is trying to undermine egypt's role since egypt hasn't had much of a role in the last few years. so the question is can it play a role regionally, what factors do you see that might actually cause it to be able to overcome this domestic turmoil and play a role regionally? if israel attacks gaza again and kills a lot of palestinians, will there be pressure to do something about the peace treaty? if israel attacks iran, will there be pressure to do something about the peace trity, or can we expect this year it's israel focused and desperately trying to get its affairs in order? >> no, i think it's going to be a little bit of both. i think on the one hand it's true that egypt is much more internally focused, and the fact that the recent peace talks if that's what they're called are taking place in jordan tells you something about diminishing egyptian weight which as you point out is nothing new. so i think it's going to take some time. i think for now is main power egypt has is a negative form of power, sort of the power of the weak as people used to describe as it comes to the pale

is not going to go forward with egypt versus egypt mentality. i am islamist, you are a secular guy. we have to argue about ideology as well someone is lying down on the floor because he cannot afford going to the hospital to get his broken leg fixed. so, economy is very critical. and going to the transition of democracy has been obviously a pain. it is not easy. this country is recovering from 60 years of military rule. it will be very hard, we will see a lot of challenges in the next few years. i think technology can play a role in spreading the awareness and getting more people in power, the movement have -- we have created. now we are building a system where we can organize or work together and make sure that everyone is quite well informed. the activities happen. we announce them online and so on. as well as an education, there is a huge space that technology can play. that is seen egypt to recover from the military rule, which will not happen before they leave the politics and go back to their main job which is protecting the country. >> je

the americans were in egypt promoting democracy and human rights. those were the values celebrated by the crowds of young people last year who overthrew president mubarak. but in the election that followed, it was not the young protesters who won. islamists took nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliament, the muslim brotherhood alone got almost half. if the military government hands over power, will the islamists try to impose strict muslim law? we have a special report today frm kate seelye, aongtime correspondent in the middle east, now vice president of the middle east institute, in washington, a non-partisan educational foundation. >> reporter: on the outskirts of cairo, members and supporters of egypt's muslim brotherhood celebrate the start of a new political era. with nearly half the seats in parliament, the party is set to wield significant influence in egypt. newly elected deputy azza al jarf calls egypt's first free election in decades historic. the brotherhood has been waiting a long time for this moment. formed in 1928 to promote i

citizens who traveled to egypt to help egypt, to help egypt embrace democracy, to help egypt have an elected government and enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy here and the success that we have enjoyed here having a democratic government, they're being prevented from leaving egypt. some of these pro-democracy workers are now seeking refuge in the u.s. embassy, this is a tragedy, this is something that we should it make and unequivocal statement about. does egypt wish to be part of the civilized world? or do they wish descend into the lawlessness of the third world? now, some argue that we don't need these provisions, that there are already provisions in place to prevent egypt from getting aid. apparently, the egypt shans aren't listening. the amendment that propose will end all aid to egypt. economic aid and military aid. we give over $1.5 billion to egypt every year and we cannot continue to give aid to a country that is detaining illegally our u.s. citizens. now, some have said that the provisions that we already have take care of this, there's a couple of problems, the egyptians aren

egypt shook. while tutankhamun's predecessor was creating a terrifying political and religious situation on the one hand, on the other he was able to infuse egyptian art with a revolutionary human rmth. akhenaten's ideas were strong enough to echo down through the next few kings. tutankhamun's reign, shortly thereafter, was to bear witness to this great flowering of artistic achievement. while there were many tombs larger than his, filled with vast arrays of objects, it has been argued that no tomb--other than akhenaten's-- would have contained objects of a higher creative quality than tutankhamun's. howard carter had this to say about the art found in tutankhamun's tomb: howard carter: "among the immense quantities of material "in tutankhamun's tomb-- as also exhibited "in the beautiful reliefs of his reign "in the great colonnade of the temple of luxor-- "we find extreme delicacy of style, "together with character of the utmost refinement. "in the case of a painted scene, vase, or statue, "the p

police into something very odd is happening in egypt. the united states the administration has been among the first governments still support the uprising last year almost one year of now those uprising have begun with youth women secular groups and then soon enough you had islamist forces of course the been part of it in two elections after now there's a majority in the phantom of egypt of muslim brotherhood and their allies the salafist the democracy agency which are funded by the us congress government have been raided ten days ago two weeks ago raided by the government which is which has been basically the result of this revolution and then a leader one of the leaders of the democracy agency the i.s.i. mr know who would sound or who does son of the secretary for transportation is now banned from leaving egypt so there is a serious crisis between the administration and and egypt today. coming under scrutiny are these and visiting egypt what are they suspected of. no charges i mean those n.g.o.s have been in egypt since two thousand an

when it comes to egypt, the first strike that took place in egypt, the general strike, was in april 2008, and the young egyptian activists were supporting it online, so first, in united a lot of egyptians, and this has a very strong impact. when people are scared and have this fear, speaking up even online is something that would definitely help, and the second is that it is such a great collaboration tool. to know the feedback of thousands of people, days, not months to get this done. it can be a matter of a few minutes, so that was before the revolution. it started on the 14th online. it was taken by many people. the january 25 protest happened on the streets, and i say that because people kept sharing and commenting about the regime, we still would have had the regime -- if they had not been doing that. a communication tool in the revolution. >> so what happens then? and i am going to jump around. what happens with this uprising when the government shuts down this access to social media? >> they started shutting down the access to social media, and then they ended up shutting down the

on the more than billion dollars in aid we send egypt. well, now egypt has to comply with those pro-reform conditions and that's why the state department, the obama administration, everybody is saying look, if egypt doesn't comply, if they continue to investigate these americans, prevent them from leaving the country that aid is on the line. scott? >> pelley: knorr, a thanks very much. the president, as you know, has been trying to force iran to give up its nuclear weapons program. today the white house said that it's tightening the economic sanctions against one of iran's banks and freezing all assets owned in the u.s. by iran's central bank. in the presidential campaign, mitt romney's big win in nevada on saturday has given him a widening lead in the delegate race. he now has 94. newt gingrich is way back with 30. both are still far from the 1,144 needed for the nomination. jan crawford is in colorado where the republicans will be caucusing tomorrow. jan? >> reporter: well, good evening, scott. with that landslide victory in nevada, rom

i visited egypt in '96 when mubarak was the president. it's a very different egypt today.er, if you notice the youth that started that movement, incredible and overthrew a dictator, they don't want entire separation of mosque and state which is in our first amendment. they're a very different country, a very different culture. so what works and is best, as i said earlier, for the united states entirely may not be in 100% of the best interests of the egyptian people. this is their country, their government, and they need to form their constitution, not just copy ours. megyn: you know, there's a piece out there, lars, i think it's from liberty council that talks about how they believe that this is, they find it distressing, and they talk about how she's entrusted with a duty to interpret the constitution, so it's unacceptable for her to, quote, fail to respect the authority of that document. did she fail to respect it authority by this comment? >> yes. she did fail to respect its authority in saying it is not a good model for today's world and instead pointing to a constitut

could cut off aid to egypt. fox's anna coyman has the new edge on this one. >> reporter: 19 americans and at least two dozen people are set to go to trial in egypt. one person is the son of transportation secretary ray lahood. sam lahood works for a nonprofit that promotes democracy abroad. egyptian officials say the accused used foreign funds to fuel unrest and upraising. the state department spokesperson says officials are trying to understand the charges issuing this statement. "we are deeply concerned by these reports and are seeking clarification from the government of egypt but washington is already threatening action. they want to hold back the $1.5 billion promised to egypt this year. >> they will have to be back home soon. otherwise this is going to be transformed into a long term crisis between washington and cairo and i don't think it's in the interest, neither of the government in egypt nor our administration for this crisis to last more than three to four weeks of. >> reporter: egypt's foreign minis

and egypt. the egyptian government barring the exit of six americans, one of whom is the son of ray lahood, sam lahood. he is the director of a nonprofit, nongovernment agency that is working in egypt. as a way to remind you what the "new york times" wrote about on january the 28th, building tensions between the u.s. and egypt flashed in the open when cairo confirmed that it had barred at least a half dozen americans from leaving the country and the obama administration threatening explicitly to withhold annual aid to the egyptian military. ray lahood, who was on capitol hill discussing the transportation department budget, was asked about all this and the status of his son, sam. questions from senator conrad of north dakota and jeff sessions of alabama. >> i want to welcome everyone to the senate budget committee this morning. our hearing today will focus on the president's transportation budget requests. our witness is the secretary of transportation, ray lahood. this is secretary lahood's thi

and the recent events in egypt are particularly alarming. the attacks against civil society in egypt including american organizations like ndia, or ria, the international cent r for journalists and clearing house are disturbing. yesterday's prosecutions are frankly a slap in the face to americans who have supported egypt for decades and to egyptian individuals who have put their futures on the line for a more democratic egypt. right now it appear that some people are engaging in a dangerous game. i have traveled to egypt three times now since the events of last year, the revolution, and it is of particular concern to see things moving in this direction, the challenge in front of egypt is mainly a economic challenge, they have burned through much of their treasury reserves, from some $40 billion to 42 billion they have gone down to 20, burning perhaps a bill to-- a billion to a bill a half in a month. they will have to turn their economy around and to do that they have to reattract the investors, the business people who helped to create an ec

egypt's streets and squares were alive with running crowds once again a year after president mubarak was forced from power. people here are calling the military council to step down immediately saying they're blocking reforms in the country more from tahrir square just ahead. more pressure is called on the syrian regime as you know it's a new resolution blaming it lands at the u.n. general assembly we'll have live on syria shortly here on r.t. . and greek lawmakers further to brussels with more cuts in exchange for pain of cash while people vent their frustration on the streets of athens our top stories this hour. international news and comment live from moscow this is twenty four hours a day egyptians are staging a general strike in a day of civil disobedience to mark the first anniversary of the toppling of former leader hosni mubarak they're calling for the military rulers to step down immediately accusing them of hindering reform well he's only going to school reports from the iconic on his square. if you ask those people they will tell you that really nothing has really been sne

if i understood your question correctly we're talking about voices within egypt that are in egypt it was always a pro opposed to american aid to the country. oh that are opposed to the american aid to the country certainly there are many i think it is who are opposed to american aid because they see it as interventionism in an attempt by america to push forward its agenda within egypt and i think that these kinds of anti-american sentiments are once again being encouraged both by the military by the supreme council of the armed forces and by the muslim brotherhood each for their own reason so certainly there are those in egypt who oppose american aid they see it as a threat and i wouldn't be surprised if the united states itself decides to cancel its one point three one point four billion dollar aid to egypt in the near future especially in light of the fact that some nineteen american nationals are now under egyptian arrest have been barred from leaving the country so i wouldn't be surprised if we see this come to an end in the near future all right yeah a reporter for the jerusalem

do you have conversations with egypt? i am trying to understand what we do. >> kennedy did that with crews khef when they were cuba. you do talk to people. i am looking at what we've been doing for 30, to 40 years. how many billions of dollars to egypt. finally the people got restless with the dictator we had propped up there. now in israel, it hurts israel now the conditions are breaking down in that area. now, we're saying, we're going to put sanctions on iran. who is it going to literate hurt? our allies and eastern europe. it makes no sense whatsoever we think we can continue to do this spend this money. george bush in 1970 ran on a program of humble foreign policy and don't be the policemen of the world. and republicans had him. all i'm doing is what george bush talks about in the year 2000, what the founders talked about and what the constitution authorizes. >> greta: how we got there. i'm trying to think how we get out of our problems and what to we do with the existing problems. are you saying that the sanctions,

egypt's deputy health minister has called the event the biggest disaster in egypt if soccer history. it is possible the death, a -- the death toll is so high because the police force has been so visible. the was a game played in the egyptian premier game at the same time. when news of the clash reached the stadium, the referees suspended the game. supporters there also started to cause trouble. a riot began in the stadium. it is a sobering turn of events. football is of huge importance to many people. the future had been starting to look brighter after recent landmark elections. bbc news. >> we would get the latest on this later in the program. the pakistani government has responded furiously to a secret nato report which alleges the country is directly supporting the telegram in afghanistan. the speculation is not new. pakistan's foreign minister called the charges of old wine in an even older bottle. however, the caliban is confident they will regain strength. >> us pakistan's foreign minister was greeted in the depths of the cobble winter for parks, news came which threatened to p

a lot of common interests egypt is. consumed by its own revolution and as long as it doesn't pose a threat to us i think israel is taking a very careful distance and turkey. to cut a straw figure foreign policy towards one of the emerging powers in limited three new as far as syria goes what is the best outcome for israel and why did the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu wants everything to change in syria if that would mean also i could mean another islamic state on the border i don't think israel came there. have an impact on the outcome of any regime change that is underway anyway. so to ignore the fact that there is a regime change in the making in syria would be. unacceptable but at the same time we need to be very careful not to expedite it is there any way that it will cut the cord and i would break the military invasion of crimea qatar headquarters and what would such an invasion mean for israel and for the region i can hardly see the arab world rigid minting around one force that is prepared to walk int

outtrades in egypt -- protestors take to the streets, berlin -- outrage in egypt -- protesters take to the streets. the political crisis intensifies in pakistan as a supreme court decides to charge the prime minister with contempt. nearly 200 years after charles dickens' birth, there is new evidence that his famous characters were inspired close to home. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and also around the globe. egypt's parliament is in emergency session. protesters are on the streets. the country is tense tonight all because of a football match that went very wrong. in the aftermath of the worst football riots in egypt's history, egyptians today are demanding answers. how could 74 people have been killed? why wasn't more done to stop the violence? once again, they took their anger to tahrir square in cairo. we have this report. >> in the streets of cairo this afternoon, they already have their own theory. these football fans are convinced the attack was planned and organized by egypt's security forces. >> i think it was done from the old regime. they stole the money from the

egypt's people have played a high price to leave in a new country but despite all the sacrifices the shadow of the old regime still looms large during mubarak thirty years of mubarak's rule to meet a number of people try them under military tribunals where one to two thousand now you know within about ten months or eleven miles we have twelve thousand which is of course a humongous number for a country ruled by the military the supreme council of the armed forces all cash that's no surprise but surprisingly enough those discomforted over from who'd previously run the country are not themselves before military tribunals nor for. suspected killers. thought. to be simply a court system. or the ordinary people there may be. medical records this is a symbol and this is in the. hasty with new proper investigation usually with no lawyer and behind closed doors and with no right of appeal human rights activists complain military trials provide no justice and violate human rights you know you have a nineteen year old getting a twenty five year old son to your centers because he has a box of m

sort of economic systems any time you've seen them when we've discussed previously the examples of egypt and tunisia what they and you know the they come under the pretext of being good for the economy being good for the national greatness of the nation or they always find nice sounding pretext for why these just these interventions into the market economy are justified however the real consequences of it is always that it ends up either benefiting the status quo benefiting the people who are in charge now no this isn't this is the real problem with this is not just that it's not fair the real problem with it is that it's very destructive economically because what it means is that you keep the productive companies and the unproductive firms and industries you keep them alive and they continue to survive sucking up valuable resources that would be used otherwise in society and channeling these resources capital land that labor office space the computing power all of that stuff they channel it into unproductive uses of capital and the result of that the product that they produce is somethi

they had the funding from president of egypt the last regime. next government which will receive the funding from the united states and international community is going to tell the ministry no more ngo's. those that are going to form the government are the muslim government. they don't want to see the ngo's for the simple reason. those agencies would be training the next generation that would rise again and do through them what has been done before must be rack. >> we have been talking for ten months the whole thing blew up in the middle east. you kind of telegraphed it. we should be on the lookout for this thing. when this country sees the democracy may not be what they want. >> absolutely. what they hawe discussed on thes when a dictator goes down it doesn't mean necessarily the next government is going to be the next government. the next will be controlled the forces. those who started the democratic forces are not the ones forming the government. they are not in charge in egypt now it is the muslim brotherhood. >> the best chance of getting

in the revolt in egypt so called to do it. as a result of that and instead what we see now that useless network should be the muslim brotherhood or the salafist the result of the arab spring in egypt is not going to be immediately a secular democracy we're going to they're going to go through a an era of islamic fundamentalism while to get a better understanding of this reaction g.m. hospice gives us a little history and perspective about groups created under the guise of democracy promotion. this is what u.s. backed regime change used to look like back in the days in a bid to ensure u.s. political and economic interests were safeguarded cia backed coup d'etat was announced a democratically elected leaders from home and most adept in iran to salvador allende in chile. in their place all too often brutal dictatorships and governments that committed heinous crimes against their people. by the one nine hundred eighty s. the reign of terror that blazed across latin america by washington tench mn was too much for most people to sto

and muslim sheik has called for egypt to donate money. others have made dark hints about what the human rights organizations were really up to. >> maybe they had their own hidden agenda for their country's interests. this is a common theme. >> maybe with this court case, egypt is reasserting its independence or maybe it is just a way of using fear of foreigners to detract from some very homemade problems. >> we did not see the anti sentiment in tahrir square and now it is read as head in egypt. the fight in homs has continued for four weeks. a syrian official said that they would "cleanse" the area. is there anything that the regional players can do to stop it? i am joined by a senior fellow at the washington institute for near east policy. thank you for joining us. this language that is being used in syria of cleansing homs of rebel elements. we have heard that kind of language used before, for example by the serbians. what does that say to you will happen here? >> if they did this, this would suggest a new level of violence and crack do

egypt's deputy health minister has called the event the biggest disaster in egypt if soccer history. it is possible the death, a -- the death toll is so high because the police force has been so visible. the was a game played in the egyptian premier game at the same time. when news of the clash reached the stadium, the referees suspended the game. supporters there also started to cause trouble. a riot began in the stadium. it is a sobering turn of events. football is of huge importance to many people. the future had been starting to look brighter after recent landmark elections. bbc news. >> we would get the latest on this later in the program. the pakistani government has responded furiously to a secret nato report which alleges the country is directly supporting the telegram in afghanistan. the speculation is not new. pakistan's foreign minister called the charges of old wine in an even older bottle. however, the caliban is confident they will regain strength. >> us pakistan's foreign minister was greeted in the depths of the cobble winter for parks, news came which threatened to p

consider egypt. the president spurned the president of egypt if an absolutely shocking move he invited the radical muslim brotherhood to hear his speech when mubarak's policy was to keep the brotherhood at arm's length. their leader called for the demise not only of the united states but also of israel. and the muslim's brotherhood spiritual leader called for the killing of united states troops both in iraq and in afghanistan. that's why it's unthinkable that the muslim brotherhood spiritua mediator between the united states and our enemy, the taliban in afghanistan. i can understand why mubarak would not want to empower the brotherhood in egypt. but what i don't understand is why the president of the united states, barack obama, would give the brotherhood a seat of honor at his first foreign policy speech in cairo. president obama said essentially don't worry, the brotherhood isn't a threat. they don't have majority support in egypt. then obama failed to stand by mubar mubarak. that helped fuel the

citizens who traveled to egypt to help egypt, to help egypt embrace democracy, to help egypt have an elected government and enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy here and the success that we've enjoyed here having a democratic government. they're now being prevented from leaving egypt. some of these prodemocracy workers, in fact, are now seeking refuge in the u.s. embassy. this is a tragedy. this is something that we should make a clear and unequivocal statement about. does egypt wish to be part of the civilized world? or do they wish to descend into the lawlessness of the third world? now, some of argue that we don't need these provisions. that there are already provisions in place to prevent egypt from getting aid. well, apparently the egyptians aren't listening and they need to listen very clearly. the amendment that i had proposed will end all aid to egypt, economic aid and military aid. we give over $1.5 billion to egypt every year. and we cannot continue to give aid to a country that is detaining illegally our u.s. citizens. now, some have said the provisions that we already have ta

the funding from the president of egypt, last regime.e next government, which is going to receive the funding from the united states and from the international community, is basically going to tell the ministry, no more democracy ngo. and why? because those who form that government are the muslim government. and they don't want to fund these, if the next government is going to act, that's agencies will be training the next generations and do to them what has been done to mubarak. >> dr., you and i have been talking for ten months since it blew up in the middle east with the so auld arab spring and you kind of telegraphed he we should be on the lookout, when the countries see uprising and democrat say may not be what they want? >> absolutely. and what we have discussed, you and i, on this show and many times is when a dictator goes down. it doesn't meannessly that the next government is going to be a democratic government. the next government is going to be controlled by the most organized forces. and in egypt, unfortunately, those who st

the head of egypt's military council told reporters the incident would not affect egypt and it security. but hundreds of people gathered at cairo's train station to greet some of those injured in the riot and to chant anti-government slogans. members of egypt's newly elected parliament are denouncing the military council. leaders from the muslim brotherhood claim the military allowed the riot to get out of hand in order to justify its police power. >>> nato defense ministers meet in brussels this morning and the withdrawal of combat troops from afghanistan is expected to top the agenda. yesterday the defense secretary leon panetta said the u.s. role may end a year earlier than expected. speaking on his plane headed to europe, panetta said hopefully by mid to the latter part of 2013, we'll be tiebl make a transition from a combat role to a train, advice and assist roll. all nato members were supposed to keep their forces in afghanistan until 2014. >>> the war in afghanistan has dragged on for more than a decade. efforts to suppress the taliban have cost over 1700 u.s. lives. and accordin

and you feel like the aid that we give to egypt is a component of that? that's part of what is keeping them maintaining the buy-in with respect to those hard fought treaty obligations, the treaty obligations that we and israel have so long hoped for need you feel like that that is strengthening that position. >> it certainly has historically. aga, sitting herey have no evidence on which to draw any other conclusion. but i also know that we're going to learn a lot more about the nethve ahead. and we will be very, you know, very vigilant, but at the egyptians understand that peace is in their interests. and they have a lot of work to do to build their economy, to rtainly in their cy up and wanting to abrogate agreements and causen already more than full. >> g advice on that, i counsel them on that. >> i have said that. >> i want to turn t conducted last year by the british government, the name of the study i believe was the multilateralview. in that study the british government undertook an examination of the performance of various against criteria includin

we've seen an attack on the israel embassy in egypt. we also have calls for -- we've seen calls for breaking the 30-year peace treaty that's been enjoyed between egypt and israel, and also in this last year, we saw elections take place in egypt, when 75% of the parliament is now controlled by either the muslim brotherhood or elements of solafists, islamist groups both hostile to the united states and with calls as well for implementing sharia law in egypt. and i wondered if you could comment particularly with director clapper you said to the committee a year ago that the muslim brotherhood was a secular organization. i just wondered, in light of some of those events in the last year, do you still stand by that statement that the muslim brotherhood is a secular organization? >> i did not make myself clear in that statement clearly, obviously, and that's a danger of sound bites and all that sort of thing. in a subsequent appearance for the ssci, i tried to clarify that. what i was referring to was, to that point, their behavior within the