now i try it on my eyeball and i can see so here you have america you've got this millennial of overdosing on you know prescription opiates from drug manufacturers that are effectively creating pharmaceutical whole cost of american l.s.d. millions of american dark rooms where it was done and now it's meaningless because it doesn't impact our four one k. it does not going to doesn't because this company that sells these opioids is a private company it's one of the largest private companies in america pharmaceutical companies these drugs are available to europeans and to asians and to latin americans and yet somehow they're not overdosing at the same sort of level so there's something unique going on there something happened in that time period so what was that time period from two thousand and fourteen to twenty sixteen something in particular happen there and i don't know what it was but it's worth a study americans kids are seventy percent more likely to die before adulthood than kids in other rich countries to gini coefficient in france is very

small the gap between walls and floors are very small share to america the tradition and family in europe and in france is very strong you know very typically see grandma and the kids and the dog all together they all together on vacations are constantly together family values are very strong in france they don't have the united states you have these unique officials exploding all that income gap exploding you have jeff bezos of a hundred x. billions of dollars and millions and hundred million dollars one hundred fifty million people america living at or below the poverty line in france the youth has an identity that is constantly inculpated in their minds through education and through society and through culture of being part of the tradition of excellence in the arts for example in the u.s. there is no american culture i mean the only american cultural artifact would be jazz you know or something like that of course that's not even the majority of the population is it's a minority of the population so what is there really that america stands for in terms of a cultural or artifact it's about consumption over consumption of. today you have

a winner take all band salary it's a lottery mentality in america either where are your debt and the pharmaceutical companies of course a lobbyist going to washington to change the laws of a possible to peddle whole cost in america and nobody frickin cares because it ever learned the lessons of world war two did they say let's do it again jeff bezos of course over were worth over one hundred billion dollars his company amazon just emerged that one of the top ten companies in america with employees on food stamps and they also get into the pharmaceutical selling business take a big get an opiate drug the liberty home by drone thanks jeff your fricken opiate hole cost provoker well we've got more coming your way after the break stay right there.

here's what people have been saying about rejected in the senate is pull on. the only show i go out of my way to find you know we wanted to really packed a punch and leave yampa is the john oliver of harm to americans do the same thing we are apparently better than the blue. sea people you never heard of love jack tonight president of the world bank very. seriously send us an e-mail you know orders to overthrow the regime it does take popular discontent and popular mobilization but it also requires actors with in the leadership of the regime who feel that the regime is no longer serving the national interest you need people in the military or the bureaucracy for both who are willing to see the regime change otherwise they would be able to put down a popular revolt but did not have support at higher level.

welcome back to the kaiser report imax kaiser time natural turn with tyson slocum he's with a group which calls themselves a public citizens energy program i want to ask you first of all tyson because i am fairly new in washington d.c. now you are a lobbyist or you're a quasi lobbyist what are you exactly well i'm not technically a lobbyist in order to be a lobbyist under a law called the lobbying disclosure act which actually was championed by then speaker newt gingrich back in one thousand nine hundred five you got to spend at least twenty percent of your time. contacting members of congress and executive branch officials i usually spend about ten percent of my time doing that so then i says to public education and awareness and karate and things like that correct so

a street is where lobbyists are is that is that where a lot of the corporate for hire lobbyists are we've got our office up on capitol hill so there's a bunch of my colleagues lobby but you know i recently testified before congress but that doesn't count towards lobbying because when you're invited to publicly testify it's more for public education than private law ok n.s.e. sit down with members of congress and you you know are talking to them about what's going on as you see it and hear sector and hopefully to influence their vote right that's correct in addition to talking to the media and working with grassroots activists you know the there are three main pillars to advocacy media grassroots law where in congress you find that the ear most sympathetic to what you're talking about a senator or congressman who can you name an a.p.

say this guy really is the guy we go to because he's really in sync with what we were thinking about i think senator bernie sanders is a big champion he also is on the senate energy committee. so he's got relevant jurisdiction to energy issues and i'm a big fan of him and his work i actually think that he's a very effective legislator senator maria cantwell who is the ranking member of the senate energy committee i think is also a very effective advocate for families ok we are in washington d.c. you're you know in this industry so to speak what's the scuttlebutt on the straight what the current administration and what it going to twenty eighteen and twenty twenty what what is like trying to come up with some opposition that's going to get some traction not we've seen some big flashy names in the celebrity arena but you know that's not nothing oh here we are in the actual belly of the right so we're kind of trendy see what worth it was an effective pushback against this current administration because it appears as though they're gathering some momentum they're

not collapsing like people thought that they would they're actually gaining some momentum so where were the pushback going to be i actually would challenge that they're gaining some momentum just because they had this tax bill victory i don't think it's a popular measure donald trump remains deeply unpopular he's the most unpopular president in recorded history at this point and it resonates exactly where obama was in his cycle in the white house in terms of popularity versus own popularity and where i live in north carolina it is the only game in town melon district i'm talking about anybody on the other side of the aisle and that's and i drive all over this country georgia alabama tennessee north carolina south carolina they're their trust from country through and through they love them well but in alabama which is probably as as deep trump countries you can get they just elected a democrat for the first time in twenty five years and i think they see that as a seed of a you know every election is different you know roy moore was an insane

candidates but you know the fact of the matter is that trump. didn't really help matters there just want to get more into your. area of energy let's talk pipeline politics the us is that exporting natural gas liquid natural gas russia has just opened a new mammoth l.n.g. liquid natural gas terminal what's happening in this area the natural gas prices are pretty depressed right now there was a time several years ago. where'd l.n.g. prices were extremely high and so the market was very lucrative right now the elegy market is fairly saturated prices are sort of low but countries and and investors understand that there are there's going to be strategic growth here so as natural gas is positioned as more and more the go to fuel in electric power markets

those nations that are positioned to supply natural gas globally are going to be in a good position and so the obama strayhorn was actually fairly supportive of elegy exports they did a number of things unilaterally at the department of energy which is one of the primary agencies that oversees the approval of liquefied natural gas export facilities. the obama straight should actually put into motion the rules that fast track the consideration for these it's also important to remember that coal like natural gas it's cleaner it's cleaner than coal i think that there that would be a positive for trump in for your in your view not necessarily because i think. because at the same time he's also doing things that are very negative for the way drilling in the national parks opening right arctic which are clearly stupid and he is put it in the boldest terms i can it's just frickin stupid right and he's also

proposed a vast expansion of offshore drilling right on the pacific ironic it's ridiculous you know there's a lot of things. with trump where he's and disciplined and a little unfocused and sometimes sloppy in the execution of some of the policies that they're put out only assistant of jim political you know the grand game as it's called something so is it true as i understood from rating various reports that the u.s. affectively is becoming the center of price and energy industry no more are we going to see opec and saudi arabia filling that role in other words the us through this natural gas through the fracking boom that's taken place and they're now to position to be the swing vote. at the price maker the market maker and energy and the price of energy saudi arabia you've got a new regime there who for some reason because he's depriving people of their rights and keeping them in a hotel and threatening to kill them and behead them that's called being

a reformist tally but they are now going to be a vassal more than ever before of the u.s. in terms of energy is what is that it is that's going on yes no it's something there's no question that fracking has fundamentally transformed energy production in the united states and the two thousand and fifteen law change signed by barack obama that ended the forty year ban on export in crude oil and of course we've always been able to export liquefied natural gas that has been a big variable in global markets but i don't think it's the chief variable i think that there's a number of other things that are that are competing here you can never forget about trends and demand one of the big factors going on right now that's sort of keeping a lid on oil prices at around sixty bucks a barrel is the fact that people are really uncertain where the chinese economy is going and the chinese economy was the big reason in the mid two thousand that we

saw this huge increase in global crude oil prices. with an search. mt about demand growth in huge economy like china and even india for that matter that's that's keeping a lid on prices but there is no question that that united states production is a global variable for the first time in an awful long time but i wouldn't i wouldn't assign it the primary economy three opec i mean i mean the seventy's at the petrodollar always came about yet the crisis the energy crisis the seventy's right seventy's had a huge recession the biggest ones the depression and so then the rise of the petro dollar and that quid pro quo of going to let saudis sell us their energy they long as they take their dollars and buy u.s. treasuries with them so they have this quid pro quo they have this this this this relationship going on so is that it seems like that's now out changing the global

relationships are changing a bit because now china as you mentioned is a big big into this mix and middle east is dealing directly with china china's now at odds with the u.s. and. does you work in the energy business as such do you get into how the u.s. dollar as the world reserve currency plays factors into all of this not directly but you know clearly there have been some moves by other countries to price of oil in. currencies other than they do or they've gone hammered whether it's the dollar saying gadhafi who else who a try to break free of the u.s. dollar right i guess i don't see right now another currency you know the euro has taken a big credibility hit so i don't see anything different in the dollar at this point i think a lot of that talk was happening when the euro see a word is a unit china is really threatening to pull out of the dollar as

a way of challenging the trump administration assertion that there may be layers and bad actors in the trade if they go out and dump u.s. treasuries. dollar takes a massive hit energy prices go up pretty dramatically but then that would potentially be good for the environment right it could be us but you know that's like hammering a nail with a sledgehammer you might achieve your goal but you create a lot of collateral damage it's also interesting that the big rumored investor in the potential saudi i.p.o. of its they'd all company is chinese national around funds right so you know whether or not that i.p.o. is actually going to happen i don't know that it will it's clear that i think china is just you know they're aggressive in all of these markets so let me ultimately air lobbying for the environment right and for working families we kind of take an approach of energy policy as sort of economic justice because energy costs

represent a huge chunk of the utility and energy called the consumer family not the work consumers consumers and workers i think. you know when when trump is unveiling the rollback of the b.p. safety rules for offshore drilling that were implemented in the wake of that disaster in two thousand and ten you know that is an environmental issue but it's also a safety issue eleven workers lost their lives on the deepwater horizon rig and so we want to see strong public health public safety and worker protections when it comes to big can't you get this whole idea of green energy being a huge environmental plus a wage boom right right i mean why is that message not is it is it because the corporate i guess you bet rick perry is saying that you know i'm going to i got a protection racket for the energy industry the coal industry so and i've got the president's air so we're not going to let the fact that the green energy revolution

would be great for wages and great for the environment and protect our national parks which is our national assets that we should be protecting. for dear life the fact that these are being raped by energy companies is a travesty beyond words so why can't that message gets through because now you're trying to get the message through what i think works well go what do you need like what do you need what more do you do what other help would be helpful for you to get that message through like i've totally on board of this message you know like what can how can we get this message through to this guy in the white house that he's missing the best financial play of his presidency the biggest you know the art of the deal the best deal ever seen as frick and a life right right global investment is all going to wind up right now slocum it's down the scale you're like oh it gets. let's go there right now that's it for this edition of the kaiser party mass geysers days are over of course i guess. it was

something like a lobbying group if you want to catch us on twitter it's kaiser report the next time i go. there you economic war is unfolding in the realm of education the right to education being supplanted by the right to access education. higher education is becoming just another product that can be pulled from sold but it's not just about education anymore it's also about running a business where you could the models of. could they saw the fruit drink is really couldn't you. want to use the place of students in this business model before college i was born now and i'm extremely bored higher education the new global economic war. something did these green bulletin.

not to be the india company. to be a community of that don't adopt this view was of process as if you twitter is song he had to power that from moscow prides damini to the in the their way to be unsettled communities these posts of. young children have worked in bolivia for generations almost three quarters of a million a doing so today. this culture led to the development of bolivia's new liberal and highly controversial children's code in two thousand and fourteen which gave

children as young as ten the right to work under certain circumstances one does anything this. is only. the. elite but the point that you have in the end all. of the things years. but there are hundreds of thousands of children in bolivia operating completely outside the local. mining work is strictly forbidden by the children but it's never enforced and that means the school boy minus here continues risking their lives for the money they need to survive on.

i. think. turkey starts a full scale military operation against kurdish positions in syria's african region launching airstrikes and cross border shelling but the ground invasion expected to begin sunday. afghan security forces killed two gunmen who launched an attack on

a major hotel in the capital kabul injuring five who were the perpetrators remain at large. second year in office the government is shut down over a funding bill take a look back at the highs and lows of the president's tenure to date. for joining us this hour you're watching r.t. . turkey has begun a military operation on syria's kurdish held region of afrin launching as strikes and cross border shelling with a ground invasion expected sunday and seventy planes conducted sorties with all the aircraft now reported back at base in turkey the campaign which has deemed anti terror has been named operation olive branch tainted ousting kurdish militia from a friend which has been held by them for five years turkish cross border shelling

of the region began friday on his policy has been following developments. at least eight if sixteen's have been firing from the skies while on the ground you have the turkish backed syrian opposition rebels have moved into this enclave that isn't on tape that is controlled by the kurdish militia y.p. g from the ground we're also hearing that the free syrian army has been arriving in buses as well as in trucks that have been fitted out with machine guns we are receiving reports in terms of the civilian situation there and they were you hearing there people have been ordered to retreat into their homes and into shelters but there are reports coming through of people who have been wounded and injured and who are being taken to the local hospital now all of this follows threats over the last three days by the turkish president the one that he was going to launch a ground offensive into africa it was really just a question of when and he said that this was really the only answer to root out

what he has called terrorist elements there take a listen. for an operation has a factory been started on the ground this will be followed by. the promises of not so nobody has a right to say anything. now man page is an area that is mostly arab it is waste of the euphrates and it is the next step in terms of the turkish military's way of dealing with the kurdish militia it is not far from the area that the army has entered now so that is where all eyes are turning for the immediate future. the turkish foreign minister has posted a tweet saying that the country launched the offensive against syrian kurdish militias in order to exercise its right to self-defense did that and results are strictly in keeping with international law we were told to stress the operation doesn't target civilians but it is only to take out terrorist groups or is it is done of broke down the distribution of forces for us and what brought you to syria

in the first place. this is what the situation on the ground in syria looks like right now afrin the region where the turks are carrying out their military operation the area highlighted in green is where the turkey backed rebels are to a certain extent at least they are helping ankara from the ground red the syrian army that is the syrian army guys they don't have any problem with the kurds but they do have a problem with these guys because this is the area of the green aires also the region which harbors. or nusra a terrorist organization and finally here you have a man bridge there it is also it is a city also controlled by the kurds and it could be turkey's game plan erdogan has already said that after he's done with afrin man bitch is next this operation hardly came out of the blue you know the kurds have been historically a major thaw in turkey but what catalyzed things now was the pentagon saying

they're going to create a so-called syrian border force the coalition is working jointly with the syrian democratic forces to establish and train the new syrian border security force currently there are approximately two hundred thirty individuals training in the inaugural class with the goal of a final full size of approximately thirty thousand one very precise description of america's intentions there by that point turkey had had enough ankara beefed up its forces on the syrian border deployed tanks and president erdogan vowed to destroy quote this terrorist force before washington even has a chance to create it u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson tried to do some damage control saying that the situation has been trade misdescribed and that some people misspoke well that was a nearly enough to contain turkey's fury ankara has been keeping the united states in the loop about the operation against washington supposed america which arguably

pitted to. against the kurds has now called on them to focus on the fight with eisele pretty much the same as saying it's every man for himself in this conflict turkey has also notified syria about the action which damascus is not happy about at all russia in its turn has been cautious and called for all parties to pull the punches the main reason behind the developing crisis in this part of syria is the provocative steps taken by the united states which were aimed at isolating areas with predominantly kurdish populations and control deliveries by the pentagon of more than weapons to pro-american formations in northern syria contributed to the rapid escalation of tension in the region and led to special operation by turkish troops loose lips sink ships they say well this time we're looking at a potential all out war done of r.t. . ok let's bring in independent political analyst and glazebrook now for

a bit more analysis on this obviously the situation's well underway in terms of the military campaign dan how do you think this is going to evolve further. well it's very difficult to tell but so far no one has been true to his words i actually have to admit i initially suspected perhaps there would be some cross border shelling but they would not go as far as airstrikes or a ground invasion i was proved wrong so so it does look like the ones determined to go all the way and it really does highlight the dangers of the anglo-american strategy in syria for the last seven years which has been to basically turn syria into a complete free for all for all the you know all the states in the region to sponsor their own proxy militias and get involved in and carry out air strikes was israel turkey u.s. or anyone else really really dangerous situation of course the other thing is there

is a truism isn't it that that defeat breeds division and really what we're seeing now is a total division on the part of those powers who made it their business. to wage a destabilizing war against syria over these past years countries like turkey and the u.s. now seemingly at each other's throats determined to do wipe out each other's militias on the ground proxy militias on the ground. and it the third thing i'd like to say they really does highlight as well the total futility of actually countries like turkey offering themselves up to for the offering services to the empire at this particular point in history when empire that anglo-american initiatives such as this really have nothing to offer countries like turkey turkey immense cost to itself has made itself into the spearhead of this destabilization

regime change strategy against syria on behalf of the british and americans a great cost not just in terms of money but in lives in security and stability and in credibility as well and for what. they are not even consulted on the most basic issues of the u.s. you know it's amazing that the u.s. is in the past week managed to not completely betray both its rival allies in this in this conflict first but betrayal of turkey announcing this border security force made up primarily of kurds without any consultation with turkey and then as soon as you make make an issue of it immediately drop the kurds altogether and sail with nothing to do with them and basically give turkey a free hand to slaughter them so you know just betrayals left right and center and i do hope you know that the rest of the world really is paying attention that there is absolutely nothing to be gained from offering yourself up to carry out the bidding of empire turkeys is learning the very very hard way right now and

so are the kurds actually then you talked about the kurds being an american ally or the other they were whether they still are not i'm not i'm not quite sure but if you got to attacking what was an american ally should not you know but should the us then be obligated to come in and protect their ally or is their relationship strained beyond that now. well you might have thought so and perhaps the kurds my thought so. i would suspect that the kurds are a little wiser than that and would have expected anything from the us you know they've they've and i and i hope that the kurds have reached a point where they're now in the y.p. to reach the point where the thinking perhaps they've you know milked the us for going to get in terms of weapons and training and maybe it's time to now follow through on the regular threats actually that they make to the us to ditch them altogether.