airwaves and now what it has to do is part of opinion it's not about that you can spend hours or days maybe finding a dissenting opinion it's what people are bombarded with every day that's why they start to believe that global warming is a fraud even though the evidence is all that's why it's wrong you know i mean you know it's really going to be a writer for you and. this time again is what matters here it's the buying of the political process i want to stay with that note here craig i want to go back to you do you think that media is complicit in this is well is because they make an actually a lot of money off of this i mean these ads are expensive they make money off of it and they would like to see the process go on as long as possible because it's very profitable for television stations it has nothing to do with journalistic values or democratic hopes or anything else it's about making a lot of money and they're pretty pleased with it they love the primaries. you know

you know by the way it's not only the media who's getting rich off these elections off of these super pacs it is also many of the people who are running these super pacs if you take a look at the super pacs since they're unaccountable to any real candidate or political party they tend to hire their own people to do the media work their own colleagues their own partners there is a flood of money go into these super pacs and we find it all being circulated within a very small elite circle of people who are running the super pacs because they lack accountability so it's not only a dangerous trend for elections this is this is ripe for corruption here ok it's it seems you know a free speech or free markets ok but i mean is this just buying elections now i mean you crowd out the space with negative. i mean go ahead barack and people aren't. american people aren't shape you know we heard your

talking points enough times already yes of course it is about buying elections look i just spent the last three loves here i like i mean we started to be swayed by i had to know you know as of our poll i talked to hundreds of people all across the country in various cities who were all saying the same things our voice doesn't matter they said things like you can't you're not a corporation unless you have a senator or two in your pocket you know we can buy the political process like corporations can people across the country raising here is going to say you know. do you have americans on a lot of people that is own bought and sold by the corporations and you can go out and find this and i didn't write it i was going to get elected. but it was a i free market brother and i received huge amounts of money from wall street barack obama is part of the problem ok i'm not a partisan like you. money has fundamental not a right as

a political process that's how wall street that's how wall streeters. really crashing the global economy ok they have bought the political process that was already. the reason they they were able to buy a huge huge bailout and then they were able to essentially sabotage any sort of finance reform there's been no sort of proper prosecution the democrats and republicans are peas in a pod on this issue and on many other issues you know barack obama has the. climate change talks. craighead join the most fright. the most frightening aspect about this is super pacs are not just buying elections this time around they're actually trying to buy the white house and. that's a very frightening prospect here where we're seeing not only so much money going in there we're seeing super pacs that are really essentially coordinated with the

presidential candidates pumping five million ten million one hundred million to support a presidential candidate whoever is going to be elected president is going to know who he or she owes their election to this is this is a frightening prospect for america i'd like to know you know what you do a lot of this. military x.l. pipeline which i think you can tell by the lack of civility. going on right now. ok gentlemen. which i think is a great example there was a recent vote in the house on the x.l. pipeline in terms of the representatives who voted against approving the x.l. pipeline they had received perhaps about one million dollars from the oil and gas industry for those who wanted the x.l. pipeline and the vote was pretty close they had received over eight million dollars from the. well and gas industries so it's going to add that into the buying of the

political process. that is going on go ahead jump in excuse me you know just naysaying is a way certainly you know second of all money chases ideas it's not the other way around i wasn't a liberal until somebody wrote me a check and then all of a sudden i was a conservative that's absurd the money chases the ideas not the other way around ok craig you know if i could go. through if i go back to campaign financing you know up until the supreme court decision you know concluding campaigns you know there was accountability do you think there's any reason for middle class people to write a check for any campaign it these days if so much big money is out there that crowds out the process being part of the political process and supporting candidates is it's what's the point in doing it i mean if ten dollars is nothing compared to the numbers you just mentioned being part of the political that's

a story with the average americans are going to lack of money take. take take a look at the occupy wall street movement the occupy d.c. moment the what occupy k. street with the tea party i mean this is where groups citizens average americans are finding their frustration and many many of these people especially in the occupy wall street movement are all actually advocating don't bother voting it doesn't matter anymore we're not going to see it is very easy to. do with thousands i was last year and they don't have a ton of money wait a minute wait a minute the tea party elected sixty plus republicans in the house live here and they don't have this kind of money so what are you talking about what are you talking about so if you have to. go to. others who are out there. they're out there is. going to increase to i. forty seven percent you probably. want to say that i mean i'm spending they

had a ton of money i had a ton of money. and they didn't i know the top three tea party groups believe me they'd love to have a ton of money they don't ok that's absurd and i mean this is this is go ahead go ahead. this is essentially the story goes on it's basically. you know we hear these blatant blame lies at least least on this show that we you know we're able we're able to counter some of these lies but the but the thing about citizens united and what you already have your so they are able to essentially spew propaganda with no opposition whatsoever and this and i think it's true that when it was where it was and i said you know no you know i think we should we should. mention two thousand fitted like nascar drivers where it shows their sponsors on their suits you know they they should have

to wear lower those that exxon mobil and the koch brothers ok craig go ahead jump in yeah we're going to see eight eight eight billion dollars spent in the two thousand and twelve elections and we're going to see a decrease in voter turnout because most of that money is going to be very negative it's going to. leave most americans feeling disgusted with our campaign finance system and it is not going to help mobilize or increase the confidence or increase the integrity of the democratic system in the u.s. ok we're in a very dangerous period i want to call that ok see them with the last word twenty seconds. well first of all government was strong we wouldn't have to do all those second of all the reason tara is going to be down is because obama's. magical run is over and a lot of the new first time voters who never voted but voted for him will be gone next time ok gentlemen very spirited discussion thank you very much many thanks to my guest today in los angeles and in washington and thanks to our viewers for

watching us here are to see you next time and remember cross talk. and you can. download the official. i pod touch from the saps to. life on the go. video on demand parties mine gold coast's. says feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com.

syria slams an arab league plan to solve the country's crisis that require president assad to step down calling it quote a flagrant interference in its internal affairs. the e.u. adopts on president its. nuclear program including a complete go on iranian oil but many fear the move will only harm the books already crippled economy. and the croatia votes in favor of joining the debt stricken edu but a low turnout for the national referendum and violent protests exposed deep

divisions in the issue inside the country. a very warm welcome to you from all of us here and i'm sure syria has rejected an arab league proposal to resolve the country's crisis that required president assad to give up power damascus the initiative as interference in its internal affairs unquote an attack on syria's suffering to. others in the syrian capital standing by sara thanks for coming on today so what exactly did the arab league propose. but the regime objected to so strongly. while the arab league called for president bashar al assad to step down and to hand power his deputy they also called for the formation of a national unity government and that would be a pretty leaves early parliamentary and presidential elections now those calls have

been virulently rejected by the syrian government and here they called a flagrant interference with the internal affairs certainly the sense that you're getting from damascus is really that the arab league should be inspiring here should be focusing on other areas now there's a press conference expected sometime this afternoon here when it's thought you will get a further response from there the problem you have really with the arab league those of course you've got countries like saudi arabia qatar is there's a sense really that these countries now preaching to what proceed to syria when of course they don't themselves have democracy at home and this is always a problem with the arab league is viewed as a regional body is not being particularly strong certainly the mission here in the country has run in some difficulties and been met with sun criticisms as well as a big focus right now they really is just how you make that arab league mission now

more effective now russia's stance is once again that this should be seeking a resolution with alice for an intervention because what no one wants to see right now is a stalemate situation happening here in the country and certainly there's a lot of concerns because at the moment this arab league mission it really seems one of the any roots still open still available to pursuing dialogue here in the country is absolutely pivotal that that continues what you don't want to see happen is for that to run into difficulties and now the observers have remained here on the ground despite the delegation having had that meeting is thought that the mission is going to continue pas. sibly for another month a lot of focus on what's actually going to change with that mission on the increase of powers and possibly the increase of manpower on the ground as well and again that's going to be very very important because from what we've seen of the observers certainly there seems more of a need for them to be able to communicate with all the different factions that you

have here in the country now but certainly these divisions are concerning because of course this comes at a time when syria desperately desperately needs decisive action now and he's decisive now is not further division as we've been witnessing you know every day that this deliberation continues because he simply being pushed further into quizes . or civilization. or. to homs the conflict has moved ever closer to the country's capital many damascus suburbs are also embroiled in the conflicts between government forces and the armed opposition. well this is all that's left of many of the houses now inside just absolutely gutted it broken glass you've got bullet holes lining the walls you've got clothes stain around the house where people have left them behind fleeing very quickly you can really see the

devastating consequences that this conflict has hurt picking up the pieces prove easy amongst the opposition themselves there are a worrying divisions and as the conflicts become increasingly violent there are now areas of the country where it's unclear exactly he's in control the people here in sanford on the image i think the syrian army having control not or. not have. a lot of numbers a number of suppressing the heart of who's in charge and so you know. the coordination the diversion up with the stuff arab league observers look set to remain in the country for another month trying to build the basis for multi-party elections even seen by the international community although you are your sources to where you are into your position you have to put in your mind that you have to work with the other side working with the other side uses their look. of fighting with

thousands kills bringing the different factions to the negotiating table is going to be a major task sara for. damascus syria. beirut based political analyst dr omar says the syrian opposition itself should share responsibility for recent bloodshed in the country and that ultimately it's time to engage in dialogue. the opposition or what the so-called syrian free army or the desert there is from the syrian army have been also using heavy gunfire against civilians they have been using explosives apparently they have been using and the armored. rockets and you know some weapons that cannot usually be used in civilian areas and against civilians there is a president said also enjoys. popular support. one cannot deny this

not even the institute in qatar denied this when they did the research last month and they found that fifty five percent of the city and population opposed to down for didn't move for the president. it's time for dialogue as i said has has tried some some reform some democratic reforms there is a constitutional council now in syria trying to rewrite the constitution there will be elections in the coming months there are some of the forums i think that the opposition should face because it is of the interest of no one of no one's interests that need to or steps in they would be destruction they would be chaos as was the case in libya. you with our two you know turning our attention better egypt is where revolutionaries are feeling the consequences of the democracy they fought so hard to achieve the newly elected parliament holds its first post revolution

session many egyptians feel they've been betrayed by the muslim brotherhood in its march to the majority. e.u. notions have formally adopted an unprecedented set of sanctions against iran which include a block wide embargo on iranian oil the move targets iran's nuclear program which the islamic republic insists is for purely peaceful purposes let's get more details on the latest development of course want to cut off syria live in brussels to answer these fresh signs exactly what measures they involve. yes they have formally and officially adopted these are unprecedented sanctions on iran it's sensually a total oil embargo it will have immediate effect on new contracts but that existing contracts will be will be allowed to run for another six months they've also agreed on a ban on a gold and gold trade and other precious metals with the iranian central bank all of these of course aiming to financially and economically cripple iran over its

controversial nuclear program with western leaders still insisting iran is trying to build nuclear weapons while terror round denies this now the e.u. embargo follow strict new way u.s. sanctions that were passed into law by president obama in january so as far as the e.u. is concerned by july it will be a full and total implementation of these new sanctions so when you talk about the implementation excuse me of these new sanctions the idea of crippling the iranian economy surely blocking off iranian oil too to the entire e.u. block it's not just going to iran is it. well certainly this is unprecedented in terms of the scope and be desired of potential effects on iran but it is also one president in terms of its potential economic impact on the european union itself let's not forget the e.u. imports up to twenty percent of rain in all its second biggest buyer and one of the twenty seven the biggest buyers within that are elite spain and greece the very same countries that are now struggling to deal with its sovereign debt crisis greece in particular heavily dependent on the radio or oil with up to one third of

its total imports from iran also it's relying on teh run for easier credit terms so they will definitely have to find alternatives for these countries these are what the leaders will have to talk about how to cushion the potential economic impacts on the several member states now there's also the question on the effectiveness of these sanctions because there is still china which up to this point has not agreed to go on board with the u.s. and the e.u. led sanctions on iran it is still the largest buyer of iranian oil and if the e.u. and the u.s. don't want to possibly try to we'll just step in and buy the oil that the others don't want so there's a question of whether these will actually work and of course because of all the uncertainty oil markets have already reacted pushing oil prices higher oil prices will just mean higher prices of goods and also of course that escalating tension at the strait of hormuz iran has said it has every right to block the strait of hormuz where twenty percent of the world's oil tankers pass through and it will definitely impact global trade on that iran said they will likely do it in retaliation for the

sanctions they're already u.s. carriers monitoring the issue there definitely possibility of escalating conflict so it seems almost every day we see escalation between the west and iran over its nuclear program the ongoing oil issues as well of course we're going to brussels thank you. well to discuss the implications of a fresh sanctions against iran let's now talk to james corbett editor of the independent news website the colbert report based in japan and i thanks for coming on our team today do you think this new out of sanctions when achieve anything when it comes to resolving the nuclear program crisis in iran well let's assume that there is a crisis to be resolved it is interesting to see what will happen here because as has been noted this is likely to affect europe at least as much as it will affect iran if not more so and certainly in the current energy climate i think it will be easier for rand to replace its european exports with exports to other countries than it will be for europe to find imports from other sources but certainly we do

see that this will have a crippling effect on some of the european economies themselves as has been noted and roughly one third of europe's energy. sorry one third of the iran's exports of crude oil actually go to europe at this point and a full eighty percent of that export demand in europe is taken up by four countries turkey italy greece and spain three of which are part of the so-called pigs countries that are already teetering on the edge of economic collapse so it's very interesting to see this move that that is likely to hurt europe but as i say at least as much as it hurts and really now regarding that let's us to step aside from from the energy issues here let's talk about that of a saber rattling iranian media says the country's senior official has already said that tehran could definitely close the vital all transit route and the strait of hormuz because of the all embargo today we're seeing stories another american warship a french warship a british naval destroyer all of that now heading into the strait of hormuz if iran

goes ahead with the threat to shut down the waterway what's next. if it were to go ahead with that threat i think the military some sort of military strike would have to be in order that would be too much of a provocation to go unnoticed but i for that very reason i find it extremely unlikely that iran is actually going to start the hostilities in that manner i think it's far more likely that they would use that if if military intervention had already started in iran or if the sanctions had become economically unsupportable but i find it very difficult to believe that iran will actually use that sort of nuclear option so to speak i don't realize they have been certainly escalating things in terms of the saber rattling recently but i think that's really more of a putting their their cards on the table to try to stave off any sort of military intervention of some of these sanctions now and in the past two years and has allowed the i.a.e.a. into its country for a number of different investigations into so-called nuclear plants it's also signed

three agreements over the past twelve months where that with these international these ultimately western washington is going to the strait of hormuz always seeing just a basic game of political chess or if a provocation here. well i think there is no doubt there is some provocation and some testing of the waters quite literally and figuratively going on right now and certainly with the rands recent threats to to block the strait of hormuz now we see the american sending ships through there to sort of test the defenses so to speak so so i think there is definitely some cat and mouse going on right now and i think at this point it is saber rattling and testing both sides testing to see how far the other is going to go and as i say at this point i would be extremely shocked to see iran actually pulling out the the option of of mining or otherwise blockading the strait of hormuz because that seems to me that that's that's pretty much the last part of their sleeves so i don't think they want to put it on the you know on

the table too early very briefly here we are running very low on time i apologize for that finally if the if the new sanctions fail to was. again it could be back to the old stalemate position of what what's then what's the way out of that. well oddly enough i think the further that iran is pushed into a corner here the their position will strengthen over time as the as they develop alternative routes for their for their oil exports if they for example increase their trading partnership with china or russia and india as we've seen in recent days they've been scrambling to establish exchanges in other currencies including their local currencies including even asking india to trade in japanese yen and so we could see really a fundamental shift in the in the entire dynamic of this of this energy export economy that's taking place right now and you could actually serve two to benefit iran in the long run from getting them off of their dependence on the petro dollar . of the news website the colbert report live from thank you. and

with r.t. still to come in the program here the twists and turns of russian politics i feel like campaign intensifies presidential hopeful of lot of proposes getting tough on immigration. an e.u. entry ticket has been approved by the people of croatia the u.s. wasn't as solid as expected though with more than half of krauts simply ignoring the national referendum the country will become the union's twenty eight state by july next year but only after all other members ratify the move was split on the issue with those in opposition saying there's nothing to gain from a bloc currently experiencing its worst ever crisis as artie's tom bought reports the divisions are here to stay even after the us about. the. violent scenes in the croatia but it's the country's referendum that said to.

me. was to be made the right maybe it's going to be the protesters and. they take and seize protest is a way situation in many states instead of in the creation capital and financing has been at least being timely courage while now. only. these anti protesters say the government is trying to suppress the dissenting voices they are joining would surrender croatia's independence to brussels yes i believe that i'll put in another street nearby the foreign minister as trying to convince people that accession is vital for the croat to come to me make chile with the stability that scale can lead it into the credit rating of creation. that is translated into membership of the good union gracious budgets would be in serious trouble every.