range from july to september last year long after blood was spilled that despite insisting all licenses had been revoked as for yates his contract runs until april by which time he hopes to put in place concrete reforms on this evidence that seems a long way off either bennett's r.t. london. middle east expert says that the u.k. expert an american policeman has also been hired by the country's authorities to train security forces. those countries which are regarded as as the west still stooges of the west basically you know criticized regularly very rarely do we have coverage it's not just the gulf states with bahrain in particular it is also got increased like yemen was brutal former president is currently in the united states receiving medical treatment and no reporting it's taking place 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. who's recorded those two parts of the united states wasn't very good he's not giving women rights somehow to crush and brutalized to demonstrate to us and he says they're doing it with laci because these demonstrators create traffic problems the problem in bahrain is sort of 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 actually. our website our to dot com is the place where you can find all the latest news and analysis including the following. here you can read expert opinion that says that the west is struggling to keep a brave face as a perceives with its grab for dominance in the middle east also online for. russian language silenced in my view as the majority of the voters in the baltic

states reject a proposal to give official status to the language used by a third of its population. u.s. presidential contender ron paul has warned that america is slipping into a fascist a system with a broken government ruled by big business speaking to supporters in kansas city the republican candidate said individual liberties in the us were being stripped away author of shivani says ron paul is the only presidential candidate taking seriously talking seriously excuse me about the erosion of america's civil liberties. right par is the only candidate on the republican side who was talking about this the loss of civil liberties or civil libertarian really on that side and ending in legal rights making the connection between imperialism and the loss of rights at home so i think he was very much on to something and he's the only one you know in

the republican presidential contest talking about that i think perhaps he may have a clearer idea than even the occupy wall street people where he is maybe no more hard core civil liberties i think that i'm very normal perhaps they're more concerned about economic inequality but actually if you look at these things are completely connected and you know when he talks about fascism and talk about it is do look at it as an extreme form of class warfare and you know corporations working with governments you know and the basis for i was talking about was being made throughout the ninety's you know the way on drugs which drug policy talked about a lot much work into the water tear which were talked into the wrong immigrants the rich merchant to the restaurant poor people which is what we've been seeing in the rust figure so yes they do have some of the occupy wall street movement but i think there has yet to be someone making these very clear connections between well right

economic injustice grows with the source of terrorism tactics on the part of the state which is right run cars parked cars crashes and really is a terrible state is what he's talking about. and now some of today's news making headlines around the globe this hour. at least twenty people have been killed in baghdad after an a bomb exploded striking a crowd of recruits outside a police academy no group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast which also saw at least twenty eight others wounded iraq's police are considered to be the weakest element of the country's security forces which are the target of bombings and shootings almost every. day prison riot in northern mexico has left at least forty four people dead the unrest started in the city of up a dhaka when a group of cell mates took one of the guards hostage the riot then spread to a second block deadly unrest in mexican prisons is common with gangs often

attempting joe breaks some thirty one inmates died in january in a riot in the gulf coast city of all tomorrow. moscow's opposition protesters have taken their calls for fair elections to the capital central highways as well hundreds of motorists brandished banners as well as decorating their cars with white ribbons and balloons of the color of the movement the country saw several mass rallies after last december's parliamentary elections which protesters claim were rigged or two you could piece can off has been following the rally. here we are again on the gordon ring one of the main transport audrie's of moscow which was also recently become a stage for demonstration of support schools of course decorated with colors found on the sun a good deal ribbons. banners which are muslims white it means the score is taken forward in a drive around the garden ring and across the city center in support of fear

elections a similar draw it was organized only jane resembled thousands of cars gathered for that several thousand supporters of prime minister and presidential candidate why do important to court in their drive around the corner and ring on saturday but it's fair to say that this jump in public activity really started following the parliamentary election early in december and since then we've been seeing various rallies marches android's taking place across the entire country including rallies which have been gathering tens of thousands of people so the biggest ones which russia has seen since the early ninety's really and with the presidential election now just around the corner is set to take place on march the fourth it's expected that this activity is only going to increase. in just two weeks russia will be electing a new president and candidates are putting all their efforts into winning voter support with heated discussion controversial t.v.

advertisements and posters contenders are trying to attract every section of the electorate as artie's very pushkov now reports. we watched this is the video that's called the most uproar so far in the presidential campaigns underway in russia in it one of the candidates version of famously his showmanship and occasional fist fights with fellow parliamentarians claims mcgann other times when russia's symbol was a traditional troika with three day horses and jingle bells these little mantra donkey has become a symbol of our country the whole country has come to a standstill like the sentiments with less than a month to go the five candidates have plastered the streets with election posters and desolate views with t.v. promos heated discussions on television radio and the internet have become part of everyday life. i don't course in the race billionaire businessman mikhail prokhorov promises their arrival of a new russia with a new president known for his height riches and playboy past he's the only new face

on russia's political scene formally editorials party animal his reputation was once dented by an international sex scandal which has come back to haunt him on the web revegetate how you're with all our body and soul as for the elections will win them anyway you can buy anything so you can buy your victory to the remaining candidates are familiar crowd to the voters the unchanging leader of the communist party good night is a gun of presents a fresh image with a campaign featuring a mix of faces from the past as well as the present while his rival from the just russia party still game it on the it's trying to attract the older generation the only clear favorite in the race prime minister vladimir putin has refrained from getting involved in the campaign directly he has controversially refused to take part in any t.v. debates sending his representatives instead and his promos never show his face.

on this three politics there are only talk either big meeting. either prop or tin or against porter so if you when he doesn't go to television when he's part of st politics when he's a part of the television coverage of his job as prime minister he is there is the only one let's say the only kind that with so many resources so much media attention i think that he wants to show that he's the only real candidate precisely by not going there and according to the latest opinion polls the level of support keeps on growing across the country despite the wave of opposition protests i think that brought us tend to mobilize his core electorate because when. people like right wing politic politician brought her up are saying that you know the social benefits from the cut that factories that are inefficient because that stage

would not interfere so much i think that the message that people get across russia is that like we should keep election day may only be around the corner but this still plenty of time for the other four would be presidents to try and chip away at putin's current lead and while some voters rely on traditional t.v. campaigning others are turning to the internet for some comic relief. and then call himself believe john paul bonhomme of supposedly educate my current hookah has recently become an online sensation with a song praising the virtues of the prime minister all the v.p. by putin's initials. by gallup. and while the jury's out on whether it's propaganda or clever hoax aimed at discrediting putin the electoral campaign rolls on with more surprises likely

along the way kerry pushed over party. i'll be back with a recap of the week's top stories in just a few moments stay with r.t. .

and with the top news in headlines from the past week and today this is going to be glad to have you with us let's get to those headlines right now. iran stops oil sales to british and french companies to head off a new sanctions aimed at curbing tehran's atomic program that saudi arabia has stepped in it by saying it is prepared to supply the block with extra while it needed. the u.n. general assembly your vote to condemn of the assad regime or for the violence

against syria while russia and china continue their efforts to broker peace through negotiations this comes reports amid. words of escalating violence in the country while damascus promises reforms. and the greek prime minister flies to brussels for a last minute tongs to secure a vital one hundred thirty billion euro bailout for his country thousands have taken to the streets of athens to express their anger over fresh austerity measures . coming up join peter lavelle and his guests for cross talk backs right here on r.t. . well her science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've got the future covered. you can.

blow in welcome to cross talk and people about the trials and tribulations of the middle class long considered the pillar of the west political and economic border it is now the victim of a long term downward mobility why is this the case our government policy is to blame or is this due to what is called the politics of dependency. and if you. could cross talk to decline of the middle class i'm joined by louis shoval in new york he is a sociologist professor at and invited professor at columbia university in chicago we have david psychotic he is a professor of philosophy at loyola university chicago and in los angeles we go to tony katz he's a tea party organizer and a radio talk show host all right gentlemen cross talk rose and if i mean you can

jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it tony in los angeles you got up early as for this program so i'm going to go to you first why why has the middle class been suffering so much over the decades is it government policies that have done this to the middle class or is the middle class itself it's changed its values its structure and this is just the way of capitalism it's just a way it works that's there's been a myth about the middle class for a century and it's just something that's changing. first of all it's good to be here and let's not engage a conversation where we're blaming capitalism capitalism is not the problem capitalism is what allows people to thrive and survive and grow and allows for opportunities i'm never going to allow anybody here anywhere else to have an attack on the open markets and free markets and that's just that's just for hardy nonsense but i think there are interesting conversations as to what are the forces at play and that are making making a living difficult right now how do you change those forces those are conversations about taxation those are conversations about what it is that

a society needs to offer what it is that government is supposed to do for us as opposed to do to us those are the real conversations i don't even think that they're political i don't even think they're right left or or or anything like that they're about what are the constraints of government what are good tax policies government policies that allow people to thrive and survive i think that one should gauge those conversations but do you mean what is the less of a living nonetheless i think we would all agree on this program in our view my viewers too is the middle class has taken a real clobbering over the last thirty years and particularly since the advent of the financial crisis in two thousand a david if i can go to you the fate of the middle class i mean it just gets worse and worse and worse and i will part company with tony i think it has something to do with capitalism i think it is an important conversation david go ahead and chicago well i mean i certainly think so too but yes the middle class has really taken a hit as joseph stiglitz a nobel laureate in economics remarked

a few months ago we can no longer pretend it isn't true the upper one percent now loans forty percent of all the wealth now takes home twenty five percent of all the income the average income the median income in the united states household income is fifty thousand dollars right. there four hundred billionaires in the united states if you get a five percent return on your on your billion you know you get fifty million a year doing nothing. you know a million times more thousand has more. but the root cause of this i think really does go back it's not something that's just come about because of the financial crisis it really goes back to the mid seventy's a striking thing when you look at the data is that household incomes have been rising steadily through till about one nine hundred seventy five and they have flat lined since for the middle class this would seem to create a problem because if people aren't making more money you know yet more and more

stuff is being produced how come the economy hasn't been in crisis since then and i think we know the answer the answer is people have been borrowing the money in effect the wealthy capital is classes instead of raising wages regularly let's say you can buy our products will loan you the money so you've got this massive debt that finally exploded finally gave us the melt down but even then what i think the root cause goes back to something earlier than that the new technologies that were coming online that made it possible to offshore production to set up factories abroad so that you do get around the globe global wage competition which is you know. david it's interesting i mean with the things that what tony said and what you've just said and i'd like to go to lean right now in new york it should we even speak in terms of terms of the middle class anymore i mean because of the

technological changes and because of the way the economy is involved in this the financial ization of the economy is a very good point to the credit. crunch that that was just mentioned here i mean it has the middle we should be keep using this term should we be using a different term because middle these people are not in the middle anymore they're in the single digits at one end. yes the men lose their lives you know you. go into the you are the worst there had been going to new york first yes yes in fact it's very clear that fifty fifty years ago the western countries where the civilization of middle class middle class nurses technicians engineers and the sky and of of associate professionals where as a center also says we does ation of western countries in europe in the us to. know is that we have to shrinking middle class and the kind of explosion of middle

class in two parts a well meter closet is sinking and on the middle class of professionals increasing in incomes in impact in political command of society and we are not we are no more able to to to to to to create the new dynamics of middle class the problem is not simply technology it's a problem is that investment technology called these investment new businesses and you knew he had stuff from is more in the market in china in india in buzz euna and inertia are this in less in the western countries and zoo loo where we don't class a western country is a completely sin king they are first hated they face political problems and difficulties and seats we are a problem for they were crises in most ways to go i want to see what i want to do with them while you examine in the second half of the problem david you look a little perplexed if you want to jump in there yeah well there's two things first

of all the middle class is dissolving but it's not that fifty percent are going down and fifty percent are going up no it's about eighty to ninety percent you know are seeing their incomes stagnate or go down in the upper twenty ten and above all the upper one or two percent you know are doing well but the other thing there is this political dimension of the. it's not just technology there was also the polish move to advocate to push for free trade to dismantle any kind of protectionism so that our workers had to compete with workers everywhere else in the world this was a political decision that was unable to buy the new technologies that now made it profitable for companies here to do all this outsourcing of moving their factories and so on ok tony if i can go to you the most important and greatest export of the united states is jobs apparently and that's destroying the middle class whose fault is that ok is it just technology you know you know snooze you lose or is it on more

people with capital saying it sees will can make easier money in the bric countries for example is it a political decision. again we will not be attacking capitalism or the open market around but if we can being gaijin the side that if you intended ology god god god god forbid we should have the automobile we could just go back to the horse and buggy wouldn't we be all better off it's like dan rather saying that there should be protections in the us house of representatives amongst the federal government i should say for newspapers because newspapers somehow need our protection technology is a good thing advances are a good thing sometimes things fall by the wayside new things you hear tony is that there's a middle class family on not just a middle class man if you for a moment because rich people benefit from these you know they do but just the middle class the conversation about jobs in america for example isn't so much a conversation about technology take a look at fracking technology take

a look at what we can do to get the natural gas right from underneath our feet but we don't seem to do it it's a conversation about regulation in america that keeps things from growing and thriving and prospering so there's a we're going to talk about. the benefit of all of us if we don't take it david jump in your hands on the technology go ahead david yeah i mean tony mentioned the automobile now that was an interesting technology but what was peculiar about the automobile technology is that it was a technology that generated far more jobs than it replaced ok yes the horse and buggy industry took a hit but you automobile factories you got gas stations you got auto parts the new technologies that was an historical accident the new technologies may be wonderful but they do not magically generate anything like the number of jobs that they are every placed and in fact the newest technologies the big high is the. hospital to shut off sure sure those jobs ok let me and we're going to you know what i

command the new york i want to go back to new york chance please you know we have to have a fair time here and we did you see you see. what we call the middle class in the west recovering i mean what's going to take for the west for the middle class to regain what it's lost over the last three or four decades. in trying to he gains indeed status first through question is. of work it's a problem in many countries notably in though your bill western europe and countries of two strong welfare states is that so work the basics of work is disappearing but it's not simply that it's also investment in new businesses investment in and here universities and formations the development of a new intermediate professional class such as does it is that has been disappearing over the last thirty years so the problem is that fifty years ago all associates proficient old professionals who are away or kind of in the power of the west of

western countries the problem now is we have more of them are kind of not could only but to so on contrary is in front of the economic poor and technological poor and poor of china and of is to own asia our problems is that we are forgotten that is an investment and the problem with investment is that it's not simply capitalism or big governments that are able to to to to do everything so polemic over the last thirty years is that both the big governments and both capitalism have forgotten a lot of science and technologies that we need in order to he create a middle class if it is ation that is disappearing quite a know all right interesting point gentlemen we're going to go to a short break and after that meet our break we'll continue our discussion and downward mobility of the middle class stay with r.t. . if you.

still. want to. oh i see. it's all designed to keep you closed in your own small world as a prison. you know you leave somebody in there for a couple hours like that in a stress positions. you have this fear of the unknown in this stress sort of building and. i've seen interrogations go on ten twelve hours they chose songs i remember from marilyn manson. slayer the two songs would be angel of death

and raining blood to kill the enemy going to war coming up here into iraq coming into baghdad. charlie poole of the bodies hit the floor just the rock n roll bad it was fitting for the job we're doing. is he. going to be a. welcome

back to crossfire people about to remind you we're talking about the prospects of the middle class. any easier. ok david i'd like to go to you in chicago i mean we mentioned before we went to the break when he didn't say it exactly but he was talking about what people say the politics of dependency and how the state has made the middle class dependent and because of the the rise and maybe we see it we're seeing the fall of the welfare state do you think that's a mitigating factor in the fate of the middle class because no no i mean i think we had to go ahead and think so go ahead that that makes that make it makes no sense in the i don't see how anyone can blame the fact that there's people on welfare that's not what is responsible for the fact that the jobs are the number of jobs

are less and less available more and more people are losing their jobs it has nothing to do with a cultural defense dependency it has everything to do with the fact that the invisible hand of the market given a free rein will not create enough jobs in a very curious way marx is coming back marx remember predicted that when wages go up the capitalist will replace skilled workers by machines this will generate unemployment ok marx ok the reserve army. puts downward pressure times it's not ok i think i use a tiny gets worse and worse a fuse when i want to know there are a fuse went off and. sure there. are let's make sure the fact let's make sure that we're all talking about a couple things karl marx was a first rate hike communism sucks so let's never engage the idea that karl marx is someone we should look up to secular.