putting their guard up the u.s. sure likes to the idea of a nuclear free world but it isn't practicing what it preaches so ten years after the u.s. pulled out of the antiballistic missile treaty with russia what's with the blatant hypocrisy. and the time magazine person of the year goes to the protester from egypt to the u.k. the us to libya unrest has spread like a wildfire around the world so who are these protesters and why are some treated like heroes and others like villains.

and speaking of pros as it looks like the u.s. is moving right on down its checklist of foreign enemies next stop syria where bashar asan is clinging on to power we'll ask if syria is on its way to becoming a libya to point out. the friendship of the companions the real body the two we're getting along with the opposite sex sort of covering fluff and not the real news as protests happen around the world that leave it to the mainstream media to miss the real headlines looks like these outlets are more concerned with getting the story out first and getting it right. it is wednesday december fourteenth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm christine for zero. well this week marks the tenth anniversary of the u.s. withdrawal from the anti-ballistic missile treaty with russia now in two thousand

and one ten years ago the bush administration withdrew from the treaty a cornerstone cold war agreement which limited the superpowers ambitions to beef up their nuclear arsenals by guaranteeing that neither would develop means to defend against a missile attack so we want to talk about what this step has meant for global security and also about the more recent push by the us of a stablish in an anti-ballistic missile shield that russians consider a threat to their security president dmitri medvedev you may recall just recently said its creation would lead to russia pulling out of the start treaty so to dig deeper into all of this i spoke to senior fellow at the independent institute ivan eland and i started off by asking him in his view how has the u.s. pulling out of the treaty shaped the last ten years take a listen. well i think it's a it's mainly political at this point because the u.s. missile defense the national system doesn't work very well they've kind of

accelerated the deployment of it before it's ready so the national system is not really affected anything much because the the russians have plenty of warheads to counter and now there's a new issue in that the missile defense system that they're building in europe to get to that designed to counter iran well the russians of course are suspicious that this may be directed at them it probably isn't but it's a it's a political problem for them because it's in their backyard and i think that's interfering with the relationship so it's more of a political issue i think than the actual threatening of russians determined at this point because the systems are just not that good. let's go first to pull out from the treaty i want to know if there has been besides the u.s. and russia if there had been global consequences of that pullout from the treaty around the world if other countries have been affected by that sort of split well i

think it it's a political symbol that the u.s. is not. really concerned about reducing on off ends of arms defense of arms and often of arms are really linked especially between russia and the u.s. because you don't want to threaten the other side's often said missiles with defensive missiles so defensive weapon sounds you know provocative but actually defensive systems can be very provocative so i think this is a message to other countries really the united states and russia are the only people that have the technology to do this now so it's mainly in a military issue between them but it's a political issue by showing other countries that we're not serious about disarmament now of course the start treaty. as a positive. development between the two countries in the reset in relations as a lot of people write and i think that nothing should be done to to damage that and

i think this quest for missile defense it has really been a republican issue but now is creeping into both parties are afraid to touch this for electoral reasons but they could i mean your average voter is not going to vote on whether there's a missile defense or not they're going to vote on the economy so this is a it's a political issue because ronald reagan really resurrected this thing in the eighty's and it's been a republican party. issue to fulfill his legacy even though the system is vastly scaled down and doesn't even resemble what he had originally. proposed space based defense grandiose scheme it's down to land based systems now and i've been around reagan is the sweetheart of the republican party these days but perhaps that's why his ideas and his eye things are being resurrected but but i do want to talk about this missile defense shield that you say it's in europe russian leaders are worried

that it is aimed at them that it is a security issue for them you say it's not but they do have a right to be upset about it but the people who argue against that they say you know what there's plenty of missile defense shield all over europe there's plenty in israel why the distinct location then if russia shouldn't be worried well i think the location probably has to do does have to do with iranian missiles but the real problem is do we really need this at all that is to say the united states and europe i mean iran's missiles are a threat but we deterred china from. using nuclear weapons in chairman mao directly threatened to nuke the united states and now iran has never done that and iran may stop short of. getting a nuclear weapon and be like japan where they can assemble this at the last minute so we don't know where ron is going so i think the threat can be deterred i mean

the u.s. has thousands of warheads and it protects europe what you can argue whether it should be done or not but nevertheless does with the thousands of warheads so iran is not going to watch an attack on the united states probably because it'll be incinerated entire country will be incinerated with a small portion of the u.s. arsenal so i think this defense system is really unnecessary and therefore it's an unnecessarily provoking the russians as well and speaking of relations between the two countries let's talk about something even more recent as the elections that took place in russia. different. ways there's a different perspective that a lot of different people had based on the results of those elections based on the protests of those elections we saw senator john mccain tweet that the arab spring was knocking at russia's door. there's been a little tension you could say between the two countries based on the elections there do you think this will have any. you know effect on the relations between the

two countries well i think it already has there's been harsh words between secretary of state hillary clinton and blood in your putin about this issue and even if you're for democracy in the spread of human rights as i am used to i still question whether we need to go in a very public way and tell other countries about the jimmy carter tried that and he got pushed back the chinese clamp down on dissidents other countries did when he mentioned perhaps it's better to talk about these things privately if the u.s. has concerns rather than be the aggressive public defender of democracy and human rights so i think people could argue that we don't like countries meddling in our elections we have laws and restrictions against that but of course the u.s. funds groups in various countries and i think that's unnecessarily provocative i wish the people well but it's a russian issue. to deal with i think and i was throwing that stone to i think it

can be argued that there is enough problems in the u.s. election system especially coming up with redistricting and changing the photo id laws in the next few months even there's enough problems here that should be focused on by people in the u.s. that they don't need to go to other countries and tell them what to do. but let's just talk about there are people who say that all of these things the elections least of all that the pullout from the treaty ten years ago the missile shield that this is looking more and more and this is not my words but this is what some people say that this is look. more and more like the start of a new cold war between the two countries what do you have to say for people who say that well i think that's probably a bit of an exaggeration but i do think the u.s. has continued a containment policy against the russians and the russians. are like any other great power concerned about the countries around them and the united states is forcing itself into center central asia and the former east bloc poland czech

republic. even you. if you were sitting on the other side of that you would say well why does the united states need to do that it's halfway across the world this isn't the us fear of influence this is a russian sphere of influence and therefore i think in the same with china i think other countries look at this and say well listen you're on our front door and back door we're not on your front door and back door and i think americans to be able to see that sometimes that our forces are forward in europe in asia and you know there is some. residual cold war mentality there i don't think it's a full blown cold war but i think there's certainly a mentality in the united states that russia and china are still not completely on our side that that definitely whisperings of that when you listen to some of what lawmakers say on capitol hill here hell here a very interesting thing

a fellow at the independent institute ivan eland thanks so much for thinking of the studio. all right now let's turn to the person time magazine deems the person of the year this year two thousand and eleven and there were whispers it would be steve jobs but no this year time chose the protester kind of an interesting visual for the protester but in many ways the choice makes perfect sense from the arab spring to the crisis in the eurozone to occupy wall street the protester has come to embody much of what two thousand and eleven has been about fighting whether violently or not for change so we want to take a look at a few of this year's protests as we see significant and examine what they have resulted in talk about what connects them and what sets them apart let's begin with egypt and more specifically the mass protests in tahrir square now the reasons range from widespread poverty to anger at the thirty year reign of egyptian president hosni mubarak protesters most of them peaceful came to embody the arab

spring because mubarak to step down the protests was embraced by the american media and government alike but fast forward to today after months of military rule egyptians voted propelling two parties to power the formerly banned muslim brotherhood and their more radical religious brother in the salah fees raising the very real prospect of a conservative theocracy emerging on to libya now where the country split in half between moammar gadhafi loyalists and those who the west dubbed rebel fighters in the midst of this civil war the u.s. and nato forces stepped in with airstrikes and aid for those who are who oppose gadhafi never mind that many of them were islamists and had ties to al qaeda a national transitional council was formed and in october colonel moammar gadhafi was dragged into the street and brutally killed now you don't hear too much about libya now but the fight continues there with near daily battles between factions

jockeying for power. as spring turned into summer a twenty nine year old man in tottenham england is shot and killed by police and investigation later revealed it was a mistake a peaceful protest of following that shooting turn into what much of the western world referred to as riots and to be sure over the course of a week more than three thousand people were arrested five killed and several stores buildings and cars were vandalized the mass media was full of talk of mobs greed and a lack of moral compass but little was said about anger frustration and a loss of faith in the system. then came a movement that is still ongoing occupy wall street it started with a group of a few hundred gathering to protest the corruption of a system in which the one percent or most wealthy and powerful in america make the rules and the other ninety nine percent lose out occupy wall street spread around the country and around the world here in the us parks and squares were occupied by

peaceful protesters for months they were met with police brutality in the form of pepper spray tear gas and rubber bullets and the mainstream media who called them dirty hippies with no clear message just a few days days ago we saw protests in russia people who expressed anger about the recent elections there that landed the united russia party back with the majority of power the us media covered it as the arab spring on russia shores reporters ghost about a resurgence of the liberal opposition completely ignoring the very ugly nationalist and anti semitic leading among them. and finally on to syria where protests are still ongoing now you hear a lot of talk on the mainstream media about the protests and about the five thousand people who have reportedly been killed but there's little mention that this is actually part of an ongoing civil war protesters there are armed and are battling the government the divide very much along sectarian lines sunni sunni's

versus shiites most recently a former official with the f.b.i. is reporting u.s. and nato forces have already landed just outside of syria and are planning to train the militants to overthrow the regime regime of president bashar al assad critics say this move will fuel the civil war and give an excuse for a future intervention. and i want to talk more about this idea of a potential future intervention on the part of the u.s. and nato forces now as far as a u.n. resolution under the guise of the responsibility to protect russia and china have both already vowed to veto this not to let this happen however as we mentioned there are reports now of u.s. troops in jordan right now right along the syrian border they apparently left iraq and are station about ten kilometers from the syrian border they are apparently building surveillance towers setting up camp there so i want to talk more about this and for that let's go to the host of the core of that report james corbett in a socket japan hey there james let's talk about this first of this was first

reported by a former official within the ranks of the f.b.i. civil admin who wrote that american soldiers are and are among the nato troops that have you know suddenly appeared on the jordanian syrian border she says the u.s. media has been instructed to censor itself what have you heard regarding this. well exactly right this story comes from sybil admins who did break this story over the weekend and i was less than half to be part of the breaking of this story and it comes from a number of different sources including jordanian military officer there is an employee of royal jordanian airlines there are also a rip iraqi journalists and an x. syrian journalist called mazhar and now you've helped to break this story and what we've heard so far is that last week on december eighth some of the troops that were supposedly coming home from iraq at least one military flight was diverted to the king hussein air base. sorry that it landed at the princess an airbase in

eastern syria and then with the troops were transferred to the king hussein or be said elma frak which is just ten kilometers from the syrian border in jordan so so that was the basis for the story and what we've been hearing is that troops have been spotted in the area of the jordan soon syrian border spreading out for a moment frak even closer towards the the border in towns like oh by edge and assault on and really this is right across the border from duran which has been the source of a lot of the protest in upheaval go and going on in syria so this is a serious move but i think it's also important to stress what this story indicates and what it does not indicate so far what we're hearing is that it's only a few hundred troops if we're not talking of thousands of troops this is not does not seem at this point at any rate to be a boots on the ground invasion force by any means but i think it relates to a story that broke in the jordanian news last week that that western officials had

met with king of dua in jordan to ask for permission to set up electronic surveillance of syria and also to attempt to routes to the so-called free. so that broke last week and we are getting confirmation of that indeed independently from don't go and it should be noted also for it for the record that the jordanian state minister for media and communications rocko an old leak was prompted to come out and officially denying that story on december thirteenth so yesterday he came out and officially denied that in jordanian state meet media but all right so like you said it's like you said this is not a ground war this is not a major effort to you know the not quite the next libya even. though there were no ground troops there but but what we're hearing in addition to what you're telling us about the surveillance towers is that there's also at least plans in the works to start training turkish troops to talk to me about i think it's important people

understand the role of turkey and all of this and the significance. absolutely well that story also was broken by civil admins last month and that is since been confirmed in international media but absolutely the turkey has been at southeastern turkey as specific specifically a city called a comedy has been the base where u.s. is currently training syrian rebels that are going to be or so presumably going to be deployed in syria for their destabilization of the assad government so that that came out last month as i say it's now been confirmed in international media and it's apparently being run by a syrian defector colonel riyadh all assad in a car in southeastern turkey so again i think turkey and jordan just for the optics obviously don't want to be associated with this and don't want to to confirm this on the record but it has been confirmed by independent reporting and what it what it indicates is absolutely a type of picture movement that's being used both the northern border with with

turkey in the southern border with jordan are now being used as points of destabilization where rebels are being recruited swayed and turned towards obviously the destabilization of the assad government i think if you think about this geopolitically james i mean this to me is sounds like huge news and other than your reporting and samples reporting there's very few places that this is being talked about either civil that civil said it and the thing that she wrote she said that western media who was there was told you know you can't talk about this yet why is this not a bigger story here in the u.s. . i think presumably because obviously the u.s. doesn't want to well the obvious answer would be that the u.s. doesn't want to be seen to be interfering in the politics of the region and obviously that wouldn't help any of the west as allies in the region specifically jordan for example would be hugely unpopular for them to be admitting that they were allowing foreign interests military to do intervention in syria from operating

on their soil so i think obviously there is there's a lot of international considerations to go on here but i can confirm behind the scenes that two journalists at two different print media publications mainstream media publications have been told specifically not to cover this story so so it has had has been looked at at least in the the annals of american journalism but they are not for going to this time and we'll have to see if if we can get even further response the d.o.d. press office was contacted for comment on the story but never got back to us just real quick james a very quick prediction on your part for what we can expect to see and when we can expect to see it in syria we're getting u.s. troops regarding u.s. troops specifically i am going to side probably with pepe escobar who had a very important a tauriel recently basically saying that nato strategy here is not to put on the ground invasion not even to do the type of thing that we saw in libya with the the humanitarian intervention so-called but instead to to motivate turkey to really

start acting against syria and in order to secure their border and secure the situation are absolutely games are out of time and we have talked about the earlier . thank you so much for joining us from a socket japan james corbett host of the corvette report thank you. i want to talk now about a story you've probably heard very little about a saudi arabian woman in her sixty's was recently beheaded they're charged with the crime of sorcery apparently she was charging people hundreds of dollars to treat their illnesses so she wasn't a doctor now you may remember a little while ago in iran when there was talk of a woman being stoned to death for the crime of adultery the public outcry was immediate and widespread the story dominated cable networks. to germany and internet postings worldwide outcries against the imminent execution of shockey mohamad the. forty three year old mother of two convicted in two thousand and six

of committing adultery in iran now her life ended up being spared partly because of the outrages so a simple question where is the outrage for the saudi arabian woman and to answer that i did speak earlier as i just said to the times correspondent pepe escobar. well that's the graphic metaphor for anybody who cares to look at it of the double standards by the u.s. and nato iran is a full they're evil they're part of the axis of evil and how to solve they are our bastards so we cannot criticize them this story of this woman in fact it goes way beyond what he has been leaked if you if you follow the saudi arabian press nobody even talks about it the b.b.c. tried any target they should and some saudi bloggers are some middle eastern brothers are advancing what i sink is the moral lesson what really happened she's a faith healer but she is a woman she is to war she is in the lowest rank over social strata in saudi arabia

and because she is a healer and she was having some success she was in fact going a guest is a very but your article society male dominated and the clerics in saudi arabia had to do something because their power was being undermined but this is very complicated to explain to a western audience who want to do a three paragraph strike so nobody talks about it and the cases in iran the sakena case it was amazing i remember traveling in the middle of it to leave you need to leave villages in front of the preface your you had huge photos of saki may so we have to free her from those crazy people in iran those crazy ayatollah it's not because we in the west simply we refuse to understand the other according to their cultural background according to their beliefs and we only criticize one side of

the a on their side of it is the shiites in general be day in iran iraq has been a lot allows in syria but they soon as they get away with literally murder as they got away with murder in iraq for a long time and just like the house of solid and al khalifa in bahrain they go. away with murder repressed in their own. by the world that they were almost out of time i really quick want to touch upon there has been some alternative media that has covered the story and one of the main reasons that they point to is not only the cozy relationship i guess you could say between the u.s. and saudi arabia but also a multimillion dollar effort by p.r. firms here to keep the saudi image in good light just real briefly can you talk about that absolutely. the saudis day have they can hire some of the best p.r. firms in washington prince turki or was he is a washington man rector he knows that all the decision makers bipartisan effect do

you really and they prefer to speak farsi they don't dress with this suit and tie western style their style you know their rhetoric is much more complicated because it's lost in translation so if this is simply so simple so straight to the point but he makes a lot of difference alrighty singular and says is lost in translation so i would suggest them to hire a p.r. an american p.r. firm as well and you're right this will go up turning out to the mainstream media coverage of the recent post-election protests in moscow as are going to found some outlets here in the u.s. have been shutting their eyes to obvious details while inflating others and doing the exact same thing with protests here at home. double standards in journalism were once embarrassing they are now increasingly mainstream here is u.s. media coverage of post-election protests in moscow there's a lot of chanting

a lot of spotting places it is a good night crowd here is coverage of protests continuing for sri month right under their noses at home the crowd is the boss they are disorganized they look funny when i protested nobody seems to know demonstrators in the us presented as the margin of american society was truly based in the end of his fruits of american politics they told me in russia flags of truly radical nationalist groups right behind this interviewee and this one ignored and this sea of them present on the ground unexpectedly well you have the news media you know. the russians. and going down in american the many that are still under way to go get a job treating protests at home and abroad differently these days seems to be a trend of protesters against foreign countries particularly countries that are economic or political rivals to the united states are always good protesters in our

country who are against the american system are usually bad that's the construct that the media begins with it isn't a party american mainstream media channels took at least two weeks to catch up with and then undermine the occupy wall street protests across the us all you have to do is take a shower and they get a job in the only way archie has been on the ground since day one this is just the beginning of the occupying wall street crowd say they're going to be here until their demands are heard showing the hundreds of arrests and tear gas used against the protesters. largely ignored by the mainstream media playing here guy and he's kind of less than lethal weapon for being here. during the our very process this is seen as an unacceptable crackdown on protesters our teachers also cover demonstrations in moscow what can easily be called moscow's biggest protest in

twenty years. as well as showed the arrest that took place in russia let since it was a celebration which everyone expected would not be allowed to cover the protests are covering protests and showing a commitment to the story which is quite remarkable while others were not even committed enough was to commit to a crew on the ground in moscow he logan is following the developments from london he joins us now with more candy what can you tell us usually the skeleton crew that they have at their moscow bureau you know spend all their time with each other or at local bars they're not down on the street this could lead to knowledge painfully thin on t.v. screens. are going so far as to show protests out that are not russian politically the most americans seriously could not find russia on a map so you know when you when you're dealing with that audience a producer is going to say well you know. we can't the.