well explain. and as america warns against the new red threat the great lady is facing some trouble of her oh and as employees stand up against the newspaper giant to demand better work conditions so why won't the new york times get with the times . it is tuesday january tenth seven pm in washington d.c. i'm liz wall and you're watching artsy. well primaries now underway and unless you've been living under a rock you probably heard all about them perhaps too much because it is consuming most of the air time of the mass media these days almost like watching a sports game minute to minute updates on who may be winning points scoring votes playing new strategies tackling their opponents no doubt it is important to cover the election but it is early on in the game and are other more important issues

being ignored as the news is swamped with this nonstop campaign nitpicking artsy explores that question and we begin of course with presidential politics by candidates are out there in force boy are they busy today can anyone stop mitt romney at this point campaign seasons in full swing in the media sure is on top of it mitt romney is probably going to win the lion's share of the votes here in new hampshire if you wanted to have coffee this morning with the candidate he had diner after diner after diner day and night but you have to say at this breakfast of any just wrapped up a few moments ago the mood was definitely sunnyside all primaries all the time but it's from now jon huntsman is going to visit mary's bakery and cafe it head of her and then later this hour rick santorum is going to reach out to the right with a town hall meeting on faith family and freedom some viewers say it's warranted it's in a very important election year and so they need to cover all the bases of the election but how much is too much i think it's

a little kill too much to saturation too early in the election process will be bergdahl come november and with the around the clock dissecting of campaign details are they missing the real news about a lot more important issues than the republican primaries its economy jobs. government fiscal matters harmony disharmony congress to the republicans and democrats or what about a possible war brewing with iran the crisis in the eurozone which could spiral into global recession. or the shutting down of a boeing plant in wichita over two thousand workers laid off while the c.e.o. and chairman made nearly twenty million little mention of the record poverty rates crippling the nation or the expanding income inequality gap nobody wants to know about debt reduction or talks about you know what are the the meat and potatoes of leaving afghanistan or you know cutting the budget versus more stimulus well as

americans prepare to head to the polls a lot is at stake and it's important for voters to know the issues what's really going on in the nation in the world but with this constant bantering about campaign details and may prove difficult for voters to make informed decisions and washington lives wall artsy. and for more of those journalists and founder media roots dot org abby martin hi abby so just first of all i want to get your reaction to this kind of nonstop nitpicking you know playing detail by detail basically the circus that has been playing out on t.v. well what's your reaction. well it's funny every four year election cycle we have two years of it we're it's just constant dog and pony show in the corporate press coverage in the primaries so two years of every election cycle you just have this incessant coverage of campaign dog and pony show and so the total destruction from real issues and you know occupy wall street is federalized crackdowns now it almost

seems passe because it's just constant one hundred percent primary coverage and we are seeing this kind of coverage early on in the race is it too early to say on absolutely. one hundred percent and we saw i mean. when we don't run an excellent article about how the iowa caucus was almost like it was a sham it was like a media ritual they were just reinforcing these rituals. and before elections when really i mean if in the grand scheme of things we know there is vote in software that can reveal lotion and flip the vote so i mean all of these things are just it's too early to tell it's really a distraction from what's really going on and quietly just like obama's thurlow's crackdowns and the repression of human rights we see now should be in thousand troops deployed thousands of troops to israel for a potential standoff with iran so these are all real issues that are not being covered with this election coverage and talk about maybe in the way that they are

being covered you did just touch upon it in terms of what they are choosing to cover are they digging up digging deep enough to the real important issues that matter in the nation right now or are they not really scratching the surface while the g.o.p. it's so interesting. the g.o.p. race right now so you see ron paul's coverage first the last four years they just they had no choice but to cover him this time because he almost was a quote front runner and then you see rick santorum surging ahead you see all this the focus in on absurd issues like ron paul's newsletters from the eighty's not touching upon rick's and terms open racism about welfare and the welfare queen myth that he goes out and talks about in his speeches so you see them cherry picking the veiled racism within the g.o.p. candidates and their coverage of ron paul finally they have to give credence to him

because he is the front runner but their coverage you saw bill crystal green same oh well you know ron paul supporters are really confusing because you know their debt is seditious borders i just don't even know it's like when they do have to cover him because they cannot. cover him in a very a propaganda is the way and try to suppress it in disenfranchise him but yeah i mean the coverage of elections are just as so absurd like watching a circus i can't even believe it and. you're a journalist what or maybe some of the story is are some of the issues that aren't being covered well what's being missed. while the n.b.a. was pretty secretive wee on new year's eve from obama you know you have this constitutional law professor the national just to clarify that at the national defense authorization act. of course a very controversial issue we haven't heard too much about it but this basically

what gav the government the rights have basically it almost brings guantanamo bay right here to the u.s. i mean you would think that this is a quite a big deal yet you think i mean it's the biggest business of our bill of rights i think since nine eleven i mean bush trying to pass the military commissions act and there was a big uproar in the blogosphere about that and now you see obama kind of just. passing the n.d.a. this provision that we thought oh the g.o.p. john mccain and senator levin or congressman levin trying to pass this provision and then we find out later that obama himself. put in the mandate of anyone in american citizens were subject to the u.s. military going in and arresting anyone i mean it totally eradicates deposit come and taught us act and he is corpus our most it's the bedrock of liberty of this country and the fact that this is not being talked about the fact that obama actually signed this into law you know you have a signing statement that he made doesn't mean much when successive administrations are going to have this power now because of people realize that this power is now

unstated for every future administration and that's the scariest part everyone ask you because something like the end you know that something that has huge implications for every american but why are we hearing about these stories yet we are hearing you know in the latest debate a lot of the focus was on you know gay marriage or our birth control and issues like that i mean why why is something so is so you know so incredibly important to every american why is that why are we focusing on that are white why are we seeing that divide and conquer they like to use the issues of abortion and gay rights because the country three hundred fifty million people in a country can never agree on these divisive issues in every election so it's perfect to just bring up the election issues every time if we really talk about the real issues that everyone can agree upon you know and in the military industrial complex and maybe not everyone agrees with that but i mean the incessant spending the exponential growth of the military industrial complex these never ending wars

the economy jobs these are all issues that everyone across the platform can relate on that we want to curtail that and we want jobs but of course that's not going to you know that's not going to help the establishment if we band together and fight them so that's why they want to divide in congress and that's why they keep bringing up these issues every time the problem with these federal elections though is that everyone puts their faith in your candidate and that's where you know people who are putting all their faith and ron paul's you would think is wrong because you devote every day. every day you vote what you're doing supporting these corporations supporting the establishment and that's what people i think get really disillusioned when they put all their faith and hope into these federal elections and then every four years it's nothing changes well today as just you know the first primary is underway so i have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot more of this thank you so much for coming on the show that was journalist and founder of meteor it's dot org abby maher and. well still had an artsy of

iraq war may be over but the u.s. isn't flexing its military muscle its next target is a bit further east and china certainly won't be going down without a fight we'll show you how. it's playing out next. is the state run english speaking russian channel it's kind of like. russia today has an extremely confrontational stance when it comes to us. into the only real military mechanisms to do the work to bring justice or accountability. i have every right to know what my government's doing you want

to know why i pay taxes. i would characterize obama as a charismatic. of american exceptionalism. lindsey lowe and he. is not. the. glora.

point. well the u.s. now shifting energy away from the middle east to asia pacific that's because that is where a lot of the action is with china's growing economy and expanding influence in the region president obama recently announced a plan to scale down the military budget but part of that plan is eroding in on asia china and the us now two of the world's biggest economic powers and we see somewhat of an arms race going down now with the two countries the u.s.

pumping billions into new weapons to deploy to the region here's a look at some of them. well this is a fighter jet lockheed martin is working on it integrates advanced cell technology as an sensor systems with supersonic speed and then there is this you're looking at a sketch of the most expensive piece of military equipment ever to be created the first of the navy's next generation aircraft carriers nearly three football fields long weighs more than a hundred thousand tons you quipped with two cutting edge nuclear reactors and defense missiles so those are just a couple of the new toys the u.s. is getting ready to unveil but they're not the only ones upping their arsenal let's take a look now what china has in the works. this is a j twenty cell fighter jet the first of its kind to be developed and tested by russia and this is the dongfeng twenty one d. this land based missile is able to hit an aircraft carrier as far as two thousand

miles off shore now with this new military version is a battle of sorts emerging between the two world players and could this be the beginning of a new cold war well to dig deeper into all this i spoke to columnist and former reagan administration official paul craig roberts i asked him to give me his take on the reasons behind the u.s. is shifting global military strategy take a listen at the united states is disturbed by the rapid economic growth of china and by the predictions that china will see. the united states is the major economic. you see washington is a. neo conservative. world who jimmy. wants to be able to live the rise of a challenge a challenging and that's what lies behind this. washington's war

preparations against iraq. and you know as the us for the past decade we've been kind of distracted focusing our resources time effort in iraq and afghanistan and the middle east so in that time china has had it time to expand their their influence and the region so i mean so is now the time that the u.s. is recognizing this and saying hey we need to do something about this. yes there they are directing their attention mania against china's independent access to energy that was what the united states organized nato attack on libya was about it's a plot china from an all investments and eastern libya is what the united states africa command is about is to block china or elsewhere in africa nigeria for example and that's what the war preparations against iran is about china has

very substantial energy investments in iran and relies on iranian oil for a considerable extent in so what we see in my opinion is a replay of the american strategy against japan that provoked the attack will on the pro harbor we want to prevent the chinese economy from rising to box it in by reducing or controlling its access to energy. and we have timothy geithner he is now in china discussing that exact topic these sanctions that are being and that are in place now against iran i mean adieux expect china to react to this well of course i wouldn't expect china to get it to shoot itself in the foot and i don't know why the timothy geithner or the united states government thanks chad and it will cooperate and america's plans to do not generate energy that

doesn't make any sense and you see chatter is not threatening anymore and all the threats are coming from the americans well you know this war plans to attack the united states and china is now claiming the gulf of mexico as an area of its national interest so why are we claiming the south china sea is something that's so important to america's interest is of no importance to america's interests i mean you know it's interesting that you say that because obviously with the with this effort and this military presence being often and the troops being deployed to areas around china that you know that they are viewed as somewhat of a threat otherwise they wouldn't be focusing so much attention to this region of the world i mean how much of a threat is china really to the u.s. . it's not any threat it's our biggest creditor it's the

biggest buyer of washington's debt. it's great finance or. it you know it is it's a host of numerous american global corporations. so it's not janet has is idiology it world and gentleman it's washington i'll come back to those neo conservatives that got a whole government following the notion that all american must use its dominance for loses it to establish cage and me know where all that means we can't let any other country rise up well this is a formula for war. the impetus comes from washington from china. and let's talk a little bit more about that this strategy of the united states on the u.s. is now increasing ties with china's neighbors and expanding bases around around

china and i mean from china's perspective away when you see this military build up in australia increasing ties with the philippines how can we expect china to react to this. well they're reacting a lot of course. but you see we're doing the same thing to russia. so russia or china and iraq and afghanistan they're two nucular armed countries and so what washington is doing now is driving the world toward a nuclear war i don't expect china or russia for that matter to simply act back you ass an american hedge and i mean with that. and so the stakes that washington is playing now are extremely high and they're reckless it's almost it's almost criminal insanity in my opinion and there's no reason for it you know

it's not that china's going around attacking people for having war plans to attack people that relies on its economic connections it there's no china command in africa they're there on an economic basis but there is an american military command and american and there's an american now military command as you said and asia trying to surround china so this is this it makes no sense but it's a huge threat to everyone in the world and as you just said that this tension this mounting tension you say that it's paving the way for far nuclear a nuclear conflict and we earlier on we showed some examples of both the u.s. and china kind of increasing their their arsenal of weapons i mean amid all this

could receive the seeds being planted for a new cold war. yes of course. you know if if one country has indeed jimmy over the world. is there's going to be at least. well. definitely a lot of a lot to look for maybe not look forward to a lot of turmoil and the area and we everyone is keeping a close eye and thank you so much for weighing and that was former reagan administration official and columnist paul craig roberts. well still ahead on our team is sticking it to the man or this time the gray lady new york times the employees are in revolt against the newspaper we'll tell you why next. you'll see. people calling

like you said for free and fair elections. and we're still reporting from the clinton as you can hear behind me loud explosions. well as the song goes the times they are a change in the new york times that is but maybe not for the better at least that's what employees there may think they are angry and it's not hard to understand why workers there wrote a letter to their boss voicing their frustration at their benefits being slashed and people being laid off all the while the company's c.e.o.

janet robinson there she has made out like a bandit upon leaving the company a nearly fifteen million dollars goodbye package so is this yet another sign of the times earlier i spoke with investigative journalist russell baker from who what why dot com and author of the book family of secrets i first ask how is it that the c.e.o. can make out with millions in a sitting company and why are the workers the ones that are paying the price take a listen well even more interestingly why is it that situation at the new york times this is an article that we just wrote on her website who what why don't we look at how the borders at the new york times really have been a very privileged position for a long time are now beginning to its appearance the same things that the rest of us are what happens when you're really vulnerable in a corporate environment and it's interesting because you've been covering the story from some distance and suddenly they're sort of the story. and it's ironic that

that this is the way that it is unfolding i mean this is the new york times i mean this is seen as a leader around the world for news people around the world turn to the new york times for news i mean if it's happening to them i mean what does it say about the state of the media here in the u.s. today. well i mean i think what it reminds us is that the media is by and large owned by in controlled by the very wealthy and corporations and we tend to forget about that we tend to when we watch or listen to the news we tend to assume that these are people who are just doing stories trying to figure out what is happening and and they do their best try to do that but the back of matter is always kind of lurking or whispering in their ear as this reminder that they really are working for the man they're working for the one percent of the one percent and so any explorations of inequities in our society i think are

constrained by that reminder. and. you say you know they're working for the one percent they're working for the establishment so in doing so who the interests are they are they really looking out for well i mean this is a problem because you know i'm not picking on the new york times i've written for the new york times i have friends who work there i think they do a lot of good work but they're trying to battle the odds because the second matter is those operations of principally designed to create profit for the owners and the owners themselves who live in a world where there are other powerful influential figures who are very very concerned about keeping the status quo keeping things pretty much as they are and so the efforts at reform the efforts of digging deep into the root cause of the

problems in our society are always going to be somewhat limited so rest you're talking about how the fact that the times they work for the establishment and evidently that is going to affect the types of stories they cover how they cover these stories can you maybe cite some examples and the reporting that you'll observe it. sure we've got several new pieces up at our website who what why are we explicitly taking on that issue and principally places like the new york times owned by corporate and wealthy owners are very very reluctant to look at the big questions about our in america is very very reluctant to look at for example how much presidents as in the letter how much power does reflect the president really have not withstanding the pressures coming from for example the military industrial complex the spy agencies wall street we know over the years that presidents have hinted at the fact that they really had their hands tied but you don't see

reporting about that kind of thing you almost never see that in the corporate owned press and you know i read your piece there and you made a very interesting comparison you compared the new york times employees to that to working in a plantation. elaborate on that comparison. i mean it's it's a very cushy plantation certainly but the reality is that they have an owner they actually even refer to him the new york times members of their guild of their union published this open letter to their owner basically begging him and sort of pathetically saying we've been so loyal to you all these years and look what you're doing to us you're you're cutting our pensions your treating badly our foreign employees who risked their lives look at all the things we've done for you and i find it ironic because they don't seem to see that this same thing is going on to our entire society and that they really themselves have not been entirely vigilant

enough in a reporting of it in part because of i think their concerns about their own and you know the saints to be yet another example of the bigger picture and some of the problems that are happening right now and the u.s. so how do they get out of that how did your nose get out of that plantation what is the solution. well the solution we see do you notice on who what why god is that journalist working with these large corporations do you think that you have to go in there we've got to move on that we truly independent media where we are not owned by anybody except by the public we will fearlessly purse you the truth in every single case press thank you so much for coming on the show that was investigative reporter and author of the book family of secrets breast baker well unfortunately we're out of time for this hour but for more of the stories we

covered today go to our to dot com slash usa and you can also check out our view to page it's you tube dot com slash artsy america and to see what i'm thinking about when i'm not reporting the news you can follow me on twitter at liz wahl see you right back here and a half hour. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything in. our blog is a big. mission free. education free. torture free. range free.