it is higher than it has ever been in history. it is extraordinary, the demand for gold. uncertainty in a rich world has made the demand greater than it has ever been and there has always been demand for gold. unfortunately, as william shakespeare wrote, "all that blisters -- it is not gold." there is some environmental disaster making around the world because of the demand for gold and it is in the area of lose gold on the surface, primarily in rivers, but sometimes elsewhere. in rivers, they get it with a traditional pan, the sludge goes around, and any gold is at the end. if you have the possibility of getting a decent find, you go to a shaker's table, a primitive device in which a bucket of water, mud, and stone is put onto a table, and something like this will illustrated, up and down like that by human power. on the surface -- the gold is attracted or trapped in those substances. the problem is it tears up the river. now, when it was done by hand, the rivers could survive. now it is done with bulldozers and huge machines. the rivers are being destroyed in more than 70 countries from china, indonesia, let in america, peru, costa rica, romania, all around the world, and of course africa. why do i care about it? believe it or not my own father during for financial times would go to the river, and operate one of these tables, and try to make a living. unfortunately, because of the gold standard in those days it was pegged at $35 an ounce. the tragedy is the river is now an environmental disaster. it is torn up. worse, in looking for gold they use mercury at a rate of 2-to1 to identify the gold. they are attached to the mercury. there is another poison, and there is cyanide, used to extract gold from oil. 70 countries, maybe more have a tremendous crisis on their hands, yet very little can be done for eight because 50 million people depend on subsistence -- for it, because 50 million dependents subsistence farming. gold is not always that glistens. >> many have spoken out on the need to transition to a clean energy future. exelon, we are acting, committed to disposing greenhouse gas emissions annually through helping our customers reduce emissions and offering more low-carbon electricity. we are taking action and seeing results. >> "white house chronicle" is produced in collaboration with whut, howard university television. now, your program host, nationally syndicated columnist llewellyn king, and co-host linda gasparello. >> great people. i promised you great people, and here they are, led by the great linda gasparello and -- and arnaud de borchgrave, a former editor of newsweek, and from the "washington post" al leeds, who heads up the syndication, which means he gets to read every last word. everybody who could walk even with a crutch at the washington post went up there. quite extraordinary. and, our favorite resident russian and humorous. welcome to the broadcast. there are other people here that could make a joke, too, i understand. we will see how it goes. while we have been concentrating on the republican primary domestically, some very disturbing moves have been happening in iran. >> disturbing moves that seem to overlook two important events -- three former heads of intelligence in israel, three former commanders in the united states have warned us do not bomb iran, and the israelis say this is what their prime minister would like to do. if it comes to a vet, and it looks as if it is moving in that direction, we forget that iran has formidable asymmetric capabilities all the way up and down the gulf, and oil will be very quickly of 500. >> $500 a barrel? >> if that showdown comes. >> which would wreck the economy, the whole world. we used to calculate the two hundred dollars a barrel would put our economy into a downward spiral. $500 a barrel, the world freezes up. linda gasparello, you have been to iran. you speak farsi. what is your feeling? >> i wonder if the showdown will happen faster than the deterioration of the iran in the economy. it is completely strangled by the new sanctions. people are living in desperate conditions. desperate people tend to do desperate things. when you corner a tiger like iran, which has tremendous capability, the specially after coming into their own election in march and will need to prove themselves to their own people, it is an explosive situation. >> it seems to me we totally forget that iran is surrounded by six of the world: nuclear powers. you have india, pakistan, china , israel. >> i am terrible with math, but what does $500 per barrel mean for a country like russia? i do not know. >> it means enormous revenue for russia. >> we can discuss that if there is anything funny about the situation, but the situation is not funny. i agree with those in my own country who say we do not need high oil prices. we need stable oil prices. >> this is always been the case with oil producers. i remember being in saudi arabia in the early-1970's, when they were looking for stability, and were about to bring about a crash and the world oil price when it fell was nearly as disruptive as when it had gone up. what is your read, al leeds? >> are we going to see more strait of hormuz incidents? >> i am afraid so. they have told us we cannot sell aircraft in and out of the strait of hormuz. i think it is dangerous to be beyond the strait of hormuz, close to the territorial waters for the simple reason that iran has misfile sites up and down the coast, and the entire east coast is iran. we keep forgetting it is called the persian gulf. >> i know. this morning, i was thinking there is a bright side to this economic crisis we are going to, -- going through, or have been through, if you believe some people -- i think it is going on -- that is we realize we're all of the sameboat. in this situation, even countries like china, russia, they might have different takes on the situation, but nobody is interested in sinking the global baot. >> how is "the washington post" covering this? >> it has been a patchwork of freelancers and stringers in addition to regular correspondence, and it has worked out satisfactorily so far. >> and streets are about 40 miles. >> they are separated by 1 mile. >> you are looking at a constricted area. we worry a lot about the strait of hormuz in the 1970's and the 1980's. what happens if they are blocked? in some ways it reminds me about the concerns about the suez canal. and >> it will not be blocked by one supertanker been some, but it will obviously stop oil traffic, others would refer -- refuse to go through, and you would have oil immediately to wonder dollars, or $300. >> -- $200, or $300. >> it is the end of the economic life for iran because it is also the straight through which each of their supplies, throw. they would have no ability to get any foreign goods. frankly, that kind of economic strangulation is the thing that would undo them. >> i did not follow the reasoning. countries will do terrible things to their people to deter an external threat. dictators and regimes do not care about their own people. they do not care about the suffering of their own people. if they can divert the external venture, or the idea that it has been created, they will do it. you and i both met benjamin netanyahu, a pretty bellicose chap, who seeks the middle, if you will. >> also seeking something than having to bite the bullet. >> yes. if he were to go ahead and unilaterally attacked a nuclear facilities appeared >> it would be applauded on capitol hill. >> that would almost guarantee that the first thing the iranians would do would be blocked the strait of hormuz in some way, right? this is dangerous. what do you think the possibilities are he will try to attack the nuclear installations? >> slight. despite all the bellicosity, i think it is slight. i've seen this to many times. i do not think it is going to happen. >> there are a lot of people on capitol hill who think it should happen. >> they say that, and maybe they have not sought it through. >> in the republican primary who -- which has occupied us in the media, and maybe to excess, but in the struggle to find a candidate for the republicans in the general elections in the fall do you think any foreign affairs have had decent aryans -- airings? we are worried about whether someone has the correct stand on birth control or gun ownership. >> i think the discussion of foreign affairs has been muted so far. >> muted, it has not been there. >> with the obvious exception of ron paul. >> who wants a very different approach. >> who has a totally different approach, but it is almost like it is a different area of agreement. in the iowa caucuses, it virtually did not exist. >> we are not going to get much, are we? obviously, when it comes running against obama, foreign affairs has to be on the table. >> i am tempted to say maybe with the exception of ron paul, who is my favorite candidate among those running, they do not know much to discuss it in depth. >> there are right on iraq and afghanistan. iraq was a disaster and gets worse every day. today, iran has far more influence in iraq than the united states. he also said that the best defense we have against iran was set down and sang. >> that is true. we supported him in a war against iran. linda gasparello, is there a possibility for a better relationship with iran in the future? this is a sophisticated country with gifted, talented, people, but we have been in in a state of cold war with them since the revolution. >> with present leadership there cannot be, but there is opposition in the wind. there are groups that are waiting to lead effected protests, which they did leave last june and we did not support very well. there are women's groups, if you can believe it, and traders unions. let's not forget technology. we have the iranians that are out of work, led by people they do not like, but they feel powerless. there is a big group that does not support what is going on, and it is looking for their chance to change things. >> andre, when i listen to that, and i've heard that argument before, it sounds to me we should let the outside world change the way it wants to change, then we will deal with it. it does not happen that way. you say let's wait until all of those people who are supposedly in the opposition, supposedly working for the region, let them come up then we will do something. i think, basically, the correct approach is to work with the environment that you have, the people that you have, and to have a different goal. not the goal of changing the regime or the environment, but the goal of making us all safer. it is a terrible option we have been discussing so far. >> you are right, but this is built into the american way of the world, we will be your friend when you behave the way we think he should behave. >> your question about the republican candidates, with obama and leon panetta pushing the new slimmed down pentagon budget, that is when you will see it discussed more in the republican race. >> we are totally forgotten about the military drawdown after world war two that led to korea, and after a career that led to vietnam. >> are you saying the drawdown is wrong? >> it has to happen. it cannot afford to spend more. >> in the past, arnaud de borchgrave, yet made the case that technology is changing fast. >> the future will be robotic warfare and cyber warfare. it is with us now. robotics -- at the air force academy today, very few of these cadets will ever fly a real plane but they will be flying drones. more people flying drones than real planes. that is untrue for the last four years. you have submarines without crews setter being tested right now. >> that does not bode well for civilian populations? it is the true target, of civilians. it means you are less involved, less sense of the horror of the engagement. it seems to me that as you go to robotics, you create greater dangers for yourself. it does not take a genius to turn a cessna into a remotely- guided vehicle. to build a drone, you did not need as much money as to building this file, and to deal -- build a primitive drum, you can almost do it out of a toy store. >> you can launch it from a cargo ship quite easily, undetected. >> or a farm, 50 miles outside of washington or any citizen. -- city. the whole world has changed. al leeds, if we start letting go of troops we will end to unemployment, are we not? >> yes. >> it is already hard for them to find jobs, and we will have many more on the market. >> and we also will be paying for our wounded. >> linda, what do you think? >> we know that if there are a lot of casualties in the old fashioned way, it usually ends wars pretty quickly. in vietnam, eight ended a war. >> not quickly. >> we do not need to do that anymore. not in today's warfare. >> we move in and kill all the people overnighted >> we will -- overnight. >> we will do as you say, have massive casualties. >> a few words on the situation in russia. >> i was thinking about what we were just discussing. >> it does not matter. go ahead. >> when we talk about traditional armies and then becoming obsolete are remember clearly 10 or 12 years ago people talking about how oil is obsolete, how cold was obsolete -- gold was obsolete. i think it is a little bit too fast. >> i am encouraged to hear you talk like that because people are talking among journalists being obsoleted >> -- obsolete. >> exactly. we are an example ourselves. i am reminded of an observation made to me by an american friend a few years ago who is not even a political scientist, saying he is worried if the budgets are cut, aside from the military, if is al -- your only tool hammer, every problem is a nail. is the only tool is the military, they're more inclined to use the military. i'm against using a hammer for every situation, but i am also thinking maybe we are jumping ahead of ourselves thinking the traditional army, the traditional ways of resolving or deterring conflict is obsolete. >> the enemy in television this time. it is time for our high notes. linda gasparello. >> i have an odd high node. the british scientist jean hawkins is celebrating his 70th birthday, but he is more confound by women than he is space. >> arnaud de borchgrave is unfounded to, but he will not say it. [laughter] looking at oury for military budget, and at what eisenhower said, looking at the military industrial complex. it needs to include the word congressional. there will be many fights. that is the big battle coming. >> al leeds. >> a low note. it is summer in australia, temperatures reached one and four degrees in melbourne, and it is hard to buy a -- 104 degrees in mel bourne, and it is hard to buy a soft drink. >> i am so worried about those hot ozzie's. >> no, no, no, no, on a similar note, i wish everyone a happy new year, and a merit orthodox christmas. the high note was one of my high-school classmates recognize me on your show and called me -- recognize me on your show, and called me in america. we reestablished contact. if i am recognizable from my high school days, that has to be a high note. >> i am reminding viewers you can listen to the program intermittently on sirius xm radio and you can see and the english-language stations of voice of america. until next week, have a great way, and made these horrors not come to pass, and have a glorious time. cheers. >> many have spoken on the need to transition to a clean energy future. at exelon, we are acting. we are greening of our operations, helping customers and communities reduce emissions, and offering more low carbon electricity in the marketplace. we're taking action and we are seeing results. >> "white house chronicle" is produced in collaboration with whut, howard university television. from washington, d.c., this has been "white house chronicle," a weekly analysis of the news with a sense of humor featuring llewellyn king, linda gasparello, and guests. this program can be seen on pbs stations and cable access channels. to view the program online, visit us at whchronicle.com.