tonight, on "world focus." >> renew t we knew the world's was fragile, but today another shoe dropped. this one in europe. how far will the damage spread. in afghanistan, nato commanders are on the verge of another major attack. but first, president obama ordered more troops there last fall. and more fallout from that american air strike last september which killed dozens of afghan civilians. new evidence on what went wrong. and finally tonight -- let it snow is the cry being heard around the japanese city of saporu as they turn out to behold the city of ice. >> from the different perspectives of reporters and analysts around the globe, in is "world focus." major support is being provided by roslyn p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation,

dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters. good evening, welcome to "world focus." i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. in the last few months, you've heard the warnings about the economy. we are not out of the woods just yet. and today there was a reminder of how fragile the world's economy remains. the problem has to do with deficits, specifically those of greece, portugal, and spain. they belong to a group of countries that are known as the euro zone, that is they use the euro as their currency. in the past 24 hours, it's become clear those countries are so troubled their woes could not only impact the rest of europe, but reach american shores. in tonight's fleet focus, we want to help you make sense of

it all, beginning with this report from germany's deutsche belle. the changing of the guard outside of the greek parliament is a long-standing tradition in athens. the guards are known for their iron discipline, the virtue many feel greek lawmakers could learn from. the country had huge debts and is on the verge of bankruptcy. analysts say this could spell disaster for the euro zone. >> if a country in the eurozone goes bankrupt, that might trigger speculation which means other deeply indebted countries would have to push to bankruptcy. they may have to pay considerably more on the bond markets. it could be possible to sell bonds and in an extreme case, that could lead to bankruptcy. >> aside from greece with the budget deficit of nearly 13%, spain and portugal could be

under threat with 12% and 8% deficits respectively. so, the fear is that greece's debts could trigger a domino effect in the euro zone. could german and french taxpayers be called in to pay off the debts and save the euro? >> from the economic viewpoint, it could indeed be sensible for the long-term sensibility for the euro to consider whether it's wise to leave each country to its own devices. >> that would mean greece would have to stop financing public building projects or propping up the inflated bureaucracy by running up more debts. but many europeans believe that won't happen and are wondering whether countries like greece should be excluded from the euro club. greece says it's well aware the situation is serious and has vowed to get the budget crisis under control. greek officials also field that the worries surrounding the euro is exaggerated and reject the

need for outside intervepgs. >> we don't need someone to come in and save us, we know we're responsible for cleaning up our own finances. the crisis is an opportunity for us to better introduce a tax system, one that taxes high earners sensibly. we're not a poor country. the public finances are in a poor state. >> it seems it's time for greece to exercise fiscal discipline, otherwise it could find itself in trouble with the neighbors. >> the lawmakers in portugal received a plan to cut government spending opting to increase that country's debt. the move is expected to further unsettle world financial markets. now for the person we turn to when we want to understand the world's economy, he's marcus mabry, the editor of ""the new york times."" welcome back to the program. nice to see you. >> good to be here. >> explain to us why greece and

spain defaulting on their debt will affect other countries, not just in europe, but the worldwide economy. >> the fear here -- the markets react to fear. there's not a reality of default. but the fear is both countries are highly leveraged. greece, they spent too much. social spending is too generous, the debt is too large in the case of spain, there was a huge housing bubble as we had here in the u.s. that deflated as well as other public social spending costs. that's created a debt problem there. portugal a similar situation. so you have a division between what they are calling the core economies in europe, france, germany and the economies are in much weaker states. and there's bonds and other issued debt. it would create a massive

knock-on effect that would spread not just throughout europe but potentially around the globe. >> the u.s. is benefitting from this. the dollar itself is strengthening as investors flee to safer currencies, the dollar is considered a safe currency, a safe haven investment. the dollar usually benefit from it. so that's a positive for the dollar. but long term, the united states -- we're talking about debt bombs. that's what we're calling these things, debt bombs, ticking time bombs of debt. the united states has a huge debt and it's growing. this year it will reach according to the obama administration's own estimate, $1.6 trillion. that is a huge debt. now, the u.s. wants to bring that down over time. the administration projects to cut that in half in the next decade, but can they do that? that's the question. no country can sustain this kind of debt. >> if these countries, greece

and spain are going bankrupt, is the damage being confined to europe. will the ramifications be in europe? >> you don't have to go to bankruptcy. you can go to the point where the markets have faith and the debt issued by the countries. the short term problem in europe would be almost certainly france and germany would have to bail out in greece. now, if it were to get to a spanish default threat, that's a much bigger economy. much larger than greece and portugal together, actually. that becomes a bigger problem. you might have to turn to imf bailout, which is scary for a developed industrialized nation. what this really shows if we look across the globe is asia -- we have much less debt. china, for instance, is paying down retiring some of its debt. you look at asia which is so -- doesn't have this debt problem in the west which does, and you can see another example of how asia's economic might is going to grow. and how the west is going to continue to decline.

>> all right. marcus mabry, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> that brings us to tonight's "how you see it." our question -- when countries get themselves in economic country, should the rest of the world bail them out? you can tell us what you think by visiting the "how you see it" section of our old website, that's at "world focus.org." in japan, the president of toyota apologized to the problem that led to the recall of more than 9 million cars worldwide. acknowledging that many customers are wondering whether their cars are okay. toyota schaffer kia vowed to do whatever it takes to regain the trust of customers, end quote. he refused to say specifically what the company plans to do about an alleged brake problem in some makes of the toyota prius. the latest toyota model to come in to fire. from a lot of you in response to yesterday's "how you

see it" question, when we asked whether you would still buy a toyota for all of the bad news. in our admittingly unscientific poll, it was mostly good news for the japanese car maker. anthony wrote, of course i would purchase a toyota. they would fix the problem and go on to making terrific cars. and joe told us, i have three toyotas and wouldn't buy another brand. he went on to add, this recall is overblown. nato commanders are on the verge of signaling they're launching the first major offensive in afghanistan since president obama ordered more american troops there last year. some 15,000 u.s., british, and afghan troops are expected to take part in the operation in

helmand province. as we found in this report found late last night, the british are bracing for more casualties in a war that's already proved unpopular. >> reporter: this was operation panther's claw, the british offensive in helmand last summer which left so many soldiers dead that it sparked new debate on whether the cost was worth it. today the minister of defense braced for a new offensive which when it begins will be called operation mashtarak which means together in pashtun. in troop numbers, it will be double the size of panther's claw and british commanders say their forces will play a central role. the maod says the operation is high risk. the subtext -- prepare for more casualties. today, turo cathedral saw captain daniel reed lay to rest. a 31-year-old bomb disposal expert with the royal logistics

core in helmand. it was a bomb that killed him, such accounting for all six british deaths in the last three weeks. the new offensive centers on the town of marja in helmand and up to 15,000 british, american, and afghan troops are expected to take on the taliban there. it believes it area shelters between 600 and 1500 militants, including 150 foreigners. >> the afghan national forces and isap are preparing a major operation in central helmand that will further separate the insurgents from the population and enable the afghan government to deliver proper governments and offer the alternatives. >> last friday, british and afghan troops killedlthree insurgents in the town of lashkaga. they insisted afghan troops will play a greater role in the new

offensive than ever before and there's a new emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties. some taliban fighters could split across the pakistani border. >> that was jonathan ruddman for icn. we want to bring you an update on a story we first reported last september. it's about the major air strike in the northern afghan province of kunduz which killed 14 eed 1 people, many said to be civilians. as you recall, an american fighter jet struck after being called in by the german commanders on the ground. serious questions are being raised about the conduct of those commanders. we're in afghanistan. >> reporter: american pilots call it "doing kinetic," the moment they release the bombs or rockets on the target. this strike ordered by a german commander on the ground killed up to 142 people, many of them civilians.

it was their area of operations in the north of afghanistan. the political repercussions are being felt in berlin today. this cockpit video was taken from two f-15s above the site last september. the voices of the pilots have been removed, yet one of them has revealed more damaging details to nato investigators. known only by the nickname, "dude 15," he told them -- "i had an uneasy feeling about everything." both of us could tell the ground commander was really pushing to go kinetic. the bombing took place after the taliban hijacked two tanker trucks full of fuel. they got stuck trying to cross the kunduz river. civilians gathered on the sand bank to help themselves to the gasoline. the pilots repeatedly suggested they fly low overhead to

froigten them away. but this answer came back from the german commanders on the ground. negative, i want you to strike directly. but the german commanders had withheld vital information from the american f-15 pilots, which had they known might have led them to refuse to drop their deadly payload. a classified nato report to the incident said that the german army knew by the time of the bombing one of the drivers of the hijacked tankers was still alive and at the scene. but many more civilians were actually at the site. they came from the village of oamahile. when al jazeera returned there this week, we saw these full of orphans and despair. my brothers went there. we heard the bombs. i lost them. the taliban took our tractor and forced us to go with them. i lost my brother, my cousins. a new tactical directive issued

shortly before the attack gave the so-called joint terminal attract controllers who direct the aircraft to the position new rules to limit civilian kapp casualties. the directive was clearly ignored by the german commanders. this leaked assessment signed by the commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan, general stanley mcchrystal was sent to robert gates on august 30, just four days before the attack. the general writes -- "we run the risk hofstra teenlgic defeat by pursuing tactical wins that cause civilian casualties or unnecessary political damage. the insurgents cannot defeat us militarily, but we can defeat ourselves." late in the document he says, "a revised tactical directive was issued to all troops in theater on the 1 of july, 2009 which clearly described how and when lethal force should be used.

"after his trip to saudi arabia, president karzai is attending a security conference in germany. the latest revelations could add to the shock to the country about the c casualties caused by what their chancellor still describes as a humanitarian mission. david schaffer, al jazeera, kabul. unfortunately for iraqis, it's a program that's become all too common. shia images in an effort to ignite sectarian violence. today, it happened yet again. two car bombs tore through a crowd of shiite pilgrims headed to the holy city of karbala. the attack happened in village heights with tens of thousands of worshippers on the street. at least 40 people were killed in more than 150 were wounded. it was the third such bombing this week.

the story about strikes to one about peace. in an agreement that's being hailed as a breakthrough british and irish leaders have announced they have reached a deal that would allow northern ireland, catholic and protestant sanctions to take over security in the region by early april. the pact is considered essential to security and peace in northern ireland following 40 years of sectarian strife known as the trouble. time for the weekly roundtable. in looking back over the past week, there was one subject in particular that grabbed our attention -- the increasingly rocky relationship between the united states and china. in one short week, a series of issues came between the two-countries,t! an american a sales deal to taiwan, a proposed

white house visit to the dalai lama, and a disagreement over trade. to talk about all of this, we're join bid two world focus regs, david andleman, editor of the world policy journal, and ann bremer, the president of eurasia group. welcome back to the round table. good to see both of you again. so we've had these recent -- numerous insight -- recent bobbed, harsh exchanges. what's behind the administration's toughest stance towards china? and also why is china being increasingly vocal in criticizing the united states on all of these issues all at once, david? >> it has been a process. no question about that. china and the united states kind of jockeying in a sense although not positioned that way, is who's going to be the next great superpower. and, you know, each one has its own agenda. often they're conflicting agendas. in this case, in this week, they

have a confluence, which i suspect is somewhat coincidental they all came together in one week. but nevertheless, each one is a subject that each country has important stands that differ dramatically to the other. >> do you see the ground shifting here? has there been a change -- a shift in the administration's position towards china. there was a recent statement quote in the press by one of the high-ranking white house officials saying that the united states is bent towards a new relationship with a rising china? >> interestingly, i don't think there was a change yet in the administration's policy towards china. but i think one is coming. where there have been a change, two changes. first of all, the chinese behavior towards the united states, they killed the copenhagen agreement by themselves, refused to allow, for example, any discussion of emissions standards, even voluntary from the states and showed a lot of symbolic disdain

diplomatically toward the united states you would not see from china. we've seen assertiveness from china on currency, trade, cybersecurity, google, on taiwan, dalai lama. we knew about taiwan and the dalai lama that we knew about for months. that's the first thing. the second thing is the united states is going to politicize this relationship from the bottom up. the fact is that you have 10% unemployment in this country. you have 10% growth in china. those two things do not play well together. so there's a consequence the obama administration is going to be forced to take a tougher line. you're going to hear it in congress, the media, from labor in the united states. >> do you think there's anything different today than there was say for example a year ago or even two years ago in terms of the u.s.' position towards china. >> i think there's certainly a difference in the relationship between the two-countries between today and a year or two

years ago. china was buying tremendous quantities, now holds tremendous quantities of american debt. that's vital importance to understand. the other thing that's happening now is that america is trying desperately to come out of the recession it's in right now. and some of that will be trade, inevitably. and what obama said in the state of the union address which i thought was very interesting and not really well picked up)e the idea of doubling america's exports. well, that's got to be a degr degree -- probably a large degree at the expense of china. china has to be sensitive to that. that also plays in to the entire equation. >> you were at davos at the world economic forum recently, was there any resolve the economic relationship and strains in terms of making progress towards the currency issue trying to resolve that anytime soon? >> the chinese officials i spoke to were very clear. they said stable chinese currency is good when the dollar

is weak, it's good when the dollar is strong. they're going to continue with that. there's no question that the largest chinese delegation we've seen in davos is just a few people. we're not going to have a lot of meeting time at davos that didn't happen. so i think what we do see in china. david's very much right about this. they do not believe that the american model going forward is going to support them for lots of reasons. and as a consequence, they know they have to get themselves away from an export-driven economy. they are completely consistent on this. they're going to move very, very fast. 36%, 37% of the chinese economy is consumption. everybody said they want to move that to 50% within five years. that means the united states becomes less indispensable for china. >> the chinese market is vital importance to him and will continue to grow. >> if china revalued its currency, would it help the u.s. economy?

>> anything would help presumably. and i've heard reports that they could revalue by 5% or so this year. that will certainly help. that will move in the right direction. but that would not be the only motive for china to do that. and not really driven right now by any sense of how this would play in the united states or with the united states. there's much more worried about their own domestic and international agenda of which the united states is only one component. >> some of the west called china's increasing assertiveness triumphali triumphalism. is that a strong word? >> i think the chinese do want to have a good relationship with the united states, actually. i think they want to have a green economy. i think there are a lot of things that the chinese would like to have. it' not the top priority. the top priority is growth and political stability that is sustainable within the system. and the fact is that those priorities are increasingly heading directly at speeding train u.s. national and economic

security interests. these are becoming increasingly zero. some, the chinese economic model is one that's incompatible at many levels of with the united states economic model. you won't have access to free consumer markets, labor markets, capital markets it way mult multinationals have for the past decade. when the chinese no longer need american foreign dollars for investment, all they want is technology, the fundamental basis of this relationship is no longer there. so you have american officials saying we need a new relationship, they're coming to terms with that. >> at the same time, they want respect. the chinese want respect. above all, they want respect from the largest power in the world other than china. that's what they're trying to -- they're almost begging for that sometimes and sometimes it gets a bit strident but i think respect is what they're seeking. >> thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having us.

lions and tigers and bear, oh my. that's what you might be left saying after you see our next story. no, this is not the land of oz -- but a place that's just about as surreal. welcome to the annual sapuro snow festival, one of japan's largest winter events. for seven days each february, the northern japanese city is transformed to a true winter wonderland featuring block after block of sculptures in snow and ice. it has its own emerald city, in this case, a replica of one of europe's most famous cathedrals towering some eight stories high. and by the way, we check the forecast for suporu. the weather is perfect. they seem to think so. even more snow is on the way with the low of 6 degrees. that's world focus for this week. don't forget, you can always join us on-line at our website

at worldfocus.org. for everyone here, i'm daljit dhaliwal. see you here at the same time on monday. have a great weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> major support is provided by roz land p. walter. and dedicated to fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenge facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following sur i supporters.