our message is simple. if you take the risks that reform entails you'll have the full support of the united states sounds promising right now the president's message may not be as obvious as it seems so reading between the lines is the u.s. trying to promote imperialism under the guise of democracy. its true name like that for that never no no. and really a shining just respect. for the american citizen. an american citizen but also a muslim hauled off his plane on his way ironically to

a conference on his long a phobia so in a post osama bin ladin world that's changed the anti muslim sentiment to growing. and it may be time for americans to open their eyes and start paying attention to those glaring signs the ones that preceded the financial collapse so as x. birds sound the alarm is it the end of the economic world as we know. it's thursday may nineteenth or pm in washington d.c. and christine for his hour when you're watching r.t. . starting off today president obama speaks out responding to the arab spring and laying out some guidelines for the future of the middle east and north africa calling this a moment of opportunity so some of the out freedoms then and the future is bright

all right so it's not that simple but we did hear some tough talk on democracy and much much more the united states opposes the use of violence and repression against the people of the reach. the united states supports a set of universal rights and these rights include free speech the freedom of peaceful assembly the freedom of religion equality for men and women under the rule of law and the right to choose your own leaders and by thinking a little deeper here some of these rifts run deep and as art is going to change your congress not everyone fight for freedom it's washington's plan. words could be about democracy actions are about interests as the wildfire of public rage spread throughout the middle east and north africa at the beginning of this year analysts say america's foreign policy in the region has seen a major crisis this is the way policy is the formally for fifty plus years out of

this country that we try to look for somebody we would like to see in power that washington's old policies could now be seen unfolding in libya a large portion of the leading population is opposing any foreign meddling in their affairs and analysts say washington's efforts to propel its man into power in libya could result in infighting that's going to last years the inconsistency between what america says and what america does seem obvious when you came to egypt despite hosni mubarak's all three tarion and on democratic rule washington had been supporting him for decades many of those years present before as a reader or read something about the states when millions of egyptians took to the streets thinking was swiftly shifted its policy as veteran washington hawks we've never brzezinski explains if we conclude for example that the street is

going to win there's no point of butting our head against the wall in order to say the government is doomed on the other hand if we are convinced that the street is going to fail there's no point massively antagonizing the government with which we have to deal after whatever happens is over in yemen where the president is heavily backed by the u.s. or in bahrain which hosts the major u.s. fleet washington was very careful not to undermine their leaders although they too have violently cracked down on peaceful protesters meanwhile in iraq people regularly protest against their u.s. backed government it but israel even mentioned here these days. in saudi arabia one of the u.s. key allies in the region scores of dissidents have been arrested and the u.s. seems to be ok with all of that but one state that is coming close to being on washington's blacklist is syria iran's closest ally in the region is one hundred

nation of the syrian leadership and the white house source said the administration is close to declaring president assad's rule clear illegitimate action might follow syria is much more dangerous a situation than libya as far as global issues are concerned it is a crucial player in the balance of power in that region with the situation in the middle east as unstable as it is centrally say the u.s. involvement in yet another conflict could further destabilize the region and add more red spots on this map going to check on our washington d.c. all right so a few questions here to what extent will today's speech lead to a changed policy in the middle east in north africa and also what does it mean for americans struggling right here in this country earlier i spoke to nick turse the associate editor for time dispatched on com he's also the author of this but the

case for withdrawal from afghanistan and here is part of our conversation with. or certainly but a little. pereira. well as i see it all. but the pentagon or. what obama was talking about. rush there are you know that it's that it's very probably obama nears. we're going to continue to work. this out and weapons systems and military. were pretty weak in. some of the same regimes that he was even if. you know a lot of people compare this speech to the two thousand. certainly so much has happened there since then and i want to play a portion of what obama said today regarding egypt and then get your response and

that's why two years ago in cairo i began to broaden our engagement based upon mutual interests and mutual respect. i believe venn and i believe now that we have a stake not just in the stability of nations but in the self-determination of individuals the status quo is not sustainable society is held together by fear and repression may offer the illusion of stability for a time. when they're built upon thought lines that will eventually terrorists under this is the science he's held together by fear and repression i think it's important to point out that the leader of the so-called society at least in egypt was hosni mubarak and was very recently are until very recently an ally of the u.s. not to mention a recipient of quite a bit of money and weapons from this country and this was not mentioned talk about

this sort of ironic situation here or really struck. but it is ironic as you said. you know what i found it almost. in some ways you could say it and i lived for years when you look at. us. troops if this was something from the ministration but the reality is that just after obama was going to cairo speech and you talked about self-determination for peoples i'm a little these years ago. i received a. trip transport helicopters. to their. charity forces and under the obama administration.

somewhere around there right away that his first year in office. for two billion dollars worth of equipment there was a sailor range by the time we got that straight we moved our sources. well obama's rhetoric that and also. the action that. we've seen from they just out of the vessel and i know that you've written kind of extensively about this you wrote an article recently called obama's reset arab spring or the same old thing and i know that you wrote the administration's abiding support for the militaries of repressive regimes calls into question the president's rhetoric about change now aren't you had the chance to speak yesterday to writer and filmmaker to rico lee and he said that the hope people had in president obama was largely based on an illusion i want to play this for you and then you can respond to obama has some recreate the read the it's the illusions that have been created obama middle

promise to do anything too much what he did promise was to escalate the war in afghanistan and pakistan and back to supremacy has carried out. so what do you think about that you know obama didn't promise to be the peaceful president that a lot of people thought he would be. really couldn't agree more the case that there was war and committed going to war and that's what he. expanded the war. far beyond. what president bush did in to. carry out a much accelerated drone war there. that really did argue that they would retaliate. and i want to get your take just on i mean so much aside today in that speech regarding the middle east israel and palestine regarding all the different conflicts going on from syria to libya anything stick out to you as

the one thing that people should sort of pay attention to our hone in the most. i think that people should. should say. those words about self-determination of people. throughout the middle east and. what they say and to hold them so we're. going to hold out a lot of hope for that but. i think they should pay special attention to bahrain very close in single develop this beach generally focus. on traditional enemies like. assad and we're pretty damn it bad guys but we did get mentioned moderate and said that their crackdown on the core mission was wrong . and i think that the people should should seize on this. continue to hold the presenter carol. it's so it's like every u.s.

bases leverage and its allies there and the us a lot of military aid they are tremendous so people should keep a large amount of money that's there and can you ask the question of why that is nick turse associate editor for tom dispatch dot com also the author of the case for withdrawal from afghanistan. well as the u.s. president addresses the middle east this sunday will mark three weeks since the death of osama bin laden and faces evil in america for the last decade but has the terrorist death also brought an end to the fear of islam in this country are you going to fancy a turn to turkey now delves into the struggles of the muslim community after them on staff. dong the witch is dead but the spell it cast is still causing chills the fear of islam and muslims and of course just how much iraq is alive and kicking there is this the stigma there is this guy is conscious and unconscious about

muslims and you know xenophobia is at its height in the united states muslims are definitely targeted just because of who they are one of the latest targets of discrimination the sixty one year old a mom i mean up do what was recently pulled off an airplane together with his son also on him on despite having passed through all the security checks the pair were yanked from their flight without explanation i've never experienced anything like that before that level of you know. disrespect. of american citizens or the irony of the brooklyn mosque quitter was headed to a conference on islamophobia the whole idea of the freedom of religion and that's what we pride ourselves over as americans you know we're proud also now we can feel pride no more do you think about a group of people because i have a different faith in you this is just horrible while some see airport authorities

can do all it takes in the name of security others are done looking for excuses and recognize religious profiling when they see it i mean not to let chief was one of four enormous headed to the anti prejudice conference ejected from their flights there was no security issue it was no safety issue. case and it was discrimination based. on doubts on except. by some american some liberated the deaf of the large. muslim community in the us hope for an end to the fear and distrust directed at them and the pressure on muslims to prove themselves as loyal and patriotic americans we don't need to prove ourselves but there are more than a thousand muslims out in the armed forces and muslims have been can be would a large build this with a b. and this is my country some say until those in power redefined the war on terror the bias against muslims will remain that's not going to stop until we have i think

some policy shift so that muslims in fact are not targets in islam is not their bogeyman of the twenty first century and with the war on terror that has no end in sight others doing the right wing media for a few willing to hostilities not all muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are muslims. in the forefront. bigger and islam for basically with this message reaching the policymakers in war than fifteen states across america where laws banning shari'a the legal code of islam that some observant muslims choose to follow is being pushed through if you're practicing any form of sunni islam and obeying its religious laws and doing it not just alone but with a partner that means that you are forming a sure reorganization and therefore can be prosecuted and pay

a fine and spend up to fifteen years in jail all of this many see is based on ignorance and fear of the unknown americans are sort of gradually. muslims then you have some kind of contact with with this culture about seven million muslims live in the united states a significant part for countries. still impacted by the number one terrorist even after his death as the poster boy of evil force nine eleven has gone islamophobia with means and could be well on its way to becoming a permanent stain on the human rights record of the united states is this if you're going to archie. and you know this is a kind of a really important story to tell and stories like this we just don't seem to hear much about in the mainstream media but there are certainly worth discussing so we run him on and do all the moves of the director of the masjid al islam mosque right here in washington d.c. and it's really interesting in the examples that we've seen continue to add up graffiti at a mosque in maine also at a mosque in brooklyn and attempted arson at

a mosque in texas signs that the anti muslim sentiment did not die with osama bin laden what do you think about this. well what i think about it is first of all the manager you all the people it is shown happening friends a man a man not to the teeth happens to be a voice of moderation we spoke together the last time on a program together and of course ours a little far to the muslim right and he was right in the middle his voice of moderation in fact he was a nice man for the department of corrections he used to carry a badge a regular bed i used to make fun of in his voice for moderation so he worked less and the state he was a state employee and officers that enforce the law yes yes he is of sir of the law at least he was at that time was happening to muslims of course i can speak from personal experience every time i get on

a plane i have s's on my ticket pulled aside searched once then when i go to the machine a special screening then after you get to the to the gate there's another. i think gotten more cell since nine eleven or. since nine eleven it's definitely nine eleven we believe was a pretext to. to sway the laws towards prosecuting muslims in other words the global islamic movement has been growing over the last thirty or forty years as it grows and develops the so-called enemies of islam has to come out against its doing no harm to anybody but in order to justify its oppression of muslims it has to have a nine one one bin laden has nothing to do with it if he was there that's fine but it that has nothing to do it bin laden was actually their employee that's their

friend he had nothing to do with us none of us knew him none of us had anything to do it and the muslims in america i was. they are very good muslims law abiding citizens and they don't deserve this type of. as i said on your program before i believe that muslims today are treated the same way jews were treated in nazi germany adolf hitler had to justify that running and i know yes like anyone got hardaway to concentrate hard in the usa as well what about all of these entrapment what about all of these cases if you ok there's a difference in reporting the news and living it you see we live it every day so if if you have to report on this you will have well there's a possibility this but we live this every day this country right now to muslims is what we said it was fifteen years ago

a constitutional dictatorship that's what it is that's how we're treated that the fact is i mean you're still able to come here and talk with me openly about all your issues and hear about repression about me about right here right and i get arrested every other day i was brutalized twice last month my wife was stopped teaching at the school to teachers and harassed and what have you to swat team two sisters around burning road what i'm saying is is i can come here but i have to paid a price i'm willing to pay the price for coming here and willing to paid a price for speaking up i have a different opinion than other muslims i'm going to stand up for my rights because if we don't stand we'll lose everything we have so instead of trying to cooperate with the system we stand firmly against the system as long as it's not

abiding by its own laws so well in your opinion needs to change the not just in terms of the laws and how things are killed by you know the whole system the whole system. some of this one part of the global problem if you fix our problem you still have wars going on around the world you still have people getting home education systems the is in the crime in other words the whole system is broke so you have to fix the whole even extreme make of it has to have. it will happen by force by natural causes like could be crime of rome good decline of great britain all of the systems if they don't change the climb and women fall apart that's where the u.s. is headed right now very interesting when you take a look at all these cases of increased graffiti though after the death of osama bin on him on this i think always for talking us the writer of the masjid al islam

mosque right here in washington d.c. where some food for thought there are over forty four million people in this country on food stamps and one out of every four american children is often think steps i don't know that's a lot of children in my opinion whose parents can't afford to feed them here this is not a third world country this is one of those factoids that at least for me makes me stop and think and our friends at the business insider have actually come up with fifty of these factoids these points that help paint a more clear picture of the state of the economy here's another one for you the number of low income jobs in the united states has risen steadily over the past thirty years and they now account for forty one percent of all jobs in the united states. i know we just got mcdonald's hire about fifty thousand new workers last month so that doesn't demonstrate the point i don't know what will but i want to break this down and talk to max brad wolff senior analyst that green cross capital

. hey there are actually a lot of people who were good jobs and in fields like manufacturing they're out of work today many of these jobs don't even exist in this country anymore they've been shipped overseas what do you think it says that the number of whoa income jobs has risen so steadily well part of what we've seen in the economy has been seen an erosion of unionization we've seen a roshon of benefits most we've seen is especially over the last two really serious recessions the one that began with the turn of the millennium in about two thousand two thousand and one then the really deep recession which for many working people is an ongoing part of their everyday life they begin two thousand and eight we lost a lot of good jobs and we didn't make enough new jobs at the end of the recession in the recovery and the new jobs we need systematically paid less in terms of hourly rates and also gave less good coverage for medical care and for pensions and so we've seen a steady drumbeat of a roge in in job opportunities overall and particularly in the kinds of job opportunities that afford people of middle class existence the ability to own

a home which we see in the foreclosure crisis the ability to have health insurance which we see in fifty million people who don't have health insurance at some point in the year and to have a retirement that's a sort of crisis that's next water around the band and people who really can't afford to retire i want to take a look at some other figures that one to me that was pretty staggering and those who are essentially left behind there are five point five million americans that are currently unemployed and yet they're not receiving unemployment benefits this is according to the wall street journal so i don't really understand how people like this make it hopefully they have good friends and family to help them but eventually figures like this are really going to be to the detriment of this country. oh absolutely already are in other words there's a maximum amount of federal and also state and local employment benefits that people can get not everybody who's out of work up also qualifies for unemployment benefits and so there's lots of people falling through a safety net with a lot of holes in it and we should also mention that in about

a dozen or more different state legislatures right now we're seeing bills move through the legislators which the governors a lot of these states are are eager to sign that further reduce the amount of unemployment insurance and we do see this in homelessness we do see this in incarceration for criminal activity sometimes driven by economic need and we see it in part in a weird way that people very rarely acknowledged in the housing market part of the reason the housing market united states has double dipped and is in such dire straits is that young people can't afford to form families and people can't afford to buy houses and so part of the weakness in the housing market is all these people who can't afford to live on their own and are sleeping out of food on couch or in someone's basement or on their feet and on the floor their friends apart it's almost like it's going to take you know lawmakers and big bankers and people who want to see the unemployment go down it's almost going to take them having to actually step over these homeless people to get to work because a lot of them frankly they don't see it for they don't have to deal with that but i

want to show another kind of factoid here this is one for parents for those with older children who have graduated from college some good news for those of you with whose kids have yet to go to college i'm sorry to report that the cost of college tuition in the united states has gone up by over nine hundred percent since one thousand seventy eight in the last just three decades nine hundred per cent what does that mean for the future of those who want to be educated in this country. but we know it means a bunch of things we passed a very unfortunate benchmark in two thousand and ten the total amount of student loans outstanding is now during one trillion dollars and is larger than the total outstanding value of all credit card debt in the united states we've also seen something else very disturbing which is in the factoid less that maybe for next year should be that the average person getting out of college the united states now has twenty thousand dollars or more in debt and is making ten percent less than someone who got out of college in two thousand and six so life cost more food costs more gas costs more many cases rent costs as much or more and yet people are making

less when they go to school and they're getting out of school with more debt so we're seeing develop inside the student loan market a scenario very similar to the one that presaged the big disaster in the housing market where a majority of middle class americans can no longer afford one of the definitive opportunities of the middle class in that case housing in this case a college education and just to put that figure into perspective the one you just brought forward which is that student loan debt is actually more than credit card that well guess what this is pretty astounding to me and then one out of every seven americans have at least ten credit cards can most people i know have maybe one or two maybe three or some people don't have any but to hear that one out of seven have ten credit cards that's another problem i think for this country as we continue to borrow and borrow and borrow what we don't have. i mean for a long time we were borrowing i mean to some extent from the one nine hundred

eighty s. through about two thousand and seven the united states and different forms of government state corporate borrowed the difference between what we were spending as a nation and what we were earning as a nation the credit card debt has gotten out of control for some people although since two thousand and seven two thousand and eight with the higher default rates of companies are a little bit less interested in giving people credit card loans but one of the things we also learned across the great recession two thousand and eight was that people were holding on to their credit cards and even willing to give up their house and or sometimes their car to meet those credit card payments and nobody forecast that none of our models our research suggested that was going to happen and we learned the reason for that reason is that people use their credit cards to live and that's the most important thing because when the credit card gives out they literally can't keep going to the store and buying diapers and cleaning solution and toilet paper and food and while we're pointing all of this out certainly some really interesting facts about a big business insider again they have fifty of them and i just kind of chose a few favorites but here's one that i think a lot of people will be shocked and maybe a little angered by the percentage of millionaires in congress is more than fifty

times higher than the percentage of millionaires in the general population so the people making our laws are making it it seems to me so that they continue to benefit by this system. well it may be a conflict of interest in some cases i'm certainly sure you could find some examples of that but the way i think about it is that professionally in the age of citizens united over the last year we have deregulated corporate donations to campaigns the bottom line is the average person in congress particularly the house of representatives spends almost half of their time raising money and if you are wealthy then you can use some of your own money which is easiest to raise i see them and you probably run in circles around people who can give you large sums of money and if you can raise a lot of money then you don't end up in congress so the idea that it would have a more affluent population in congress in the general public has a lot to do with how we get elected and how we choose our politicians here at a particular time in american history and thirdly make them three.