call it an arms race some u.s. lawmakers say that it's time to arm syrian rebels but not everyone is ready to pull the trigger on president bashar al assad's regime we're going to show you how a few lawmakers are trying to strong arm their way into syria. finally. did this new syria. angry bold promises from the syrian government after a referendum vote and the approval of a new constitution official say there is light at the end of the tunnel despite continuing bloodshed question is that the syrian people agree. plus from

religious freedom to foreign policy the economy to national security americans trust the media and the governments to direct the political discourse to topics that really matter but whose agenda are they really serving. good evening it's wednesday march seventh four pm here in washington d.c. on this the captain of the watching our team. but we begin in syria where an end to the violence is seemingly nowhere in sight after almost a year of bloody offensives the government of president bashar al assad seems an able to regain control of the country meanwhile the opposition rebels are too weak and too fragmented to overthrow his regime what they say is their goal and i knew this bloody stalemate that debate here in the u.s. about whether this country should intervene now top administration officials

leading lawmakers and presidential hopefuls have all weighed in on senator john mccain's proposal to launch u.s. led airstrikes to halt the violence in syria but there is still no consensus on the cost as well as the benefits of entangling the u.s. military in another armed conflict now in testimony before the senate today defense secretary leon panetta seemed cautious about military intervention but he also didn't rule out syria as the next u.s. war take a look. we are reviewing all possible additional steps that can be taken with our international partners to support the efforts to protect the syrian people in the pilots and ensure regional stability including potential military options if necessary central military options what the same here and the joint chiefs of staff chairman have it clear that the pentagon will be ready should be called on to quote defend u.s. interests in syria while president obama yesterday cautioned against unilateral

military action his administration is moving to provide direct assistance to the syrian opposition as a major policy shift towards a more aggressive plan to alst president bashar assad now it's a complicated situation where the end goals are murky and any missteps could have dire implications for the region but with me to make sense of it all it's turned to khan how and again as a columnist for foreign policy and focus looking back to the show a lot of conflicting statements from u.s. officials here were almost forced to read between the lines to figure out the actual intent of this administration how do you interpret the u.s. position at the moment wellness tradition fishel told associated press yesterday that the policy of the united states had changed and that the national security council essentially was officially seeking the overthrow of the assad regime through regime change i think if this point given the kind of stalemate that exists in that country i think this is exactly the wrong way to proceed and i think it now

makes it a fight to the gates unless you can be some kind of way that talks can be brokered between the assad government and its opponents well the difficulty in syria is that it's not sort of a black and white situation in this isn't a simple case of good guys protesters versus bad guy assad and in fact most syrians of all these. and to be essentially tired of assad in power it's not clear what would happen if he leaves to them considering the sectarian divisions among the population so in light of that does the u.s. position of standing with the rebels translate the standing of the syrian people at large or just a fraction of the population and i think this really doesn't have very much you do with the syrian people i think this has to do with regional politics and if you look at almost all of the statements that are made by americans by israelis by the french right by nato except for the question of iran always comes up when so so

that what this is is it's a move on a regional chess board and in the case of syria we're talking about one of the founders of the arab league we're talking about a country forty four million people in the heart of the arab world in very different kind of influence than libya was which was really some a peripheral to the arab world and so this is this is a big piece on the board everyone sees it as part of the competition not only with iran but also iran's allies in the region which means the shiite sections of iraq it means hezbollah all of the of the people that are on a certain associate where i don't think this really has a whole lot to do with the syrian people and i think most the observers know it is objective observers think that the syrians are sitting this out most that the syrians you know they've had a fifty page had

a front row view of what happened in iraq with the civil war they observed two million refugees they were a front row seat for the lebanese civil war i don't think the syrian people want civil war and i think that this aiding the opposition with the possibility of arms or communication equipment etc leads in the direction of deepening the civil war and i don't know where that's coming but as you pointed. air peace i mean you know handing out to weapons to people you don't know or to fight some guys you don't like is a really scary reminder of the catastrophe in afghanistan but if it let's say the u.s. does take that step of arming the rebels what are the some of the potential i don't and the consequences here i mean who is the six syrian free army versus the population or what are some of the divisions within the country but i think one of the things you're going to do is that you're going to deepen the security division is within syria and syria is a very divided country it was a majority people are sunni is about sixty percent of the population some are sixty

six percent are sunnis it also has significant numbers of al rights which is a subsection of shiites but twelve percent of the population ten percent christians and it's druze as armenians it has turkmen it's a very complex kind of country and so what you're centrally doing is that you're struggling to arm one section of a civil war in this case the sunni section that is not likely to just remain in syria it will almost certainly be washing over into lebanon or in the world war sugar into iraq it could even go to turkey it will certainly have an effect on jordan. i want to hold our entire line that is a synagogue and gunpowder rule not a good idea. it it's fascinating to me to sort of watch this discussion because it almost seems like there's not a lot of talk i mean we heard senator mccain today talking about how you know the

u.s. has a moral responsibility to leave but could you see this moral responsibility effectively causing more bloodshed if we end up standing behind the wrong people in this conflict but i think actually the people that have taken the high road here are the russians and that is the russians have offered to the also regime and to the syrian national council that they would host trucks. in moscow trying bring the two sides together and get a cease fire and i don't know if that can happen but but if least it's a step in the right direction i think you could use this recent referendum as a way to kind of stuart the conversation the problem is if you take a position that you will not negotiate with the are submitting it you're looking for regime change and you can aid the rebels what does or. another talk about it all and yet you have a stake a stalemate i i mean. i see this going in into really bad places.

you know. again it's just really dire situation and it almost seems like there's a catch twenty two i think because you know the death toll of this as estimated by the u.n. is nearly a thousand people there is no denying that the assad regime has responded in a fairly brutal way the problem is this situation has involved so so far along right now that it's sort of hard to tell you know who's responsible for what at this point i mean what does this say about this whole notion of the responsibility to protect the i mean could be us way to do away with this whole idea with the how that played out in libya where it seems like things are unraveling i mean i think the problem here is your so have. a lot of double standards if you get a look at the number of palestinians in gaza about one point seven million and the number of people that perished in operation cast lead which was the israeli

attack in two thousand and two thousand and nine. a large percentage of constantine's were killed in terms of their percentage of the population the syrians now when people tried to raise them in the united nations and tried to stop that the united states vetoed it so i think what it again you know it's not this is neutral thing i notion that regime in any way i think it is a group regime i don't think it's a democratic regime at the same time the park recy of the united states saying that the russian veto was despicable when they did exactly the same thing with the israelis in gaza and to see the gulf cooperation council as a monarchy is with the gulf saudi arabia qatar the united arab emirates hoping about democracy and syrian people that's a little hard to stomach and again we don't think this is now the syrian people i

think this is a got seriously. region and again. that's what's being done and can very briefly it is a political situation solution to the conflict even possible at this point i mean it's gone on for almost a year now there's been a lot of blood spilled is our is negotiations and talks a feasible solution. that's a good question and i don't really know the answer to it i don't think it's going to try i don't think there really has been an effort to get talks going you need it may have reached a coin where are you sure you know going back on the other hand it's a stalemate even if the united states decides to arm the syrian opposition that unless the army and the security forces turn against the arsenal regime they have done that so far no less you lose all support in in syria and he hasn't done that before either he does have support particularly among minority communities i don't

see that that you can do anything but eventually have negotiation so i think what should be done is now china and russia should be encouraged to top of the regime and to see if they can establish a ceasefire it will mean that the u.s. and the un will need to pressure the syrian national council and its allies to agree to sit down and try not with the answer regime in neutral territory which means they have to back off from the idea of regime change that i think is a possibility i think could get going otherwise i just see this getting worse and worse and i'm not at all convinced that the solution is going to be overthrown well and of course no no indication from some of our republican lawmakers in congress that talks would be at all a paddle bill a palatable it solution for them but unfortunately we're out of time thank you so much that us can howl and a columnist for foreign policy and focus our attention now the bloodshed does

continue unabated in syria as we just spoke president bashar al assad is struggling to crush the revolt that has left more than seventy five hundred people dead according to the u.n. but amid the battles in the violence the problem with the electoral change apart parliamentary elections scheduled for may but it's political reform possible the nets the what's looking increasingly like a civil war party's maria notion of reports. the need for democratic change pushed the syrian people to the streets last march a year on pro-democracy slogans and mostly forgotten and political reforms passed almost unnoticed wrongly. claims a member of the baath party whose almost fifty year rule was ended by the country's newly implemented constitution he believes syria is going through a historic transformation. the country's billons like a nation for a long time the multi-party system will finally pave the way to competition

development and in this new syria for all opposition and those who are angry with the force it's a fake. hundred percent fake talk we do not trust our people plus little we believe what ever he promises we've tried that too many years ago and too many times and he has never been honest but not all opposition members are so skeptical some have decided to take it there and run the parliamentary race ninety days before the elections at least six new parties appear their names reflect society's vital need and the party's aspirations for help democratic entitle for either national or solidarity the unanswered party is just four weeks old its members say the hardest thing will be to persuade people to actually vote but they believe the ice has

broken. finally the dog was closed for so many years is open and we should use it and activate people's political will of your good as the skeptics main concern is that this noble impulse could not come at the worst time no one in syria will separate table of the regime while killing is still going in streets and bombing is still going in the cities. but suffer i thought from alan sort of party believes the reforms could be an important tool in finding a solution to the country's projected crisis and. i can describe the situation is painful and we can resolve it together our party is preparing documents for the president and we call on all parties to start dialogue what a military solution in foreign countries interference will only make things worse we should now and to be and we should start assigning you. and your constitution is the latest in the package of reforms that also includes the lifting of emergency

laws and the release of political prisoners that has at least says these changes could be a double edged sword making the country stronger that also will ponderable to foreign influence. there are people and their salaries are in dollars reals and dharmas they want to destroy the country they don't want change you know they cannot do no changes to happen they have to move reformation and we should stand still to resist it but maybe the fears of change at home just as powerful the syrian parliament has seen many changes in its near century old history of this building used to be home to many political parties within the last fifty years the political life within these walls hasn't been all the colorful with a total dominance of the vast party the democrats of changes the uprising brought iran are expected to modify the political landscape here in syria but the same for us for invasions are yet to come in people's minds and this is something which will

take a lot longer. damascus syria. well still ahead an r.t.a. americans trust the government and media to work for the best interest of the public but that might not necessarily always be the case so when are these institutions allowed to have an opinion that story up next. i mean the same. people probably like you said for free and fair elections. and they're still reporting from the muslims when you can hear behind me loud explosions and i think. i mean.

i got it gave me a. well as a presidential campaign gets into gear or has been here for a while i guess a debate has been raging over the issue of religion and politics that's not the only thing we're talking about whether it's religion the economy and foreign policy ideological views are often pushed by governments and politicians and echoed in the media but that should be president for border in the big apple took to the streets to find out. when is it ok for a government or the media to support an ideology this week let's talk about that i don't think it ever should happen. i think the government serve the people of the media is there to report the news. story will directional on the report i don't

think it's right that they can come out and say they support it they can do it in different ways though if you support more subversive ways. that's probably what they do anyway right. probably people are choosy about who is supporting their cause. absolutely their. people are too easily swayed probably propaganda is the people the top one has to believe something bad one else follows like she feels out there a personality and look at the own facts and the details make their own opinion that's what they should do and not just follow everybody else any propaganda that goes against our moral basically feelings any issues and what we believe in. no good but we have to be tolerant to whatever other people want to be and what they believe in like it would in the united states were a free country and you can say basically you can do whatever you feel like when we

should be the same way with all the other countries in the world so there's a pretty great principle in psychology that you start and finish where you are so you like what you like and you don't like the other guy for liking something different but that's just human nature but i mean the principle of democracy it's unusual it's a kind of a crazy idea you can get wacky people like your answer your crazy sister and you just line them up by the millions and you somehow assume that all these crazy people acting together will have a wisdom greater than a king do you think that governments try to impose a will through propaganda without a doubt so why do some people when they hear their point of view out it think it's just being fine but then if they don't agree with it they call it propaganda. well. that's is the nature of this is the nature of of rhetoric in general your your opinion is always right and everyone else's opinion is always propaganda

in the in that circumstance whether or not you believe it's ever ok for a government or the media to support an ideology the bottom line is we should all remember it's all too easy to become hypocritical when it comes to support of our own beliefs. they're all from the big apple to right here in d.c. let's keep that debate going away chris chambers such analyser professor at georgetown university welcome crest and i couldn't help but laugh a lot in that last piece because i mean look here isn't years ago probably long before i was born there was this assumption that journalists were supposed to be unbiased neutral parties that report. right away from that line and tell the governments of course governments are ideological their ideological i definition they have agendas to clerks and vested interests sure but all it the united states is a complicated kind of animal there's never we don't know aside from voice of america and all of the other apparatus we don't have or

a state you know mouthpiece or you know the shooter but you know the better. although it's true but here's the thing is that what we really have are because the government and other interests a lot of most of the time it's corporate interests big business certain movements you know being on the right of the left that you know usually in the last twenty five thirty years been on the right using the media or people in the media like condit sort of certain shows as proxies or chess pieces in their little war so it's not like one big propaganda mouthpiece you know the stereotypical you know hitler or stalin kind of thing it's it's a lot of weird it's a chess game it's a chess game among giants and all and you know we become the little bit we don't we're not pawns really bored basically and you know and you heard some of the people talk about the psychological aspect of it it's reptilian brain thing the raw meat issue it's the cognitive dissonance thing where you know i am right and

anything that comes into my brain the doesn't trouble what i'm about is bad it's propaganda it's crap so you mix all that together and these people know this in the media they know the new government and they market to us accordingly so it's a trust. i mean if i was like a really bad thing for same time you know this isn't the sixty's or the seventy's i mean we don't we don't just turn on our local six pm news last night all the media that we have i mean we can seek out other forms of information is twitter so does that counterbalance sort of the not well it doesn't it doesn't i mean a lot of what you have you know you have adult twitter which are were people are are forwarding articles and then you have teenage twitter where people are talking about rianna but you know in the adult twitter world i mean you know that content that's being bounced around still has a point of view it's got to come from somewhere and that's just games is being thought you know online in social media as well i mean. you know broke or didn't have a newspaper or t.v. station he had

a new site so you know you can that's where this is coming from so this isn't all levels and again people are using them as proxies i mean the government too and you go back to that so the second goal for the bush administration had. you know x. pentagon generals on the payroll as condit's vocal line is still going on you know only you know domestic affairs a. person i know pretty well armstrong williams was it was basically on the payroll to go on fox and search and online and give the you know the administration is line so i mean you know you have that but it's probably that's about all it is at this point you know you could say fox is the official propaganda arm of the republican party the problem party might say we're beholden to them not the other way around but those relationships are still there it's on talk radio you know in uncertain blood and i'm curious if any you know you're a journalism professor right you're teaching the next generation of these these people these people are going to you know either we're going to work with me there

are alternative media i mean what do you tell them do you just a separate situation as it is a sort of teach them how to work within their reality or if you hold on to this notion of object i mean there are differences of a. you know i mean between our our underground graduate programs and the faculty on both sides i mean i'm part of both and what i tell people is to work with reality and to really work with with some kind of a compass a little bit on help you navigate through this bill or some people who say look this is this is what this world we're in now is crap and we have to do something about it but you know they're like the people who are kind of running up the hill from the tidal wave and i'm trying to build a canoe or a surfboard for these kids and you can kind of ride it in and kind of pull things to some kind of situation where they're really ethically dealing with stuff but you have to deal with with how the situation is as it is i mean even networks like c.n.n. or innocent b.c.

that a lot of people think are the liberal propaganda they're still corporately you if you don't believe that that look how they cover it up you know occupy wall street or didn't cover it and you know in issues like that so i mean it's you have to work within that kind of construct and that's what we're trying to do it sounds like an uphill battle and of course it's one thing we're talking about hot button social issues that's another thing when there's a serious foreign policy implication. to work. unfortunately that's all the time that we have in this thing with. t.v. here i think is so much those are it's an interesting journalism professor chris chambers thing that. they can actually. all capital account is up next right here our teeth let's check in with lauren lyster to see what she's cooking for us today laurie what you got going on on the show lots going on in the kitchen here lizzie as super tuesday of course everybody's rehashing it today we don't often delve too much into the politics of things but as this is the economy election we want to go

where the economy is likely to be headed given the trends that we're seeing i also want to ask why we're seeing german lawmakers perhaps with more to the ideas of republican presidential hopeful. ron paul when he's called numerous times to audit the gold of the united states germany is doing that they're auditing their central bank for the gold how they manage that in the tory and we want to look at why that's going on and why maybe we're not doing that here also the greek debt swap is going on this is the highly anticipated next saga and that greece trying to avoid default saga and there's a deadline thursday night highly anticipated but we want to break down for people what this gets a lot is why it's significant why they need to care and why it just is another indication of leaders trying to fight debt with more debt which in our view is a losing battle well there is one example of media i guess giving you some news that is useful as opposed to just reflecting some opinion of one government

official or another thank you so much that's coming up in just a few minutes on capital account person that does it for me for now for more on the stories that we covered that are to dot com slash say check out our you tube page follow me on twitter we're all over the internet and all the info is up right there .

more news today violence is once again fled uplifts city these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets and chanted asked such hope for a shelter on the day.