people are organizing in all the states we have you know we're growing by twenty percent per week in in l.a. and los angeles where i'm a volunteer organizer and you know we have a strategy and there is no there's no difference between the other three candidates and what we currently have i mean the other issues that come up when we visit him every year abortion and you know all of these other ones these are not the issues like the issue right now is this economy and these wars and this currency the issues with the federal reserve what they're doing with our currency so you know people who do their research and educate themselves they realize the direction that things are going in and that you know it's time to to understand and become active so how does it work and i don't want to and you know i'm not you know saying that this is over that just because ron paul hasn't won any primaries i'm not saying that necessarily means anything in terms of ron paul but looking ahead to november

if you know mitt romney or newt gingrich is the republican candidate barack obama obviously the democratic candidate the incumbent president who do ron paul supporters vote for do they write in ron paul or do they end up settling for second best how does it work if you guys talk about this at all i believe all right and ron paul all right just just final word from you mary. to you to those other candidates from your perspective as a young person as a wrong ron paul supporter what is ron paul doing so right that he's captivated so many young people like yourself. well ron paul is is delivering the same message of voting the same way that he has always voted he is protecting our liberties he's trying to protect our constitution protect our currency and we need somebody like this he's a visionary person he's not corruptible these other candidates are just you know

once they get in office we already know who their main supporters are where they're getting their campaign contributions unlike ron paul ron paul is getting his contributions from us you know we're doing this out of you know a passion to get this done to make this change this country and put a rock on the track to prosperity. that was ron paul supporter and volunteer organizer mary we'll listen now we're going to take a short break but stick around she was branded with a cup scarlet p. with her press badge in davos and now capital account host laura lister is back in d.c. and spilling every dirty detail about her trip coming up next. 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 will is your own view and with the global machinery to see where are we heading state controlled

capitalism is called nationals when nobody dares to ask we do our t. question more. well let's go now to the latest in the crisis in the euro zone today european union leaders got together for their first some of the of the year in brussels now not that the idea is to put some now the idea is to put some finishing touches on a plan they hope will help the seventeen nation euro zone get back on its financial feet at least eventually but here's what they're facing an uphill battle

a very unstable greece where concerns about a default are alive and well and unstable portugal were borrowing costs have skyrocketed and the biggest problem once again very different ideas about what the best solution is even more cutting back by countries like greece or perhaps a new policy of stimulus which insiders say would have to come from germany from what we understand there has been quite a bit of back and forth about these ideas and this meeting of course comes on the heels of the world economic forum in davos switzerland now our own laura lister host of the capital account just returned from there and is with us now to discuss what is happening and more importantly why we should care are a lot of let's go first to that meeting that happened in brussels today kind of putting all those ideas on the table in terms of what to do about this crisis which is still frankly a crisis talk about this meeting and again why we should care about it this meeting i don't know why you should care christine it's a series of talks that we've seen continue for months now for over

a year ok the eurozone agenda and crisis really dominated davos with so much focus on the official agenda and with that really kind of taking over really the u.s. was just not a big part of the agenda in comparison and this is just a continuation of the same thing more talks more trying to deal with the debt crisis more trying to come to a solution different leaders have different ideas about what should be done but it is a continuation of the ducks at some point there needs to be a little less talking a little more action though right absolutely absolutely i mean they're kind of what's at the crux of it right now is that greece there were supposed to be a deal reached with bondholders for their next rescue. aid package and ollie rehn the v.p. of economic and monetary affairs for the e.u. at davos was saying he thought one would be reached by the weekend now they're still working on it it hasn't been the last thing we saw was an official reported that germany wants to actually take over the fiscal matters in the budget of greece

as a contingency for their next bailout so i think there's a lot of questions about freedom and democracy because while i heard a lot of euro zone leaders talk about the current form of capitalism there as the best way to achieve freedom and democracy what is it when you're giving over your fiscal matters to another country to a large organization to international organizations that's about sovereignty so what greece has to give up their country now too because you know banks wrote loans that kleptocrats then took on and now people have to pay with austerity and giving up their sovereignty will have to bow down to whatever germany tells them that does seem a little strange let's switch gears i want to hear more about davos i know we had you on a little a few times last week to talk about what you were experiencing all the time at the time now that you're back give us a summary of what it was all about summer and what it's all about i think that it would really depend on what situation you're in you know davos is a large event there are tons of people there and you're different bad really dictates this side of davos that you see i guess you know your your political

capital dominates the this side of davos that you see for me watching the official agenda i didn't see a lot that was different i didn't see for all the talk of this being you know a time to rethink capitalism it doesn't really seem like there's any big ideas that are going to be game changing seems to me that the people who were there are the people that benefit most from the capitalist system absolutely and the people that are there talking about it you know the kind of the roubini and the. economists and kind of the people that are newsmakers ok maybe they're they're talking about it but there's you know twenty six hundred other people that are a lot of them are business leaders that have shelled out a lot of money just to be there. just to network i mean you have to get have two billion dollars in profits just to even qualify to get an invitation and just bare minimum according to the girl that i was talking to it's fifty thousand dollars to join and twenty thousand dollars more than that for things like getting to davos and that's not i mean there are people that pay way more than that i've seen

figures three hundred thousand six hundred thousand dollars so these people have paid a lot of money and it's not to talk about rethinking capitalism and so you were talking about people's experience of davos of the world economic forum being largely based on the political capital that they have you as a journalist as a financial journalist covering davos let me guess you didn't have that much political capital there i didn't have that much political capital there christine it was a pretty frustrating experience you feel a little like a second class citizen you know by the end of the i am not by the end of the forum and i'm not saying at all that people were very nice and that the press team was an amazing they were the coolest people there by far and very helpful but by the end of it i just had bad p.t.s.d. i just didn't want to scan my badge anymore i just didn't want to deal with it and it's kind of a frustrating experience of course you're trying to go in and get some unique perspective by some of the greatest minds or at least some of the most successful people there in this business that shaping a lot of what's happening around the world and i don't imagine you found everything

you're looking i mean a lot of closed door sessions a lot of sessions you can't even attend or know what came out of the. probably some party they couldn't attend either. well i mean that's was certainly frustrating but i guess the last thing i want to ask you is just kind of. do these kind of forms both the world economic forum in davos the meetings that there seems to be a million of with the european union. what needs to come out of things like this in order for there to be real change well for something like davos at the end of the day as far as the official agenda is the talk shop i mean there have been certain years where deals have been reached that are kind of happening at davos because it's this forum that brings together all of these people that get to talk in situations where they may be whatever but as far as actually davos. it's not supposed to deliver a policy agenda but i do think there's a real question to be asked about this kind of you know internationalist agenda because what we've seen is that there is not an agreement i think nouriel roubini

was saying that g. seven has become irrelevant when we're looking at zero because no one can agree on anything so when we're looking at things from this level in perspective i think it's done but at the same time everything is really tied together the financial system is really tied together so if one country does something other countries are affected and they you know protest it or have to be on board in order to really get it achieved certainly important to have all these countries come and sit at the table together but not so much if it's just going to be too many cooks in the kitchen. and nobody having sort of a unified front that's davos this agreement with greece with the euro zone was supposed to happen this week and hasn't happened yet predictions really quick on the next twenty four hours they're really not an expert i talked to a lot of experts but i mean my prediction is that nothing big is going to happen i mean that's what we've seen more of that just after being in davos a dizzying. greece default some would argue greece is already in default what does it have a disorderly default i don't know the answer to that question but it's not you know

it's not unlikely that's not out of the question for sure and does it have an impact on u.s. banks jamie dimon says no but there are a lot of people that say we have no idea what kind of impact it would have and how could you imagine that it's not going to have any i have a hard time imagining that with all of the derivatives we know that are floating out there in the c.d.'s it's been written. all right our own financial guru and host of the capital account more and less star thanks for all that very interesting stuff be sure to stick around for the alona show is coming up in just a half hour a little earlier tonight we showed you a chart of just how far the u.s. has dropped on the index of the journalist freedoms scores of journalists have been arrested while covering occupy wall street tonight a little sit down with susie cagle a journalist who wasn't arrested once but twice covering the movement still to learn all about her most recent arrest in oakland as well as some of the other interactions that she's had there but for now that will do it for more on the stories we cover and go to our t.v. dot com slash usa you should also check out our youtube page we post almost all of our interviews an extra video footage on that that's youtube dot com slash r t

america and you should also follow me on twitter you can find me at christine for. the issues that so much are going to be a huge music history lesson on the mark when we blockade of the turning off of the times as the united states maybe you again sanction iran iran is also a threat be posed. more news today. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. showing corporations are old today.

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hello and welcome to crosstalk i'm peter all of our crude blockade and the turning

off of the taps as the united states and the e.u. again sanction iran iran is also threatening to impose punitive steps against the western powers are we witnessing merely a game of chicken or a potential bomb ticking before the advent of war. to cross-talk iran and its oil i'm joined by john robson and he is a calmness in commentator for a sun news network and invited professor at the university of ottawa in london we have to settle me he is an international oil economist and technical expert with the united nations industrial development organisation and in irvine we go to our bankers our day he is a professor of engineering at the university of california irvine all right gentlemen this is crosstalk that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first ok let's go to john robson in and london the you pushing forward july first will cut off all oil exports into the european union

from iran and it is calling the strategy to avoid chaos in the middle east isn't it just actually the reverse this will create even more chaos in the middle east this is counterproductive and actually it really actually provoke iran into taking some kind of offensive move that it hasn't to that to date. well the thing is iran is already taking as many offensive moves as it can possibly manage the fear of provoking aggressive regimes is one that's paralyzed the west throughout the twentieth century with terrible consequences i think the time for a showdown with iran is now rather than after it gets a working nuclear bomb so why worry about the sanctions is there not enough there a substitute for decisive action but that's certainly a step in the right direction nato what do you think about that it's a step in the right direction he no he's absolutely wrong they're not working on weapons the i.a.e.a. hasn't said that and it's definitely increasing the temperature in the gulf persian

gulf area and in my opinion in the u.s. congress and the united states government basically wants to have a certain temperature but not to boil over they want to have the tightening of the rope around the government of iran but at the same time they don't want to have any particular military action over there and so therefore it's a very balancing act that this point and that's why the joint operation with israel was cancelled different reasons for that but certainly don't want to bring the temperature down to the level of simmering ok now if anything is good because it keeps the price so if i can go back to you i mean but isn't that kind of dangerous i mean that's setting a a tipping point i mean i mean if if now you get to a small mistake and then the consequences are enormous go ahead absolutely so they cannot pat themselves on the back because as you mentioned correctly it's very dangerous because one major minor mistake could turn into

a huge problem and also as you know these wars can start easy but they cannot be stopped so it's a very dangerous position and people aren't usually the election purposes john when you want to jump in there. did did you say iran is not working on nuclear weapons that's what he said yes there are no reports i.a.e.a. reports does not say that maybe you know something we don't know but anything that is publicly available not privately or by the intelligence community the things that are publicly available and even the sixth intelligence organizations in two thousand and seven and eight on two thousand and eleven class clapper at the head of the i.c. basically told the congress that there is no effort on the on the weaponize ation at this time ok gentlemen that's what he said you can find a court on. monday so let me if in london if i can go to you what about this this oil regime that it could come into place here with the european union wants to do

and what iran is threatening to do today is monday and its discussion of cutting off oil to. the european union or the iranians doing the right thing or is it a bluff. i don't think it is a love i think it is a defensive measure that they could force the only one to look for it somewhere else at a higher price because the global oil market is sort of tight so trying to fly five hundred to six hundred thousand veterans which are imported by the european union will not be as an easy job furthermore the gulf producers including saudi arabia are not in a position to all of said the loss of that oil because they don't have any spare capacity to be able to provide for the european union so we are in a very. difficult situation with the oil market very very tight

ok john if i can go back to you i mean really what this is all about we had tim geithner going around the world last month getting countries to cut oil imports from iran and most countries are not going to go along with it what is really the plan is really about nuking iran is nuclear program or is it really about regime change for over thirty years now well after four sets of sanctions this is the silver bullet right this is the one that's finally to take the regime down is that what the plan is. well i think that that probably is the plan for the simple reason that the iranian regime is extremely of not just an aggressive and you know the idea well they're not working on nuclear weapons they're just building centrifuges in fortified compounds away under mountains and enriching uranium and doing all the things you would be doing if you were building nuclear weapons but we can trust and i would have an easier job because he said if he wants to wipe israel off the map mr first round of his war against the west you just can't afford to ignore that kind of thing but it's just one example of iran's thoroughly of not just behavior

in the middle east and people say well if you attack iran the middle east will erupt and chaos will be war going on ok off it the countries around israel are doing everything they can and dared to do to destroy israel already it's not like making the mad is a danger here this is like oh don't make hitler mad you know he might get aggressive your question is what range of threats to they pose and how can we deal with that you know they told the americans don't bring your aircraft carrier back to the strait of hormuz and the americans brought into said ok you feel like a naval battle you want to piece of us do you do it of course the iranians back down because they would have had iran at life you know what i mean the idea is i think we're down the regime before it does something terrible i think we've got to nato if i go to you i mean i right before the program i took a look at look at a look at looked at a map of military bases the united states surrounding iran i mean my goodness there's a if you can call the regime of noxious if you want but it's certainly being threatened by the west in a very real way go ahead meet our. iran is israel is one of the most powerful

nations in the world per capita per capita if you divide the number of nuclear weapons by the population is number one in the world it's even higher than russia and united states so nobody dares to attack israel this is just doesn't make sense but it's rambling this kind of nonsense is what the media and united states and some other places is going on is a changing the public's view of this is there is no record of this iranian government be tough on its own people and not treat them democratically but when it comes to external countries they have not attack anybody two hundred years when the afghani regime the taliban's cut about twenty ronnie and diplomats in missouri sheriff they couldn't even cross the border to attack them they are such a weak in terms of attacking other countries they are not interested in doing that they may have proxy wars with united said israel and that's not very good but in general the idea of the centrifuges that are in a safe guarded site in the tunnels which you cannot say that about israel's the

facility that is breaking bob this is absolutely ridiculous going back to the oil as your guest from london said the capacity of saudis apparently from what i have read is about three to four million barrels so basically it will tighten the market so much and it will impact so the iranian government deciding to actually preventing europeans and bluff them and to actually try to remove the oil purchases to them as soon as possible actually exasperate the economy of europe and it would definitely be a very defensive measure so all of this is increasing the temperature as i said earlier what they don't want in washington is the temperature going boiling over they wanted to be simmering all of it to november two thousand and twelve because the obama administration needs to show to the republicans and the voters that he's tough on iran but does not want to have a war at this time before november. two thousand and twelve so that's a very balancing act that is going on and it's all related and one mistake will

change all of that let me in london will be if it let's say it happens ok that the european union cuts all imports of oil into iran well how will that are in fact the economy of iran will it break the back of the economy or is this just another round of sanctions that the iranians will just have to absorb the iranian economy is very dependent on oil exports the we've the whole world of. european union imports from iran will not very much affect the iranian economy however if there is an effort to stop iran exporting oil and that could only happen at the united nations security council and i don't think that is a possibility will happen simply because russia or china will veto that so we

are talking hypothetically about defensive measures of shutting the state of automobiles iran has the can really to mine this street over what it was and cause a blockage to various tank atta's however they will never to do that except on one condition if they were prohibited from selling their oil in that case they would take the attitude that if we cannot sell our oil we will stop all oil exports from the gulf third of that or more in an act of defiance iran is carried by a barrel of simple packaging the us the nor are installations in saudi arabia which are out of the biggest in stations and they were and from which the nine p. pair of cent of saudi oil exports are loaded. what do you think about that john mayer before we go to the break here i mean is is this what you think this is

plausible that the sanctions will actually work or are really right this is just a political move in washington to please the israelis and please the republican electorate well i'm puzzled by it because the thing is if iran isn't selling its oil to the european union it will be selling it to somebody else that person will then need to import less oil from elsewhere and that will be freed up for the europeans i mean oil is pretty much oil and so if the same amount is going into the world market the same us coming out i don't see that a whole lot of spin achieved now if you get into a scenario where they start trying to stop arabian oil exports altogether and then the iranians might want to attack saudi oil fields this gives the west a big incentive for a preemptive attack if the temperature rise on that show and i know john i'm going to go to a short break i'll go right back to you after the short break after a short break we'll continue our discussion on the future of red state with our team. in.

wealthy british style. is not on the title of. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds or report on. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly 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 hartman welcome to the big picture.

download the official auntie happily cation your i phone or i pod touch from the i choose ops to. watch on t.v. life on the go. video on demand all teasing blindfold costs and already says feeds now in the palm of your. questions on the dot com. a soulless substance. cannot touch like a well trained army. villages in ruins. for

thailand where time stands still. becomes a scene of nothing. the mysterious sons of russia. are chasing the but. if you still. want to. welcome back to cross talk you know about to remind you we're talking about the oil embargo to be imposed on iraq. and it. stands. ok i'd like to go back to john in ottawa i mean we hear in mainstream media and politicians like to leave the term carrot and stick as if iran is a donkey or.