tell you why the partnership between the two countries might also be going up in flames. the winners are on the periphery and the government people with power and with money and the losers are that was simple it was now a new bill and congress has all the bells and the none of the whistles the truth seeker's and you want your days of the pentagon papers to wiki leaks and bradley manning the rules of the game seem to be changing so are informers losing their voice in the us. our. our our our the multi-billion euro bailout in greece may pacify the markets for the moment but it's also sent shock waves throughout the country and now it seems that greece may be faulty after all and democracy is a cash strapped country to becoming one of the euro zone's first colony can explore that issue in just a moment. good

evening it's wednesday february twenty second four pm here in washington d.c. i'm lucy catherine of it watching our team. now at least seven people were killed in afghanistan today in clashes between security forces and demonstrators protesters there were outraged over the burning of the koran at a nato military airbase and the incident to spark two days of anti western protests across the country with thousands taking to the streets both a top nato general in afghanistan and the white house apologize for the burning here's jay carney yesterday. we apologize be futile and disapprove of such conduct in the strongest possible terms. this was a deeply unfortunate incident that does not reflect the great respect our military has for the religious practices of the afghan people now as america's longest war drags on it's hard to blame the afghan people for having a difficult time seeing that great respect for their culture that carney just spoke of the koran burning was likely a mistake and a photo sharing showing marines urinating on corpse that's where the disgusting

actions of a few individuals but the bulk of the anti-american sentiment in afghanistan is inherently tighter u.s. policy their nightly secret jail support for corrupt officials and warlords well brooke militias the list goes on but how do you win the hearts and minds of a population that is in the midst of an ongoing occupation by foreign troops now most of those troops are set to go home by twenty fourteen if not earlier but that depends on the outcome of talks between the white house and the karzai government after dragging on for nearly a year those talks are now breaking down when about a journalist gareth porter broke that story and he joins me now. let's get to the crux of it what's what's really holding up the talks here and how does that relate to u.s. policy issues closely related which are clearly at the center of the sort of the crux of the talks were the failure to go toward an agreement or the night raids by u.s. special operations forces and the continued u.s.

detention and holding of afghan prisoners for one group periods of time. the president. hamid karzai has made it clear that he would continue to insist that both of those issues have to be resolved in favor of afghan sovereignty which is the issue that he's raising as a general principle on both those counts before he will agree to station u.s. troops permanently however he's really in a fix because he knows that he needs u.s. support big time he needs very large infusions of both military and economic assistance but you. also needs u.s. military protection as much as he can get and really the only thing that the united states is planning to leave there besides some airpower is the special forces so he's really in a kind of dilemma as is the united states because the one offensive truly united states still has

a mistook it once the two thousand and fourteen period is over is the special forces raids and they are so intensely unpopular in afghanistan they really generate much greater hatred and opposition to the u.s. then they pay off in terms of really killing or capturing insurgents oh i don't want human rights lawyer to have an interview. or wasn't there a huge boon to insurgent propaganda and recruitment helping them replace fighters quicker than they can be killed that is raids are so outrageous in fact and do rile the local population so much why why wouldn't the u.s. give them up well i mean the reason is that as i said that's all they have left essentially in fact it's already been the case for the last year and a half at least that really these special operations night raids are the only thing that. the generals in kabul can claim has been successful in how they really

haven't been successful but they can cite statistics which are misleading but nevertheless that's the one thing they've been able to claim that they thought would work here at home so you know this is really a serious dilemma for the united states it's not just that popular sentiment is against the united states but even the afghan troops as i point out in my story that the united states is counting on to really take up the war against the taliban they're just as opposed to no grades as the general population as as shown by a special study that was done last year by for the u.s. military with six hundred thirteen police. afghan soldiers who were asked for their opinion about u.s. troops in afghanistan and this was the single biggest issue that they cited as the cause of ultra cations serious water conditions between afghan troops and u.s. troops i mean it just seems to me that there is a contradiction in the policy if we're supposed to be fighting the taliban there

and these policies are essentially helping to radicalize the population and perhaps helping the population see more support for the taliban isn't there a blowdry effect will be and i think what this shows is that the real sources of policymaking are not objective interests or their objective situation in the country it's the bureaucratic needs and interests of the u.s. military but really drive the war in afghanistan if the u.s. military and according to internal studies that report that came out itself acknowledge that we're essentially losing the war to the taliban we're now considering though she hadn't with the taliban exciter and if that's not the overall focus of that conflict there then why continue what policy and you know flushing out these insurgents from the house that that's no longer the objective i think the answer to is that the military leadership has been very successful in sowing to the american public and i'm afraid to say the news media as well the

success narrative that general petraeus particularly initiated in two thousand and ten but which is continued since then no that can break down i mean i think it will eventually it will break down but so far they've been very successful and i think they're counting on vast to sort of carry them through so that they don't have to admit the truth essential now there's other policies that the u.s. hasn't place that sort sort of further this blowback effect on you you mentioned the jails were supposed to close down and control hand over control of the prison to the afghans now it turns out we're spending millions more making it bigger there's a whole network of secret jails but there's also sort of political support. for figures that aren't necessarily loved or respected by the afghan people whether it's in our man in kandahar or the warlords who have been accused of torture or what not to actual militia groups who don't really behave according to human rights conventions talk about well you've pinpointed particularly in the case of the

militia groups one of the things that the u.s. military leadership particular patris has counted on to sort of take up the slack when the american troops come out is in fact setting up these local militias around the country which are supposed to supplement the official police and afghan military the problem of course is that these are in many cases if not all players is essentially criminal grains who are armed and use their arms to take advantage of people to murder rape and pillage just as the police have traditionally as well so it's really not an answer to their problem at all but again it's something they can cite you know growing numbers and unfortunately they've had to admit that there are serious human rights abuses committed by these militias and that of course involves the same sort of problems that we talked about in the case of the night raids it just seems like there's a short sighted policy planning here because we're supporting the troops because

they're anti our enemy in this case the taliban and so propping up peace groups whereas the taliban has an issue because we propped up groups in our fight against the soviet soviets in the eighty is a short sighted in terms of an objective analysis but if you look at it in terms of who wins and who loses in terms of actual bureaucratic and other interests you know it's mission itself ok so just a last question i mean when we have it events like this unfortunate crocker even if it's a mistake even if it's a cultural misunderstanding what it there's a broader context here there's a reason why some people turn to the streets not just the koran and this of course reveals in a massive. dramatic way to completely blind spot good is inherent in u.s. posture and policy in afghanistan the refusal to admit that we simply are not capable of dealing with a situation where we have to interact with people with a very different culture language and religion most important role well not capable

there unfortunately seems like the drums of war are beating to yet another country ron carey they hope will have you back on the short term future to talk about that thank you so much for your insight that wasn't just ahead of journalist and historian gareth porter. well after nearly two years in custody the soldier charged with the biggest leak of classified information in u.s. history will be formally arraigned tomorrow private first class bradley manning faces a possible life sentence for his alleged leak to the web site wiki leaks but critics warn that the u.s. is trying to make an example of the young soldier in order to dissuade anyone else from leaking any sensitive information in the future and some even go as far as to say that there's a war against what the blowers right now and bradley manning is just one of its many casualties are to correspondent christine purcell reports. nearly two years in waiting much of it in solitary confinement and private first class bradley manning strive is finally set to begin.

among the twenty two charges filed against him aiding the enemy violating the espionage act and illegally transferring classified data to an unauthorized source wiki leaks. part of that was this video showing u.s. army pilots killing unarmed civilians including two bridges and points a video that had been classified by the u.s. military the government accountability project just a little raid x. said it never should have been you can't also cannot go around classifying criminal activity that is not proper classification and i haven't heard a single person claim that what the collateral murder video showed was not work or i'm a sentiment meaning seems to agree with in an online chat conversation he said he hoped his putting the information out there would prompt worldwide discussion that he wants people to see the truth a short time later bradley manning was arrested in the process becoming one of the

clearest symbols to date of a new set of standards a system that now works against those report wrongdoing and protects those doing the wrong quite often in the name of national security. the pendulum right now is still very much a post nine eleven time national hysteria and limited civil rights and liberties and that she would no right act was the justice department whistleblower in the case of the so-called american taliban john walker lindh i had advised not to interrogate him without an attorney and not to torture him and when i blew the whistle i ended up being put under criminal investigation referred to the state morrison which i'm rice and stouts a lawyer and put on the no fly list but it wasn't always this way in two thousand and two the time magazine person of the year was whistleblowers and although the government tried to have him put away for life daniel ellsberg was hailed as a hero by the public for leaking information that became known as the pentagon

papers classified documents he helped author that revealed what was actually happening in vietnam those were. what he revealed to the public what the public should have known from the government itself important knowledge important knowledge now often stifled both on and off the battlefield and the military and is sexually assaulted or abused or even raped she's supposed to go through the chain of command which will actually harm her instead of helping her outside of the military policies are also being drawn up to protect corporations the so-called whistleblower improvement act if passed would actually harm whistleblowers requiring them to report misconduct to their employer first before going to any regulatory agencies it would also remove any incentives to do so our government. the businesses are so intricately linked it's hard to tell them apart both now

working harder than ever to keep their secrets out of the public eye in washington christine for zero r.t. . right will bradley manning thomas drake john kiriakou the list of whistleblowers who have faced retaliation by the u.s. government goes on and so battle that my next guest knows about firsthand so well admins join the f.b.i. in the wake of nine eleven as a translator during her time there she reported serious acts of security breaches and cover ups for which she was retaliated against and ultimately fired now she had it's the boiling frogs post and serves as the director of the national security whistleblowers coalition a group that she has founded sabella welcome to the program now the obama administration has in fact charged by record number of people under the world war one era espionage six people but at the same time the u.s. is in the midst of multiple wars abroad we have the war on terror it is it really accurate to say that there's a war against whistleblowers at

a time when the government also has a responsibility to protect state secrets. well the war against the whistleblowers has been going on for a long however it has been steadily increasing. we thought it reached its peak during the previous administration this was the bush administration and that was when i was retaliated against the war the state secrets privilege to our class and i. gag me and i really thought this was really the worst out would ever see in this country in terms of retaliation against the government was the worst truth even journalists are however since president obama's election since the. presidency it actually has reached precedent at levels and when people and this is a statistic that. has engulfed the state secrets privilege and persecution

persecution and prosecution it was the worst you had taken our eight seat all the united states presidents who by it are we all have passed up with the previous administration even had a seawall was local or prosecute and your carping about eight years and here within the first three years or are obama administration we have had six that we know are not in some cases the. existence of grand jury hears are classified secrets or the assertion here is the so-called war against was a blowers are supposed to dissuade sort of other people from from speaking out as well but i sort of want to broaden the discussion because it's almost as a dissent as the target here earlier this month with a top u.s. official telling the new york times or anyone to criticize as the u.s. drone program is helping al qaeda succeed are we sort of seeing our blurred line between activism and terrorism these days. absolutely not i mean yes you're right

is learning lying and it's getting worse and what you know the most people here in the united states they still think that these laws and these these actions on your towards some suspect terrorists are all you know since nine eleven and now unfortunately because we go on have a real media good investigative reporting and because he says are not what it what you're supposed to be recorded and that is still don't know that you know these are american citizens these are government insiders who are being prosecuted persecuted and just because they have told the truth or they have exposed criminality or ask you just that they have to really engage in it this isn't the government's i'm glad you brought up the role of the media because that's something i wanted to bring into this discussion it here at our t.v. we've got to get a lot of time to covering wiki leaks whistleblowers movement and so forth we've

also gotten a lot of criticism for that not the least of which came from our decision to give. an opportunity to do a ten part series on this network next month the outrage has been so bad that in fact one of our frequent commentators said there are several publicly announce that she is no longer going to appear on our t.v. because we're getting assigned a platform has have you seen sort of a trend where the press becomes essentially a mouthpiece for the government and any sort of outlets that counteract that are retaliated against. absolutely and it has been the case for a long time i can start my own case this was absolutely the case because you see with the course that congress usually watch the media and he see traction on a case in fact they feel kind of forced to do something to or at least appear to be doing something but media just getting maybe one headlines year or actually joining

the government in terms of persecuting the whistle wars we just look at the report price you know he did say this was local or this crime they usually united front all alleged are on the other hand we have been lied by our own government or the last ten years so severely when they get their information from the heads of these agencies it is could you just confirmed facts but even if you bring down three credible all of veteran whistleblowers from our better and government agents that that exposed criminality they still stick with that alleged describe and that very . they are be have be in that in a in this in this and there you and i would hold them. accountable it in terms of what has been happening to laura's right up there with the white house the executive branch congress media has been in and unfortunately cast in the many

so called pseudo alternative media channels as well so i'm very glad you have your i'll bring this well thank you said ellen unfortunately in in all of this said the american people that suffer because again we get our information from from the press most often and it's important to to essentially treat whistleblowers as citizens and not terrorists at a time when there are so much information that's not publicly released a single thank you so much that was developed ment's editor of the boiling frog post and director of the national security whistleblowers coalition all right well fresh protests broke out across risa day over harsh spending cuts that were a condition for its second bailout package the one hundred thirty billion euro rescue package are vertically out of default next month but does little to calm fears about the country's long term economic and social future and resize the curtain birthplace of democracy but the harsh austerity conditions have some

critics asking whether it's turned into a colony of the eurozone and now the u.s. has little direct exposure to greek debt so the bailout means our economy is safe for now but the financial crisis still looms large and we may not be as isolated as we think from our greek counterparts well for more on list on this let's now turn to jay meyerson independent journalist and contributor to truthout jesse how are you. you know there's a new there's thanks for joining us there's been a lot of discussion about how greece is sort of a more extreme example of what's going on around the world in europe and here to talk about that how so. well it's not only a more extreme example of what's been going on here but it's a more first world example of what's been going on all over the world you know the the i.m.f. and the sort of major international engines of neo liberal capitalism have been treating the developing world the global south this way for decades you know haiti

in liberia and all these places that they presume to bail out when they reach horrible fiscal conditions but what that entails is huge cuts to. social spending privatization of the commons obliteration of labor a huge very sharp decrease in labor in living standards and in wages and this kind of thing has been going on all over the world for in africa and in latin america and in southeast asia and greece is the first place that we really see. hugo a big first world economy ostensibly a democracy a robust middle class white people being treated exactly the same way as as you know the i.m.f. and the world bank and everybody else have been treating the third world for some time so i think that that has sort of brought it home in the united states but we see in wisconsin and in indiana and in ohio

a tax on labor rights we see privatization of the commons here we see a shifting of responsibility for the financial crisis from the people who actually caused it to the people who suffer most from it in the united states and in greece because they can't pay back their debts it's just turned into a much more extreme thing there which is how come you see buildings torched in athens and i'm glad you brought that up because that's exactly what i want to get into if you like for those of us who aren't economic experts and don't sort of focus on the ins and outs of this the word austerity sounds like some foreign term but you know whether or not you think it's good policy or bad policy it's essentially taking away services and spending less on things that people are you still that results in. ordinary people paying the price for an economic situation that wasn't necessarily their doing and that's something that we've seen echoed right here at home in the occupy wall street movement if you can just sort of green the grease closer to our viewers for american viewers to understand why there are similarities between the what occupy wall street wants and what greeks want. sure

well i have some numbers here that i've written down so this latest deal is one hundred seventy two billion dollars going not to the greek people but to the holders of greek debt which is you know goldman sachs and george bank and all of the big villains of the world plus one hundred forty one billion dollars in debt write down going to the same people and the conditions for this and this vote is going up early next week is a five hundred thirty million dollars cut in pensions so you know like grandma's going to be living on dog food two hundred twenty five million dollars in health and education cuts six hundred sixty one million dollars in cuts to the health care system these are numbers that i can't even really comprehend because i myself am not an economics expert seven hundred fifty four million dollars in cuts toward medicine it's defaulting on the people right the country the government has the sovereign debt to big financial interests all over the world and rather than defaulting on those they've decided to default on their people and that is

a condition that cannot be upheld by a democracy means people it's people power and to that end greece where which where as you know democracy started has given up its democracy has turned the government over to this guy puppet the most who you know is euphemistically referred to as a technocrat in the press but what that really means is a banker he's formally a vice president at the e.c.b. the european central bank which is the thing that controls. fiscal policy monetary policy all over europe so greece does not have sovereignty of fiscal policy which is the way that most people deal with big situations of debt and starting that they often have an elected government i'm sorry poppy up there on the time the very briefly i mean greece is in a dire situation and the u.s. might do certain things that seem similar you know we're talking about cutting certain services we have bailed out large corporations but it's not exactly at the level of greece how long could it take for us to get to that situation how do we get to that situation where. occupy wall street is going to be rioting and

protesting against actual dire cuts and not just especially these cuts the the united states has a much bigger economy than greece greece is a peripheral country and in europe so there's very very little danger that the united states would have to default on its loans but that doesn't mean the people in power won't use the situation in the united states towards the shock doctrine right creating greater ease of accumulation of wealth for the already very wealthy at the expense of living conditions for the already very poor i think i think that's all the time we have for that now but actually let's let's do one more question. i guess what's the biggest takeaway lesson here in terms of people who cause these financial crises not necessarily paying a price the biggest takeaway is that what the world faces now and this is not just true in the developing world but also in the in the extremely wealthy world that what we need to do right now is exert all of our pressure on our sensibly

democratically elected governments to extricate themselves from the grip of the wealthiest financial interests whose sole you know motivation is the infinite accumulation of wealth but that that situation is incompatible with democracy and we have to reclaim not reclaim we have to claim our country for democracy thank you so much jesse myers an independent journalist and contributor to truth out. and actually that does it for now for more on what we've covered is that r t dot com slash i say or our you tube page and you know it's follow me on twitter if you want to at least seek out not one word of it back here in our. touches it so much an excuse me senator time more let's hear it on substance and your answer is the drumbeat cold war now inevitable as the chattering

classes discuss the possible dangers. british science. sometimes. markets finiteness. find out what's really happening to the global economy with my scars or no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on r.g.p. . such a few. first fs. just first.

good afternoon and welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. and here are your headlines for february twenty second two thousand and twelve well known analyst meredith whitney says the middle class.