ever heard of a car with. to overthrow the assad government now they have a more democratic government from north you mean government but a government that is allied with the united states of america is grabbing the bull by the horns this as the country uses the arab spring to cultivate revolution and watch longtime enemies were away but for the ground always be greener on the other side. and it's been it's hard the war in libya between production forces and libyan rebels is the game really over and if so who's the winner we'll have a report from tripoli on the freedom of refreshment happening. they are taking the same risks with investor you know investors' money depositors' money that they were

taken before and why because they know they'll be bailed out if there's a problem now doesn't the u.s. government know what happens if you give a mouse a cookie so three years after the collapse of lehman brothers has anything really changed or are the big banks and wall street still just hoping the system. really is so much more mission based and fraternal it's about their brothers and sisters and executing the task that they've been given this is. anderson cooper this is no laughing matter mainstream news outlets providing comic relief while the joke mausers out as hard hitting journalist so what's with this role reversal and what's next for t.v. . it's thursday september fifteenth seven pm in washington d.c.

i'm christine you're watching our team. well the new developments in libya today as for the first time western leaders are on the ground there for the first time since the nato led mission began french president nicolas sarkozy and british prime minister david cameron were there to show support for the national transitional council and the pledge more aid to the rebels to help ensure the surrender of gadhafi loyalists france and britain just part of that equation though the u.s. has also strongly backed libyan opposition and it is possible we will start to see similar events unfold in syria u.s. leaders continue to loudly proclaim their condemnation of syria's president bashar al assad but critic merican his decision to take sides were in some unexpected and unwanted result ardi correspondent diana to khan has more in this report. as nations in the middle east and north africa are torn between the struggle to bring

about change and the struggle not to let the changes ruin their lives lost and used the arab spring as an opportunity to finally see some of its longtime foes crumble you know iran an arab country the arab spring could stretch. and i think in many ways it's a matter of time before that collective change for and revolution occurs in the under the umbrella faerber evolutions washington is also beating the drums of regime change in syria iran's closest ally in the region the islands within the country has been widely condemned countries like russia and china call for both sides in syria to talk and end the bloodshed while america is blaming assad alone i think assad stays just like a darfur and let's hope the pressure assad is next in line they've overthrown khadafi they're going to have a proxy or client government in tripoli the next step is syria they want to overthrow syria next to take advantage of any movement that exists in syria to

overthrow the assad government now they have a more democratic government a more humane government but a government that is allied with the united states and after syria the next target will be iran itself watching regimes go down one by one american politicians are filled with new hopes and aspirations some went as far as to predict the arab spring will spread all across the world what this is all about is the arab spring and bashar assad is next and even places like china russia and other places they are very uneasy this is about people aspiring for freedom and that's what the libyan people are just and she. it's wishful thinking on the part of john mccain but it speaks volumes to where the real orientation is in washington not just of the republicans but the democrats too so they would like to overthrow the government in china they would like to overthrow the government in russia they would like to overthrow the government in venezuela and cuba or wherever people are independent of the dictates of washington but when it comes to syria and iran

washington doesn't seem to be just fantasizing about revolutions by throwing its support behind revolution makers and really say washington is seeking to increase its influence and control in these countries let's look at how things have been in the control the party. so far eject thousands protest against the us backed military there that still in power last week egyptians stormed these really empathy and rage by the killing the five egyptian border guards in libya washington is a good little ship is taking over but the country is at risk of plunging into tribal war syria the opposition includes those with radical agendas so the aftermath of the so-called arab spring remains very murky and difficult it washington seems to be using the herb spring to fulfill its long time goals but the fear is it might end up getting the opposite of what it wishes for and undermining the whole region i'm going to shut down reporting from washington r.t. you know this is important i think the u.s.

is already involved in iraq in afghanistan and libya could syria actually the next what's the truth behind these actions i want to bring robert naiman into the discussion he is the policy director for just foreign policy he's in oregon illinois hey there robert you know washington seems to be throwing its support constantly be behind you know these resolution makers what's up with that. well it's not constant the washing has not thrown its work on revolution makers and offer a great example was not confidence in libya they saw an opportunity and in some ways was unique case over forty years i could offer government and managed to make an enemy across the spectrum heated by a government aligned with the west but also hated by islamic hated by thomas and levanon you don't iran wasn't very noisy in criticizing us about

the it's a wrench in libya and you saw the resolution in the arab league. so this was somewhat unique case there is a lot more reluctance to intervene militarily in syria and there also is going to be more opposition to any such mu brazil russia china south africa india were very unhappy that the united nations security council resolution sensibly to protect civilians in libya was turned into carte blanche for military intervention on one side of a civil war so i think the it's far from clear that what's happening in libya can be a pressing concern i want to i mean to the point you just mentioned it's really interesting because archie sat down very recently with russian ambassador to the united nations to tally churkin and talk to him a little bit about how he sees and how his country sees the u.s.

role in syria i want to play a little bit what he had to say on that response. well what's called its. weary us this is not their intention pool or use military force incidentally we have to remind them that we will. save lives and assurances from them of various sorts when we're working with both resolutions libya which we're very quickly forgotten maybe he'll be back in. so here he is talking about it the possibility of any u.s. involvement in syria certainly there's nothing now one of the u.s. and u.s. leaders have been pretty loud you know in their condemnation against bashar assad the president there. what about this i mean what about how some of these other countries as you mentioned. the the u.s. from the outside. well the first of all the u.s. has recently escalate its rhetoric against assad but it was slow to do so these

events have been going on for six months. it's far from is the beginning the u.s. was far from eager to see assad topple the according to public statements you know there well you know there isn't a deluge you know i don't think anybody believes that the successor government in syria is going to be more sympathetic to the israeli desire to maintain control of the golan heights for example in fact the successor government in syria a democratic government in syria might be more vigorous in pursuing syrian claims against israel because what's happening in egypt now with the egyptian government you know it's this interim military government not a completely new cast of characters but it's pursuing different international political policies and starting to have more weight in international affairs same

thing can happen in syria so it's not obvious that the fall of the assad government is the u.s. and israeli interests but there's a school thing in washington. that you know well previously thing aside is ok with us we can move with now saying well you know we the we can't keep us out anyway so let's try to get on the side of change sure and i think that that's a statement that most people would find hard to argue with and no longer talking about successor governments you bring up the point in egypt where the military government still there i think it's also important to bring up libya because i mean we see these two leaders we see the french president their british prime minister there today kind of pledging their support making sure the national transitional council know that they still have the support of nato and the west but i want to talk to you about just who the national transitional council is who the rebels are it's made up it seems to me of islam that's perhaps a majority of it it's made up of

a lot of different factions and i think it's hard to say exactly. you know what will we'll see next there doesn't seem to be that there's a united front in terms of a future government in libya. there are different factions there is a kind of political leadership which is secular which arguably was largely chosen to appeal to international opinion and for relations with foreign governments and there are islamist forces which played a big role in the military campaign and are likely to pay a big role in the future they certainly have a lot of experience that they seem to bring with them a lot of them having trained or fought in other countries that they were able to bring their experience of political experience but on the other hand you know when you say when you speak about this moment forces that covers a lot of theories or after all iran and the lamas government here if you have a muslim woman pakistan afghanistan or islamic republic turkey has an islamic

government that covers a lot of territory and egypt may have an islamic government and in the future so having said that it's almost going to play a role doesn't tell you a great deal necessarily about what subject or e could be could be a more secular government does exist in turkey could be a government that tries to. impose some form of islam equality that of course even within that there is a lot of room for interpretation and all that is consistent with for example saudi arabia very strict imposition of islamic law very pro-u.s. god so there's a lot to be determined and i don't think it should just as a surprise that in a muslim country like libya is almost going to play a role after revolution just as in egypt a democratic government is going to bring arguably to bring islam without

a doubt and i think that the bottom line is that it's just hard to say exactly what that future government will look like important to talk about on the last thanks so much robert naiman policy director for just foreign policy and obama eleanor. well as we mentioned before there are some major new developments in libya we talked about both the western leaders being on the ground there british prime minister david cameron and french president nicolas sarkozy showing support and making sure the rebels know that they are there and they will continue to support them until the last of the look at the gadhafi loyalists have surrendered now based on some of the footage we've seen it appears that could be soon with the national transitional council appearing to be in control and with tripoli in rebel hands but r.t. also has a correspondent on the ground in libya and she joined me earlier to give me her perspective on what was actually happening there as artie's onery of an ocean a in tripoli. but christine british prime minister and french president he

leaves use sad indeed to show their support for the national transitional council his new authorities the financial political and of course military support these two leaders have become the first foreign heads of state to visit khadafi freely not surprisingly though these two later countries have played a prominent a crucial role in the libyan revolution backed by the alliance which eventually led to the fall of gadhafi and to the end all for the almost forty two year long dictatorship here in leave here these countries were pushing for a nato action actually for a military operation here leave it to protect civilians against gadhafi troops in february and french valley and french warplanes was the first to fly in the air campaign here in leave here to endorse a no fly zone over the country the helicopters and fighter jets of these countries

together with other countries from nato had been born in his mission to cities throughout libya for six months and france. became the first country to recognize the national transitional council as eve is new legitimate authorities speaking here in tripoli both because he and cameron have emphasized that their countries will continue how clean the national transitional council supporting the rubbles especially they've pointed out that nato will continue its mission on the ground and they will continue born mean duffy's apparently couldn't face the military facilities here in leave here for as long as it is necessary to protect civilians and it may to is circling to you know operating here in early in the areas still held by khadafi forces where fighting continues between the rebels and gadhafi loyalists and we're here talking about at least for gadhafi stronghold. including his hometown six hundred kilometers east of the capital tripoli and barely walid

the area. just south of the capital tripoli known for its ardent supporter the embattled. actually many a very skeptical about this mission saying it's no longer aimed at protecting civilians actually be able to rather as the one aimed at helping the rebels take control over the rest of the country the virtually culturally to majority of the country but the sealed remain several polls at least for as a sad held by khadafi forces and we're using you mentioned bani walid as well as sirte in terms of places where the rebels actually do not have control i think this is important to point out because it's very different than some of the accounts that we've seen some of the video that we've seen celebrations going on there talk a little bit about. you know the fear that still exists on both sides and also your

take on the national transitional council. and to what extent do you think that they are a unified front. it is you're absolutely right the timing of the space it is very strange because it looks like. a leader is came to. tripoli to leave here to take parting celebrations of the rebels while fighting so continue and people are still dying from both sides as you just cited indeed but. even more interesting is that not only are they still remain pockets of gadhafi loyalists bit here in tripoli in the capital this looks pretty much divided right now we've seen many people waving his new flag isn't carrying banners thank you so because you thank you france think people with what you've done. as. a dictatorship but

the ras to areas in tripoli where people like grow police support and khadafi and that was actually correspond of maria for an oceanographer latest from tripoli now i'd like to wish you happy anniversary this one i'm going to vent to you krebs they've changed the world or at least run the global economy to its knees it was after all three years ago today that lehman brothers america's fourth largest bank filed bankruptcy and collapsed under six billion dollars of toxic debt well today we take a look back from then to now and ask a few questions first how things changed second who has been held responsible and most importantly what have we learned are to correspondent maria takes a look at these questions and also some of the disheartening answers. claiming brothers has filed for bankruptcy stocks all around the world are taking it because

of the crisis on wall street the more things change the more they stay the same how will lehman's bankruptcy filing really change the landscape of the entire banking industry in two thousand and eight wall street's bad bets and risky speculation led to the collapse of america's housing market and a financial crisis around the globe today banks have grown work powerful and profitable but the threat of a double dip recession has deepened if part of the problem was too big to fail and of part of the problem was high dependence on the financial sector if you fast forward three years we have even bigger financial institutions which were at least equally dependent so the structural problems are probably worse and certainly not a whole lot better washington c wall street with nearly one trillion dollars in government bailout yet in the past three years critics say that washington has failed to effectively regulate wall street the financial industry can still trade

brundle debt and that the same way it did thirty six months ago is still. the only differences they are worse is because. has been trillions of dollars were. different the subsidies that were really in a worse position than we were after or it is what. america's great recession has chipped away at the middle class exacerbated homelessness and resulted in at least fourteen million unemployed citizens. just last month zero jobs not one was creed meantime wall street executives broke records last year pulling in one hundred forty nine billion dollars in pay in compensation according to analysts the u.s. is approaching its highest level of inequality since world war one if you're not in the top ten or twenty percent you're significantly poorer than you were in two thousand and eight. and in two thousand and eight you were making one sixteenth as

much money as the wealthiest people in the united states we've seen you know corporate profits make profits record breaking profits in some cases three years after the crisis and why is that they're taking the same risks with investor you know investors money depositors money that they were taking before and why because they know they'll be bailed out there's a problem in two thousand and eight u.s. credit agencies fail to forecast the problem reading lehman as a secure investment just one week before its historic bankruptcy very little change with their business model for the only thing that really has changed is that there's much more skepticism towards the collapse of lehman brothers ignited a perfect storm of economic distress and the around the world yet three years later problems that caused the crisis remain unsolved many economists are predicting that this meet another economic collapse isn't just probable it's inevitable. we're not

artsy. so how your are to what is going on with the mainstream media this is a loaded question of next we'll take a look at how hard hitting news is being replaced with comedy all comedians like jon stewart and stephen colbert are turning to serious topics but are no laughing matter. and what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions break through it's really kind of made who can you trust no one will if you view it with a global mission which is where we had a state controlled capitalism. it's called nationals when nobody dares to

ask we do our t. question more. inside only a military making use of force if you don't work to bring justice or accountability . i have every right to know what my government's true if you want to know why i pay taxes. so i would characterize obama as a charismatic sort. of american exceptionalism. well let's take a look now i get another example of the changing landscape of mainstream media news or should i say the lack of names i'm talking about anderson cooper he has always been known for being in the center of the action from the earthquake in haiti to the revolution in egypt he has been for so long one of the most trusted reporters in news well that's things to be changing i'm telling you snooki is one impossibly

lucky and usually spunky freakishly tame beer guzzling juice head hugging not so loving but tara bodied pint sized money making machine we really wanted to do a show that kind of covered a broad range of topics. you know all the real housewives of beverly beverly hills by their names like you believe people. this is some really good if you're really funny. anderson cooper spray tanning with snooki i don't know if this is a laughing matter do you really need to spray on an eight pack of abs to get people to watch games like gone are the days of hard hitting questions and in-depth reporting and all news takes a turn towards comedy and i use that term loosely who then is left to bring americans their daily headlines well it seems it's the comedians. i was surprised in meeting the people that i've met in the military how

a political they truly are how it really is so much more mission based and fraternal it's about their brothers and sisters and executing the task that they've been given well i think as you saw on the trip that we were on together is vague here so much about who they are with who they're fighting with in many ways that's why they're there they understand what they're doing for their country they understand their mission all right so what's going on with this role reversal well earlier i spoke to georgetown university journalism professor chris chambers about why we are seeing this media mix up. it's no accident that people are backing away from mainstream media the three networks and the cable networks coverage of supposedly serious issues analysis investigative reporting and looking at you know outlets like our t.v. or or independent news sites on the internet or even of social media based news because of of this stuff because basically what they're doing is it's this whole

source called brandon handsome and they figure he can go from this hard hitting reporter who's in haiti to a daytime talk show but we're not talking about the same demographics here but talk show demographic and they don't care about rescuing children in haiti or what's going on and to hear square this is a demographic where you see the commercials that are played usually trial lawyers or for diploma mills or something like that or if i may be quasar sexist it's a twenty four to say sixty year old female demographic and it's largely either an educated or under-educated one of the things i mean back a ten twenty years ago the people who did what anderson cooper did who paid their dues and ran on the front line you know maybe they were also white house reporter or whatever and they then went on to be evening tankers not to the scanning with now do you think the first part of a larger trend here oh yes i mean this is this is the total of deconstruction of

the u.s. media and this is this we've talked about this before and it just keeps a gift that keeps on giving i don't think it could get any worse you could you you would see him move on to maybe taking over from wolf blitzer for the situation room that's not happening and those are for tonight he's our flattening out you know so what is the next best thing in terms of what you know i have friends the time warner the probably going to kick my butt but the next best thing for the time warner people in charge to do is to say we'll have brandon handsome and we'll move him into his own show during the daytime which has nothing to do. with the hard news that he's really known for and again that's a tough transition but in their minds you know they can introduce him to a new audience he can seem more accessible and more like a regular guy and you know he started off with about you know a pretty good share about a million point three people watching he and amy winehouse his family but then it

it devolved from that to kathy griffin then and let's look and that's what he has to do to keep an audience he's not he's not dr phil he's not dr oz he doesn't have that hook he's going to have to make it more of kind of a silly variety i mean certainly it's one thing to want to expand your horizons and try to different things but i just can't help that thinking i mean this is the same guy who was the only non c.b.s. reporter to be able to do segment on sixty nine well yeah and then you see this let's turn it around and look at the other side jon stewart i mean every single night you know you turn on and you're seeing dots being connected you know by jon stewart daily show producers that are really holding our lawmakers accountable based on just putting them face to face back things said. lois with snooki who can't even pronounce his name you know to be called mr anderton that he did but i mean what what what's up with with jon stewart writing the job that we

always sort of charged journalists with doing which is holding a lawmaker's accountable interviewing heavy garrick like admiral mike mullen what's happening when you stephen colbert is doing it to me can't make them out there basically they're not really all they're doing is occupying the space that these guys once did you know occupied that's all it is it's not anything more complicated these people have abdicated their role to do investigative reporting to cover the news that people don't necessarily aren't comfortable with you know are and are not about say the. propaganda arm of the republican party that some say fox has become so you take that out of the equation this is wide open field and you have you know comedians that can move into that because they have this young kind of hipster audience that has expanded so now they have the freedom to do this that was pristine for journalism professor at georgetown university and that's going to.