this particular increase was last too long and this is a situation where things get out of control well some are not out earlier today i spoke with author and researcher in. when i did argentina listen to part of the conversation he is looking at it's not just on the national interest of the united states but also from the point of view of instances are further up i think we have to understand there are a series of overlapping problems is going on in the world right now and some of them are can be even contradictory so for example while rising oil prices and we are rising the market price rising oil prices would seem to go against the national

interest of the united states and europe above that there is another process a much longer term process which is seeking to generate the relative weakening incredibly of the united states is that we were coming world powers on the world powers we are by the erosion of the sovereign nation state is one of the goals so what we're seeing in north africa was we many also and we've gotten we are seeing it in the states is the relative controls micromanaged weakening of nation states through turmoil through economic and financial crises well ok you know why would they like i mean nobody certainly no one in the u.s. once again oil prices or prices rise nobody in the world wants to see that what is the justification in point of these claims that you make. absolutely nobody in the u.s. and i think it's not the american people want to see that but if you look at it from the point of view of the long term planning of a power elite a global power elite that is wrapping up globalization after twenty years because

already it has served most of its purpose and its ushering in the coming world government naturally in a coming world government you would need to in a controlled manner erode the relative power of nation states and that is what i believe is happening now in america and also in north africa i want to get back to something going and he said that also because he blamed the rising oil prices on strong demand from countries like china and not the consequences of the simula policy in this case a result of always easier because there's just you know blame another country like china twelve or lanky would naturally have a sense if you do that because you naturally want to defend his own policies but if you look at the policies the federal reserve bank policies over the last two years three years they have been catastrophic and once it's an easing one an easing two which if we show you from is some sort of hyperinflation they are technically ivory playing the dollar so we always need to blame chinese demand or the libyan crisis or even any concerted action on the part of the opec countries or even venezuela

which is always in danger then to say our own policies have failed but that's understandable i think we but i think you have to look at the overriding global power agenda which is even the globe that of the attorney of the song of the state department at the federal reserve in the united states so if it's catastrophic and these are your words not mine then why again why why ask these policies. basically because we are seeing and this is a key point that we have to keep in mind don't think so much in terms of actual countries although they are so bored whether given us other kinds of the european union or north africa or latin america we are seen interacting part of globalization and the ushering in a world government and that ushering in a world government just as going from a bipolar world to globalization nesa take that the soviet union should go into the weight of history has been there twenty years ago now the superpower that has to go

in a way has to be relatively weak and is the united states it is a world government cannot tolerate a powerful superpower which today is unfriendly hands but just the clintons the obama's old have to deploy troops. to the white house sometime in the near future that would spell trouble so we have to understand what the medium and long term agenda are of the builder berger trilateral commission the council on foreign relations and such other think tanks that work in favor of the global planning of private interest because world powers that has become privatized and definitely not indian part of the world egypt libya the united states or even the european union who want the occur patriot act in your personal opinion that under the white house but not an expert on this rather than give name we do have a tendency to focalize everything so that everything around people i would say that any group of men and women in america or in europe or in my country argentina who are fully aligned with the national interest of the common good of the people and

not so bored in a bit to the money power but the problem is that with so called democracy it is the money power that puts the candidates in the white house and ten downing street and the police say they need this and even our pastoral solidere in argentina the problem with the global financial system of which the federal reserve bank system is at the very center is the fact that the whole the entire planetary monetary system is handled by private interests which are banking interests and private banking interests never have. the as their main focus look the call a little bit people but whatever country north of the national interest even of conscious the united states i was author and researcher adrian salvucci and while u.s. foreign policy of course takes a huge amount of the u.s. budget politicians are focusing on making cuts here at home and most people are not too happy about it after two weeks of protests in wisconsin demonstrations are spreading throughout the entire nation over the weekend without times of thousands of people taking to the streets just to support the workers in wisconsin well

harriet blair rohan is one of the organizers of the union protests there in madison and she's joining us over the phone or along with a bill fletcher co-author of this book right here fallon very divided the crisis in organized labor and a new path towards social justice thank you both so much for being here but i'm going to start with you a lot of folks are saying that that what is happening in madison wisconsin is just a microcosm of the bigger issue which is this awakening in the labor movement would you agree with that assessment or absolutely it's it's an awakening it's resistance it's actually inspired by the arab revolt the elite so no question about it how in the arab world people are incredibly adverse conditions challenge to very backward regimes and they had an immense amount of courage and masses of people turned out i think that. from discussions that i've

had with people that have been on the ground there in wisconsin they've said time and again that they were inspired by the arab people to come forward and resistant and not simply take what was being thrown at them right but definitely a different situation harriet i want to bring you into the conversation talk about your involvement in all of this. hi thanks very much for having me on i guess i just my spirit here is suspended from sleeping here i guess it's been fourteen nights so far and just building a community with people who have the time and energy to spend in the capital to make sure that our voices being heard. it's interesting because you know when we think about the youth especially these days they don't get involved too often and you'll see some things some slow something's posted on facebook but as far as actually coming out taking industries like you said sweeping the capitol up for two weeks you only see a lot of that why is it this issue you know that's causing people like yourself to actually come out and do something about it. i mean i think it's just the fact that

it will affect so many people that i myself from here to madison and there's there will respect me and i'm not any of yours and it will affect my peers and my professors and it will affect. their i interact with are very preferred if you're if that run people are still got a credit for that people won't be united behind a bill because everyone has heard it and i want to also mention that a new new york times c.b.s. poll actually said that most people oppose taking away collective bargaining rights bringing that into the conversation bill so i think that that's part of would really touched a nerve with people on the one hand and in the other part of the world people fighting for an expansion of the market see but here you have this governor and his allies that are attempting to restrict it and and people in the united states

irrespective with the how they view the economic issue the budget's resists the idea of losing their basic rights and i think that this really did touch this nerve that we know whether you're in a union or not how dare you touch our rights a collective bargain but you know the other side of that argument harriet is that this is not in this you're not entitled to this and we've seen a video klein of private sector unions the question of course is with this going on are we going to see the decline of public sector unions as well and if so what does that mean. i'm not sure if i can really address that question all i know is that i've seen people inside the capitol. brutally every every group of people that you could imagine there's teachers here there's just normal people there's there's students there's workers there steel workers there's private sector workers and public sector workers firemen and policemen and i think that i mean at this point

our our basic the thing that we are united around is that the bill will harm the people of wisconsin overall and that that is something that we can you know we can all rally around and work together to help stop it as much as we can the people that you're talking about the students the workers the teachers how much longer are they anticipating sleeping at the capitol and being out on the streets how much longer this thing going to go on. i'm i can't i can't speak for everyone but i think that i myself in the saturn assurance that not only are we being heard but we're being taken into consideration there is a difference between governor scott walker knowing what we're saying and taking it seriously and i think you really need to understand where people are coming from and understand. the emotion and the investment that people have and that's that it

really i mean it's not that often you get brought such a consistent basis that so much time and energy and money doing something aren't doing anything and i think that you really need to sit down and think seriously about why are these people violent hundreds of people been speaking in the capital for fourteen absolutely and you know when we think about that are we going to see any kind of compromise bill do you think when it comes to this issue because a very he's saying that we have to we have a budget deficit we have to we have to cut spending you know the if is the budget was the problem then he wouldn't get engaged in giveaways to the corporations just in january so that's i mean that's why this is not about money this is about a change in the balance of power that's what this is and i think people on the ground get that this is what we would call bogarting he is trying to force through

very quickly legislation which is regressions that's what this is about and i think what happened is that he thought people were simply going to take it maybe there would be one do protests he was never expecting this level of resistance and those are the rest of the republicans expected and of course what some call progressive others call conservative but you know something interesting you said the word corporation and yesterday in our show we have a discussion about law mark and you know how it's sort of politically entrenched as some would say with the with the republican party there but you know one piece. about these big businesses that some of them are in bed with the government isn't at all how the system works and in the point of this any corporation is to make a profit it's a business then they take their money and you know they don't need it's up to political campaigns because that's how they get influence so is it a matter of these people rising up because they're also maybe questioning the system as well yes exactly people are going for they are in fact question the system and they're getting tired of being crushed for thirty years we've been

witnessing of the clown in the livingstone of the average working person in the united states people have been surviving through or trying to keep their living standard of it mainly through borrowing but that's gone i mean particularly with this recession people are suffering and they look at these scenes tax breaks for the rich and yet they're being told they have to tighten their belts and this whole . nonsense about with the government as a title tighten its belt is really ridiculous because what the government is supposed to be providing are this protection for the average person the people that are not succeeding that's what the government is a the role of the government so that's why what's happening now is amazing the people are just saying enough harriet i'm going to give you the last word the folks that you're speaking to are they sort of questioning the system as well as some of those people that are in the state level and again are out on the streets and have been for so many days now. i mean yes i think

a lot of people are and i agree with what bill started this is not about money it is about a change in the ground for power and i think presidents and the way that the people inside of the chapel of the people outside the capital the treated today and yesterday and in the days leading up to that i mean we were being squeezed and squeezed more and more of our rights and our friends to our own state capital were being taken away. i'm sitting in an office right now in their thousands of people chanting outside trying to get in the building and as i speak to the governor's giving his address and there this building is not sold there's no one is very few people in here considering how many people are outside trying to get it and i think the thoughts i mean not just that showed that this is about a change in the balance of power i mean he knows that the people will not stand for this and that he's tried to keep them out. what a fascinating discussion thank you both for being here harry and blair rowan over

in madison wisconsin for a stay safe there in both letter here in our d.c. studios thank you so much for being with the film or let's talk about another western power now the united kingdom and people britain are about to get probed about who they are and how they live the latest nationwide census just around the corner but here is another fear that they have over who actually gets to sensitive information and that's mainly because a controversial u.s. defense corporations actually in charge of collecting this data are the correspondent lara ahmed explaining take a look. it's census time in the u.k. when every household in the country is asked to provide detailed information about their lives to the government so they can keep track of what's going on and who will be in charge of this sensitive data. yes it's controversial u.s. arms manufacturer a lot he'd martin and campaigners ranging from religious groups to peace activists

to data protection lobbyists are really against it on ethical grounds they are a number of oppressive regimes they also. are us heavily in the wars they fought in iraq and afghanistan opposed by the majority of people in britain even if supported by the british government firstly it's worrying that sense of spin given to such a company into their intelligence and surveillance wing which is not france has a barrel but secondly many people will object to participating in an activity which helps the profits of a company engaged in things which most people in the country don't approve hill vows to boycott the census despite the risk of prosecution he says he won't be alone look he'd makes lunch mines and nuclear weapons and contracts out interrogation. although it will be the u.k. arm that carries out the survey there's still a worry that the information could fall under the auspices of the us patriot act which compels personal data held by any company on systems in the us to be made

available to government intelligence the office for national statistics which gauge lockheed martin maintains its taken measures to make sure u.s. authorities can't access the data. process and will be carried out in the u.k. leave or be held at any point outside the u.k. no lockheed martin staff will have access to any personal census data. darter is the property of you and u.k. e.u. and companies will have any access to. that last point that's raised red flags for data protection lobbyists who say that all the private information collected during the census will be available to practically any organization that requests it any use under any statute. but only use by the security or intelligence services for national security purposes any use for the pursuit of crime any use in pursuit of an e.u. community organization so any e.u.

rules that information can be passed over so it's essential any government use whatsoever. is being a polished and u.k. government agencies don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to safeguarding information three years ago a file containing secrets terror related documents was left on a train more recently the national health service lost the medical records of tens of thousands of people thanks to lockheed martin's involvement in the sense that it would be hard for the u.s. authorities to lay their hands on that information if they wanted data from the census is used by the government grants to local councils and recognize new groups in society a census run by martin raises grave concerns in britain about ethics and international security if a lot of people boycott the steps as it will make it in a.