syria still involved in violence. and america's mainstream media is accused of hyping up the prospect of more between iran and the west the sensitive time with the military standoff in the persian gulf granting sanctions over ten rounds of nuclear program. the u.s. has its fingers in many pies around the world but it's trouble on the home front that the republican presidential candidates are using to trying to woo voters american foreign policy scholar john farah explains how there's actually very little to choose between them. thank you for joining us on r.t. thank you for having me on the show. to start with the g.o.p. results and i would do you think they indicate an ideological divide among the g.o.p. well i think in general the g.o.p. has a consensus certainly a consensus on economic matters they don't want government interference in the

market and this is a consensus that even includes ron paul if you look a little closer at some foreign policy issues there's a little bit of a difference ron paul obviously being the outlier wants to scale back u.s. role in the world the rest of them one way or another take more hawkish positions than the current obama administration so there's a general consensus there too so i don't think there's a lot of differences between the republican candidates although i mean santorum comes from a completely different school than mitt romney and ron paul. they certainly do they're appealing to some of the same voters and i think in a general election we of course would see the republican candidate move toward the center in order to get as much of the center and independent votes as possible but right now during the primaries they're pretty much going to be clustered around the same kind of positions and they're running against the obama administration and

there isn't a lot of difference between them we've seen their positions we've heard their positions countries like iran right now way which is the hot spot what role do you think they foreign policy play in their campaign right now to be honest foreign policy doesn't play much of a role in part because the obama administration has taken foreign policy off the table certainly national security issues it's very difficult to run to the right of barack obama foreign policy after what he's done the killing of osama bin laden. the expansion of drone war in pakistan. is also difficult to run on the left there around him because of course he's and in the war in iraq so he's essential don't criticize him they still criticize him but it doesn't really get him a lot of leverage or a lot of interest from the media you know the red meat issues for the republicans are going to be the economy and some cultural issues as well foreign policy you

know i mean as herman cain said i don't know where back to back a back to stand as i mean that unfortunately is a popular position in the electorate here in the united states a kind of will for all willful ignorance of what's going on in the world and yet they might that might harm their position on local issues i mean when they're talking more when they're talking iran they seem to be connecting the foreign policy with. here at home well they they sometimes do. you know they're always trying to make a point connected to the economy whether it has to do with reducing military spending or increasing military spending ultimately it's got to come back to what we call pocketbook issues i mean what americans have in the last couple of elections voted on that is jobs you know the employment issue you know whether they have houses you know the foreclosure more dangerous. general kind of feeling about

the u.s. economy in general our g.d.p. our trade balance and so forth those are going to be the key issues at the end of the day for the republicans of course that have to appear presidential they have to talk about foreign policy but they know alternately that's mostly for show i mean when they really want to appeal to voters they really have to grab the ball once and they kind of mean it's not going to get any better well that's hard to say i mean even economists have difficulty predicting what's happening with the economy. we've seen a slight improvement with the unemployment rate i think for the president the most important thing is perception if americans feel that the economy is getting better they tend to overlook the numbers. but they don't want it to look better now as long as obama still president. the republicans yeah oh absolutely. the breaux publicans have been doom and gloom i mean this has been their bread and butter

during the campaign if they can make it seem as though the world is getting increasingly worse they themselves will be superman who comes in to save the situation. relations with countries. countries like north korea countries like china russia seem to be managed differently under different presidents how do you think that's going to change now. for the remainder of their i mean yes the year well president obama made a big point at the apec meeting and why to say you know we're we're making the pacific pivot you know moving away from the middle east and we're going to focus more on asia. in some sense be wishful thinking because of course the united states has a certain limited range in terms of foreign policy opportunities it basically is still in afghanistan still has to deal with iran and pakistan still do dealing with the aftermath. still dealing with the arab spring in the aftermath there it's very

difficult for the united states to make a pivot like this so it's more of an aspirational pivot it's what the obama administration would like to do and so it's made a couple of gestures by putting some more marines in australia by say we're going to kind of focus more on china but whether will actually see some concrete changes it's going to be very difficult. you know what the obama administration has already done a modest opening to burma a very very modest opening doors. korea president doesn't have a lot of political capital that he doesn't want to waste it initiatives that might appear from republican critics to be appeasement so appeasing china appeasing north korea peace in burma he doesn't want to get into a situation in which if there's a best seller now especially in the lead up to the elections were either congress or the republican candidates can say we told you we told you this guy likes to sit

down with dictators we would have none of that if we were president does that mean that the u.s. is changing its strategy in that region in the i mean in the middle east and in strategy in general not just in middle east you know i think the obama administration is have a. pretty clear trajectory for the last three years it's tried to extricate the united states from the worst kind of legacies of the previous administration primarily in iraq but also looking ahead in afghanistan but at the same time dealing with what has been considered a key issue and that is counterterrorism and the perception that democrats are weak on national defense issues and so the president has been very careful to say hey you know we will go to war if necessary and we will use force when necessary so i think this balance will continue for the remainder of his term all of the presidential candidates. make israel the centerpiece their foreign

policy discussions do you think it's because it's really the most important foreign security issue or. elections well it's primarily elections i mean if you look at the obama administration's position toward israel. even israel will say it's been the best relations in a long time. the obama administration opposed palestinian initiatives in the us going after statehood continued military support of israel. basically when netanyahu refused to do anything on the settlements issue again there's been some aspirational language with the united states would like to. solve in the arab israeli disputes but generally speaking there has been no transformation of the united states remains firm of israel the republican candidates are thinking well there are two constituencies we want to reach out to one are evangelicals

evangelicals who have very strongly said that we stand with israel and the others jewish voters who if they can peel them away from obama would be a great in the two thousand and twelve election i mean could you elaborate a little bit more about that specially with the g.o.p. presidential candidates right now and it was specially after what you said that obama has done everything to what seems to be appeasing israel yeah the candidates the g.o.p. candidates are saying that he has not done enough that's right i mean it makes for good headlines i mean strangely it might seem because of course it seems like the republican candidates are trying to outdo themselves in saying that they're friends of israel even to the point of almost outsourcing foreign policy decisions to netanyahu with the debate between romney and gingrich who would you know call netanyahu to get approval prior to any kind of u.s. policy which in some sense is unheard of in u.s. foreign policy circles again i think this is primarily because of who they were

looking toward in iowa in the constituency in iowa there was a perception that maybe whoever kind of grabs hold of the evangelical vote will be able to determine you know the course of iowa and. to a certain extent that was smart politics whether this will translate into a real election year issue when the republican candidate is chosen i doubt it i don't know i can't really see mitt romney using the israel issue too much advantage come the fall but certainly in the republican primaries it's useful politics and now with the arab revolutions do you think that has anything to do or affect in any way that presidential candidates campaigns i would like to hear of course this is a major event on the world stage unfortunately the united states is rather poor especially with our elections and sometimes even the greatest transformations have very little effect on politics here in this country of course there were some statements by michele bachmann of course to try to suggest that the president had

made a mistake by aligning himself with arab spring protesters because that would assure in islamists and this of course was the greatest fear for michele bachmann and several other republican candidates that no effectively you know obama. from a speech teacher point of view could leave moral questions from a strategic point of view do quite a good job he didn't dive in he waited and then divorced himself from problematic u.s. alliances with mubarak for instance if you chip. said he would lead from behind in libya which seemed to be in hindsight a smart strategy as well so he's essentially protected his flank against the republicans this issue it's going to be hard for the upon the michele bachmann has to go kind of out on a limb you know and with a rather farfetched argument in order to try to attack the president on his

positions on the arab spring so like it or not i think the president has taken arab spring off the table as well as an election year thing so i mean with the fact that they have gotten. war in libya and that was criticized criticized by john mccain it was endorsing mitt romney that's right now mind you if the situation in libya deteriorates if the situation in egypt deteriorates if we have full scale civil war in syria that's another matter but the situations as they stand now with elections in egypt with the situation relatively stable in. libya and the situation of course is not good in syria but the level of violence hasn't escalated to an all out civil war. status quo remains i don't think so no election year issue all right thank you very much i.

wealthy british style it's time to.

market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy cause a report. published his plans to fight corruption and poverty as well as create a more civil society russia's prime minister is launching his push for a third term as president. syria's president hardens crimes committed during the ten month uprising against his rule with an amnesty that also extends to on the desert tens of thousands of people have been detained over the past year for syria still locked in violence. and america's mainstream media is accused of i think up the prospect of war between iran and the west it's a sensitive time within minutes the standoff in the persian gulf something

sanctions over tehran's nuclear program. but a sports news is next with richard. hello and welcome to sports today really good to have you with us as always with the headlines. for you the first hurdle nicholai dividend who is i want to be australian open losing in five cents to italy's flavio paula. the insides russian veteran of examples who call claims the second world cup win close season. crown. perfect ten start on the handsaw claims a record ten dakar rally timed so follow frenchman a city with a clean wins in the points category. or something with tennis nicholai divident carries i want to be australian open after the russian last time to flavia chippewa

italy in five cents a day and goes straight to fifty two in the world rankings seemed to be in command as he led by to send someone however the russians game fell apart this time in their own east of victory in five martin del potro who is also in the next round the argentine and progressing in for nothing on the dollar will play his first match of two thousand and twelve against the american qualifier alex because it solved all third seeded roger federer in action against alexander. however all the talk coming into the tournament has been about a run between the ball and founder of the spaniard blaming the swiss being too much of a gentleman leaving others to do the work of trying to cut back the parent a.t.p. tour schedule. now i am the one who in the past. talk a lot about god in the book a lot about. the davis. brothers in the u.s. open now i'm not going to be the one to keep talking about

a lot of things because finally then i'll leave if we really have but the right. guys there who do fight for us maybe but today we don't have that. meanwhile on the women's side of the draw world number three of victoria azarenka is the fracturing heather watson six one six love while the opponent is an action against russian qualifier nina. french of third. looks like she might take a fortune that fall into later on. or play poorly in. the world number one caroline wozniacki chill take on the local favorite and last for the all about. me more as a heated battle in store for the women's world number one ranking with wimbledon champion. and with a good chance of defrauding does not speak top ranked dane is yet to capture a grand slam tournament on charity the observer who faces russia's share of honor

in her own finances book world number one state is has never been her top priority and no she needs to work hard to emulate the success of last year's breakthrough season. i ended last year once those days for me of course i i don't know i. really wanted us to have similar scientists. i know i didn't really feel i just won't be focusing on my game in. don't fall amasses hopes of challenging for a champions league spot in the english premier league suffered another blow as they were beaten free to add newly promoted swansea city and various charge instead of robin van persie scoring up a five minutes and side but they will soon let all the scots in play as penalty and nathan dyer have a welsh side ahead of a second half theo walcott made it through to on sixty nine minutes of the swans immediately went up the ever end and score the winner danny graham meanwhile we all moved there scott the only goal cancelled the q.p.r.

manager asked venga blamed the defeats so swanzy on the fence there is. no difference your performance was not good enough. which way we lost a game where when you came back to our food we had a good chance to win the game because we looked like. we could be dangerous the keeper could them as well after. in the game and and. make some great thinkers were we me someone blew butcher into his. house where former argentina superstar diego maradona successfully on the go on an operation to have his kidney stones removed. by the fifty one year old coach is expected to be released on monday and field a legend status side to a two one win out harley on saturday currently in table and travel to first bunch. of weeks time. baltimore will play the new england patriots in the year of c

championship game after the ravens beat the houston texans by twenty points to thirteen despite falling behind to an early field goal the ravens were soon in front joe flacco throwing a one yard pass chris wilson for the home side seven three in front the baltimore quarterback was soon back in the thick of the action rocco connecting with kwan colvin to the ravens a sizable seventeen to free advantage at the end of the first quarter the texans beauvais were back in the game five minutes before half time to one yard touchdown run by reinforced trimming the deficit to seventeen the teen however baltimore's defense remain resolute despite instance best efforts they were unable to force overtime. so it's the ravens who advance in the new ten brady's new england patriots championship game well let's move to ice hockey where say it's raining

cage i'll champion some about you live free won them home ice to clinch by win in a row and to spare claims for a playoff spot in the western conference. reports. of. sysco used to be one of the most degraded sites in soviet hockey but quite a lot has changed over the last twenty years now the club is struggling to return to the summit of the kid shell and facing the league's reigning champion so lucky life was an important test only way and they only now passed it in look to what twenty eleven they won at the old foresight and then on sunday they met again in moscow where the hosts promptly showed their intentions to repeat that success and the condition of moves around the visitors door culminated with the as the bulls reste shot seven minutes in i won the i the home side kept of their pressure grading more goal scoring chances and they were soon

rewarded domo sure we whining and that from the blue line to extend their men's lead to nil i know ever the second period so solid fired back with one of the league's most skilful players and men never gives up alexander alou of looting the visitors assault however they only managed to break the deadlock after the second intimation i just over a minute into the third week in middle move gave solid a glimmer of hope to one i. kept breaking through the amens defense with this individual efforts but it wasn't enough to rise and once was a downscaled the hosts scored again solely because the puck i sprint for the entire length of the rink and wrapped up the scoring i really want to miss and time again move on i only consider we didn't think much of my points. we tried to focus on our

game at the m this approach weren't we played groups defensively we managed to switch from the fans too often pretty quick. clearly under fixedly there are very strong teams so we had to do with some tough pressure in this game and i like the way we played tonight that we should keep it up but as a chamber we helped each other on the ice and we try to fight hard in a battle hardened final both nights and we get to get electric today and there are a satisfied is this guy have the perfect record of two victories out of two games against gore and the gun cup holders so watson for the other men are looking to get even stronger for a bit well known marty skill. meanwhile russia's form overall champion alexander zuckoff has picked up his second win of the season in germany to stretch his lead in the standings in the form on bobsled first russian team top the time sheets and

both runs were only two percent faster than germany's second team at twenty one month but charter much million and germany one. million calls looks said to relinquish their man brian both the last season to be comfortable cushion in the form of an event head of ont. rolled to the gold at last week's european championship. three events to go to the world cup calendar. motor sports frenchmen stefan put a hand saw as claimed among precedented ten dakar rally title after doing enough are crossing the line in tenth place in south america the american robby gordon won the fourteenth and point to stage the world's most famous insurance car race as the competitors are awarded lima peru but it was a forty six year old at the hands of the celebrated his fourth overall title also winning six motorcycle crowns in the ninety's. russia's leonid naveed ski was for

the overall tell a frenchman city to pretty well in the points category full time at last year's winner mark o'meara of spain the dutchman gerard the roy of the new trucks and. fun family friends and relatives have turned out in their numbers to watch boxing legend muhammad ali happy seventieth birthday in his museum in kentucky the heavyweight icons birthdays actually on tuesday the five planned parties was held on saturday ali is now in the late stages of parkinson's disease but it is glory days he was crowned limby champion and defeated every top opponent of his era during his professional career and following his retirement in ninety one but he went on to travel the world humanitarian missions and is now equally steamed for. oh for always as a fighter and a philanthropist. but today more sport coming up in just about two hours time the stations watch the

web's coming up next and kerry will be here with all the latest news. here is that so much. which of course he's right on it so here we casting america's global military strategy or just more of the same problem obama's new vision for the pentagon is aimed at saving.

more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of kandahar. operation to rule the day.

plans to fight corruption and create a more civil society as he begins his push for the presidency. president pardon's crimes committed during the ten month uprising against his rule but syria is still in the deadlock baden's also. bomb iran or let iran get the bomb america's mainstream media stands accused of unbalanced reporting on hyping up global tension while trying to steer public opinion to please their sponsors.