i would call a john brown moment and john brown for those of you who might have a fragmentary memory of american history was that fellow who in the late eight hundred fifty s. mounted 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 broome moment come for financial misbehavior that you know he's not only unseemly an ethical criminal and bad but he's really hurting this nation terribly the revolution in tunisia started with one fruit seller the 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 to contrast let's say in asia and middle east north africa the more information they got the more upset they became you know the satellite photos in tunisia of how the top one percent was living got everyone upset in the u.s. however the more information they get the more they become you know julian assange or wiki leaks giving information makes people want to just lie down and cuddle up into a fetal position and hope it all goes away isn't there again is it drugs in the water is it obesity is it too much football what's is it did evolution are americans doubt 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 devolving 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 i it personally i consider myself allergic to conspiracy theories and i don't think that there is a media conspiracy to keep the american people ignorant but they're certainly doing a terrible job of 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 if 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 and 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 than malice and in the case of the news media a-k. don't buy into the conspiracy theories that are out there however a cording 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. but 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 have 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 a cartel. but of civil liberties in the u.s.

and this peak resource the peak oil peak water etc well there certainly is 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 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 novice 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 en sort of speak how what's not 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 kind of 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 and of course when they go to these wars they often lose their hands and then goldman sachs. rates 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 u.s. servicemen sent to do goldman sachs dirty work ok then 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 the white house about how the bailouts are profitable how the auto companies are doing fantastically well and so these liberal so call 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 on 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 as 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 our time my guest james howard kunstler you can find howard. dot com if you like to send me an email please do so at kaiser

reported r t t v are you or you can follow me on twitter until next time x. guys are saying bio.

the u.n. general assembly prepares to vote on in the arab resolution putting the blame for the violence in syria solely on the government of feet amid fears the country may soon plunge into sectarian chaos. a fresh wave of downgrades sweeps across the struggling euro zone six nations get their debt ratings cut all the while greece faces further belo hurdles from the e.u. despite its latest harsh austerity plan. russian military predicts the west might decide on a military strike against iran before summer as clouds gather over to ron following israel's accusations the islamic state was behind monday's attacks on diplomatic

personnel. eight pm in moscow i matras a good to have you with us here on r t our top story syria's up or up position says the restive city of homs has come under some of its heaviest shelling yet from government forces rebels claim around four hundred people have been killed in several days of an intensified assault but syrian authorities blame violence on quote armed terrorists operating in the city with al-qaeda now adding to the increased turmoil in the country there are fears syria could soon plunge into sectarian chaos or sarah ferguson planes. the predominantly christian town of milly lies up in the syrian mountains yet even here in this hauntingly beautiful place and the signs of the polarizing conflict this tearing apart much of the country

right now a creeping in and a sense of foreboding hangs heavy locals tell us they don't travel out of this area much they no longer feel it's safe we speak to the nuns at the monastery here they tell us about the town's preservation of the ancient aramaic language and like their cherished tongue they hope 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 ethnicity in peace for a long time. back in the center and damascus is known as a melting pot of religions a sense alloa effect are 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 erupt the country that until this crisis breakout was

religiously diverse the tolerance now the calm increasingly polarized those genuine fears about just what that these divisions my laid his 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 as many of them are worrying about daily survival anyone who. we are ready to hear from 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 is concern that as this increasingly bloody conflict continues it could turn into a sectarian one as well south r.t. damascus syria. staying with the middle east police in bahrain have again fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters who are marking the one year anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising there clashes occurred as activists tried to occupy a landmark square in the capital weather of all broke out last february confrontations been building in the days leading up to the anniversary monday police also dispersed hundreds of demonstrators who marched through my nama to mark the protest that was crushed by security forces middle east expert terry kelly tells r t there is a big difference in how some of the world powers treat suppression of uprisings in the region. those countries which are regarded as as the west still stooges of the west basically. criticised regularly it's not just the gulf states

and bahrain in particular it is also countries like yemen who was brutal dictatorial present to prison former president is going to be 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 of course the south these have no democracy at all it is probably the most undemocratic concretely. much much more undemocratic even libya was no one talks about this because it's a useful country it has always believed us look the west starts to mention in bahrain was greenlighted by the united states which is very strong and that been suspended and they crushed the uprising and they were brutalities until brutalities which i dealt with in a different way and now the problem in the rate is that seventy to eighty percent

of the population feels it has no representation whatsoever and yet nothing happens on this front actual are closely following tensions in the region you can find more expert analysis on that on our web site r t v dot com. the debt ridden easy us suffered another blow from ratings agencies moody's downgraded the debt ratings of six states including vulnerable for trouble italy and spain is as a bloc struggles to prevent greece from defaulting by offering bailouts and return for more austerity but as r.t. jacob green's reports greeks increasingly feel the measures may only make things worse for. the system on the see each 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. that uganda protests turned violent as protesters including

fringe and kiss clashed with police again leaving their mark on athens. the day on this is the remnants of public anger but glass isn't the only thing that's being broken as governments past increasingly unpopular austerity cuts will be left asking who can they trust serve their interests to measures. the part of the poor people especially and this is the reason that we feel. the today i think more measures have been taken and it's not going to work in the end they'll be another bill. and oh 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 and slashed funding for the nation's pensions a minimum wage policy appears to mainly expose those most vulnerable to crisis

conditions is a mindset some feel is due to fail we already have destroyed the whole generation of young people and their dreams they will destroy. the safety and infrastructure of the whole country we know. that did these impossible to reach a peace there that we have now signs that the dizzy legal or old news we cannot continue like that because the policy that the government is following actually increases the day instead of finding a solution but the heart of activists claims is their search and they've known austerity for the best part of five years now and that time taxes have risen incomes have full 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 government warms will follow but what is a bad about our political system is that they have the right exactly the date even

more. people buy these thirty four for. the reason they are going to come the only way out at this point is the default default is going to be very tough for us but this is going to be a better solution than the sort of slow death for now relative calm has returned to the streets of athens smashed buildings have been patched up the signs of damage swept away but the simmering discontent hasn't been and was forced medicine appears to bring nothing but pain many are continuing their call for terms of treatment agrees athens for more on the story i'm joined by writer and consultant george kenney from washington so it's expected that the second bailout for greece would be released after the meeting of eurozone finance ministers wednesday now the european commission says it won't guarantee why do you think there is so much uncertainty with this second cash injection. well the european leaders want to really increase

the pressure on greek politicians to follow through on their promises and the european leaders want to pay off their own creditors before letting the greeks spend money on themselves but the but the problem really goes beyond this particular set of negotiations what the europeans are demanding of greece is something that northern european countries would never accept for themselves they provide the social benefits and all kinds of programs that allow them to live the normal happy lives and they're trying to deny the greeks all that knowing that the greeks in the long run are not going to be able to pay back these debts so you have to step back a little bit and ask the question why are the european leaders trying to do this to greece. why do you think that is. well to be philosophical about it i don't think that this is simply a business transaction or some kind of

a matter about money that could be adjudicated in a court i think the problem is deeper the europeans have created a currency and they're demanding that everybody in the eurozone accept the legitimacy of that currency and the people in control of it are the only authorities that can say what people do with the currency but the currency has structured is very weak and has a lot of internal contradictions in the greeks are really not to blame in my view for their problems as much as it is the people who created the euro so when the when the european leaders are. punishing the greeks it's not so much because of greek debt it's because they're trying to make an example out of greece for having challenged albeit not intentionally having challenge the authority of the of the eurozone. there's a lot of skepticism about the greek deal coming from e.u. politicians germany's finance minister said the e.u. has better prepared now for the greek default than it was two years ago do you think there is

a whole scenario already on the table in brussels should it come to that. well i think that the germans and others are kidding themselves i noticed that i was very interested in this because her view is very similar to mine the economics editor at b.b.c. was saying well the greeks actually have a lot of leverage here and i agree i think the greek government has much more leverage than they realize because the fact is that if greece leaves the euro zone and it wouldn't be that catastrophic by the way people say the greeks would suffer tremendously but argentina did not suffer when it defaulted in any case going beyond that. if the greeks were to leave the euro zone then the next weakest country in the euro zone would have the same kind of crisis immediately if the problem is with the eurozone you can't have within the eurozone the largest economy running internal balance of payment surplus then all the small countries suffer actually ironically the best reporting on this and the best analysis has come from the u.k. newspaper the financial times but it's very clear what's going on the germans

cannot keep running current account surplus this at the expense of the greeks and in the long run it's going to be the germans versus the portuguese or the germans versus the italians but those imbalances have to be corrected and it is not going to be corrected by punishing greece or not punishing greece and it really has to do with the internal structures of the eurozone and finally briefly because we're running out of time the finance minister of luxembourg said greece will have to leave the eurozone if it fails to meet its obligations greece though is hardly alone in these problems we have news just today from portugal's a double write up or a session do you think this is another sign of that north south divide in europe. oh absolutely and the italians are in line too and it's not only the budget deficit it's the fact that there is this huge market in sovereign debt and you have traders speculators driven a lot of derivatives out there nobody really knows it's a very opaque murky thing so let's say that we do kill off greece and they exit the

euro zone well then all those market shenanigans go to work again on whoever happens to appear weakest and so this will go on and on and on and the europeans have a choice do they make the eurozone a more proper fiscal union where there are actual transfers from the wealthier to the less wealthy states where there's a central bank that is able and willing to to back up euro denominated bonds issued by various nations will it act like a real union or will it fragment and there's really no alternative even though everybody seems to think that they can muddle on indefinitely all right writer and consultant george kenny thanks for your insight. thank you. later today we'll bring you a unique take on europe's debt crisis and the kaiser report here's a preview. here's some images from athens is that from two thousand and nine two thousand and ten two thousand and eleven or two thousand and twelve can you tell the tear gas by any other year is still

a sweet greeks approved tombstone austerity deal with troika so we see over and over there's a great deal there is not a great deal there's a great deal there's not a great deal you. on again off again there is a deal now there were german were crazy were trying to milk you dry and steal the elegant marbles but the u.k. already stole them. china meanwhile has promised to help resolve the eurozone debt crisis but it's made no specific promise to invest in the european bailout fund meanwhile chinese vice president xi jinping is in the u.s. to meet with top officials there in an effort to smooth out their differences r.t.s. trade policy consultant david dodd well what he thought those differences work. an emerging power emerging economy that's emerging much quicker than people expected.

and. frustrations that. among those that have much greater power and seeing that diminished through the recession. feeling stressed to the right is the rapid rise of china those three main focus of the. stress points is the simple fact that china is emerging as quickly as it is but this rise comes in the middle of the various recession that we've seen in seventy years. that has has led to a real schizophrenia where the trying to should be regarded as a rival usurping power that used to be sitting elsewhere or whether it's an indispensable ally that can help to bail lots of struggling companies out of countries out as international pressure on iran is mounting russia's militaries assess the probability of a western strike against the islamic republic is being high concerns of pending military action grew after israel blamed to iran for two bomb attacks on its

millett its diplomatic staff monday and today's blasts in bangkok peter all over has been following developments. the chief of staff of the russian armed forces said on tuesday that he thinks a plan for a western attack on iran could be in place by the summer of this year and he's basing that statement on the fact that since the arab spring started a year ago russia has been monitoring the area of the wider middle east very closely enough to looking at the findings from that monitoring this is what he's come up with now this comes just a day after two israeli diplomats were targeted with car bombs in the capitals of georgia and india now the bomb in georgia was able to be defused however in india that car bomb exploded very very close to the residence of the prime minister of india and injured several people now israel was very very quick to point the finger of blame for those attacks at teheran despite terror experts.