Will greece leave the eurozone . We will speak to paul mason. Then, to the Obama Administrations war on whistleblowers. In 2009, i had a. I have recently had a new life. I had recently gotten married. I was about to go work for the secretary of state on foreign policy, National Security. I had no inkling that the dark clouds would suddenly be appearing. Amy six years ago, state Department Analyst stephen came i kim began speaking to a foxNews Reporter. We will speak to peter maass of the intercept, on his new piece destroyed by the espionage act, and here kim in his own words. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The white house is delaying president obamas executive actions on immigration after a federal judge blocked them earlier this week. Obamas move to shield millions from deportation was supposed to begin taking its first applications today. But u. S. District judge andrew hanen, of brownsville, texas issued an injunction after a motion filed by texas and 25 other states. The administration said it will comply with the ruling and delay accepting applications for work permits and deportation reprieves. Speaking at the white house, president obama said hes confident the decision will be struck down on appeal. President obama this is not the first time where a lower court judge has blocked something, or attempted to block something that ultimately was shown to be law. I am confident that it is well within my authority, and the tradition of the executive ranchs branchs prosecutorial discretion to execute this policy to make our safe it will lp us go after criminals and thawe not want in this country. It will help people get on the right side of the law, and get out of the shadows. Amy judge hanen is an open opponent of obamas reprieve for undocumented immigrants, previously calling it an an open invitation to the most dangerous criminals in society. Protests for immigrant rights were held across the u. S. On tuesday. In los angeles, a recipient of obamas deferred immigration action for undocumented youths denounced the court decision. I stand here today very disappointed, learning about the injunction of the implement cant implementation, but i am confident through our fight we will allow the implementation of these programs and continue the benefits for more potential recipients. Amy the top u. N. Envoy on syria says the regime of basher alassad is willing to halt the bombing and shelling of aleppo for up to six weeks in a new bid for up to six weeks. In a briefing to the Security Council, Staffan De Mistura announced the breakthrough while saying he has no illusions about its chance of success. The government of syria has indicated to me its willingness to halt all aerial bombing, and also all types of aerial bombing and artillery shelling for a period of six weeks all over the city of aleppo, from a date we will be announcing from damascus. To be frank, i have no illusions, because based on past expenses, this will be a difficult issue to be achieved but we will engage to position to hope to see them respond from a similar to a similar request from the u. N. To hold rockets over the city of aleppo for six weeks. Amy aleppo has sense intense violence in the governments clashes with rebel groups. The Syrian Civil War enters its fifth year next month. The u. S. Meanwhile has expanded military coordination with rebels inside syria. The wall street journal says rebels deemed to be moderate now have the ability to call in u. S. Airstrikes on Islamic State fighters. The u. S. Is set to begin training a group of Syrian Rebels on march 1 in jordan. Ukrainian forces are withdrawing after an offense by a prorussian rebels. The rebels say the truce does not apply to the town that connects strong strongholds donetsk and cons and the taunts. They have sustained heavy casualties over the last few days. The ukrainian withdrawal comes one day after the Un Security Council unanimously passed a russiandrafted resolution. Despite voting for the method Samantha Power accused russia of violating the ceasefire. If russia is committed to peace, it does not need a u. N. Security council ruling. There are lots of ways to end the violence. Stop pretending you are not doing what you are doing and start calling on, and insisting upon the separatists observing a ceasefire. Amy in response, the Russian Ambassador said his government is not responsible for starting the conflict in eastern ukraine. [speaking russian] she accused russia of stopping the crisis, theyre starting the crisis, but did we toppled the president . Russia calls for a bloodless solution. We insisted on and mentation even after the lawfully elected president was being toppled. We supported the communique calling for a constitutional dialogue. What was the impetus for the Armed Conflict . It was a support by certain western countries, the decision of the key of leadership to militarily depress the satisfaction of the people in these. Amy the Security Council is holding an emergency session on olivia today after cairo about to avenge the beheadings. On tuesday, egypt called for a Global Campaign to remove the Islamic State. Isis is one of several groups that have emerged inside of libya since the u. S. Led ouster of gaddafi. Also, tripolibacked fighters sent to sirte to confront isil fighters from misrata deployed in certain. Talks between greece and european creditors collapsed this week amidst this agreement over the future of german backed austerity. Germany says no new deal is being offered, and that athens must stick to the terms of its existing bailout. On tuesday, the greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, said his government wants a deal that will not compromise on the objective of crippling austerity. We are not in a hurry, and we will not compromise. We are working for a mutually beneficial solution, a solution without austerity, without the bailout that destroyed greece in the last year. Amy we will have more on greece after headlines. The Obama Administration will allow foreign allies to purchase u. S. Made drones for the first time. Under a new policy, american firms can sell their drones abroad, but will be subjected to a casebycase review. Buyers will also have to justify their need for the drones and commit to proper use principles. But those standards are classified, so its unknown if other countries will be able to use drones for extrajudicial killings like the u. S. Does in abroad. The Washington Post reports the policy partially comes out of u. S. Military corporations intent to tap into the 6 billion dollar global arms market. Speaking to the website common dreams, william hartung, of the center for International Policy called the drone exports quote one of the Obama Administrations worst policy decisions, adding, regardless of what guidelines are established for their use, history tells us that once the United States transfers a weapon to another nation it is extremely difficult to control how it is used. The u. S. Should be reining in its own drone strikes, not making it easier for other nations to use them. Ashton carter has been sworn in as the new defense secretary following his Overwhelming Senate confirmation vote last week. Secretary carter i have a commitment to the future to building a force for the future, and that involves not only securing the resources that we need, but making sure that we make the best use of the taxpayers dollar. Make sure that we embrace change so that years from now, and decades from now, we continue to be a place where americas finest want to serve. Amy president obama tapped carter after forcing the ouster of chuck hagel late last year. Carter has a long history at the pentagon, where he once served as the chief arms buyer. In 2006, he backed a preemptive strike against north korea if the country continued with a planned missile test. Carter has recently voiced support for arming ukraine and opposing the transfer of prisoners from guantanamo bay. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. I am amy goodman. Less than a month after the antiausterity syriza party swept to victory in greece, a major dispute has broken out between greeces new leaders and European Finance ministers. On monday talks between greece and its european creditors collapsed amid disagreement over the future of germanbacked austerity. At talks in brussels, greek negotiators rejected a deal to extend the terms of the current bailout scheme with no alterations to the austerity terms. Greece is reportedly now planning to submit a request to the euro zone to extend a Loan Agreement for up to six months but germany says no such deal is being offered and that athens must stick to the terms of its existing international bailout. The greek finance minister spoke in brussels. We were offering to refrain from, effectively, implementing our own program, the program were elected to implement, for a period of six months, and all we were getting back was a nebulous promise of some specificity that was never specified. Under those circumstances, ladies and gentlemen, it proved impossible for the greek government, despite our infinite goodwill to sign the communique so discussions continue. Amy lawmakers from the ruling syriza party say greek voters had rejected the terms of the bailout and that greece would not be intimidated into accepting them. Dimitris stratoulis is greeces new deputy Social Security minister. The government remains unyielding to its position. The greek people have rejected this with their vote and the presence in the street, as have the people of europe, who have openly express the solidarity with our own people. Amy the breakdowns in talks have brought fear that he greece could leave the eurozone. To find out more about the significance of these investigations, we are going to london, to speak with paul mason. He covered the greek elections and is working on a documentary called greece dreams take revenge. His most recent blog for channel 4 was headlined leak and counterleak how not to achieve a greek deal. Welcome to democracy now how dont you achieve a greek deal . Paul as we speak, there are phone calls and briefings backwards and forwards between athens, brussels, even here in london because the greek government has, today, requested a sixmonth extension to the loan, but has not put forth conditions they might accept to get the loan. It is like having a loan from your bank, and saying were going to extend it by six months, and any conditions you attach, we are not going to obey. I read that right now as a delaying tactic, because the European Central bank, it is meeting right now and will break of the meeting this afternoon every meeting in the European Central bank holds over greece the possibility that they pull the plug on greeces effectively busted banking system. It is really tense stuff, and this is how not to do it. The greeks of elected a government that wants to cancel austerity but they all the rest of the world 320 billion euros and it is very difficult to see how they get what they want without a confrontation, and time is running out because the emergency extensions to loans and liquidity facilities run out at the end of this month. Amy explain, paul, what austerity means. Paul austerity means Something Like a 50 increase in male suicides. It means real wages fell by 25 in five years. It means that the economy lost one quarter of its capacity. It has shrunk by 25 . If you sit at a coffee table at a cafe in athens, talk to the person who is serving you, they will be a graduate living, probably more than one person to a room, and the average income is 500 euros to 600 euros a month. That is for graduates. That is very austerity. Then you have the 300,000 families that cannot afford electricity, and Something Like, 15 of people now, are on the edge of, or have lost healthcar e. When you lose it, you join the queue with undocumented migrants, the red cross. Amy speaking tuesday, the german finance committee commissioner said it was unclear whether greece wanted a bailout. Greece needs to decide whether they want the program or not. No one understands what greece wants in the end. An extension of the program is only possible when the goal is to end the program. We all want the euro group to stay together. We have worked for years on it. I am the one that has been here the longest, but everyone has to do it did, and the decision is in athens. Amy the german finance minister also expressed skepticism regarding his counterpart, greek finance minister yanis varoufakis. He is not so efficient in trying to convince others. That is what i can say in observing him. There is room for improvement. Amy you wrote a piece in the guardian recently, saying germany is eating itself over greece eroding moral authority and seems prepared to destroy the eurozones integrity just to make a point. Explain what you mean. Paul inside german decisionmaking circles, there is a policy they cannot run a budget deficit. They regard the rest of Southern Europe spain, italy, portugal, as big spend thrifts inefficient. That is the feeling. With greece it is personal because greece elected a government led by a party onethird of them are far less marxist, and most belonged to the new tradition that would put them way to the left of any politicians. It is more than just about money. People have been trained as marxists, so this is something that nobody in europe expected, least of all the germans, and the germans basically known they cannot get their head around the idea that a party has been elected that wants to do something so radically different that they cannot do it without breaking the rules that the eurozone has been formed around. So, it is becoming cultural. Remember, of course, the oldest member of the party is 94, and in world war ii he was jailed by the nazis for ripping the swastika down from the acropolis. This is a living memory. You bet in the mountain villages of greece, there are people still alive who remember when the germans occupied their village. That is how cultural and personal it is getting. Amy so, explain why germany should help greece. Paul many germans believe they should not help greece. The rational case for debt relief is that the debt is not repayable. It is 320 billion euros, 175 of gdp, and to service the debt the government has to run a 4 surplus. If america could run itself in surplus year after year, it would have to slash spending. This is only possible because the debt is being rolled over and rolled over. The conservative government that was defeated in the january election also needed to roll the debt over, but wanted to do it in a euphemistic way, where effectively the demand was to roll them over until the year 2016. I do not expect 2060. I do not expect to be alive then. The current government says you are in denial. You need to write them off as you do with all countries that are bust. We have taken a 25 of gdp hit to the size of our economy. The greek government is running a surplus. It does not need to borrow because so much has been cut but what they want is a radical debt relief, the kind latin American Country saw in the 1980s, and the kind given to heavily indebted countries under the Millennium Development goals, but right now it does not look like they are going to get it. What they are fighting for now is a fourmonth stay of execution because it is clear pull the Emergency Landing on the European Central bank, and goodbye to the four major banks. Amy speaking after the breakdown of talks tuesday greek Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras criticized the german finance ministers attitude towards the greek people. This is part of what he said. The german finance minister, mr. Wolfgang schaeuble yesterday lost his cool, not because he spoke against the greek government, that is his right, but because he expressed himself in a derogatory manner for the greek people. I would like to point out to him that it would be better to pity those who walk with their heads low and not pity those that held their heads probably high. Amy if you could talk further about what Alexis Tsipras is saying, and also where he comes work where he comes from, the significance of him being Prime Minister now. Paul this was a guy that was a far left communist in the 1980s, and although he is moderating his positions, he is trying to run a swedish or scandinavian style social democracy right now. The background of these guys is marxism. The next thing to understand is what people in greece field the 36 never voted for this party, and the other 10 devoted for other parties are feeling there is a social and psychological revolution going on. It is not just about the election. My day job is to be a News Reporter and every day i sit down and look at cameramen shooting what looks like a crisis. Working on a documentary with independent filmmakers, and it looks like they are shooting a dream not as in their dreams are coming true, but pinch me, week up, is this happening . They go on demonstrations that usually end in riot charges tear gas, where the cops are appearing with antiholsters, unarmed. The barricades around the parliament have been removed. This is removing a lot of barricades in peoples minds as well. Everyone is focused on Alexis Tsipras. They are very photogenic. While we are focusing on them, ordinary greeks are seeing,