informed decision if their options come from candidates who are pandering to them with flawed patriotism. very disciplined or very disciplined it was a group with very serious for their age a very hard study to be topical and he didn't like to lose well he's been labeled a dark horse and everyone wants to know what north korea's next of him will do when he assumes his father's role r.t. has an exclusive interview interview with kim jong un's former classmate and give some insight into what the new leader's plans may be. well it's december twenty seventh five pm in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching r t. well despite an intense smear campaign ron paul is surging in the polls throughout the years his message has remained the same

and now his consistency seems to finally be paying off let's take a look at some of the presidential candidate stances that make him fundamentally different from his rivals while when it comes to foreign policy ron paul remains antiwar he wants to bring the troops home close military bases abroad and stop being the world's policeman when it comes to government he thinks it should be much smaller he wants to slash spending lower taxes and believes government interference should be at a bare minimum and when it comes to the war on drugs he wants to end it the doctor believes drug abuse is a medical not a criminal problem. well it's these ideas that his supporters say show a candidate offering a real change fresh fresh ideas that differ from those of the failed stablish mitt but instead of focusing on his policy the mainstream media is busy digging up dirt from his past controversial newsletters published under his name decades ago are

resurfacing paul asserts that he never read them and he never approved of the racist statements in them but that's not stopping the mass media from attacking again and again and you know it is it legitimate i mean is it a legitimate question to ask that when you get a real name and when you get the answer is legitimate or you sort of take the answers i get you know when you know serious i didn't really write them i didn't read them at the time and i disavow them that is you know. so while that clip has gone viral here is something you did not see ron paul and his take on a possible war with iraq. they attacked to see if they were a threat to our national security but quite frankly. in the last fifty years we our national security has never been threatened by korea or vietnam or the libyans or the iraqis our national security has not been threatened now heard taxed by

terrorists who are they they don't know what country do they work. for disarmament of countries yeah so you attack all the countries of the world is crazy so there seems to be a picking and choosing and then what they want you to see there but as paul surges in the polls could he be the change that many americans longed for and if so why is there a campaign to silence him well tell me answer just that i spoke to director of grassroots political consulting daniel for and as ron paul continues to resonate with voters across the country asked daniel just why the mainstream media is treason to focus on those old newsletters rather than his message here is to take. well i think there's a lot of it that is being fed to them by other campaigns and other candidates and so and it's sensational to discuss that point in and try to bring another scandal to bigger burden on another conservative in this race and if it was being fed to

them i mean as the media shouldn't they be able to determine what is important what is relevant what they should be reporting on they should but you're right there is an all out very consistent attack being coordinated against them to make him look so for and of the fringe for wanting to draw down our troops not engage iran over aggressively militarily first option wise to tackle the fed to return us to the gold standard i mean there are many things that he brings to the table that a lot of the american electorate is looking for on both sides of the aisle and that is why he is subject to so many attacks and absolutely use the word friend and certainly in the mainstream media they are still trying to perpetrate him as this fringe candidate i want to take a listen to what former presidential candidate mike huckabee has to say about paul's chances ron paul is not going to be elected president he's not his views on

foreign policy are so much an anathema to the republicans much less to democrats and and what i call middle of the road people that he has a very strong core of fanatical believers but they do not represent the mainstream of america. and the business tycoon that now seems to be attempting to make a career and politics today tweeted. a vote for ron paul is a totally wasted vote if you wins iowa it's bad for iowa's credibility so it's no matter what he does no matter what a. surge or numbers he gains they just twist it around to make it seem like there's something wrong with with the system going back to what mike huckabee said you know he used the word fanatical believers so it seems he seems to be implying that if you are for ron paul if you are outside of the mainstream you are therefore crazy. is that how people is out people that are against you know the status quo or

business of usual. they're being portrayed by the mainstream media that that are you know fanatical it definitely is i think this so there's a foundation to the whole problem here speaking of i was specifically there was a lackluster motivation for participation in these caucuses you can see it just by even the ad spending you look back to two thousand and eight which had a little bit better of the field than right now and the ads there was eleven million spent on ads five million on the ground and street money now there's over ten million spent on ads with still another week to go of flooding and who knows so much has been spent on the ground and this comprehensive consistent attack from the media and also establishment republicans against anybody that is supporting ron paul is meant to dismay those that are he clearly has the most motivated caucus goers that anybody had to go out in the middle of the cold weather for

a few hours in the night it's not like typical going out to a pool with that crop of the jeb bush or a poll ryan or anybody to be excited about you need to have a very very credible ground game with a lot of funds spent to keep people out there and ron paul seems to have the only group that consistently is believed in him for over twenty years. yes and the attacks are coming but you look at the old turn of and caucus goers have to be scratching their heads on who is the most credible to beat the president at the same time who could be more consistent in their record and what congressman paul has to offer right now now do you think it's possible that the establishment the mainstream media are scared of him they're seeing that he's actually making this mark he's getting people's attention his message is coming through is it possible that some people are scared that he is gaining some leverage now in a way i mean this is and it's perplexing though because this is an era look at even

today we're going to go raise the debt ceiling another trillion and a half dollars after that was supposed to have been sold this is an arrow we're told the big things need to be done to turn this country around he is probably out of the field of candidates maybe speaker gingrich offering some as well but one of the ones offering the most bold sweeping change in direction from the thing that is taking this country to an insolvent state at this point in time and that is causing him both sides are scared of it because of that groundswell of support that's around those ideas that it crosses party lines and the threat that it could mean that members of congress and others are going to would have to get in line with some of this thinking now there are some of the international foreign policy things that of course are a little concerning at times and also i think his lack of articulation of the drug war decriminalizing and tying that to.

not fighting the drug war is intensely i mean he needs to kind of separate the two points so there are some issues there but consistently there's a lot of big broad sweeping things that the public's kitchen and you know there certainly are a lot of that on both sides a lot of republicans he's running as a as a republican candidate but a lot of conservatives that are be humanly. host you had. you know but ron paul if you look at what he advocates things that you hear from him over and over again going back to the constitution freedoms civil liberties are these are words that conservatives love it yes and you know the debt to the phenomenon of the tea party itself and the conservative groundswell in this country originated from him maybe twenty years ago i mean he's a purist libertarian very conservative member of congress but he has always been that way and very consistent in his answers sink to this point as well they know

thank you so much for weighing in on all of this that was director of grassroots political consulting danielle. a lot of patriotism and the voters ability to choose the best candidate might be our next commander in chief determine if americans a lack of knowledge will lead to a horribly jealous leader when we come back. with do you believe in. one of the protest the but nobody seems to know. but never a pepper spray to the face of the argument that they're being overly dramatic.

if you just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old i like to tell the truth. i confess and get a friend that i love rap and hip hop music and for. that he was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the role that i'll just

play.

into it only mechanisms do not work to bring justice or accountability. i have the right to know what my government should do if you want to know why i pay taxes. i would characterize obama as a charismatic version of american exceptionalism. well as part of a presidential campaign to get out most of the g.o.p. candidates have taken quite aggressive stance when it comes to foreign policy and there is a segment of the country that supports expanding military presence and military spending but when it comes to foreign policy and the conflicts abroad how much does the average man on the street really know about what's going on in the world are honest aasia turkana explores. it's three agencies of government when i get there

that are gone commerce education and the what's the third one there let's say he's looking to to actually fire tens of thousands of federal workers and eliminate. cabinet level position and you can even remember its name and asked me who is the president of you beki beki beki beki stan stan i'm going to say you know i don't know do you know it's not the fact that he doesn't know it's the fact that he doesn't think he should look it up so you agree with president obama. when the basic knowledge of those attempting to spearhead a country can leave much to be desired where did this leave americans choosing their politicians and their country's potential future let's find out. for some reason i don't know anything about libya do you know what is back you.

know i do not know what the. back and forth. do you know the us is an airbase there . oh yeah we know about libya. you know dispel libya yes yes do you know the united states was involved in a war would be. ok. you know why. i know absolutely nothing about the war that new mexico is a state or a country what is that. i don't really think the somebody like that was my concern now. it's the old man under bush. wow i actually. come on it's not that long ago your oh cheney was the vice president of the us. you know i have no idea i know it's brought obama but the vice president. cheney was secretary of state kindly to write

a style that we would be fools and needs to know or their purpose and their plan some countries are at the top of politicians list to attack verbal each and literally but how much do people really know about those faraway places. with government through them or their own president or the. image of the young the president of iran is now capital capital of iran and do you know the capital city of iran. negative that you guys know what iran is yes yes what's the capital of iran cares who is a president. who's president who just died without the capitals around the capital yes i do what is it you're asking me i can't tell you that either top secret come out allies call them. now we'll be rich

. anything we get. is the president of iraq iran iraq all right you know his name but a jet a giraffe or so when it comes to picking a future for do you want to see what comes next maybe talk without the knowledge of what has gone on in the past and even the very present the future cannot. answer about all this and more founder of wide awake news dot com charlie mcgrath is with me now welcome charlie nice to have you on again. have seen so aggressive pro-war rhetoric coming from the g.o.p. candidates do you think it's necessary for republican presidential candidates to prove how tough they are in order to gain voter approval or what's going on there. well it certainly seems that way i mean if we watch the national security debate everybody up on that stage expect the exception of ron paul you know talked about the gross of prosecution of the war on terror some of them rick perry said that

he's already called for a no fly zone inside of. inside of syria so it seems to be this this. never ending war is going to continue on until the next presidency and it is the talking points that the seem to be being put forward at every possible opportunity and you know if it's completely and totally other american you know your segment before there shows you how truly in trouble this nation it is i mean we have these pop culture icons that we run for election time and time again the same candidates regurgitated over and over again and they have the same talking points and it's all expanding in pyar america and waging illegal wars i think that's why ron paul is so successful right now inside of iowa because he's the only one up on that stage that is taking the constitution into consideration before he opens his mouth and this one talking about our correspondent we decide play and she took to the streets and

asked americans average americans on the street about some of the things that are going on abroad and as we saw there a lot of them didn't know what was happening. what was it what's your reaction to that so many americans not really knowing you know about these these conflicts abroad you know it we're living in this bubble and this bubble that everything's going to stay the same and everything's going to be ok we're going to continue with this high standard of living at the expense of oil from around the planet and labor from the pacific rim the what's unfortunate is a lot of these people are going to wake up and it's not going to wake up but because they're tuning in to a great alternative media like our t.v. or other alternative media they're going to wake up because the sledgehammer of reality is going to hit them. you know the fact that america is an empowering declined this is going to hit them this notion that you can just walk around to pretend everything's ok and not know what's going on what not no what's being done

in your name that's the frustrating part for people like me you know the pictures of mahmoud on the dinner joint and people don't even know what country he's from we're ramping up the the war machine to invade his nation next it's absolutely terrifying that the average person on the street you know that at least the people that were interviewed in this piece there had no clue what was going on they only cared about you know their next consumer purchase their next you know pop culture icon coming down the road and we see that in our political system where they keep you know giving us these pop culture legends they've become as potential candidates to be president i think we're in a lot of trouble in this country and the national defense authorization act is the latest piece of legislation that the american people just have no clue about you know all the mainstream media was harping on for two months was are we going to have this this tax cut with the with the payroll tax you know this this news the payroll tax news is meaningless we get a sixty day break on

a tax cut big deal the national defense authorization act you know your liberties are being usurped america right before your very eyes it is truly time to wake up and see what's going on because we're going from this soft hearing that we've had since two thousand and one to the police state unleashing hard tyranny on to this country and why do you think that there is that focus as you said that this focus on the story that may not a fact as many people a large scale something like that offense authorization act which could have profound consequences. there doesn't seem to be as much interest in something like that what is behind that. well i think it's mainly because you know the politicians in washington d.c. don't want to talk about the difference authorization or you know they they wrap this thing up this six hundred billion dollar bill they wrap the wording in it section ten thirty one that gives the government power to snatch american citizens off the street and hold them indefinitely because they commit a belligerent act this is the actual verbiage of this legislation you know why

there is people talking about there are people like stuart rhodes of oath keepers who is you know starting to recall motions here in montana to get to danny rebore max baucus get these guys recall for voting for this unconstitutional legislation but unfortunately you know most people are just tied up with the pop culture media watching whatever comes across of the television of are tending that everything's going to be ok with it when you know our freedoms are libya our constitution continues to be shredded almost every single day and it's to the point now where it's just it's not even talked about by the mainstream media you know artie's the only want to hear talking about the national defense authorization act you know it's staggering to me that there's not more outrage over this lastly just want to ask you you know when we see that ad as you were just venting about that a lot of americans don't even know about these things that could have profound impacts on their on their daily lives and on the country and on

a national and global perspective how does this play into voters' ability to elect a president. well you know we don't really have a lot of choices right when we have the finance juggernauts candidates the people who get the financing you know from the wall street firms from the big banks the one percent you know these are the ones who are financing the people before us the people that are put before us these pop culture candidates none of these guys are going to talk about dismantling the security industrial complex because it brings in too much money you know we've spent one point two trillion dollars since nine eleven in homeland security and the idea that the somebody is going to point to the constitution other than ron paul it's a pipe dream so unfortunately you know i get this from my radio program a lot we deserve what we get well you know what we really don't the the best candidates are not always presented to us it's the best funded candidates that are presented to us but it is every american. it's their duty to find out what is being

done on their behalf what's being done to them and what's being done in their name and i'm afraid liz that time is rapidly running out i mean we're continuing to see this evaporation of liberty and when you can have the piece of legislation slip through the senate with a ninety seven percent or ninety seven to three vote for the indeed it is absolutely terrifying this piece of legislation that will make it i mean this turns us into east germany i mean it's like having the stasi the legislation that enabled the stasi to go in black bag somebody and get rid of them just because they commit so-called belligerent acts it's charlie thank you so much for weighing in on that that was found there alba wide awake news dot com tom mcgrath. well coming up after the break we'll get some insight from a former classmate of kim jong un about his personality his school years and what might be in store for north korea as the next of can take center stage.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else here see some other part of it and realize that everything is ok you don't i'm trying hard is a big issue. and what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through it's already been made who can you trust no one who is you can be you with the global machinery to see where are we heading state controlled capitalism is called fascism when nobody dares to ask we do our t. question more. well north koreans will finally lay their late leader to rest on wednesday but the world still wants to know what lies ahead in the country

after kim jong il has anointed successor and youngest son is now in charge but very little is actually known about have r.t. in the arena for no sheba went to back to school to uncover more about the man who has quite big shoes to step into. the death of the north korean dictator has raised questions and hopes over whether the dictatorship one of the last in the world will follow or will this extremely close to society remain isolated and its new leader to so little is known about the late leader's great successor his third and youngest son kim jong un is a bit of a dark horse even his age remains a subject of speculation his thought to be twenty seven or twenty eight his new ascension to power increases the media hunger for information about him so his

expensive education in switzerland said lead tracked it's a lot more interest an entrepreneur in moscow with russian origins alys on a hug and she believes he could have been one of keams classmates when news spread that kim chani may have gone to an elite school in this week's margins in late ninety's the businessman brought out his all the book to refresh his memory there were quite a few koreans some quieter than others. a lot with with the last name kim. as kim is the most common name in korea alexandra members of koreans always different from other students they were very disciplined very disciplined as a group of students. very serious for their interaction and they wouldn't always take part in. fun and games at the other students were very hard studying to be top class they didn't like to do that although some think

this is leaders son may be a figurehead overshadowed by his recently promoted uncle who is thought to wield the real power alexander says the three years china has apparently spent in europe may change the country's future forever i think that. it will make him realize that he has to do something good for his people for a country. and make a change in terms of. past experience his knowledge of foreign languages and the skills that he managed to attain being about the outside world used to get most of the news from behind north korea's iron curtain through the country's strictly censored state run media covering the live of the secrets of society from the inside has been an almost impossible task for international journalists but the details now emerging about the new leader is exposure to the liberal west offer a glimmer of hope that he may ease bag the rigid control over the terran regime and

begin to open north korea to the world and maybe their war old to north korea. r.t. moscow. well that is it for now will be right back here at seven o'clock in the morning is.