tree so there's not really a nuclear menace or a nuclear danger from iran so what is the cause what's the cause of the crisis of the artificial crisis the real goal is the united states government has embarked on a course of extreme economic aggression against iran with the hope that by creating economic suffering economic isolation economic misery that part of the population will rise up or become disenfranchised with the government so that the u.s. can do as it has in history carry out regime change. tech problems relations with the u.k. have been a further strain this week over of london's decision to take iranian english language news channel press t.v. off british air iran called the move a clear example of censorship british officials say the channel broke broadcasting rules of editorial control and failed to pay a fine imposed last year but press t.v. believes it's being silenced for dissenting views phil recent u.k. based author and media analyst believes the channel is another victim of an ongoing

campaign against iran thanks so much if this had been separated from geopolitics this would not have happened some other kind of sanction would have been would have been made and the deal would have been struck so i think the press t.v. has been viewed through geo political terms so that is the breakdown of relations between britain and iran at the end of the day i think that most of the criticisms of press t.v. been due to its coverage because you know it sees the middle east very differently for example than the mainstream media in britain this repeatedly comes up pro israeli groups repeatedly complain about it we know very well that the british government at the very highest level was discussing with the american ambassador here how to limit press t.v.'s output in britain so now what we've got is we've got a real limiting of dialogue in the me in the british media and i think that's a tragedy and certainly a tragedy at

a time when british relations are at their lowest ebb for a long long period. and there are plenty of more stories to be found on our website r.t. dot com including attack downs the french president's website in retaliation for his backing of the closure of a file sharing mega load plus. if you've been following ukraine's a few min movement check out their later show of make it anger in front of the indian embassy you'll find that story and much much more in our dot com. wall across the atlantic a freedom of speech battle of a different kind was underway the u.s. congress buckled to pressure and recalled to anti-piracy bills this week after a massive internet blackout and hacker attacks on government websites millions of net users and web john such as wicca pedia and google joined together to stand against the proposed legislation if passed the sopa and people walls would have allowed top media conglomerates and copyright holders to shut down large portions

of the web without involving the courts have the same time the anonymous hacker group retaliated against the shut down the file sharing site upload claiming to have brought down the f.b.i. and white house websites barrett brown who's worked with anonymous on various operations believes the mega upload shutdown shows the government will take action even without new laws in place the problem. news almost always interpreted by themselves as a means of power. so. you know this if they don't make. that shows that you can without already in place. already the rest. may go out and shutting it down and in the future. there will be a number of other. military. situation it's worse

in the grass and smells of war and the notable civil war. now let's take a look at what else is making news around the world this hour yemen's president ali abdullah saleh left his nation after a farewell speech in which he apologized for his mistakes and said it's time to hand over power he's leaving the country to medical treatment in the u.s. after which he's expected to return as head of the general people's congress party parliament recently approved immunity from prosecution for saleh who's been accused of suppressing protests and ordering the killing of demonstrators. another bombing on saturday night in the north nigerian state of by which he has killed eleven people including several police and army personnel patrolling a checkpoint two churches in the area were also attacked meanwhile the death toll from a series of bombings in can no on friday now exceeds one seventy and continues to rise islam the sect boko haram has claimed responsibility for the majority of the

violence that's plagued northern nigeria since christmas. at least sixteen people have died and one remains missing after an iranian passenger boat sank in the persian gulf off of the country's southern coast the ship set sail despite a travel ban imposed on life vassals ahead of a storm that captain who survived the accident is now being questioned by police. beijing rings in the chinese new year in spectacular fashion from a bell tower in an ancient part of the capital it's tradition to sound the bell one hundred eight times to herald the start of the lunar calendar year the night sky was also lit up by fireworks displays across the country as more than a billion people celebrated the beginning year of the water dragon. the battle over scotland's possible split from great britain is dividing opinion in an

increasingly disunited kingdom scots have been told they can hold a referendum on independence but only on the government's terms and london says a divorce would come at a price archies laura smith explains. british a three hundred year old union that won the waves tossed the known world put on. the country's closer than ever to a messy divorce. this is the man who want scotland to go it alone nationalist party leader alex salmond's promising scots will get a say on being single but london wants to call the shots and get it done and dusted they have been very serious they don't want to talk about the substance i sometimes feel when i listen to them it's not a referendum they want it's a never ending question that's have the debate and that's keep our country together but why would scotland want to separate itself from

a britain that still among the world's richest economies scotland always retained its own distinct national identity and the s.n.p. feels it's almost time to take that one step further and hope a yes vote from the scottish people would mean scotland would gain control over its own north sea oil and gas and represent itself on the international stage but it doesn't want to hold a referendum until two thousand and fourteen and that delay is letting london ramp up the scare stories telling scotland it'll have to pay the price such as the billions of pounds british taxpayers spent keeping scottish banks alive that it would have to find its own currency and lose thousands of jobs when the navy heads south not that it seems to bother scots who see their country as having been strangled for long enough i don't think it's any of his business if we present

a strong enough case to be independent then i don't see that he can argue against it just as shocked or i think a shutter i don't think you should have any say in the fires of all. scots have never taken kindly to hearing stern words from the mother of all parliaments down in london but for the nationalists it's a boost to the lackluster thirty percent support for a split mr cameron feels he had to the initiative but it's completely but. he's actually been the best recruiting sergeant the s. and p. i think is a. moderate but. in the last days with. the now the u.k. and scotland's key players will continue to cross swords at stake that alex salmond is a reputation built on restoring a proud scotland the prime minister cameron has the potential to become the man who net the united kingdom come apart norris smith. and i'll be back

with a recap of this week's main headlines in just a few minutes stay with art. we

have seen the damage it has done to our environment. probs. we do not want any more new dmoz. our core system is just so there was a does more experience and i'm just just appalled but that's allowed to go on in america. eating this unfortunately because we don't know what's in it there's no labeling there for it being used like oratory experiment being used as getting. old now we have more

questions than we have matters guards. like. download the official ante up location on the phone all i pod touch from the queues ops to. watch on t.v. life on the go. video on demand on tees and line build costs and feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

welcome to the truth series technology innovation called the list of elements from around russia we've dumped the future covered. thanks for joining us six thirty here in moscow here's a quick recap of your headlines the arab league calls on syrian president bashar al assad to surrender some of his powers to a spice president and form a national unity government with the opposition. early results show croatia house voted in favor of joining the european union this comes as yet another member of the financially stricken union of romania rises up against its government's anti austerity measures. and other stories that shape this week tension over iran's

nuclear program reaches new highs as the e.u. debates an oil embargo and the u.s. ups its military presence in the region. when it comes to big money in american politics lobbyists are the people who know exactly how it works jack used to be one lone till he was convicted of conspiracy and mail fraud in an extensive corruption case he now tells us what he thinks of corruption in washington. i. am sitting down with jack abrams off once the most powerful lobbyist in washington referred to as the man who bought washington he brought government officials in order to gain political support for his clients in two thousand and six he was convicted of ripping off its clients jack abramoff served three and a half years in prison guilty of conspiracy fraud and tax evasion mr abrams

thank you very much for coming since your release from jail you've been very vocal about corruption in washington i read your book and i got a sense of your frustration about the fact that while you were sent to jail people involved in the same corrupt practices are sitting pretty in their offices on capitol hill some of his frustrated that their people didn't go to jail or prison and prison is not fun and i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy but i guess what i'm frustrated about is that when they had my hearings and trials and when i was sent off there was a big exclamation and celebration here that they cleaned up washington but in fact they didn't clean up washington and so when i came out you have to rethinking my life and what i was involved in decided that they want to clean up washington and i would help them figure out exactly how to do it during that senate hearing when you were publicly bashed by the senators what were you thinking what were your thoughts

as you faced the distinguished panel well i probably was thinking they were a little less distinguished than others were thinking i was reminded continually by every word out of their mental that they were among the many who participated in some of the corruption that they were accusing me of when one of the senators a senator campbell was accusing me of corruption and me wrecking the democratic system i was thinking back to the breakfast. i had with him a couple years before where i handed him checks from my clients as contributions and he said that they would never have a problem with his committee so i was thinking that basically about each of them i didn't know a lot of them personally because i had people working for me had a staff of about forty lobbyists and some of them knew the people who work for me but. i found the whole thing to be hypocritical it was a kangaroo court and it was a show people say you were a tory it seems your ability to buy members of congress how did you do that i don't

think i was necessarily except on the margins much different than most of what goes on here but what happens here and what's on portion in which what i did in terms of pushing over the lines even of this activity is lobbyists and people want something from congress raise money for congressmen give money to congressmen in terms of political contributions by meals for them take them golfing take them on trips take them to sporting events and i probably did more of it than most did and i pushed over certain lines that are in the sand and broke the law but it is something that goes on far too often in washington you want to set and i found it very very interesting that that once you just a moment you offered a job to a congressional staffer you owned them right there was no greater control that people could have over congressional offices than to have the head of that office know that they're going to come in a few months to come work for a lobbying firm from that minute on those people are focused on that lobbying from

their clients and it's not just me i saw it all over tell me it's not something i bet it it's something i noticed and something that i propose now to get rid of by banning people who work on capitol hill who are members of congress from ever joining the lobbying industry or the influence industry in america what did your clients want by investing in politics by investing in you well mostly my clients one of the federal government not to. get all over the back and tax them and fair. they're businesses most the lobbying is deep keeping the government from doing things the industries and to companies and likely going to help them avoid to go back today or when i've got presented in a bunch of indian tribes and the way i got into it the first representation i had with the tribes was to stop the federal government from putting a thirty percent tax over the gross revenues of their gambling industry and what was interesting about your case it was not just politicians who cheated but also

you cheated your clients namely those indian tribes with gambling interests who paid humanely and so what i thought was what i did was where we're about to pled guilty to was some of the efforts that we did for the clients in their states worst to stop their competition from taking away their markets they would crash their competition yes we would attack their competition and we would do everything we could to keep them from invading the market of our client and that's normal in america fortunately for better or for worse that's not something we we made up we're going to have any regrets about doing that well at the end of the day i regret using the political process as a weapon against competitors because at the end of the day i don't think the government should be used like that i didn't have a problem with that then and i shouldn't even if we're talking about millions of dollars in contributions it's still peanuts for any big corporation it's a tiny fraction of what they make did you get a sense of how powerless average americans are when the interest so big

guys like that are at stake on capitol hill well americans have a very tough time competing with these special interests special interests come in with a lot of money and you're right it's miniscule amounts of money compared to what they could do and some of them do a lot of money but it's still a small amount the problems the average citizen is not engaged politically and when they're able to bring in money and influence members of congress to vote on things that are not good for the country and not good for the general interest because somebody with the special interests you. pushing on it that's where the problem starts so what i propose in my book and the effort that i've been engaged in since i've gotten out of prison is a way to separate money out of politics here and basically to say that if you're a lobbyist or you're somebody who's trying to get something from the government here you may not give a dollar politically of any kind and that's one of the four things that i propose to clean up the system i think is very important because the end of the day political contributions if i give you something if you're a congressman and i give you

a contribution and i want something from you that contribution may not be cold a bribe but it is a broad at the end of the day how many members of congress are involved in corruption like that in bribery like that well i mean ultimately every member of congress who's taking a check a contribution from a lobbyist or from a company or from a union or anyone who needs or get something from washington whether it's conscious or not they're involved in it alternately you can't accept something from somebody without unless you're at it all do well yes absolutely they all do and what i'm saying is you can't as a human being if somebody gives you something you're going to feel gratitude and even if you don't do with that person once right there you say look you can't buy my vote for two thousand dollars and most of them say that of course but the issue is if you do something nice for me in my heart i'm going to have to fuel a little bit better about you and what i'm saying is that is the moment of the problem if you're a public servant with all the crimes that you committed there's still

a sense that you were used as a poster boy a kind of a scapegoat for the corrupt system that is very much alive and kicking i want to ask you about the supreme court decision from almost two years ago that it allows on limited campaign contributions lobbyist must be really happy about that decision aren't they some are some are and i think the decision was for the most part very good the decision basically said that people shouldn't have the right to get money constricted i don't have a problem with that what i have a problem with a. people who want something back giving money even a dollar that's the difference with with me now corporations the problem with corporations the reason why are contradicting yourself you were just talking about how any contribution can be seen as bribery and now you're saying no being able to funnel as much money as you want these perfectly fine in today's politics no i don't think so i think people should have the right to get think i've been fairly consistent and not to expect anything in return one on one and why should you expect something in return there are lot of people who give money in this country

by the way because they like the ideology of the candidate they like the candidate themselves they're not going in there and asking for a grant or a tax break or or a contract most people don't do that but it still contradicts what you were saying a few moments ago and that is with any form of contribution especially a big contribution an elected official finds themselves in a situation when they told their benefactors if somebody is worth a trillion dollars they live in some form in kansas and they never have any contact with any congressman ever and they see some congressman they love they want to give him a million dollars because they think they're fantastic and they never ask for a thing from that person i personally think that's all right they have been very hard to track down you ask possibly i've talked i've talked to law enforcement about this about my ideas and once the laws are set in place i think that there are people ball of figuring it out that decision only created a further complication in my view in the sense that it brought corporations them as a possible donor to political efforts and again don't you think it effectively

legalize this corruption in washington i think corruption is legal in washington right now thousands of people took to the streets across america to say no to jack paper amounts to saying no to corrupt politics in washington do you think there is a chance that action like that that awareness like that can change anything i think the occupy wall street movement had behind it some good as things problem is that they didn't organize themselves like the tea party mood. it did which was politically tea party movement had a dramatic impact on the last election and probably will still in this election and i spoke to the occupy people quite a lot and i told them that until they get themselves organized politically they're not going to be meaningful because in america street protests don't really meaning that people don't like street protests in america first of all the destructive there's vandalizing there's unsanitary things that go on and most americans in repelled by that but what most americans will respect is political activism an

organization on the left or on the right now i think that there is anger out there and you don't have a money to hire a lot of. well that might not be a bad thing but. you know american people don't need lobby is they need to organize themselves i think that in america getting into first of all class and b. i think is very dangerous we've seen that every great. tele tarion movement in certainly in the twentieth century started with class and instead of class and be able to focus themselves not on those who succeed but those who choose to succeed in the sense of using the government and using the state to make their lives easier to make more money and there are plenty of those that get it like like i did like i help my clients do and like every lobbyist helps their clients do unfortunately had it not being for the jail time would you have been just as we're painting as you are now if i hadn't had the fall if i hadn't had been destroyed i would love to sit here and tell you i would have all my own come to how bad this was and you know i

should have been doing what i should have been involved in that kind of lobbying but i'm not going to lie to you i would never thought that i thought i was doing the right thing that's the sad part of it all for me so as i look back i would have stopped i would have still been doing it instead of sitting here with you i'd be sitting on capitol hill negotiating something for one of my clients. took my getting killed for me to come to the realisation that i should have been there what do you plan to do. in the process of. possibly one amp with a t.v. show thank you. culture is that so much assuming which of course you might want to come easier than any of the biggest and most expensive elections money can buy this is how many american see what is called political action committees or super pacs. on. the east side.

loses its tze. just seem to. smuggle. him in.

to. roundup of the week's top stories of the arab league calls on syrian president bashar al assad to surrender some of his powers to his vice president and form a national unity government with the opposition. early results show croatia has voted in favor of joining the european union this comes as yet another member of the financially stricken union romania rises up against its government's anti austerity measures. and another stories that shape this week's tension over iran's nuclear program reaches new highs as the new debates an oil embargo when the u.s.

stops its military presence in the region. sports news is next with kate. and i welcome to the sports and here's what's coming up. easy does it rough on the dog want your federal coast into the quarter finals of the australian open. while different strokes kim clijsters comes back from the brink while carline he defines a second set fightback to reach the last eight. and showtime east meets west once again in the annual all star extravaganza in front of a sellout arena in the latvian capital of riga. to test a tennis and second seed rough on the doll has beaten fellow spaniard philip the our live in straight sets to book a place in the quarterfinals of the australian open the two thousand and nine

champion was broken on the ones as he eased to a six four six four six two victory against his misfiring davis cup team mate ok thank you thank you to unforced errors almost all little remorse after knocking out you off. for a number of days one of my best friends and. that's the game that's part of don't you understand that's all the. game. everybody wants to win their way by the one to have. the ones who finish the match with the was a better result. that the motions i simulate you know it's happens very often i think. and up next when a dollar is big serving come out being produced twenty eight aces in his brewing template for settling for spain second oh my god the czech was booed off of the match seventy refused to shake hands with his opponent that it took offense after marco returned a ball.