the u.s. weapon of choice and warfare these days is a drones but a new wave of drones capable of taking off and landing on aircraft carriers could mean a major expansion of this program we'll explore ahead. and it was thought that john brennan the man picked by president obama to head the cia would be an easy confirmation but one senator is bound to block brennan from that post what rand paul is demanding coming up. and it's a battle of david and goliath proportions monsanto versus small farmers coming up a look at the biotech giants battle with small farmers over seeds. it's thursday february fourteenth four pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wall and you're watching r.t. we began zeroing in on

a massive piece of equipment that could transform the way the military conducts its missions drones have made their way into the mainstream conversation as senators demand more transparency on the thus far secret drone campaign as of now we have a drone bases in places like pakistan and djibouti africa and as covert drone warfare becomes a critical foreign policy strategy we can expect even more of these bases to pop up but what if you didn't need to set up a base in these volatile countries well that could be the case of drone aircraft carriers were put to use you are looking at the navy's x. forty seven b. drone aircraft which is in the testing phase right now the first take off at sea set to happen sometime this year so how can this change the u.s. military strategy to discuss i'm joined by our michael brooks in our new york studio he is the producer of the majority report welcome michael. so how could this change the game as we know it well this could change the game really significantly

was great to be talking with you it would really reduce the need for bases for drone bases in the volatile areas that you mentions in the co-author of this article you like clifton and i which we co-wrote for alter net really interested in what the implications of reducing that sort of added barrier to drone deployments could look like in the really big and most media takeaway is having to deal even less with the desires of the objectives of foreign governments when we project these weapons overseas so that is a really. very very large potential step which happens right off the bat so ultimately are you saying that this would mean that the us wouldn't need to be as concerned about winning over the hearts and minds of those that we deal with oversee its. well i mean you know we should always be concerned fundamentally with

winning hearts and minds because obviously we're not going to be able to solve this problem in the long term without getting rid of the root causes of things that create the conditions for terrorism poverty injustice inequality lack of opportunity you know tough on terrorism sure but also tough on the causes of terrorism but you know unfortunately this program already is far from winning hearts and minds you know seventy four percent of pakistanis cording to a recent pew poll identify the united states as an enemy fifty percent only fifty percent of pakistanis want humanitarian aid in areas that are affected by militant fighters and terrorist groups and groups like the taliban that's down from seventy two percent in two thousand and nine so already even with the drone deployments as they are it's having a very adverse impact on public opinion and in affected areas like pakistan now if

these aircraft carriers are for drones are put to use what would what happens if you use existing drone bases do you think that one day they're going to be obsolete . you know it's definitely hard to predict you know this technology still in development i think it's likely that there still will be you know probably some drone bases in operation but by that same token if you can reduce the need for these drone bases like as an example ones in afghanistan that we operate in pakistan out of kind of the you know opposite end of that war where we go into pakistan from afghanistan actually with with these drones you know we might there might and i think there will be a real reduction of these bases and that will give us more room to operate with even you know greater flexibility than we even already have now in this program which is a lot when can we expect these carriers to be put to full use so they'll be more

testing this year and the reports and i my co-author and i have heard are two thousand and nineteen. is the date for deployment but you know obviously this is an emerging technology and will see how it goes and resting and it seems technology as always advancing that's not an no exception in the military let me take a look at this lethal if we can pull this this graphic up there it is it's a lethal miniature aerial munitions system called the switchblade looks a lot like a drone the u.s. army is looking at requests from commanders in afghanistan for more of these switch blades so michael could this be could it be that drone technology i mean it's getting a lot bigger and a lot smaller at the same time. well you know it's sometimes it seems like there's like a bowl sort of in the military and defense community to make sure many you know action

scenes in like iron man or something come to fruition and become true in real life but you know i actually think the switchblade is is more of a toxic weapon it's deployed on a much smaller level it is similar technology as far as i understand but i don't think it has the same type of real fundamental strategic effects that the drone program has interesting always coming up coming out with new things technology always advancing and appreciate you shining some light on what could be the tools of the future that was michael brooks producer of the majority report thank you well speaking of drones operating one can win you a prestigious medal of honor this is a distinguished warfare medal it's awarded to troops that operate the remote controlled killing machines far far away from any combat zone it could also be

awarded to those that launch cyber attacks that disable the enemy allow going defense secretary leon panetta made the announcement yesterday and pleased to announce your very formally approved the establishment of the new distinguish were for middle middle provides distinct portman wide recognition for the extraordinary achievements to directly impact on combat operations that the but do not involve physical risks that combat entails. well this new award out ranks the bronze star given to those that perform courageous acts on the battlefield but the question some are asking now is such a medals are for troops that don't actually put their life in danger if anything this proves that as the face of war evolves so does the definition of a successful soldier. president obama's pick for head of the cia is facing major scrutiny in the senate senator rand paul is threatening to hold off confirming john

brennan's nomination until he forks over information about the drone campaign i'm going to hold on john brennan's nomination because he was asked a very specific question by senator wyden can you kill an american with a drone in america and he refused to answer the question he's been asked this in writing and they haven't answered this question and can you imagine if they're not willing to answer this question they actually believe they have the power to a politician to a political office to kill an american in the united states without a trial a libertarian leaning senator also wrote a letter it's a brown and in which he asks dozens of questions about the drone campaign among them quote do you agree with the argument put forth on numerous occasions by the executive branch that it is legal to order the killing of american citizens that is not compelled to explain its reasoning and reaching this conclusion do you believe this is a good precedent for the government to set until that and all his other questions

are answered paul says he will block brennan's confirmation but will this tactic work that is gus i'm joined now by j.d. to chile managing editor for reason twenty four seven welcome there j.d. so rand paul wants answers are they going to get some. well i think we all would like some answers i don't know that he's going to get them i would also like to know if the government thinks they care and simply target people declare them terrorists and kill them or on its own say so we are no the government is the bomb and ministrations trying to have it both ways by saying that it's overseas or targeted killings or book battlefield killings and that due process is being served by executive review of the people that were listed for targeting if that's the rationale that they plan on using domestically and already for a situation that comes up with worse certainly a lot of questions and it's these questions that are threatening to hold up the confirmation of brennan do you think that this is an effective way to to shine

a light on the secret program or at least attempt to well it's a bit of leverage whether it's effective we'll find out but i don't know what else we can do what we have heard so far or through a leaked white paper would seem to bill but also a bit of leverage one of the few things we know that's come out of this administration about drones and this really wasn't deliberately at least it doesn't seem to be by the obama administration because the white house has not been forthcoming about its policy dealing with drones we still don't still don't know if there's anything that approaches a real legal rationale for how to use these drones so be it the brennan administrator is probably the best tool that anybody has right now to get any answers had a public still hasn't seen that legal framework. would you say that brennan has an obligation to make these questions to answer these questions and for these these questions to become public. i said that all government officials of an obligation to tell us if they want to kill us. i mean it seems pretty straightforward in britain has been side to

a lot of what some us would consider to be unsavory things over the years waterboarding and you know yes he has presided over the drone program so do i ask you i think it's fair to ask him to tell us exactly how these drones are being used even though that it's that it seems i do think that he could say that these details some of them at least are classified we certainly could say that that's of the been saying all along but this is a high stakes game people are dying i think we do have a right to ask why they're trying and what's been done a lot of them are worthless in the choosing we're going to be killed brennan of course is credited as the architect of the drone campaign so if anybody knows these answers the answers to these questions it's him right well absolutely it was actually the first ministration official to admit that the drone campaign was actually in use everybody knew it was no open secret it was a person that publicly admitted last year that drones were being used to kill people yes so rand paul he's got several questions thirty just in that letter that

we mentioned earlier which one do you think j.d. is the most urgent what does the public deserve an answer to the most well the big one the whole isn't the you know i think the one that we really have a right to know is whether the administration thinks that drones can be used to mystically. it's a big issue already overseas people as i mentioned people are dying but we certainly should know with the administration thinks that they can use these tools within the united states according to the same rules or any rules that they've been using overseas. president obama he just had a state of the union address he did promise more transparency he said that before do you think that this could the beginning could be the beginning of more transparency within the obama administration and whether the drone campaign. well it'll be a dud start to a new a new trend toward transparency obama has promised transparency started his first ministration that promise however independent groups have raided his administration

rather poorly i'm not going to say this predecessor it was it was a it was a paragon of transparency it still leave out this administration isn't bad about this and i think a leaked memo is not exactly a step in the direction of transparency they did not want this to come out and arresting j.d. appreciate you weighing and that was dating to kelly managing editor for reason twenty four seven there's revenue. well still ahead here on our t.v. the big guy facing off in court versus the little guy the star of monsanto and our lawsuit against small farmers overseen you tell us when we come back. let me let me hear one will let me ask you a question. here on this board is what we have in the bank we have our knives

out. if you do this right it was just a bad thing there to get here in this situation where the united are going to talk about your mail and we. if. you just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old i'm just chillin truth. i'm

a confession i am a total get a friend that i love rap and hip hop is that. he was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the world without you it's place. here's mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that the americans call. i don't know. i'm sorry. here's another one. you know what that is. one featuring the on the liberal

and the courage. to really look at the. you know the liberty of the structures from what you and i should care about because they're a profit driven industry that sells a sensationalistic garbage he calls it breaking news i'm happy martin and we're going to break the set. oh. well it's a case of a giant seed corporation against small farmers monsanto is taking hundreds of farmers to court over accusations they infringe on the companies and they are not messing around monsanto has launched one hundred forty four lawsuits against four hundred ten farmers and fifty six small bit small farm businesses when we call them a seed giant it's no joke monsanto along with two other companies own owns half

more than half of the global seed market meanwhile vernon the hugh ballmer and is one of the soybean farmers fighting against monsanto at the age of seventy six he started off are presenting himself in legal legal proceedings though now he has an intellectual property law firm working pro bono on his behalf. so what kind of case does monsanto have and do these small farmers like vernon hugh bowman stand a chance to discuss i'm joined now by peter corliss who specializes in biotechnology patents as a partner at words and wildman welcome there peter. first off want to ask you how do you patent is seeing it as a seed of course is something that can reproduce so can the original patent owner really continue to control the use of that yes so it's well

established that seeds and other living things such as transgenic mice is another well known example of passable subject matter of living or you know potentially living material that can be patented ok. so next week this case has over to the supreme court where the gentleman that we had the farmer that we mentioned earlier he is taking this the farming giant monsanto so well what will the court consider when tackling this case so the next week's next tuesday the nineteenth it's there and there's the parties of arguments before the court in person court case has been accepted to be considered by the supreme court which is significant i mean that's one of the things that makes this case significant is that the supreme court although more recently has been active in the patent arena is traditionally it's a rare case ever gets a supreme court. so this is just one stage of the proceeding where the parties will

you know have an open discussion with the supreme court justices ok so what makes this case of monsanto versus the farmer is unique among other patent cases. luke you know in general why the supreme court gets involved in a particular case is there there's a question that. they can by being the higher court can at clarity to. to matters and in this case it's an interesting. and just some background you know what's monsanto doing with their business model so they produced these new seeds they met their modified seeds and by the modifications it months and no discovered you plant the seeds and they're resistant to herbicide so when the farmer put the plants are growing you can spray the field and the things that will be left predominantly will be that the soybean crop and the weeds will be gone now

the soybean plant itself produces seeds and they also will carry that herbicide resistant trait so if monsanto had the could only sell the seeds one time in particular the farmers could use the seeds for replanting the growing that in that first crop it would be a viable business model because at some point. price the seeds of such a level it's such an expense to recoup all the research and development costs that the farmers it would be worth it to them to pay that cost they could just take a lower yield crop so the months in a business model on its face is reasonable. for them to go in and make the investment ok so farmers are a month and i was saying if farmers plant these seeds. off for another two days and that right he's also monsanto also has rights to future plans so i mean it when

does it end does monsanto have rights to these plants city's. crops forever for generations not the the position is that the next generation seeds use of those seeds constitutes a patent infringement and absent authorisation by monsanto which authorisation could be a license of the use of the next generation seeds that constitutes an infringement and what is next generation man just the first time it's planted are for all eternity generations from here on forward that's been one of the question i mean right now the facts before the case is on the case are just that next generation see that the next planting. interesting you know the american antitrust institute has months and i was trying to claim rights to the whole feed when it's invention is limited to the gene trade what's your response to that. i'm not

i don't want to see what exactly what their position is but you know it's just a question of patent claim construction or a reading of a pattern right so it's a claims in the months and cover the seed and it's then in their invention would cover the sea. and you had mentioned earlier that this isn't a viable business model for monsanto and other huge corporations like it but monsanto is enormously profitable as we mentioned it's months and i went to other companies that own more than half of the seeds. on the global market so are you saying that these small farmers are are posing a risk come on sandals profits so ok on the business model you know i think you know divorce it from what size company is running the model so for example would it would it be any different analysis if these seeds respon off into a small company and they were doing the same thing so you know the fact is that the

overall size of months out or any other large company and only weighs in on the merits of what's being considered. and you know do the small farmers pose. a challenge to monsanto's financial stability. if it's months and it was only able to sell for an it and one who was running this business of the seed sales if they're only able to sow the seeds one time and all they could charge for the seeds. the limit on the charging the seeds would be. there would be a price point where the farmers would be willing to just take a lower yield. they would. just take a wheat field crop property owner you know some alternative to going with herbicide resistant so there's not an unlimited amount that monsanto or any of

those would be able to charge presumably right i guess i'm having a hard time understanding how this is going to endanger the profit of monsanto when we know that they're enormously profitable and we know that they have quite. a power even on the congressional level in terms of lobbying. so i think that's that's hard for some to put their to wrap their mind minds around especially for these small farmers we just have a few seconds left i'm going to let you have the last word here what's your proposal on how the monsanto should operate their seed business well i'm not i'm not a corporation but i'm on the one asking the questions here mr corliss we're going to have to leave it off there that was the other correlates of a partner at edward the wild men who specializes in biotechnology patents. all speaking of farms in indiana farms in agricultural businesses want to outlaw

videotaping on their property this week a state senate committee sided with the farms to make it legal to take videos or snout photos that can embarrass or harm the farm according to the indy star this after some of the farmers say relief releasing images like the ones on the screen right now have been disastrous for business it's usually a result of journalists or whistleblowers that make public the treatment the mistreatment of animals or inhumane working conditions conditions exposed in documentaries like food inc. there is a new search. just for the operation. of trying to turn over the f.b.i. wants to allow the sale of moved down almost without any label. well that visual proof it would be difficult or impossible to know what really goes on behind closed doors and supporters of the bill like the indiana farm bureau and the indiana manufacturers association say people should take their videos to the police not the

internet. well last week we brought you the story of a german cello soloist alvin gerhardt whose cello was damaged by washington duals airport allegedly by inspectors working for the transportation security administration a guard opened his cello case at chicago o'hare airport to find out his bow valued at twenty thousand dollars had snapped gerhard caught up with r.t. sister company roughly take a listen. emotionally it's what really live for us musicians and both go for it like get a little car and chillers are very nice to receive his cars. to broken also because they don't build them anymore do a few hundred use those old it's almost impossible to replace the t.s.a. has recommended that gerhard file a claim with the agency as a claims apartment management branch but even if he is reimbursed he will have

a very difficult time finding a substitute of that same caliber and we are going to leave it off there but for more of the stories we covered check out our you tube channel youtube dot com slash r t america our web site r t dot com slash usa and you can follow me on twitter as wall so you in a half hour. well a potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast it's expected to hit starting in a few hours from new york to maine we have team coverage of the storm. that we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston properly or today it was very sneaky you can see it start to become much more pattern. line there's still a lot of snow out here a place for snowball fight. jason it is going to be pretty incredible day there and even record snowfall throughout much of it might still be as long as the drug policies of emergency.

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