tv [untitled] January 25, 2012 5:18pm-5:48pm EST
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plenty of people to defend the current system of capitalism which they have benefited from brian moynihan the c.e.o. of bank of america of america is one who was saying you know the western capitalism is subject to boom and bust this is part of it but come on there are so many people that we talked to an interview on our show that talk about how long and how painful the costs are of this bust that is it here by accident and has a lot to do with maybe some of the bailouts that his bank has benefited from and the boom years of easy money that they did as well so there obviously are plenty of defenders and we'll have to see if anything really comes out of that conversation i've seen some reports of billionaires defending their concern about inequality and having concerns about capitalism in that regard we'll have to see if it just amounts to some talk because i'm seeing a lot of little business action go along on the sidelines which looks like what davos is really about or you mentioned the issue of inequality and i want to point out the fact that the world economic forum's own report actually cited inequality
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as top and income disparity as a top risk over the next decade and yet the word inequality as i read in one article appeared only once on the one hundred thirty page program and that was a title of some panel discussion about art so are these guys out of touch are they talking about this off the record it is the whole. promise brought on by the occupy wall street movement at all being discussed here. well it's interesting you mention that i saw someone write about that that inequality was only mentioned once in the program so i had my eyes peeled for it and i noticed that one of the quotes that was highlighted on the plasma as in davos was a quote about inequality and about the issues of inequality that come out of capitalism and then i looked at who said it and it was the general secretary of a trade confederation i was like of course that's going to avoid talking about inequality at davos and not actually the person of brian moynihan in that panel that defended capitalism against and you know the reports basically people were not too on board with her assessment so i think that that kind of says it all you know
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davos is here and occupy has been named as an example on the agenda of some of the issues that have arisen from capitalism in the complaints of people have about it at the same time that you have them talking about occupy davos you know i hear business people snickering when i say oh i'm going to check out the igloos and they say oh ha ha not too many people out there you know you get a very condescending attitude which i think speaks volumes when you're talking about these issues so maybe the concern is more out of a hey don't blame us just because we have. another show i want to bring up in this day and age we see economic high level economic summits almost every single week especially when it comes to europe so that begs the question of whether davos are still relevant whether they can impact any sort of change. you know that is such a great question because lucy it is the one i have been asking this entire time ok davos yes it's pretty it's a resort town all of these big names are here are some of them and i'm just kind of
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going what is the big deal this is just such a big meeting it doesn't seem that exciting you know there are sessions but there's got to be a reason lucy because people shallow lots of money in order to be here some corporation sponsor three hundred thousand dollars is the report i've seen in order to secure an invite according to david roth who wrote a really good inside read book about this this is the largest gathering of the superclass so there's got to be a reason for it but to your point i've also seen a quote that resonated with me was the founder of a.o.l. who said you know adama's you kind of always feel like maybe the party is somewhere else and there's another davos going on that you don't know about and you do kind of get that sense because you look around and it's not like everybody is george soros there are a lot of guys in suits that are not stiglitz they're not really being either guys in suits chattering about oh i had this good meeting with so and so so maybe that's it maybe this is a good place to do business deals maybe policy doesn't come out of it maybe it does we have seen some historical that actually have also angela merkel i thought it was
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interesting at the end of her opening remarks she said that it's important for politicians like herself to get input from all of the people that are i davos and as you mention it's a very elite group of people that are mostly financial so i think that it does play a role and lauren very briefly we talked about income inequality but last year we saw joseph stiglitz wife talk about sort of the inequality within the ranks of the dol those with the different colored mame tags where the wives and the journalists and even the prostitutes who to send down on this cape town are all sort of stratified by these color coded tags can you talk a little bit about that any interesting insight. yeah the first thing that i've noticed is that i've become really good at kind of looking down a little bit because you just want to read everybody's name tag because i think from the reporter point of view you're going ok i don't recognize it but is this person important and you're definitely trying to reword their name tag says as a reporter you're going on gosh i've got the reporter press badge which means i can't go anywhere ok there's stairs to the v.i.p. areas where the v.i.p.
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lounge is and where a number of sessions are where you want to snag you come in and out those are off limits so i you know have the scarlet press badge that on my forehead and there are the davos wives the white tag and you know what they're really good for a they have a role that i've noticed at least or come in contact with their really good handlers all of these big wigs need a good handler that's going to shoe off the reporters who ever want to talk to and they still look nice they say oh i'm so sorry and then there are doubles or they're like ok you said no and so i learned definitely a stratification you definitely notice it all right some interesting insight from lauren lister who is on the ground for us in davos switzerland. still here ahead right here on r t a year after millions of egyptians took to the streets of cairo i might be a new group of people in power but how much has actually changed or is it just new faces to the old policies. thanks.
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to the capital account i'm lauren lyster. 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. view with a global reach where we had a state controlled capitalism is core fashion so when nobody dares to ask we do our t. question more.
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people calling like you said for free and fair elections. again we're still reporting from the clinton as you can hear behind me loud explosions. now protesters have returned to talk where square in the thousands in order to mark the very first anniversary of the uprisings that led to the ousting of president hosni mubarak but a year later what has changed in egypt since that revolution artie's only worry if
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an ocean is on the ground in cairo and she filed the following report. a year after its historic revolution egypt is far from calm protests have become a part of everyday life and no longer an event one of the revolutionists most significant achievement i. could never believe who would come out and speak out like this there are several reasons for egypt's people to take out to the streets following the uprising that ousted mubarak last february the country's economy is struggling unemployment is at its highest in decades and while the newly elected islam is dominated parliament debates the country's future resentment grows against miter rule and the feeling they hijacked the revolution possibility we want them to do what military should do to protect its citizens and not rule the country well i don't know what political in want to be sure that there will not destroy our
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solutions achievements they betrayed us. the military dominated egypt's politics since the fall of the monarchy sixty years ago some skeptics say the twenty eleven revolution did little to change this trend when mubarak toppled down people welcomed the supreme council of the armed forces to lead the transition but the initial euphoria began to fade when the military council was still in place six months later after one bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters after another claiming at least eighty lives since october there isn't any doubt left here scoff should go voices of the protesters against in louder but fear is a growing as well they may never be heard. and to scoff a scary cuz aboon arabic or army lawyers campaign they work to reveal the army's wrongdoings between a female activists attacking field hospitals and conspiracy theories under the
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military council twelve thousand people have been brought to military trials that against less than two thousand and mubarak's thirty years i believe that there are life i believe that we don't want them anywhere here in this chair that's what i believe in words and that's what most of what all i know believe and the working whatever scott claim it to leave when the new president is elected in june but if you believe the promises that once were broken so easily some also fear that the generals may stay on behind the scenes reluctance to relinquish the power they've had for decades with protests pushing them to leave though one thing is clear the fight is not yet over grief notion or r.t. cairo. then be sure to tape stay tuned for the alone a show coming up right here in just a half an hour ellen is going to sit down with chains from the young turks to get his reaction to the president obama the president of the union address i'll speak
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to occupy wall street activists and they discussed in detail why some a lot of the civilians are crying foul against the u.s. military's massacre all of that coming up next now fortunately that does it for now as always for more on any of the stories that we cover today whether it's julia songes new show state of the union or what's really going on behind the scenes at davos just head to our website that's our dot com slash usa and of course all of our interviews and stories are posted in full on our you tube page the address for that is you tube dot com slash r t america and as always if you want to weigh in on anything you saw today is just stories that you would prefer that we cover or just say hello don't be shy you can get in touch with me on twitter by tweeting at me that address is at lucy catherine of and should be on the screen right there thanks for watching we will be back at seven pm eastern.
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is that she must. be sitting on the mark with egypt on this year on the revolution due to the spirit of appears to stall the military rulers who replaced me. if you. want to. blow in welcome to cross talk computor all about egypt's unfinished business a year on the revolution that youth activists spirit appears to have stalled the military rulers who replaced mubarak seem to be exploiting opposition splits and popular fears of chaos to shore up their power and confine the extent of change is a counter revolution now managing egypt.
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cross-talk change in egypt a year after the revolution i'm joined by bradley blakeman in washington he was a senior staffer in the administration of george w. bush in currently a professor at georgetown university in chicago we have david faris he's an assistant professor of political science at roosevelt university all right gentlemen this is crosstalk that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first let's see what's happened in egypt a year on. the iconic séance of the egyptian revolution shook the middle east and the west by the magnitude of the events and the dramatic changes that followed it tolls started with a day off rage when thousands of egyptians took to the streets of cairo with a very clear intention to end of the thirty year rule of their leader hosni mubarak the most fail is stood their ground in the thick of the deadly clashes until their primary demand was met the political turmoil caused egypt hundreds of lives and an
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economic turndown however didn't give in to mubarak's reform rhetoric the crowd made it clear it could no longer accept the status quo and it took them eighteen days of protests to get this message across finally mubarak stepped down never the less overt some leader left the country in the. of the military so many people think nothing has changed in egypt one year since the revolution but the whole society is different now the state however and its policies haven't changed the country now is no longer governed by power those who held power in the past are now trapped in defensive oppression imprisonment murder all of this is evidence of the confusion fear and horror they are feeling the critics and create it's very unlikely that and it's serious reforms which take place while the council is there even after the parliamentary elections the muslim brotherhood freedom and justice party the twelve that may try to say it's is predicted to have
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a hard time addressing social and economic problems under scaf nonetheless the country's domestic and foreign policy will change going to be a much more religious conservative place and much more hostile to the west well some experts convinced sharia law will be forced in egypt others believe in the rise of moderate islamic parties whatever all of the parties that have long been marginalized will now have to be dealt with so far egyptians have demonstrated exceptional determination to build in egypt and elbowing their way towards them are just society but one here on the revolution isn't finished it's may take another hero for uprising to really own the change and whatever egypt does will be closely watched and even exemplified in the region even though the consequences get. innocent the trauma cross-talk r.t. . ok bradley fine go to you first i mean one year on what has
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changed in egypt because you could make the claim that it's the mubarak regime without mubarak that's really the the biggest difference between now and a year ago would you agree with that. well it remains to be seen i think they had a raucous start to their parliament. you know it was reminiscent really of the birth of america took us to leaven years to get our act together after our revolution so it's going to have to take some time to shake out the muslim brotherhood is in charge we still have presidential elections to be had and the military needs to step down and the west should really come to the aid of the egyptians now when they need it the most especially on the economic front and give them the kind of a that will help their people get on their feet that's what they need now and let's give it some time to shake out but a lot of changes have already taken place a lot more have to do and i'm cautiously optimistic that the egyptian people will
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find their way ok david if i can go to you i mean in light of what just bradley had to say it seems to me and i'm going to be a senator that's my job here is that the u.s. the west and they feel very comfortable working with the egyptian military they have been partners for decades right now and they're still having the same kind of relationship minus mubarak so the status quo is is quite convenient for the west right now and the military doesn't really want to go i mean when they're putting up roadblocks at one after another we'll see if we have a presidential election and people say that they the candidate will be chosen by the military they'll get their man in will be business as usual what do you think about that. you know i think there's the there's something to that but i also think we need to take the long view here and think about what egypt looked like a year ago today before the revolution. a regime that in power for thirty years that employed something along the lines of two million internal security members
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and that was swept away by a by a popular uprising and i do think that an enormous political changes in egypt i think i don't think it's fair to say that the status quo remains because a year ago you wouldn't have had free elections you wouldn't you would never have had a parliament led by the muslim brotherhood the freedom and justice party being seated absolutely and. and going to the parliament and having this rockets debate on the first and it was a ruckus but i mean democracy is a ruckus so if you look at any particular day in the house of commons in the u.k. you see a kind of similar ferment so i don't think that we should be that we should be frightened by what's happening and carl and i and i don't think we should be frightened i think and know it it's not being frightened i mean it is it's going to have an effect ok because if i go back to bradley i mean if we have this very strong president and again this is we'll see what's written in the constitution the writing and the constitution before the presidential election if it's going to be a very strong presidency then it's still going to be the same more or less what we
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have right now and i'd like to point out what another huge change since a year ago is the economic situation is very poor so again i mean the military just is not going to want to leave we all know that they have a huge vested interest in the economy are they going to divest themselves from the economy that seems very unlikely. well it's a good idea but not on the ground we also have to say i don't want to live well it's up to the newly elected president going to bradley to get their economic house in order and we can help in that regard they need about three billion dollars of capital immediately but we should do it like a millennium fun and not just give it out right we need to watch it we need to treat it as trust money to make sure that it's being spent properly and gets to the people it's intended use we've we've been down this road before with pumping up governments that we thought would be friendly giving the money outright and the money was used against us so i think we do have to join partners with the with the european union with our friends in the middle east and we have to use our best
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efforts now to help the people of egypt and let the government make the changes they need to make and also put pressure on the military to stand down and hopefully the presidential elections will be one that will be free and fair but they were off to a good start i think i don't think we should be too pessimistic with a raucous parliament starve i think that that in a way in a way was a good thing i mean you don't expect things after thirty years of dictatorship to be. lockstep you need you need that give and take of government we see it in our government all over the world and in free societies it's a good thing ok if i go back to david what about the muslim brotherhood is that you know there are a very powerful force now at least politically in egypt and if there's a free and fair election in the military doesn't get in the way too much we may have a candidate from the same organization and now if we look very carefully at what they have to say they're not particularly friendly towards the west or not
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particularly friendly to the united states because they back to dictatorship for thirty years i mean what kind of relationship would a muslim brotherhood egypt and the west have particularly the united states well i mean it was first i don't i don't think it's quite fair to say that the brotherhood back to the dictatorship for thirty years i mean no no i said no it's a western t.v. and i don't know that it's a lot of by. united sometimes you know the united states supported the dictatorship not the muslim brotherhood they were actually sure sure by the way i'm sure that the us administration is not i'm sure the us administration is not is not happy by the share of the seats one by the brotherhood party and by the newer party which is the vehicle of the salafist. but i think that we've known i mean if we had a clear look at what was going to happen from the first day of the arab spring we knew that the brotherhood was going to be the group that inherited power and post mubarak egypt and they haven't given any indication so far the they're going to pursue. for a tarion party is in fact they're playing the sort of more moderate foil to the to
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the nor party and i think it would really benefit the united states to work closely with with the freedom and justice party and its leadership to try to hammer out some kind of a loose consensus about foreign policy goals and things like that it will be a more contentious relationship there's no question because there's nothing easier then than working with an authoritarian regime that you support that you and i mean windows and i don't think there's any and that's changed but there's no indication that they're going to be authoritarian why is there assumption that they're going to be authoritarian i mean they will played a very positive role during the revolution they played a very moderate role since then but everyone every gets the jitters in the west you know and they hear this organization could be calling the shots real soon and we're looking at foreign policy as you pointed out and of course israel is brought up. sure well i mean we have a we have a thirty year discourse that was actually you know propagated by the mubarak regime that it was effectively you know it's us or it's the crazies leninists you know and
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so that's been the discourse in the u.s. and because the brotherhood is a bit less accommodating on foreign policy issues like israel there is there's a great fear i think in policy circles in the west the brotherhood is going to sweep into power overturn the peace treaty and pursue a much more aggressive foreign policy but i do think that as long as the military is kind of lurking in the background which which they've given every indication that they're going to continue to do that that they want to maintain a set of privileges extra-constitutional privileges that they're not going to give up at least not this cycle i do think those fears are a bit overblown. in terms of what might actually happen once the brotherhood takes power assuming that they even win the presidency right which is not which is not a foregone conclusion but only what do you think about that you are more afraid of the egyptian military or the muslim brotherhood. i'm wary of both military service have a very good track record go ahead but the military does have
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a real good track record with the people as you pointed out the massive security apparatus of the last thirty years the intelligence services the police the military what the real wild card here is how any gyptian parliament the new president the military be dealing with israel it's not so much how they're going to be dealing with the united states are they're trading griezmann agreements or the peace agreements going to be honored that's that's really a more concern to me because i believe the major base here we're going to want to know it when you go to a short break and we're going to get after that short break we'll continue our discussion on egypt state with r.t. . and. you can. download the official antti application to your i pod touch from the q zaps to.
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with max concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on r.t. . and you can say. welcome back to cross talk i'm peter lavelle to remind you we're talking about the revolution in egypt one year on. and you can see. it in its case very interesting john i know in reading some of the media coverage of the revolution when you're on the up and not really american but more like british and european is it instead of this kind of dichotomy we have the muslim brotherhood in the military it looks more and more like they were in cahoots with each other ok and particularly when writing this constitution now do you think that the the the democratic element of this revolution is being swept away by these two major forces because they're going to
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make a deal and it's not necessarily a deal it's going to be very public because the military doesn't want to be very open about it because we all know about their privileges so if i go to you on that david i mean so maybe it's just the cut you know it's not the extremes it's two different groups together that are very different they're going to make a deal with each other and it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be democratic. well i think that i think that there are actually great tensions between the brotherhood in the military on a number of issues including how much power the parliament will actually have so that i think to say that they're in cahoots with another might be a little bit premature because i think that there are going to be very significant issues you know after the parliament is seated and starts to try to pass legislation. the may drive a wedge between the military and the brotherhood the second thing is i think if you take the long view on this a lot of revolutions a lot of democratic transitions take several cycles to kind of shake out the authoritarian elements so i don't think that we should be surprised or even that
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alarmed if the military does remain retain some of its privileges because what we've seen again and again over the past year is that social forces will take to the streets to press the military on some of these issues if you if you think back to when the military said it was going to turn over power to a president until two thousand and thirteen people took to the streets and then very suddenly the military regime said ok ok we'll have elections in june of two thousand and thirteen so i think even if there is this sort of tacit alliance between the brotherhood in the regime which i'm not sure we can really say i also think there's still a lot of space in egyptian society for people to go back to tahir and some of the other squares across egypt and press the regime and if necessary press the brother the press the brotherhood on some of these issues in zero eight in the bradley if i can be kind of change gears here i mean i was reading some interesting analysis about the revolution when you're on and one writer put it this way is that you know the people that started this revolution they have.
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