israel's claims. those are the headlines. i am john siegenthaler seeing. i will see you here at 11 eastern, 8 passiffic. consider this is up next. the latest news on aljazeera.com. we will see you later on tonight. >> syria strikes back at critics. former u.s. ambassador ryan crocker weighs in on the it couldtentious peace talks. why can't america's military seem to win wars outright anymore. should violent rap lyrics help put the author behind bars? you might want to think twice before buying a smaller car. hello. i am antonio morrow. welcome to "consider this." more on what's ahead. >> anything but peaceful today at the conference that is aimed at ending syria's nearly

three-year-old civil war. >> i can't promise you. >> there is no way that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy of the government. >> the focus has been on ending the war as opposed to winning it. >> it's important for americans to recognize that we still have young men and women in harm's way and we need to see this job all the way through. >> after saving the game for seattle. >> the best quarterback. >> sherman is getting the attention? >> a receiver like crabtree. >> that was immature. i regret doing that. we begin with bitter words and accusations that broke out almost immediately as syrian peace talks began in switzerland where opposing sides in the conflict met for the first time. syrian foreign minister walid

was openly defiant blaming rebels for the distrucks of the syrian culture itself. he strongly rejected john kerry's assertion that assad has lost legitimacy. >> translator: we have come here as representatives of the people and the state. yes, but no one, no one, mr. kerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or to withdraw legitimacy from a president, a government, a constitution or a law or anything in syria but syrians. this is the right of the syrian people and it is their constitutional duty. >> the syrian foreign minister refused to leave the podium despite numerous requests from u.n. chief ban ki-moon. as he declared terrorists and foreign medaling have destroyed his -- meddling have destroyed

his country. >> you live in new york. i live in syria. i have the right to give the syrian version here in this forum. >> yes, of course, you know. >> for more on the talks, i am joined by al jazeera america core response ent nick schifrin who was at the talks in problem tro switzerland. this can't be much of a surprise. we knew going in that the u.s. and the syrian opposition felt assad had to go and the syrians, of course, say assad has to stay. let's listen to what john kerry said. >> there is no way, no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. one man and those who have supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage. >> nick w such opposed

positions, how are they going to get anywhere? >>? >> there are a lot of people here saying they are not going to get but with the u.s. officials say, yeah, the rhetoric is a camera between these two sides. everyone is staking their claims, saying the worst thing they could that of they could when it comes to starting peace talks. at least they are here. but at least the two sides are in the same room together. >> that's the first time that's happened in three years of war that's killed 130,000 people and what the u.s. also points out is that, look. we are all here we have all agreed on one thing. we have all agreed on the geneva 1 communique. >> that's something that everyone signed about a year and a half ago and agreed to, again, before they came here. no communique, it says that all much the governments here, all of the delegations here agree to move forward to create a transitional government in syria. >> transitional government would not include current syrian president bashar al assad. the russians that backed syria

are on the same page with that. it's only the syrian government that used its stanchion, the podium today to suggest assad was not going anywhere. assad said he might run for president again in the next election. gauze they agreed to that, even if the rhetoric is net, the u.s. hopes at the end of the day, the syrians will stick to the pledge and consider creating atritional government. >> that will be interesting the u.n. secretary general said his hope for constructive dialogue had been broken by the syrian foreign minister: he went into a diatribe. he accused insurgents of conducting sexual jihad by brainwashing women into becoming sex slaves and engaging in incest. there was an interview that assad gave yesterday where he is trying to portray himself as the defender against terrorism.

who are the syrians trying to reach with these comments? >> well, i think this is what they actually believe. there is no sense from the last three years will any sense that the international community wants it to stop. there is no sense asad feels pressure to give up weapons and violence that the opponents say, that the u.s. says as well he is unleashing on the civilian population. what the u.s. is trying to do is try to find a new pressure point. president obama came right up to the point of launching a military strike. >>, of course, would have changed assad's calculus. obama did not. he stepped away from that hand in every interview, he is happy there is no second or third middle eastern war that the u.s. is involved in. so, given that, kerry is trying to find some other pressure point, perhaps isolating syria diplomatically. that's why kerry said again and again and again today that assad was isolated, the only person trying to do this.

this wasn't about the syrian people. this was just about the family. >> that's kerryts attempt to try and conconvince assad, try to communicate this notion that he cannot continue to act with impunity. he has isolated -- is isolated. no one is supporting him. russia is supporting him. there is no evidence he feels that pressure. there is no evidence that assad feels the need to stop the violence. >> the conflict wasn't just inside the room. there was conflict on the outside, too. >> this is a real symbol of how far apart these two sides are. just a few feet from me in the hall to my right, i witnessed a long confrontation between a pro-syrian government journalist and a member of the opposition. there were about 30 cameras around. frankly, they went at each other, yelling, screaming, accusing each other of being terrorists in the morning, just the other side of the connell friends hall, a pro-government rally where people were talking about assad and pledging loyalty, a few blocks away at

the same time, you had opposition fighters chanting, creating a mock funeral. the u.s. hopes this starts a dialogue. on friday morning, they are supposed to stand side-by-side or sit across the table from each other and there is no sense that there will be any immediate breakthrough, that any concrete details will come out of that immediately. the u.n. is hoping they can get baby steps, maybe a principles ner release or humanitarian corridor created or localized cease fire. there is a lot of pessimism here as to whether this conference will price results. >> there will be mediation on thursday hoping to bring the sides a little closer. let's hope something comes of this because there are millions and millions of people suffering displaced. nick schifrin, gate to have you with us.

from college station, texas is ambassador ryan crocker who, during his long career in government served as u.s. ambassador to syria, iraq and afghanistan and is now the deep of the george bush school of government and public service at texas a & m university. it's freight to have you with us, ambassador. let's start with the syrian president, with bash arrest al-assad, the main reason we are negotiating in geneva. you recently advocated that the u.s. should engage with assad's regime. syrian rebels weren't happy with you. it's not the obama administration's position. why do you think that would work? >> antonio, it's pretty simple. >> regime is not going away. assad is not going otherwise. we could wish it otherwise but we have to deal with the world as it is. if there is ever going to be a negotiated solution, we are going to need to start talking

directly to the syrians, not assad, himself action but to members of his regime. >> you wrote, also, that assad is more doctorinearian and rigid than his father and many westerners hoped he would be different. you are firm and that has not changed and you write that you think he will end up winning this war in a bloody little by little as time goes by? >> i certainly do believe that he is more rigid, less flexible than his father. i was ambassador to syria at the time when his father died and he took over. i had the chance to have several one on one meetings with him and i came to realize that he grew up completely under the system. his father had a relatively liberal education for the place and the time. not bashar. i posited two outcomes: one, the one you mentioned, that the

momentum may be shifting and he may get it backyard by bloody yard. the other possibility is at some point, this will simply showdown into a stalemate. i do not think a rebel victory is likely and i think we can all be grateful for that. >> you have millions of people displaced there in the meantime as this goes on and on and on if there is a stalemate. you really are concerned and you think that it is better to have assad in place than to allow the opposition to win the war? >> it's not a question. the international community, the united states or anyone else allowing anyone to win the war. we have to be pretty modest about our ability to control events here we cannot control these outcomes. >> right. unless the u.s. and the international community decided today intervene and really throw some sirius military force behind the syrian opposition.

john kerry spoke at the peace talks on wednesday. and he just talked about how the assad regime is a terrorist regime, backed by iran, that it has hezbollah that has crossed over from lebanon to help them out. he says that assad is the one who is making syria a magnet for terrorists. it just doesn't sound like someone who is interested in engaging the assad regime. what do you think about what kerry said? >> i think there is plenty of terrorism to go around on both sides of the fight in syria. certainly, on the part of the assad regime, which has committed some horrific atrocities and not just with poison gas, but, also, on the part of elements of the opposition. i think from what we can affect, we have got to consider what the nature of the opposition is. the real opposition are not the people sitting there in geneva,

these -- these couple of days. they are elements like the islamic state of iraq and syria led by bagdadi. these are basically al-qaeda. so, i make no apology for the assad regime. i think it is despicable. i think it is guilty of gross acts of terror crimes against humanity. the other side isn't a whole lot better. and i think could be worse for regional stability and secure we are talking about those atrocat this showing the alleged torture and killing of about 11,000 syrian detainees. the president of the syrian national coalition, the opposition group talked about it at a peace conference on

wednesday, at the piece conference on wednesday. let's listen to that. >> translator: we called for an international independent inspection to visit places of detemption and see the facts of torture that our citizens are facing every day. >> if this is happening, i would like to know what you make of the report, but i mentioned the poison gas. if we now have evidence of these other war crimes, what should we do? >> i would grief agree with mr. jarva: if it can be done, if a credible and empowered international investigating bod into the country and do an investigation, i think that's going to be very important because we have conflicting narratives here there is no way from outside that we can really as certainto the truth. so i would hope there could be that kind of commission.

i would say, though, that such a commission would really need access nol only to regime facili facilities. they would need to take a close hard look at what the opposition has done and is doing. >> it was a rocky start to the peace talks on wednesday. do you think something productive can come of them? >>. >> today, of course, was the opening session. it was the international component, if you will, of this conference. on friday, the parties, themselves, will sit down face to face. amend i understand there will be some preliminary work done by a u. u.n. mediator with both sides during the courts of thursday. well find out on friday. i would be quiet modest in my expectations after what we have heard from all of the parties to this conflict. but i do think there are some

outcomes that could be achievable. for example, agreements to allow increased amounts of humanitarian assistants, more help for the internally displaced and perhaps, just perhaps, some local cease fires. [that were to be the outcome on friday, then i would consider this a coverference that succeeded beyond my expectations. >> let's hope at least that is achieved. former ambassador to syrian, ryan crocker, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, antonio. >> coming up: no one doubts america's military strength. after struggles in iraq and afghanistan, has the u.s. lost its ability to fully win wars? should a man's violent rap lyrics be used against him in a murder case? and our associate professor, hermla is tracking the top stories on the web. >> we have a sad state of affairs with antidepressants.

coming up. what do you think? join the conversation on twitter at ajconsiderthis and on our facebooks and google plus pages. our in-depth series on education continues. >> how does math keep boys out of jail? >> thats an indirect equation, i would say. >> algebra is the answer part of our week long ln-depth series. >> only on al jazeera america.

the united states is undoubtedly the greatest military power in the world. but has it forgotten how to win wars? according to a new article in thelas times, former lieutenant colonel in the army and i quote, the united states knows how to start wars but has simply forgotten how to conclude them. victory has become a lost art. for more, i am joined by andrew basovich professor at boast university, best selling author of breach of trust, how americans failed their soldiers and their country. andrew, great to have you with us. in the article, you say the u.s. military is second to none when it comes to skills and gadgets but it struggles to finish the job.

let's look historically. did this start with vietnam and is the problem with the military or with the civilian overseers from both parties? >> i think the problem has many aspects. i think the most important and probably the most difficult for americans to recon with is that military powers is an inappropriate instrument to deal with conditions that exist in places like afghanistan and iraq. we came out of the cold war. the united states came out of the cold war having convinced itself that military power was sort of an all-purpose tool. i think in many respects, operation desert storm back in 1991 seemed to affirm that c conclusi conclusion. but all of our experience since, whether you are talking somalia

way back in 1993 or the post-911 wars tells a different story. we are using the wrong tool to solve the problem. >> let's run down some of the examples. let's talk about afghanistan. should we have not go in after 9-11? >> no. i think we needed to in the sense that, if you recall, that george w. bush administration demanded after 9-11 that the taliban could hagh uh-oh sam a laden, dismantle camps, the taliban refused to do so. i think it was necessary for us to demonstrate that any nation harboring, providing sanctuary to terrorists who were intent on attacking us, they needed to be taught a lesson. they need to make clear to the world that that was unacceptable. what doesn't follow is that we ne needed tod stay in afghanistan for now well over a decade

trying to create a stable political order. >> has turned out to be a task that we can handle. >> president obama spock out about the war in afghanistan a week ago. i would like to play part of what he said and get your reaction. >> i do think it's important for americans to recognize that we still have young men and women in harm's way along with partners who are continuing to make sack fights and we need to see this job all the way through. >> the question is: what would seeing the job through mean there in afghanistan? what would winning that war mean in afghanistan? and there are reports this week that the u.s. does plan to draw down to close to zero troops in afghanistan by the end of the president's term. >> of course, the president is, i think, in a senses understandably vague about what finishing the job is. there have been my sense is the that the obama administration

would be satisfied with being able to extricate all or most of u.s. forces and not have the karzi recommending e-mail collapse at least not until antibes has left? >> if we had to go into afghanistan. >> that may beobama has left? >> if we had to go into afghanistan. >> that may be the most track practical definition of success. what we need to remind ourselves of is how different the definition of that of success and those that were touted in the wake of 9-11, recall that the i hopevation of afghanistan was touted, was named operation enduring freedom. there was this expectation somehow we were going to bestow freedom on the people of afghanistan. that was absurd. >> you don't have an issue with the fact we went in to get al-qaeda but we went too far in defining what we thought winning the war would be? >> absolutely.

and indeed we went -- we went too far and then articulating a global war on terrorism at a time creates some kind of rationale for going from afghanistan to iraq, the invasion of iraq, there was no justification for that another mismanaged war. >> we are seeing how things are falling apart there in kosovo and bosnia, that seemed to work. >> i think that's probably the closest case you can get to post cold war interventions that did seem to produce unbalanced positive political outcome, albeit there, the occupation of kosovo for example by u.s. and

allied forces ended up taking a much longer time. >> so let me employee size, my argument is not that there are never cases where military power has utility. there are cases i think that the problem with policy makers in the united states over the past couple of deck it's a is that they have stepped to think that all problems can have a political solution. >> right. we went into libya and helped overthrow gadaffi. >> that's been a disaster. it's still a mess there. in yemen, we have gone after al-qaeda in a limited way without straight intervention. a question that comes to mind is: is the problem intervening in countries where there are very substantial parts of the population, mostly muslim countries that just hate the united states? >> i don't think i would phrase

it that way. i think i would phrase it that there is a problem with expecting that u.s. intervention, foreign enter convention, in societies that are in the process of an immensely complicated transition, atrition to modernity, trying to reconcile traditions with the 21st century, to ma'am that a bunch of american soldiers can facilitate that trans transition in a short period of time is a solution. my own sense is that the people, themselves, whether we are talking about -- whether we are talking about libyan did or iraqies or e job descriptions, the people, themselves are going to have to figure out how to make that transition and outsiders for the most part are going to find themselves irrelevant to the process.

>> a lot of thought provoking information in your piece. thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> switching topics: violent rap lyrics are at the center of a case before a new jersey supreme court this week. vont sgloofrmths. >> 13 pages were read into record as evidence of motive and intent, lyrics that included yo, look in my eyes. you can see death coming quick. look in my palms. you can see what i am gunning with. i play no games when it comes to this war. ex politive. if death was a jacket, you would see how the floor fits. a higher court overturned skinner's convention saying the lyrics should not have been admitted as evidence. the prosecution has taken the can a is to the new jersey supreme court for more on rap in the courtroom, i am joined here in the studio by eric nielsen, a liberal arts student where his

courses include hip-hop culture. he has consulted or served as an expert witness on rap lyrics in a number of legal cases. eric, good to have you with us. dot prosecutors have a point? don't rap lyrics or can't rap lyrics show motive and intent or at least some -- show the character of the person who's being tried? >> right. i think that second word is the key. i think it's important to make a distinction between the justification to the prosecutors use for bringing in the lyrics. the real reason they are using them prosecutors will say that they show motive and intent. i would argue rap lyrics don't do they. they might say they are inculpatory statements or essentially con fashions. >> that would be after the fact, however? >> correct. correct. >> what i would say is that what they are really doing is trying to get this evidence in front of a jury in order to smear the defendant's character.

you can't say i would like to introduce these violent lyrics you use the sort of intent or justification or the inculpatory justification but what the reality is, is that it's on being used to get these lyrics in front of a jury because we know that they are highly prejudicial. >> you wrote about the skinner case in "the new york times." these lyrics he had written, most of the them well before he was tried. and you noted that the aclu has found 18 cases where courts have considered rap lyrics as evidence and that they were admitted as evident, 80% of the time. i am a lawyer. and i was ready surprised when i read that. there is really hesitation on the part of most judges to accept any prior bad acts as evidence because they can premming disa jury in a particular case. are rap lyrics being treated different than other forms of expression. >> absolutely. in my research, the research of other scholars who have looked into this, for example,

alexandria dennis, who is a law professor at the university of georg georgia. rap music is the only muse can a genre to be treated this way by courts. it is exclusively targeted in these ways. >> let's play a couple of clips from two famous recording artists who sang about violence. ♪ i shot a man in reno just to watch him die. ♪ and i hear that whistleblowing, i hang my head and cry. ♪ i shot the sheriff. ♪ but i did not shoot the deputy. >> now, you wrote that nobody would assume that johnny cash or that brett easton he will punch list who wrote "american psycho" would have committed murders that they sang or wrote about. so the question becomes, though,

you don't you don't read about country singers going out and killing people and authors killing people and while certainly most rap artists are not violent, there is a long history of violence associated specifically with gangsta rap. he went as far as tattooing thuglife across his stomach. we found rap lyrics are being treated differently. should they be be treated differently? >> no. they shouldn't. i resist a little bit depicting rap or hip-hop culture at large as being associated with violence. i don't deny what you just said. but hip-hop has long been a force, a protective force, underlying this sort of criminalization of rap lyrics, if you will, in the courts and really, the deck aids long assault on hip-hop is this assumption that it goes hand-in-hand with violence that it promotes violence.

no genre is immune from having some connections to violence. what had i hope hop has done over the last 30 years is would can in tangible ways to transform violence if you go back to hip-hop's earliest roots, it was borne out of this dangerous gang culture that characterized 1970's new york and one of thewich of the pioneers was the leader of one of the fearsom gangs. he started moving hip-hop forward so that he could give people who are involved in gangs something productive, something meaningful to do and even more recently. >> we know a lot isn't productive, though. >> how so? >> mass origin homo phobia. negative things in some wraps.

it is the ex exceptional work out there. literature, you know, 50% of paper back sales or something like that. you don't use those to characterize literature. i would resist using the sort of massoginistic. it becomes repetitive or redundant. it can be destructive. even in those cases, that's provided a living for someone. iced tea, a polarizing figure at one point said it. if it hadn't been for rap, if he hadn't had a chance to rap, he would be dead or in prison. i think there are a lot of kids who could say that that i recognize to hip-hop. >> one question you talked about inc inc inculpatory statements, confessions. >> yeah. >> a case in nevada where the swarth of that state did allow those statements to go in. it was something the person had

written after the crime had been committed. in those cases, do you think the rap lyrics should come into the case? >> i don't. that was a split decision. >> even if rap lyrics are mirroring the crime and describing a crime and seemed like a confession? >> it seemed like the important phrase there. the first thing we understand when we talk about other genres is that there is an author and a narrator. >> rap is no different. the problem is that with something like gangsta rap, the violent sub genre of rap music. if write enough, probably one will mirror any number of crimes. notebooks full of lyrics. it's not going to be hard for you to flip through them and find something that corresponds

to a murder. >> an interesting point and discussion. let's check back in with hermella. >> millions of americans turn to antidepressant drugs to battle a range of issues. what happens when the drugs that is meant to help you over come a hurdle becomes a hurdle? long-term use of antidepressants has become increasingly common in the u.s. about 60 million americans have been using antidepressants for at least two years 70% are women. when long-term users tried to come off of the drugs, they have fiercely negative physical and psychological retions to the decrease of the drugs in their system. those reactions include anxiety, headaches, dizziness, shock like sensations and suicidal thoughts. many of you wrote to us about your personal experience. elizabeth says i have problems getting off of oppose oloft. i had months with vertigo when i stopped taking it. al pittman said i was on them

for two years without them i had to rely on friends and family to get through it. you can read more at the website, america.aaj.com. experts say part of the problem is these medications are being over prescribed to women at the primary care level. it may have nothing to do such as insomnia and irritable bowel syndrome. >> they help a lot of people. thanks and straight ahead, america's decline has been proclaimed for years. but are detractors missing the point? plus crash tests that will send a scare into owners of small cars, but do many cars have at least one leg up on s.u.v.s? race and the post-game rant, why seattle seahawk star shermap is grabbing the pre-super bowl hype. every day, someone leaves their home searching for a better life.

>> two hours in, we come upon a body. >> now, in a breakthrough television event, al jazeera america takes you beyond the debate. experience first hand the tragic journey of these migrants. >> a lot of people don't have a clue what goes on until you live near the boarder. >> six strangers with different points of view... >> i don't believe in borders. >> our government is allowing an invasion. >> ...get to experience illegal immigration, up close and personal. >> its very overwhelming to see this many people that have perished. >> a lot of families that don't know where their babies went. >> i want to make sure that her life, its remembered. >> what happens when lost lives are relived. >> the only way to find out is to see it yourselves. >> on borderland. only on al jazeera america. >> any of you guys want to come to the united states?

>> evey sunday night, join us for exclusive, revealing, and suprizing talks with the most interesting

people of our time. >> our journalists are the best journalists in the world. >> she's the first female executive editor of the new york times. >> there's no question that the editorial stance is a liberal point of view. >> the head of the paper of record goes on the record with talk to al jazeera. only on al jazeera america. . america's decline has been a big political talking point for years. but do we have it all wrong? political magazine looks at the issue in a new article entitled americans stop worrying and learn to love decline. why 2014 will be our best year yet. charles kenny wrote the piece. he is at the center for global development and the author of "the upside of down: why the rise of the rest is great for the west." charles good to have you with us. there is real data saying america is not the in effect force it was. the u.k. based center for

economics and business resear researchers says china will over take us by 228. you are saying that's not a sign we are going down. it's that the rest of the world is coming up? >> absolutely. last year, for example, china became the largest trading nation in the world over taking the united states. and that's just sort of the first of many firsts to come, if you will. but that's not bad news for the united states. it's not because the u.s. hasn't seen growing exports in recent years. china has done better. china has been growing very, very fast, seven, eight, 9% over the last 20 years or so. india has been growing faster. brazil has been growing faster. the rest of the world is getting richer. fewer poor people, living longer lives and produce goods we want to buy and producing demand for goods we want to sell. so, it's good all around. >> but people like charles kraut heimer and other analysts say there are benefits to being dominant economically and

politically an it's not just a question of the rest of the world catching pup but we are contracting. we are doing things that are making us not move forward as quickly and stay as strong. >> hey, i am sitting here in washington, d.c. i can hardly argue congress and the president couldn't be doing a better job. i accept there is some role for the united states doing things wrong in this area. i can't it could be engaging much more proactively globally. it could be pushing trade and investment and migration more and that would strengthen the u.s. economy. having said that, most of story is a story of other places not doing things wrong and starting to do things right. take china. a few decades ago, it was killing off millions of its own population. >> that's not a good way to grow as well as being a disgusting human rights event. now, it's doing things better. not great but better. the same is true of india.

we have seen huge reforms in india's economy and they are getting their macro situation a little bit better. the story of the growing west is the bigger part of the story rather than us doing things wrong. >> it's returning to the default position in human history that countries that have larger populationsed end up being more dominant comically but again, the critics of the position that you take say it is a choice, that we have chosen not to go after all of our natural resources, going, you know, offshore drilling, drilling in the arctic, that we have also pulled back and we are letting other countries catch up to us and losing our primacy in space. >> the last hundred years or so, the united states economy has grown around two %, a little bit worse than that recently. china and india vabeen growing at 7 and 8%. the united states never grows that fast. it's a rich country at the edge of sort of technology and so on and so forth. it doesn't have the opportunities for catch-up

growth, for using the technologies and institutions we have developed to grow faster like india and china and brazil do. it's simply not primarily a story of what's happening here. it's a story of what's going on in the rest of the world. >> you think that there is a silver lining that there will be positiv positives, that 2014 is the best year yet? >> absolutely. a richer, healthier, more secure world is a huge opportunity for the united states, not least over the recent past, one of the few bright spots in the u.s. economy has been growing exports. three phalangitis go to the developmenting work and it afford to those import because it's getting richer. a richer china, richer india invent new stuff. they make money from royalties and so on. we get the benefit, too. we get a benefit from those new technologies. richer africa produce more innovators.

many come to the united states. a big part of silicon valley's success has been attracting my grants to startup countries to to work as ceos and chief technology officers driving the innovative potential of silicon valley. there are huge up sides from the rest world world getting better off we have a social media question. >> tony v wrote saying if america declines in the world, it shows a more level playing field. enough of the cold war thinking. he basically agrees with me but given the article challenges conventional wisdom, do you find you are largely alone in your view? >> it's not a hugely popular view in washington. i think that partially reflects sort of the washington attitude that if one side is up, the other side must be down. if the democrats have won control of congress, it must mean the republicans lost. if the republicans take over the white house, that means the democrats have lost. >> that's a dumb way to think about international relations if i may say. international recess is largely about positive sum did. it's about partnership meaning both sides are better off.

>> that's true in trade, in investment, in migration. it's true if we can come to, you know, peace agreements globally, areas like syria for example. if we can work together with russia and china to create peace, that's better than sitting in our own camps, buying more and more weapons. >> do you see any danger if the united states pulls back and is not the dominant force, the super power in the world? we have been a benign super power undoubtedly the most benign super pour in world history. if we pull back, that someone else will fill the vacuum. >> i don't want america to pull back. i want it to engage more. i think one of the sad things about america is how few americans actually get out and go somewhere else to study or live for a while or to invest or trade to retire or get healthcare. i think if more americans traveled more and went overseas more, that would be a great thing. if we traded more, that would be a great thing. i do think the role for the u.s. as the global military leader it

plays an important role in peacekeeping efforts worldwide. the u.s. military provides 0.03 of the troops. most come from developmenting countries. there is a huge role for partnership. >> charles kenny great to have you on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> straight ahead, alarming crash tests may make you rethink what car you will buy. why one of the n.f.l.'s best players is gaining international fame for something other than his play. in the conversation on race that's resulted. >> no doubt about it, innovation changes our lives. opening doors ... opening possibilities. taking the impossible from lab ... to life. on techknow, our scientists bring you a sneak-peak of the future, and take you behind the

scenes at our evolving world. techknow - ideas, invention, life. on al jazeera america

>> every sunday night aljazeera america presents extraodinary films from the world's top documetary directors. >> it's the world's most powerful financial institution. >> i think we're mysterious to people. >> what really goes on behind closed doors? >> the fed is kind of this black box. >> it's your money... >> somebody screwed up. >> ... or is it? >> i worked to save that money and now i get nothing. >> inside the fed. on al jazeera america. today's data dive puts the

passengers on small cars >> the several spark is the only one of the 11 mini cars to pass a major crash test by the insurance institute for highway safety. it was only graded acceptable. the tests looked at what would happen if the front of a car on the driver's side smashed into another vehicle or an object like a tree going 40 miles an hour. the honda fit performed so badly consumer reports pulled it from a recommended vehicles list. it's structure collapsed around the driver. the dummy's head slid past the airbags and hit the instrument panel. testers found problems with the foot panel would likely cause leg and hip injuries, too. honda pointed out a revamped model will debut this spring. it was joined by five other cars in receiving a grade of poor in the test. the fiat 500's door actually ripped off its hinges. four other cars got a marginal score. it's the worst the institute has tested in three years.

are smaller cars less safe? it depends. you can breake faster and their lower center of gravity makes them less likely to flip over. while rollovers are a bigger risk in sports utility vehicles, they are better in front-end crashes. researchers looked at head-on collisions and found the odds of death are 7.6 times higher for the driver of a smaller car than the driver of an s.u.v. s.u.v.s had one of the lowest rates of death in tests conducted by the national highway traffic safety administration between 2006 and 2009. the lowest risk of death? mini vans. unfortunately, i don't think that will make them any cooler. coming up, seattle's richard sherman's post-game rapt and following statements are overshadowing his next game: the super bowl. mirror

>> here are the stories we're following. >> find out what happened and

>>... the super bowl match-up is set, but the big game has been completely over shadowed by the outcry over this. >> i am the best one in the game. you try me. >> that's the result you are going to get. don't you open your mouth about the best. >> those comments from seattle seahawk richard sherman after winning the game last sunday set off a firestorm in social media circles and throughout the media. outraged viewers call him classless, a thug and epithets. others have rallied to defend him as being in the heal of a victory. why were so many people upset? we are joined from maryland by al jazeera dave zirin, host of edge of sports radio. dave, great to have you on the radio. >> sherman admitted it was a

little immature and wasn't one of the classiest of interviews but he had just made a huge play to help send his team to the super bowl. he said he was disrespected by the receiver he beat. so why such a big fuss out of this? is it all about the way he said it? >> also well, first and foremost, it's much more about the form of what he said than the content because he didn't say anything that particularly inflammatory or political or third-rail. it's not like i was giving his opinions otisis-palestine conflict. instead, he got up there and he did things we don't normally see in these post-game interviews that's he did not put us to sleep. i mean i was watching that game with a die-hard seattle fan. they had already left my house by the time that interview happened because there is usually nothing to see after the game. what he did was he looked directly into the camera. he spoke like he was in a wwe promo and it was bracing because people had never seen that before, and then, of course, when all of the racist trols got online, it transformed it into

something else entirely >> let's talk about that because there was a huge wave of racist tweets directed at sherman after that rant that called him every name in the book. here is what he had to say today about the worst of the responses. >> we are talking about football here and, you know, a lot of people took it a little further than football and, you know, i guess some people, some people showed, you know, how far we have really come in this day and age. >> much of the outright racism, dave, wasn't even anonymous, all over a 15-second rant. did that surprise you? >> it did not surprise me whatsoever. i mean, a lot of the ratesism has been highly coded as well. one study showed that the day after -- >> a lot of it wasn't even coded. >> yeah, you could look at it in two categories, high racism and low racism is the way i think about it. low racism is all of the n words and racial epithets that poured out on the social media. the high racism is when they look at richard serman, very

intelligent, the 3.9 gpa coming out of stanford, writes a column for sports i will straightsed and he can only be seen as quote, unquote a thug. until one study, the word thug was used in sports media the day after this game more than any other time in the last three years. and all directed at richard sherman. you have to ask the question much. did this only happen because of the color of his skin, his attitude and the fact that he was standing right next to erin andrews. i have to say diagnose about that. er ip andrews is the very blond, teleginc side leip reporter. she handled herself well on the sideline and immediately, when it went to the fox news anchor team, one of them said, wow, erin looked scared. i didn't think she looked scared at all. >> we are looking at her right now. she doesn't look scared. afterwards, she said she wasn't scared and felt that it was a really good interview. >> exactly. >> he gave an interview with cnn where he said he regretted the

way he did it and what he said and he gave this as an explanation. >> if you catch me in a moment on the field when i am still in that zone, when i am still as competitive as i can be, it's not going to come out as articulate, as smart, as charismatic because on the field, i am not all of those thing. i am everything i need to be to be a winner. >> he hedged his apologize a little bit but did he need to apologize? >> he didn't need to but he is doing something very smart. richard sherman is a consummate team player. he was a 5th round draft pick. he is going to be the defensive player of the year this year. remember at the very end of that interview with erin andrews, he yelled out lob. >> means legion of boom, that's the next name for the entire secondary of seattle. i think he wants as that consummate team player to get the focus off of him and to the seattle seahawks organization and to celebrate their accomplishment of making it to the super bowl >> in his press conference, he referenced mohammed ali and

other somewhat bomb bastek athletes. >> i stud by's the mohammed alies, dion, the old school game more than i studied the new school game and i play it that way. it rubs a lot of people the wrong way and, you know, given a true speech after a game, true passionate speech is old-school football >> it's interesting he mentioned dion sanders who was a commentator in a post-game show. he said he didn't think sherman should have said things the way he did. >> yeah, i mean and i would never put mohammed ali and dion sanders in the same sentence. he should send richard sherman a check. he does not belong in that company. but peyton manning is because the thing that ali ali is he made played a psychological game like richard sherman does. what do people think peyton manning is doing when he is yelling omaha, omaha.

it's different packaging. if we look closer, we will see the same cerebral psychological gamesmanship is happening on both sides of the line of scrimmage. >> in the end, isn't this the best thing that could have happened to him? as you said earlier, in a league full of players who go through media training and basically say nothing ever, they are never passionate, never say anything passionate, much less controversial, now, this guy's name is everywhere. jamie froths who manages titz ws corp america love it. they say this is real. this is true. we have a player who is willing to speak his mind. 30 seconds, dave, no such thing as bad publicity. >> there is if you can't perform on the field. then all of his bragadocio and loquatiousnes will be used against him >> he will be on the biggest stage and we will see what he does. dave zirin, great to have you on the show. the show may be over, but the

conversation continues on our website, argu argues.com/considerthis. find us on twitter at ajconsider this. we will see you next time. hei zhou-castro good evening, everyone. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. >> line of fire - deadly clashes in ukraine between protesters and police. they approach a breaking point. we go there live. >> mean season - first the blizzard and bone-chilling temperatures as the second polar vortex blankets much of the country. >> robot army - is this the soldier of the future. a closer look at how the military is considering

reac