there were almost guaranteed to be missiles falling on israel and considering iran for one of the twentieth century's longest wars against iraq in the one nine hundred eighty s. the consequences could be far reaching and destructive. israel has been suffering some bad weather is of late but it's unlikely that even the strongest winds will blow the country's foreign policy off its course and when it comes to israel's forecast for iran the storm clouds seem to be growing ever darker in tel aviv it even goes r.t. iran has warned it may cut oil supplies to six more european countries after it stopped selling crude to the u.k. and france on sunday teheran is aiming to preempt an e.u. embargo that's set to come into force in july let's find out what impact that's having on the markets from our business desk. but we have been seeing a spike in oil prices over the past couple of sessions as tensions were rising between those two sides what we're seeing right now is one hundred twenty. of the

one hundred five dollars per barrel and that's a nine month high but i tell business seeing that we're not expecting to see even higher oil prices as the rain in fact has been pretty much priced in already france and the u.k. are not so much dependent on iranian oil and saudi arabia has already claimed it will be able to compensate for all the oil that iran could potentially fail to supply will have more of this in around six minutes time for you in our business. law to make a portent pledge to make national security his key strategy saying russia must be battle ready against any outside threat but strong message comes as part of the prime minister's campaign for the presidential election just under two weeks away sarah firth has the details. the priorities that it lays out clear weapons and missile defense intelligence had an upgrade as well as the navy the air force

and the army now this case will enable holes was sent to cost hundreds of billions of dollars and we know there has been some consensus on russian lawmakers over the amount of money that it will take to modernize the onset this is a bit the prime minister stressing in the article that it's not trying to appear weak the article mentions that this is in some ways a response to the rise of local and regional conflicts some of which it says you know castrated on russia's buddhist that it also touches on the p.c. threat of the nato missile defense shield in europe now some of this modernization has actually already gotten underway some of the bowstring of the missiles we know that ever she's deployed the newly developed listing missile the pull of that's designed to carry nuclear warheads and russia says that that can break through any missile defense shield never she is also going to be still the deal to buy at the

midst of all these the helicopter carrying warships and it's still that deal with france and interesting time politically in the country here we've had protests counter-protests why it's political debate i really was being seen as an awakening amongst the population politically. and as we said in the bill that says that the process that has been planned in some ways a kind of a seen as being a little slow of the market was holding to the new demands of the population and potentially these articles that can be seen in some ways as a response to that certainly is the prime minister laying out what he says the speech of the country in the next decade will say. you can rain floods even to putin's article in full on our website r t dot com while you're there check out some other news we've lined up for you. slipping into the final schizm us presidential candidate ron paul mourns america is on a dangerous path with its broken government ruled by corporate giants. and high

tax john cannons on unguarded brush and the country is planning to buy the state of the art of weapons to fight underwater terrorists all the details at r.t. dot com. now to some other news stories from around the world south korea has held live fire military drills on islands near its disputed maritime border with the north despite the threats of retaliation from pyongyang the country does not appear to have reacted so far in two thousand and ten north korea responded to similar drills from its neighbor with an artillery attack that killed four people and raised fears of a wider conflict the tension comes two months after the death of north korean leader kim jong il. riots in senegal have intensified days before the country's crucial presidential vote demonstrators cars

ablaze and painted roads as police fired back with tear gas and rubber bullets at least six people have died in the violence since the unrest started last month protesters demand president of the law while de withdrawals his bid for a third term in office as it contradicts the constitution he says the decision should not apply to him as the term limits placed while he was in office. came goal pastor and former east german human rights activist a looks a shoo in to be germany's next president he has the backing of chancellor angela merkel and all political parties as a replacement for christian wall who was forced to quit last week over corruption allegations markel had up polls to go to bed for the presidency in two thousand and ten in favor of wall. street it's big business is next with dimitri.

and welcome to the program oil prices have jumped to the highest levels in nine months that solved iran halted crude exports to the u.k. and france on sunday the move follows the european union's decision to stop buying uranium oil starting in july the west hopes to persuade iran to curb its nuclear program now brant is trading at almost one hundred twenty one dollars per barrel have the gains for the w i also which is currently trading at just under one hundred five now experts don't expect crude prices to climb much high as they say risks for the most part have already been priced in despite a surge and prices analysts say iran's decision is more of a symbolic act even servility rather than coffee from north capital expects the issue to keep prices high for months to come. particular story has been taking a lot longer than one should expect and i expect it can last for another several months during which the oil will be

a normally high. but i am pretty sure that as soon as this will be the result one way or another the oil will normalize what is the normal price of oil definitely for w. . one hundred dollars per barrel because otherwise the price for. a regular on their it will be more than four dollars a gallon which is kind of disasters in the year of the presidential campaign whatever is higher than that i consider is a normal level but we can definitely experience that in the months to come. meanwhile iran is turning to barter itself as gold and oil in return for food economic sanctions by the united states and europe make it difficult for iran to pay for imports in years and dollars iranian traders are in talks with russia are using rubles to pay for grain over the past two weeks to run more than one million

tons of grain from russia not a significant increase from last year. some of the markets u.s. markets are closed for president's day meanwhile europe is because of the french finance minister saying all elements are now in place for greece to get its next bailout alone and the footsies are point seven percent of blacks one point three percent here take a look at what's going on in russia now this is the closing picture of the r.t.s. up more than one percent of my six point seven percent this was mainly driven by energy measures and financial stocks gazprom as you can see their point seven percent up so is burbank three quarters of a percent but the outstanding gain was a russia's biggest fear. now it's up almost. teena percent on news its parent company college will be buying the remaining twenty percent stake in both accounts with a premium to the market price the euro is seeing some gains a versus the dollar one

hopes that the european leaders would sign off on greece's second bailout package and on the news that china's montresor policies over the weekend. foreign investors are eyeing russia's regions that's according to kill you dmitri of the head of the country's investment fund speaking as an economic forum in siberia he told business artsy about the main attractions for money in russia as a response of the interest of logistics area that's very important there is quite a bit of interest in the infrastructure and those are very specific projects so for example airport infrastructure is very interesting and with careful now a trip upon which is one of the largest investors in airports worldwide we tailor investments and we invest with those investors into areas in the industries agenda stand well and therefore they can do a good analysis of the project and their value to it going forward the price of an hour the business the movie back in fifty five minutes time to bring you up like

you say with nothing. the of them is.

to do. if. soon which will brighten if you move from phones to print. these for instance on t.v. don't come. mission. critical you should free

storage free arrangement free. three stooges free. free bloggers in video for your media project and a free media dog r t v dot com. thanks for being with us it happened past the hour let's go to a quick recap of your headlines chinese state media says the u.s. and nato countries in support of syria's opposition fighters is turning the nation into an all out civil war beijing and moscow are calling for a political settlement in the country but a top chinese diplomat recently visiting damascus. london and washington warn israel against attacking iran's nuclear sites urging for time to let sanctions do

their job on a currently being visited by anyone inspectors insists it's atomic program is peaceful. and greece is creditors debate whether it will sink or swim as they decide on the next one hundred thirty billion euro bailout funds has met all demands to secure it as the population rages against the new cuts. next on our t.v. peter lavelle and his cross talk guests discuss whether the global financial crisis is slowly swallowing up the middle class. well the earth science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've got the future covered. in the. story.

below in welcome to crosstalk i'm peter lavelle 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 much the 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 once you can gauge those conversations a big deal in being on the line is an earlier sort 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 in chicago. well i mean i certainly think so too but yes the middle class has really taken a hit as joseph stiglitz nobel laureate in economics remarked

a few months ago we can no longer pretend it isn't true the upper one percent now owns forty percent of all the wealth now it 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 so 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. david it's interesting i mean with the things that are tony said in 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 middle is interesting so you. go into your list 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 the middle class neuroses technicians and engineers and the sky and of of associate proficient all those wares of the center also says we does ation of western countries in europe in the us to. know is that we have a 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 new dynamics of either class the problem is not simply technology it's a problem is that investment technology could easily investment new businesses and new will be arsed from is more and more 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 or western countries are completely since king they are first hated the face put it equal problems and difficulties and seats we are a problem for there were crises in most western and i want if you want to call i want to do with it whatever you think of it 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 and moving their factories and so on ok tony if i can go to you the most important and greatest export of 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 gauge on the side that if you intended ology 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 here tony is it just a little crash landed on not just the 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 only 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 got 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 ten times the johnsons are we not under oath with their arsenal to show off sure sure those jobs

ok let me and we're going to know when they come and 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 the effects 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 associate professionals proficient also who are away or kind of the power of the west of

western countries the problem now is we have more of them are kind of not could anybody to sit on contrary is in front of us are economic poor and technological poor and poor of china and of is to an asia our problems is that we are forgotten that is 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 recreate 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. i know. it's all designed to keep you close in your own world as a prison. you know you leave somebody in there for a couple hours like that in a stress position. 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 and metallica slayer the two songs would be angel of death and raining blood to kill the enemy going through war coming up here

into iraq coming into baghdad. johnny put the body to the floor which is the rock n roll band it was fitting for the job we were doing.

welcome back to crossfire people about to remind you we're talking about the prospects of the middle class. ok david i'd like to go to you in chicago 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 were seeing the fall of the welfare state do you think that's a mitigating factor in the fate of the middle class because 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. worse a few years when a fuse went off and. let's make sure it was 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 second of all it is that the.