what a year 2011 has been for freedom in the middle east and north africa. we have seen what may have well been the first arab revolution for democracy, then the second and the third. in him and people are demanding a transition to democracy they deserve to see delivered. syrians are refusing to relent until they can decide their own future. i want to single out someone who is here with us tonight. when our ambassador to syria was mobbed, salted, and threatened just for meeting with peaceful protesters, he put his personal safety on the line to let the syrian people know that america stands with them. he said he was inspired by his bravery. as he drove into a city under assault by the regime. the people of that city covered his car with flowers. please join me by giving a warm welcome to ambassador robert ford. [applause] thank you robert and allison for your dedicated service to our country. i have met people lifted by the sense that their teachers actually do belong to them. in my travels in the region i have heard purpose and new- found pride i have also

and what each year 2011 has been for freedom in the middle east and north africa. we have seen what may well have been the first arab revolution for democracy, then the second and third, and in yemen, people are demanding a transition to democracy that they alert to -- deserve to see delivered, and syrians are refusing to relent until they can choose to decide their own future. throughout the arab world this year, people have given each other courage. old fears have melted away and men and women have begun making their demands in broad daylight. they have given many of our diplomats courage, too, and i want to single out someone who is here with us tonight. when our ambassador to syria was mobbed, assaulted, and threatened just for meeting with peaceful protesters, he put his personal safety on the line to let the syrian people know that america stands with them. and he said he was inspired by their bravery. and as he drove into hama, a city under assault by a saeb's regime, the people of that city covered his car with flowers. please join me with giving our own wa

you this the situation in the region in the wake of all these revolutions in the middle east and north africa yes you can pretty much describe it as turmoil. turmoil is no good for israel isn't there a contradiction to what you're saying well the the american political establishment is caught between two things they're extremely put pro israel and they're almost marxist in their belief that democracy in the spread of democracy is inevitable in all places and all peoples at all times and so they need to protect the israelis but they can't say what is a reality for example there is not going to be a democracy in tunisia or or or libya or egypt that in any way resembles democracy in the west and yet they what they've done is create anarchy they've created a situation where the only beneficiaries are the islamists the guns that have flown out of egypt out of tunisia out of libya to the islamists have been enormous in their value and the prisons that were opened in egypt tunisia and libya have reinforced the islamist groups across the world so they're mindless their mindless pursuit of secular dem

he thinks is behind the uprisings in the middle east and north africa. today we're talking to f.o. in angola the author of several books among them gods of money wall street and the death of american century and he is also a political risk consultant so we're going to discuss several more several of the most burning out political and economic issues in the world today mr engel think you very much for joining us to be here to start off basically a never never before has the world faced so many economic and political problems all at the same time would you say that these conflicts which we're seeing today i term as if you are in the dollar situation and what's happening in northern africa and in the middle east do these conflicts trade off each other are they somehow related or not particularly what i see all these conflicts the decision to libya the crisis with the dollar the crisis with the american economy and the conduct of american foreign policy in the last period. is all part of a breakdown of the entire super power structure that was built up after b.m. of the world war two a

tells us here about see who could be pushing the middle east and north africa towards the political change that's coming your way right. today we're talking to a foreign end of the author of several books and long of them are gods of money wall street and the death of american century and he is also a political risk consultant so we're going to discuss several more several of the most burning out political and economic issues in the world today thank you very much for joining us. to start off basically a never never before has the world faced so many economic and political problems all at the same time would you say that these conflicts which we're seeing today in terms of your in the dollar situation and what's happening in the northern africa and in the middle east do these conflicts feed off each other or are they somehow related or not particularly what i see in all these conflicts the decision to libya the crisis of the dollar crisis with the american economy and the conduct of american foreign policy in the in the last period. is all part of the breakdown of the entire super power st

the persian gulf area the oil producing states there and across north africa all the way to morocco and the events the so-called arab spring had been planned years back and the instigators of those the so-called spontaneous protests that he's put a revolts in cairo and tunisia and so forth over the last months have all been. organized deciduous leaves some of the people leaders of the protests have been trained in belgrade in serbia by oh poor activists financed by the u.s. state department. this thing has state department and u.s. intelligence all over it. and why why are they doing this well two things in my view one. there is vast wealth in the hands of the leading circles in the arab world vast wealth sovereign wealth funds of countries like kuwait to other countries but also just the resources and one of the agendas is to introduce as was done in the soviet union after nine hundred ninety one with the collapse of the soviet union the agenda of i.m.f. privatization free market economy and so forth so that western banks and financial agencies and corporations could come in and take w

opening their eyes to it's fair to say is the double standard we see all of these protests in north africa not so much in europe because of course there you have a lot of american allies but complete praise for these democratic revolutions across north africa and the middle east in particular and then when it happens on wall street you have officials say get on how the it's unsanitary we need to clean up it's breaking laws and then you have the police department and mayor bloomberg going in contempt of court we have a court ruling saying that these protests have a right to be there but still they find a way to kind of those through that democratic loophole if they get here we have to mark or see we need to have organized protests when they happen in egypt per se where it's chaotic and thousands of people are the street that's really the fight for real democracy so i think the world is waking up to the double standards that we see in terms of how america categorize what democracy is and who has what kind of democracy and that was our t. correspondent a nice analogy there have on our team sh

well i western interference in the arab spring has left the middle east and north africa deeply wounded that's according to historian william engdahl of the full interview is coming your way this hour here on r.t. but for now a preview the. economy is in far worse shape libya had the highest living standard in all the africa before the bombing of nato today the country is in ruins because of those bombings not because of good awfully. the economy of egypt is in dire straits the military remains in control they were the military high command of egypt was sitting in the pentagon when the revolts kicked off and waited for a signal from the pentagon when to return and take control of those are birds. and other interview with william dollars later this hour here on r t but for now palestinians have vowed to try to join other u.n. agencies within weeks that follows a triumph at unesco when they were granted full membership of the moves cost the un's cultural arm a lion share of its budget which came directly from washington guy nature can explains. there certainly was a lot of jubilation in p

three places where there were arab spring revolts are going to cause problems in somalia across north africa and in nigeria if the region becomes a complete mess doesn't see any dangers to israel i mean with iran involved it won't be pretty i think that's exactly right ma'am i don't know what the thinking is except that they have come down in the belief that democracy is better for everybody in the truth is american and western foreign. policy interests in the middle east have depended for fifty years on the maintenance of tyranny tyranny that us access to oil tyranny that protected israel and iran in the last twenty years tyrannies that persecuted islamists to protect us all of that is going by the wayside and to the israelis credit the israelis are the only ones who have stood up and said democracy may not be very good for our security and they couldn't be more correct it seems the us is almost creating ground so for terrorist to surge and then goes out fighting that we see it in pakistan they got the whole nation alienated because of the strikes a lot of people want revenge how efficient

could be pushing the middle east and north africa towards the political change that's coming your way right.

. >> we have seen the incredible transformations that have been taking place throughout north africat changed is the fundamental bonds that exist between the european union and the united states. our common values and our common belief in the rule of law and democracy and freedom. in a free market system. all those things bind us together as do the extraordinary economic and relationships we have and the people to people relationships that we have. this is an important relationship. these are not always the most dramatic meetings. we agree on so much. sometimes it's hard to make news. as the world's two largest economies and as each other's most important trading partners, we spend a lot of time focussing on how we can continue to grow economies and create good jobs on both sides of the atlantic. a large part of the conversation revolved around the euro zone crisis and they have been actively engaged with the heads of government and heads of state in europe to try to resolve this prisz. i communicated to them that the united states stands ready to do our part to help them resolve thi

western interference in the arab spring has left the middle east and north africa deeply wounded that's according to historian william bell and the full interview is coming your way this here in r.t. in the meantime here's a short previously. on a me is a far worse shape libya had the highest living standard in all of africa before the bombing of nato today the country is in ruins because of those bombings not because of gadhafi. the economy of egypt is in dire straits the military remains in control they were the military high command of egypt was sitting in the pentagon when the revolts kicked off and waited for a signal from the pentagon when to return and take control of those events. palestinians are valid to try to join other u.n. agencies within weeks following a trial but you know where they were granted full membership but recognition comes at a price with the u.n. cultural losing nearly a quarter of its funding to the u.s. cause it's a poor response was goes criticize washington's decision saying it won't help restore a climate necessary for the resumption of peace negotiation

he said iraq is the first among nations in the middle east and north africa to push forward with democratization process. >> translator: i'm proud of japan's contributions to iraq's development through financial and technological assistance. i want it to develop into a new phase. >> he responded japan's financial assistance will help iraq develop and stabilize its society. >>> a japanese consortium is having a meeting in the united arab emirates to offer knowledge of eco friendly technology to the countries. the three day conference opened monday. the 150 participants work for the oil industry in the gulf nations. the meeting was organized by the japan cooperation center petroleum, consortium of oil related businesses. the first day featured april experiment on oil powered generation and project to remove pollutants from natural gas. an executive official of the national oil company says he expects japan will play a very porp role in helping them take care of the environment, while producing oil. >> translator: we have advanced technologies to handle the environmental issues in oil production. w

and what a year 2011 has been for freedom in the middle east and in north africa. we have seen what may have well been the first arab revolution for democracy, then the second, then third, and in yemen people are demanding a transition into democracy that they deserve to see delivered and syrians are refusing to relent until they can decide their own future. throughout the arab world this year, people have given each other courage. old fear has melted away and men and women have begun to make their demand in broad daylight. they've given many of our diplomats courage, too, and i want to single out someone who is here with us tonight. when our ambassador to syria was mobbed, insulted and threatened just for meeting with peaceful protesters, he put his personal safety on the line to let the syrian people know that america stands with them and he said he was inspired by their bravery. and as he drove into a city under assault by the regime, the people of that city covered his car with flowers. please join me in giving our own warm welcome to the ambassador robert ford

it could be russi north africa companies. middle east is a mess. at the moment it's a standstill. but when you shift your focus from the european dand and what the european demand needs to other markets, you have to redesign your products. >> rose: to satisfylocal cultures? >> that's correct. and then you have to have dealerships and having your product known by those -- by those markets and so on. >> rose: do you expect china tot of time -- be able to shift from this export economy to a local demand, a consumer demand economy. >> they have already started. >> they've tried. they have a five-year plan to do that. >> they've already started giving more emphasis to the local demand. >> rose: will that createmarkett might be a real godsend to people who want to export? >> we also have a factory in china. we're trying to sell it -- sell our products within china. it's very difficult to do business with the chinese. >> rose: why is that?they're ext people to deal with. roig demanding in what way? >> demanding. bargaining very hard. very smart people. their interest is china more than a