reporting live from washington d.c. and of course we'll bring you more details on the shooting incident as soon as we get them here. on r.t. that's our breaking news this hour. thirty people involved in a greenpeace protest have now been charged with piracy by court in russia's north western port city of moments they were arrested after attempting to scale an oil rig in the arctic last month in protest over offshore drilling in the region of greenpeace lawyers are appealing the decision insisting that there was no violence involved and authorities said they pose a serious threat to the security of the platform despite facing up to fifteen years in prison activists are still refusing to give testimony when earlier i spoke to ben alias and he is head of greenpeace is arctic campaign and he believes the region should be off limits for any oil drilling company. but increase has a long history of peaceful protest it was perfectly obvious to the coast guard to the operator of the platform that this was a peaceful protest and

in washington he's a senior fellow at the washington institute also in washington we have michael hughes he is a freelance journalist and foreign policy analyst and in toronto across the forehead is id he's a political science professor at the university of. and our gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i very much encourage it find it's go to you first in town do you believe a word that barack obama has to say given the last thirty years of bad relations between the two countries and i'm talking about covert overt operations up to this day. you know. the last ten years cannot be blamed on obama i think he is responsible for his own presidency and he has been relatively a better president when it comes to iran haven't you compared him to others we have had occasions when the us congress wanted to pass a new sanction against iran and he has opposed those type of sanctions and in his a speech at the un i think he had the couple of good points that was the first time we have heard that from the us president for example he talked about president rouh

the washington institute also in washington we have michael hughes he is a freelance journalist and foreign policy analyst and into and we cross to ford is id he's a political science professor at the university of toronto and gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i very much encourage it find it's go to you first. do you believe a word that barack obama has to say given the last thirty years of bad relations between the two countries and i'm talking about covert overt operations up to this day. you know. the last ten years cannot be blamed on obama i think he has a sponsible for his own presidency and he has been relatively a better president when it comes to iran and when you compared him to others we have had occasions where the u.s. congress wanted to pass a new sanction against iran and he has opposed those type of sanctions and in his a speech at the u.n. i think he had a couple of good points that it was the first time we have heard that from. u.s. president for example he talked about president rouhani having a mandate from the iranian peop

the washington institute also in washington we have michael hughes he is a freelance journalist and foreign policy analyst and into and we cross to ford is id he's a political science professor at the university of toronto and gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i very much encourage it so i that's go to you first entered on do you believe a word that barack obama has to say given the last thirty years of bad relations between the two countries and i'm talking about covert overt operations up to this day. you know. the last ten years cannot be blamed on obama i think he is responsible for his own presidency and he has been relatively a better president when it comes to iran when you compared him to others we have had occasions when the u.s. congress wanted to pass a new sanction against iran and he has opposed to those type of sanctions and in his a speech at the u.n. i think he had the couple of good points that was the first time we have heard that from a u.s. president for example he talked about president rouhani having a mandate from the ira

in washington he's a senior fellow at the washington institute also in washington we have michael hughes he is a freelance journalist and foreign policy analyst and into and we cross the ford is id he's a political science professor at the university of toronto and gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i very much encourage it find it's go to you first. do you believe a word that barack obama has to say given the last thirty years of bad relations between the two countries and i'm talking about covert overt operations up to this day. you know. the last ten years cannot be blamed on obama i think he is responsible for his own presidency and he has been relatively a better president when it comes to iran haven't you compared him to others we have had occasions when the us congress wanted to pass a new sanction against iran and he has opposed to those type of sanctions and in his a speech at the u.n. i think he had a couple of good points it was the first time we have heard that from. u.s. president for example he talked about president rouhani hav

in washington he's a senior fellow at the washington institute also in washington we have michael hughes he is a freelance journalist and foreign policy analyst and in toronto across the forward is id he's a political science professor at the university of toronto our gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i very much encourage it so i'm it's go to you first. do you believe a word that barack obama has to say given the last thirty years of bad relations between the two countries and i'm talking about covert overt operations up to this day. you know. the last ten years cannot be blamed on obama. i think he has a sponsible for his own presidency and he has been relatively a better president when it comes to iran when you compared him to others we have had occasions when the us congress wanted to pass new sanctions against iran and he has opposed those type of sanctions and in his speech at the un i think he had the couple of good points that was the first time we have heard that from a u.s. president for example he talked about president rouhani ha

it's all about the republicans people are not happy with washington d.c. let granite unlike you all i will admit that there were there people are not going to the public and then i have to the democrats all i'm saying is during this presidency there's been more of a stalemate and problems than any other time certainly with president bush and president clinton ok you know patricia i kind of like that you know passing the buck because obama got stuck holding the bag here over because of what's been done for the last fifty years sixty years in the united states and he got caught with it ok i don't see it as being different parties involved here it's more a way of governing the economy and foreign policy we haven't mentioned that too much here but it's just he got caught with it and now hard decisions have to be made well yeah i mean we've gone into debt because we've had two wars over the last twelve years and one in iraq and afghanistan in case we've forgotten about that and that seems to have been forgotten by you know a lot of the tea party members those w

is fresh revelations of spying european leaders force them to reconsider their partnerships with washington now france and germany are demanding talks with the u.s. on this issue by the end of the year that followed reports that the n.s.a. has monitoring chancellor merkel's mobile phone and calls made by the french administration the latest on a single leak has shown that the agency encouraged u.s. government officials to hand over their contact list and used that data to eavesdrop on the conversations of thirty five world leaders well european council has issued a statement warning that a lack of trust with washington could damage cooperation and intelligence gathering on top of that germany has decided to team up with brazil which was also targeted by the n.s.a. to push for a u.n. resolution restraining u.s. surveillance r.t.s. are silly as more on the story. the latest document that edward snowden there provided the guardian we do see some some more insight into the process of how this global surveillance was actually working and the fact that it had spied on the thirty five world leader

again look out washington d.c. they both have the same. basic platform they're all more for your they're all on board for endless spending for one for corporate welfare one for social welfare they're all on board for surveillance they're on board for the police state. big thing is really just all about. crises deal crisis where a lot of deals are exchanged. analyses online team has listed ten ways the government shutdown could impact america from the looming default to the closure of museums and while you're about to dot com many other stories you to check out as well you can learn how the global stock markets have been reacting to the budget battle in the u.s. congress that and so much more right now on. our for the meantime here on the program already on the rise the u.k. has to go it alone sentiment is now being fueled by a fresh plan drawing the island nation even further from the mainland european state is off their prime minister david cameron hinted that he wants to withdraw from the european convention on human rights it's long bee

live from washington d.c. i mean he said now with special coverage of the government shutdown now the deadline to block will has possibly come to an end america just barely avoiding default and agreeing to raise the debt ceiling at the last minute so the u.s. can keep borrowing beyond its almost seventeen trillion dollars in debt well sixteen days of a government shutdown halted the capital to a standstill put hundreds of thousands of workers out of jobs and the world economy on the verge of recession this deal would reopen the government and fund it until january fifteenth allowing it to continue borrowing until february the seventh so really it's just a temporary fix well to discuss this joining me are gerald levin publisher of the journal and curtis ellis executive director of american jobs alliance in london we have mr keith boy field a researcher for the center for policy studies and here in ross washington with me is neil mccabe senior reporter at human events thank you all very much for joining me i wan

is are they obeying washington. you know us as a record of killing suspected terrorists was drones and this time it seems like the u.s. has taken a different approach by putting the boots on the ground why do you think that happened and why is attacks it's different this time i think obama's trying to look a little stronger and also the drone attacks have lost a lot of credibility a lot of times they say they killed him to kill or member of al qaeda hierarchy and then that person turns out to still be alive which begs the question who do they actually kill they've also accidentally or not killing a lot of civilians with drones. then they've been doing the double tap in pakistan and yemen where they actually have been attacking. the responders who come and so a lot of americans are opposed to drone attacks and maybe that boots on the ground was a tactical switch as much to feed the public in the u.s. as it was to actually be effective. compare the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi which killed four american di

surveillance revelations which have forced european leaders to reconsider their partnerships with washington france and germany are demanding talks with the u.s. on this issue by the end of the year the latest n.s.a. leak shows the agency has been eavesdropping on the conversations of thirty five world leaders and the e.u. has issued a statement warning that a lack of trust with washington could damage cooperation in intelligence gathering and also on top of that germany has decided to team up with brazil which was also targeted by the n.s.a. to push for a u.n. resolution restraining u.s. surveillance artie's test recently has more on the discontent in brussels. up to about thirty five world leaders were being spied on by the national security agency or the n.s.a. they were actually encouraging senior officials in various government departments like the white house the state department to share those contacts of important or individuals in the world in order to be added to that list that surveillance list and also what's interesting to note in the latest leak by edward snowden is that the ac

the panic in washington d.c. came amid high tensions on capitol hill where lawmakers are still unable to agree and new national budget president obama is forced to cancel his trip to asia because of the political impasse in his country while the u.s. treasury issues are warning of a looming and catastrophic default we've got details shortly for. you lawmakers cia contractor turned whistleblower edward snowden on the final list of nominees for the european human rights prize has received plaudits from people around the world and his former boss however is not among them and says he dreams of a somewhat different fate for us now to our he's worried upward and i reports. speaking at a washington post panel discussion on a cyber security former n.s.a. director general michael hayden joked about putting edward snowden on a list that has very little to do with human rights or honorable recognition america's former spy chief eg knowledge that snowden an n.s.a. whistleblower has been nominated for a human rights award an

maker it's not the words are not just coming out of out of riyadh itself they're they're coming out of washington because prince turki just gave a very fiery speech and defiant speech. at a conference here a couple of days ago. i think there are two schools of thought one school of thought here believes that it is mainly bluster that. saudi arabia is so closely entangled particularly on the military and security front with the united states that it really can't sue for divorce but there are others who believe that saudi arabia is really quite serious and that it's looking for other foreign partners great powers including for example russia itself to wean itself away from washington over the long term and that there is a strategic decision is either about to be made or has already been made to diversify the sources of its particularly of its security james i mean if there is some kind of diversification diversify to where to whom. i mean what other superpower is there so i think you know i do think the united states ought to take this seriously because quite honestly the saudis don't do this very

in washington are. the last minute decisions on the verge of a shutdown have recently become fairly common in washington let's have a flashback here to a couple of the closest calls in recent years for you here on the program on r t it was back in two thousand and eleven of the closing of the government was averted literally one hour before the deadline and after a painful legislative standoff the budget deal was finally agreed that the debt ceiling another nerve racking issue that was in the summer of twenty eleven sending shock waves across america and much of the rest of the world as well but the sky did not fall as it was agreed upon two days before time was up for example it's been about now seventeen years since the last time the government partially ceased its work but it's actually the eighteenth time in the united states taking a so-called spending gap in one thousand nine hundred seven the government was shut down three times in as many months of gerald solenn tell you the publisher of the tre

has much to be proud of none of the core issues at the heart of this deadlock have been dealt with washington gridlock issues like that can't be kicked down the road. has a new alert. scared me a little. there is breaking news tonight and we are continuing to follow the breaking news. alexander's family cry here is a. great thing. that. we have. found. is a story. playing out in real life. hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered i'm peter lavelle crisis averted at least for now washington's dangerous and even the responsible political circus has taken a time out with barack obama still standing however nine of the president nor congress have much to be proud of none of the core issues at the heart of this deadlock have been dealt with washington gridlock issues like they can't be kicked down the road . to cross the american fiscal crisis i'm joined by philip wallach in washington he's a fellow in governance studies at the brookings institution in new york we have less polled he is the director of the labor institute and author of how to make a million dollars an hour how hedge fu

is concerned but it now looks like riyadh is really telling washington what to do and essentially what they're saying is either you play by our rules on our home turf or else isn't that a kind of a veiled strath saudi arabia has been a very important ally and i think they will also continue to be an ally but they will i think more independently pursue their own national interests i think they will do so more publicly and i think they feel more of a burden now to represent at least the gulf arab world in foreign policy and military affairs particularly those that affect their region well but they're not just representing foreign policy affairs in that region that actively influencing those affairs and i think the the events in libya and syria and egypt are very. illustrative testament to that but ambassador jordan the what leverage does the united states really have of the saudi arabia you seem to move from one death crisis to the next they're awash with money you need that oil they are the ones who are setting the prices if you say no they turn around and walk to the chinese isn't it t

neo-cons an armchair generals are falling on hard times ever since the end of the cold war washington has always been in need of an enemy talking to iran certainly is one of their worst nightmares so is there a plan b. . i would rather as questions to people in positions of power instead of speaking on their behalf and that's why you can find my show larry king now right here on r.t. question or. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world. can't. show for asians or. hello and welcome to crossfire for all things are considered on peter lavelle twilight of the neo cons with the averting of war with syria at the last second and the opening of some kind of dialogue with iran it would appear washington's neo cons and armchair generals are falling on hard times ever since the end of the cold war washington has always been in need of an enemy talking to iran certainly is one of their worst nightmares so is there a plan b. . to cross-talk what's next for the neo con agenda i'm joined by grant smith in washington he is the director of the institute for res

is because what happens in washington d.c. you know you consider a health care company a pharmaceutical company which i am no defender of pharmaceutical companies i've done a lot of research in exposing their crony capitalist reproaches but literally a decision made by the individuals on medicare reimbursements can make or break that company so you better make sure that just from the standpoint of your shareholders in your employees you better make sure that you have some way to leverage that position where you might be out of business in this town as the investments there have been numerous examples of companies getting ten thousand to one and returns on investment hundred thousand or whether on their investment just by getting a small change in the tax code or act into law or in the copyright law. and it seems that what's the what's the solution then if if you if you just if you dispute the idea that controlling money is the solution or knocking down the supreme court's doctrine what's the alternative well a couple of things

david swanson cruz it's high time for the routing and nice in washington to be. careful with that why when you joke about killing somebody with an ax your viewed as a sociopath when you joke about killing people with a million dollar missile your considered a big powerful person who knows lots of secret stuff and so your rage is directed in particular at people who reveal that secret stuff so we've arrived at the point of putting whistleblowers and those who leak information for whatever reason on the list of enemies as if they are fighting a war because they are revealing the secret information including embarrassing and humiliating information it is of course outrageous criminal and in fact sociopathic and i think the timing is the same timing of the past weeks and months in which this has become a top problem in the u.s. government the audience laughed when president obama joked about using predator drones against his daughter's boyfriends joking about war in u.s. culture is acceptable people talk seriously about new wars and people who claim to oppose it don'

giant monsanto reporting from washington and you so now we are. well the company itself insists it is playing a key role in feeding the world's rapidly growing population and maintains that many people already consume g.m. food with no ill effects but jeffrey smith who's written extensively about the dangers of g.m. foods begs to differ. when you look at the animal feeding studies on genetically engineered foods the american academy of environmental medicine they said there's gastrointestinal problems immune system problems excel aerated aging organ damage reproductive disorders there's massive infant mortality multiple massive tumors early death there are so many things that are going wrong with the animals that are being fed g m o's and now we're seeing those things rising in the u.s. population since g. of those were introduced the current generation of g m o's has nothing to offer feeding the hungry world or about acute and poverty so this is just been a public relations fin and they spent two hundred fifty million dollars over five years tryi

longtime arbonne of washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. it's official the first shutdown of the federal government in seventeen years is over all is good for now at least we have to do this all over again come january now as mike that enjoy just a moment also tea partiers demand everything from defunding obamacare to approving the keystone x.l. pipeline in exchange for reopening the government and saving our country from default makes them think risking economic collapse to get what they want is a really good idea and the mainstream media failed the american people big time during the shutdown i'll tell you how it's and i'd steal the take. you need to know this the republican party's latest manufactured crisis is over and everything is back to normal in washington for now just after midnight this morning president obama signed into law a bill that reopened the government and saved the u.s. from default a bill will keep the federal government running until january fifteenth and suspends the debt ceiling through february seventh it also says

speaking its mind and threatening to pursue a number of policy departures regarding its relationship with washington refraining from a coveted seat on the united nations security council the soviets are furious over washington stance on syria and the failure to support a meaningful peace process in the town for the palestinians the kingdom of saudi is going out on its own but where. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images her world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are today. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered on peter lavelle the saudi pivot riyadi speaking its mind in threatening to pursue a number of policy departures regarding its relationship with washington refraining from a coveted seat on the united nations security council the saudis are furious over washington stance on syria approaches to iran and the failure to support a meaningful peace process on behalf of the palestinians the kingdom of saudi is going out on its own but where. to cross-talk saudi arabia's foreign policy i'm joined by my guest in w

government has officially stopped walking for the first time in seventeen years with washington threatening to put the federal bill before deadline. written may pull out on the european human rights convention according to the country's prime minister who pledges to do everything to throw out those posing a security threat to the u.k. . and fears of a settlement as tools between the u.s. and iran gain momentum these rainy pm is in washington urging the american president not to get too close to tehran. international news and comment line for most of this is with me huge national policy. and time has run out for us lawmakers to agree on federal funding which means the government is now officially shut down the democratic led senate rejected the temporary bills by the republicans that would have delayed obama's health care law as the price to continue funding obama warns the shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people in his war has been finding out about the effects of the shutdown that. federal air traffic controllers will remain working so will the majority of the departm

police in washington d.c. will launch an investigation into the use of deadly force by officers who shot an unarmed woman marion kerry was killed on tuesday following a high speed chase through the heart of the u.s. capitol police went after her as she tried to ram her chorus through barricades at the white house details now from our g. sam sachs. we're learning more about the suspect who led police on a high speed chase through washington d.c. her name is miriam carey thirty four years old from connecticut reportedly suffering from mental illnesses including postpartum depression she was recently laid off from her job as a dental hygienist she tried to gain access to a secure area near the white house here in washington d.c. just really a block away from the studio here she was confronted by police she did a three point turn striking a police officer and sped off to the u.s. capitol where she was again confronted by police shots rang out she alluded police again where she drove another few blocks near senate

you just mentioned iran and i think it's become a sort of a political cliche of both and washington and in west and the west in general that you know iran is the and the game here and that it's it is all ultimately there ron but how iranian issue really is threatens the saudi security the saudi interests well a nuclear armed iran even though they don't point those weapons at saudi arabia will have a lot more political influence in the region particularly with enormous influence in iraq the saudis are seeing their world become smaller their sphere of influence becomes smaller and this is a huge problem for them it's interesting that you say that i feel like we are entering this us is rarely a debate because it's their decision sort of argument that you hear from israel is even despite the fact that neither the israeli nor saudi nor american intelligence have been able to confirm that iran has indeed started producing are even has an intention of producing nuclear weapons but i wonder if you if you believe that the very public disappointment that prince bandar expressed with the obama adm

it's wednesday october second four pm in washington d.c. i'm same saxon you're watching r t and we begin with day two of the u.s. government shutdown more than eight hundred thousand federal employees remain furloughed and countless services and government functions around the nation remain shutter the national institutes of health is shutting down its cancer trials this week and definitely moving forward as the government remains shut down roughly two hundred patients including thirty child cancer patients were to begin cancer trials this week now they won't also while states food stamp programs are still up and running the federal program is non operational meaning the longer the shutdown continues impoverished families and children depending on food stamps will see their lifelines dry up there are questions about the safety of food in the united states too as a bulk of food and drug administration inspectors are. earl owed and each day roughly eighty food facilities across the nation are foregoing their necessary inspections all told we'

editor at antiwar dot com and a columnist for the washington times community section also in washington we have michael kugel and he is an associate at the woodrow wilson international center for scholars and in philadelphia we crossed england in he is a political commentator and a writer or gentleman cross-talk rosen a fact that means you can jump in anytime you want john the reason if i go to you first in washington the reason i want to do this program is number one always make the american people and western publics remember what we did in afghanistan that's always a top priority for me i'm number two looking at the headlines democratic transition this is the first democratic transition in afghanistan and i'll give my opinion about that later but don't you think that the that's the wrong focus here is that actually nothing very good has happened in afghanistan the last twelve years and that's something western media and political elites don't like to talk about anymore well there's really no actual practicing democracy to speak of in afghanistan what you have is kleptocratic corrupt

washington institute also in washington we have michael hughes he is a freelance journalist and foreign policy analyst and into and we cross to ford is id he's a political science professor at the university of toronto and gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i very much encourage it so i'm it's go to you first. do you believe a word that barack obama has to say given the last thirty years of bad relations between the two countries and i'm talking about covert overt operations up to this day. you know. the last ten years cannot be blamed on obama i think he's responsible for his own presidency and he has been relatively a better president when it comes to iran when you compared him to others we have had occasions when the u.s. congress wanted to pass a new sanction against iran and he has opposed those type of sanctions and in his speech at the u.n. i think he had a couple of good points that was the first time we have heard that from. u.s. president for example he talked about president rouhani having a mandate from iranian people basically r

and tehran i could also understand why washington would. want to undermine russia's influence in the region for example but even these traditional american drivers an anime is a day often more predictable and more constrained in actions than saudi arabia has there ever been any articulated policy within the state department to keep the saudi influence in check because some would argue that in trying to neutralize those other threats the united states is a blow to the frankenstein that it may have how to create the well. if you're asking me has the state department ever had a policy to neutralize the religious outreach of the saudis i don't think they've had a policy one way or the other on that particularly they certainly don't. support. any kind of intolerance around the world and we've worked very hard with the saudis to encourage them to clean up for example what's going on in the in the sermons in the mosques on friday prayers i spent time actually with prince bandar my shelf in which he pointed out a mosque near his home in jeddah in w

well i think there's enough blame to go around all of washington. it's a shame that is come to this point. our view i believe is that congress should work together to put forth a. bill that the president will be willing to sign so that we get the government up and running. there are many issues. as we understand that but veteran shouldn't be held hostage and should be used as pawns in the negotiations between congress and the white house obviously you're going to represent your guys but of course you could also have that argument with the parents maybe of sick children getting the life saving drugs etc all that's on hold at the moment shouldn't you be that you served your country another how deep this must have been should you be there to shoulder this problem along with everybody else well there's no doubt that a shutdown doesn't help anyone it's causes problems for everyone in the country obviously we're veterans advocates so our main concern is how our veterans and especially ill and injured veterans that have problems associated with their milit

to keep our eye on the situation in the capital for now i mean it's now way in washington. currency crisis continue the system the president reserves to the ocean. the longer this goes on the worse of. your working story your mercury carbon and lipstick getting. trapped and terrified migrants in qatar have been speaking about the desperation of am doing there are more than eighteen million in the country many of whom are working flat out to get the prostate is a world cup event ready cadotte is not the only gulf state where the migrant population is large in proportion to the locals and i both qatar and the united arab emirates have migrant population they go beyond eighteen percent in kuwait today the region's other leading all produce about seven out of ten workers they are foreigners as to in oman and saudi arabia migrants make up almost thirty percent of that population now in. if we take a look at the whole region as a whole the number of the migrant workers there is about eighteen million out of a total population of just forty two million now that's quite a high numb

neo cons and armchair generals are falling on hard times ever since the end of the cold war washington has always been in need of an enemy talking to iran certainly is one of their worst nightmares so is there a plan b. . to cross-talk what's next for the neo con agenda i'm joined by graham smith in washington he is the director of the institute for research at middle eastern policy and in san francisco we cross to bruce fein he is the founder and president of the national commission on intelligence and foreign wars right gentlemen rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want to grant if i go to you first in washington let's go through the countries saudi arabia iraq egypt the afghanistan pakistan the israelis the list can go on but they're not picking up the phone too often when washington is calling because no one's really listening anymore agree or disagree. oh i don't know about that i think you know in the in your set up you mention the neo conservative plan for syria and a brick lall but if you look at what's been going on ever since the first hard core neoconserva

giant monsanto reporting from washington and you say no way archie. the company itself says it makes disease resilient crops that need less water to grow monsanto also maintains many people already can seem genetically modified food was no ill effects but jeffrey smith who's written extensively about the dangers of so-called frank and says this couldn't be farther from the truth when you look at the edible feeding studies are genetically engineered through just the american academy of environmental medicine they said there's gastrointestinal problems immune system problems like celebrated aging organ damage reproductive disorders there's massive infant mortality multiple massive tumors early death there are so many things that are all going wrong with the animals that are being fed g m o's and now we're seeing those things rising in the u.s. population seems geos were introduced the current generation of jimbo's has nothing to offer feeding the hungry world eradicating poverty so this is just been a public relations and they spent two hundred fifty mi

now where there are four days left until washington d.c. . that is and two weeks of deadlock and two weeks of deadlock with seen hundreds of thousands placed on paid leave and vala swathes of the government shutdown even the world bank's chief declared the situation is desperate warning of impending disaster over the continuing standoff has led to protests in the u.s. capitol a group of veterans accompanied by politicians have converged on a world war two memorial in the heart of washington it was closed for visitors during the shutdown just like national monuments and parks broke through the metal barriers surrounded the landmark and then carried pieces of the fence to the gates of the white house and to bomb a protest as it made the rallying point blaming the white house for the continuing impasse in the budget negotiations. u.s. president barack obama's signature health care legislation is supposed to provide millions of americans with the medical coverage they desperately need but the political debate over obamacare has also ironically cr

giant monsanto reporting from washington and you so now we are. well the company itself insists it is playing a key role in feeding the world's rapidly growing population and sons have also maintains that many people already can sheen g.m. food with no ill effects but jeffrey smith who's written extensively about the dangers of g.m. food banks to different. when you look at the animal feeding studies on genetically engineered foods at the american academy of environmental medicine they said there's gastrointestinal problems immune system problems excel aerated aging organ damage reproductive disorders there's massive infant mortality multiple massive tumors early death there are so many things that are going wrong with the animals that are being fed g m o's and now we're seeing those things rising in the u.s. population since g m o's are introduced the current generation of g m o's has nothing to offer feeding the hungry world or about a cave in poverty so this is just been a public relations fin and they spent two hundred fifty million dollars ov

in washington he's a senior fellow with the washington institute also in washington we have michael hughes he is a freelance journalist and foreign policy analyst and into and we cross to ford is id he's a political science professor at the university of toronto and gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i very much encourage it find it's go to you first. do you believe a word that barack obama has to say given the last thirty years of bad relations between the two countries and i'm talking about covert overt operations up to this day. you know. the last ten years cannot be blamed on obama i think he's responsible for his own presidency and he has been relatively a better president when it comes to iran and when you compared him to others we have had occasions where the u.s. congress wanted to pass a new sanction against iran and he has opposed those type of sanctions and in his speech at the u.n. . and he had the couple of good points that was the first time we have heard that from the u.s. president for example he talked about president rouhani ha

the in human rights in saudi arabia and we cross to jim lobe he is the washington bureau chief for into press service and publisher of loeb log dot com close up rules if i mean you can jump in anytime you want jim if i go to you first in washington these words coming out of riyadh is that bluster i mean the united states and saudi arabia are attached at the hip and they have been for for decades it's just words coming out of riyadh well i don't think i have any particular insight into what what king abdullah is thinking and obviously he's kind of the supreme decision maker it's not the words are not just coming out of out of riyadh itself they're they're coming out of washington because prince turki just gave a very fiery speech and defiant speech. at a conference here a couple of days ago. i think there are two schools of thought one school of thought here believes that it is mainly bluster that. saudi arabia is so closely and tangled particularly on the military and security front with the united states that it really can't sue for divorce but there are others who believe that saudi a

editor at antiwar dot com and a columnist for the washington times community section also in washington we have michael kugel and he is an associate at the woodrow wilson international center for scholars and in philadelphia we crossed england in he is a political commentator and a writer or gentlemen crossed titles in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want john the reason if i go to you first in washington the reason i want to do this program is number one always make the american people and western publics remember what we did in afghanistan that's always a top priority for me and number two looking at the headlines democratic transition this is the first democratic transition in afghanistan and i'll give my opinion about that later but don't you think that the that's the wrong focus here is that actually nothing very good has happened in afghanistan the last twelve years and that's something western media and political elites don't like to talk about anymore well there's really no actual practicing democracy to speak of in afghanistan what you have is kleptocratic corrupt

and washington and then west and the west in general that you know iran is the end game here and that it's it is all ultimately there ron but how iranian issue really is threatens the saudi security the saudi interests well a nuclear armed iran even though they don't point those weapons at saudi arabia will have a lot more political influence in the region particularly with enormous influence in iraq the saudis are seeing their world become smaller their sphere of influence becomes smaller and this is a huge problem for them it's interesting that you say that i feel like we're entering this us is rarely a debate because it's there this is sort of argument that you hear from israelis even despite the fact that neither the israeli nor saudi you know are american intelligence have been able to confirm that iran has indeed started producing are even has an intention of producing nuclear weapons but i wonder if you if you believe that the very public disappointment that prince bandar expressed with the obama administration is ultimately g.t. the party differences between the democrats and

is in washington. many cities across the u.s. took part in this second organize march against the agricultural giant monsanto protesters rallying against the company's use of genetically modified organisms and trying to raise awareness about its corporate practices some protesters told us that even though the government is shut down monsanto lobbyists are hard at work here in washington many pouncers by actually came up to activists what we were standing there holding anti g.m.o. signs and asked what is a g.m.o. so awareness is very low in terms of what exactly genetically modified foods are let alone the dangers they cause in the capital the protests began with activists going into large grocery stores and retailers trying to ways raise awareness about controversal insecticides which affect the nervous system and have been repeatedly linked to deaths well the demonstration then made its way to the white house all sorts of activists students even young children our gannett farmers caterers chefs so real wide range of people there

growth are we going to be having to have these sorts of fights every few months now here in washington how do we prevent it it would actually take a handful of things because let's face it these are actually fights about resources . and you can actually look at the other extreme allergies of a president that isn't as engaged in the process and working with the members but what do you do when you have an environment where mandatory spending is going to continue to explode and yet as ga our our budget folks keep telling us we're now the new normal maybe only a two percent g.d.p. growth. you can't have both of those so it means the fight for resources are the new normal you sent a letter to the u.s. treasury secretary jack lew challenging him to pursue alternative solutions to the debt ceiling have you heard back i haven't but part of this is and is that conversation we actually started with secretary geithner a couple years ago. take one step away from the politics of is there such a thing as default and others using default as a political leverage and let's actually just deal with debt

so everyone can get back to business as usual in washington liz wahl r.t. . when talk about reverberations of the u.s. government shutdown is sending shock waves across the globe stoking worries and fears in europe asia and even australia the u.k. prime minister david cameron has said that america's budget bickering is a grave risk to the entire world economy and headlines around the globe are echoing exactly that sentiment for the french daily love to go said the shutdown is a blow to the credibility of the united states and a comment from germany spiegel online called america a super power power lies in itself and one of china's major news portal scolded the lawmakers for holding their own country hostage and the australians are pointed out that washington's struggle to agree on the budget doesn't speak well about the world's largest economy a financial expert patrick young explained to my colleague bill dog but when squabbles happening congress ultimately it looms a very bad sign for investors. this is just another example of how difficult it is to trust t

debt ceiling and reopen government services which have been paralyzed for over a fortnight live to washington d.c. and artie's and he said now with as. america's d. faulting would have bludgeoned other countries' economies what the politicians when they really going to let this happen or do you sense that it was just some kind of dramatic posturing. well just hours before the deadline the so-called eleventh hour really coming down to the wire here the house of representatives passed the senate bill to raise the debt ceiling and restore government funding after a sixteen day shutdown barely avoiding a default on their almost seventeen trillion dollars in borrowings after the vote some bloggers jokes see you back here in three months now that's referring to the fact that this is really not a long term solution to the budget crisis the u.s. government is now funded through january fifteenth and keyboards are entering until february seventh but really they just kick the can down the wrote something congress couldn't agree on a budget for the last two years which makes it unlikely three months wil

it's wednesday october second five pm in washington d.c. i'm sam sax and you're watching our team and we begin with day two of the u.s. government shutdown more than eight hundred thousand federal employees remain furloughed and countless services and government functions around the nation remain shuttered the national institutes of health is shutting down its cancer trials this week and indefinitely moving forward as the government remains shut down roughly two hundred patients in clooney thirty child civi thirty children cancer patients were to begin cancer trials this week now they won't also while state's food stamp programs are still up and running the federal program is non operational meaning the longer the shutdown continues impoverished families and children depending on food stamps will see their lifelines dry up there are questions also about the safety of food in the united states as a bulk of food and drug administration inspectors are furloughed too and each day roughly eighty food facilities are. forgoing their necessary insp

it's monday october fourteenth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you are watching r.t. all right folks well welcome to weeks three of the government shutdown at this point the lights on capitol hill are being alumina did by bipartisan bickering alone or at least it feels that way over the weekend senate majority leader harry reid met with mitch mcconnell two attempts to broker a deal we have yet to see what actually came from that meeting though both men are publicly expressing optimism about a possible agreement or at least an agreement to raise the debt ceiling anyway meanwhile today house and senate leaders were supposed to take a trip down down pennsylvania avenue to the white house for talks however that meeting was just postponed because the senate leaders say that they need more time to work out a deal and the longer this debate continues the more ordinary americans are feeling the sting now if you are waiting for justice in immigration or civil court. he says that wait just got a little bit longer federal courts have be

from a coveted seat on the united nations security council the saudis are furious over washington stance on syria approaches to iran and the failure to support a meaningful peace process on behalf of the palestinians the kingdom of saudi is going out on its own but where. to cross talk saudi arabia's foreign policy i'm joined by my guest in washington james carafano he is a vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the heritage foundation also we have me he is founder and director of the center for democracy and human rights in saudi arabia and we cross to jim lobe he is the washington bureau chief for into press service and publisher of loeb blog dot com all right gentlemen close up rules of i mean you can jump in anytime you want jim if i go to you first in washington these words coming out of riyadh is that bluster i mean the united states and saudi arabia are attached at the hip and they have been for for decades it's just words coming out of riyadh well i don't think i have any particular insight into what what king abdullah is thinking and obviously he's kind of the s

it's all about the republicans people are not happy with washington d.c. let granite unlike you all i will admit that there were there people are not going to the public and then i have to the democrats all i'm saying is during this presidency there's been more of a stalemate and problems than any other time certainly with president bush and president clinton ok you know patricia i kind of like that you know passing the buck because obama got stuck holding the bag here over because of what's been done for the last fifty years sixty years in the united states and he got caught with it ok i don't see it as being different parties involved here it's more a way of governing the economy and foreign policy we haven't mentioned too much here but it's just he got caught with it and now hard decisions have to be made well yeah i mean we've gone into debt because we've had two wars over the last twelve years and one in iraq and afghanistan in case we've forgotten about that and that seems to have been forgotten by you know a lot of the tea party members those who su

giant monsanto reporting from washington and you see now way. monsanto has been defending its products saying the food it produces is the only way to feed the world a growing population they also say that many people already consume g.m. foods with no ill effects or to use marine important takes a look. in the land of supersize approximately eighty five percent of all processed foods contain genetically modified organisms g.m.o. is an acronym that owns its notoriety largely to the agriculture giant monsanto a multinational billion dollar corporation generating global criticism revolving around the safety of its products and growing a monopoly over the world's food supply they are able to patent the genetically modified foods with a very strong patent for farmers can only be the seed from monsanto each year and they can save the seeds that researchers have documented dozens of health risks associated with the consumption of modified foods and the majority of americans have campaigned for g.m.o. foods to be labeled just like these organic fruits a

and it's all about the republicans people are not happy with washington d.c. let granite unlike you all i will admit that there were there people are not happy with the public and then i have to the democrats all i'm saying is during this presidency there's been more of a stalemate in problems than any other time certainly with president bush and president clinton ok you know patricia i kind of like that you know passing the buck because obama got stuck holding the bag here over because of what's been done for the last fifty years sixty years in the united states and he got caught with it ok i don't see it as being different parties involved here it's more a way of governing the economy and foreign policy we haven't mentioned that too much here but it's just he got caught with it and now hard decisions have to be made well yeah i mean we've gone into debt because we've had two wars over the last twelve years and one in iraq and afghanistan in case we've forgotten about that and that seems to have been forgotten by you know a lot of the tea party members those