president obama unveils his candidates for america's top security jobs creating uproar over a possible shift in pentagon policy and fears of a bush era revival at the cia. halfway through the u.k.'s coalition government marks mid-term a with an enormous to do list leaving many in a sterile he had burdened deeply unimpressed. as they have google visits north korea despite washington's criticism we'll look at whether the internet giant has any chance to engage with the reclusive nation that remains under u.s. sanctions.

this is r.t. coming to you live from moscow i'm marina joshie welcome to the program how president obama has rounded out he is right now security team for approval by the senate is nominated for a sanitary chuck hagel as the pentagon had on counterterrorism adviser john brennan to lead the cia the pex have sparked speculation that obama is actually trying to kill two birds with one stone as are his gun and she can now explains. by appointing chuck hagel as defense secretary president obama is arguably trying to change the perception that he has embraced bush administration national security policies because after four years of militaristic foreign policy that's how people see it chuck hagel former senator from nebraska vietnam war veteran as being one of very very few u.s. politicians who opposed u.s.

military expansion and who dared treasure initially sent from washington orthodoxy . one of them has to do with israel he dared to publicly point out we're using west in israel are separates countries and american interests. really interests when they can and that's a subversive thing to say here in washington could be a career killer yet it catered for direct negotiations with hamas he condemns the power of the pro israel lobby in washington here's one of his statements to that effect the political reality is that the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here i have always argued against some of the dumb things they do because i don't think it's in the interest of israel i just don't think it's smart for israel that's what he said needless to say his nomination for the position of defense secretary has incurred a slew of objections for the past three weeks different interest groups have been running attack ads on t.v. saying things like he's soft on iraq and he's a bad choice for the job go on like the vast majority of us politicians who keep

repeating the all options are on the table mantra has allowed himself to say outright that attacking iran is a stupid idea is nomination is seen as a bold move on president obama's part and it's an important decision image wise for the president as a possible change in foreign policy but many fear that chart could deliver that change. more than in substance because there's only so much one person can do in washington speaking of the other person along with chart page will president obama nominated his counterterrorism adviser john brennan as the next director of the cia john brennan has been in charge of some of obama's most controversial policies including the targeted assassination. program one where the administration determines who will be marked for execution without any due process oversight or transparency is the man who's been in charge of president obama's chiles last year john brennan claimed that the u.s. drone program caused no civilian deaths seen pakistan over the prior year which was an outright lie by so many accounts add to that the fact that as the bush era cia

official mr brennan had endorsed torture and rendition and also was a vocal advocate of bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and we can see why he is deemed most fit for the job as the head of the central intelligence agency which over the years has evolved into a paramilitary force the logic some see behind nominating hazel and brennan for these top national security positions is that when accused of being hawkish the president can say does my defense secretary low kokesh do you ever accused of being soft he can point out his new cia director who can be accused of anything but being soft my colleague bill dodd spoke to former cia officer ray mcgovern who believes obama security nominations may serve as a counterweight to each other. i've served under nine cia directors and brennan would have to be the worst. he is an open ad because of what is called

extraordinary rendition kidnapping torture black prisons illegal eavesdropping and kill list from these drones that they're so proud of flying over places like pakistan i'm almost compelled to conclude that either he's really dumb or he sees real profit as the corporations do in the profiteering on these and less wars and in contrast to this the nomination for defense secretary that it's very different in character in nature up seen by many as a pacifist what do you make of the future of u.s. foreign policy if indeed haig will go to his top man in the defense the difference between hale and his predecessors is this hagel has been there done that ok hagel served in war he was an infantry noncommissioned officer wounded twice to two purple hearts he knows what war is like that means

a difference and when haig will says he would be very very careful about employing our forces in fool's errands such as afghanistan god help us iran somalia game and the rest of it he's going to be a worthy stand up against people like brennan who don't know the half of it and who never served our country's armed forces what about his attitude towards israel he's been accused of speaking out against the influence of the israeli lobby there in the us is that something that will be a stumbling block for his nomination higgle famously said one time i'm not the senator from israel i'm the senator from america. now. doesn't that make good sense on the face of it would somebody be open to criticism for that kind of the you know it shows it shows how delicate this question is in our country that he can't even speak about the jewish lobby or say that he's the senator from the

united states and not from israel without being criticized for what those that tell you about the power of the israel lobby while the domination of john brennan as head of the cia is also under scrutiny in today's edition of breaking the sound and as always abby martin pulls no punches describing the controversy surrounding the choice so watch the show at eleven thirty am g.m.t. here on r.t. the white house counterterrorism policies have gone a little something like this shoot first ask questions later and answer to no one catchy phrase for which we should thank john brennan in fact he coaches obama every terror tuesday on how to assassinate around the world this is the number one advisor overseeing the drone kings kill list john brennan's nickname is the assassination czar for godsake and this is the guy who is ushering this country to the next phase of the war on terror.

one hundred eighty promises and just over two years left to prove they are not. ukase ruling coalition has used a rare joint appearance to pat itself on the back and pledge war tough decisions for an already yesterday had britain r.t. sara further has more on the midterm review. prime minister david cameron and the deputy leader of the kurdish nick clegg giving one of their rare joint public appearances together to deliver this mid-term review it was an awkward appearance it was really really difficult watching there were red faces there were or could pull a series of these really embarrassing it was certainly i think rare public to integrate into somebody would say of this data form and that's probably quite a good thing this is something up we're half way through the coalition now of course a huge question was whether the coalition a going to be breaking up whether they're going to stay together the main message from the to leaders was presenting

a united front that they're in this for the full five years of course their plans that they laid out the next steps that are going to follow already being criticized by the opposition who says this is and he promises no real substance here you know there was a lot of summing up we're going to get the details of this sort of bulk mid term ready in the coming weeks this some of the things that they thought touched upon that they feel they've achieved and among the things like the welfare reform the education reform you know you cast your mind back to what that actually entailed we saw these huge protest movements a hike in the university fees that he got reagan speech in london you know i think when you get this bulk of detail like this some he certainly seems to be brushed eva as i said a little bit awkward and it was very nice of all the people who were laughing genuinely as i was sort of met with a kind of a nice silence is some part saying you know this is no laughing matter it's

a very serious point in the coalition there are big questions for the future this is a big question so remain every time they give an appearance like this we ask about years and people trying to glean a bit more information and you know it is quite short on substance i think a lot of people are just behaving that the plans that were laid out today in the. going to be better received than the prime ministers jakes were at the take a little bit of a closer look at the detail of what the coalition has achieved or not as the case may be here's my colleague pretty boy. well it does look like the private pension could be going extinct that's according to one prominent pensions expert here in the u.k. he says that by twenty fifty they could be no more because it turns out that just twelve percent of young people in their twenty's and thirty's are saving for their retirement so we've got a lot of young people in the u.k. who aren't thinking about their pensions atoll and that's leading to concerns over a potential pensions gap in the future the sad reality is that young people

nowadays they have a lot of very immediate financial pressures on their plate and with austerity measures in full swing with the financial crisis we've got young people on very low wages having to live with a very high cost of living at the same time they could have debts in the form of university fees that they have to pay off if they're lucky they'll have a mortgage but the that's the truth is that a lot of young people have all these very immediate precious and so they just don't have time to think about putting money away for thirty forty years down the line that's money that they might not see again and there's a double sort of irony in this because by the time that they retire the pension age is going to be at least sixty eight and there are reports saying that some people have said that well if the pension age is going to be sixty eight we might not live that long so why save for it so it is quite a grim picture at the moment. why more financial problems in europe as medics hits

the streets of madrid that's after government decision to brandeis parts of the health care system to help breathe life into the country's recession played economy . also. as such obvious recovers from surgery there is speculation about his will he's on the edge of a political crisis we're report on that and more later in the program to stay with us. wealthy british style. markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to the report. you

know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know. welcome to the big picture. welcome back here with our team now one of the world's most reclusive countries north korea has had a rare high profile visit from the u.s. by eric schmidt chairman of the online search giant google the private trip has

already prompted speculation about the company's intentions to engage with pyongyang it's also drawing the condemnation from washington that's looking to part of the. north korea following its recent missile test meanwhile korean authorities are reportedly engaging german exports to help prepare the country for foreign investment dr growing here frank from the university of vienna says economic development in north korea is still a distant dream the big problem is actually not mostly willingness to receive it is the reluctance of vested investors to actually go to north korea the north korean investment environment is not the cure although the state has been trying a lot still the do have reports of investors who have difficulties with the red tape and also a change in attitude of the government you know the best foods especially chinese investors who have left the country frustration the biggest problem i think for us to list this all over. the session this is easy actually it's almost impossible not

to why only then you section if it is not clear because almost anything is dual use the procedures of checking whether you are not why they did sanctions are very complicated because. there's also a great deal of unknown to insecurity about what the actual rules are and my freshen is that this is keeping the best of us those in particular big ones online we have a story about the any of the relationship between us intelligence and the president of ecuador so had to r.t. dot com to find out why the president correll believes the cia will try to kill him carries the upcoming election. also on. that picture of your dinner that you posted to twitter some time ago will soon be stored next to the good neighbor viable we tell you why the library of congress is archiving all

public tweets. well with just days left before the inauguration about as well and present a good job as the country's opposition is waiting for its chance to remove him from office if the ceremonies delayed due to his for health are to listen often of when to caracas to find out whether the risk of political instability has changed people's perception of the country. the flames of economic fury the debt crisis spreads anger across europe well unemployment brings despair to what was once the land of opportunity life in the west once all but guaranteed a better future whether it does so today is up for debate with no end in sight to

the financial crisis many are finding refuge in countries with an alternative economic model or some venezuela represents hope and new opportunities the bolivarian republic may be a surprising choice after all it's been ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in the hemisphere whose murder rate exceeds that of iraq still the world bank says venezuela draws the largest number of immigrants after argentina with one million flocking here in two thousand and ten alone the most those whose. going to get weaker rosa is one of them after decades of struggling in the u.s. she decided to start anew in venezuela. and that come to you completely alone when you go that trying to find a new way but you really alone nobody helps you there nobody in caracas the helping hand came from the government a cheap loan to kickstart a small business and subsidies that enabled her to purchase this home that's why

rosa and others like her see the country as a place where. you can move more freely you have more opportunities. robust economic growth and increased spending on social projects to help create those opportunities having the state on your side in terms of the benefits is a huge thing because you don't have to worry about your basic necessities everyone has the right to universal free health care quality health care education at all levels the government provide subsidies to start up small businesses medium sized businesses they do the same in terms of housing to help people if they're coming from a country where the economic crisis is so bad they've been cutting all those benefits but as well it begins to look like a paradise that may certainly seem to be the case for those on the bottom president hugo chavez helped bring the poverty rate down from fifty percent when he took office to roughly thirty one percent last year and the u.n. says venezuela has the lowest level of inequality in latin america.

its one child has die hard supporters among the poor but what about the rich critics say child this is ilya meeting the wealthy many of whom turned out in droves to vote for his opponent in october so closely contended election twenty first century socialism hasn't helped us it is her job his opponents blame his so-called socialist experiment for problems like limited foreign investment they say that it's driving businessmen and entrepreneurs out of the country. by daniel year jews himself a young businessman disagrees after spending twelve years in barcelona he decided to return to venezuela not just for the economic benefits he says but for the chance to partake in a different sort of future or do you go there are two very different political forces in this country one wants to move towards capitalism the other is on the path of socialism in the october election the people of venezuela voted to make the country greener fairer to create more opportunities i mean in this regard many venezuelans like myself have decided to return home. and so they do showing that

for some gambling in venezuela system may be worth the risk. of r.t. venezuela. well after fourteen years in power of as was president hugo chavez is known for his lengthy speeches and in twenty twelve other movers and shakers around the world have been making a name for themselves now it's your turn to say who you think was the person of the year right now it seems like there is a clear leader the founder of the whistle blowing web side we can leaks julian is on top right now with seventy percent of the vote next of all fellow expunge gardner who you will remember a smash man a world records when he jumps to earth from a balloon in the stratosphere and he takes twelve for sand and the very first person to hit one billion views on you tube with gangnam style south korean rapper upside lex attention on kong with only tamper sand. eighty percent of the vote goes

to myanmar opposition leader aung san suu kyi. now thousands of doctors have marched through madrid in the first spanish protest of two thousand and thirteen angered by the government's plans to partly privatized the national health service and the latest move to cut the budget and dig the country out of debt but investment advisor patrick young says spain's economy is out of control. there's really absolutely nothing that can be done about the current spanish situation the government is affectively running a deficit or run divide nine percent of g.d.p. and three year that's a huge number span has the tenth biggest deficit on the planet of any country and effectively it's hemorrhaging money at the moment because the budgets were made in the good old days when property markets were going through the roof not a days nobody can sell a property nobody can manage to get

a job and obviously the government simply doesn't have the money even for essential facilities like health care clearly there is a concern amongst the doctors that you're going to see an incredible amount of i really just profiteering being made by the private health sector but i think actually the truth is that ultimately governments are hideously inefficient when they do large scale health provision that's the pure are certain to spawn yours are not sure whether their economy can survive in its current creaking states now keeping the budget under control is proving to be a headache on the other side of the atlantic too later this hour it is next kaiser explores the murky waters of america spanning strategy. why is the pentagon off the table but pentagon spending is a function of money printing it's a function of money printing because money printing more ordinarily cause massive inflation but dead soldiers equal deflation that's why you have to look at that arlington national cemetery that's america's answer to inflation it's the

deflationary forces of genocide and pentagon budget increases and killing helpless women and children around the world they keep stuff in america cheap enough for they can say no good like class to keep themselves amused and distracted. violence is spiraling in northern ireland where dozens of police officers have been injured in clashes with loyalist over belfast city halls decision to restrict the flying of the union flag analyst and political blogger makes hell they believe is the riots are a symptom of deep social division and political failure to represent loyalist views what we're seeing here is in northern ireland as a result of the peace process we have a government in which everyone who is elected to the parliament is part of the government that leaves no space for parliamentary opposition and so when something

like this happens that is seen by certain mostly working class suddenly in lower middle class communities too is being provocative there is no political way of actually expressing your opposition so to some extent we're seeing just how are you difficult it is to manage a popular protest in a situation where there is no option to change the government so to speak because the government includes everyone who ever gets elected. well as now take a look at some other stories from around the world those half retasking the lankan capital against the government's attempt to impeach the country's first female chief justice a monday her conviction was squashed on appeal after the supreme court ruled the case against her was and constitutional the move has charged accusations parliament was breaking the law last month the government said the chief justice was guilty of unexplained wealth and abuse of power.

firefighters in northern china have managed to put out a massive fire at that and golf day shopping mall it took three and a half hours for the blaze to sweep through an area of almost ten thousand square meters although it's still unclear what started the fire some officials have pointed to the welding war being carried out at the site. while max's days here here after the break with the latest edition of the kaiser reports that don't go away stay with r.t. . crime is a plague of the big cities but in a tiny arkansas town of twenty five thousand it is really getting out of hand

puregold as of property crime index of more than double the national average and rape burglary and assault are also way above average poor poor gold is a dangerous place to live in but what's the answer to living in constant fear of criminals well the mayor thinks that the answer to that problem is to live in constant fear of the government how logical the mayor and police chief have a doorstop plan to send out police patrols with fifteen's and full swat armor to i guess intimidate the local population into submission well actually the plan is for them to stand around it ask people an important question ask them to show id the answer to crime isn't a police state sending guys out with automatic weapons and body armor around just to check people's i.d.'s like it's the berlin wall or something won't do anything a guy who breaks into your house for crystal meth money isn't going to be affected by this only the good average citizens will have to show an armed thugs their id just to go buy milk. but i should my opinion.

well the kaiser report and max kaiser or what is it good for some say absolutely nothing but from what i see it's a good way to support a bunch of bullets welfare queens in virginia maryland and stacy. yes max this is come to light recently as there's been all sorts of alleged you know wrangling over

the budget in the united states this whole deficit ceiling in how much we need to cut why is the pentagon off the table well if you look at this chart this is department of defense spending and real inflation adjusted dollars as you can see we spend now more than we did during the cold war vietnam and the reagan buildup well the pentagon spending is a function of money printing it's a function of money printing because i'm running printing what ordinarily cause massive inflation but dead soldiers equal deflation that's why you have to look at that arlington national cemetery that's america's answer to inflation it's to deflationary forces of genocide and pentagon budget increases and killing helpless women and children around the world that keep stuff in america cheap enough for the casino class to keep them some of them amused and distracted well i'm going to get

to that in a second because i really think what catherine austin fits in poker robertson said is true is that the pentagon supports the us dollar that is what backs the us dollar and if that is under threat then it's important to increase the budget of that pentagon which backs the us dollar but i want to say we're andrew sullivan says here regarding this chart he says quote history is replete with examples of great powers who undid themselves by spending on war and empire in the end often with the debt won the glutting the core concerns of the domestic economy head to monaco america is following imperial spain and imperial britain into the same morass but it is a choice not a fate. right well how better way to support the u.s. dollar then killing a lot of people i agree with fitz and paul craig roberts in that supporting the dollar means committing genocide.