who in the late eight hundred fifty s. minted an insurrection at harper's ferry and really changed the tone and tenor of the national debate about what we were going to do about that big problem of the time which was were we going to continue to be slave holders or not and he galvanized the attention of the nation and about two years later we were in the civil war the greatest convulsion that the united states ever went through and so i'm wondering now you know when will the john breaux moment come for financial misbehavior that you know is not only unseemly unethical criminal and bad but is really hurting this nation terribly the revolution in tunisia started with one fruit seller a french revolution started with one girl talking you know the price of bread going up and talk about john brown one individual starting the the revolution back in the u.s. and that time you know you talk about the financial crimes you know the contrast

let's say and age and middle east north africa the more information they got the more upset they became you know the satellite photos its uneasy of how the top one percent was living got everyone upset in the us however the more information they get the more they become you know julian assange or wiki leaks getting information makes people want to just lie down and cuddle up into a fetal position and hope it all goes away isn't there it can is it drugs in the water is it obesity is it too much football what's the evolution are americans out i know a lot of republicans don't believe in evolution but do they believe india evolution because it appears as though the mindset of the average american is the evolving there are a number of things going on that revolve around the question of authority and legitimacy and especially the news media and you know. personally consider my. so allergic to conspiracy theories and i don't think that

there is a media conspiracy to keep the american people ignorant but there's. job reporting you wonder why the call thought leaders in places like the wall street journal and the new york times have they haven't reacted at all to the shenanigans going on with the new york state attorney general and the taskforce for mortgage fraud and the smokescreen at the department of justice they're just not paying attention so you know we're seeing some kind of an epoch a failure of people in charge of it's like you know control fraud itself which is using accounting. by people who run things namely people who run banks and the people who regulate them and the whole idea that you are a legitimate vested authority in people expect you to be discharging your duties

and doing things properly but yet you're not doing it and you know there's kind of an equivalent to that in the news media. so we're getting kind of a control fraught of news too but you know it seems to me to be more a matter of incompetence malice in the case of the news media a-k. don't buy into the conspiracy theories that are out there however about corning to a recent survey people who watch fox news are less informed than people who watch no news so clearly the fox people all know that if you have a population that is being dumbed down by purposefully inflating the debate with lies deception and fraud that's a that's a population that you can steer by the nose in any direction you want to go ok now chris hedges believes that part of the reason for the national defense authorization act. is that the banks are going to collapse and that bankers don't

trust the police to maintain order so they want to give the military some boosted powers in the united states because they see this thing collapsing and they want protection from the mob your thoughts chris is a very intelligent guy and very experienced as a war correspondent and you know i think that he's a voice that we ought to pay attention to i would imagine the problem a little differently i you know i think that there's just kind of a general level of nervousness throughout the whole culture that it's not just the bankers but it's really everybody in any kind of authority is so nervous about about the failures that they brought about that you know they they really no longer trust the system to keep on running it and you know they're taking extraordinary measures in regard to your previous statement about fox news when i was

a young newspaper reporter i investigated religious cults and political cults and one of the things that impressed me tremendously was how a group of people could simply subscribe to a bundle of ideas or shall we say programming and then you know there are a whole mental program was then set and they didn't really have to review any of their beliefs and i think that that's happened to a tremendous extent now and in our culture right so you've got bill o'reilly is more like charles manson than edward r. murrow now let's talk about something you're very keen to write about and talk about over the years peak resources and i want to ask you is there any connection between the curtailment of civil liberties in the u.s. and this peak resource the peak oil peak every water etc well there's certainly a connection between all of these enormous. looming issues the failure of capital

finance the failure of civil order and the faith that we can run a civil society and the availability of the vital resources that we need to have an economy that continues to grow and produce the ability to do things like service debt so yes that you know these things are all intimately connected and they all end up read down being into the question of whether or not this is a society that has enough confidence that it will be able to keep going and carrying this project of civilization into the future right now we're not too sure about that james council has another curious thing there's a washington post show that with a democrat navas the anti-war movement made up mostly of democrats has declined drastically they are apparently fine with the wars while they team up while their team is in sort of speak how what's that all about it probably again the question

of authority you know if you identify yourself as a democrat or a progressive and your party is carrying out the wars and doing it in a way that you know there's no draft so people aren't being dragged off to you know against their will they're volunteering and in fact it's really kind of a job center for that disappearing cohort of young men especially you know who who need to work with their hands and can't go to work in a factory or do some cardio you know or or any longer you know build houses or do other construction jobs so you know they work with their hands killing people in other lands so you know probably it's regarded as a kind of a jobs program right well of course when they go to these wars they often lose their hands and then goldman sachs creates hand come out of times and collateralized futures contracts they trade with other banks and they profit in another way on the death and misery of poor us ever spent. to do goldman sachs

dirty work ok there's another war the ongoing financial war and then once again frankly the democratic voters don't mind financial crimes because their guy obama is in office so somehow like i listen to bill maher on h.b.o. no matter what finance a crime is committed he repairs the same stupidity that comes out of white house about how the bailouts are profitable how the auto companies are doing fantastically well and so these liberal so-called just because they have their guy in office they don't seem better still to finance a crime is what is it just financial illiteracy that huffington post side of the aisle i don't think so and i think it is certainly all parts of the political spectrum thomas frank wrote a book a few years ago called what's the matter with kansas and the basic point of his book was why do voters get snookered by political parties into voting against their own interests but the situation has changed now

a few years later and what we're seeing is something a lot worse than that what we're seeing is now a comprehensive failure of leadership and not just in politics which is the most visible kind of leadership but comprehensively through american life and to some extent western life you know a failure of leadership in politics business in the media you know in the clergy. in education at every level and that makes for a very. nervous society all right james howard kunstler we're out of time thanks so much for being on the kaiser report quite welcome mats always a pleasure all right that's going to do it for this edition of the kaiser report with me max kaiser and stacy herbert one thing my guest james howard kunstler you can find howard kunstler at consular dot com if you like to send me an e-mail please do so at kaiser reported r t t v dot r u r e can follow me on twitter until next time x. guys are saying bio. the

u.n. general assembly prepares to vote on an arab resolution putting blame for violence in syria solely on the government made fears the country might soon plunge into sectarian chaos. the first wave of downgrades sweeps across the struggling euro zone a six nations get their debt rating scott all this while greece faces further bellowing hurdles from the e.u. despite its latest harsh austerity plan. and russian military predicts the west might decide on a military strike against iran before summer as clouds gather over tehran following

its crowds gather i should say over tehran following israel's accusations that the islamic state was behind monday's the times on diplomatic personnel. from our headquarters in central moscow you're watching archie with me and he said now a four pm here in the russian capital two pm in damascus and the u.n. general assembly could soon vote on a new draft resolution on syria which is believed would put all the blame for the violence on the country's government saudi arabia and qatar drew up the tax in a fresh bits of pressure at the syrian president the move follows the recent double veto of virtually the same document by russia and china at the u.n. security council which is an associate churkin law is following developments in new york. this meeting has definitely lasted the entire day we've been hearing speeches

from dozens of countries that started early in the morning and of course this comes only a week after a double veto from russia and china blocked in the arab and western backed resolution on syria at the security council so what we saw as an attempt from the saudi arabia and qatar to go to another body of the united nations an attempt to find some kind of decision there even though the general assembly does consist of over one hundred ninety members we have to keep in mind that it's not nearly as powerful as the security council because whatever decision comes out of the general assembly is by no means binding it's only seen as a recommendation by the rest of the international community and what's key here is that the text of this suppose address aleutian that the general assembly will be voting on voted on has not even been circulated yet we're hearing about it's going to be pretty much the same document that russia and china vetoed and russia's and china's problem with the text was that it seemed biased to the countries saying that it only named to the syrian government as the main cause of the conflicts

going on on the ground in syria but not the armed groups and that's something that continues to be a major sticking point the recognition of two sides to this conflict by the international community because the effort to end violence should come with negotiation attempts involving all syrian forces including the government and the opposition in order to start the talks the countries that have an influence over the opposition groups who until now have been unwilling to commit should exert their power. we've been hearing all of these countries make speeches today see it saying that the syrian government is committing atrocities so really this is another opportunity for those who do support regime change on the ground to send out criticism towards the syrian government many experts are saying really that the fact that of this symbolic diplomatic gesture is being attempted at the united nations doesn't really mean much because any sort of document is not going to help stop the crisis on the ground unless it pushes for a cease fire so many are saying that should be

a priority prioritized at the general assembly these days and not just you know a lot of words of criticism. well syria's opposition say the rebellious city of homs has come under some of its heaviest shelling get from government forces rebels claim around four hundred people have been killed in several days of an intensified assault by the syrian authorities blame violence on armed terrorists operating in the city and with al-qaeda now adding to the increased turmoil in the country there are fears syria could soon plunge into sectarian chaos as tara furth now reports. the predominantly christian town of million in the syrian mountains it's even here in this. place and the signs of the rising conflict that is tearing apart much of the country right now creeping in and the sense of hangs heavy. to this area much as they no longer feel safe we speak to the nuns at the monastery

they tell us about the town's preservation of the ancient language and like their cherished tongue they hate the fine balance of religious groups in the country can be kept even in these difficult times we have been living here with all people regardless of their religion in peace for a long time. back in the center and damascus is known as a melting pot of religions allawi sector a minority in the country but despite making up around just twelve percent of the taito population heloise have occupied elite positions in the government and the military for decades and now there are fears that resentments among the majority muslim sunni sex could or ups the country that until this crisis breakout was religiously diverse the tolerance now the calm increasingly polarized genuine fears about just where those divisions my lead here's

a sectarian tensions being further exploited have been staked by the emergence of an al qaeda video calling for holy war overthrow the assad regime violence is just not going to end we see it happening and iraq neighboring iraq sectarian violence that is catastrophic and nobody is reporting on that the reporting on syria and they're not focusing on the potential problems that syria could lead into another iraq on the streets through an increasingly desperate population has called for help in whatever form it comes as long as it stops the violence there's little time for them to think about long term sick carrying risks was many of them are worrying about daily survival anyone or. we are ready to hear to say yes to anyone over there so for the sort of. yes everyone in syria right now the split still largely remains along political lines but there's concern that as this increasingly bloody conflict continues it could turn into

a sectarian one as well south r.t. damascus syria. well staying in the middle east police in bahrain have fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters trying to occupy a landmark square in the nation's capital and happened on the eve of the one year anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising in the gulf kingdom on monday hundreds of protesters marched through to mark the route that was crushed by security forces let's talk more about this mideast expert to recoat lee who joins us now live via broadband from london thank you for being with us but raise opposition accused police of brutal tactics in suppressing protests that flared up last february and you know we hear no words of condemnation from countries that so they have at least support uprisings in syria and libya not to mention almost no media coverage of it why is that. well the reason for that is very simple most of the western media and of those who provide it with instructions on

a daily and weekly basis live by double standards so those countries which are regarded as as the west or stooges of the west basically not to criticize regularly very rarely do we have coverage it's not just the gulf states and bahrain in particular it is also countries like yemen who was brutal dictatorial present to present former president is currently in the united states receiving medical treatment and no reporting is taking place from the yemen there were demonstrations in saudi arabia a few days ago which got very little coverage so this is normal we have come to expect it at saudi arabia has also helped the ruling family in bahrain to stop the violence in the country now saudi arabia is actively backing rebels fighting against the syrian regime what is the sign yes and here there is no independence so . maybe slightly or numbers but not too much a century they are

a surrogate for the united states in the region be always have been and they remain so and both are now competing with each other as to who can satisfy the west more given the collapse of biotech in egypt and the saudis into being their intervention in bahrain was greenlighted by the united states which is very strong in there. and they crushed the uprising and they were brutality until brutalities which are dealt with in a different way and now we have a situation where the chief advisor to the bahraini police is the former chief of police in philadelphia and in florida. recording those two parts of the united states wasn't very good he's not giving them advice on how to crush and brutalized the demonstrators and he says they're doing it largely because

these demonstrators create cressy problems the problem in both the radius of a traffic problem it is a problem that seventy to eighty percent of the population feels it has no representation whatsoever and yet nothing happens on this front after all right and also it's saudi arabia and qatar that are putting forward that resolution at the u.n. general assembly today but let's leave that aside and talk more about saudi arabia itself of course you mentioning that's having a very poor human rights record and it's clearly not a democracy so what kind of moral authority does it have to tell other middle eastern governments to step down it has no moral authority at all it has financial or corage in the sense that it sits on large quantities of oil on which the west is dependent and the west prefers the saudi regime which is client implied bull and that means there is. a corrupt family that has tribal with the

country no for a long long time and which will not move i'm less than some other people from below of course the saudis have no democracy at all it is probably the most undemocratic a concrete in the entire arab world. and yet it's accepted much much more than democratic even libya was no one talks about this because it's so useful concrete it has or has and it does look the west starts to do not imagine that what the so these and that freeze of doing is off their own accord they are century talking behind the scenes regularly with the united states and probably some of the countries and who knows even israel because the big attempt to try and isolate iran and of victims. destroy a major me major power in the region that is what is being discussed behind the scene syria is far and parcel of. why do you think we hear more about the double

standards from critics from experts as you like it anyone we hear so little about the double standards in terms of the us backing the opposition in countries like syria libya egypt but then supporting the government when it comes to bahrain and saudi arabia well i think that essentially what is what has been going on is there since the end of the cold war and the collapse of the soviet union and that whole world the western media has become a central pillar of government policies and if you look at pentagon documents and papers they say that when we fight a war the media and control of the media is an extremely important element which is why you see the zero which for a long time was pretty independent and not affected by government propaganda it's now become a government propaganda station where three and so being so concerned they backed

the libyan war they effectively reject the government line there's very little criticism of what their own government is doing and in that they've become the replica of c.n.n. and b.b.c. world which are propaganda outfits and that's how they should be treated i don't think anyone in the western world now doubts this the coverage of the b.b.c. for instance on these wars is effectively government propaganda a little more. of a character limit is expert joining us live from london thank you very much for your analysis this hour. we are closely watching tensions in the region and you can find more expert analysis on what's happening in the middle east north africa on our website dot com. but the debt ridden e.u. has suffered another blow from ratings agencies moody's has downgraded the debt ratings of six e.u. states including vulnerable portugal italy and spain it comes as the walk struggles

to prevent greece from default by offering ballot outs in return for more austerity but are just jacob greaves reports now more and more greeks feel the measures will only make things worse. system under siege m.p.'s drowned out the pleas of tens of thousands of demonstrators amassed within a short passing another round of unpopular cuts. the results proved incendiary. uganda protests turned violent as protesters including fringe anarchists clashed with police again leaving their mark on athens. a day on this is the remnants of public anger but glass isn't the only thing that's been broken as the government's past increasingly unpopular austerity cuts before we left asking who can they trust serve their interests to measures that are very very tough part of the poor people especially and this is the reason that we feel. today

i think more measures have been taken and they're not going to work in the end they'll be another bill. and. our i hope for the best but i don't see it coming. under pressure from brussels berlin and the international monetary fund the greek government has cut more jobs slash funding for the nation's pensions a minimum wage but current policy appears to mainly expose those most vulnerable to crisis conditions is a mindset some feel is doomed to fail they already have destroyed the whole generation of young people and their dreams destroyed. the sabian infrastructure of the whole country we know that it is impossible to read a piece there that we have now signs that the disease lauro do. we cannot continue like that because the policy that the government is following actually

increases the day yeah instead of finding the solution at the heart of activists claims is their search and that they've known as their. the for the best part of five years now and the time taxes have risen incomes have fall and but the country's deficit only seems to grow and in this austerity cycle is something sought by an increasing number despite the turmoil the gov wars will follow but what these are our political system is that wake up to exactly even more. people. are going to come the only way out for this point is the default default is good to be good for us but there's going to be a better solution of this slow death from now relative calm has returned to the streets of athens smashed buildings have been patched up signs of damage swept away by the simmering discontent hasn't been

a mass force medicine appears to bring nothing but pain many are continuing their call for target of treatment agrees r.t. athens now despite greece passing as harsh as austerity package yet there's no guarantee it will get more bailout cash there are still conditions happens need to fill including making written assurances that they agreed measures will be implemented but international consultant and author adrian tell bootie says the country is locked in a vicious circle are bankers that stupid that they always make the mistake of lending too much money and are governments that stupid that they take loans much more than they can pay back or insist is this part of a model where like shylock's. pay you ability of the sovereign debt is literally used to control the entire country and it's so sad to see the same sickening scene time and again since taking to the street.