their golden ticket into the u.s. turns into a less than three pay day so hundreds of foreign student guest workers fight back telling her seat to give them a break. and from rivals to riches of libyan rebels claim they have been donkey surrounded ok street lobbyists in d.c. catching rebel fever a look at why good ol feet is a disease today when he was the toast of washington just two years ago. and over the places you'll go at least when you're the first lady but could rachelle obama's lavish trips prove to be an ugly p.r. blemish on her husband's reelection campaign.

it's thursday august twenty fifth five pm in washington d.c. i'm christine you're watching r.t. . i'll start off today with a story a lot of people are just shocked up imagine this you're in your home country be it nigeria romania china the ukraine you're young and ambitious and you're presented with an opportunity to travel to earn money to meet other students from around the world because truly enlightened to learn english all in america. so you save thousands of dollars for a visa you pack your suitcase and arrive only to find those promises melted away instead your summer vacation will consist of really only one thing you being used as cheap labor this is a scenario that played out at the hershey distribution center in palmyra

pennsylvania krista levy was one of those student guest workers visiting from china she's in harrisburg pennsylvania and joins us now to give us an inside look at exactly what happened. tristan i guess i just want to start out by asking your story what were you told you would be doing here and how much did that rhetoric different from the reality well hello everybody i worked so. to join a cultural exchange program with a well lisa and we were told we're going to make some money and we'll have enough money to travel around the. real america so you would make enough money to travel around the country and see all the different cities here. did that happen. in our reality because once we came here we were so working up that trait to

a parent or she chocolate every day and we lived happy bob. packed. every game back in a factory how many how many hours a day did you work eight hours eight hours and it was a nine in the morning to five or what kind of hours that you were now the factory rung twenty four hours every day so that means we have three shifts so i wake. up and shipped. my shift from starts from three pm to eleven pm. and it wasn't hard work when you said you were lifting boxes what kind of things were you doing is creating a hard for me because the boxes usually i really heavy and we have to grab chocolates from one box to another sometimes we have

to pack heavy boxes so the pallet so this kind of job this pretty hard for me and i have problems with my health at the moment. now so this is what you are and from what i understand a lot of other students have been doing you know this happen to my. other work mates who come to america with the same or make enjoying but we're not into staying for situation and from what i understand as a result of that person's you ation a bunch of students got together signed a petition and staged a walkout plan tell me what happened with that well. since this is not what we want so finally we buy. we need to stand out to speak out to choose to our american peoples to let others know what we

are doing in america to summer so while we signed a petition and we walked out and. we went on strike actually we have seen a strike now for have you ever been to america before was this your first time this is my first life what is your impression of this country well overall. before i came i expect the american that that a wealthy punk choice translate oh. nice environment. that was what i thought. well go after i came here saying i was put into a factory a week. but it's not what i want so i feel pretty

bad and the point that this is not the american dream that you were dreaming. i know that that investigation into this revealed it shocking i know that no one seems to want to take responsibility for this to her she company says you know they didn't hire you guys and they blamed another company that oversees the plants that the plant company says that they convert country contracted out with a temporary worker program and on and on who do you blame for this well i think many people already know that many concha are many many companies are engulfed in this so i am building blaming also conscious corp our it's the lloyd king on how much longer do you have here trust and will you have any time to actually see any parts of america are you sort of stuck there in pennsylvania. think i think i'm stuck

here for a moment because well i'm getting. under this all right so i have i have to go back to china to continue much study in my university so i have. about one week left here well i hope you don't get that assignment to write the paper what i did on my summer vacation trip to lee thanks so much for sharing your story she's a guest worker from china. moving on now to a look at libya where there is still no sign of libyan dictator colonel known moammar gadhafi but some information has come out about just how deep the ties are and were there tween he and some high powered government officials from america it turns out it was just two years ago that a team of washington's best known hawks visited libya in a show of great friendship and unity let's look back to august of two thousand and nine where just released wiki leaks cables give an in-depth account of senators

john mccain lindsey graham and joe lieberman meeting with gadhafi son to discuss a long term bilateral relationship between the two countries and a promise that the u.s. will provide arms and military gear to libya and take seriously its requests to be treated with more respect fast forward to today as we know these are the same three lawmakers who have said that the u.s. should have provided more weapons more support to the rebels to help help take down gadhafi and this is interesting too it's not just the lawmakers here in washington who can't make up their minds about the libyan dictator the lobbyists here in d.c. are in the same goat according to an article in the national journal influence peddlers who once worked for the libyan leader are scrambling to publicly sever ties with the strongman while their competitors are helping his country's rebels gain a valuable foot hole and foothold in washington the same article also shows that some other lobbyist firms have signed on with the libyan transitional national

council which the united states canada britain spain and germany now recognize africa as the country's legitimate government both firms work to help the council gain that recognition after being retained this spring so it seems whichever way the political wind is blowing here in washington a whole lot of time money and resources go into shaping the way the world views our friends and our enemies and our friend to me as well. more sense of all of this earlier i spoke to milou innocent she is foreign policy analyst for the cato institute she came to our studio and we talked about her thoughts on whether the current animosity against a former friend in this case libya was different or just par for the course for u.s. foreign policy as her take. certainly recurring pattern we've seen this not only just during the arab spring and since nine eleven but all it's actually just all the way throughout the cold war and in fact this particular situation is very reminiscent of how the united states are trying to court the taliban regime in

afghanistan during the one nine hundred ninety s. for unocal tipline deal through central asia and of course the taliban wasn't privy to that they didn't really understand what exactly the west was doing because we were both condemning the regime and then through a sort of covert channels trying to operate with them and trying to sort of secure various oil natural gas arrangements with the regime and this is sort of again what we see now in libya so this is a recurring theme and it sort of exposes the united states to talk or see and i don't question the notion that president obama and u.s. officials do genuinely care about human rights around the world it's a problem we suspend that criticism toward the regimes that we do sort of have a favor with this is the saudis such as bahrain sisters in yemen where we have a specific strategic interest involved and we don't ever criticize what they do and this is definitely the case when you see the appraising now in belgrade where we actually sort of gave a wink and a nod of the saudis to crack a lot of scold even though of course there are cracks in schools and the sheer regime there and we wanted to sort of you know put that to rest even though we're

telling the shiite regime in iran to overthrow their regime so those definitely exposing the copper see the u.s. foreign policy right it seems like you were in favor of human rights and were in favor of certain dictators as long as it serves the interests here what about this idea though that these these three senators mccain graham and lieberman you know they are the loudest voices at least that i've heard be it on the sunday talk shows the cable networks on the floor of the steps of the senate calling for more weapons apologizing that the fall of gadhafi took so long these are the same people that were you know buddy buddy with his son just two years ago what do you think that's us well i think it's understandable in the sense that all these people sort of change you know with the with the prevailing political winds in washington as you mentioned in your intro but again it sort of exposes the double standards that we have. totally ongoing it was in u.s. foreign policy and it's unfortunate of course but i think we must understand that our interests lie in not separating ideals and interests or sort of focusing on where our interests and ideals sort of intertwine around the world and it's

unfortunate because we ended up actually promoting a great deal of the animosity that spurs a lot of the past with an active support for terrorism that of course has blowback against the united states let's talk about what i think sometimes we here in washington have just sort of accepted as part of the political game and that is the whole idea of lobbyist in washington working for every cause whether it be for you know a better environment or tobacco regulations or as we have now seen a lot of these lobbying firms right here right down the street from our studios are working or go or working to boost the reputation of moammar gadhafi now severing ties and other firms kind of saying hey we are going to go support and give a good message to the t.n.c. what about this close relationship and how so much is controlled from our little bubble here well there's a great deal of money to be made in nation building as we've seen in iraq and afghanistan of course those go to the more well connected industries and individuals. that have relations either with the white house or with capitals with

in western europe but again it's coming back to this notion of blowback in this notion that you know our actions today may create future enemies and i think a lot of what you read in the arab press now especially in you know in the middle east and north africa there's this feeling that yes thank you so much nato for helping us become liberated but now yankee go home and i think there's also the sort of narrative that if we overstay are welcome it'll be sort of sort of speed this broader narrative that this was sort of a pretext for western imperialism and i think unfortunately we open ourselves to that criticism as a result of sort of overstating our welcome and obviously has a chance even said they're going to be opening up libya's oil and natural gas interests to a western oil company so this all is very bizarre and it's unfortunate because we are essentially undermining the very principles that we purport to provide. but what about the challenges that you had i know we've been talking a lot here on r.k. and i've read extensively about the t.n.c. the transitional national council how it is made up of so many different factions

and a lot of these factions disagree about just about everything except wanting to see khadafi go what happens when gadhafi goes if he's already gone in terms of that p.r. war in terms of the lobbyists here in washington what side do they choose then when this one group that they purport to be supporting turns into many groups your guess is as good as mine it's really unfortunate that the euphoria in the western media it's good presumptuous because we don't know what's going to come next we don't know what will follow could also be we don't even know if the p.m.c. really represents the interest of all the libyan people so again this is sort of reminiscent of doesn't agree with the fall of saddam hussein's statue certainly many people are happy that khadafi is gone and that saddam hussein is gone but now the real work will begin and we don't know what comes next you mention the word hypocrisy a few times as far as this country and the u.s. foreign policy i think it's important to point out too this is not as far as a lobbyist are concerned and the changing messages and the sort of fair weather friendship this isn't just one party certainly we saw bill clinton come into office

as president and say you know china's human rights record should be tied to you know how much they're given by this country and then you know on his way out it seems that he you know under his presidency china really really moved up in terms of trade same thing with jimmy carter with ronald reagan and other countries. as far as hypocrisy goes to what extent are other countries aware of this i mean do they hone in on this or i think there's a critical there's a tween engagement and assistance and i think that we can certainly engage diplomatically with the various authoritarian regimes i mean that's just part of diplomacy that's part of statecraft it's a question of as you mentioned earlier with mubarak we're actively supporting a regime that is ruthlessly suppressing their internal dissidents as you see with cut off we now we were basically remained on the sideline until the u.n. authorized the intervention for nato so i think that's where the hypocrisy kind of comes into play in just a craft and that's when it explodes against the congress see this sort of notion that it will it will what's interesting also is that the western press isn't talking about the soap operas and this is something that we should also be

discussing here in this in this conversation but i think unfortunately a lot of the political debates within washington are so focused on the ideals or principles of values that america likes to explore those ideals can be spun whichever way you want i mean you know we say go invade libya in the name of human rights but that's not exactly the full story or even most of the story i mean i think that's important point out absolutely absolutely i mean if you notice just the broad spectrum of obama's foreign policy you know drone attacks impacts and increase for a full on our there is talk about creating a base within the middle east for even more drone strikes in yemen and somalia so certainly the question of human rights goes out the window of course one when it comes to our strategic interests and we don't talk about the afghan civilians were killed as a result of the training for the afghan forces that we support or the you know the iraqi leader that we support al maliki who is essentially turn the country back into a police state that was unfortunate but it's a part of statecraft where do you see just kind of honing in on libya what do you see as one or two of the greatest challenges from this point forward regarding the

u.s. relationship regarding the u.s. message i think the first thing would be as a potential again for blowback the potential just this could all backfire in this is something that we we didn't really see in the one nine hundred eighty s. until essentially nine eleven so this could be five years ten years. why we may not know and also again this idea that we can create or sort of rebuild countries from the bottom up this is this is something that we have encountered in iraq and afghanistan i think it's and we are and many other countries before that i mean exactly forgotten that it's easy to topple governments it's very difficult to rebuild them from the bottom up and that was the cato institute in a sense and you know it appears it's not just the u.s. that maintains fairweather friendships leaders of other nato countries have changed their tune as well regarding who has died to be on this is becoming particularly true in regards to the future of libya and in particular the future of oil and libya correspondent sara firth is in rome and breaks down the game of seduction

italians are hoping to win in a post gadhafi libya. kill to the hostage was and you'll strike oil whether or not that's sayings true but it comes to libya well it's going to play a pivotal role in the country's future cue we have to restructure interests. western interest to the torah. also to rebels fighting we. need. to restart selling oil it's possible it's strange that the concepts of friends with benefit. the new transitional council inviting the public face of the group that an egypt will it's really it's. these closest european allies when the native bombing campaign began back in april rima corruptly switch sides began courting the rebels. full the wall almost

a third of its least daily energy needs were imported from libya an oil giant any with the largest foreign operator in the country because many here have been doing all they can to safeguard these contracts but the italy will be able to maintain these previously close business is by no means a given in the post gadhafi libya the seats are likely extremely uncertain and there are little parenting one of the biggest problems they italy and other western countries since the beginning of the war has been a struggle to adequately understand the internal workings of the rebels themselves . amongst the rebels there are many factions. and many chiefs of these groups of rebels are from the politicians with gadhafi and they completely change the face. of this. i think corrupt politician in.

the film it could be personally on a number of occasions three business connections in the month vacation return for the fact finding trip to libya with a handwritten letter she says was written by gadhafi to palace going in it he allegedly says he was surprised by your decision to join the coalition against libya especially after we signed the friendship and cooperation treaty between our two sides the treaty he's referring to he was signed just two months before the libyan uprising the letter goes on to ask why did you join our enemies or any diplomatic or investigation berlusconi nothing's too busy making a friend who was that maybe the final chapter exactly when he did conflict will continue i would dare to say give him a tough if you talk. which. he's among the rebels so there is no it's a consensus. consensus both image of me and general. meeting who will actually get

a person to talk to. will be true with her foreign media now is to lay low with many in the west could well find previous lucrative relations may turn out to be just as it will with the rainfall the french it is there for the right. still ahead here on r.t. from martha's vineyard to south africa hawaii and latin america the first lady has been accused of living with adultery a very tough one as tabloid journalists get a hold of michelle's so-called extravagant trips will their tactics spoil president obama's chance for reelection is this a p.r. disaster in the making. clear picture of me when i was like no new years old on the job and true.

i confess and i am going to get a friend that i love driving because he is a man for. he was kind of yesterday. i'm very proud of the world without ensuring its place. look. all right so basically since the first week since president obama took office there have been popular at the polls attacks on his record his citizenship calls for his resignation hitler comparisons but now it looks like the real attacks have launched the first major battle in what will no doubt be a long and vicious war the attack is on the first lady michelle obama in the form of a string of articles and criticisms on her and well life style the most notable perhaps

the daily mail a british tabloid and the u.s. tabloid the national enquirer and reports that michelle obama is quote a vacation junkie has been indulging in five star hotels where she gets expensive massages and alcohol where she has spent ten million dollars of u.s. taxpayer money and had been going on a wild shopping sprees according to these sources much to the distress of her husband who is serious about his wife's quote out of control spending well earlier i talked to t.j. walker the daily national managing editor of daily national dot com here's what he had to say about all of us yes it is a disaster now when it came to all the trips two years ago a year ago you could just write off all the criticism is as right wing ranting the same sort of people who were talking about that we're talking about the whole birth certificate nonsense but now we have a serious problem for obama were three years into the presidency unemployment is

sky high you've got so many liberals and progressives very angry at obama for giving all street everything it was the bailout for not really regulating banks for extending the bush tax cuts to the rich and nail to see him spending so much time in class urias like worth his vineyard in a very food. it's really starting to cut a lot of liberals and progressives his base that's going to hurt but i mean it in terms of these. there is and what we're seeing i mean certainly a camera always follows obama and the first lady wherever they go i mean these are people who let's be honest it whichever party or any of their hard work is the hard working family who has to deal with the wrath of you know a public that and you know could put them in danger app wants do they not deserve to vacation should they be you know staying in trailer parks that what's the deal here i mean are they just going to two nicer places or should they be staying in the white house all year long which frankly you know i think when people work too

much they don't work as well but you know what should they be doing what should the message be showing for the first of all this president has taken a lot fewer vacation days than bush or reagan people sometimes forget that but visuals are important when ronald reagan was on vacation you saw him physically clearing brush. making you know with his axe chopping away it wasn't just being with rich famous hollywood celebrities that so there is a few years thing then they should just go somewhere different and if so then where so they'd be going in as then how about gap how about gatlinburg i mean when i grew up we went to myrtle beach south carolina we played goofy dog food and water it's we would do the arcade something a little more middle class and we're in a nation where everyone seems so fixated on wealthy and everyone's trying to be donald trump i think you have

a huge huge base of people in this country tens of millions of unemployed for one democratic voters number two who feel like the whole national debate is all skewed around should we cut the wealthiest taxes you know ten percent or fifty percent no one's really looking out for average income people and obama does not help himself when he and his wife seem to just love jetsetting around with the rich and famous he's a i mean when the obama did it the obama's art. not now nor were they before they were in the white house middle class average people they have always been successful they've worked hard why would they go to myrtle beach you know which from what i know is strip clubs and trailer parks you know maybe the nice beach areas. you know why would they go there when things like that would be a harder area as well to secure with all the you know security detail they have to bring with them well but put your only article back

a couple of years in the obama's were not as wealthy they were in fact middle class or upper middle class but when they were in you know living in chicago presumably the occasional he went to you know maybe perhaps or i back in ireland or places that were a little closer the problem with this particular location martha's vineyard is it is it's just the hotbed of the wilt the ist people the biggest celebrities and you can say i'm jealous because i didn't get invited to go this summer but still it is good symbolism when you are a democratic president and you have an employee that approaching double digit level it just doesn't show a lot of sympathy you give it two years ago you could make the case a year ago but the tears that it was just out there is two thousand and eight financial collapse and i will say the leading contender right now in the g.o.p.

presidential race is mitt romney who as we know is extremely wealthy but let me take us a step further t.j. because i want to talk about this what is the result of this i mean you say this is a p.r. disaster do you think that this could have an impact on the campaign on the obama campaign that is detrimental to his becoming reelected. well it does not help it's not a disaster in the sense that this is the one thing that's going to cause implosion but as you've seen with obama's poll numbers they steadily go down down down i think the big worry he has right now is not with the so-called independents and certainly it's not the republicans they're never going to vote for him which is why a lot of democrats we should stop wasting time trying to placate them here obama's real trouble right now is he is in tremendous danger of losing support among actual democrats party activist you saw jim hightower of texas earlier this week really coming out very forcefully attacking the president he's

a very partisan democrat jim hightower i think if his poll numbers continue to go down you may in fact see a primary challenger to president obama but i don't know how or how likely that would be thoroughly interesting on in one sense or last t.j. how could they restate the math and here. go to vacation in ten to send a signal to rocky mountain go to branson missouri and mix it up with becoming folk are a t.j. walker daily national managing editor of daily national dot com thanks so much and that is going to do it for now about for more on the stories we covered go to our team dot com slash usa also check out our videos and our interviews there on you tube dot com slash r t america can also follow me on twitter i'm at now listen we brought back a seven o'clock newscast we thought you needed it can't get enough of us right now to be sure to tune in or be on.