no longer number one china has surpassed the u.s. when it comes to trade what does that mean for the u.s. economy and our standing in the world find out coming up. and a new york police officer is going to jail after raping a teacher the law doesn't call this crime great now the victim is fighting back we'll look at her case and the status of the violence against women act. and senator menendez from new jersey is facing a host of allegations against him from bloggers claiming views involved in the sex scandal to donor influence we'll take a look at the case and ask two political donations by you inform and influence with lawmakers. it's tuesday february twelfth five pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wall and you're watching our tea. well looks like the balance of economic

power in the world is shifting china has surpassed the u.s. as the world's largest trading nation here the figures from last year recently released by the commerce department are talking about imports and exports in the year two thousand and twelve and as you can see the u.s. totals three point eight two trillion dollars china was at three point eight seven trillion dollars this now another sign of china's growing economic influence meanwhile in russia the central bank has gone on a golden shopping spree according to a recent report from bloomberg the country has added five hundred seventy metric tons of gold to its reserve in the past decade making it the top buyer in the world so as other countries continue to strengthen their economic competitiveness is this a sign of a weakened u.s. dollar and if so what does that mean for the u.s. i was joined earlier by gerald solent a publisher of the trends journal and i asked him how china could have a g.d.p. half of the u.s.

yet still have a larger trading volume china is in the business of business in the united states is in the business of war china is. energies and talents are going into making more at lower prices and exploiting it around the world at high profits while america's energy czar going into military industrial complex and making sophisticated weaponry waging wars so you can't do both it's either you know it's guns or blood or i didn't make that line so the united states has lost its competitive edge because of its military expansionism and secondly it's as though the whole nation is living with attention deficit disorder if they go back to nafta back in one nine hundred ninety four when it was first

pushed through many people warned that this was going to happen it was that great sucking sound it wasn't only going to come from mexico it was going to come from around the world as u.s. manufacturing shipped as jobs overseas to cheap labor countries to bring the product back and sell it at a markup so it's very easy to see and the consequences were predictable so it's no secret that the u.s. a large chunk of the last budget goes toward military spending and a lot of people say that this is what's propping up the economy but you're saying this is doing the opposite. oh absolutely you know there's that there's that mentality that still exists you know america in the world you know the depression ended when world war two started and stupid people say things like we need a good war to get us out of this you know which of course is an oxymoron but the defense budget goes to a very small group of individuals it's a monopoly in that those industries when you look at the real numbers liz defense

and defense related spending is over one point two trillion dollars. so we see china now number one the world's biggest trader and as a result china is becoming a very important trading partner for many countries so at this rate will european countries be doing more trade with china than with other european countries well you know europe is not out of their depression by the way they don't call that a depression in spain with twenty six percent official unemployment same in greece very high numbers in portugal and italy you know they're not going to be doing a lot of trading with anybody because there's also the currency war problem as you're seeing the value of the euro going up that these they're exploiting products are going to be more expensive to buy and you seeing at the same time with the new prime minister of japan abbay say to the bank of japan print more money buy more

buy more government treasuries and and securities and lower the value of the yen so we could sell more products now where there is a term we mention to china now the biggest trader russia now the biggest buyer and there is this term it's coined the brics we're talking about brazil russia india china south africa can be they are this group of emerging economies can we expect this group to continue to grow and if so how will that impact the global economy as as we know it. the problem with a number of the brick company countries is that there's also the exploiting issue so if economies slow down you take brazil for example they're a big natural resource export or so of china's if the europeans and the americans aren't consuming that means brazil exports less product into china and of course india or russia of course also big big natural resource export or and then

you have slowdowns coming from india and china and south africa although there are now a brick nation again a very small player but natural resource export years so if the europeans and the americans aren't buying the judge chinese aren't making the indians are making and the natural resource nations are exporting so we see this continuing to slow down the brics are going to build it up and arresting gerald always interesting to have your way and that was gerald celente a publisher of the trends journal and director of the transit research institute now to a disturbing case coming out of new york a woman by the name of lydia cuomo is trying to redefine the word rape in the state last year she was waiting for her right to school on her first day working as a second grade teacher and that's when a drunk off duty police officer pulled up pointed

a gun at her and then raped her repeatedly and the perpetrator the man you see there former officer michael paine and was convicted of forcing anal and oral sex on the victim but not rape and that's because in new york and all and oral rape is not considered rape under the law. well cuomo says she believes quote rape is rape and is using her experience to change the law in the state and she told the daily news quote i had witnesses i had d.n.a. i had my own testimony i had two cops i had them saying we admit to sexually assaulting you and i didn't get the verdict i needed the first time and that just highlights to me the problem in the system earlier i was joined by independent journalist amber lyon i asked her how how is rape defined in the state of new york . the problem is that new york state they only consider valid penetration to be rape and in the case of libya situation she says that she was forced to commit oral

sex and anal sex and considers that to be rape but according to the law that is just sexual assault so right now she's seeking legal justification because you can imagine the horror she's been through and now the courts aren't even recognizing that that's rape and she's got to try to explain to people that it's only being considered sexual assault and not rape in this case and unfortunately was this is the case nationwide in almost every state so we can this know only eight states recognize oral and anal sex as as being legally considered rape so what do they consider in those states just penetration so i guess just a form of sexual assault or just not as serious. accusation of rape and you can imagine these women they feel any any type of assault to that extent especially and is rape but the courts aren't recognizing that and that's what libya is really trying to change in new york for not only for herself and her own justification but for future victims of sexual assault can you talk about how this victim lydia cuomo

is now trying to change his definition of what exactly she trying to do to make sure that no other woman faces the same ordeal after already you know being under these terrible circumstances all right now she's boldly and you can imagine it's very difficult for her to talk about this publicly but she is coming forward showing her face showing her name explaining that this happened to her and she's had to albany to try to pass the rape is rape bill which includes oral and anal salts as being considered rape and she's really hoping that new york state will recognize that those are crimes as that make victims feel as horrifically as as what they consider to be rape at this point well just this afternoon the senate passed the violence against women act how does this bill address the. of violence against women well for decades the violence against women act has been key to not only offering support for victims of assault sexual assaults and physical assaults

but also offering women a way to feel confident to come out and expose the perpetrators and it is created key programs nationwide to offer support for for these victims and according to advocates the violence against women act is responsible for reducing rates of domestic violence against women also for increasing rates of women who feel confident enough to come forward and expose that they're being abused and so we do see support in the senate but not so much progress in the house what is the hold up there well the problem all comes down to rape the rape and sexual assaults that occur on indian reservations what happen is that the violence against women act says that tribal courts can charge non-native americans for assaulting or raping native americans and advocates say that this is needed legislation they say federal courts are far they need these tribal courts to really be able to prosecute these cases they also say that if you assault someone you deserve to be held responsible

and republicans were saying that it's unconstitutional to try native americans in tribal court so there was a hold up there but it looks like those amendments are going to stay in the bill and that this will pass with enough republican support and democratic support to eventually be signed by the president of course native americans domestic violence is a huge problem among that population so this bill does aim to help them but it looks like that's the problem there and if you talk to advocates native americans there are two point five times more likely to be assaulted sexually assaulted then than average americans so so this is a key issue that the violence against women act is focusing on this round and advocates say that's a victory enough that this is being discussed so well a victory today. what do you think is in store for this victim in new york that trying to change the definition of rape there do you think she'll be successful or successful in her endeavor there are high hopes so far heard her team and

supporters say that she she is winning at this point because she's getting people talking about that i don't know if you knew that this those forms of assault were not considered rape but before i started investigating this case i didn't know that so many states across the united states don't consider. rape in oral rape to be rape even though what value at least as majority of people i think would say yes that that is indeed rape and amber is winning in that case by just getting people to talk about it and i think she feels successful absolutely amber great thank great to have you on here that was an ally and she's an independent journalist. we take a look now at the method to extract natural gas known as fracking and that is when gas companies come in and dig a well thousands of feet down into shale rock formations from there the company injects millions of gallons of water sand and chemicals under extremely high pressure and this causes the rock to crack or fracture and that releases natural

gas to the surface for energy companies to collect well proponents of fracking believe it's a critical step for america's path to energy independence on the other side of the debate are groups concerned about the environmental and health risks the practice poses today in california state lawmakers are holding a hearing about regulating the practice and for more on this now i'm joined by brendan already in california the california organizer for food and water watch welcome there brought us in monterey california drilling could bring in fifteen billion barrels of oil it's a lot of oil it's making gas executives very excited but what about regulating the practice to make sure it's done safely and sustainably. well thanks for having me on again today. you're right that the industry is claiming that they got sixteen billion. tons of oil that they can jack from the moderate region but

the fact of the matter is that's about where years of oil and nationwide explains that they're saying first high oil with this incredibly destructive process called grass fires now we're really only talking about a couple years seventy years of oil so we're putting off the scenes that we really need to make with the transition we need and if you care ok right now in california there is very little regulation when it comes to this practice fracking has a it's gone this exemption from the clean water bill and so that means oil companies they don't have to reveal what chemicals are in the mixture that they're using for fracking so the public is kind of left in the dark why isn't fracking health of the same standards as other practices. what is question that's what we're asking and that's what the public is demanding as possible acting was dented from every federal public health and environmental regulation in the two thousand and five energy assets called the cheney loophole and that means that the state level

crack in the sense that. from all of these all these regulations for me that there's regulations that's asking every state's a little bit different but they're also protected under very strict mean like bottle of coke they don't tell you that the highest carry mixture of the toxic chemical of that they could be injected into the waters by. their worry that that is going to affect their business i guess and i know that you are saying that this is a destructive practice. and there's some argument there as to just how destructive it is if it just needs more regulation of course we are talking about fifteen billion barrels of oil and there's a lot of talk about energy independence so would it be foolish to not tap into this wealth of energy right well i think is bringing that up fracking has been record nationwide of being linked to severe water contamination air quality scientific

study oil and gas industry might try to. take the debate and use people but you know a recent university of colorado said he showed that people living there fracking sites where exposed to seven highest federal level an air flow that's just one concern that also causes severe health concerns that were seen. economic problems or people can't get loans. mortgages that they're tracking site. severe house concerns where doctors have to sign gag orders because they can't get the name of the chemicals without signing this gag order to treat their patients. when they realize it's safe to take those two toxic chemicals misra so do you think the brunt of that the solution there's more regulation to make sure that if fracking is going to be done that it's going to be done safely and sustainably and

in a way that ensures that it won't jeopardize the health of the public good model watch for we believe this market should be banned that there is cross united states records or even that there's no way to do the technology safely and even if we do go behind and track every part of the united states today we're only talking about fifty years of natural gas maybe it really was thirty when you look at the real estimates and seven years of oil and then we're going to be dealing with a sincere. central house and their policies so we need to make that transition now not to lay it in here in california or colleagues were bad i was rocking and we've held hostage bans a moratorium in the states like new york new jersey crossness ok but we don't have too much time left but i want to ask you because we are seeing that natural gas is making up a huge percentage of the energy that we do use in the us and that is only growing if not natural gas and what then of the alternative. well the fact is is that we

do rely on natural gas and oil right now we do need that but we need to do is make the transition like i said even if we fracking right now in thirty to fifty years we're going to be in the place where we have to make the transition to solar renewable technologies mass transit and change our energy our energy future and so we can in the process for our house our water our safety in our communities brianna thanks for weighing and i was brought in or in california organizer for food and water watch. and now on to a story on capitol hill where new jersey senator robert menendez faces scrutiny over actions he may have taken to benefit a political donor when endace is in hot water over his relationship with doctor and donor solomon mel again the doctor's office was recently raided by the f.b.i.

over alleged medicare fraud now the senate ethics committee is investigating whether menendez acted improperly on his friend's behalf but i just took it on reported trip or more than one with mel again to the dominican republic on the doctor's private plane and there are allegations that melendez solicited prostitutes while in the dominican republic but there is more proof that melendez may have intervened on behalf of his friend regarding port security in the dominican republic stopping a donation from the u.s. government that would in danger malkin's business interests in the port well all this will be difficult to prove but prompts this question how often do political donors impact policy to talk about this i'm joined now by money and politics reporter rest from the center for responsive politics resprayed to have a year or so. how do donors influence policy i mean you know there's a wide range of people who donate money and most people in america don't own

a very much money in the few people who do tend to donate quite a bit and it goes up very quickly and actually is up there among donors although he's definitely not in the top here but we figure he and his family of four hundred twenty six thousand dollars to candidates in the last twenty years or so in the last election he gave quite a bit and in addition is clinic gave about seven hundred thousand dollars to super pac which benefited senate candidates among them a very successful i clinic here runs over there yeah well and he has quite a few business interest in addition to the clinic in the security business that you mentioned there's also. allegations that it's an imminent as may have intervened. on behalf of some medicare billing issues the malkin was in his in his. firm were facing and so the allegations of them and as has e-mailed people in various agencies both on the security and medicare issue and that's like a sort of

a typical charge about donors getting something from from senators and congressmen and it's sort of like the oldest scandal in washington it's a story that repeats over and over and the problem is that there's a very fine line between what a congressman or senator can do legitimately because a lot of their job is making calls on behalf of constituents and businesses that are in there they're in a strange that this is kind of an old story that's something that's been happening for quite a while now do you would you say about this is a practice that is growing is it becoming more common or or how widespread is it exactly you know it's always tough to tell because you know we don't know in something like this it's not like he took a vote it's you know he was making e-mails in he was making phone calls and so unless there is some accusation and someone investigates it is often hard to see whether or not something was done and like i said it's very hard to sort of differentiate between what's a legitimate part of the job and what sort of crosses the line in this case there's a lot of accusations we cross the line and these kind of things happen and come up with the senate ethics committee or the house ethics committee on a fairly regular basis there's a couple every year i suppose and and it's really rare that

a serious action gets taken but it's not. rare for a congressman to be. accused of having poor judgment that's going to be my next question twenty percent are elected leaders held accountable for this you know i probably not as much as they should be and i mean that's part of what we do is tracking who is giving them the money and once you know who's giving them the money then you can start looking at what the response was and i think one of the reasons that stands out is because he's not a constituent is an eminent as he's from florida and sentiment is from new jersey. but he is a donor but he's a donor and he's a fairly large donor on the other hand there are a lot of other people who give a lot of money to an end as to i mean we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars from mel. and you know you need ten more than ten million dollars to win a senate race these days so there's a lot of people who are asking and probably for a lot of things so it's not hard to understand why. an elected leader would be influenced by a donor i mean they're that's where they're getting a lot of their cash as especially the very wealthy donors so are there any

safeguards in place to prevent this from happening i mean there are there are some and i mean that's that's changing as well but i mean you know the primary one is a limit on contributions i mean a big part of giving a contribution in sort of getting getting somewhere was it was a member of congress is the access you got you know when you write a very big check they're going to take the time to talk to you and that's not anything this early improper but most americans don't have the money to get that kind of access and and i think you know lynn when when there are limits on how much money is given that you know makes it harder for someone to stand out now in the case of a millionaire he gave a lot of money to him and in his campaign he also gave us a rather big democratic committees that the mint is involved with and then with these super pac donations that's a way for him to really stand out and that donation that some of those no donation from his clinic definitely does stand out and we're talking in a post citizens united era and there's a lot of scrutiny now you know is it right corporations and money by politics is this another example of that donors and their influence on politics i think it's another example of opportunities for things to go wrong and i mean you know there

are definitely people who give lots of money just because they're supportive ideologically just because they like the person just because they're friends now goes out a long time friendship with windows he said as much so i mean there are people who do give money like that but i think that the more opportunities are to give money in unlimited amounts like we are in this process and united world the more opportunity there are for acquisition of impropriety and actual impropriety interesting well really appreciate you weighing in on their wrath that was russ child a reporter for a center for responsive politics. a little bit over gun control continues in the us after the newtown school nashua ting there is a new call for change but others feel like their second amendment rights are under attack are they correspond on a saucy a tear going to heads to a pro-gun rally in albany new york. the big apple business as usual. a few hours by train in. the empire state capital.

as the united states remains divided when it comes to what to do with guns in this country after a recent series of shootings hundreds of anti-gun control protesters gathered outside the state capitol building in albany hear the toughest state law on firearms in the us after the sandy hook elementary school shooting the same fact was passed a month ago. and those whose guns are at stake are far from happy so why look like a terrorist because they will look like a fanatic among other provisions the new state law bans weapon sales over the web restricts ammo magazines to seven bullets include stricter background checks and regular research a vacation cuomo signed that law in a mill and i without these three days were to be loving the people to read it. these protesters say their second amendment right to bear arms under the west constitution is being stepped on by the legislators in need to smarten up and

listen to get the garbage out in your ears and listen to what the people are saying gun owners believe politicians are looking for criminals in the wrong places i've been going to owner for thirty years and now some of the guns i have in my locker are now illegal well i've never had a. parking ticket in my life there's nothing wrong with good law abiding citizens had firearms it's just it's an assessment because this legislation is not going to stop hardened criminals obsessive firearms it's not going to stop drug dealers it's not murderers it's not going to stop the latest so what is the answer as the us struggles to find common ground on where the gun debate should take the country next i think the fear punishment if anyone does a crime with a gun. you're no. no no no in that. you see in the world the position of these gun advocates is clear what

remains to be seen is whether the u.s. as a whole can ever come to a compromise and r.t. when you. imagine you're going on a hike taking in the scenery when you notice a helicopter following you until it stops and parks right in front of you that's exactly what a woman in california says happened and she cut the whole ordeal on camera. circled me. when you were encircled bobby really low. just who was. there ranting or work. well as you can see the helicopter there hovering above the desert in san bernadino the hiker captured it felt like the chopper was getting too close for comfort turns out her gut feeling was right the helicopter lands and front of her the officer comes out and confronts her asked her what she's doing and demands her id since she is one carrying one he runs

a background check on her and tries to search her but i can resist saying she does not consent to a search well the woman was cleared and she says she wasn't doing anything suspicious no word from the san bernardino police on what they were looking for or why the officer used a helicopter to monitor and stop the woman we're going to leave it off there but breaking the sat is coming up in thirty minutes here on r t let's check in with abby martin to see what's on today's agenda is how you do as i go in there good we have a very packed show like we do every day so that you do it last thursday was aids awareness day you know i did not. either save by which i you know i know among all the education about it the rate of hiv going up in d.c. a law. one is just exponentially rising it's really amazing how little of that talked about about this disease when you know we're supposed to know about safe sex about all these things so we're really talking to our jones filmmaker who's

covering the epidemic and kind of the media blackout on that on the show world and we talk about military propaganda pro war films kind of just those lies that recruiters tell people why they should join the army we're going to break down all those and more kind of breakthrough all that propaganda talking about free college education you know how you can have job skills that you can use later in life all those things are actually not true at all that more also a twelve year old girl in seventh grade just sent a hello kitty doll to space so that's probably what it accomplished more than i think a. bank savvy that's coming up in half an hour she's going to break the sat that is going to do it for now but for more on the stories we cover check out our you tube channel you tube dot com slash r t america our web site r t v dot com slash usa and you can follow me on twitter at liz wall.